42
All.Tra la la la, Tra la la la, &c.
(Dance and exeunt Nanki-Poo, Yum-Yum, Pooh-Bah, Pitti-Sing, and Ko-Ko.)
Enter Katisha.
RECITATIVE and SONG.—Katisha.
Alone, and yet alive! Oh, sepulchre!
My soul is still my body's prisoner!
Remote the peace that Death alone can give—
My doom, to wait! my punishment, to live!
SONG.
Hearts do not break!
They sting and ache
For old love's sake.
But do not die,
Though with each breath
They long for death
As witnesseth
The living I!
Oh, living I!
Come, tell me why,
When hope is gone,
Dost thou stay on?
Why linger here,
Where all is drear?
Oh, living I!
Come, tell me why,
When hope is gone,
Dost thou stay on?
May not a cheated maiden die?
Ko. (entering and approaching her timidly). Katisha!
Kat. The miscreant who robbed me of my love! But vengeance pursues— they are heating the cauldron!
Ko. Katisha— behold a suppliant at your feet! Katisha— mercy!
Kat. Mercy ? Had you mercy on him? See here, you! You have slain my love. He did not love me, but he would have loved me in time. I am an acquired taste— only the educated palate can appreciate me. I was educating his palate when he left me. Well, he is dead, and where shall I find another? It takes years to train a man to love me. Am I to go through the weary round again, and, at the same time, implore mercy for you who robbed me of my prey— I mean my pupil— just as his education was on the point of completion? Oh, where shall I find another?
Ko. (suddenly, and with great vehemence). Here!— Here!
Kat. What!!!
