We Kiss in a Shadow
The King And I Lyrics
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We kiss in a shadow,
We hide from the moon,
Our meetings are few,
And over too soon.
We speak in a whisper,
When people are near,
We speak not a word.
Alone in our secret,
Together we sigh,
For one smiling day to be free
To kiss in the sunlight
And say to the sky:
"Behold and believe what you see!
Behold how my lover loves me!"
TUPTIM
We speak in a whisper,
Afraid to be heard;
When people are near,
LUN THA
We speak not a word.
Alone in our secret,
Together we sigh,
For one smiling day to be free
BOTH
To kiss in the sunlight
And say to the sky:
"Behold and believe what you see!
Behold how my lover loves me!"
TUPTIM
To kiss in the sunlight
And say to the sky:
"Behold and believe what you see!
Behold how my lover loves me!"
The song “We Kiss in a Shadow” is a duet performed by Lun Tha and Tuptim in the musical “The King and I”. The song talks about the love between the two characters and the challenges that they face due to societal norms and expectations. The first stanza talks about how their meetings are clandestine and they have to hide from the moon, which symbolizes society's watchful eye. Their meetings are few and short-lived, leaving them wanting more. They speak in a whisper and are afraid to be heard when people are near, which emphasizes the secrecy of their love. The second stanza repeats the same ideas, highlighting the loneliness they feel in their secret, and their desire to be free to love openly. The chorus in both stanzas talks about their wish to be able to kiss in the sunlight and declare their love to the world.
The lyrics of the song are representative of the themes of the musical as a whole. “The King and I” deals with the clash of cultures and the consequences of holding onto outdated traditions and beliefs. Here, we see the love between two people, who are not allowed to love each other openly because of societal restrictions. The song also speaks about the universal theme of forbidden love, which is a common theme in literature and art. In this song, Lun Tha and Tuptim are not allowed to love each other openly because of their social status.
Line by Line Meaning
We kiss in a shadow,
We share our love in secret, away from prying eyes.
We hide from the moon,
We conceal our love from the outside world, and keep it to ourselves under the cloak of night.
Our meetings are few,
We don't get to see each other often, which makes each meeting even more special.
And over too soon.
Unfortunately, our meetings end quickly, and we must go back to our separate lives until we can meet again.
We speak in a whisper,
We talk softly so that no one else can hear us.
Afraid to be heard;
We are scared that our love will be discovered and condemned by society.
When people are near,
If there are others around us, then we dare not speak our love out loud.
We speak not a word.
We remain silent, and keep our love hidden.
Alone in our secret,
Our love is something that only we share, and we keep it to ourselves.
Together we sigh,
We both feel a deep longing for each other, and lament our inability to be together freely.
For one smiling day to be free
We hope for a day when we can be together publicly, without fear of persecution.
To kiss in the sunlight
We desire to show our love openly, in the light of day.
And say to the sky:
We want to declare our love loudly and proudly to the whole world.
"Behold and believe what you see!
We challenge others to witness our love, and accept it for what it is.
Behold how my lover loves me!"
We want to show everyone how much we love each other, and how powerful our bond truly is.
Contributed by Arianna P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.