Stephen Schwartz
XVI. Fraction: “Things Get Broken”
[CELEBRANT]
Pacem! Pacem! Pacem!
Look
Isn't that odd?
Red wine isn’t red at all
It's sort of brown, brown and blue
I never noticed that
What are you staring at?
Haven't you ever seen an accident before?
Look
Isn’t that odd?
Glass shines brighter
When it's broken
I never noticed that
How easily things get broken
How easily things get broken
Glass and brown wine
Thick like blood
Rich like honey and blood
[CELEBRANT, spoken]
Hey, don't you find that funny?
I mean, it's supposed to be blood
[CELEBRANT]
I mean, it is blood
His
It was
How easily things get broken
What are you staring at?
Haven't you ever seen an accident before?
Come on, come on, admit it
Confess it was fun
Wasn't it?
You know it was exciting
To see what I've done
Come on, you know you loved it
You're dying for more
Wasn’t it smashing
To see it all come crashing
Right down to the floor?
Right!
You were right, little brothers
You were right all along
Little brothers and sisters
It was I who was wrong
So earnest, so solemn
As stiff as a column
"Lauda, lauda, laude"
Little sisters and brothers
You were right all along!
It’s got to be exciting
It's got to be strong
Come on!
Come on and join me
Come join in the fun
Shatter and splatter
Pitcher and platter
What do we care?
We won’t be there!
What does it matter?
What does it matter?
Our Father, who art in Heaven
Haven't you ever seen an accident before?
Listen
Isn't that odd?
We can be so still
So still and numb
How easily things get quiet
Quiet
Like a coming storm
Air gets sickly thick and warm
If I don't touch the ground
I might not make a sound
One, two, three
Soundlessly
Step
Step
[CELEBRANT, spoken]
Shh
Shh
[CELEBRANT]
Softly as cats can crawl
Almost not there at all
Carefully
Quietly
[CELEBRANT, spoken]
Shh
[CELEBRANT]
Why are you waiting?
Just go on without me
Stop waiting
What is there about me
That you’ve been respecting
And what have you all been
Expecting to see?
Take a look, there is nothing
But me under this
There is nothing you'll miss!
Put it on, and you'll see
Any one of you can be
Any one of me!
What?
Are you still waiting?
Still waiting for me
Me alone
To sing you into heaven?
Well, you're on your own
Come on, say it
What has happened to
All of your vocal powers?
Sing it, pray it
Where's that mumbo and jumbo
I've heard for hours?
Praying and pouting
Braying and shouting litanies
Chanting epistles
Bouncing your missals
On your knees
Go on whining
Pining, moaning, intoning
Groaning obscenities!
Why have you stopped praying?
Stopped your Kyrieing?
Where is your crying and complaining?
Where is your lying and profaning?
Where is your agony?
Where is your malady?
Where is your parody
Of God said
Let there be and there was
God said: Let there
Beatam Mariam semper Virginem
Beatam miss the Gloria
I don't sing
Gratias agimus tibi
Propter magnam
Gloriam tuamen
Amen
Amen
I'm in a hurry
And come again
When?
You said you'd come
Come love, come lust
It's so easy if you just don't care
Lord, don't you care if it all ends today?
Profundis clamavi, clamavi
Ad te, Domine, ad Dominum, ad Dom—
Adonai don't know
I don't nobis
Miserere nobis
Mise—
Mi—
Mi alone is only me
But mi with so
Me with s—
Mi—
Oh, I suddenly feel every step I've ever taken
And my legs are lead
And I suddenly see every hand I've ever shaken
And my arms are dead
I feel every psalm that I've ever sung
Turn to wormwood, wormwood on my tongue
And I wonder
Oh, I wonder
Was I ever really young?
It's odd how all my body trembles
Like all this mass of glass on the floor
How fine it would be to rest my head
And lay me down
Down in the wine
Which never was really red
But sort of brown
And let not another word be spoken
Oh
How easily things get broken