"Lexington": A Pageant-Drama of the American Freedom — John Shaqi
"Lexington": A Pageant-Drama of the American FreedomHoward, Sidney Coe
History
"Lexington": A Pageant-Drama of the American Freedom
Howard, Sidney Coe
Lexington, Battle of, Lexington, Mass., 1775 -- Drama; Pageants -- Massachusetts -- Lexington; United States -- History -- Drama
Build up the cities.
Set up the walls again.
Put together once more the factories and cathedrals, warehouses and
homes
Into buildings for life and labor;
You are the workmen and citizens all: We command you.
[_Again Freedom’s face falls. She comes disconsolately down the
stair._]
THE PEOPLE
Ah!
FOUR OTHER VOICES
(_Again from Sandburg._)
Make us one new dream, us who forgot,
Out of the storm let us have one star.
[_She stops and looks mournfully down upon them, all the people, and
shakes her head._
_Whereupon, the music going mad again, the people begin all to move
and shift about in little, futile designs and, at the same time, on
Freedom’s left, a cone of men shoot acrobatically up. There are not
more than a dozen figures in it. They wear hot purples and outrageous
masks and speak in unison._]
THE CONE
You people,
What are you to Freedom?
What is Freedom to you?
You have no rights, but only duties.
Produce!
Faster and faster.
Harder and harder.
It doesn’t matter
How tired you are.
Produce, do you hear?
[_Whereupon a second cone shoots up on Freedom’s right. It is exactly
like the first except that the men in it are dressed in dirty red and
orange._]
THE SECOND CONE
You people!
Stand up for your rights!
To hell with your duties!
Do you want Freedom?
Well, then, organize!
Wealth is labor!
Property is labor!
Capital is labor!
Organize!
[_Whereupon a third cone shoots up at Freedom’s very feet, a cone all
of black with senatorial hats topping the masked faces._]
THE THIRD CONE
You people!
Forget about freedom!
Government’s government.
Republican. Democrat.
Right or wrong,
My country still!
The Constitution,
Wonderful instrument!
Land of the Free
And the home of the Brave!
Politics. Politics.
Don’t forget Washington,
Lincoln or Hamilton.
What did they tell you?
Worship the government.
[_The three cones disappear as magically as they appeared and, in
their place about Freedom’s feet, is a fan of scarlet figures._]
THE FAN
You masses! You masses! You masses!
Do you know your power?
Do you know your meaning?
Do you know what you can do?
We’re Freedom.
We’re Russia!
We’re God!
Awake masses!
You are the state!
You are the world!
You are the universe!
Take what is yours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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