Bring Back Springtime

# **“Where Did Springtime Go?”**

*The Common Man’s Soliloquy*

**[MOVEMENT I — THE QUESTION]**

*Solo piano. A low cello note. The Common Man stands alone.*

Where did springtime go?

Who took the green away?

I woke to find the winter

Had outlived another day.

The trees don't know my footsteps.

The birds don't know my name.

And everybody walks these streets

As if the cold were made to stay.

I must have missed a morning.

I must have slept too long.

But how can all the world turn gray

And tell me nothing's wrong?

Where did springtime go?

Somebody, tell me why.

The earth is still beneath my feet,

But nothing seems alive.

**[MOVEMENT II — THE MEMORY]**

*Strings enter, with a restless piano figure. The melody begins to climb.*

I remember open windows,

Women singing down the lane,

Children running through the gardens,

Washing sunshine from the rain.

I remember people talking

Without looking o'er their shoulders.

I remember being younger,

When the world felt something warmer.

Was it always this way?

Was I foolish not to see?

Did the winter fall upon us,

Or did it grow inside of me?

No, I know the smell of morning.

I have felt the April air.

There was something here worth living for.

I swear it once was there!

**[MOVEMENT III — THE RECKONING]**

*Low brass enters beneath the strings. The rhythm becomes insistent.*

They say the seasons turn, my friend.

They say the frost will leave.

But how can spring return to us

When no one dares believe?

They've put a lock upon the garden.

They've put a price upon the seed.

They've taught the rose to ask permission

Before it dares to breathe.

And I have stood here asking nicely.

I have waited for a sign.

But a man can lose a lifetime

Waiting for a better time!

If spring is sleeping, wake it!

If spring is gone, then why?

If somebody has stolen it,

Then tell me who—and why!

**[MOVEMENT IV — THE VISION]**

*The orchestra opens into a sweeping, lyrical Broadway movement.*

What if I could bring it back?

What if I could turn the key?

What if all the things they've buried

Still were waiting there in me?

I could plant a little garden.

I could open every door.

I could teach a child a song

That she has never heard before.

And perhaps the first warm morning

Would not come from up above.

Perhaps spring begins the moment

We refuse to live without love.

Oh, I can see it!

I can almost feel it now!

The green returning to the branches,

The rain upon the ground!

**[MOVEMENT V — THE PLEA]**

*Full orchestra. The vocal line rises into a soulful, operatic climax.*

BRING BACK SPRINGTIME!

Bring back the morning!

Bring back the light!

Bring back the world

That we lost in the night!

Bring back the laughter!

The fields and the rain!

Give me a reason

To hope once again!

I don't need a kingdom!

I don't need a crown!

Just give me the earth

Before they shut it all down!

Oh, let the flowers grow wild!

Let the children run free!

Let the world be more

Than what they permit it to be!

**[CODA — THE LAST QUESTION]**

*The orchestra suddenly falls away. One piano note remains.*

Where did springtime go?

*He looks toward the distant palace.*

And if I find it...

Will the world

Let it grow?

*The cello sustains a single unresolved note. Blackout.*