[The Dark Room. The KING and SUDARSRANA]
KING. Do not be afraid--you have no cause for fear. The fire
will not reach this room.
SUDARSHANA. I have no fear--but oh, shame has accompanied me
like a raging fire. My face, my eyes, my heart, every part of my
body is being scorched and burnt by its flames.
KING. It will be some time before you get over this burning.
SUDARSHANA. This fire will never cease-will never cease!
KING. Do not be despondent, Queen!
SUDARSHANA. O King, I shall not hide anything from you.... I
have another's garland round my neck.
KING. That garland, too, is mine--how else could he get it? He
stole it from my room.
SUDARSHANA. But it is <i>his</i> gift to me: yet I could not
fling this garland away! When the fire came roaring on all
sides of me, I thought of throwing this garland into the fire.
But no, I could not. My mind whispered, "Let that garland be
on you in your death." ... What fire is this, O King, into
which I, who had come out to see you, leaped like a moth that
cannot resist the flame? What a pain is this, oh, what agony!
The fire keeps burning as fiercely as ever, but I go on
living within its flames!
KING. But you have seen me at last--your desire has been
fulfilled.
SUDARSHANA. But did I seek to see you in the midst of this
fearful doom? I know not what I saw, but my heart is still
beating fast with fear.
KING. What did you see?
SUDARSHANA. Terrible,--oh, it was terrible! I am afraid even to
think of it again. Black, black--oh, thou art black like the
everlasting night! I only looked on thee for one dreadful
instant. The blaze of the fire fell on your features--you looked
like the awful night when a comet swings fearfully into our ken--
oh, then I closed my eyes--I could not look on you any more.
Black as the threatening storm-cloud, black as the shoreless sea
with the spectral red tint of twilight on its tumultuous waves!
KING. Have I not told you before that one cannot bear my sight
unless one is already prepared for me? One would want to run
away from me to the ends of the earth. Have I not seen this
times without number? That is why I wanted to reveal myself to
you slowly and gradually, not all too sudden.
SUDARSHANA. But sin came and destroyed all your hopes--the very
possibility of a union with you has now become unthinkable to me.
KING. It will be possible in time, my Queen. The utter and
bleak blackness that has to-day shaken you to your soul with fear
will one day be your solace and salvation. What else can my love
exist for?
SUDARSHANA. It cannot be, it is not possible. What will your
love only do? <i>My</i> love has now turned away from you.
Beauty has cast its spell on me--this frenzy, this intoxication
will never leave me--it has dazzled and fired my eyes, it has
thrown its golden glamour over my very dreams! I have told you
all now--punish me as you like.
KING. The punishment has already begun.