The Blood of Rachel


                     ACT I

                     SBEND I

Place-Shushan, the Capital of Persia.
Time-478 B. C.
    IA hall in the potalace of !he keng  e Enter Smerdis,
the king's jester, and Ahafia, poet-and mninstrel to the
king, from opposite sides of the hall. Ahafid is already
an old man, with long grey beard and a little stooped
with age. He carries a golden Persian harp on which
he plays and accompanies his own song.]

                      Ahafid
                      [Sings.1
        Now War has doffed his mailed coat
             And Peace forgot her art;
        The lute but not the bugle's note
            Can stir the kingly heart;
        Nights of revel and carp,
            And days of sensuous rust,
        How can a poet's harp
             Intone a song of lust



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