indeed,” he told her, “since I stood here once before; Then it flamed all red to heaven and it rang with death and danger, And I stood here with noble Agammemnon, In the thunder of the ending of the war. MOON-BLOSSOM. Something in the old man’s bearing made her start and catch her breath. “You are Nireus, friend,” she answered. “You are he who brought me here When my life and love were dear: Then I came to life and loving, now I come to grief and death. “There is no small grass, in plain or water, But grows from the body of one killed By the deadly love of me, who am Helen, Leda’s daughter: All the young and swift and lovely, all the quick of heart are stilled; I was cause of their going to the slaughter. “Daylong and nightlong their shadows pursue me with evil, Haunting my thought in the day, killing my rest in the night; Now they have drawn me here; their multitudinous devil Bids me die where I sinned. I hear their cry in the wind, I see their eyes in the light.” ROSE-FLOWER. Nireus answered, “Ah, not thus, not so, Queen Helen, surely, Are those who died for love of you, to win you or to keep! If they gave their lives, they gave them as a man gives frankly, purely, Without question, comment or complaint, The strong heart equal with the faint, All content to see your beauty and to tread hard ways to sleep. Now they know that your beauty made them splendid, Splendid to the death; for I have seen, Seen and talked, beloved Helen, with the souls of those who ended In the ruins of this city that has been, And they praise your name, they count you still their Queen. Now come with me, for the ship waits to receive you, The wind is fair for Syme; let us start. Here, where long ago I lost you, I retrieve you; Let us leave this town of broken heart For the peace of Syme Harbour and the mirth of Syme mart, And the calm of knowing sorrow at an end, And the quiet of the memory of a friend. TOGETHER. Then they sailed for Syme Island, and the gods were with their going, For their beauty came upon them both, with youth and strength and peace; Now they rule and live forever in a spring forever blowing, High in Syme where the sun is bright and skylarks never cease. FIFTH ACT
ROSE-FLOWER. There is no rider, coming from the army, In sight yet, Madam. Shall we play again? (_No answer._) MOON-BLOSSOM. Come to the window. There. What white was that? ROSE-FLOWER. The wind lifting the dust. MOON-BLOSSOM. No. Yes, it was. Dust from a windflaw blowing down the glen. There is no rider, Madam. Shall we sing? (_No answer._) ROSE-FLOWER. She is too stunned with sorrow to give orders. Shall we not sing to soothe her? MOON-BLOSSOM. Sing, then, you. ROSE-FLOWER. Speak to her first. MOON-BLOSSOM. Madam---- ROSE-FLOWER. She will not answer; So speak some quiet thing. MOON-BLOSSOM. 

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