Why Does She Love Me

RAOUL One more.
BARMAN Aww, buddy, don’tcha think you had enough? It’s practically morning
allready.
RAOUL One more, I said!
BARMAN All right, all right. (Pouring a drink.) My shift is over anyway, so let’s settle the
bill, ok?
(RAOUL dumps a handful of change on the bar.)
Jeez, you’re in a bad way, ain’tcha. Worse than most that end up here.
(door behind the bar opens.)
Here’s the morning shift. Maybe he’ll know what to do with you.
(He grabs his coat and exits as another bartender enters; the new bartender
immediately turns his back on RAOUL.)
RAOUL Yes, what to do with me. That’s the question, isn’t it? That’s always been the
question, ever since the beginning…
She looks for sympathy,
I give her sorrow.
She asks for honesty,
I’ve none to borrow.
She needs my tender kiss,
she begs it of me!
I give her ugliness,
why does she love me?
She yearns for higher things,
things I can’t give her.
The rush that music brings,
I can’t deliver.
And even when she sings,
and soard above me,
I try to clip her wings - -
Why does she love me?
(Turns to the figure behind the bar.) One more drink, sir…
That’s what I need, don’t you think, sir?
(Turns.) Leave the hurt behind…
(The bartender lifts his head, and for the first time we see his face, reflected in
the mirror. It’s THE PHANTOM.)
(Roughly.) Didn’t you hear me? Another drink!
(Without a word, he pours a glass and shoves it in front of RAOUL. RAOUL,
oblivious, reaches for the glass, and drinks.)
She wants the man I was,
husband and father.
At least, she thinks she does.
She needn’t bother.
Beneath this mask I wear,
there’s nothing of me.
Just horror, shame, despair.
Why does she love me?
How ‘bout you, sir?
Tell me, what am I to do, sir..?
Leave the hirt behind…