Jeanine Tesori
Promise Me, Violet (Reprise)
[FLICK, spoken]
Violet – maybe you still feel a hundred miles from who you are.
[VIOLET, spoken]
I've got to get back on the bus. [YOUNG VI]
Don't pull back –
Don't shudder
Look elsewhere
Give me the wings
Of an angel[FLICK, spoken]
But I know who you are. And I know where you belong, too.
[VIOLET, spoken]
All alone on the side of some goddamn mountain.
[FLICK, spoken]
No, Violet. You belong with me. I wish you could'a seen the way you looked when you first stepped off'a that bus.[VIOLET]
I wanted a pair of Gene Tierney eyes
And Ava Gardner's eyebrows
Or even just the cheekbones
But nothing's changed
It's too late now
I'm going home –
God, can't you leave me!
I'm sorry
I can't stay with you
[FLICK, spoken]
But Violet, you can.
(sung)
I know you feel like nothing's changed
But look at you, you're different
You're not the girl you were
When you began
And look at me
'Cause when you look at me
You see the man
I've always wanted to be
Look at me
Sweet Jesus, look at me
When you do I'll find
The words to tell you
How I love you
I've been waiting, for a lifetime
And now you're so near
I'm gonna wait here
Until the wait is through
Promise me, Violet –
[VIOLET]
How can I promise?
[FLICK]
Like I promised you
[VIOLET]
Careful now, Grady
You better mean this[FLICK]
All I want is you
I've been waiting –
Scared to lose you –
Scared my plan would fall through –
I've been waiting, for a lifetime
For someone simply
To look and see me
[VIOLET]
I've been waiting –
Afraid to lose –
How will I know you'll never leave?
But maybe you're the one I've waited for
The first one to simply
See me
The way that I see you[YOUNG VI]
Mama, why's a man have eyes?
If I tell you, don't you tell –
[VIOLET, spoken]
Flick. What do you see when you look at me?
[YOUNG VI]
Mama, why's a man have hands?
If I tell you, don't you tell –
Go ask your beau, he understands
There's honey in the bushes, Lord
And water in the well