this hour we're between the daytime and a
night where there is sleep for ever, and isn't
it a better thing to be following on to a near
death, than to be bending the head down, and
dragging with the feet, and seeing one day
a blight showing upon love where it is sweet
and tender.
NAISI -- his voice broken with distraction.
-- If a near death is coming what will be my
trouble losing the earth and the stars over it,
and you, Deirdre, are their flame and bright
crown? Come away into the safety of the
woods.
DEIRDRE -- shaking her head slowly. --
There are as many ways to wither love as there
are stars in a night of Samhain; but there is
no way to keep life, or love with it, a short
space only. . . . It's for that there's nothing
lonesome like a love is watching out the time
most lovers do be sleeping. . . . It's for that
we're setting out for Emain Macha when the
tide turns on the sand.
NAISI -- giving in. -- You're right, maybe.
It should be a poor thing to see great lovers
and they sleepy and old.
DEIRDRE -- with a more tender intensity.
-- We're seven years without roughness or


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