The Blood of Rachel, a Dramatization of Esther, and Other Poems. Cotton Noe

Because my face is fair to look upon!

       I do not doubt his tongue is eloquent;

       The fiery phrase is his! Why, often I

       Have heard him praise his horse in language that

       Seemed kindled at the altar of the gods.

       It may be that he holds me higher than

       His hundred concubines.

      Meheuman

      Your majesty,

       The king does hold his queen a goddess.

      Vashti

      Well,

       Perhaps he thinks himself divine. Go tell

       The king I do not wish to be enrolled

       Among divinities. I am the queen—

       He must respect me as the one who wears

       The Persian crown.

       'Tis scarce three years since he

       Began to reign. He was Darius' son—

       A king of whom the world was proud. He wooed

       Me as a prince of noble blood, and I

       Received his hand with dignity as well

       As love. I was a princess, but I had

       A heart. Long since I found that he had none.

       A hundred eighty days continuous feast

       He has oppressed the people of his rule

       With drunken revels and with wanton waste.

       And now to crown his sensuality

       He sends his vulgar chamberlains to bring

       Me to his palace garden that his lords

       May gaze with unchaste eyes upon my form.

       Meheuman, Biztha, will you tell the king

       That Vashti bids him come to her if he

       Would see the queen.

      Meheuman

      You understand

       The costly hangings of the garden court

       Are blue and green and white?

      Vashti

      Now pray you what

       Significance has that? What if each couch

       Is gold and silver and each goblet set

       With stones?

      Meheuman

      The king's great love for Vashti!

      Vashti

      Then

       He has prepared this banquet for his queen?

       And does he think this is an evidence

       Of love. It rather means the king's debauched.

       I will not be a party to his sin.

      Meheuman

      The etiquette of court commands you to

       Obey.

      Vashti

      Commands! Well, has it come to that?

       But I will not obey. I am a queen!

       Here! Take this purple robe and coronet,

       And tell Ahasuerus to adorn

       Some harlot of his harem. She will grace

       The queenship of his kingdom better than

       A pure and modest wife.

      Abagtha

      You do not know

       The meaning of your words!

      Vashti

      Abagtha, why

       Do you admonish me? Do I not know

       The forfeit? Chamberlains, this message take

       Licentious Xerxes from his virtuous queen:

       I do not fear his wrath. I will not come

       At his command. I have a royal heart

       And will not thus disgrace the Persian throne.

       The king that's halfway worthy of my hand

       Would hate the queen that yielded to his lust.

       My heart, O chamberlains, is broken, not

       That Vashti's crown is lost, but oh, to see

       The regal name of Persia brought so low!

       I weep. The tears are for my country. Go!

      [Exeunt Vashti, Abagtha, etc.]

      [Curtain is lowered to denote the passage of six years.]

      Scene II

      [Outer hall in palace. Throne room back concealed by curtain. Queen Esther, disguised by loose dress thrown over royal robe and head and face below the eyes hidden by mask, approaches the door where Mordecai, the Jew, is standing.]

      Mordecai

      Ah, Esther! Though your queenly robe you do

       Conceal, I know that regal gait. Before

       I ever looked upon these palace walls,

       When you were yet a little child beyond

       The purple peaks, where shepherds led their flocks

       In pastures green, I often dreamed that you

       Would one day wear a golden coronet

       And sit in majesty upon a throne.

      Esther

      [Dejectedly.]

      Four years I have been queen, which time I have

       Not heard the voice of any one I love;

       And though disguised, I hardly dare to speak

       My heart even to you. This palace is

       A gloomy prison cell. The Persian crown

       Is meaningless to me. The hundred gems

       That blaze upon its field of gold are dull

       And heavy lead. I would exchange it all

       For but a glint of sunshine on the hills

       Where I was born. But why this interview?

      Mordecai

      My royal niece, I know that you are queen.

      Esther

      A queen? But what of that? Though of my blood,

       You can not even look upon my face.

       What would you have?

      [Wailing without.]

      Mordecai

      My daughter, do you hear

       The cries of anguish that disturb the peace

       Of Shushan's streets? Your people everywhere

       Are clothed in sackcloth. Read the king's decree!

      [Handing her paper.]

      Esther

      [Reads.]

      "It has been written and commanded by

       Ahasuerus, emperor of all

       The East, and sealed in every tongue with his

       Own ring—the royal seal—that governors

       And princes and lieutenants, everyone

       Within the Persian rule, shall make and cause

       To die and perish every Jew, both