Chosen Act III Scene 1
Spike We can take it back. Nay?
Buffy Nay.
Spike What sayest thou, nay?
Thou meanst ‘eventually’?
Buffy You have ever misunderstood that word.
Spike You can regain them.
Buffy Can, mayhap. Should? I am so tired.
Spike They need you.
Buffy Yea, but—
Spike ‘Tis chaos without you.
Buffy Is’t so?
Spike Aye! Aye, ‘tis. All is rank;
Bedrolls are spoiled, they all are frightened
And mean-apparelled.
Buffy Most dire.
Spike I saw little. I came to the house,
Fought with Faith, and went.
Buffy Didst thou? ‘Tis not
That I am not glad, and yet—
Spike Bid me do it, and she shall be
But a footnote in history. I will make it seem
As a painéd accident.
Buffy This is ever my sorrow. I bid,
And each time, someone dies.
Spike There are casualties in every war.
Buffy Casualties. It is too casual a word.
These girls have been slain. I am the Slayer
And I have slain my connection to them.
‘Tis my fault: connections are ever severed by me.
As you should know.
Spike ‘Tis in my recollection
We connected.
Buffy Ha!
We were never close. You wanted only
What you could not attain
Spike Is’t all you think?
Buffy Let us not go over the past.
Spike Nay, let us. I shall go over it.
I have hummed to your tune of pity
Now ‘tis my turn to sing.
Buffy Then sing, and cheer me.
Spike Thou art insufferable.
Buffy My thankings for thy help.
Spike I do not wish to cheer you—
Buffy Then what sayest thou?
Spike When I have said it, I shall know.
Thou made me angry. ‘Could not attain’,
Aye, that’s the rub.
Buffy Then I am attainable.
The pinnacle of attainment I shall be.
May I now sleep?
Spike Listen thou to me.
I have been alive longer than you
Aye, and dead longer than that.
What I have seen thou couldst not imagine;
What I have done, I implore do not.
I am known not for following my thoughts
But my blood, which rarely runs to my brain.
And so mistakes are mine to make,
Errors mine to call, by our lady.
But in a hundred years, one thing
Have I been sure of: You.
I ask you not for anything.
Say not, “I love you” as I want you
Or because I cannot have you.
It has naught to do with I.
I love what you are,
What you do, how you try.
I have seen your kindness,
Aye, and your strength. I’ve seen
The best and the worst of you.
And now I see with perfect clarity
Exactly how thou art.
Thou art a singular woman, Buffy.
Thou art the one.
Buffy I do not wish to be.
Spike I do not wish to be so pleasing
To th’eye. We all must bear our crosses.
That's absolutely fantastic. Really well done.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's still so funny.