Act 3 Scene 5

JULIET

Are you going? It's still a long time until daybreak. Don't be afraid. That sound you heard was the

NIGHTINGALE

The lark sings in the morning, the nightingale sings at night.
nightingale, not the lark. Every night the nightingale chirps on that pomegranate-tree. Believe me, my love, it was the nightingale.

ROMEO

It was the lark, the bird that sings at dawn, not the nightingale. Look, my love, what are those streaks of light in the clouds parting in the east? Night is over, and day is coming. If I want to live, I must go. If I stay, I'll die.

JULIET

That light is not daylight, I know it. It's some meteor coming out of the sun to light your way to Mantua. So stay for a while. You don't have to go yet.

ROMEO

Let me be captured. Let me be put to death. I am content, if that's the way you want it. I'll say the light over there isn't morning. I'll say it's the reflection of the moon. I'll say that sound isn't the lark ringing in the sky. I want to stay more than I want to go. Come, death, and welcome! Juliet wants it this way. How are you, my love? Let's talk. It's not daylight.

JULIET

It is, it is. Get out of here, be gone, go away! It's the lark that sings so out of tune, making such harsh noise. Some say the lark makes a sweet division between day and night. It's not true because she separates us.

SOME SAY THE LARK TRADED ITS EYES WITH THE TOAD

A folktale said that the lark had gotten its ugly eyes from the toad, who had taken its pretty eyes from the lark.
Some say the lark traded its eyes with the toad. Oh, now I wish they had traded voices too! Because the lark's voice tears us out of each other's arms, and now there will be men hunting for you. Oh, go away now. I see more and more light.

ROMEO
More and more light. More and more pain for us.

The NURSE enters.

JULIET
Nurse?

NURSE
Your mother is coming to your bedroom. Day has broken. Be careful. Watch out.

The NURSE exits.

JULIET
Then the window lets day in, and life goes out the window.

ROMEO
Farewell, farewell! Give me one kiss, and I'll go down.

JULIET
Are you gone like that, my love, my lord? Yes, my husband, my friend! I must hear from you every day in the hour. In a minute there are many days. Oh, by this count I'll be many years older before I see my Romeo again.

ROMEO
Farewell! I won't miss any chance to send my love to you.

JULIET
Oh, do you think we'll ever meet again?

ROMEO
I have no doubts. All these troubles will give us stories to tell each other later in life.

JULIET
Oh God, I have a soul that predicts evil things! Now that you are down there, you look like someone dead in the bottom of a tomb. Either my eyesight is failing me, or you look pale.

ROMEO
And trust me, love, you look pale to me too. Sadness takes away our color. Goodbye, Goodbye!

ROMEO exits.