Amazing Journey

Passion

(Fosca enters. She carries some books and approaches her empty place setting with an uncertain gait)
Fosca	Captain ...
(Giorgio sees her and is momentarily stunned. Clara exits. Fosca gives a nervous smile as the orchestra resumes, playing the piano music. Giorgio quickly rises. Fosca speaks, in rhythm to the music; her voice is lovely and elegant, but melancholy)
Fosca	I hope I didn't startle you.
Giorgio	Not at all. Signora Ricci, I'm Captain Bachetti -
Fosca	(simultaneously) - Bachetti. I know. My cousin has told me all about you. I came to thank you for the books. I would have sooner, but I've been so ill.
Giorgio	Well, now you seem to be feeling more normal.
Fosca	Normal? I hardly think so. Sickness is normal to me as health is to you. Forgive me. I shouldn't speak of my troubles. I've been going through a period of deep melancholy.
(There is an awkward moment of silence as Adriana enters and pours Fosca a cup of coffee. As she leaves, the music becomes low and intense.) *I Read*
Fosca	I so enjoyed the novel by Rousseau.
Giorgio	It's wonderful. My favorite, really.
Fosca	The character of Julie is a great mystery.
Giorgio	You should have kept the book longer to meditate over.
Fosca	I do not read to think. I do not read to learn. I do not read to search for truth I know the truth, the truth is hardly what I need. I read to dream. I read to live. In other people's lives. I read about the joys, the world Dispenses to the fortunate, And listen for the echoes. I read to live, To get away from life! No, captain, I have no illusions. I recognize the limits of my dreams. I know how painful dreams can be Unless you know they're merely dreams. There is a flower which offers nectar at the top, Delicious nectar at the top and bitter poison underneath. The butterfly that stays too long and drinks too deep Is doomed to die. I read to fly, to skim - I do not read to swim. I do not dwell on dreams. I know how soon a dream becomes an expectation How can I have expectations? Look at me. No, captain, look at me - Look at me! I do not hope for what I cannot have! I do not cling to things I cannot keep! The more you cling to things, the more you love them, The more the pain you suffer when they're taken from you ... Ah, but if you have no expectations, You can never have a disappointment. Forgive me. I must be mad to chatter on about myself like this to you.


Giorgio	I assure you -
Fosca	No, forgive me, please ...
Giorgio	But truly, there is nothing to forgive -
Fosca	Have you explored the town? It is remote, isn't it? And provincial, don't you think?
Giorgio	Yes.
Fosca	And everything so brown: The streets, the fields, the river even, Though there are some lovely gardens. You do like gardens, I hope?
Giorgio	Yes.
Fosca	Good, I can show you gardens. And then of course there is the castle. The ruined castle.
Giorgio	Ah.
Fosca	I find it lovely. Probably because it's ruined, I suppose.
Giorgio	I didn't know there was a castle.
Fosca	I like to take excursions there - When I'm in better health. Perhaps you join me and my cousin One day ...
Giorgio	That would be delightful. I don't believe I've seen a flower or a garden since the day I arrived.
(Fosca suddenly gets up and slowly leaves the room. Confused, Giorgio rises and, after she has gone, takes his books and begins to leave. We hear the distant sound of field drums, muffled, funeral. Fosca, just as unexpectedly, returns, carrying a small bunch of flowers, which she offers to Giorgio without a word)
Giorgio	How very kind.
Fosca	(Crossing to the window) I'm surprised you haven't noticed our wonderful greenhouse.
Giorgio	Greenhouse?
Fosca	They've had no luck with the vegetables but the gardenias and petunias are magnificent.
Giorgio	And to think how many times I've passed that building and not taken notice. Oh look. There's a hearse drawing up - it must be for flowers to adorn the casket. (Fosca stiffens and steps back, drawing her hand to her mouth, her eyes staring) It's good to know that the dead here - (Fosca begins to tremble) Signora? (Fosca lets out a terrible cry and collapses on the floor. Giorgio bends over her.) Doctor! Doctor !Help!
(Two female attendants and the Doctor rush in and reach her. Giorgio steps back, staring helplessly as they carry her off) *Transition*
Giorgio	How can I describe her? The wretchedness, God, the wretchedness And the suffering, the desperation Of that poor unhappy creature - The embarrassment, Clara. Looking at that lonelyness, Listening to all that self-pity ...
Soldiers	The town - It is remote, isn't it? And provincial, don't you think? And everything so brown: The streets, the fields, the river even. Of course there is the castle, The ruined castle ...
Scene Three The castle garden. The Colonel, the Doctor and Fosca enter and stroll through the garden down to Giorgio; music continues underneath. *Garden Sequence*
Doctor	Ah, look at how they've let this garden go.
Colonel	This is not Milan, Doctor.
Doctor	I'm all too well aware of that.
Fosca	I think it's rather beautiful.
Doctor	For these parts, maybe ...
Colonel	Doctor, may I have a word with you?
Doctor	Certainly.
Colonel	Captain Bachetti, would you lend my cousin your arm? I wish to have a word with the Doctor.
Giorgio	Of course.
Fosca	I do know how to walk. My cousin treats me like I'm a child.
Giorgio	All the while as we strolled, Clara -
Fosca	I hope I didn't frighten you the other day.
Giorgio	No, not at all. I could see you reading my letter. All the while as we strolled -
Fosca	I'm not afraid of death. I rather think I'd welcome dying. It's everything that follows that I dread: being shut up in a coffin, smothered in the earth, turning into dust. These images send me into a state of terror.
Giorgio	All I saw, all I knew. All that I could think of was you. (Clara enters, reading a letter)
Fosca	Even talking of this makes me ... (Momentarily, Giorgio fears she will suffer another attack)
Giorgio	There is always the hope that you will get better.
Clara	All that I could think of was you
Fosca	Hope in my case is in rather short supply.
Clara	How ridiculous -
Giorgio	Well, then one must look to life for whatever pleasures it can offer.
Fosca	And what might they be?
Clara	To be looking at her
Giorgio	Helping others, for example.
Fosca	Helping others!
Clara	And be thinking of you.
Fosca	I have worked in poorhouses, Captain.
Clara	How could anyone
Fosca	I felt no different.
Clara	So unbeautiful
Fosca	Pity is nothing but passive love.
Clara	Stir my memory of you?
Fosca	Dead love.
Clara	To feel a woman's touch
Giorgio	To touch a woman's hand,
Clara	Reminded me how much I long to be with you, How long I've been without you near
Giorgio	And then to hear a woman's voice
Clara	To hold a woman's arm To feel a woman's touch ...
Giorgio	These thoughts are bad for you. Concentrate on everything around you that suggests life. These trees, these flowers, the warm smell of the air -
Fosca	You make it sound so simple Captain. As if a flower or a tree could somehow make one happy.
Clara	Perhaps it was the dress, the fragrance of her dress,
Giorgio	The light perfume of silk That's warm from being in the sun That mingles with a woman's own perfume
Clara	The fragrance of a woman ...
Giorgio	There is no absolute happiness in anyone's life, Signora. The only happiness we can be certain of is love.
Clara	The garden filled with you -
Fosca	Are you speaking of friendship? That kind -
Giorgio	I'm speaking of a superior kind of love -
Clara	And all that I could do, because of you,
Giorgio	The kind between two people.
Clara	Was talk of love -
Fosca	Two people ...
Giorgio	Yes. (Giorgio sings to Fosca as Clara continues to sing the letter)
Clara, Giorgio	- Love that fills every waking moment, Love that grows every single day, Love that thinks everything is pure, Everything is beautiful Everything is possible
Clara	Love that fuses two into one, Where we think the same thoughts,
Giorgio	Love the same things
Clara, Giorgio	Live as one.
Giorgio	Feel as one.
Clara, Giorgio	Breathe as one
Clara	Love that shuts away the world
Giorgio	Love that shuts away the world
Clara	That envelops my soul,
Giorgio	That envelops your soul,
Clara	That ennobles my life
Giorgio	Your life
Both	Love that floods Every living moment, Love like -
Clara	- ours
Fosca	Love like -?
Giorgio	- like wine. An intoxication. A great blindness, if you will.
Fosca	Yes, I have read about that kind of love. But you speak as one who lives it. (Music stops. She stumbles slightly; Giorgio goes to aid her, but she pulls herself away) I don't feel well. I must go home.
Giorgio	I'm sorry
Fosca	You can be incredibly cruel, Captain.
Giorgio	Cruel?
Fosca	To speak to me of love - To dangle words like "Happiness" "Beautiful" "Superior" - You can't be that naive.
Giorgio	Forgive me. I didn't mean to speak..
Fosca	You with all your books Your taste, your sensivity I thought you'd understand. The others - well, they're all alike. Stupidity is their excuse, As ugliness is mine, But what is yours? I've watched you from my window. I saw you on the day that you arrived. Perhaps it was the way you walked The way you spoke to your men. I saw that you were different then. I saw that you were kind and good. I thought you'd understood. (Intensely) They hear drums You hear music As do I Don't you see? We're the same We are different, You and I are different. They hear only drums. All the time I watched from my room I would think of coming downstairs Thinking we'd meet, thinking you'd look at me Thinking you'd be repelled by what you saw. Don't reject me, don't deny me, Captain Understand me, be my friend. They hear drums, we hear music. Be my friend ... (Music under, fading)
Giorgio	(stunned) Yes. Of course. You have my friendship (Fosca grabs Giorgio's hand)
Fosca	Thank you, Captain.
Giorgio	Your hand is on fire.
Fosca	It's nothing. I have a fever. I always have fever. (The Colonel and Doctor approach)
Colonel	Shall we make our way towards the castle?
Giorgio	Signora Fosca is not feeling well. (The Colonel goes to her and takes her arm)
Colonel	I'm terribly sorry, my dear.
Fosca	(looking at Giorgio) I'll be fine now.
Colonel	Of course, but we should head back nonetheless.