DAVID Why, my lord, I do not mock. Only the birds have wings. Yet on the vales behind me I have left Haste and a swirling wonderment of air, And in the torrent’s troubled vein amaze, So swift I hurried hither at your urgence Out of the fields and folding the far sheep! SAUL You have not; you have dallied. [_He motions. All go but_ DAVID, _whom he comes down toward, indeterminately_.] You have dallied. DAVID Deep in the king I see a darkness foam And sheeted passion, as a lightning gust. Shall I not play to him? SAUL You shall not, no. [_Slowly draws a dagger._] I’ll not be lulled. DAVID Is it a tiger gleam, Terrible fury stealing from the heart And crouching cold within the eye of Saul? SAUL I’ll not endure. They say that you-- DAVID They say? What is this ravage in you. Does the truth So limpid overflow in palaces? Never an enemy to venom it? Am I not David, faithful, and thy friend? SAUL I’ll slay you, and regretless. DAVID [_Unmoving_] Slay, my lord? SAUL Do you not fear? and brave me to my breast! DAVID Have I done wrong that I should fear the king? Reed as I am, could he not breathe and break? And I should be oblivion at a word! But under the terror of his might have I Not seen his heart beat justice and beat love? See, even now…! SAUL I will not listen to them! DAVID To whom, my lord, and what? SAUL Ever they say, “This David,” and “this David!” DAVID Ah, my harp! SAUL But think you, David, I shall lose the kingdom? DAVID [_Starting_] My lord…! SAUL Pain in your eyes? you think it? Deem I cannot overleap this destiny? DAVID To that let us not verge; it has but ill. Deeper the future gulf is for our fears. Forget it. Forget the brink may ever gape, And wield the throne so well that God himself _Must_ not unking you, more than he would cry The morning star from Heaven! Then, I swear it, None else will! SAUL Swear? DAVID Nay, nay! SAUL You swear? DAVID But words, Foolishly from the heart; a shepherd speech! Give them no mood; but see, see yonder fires Camping upon the peace of Israel, As we were carrion beneath the sun! Let us conceive annihilation on them, Hurricane rush and deluging and ruin. SAUL