Juliet

Dancing freely through life

I’m as free as a bird.
Lammas Day doth approach though
And I’m not as free as the bird I used to be.

My mother speaks of marriage
How do I respond?
I speak politely, looking to please
Nurse is excited!
It can’t be all that bad

Torches burn, laughing people,
Their visages hidden by colorful masks.
My world spins as my mother makes
The introductions to this wealthy bachelor.

We spin through the room, courtly dancing away
Something is not right, this man is charming
But my vision blurs as I see a future,
A future filled with traditional responsibilities
That do not speak to me.

As I muddle through these visions
Have difficulty with words and feelings,
Everything stops.

And becomes clear.

I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light
I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.

To my greatest confidante
The stars
I tell my troubles and my woes.
What’s in a name?
Does Capulet or Montague
Mean anything to you?

Emerging from the darkness
My love declares himself
Not as a Montague, but as a faithful pilgrim
Come to worship his dear saint


We exchange vows of love
The moon our only witness
But the magic of night is broken
By the calling of reality


I come, anon! Good night
Good night.
You are the one.
I know it’s true, marry me tomorrow
And perhaps this world of hate,
Will finally make some sense.


As we part, we both know
That sweet, sweet sorrow for
Morning has almost come.
The Nurse babbles on and on

But this life is starting to make some sense for


I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light
I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.


My Nurse is at the town square
To seek out my Romeo
O, she is lame! She takes forever
To return a simple message of yes or no

Finally she doth approach
Wearied and breathing heavy
I press for an answer, and she feigns
Her maladies of a beating head and aching back

A husband doth await me at the Friar’s cell!
Eagerly I make my way through the streets of Verona
To be made a wife.
But I start to doubt myself,
What if he doesn’t see in me what he saw last night?

One moment in his presence and I know
That isn’t true.
An embrace of trust and love
With vows written by our ghostly confessor
Do incorporate two in one.



I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light
I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.

Gallop, O, gallop apace you fiery footed steeds!
Bring me the moon. Bring me the stars.
Bring me the velvety blanket of darkness
To conceal my love and I.


My nurse has gone to fetch the rope for my Romeo
To ascend my chamber this night.
She returns with news
However she wrings her hands, and cries!

Death! He’s dead! Deceased! He’s dead!
Is all the news she gives me.
Can heaven be so envious?
To whisk away my Romeo so soon?

But alas, this storm yet blows contrary
She yells out Tybalt’s name, my cousin!
Who? Who is dead?
I shake her hands, scream at her to clarify

Tybalt dead.
His blood shed by Romeo!
Romeo banished, banished.
Romeo is banished.
My tears flow quickly;
Nurse assures me he will come tonight
But can never dare to come hereafter.


I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light
I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.

The sunrise is an unwelcome beacon
Signaling that our night of ecstasy is over
O, it must be the nightingale that sings; no lark.
I lay my head on his warm chest
His heartbeat drums in my ear.
The rhythmic sound awakens me fully
It is! It is the lark that sings so out of tune.

Farewell my love!
O God, I have an ill-diving soul,
Methinks I see thee, now that thou art below
As one dead in the bottom of a tomb.
Be safe, my love, I will always be with you--

Daughter, are you up? The call of reality,
Wakes me from my dreamy midnight world.
My mother calls my Romeo a villain
She will never understand

She speaks again and again of joy
I ask my lady what she means.
Early Thursday morn
At Saint Peter’s Church the wealthy bachelor
Will wed me, rain or shine.

The misty morning of love and dew
Now breaks into a stormy tempest in my head
I rage and blow,
Yell unyieldingly so the whole world can hear
That Romeo is the one I would marry
As this hateful world comes crashing down.

I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.


Good Father, listen
Proud can I never be of what I hate.
But thankful,
Even for hate, that is meant love.
Listen to me! I’m on my knees!
O, how you rage at me!
Speaking with unknown hate.

O, sweet my mother! Listen to me!
No, you will not, you leave me to my tears.
I know you fear your husband. See, I do not want that life!
Nurse, oh, Nurse, how shall this be prevented?

This world of hate, I see it has corrupted even you, Nurse.
You think I should marry Paris, the wealthy bachelor
Well, you have comforted me marvelous much!
But I’ll not be hit by the cupid’s arrow
That my parents fire at me.

I run to Friar Laurence, and seek his remedy
There in his cell, an unwelcome visitor greets me
With a glowing smile and a holy kiss on the cheek,
Paris says I’ll be his wife.

Revolted by his desire of me, I fall to my knees.
Friar, tell me not to marry this man,
This man who will carry on the unknown hate
Please tell me what to do;
For if all else fails, myself have power to die.

I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.


The tempest clears for one brief minute
As the friar lays his plan, a plan of death
Death for twenty four hours, then I shall awake
And my Romeo will be there
To greet my blue eyes, vibrant once again.

I go home and consent to marry Paris
Armed with my vial of sleeping potion
My parents treat me once again
As their little sparrow, trapped in their cage of tradition

I lie in bed and awful images
Storm in my head of the tomb where I am to be laid.
What if this potion is my death?
Or shall I be married tomorrow morn?

No, no, a dagger shall prevent that
I myself have power to die
But again night spirits rage around me
Tormenting my every thought
And there, look! Methinks I see my cousin’s ghost!

Bloody Tybalt seeking out my Romeo
Burdened with a rapier spit through him
Stay, Tybalt, Stay!
O, Romeo I come.
I will save you, please, let me save you.
This do I drink to thee.

I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.


All is quiet. Deathly quiet.
My cold limbs stir as breath flows into my lungs once more.
I feel the unfriendly stone tomb beneath me
As I turn and see a familiar face.
It is the Friar, come to watch me wake.

O, where is my lord, my love, my Romeo?
I remember well where I should be,
And there I am, in Capel’s Monument.
Where is my love, my Romeo?

No.
No, it can’t be true.
My handsome love grips a vial,
A vial of poison.
No pretty trick.


I thought I felt empty before
And lost—hah!
Now it’s as if I have been
Released to some barren island
Filled with demons to torture me for the rest of my life

O, churl! You did not leave one drop of poison
To take me with you to your paradise?
I will kiss thy lips, haply some poison yet doth
Hang on them to make me die.

O, thy lips are warm!
I scream in frustration
All is done. All is lost.
There is no life here for me
Without my Romeo

A happy dagger glints
On my true love’s hip.
The watch is coming,
I hear their calls.
I will make this quick

O, happy dagger,
This is thy sheath
I point the blade towards my pain
The pain, the grief, deep inside

One thrust, and the pain is gone
The emptiness has been purged
With a stroke of steel.
There rust,
And let me die.

I curl up next to my love
As we once did to the song of the nightingale
I caress his shoulder one last time
And let myself go with him
Go to that eternal paradise
Where unknown hate
Is turned to pure love.

I’m not the bird I used to be
Trapped in a cage of responsibilities
Now filled with light I’m flying free.
Palm to palm we shared a sonnet
And this hate we’re supposed to feel,
Darling, it’s just not right.
O, Darling, it’s just not right.