Take Me to the World

[ELLA, spoken]
Do you wanna hear me do my sums?

[CHARLES, spoken]
Mmm hmm

[ELLA, spoken]
Two times one is two

[CHARLES]
Pure as larks singing a cappella

[ELLA, spoken]
Two times two is four
Two times three is— is six!
Two times four is eight

[CHARLES]
Let my poem be your umbrella

[ELLA, spoken]
Two times five is ten
Two times six is twelve
Two times— seven is—
Please, I've got to concentrate
Do you want to hear my sums or don't you?

[CHARLES, spoken]
Mmm hmm

[ELLA, spoken]
When you touch me I can't think of anything but you
I love it when you touch me
Washington, Adams, Jefferson

[CHARLES]
Très naive, yes, but multi-bella

[ELLA, spoken]
Madison, Monroe
Adams, Jackson, Van Buren
Harrison, Tyler, Polk—
Charlеs, we— we can't go on like this

[CHARLES, spoken]
Why not? You'rе happy, aren't you?

[ELLA, spoken]
I want to hear a bird

[CHARLES, spoken]
Okay, I'll play you one

[ELLA, spoken]
I want to see it—on a twig, with leaves

(sung)
Let me see the world
With clouds
Take me to the world
Out where I can push
Through crowds—
Take me to the world

A world that smiles
With streets instead of aisles
Where I can walk for miles
With you

Take me to the world
That's real
Show me how it's done
Teach me how to laugh
To feel
Move me to the sun

Just hold my hand
Whenever we arrive
Take me to a world
Where I can be alive

[CHARLES, spoken]
The world is better here
I know, I've seen them both

[ELLA]
Let me see the world
That smiles

[CHARLES, spoken]
A poet doesn't count for much out there

[ELLA]
Take me to the world

[CHARLES, spoken]
We'd be cold and hungry in the winter

[ELLA]
Somewhere I can walk
For miles

[CHARLES, spoken]
A dark, shabby room with cracked plaster, threadbare prints

[ELLA]
Take me to the world

[CHARLES, spoken]
You couldn't get a job, I couldn't hold one

[ELLA]
With all around

[CHARLES, spoken]
We'd begin to hate each other

[ELLA]
Things growing in the ground

[CHARLES, spoken]
We'd have fights, you'd cry

[ELLA]
Where birds that make a sound
Are birds

[CHARLES, spoken]
I couldn't bear it if you cried

[ELLA]
Let me see the world
That's real

[CHARLES]
I have seen the world—

[ELLA]
Show me how it's done

[CHARLES]
—And it's mean and ugly

[ELLA]
Teach me how to laugh
To feel

[CHARLES]
We could laugh together here

[ELLA]
Move me to the sun

[CHARLES]
Stay here with me

[ELLA]
Just hold—

[CHARLES]
Stay here

[ELLA]
—My hand—

[CHARLES]
I love you, Ella

[ELLA]
—Whenever we arrive

[CHARLES]
But we're happy here!

[ELLA]
Let it be a world—

[CHARLES]
Stay with me

[ELLA]
—With you
Any other world—

[CHARLES]
Stay with me

[ELLA]
—Will do
Take me to a world
Where I can be alive
(spoken)
Oh Charles, what kind of life is this?

[CHARLES, spoken]
I make the decisions
If I say we stay, we stay

[ELLA, spoken]
We'll become just like the people here
Cold, spindly things that move at night
Sometimes I think it's happening to us already

[CHARLES, spoken]
I'm older and wiser
I know what's best

[ELLA, spoken]
Oh Charles, if you love me at all—

[CHARLES, spoken]
I love you more than poetry
We're getting out tonight
There's the ball tonight, that makes it perfect
I'll read my ode, it's the first thing on the program
And then while everybody's dancing, out we'll go
Oh Ella, I'll give you everything

[CHARLES]
Do you want the world?
Well then
You shall have the world
Ask me for the world
Again
You shall have the world!

A world of skies
That's bursting with surprise
To open up your eyes
For joy

[CHARLES & ELLA]
We shall see the world
Come true
We shall have the world
I won't be afraid
With you—
We shall have the world

You'll hold my hand
And know you're not alone

[CHARLES]
You shall have the world
To keep
Such a lovely world
You'll weep
We shall have the world
Forever
For our own!