Stage Scene: A Patriot

The following dialogue is an imaginative piece on a young man and old man conversing on the state of their country. Wrought with corruption, the old man wanst to fight for what the land has given him. While the young man disheartened by circumstances seeks a foreign land.

Enter a Young Man, Old Man

Young man:      Mischief; the air here is foul,

Thick with Larceny’s stench

So foul, flowers of Eden cannot

Hide the sham. Run hither, run thither,

The mind to limbs command;

Mischief is abound in this land.

 

Old man:           Run where, lad? Thirty autumns witnessed

Have I in this country,

Two offsprings I turned into men in this country,

Through mischief, through turmoil shall I live,

And what rusty limbs can perform,

Shall I give to mine country.

 

Young man:      Thou shalt perish for this land that

Promises thou nothing but a violent spring?

 

Old man:           Yea lad. Old age doth make one romance,

Not women, not cider; but one’s own land;

What harm to fight for a pleasant spring

Rather to flee, leaving kinsmen to an unkind one?

 

Young man:        Ha! Our country is nothing but

A beehive; where no more growth sweet honey,

But breeds Avarice’s larvae; growth into cocoon,

Then out flies Avarice in adulthood. Sharp stings

I hear doth they carry; Spare none that wander forth,

It spreads like the plague. The country, old man, is

Wrought with Avarice’s offsprings; What man

Can hope to hope in such land?

 

Old man:           The country is deemed extinct when the young

Lose faith. Wither away poor country!

Thy folk no longer believe, fight we must

This dark corruption! Brandish our will

And charge with valor! O Valor,

Where hast thou fled? Where the old must

Cowardly run away and the young revolt,

I see the contrary.

 

Young man:       To give up when we must. Thou

Walk the last paces of life, hence

Ye choose to fight for what thou had.

To foreign lands I must depart to seek

My life. Fight well, Sire. May thee find honor and glory.

 

Old man:           And so thou hast chosen the path.

What words I spoke , impact none,

But aye, I shall stay, I shall perform my bit.

Fare thee well.

                                 [Exuent all]