Tête-d'Or: A play in three acts

by Paul Claudel

Tête-d'or, there are many kinds of men, the weak and the strong, the sick and the well.

I pity them; the incompetent and the stammering, the poor of spirit and those that ask for alms

With the deprecating smile that masks the shudder of shame behind.

And those that are mocked and cannot make reply, and cowards,

And those who from the darkness of their souls exhale a prayer devoid of savor!

And you, do you not also pity me?

And I say to you like that woman

When she lay at the roadside in the shadow of death;

"Why do you let me die?"

Tête-d'or: Take me with you if you wish! Do you think that I am not weary?