I READ
FOSCA
(spoken) I hope I didn't startle you.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Not at all. Signora Ricci, I'm Captain Bachetti -
FOSCA
(spoken)- Bachetti.
I know. My cousin has told me all about you.
(sung) I came to thank you for the books.
I would have sooner, but I've been so ill.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Well, now you seem to be feeling more normal.
FOSCA
(spoken) Normal? I hardly think so.
Sickness is normal to me as health is to you. Excuse me.
I shouldn't speak of my troubles. I have been going through a period
of deep melancholy. I so enjoyed the novel by Rousseau.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes, it's wonderful. It's my favorite, really.
FOSCA
(spoken) The character of Julie is a great mystery.
GIORGIO
(spoken) You should have kept the book longer to meditate over.
FOSCA
I do not read to think.
I do not read to learn.
I do not read to search for truth
I know the truth, the truth is hardly what I need.
I read to dream.
I read to live.
In other people's lives.
I read about the joys, the world
Dispenses to the fortunate,
And listen for the echoes.
I read to live,
To get away from life!
No, captain, I have no illusions.
I recognize the limits of my dreams.
I know how painful dreams can be
Unless you know they're merely dreams.
There is a flower which offers nectar at the top,
Delicious nectar at the top and bitter poison underneath.
The butterfly that stays too long and drinks too deep
Is doomed to die.
I read to fly, to skim -
I do not read to swim.
I do not dwell on dreams.
I know how soon a dream becomes an expectation
How can I have expectations?
Look at me
No, captain, look at me -
Look at me!
I do not hope for what I cannot have!
I do not cling to things I cannot keep!
The more you cling to things, the more you love them,
The more the pain you suffer when they're taken from you ...
Ah, but if you have no expectations,
You can never have a disappointment.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I assure you -
FOSCA
(spoken) No, forgive me, please ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) But truly, there is nothing to forgive -
FOSCA
Have you explored the town?
It is remote, isn't it?
And provincial, don't you think?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes.
FOSCA
And everything so brown:
The streets, the fields, the river even,
Though there are some lovely gardens.
(spoken) You do like gardens, I hope?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes.
FOSCA
Good, I can show you gardens.
And then of course there is the castle.
(spoken) The ruined castle.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Ah.
FOSCA
(spoken) I find it lovely. Probably because it's ruined, I suppose.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I didn't know there was a castle.
FOSCA
I like to take excursions there -
When I'm in better health.
Perhaps you join me and my cousin
One day ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) That would be delightful.
I don't believe I've seen a flower or a garden since the day I arrived.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Thank you. How delightful.
FOSCA
(spoken)I'm surprised you haven't seen our wonderful greenhouse.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Greenhouse?
FOSCA
(spoken) Yes, we haven't had much luck with the vegetables this year.
But the gardenias and petunias are magnificent.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Oh look. There's a funeral procession.
I suppose they come here for flowers to adorn the casket.
It's good to know that the dead here -
Signora?
Doctor! DOCTOR! Help!
TRANSITION
GIORGIO
How can I describe her?
The wretchedness,
God, the wretchedness
And the suffering, the desperation
Of that poor unhappy creature -
The embarrassment, Clara.
Looking at that loneliness,
Listening to all that self-pity ...
SOLDIERS
The town -
It is remote, isn't it?
And provincial, don't you think?
And everything so brown:
The streets, the fields, the river even.
Of course there is the castle,
The ruined castle ...
GARDEN SEQUENCE
DOCTOR
(spoken) Ah, look at how they've let this garden go.
COLONEL
(spoken) This is not Milan, Doctor.
DOCTOR
(spoken) I'm all too well aware of that.
FOSCA
(spoken) I think it's rather beautiful.
DOCTOR
(spoken) For these parts, maybe ...
COLONEL
(spoken) Doctor, may I have a word with you?
DOCTOR
(spoken) Certainly.
COLONEL
(spoken) Captain Bachetti, would you lend my cousin your arm?
I wish to have a word with the Doctor.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Of course.
FOSCA
(spoken) I do know how to walk. My cousin treats me like I'm a child.
GIORGIO
All the while as we strolled,
Clara --
FOSCA
(spoken) I hope I didn't frighten you the other day.
GIORGIO
(spoken) No, not at all.
I could see you reading my letter.
All the while as we strolled -
FOSCA
(spoken) I'm not afraid of death. I rather think I'd welcome dying.
It's everything that follows that I dread: being shut up in a coffin,
smothered in the earth, turning into dust.
These images send me into a state of terror.
GIORGIO
-- All I saw,
-- All I knew.
All that I could think of was you.
FOSCA
Even talking of this makes me ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) Surely if you are ill, there is every hope you will get better.
CLARA
All that I could think of was you
FOSCA
(spoken) Hope in my case is in rather short supply.
CLARA
How ridiculous -
GIORGIO
(spoken) Well, then one must look to life for whatever pleasures it can offer.
FOSCA
(spoken) And what might they be?
CLARA
To be looking at her
GIORGIO
(spoken) Helping others, for example.
FOSCA
(spoken) Helping others!
CLARA
And be thinking of you.
FOSCA
(spoken) I have worked in poorhouses, Captain.
CLARA
How could anyone
FOSCA
(spoken) I felt no different.
CLARA
So unbeautiful
FOSCA
(spoken) Pity is nothing but passive love.
CLARA
Stir my memory of you?
FOSCA
(spoken) Dead love.
CLARA
To feel a woman's touch
To touch a woman's hand,
Reminded me how much I long to be with you,
How long I've been without you near
And then to hear a woman's voice
To hold a woman's arm
To feel a woman's touch ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) These thoughts are bad for you.
You must concentrate on everything around you that suggests life.
These trees, these flowers, the warm smell of the air -
FOSCA
(spoken) You make it sound so simple Captain.
As if a flower or a tree could somehow make one happy.
CLARA
Perhaps it was the dress, the fragrance of her dress,
The light perfume of silk
That's warm from being in the sun
That mingles with a woman's own perfume
The fragrance of a woman ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) There is no absolute happiness in anyone's life, Signora.
The only happiness we can be certain of is love.
CLARA
The garden filled with you -
FOSCA
(spoken) Are you speaking of friendship? That kind -
GIORGIO
(spoken) I'm speaking of a superior kind of love -
CLARA
And all that I could do, because of you,
GIORGIO
(spoken) The kind between two people.
CLARA
Was talk of love -
FOSCA
(spoken) Two people ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes.
CLARA AND GIORGIO
- Love that fills every waking moment,
Love that grows every single day,
Love that thinks everything is pure,
Everything is beautiful
Everything is possible
CLARA
Love that fuses two into one,
Where we think the same thoughts,
Love the same things
Live as one.
Feel as one.
Breathe as one
Love that shuts away the world
That envelops my soul,
That ennobles my life
GIORGIO
Love that fuses two into one,
Where you think the same thoughts,
Want the same things
Live as one.
Feel as one.
Breathe as one
Love that shuts away the world
That envelops your soul,
Your life
BOTH
Love that floods
Every living moment,
Love like -
CLARA
- ours
FOSCA
(spoken) Love like -?
GIORGIO
- like wine.
An intoxication.
(spoken) A great blindness, if you will.
FOSCA
(spoken) Yes, I have read about that kind of love.
But you speak as one who lives it.
I don't feel well. I must go home.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I'm sorry
FOSCA
(spoken) You can be incredibly cruel, Captain.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Cruel?
FOSCA
To speak to me of love -
To dangle words like
"Happiness"
"Beautiful"
"Superior" -
You can't be that naive.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Forgive me. I have not taken -
FOSCA
You with all your books
Your taste, your sensitivity
I thought you'd understand.
The others - well, they're all alike.
Stupidity is their excuse,
As ugliness is mine,
But what is yours?
I've watched you from my window.
I saw you on the day that you arrived.
Perhaps it was the way you walked
The way you spoke to your men.
I saw that you were different then.
I saw that you were kind and good.
I thought you'd understood.
They hear drums
You hear music
As do I
Don't you see?
We're the same
We are different,
You and I are different.
They hear only drums.
All the time I watched from my room
I would think of coming downstairs
Thinking we'd meet, thinking you'd look at me
Thinking you'd be repelled by what you saw.
Don't reject me,
Don't deny me, Captain
Understand me, be my friend.
They hear drums, we hear music.
Be my friend ...
GIORGIO
(spoken)Yes. Of course. You have my friendship
FOSCA
(spoken) Thank you, Captain.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Your hand is on fire.
FOSCA
(spoken) It's nothing. I have a fever. I always have fever.
COLONEL
(spoken) Shall we make our way towards the castle?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Signora FOSCA is not feeling well.
COLONEL
(spoken) I'm terribly sorry, my dear.
FOSCA
(spoken)I'll be fine now.
COLONEL
(spoken) Of course, but we should head back nonetheless.
CLARA
(spoken) My darling, you did as you should. You had no choice.
GIORGIO
(spoken) After all, her cousin is my superior.
CLARA
(spoken) You must think of your career.
GIORGIO
(spoken) But how could I turn from such a desperate soul?
CLARA
(spoken) You showed pity
GIORGIO
(spoken) And yet I have a sinking feeling.
CLARA
(spoken) It is difficult for a man and a woman to be friends.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I sense she wants more from me.
CLARA
(spoken) You must take care to make your intentions clear.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I've opened the door
CLARA
(spoken) Desperation can take its toll
FOSCA
Three days ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) Should I be cruel to set myself free?
CLARA
(spoken) There is nothing wrong with thinking of oneself.
FOSCA
Three days ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) All I think of is you.
CLARA
(spoken) Keep your distance.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Keep my distance.
CLARA
(spoken) Be unavailable to her.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Unavailable.
CLARA
(spoken) Yes, aloof.
FOSCA
Three days ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) I love you so much.
CLARA
(spoken) I love you more.
FOSCA
Three ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) Forever yours.
FOSCA
... days
CLARA
(spoken) As always.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Giorgio.
CLARA
(spoken) Clara.
FOSCA
(spoken) Giorgio, these past three days have been perhaps
the most painful of my life. I have looked for you everywhere.
No matter how poor my health, I have made my way to the dining room,
praying you would be there. You promised me your friendship, Giorgio.
But it is clear to me that your promise was a hollow one.
I wish I could strike you from my mind and my heart.
But I cannot.
You may disappear, Giorgio, but I will not.
BARRI
(spoken) ... so I applied for a new pair of horses,
but they only had bays or piebals.
LOMBARDI
(spoken) Piebalds!
TORASSO
(spoken) You certainly don't want piebals.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) Perhaps you should go to Turin. There's a wonderful stable there -
BARRI
(spoken) No. That stable is no longer reputable
TORASSO
(spoken) Ah, Bachetti ...
COLONEL
(spoken) We haven't seen you for three days.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes, sir. I decided to accompany my troops on maneuvers.
BARRI
(spoken) Your hard work will show us all up.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Nonsense.
Excuse me, Doctor. Why do you always place that gold coin on the table at mealtime?
DOCTOR
(spoken) For thirty years, I've done that whenever I dine with other officers. The first meal where no one talks about horses or women,
I'll surrender my golden coin.
BARRI
(spoken) Some risk! You'll never lose it!
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) I remember a wager that Lieutenant Barri made once -
FOSCA
(spoken) I've missed you so much.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Please.
FOSCA
(spoken) You must read my letter.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Let go of my hand. Let go.
RIZZOLLI
(spoken) Well, of course there was no chance for anyone but him to win.
BARRI
(spoken) No one was forced to bet, Major.
DOCTOR
(spoken) Would you please pass the salt?
Not hungry, Captain?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes, yes.
Colonel, I've received a letter this morning.
I'm urgently required in Milan. I therefore request a leave of
at least five days.
DOCTOR
(spoken) What?
COLONEL
(spoken) If you had asked me this in my office, I might have refused.
You've been here only a month ...
GIORGIO
(spoken) I realized that, sir. It's of some importance.
COLONEL
(spoken) When do you want to leave?
GIORGIO
(spoken) As soon as possible.
COLONEL
(spoken) Very well. After all, how can I refuse a guest at my table?
TORASSO
(spoken) By this time tomorrow, Bachetti,
you'll probably be in the arms of some young beauty.
TRANSITION
AUGENTI, SOLIDER ONE AND SOLDIER TWO
(spoken) All the time I watched from my room...
AUGENTI
(spoken) Thinking we'd meet...
SOLDIER ONE
Thinking you'd look at me ...
SOLDIER TWO
Thinking you'd -
AUGENTI, SOLDIER ONE AND SOLDIER TWO
- be repelled by what you saw.
SOLDIER ONE AND SOLDIER TWO
Don't reject me ...
AUGENTI, RIZZOLLI, BARRI AND TORASSO
Don't deny me ...
AUGENTI, SOLDIER ONE AND SOLDIER TWO
Understand me, be my friend.
ALL
They hear drums,
We hear music
Be my friend ...
FOSCA
(spoken) When will you be back?
GIORGIO
(spoken) What are you doing up and out at this hour?
FOSCA
(spoken) When will you be back?
GIORGIO
(spoken) You know I have a five-day leave.
FOSCA
(spoken) Will you think about me when you're gone?
GIORGIO
(spoken) I'll think about my work, my superiors, your cousin.
That is why I will think of you.
Signora, please. Don't make this difficult.
Let go of me. You don't want someone to see you.
FOSCA
(spoken) What does it matter if they see me?
What do I care if the whole world knows how I feel?
I adore you. Is that something I should be ashamed of?
Is that something I should hide?
I'm not a fool. I know you don't feel the same way as I do. But one loves a dog, an animal. What can I do to get
you to love me - a human being like yourself?
GIORGIO
(spoken) Get up Signora, please.
Calm down. Calm down, please. I have to leave straight away.
I am touched by your affection. It flatters me greatly.
My mind is racing with so many thoughts ...
FOSCA
(spoken) Tell me your thoughts.
GIORGIO
(spoken) I have to leave straight away.
FOSCA
(spoken) Write me.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Fine. I will write you.
FOSCA
(spoken) Promise.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Yes, I promise.
FOSCA
(spoken) Tomorrow.
GIORGIO
(spoken) Tomorrow. Now, please go.
I really don't want anyone to see you here.
FOSCA
(spoken) Bless you.
TRIO
FOSCA
I am writing to you, Signora
Just as soon as I've arrived
With a most unhappy heart.
GIORGIO
God, you are so beautiful -
FOSCA
I do not wish to cause you pain -
GIORGIO
As I remember every night -
FOSCA
So please consider what I say -
GIORGIO
Clear and beautiful -
FOSCA
With calm.
GIORGIO
Every night, every day,
Every part of you -
FOSCA
My heart -
CLARA
You feel so good -
FOSCA
My heart belongs -
CLARA
As if you'd never been away -
FOSCA
My heart belongs to someone else.
CLARA
Your breath so warm
Your touch so sure -
GIORGIO
Your skin so delicate ...
CLARA
Your arms so strong ...
FOSCA
I am in love, hopelessly in love -
Hopelessly in love, and I am loved
Hopelessly in turn, Signora.
GIORGIO AND CLARA
All this happiness -
FOSCA
You and I -
GIORGIO AND CLARA
Being here with you in the dark.
FOSCA
We're not meant for each other.
GIORGIO AND CLARA
So much happiness -
FOSCA
If I seemed to imply
Something more -
GIORGIO AND CLARA
Even more than what I felt before!
FOSCA
I apologize.
GIORGIO AND CLARA
To feel your touch again -
FOSCA
But since we're forced to be together -
GIORGIO AND CLARA
When so much time has passed -
FOSCA
Let us try to face the fact.
GIORGIO AND CLARA
To dream of you and then to be with you again
And have some time at last ...
FOSCA
Let us both behave with tact.
GIORGIO AND CLARA
How long were we apart -
FOSCA
If this letter seems cold- hearted -
GIORGIO AND CLARA
A month, a week, a day?
FOSCA
It conceals my own distress.
Nonetheless -
GIORGIO AND CLARA
To feel your touch again -
FOSCA
We must end what never started.
GIORGIO AND CLARA
You've never been away.
FOSCA
You must recognize -
CLARA
Still, I've missed you -
FOSCA
There is nothing -
GIORGIO
Hush.
FOSCA
Between us.
CLARA
- so much.
FOSCA
Nothing ...
GIORGIO
Shhh. I'm here now.
FOSCA
Nothing, nothing ...
CLARA
Welcome home ...
PASSION PAGE III
