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CARMEN pays tribute to the waywardness of love:
Love at best is a bird in flight
That cares not what you do or say.
Call it back, and it's out of sight;
You point, it flies the other way.
Flatter, threaten or beat your breast,
No tears will make that bird obey.
When it's ready to leave the nest
Nor you nor I can make it stay.
That's love! That's love!
A wayward child, a gypsy, too;
You men will meddle only if you dare.
Be cold to me, I burn for you,
But when I smolder, oh you men, beware!
You men, beware!
Be cold to me,
Be cold to me and I burn for you,
But when I smolder, oh you men, beware!
Taken prisoner by surprise,
The startled bird will spread its wings;
Try to hold it and off it flies,
But when you want it least, it clings.
See it circle and circle round,
So often sought but seldom found.
Hold it fast and it flies away;
When wanted least, it's there to stay.
That's love! What's love!
That's love! That's love!
CARMEN meets her match, the superb Toreador:
ESCAMILLO
Fighters all I proudly call my brothers!
To war and sport, come lift a glass of wine.
One like the other,
By blood related,
On the field or in the ring
It's life on the line.
Holiday! Inside the great arena
The places fill, crowds pouring in --
Roughshod and rowdy,
Eager and ready
For the gaudy spectacle of glory
Waiting to start.
People stamping and others storming
As if to tear the place apart,
All gathered for the game of courage
And display of my noble art:
Go on! Be ready!
Give all you've got! Ah!--
Toreador! Take over!
Toreador! Toreador!
Somewhere among the sea of sparkling eyes,
One dark pair shining bright
Foretells a sweeter prize.
Yes, later on,
Love will be yours tonight.
The smugglers find a point of agreement:
DANCAIRO and REMENDADO
Whether as crook or racketeer,
Entering crime as a career,
Whether to cheat, deceive or rob,
Women you want doing the job.
Sly, discreet, and talented all,
They've got the goods to make a haul.
The flower has done its insidious work on DON JOSE'S heart.
DON JOSE
Tossed from your hand, I caught a flower
That I have kept through lonely hours.
The color fades, the bloom is gone,
And yet the fragrance lingers on.
In the drab confinement of a prison,
I would gaze, and tears would glisten;
As I inhaled, I only knew
That in the dark, I breathed of you.
At times I cursed, at times I hated;
Now lost in despair, now elated.
I then would ask what God of wrath
Had chosen you to cross my path.
Ah, but what a fraud! What a liar!
All along I burned with desire,
With only pain to feed upon,
A single wish, one hope alone:
Carmen I'll see again,
Be with again!
MERCEDES and FRASQUITA foresee a delightful future,
as revealed in the cards:
MERCEDES
Look! A lover handsome and fair
Whose fire burns hotter and hotter.
FRASQUITA
And I see an old millionaire
Down the aisle still able to totter.
MERCEDES
On a horse, I'm holding his waist
While off to a cabin I'm carried.
FRASQUITA
A castle is more to my taste,
Much envied by ladies unmarried.
MERCEDES
For my love he's willing to die,
But instead we settle for pleasure.
FRASQUITA
I've everything money can buy,
Silver and gold, travel at leisure.
MERCEDES
His brilliant career on the rise,
The underlings walk in his shadow.
FRASQUITA
And mine...and mine...
It's too good to be true...
Soon...he dies!
Ah! I become a wealthy widow.
CARMEN foresees a far different fate for herself:
In vain you push away the cards or try to change
The web they grimly weave;
However hard to take, however dark or strange,
The cards do not deceive.
If fate intends for you a pleasant road ahead
With skies serene and clear,
Lay out the friendly cards without dismay or dread;
Your joy will reappear.
But if the book says otherwise, your fate is sealed.
Ask not the reason why.
Reshuffled twenty times, the cards will never yield.
Again they say, "You die!"
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