Dear Sage, It was very frustrating for me not to have been able to bring your mom with me back to NY last March. Ten years ago I saw “The Phantom” and promised myself that I am going to see it again with Ayheen. Maybe next time.
Before I saw it at the majestic theater I was already enchanted by it. I even bought a “Tape” (it was the Pre-digital age) and listened to it whenever I could. I already memorized the songs. Though I hate the opera (I still do) I fell in love with Christine’s story. There was this very unforgettable scene when Christine took pity on the Phantom who was threatening to kill her lover and to exile her from the light of day so that she could share with him his fate: To forever suffer the torment of loneliness as an homage to music.
Then, she sang to him, like lullaby, these words:
“Pitiful creature of darkness,
What kind of life have you known
God give me courage to show you
You are not alone…”
Unexpectedly, she kissed him. A kiss both supremely passionate and chaste, it was able to reach down the infinite chasm of his being until it breached the caverns and awakened the humanity hibernating within.
He was human after all. And his humanity was lying there, dormant for so long that it just needed the spark of Christine’s kiss to erupt into the open sky- it became a fiery furnace that cleansed the beast and change the color of his scarlet soul into molten white.
That is the power you beautiful creatures have over horrible oafs/men like us. Your Mom gave me such a kiss a long time ago.
A woman’s love may not save the human soul. But it can save a man in so many ways.
2 comments:
I've been a Christine to a number of Raouls and Phantoms. Ah, memories.
I think you do qualify as Christine... or Christine can qualify as "CAT". She is also a femme fatale in her own way.
But I'm guessing, cat, that you also have Garbo's steel and Madonna's spunk.
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