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Image for Penelope
Program

PENELOPE

By Sarah Kirkland Snider
 
THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
 
City View at Sterling Square • 210 N Fulton Ave
 
 
This activity is made possible
through the generosity of
 
The Stranger with the Face of the Man I Loved
This is What You’re Like
The Honeyed Fruit (Instrumental)
The Lotus Eaters
Nausicaa
Circe and the Hanged Man
I Died of Waiting (Instrumental)
Home
Dead Friend
Calypso
And Then You Shall be Lost Indeed 
Open Hands
Baby Teeth, Bones, and Bullets
As He Looks Out to the Sea
 
 
 

 Official IT Provider

 

 

Cover Photo:

https://www.freepik.com/vectors/background’>Background vector created by s.salvador - www.freepik.com
The Text

The Stranger with the Face of the Man I Loved

I have a house

Looks out to sea

And this is where he came

The stranger with the face of a man I

     loved

To the house by the sea

Long time, long time gone

A sort of home

 

It’s this house

That what’s left of his mind

Seems to have remembered

So what’s left of his mind

Claims the house as his

Though it’s been mine and mine

     alone since he left me here

 

He left me here

Half a life ago

But this is where he came

The stranger with the face of a man I

     loved

 

In this house

Where the best of our times

I try to remember

And the rest of the time

I try to forget

The times he lied and lied

Before he just left me here

 

The stranger with the face of a man I

     loved

In the house by the sea

Long time, long time gone

A sort of home

 

This is What You're Like

I’d give a lot

I’d give a lot to hear him

tell me lies like that again

tell me much of anything.

 

It’s true, he talks

It’s true, he talks, but it’s not

Anything like it was then

Anything like it was

when he talked the way a bird sings,

     just to sing.

 

This is what you’re like

Do you remember?

This is what you once were like.

You are a man who when the music

     dies away

You keep on dancing

And when there’s nothing left to say

You tell me lies

 

You wrote a poem

You wrote a poem about me

Swimming in the open sea

 

You loved my eyebrows and my

     stomach and my knobby knees

I loved your mouth

I loved your mouth and every story

     that you told to me

 

Where is it you’ve gone?

How can I find you?

I heard you weeping in the dawn

But you won’t say if I can bring you   

     back alive

I’ll come and find you

I can’t help thinking you survived

Just went astray.

 

This is what you’re like

Try to remember

This is what you once were like

Where is it you’ve gone? How can I

     find you?

Where is it you’ve gone?

 

Do you remember, you are a man who

Told me you loved me

You are a man who told me you loved

     me,

Do you remember?

 

This is what you’re like

Try to remember

 

The Honeyed Fruit (Instrumental)

The honeyed fruit they offered dripped forgetfulness. Those who tasted it fell where they were, dreaming, their faces smeared smiling with the sweetness of the end of any desire for home. I drove them, weeping, to their rowing benches and tied them in, but still they moaned, straining to look back over their shoulders at the disappearing shore, like children carried off from their calling mothers.

 

The Lotus Eaters

Down the ward, the men are

     dreaming,

drooling in their cots.

Pricks of blood in every elbow,

I am no better.

It’s just that I’m awake

It’s just that I’m awake and walking.

Walking.

Hear my footsteps down the hall.

Now I’m smelling the night air,

crunching gravel as I walk, walk, walk.

 

Never, never, never, never will I

never will I sleep like that again

Never, never, never, never, never,

Never will I sleep like that, sleep like

     that…

 

And I’m lost in this night

I’m lost in this night

I’m already lost, but not as lost as

     them

And I’m lost in this night

I’m lost in this night

I’m already lost, but not as lost as

     them

my sleeping, drooling, smiling men

 

I’m not as lost,

I’m not as lost

I’m not as lost as them

 

Nausicaa

Don’t be afraid, Stranger

I’m not afraid,

I’m not afraid of you.

 

You look so lost, Stranger

But you’re not lost,

‘Cause I’ve just found you.

 

Just take my hand, Stranger

Just take my hand

And I will lead you home.

 

Circe and the Hanged Man

“Is he dead?” the Stranger said

No, she tells him.

 

Say you bounce a ball

Have you ever noticed that

Between the business of its going up

and the business of its fall

it hesitates?

 

It just waits

There’s a fraction of a second there

     when it’s luxuriating in the air

Before its fate rushes it on.

 

“But he’s hanging there”

Yes, he’s hanging, yes, but from the

     tree of life

“Is he some sort of sacrifice?”

Yes, he’s a sacrifice…

He gave himself to himself so he  

     could see.

He gave himself to himself so he

     could see.

He gave himself to himself so he

     could see.

 

He gave himself

“So he could see?”

As only you can see

When the world is upside down

And you hang

From the branch of a tree

 

“So that’s me?”

Yes, it’s where you seem to be.

And you hang from the branch of a tree.

“So that’s me?”

Yes, it’s where you seem to be.

“So that’s me.”

 

I Died of Waiting (Instrumental)

He says, “Oh, Mother, I am so sad to see you here. I didn’t know. What happened to you?” She says, “I died of waiting. Year after year, I stood the days out, squinting across the water that never showed your sail. One day my hollow heart cracked to powder like an old egg and I fell where I stood, eyes still clinging to the empty horizon.” Bitter with longing Odysseus reaches out to his mother. Three times he tries and three times he fails. She is as untouchable as smoke. He says, “Oh, Mother, why can’t I hold you in my arms? Is this some fresh cruelty the gods devised to trick me?” She says, “It is only death, my son. It is the end we all come to. You and I had our last embrace long ago, in the sunlit world above. Such things can never happen here. Go back, my child. You will be here soon enough, and that is a return I shall not rejoice to see you make.”

 

Home

Home is where I’m going, but never

     coming

Home is someplace I can’t recall, but

     head for still.

Across the waste of water I search for

     her,

Dear blue land,

     show your blessed curve

So tiny and only mine.

 

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

The world is never done with you.

 

The world wants her travelers to stay

     lost.

The world swats their eyes as they

     run through it,

She grasps at them, pulling and

     tugging,

She grasps at them.

 

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

The world is never done with you.

Not you.

 

Dead Friend

Dead friend

Turn your back on me

I beg you

Do not look at me

With those eyes

 

Dead friend

I must leave you here

I can’t stay

You can’t follow me

Where I go

 

Dead friend

Turn your back on me

Let me go

I’ve forgotten you

Forget me

I’ve forgotten you

Forget me

 

Calypso

But I do think of her

Standing in that parking lot

The stars are out, night drops down

     on her

She is alone again.

 

She’s alone again.

She holds his cooling dinner in her

     lifted hand.

Something he just might like

Sweet or salty, no one will eat it now.

 

She looks for him in darkness,

stands alone now once again

tries to see where he might have

     gone,

where could he go,

She looks for him in darkness,

     stands alone now once again

tries to see where he might have

     gone,

where could he go, without her.

 

And Then You Shall be Lost Indeed (Instrumental)

Tiresias prophecies for Odysseus in the Underworld:

 

I know you, Captain, all you want in this world is to see the honey light of your own home at last. But there is more trouble to come for you. Poseidon hates you and your way home is through him. He will make it hard for you yet. But if you can hold fast to restraint, there is some hope. You shall find yourself sailing past the Island of the Sun God. Helios, who sees all and hears everything. Helios, from whom nothing is hidden. See his many cattle, sacred to the world, they dapple his island slopes like banks of clouds. They are beautiful and they are holy. But Captain, let no one interfere with them, even if you’re starving. If any man so much as touches them, everything will be taken from you, all your men, your last ship, everything. And then you shall be lost indeed, your fine mind will be useless against the fury of the sun.

 

Open Hands

Here’s an ugly little something,

Broken bit of who knows what

Here’s a bloody little secret

What I did and what I thought

Here is what I lost forever

Open hands, a certain laugh

Here is what I thought I wanted

Some lost smile in a photograph

 

Baby Teeth, Bones, and Bullets

Let a wind come

Let a wind come blow it all away

Let a rainstorm

Let a rainstorm swallow me

Can’t you do that?

Can’t you hide me, God?

Can’t you…

 

Save me from you

(save me from you)

Sweep me someplace you can’t see

(Hide me some place)

I am known here

(God help me I’m known)

 

Open eye, open eye staring down on

     me.

Yellow sky, yellow sky staring down

     on me.

I am known for what I am.

I am known by you

(Let a wind come and blow it all

     away)

I am known by you

(Let a rain storm, let a wind come,

     and blow it all away)

I am known by you

(Let a rain storm, let a wind come, 

     and blow it all away)

Can’t you…

 

Save me from you

(save me from you)

Sweep me someplace you can’t see

(Hide me some place)

I am known here

(I am known by you.)

 

Let a wind come

Let a wind come, blow it all away.

Blow it all, all away.

 

As He Looks Out to the Sea

It moves like a live thing in his hands

The story, his story

Bloody and sacred, truth and lie,

The story, his story

 

And it tells itself,

    the pages turn and tell themselves,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards like the

     tide.

 

It moves like a live thing in his hands

The story, his story

Bloody and sacred, truth and lie,

The story, his story

 

And it tells itself,

the pages turn and tell themselves,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards like the tide

 

Special Thanks

Image for Penelope
Program

PENELOPE

By Sarah Kirkland Snider
 
THURSDAY, MAY 20, 2021, at 7:00 p.m.
 
City View at Sterling Square • 210 N Fulton Ave
 
 
This activity is made possible
through the generosity of
 
The Stranger with the Face of the Man I Loved
This is What You’re Like
The Honeyed Fruit (Instrumental)
The Lotus Eaters
Nausicaa
Circe and the Hanged Man
I Died of Waiting (Instrumental)
Home
Dead Friend
Calypso
And Then You Shall be Lost Indeed 
Open Hands
Baby Teeth, Bones, and Bullets
As He Looks Out to the Sea
 
 
 

 Official IT Provider

 

 

Cover Photo:

https://www.freepik.com/vectors/background’>Background vector created by s.salvador - www.freepik.com
The Text

The Stranger with the Face of the Man I Loved

I have a house

Looks out to sea

And this is where he came

The stranger with the face of a man I

     loved

To the house by the sea

Long time, long time gone

A sort of home

 

It’s this house

That what’s left of his mind

Seems to have remembered

So what’s left of his mind

Claims the house as his

Though it’s been mine and mine

     alone since he left me here

 

He left me here

Half a life ago

But this is where he came

The stranger with the face of a man I

     loved

 

In this house

Where the best of our times

I try to remember

And the rest of the time

I try to forget

The times he lied and lied

Before he just left me here

 

The stranger with the face of a man I

     loved

In the house by the sea

Long time, long time gone

A sort of home

 

This is What You're Like

I’d give a lot

I’d give a lot to hear him

tell me lies like that again

tell me much of anything.

 

It’s true, he talks

It’s true, he talks, but it’s not

Anything like it was then

Anything like it was

when he talked the way a bird sings,

     just to sing.

 

This is what you’re like

Do you remember?

This is what you once were like.

You are a man who when the music

     dies away

You keep on dancing

And when there’s nothing left to say

You tell me lies

 

You wrote a poem

You wrote a poem about me

Swimming in the open sea

 

You loved my eyebrows and my

     stomach and my knobby knees

I loved your mouth

I loved your mouth and every story

     that you told to me

 

Where is it you’ve gone?

How can I find you?

I heard you weeping in the dawn

But you won’t say if I can bring you   

     back alive

I’ll come and find you

I can’t help thinking you survived

Just went astray.

 

This is what you’re like

Try to remember

This is what you once were like

Where is it you’ve gone? How can I

     find you?

Where is it you’ve gone?

 

Do you remember, you are a man who

Told me you loved me

You are a man who told me you loved

     me,

Do you remember?

 

This is what you’re like

Try to remember

 

The Honeyed Fruit (Instrumental)

The honeyed fruit they offered dripped forgetfulness. Those who tasted it fell where they were, dreaming, their faces smeared smiling with the sweetness of the end of any desire for home. I drove them, weeping, to their rowing benches and tied them in, but still they moaned, straining to look back over their shoulders at the disappearing shore, like children carried off from their calling mothers.

 

The Lotus Eaters

Down the ward, the men are

     dreaming,

drooling in their cots.

Pricks of blood in every elbow,

I am no better.

It’s just that I’m awake

It’s just that I’m awake and walking.

Walking.

Hear my footsteps down the hall.

Now I’m smelling the night air,

crunching gravel as I walk, walk, walk.

 

Never, never, never, never will I

never will I sleep like that again

Never, never, never, never, never,

Never will I sleep like that, sleep like

     that…

 

And I’m lost in this night

I’m lost in this night

I’m already lost, but not as lost as

     them

And I’m lost in this night

I’m lost in this night

I’m already lost, but not as lost as

     them

my sleeping, drooling, smiling men

 

I’m not as lost,

I’m not as lost

I’m not as lost as them

 

Nausicaa

Don’t be afraid, Stranger

I’m not afraid,

I’m not afraid of you.

 

You look so lost, Stranger

But you’re not lost,

‘Cause I’ve just found you.

 

Just take my hand, Stranger

Just take my hand

And I will lead you home.

 

Circe and the Hanged Man

“Is he dead?” the Stranger said

No, she tells him.

 

Say you bounce a ball

Have you ever noticed that

Between the business of its going up

and the business of its fall

it hesitates?

 

It just waits

There’s a fraction of a second there

     when it’s luxuriating in the air

Before its fate rushes it on.

 

“But he’s hanging there”

Yes, he’s hanging, yes, but from the

     tree of life

“Is he some sort of sacrifice?”

Yes, he’s a sacrifice…

He gave himself to himself so he  

     could see.

He gave himself to himself so he

     could see.

He gave himself to himself so he

     could see.

 

He gave himself

“So he could see?”

As only you can see

When the world is upside down

And you hang

From the branch of a tree

 

“So that’s me?”

Yes, it’s where you seem to be.

And you hang from the branch of a tree.

“So that’s me?”

Yes, it’s where you seem to be.

“So that’s me.”

 

I Died of Waiting (Instrumental)

He says, “Oh, Mother, I am so sad to see you here. I didn’t know. What happened to you?” She says, “I died of waiting. Year after year, I stood the days out, squinting across the water that never showed your sail. One day my hollow heart cracked to powder like an old egg and I fell where I stood, eyes still clinging to the empty horizon.” Bitter with longing Odysseus reaches out to his mother. Three times he tries and three times he fails. She is as untouchable as smoke. He says, “Oh, Mother, why can’t I hold you in my arms? Is this some fresh cruelty the gods devised to trick me?” She says, “It is only death, my son. It is the end we all come to. You and I had our last embrace long ago, in the sunlit world above. Such things can never happen here. Go back, my child. You will be here soon enough, and that is a return I shall not rejoice to see you make.”

 

Home

Home is where I’m going, but never

     coming

Home is someplace I can’t recall, but

     head for still.

Across the waste of water I search for

     her,

Dear blue land,

     show your blessed curve

So tiny and only mine.

 

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

The world is never done with you.

 

The world wants her travelers to stay

     lost.

The world swats their eyes as they

     run through it,

She grasps at them, pulling and

     tugging,

She grasps at them.

 

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

No, no, you can’t go home, she says,

     the world,

where do you think you’re going?

We’re not done with you.

The world is never done with you.

Not you.

 

Dead Friend

Dead friend

Turn your back on me

I beg you

Do not look at me

With those eyes

 

Dead friend

I must leave you here

I can’t stay

You can’t follow me

Where I go

 

Dead friend

Turn your back on me

Let me go

I’ve forgotten you

Forget me

I’ve forgotten you

Forget me

 

Calypso

But I do think of her

Standing in that parking lot

The stars are out, night drops down

     on her

She is alone again.

 

She’s alone again.

She holds his cooling dinner in her

     lifted hand.

Something he just might like

Sweet or salty, no one will eat it now.

 

She looks for him in darkness,

stands alone now once again

tries to see where he might have

     gone,

where could he go,

She looks for him in darkness,

     stands alone now once again

tries to see where he might have

     gone,

where could he go, without her.

 

And Then You Shall be Lost Indeed (Instrumental)

Tiresias prophecies for Odysseus in the Underworld:

 

I know you, Captain, all you want in this world is to see the honey light of your own home at last. But there is more trouble to come for you. Poseidon hates you and your way home is through him. He will make it hard for you yet. But if you can hold fast to restraint, there is some hope. You shall find yourself sailing past the Island of the Sun God. Helios, who sees all and hears everything. Helios, from whom nothing is hidden. See his many cattle, sacred to the world, they dapple his island slopes like banks of clouds. They are beautiful and they are holy. But Captain, let no one interfere with them, even if you’re starving. If any man so much as touches them, everything will be taken from you, all your men, your last ship, everything. And then you shall be lost indeed, your fine mind will be useless against the fury of the sun.

 

Open Hands

Here’s an ugly little something,

Broken bit of who knows what

Here’s a bloody little secret

What I did and what I thought

Here is what I lost forever

Open hands, a certain laugh

Here is what I thought I wanted

Some lost smile in a photograph

 

Baby Teeth, Bones, and Bullets

Let a wind come

Let a wind come blow it all away

Let a rainstorm

Let a rainstorm swallow me

Can’t you do that?

Can’t you hide me, God?

Can’t you…

 

Save me from you

(save me from you)

Sweep me someplace you can’t see

(Hide me some place)

I am known here

(God help me I’m known)

 

Open eye, open eye staring down on

     me.

Yellow sky, yellow sky staring down

     on me.

I am known for what I am.

I am known by you

(Let a wind come and blow it all

     away)

I am known by you

(Let a rain storm, let a wind come,

     and blow it all away)

I am known by you

(Let a rain storm, let a wind come, 

     and blow it all away)

Can’t you…

 

Save me from you

(save me from you)

Sweep me someplace you can’t see

(Hide me some place)

I am known here

(I am known by you.)

 

Let a wind come

Let a wind come, blow it all away.

Blow it all, all away.

 

As He Looks Out to the Sea

It moves like a live thing in his hands

The story, his story

Bloody and sacred, truth and lie,

The story, his story

 

And it tells itself,

    the pages turn and tell themselves,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards like the

     tide.

 

It moves like a live thing in his hands

The story, his story

Bloody and sacred, truth and lie,

The story, his story

 

And it tells itself,

the pages turn and tell themselves,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards,

Backwards and forwards like the tide

 

Special Thanks