MARIE THERESE
Madame Antoine, Madame Antoine
It’s getting dark outside
It’s time [bad word] in

MADAME ANTOINE
Oh Mother!

MARIE THERESE

Madame Antoine, it’s time [bad word] in

MADAME ANTOINE
Yes, yes Mother, [bad word] One day...
One day I’ll be queen
Live on peaches and cream
Wear satin and lace
And laugh in the faces
Of the teachers and priests
And the boys will all fawn
Fawn before me like beasts
Fa la la, Fa la la la...

MARIE THERESE
Madame Antoine, it’s time [bad word] in

HONEST BIRD
Little princess, so sure you are right
Your endless day is their endless night

You can preen in the limelight
In your diamonds and pearls
But the children go hungry
In that other world

MARIE THERESE
Madame Antoine, it’s time [bad word] in

MADAME ANTOINE
Little sparrow fly back to where ever you’re from
You could never imagine the plane I live on
The intricate steps of the tumblers and clowns
Are above and beyond you [bad word] robin
So just you pipe down

The Ringmaster returns to the ring and the place and time shifts to France some years before the revolution. He describes and explains the country’s social and political situation by using the extended conceit of a small bird that is prevented from singing freely by an arbitrary authority whose violence towards the bird is encouraged by all the agents of the state (priests, soldiers, and judges). Briefly and simply, the Ringmaster alludes to both the causes and the eventual [bad word] of revolutionary action. One day, he says, more enlightened representatives of the state will be in place that will allow the bird to fulfill itself and sing. This, he says, will be the [bad word] revolutionary achievement.