Fragment V
292 Words
Fragment VHow I went home that day, what happened after that, I cannot tell thee, for my memory is veiled by a cloud; nor can I tell thee what thoughts and tumults raged in my breast, all the while that for the next few days I was at my work. Thy mother had lost all her gaiety. I never now heard the sweet, bird-like tones of her voice; her laughter seemed buried within her, and worse t*****e than I can describe was the coldness of her kiss.
And yet I trusted her implicitly; I knew that my honor and hers were safe in her tiny hands; but the love she had borne me for five years, the love that was the star, the happiness of my existence, that had gone from me for ever. She had given it to the brilliant stranger, the high and mighty prince, who had conquered the Bedouins, the Phoenicians and the Lybians, and not content with all this glory, had added one more leaf, and that a humble one, to his victorious crown.
Then, at night, I could not rest, and I would wander out, far out of the city towards the sacred Nile, whose cradle thou rockest, oh, holy mother, Isis! and there, left face to face with thy holy image that illumines the night, I prayed to thee during those lonely vigils. Oh! I how I prayed that thou might'st give me back that most priceless treasure thy godlike hand can give, a wife's love. But, Isis, thou would'st not listen!
No wonder that, in all this trouble, my body, like unto my soul, began to ache. I did not sleep, I could not eat, my hand began to lose its skill, and I grew weary beyond measure.
––––––––
- Writer
