TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE
a play on the liberation of Haiti (an excerpt)
ENTER YEMAYYA GODDESS AND HER RETINUE OF OCEANIDAE ETC.
YEMAYYA:
Hail you O Toussaint L’Ouverture!
Hail the man on horseback!
Hail Toussaint L’Ouverture! Hail the man on horseback!
OCEANIDAE:
Hail Toussaint L’Ouverture! Hail the Man on horseback!
YEMAYYA:
Toussaint! Toussaint! Hail!
SIRENS:
We hail you O Toussaint L’Ouverture!
KRABINAYYA:
And we that churn the affairs of men as the storm churns the stormy ocean sea -
We too hail Toussaint, the opener of ways
Toussaint the opener of gates, the gate to the future, the future of war,
Of war and blood and the blooding of nations speak I to Toussaint
Toussaint L’Ouverture, Toussaint the finder of the lost way
The opener of hidden doors
The revealer of lost secrets
Toussaint — the veil that hides the future from the gaze of men is sundered
Toussaint L’Ouverture! The thunder of war crackles!
And our feet thunder to the rhythm of the drumbeats of war
Toussaint! Toussaint L’Ouverture!
YEMAYYA:
Toussaint! Toussaint! Hail!
TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE:
Who are you — I know you not.
YEMAYYA:
O Toussaint! Toussaint!
Is it my name that the man on horseback seeks –
Or is it the name of your destiny that ye should seek to know?
Hail Toussaint: the time is ripe — the season awaits the man on horseback!
Toussaint L’Ouverture: O man on horseback!
The times call your name, the wind sings of your fame,
The earth shakes to the rhythm of your marching men, earth trembles –
O Toussaint! Toussaint! Toussaint L’Ouverture! O man on horseback!
THE KRABINAYYA:
Hail the man on the white horse!
We come all dressed in red — and we come to fight in his army!
We are the army that runs in thunder
And roars in the ocean sea –
Let the enemy be warned –
And let the man timid and afraid — stay away!
For we are the thundering march of Haiti’s army
And the roar of Haiti’s anger!
Hail the man on horseback for he is a man after our own heart!
We are Krabinayya and we hail the man on horseback!
Hail Toussaint L’Ouverture!
Hail the storm marching out of the ocean sea!
Hail Toussaint L’Ouverture!
Thunder is the Krabinayya racing into battle
Storm is the Krabinayya dancing on enemy bones
Dance is the Krabinayya dancing the death dance
War is the Krabinayya dancing the flames of war
Dance is the roar of battle
And red is the colour of rage — the colour that I like!
The devil is in the marrow of my bones
And I will dance on the bones of my defeated enemies!
And Ayiti Ma is the mother of the bones of since time began –
But Toussaint L’Ouverture only speaks Latin
The lordly tongue of the master conqueror — and French
The speech of the man on horseback — so Ayiti Ma must seek out a new name
A new identity, a new speech by which to speak to the man on horseback!
THE OCEANIDAE:
And this being the night hour of the Pleiades seven
We turn our gaze heavenwards and seek the self of the mother in the starry night sky
SIRENS:
And we become of the many beautiful daughters of the sea
Call Maman Ayiti Ma’s name, call Yemayya of beauty
Yemayya queen of the night sky
THE KRABINAYYA:
Let the mother set her gaze
Upon the man on horseback
And we that reject the gentle dance of the Sirens
Are become the adamantine Krabinayya
And let the pounding tides, thundering out of the sea
Awaken Toussaint L’Ouverture to his thundering destiny
SIRENS:
But we are Sirens, the gentle daughters of the sea
And like the shimmering waves of the ocean sea our feet perpetually dance the tides
We are the gentle ones who serve Yemayya of the Caribbean Sea
And we have come to make Toussaint L’Ouverture the happiest man alive
OCEANIDAE:
We are the Oceanidae and
YEMAYYA:
O Toussaint! Toussaint!
O man on horseback!
Is it my name that ye seek –
Or is it the name of your destiny that the horseman of destiny should seek to know?
OCEANIDAE:
We are the Oceanidae –
KRABINAYYA:
And the Krabinayya preside at the blooding of nations
We are as the rage of battle
That races up the spine of the war horse
Like the tide of the raging ocean stream racing up Haiti’s spine
THE SIRENS:
The Sirens are of the Ocean Sea — and now we race the tides of the Caribbean Sea
OCEANIDAE:
We are the daughters of Yemayya Queen
We care not for your horse O Toussaint L’Ouverture
We care to be present when the back of the arrogant man is broken
And he falls to the dust from the mighty heights of the horse
THE SIRENS:
Sirens are fleet of foot and sweet music
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KRABINAYYA:
We are as the swift turning battle array on the day of decision
Our thumping feet are the rage of the Ocean Sea O Toussaint
And we serve Yemayya Queen of the Caribbean Sea
O thou, O thou Toussaint! Toussaint!
Ask for the gift of your heart for the Queen of the Sea comes bearing gifts!
O fortunate Toussaint!
The Queen of the Sea has chosen ye to receive of her many gifts –
So what will ye choose O haughty Toussaint L’Ouverture!
My feet race the field of blood with the haughty man
Will ye choose the apple of discord?
Or will Toussaint L’Ouverture choose the golden apple of the gods!
O my cohort of the swift moving battle array –
Will Toussaint L’Ouverture choose the gift of the gods?
Or will Toussaint L’Ouverture choose the gifts of Yemayya of the Ocean Sea?
OCEANIDAE:
Choose well O Toussaint L’Ouverture! Choose well –
For the Queen of the Sea has elected Toussaint L’Ouverture
Out from among all men
The lucky recipient of her many dazzling gifts!
Choose O Toussaint L’Ouverture!
Choose well O thou Toussaint L’Ouverture! Choose!
TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE:
Who are you?
OCEANIDAE:
Speak not to us O Toussaint L’Ouverture!
O surefooted man on horseback!
The mother laments for her lost and forgotten rites
She laments the death of the last of the living of her island
And the Zombie dead are come to speak to you
To persuade Toussaint L’Ouverture –
Or to bribe him with power and praise
Or threaten the headstrong one because it is Toussaint L’Ouverture
Chosen to re-enact their rites of the dead
Them that Toussaint L’Ouverture has blocked from the crossing
Unto the land of the dead because their rites of passage
Are dishonoured, neglected by the living
Thus blocking them, denying them passage to the lost beyond –
We are of the accursed dead — and we will curse Haiti
Make this a barren land
Yemayya our mother is and she it is that offers Toussaint L’Ouverture her rites
Or the poisoned chalice of power as bitter as gall
As terrible as day, as un-erasable, as ineradicable as a curse:
Toussaint L’Ouverture knows his own self
And he speaks with the arrogance of the man seated securely
On horseback — O but the surefooted man — he is my man!
THE SIRENS:
Don’t turn the Queen of the Sea wrathful against us!
Yemayya is easy to please and easy to anger!
Our mistress is jealous of those she favours with her gifts!
Take care O Toussaint L’Ouverture! Choose well!
Rouse not the wrath of the Queen of the Caribbean Sea against you –
Lest her wrath also fall upon us!
We serve Yemayya Caribbean Queen — and we serve her loyally!
Rouse not her anger! Choose well!
Choose O Toussaint L’Ouverture! Choose!
YEMAYYA:
So Toussaint knows not my beautiful maidens of the Caribbean Sea?
But let us leave them to the dancing
Of their shimmering dance of the dancing ocean sea for now –
TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE:
Whoever you are I know not what you want of me –
Haiti’s children –
YEMAYYA:
Haiti’s children — living and dead –
All seek to find the man to honour the bones of the dead
And clothe the bones of the living
Haiti’s children seek their saviour:
Will Toussaint L’Ouverture be the saviour of the living?
Or the saviour of the dead?
Will Toussaint L’Ouverture choose the gift of the gods?
Or will the man on horseback choose the golden apple?
O Toussaint L’Ouverture! Saviour! The opener of ways!
From the bones of their dead and the bones of their living
Haiti’s children cry out to you!
TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE:
I speak for Haiti’s sorrowing children –
No one else:
YEMAYYA:
Hail the opener of ways! Hail Toussaint!
My beautiful daughters of the ocean sea are pleased with your words
Does Toussaint hear the ocean ones singing?
Their beautiful song of the sea?
TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE:
I will not stand idly by while Haiti’s children suffer and die — let me by
YEMAYYA:
Impatient and masterful Toussaint L’Ouverture!
How pleased is the ocean sea with your answer!
You show that you are indeed the man on horseback — Haiti’s man of destiny!
My gifts of the ocean sea await Toussaint L’Ouverture’s choice!
TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE:
What gifts? What choice is this that you would have me make while Haiti Burns?
And her children sorrow! — let me by!
YEMAYYA:
Because Toussaint L’Ouverture is haughty impatient
And because the man on horseback knows Latin the language of power
I will remind Toussaint L’Ouverture of the golden apple
That foundered an imperial power
And founded a mighty world engirdling power:
Of the golden apple that defiant Paris gave Venus of the sea
And roused against all Troy the wrath Hera the lady of the throne
And brought the sky scraping towers of Troy crashing down to the dust –
But Toussaint L’Ouverture knows that out of the burning towers of Troy
A hero led forth a defeated people — to found an even mightier empire!
Hail Toussaint L’Ouverture the man on horseback!
OCEANIDAE:
Hail Toussaint L’Ouverture! Hail the man on horseback!
