Romeo and Juliet, as Acted by Sea-Anemones
A Most Brief and Moist Tragedy

The ocean floor. A dim and wavering light. Enter the CHORUS of PLANKTON.

CHORUS
Two houses, both alike in sessile state,
From ancient reef to broken coral born,
Where moon and tide do rule more stern than kings,
Prepare their seed and hazard all on chance.
Attend, good souls, a love with neither sight
Nor choice, nor blame, nor balcony at all.

Enter ROMEO, an anemone fastened to a Red Rock.

ROMEO
O boundless sea, thou blind and careless host,
In thee I cast my trembling substance forth.
I know not whom it seeks, nor if it live,
But hope, like spawn, must swim or else be naught.

Enter JULIET, an anemone upon a Grey Stone.

JULIET
What stirs the water so at this just hour?
Some unseen other beats the selfsame time.
I ask no name, for names here have no use;
If tides agree, our fates may briefly touch.

CHORUS
Alas, poor fools. They know not one another,
Nor could they choose if choice were offered them.
Yet later minds, with wine and metaphor,
Shall call this accident 'eternal love.'

The moon attains her height. The sea grows warm.

ROMEO
Now, now! O current, friend me for this breath,
And thou, wild swirl, be enemy but fair!

JULIET
Now, now! O Fortune, roll thy loaded bones,
Though well I know thou owest me no grace.

The great and utterly indifferent act occurs. Most is lost.

CHORUS
O loss! O gain! O gentle bell-shaped curve!
From countless hopes, a scant and nameless few.
From those few, scarcely one.
Yet one sufficeth,
That life continue, caring not for grief.

A stillness.

ROMEO
Am I then dead?

JULIET
Not so. Thou art no longer 'thee.'

CHORUS
Thus dies the self,
Thus lives the line,
And mortals ever name this sorrow 'death.'

Exeunt omnes. A jellyfish drifts by, unmoved.