Vader
Thy wish is mine.
Emperor
—Thus have we set the scene:
All doth proceed just as I have foreseen!
[Exeunt.
Scene 2.
The Dagobah system.
Enter LUKE SKYWALKER and R2-D2, speaking with HAN SOLO and PRINCESS LEIA in comlink.
Luke
Good friends, with you I shall meet once again,
Where our strong fleet doth plan to rendezvous.
Leia
[ through comlink:] Aye, do. Th’Alliance should be gather’d now.
Han
[ through comlink:] And Luke, my deepest thanks are due to thee,
For I did doubt that thou a Jedi wert.
But thine example brave hath shown to me
A power I ne’er would have believ’d was real,
Except I was its benefici’ry.
Thou didst not overlook thy friend in need,
But came back for his rescue unafraid.
Now truly, friend, ’tis I who owe thee one.
[Exeunt Han Solo and Princess Leia.
R2-D2
Beep, squeak, meep, beep, squeak, whistle, whistle, meep?
Luke
’Tis right, R2, we go to Dagobah—
A promise must I keep to my old friend.
[ Aside:] This glove I place upon my injur’d hand,
The hand that in the fight with Jabba was
The sore recipient of blaster’s touch.
O hand, replete with wires and gears that move,
With glove of black I cover the machine
That lies within the skinlike covering,
Which once a medic droid hath grafted on.
How strange this hand, which feeleth like my flesh
Yet is such stuff as droids are made of. Cold
And dead, yet living, this is a device
That serves me well but represents a dark
And dismal fate. Aye, with this hand I have
Become yet one step closer to the man
Whose path I fear, yet wish to understand:
Darth Vader, who my father claims to be.
Indeed, I do believe his claim is true,
But shall ask Yoda to confirm his words.
If he my father is, what shall it mean
For the Rebellion and for my own soul?
Shall my relations govern all my days,
Or may I yet escape mine origins?
Shall all the father’s sins be visited
Upon the child, or shall I triumph yet?
Be with me, all ye Jedi past and gone—
I fly unto that place where first I learn’d
From Yoda, who is small, yet greater e’en
Than all my pow’rs or Master Obi-Wan.
With joy, I fly from here to see his face,
With hope, I fly to him to learn the truth,
With fear, I fly to him to know my path,
With expectation great, I fly to him.
Enter YODA.
Look now, he comes—alas, how ag’d he seems!
Yoda
That face thou dost make:
Look I so old to young eyes,
My body so frail?
Luke
Nay, nay, good master! Perish such a thought.
Yoda
I do, aye, I do.
Sick and weak have I become,
Elderly and tir’d.
And yet, I ask thee:
When nine hundred years thou hast,
Shalt thou look better?
Soon shall I have rest,
Forever sleep, as all do.
Earnèd it I have.
Luke
But what is this? Thou art an aging soul,
Yet wherefore speakest thou of death’s embrace?
Good Master Yoda, cease: thou mayst not die.
Yoda
Verily, ’tis true,
With the Force pow’rful am I,
Yet not that pow’rful.
Twilight is on me
And thence comes night. ’Tis the way
For all in the Force.
Luke
Yet I have need of thy good help, for here
I stand, return’d, prepar’d my training to
Complete. What should I do without thine aid?
Yoda
No further training
Dost thou require, for thou hast
All thou e’er shalt need.
Luke
Forsooth, ’tis true: I am a Jedi now.
Yoda
Be thou not so sure,
For still Vader remaineth.
Thou must confront him.
Then, and only then,
A true Jedi shalt thou be.
And face him thou shalt.
Luke
Dear Master Yoda, one thing in me burns—
The question that is flame inside my bones,
Whose answer may yet kindle hate or love,
I know not which. Yet still it must be ask’d:
Darth Vader—tell me true—is he my father?
Yoda
’Tis time for my rest.
Time for my sleep eternal,
’Tis no time for truth.
Luke
Thou wouldst protect me from this knowledge, which
May difficult and painful be. In this
Thou showest care for me, and hast my thanks—
But Yoda, full of heart, I must needs know.
Yoda
[ aside:] Alack, he knows all.
Now may I only speak truth:
Only truth lives on.
[ To Luke:] Thy father he is.
Told you, did he? Unforeseen
This is. Distressing.
Luke
Distressing that at length I learn the truth?
Yoda
Nay, nay! Distressing
That thou hast rush’d to face him.
Not ready wert thou.
Thy training not done,
The field of thy heart unplow’d,
The burden, too much.
Luke
Forgive me, for I knew not what I did.
Yoda
Remember, my Luke,
A Jedi’s strength from the Force
Doth come. But beware.
Anger, fear, hatred—
From the dark side they all come;
Its minions they are.
Once thou hast enter’d
In the dark path infernal,
Abandon all hope.
The powers of the
Emperor, thou shouldst never
Underestimate.
Else thy father’s fate,
Shall, in turn, become thine own:
Let not this transpire.
When I have gone, slept,
The last of the Jedi shalt
Thou be, thou alone.
Attend, Luke! The Force
Is strong with thy family:
Pass on what thou learn’dst.
These final words now
With my last breath I utter:
O hear well, brave Luke.
This is our hope: there
Is another Skywalker.
The rest silence is.
[Yoda dies.
Luke
Good night, sweet Jedi, noble, wise, and true.
So gentle was he, and too quickly gone.
O Fate, what hast thou brought into my life—
How shall I live when all I love have died?
Yet all things die, and all things pass away,
And all is like the sweeping of the stars
As one doth pass through lightspeed’s rapid blaze.
We know ’tis true: no mortal does not know
That all are born to feed insatiate death.
But O, what grief we meet along the way:
The knowledge something beautiful is lost,
The deep regret for all unspoken words—
Profound remorse for healing never giv’n.
To wish to hold the dead one’s hand again,
To picture a love’s smile, and know it gone:
These are the pains that human life doth bring,
The heartache and the thousand nat’ral shocks
That flesh is heir to. Death shall not be tam’d,
It shall not lose its victory or sting,
Yet it shall never have the best of us
If in our living we have truly liv’d.
To love with bliss, to fight for righteousness,
To heed adventure’s call, to cry with joy,
To laugh amidst life’s greatest heights and depths:
This is the living that doth conquer death,
So e’en though it shall come, we shall not fear’t.
These lessons let my master’s death teach me,
That my life shall esteem his memory.