Why are you
questioning
me?
Yeats
You are not the first that dream has come to. [_Gets up, and walks up
and down. _] It has been wandering here and there, calling now to this
man, now to that other. It is a terrible dream.
MARTIN.
Father John, you have had the same thought.
FATHER JOHN.
Men were holy then, there were saints everywhere. There was reverence;
but now it is all work, business, how to live a long time. Ah, if one
could change it all in a minute, even by war and violence! There is
a cell where Saint Ciaran used to pray; if one could bring that time
again!
MARTIN.
Do not deceive me. You have had the command.
FATHER JOHN.
Why are you questioning me? You are asking me things that I have told
to no one but my confessor.
MARTIN.
We must gather the crowds together, you and I.
FATHER JOHN.
I have dreamed your dream, it was long ago. I had your vision.
MARTIN.
And what happened?
FATHER JOHN [_harshly_].
It was stopped; that was an end. I was sent to the lonely parish where
I am, where there was no one I could lead astray. They have left me
there. We must have patience; the world was destroyed by water, it has
yet to be consumed by fire.
MARTIN.
Why should we be patient?
