How joy was found a fantasy

If it be your will Never to open, yet is it meet That I come For under the door I can keek at the shadow of your feet Moving in a larger room. HERO You are good enough then To hold the tiller for these men, In case they are called to the sheets together By a sudden change in the weather. GRIPPER No earthly blast can overwhelm The ship of which I hold the helm If I have just a kenning more to grip, Something that will not give me the slip Like the rudder he has fashioned. I need something more impassioned, Something to which a mind can hold For a body’s apt to grow cold. [_The sleeping girl stirs and smiles._] HERO This is a shade sublimer. GRIPPER Who are you? CLIMBER [_Talking in her sleep._] I am a good climber. GRIPPER How good are you? CLIMBER I have climbed from the mind of man to the mind of God on a nervous stair. GRIPPER [_Astonished._] Lassie, that’s no canny! Were you no feared to fall? CLIMBER [_In her sleep._] Some day I’ll die, but how, or when, or where I do not greatly care, Because I know that with the flowers and weeds My life proceeds, If so I will, inside a gracious law. No flaw My death will be, nor mischievous accident, Howe’er besprent My blood upon the highway or the turf, Or in the surf Of thunderous combers on the ungathered sea But it will be An obvious hint of a Supreme design, A little clew of mine Left huddled by the beach or cliff to tell— “Pass, friend, all’s well!” HERO Let him hold fast The substance of your mind, So that he’ll find The evidence of unseen things that last, And that he’ll still behold Although his hand grows cold And cannot any longer feel The thing he thought was real. CLIMBER [_Still in her sleep._] I said I climbed upon a nervous stair Into the mind of God, Yet all the way I trod On air Because great Love upheld me there. I leaned and she resisted, gathering strength To toss me all that length Like some tall fountain-shower, And I have power To return again and water all the earth, Giving her second birth, Weaving her flesh, Meseems, Out of the mesh Of mind, After the fashion of immediate dreams, If I can find And force All Love into her proper course. With such support it is quite true There’s nothing that I cannot do. HERO Send me something I can see through. [_The shadow shifts to that of a bent old woman._] HERO Who are you? SHADOW I was old and perfect at the heart Ere human life could start. Before the mind conceived of life I was a wife. HERO [_Joyfully._] What are you good at? SHADOW I am a good thief. HERO How good are you? THIEF Joy in my heart grew strong and very bright, Luxuriantly fed in the light of stars, Planets, and suns, the speed of motor-cars, Fire’s untamed energy, the wireless might Of telepathy, that burns between the bars. I recognized her in the lofty spars Of the rigging, hailing land far out of sight, And as she leaned and peered entranced, I crept Into God’s mind, the while He slept, And stole it bit by bit away, And packed it in a brain of clay; But unaccustomed ripples broke On that calm surface. He awoke, And I, all trembling to depart, Was caught a prisoner in His heart. HERO You are good enough, If that’s the stuff Your mind is made on. Help her to climb higher, Otherwise she’ll tire, For she must be stayed on Such substantial matter If she’s to get fatter. THIEF Yes, but I need one to hold the rope At the other end, to give us both more scope. I need something full of joy. HERO Send me a boy. [_The shadow shifts to that of a boy, and leaps lightly about._] HERO Who are you? SHADOW [_Sings._] I am something always true. I don’t care twopence what they think; I know the sky is always blue, And the rest of life rose-pink. HERO [_Affectionately._] Stand still! Stand still! What are you good at besides singing, eh? SHADOW [_Standing still suddenly._] I am a good listener. HERO How good are you? LISTENER [_With his hand cupped to his ear._] Oh, well, by now I really think I’m able To hear folk talking at the other end of the cable When I lay my ear to the ground. There’s certainly some sort of sound Like the noise I hear In the early part of the year, When underground the lilies Whisper: “Hark! There still is Life in us; don’t look so blue. To-morrow we’ll be getting through, If on your side you’ll scrape away As much earth as you dare to-day.” HERO You are strong enough to hold the rope At the other end, since they require more scope. LISTENER I know I am, quite well; But they think I’m just a sell. Can’t you show them that I’m true? Hullo! Why, who are you? [_The Big Young Hero has suddenly lifted his right hand, and lets fall from it the shadow of a man carrying a bow and arrows._] MARKSMAN [_Placidly._] I am one too simple to be understood. HERO At what are you good? MARKSMAN I am a good marksman. HERO How good are you? MARKSMAN From childhood I have had a single aim. I did not deviate, I just went straight Ahead, till, in the place Where I was standing, I beheld your face, And found I had transfixed your name. LISTENER [_With delight._] Then I should think he’s good enough To show them that I’m not mere bluff. HERO [_Quietly._] He is good enough. [_The shadows fade, and the girl stirs restlessly in her sleep._] CLIMBER I have need of something more than dream. HERO I have given you something more: Your dream was real. [_The Climber laughs suddenly in her sleep, and wakens up._] CLIMBER [_Rubbing her eyes, and looking round with delight._] I feel Very happy, everything looks so bright. I knew it would clear up before to-night, Because I saw a rainbow very high Up in the sky. HERO I am going out fishing before the sun sets. Will you lend me your boat to gather In my nets? CLIMBER [_Eagerly._] Rather! Will you be long away? HERO I will be back with the first screich of day. I pray you, if it does not trouble you, Have breakfast ready in my house for two. [_They go down to the beach and launch the boat together, and the Big Young Hero sails slowly away in her towards the Hebrides, seen far off in the sunset. Soft twilight falls on the island, but a phosphorescence shines about the boat, outlining the figure of the Big Young Hero at the prow, who is leaning down towards the water setting the nets. Stars begin to come out in the sky, and on the distant shore a light suddenly twinkles out every few seconds on a buoy. The girl’s voice is heard singing as the boat drifts away._] CLIMBER’S SONG To-night I saw a rainbow; It hung my way before, As if the hills were gate-posts And it was the arch of a door. The moor stretched all about me, The heather and the bee; I longed to trap that rainbow For all the world to see. Perhaps in distant cities, Perhaps down in the glen, The rainbow was the signal Of rain for other men. But high upon the hilltops The clouds blow far and free, And leave behind the rainbow Blue sky for you and me. ACT II A MOUNTAIN-SIDE IN ARGYLLSHIRE: MORNING _A Scottish mountain-side covered with heather and bracken. In the crannies of the rocks oak fern and roseroot are growing. There is a pebbly brook running down to the sea; the sides are starred with sphagnum moss. Grass of Parnassus, and butterwort. In its bed the yellow marsh saxifrage is growing, and up the hillside a silver birch hangs over it. Farther up the hill there are a rowan and an alder, and on the crest, against the sky, a Scotch pine. Low down, by a green mound, there is a yew-tree. In the distance the white breakers of the sea are seen, and they are heard regularly crashing in upon the shore. There is sunshine everywhere, and a breeze blowing the heather and chasing the shadows of clouds across the hillside._ _At the back of the wind, behind a great rock, Finn, a middle-aged man, is sitting, asleep. He is bowed down by a heavy pack containing a rainbow, whose light escapes from the corners and colours it all. Some distance off some other men are lying asleep on the heather._ _Presently the Big Young Hero’s boat is seen approaching from far out at sea. As it nears, Finn stirs from his sleep and perceives it, and, starting to his feet, watches it, with his hand shading his eyes. The Big Young Hero lands from the boat, and, pulling her well up on the beach, comes leaping over the mountain to Finn strongly and gaily. As he runs, flowers spring up under his feet. The other men sleep on undisturbed._ HERO [_Saluting Finn._] Darling of all men in the world! I give you the greeting in grandeur and splendour! I bring you glad tidings of great joy! I publish peace! FINN [_Utterly bewildered._] Loveliest of all heroes that I have ever seen, I salute you frankly, fluently, and energetically With the equivalent of the same words, Though I do not know who you are.