O that so many pitchers of rough clay Should prosper and the porcelain break in two! [_She kisses the hands of the COUNTESS CATHLEEN._ A PEASANT. We were under the tree where the path turns When she grew pale as death and fainted away, And while we bore her hither, cloudy gusts Blackened the world and shook us on our feet: Draw the great bolt, for no man has beheld So black, bitter, blinding, and sudden a storm. [_One who is near the door draws the bolt._ OONA. Hush, hush, she has awakened from her swoon. CATHLEEN. O hold me, and hold me tightly, for the storm Is dragging me away! [_OONA takes her in her arms. A woman begins to wail._ A PEASANT. Hush. ANOTHER PEASANT. Hush. A PEASANT WOMAN. Hush. ANOTHER PEASANT WOMAN. Hush. CATHLEEN [_half rising_]. Lay all the bags of money at my feet. [_They lay the bags at her feet._ And send and bring old Neal when I am dead, And bid him hear each man and judge and give: He doctors you with herbs, and can best say Who has the less and who the greater need. A PEASANT WOMAN. [_At the back of the crowd._] And will he give enough out of the bags To keep my children till the dearth go by? ANOTHER PEASANT WOMAN. O Queen of Heaven and all you blessed Saints, Let us and ours be lost, so she be shriven. CATHLEEN. Bend down your faces, Oona and Aleel: I gaze upon them as the swallow gazes Upon the nest under the eave, before He wander the loud waters: do not weep Too great a while, for there is many a candle On the high altar though one fall. Aleel, Who sang about the people of the raths, That know not the hard burden of the world, Having but breath in their kind bodies, farewell! And farewell, Oona, who spun flax with me Soft as their sleep when every dance is done: The storm is in my hair and I must go. [_She dies._ OONA. Bring me the looking-glass. [_A woman brings it to her out of the inner room. OONA holds the glass over the lips of the COUNTESS CATHLEEN. All is silent for a moment; and then she speaks in a half scream._] O, she is dead! A PEASANT WOMAN. She was the great white lily of the world. ANOTHER PEASANT WOMAN. She was more beautiful than the pale stars. AN OLD PEASANT WOMAN. The little plant I loved is broken in two. [_ALEEL takes the looking-glass from OONA and flings it upon the floor so that it is broken in many pieces._ ALEEL. I shatter you in fragments, for the face That brimmed you up with beauty is no more: And die, dull heart, for she whose mournful words Made you a living spirit has passed away And left you but a ball of passionate dust; And you, proud earth and plumy sea, fade out, For you may hear no more her faltering feet, But are left lonely amid the clamorous war Of angels upon devils.