Accept my thanks, dear dame, before I go, For this rich treasure thou hast given me.
(Stands up and departs; Felix and Dame Felicia go into the house.)
I feel the health that such a picture brings Into my soul, and how to all my thoughts It can restore the forces they had lost. Simple the tale unfolded by the dame, And yet it rouseth powers of thought in me That carry me away to worlds unknown.... Therefore will I in this fair solitude Myself to dreams abandon, which so oft Have sought to usher thoughts into my soul, Thoughts which have proved themselves of higher worth Than many a fruit of weeks of close research.
(He disappears behind some thick bushes. Enter Johannes, sunk in deep thought.)
Was this some dream, or was it truth indeed? I cannot bear the words my friend just spake In calm serenity and yet so firm About our separation which must come. Would I might think it was but worldly sense, That sets itself against the spirit's trend, And, like a mirage, stands between us twain. I cannot, and I will not let the words Of warning which Maria spake to me Thus quench the sounding voice of mine own soul Which says 'I love her,' says it night and day. Out of the fountain of my love alone Springs that activity for which I crave. What value hath my impulse to create Or yet my outlook on high spirit-aims If they would rob me of that very light Which can alone irradiate myself? In this illumination must I live, And if it is to be withdrawn from me Then shall my choice be death for evermore. I feel my forces fail me at this hour As soon as I would set myself to think; It must be that I wander o'er a path Whereon her light sheds not its radiant beam.
A mist begins to form before mine eyes Which shrouds the marvels o'er, which used to make These woods, these cliffs a glory to mine eyes,-- A fearful dream mounts from abysmal depths-- Which shakes me through and through with fear and dread--
O get thee gone from me;--I yearn to be Alone to dream my individual dreams; In them at least I still can fight and strive To win back that which now seems lost to me.
He will not go;--then will I fly from him.
(He feels as if he were rooted to the ground.)
What are the bonds that hold me prisoner And chain me, as with fetters, to this place?