A Philosopher Bids Farewell To His Coat
(In the opera “La Bohème”, four impoverished students
share a Paris apartment. Rodolfo falls in love with Mimi,
a seamstress who is dying of tuberculosis. With money
at an all-time low, Rodolfo’s friend, the philosopher
Colline, decides he must pawn his overcoat in order to
buy medicine for Mimi. In this aria (“Vecchia Zimarra”),
he takes leave of his dearly-loved garment.)
Listen to me, old friend
of sixteen years, and counting:
it's you who must ascend
- alone - the sacred mountain,
while I stay on the plain.
You know you have my thanks:
whether we'll meet again,
triumphant in the ranks
of the righteous, I don't know.
You never bent your back
to any rich man, though
we often felt the lack
of life-sustaining sous.
These pockets, gaping, worn,
have borne their fill of booze
when we caroused till dawn.
Poets and thinking men
found shelter from the storm
in here. I don't know when
you failed to keep me warm.
Our hands abrade and age
the very book they cherish:
it's time to turn the page,
for even love must perish.
Farewell, you care-worn sleeves,
buttons, I know by heart.
And see, your master grieves,
for now the teardrops start.
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