The Magician

This is part of an opera that I started to write with a friend - me writing the libretto, him writing the music. We never got any further than this, but I'm still tempted by it and may, one day, find someone who wants to write the music.

Act 1 – Scene 1

The Magician appears on stage, stooped, ancient, dark whenever we see him. He wears dark clothes, the stage is dark around him. He is solitary, a watcher.

In contrast, The Lovers are young, bright, beautiful. We see them in the background while The Magician sings of his past –

A Life Without Love

Look at me and you’ll see
A man who’s lived a long life
A powerful one
But a life without love

Even now, after all these yearsMy true love comes to me in dreams
Each night she watches
Eyes grey as a winter storm

I want to hear her chocolate voice
Just once
But she stays silent
There is no need for words

Because I know what she’d say
So each day I speak for her
The words I left her withThe words that remained in her mouth

They’re engraved on my skin
With the acid of lost love
Cutting deeper through the years
“Why do you leave me?”

She needed to say nothing more
These few words a reminder
Of my life without love
Each night, each morning I speak them

And so I watch them
The Lovers
In those perfect moments
The ones I threw away

And I dream
Of her winter eyes
Her summer kisses
The love I threw away

I abandoned love
As if it were easy
As if it were safe
Forever

And now, after all these years
I know what I’ve lost
What I’ve given up
For what?

Look at me and you’ll see
A man who’s lived a long life
A powerful one
But a life without love

Kate