No More Learning

Let us go back, my lord.

K.
Are you afraid,
Who were so dauntless till the walls gave way?
Courage, my sweet. I would that I could climb
A thousand times by wind-swept stairs like these,
That lead so near to heaven.

L.
Sir, you may,
You are a knight and very valorous;
I am a woman. I shall never come
This way but once.
(The Knight and the Lady appear on the top of the tower. )

K.
Kiss me at last, my love.

L.
Oh, my sweet lord, I am too tired to kiss.
Look how the earth is like an emerald,
With rivers veined and flawed with fallow fields.

K.
(Lifting her veil)
Then I kiss you, a thousand thousand kisses
For all the days ere I had won to you
Beyond the walls and gates you barred so close.
Call me at last your love, your castle's lord.

L. (After a pause)
I love you.

(She kisses him. Her veil blows away like a white butterfly
over the parapet. Faint cries and laughter from men and women
under the tower. )

Men and Women.
The veil, the lady's veil!

(The knight takes the lady in his arms. )

L.
My lord, I pray you loose me from your arms
Lest that my people see how much we love.

K.
May they not see us? All of them have loved.

L.