Volume 4 / Act 4 — SCENE III
Reading edition
The PRINCE'S cell. The PRINCE Of HOMBURG hangs his hat on the wall and sinks, carelessly reclining, on a mattress spread out on the floor.
THE PRINCE. The dervish calls all life a pilgrimage, And that, a brief one. True!—Of two short spans This side of earth to two short spans below. I will recline upon the middle path. The man who bears his head erect today No later than tomorrow on his breast Bows it, all tremulous. Another dawn, And, lo, it lies a skull beside his heel! Indeed, there is a sun, they say, that shines On fields beyond e'en brighter than these fields. I do believe it; only pity 'tis The eye, that shall perceive the splendor, rots.