Voices. Shakespeare! Call Shakespeare!
Shakespeare. D’you hear them? Help me! Say I am gone! Oh, go, go!
Marlowe. Well, if you wish it!
He goes out leaving the door ajar. As Shakespeare goes on speaking the murmurs and claps die away and the noises of the stage are heard, the shouts of the scene-shifters, directions being given, and so on. Finally there is silence.
Shakespeare. Wish it? I wish it? Have you no more for me Of comfort, Marlowe? Oh, what a dumb and measureless gulf divides Star from twin star, and friend from closest friend! Women, they say, can bridge it when they will: As seamen rope a ship with grappling irons These spinners of strong cords invisible Make fast and draw the drifting glory home In the name of love. I know not. Better go! I am not for this harbour—
There is a sound of hasty footsteps and Mary Fitton enters in Juliet’s robes. She stands in the doorway, panting, exalted, with arms outstretched. The door swings to behind her, shutting out all sound.
Mary. Oh, I faced The peacock of the world, the arch of eyes That watched me love a god, the eyes, eyes, eyes, That watched me die of love. Wake me again, O soul that did inhabit me, O husband Whose mind I uttered, to whose will I swayed, Whose self of love I was! Wake me again To die of love in earnest!
Shakespeare. Mary! Mary!
Mary. I cannot ride this hurricane. I spin Like a leaf in the air. Die down and let me lie Close to the earth I am! O stir me not With rosy breathings from the south, the south Of sun and wine and peaks that flame to God Suddenly in the dark! O wind, let be And drive me not; for speech lies on my lips Like a strange finger hushing back my soul With words not mine, and thoughts not mine arise Like marsh-flame dancing! As a leaf to a tree Upblown, O wind that whirls me, I return. Master and quickener, give me love indeed!
Shakespeare. These are the hands I never held till now: These are the lips I never felt on mine: This is the hour I dreamed of, many an hour: This is the spirit awake. God in your sky, Did your heart beat so on the seventh dawn?