# Satanella (1932)/Chapter 5

Prison cell . . . Around black columns Reaching over with their shoulders; On the window-bar sheer cobwebs Flutter with the night-winds breathing.
Echo of the wind falls hither With a groan, and long-drawn sighing As if shadows of men slaughtered Passed in haste across the chamber.
Echoes of the watchman's footsteps Penetrate with deadened sound here, As if dying heart had quivered With its final struggling tempo.
Heavy head on chest reclining All alone sits Roderigo; Storm of thoughts his soul harrassing As a boat tossed on an ocean. Shame and love, with pain and anger, Rays of hope and clouds of doubting, Withered leaves of treasured mem'ries All are twirling in a whirlpool Round his heavy, tired forehead, ​As a flock of crows and jack-daws, Host of owls, bats and buzzards Flying round the weathered turret Of an aged, leaning tower.
But one hope still gives him courage, Is his sunshine in this darkness; He knows well the camping gypsies, Knows their weapons, strength and numbers, And he hopes in this, believing That perhaps with sudden onslaught Or by some ruse, craft'ly plotted They will free their Satanella From the claws of angered people, Who, much like a savage dragon Sitting at a cavern's entrance Waiting for its helpless victim, Night and day, they too are waiting Under Satanella's window Seething mass forever shouting; "Burn at stake the witch of witches!"
That is why, soon after daybreak, Ere the guards changed at the prison, He sent Beppo, childhood comrade, To the gypsies 'twixt the ruins. Since he sent him, he is waiting Stretched upon a rack of doubting, ​Till he hears the door-hinge grating And the thud of heavy footsteps. . .
Beppo entered.—In his features, In the shrug of both his shoulders, In his bosom's heavy sighing, Roderigo read the answer.
Overnight from out the ruins Suddenly the camp had vanished, Not a single clew remaining. Beppo crawled through every cavern, But the peaceful, quiet ruins Just sent back the hollow echo Of his footstep. . . . They fled, no doubt, When they saw the angered people, Fled because they, too, feared capture, Feared the court and feared its sentence.
But his second message further Drew the dark clouds that have hovered Over Roderigo's forehead. Pestilence is further spreading, People rebel more than ever, And rush, full strength toward the castle All demanding in a body To console the angry heavens, That at stake burns Satanella, ​Whose blaspheme against Madonna And against the bishop's monstrance Brought the plague upon the island.
Sadly listened Roderigo, Sadly listened to the message. He no longer cared or thought of His own future, his own being, Satanella's life however, Now to him seemed doubly treasured. Long he sat there, meditating Till at length his friend he spoke to:
"Strike a tune on yon guitar strings, Play for me, though well I know that All the strings have snapped asunder On my heart's guitar forever. Even then, my friend, play for me, And perhaps my dread of future And the past day's bitter anguish I shall bury in your canto."
Beppo strummed the old guitar strings. Queer the song within the prison! Lights and shadows, hell and heaven, Pleasure, torture in it mingle. About life sings faithful comrade; Sings about the heart's first longing, ​Love's embracing, tender kisses, Of young mother's joyous dreaming As she leans o'er baby's cradle. And it sounds like winds abreathing As they slumber in the blossoms, Or relate their olden fables 'twixt the bull rush in the moonlight. About life sings faithful comrade; Sings about fair lady's beauty, Sings about her charms so tempting, Sings of tournaments, carousals, And of serenades at moonlight. And it sounds as hollow metals Or as bugle's joyous flourish, As a song beneath the window, Or in fields the skylark's longing. About life sings faithful comrade; Sings about soul's youthful dreaming, Sings of yearning, futile wishes, Of young days so often squandered, Sings of life, when all its flowers Have been singed by flames of passion. And it sounds as night owls' hooting, As its crying and complaining, As the tempest howls, when autumn Flies through fog across the stubble.
​Song's last strain was not yet ended When the doors were flung wide open And through them, with solemn footsteps Walked the herald of the order. On his chest, to knees extending 'gainst the black a white cross flashes, All about him, bright escutcheons, In one hand, a gold-topped scepter. Just behind him, judge in velvet, Pale of cheek and stern of vision. Following him, knights in armor, Soldiers bearing blazing torches, And within the hallway's darkness Stood the guards—like clouds of tempests.
Forward quick sprang Roderigo, Blood-filled veins rose on his forehead, As he saw 'twixt judge's fingers Shining sheet of crackling parchment. He reached hipwise—but what pity— He forgot there was no sabre, To the heart he reached, then faltered, Fell the hand—then fell the body.
In dead silence judge is reading From the sheet of trembling parchment With an icy voice, the judgment: ​"You have broken rite most sacred, Drew a sword against grand master, With a youthful witch held meetings Secretly, 'gainst holy promise— To your death you have been sentenced. But because you once defended 'gainst the Turk in many battles, Sacred creed and order's honor, Therefore judges changed their sentence. You shall stand with head clear shaven Without cloak and without armour, Round your neck a toughened cordage, To be gazed at by the people. Thus you'll stand and shall behold there When at stake they'll stand and burn her, Satanella, witch of witches. And after her execution You shall spend your life's remainder 'twixt the walls of our castle, Till, with some great deed in battle, You'll efface with your own blood stream Your heart's guilt and our dishonor."
Judges finished and then left him With a solemn stride. . . . Then quiet. . . . Only night now casts its shadows On the wall, o'er floor and corners.
​With a thud snapped one guitar string And its echo met, ere dying Near the vaulted arch, the echo Of the knight's deep heavy sighing. Now they merged, to sound together Through the heart of Roderigo, Sounded through the hall and chamber, Flew betwixt the endless ages, Still resound within my bosom With love's torment, pain and longing, Satanella! Satanella!