The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, Vol. 3 (of 8): The Countess Cathleen. The Land of Heart's Desire. The Unicorn from the StarsYeats, W. B. (William Butler)
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The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, Vol. 3 (of 8): The Countess Cathleen. The Land of Heart's Desire. The Unicorn from the Stars
Yeats, W. B. (William Butler)
English literature -- Irish authors
It has the appearance of death, but it is not death. He is in a trance.
PAUDEEN.
Is it Heaven and Hell he is walking at this time to be bringing back
newses of the sinners in pain?
BIDDY.
I was thinking myself it might away he was, riding on white horses with
the riders of the forths.
JOHNNY.
He will have great wonders to tell out the time he will rise up from
the ground. It is a pity he not to waken at this time and to lead us on
to overcome the troop of the English. Sure those that are in a trance
get strength, that they can walk on water.
ANDREW.
It was Father John wakened him yesterday the time he was lying in the
same way. Wasn’t I telling you it was for that I called to him?
BIDDY.
Waken him now till they’ll see did I tell any lie in my foretelling. I
knew well by the signs, he was coming within the best day of his life.
PAUDEEN.
And not dead at all! We’ll be marching to attack Dublin itself within a
week. The horn will blow for him, and all good men will gather to him.
Hurry on, Father, and waken him.
FATHER JOHN.
I will not waken him. I will not bring him back from where he is.
JOHNNY.
And how long will it be before he will waken of himself?
FATHER JOHN.
Maybe to-day, maybe to-morrow, it is hard to be certain.
BIDDY.
If it is _away_ he is he might be away seven years. To be lying like
a stump of a tree and using no food and the world not able to knock a
word out of him, I know the signs of it well.
JOHNNY.
We cannot be waiting and watching through seven years. If the business
he has started is to be done we have to go on here and now. The
time there is any delay, that is the time the Government will get
information. Waken him now, Father, and you’ll get the blessing of the
generations.
FATHER JOHN.
I will not bring him back. God will bring him back in his own good
time. For all I know he may be seeing the hidden things of God.
JOHNNY.
He might slip away in his dream. It is best to raise him up now.
ANDREW.
Waken him, Father John. I thought he was surely dead this time,
and what way could I go face Thomas through all that is left of my
lifetime, after me standing up to face him the way I did? And if I do
take a little drop of an odd night, sure I’d be very lonesome if I did
not take it. All the world knows it’s not for love of what I drink, but
for love of the people that do be with me! Waken him, Father, or maybe
I would waken him myself. [_Shakes him._]
FATHER JOHN.
Lift your hand from touching him. Leave him to himself and to the power
of God.
JOHNNY.
If you will not bring him back why wouldn’t we ourselves do it? Go on
now, it is best for you to do it yourself.
FATHER JOHN.
I woke him yesterday. He was angry with me, he could not get to the
heart of the command.
JOHNNY.
If he did not, he got a command from myself that satisfied him, and a
message.
FATHER JOHN.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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