What I've Been Working on....

This song ends Act 2 of "Nonny in the sky with love" (my working title for the libretto I am writing.)

The Scene: BEVERLY GARDENS, a care facility in Santa Monica, California. Many come; all leave; feet first.

THE COLONEL, 94 years of age, is an old school gentleman from Australia and he is dying. NONNY is 75. She will never walk again, but she will go on living (for Act 3 ;-)

THE COLONEL is in his bed. NONNY sits in her wheelchair at his side.

COLONEL
I believe in Love.
If that's God, so be it.
Love heals us and makes us whole;
we wither and fail without it.
Love makes the heavens dance,
Love causes the earth to spin,
Love makes time dissolve into itself
and start all over again.

NONNY
You're lucky. You know it.

COLONEL
I didn't until I met you.

I believe we plant seeds in the past,
plant them without even knowing.
But they grow and they grow and they grow
even though we forgot they were growing.
And then, poof, in the future,
you never know when or where,
the seed you planted deep in your heart,
that barely flickered like a prayer
in the last and final hour
blossoms like paradise
bursting into flower.

NONNY
I never knew what love was,
I was always afraid,
and now that I know what it is
I'm afraid that it's too late.

COLONEL
It's never too late.
Once you know,
the work is done.
You can fall into it
and never drown;
it buoys you up like
the warm salt sea
with high blue skies all around
and if you close your eyes
you can hear the sound,
and then, a beacon of light,
a phoenix rising
into the night...


THE COLONEL's monitor beeps erratically, lights flicker and die.