Edgar monologue from King Lear

Edgar’s monologue

By nursing them, my lord. List a brief tale;

And when 'tis told, O that my heart would burst!

The bloody proclamation to escape

That follow'd me so near (O, our lives' sweetness!

5That with the pain of death would hourly die

Rather than die at once!) taught me to shift

Into a madman's rags, t' assume a semblance

That very dogs disdain'd; and in this habit

Met I my father with his bleeding rings,

10Their precious stones new lost; became his guide,

Led him, begg'd for him, sav'd him from despair;

Never (O fault!) reveal'd myself unto him

Until some half hour past, when I was arm'd,

Not sure, though hoping of this good success,

15I ask'd his blessing, and from first to last

Told him my pilgrimage. But his flaw'd heart

(Alack, too weak the conflict to support!)

'Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief,

Burst smilingly.

Public domain text.