Merlin monologue (Act 5) — Joyzelle

Alas, no, my Joyzelle: it would all be useless!... Would to the gods that men had to pass only through kindly evils, as yours were!... But all life's secret purposes are not so clear, are not so good.... But we speak in vain of what is written.... I am still here, in the arms of those who love me.... The day of my distress is not this day.... Let us enjoy our hour, in the sweet sadness that follows on great joys, by listening to our minutes of love, passing and fleeting, one by one, in that frail ray of nocturnal light in which we clasp one another for our greater happiness.... The rest does not as yet belong to men....