Friedrich Schiller - The Maid of Orleans (Act 2 Scene 3) lyrics

TALBOT, BURGUNDY, LIONEL. TALBOT Heavens! What a woman! LIONEL Now, brave generals, Your counsel! Shall we prosecute our flight, Or turn, and with a bold and sudden stroke Wipe out the foul dishonor of to-day? BURGUNDY We are too weak, our soldiers are dispersed, The recent terror still unnerves the host. TALBOT Blind terror, sudden impulse of a moment, Alone occasioned our disastrous rout. This phantom of the terror-stricken brain, More closely viewed will vanish into air. My counsel, therefore, is, at break of day, To lead the army back, across the stream, To meet the enemy. BURGUNDY Consider well—— LIONEL Your pardon! Here is nothing to consider What we have lost we must at once retrieve, Or look to be eternally disgraced. TALBOT It is resolved. To-morrow morn we fight, This dread-inspiring phantom to destroy, Which thus doth blind and terrify the host Let us in fight encounter this she-devil. If she oppose her person to our sword, Trust me, she never will molest us more; If she avoid our stroke—and be a**ured She will not stand the hazard of a battle— Then is the dire enchantment at an end? LIONEL So be it! And to me, my general, leave This easy, bloodless combat, for I hope Alive to take this ghost, and in my arms, Before the ba*tard's eyes—her paramour— To bear her over to the English camp, To be the sport and mockery of the host. BURGUNDY Make not too sure. TALBOT. If she encounter me, I shall not give her such a soft embrace. Come now, exhausted nature to restore Through gentle sleep. At daybreak we set forth. [They go out.]