Let us keep seated! – Let us wait, let us wait; – we don’t know the direction of the big river, and there are bogs all round the asylum; let us wait, let us wait . . . He will come back; he is bound to come back!
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
Does any one know which way we came here? He explained it to us as we walked.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I paid no attention.
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
Did any one listen to him?
THIRD BLIND MAN.
We must listen to him in future.
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
Was any one of us born on the Island?
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
You know quite well that we come from elsewhere.
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
We come from the other side of the sea.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I thought I should have died crossing.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I too; – we came together.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
We are all three of the same parish.
FIRST BLIND MAN.
They say that one can see it from here in clear weather; – towards the north. – It has no steeple.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
We landed by chance.
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN.
I come from another direction . . .
SECOND BLIND MAN.
From where do you come?
THE OLDEST BLIND WOMAN. 14
I no longer dare think of it . . . I can hardly call it to mind when I speak of it . . . It was too long ago . . . It was colder there than here . . .
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
And I, I come from very far . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Where do you come from then?
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I could not tell you. How should I be able to describe it? – It is too far from here; it is beyond the seas. I come from a big country . . . I could only explain it to you by signs, and we cannot see . . . I have wandered too long . . . But I have seen the sun and water and fire, and mountains, and faces and strange flowers . . . There are none like them on this Island; it is too dismal here and too cold . . . I have never know the scent again, since I lost my sight . . . But I saw my parents and my sisters . . . I was too young then to know where I was . . . I still played about on the sea-shore . . . Yet how well I remember having seen! . . . One day, I looked at the snow from the top of a mountain . . . I was just beginning to distinguish those that are to be unhappy . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
What do you mean?
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I can still distinguish them by the sound of their voice at times . . . I have memories that are clearer when I am not thinking of them . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I have no memories, I . . .
[A flight of big birds of passage passes clamoring above the foliage.]
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
There is something passing again beneath the sky!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
Why did you come here?
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
To whom are you speaking?
SECOND BLIND MAN.
To our young sister.
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
They had told me that he could cure me. He says that I shall see again some day; then I shall be able to leave the Island . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN. 15
We should all like to leave the Island!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
We shall stay here for ever!
THIRD BLIND MAN.
He is too old; he will never have time to cure us!
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
My eyelids are closed, but I feel that my eyes are alive . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
Mine are open . . .
SECOND BLIND MAN.
I sleep with my eyes open.
THIRD BLIND MAN.
Let us not speak of our eyes!
SECOND BLIND MAN.
You have not been here long?
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
One evening, during prayers, I heard on the women’s side a voice I did not know; and I could tell by your voice that you were young . . . I wanted to see you, having heard your voice . . .
FIRST BLIND MAN.
I never noticed it.
SECOND BLIND MAN.
He never lets us know anything!
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
They say that you are beautiful, like some woman come from afar?
THE YOUNG BLIND WOMAN.
I have never seen myself.
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN.
We have never seen each other. We question each other, and we answer each other; we live together, we are always together, but we know not what we are! . . . It is all very well to touch each other with both hands; eyes know more than hands . . .
SIXTH BLIND MAN.
I see your shadows sometimes when you are in the sun . . .
THE OLDEST BLIND MAN. 16