THE GIFT Based on an Indian and Pakistani folk tale Music by Christopher Theofanidis Libretto by Amy Beth Kirsten CHORUS Where are you going, Wali Dad? TENOR What? Who’s that? Leave me alone! CHORUS Where? But where are you going? TENOR I’m going to my solitude; now leave me be! CHORUS But we can’t let you go. TENOR I’m just on my way to the Quiet North, to my home; Now leave me alone! CHORUS We can’t. We’re sorry. We can’t, Wali Dad. We’ve got plans for you: Great Plans. What are you carrying? TENOR Sacks. Sacks to carry many bundles of wild grass: This is my honest labor. CHORUS But your sacks are empty… TENOR Who ARE you? And what manner of persecution is this? Look. I harvest and bundle and hoist and heave and tow To the market to sell- for thirty coins. For thirty coins a day I toil and sweat: It’s a good day when my sacks are empty. Ten for food. Ten for clothes. And ten… I put beneath my bed in a crumbling pot of clay.
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