Obaa-San monologue (Act 1) — More Portmanteau Plays

I am no grandmother! I am no grandmother! I am no mother! O-Sode, can you not understand? I am no mother.--I am no wife.--There is no one.--I am only an old woman.--In the spring I see the world turn green and I hear the song of happy birds and feel the perfumed balmy air upon my cheek--and every spring that cheek is older and more wrinkled and I have always been alone. I see the stars on a summer night and listen for the dawn--and there never has been a strong hand to touch me nor tiny fingers to reach out for me. I have heard the crisp autumn winds fight the falling leaves and I have known that long winter days and nights were coming--and I have always been alone--alone. I have pretended to you--what else could I do? Grandmother! Grandmother! Every time you speak the name, the emptiness of my life stands before me like a royal Kakemono all covered with unliving people.