I thought the battle was here,
and that the joy was to be found here on earth, that all one had to do
was to bring again the old wild earth of the stories--but no, it is not
here; we shall not come to that joy, that battle, till we have put out
the senses,
everything
that can be seen and handled, as I put out this
candle.
Yeats
I misjudged him calling him
a traitor. It is not to this world he belongs at all. He is over on the
other side.
MARTIN.
[_Standing beside the rock where the lighted candles
are._]
_Et calix meus inebrians quam praeclarus est!_
FATHER JOHN.
I must know what he has to say. It is not from himself he is speaking.
MARTIN.
Father John, Heaven is not what we have believed it to be. It is not
quiet, it is not singing and making music, and all strife at an end.
I have seen it, I have been there. The lover still loves but with a
greater passion, and the rider still rides but the horse goes like the
wind and leaps the ridges, and the battle goes on always, always. That
is the joy of Heaven, continual battle.
I thought the battle was here,
and that the joy was to be found here on earth, that all one had to do
was to bring again the old wild earth of the stories--but no, it is not
here; we shall not come to that joy, that battle, till we have put out
the senses,
everything
that can be seen and handled, as I put out this
candle.
[_He puts out candle._] We must put out the whole world as I
put out this candle [_puts out another candle_]. We must put out the
light of the stars and the light of the sun and the light of the moon
[_puts out the rest of the candles_], till we have brought everything
to nothing once again. I saw in a broken vision, but now all is clear
to me. Where there is nothing, where there is nothing--there is God!
CONSTABLE.
Now we will take him!
JOHNNY.
We will never give him up to the law!
PAUDEEN.
Make your escape! We will not let you be followed.
[_They struggle with _Constables_; the women help
them; all disappear struggling. There is a shot. MARTIN
stumbles and falls.
