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T. STURGE MOORE
A SICILIAN IDYLL
(FIRST SCENE)
Damon:
I thank thee, no;
Already have I drunk a bowl of wine ...
Nay, nay, why wouldst thou rise?
There rolls thy ball of worsted! Sit thee down;
Come, sit thee down, Cydilla,
And let me fetch thy ball, rewind the wool,
And tell thee all that happened yesterday.
Cydilla:
Thanks, Damon; now, by Zeus, thou art so brisk,
It shames me that to stoop should try my bones.
Damon:
We both are old,
And if we may have peaceful days are blessed;
Few hours of buoyancy will come to break
The sure withdrawal from us of life's flood.
Cydilla:
True, true, youth looks a great way off! To think
It once was age did lie quite out of sight!
Damon:
Not many days have been so beautiful
As yesterday, Cydilla; yet one was;
And I with thee broke tranced on its fine spell;
Thou dost remember? yes? but not with tears,
Ah, not with tears, Cydilla, pray, oh, pray!
Cydilla:
Pardon me, Damon,
'Tis many years since thou hast touched thereon;
And something stirs about thee--
Such air of eagerness as was thine when
I was more foolish than in my life, I hope
To ever have been at another time.
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