Meine Lippen

English Libretto or Translation:

Why ever should it be
That men at once make love to me?
When they are near me, There they stand.
Their eyes look deep in mine.They always kiss my hand.

Why ever should it be
They speak of magic charms in me
That no man can resist?
For every time they look at me these charms
persist.

But when the soft lights glint and glance
As midnight hours go by
They hear me sing, they see me dance
It's then that I know why

On my lips every kiss is like wine
In my arms love is more than divine,
Its engraved in the stars high above me
Men must kiss me, men must love me.

When my feet haunting rhythms inspire,
In my eyes gleam the flames of desire,
When I dance, then I know Fate's design.
On my lips every kiss is like wine.

I have a dancer's blood
That rules me like a throbbing flood.
My mother was the dancing star
Without a rival at the Golden Alcazar!

How great she must have been!
In dreams I have so often seen
The raptures when she danced;
She held each heart enthralled and every eye
entranced.

Her spirit wakes in me again,
My fortune wills it so.
At night I dance as she did then,
And this is all I know.

On my lips every kiss is like wine
In my arms love is more than divine,
Its engraved in the stars high above me
Men must kiss me, men must love me.

When my feet haunting rhythms inspire,
In my eyes gleam the flames of desire,
When I dance, then I know Fate's design.
On my lips every kiss is like wine.