The Tragedy of Mister Morn by Vladimir Nabokov, Thomas Karshan, Anastasia Tolstoy Page A

flames,
    the flyers soared up from all directions, came
    together like crystal swallows, and quietly
    the shimmering flock slipped away. One
    fell behind and froze for a moment above
    the tower, as though he had left his nest there,
    and then unwillingly caught up his sorrowful
    companions,—and all of them melted away
    into a crystal dust in the sky … I realized,
    when they had disappeared, when in my eyes
    swam blinding circles—from the sun—
    I suddenly realized … that I love you …
[ Pause . ELLA looks out of the window .]
    GANUS:
I have
    remembered! … Ella, Ella … How frightening! …
    ELLA:
    No, no, no—keep silent, dear. I look
    at you, I look into the palace garden,
    I look into myself, and now I know
    thatall is one: my love and the raw sun,
    your pale face and the bright trickling icicles
    beneath the roof, the amber spot upon
    the porous sugary snow mound, the raw sun
    and my love, my love …
    GANUS:
I’ve remembered:
    it was ten o’clock, and you left, and I
    could have stopped you … Yet another blind,
    momentary sin …
    ELLA:
I don’t need anything
    from you … Ganus, I will never tell you again.
    And if I told you now, it was only because
    the snow today is so translucent … Really,
    all is well … Days follow days … And then
    I will become a mother … other thoughts
    unwillingly will occupy me. But now,
    you are mine, like the sun! Days will flow
    after days … What do you think—perhaps
    one day … when your sorrow …
    GANUS:
Don’t ask me, Ella!
    I don’t want to even think of love!
    I answer like a woman … Forgive me … But I
    burn with something other, I’m filled with something
    other … I dream only of the austere wings,
    the straight brows of angels. For a while
    I will go to them—away from life, away
    from fires, away from greedy dreams … I know
    a monastery entangled by cool wisteria.
    There I will live; through iridescent glass
    I’ll look on God, listen as the bellows
    of the organ breathe the world’s soul
    up to the triumphant heights, and think
    about vain feats, about a hero who prays
    in the murk of sleeping myrtles, amidst
    the fire-flies of Gethsemane …
    ELLA:
Oh, Ganus …
    I forgot … here, a letter came yesterday …
    addressed to my father, with a note saying
    it’s for you …
    GANUS:
A letter? For me? Show me …
    Ah! I knew it! Don’t …
    ELLA:
So, can I
    tear it up?
    GANUS:
Of course.
    ELLA:
Give it to me …
    GANUS:
Wait …
    I don’t know … that smell … that handwriting,
    which flies headlong into my memory,
    into my soul … Wait! I won’t let it in.
    ELLA:
Well, read it…
    GANUS:
And let it in? Read it? So that
    the old pain can unfurl itself once more?
    Once you asked me, should you go … Now
    I ask you, shall I read it? Shall I?
    ELLA:
I answer: no.
    GANUS:
    You’re right! There! To shreds … And put this heap
    of dried falling stars here … under the table …
    in the basket woven with a coat-of-arms …
    My hands smell of perfume … There … It’s over.
    ELLA:
    Oh, how bright it is today! … The spring
    shines through … Chirruping. The snow is melting.
    There are droplets on the black branches …
    Let’s go, let’s go, for a walk, Ganus? Do you
    want to?
    GANUS:
Yes, Ella, yes! I am free,
    free! Let’s go.
    ELLA:
You wait here … I’ll go
    get dressed … I won’t be long …
[ Leaves .]
    GANUS [ alone, looking out of the window ]:
Yes, truly,
    it is wonderful; a beautiful day! A pigeon
    flew by there … Brightness, dampness … wonderful!
    A workman forgot his spade … Somehow she lives
    out there, at her sister’s, in that distant place …
    Does she know of his death? … Begone, you
    cunning devil! Because of you, I destroyed
    my homeland … Enough! I hate this woman …
    Come back to me, O music of repentance!
    Prayers, prayers … I am free, I am free …
[ Slowly TREMENS and the four REBELS return, with KLIAN behind them .]
    FIRST REBEL:
    Be