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♃ Conquer the Sky: A Play in Five Acts • Zeus/Hera
Conquer the Sky: A Play in Five Acts
Zeus/Hera
550 words • not actually a play • written for soxdamnxcute to the tune of Andrew Belle's The Ladder
Woe is me
Sentimental you and faithful me
And I will be the one to gaze on you discreetly
Slow your speed
Turn yourself around and follow me
Cause I will be the one who preys upon you sweetly
Once upon a time, a god loved a goddess and she loved him in return, and all was well.
Once upon a time.
•
The cycle repeats and repeats and repeats and the thing about gods is that they don't learn. One of Hera's strange secrets is that she loves to read - it shouldn't be surprising, but more and more she finds herself reaching for science fiction, for Anne McCaffery and Ursula le Guin. She doesn't like romance novels; there's too much infidelity. Sci-fi and fantasy, she finds, are full of interesting stories about people who work together. Who make it work. She admires these heroines, the ones who can be in love and still be strong.
She's fairly certain that when mankind has headed for the stars, she will still love him, and he will still be breaking her heart.
•
This new scandal has capsized Olympus and she doesn't even care. This is what they do. He breaks his promises, violates his vows, sleeps with anything that moves and Hera? Hera gets even.
Because this is part of the game, you see. This is Act Three, the one where everything changes. Act One was the indiscretion; Act Two, she finds out. She always finds out. She always knows, and she knows that he lets her know, because this is his play as well. He loves his leading role, and truth be told, she loves her own just as much.
Act Four is the falling out, the consequences. He begs for her forgiveness and she denies him; she waits until her revenge has sunk in to whatever hapless actress plays the role of Zeus's lover. She's already forgiven him; and yet she will never forgive him. He has broken her in irrevocable ways; but she wonders if she wasn't always broken.
•
And then the curtain rises on the final act. The science fiction writers never quite seem to know where to stop - where does society move on once they've conquered the sky? But Hera knows, just as any of Zeus's actresses knows. You never really conquer the sky. You're much too small, much too insignificant. It's a cycle, and the end of Act Five is really just the beginning of Act One. Because, you see, the opening lines of the play were read to set the stage - a man, bored of his faithful wife, turns to a willing stranger.
Act Five is the ladder, up against the balcony. Act Five is the roses and humility and gentle touches, until he wins her over and she welcomes him back. Act Five is what Hera lives for. Because she does love him, and she knows what's coming. The others, they never last. There is no contest. There is no doubt. There is boredom and secrets and anger and revenge but there is also love, the kind that never dies. When she is selfish, he is sentimental; when she is faithful, he is faithless.
And the story begins again, somewhere just after 'once upon a time'.
Zeus/Hera
550 words • not actually a play • written for soxdamnxcute to the tune of Andrew Belle's The Ladder
Woe is me
Sentimental you and faithful me
And I will be the one to gaze on you discreetly
Slow your speed
Turn yourself around and follow me
Cause I will be the one who preys upon you sweetly
Once upon a time, a god loved a goddess and she loved him in return, and all was well.
Once upon a time.
•
The cycle repeats and repeats and repeats and the thing about gods is that they don't learn. One of Hera's strange secrets is that she loves to read - it shouldn't be surprising, but more and more she finds herself reaching for science fiction, for Anne McCaffery and Ursula le Guin. She doesn't like romance novels; there's too much infidelity. Sci-fi and fantasy, she finds, are full of interesting stories about people who work together. Who make it work. She admires these heroines, the ones who can be in love and still be strong.
She's fairly certain that when mankind has headed for the stars, she will still love him, and he will still be breaking her heart.
•
This new scandal has capsized Olympus and she doesn't even care. This is what they do. He breaks his promises, violates his vows, sleeps with anything that moves and Hera? Hera gets even.
Because this is part of the game, you see. This is Act Three, the one where everything changes. Act One was the indiscretion; Act Two, she finds out. She always finds out. She always knows, and she knows that he lets her know, because this is his play as well. He loves his leading role, and truth be told, she loves her own just as much.
Act Four is the falling out, the consequences. He begs for her forgiveness and she denies him; she waits until her revenge has sunk in to whatever hapless actress plays the role of Zeus's lover. She's already forgiven him; and yet she will never forgive him. He has broken her in irrevocable ways; but she wonders if she wasn't always broken.
•
And then the curtain rises on the final act. The science fiction writers never quite seem to know where to stop - where does society move on once they've conquered the sky? But Hera knows, just as any of Zeus's actresses knows. You never really conquer the sky. You're much too small, much too insignificant. It's a cycle, and the end of Act Five is really just the beginning of Act One. Because, you see, the opening lines of the play were read to set the stage - a man, bored of his faithful wife, turns to a willing stranger.
Act Five is the ladder, up against the balcony. Act Five is the roses and humility and gentle touches, until he wins her over and she welcomes him back. Act Five is what Hera lives for. Because she does love him, and she knows what's coming. The others, they never last. There is no contest. There is no doubt. There is boredom and secrets and anger and revenge but there is also love, the kind that never dies. When she is selfish, he is sentimental; when she is faithful, he is faithless.
And the story begins again, somewhere just after 'once upon a time'.