Lancéor monologue (Act 2) — Joyzelle

Where did I fall asleep? Some strange poison has entered my heart.... I am no longer the same and my mind is wandering.... I am struggling against the intoxication and I do not know where I am going.... (_Catches sight of ARIELLE._) But who is that woman behind the oleanders? (_Approaching the hedge and looking._) She is beautiful!... She is half unclad and her curved foot, like a prudent flower, is trying the water, which smiles and encircles it with pearls.... She raises her arms to bind her hair; and the light of the sky glides between her shoulders, like gleaming water over marble wings. (_Approaching closer._) She is beautiful, she is beautiful!... I must see her.... She is turning round and one of her bare breasts, peeping through her tresses, adds rays to the rays that strike it.... She is listening, she hears; and her wide-open eyes are questioning the roses.... She has seen me, she hides herself, she is going to fly.... (_Passing through the hedge._) No, no, do not fly from me!... I have seen you.... It is too late!... (_Taking ARIELLE in his arms._) I want to know the name of so pure a vision, which plunges into darkness all that I have loved!... I want to know also what too faithful shadow, what profound retreat concealed the marvel which I hold in my arms!... What trees, what caves, what towers, what walls were able to stifle the brilliancy of that flesh, the fragrance of that life, the fire of those eyes?... Where were you hiding, you whom even a blind man would find without difficulty in a holiday crowd?... No, do not thrust me away; this is not the passion, the intoxication of a moment; it is the lasting dizziness of love!... I am at your knees; I humbly embrace them.... I give myself to you alone.... I am only yours.... I ask for nothing but a kiss from your lips to forget the rest and seal the future.... Bow down your head.... I see it bending towards me, I see it consenting; and I call for the token which nothing can efface henceforth.... (_He kisses her passionately. A cry of distress is heard from behind the bushes._) What is it?...