ACT FOUR: SCENE FOUR
LE BRET:
(he and RAGUENEAU hastily enter SL with SISTER in tow)
Here he is!
RAGUENEAU:
Mon dieu, he came all this way!
ROXANE:
Mon amis, what is all this excitement?
LE BRET:
You don't know? He–
CYRANO:
(abruptly rises from his chair)
That's right, I didn't finish giving you the news of the week, madame.
Saturday evening, at the time of 4:30,
Monsieur de Bergerac was murdered ignobly.
(Removes his hat to reveal a bloody bandage wrapped around his head.)
LE BRET:
A wooden beam fell on him from a scaffold.
RAGUENEAU:
We told him to wait until we fetched the surgeon.
ROXANE:
(rises)
Cyrano! Sister Jeanne, fetch a surgeon quickly!
(SISTER begins to leave, but is stopped)
CYRANO:
No–no surgeon, no time.
SISTER:
I will pray for you in the chapel.
CYRANO:
Wait, not yet.
(Holds her hand)
Marry me, marry me, marry me...
SISTER:
(smiles through her tears)
Shh, monsieur. Sit and rest.
CYRANO:
...marry me, marry me...
(nods off and nearly falls to the ground; LE BRET helps SISTER catch him, and he comes to again)
Ah...What's that now, Sister Jeanne?
SISTER:
Fifty-five, monsieur. That was the agreement. Now rest, please. I will go to the chapel and pray for you.
(Exits SL)
RAGUENEAU:
I will fetch a surgeon.
CYRANO:
No, my friend, don't go. Stay with me awhile longer. Come, tell me what you're up to these days, dear friend.
RAGUENEAU:
I have been working for Moliere's company, lighting the lanterns for the performances.
CYRANO:
Ah, Moliere–how is that poseur?
RAGUENEAU:
Oh, he stole a whole scene of yours, put it right in the play as his own. The audience loves it–they laugh themselves to tears every night.
CYRANO:
Good; that's fine.
LE BRET:
Please sit, Cyrano.
CYRANO:
What is all this about sitting? Have we lost the use of our legs? Has the air become so heavy that it can't be combated? No, I will not sit!
(Separates from them)
Ambushed in an alley by lurking lackeys...Some fitting end. I'd always wanted to die in battle.But...I lived my life in vicious irony--why should my death be any different?
(Turns to them)
But I will fight now for the battles I couldn't win before–
(draws his sword)
I'll charge the darkness head-on with a hell-fire roar–
(he is interrupted by sputtering a cough; he falters; his friends move to support him, but he shrugs it off; he then looks up into the starry sky)
I look out there and I see them all:
Ev'ry enemy I've ever faced.
They're gathered now to watch my downfall,
Waiting 'til my life has been erased.
But I'm unmoved by their searing hate
Which burns with fire fueled by their rancor,
For my blaze burns with passion so great
That its heat will melt them into gore!
Yes–the Porte de Nesle, Arras, here–
Always outnumbered, yet I've charged in
Against Conceit, Folly, Doubt, and Fear,
(a slash through the air for each of the four)
And now is the time for me to–
(Falters)
Ah–look! In the shadows–Elysium
With its white glow and eternal shape!
There–that will be my afterlife home,
The haven where my soul can escape–
The Moon...the white Moon...
(collapses to the floor, though does not drop his sword)
ROXANE:
(kneels down to him with his head in her lap)
Stay strong, my dear friend.
CYRANO:
The Moon...
ROXANE:
My soul. I love you–so live!
CYRANO:
(takes her hand)
This is the death I wanted, dying in the eyes of those I love, and...
(blacking out)
And...
ROXANE:
And what?
CYRANO:
(puts the letter into her hand)
I want you to...I want you to have...
ROXANE:
Yes.
CYRANO:
...my panache.
(Silence as the last leaf falls. When it touches the ground, lights dim to black.)
END OF PLAY