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ACT II: THE PLAY ON EARTH
SCENE
I: THE MOTHER AND THE CHILD THE MOTHER You touch now the dome of your parents. You have reached your peak. Your tender body, my child, fills up the triumphal arc of its destiny. I must once again cut the cord that bound you to me. You are free. THE CHILD Mother, you wound me. To be your child, is it not for ever? THE MOTHER I am with you through eternity. But in another way. It is in you and everywhere that I must be. It is time to go where you must. THE CHILD A strong and gentle wind swells my sails light and heavy with all their future. All the ships of the world
Page – 295 fulfil in me their glorious voyage. I started already and am back already. And whosoever I meet has an ancient face, I know them all. THE MOTHER These streams of delight, and of sun, and of kisses, your tresses, my child, do not let them fall in floods upon your shoulders; they would be caught in the brambles and roses. SCENE
2: THE TRAVELLERS First Tableau: The Tree HE A bed of the petals of shadow for my rest. A column for my thought. A nave for my dream. A robe of happiness envelops me, with the evening! Tree, your sap beats gently against mine. TREE I waited for you to clasp you with my arms of dream before nightfall. Have you a wish to express? HE O tree, mighty sacred Androgyne, initiate me into your mystery. TREE Look! my roots plunge into the very source of life. He who can drink of it becomes immortal. Look! my branches plunge into the infinite; I am the whole space
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296 which the sun fills up. In me stones, flowers, animals, children, lovers, stars sing for ever. I am the I am the cavern of the witch and the abode of the fairy. HE O tree, mighty sacred Androgyne, child of the Earth, lover of the sun, flow into my veins, O Paradise, O Immortality! Second Tableau: The Companions HE Who is the craftsman that conceived the vibrant column of our body wherein the wind enters with its musical fingers and that the forest prolongs. . . THE SHEPHERD In us, each flower sees itself in a dazzled swoon. Each star finds itself again in the depths of the golden lake of our eyes. HE When we sing, even in daylight, the Moon and Venus hear us and the Great Bear and Arcturus and Capella. The Adventure is our secret Bride. She awaits us, masked, at the turn of the road, THE SHEPHERD She is the far Princess, from her we come, from her castle between heaven and earth,
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297 and to her, hand in hand, – warriors, builders, companions, eternal travellers, wanderers eternal – we walk on. HE Shepherd, my friend, who is the craftsman that tuned the luminous lyre of my soul, so that we vibrate together, to the same breath?. . . SCENE 3: THE LOVERS HE Hardly an hour ago I was still wandering at hazard. But every one of my steps was sure of itself. You made a sign to me, You called me, O my star. One hour only or long ages. . . We have lived, sung, danced together, on her paths of sand, of water, of snow, her carpets of rock and moss and fern, all the unforgettable festivals of Earth. Happiness invited us into her grottoes, her palaces, her fields of wheat, her fields of war. Happiness, faithful, the wave or the flower in its arms, the tool, the torch, the weapon in its grip joy on its lips, awaited us everywhere. That smile,
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298 it is You, my Beloved. SHE We play together, joined in one single flame, the immense symphony of the Universe. Thousands of festivals still calf us: those of yesterday, those of to-morrow, those of our eternal Meeting. Here, now, for ever. SCENE 4: THE INITIATES HE O my sweet Master, I thirst for Eternity! THE MASTER I shall lead you to thy eternal Truth. HE The ocean of life spreads below me its tranquil lagoons where corals build up the living house of hours and minutes. But each sparkle of the waters breaks the shell of my dream. The call of the Infinite tears me. The ecstasy of the Infinite possesses my soul. The Earth and the Universe capsize. Who awaits me there? Who calls me? THE MASTER Thyself. INITIATE (Left) He the Supreme Beloved. INITIATE (Right) The Absolute. INITIATE (L) Be
pure of all taint!
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299 Be pure of all thy rainbows. Enter into thy original Whiteness! INITIATE (R) Enter into thy original Whiteness! INITIATE (L) Be pure of thy present, Be pure of thy past and of thy future! Enter into thy original Candour! INITIATE (R) Enter into thy original Candour! INITIATE (L) Die to thyself! INITIATE (R) Die to thyself! THE MASTER Become Thyself! The Song of Triumph THE MASTER Solitary, eternal, enter into thy original Splendour! SCENE 5: THE ADVERSARY SHE My spouse, my brother, we have sworn to be eternal enemies. It is our secret. And now we are ready to melt into our Unity. The earth in alarm reels under our steps. My brother, my spouse, to honour our vows you are in duty bound to kill me. HE My sister, my spouse, you have chosen to live by my side like an impalpable shadow that I may rule alone. But it is you who rule. The strength of my arms, the power of my eyes, the love of my heart, it is you in me. If one of us has to pass,
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300 if the great sacrifice of separation has to be performed once again, it is I, my sister, who will go. Fulfil the act of our most secret nuptials. SHE Oh! my brother, my great sacred enemy, my hand does not tremble, but my reason fails. In me let us live then, in you let us die, since it is decided.
HE To die by you, for you to be annihilated into the ether of the new beginnings of the world, O supreme delight of going by a new path, virgin and unknown to meet
you.
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301
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