NIGHT 6
Born For This
DREAMER: (QUEEN enters from SL alleyway and stands center stage. DREAMER stands beside her. Violinists enter from opposite wings) A young woman. Beautiful. Oh so young. (Pause)Taught to remain silent until spoken to. An item to be polished and shined for someone to take fancy of long enough to give her a second glance. Never did she expect to catch the eye of a King.(Pause) Oh so young. (Pause) Not her choice of course. They forced her to act the way she did. Her parents refused to remain in poverty. The way she dresses, the way she giggles when told. Keep silent. A porcelain doll. (Pause) Oh so young.(Pause) Once upon a time there lived a Queen, high and mighty, only for as long as she behaved. The life built on a lie. One day, in the presence of her King, she broke her silence. She broke the rules. (Pause)She broke free. (Pause) The truth could break her. Break her into a thousand pieces. But she will not be lied to. Not anymore. Here’s the truth. (directly to QUEEN) You have a voice! Speak!
(Violinists erupt in song as QUEEN inhales deeply as if awakened from a nightmare. Becomes mobile. DREAMER smiles and exits stage Right. QUEEN looks around her. Inhale. Exhale. For the intro, QUEEN is slightly stiff and robotic, curtsying to invisible people to her left and right.)
QUEEN:
Feels like I’ve been holding my breath,
Trying to still my restless heart.
Everything hangs on my next step
Finding the nerve, playing my part.
I found shelter underneath his crown;
Found favor inside his eyes.
Rock this boat and I just might drown.
Honesty seems to come with a price.
There’s a time to hold your tongue,
Time to keep your head down,
There’s a time but it’s not now.
Sometimes you got to go, uninvited,
Sometimes you got to speak when you don’t have the floor.
Sometimes you got to move, when everybody else says you should stay;
No way, no, not today.
You got to ask, if you want an answer.
Sometimes you got to stand apart from the crowd.
Long before your heart could run the risk,
You were born for this.
I’m leaning on the ones before me;
My father’s father’s dreams.
I’m standing on the top of their shoulders,
Calling the one delivering me.
There was a time to hold your tongue,
Time to keep my head down,
There was a time but it’s not now.
Sometimes you’ve got to go, uninvited,
Sometimes you’ve got to speak when you don’t have the floor.
Sometimes you’ve got to move, when everybody else says you should stay;
No way, no, not today.
You got to ask, if you want an answer,
Sometimes you got to stand apart from the crowd.
Long before your heart could run the risk,
You were born for this.
(To self.)
One step.
One move.
Born to trust you.
Made to lay my
Life before you.
So now I need to go, uninvited.
So now I have to speak though I don’t have the floor.
Now I have to move, when everybody else says I should stay,
No way, no, not today.
You got to ask, if you want an answer.
Sometimes you got to stand apart from the crowd.
Long before your heart could run the risk,
You were born for this.
You were born for this.
You were born for this!
(QUEEN exits.)
YOU ARE READING
Vita de Fracta (The Life of the Broken)
PoetryThe play blurs the line between reality and fantasist dreams as a young girl, known only as Dreamer, lives her life as an isolated observer; reflecting upon the people she watches during the day. Once night falls, however, she bends inwardly to her...
