A
lonely
and desolate plain.
Tannhduser
riding towards a
great nioutitain.
Tannhauser.
SI
X days.
Creation took no longer !
Yet
I wander eastward,
and no light is found.
The stars their motion shirk, or else forget.
The sun — the moon ?
Imprisoned
underground
!
Where gnomes disport, and devils do abound.
Six days.
I journey
to the black unknown,
Always in hope
the Infinite may rise
Some unexpected instant,
as 'twere grown
A magic palace
to enchanted eyes
;
A wizard guerdon for a minstrel wise.
Perhaps I am a fool
to think that here,
Merely
by rending Nature's hollow veil,
I may attain the Solitary
Sphere,
Achieve
the Path
; or, haply, if I fail.
Gain the Elixir, or behold the Grail.
21