Come nearer me, that I may know how face Differs from face, and touch you with my hands. O more than kin, O more than children could be, For children are but born out of our blood And share our frailty. O my chicks, my chicks, That I have nourished underneath my wings And fed upon my soul. (He stands up and begins to walk down steps) I need no help. He needs no help that joy has lifted up Like some miraculous beast out of Ezekiel. The man that dies has the chief part in the story, And I will mock and mock and mock that image yonder That evil picture in the sky--no, no-- I have all my strength again, I will outface it. O look upon the moon that's standing there In the blue daylight--notice her complexion Because it is the white of leprosy And the contagion that afflicts mankind Falls from the moon. When I and these are dead We should be carried to some windy hill To lie there with uncovered face awhile That mankind and that leper there may know Dead faces laugh. (He falls and then half rises.) King, king, dead faces laugh. (He dies) OLDEST PUPIL. King, king, he is dead; some strange triumphant thought So filled his heart with joy that it has burst Being grown too mighty for our frailty, And we who gaze grow like him and abhor The moments that come between us and that death You promised us. KING. Take up his body. Go where you please and lay it where you please, So that I cannot see his face or any That cried him towards his death. YOUNGEST PUPIL. Dead faces laugh! The ancient right is gone, the new remains And that is death. (They go towards the king holding out their halters) We are impatient men, So gather up the halters in your hands. KING. Drive them away. (He goes into the palace. The soldiers block the way before the pupils.) SOLDIER. Here is no place for you, For he and his pretensions now are finished. Begone before the men at arms are bidden To hurl you from the door. OLDEST PUPIL. Take up his body And cry that driven from the populous door He seeks high waters and the mountain birds To claim a portion of their solitude. (They make a litter with cloak and staffs and lay Seanchan on it.) YOUNGEST PUPIL. And cry that when they took his ancient right They took all common sleep; therefore he claims The mountain for his mattress and his pillow. OLDEST PUPIL. And there he can sleep on, not noticing Although the world be changed from worse to worse, Amid the changeless clamour of the curlew. (They raise the litter on their shoulders and move a few steps) YOUNGEST PUPIL.