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A churchyard; in it a tomb belonging to the Capulets. We can see the inside of the tomb, but there is a stone door with leads into it on the left wall. It is very dark but the faint light of a torch can be seen in the distance. As it moves closer we can see the shadows of two figures. |
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Enter PARIS, and his Page bearing flowers and a torch |
| Paris |
Give me thy torch, boy: hence, and stand aloof: |
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Yet put it out, for I would not be seen. |
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Under yond yew-trees lay thee all along, |
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Holding thine ear close to the hollow ground; |
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So shall no foot upon the churchyard tread, |
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Being loose, unfirm, with digging up of graves, |
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But thou shalt hear it: whistle then to me, |
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As signal that thou hear'st something approach. |
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Give me those flowers. Do as I bid thee, go. |
| Page |
[Aside] I am almost afraid to stand alone |
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Here in the churchyard; yet I will adventure. |
| Paris |
Sweet flower, with flowers thy bridal bed I strew,-- |
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O woe! thy canopy is dust and stones;-- |
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Which with sweet water nightly I will dew, |
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Or, wanting that, with tears distill'd by moans: |
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The obsequies that I for thee will keep |
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Nightly shall be to strew thy grave and weep. |
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The boy gives warning something doth approach. |
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What cursed foot wanders this way to-night, |
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To cross my obsequies and true love's rite? |
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What with a torch! muffle me, night, awhile. |
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Enter ROMEO and BALTHASAR, with a torch, mattock, &c |
| Romeo |
Give me that mattock and the wrenching iron. |
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Hold, take this letter; early in the morning |
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See thou deliver it to my lord and father. |
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Give me the light: upon thy life, I charge thee, |
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Whate'er thou hear'st or seest, stand all aloof, |
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And do not interrupt me in my course. |
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Why I descend into this bed of death, |
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Is partly to behold my lady's face; |
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But chiefly to take thence from her dead finger |
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A precious ring, a ring that I must use |
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In dear employment: therefore hence, be gone: |
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But if thou, jealous, dost return to pry |
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In what I further shall intend to do, |
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By heaven, I will tear thee joint by joint |
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And strew this hungry churchyard with thy limbs: |
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The time and my intents are savage-wild, |
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More fierce and more inexorable far |
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Than empty tigers or the roaring sea. |
| Balthasar |
I will be gone, sir, and not trouble you. |
| Romeo |
So shalt thou show me friendship. Take thou that: |
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Live, and be prosperous: and farewell, good fellow. |
| Balthasar |
[Aside] For all this same, I'll hide me hereabout: |
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His looks I fear, and his intents I doubt. |
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