Peter Hammill - Act 6. I Dared Not Speak

[Usher]
Yes, I hear it! Yes, I have heard it
Long, long - many minutes, many hours,
But I dared not speak:
I tell you I dared not speak.
No more cant from you,
You thick-skinned obtuse fool, damn your compassion!
For now I say you will hear the wicked truth
We put her living in the tomb!
But I dared not, I dared not speak!
Yes, have I not heard her footsteps on the stair?
Yes, do I not distinguish
The heavy and horrible beating of her heart?
Yes, she is coming.
She has woken in the darkness,
In her mindless, relentless strength.
Now she has broken from the tomb.
Now she has burst from the tomb.
Days ago I heard her first feeble movements
In the hollow coffin -
Said I not that my senses were acute?
I heard the scraping, the scraping of her nails -
But I dared not, I dared not speak!
Madman! Madman!
I tell you that she now comes towards the door!