IN Act V of Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” the great swordsman and poet is back in the convent visiting Roxane. The beautiful woman has entered the convent after her great love, the handsome Christian, has died. Roxane will soon know that the letters that made her fall in love were written by Cyrano, and the voice in the dark that was her heart’s passion was that of this man about to die in front of her. Earlier, a man has dropped a log hitting Cyrano on the head. For all his injuries, he has to fulfill that visit to the woman he would love forever. Hiding his wound, Cyrano delivers the “Gazette” to Roxanne. It is a daily report of what is happening to the world outside.
If Cyrano were here today, what news will he tell Roxane before the moonlight comes to take him, when his spine has been gripped by the great frost?
These, I believe, will be the contents of Cyrano’s Gazette:
“It is not easy to travel now from one’s home to a friend’s abode. Town mayors and village chiefs realized they have borders and decided to close them. One needs a pass if one wants to go to another village and a bigger pass if one plans to leave one’s town or city.”
“Families are banned from gathering when a new member is born and when someone passes away. Birthdays have been declared illegal; funerals are decreed to be unnecessary. There are exceptions: if you make laws, you are exempted from following them. If you are tasked to enforce the laws, there is no need for you to be bothered by them. If you have a gun or guns, the laws are nonessential.”
“The health experts of the country are finding it difficult to count the number of people afflicted by the virus because they do not know how to count. Or, if they do, they are scared to count correctly lest their Chief castigate them. They are not sure how many just got sick and how many were sick as far back as three months ago. In their uncertainty, they have decided to declare that the plague is over and everybody is now free to move around.”
“And so, people have started to move around. Those who work in factories and bakeries are asked to report early to work. Business as usual, the big and small bosses, decreed. Workers from all over the land woke up very early one morning to catch all means of transportation but there was nothing for them poor people on the road. Those who were wealthy took their cars out and those who had friends who were wealthy, too, brought out their vans and other huge cars.”
“People have stopped being kind to one another again. The plague after all is gone, or so they say.”
“People walk for hours to get to the nearest road where they expect to see vehicles and buses. There are none. Many fearing for the life of their jobs walk for hours going to work and walk for hours again on their way home. An old man, one chronicler announced, waited for three hours for a ride and fainted. The other people, younger and more able-bodied, looked at the old man. They were too tired to help.”
“The government gazettes are filled with notices and complaints from these people who walk for hours. A young politician who was earlier hailed as the prince of good news and urgent actions for these sad, sad days of dying is asked what solutions he would provide to people who walk and walk for hours. His reply was silver and short: If there is no ride available, then they should walk.”
“Did he really say that? This was the confused query from some men and women who pinned their hope on the youth of this tyrant.”
“But there is no time for confusion in this age of magic and mystery. One major mystery being solved is about the wealth of the nation. Where did our gold and silver meant to help those who died, are dying, and sick, go? But the king of the land, with love in his heart as he claims, called everyone to gather before midnight or some witching hours and declared: We are poor.”
“Blessed are the poor, the Churches pray. They pray and pray alone in their huge churches. In the name of health and not in the name of any god, their churches were commanded to close. If they would hold services, it was ordained that the high priest do it alone, with the adepts standing far. Lonesome and lonely is faith.”
“There is no certainty about the plague. The rulers of the land have been meeting in secret. People thought they were talking about the plague and how to confront it correctly. This morning, at the break of dawn, we were informed of a new law. This ruling compels us to be quiet about the plague, the problem of wealth, and the crisis of poverty. The new rule simply says we cannot speak ill of the king and his families. It states we cannot curse the palaces and big houses of those who hold our destiny in the palm of their hand. We cannot even whisper about any doubt as to the reign of princes and dukes and village chiefs. The law has a new name for those who call the law dumb: Terrorist.”
At this point, Cyrano, beholding that Death was upon him, eased closer to Roxane and handed his beloved the written gazette. In a barely audible voice, Cyrano pleaded to Roxane to keep the written news in her locket, to hide it, until the True Terror is gone from the land. Then blooms from the huge fire tree began to be blown by an errant wind, chill descended upon the star-crossed lovers, and Death, hooded but gentler than Life, looked down on this land and wept.
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Image credits: Ed Davad