Collected Works (Vol. I)

TANNHAUSER 231 Rather the coming of a dull despair, And not at all that keen despair, that sharp Maddening pain that should torment a man With deadliest delight, the self-same hour That he unveils the Isis of desire. These little lovers strip their maidens bare, And find them—naked ! Poor and pitiful ! Look at our love instead! I raised Thy veil, Nay, tore Thy vesture from Thee, and behold ! Then only did I see what mystery, What ninefold forest, shade impassible, Surrounds Thy heart, as with a core of light Shut in the mystery of a dead world. Thou formless sense of gloom and terror! Thou Upas,! new tree of life—by sinister Cherubim with averted faces kept ! Nay! This one secret I suspect, and gloat Over the solemn purport of the dream With subtle shuddering of joy,—and that Keener delight, a sense of deadly fear ! This secret : Thou art darkness in Thyself, and evil wrapped in light, and ugliness Vested in beauty! Therefore is my love No petty passion like these country-folk’s : No fertile glory (as the Love of God) : But vast and barren as the winter sea, Holding I know not what enormous soul In its salt bitter bosom, underneath The iron waters and the serpent foam ; Below, where sight and sound are set no more, But only the intolerable weight Of its own gloomy selfhood. This am TI: This passion, lion-mouthed and adder-eyed. cA mass compressed, a glowing central core, Like molten metal in the crucible ! Death’s secret is some sweetness ultimate, Sweeter than poison. Ah! My very words, Chance phrases, ravel out the tale for me— Sweetness and death — poison and _ love. Consider How this same striving to the Infinite, Which I intend by ‘‘ love,” is likest to 1 A legendary tree in Java, which had the property of poisoning any one who rested in its shade. That journey’s wonder to the womb of death: Because no soul of man has ever crossed Again that River—the old fable’s wrong ; 7Eneas came never to the ghostly side ! Was not the boat weighed with his body still ? Felt he the keen emotions of the dead? Could he, the mortal and the warrior, Converse with Them, and understand? lieve ! No soul has crossed in utter sympathy And yet returned ; because of this decree : No man can look upon the face of God! Yet Moses looked upon His hinder parts,! And I— yes, goddess ! in this passionate Life in our secret mountain, well I know Thy beauty, and Thy love (although they be Infinite, far beyond the mortal mind, Body, or soul to touch, to comprehend, And dwell in), that the utter intimate Knowledge of Thee, if once I ravelled out Thy secret, laid Thee naked to the bone— Nay, to the marrow ! were to come, aware, Face to face full with deity itself. And this I strive at! Therefore is my love Wholly in tune with that concealed desire Bred in each mortal, though he never know (Few do know), to transcend the bound of things, And find in Death the purpose of this life. Be- VENUS. Yes, there you tear one veil away from me! Yet, am not I the willing one? Indeed I feel the wonder of that same desire From mine own side of the Impassible. See then how equal God and man are made! For I have clothed me in the veil of flesh, and strive toward thy finite consciousness As thou art reaching to my infinite, Nurturing my Godhead at the breast of Sin With milk of fleshly stings—even to pain :— TANNHAUSER. I see, [ see the Christian mystery ! That was the purpose of High God Himself 1 See Exodus xxxiil. 18 to end.