Collected Works (Vol. I)

226 TANNHAUSER ing of Tannhauser useful, if only to brace them to a more courageous attempt to understand the ‘‘Great Arcanum,” and to attain at last, no matter at what cost, to ‘*true Wisdom and perfect Happiness.” So may all happen! KANDY, CEYLON, Sepé. 1901. PERSONS CONCERNED. THE WORLD OF GODS. IsIs. HATHOOR. THE WORLD OF MEN. TANNHAUSER,. ELIZABETH. AN UNKNOWN MINSTREL. THE LANDGRAVE., WOLFRAM, BERTRAM, HEINRICH, A SHEPHERD Boy. PILGRIMS, FORESTERS, COURTIERS, ETC. \a t the Court of the Landgrave. THE WORLD OF DEMONS. THE EVIL AND AVERSE HATHOOR, CALLED VENUS, TANNHAUSER. ACT I. ‘‘ Therefore we are carefully to proceed in Magic, lest that Syrens and other monsters deceive us, which likewise do desire the society of the human soul.” Arbatel of Magic. Aphorism 35. A lonely and desolate plain. TANNHAUSER riding towards a great mountain. TANNHAUSER. S1x days. Creation took no longer! Yet I wander eastward, and no light is found. The stars their motion shirk, or else forget. The sun—the moon? Imprisoned under- ground Where gnomes disport, and devils do abound, Six days. I journey to the black unknown, Always in hope the Infinite may rise Some unexpected instant, as ’twere grown A magic palace to enchanted eyes ; A wizard guerdon for a minstrel wise. Perhaps I am a fool to think that here, Merely by rending Nature’s h~"low veil, I may attain the Solitary Sphere, Achieve the Path ; or, haply, if I fail, Gain the Elixir, or behold the Grail.} I seek the mystery of Life and Time, The Key of all that is not and that is, And that which — climb, imagination ! climb !— Transcends them both—the mystical abyss Where Mind and Being marry, and are Bliss.” So have I journeyed—likea fool ! Ah, well! Let pass self-scorn, as love of self is past ! But—am I further forward? Who can tell? God is the Complex as the Protoplast : He is the First (not ‘‘ was”), and is the Last (Not ‘‘will be’’), what end? What is the symbol I am set to find? What is that burning heart of blood to spend Caught in a sunset with the night behind, The Grail of God? I would that I were blind ! Then why travel? To I would that I were desolate and dumb, Naked and poor! That He might mani- fest A crimson glory subtly caught and come, An opal crucible of Alkahest ! 3 And yet—what gain of vital gold expressed? 1 A vessel containing the blood of Jesus. See Malory, ‘‘ Morte d’Arthur.” 2 Sat-Chit-Ananda, the qualities of Atman, the Soul. 3 See Eirenaeus Philalethes, his treatise.