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 !
K
73