O music locked amid the stones,
Beside the—amid the—
Lisetta.
Read on—and thou hast told me day by day
Thou couldst not read.
Pia.
I read from hearing thee from day to day
Repeat the verses.
Lisetta.
Fie! Give them to me here.
[She takes the paper and holds it in her hands on her breast, and reads without looking at it.]
O music locked amid the stones,
My love hath spoken like to thee,
Pia, think you—Pia, do you not hear
The mowers and the reapers in the fields
Singing the evening song, and the twilight pipes?
The twilight is the hour when hearts break!
How many lonely twilights will there be
Ere God will spare me?
Pia [kneeling].
Hush, child, hush, darling!
[Lisetta turns her face to the window by the bed. Pia strokes her hand and sings softly:]
Firefly, firefly, come from the shadows—<7p>