Telling them what they first must do,
Before they dare presume to go,
Alive, within the realm of woe.--
[Aside.] Let not this enemy subdue
My soul, O Lord!
LUIS [aside]. My hopes are fair.
Let me not feel, O Lord! the anguish of despair,
Seeing before my startled sight
My greatest, deepest crime arise;
Let not the fiend my soul that tries,
Subdue me in this dreadful fight.
POLONIA [aside]. 'Gainst what a powerful foe must I defend
Myself to-day!
LUIS. You do not speak.
POLONIA. Attend.
LUIS. With quicker speed your story tell,
For well I know my soul hath need
That I should go with swifter speed!
POLONIA. And me it doth import as well
That you should go away.
LUIS. Agreed.
Now, woman, point the way to where my path doth lead.
POLONIA. No one accompanied can brave
The terrors of this gloomy lake;
And so a skiff you needs must take,
And try alone the icy wave;
Being in that most trying strait
The absolute master of your acts and fate.
Come where within a secret cave
Beside the shore the boat doth lie,
And trusting in the Lord on high,
Embark upon the crystal wave
Of this remote lone inland sea.
LUIS. My life and all I have I place, O Lord! in Thee.
And so I trust me to the bark;
But, O my soul! what sight is here,
A coffin doth the bark appear;
And I upon the waters dark
Alone must cross the icy tide.
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