May I set the stage?
I shall impersonate a man
Come, enter into my imagination and see him!
His name, Alonso Quijana, a country squire
No longer young... bony, hollow-faced... eyes
That burn with the fire of inner vision.
Being retired, he has much time for books.
He studies them from morn to night and often through
the night as well. And all he reads oppresses him...
Fills him with indignation at man's murderous
Ways toward man.
And he conceives the strangest
Project ever imagined, to become a knight-errant
And sally forth into the world to right all wrongs.
No longer shall he be plain Alonso Quijana...
But a dauntless knight known as -
Don Quixote de La Mancha!
Hear me now
Oh thou bleak and unbearable world
Thou art base and debauched as can be
And a knight with his banners all bravely unfurled
Now hurls down his gauntlet to thee!
Oh, I am I, Don Quixote, the Lord of La Mancha
Destroyer of evil am I
I will march to the sound of the trumpets of glory
Forever to conquer or die
I'm Sancho! Yes, I'm Sancho!
I'll follow my master till the end
I'll tell all the world proudly
I'm his squire! I'm his friend!
Hear me, heathens and wizards
And serpents of sin –
All your dastardly doings are past!
For a holy endeavour is now to begin
And virtue shall triumph at last!
I am I, Don Quixote
The Lord of La Mancha –
My destiny calls and I go!
And the wild winds of fortune
Will carry me onward
Oh whither soever they blow!
Whither soever they blow –
Onward to glory I go!