Oedipus
Ah me! ah woe is me!
Ah whither am I borne!
How like a ghost forlorn
My voice flits from me on the air!
On, on the demon goads. The end, ah where?
Chorus
An end too dread to tell, too dark to see.
Oedipus
Dark, dark! The horror of darkness, like a shroud,
Wraps me and bears me on through mist and cloud.
Ah me, ah me! What spasms athwart me shoot.
What pangs of agonising memory?
Chorus
No marvel if in such a plight thou feel’st
The double weight of past and present woes.
Oedipus
Ah friend, still loyal, constant still and kind,
Thou carest for the blind.
I know thee near, and though bereft of eyes,
Thy voice I recognise.
Chorus
O doer of dread deeds, how couldst thou mar
Thy vision thus? What demon goaded thee?