Theotokia

1 Holy Anger MOTHER ANNE A candle lay, a candle lay de lo. A candle lay de lo, de loo.

And soon you’ll know what no man ever knows.

CONGREGANT I am the holy anger of the Son. Disguised to mend God’s broken mind.

My name is Sacanala Vinda,

CHORUS OF CONGREGANTS Sacanala Vinda.

Our name is something we can’t tell you,

something you can’t know

yet.

2 There Is a Cave YETI MOTHER There is a cave in the snowy heights of the Himalayas.

Di lo la lo lo. Di lo la lo. Di lo la lo lo la di la loo. Ko lo ko ta.

I wait for you in this dark warm cave in the heights—

Ka re voo. Ka re ka re voo.

—in the heights of the snowy Himalayas.

Ka va ka ne ko na.

I wait for you here.

Ka yee ka va tei vas sho ka. Ka yee ka va tei vas sho ka kas.

With my comfort, with my love I will guide you home.

3 Leon’s Lament

(LEON in a chair, eyes closed, slowly slapping his thighs.

The rhythm steadies and speeds up until it becomes a frenzied, almost painful drumming,

both self-punishing and musical.)

4 How Could He Say This to Me? LEON’S MOTHER Why is he so angry at me?

He did everything I told him to.

Praying, all the time praying.

A good boy! A quiet boy! Nothing’s wrong!

I would come into his room at night and pray over his sleeping body.

I was trying to enshroud a child in love.

When he came home from the war he had this photograph of a girl I’d never met.

Then one day when I was at church he packed his suitcase and left, and when he came home

he was no son of mine. On Good Friday

when I was at church again

he broke the necks of the white doves on the roof.

He broke my statues of the saints.

He smashed all of my statues and threw my crucifixes in the trash.

And he said,

There will be no gods before me.

And he said,

I am the only begotten son of God, and my name is Jesus Christ.

How could he say this

to me?

5 To Me . . . LEON to me to me to me do this do this to me to me to me to me to to me to me to to tomorrow to me to me tomorrow tomb tomb ton ah ton ah ton ga ton ga ton ga don ga don ga don ga don ga don ga don ga dong dong dung dung dung

6 Dung! YETI MOTHER Dung! Dung! Dung!

Dung has self-contained energy!

Dung aids plants to grow!

Dung has a healthy smell that swells the air— ah!

where would the farmers be without it?

The commode says,

Deposit in me.

And the Chinaman says, Honor mine today, indirect food for tomorrow, most honored guest,

Dung!

Plowing-seeding-dunging-reaping—

Dung! Dung! Dung!

7 Song of the Yeti Mother YETI MOTHER & CONGREGANTS Have you never heard the story about the people who have yet to be discovered?

YETI MOTHER Lu di a lu po!

CONGREGANTS Whose bodies are much stronger than a human person’s body?

YETI MOTHER Vo ne har ko no mei, ko no hu!

CONGREGANTS Who are above the ape?

YETI MOTHER Who are the missing link?

Kio bo he, ko lo he lu he!

YETI MOTHER & CONGREGANTS Who live in the snowy

Himalayas? YETI MOTHER Kio kio lu!

YETI MOTHER & CONGREGANTS Who can lift a living yak high above her head and toss it like a sack of dung? CONGREGANTS Who does all these things and more?

YETI MOTHER Vin du sa ka la!

I am your true mother, Sakanala Vinda! You can not run from me.

I va ka re, I va ka ra lu!

I have been waiting here for you in this dark warm cave in the snowy heights of the Himalayas.

Where blinding snow white skin and hair have not been stained by sin,

only by the blood of the rodent rat of sin!

CONGREGANTS Who love to eat the raw red meat of this rat of sin?

YETI MOTHER & CONGREGANTS Who love to eat the raw red meat

and shoot and stomp and squeeze and grip and bite the living head of this rodent rat of sin?

Come life, Yeti life, come life eternal.

YETI MOTHER Shake, shake out of me all that is carnal.

YETI MOTHER & CONGREGANTS Run life, Yeti life, run life eternal.

Stamp, stomp out of you all that is carnal.

Run life, Yeti life, run life eternal.

Stamp, stomp out of you all that is carnal.

All that is carnal.

All that is carnal.

8 That Sane Men Never Know MOTHER ANNE & CONGREGANTS So now you know

we are God’s only children

and from Her holy anger we must hide.

LEON There is no cave . . .

MOTHER ANNE & CONGREGANTS A candle lay, A candle in your palm. A candle lay, A candle in your brain.

So many blessings yet to come that sane men never see.

LEON There is no cave . . . There are no Himalayas . . .

It is gone.

But where am I now?

I grope in the dark and the people step on me.

I think, I hope.

But outside

who will I be

now?