TLACAELEL [to audience as spectators]
Hear ye! Of these five games, his majesty
The emperor has won the first two rounds,
And Hungry Prince has crowned the third and fourth.
Who takes this final set will clinch the match.
HUNGRY PRINCE [aside to Motecuhzoma]
Motecuhzoma, why not call it quits,
While thus we tilt in equilibrium,
So time may be arrested in his stride,
And nothing will be proven to your loss.
MOTECUHZOMA
Oh yes, well, well you should prevaricate,
Since you recoil, and your horoscope
Is but a bunk, evasive, spurious sham.
HUNGRY PRINCE
We used to sport like willful brothers once.
This pointless schism scathes me to the core.
MOTECUHZOMA
Play on! Your grace, equip him for the serve.
PRIEST OF TLALOC
Behold this little token of a ball-
Through this ordeal, symbolic of the sun
When- swallowed nightly by the earth’s dark mouth-
He spars with demons of the underworld,
To birth anew at dawn. So does this sphere,
Across the blood-bathed flagstones of this court.
Regard it so. The gods assort you both.
To one: bask in divine approval’s nod,
The other: dark ignominy. Engage!
He throws the ball to HUNGRY PRINCE. MOTECUHZOMA and HUNGRY PRINCE leave the stage separately.
TLACAELEL
A solid serve.
PRIEST OF TLALOC A capital return.
TLACAELEL
These salt-and-pepper gents belie their age.
Look how they swoop, like eagles bloody-beaked.
PRIEST OF TLALOC
Our monarch springs, a glistening dynamo.
TLACAELEL
And his contender sheds years as he runs.
Tell me, your eminence,
What are your sentiments on Hungry Prince?
PRIEST OF TLALOC
Though not a brilliant statesman, he remains
The most perceptive prophet of the earth,
With whom the gods must share their captain’s logs,
His auspices so rarely miss their mark.
TLACAELEL
You’d buy his soothsaying?
PRIEST OF TLALOC I'd say I would.
TLACAELEL
That’s to the heart of this imbroglio.
PRIEST OF TLALOC
What is the real dispute, then, of this duel?
TLACAELEL
You’d know their true contention?
PRIEST OF TLALOC Tell me.
TLACAELEL So . . .
Oct 12, 2016
Oct 12, 2016 at 3:11 PM UTC
TLACAELEL [to audience as spectators]
Hear ye! Of these five games, his majesty
The emperor has won the first two rounds,
And Hungry Prince has crowned the third and fourth.
Who takes this final set will clinch the match.
HUNGRY PRINCE [aside to Motecuhzoma]
Motecuhzoma, why not call it quits,
While thus we tilt in equilibrium,
So time may be arrested in his stride,
And nothing will be proven to your loss.
MOTECUHZOMA
Oh yes, well, well you should prevaricate,
Since you recoil, and your horoscope
Is but a bunk, evasive, spurious sham.
HUNGRY PRINCE
We used to sport like willful brothers once.
This pointless schism scathes me to the core.
MOTECUHZOMA
Play on! Your grace, equip him for the serve.
PRIEST OF TLALOC
Behold this little token of a ball-
Through this ordeal, symbolic of the sun
When- swallowed nightly by the earth’s dark mouth-
He spars with demons of the underworld,
To birth anew at dawn. So does this sphere,
Across the blood-bathed flagstones of this court.
Regard it so. The gods assort you both.
To one: bask in divine approval’s nod,
The other: dark ignominy. Engage!
He throws the ball to HUNGRY PRINCE. MOTECUHZOMA and HUNGRY PRINCE leave the stage separately.
TLACAELEL
A solid serve.
PRIEST OF TLALOC A capital return.
TLACAELEL
These salt-and-pepper gents belie their age.
Look how they swoop, like eagles bloody-beaked.
PRIEST OF TLALOC
Our monarch springs, a glistening dynamo.
TLACAELEL
And his contender sheds years as he runs.
Tell me, your eminence,
What are your sentiments on Hungry Prince?
PRIEST OF TLALOC
Though not a brilliant statesman, he remains
The most perceptive prophet of the earth,
With whom the gods must share their captain’s logs,
His auspices so rarely miss their mark.
TLACAELEL
You’d buy his soothsaying?
PRIEST OF TLALOC I'd say I would.
TLACAELEL
That’s to the heart of this imbroglio.
PRIEST OF TLALOC
What is the real dispute, then, of this duel?
TLACAELEL
You’d know their true contention?
PRIEST OF TLALOC Tell me.
TLACAELEL So . . .
From my play in verse, thefloralwar.com
