GHOST OF PERVANEH
But you stay here, by the fountain.
FOUNTAIN GHOST
I created the fountain: what have you created in the world?
GHOST OF PERVANEH
Nothing but the story of our lives.
FOUNTAIN GHOST That will not save you. You were spiritual even in life. I see it by the great shadows of your eyes. But I cared only for the earth. I loved the veins of the leaves, the shapes of crawling beasts, the puddle in the road, the feel of wood and stone. I knew the shapes of things so well that my sculpture was the best in the world. Therefore my spirit is still heavy with memories of earth and I stay in the world I love. Do I desire to see the back of the moon?
GHOST OF PERVANEH
May not we stay also? May I not touch the shadow of his lips
and hear the whisper of his love? Shall we be driven from here,
O Man of the fountain?
FOUNTAIN GHOST
How do I know? Can I foresee?
GHOST OF PERVANEH Thou, too dost not foresee. But what of Paradise, what of Infinity— what of the stars, and what of us?
FOUNTAIN GHOST
I know no more than you.
GHOST OF PERVANEH
Is the secret secret still, and this existence darker than the last?
FOUNTAIN GHOST Didst thou hope for a revelation? Why should the dead be wiser than the living? The dead know only this—that it was better to be alive.