David: A Tragedy

_SCENE: The House of MIRIAM, the “Witch of Endor,” by Mount Gilboa--where Saul is encamped against the Philistines. It is of one story, built rectangularly about an inner court, which is dimly lighted._

_Under the gallery which ranges around the court are doors leading to the sleeping and other apartments; before one of these, a lattice. On the left is the gate opening to the street. In the back to one side, the teraphim, or image of divination; on the other side a stairway mounts to the roof. Above is the night, and vague lightning amid a moan of wind. During the act comes dawn._

_Forward on a divan sits MIRIAM alone, in blind restlessness._

Miriam. Adah! The child is sunken in a sleep. Yet would I have her near me in this night, And hear again the boding of her tale. Unto the blind the vision and the awe Of the invisible sway ever in, The shadow of nativities that lead Upon fatality. Girl! Adah! girl!

[_The wind passes._ ADAH _enters from a chamber, rubbing her eyes_.]

Thou art awake?

Adah. I slumbered.

Miriam. Stand you where Fathoming I may feel within you. Now, Again--you’ve hither fled your mistress Merab, In fear of her?

Adah. Yes.

Miriam. At Engeddi Michal By Saul was apprehended? Merab now Plotteth against her--she and Doeg?

Adah. Still.

Miriam. And ’twas in Merab’s tent you heard, the king Despairing of to-morrow’s battle, comes Hither to-night to bid me lift the spirit Of Samuel out of the dead and learn The issue?

Adah. Doeg said it.

Miriam. And--you hear?-- Many within the army urge for David, Would cry him king, if Saul were slain?

Adah. O many.

[_A knock at the gate. They start up fearful._]

Miriam. Who seeks blind Miriam of Endor’s roof, Under the night and unextinguished storm? Come you a friend?

DAVID [_Without._] A friend.

Miriam. As knows my soul!

[_Breathless she opens the gate._ DAVID _and_ ABIATHAR _enter cloaked_.]

Thy voice again!--this blindness of my eyes-- If it be David, speak.

David. Yes, Miriam.

Miriam. David of Jesse, Israel’s desire! Let me behold thee [_Her hands go over him._] with my fingers’ sight, And gather in them touch of thee again! Thy voice is as dream-dulcimers that stir Quivering myrrh of memory and joy-- But, aie! why are you here? You have been _there_?

David. Yes--in the camp of Saul.

Miriam. In spite of death! Do you not know----?

David. I know--that Saul would rather O’ertrample me than a multitude of foes. That it is told him I who shun his ire-- Though death were easier, if dutiful-- Am come up with the Philistines to win The kingdom. That he would slay me though I fought For Israel!--But, Michal!----

Miriam. Aie----

David. What brews? She was not in the camp.

Miriam. Men all are mad! And you who should be never.

David. She is in Some peril.

Miriam. You, in more! And must from here Swiftly away, for Saul is----

David. I must see her.

Miriam. Unholy!

David. Yet unholier were flight.

Miriam. You are the anointed! [_A heavy knock at the gate._] Ah, calamity! You would not heed--’tis Saul!

David. Here?

Miriam. He is come That I shall call up Samuel.

David. You, you-- The awful dead?

Saul. [_Calls._] Woman of Endor!

Miriam. Hide! The lattice yonder!

Saul. Woman of Endor! woman!

[DAVID _and_ ABIATHAR _conceal themselves behind the lattice_. _The knocking, hastier._]

Woman of Endor! Woman of Endor! Woman!

Miriam. Who crieth at my gate?

Saul. Unbar and learn.

Miriam. To danger?

Saul. None.

Miriam. To thieves?

Saul. To rueing if You tarry!

[_She opens the gate._ ADAH _cowers down_. SAUL, ISHUI, _and_ ADRIEL _enter_.]

Miriam. Whom seek you?

Saul. Witch of Endor, you, Who of the fate-revealing dead divine. Out of the Pit you call them!

Miriam. What is this?

Saul. I say that you can lift them!

Miriam. You are come With snaring! knowing well that Saul the king Is woe and bitterness to all who move With incantation.

Saul. He is not.

Miriam. Depart!

Saul. I must have up out of the Awfulness Him I would question.

Miriam. Perilous!

Saul. Prepare Before thy teraphim. No harm, I swear, Shall come of it. Bid Samuel appear. The battle! its event!

Miriam. [_With a cry._] I know thee now! Saul! thou art Saul! the Terror!

Saul. Call him up. Ready is it, the battle--but I am Forsaken of all prophecy and dream, Of voices and of priest and oracle, To augur it.

Miriam. A doom in this!

Saul. He must Hold comfort, and the torrent of despair Within me stay and hush.

Miriam. Then must it be.

[_Turning towards the teraphim amid wind and pallid lightning, and prostrating herself before it._]

Prophet of Israel, who art beyond The troubling and the terrifying grave, Th’ immeasurable moan and melancholy Of ways that win to Sheol--Rise! Arise!

[_She waits. Only the gust. Then springing up and stretching wide her arms with wild, blind eyes._]

Prophet of Israel, arise! Not in The name of Baal, Amon, Ashtoreth, Dagon or all the deities that dream In trembling temples of Idolatry, But of Jehovah! of Jehovah! rise!

[_An elemental cry is heard. Then vast wavering forms rise out of the earth, in continuous stream._ MIRIAM, _with a long curdling shriek, sinks moaning to her knees_.]

Saul. Woman, I cannot--dare not--look upon it. Utter thy sight.

[_The spirit of_ SAMUEL _begins to take shape through the phantoms_.]

Miriam. I saw ascending Forms as of gods in swaying ghostliness, Dim apparitions of a dismal might, And now is one within a mantle clad, Who looketh----

Saul. Samuel!

Miriam. Who looketh with Omniscience in his mien, and all the chill And cling about him of eternity. His eyes impale me!

Saul. Spirit, give me word!

[_He falls heavily to the ground._]

Samuel. [_As afar._] O evil king! and wretched king! why hast Thou brought me from the quietness and rest.

Saul. The battle on the morrow----!

Samuel. Evil thou art For underneath this night thou hast conspired Death to thy daughter Michal--if at dawn The battle shall be lost--lest she may fall Into the hands of David----

DAVID [_In horror._] O!

Ishui. Whose cry?

Samuel. I tell thee, Saul, thy sceptre shrivels fast. The battle shall be lost--it shall be lost.

[_The spirit of_ SAMUEL _disappears_. _A wail of wind._]

Adriel. Ishui, true? Is Michal to be slain?

Ishui. This is no hour for fools and questioning.

Saul. [_Struggling up._] The battle, Ishui, at once command It shall begin! To Jonathan and say it.

[ISHUI _goes_.]

No prophecy shall sink me and no shade. I am the king, and Israel, my own.

[_Frenzied he goes. A silence._]

David. [_Breaking forth._] Michal to die and Israel to fall! Prophet of prophets, Samuel, return!

[ADRIEL _goes_.]

The quivering Quicksands of destiny beneath her stir. Is heaven a mocking shield which ever keeps God from our prayers?

Miriam. David, contain thy heart.

[_A faint uproar begins afar; and dawn._]

David. The battle! on the wind. Abiathar, Speed out upon the mountain-side and cull All that befalls.

[ADAH _opens the gate_. ABIATHAR _goes_.]

Adah. [_Springing back._] Oh!

David. Child, why do you quail?

Adah. My mistress, Merab!

David. Girl?

Adah. I saw her--she Is coming hither! Do not let her--she I fear--I fear her!

David. Hither coming?

[MERAB _throws open the gate and enters_.]

Adah. Oh!

Merab. Woman and witch, did Adriel, my husband, Come to you with the king?

[_She sees_ DAVID _and shrinks_.]

David. Unnatural, Unkind, most cruel sister!

Merab. You are here?

David. Once me you would have poisoned, but the coil Within your bosom I beheld. And now Michal your sister is the victim.

Merab. I-- Know not your meaning.

David. The battle burning yonder, If it adversely veers, the king has planned Michal is not to live, lest she may hap Unto my arms.

Merab. That Michal shall be slain?

[_The tumult again._]

David. Almighty, smite, and save to thee thy people! And save thy altars unto Israel.

[_He bows his head. A stir comes at the gate._]

Merab. David, ’tis Adriel!

Adriel. Ope! open you!

David. At last the word.

Merab. Girl, Adah, draw the bar.

[DAVID _throws a cloak over his face_. ADAH _obeys_. ADRIEL _enters, and_ DOEG, _who pauses in quick alarm, as_ DAVID _goes between him and the gate_.]

Doeg. What place is this? Why do you bar that gate? Merab, ’tis you? Why do you gaze, rigid? And this is the blind witch, Miriam?

David. It is.

[_He throws off his cloak._]

Doeg. Lured? I am snared? a trap?

David. Where have you Michal?

Doeg. [_Drawing._] No closer!

David. If she is an atom harmed----! Where is she?

Doeg. I was the servant of the king, I but obeyed him.

David. And thy horrible heart. Then speak, or unto frenzy I am driven.

Doeg. I’ll drive you there with----

[_Breaks off with low laugh._]

David. Tell it!

Doeg. Unto your Soft sympathy--and passion? [_Laughs._] She is dead.

David. [_Immovable, then repressed._]

If it is so, the lightning, that is wrath Within the veins of God, should sink its fang Into thy bosom and sear out thy heart. If it is so, this momentary calm, This silence pouring overfull the world, Would rush and in thee cry until thy bones Broken of guilt are crumbled in thy groans. Dead, she is dead?

Miriam. No, David, my lord, he lies!

[_Strangely, as in a trance._]

To wound you, lies!

David. Not dead?

Miriam. I see her eyes!

[_All listen amazed._]

I see her in a vision. She is near-- Is in a cave--is bound--and is alone. I will go to her--quickly bring her.

Doeg. Not

[_Lunges at her._]

If this shall reach you.

David. Ah, to pierce a woman!

[MIRIAM _finds her way out_.]

You’ve plotted, false have been and bloody, foul, And as a pestilence of midnight marsh Have oozed corruption into all around you. The kingdom thro’ you is in brokenness, Within its arteries you flow, poison, Incentive of irruption and unrest, Of treachery and disaffection’s sore, Till even the stars of truest ray seem tares Sown hostile o’er the nightly vale of heaven.

[_Drawing firmly, he coldly, skilfully approaches for attack._]

Doeg. [_Retreating._] No further!

David. Unto the end!

[_He rushes in, they engage._ DOEG _is wounded, recovers, defends furiously, then is disarmed and forced under_.]

Thy villainy is done.

[_The gate opens and_ ABIATHAR _hurries in_.]

Abiathar. David, the battle----

[_He sees_ DOEG _and stops_.]

David. Fetter him.

Abiathar. Only fetter? [_His dagger out._] The murderer Of priestly sanctity and of my father?

David. Abiathar! You know obedience?

[ABIATHAR _sullenly sheathes his weapon and binds_ DOEG. _A dim panic is heard afar, and a lament without._ DAVID, _who has sunk to a seat, springs anxiously up_.]

Listen! that cry!

The Voice. Woe! woe!

David. What is its wail?

The Voice. The battle’s lost!

David. Abiathar----?

The Voice. Saul flees!

David. Abiathar, is lost?

Abiathar. I fear it.

David. Then [_Pointing to_ DOEG.] Off with his armor for me, I will go Forth and perchance may backward bend defeat. Duty to Saul is over.

Adriel. You must not. A fruitless intrepidity it were.

Abiathar. Remember your anointing!

Adriel. The prophesy!

[MIRIAM _enters leading_ MICHAL. _A moment’s suspense._]

Merab. See!

Adriel. See!

Merab. She liveth!

Miriam. David----

MICHAL [_Pleading to him._]

It is I.

Miriam. The cords were cruel, hungrily sank in Her wrists and ankles.

Michal. David, look on me.

David. My words must be alone with her--alone.

Adriel. Come, all of you--the battle.

[_They go out the gate._ DAVID _stands speechless_.]

Michal. David--my lord! I ask not anything but to be heard-- Though once I would not hear. Has all of life No glow for me!

David. Betrayers should have none.

Michal. I was a woman--the entanglement Of duty amid love we have no skill To loosen, but with passion.

David. You too late Remember it is so.

Michal. Nobility All unbelievable it seemed that you Could innocently watt on time to tide You to the kingdom. Then forgive, I plead.

David. But in the wilderness, your perfidy!

Michal. Doubt of it welleth thro’ your voice. No, no, To save you strove I----!

David. Michal?

Michal. Not to betray! From Saul, my father, penitent I fled, Seeking you in Engeddi’s wild.

David. And Phalti?

Michal. ’Twas wedding him I loathed.

David. Say true!

Michal. This knife Unfailingly into my breast had spared Me from him, had not flight.

David. This--this can be?

[_A great joy dawning in him._]

Beyond all hope is it, even as day’s Wide empery outspans our littleness.

[_Goes toward her._]

A tithing of thy loveliness were beauty Enough for earth. Yet it is mine, is mine?

Michal. David--forever! long as odorous Cooling o’er Lebanon shall blow, long as The swinging sapphire of the sea shall flash Up to the sun: until the soul no more Is soul, but vapor!

David. Michal!

Michal. Evermore!

[_She sinks into his arms, and there is a pause. But a sudden confusion of cries is heard and they start apart. The gate is flung back and_ ADRIEL _enters, shaken with awe. He looks from one to the other, silent_.]

DAVID [_At last._] Adriel! What have you!

Adriel. Saul … is slain!

Michal. My father?

Adriel. Slain! And Jonathan----

David. No!

Adriel. Fell beside him down. The fray was fast--Israel fled--the foe Fierce after Saul, whom Jonathan defended.

Michal. My father!

David. And my brother Jonathan! If I believe it will not miracle Alone bring joy again unto my pain?

[_The wailing again without, and deeper groans._]

O Israel, the Infinite has touched Thy glory and it changes to a shroud! Thy splendor is as vintage overspilt. For Saul upon the mountains low is lying, And Jonathan beside him, beautiful Beyond the mar of battle, and of death.

[_He bows his head in tears._]

O kingly Jonathan, would I might give The beating of my life into your veins-- Willing for it would I be drouth and die. How are the mighty fallen and the fair!

[_With lifted arm, deeply moved._]

Peaks, mountains of Gilboa, let no more Dew be upon you, and as sackcloth let Clouds cover you, and ashes be your soil, Until I bring upon Philistia And Gath and Askalon extinguishing, And sorrow--and immensity of tears!

[MICHAL _goes to him and takes his hand. He folds her in his arms._]

But we must calm the flowing of this grief. Though yet we cannot mind us to remember Love will as sandal-breath and trickling balm O’erheal us in the unbegotten years, Too headlong must not be our agony. Hush now thy woundedness, my Michal, now. See, o’er the East the lifted wings of dawn.

[_Slowly they climb the stair to the house-top. At they look away toward the battle’s rout the clouds part, and the full brightness of the sun breaks over them._]

[_CURTAIN._]