Fall us, the people  *David Brown

Characters:
The Watcher: middle aged man, long hair, old fashioned suit.
The Pessimist: man or woman, auctioneer clothing (dark clothes), black hat.
The Optimist:  woman in cocktail dress or a well-groomed man, short hair in 
conservative clothing.
The Wolf: dressed in ripped clothes, looks like a traveller (Male or Female): pessimistic, 
uncompassionate towards the human race.
The Raven: dressed in all black, long black hair. (Male): more of a realist, very independent.
The Spider: Classy clothing (Male): seemingly dishonest, but wise in his experiences.

PART ONE

Setting: begins completely dark; empty stage except for three podiums, lights 
come up on each podium.  Each character stands at a podium, the watcher in the middle.

Watcher: Excuse me sir...he said,
Yes, may I help you? the other man replied.
Um. Well, I was looking for the country of Denmark.
Third floor.
So what may be said about these lives?  Passing by every moment we speak.  Calm and 
spacious, I like this place...children and elderly alike, from mind to mind we are 
left with a puzzle.

Pessimist: For all those concerned; (clears throat) Ladies. Gentlemen.  We 
begin by stating the blatantly obvious.  We have damned ourselves to wander 
listlessly to our doom.  Have we forgotten the day we wept for joy at the thunder 
and intelligence of the gods?  I beg your pardon my dear, did you miss something?  
You look angry as if I have convicted you of the truth.  I have done nothing 
wrong- look around, all we are is empty.

Optimist: So this is where I found my beginnings.  I live for all that takes 
me by the hand and screams, look! Look around!  We are surrounded by such 
innocence and for our ignorance the angels are in hiding.  We are only damned 
by choice.  Change can be made, but now....then let it be as such.

(Lights go down and return on the empty stage with the three sitting at the 
front right.  The Pessimist and Optimist are in chairs, the watcher sits cross 
legged more to the right of them)

Watcher: Look at these people, there are so many souls out there.  So many 
individuals.  Imagine your own importance contrasted against such an array 
of splendid individuality.

Pessimist: And what does that matter?  Look at this world and how it 
crumbles, and how many truly care.  Deep down in their hearts they’re selfish.  
Selfish as I am so I say damn us  all.

Optimist: Oh really? Do you think that nobody appreciates...

Pessimist: Nobody appreciates anything.  Oh, I’m sure, you’ll find 
some ‘Godly’ men, some loving mothers- but in the end it’s all their 
own necks their precious hands grasp to save.

Optimist: That’s not true because I’ve seen it.  With these very eyes 
I’ve seen it.

Pessimist: And what do you think you’ve seen?  Have you seen the loving 
environmentalists pollute and destroy their very own land?

Optimist: So we’re damned.  In your simple look at life, everything, 
everywhere around us is for nothing.  No,  I’ve seen the look of amazement 
glimmer in hundreds of eyes as they look upon nature, and not just for the 
first time either.

Pessimist:  Listen to me!  That means nothing at all, they may look for 
a hundred years in amazement but their own seeds of selfishness are what 
ruins any and all purity in this world.

Watcher: (stands up and walks across to the other side of the chairs.  He 
looks skeptically at the audience and then back at the other two.)  Neither 
of you see the importance of what I’ve said.  Are you both that blind or that 
stubborn?  Selfishness, unselfishness, it holds no importance- we have souls.  
This of it, it is the individual that matters.  Millions, billions  of us- 
so alike and yet so infinitely different in our thoughts.  It sings beauty 
almost as high as the nature you so fondly speak of.  Conceit and selfishness, 
it means so little.

Pessimist:  No, no! They are throwing everything away...

Watcher:  How? In what manner?

Pessimist:  In every way they can.

Optimist:  You're wrong.  damn me to hell if you are not wrong.

Pessimist: It’s true, every inch of beauty is being exploited, without a care.

Watcher: And again, I side against you.  Do you not see the attempts, and always...

Pessimist: Inevitable self destruction.

Optimist:  For the love of...

Watcher: Stop. Stop; appreciate all that is around us yet look only to the good.  
Looking to an end finds its way to death and nothing more.  We the individuals 
stand for everything.  Dear God, the futility of this.  We have achieved nothing.

Optimist: Agreed.  We as a race may forever do battle.

Pessimist: And we as a race shall forever die in our battles.

(Lights dim to blackness; rise again to the original set: three podiums, 
The Watcher at the middle podium)

Watcher: Excuse me sir, the man said with a smile,
Yes, may I help you? the magician replied.
Well, actually, I was looking for my lover, she’s an angel inside, as so few exist.
Yes, I’ve seen her.  She amazes me still, she had mentioned that she found it 
calm and spacious in here.  I’m most grateful, I feel the same way.

Pessimist:  And as for those who care; (clears throat) those bitter and those warm, 
I state the obvious when I depict a scene of harmony among those lovers.  And there 
lies all answers, in that angel’s arms.
I beg your pardon dear, no, I have no time for such ignorance.  If you do not believe 
me, watch for yourself. All we represent is empty. All that’s inside fascinates.

Optimist: So this is the beginning and the end. All I was to do: look about me and 
see this calm and spacious sky.  We all share this formality.
This innocence of a heart brings back those scarred and dusty angels.  They by 
choice were hiding, afraid of the evil we portray.  And so, let change be made, 
but now...
let me breathe as one,
and forever shall we wait.

(The end of part one, lights go down, curtain closes)

PART TWO:  Free us, the people

(Setting: outdoors with trees, plants and rocks scattered over the stage; 
the obstacles making a circular path around the stage.  Throughout the play 
they casually walk around or sit, as fits the conversation.)

Wolf: Tell all friends, what plagues us this day?
I see the horizon looking into the face of the cities approaching.
The People,
Barbarians!
so much assumed 
with no respect 
careless tongued what they neglect 
deep down are you men? what parasites. 
what fiends. Throw me into a pit then: 
with all our dauntless views. 
and be cursed then,
by me and us as well.
Go about in characterless manner- 
your daily lives.
Venture forth your righteous plots- 
your simple minds.
This is what we think of you.
Ignoring what? 
faithful creatures, to your self-worth.
Pity me for I lack such incentives, 
and will from birth. 
Give us this day a dollar,
to have and to hold.
(and in the end?)
bleached souls you have, 
and dusty bones- your sickly tones.
This is what we think of you,
you the people.

Raven: And said again.

Spider: You, the people.

Wolf: What is it that they think and see, such a mystery to these eyes and 
senses.  I’d swear they were insane in their destructive ways.

Spider: Keep in mind that they are not all this way.

Wolf: True enough, I just don’t understand where so much pain and 
suffering can come from, they seem ever complex.

Raven: Yet so infinitely corrupted.

Wolf: Temptation it would be called to them.  Through and through, 
temptation tests them and guides them off the given path.  I for one 
have never  cheated fate through such means.  The road before me stays 
lit at all times.

Raven:  I have felt temptation at its highest, even to my own soul.  
Gave in? No, I should never be that close to their hearts.  Many a 
raven have been taken and their minds altered to suit them.  But never, 
not I.

Spider: At one time my soul corrupted.  But speak not a word of this again, 
I would see you dead if the words came hence from your mouths!  I was brought in 
from this life by a woman, cared for and cleaned.  Her eyes of silver and green 
looked down at me, filled with compassion.  I’d care not for this carnal life again, 
just looking in those eyes, but something deep inside reminded me of my place, and it 
was not with her.  I fled in the night, swiftly as The Raven across the night sky.

Raven: But what made you want her?

Spider:  I do not know for sure.  I think at most it was a loneliness I 
found in and out of daylight’s realm.

Wolf: And with her, you found the subtle innocence of peace?

Spider: And why not?  For she was all that I had.  But in time all turned dark 
and fell.

Wolf: As she would surely have it no doubt.  What did she do?!   
(insolent attitude)

Raven: No doubt again, she cast you out like the rest? Did she spill her 
love’s wake elsewhere?

Spider: Not at all my friends.  Most generous was her heart, but I saw 
an angel inside that wasn’t there.  Greed soaked in her heart and mind 
like the rest, I foiled myself into thinking what she was not.

Raven: Dear friend, the fate it seems that life teaches all, is filled 
with questions and answers.  He who strays from the path finds his way 
back again ever painfully but nonetheless, with a lesson learned.

Wolf:  And a lesson I’m sure you learned indeed.  Those animals 
should never be trusted!

Spider:   But no, you do not understand.  She was the stars to me and 
more.  And the grip she held on my heart, more than I could bear.  
Unending release were these thoughts...
and I swear that black witch spelled me
for never may I go.
so be watched by all and judge,
I don’t mind.
She walks still like glistening thunder
for this I wish my brain would tame.
take me back into that forest,
where we met that day.
I could have sworn it was a spell-
I cannot walk free I see,
I cannot edge on.
So another night goes by and...
I wish to read you those words again,
but this time with understanding.
oh,
but it is a dead, dead dream.
and I pray for this night to end,
without that dream my life forsaken,
was then.

Wolf: Ah, the dreams this mind sees too.

Raven: But we are blessed are we not?

Wolf: Blessed with not being one of them.

Spider: How so do you see us blessed, Raven?

Raven: In all that we are and do.  We are the truly free. 
These humans beg their nations for democratic power and civil 
rights yet they are still not free.

Wolf: They are ever chained to their inherent evil.  For this they 
shall never be free if they do not make a change.  It is their souls 
that trap them helpless.

Spider: I think that it goes beyond that, each child learns their 
faults and weaknesses, it seems to be passed on each day and hour we 
speak.

Raven: Their society, the population of evil itself.

Spider: Their society? I had never considered it.  My mind sang 
thoughts of inner nature, but their very own society.

Wolf: Yes, and the way of life they follow.  Every man, woman, and 
child for themself it seems.  They clone it as an economic, a standard 
of living.  One may grow to adulthood, remain in utter poverty and 
despair or if that one chooses, it may use its knowledge as a weapon.

Spider:  Much like ourselves at times, fighting for food and 
territory.  Yet ours in between not individuals so much, but between 
those who seek our flesh and those who seek the flesh we eat.

Raven: Survival of us all, those who would make it.  Those cunning 
and those strong.  

Wolf:  Terrible though for them, to suffer and to make so many suffer 
at the hands of a crumbling society.  I am old but I do remember that 
the past flew less with hatred among them, each day they sink more 
into this trap it seems.

Raven: Should they have our pity then?  Us of the Strong and Free, our 
feet that touch the ground caressingly and without the fear of such 
betrayal as Spider speaks of.  It looks now in these eyes that maybe we 
do owe them pity.

Wolf:  I pity them not, and advise you against such melancholy action, 
they still would have us hidden from their eyes.

Spider:  But no Wolf, not pity as a forgiveness for no one spoke such 
an apology nor ever can for all.  They do deserve pity for they know 
not what they do, out of this instinct they find in their homes and 
streets in vain.  We will hide; perhaps a day will come when all the 
lesser of us in their eyes could be looked upon as nature of themselves.

Wolf:  I still see no pity in such words, could it ever be true.  But 
yes, I do see the reflection in this clear pond, the moon shining 
through would tell me that, rightfully true, they know not what they 
do.  The rich are even limited in these ways that society gives, they 
do not come to know the world for what it is as the currency’s of 
thousands wrap a noose about the necks of the poor.

Spider:  These eyes behold a face to speak on a day for all to watch 
and cry for love and hate but save us all from ever we see a fate 
beyond the horizon.....
.....and I don’t want to die.  But if you slash at the vein of freedom 
with your dull and grey anarchic ways, I choose my place among them.

Wolf:  I rejoice to know that your heart has left that world, Spider.

Spider: Not left, for we all live in this world together.  We must all 
learn our faults and then fly to the height beyond the point of disgust, 
hatred, and such prejudices.

Raven:  The words you speak, I do not know if I see.

Spider: Fathom ravenged angel
hung before thy eyes
seeping blood the ecstasy
forever shall despise.
Hate we not our brothers
hungry we could share
bleeding meat on each plate cold
more than our souls could bear.
The shadows made by starlight
future dreamt beware
and thousands kept left staring
won’t bring myself to care.

And a hundred days become one night
sifting in our pain
dancing naked in humility
the words we call our names.

Raven:  Truly I pity the plague of sin and violence they live in.  
When my angel was found, I was caught in a similar abyss of despair 
and grief for what she would see in me.  But if such a story could 
be told, who knows what would become of the world.  To know the sea 
of demons as I left it, and here I am.

Wolf: Angels come and go my friend.

Spider: Ah, but be warned Wolf, when a raven sees the angel of the day 
and night and stars, there is no turning back.

Wolf: I too am the same.  I would abandon not my place therein.

Spider: (Looking guilty)  Then continue such a word.

Raven: unoriginality could ever plague my mind:
but tonight I see my own reflection,
tossed among the twilight drenched rocks and sand.  the water
of greed and power beats the ground with
growing intentions to sail us.
and the snakes of wrath swimming in her depths bare hungry jaws to the 
thought of pleasure filled air in their throats,
clutching their bestial lungs.
and with that,
the raven dove into the black sea
and battled his way to freedom from 
parasitic claws scratching down wet pain.  but his fire kept 
him burning for on the threatened crying shore sat an angel,
awaiting.

wrapped and coiled at times he grew ever tired and relaxed to the 
temptations of sleep drawing his soul into the depths he had always 
feared.
Life becomes such sharp intentions but will lost.  struggling free
from her clutches no longer mentioned. Head fell back in guilt-laced 
ecstasy as his tongue caressed languidly around his parched mouth.
In the midst of a dream he saw an angel who spoke Bliss and wore a 
cloak of eternal mystery and delight.
Thoughts spread to consciousness and behold;
blood again flooded veins long forgotten and strength of treachery 
would abound.
The petty faults of his long forgotten world sparked a shamble desire.
The darkness around
shown with diamond laced fever.  Kicking deeper into a seemingly abyss 
until words sprung from longing drove him to the swirling sand at the 
bottom of the black sea.  And there,
his shaking hand grasped at the dying black rose as his gazed turned 
to forgotten stars.
Not a petal fell from the quivering rose in her ascent and in pride 
and childish eyes the raven broke from the demon’s quaking surface.

His angel still patience and bliss, shed four tears for his pains of 
rage, destitution, despair, and guilt.
On his knees he fell to beckoning arms which took in he and his rose 
forever grateful.  And in a last hour they made love on a beach as the 
sun fell behind the stars they loved.  And in the last hour they died 
and sailed the world as eternal faith forever.

Wolf:  And said again.  Raven, words spoken from a heart untouched by 
pain but truth.  Pity them shall we say, for what more would they 
have...
And said again.

Spider: An ever silent prayer for thy freedom;
You, the people.

(The three of them bow their heads as if in prayer as the lights fade to darkness)

THE END
(c) David Brown 1997

victims