[Enter Herald, followed by Riches.]
Costumes for The Masque of the Two Strangers designed at the Washington Irving High School.
Herald.
Riches, Lord of the Marches of the West, salutes thee.
[Exit Herald.]
Riches.
My name is Riches, and I offer thee
A store of wealth exhaustless as the sand.
This is the symbol of my opulence,
A casket in whose depths gold never fails.
Grant me thy hand, and thou, Princess, shalt gain
All that the world contains of happiness.
Thy palace shall be built of precious stones,
And thou shalt walk on rose-leaves every day.
Sorrow shall be forgotten in my arms,
Nothing shall be denied thee wealth can buy.
All things—all men yield to the touch of gold.
Sorrow.
Blind are the eyes on which thy visions rise.
My spells have turned thy glories into dust.
Douce-Cœur.
The gold thou offerest me is stained with blood;
Thy precious stones were won with tears and toil;
The sum of all thy wealth could not reflower
The arid wastes that Sorrow has laid bare.
Poetry.
She is too simple for thy promises;
To one who knows not Sister Poverty
Thy lures, my lord, appear as idle words.
[Enter Herald, followed by Power.]