Good people, just a moment

Libretto/Lyrics/Text/Testo:

EPILOGUE

(Baba, Tom, Nick, Anne and Troulove come in.
The men aren't wig and Baba beard)

ALL
Good people, just a moment.
Though our story now is ended,
there's a moral to draw
from what you saw
since the curtain first ascended.

ANNE
Not every rake is rescued
at the last by love and beauty.
Not every man is given an Anne
to take the place of duty.

BABA
Let Baba warn the ladies:
you will find out soon or later
that, good or bad, all men are mad,
all they say or do is theatre.

TOM
Beware young men who fancy
you are Virgil or Julius Caesar,
lest when you wake you be only a rake.

TRUELOVE
I heartily agree, sir.

NICK
Day in, day out, poor Shadow
must do as he is bidden.
Many insist I do not exist.
At times I wish I didn't.

ALL
So let us sing as one.
At all times, in all lands
beneath the moon and sun,
this proverb has proved true
since Eve went out with Adam:
For idle hands and hearts and minds
the devil finds works that to do.
He has a work for you,
for you and also for you.