Tannhäuser

Tannhauser. Vile thing I will try otherwise —to raise myself : But if I fail, I will not drag her down ; I will return. Venus. To lose thee for one hour Is my swift death—so desolate am I ! I have not got one lover in the world, Save only Tannhauser. And he will go. 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. no ! It kills me ! That is naked truth. 1 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. 71