ALCETAS
      Listen, Melissus: I’ll tell you a dream
I had tonight, that comes to mind on
seeing the moon again. I was standing
at the window that faces the meadow,
gazing at the sky: and suddenly, look,
the moon broke loose: and it seemed
the nearer it came in its fall
the bigger it grew: till it landed
with a bang in the midst of the meadow:
and it was the size of a bucket, and spewed
a shower of sparks, that hissed as loud
as a glowing coal when you plunge it
in water, and quench it. Just like that,
the moon, I say, in the midst of the meadow,
quenched itself, darkening, little by little,
and all the grass around was smoking.
Then gazing at the sky, I saw a sort of
gleam was left, a scar or a gaping hole,
it might have torn away from: so that
it made me shiver: and I’m still shaking.

MELISSUS
      You’re right to worry, it’s likely,
that the moon would fall in your field!

ALCETAS
      Who knows? Don’t we often see a star fall
in summer?

MELISSUS
      There are so many stars up there
no harm if one or two of them fall,
there’s thousands left. But only one
moon in the sky, and no one’s ever
seen it fall, except in dreams.