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[An impromptu
play from within the good ship Karuna's library...] Periplectomenus: Now, good bread gobbler, whatever then should fill the house of Pyrgocephalus? The bread gobbler bows, peers into his secret browser, peers, smiles, peers, feigns a frown, peers, smiles, feigns a smile, frowns, peers, frowns into his secret browser and speaks (crumbs falling loosely from his painted lips): He fum-fums on the Guittar, on the Get R. Pyrgopolynices: THE house, bread gobbler! (He gives an aside to reader): There is something "sleep-in-the-nude" about this bread gobbler.. The bread gobbler bows, peers into his secret browser, feigns a smile, feigns a frown, smiles, peers, and speaks: As real as any Deburau pantomime, as real as any Ateles fusciceps, (he peers) as real as any Paul and Virgina, as real as any hopes being proved delusions, any expectations become mockeries, (feigns a smile and frown) as real as any rugged country covered with rocks, a land of Cyclops blackened by fire. Truth, probably, lies between two varying representations; the sadness of exile having darkened the one, and the exuberance of imagination embellished the other, both of which (he smiles) express a monumental porcelain. St. Pierre: My, my, bread gobbler, the poverty of your language is truly heartening! It is only by periphrasis that all this can be expressed. The bread gobbler smiles, bows, feigns a frown, frowns, smiles, bows, bows, peers at a secret browser. Philocomasium: There emanates from this garden without trees, this house without children, a sadness which catches hold. Fig boy! Bring me figs! The "fig boy" looking bewildered, hands her a handful of nothing.. Philocomasium: I meant a fig of, of course! The "fig boy" feigns bewilderment, bows, looks toward the monkey cages. Periplectomenus: There are many-worlds! (He holds up a large loaf, turning it in all directions, holding it over his head like a halo.) The "fig-boy" pretends to play a trumpet. The bread gobbler rapidly alternates feigning smiles and frowns, smiles and frowns. He also does a curious thing with his hands, a saltatory anomaly (to the absent sound of the "fig-boy's" trumpet) whereby his hands become like two parallel planes dancing together but ever apart. He coughs to punctuate their directional changes. It is unclear whether he feigns the coughing. Periplectomenus: Now, good bread gobbler, whatever then should fill the house of Pyrgocephalus? Pyrgocephalus (a ghost): Taught by calamity, I pity the unhappy. St. Pierre: Situated on the eastern side of the mountain which rises above Port Louis, in the Mauritius, upon a piece of land bearing the marks of former cultivation, are seen the ruins of two small cottages. These ruins are not far from the centre of a valley, formed by immense rocks, and which opens only towards the north. On the left rises the mountain called the Height of Discovery, whence the eye marks the distant sail when it first touches the verge of the horizon, and whence the signal is given when a vessel approaches the island. At the foot of this mountain stands the town of Port Louis. On the right is formed the road which stretches from Port Louis to the Shaddock Grove, where the church bearing that name lifts its head, surrounded by its avenues of bamboo, in the middle of a spacious plain; and the prospect terminates in a forest extending to the furthest bounds of the island. The front view presents the bay, denominated the Bay of the Tomb; a little on the right is seen the Cape of Misfortune; and beyond rolls the expanded ocean, on the surface of which appear a few uninhabited islands; and, among others, the Point of Endeavour, which resembles a bastion built upon the flood. All of them stare into the distant horizon, passing into a fulvous tint, and suddenly, tuilyier-like, the "fig-boy" steps up and closes the browser, feigning a smile, smiling. written while listening to Ernest Bloch's Schelomo: Hebraic Rhapsody for Violoncello and Orchestra as performed by Yoyo Ma w/ the Baltimore Symphony led by David Zinman from "The New York Album" |
