The Cocktail Party (Six O’Clock)

VOICE 1: Six o’clock in the evening. Fumes rise from the London gutters as if the Fires of Hell had been unleashed. Crowds of men-like worms crawl through Heathrow alleys, clashing… cursing their fate!

A boy attacks his shadow with a wooden saber under a lamplight unaware of thy Kingdom Come. Damn it! At my back I feel…

Heat.

And Fear!
Suffocating heat.

Stephen opens the window and starry whispers: breathe

BUCK: Champagne?

MIGUEL: No thanks.

(aside) Indulgence. Atonement…

BUCK: You should definitely have some champagne, chap. I’m telling ya, these parties can be awfully lousy when you’re sober. All the noise, the smoke, the senseless chitchat and… Anyway! Lets not lose our focus, right? I must introduce you to some girls; that’s what we are here for after all… Ladies: Beautiful, classy ladies. Yes! that’s my job: Buck lady-finder.

All right! Let’s see who’s here… Ha! See that girl smiling over there?

MIGUEL: The one with the funny shoes? Continue reading “The Cocktail Party (Six O’Clock)” →

Time (Eleven O’Clock)

Once I thought Time was a great god.
A powerful god ruling over loves and anguish with stretched and mighty hand…
‘Time the Healer’—the old women called him in their songs.

He is not!

At least not anymore…
That’s what the tears taught me—
Fear no song of old.

He’s powerless and he knows it.
Trapped in his seasons and tides.
A puppet of his stories…
Just as we are.
Bent on his knees sobbing
Just as we should be.
Like a feeble child.
Poor lad! He just plays his part…
We should all play our part! Continue reading “Time (Eleven O’Clock)” →

Lovesong (Five O’Clock)

medieval cityOra dal bel Permesso,
O città gloriosa,
ch’hai di cristal le mura, in cui vagheggi
la tua beltà, che l’universo ammira,
delle grazie, e d’amor famoso regno,
a ricalcare i tuoi teatri io vegno.

Now I am come from the fair Permessus
to tread the boards of your theatres,
o glorious city,
you with your crystal walls, in which your beauty is
mirrored, a beauty the universe admires,
o famous realm of the graces and of love.
(Francesco Cavalli, L’Ormindo. Libretto by Giovanni Faustini)

Five o’clock and here I am… hoping
To be in the middle of my life,
Or at least somewhere near.
(So far no sign of hippogriffs around)
Half dead, or maybe half alive
Waiting for a muse to come…,
Sitting within these walls, musing
With my cup of tea and ragged skin
Wishing I smoked still.

(I was so much smarter with a cloud of smoke around me. It gave me an intellectual aura… I hope it did!)

Lapsang
Sounds like lovesong.
But do I know what it means? Continue reading “Lovesong (Five O’Clock)” →

Yseult (Seven O’Clock)

yseult

VOICE 1: Seven o’clock in the evening. The sound of falling dust settles over distant lands. The snows of Damavand. Grey petals unfold bringing rain over our parched corpses. A child digs a hole in the sand wondering… “Who knows? We might even find answers if the right questions were asked…,” but there is no time—no time to wonder…

Attention! Here she comes!
Footman!

FOOTMAN: Blow your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
Bow to Princess Yseult of the Emerald Isle 1

Flourish

PIP: See! Here she comes. Quick! I told you she would be here.

CADDY: Yes! I see her…
Look at her! Shining like the morning star.

PIP: Here she comes wrapped in bespangling beauty
With her hair down
Maesta venit crine soluto 2

CADDY: Hovering over the waters…,
Dazzling radiant Isolde…

PIP: She shines like gold of Araby!
Armed in dazzling beauty

Terrible like an army…

CADDY: “Terrible like an army…”
Where do you get these things from?
Terrible like an army… What kind of praise is that?

PIP: Shush! You philistine woman!
Don’t interrupt me!… I can feel the Muses coming!

CADDY: … All right, then. Go on! Continue reading “Yseult (Seven O’Clock)” →