Collected Works (Vol. I)

TANNITAUSER 229 Iam the Grail and I the Glory now: I am the flame and fuel of thy breast ; I am the star of God upon thy brow ; Tam thy queen, enraptured and possessed, Hide thee, sweet river; welcome to the sea, Ocean of love that shall encompass thee ! Life, death, love, hatred, light, darkness, return to me— To me! [TANNHAUSER perceives that he ts in the palace of a Great Queen. Rise, rise, my knight! My king! My love, arise ! See the grave avenues of Paradise, The dewy larches bending at my breath, Portentous cedars prophesying death! ¢ See the long vistas and the dancing sea, The measured motion of fecundity ! Bright winds set swaying the sofi-sounding flowers (Here flowers have music) in my woven bowers, Where sweet birds blossom, and in chorus quire The rapt beginnings of immense desire. Here is the light and rapture of the will: We touch the stars—and they are tiny still ! O mighty thews! O godlike face and hair! Rise up and take me; ay, and keep me there, One tingle at thy touch from head to feet; Lips that cling close, and never seem to meet, Melting as sunlight melts in wine! Arise! Shame! Has thy learning left thee over- wise ? Thy lips sing fondly—to another tune. Nay! *twas my breathing beauty made thee swoon, Dread forkéd fire across the cloven sky ; Stripped off thy body of mortality— - Nay, but on steeper slopes my love shall Strive ! Our bodies perish and our hearts revive Vainly, unless the shaking sense beware The crested snakes shot trembling through our hair, Their wisdom ! unite, One crownéd column of avenging light, Fixed and yet floating, infinite, immense, Caught in the meshes of the cruel sense, Two kissing breaths of agony and pleasure, Mixed, crowned, divided. beyond age or measure, Time, thought, or being! Now thine eyes awake, Droop at my kisses ; the Jong lashes slake Their sleek and silky thirst in tears of light! Thine eyes! They burn me, even me! They smite Me who am scatheless, and a flame of fire. See, in our sorrow and intense desire All worlds are caught and sealed! The stars are taken In love’s weak web, and gathered up, and shaken ! Our word is mighty on the magic moon! The sun resurges to our triple tune! (See, it is done !) Ochosen of the Christ ! My knight, and king, and lover, wast thou priced, A portion in the all-pervading bliss, Thou, whom I value at my ageless kiss? Chosen of Me! Thou heart of hearts, thou mine, Man! Stamping into dust the Soul Divine By might of that mere Manhood! Sense and thought Reel for the glory of thee kissed and caught In the eternal circle of iny arms ! Woven in vain are the mysterious charms Endymion taught Diana! For one gaze; One word of my unutterable praise ; And I was utterly and ever lost, Lost in the whirlwind of thy love, and tossed A wreck on its irremeable sea ! Life! Life! This kiss! Draw in thy breath ! To me! To me: {[TANNHAUSER zs dost. dsut our souls leap, Hash,