Ha! Ha! Ha!
[The gates close, and it descends with his laughter.]
DAVID [After a pause]
Perhaps I am ... meshuggah.
[He walks up and down moodily, approaches the parapet at back.]
Dropping down is indeed natural.
[He looks over.]
How it tugs and drags at one!
[He moves back resolutely and shakes his head.]
That would be even a greater descent than Pappelmeister's to comic opera. One must fly upward—somehow.