Page:Pelléas and Melisande.djvu/29

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I see a rose in the darkness…

Where? I only see the branches of the willow which surmount the wall…

Lower down, lower down, in the garden; over there in the dark greenery.

It is not a rose.—I will go and see by and bye, but give me your hand first; first your hand…

There, there;… I cannot bend over farther…

My lips cannot reach your hand…

I cannot bend over farther… I am on the point of falling. Oh, oh, my hair descends from the tower!…

Oh, oh, what is it?… Your hair, your hair comes down toward me!… All your hair, Melisande, all your hair is fallen from the tower… I hold it in my hands, I hold it in my mouth… I hold it in my arms, and I put it around my neck. I shall not open my hands again to-night…

Let me go, let me go! You will make me fall!…

No, no, no; I have never seen hair like yours, Melisande… Look, look, look, it comes from so high and it inundates me to the very heart. It inundates me more, even to the knees… It is so soft, it is soft as if it fell from heaven! I no longer see the sky through your hair. You see. you see, my hands can no longer hold it. It even reaches to the branches of the willow. It lives as a bird in my hands, and it loves me, it loves me a thousand times more than you!

Let me go…let me go…someone might come…

No, no, no; I will not deliver you to-night… You are my prisoner this night; all the night, all the night.

Pelléas! Pelléas!

You shall not go away any more… I tie it, I tie it to the branches of the willow, your hair. I suffer no longer in the midst of your hair. You hear my kisses through the length of your hair. They go up through your hair. Each particular one must carry some. You see, you see, I can open my hands… You see, I have my hands free and you cannot abandon me…

Oh, oh! you hurt me. What is it, Pelléas? What is it that flies around me?

It is the doves that come out of the tower. I frightened them. They fly away.