Obituary
Terza Rima
Death
I learned about the bitterness of death.
The one day I sat in front of her in tears.
Unforgettable the moment I saw her last breath.
Sorrowful are the days, months and years
following the unspeakable event of future grief.
And in the heart a black hole appears
Which can hardly be mend by tree and leaf.
Though nature might be the key to heal.
With all what's left of my heart I have to believe
In things which are still here and real.
Until it is time to follow the loved one.
Oh, what insights nature can reveal.
In the end I understood I cannot make things undone
Nor can I run but I will believe in the sun.
Script: Vegetables in the Fridge
C= Mr Cucumber
P= Mr Pepper
L= Mr Lettuce
E= Eggs
C: “Hello Mr Pepper!”
P: “Oh hello Mr Cucumber!”
C: “What have you done today?”
P: “Why do even ask? You laid next to me the last 24 hours!”
C: “Aww, don't be so rude. I'm just trying to make conversation.”
P: “If you must know. I had an argument with Mr Tomato again. He is such a swank.”
C: “Why? What did he say?”
P: “Oh he was all like 'Hey, shrunken head, could've used a bit more sun before gettin' harvested, couldn't you? Well, I did as you can see. All shiny and properly red.' and then I was like: 'At least I'm not all mushy inside.' Then he rolled away. I think that hurt him or something.”
C: “Well, he deserved it.”
E: “Most definitely, we can tell.”
Mr Lettuce speaks from a shelf under them.
L: “Hey, I've heard you two complaining about Mr Tomato. I've also heard that he came out today! You guys don't happen to know when we finally get out of this icy thing, do you?”
C: “You mean the almighty hand seized him and took him out into the light? That is something he didn't deserve!”
E: “Most definitely not, we can tell.”
L: “So when do we get out?”
P and C shout together: ”I don't know.”
A blubb from the milkboard nearby can be heard.
L sighs: “If only we could understand the sophisticated language of milk. I bet, she could answer all of our questions.”
P: “But we cannot, so we just have to wait.”
C: “I doubt that we'll ever see the light more than a few seconds.
P: “Don't be so greedy. We must be satisfied with the glimps of it.”
C: “I'm not. I want to see the light alive, not rotten but I never... we never will.”
Sad faces.
Suddenly, the ground shakes. A small slit of light can be seen. An unintelligible voice can be heard.
The scene goes out to the world outside the fridge.
“I think, I'm going to make a mixed salad today ”
The door opens.
Hope
“Calm down. You need to rest for a while and then try it again.”
“It's over. I failed”, he gasped.
“It's never over as long as you still have power to stand on the ground with both of your feet.”
“But what if I can't do it? I mean, what if I'm not meant to do it? What if I'm too weak?”
The rain was getting stronger. A roll of thunder rumbled through the air and flashes of lightning illumed the ground. The sun, covered in thick clouds, has vanished and the world seems at its end on this very day and with the earth all life may cease to exist. Around the two of them were destruction, trees without leaves and soil without grass.
“But you are the chosen one! I know it!”
“What does it mean to be the chosen one? Who chose me? God? Gaia? Spirits of Earth or plain
randomness? I do not believe there is a chosen one just because a bunch of people say so.
He fell on his knees and only his hands, which held his body, prevented him from lying on the
ground. He felt as if someone sucked out his life-essence, his will to survive. His clothes were torn.
While trying to speak, he was watching his own sweat and tears dripping from his chin and
mingling with the water of the puddle beneath him. Another thunderbolt hit the firmament.
“I'm tired. Tired of all bad things happened and still happening. This fight is over. I cannot succeed. I'm beaten. The world is lost.”
His sister knelt next to him, pressing his head to her chest and saying: “That's its power. Don't listen. You have come so far. You have achieved so much. Do not let yourself down in the final stage. Do not let it get to you. Do not lose the last thing keeping you from falling down into despair because in the darkest times, hope is something that you give yourself. Not doing it, means you are really lost.”
And it was at this very moment, a hawk crossed the sky and sat down on a branch of a tree nearby. His sister was pointing in its direction. “Look!”
But he did not look. He was staring to the ground with glassy eyes which watered because of the pain, running through his body like poison.
“There still is something good in this world. If you do not fight for yourself, fight for it. Fight for every beauty that's left.”
“There will be no beauty left in the future. It will vanish like the sun; be covered by evilness that surrounds us, digs into us and eats us from the inside. Soon there will be no beauty anymore.”
He looked up and the hawk set off and flew away into the distance.
A Darkness took possession of him. He could feel that it will change him forever for the worse. He will become what he had detested so much.
“Do not surrender! If you can't do it, no one can! If you don't know who chose you; if there is no one who chose you, then I know you should have been chosen. Get rid of this darkness creeping
inside you. Choose yourself! Remember the words of Osai: 'Everyone is responsible for his own fate and so are you. If you choose the way of resistance, I can only give you this advice: Take the energy of the powers of the world that are around and inside you. Let them flow into your body and bring them together. Not by mere adding them but by making them a whole one.'
I know you can do it, brother.”
Suddenly he noticed something next to his right hand and his heart started to beat faster again. A sprout, he spotted, fighting its way through the mud. Green and healthy it looked at him and told him: “Here I shine.” And it shone.
He felt like the coldness and darkness inside him stopped to expand. They were driven away by a
warm feeling opposing them. The certainty that not everything is lost until someone is fighting for it, and that it does not have to end here grew inside him like this plant next to his fingers grows, only faster. He sat down on his back, crossed his legs and laid his arms on his knees. He felt like a heavy weight fell off his shoulders. Calmness seized him and emptied his mind and body. Then, in a warm rush, he was filled with new energy and he felt strong. His body and mind were one. Suddenly he stretched his arms to the side and his eyes began to glow. Eventually, he stood up and faced the evil on the other side of the bridge. Next to him, his sister, overwhelmed with astonishment and awe, her eyes filled with tears.
Together, they strode thither, where the battle for the world begins.
