The TWO
MERCHANTS
enter.
Yeats
I cannot stay,
For I would hide my sorrow among the hills--
Listen, listen, the hills are calling me.
[_They listen for a moment. _
CATHLEEN.
I hear the cry of curlew.
ALEEL.
Then I will out
Where I can hear wind cry and water cry
And curlew cry: how does the saying go
That calls them the three oldest cries in the world?
Farewell, farewell, I will go wander among them,
Because there is no comfort under a roof-tree.
[_He goes out. _
CATHLEEN.
[_Looking through the door after him. _]
I cannot see him. He has come to the great door.
I must go pray. Would that my heart and mind
Were as little shaken as this candle-light.
[_She goes into the chapel.
The TWO MERCHANTS enter. _
SECOND MERCHANT.
Who was the man that came from the great door
While we were still in the shadow?
FIRST MERCHANT.
Aleel, her lover.
SECOND MERCHANT.
It may be that he has turned her thought from us
And we can gather our merchandise in peace.
FIRST MERCHANT.
No, no, for she is kneeling.
SECOND MERCHANT.
Shut the door.
Are all our drudges here?
FIRST MERCHANT.
[_Closing the chapel door. _]
I bid them follow.
Can you not hear them breathing upon the stairs?
