I Read Lyrics

FOSCA: I hope I didn't startle you.

GIORGIO: Signora Ricci? I'm Captain Bachet--

FOSCA: Captain 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: Well, now you seem to be feeling more normal.

FOSCA: 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: Oh, it's wonderful. My favorite, really.

FOSCA: The character of Julie is a great mystery.

GIORGIO: You should have kept the book longer, to meditate over.

FOSCA: (sung) 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, Captain,
You can never have a disappointment.

(spoken) I must be mad to chatter on about myself like this to you. Forgive me.

GIORGIO: I assure you--

FOSCA: No, forgive me, please.

GIORGIO: But truly, there is nothing to forgive.

FOSCA: (sung) Have you explored the town?
It is remote, isn't it?
And provincial, don't you think?

GIORGIO: 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: Yes.

FOSCA: (sung) Good, I can show you gardens.
And then, of course, there is the castle.

(spoken) The ruined castle. I find it lovely. Probably because it's ruined there, I suppose.

GIORGIO: I didn't know there was a castle.

FOSCA: (sung) I like to take excursions there when I'm in better health.
Perhaps you'll join me
And my cousin
One day.

GIORGIO: That would be delightful. I don't believe I've seen a flower or a garden since the day I arrived.