Excerpt from ACT IV (The King’s War)

"But thou has never known the need for solace daughter!
Thou hast yet to bear the weight of an empty heart:
Thou knowest where thy true love is,
Yet unlost in battle, or to another’s curve.
Thou shall see one day, my dear!

“Though, I wish to God, that thou wouldst not.
I pray thee, that thou couldst remain,
As thou art presently:
Full of strong heart, but with eyes,
As dim as thy lamp of oil is to the brightness of day.

“I pray thee, that thou shall not stand,
As I do this hour,
Sorting out with one hand, the harvest of such a small garden as thou has grown thus far!
And smile,
That thou perceiveth it’s wealth for thee, as vast and encompassing.
When thou has had neither past nor present feasts to prepare;
When thy house has only been thy tiny loft by the hearth of thy mother And father.
Thy steed, a besom who neither drinks nor eats but a fare share of dust.
Who neither jumps nor startles thee.
When thine only guests, have been made of clay and little dresses,
before thee round about,
at playful supper and meat.

“Dearest, I pray that thou, changest not,
And keepeth with tender heart,
What thou dost still crave, with a child’s unknowing:
That thou believest in a walking God, and not a stillness,
That robbeth the Night of all its stars,
And the day, its handsome men, on riding horses."