[OLD MAN]
Pardon me, I was there

[RECITER]
You were where?

[OLD MAN]
At the treaty house

[RECITER]
At the treaty house?

[OLD MAN]
There was a tree

[RECITER]
Which was where?

[OLD MAN]
Very near

[RECITER]
Over here?

[OLD MAN]
Maybe over there
But there were trees then, everywhere
May I show you?
[RECITER]
If you please

[OLD MAN]
There were trees
Then, everywhere

[RECITER]
But you were there

[OLD MAN]
And I was there!
Let me show you

[RECITER]
If you please

[OLD MAN, trying to climb the tree]
I was younger then…
I was good at climbing trees…
I was younger then…
I saw everything!…
I was hidden all the time…
It was easier to climb…
I was younger then…
I saw everything!…
Where they came and where they went...
I was part of the event
I was someone in a tree!
I was younger then...

[A young BOY appears and scrambles up the tree.]

[BOY]
Tell him what I see!

[OLD MAN]
I am in a tree
I am ten
I am in a tree

[BOY]
I was younger then

[OLD MAN]
In between the eaves I can see—

[To the BOY]
Tell me what I see

[To the RECITER]
I was only ten

[BOY]
I see men and matting
Some are old, some chatting
[OLD MAN]
If it happened, I was there!

[BOY]
I see everything!

[OLD MAN]
I saw everything!

[OLD MAN]
I was someone in a tree

[BOY]
Tell him what I see!

[OLD MAN]
Some of them have gold on their coats

[BOY]
One of them has gold—
He was younger then

[OLD MAN]
Someone crawls around passing notes—

[BOY]
Someone very old—

[OLD MAN]
He was only ten

[BOY]
And there's someone in a tree—

[OLD MAN]
—Or the day is incomplete

[OLD MAN & BOY]
Without someone in a tree
Nothing happened here

[OLD MAN]
I am hiding in a tree

[BOY]
I'm a fragment of the day

[OLD MAN & BOY]
If I weren't, who's to say
Things would happen here the way
That they happened here?

[OLD MAN]
I was there then
It's the pebble, not the stream

[BOY]
It's the fragment, not the day
I am here still

[OLD MAN & BOY]
It's the ripple, not the sea
Not the building but the beam
Not the garden but the stone
Not the treaty house
Someone in a tree

[The WARRIOR pokes his head up.]

[WARRIOR]
Pardon me, I am here
If you please, I am also here—

[OLD MAN]
They kept drinking cups of tea

[BOY]
They kept sitting on the floor

[OLD MAN & BOY]
They drank many cups of tea—
No, we told him that before

[WARRIOR]
If you please, I am here

[RECITER]
You are where?

[WARRIOR]
In the treaty house

[RECITER]
In the treaty house?

[WARRIOR]
Or very near

[RECITER]
Can you hear?

[WARRIOR]
I'm below

[RECITER]
So I notice

[WARRIOR]
Underneath the floor
And so I can't see anything
I can hear them
But I can't see anything

[RECITER]
But you can hear?

[WARRIOR]
But I can hear
Shall I listen?

[RECITER]
If you please

[WARRIOR]
I can hear them now…
I shall try to shift my knees…
I can hear them now…
I hear everything…
I'm the part that's underneath
With my sword inside my sheath
I can hear them now...
One is over me...
If they knock, then I appear!
I'm a part of what I hear
I'm the fragment underneath
I can hear them now!

[RECITER, OLD MAN & BOY, spoken]
Tell us what you hear!

[WARRIOR]
First I hear a creak and a thump
Now I hear a clink
Then they talk a bit...
Many times they shout when they speak
Other times they think
Or they argue it...

I hear floorboards groaning...
Angry growls... Much droning...
Since I hear them, they are there
As they argue it
I'm the listener underneath

[BOY]
Someone reads a list
From a box

[WARRIOR]
Someone talks of laws

[OLD MAN]
Then they fan a bit

[BOY]
Someone bangs a fist

[WARRIOR]
Someone knocks

[OLD MAN]
Now there was a pause

[OLD MAN, BOY & WARRIOR]
Then they argue it:

[WARRIOR]
"But we want..."
"No, you can't
And we won't..."
"But we need it
And we want..."
"Will you grant —"
"If you don't..."
"We concede it..."

[OLD MAN]
And they sat through the night
And they lit yellow tapers

[WARRIOR]
I can hear them
I'm a fragment of the day

[BOY]
And they chat
And they fight
And they sit signing papers
I am there still

[OLD MAN]
I was there then

[OLD MAN & WARRIOR]
If I weren't, who's to say
Things would happen here the way

[BOY]
If I weren't, who's to say

[OLD MAN, BOY & WARRIOR]
That they're happening?

It's the fragment, not the day
It's the pebble, not the stream
It's the ripple, not the sea
That is happening
Not the building but the beam
Not the garden but the stone
Only cups of tea
And history
And someone in a tree!