_
A sleeping thought--most innocent of good:
It doth the Devil no harm, sweet fiend!
A sleeping thought--most innocent of good:
It doth the Devil no harm, sweet fiend!
Elizabeth Browning
_
It is not WILLED.
_First Angel. _
One word: is she redeemed?
_Second Angel. _
No more!
The place is filled. [Angels _vanish_
_Evil Spirit (in a Nun's garb by the bed). _
Forbear that dream--forbear that dream! too near to heaven it leaned.
_Onora (in sleep). _
Nay, leave me this--but only this! 't is but a dream, sweet fiend!
_Evil Spirit. _
It is a _thought_.
_Onora (in sleep).
_
A sleeping thought--most innocent of good:
It doth the Devil no harm, sweet fiend! it cannot if it would.
I say in it no holy hymn, I do no holy work,
I scarcely hear the sabbath-bell that chimeth from the kirk.
_Evil Spirit. _
Forbear that dream--forbear that dream!
_Onora (in sleep). _
Nay, let me dream at least.
That far-off bell, it may be took for viol at a feast:
I only walk among the fields, beneath the autumn-sun,
With my dead father, hand in hand, as I have often done.
_Evil Spirit. _
Forbear that dream--forbear that dream!
_Onora (in sleep). _
Nay, sweet fiend, let me go:
I never more can walk with _him_, oh, never more but so!
For they have tied my father's feet beneath the kirk-yard stone,
Oh, deep and straight! oh, very straight! they move at nights alone:
And then he calleth through my dreams, he calleth tenderly,
"Come forth, my daughter, my beloved, and walk the fields with me! "
_Evil Spirit.
It is not WILLED.
_First Angel. _
One word: is she redeemed?
_Second Angel. _
No more!
The place is filled. [Angels _vanish_
_Evil Spirit (in a Nun's garb by the bed). _
Forbear that dream--forbear that dream! too near to heaven it leaned.
_Onora (in sleep). _
Nay, leave me this--but only this! 't is but a dream, sweet fiend!
_Evil Spirit. _
It is a _thought_.
_Onora (in sleep).
_
A sleeping thought--most innocent of good:
It doth the Devil no harm, sweet fiend! it cannot if it would.
I say in it no holy hymn, I do no holy work,
I scarcely hear the sabbath-bell that chimeth from the kirk.
_Evil Spirit. _
Forbear that dream--forbear that dream!
_Onora (in sleep). _
Nay, let me dream at least.
That far-off bell, it may be took for viol at a feast:
I only walk among the fields, beneath the autumn-sun,
With my dead father, hand in hand, as I have often done.
_Evil Spirit. _
Forbear that dream--forbear that dream!
_Onora (in sleep). _
Nay, sweet fiend, let me go:
I never more can walk with _him_, oh, never more but so!
For they have tied my father's feet beneath the kirk-yard stone,
Oh, deep and straight! oh, very straight! they move at nights alone:
And then he calleth through my dreams, he calleth tenderly,
"Come forth, my daughter, my beloved, and walk the fields with me! "
_Evil Spirit.
