Tête-d'Or: A play in three acts

by Paul Claudel

But I open my eyes and see the sun as it rises and sets,

And nature, and I find no happiness there. And I see other men and they are like myself.

To which of them shall I speak? I shall speak to him and he will make reply.

Each cries, "Like us you must pay for the right to be alive!" But as I say I have no handicraft,

I can only pay with myself.

And all men are full of faults,

—But you, do you think that such a man exists?

Tête-d'or: You lay your hand on an old wound!—He exists.

Cébès: He exists then.

But which of us speaks and is not understood?