In the throne room of the castle...
King Bring to me my Wife, so Dear
Show me please my Queen.
Queen Here My Husband,
I am present.
Present to you my Liege
How fares Your Royal Self
This day?
Do You seek diversion, Highness?
Am I summoned for, Amusement?
Lord my Husband only.
King Diversion? Amusement?
Certainly Not Milady.
Might I Learn the State of Our
Five Children?
Their Health?
Queen Robust
King Their Schooling?
Queen Progressing
King Their Dispositions?
Queen Amused Sire!
Your six children are,
Sound.
Studious
and Content,
Sire, as Beyababa
In Autumn showers
My most Royal Husband and Joy.
King And You my Queen,
Are You content?
Does your chamber fire
Keep away
The chill of Autumn nights?
My Wife so dear so true.
Queen Should Night grow cold
My maids appear
To stoke the hearth,
Exciting faded embers.
My content is just that near,
Should You care...
To inspect my condition,
Sire
You need only knock
Upon my door You know...
So, well,
Then, I,
Your dutiful Wife
Shall let You
In.
Might anything else
Concern You Sire?
May I resume my
Urgent obligations?
King No Madame My Wife
Resume These...
Obligations.
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King I should like to know,
my General
Bid him now appear.
General Yes your Majesty,
What troubles You
Troubles me.
How may I be of service?
King Tell Us Sir,
What state the Kingdom?
Are We,
Safe?
Do those who would
Threaten us
Stand at bay?
General So long as our sun shines
and water flows,
Beyababa grows.
Matters of might
Beg no breeze
Of concern
From your most Serene,
My Majesty.
King Our Borders ?
General Birds don’t cross.
King Our Forces?
General Trained – Trim – Fit.
King Our ….Enemies?
General Would sooner make War
with the Moon
Sire,
May I return to my duties?
New saddles
Are in design.
My impression...critical,
Distribution of assets,
The source of command.
Dull stuff really, Sire.
Will there be Anything
Else?
King No General,
That is All.
Still in his court...
King JESTER !!
Show me my Jester
PLEASE !!
Jester How happens
The Royal Self
This day,
Highness?
Would a tug from
Beyababa's
Most refined
Endowment
Agree with You?
This most
Praiseworthy day
This day!
King Not yet lunch hour
Yet you appear
Shameless awash
In Beyababa’s tears
Jester Curse it All Sire!
I wake beneath a wagon
And all sounds say
“Dinner Bell”
To Me.
To me Sire.
King You know, Jester
You are an idiot.
Jester That Sire,
Is what You
Pay me for
(hiccup – burp)
King So true...so true.
Well
What news from the great
unwashed?
What do they sing
in the markets,
in the pubs,
on farms
In beds and barns
and alleys?
Jester First Matter of
Business, Sire,
For those who pray
Is rain
Rain
None more than Me.
Rain, Sire
Should Heaven not weep
Upon our fields
Beyababa shall shed
No tear for me.
The Nation Thirsts
Sire.
Two Times.
King And so Minister Fool
How do You advise
The Throne?
Jester When rained last?
Can’t recall
When rain next?
Can't predict
I can propose
Here Sire,
A new Minister.
Indeed.
A new Agency
To establish
Sure and certain,
Our groundwater resources
Are fairly and firmly shared
by farms and industry
Dedicated,
Chorus !DEDICATED!
Jester To the Welfare
of
BEYABABA (hiccup)
Chorus !BEYABABA!
(hiccup)
King Continue Minister Fool.
Jester Then Sire,
The New Minister, might
Travel the kingdom
Sampling the vintner’s wares
So to Know
That the business of the State,
was managed justly.
King Yes yes,
That is all quite
sound.
Jester This person,
This minister,
Need be a man,
of the People,
Chorus ! YES !
Jester Of a discerning palette,
Chorus ! YES !
Jester Devotion to King and Country,
Chorus ! YES YES !
Jester And above all,
Entirely Honest
and
Utterly Incorruptible.
Chorus !! HOORAY !!
King Who sir,
Do you propose
for this position?
Jester Why...
Me Sire!
King You know Fool
You are an Idiot
Were it not for your mirth
You'd be sober in a dungeon.
Jester You pay me to be an idiot,
Sire.
This reward for failure
Seems too cruel
Anything but sobriety.
King Leave me Fool
And take a bath
While water still
at hand.
In a cottage off the castle
Mistress Treasure My Love and Delight
Without ends when you enter
Sit by my fire
Beyababa Tea
I'll hold your head
And we are weightless
By this union
Flying dreams
Quiet breathing
King My Treasure, my lullaby,
The weight of this crown
Is more than the castle’s.
This kingdom in perils
My line of Fathers
Could never imagine.
When sought for answers
I can mumble only questions
And these met with
dismiss.
Mistress Treasure Peace upon you now
My Love
You are wiser than you know.
Kinder than the cruel ticks
Of your court
Can deplete you.
Stronger than the wind,
Bright and Just
As summer’s full moon.
Reach down my light,
I'll guide your hand
but
You alone shall find
the way
And know reward.
Peace now
Even a night forever,
Would be too short.
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Now in the sanctuary
of a religious edifice
King Point Heaven’s Light
Upon me Spectrom.
Help me, please To find
Salvation,
an Antidote
For this Kingdom,
Unbalanced
Peering into
An Abyss.
Spectrom/priest
carries a staff
with an emblem
head piece which
he pounds 3 times
before speaking, always...
Sometimes, he anoints
guests with a toss of
Beyababa seeds from
a pouch on his hip
Spectrom The light of the Gods
Shines upon you Sire
The Light
Made Simple
By Me
And may the gods bless
Beyababa!
Chorus BEYABABA! BEYABABA! BEYABABA!
King I call today Spectrom,
To Learn
To Know
Why the gods will
Not bless Beyababa
Darkest night comes upon Us.
Commons grasp this firm
Our Select,
not at all
Tomorrow seems
A woodsman’s axe
Raised and falling
To the neck of Existence.
What affront has bruised the gods?
My Hope is Drained
I see a World Deserted
Chorus Existence Drained Deserted
Spectrom The gods may punish
The gods may forgive!
King Punish? Forgive?
Forgive what?
Punish what?
Spectrom Do not say Sir,
The trespass
And Sins
Of Beyababa’s children
Are not apparent to You!
The gods can see
What they conceal!
Their black hearts
STINK
unto heaven.
King There is no stink,
Their hearts not black.
Give them water
With which to wash.
They will
I’m sure,
Smell better
Than at present
Spectrom The gods may know
So men may ask
But the answers from heaven
When told to rocks
Fall beyond the ears
of deaf children
King Come again Spectrom?
Spectrom Blind Future may marry
the hair lip bride Past
But will their Garden yield
Chickens or pigs?
King Hmmmm?
Spectrom It’s scripture Sire,
The luminous words of
The Volume.
Chorus !!The Volume!!
Spectrom Scripture my Lord
It’s what You pay me for.
King So true,
So true.
Enter the General,
Agitated...
General Sire, please forgive this
My intrusion
Good twilight Spectrom
Bless the crop and me.
Urgent news from the frontier Sire
Our neighbors, neighbors east,
Have removed their men at arms
To another district,
To aid their victims
of a recent great rattle!
That fertile river valley
Just a dash across the border
For ours without the asking
If we grab it by the throat.
Crop secure for generations!
Cost to us, a trifle...
Horses, wagons
A few hundred...heroes
Losses worth
The gain.
Spectrom Hear this call from the gods!
Hear the heavenly chorus
We are Forgiven
Chorus !!FORGIVEN!!
Spectrom With the pike of Great Glutus
Fused to your arm Sire,
Be the Bold,
Be the Lion,
Bring this piece to our Land!
King Our forces in formation Marshall?
General Ready as Rain
Fierce as Lightening.
But this prize will not dangle
Forever.
Three days, maybe four.
Grant me your grace King
Give this snatch your blessing
May we strike at their absence
tonight?
Spectrom Let our others
Know a god’s appetite!
Loose this leash
So all may know
The metal of We the select!!
King Wait my order General,
With troops in battle place.
Spectrom,
Seek for us some
holy favor
But, spill no more seed
It might rain yet.
Now in the stables.
The stabler is deaf
and mute so is not
aware of the king’s entrance...
King Safe and Content
Safe and Content
Has a smell all its own.
Here I am happy
Happy, safe and content.
But all for spit
Drunken illusion.
The serpent slides closer–
So soon are we lunch.
Here are my horses
Here is their groom
Both do I treasure
Highest esteem
Could this scene
Be everlasting,
This is not to be.
Refuge please
An hour’s Peace
Just Beings I can trust
Salvation, Truth
and Forgiveness.
Shine upon me
Wondrous Light
In a barn of boyhood dreams
Please I pray,
Direction.
Not sobbing, but not...
King takes broom and
seats groom on a stool...
Which is the path out from this grim wood
Into it I wake
with every slumber
Into it I wake
with every sunrise.
Ministers who buzz like flies
Priests who babble words
Empty tired words
From a time that never was.
My family, prime select
Don’t even know the cold,
Let alone dilemma.
Some others are kind
Some other others...
Less so.
They don’t care a wit
For the Nation,
Only their houses.
So spoiled they are,
Both them and their houses!
Their council
Not the worth of manure.
But me
Myself
Ruler Leader King
This Nation is My House
And yet,
I see no Monarch
in my reflection.
I’m a groom!
When my subjects are fed
They will bear the saddle
Starve them and they will bolt
Sure and Simple
From what well do you draw your dignity groom
With your scepter in my grip
My thirst is
Revealed
Made simple
Made plain
Not for answers
Not plans of genius or might.
I thirst for dignity
Come dignity.
Wisdom.
Wisdom,
seize me.
Curse Beyababa
Grant Me Wisdom
Groom, I must depart.
Blessings upon you.
You are wise beyond
Your years,
Eloquent without banter.
Truest arrow in my quiver.
I must come sweep
more often.
What mends a soul,
really?
My liege!
King bows and leaves.
Chorus
Here is a King...
Safe in the Castle
Castle in a Kingdom
But the Kingdom is the Thing!
Kingdoms built of brick
and might
Might scatter like ashes
Tumble like drunkards
Vanish from Sight.
KING? KING?
We see no King.
A Timid Boy
A Make Believe King
Voices Barking
Sure and Sober
Voices Braying
Glaze Eye Sleepless
Voices Howling
All Together
Howling at No Moon
Now is the Moment,
strike. STRIKE
See the Window Open
Jab Punch
Desperate Times
Desperate Measures
Destiny says March!
march
March
MARCH
The Time is Up for Action
March!
March!
March!
Might This whelp
Emerge a King
Might this Pup
Pretend to Fight
March Step Purpose
Marching
Marching
Dance in Time and Space.
All for the Crop
Beyababa BEYABABA
Dance in Time and Space.
Close the Fist
See the Target
Pray for Grace
and Sting
Pray for Rain
Beyababa !
Abundance
ABUNDANCE
Pray for
Flag
and
King
Again, at court
Queen My quarters are decrepit Sir
My fireplace a fright
You said you’d have my
flagstones fixed,
My windows sealed and tight
My rooms are dreadful
Not fit for a queen
Chorus FIT!
Queen What would the nation, Think?
Chorus THINK!
General Troops are waiting
Bow string taut
Waiting for the order
Aimed and focused
Fit and Hardened
Chorus fit Fit FIT FIT FIT!
General Fit for battle
Aimed and focused
Pity for those
We burn this day.
Jester A Priest,
a General
and the King’s Fool
Walk into a bar.
There’s no joke,
Cause the barrels are dry
Chorus DRY! DRY!! DRY!!!
Jester No joke
No mirth
No ha ha ha
Beyababa sheds a tear
for no one
And no one weeps for me.
Save Us Spectrom!
Save the Sinners.
Shake the very clouds above.
Shake the clouds oh Marshall Major
So We can worship
at the Bar.
Chorus BEYABABA BEYABABA
A Nation Sleeps
On a Feasted Belly,
An Empty Gut
A Too Hard Mattress.
Beyababa or Starve?
HUNGRY
WEAK
DEFEATED
March is not a Choice
WE MAKE
Conquest NOT an Act
WE CHOOSE
What are OUR Choices?
Spectrom GODS FORGIVE!
Chorus OUR BARBAROUS TRESPASS
Spectrom GODS APPROVE!
Chorus OUR BARBAROUS AIMS
Spectrom SIRE! SIRE!
The Light of the Gods
Shines Diamond Bright.
Do not duck into the shade.
To Know the Light
Move to the Light
Sparkling from
a Polished Sword
NOW!!
Chorus NOW! NOW! NOW!!
General Now is the Way Forward.
Here is the Moment.
The Time for Hero Time.
We Must Attack,
Debate is Past
Waiting is as
TREASON!!
Chorus GASP !
King, Fallen to his
knees cover his ears
King !!S I L E N C E!!
Groom and Mistress Treasure
step forward and help him
to his feet....
DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?!?!
ladies and gentlemen,
BEYABABA
Shall not be
the death
of this
NATION
We don’t attack
the Neighbors
We will not murder
Friends
If Beyababa needs Us
lose our Justice
We'll lose the grain instead!
To Save Our Soul
WE CAN GROW SOMETHING
ELSE ! ! !
Chorus BIG GASP
King A New Crop!
Tomorrow knows
the sun will rise
Tomorrow knows
the sun will set
and both without
that stupid plant
GENERAL,
FORWARD,
PLEASE
You shall cross the border
With Emissaries.
Inquire of the neighbors
What aid
They might require.
How may we be of Help?
This is now your mission, Sir,
Attack it.
JESTER !!!!
Go with them.
Discover what grows
Beyond our borders
What do they eat
and
What do they drink?
How do they feed
Their cattle?
JESTER, HEAR ME!
Hear Me Clearly,
Take Me lightly
or let me down,
Your head will dress the
Spectrom’s pike
Much like this one now.
King grabs Jester's jester stick
with the little head and bells
which he jingles and hands
back to Jester though upside
down, dangling limply...
Drunken Jokes
From a drunken clown
Will not feed a Child.
Idiot no longer,
Your life
And welfare
Now serious
Do as I ask or suffer
My “Humor.”
Just make a joke out of that.
NOW GO !!
SPECTROM!!
Spectrom Sire. May the Gods ble.....
King covers his mouth
King Spectrom, I have no use for you
or your gods.
I answer to the People of this Nation
ALONE.
I serve the the People of this Land
ALONE.
Condemning our People
Turns My Stomach.
MY STOMACH TURNS NO MORE.
New Crops grow best
in New Vision,
New Confidence.
Till our soil with
Confidence and Vision
Or Spectrom,
I will plant YOU.
And get yourself some
Grown up clothes
I will not pay an IDIOT!!
WIFE!
Appear Now! Please.
Wife My Queen
Know these phrases
Here and now,
In your mouth and
In your ear;
“Make Do”
“Go without”
“Work With What
We Have” These words are now your
Solemn Prayers,
Your,
Urgent Obligations.
Til things Improve
We shall not dodge
The hardship,
Others cannot
Take this to Heart
You had one,
Once.
Now addressing
the whole court
King No Nation
Will Long March Forward
Facing Backward
We know this will not work.
Clear this will not work.
Only know the Mind survives.
Only our Minds can save us
That which once we Trusted,
ONCE,
Cannot Be trusted
NOW.
Failure to Embrace the
Urgent Now
Spells our Doom,
Writ bold
On every wall and rooftop.
Fight the Change,
We Perish.
The World Will Soon Forget Us
Happens All the Time...
!!!Let Us Proceed !!!
Epilogue
