| (Child) Will it be long before she comes? | |
| (Maiden) A young man, weary and broken, dressed in a soldier's clothes. | |
| (1, 0) 138 | I come again from exile. |
| (1, 0) 139 | O ye, who have been my people, is it your common will that I take the throne once more? |
| (Crowd) Yes! | |
| (Father) Without you, we are nothing and the work of our hands is dust! | |
| (1, 0) 144 | O my people, will you not remember? |
| (1, 0) 145 | Has it not been before? |
| (1, 0) 146 | Must wisdom be for ever bought at this great price of pain? |
| (1, 0) 147 | Without me, you are nothing and the work of your hands is dust. |
| (1, 0) 148 | Why, therefore, is your allegiance frail? |
| (1, 0) 149 | Why is my reign rejected? |
| (1, 0) 150 | Why do men send me from their midst—only to learn once more their utter need of me? |
| (Father) O calm, kind Queen, once more we learn it! | |
| (Maiden) Oh, give us back those smiling days whose joy was greater than we knew! | |
| (1, 0) 154 | All that I have, I give you! |
| (1, 0) 155 | This is my gift. |
| (1, 0) 156 | The son shall share the father's labour, and all men shall reap where they have sown. |
| (1, 0) 157 | The son shall dry the mother's tears, and she shall lean on his strong arm. |
| (1, 0) 158 | The maiden shall meet her lover, and they shall walk hand-in-hand together in the beauty of the world. |
| (1, 0) 159 | The child shall play beside the door, and on his play there shall no longer fall the shadow that he knows not of. |
| (1, 0) 160 | I gladly take the throne. |
| (Young Man) So, then—at last—my task is done! | |
| (Young Man) So, then—at last—my task is done! | |
| (1, 0) 164 | A task well done! |
| (1, 0) 166 | In exile, I yearned for my own place. |
| (1, 0) 167 | Knowing your hearts, I knew that, in the tumult, you were whispering my name. |
| (1, 0) 168 | And, because of your great need, the Young Man arose and came to find me. |
| (1, 0) 169 | Now, O my people, as you welcome me, remember that the gift I bring you is the Young Man's gift. |
| (1, 0) 170 | Let that not pass with things forgotten. |
| (1, 0) 171 | He came to seek me by the way of sorrows, where there is always blood upon the stones. |
| (Father) O Young Man from the bitter way, what shall the old men give you, as you come back from your quest? | |
| (Young Man) If you would give me my heart's desire, give me to know this little child shall never go the way I went; give me to know that women shall no more weep for men who die before the hour; give me to know that I have truly carried out the task you set me; give me to know that the long red riot of the world is done! | |
| (1, 0) 195 | Speak! |
| (1, 0) 196 | Do you give him his heart's desire? |
| (1, 0) 197 | Am I to be dethroned by a man's mad word? |
| (1, 0) 198 | Must another come one day the same sad way to bring me back? |
| (1, 0) 199 | Am I, indeed, the people's Queen? |