Colombine

Chapter 16: FORFEITS

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About This Book

Set on a windswept hill that hides ancient Roman traces and fairy rings, the fantasy play blends rustic vernacular and commedia dell'arte figures to stage scenes of memory, folklore, and romantic rivalry. A fairylike maid meets two country labourers, recounts the site's layered past, and foretells a comic, ritualized duel between Harlequin and Pierrot for her affection. Interwoven prologue poems and stage tableaux alternate lyrical reflections on time and place with light comedy, costume spectacle, and debates about love, fate, and the endurance of ritual. The piece balances pastoral atmosphere, nostalgia, and theatricality in brief, episodic scenes voiced in verse and colloquial dialogue.

FORFEITS

Y ou fail to catch the trencher spun

And, later, when the game is done,

The lady who collects the fees

Demands a forfeit, if you please.

You find a penny, grimed and black,

And hope that you may get it back.

You sit in speechless misery,

And wonder what your fate will be,

Until, within that giggling ring,

You have to claim the wretched thing;

Then sally forth upon your quest,

To kiss the one you love the best.

You don’t appreciate the fun,

But curb a wild desire to run;

Then seek a matron staid and stout,

And drag the willing victim out;

Because, of course, it wouldn’t do

To kiss the girl you wanted to.