The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats. Volume 4 of 8. The Hour-glass. Cathleen ni Houlihan. The Golden Helmet. The Irish Dramatic Movement

A YOUNG MAN [to Another]

He will not be satisfied till we dispute with him. [To the WISE MAN.] Prove it, Master. Have you seen them?

WISE MAN [in a low, solemn voice]

Just now, before you came in, someone came to the door, and when I looked up I saw an angel standing there.

A YOUNG MAN

You were in a dream. Anybody can see an angel in his dreams.

WISE MAN

Oh, my God! It was not a dream! I was awake, waking as I am now. I tell you I was awake as I am now.

A YOUNG MAN

Some dream when they are awake, but they are the crazy, and who would believe what they say? Forgive me, Master, but that is what you taught me to say. That is what you said to the monk when he spoke of the visions of the saints and the martyrs.

ANOTHER YOUNG MAN

You see how well we remember your teaching.

WISE MAN

Out, out from my sight! I want someone with belief. I must find that grain the Angel spoke of before I die. I tell you I must find it, and you answer me with arguments. Out with you, out of my sight!

    [The Young Men laugh.

A YOUNG MAN

How well he plays at faith! He is like the monk when he had nothing more to say.

WISE MAN

Out, out! This is no time for laughter! Out with you, though you are a king’s son!

    [They begin to hurry out.

A YOUNG MAN

Come, come; he wants us to find someone who will dispute with him.[All go out.

WISE MAN

[Alone; he goes to the door at the side.]

I will call my wife. She will believe; women always believe. [He opens the door and calls.] Bridget! Bridget! [BRIDGET comes in wearing her apron, her sleeves turned up from her floury arms.] Bridget, tell me the truth; do not say what you think will please me. Do you sometimes say your prayers?

BRIDGET

Prayers! No, you taught me to leave them off long ago. At first I was sorry, but I am glad now for I am sleepy in the evenings.

WISE MAN

But do you not believe in God?

BRIDGET

Oh, a good wife only believes what her husband tells her!

WISE MAN

But sometimes when you are alone, when I am in the school and the children asleep, do you not think about the saints, about the things you used to believe in? What do you think of when you are alone?

BRIDGET [considering]

I think about nothing. Sometimes I wonder if the linen is bleaching white, or I go out to see if the crows are picking up the chickens’ food.

WISE MAN

Oh, what can I do! Is there nobody who believes he can never die? I must go and find somebody! [He goes towards the door, but stops with his eyes fixed on the hour-glass.] I cannot go out; I cannot leave that. Go, and call my pupils again. I will make them understand. I will say to them that only amid spiritual terror, or only when all that laid hold on life is shaken can we see truth. There is something in Plato, but – no, do not call them. They would answer as I have bid.

BRIDGET

You want somebody to get up an argument with.

WISE MAN

Oh, look out of the door and tell me if there is anybody there in the street. I cannot leave this glass; somebody might shake it! Then the sand would fall more quickly.

BRIDGET

I don’t understand what you are saying. [Looks out.] There is a great crowd of people talking to your pupils.

WISE MAN

Oh, run out, Bridget, and see if they have found somebody that all the time I was teaching understood nothing or did not listen!

BRIDGET

[Wiping her arms in her apron and pulling down her sleeves.]

It’s a hard thing to be married to a man of learning that must be always having arguments. [Goes out and shouts through the kitchen door.] Don’t be meddling with the bread, children, while I’m out.

WISE MAN [kneels down]

‘Confiteor Deo Omnipotenti beatæ Mariæ.’ I have forgotten it all. It is thirty years since I have said a prayer. I must pray in the common tongue, like a clown begging in the market, like Teig the Fool! [He prays.] Help me, Father, Son, and Spirit!