Forgive me, master

Libretto/Lyrics/Text/Testo:

Recitative

(To Tom)

Forgive me, master,
for intruding upon your transports,
but your dream is still
a long way from fulfillment.
Here is the machine, it is true,
but it must be manufactured
in great quantities.
It must be advertised, it must be sold.
We shall need money and advice.
We shall need partners, merchants of probity
and reputation in the City.

TOM
Alas, good Shadow!
your admonitions are only too just
and they chill my spirit.
For who am l, who am become
a byword for extravagance and folly,
to approach such men?
Is this dream, too, this noble vision,
to prove as empty as the rest?
What shall I do?

NICK
Have no fear, master.
Leave such matters to me.
Indeed I've spoken to several notable
citizens concerning your invention,
and they are as eager to see it as you to show.

TOM
Ingenious Shadow!
How could I live without you?
I cannot wait!
Let's visit them immediately!

(They beginning to push the machine)

NICK
Should you not tell
the good news to your wife.

TOM
My wife? I have not wife
I bury her.