Act I, Scene iv
THE VOICE
Ah-ah, ah-ah~!
ELSA
I hear you, but heed thee not, o voice!
There are many who would, in hearing you,
Seek to follow and lead themselves into dismay.
While others still would turn from you and be content.
Reasons there are, more in number than the stars,
That I should shun thee, and carry on my daily rotes as if I had not heard.
And from my thoughts banish ought of thy voice, tempting soft, that,
Though finding sweet, I do wish would depart and leave me hence unchanged.
THE VOICE
Ah-ah, ah-ah~!
ELSA
O, be thou gone!
Thou art no voice of earthly make!
Rather that sepulchral clang of harsh and warning bells,
Sounding from within mine own head.
Yet even were I to wake from walking slumber and turn myself to hear thee,
Thou wouldst sway me not.
My heart, yea the whole of it, is held here inside these walls,
Safeguarded by those that dwell within.
So, o spirit, forgive me,
But I can hear thee no more.
I stop up the passages of my mind against thine entry,
And forsake the siren call of thy voice.
Though I be young, of peril and heartache
I have had enough to last for all my natural days and more.
What is more, and perhaps truest of all,
I confess to thee I am afraid.
In the balance, I fear more what I stand to lose than gain,
Forsaking all duty and reason, to follow thee into the unknown.
THE VOICE
Ah-ah, ah-ah!
ELSA
What canst thou want of me?
So urgently that thou tearest me from the peace of my slumber?
Art thou some trickster, sent to wrest me from my cares,
Divide my attentions, and in doing so bring my kingdom into ruination?
What stand you to gain by this?
Or, and I hope t’were true,
Art thou one perhaps more like myself than first I did surmise?
Who knows as sure as I that in this place I have become
Like unto a visitor in mine own palace.
Each morn that passes, ay, and each night, too,
Weighs more heavy on my heart than the last.
O spirit, I feel a strength within me!
These gifts that once made summer sun turn cold
Will shatter me if I do not let them lose.
Surely thou must know, sweet temptation,
How desp’rately I long to slip the bounds of my crown
And joining with thee, let thee lead me into the unknown.
O, Art thou there?
Knowest you who I am meant to be?
Casnt feel me, as I feel you?
And canst thou, o dear companion, show me that of which I have dreamt?
THE VOICE
AH-AH, AH-AH!
ELSA
AH-AH, AH-AH!
They sing. The Voice exits.
ELSA
Hold! Please, I beg you! Where goest thou?
Raise not my hopes then depart, like the moon slipping into her bed of clouds,
Leaving me here alone, as I was!
Or, in going, I prithee show me but a path, a way, that I might
Follow you into the unknown!
Exeunt.
(Yes I know it's not in iambic pentameter, I'm a bimbo not an Elizabethan dramatist)
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