Obaa-San monologue (Act 1) — More Portmanteau Plays

Did I not care! Grandmother! Grandmother! Why? Because I loved a weeping willow tree. Because to me it was real. It was my baby. But no lover ever came to woo. No words ever came to me.--Think you, O-Sode-San, that the song of birds in the branches is ease to an empty heart. Think you that the wind amongst the leaves soothes the mad unrest in here. (_She beats her breast_) I have no one--no one. I talk to my weeping willow tree--but there is no answer--no answer, O-Sode-San--only stillness--and yet--sometimes I think I hear a sigh.--Grandmother! Grandmother! There! Is that enough? I've bared my heart to you. Go spread the news--I am lonely and old--old.--I have always been lonely. Go spread the news.