364
OLLANTAY AND PIQUI CHAQUI
ACT I
Her eyes full of mercy and grace,
With nought but two suns can compare.
With nought but two suns can compare.
The eyelids with arrows concealed,
Gaily shoot their rays into the heart;
They open, lo! beauty revealed,
Pierces through like a glittering dart.
Gaily shoot their rays into the heart;
They open, lo! beauty revealed,
Pierces through like a glittering dart.
Her cheeks Achancara[1] on snow,
Her face more fair than the dawn,
From her mouth the laughter doth flow,
Between pearls as bright as the morn.
Her face more fair than the dawn,
From her mouth the laughter doth flow,
Between pearls as bright as the morn.
Smooth as crystal and spotlessly clear
Is her throat, like the corn in a sheaf;
Her bosoms, which scarcely appear,
Like flowers concealed by a leaf.
Is her throat, like the corn in a sheaf;
Her bosoms, which scarcely appear,
Like flowers concealed by a leaf.
Her beautiful hand is a sight,
As it rests from all dangers secure,
Her fingers transparently white,
Like icicles spotless and pure.
As it rests from all dangers secure,
Her fingers transparently white,
Like icicles spotless and pure.
Ollantay (rising). That singer, unseen and unknown,
Has declared Coyllur's beauty and grace;
He should fly hence, where grief overwhelms.
O Princess! O loveliest Star,
I alone am the cause of thy death,
I also should die with my love.
Piqui Chaqui. Perhaps thy star has passed away,
For the heavens are sombre and grey.
Ollantay. When they know that their Chief has fled,
- ↑ Achancara, a begonia. A red flower in the neighbourhood of Cuzco, according to Zegarra. One variety is red and white.
