MURASAKI: My heart was charmed by the beautiful sound of your
flute.
TOKIMARU: The sound of the flute led me on to this place, where a
person I knew long ago resides. I swore that if I met you I would stop
playing. Here, let me give you this flute as a memento. I have nothing to
regret now—now that I have met you once.
MURASAKI: Why do you keep saying “once”?...
TOKIMARU: The haughty Heike, too, lasted but a moment...
The mighty must fall they who are together must part a single brief
meeting is the same as a bond of fifty years ...
Tokimaru gives the flute to Murasaki and holds her hands, reluctant to
part with her.
TOKIMARU: I’ll climb Mount Hie tomorrow. I prayed as I played my
flute that the day I met you would be the day I became a priest.
The old woman returns, having filled a bucket with water. She sees them.
Murasaki and Tokimaru draw apart.
OLD WOMAN: Murasaki, you mustn’t leave your mother’s side even
for a moment.
She goes into the house and arranges gentians, miscanthus, and other
plants in the bucket.
TOKIMARU: How is Kuretake?
MURASAKI: In this life there’s no way of knowing what tomorrow will
bring... She’s worn out from thinking of Kagekiyo...
TOKIMARU: Is she ill?
MURASAKI: She can’t bear to play the biwa, even, linked as it is to the
Heike—she can no longer dance or sing—her life has collapsed completely.
