A Moment of Shakespeare

1.      It started on a Saturday.

I'm absolutely sure of that you see

Because that was the BIG day.

The casting announcement;

The moment all us aspiring thespians awaited

With bated breath

Hearts racing,

Praying for that singular role

The one that would tell the world:

''I am special,

''I can move you with mere words and expression,

''Remember my face, my name, for I have a destiny."

And as I read my name typed so carelessly beside a role

I never dreamed would be mine;

Numbness permeating my torso and legs

From the sheer audacity of the thought,

My mind blanked to the acceptance of the black and white proof

In front of my eyes.

Romeo Montague of Verona.

And as my heart raced

Pulse running out of control

As a thoroughbred

Loosed in a field of clover in the spring,

A musical gasp from beside me

Cut right through the fog of my brain.

I turned right

Twisting, as if functioning on autopilot,

Yet body resisting even such a small demand.

And I saw her for the very first time

A vision so perfect,

So vivid, so… Alive.

Chestnut hair tumbling from her shoulders

In a silken cascade of touchable smoothness

That carried almost to her waist.

And those eyes

Dark, almost black

But swirling in a dizzying fluid way

And when she laughed

I swear I saw flecks of gold there

Like small explosions

That served to counterpoint

The perfect music of her voice.

I know when her eyes locked on mine

For a split second of recognition

Of a suddenly shared future,

I realized I was dizzy and faint

Because the fool up there running my brain

Was forcing me to hold my breath

Like a diver going for a perfect pearl,

In a far away exotic sea.

I was beholding Juliet Capulet

My Juliet for the next four months.

And four months is a long time to hold one's breath.

And with a quick giggle and a blush

That turned her cheeks to a deep-dish pink,

She offered her hand

And a smile that would have melted Dante's version of hell,

But instead set my face aflame

And aroused me on a level so deep it was scary.

Determined to stay suave and sophisticated

Even in this moment of naked clarity,

I took her offer and gently applied a small kiss to her fingers

With a softly whispered "M'lady, wilt thou take the honor of my introduction?"

That turned the pink into a flaming red in the space of a heartbeat.

Both her cheeks and mine.

And she responded,

"Why kind sir, how may I resist the offer of such from the lips

Of my future lover, and heart's embrace for a time or season

As we are directed by forces beyond our control?"

At which moment we both broke

Into a flood of laughter

So uninhibited and captivating

That the whole lobby stared

And joined in

Without a clue as to why.

2 .    "Blocking, blocking, remember your blocking please!"

Our director yelled for about the ninth time in the last hour.

'If you cannot follow your marks, you'll throw off the entire

Movement of the scene. This is important people! Now...

Take your mark and let's start another walkthrough.... and pay attention!"

But my God, how could I possibly?

Every single time we brushed

Clothe to clothe

Or even worse, skin to skin

My mind went traveling

To places of mist and low lying lights

Where fireflies twinkled in unison

To my beating heart

And the stars overhead refused to stay in heaven

Insisting they would fall to earth

So we mortals could wish

And hope

And pray that God above would be merciful

And answer the unspoken questions in a heart

Entranced for the very first time

With an angel of light and laughter.

Whose very scent seems to travel down my spine

Arousing sensations I never knew existed within my body

'Til now.

I never really understood Shakespeare you know.

His writing seemed so...umm, flowery?

And …ohhh overly dramatic?

I mean, surely no human ever really spoke that way.

Did they?

Of course not...

He wrote for the stage

Deliberately overdone and dramatic

As most live plays are

Because they have to be that way

To stir an audience

To move beyond their own meager existence

And imagine another world.

Even one where people say things deliberately obscure.

Like 'Arise fair sun, and kill the envious moon.'

But then, things are changing within me now.

For some reason I can understand Shakespeare a bit better.

Because when I look at her

Even in a stolen sideways glance

I now see the sun

And would not any moon be envious of such light

As shines from her eyes

When she smiles?

When she laughs?

"'Now my young protégées.... this is our first complete rehearsal.

"I do not expect perfection

"I do not expect anything close to perfection.

"What I do have a right to expect is progress.

"We've done all the walkthroughs

"And readings

"And we are ready to evaluate ourselves most effectively.

"Or at least I would love to delude myself into believing that.

"So please don't burst my bubble."

But I knew I would do just that.

In my heart.

And I even knew where it would all collapse,

Bring me to shame in a hail of laughter and derision.

You see...

This was a full rehearsal

The one where we actually act the story for the first time

Rather that just read it

Rather than just learn the movements

And my downfall will come in Act II Scene VI

THE Scene

The KISS

I've thought

Pondered

Wondered if I could do what was necessary

But no man should take on such a task

Not without the strength to do the deed

And I feared my weakness

Badly.

Don't misunderstand

I have kissed plenty in my short romantic life

Very short I might mention

But never had I even come close

To laying my lips on perfection.

Whose very smile ignites a fire in my belly

And can make me weak-kneed with a glance.

And I honestly feared fainting

For the very first time in my life.

3.       Friar Laurence looked at me with a smile and a dare in his eye

And quickly intoned

"Come, come with me, and we will make short work;
For, by your leaves, you shall not stay alone
Till holy church incorporate two in one."

My cue

But can I move?

By will alone, can I force my reluctant body to obey?

My madly racing brain, to force compliance?

I slowly turned to my right

Nervously glancing quickly at the object of my emotional mire.

And caught her glancing back, eyes downcast

Under lashes so long and curling they nearly hid the shining fire beneath.

And for the first time I was struck by an intuitive revelation.

My goddess in heart and soul

Was as nervous and as terrified as I was at that very moment.

And that thought led immediately to another.

Why?

Sure, I was a freshman.

Columbia had eaten and spit out a couple hundred of my kind this semester alone.

But with her?

Not so.

She was a junior, seasoned, a pro

So why fear now?

At a rehearsal…

A first full rehearsal at that.

Could it be?

Might she be having some of the same stirrings inside?

The same deep feeling that seems to flow from the soul

Rather than the heart or mind?

I froze.

The thought was so amazing

So very unexpected

That I froze as if nature itself had just thrown me whole into the harshest

Most chilling winter storm ever envisioned by a mortal.

But in the next moment

I was free

Limber

Set that way by the realization of a miracle

There was a joint attraction

A recognition of two souls that had already connected in the flash of a moment

Singing through the body that a possibility exists

Something new to both

And deep and exciting on so many different levels.

So I turned stolidly to my right in a graceful step

Looking my Juliet dead on in those mysterious pools of swimming

Gold-flecked wonder

My voice spoke with a timber and resonance

I never dreamed possible

"Let lips do what hands do… pray

Grant thou this kiss lest faith turn to despair 

And move not while my prayers effect I take."

And having loosed the critical line,

It was time to deliver.

4.     With an assurance I felt deep within my very bones

I leaned into her body

Allowing her bosom to graze my chest in a dazzling sensation

That permeated every sense I possessed

And created a domino effect on my body

Starting with my mind

Which immediately became lost in the moment.

The other players disappeared

Indeed, the entire world receded

As my field of sensory perception narrowed

To a single focus

Juliet

Whose lips were damp

Swelled in expectation

And looked as sweet and red

As a sun ripened strawberry awaiting to be savored

And I already tasted the soft undertone of honey

And spice

In a ghostly premonition of lust.

When my lips finally found the mark and touched hers

An electric tingle jumped to me

As if a capacitor had just melted

Allowing her body current to mingle with mine

In a moment of sacred connection.

And rather than fear such chemistry

My mouth reacted with a mind of its own

Embracing the flow

The exchange

The taste and timbre and depth.

And with no conscious forethought, I felt my lips parting

My tongue tentatively exploring the landscape of the moment

When in surprise it touched hers.

Opening my eyes I saw the sweetest expression of satisfaction

And lust

And something deeper…love?

All painted in a visage of beauty

On my Juliet's face.

So I closed them again

And lost myself in her emotions

As they joined my own

Mingling together to form an exotic new creation.

One founded in love

And if nurtured by trust and faith and devotion

Might be destined to take root

And grow large

With a strong foundation

And a foliage of breathtaking beauty.

Something new to us,

Yet old to the world.

New found love,

That sprouted from a moment of Shakespeare.