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Poetry by George Eliot.
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How Lisa Loved the King
by George Eliot.
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Really sweet story, and for another rare instance, told sweetly by George Eliot, whose lines flow much better than her norm.
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"Six hundred years ago, in Dante’s time,
"Before his cheek was furrowed by deep rhyme;
"When Europe, fed afresh from Eastern story,
"Was like a garden tangled with the glory
"Of flowers hand-planted and of flowers air-sown,
"Climbing and trailing, budding and full-blown,
"Where purple bells are tossed amid pink stars,"
....
"Six hundred years ago, Palermo town Kept holiday.
"A deed of great renown, A high revenge, had freed it from the yoke
"Of hated Frenchmen; and from Calpe’s rock
"To where the Bosporus caught the earlier sun,
"’Twas told that Pedro, King of Aragon,
"Was welcomed master of all Sicily,—
"A royal knight, supreme as kings should be
"In strength and gentleness that make high chivalry.
"Spain was the favorite home of knightly grace,
"Where generous men rode steeds of generous race;
"Both Spanish, yet half Arab; both inspired
"By mutual spirit, that each motion fired
"With beauteous response, like minstrelsy
"Afresh fulfilling fresh expectancy."
....
"And in all eyes King Pedro was the king
"Of cavaliers; as in a full-gemmed ring
"The largest ruby, or as that bright star
"Whose shining shows us where the Hyads are.
"His the best genet, and he sat it best;
"His weapon, whether tilting or in rest,
"Was worthiest watching; and his face, once seen,
"Gave to the promise of his royal mien
"Such rich fulfilment as the opened eyes
"Of a loved sleeper, or the long-watched rise
"Of vernal day, whose joy o’er stream and meadow flies."
....
"Whose passion is but worship of that Best
"Taught by the many-mingled creed of each young breast?
"’Twas gentle Lisa, of no noble line,
"Child of Bernardo, a rich Florentine,
"Who from his merchant-city hither came
"To trade in drugs; yet kept an honest fame,
"And had the virtue not to try and sell
"Drugs that had none. He loved his riches well,
"But loved them chiefly for his Lisa’s sake,
"Whom with a father’s care he sought to make
"The bride of some true honorable man,—
"Of Perdicone (so the rumor ran),
"Whose birth was higher than his fortunes were,
"For still your trader likes a mixture fair
"Of blood that hurries to some higher strain
"Than reckoning money’s loss and money’s gain.
"And of such mixture good may surely come:
"Lord’s scions so may learn to cast a sum,
"A trader’s grandson bear a well-set head,
"And have less conscious manners, better bred;
"Nor, when he tries to be polite, be rude instead.
"’Twas Perdicone’s friends made overtures
"To good Bernardo; so one dame assures
"Her neighbor dame, who notices the youth
"Fixing his eyes on Lisa; and, in truth,
"Eyes that could see her on this summer day
"Might find it hard to turn another way.
"She had a pensive beauty, yet not sad;
"Rather like minor cadences that glad
"The hearts of little birds amid spring boughs:
"And oft the trumpet or the joust would rouse
"Pulses that gave her cheek a finer glow,
"Parting her lips that seemed a mimic bow
"By chiselling Love for play in coral wrought,
"Then quickened by him with the passionate thought,
"The soul that trembled in the lustrous night
"Of slow long eyes. Her body was so slight,
"It seemed she could have floated in the sky,
"And with the angelic choir made symphony;
"But in her cheek’s rich tinge, and in the dark
"Of darkest hair and eyes, she bore a mark
"Of kinship to her generous mother-earth,
"The fervid land that gives the plumy palm-trees birth.
"She saw not Perdicone; her young mind
"Dreamed not that any man had ever pined
"For such a little simple maid as she:
"She had but dreamed how heavenly it would be
"To love some hero noble, beauteous, great,
"Who would live stories worthy to narrate,"
....
"Who conquered every thing beneath the sun,
"And somehow, some time, died at Babylon
"Fighting the Moors. For heroes all were good
"And fair as that archangel who withstood
"The Evil One, the author of all wrong,—
"That Evil One who made the French so strong;
"And now the flower of heroes must he be
"Who drove those tyrants from dear Sicily,
"So that her maids might walk to vespers tranquilly.
"Young Lisa saw this hero in the king;
"And as wood-lilies that sweet odors bring
"Might dream the light that opes their modest eyne
"Was lily-odored; and as rites divine,
"Round turf-laid altars, or ’neath roofs of stone,
"Draw sanctity from out the heart alone
"That loves and worships: so the miniature
"Perplexed of her soul’s world, all virgin pure,
"Filled with heroic virtues that bright form,
"Raona’s royalty, the finished norm
"Of horsemanship, the half of chivalry;
"For how could generous men avengers be,
"Save as God’s messengers on coursers fleet?—
"These, scouring earth, made Spain with Syria meet
"In one self-world where the same right had sway,
"And good must grow as grew the blessed day.
"No more: great Love his essence had endued
"With Pedro’s form, and, entering, subdued
"The soul of Lisa, fervid and intense,
"Proud in its choice of proud obedience
"To hardship glorified by perfect reverence.
"Sweet Lisa homeward carried that dire guest,
"And in her chamber, through the hours of rest,
"The darkness was alight for her with sheen
"Of arms, and plumèd helm; and bright between
"Their commoner gloss, like the pure living spring
"’Twixt porphyry lips, or living bird’s bright wing
"’Twixt golden wires, the glances of the king
"Flashed on her soul, and waked vibrations there
"Of known delights love-mixed to new and rare:
"The impalpable dream was turned to breathing flesh,
"Chill thought of summer to the warm close mesh
"Of sunbeams held between the citron-leaves,
"Clothing her life of life. Oh! she believes
"That she could be content if he but knew
"(Her poor small self could claim no other due)
"How Lisa’s lowly love had highest reach
"Of wingèd passion, whereto wingèd speech
"Would be scorched remnants left by mounting flame."
....
"She watched all day that she might see him pass
"With knights and ladies; but she said, “Alas!
"Though he should see me, it were all as one
"He saw a pigeon sitting on the stone
"Of wall or balcony: some colored spot
"His eye just sees, his mind regardeth not.
"I have no music-touch that could bring nigh
"My love to his soul’s hearing. I shall die,
"And he will never know who Lisa was,—
"The trader’s child, whose soaring spirit rose
"As hedge-born aloe-flowers that rarest years disclose.
"“For were I now a fair deep-breasted queen
"A-horseback, with blonde hair, and tunic green,
"Gold-bordered, like Costanza, I should need
"No change within to make me queenly there:
"For they the royal-hearted women are
"Who nobly love the noblest, yet have grace;
"For needy suffering lives in lowliest place,
"Carrying a choicer sunlight in their smile,
"The heavenliest ray that pitieth the vile.
"My love is such, it cannot choose but soar
"Up to the highest; yet forevermore,
"Though I were happy, throned beside the king,
"I should be tender to each little thing
"With hurt warm breast, that had no speech to tell
"Its inward pang; and I would soothe it well
"With tender touch, and with a low soft moan
"For company: my dumb love-pang is lone,
"Prisoned as topaz-beam within a rough-garbed stone.”
"So, inward-wailing, Lisa passed her days.
"Each night the August moon with changing phase
"Looked broader, harder, on her unchanged pain;
"Each noon the heat lay heavier again
"On her despair, until her body frail
"Shrank like the snow that watchers in the vale
"See narrowed on the height each summer morn;
"While her dark glance burnt larger, more forlorn,"
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"Father and mother saw with sad dismay
"The meaning of their riches melt away;
"For without Lisa what would sequins buy?
"What wish were left if Lisa were to die?
"Through her they cared for summers still to come,
"Else they would be as ghosts without a home
"In any flesh that could feel glad desire.
"They pay the best physicians, never tire
"Of seeking what will soothe her, promising
"That aught she longed for, though it were a thing
"Hard to be come at as the Indian snow,
"Or roses that on Alpine summits blow,
"It should be hers. She answers with low voice,
"She longs for death alone—death is her choice;
"Death is the king who never did think scorn,
"But rescues every meanest soul to sorrow born."
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"“What is it, Lisa?”—“Father, I would see
"Minuccio, the great singer; bring him me.”
"For always, night and day, her unstilled thought,
"Wandering all o’er its little world, had sought
"How she could reach, by some soft pleading touch,
"King Pedro’s soul, that she who loved so much,"
....
"Minuccio, entreated, gladly came.
"(He was a singer of most gentle fame,
"A noble, kindly spirit, not elate
"That he was famous, but that song was great;
"Would sing as finely to this suffering child
"As at the court where princes on him smiled.)
"Gently he entered and sat down by her,
"Asking what sort of strain she would prefer,—
"The voice alone, or voice with viol wed;
"Then, when she chose the last, he preluded
"With magic hand, that summoned from the strings
"Ærial spirits, rare yet palpable wings
"That fanned the pulses of his listener,
"And waked each sleeping sense with blissful stir.
"Her cheek already showed a slow, faint blush;
"But soon the voice, in pure, full, liquid rush,
"Made all the passion, that till now she felt,
"Seem but as cooler waters that in warmer melt.
"Finished the song, she prayed to be alone
"With kind Minuccio; for her faith had grown
"To trust him as if missioned like a priest
"With some high grace, that, when his singing ceased,
"Still made him wiser, more magnanimous,
"Than common men who had no genius.
"So, laying her small hand within his palm,
"She told him how that secret, glorious harm
"Of loftiest loving had befallen her;
"That death, her only hope, most bitter were,
"If, when she died, her love must perish too
"As songs unsung, and thoughts unspoken do,
"Which else might live within another breast."
....
"He sought a poet-friend, a Siennese,
"And “Mico, mine,” he said, “full oft to please
"Thy whim of sadness I have sung thee strains
"To make thee weep in verse: now pay my pains,
"And write me a canzòn divinely sad,
"Sinlessly passionate, and meekly mad
"With young despair, speaking a maiden’s heart
"Of fifteen summers, who would fain depart
"From ripening life’s new-urgent mystery,—
"Love-choice of one too high her love to be,—
"But cannot yield her breath till she has poured
"Her strength away in this hot-bleeding word,
"Telling the secret of her soul to her soul’s lord.”
"Said Mico, “Nay, that thought is poesy,
"I need but listen as it sings to me.
"Come thou again to-morrow.” The third day,
"When linked notes had perfected the lay,
"Minuccio had his summons to the court,
"To make, as he was wont, the moments short
"Of ceremonious dinner to the king.
"This was the time when he had meant to bring
"Melodious message of young Lisa’s love;
"He waited till the air had ceased to move
"To ringing silver, till Falernian wine
"Made quickened sense with quietude combine;
"And then with passionate descant made each ear incline."
.....
"Love, thou didst see me, light as morning’s breath,
"Roaming a garden in a joyous error,
"Laughing at chases vain, a happy child,
"Till of thy countenance the alluring terror
"In majesty from out the blossoms smiled,"
....
"Tell him, O Love, I am a lowly maid,
"No more than any little knot of thyme
"That he with careless foot may often tread;
"Yet lowest fragrance oft will mount sublime
"And cleave to things most high and hallowèd,
"As doth the fragrance of my life’s springtime,
"My lowly love, that, soaring, seeks to climb
"Within his thought, and make a gentle bliss,
"More blissful than if mine, in being his:
"So shall I live in him, and rest in Death."
"The strain was new. It seemed a pleading cry,
"And yet a rounded, perfect melody,
"Making grief beauteous as the tear-filled eyes
"Of little child at little miseries.
"Trembling at first, then swelling as it rose,
"Like rising light that broad and broader grows,
"It filled the hall, and so possessed the air,
"That not one living, breathing soul was there,
"Though dullest, slowest, but was quivering
"In Music’s grasp, and forced to hear her sing.
"But most such sweet compulsion took the mood
"Of Pedro (tired of doing what he would)."
....
"He called Minuccio, and bade him tell
"What poet of the day had writ so well;
"For, though they came behind all former rhymes,
"The verses were not bad for these poor times.
"“Monsignor, they are only three days old,”
"Minuccio said; “but it must not be told
"How this song grew, save to your royal ear.”
"Eager, the king withdrew where none was near,
"And gave close audience to Minuccio,
"Who meetly told that love-tale meet to know."
....
"He answered without pause, “So sweet a maid,
"In Nature’s own insignia arrayed,
"Though she were come of unmixed trading blood
"That sold and bartered ever since the flood,
"Would have the self-contained and single worth
"Of radiant jewels born in darksome earth.
"Raona were a shame to Sicily,
"Letting such love and tears unhonored be:
"Hasten, Minuccio, tell her that the king
"To-day will surely visit her when vespers ring.”
"Joyful, Minuccio bore the joyous word,
"And told at full, while none but Lisa heard,"
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"She listened till the draughts of pure content
"Through all her limbs like some new being went—
"Life, not recovered, but untried before,
"From out the growing world’s unmeasured store
"Of fuller, better, more divinely mixed."
....
"She asked to have her soft white robe and band
"And coral ornaments; and with her hand
"She gave her long dark locks a backward fall,
"Then looked intently in a mirror small,
"And feared her face might, perhaps, displease the king:
"“In truth,” she said, “I am a tiny thing:
"I was too bold to tell what could such visit bring.”
"Meanwhile the king, revolving in his thought
"That innocent passion, was more deeply wrought
"To chivalrous pity; and at vesper-bell,
"With careless mien which hid his purpose well,
"Went forth on horseback, and, as if by chance
"Passing Bernardo’s house, he paused to glance
"At the fine garden of this wealthy man,
"This Tuscan trader turned Palermitan;
"But, presently dismounting, chose to walk
"Amid the trellises, in gracious talk
"With this same trader, deigning even to ask
"If he had yet fulfilled the father’s task
"Of marrying that daughter, whose young charms
"Himself, betwixt the passages of arms,
"Noted admiringly. “Monsignor, no,
"She is not married: that were little woe,
"Since she has counted barely fifteen years;
"But all such hopes of late have turned to fears;
"She droops and fades, though, for a space quite brief,—
"Scarce three hours past,—she finds some strange relief.”
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"And that same day, ere the sun lay too warm
"On southern terraces, a messenger
"Informed Bernardo that the royal pair
"Would straightway visit him, and celebrate
"Their gladness at his daughter’s happier state,
"Which they were fain to see. Soon came the king
"On horseback, with his barons, heralding
"The advent of the queen in courtly state;
"And all, descending at the garden gate,
"Streamed with their feathers, velvet, and brocade,
"Through the pleached alleys, till they, pausing, made
"A lake of splendor ’mid the aloes gray;
"When, meekly facing all their proud array,
"The white-robed Lisa with her parents stood,
"As some white dove before the gorgeous brood
"Of dapple-breasted birds born by the Colchian flood.
"The king and queen, by gracious looks and speech,
"Encourage her, and thus their courtiers teach
"How, this fair morning, they may courtliest be,
"By making Lisa pass it happily.
"And soon the ladies and the barons all
"Draw her by turns, as at a festival
"Made for her sake, to easy, gay discourse,
"And compliment with looks and smiles enforce;
"A joyous hum is heard the gardens round;
"Soon there is Spanish dancing, and the sound
"Of minstrel’s song, and autumn fruits are pluckt;
"Till mindfully the king and queen conduct
"Lisa apart to where a trellised shade
"Made pleasant resting. Then King Pedro said,—
"“Excellent maiden, that rich gift of love
"Your heart hath made us hath a worth above
"All royal treasures, nor is fitly met
"Save when the grateful memory of deep debt
"Lies still behind the outward honors done:
"And as a sign that no oblivion
"Shall overflood that faithful memory,
"We while we live your cavalier will be;"
....
"But there still rests the outward honor meet
"To mark your worthiness; and we entreat
"That you will turn your ear to proffered vows
"Of one who loves you, and would be your spouse
"We must not wrong yourself and Sicily
"By letting all your blooming years pass by
"Unmated: you will give the world its due
"From beauteous maiden, and become a matron true.”
"Then Lisa, wrapt in virgin wonderment
"At her ambitious love’s complete content,
"Which left no further good for her to seek
"Than love’s obedience, said, with accent meek,—
"“Monsignor, I know well that were it known
"To all the world how high my love had flown,
"There would be few who would not deem me mad,
"Or say my mind the falsest image had
"Of my condition and your loftiness.
"But Heaven has seen that for no moment’s space
"Have I forgotten you to be the king,
"Or me myself to be a lowly thing—
"A little lark, enamoured of the sky,
"That soared to sing, to break its breast, and die.
"But, as you better know than I, the heart
"In choosing chooseth not its own desert,
"But that great merit which attracteth it:
"’Tis law, I struggled, but I must submit,
"And having seen a worth all worth above,
"I loved you, love you, and shall always love."
"But that doth mean, my will is ever yours,
"Not only when your will my good insures,
"But if it wrought me what the world calls harm:
"Fire, wounds, would wear from your dear will a charm.
"That you will be my knight is full content,
"And for that kiss,—I pray, first, for the queen’s consent.”
"Her answer, given with such firm gentleness,
"Pleased the queen well, and made her hold no less
"Of Lisa’s merit than the king had held.
"And so, all cloudy threats of grief dispelled,
"There was betrothal made that very morn
"’Twixt Perdicone, youthful, brave, well-born,
"And Lisa whom he loved; she loving well
"The lot that from obedience befell.
"The queen a rare betrothal ring on each
"Bestowed, and other gems, with gracious speech.
"And, that no joy might lack, the king, who knew
"The youth was poor, gave him rich Ceffalù
"And Cataletta,—large and fruitful lands,—
"Adding much promise when he joined their hands.
"At last he said to Lisa, with an air
"Gallant yet noble, “Now we claim our share
"From your sweet love, a share which is not small;
"For in the sacrament one crumb is all.”
"Then, taking her small face his hands between,
"He kissed her on the brow with kiss serene,—
"Fit seal to that pure vision her young soul had seen.
"And many witnessed that King Pedro kept
"His royal promise. Perdicone stept
"To many honors honorably won,
"Living with Lisa in true union.
"Throughout his life, the king still took delight
"To call himself fair Lisa’s faithful knight;
"And never wore in field or tournament
"A scarf or emblem, save by Lisa sent.
"Such deeds made subjects loyal in that land;
"They joyed that one so worthy to command,
"So chivalrous and gentle, had become
"The king of Sicily, and filled the room
"Of Frenchmen, who abused the Church’s trust,
"Till, in a righteous vengeance on their lust,
"Messina rose, with God, and with the dagger’s thrust."
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October 03, 2021 - October 03, 2021.
Purchased January 21, 2021.
Kindle Edition, 58 pages
Published March 24th 2011
(first published 1869)
Original Title
How Lisa Loved The King
ASIN:- B004TRGU5E
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4269918681
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