Jonathan Ned Katz: "Comrades and Lovers," Act II
Continued from Jonathan Ned Katz: "Comrades and Lovers," Act I, Part II
"Comrades and Lovers," Act II
Copyright by Jonathan Ned Katz. All rights reserved.
- SCENE TITLE: 1 Peter Doyle, "Yes, I will talk of Walt"
- DOYLE SPEAKS AS A VITAL OLD MAN REMINISCING ABOUT THE YOUNG MAN HE WAS WHEN HE MET WHITMAN; TO THE AUDIENCE AS SYMPATHETIC INTERVIEWERS WHO HAVE COME TO ASK ABOUT WHITMAN
DOYLE:
- Yes, I will talk of Walt,
- nothing suits me better.
- How we met
- is a curious story.
- We felt to each other at once.
- I was a street car conductor
- in Washington.
- The night was very stormy --
- he came down to take the car --
- the storm was awful.
- Walt had his blanket --
- it was thrown around his shoulders --
- he seemed like an old sea-captain.
- He was the only passenger,
- it was a lonely night,
- so I thought
- I would go in and talk to him.
- Something in me made me do it
- and something in him
- drew me that way.
- He used to say
- there was something in me
- had the same effect on him.
- Anyway, I went into the car.
- We were familiar at once --
- I put my hand on his knee --
- we understood.
- He did not get out
- at the end of the trip --
- in fact
- went all the way back with me.
- From that time on
- we were the biggest sort of friends.
WHITMAN:
- TO DOYLE
- I think of you very often,
- dearest comrade,
- and with more calmness then when I was there--
- I find it first rate
- to know I shall return,
- and we shall be together again,
- Dear Boy.
- I don't know what I should do
- if I hadn't you to look forward to.
- Here in New York
- there is pretty strong enmity
- among certain classes
- toward me
- and Leaves of Grass --
- that it is a great mass of crazy talk
- and hard words,
- all tangled up,
- without sense or meaning
- (which by the by
- is, I believe,
- your judgment about it).
- But others sincerely think
- that it is a bad book,
- improper,
- and ought to be denounced
- and put down,
- and its author along with it.
DOYLE:
- TO AUDIENCE]
- Yes, Walt often spoke to me of his book.
- I would tell him
- DIRECTLY TO WHITMAN
- I don't know
- what you are trying to get at.
- TO AUDIENCE
- And this is the idea
- I would always arrive at
- from his reply.
WHITMAN:
- All other peoples in the world
- have their representatives
- in literature;
- here is a great big American race
- with no representative.
DOYLE:
- He would furnish that representative.
WHITMAN:
- DIRECTLY TO DOYLE
- Dear Pete,
- I have made a change of base,
- from tumultuous, close-packed,
- world-like New York,
- to Providence
- this half-rural,
- third-class town.
- At both places I stop
- we have plenty of ripe fresh fruit
- and lots of flowers.
- Pete,
- I could now send you
- a bouquet every morning,
- far better than I used to,
- of much choicer flowers.
- GIVES DOYLE BOUQUET; DOYLE HOLDS IT IN HIS ARMS
- In the evening
- I went by invitation
- to a party of ladies and gentlemen --
- mostly ladies.
- I made love to the women,
- and flatter myself
- that I created
- at least one impression --
- wretch and gay deceiver that I am.
- You would be astonished,
- my son,
- to see the capacity
- for flirtation with the girls --
- I would never have believed it of myself.
- Fortunate young man --
- ain't you --
- getting such instructive letters.
DOYLE:
- TO AUDIENCE
- I never knew a case
- of Walt's being bothered up
- by a woman.
- His disposition was different.
- Women in that sense
- never came into his head.
- I ought to know about him
- in those years --
- we were awful close together.
- Towards women generally
- Walt had a good way --
- he very easily attracted them.
- But he did that with men, too.
- It was an irresistible attraction.
- I've had many tell me --
- men and women.
- He had an easy, gentle way
- no matter who they were
- or what their sex.
WHITMAN:
- DIRECTLY TO DOYLE
- My darling boy,
- if you are not well
- when I come back
- I will get a good room or two
- in some quiet place,
- and we will live together,
- and devote ourselves
- to making you healthier than ever.
- I have had this in my mind before
- but never broached it to you.
- My love for you
- is indestructible.
- LIGHTING/MOOD CHANGE; WHITMAN'S SEXUALLY UNCONSUMMATED PURSUIT OF DOYLE HAS LEFT HIM DEPRESSED AND HUMILIATED. HE DECIDES TO END THE PURSUIT; GRABS BOUQUET HE GAVE DOYLE AND FLINGS IT ON FLOOR. LOOKING INTENTLY AT DOYLE:
- It is imperative
- that I remove myself
- from this incessant,
- enormous
- PERTURBATION.
- SPEAKERS FOCUS ON DOYLE
SPEAKER 1:
- To GIVE UP ABSOLUTELY
SPEAKER 2:
- and for good,
SPEAKER 3:
- from this present hour,
SPEAKER 4:
- this FEVERISH,
SPEAKER 1:
- FLUCTUATING,
SPEAKER 2:
- useless,
SPEAKER 3:
- UNDIGNIFIED
SPEAKER 4:
- pursuit of P.D.
SPEAKER 1:
- so humiliating --
SPEAKER 2:
- (It cannot possibly be a success)
SPEAKER 3:
- LET THERE BE NO FALTERING
SPEAKER 4:
- avoid seeing him,
SPEAKER 1:
- and meeting him,
SPEAKER 2:
- or any talk or explanations
SPEAKER 3:
- or ANY MEETING WHATEVER,
SPEAKER 4:
- FROM THIS HOUR FOREVER,
SPEAKER 1:
- FOR LIFE.
SPEAKER 2:
- Depress the adhesive nature.
SPEAKER 3:
- It is in excess --
SPEAKER 4:
- making life a torment.
WHITMAN:
- All this diseased, feverish, disproportionate adhesiveness.
SPEAKER 1:
- TO WHITMAN
- Remember Fred Vaughan.
- LIGHTING/MOOD CHANGE
WHITMAN:
- We parted there,
- you know, Pete,
- at the corner of 7th Street,
- Tuesday night.
- Parting though it was
- something in that hour
- left me pleasure
- and comfort for good --
- I never dreamed
- you made so much
- of having me with you
- nor that you could feel
- so downcast
- at losing me.
- I foolishly thought
- it was all on the other side.
- I now see clearly,
- that I was all wrong.
- Love to you,
- dear Pete,
- my darling boy.
- LIGHTING CHANGE. NIGHT. STARS. A PAINTED, CARDBOARD MOON MIGHT DESCEND ON A VISIBLE WIRE
DOYLE:
- TO AUDIENCE
- How different Walt was then
- in Washington
- from the Walt of later years!
- TO WHITMAN
- I knew him to do wonderful lifting,
- running, walking.
- TO AUDIENCE
- I would go up to the Treasury building
- and wait for him to get through.
- Then we'd stroll out together,
- going wherever we happened to get.
- This occurred days in and out,
- months running.
- TO WHITMAN
- We went plodding along the road.
- Walt always whistling
- or singing.
- We would talk of ordinary matters.
- He would recite poetry,
- especially Shakespeare
- he would hum airs
- or shout in the woods.
- He was always active, happy.
- Many of our walks
- were taken at night.
- TO AUDIENCE
- He never seemed to tire.
- When we got to the ferry
- opposite Alexandria
- I would say,
- TO WHITMAN
- "I'll draw the line here I won't go any further."
- TO AUDIENCE
- But he would take everything for granted --
- we would cross the river
- and walk home
- on the other side.
- TO WHITMAN
- Walt knew all about the stars.
- He was eloquent when he talked of them.
WHITMAN:
- TO DOYLE
- Dear Pete,
- Dear son,
- I can almost see you
- drowsing and nodding
- and I am telling you something deep
- about the heavenly bodies
- and in the midst of it
- I look around
- and find you fast asleep
- and your head on my shoulder
- like a chunk of wood --
- an awful compliment
- to my lecturing powers.
- Good night, Pete --
- Good night,
- my darling son
- here is a kiss for you,
- dear boy --
- on the paper here --
- a good long one --
- I will imagine you
- with your arm around my neck
- saying
DOYLE:
- QUIETLY, TO WHITMAN
- "Goodnight, Walt" --
WHITMAN:
- and me --
- "Goodnight, Pete."
- LIGHTS OUT ON DOYLE. WHITMAN CONTINUES, ADDRESSING AUDIENCE. WHILE WHITMAN SPEAKS A SERIES OF PHOTOS OF HIM MAY BE PROJECTED, TRACING IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER HIS CHANGING IMAGE FROM YOUTHFUL, EFFETE, BOHEMIAN DANDY TO OLD, POET PROPHET
- TITLE: 14 Walt Whitman, "Publish my name"
WHITMAN:
- Publish my name and hang up my picture as that of the tenderest lover,
- The friend the lover's portrait, of whom his friend his lover was fondest,
- Who was not proud of his songs, but of the measureless ocean of love within him, and freely poured it forth;
- Who often walked lonesome walks thinking of his dear friends, his lovers;
- Who pensive, away from one he loved, often lay sleepless and dissatisfied at night;
- Who knew too well the sick, sick dread lest the one he loved might secretly be indifferent to him;
- Whose happiest days were far away through fields, on hills, he and another wandering hand in hand, they twain apart from other men;
- DOYLE JOINS WHITMAN, PUTS HIS ARM AROUND WHITMAN'S SHOULDER; WHITMAN PUTS HIS ARM AROUND DOYLE'S SHOULDER
- Who oft as he sauntered the streets, curved with his arm the shoulder of his friend -- while the arm of his friend rested upon him also.
- BLACKOUT.
- ANOTHER O WHITMAN'S MEN, JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS, APPEARS AGAIN, IN THE SPOT VACATED BY DOYLE. SYMONDS' PHOTOGRAPH MAY BE PROJECTED
- SCENE TITLE: 2 John Addington Symonds, "I fear"
- SYMONDS ADDRESSES WHITMAN DIRECTLY, AS IF THEY ARE IN THE SAME SPACE; WHITMAN IS SEATED WITH HORACE TRAUBEL
SYMONDS:
- I fear
- that the last time I wrote
- spoke something amiss.
- I then asked you
- questions about Calamus.
- Since that time
- I have kept silent,
- fearful I was ill-advised
- in what I asked.
WHITMAN:
- TO TRAUBEL
- He harps on the Calamus poems again --
- always harping on "my daughter."
- I suppose you might say:
TRAUBEL:
- Why don't you shut him up by answering him?
WHITMAN:
- TO AUDIENCE
- There is no logical answer to that.
- But I may ask in my turn:
- TO SYMONDS
- "What right has he
- to ask questions anyway?"
- TO TRAUBEL
- Symonds' question
- comes back to me
- almost every time he writes.
- He is courteous enough about it
- that is the reason
- I do not resent him.
- But it always makes me a little testy
- to be catechized about the Leaves --
- I prefer to have the book
- answer for itself.
SYMONDS:
- TO WHITMAN
- The reason why
- I have not published
- more than I have
- about your poems
- is that I cannot get quite
- to the bottom of Calamus.
- I wish I had your light upon it.
- SYMONDS REACHES OUT TO WHITMAN, BESEECHING
WHITMAN:
- TO SYMONDS
- That question,
- he does ask it,
- again and again:
- asks it, asks it, asks it.
- TO SYMONDS, TENDERLY
- Anyway,
- Symonds is a royal good fellow.
- Look at the fight
- he has kept up with his body --
- his consumption --
- yes, and so far won.
- I have had my own troubles
- but Symonds is the noblest of us all.
- TO TRAUBEL
- Symonds has a few doubts
- yet to be quieted
- not doubts of me,
- doubts rather of himself.
- One of these doubts
- is about Calamus:
SYMONDS:
- TO WHITMAN, PLEADING FOR A RESPONSE
- What does Calamus mean?
WHITMAN:
- That is worrying him a good deal --
- my poems' involvement,
- as he suspects,
- in the passional relations of men with men --
- the thing he reads so much of
- in the literature of southern Europe
- and sees something of
- in his own experience.
- He is always driving me about that:
SYMONDS:
- is that what Calamus means?
WHITMAN:
- because of me
- or in spite of me,
SYMONDS:
- is that what Calamus means?
WHITMAN:
- TO TRAUBEL
- I have said no,
- but no does not satisfy him.
- He is very shrewd,
- very cute,
- in deadliest earnest:
- he drives me hard --
- almost compels me --
- is urgent, persistent:
- he sort of stands in the road and says:
SYMONDS:
- I won't move
- till you answer my question.
WHITMAN:
- TO SYMONDS
- He is still asking the question.
SYMONDS:
- What the love of man for man
- has been in the past
- I think I know.
- What you say
- it can and shall be
- I dimly discern in your poems.
- But this hardly satisfies me
- so desirous am I
- of learning what you teach.
- Some day, perhaps,
- in your own chosen form --
- you will tell me more
- about the love of Friends.
- Till then I wait.
- Meanwhile
- you have told me more than anyone.
TRAUBEL:
- TO WHITMAN
- That's a humble letter enough.
- I don't see anything in it
- to get excited about.
WHITMAN:
- CLEARLY EXCITED
- Who's excited?
- TRAUBEL SHAKES HIS HEAD, PUZZLED BY WHITMAN'S VEHEMENCE
- TO SYMONDS
- That question,
- he does ask it.
- Anyway,
- I love Symonds.
- Who could fail to love
- a man who could write such a letter?
- I suppose he will have to be answered,
- damn, 'im!
- QUIETLY, TO HIMSELF
- Sometimes I wonder
- whether Symonds doesn't come under
- St. Paul's famous category --
- men leaving the natural use of women.
- SYMONDS, MOVES TO A PODIUM AND ADDRESSES AUDIENCE AS A SYMPATHETIC CONFIDANT
SYMONDS:
- In February 1877
- I gave three lectures
- on Italian history and culture
- in the theatre
- of the Royal Institution, London.
- One day,
- an old acquaintance
- asked me to go with him
- to a male brothel
- near Regents' Park Barracks.
- A BRAWNY YOUNG SOLDIER APPEARS
- There,
- moved by something stronger than curiosity,
- I made an assignation
- with a brawny young soldier
- for an afternoon
- in a private room at the house.
- Naturally,
- I chose a day
- I was not wanted
- at the Royal Institution.
- SYMONDS STOPS TALKING, TURNS TOWARD THE SOLDIER WHO UNDRESSES SLOWLY, WATCHING HIMSELF IN A MIRROR. SYMONDS WATCHES THE SOLDIER WATCHING HIMSELF IN THE MIRROR. THE AUDIENCE WATCHES A MAN WATCHING A MAN WATCHING; THEN SYMONDS DRAWS A CURTAIN OVER THE AREA WITH SOLDIER AND TURNS BACK TO THE PODIUM
- For the first time
- I shared a bed
- with one so ardently desired.
- He was a very nice fellow
- as it turned out:
- comradely and natural,
- regarding the affair
- from a business-like
- and reasonable point of view.
- For him
- it involved nothing unusual,
- nothing shameful;
- and his simple attitude,
- the not displeasing vanity
- with which he viewed
- his own physical attractions,
- and the genial sympathy
- with which he met
- the passion they aroused,
- taught me something
- about illicit sexual relations
- I had never before conceived.
- Instead of yielding to any brutal impulse,
- I thoroughly enjoyed
- the close vicinity
- of that splendid
- naked
- piece of manhood.
- Then I made him clothe himself,
- sat and smoked and talked with him,
- and felt,
- at the end of the whole transaction,
- that some of the deepest moral problems
- might be solved
- by fraternity.
- Within the sphere
- of that lawless, godless place,
- human relations --
- affections,
- reciprocal toleration,
- decencies of conduct,
- asking and yielding --
- concession and abstention --
- find a natural expression:
- perhaps more
- than in the sexual relations
- consecrated by middle-class matrimony.
- Meanwhile,
- I was giving my lectures.
- Very dull lectures they were,
- for my soul was not in them;
- my soul throbbed for the soldier,
- for escape
- from that droning lecture desk
- into a larger, keener existence.
- Little did I care
- what the gentlemen in frock coats
- and ladies in bonnets
- thought of my lectures.
- I knew
- the real arena was not
- in the theatre of disputations
- and explications of theories.
- It lay in a world each penetrates
- when the voice of the lecturer
- is no more heard
- in the theatre.
- SYMONDS TURNS AND JOINS SOLDIER, BEHIND CURTAIN. LIGHTS UP ON WHITMAN, WHO STEPS UP TO THE PODIUM SYMONDS HAS VACATED: THE VOICE OF THIS LECTURER IS HEARD IN THE THEATER
- TITLE: 3 Walt Whitman, "It is to the development"
WHITMAN:
- It is to the development,
- identification,
- and general prevalence
- of that fervid comradeship,
- the adhesive love
- of man and man
- at least rivaling
- the amative love
- of man and woman,
- if not going beyond it,
- that I look
- for the counterbalance
- to our materialistic,
- vulgar
- American democracy,
- and for the spiritualization thereof.
- Many will say
- it is a dream,
- and will not follow my inferences;
- but I confidently expect a time
- when there will be seen,
- running like a half-hid warp
- through all the myriad
- worldly interests of America,
- threads of manly friendship,
- fond and loving,
- pure and sweet,
- strong and life-long,
- carried to degrees
- hitherto unknown --
- not only giving tone
- to individual character,
- making it unprecedently emotional,
- muscular,
- heroic,
- and refined,
- but having the deepest relation
- to general politics.
- I say democracy infers
- such loving comradeship,
- as its most inevitable twin,
- without which
- it will be incomplete,
- in vain,
- and incapable
- of perpetuating itself.
- LIGHTING/MOOD CHANGE
- SCENE TITLE: 4 Walt Whitman, "City of Orgies"
SPEAKER 1:
- give me now libidinous joys only!
SPEAKER 2:
- Give me the drench of my passions!
SPEAKER 3:
- Give me life coarse and rank!
- WHITMAN JOINS HIS SPEAKERS
WHITEMAN:
- Today, I go consort with nature's darlings -- to-night too,
SPEAKER 1:
- I am for those who believe in loose delights,
SPEAKER 2:
- I share the midnight orgies of young men.
SPEAKER 3:
- I dance with the dancers, and drink with the drinkers,
SPEAKER 4:
- The echoes ring with our indecent calls,
WHITMAN:
- I take for my love some prostitute -- I pick out some low person for my dearest friend,
SPEAKER 1:
- He shall be lawless rude, illiterate,
SPEAKER 2:
- he shall be one condemned by others for deeds done;
SPEAKER 3:
- I will play a part no longer -- Why should I exile myself from my companions?
SPEAKER 4:
- o you shunned persons! I at least do not shun you,
WHITMAN:
- I come forthwith in your midst -- I will be your poet, I will be more to you than to any of the rest.
- EDWARD CARPENTER RESPONDS TO WHITMAN'S LAST LINES, INSPIRED. PHOTO OF CARPENTER MAY BE PROJECTED. HERE, CARPENTER IS 30-YEARS OLD
- SCENE TITLE: 5 Edward Carpenter, "There are many"
- CARPENTER INTRODUCES HIMSELF TO WHITMAN
CARPENTER:
- There are many here in England
- to whom your words
- have been the waking up to a new day.
- When I say "many"
- I do not mean a multitude
- (I wish I did)
- but many individuals
- each himself
- (or herself,
- for they are mostly women -fluid, courageous, tender)
- the centre of a new influence.
- Yesterday, there came
- (to mend my door)
- a young workman
- with the old divine light in his eyes,
- and perhaps,
- more than all,
- he has made me write to you.
- See,
- you have made the earth sacred for me.
- Because you have given me
- the ground for the love of men
- I thank you continually in my heart.
- (And others thank you
- though they do not say so.)
- For you have made men
- not ashamed
- of the noblest instinct of their nature.
- It is a pleasure to me
- to talk to you,
- for though I am a teacher,
- and speak publicly
- on issues of the day,
- there are many things
- I find it hard to say
- to anyone here.
WHITMAN:
- I wish to infuse myself among you:::till I see it common for you to walk hand in hand.
CARPENTER:
- Friend,
- you have so infused yourself
- that it is daily
- more and more possible
- for men to walk
- hand in hand
- over the whole earth.
- My work
- is to carry on
- what you have begun.
WHITMAN:
- TO CARPENTER
- The best of Carpenter
- is in his humanity:
- he was a university man,
- yet managed
- to save himself in time.
- So many university men
- sympathize with the struggle of the people
- but only see the battle from afar.
- Carpenter manages
- to stay in the middle of it.
- Carpenter is a radical of the radicals:
- a come-outer:
- one of the social fellows
- who stir up thought.
- He is a youngish man.
- What will come of his life
- is yet to be developed.
CARPENTER:
- On June 30, 1884,
- in the morning,
- I paid my last visit
- to Whitman's small house
- at 328 Mickle Street,
- in Camden, New Jersey.
- We had a long and intimate conversation.
- He was very friendly and affectionate:
- sat by the open window
- while he talked about his book.
WHITMAN:
- What lies behind Leaves of Grass
- is something that few,
- very few,
- one here and there,
- perhaps oftenest women,
- are at all in a position to seize.
- It lies behind almost every line; but concealed,
- studiedly concealed;
- some passages
- left purposely obscure.
- There is something in my nature
- furtive like an old hen!
- You see a hen
- wandering up and down a hedgerow,
- looking apparently unconcerned,
- but presently
- she finds a concealed spot,
- and furtively lays an egg,
- and comes away
- as though nothing had happened!
- That is how I felt
- in writing Leaves of Grass.
- I think there are truths
- which it is necessary
- to envelope
- or wrap up.
- TWO TRUTHS STEP FORWARD. THROUGHOUT THE NEXT EPISODE STAFFORD, CATTELL, AND WHITMAN MOVE AROUND EACH OTHER IN ANOTHER TRIANGULAR DANCE OF ATTRACTION AND RETREAT
- SCENE TITLE: 6 Walt Whitman, Harry Stafford, Ed Cattell, "The hour, night"
- PHOTO OF STAFFORD MAY BE PROJECTED. STAFFORD AND CATTELL INTRODUCE THEMSELVES TO WHITMAN
STAFFORD:
- Harry Stafford, eighteen-years-old.
CATTELL:
- Edward Cattell. Twenty-five.
STAFFORD TURNS AWAY FROM WHITMAN. CATTELL MOVES CLOSE TO WHITMAN AND KISSES HIM
WHITMAN:
- The hour, night.
- Ed Cattell and I
- at the front gate
- by the road.
- WHITMAN TURNS AWAY FROM CATTELL TO STAFFORD, WHO MOVES CLOSE TO WHITMAN
- Talk with Harry, gave him ring.
- WHITMAN GIVES HARRY RING: BRIDE AND GROOM TABLEAU. WHITMAN, PUTS HIS ARM AROUND STAFFORD, BOTH TURN STAGE FRONT; WHITMAN ADDRESSES JOHNSTON, INVISIBLE IN THE AUDIENCE IN FRONT OF THEM
- Thanks, my dear Johnston,
- for your invitation.
- to stay at your house.
- My (adopted) son,
- INDICATES STAFFORD
- a young man of eighteen,
- is with me now,
- sees to me,
- and occasionally transacts my business affairs;
- I feel somewhat at sea without him.
- Could I bring him with me,
- to share my room?
- WHITMAN, ARM STILL TIGHT AROUND STAFFORD, REFOCUSES ON JOHNSTON, IN AUDIENCE
- My dear Johnston, my nephew
- INDICATING STAFFORD
- and I when traveling
- always share the same room
- and the same bed,
- and would like best
- to do so there.
- I want to bring on a lot of my books --
- that is what my young man is for.
- WHITMAN SMILES CONTENTEDLY AT STAFFORD; STAFFORD SMILES BACK; THEN, WHITMAN TO HIMSELF
- Evening.
- Sitting in room,
- had serious inward revelation
- about Harry.
- Saw clearly what it really meant.
- Happy and satisfied
- that this may last now
- without any more perturbation.
- WHITMAN TURNS TO CATTELL
- Ed, Don't . . .
- Do not call on me
- any more
- at the Stafford family,
- and do not call there at all
- any more.
- Don't ask me why.
- There is nothing in it
- that I think I do wrong,
- nor am ashamed of,
- but I wish it
- kept entirely
- between you and me --
- As to Harry,
- you know how I love him.
- Ed,
- you too
- have my unalterable love,
- and always shall have.
- I want you to come up here.
- When will you come?
- WHITMAN TURNS TO STAFFORD WHO SITS PRACTICING HIS WRITING. WHITMAN SITS OPPOSITE, READING -- A HAPPY PAIR
STAFFORD:
- It is now a fine evening,
- with an occasional gust of wind,
- and the moon at times
- shines out brightly.
- Mr. Whitman and I
- are sitting here
- in the room together;
- he is reading The New York Herald,
- and I am writing these lines
- for exercise
- for exercise.
- STAFFORD REFOCUSES
- It is a beautiful morning
- and you and I
- are feeling well and hearty.
- My friend and I,
- he says,
- have had a happy night and morning.
- LIGHTING/MOOD CHANGE; STAFFORD JUMPS UP, POUNDS WRITING TABLE IN ANGER
- It makes me feel so bad,
- Walt,
- to think how we spent
- the last day or two;
- and all for my temper.
- I will have to controle it
- or it will send me to the states prison
- or some other bad place.
- I know how I have served you
- on many ocassions before.
- I know it is my falt
- not yours.
- Can you forgive me
- and take me back
- and love me the same?
- I will try
- by the grace of God
- to do better.
- I cannot give you up.
- You may say
- I don't care for you,
- but I do,
- I think of you
- all the time,
- I want you to come up tomorrow night.
- I hope you will not disappoint me.
- You are all the true friend I have,
- and when I cannot have you
- I will go away someware,
- I don't know where.
WHITMAN:
- TO STAFFORD
- Not a day or night passes,
- Harry,
- but I think of you.
- Dear son,
- how I wish you could come in now,
- even but for an hour
- and take off your coat,
- and sit down in my lap.
- I want to see the creek again
- and I want to see you,
- my darling son.
STAFFORD:
- TO WHITMAN
- I will be up to see you on Thursday
- to stay all night with you,
- don't want to go to any bars then,
- want to stay in
- and talk with you,
- when I sar you,
- did not get time
- to say anything to you,
- did not have time
- to say scarcely anything.
- I want to get up to see you
- and have a good time
- for I can't let myself out here
- they are too nice for that.
WHITMAN:
- TURNS FROM STAFFORD TO CATTELL
- Meetings --
- Ed Cattell
- by the pond
- at Kirkwood moonlight nights.
STAFFORD:
- DEMANDING WHITMAN'S ATTENTION
- I want you to have some place to go
- when I come down,
- some place where there is plenty of girls,
- I want to have some fun
- when I come down this time.
- STAFFORD IMPULSIVELY STRIPS OFF HIS SHIRT, READYING HIMSELF FOR WRESTLING
- The fun I had last night
- was with a fellow
- that has been thinking for a long time
- he could throw me,
- so last night
- him and I came together
- and down he went.
- STAFFORD WRESTLES WITH ANOTHER BARE-CHESTED YOUNG MAN, THE IMAGE IS THAT IN A THOMAS EAKINS PAINTING; THE WRESTLERS FORM BRIEF, MOTIONLESS EMBRACE; THEN, STAFFORD TRIUMPHS, WRESTLERS BREAK APART. STAFFORD PUTS ON HIS SHIRT)
- When I am not thinking of my business
- I am thinking of what I am shielding,
- I want to try to make a man of myself,
- and do what is right.
- WHITMAN TURNS AWAY FROM STAFFORD, REFOCUSING ON CATTELL
WHITMAN:
- Edward Cattell with me.
STAFFORD:
- DEMANDING WHITMAN'S ATTENTION
- I was very lonely Saturday night,
- I wanted to come up to see you.
- WHITMAN TURNS AWAY FROM CATTELL, REFOCUSES ON STAFFORD
- I wish you would
- put the ring on my finger again,
- it seems to me
- there is something wanting
- to complete our friendship.
- I have tride to study it out
- but cannot find out what it is.
- You know how you put it on --
- there was one thing
- to part it from me
- and that was death.
- I wish you would put the ring on my finger again.
- WHITMAN TURNS AWAY FROM STAFFORD TO CATTELL, WHO SPEAKS TO HIM AFFECTIONATELY
CATTELL:
- i was glad to har from you
- my loving old friend.
- i would com up to see you.
- But i cant get off a day now
- we ar so Bisse Husking Corn.
- i went to the pond to day
- and seen your old chir
- floting down the streem.
- I think of you old man.
- Think of the time
- down on the Creek.
- It seems an age
- since I last met with you
- down at the pond
- and a lovely time
- we had of it too
- old man.
- I would like to see you
- and have a talk.
- Would like to com up some Saterday
- and stay all night with you.
- i love you Walt
- and all ways will.
- i know my love is returned too.
- WHITMAN STAYS FOCUSED ON CATTELL. STAFFORD SPEAKS TO WHITMAN, DEMANDING HIS ATTENTION
STAFFORD:
- I cannot enjoy myself
- any more at home,
- WHITMAN TURNS FROM CATTELL TO STAFFORD
- if I go up in my room
- I always come down feeling worse,
- for the first thing I see
- is your picture,
- PHOTO OF WHITMAN MAY BE PROJECTED
- and whenever I do anything,
- the picture
- is always looking at me,
- STAFFORD PUTS ON WHITE SLOUCH HAT
- I have been thinking
- about fifty times
- since you spoke of it
- of the suit of clothes
- I am to have
- like yours;
- I have had myself all picture out
- with a suit of gray
- and a white slouch hat on --
- the fellows will call me Walt then.
- I will have to do something
- great and good
- in honor of his name.
- What will it be?
- LIGHTS ON WHITMAN, WHO ADDRESSES STAFFORD
WHITMAN:
- My darling boy,
- I want to see you very much.
STAFFORD:
- Times have become settled,
- and our love sure
- (although we have had
very many rough times together)
- but we have stuck to each other
- until we die,
- I know.
WHITMAN:
- 62-YEARS-OLD; REMINISCING
- The occasional ridiculous little storms of the past
- I have quite discarded from memory --
- and I hope you will too --
- the other recollections
- overtop them altogether,
- and occupy the only permanent place in my heart --
- as a manly loving friendship for you does also,
- and will while life lasts.
- Of the past I think only
- of the comforting things --
- I go back to the times at Timber Creek
- beginning most five years ago,
- and my hobbling down the old lane
- and how I took a good turn there
- and commenced to get healthier,
- stronger.
- Hank,
- if I had not known you--
- if it hadn't been for you
- and our friendship
- and my going down there summers
- to the creek with you --
- and living with your folks,
- and cheering me up --
- I should not be a living man today --
- I remember these things
- and they comfort me --
- and you,
- my darling boy,
- are the central figure of them all.