(This is an English translation of what is being sung in the excerpt. Marcello, a painter, and his friend Rodolfo, a poet, sit working in an attic overlooking the snow covered roofs of Paris. It is Christmas Eve.)
Marcello: (He’s working on a painting of Moses taking the Israelites through the Red Sea, pursued by Pharoah) This Red Sea freezes me into numbness as if water were falling on me drop by drop. To revenge myself, I’ll make Pharaoh drown! (To Rodolfo) What are you doing?
Rodolfo: I’m watching a thousand Parisian chimneys smoking in the grey skies, and thinking of our lazy old stove living in idleness like a lord!