Collected Works (Vol. I)

TANNHAUSER 241 TANNHAUSER. One lover! Who makes up the equal soul Of all the wickedness beneath the sun? Lilith ! Seek out thy children to devour! Leave me. I go to my Elizabeth. VENUS. Ono! It kills me! That is naked truth. I am the soul and symbol of desire, Yet individual to thy love. Stay! Stay! One last caress, and then I let thee go, And—die. I fear, and I detest, this death. I am not mortal, doomed to it! I slip Into mere slime; no resurrection waits Me, made the vilest of the stars that fell. I must not die. .I dare not. But for thee, Thy love, one last extreme delirium !— Take thou this dagger! At the miracle Of a moment when our lips are fastened close Once more, in the unutterable kiss, Drive its sharp spirit to my heart ! TANNHAUSER. Not I! I will I know the spell.) I am warned. begone. VENUS. I swear I will not let thee! Thinkest thou So long I have held thee not to have the power To hold thee still by charm, or love, or force? Fool, for I hate thee! I will have thy life! TANNHAUSER., Where is the cavern in the mountain side, The accurséd gateway of this house of Hell? VENUS. Thou canst not find it! Fool! TANNHAUSER. And yet I will. 1 Which would have given her power to use his body as an habitation, according to legend. VOL. I. VENUS. Meanwhile my chant shall tremble in the air, And rack thy limbs with poison, wither up The fine full blood, breed serpents in thy heart, And worms to eat thee. Living thou shalt be A sensible corpse, a walking sepulchre. Come, come, Apollyon! Come, my Aggereth !} Belial, cheat his ears and blind his eyes ! Come, all ye tribes of serpents and foul fish ! Beetle and worm, I have a feast for you ! TANNHAUSER. The palace staggers. I can hardly see— Only these writhing horrors.” I am blind! VENUS. Ha! My true knight! I ask thee once again, Once more invoke the epithets of love, Suspend my powers—constrain thee on my knees For thine old kisses. See, I am all thine! All thine the splendid body, and the shape Of mighty breasts, and supple limbs, and wide Lips, and slow almond eyes! Adorable, Seductive, sombre, moving amorously, Droop the long eyelids, purple with young blood, The lazy lashes and the flowing mane, The flame of fire from head to feet of me! The subtle fervours, drunken heats and ways, And perfumes maddening from the soul of spring ! The little nipples, and the dangerous pit Set smiling in the alabaster ; thine, The glowing arms are thine, the desperate Fresh kisses, and the gold that lurks upon The sunny skin, the marble of these brows, The roses, and the poppies, and the scent Subtle and sinful—thine, all thine, are these, What with my heart that only beats for thee, The many-throned and many-minded soul Centred to do thee worship. Hither, hither! She rides in a chariot See Deut. xxii. Io. Q 1 A female demon. drawn by an ox and an ass,