No More Learning

Alcestis? . . . And ye feasted me withal!

SERVANT.
He held it shame to turn thee from his hall.

HERACLES.
Shame! And when such a wondrous wife was gone!

SERVANT (_breaking into tears_).
Oh, all is gone, all lost, not she alone!

HERACLES.
I knew, I felt it, when I saw his tears,
And face, and shorn hair. But he won mine ears
With talk of the strange woman and her rite
Of burial.
So in mine own heart's despite
I crossed his threshold and sat drinking--he
And I old friends! --in his calamity.
Drank, and sang songs, and revelled, my head hot
With wine and flowers! . . . And thou to tell me not,
When all the house lay filled with sorrow, thou!
(_A pause; then suddenly_)
Where lies the tomb? --Where shall I find her now?

SERVANT (_frightened_).
Close by the straight Larissa road. The tall
White marble showeth from the castle wall.

HERACLES.
O heart, O hand, great doings have ye done
Of old: up now, and show them what a son
Took life that hour, when she of Tiryns' sod,
Electryon's daughter, mingled with her God!
I needs must save this woman from the shore
Of death and set her in her house once more,
Repaying Admetus' love. .