Jeremiah
On, on! I must look Terror in the face. [He gazes down into the valley, standing motionless and silent]
Baruch
What are you staring at?
Jeremiah
[Still gazing] The king has come, the king from the north. [He seizes Baruch’s sleeve] Come closer, Baruch! Touch my hand that I may know whether I wake or sleep. Are my eyes open? Is this wall builded of stones or of tears? Does Jerusalem lie behind us unheeding in the darkness? Are the forces of Ashur couched in the plain beneath? Tell me, Baruch, convince me that I am dreaming. Shake me till I awake, to laugh at my mad fancy that Zion is encircled by the Chaldeans.
Baruch
What do you mean, master? I don’t understand. How can you doubt?
Alas, it is true, then. I am not dreaming now. The horses are there and the chariots; Ashur is arrayed against Zion; the vision is fulfilled. All these miseries spring from my dreams, for they existed in me before they were in the world of reality. I alone knew, before ever God’s words became deeds. In me they arose; through me they came. Yet naught can I do to hinder their flow; nor by sword nor by shield can I stay their progress.