We talked and our words were only an empty sound; and from morning until evening we gave ourselves no rest.

In truth we are dead.

As tired

As a man who comes home drunk in the morning and goes to bed without undressing or taking off his boots.

At first the heart was silent,

And then, like a tom-cat that yowls very softly, it began to voice its lament.

The Second Watcher: Be still, heart! Be still, poor heart! What would you have?

The Fourth Watcher: And even now they come to extinguish us

As you quench a stinking lamp with a damp cloth.

The First Watcher: O night! O chasm of blackness!