Read The Haitian Trilogy: Plays: Henri Christophe, Drums and Colours, and The Haytian Earth Online
Authors: Derek Walcott
RALEIGH
(
Shouts.
)
I am not a Spaniard, man.
KEYMIS
Sir Walter.
BERRIO
(
Rising.
)
No, I am a Spaniard and responsible to my country.
And, you are English, your star in the ascendant.
But to me you are a finished phenomenon, my friend,
In that this pursuit of wealth, of personal glory,
Is of a finished age, the age of conquest, cruelty.
The gold is veining out.
KEYMIS
Is that why you preach?
BERRIO
As governor I pursued my Catholic precepts,
Brought here by our first admiral and Las Casas,
That what men take away out of a country
They must restore by something else.
Our mines are finishing, and the more profitable pursuits
Of growing cities, establishing Christian culture,
Is now the general concern, not avarice.
The individual reputation must be dimmed,
For the establishment of commerce, justice.
I am the proconsul of a new empire, señor.
KEYMIS
Now will Your Excellency look at this map?
RALEIGH
(
To
BERRIO
)
You tell me not to pursue my search for El Dorado.
Must I presume, before the discoveries,
Before Cortés, Pizarro, Bilbão, Alcázar
There was no Montezuma, nor Peru; in fact no gold.
No massacre of natives, no Spanish imperialism
Under you Christian conquerors? Let us be honest.
I’m ageing. I believe in the existence of this city,
And so do you, I know, and Keymis, but you,
Exhibiting that familiar Spanish arrogance …
BERRIO
Señor, I am too tired to bear arrogance.
(
Rises.
)
RALEIGH
(
Enraged
)
If you please!
Think all the world the property of Spain.
But Spain is shattered, her wealth will be ours,
I am not an even-tempered man, señor.
SON
Father, there is no need to be so angry with him.
RALEIGH
(
Turning on
SON
.)
I am your admiral, not your father now.
(
Pause.
)
KEYMIS
Señor Berrio, do you recognise certain names here?
BERRIO
(
Amused
)
I see a map whose drawings are as haphazard
As any I have done concerning this fable.
KEYMIS
And where is the best direction to this fable?
BERRIO
I have a fatal statement for you gentlemen.
RALEIGH
Which is?
(
He sits.
)
BERRIO
There is no El Dorado.
There is a story devised for malice by the Indians.
It is a vicious fable, it is like Atlantis, it is like
Columbus’s Cipango, like your own John Mandeville.
The more you pierce Guiana and explore it,
Pages of pages part before you, volumes of forest;
But El Dorado has no meaning, there are the bones
Of ruined Spanish expeditions, and nothing else.
KEYMIS
Yet you yourself have made cynical expeditions
Of this nature.
BERRIO
That is why I speak.
I cannot warn you of the terrible expense
When men or nations turn to beasts for gold.
RALEIGH
(
Rises angrily.
)
Very well then, to be considered a beast!
Issue this order to the captains, Keymis.
Despite the orders of the King of England,
Despite the hypocrisy of this cunning Spaniard,
Raleigh now risks his life, his soldiers’ lives,
His son’s, and all the weight, experience
Of his life, to find this fool’s gold and be King of it!
Burn down the Spanish fort and find Manoa,
And now, señor, I wish you a good night.
(
He exits.
)
KEYMIS
I have not seen him so angry for some time.
He has a tongue that wounds his friends.
BERRIO
He is a sensitive but a dangerous man.
If he is your friend, then I say, look again.
He uses people.
KEYMIS
And you know nothing?
BERRIO
Oh, you persistent English, I know nothing.
I should like some rest. I wish him luck.
But I know this will bring some terrible price.
SON
My father is no coward, Señor de Berrio.
BERRIO
Sí, niño.
No coward. But a frightened man. Good night.
(
Exit
BERRIO, KEYMIS
.)
SON
(
Picks up lute and sings.
)
Gather ye money while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying,
And that same price you raised today
Tomorrow will be dying.
That yellow coin of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting.
Pursue him still and you may run
A profit ere his setting.
So be you wise and be you bold
But let this keep you bonny.
Joy is a thing that’s bought and sold.
So sing hey money, money.
(
RALEIGH
,
cloaked, enters above, listens to end of song, and descends.
)
RALEIGH
Go, get to bed, boy, there’s soldier’s work at sunrise.
Excuse my anger. Know I love you. Now get to bed.
SON
How is your fever? You should rest, Father.
RALEIGH
I have the fever and I cannot rest,
I think of my responsibility, and each man’s life,
Of your sweet mother, of how greed makes men mad,
And that dull ache of absence called a wife.
(
Lights fade as
RALEIGH
exits. Slow drumbeats start. Trumpet calls. To suggest passage of time—spot on
CHORUS
at left and spot on
RALEIGH
motionless. Enter
CHORUS
.)
CHORUS
The lanterns of the fleet die one by one,
The wandering moon rides through a foam of clouds,
As Raleigh walks the deadened deck alone.
The false grey of daylight fills the east.
He waits with a few soldiers, alone, aboard,
(
Spot on
RALEIGH
.)
Through morning to the dead dial of noon.
The hours pass, till a far drum is heard.
(
Lights up slowly.
)
SAILOR
Smoke, sir! It’s the fort, they’ve burnt the fort.
RALEIGH
(
Wearily
)
And that drum’s pulse means failure and defeat.
Lower the longboat there for Captain Keymis.
Can you shout what you see there, fellow?
SAILOR
Aye, aye, sir. It’s the expedition, they’re launching the skiffs, and it seems they’ve got a couple wounded, though I can’t make out who, sir. They’re down to the brown shallows of the river, and there’s some getting into the boats by the jungle’s edge.
RALEIGH
Get ready to brace them aboard. I’m coming down.
SAILOR
It’s Captain Keymis’s boat, sir, and there’s two dead.
RALEIGH
Who are they?
SAILOR
I can’t rightly tell, sir. They’re dead is all I know.
RALEIGH
Give them a shout again!
(
BERRIO
enters below.
)
SAILOR
Allo there! Alloa off there!
(
Silence.
)
CHORUS
Now the hot wind haunts the abandoned armour,
The wild bees build in the rusting Spanish helms,
The armoured cricket nests in the empty shield.
SAILOR
Allo, allo there? Who got it this time, mate?
VOICE OFF
Jeremy Ford, carpenter. Walter Raleigh, squire.
BERRIO
(
Moving forward.
)
Señor!
RALEIGH
What is it now, man? Do you come to mock me?
SAILOR
It’s the boy, sir. They’re coming aboard.
(
The
PATROL
boards,
KEYMIS
enters; behind,
SAILORS
bearing
SON
’s
body.
)
SAILOR
Come, rest him on the table, I’ll shift the lute.
KEYMIS
Your son is dead, my lord.
RALEIGH
And gold outlasts the wearer. Remain here, Keymis.
(
All exit but
BERRIO
and
KEYMIS
.)
Will you not go into your quarters?
BERRIO
Suffering binds men together, Excellency.
Not long ago I mourned my nephew’s death.
RALEIGH
How did this happen?
KEYMIS
He fell in the skirmish with another sailor
When we attacked the fort of San Thome.
RALEIGH
I placed the boy in your particular care.
(
Over body
)
So late I heard thee playing on the lute;
Now these poor fingers, that should pluck a viol,
Are cold as this sword that I place in them.
There he lies, on the unknown world, my son.
KEYMIS
We must return to England now, Sir Walter.
RALEIGH
I weigh this body of my finished son
Against, sweet Christ, a little mound of gold,
But God, who sacrificed Thy Son Thyself,
Temper my grief, rib me with fortitude.
O death that takes a little piece of me,
When one man dies, the only empire is yours.
All mockery carved in that marble stiffness
Wrapped in the reputation of a shroud,
A mirror clouded by the breath of time.
A broken sword laid at the foot of war,
A cold meat for the whimsy of a king
(
Pause.
)
—Keymis!
KEYMIS
I share your sorrow, Walter, I am with you.
RALEIGH
(
Turning on him.
)
With me? I wish you were with him there dead.
KEYMIS
And I. Believe me, as his friend and captain.
RALEIGH
Or to speak the truth, his captain and his butcher.
KEYMIS
Butcher? I know the quantity of your suffering,
But I was his friend when he lived. You know it.
RALEIGH
Take him away, the lute, map, everything; but Keymis,
If you are as honest as you say you are, then look,
And take his murder as your own negligence.
(
The body is borne away.
)
Come back here, man!
KEYMIS
Do you call me back to abuse me, then, Sir Walter,
Here in the full view of the common sailors,
To the contempt and pity of the enemy?
RALEIGH
Yes, yes, and more, death is a common thing,
And it is you who are the enemy.
KEYMIS
Your mind is feverish.
RALEIGH
It was you, with your cupidinous, common fawning,
Who drew me by the sleeve away from God
When I was locked in darkness in the tower,
And whispered gold and empire in this ear.
KEYMIS
Whatever fever you may have, Sir Walter, I tell you,
That is a weak and cowardly lie, sweet Christ. Remember,
We searched for Guiana many times before this.
Then it was dear Laurence, friend, exchanger of my love.
It was your fever that infected mine. We have failed,
And execution waits for us in England. But God,
I had preferred to slaughter Indians uselessly
Than to endure this malice from a gentleman.
BERRIO
Gentlemen, señores. I lost a nephew to your soldiers.
RALEIGH
I’ll tell you, de Berrio, the contagion of madness
Makes snakes of friends when profit is involved
(
Points.
)
There is the leech Keymis who fed on me,
Who crawled on green Guiana like a leaf,
Murdering men’s sons and fattening on my friendship.
Do not cross my sight till we return to England.
(
He exits.
)
KEYMIS
O God, pluck down the star of selfish men!
Break the proud shaft on which they hoist their colours.
The man has burst my heart. I loved them both.
I could not hold the boy back, I swear to God.
I roll the map up, where the stain of his life
Marks red for conquest. I will not live with this.
(
He exits.
)
BERRIO
Again and again, the plot of conquest follows
The hollow carcass of the drum of reputation,