Not Quite There
Written for the ENO Mini Opera Contest in 2012
Scene: two men and two women stand in a space crowded with furniture and knick-knacks; an attic or garage full of stuff. They are all completely isolated from each other by the items, no matter which way they move while the others speak, searching for someone else, but never finding that person.
MAN 1:
My love has always lain in the unspoken:
No words pass beyond my teeth
No written phrase gives me away
No noise opens up deep dark thoughts–
My secrets are ever and always my own.
Never will I say ‘I love you’
But my devotion is beyond reproach.
My lips are sealed around the truth.
WOMAN 1:
I cannot come to meet you
By the sea so clear and blue.
I cannot make my way to your place
Be it close or in some distant space.
I cannot move from my spot
A lonesome weedy condemned lot.
I cannot stop standing still and tall
No matter how I yearn to answer your call.
I cannot see the way to you
Through the mist and foggy dew.
MAN 2:
I want to meet you,
Hold you, love you,
Whisper secrets in your ear,
Grow older year after year.
Together always we will be
From one to two, me and you,
Everyone else shall see
A love so right and true.
But this week’s no good
And this month I’ve got no time.
I would meet you if I could–
But if we did you would never be mine.
WOMAN 2:
We touch without contact,
See without sight,
Hear without listening.
If ever we met
In the gray twilight that lies
Between two people
Would still we love?
Would the passion
Still live on or fade away?
Does proper contact steal
The mystery and romance?
I cannot take that chance.
Do not ask so much of me.
Be content, even as I.
MAN 1
My lips are sealed around the truth
WOMAN 1
I cannot come to meet you
MAN 2
You would never be mine
WOMAN 2
Do not ask so much of me
MAN 1
My devotion is beyond reproach
WOMAN 1
Make my way to your place
MAN 2
Together always we will be
WOMAN 2
Be content, even as I
MAN 1
My love lies in the unspoken
And I cannot bring myself
To give voice to inner thoughts.
Close your eyes and trust in me.
WOMAN 1
I cannot move away from here
To go to someplace far or near.
Please, please, come to me
By dusty road or shining sea.
MAN 2
Every day I think of you
Wondering why I stay away.
Our love, though it grows strong and true,
Cannot yet compel me to stay.
WOMAN 2
At night I write devotions
Across your scarred skin
In the misty twilight grey
Knife’s edge between any two.
ALL
My letters, my love,
Reveal my heart.
Hold them close to you
When we are apart.
