PERVANEH The point was on my breast, and it might have been all ended for you and me.
RAFI
You have been afraid.
PERVANEH
It would have driven to my heart. Ah, the woman that I am!
RAFI
It is so small a thing, a pricking of the steel.
PERVANEH
Ah!—it is a little thing, you say? It is like ice, so sharp and cold.
I am a vile coward.
RAFI We are both cowards, you and I. The sunlight changes on the wall from white to gold. It is evening. Our time has come. Shall we choose life? Shall we choose the sky and the sea, the mountains, the rivers and the plains? Shall we choose the flowers and the bees, and all the birds of heaven? Shall we choose laughter and tears, sorrow and desire, speech and silence, and the shout of the man behind the hill?
PERVANEH
Ah, empty, empty without your heart! (She weeps.)
RAFI
Empty as death, Pervaneh, empty as death?
PERVANEH
The wall reddens: the last minute has come: we must choose.
RAFI Choose for me: I follow. Did I talk of life? My heart is breaking for desire of you. If you bid me depart I will not live without you. Choose for me—and choose well. Phantoms of pain! Let me but have you in my arms, and one day of love shall widen into eternity. Who knows? The earth may crack to-night, or the sun stay down for ever in his grave. Who knows—tomorrow—God will begin and finish the judgment of the world—and when it is all over find you sleeping in my arms?