pitter-patter, pitter-patter; and then*

– a contemporary fairy tale (not)

Poem by Zsuzsanna Ardó

Music by Daniel Andor-Ardó

Premiered by C4: Choral Composer-Conductor Collective of NYC, in Manhattan in February, and in Brooklyn in March, 2013.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Then. Then. Then.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Then. Then. Then.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Then.
Then the dwarf looked.
Then looked in the puddle.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Rainbow. Clouds. Trees. Leaves in the puddle.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Gazed at the puddle. Gazed at herself.

Then. Then. Then.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Then. Then. Then.

Days, days, days.
Month, months.
And a year and a half.
Came and went.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Then. Then. Then.

One night.
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

One night.
The sky.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Then. Then. Then.
One night.
The sky .
Opened... wide.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Wide. Wide. WIDE.

Flood. Flood. FLOOD.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

The sky barked.
Barked an army of scars.
And the scars flooded the forest.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

The dwarf gazed again.
The dwarf gazed at the rainbow.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Will you take me?

No. Pitter-patter.

Will you take me?

No. Pitter-patter, pitter-patter.

Will you take me?

Oh, what big nose you have.
Peek-a-boo.
You.
I don’t know you.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

The dwarf embraced herself in the puddle.
Pitter-patter.
She poked in her nose in the muddy water.

Pitter-patter... pitter-patter... pitter-patter...

Disappeared.
In the sea.
In the fears.
In the tears.
Disappeared.

Still. Still. Still.
Pitter-patter.
Still. Still. Still.

The gaze, in her mind.
Saw herself.
The gray sky.
A gaze. From the puddle.

Stomp. Stomp. Stomp.
Pitter-patter.
Stomp.Stomp. Stomp.

A leap, off the ground.
A flight, through the leaves.
A flight, through the branches.
A flight through the lace.
Beyond the lace of treetops.
Past the rainbow.
Higher and higher. And beyond.

Then. Then. Then.
Pitter-patter.

A thunder.
Roared by her ears.
A lightening.
Twisted and twirled.
Her body.
Pitter-patter.

Then. Then. Then.

Pitter-patter.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
Panting on the clouds.

Pitter-patter.

Clouds… will you take me?

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

"Peek-a-boo, peek-a-boo.
You... We don't know you."

Then. Then. And then.

* Poem first published by Uncaged, and Creatives without Borders, 2013.