Sayest thou so, perfect thought? It is sweet madness? Oh, ho, ho, ho! A thing of now, and then no longer! Thou art a fair dream, a dear one, but nothing--nothing! Is not that transcendant sorrow--madness? BEAUTY (_Caressingly._) Oh, think not so, Lord! Think not so! A dear dream! A wondrous dream! THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE (_Darkly and broodingly._) What am I? What art thou? What are these? (_He waves a vast hand._) What it all is I cannot think--or why--or whence--or where. I dream and sleep--I sleep and dream! Oh, ho, ho, ho! Oh, ho, ho, ho! A dream! A dream! Sayest thou a sweet dream? A sweet dream! Oh, ho, ho, ho! I have lost the key! I have lost the key! (_He laughs loudly, sadly._) AMBITION (_In the background, rumbling._) He has lost the key! He has lost the key! BEAUTY A sweet dream, Lord! A sweet dream! Sleep no more, Lord! Sleep no more! It is all too sweet! Sleep no more! (_She smiles._) AMBITION (_Restlessly._) He dreams but useless things! We grow to thin nothings! (_He clanks his armor weakly._) PITY Think kindly, Lord! Kind and tender thoughts! It is best ever! THE POWERS OF DARKNESS (_Rumbling._) Hail! Let Hope be forgotten! And Love! And Pity! Hail! BEAUTY (_Rising and laying a hand upon his brow._) Lord, I am thy first-born. After me came these. (_She motions to_ HOPE, PITY, REASON.) I am thy first thought, thy thought of Beauty! Say it! Remember me! Forget me not! All else avails so little! And think thou not on Ambition or Hate. They would destroy--even me! Even me! (_She smiles._) THE POWERS OF DARKNESS (_Thundering_:) Yea, even Beauty, Lord! What is Beauty to thee? THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE (_Gazing dully._) Beauty! Beauty! Can I remember thee always, even though I would? Thine eyes! What is it I meant by thine eyes? (_He gazes into them._) Mad! Mad! Mad! AMBITION (_Angrily, clanking his armor._) He drools and dreams! Me, his best thought--his greatest--he forgets! I am his horror, his strength, his despair, his power--yet he thinks not on me! Beauty! Beauty! And I wait in shadow! I, his rage--yet he sleeps in vagrom thoughts of beauty! Awake, Lord! Forget these pale shadows! Are not thy darker thoughts better? Think thou on me! On Power! Come, Hate! Come, Anger! Come, Despair! Come, Fear! Sit ye all with me! FEAR Only let me return unto thee, Lord! I fear! I fear! BEAUTY (_To_ AMBITION, _angrily_.) And if he thought on thee, what then? Storms, horrors, all blackness and rage! Thou art such! Is not Beauty better?--this light?--this song?--these Cherubim and Seraphim? Wilt thou have naught but shadow? Avaunt! To think on thee is death, destruction, the end of all! Oh, no, Lord! Oh, no, no, no! Put them all hence! Think thou on me! Are not all thy fair dreams, in which suns cluster and lovely forms bud forth, more to thee than these, thy darker? (_She smiles winningly._) THE LORD OF THE UNIVERSE (_Heavily._) I am that I am! AMBITION