The Haitian Trilogy: Plays

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The Haitian Trilogy: Plays Page 13

by Derek Walcott


  I have very little sentiment in surrendering my command.

  LECLERC

  And you, Madame de Rouvray?

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  You know wives, General Leclerc.

  This is what I shall miss, the supervision of my gardens,

  I hope Madame Pauline will look after these lilies.

  Monsieur Calixte, I know, will understand my misery,

  Being himself the paragon of planters.

  CALIXTE-BREDA

  I can understand, madame.

  I comprehend completely your devotion to lilies.

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  And since Madame Pauline is absent, General,

  Perhaps you can tell us of the situation in Paris.

  DE ROUVRAY

  She probably means the fashions, but, my dear Emilie,

  General Leclerc is more proficient at uprooting rebellions

  Than in describing Paris couture and the qualities of flowers.

  LECLERC

  It has altered considerably since the birth of the republic.

  But Calixte’s nephew has returned, full of enthusiasm,

  So perhaps Monsieur Anton—it is Anton, is it not, monsieur?

  Perhaps this silent gentleman is the best one to ask.

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  Haiti has also altered. Things are terribly unsettled.

  Is there much similarity, in your opinion, Anton?

  (ANTON moves away.)

  CALIXTE-BREDA

  When Anton drinks too much wine, as he did here at dinner,

  The boy falls into an unshakeable melancholy.

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  Do you think Madame Leclerc may have met with an accident?

  It is dangerous to be riding these roads at night alone.

  LECLERC (Smiles.)

  My wife is not alone. I think she should be safe.

  DE ROUVRAY

  You see there is always the danger of runaway slaves;

  Then, there are serpents …

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  And so many other dangers, monsieur.

  There are hazards much more subtle in a colonial society.

  CALIXTE-BREDA (Laughs.)

  I resent that word, excuse me, “colonial.”

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY (Fanning.)

  Oh, quite innumerable hazards.

  The danger, though concealed of a mixed aristocracy,

  The ambushes that wait for one under glittering candles,

  The serpents in the smiles of the most charming hostess,

  Arrows of eyebrows, and artilleries of slander

  Behind the barricades of those fluttering fans …

  LECLERC

  You don’t like the word “colonial”?

  This, I presume, then, is the birth of a nation?

  Generals who were slaves, each one a black Spartacus.

  You know, Napoleon calls them gilded Africans.

  DE ROUVRAY

  They are becoming quite formal in their conduct of this war.

  LECLERC (Impatiently)

  This is not a war, de Rouvray, it is a large-scale civic action.

  I am employed to subjugate a province of France.

  ANTON

  Do not be so sure,

  One must never underrate the authority of the people.

  CALIXTE-BREDA

  Slaves are not people, they are intelligent animals.

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  Gentlemen, please, let us not lose our tempers.

  ANTON

  Madame, I am simply saying this is not a revolt.

  LECLERC

  So at last we grow eloquent. You say the will of the people.

  Let us tell you, monsieur, that that expression is a fallacy.

  Remember it was the people who demanded Barabbas.

  ANTON

  This is the philosophic corruption of power.

  CALIXTE-BREDA

  Anton, you are a guest.

  LECLERC

  It is a fact, nevertheless, despite your enthusiasm,

  The people have always chosen their particular demon.

  They created their Caesar as they created Napoleon.

  But you have been reading Rousseau and Montesquieu,

  They are romantics overcome by the odours of the mob.

  ANTON (Impatiently)

  This is Caesarism.

  DE ROUVRAY

  Anton, it’s discussion.

  ANTON

  That is monarchy. And you, a republican.

  LECLERC

  You sound angry, young man. I am a cynic who worships order.

  I doubt such things exist as liberty or good marriages.

  Don’t you consider yourself superior to your uncle’s Negroes?

  ANTON (Controlling himself.)

  Monsieur, you are a general, and your industry is death,

  But there is a new spirit that walks over the earth.

  LECLERC

  I know, I was part of it. Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

  And what has this turned into but democratic despotism?

  CALIXTE-BREDA (Smiling.)

  Then you believe in the monarchy? Or are you testing our allegiance?

  LECLERC

  Show me a good man and I will show you a good nation.

  Do you know what will happen if your revolution succeeds?

  There will not be liberty but mere patterns of revenge.

  The history of man is founded on human nature, and

  We cannot exorcise the guilt of original sin.

  DE ROUVRAY

  Does the First Consul know what opinions you hold, General?

  LECLERC

  What does it matter? I am an excellent general,

  And then I am fortunate, my wife is Caesar’s sister.

  And here in good time, she arrives with a new province.

  (Enter PAULINE LECLERC with young officer.)

  PAULINE

  Now I shall not say anything dull or unpredictable

  But that I forgot all about it, or say I remembered

  How monotonous the conversation of generals can be;

  I have a haphazard memory, and so all is forgiven.

  This is Lieutenant Foujade; my husband, General Leclerc;

  Your commander, General de Rouvray; Madame de Rouvray.

  This is Monsieur Calixte. Oh, this is so absurd,

  (Before ANTON)

  And this …

  CALIXTE-BREDA

  My nephew, madame. Monsieur Anton Calixte.

  PAULINE

  Oh yes, yes indeed. Can I have a drink with you?

  Lieutenant Foujade is an authority on Haiti.

  We toured a few estates, including yours, Monsieur Calixte.

  He knows all about factories, we toured the compounds,

  So if I reek a little of the parfum d’Afrique,

  Endure it gently. There seems to have been trouble.

  CALIXTE-BREDA

  It is normal, they shake the chains a little.

  LIEUTENANT FOUJADE

  It seemed worse than that, monsieur.

  A few seem to have escaped.

  CALIXTE-BREDA

  There are ways of retrieving them,

  It is an industrial hazard. There are dogs, you observe.

  PAULINE

  How was dinner, Madame de Rouvray? I am so sorry, forgive me?

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  Not at all.

  LIEUTENANT FOUJADE

  If you will excuse me, messieurs, madame.

  Please accept my apologies, sir, but we were delayed.

  LECLERC

  C’est normal.

  (Exit LIEUTENANT FOUJADE.)

  Now, if Monsieur Calixte will accompany us.

  We can talk out these problems with a tour of the garden

  And leave your eloquent nephew to chat with the ladies.

  Nothing is more monotonous than the small talk of soldiers.

  You say, then, d
e Rouvray, that the most efficient generals,

  For want of a better term, are this fellow Boukmann,

  Dessalines, and … the other … what’s his name?

  DE ROUVRAY

  Christophe … Monsieur Calixte knows all about this also.

  He has helped me enormously, he knows the country thoroughly …

  I hate mountain country, you never finish a war …

  (Exit GENERALS and CALIXTE-BREDA.)

  PAULINE

  Then are you packed and ready for Paris, madame?

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  Yes, but I feel so archaic, so dated in the fashion.

  I trust Haiti will not bore you, it is different from Paris.

  There is little to do that one can call civilised.

  It is rich, but vulgar, as you may well have observed.

  PAULINE

  Oh, one creates one’s pleasures to suit every country.

  But what does one do that is different from Paris?

  I have grown so tired of false dukes and society.

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  What does one do in fact that is not imitation?

  Perhaps Anton could tell us. Men have all the liberties.

  ANTON

  Is madame in search of something exciting and different?

  PAULINE

  It begins to sound exciting before you even describe it.

  ANTON

  Then I must have another glass before I proceed.

  But as a general’s wife, I am sure you have seen much.

  Industrial hazard, as my uncle observed …

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  Anton is still sullen,

  He has just lost an argument to your husband.

  PAULINE

  Do not mind my husband, he is cynical and dispassionate.

  But tell us, monsieur.

  ANTON

  Well, quite recently, madame,

  We have devised a spectacle of epic proportions.

  (Pauses, studies their faces.)

  There is a place in the city, designed like an arena,

  Half shadow in the afternoon, say, on some boring Sunday—

  Sunday afternoons are the same in every part of the world—

  Where a carnivorous spectacle is gaining popularity.

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY (Agitatedly)

  Anton, please. Madame Leclerc did not mean that.

  ANTON

  The Negroes, you know, are punished in public.

  They are led into his arena, as in a public circus,

  And then, with some brief ceremony, the theatre commences …

  MADAME DE ROUVRAY

  If you will excuse me, I must finish my packing.

  It is getting late, and there are things I must do.

  Good night, madame; good night, Anton.

  (She exits.)

  PAULINE

  You were saying, monsieur?

  ANTON

  The most popular scene in this comic spectacle:

  Gunpowder is poured into noses, ears, and mouths.

  Then the actors are fixed into farcical positions,

  Then the powder is lit, and the victims are exploded.

  (Laughs.)

  Of course, no one is permitted to act his role twice.

  Is that sufficient?

  PAULINE

  If you have finished.

  ANTON

  Do not miss the meaning, there are other diversions,

  For there is this ballet of putting them into holes.

  PAULINE

  Holes?

  ANTON

  Des grands trous, comme ça.

  They are buried in the ground to their necks in these holes.

  They are then smeared with honey and the ants erode them.

  There is some species of ant that can strip human flesh;

  Then often there are dogs, which are trained for that purpose.

  That is our theatre, but it is rather repetitious.

  PAULINE

  It is not worse than war. Have you watched it yourself?

  ANTON (Sits.)

  That is why I can describe it, I am torn apart also.

  My head is reeling, and I feel very drunk. It is horrible.

  PAULINE

  Then why do you watch it?

  ANTON

  Why, madame? I will tell you why.

  Because I am torn to pieces with them, I am myself a division.

  By the fact that I am half African and half French,

  I must become both spectator and victim. It is amusing.

  Don’t you understand what I am telling you, madame?

  I am not the nephew of Monsieur Armand Calixte; I am

  His son, illegitimate; all society knows this, but

  It is not said directly.

  PAULINE

  Who is your mother, then?

  ANTON

  She was a slave of his mansion.

  He recognised her in darkness, in that republic

  And that act in which complexions do not matter.

  What do I do? Many years ago, I was tempted to admit it,

  To be what I am and not be ashamed, a Haitian.

  Then I saw our two delegates to the French General Assembly,

  Ogé and Chavannes, broken on the wheel in public.

  I do not know why I am telling you all this.

  PAULINE

  You are upset, monsieur; come and sit down a little.

  And you do not understand why you are telling me this?

  ANTON

  Should I speak the truth to you, Madame Leclerc?

  PAULINE

  Yes, it is still the best thing, to follow one’s impulses,

  To avoid hurting others and destroying one’s sanity.

  ANTON

  Look, we own an excellent coachman, his name is Toussaint,

  He is a Negro of a most remarkable docility.

  I know he loves my father, he loves me as his son,

  But since such cruelty and this new liberty of man

  Have made Haiti a crisis in the history of this age,

  I have seen his black face tormented with division,

  Between duty to his people and the love of our family.

  How am I better than Toussaint, greater than his anguish?

  Compared to him I am nothing. Do you know what I should do?

  I should hate all this elegance, to sit among the slaves,

  Be mocked for an ape, be torn apart by dogs,

  Than to be choked to death with these silks …

  (He struggles with his collar.)

  PAULINE

  Anton, please, please …

  (Pause.)

  Is that all you wish to tell me?

  ANTON

  You know it is not all. How can that be all?

  (Pause.)

  Since the first night I saw you, the centre of attention

  In the glittering ballroom at Madame de Rouvray’s mansion,

  Barricaded by lieutenants, and then once again tonight,

  White and lovely as the moon, and equally remote,

  My body trembled at the minute of your entrance.

  (GENERAL LECLERC appears on the balcony above.)

  PAULINE

  You talk too much, Anton.

  ANTON

  I must talk of these things.

  PAULINE

  No, let them go; as women do, take life as it comes.

  ANTON

  And yes, and this destroys me, I try to understand things,

  But it is sad, it is sad, the whole thing is sad.

  It is sad to see belief contradicted by necessity,

  It is sad to see new countries making old mistakes.

  One could hope from the past the present would be simple,

  But it is sad to see only the repetition of desire.

  PAULINE (Taking his head to her bosom.)

  It is like the first years of love, understanding is hard …

  There now, let
me kiss you; forget the hate of this world.

  Learn to love one person and your view will be mellowed.

  (They kiss. LECLERC descends, unseen.)

  TOUSSAINT (Enters.)

  Monsieur Anton. Ton père te demande.

  ANTON

  This is our coachman, Toussaint. What is it?

  LECLERC (Emerging.)

  It appears there is some trouble again on his estate,

  The slaves are burning the canes, you can see the glow.

  There behind the mountains. He is rather anxious, he wants

  You to help him with a hunt. I’ll lend him soldiers.

  ANTON

  I cannot help him, sir. Dîtes lui ma kai venir Toussaint

  I am not going. I shall walk back to the estate. Allez.

  TOUSSAINT

  Monsieur Anton …

  ANTON

  Allez, allez. I am not hunting tonight.

  (Exit TOUSSAINT.)

  It is not far, I know a path through the fields.

  LECLERC

  Do you think that you are in any condition to walk?

  I can lend you a horse if you insist on returning.

  ANTON

  No, I am going alone. I thank you. Good night, good night, madame.

  (He exits.)

  LECLERC

  A remarkable young man, very stubborn, very passionate.

  PAULINE

  I presume that you saw us kissing from the balcony.

  LECLERC

  We retain our understanding, I am your brother’s general,

  And you remain his ambassador for foreign affairs.

  (They go off. Glare of fire—drums. Lights fade out.)

  Scene 10

  Night. ANTON, drunk in the canefields, walking alone. A glare in the sky.

  ANTON (Singing.)

  Oh, the moon may be a silver coin,

  And the sun is a sovereign light.

  (He stops, laughs.)

  The moon, the moon, it was that remarkable metaphor of the moon that startled her. Anton, you are a fool. She slaughters men as her husband does battalions … Well, she has uprooted me also. You are drunk and a fool. Oh, let me thank my fool of a father, Monsieur Armand Calixte, otherwise how should I have met her? Ah well, I have done this before, only I will not hunt men like animals, I am not a hunter of men. What was that sound? It seems as if the whole country is on fire. I think I must be lost. Think, if I were not of this complexion now, she and that fat Madame de Rouvray and her stupid husband would have been amused to see me exploded with saltpetre, ripped by hounds. Ha. Life is ironic …

 

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