The Hour Glass | Page 3

fools and women
have thoughts like that; their thoughts were never written upon the
walls of Babylon. [He sees the ANGEL.] What are you? Who are you?
I think I saw some that were like you in my dreams when I was a
child--that bright thing, that dress that is the color of embers! But I
have done with dreams, I have done with dreams.
ANGEL. I am the Angel of the Most High God.
WISE MAN. Why have you come to me?
ANGEL. I have brought you a message.
WISE MAN. What message have yon got for me?
ANGEL. You will die within the hour. You will die when the last

grains have fallen in this glass. [He turns the hour-glass.]
WISE MAN. My time to die has not come. I have my pupils. I have a
young wife and children that I cannot leave. Why must I die?
ANGEL. You must die because no souls have passed over the threshold
of heaven since you came into this country. The threshold is grassy,
and the gates are rusty, and the angels that keep watch there are lonely.
WISE MAN. Where will death bring me to?
ANGEL. The doors of heaven will not open to you, for you have
denied the existence of heaven; and the doors of purgatory will not
open to you, for you have denied the existence of purgatory.
WISE MAN. But I have also denied the existence of hell!
ANGEL. Hell is the place of those who deny.
WISE MAN [kneeling]. I have indeed denied everything and have
taught others to deny. I have believed in nothing but what my senses
told me. But, oh! beautiful Angel, forgive me, forgive me!
ANGEL. You should have asked forgiveness long ago.
WISE MAN. Had I seen your face as I see it now, oh! beautiful Angel,
I would have believed, I would have asked forgiveness. Maybe you do
not know how easy it is to doubt. Storm, death, the grass rotting, many
sicknesses, those are the messengers that came to me. Oh! why are you
silent? You carry the pardon of the Most High; give it to me! I would
kiss your hands if I were not afraid-- no, no, the hem of your dress!
ANGEL. You let go undying hands too ago to take hold of them now.
WISE MAN. You cannot understand. You live in that country people
only see in their dreams. You live in a country that we can only dream
about. Maybe it is as hard for you to understand why we disbelieve as it
is for us to believe. Oh! what have I said! You know everything! Give
me time to undo what I have done. Give me a year--a month--a day--an
hour! Give me this hour's end, that I may undo what I have done!
ANGEL. You cannot undo what you have done. Yet I have this power
with my message. If you can find one that believes before the hour's
end, you shall come to heaven after the years of purgatory. For, from
one fiery seed, watched over by those that sent me, the harvest can
come again to heap the golden threshing-floor. But now farewell, for I
am weary of the weight of time.
WISE MAN. Blessed be the Father, blessed be the Son, blessed be the
Spirit, blessed be the Messenger They have sent!

ANGEL [at the door and pointing at the hour-glass]. In a little while the
uppermost glass will be empty. [Goes out.]
WISE MAN. Everything will be well with me. I will call my pupils;
they only say they doubt. [Pulls the bell.] They will be here in a
moment. I hear their feet outside on the path. They want to please me;
they pretend that they disbelieve. Belief is too old to be overcome all in
a minute. Besides, I can prove what I once disproved. [Another pull at
the bell.] They are coming now. I will go to my desk. I will speak
quietly, as if nothing had happened.
[He stands at the desk with a fixed look in his eyes.]
[Enter PUPILS and the FOOL.]
FOOL. Leave me alone. Leave me alone. Who is that pulling at my bag?
King's son, do not pull at my bag.
A YOUNG MAN. Did your friends the angels give you that bag? Why
don't they fill your bag for you?
FOOL. Give me pennies! Give me some pennies!
A YOUNG MAN. Let go his cloak, it is coming to pieces. What do you
want pennies for, with that great bag at your waist?
FOOL. I want to buy bacon in the shops, and nuts in the market, and
strong drink for the time when the sun is weak, and snares to catch
rabbits and the squirrels that