The Complete Works of William Shakespeare In Plain and Simple English (Translated) (28 page)

I am the cygnet to this pale faint swan

Who chants a doleful hymn to his own death,

And from the organ-pipe of frailty sings

His soul and body to their lasting rest.

The deceitfulness of sickness! When you reach

these outer limits you do not know you're there.

Death, having triumphed over the outer shell,

disappears from it and he now attacks

the mind, which he pricks and wounds

with great throngs of strange fantasies,

which, as they press forward on that last defence,

destroy themselves. It's strange that death should sing.

I am the cygnet of this pale faint swan

who sings a sad hymn for his own death

and with his weak voice sings

his soul and body to their eternal rest.

SALISBURY.

Be of good comfort, Prince; for you are born

To set a form upon that indigest

Which he hath left so shapeless and so rude.

Console yourself, Prince; for you were born

to bring order to this chaos

which he has left so formless and rough.

Re-enter BIGOT and attendants, who bring in

KING JOHN in a chair

KING JOHN.

Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow-room;

It would not out at windows nor at doors.

There is so hot a summer in my bosom

That all my bowels crumble up to dust.

I am a scribbled form drawn with a pen

Upon a parchment, and against this fire

Do I shrink up.

Ah, that's better, now my soul has elbow room;

it can't get out of windows or doors.

There is such a hot summer in my heart

that my bowels crumble into dust.

I am a scribbled picture drawn with a pen

on a parchment, and this fire

shrivels me up.

PRINCE HENRY.

How fares your Majesty?

How is your Majesty?

KING JOHN.

Poison'd-ill-fare! Dead, forsook, cast off;

And none of you will bid the winter come

To thrust his icy fingers in my maw,

Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course

Through my burn'd bosom, nor entreat the north

To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips

And comfort me with cold. I do not ask you much;

I beg cold comfort; and you are so strait

And so ingrateful you deny me that.

Poisoned–bad food! Dead, forsaken, lost;

and none of you will ask the winter to come

and push his icy fingers into my mouth,

or let the rivers of my kingdom run through

my burning heart, nor ask the North

to send his harsh winds to kiss my parched lips

and comfort me with the cold. I'm not asking much from you;

I'm asking for cold comfort; and you are so ungenerous

and so ungrateful that you won't let me have it.

PRINCE HENRY.

O that there were some virtue in my tears,

That might relieve you!

I wish that my tears had some power

to give you relief!

KING JOHN.

The salt in them is hot.

Within me is a hell; and there the poison

Is as a fiend confin'd to tyrannize

On unreprievable condemned blood.

The salt in them is hot.

There is a hell inside me; and the poison

is a devil put in there to attack

the unsaveable condemned blood.

Enter the BASTARD

BASTARD.

O, I am scalded with my violent motion

And spleen of speed to see your Majesty!

Oh, I am boiling with the rush I have had

to charge here to see your Majesty!

KING JOHN.

O cousin, thou art come to set mine eye!

The tackle of my heart is crack'd and burnt,

And all the shrouds wherewith my life should sail

Are turned to one thread, one little hair;

My heart hath one poor string to stay it by,

Which holds but till thy news be uttered;

And then all this thou seest is but a clod

And module of confounded royalty.

Oh cousin, you have come in time to close my eyes!

The ropes of my heart are cracked and burnt,

and all the sails that should drive my life

are hanging by one thread, a tiny hair;

my heart has only one weak string left,

which is holding out only until I can hear your news;

and then what you see will just be a lump of earth,

a counterfeit of destroyed royalty.

BASTARD.

The Dauphin is preparing hitherward,

Where God He knows how we shall answer him;

For in a night the best part of my pow'r,

As I upon advantage did remove,

Were in the Washes all unwarily

Devoured by the unexpected flood.

The Dauphin is coming this way,

and only God knows how we will repel him;

in the night I lost the best part of my forces,

which I was taking the opportunity to move,

and in the Washes they were taken by surprise,

swept away by an unexpected flood.

[The KING dies]

SALISBURY.

You breathe these dead news in as dead an ear.

My liege! my lord! But now a king-now thus.

You are telling this fatal news to a dead man.

My lord!My lord!Just now he was a king, now this.

PRINCE HENRY.

Even so must I run on, and even so stop.

What surety of the world, what hope, what stay,

When this was now a king, and now is clay?

That is how I must carry on, and how I will end.

what guarantee is there in the world, what hope, what support,

when this was once a king, and is now clay?

BASTARD.

Art thou gone so? I do but stay behind

To do the office for thee of revenge,

And then my soul shall wait on thee to heaven,

As it on earth hath been thy servant still.

Now, now, you stars that move in your right spheres,

Where be your pow'rs? Show now your mended faiths,

And instantly return with me again

To push destruction and perpetual shame

Out of the weak door of our fainting land.

Straight let us seek, or straight we shall be sought;

The Dauphin rages at our very heels.

Have you gone?I am only remaining

to take revenge on your behalf,

and then my soul shall be your servant in heaven

as it still is on earth.

Now, you stars that are moving in your correct orbits,

where are your powers? Show me how you have returned to your loyalties,

and come back with me at once

to throw destruction and eternal shame

out of the weak door of our shrinking country.

Let us go hunting at once, or we shall be hunted;

the Dauphin is charging up behind us.

SALISBURY.

It seems you know not, then, so much as we:

The Cardinal Pandulph is within at rest,

Who half an hour since came from the Dauphin,

And brings from him such offers of our peace

As we with honour and respect may take,

With purpose presently to leave this war.

It seems that you don't know what we do:

Cardinal Pandulph is resting inside,

he came from the Dauphin half an hour ago,

and brings offers of peace from him

that we can accept honourably,

and will let us stop this war at once.

BASTARD.

He will the rather do it when he sees

Ourselves well sinewed to our defence.

He will be more agreeable to peace terms

when he sees us strongly prepared for our defence.

SALISBURY.

Nay, 'tis in a manner done already;

For many carriages he hath dispatch'd

To the sea-side, and put his cause and quarrel

To the disposing of the Cardinal;

With whom yourself, myself, and other lords,

If you think meet, this afternoon will post

To consummate this business happily.

No, it's almost done already;

he has sent many carriages down

to the coast, and left his negotiations

in the hands of the cardinal;

you and I and other lords,

if you agree, will meet with him this afternoon

to bring about a happy ending to this business.

BASTARD.

Let it be so. And you, my noble Prince,

With other princes that may best be spar'd,

Shall wait upon your father's funeral.

I agree.And you, my noble Prince,

with the other princes who can best be spared,

will attend to the funeral of your father.

PRINCE HENRY.

At Worcester must his body be interr'd;

For so he will'd it.

He must be buried at Worcester;

that's what he ordered.

BASTARD.

Thither shall it, then;

And happily may your sweet self put on

The lineal state and glory of the land!

To whom, with all submission, on my knee

I do bequeath my faithful services

And true subjection everlastingly.

He'll be taken there then;

your sweet self can happily assume

the title and rule of the country!

In all humilty I offer you on my knees

my faithful service,

and eternal loyalty.

SALISBURY.

And the like tender of our love we make,

To rest without a spot for evermore.

And we all offer you the same love,

to be yours, pure, forever.

PRINCE HENRY.

I have a kind soul that would give you thanks,

And knows not how to do it but with tears.

 I have a kind soul that would like to thank you,

and only knows how to do it with tears.

BASTARD.

O, let us pay the time but needful woe,

Since it hath been beforehand with our griefs.

This England never did, nor never shall,

Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,

But when it first did help to wound itself.

Now these her princes are come home again,

Come the three corners of the world in arms,

And we shall shock them. Nought shall make us rue,

If England to itself do rest but true.

Let's not waste time in excessive mourning,

as we have had so much of that to do already.

This England never has, and never will,

been subjugated by a conqueror,

except when it has first weakened itself.

Now that we are all united once again,

the whole world could attack us at once

and we would thrash them.We shall never have any regrets,

as long as England stays true to itself.