Wise Man Monologue from The Hour Glass

From The Hour Glass by W. B. (William Butler) Yeats

male · anguished · 1:15 min

He believes! I am saved! Help me. The sand has run out. I am dying.... (FOOL helps him to his chair.) I am going from the country of the seven wandering stars, and I am going to the country of the fixed stars! Ring the bell. (FOOL rings the bell.) Are they coming? Ah! now I hear their feet.... I will speak to them. I understand it all now. One sinks in on God: we do not see the truth; God sees the truth in us. I cannot speak, I am too weak. Tell them, Fool, that when the life and the mind are broken, the truth comes through them like peas through a broken peascod. But no, I will pray--yet I cannot pray. Pray Fool, that they may be given a sign and save their souls alive. Your prayers are better than mine. (FOOL bows his head. WISE MAN'S head sinks on his arm on the books. PUPILS enter.)

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