FAREWELL!

A libretto based on Guy de Maupassant’s short story

by Charles Deemer

 

 

CHARACTERS:

 

PIERRE, an old man & a young man

HENRI, an old man

JULIE, an old woman & a young woman

* = structural break, possible musical interlude

 

 

(Pierre and Henri, old men, sit at a table in an outdoor café.)

 

PIERRE & HENRI

Permit an old man to look back at his youth

With wonder and sadness at how much has changed

How quickly we age, yet slowly as well

From day to day, we don’t see our age

 

HENRI

I used to feel so full of life

You remember this, my friend
Now I feel old and full of regrets

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

PIERRE & HENRI

Each in our time must realize this

The great revelation that comes as you age

Life is here and gone in a flash

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

PIERRE

You learned this before I did

I used to be carefree and not give a damn

 

HENRI

Your health has always been better than mine

 

PIERRE

I mean more than just my health

Each morning I’d look in the mirror and see

The very same man I saw yesterday

From day to day, we don’t change at all

 

HENRI

And so you denied how much you had aged

 

PIERRE

And so I denied how much I had aged

 

PIERRE & HENRI

Permit an old man to look back at his youth

with wonder and sadness at how much has changed

How quickly we age, yet slowly as well

From day to day, we don’t see our age

 

Each in our time must realize this

The great revelation that comes as you age

Life is here and gone in a flash

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

*

 

HENRI

When did you look in the mirror and see

The truth of the matter, as others see you?

 

PIERRE

I remember the moment as yesterday

You see, in my youth I was madly in love

With a woman who was spoken for

 

HENRI

Married?

 

PIERRE

Married!

 

HENRI

A terrible thing.

 

PIERRE

When her husband traveled, as often he did,

We’d spend time together, precious, alone

The happiest moments in all my life

 

(JULIE comes forward.)

 

JULIE

We hardly talked, if the truth be known,

But I saw in his eyes that he was entranced

A flattering thing for a woman to feel

In the prime of her youth when innocence reigns

 

PIERRE

The curve of your neck, the blush on your cheek

The full red lips, your sparkling eyes!

 

JULIE

He’d buy me tea and talk of his work

So handsome he was, his voice mature

 

PIERRE

The curve of your neck, the blush on your cheek

The full red lips, your sparkling eyes!

 

JULIE

He was so polite, a true gentleman

He never confessed the truth of his heart

And he never knew how unhappy I was

 

PIERRE

This lasted a few months.  Then I went away

And her memory would not go away

It slept in my bed and haunted my dreams

Never again did I meet a woman

Who so much revealed what a woman can be

The curve of her neck, the blush on her cheek

The full red lips, her sparkling eyes!

 

PIERRE & JULIE

A brief meeting in time and nothing more

And yet you remember the rest of your life

 

PIERRE

The curve of your neck, the blush on your cheek

 

JULIE

So handsome he was, his voice mature

 

PIERRE & JULIE

A brief meeting in time and nothing more

And yet you remember the rest of your life

The way that you felt, the beat of your heart

A rush of desire that’s never revealed

 

*

 

HENRI

And you never saw her again?

 

PIERRE

But I did. I did.

 

HENRI

And felt the same?

 

PIERRE

I felt – strange.

 

Years passed by.

I was dining alone.

A fat woman passed by

Her brood of children along

I remember thinking,

How ugly we become

How fat and old she is

I found myself feeling sorry

For her husband.

 

JULIE

Excuse me.

 

PIERRE

She stopped at my table.

 

JULIE

You don’t remember me, do you?

 

PIERRE

Have we met before?

 

JULIE

Oh yes! You used to buy me tea.

 

PIERRE

Buy you tea?

 

JULIE

I am Madame Julie Lefevre. … Sir?

 

PIERRE

I thought I might pass out.

How could it be?

The young woman

Who had stolen my heart

Who had filled my dreams

Had become fat

With children pulling

On her dress.

How could it be?

 

JULIE

Are you not Monsieur Pierre Garnier?

 

PIERRE

I am he.

 

JULIE

I knew it was you.

 

PIERRE

This cannot be!

 

JULIE

And how have you been?

 

PIERRE

I felt weak.

I felt betrayed.

The sweet curve of her neck

Had changed into fat

Her cheek was bloated

Her lips were rough

Her eyes were hard

She was fat and ugly

How could this be?

 

HENRI

What did you do?

 

PIERRE

I escaped.

As soon as I could

I begged my leave

And fled.

 

JULIE

I was no longer pretty

No longer young

I saw disappointment

In your eyes

And then you fled

 

PIERRE          

And later, at home

Looking in the mirror

I saw the terrible truth

My brown moustache was gray

My black hair, gray

My youthful face, old

I was no younger than she!

I was as ugly as she!

I had changed

As much as she!

My cheek as bloated

My neck as fat

I was as ancient as she!

This is the moment I learned

How old I really was

This is the moment I learned

The most terrible truth in life

Farewell, my youth!

Farewell!

 

PIERRE & JULIE

The beauty of youth fast fades away

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

PIERRE & HENRI & JULIE

Each in our time must realize this

The great revelation that comes as you age

Life is here and gone in a flash

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

JULIE

Seize the moment, seize the day

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

PIERRE

I loved her so much

But she was married

 

JULIE

He never knew

How unhappy I was

If only he’d told me

The truth in his heart

 

PIERRE

Our time was so short

Here and then gone

 

JULIE

If you’d taken me with you

If only you’d asked

 

PIERRE

Moments at tea

With impossible thoughts

 

JULIE

If only you’d told me

The truth in your heart

 

PIERRE

But now she was old

Now she was fat

And now I was old

Now I was fat

 

JULIE

Seize the moment, seize the day

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

*

 

PIERRE, HENRI, JULIE (various combinations)

Seize the moment, seize the day

What you don’t do

Never gets done

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

Love is the crash of thunder at night

One moment, everything possible

The next moment, everything gone

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

Life is the blink of an eye

Life is a flash in the sky

Life is the snap of a twig

Life is the beat of your heart

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

Seize the moment, seize the day

Or it will pass you by

Farewell, my youth! Farewell!

 

You look in the mirror

You’re old, you’re fat

Life is too short, my friend, too short

 

Seize the moment, seize the day

Seize the moment, seize the day

 

Farewell, my youth!

Farewell!

 

PIERRE

Farewell, my youth!

Farewell!

 

END