MUSIC STARTS AUTOMATICALLY
 JUST WAIT A MOMENT UNTIL THE SONG IS LOADED COMPLETELEY.
 SONG SEQUENCED BY SIMON GOODWIN & ANDY HYAM.
Hermaphrodite: a flower containing both male and female organs; a person or animal of both sexes.

The child Hermaphroditus was the son of Hermes and Aphrodite, the result of a secret love affair. For this reason he was entrusted to the nymphs of the isolated Mount Ida, who allowed him to grow up as a wild creature of the woods. After his encounter with the water-nymph Salmacis, he laid a curse upon the water. According to fable, all persons who bathed in the water became hermaphrodites.

From a dense forest of tall dark pinewood,
Mount Ida rises like an island.
Within a hidden cave, nymphs had kept a child;
Hermaphroditus, son of gods, so afraid of their love.

    As the dawn creeps up the sky
    The hunter caught sight of a doe.
    In desire for conquest,
    He found himself within a glade he'd not beheld before.

Hermaphroditus:
"Where are you my father?...
Give wisdom to your son"		 Narrator:
"The he could not go further
Now lost, the boy was guided by the sun"

    And as his strength began to fail
    He saw a shimmering lake.
    A shadow in the dark green depths
    Disturbed the strange tranquility.
Salmacis:
"The waters are disturbed
Some creature has been stirred"		 Narrator:
"The waters are disturbed
Naiad queen Salmacis has been stirred"

    As he rushed to quench his thirst,
    A fountain spring appeared before him
    And as his heated breath brushed through the cool mist,
    A liquid voice called, "Son of gods, drink from my spring".
      The water tasted strangely sweet.
      Behind him the voice called again.
      He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone
      And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake.
Salmacis:
"We shall be one
"We shall be joined as one"		 Narrator:
"She wanted them as one
"Yet he had no desire to be one"

Hermaphroditus:
"Away from me cold-blooded woman
Your thirst is not mine"

Salmacis:
"Nothing will cause us to part
Hear me, O Gods"

Unearthly calm descended from the sky
And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged
Forever to be joined as one.
    The creature crawled into the lake.
    A fading voice was heard:
    "And I beg, yes I beg that all who touch this spring
    May share my fate"

Salmacis:
"We are the one
"We are the one"
 Narrator:
"The two are now made one
Demi-god and nymph are now made one"

Both had given everything they had.
A lover's dream had been fulfilled at last,
Forever still beneath the lake.

 

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