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"Circus" - or: Fragments Of A Tragedy Called Life.

About the history of this text: The story of this 'Opera' goes back to the ides of the 21st century. A couple of years later, in 2005, in Prahran (Melbourne), I wrote a few lines, a few songs, a few fragments. And as, for a dozend years this story -- and what I had wirtten so far -- came flashing back, I finally decided to sit down -- spring 2018 -- wondering if (and how) it wanted to be told. And I was surprised...

Still... a few things need to be written, some things shortened and quite a few things may still need some "overhaul" far more rigid than the one Porco Rosso's aeroplane underwent

2021-08-29:
After "Flut über alle Menschen" (my translation of the Epic of Atrahasis) is published, I want to pick up these threads again:
Time for another overhaul on "The Circus": I hope to put down the dialogues (despite my innate dialogophobia), and make it a bit more "story".
I hope I can weed out the songs — looking for the flowers —stanzas, lines and songs— this story once grew on, but that now have withered (or were outgrown) by what they, these pioneer-flowers, alowed the Circus to grow on.
And I am absolutely greatful to Tor Åge Bringsværd, who gave me the one hint it needed to go where I never would have dared to go just a few days ago.
You cannot imagine how helpful it was, to hear from him, that weeding things for the better of the stage would be hard work.
So: "Gung Ho"! — And THANK YOU Tor Åge! —br> And, what ever I may get wrong ... I suppose, it's better wrong, than not being there at all.

2022-01-19 f.:
The idea was there, in Aug. A few lines changed (and will change). Summer- and Autumn passed with things and to-does and finally with a re-arranging of the Commedia and the Metamorphseon Lib.
Waking up towards 0500 gave me a little time to pick up the threads, scratch some dust from Gimlis first Monlologue. Add a note to heed. Hope for more to come.
And ... is there a reason, why all this was written in English? — Probably ... or maybe I just feared losing too much of the sound by translating the lines I had started in Prahran...

Abstract: The Sad Giant GIMLI remembers the story of AFIR the Gold Fish Tamer and ANNA the Tight Rope Dancer who worked with him at FRANK's Circus. AFIR and ANNA, daughter and foundling of FRANK were madly in love, but they were seperated — due to economic reasons — when AFIR was fired. Without ANNA and without any job, AFIR finds himself in the solitarity of the "nowhere-land", accompanied only by his WOES AND SORROWS. Somehow he ends up in "THE PUB", where he finds his spirit and realizes his destiny. But at that very same moment of joy, The BISHOP and his PURSUERS OF FAITH enter the pub: Any man, who is not able to escape, becomes priest by "emergency-consecration". And so AFIR becomes The Priest of THE VILLAGE, at which one day FRANKs Circus halts, and ANNA and AFIR meet again.

CAST: FRANK ........... Director of the Circus; Father and Adoptive Father of ANNA ANNA ............ Tightrope Dancer; Daughter and Foundling of FRANK; In Love with AFIR AFIR ............ Goldfish Tamer; In Love with ANNA, Late(r) Priest of THE VILLAGE; GIMLI ........... A depressive and benevolent Giant; Friend of ANNA and AFIR; THE CIRCUS CREW . People who work at the Circus. WOES AND SORROWS ......... Which somehow belong to AFIR; PEOPLE AT THE PUB ......... Who are People at THE PUB, which turns out to be a PUB THE BISHOP ...... BISHOP and FRANK (as "the hand of fate", both should be sung/played by the same person/voice) The PURSUERS of FAITH ........ Seconds to THE BISHOP; THE VILLAGERS ... Who happen to live in THE VILLAGE; Notes for re-order: TOC 1st ACT: "THE CIRCUS" Gimli's Prologue(Monologue before the first curtain) Raising the Tent( - and heaving the curtain) Be Welcome Sawdust and Wood Wool and Elephant Pee Tons and Stones That thou hast lips(Gold-Fish-Tamer Version) The Tightest Rope... This is like a Love Song ... *TODO*/Fragment: All About Balance No Gold in Fish 2nd ACT: "ON THE ROAD AND AT THE PUB" Gimli's Monologue in Darkness(before the curtain II) When the lights go out Wail! Wail! Wail! Lamentatio + Oh Bonny Young Demon! Going Nowhere Turn Your Back - Or: The Dust We Leave Behind The Missing Song "Tired - Or: My Last Fag" Something Better - Or: The Things We Do Finally Happy, Finally Gay He-He-He ||Hear|Here|| He Cometh! Gloria et al(iquod). 3rd ACT: "THE VILLAGE" Just a drop of misanthropy The Priest of the Beasts Blessing them Creeps and them Wings Train to REASON Lions! And Tygers! And Bears! By Fervent Love Go for Love That thou hast lips (Priest Version) Man Must Say Farewell Fare yee well Leaving on a Hand-Draisine to Reason Gimli's Epilogue

Yet: I never found words for the dialogues. Never found words for the stories woven around or between the characters.

2021-08-30: ?? [[ All together; Make it more SONNO, more MEMORY, the way memories work (or play) with us? — Would it start with ANNA: "Gimli? — ' you[' there?" — Characters chatting — ... In all: just as if it were his Memories that drive Gimli to tell the story. — and really BURSTING OUT form behind the curtain, when they "Get their go" to "RAISE THE TENT" ]] ...

NOTE: 2022-01-19: His Circus, it is! So for now (ACT-I) FRANK will take over "the command" on stage. (GIMLI may only comment "his memories" (if needed or wished)!) So FRANK entrat with his aura of "The Doyen". Judging, overseeing, advising. He is "The Circus" ... totaly and in its totality. -- Him: being the incarnation of his Circus himself. — ANNA repeatedly peaking through the curtain. — even antes ENTRAT GIMLI (?) -- Is she "calling" him? (i.e.: is her's the first word?) [[(... thinking of Alice Cooper's "Steve")]]-- Are our Memories capable of "calling us onto stage"? ?? GIMLI (kindly/patiently) trying to push her back. Make her stay behind curtain. — "Gimli?" —Behold and witness: The One, Amazing Anna! The Fearless Giant Tameress and her Horribly Honourable Giant Gimli! — ... — Faster, Gimli." — "Will you take me on your shoulders, Gimli?" — "Gimli?, May I ..." -- "You're there, Gimli?" — Gimli, Turning to the Curtain, bending over the place, where little Anna might be: His voice turns from soothingly to scarcely audible: "Of course I am. I will always be there, my child!" — "Will you, Gimli?"

Gimli's Prologue (Monologue before the first curtain)

GIMLI
Life, they say, itself is the tragedy.
We, who live our little lives, with our little losses, with our wounds and disappointments, walk in the shades of kings and queens of old — until we turn into the very dust they left behind. The very dust that let us think that man is equal. And as we live and chose, and as we leave and lose, we we resemble heros of the classic tales: set up against each others by, or zealously falling in-between some rivalling and jealous Gods!
Too confined to be what we are ment to be, too ignorant to realize what we became and perfectly inapt to reflect the slightests consequences of our deeds or our obessions with a "greater good", we are constantly confronted with our incapacity to outdo, outlive our fate; – As once The Hermit said [[in Grimmelshausen's Simplizissimus]]:
Most people are damned, for they are igrnorant of what they were, nor know they, what they can become or must become.

And so: The real tragedy is smaller. Much smaller!
That small, in fact, that we can carry it along unseen. It is with us, when the play is done, the curtain falls, and we walk out.
And this, you say, is just a play. — A story, someone else put down for us ;
A story, you might, I hope indeed, enjoy, where you might want to laugh and sing and cry with us!
Where you might, as it may happen, sit impatiently, yearning for the end to come!
Where some of you, may pretty well, turn their back on us and then walk out.
But will they, as they go, escape this "tragédie humaine", this, our human misery!

And though the poets piped and sang so much: no story told until its very end ends well.

They are as incomplete, as, on a greater scale, all human is! Or as beloved Jura [[Soyfer]]'d said, "We are a badly drafted scheme, of the human we were meant to be!"

The only thing, we have in common, they and me; we, here on stage, and those who leave the stage, when all the play is done, and the make-up is washed off:
We cannot just escape our part, too lightly.
None of us, of you, will easily escape its part!

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Raising the Tent ( - and heaving the curtain)

`partly keep, partly overhaul to something like watch these memories work!!"`

turmoil and hubbub and chatter and laugh, as, led by ANNA, the circus-crew floods in, to raise the tent. ANNA storming to GIMLI, hugging him dearly, looking him over. (Umarmt ihn herzlich, mustert Ihn...) "??), becoming one of them in fuzz and hubbub and clamour. --> Then they join them, GIMLI with a little shrug, the "work crew" (??"And, oh, they work, these Memories!"??). becoming one of them in fuzz and hubbub and clamour. AFIR, pretty lost and dreamy, amongst them. Suddenly the crew, the work, the turmoil freezes. As if he could not believe what he sees, GIMLI walks over to AFIR, GIMLI: Oh, Afir!? ... I thought you were ... Come! Come here! GIMLI "adjusts" Afir, positions him at the tow-rope and picks up his own share of the rope, right next to AFIR. With everyone in place, the turmoil continues. THE CIRCUS CREW - while raising the tent/heaving the curtain:

THE CIRCUS CREW
Up up up she goes
He he heave her high
Hay hay hay and wooden wool

Up up up the stripes
He he heave them high
Stay stay stand up for your dream

Up up up the stripes
He he heave them high
Hey hey hail the wooden wool

Up up up the stripes
He he heave them high
Tow tow follow your star

Up up up she goes
He he heave her high
Up is the canopy of dreams

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FRANK / GIMLI --> FRANK: Gimli! Right here!, right now! GIMLI: -- FRANK: See them kids over there? -- See to it, that they almost get caught, while sneeking in? GIMLI: But Frank, each penny... FRANK: I know ... So fail impressively in catching them — ... and let them tell the tale long on when we're gone ... No pound could weigh that much! eventualiter: children: Look! The Circus! See if we can sneak in? evt: old couple: silently taking place on one of the benches in the back of the stage / behind the rink.

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Be Welcome

FRANK
Be welcome, be happy, behave for a while
Be joyous and jaunty and jiggered and smile
Yee old mind your young heart to see with young eyes
Yee young take your 'vantage not to know what that says.

Be welcome, be happy, behave for a while
Leave the dark clouds of sorrow to the canopy outside
Should you still need to lead them home
There's a string we provide
'T comes free with the fairy-hair or two buttered cobs

Be welcome, be happy, behave for a while
Be joyous and jaunty and jiggered and smile
Yee old mind your young heart to see with young eyes
Yee young take your 'vantage not to know what that says.

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Tons and Stones

That Thou Hast Lips (Gold-Fish-Tamer Version)

AFIR
A song to the fish, during his Gold-Fish-Taming performance, about his love to ANNA.
Of course, ANNA hears the song, and recognizes his love! "The Tightest Rope"
AFIR
Oh fish, that thou hast lips, and wilt not speak
And stirrest thine mouth so silently, to drink thine breath all day
Now hear, what none, that knows the word should hear (but her)!

Some people, they have ears, and yet wont hear
And others they have eyes, and yet wont see
Some people they have lips, and yet wont kiss!
And she has ears so delicate
And she has eyes that smile so great
And where she goes, all trouble melts,
And where she's gone, I find dismay!

Oh fish, that thou hast lips, and wilt not speak
And stirrest thine mouth so silently, to drink thine breath all day
Oh hear, what none, that knows the word should hear (but her)!

Thine answer, it be Yes or it be No!
You worry 'bout your place, my heart!,
Oh heart!, doest thou not dare to ask
In fear thine shan't be given!
You hear the music from her lips
And I can feel it, how you dance!
You never heard her mourn 'bout me
And yet I feel you cry, as if for you all love were lost!

Oh fish, that thou hast lips, and wilt not speak
Give me your answer, fish!
Oh, let me hear it, through my heart!

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The Tightest Rope...

ANNA;

From the notes: Ein Taumel(n) ohne Gleichgewicht! // und dennoch, DENNOCH! faellstu nicht Anna singing this song on the tight-rope. Afir watching her.
Frank announcing Anna

ANNA
eventualiter: + AFIR (??at low voice, "muffled"; watching from the off??)

Never have I fallen deeper, ever falling deeper
A fall so full of joy to fall
With no harm to do you harm at all
Without breaking any bone
Without slipping through the net
Without thudding to the ground
Without plaster to be bound
And when I broke my heart
And when you broke your heart
And we reached out our heart
And you handed me your part
And I handed you my part
And we tacked it, for a start,
~~To have each other's heart~~
To have each other's half to have

Never have i danced no rope before, as tight, as tight as this
Never have i danced no rope before, from which to fall was joyful bliss
Love, love is the tightest rope, the tightest rope, the tightest rope of all - is love!
Love, love is the tightest rope, the tightest rope, the tightest rope of all - is love!

A tumbling without counter-weight
A falling to the greatest height
No fear within the open sight
A glaring flame that burns so bright
A flash of silver blazing light
Like hopes that all the worlds were good,
Faint hopes, I could be understood

Never have I danced no rope before, as tight, as tight as this
Never have I danced no rope before, from which to fall was joyful bliss
Love, love is the tightest rope, the tightest rope, the tightest rope of all - is love!
Love, love is the tightest rope, the tightest rope, the tightest rope of all - is love!

Never have I fallen deeper, ever falling deeper
A fall so full of joy to fall
With no harm to do you harm at all
Without breaking any bone
Without slipping through the net
Without thudding to the ground
Without plaster to be bound
And when I broke my heart
And when you broke your heart
And we reached each our part
To have each other's heart
To give each other's heart
To have each other's heart to give
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It's all about Balance

SKETCH: While the EQUILIBRISTS sing this song "about their performance and life", FRANK picks up the theme in a variation on "the performance of the circus and its finances"
Equilibrists / FRANK
Equilibrists It's all about balance,
calculation, it is.
Just seeing the right wink,
finding that tight spot
'tween slack and taut.
'bout setting the right step,
using the moment
at the right time.
'bout minding the right pace,
finding the right place,
and moving with grace.

it's all about balance,
it's all about weights,
'bout figures and numbers,
and tension and loosening up.

FRANK 'tis all about balance, it's all about bills!
'bout figures and numbers, and making a life!
'bout giving and getting and taking
'bout winning and wining and losing and debt
'bout getting through tight spots,
and knitting the right knots,
to keep you from stalling and falling.
to keep you going and not going down.
It's all about balance,
and numbers and figures and charts.
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This is like a Love Song ...

The actual show ends here... the following songs are set during a kind of "cleaning up the tent"
ANNA, AFIR;

This is like a love song
'tis like something you have heard so many times before
This is like an old joke, that good old joke that saved the scene so many times before

Anna + Afir ["in parallel"]

Anna	Afir
And be it like a love song and be it like this old joke, be it like these things you only throw out when it's dark be it like these things that only show up in the dark:	and be it like an old joke and be it like a love song, be it like these things that only show up in the dark: be it like these things you only throw out when it's dark

and be it like a love song,
be it like this old joke,
be it like these things you only throw out when it's dark
be it like these things that only show up in the dark:

this is how I feel.
This is, how I feel!
This is how I feel - for you----u!

It could be an old joke
It could be a love song
It could be all these Gods together, laughing loud at us

It could be the umpteenth diet
be the latest magic food
it could be the latest update
on what one thing for you is good!

It could be on TV
It could be anywhere
It could fill a thousand volumes
It would fill the sea, I swear,
and yet: it's here between us
in between the two of us
'tis here, 'tween
you and me
[[very silent, more like a faint echo]]:.... for ever...

intercambio: Anna/Afir

if I would kiss you on your right cheek,
may I turn to you the other cheek also!?
and may I dare turn to your lips,
and, oh, may I hold you 'round your hip and
oh, ... -- ... please don't turn the other way!
please don't turn me right away!
do not leave me with a sway
rather promise me you'll stay
-- for ever...
.... for ever...

This is like an old joke
This is like a love song
This is like all these Gods together, laughing out at us
.... for ever...
.... for ever...
.... for ever...
[faintly - fading, as if the gods from far:] ... like a love song ...
[faintly - fading, as if the gods from far:] ... an old joke

.... for ever...

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Sawdust and Wood Wool and Elephant Pee

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Maybe a bit of Frank's and Anna's story - and loads of financial worries behind Frank's ever-so-pathetic "THE-SHOW-MUST-GO-ON"-mascarade.

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No Gold in Fish

CURTAIN
EXPLICIT 1st ACT

INCIPIT 2nd ACT: "ON THE ROAD AND IN THE PUB"

2021-08-30: Could the "emptyness" around Afir become more tense, more terse, and a bit more spooky when it Afirs "Woes and Sorrows" mingle with "GIMLIS Memories" (telling part of the story?)

When the lights go out

while the lights are dimming, Afir, from behind the [closed] curtain, moves slowly, with some difficulty, out onto the stage. Towards the end of the song, there is only a very dim spotlight left on him.
Afir

when the day goes by
and it fades the light
and nigh and nigher
and nighest draws night!

when the crows pass by
and the ravens croak
and you watch the late wings
on their homeward-streak

when the lights are lit
behind windows shut tight
of wagons and houses
at unreachable sight

and all that you know is
the place that you
long for is the
place you cant go

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Gimli's Monologue in Darkness (before the curtain II)

During Gimlis monologue the curtain opens. From mid, left and right, one after the other, the WOES AND SORROWS approach AFIR. As they start their lament, entrat ANNA (as Woe and Sorrow)

Gimli
Darkness. A lack of light. Of illumination - of enlightenment.

In the end, whatever word you come up with, it will be the same darkness.
Beautify it, with any euphemism you may find, knit it with refined articulateness into the dearest words at hand, or, in a rush, just take the cheapest.
Lo!, how in our freedom-loving times, workers are set free -- and hardly ever fired, as is any fuel-wood.
Behold the bitter pill, we have, pro bono publicae, to swallow, so that the wealthy shall not lose their wealth, and those in want are scarcely scratched, for how should they, in want already, care that their little less gets just that little lesser.
As with all the words this, our greatest, best contortionist, The Word can turn, with darkness it is all the same.
And in the end, how ever turned, however twisted your paraphrase may be, there remains this wicked lack of light.
And in the end, the same darkness —more or less— will cover us all. A lack of light, that by some magic of the mind, makes our heart forget, how a joyful smile would feel.
And we are covered --more or less-- by the same stern and austere eloquence of a clanking quietness; by this dreary stillness of our soul.
Un-worded, with all our words devoured by a bile so black and bitter that we, who knew to laugh in innocence, roam mumbling, grumbling, gloomingly through our solitary worlds - not that far apart from yours, and yet without no door that opens, without a bridge obvious.

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??? EVENTUALITER: INCIPIT Act II CVM: "Dies Ire" (Hisaishi Joe //Nausicaee / kaze no tani no Nausicaee//

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Wail! Wail! Wail!

[[... eventualiter some (visual) connex to the "Bridge" Gimli mentioned]] Afir is --one by one [stanza]-- flanked by [[more and more]] Woes And Sorrows

Woes And Sorrows

(Woe And Sorrow 1)

Wail! Wail! Wail!
On unforgiving trail!
No winds will~~|can~~ catch your sail!
~~Wail! Wail! Wail!~~

(Woe And Sorrow 2)

Grief! Grief! Grief!
Just look, what you achieve:
It's only sand you sieve!!
~~Grief! Grief! Grief!~~

(Woe And Sorrow 3)

Woe! Woe! Woe!
It is and will be so:
Life bows and you must bow!
~~Woe! Woe! Woe!~~

(Woe And Sorrow 1, 2 and 3)
Entrat "ANNA". Gravely. She is (now) one of the WOES AND SORROWS and will flank AFIR amidst his first 'So morose...'.

Wail! Wail! Wail!
We weave this thread so frail
called life - in calm and gale
~~Wail! Wail! Wail!~~

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Lamentatio + Bonny Young Demon

Anna + Afir

Afir
So morose these my sorrows,
so sinister my thinks,
This my gloom-thinking, glowering
sullen and saturnine glum

Anna (as Woe And Sorrow)
Wail! Wail! Wail!
There is no head, nor tale
your fare's attained to fail!
~~Wail! Wail! Wail!~~

Afir
Oh bonny young demon, I plead: change this face.
Oh bonny young demon, you put her in disgrace.
the one that i love so dear, do please change my sight
you may mock me, as will, but her leave aside!

So morose these my sorrows,
so sinister my thinks,
This my gloom-thinking, glowering
sullen and saturnine glum

Anna (as Woe And Sorrow)
Grief! Grief! Grief!
What is it you achieve!?
It's only dust you sieve!!
~~Grief! Grief! Grief!~~

Afir
Oh bonny young demon, wont you listen to me!
Oh bonny young demon, what's you want me to see
sure i long to behold her, whom i can no more hold
but my bonny young demon, I am fired and sold!

Anna (as Woe And Sorrow)
Wail! Wail! Wail!
your fare is set to fail!
you'll find your grave, not grail!
~~Wail! Wail! Wail!~~

Rather break here and lead to "Going Nowhere", than having Afir repeat "so morose"?
Afir
So morose these my sorrows,
so sinister my thinks,
This my gloom-thinking, glowering
sullen and saturnine glum

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Going Nowhere

These Lyrics were written to Pachelbels "Canon in D", as performed and recorded by the Academy St. Martin in the Fields - under Sir Neville Marriner (approx 1986)

[[-- originaliter --]]
CHORUS [Afir, Woes And Sorrows - ?+ cast, depending on voices needed..]
alternatively: CHORUS + some kind of ballet with Woes and Sorrows and Afir...

Going nowhere gets you nowhere
all roads nowhere lead to nowhere
Anywhere of nowhere's nowhere
East or West of nowhere's' nowhere

where you go, you end up nowhere
where you turn you still are nowhere
Every step you take leads nowhere
any way will get you nowhere

Everything you look for 's nowhere
Any hope you grab leads nowhere
Anyone you long for 's nowhere,
any whish you make ends nowhere

All your woes and sorrows are there
waiting to come out of nowhere
They were hopes that ended nowhere
They were dreams, that got you nowhere

They were dreams!, your dreams!
Once they were hopes!

Nothing leads you out of nowhere
No way leads away from nowhere
---| No here, No There

Going nowhere gets you nowhere
all roads nowhere lead to nowhere
Anywhere of nowhere 's nowhere || ~~All way down from nowhere 's nowhere~~
North and South of nowhere 's nowhere

where you go, you end up nowhere
where you turn you still turn nowhere
Every way you take leads nowhere
every step just gets you nowhere

any thing you look for 's nowhere
any hope you had is nowhere
Anyone you long for 's nowhere,
any whish you make ends nowhere

any road and any street and any path and any trail
Any turn 'round any corner, any crossing any border
any cursing, any prayer and any rage and any flare
Any gloating, any begging, any screaming, any flagging
nothing leads you out of nowhere
all signs nowhere point to nowhere
where you go, you end up nowhere
where you turn you still turn nowhere

no here, no there,
only no-where

Your woes and sorrows all
come out of nowhere now
hopes that nowhere found their end
The dreams, that you once had!
Dear friends that stood by you!
All the dreams you had,
Everyone you loved

Alternating (i.e.: partially interwoven, in the sequence given)
-- All woes and sorrows now!
-- waiting to come out!
-- waiting to come home
-- to come home to you
-- Are woes and sorrows now!
-- waiting to come out!
-- waiting to come home
-- to come home to you

Going nowhere takes you nowhere
all roads nowhere get you nowhere

where you go, you end up nowhere
where you turn you still turn nowhere

any hopes you had are nowhere
any whish you make ends nowhere

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Turn Your Back - Or: The Dust We Leave Behind

There should be some word: monologue (apostrophe, or adress to the WOES AND SORROWS) by Afir, so that credeliter, he swoops into some rage --or credible desperation-- against his being lost... ...something, as initialiter was planned for 'Finally-happy' (some, and be it absurd, crescendo from the deepest depth to --plausible, but not too credible and certainly not stable-- hope, or even fervor.

Afir

shake the dust from your shoe-soles
shake the dust from your tuck
shake the dust off your shoulders
All you can do now : just walk!

turn your back - turn your back - turn your back on what turns on you
turn your back - turn your back - turn your back - and walk on
turn your back - turn your back - turn your back on what turns on you
turn your back - turn your back - turn your back - and walk on

Leave the path that leads nowhere
let all sink, that drags down.
cut the line, of what holds you,
with a smile fight your frown.

turn your back - turn your back - turn your back on what turns on you
turn your back - turn your back - turn your back - and walk on
turn your back - turn your back - turn your back on what turns on you
turn your back - turn your back - turn your back - and walk on
Vltima - Sive Ref.:

bid farewell to your sorrows
say good-bye to your woes
bon-voyage to self pitty
trust your heart, for it knows

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The Missing Song

full cast(?) ?? -- Eventualiter: During this Song the scene changes (visibly), from THE ROAD to THE PUB, ??

this is the missing song
The missing song, we missed so long
the missing joint
the missing link
the missing song
this is the missing song!
this is the song we missed
the song, the song we missed
and how we missed,
oh, how we missed!
this song, 'till it was there!

the missing song, we missed so long
the song, where we would sing along
if only we'd not miss the song!
Without, this scene it had no song!
Without it, this scene had no song!
oh, to what inglorious conge we'd come!,
without this missing song!
and may it not fit in like tong
-wheels, and definitely make no sense!
oh, we missed this missing song so long, hence,
we're just glad it's there; take no offense!

this is the missing song
The missing song, we missed so long
the missing joint
the missing link
the missing song
this is the missing song!
this is the song we missed
the song, the song we missed
and how we missed,
oh, how we missed!
this song, 'till it was there!

we probably could still prolong
or spong more words along that prong
though this woud feel absurdly wrong
for this inefficient, innocent and missing song!
To end it, where the end belong,
Take off your sarong,
throw your thong,
and end this mis'ry of a song!

this is the missing song
The missing song, we missed so long
the missing joint
the missing link
the missing song
this is the missing song!
this is the song we missed
the song, the song we missed
and how we missed,
oh, how we missed!
this song, 'till it was there!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Tired - Or: My Last Fag"

20200212: still (or again) undecided, which song comes first, in this pub-scene: "Soething Better" would probably make a nice 'Init-spark' for "Tired"... ...might also be woven into some 'pubbish small-talk'
The People At The Pub

i'm so tired of sailing and hailing
all the ships that we pass on our way
of the fog horns lamentably wailing
of the sea and the soot and the waves

'tis my last glass, my last fag, my last voyage!
My last stop, my last song, my last word!
oh why must this "last" last forever!?,
why wont i just quit in a tick!

I'm so tired of men, how they chat up
in their molesting, molluscular ways,
of their drinks and their build-up and set-up;
of their "oh-look-at-my-muscle! this-way!"

'tis my last mug, my last fag, my last voyage!
My last glass, my last song, my last word!
oh why must this "last" last forever!?,
why wont i just quit in a tick!

i'm so tired of seeing these same shops
whatever city I come to or leave
with their same ware, their same price
and same smile, when it's time for your paying the bill!

'tis my last glass, my last fag, my last voyage!
My last stop, my last song, my last word!
oh why must this "last" last forever!?,
why wont i just quit in a tick!

I'm so tired, so tired, so tired
I'm so tired, I wish I would faint!
I keep hoping I'd find where the taint
lies, but I only find sumptuous feint

'tis my last glass, my last fag, my last voyage!
My last stop, my last song, my last word!
oh why must this "last" last forever!?,
why wont i just quit in a tick!

I'm so tired, so tired, so tired
I wish I found rest or some sleep!
But my ears, they are spinning from bullshytt
That cannot but give you the creeps!

'tis my last glass, my last fag, my last voyage!
My last stop, my last word, my last song!
oh why must this "last" last forever!?,
why can't i just quit in a tick!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Something better - Or: The Things we Do

Probably rather PEOPLE [[or SOMEONE]] AT THE PUB, than AFIR

[[-- originaliter --]]

Oh, if only i had something better to do!
If I'd had, only had, something better to do!
I'd do it with joy,
and without any rue!
If only,
If only!,
I'd better to do!

I'd do it so happily,
do it so gay!
I'd do it the bestest,
most perfectest way!

If only I had something better to do!

I would do it for free!
It'd be done in a spree!
I even would do it,
like the busiest bee,
for any horrendous, incredible fee!
I'd do it!

I'd DO it!

... but THIS!?? ...
... really ... ?

WHY MEEEE!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally Happy

Doesit need Afir to verbositor(!) wonder, that, if nobody is happy with what they do, anyway, what reason he would have to go on grumbling... ...and --amidst that thought-- catching a 'vision', a glimpse, a flickering light of what his destiny may be, or how to live closer to his dream(s) and hopes...
Afir

Finally happy, finally gay!
finally feeling my feet on their way
Oh, I know where I'll go
and I know what I'll do!
and I know where to turn to,
no time to feel rue!

Finally happy, joy is in sight
finally up on my feet, to full height!
This way is my walking
and this walking is mine!
'it's my path, it's my way, 't lies ahead, waits for me!
oh, Finally happy!
finally gay!

There's a plan and a future
and a Love that will be!
Oh darling, my darling!, my love and my bride!
oh wait!, please do wait!, to be by my side!

Finally happy, finally gay
there's a towards I'm going, no more running away!

all the saturnine's turned to a rainbow
I hear birds and their songs
they chirp gloom to glee!
And all glum, it is glamour and lightened,
And Lo!, all sinister's auspicious
And all these things fishy, are precious!
what was morose: now miraculous,
and what bowed me, spectaculous!,
and what was dour and sour
has passed like a shower
and is fever and fervor and ardor!
Oh life is worth living!
and living's worth love!
Let me thank you, my angels!,
my guardians above!!

Finally happy, finally gay
Finally happy, finally gay
finally my feet by themselves know their way!

Appropinquat: THE BISHOP (and his PURSUERS) - In coherence with his last words, AFIR stumbles and falls on his escape during the next song, by thus falling into the hands of the PURSUERS...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

He-He-He ||Hear|Here|| He Cometh!

PEOPLE AT THE PUB, entrant: PURSUERS Purcelesque ~~ [[echos of: "The Cold Song"]]...

Here he cometh!
Run, you decent descendants of Adam!
or Hide away!
Let him not, oh let him not
come near you
and let him, let him, let him, let him
not hear your breath
lest you're forlorn
forever to womankind and world
and put to order
by demand and wish and will and force
of God!

Apparet: THE BISHOP
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gloria et al(iquod).

INCIPIT 3rd ACT: "THE VILLAGE"

Just Drops of Misanthropy || 210717 -- NEEDS OVERHAUL / WEED-OUT! ||

The Priest of the Beasts

VILLAGERS

Lo!, how the dogs stopped their barking!
Look at them cats, how they're drawing so close!
Have you heard, how the sheep changed their bleating?!
And can you hear all them horses, thrumming their hoofs!?

It must be the Priest, they are greeting!
It must be the Priest, our Priest!
Look at the beasts!, oh look at the beasts!
Look how the beasts are drawn to our Priest!
our Priest, our Priest of the Beasts!

Oh listen! Them piglets gay snorting!
and this joyful grunt of ye ol' mother sow!
hear all them calves, almost laughing,
and this cheerful snuffling of the old mother cow!

It must be the Priest, they are greeting!
It must be the Priest, our Priest!
Look at the beasts!, oh look at the beasts!
Look how the beasts are drawn to our Priest!
our Priest, our Priest of the Beasts!

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Blessing them Creeps and them Wings

:) ("everything creeping and winged" as offered as translation for "was da kreucht und fleucht")

VILLAGERS

Oh Bless my dog! Bless my cat! Bless my hen!
Bless my frog! Bless my lad! Bless my man!
Bless my grouse! Bless my spouse! Bless my Bess!

oh bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Bless! Bless! Bless! Oh Bless!
Bless-Bless!

Oh Bless my cow! Bless my steed! Bless my mare!
Bless my sow! Bless their breed! Bless my hare!
Bless my bull! Bless my mule! Bless my sheep and their wool!

oh bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Bless! Bless! Bless! Oh Bless!
Bless-Bless!

Oh, bless it all, as it's coming to you!
Bless it all, by the blessings you do!
Bless what's far! Bless what's near! Bless what's true!

oh bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Bless! Bless! Bless! Oh Bless!
Bless-Bless!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Train to REASON

background of the songcould FRANK --as the Hand of Fate, as mentioned for the BISHOP-- be the "TICKETEER" Entrat TICKETEER, moving out of a dark spot close to AFIR and quite central to the stage...
Afir, "Ticketeer"

Afir [to himself]
[[Good Heavens!!!,]]
Is there no train, that leads us all to Reason!,
Is there no train, for none of us to board!,
Where are the times, when people came to Reason,
To do in Reason, what by reason should be done!

Ticketeer
People come!, Get your ticket to Reason!
As long as a ticket is left!
It's your chance! Your occasion! A bargain!
You heard right! There's some ticket still left!

Afir
Tell me more 'bout your tickets to Reason!
For I have to get out of this place!
Had I only a short trip to Reason,
I bet, I'd better endure all this craze!

Ticketeer
Lo! You're the first, who would ask here for Reason!
Ever since the last train ||there|| has left
'twas not long, after trains were invented,
long before, one deprived them of coil!

Afir
So, you sell tickets for a train, that's not coming?

Ticketeer
No, I sell tickets for a train, that's long gone!

Afir
Is there a reason selling tickets to Reason,
When no last train to Reason wont go!?

Ticketeer
Oh, Reason itself is the reason!
And the trains that no longer lead there!
I was conductor on that last train to Reason
and was fired, when profits were puny
and the company closed down the line.

To honour them, coming to Reason,
is all, what such ticket is worth.

Afir
Would you please give me a ticket to Reason?
A ticket, whatever its price!?
To remember with you, those of Reason!,
To keep Reason in memory dear!

Ticketeer
That's the highest price for such ticket!
There's no higher price, one can pay!
Here's your ticket, and here is one other,
for alone you'll tend to forget, that what you remember was real!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lions! And Tigers! And Bears!

[[violin? flute? harp? - might pick up, from far, a reprise of 'The Tightest rope'...]]

entrat Anna, in a way that she cannot recognize Afir...
Anna
I heard, there's a priest at this village,
to help, with lions and tigers and bears
I heard that he fared with the gypsies,
that in red-flowered wagons he fared!

Afir [Apostrophe!]
And she has lips so delicate,
and she has eyes that smile so great...

Anna, not yet recognizing him, starts describing the trouble with the beasts

Anna
The donkey's sight has grown so weak,
it hardly nowhere finds its treat

The Lions all seem paralysed
so dry their mouth, so wet their eyes

And Tygers crouch with frightened eye
and lack all fearful symmetry

And Bears that ~~proudly~~ roared like thunders gay
now moan but like drizzling rains in May.

Afir
And all the words. they once beheld
encrust their tongue, by silence held!

They must be love-sick!
Oh!, how they must be sick of love!

Anna
And you! -- The Priest!?

Afir
And I! -- The Priest! ...
... as well!

Anna
Then come! - Come with me!, Come!, and see the beasts!
And let us heal!, oh heal! Oh let us heal!
'till all be healed and all be wholed!

Afir
But, Oh!, with you I cannot go!, ...

Anna
But...

Afir
But I

Anna
But you

Afir + Anna
But we can only dance!

Anna
So let us dance there!, dance!, but fast!

Afir
May He, who led us here, enjoy his chance to see us take our chance and dance!

Anna + Afir dance off to the circus.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Fervent Love

GIMLI + VILLAGERS

[[ In case we need a intro: Villagers could be gossipping about Afir and Anna. (kindly!) -- It will be them, who open the discourse ... urging Gimli, whether he had seen Afir? Or have news? Or if he knew/witnessed, what has happende...?

Entrat GIMLI

GIMLI
Oh, your Priest!, then he went to the lions!
And your Priest, then, he entered the lions den!
And your Priest, when he was with the lions!,
He was eaten, consumed and devoured ...

VILLAGERS
By Love!
By Love!
By ferocious, atrocious,
By fervent Love!

By Love!
By Love!
By ferocious, atrocious,
By fervent Love!

GIMLI
And the Tygers they beheld his sight,
Their eyes turned at him, burning bright,
And full of fearful symmetry,
They leaped! He stumbled! Tumbled! Fell!...

VILLAGERS
In Love!
In Love!
In ferocious, atrocious,
In fervent Love!

In Love!
In Love!
In ferocious, atrocious,
In fervent Love!

GIMLI
And Bears are no Bees! May they hum as they please!
Not by dirt, nor balloon, nor umbrella of some!
We'll ever see Bears seen as clouds, seen by bees!
But I sure saw your Priest,
And those Bears that ain't Bees!
And in their cage he had come...

Villagers
To Love!
To Love!
To ferocious, atrocious,
To fervent Love!

Oh, this one's to love!
To love!
To love!
To ferocious, atrocious,
To fervent Love!

Hooray! A Hooray!
A Hooray!, to love!
Gloomy Gimly, for sure, is not too happy with these extatic Villagers. He is just about pointing out something, when Anna and Afir ENTRANT and the VIllagers run towards them and burst out into their "Go for Love":
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Go for Love

Entrant: Afir and Anna, (not quite sure, whether or how to hide their love) VILLAGERS

Go for Love!
Go for Love!
There's no heaven above
That would damn you, for going for Love!

Go for Love!
Go for Love!
There's no oath and no veil
that should ever derail
you from being the human you are!

Go for Love!
Go for Love!
[[ha]]'s not the Lord in heaven above
let us know him for being all Love!?

For, Priest, thou art human,
and therefore art frail!
For, Priest, thou art human,
and thus made to fail!

For you, a good human, you are a good man,
and thus not constrained by no rule!

For Priest, thou art human, and thine nature is good!
How could you do wrong, by doing
what by your nature you should!

Go for Love!
Go for Love!
There's no heaven above
That could damn you for going for Love!

Go for Love!
Go for Love!
There's no heaven above
That could damn you for going for Love!

So, Priest, take your leave,
and dont fill us with grief

And do as you must!:
Go for Love!

Yet, there's one last request:

Do not leave us, without one last sermon!,

And, Oh Please!:

Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Oh Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless! Bless!
Bless! Bless! Bless! Oh, Bless!

Us one last time!

Bless-Bless!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That thou hast lips (Priest Version)

Might eventually need some introduction, after "Go For Love"
AFIR

oh fish, that thou hast lips, and wilt not speak
and stirrest thine mouth so silently, to drink thine breath all day
hear yee, what none, that knows the word should hear!

Some people, they have ears, and yet wont hear
and others they have eyes, and yet wont see
Some people they have lips, and wont speak up for yee
while thou hast lips and wilt not speak,
and some have ears too delicate
and some has eyes that see too much
and there they go, where troubles meet,
and where they're goin', you find dismay!

oh fish, that thou hast lips, and wilt not speak
and stirrest thine mouth so silently, to drink thine breath all day
hear yee, what none, that knows the word should hear!

Thine answer, it be Yes or it be No!
'Tis been heard unheard too often, way too oft!
oh, have they fallen all from faith,
who in this world do have a word,
and swag sweet nothings, when they speak.

How come that they still wage their wars
where good men earn their daily death
and lose and waste good lives!,
with all the zealous care they take
for naught to say,
by any uttered word,
for not to lose one customer
or lose one voters vote!

oh fish, that thou hast lips, and wilt not speak
give me thine answer, fish!
Thine answer's heard as much as mine!
give me thine answer, fish!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Man Must Say Farewell

Dedicated to [and partly quoted from] Dame Edith Sitwell (Facade: Joedlling Song) may seem too short; ...but is that not what all farewell is about?

Villagers + Afir + Anna + Gimli

Anna

Man must say farewell to his good flock now,
And all other sheep and Mrs. Cow!
Man must say farewell to them all he knew
when one has to leave and once time is due!

Villagers
Wipe the cobwebs off,
throw the blankets back!
Go and bid your leave
and then mind your step!
When you're on your way,
there's no turning track
take this Velvet Cream,
Should the skies turn black!

Anna, Afir, Gimli, Villagers:
Man must say farewell,
when the time has come
oh!, remember us, and forget-us-not!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fare yee well

Afir, Anna, Gimli, Villagers
??Maybe a tune similar to "in de bergn bin i gern" and "guten abend, gute nacht"??

Villagers (waving with palm leafs:)
Fare yee well, fare yee well!
fare as well as you can
And may the Lord smile on you
in the~~|all~~ things that you do!

Afir
Fare yee well, fare yee well!
fare as well as you can
May our paths cross again! Come to Reason some time~~(s)~~!
Come and find with us there, of what here we're so bare!

Anna
fare yee well, fare yee well
fare as well as you can
wish Godspeed our fare, and may you, whom we leave,
be kept from hardship and grief!

Gimli fare yee well, fare yee well
fare as well as you can
beware of all snare, and with my pray to Freyr
may the moon light maned mare and fair winds watch your fare.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaving on a Hand-Draisine to Reason

?? GIMLI and the VILLAGERS, waving, "roll" (are pulled) into the off, at the same speed as the back-ground-"blanket" scrolls by the immobile draisine, providing (somehow) a visual effect of movement of the immobile Draisine.

Anna, Afir

[[We're]] leaving on a hand-draisine to Reason!
going, where all people will belong!
Leaving all our friends, may feel like treason,
But we'll be meeting them in Reason over long!
Life has proved us wrong, so far from Reason,
So we're leaving all behind, we came to know!
For Reason is the reason to all reason,
and far from Reason any reason feels so wrong!
We'll be rising our banners, once in Reason,
not of a nation, of the people, who belong!,
Too long have we been longing here for Reason!
So, going to Reason, we can't go wronger
than by staying, where all reason feels so wrong!
[[We're]] leaving on a Hand-Draisine to Reason!,
And we're going!, We are going, till we're gone!
Leaving on a Hand-Draisine to Reason!,
For it is time, and we must go, where we belong!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gimli's Epilogue

Eventualiter: The backround slows down, stalls, while the draisine is pulled into the (left) off, while GIMLI enters, gravely, gracefully.

There they go, with a cheerful song upon their lips, into the darkness.

For them it's all about Reason -- and what's left of it...
For us, it's just another night, far too far from Reason, awaiting us, where nothing has changed and nothing ever changes.

And we shall forget, the tunes they hummed to. And our story will soon be forgot'.
There will be other tunes that will be sung.
There will be other stories being told.
And, one day, we shall forget them all, until we, ourselves, shall be forgotten. And time, in her own hand, will spread silence's soothing blankets upon us.
Must this not sound strange to us!, who are, and are consumed by our being? ... But think of those, whom you remember from your past... What do you know about their lives.
And whom of your close family will you remember, from just three, say four generations, before you came to be? From just a hundred years ago!? What, of them, will you remember?

Like to them, darkness will kindly offer us its hand. And we can only hope, that, as we part, a cheerful song is on our lips.
For, anyway, nothing has changed.
And nothing changed the world. But time...
and, sometimes man.

But let all this not end, with the cloudy claptrap of a gloomy giant! The world has better earned, and so have you.
Give him the word, who, just a few centuries ago, wrote to us on the Dignity of Man

20. You, unconstrained by any restraints, shalt define yourself through your own free will, in whose hand i have placed you.

21. I've set you to the center of the earth, for you to comfortably look and see, what in this world there is.

22. Neither heavenly nor earthly have I made you, neither mortal nor immortal; so that you, as the free and extraordinary shaper of yourself, can form yourself [in]to whatever shape you will prefer.

23. You will be able to degenerate to the inferior, and join the brutes, and able, to regenerate to the devine, through just the judgement of your soul.

Now, fare yee well, in all your fares!, man...
....kind.

Pico Della Mirandola: Oratio de hominis dignitate (based on "The Pico Project" - status 2018-04-13_12:30)

CURTAIN
FIN

My dearest Thanks go to:

Daniel Moeslinger for his feedback and for the fact that without his unblemished capacity to joyfully develop grand projects that would never come to life, this work would never have existed.

Stefanie for her love, support and enormous patience with me, while writing these lines.

Andrea Einberger for her feedback and a wealth of corrections

Friederike Riki Alsop
Jaguar LaCroix
Ursula Hermann
Sabine Hille
Ulrike and Hans Hoeller
Klara Krenek
Annelie Pichler
Martin Seebacher
Monika Stuhl
Alexandra Zurenkow

for their feedback.

And all those, who contributed to this piece unknowingly, with their work:

My Ancestors and my Family (for I have no idea, where I would be without them!)
William Blake (For his work and inspiration on Lions and Tigers and Bears and By Fervent Love)
Sir Noel Coward (For his twisted ways of turning the word)
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (For the Oratio de Hominis Dignitate)
Hans Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen (For his Hermits help with Gimli's first monologue)
Henricus Cornelius Agrippa ab Nettesheym (For a sentence and lemma unmentioned)
Alfred Edward Housman (For his wonderful rhythmic and mostly joyful glum)
Hayao Miyazaki (For his movies and his incredible way to tell stories, with antagonists that never are fiendish or foes. And for the train in Chihiro no Kamikakushi, that re-assured me in -and probably also inspired- the Train to Reason)
*[Sir] Winnie the Pooh (for helping me out of so many despereate situations... OK, OK; thanks probably better go to Christopher Robin and Alan Alexander Milne)
Johann Pachelbel and The Academy St. Martin in the Fields (for giving Going Nowhere far more than just one last chance to "survive", when I was just about dropping this song...)
The Wizard of Oz (for so many beautiful moments and -who would believe it: for the Title of Lions and Tigers and Bears)
Edgar Allan Poe (for his short "Guest-Appearance" in Finally Happy)
Dame Edith Sitwell (For doing most of the work of "Man Must Say Farewell"... All I had to do, was: follow the traces she laid out)
Jura Soyfer (For his invincible trust in the human as being humane - even despite of his fate)
Alfred Tennyson (For Maud, that taught me so much about rhythm)
And last, far, far from least: Enoch Kent, whose sincere and earthen songs (by music as well as by lyrics) totally changed the entire third act, contributed so much to Gimli's monologues and inspired Oh Bonny Young Demon (with his song "Van Diemen's Land") and the "Priest-Version" of Oh Fish That Thou Hast Lips.

And finally I have to admit that this work would most probably never be what it became, were it not for WordNet and --later on-- Carmen Alvarez great App "Poets Assistant" and Fredrik Fornwall's (and all other contributors) for "termux", that allowed me to overhaul the text and write along virtually everywhere.