[Aida:]
No…
You know nothing about me and care even less
How could you understand our emptiness
You've plundered our wisdom, our knowledge, our wealth
In bleeding us dry
You long for our spirit
But that you will never possess
The past is now another land
Far beyond my reach
Invaded by insidious
Foreign bodies, foreign speech
Where timeless joys of childhood
Lie broken on the beach
[Radames:]
What is your name?
[Aida:]
Aida…
[Soldier #3:] (offstage)
Captain, we're ready to dock!
(RADAMES scoops up the shackles from the floor and forces them on AIDA.)
[Aida:]
Please, leave them off.
[Radames:]
You're a slave now! And if you want to survive you better remember it.
[Aida:]
The present is an empty space
Between the good and bad
A moment leading nowhere
Too pointless to be sad
But time enough to lay to waste
Every certainty I had
(The platform from RADAMES' ship appears onstage, as slaves exit from the ship and onto the dock.)
The future is a barren world
From which I can't return
Both heartless and material
Its wretched spoils not my concern
Shining like an evil sun
As my childhood treasures burn