RINGMASTER
And high above,
Homing in the restless sky,
Rooks, melancholy, proclaim a schism between
God, sacred, and the Crown, profane
Between the heavens and the King
The dark horizon cracks a crooked grin,
Admitting one small grain of change
Then two, then four, then bit by bit,
Then tock by tick
All the old presumptions hove in rings
KING
The King is afraid that his kingdom is slipping away
QUEEN
The Queen pines for the good times at Versailles
KING
He works on his locks to the sound of the ticking of clocks
QUEEN
The children play in a garden that's ringed with steel
KING
They wanted to visit St. Cloud to be able to
KING & QUEEN
Breathe in the air
OFFICER
The National Guard forbad them to leave