Scene 20
The Hills over Hyres / Margaret & RLS are taking a walk
Cummy
Ooo – that certainly hurts the calves – its like hiking up three Leith Walks in a row – how are you feelin
RLS
I’m fine – I feel strong – we are like two soldiers, aren’t we, marching off to battle
Cummy
We are, indeed, fighting for the good honest Scottish kirk & its outstanding psalmody – this land is certainly not god-fearing
RLS
I’m afraid of God
Cummy
& so you should be – I mean, come & sit here a moment – just smell the wild thyme – & then look at this wonderful view – all created by the master’s hand – & all such a perfect blend, created on the second day, for as the good book says;
And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.
RLS
On which day did he make the animals
Cummy
That will be the fifth & the sixth days – on the fifth he made the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky, then on the next day he made all the animals who live on the land
RLS
Including the giraffe
Cummy
Yes, all the animals
RLS
It’s such a silly animal, his neck is so long
RLS
Well, that is because God wanted them to eat the tallest leaves in the tress – he has thought of everything
RLS
God is a very clever man
Cummy
Not a man, but a spirit, Lewey – & I hope very much when the time come in my lifetime when world will once again become like the garden of the lord
RLS
You really do love God, don’t you – I mean, I love him, but I don’t think I love him as much as you do
Cummy
That will come, I hope, but I’ve never enjoyed such nearness to god as I’m doing now – I feel as if I’m on the verge of the eternal world
RLS
Can I come with you, I want to go there
Cummy
Of course you can – do you know, young man, I am more in love with you than ever now we are together in a foreign land – the heather is not quite as that of our native country, neither so golden nor so beautiful, it is not the broom of the Cowdenknowes, but it is fine enough
RLS
It is very beautiful – I think I would like to come back here one day, when I’m all grown up
Enter the adult RLS watching the scene unfold
Cummy
Perhaps you shall, young man, the world is a very big place, & despite my… grumblings, I must be honest, this view is quite spectacular & it is a joy to see more of the Lord’s creation – but don’t tell your parents I’m softening to the trip
RLS
I promise
Cummy
Ah – you’re a good boy
They cuddle up & gaze on the view
Scene 21
The garden of La Solitude / it is evening / Fanny is working / enter RLS
Fanny
Ah, you’re back – how was your work
RLS
Inspiring – the mountains are wide awake today – so much life – I even revisited a spot I first attended many years ago, with Cummy, I could even see my younger self & her – like a married couple – but, of course, you are my true wife
Fanny
I do love you very much
RLS
I mean look – this garden, this house, this life, our love has made this happen – we are bless’d
Fanny
Seven years & counting darling
RLS
Seven years, is that right, well I love you better than ever – I cannot think what I have done to deserve such happiness – & you make a far better person of me – here, in Hyeres, this year, is the happiest I have felt in my entire life
Fanny
There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being happy. By being happy we sow anonymous benefits upon the world.
RLS
I believe our marriage has been the most successful in the world – you are everything – wife, brother, sister, daughter & the dearest of companions
Fanny
Well, we are all travellers in the wilderness of this world, my love, and the best we can find in our travels is an honest friend
RLS
I would not change you for a goddess or a saint
Fanny
Nor you, darling, & this charming spot has really work’d wonders for your health- you have gain’d flesh, strength, spirits, eat well, walk a good deal, work completely without fatigue
RLS
One cannot help but be inspir’d by this voraciously fascinating place – at night, when the moon is out the, these plumed blue trees that hang trembling, become the very breath of paradise
Fanny
& the stars, don’t forget the stars
RLS
Ah – the Kosmos – incommensurable suns & worlds in a vastness of its space, imponderable zones of abstract speculation, upon which I ponder only one truth – that is the love I have for my wife
Fanny
Aah
RLS
I have even written you a poem on my walk
Fanny
You have
RLS
Yes, I have memorized it, would you like to hear
Fanny
Please
MY WIFE
My Wife Trusty, dusky, vivid, true,
With eyes of gold and bramble-dew,
Steel-true and blade-straight,
The great artificer Made my mate.
Honour, anger, valour, fire;
A love that life could never tire,
Death quench or evil stir,
The mighty master Gave to her.
Teacher, tender, comrade, wife,
A fellow-farer true through life,
Heart-whole and soul-free
The august father Gave to me.
Fanny
Ahh – absolutely divine, you speak with the dialect of your soul
RLS
As is my wife – I am truly the bondslave & the zealot of our love
{they embrace}
By the way, another thing of interest occur’d on the walk
Fanny
Yes
RLS
A new title – for my Penny Whistles – it cxame to me when I saw my younger self in the hills – how does A Child’s Garden of Verses sound?
Fanny
Perfect, yes
RLS
I hope to have Kate Greenaway or Randolph Caldecott illustrate it, & I will be dedicating the book to Cummy
Fanny
Cummy? Your mother might not be happy
RLS
Well – Cummy has had the most trouble & the least thanks – it will please her I’m sure, & lighten a little my burthen of ingratitude – in place of a great many things that I might have said & that I ought to have done to prove I am not altogether unconscious of the great debt of gratitude I owe her
Enter Sam & Valentina dress in carnival costumes
Sam
Well hello
RLS
Oh my word, what the devil
Sam
It is La Carnival, where are your costumes
Fanny
Oh – the carnival
Valentina
Oui, madame Stevenson – it is, eh, a big tradition in this country – there are many, eh, floats is the word, le défilé est spectaculaire
RLS
We will be coming – we shall meet you down in the square – you kids go & have fun – don’t get too drunk
Valentina
D’accord – see you soon
Exit Sam & Valentina
Fanny
Well let us betake ourselves in the spirit of the times & I guess we had better get changed – you’ll want a bath after your walk – freshen up beforehand
Slowly RLS & Fanny arm-in-arm
RLS
Yes – are you in the mood for a spot of dancing
Fanny
Always, darling, the Russians have a genius for novels, the Italians painting, the English poetry, the Germans opera, but for we Americans, our genius is the dance floor
Scene 22: Hyeres, the Place de la Republique
The carnival is in full swing – all the cast arrive on stage for the final number in various masques & disguises including a Harlequin, a Pulcinella, Colombine (Harlequin’s lover), the Captain (a soldier who’s boastful, yet cowardly) and Pierrot (a dreamer and a clown) – there is an effigy of Monsieur Carnival which is burnt
LA CARNIVAL
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
Bang on the cymbal
& give the signal
To open the ball
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
A Pulcinella
That isn’t dancing
Waits for his pretty one
To give him an arm.
Zim and boom and tara ta ta
Zim and boom, let’s dance the polka.
Zim and boom and tara ta ta tonight
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
& poor Colombine
Now has a happy heart
Her Harlequin
Is at the ball tonight
Zim and boom and tara ta ta
Zim and boom, let’s dance the polka.
Zim and boom and tara ta ta tonight
La vie est un carnaval
Et selon que tout va bien ou mal
Nous voici à chaque instant du jour
Différents aux bruits de nos amours
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
La Carnival
When the dancing is over
Let us love one another
For La Carnival
Yes, La Carnival
Oh la Carnival
Is the day we all adore
Scene 23
Edinburgh, an older Cummy is at home reading – there is a knock at the door / it is the postman
Postman
Good morning – a parcel for you, from France
France, oh, well thank you very much
Enjoy your day
Exit Postman / Cummy opens the parcel, it is the Child’s Garden of Verses / she opens it up / the older RLS comes on stage holding the younger RLS’s hand
FROM HER BOY
For the long nights you lay awake
And watched for my unworthy sake:
For your most comfortable hand
That led me through the uneven land:
For all the story-books you read:
For all the pains you comforted:
For all you pitied, all you bore,
In sad and happy days of yore:–
My second Mother, my first Wife,
The angel of my infant life—
From the sick child, now well and old,
Take, nurse, the little book you hold!
And grant it, Heaven, that all who read
May find as dear a nurse at need,
And every child who lists my rhyme,
In the bright, fireside, nursery clime,
May hear it in as kind a voice
As made my childish days rejoice!
The Conchordia Folio 