HELENA.
STRANGER! who art thou? why approachest thou
To break my sacred slumber? such it was,
For she who brought me all my joy and grief
Hath brought me hither.
Thou appallest me,
For thou art stern and godlike; and no crook
Nor needful staff of upland wayfarer
Is that thou bearest. O that cruel spear!
Comest thou.. yes, thou comest.. speak.. to slay me?
ACHILLES.
Helena! fear me not.. I am the son
Of Peleus.
HELENA.
Fear thee not! O hide awhile
The glittering point before it strike me dead.
ACHILLES.
Behold it fixt into the glebe. —
HELENA.
It casts
A slitting shadow half across the down.
ACHILLES.
Now seat thee (but why risen?) as before.
HELENA.
Be thou too seated: first look round about;
For there are lions on these lonely hills,
Beside the tamer which are yoked before
The Mother of the Gods, upon whose head
Are towers and cities in one awful crown.
And thou hast come alone.
ACHILLES.
Alcides slew
His lion, and Alcides was alone.
HELENA.
O son of Peleus! didst thou ever see
My two brave brothers?
ACHILLES.
In my father’s house
I saw them once.
HELENA.
And were they not like thee?
Dear Kastor! Polydeukes dearer stil!
Kastor would lift me on his fiercest horse
And laugh at me: but Polydeukes placed
One kindly hand beneath my sinking chin
Upon the swift Eurotas, with the other
Buoying my feet, for I was then a child.
But tell me, who conducted thee away
From those beleaguered walls into this wild?
ACHILLES.
Thetis, my mother: she around me threw
A cloud, not dark within, but dark without,
As clouds may be wherein the Gods rejoice.
But what, more wonderful, impel’d thy feet
Hither? so delicate, so like to hers
Who bore me, which are radiant thro’ the depth
Of dimmest ocean.
HELENA.
All I know is this,
A voice, and it was Aphrodite’s voice,
Call’d me: I would have risen at the call,
But wings were over me and underneath,
And, until thou appearedst, left me not;
Nor did sleep leave me.
O how fresh the flowers
Are breathing round us in this tepid air!
I do love flowers; they look into my eyes
And seem to say fond things to me, in breath
Sweeter than infants.
O Hermione!
Sweet even as thine. Where art thou, lovely babe?
Who tends thee? who caresses thee? all must;
All but one wretch who left thee in thy sleep.
ACHILLES.
Sorrow is not unseemly in the breast
Of women: men too (shame on them) have grieved,
Have wept, and not the tears of rage alone.
HELENA.
Blame not my weakness then: no rage is mine,
I never felt it. Flowers are comforters
At dawn and sunset on the terraced roof:
Few are they; but the dearest are the few.
ACHILLES.
Flowers! Inconsiderate! Thinkest thou of flowers
While nations shed their blood, their lives, for thee?
HELENA.
They are so fragrant and so beautiful!
And what profusion! what variety!
In my own country I have known by name
More than my fingers of both hands could count
Twice over: there was mint and drosera
And serpolet, just as you see are here:
How can I then but love to talk of them?
ACHILLES. —
O Helena! let children love to talk
Thus idly.
HELENA.
Ah! that I were yet a child!
But how wilt thou return before the walls?
ACHILLES.
The Gods will care for that: they too who brought
Thee hither will provide for thy return.
HELENA.
Couldst not thou?
ACHILLES.
Helena! I come to warn thee
Against the rancour of a man incenst:
I hate him; I shall hate him worse if wrath
Urge him to vengeance on thee; for the twins
(Then boys) thy brothers were my father’s guests,
And much I loved to hear of them, and hoped
One day to share their glory, sung on earth
For me; for them along the placid waves
There where my mother oft repeats the song.
HELENA.
I loved songs too.
ACHILLES.
Sweetest are those to me
Which Keiron taught me; songs which bring again
To life, and fresher life, the brave of old.
Zeus! grant me but few years, grant only one,
And he who wrongs me, he when such men sing,
The king of Argos shall stand far behind.
HELENA.
Ah! thou art strong and irresistable.
But spare..
ACHILLES.
Spare whom?
HELENA.
Alas! I dare not name him.
No fault was his; no fault was mine: the Gods
Decreed it. She to whom he gave her prize
Perform’d a promise.. how imperfectly!
And gave him. O pernicious gift, me! me!
Pity thou him whom even my brothers might
Have pardon’d; him as beautious as themselves
Or thee, almost.
ACHILLES.
In this arm lies my beauty,
Smiter in vengeance of the guilty head.
HELENA.
Why springest thou upon thy feet, alert
As grasshopper, without a hand to rest
Upon the turf beneath?
ACHILLES.
I must be gone.
HELENA.
And without me?
ACHILLES.
It hath not been forbidden,
No; nor commanded.
If the Gods so will
Come thou with me.
HELENA.
I dare not. They who led
My way to Ida will direct me hence.
And yet I tremble,
ACHILLES.
Take thou heart.
HELENA.
It fails.
For there are other Deities who hate
Me and my guilt. The Mother of the Gods
Inhabits here, and here her temple stands;
Here sound the tymbrels and the cymbals struck
By priests infuriate.
ACHILLES.
Fear them not: thy sire
Zeus and his daughter will watch over thee.
HELENA.
Farewell, O son of Peleus! born to rule
O’er happier realms.
ACHILLES.
O Helena! ’tis here,
Far from my birthplace, from my father’s tomb,
I die.
So sang the three who sing but truth.
HELENA.
Wretched, thrice wretched me! in this alone
Are we alike. Thou art less stern, more calm,
In speaking of that last sad hour.
No word
Of comfort hast thou for me?
ACHILLES.
I shall bring
Comfort to those who bore thee truer love
Than thou hast borne to others.
HELENA.
Spare me! spare me!
To whom that comfort?
ACHILLES.
To thy brethren: they
Have heard my name among the Blest above,
Or they shall hear it.
I will tell them age
And royalty have loved and pitied thee,
That Priam held thee dearer to his heart
Than his own daughters, that thy tears have washt
Thy stains away; then, that Achilles turn’d
His face aside ashamed of grief for thee.
HELENA.
Stay, stay one instant.
Is this too a dream?
Who lifts my feet from earth and whirls me round?
Children! O fan me with your wings again;
I sink; I fall; help! Aphrodite! help!