Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, AGATHA STEEL, by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AGATHA STEEL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: You, agatha
Last Line: That I may bear a living child.


Persons:

ZILLAH PAXTON.
AGATHA STEEL, her daughter.

Scene: A room in tenements. It is evening; and ZILLAH
PAXTON, an elderly woman, sits by the fire, with
folded hands; when the door opens and AGATHA STEEL enters.

ZILLAH. You, Agatha!
You startled me...
I heard the staircase creaking;
But little dreamt 'twas your foot.
I never thought to look on you again.
Since you and Jim went off, so suddenly,
Without a word, and only newly wedded,
It seemed I'd heard the last of you.
You went without a word to me --
Without a word to me, your mother!
And you've not written me a line --
A single line in all these years --
Three years, at least:
And I, for all you cared,
I might have been both dead and buried.
And you say nothing now!
Have you no tongue at all?
I'm glad to see your face, although it looks...
But you -- you must be ailing, daughter,
To look like that!
Have you come back to me, because you're ailing,
Come back to me...
Speak, woman!
AGATHA. Nay ... I'm well enough.
ZILLAH. Well? Nay, you're ailing, Agatha.
A mother's eye is quick...
But, where is Jim?
Is he not with you, lass?
AGATHA. I don't know where he is.
ZILLAH. You don't know where!
He has not left you, daughter?
AGATHA. He's left me for another woman.
ZILLAH. A curse...
AGATHA. Nay! you've no right to curse him.
ZILLAH. Right! I've no right to curse the man
Who leaves my daughter, his own wedded wife...
Have I, your mother...
AGATHA. You've no right:
For you, my mother, let me wed him.
ZILLAH. I let you! Why, what else was there to do?
The thing was past my mending,
Before I even heard of it.
AGATHA. You know that is not true.
I married him for your sake:
You drove me to it,
Though you knew I loathed him.
ZILLAH. For my sake! I -- I drove you!
So I'm to bear the blame of your ill-doing,
Because I tried to do the best for you,
And save you from the gutter!
AGATHA. The best for me ... the best!
To make me wed the man I hated!
ZILLAH. You did not always hate him.
AGATHA. True ... yet, I think,
I never really loved him.
ZILLAH. More shame to you!
AGATHA. Perhaps, and still,
Even I would not have married him.
But you -- you knew him,
And you let me wed him,
Though I was your own daughter, just a child.
Yea, I was young, God knows!
But he...
He always had a way with him:
And I was in his arms, before I knew.
And then...
I loathed him, loathed him!
And you ... you knew ... and yet...
ZILLAH. What else was left?
Would you have had...
AGATHA. Ay! anything but this.
But you ... you cannot understand.
You have not changed, while I...
ZILLAH. Changed, Agatha?
AGATHA. And yet, how should you change?
You've not gone through what I have.
Still, it is strange to think three years
Should make no difference, when, to me...
But you ... you speak, as you spoke then --
Then, when you scolded me, and said,
The Beals had always been respectable:
And so, I married him:
And I have been respectable:
And clung unto the man who hated me,
Until he shook me off.
ZILLAH. But you're his wife...
AGATHA. Oh, mother, will you never understand!
Yes, I'm his wife, his wedded wife:
And I've been faithful to him,
Been faithful to the husband that I hated,
Though he was ever faithless.
Yes, mother, I, your daughter,
Have been respectable.
I've not disgraced you, mother.
ZILLAH. Ah, lass, you're bitter;
But, it's little wonder,
Since you're forsaken.
Jim was always wild...
AGATHA. Wild!
ZILLAH. From a boy...
And still, I never thought...
A curse...
AGATHA. Nay! bless him, rather,
That he, at least, has left me.
ZILLAH. Ay! maybe, you're well rid of him,
If he's been cruel...
AGATHA. Cruel, woman!
You know that he was drunk the night we married.
He's scarce been sober, since.
And, when a man's in drink...
But, that's past now:
We'll talk no more about it.
A blow is neither here nor there,
If only you're respectable!
ZILLAH. But, how've you lived these years?
AGATHA. God knows!
He never did a stroke of work;
But, lived upon the little I could earn.
We've travelled all the countryside:
For, when I'd worked my fingers to the bone,
To get a home together,
He'd always break it up;
And drag me out again,
To trail behind him to another town.
ZILLAH. You've had no children, daughter?
AGATHA. Children ... ah, God!
ZILLAH. Dead, Agatha!
Perhaps, it's well...
AGATHA. It's well that I should bear three stillborn babies!
ZILLAH. Stillborn! Ah, daughter!
AGATHA. If only one had lived...
But he ... he killed them...
Ay! I'm bitter.
ZILLAH. You've cause enough: he's used you cruelly.
Three stillborn babes!
AGATHA. Mother, you understand!
ZILLAH. Ay, Agatha!
My first was stillborn...
AGATHA. I never knew.
ZILLAH. And yet, your father, lass,
Was always good to me.
Ay! he was ever kind...
But, Jim has used you cruelly.
AGATHA [rising]. Well ... now, it's over!
And I have some hope...
But, I must not stay talking here.
It's time...
ZILLAH. You would not go again?
Where can you go?
You'll live here, surely, now?
AGATHA. Nay! anywhere but here.
He'll likely weary of his mistress --
Poor soul, I pity her!
And seek again his wife to keep him.
He'd come here, first...
What startles you?
ZILLAH. I thought I heard a step.
AGATHA. Oh! I've no fear he'll come yet;
She's young, and strong...
ZILLAH. I did not think 'twas Jim,
But Richard.
AGATHA. Richard? Who?
ZILLAH. Yes, Agatha, you've given me no chance
To tell you that I'd wed again.
AGATHA. You ... married!
ZILLAH. Ay, a year ago,
To Richard Paxton.
AGATHA. Mother! not to him!
ZILLAH. Why not...
AGATHA. You've married him...
And, yet, you knew that he was never steady!
ZILLAH. Well, life's a lonely thing without a man:
And you had left me, daughter:
You left, without a word: and never wrote:
You didn't care, though I was dead, and buried.
Why should you mind...
And there's small blame to them
Who drink too much, at whiles.
There's little else the poor can get too much of:
And life, at best, is dull enough, God knows.
Sometimes, it's better to forget...
And ... it's a lovely dizziness.
AGATHA. You! Mother!
ZILLAH. Ay! you'll blame me.
But, Richard is not always kind...
AGATHA. Nay, mother, I don't blame you:
It's better to forget.
Forgive me if I spoke too harshly:
I am not bitter, now.
But I must go.
ZILLAH. Where will you go?
AGATHA. I cannot tell -- but, far away from here...
That I, too, may forget...
Yes; even I!
Since I am free;
And there is hope within me
That I may bear a living child.





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