Martin is pacing outside Esperanza's house, pondering his fate.
'Tis on a bed of coals I lie. Yet, I may not get up and free myself of this burning, as it is not for myself that I lie here, but for another. Esperanza is her name, and even the thought of her name is like a balm to my back carried through my veins. Like ice-water to still the nerves and soften the pain. Esperanza, Esperanza, Esperanza.
My heart tells me she is to choose me and let me carry her to heaven with my tenderness and caring, keep her from hell with my fierce protection against the devil himself if need be, and provide for her that she might never want. But my soul, that master of my true destiny says I am only to love, and not to think of my own heart, as the consequences to hers would be more unbearable to me than my own suffering. My darling Esperanza deserves a life free from the torment I am facing, and I must not give her cause to second-guess should she choose another. I lie on this bed but for an instant while she decides, but she will lie in her bed for the rest of her days, once the decision is made.
Spoken with gestures towards Esperanza's window: "So, for you, Esperanza, I take up arms against my own heart, in mortal combat if it must be! A battle of wills raging with the intensity of the blackest tempest, yet so much is my love that I will swallow such a tempest whole and you will never know it rages within."
My enemy, not the man who opposes me in wooing, but the man who would oppose Esperanza's decision, me. Were it not for the endless springs of love welling within my heart, the direct result of the grace of my lovely Esperanza, I would never be able to stand even a moment of this. But, it is not for me I suffer.
Spoken with gestures towards Esperanza's window: "I will love this bed of coals upon which I wait, for I wait for you. I will love whatever you decide, because it is your decision. My heart is only excitable, not selfish. It will come on board to be my furnace, in time, but only after testing the limits of torture any man may endure! For all the zealots of the world could not dream of torture as intense and constant as what a man can devise within himself!"
Yet, this suffering is but a drop in the ocean, and could not begin to represent what I owe to my sweet Esperanza, just for living and bringing her heart into my world. I could bear the sting of the coldest night, the burden of the largest weight, the burn of these hottest coals! To have even the smallest chance that she might choose me, or even the pleasure of knowing that she considered me at all. I have already been blessed by such consideration, and will count my blessings forevermore.
My reaction to her decision will be the same, regardless of her choice. My reaction will be love, and only love. No joy or remorse, no anger or pity, no judgment at all. Just love, for that is what my Esperanza is, just love. And she will never have cause to wonder if I am hurt or sad, as I will be fulfilled in all ways, for her sake. Love will triumph! It will be a victory of the soul no matter which choice my beloved makes.
Martin bows deeply at her window and exits stage left. Lights fade in silence.
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