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Lorenz enters the scene
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Lorenz
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Is that Professor Manuela?
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Lorenz
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Her voice is every bit as fine as you might expect from the former leader of the Mittelfrank Troupe...
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Lorenz
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If it weren't for her drinking, and her woefully inadequate manners, she would fit right in with high society—wait a minute...
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Manuela
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♪As my mind clings to desperate thoughts... Here it comes, Horsebow Moon and summer's end...♪
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Lorenz
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That's my—oh, no. No, no, no!
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Manuela enters the scene
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Manuela
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Oh, Lorenz! I heard you shout. Are you OK?
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Lorenz
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The poem! My poem! Forget it, I said! I asked you for one thing!
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Manuela
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And I told you it would be impossible for me to forget.
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Lorenz
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Certainly I understand, but setting it to music? And now singing it?
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Manuela
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Oh, yes! It makes for a beautiful song, doesn't it?
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Manuela
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I'm feeling so lonely and blue. My dearest has left. He is gone far away, and I'm here. All alone.
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Manuela
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And in my sadness, your poem... Well, it became a song for me to sing. It brought me a moment of happiness...
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Lorenz
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I do not know who spurned you, but I assure you my poem has nothing to do with any such feelings.
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Lorenz
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It is getting late. We should both turn in. I will take my leave now.
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Manuela
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Oh. I understand. You're leaving me too. Why? Am I too old to matter?
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Lorenz
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No, I never said any such thing. Why, I am sure there are plenty of men who would prefer a mature woman such as yourself.
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Manuela
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"Mature," he says. I knew it. You're all the same, you know.
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Manuela
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No one sees the person behind the voice. They just see me older today than yesterday. They say, "Oh, look what happened to her."
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Manuela
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Nobody sees my frustration, my resignation to be forever alone. But you do. It's all right there in your poem.
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Lorenz
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Please. I assure you, my poem was not about that at all. It was actually about the ideal of nobility.
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Lorenz
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The sentiment is that, someday, I know I will get what I want. There is no resignation in it, as you seem to be suggesting.
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Manuela
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Lorenz...
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Manuela
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I was sure the poem was more about someone lamenting their frailty and the loneliness of time's passing.
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Manuela
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But that's not it at all, is it? This is the story of someone impatient to get ahead. Who is afraid they'll never make it.
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Lorenz
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The speaker in the poem does lament his shortcomings. The road to reach his ideal is long.
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Lorenz
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It is a trial. A test. If he can just find his way through it, he knows he can move forward.
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Lorenz
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So I think you should try to move forward too. Because with a voice as talented as yours, how could you possibly fail?
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Manuela
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Lorenz... Someday you should let me sing this song in public.
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Manuela
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I think people who are battling through their own trials...they might find comfort in this. And I believe I'm the only one who can do your work justice.
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Lorenz
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Very well. You have my assent. On the condition that you do not attach my name to it.
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Lorenz
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Now, permit me to retire for the night. I require ample rest to maintain an adequate level of polish, you know.
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Lorenz
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I suppose if my poem must be set to music, then it had best be done by such a talented singer.