Once more the birds cry in their loneliness, But now they wheel about our heads; and now They have dropped on the grey stone to the north-east. (A man and a girl both in the costume of a past time, come in. They wear heroic masks) YOUNG MAN (raising his lantern) Who is there? I cannot see what you are like, Come to the light. STRANGER But what have you to fear? YOUNG MAN And why have you come creeping through the dark. (The Girl blows out lantern) The wind has blown my lantern out. Where are you? I saw a pair of heads against the sky And lost them after, but you are in the right I should not be afraid in County Clare; And should be or should not be have no choice, I have to put myself into your hands, Now that my candle's out. STRANGER You have fought in Dublin? YOUNG MAN I was in the Post Office, and if taken I shall be put against a wall and shot. STRANGER You know some place of refuge, have some plan Or friend who will come to meet you? YOUNG MAN I am to lie At daybreak on the mountain and keep watch Until an Aran coracle puts in At Muckanish or at the rocky shore Under Finvarra, but would break my neck If I went stumbling there alone in the dark. STRANGER We know the pathways that the sheep tread out, And all the hiding-places of the hills, And that they had better hiding-places once. YOUNG MAN You'd say they had better before English robbers Cut down the trees or set them upon fire For fear their owners might find shelter there. What is that sound? STRANGER An old horse gone astray He has been wandering on the road all night. YOUNG MAN I took him for a man and horse. Police Are out upon the roads. In the late Rising I think there was no man of us but hated To fire at soldiers who but did their duty And were not of our race, but when a man Is born in Ireland and of Irish stock When he takes part against us-- STRANGER I will put you safe, No living man shall set his eyes upon you. I will not answer for the dead. YOUNG MAN The dead? STRANGER For certain days the stones where you must lie Have in the hour before the break of day Been haunted. YOUNG MAN But I was not born at midnight. STRANGER Many a man born in the full daylight Can see them plain, will pass them on the high-road Or in the crowded market-place of the town, And never know that they have passed. YOUNG MAN My Grandam Would have it they did penance everywhere Or lived through their old lives again. STRANGER