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DRAMATIC MONOLOGUE:
Carl Jung Responds to a Student's Comment at the University of Zurich
How can I tell you not to travel that road?
I went there, along with every other elder who survived,
Though so many of us never came back.
That Irishman was one of those--
You know him.
He lived here in Zurich and wrote a book so brilliant
That no one could understand it.
And that sad British woman, Frau Woolf,
Clever though they were,
Their art added up to nothing
Because they lost their way in the maze
And forgot their Alpha and Omega.
They were no match for the giants--
Herr Doctor Faustus of Heidelberg and Jesu,
Who both walked in the murky desert
And dialogued with the devil.
You are at the University.
No doubt you have learned
How those epic encounters ended.
And do you see yourself as their equal?
Have you looked into the black eyes of Death?
If not, how will you resist the delicious myth
That everything is yours?
I know how the dark side glitters.
I was young and handsome once, gorgeous
And able like Icarus to soar to the sun.
I know the world circles the young,
Hangs golden baubles all over you
And crowns you with dazzling stones,
Gives you presents for your pockets, as it did for me,
And sparkling chariots to race and run.
Everyone worships the young,
And they trick you
Into worshipping yourself.
The invisible elders know all this
Though few listen to us,
And I can see in your mocking eyes
That you are dismissing me.
But my eyes are no longer ravished
By the shimmer of the world,
And I have learned along with the other old ones
Through ridicule, defeat and shame,
But also through the quiet joys--
Morning sunrise falling through a peacock’s feathers
The sacred glow of every roseate twilight
The sweet whisper at the entrance to the cave--
That we are not the rulers
Of the universe.
I went there, along with every other elder who survived,
Though so many of us never came back.
That Irishman was one of those--
You know him.
He lived here in Zurich and wrote a book so brilliant
That no one could understand it.
And that sad British woman, Frau Woolf,
Clever though they were,
Their art added up to nothing
Because they lost their way in the maze
And forgot their Alpha and Omega.
They were no match for the giants--
Herr Doctor Faustus of Heidelberg and Jesu,
Who both walked in the murky desert
And dialogued with the devil.
You are at the University.
No doubt you have learned
How those epic encounters ended.
And do you see yourself as their equal?
Have you looked into the black eyes of Death?
If not, how will you resist the delicious myth
That everything is yours?
I know how the dark side glitters.
I was young and handsome once, gorgeous
And able like Icarus to soar to the sun.
I know the world circles the young,
Hangs golden baubles all over you
And crowns you with dazzling stones,
Gives you presents for your pockets, as it did for me,
And sparkling chariots to race and run.
Everyone worships the young,
And they trick you
Into worshipping yourself.
The invisible elders know all this
Though few listen to us,
And I can see in your mocking eyes
That you are dismissing me.
But my eyes are no longer ravished
By the shimmer of the world,
And I have learned along with the other old ones
Through ridicule, defeat and shame,
But also through the quiet joys--
Morning sunrise falling through a peacock’s feathers
The sacred glow of every roseate twilight
The sweet whisper at the entrance to the cave--
That we are not the rulers
Of the universe.
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