...not be stirred: The Gods who made this hubbub erred!
Tape: Bird, bird, bird!
Philomel: You are bare of desire: Be born O green leaves! through your rustling lace Ahead, I hear my own myth race.
Tape: Thrace, Thrace, Thrace!
Philomel: Pain is unchained, There is change! In the words of Thrace!
SECTION THREE
Philomel: Living, growing, changing, being in the hum always, Of pain! The pain of slow change blows in our faces Like unfelt winds that the spinning world makes in its turning: Life and feeling whirl on, below the threshold of burning.
I burn in change. Far, far I flew To this wailing place And now I range (with tape) Thrashing, through The woods of Thrace.
If pain brush against the rushing wings of frightened change, Then feeling distills to a burning drop, and transformation Becomes intolerable. I have been defiled and felt my tongue Torn out: but more pain reigns in these woods I range among.
I ache in change, Though once I grew At a slower pace. And now I range (with tape) Thrashing, through The woods of Thrace.
Pressed into one fell moment, my ghastly transformation Died like a fading scream: the ravisher and the chased Turned into one at last: the voice Tereus shattered Becomes the tiny voices of night that the God has scattered.
I die in change. Pain tore in two Love's secret face. (with tape) And now I range Thrashing, through The woods of Thrace
Love's most hidden tongue throbbed in the barbarous daylight: Then all became pain in one great scream of silence, fading Finally, as all the voices of feeling died in the west And pain alone remained with remembering in my breast.
I screamed in change. Now all I can do Is bewail that chase (with tape) For now I range Thrashing, through The woods of Thrace.
Pain in the breast and the mind, fused into music! Change Bruising hurt silence even further! Now, in this glade, Suffering is redeemed in song. Feeling takes wing: High, high above, beyond the forests of horror I sing! I sing in change Now my song will range Till the morning dew Dampens its face: Now my song will range As once it flew Thrashing, through The woods of Thrace.