Chapter VII: Act III: Before the Curtain

NIGHT

_The MAN enters from his house, seats himself and sings_:

Lo! Now the night lies on the city’s breast,
And thousand thousand lovers rise from rest
To seek in truth, what day unveiled in dream:—
The one, the all, the maiden manifest.

_The WOMAN enters from her house, seats herself and sings_:

Lo! Now the heav’n pours down its silver stream
Into the lattice of my heart’s harim!
The hour comes, the night of nights is nigh,
That bindeth soul to soul in bond supreme.

_The MAN_:

Yehh! That some flaming dance might glorify
The moments of my sweet expectancy!

_The WOMAN_:

Yehh! That some liquid Almah’s ebb and flow
The ocean of my love might amplify!

_BOTH_:

O Thou, Bestower of all things, bestow
This benediction on Thy servants low!

_The DANCER enters and weaves the spell of Destiny about the MAN and the WOMAN. They rise and approach each other singing_:

The day belongs to man, to woman night:—
HE: { And so I give to thee thy lawful right, }
SHE: { And so I claim in thee my lawful right. }
Sealing our compact of eternal plight,
O thou, my longing, and my soul’s delight!

_The DANCER smiles in triumph and vanishes._

_The MAN and the WOMAN embrace and go out hand in hand through the Curtains of Fate._