The chambers. A royal bed.
Enter Freddy
FREDDY Where am I in this solid tomb of glass?
Is this but where I now must meet my end?
To be alone has long been my life work,
And now I face the depth of all despair.
My chest is full, the venom course, runs dry
Damp sweat clouds mine eyes’ sight and stokes my fear
I would, in life, find less comfort than death.
Enter Bernadette
BERNADETTE You alright, Freddy?
You should put some clothes on, I need to get out.
FREDDY Lovely, more than lovely, if I know it.
Thine eyes are souls distinct from all the earth.
BERNADETTE Yeah, thanks.
Didn’t you say that you had a tute to go to?
FREDDY Curséd be the Nymph who draws me from sleep,
When my body seeks to rest upon sheets.
BERNADETTE Whatever, I’ve gotta go. See yourself out.
[Exit Bernadette]
FREDDY This wanton misery hath claiméd me.
She is the light that ‘spires my daily work,
Mine micro and mine macro too, she brings
The best of government and rule of law,
And makes mine fingers twitch o’er sweaty keys
As words emerge unspoken in my eyes.
And yet she sees my naked form and frowns,
Does she not see the thing of dreams herein?
I am alone on soiléd sheets awake,
And breathe the sticky post-coital odour.
My flesh is red, my shaft is chaféd raw,
And yet my fear belongs to her depart.
My seed no more shall grace her soft tissue
Nor find its way unwanted to the bin.
Cry! That is my nude lament of days gone by,
From adulterous vices o’er which I raged
Might show mercy still the more potent now.
But weep, for I am in my last descent,
And now must face the knowledge of my death.
Or, if not death, then something really bad,
Like a disease of the cock and the mind.