ALCESTIS. I am not thy wife; I am nothing. All is gone. ADMETUS. Thy babes! Thou wilt not leave them.--Raise thine eye. ALCESTIS. I am sorry.... But good-bye, children; good-bye. ADMETUS. Look at them! Wake and look at them! ALCESTIS. I must go. ADMETUS. What? Dying! ALCESTIS. Farewell, husband! [_She dies._] ADMETUS (_with a cry_). Ah!... Woe, woe! LEADER. Admetus' Queen is dead! [_While_ ADMETUS _is weeping silently, and the_ CHORUS _veil their faces, the_ LITTLE BOY _runs up to his dead Mother_.] LITTLE BOY. Oh, what has happened? Mummy has gone away, And left me and will not come back any more! Father, I shall be lonely all the day.... Look! Look! Her eyes ... and her arms not like before, How they lie ... Mother! Oh, speak a word! Answer me, answer me, Mother! It is I. I am touching your face. It is I, your little bird. ADMETUS (_recovering himself and going to the Child_). She hears us not, she sees us not. We lie Under a heavy grief, child, thou and I. LITTLE BOY. I am so little, Father, and lonely and cold Here without Mother. It is too hard.... And you, Poor little sister, too. Oh, Father! Such a little time we had her. She might have stayed On till we all were old.... Everything is spoiled when Mother is dead. [_The_ LITTLE BOY _is taken away, with his Sister, sobbing_.] LEADER. My King, thou needs must gird thee to the worst. Thou shalt not be the last, nor yet the first, To lose a noble wife. Be brave, and know To die is but a debt that all men owe. ADMETUS. I know. It came not without doubts and fears, This thing. The thought hath poisoned all my years. Howbeit, I now will make the burial due To this dead Queen. Be assembled, all of you; And, after, raise your triumph-song to greet This pitiless Power that yawns beneath our feet. Meantime let all in Thessaly who dread My sceptre join in mourning for the dead With temples sorrow-shorn and sable weed. Ye chariot-lords, ye spurrers of the steed, Shear close your horses' manes! Let there be found Through all my realm no lute, nor lyre, nor sound Of piping, till twelve moons are at an end. For never shall I lose a closer friend, Nor braver in my need. And worthy is she Of honour, who alone hath died for me. [_The body of_ ALCESTIS _is carried into the house by mourners;_ ADMETUS _follows it._] CHORUS. Daughter of Pelias, fare thee well, May joy be thine in the Sunless Houses! For thine is a deed which the Dead shall tell Where a King black-browed in the gloom carouses; And the cold grey hand at the helm and oar Which guideth shadows from shore to shore, Shall bear this day o'er the Tears that Well, A Queen of women, a spouse of spouses.