Stay/Go

by Kartini and Ibu Dewi

IBU DEWI (NARRATOR)
That’s the way the story goes,

Everybody knows 

That’s the way the story goes,

Everybody knows 

KARTINI 

I see the skyline 

Down here from the beach

It seems like it’s so close 

Yet so far out of reach

But then I got my boat

And started to paddle

I felt the wind on my skin

And yearned for tomorrow

(short instrumental)

I look to the other side 

Down here from the beach 

It seems like it’s so close 

Yet so far out of reach

As I paddled my boat

And followed the sound of the birds 

I wanted to be like them 

To soar high with no restraints

KARTINI & IBU DEWI

Europe, you have taken over my mind,

But I see now that you won’t ever be mine. 

KARTINI

A VOICE TELLS ME TO ‘GO,

IT SAYS ‘FIGHT FOR A BETTER TOMORROW’ 

ANOTHER VOICE TELLS ME TO ‘STAY’

IT SAYS ‘PUT YOUR LONGINGS BEHIND YOU’

WHAT DO I DO?

SO CLOSE TO LEAVING 

UNTIL THE TIDE KICKED IN 

THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN 

I WAS BACK AT SQUARE ONE

AND FOR THE FIRST TIME 

I LET THE TIDE TAKE ME IN 

NO MATTER HOW MUCH I PREPARED MYSELF

I’M STILL NOT READY TO LET GO

(beach soundscape continues, lights dim. Sound fades out. Set changes to Kartini’s bedroom. Ibu Dewi stays where she is. Kartini relocates to stage left and sits on her writing desk.)