ACT II, SCENE 3 | Louis Faber

Lights come up slowly

on a living room, a sofa,

table and chair, where

a woman sits.

She carefully peels the blouse

off her shoulder, shielding

her breast with the body of the doll

which looks like a real baby

past the third row of the orchestra.

She holds it against her, hums

a lullaby whose melody

cannot be clearly heard

and rocks gently on the cushion.

Offstage right, the sound

of mortar rounds landing

and an occasional scream.

He enters the room through

the doorway, downstage left

and tosses his suitcoat over

the back of the couch.

He leans over, kisses her gently

on the forehead, and rubs his hand

through the doll’s hair.

“It was a bitch, as usual,

no matter what the market does

it’s never quite enough for them,

as though I am some sort

of miracle worker who can

push things up with a wish.”

From backstage the sounds

of a battle, a rumble

of steel tank treads across

a cobbled street.

She pulls the blouse up

and lays the doll in the carriage.

“Dinner will be ready

in a moment, let me put

the baby down, he should

be out for a couple of hours

at least, maybe longer.”

He loosens his tie, sits

at the maple table

and spoons from the soup bowl,

nodding occasionally to her

as she carries the platter through

the archway at the edge of the stage.

From above, the sound

of the jet, and an explosion,

a flash of lights and a siren.

She clears the plates

from the table, as he sits

on the sofa sipping amber liquid

from a brandy snifter, reaching

out for her hand, she curls against

his shoulder, “tomorrow is

another day, and Saturday

maybe we can get away

to the lake, and just watch

the ducks sliding into

the reeds along the shore.”

From offstage left

a baby cries, more terror

than hunger, piercing,

prolonged, as all lights fade.

Louis Faber is a poet and blogger. His work has appeared in Cantos, The Poet (U.K.), Alchemy Spoon, New Feathers Anthology, Dreich (Scotland), Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Erothanatos (Greece), Defenestration, Atlanta Review, Glimpse, Rattle, Cold Mountain Review, Eureka Literary Magazine, Borderlands: the Texas Poetry Review, Midnight Mind, Pearl, Midstream, European Judaism, The South Carolina Review and Worcester Review, among many others, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A book of poetry, The Right to Depart, was published by Plain View Press.