Poems by Adam Lindsay Gordon

Adam Lindsay Gordon

• Publisher: pubOne.info
• Year: 2010
• Topic: Literature
• eBook ISBN:
  9782819924166
• Subtopic: Classics
• Index: Literature

ASHTAROTH: A Dramatic Lyric

Dramatis Personae

HUGO, a Norman Baron and a Scholar.

ERIC, a friend of Hugo's.

THURSTON, |

EUSTACE, |

RALPH, | Followers of Hugo.

HENRY, a Page.

LUKE, |

HUBERT, | Monks living in a Norman Chapel.

BASIL, Abbot of a Convent on the Rhine.

CYRIL, a Monk of the same Convent.

OSRIC, a Norwegian Adventurer, and formerly a Corsair.

RUDOLPH, an Outlawed Count, and the Captain of a Band of Robbers.

DAGOBERT, the Captain of some predatory Soldiers called “Free Lances”.

HAROLD, a Danish Knight.

ORION.

THORA, |

AGATHA, |

ELSPETH, a Nurse of Thora's, |

URSULA, Abbess of the Convent on the Rhine, |

NUNS, etc. | Women.

Men-at-arms, Soldiers, and Robbers; Monks, Friars, and Churchmen, Spirits,

etc.

Ashtaroth: A Dramatic Lyric

SCENE— A Castle in Normandy.

A Study in a Tower; HUGO seated at a table covered with maps and charts

of the heavens, astronomical instruments, books, manuscripts, and c.

Enter HENRY, a Page.

Hugo:

Well, boy, what is it?

Henry: The feast is spread.

Hugo:

Why tarry the guests for me?

Let Eric sit at the table's head;

Alone I desire to be. [Henry goes out. ]

What share have I at their festive board?

Their mirth I can only mar;

To me no pleasure their cups afford,

Their songs on my silence jar.

With an aching eye and a throbbing brain,

And yet with a hopeful heart,

I must toil and strain with the planets again

When the rays of the sun depart;

He who must needs with the topers tope,

And the feasters feast in the hall,

How can he hope with a matter to cope

That is immaterial?

Orion:

He who his appetite stints and curbs,

Shut up in the northern wing,

With his rye-bread flavoured with bitter herbs,

And his draught from the tasteless spring,

Good sooth, he is but a sorry clown.

There are some good things upon earth—

Pleasure and power and fair renown,

And wisdom of worldly worth!

There is wisdom in follies that charm the sense,

In follies that light the eyes,

But the folly to wisdom that makes pretence

Is alone by the fool termed wise.

Hugo:

Thy speech, Orion, is somewhat rude;

Perchance, having jeer'd and scoff'd

To thy fill, thou wilt curb thy jeering mood;

I wot thou hast served me oft.

This plan of the skies seems fairly traced;

What errors canst thou detect?

Orion:

Nay, the constellations are misplaced,

And the satellites incorrect;

Leave the plan to me; you have time to seek

An hour of needful rest,

The night is young and the planets are weak;

See, the sun still reddens the west.

Hugo:

I fear I shall sleep too long.

Orion: If you do

It matters not much; the sky

Is cloudy, the stars will be faint and few;

Now, list to my lullaby.

[Hugo reclines on a couch. ]

(Sings. )

Still the darkling skies are red,

Though the day-god's course is run;

Heavenly night-lamps overhead

Flash and twinkle one by one.

Idle dreamer— earth-born elf!

Vainly grasping heavenly things,

Wherefore weariest thou thyself

With thy vain imaginings?

From the tree of knowledge first,

...

Table of contents

• POEMS
• IN MEMORIAM.
• PREFACE.
• [The poems are listed by alphabetical order.]
• SEA SPRAY AND SMOKE DRIFT
• Gone
• Unshriven
• Ye Wearie Wayfarer, hys Ballad In Eight Fyttes.
• Borrow'd Plumes
• A Legend of Madrid
• Fauconshawe
• Rippling Water
• Cui Bono
• Bellona
• The Song of the Surf
• Whisperings in Wattle-Boughs
• Confiteor
• Sunlight on the Sea
• Delilah
• From Lightning and Tempest
• Wormwood and Nightshade
• Ars Longa
• The Last Leap
• Quare Fatigasti
• HIPPODROMANIA; OR, WHIFFS FROM THE PIPE
• The Roll of the Kettledrum; or, The Lay of the Last Charger
• BUSH BALLADS & GALLOPING RHYMES
• The Sick Stockrider
• The Swimmer
• From the Wreck
• No Name
• Wolf and Hound
• De Te
• How we Beat the Favourite
• Fragmentary Scenes from the Road to Avernus
• Doubtful Dreams
• The Rhyme of Joyous Garde
• Thora's Song
• The Three Friends
• A Song of Autumn
• The Romance of Britomarte
• Laudamus
• A Basket of Flowers
• A Fragment
• MISCELLANEOUS POEMS
• “The Old Leaven”
• An Exile's Farewell
• “Early Adieux”
• A Hunting Song
• To a Proud Beauty
• Thick-headed Thoughts
• ASHTAROTH: A Dramatic Lyric
• FOOTNOTES:
• Copyright