Lord Apollo, reveal
your saving grace to Admetus;
help him, Apollo, please help him.
You've acted before: act again!
Deliver him; turn Death away.
What you have gone through, Admetus,
in being deprived of your wife!

 This is worth cutting one's throat
with the sharpest blade on earth;
this deserves hanging oneself
high, from the highest tree.
For this is the day you will see
the death of your dearest, most precious,
beloved lady, Alcestis.

 (enter the dying ALCESTIS from the palace, supported by her husband, ADMETUS, and OTHER SERVANTS, and accompanied by the CHILDREN; THANATOS stands behind them all, silent and unnoticed)

 Look! The queen and her king!
Weep, Pherae, mourn:
your best and bravest lady
is wasting away to Hades.
Marriage brings grief, not joy;
For the rest of time, the king
will live an unlivable life.

 ALCESTIS
Sun... daylight...
tornadoes of clouds spinning at blinding speed...

 ADMETUS
...is looking down from the sky at two sad people,
who never committed a mortal crime or sin
important enough for you to have to die.

 ALCESTIS
Earth... palace roof...
honeymoon suite in my native Iolcus...

 ADMETUS
Don't desert me, Alcestis; try to get up.
Beg the almighty gods to show some mercy!

 ALCESTIS
I see the boat... in the lake, I see his ferry...
Charon, pilot of the dead... his hand on the pole...
ready to leave... calling me now...
"Why are you waiting? Let's go! We're already late!"
Impatient... must hurry...

 ADMETUS
What a bitter and hateful voyage this is for me.
My dear unfortunate wife, we're in such misery!

 ALCESTIS
Somebody's got me! He's got me!
Don't you see? He's got me!
Into the halls of the dead...
eyes blazing with darkness... staring at me...
winged Hades! Let me go!
Why will you sacrifice me? Put me down!
Oh, lord, what a lonesome road to walk.

 ADMETUS
And a sad one for all your loved ones, especially me,
and the children, of course, who share in this hour of grief.

 ALCESTIS
Let me go, let me go ...
let me lie down: I'm not strong enough to sit...
Hades is coming... black night slithering over my eyes.
Children: you no longer have a mother, my children;
look at the light... enjoy it.

 ADMETUS
Oh, what sorrow and pain
for me, and greater by far
than my own death could be.
I beg you again, by all
that's holy, not to desert me;
by these, our own two children,
whom you would turn into orphans;
arise, Alcestis, arise!
Without you, I am lost!
As I am true to our love,
my life and death remain
bound up with yours, forever.