SINGLE SCENE
A wood at evening
DEATH
unseen
Savitri! Savitri! I am Death.
I am the law that no man breaketh;
I am he who leadeth menonward;
I am the road that each must travel;
I am the gate that opens for all.
I, the Summoner, whom all obey,
Whose word may not be moved,
Whose path may not be turned,
I draw nigh to fulfil my work.
Savitri enters. She is holding her hands to her ears as if to shut out the sound of the voice
I come for thy husband.
For him the gate doth open.
SAVITRI
almost in a whisper
Again those words of dread.
Day or night, they never leave me.
Once in dreams I heard them, but now they
rob me of sleep and give instead the gloom
of ghostly fears and dread forebodings.
Within the house that voice of warning lurks
in ev’ry corner.
Within the temple it enshrouds me until
the song of thousands is to me a thing of naught.
DEATH
his voice grows more and more distant
Savitri! I am Death.
I am the law that no man breaketh;
I am he who leadeth men
onward;
I am the road that each must travel;
I am the gate that opens for all.
SAVITRI
And here the earth itself doth fade.
Naught remains but that dread cry.
‘I come for thy husband!’ For Satyavan.
He, the strong and fearless
one in whose hands an axe is a feather.
He in whom I live, whose soul dwells in mine,
‘for him the gate doth open’.
SATYAVAN
in the distance
Greeting to thee, my loving Savitri!
What wife in all the world is like to Savitri?
SAVITRI
Satyavan!
Here I await thy coming. Haste to me!
SATYAVAN
gradually approaching
Like a spectre of the forest,
night’s gloomy pall is drawing nigh.
Every beast is wending homeward,
home to his nest each bird doth fly.
So to thee I am returning.
Through the wood I homeward hie,
home unto thee, my loving Savitri.
What wife in all the world is like to Savitri?
He enters
Ah! The trees, that stand so proudly,
know not I bring their deadly foe.
’Tis mine axe, that, stealing near them,
with but one stroke could lay them low.
He throws down his axe
Farewell, friend, until the morn.
To a fairer love I go.
Greeting to thee, my loving Savitri!
What wife in all the world is like to Savitri?
But thou art pale and trembling.
What ails thee?
SAVITRI
The forest is to me a mirror
wherein I see another world.
A world where all is nameless,
unknown, all sick with fear.
Satyavan kneels down beside her. The scene darkens. Savitri remains motionless, crouching on the ground
SATYAVAN
It ismaya! Dost thou not know her?
Illusion— dreams—phantoms.
But, to the wise, maya is more.
Look around: all that thou see’st,
trees and shrubs, the grass at thy feet,
all that walks or creeps,
all that flies from tree to tree,
all is unreal, all is maya.
Our bodies, our limbs,
our very thoughts.
We ourselves are slaves tomaya.
What remaineth? Who can say?
Love to the lover. The child to the mother.
The song to the singer. God to the worshipper.
These, wandering thro’ the world of maya,
are perchance shadows of that which is.
It grows darker
SAVITRI
staring in front of her, as if in a trance
Once I knew maya: Now she is forgot.
Mine eyes are open. Would they were shut!
I see the heart of every tree pale with terror.
The elves that dance upon the grass blades
crouching earthward —
Dost thou not feel? Ah! Canst thou not see?
SATYAVAN
I see naught. What ails thee?
SAVITRI
He doth come!
SATYAVAN
He? Whom dost thou mean? A foe?
He picks up his axe
Who is lurking in the forest?
Say, dost thou come as friend or foe?
SAVITRI
trying to restrain him
Ah! Cease thy song!
SATYAVAN
to the wood
Show thy face, O cringing coward.
Then will I deal thee many a blow.
SAVITRI
following him
Satyavan!
SATYAVAN
Mine axe, that leaps in wrath —
SAVITRI
Nay, nay, Satyavan!
SATYAVAN
— hungers for thy overthrow.
He throws off Savitri and runs forward
It thirsteth for thy life-blood …
The axe falls from his hand; he staggers.Death is visible in the distance.He gradually approaches
Savitri, Savitri! Mine arm is pow’rless.
SAVITRI
Satyavan!
She runs to him and supports him
SATYAVAN
Savitri! Where art thou?
Mine eyes are dim. I see thee not.
SAVITRI
I am with thee; my arms are round thee.
SATYAVAN
Savitri! Where are thou?
He sinks to the ground
SAVITRI
bending over him
I am with thee; my arms are round thee.
Thy thoughts are mine;
my spirit wells with thee.
When thou art weary, I am watching.
When thou sleepest, I am waking.
When in sorrow, I am near,
making it a thing of joy beyond all other joys.
Death is ever drawing nearer
Through the forest creeps the darkness.
All is dark and cold and still.
The world has now become a grave.
I alone am living,
and over me the gloom is pressing.
Like to a babe in his mother’s robe,
thou art enshrouded in my love.
With my song I weave a spell.
Evil powers may not approach within
the hearing of my voice. Only the gods may enter
here in holiness and love.
DEATH
close behind her
Savitri!
SAVITRI
Aah! All fades!
Death is at my heart!
DEATH
Savitri! I am Death.
I am the law that no man breaketh;
I am he who leadeth men
onward;
I am the road that each must travel;
I am the gate that opens for all.
SAVITRI
Welcome, Lord!
Thou art called The Just One;
Thou rulest all by thy decree.
Thou callest men together;
Thou showest them the path that leads
to thine abode, our only sure possession.
Gazing round
Methinks even now
Thou has led me thither.
Round me, I see gentle faces,
I hear voices: the air is holy.
DEATH
Thine is the holiness.
Thou art enshrouded in thyself.
The faces are the sufferers
thou best comforted; the voices
are the sweet words thou has spoken;
the air is made holy by thy love.
Being with thee is being in Paradise.
With thee the gods themselves may dwell.
SAVITRI
Then enter, Lord; dwell with me!
What better fate befalleth
than being with the Holy Ones?
DEATH
That may not be.
I am he who leadeth men
onward.
Yet, ere I go, to thee,
who dost not shrink from me,
who badest me welcome,
I will grant a boon:
a boon for thyself.
Ask naught for Satyavan.
My breath hath chilled his heart.
SAVITRI
O Great One! Dost thou mock?
What boon hath value if I have not him
who maketh all a boon?
DEATH
Then I tarry no longer.
Through the gate a mortal enters.
Bid thy farewell.
SAVITRI
Stay! Grant me this boon!
Tis but slight. Yet all it holdeth.
Give me life! Life is all I ask of thee.
’Tis a song I fain would
be singing.
Thy song, O Death,
is a murmur of rest.
Mine should be of the joy of striving.
Where disease hath spread her mantle;
where defeat and despair are reigning,
there should my song.
Like a trumpet in battle,
resound in triumph.
Grant me this boon! I ask for life.
DEATH
Why dost thou ask for life?
Thou hast it now.
SAVITRI
Art thou The Just One? Art thou Death?
Or art thou but a blind spirit, knowing naught
of what is round thee?
Give me life! Life is all I ask of thee.
And life is a path I would travel,
wherein flowers should spring up around me.
Stalwart sons whom I would send where
fighting is fiercest; bright-eyed daughters
following my path, carrying life
on through the ages.
Thou, O Death, workest alone.
Through thy gate, lonely and desolate,
man must go.
But Life is communion;
each one that liveth, liveth for all.
Thou art for the moment, a portal soon passed;
but life is eternal, greater than thou.
Like bounteous rain,
he showers his gifts on us;
like an o’erwhelming wind he urges us on ‘til time
and space are forgot;
And joy and sorrow are one!
DEATH
Savitri, glorious woman!
Take the gift thou hast asked!
Life is thine in all its fullness;
thine the song, the path of flow’rs.
SAVITRI
Ah! Death, The Just One,
whose word ruleth all,
grants me a boon.
He giveth me life, the life of woman,
of wife, of mother.
So hath he granted that which alone
fulfils his word.
If Satyavan die, my voice is mute;
my feet may never travel the path.
Then I were but a dream, an image,
floating on the waters of memory.
Satyavan only can teach me the song,
can open the gate to my path of flow’rs,
the path of a woman’s life.
Away, Death! Back to thy kingdom,
alone must thou travel, true to thy word.
Death shrinks back. Savitri bends over Satyavan
Loneliness and pain are ended.
Waken once more to home
and wife.
Far thou journeyed in the darkness.
Fiercely around thee raged the strife.
Linger not upon the road:
thou art bringing me my life.
Satyavan opens his eyes
SATYAVAN
Savitri! Is it thou?
I thought there was a stranger here
who threatened.
SAVITRI
One hath been here;
a Holy One who blessed me.
SATYAVAN
Then it was but a dream!
Yea, so too was my weariness.
Maya had seized me; I was her slave.
Now hath she fled.
Naught remains but thou and thy love.
maya:
Thou alone art real.
He stands
SAVITRI
Without thee I am as the dead.
A word without meaning.
Fire without warmth.
A starless night.
Thou makest me real.
Thou givest me life.
When thou art weary, I am watching;
when thou sleepest, I am waking;
when in sorrow, I am near,
making it a thing of joy beyond all other joys.
They go off together
DEATH
in the background
Unto his kingdom Death wendeth alone.
One hath conquered him. One knowing life.
One free from maya; maya who reigns where
men dream they are living;
whose power extends to that other world
where men dream that they are dead.
For even Death is maya.
He disappears
SAVITRI
in the distance
I am with thee, my arms around thee;
thy thoughts are mine,
my spirit dwells with thee.
When thou art weary, I am watching;
when thou sleepest, I am waking.
When in sorrow, I am near, making it a thing
of joy beyond all other joys.
