John the Baptist: A Play Part 29

Sleep, and let them talk.

JOHN

[_Walks on, and then pauses in front of Mesulemeth._] Thou who liest here by the way, be thou man or woman, wake up!

MESULEMETH

Why dost thou not step over me, as every one does in Jerusalem?

JOHN

Dost thou lie here always in the road?

MESULEMETH

I lie here always. For I must be at the Temple. Day and night I must be at the Temple.

JOHN

Art thou not greedy for alms?

MESULEMETH

[_Shaking her head._] The little I want, the pilgrims give me. But hast thou never heard of Hannah, the prophetess?

JOHN

I have heard speak of her, when I was a child.

MESULEMETH

Well, this is her place. Here she sat and waited for the Messiah, forty years long. When she died she left the place to me ... And now I sit and wait till He comes again.

JOHN

Comes again? Hath He then been already?

MESULEMETH

Certainly He hath.

JOHN

[_In deep emotion._] He came? Came even to thee?

MESULEMETH

To me? No. If He had come to me, I should have been at rest long ago.

But Hannah ... She saw Him when He came.

JOHN

Woman! I implore thee ... Speak, tell me, how did He come?

MESULEMETH

Then sit down here beside me, so that I may speak low.... Once a little lad was brought to the Temple by his mother, to be circ.u.mcised. And there was one called Simeon who, when he saw this boy-babe, was filled with the Holy Ghost, and said, "Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, for his eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared for all nations." ... And Hannah heard this, and she came up to them and recognised Him?

JOHN

How did she recognise Him?

MESULEMETH

Did I not tell thee that she was a prophetess? Otherwise she might not have recognised Him. But as it was, she praised the Lord, and laid herself down and died. So now I sit where she sat, and wait for Him to come again.

JOHN

Verily, He must come again; and dost thou know, woman, how He will come? As the Lord of Hosts, arrayed in golden armour, with His sword drawn above His head, so He will come to save His people Israel. He will trample His enemies under His horse's hoofs, but the youth of Israel shall greet Him with hosannas and jubilation. See, woman, that is how He will come!

MESULEMETH

[_Anxiously._] Who art thou, stranger? Dost thou imagine thyself to be the prophet of anyone?

JOHN

It matters not who I am, if thou art prepared for my message.

MESULEMETH

Thou canst take thy message further. I will not have it.

JOHN

What! Thou wilt not have the Messiah?

MESULEMETH

Not that one. I will not have that one. For many have come in golden armour, and have drawn their sword, and then Israel hath bled after, like a sacrificial ox. _He_ shall be no king! No! When kings come, they come to kings! No one hath come, as yet to us, the poor---- Go away, stranger, lest thou s.n.a.t.c.h from me my crumb of hope. Begone, thou art a false prophet!... Go, let me lie on the road! [_She sinks back._]

JOHN

[_To himself._] False prophet!

SCENE XI

_The same. Josaphat, Matthias_. [_From the left._]