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XIsles— A Rock/Ritual

Originally styled as a rock opera, this libretto was commissioned in 1978 and set to a predominantly punk rock score, within which it eventually disappeared; there were several performances in and around San Francisco throughout 1979.


abstract fire, earth, air and water representations on a cart


The Characters—



Harry, the Hero of Fire
Laura, the Earth Mother
Andrew, the Lord of the Air
Phoebe, the Dark Waters Woman
Voice of the Divine Androgyne
Chorus of Voices


The Experience—



Chorus:
Breathe! Push!
Breathe! Push!

(Enter Harry.)

Harry:
Why are they pulling?
Who can they be?

Chorus:
Breathe! Push!
Breathe! Push!

Harry:
There's something insisting
and pulling at me!

Chorus:
Breathe now! Push down!
Breathe now! Push down!

Harry:
Not yet! Hold on!
Not yet! Hold on!

Chorus:
Breathe deep now! Push down hard!
Breathe deep now! Push down hard!

Harry:
I'm rising, I'm falling, I'm coming to earth!
This pain all around me announces my birth!

Chorus:
Scrub these sights from his eyes, beat his ass 'til he cries,
make sure he knows that he's coming home!
make sure he knows that he's coming home!

Harry:
I'm standing before you, I'm naked in shame;
where is this you have brought me? who can I blame?
Oh, the sounds and the light are too harsh and too bright—

Chorus:
Make sure he knows that he's coming home!

Harry:
And now I know that I've lost my home!

It's not fair!
Do they care?
Is there anyone
left out there?

Is this body mine? why doesn't it shine anymore?
I'm so small and so dense, and my muscles are tense to the core.
And I'm hurting inside, and I feel I was lied to before.

There's a new way of knowing things down here;
and the things I have to find out just ain't clear.
I'll have to find them out so many brand new ways;
where my life was once so simple, now it's a maze.

So many sights! So many sounds!
that my mind reels all around inside;
And now I've got to sort it out,
to see what it's all about outside.

I want to see what I look at,
and when I listen I want to hear,
and when I touch I want to feel
it's really real.

I want to feel,
I want to see,
I want to know so much,
I want to be!

But there's no way of knowing
what's going on inside;
there's some kind of struggle mounting up
that won't be denied:

there are tears against pain,
there are fears against laughter,
there are conflicting feelings
I am hungering after.

There's something raging in me,
I've got to tear it out and see,
I've got to take it in my hand
before I can understand this part of me—

I've got to tear myself in two
to pull this me away from that you!

(Enter Laura.)

Laura:
Baby, lift me and hold me—

Harry:
I want to see what I look at,
and when I listen I want to hear,
and when I touch I want to feel
it's really real.

I want to feel,
I want to see,
I want to know so much,
I want to be!

But now there's something
raging deep inside of me!
And now there's something surging up
that wants to be free!

Laura:
And there's someone waiting here for you,
and she's ready for anything you might do!

Harry:
I see you standing right there,
and know you're wondering how
it will feel when I enter—
if you'll open your question
I will prepare for you my answer.

I wonder how it will feel
when I reach deep inside
and touch your center—
so make your bed my song baby,
and I'll make of myself your dancer.

Laura:
Oh, lift me and fold me
and with strong arms mold me
to the beat of your song
but you'd better be strong
enough to hold me!

Harry:
You're my earth!

Laura:
You're my sky!
Let your lightening fly!
Plow my ground!
Run me through!

Harry:
I can always survive you!
Feel my heat! Feel my wrath!

Laura:
Feel the hunger at my core!

Harry:
I will beat down a path!

Laura:
I will devour your strength,
so that you'll fail at length,
just like before!

Harry:
You're gonna submit to me!

Laura:
Your climax is my victory!

Both:
There's something raging in me!
There's something raging in me!

(Enter Andrew.)

Andrew:
It's a struggle, it's a fight;
which one's wrong, which one's right?
When I see this kind of action
gotta side with just one faction,
but how do you choose
when the one you help might be the one to lose?

I'm the Cross-Town Hitch-Hiker,
looking for my brother;
this interruption's like all the others—
they slow me down, they stop my quest;
and until I've found my brother
I'll get no rest.

I've been hitching rides all through this old town—
I've been hitching rides all through this old town—
I've been looking for my brother,
turned every place upside down.

I've been looking for him every goddam place—
I've been looking for him every goddam place—
and all I've got to go by
is this picture of his face.

Oh, I'm the Cross-Town Hitch-Hiker,
looking for my brother;
and it's been a long time now
since we've been together—

and I'm really only half a man without him;
always waking up from heavy dreams about him;
he's always running on ahead of me—
and life is happening to him instead of me!

While I carefully search through every part of town,
and the only thing for certain that I've found
is I'm the Cross-Town Hitch-Hiker!
I'm the Cross-Town Hitch-Hiker!

And the battle of Good and Evil rages on overhead of me;
and I gotta go on, but I gotta resolve them instead of me.
but how do you choose when the one you pick
might be the one to lose?

Which one is evil?
Which one is good?
How can I pick
the one I should?

How can I stay here?
How can I leave?
From these dilemmas
I get no reprieve!

I'm the Cross-Town Hitch-Hiker,
looking for my brother;
how can you stop me?
Can't you stop some other?

I have to find him,
can't put him on no shelf!
and stopping your struggle
is the way I stop myself!

I'm the Cross-Town Hitch-Hiker!
I've got to stop them!
Looking for my brother!
I want to shout!

I've got to find him!
I've got to act quickly!
Why do you stop me?
And yet I doubt!

And these doubts grow out
of the battles that disturb my mind—

why can't I leave them all behind?

I've got to go!
I've got to stay!
My indecision
gets in my way!

If I could split in two
I'd know just what to do,
but the two are stuck
in the muck within my mind—

why can't I leave them all behind?

(Exit Harry and Laura, enter Phoebe.)

Phoebe:
I've got a way to wash these doubts from you—
I've got a way to wash these doubts from you—
just take a drink of my water,
it's the first thing you should do.

It's the water from the river that runs down to the sea—
it's the water from the river that runs down to the sea—
it's the water that flows through the valleys,
and it's the love that flows through me.

I'm the Dark Waters Woman and you don't know where I've been—
I'm the Dark Waters Woman and you don't know where I've been—
so you don't know where we're going
and you're sure that it's a sin.

Well, your future's an illusion and your past is but a dream—
well, your future's an illusion and your past is but a dream—
but if you can deal with me here and now,
things'll be exactly as they seem.

Now look into the water, see the image of your face—
look deep into my cool waters baby, see the reflection of your face—
you know you can't see through your illusions
in any other time or place.

Drink up my waters, don't let those guys tear you in two—
drink up the water I'm offering you, don't let them tear you in two—
follow my rivers on down to the ocean,
and let my surf wash over you.

'Cause there really is no future, and you know there's no past—
there's really no future behind you, and you know there's no past—
but if you'll taste this water I'm giving you
you'll find yourself coming home at last.

Andrew:
What about good and evil?

Phoebe:
They're the judgments in your mind.

Andrew:
How can I find my brother?

Phoebe:
By leaving your search behind.

Andrew:
But I'm the Cross-Town Hitch-Hiker—

Phoebe:
—and every ride's an interruption,
and every search an alienation
that throws your mind into disruption;
and the only thing your quest can do for you
is occupy your life until it's through.

Drink some of my water—

Andrew:
Is it polluted?

Phoebe:
Only by your suspicions,
and they'll soon be refuted.

Oh, I'm the Dark Waters Woman
and you don't know where I've been;
and you don't know where we're going
so you're sure that it's a sin.

Well, your future's an illusion
and your past is but a dream—
ain't it a shame that you blame
your doubts on me? Ain't it a scream?

Now, I've got a way to wash these doubts from you—
I've got a sure-fire way, baby, to wash these doubts from you—
just take a drink of my cleansing waters,
it's the best thing you could do.

Andrew:
As I raise your glass,
I see an image of my face—
As I raise this glass of water,
I see the reflection of my face—
it's the same as my brother's,
I'd know it anyplace!

Phoebe:
Let my waters flow
through your body and through your mind—
let my cool healing waters flow
through your body and your mind—
let them bring you a final reunion,
leave all your dilemmas far behind.

(Exit Andrew, enter Harry.)

Harry:
Gimme a drink of your water,
I've gotta satisfy my thirst;
I'll deal with you in a moment
but I need a good drink first—
'cause I'm a heavy dude, baby,
and I'm big enough to burst
your easy heart—
your simple mind—
do you want to start,
do you want to grind
yourself against me?

Phoebe:
Mister, you won't feel what you want to do to me;
'cause you know you're gonna pass right on through me.
When you grab at anything that you might touch,
you'll find out that you just want too much;
and I'll just be your fantasy,
'cause you're talking to yourself,
you ain't talking to me!

Harry:
There's a tree growing in Eden
that I know we two could share,
and there are apples hanging on that tree
with a flavor beyond compare—
Oh, let me take you there,
Oh, let me take you there,
Oh, let me take you there,
can you take a dare?

I've got some beautiful things to show you,
I've got some wonderful things to teach,
let me lift your little body high enough
to get those apples out of reach—
Oh, let me take you there,
Oh, let me take you there,
Oh, let me take you there,
can you take a dare?

Phoebe:
Yeah, I'm sure you've tasted that fruit by now,
and I'm sure you want to share some with me;
but is there really satisfaction in that transaction,
and can we eat contentedly?
Do we stand a prayer if you take me there?

Harry:
If you're worried drink some of your water,
where it comes from I'm sure there's more;
and I've always got more apples to be eaten
when you've eaten what you've got to the core.
So, let me take you there,
Oh, let me take you there,
Oh, let me take you there,
can't you take the dare?

Phoebe:
If I drink some of my own pure water
I'll be cool in the face of your heat;
my darkness will absorb all your light, dear friend;
you'll lose your hunger when you eat;
I'm not the one you want there
so you had better take care.

(Enter Laura.)

Laura:
So it's another woman, mister?
You think I don't have what she's got?
So you dropped me for my sister?
Well, I'm told she's cold
in the places you know I'm hot!

So choose between us now!
One's a horse, one's a cow!
One is ready, one is waiting,
one is mellow, one is grating,
one's a lover, one's a mother—
so it's time to choose one or the other.

Phoebe:
So who am I to you?

Laura:
You're the other shoe!

Phoebe:
And you're the land—

Laura:
—and you're the sea,
you're the other half of me;
you're the love—

Phoebe:
—you're the desire,
you're the laugher—

Laura:
—you're the crier,
you're the dark—

Phoebe:
—you're the bright—

Laura:
—and he's no reason to fight!

Phoebe:
You're the woman who establishes
the life for which I care—

Laura:
You're the woman who nourishes
the babies that I bear—

Phoebe:
I'm the heavy—

Laura:
—and I'm the light—

Phoebe:
—and he's no reason to fight!

Both:
'Cause in a woman's struggle a man is just a whim;
and we need each other now more than we need him!

Harry:
Well, if you're the land, and you're the sea,
I don't know who reflects the real me;
so hold each other, Earth and Dark Water,
sister and mother, lover and daughter,
'cause there's something new that's stirring
in my future calling me—

(Phoebe exits.)

Laura:
While something dark and healing
is moving deep inside of me—

Both:
But is there any way
that we can stay
in each other's memory?
Is there any other way
that we can be?

Laura:
Is there any other way that he—

Harry:
Is there any other way that she—

Both:
—can stay alive in my memory?

Laura:
'Cause it's the new moon that eclipses the sun,
it's the pouring of two souls into one;
it's the joining of two fighting parts of me—

while something soft and gentle,
something elemental,
nostalgic and sentimental,
is bedded down into the heart of me.

And I'm someone new!
I'm someone clean!
When you sing of being strong
I know what you mean!

Oh, all those passions that
have split my body and soul

have been driven away,
and now I'm forgiven,
and now I'm whole!

'Cause while the sun and moon are merging
once more I'm a virgin
and what's more I'm much more,
because now I know why:

I'll keep all those gifts I give
because I'd much rather live
in devotion to me than to constantly
move in motion towards some other guy!

If I lived that life I'd much rather die!

I am whole! I am new!
I've got me and no longer need you!

You've got your journey to take,
I've got changes to make,
whole new landscapes have come into view!
And you know, babe, it's true!

Harry:
Yes, I know it's so, and I'm ready to go
meet the challenges that wait up ahead for me;
there is something new, and I know it's true,
something long overdue up ahead in my future
that's calling for me— so I gotta be free!

There's something different now,
something outrageous—
as if something's about to upstage us!
And so I gotta get ready and I gotta be free!

Andrew:
Are you ready for me?

Harry:
It's the voice of a man
and I don't understand
who he can be—

I've no choice, I've no plan,
and I can't understand
who's calling me—
is he following me?

Andrew:
Brother, listen to me—
get ready for me!

Harry:
I smell adventure, I smell danger;
am I ready to stand and meet this stranger?
I've no weapons but I'm ready to fight,
to confront and wrestle with
this menace that calls in the night.

(Enter Andrew.)

Andrew:
We are back together at last;
I'm your long lost brother
from out of your past,
and our meeting breaks the spell
you've been under since you fell
from favor in our home,
from that home we had known,
back before you fell
and were born down into this hell.

I bring news: you've been forgiven!
your life's been a one-way track,
now your journey stretches back
to that forgotten garden
from which you were driven!

Harry:
Hey, mister, I don't know you;
all I know is I am here.
I am here, I am now, I am me,
and that's the only thing that's clear.

I can feel the things I can touch,
and the things that I eat I can taste;
I've got the strengths I have gained
by the risks I have faced;

and I know while I'm here
I've got nothing to fear
''cause it's here I am strong,
so it's here I belong.
I'll own this life and this world
until they are through;
'cause I know myself, mister,
but mister, I don't recognize you!

I am me—

Andrew:
—won't you come on back home now?

Harry:
I am clear—

Andrew:
—open up your eyes and see!

Harry:
I am now—

Andrew:
—'cause your power here's a trap!

Harry:
I am here—

Andrew:
Aren't you ready to get free?
Please listen to me!

There's a place that I know
that you're ready to go to,
where you're more than a man,
where you'll more than understand,
you'll know you!

Harry:
Just what is it mister that you're asking me
to go through?

Andrew:
There is nothing left to go through;
all you really have to do is let go of you
and remember all those things that you once knew.

Harry:
Well, if I've gotta return to that childhood home,
why forget what I've learned? I had reasons to roam!
Why let go of all I've gained,
these are my bright colors, not dark stains!

I'm too proud to wear a shroud, so I'd better be allowed
to bring home what I've learned
'cause every scar that I wear is a scar I have earned—
and I've crossed every bridge that I burned!

Laura:
—and lost the woman that you spurned!
she's found something new to start:
'cause while you found your brother
I've discovered I'm a mother;
a new pulse has begun to beat
just beneath the old pulse that repeats
within my heart.

Andrew:
An immaculate conception!

Harry:
More than likely a deception!

Laura:
No, I've found a new direction!
A new breath has been taken from my lungs!
A new life has just now begun!
A new soul has begun to bloom
in the cradle of my womb!

'Cause in your wedding I'm the bride,
and this kind of conception just can't be denied—
you were brought together to become my groom!

Harry:
So your belly holds our reconciliation!

Andrew:
It's birth will be our final celebration!

Laura:
So it's time for me to accept maternity;
and it's time for you two to make yourselves free,
just stay alive in my memory,
and accompany the child that's alive in me!

Harry:
Yes, you'll always be with me
in my memory;
I'm not losing you, leaving you;
but there are times when a man
must be alone.

I travel at my accumulation!
The future is my destination!
And I'm travelling light and fast,
'cause I've finally learned the truth at last
that the present dies quickly into the past,
and there are times I have known
when a man must be alone.

(Harry exits.)

Andrew:
I'll stay with you as he goes
because life within you grows
and I speak as one who knows
you need a man that can take
real good care of you—
you need a man to see you through.
And I need a woman to help force
me to find my true direction—
so I'll make of you my source
and I'll be your reflection.

Laura:
I have trouble with your need
because it sounds more like greed!
You want to father it and me,
but mister, can't you see:
after you've found your brother
you start searching for a mother;
well, don't you make such a fuss
because there's nothing you can do for us.
This child in me is mine for now,
after it's born it'll be on it's own;
but while it's here I won't allow
you to bother us, so leave us alone!

Because there's new music playing inside!
A new dance has begun to take place!
Atoms occur and choose particles and glide,
life is unfolding its universe within me
and I know that I'm living in grace!

Andrew:
Can't I take my place in your dance?

Laura:
No, there's no place for you,
and you haven't a chance!

Andrew:
You' ll need a man to see you through—

Laura:
But there's nothing left here a man can do!

Andrew:
Then what is there left for me?
My face is in the mirror
only when I gaze in to find it.
Other people are so easy to see;
and this path that I travel threatens to unravel
unless there's someone to whom I can bind it.

(Enter Phoebe.)

Phoebe:
Love ain't hanging on to being loved,
it's letting go—
don't you know what I mean?
it's letting go.
And health ain't being balanced
and scoured clean, without secretions—
do you know what I mean?
It's taking what you've got and going on.

Don't you know?

Pay attention to the way your heart feels—
you've got no choice but to play the cards life deals;
and the kind of love you want from her just ain't real,
but the kind of love you offer is the kind that heals
if you'd only give it back to yourself—
it's the only way you've got to regain your health;
Just take what you've got and go on.

Instead of searching for what you've got in mind,
try looking around to see what you find;
oh, your future's an illusion and your past is but a dream,
so let go— don't you know what I mean?

Babe, you're learning now how to pay the price,
and what it can cost you to be too nice;
but the only way that water can keep its shape
is when it's frozen solid into clean cold ice.

I can teach you how to take care of your heart,
how to know the way it ends before you start;
I've got the secrets of orgasm, pulse and breath,
but to learn about life, you've got to know death;
so take what you've got and come on!

Laura:
Oh, don't you know,
that life begins with me;
what I mean—

Phoebe:
—is it ends with me!

Laura:
And don't you know,
that you want the wrong one—

Phoebe:
—what I mean,
is it's with her your life had begun—

Laura:
—and you'll be all alone with her
when it's all done!

Don't you know—
what I mean?

Go on, step inside;
her invitation can't be denied,
and you'll find that she will open wide
if you'd only drop your stubborn
masculine pride
she'll be your bride.

So take what you've got and go on,
if you want to follow where love has gone.

Phoebe:
Because love ain't hanging on
to being loved, it's letting go—
don't you know— don't you know—
that the time has come for us to go;
while she remains down here on this earth
nourishing the life that moves toward birth
into a world where we pretend to be free
although you know that eventually
everyone must come around to me.

(Laura exits.)

So, take what you've got and come on;
if you fear the darkness then believe in dawn
and come on, don't you know what I mean;
let this lady kill you to wake you from this dream.
Are you ready?

Andrew:
No, I'm frightened—

Phoebe:
Have the muscles in your pounding heart tightened?

Andrew:
I'm getting hot and sweaty
and my mind is not too steady,
so help me through—

Phoebe:
Are you ready?

Andrew:
Is this really me and you?
I can feel my heart race—

Phoebe:
Are you ready?

Andrew:
—but I can't see your face—

Phoebe:
Are you ready?

Andrew:
—I hear you urging—
—and something's happening—

Phoebe:
Are you ready?

Andrew:
—something's quickening and searching
for the switch—

Phoebe:
Are you ready?

Andrew:
—and the switch is clicking on, and I'm gone!

(Andrew exits.)

Phoebe:
Babe, it's me and you, until you're in and through,
when first I feel your burst within and then
you're gone and then I'm all alone again.

(Phoebe exits.)

Chorus:
Ten!

At sunset the sky turns blood red
and you know it's the end of day;
you believed blue skies curved overhead,
but instead earth curves past and away.

Nine!

The sky's blue is only a reflection
of oceans that you can't see;
hidden tides surge in every direction
from this place that you happen to be.

Eight!

You depend on a planet that swells
in a pregnancy that's long overdue;
you can only see as far as the hills
and the skies that you've pulled close to you.

Seven!

While a turmoil of lava boils under
this thin crust you're standing on;
and fierce stars tear the dark skies asunder
as soon as the sun is gone.

Six!

A thousand miles an hour earth spins
on its axis as it circles the sun;
just as soon as we notice day ends
we discover the night has begun

Five!

And earth travels at sixty-six thousand
six hundred miles an hour
as it hurtles around the sun and
we acknowledge its radiant power.

Four!

We've denied since our birth
what Copernicus was proving;
we've relied on our earth
standing still— but it's moving!

Three!

The sun is setting!
The moon is rising!
What you're forgetting
you're realizing!
And what you're feeling
is not surprising!
Your mind is reeling
against this horizon
because you're dealing—

Two!

with the loss of all you believed in when you discover—
that in setting out seeking to embrace something larger—
you will rise and you will fall until finally you hover—
in space, embraced by something— even larger!

One!

And hovering there you can hear
the universe calling—
in a voice that is terribly clear—
and you're rising, you're falling—
Ignition!

We have lift-off!

(Enter Harry.)

Harry:
I'm rising, I'm falling towards the sun!
I see the earth drifting away!
And all that I know of my life there is done!
My journey's begun! I'm on my way!

Chorus:
The earth is drifting and dropping away,
it gets small like a ball falling back into night;
and the blue of its oceans are clouded by grey
as the gloom of the moon in its heavens
heave heavily into sight!

Harry:
And she seems sad and old hanging there in the sky,
so remote and so cold and so wrinkled and pockmarked
and waiting for something to die!

Chorus:
Like a vulture she circles the earth;
like the ghosts of the dead that haunt our birth
her dark presence it threatens the joy
in the welcome of each newborn girl and boy.

And she brandishes a dangerous mystery
that devours the mind that struggles to see
past the landlocked illusions of reality.

Harry:
Let her float past my flight with the earth into night,
'cause my freedom's begun with my race to the sun!

Chorus:
And the sun is the beacon that beckons our race
like Diogenes' lamp hanging out there in space;
so in search of what's right turn your back to black night,
turn your face to the light—

you've begun your run to the sun!
you've begun your run to the sun!

Harry:
It's so bright I can't see it!
If I'm drawn like a moth to its candle, so be it!

Chorus:
He's been caught up in his headlong dive
to the heart of the sun, can he ever survive?
While the sun grows in size from a distant bright ball,
now its flank is a wall and the glare blinds his eyes.
Singed sightless and burning he's plunging in flight,
can there be a return from this furnace of light?

Harry:
I'm a cinder that floats on the solar winds,
among towering exploding fissures of gas—

Chorus:
In the face of the sun a small silhouette spins,
on these broad plains of brilliance he's no more than ash!

Harry:
And my eyes no longer see where they look!
I can't feel, I can't touch, with my flesh burnt away!
And this thundering landscape of fire that shook
me is suddenly silent and empty and waiting for something to say!

Chorus:
You've discovered the source of the light.
You have come to the birthplace of all your saints;
you have lost your old views but you've regained their sight
of a hero's path out without human restraints.

And the courage to come and the courage to stay
is the courage you need to go on!
Lift your mind like a comet, lift up and away,
why hang around here? —all your saints have long gone!

Harry:
And now there's a sound, a new sound;
now I've found a new sound resounding
around inside of me!

And there's no ground,
no up, no down,
'cause now I've found
that I'm totally free!

My path arcs out into the dark,
and now there is suddenly no doubt
that I'm about to start to see—

that I'm a spark in the night,
I'm clean, sharp and bright;
and this new sound that I now hear
means there is nothing for me to fear to be!

(Enter Laura.)

Harry:
And I see you waiting out there;
I knew I'd find you soon somewhere;

but what's happened? you seem suddenly old,
your belly's shattered, and your eyes are so cold!

Laura:
When you challenged the sun you left me
in the grips of divine pregnancy;
my woman's loins lurched in confusion
and my belly swelled in revolution;
they fed off my blood and devoured my breath
'til I felt that their life only meant my death.

And the parasites spread in my womb
'til the time that they ran out of room
then they kicked out my ribs, split my pelvis apart,
ripped my abdomen open, and unveiled my heart.

I gave birth to the worlds that circle the sun,
to the planets, the meteors, comets and stars,
and established the civilizations upon
Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars.

And I'm proud of the pain that they caused in their birth,
to survive all that strain lets me know what I'm worth—
I've mothered them all into cycles of motion,
I'll make sure they don't fall if they pay me devotion,
because I'm their mother! and my rule will endure!
and every woman down there will reflect my allure!

But you from the sun and I from my labor
have a much greater destination—
we have barely begun, now we'll travel together
towards the final celebration.

Chorus:
Hear the universe call you to rise!
Know the past within you dies
while the future before you lies!

Harry:
And we've come to the edge of something new,
there's a river of meteors sweeping past,
I'm afraid it's impossible for us to get through,
'cause they're coming so thick and so fast!

Laura:
It's the bank of the asteroid stream,
and we can't let them stop us now;
they might not be as dangerous as they seem;
we can get through if we figure out how.

Chorus:
It's a torrent of boulders
that hurtle and spin through the sky;
and among them now suddenly
someone familiar flies by:

(Enter Andrew.)

Andrew:
I'm the Lord of the Air,
watch me swim through the skies!
Cosmic winds lift my hair,
brilliant stars fill my eyes!

And I travel as far and as quick as I want to,
and my journeys have proved there is nothing we can't do!
Grab my hand, hold on tight, leave your bodies behind you;
something grand, something right lies ahead to unbind you!

I'm the Lord of the Air, let me carry you there!
through this river of rocks into space free and clear!
Someone else out there waits, the reunion is near!
Out past Jupiter's moons Saturn's rings show the place
where the Dark Waters Woman is waiting in space!

Chorus:
All our history's done
and our future is clear,
we've come far from the sun
and the galaxy's near—

Laura:
every sun is a star—

Harry:
anytime, anywhere—

Andrew:
and we'll go just as far—

Laura:
as we need to get there—

Harry:
through black space—

Andrew:
we will race—

Laura:
until we can be free—

Harry:
of the pull of our past—

Andrew:
we're no longer alone,
we know we're coming home at last!

Chorus:
With the dawn of the Age of Aquarius rising,
there is nothing to fear, there is nothing surprising—

Harry:
and we each have a part—

Andrew:
in the drama Out There—

Laura:
where the Dark Waters Woman is ready to bear—

All:
the birth of the Divine Androgyne!

(Enter Phoebe.)

Phoebe:
I'm so glad you got here
cause my time's drawing near,
and this child is starting to turn;
it still dreams in its sleep
but there's nothing left to keep
it from waking and moving to be born—

The water's broken!
Pain's coming faster!

Laura:
Are you certain?

Chorus:
Breathe! Breathe!

Andrew:
Do you think there is danger of disaster?

Chorus:
Breathe! Breathe!

Phoebe:
I feel me open—
and now the pains are coming even faster!

Chorus:
Breathe! Push!
Breathe! Push!

Voice:
Why are they pulling? Who can they be?

Harry:
Watch for a token that this is the Birth
of The Master!

Chorus:
Breathe! Push! Breathe! Push!

Voice:
There's something insisting and pulling at me!

Harry:
We're here at the edge of the universe,
and we're right back where we started at first!

Chorus:
Breathe now! Push down!
Breathe now! Push down!

Voice:
Not yet! Hold on! Not yet! Hold on!

Laura:
Gestation's finished and the birth has begun—

Andrew:
—of the beginning of the things we have done!

Chorus:
Breathe deep now! Push down hard!
Breathe deep now! Push down hard!

Voice:
I'm rising, I'm falling...



Berkeley, 1979

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