THE BEGGAR
(Fast)
He sits
He stares
He flares
His fire
He flexes
His joints
For now he’s scored
His points
And coins drop
On his plate of hope
(pause)
(slower)
So he stops
To ponder
He stops
And wonders
Why am I under?
He asks
Why all these tasks?
(pause)
(picking up speed)
Is this the slumber?
Is this the last number?
Am I caving
In under? (pause)
Mother
This is your son’s story
The never-ending story
The broken down lorry?
(Faster)
He relaxes,
And flexes
The muscles
That passion…
This fashion
He must practice (enforce)
The game
Is easy
That is
This is
His life
He must
Only practice
Practice,
Only for the office
(stops)
(in a whisper)
Then silence…
It’s all a dream
It’s his science
A passing realm
His livid conscience
Silence (stops)
Rude science
Crude defiance…
This is him
This is life
This is strife
(Stop)
(very fast)
He sits
He cries
Then stares
The stars
Are far
He tries
To fly
His wings
Are wet
He won’t float
No, he won’t float
He cannot win
That bet
He cannot win
That last bet
(slower)
He sits
He cries
He flies
He cries foul
He tries
To burn out
That fire
Then he stops
There’s no pyre
Just punctured flat tyres
He sights
And sighs
Wishing to be flying
He knows he is lying
Lying to himself
Lying to the system
System of corruption
System malfunction… (pause)
System malfunction (slow)
Missing in action
Absent with leave
Absent without leave…
(pause, begin slowly, picking up tempo)
The he laughs
He scoffs
He floats
Like a butterfly
He boasts
But his wings are down
He cannot fly
His wings are wet
He cannot get
His power
His might
His right hands slips
His mind wanders
He becomes under,
Under estimated
Over excited
He becomes a shadow
A shadow of doubt
A cloud with no rain
A rain clout (pause)
(slower)
But he is bold
He is not cold
He is too bold
He isn’t cold
No, that is for the old
That is of old (stops)
No, (enforced)
He has not told
No, (enforced)
Why
Why he cries,
He has not told
No, (enforced)
Why the bird cannot fly
Why the dream has no hope
Why the rope makes him grope
No, (enforced)
He has not told
And so he sits
And waits
And waits
And waits (slower, weary voice, quieter)
No more
His life is no more…
This is not the norm
No more folklore
No more fairy tales
No more tall tales
This is not before
He sits (wearier, slower, grave tone)
He waits
This is not the how and why
He’s shouting a prayer now
Throwing the bait
Hook and sink
He pounds his hailer (even slower and graver)
He screams and trims
Trims his hair
He’s lost his flair
He’s caged in his own lair
He smiles
At the dark sky
No,
At the dark cloud
He sits (faster, picking tempo)
He cries
He tries
To fly
His wings
Are clipped
His mind
Is crippled
He cannot float
He will stop
He will not fly
He must never try
And so
He just sits
Screams
Tries to fly
He’s tied to his lies
He’s bound to the fate
Closed to the black gate
He sits(stops, and continues slowly, with hopeful tone)
The he cries
He says:
I cannot try
I must choose to die
I must be the fly
And so
He sits
He cries
He tries
He hides
His hands are outstretched
His lips remain parched
He sits (very slowly per line)
He cries
He tries
He cannot die
He must still fight
He must still fight
So by night he comes (slower, very grave undertone)
The day is done
The day is done
The deed must indeed be done
The rope is brown
The roof is there
He cannot beware
He is now unaware
He is now unaware
He is now unaware… (weary, sad deathly undertone)
This is his story (almost in oratory manner)
His broken down lorry
Down trodden glory
This is his story
This is bruised glory
This is the story
This is his sad story
This is the beggar story…