The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,
But that the sea, mounting to th' welkin's
cheek,
5
Dashes the fire out. Oh, I have suffered
With those that I saw suffer. A brave vessel
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her
Dashed all to pieces. Oh, the cry did knock
Against my very heart! Poor souls, they perished.
10
Had I been any god of power, I would
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere
It should the good ship so have swallowed and
The fraughting souls within her.
MIRANDA
Dear father, if you caused this terrible storm with your magic
powers, please put an end to it. The sky's so dark it
looks like it would rain down boiling hot tar if the sea
weren't swelling up to the sky to put its fire out. Oh, I
suffered along with all the men I watched suffer! A fine ship, with
some good people in it, I'm sure, smashed to pieces.
Their dying shouts broke my heart! The poor people died. If
I'd been a god I would've let the sea sink
inside the earth before it had a chance to swallow up that ship and
all the people it was carrying.
PROSPERO
Be
collected.
No more amazement. Tell your piteous heart
15
There's no harm done.
PROSPERO
Calm down. There's nothing to get upset about. No harm
was done.
MIRANDA
Oh, woe the
day!
MIRANDA
Oh, what a horrible day!
PROSPERO
No
harm.
I have done nothing but in care of thee,
Of thee, my dear one—thee my daughter, who
Art ignorant of what thou art, naught knowing
Of whence I am, nor that I am more better
20
Than Prospero, master of a full poor cell
And thy no greater father.
PROSPERO
There was no harm, I'm telling you. Everything
I've done has been for you, my dear daughter. You
don't know what you are, since you don't know
who I am or where I come from, or that I'm better than
merely Prospero, your humble father who lives in a poor little
shack.
MIRANDA
More to know
Did never meddle with my thoughts.
MIRANDA
It never occurred to me to imagine there was anything more to
know.
