THE MUSIC (coming nearer)

      Morn shall meet noon
        While the flower-stems yet move,
      Though the wind dieth soon
        And the clouds fade above. 
      Loved lips are thine
        As I tremble and hearken;
      Bright thine eyes shine,
        Though the leaves thy brow darken. 
O Love, kiss me into silence, lest no word avail me, Stay my head with thy bosom lest breath and life fail me! 
  O sweet day, O rich day, made long for our love!

LOVE

Was Love then a liar who fashioned thy dreaming?

KING PHARAMOND

O fair-blossomed tree, stay thy rustling—­I hearken.

THE MUSIC (coming nearer)

      Late day shall greet eve,
        And the full blossoms shake,
      For the wind will not leave
        The tall trees while they wake. 
      Eyes soft with bliss,
        Come nigher and nigher! 
      Sweet mouth I kiss,
        Tell me all thy desire! 
Let us speak, love, together some words of our story, That our lips as they part may remember the glory! 
  O soft day, O calm day, made clear for our sake!

LOVE

What wouldst thou, Pharamond? why art thou fainting?

KING PHARAMOND

And thou diest, fair daylight, now she draweth near me!

THE MUSIC (close outside)

      Eve shall kiss night,
        And the leaves stir like rain
      As the wind stealeth light
        O’er the grass of the plain. 
      Unseen are thine eyes
        Mid the dreamy night’s sleeping,
      And on my mouth there lies
        The dear rain of thy weeping. 
Hold, silence, love, speak not of the sweet day departed, Cling close to me, love, lest I waken sad-hearted! 
  O kind day, O dear day, short day, come again!

LOVE

Sleep then, O Pharamond, till her kiss shall awake thee,
For, lo, here comes the sun o’er the tops of the mountains,
And she with his light in her hair comes before him,
As solemn and fair as the dawn of the May-tide
On some isle of mid-ocean when all winds are sleeping. 
O worthy is she of this hour that awaits her,
And the death of all doubt, and beginning of gladness
Her great heart shall embrace without fear or amazement. 
—­He sleeps, yet his heart’s beating measures her footfalls;
And her heart beateth too, as her feet bear her onward: 
Breathe gently between them, O breeze of the morning! 
Wind round them unthought of, sweet scent of the blossoms! 
Treasure up every minute of this tide of their meeting,
O flower-bedecked Earth! with such tales of my triumph