Come to me, children. Do not be afraid. I want to know if you believe in Heaven, God or the soul--no, do not tell me yet; You need not be afraid I shall be angry, Say what you please--so that it is your thought-- I wanted you to know before you spoke, That I shall not be angry. FIRST CHILD We have not forgotten, Father. SECOND CHILD Oh no, Father. BOTH CHILDREN (_As if repeating a lesson_) There is nothing we cannot see, nothing we cannot touch. FIRST CHILD Foolish people used to say that there was, but you have taught us better. WISE MAN Go to your mother, go--yet do not go. What can she say? If I am dumb you are lost; And yet, because the sands are running out, I have but a moment to show it all in. Children, The sap would die out of the blades of grass Had they a doubt. They understand it all, Being the fingers of God's certainty, Yet can but make their sign into the air; But could they find their tongues they'd show it all; But what am I to say that am but one, When they are millions and they will not speak-- [_Children have run out._ But they are gone; what made them run away? [_The Fool comes in with a dandelion._ Look at me, tell me if my face is changed, Is there a notch of the fiend's nail upon it Already? Is it terrible to sight? Because the moment's near. [_Going to glass._ I dare not look, I dare not know the moment when they come. No, no, I dare not. (_Covers glass._) Will there be a footfall, Or will there be a sort of rending sound, Or else a cracking, as though an iron claw Had gripped the threshold stone? [_Fool has begun to blow the dandelion._ What are you doing? FOOL Wait a minute--four--five--six-- WISE MAN What are you doing that for? FOOL I am blowing the dandelion to find out what hour it is. WISE MAN You have heard everything, and that is why You'd find what hour it is--you'd find that out, That you may look upon a fleet of devils Dragging my soul away. You shall not stop, I will have no one here when they come in, I will have no one sitting there--no one-- And yet--and yet--there is something strange about you. I half remember something. What is it? Do you believe in God and in the soul? FOOL So you ask me now. I thought when you were asking your pupils, 'Will he ask Teigue the Fool? Yes, he will, he will; no, he will not--yes, he will.' But Teigue will say nothing. Teigue will say nothing. WISE MAN Tell me quickly. FOOL I said, 'Teigue knows everything, not even the green-eyed cats and the hares that milk the cows have Teigue's wisdom'; but Teigue will not speak, he says nothing. WISE MAN