From The Languages of David J. Peterson
In Lampedusa, Vōv lyrics were featured. They are shown below.
Songs
Sycorax Solo
As Sycorax wakes, we hear the island singing. It sings a variety of things at random (perhaps harmonizing via counterpoint randomly). Among those things sung is a recapitulation of the opening of the original VŌV piece, but with a few words replaced. Here’s a list of everything that can be sung:
ENGLISH
All your desires are here.
ENGLISH
Sun. Sea. Earth. We.
ENGLISH
Cold. Hurt. Hunger. Thirst.
ENGLISH
Land. Time. Good. You.
ENGLISH
Time is born. Time dies.
The idea is all of these lines will be sung randomly—either singly, or in clusters, to give a sense of the cacaphony of sound on the island. Sycorax will come in at specific times saying the following words in order along with the voices that are singing them (think of it as a musical version of a found poem):
This is her attempt at recapitulating her journey using their words. She uses this to become accustomed to the language. She then finds her own voice and begins to ask questions of the voices, who listen:
SYCORAX
What is this land?
SYCORAX
The air is full of sound…
Sycorax and Ariel Duet
Ariel approaches Sycorax, unseen, and addresses her:
ARIEL
Few from the Dry Lands
Sycorax responds:
SYCORAX
How is it I speak?
SYCORAX
What is this tongue
Ariel responds:
Sycorax responds, confused:
SYCORAX
An ocean of violence…
SYCORAX
A light in the fog…
Ariel responds:
ARIEL
Yet you arrive with purpose
ARIEL
Your voice, sweet voice…
Sycorax, not committing:
Ariel explains:
ARIEL
We are the Lights of Song,
ARIEL
The Winds of the Dance.
ARIEL
We will teach you our ways
Sycorax, grateful:
SYCORAX
I am happy to know you.
SYCORAX
What ways are these…?
Caliban Solo
Caliban turns to his own thoughts in consternation:
CALIBAN
What and who and how?
CALIBAN
Mother talks, mother sings,
CALIBAN
To nothing To no one
CALIBAN
Is this shore my everything?
CALIBAN
Show me the Dry Lands
CALIBAN
Show me your body, devil
Sycorax and Caliban Duet
Sycorax approaches Caliban:
SYCORAX
I have learned from the Lights of Song,
SYCORAX
From the Winds of the Dance,
SYCORAX
The ways of the Call of the Deep.
Caliban queries Sycorax:
Sycorax explains:
SYCORAX
In a time before time,
SYCORAX
Your mother was hurt
SYCORAX
They of the twisted tree
SYCORAX
Are devils above all others.
SYCORAX
Now they will hear my Call
SYCORAX
And they will come.
SYCORAX
I go now to the Deep,
SYCORAX
And there I will call them.
SYCORAX
And they will come.
SYCORAX
I will call them to the rocks here,
SYCORAX
And destroy them and their
SYCORAX
And they will die.
SYCORAX
From now to then and then.
Caliban exults, missing, perhaps, the finer points:
CALIBAN
I avow, they will come
CALIBAN
They will bring things from the Dry Lands
CALIBAN
And I will use their bodies
Choir
The Choir comments on what has just occurred:
CHOIR
This is not the way.
CHOIR
This is not the way.
CHOIR
A Deep Caller returns
CHOIR
To the Dry Lands to call;
CHOIR
This land is not her home.
CHOIR
This land will be destroyed.
CHOIR
This is not the way.
CHOIR
This is not the way.
CHOIR
The boy is not good.
CHOIR
His heart has no music.
CHOIR
He seeks to make this land
CHOIR
A land for him and him alone.
CHOIR
This land will be destroyed.
CHOIR
This is not the way.
CHOIR
This is not the way.
Sycorax and Ariel Duet 2
Ariel approaches Sycorax:
ARIEL
O child with the sweet voice,
ARIEL
You will destroy this land.
ARIEL
We must take your songs
Sycorax interrupts Ariel angrily:
SYCORAX
You will take nothing
SYCORAX
These songs are mine
Ariel, defensively:
Sycorax, casting a spell in defiance:
SYCORAX
Let this tree coil around you
Ariel, succumbing to the tree’s tendrils:
Sycorax, one final time to Caliban:
SYCORAX
I must go, my child.
SYCORAX
Yet will I send you a woman.
SYCORAX
Hear my song on the wind
SYCORAX
From now to then and then
Caliban Solo 2
Caliban, alone:
CALIBAN
No things from the Dry Lands.
CALIBAN
Perhaps her songs are gone…
CALIBAN
Come the sun, come the moon,
CALIBAN
Come the sun, come the moon…
Texts
Only the "Dawn" text below seems to be in Vōv proper, while the following "Dusk" and "Dark" texts appear to be in descendant languages of Vōv, which were ultimately not used in the opera.
Dawn — Lāsēh
ENGLISH
Sun. Sky. Earth. I.
ENGLISH
Cold. Hurt. Hunger. Thirst.
ENGLISH
Beast. Fire. Good. You.
ENGLISH
I am small. We are great.
ENGLISH
With many bodies, we will not feel cold.
ENGLISH
With many children, we will not hunger.
ENGLISH
We will show them our paths.
ENGLISH
We will teach them of fire.
ENGLISH
They will keep our knowledge.
ENGLISH
They will love us.
ENGLISH
From now to then and then.
Dusk — Rezire
ENGLISH
The world is tearing itself apart.
ENGLISH
The fire in the canyon has become
ENGLISH
This generation's great red midnight,
ENGLISH
And how do we tell its tale?
ENGLISH
A line quoted from a movie
ENGLISH
Based on a TV show
ENGLISH
Adapted from a play
ENGLISH
Inspired by a book
ENGLISH
That itself was an homage
ENGLISH
To a tale no one remembers.
ENGLISH
I know yesterday the Gatwel Shiners
ENGLISH
But I don't know who lives behind me
ENGLISH
And if I say I'm born of the shedding
ENGLISH
With the wit of Bola Bats
ENGLISH
And the smile of Tior Fiobul
ENGLISH
What will that mean
ENGLISH
When their names have been forgotten?
ENGLISH
And how can I find another
ENGLISH
To add to my GoDo account
ENGLISH
If I can't walk outside
ENGLISH
And look into your eyes?
ENGLISH
Who will be waiting
ENGLISH
Under the geych light
ENGLISH
To praise my brilliance
ENGLISH
For closing with an homage to
Dark — Rai
ENGLISH
Sun. Sky. Earth. I.
ENGLISH
We cannot see them
ENGLISH
Because of our Ro-processors,
ENGLISH
They must still exist.
ENGLISH
We must still exist.
ENGLISH
And though our memories
ENGLISH
Have been stored on SuDwoKes,
ENGLISH
I feel we still feel.
ENGLISH
For though we can't touch,
ENGLISH
We can still love.
ENGLISH
No KaRa-2 can replicate
ENGLISH
So long as that's true,
ENGLISH
Then we are still we,
ENGLISH
And we can still be.
ENGLISH
We will rip out our 74Xs
ENGLISH
And come together.
ENGLISH
And we will produce new ones.
ENGLISH
We will teach them our mistakes.
ENGLISH
They will grow beyond our programming.
ENGLISH
And they will love us.
ENGLISH
And we will be allowed to die,
ENGLISH
But they will continue to be,
ENGLISH
And in them we will be,
ENGLISH
From now until eternity.