Collected Works (Vol. I)

236 TANNHAUSER This, though I know thee. Aphrodite, no! Nor Anael,! nor Eva! Lather thou Lilith, the woman-serpent, she who sucks The breath of little children in their sleep, Strangles young maidens, and presides upon Sterile debauchery and unnatural loves. VENUS. Lilith! Ah, lover! name ! Thou hast known my TANNHAUSER, So; yet I love thee! MRended is the veil! Calling thee Ugliness, I guessed aright, Who saw, and see, all Beauty in thee still. Only, a beauty risen out of Hell ; Death and delusion—ay, corruption’s self, Wickedness sliming into impotence, Pleasure in putrefaction. But, in sleep, I will put off that evil as a clout Cast by a begyar. VENUS. And the sore is left. TANNHAUSER. Oh, but this body, very consciousness ! I banish both. I cross the crimson wall— My spirit shall reach up to and attain That other. VENUS. So Persephone must hold Thy life divided in Her dark domain.” TANNHAUSER. Already I have tasted once of this In its own lesser way. en years ago I loved a maiden called Elizabeth. A child she was, so delicate and frail, Far, white, and lonely as the coldest star Set beyond gaze of any eye but God’s ; 1 The semi-divine woman, between Aphro- dite the divine, and Eve the human. 2 Persephone was compelled to spend six months of the year in Hades. And, to forget her, found due somnolence In such a warm brown bosom as thine own Is fire and amber. Then I came away :— I heard of knights no better horsed than I, No better sworded, with no gift of song, Who, caught by one ineffable desire, Kode on by old mysterious watersheds, Traversed strange seas, or battled with strange folk, Held vigil in wild forests, all to seek The vision of the Holy Grail. And I Rode forth on that same foolish wandering, And found a-many ventures on the way ; At last an old Egyptian ; who bestowed The magic word, which, when I had pro- nounced, Called up thine evil corpse-light in the sky. He riddled me—ah God! I see it now! The bloody winepress? The ascending sun? Thy dawning beauty and thine evil bed! The double meaning! I had evil thoughts When [ pronounced it—else had She Herself, Hathoor or Mary, risen. Misery ! Incessant mystery of the search for Truth ! VENUS, Search out my mystery a little while ! TANNHAUSER. There is a flush of passion in thine eyes, An hunger in them; fascinate me now, My serpent-woman, drawing out my breath Into thy life, and mingling that in mine ! See the rich blood that mantles to my touch, Invites the tooth to bite the shimmering skin, Till I could watch the ripe red venom flow Slow on the hills of amber, staining them Its own warm purple. Look, the tender stream ! VENUS. Let its old sleepy fragrance lull thee now, Yet madden thee in brain and sense and soul, Mixing success with infinite despair. So; take our secret back to sleep with us :— And in that sleep I know that thou wilt choose