MADAME. Alors, vous n'avez pas encore été aux tranchées?
CECIL. Mais non, Madame, peut-être ce soir.
(MONSIEUR and MADAME exchange glances. CECIL rises to go.)
CECIL. À Jeudi, Monsieur, Madame, Ma'mselle.
MONSIEUR, MADAME, AND MA'MSELLE (in chorus). À Jeudi, Monsieur.
MADAME (earnestly). Bon courage, Monsieur!
(Curtain)
ACT I. DAWN
CECIL is discovered lying behind a wall of sandbags. On one side are the sandbags, and on the other an idyllic spring scene, with flowers and orchards seen in the half-light of a spring morning. The dawn breaks gently, and soon bullets begin to ping through the air, flattening themselves against the sandbags, or passing over CECIL's head. He wakes and yawns, and then composes himself with his eyes open.
Enter Allegorical personages: FATHER SUN, MOTHER EARTH, and a chorus of GRASSES, POPPIES, CORNFLOWERS, RAGGED ROBINS, DAISIES, BEETLES, BEES, FLIES, and insects of all kinds.
FATHER SUN.