Reflections--A Play (Act IV)
Act IV
(The Bard steps out from behind the closed curtain and stands in front of it, center stage)
Bard: Oh Muses keep on singing so that I can see
The fate of Adam, dead upon the stormy sea.
Please show to me the resurrection of this man,
His transformation into prophet, poet, king.
Please show his infant-steps – we want to see him grow,
Become the best, aristocrat of culture, art
Alive in him to make the world more beautiful.
Now witness Adam rise again, ascend through time
And all her moods, emerge to become human once
Again. The dragon fire now will fuel his soul –
The heat that kills, contained, transforms to work and life.
Dark chaos, once constrained, turned into blessed order.
The timeless turns to likelihood, observed into
Determinedness, emerging to intention, life
Becoming cultural and full of timefulness.
These transformations Adam will now have to bear
Now that he’s died to his old life, now that his soul
Is bare and open to a brand-new life, will make
Him capable of being more than he had ever
Thought possible. He now is on the path that will,
Though harder than the path he tread before, bring joy
To him – a joy he never knew was possible.
Scene 1
(The Bard gestures with his hand and follows the curtain offstage as it opens to show the boat Acheron on stormy seas. Adam is lying in the bottom of the boat. The shadow of the Dragon is present. Lightning and thunder)
Dragon: Adam, dead Adam, now rise. It is time to revive and be born. Live
Adam, and rise from the dead, prophet and poet and king.
(Adam sits up in the boat. He is no longer covered in blood, and his clothes are clean and new. The orchid is missing)
Adam: I am alive again! My first words lie:
The scales have fallen from each blinded eye
And now I see the false break from the true –
It’s coming soon – the clouds break from the blue –
I see it coming soon, a distant sigh.
(Adam stands and places his hand above his brow, looking out. Then he throws his hands in the air)
I’m disillusioned, finally. I’d die
A thousand times to feel this life. I’d try
Out anything now that I’m dead and new –
I am alive again!
(Adam slowly turns around in the boat. Lightning and thunder)
I want to leap up from this boat and fly
Into the sun and harness it. Oh, why
Did I once let myself live death? I rue . . .
Ah! No regrets! I’d let the dragon chew
Me up again just so that I could cry
I am alive again!
Dragon: Adam, your life is now given to you once again. It is now your
Life to live. Make it a much better one than it once was.
I will be here to ensure you will die once again, so be sure you
Make this new life into one which will be worth your rebirth.
Chaos is where I abide, and I’ll bring you here, back to this death, time
Torn into nothing and life killed long ago in this place.
(Lightning and thunder. Adam looks down and notices the orchid is gone)
Adam: The orchid! It is lost! The Norns told me
I had to keep it if I was to be
Kept safe. It’s gone! Oh, what will happen now?
Dragon: You do not think with the orchid alone anymore, yet you will still
Think with it soon, though your will is a much stronger one now.
Keep this that you are now feeling. It will not remain for long. Lust
Rules in you still, though you will learn now to turn it to good.
Lust as you felt was the cause of your pain, but the lust you will feel brings
Light to the world and to you. Beauty is what you will know.
(Lightning and thunder)
Adam: Oh, lion, eagle, snake and fire, high
Intelligence – all that each person seems
To fear, you have to tell me why
You chose to make me die
So I could turn my dreams
Into some strong infectious memes
That no one in this world wants to buy –
It seems like pains will flow in different streams.
Dragon: Don’t think that you can avoid living life. It is suffering. Art, truth,
People will all bring you pain; suffering cannot be lost.
Love of life cannot mean all loss of suffering. Joy lives with pain, loss,
Death, and the vigors of life. Happiness kills off all joy.
Take on the storms and then you will be free. If you try to avoid pain,
Pain will then kill you. But you know all that now. Live in joy.
(The Dragon’s shadow fades away. Adam sits in the boat, which rocks on the storm. Lightning and thunder. Lights go down)
Scene 2
(Lights come up. The boat is on an island shore. Adam is standing beside the boat Acheron. Lightning and thunder)
Adam: Thank God I found this island in the storm.
My death and my rebirth did not cure me
Of sea-sickness. It’s time I took the form
Of something new, a new identity.
(Keteh Meriri, demon lord of hot summers and midday, enters stage right, surrounded by Salamanders, fire elementals. The Salamanders dance around him)
Ketah: Welcome, Adam, to the desert of the real.
Prophesy like yours will find no welcome here.
Adam: The dragon and now you have said I am
A prophet, but I don’t know what that means.
Keteh: Don’t play me for a fool. I know you met your
Double. He who meets his double is a prophet.
(The Salamanders dance around Adam)
Salamanders: Our fire will burn you to bits
And frighten you out of your wits.
It is our goal
To torture your soul
Until we see time itself quits.
Adam: You cannot harm me, salamanders. Your
Cool flames cannot compare to dragon breath.
Had you been on the stormy seas I would
Have welcomed you as much relief and I
Would have embraced you for your cooling touch.
(Adam reaches out to touch the Salamanders, but they leap away. Keteh Meriri laughs)
Keteh: You have frightened them. They never saw someone
Reach to touch them. I’m impressed with you, my boy.
Adam: Death does not frighten me. Hades is soon to be left far behind. Hot
Flames don’t impress me. I’m free from all the fear I once had.
Salamanders: He speaks with the voice of the wyrm,
And we fear that we’ve lived up our term –
We’ll do what you want,
We’ll look and we’ll hunt,
Just please do not treat us too firm!
Keteh: Arrogance won’t serve you well. Perhaps it’s time
Salamander fire taught humility.
(More Salamanders run on stage. They surround Adam so densely he disappears. All we can hear from him are his screams)
Salamanders: Our fire will burn you to bits
And frighten you out of your wits.
It is our goal
To torture your soul
Until Keteh Meriri says quit!
(The Salamanders dance around Adam. He screams. This last several seconds)
Keteh: Stop. Enough. Let’s see if this boy’s arrogance
Left him. He will learn humility or he’ll
Be humiliated. Either one will do.
(The Salamanders step away from Adam, who is on the ground in pain)
Keteh: Stand with tempered arrogance or I will burn
You myself. I don’t have dragon’s breath but my
Demon heat will do quite well to teach you, boy.
(Peter enters stage right)
Peter: Enough Keteh Meriri. It is time
To take him into more familiar lands.
I’ll take him, shape him, make him something good.
Adam: I thought my sufferings were done –
I thought my battles had been won.
But I’ve been brought to this –
The ground is all I have to kiss,
And now I have no place to run.
(Peter walks over to Adam and helps him up)
Peter: You’re too hard-headed; you won’t listen well –
The dragon told you – and you have to learn –
That all of life is suffering. It’s time
You learned that. Learn it now so you can grow,
For life means growth and growth is painful, boy.
(Lightning and thunder)
Adam: I don’t know why I had to go through this.
I don’t know why I had to die
Or why I had to love my love – I miss
Her still, although I feel that my
Old love for her is dead. I feel the bliss
Of something else begin to pry
Itself into my life. I’d rather have a bris
Performed on me before I’d fly
Into that woman’s arms or take her kiss.
Keteh: Strong contempt is not the opposite of love.
Kill her off and do not feel a thing for her.
Peter: A human love is what you need to feel.
A love for rocks and trees which speak to you,
A love for animals and what they have
To say to you. A love for people as
They really are and not for what you want
Them all to be. You have to love the real.
(Lightning)
Keteh: Pessimism – that will get you far, my boy.
Peter: No, optimism – that will get you far.
Adam: You both are right, you both are wrong –
You both are weak, you both are strong –
You have to fuse the two and cope
With what is real – you must have hope.
Keteh: Be prepared to live with disappointment – that
Keeps you strong, and strength is what you need to live.
Peter: Be open to the good in life and people –
There is more good than anyone admits.
Adam: With pessimism’s strength I’ll see the worst –
With optimism’s strength my heart will burst
With all the possibilities I’ll see.
But hope combines the two and makes you free.
(Lightning)
Peter: And now it’s time for you to go to sea . . .
Keteh: Wait! Before that boy can enter heaven he
Has to prove that he is just, intelligent
And artistic too, or else he cannot leave.
Peter: You heard him speak – the artistry is there.
His synthesis of the pessimist and
The optimist into the man of hope
Shows wisdom and intelligence as well.
And beauty’s fair, the fair is just, so he
Fulfills this last requirement as well.
Keteh: I am not convinced about the last one yet.
Peter: The beautiful is unity combined
With much variety. It brings the two
Into a harmony, as yin and yang.
Adam: And knowledge is of all variety –
And wisdom is of all that’s unified –
So beauty is the combination of
The two – and equally is justice plied.
Peter: You see? He gets it. He is ready to
Proceed. We only have to get him on
His way. He’s ready for the open sea.
It’s time for him to pass through calming waters.
Keteh: Pessimism’s hard to break when it’s a deep
Pit like mine. So let him go before I change
My dark mind and keep him here until he dies.
Peter: Get in the boat and I will push you off.
(Adam gets in the boat. Peter pushes the boat off the shore. The Salamanders dance)
Salamanders: There’s hope that the fires were good,
Did everything to him they should –
They made him a man
Who knows that he can
Do all that the greatest men could.
Keteh: I will torture you myself if you dare fail.
Peter: And I will bring him back myself if I
See that he does not do what he was brought
Through this to do. I will not let him fail.
(Lightning. Lights go down)
Scene 3
(Lights come up. Adam is alone in the boat in a calm ocean. He is rowing)
Adam: Rowing is good for the soul and the muscles. I was
Not aware of the therapy physical
Work could bring. Oceans of calm can renew, and it does
If you’re open to life. I feel whimsical.
(Sylphs, air nymphs, appear and dance around Adam’s boat)
Sylphs: We are the nymphs of the air and we’ll blow your wind fair
And we’ll lift you to heights and then show you delights.
Adam: Your sisters of the sea already tempted me
And my madness has come and will soon be away.
So do not tempt me back the way I came – I’m free
From the death that they could have brought me with their play.
Sylphs: We will not kill you with our nudity. Let us show
You our bodies and let you rejoice in the
Sight of our nakedness. Take to the air and the glow
Of your cheeks will replace the pink dawn on the sea.
(The Sylphs surround Adam and pull away their robes to show themselves to him)
Adam: I will not be tempted by you –
I won’t be controlled by the lust that I feel.
I’ll stick to the path of the true –
The love that I feel is the love that will heal.
Sylphs: Adam, please float with us, float from the sea to the sky.
Float with us, float with us – please don’t ask why.
Float in the sky with us eternally –
Adam, please float with us into the sky from the sea.
(Sylphs close their robes and dance around Adam)
Adam: Why must I now be tempted, lusting for
These sylphs? I only want to float, enjoy
This oceanic feeling. If the shore
Is near, I welcome it – I wouldn’t toy
With fate. But disembodied, mindless work
Is a new joy for me. I lived within
My head so long that I had come to shirk
My body: heel and elbow, rib and chin
Are all a part of who I am. The soul,
The psyche and the living breath are one –
And if we train the body, we’ll control
Them all – that’s when we will outshine the sun.
Sylphs: Enter the sky with us. Enter a place where the sun
Shines without cease, never sets, never leaves,
Breaking no clouds, where the truth can be seen. Oh, the fun,
Joy we would have if you’d roll up your sleeves,
Ready to row to the shore that we’d show in the air
Rising above you where you can be free
From all this frightening life that your body must share.
Why don’t you give up this body and flee?
Adam: First sex and then transcendence. What you tempt
Me with seems contradictory. Perhaps
It’s more a paradox that I have dreamt.
A tantric offer – good, or just a lapse
For me? The body and the soul are one,
Each forms, reforms the other for the good
Or evil, as we choose. Should I be done
With sex – is that a truly stronger wood?
Sylphs: Taste the salt of our seas. It would please us to take
You with us to the sky where we live on the air.
You will learn to see things that you never could fake
With a poem or painting, and you would not care.
Adam: All that I’ve seen can be turned into words that would make
Something new in the world for us all to have –
Poetry, paintings and music are hardly all fake,
But a justification of life. No salve.
Sylphs: Are you hungry for food? Are you thirsty for drink?
Here’s some alcohol you can imbibe. If you want,
You may have anything that you want, for we think
It is best if you give in and don’t have to hunt.
Adam: If I don’t eat or drink, do not think that I’m weak
When I’m strong. If I choose to give up luxuries
And deprive my own body of both wants and needs,
Then you better be sure that I know what I seek.
I am not on the seas so that I could come please
All of you. An ascetic is off planting seeds.
(The Sylphs all stop dancing)
Sylphs: Then live a joyless life, you stupid brute!
When you weigh ninety pounds, you won’t be cute!
(The Sylphs run off stage)
Adam: To live a balanced life you have to live
A life in moderation of all things.
You must accept as well as learn to give;
You have to listen to the voice that sings
And not just listen to yourself go on.
You have to eat a balanced meal most days,
But feasting and ascetics have their dawn.
Yes, fasting and indulgence have their place
In keeping to a balanced life, and I
Have had to learn that lesson in a most
Enlightening and painful way. I’ll try
To live this better life and never boast
Or cry that life’s unfair to me. It’s not.
You must appreciate the things you’ve got.
(Adam starts rowing again)
Sylphs (off stage): You suck! We hate you! Now you are no fun!
We hope that you’ll regret what you have done!
(Lights go down)
Scene 4
(Lights come up. A Deer, a Cougar, a Wolf, and a Bison are between some trees at the back of the stage. Grass and flowers are also among the trees. In front of them all are dancing Satyrs. In front of them is Todd the Fox)
Todd: Strong lust –
It is a must,
Or life will turn to dust.
Without attraction life’s a gust
Of wind, a life of abstinence is rust
On boats at sea, a broken bust
Of Homer. Don’t encrust
Your soul or trust
To crust.
(Todd runs off stage right)
Satyrs: We dance with lust for pretty girls –
We want to shower them with pretty pearls
And strings of gems –
Let’s try to lift those hems! –
And decorate our girls with pretty things.
We want the pleasure feasting brings.
We want to drink citron and wine
And celebrate – yes, celebrate! – a world that’s good and fine.
(Adam enters stage left. The Satyrs leap in fear and run to the far right edge of the stage)
Satyr 1: Here comes the man
Who threatened us. It was his plan
To turn us into eunuchs
And make us all wear long white tunics
To hide our shame –
I think that Adam is his name.
Adam: No need to run, my satyr friends –
It ends
Up that she was in fact a whore,
A slut, and more.
So don’t fear me. In fact, feel free
To take a jab or two at me –
Go on, make fun
Of me for everything I’ve done.
(The Satyrs step forward to embrace Adam)
Satyrs: Our friend, our pal, our chum!
Why don’t you come
And drink and dance and feast
With us. Let loose your beast –
Indulge in primitive
And animal desires which live
And breathe below the surface of your human life.
Embrace the strife
And struggle with the love
That makes you both a hawk and dove.
Now dance –
Yes, let us see you prance
Around and show us what you got –
Pretend there’s hot,
Hot coals beneath your feet –
Impress us with your rhythmic beat.
(Adam dances with the Satyrs)
Adam: I can’t believe I’ve gone through life
As though I had to walk upon a knife
When I could dance like this
And be in bliss,
Embracing life and all the things
That joyful living brings.
Satyrs: Oh, Adam, Adam, you don’t know the joys
That boys
Like you should have. Just give
In to your lust to live
And take these girls into your arms
(A half-dozen Women rush onstage and surround Adam)
And let yourself embrace their varied charms.
Get drunk with them
And feast and feast and do not stem
Your lust
That we all trust
Has built up over year and years –
Such abstinence brings tears
Into our lovely faun-brown eyes –
For nothing tries
Our hearts like seeing someone cut
Off from all fun. We feel it in our gut.
(The Women surround Adam, and the Satyrs surround the Women. Clothes fly out of the circle as orchids call from the ceiling and cover the floor)
Satyrs: Now, Adam, give yourself to them and trust
The living lust
That wants to take your body up.
Let your hands cup
Whatever’s within reach
And let them teach
Your body all the things
Indulgence in the body brings.
You’ve listened long enough to those who think
That life’s a sickness to be cured and want to shrink
Away from all of life that’s grand
And then demand
We hate ourselves and bodies – lives
Turned into nothing. A person like this strives
To make all people hate
All life like they do, cursing fate
And chance
And doing everything so they won’t glance
Within themselves to see
Just who they are and what they fail to be.
Oh, Adam, we’re so glad
That you have had
A transformation
And, with us, a bodily initiation
Into the world.
We like how you’ve unfurled
So far –
You’re a shining star
And we are sure
That we’ll help you forget the fleur-
De-lys
That once had caused your life to cease.
(The Animals step forward and pick up the clothes and throw them back into the center of the circle. The Satyrs step away and the Women dance around Adam)
Women: We made a man out of this boy.
Now one will stay for Adam to enjoy.
Oh, Eva, Eva, tell us this:
Is he now worthy of your lusty kiss?
(One of the women, Eva – who should be played by the same actress who played Lily – steps forward, holding Adam’s hand)
Eva: A kiss and more.
I love this man. I’ll be a whore
No more and just be true
To him and try to always see him through
The dangers that that he’ll face
From place to place.
And then I hope he’ll love me too
When everything is through.
Cougar: Lust embraces our good sense and we take lust for true love when we
First give in to the taste lust first avails to our drunk bodies’ needs.
Adam: This woman gives me what I need.
She’ll feed
Me, sate my hunger, slake
My thirst and take
My hand
And understand
My needs that I saw build
Up over time – with her my body’s needs are now fulfilled.
Deer: He won’t listen to us now. It’s his loins speaking for him today.
Eva: Oh, Adam, come
With me and I will show you some
Good times –
And plenty more that you can turn to rhymes –
I want your manly body, you want mine, and so
You’ll learn more than you want to know
About yourself and me –
But all of it will help to set the Muses free.
Wolf: Take her, use her and don’t care what you do. Lust will take you to lands
Which you never had dreamed ever were there, growing with plants flowering.
Adam: I cannot do that – sex
Is no excuse to disrespect someone. Checks
Upon my bedpost
Aren’t what I want. I want the most
That I can get from a relationship.
I do not want to slip
Into some pattern where I use
Someone in such a way that I abuse
Them. I don’t want to start
To treat a woman like she’s a tart
Because I took
Her first to bed before I took a look
At who she was
Or found out what she even does.
Bison: I sure hope that she won’t hurt you too bad. Strength will be needed if
You’ll survive to become the new great poet that you’re destined as.
(Satyrs and Women dance around the couple)
Satyrs and Women: Don’t listen to them, they don’t know
That Eva’s good for you, a prize to show
To everyone
To show that you are done
With that poor fellow
You left behind, as yellow
As a forgotten field of daffodils
And dandelions. All that fills
You now is lust
For her. And you should learn to trust
Your body’s wants and needs
And take what feeds
Your body, fills you up –
Just take the cup
That Eva gives to you –
Your body’s needs are always true.
(Adam passionately embraces Eva and kisses her. Lights go down)
Scene 5
(Lights come up. Ancient ruins in the background. The Corybantes are dancing)
Corybantes: Human life is a complex thing we all too
Quickly try to dismiss. The wonder that we
All should feel when we look on man cannot be
Understood if we treat as aweless that which
We should treat with due awe as awesome, aweful –
Both at once as good Sophocles once showed us.
(Adam and Eva enter stage left)
Adam: It is good to again feel human, live with
Possibility. I can see the future
Stretched before me and calling me to make it
In my image. The spirit lifts me up to
Sketch the world with the poetry that fills me.
Eva: But don’t forget
That I’m the one who helped you get
This far, and justified
Your body’s life against the ones who lied
About the way that you should think
About your body. You were on the brink
And I, yes, I’m
The one who helped you regain time.
Adam: Do not think I’m ungrateful. All you did has
Helped me get to this place where I can grow once
More, begin to emerge into more human
Levels. Time and existence gain more meaning
As I grow and enfold the universe more.
Corybantes: Come and dance with us. Dance and take a taste of
Life, embrace what is human. Leave behind the
Rest and rise up to heights that man alone can
Rise up to. He’s the bridge to mountain peaks we
Cannot yet make out. Clouds obscure our sight, but
We are certain that man will take us quickly.
(The Corybantes grab Adam and Eva by the hands and get them to dance with them in a circle. As they are dancing, the Norns enter stage right with Marie, Adam’s identical opposite. She is carrying a lotus flower)
Norns: Good Adam, cease, and come to us.
The time for dancing’s through. Don’t fuss –
Get over here and let us see
If you’re becoming who you’ll be.
(Adam and Eva leave the dancing Corybantes and approach the Norns)
Eva: And who are these strange women here?
They act like I should fear
Them with their long black flowing robes.
Will they pull out some globes
To tell the future with or what?
Perhaps they’ll tell you in the past I was a slut
Or something else you know
Already. What more could they show?
Norn 3: You stupid girl, your ignorance
And disrespect will earn a glance
Into a future full of pain –
You have to learn that you won’t gain
A life worth living riding men
To where you want to go. Again,
You have to make it on your merit,
Or what you’ll face, you cannot bear it.
Eva: You only speak in obscure riddles
Of end-times vague, unspoken middles.
Norn 3: Then let me be more clear to you:
You have a life that’s colored blue.
No love, no children, and no man
To stay with you for long. No plan
You make will ever be fulfilled,
And nothing that you ever build
Will stand for long. Your genes won’t blend
With anyone’s – you are the end.
(Eva looks horrified and turns to Adam. She buries her face in his shoulder. He comforts her as she cries)
Norn 2: We have much more important things
To do than waste our time with flings
Like her. We come to bring a gift
To Adam which will heal the rift
Among the steps he took and those
He has to take to make a close.
Norn 1: We brought a friend for you who brought
A gift you cannot lose. You ought
To come with us and leave behind
The lust you have – she’ll only bind
You down. Marie here is a friend
On whom you always can depend.
Eva: Don’t leave me, Adam, please.
I feel a breeze
Of change is coming on
And I can’t help but fear the coming dawn,
The sun that heats the ocean till
A hurricane builds up and up to kill
All in its path.
I feel these women’s awful wrath
For me.
Please listen to my plea.
Corybantes: Don’t forget that you’re not a disembodied
Soul. The body does not prevent a man from
Reaching lofty artistic goals no more than
Light prevents both your eyes from ever seeing.
Adam: That is something I don’t forget about. I
Found that love of my body is a part of
Life and I won’t forget that hard-learned lesson.
(Marie steps forward and hands the lotus to Adam)
Marie: Nonetheless, my friend, this pale lotus is for
You, as is my friendship. I’ll love your soul and
Leave your body’s needs to be taken care of
By her, your lover.
Eva: You mean I’ll have his body, you his soul?
I want him whole.
We are a happy pair
And adding you does not seem fair.
Norn 2: You’re lucky that we let you take
A part of him at all. I’d break
You now, except for him. We must
Ensure he grows in faith and trust.
(Adam accepts the lotus flower from Marie)
Norn 3: The lotus flower will protect
You now. And all of us expect
Your concentration on this flower
And you to tap into its power.
(Adam spins the flower in his hand as he looks at it)
Marie: Your good soul is mine as I know that mine is
Yours. Our friendship knows no uncomfortable
Space or place of any confusion. Love for
Us is agapé.
Adam: Welcome, friend, into all the hardships that my
Life is – always unknown, but beautiful and
Free wherever I seem to be. So, welcome.
Marie: You won’t make an angel in all the time you’ll
Be with us, but know that we will prepare you
For the moment when you embrace the one who’ll
Let you see God’s face.
Eva: Shall I just be a pawn and thrown away
When he is done with me? I pray
That it’s not true
And that he’s never through
With me.
Please never set me free.
Corybantes: Eva, body of Adam, and Marie, his
Soul, will keep him undone until he’s woven
By another one who will weave a picture
With his soul that will wake new life inside him.
Norn 1: He has to make this present past,
A strong foundation that will last.
Norn 2: Now we must go and let things take
The path they will. We cannot make
It happen, only tell his fate –
The path he takes is never straight.
Norn 3: We’ll see you once again, my boy –
So do not think your life’s a toy.
(Norns exist stage left)
Marie: Come with me, there is a whole world to see that
Waits for you to rise to embrace. You now must
Rise back up and then go beyond where you had
Been in your past life.
(Marie leads Adam and Eva off stage right. The Corybantes dance)
Corybantes: Conflict, love are combined to make existence –
Humans cannot exempt themselves. The process
Makes the world and all life and consciousness and
Anything that is soon to come from human
Minds to make all the universe a much more
Dangerously complex new time and space. We
See in art and in poetry, in culture,
And in human society as well as
What we call the economy, a social
Space emergent and more complex than people,
Drawing out a new form, divine and human.
(Lights go down. Curtains close)
End Act IV