I can hear
A crying as of storm-distempered reeds.
The fading and the unfading fires rise up
Like steam out of the earth; the grass and leaves
Shiver and shrink away and sway about,
Blown by unnatural gusts of ice-cold air.
FIRST MERCHANT.
They are one with all the beings of decay,
Ill longings, madness, lightning, famine, drouth.
[The whole stage is gradually filled with vague forms, some animal shapes, some human, some mere lights.