MARY. I cannot ride this hurricane. I spin Like a leaf in the air. Die down and let me lie Close to the earth I am! O stir me not With rosy breathings from the south, the south Of sun and wine and peaks that flame to God Suddenly in the dark! O wind, let be And drive me not; for speech lies on my lips Like a strange finger hushing back my soul With words not mine, and thoughts not mine arise Like marsh-flame dancing! As a leaf to a tree Upblown, O wind that whirls me, I return. Master and quickener, give me love indeed! SHAKESPEARE. These are the hands I never held till now: These are the lips I never felt on mine: This is the hour I dreamed of, many an hour: This is the spirit awake. God in your sky, Did your heart beat so on the seventh dawn? MARY. ’Ware thunder! SHAKESPEARE. Sweet, He envies and is dumb, Dumb as His dark. He was our audience. Now to His blinding centrum home He hies, Omnipotent drudge, to wind the clocks of Time And tend His ’plaining universes all-- To us, to us, His empty theatre of night Abandoning. But we too steal away; For the play’s done, Lights out--all over--and here we stand alone, Holding each other in a little room, Like two souls in one grave. We are such lovers-- ANNE’S VOICE. As there’s no room for in the human air And green side of the grass-- SHAKESPEARE. A voice! A voice! MARY. No voice here! SHAKESPEARE. In my heart I heard it cry Like a sick child waked suddenly at night. [_Crying out_] A child--a sick child! Unlink your arms that hold me! MARY. Never till I choose! SHAKESPEARE. Put back your hair! I am lost Unless I lose all gain. O moonless night, In your hot darkness I have lost my way! But kiss me, summer, once! On London Bridge At midnight--I’ll be there! Has the clock struck? MARY. Midnight long since. SHAKESPEARE. Oh, I am damned and lost In hell for ever! MARY. Fool, dear fool, what harm? If this be hell indeed, is not hell kind? Is not hell lovely, if this love be hell? Is not damnation sweet? SHAKESPEARE. God does not know How sweet, how sweet!