Do you love me?

Do you love me?

GOLDE:

Do I what?

TEVYE:

Do you love me?

GOLDE:

Do I love you?
With our daughters getting married
And this trouble in the town,
You’re upset, you’re worn out,
Go inside, go lie down.
Maybe it’s indigestion.

TEVYE:

Golde, I’m asking you a question-
Do you love me?

GOLDE:

You’re a fool.

TEVYE:

I know-
But do you love me?

GOLDE:

Do I love you?
For twenty-five years I’ve washed your clothes,
Cooked your meals, cleaned your house,
Given your children, milked the cow.
After twenty-five years, why talk about
Love right now?

TEVYE:

Golde, the first time I met you
Was on our wedding day.
I was scared.

GOLDE:

I was shy.

TEVYE:

I was nervous.

GOLDE:

So was I.

TEVYE:

But my father and my mother
Said we’d learn to love each other.
And now I’m asking, Golde,
Do you love me?

GOLDE:

I’m your wife.

TEVYE:

I know-
But do you love me?

GOLDE:

Do I love him?
For twenty-five years I’ve lived with him,
Fought with him, starved with him.
Twenty-five years my bed is his.
If that’s not love, what is?

TEVYE:

Then you love me?

GOLDE:

I suppose I do.

TEVYE:

And I suppose I love you, too.

TEVYE and GOLDE:

It doesn’t change a thing,
But even so,
After twenty-five years,
It’s nice to know.

Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick, Fiddler on the Roof.