by Ian Doescher
All thou e’er shalt need.
LUKE
Forsooth, ’tis true: I am a Jedi now.
YODA
Be thou not so sure,
For still Vader remaineth.
Thou must confront him.
Then, and only then,
A true Jedi shalt thou be.
And face him thou shalt.
LUKE
Dear Master Yoda, one thing in me burns—
The question that is flame inside my bones,
Whose answer may yet kindle hate or love,
I know not which. Yet still it must be ask’d:
Darth Vader—tell me true—is he my father?
YODA
’Tis time for my rest.
Time for my sleep eternal,
’Tis no time for truth.
LUKE
Thou wouldst protect me from this knowledge,
which
May difficult and painful be. In this
Thou showest care for me, and hast my thanks—
But Yoda, full of heart, I must needs know.
YODA
[ aside:] Alack, he knows all.
Now may I only speak truth:
Only truth lives on.
[ To Luke:] Thy father he is.
Told you, did he? Unforeseen
This is. Distressing.
LUKE
Distressing that at length I learn the truth?
YODA
Nay, nay! Distressing
That thou hast rush’d to face him.
Not ready wert thou.
Thy training not done,
The field of thy heart unplow’d,
The burden, too much.
LUKE
Forgive me, for I knew not what I did.
YODA
Remember, my Luke,
A Jedi’s strength from the Force
Doth come. But beware.
Anger, fear, hatred—
From the dark side they all come;
Its minions they are.
Once thou hast enter’d
In the dark path infernal,
Abandon all hope.
The powers of the
Emperor, thou shouldst never
Underestimate.
Else thy father’s fate,
Shall, in turn, become thine own:
Let not this transpire.
When I have gone, slept,
The last of the Jedi shalt
Thou be, thou alone.
Attend, Luke! The Force
Is strong with thy family:
Pass on what thou learn’dst.
These final words now
With my last breath I utter:
O hear well, brave Luke.
This is our hope: there
Is another Skywalker.
The rest silence is.
[Yoda dies.
LUKE
Good night, sweet Jedi, noble, wise, and true.
So gentle was he, and too quickly gone.
O Fate, what hast thou brought into my life—
How shall I live when all I love have died?
Yet all things die, and all things pass away,
And all is like the sweeping of the stars
As one doth pass through lightspeed’s rapid blaze.
We know ’tis true: no mortal does not know
That all are born to feed insatiate death.
But O, what grief we meet along the way:
The knowledge something beautiful is lost,
The deep regret for all unspoken words—
Profound remorse for healing never giv’n.
To wish to hold the dead one’s hand again,
To picture a love’s smile, and know it gone:
These are the pains that human life doth bring,
The heartache and the thousand nat’ral shocks
That flesh is heir to. Death shall not be tam’d,
It shall not lose its victory or sting,
Yet it shall never have the best of us
If in our living we have truly liv’d.
To love with bliss, to fight for righteousness,
To heed adventure’s call, to cry with joy,
To laugh amidst life’s greatest heights and depths:
This is the living that doth conquer death,
So e’en though it shall come, we shall not fear’t.
These lessons let my master’s death teach me,
That my life shall esteem his memory.
R2-D2
[ aside:] O gift of Fate, that he my master is!
[ To Luke:] Beep, meep, beep, whistle, meep, beep, whistle, squeak!
LUKE
I cannot face the future by myself,
What shall I do, R2? I am alone—
The only Jedi left to bear the name.
It may be this responsibility
Is far too great for such a one as I.
How can I bear the burden by myself?
Enter GHOST OF OBI-WAN KENOBI.
OBI-WAN
Nay, not alone, for Yoda always shall
Remain with thee.
LUKE
—My soul, ’tis Obi-Wan!
[ Aside:] Now e’en though he of ghostly matter’s made,
He shall anon give answer for his words.
[ To Obi-Wan:] Good Ben, it warms my heart to see thee here,
Yet I must ask thee to explain thyself—
Pray, wherefore hast thou not reveal’d the thing
That thou didst know? Thou said’st my father had
By Vader been betray’d and murderèd.
Ne’er hast thou said that he my father is!
OBI-WAN
[ aside:] I never did imagine that, in death,
I would be call’d upon to justify
The words I spoke in life. ’Twas well I spoke
Not of the midi-chlorians to Luke,
For then he would have endless questions still.
[ To Luke:] Thine inquiry shall have an answer, Luke,
For verily thou dost deserve to know.
Thy father was seducèd by the dark
Side of the Force. ’Twas then that he no more
Was Anakin Skywalker, only Darth.
When that had happen’d, thy good father was
Destroy’d. And thus, forsooth, the words I spoke
Were truthful, from a certain point of view.
LUKE
“A certain point of view”? What doth that mean?
It may be said that I, within my ship,
Do see my X-wing as an instrument
Of truth and justice, aye, a noble thing,
While from a certain point of view I know
Mine enemies do see it as a threat.
It may be said that when I was attack’d
By rancor vicious and intemperate,
Prepar’d to make of me his morning meal,
There is a certain point of view that doth
Suggest he was a simple hungry beast.
It may e’en be that our Rebellion is,
For us, an undertaking pure and good,
Possessing every virtue possible,
While from the Empire’s certain point of view
It is a mere annoyance to be crush’d.
But this, I do not understand: how can
A certain point of view say that a man
Was murder’d by another man, when both
Are one and they together are my father?
OBI-WAN
Luke, thou shalt find that many of your truths
Depend entirely on your point of view.
It well may be that thou dost like it not,
But does not follow that it is not so.
’Tis true, that Anakin a good friend was.
When I first knew him, he already was
A pilot skill’d and swift, and it amaz’d
Me with what strength the Force work’d in his life.
I took it on myself to train him as
A Jedi. Eve
n then I did believe
That I could train him just as Yoda could.
But there my fault did lie. Therein I fail’d.
LUKE
I do believe it may be rectified.
What if he could be turnèd once again?
There is yet good within him—I can feel’t.
OBI-WAN
He is machine e’en more than man, I fear.
His soul’s an evil, tangl’d labyrinth.
LUKE
I shall not do it, Ben.
OBI-WAN
—Thou canst not ’scape
Thy destiny. You must confront and face
Darth Vader once again.
LUKE
—I shall not kill
My father.
OBI-WAN
—Then the Emperor hath won.
Thou wert our only hope the Empire and
The dark side to defeat. If thou wilt not,
No other shall arise to take our place.
LUKE
But must this necessarily be so?
For Yoda spoke of yet another. Who?
OBI-WAN
No more of hidden pasts: thou shalt know all.
The other one of which he spoke is none
But thy twin sister.
LUKE
—Sister? I know none.
OBI-WAN
Both thou and she were hidden safely from
The Emperor just after ye were born.
For he did know, as I do, that the kin
Of Anakin would be a pow’rful threat
Unto his reign of madness, might, and murder.
At birth, the two were separated: thou
Unto thine uncle Owen and thine aunt
Beru, on Tatooine, where I did watch
O’er thee as thou didst grow into a man;
Thy sister to a senator did go,
Apart from thee and thy dread father’s wrath.
There she did grow into a woman fine,
And has, since then, remain’d anonymous.
LUKE
[ aside:] O wondrous revelation to my soul!
A sister, and before me comes her face:
For surely Leia is my sister, else
My instincts have no truth in them. What news!
I know not whether to respond with shouts
Of greatest joy, or to shrink back in fear
And paralyzing shock at what we’ve done.
Three times hath she kiss’d me in friendship’s name,
The last of these more passionate than e’er
A sister should upon her sib bestow.
There is an ancient tale of Tatooine,
That tells of Tusken Raider who, through Fate
And circumstance, join’d with his mother in
A bond most strange and quite unnatural.
They liv’d in blissful ignorance of their
Relation until they discover’d it
By chance. And O, what awful times befell!
The Tusken Raider’s mother hang’d herself
Upon a bantha’s horn. The Tusken, in
His agony and grief, pull’d off his mask
And claw’d at his own eyes until they bled,
Then came dislodg’d, and finally pluck’d out.
He fell unto his knees and cried with pain—
Not merely pain to have his eyes remov’d,
But deeper pain that sear’d his very heart.
’Tis said that though he then could see no more,
He saw more clearly than he ever had.
At night, upon the sands of Tatooine,
His howl may still be heard, a warning to
Those who would break the sacred fam’ly bond
Through passions of the body. Shall this be
My fate, for crossing o’er the boundary
That none should cross, e’en once? I’ll warrant: nay.
Not only have I superstitions none,
But our brief moments of affection were
A trifle none could call a love affair.
I now see clearly but still have my eyes,
And may my sister know sans tragedy.
Thus, I do make a solemn, earnest vow: