sadness.
THIRD WATCHER Listening to you was so beautiful. Don’t say it wasn’t... I know it wasn’t worth the bother. That’s why I found it beautiful... That’s not why, but let me say it was... What’s more, the music of your voice, which I listened to even more than your words, leaves me dissatisfied, perhaps because it’s music ...
SECOND WATCHER Everything leaves us dissatisfied, sister ... For people who think, everything wearies, because everything changes. People who come and go prove it, for they change with everything... Only dreams last forever and are beautiful. Why are we still talking? ...
FIRST WATCHER I don’t know ...
(in a low voice, looking at the coffin)
Why do people die?
SECOND WATCHER Perhaps because they don’t dream enough ...
FIRST WATCHER It’s possible ... Then wouldn’t we be better off shutting ourselves up in our dream and forgetting life, so that death would in turn forget us? ...
SECOND WATCHER No, sister, we’re not better off doing anything ...
THIRD WATCHER Sisters, it’s already day... Look at the astonished line of the hills ... Why don’t we weep? ... That woman who pretends to be lying there was young like us, and beautiful, and she also dreamed ... I’m sure her dream was the most beautiful of all... What do you suppose she dreamed of? ...
FIRST WATCHER Lower your voice. Perhaps she’s listening, and already knows what dreams are for ...
(pause)
SECOND WATCHER Perhaps none of this is true ... This silence, this dead woman and this rising day are perhaps nothing but a dream ... Look closely at all this ... Does it seem to you that it belongs to life? ...
FIRST WATCHER I don’t know. I don’t know how something belongs to life ... Ah, how still you are! And your eyes look so uselessly sad ...
SECOND WATCHER It’s not worth being sad in any other way ... Don’t you think we should stop talking? It’s so strange to be living ... Everything that happens is unbelievable, whether on the mariner’s island or in this world ... Look, the sky is already green. The horizon goldenly smiles ... I feel my eyes burning from my having thought about crying ...
FIRST WATCHER You did cry, sister.
SECOND WATCHER Perhaps... It doesn’t matter... What’s this chill? ... Ah, it’s time, yes... the time has come! ... Tell me this... Tell me this one thing ... Why can’t the mariner be the only thing in all of this that’s real, and we and everything else just one of his dreams? ...
FIRST WATCHER Stop talking, stop talking ... This is so strange that it must be true. Say no more ... I don’t know what you were going tosay, but it must be too much for the soul to bear ... I’m afraid of what you didn’t say ... Look, look, it’s already day. Look at the day ... Do everything you can to see only the day, the real day, there, outside ... Look at it, look at it ... It comforts ... Don’t think, don’t look at what you’re thinking ... Look at the day that’s breaking ... It shines like gold over a silver land. The wispy clouds are filling out and gaining color ... Imagine if nothing existed, sisters ... Imagine if everything were, in a way, absolutely nothing ... Why did you look at me like that? ...
(They don’t answer her. And no one had looked at anything.)
FIRST WATCHER What did you say that so frightened me? ... I felt it so strongly I hardly noticed what it was ... Tell me again so that, hearing it for the second time, I won’t be as frightened as the first... No, no ... Don’t say anything ... I didn’t ask that question because I wanted an answer but just to say something, to keep myself from thinking ... I’m afraid I might remember what it was ... It was something huge and frightful like the existence of God ... We should have already quit talking ... Our conversation stopped making sense a long time ago ... Whatever it is between us that makes us talk has gone on for too long ... There are other
THIRD WATCHER Listening to you was so beautiful. Don’t say it wasn’t... I know it wasn’t worth the bother. That’s why I found it beautiful... That’s not why, but let me say it was... What’s more, the music of your voice, which I listened to even more than your words, leaves me dissatisfied, perhaps because it’s music ...
SECOND WATCHER Everything leaves us dissatisfied, sister ... For people who think, everything wearies, because everything changes. People who come and go prove it, for they change with everything... Only dreams last forever and are beautiful. Why are we still talking? ...
FIRST WATCHER I don’t know ...
(in a low voice, looking at the coffin)
Why do people die?
SECOND WATCHER Perhaps because they don’t dream enough ...
FIRST WATCHER It’s possible ... Then wouldn’t we be better off shutting ourselves up in our dream and forgetting life, so that death would in turn forget us? ...
SECOND WATCHER No, sister, we’re not better off doing anything ...
THIRD WATCHER Sisters, it’s already day... Look at the astonished line of the hills ... Why don’t we weep? ... That woman who pretends to be lying there was young like us, and beautiful, and she also dreamed ... I’m sure her dream was the most beautiful of all... What do you suppose she dreamed of? ...
FIRST WATCHER Lower your voice. Perhaps she’s listening, and already knows what dreams are for ...
(pause)
SECOND WATCHER Perhaps none of this is true ... This silence, this dead woman and this rising day are perhaps nothing but a dream ... Look closely at all this ... Does it seem to you that it belongs to life? ...
FIRST WATCHER I don’t know. I don’t know how something belongs to life ... Ah, how still you are! And your eyes look so uselessly sad ...
SECOND WATCHER It’s not worth being sad in any other way ... Don’t you think we should stop talking? It’s so strange to be living ... Everything that happens is unbelievable, whether on the mariner’s island or in this world ... Look, the sky is already green. The horizon goldenly smiles ... I feel my eyes burning from my having thought about crying ...
FIRST WATCHER You did cry, sister.
SECOND WATCHER Perhaps... It doesn’t matter... What’s this chill? ... Ah, it’s time, yes... the time has come! ... Tell me this... Tell me this one thing ... Why can’t the mariner be the only thing in all of this that’s real, and we and everything else just one of his dreams? ...
FIRST WATCHER Stop talking, stop talking ... This is so strange that it must be true. Say no more ... I don’t know what you were going tosay, but it must be too much for the soul to bear ... I’m afraid of what you didn’t say ... Look, look, it’s already day. Look at the day ... Do everything you can to see only the day, the real day, there, outside ... Look at it, look at it ... It comforts ... Don’t think, don’t look at what you’re thinking ... Look at the day that’s breaking ... It shines like gold over a silver land. The wispy clouds are filling out and gaining color ... Imagine if nothing existed, sisters ... Imagine if everything were, in a way, absolutely nothing ... Why did you look at me like that? ...
(They don’t answer her. And no one had looked at anything.)
FIRST WATCHER What did you say that so frightened me? ... I felt it so strongly I hardly noticed what it was ... Tell me again so that, hearing it for the second time, I won’t be as frightened as the first... No, no ... Don’t say anything ... I didn’t ask that question because I wanted an answer but just to say something, to keep myself from thinking ... I’m afraid I might remember what it was ... It was something huge and frightful like the existence of God ... We should have already quit talking ... Our conversation stopped making sense a long time ago ... Whatever it is between us that makes us talk has gone on for too long ... There are other
Similar Books
