how proxy handles Lua memory

[Charles Knight]

The MySQL Proxy Guide says (in the FAQ):
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7.14: As the script is re-read by MySQL Proxy, does it cache this or is it looking at the file system with each request?
It looks for the script at client-connect and reads it if it has changed, otherwise it uses the cached version.
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Does this mean Lua remains active while the proxy is running, or does the script get recompiled and run every time there is a request?

I'm working on a project to translate queries from an application that expects its database in a particular form to a database with different field table names. Because of this, I have to load several fairly large dictionaries (or hash tables, if you prefer) that discribe the translation at the start of the lua script. These aren't too large (probably on the order of 128-256 KB), but I suspect proformance would be hampered if every time a query is run, the tables have to be added to memory and then removed after.
Is that how mysql-proxy handles this? If so, is it something to worry about and/or is there a fix?

Thanks