SoD: "The Impossible Dream"

The Impossible Dream (from The Man of La Mancha)
Lyrics by Joe Darion; music by Mitch Leigh

ALDONZA
Why do you do these things?

DON QUIXOTE
What things?

ALDONZA
These ridiculous… the things you do!

DON QUIXOTE
I hope to add some measure of grace to the world.

ALDONZA
The world’s a dung heap and we are maggots that crawl on it!

DON QUIXOTE
My Lady knows better in her heart.

ALDONZA
What’s in my heart will get me halfway to hell.
And you, Señor Don Quixote-you’re going to take
such a beating!

DON QUIXOTE
Whether I win or lose does not matter.

ALDONZA
What does?

DON QUIXOTE
Only that I follow the quest.

ALDONZA
(spits)
That for your Quest!
(turns, marches away; stops, turns bock
and asks, awkwardly)
What does that mean… quest?

DON QUIXOTE
It is the mission of each true knight…
His duty… nay, his privilege!

To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go;
To right the unrightable wrong.

To love, pure and chaste, from afar,
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!

This is my Quest to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far,
To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march into hell
For a heavenly cause!

And I know, if I’ll only be true
To this glorious Quest,
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I’m laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach the unreachable stars!

* * *

Yes, it’s true. This blogger has a slight taste for musical theater, having performed in the pit orchestras of several productions during college. The Man of La Mancha was actually my first “theater memory”, performed by a local community troupe in Homer, Alaska, when I was no more than 10 or 11, I’m guessing. That was one of my first musical memories, others being seeing songwriter/singer Jewel yodeling with her dad as a young tyke (two years my younger) and my dad playing the bassoon part on a bass trombone in a community performance of Handel’s Messiah.

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