Orpheus and Eurydice: A Dramatic Poem. Scene 1

[Edward Eaton]

Orpheus & Eurydice

Scene 1 Eurydice in hell

EURYDICE wakes

Alone on an empty stage

Eurydice

Orpheus! Orphe...

She looks around her

Where are the trees? The bright sun
Which warms the morning?

Where is the grass? The

Birds who sing in their
Leafy nests so high?

The stream by which we
Played and danced beneath

The warm setting sun

Husband? Love? Where is
Your bright voice to warm this chill

That embraces me?

Orpheus! Darling!
Don't play with me! Sing and bring

Color to pale cheeks.

Warm me; tease me, love.
Caress my auburn hair and

Touch my frozen hands.

So cold...why cold?
Why are my limbs so stiff and

My mind so cloudy?

Mama! Papa! Come
And embrace your angel child.

Laugh and make me smile.

Mama! Laugh, Mama!
Laugh at my little jokes and smile

At my clever wit.

Papa! Papa! Will

Your strong arms and your rough grip
Lift me from the damp?

Husband! Love! When is
Your touch, your gentle caress

To awaken me?

Is there no one? Is
Eurydice so alone

With none to love her?

With none to praise her

To compare her to the sun

To 'plaud her bright eyes?

To praise her red lips
To sing songs 'bout silken hair

Soft skin, gentle hands.

Is there no such one?
Am I truly so alone?

Am I so alone?

What cold place is this?
Dripping rocks and misty air
Scab my gentle limbs.

Where's Eurydice
Now? Lost within an endless
Fog, where is she now?

She sees a figure

Wait! Shadowy one
Come back, don't leave me alone.
Gone and fled is he.

She sees another figure

You, woman! Do not
Go into the dark and leave
Me to lonely thoughts.

You walk right by and
Do not turn your heads to see
The one calling you.

Look at me! See me!
I don't wish to be alone!
I don't wish to be.

See me! Behold this
Form that drew the very gods
To gaze in wonder.

These eyes have given
So many promises and
Caught so many hearts.

This face so fair it
Would be veiled in many lands
Is open to th'eyes.

See this flesh, these arms
That embrace, these legs that bring
Such delight to men.

Two demons approach

Can you walk away?

Demon 1

I do not see...

Demon 2

...nor do I

DEMON 1

Any great beauty.

EURYDICE

You do not see...

DEMON 1

...No
Subject for poems, songs, or
Any grand desire.

EURYDICE

Are you blind?...

DEMON 1

...Why would
I waste my tongue...

DeMON 2

...And eyes on
Plain Eurydice.

DEMON 1

I see a lump of
Flesh, like so many others.
Nothing special there.

DEMON 2

Clumpy and soft it
Is. Fragile -- t'would break under
The gentlest caress.

DEMON 1

A rough grip would bend
And mark it. The slightest pull
Would rip flesh from bone.

EURYDICE

My skin deserves the
Gentlest touch...

DEMON 1

...Shall we then use
Our teeth and rip the

DEMON 2

Flesh and tear the skin.

It is no great sin to ruin
Such a useless girl.

Perhaps it would stop
Her whining...

DEMON 1

...Perhaps it would
Stop her memories.

EURYDICE

You must be blind not
To see me. The clouds would stop
In the sky to look;

They would fight the winds

Just for one glance; they would hold
Rains from thirsty crops

To shade me from the
Sun, which would burn more fiercely
To see through the haze

And lengthen the days.
Even Diana wanes in
Envy as her dear

Brother stretches out
His arms to bathe me in his
Warm embrace while she

Goes cold awaiting
Her turn to drag 'cross the sky
Her pale dusky cart.

Her brother...

DEMON 1

...The sun
Warms both the fair and foul; it
Does not matter which.

DEMON 2

Apollo's lust is
No great compliment…

EURYDICE

...You lie!

DEMON 2

I laugh at vain boasts.

DEMON 1

Diana pales not
In envy. She turns her face,
Her gaze, away from

Her brother and his
Prey in humiliation
At his aimless lust.

DEMON 2

Even Apollo's
Loveless rays can not enter
Here to warm you, child.

DEMON 1

Your vapid flesh will
Feel rougher heat before long.

EURYDICE

I don't need the sun.

I do not need gods
To warm me with their praise. The
Very trees and beasts

Are my friends and laugh
With me and dance to keep me
Happy in the dark.

DEMON 2

No vegetable love
Can take root in this rocky
Soil, lest it whither.

DEMON 1

No little lap dogs
Nor graceful gazelles will lick
Your cheeks in this place.

DEMON 2

The beasts are fiercer
Here and far more rigid in
Their hungry resolve.

DEMON 1

The weeping willow
Weeps; roses bloom; grass is green --
With or without you.

EURYDICE

I want my meadows
My streams and hills and flowers
My pillows of soft

Grass. I was not made
For rocks and for shoal. Gentler
Feet need gentler turf.

To what loveless land
Have I been sent by the sting
Of a tiny snake?

DEMON 1

The tiniest snake
Becomes a great serpent when
looked at from a tomb.

DEMON 2

Plenty of serpents here
Will no doubt seek you out and
Sting you yet again.

EURYDICE

A tomb? It was the
Smallest prick...

DEMON 2

...Was big enough
To bring you to us.

DEMON 1

Welcome to hell, girl
A place of rabid delights.
There is no love here.

DEMON 2

No need to praise you.
A rough caress sings louder
Than the prettiest voice.

EURYDICE

Not prettier than my
Love's. No voice sings louder and
Fills the hearts of stones

With wonder for his
Subject. No voice can speak of
My beauty with such

Sublimity and
Truth. No love knows how to praise
Any lover more.

DEMON 1

What god is this who
Loves any mortal woman
Thus?...

DEMON 2

...None I know of.

EURYDICE

He is no god but
A mortal man envied by
Gods, men, and devils.

Only he can sing
And tell the world how lovely
I am. Even the

Spirits stop their cries
Of lamentation when he
Tells them of my eyes.

DEMON 1

A mere mortal man.
We can quickly cure him of
This dread malady.

EURYDICE

Merely mortal - no.

DEMON 1

If we torture you, perhaps

DEMON 2

He will hear your screams.

DEMON 1

Perhaps he will come
Perhaps he will try to save
His little lost love.

EURYDICE

He would. He would. My
Love would come. Though thick mountains
Hide my voice, he will

See my beauty in
His mind and follow his dreams
And take me from here.

DEMON 1

Bring him. Call him. We
Would welcome his resolve; what
good sport we would have.

DEMON 2

You could watch us tear
The meat from your mortal love
And learn how to feed.

EURYDICE

He would come...

DEMON 1

...Of course.

EURYDICE

He'd rescue me...

DEMON 2

...Who wouldn't.

EURYDICE

My love! Orpheus!

DEMON 1

Who?...

DEMON 2

...Orpheus?...

DEMON 1

...Did
She say that name?...

DEMON 2

…Yes, she did.

DEMON 1

We know who he is.

DEMON 2

We have heard of him.
We have heard of Orpheus.
Tell us about him.

EURYDICE

Orpheus is my
Own great love. When I was young
I searched high and low

For anyone who
Could see my beauty and then
Fill my heart with praise.

Many tried. The birds
Whistled beautiful airs and
Danced upon the breeze.

The flowers sought me;
They'd burst fully bloomed from the
Ground and smile at me.

The gods sent brilliant
Flashes of lightning to clear
The darkest of nights.

My dreams were full of
The music of thunder that
Lulled me in my sleep.

The waves fought the tides
To be to near me. The winds
Stilled to brush my brow.

But they all failed to
Find the means to honor me.
I remained unmoved.

Then one day he came.
Orpheus; he looked at me.
He raised his voice and

Sang out to the stars

I have recently published a dramatic poem based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. In the poem, the two young lovers travel from idyllic Greek glades to the fiery pits of Hell, from the brink of ecstatic
joy to the depths of despair.

Orpheus and Eurydice would be a wonderful present to yourself and to your family and
friends for birthdays or for the ever-approaching holiday season.

You can see the website for the publisher at http://www.supamasu.co.uk/99plays.html.
Below is the text of the listing on the website:

'Orpheus & Eurydice' by Edward Eaton
978-1-906928-12-4
A dramatic poem presented as tragic stage drama, portraying the timeless story
of two lovers from classical Greece.

To buy the book, you need to email the publisher. This can be done at [e-mail]