Apu Ollantay Part 21

Pitu Salla.

Approach nearer, and you can help.

She lives indeed. Look. Watch her now.

Give me the water and the food.

(To Cusi Coyllur, while helping her to sit up.)

O fair princess, I bring thee food And cooling water to refresh.

Try to sit up. I come with help.

Yma Sumac.

Who art thou, my sweetest dove?

Why art thou shut in such a place?

Pitu Salla.

Take a little food, we pray.

Perchance without it, you may die.

Cusi Coyllur.

How happy am I now to see, After these long and dismal years, The new and lovely face of one Who comes with thee and gives me joy.

Yma Sumac.

O my princess, my sister dear, Sweet bird, with bosom of pure gold, What crime can they accuse thee of, That they can make thee suffer thus?

What cruel fate has placed thee here With death on watch in serpent's form?

Cusi Coyllur.

O charming child, the seed of love, Sweet flower for my broken heart, I have been thrust in this abyss.

I once was joined to a man As pupil is part of the eye; But alas! has he forgotten me?

The King know not that we were joined By such indissoluble bonds, And when he came to ask my hand, That King dismissed him in a rage, And cruelly confined me here.

Many years have pa.s.sed since then, Yet, as you see, I'm still alive; No single soul have I beheld For all those sad and dismal years, Nor have I found relief nor hope.

But who art thou, my dear, my love, So young, so fresh, so pitiful?

Yma Sumac.

I too, like thee, am full of grief, For long I've wished to see and love, My poor forlorn and sad princess.

No father, no mother are mine, And there are none to care for me.

Cusi Coyllur.

What age art thou?

Yma Sumac.

I ought to number many years, For I detest this dreadful house, And as it is a dreary place, The time in it seems very long.

Pitu Salla.

She ought to number just ten years According to the account I've kept.

Cusi Coyllur.

And what is thy name?

Yma Sumac.

They call me Yma Sumac now, But to give it me is a mistake.

Cusi Coyllur.

O my daughter! O my lost love, Come to thy mother's yearning heart.

(Embraces Yma Sumac.)