DOROTHEA (recoiling). Good gracious!
DOROTHY.Don't you know me?
DOROTHEA.What's your name?
DOROTHY. Dorothy Wild. You end yours with an 'e'
And spell it with a 'y'—as though for shame
Of owning sisterhood with trees and birds
And dragonflies; as though you'd never run
Beside the foam, shouting ecstatic words
In the wind's ear, nor let the immortal sun
Have your whole body till Something, not of time,
Like an elixir flowed through every vein.
You? You lack pith. You'd never love through crime;
But when I love, I dare—and brook no chain!
DOROTHEA. You're rather frightening. Still, do take a seat!
DOROTHY (sitting on the table). Chocolates! One for me?
DOROTHEA (politely).Oh, not at all——
DOROTHY. Wild roses, love and chocolate—aren't they sweet?
DOROTHEA. Yes—well ... I do hope nobody will call.
We've not been introduced, but is it true
That you're my own Subconscious?
DOROTHY.There, you see
The insolence of the Conscious! Part of you!
Really! And why not you a part of me?
How much of Time have you known? Twenty years;
But I, whom not ten thousand can make old,
Have worshipped trees, loved naiads, boxed the ears
Of mountain satyrs, touched the Fleece of Gold,
And ridden great centaurs. When I catch the strain
Of Homer's verse I hear his very lyre
Trembling: for me Hector is newly slain,
And it was yesterday Troy fell in fire.
They who at last have found me little guess
Whither I lead. They fancy that one blow
Has brought down Heaven in fragments. Nonetheless,
I shall build what they think I overthrow!
And you? You're just a weir that tames my power.
I am the rushing car and you the brake
That checks me: I the root and you the flower;
I the true girl——