After creation, when the earth was young enough to
feel the vitality of her roots and old enough to embrace the wisdom
of her sky, there was a man who began, as men do, as a child.
(Man enters, wearing a heavy chain necklace around
his neck. This chain stays on throughout the drama until later. The
man crosses to Tree and sadly leans against it.)
The earth heard the rustling of leaves and felt the
tears of the man against her and asked, "What's the matter, child?"
Startled, the man stepped back and replied, "Nothing.
Nothing's wrong."
"Then why are you crying?"
"What do you care. You're just a tree,"
sobbed the man.
"Things are not always as they seem," said
the earth, gently. "Now tell me why you cry."
"My father's going to be angry with me."
"Why?" prompted the earth.
"I lied to him," replied the man, ashamed.
"He gave me money to give to the poor but I spent it on ice cream
instead. Then when I got home, he asked me and I lied to him."
"So you broke his faith in you."
"I ran away. He doesn't know I lied."
"Go back, boy. Tell him the truth. He knows you
better than you believe. He still loves you. He still has faith in
you. But you must face him and tell the truth."
(The Man exits.)
The man promised as the earth said, went and told
his father the truth. He suffered no ice cream for a month, but he
discovered that his father did know him after all. Time past and the
man child was happy.
(Man enters and hides behind the Tree, playing
hide and seek. Person #2 enters, also wearing a heavy chain necklace,
and finds the Man. Laughing, Man hides his eyes on the Tree to count.
Person #2 exits to hide.)
The man's Spring was sometimes harsh, but mostly he
smelled the sweetness of budding flowers, cut grass, and birdsong.
His becoming was as an aria, sometimes with sustained notes, low and
high, sometimes at an frantic rate at fever pitch. But his creating
was formed by the soul of the artist, the poetry of the master.
(Man exits.)
And yet, always, the man carried a burden. His Summer
was one of steady growth and new shoes. But his becoming began to
focus on the burden without the man's perceiving. The burden whispered
illusion. Sickness seemed to be health and beauty mistaken as triviality.
Eventually, the man's becoming became confused.
(Man enters, carrying a stick. He pounds the floor
and strikes the Tree.)
"Ow! Stop that! Why do you hurt me?"
"You're just a tree," said the man. "I
can't hurt you. You don't feel anything."
"Things are not always as they seem," said
the earth, gently. "Now tell me why you hurt me."
"I didn't know it hurt you," replied the
man.
"You've forgotten," said the earth. "But
I know who you are, despite your confusion."
"What must I do?" asked the man.
"Study," replied the earth. "Discover
who you are, look outside yourself, and then perhaps you will be free."
(Man exits.)
As the man's Summer turned to early Fall, he studied.
He embraced his gifts with knowledge and skill. He discovered who
he was and his notes began to sound in his ear. And yet the burden
he carried did not diminish, but whispered louder and louder in his
ear to drown out the man's music. "Things are not as they should
be," the burden whispered. The man's confidence waned. Rumors
and lies rode the wind until the sound of its rustling ground down
the man's esteem and doubt became his mentor.
(The Man enters, following Person #2 (still wearing
the chain necklace). A long rope is tied to the Man's waist. Person
#2 carries the other end of the rope, takes it, and ties the other
end around the waist of the Tree. Person #2 exits. The Man sits next
to the Tree. While this action takes place:)
During the man's Fall, doubt drove him to misunderstanding.
Sounding like musical chaos, he floundered and thrashed and called
it good. He came to want knowing without understanding. He became
greedy for love without the experience of love and without the need
to offer the music within himself. He tied himself to the whispers
and a hope that comes from contentment, from comfort, and from a need
to deny all pain in his life.
"What is this?" asked the earth.
"I have found truth," replied the man. "I
know a person who knows God. And he makes me feel good. He told me
that to be close to God I have to do certain things every day. And
so he tied me to you."
"This person has nothing to do with God,"
said the earth.
"What do you know?" replied the man. "You're
just a tree."
"Things are not always as they seem," said
the earth, gently. "Now tell me why you are tied here."
"I've become free," said the man, proudly.
"The truth has set me free."
The earth looked at the man, sadly. "Do you really
think you have gained your freedom?" asked the earth.
"What do you mean?" asked the man.
"Look at me," said the earth. "Look
at me long enough to see."
"I see you," said the man.
"Do you see my roots?"
"No."
"Then how do you know they are there?" asked
the earth.
"I just do," pondered the man.
"You have the faith to know they are there, and
so you come to me to help you form your own base. Do you see the crown
of who I am?"
"Yes."
"Up high, I touch the sky. And what color of
sky to do you see?"
"Blue," answered the man.
"True blue," said the earth. "Now look
around you and tell me if you see the sky."
"No," said the man. "It's just air."
"There's the illusion," pointed out the
earth. "For air is sky and sky is air. And it is just as true
blue here as it is up there. It's a matter of perception." Understanding
dawned on the man and he began to hear a different music in the wind.
"Now take off the rope," said the earth. And the man took
off the rope from the earth and untied it from himself and threw it
away.
"Can you hear the music within you?" asked
the earth.
"I don't know," replied the man, confused.
"Are you God?"
"No," replied the earth. "I am not
God. You and I were made by the same Creator."
The man understood and cried. "My life is full
of lies. It's just lies."
"Then go and lie no more. Live the truth. Your
Father knows you better than you believe. He still loves you. But
you must face him, trust in the faith within you, and live the truth."
"How do I know what is truth and what is illusion?"
sobbed the man.
"You know in your heart," said the earth.
At that, the man embraced the earth and that action helped him see
the burden he carried. The earth knew that the man did not know what
to do, so she said, "You need to either keep it or let it go.
Only you can choose." With great courage, he took it and destroyed
it. "Now you must create your own music," said the earth.
(The Man takes off the chain necklace and drops
it. He then exits.)
The man promised as the earth said and grew to know
his Father. For the rest of his days, through the Fall and Winter
of his life, he listened to the music within himself and became a
living symphony. He continued to gain strength from the earth from
time to time, and while sometimes the music in his life was sad, most
of the time he was able to hear a quiet sound, the sound of his own
grateful soul, the sound of faith.
