This House Alive

[Lyric Note]
Act I

Cassius, newly released from the hospital following a harrowing automobile accident, inherits the home of his unknown biological parents in accordance with their last will and testament. Entering the house for the first time, he hears whispers, but finds no one

Pollock and Young Cassius whisper

[Cassius, hesitant]
There are voices in the attic
Wispy whispers past the cabinets
Filled with tawny photographs
I am stolid, I am steadfast;
Where there's panic, lingers relapse—
Oh, no—those breakdown days are done
This house alive—
I can hear the floorboards breathe

[Narrator]
Creak, creak

[Lyric Note]
Various Angels and Devils enter, fluttering about the parlor

[Cassius, with fervor]
Are these angels come to take me?
If so, I'll wave my white flag willingly
I have shed my snake skinned past
Clustered flies hinder the windows;
For every angel there's a devil—
Oh no—make these voices go away

I was a God-fearing boy
Sure, I stumbled more than once
But so did his begotten son

[Cassius and Young Cassius]
An orphan, thrown out to the wolves
Not prodigal, far worse

[Cassius]
I was hustled, I was scorned
Made a criminal...
But I stand here reformed

There are voices in the dead of night
A child screaming, "I am Gemini!"—
Oh, what are you, and why?
Are you specter? Are you spirit?
Am I lucid, am I losing it?
Oh no, this macabre facade
These walls, paper thin