Why faintest thou, Pharamond? is love then unworthy?

KING PHARAMOND

Then hath God made no world now, nor shall make hereafter.

LOVE

Wouldst thou live if thou mightst in this fair world, O Pharamond?

KING PHARAMOND

Yea, if she and truth were; nay, if she and truth were not.

LOVE

O long shalt thou live:  thou art here in the body,
Where nought but thy spirit I brought in days bygone. 
Ah, thou hearkenest!—­and where then of old hast thou heard it?
          [Music outside, far off.

KING PHARAMOND

O mock me not, Death; or, Life, hold me no longer! 
For that sweet strain I hear that I heard once a-dreaming: 
Is it death coming nigher, or life come back that brings it? 
Or rather my dream come again as aforetime?

LOVE

Look up, O Pharamond! canst thou see aught about thee?

KING PHARAMOND

Yea, surely:  all things as aforetime I saw them: 
The mist fading out with the first of the sunlight,
And the mountains a-changing as oft in my dreaming,
And the thornbrake anigh blossomed thick with the May-tide.
          [Music again.
O my heart!—­I am hearkening thee whereso thou wanderest!

LOVE

Put forth thine hand, feel the dew on the daisies!

KING PHARAMOND

So their freshness I felt in the days ere hope perished. 
—­O me, me, my darling! how fair the world groweth! 
Ah, shall I not find thee, if death yet should linger,
Else why grow I so glad now when life seems departing? 
What pleasure thus pierceth my heart unto fainting? 
—­O me, into words now thy melody passeth.

MUSIC with singing (from without)

      Dawn talks to-day
        Over dew-gleaming flowers,
      Night flies away
        Till the resting of hours: 
      Fresh are thy feet
        And with dreams thine eyes glistening. 
      Thy still lips are sweet
        Though the world is a-listening. 
O Love, set a word in my mouth for our meeting, Cast thine arms round about me to stay my heart’s beating! 
  O fresh day, O fair day, O long day made ours!

LOVE

What wilt thou say now of the gifts Love hath given?

KING PHARAMOND

Stay thy whispering, O wind of the morning—­she speaketh.