by Ian Doescher
How it doth frighten me to see thee daz’d,
Though I do love thee that thou didst respond
With words of reassurance, hope, and care.
O, when I think upon our future life,
I quake at what I see in my mind’s eye.
No vision there of pleasure or delight,
Such comforts do escape my prophet’s view.
Instead, I sense but pain, confusion, dread—
But wherefore should this be when we have love?
Cannot love conquer any foe to come,
Or circumstance that ever we should face?
Do one and one not form a stronger two
Than either by itself alone could be?
Is love not, like the omnipresent Force,
That which surrounds us and doth bind us, too?
Why, then, am I afeard of what may come?
Remember, heart, what leisure we enjoy’d
When on Naboo our hearts were first entwin’d.
Recall, my soul, how steadfast were his eyes
When he did vow to be thy loyal mate.
Forget not, memory, how his embrace
Did quiet ev’ry worry of thy mind.
Yet what was once entwin’d may be in twain,
And love may wither under bitter weather.
This child, who now doth stir within my womb,
Who shall it grow to be when its time comes?
A royal babe, to lead a people strong,
Whose courage shall become a thing of tales?
Mayhap a poor wayfarer, who shall search
For purpose in the planets and the stars?
Perchance the child shall know profounder peace
Than ever its two parents did enjoy?
I cannot tell; its future is not writ
Upon the page where I may read its words.
Still, that strange sense doth echo in my core
That grief shall follow us in times to come.
O, Fate, I prithee, let it not be so:
Let not thy cords of life encompass us
As though to strangle ev’ry chance for bliss,
But rather knit a blanket sewn with hope
’Neath which we three may safely, haply rest:
Myself, mine Anakin, and our sweet babe.
Be still now, Padmé, gird thy courage fast,
And think upon the words of comfort that
Thy love did softly speak to thee e’en now.
Thy shocking news he answer’d with surprise,
Yet welcom’d he the unknown future days.
Try, then, to think upon what he did say,
And fret not over what, in time, may be.
’Tis harder in the doing than the speech,
For nerves shall fray though reason knoweth better.
O, Anakin, I’d heed thy words of cheer,
Except I saw, past them, a wisp of fear.
[Exit Padmé.
SCENE 3.
On the planet Utapau.
Enter GENERAL GRIEVOUS.
GRIEVOUS
If one shall speak of Grievous, let him say
That I a double-facèd villain am:
While outside I’m array’d with droidly steel,
A living creature’s heart doth beat within.
These natures two combine to make me strong—
Superior to humans by the parts
That are nigh indestructible indeed,
Superior to droids by sinews and
The rough-hewn flesh that giveth me my sense.
I am a specimen one in a thousand:
Behold what life may be when perfect ’tis,
The combination of the best of both
Technology and elements alike.
Would that the two within me did align—
Instead they seem to war for eminence:
The droid, the human, never quite at peace.
’Tis an infirmity I’ll ne’er disclose,
Although my vulgar cough e’er threatens to
Give voice unto my secret struggle, aye.
In time shall Grievous prove himself the best,
And give my Master, e’en Darth Sidious,
Full many reasons to grant me his trust,
To make me second only to himself.
Soft, now—for he doth come in cloak of light.
Enter DARTH SIDIOUS in beam.
My greetings unto thee, Lord Sidious.
SIDIOUS
Strong Gen’ral Grievous, I would have thee move
The leaders of the Sep’ratist Alliance
Far from thy current post: to Mustafar.
GRIEVOUS
It shall be done, my lord, with all due haste.
SIDIOUS
The war shall soon be ended, General.
GRIEVOUS
Is not Count Dooku, though, a painful loss?
SIDIOUS
His death was necessary to my plan—
A new apprentice shall I take anon,
One younger and, forsooth, more powerful.
When he is well and truly join’d to me,
Our strength and might unstoppable shall be.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 1.
On the planet Coruscant, in Padmé’s apartment.
Enter PADMÉ and ANAKIN SKYWALKER.
PADMÉ
O, Anakin, I’d have our child be born
Not here, where burthens press on ev’ry side,
But in Naboo, where sunlight greets the morn:
The sweet lake country where we three can hide,
Where none shall know about our offspring’s birth,
Where we three shall be safe from ev’ry strife,
Where we may show our child its ample worth,
Where we may offer it a peaceful life.
I could repair unto my planet first,
And make for our small babe an humble room—
Next to the gardens shall our child be nurs’d.
ANAKIN
With ev’ry moment, love, your flow’r doth bloom.
PADMÉ
Thou art the gardener who brings increase,
The tender of my soil who bringeth growth.
Within thy love my blossom is at peace,
And doth shoot forth upon mine Ani’s oath.
ANAKIN
Nay, thou for thine own beauty art the cause,
For thou are both the flower and the sun,
Which bringeth light, sans hesitance or pause,
And makes thee flourish such that thou dost stun.
My love is but the witness to this growth,
Mine heart is but observer to your beauty.
This love, this heart, they are for thee, yea, both—
Thou mayst command them unto any duty.
PADMÉ
If thou art witness only, art thou blind
To love whate’er grows in me sans thy reason?
ANAKIN
My words are far too simple for thy mind,
Thy loveliness hath put me out of season.
PADMÉ
Thy love may find in me an ample shade,
So thou, by my wit’s shining, art not burn’d.
And now, my dear, let us not be delay’d:
Unto our bed, till morning hath return’d.
[Exeunt.
Enter RUMOR.
RUMOR
A touching scene, which Rumor shall disturb.
Ne’er could these lovers guess at what shall come:
All blinded are they by their love superb—
Kindhearted, aye, but deaf to Rumor’s drum.
Indeed, I come, with beats to work them woe,
Night falls, wherein I play my warlike tune—
Haranguing Anakin with rhythms low,
Attacking him by light of fickle moon.
To make him fret, I’ll shake his pleasant dreams:
His heart shall move from worry to dismay,
Anon his moans and groans shall turn to s
creams,
Distraught his soul shall be ere comes the day.
Resourceful is this Rumor, for I shall—
E’en by his love for Padmé—bring him strife.
A dream of pain shall shake the youth’s morale,
Misguided thus, he’ll fall to save her life.
[Exit Rumor.
Enter ANAKIN SKYWALKER.
ANAKIN
What wroth, tormenting dreams this night I’ve had,
Strange visions of a horrid pain to come!
Yet not mine own pain—that I’d haply bear—
’Twas Padmé who did writhe with shrieks and screams,
Whilst calling out my name in fear and hurt.
O, how her cries sent chills into my heart,
And still do echo there as though were real.
When sleep is anguish-laden, mercy ’tis
To wake and find ’twas but a mare of night
A’riding o’er my sleep with vicious hooves
And trampling any rest I hop’d to find.
This evil courser, sent from hell’s own heart,
Rac’d o’er my mind to bring this foresight dire,
Then vanish’d from the ether whence it strode.
’Tis gone: the beast that plagued me was but spectral.
Yet I must not dismiss this steedlike sign,
It shall not gallop off, escape my mind:
I must consider what its coming means.
I am a Jedi Knight, and thus my dreams
May be some portent of a future time.
I’d not see this most heinous dream fall on
Mine enemy, much less belovèd Padmé:
It must not be my love’s reality.
Ne’er shall her waking moments troubled be
By this most dark and dismal vision—nay,
Not while I have my life and health and strength.
I shall undo the omen by which she,
My gentle Padmé, else would be undone.
Yea, I shall find the secret that shall turn
This wretched, dreary charger into wind:
A memory that passeth in the night
And bringeth no more terror than the air.
Come, wakefulness, and let me conquer pain—
Come, day, and make me master over death.
Enter PADMÉ.
PADMÉ
What troubl’d thoughts have ta’en thee from my bed?
What worry pulls thee out of sleep’s embrace?
ANAKIN
’Tis naught that should perturb thy comely head,
Nor wake thee from thy warm, soft resting place.
[He looks at the pendant around Padmé’s neck.
I do recall when I did give this thee,
It seems an ’twere a thousand seasons since.
PADMÉ
O, Anakin, how long till we may be
Completely honest with our words, my prince?
ANAKIN
True, chuck, I cannot hide myself with lies,
So I must tell you what hath come by night:
A fearsome dream my soul doth so despise,
Which seem’d so real it gave my soul a fright.
’Twas like the nightmares I was wont to dream
Full many years ago, about my mother,
Ere she did die; I’d wake with dread and scream.
Tonight ’twas not of her, but of another;
Thou, Padmé, wert the vision I did see.
PADMÉ
Unfold the tale to me, so it may pass.
ANAKIN
’Twas but some Force-forsaken reverie,
Yet I did see it clearly, as through glass.
Thou diest as thou to our child giv’st life;
E’en at the moment it is being born,
Thou art assail’d with misery and strife,
A woman ragged, desp’rate and forlorn.
PADMÉ
What of the babe, what didst thou see of it?
ANAKIN
I do not know, its fate I could not see.
PADMÉ
’Twas but a dream, ’tis not already writ.
ANAKIN
This dream shall never be reality.
I vow it, Padmé: ere the child arrives,
I’ll find a way to circumvent this path.
PADMÉ
One thing is sure: this babe shall change our lives.
The fair queen of Naboo, sans question, hath
No need for senators who are with child:
Belike she will no longer let me serve.
And by the Council thou shalt be revil’d:
Thou likely shalt be barr’d when they observe
That thou art father to my little tot.
The road we walk is fraught with pain to come.
ANAKIN
Thy words are true, yet they shall come to naught—
For wherefore would Fate weave a cord so glum?
PADMÉ
Dost thou think Obi-Wan could give us aid?
ANAKIN
We have no need of him; all shall be well.
Our baby is a blessing by us made:
No nightmare may the future’s hand compel.
[Exeunt.
SCENE 2.
On the planet Coruscant, in the Jedi temple.
Enter YODA and ANAKIN SKYWALKER.
YODA
Premonitions, hmm?
Thou hast had signs of future?
What, pray, hast thou seen?
ANAKIN
’Tis pain and grief mine inner eye beholds.
They are accompanied by death’s dark touch.
YODA
’Tis thy death thou seest?
Or, perchance, another one?
I prithee, speak on.
ANAKIN
Another person, someone I do know.
YODA
This other person,
Is it someone to thee close,
A most treasur’d friend?
ANAKIN
Forsooth, ’tis as you say, my Master wise.
YODA
Take thou greatest care
When ’tis the future thou art
Sensing, Anakin.
Worry about loss
A path to the dark side is
Of it be wary.
ANAKIN
These visions rank shall ne’er become the truth.
I’ll see to that, good Master Yoda, e’en
If I my noble training must forswear.
YODA
Death natural is:
To all who have life, it comes.
Stop it thou canst not.
Instead, be merry—
Rejoice with those transforming
Into the broad Force.
Mourn them, thou shouldst not.
Miss them, thou shouldst not as well.
’Tis the way of things.
When beset thou art
By attachment and clinging,
Jealous thou’lt become.
’Tis the dark shadow
Of greed rising before thee,
Falling o’er thy life.
ANAKIN
What must I do, then, Master Yoda? Speak!
YODA
Train thyself better:
Not to hold on, but let go
What thou fear’st to lose.
ANAKIN
I understand, and shall do as you say.
[Exit Anakin.
YODA
O, folly of youth,
Which spendeth ev’ry moment
In futile pursuits.
There ne’er was Jedi
But struggl’d with attachment:
Anakin is one.
Yet sorely fear I
His path doth lead toward doom,
Future agony.
Come, Force, him surround:
Enfold him around, beside,
Present to his need.
Be steadfast, constant
In his life variable—
Be a
stalwart Force.
And there mine hope ends.
No undue attachment shall
I form to the youth.
For I’d face the same
As that which he showeth me:
Jealousy and fear.
May it never be.
Force, guide me as him you guide:
To peace and wisdom.
[Exit Yoda.
Enter ANAKIN SKYWALKER and OBI-WAN KENOBI.
ANAKIN
Apologies, good sir, for I come late.
OBI-WAN
Thou wert not present so to hear report
Of all the sieges in the Outer Rim.
ANAKIN
I was by other matters sore delay’d.
For mine own tardiness there’s no excuse.
OBI-WAN
The long and short is they proceed apace,
And all goes well for our Republic there.
Saleucami hath fallen, Master Vos
Hath mov’d his troops unto Boz Pity.
ANAKIN
—Aye,
Then what is wrong, for I do sense some ill?
OBI-WAN
’Tis thought the Senate shall proceed anon
To vote more pow’rs executive unto
The chancellor today, e’en Palpatine.
ANAKIN
This doth but mean more action, less delay.
Do you think ’tis a problem? Surely not!
We sooner shall this awful war conclude.
OBI-WAN
Be cautious, Anakin, of Palpatine.
ANAKIN
Eh, wherefore cautious? What is it you mean?
OBI-WAN
He wills that thou shouldst meet him privately.
ANAKIN
But to what end?
OBI-WAN
—That secret he’d not tell.
ANAKIN
He kept the matter from the Council? Strange.
OBI-WAN
’Tis passing strange, this circumstance entire,
And maketh me uneasy in the height.
