Lust—"Mine is a deeper gulf! Marble slabs have inspired impure loves. People rush towards meetings that terrify them, and rivet the very chains which they curse. Whence comes the witchery of courtesans, the extravagance of dreams, the immensity of my sadness?"
Death—"My irony surpasses that of all other things. There are convulsions of joy at the funerals of kings and at the extermination of peoples; and they make war with music, plumes, flags, golden harnesses, and a display of ceremony to pay me the greater homage."
Lust—"My anger is as strong as yours. I howl, I bite, I have sweats of agony, and corpse-like appearances."
Death—"It is I who make you serious; let us embrace each other!"
Death chuckles; Lust roars. They seize each other's figures, and sing together:
"I hasten the dissolution of matter."
"I facilitate the scattering of germs!"
"Thou destroyest that I may renew!"
"Thou engenderest that I may destroy!"
"Active my power!"