| (Child) Will it be long before she comes? | |
| (Father) The throne, you see, is empty. | |
| (1, 0) 11 | Sometimes I fear the Queen will not come back to us again. |
| (1, 0) 12 | How many weary days we've stood and watched and waited! |
| (Maiden) Mother, we must believe! | |
| (Child) But I have heard people say that she is very beautiful and that the world is happy when she sits upon her throne. | |
| (1, 0) 21 | Yes, little one, the world is happy. |
| (Child) I do not remember the Queen upon her throne. | |
| (Child) And what do you remember from the time when the world was happy? | |
| (1, 0) 35 | I remember the gladness of my home and the joy in all my care. |
| (1, 0) 36 | I remember the voices of my sons, their sudden laughter, their little turns of song, and how, for me, their words were softened. |
| (1, 0) 37 | I remember their steps drawing near the door, and how, when they were sad of heart, I had from God the old, old gift of comfort. |
| (Child) And, in that time, you did not sit quiet by the fire, trying to hide that you were crying? | |
| (Child) And, in that time, you did not sit quiet by the fire, trying to hide that you were crying? | |
| (1, 0) 39 | No, little one. |
| (1, 0) 40 | Then, as I sat by the fire, I only thought: "To-morrow I must do this for them, or that for them." |
| (1, 0) 41 | And sometimes, when I looked up, they would turn to me and smile. |
| (Child) {To THE MAIDEN.} | |
| (Father) Yes; he walks in the public places. | |
| (1, 0) 62 | He may bring news of the great Queen. |
| (Father) Sir, we greet you. | |
| (Man of Doubt) I greet you all. | |
| (1, 0) 67 | Sir, have you news of the Queen? |
| (Man of Doubt) What Queen? | |
| (Man of Doubt) What Queen? | |
| (1, 0) 69 | Her name is Peace. |
| (Man of Doubt) And do you wait for |her|? | |
| (Man of Doubt) And do you wait for |her|? | |
| (1, 0) 71 | It is said she is to dwell with us for ever. |
| (Man of Doubt) Friends, you lose your time. | |
| (Man of Doubt) What was, shall be. | |
| (1, 0) 75 | But, sir, it was for this our sons went forth to find her. |
| (Man of Doubt) Men go upon a hundred ways, and a hundred times when they come back, their hands are empty. | |
| (Child) Don't dreams come true? | |
| (1, 0) 87 | Hark! |
| (1, 0) 88 | What sound is that? |
| (Maiden) Voices, many joyful voices. | |
| (Father) A crowd upon the road. | |
| (1, 0) 94 | They come this way! |
| (Maiden) Oh! | |
| (Maiden) If it should be the Queen. | |
| (1, 0) 97 | At last! |
| (1, 0) 98 | The Queen! |
| (Man of Doubt) {Who stands apart, unmoved.} | |
| (1, 0) 105 | Tell us —what can you see? |
| (Maiden) A crowd of men and women. | |
| (Father) It is the Queen. | |
| (1, 0) 118 | Yes, the Queen, whose name is Peace! |
| (1, 0) 119 | O God, we thank Thee now, we, the mothers of men! |
| (Maiden) O God, we thank Thee now; we who love them and are loved! | |
| (Child) He looks so tired! | |
| (1, 0) 127 | Who is it leads her by the hand towards her throne? |
| (Maiden) A young man, weary and broken, dressed in a soldier's clothes. | |
| (Crowd) Our common will! | |
| (1, 0) 142 | O Queen, it is our common prayer! |
| (Father) Without you, we are nothing and the work of our hands is dust! | |
| (Father) O calm, kind Queen, once more we learn it! | |
| (1, 0) 152 | We learn it, and our need is great! |
| (Maiden) Oh, give us back those smiling days whose joy was greater than we knew! | |
| (Father) O Young Man from the bitter way, what shall the old men give you, as you come back from your quest? | |
| (1, 0) 173 | O son of some poor waiting mother, what do you ask of us who have waited for our sons? |