AIDA No... You know nothing about me and care even less How could you understand our emptiness You've plundered our wisdom, our knowledge, our wealth In bleeding us dry You long for our spirit But that you will never possess The past is now another land Far beyond my reach Invaded by insidious Foreign bodies, foreign speech Where timeless joys of childhood Lie broken on the beach RADAMES What is your name? AIDA Aida... SOLDIER #3 (offstage) Captain, we're ready to dock! (RADAMES scoops up the shackles from the floor and forces them on AIDA.) AIDA Please, leave them off. RADAMES You're a slave now! And if you want to survive you better remember it. AIDA The present is an empty space Between the good and bad A moment leading nowhere Too pointless to be sad But time enough to lay to waste Every certainty I had (The platform from RADAMES' ship appears onstage, as slaves exit from the ship and onto the dock.) The future is a barren world From which I can't return Both heartless and material Its wretched spoils not my concern Shining like an evil sun As my childhood treasures burn Shining like an evil sun As my childhood treasures burn