How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank! Here will we sit and let the sounds of music Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night Become the touches of sweet harmony. Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st But in his motion like an angel sings, Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins; Such harmony is in immortal souls; But whilst this muddy vesture of decay Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.
How beautiful the moonlight rests on this bank! Here we’ll sit and let the sounds of music Drift into our ears: soft silence and the night Turn into the notes of sweet harmony. Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven Is covered with plates of bright gold: There’s not a single tiny star you see But moves like an angel singing, Still chanting to the young cherubs; Such harmony exists in immortal souls; But while this earthly body of decay Is wrapped around us, we cannot hear it.
Lorenzo · Act 5, Scene 1
Lorenzo sits under the stars with Jessica and describes music and harmony as proof of immortal souls trapped in mortal bodies, unable to hear celestial music while alive. The speech endures because it captures the play's deepest sadness—the gap between beauty and possession, between what we can perceive and what we can truly know. Even in happiness, Lorenzo reminds us, we are confined and diminished.
