Preparations Lyrics

(Pierre runs into Anatole on the street. Pierre is drunk, Anatole in a hurry.)

PIERRE
Ah, Anatole! Where are you off too?

ANATOLE
Pierre, good man,
Tonight I go away, on an adventure
You'll not be seeing me for some time
I've found a new pleasure
And I'm taking her away
I'll send you a letter from Poland

PIERRE
Ha! An elopement!
Fool, you are married already!

ANATOLE
Don't talk to me of that!
I will not deprive myself of this one!
Tonight! I take her tonight!
Lend me fifty rubles?

PIERRE
Ah, that's a true sage
Living in the moment
What I wouldn't give to be like him!

DOLOKHOV
The plan for Natalie Rostova's abduction
Had all been arranged and the preparations made
On the day that Sonya decided to save her
That was the day that the game was to be played
Natasha was to be on her back porch at ten
Anatole and his troika would scoop her up and then
They'd ride forty miles to the village of Kamenka,
Where an unfrocked priest was to make 'em get wed
Then back into the troika off they'd go
Take the Poland highroad to the wedding bed

ANATOLE
Passports, horses, ten thousand rubles I have taken from my sister
And another ten thousand raised with Dolokhov's help

DOLOKHOV
We were gathered in my study drinking up some tea
Just Anatole the two wedding witnesses and me
An abacus and paper money strewn on the desk
Persian rugs and bearskins hanging grotesque
Anatole was walking with his uniform unbuttoned
Walking to and fro
To and fro
To and fro

ANATOLE & DOLOKHOV
To and fro
To and fro
To and fro
To and fro

DOLOKHOV
Now wait!
You better
Just
Give it up now
Why dontcha
While there's still time!
You'd really better drop it all
Give it up now!
While there's still time!
Do you know?

ANATOLE
What, teasing again?
Fool don't talk nonsense!
Go to the devil! Eh?
Really this is no time for your stupid jokes

DOLOKHOV
I am not joking, I am talking sense
This is serious business, a dangerous business
Come here, come here, come here Anatole!
Why would I joke about it?
Me of all people
Who found the priest, raised the money, got the passports, got the horses?

ANATOLE
And well I think you for it
Do you think I am not grateful?

DOLOKHOV
And now you'll carry her away but will they let it stop there?
You haven't thought this through or do you just don't care?
Now listen to me tell it to you one last time
They will take you to the court and convict you for your crime
Already married and you're playing with a little girl
Don't you know, don't you think, don't you know?

ANATOLE
Nonsense, nonsense!
I'm scowling and grimacing
Didn't I explain it to you, didn't I, what?

DOLOKHOV
And here Anatole,
With the stubborn attachment small-minded people have
For conclusions they've worked out for themselves
Repeated his argument to me for the hundredth time

ANATOLE
If this marriage isn't valid
Then I'm off the hook
But if it is valid, it really doesn't matter!
No one abroad is gonna know a thing about it
Isn't that so now don't you know?
Don't talk to me, don't don't what what
Ah go to hell now!
I'm a-clutching my hair
It's the very devil!
Here, feel how it beats!

(He pressed Dolokhov's hand to his heart. A light comes up on Natasha across the room.)

Ah mon cher, mon cher
Quel pied, quel regard!
What a foot she has, what a glance!
A goddess!

And my handsome lips
Mutter something tender to myself

It's time!
It's time!
Now then! Nearly ready? You're dawdling!
The driver is here
The driver is here
Balaga is here!