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PETER HAMMILL: The Fall Of The House Of Usher
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Act One
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THE CHORUS The chorus has often an unenviable role to play,
often a distasteful task to perform;
summoned as witness to uncounted crime,
she's the silent accomplice of all,
then she turns and comments on the action.
She hears... observes, but must never betray her emotions
She moves, unseen, the characters oblivion of her presence;
a simple stage device.
She cannot hide, cannot take sides.
It his curse that she must stay and comment on the action...
A young man named Montresor lately received an urgent
letter from a dear friend of childhood,
Roderick Usher by name,
In which his friend begged him to come
with all speed to the family seat.
So, during the whole of a dull, dark and soundless day
in the autumn of the year,
when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens,
he had been passing through
a singularly dreary tract of country
'till he found himself,
as the shades of night drew on,
within view of the melancholy house of Usher
MONTRESOR: That must be the house.
There is no other within many miles.
But surely not... It's just an empty shell,
devoid of life;
a sterile outcrop of stone amid the mire.
But there can be no doubt, this is the house!
And yet it looks so dark, so forbidding , so dead.
That great crumbling facade,
windows just like vacant eyes
that peer upon the stagnant,
glistening blackness of the lake...
I have never seen anything like it!
The gloom, the rotting dankness of the place...
It must be my imagination,
the darkness and the cold...
Yet still, far beneath the plane of thought
and quite against my will,
my heart begins to tremble
in mad anticipation of the House
and I am forced to recognise
a consciousness of fear;
a cold and senseless fear,
nameless, formless, chilling to the bone...
No, it's just the leaden air that makes me
forget myself, the weather and the dusk.
This must be all that sets my teeth on edge
and the hairs at the nape of my neck to attention.
And what of his sister?
This does not speak of her
but I understand she, too, lives with him
here in the House of Usher,
home of the family for five hundred years or more.
It's a strange place, a strange house,
an even stranger clan;
all either saints or mad,
not an ordinary man among them;
geniuses all...
But, all time-honoured as it is,
the Usher race has put forth no enduring branch.
And so from sire to son, from sire to son
the patrimony and the name have been passed.
Through all their ancestry no cousins,
aunts of bastards
disturb the singular symmetry
of the family tree.
Well then, so I am here; I have come;
and it is too late, to dark to run.
But what a chilling sight,
this palace crouching in the night...
Ah, there! A light!
I am awaited; I am expected;
I shall not disappoint my friend.
End of Act One
Act Two
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THE VOICES House. Wet Vaults. Caissons. We breathe...
OF THE Undercroft. Abutments. Stones. Wood. Breathe...
HOUSE Buttresses. Bressumers. Spandrels. We Breathe...
Columns and Pillars. Shafts. Arches. Capitals. Breathe....
We breathe. We are waiting.
We rise. We are waiting.
We are Usher. House of Usher.
Pilasters. Quoins. Piers.
Spandrels and columns that shaft through the years.
House of Usher.
Wainscots. Stairs. Balusters. Cusps and Cornices.
Spandrels and Columns the capital years.
House of Usher.
We breathe. We are waiting
We rise. We are waiting.
We are Usher. House of Usher.
Beams. Corbels. Joists. Kingposts.
Copings and Chimney-shafts.
Ridge-ribs. Struts. Stanchions. Parapets.
Pediments. Mansards and Gargoyles.
The eaves. The dripping eaves...
Cupola. Finials. Gables. Tiles. Lead...
We breathe. We are waiting.
We rise. We are waiting.
We are Usher. House of Usher.
We are Keystone. We are Usher.
RODERICK USHER
("The Sleeper") The lady sleeps. oh, may her sleep
which is enduring so be deep!
Heaven hold her in its sacred keep!
This chamber changed for one more holy,
this bed for one of melancholy.
I pray to God that she may lie
forever with unopened eye
while the dim, sheeted ghosts go by.
My love, she sleeps. Oh, may her sleep
as it is lasting so be deep!
Soft may the worms around her creep!
Far in the forest, dim and old,
now may some tall vault enfold her;
some vault that oft hath flung its black
and winged panels fluttering back
triumphant o'er the crested palls
of her grand family funerals....
USHER MONTRESOR
I didn't mean to interrupt...
Montresor, you came!
Did you think I'd ignore your letter?
Montresor, you're here!
Come let me help you with your coat.
Sit down and rest yourself.
Oh, it's so good to see you here!
Now tell me all your news...
I see you've changed a bit, my friend...
Now won't you have a drink...
Yes, yes
but one thing at a time!
First you must tell me what...
But I expect I too have changed.
How many years could it be now
since last we said farewell?
It must be ten years
since our last meeting,
Yes, it must be ten years
since our last meeting since our last meeting.
Tell me what is wrong?
Your letter spoke
of a malady;
some desperate trial
you could not face alone...
Oh, no, you tell me all your doings!
Tell me.
Tell me
how you pass your days how you pass your days
Tell me
from the beginning. from the beginning
Tell me
everything everything
that's happened
since we went our since we went our
separate ways. separate ways.
Look at me...
I have not left these walls
these three years,
I do not dare to do so!
I am imprisoned and fear is my gaoler.
Each word I speak
seems too dangerous.
My slightest act could bring about
the very thing I fear
But fear of what?
Hush, and I shall tell you...
tell you...
USHER I shun the light,
creep in the gloom like a toad, a white worm,
tortured by the faintest gleam of sun.
I hear...
oh God, if you could only know the things I hear!
I hear the lake sucking at the walls,
I hear bats breathing
I hear the sky moan to join with the slime!
And this,
all this like thunder to me,
like thunder!
My senses scream at me:
Sight... Touch... Sight... Touch...
Sound and Taste... Sound and Scent,
All torment and claw at my sanity.
There is no hiding place for me,
for even in the quietest of my rooms,
I hear the walls in conversation;
I hear the palpitations of my heart;
I feel all that lives and does not move
and know it knows my feeling.
My only peace lies in my music
and then only because it drowns out
all other sounds and souls...
You may think that I am mad, but it is not so.
My senses reel beneath the blow of feathers falling
and more...
But no, I see you do not understand.
MONTRESOR Oh, my poor dear friend,
you must see you are not well.
I've read of this before,
I think it's called Hyperaesthesis.
I'm no doctor, but it's clear
your nerves have gone to pieces.
You need to get away,
you need a holiday,
you need a change of air!
You need an ocean cruise,
you need to be amused!
I tell you plain, this House
to me seems most unhealthy.
You're unattached, you're free to go, you're wealthy.
USHER MONTRESOR THE CHORUS
Leave this House.
Leave this House.
Leave this House
and come away.
Leave this House
I cannot!
Leave this House!
I cannot!
Leave this House!
Here I must stay.
Here I must stay.
You are wasting
your time.
He will never
leave...
I can never
leave here
therefore do
not ask me
say no more I've heard of this before
and let me be I think it's called Hyperaesthesis
I can never I'm no doctor but it's clear
leave here your nerves have gone to pieces.
therefore do your nerves have gone to pieces.
not ask me.
Say no more
and let me be
I cannot leave
He cannot leave
The House is I
The House is he
We are as one
They are as one
And I would die
and so must die
Now you must leave
I He cannot leave
cannot Now you must fly
leave The House is he
Now you must run
The They are as one
House is No-one will die
I And so must die
I cannot leave
Now you must leave
He cannot leave
The House is I
Now you must fly
The House is he
We are as one
Now you must run
and so must die
and so must die
No-one will die
USHER MONTRESOR THE HOUSE
We shall
not let
him go!
We shall not
Leave let him go!
Do not torture me! this We shall not
Do not try to persuade! House let him go!
We shall not
Leave let him go!
It only brings me grief this We shall not
House let him go!
Leave this House We shall not
I cannot leave let him go!
We shall not
let him go!
shall not let him go!
USHER MONTRESOR THE CHORUS THE HOUSE
Leave this House
I cannot
Leave this House
I cannot
Leave this House Leave this House
and come with me We shall not
let him go.
Leave this House
I cannot Never, never
Leave this House never!
I cannot
Leave this House
and come with me Never! Never, never,
never!
Never! Never, never,
never!
I can never We are bound
leave here together
therefore do for the last time so never
not ask me I entreat you He shall he shall
say no more never leave never leave
and let me be. We are bound
together
for the last time so never
I entreat you He shall he shall
Leave! never leave never leave.
Do not
talk to me Never
do not try never
to persuade Leave! never
He shall never
never leave
Leave this house
Oh Montresor never never
I beg of you never never
I can never never
never leave never never
I can never never never
leave this house Leave this house never never
I can never You are wasting never never
leave this house Leave this house you time never never
I can never he will never never never
leave this house Leave! leave never never
never!
The House
is I.
End of Act Two
Act Three
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(Immediately afterwards, Madeline Usher enters, in a trance)
MADELINE Carriages at seven
I shall wear the flower he gave me
It's so cold here
deep beneath the lapping water...
The water
The water
My love
Head against his shoulder,
'cross the lawn I hear the music...
Silent blackness,
In the lake I'm sinking slowly...
Oh, how lovely,
nothing could be more becoming...
Underwater,
floating in the icy darkness...
Count the candles
'May I dance with you this evening?'...
On the surface
Swans are feeding high above me...
Hold him tightly
round and round the floor we're spinning
Breathing water
I am drowning
Watch the sun rise
driving home across the meadows...
All is darkness
I can feel myself dissolving
The water
The water
The darkness
The darkness
My love
Head against his shoulder
Floating in the icy darkness
Hold him tightly
I can feel myself dissolving
Oh how lovely
Deep beneath the lapping water
Count the candles
I am drowning I am drowning
Count the candles
Floating in the icy darkness
Hold him tightly
I can feel myself dissolving
Oh how lovely
Deep beneath the lapping water
Count the candles
I am drowning
Oh how lovely
I am drowning I am drowning
Oh how lovely
Oh how lovely
Oh how lovely
MONTRESOR Stop, Madeline, look at me!
My god, man, what is wrong with her?
USHER Yes, it's right you should know,
She is dying!
I have not dared to speak of it.
A chronic catalepsy had drained her of her youth.
I have watched her waste away and could do nothing!
A period of health is followed by sudden coma,
death-like sleep.
It can last a full day or more,
no movement, no colour, no flame in the cheeks.
MONTRESOR What, then of these dreaming visions?
USHER The recovery, ah, this is even worse!
She rises and moves about the house
but her mind still sleeps...
You see her now a mindless ghost:
Beautiful, dead eyes stare in sleep, unrecognising.
She speaks in dreams, sees only dreams,
she haunts the house in hideous sleepwalking
and may not be restrained, for like some automaton
she tirelessly thrusts and tears herself
against her fetters,
heedless of injury.
And so she walks and then she wakes,
remembering nothing, so week that she can
barely build up strength before she is struck down again.
Month after month each attack worse than the last.
Death will not wait long.
Her final days are flickering past.
Dear God,
helpless,
helpless!
MONTRESOR But what is the word from her doctors?
Do they hold out no hope, nor offer any treatment?
USHER MONTRESOR CHORUS
They do not understand
her case
and cannot treat a case
they do not understand
He does not understand
You're dealing with a case
Who is her doctor,
a specialist I trust?
Yes indeed, one of
the foremost rank
You're dealing
with a case
Then he will help her,
Montresor oh, yes,
no more of this he surely must You do not understand
now
no more talk He does not
of cures, please, understand
Or of doctor.
I bless you concern,
but know that she
will walk no more tonight.
When she wakes soon
she will need my care.
I must be there, so,
dear friend, goodnight.
(Usher exits with Madeline, leaving Montresor alone. The Herbalist enters)
THE HERBALIST Good evening, sir.
And you must be the friend of Mister Usher.
I'm so pleased to meet you, sir,
but have little time to spare
for knowledge such as mine is wanted everywhere.
In poor dwellings, yes, but some as great as Usher's.
My card...
MONTRESOR 'J. Ducrow, Esq. Herbalist,
Doctor of Natural Medicine'...
HERBALIST At you service, and it could be, sir,
that you have need of my panaceas now...
I have Mandrake juice that will slake any fever,
cures to convince you though you be an unbeliever now...
Laugh - would you? - at these seeds of mine.
You question the cure's causes,
but Logic and Reason do not answer,
and Nature runs her courses.
I have purest poppy for the soundest of sleeps;
a pure cake of hemp plant
that's a warranted surcease of worldly sorrow.
Lying words will be believed
if perfumed by this pastil,
or my elixir's guaranteed
to bend the will of fairest womankind.
Scheme, would you, for a worldly gain?
Lust after a frigid virgin?
My herbs can grant your secret cravings
and my price is modest!
MONTRESOR No! No!
HERBALIST And my price is modest...
MONTRESOR No, thank you! No!
HERBALIST Oh it's very modest...
MONTRESOR No, no thank you!
No!
No thank you,
No!
HERBALIST Perhaps a poultice of Toadbane
for weakness of the manly parts,
caused by too much wine or age,
perhaps by over-frequent natural indulgence...
Applied with skill, it will
revive the fleshy passions of a corpse...
...of a corpse
MONTRESOR I said no
I meant no!
HERBALIST Well then, Good-day...
MONTRESOR So that is Usher's idea of a doctor!
That wretched mountebank can't help them.
I confront madness face to face!
And whatever it's cause, it lies within this place
I breathe an atmosphere of sorrow;
an alien despair makes my courage fail,
like the collapse of an opium vision,
the hideous dropping of the veil
CHORUS Tormented by a thousand doubts and fancies,
he will not sleep tonight.
Chilled by the gloom of his surroundings,
mortal, half-dead mortar.
MONTRESOR CHORUS
He will not sleep!
I see simple solutions
He will not sleep!
State them laud and clear,
but the echoes of the House He will not sleep!
shout 'Unreason!'
The one thing that I fear.
The evil that is done
cannot be undone.
The evil that will come
cannot be prevented.
The evil that is done
Yet somehow I must help
these two tormented souls,
cannot be undone.
for if I cannot, who will?
The evil that will come
These are the friends
I've loved so dearly...
cannot be prevented
Leave!
No! What a monstrous thought!
Depart!
How could I even think of it!
Go!
Abandon those who have need of me!
Leave!
Oh, but what a temptation,
Depart!
to run like a thief in the night,
Go!
And yet now I cannot
because it is too late Before it is too late,
I feel myself bound up in before you are bound up in
the web of fear and pain, the web of fear and pain,
the evil that surrounds me. the evil that surrounds you.
It cannot be undone.
It cannot be undone.
The evil that will come
cannot be prevented.
End of Act Three
Act Four
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(The following morning)
MADELINE That must be Montresor...
Good morning! Oh, how lovely to see you -
since Roderick told me you were coming
I have been so excited.
Now you are here, all will be well once more.
I was not here last night to greet you,
you must think me ill-mannered,
but sadly I am not enjoying the good health I used to...
MONTRESOR Yes.
Madeline, I must confess it's hard finding words
that say what I feel...
MADELINE Oh, Montresor, you're being solemn
and it's all quite uncalled for.
I feel quite sure I'm growing stronger
and the doctor agrees with me -
so you see all will be well once more.
Five years ago we were a very different family,
but how things change!
Roderick and I were both living abroad when father died.
We both returned from Florence
to take up Roderick's inheritance.
The House was dark and so full of sadness.
But you know my brother and how sensitive he is.
He lives in the music of his wild melodies.
Now as time went by so his songs grew sadder,
now he never smiled as he played.
Now he sings of death and some things even madder;
shuts himself away, brooding to himself,
come to me at night,
staring at my face 'till I fell afraid.
MADELINE MONTRESOR
When I am better we must all
holiday together
as in the old days. Yes, you know
how much I'd love that
You would be good for us both,
as good for us both as before
You look so much the same!
I must confess that you have changed...
Do you remember? Everything.
The fragile hour,
the silent walk with a friend.
MONTRESOR As we walk so we tread
& MADELINE on the words left unsaid
I can't say them no matter how hard I try
We chatter on, then the moment's gone,
the one for which I've hoped
and I've prayed and I've planned.
Stop the clock's advance!
I need a second chance,
I need that second's glance
when my hand touched you hand.
I'd take you in my arms and say 'I love you'
but it won't come back to me.
It's over now,
it's over now,
it's over now, you see.
If I hadn't been afraid to touch you
would you have been afraid to fall in love with me?
Would it be over?
Would it be over now?
Perhaps it wouldn't be.
And each hour limits choice
in so gentle a voice
'till the hour that we realise no choice remains.
So we await
just one chance to cheat our fate,
but then if we hesitate
we lose the power to act at all.
For once that moment's past
we simply stand aghast
as life rolls to disaster
and we stand an watch it fall.
I'd take you in my arms and say 'I love you'
but I think we both agree.
It's over now,
it's over now, you see.
It's over now,
it's over now, you see.
If I hadn't been afraid to touch you
would you have been afraid to fall in love with me?
Would it be over?
Would it be over now?
Perhaps it wouldn't be.
If I hadn't been afraid to touch you
would you have been afraid to fall in love with me?
Would it be over?
Would it be over now?
The way it seems to be.
(Madeline exits as Usher enters)
USHER MONTRESOR
Yes, she does not know it yet;
Perhaps for the best
so sure she will recover
and so full of life full of life
full of life,
my brave my brave
Madeline Madeline
This House devours her
so take her from this place
preparing the final torment
of its empty space empty space
a silent, empty space silent empty space
without
without
Madeline Madeline
Madeline
This is only a house my friend
USHER Which, by dint of long and undisturbed endurance.
by its mere form and substance,
has obtained an influence, a silent
yet importunate and terrifying hold
which, for centuries,
has moulded the destiny of my family
and now makes of me whatever it is I am.
The House is Usher and Usher is the House:
the two are indivisible.
It was born with us, prospered with us, suffered too.
And it will, in some way, die with us, soon.
I am the last of the Usher,
mine is the last drop of Usher blood,
The last of the Usher!
The House has told me in midnight breathing
from my chamber walls,
the House has told me in the secret murmur
of the stones that none can hear save I.
I am the last of the Usher,
my sister's death shall leave me so;
I am the last of the Usher,
so in Usher's House I will wait alone.
MONTRESOR Roderick, this is nightmare talk.
Come back with me, both of you, while you're yet able
You can't stay here and rot!
USHER There will be no rot!
No rot in Usher!
We have lived with thunder,
and with thunder shall we fall!
MONTRESOR I cannot make you come but hear what I say.
Send Madeline with me to some healthy place.
USHER No rot! No rot in Usher!
We have lived by lightning
and but lightning shall we fall!
No slide into slow decay,
no shrivelling splendour
no gradual ebbing away,
no quiet surrender!
No rot! No rot in Usher!
We have lived as Titans and as Titans we must fall!
USHER MONTRESOR
Don't talk of rot
Stop!
No rot in Usher!
Stop!
Roderick, try and calm yourself
Just tell me why I should! this cannot do you good.
These thoughts...
No!
are folly.
No!
Everything I've tried to I have tried to help you
tell you, you've misunderstood I've done everything I could.
Come, why should we fight
this way
we have enough troubles.
What was it we used to say? What was it we used to say?
A problem shared is doubled! A problem shared is doubled!
Ushers do not flee! Ushers to not flee!
Montresors stand firm! Montresors stand firm!
So we stand together, So we stand together,
stand together stand together
By dint of long
and undisturbed endurance...
we could defeat the House,
my friend.
VOICES OF We shall not
THE HOUSE let him go!
We shall not let him go!
End of Act Four
Act Five
--------
CHORUS Late that evening the Lady Madeline
again succumbed to the power
of her dark afflictions.
Her brother and her friend sat by her
and Montresor, although familiar with many
of the gross and wonderful
phenomena of morbid flesh
marvelled at the depth and completeness of her coma.
Life so exactly mirroring death
that only the merest of involuntary pulses
betrayed the presence of a Spirit hiding within.
In the cold hours before dawn they broke their vigil
and Montresor retired to a restless sleep
only to be woken as a grey light spread from the east
across the leaden tarn.
(Usher and the Herbalist enter)
USHER Montresor,
she is dead.
She is dead,
I sat by her,
I watched her;
I am alone.
USHER, That she should die so,
MONTRESOR, that she should die so young,
HERBALIST fate is cruel, fate is hard.
Why must innocence be punished?
Need a flower fall so fast?
Why must innocence be punished?
Was her soul too good to last?
Now the punishment is finished
And the fever... the fever called 'Living'...
that fever's conquered at last.
USHER Will you do something for me?
MONTRESOR With all my heart
USHER I wish my sister to be entombed
in one of the vaults beneath the House.
The family burial ground is remote,
to lead her cortege there would
require a strength of will I do not command.
Will you help me bear her?
MONTRESOR Of course, of course I will...
USHER Come then, before I fully realise my loss.
End of Act Five
Act Six
-------
CHORUS Three endless days of bitter grief passed
and Montresor abandoned any attempt to cheer his friend.
Then came a sudden change in Usher's
demeanour, whose significance he was soon to comprehend.
Now Usher stands for hour on hour
with head inclined and eyes half-closed,
as if beneath the deep and sullen silence
a sound exists for which he listens; a sound without end.
Now Usher walks for hour on hour.
With ashen face and trembling step, he climbs each stair,
He climbs each tower; still hears it there.
CHORUS AND No. It's only the
THE VOICES beating of the heart,
OF THE HOUSE heart of the House of Usher,
beating of the heart
heart of the House of Usher.
USHER MONTRESOR
Roderick is that you?
I could not sleep
Nor I.
Listen to the storm!
Did you ever hear
such a dreadful sound?
Indeed.
Indeed I have!
But this sound you can hear;
the tempest beats upon the House
as it would beat upon a drum,
that is no sound to fear.
For the sound to fear
It beats upon the house.
walk softly when they come
The thunder seems so near
But it's only the But it's only the
beating of the heart, beating of the heart,
heart of the House of Usher. heart of the House of Usher.
USHER MONTRESOR VOICES OF THE HOUSE
Oh the lake is Beating of the heart,
in frenzy, I heart of the House
can feel the waves of Usher
beat on the walls Beating of the heart
The breaking of the heart! heart of the House
These giant stones of Usher.
are trembling Beating of the heart
the savage lashing heart of the House
of the storm of Usher.
The breaking of the heart! Beating of the heart
heart of the House
of Usher
Why is that other sound The House
not hidden by of Usher
echoes of the storm? shall stand.
The House
But understand we only of Usher
hear the House shall stand
Speaking of a storm The House
This is the storm itself! of Usher
shall stand.
The House of Usher
The House of Usher
MONTRESOR We've seen enough, I'll close the window.
The gale is chill and grows yet stronger.
These walls are shaking!
You shall play something for me;
you shall play and I shall listen.
So we will pass away this dreadful night.
USHER Yes I shall play,
yes, I shall play!
(The Haunted In the greenest of our valleys
Palace) by good angels tenanted
once a fair and stately palace -
radiant palace - reared its head.
In the monarch, Thought's dominion
like a jewel it stood there.
Never seraph spread a pinion
over fabric half so fair.
Wanderers in that happy valley
through two luminous windows saw
spirits moving musically
to a lute's well-tuned law,
round about a throne where sitting,
side by side with his fair queen,
in state his glory well befitting,
the ruler of the realm was seen.
USHER MONTRESOR
Wait!
Did you hear it?
What was it?
It's nothing.
What was that
distant sound?
I say, I heard nothing
All with pearl and ruby glowing
was the glorious palace door
through which came flowing, flowing,
flowing and sparkling evermore
a troop of echoes, whose sweet duty
night and day was but to sing
in voices of surpassing beauty
the wit and wisdom of their king.
USHER MONTRESOR
No!
There's something,
I heard it
quite clear,
a voice crying.
It's nothing
I say
but the wind!
You heard the wind,
just heard Within the House!
the wild wind crying.
But evil things, in robes of sorrow
assailed the monarch's high estate;
let us mourn for never morrow
dawn upon him, desolate;
round about his home the glory
that had always blushed and bloomed
is but a dim-remembered story
of the olden time entombed.
USHER MONTRESOR
There!
Yes, you heard it!
There is someone else -
There's nothing something else
I say, down there!
You hear nothing!
There's no-one there.
It is the storm Are we
that you hear. alone here?
Travellers now within that valley
through red-litten windows see
vast forms that move fantastically
to a discordant melody
while like a rapid, ghastly river
through the ever open door
a hideous throng rush out forever
and laugh - but smile no more!
And laugh - but smile no more!
And laugh - but smile no more!
USHER No! No! No!
Yes, I hear it! Yes, I have heard it
long, long - many minutes, many hours,
but I dared not speak:
I tell you I dared not speak.
No more cant from you,
you thick-skinned obtuse fool, damn your compassion!
For now I say you will hear the wicked truth
We put her living in the tomb!
But I dared not, I dared not speak!
Yes, have I not heard her footsteps on the stair?
Yes, do I not distinguish
the heavy and horrible beating of her heart?
Yes, she is coming.
She has woken in the darkness,
in her mindless, relentless strength.
Now she has broken from the tomb.
Now she has burst from the tomb.
Days ago I heard her first feeble movements
in the hollow coffin -
said I not that my senses were acute?
I heard the scraping, the scraping of her nails -
but I dared not, I dared not speak!
Madman! Madman!
I tell you that she now comes towards the door!
USHER MONTRESOR CHORUS VOICES OF THE HOUSE
No, what a House
Monstrous thought! We
Now the punishment breath!
is finished. The evil that House
You said is done we are!
she was dead... cannot be We
You watched undone. could not
her dying!
It's over now It's over now
What evil have let
you done? It could not
be prevented them go!
God, what a
monstrous thought!
It's over now It's over now. We
The evil that
Why must innocence is done could
be punished?
Could this have not
been prevented?
It's over now It's over now
The evil that The evil that We
is done... is done could not
could not
be prevented let
could this have could never
been prevented? be prevented
them go!
I dare not could this have it could not
I dared not speak! been prevented? be prevented!
Madman!
Madman!
I tell you
that she now stands
outside the door!
USHER MADELINE MONTRESOR CHORUS
I'm looking
Now, No,
Madeline! Madeline!
I have counted
to a hundred
with my eyes closed
and I'm coming
I am the last now to find you... Leave!
of the Usher! Depart!
my sister's death Go!
shall leave me so.
Where are you It's over now
hiding?
I am If I wasn't so
the last afraid I'd
Usher Roderick touch her Leave!
I feel where are you? It's over now Depart!
the sky I see. Go!
Now he sings
of death, the evil the evil
some things even that is done that is one
I feel madder cannot be cannot be
the sky undone undone
moan shuts himself away the evil the evil
to join shuts himself away that is come that is come
with the slime!
He shut could not could not
himself away! be prevented. be prevented.
AS THE HOUSE FALLS
THE VOICES beams buttresses plaster copings We We
OF THE corbels bressumers quoins chimney- breath are
HOUSE joists arches wainscot shafts We rise Usher
kin-posts piers stairs parapets
ridge-ribs spandrels banister pediments
struts columns cusps mansard
stanchions cornices gargoyle
king-posts eaves
End of Act Six