THE BOOK WAS DRENCHED - OUDL Home

Others
Woe, woe, woe !
Ilion shineth afar!
Fire in the deeps thereof,
Fire in the heights above,
And crested walls of War!
Others
As smoke on the wing of heaven
Climbeth and scattereth,
Torn of the spear and driven,
The land crieth for death:
O stormy battlements that red fire hath riven,
And the sword's angry breath!
(A new thought comes to HECUBA; she kneels
and beats the earth with her hands.)
HECUBA
strophe
O Earth, Earth of my children; hearken! and O mine own,
Ye have hearts and forget not, ye in the darkness lying!
LEADER
Now hast thou found thy prayer, crying to them that are gone.
HECUBA
Surely my knees are weary, but I kneel above your head;
Hearken, O ye so silent! My hands beat your bed!
LEADER
I, I am near thee;
I kneel to thy dead to hear thee,
Kneel to mine own in the darkness; O husband, hear my crying!
HECUBA
Even as the beasts they drive, even as the loads they bear,
LEADER
(Pain; Opain!)
HECUBA
We go to the house of bondage. Hear, ye dead, O hear!
LEADER
(Go, and come not again!)