The Star in the West

THE VIRGIN 107 And he drives them out . To Rome he goes , symbolic of the world's opinion , and relates truthfully his sojourn in the Venusberg , and for telling the truth he is execrated by the Pope : So he Cried out upon me , “ Till this barren staff Take life , and bud , and blossom , and bear fruit , And shed sweet scent-so long God casteth thee Out from His Glory !”! When lo !-in the very moment of his supreme despair , his Genius mysteriously manifests , and “ darting long rugged fingers and deep eyes ” reaches to the sceptre with his word and will : Buds , roses , blossoms ! Lilies of the Light ! Bloom , bloom , the fragrance shed upon the air ! Out flames the miracle of life and love ! Out, out the lights ! Flame , flame , the rushing storm ! Darkness and death , and glory in my soul ! Swept , swept away are pope and cardinal, Palace and city ! There I lay beneath The golden roof of the eternal stars , Borne upon some irremeable sea That glowed with most internal brilliance ; 2 And verily My life was borne on the dark stream of death Down whirling aeons , linked abysses , columns Built of essential time . And lo ! the light Shed from Her shoulders whom I dimly saw ; Crowned with twelve stars and hornéd as the moon ; Clothed with a sun to which the sun of earth Were tinsel ; and the moon was at Her feet A moon whose brilliance breaks the sword of song Into a million fragments ; so transcends Music, that starlight-sandalled majesty ! Then-shall I contemplate the face of Her ? 1 Tannhäuser, vol . I, p. 260. 2 Ibid . vol . i, p. 261.