[Tenor alone on stage] I'd like to sing someone to sleep. [Tenor is joined by Soprano and Alto, both cradling newborns. The Bass enters using his newborn baby as a shaker. Tenor watches them enviously.] My hands shake as I try to construct you Atom on atom You, cathedral, we dimly perceive Who can bring you to completion? Can I bring you to completions? [Soprano, Alto, and Bass start to mistreat their babies--holding them precariously, tossing them to one another, etc. Tenor crumbles with anxiety.] What is Rome? It is crumbled. What is the world? We are destroying it Before your towers can taper Before we can place together your face. [Soprano and Alto sit and go back to cradling their babies while Bass exits the stage. Tenor calms down.] Yet sometimes in my mind I can see you In your whole expanse From your deepest beginnings Up to your rooftops glittering ridge Up to your rooftops glittering ridge [Bass appears above the Tenor, dangling his newborn over the edge of a precariously placed railing. Tenor tries to alert the audience to the mistreatment.] What is Rome? It is crumbled. What is the world? We are destroying it Before your towers can taper Before we can place together your face. [Bass drops the newborn. Tenor catches it and holds it close, reveling in the scent of the baby. Alto and Soprano abandon their babies and move towards the Tenor, entranced by the love for the child in his hands.] I have laid My eyes upon you Wide. They hold you gently And let you go [Tenor passes the child back to Bass] When a thing movies In the dark.

[Alto comes onstage with a guitar case and some cardboard signs. She sets herself up for a day of begging.] I am no one and no one is what I shall be I'm still to small to exist, I agree. I'm a speck of dirt A dog on the run If anything at all But remember, God, remember I never asked to be involved. [Alto reveals a sign that reads 'Ninja's took my family. Need money 4 karate lessons.'] But I'll always be so, Mothers and fathers, oh, Take pity on me. [Alto starts to seduce and audience member, pushing her guitar case closer and closer to him.] But I'll always be so, Mothers and fathers, oh, Take pity on me. [Audience member gives her money. She throws it in the guitar case and resumes her position begging.] Bringing up's not worth the pains I allow I can't escape my fate. No one can need me; it's too soon now And tomorrow it'll be too late. [Alto sits on the lap of another audience member.] But I'll always be so, Mothers and fathers, oh, Take pity on me. [Alto gets up, revealing that she has stolen the audience member's purse. She takes out some cash, goes up to another audience member and buys a bottle of Jack from them.] But I'll always be so, Mothers and fathers, oh, Take pity on me. [Alto starts drinking and yelling at the audience.] I've only got this dress you see. It's growing thin and colorless. But it'll have to last an eternity Before God nonetheless. I've only got this bit of hair The same as it was before. It used to be someone's dearest care But they don't care no more. No they can't care no more. [Alto sits down and counts her cash for the day.] I'll always be so I'll always be...

[Tenor and Soprano spoon post-coitally on a couch. Tenor peels himself, limb by limb, away from the Soprano as not to wake her.] How do I keep my soul in me Away from touching yours? How do I raise it high enough So I may pass onto something more? [Tenor grabs a cup and goes to the bathroom to fill it with water. Bass appears from behind the couch--shirtless and hung-over.] I'd like to keep it sheltered Somewhere it can't be found In some dark and silent place Where it cannot resonate When your body sounds. [Tenor reenters. He and Bass avoid eye contact and start looking for their shirts and shoes.] I'd like to keep it sheltered Somewhere it can't be found In some dark and silent place Where it cannot resonate When your body sounds. [Soprano wakes up, glowing but lonely. She lounges on the couch while Bass and Tenor put on their shirts and shoes. No one looks at each other.] Why does everything That moves you Find it's way to move me, too? It takes us, you and I--us. It takes us, together, Like a violin's bow Drawing one voice out of two separate strings. Across what instrument Are we spanned And what musician holds us In his hand. Oh, the sweetest song. [The three lovers stand and look at each other, wondering where to go or what to say next.] How do I keep my soul in me Away from touching yours? How do I raise it high enough So I may pass onto something more?

[Bass enters with a noose and a chair. He stands on the chair and throws the noose towards the rafters. He misses. He sits down, defeated.] Another moment to live through then Another moment to live through then How the rope I fasten again and again and again and again Someone cuts. I'd prepared so wonderfully Already a little eternity Was in my guts. [Alto enters and sees the noose. She takes it offstage. She comes back on with a bottle of pills and the makings of a sandwich.] She'll bring me now As she's done before. A spoonful of life to sup. I won't, I won't, I won't have anymore. Let me throw it up. [Alto starts to make the sandwich, placing the pills between the meat and the bread.] Life's an excellent thing, I know Through all the world outspread I simply can't digest it though It only goes to my head. It only goes to my head. What nourishes others it makes me ill One can dislike the thing What for a thousand years I'd still Require is dieting. Require is dieting. [Alto forces Bass to sit at the table and eat the sandwich. He refuses.] She'll bring me now As she's done before. A spoonful of life to sup. I won't, I won't, I won't have anymore. Let me throw it-- [Alto shoves the sandwich into Bass's mouth and forces him to swallow. It's degrading.] Life's an excellent thing, I know. Life's an excellent thing, I know, I know. Life's an excellent thing.

[Harold sits a small table. There are teacups and macaroons in front of him. He does not touch them though, for he is dead. Soprano, Harold’s wife, enters with a teakettle. She pours some tea for herself and Harold. She sits down across from him. She holds Harold’s hand, maybe wipes some schmutz off his face with a napkin.] Harold. Harold. Are you freezing? I know I am. I bought you a sweater. [Takes a sweater out of the shopping bag.] I know you said you were too old for pink But I thought you’d think about it again. I thought you’d think about coming home, Harold. [She puts the sweater on Harold with great difficulty. Rigor mortis has set in.] Life was kind to us at the start. It kept us warm it gave us our hearts. With all who are young it has that art. How was I supposed to know that soon we’d get so cold? [She continues to try to put the sweater on him. If the sweater is already on maybe she feeds him. At any rate, she eventually lifts him out of the chair and tries to get him to stand up.] Life was once what I dreamt it’d be. It was nothing but years quite suddenly. Free of joy, wonder, or novelty. How was I supposed to know that soon we’d get so old? Harold… [She begins to dance with Harold.] It’s not your fault nor is it mine, All we had was patience in the face of time… [Soprano accidentally rips Harold’s hand off. He’s sort of rotting… like how dead people do.] But death doesn’t wait. [Soprano marvels at Harold's hand.] Time takes and takes and buys back Our bodies broken and used at second-hand rates. [She puts the severed hand in Harold's shirt pocket.] What can we give to bring you home When everything we have we have on loan? [Harold, unseen by Soprano, rises from the dead. He stumbles towards her.] When even my misery isn’t my own… [Harold, in essence a zombie, latches on to Soprano. She screams and tries to escape him.] Time doesn’t just want our happiness, It’ll take our screams back as well! Harold, you were never mine, you bastard… (THE WIDOW breaks free from HAROLD and stares at him as if for the first time.) Harold, you were never mine. [The soprano pulls out a crossbow from behind the couch. They circle each other.) What I can I give to bring you home When everything I have I have on loan When even my misery isn’t my own… [She manages to pin HAROLD to the ground. She cocks the crossbow.]] Time doesn’t just want my happiness, It’ll take my screams back as well Harold, you were never mine, you bastard. I’ll see you, Harold, in Hell. [The lights dim as she raises the crossbow to HAROLD’s throat.]

[The Four Singers sit onstage.] What will you do, Lord, When I die. What will you do? I am your drink. (When I go bitter.) I am your grail. (When I shatter.) I, your garment. I, your craft. Without me what reason do you have? What will you do, Lord, When I die. What will you do? What house with what words awaits you? What will you do, Lord, When I die. What will you do? Your gaze, which now warms my cheeks, It will search for me Hour after hour Till it lies spent on an empty beach Amongst unfamiliar stones. Amongst unfamiliar stones. What will you do, Lord, When I die. What will you do?