Armageddon is an excerpt from “Killing Caesar” (2020) by Jon Pescevich.
The War Dead:
Speak, strike, redress…
Speak, strike, redress…
Speak, strike, redress…
Cassia and Brutus:
Two mighty eagles were perch’d,
gorging and feeding from our soldiers’ hands.
This morning are they fled!
Yes, they are gone!
O’er our heads,
ravens, crows and hawks circle!
(…The War Dead prepare Cassia and Brutus for battle…)
The War Dead:
If you had crown’d him,
and put a sting in him,
he would have done danger then.
(…soundless explosions of light fill the stage – the battle has begun…)
Brutus, Cassia and The War Dead:
They fly o’er our heads.
Downward they look on us.
Their shadows form a canopy.
We are their prey.
Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.
Cassia and Brutus:
Our army lies, ready to give up the ghost.
The War Dead:
If you had crown’d him,
and put a sting in him,
he would have done danger then.
(…images of fear, memory and war alternate with the soundless explosions of light…)
And so Caesar had to die!
Caesar had to die!
And so Caesar had to die!
Caesar had to die!
And so Caesar had to die!
Caesar had to die!
(…Cassia and Brutus bravely turn – they walk into battle…)
The War Dead:
Caesar!
Caesar!
Caesar!
Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
Ah! Ah! Ah! Ah!
(…Cassia and Brutus have disappeared…)
(…there is one last violent and gigantic volley of light – it engulfs everything…)