Generations of Adam
Son follow father, birth follow birth
spread the people all over the earth
Mama tell daughter how boy follow girl
Spread the people all over the wide wide world

Generations, procreations,

all the nations, multiplications
Beget, begat, begot, begotten,

Generations of Adam
Helping with the cattle

and the kettle and the cotton
Generations of Adam

generation, procreations
Generations of Adam

All the nations, multiplications
Generations of Adam

Cain met a wife east of Eden

Generations of Adam
They did a little lovin', did a little breedin

Generations of Adam
Enoch, Irad and Mehujael;

Lamech come from Mister Mathusael
Sheep of Jabel, Harp of Jubal;
Brass and iron from the children of Tubalcain
Generations, multiplications

Mountain to valley, ocean to plain
Beget, begat, begot, begotten

Generations of Adam
Helping with the cattle

and the kettle and the cotton
Generations of Adam

Generations, procreations,
Generations of Adam
All the nations, multiplications,
Generations of Adam

Seth to Enos to Cainan,

generations of Adam
The shoulder of the son for the father to lean on;
generations of Adam
Mahalaleel and Jared follow in their shoes,
another Enoch to bring us to Methuselah...
Generations, procreations

He lived nine hundred years or so,
A papa to Lamech, grandpapa to Noah

Noah...Noah...Noah . . .
Oh Noah, you go-a

all the way back to the protozoa
Beget, begat, begot, begotten,

Generations of Adam
Helping with the cattle

and the kettle and the cotton
Generations of children of Adam
And Noah in his turn sons had he
Shem was one, Ham was two, Japheth three,
that’s how it should be

For son follow father, birth follow birth
Mama tell daughter how boy follow girl
spread the people all over the earth
Spread the people all over the wide wide world
Generations, generations . . .
Generations of Adam
All the nations, multiplications
Generations of Adam . . .
Son follow father . . .
Generation!

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The Gathering Storm

NOAH
I know we’ve been through this before
I know You’re weary of my asking
But one time more, I stand imploring You
I know You have just cause
with all the faults and flaws of humankind
But I think of all the souls

with dreams and goals and such
And I try to be resigned....

But I wish You’d change Your mind.
I wish You’d change Your mind.

FATHER
I’ve watched and waited since the time of Seth
And hoped as each new generation drew its breath.
I’ve hoped forever: "Now may my earth be filled
with good and grateful children."
I’ve hoped in vain. Cruel, greedy, violent...
They’re all the race of Cain!
Now only you and your family remain.
This is the last time I will hope.
This is the last chance I will give.
I will let your family live,
but this is the last chance I will give!

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A Piece of Eight

STORYTELLERS
And Noah and his family worked

from sun to sun to sun
‘Til the day before the prow he stood

and said

NOAH
With this peg of gopher wood,

your ark, O Lord, is done.

STORYTELLERS
With one final peg of gopher wood
the ark, at last, was done.

And Noah called to his servant girl

Yonah was her name
He had always treated her kindly
though she bore the mark of shame.
As a daughter of the tainted race,
she wore the mark of Cain.
And she came and bowed,
the servant girl with the mark upon her head.
And she asked:

YONAH
What do you wish, my lord?

STORYTELLERS
And this is what he said. He said:

NOAH
Yonah, lay the table, for tonight we celebrate.
And tonight instead of seven places,
tonight there will be eight.

STORYTELLERS
Tonight instead of seven places,
tonight there would be eight.
For this was the night the youngest son—
Japheth was his name—
would bring to dinner his wife-to-be,
and his choice proclaim.
And the empty chair was left for her,
the girl to be his wife
who would journey with him on the ark
to a post-diluvian life.
He said:

JAPHETH
Yonah, lay the table.
Don’t forget the extra plate.
For tonight instead of seven people,
the family will be eight.

STORYTELLERS
Tonight instead of seven people,
the family would be eight.
First came Noah and his wife

in a bright and merry mood.
Eager to meet their daughter-in-law

and share their home and food
and add her to their brood.
Next there came the brothers two,

Ham and Shem,
and the daughters of the race of Seth

they chose to marry them.
Their beautiful wives of the race of Seth,

they brought along with them.
Mmmmm....

FAMILY
O Father, for all we have received,

we thank You.
Once more we gather in the dying light...

YONAH
O Father, for all I have received...

FAMILY
Once more we pray you, Father,

bless us tonight.

YONAH
I thank you.

STORYTELLERS
And the courses came, and the minutes passed,
and the girl did not appear,
‘til Noah turned to Japheth and he said:

NOAH
My son, I fear—

STORYTELLERS
But Japheth laughed and laughed some more
and told them all:

JAPHETH
She’s here!

STORYTELLERS
Well, by now you’ve guessed

what happened next,
for it’s quite a familiar fable:
He went to Yonah the servant girl

and led her to the table.
He said:

JAPHETH
Yonah, join the table.
Come and sit here at my side.
For it’s you I love best in all the world,
and you shall be my bride.
It’s you I love best in all the world,
and I want you for my bride.

STORYTELLERS
He brought Yonah to the table, and he did not hesitate
though his father said to wait, and his mother was in a state
and the brothers and wives felt the shock of their lives
and they all of them dropped their forks and knives
but they all could calculate.... the family was eight!
One, two, three, four, five six seven...
...eight!

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Noah’s Lullaby

STORYTELLERS
There they gathered, in the meadow
In the meadow, two by two
The world’s most legendary…. zoo.

NOAH
Children of Eden, how you must blame us.
We who are human, we spoiled your home.
God made you our charges, we made you our victims.
Now that we’re starting anew
Can we bring Eden back to you?

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Stranger to the Rain

YONAH
Shed no tears for me;

there'll be rain enough today.
I'm wishing you Godspeed

as I wave you on your way.
This won't be the first time

I've stayed behind to face
the bitter consequences

of an ancient fall from grace
I'm a daughter of the race of Cain.
I am not a stranger to the rain.

Orphan in the storm:

that's a role I've played before.
I've learned not to tremble

when I hear the thunder roar
I don't curse what I can't change;

I just play the hand I'm dealt
And when they lighten up the rations,

I tighten up my belt.
I won't say I've never felt the pain,
But I am not a stranger to the rain.

And for the boy who’s given me

the sweetest love I’ve known,
I wish for him another love

so he won’t be alone
But I am bound to walk among

the wounded and the slain
And when the storm

comes crashing on the plain
I will dance before the lightning

to music sacred and profane!

Oh, shed no tears for me;

light no candle for my sake.
This journey I'll be making now

is one we all must make.
Shoulder to the wind,

I'll turn my face into the spray,
and when the heavens open

let the drops fall where they may
if they finally wash away the stain

from a daughter of the race of Cain.
I am not a stranger to the rain.
Let it rain!

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In Whatever Time We Have

JAPHETH
I don’t give a damn for the thunder of fathers.
Come hell or high water, whatever they do.
How could I live in a world without you?

YONAH (spoken)
I don’t know what to do.

JAPHETH
(spoken) Yonah....
(singing) In whatever time we have,

for as long as we are living
We can face whatever comes

if we face it now as one.
I could make it on my own.

Let me know that I don't have to.
No one really wants to be alone

in whatever time we have.

If at times we are afraid

with so little to believe in
It's all right to feel afraid.

I will hold you in the dark.
All we know for sure is this:

though the world could end tomorrow
You and I will be together

in whatever time we have.

YONAH                                    JAPHETH
In whatever time we have
for as long as we are living          We know life

We can face whatever comes      can be a battlefield
if we face it now as one.              But we won't run,

JAPHETH
and we won't yield.
You'll be my fortress, and I will be your shield.

JAPHETH and YONAH
No one really wants to be alone
in whatever time we have.

YONAH
There are times I’ve been afraid
in a world that’s so uncertain.
Then I feel your hand in mine,
and there’s courage in my heart.

JAPHETH
We could live a hundred years

YONAH
Or the world could end

JAPHETH and  YONAH
tomorrow,
but we know we'll be together in whatever time...
From this day forward nights won't seem so black.
From this day forward we will never look back.
In whatever time we have,

we will make the most of time
And at least we'll be together

in whatever time we have.

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The Flood

YONAH (spoken)
Father?

JAPHETH (spoken)
Come on!

YONAH (spoken)
Japheth...

FATHER
This is the last chance I would give.

JAPHETH (spoken)
Hurry, Yonah!

FATHER
Now it is corrupted, defiled, and vain.

JAPHETH (spoken)
Before the family wakes up!

FATHER
Is there no escape from the race of Cain

JAPHETH (spoken)
Come on!

FATHER
except to make it rain and rain and rain?

STORYTELLERS
Windows of Heaven, and fountains of the deep
Windows of Heaven, and fountains of the deep
Open . . .

FATHER
Behold, I will blot out mankind from the face of the earth!

STORYTELLERS
Open...

FATHER
Both man and beast and every creeping thing!

STORYTELLERS
Open...

FATHER
The end of all flesh has come before me.  Rain!

STORYTELLERS
Rain—

FATHER
Until the end of time

STORYTELLERS
Rain—

FATHER
and let the raging skies

send down an endless hurricane.
I made everything out of nothing.

Now nothing will remain.
And to the skies
I send my word,

forever will it rain!
Oh, my children that I loved so well,

my heart is dark and cold
I thought that you would keep me young,

but you have made me old.
All my labor, all my love—

I wonder now: why did I bother?
That’s what it means to be a father.
I have destroyed the thing I loved, and now I feel so old.

STORYTELLERS
And the waters were upon the face of the earth
drowning all the promise of that first hopeful birth
Without form.... void.... darkness....

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What is He Waiting For?

MAMA (spoken)
Still raining?

HAM (spoken)
Still raining.

APHRA (spoken)
I thought he said forty days.

NOAH (spoken)
He did.

HAM (spoken)
Maybe we counted wrong.

AYSHA (spoken)
We counted right!

SHEM (spoken)
Did you check the log?

AYSHA (spoken)
Yes!!

FAMILY
Forty days and forty nights come and gone...
All the world is dead and drowned; still the rain goes on.
There are no beasts or people anymore
What is He waiting for? What is He waiting for?

Forty days and forty nights, black and bleak...
And what rations we have left will not last the week.
Papa calls and calls to God—

NOAH
Why won’t You speak?

FAMILY
Where is the sun He said He would restore?
What is He waiting for?

NOAH (spoken)
Father...?

FAMILY
What is He waiting for?

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Sailor of the Skies

YONAH
Hush now, stop trembling, we’ve got to do something.
Before all we are is a skeleton crew.
There’s got to be something someone can do!
But all I can think of...is you.
Little sailor of the skies, will you be our eyes?
Is there land that lies...beyond?

Fly beyond the rain, like a prayer on the wing
and in this winter of the soul, seek a harbinger of spring
You’re the only one can bring us hope . . .
Children of Eden, cry for salvation
Fly far as wings can fly—bring hope.

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The Spark of Creation, Reprise 2

MAMA (spoken)
He doesn’t speak to you anymore, does He? Not since before the rain?

NOAH (spoken)
No. And now...I don’t know what Father wants.

MAMA
(spoken) You must be the father now.
(singing) The spark of creation,

that’s all you’ve got left now.
The spark of creation will have to be your guide.
If no outer force will show you your course,
you’ll have to look inside.
Your only illumination, the spark of—

NOAH (spoken)
Father...?

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The Hardest Part of Love

NOAH
Oh, Father, please don’t make me choose.
Either way, it’s more than I can bear to lose...

Oh, this son of mine I love so well,

and oh, the toll it takes
I would give to him a garden

and keep it free of snakes
But the one thing he most treasures

 is to make his own mistakes, ohhh...

He goes charging up the cliffs of life

a reckless mountaineer
I could help him not to stumble,

I could warn him what to fear.
I could shout until I'm breathless

and he'd still refuse to hear. Ohhh . . .

But you cannot close the acorn

once the oak begins to grow.
And you cannot close your heart

to what it fears and needs to know:
That the hardest part of love is the letting go.

As a child, I found a sparrow

that had fallen from its nest
And I nursed it back to health

‘til it was stronger than the rest.
But when I tried to hold it

then it pecked and scratched my chest ‘til I let it go.
And I watched it far away from me

with its bright and selfish song
And a part of me was cursing

I had helped it grow so strong
And I feared it might go hungry,

and I feared it might go wrong. Ohhh . . .

But I could not close the acorn

once the oak began to grow
And I cannot close my heart

to what it fears and needs to know:
That the hardest part of love . . .

FATHER
...is the letting go.

NOAH
...is the letting go.

FATHER
And it's only in Eden grows

a rose without a thorn.
And your children start to leave you

on the day that they are born.
They will leave you there to cheer for them,
they will leave you there to mourn—ever so.
Like an ark on uncharted seas,

their lives will be tossed
And the deeper is your love for them,

the crueler is the cost
And just when they start to find themselves
is when you fear they're lost. Ohhh...

FATHER and NOAH
But you cannot close the acorn

once the oak begins to grow
And you cannot close your heart

to what it fears and needs to know

NOAH
That the hardest part of love

FATHER
and the rarest part of love,

FATHER and NOAH
and the truest part of love . . .
love is letting go.

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Words of Doom

STORYTELLERS
And there on the deck of the rotting, leaking ark
the little family gathered

in the rain and cold and darkness
One little family shivering in the gloom
Waiting for words of doom...
waiting for words of doom...

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The Hour of Darkness

NOAH
As we well know, our end is very near
and God’s priorities are no longer clear to me
and so I ask you,

if all we’ve got is just this little while,
here and now, every one of us, reconcile.

YONAH
In whatever time we have

YONAH and JAPHETH
for as long as we are living

 add MAMA, APHRA
We can face whatever comes

add SHEM, HAM
If we face it now as one.

ALL FAMILY
If there’s silence in the sky
In a world without a future
we will swear to be together
in whatever time we have...

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Ain't It Good

MAMA
(spoken) Thank God the stars are still in the sky! I thought they’d drowned with everything else.

(singing) Oh, look out there in the eastern sky—

Is that a hint of light?
Oh, come and look, I need to know

if I am seeing right.
We've lived so long in dark

I'm almost frightened to believe
Those clearing skies on that glist'ning horizon
Please tell me my eyes do not deceive me . . .

Ain't it sweet to smell the morning

in a world washed fresh and clean
Now the storm has left its warning,

and we see, we see a hint of green
Pale gray light, grow strong and golden,

and release us from our pen
Where we rocked for endless days

on a sea of endless grays
Now we sing a song of praise, amen!
Ain't it good, ain't it good, now,

ain't it good to see the sun again?

When my ears were filled with thunder,

and when my soul began to shake
There were times I truly wondered

if those clouds would ever break.
But no storm will last forever,

though we felt so helpless then.
Now we raise a joyful chant

for a glimpse of olive plant.
Haven't seen one since

I can't remember when….

STORYTELLERS
Can’t remember when it felt so good.
When skies are clearing
How our hearts begin to dance
How our hopes are reappearing
Since we've been granted a second chance

MAMA
And for now we've done with fearing

we might be the final generation
In a dawn that’s newborn fresh,

open wide this floating creche
And deliver ev'ry precious specimen
Ain't it good, ain't it good, now?
Ain't it good to see the sun again? My Lord!
After all the nights we’ve stood

smelling rain on gopher wood,
ain't it good to see the sun again?

STORYTELLERS
Oh, ain’t it good to see the shining golden sun again!

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Precious Children

FATHER
Fare thee well, my precious children
In your hands I place the key
to this prison made of gratitude
that has held you close to me.
Now I know I cannot hold you
‘til at last, I let you be...free.

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In the Beginning

JAPHETH and YONAH
This step is once again our first.
We set our feet upon a virgin land.
We hold the promise of the earth
in our hands.

NOAH and MAMA
No flood from Heaven comes again
No deluge will destroy and purify
We hold the fate of man and men
in our hands

FAMILY
Now at this dawn so green and glad,
We pray that we may long remember
How lovely was the world we had
in the beginning

FAMILY and STORYTELLERS
Of all the gifts we have received,
one is most precious and most terrible
The will in each of us is free.
It's in our hands.

And if someday we hear a voice;
if He should speak again, our silent Father—
All He will tell us is the choice . . .
is in our hands.

Our hands can choose to drop the knife.
Our hearts can choose to stop the hating
For every moment of our life . . .
is the beginning.

FATHER
There is no journey gone so far,
so far we cannot stop and change direction
No doom is written in the stars

COMPANY
It’s in our hands.
We cannot know what will occur
Just make the journey worth the taking,
and pray we're wiser than we were
In the beginning.
it's the beginning.
Now we begin...

Children of Eden, grant us your pardon
All that we leave to you is the unknown.
Children of Eden, seek for your garden.
You and your children to come,
someday to come home.
Home!


THE END


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