[Valjean:]
Freedom is mine. The earth is still.
I feel the wind. I breathe again.
And the sky clears
The world is waking.
I drink from the pool. How clean the taste.
Never forget the years, the waste.
Nor forgive them
For what they've done.
They are the guilty — everyone.
The day begins…
And now lets see
What this new world
Will do for me!
[FARMER:]
You'll have to go
I'll pay you off for the day
Collect your bits and pieces there
And be on your way.
[VALJEAN:]
You have given me half
What the other men get!
This handful of tin
Wouldn't buy my sweat!
[LABORER:]
You broke the law
It's there for people to see
Why should you get the same
As honest men like me?
[VALJEAN:]
Now every door is closed to me
Another jail. Another key. Another chain
For when I come to any town
They check my papers
And they find the mark of Cain
In their eyes I see their fear
`We do not want you here.'
[INKEEPER'S WIFE:]
My rooms are full
And I've no supper to spare
I'd like to help a stranger
All we want is to be fair
[VALJEAN:]
I will pay in advance
I can sleep in a barn
You see how dark it is
I'm not some kind of dog!
[INNKEEPER:]
You leave my house
Or feel the weight of my rod
We're law-abiding people here
Thanks be to God.
[VALJEAN:]
And now I know how freedom feels
The jailer always at your heels
It is the law!
This piece of paper in my hand
That makes me cursed throughout the land
It is the law!
Like a cur
I walk the street,
The dirt beneath their feet.
[BISHOP:]
Come in, Sir, for you are weary,
And the night is cold out there.
Though our lives are very humble
What we have, we have to share.
There is wine here to revive you.
There is bread to make you strong,
There's a bed to rest till morning,
Rest from pain, and rest from wrong.
[VALJEAN:]
He let me eat my fill
I had the lion's share
The silver in my hand
Cost twice what I had earned
In all those nineteen years —
That lifetime of despair
And yet he trusted me.
The old fool trusted me —
He'd done his bit of good
I played the grateful serf
And thanked him like I should
But when the house was still,
I got up in the night.
Took the silver
Took my flight!