I. Clear Morning I’ve watched you long enough, I can speak to you any way I like, I’ve submitted to your preferences, observing patiently the things you love, speaking through vehicles only, in details of earth, as you prefer, tendrils of blue clematis, light of the early evening, you would never accept a voice like mine, indifferent to the objects you busily name, your mouths small circles of awe, And all this time I indulged your limitations thinking you would cast it aside yourselves sooner or later, thinking matter could not absorb your gaze forever, obstacle of the clematis painting blue flowers on the porch windows, I cannot go on restricting myself to images because you think it is your right to dispute my meaning: I am prepared now to force clarity upon you.

II. Retreating Light You were like very young children, always waiting for a story. And I’d been through it all too many times; I was tired of telling stories. So I gave you the pencil and paper. I gave you pens made of reeds I had gathered myself, afternoons in the dense meadows. I told you, write your own story. After all those years of listening I thought you’d know what a story was. All you could do was weep. You wanted everything told to you and nothing thought through yourselves. Then I realized you couldn’t think with any real boldness or passion; you hadn’t had your own lives yet, your own tragedies. So I gave you lives, I gave you tragedies, because apparently tools alone weren’t enough. You will never know how deeply it pleases me to see you sitting there like independent beings, to see you dreaming by the open window, holding the pencils I gave to you until the summer morning disappears into writing. Creation has brought you great excitement, as I knew it would, as it does in the beginning. And I am free to do as I please now, to attend to other things, in confidence you have no need of me.

III. September Twilight I gathered you together, now I can dispense with you I’m tired of you, chaos of the living world, I can only extend myself for so long to a living thing. I summoned you into existence by opening my mouth, by lifting my little finger, shimmering, blues of the wild aster, blossom of the lily, immense, gold-veined. You come and go; eventually I forget your names. You come and go, every one of you flawed in some way, in some way compromised: you are worth one life, no more than that. I gathered you together; now I can erase you. As though you were a draft to be thrown away, an exercise because I’ve finished you, vision of deepest mourning.

SCENE 1 EMBER: There it is, Fire, beauty, death? The light of their flame fills the sky. Will they hurt me? I don’t care if they do. I would ascend with their light, away from this pain. Carry me away from this pain. But no, I cannot! I must find out who has taken him, my Cerulean, Before I die. He was in my arms, in my heart, Now gone. My heart is colder than this frigid winter land, Where breath freezes before my lips. My skin has cooled to match the ice inside me. No! I must not let them take me. It’s suddenly quiet, as if they just wait To listen to my story. They say they only hear in whispers, If they hear at all. Great Aurora Borealis, please hear my plea. I must speak to my love, My love who is now in your care. He was taken from me too soon, And no one knows who to blame. Great Aurora Borealis, I must but as him one question, Please grant me this wish.

SCENE 2 EMBER: Cerulean, is that you? CERULEAN: Ember EMBER: Lights dance before me in spirits’ form, they have answered my prayers. CERULEAN: I see light. EMBER: Death, even death, CERULEAN: Light of earth, here again EMBER: Even death cannot keep us apart. CERULEAN: This place feels so strange. Humanity so bright and mine gone. EMBER: Even death cannot keep us apart. Cerulean, I feared I’d never see you again. When they found your remains, I couldn’t stand it, wouldn’t believe it, I was petrified, dumbstruck. How could this happen to us? How could someone do this? You never hurt anyone, You were always kind and gentle, withdrawn. I remember, That was one of the first things that caught my eye, Your shyness, you seemed so vulnerable. I felt I must cherish you completely to protect you from this world. I would hold you so tightly in my arms, Encasing your fragile soul. But I failed, I was unable to keep you from that monster, Who managed to bring you to this untimely death. Please tell me who it was, That coward, Before death parts us forever. CERULEAN: Ember, Death has already parted us. I felt it when my soul unattached from yours. With damp earth against my cheek, I could feel my self and my humanity parting ways. As blood pooled before my eyes, A vast emptiness had seeped inside of me And it consumed me until I was not myself Any longer. Light faded as the sun set around my broken body. Then spirits took what was left of me into their care To usher me into the world beyond this one. Ember, death has parted us. EMBER: No! I’m sure there’s still some part of my Cerulean Left in you. CERULEAN: You should not have come here to no purpose. How could you be so careless, so naïve? You’ve risked everything I’ve fought for, died for. EMBER: But I did come for a purpose, You must tell me who did this to you so I can avenge our parted love. CERULEAN: Go home, Ember, Where you are safe and can live out your life In happiness and freedom. Don’t risk yourself like this, not for me. EMBER: You must tell me! You say I’ve risked everything But you were part of me, CERULEAN: Not anymore. EMBER: Were my everything, now lost. CERULEAN: Now I am nothing! BOTH: My heart is colder than this frigid winterland. EMBER: I would rather die than leave here without knowing the truth, Would rather die. CERULEAN: Please don’t say that. EMBER: Tell me. CERULEAN: I will not. EMBER: Tell me! CERULEAN: Never. EMBER: Tell me if you love me at all, If you care that I’m suffering won’t you tell me? Or must I die not knowing? I can feel death taking me. CERULEAN: Death has already taken him, EMBER: Who? CERULEAN: The man you seek is not a man anymore. EMBER: You say your killer’s dead? CERULEAN: Please don’t ask more, I beg you. EMBER: Why are you making this so hard? Why can’t you just tell me the truth? CERULEAN: I can’t bear to see your face when you find out what a coward I was. EMBER: I deserve to know what happened. CERULEAN: Oh but could I take it back I know I would. EMBER: It can’t possibly be as bad as you think. You must stop protecting this person’s name! That coward deserves what he gets, deserves justice. CERULEAN: For nothing is worth seeing the disappointment, Confusion will soon turn to anger Then worst of all, contempt. EMBER: We must make that vile wretch who ruined our lives Pay for his actions. CERULEAN: Ember, It was me, believe me. I am my own killer, forgive me. I’m sorry. Ember, you must go home! EMBER: It can’t be! He wouldn’t do that to me, would he? Not even a note to tell me what happened, Didn’t he care? Or think about the affects of his actions? It’s so dark now. How will I find my way home?

SCENE 3 EMBER: Ah! I am no different from him! I venture out into the cold, Flirting with, even welcoming, my demise, Leaving those who love me with no word, No idea of my whereabouts, or well-being! How could I have been so thoughtless? I must go home! This whole excursion has been a mistake! I should never have come! I came filled with anger and fear, but also hope. Intoxicated by love, and the promise of magic from another world. Now I leave with a heavy heart and dark thoughts. My legs are sluggish. Perhaps I can rest here… No! I must move on, they’re waiting for me. How could I not have thought of this before? Selfish, self-involved. The cold grows more and more oppressive. Muffling my thoughts, constricting my movements. Insulating me here in my solitude, A solitude much more complete than before, Before I knew… But I mustn’t think of that now. I must go home, to the warmth and love of family! Love! But how am I supposed to trust love when it abandoned me? Perhaps it never existed. Is my vision clouded or is that just snow, Obscuring my surroundings? Maybe it is better this way, ending here. This frozen grave will hold my body Until the thaw of spring, Spring, ah spring. I can feel its warmth, the sun, caressing my skin, peaceful. The smell of the grass, the Trilliums of the forest in full bloom, Full bloom. Such beauty here, magical, sublime, in this life.