LAKME - the Bell Song

From the Bel Canto Opera production: Lakme's father, Nilakantha, posing as a sadhu, forces his daughter to sing in the streets in order to lure her British Officer lover so he can identify him and kill him. Lakme, reluctantly, sings the Legend of the Pariah's Daughter (The Bell Song).

LAKME: A poor pariah's daughter,
untouchable, reviled,
roamed one night into the jungle,
monsoon winds raging wild.
Roamed one night in the jungle...a maid not much more than a child,
All alone, she wandered, weeping,
outcaste, so lowly born.
All young men recoiled and shunned her...
the old men showered scorn.
All alone she wandered, rejected, forsaken, forlorn.
The poor pariah's daughter found a pool of clear water
She drank to her delight and she laughed at the night.
At once she saw a handsome stranger
who seemed as though he had lost his way,
and close behind him, she spotted danger...
a tiger crouching, awaiting his prey.
The sahib kept walking...
...she watched the tiger stalking,
there was no time to waste-
she ran to him in haste
and with her, she carried a bell there,
and tinkled it, casting a spell there...
a tinkling bell to quell a savage beast

The tiger's ploy was defeated,
With a snarl, it retreated.
Her bell had saved the stranger's life.
The sahib smiled and took her hand and kissed it
Could he know how lowly she was?
And then, with his arms wrapped around her,
they ascended to heaven
He said ""My child, your place is here"
Now all was clear...
He was Lord Krishna!
And to this day, there in the wood,
there by the pool where Lord Krishna stood,
you still hear that same tinkling bell there.
the bell that had conjured the spell there,
the bell she rang to quell the savage beast.

words © Tom Boyd

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bel
• canto
• opera
• lakme
• delibes
• boyd

[TheOriginalPagana]

Wow! Just...wow! Amazing!