Doctor Atomic: Off-site

Trying to tear Oppie's mind away from the lab and bring it back into their bedroom, Kitty sings these delicious words by Muriel Rukeyser at the beginning of the second scene, one of the most memorable moments of the evening:

Am I in your light?
No, go on reading
(the hackneyed light of evening quarrelling with the bulbs;
the book's bent rectangle solid on your knees)
only my fingers in your hair, only, my eyes
splitting the skull to tickle your brain with love
in a slow caress blurring the mind,
kissing your mouth awake
opening the body's mouth and stopping the words.

This light is thick with birds, and
Evening warns us beautifully of death.
Slowly I bend over you, slowly your breath
Runs rhythms through my blood
As if I said
I love you
And you should raise your head.

Listening, speaking into the covert night
: Did someone say something?
Love, am I in your light?
Am I?
See how love alters the living face
Go spin the immortal coin through time
Watch the thing flip through space
tick    tick

Comments

[Alex Ross]

And you notice that "tick tick" comes back during the countdown ... !