The Bee & the Butterfly: Scenes 4 & 5 of Seven

Scene 4: The Hills Outside Paradise �"

Enter the Gardener, with Simon & Attendants.

 

THE GARDENER:

 

Go my helper, Simon, and do these things for me!

Love’s lily glows and glorifies my garden!

 

Go first unto Andre where he doth breathe his last

Among the brambles and the weeds.

 

Give something like a sleep to him,

And cause him too, to drift into a dream

About the roses, I shall plant when I am ready.

 

‘Tis good that he shall see these things to come �"

 

SIMON:

 

And then, to seek them.

For in his seeing of those things,

Andre shall know that you have stirred.

 

THE GARDENER:

 

Then wait awhile beside him till our papillon arrives,

For broken hearts will look to hold their lovers.

 

Take these pure crystals from my Fount of Tears,

And with them make my sign upon her breast;

For she must know that I, like her,

Am but a fool for love.

 

And as these crystals mark her as our own,

She shall in all things be my confidante �"

And yes, my best, most-favored bee!

 

Then, let Andre awake unto her touch,

And with a better knowledge of her heart,

 

Make wreaths of roses

For his house and mine.

 

Go, and see that this is done,

For I have other matters to attend �"

A knight^[1] I know upon another plane

Has come to me, and near the rose

 

I call “Immaculate,”

 

I shall grow him in my garden.

 

(Hands Simon an Orb of Light,

Blesses Him and Points to the Hills)

 

Again, good Simon, go!

 

And be the lightning

 

That doth stir

The world to love!

 

SIMON:

 

I will in faith do as you say.

 

Exit All

 

Scene 5: The Bloody Field �"

Enter the Sibyl Mantis and Attendant.

 

SIBYL MANTIS

 

The noble bee has kept his summer vows,

And bleeds among the thorns^[2] twixt here and heaven.

 

MIKA:

 

But one of many tender hearts left in the bloody field.

 

SIBYL MANTIS:

 

See how the wroth clouds

Gather o’er the dusky hills;

They rumble in their outrage

And accuse the callous sun.

 

MIKA:

 

But hark! Fair wings approach,

And other wings are coming.

 

SIBYL MANTIS:

 

And so, she seeks the blessing he received

And takes his manly shoulder as a pillow.

 

MIKA:

 

The mark is given and the sign is made.

SIBYL MANTIS:

 

And now, the light spills o’er their tender forms

As if to hallow them, and thus, to hallow all

 

MIKA:

 

In this last unction, done in perfect grace.

 

SIBYL MANTIS:

 

Let us remove unto the Gardener’s Gate,

For I have seen enough of mortal passion.

 

MIKA:

 

I will fly before thee and tell all, for preparation

Must be made before their coming. (Exit Mika)

 

SIBYL MANTIS:

 

Love is the couplet

Written at first blush,

 

The lines that sanctify

A lover’s furtive glance �"

 

The sudden understanding of a script,

The easy demonstration of a dance

 

It matters not what two are lying here

Among the ones who choose to love

As all who choose, choose love �"

No other cause but that.

 

Fade

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[1] A reference to Baptiste De Guerre (de-GYARE), a fictional French crusader and mystic. De Guerre’s troubled inner world is the focal point of Hlad’s Seventh Decoration, “The Sin of Seeing.”

 

 

[2]  A reference to Shelley’s immortal line, “Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!”