The Green Helmet and Other Poems Part 10

[_Lifting her dagger to stab herself_]

I, too, on the grey wing's path.

CUCHULAIN

[_Seizing dagger_]

Do you dare, do you dare, do you dare?

Bear children and sweep the house.

[_Forcing his way through the Servants who gather round_]

Wail, but keep from the road.

[_He kneels before RED MAN. There is a pause_]

Quick to your work, old Radish, you will fade when the c.o.c.ks have crowed.

[_A black cat-headed Man holds out the Helmet. The RED MAN takes it_]

RED MAN

I have not come for your hurt, I'm the Rector of this land, And with my spitting cat-heads, my frenzied moon-bred band, Age after age I sift it, and choose for its champions.h.i.+p The man who hits my fancy.

[_He places the Helmet on CUCHULAIN'S head_]

And I choose the laughing lip That shall not turn from laughing whatever rise or fall, The heart that grows no bitterer although betrayed by all; The hand that loves to scatter; the life like a gambler's throw; And these things I make prosper, till a day come that I know, When heart and mind shall darken that the weak may end the strong, And the long remembering harpers have matter for their song.

[Ill.u.s.tration]