Part 5

For the light that shone and is dark, for the word spoken. For the strength unknit, for the crown brought to the mire.

JEZEBEL.

My King is dead! I knew that he was dead. Have you declared this news to any yet?

PASHUR.

Not yet.

JEZEBEL.

Then go; declare it to the priests, That they may now declare it to the people: The King is dead and now his son is King; King Joram is the King in Israel.

PASHUR.

You are too quick. Joram is not the King. Jehu, anointed by the Prophet’s oil, Has killed your Joram with an arrow shot Under his arm, and out right through his heart, Killing him in his chariot as he drove. And he has killed his ally, and has flung Your Joram’s body, bloody as it is, Down into Naboth’s vineyard, to the dogs. Now Bidkar, captain of the charioteers, Drives the good Jehu hither to be crowned. Jehu is King, and you, you scarlet whore, Abominable in the face of God, You manless, soulless, crownless foreigner, Shall taste the wrath of God and of God’s people. Now for your spicery there shall be stink, And where the delicate hair has known the comb There shall be baldness, and where silk has lain There shall be nakedness. And where the red lips mocked God delicately There shall be broken teeth biting on dust: It shall be done to you ere this day passes. [_Exit_ PASHUR.

JEZEBEL.

My King, my sons, are killed! So Jehu wins. Thus in an hour the world slips from the feet. What change beyond this world summons us home? What conclave of the spirits? Dead: all three. Bring me my jewels from the tiring-room. [_The_ MAIDS _go, then return with casket_.

You women, who were with me from the first, Jehu is coming here to murder me. He will be here in some few minutes now. Yet there may still be time for you to go.

ROSE-FLOWER.

And time for you, O Queen; you could fly too. Put on these veils. Oh, hurry! We will take The door the woman told of, and the horses, And be in safety on the coast by dawn.

JEZEBEL.

I am the daughter of a Queen, my friends. My life has been here and my death shall be Near to my dead. But one task more, my friends. Swift, from within, my cases of cosmetics, My crownets and the settings for my hair, The purple chlamys with the spangs of gold That long ago my father won at Rhodes, The robe that once the great Queen Helen had When she was beauty’s self, and gave her beauty To buy a little love in windy Troy. (_The_ MAIDS _bring the gear_.) That is the last task you shall do for me. (_Gives jewels._) And this the last least gift that I can give, With all my thanks for service you have done me, Year in, year out, for many bitter years. I think no Queen has ever been so served. Courage. Here is the key; draw your veils close.

ROSE-FLOWER.

O mistress, come with us!

MOON-BLOSSOM.

Beloved mistress! What will they do to us, what will they do?

JEZEBEL.

Nothing. They will not find you. You will go Down through the secret door and so away. Master your tears. You, take her by the arm. You will be sailing up the coast to Sidon By sunrise; think.

MOON-BLOSSOM.

And where will you be, lady?

JEZEBEL.

As it is written for me. (_To_ ROSE-FLOWER.) Sister. Friend. When you reach Sidon, greet the King, my father, And give him this, and bid him consecrate A stone for me. Now go. The gods go with you. [_The_ MAIDENS _go_.

I will prepare myself for burial, Since but a little time remains to me. There is the dust of Jehu’s charioting; The two Assyrian stallions which we gave him Coming to end my house. But first, those women. Hush! All is still. They must have reached the stable. That woman spoke the truth, the way was clear. There is no noise of men arresting them. The guards are still. Thus far they must be safe. There is no sound; and see, those men are quiet. O gods, send messengers to make them safe! Ay, there they go, on horseback. They are free. Now let me pray. “O thou great fire of life, Of whom all lives of men are but the sparks, Take back this spark into the fire that burns In the great sun, in all the lesser suns, In the suns’ moons, and everything that lives In wild blood, and the pushing of the spring; And if my ways were darkness, give me darkness, And if my ways were brightness, give me light.” Now I will decorate myself for death, As once before, when I was crowned a bride Here to the King. First, with this pencil, I Darken my brows, because they go to death. And make my eyes bright, since I join my husband And go again to look upon my sons. Next I will set this scarlet on my lips, And on my cheek, lest men should think me pale And say that I, the Queen, am pale from fear. Now I will draw Queen Helen’s robe about me. This golden bird is Helen’s very hair That Paris kissed in Troy, my father told me. Lastly, I will make consecrate my hair With royal gold, for I will die a Queen. Now am I as the beauty that I was, When in my father’s palace near the sea The princes of the Islands came to court me, Phorbas, and Kreon, and Andemakos, Kings of the Islands, bright-eyed from the sea, Men who had gone as strangers to strange lands, And there made friends by something kindling in them: Not like this Queen whom once they courted there. Where are they now, those men who loved me once? Perhaps alive still in their island homes. Decked with the precious things of half the world, And thinking of me sometimes, as men do Think of old loves long over utterly. And Tsor of Mura, whom I might have married, Had I been wise. He will still think of me. Now will I bare my throat that they may kill me. How the blood beats that soon will cease to beat! Poor servant blood, that kept this flesh alive Knowing not why, and now shall serve no more This captive soul that was an earthly Queen. And I without this servant shall not know The hour of pain, the sleepless night, the day Anxious as fever with this troublous world; Shall know, it may be, nothing more forever, Or know, it may be, all things burningly, Know god the spirit as a lover would. Now I will look if those who come to kill Are on their way. (_Goes to window._) O prison of a city Which I have hated! Little evil lanes, Filthy with dogs and lepers and blind men Made eyeless by the flies. O nest of vipers, Within few moments I shall pass from you. Once an Egyptian told me that at death The soul has power to will its resting-place: So do I will that I be far from here, At Sidon on a hilltop near the sea, Looking at Kittim at a sun-setting, When all the peaks rise up like crowns of gods And flame with the gods’ thoughts. And past those peaks, Beyond, in the imagined, never seen, Behind its reef of rocks, and beautiful With marble and with wonders and with waters, Is Mura, where my lover was a King. But hark, they come. I would go forth to Sidon. To Sidon, or to Kittim, or to Mura, Some place of the sea-princes near the sea. I would go forth to Sidon or to Mura, To Mura, or to Sidon, or to Kittim--- (_She sings._) The April moon is in the sky, Last night I heard the wild geese cry. _Oh, ho!_

The brooks are bright on Lebanon, The rain has come, the snows are gone. _Oh, ho!_

The north wind faints and soon the south Will blow the spice smell in the mouth. _Oh, ho!_

Then shall my bird the ship take wing And sail the green seas with the King, And find, maybe, a finer thing Than any here. _Oh, ho!_

_Enter_ PHARMAS _and_ ASHOBAL.

PHARMAS.

Madam, King Jehu and his men are come: They ask to see you at the window yonder.

JEHU (_outside._)

Come out, you Jezebel, and taste God’s judgment, So that this land which you have wrecked may find Some little peace!

JEZEBEL.

Had Zimri peace Who killed his master?

JEHU.

Let me see this whore! (_He clambers up to look in._) And who is with her? (_Speaks to_ PHARMAS _and_ ASHOBAL.) Who is on my side? Who of you men within are for King Jehu?

PHARMAS _and_ ASHOBAL.

We are, great King!

JEHU.

Then throw her down to me. Seize her and throw her down

ASHOBAL _and_ PHARMA (_together._)

Down with you, Mistress (_Throw her down._)

JEHU.

Get up, you horses. Would you shrink from flesh? Tread her; come up, you; over her; once more. Tread her again. I’ll teach you who is master. Ride over her, you fellows, every one. Ride over her and trample on her body; Let the beasts kick her. That’s the way. Again. You tread the harlot who has wrecked this land. Come here and hold my horses, one of you. Give me a hand, you men, and let me in.

_Enter_ JEHU (_by the window_).

That’s made an end of her, the filthy witch!

PHARMAS.

I stabbed her with a knife before I threw her.

JEHU.

You, did you? Well, then fetch me wine to drink, In the King’s cup, by God. So. Give it here. (_Drinks._) I needed drink after this day of fighting. A hot day’s work, but, by the living God, To-morrow shall be hotter. Ahab’s sons, And Ahab’s friends, and Ahab’s ministers Shall have their heads in baskets by to-morrow. Where is this man who says he killed the Queen?

PHARMAS.

Here, mighty King.

JEHU.

Go, find the cursed hag And bury up her carrion in the earth, For after all she was a King’s daughter. [_Exit_ PHARMAS.

JEHU (_sings_).

_Oh, out in the desert my bow and my spear Shall win me whatever I need, Another man’s tent, and another man’s gear, And another man’s...._

Fill me more wine. Go to the window yonder. Halt. As you were. I’ll go myself. You, fellow. You fellow, there. Is the Queen’s body there? What does he say?

ASHOBAL.

He says that the wild dogs have torn the body.

JEHU.

Good enough end and fitting burial for her. Now I have sacrifice to do to Baal. By God, a lusty sacrifice! By God, These damned idolaters shall learn the truth! None of your knives on me. [_Goes out._

[_The_ SERVANTS _and_ MEN _go out_.

_Enter_ MICAIAH (_from in front_).

MICAIAH.

She was too good a woman to be Queen In such a land as this, at such a time. Would she had gone! Her women have escaped. And I am freed from prison by the rabble.

Wisdom is gone from the city, The killer alone is obeyed, A man without law, without pity, Who was fed by the King he betrayed. The debt that was owing is paid, By a new deed of murder that cries To the gods who are Kings in the skies. Though the ways of the gods are most wise, They are dark, they make me afraid.

CURTAIN.

Transcriber’s Notes

Simple typographical errors were corrected.

Page 52: Transcriber added “are” to “But there are other laws which do persist”, as its omission seems to be a typographical error, and it was found in other books containing this play.

Page 71: “And of both the men who had me neither knew me” ended with an em dash in a different copy of this play.

Page 99: “Agammemnon” was printed that way in this edition.

Page 112: “I am not terrified.” ended with a question mark in the source book, but should end with a period, as it does in this eBook.