Classic Poem

edmund:Some officers take them away: good guard,
Until their greater pleasures first be known
That are to censure them.
cordelia:We are not the first
Who, with best meaning, have incurr'd the worst.
For thee, oppressed king, am I cast down;
Myself could else out-frown false Fortune's frown.
Shall we not see these daughters and these sisters?
lear:No, no, no, no! Come, let's away to prison;
We two alone will sing like birds i' the cage:
When thou dost ask me blessing, I'll kneel down,
And ask of thee forgiveness: so we'll live,
And pray, and sing, and tell old tales, and laugh
At gilded butterflies, and hear poor rogues
Talk of court news; and we'll talk with them too,
Who loses and who wins; who's in, who's out;
And take upon 's the mystery of things,
As if we were God's spies: and we'll wear out,
In a wall'd prison, packs and sets of great ones
That ebb and flow by the moon.
edmund:Take them away.
Enter LEAR, with CORDELIA dead in his arms.

lear:Howl, howl, howl, howl! O! you are men of stones:
Had I your tongues and eyes, I'd use them so
That heaven's vaults should crack. She's gone for ever.
I know when one is dead, and when one lives;
She's dead as earth. Lend me a looking-glass;
If that her breath will mist or stain the stone,
Why, then she lives.
kent:Is this the promis'd end?
edgar:Or image of that horror?
albany:Fall, and cease!
lear:This feather stirs; she lives! if it be so,
It is a chance which does redeem all sorrows
That ever I have felt.
kent:[Kneeling.] O my good master!
lear:Prithee, away.
edgar:'Tis noble Kent, your friend.
lear:A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!
I might have sav'd her; now, she's gone for ever!
Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!
What is 't thou sayst? Her voice was ever soft,
Gentle and low, an excellent thing in woman.