Welcome below My narrow roof! But have a care withal, A grime of smoke lies deep upon the wall. Soil not thy robe!... Not far now shall it be, The sacrifice God asks of me and thee. The bread of Death is broken, and the knife Lifted again that drank the Wild Bull's life: And on his breast.... Ha, Mother, hast slept well Aforetime? Thou shalt lie with him in Hell. That grace I give to cheer thee on thy road; Give thou to me--peace from my father's blood! [_She follows her mother into the house_. CHORUS. Lo, the returns of wrong. The wind as a changèd thing Whispereth overhead Of one that of old lay dead In the water lapping long: My King, O my King! A cry in the rafters then Rang, and the marble dome: "Mercy of God, not thou, "Woman! To slay me now, "After the harvests ten "Now, at the last, come home!" O Fate shall turn as the tide, Turn, with a doom of tears For the flying heart too fond; A doom for the broken bond. She hailed him there in his pride, Home from the perilous years, In the heart of his wallèd lands, In the Giants' cloud-capt ring; Herself, none other, laid The hone to the axe's blade; She lifted it in her hands, The woman, and slew her king. Woe upon spouse and spouse, Whatso of evil sway Held her in that distress! Even as a lioness Breaketh the woodland boughs Starving, she wrought her way. VOICE OF CLYTEMNESTRA. O Children, Children; in the name of God, Slay not your mother! A WOMAN. Did ye hear a cry Under the rafters? ANOTHER. I weep too, yea, I; Down on the mother's heart the child hath trod! [_A death-cry from within_. ANOTHER. God bringeth Justice in his own slow tide. Aye, cruel is thy doom; but thy deeds done Evil, thou piteous woman, and on one Whose sleep was by thy side! [_The door bursts open, and_ ORESTES _and_ ELECTRA _come forth in disorder. Attendants bring out the bodies of_ CLYTEMNESTRA _and_ AEGISTHUS. LEADER. Lo, yonder, in their mother's new-spilt gore Red-garmented and ghastly, from the door They reel.... O horrible! Was it agony Like this, she boded in her last wild cry? There lives no seed of man calamitous, Nor hath lived, like this seed of Tantalus. ORESTES. O Dark of the Earth, O God, Thou to whom all is plain; Look on my sin, my blood, This horror of dead things twain; Gathered as one they lie Slain; and the slayer was I, I, to pay for my pain! ELECTRA. Let tear rain upon tear, Brother: but mine is the blame. A fire stood over her, And out of the fire I came, I, in my misery.... And I was the child at her knee. 'Mother' I named her name. CHORUS. Alas for Fate, for the Fate of thee, O Mother, Mother of Misery: And Misery, lo, hath turned again, To slay thee, Misery and more, Even in the fruit thy body bore. Yet hast thou Justice, Justice plain, For a sire's blood spilt of yore!