Act one, scene one,

Oliver’s house. It _shall_ go well. I have A strength that comes I know not whence. It _shall_ Go well. And then I’ll give the Roman tale I heard at school--a tale of men, not women: That easies all. But Antony goes on To Egypt and a gipsy: leaves his pale wife At home to scald her eyes out. Mary--Mary-- Will you not let me be? It _shall_ go well. And after Antony some Twelfth Night trick To please our gods and give my pregnancy Its needed peace. How many months for Denmark? And then? A whole man laughs, and so will I. Oh, Smile behind the thunder, teach me laughter, And save my soul!-- The knock-about fat man, try him again! He’ll take a month or less--candles are cheap, Cheaper than sleep these dreaming nights. That done, I’ll sink another shaft in Holinshed-- Marlowe, your diamonds! your diamonds! The king and his three daughters--he’s been shaped Already. True! But rough-cut only. Wait! Give me that giant cluster in my hand To cut anew, in its own midnight set, It shall outshine Orion! Afterwards, A fairy tale maybe, and after that-- And after that--and after--after? God! The years before me! And no Mary! Mary--

ANNE’S VOICE. When her lost face--

SHAKESPEARE. It shall, it shall go well.

ANNE’S VOICE. --stares from the page you toil upon, thus, thus, In a glass of tears--

SHAKESPEARE. They scald, they blind my view, No comfort anywhere.

ANNE’S VOICE. I love you so.

SHAKESPEARE. The work, the work remains.

ANNE’S VOICE. But when you’re old, For work too old, or pity, love or hate, For anything but peace, and in your hand Lies the crowned life victorious at last--

SHAKESPEARE. Like the crowned Indian fruit, the voyage home Rots while it gilds, not worth the tasting--

ANNE’S VOICE. Then, Remember me! Then, then, when all your need Is hands to serve you and a breast to die on, Come back to me!

SHAKESPEARE. God knows--some day?

ANNE’S VOICE. I wait.

_As he stoops over his work again_

THE CURTAIN FALLS.

_January, 1920--April, 1921._

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY WOODS AND SONS, LTD., LONDON, N.1.