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Title: Seed of Adam
Date of first publication: 1963
Author: Charles Williams (1886-1945)
Date first posted: Apr. 15, 2018
Date last updated: Apr. 15, 2018
Faded Page eBook #20180416

This eBook was produced by: Delphine Lettau
& the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net




SEED OF ADAM

_A Nativity Play_


by Charles Williams




CHARACTERS

  THE TSAR OF CAUCASIA (_King of Gold_)
  HIS CHORUS
  THE SULTAN OF BAGDAD (_King of Frankincense_)
  HIS CHORUS
  ADAM
  EVE
  JOSEPH
  MARY
  THE ARCHANGEL
  TWO ROMAN SOLDIERS
  THE THIRD KING (_King of Myrrh_), a Negro
  MOTHER MYRRH (_Hell_), a Negress

_The scene is before the house of Adam; to the right of it are the
stables; on the left, at the front, the stump of a tree or a high stone_




SEED OF ADAM


_The_ TSAR _enters with some of the_ CHORUS

  CERTAIN VOICES. Juggle, sir; throw up the golden slivers.

  OTHER VOICES. Sir, no; show rather the rivers,
  molten and golden streams; fertilizing, barricading,
  cities and nations, from stations of earth-edging Esquimaux
  to the hanging gardens of tropical sense:
  and there the high ships sailing, the deep ships unlading.

  FIRST VOICES. Necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings; gaudies and gewgaws!

  OTHER VOICES. Purse rather and pocket of outer commerce; mind
  finding after kind, and all traffic its own.

  THE TSAR. I am Gaspar, Tsar of Caucasia;
  I sprang from our father Adam's loins
  in a bright emission of coins; Eve's need
  of gilded adornment nourished me to dig and dive.
  Pearls I brought up; springs I let forth: who
  will be beautiful now? who profitable then?
  Men thrive and I take my fee.
  Tricked out in riches half the world follow me;
  who fall, crawl or are kicked into dry ditches.

     _The_ SULTAN _enters, with the rest of the_ CHORUS

  CERTAIN VOICES. Sir, play; throw up the notes of gold,
  or stir into silver smoke the rich incense.

  OTHER VOICES. Sir, no; our old throats are tired.
  Show rather the philosophical plan,
  chess-playing, brick-laying, sooth-saying;
  the design of line, point, and curve.

  FIRST VOICES. Titillate the brain by ear and eye!

  OTHER VOICES. Build the austere academies to show why.

  THE SULTAN. I am Melchior, Sultan of Bagdad.
  Adam my father and Eve my mother
  construed me aloof from sister and brother
  through a post-paradisal afternoon.
  I build my mosques under a philosophical moon;
  I ride on the body's curves through spirals of air
  to the bare and rare domes of Bagdad my see.
  I give to whoever serves with me
  gnomic patterns of diagrammatic thrills.
  Half the world live in my train;
  who refrain, bereft of brain, are left to common ills.

  SEMI-CHORUS. Give us the golden matter,

  SEMI-CHORUS. and the golden chatter,

  THE CHORUS. for to-morrow everything begins again.

     [_They gather about the_ KINGS, _some sitting or lying_]

  ADAM [_coming out of the house_].
  Dullards of darkness, light's lazybones,
  poor primitives of our natural bareness,
  where's your awareness? will moans and groans
  for gold of brawn or brain regain
  the way to the entry of Paradise? up!
  shut your eyes, will you? or make a play
  for your leisure, and a treasure of your idleness? You,
  have you nothing better to do
  in our world but play hide and seek with oblivion?
  Say, say something, say
  _who are you?_ I will tell you, tell you what you knew,
  I am Adam.

  SEMI-CHORUS. Father Adam, the pasture is thin,
  the sheep and the hogs are thin, our coats
  button thinly about our throats
  thrawn with wind and thirsty for wine.
  Exchanges--his and mine--help us
  to bear with the bitterness of having nothing.
  What should _we_ do, feeling for Paradise?
  Better to suck at the heel of the Tsar.

  SEMI-CHORUS. Father Adam, if we go looking and snooping round corners,
  we see terrible shapes trooping,
  things eagle-beaked, giants with scimitars.
  In Eden you found them friendly; here
  what should we do but hide while they stride and deride
  the bitterness of our having nothing?
  Have you seen us slinking from those neighbourly taunts?
  Better to go drinking the rhythms of the Sultan.

  ADAM. If you found Paradise, you would find everything.

  THE CHORUS. Call with the old bluster to muster by masses, and seek!

  SOLO.   Speak civilly, father!
                                 Where
  shall we go? climb invisible cords into the air?
  for road, river, and lane
  are searched; it is not to be found.

  THE CHORUS. And to-morrow everything begins again!

  SOLO. What is this way? behind what sight or sound?

  SOLO. He lost it, and he cannot say.

  SOLO. There is not any.

  SOLO. Yes; it is bought for a penny
  and slept off.

  SOLO. No; wise men have recognized
  it is only our mothers' forms rationalized.

  SOLO. The Tsar declares it is hope learning to grope.

  SOLO. The Sultan says it is sensation living in negation.

  SOLO. It is the loss of the one thing prized
  masochistically advertized;

  SOLO. or adolescence flushed with immature sense.

  ADAM. Babies!

  THE CHORUS. Who lost it?

  ADAM. I. What do you know,
  children, of what living on this earth is like then?

  THE SULTAN. Father, you must not think you are everyone.

  THE TSAR. Your children are men and women, and not you.

  THE SULTAN. Individualized essence of you, perhaps;

  THE TSAR. with each his particular Paradise in a nutshell.

  THE SULTAN [_touching his lyre_]. Nuts! nuts!

  THE TSAR [_throwing gold pieces_]. Nuts! nuts!

  BOTH. Nuts for the men-monkeys!
  Monkey-nuts! follow, follow, monkey-nuts!
  scratch and snatch for a portion of monkey-nuts!
  grab and grizzle for a ration of monkey-nuts!
  houp-la!

     [_The_ CHORUS, _chattering and fighting, run about like
     monkeys. They gradually become involved in a general fierce
     battle and drift off, following the_ KINGS, _with high
     shrieks_]

  ADAM. I must set my law upon them; one thing first.

     [_He turns, meeting_ EVE, _who has come out of the house at
     the noise_]

  EVE. Are they fighting again?

  ADAM. What else?
  They have not the pain that in us stops us fighting.

  EVE. Have they found anything?

  ADAM. Nothing, my Eve.
  They cannot find the centre, the core of the fruit
  where the root of return is. I dropped it; it is gone.
  Where is Mary?

  EVE. Mary has gone to the fair.

  ADAM. Under the Mercy!... what is she doing there?

  EVE. Watching mountebanks, laughing at clowns,
  applauding jugglers and tightrope walkers,
  listening to talkers, admiring lovers,
  riding with children on the roundabout,
  everywhere in the middle of the rout,
  being, by her nature, all things to all men.

  ADAM. Will she never discover any preference? any partial
  liking for this where or that when?
  Will she never care to marshal phenomena?
  Cows, clowns, and crowns are alike to her--
  has she not a trick of nursing the sick,
  and as agile through all as the honey-plucking bee,
  catching as much sweet there as from booths at the fair?
  She must follow now another mind than mine.
  I am set. Call Joseph; they shall be married.

  EVE. Married! Mary? but why? and why Joseph?

  ADAM. Lest I should die. She shall be wedded
  lest our youngest born should be a prey
  in her simplicity to her sisters and brothers.
  I will not have her a scullion and a scorn
  in the huts of Caucasia or the harems of Bagdad.
  Joseph is a warlike and dutiful lad.
  Call him.

  EVE. What is he, where is he, now?

  ADAM. Lieutenant-general of the Sultan's horse,
  an Islamite, a genius in cavalry tactics!
  To see swung whole squadrons in the charge,
  and--in a wild clatter of words breaking--flung
  down the speaking of a poem, when the matter is sprung
  to the flashing and slashing of a steel line
  at the throat's blood. Hafiz taught him
  and Omar; he outgenerals them; call him.

  EVE. Will Mary have him?

  ADAM. As soon as any.
  O pest on her for a zany of goodwill!

  EVE. Husband!

  ADAM. Be easy. I am petulant. My want
  worries at my throat, while she wants nothing,
  nor ever sighs for nor even denies Paradise.

  EVE. Paradise perhaps is hers and here.

  ADAM. Among the sick or at the fair?--
  Look, there she comes: call Joseph, I say.
  He is in Bagdad's train. I must go again
  to quieten their brawls. I will give them peace.
  I will show them if I am Adam for nothing.

     JOSEPH _and_ MARY _enter_

  ADAM. Joseph, am I your lord?

  JOSEPH. In all things, sir,
  under the justice of God.

  ADAM. Your father, Mary?

  MARY. Sir, by the Direction.

  ADAM. It is well; hear me.
  I do and undo; I am Adam. Paradise
  shuts its last mouth upon us, and I am afraid.
  It may be, after I have conquered yonder apes,
  and shaped them to placabilities, that I shall find
  by counting them some form unguessed,
  some archangel disguised, some person or place
  where is the grace of the Return. If, well;
  if not, the thing this world must soon become
  catches us up. Whether this be or not
  I am determined you two shall be married.
  A heart of purity and a mind of justice
  to be integrity. What say you?

  JOSEPH. Sir,
  I am of no more worth to the princess Mary
  than the fly-flick of her mule's tail.

  MARY. But as much, Joseph, indeed.

  JOSEPH. You hear, my lord?

  ADAM. Never mind her.
  Since she loves all, she loves you. What of you?

  JOSEPH. She is the manifest measurement of God's glory
  correcting time.

  ADAM [_motioning them before him_].
  You are both my best of children.

     [JOSEPH _and_ MARY _kneel_; ADAM _raises his right arm_]

  By the single indecipherable Name
  I swear you, Joseph and Mary, to betrothal.

     [JOSEPH _and_ MARY _rise and face each other. The upraised
     palms of their right hands touch. They turn to face_ ADAM]

  When I return from conquering the world, be ready,
  as then shall be, in time and space, convenient.
  Come, Eve.

     [ADAM _and_ EVE _go out_]

  JOSEPH. Am I appointed for your husband?...
  Answer, princess ... no? no then, do not speak,
  do not break through such an outgoing stress of light,
  as is the sovereign blessedness of the world,
  there indivisible, all ways else divisible.
  Do not with descent, O altitude, even of mercy,
  sweeten the enhancèd glance of those still eyes
  which to my lord's house, and to me the least,
  illumine earth with heaven, our only mortal
  imagination of eternity,
  and the glory of the protonotary Gabriel.

     [MARY _stretches out her hand to him; he kneels and kisses it_]

  MARY [_murmuring the name_].
  Gabriel, Gabriel: well spoken is the name.
  As I came from the fair I looked back; there
  I saw it all in a sheath and a shape of flame,
  having an eagle's head that turned each way
  as if it were guarding something and looking for something.
  Its eyes burned at me; the noise
  of the hurly-burlies and the hurdy-gurdies,
  the ball-spinners, the silk-sellers, the rum-peddlers,
  the swings, and the songs, rose to a whirring voice,
  the air was a hum of sound; I heard it come
  as if the fair all rose in the air and flew
  on eagle's wings after me; I ran
  through the fear and the laughter and the great joys.
  I came by the vineyards to my father's roof;
  there it held aloof a little.
  I saw you; I gave you my hand, Joseph,
  at my father's will. It has still power,
  this hand of Adam's daughter, on all creatures of heaven.

  JOSEPH [_as he kneels_]. O princess,
  your hand is the fact of God's compact of light.

  MARY. I have heard such talk among the lovers at the fair.
  Bless you for telling me, Joseph.

     [_He releases her hand. The_ ARCHANGEL _appears at the
     back, as it were casting sleep towards_ JOSEPH, _who sinks
     slowly forward, and lies still_]

  MARY. Joseph! [_A pause_]
  Joseph! [_She sees him lying_]

  THE ANGELIC CHORUS [_without_]. Adonai Elohim! Adonai Elohim!

  THE ARCHANGEL [_standing behind_ MARY]. Adonai hu ha-elohim!

  THE CHORUS [_as the angelic army without_].
  Shalom lach eschet-chen, Adonai immach beruchah at bannashim.
  Al-tiri Miryam ki-matsat chen lifne ha-elohim.
  Vehinnach harah veyoladt ben vekaret et-shemo Yeshua.

  MARY. How shall these things be, seeing I know not a man?

  THE CHORUS. Ruach hakkodesh tavo alayieh ugevurat elyon tatsel
  alayich: al ken Kadosh yeamer layyillod ben-ha-elohim.

  MARY. Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me
  according to thy word.

     [_The_ ARCHANGEL _passes round and enters the stables_.
     MARY _remains rapt_]

  JOSEPH [_he rises to his knees, as before, and wakes_].
  Under the Protection! Mary ... Mary....

  MARY. Yes, Joseph?

  JOSEPH. Mary, you are changed; you are in love.

  MARY. Yes, Joseph.

  JOSEPH [_starting up_]. Ah, ah! but who...?

  MARY. No one, Joseph.
  Only in love.

  JOSEPH. It must be then with someone.

  MARY. Dearest, you did not hear: we said _in love_.
  Why must, how can, one be in love with someone?

  JOSEPH. Because ... but that is what _in love_ means;
  one is, and can only be, in love with someone.

  MARY. Dearest, to be in love is to be in love,
  no more, no less. Love is only itself,
  everywhere, at all times, and to all objects.
  My soul has magnified that lord; my spirit
  rejoiced in God my saviour; he has regarded
  the nothingness of his handmaid. He has thrust
  into this matter his pattern of bones, as Eve's
  towers of cheeks and arrogant torches of eyes
  edify red earth into a pattern of manhood.

  JOSEPH. But it must be at some time and in some place.

  MARY. When you look at me, dear Joseph, do you think so?

  JOSEPH. Babylonia and Britain are only boroughs of you.
  Your look dimensions the world. I took once
  a northward journey to find fables for the Sultan
  and heard a lad on the hill of Faesulae syllabling
  a girl of Faesulae who nodded good-morning at him,
  and that her form timed the untimed light.
  Place must be because grace must be,
  and you because of glory. O blessing,
  the light in you is more than you in the light.

  MARY. The glory is eternal, and not I,
  and I am only one diagram of the glory:
  will you believe in me or in the glory?

  JOSEPH. It is the vision of the Mercy.

  MARY. Hold to that.
  But for salvation--even of those who believe
  that time and place and the one are the whole of love--
  Love--O the Mercy! the Protection!--
  shall make his flesh as one in time and place.
  It shall come in the time of Augustus Caesar,
  in the place of Bethlehem of the Holy Ghost,
  in the coast of Judaea: not quite Jerusalem,
  but not far from Jerusalem, not far but not quite.
  O Thou Mercy, is this the secret of Thy might?
  When Thou showest Thyself, that Thou art not there
  to be found? we find Thee where Thou art not shown.
  Thou art flown all ways from Thyself to Thyself,
  and Thy ways are our days, and the moment is Thou.
  O Thou Mercy, is this the thing to know?
  Joseph, come, take me to Bethlehem;
  there the apparition and the presence are one,
  and Adam's children are one in them;
  there is the way of Paradise begun.

     [_They move round the stage to the stone. As they go, the_
     CHORUS _re-enter on all sides_]

  THE CHORUS. In Thule, in Britain, in Gaul, in Rome,
  among the slim pillars of Bagdad, in round mounds of Caucasia,
  we heard the maxim that rules the schools of prophets:
  _this also is Thou; neither is this Thou_.

  With double hands and single tongues
  the prophets climb the rungs of heaven,
  in the might of a maxim gained and given:
  _this also is Thou; neither is this Thou_.

  But we who wander outside the rules and schools
  compromise and complain,
  before the clot in the blood has shot to the heart or brain:
  _this is not quite Thou and not quite not_.

  Sister, sister, did you dream?

  What did you see on the banks of the body's stream,
  in Thule, in Britain, in Gaul, in Rome,
  under Bagdad's dome, by the mounds of Caucasia?

  SOLO. One came walking over the sand,
  one and a shadow from a desert land;
  I saw a knife flash in a black hand.

  At daybreak a child is born to the woman;
  he grows through the noon to his full stature;
  she devours him under the moon; then at morn--

  THE CHORUS. Save us, Father Adam, or we perish!--

  SOLO. or in a mirage of morn the child is reborn.
  And to-morrow everything begins again.

  THE CHORUS. From bone, from brain, from breasts, from hands,
  from the mind's pillars and the body's mounds,
  the skies rise and roll in black shadows
  inward over the imperial soul:
  over our sighs in the moon of dusty sorrow--
  _O, O, could everything begin before to-morrow_;
  over the creak of rusty grief--
  _to-morrow will be soon enough for belief_;
  over the kitchens of a pot neither cold nor hot,
  and the thin broth, and the forming of the clot--
  _not quite Thou and not quite not_.

  Father Adam, save us or we perish.

     [MARY _sits on the stone_, JOSEPH _stands behind her. From
     opposite sides two_ ROMAN SOLDIERS _run in, turn to the
     front, and come to the salute_]

  FIRST SOLDIER. Octavianus Caesar Augustus,

  SECOND SOLDIER. filius Julii divi Augustus,

  BOTH SOLDIERS. orders the world in the orbit of Rome.

  FIRST SOLDIER. Oaths and service to the lord Augustus;

  SECOND SOLDIER. incense and glory to the god Augustus:

  BOTH SOLDIERS. to the god Augustus and the Fortune of Rome.

     [_They wheel inwards, and fall back on either side._ ADAM
     _re-enters as_ AUGUSTUS, _accompanied by_ EVE _and the two_
     KINGS]

  ADAM. I was Julius, and I am Octavianus,
  Augustus, Adam, the first citizen,
  the power in the world, from brow to anus,
  in commerce of the bones and bowels of men;
  sinews' pull, blood's circulation,
  Britain to Bagdad. I in brawn and brain
  set knot by knot and station by station.
  I drive on the morrow all things to begin again.
  Look, children, I bring you peace;
  I bring you good luck; I am the State; I am Caesar.
  Now your wars cease; what will you say?

  THE TSAR. Hail, Caesar; I am your occupation for the days.

  THE SULTAN. I am your sleeping-draught for the nights: hail,
  Caesar.

  THE CHORUS. Hail, Caesar; we who are about to die salute you!

  ADAM. I will take now a census of the whole world,
  the nations and generations of the living and dead,
  to find whether anywhere it has been said
  what place or person Paradise lies behind,
  even among the prophets who made a formula for the mind.
  Each man shall answer, on or under earth,
  from Cain and Abel, who were first to explore
  womb and tomb; and all whom women bore,
  to the pack that died at Alexandria yesterday.
  Answer, children, and say, if you can. I know
  the thing that was threatened comes; there is still time.
  Go!

     [_The_ SOLDIERS _run out; there is a deep and confused
     noise. Presently they return, bearing papers_]

  FIRST SOLDIER. All these millions dead

  SECOND SOLDIER. and dying; these thousands
  dying or dead;

  FIRST SOLDIER. these hundreds, and sixteen--

     [_He drops his spear towards the nearest of the_ CHORUS _on
     his side, who answers as from a sepulchre_]

  ONE OF THE CHORUS. and seventeen

  ANOTHER. and eighteen

  ANOTHER. and nineteen

     [_All answer in turn, as the_ FIRST SOLDIER, _and then the_
     SECOND, _pass, pointing their spears. The_ SECOND _comes
     to_ JOSEPH]

  JOSEPH [_answering according to the number of the_ CHORUS]. _and
  thirty-six_

     [_The_ SOLDIER _points to_ MARY]

  JOSEPH [_answering for her_]. and thirty-seven.
  Shall I add one more for the child that slumbers in your womb?

  MARY. O no, Joseph; he is something different from all numbers;
  you cannot tell how or whom. The people are reckoned,
  but the child that comes through me
  holds infinity in him, and hides in a split second.

     [_The_ SOLDIERS _return to_ ADAM]

  FIRST SOLDIER. Hail, Caesar; those who are dead

  SECOND SOLDIER. and those about to die

  BOTH SOLDIERS. salute you.
  Octavianus Caesar Augustus;
  filius Julii divi Augustus;
  gubernator, imperator, salvator, Augustus.

  A VOICE [_off_]. What is this difference between the dying and the
  dead?

     _The_ THIRD KING _enters, followed by a_ NEGRESS, _carrying
     a scimitar_

  ALL. [_except_ JOSEPH _and_ MARY, _in a general moan_]. Ah!

  THIRD KING [_looking round_].
  What provincial talk is this? what academic
  pedantic dichotomy? O la, brothers!

     [_Seeing the_ KINGS _left, right_]

  THE TWO KINGS. Ah, brother, how did you find us?

  THIRD KING. Indeed I might not have done;
  but my mother here has eyes and a nose,
  and with each sun recognized more strongly
  gold's glint and censer's smell.
  As the wind of infinity blows
  earth is always leaving clues for hell,
  and hell has only to follow that news of earth.

     [_To the_ CHORUS]

  No wonder you talk so if you have them here
  talking of distinctions and differences, smells and savours,
  sight of gold, sniff of incense, flavours
  of this or that differing degree of corruption.

     [_To the_ KINGS]

  You left me away in a stony land,
  brothers; I was lonely without you.
  I came to find this mind of Rome,
  this concept, this Augustus, this new Adam.
  Why, father! The old Adam, after all!

  ADAM. It is you, is it?

  THIRD KING. I. You saw me
  when you breathlessly slid down the smooth threshold
  of Paradise gate? and saw the things that were hid
  as God warned you you would? did you know
  I was the core of the fruit you ate?
  Did you remember, ungrateful that you are,
  how you threw me away, with such a swing
  I flew over Eden wall, dropped,
  and stuck between two stones?
  You did not see; you did not look after me!
  Smell and taste for you; let the core go to hell.
  But God looks after the sparrows.
  Presently the sun split the core,
  and out grew I, the King of the core.
  I have travelled to get back to you ever since.

  EVE. And who is she?

  THIRD KING. Ah, she!
  At the heart of the core, in the core of me,
  lived a small worm you could not see.
  The sun is a generous sun; he set us both free.
  She lives by me, and I by her.
  I call her my little mother Myrrh,
  because of her immortal embalming. We two
  have come, my other mother, to live with you--
  if you can call it living.

  ADAM. What else?

  THIRD KING. O well! She has her own idea of food.

     [_He indicates the scimitar_]

  The nearer the relation, the better the dish.
  But you will not _die_; no, I do not think you will _die_.
  I did not, and I have been eaten often,
  you may imagine; it was a long way from here,
  and a long time ago, that we made our start,
  and angels on the way delayed us,
  with exhortations of earnest heavenly evangels:
  but what can angels do against decaying matter?
  Matter can only be corrected by matter,
  flesh by flesh; we came through and came on,
  and I everlastingly perishing. The worm
  of that fruit, father, has a great need to feed
  on living form. But I do not think you will die.

  ADAM [_to the_ SOLDIERS]: Seize her.

     [_They rush forward. She laughs at them, and they fall back
     on their knees_]

  THIRD KING. Whom are you seeking?
  Are you come out with swords and staves to take us?
  We were often with you in your temples: now--
  Father Adam, you were always a fool,
  and it seems at the top of your Roman school
  no better; will you arrest the itch
  with your great hands? will your bands pitch
  their javelins against the diabetes of the damned?
  The belly is empty in hell though the mouth is crammed:
  a monotonous place!

  THE CHORUS. Father Adam, lord Augustus!

  THIRD KING. Among the stones and locusts she lived on me;
  it is your turn--this is my refrigerium.

     [_He draws back. The_ TWO KINGS _drop their gold and lute_.
     EVE _covers her face. The_ NEGRESS _walks slowly round,
     the_ CHORUS _falling on their knees as she passes. At last
     she comes to_ MARY. _Meanwhile the_ CHORUS]

  THE CHORUS. Call the kings!
  saints! poets!
  prophets! priests!
  Call the gospels and the households!
  those of Aquino and Assisi!
  Stratford! Chalfont St. Giles!
  caskets of Caucasia!
  censers of Bagdad!

  ALL. Help us and save us!

  THE TWO KINGS. Balthazar our brother is stronger than we.

  THE CHORUS. Call on the households!
  harp-stringer of David!
  hewer of wood for Joseph!
  ink-maker for Virgil!
  galley-captain of Caesar!
  armour-bearer of Taliessin!

  ALL. Come to your defences! all heavenly lords,
  stand about us with swords.

  THIRD KING. Election is made, capital rather than coast:
  she thrives most on the dear titbits of perfection.
  Sister, you are lovelier than all the rest,
  and like the busy blest. She shall eat you alive
  for her great hunger; take pity on her appetite.

     [JOSEPH, _drawing his own scimitar, thrusts himself between
     them_]

  JOSEPH [_crying out_]. Ha, ha! to me, my household!
  There is no God but God: in the name of God!

     [_The scimitars clash; the_ THIRD KING _touches_ JOSEPH _in
     the thigh; he stumbles and is beaten down_]

  THIRD KING [_dragging him away_].
  Little man, martyrs and confessors
  are no good here, nor are poets any good.
  They are all a part of the same venomous blood.
  Come away, come away, and wait your turn quietly.

     [MARY _takes a step or two forward_]

  MARY. Dearest, you will find me very indigestible.
  The stomach of the everlasting worm
  is not omnivorous; it is a poor weak thing:
  nor does the fire of Gehenna do more than redden
  the pure asbestos of the holy children; if mine,
  is for the fire and your dangerous appetite to find.

     [_The_ NEGRESS _attacks_ MARY _with her scimitar_. MARY
     _goes back before her, at first slowly, moving round the
     stage_]

  MARY. Sister, how slowly you carve your meat!

  THIRD KING. Be easy, sister; you will not get away from us.

  MARY. Nor she from me, brother, which is more important.

     [_The movement of the two women quickens and becomes a
     dance; the scimitar flashing round them in a white fire.
     The_ CHORUS _sway to the movement_, ADAM _only remaining
     motionless_]

  MARY [_suddenly breaking into song_].
  Parturition is upon me: blessed be He!
  Sing, brothers; sing, sisters; sing, Father Adam.
  My soul magnifies the Lord.

  THE CHORUS [_hesitatingly_].
  My spirit hath rejoiced in God my saviour.

  MARY [_dancing and singing_].
  For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaid:

  THE CHORUS [_gathering strength_].
  behold, from henceforth all generations shall call thee blessed.

     [MARY _at the door of the stable, where the_ ARCHANGEL _is
     seen, catches the uplifted wrist of the_ NEGRESS _in her
     right hand. They stand rigid, foot to foot_]

  MARY [_singing joyously through a profound suspense_].
  For he that is mighty hath done to me great things;

  THE NEGRESS [_in a shriek of pain and joy_]. and holy is his Name.

     [_She faints at_ MARY'S _feet_]

  MARY [_leaning towards_ JOSEPH]. Joseph!
  My son calls to his foster-father: come!
  prince of maidens, hasten to the master of maidenhoods,
  and the pillar of maternity.

  JOSEPH [_half-rising_]. O mother of the world's brightness,
  I sought uprightness, and yet it failed in the end!

  MARY. Most dear friend, my lord, it delayed the scimitar
  but till my son took flesh under its flash:
  the heavens constrain me to glory: Joseph!

     [_He springs up and to her, and takes her into the stable_]

  ADAM [_in a strong voice_]. His mercy is on them that fear him from
  generation to generation.

     [_The_ CHORUS, _singing, gather about the_ TWO KINGS, _as
     at first_]

  FIRST CHORUS. He hath showed strength with his arm;

  SECOND CHORUS. he hath scattered the proud in the imagination
  of their hearts.

  FIRST CHORUS. He hath put down the mighty from their seats;

  SECOND CHORUS. and exalted them of low degree.

  FIRST CHORUS. He hath filled the hungry with good things;

  SECOND CHORUS. and the rich he hath sent empty away.

  THIRD KING [_stretching out his hand towards the_ CHORUS]. Are you
  now so gay?

     [_As his hand sinks down, they fall on their knees_]

  And you, lord Adam,
  do not speak too soon; you desired the boon of salvation--
  have it! You desired twice--me and not me,
  the turn and the Return; the Return is here,
  take care that you do not now prefer me.

  JOSEPH [_coming from the stable_].
  Sir, send a midwife to your daughter.
  All things are rigid; only Mary and I
  move, and the glory lies even between us.
  The Return is at point to issue; befriend salvation.

     [_All the figures are rigid, except_ JOSEPH _and the_ THIRD
     KING. ADAM _speaks with difficulty and without moving_]

  ADAM. Whom shall I send? whom?

  THIRD KING. We, call we you father, are not yours;
  we are the things thought of before you, brought
  into Eden while men were not, when
  in the Days hunger was created, and lives
  with a need always to feed on each other. This
  was felt in the first kiss of man and woman.
  Mother, there is a good cake for you now
  to take everlastingly; go, kiss her, love
  hungers: deliver her and she shall deliver you.

     [_The_ NEGRESS _leaps up and turns on him_]

  The eaten are on your left hand, the uneaten on your right;
  go--there is no thing living so dextrous as you.

     [_The_ NEGRESS _and_ JOSEPH _go into the stable_]

  THE ARCHANGEL. Adonai hu ha-elohim!

  THIRD KING. What do you see, man? but I see.
  Flesh is become that firmament of terrible crystal
  your prophet saw: within it wreathed amber
  and fire sheathed in the amber; now
  the fire and the amber and the crystal are mingled into form;
  what do you hear, man? [_He pauses_] but I hear
  the terrible sound of the crystal singing as it spins
  round the amber where the fire is hidden, and now the amber
  is hidden in the crystal, and the crystal spinning into flesh,
  twining into flesh: it slows, it stops, it sinks--
  what do you know, man? but I know--
  it drops into the stretched hands of my mother;
  my mother has fetched a child from the womb of its mother;
  my mother has taken the taste of the new bread.
  Adonai Elohim!

     [JOSEPH _comes from the stable_]

  JOSEPH. Father Adam, come in; here is your child,
  here is the Son of Man, here is Paradise.
  To-day everything begins again.

     [ADAM _goes down to the door of the stable_]

  MARY [_meeting him and genuflecting_].
  Bless me, father: see how to-morrow is also now.

  ADAM [_making the sign of the Cross_].
  Under the Protection! peace to you, and to all; goodwill to men.

     [_They go into the stable_]

  JOSEPH. Our father Adam is gone in to adore.

  THE TSAR. Blessed be he who is the earth's core

  THE SULTAN. and splits it all ways with intelligible light.

  THE CHORUS. Christ bring us all to the sight
  of the pattern of glory which is only he.

  THE ARCHANGEL. Yeshua!

  THE TSAR. Blessed be he whose intelligence came to save
  man from the gripping of the grave: blessed be he.

  THE SULTAN. Blessed be he who, because he does all things well,
  harries hell by his mercy: blessed be he.

  THIRD KING. Blessed be he who is the only Necessity
  and his necessity in himself alone.

  EVE. Blessed be he who is sown in our flesh, grown
  among us for our salvation: blessed be he.

  THE CHORUS. Christ bring us, by his clean pact,
  into the act which is only he.

  THE ARCHANGEL. Yeshua!

  THIRD KING. He consumes and is consumed.

  THE SULTAN. He is the womb's prophecy and the tomb's.

  THE TSAR. He creates, redeems, glorifies: blessed be he.

  EVE. He is all our heart finds or lacks.

  JOSEPH. He frees our souls from hell's cracks.

  THE CHORUS. Christ bring us, by his true birth,
  into a new heaven and earth.

  JOSEPH. Blessed be he whose love is the knowledge of good
  and its motion the willing of good: blessed be he.

  THE CHORUS. Adore, adore: blessed for evermore
  be the Lord God Sabaoth: blessed be He.




APPENDIX

SYNOPSIS


This Nativity is not so much a presentation of the historic facts as of
their spiritual value. The persons of the play, besides being dramatic
characters, stand for some capacity or activity of man.

Adam, after leaving Paradise, is seeking the Way of Return. His many
children, descendants who form all mankind, are tired of the search,
and prefer the occupations offered by the Tsar of Caucasia and the
Sultan of Bagdad: one calling them to outer things such as trade,
exploration, &c.; the other to inner, such as art or philosophy. All
these are temporary diversions, and Adam attempts to recall them
to their proper business. He fails. In order to save his youngest
daughter Mary from their persecution, he determines to marry her to
her young lover Joseph. Mary is characterized by a love of people and
things in themselves, and has gone beyond the tiresomeness of personal
preference. The Archangel appears to her, and declares the Incarnation;
she talks to Joseph of the nature of Love, and they go on their journey
to Bethlehem.

The Chorus meanwhile exhibit their fear of the coming of some terror
upon them out of the ends of time and space.

At this point Adam (or Man) returns in the shape of Augustus Caesar.
He has conquered and quietened the world, and he takes a census of all
mankind, dead or living, in order to discover, if he can, any knowledge
of the Way of Return. The census is completed, but Adam-Augustus is the
only known saviour. A voice interrupts, and there appears the Third
King. The Third King represents the experience of man when man thinks
he has gone beyond all hope of restoration to joy, and is accompanied
by a negress, who is, briefly, Hell. The two are come at last to
destroy and consume all mankind; they come to Mary first. The play ends
with the overthrow of the destructive cannibal nature of man at the
moment of the Nativity, and with the adoration of the Omnipotence.


NOTES

Adam and Dullards of darkness, light's lazybones ... but this did not
take me far.

The shepherds and the Wise men (kings)--the poor and others. The poem
on the kings--the imaginations. Original idea of the poor [_i.e. for
the Shepherds_]: and in a few fragments I toyed with this notion. But
it did not produce anything very interesting; and anyhow it was not
a true contrast, unless I made the kings the rich, i.e. the great
capitalists, which I was very ill-disposed to do (i) because I did not
wish to save the capitalists easily in view of Christ's remark about
the rich--at the Crucifixion perhaps but not just at the Nativity, (ii)
because then I lost my Imaginations, especially my myrrh and Third
King. And then Miss Potter wanted a Chorus, and the Chorus and the
Shepherds would have been too alike. So the Shepherds disappeared into
the Chorus. Mr. Eliot has made choruses a little difficult. I know all
about the Greeks, but they do not prevent one being told one is copying
Mr. Eliot.

Well, I went on brooding, and the Kings increased. But there remained
the awful difficulty of how to make the thing interesting. Which do
you find most _interesting_--I don't say which do you think most
important--the Nativity or the latest murder? Well, _if_ you found
the Nativity most interesting you would be reading theology. And
do you? No. I am like you. And as I considered this my attention
hung about the Third K. I had originally intended each K. to have a
female slave--partly to use up Miss Potter's females, partly to give
opportunity for dress--or the opposite, partly to combine both sexes in
each imagination. A K. with a dancing girl, a K. with a geometrician or
a scribe, a K. with something more dangerous than himself--darker, a
Negress. There was my first Negress.

Meanwhile I had, in my usual way, abolished Time and Space. I was
prepared to bring in anyone. After all, the Nativity was a local event,
besides being universal. Augustus and so on. How did we, if we did,
bring in Augustus? How did we keep in Adam and keep out Aug.? Now
remark this is a real technical difficulty. There are ways of doing
it--one might make Adam unnoticeable, or one might ... I don't know.
But as I saw Adam he was important; I did not wish him to get to be the
Chorus Leader; the Chorus were rapidly becoming imperialistic. And then
one of those admirable clicks happened, and I said to anybody: 'Good
God! Adam-Augustus, Augustus-Adam.' Admirable--_if_ it could be done.

Well, then there was Joseph--and the Blessed Virgin. I was quite
clear that the old man leading a devout girl on a donkey was not for
this play. There are profound and awful possibilities in it, and one
day I will do it. But there is something of it in the later plays of
Shakespeare, and as a rule it is safer _not_ to go trying to reap what
He left. I will put S. into a novel when I want him but I will not
chase after him. Besides, was there not a Mahommedan tradition that
he was young? I hope there is; I thought there was--good: let us have
a young Mahommedan Joseph, and let us (incidentally) make the second
King a Sultan. The captain of horse I threw in as a picturesque extra,
though it fitted so well with poetry that I have done it over again in
my Taliessin poems.

And a just man? This theme is not much in. But it exemplifies [the]
difference. The B.V.M. and her characteristics: love of God--before
[the] coming of God (as such) to her: what state? Love. The romantic
pressure of the individual.




  SOURCE:

  COLLECTED PLAYS
  by Charles Williams
  LONDON
  Oxford University Press
  1963


[The end of _Seed of Adam_ by Charles Williams]