Hadrian & Antinous

ACT II - SCENE VI

SCENE VI - ANTINOUS and HADRIAN are seen in the emperor's bedroom.

ANTINOUS: The peasants speak strange, they warn of dark times,

Ahead of us both, ahead of this shrine.

Someone watches, perhaps two or three,

Waiting to end me, to strike at their please.

HADRIAN: No one will end thee, I'll banish them hence,

If one shows signs of evil unrest.

My Vibia ran from the palace just as thou came,

She knows of thee now, now she feels ashamed.

ANTINOUS: Am I safe then, Hadrian?

Wilt she not have me killed?

She loves thee, who couldn't,

And we all know her will.

HADRIAN: If she tries she will die at my hand, I do swear.

ANTINOUS: I thought thee loved her, since when does thou not care?

HADRIAN: She doesn't know that I love just to love,

Not to dominate, push, or shove.

She wants me to conquer her soul at her wish,

I want to share in love full of bliss.

Thee wilt deliver such a love I long for,

She never has, and I can't settle anymore.

Antinous, my love is now only for thee.

I hope thou believes, I hope that thou sees.

ANTINOUS: If thou dost love me, then thou shall protect me,

I feel not safe here, with rumors of death invading ears.

HADRIAN: I fear this too love, for the world is dark.

Evil plots are in the midst, and we just stall.

But our love can conquer, our love can spark,

Joy in each other, we'll survive the fall.

When we rise our hearts, we rise above hate.

We rise above evil and its heartbreak.

Although some believe we can't control fate,

We control what we do before it takes.

So escape us hence, escape far away.

Escape the world that rejected our vow.

We can't leave forever, but just a day.

Can make the difference, so here leave us now.

Tomorrow we will move the hate we take,

And throw it where only rattlesnakes shake.

ANTINOUS: Thank thee Hadrian, thine love is divine.

For tis the best creation of our time.

Tomorrow night, escape us then,

To end our suffrage, and make amends.

(They kiss.)

HADRIAN: Thine lips taste of the sweetest delight in Greece,

I know Egypt will be honored to meet

Such a glorious sight as the one I now see,

And I know that it will be more than of Greece.

ANTINOUS: Thou love is mirror- I'll express my love.

Your lips, if a song, would sound like a dove.

Singing sweet lullabies to all that listen,

And I love that they sound so clear to me.

HADRIAN: Grateful am I that I'm graced with thy thoughts,

Written by some emperor of love.

ANTINOUS: Thou lovely fool, that emperor's thee.

My thoughts are thine creation, for thee revived me.

Before we met I was lost in the world,

Searching for a love to share.

When I learned of thine's obsession,

I grew obsessed once I knew thee cared.

HADRIAN: And Antinous, I believe thee revived me.

Love was lost in a heart so gone.

Greece can steal that if one's love is wrong.

But thee invoked me to love thy faith,

And I let it in, my soul to take.

ANTINOUS: And thou took mine, as I took thine.

We swapped our property, in a way so divine.

That now it morphs us into one mind.

HADRIAN: One mind, tis true, one mind divine.

Art thou in mine, and I in thine.

ANTINOUS: Leave I now, before the wench returns.

To try to make amends, as thou pain returns.

HADRIAN: Twill not return, for our love is one.

As heart to heart, and lung to lung.

Now leave thee hence, as my heart feels the string.

Pulled between our souls, which meet in between.

Goodnight my love, eternal devotion I send,

With thee on thy way, till we meet again.

(They kiss.)

ANTINOUS: Till we meet again, I can't wait till then.

Goodnight my lord, my love, and friend.

(ANTINOUS leaves HADRIAN.)

ANTINOUS: (walking home) And yet despite the coming day,

With our escape, I still pray.

That all will be so divine,

For some warnings cannot leave my mind.

Will something come of this trip so far,

That something being something so bizarre?

I fear my life, and Hadrian's sake.

I pray Apollo, my life not yet to take.

But perhaps I fear thanks to our love,

And our string attached now being tugged.

(Exit.)