Wherefore Art Thou?

Heart Lore

I'm in Verona, a city in northern Italy’s Veneto region. Looking at the tiny balcony of Casa di Giulietta where Juliet stood while Romeo declared his love, I've been inspired to update the script for Shakespeare's well-known balcony scene such that it will include my annotations and have a happy ending. The original dialogue lines from the play are italicized.

Where'e'er I go, my Soul shall stay with thee:
'Tis but my Shadow that I take away. - Dryden

PROLOGUE

The night begins like a hundred others before it. There is nothing to suggest that anything is about to change. ROMEO feels wonderfully invisible, as he stands in the shadow of tall cypress trees behind which is tucked in an ivy-covered fourteenth century house.

As JULIET enters the balcony, her sweet, vulnerable air of innocence immediately fills the surroundings. It is as if she had lifted the atmosphere from stillness and given it a soul. She stares out onto the inky gloom of the courtyard below, her dark lashes quivering on her cheeks.

ROMEO feels a flicker of disbelieving delight: But wait, what’s that light in the window over there? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun. He lets out a long breath. There is a joyful swell in his chest. Look how she leans her hand on her cheek. Oh, I wish I was the glove on that hand so that I could touch that cheek.

JULIET sighs, her voice floating into the surroundings. Oh, my!

ROMEO, feeling faint joy as she speaks, mutters in a voice so low his words seem carried by the breeze that brushes Juliet's upturned face: She speaks. Oh, speak again, bright angel. You are as glorious as an angel tonight.

JULIET, not knowing ROMEO hears her, utters his name repeatedly like a chant, pulling him in. Her voice is a low rumble in his ears: Oh, Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou, my Romeo? Then her voice drops to a husky murmur. Why do you have to be Romeo? Just swear you love me and I’ll stop being a Capulet.

The words leap from her mouth, or maybe her heart. She inclines her head. Such loveliness, such grace in her gesture. And in it, ROMEO reads both the beginning and the end of every lover's poem, every romantic dream, every fairy tale that has ever been written.

ROMEO mumbles to himself, his eyes crinkling at their corners: Should I listen for more, or should I speak now?

JULIET, still not knowing ROMEO hears her, says softly: It’s only your name that’s my enemy. Oh, be some other name! The thing we call a rose would smell just as sweet if we called it by any other name. She closes her eyes and tries to hold the moment.

ROMEO's thoughts are lurching wildly back and forth. His voice is clipped, as though he wishes to waste no time, as he answers in a whisper that matches hers: I trust your words. Just call me your love, and I will take a new name. From now on I will never be Romeo again. There is nothing to fear, he assures her. Nothing at all.

JULIET feels the slight blush rise in her cheeks: Who are you? Why do you hide in the darkness and listen to my private thoughts?

Without missing a beat, ROMEO replies: I don’t know how to tell you who I am. I hate my name because my name is your enemy.

He steps out onto the courtyard. Seeing him, she holds her gaze for what seems like forever. He smiles and her heart quickens. They look at each other in silence, as if a warm hand had closed around, protecting them.

JULIET finds the words, but in a voice that trembles: Our love, which right now is like a flower bud, may turn out to be a beautiful flower by the next time we meet. I’ll send a messenger to you, and you can pass on a message telling me where and when we’ll be married.

ROMEO's tone is soft and knowing: For if there were no winter, we can never hope for spring. His eyes warm on hers, and wise, he continues: Our spring will come. 

He presses a hand over his heart, glimpsing her look of quiet pleasure: When you love, your soul breathes in. I've never been so sure of anything as I am sure that I have your heart.

She feels his voice like an embrace, an arm of comfort around her shoulder.  

EPILOGUE

The simple sweetness of that captured moment, so potent with promise, makes them feel like they are the only two people in the world, under a thousand twinkling stars.

Enveloped in dreams of eternal love, they look over to the east. The sky has begun its slow transformation from midnight to the limitless blue-gray that precedes dawn and a passionate life ever after.

Exeunt