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Recall, my soul, how steadfast were his eyes

When he did vow to be thy loyal mate.

Forget not, memory, how his embrace

Did quiet ev’ry worry of thy mind.

Yet what was once entwin’d may be in twain,

And love may wither under bitter weather.

This child, who now doth stir within my womb,

Who shall it grow to be when its time comes?

A royal babe, to lead a people strong,

Whose courage shall become a thing of tales?

Mayhap a poor wayfarer, who shall search

For purpose in the planets and the stars?

Perchance the child shall know profounder peace

Than ever its two parents did enjoy?

I cannot tell; its future is not writ

Upon the page where I may read its words.

Still, that strange sense doth echo in my core

That grief shall follow us in times to come.

O, Fate, I prithee, let it not be so:

Let not thy cords of life encompass us

As though to strangle ev’ry chance for bliss,

But rather knit a blanket sewn with hope

’Neath which we three may safely, haply rest:

Myself, mine Anakin, and our sweet babe.

Be still now, Padmé, gird thy courage fast,

And think upon the words of comfort that

Thy love did softly speak to thee e’en now.

Thy shocking news he answer’d with surprise,

Yet welcom’d he the unknown future days.

Try, then, to think upon what he did say,

And fret not over what, in time, may be.

’Tis harder in the doing than the speech,

For nerves shall fray though reason knoweth better.

O, Anakin, I’d heed thy words of cheer,

Except I saw, past them, a wisp of fear.

[Exit Padmé.

SCENE 3.

On the planet Utapau.

Enter
G
ENERAL
G
RIEVOUS
.

GRIEVOUS

If one shall speak of Grievous, let him say

That I a double-facèd villain am:

While outside I’m array’d with droidly steel,

A living creature’s heart doth beat within.

These natures two combine to make me strong—

Superior to humans by the parts

That are nigh indestructible indeed,

Superior to droids by sinews and

The rough-hewn flesh that giveth me my sense.

I am a specimen one in a thousand:

Behold what life may be when perfect ’tis,

The combination of the best of both

Technology and elements alike.

Would that the two within me did align—

Instead they seem to war for eminence:

The droid, the human, never quite at peace.

’Tis an infirmity I’ll ne’er disclose,

Although my vulgar cough e’er threatens to

Give voice unto my secret struggle, aye.

In time shall Grievous prove himself the best,

And give my Master, e’en Darth Sidious,

Full many reasons to grant me his trust,

To make me second only to himself.

Soft, now—for he doth come in cloak of light.

Enter
D
ARTH
S
IDIOUS
in beam.

My greetings unto thee, Lord Sidious.

SIDIOUS

Strong Gen’ral Grievous, I would have thee move

The leaders of the Sep’ratist Alliance

Far from thy current post: to Mustafar.

GRIEVOUS

It shall be done, my lord, with all due haste.

SIDIOUS

The war shall soon be ended, General.

GRIEVOUS

Is not Count Dooku, though, a painful loss?

SIDIOUS

His death was necessary to my plan—

A new apprentice shall I take anon,

One younger and, forsooth, more powerful.

When he is well and truly join’d to me,

Our strength and might unstoppable shall be.

[Exeunt.

SCENE 1.

On the planet Coruscant, in Padmé’s apartment.

Enter
P
ADMÉ
and
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
.

PADMÉ

O, Anakin, I’d have our child be born

Not here, where burthens press on ev’ry side,

But in Naboo, where sunlight greets the morn:

The sweet lake country where we three can hide,

Where none shall know about our offspring’s birth,

Where we three shall be safe from ev’ry strife,

Where we may show our child its ample worth,

Where we may offer it a peaceful life.

I could repair unto my planet first,

And make for our small babe an humble room—

Next to the gardens shall our child be nurs’d.

ANAKIN

With ev’ry moment, love, your flow’r doth bloom.

PADMÉ

Thou art the gardener who brings increase,

The tender of my soil who bringeth growth.

Within thy love my blossom is at peace,

And doth shoot forth upon mine Ani’s oath.

ANAKIN

Nay, thou for thine own beauty art the cause,

For thou are both the flower and the sun,

Which bringeth light, sans hesitance or pause,

And makes thee flourish such that thou dost stun.

My love is but the witness to this growth,

Mine heart is but observer to your beauty.

This love, this heart, they are for thee, yea, both—

Thou mayst command them unto any duty.

PADMÉ

If thou art witness only, art thou blind

To love whate’er grows in me sans thy reason?

ANAKIN

My words are far too simple for thy mind,

Thy loveliness hath put me out of season.

PADMÉ

Thy love may find in me an ample shade,

So thou, by my wit’s shining, art not burn’d.

And now, my dear, let us not be delay’d:

Unto our bed, till morning hath return’d.

[Exeunt.

Enter
R
UMOR
.

RUMOR

A touching scene, which Rumor shall disturb.

Ne’er could these lovers guess at what shall come:

All blinded are they by their love superb—

Kindhearted, aye, but deaf to Rumor’s drum.

Indeed, I come, with beats to work them woe,

Night falls, wherein I play my warlike tune—

Haranguing Anakin with rhythms low,

Attacking him by light of fickle moon.

To make him fret, I’ll shake his pleasant dreams:

His heart shall move from worry to dismay,

Anon his moans and groans shall turn to screams,

Distraught his soul shall be ere comes the day.

Resourceful is this Rumor, for I shall—

E’en by his love for Padmé—bring him strife.

A dream of pain shall shake the youth’s morale,

Misguided thus, he’ll fall to save her life.

[Exit Rumor.

Enter
A
NAKIN
S
KYWALKER
.

ANAKIN

What wroth, tormenting dreams this night I’ve had,

Strange visions of a horrid pain to come!

Yet not mine own pain—that I’d haply bear—

’Twas Padmé who did writhe with shrieks and screams,

Whilst calling out my name in fear and hurt.

O, how her cries sent chills into my heart,

And still do echo there as though were real.

When sleep is anguish-laden, mercy ’tis

To wake and find ’twas but a mare of night