Colombine

Chapter 4: OTHER VERSES

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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.

OTHER VERSES

THE MARIONETTE

M an is merely a marionette

On invisible wires suspended.

And it’s just as well he shouldn’t forget

That Fate the showman is in the wings,

Working the business and pulling the strings

Till his turn is over and ended.

Man is merely a figure on strings,

By the glare of the footlights blinded.

And the wonderful way he dances and sings

Is not unlikely to fill his mind

With a great contempt for the Power behind,

Till suddenly he’s reminded.

Man is the cream of an idle jest,

A smile on the face of sorrow.

A sad peculiar figure at best;

Willing to sacrifice every day,

Breaking his heart in the hope of play

On a problematical morrow.