Responsibilities Part 12

FOURTH PUPIL

They are up above the clouds.

FOOL

Give me a penny, give me a penny.

FIRST PUPIL (_singing_)

'I'll find your wits again, Come, for I saw them roll, To where old badger mumbles In the black hole.'

SECOND PUPIL (_singing_)

'No, but an angel stole them The night that you were born, And now they are but a rag, On the moon's horn.'

WISE MAN

Be silent.

FIRST PUPIL

Can you not see that he is troubled?

[_All the pupils are seated._

WISE MAN

What do you think of when alone at night?

Do not the things your mothers spoke about, Before they took the candle from the bedside, Rush up into the mind and master it, Till you believe in them against your will?

SECOND PUPIL (_to first pupil_)

You answer for us.

THIRD PUPIL (_in a whisper to first pupil_)

Be careful what you say; If he persuades you to an argument, He will but turn us all to mockery.

FIRST PUPIL

We had no minds until you made them for us; Our bodies only were our mothers' work.

WISE MAN

You answer with incredible things. It is certain That there is one,--though it may be but one-- Believes in G.o.d and in some heaven and h.e.l.l-- In all those things we put into our prayers.

FIRST PUPIL

We thought those things before our minds were born, But that was long ago--we are not children.

WISE MAN

You are afraid to tell me what you think Because I am hot and angry when I am crossed.

I do not blame you for it; but have no fear, For if there's one that sat on smiling there, As though my arguments were sweet as milk Yet found them bitter, I will thank him for it, If he but speak his mind.

FIRST PUPIL

There is no one, Master, There is not one but found them sweet as milk.

WISE MAN

The things that have been told us in our childhood Are not so fragile.

SECOND PUPIL

We are no longer children.

THIRD PUPIL

We all believe in you and in what you have taught.

OTHER PUPILS

All, all, all, all, in you, nothing but you.

WISE MAN

I have deceived you--where shall I go for words-- I have no thoughts--my mind has been swept bare.

The messengers that stand in the fiery cloud, Fling themselves out, if we but dare to question, And after that, the Babylonian moon Blots all away.

FIRST PUPIL (_to other pupils_)

I take his words to mean That visionaries, and martyrs when they are raised Above translunary things, and there enlightened, As the contention is, may lose the light, And flounder in their speech when the eyes open.

SECOND PUPIL

How well he imitates their trick of speech.

THIRD PUPIL

Their air of mystery.

FOURTH PUPIL

Their empty gaze, As though they'd looked upon some winged thing, And would not condescend to mankind after.

FIRST PUPIL