Леди и два джентельмена, Часть I

Леди и два джентельмена, Часть I

Старый шотландский замок, затерянный среди зелёных холмов и молочного тумана.

A Lady and Two Gentlemen

by Roksolana Zigon

Part I

An old castle lost amidst the green and foggy hills of Scotland. Two gentlemen and a Lady enter its drawing-room and station themselves in the arm-chairs by the fireplace.

Lord Gathering

(with a voice dripping with a mild sarcasm, citing the words of A. Pope, “Essay on Man”)
“Say first, of God above, or man below
What can we reason, but from what we know?
Of man, what see we but his station here,
From which to reason, or to which refer?”

Lady Wondering

(replying on the A. Pope’s quote)
I would not weigh it up or measure as before
The judgements are to come from the Celestial floor.

Lord Hunting

(citing A. Pope’s “Essay on Man”, Epistle 1.)
“Presumptuous man! The reason wouldst thou find,
Why formed so weak, so little, and so blind?
First, if thou canst, the harder reason guess,
Why formed no weaker, blinder, and no less?!

Lady Wondering

(referring to both gentlemen)

O Lords! Two hundred Moons away
You’ve sent to me a doctrine of the Fall of Man.
Since those gloomy days and revolutions, the progress went in vain
And left a mankind of a zero attribution.
The seats and benches were reshuffled left and right
But neither you nor modern thinkers have revealed a doctrine of his Might.
A fate, fore-knowledge, and free will:
I wonder if the Fallen Man can question it again and pay his bill?

Lord Gathering

My duty was to not to let the thirst of knowledge fade
Lord Hunting may confess: it served the purpose of the Reason’s Shade.
Instead, the mankind simply ate, and drank, and all mislaid,
Instead, the Man has lent itself to bitterness and rotten trade.

Lord Hunting

My Lady, allow me to advocate in favor of my friend:
The endless history of human’s quarrels is not an easy end.
I did collect the evidences of man’s greed, destruction and no morals
And you would hardly find a better diary of deeds and well-depicted sorrows.
The Social Man? You won’t better say,
“If parts allure thee, think how Bacon shined,
The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind.”
Indeed, the thinkers of the past amused me fairly more by their thoughtful quarrels
Than those hopeless progressists of Rising Shores and mindset you would never tend to borrow.

Lady Wondering

The Rising Shores! I’ve seen it all before, spontaneous risings and inglorious falls.
How heavily to spin the lace when every century produces lesser grace!
Ungrateful task to sit delighted in the thickening shade
When every mile of history is nothing but a battle glade!
Immortal poets, thinkers and musicians, sault of the earth,
Forgotten all, or serve the current world’s ambitions
To decorate an arrogance of the declining race?
I can’t help wondering at this New Human’s face.

Lord Gathering

Lord Hunting and Your loyal servant,
We both worked with zest and eager
To split a Moral Man from human’s ego.
And, as you see, since Pope’s declarations on the Man
And Milton’s mourning on the Paradise abandoned,
An alchemy of power has never changed.
Besides, its wicked traces got more camp-followers
Than history could ever spin the laces.

Lady Wondering

The proper study of mankind is Man,
But how shall we study him, as weakened, fallen and deceived,
Split with the pillars of his past, afraid of present, feared of his future?
What faculty of knowledge can make our judgements mutual?

I wish to study your reports-including what you’ve tried to keep in shadow-
I know how fancy were your shots to leave this fallen world without any meadow.
The proper study of the system contains no game of dice but Master’s wisdom.

My lords, dismiss your doubts!
Wherever drives this plot device, we won’t miss a single slice!..

Lady Wondering makes a sign to Lord Gathering and Lord Hunting that their meeting is over. Two gentlemen raise up from their arm-chairs, bow before her and leave the drawing-room in a respectful silence.

 @Roksolana ZIGON

 26-07-2019