These gentlemen open the comedy: Yonder
Behold, in the sunrise, they flaunt their grim Secret
For us to unravel:—Who are they? What means it
That here, on a gateway of Pekin, these gory
Oracular heads stare downward in silence?
And yonder—those others? Who’s he in the white beard?—
Love, jealousy, murder—what is their mystery?
By the ghost of old Gozzi, now what are we good for
Unless we untangle their shadowy intrigues!—
Follow me, then, my playboys! Before the next sunrise