Chapter Text
Prologue
Two ancient houses, matched in rank and pride,
In fair Verona nurse an elder hate,
Where blood by blade and hunger, side by side,
Make deathless youth the instrument of fate.
From forth the secret shadow of these foes,
A deathless wit, by love and hunger crossed,
Shall pine for him whose heart another chose,
And crave the hand by which his blood is lost.
The fearful course of their ill-starred desire,
Their passage through two ancient houses' rage,
Which naught may quench but blood, nor blood but fire,
Is now the nightly traffic of our stage.
Attend with patience till the dead arise,
And love, new-born, looks through a foeman's eyes.