Ariel

[Part One: Come Unto These Yellow Sands]

[The Cremation of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) - the 16th of August 1822 on a beach near Viareggio]

Crow black the mourners stand

They watch the burning pyre

Singing O, blow the winds O

Silhouettes against the sand

The smoke, it billows higher

Singing O, blow the winds O

Grieve for the poet drowned at sea

O, such deep sweet sorrow

They'd left their port of call

When sudden storm clouds gathered

Singing O, blow the winds O

A wild tempestuous squall

They foundered in ten fathoms

Singing O, blow the winds O

Profound poetic verse

Shall live on tomorrow

[Part Two: Noises, Sounds and Sweet Airs]

[On an un-named Mediterranean island in renaissance Europe]

Upon The Island, imprisoned for twelve years

The Master came. He released you from the pine

You did serve Prospero's bidding

From old bound books, he'd recite the words aloud

Unto the air, sweet music to the ear

Spells were cast, among the living

All chores fulfilled, you earned your freedom

But bonds and ties bind with good reason

Though you were free, still would you visit

There by his side, the day the old man died

[Part Three: New Place]

[Stratford-Upon-Avon, 1610]

'Twas your desire, your story written down

Bound in a book, to hold the magic of the words

A playwright found, whose verse is eternal

Your tale was told, by way of dreamings

Placed in his thoughts whilst he was sleeping

Inspired, the bard awoke next morning

Then quill in hand, he drafted out a plan

[Part Four: 'O! There are spirits of the air!']

[At sea, during a raging storm, Ariel revels within his environment]

Come Cirrus

Come Stratus

Eternal sprawling of days

Come Nimbus

You storm bringer

Howling winds

Lashing rain

For one brief yet brilliant moment

They burn brightly and they shine

Immortality's a song that sounds for

Too long, too long, too long

Come Cirrus (Come on)

Come Stratus (Come on)

Eternal sprawling of days

Come Nimbus (Come on)

Soul shaker (Come on)

Thunder crash

Rolling waves

For one brief yet brilliant moment

They burn brightly and they shine

Immortality's a song that sounds for

Too long, too long, too long

[Part Five: Music, When Soft Voices Die]

[A pine forest near Pisa, 1822]

Time slows

Centuries have passed where you did reside

Again among the pines

What do you hear?

Sweet music through the air

Tickling your ear and calling you by name

Summoned, you go

A poet thou dost spy

Pages strewn about the ground

Spellbound, you stand revealed

He sees thee!

Till you disappear

[Part Six: Casa Magni, 1822]

[San Terenzo, near Lerici, in the province of La Spezia in Liguria, 1822]

Time hides. How many days gone by

Since the sight he saw, that will not leave his mind?

Was it real or a dream?

His burning desire was to see you one more time

To know that you are real

Not some haunted opium dream

Once more before he dies

[Part Seven: "Approach, My Ariel, Come"]

[8th of July 1822, Gulf of La Spezia]

[Aboard the Don Juan on the return voyage from Livorno to Lerici, late afternoon. The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley and his two companions, Edward Williams and Charles Vivian, were drowned during a sudden violent summer tempest. The boat was called 'Don Juan' in honour of Lord Byron, but, according to Mary Shelley, Shelley had renamed the boat 'Ariel.']

All at sea he invokes thee

Awaking thee from deepest slumber

Incantations ringing like silver

It's too swift, too soon

Invocation's lightning sabres

Wind sound thy pipe

Thunder thy tabor

Singing O, blow the winds O

[Part Eight: Coda: The Triumph of Life]

[The Cremation of Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) - the 16th of August 1822 on a beach near Viareggio. The poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) watches the smoke rising from the burning pyre. It seems to him as though there is an ephemeral figure rising through the smoke into the air. The grief and loss over the last few days have clearly taken their toll. As the flames take further hold, unable to contain his sorrow any longer, he goes down the beach towards the water, removes his clothing and swims out to sea.]

Singing O, blow the winds O

Singing O, to the four winds

Thou goes