More-or-Less Finalized Libretto

You guys, Linda Catlin Smith is the best, the best. I am so super excited for this, now! Even more than I was before! I have done a bunch of work on the music so far, and I think it is going to be the best thing I've ever written. Here is a revised libretto, after Linda and I went through it together.

Dunyazade

I sit
At the foot of the bed
While she tells her four-hundred-ninety-first tale
Sinbad, Aladdin, genies and old gods
And plies him with drink

I flinch when she mistakes a phrase
When recitation falters
They are my stories
But she gets the glory
No one looks at a plain girl
At the foot of the bed

She can tell a thousand-and-one tales
Keep him for herself
But I have many more
At the foot of the bed
They live in my head

Ximena and the Cid,
Finn MacCool lies in the Irish hillsides,
Arthur in Avalon and Barbarossa in his cave
And the Worm Ouroboros on the bed of the Sundering Sea
Bran the Blessed and his sister-brave
The Wandjina take their ease underground,
Popeye and Yahweh (I yam what I AM)
And somewhere, somewhere in a tangle of thorns
Swashbuckles, bawdiness, tea and jam
A beauty in a glass coffin awaits a kiss
The Argo sails for the Golden Fleece
Here is my flask, I'll drink some wine
And I must sit at the foot of the bed
And then, like Van Winkle,
I'll lay me down to sleep

Judgement Day

Poor Azrael, he has a lousy job
Stealing breath from the angry mob
It's a choice a choice to make or leave
Between the devil and the deep blue sea

Azrael, he warns of Circe of lemmings he frowns
The Pied Piper of Hamelin town
That angel leads toward the ocean, promises you'll walk on dry ground
Promises a Moses-Parting shrouded though by clouds a-sparking

Cruel, cruel, hard tack and gruel
To make the unaware dig their own graves
He had no quarrel with you, did he? Did she?
"To Hell! You didn't know me."

Of what type
Angelic, Satanic,
Carnal, spiritual
Is this song?
Let's put it this way:
Who has the best tunes?

Psyche's Sister

Why must holy places be dark places?
The air is sweeter away from holiness

Arrows, and arrows, and arrows, and arrows. And eros. And arrows.

Everything's dark about the gods
They hint and hover and draw near in dreams
Become your lover but restrict your means
If he loves you, he will let you see!

Arrows, and arrows, and arrows, and arrows. And eros. And arrows.

You cannot look upon him without light
Since he only comes to you in the night
You cannot see face to face
And this, this is supposed to be grace!

Arrows, and arrows, and arrows, and arrows. And eros. And arrows.

And all I can do is say I am sorry
Is sort seeds, herd sheep, lose sleep
I am also Psyche!
Mark the cruelty of the gods to men:
We love, and we lose love
And we love again

Arrows, and arrows, and arrows, and arrows, and arrows, and arrows and arrows and arrows and arrows and arrows and arrows...

Clementine

In a canyon, in a cavern...

Sang Clementine, sang mine, sang forty-nine
Sang me sandals made of boxes
And 18 karat golden thread
You told me I was beautiful,
You came into my bed

Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine

I saw your eyes on her face
I thought so, but I didn't say so
Drank myself into slow-mo
And then, and then, oh
You bereft me of house and home
And left me in a canyon, in a cavern, alone

Drove her ducklings to the water
Oh where, oh where does your soul reside?
Every morning just at nine
Is it in your eyes or between your thighs?
Hit her foot against a splinter
I told you I loved you, but you didn't hear
Fell into the foaming brine
If I fall in, I could disappear!

How I missed her! How I missed her,
How I missed my Clementine,
But I kissed her little sister,
I forgot my Clementine.

Oh my darling, oh my darling,
Oh my darling, Clementine!
Thou art lost and gone forever
Dreadful sorry, Clementine

Dreadful sorry, Clementine
Oh my darling Clementine

Tandava/Lasya

Sati! Beloved! I would dance the whole world into ruins
If only to bring you back

I get down, so down, 'cause my parents can be cruel
Then, then, an endless duel
Between my Self and my Other:
"My husband is intangible, ascetic, four-armed;
Does not meet approval with my father or my mother."

I will dance gravity and levity and heaven and
A deep but dazzling darkness
Until, oh until all that is left are my legs in the sand

My father is angry
And anger's a hell of a drug
The fire like an oil lamp, a stranger in my head
The colour of space, the colour of dread, oh,
If I am dead to you, then I shall truly be dead!

You are the lover and the griever
You are the anger
You are the dance

Do You Miss the Sea?

Handsome as sin and twice as virtuous
Bad breath, good heart, full of sorrows
Took my skin and my breath away
Did away with all my tomorrows

Do you miss the sea?
Do you, do you miss the sea?
And oh, what can I say
My heart is here, but there I'm free

Where have I to flee?
I've seven on land and
Seven in the sea,
You'd be lucky, oh my love
Your nets would be full
Your way would be clear
I'd watch my children from the waves
But I would never return

I stir my tears into spicy soup
And give it to my children to drink
They too shall miss the sea, the sea

Stranger Things

Bread and water, bread and water
Would that I had borne a daughter!
So you wouldn't send me away

Ride in on Al-Buraq
Do you think I would take you back?
After all that you have done?

I'm not a poet, but I'll deal in metaphor
You are the lamest of asses
Not two, but five faces

And they called you noble!
Noble! No--not really.
Noble? No, not ever, never

Run for my life and the life of my child
To think, to think, you smiled and smiled
To me you are forever a villain

I am awake, but not really awake
The angel stopped my knife to say
"If you suicide, no one will take you seriously!"

Here Is How

I weave as well as the gods!
Don't tell me otherwise
Arachne has nothing on me
And I am already a spider

I shall weave a hegemony
Of superstition, of mumbo-jumbo
Of all things magical
I don't give a fig for the gods!

I have flax-golden tales to spin
And webs of deception to weave
It was I who brought stories from Nyame
My lies make you seem uncanny

Judge for yourself if I'm potent or im
I made the masks for the things you have been
I will whisper my plans in your spider-ear!
I'll have your children and your answers, my dear

It is a tall order
Not so tall you can't reach
And here is how, here is how
Here is how, here is how
To complete the inconceivable
Do you know what that means?

Song of the Drekavac

Violets are blue
Roses are red
Remember me
When I am dead, dead, dead

When I was young
I breathed Heaven
But they left me, left me in Hell

I'll keep on growing growing growing
But I'll never grow up!
I'll never be a man!

Hear me weep,
Hear my cry!
I am an owl,
A dog,
A wisp of smoke

I know nothing, but dream of everything
They don't tell you what comes after death
I am a child and like a child
I fear the things in the dark

There is something moving in the dark

Dyma dal Iesin

Fair Elfin, cease your lament!
....Though I am weak and small,
On the wave crest of the surging sea,
I shall be better for you
Than three hundred shares of salmon.

Elfin of noble generosity,
Do not sorrow at your catch.
Though I am weak on the floor of my basket,
There are wonders on my tongue....''

I was fed on words, words, words
But also on love
And I love your long shadows and gunpowder eyes
Grey-with-an-a and grey-with-an-e

I shall be better for you...

I have been slave and hare, fish and bird
And all too beautiful to kill
...On the wave crest of the the surging sea
I am weak on the floor of my basket...
But I would kill for the taste of your hair
I would die for the look in your eyes

Come sing with me, and be my love
And we will some purpose, some pleasure, prove
Do not sorrow at your catch...
There's nothing but trouble outside my head
Nothing but miracles within
There are wonders on my tongue....

I once dreamt I had you
Thus I have you!
Have you not heard?
"All our joys are but fantastical"