Cha. [Rises and takes her face between his hands]
There's but one sky!
Her. A shuddering breath,
As from a planet strange, where you have walked
And I shall never go.
Cha. O, shut me in,
Rose of a heart! I'll not go out though Life
Beat at the door, and call her giant storms
To knock upon 't.
Her. Is this not life? And this
The only world?
Cha. The only world. My habitat
One perfect hour.
Her. One hour? Forever, love.
Cha. O, vow it for me, sweet,—again, again!
Till I believe once more in Arcadies
Born of a silken purse. In sunsets caught
In tinted tapestries, with jacinth heart
Gold-bleeding through the woven breath of dream.
In soft moon-hours that drop from painted skies,
In fairy woodlands aye unwintering,
In love's elf-ring no boding star may cross,
And you, my Hernda, sceptred in joy's name,
Tossing the apple planets in your hands—
These little, sovereign hands—as God might do,
Had he, poor God, your power.
Her. Love, you hurt.
Cha. Ah, tears in Arcady?
Her. Oh, what is this
Has come between us?