Prelude to Pilot. A play in two acts. CC Teen 7tth ep 05/04

[Patroclus76]

Forgive, I do not own Roswell, it belongs to the Katims of this world, no infringement intended - nor to the Bard.



Prelude to Pilot: A play in two Acts,


Act One Scene 1
Ariel, a ghostly spirit, Max Evans, Michael,

A lofty canvas of clouds and air, through which one sees the curve of the earth and the great darkness of space.

Ariel: behold my fellow humans, all normal and equal to the blood!
No hybrids here, betwixt the angels and the devil!
Come close to me, gathered in, least you not hear
This tale of immortal love and alien power,
Of vast uncontainable passion and angst, that sets the very heavens
Alight,
Come quickly, over the curving oceans,
Skimming the croqueted waves, leaving this sceptre’d isle
In a rush of haste, lest we miss the beginning,
The alpha of all meaning,
The pilot, that spent bolt of loves true shot, which set our lives aquiver!
This is the beginning, oh dreamers awake,
Tarry not and see beneath that chequered continent,
God’s Own Country, the Americas! Great slabs of plain and pine
Foetid airs and the dust of great mountains…………
a place of mystery, of buried chambers, a place forever called
Roswell.

Ariel rushes over the house of the Evans family. It is early morning, first light. The spirit pauses at Max's window and gently opens it wide

Ariel (whispering) what alien prince sleeps within?
What prospects for our polished lord,
sculptured from the depths of space, on this day of days! Come!

Ariel approaches the sleeping Max.

[Patroclus76]

I very selfishly forgot to thank everyone for their posts and pms! It really was very unlooked for - I thought this was probaby pushing it a bit!! I PROMISE not to go on!! love P



(Ariel enters into the bedroom and approaches the sleeping figure of Max. The room is dark. Max lies on the top of the bed in just his boxers and his ankle socks. Ariel spirits forth a lantern from thin air and holds it aloft the sleeping youth)

Ariel: Hast though seen a more prettier sight?
The corded hair,
matt black, as thick as the Raven’s wing,
A face as fair as Apollo, and yet dark as Endymion!
A silent brooding beautify, that steels all parting glances,
to spy out this body of a god! Yet few see within,
the boy of few words and much frowning indecision and revision,
paralysed forever betwixt the thought and the act!
Such passion here, in one so still! Yet here he is!
Our Max, good king Zan, Cry Zan for Antar
And St George!
Such torment beneath this silvered mirror of deep water!
Canst thou have no respite!

(Max stirs and moves, throwing his arms wide. He sighs. Ariel stands back carefully and smiles at the audience. Ariel runs a finger playfully across Max’s cheek, who brushes it away, sighing)

Ariel: For he is in lurve!
It animates his very dreams,
Her shadowy form lies now within his muscled arms and she,
Like a lighted candle, illuminates his very soul with meaning!
His love of a waitress fair, and yet
Strangers are they! For looking on from afar,
Each has skirted that question which unasked,
Goes unanswered: I love thee, doest though love me in return?

(Max murmurs `Liz’ in his sleep and turns fitfully!)

Ariel: Tis half human to hold back,
to hug thine own indecision,
To fear rejection and a lovers scorn, for
If I am not for myself than who is for me in my vast solitude?
And if I am for myself who am I?
Oh my changeling Lord! Who are you?
How much he dwells upon these sorrows, yet
how he longs to taste her name upon his lips
For if he loves, ah! (Ariel sighs) Wherein lies the token?
The gift outright?
How he longs for her! To set forth his heart
and kneel before her counsel
To swear her his life, to reveal his true self
to the slings and arrows of human fortune?
To cross the threshold wherefrom there is no turning.
Yet herein lies the danger,
To love someone unknown? And in revealing thyself,
wherein to compromise the love of others?
Ahead lies trouble,
Our Prince against the world!! Especially –

(Ariel points below to the floor – as he does so he stands back and the audience see the sleeping figure of Michael, He is in a sleeping bag at the side of Max’s bed).

Ariel: From this bejeweled hound,
this orphan of the desert!
Young Michael, his feral beauty hard as spears, wild within
Blood hot, his passions on his sleeve! Yet yielding
Soft, untamed, longing to be broken!
For before this year is out he too will meet his match,
His world transformed, though he shall beg for mercy near the end!

(Ariel opens the door of the bedroom - )

Ariel: And in yonder room lies the fair Isabel,
The Princess of the piece, carved from the same stone as
Her kingly brother, brilliant as the day is bright! Dark too is her path, and betrayal and heartbreak shadow her every move.
The royal four have long here been dissembled, although only three are thus assembled!
Something wicked this way comes, I shall not say her name
You know of whom I speak,
I shall not call her lest we jinx the beginnings of the peace!

(Max and Michael begin to stir as the room grows light)

Ariel: `we shall spy them briefly in their waking and thence away,
Ere break of day, to see thy fair Elizabeth! The game is set, the dye is cast, in twelve hours we shall be leaving normal,
Into the vast un-charted landscape of an Alien nation,
Wherein lies for Michael anguish, yet for Max the hope of his salvation!


Max: (sitting up, rubbing his eyes): What dreams torment me thus, that thou sleepest not, nor rest!

Michael: Nor I! For thou doest forever sign and whisper `thy fair Liz’ or `I beseech thee, kiss my lips!’ that I would sleep better in a tempest! Or else thou have my ears stopped with wax, like Ulysses of old!

Max: (throwing a shirt at him) Thou didst not speak such! And if so then, with the angels pity me! Michael, go to her, for thy sake, or hast thou no love for me, go broker my love and beg her meet me! Or I shall die of heartbreak! (Max falls back theatrically on to the bed and sighs).

Michael: (sitting on the end of Max’s bed, dressing) As I shall die of boredom!! Forsooth this is folly, would thou risk us all over this maid! Thou art an alien king, not some love struck knave! She is taken Maxwell, by the man Valenti, who knows how to take her more than thou, it seems, or spills his seed less noisily! (winks at audience)

Max: (jumping on Michael in a playful fight) Thou art a villain! Are thou not my loyal Captain! How do you bear to see me thus! A shadow of thy former glory!

Michael: I see you thus more than you imagine! Or art thou so struck senseless to not notice thy company on these long vigils! Thou doest not plan it seems, to take her by force, to tear her bodice, and part her legs with joy! Nay thou stares at her (mimics Max), moonstruck like a lunatic, all eyes! Thou glowers and pouts, and orders such food from the menu that would feed a harem! And as the shadows wax and wane thou orders more again, least she served someone else or did not linger! So speak not ill of me, Maximillan! I despair that you have come to such a pass! Suffice it that you have not grown fat and remain wedged between the tables!

Max: (standing up) You are heartless Michael, and forsooth, jealous to the core! (exits stage left to wards shower) I shall have her yet and further more -

Michael (shouting through the open door) Go shower and beautify thyself, little good it will do! I shall away and meet you in a few hours, and remember thy mid term’

Max (shouting) prithee not another? The semester is but a week old?

Michael: Tis mysterious, my Lord, as any other!

Ariel walks into the middle of the stage


Ariel: If we shadows have offended, think but this,
that Max is set upon a path more wonderous than he can imagine
a road not straight, tis true and often false,
but worth the journey and his crew!

[Patroclus76]

Act I Scene II The Balcony.

Ariel. Liz PArker

Ariel: So let us leave thy Prince and his Captain
but a while at least!
Michael through the window, and Max to water
Always will their horns be locked with such intimacies of slaughter,
For these heavenly boys, forged in the same starry womb,
are forever joined, Caster and Pollex, riveted in their fight!
So much heat, and yet so little light!
(Ariel Smiles) Long need shall they have, much comfort still
One for the other, for the torturous road that stretches hence,
With no respite and little recompense!


(Ariel moves off across Roswell and we soon see the Crash down cafe' below us)

Ariel: Let us move swiftly! For time runs amok!
Already dashing through the morning sun,
To yonder balcony, wherein we shall make acquaintance with thy bold Elizabeth,
The keeper of thy kingdoms key, this modern Venus
Who now, lieth awake, and as restless as thy breezy air,
Thinks of Maxwell, and the smell of his hair,
the feel of his lips, soft and yielding?
the sound of his voice, that enchanted growl,
like the swell of an ocean! Ever she dwells upon him, ever her thoughts areOf Max, who like Orpheus,
could seduce the very hounds of hell!
How he hath stolen her heart! Aghast, she soaks away her
Misery, and wonders who to tell!

(Ariel alights and sees Liz lying in the bathtub, her hair long and wet about her)

Ariel: Is her beautify not such to set the world aright?
So dark, so slight, so complementary to her king,
that her body would, if hinged,
Fits snugly into him, so tightly bound, so close
that thou woudst see just one soul?
One spirit, forever coupled. A bond of love so complete
That thou woudst have to break the very heavens!
Yet is she not taken? Art thou no longer, as with Michael’s claim,
A single women? Herein lies her pain!
For Kyle is a loyal dog, no cuckold,
sportive, deferential, glad to be of use
But wherein lies no great animation, and hath in truth
No excess of imagination – a sheriff’s son, perchance useful
With a gun, but in truth tedious to her, closed off.
Of late wherein she has hung about his arm,
She has ever thought of another, and when she hath looked
Into Kyle’s unblinking eyes, she hath seen not so much
The allure of their azure sparkle,
but rather the brown tawny eyes of a burning tiger,
Flecked with gold!

(Ariel moves to her dressing table and sees an open, blank journal and a photograph of her with Kyle Valenti. Ariel moves several empty pages with his hands)

Ariel: (sighing) So many pages blank, yet to fill
With loves vast passions still! Little doest thou know
That this day is the last of days wherein thy life will flow,
small and safely, through the narrowest of courses
Of the smallest town!
How so often hath thou pined thy life away,
fearing the coldness of an ordinary day
Perchance such a fate is yours? I think it not so!
Today Liz Parker, in but a few hours, thou shalt be re-born
and through great pain, shalt thou come to revelation!
With thy dimming sight, thou shalt perceive Max push forward
Through the night, his Majesty revealed.
The Raven King, who about you, shadowed, angel winged
Will lifted up thy heart with his healing hand!
He shall commandath that thou look upon him,
And he shall call you back, into his numinous light,
from the bitter tomb of death!
And thou shalt never be the same!!
Once one has seen God
what is the remedy?
Thou shalt be changed utterly

(Ariel looks at the audience)

Ariel: And so shall we!

[Patroclus76]

Act II: Scene I: The Crash down Café.

(The crashdown café, Ariel, Liz, Maria, Max and Michael, two strangers, and Larry and Jennifer. The café is set sideways to the stage so we have a perspective of the entrance to the right and the inner entrance to the Parker’s house to the left.)


Ariel: We come to it at last!
How indelible is it in thy minds eye,
Doest thou remember when thou first viewed it?
Thy mood, the weather of the hour,
Which house? Who with? And the nature of attire?
Ah we dreamers do, and through and through,
I reliveth such desire, as if thou was born upon that very day!

(Ariel walks towards the audience and whispers)

Ariel: Look about ye, does’t thou not see
That fate has gathered up thy caste for
her divine purpose? To put together two lovers
who else risk hesitation and evasion?
Fate is a canny soul, her heart set on
Collision, she shall set their courses such
To bring them thus, face to face
As in a vision!
She will jolt this glorious
morning and unbolt the heavens!
and although she shalt make sportive
play with them for three long series hence,
Eventually, whence we canst scream no more,
Nor prise our whitened knuckles from the pillow,
She shall let them wed!



(Liz and her friend Maria are waiting tables, in one booth sits Max and Michael, in another sits Larry and Jennifer and near the door are two burley men talking in earnest).

Maria: Jesu, I see no end to this! Tell that man with specs to sit, for there are more tourists here than clearly fit! If he standth again I shall (raising her voice) evict him! Pathetic breed, all costumed, rude and made strident from sheer greed! How they hunger for the truth of tonight’s festival!

Liz: What truth be this? (she is taking orders and looking towards Max)

Maria: Of alien encounter and government complicity! Wherein thy leaders did, with some small show of serendipity, abduct men of slight greenness, probe their extremities for technologies, and thus make a theme park of thy findings? Hast thou paid no attention Liz! We locals must avail ourselves of these trinkets as they please, lest the tourists go to Vegas and we have no gainful job except for cheese! Thy factory awaits!

(Maria notices Max and Michael, with Max staring at Liz)

Maria: Ah! (nudges Liz) I seeth that we have our usual company! Max, boy wonder, toned and dark as polished sable, and his snarling, angry companion, young Michael leashed and muzzled at the table, and with his hair asunder! It is style me thinks, or one more blunder? (Maria checks her watch) Max will soon, deep breathing, with much frowning, raise his hand as if in drowning, and hesitant and with such grace, and with much blushing about his face, gesture for the bill (Maria nudges Liz to look towards Max who quickly looks away) And one that hath so little skill, that he must be in love, for he hath paid it thrice already! (Maria laughts) Ah poppet!

Liz: Maria, forsooth desist, I am embarrassed! He does not do this so!

Maria: Maxwell, thou dark and chiselled Prince, is, even as we speak, gawping at thou with such intensity methinks his head be stuck. Prithee look, and do not quibble! Go close his mouth or he will dribble, and thou canst wipe his lips with a bib! Such as it been since August! Ought thou not to put him out of his misery!

Liz (coyley) Maria, desist! He looketh not at me? (she looks around) he is deep in thought perchance? There is a mid term, perhaps he is scheming?

Maria: Perchance, yes, or he looks intently at the wall beyond thee and is dreaming, of thou naked body and thy tenderness!?

Liz: Thou ought not to tease me so, thou livest too much in thy imagination, Maria! That dark burnished changeling with eyes for this! (she points to her face) methinks not, what powers have I to retain his gaze, (her voice grows faint) or to feel the heat of so powerful an embrace about me!! Besides I am with Kyle, whom – whom I love!’

Maria: Thou deludeth thyself so poorly. I hope you try harder with Kyle! He may be dense but has some style Thou shalt call him the wrong name soon! Ah but wait, pay attention, for Max is bristling for some pointless intervention (hands Liz some sauces) go and anoint him thus! Bid him fair morrow and make a fuss, and I bet thy shall see him blush! Attend him!

_________________________


(On one of the fron tables near to the counter)

Michael: My lord, I am a remedial, but thou at least has a future, if thou ever gets to school and away from this booth! Or are we destined to stay here forsooth, weathered to the skeletal white of grinning faces! And uncerificated!

Max: She comes towards us, Michael!!! Look sharply, hast thou any money?

Michael: I have none, and thou hast even less, all blown on bagels and the blood of aliens (lowering his voice), which me thinks is sick, for thou are not a cannibal! And too generous a tip! God Max, get thou a grip, wherein shalt this madness end!

Max: When I have her in my arms, Michael! When I am on my knees!

Michael: (muttering) thou art permanently on thy knees, Maxwell, or in a swoon! Such indecision thou hasn’t not seen since this time yesternoon! And the day before that! Thou hast measured out our life with coffee spoons!

(Liz passes by and goes to another table, the table with Larry and Jennifer on it)

Max: (burying his face in his hands) Have the gods no ounce of mercy! Dids’t she not look upon us and then turn, sideways, towards another at thy last moment! Does she not discern?

Michael: God strooth, she is not blind! I shall smother ye in your sleep beside, or drown you as a kitten lost, so exasperating are you thus and so much cost!

(he digs out some money and scowls at Liz and empties his coffee into Michael’s cup)

Michael: Mistress, thou are in need of another, and the same for my brother, he requireth stimulation!

Liz (looking at them, Max and her look into each others eyes) He doth?

Michael: Doest so, and quickly go, before the caffeine hit wears off and his handsome face shall hit the table! For no sleep hath he for weeks, some odd malady persists, (he whispers loudly at Liz) Me thinks it is a women that he seeks! (Max hits Michael and Liz blushes and goes back to Maria)

Max: Thou scoundrel! I would place you over my knee and thrash you with some vigour!

Michael: Such promises tho often makes but never keeps! Thou would rather thrash her, and not so much upon a knee, than face to face against a tree, and be done with it! Max you place us all in danger, each day, each hour! Canst thou not see it! You cannot be her lover!

Max: How doest though propose to stop thee?

Michael: evidently not through reason! Ever have I been your loyal friend, wilt thou turn against me at the end? And thy sister? Does thou hath us in thy mind, nah me thinks not! They are not our kind!!

Behind them an argument starts between two men on a table near the door to the street.

[Patroclus76]

Act II SceneII The Shooting.


(The men behind argue and stand, then everyone jumps to the floor amid a single gunshot. Maria dives down and as she sees Liz lying behind the counter, screams)

Maria: Liz!!!!!!!!!

(Max looks to where Maria is staring and sees Liz on the floor, as he runs forward he lets forth a great cry)

Michael: Maxwell no!
Thou shalt undo us all!
No! Enough of this!

Max: (pushing him aside) Michael out of thy way!!
Thou art undone already!

(Michael half heartedly tries to restrain him.)

Michael: (turning to Maria) Gettest thou assistance,
call the guard! Be quick! (to the other people as they move forward) Stand back! Withdraw thyself! Away!

(he stands guard, his back to Max and Liz)

Max (falling onto his knees in front of Liz):
Elizabeth!! Where art thou!
God doth abandon the very heavens!
Thou cannot be dead, oh Liz!! (he reaches out and unbuttons her tunic)
By the power that is within me, spareth her,
let her live!
My life for her I freely give!
It is forfeit from this moment,
I shall wade across the Styx
and swim through thy icy waters!

(he brushes tears from his face, and then places one hand on her stomach and the other under her head)

Max: Liz! Hear me! Fear not the sundering sea!
You must look upon me! (he lifts her head)
Look at me! Look not into the houses of the dead!
Look upon my face, for hence I go where none can follow,
and by god’s grace, thou shalt be spared!
(whispering) Look not to the dead, under their starless night,
run to me, run forth into the light
and thy hot embrace!

Liz: Max? Where art thou? (faintly)
Max – is that thee?

Jennifer: (from behind) What goes there!
Who is that boy? How doth he attend her so?

Michael: Stand back, away thus,
and keep thy distance!
Maria hast thou called assistance!

Max: Elizabeth, look at me,
I have to see you!
Look into my eyes and let me through!
All is but shadow, hold me true, lest the cold waters take you!
We are at the opened portals of deaths door
tho shalt carry thee safely hence

(He looks at her intently. They remained looking at each other as Liz recovers, her breath quickening. Max, wet with sweat, lifts his hand from her and jolts back)

Max: Thou are alright now,
thou are safely back across the threshold into life,
thou much exhausted from thy strife!
Thou must this great secret keep,
Elizabeth you must swear this!

Liz: (sitting up, startled) Max? (whispers)
What hast thou done to reclaim me so –
who art thou?

Max: but a dream to some,
A nightmare to others!
A boy who hath loved thee always!
A man who shalt be king?
But you are safe at last,
forget this madness, it is over now,
and now thy waketh to a new day,
far from death’s grim shore, to liveth as thy may

Michael (over the sound of sirens) Maxwell, hurry!
We must away! (Max throws his keys to Michael) Come now or else we captive be
and pay dearly for thy folly!

Max: Liz, my life is in thy hands, protect me well!
(he takes her hand and kisses it)
for I am ever in your debt.
Do not betray me and I shalt prosper,
for thou hath brought me back from death as surely
as I hath rescued you!
Shalt thy recall me as I truly am?
I pray so! For I hath this day lit a candle
the flame of which can never be extinguished!
For I I love thee!
These long years have I stammered to tell you so
And only in such extremities as this
Is my oath so taken!
Adieu!

(Max stands and runs towards Michael, they then both run away)

Liz: (dazed) Max, stayeth with me awhile!
I love thee too!

Maria: Liz! In God’s name,
hast though been broken? Art thou safe!
What happened! Liz? Look to me?
Are’t thou in need of attendance?

Liz (starring as Max and Michael): Maria – I

Maria What didst he do to you?
Liz what happened?

Liz: (dazed, looks slowly at Maria) I do not know.
Me thought I saw a great wave crash forth and sweep me hence,
bitter cold and with no recompense,
and amid thy houses of the dead I didst wander,
lost to love, my life asunder.
And yet as they body turned to ash,
thou saw a young man cloaked in darkness,
who from his breast he didst take a single flame,
and kneeling over me
he kindled my life anew!

Maria: Liz! Thou art concussed!
Thou has fallen on the floor,
there is no death, no bleak abandoned shore!

Liz: Maria he didst blow into me his sacred life,
he touched my soul!
He reached out his hand,
and standing tall, with sable wings about him,
commandeth me to stand!
Such beauty I have never seen!
Thou dark angel, his strength about me
But is he just a dream?

Maria: Thou speaketh of Max?

Liz: No, no (shaking her head, remembering) no I speak not his name. I feel faint, allow me to sit awhile.

[Patroclus76]

Act II Scene III: A roadside Café just on the outskirts of Roswell.

(slight artistic license)

(Isabel, Max and Michael. They are all in silence. There has clearly been an argument, Max is sitting on the table, he is clearly upset and looks distressed. Michael is standing his arms folded crossly. Isabel is sitting attempting to eat)


Isabel: (looking at Michael) How couldst thou allow this!
How did thy fail to restrain him!
Our world is utterly changed!

Michael: Chastise me not, my lady!
Your brother was deranged,
He would brook no opposition,
Had I stood against him
he would have fought
Me to destruction! (looking to Max)
He was as one possessed!
It was not our love he sought
On the edge of death!


Max: (jumping up)
I am here in your midst! Speak not as though
Thou art invisible, a spirit of the air!
I have apologised already thus,
How could I not care!
Thou are strong yet not heartless Isabel,
And thou wast not there!
Am I condemned for saving a life,
As if it is of so little worth
that thou wouldst make no fuss?

Michael: (raises his voice)
Thou couldst have thought of us!
Or do we not count,
In the calculations of thy
Kingly heart!

Max: (shouting)
Thou thinks of us as constant
As the northern star!
Ever thou forces me to choose!
Life for life! As if from afar
I can discern who is worthy!
I chose us all Michael!
Neither honour halved, or
Thy love diminished!
My heart is not a faction!
And we are thus indivisible!?
I love thee enough to know
That thou would have acted so,
whatever now thy bravado!

Michael: (face to face with Max)
Who didst break a sacred vow!

Max: (shouting)
Thou doest love her!

Isabel (standing)
God’s sooth, desist!
Keep your voices down and contain
Thy tempers and dissension
Or canst thou see
How this draws yet more attention!

(Max and Michael stand looking at each other, Max looks away)

Max: Ever thou thinks of running Michael!
Thy brave captain! Hast thou never thought
Of who we are? Whence we came?
For what purpose we were
set about this place?
Was it just to hide? Inglorious
And vain? I think it not so.
There is a purpose here
Some plan, of which we yet must see

Michael:
And is Elizabeth in this plan to be?

(Isabel looks to the roadside where KYLE and two of his friends have stopped for drinks. They are looking at the Pod Squad).

Isabel: We are blessed it seems
With further luck,
young Valenti comes hither,
no doubt seeking his rival (she looks at Max)
and some news of miracles

Michael: (looking darkly at Max)
There are no miracles here!

Kyle: (looking at Isabel) My lady

(He walks to Max and stands closely)

Kyle: The world has grown strange
It seems, Max, that thou hast heard
Thrice from the mouth of strangers
That Liz has been saved from
Many dangers, not least death itself
And that about her, thy
was seen, on thy knees and extremely keen
that thou did kiss her so

Michael:
Then thank him toad, for thou
Would otherwise sleep alone!

Kyle: Silence, Brigand,
I do not speak to you!

Max:
(wearily)
What doest thou want with me?

Kyle: To warn thee
Thy miraculous friend, that she is taken,
She is mine already
and thou art no cuckold! She is strange
today, deranged,
she has been elsewhere
as if in a dream, and I fear
thou art a sorcerer! That tho has contrived
to have her dear!

Michael: Canst one steal that
Which is already taken?

Kyle (his hand to his sword)
Ever thy wit overreaches thee,
Michael!

(Michael goes to his sword, with Max at his side)

Max: Kyle, there is some misunderstanding
Liz was thought injured
But she was not, and thou went to her
Assistance as any man would,
Since when has courtesy been mistaken
For magic? Bully me no
we have only one life apiece
the rest are trinkets

Kyle: (looking keenly at Max)
Then there is no truth that thou doest love
And covert her?

Max. (bowing his head)
There is no truth in this.

Kyle bows to Isabel and withdraws. Isabel looks to Michael helplessly, and Michael goes to touch Max

Max: Desist, thou has
Forced the choice,
Be grateful and think no more
Of running.

(Max walks off)

[Patroclus76]

Act II Scene IV

(Ariel, Max, and Liz).

(In the lane at the foot of the fire escape leading to Liz’s bedroom. The late evening) Max is standing, cloaked and indecisive, looking up at Liz’s window but hesitating)

Ariel: So what is to be done?
Has Max come thus far only to turn aside?
To abandon hope even
as thou touches his future bride?
a journey ended before it has began
in sadness and in doubt?
Better to hath stayed and not hath seen,
Than to hath ventured forth and
faltered,
Better that thou had lived a life in darkness
With a soul unaltered,
Than hath briefly glimpsed the sun
in an ecstasy of longing!

And yet through that fleeting revelation
Max has been reborn!

Amid all the grimness of the world,
There is a greater power here,

(Ariel walks closely to Max)

Ariel: Come Max, thou are close to it,
Momentarily free of the shadows cast by fate
With one deep breath, push forward
Through this unknown, remembered gate
That leads one towards an overwhelming question?
Towards a singularity of purpose?
In which everything that hast gone before
Is but a premonition,
A prelude to this one moment,
Where in all doubt is cast aside,
And thou shalt reside
in love forever!

(Max seemes to overcome his doubts and looks up at Liz’s window)

Ariel: But thou must seize the day!
Lest indecision waste it,
And thy resolution slip away!
fret not over Michael, he shall find his way
Soon he shalt stand where thou standeth
Our noble Captain,
Who shalt realise through much
doubt,
That although one can live without love,
In the great fastness of life’s redoubt,
walled up in anger and bitter remorse
There is no purpose to it,
For what is otherwise divine within us
Is brought to nothing.
be warned my friends that a life without love
is not a life at all……..




(Max appears to pluck up courage)

Max: Liz! (loud whisper) Liz! Thou must speak with you awhile!

Liz: (coming to the window) Max? What irks thee? The hour is late –

Max: (standing with his hand on the ladder) Prithee see me, just a moment, for I cannot sleep and I must speak, least my courage fail me!

Liz: (coming onto the balcony) Max, come quickly, and then thou must away, for my parents are nearby and thou cannot stay!

(Max climbs up to her. They stand looking at each other.)

Max: I cannot imagine what thou is thinking, Liz! How bewildering thou shalt find what I am about to say! And yet I hath wanted to tell you a thousands times each day – I have been in silent agony for years! My heart and lips aquiver, and each day I missed thee, or did not spy thee from afar, my life did wither. Fearing to see you, fearing to never see you again!

Liz: Max, doest thou love me?

Max: (taking her hand) More than I can say, my lady. With a love that if not buried away, if not hidden within thyself, would burn the very heavens! Its vastness scares me, like the blue eyed curve of the earth, a brilliant jewel set forth in space, rushing forth and encompassing all life! It is so much bigger than me! I cannot live with it and yet without it I am incomplete!

Liz: Max, thou does feel the same enormity, but I fear thee, for who art thou? A man who can cross the threshold betwixt life and death itself, who can journey into darkness? I didst see thee my lord, uncloaked, and I saw more beauty than thou hast ever seen, it cannot be! Such love is not possible! Art thou an angel or a devil?

Max: (quietly) I knoweth not who I am, Liz. For I fell from night’s starry firmament long ago, with Michael and Isabel, and thou didst hatch with gossamer wings in thy cold desert air! Sent forth, scarce made up, for some hidden purpose that has yet to be revealed. Was the devil not an angel fallen? Art thou evil? Is this power within me that of death and retribution? I cannot believe it so.

Liz: (backing away slightly from the intensity of Max): Thou sister and thy friend Michael are made of the same stuff as thee?

Max: Yes, it is our great secret, our lives depend upon it, and thou are the first soul that thou hast ever told! But fear me not! (he comes forward towards her) for what I am about to become I cannot journey to without thee. (he holds out his hand) Darest thou walk with me wherein there is no path, and no guide to follow but our love? Me thinks there is darkness there, and great danger, and I fear to go alone without thee?

Liz: I would do anything to be with thee, and I would travel anywhere, to the doors of Hell itself. You risked all to save me, and risked your secret and your friends. Thou has come to such a pass that there is no turning back, and yet thou doest bless the day you touched my heart, today I didst die and thus cast aside an ordinary life. Thou art now reborn, and thou art beautiful.

Max: Thou art beautiful, thou art the words through which my love speaks.

(they kiss).

Curtains..............

THE END...............