The Complete Plays of Oscar Wilde. Оскар Уайльд

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СКАЧАТЬ have heard

       That sailors dying of thirst upon a raft,

       Poor castaways upon a lonely sea,

       Dream of green fields and pleasant water-courses,

       And then wake up with red thirst in their throats,

       And die more miserably because sleep

       Has cheated them: so they die cursing sleep

       For having sent them dreams: I will not curse you

       Though I am cast away upon the sea

       Which men call Desolation.

      GUIDO

      O God, God!

      DUCHESS

      But you will stay: listen, I love you, Guido.

       [She waits a little.]

       Is echo dead, that when I say I love you

       There is no answer?

      GUIDO

      Everything is dead,

       Save one thing only, which shall die tonight!

      DUCHESS

      If you are going, touch me not, but go.

       [Exit GUIDO.]

       Barrier! Barrier!

       Why did he say there was a barrier?

       There is no barrier between us two.

       He lied to me, and shall I for that reason

       Loathe what I love, and what I worshipped, hate?

       I think we women do not love like that.

       For if I cut his image from my heart,

       My heart would, like a bleeding pilgrim, follow

       That image through the world, and call it back

       With little cries of love.

       [Enter DUKE equipped for the chase, with falconers and hounds.]

      DUKE

      Madam, you keep us waiting;

       You keep my dogs waiting.

      DUCHESS

      I will not ride to-day.

      DUKE

      How now, what’s this?

      DUCHESS

      My Lord, I cannot go.

      DUKE

      What, pale face, do you dare to stand against me?

       Why, I could set you on a sorry jade

       And lead you through the town, till the low rabble

       You feed toss up their hats and mock at you.

      DUCHESS

      Have you no word of kindness ever for me?

      DUKE

      I hold you in the hollow of my hand

       And have no need on you to waste kind words.

      DUCHESS

      Well, I will go.

      DUKE

      [slapping his boot with his whip]

       No, I have changed my mind,

       You will stay here, and like a faithful wife

       Watch from the window for our coming back.

       Were it not dreadful if some accident

       By chance should happen to your loving Lord?

       Come, gentlemen, my hounds begin to chafe,

       And I chafe too, having a patient wife.

       Where is young Guido?

      MAFFIO

      My liege, I have not seen him

       For a full hour past.

      DUKE

      It matters not,

       I dare say I shall see him soon enough.

       Well, Madam, you will sit at home and spin.

       I do protest, sirs, the domestic virtues

       Are often very beautiful in others.

      [Exit DUKE with his Court.]

      DUCHESS

      The stars have fought against me, that is all,

       And thus tonight when my Lord lieth asleep,

       Will I fall upon my dagger, and so cease.

       My heart is such a stone nothing can reach it

       Except the dagger’s edge: let it go there,

       To find what name it carries: ay! tonight

       Death will divorce the Duke; and yet tonight

       He may die also, he is very old.

       Why should he not die? Yesterday his hand

       Shook with a palsy: men have died from palsy,

       And why not he? Are there not fevers also,

       Agues and chills, and other maladies

       Most incident to old age?

       No, no, he will not die, he is too sinful;

       Honest men die before their proper time.

       Good men will die: men by whose side the Duke

       In all the sick pollution of his life

       Seems like a leper: women and children die,

       But the Duke will not die, he is too sinful.

       Oh, can it be

       There is some immortality in sin,

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