Sheldon Swifties: I. Green finch and linnet bird…
Summary: Like my Immortal Beloved bits in my Buffyverse stories, these are fragments and short bits, some longer…Just to fiddle with ideas, possibly forming longer tales later.
I present two versions of the scene here…
Disclaimer: All is Chuck's…
Penny, singing:
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
How can you jubilate,
Sitting in cages,
Never taking wing?
Outside the sky waits,
Beckoning, beckoning,
Just beyond the bars.
How can you remain,
Staring at the rain,
Maddened by the stars?
How is it you sing
Anything?
How is it you sing?
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
Whence comes this melody constantly flowing?
Is it rejoicing or merely halloing?
Are you discussing or fussing
Or simply dreaming?
Are you crowing?
Are you screaming?
Ringdove and robinet,
Is it for wages,
Singing to be sold?
Have you decided it's
Safer in cages,
Singing when you're told?
(Leonard emerges from his apartment. Instantly he sees her through her open door and stands transfixed by her beauty)
My cage has many rooms,
Damask and dark.
Nothing there sings,
Not even my lark.
Larks never will, you know,
When they're captive.
Teach me to be more adaptive.
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
Teach me how to sing.
If I cannot fly,
Let me sing.
(She gazes into the middle distance disconsolately)
Leonard (Gazing at her, sings softly):
I have studied the universe,
Beheld its wonders,
From the spiral of Andromeda
To the rapture of the Higgs-Boson,
But not even at CERN
Have I seen such a wonder . . .
(Breathlessly)
Lady look at me look at me miss oh
Look at me please oh
Favor me favor me with your glance.
Ah, miss,
What do you what do you see off
There in those trees oh
Won't you give won't you give me a chance?
Who would probe the universe
For all its wonders,
When across the hall
Lies the greatest wonder yet?
Ah, Penny,
Look at you look at you lovely and
Ivory-skinned oh
Look at you I see you so sad behind the smile.
Promise
Not to retreat to the darkness
Back of your window
Not till you not till you look down here.
Look at…
Me!
Leonard, Penny:
Green finch and linnet bird,
Look at Nightingale, blackbird,
Me! Teach me how to sing.
If I cannot fly,
Look at me .. . Let me sing ...
"Well…?" Leonard, lowering score, re-reading, with Penny beside him, staring at Sheldon… "How did you come up with that?..."
"Just something that came to me, after watching 'Sweeney Todd' with Amy… Just changed a word or two…"
"Penny?..." Leonard turned, startled… "Why are you crying?...You were great…"
Or…
Penny, singing:
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
How can you jubilate,
Sitting in cages,
Never taking wing?
Outside the sky waits,
Beckoning, beckoning,
Just beyond the bars.
How can you remain,
Staring at the rain,
Maddened by the stars?
How is it you sing
Anything?
How is it you sing?
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
How is it you sing?
Whence comes this melody constantly flowing?
Is it rejoicing or merely halloing?
Are you discussing or fussing
Or simply dreaming?
Are you crowing?
Are you screaming?
Ringdove and robinet,
Is it for wages,
Singing to be sold?
Have you decided it's
Safer in cages,
Singing when you're told?
(Leonard emerges from his apartment. Instantly he sees her through her open door and stands transfixed by her beauty)
My cage has many rooms,
Damask and dark.
Nothing there sings,
Not even my lark.
Larks never will, you know,
When they're captive.
Teach me to be more adaptive.
Green finch and linnet bird,
Nightingale, blackbird,
Teach me how to sing.
If I cannot fly,
Let me sing.
(She gazes into the middle distance disconsolately)
Leonard (Gazing at her, sings softly):
I have studied the universe,
Beheld its wonders,
From the spiral of Andromeda
To the rapture of the Higgs-Boson,
But not even at CERN
Have I seen such a wonder . . .
(Breathlessly)
Lady look at me look at me miss oh
Look at me please oh
Favor me favor me with your glance.
Ah, miss,
What do you what do you see off
There in those trees oh
Won't you give won't you give me a chance?
Who would probe the universe
For all its wonders,
When across the hall
Lies the greatest wonder yet?
Ah, Penny,
Look at you look at you lovely and
Ivory-skinned oh
Look at you I see you so sad behind the smile.
Promise
Not to retreat to the darkness
Back of your window
Not till you not till you look down here.
Look at…
Me!
Leonard, Penny:
Green finch and linnet bird,
Look at Nightingale, blackbird,
Me! Teach me how to sing.
If I cannot fly,
Look at me .. . Let me sing ...
Stunned stares…Howard, Raj…Bernadette in tears…
Sheldon eyeing Amy…
And that…My darling…Is how terrifying getting close to me can be...
"Well…?" Leonard, lowering score, re-reading, with Penny beside him, staring at Sheldon… "How did you come up with that?..."
"Just something that came to me, after watching 'Sweeney Todd' with Amy… I just changed a word or two…"
"Penny?..." Leonard turned, startled… "Why are you crying?...You were great…"
(Note: I've been asked...The song is from Sweeney Todd and is on You Tube. Beautiful song, a favorite of my late wife's for reasons related to her disabilities. Also, neither Leonard nor Penny can sing well, but is Leonard going to tell Penny that? Finally in answer to one email, yes, Sheldon is either being very cruel or cruel to be kind in deliberately exposing the tragedy in Penny/Leonard, Leonard being the blindly romantic sailor to Penny's trapped, desperate Johanna-either she has to permanently hurt him and fly or give up most of her dreams and settle for a comfortable and devoted lover-afraid there's no Sheldon-Penny romance here, though, Sheldon is warning Amy how rough a ride she may have with him.)