102
THE STAR IN THE WEST
Of mingling fire , and stars and
roses swart
In the long flame of hair that
leaps athwart ,
Live in each tingling gossamer ! Dread eyes !
Each flings
its
arrow
of
sharp sacrifice
,
Eating
me
up
with poison
!
I
am hurled
Far through the vaporous confines
of
the world
With agony
of
sundering sense
,
beholding
Thy mighty flower
,
blood
-
coloured death
,
unfolding
!
Lithe limbs
and
supple
shoulders and
lips curled
,
Curled out
to
draw me
to
their monstrous
world
!
Tannhäuser
now
enters
the
palace
of
the
great
queen
Venus
,
the false Isis
,
Life
!
Life
!
This Kiss
!
Draw
in
thy breath
!
To me
!
To me
!
He
is
lost
!
Act
II
opens with two beautiful songs
.
Venus sings
the
praise
of
spring
and
summer
,
and
Tannhäuser
that of autumn and winter
.
He finds the
latter chill
season
the best
:
But best
is
grim December
,
The Goatish God his power
;
The Satyr blows the ember
,
And pain
is
passion's flower
;
When blood drips over kisses
,
And madness
sobs through wine
:
Ah mine
!
The snake starts
up
and
hisses
And strikes and
I
am thine
!3
In
the above
we still find the now almost dead echo
of
his higher self
,
yet Venus
entices
him
on
,
compar
ing their fierce lust
to
the lukewarm affection
of
those
little lovers who strip their maidens bare
,
“
And find
them
-
naked
!
Poor and pitiful
!".
directly the glamour
1
Tannhäuser
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
228
.
3
Ibid
.
vol
.
i,
p
.
230
.
2
Ibid
.
vol
.i,
p
.
229
.
4
Ibid
.
vol
.
i,
p
.
231
.