Dawn. A pale first light enters the bedchamber. The sea is heard beyond it. PENELOPE sleeps alone in the marriage bed, the cloth still lying across it as a bedspread.
ULYSSES (offstage)
My mariners—
PENELOPE stirs, reaches toward ULYSSES’s side of the bed, then wakes and sits up.
ULYSSES (offstage)
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me—
PENELOPE
I know that voice.
ULYSSES (offstage)
That ever with a frolic welcome tookThe thunder and the sunshine—
She rises. Drawn by his voice, she crosses over to his side of the bed and, for the first time, the harbour-side.
PENELOPE
Ulysses!
She rushes out toward the harbour.
MARINERS enter from the harbour side with coils of rope, taking up work around the central structure as the bedchamber gives way to the quay. The structure now marks the threshold between shore and vessel; the cloth lies gathered at the vessel, ready to be rigged.
For the first time, ULYSSES enters from the palace-side, descending to the quay. He pauses at the sight of the harbour. A quiet chuckle escapes him as he opens his arms slightly.
ULYSSES
There lies the port.
He boards the vessel and begins rigging the cloth as a sail. PENELOPE enters quietly from the palace side and stops at a distance to watch him work. He does not see her.
ULYSSES
Free hearts, free foreheads—you and I are old;Old age hath yet his honour and his toil;Death closes all: but something ere the end,Some work of noble note, may yet be done,Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods.
He finishes the rigging. Enter MENEKRATES and RECRUITS.
MENEKRATES
Ulysses.
ULYSSES
Menekrates.
MENEKRATES
Your crew, sir. Come have a look.
Let’s go, form up!
The experienced hands file into rank while novices hesitate and follow suit.
MENEKRATES
This is it. Not many more sailors than we found last night.
ULYSSES
We will make do. They all know the cost?
MENEKRATES
Yes, sir. I turned many away who came for a story to bring back home.
As they inspect the crew, ULYSSES smiles in recognition at familiar faces and shakes their hands.
ULYSSES
Where do you come from?
FIRST RECRUIT
The countryside.
ULYSSES
Never been to sea?
FIRST RECRUIT
No, sir.
ULYSSES
It is treacherous. What brings you here?
FIRST RECRUIT
Herding is all I know. I have never asked why.
ULYSSES nods and moves on.
ULYSSES
And you?
SECOND RECRUIT
I have no profession. I find work if I can get it.
ULYSSES
This work will take you as far as possible from Ithaca.
SECOND RECRUIT
I know, sir.
ULYSSES
You know we have no heading and no landing?
SECOND RECRUIT
I’d like to know how far I can go.
ULYSSES
Medon?
MEDON
I found my next post, sir.
ULYSSES
It will be difficult, my friend.
MEDON
I think this is worth it.
ULYSSES
You are sure about this?
MEDON
Ulysses, yesterday at court—they all attacked you after you left…after they had just applauded you.
ULYSSES nods.
MEDON
But Penelope…I have never heard her speak that way. I never had the words for what I already knew about you. She is why I follow you here.
They shake hands.
MEDON
I hope she will be alright. Does she understand?
ULYSSES
She will, in time.
He finishes his inspection.
MENEKRATES
Dismissed.
These aren’t your men from Troy.
ULYSSES
No one can replace them.
MENEKRATES
If only I was born a little earlier, I’d have been there with you all.
ULYSSES
You might have been dead these forty years.
MENEKRATES
Sailing is my life and the only one I’ve wanted.
ULYSSES
Gather the men. We still must hoist the sail.
He walks to the mast and takes up the rigging. The men fall in behind.
ULYSSES
Together, on me. Pull!
Under his direction they begin to hoist the sail, uncoordinated at first.
ULYSSES
Again. Heave!
MENEKRATES
On the captain, mates. Pull as one.
They pull again and fail.
MARINER
Look at us, sir. We ain’t no crew.
ULYSSES steps away and evaluates the men, repositioning them on the line.
ULYSSES
Each man has come aboard by choice. Young and old, strong and spent, practiced and green. We may not be mariners, but we are a crew.
He waves his arm for cadence.
Heave!
If we cannot come together—we motley crew—then let us never leave our Ithaca.
Heave!
Let us sit sheltered from the storm, yet hunger all our days for what we might have known or become!
By the gods, heave!
Let them stop us. Let their waves shatter our oars, their winds tear sail from mast.
Heave!
But not even gods can rule your will. That is yours alone to yield.
Heave!
He takes up his place on the line.
Let us together earn the glory of that sacred name—Mariner.
Now heave, my Mariners!
The sail catches the wind. The crew looks toward it.
ULYSSES
The vessel puffs her sail!
MENEKRATES
Quick. The lines.
The experienced hands move at once. Others hesitate. ULYSSES assigns the uncertain men places at the oars.
ULYSSES
Come, my friends, ’Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
PENELOPE leaves her place at the edge of the quay and slowly boards the vessel.
ULYSSES
Push off, and sitting well in order smiteThe sounding furrows—
She stands behind ULYSSES, unseen. The MARINERS notice her and fall still. ULYSSES notices the change in them, but does not turn.
ULYSSES
For my purpose holdsto sail beyond the sunset—
She raises a hand toward his back.
ULYSSES
and the bathsOf all the western stars until I die.
She stops.
ULYSSES
Though much is taken, much abides. And tho’We are not now that strength which in old daysMoved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are.
PENELOPE (aside)
This. This is what I missed. In every note,The sound of something lost yet still aliveWithin your flutter of syllables tunedFor me to dance beside. This is the soundThat wandered over distant shores, and echoedAcross the wide seas, reaching for my name;This is what armies must have heard and feltRinging beneath their helmets, and a godStands shaken by the voice of mortal man.I need no crown or legend, only this—This lifelong note: for ever I will danceWith you, led by the timbre of your soul.And there you stand again before your wife,My king, my husband, mine own—
She whispers his name in his ear, inaudible to the audience.
He turns his head, enough to witness her step back onto the quay. She reaches for the final mooring. Only then does he turn toward her.
PENELOPE
Though we must part once more upon this shoreAnd Ithaca now yields you to the sea,Our love still holds. Let all our rooted yearsBallast you west beyond the sinking sun.
She unfastens the line and casts it free.
Go, my Ulysses.
The MARINERS take in the line. The vessel drifts farther from shore. He remains facing her. She watches from the quay, then lowers her head.
ULYSSES (distant but audible)
Penelope.
She looks up toward his voice and smiles when she sees him still facing her.
END