Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MEDEA'S LOVE, by HARRIETTE FANNING READ


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MEDEA'S LOVE, by                    
First Line: Love is my life! And should not I give all
Last Line: Left all for love, and in his smile found all?
Subject(s): Medea (mythology)


MEDEA.

LOVE is my life! and should not I give all
The treasures which the gods have granted me,
To feed its sacred and mysterious flame?

IANTHE.

E'en if the flame should mount, with tyrant power,
And, 'mid her rites, consume the priestess?

MEDEA.

Ay,
To keep the flame undying I would yield
My life rather than live to see it wane,
Expire, and leave my heart to dark despair!
Gods, e'er I know the agony to live
Unloved of him who sways my every thought,
O, snatch my life, and I will bless the stroke!

IANTHE.

Did I not know thy soul, I should exclaim,
A wife of yesterday might dream such dreams!

MEDEA.

A wife of yesterday! -- Hath Love with Time
Such close alliance, that old age to both
Comes with the same alloy of clouds, and cares,
And chill indifference to mortal joys?
Ah, no! Time is but for the form we wear;
Love is the soul, which hath no bonds with Time.
For ever young, with wing untamed, he soars
On to the future, sorrow, care, and death
Made radiant by his smile.

IANTHE.

Such love as this
E'en Love himself knows not!

MEDEA.

So Jason read it in Medea's heart,
And feel it in his own, I care not, though
The god to Lethe's waves consign his shafts,
And leave the world to friendship's calmer reigu
Enter JASON.)

JASON.

What, doth Medea ask for Friendship's reign?

MEDEA.

Not while Love's flame survives in Jason's breast.

JASON.

If that expire?

MEDEA.

Expire! The gods forbid!

JASON.

Nay, start not at a jest!

MEDEA.

Will my lord jest
On such a theme? As well mightst thou lav bare
This heart, thine altar, tear it from its place,
And cast it quivering from thy grasp to earth,
As jest thus of a tie to me so dear,
So sacred, that to sever it would be
To loose each human feeling from my breast,
To make me desperate, outcast from my kind,
Hating myself, the world, and thee!

JASON.

Even so!
Thou paints a Fury's not a woman's love!
But let not fancy torture thee; the world
Hath real ills enough.

MEDEA.

But not for me!
I dread, -- I know no ill when thou art by.
Exile and want, disgrace, the hate of men,
And wrath of gods, I could endure nor waste
A care on them, so Jason lived and loved!

JASON.

The nend Remorse is busy at my heart.
Can I again inspire such love, or lives
A woman, save Medea, in whose soul
A passion ardent, pure, as this can burn?

MEDEA.

My lord, why on this day is thy brow sad?

JASON.

Men oft have cares which women need not share.

MEDEA.

Hath Jason cares Medea cannot share?
Ah! strange and heavy should that sorrow be
Which clouds thy heart from mine.
Why speak'st thou not? Since first our fates were joined
Ne'er hast thou known a care or braved a toil
Which by my love has not been lighter made,
Or vanquish'd by my skill.

JASON

Medea, list!
Not grateful is it to a warrior's ear,
That even a wife should boast her benefits:
Remembrance is his part, and silence hers.

MEDEA.

Thou know'st that mine is not the ignoble soul
Which prompts a boaster's tongue. I boast of naught
Save of thy love, which made me what I am.
Thy equal partner, not thy household slave, --
As Grecian dames to Grecian lords must be, --
But worthy deem'd by thee to aid thy councils,
To share thy wanderings, and assuage thy woes.
I boast my husband when I talk of these.
Tell me, what care oppresses thee?

JASON.

Not long
Wilt thou remain in ignorance.

MEDEA.

I felt
Thou couldst not long exclude me from thy heart.
Why does the darkness deepen on thy brow?
Thou 'rt ill! Thou canst not hide it from thy wife, --
From her, who, taught by love, reads in thy glance
Each shade of joy and pain. Surely thou 'rt ill!

JASON.

Not ill, Medea, not oppress'd with cares
Beyond my own poor skill to overcome.
Content thee, thou mistak'st.

MEDEA.

I am content,
If for Medea's sake thou 'lt clear thy brow,
And greet this day with smiles.

JASON.

And why this day?

MEDEA.

Is Jason's heart so changed, that he forgets
The day which once he hail'd with fondest joy?
If thou forgett'st, ah! why should I remember
That on this day I fled my native shores, --
My father's court, where I was as a queen, --
Left all for Love, and in his smile found all?





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