ACTUS QUARTUS 1
JASON.
Perhaps.
It were their kiss.
MEDEA.
Are not my kisses sweet?
JASON.
Listen, they sing. This time the words ring true,
Sailing across that blue abyss between.
Like young birds winging their bright flight the notes
Glimmer across the sea.
MEDEA.
They sing, they sing!
PARTHENOPE.
O mortal, tossed on life’s unceasing ocean,
Whose waves of joy and sorrow never cease,
Eternal change—one changeless thing, commotion !
Even in death no hint of calm and peace!—
Here is the charm, the life-assuaging potion,
Here is a better home for thee than Greece!
Come, lover, to my deep, soft, sleepy breast!
Here is thy rest!
O mortal, sad is life! But in my kisses
Thou may’st forget its fever-parchéd thirst.
Age, death, and sorrow fade in slender blisses:
My swoon of love drinks up the draught accurst.
And all thy seasons grow as sweet as this is,
One constant summer in sleep’s bosom nursed.