{"collection":"Northern European Mythology","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/neu/ron/ron05.htm","path":"neu/ron/ron05.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/neu/ron/ron05.htm","text":"A wild spot at the foot of a rocky mountain which rises precipitously at the back on the left. Night, storm, lightning and violent thunder. The latter ceases shortly, but the lightning continues to flash from the clouds for some time. The Wanderer enters and walks resolutely towards a cavernous opening in a rock in the foreground, and takes up his position there, leaning on his spear, while he calls the following towards the entrance to the cave.\nWanderer\nWaken, Wala!\n Wala! Awake!\n From thy long sleep,\n Slumberer, wake at my call!\n I summon thee forth:\n Arise! Arise!\n From cloud-covered caves\n In earth's dim abysses, arise!\n Erda! Erda,\n Old as the world!\n From depths dark and hidden\n Rise to the day!\n With song I call thee,\n I sing to wake thee,\n From deep dreams of wisdom\n Bid thee arise.\n All-knowing one!\n Fount of knowledge!\n Erda! Erda,\nOld as the world!\n Waken! Awaken, thou Vala! Awaken!\n[A dim bluish light begins to dawn in the cavern. In this light Erda, during the following, rises very gradually from below. She appears to be covered with hoar-frost, which glitters on her hair and garments.]\nErda\nLoud is the call;\n Strong the spell that summons;\n I have been roused\n From dark and wise dreams:\n Who wakes me from my sleep?\n'Tis I who awake thee\n With song of magic,\n That what in slumber\n Was folded fast may rise.\n The wide earth ranging,\n Far I have roamed,\n Seeking for knowledge,\n Wisdom at fountains primeval.\n No one that lives\n Is wiser than thou;\n Thou knowest all\n In the hidden depths,\n What moves on hill,\n Dale, in water and air.\n Where life is found,\n There thou art breathing;\n And where brains ponder,\n There is thy thought.\n Men say that all\n Knowledge is thine.\n That I might ask of thee counsels\n I have called thee from sleep.\nMy sleep is dreaming,\n My dreaming brooding,\n My brooding wisdom's calm working.\n But while I sleep\n The Norns are wakeful:\n They twine the rope,\n And deftly weave what I know.\n The Norns thou shouldst have questioned.\nIn thrall to the world\n Sit the Norris weaving;\n They cannot alter\n What ordained is.\n But I would fain\n Be taught of thy wisdom\n How a wheel on the roll can be stayed.\nDark and troubled\n My mind grows through men's deeds.\n A God once subdued\n The Wala's self to his will.\n A wish-maiden\n I bore to Wotan;\n From fields of battle\n She brought him slain heroes;\n Bold is she\n And wise to boot:\n Why waken me?\n Why seek not counsel\n From Erda's and Wotan's child?\nThe Valkyrie, Br\u00fcnnhild'?\n Meanest thou her?\n She flouted the storm-controller,\n When, sorely urged, himself he controlled.\n What the swayer and lord\n Of battles longed for,\nWhat he refrained from\n Against his desire,\n Br\u00fcnnhilde, bold,\n Rash, over-confident,\n When the fight was at fiercest,\n Strove for herself to perform.\n War-father\n Punished the maid:\n He pressed slumber into her eyes,\n On the flame-girt rock she sleeps.\n The hallowed maid\n Will waken alone,\n That she may love and wed with a man.\n Small hope of answer from her.\nDazed have I felt\n Since I woke;\n Wild, confused\n Seems the world!\n The Valkyrie,\n The Wala's child,\n Bound lay, fettered by sleep,\n While her all-knowing mother slept!\n Does revolt's teacher\n Chide revolt?\n Does the deed he urged to\n Anger him, done?\n He who guards the right,\n To whom vows are sacred,\n Hinders the right?--\n Reigns through falsehood?\n Let me down to the dark,\n That my wisdom may slumber!\nI will not let thee descend,\n For a potent magic I wield.\nAll-wise one,\n Planted by thee\n The sting of care was\n In Wotan's dauntless heart;\n For, through thy wisdom,\n Downfall and shameful\n Doom were foretold him;\n My mind was fettered by fear.\n Now let the world's\n Wisest of women\n Answer and say\n How a God may conquer his care.\nThou art not\n What thou hast said.\n Why art thou come, wild and wayward,\n To trouble the Wala's sleep?\nThou art not\n What thou hast dreamed.\n Thy end draws near,\n Mother of wisdom;\n Thy wisdom at war\n With me shall perish.\n Knowest thou Wotan's will?\n[A long silence.]\nI tell thee\n That thou mayest sleep\n For evermore unvexed by care.\n That the Gods are doomed,\n No longer dismays me,\n Since I will it so.\n What, with myself at war, in anguish,\n Despairing, once I resolved,\n Gaily, gladly,\n With delight I now do.\nMad with disgust I decreed once\n The world to the Nibelung's hate,\n But now to the valiant W\u00e4lsung\n I leave it with joy.\n One who never knew me,\n Though chosen by me,\n A boy bold and fearless,\n Helped not by Wotan,\n Has won the Nibelung's ring.\n Blest in love,\n Void of all envy,\n On him shall fall harmless\n Alberich's curse,\n For no fear does he know.\n Soon thy child and mine,\n Br\u00fcnnhild',\n Shall be waked by him;\n And when waked\n Our child shall achieve\n A deed to redeem the world.\n So slumber again,\n Closing thine eyelids\n Dreaming behold my downfall!\n Whatever comes after,\n The God rejoicing\n Yields to youth ever young.\n Descend, then, Erda,\n Mother of fear!\n World-sorrow!\n Descend! Descend!\n And sleep for aye!\n[Erda, whose eyes are already closed, and who has gradually been sinking deeper, disappears entirely. The cavern has become quite dark again.]\nDawn lights up the stage; the storm has ceased. The Wanderer has gone close to the cave, and leans with his back again against it, facing the wings.\nLo! Yonder Siegfried comes.\n[He remains where he is without changing his position. Siegfried's wood-bird flutters towards the foreground. Suddenly the bird stops in his direct flight, flutters to and fro in alarm, and disappears quietly towards the back.]\nSiegfried\n[Enters and stops.]\nMy bird has vanished from sight!\n With fluttering wings\n And lovely song\n Blithely he showed me the way,\n And then forsook me and fled!\n I must discover\n The rock for myself:\n The path I followed so far\n 'Twere best still to pursue.\n[He goes towards the back.]\n[Still in the same position.]\nBoy, pray tell me,\n Whither away?\n[Halts and turns round.]\nDid some one speak?\n Perhaps he knows the road.\n[He goes nearer to the Wanderer.]\nI would find a rock\n That by flaming fire is surrounded:\n There sleeps a maid\n Whom I would awake.\nWho bade thee seek\n This rock flame-circled?--\n Taught thee to yearn for the woman?\nIt was a singing\n Woodland bird;\n He gave me welcome tidings.\nA wood-bird chatters idly\n What no man understands;\n How then couldst thou tell\n The song's true meaning?\nBecause of the blood\n Of a dragon grim\n That fell before me at Neidh\u00f6hl'--\n The burning blood\n Had scarce touched my tongue\n When the sense of the singer grew plain.\nWho was it urged thee on\n To try thy strength,\n And slay this dragon so dread?\nMy guide was Mime,\n A faithless dwarf:\n What fear is fain he had taught me.\n But 'twas the dragon\n Roused me himself,\n Wrathful, to strike the blow;\n For he threatened me with his jaws.\nWho forged the sword\n So hard and keen\n That it slew the daunting foe?\nI forged it myself\n When the smith was beaten;\n Swordless else I should have been still.\nBut who made\n The mighty splinters\n From which the sword was welded strong?\nWhat know I of that?\n I only know\n That the splintered steel was useless\n Were not the sword forged anew.\n[Bursts out laughing with gleeful good-humor.]\nI fully agree.\n[Surprised.]\nAt what dost thou laugh?\n Prying greybeard!\n Prithee have done;\n Keep me no longer here talking.\n Speak if thou knowest\n Whither my way lies;\n And hold thy tongue\n Unless thou canst tell.\nGood boy, have patience!\n If I seem old,\n More need to show me due honour.\nWhat an odd notion!\n My whole life long\n A hateful old man\n Has blocked my pathway;\n Him I at last swept aside.\n Standest thou longer\n Trying here to stay me,\n I warn thee frankly\n[With a significant gesture.]\nThat thou like Mime shalt fare.\n[He goes still nearer to the Wanderer.]\nBut what art thou like?\n Why wearest thou\n Such a monstrous hat,\n And why hangs it so over thy face?\n[Still without altering his position.]\nThat is the way I wear it\n When against the wind I go.\n[Inspecting him still more closely.]\nBut an eye beneath it is wanting.\n Perchance by some one\n Whose way thou didst\n Too boldly bar\n It has been struck out.\n Take thyself off,\n Or else very soon\n The other thou shalt lose also!\nI see, my son,\n Where thou art blind,\n And hence thy jaunty assurance.\n With the eye that is\n Amissing in me\n Thou lookest now on the other\n That still is left me for sight.\n[Who has been listening thoughtfully, now bursts involuntarily into hearty laughter.]\nThy foolish talk sets me laughing!\n But come, this nonsense must finish.\n At once show me my way;\n Then proceed thou too on thine own;\n For me further\n Use thou hast none:\n So speak, or off thou shalt pack!\n[Gently.]\nChild, didst thou know\n Who I am,\n Thy scoffs I had been spared!\n From one so dear,\n Insult hard to endure is.\n Long have I loved\n Thy radiant race,\n Though from my fury\n In terror it shrank.\nThou whom I love so,\n All too fair one,\n Rouse my wrath not to-day;\n It would ruin both thee and me.\nStill art thou dumb,\n Stubborn old man?\n Stand to one side, then\n That pathway, I know,\n Leads to the slumbering maid;\n For thither the wood-bird\n Was guiding when he flew off.\n[It suddenly becomes dark again.]\n[Breaking out in anger and assuming a commanding attitude.]\nIn fear of its life it fled.\n It knew that here\n Was the ravens' lord;\n Dire his plight were he caught!\n The way that it guided\n Thou shalt not go!\n[Amazed, falls back and assumes a defiant attitude.]\nHoho! Interferer!\n Who then art thou\n That wilt not let me pass?\nFear thou the rock's defender!\n My might it is\n Holds the maiden fettered by sleep.\n He who would wake her,\n He who would win her,\n Impotent makes me for ever.\nA burning sea\n Encircles the maid,\n Fires fiercely glowing\n Surround the rock;\nHe who craves the bride\n The flames must boldly defy.\n[He points with his spear towards the rocky heights.]\nLook up above!\n That light dost thou see?\n The surging heat,\n The splendour, grows;\n Clouds of fire rolling,\n Tongues of flame writhing,\n Roaring and raging,\n Come ravening down.\n Thy head now\n Is flooded with light;\n[A flickering glow, increasing in brightness, appears on the summit of the rock.]\nThe fire will seize thee,\n Seize and devour thee.--\n Back, back, there, foolhardy boy!\nStand back, old babb'er, thyself!\n For where the fire is burning,\n To Br\u00fcnnhilde yonder I go!\n[He advances; the Wanderer bars his way.]\nHast thou no fear of the fire,\n Then barred by my spear be thy path!\n I still hold the haft\n That conquers all;\n The sword thou dost wield\n It shivered long ago:\n Upon my spear eternal\n Break it once more.\n[He stretches out his spear.]\n[Drawing his sword.]\n'Tis my father's foe,\n Found here at last!\n Now, then, for vengeance!\nIn luck am I!\n Brandish thy spear:\n My sword will hew it in twain!\n[With one stroke he hews the Wanderer's spear in two pieces. Lightning flashes from the spear up towards the rocks, where the light, until now dim, begins to flame brighter and brighter. A violent thunder clap, which quickly dies away, accompanies the stroke.]\n[Quietly picking up the pieces of the spear which have fallen at his feet.]\nFare on! I cannot prevent thee!\n[He suddenly disappears in utter darkness.]\nWith his spear in splinters\n Vanished the coward!\n[The growing brightness of the clouds of fire, which keep sinking down lower and lower, attracts Siegfried's eye.]\nHa! Rapturous fire!\n Glorious light!\n Shining my pathway\n Opens before me.\n In fiery flames plunging,\n Through fire I will win to the bride!\n Hoho! Hahei!\n To summon a comrade I call!\n[He sets his horn to his lips and plunges into the fiery billows, which, flowing down from the heights, now spread over the foreground. Siegfried, who is soon lost to view, seems, from the sound of his horn, to be ascending the mountain. The flames begin to fade, and change gradually into a dissolving cloud lit by the glow of dawn.]\nThe thin cloud has resolved itself into a fine rose-coloured veil of mist, which so\n divides that the upper part rises and disappears, disclosing the bright\n blue sky of day; whilst on the edge of the rocky height, now becoming\n visible (exactly the same scene as in the third Act of \"The\n Valkyrie\"), a veil of mist reddened by the dawn remains hanging,\n which suggests the magic fire still flaming below. The arrangement\n of the scene is exactly the same as at the end of \"The Valkyrie.\"\n In the foreground, under a wide-spreading fir-tree, lies Br\u00fcnnhilde\n in full shining armour, her helmet on her head, and her long shield\n covering her, in deep sleep.\n[Coming from the back, reaches the rocky edge of the summit, and at first shows only the upper part of his body. He looks round him for a long time in amaze. Softly.]\nSolitude blissful\n On sun-caressed height!\n[He climbs to the summit, and standing on a rock at the edge of the precipice at the back, gazes at the scene in astonishment. He looks into the wood at the side and comes forward a little.]\nWhat lies in shadow,\n Asleep in the wood?\n A charger\n Resting in slumber deep.\n[Approaching slowly he stops in surprise when, still at some little distance from her, he sees Br\u00fcnnhilde.]\nWhat radiant thing lies yonder?\n The steel, how it gleams and glints!\n Is it the glare\n That dazzles me still?\n Shining armour?\n Shall it be mine?\n[He lifts up the shield and sees Br\u00fcnnhilde's form; her face, however, is for the most part hidden by her helmet.]\nHa! It covers a man!\n The sight stirs thoughts sweet and strange!\n The helm must lie\nHard on his head\n Lighter lay he\n Were it unloosed.\n[He loosens the helmet carefully and removes it from the head of the sleeper. Long curling hair breaks forth. Tenderly.]\nAh! how fair!\n[He stands lost in contemplation.]\nClouds gleaming softly\n Fringe with their fleeces\n This lake of heaven bright;\n Laughing, the glorious\n Face of the sun\n Shines through the billowy clouds!\n[He bends lower over the sleeper.]\nHis bosom is heaving,\n Stirred by his breath;\n Ought I to loosen the breastplate?\n[He tries to loosen the breastplate.]\nCome, my sword,\n Cleave thou the iron!\n[He draws his sword and gently and carefully cuts through the rings on both fides of the breastplate; he then lifts this off along with the greaves, so that Br\u00fcnnhilde now lies before him in a soft woman's robe. He draws back startled and amazed.]\nThat is no man!\n[He stares at the sleeper, greatly excited.]\nMagical rapture\n Pierces my heart;\n Fixed is my gaze,\n Burning with terror;\n I reel, my heart faints and fails!\n[He is seized with sudden terror.]\nOn whom shall I call,\nFor aid imploring?\n Mother! Mother!\n Remember me!\n[He sinks as if fainting on to Br\u00fcnnhilde's bosom; then he starts up sighing.]\nHow waken the maid,\n Causing her eyelids to open?\n[Tenderly.]\nHer eyelids to open?\n What if her gaze strike me blind!\n How shall I dare\n To look on their light?\n All rocks and sways\n And swirls and revolves;\n Uttermost longing\n Burns and consumes me;\n My hand on my heart,\n It trembles and shakes!\n What ails thee, coward?\n Is this what fear means?\n O mother I Mother!\n Thy dauntless child!\n[Very tenderly.]\nA woman lying asleep\n Has taught him what fear is at last!\n How conquer my fear?\n How brace my heart?\n That, myself, I waken,\n I must waken the sleeper!\n[As he approaches the sleeping figure again he is overcome by tenderer emotions at the\n sight. He bends down lower; sweetly.]\nSoftly quivers\n Her flower-sweet mouth!\n Its lovely trembling\nHas charmed my despair!\n Ah! And the fragrant,\n Blissful warmth of her breath!\n[Is if in despair.]\nAwaken! Awaken,\n Maiden divine!\n[He gazes at her.]\nShe hears me not.\n New life from the sweetest\n Of lips I will suck, then,\n Even though kissing I die!\n[He sinks, as if dying, on to the sleeping figure, and, closing his eyes, fastens his lips on Br\u00fcnnhilde's. Br\u00fcnnhilde opens her eyes. Siegfried starts up, and remains standing before her.]\nBr\u00fcnnhilde\n[Rises slowly to a sitting posture. Raising her arms, she greets earth and sky with solemn gestures on her return to consciousness.]\nSun, I hail thee!\n Hail, O light!\n Hail, O glorious day!\n Long I have slept;\n I am awake.\n What hero broke\n Br\u00fcnnhilde's sleep?\n[Awed and entranced by her look and her voice, stands as if spellbound.]\nThrough the fierce fires flaming\n Round this rock I burst;\n I unloosened thy helmet strong:\n I awoke thee;\n Siegfried am I.\n[Sitting upright.]\nGods, I hail you!\n Hail, O World!\n Hail, O Earth, in thy glory!\n My sleep is over now,\n My eyes open.\n It is Siegfried\n Who bids me wake!\n\"Magical rapture\n Pierces my heart\n Fixed is my gaze,\n Burning with terror;\n I reel, my heart faints and fails!\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 86\n[Breaking forth in rapturous exaltation.]\nI hail thee, mother\n Who gave me birth!\n Hail, O Earth,\n That nourished my life\n So that I see those eyes\n Beam on me, blest among men!\nI hail the mother\n Who gave thee birth!\n Hail, O Earth,\n That nourished thy life!\n No eye dared see me but thine;\n To thee alone might I wake!\n[Both remain full of beaming ecstasy, lost in mutual contemplation.]\nO Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Hero most blest!\n Of life the awaker,\n Conquering light!\n O joy of the world, couldst know\n How thou wert always loved!\n Thou wert my gladness,\n My care wert thou!\n Thy life I sheltered\n Before it was thine;\n My shield was thy shelter\n Ere thou wert born:\n So long loved wert thou, Siegfried!\n[Softly and timidly.]\nMy mother did not die, then?\n Did the dear one but sleep?\n[Smiles and stretches her hand out kindly towards him.]\nAdorable child!\n Nevermore thy mother will greet thee!\n Thyself am I,\n If I be blest with thy love.\nAll things I know\n Known not to thee;\n Yet only of my love\n Born is my wisdom.\nO Siegfried! Siegfried\n Conquering light!\n I loved thee always,\n For I alone\n Divined the thought hid by Wotan;\n Hidden thought I dared not\n So much as utter;\n Thought that I thought not,\n Feeling it only;\n For which I worked,\n Battled and strove,\n Defying even\n Him who conceived it;\n For which in penance\n Prisoned I lay,\n Because thought it was not,\n But felt alone!\n For what the thought was--\n Say, canst thou guess it?--\n Was love of thee, nothing but that!\nHow wondrous sounds\n Thy rapturous song!\n But dark the meaning to me.\nOf thine eyes the splendour\n I see plain,\n I can feel thee breathing\n Soft and warm,\n Sweet can hear\n The singing of thy voice,\n\"Sun, I hail thee\n Hail, O light!\n Hail, O glorious day!\"\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 88\nBut what thou sayest I strive\n Vainly to understand.\n I cannot grasp clearly\n Things so far distant;\n Needed is every sense\n To feel and behold thee!\n By laming fear\n Fettered am I,\n For how to fear\n Thou hast taught me at last;\n Thou who hast bound me\n In bonds of such power,\n Give me my courage again!\n[He remains in great excitement with his yearning gaze fixed on her.]\n[Turns her head gently aside and looks towards the wood.]\nI see there Grane,\n My sacred horse;\n In gladness he grazes\n Who slept with me!\n He too has by Siegfried been waked.\n[Without changing his position.]\nMy gaze on a mouth\n Most lovely is feasting;\n My lips are afire\n With passionate yearning\n For the pasture sweet that I look on!\n[Points to her armour, which she now perceives.]\nI see there the shield\n That sheltered heroes;\n And there is the helmet\n That hid my head:\n It shields, it hides me no more!\n[With fire.]\nBy a glorious maid\n My heart has been hurt\nWounds in my head\n A woman has struck:\n I came without shield or helm!\n[With increased sadness.]\nI see there the breastplate's\n Glittering steel;\n A keen-edged sword\n Sundered the rings,\n From the form of the maiden\n Loosened the mail:\n Nor shelter nor shield is left\n To the weak and sorrowful maid!\n[With heat.]\nThrough billows of fire\n I battled to thee,\n No buckler or breastplate\n Sheltered or screened;\n The flames have won\n Their way to my heart;\n My blood hot-surging\n Rushes and leaps;\n A ravening fire\n Is kindled within me:\n The flames that shone\n Round Br\u00fcnnhilde's rock\n Are burning now in my breast!\n O maid, extinguish the fire!\n Calm the commotion and rage!\n[He has embraced her passionately.]\n[Springs up, resists him with the utmost strength of terror, and flies to the other side of the stage.]\nNo God's touch have I known!\n With awe the heroes\n Greeted the maiden:\n Holy came she from Walhall.\n Woe's me! Woe's me!\n Woe the affront,\n The bitter disgrace!\nBr\u00fcnnhilde throws herself into Siegfried's arms\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 99\nHe wounds me sore\n Who waked me from sleep!\n He has broken breastplate and helm;\n Now I am Br\u00fcnnhild' no more.\nThou art to me\n The dreaming maid still;\n Br\u00fcnnhilde lies\n Lapped still in sleep.\n Awake, be a woman to me!\n[Bewildered.]\nConfused are my senses,\n My mind is blank:\n Wisdom, dost thou forsake me?\nSaid not thy song\n Thy wisdom drew\n Its light from thy love of me?\n[Staring before her.]\nShadows drear-falling\n Darken my gaze;\n Mine eyes see dimly,\n The light dies out,\n Deep is the dark.\n From dread-haunted mists\n Fear in a frenzy\n Comes writhing forth;\n Terror stalks me\n And grows with each stride!\n[She hides her eyes with her hands in violent terror.]\n[Gently removing her hands from her eyes.]\nDread lies dark\n On eyelids bound;\n With the fetters vanish\n The fear and gloom;\n Rise from the dark and behold\n Bright as the sun is the day.\n[Much agitated.]\nFlaunting my shame,\n Bright as the sun shines the day!\n O Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Pity my woe!\n I have always\n Lived and shall live--\n Always in sweet,\n Rapturous yearning,\n And always to make thee blest!\nO Siegfried! Glorious\n Wealth of the world!\n Laughing hero!\n Life of the earth!\n Ah, forbear!\n Leave me in peace!\n Touch me not,\n Mad with delirious frenzy!\n Break me not,\n Bring me not under thy yoke,\n Undo not the loved one so dear!\nHast thou rejoiced\n Thyself to see\n Reflected clear in the stream?\n If into wavelets\n The water were stirred,\n And ruffled the limpid\n Calm of the brook,\n Thy face would not be there,\n Only water's rippling unrest.\n So untouched let me stay,\n Trouble me not,\n And thy face\n Mirrored bright in me\n Will smile to thee always,\n Gay and merry and glad!\nO Siegfried,\n Radiant child,\n Love thyself\n And leave me in peace;\n O bring not thine own to naught!\nI love thee;\n Didst thou but love me!\n Myself I have lost;\n Ah, would thou wert won!\n A fair-flowing flood\n Before me rolls;\n With all my senses\n Nothing I see\n But buoyant, beautiful billows.\n If it refuse\n To mirror my face,\n Just as I am,\n To assuage my fever,\n Myself I will plunge\n Straight in the stream:--\n If only the billows\n Would blissfully drown me,\n My yearning lost in the flood!\n Awaken, Br\u00fcnnhilde!\n Waken, O maid!\n Laughing and living,\n Sweetest delight,\n Be mine! Be mine! Be mine!\n[With deep feeling.]\nThine, Siegfried!\n I was from of old!\nWhat thou hast been\n That be thou still!\nThine I will\n Always be!\nWhat thou wilt be\n Be thou to-day!\n Clasped in my arms\n And closely embraced,\n Heart upon heart\n Beating in rapture,\n Glances aglow,\n And breath mingled hungrily,\n Eye in eye and\n Mouth on mouth!\n All that thou wert\n And wilt be, be thou it now!\n The fear and the fever would vanish\n Were Br\u00fcnnhild' now mine!\nWere I now thine?\nHeavenly calm\n Is tossing and raging;\n Light that was pure\n Flames into passion;\n Wisdom divine\n Forsakes me and flies;\n Jubilant love\n Has scared it away!\nIf I be thine?\n Siegfried! Siegfried!\n Canst thou not see?\n By the blaze of my eyes\n Thou art not struck blind?\n In my arms' embrace\n Thou surely must burn!\nAs my blood like a torrent\n Surges and leaps,\n The fire fierce-flaming\n Dost thou not feel?\n Fearest thou, Siegfried?\n Fearest thou not\n The wild, love-frenzied maid?\n[With a shock of joy.]\nHa!\n As the blood swift-surging is kindled,\n As our eyes devour one another,\n As our arms cling close in their rapture,\n Dauntless again\n My courage swells,\n And the fear I failed\n For so long to learn,\n The fear that I scarcely\n Learned from thee--\n The stupid boy fears\n That fear is completely forgot!\n[With the last words he has involuntarily let Br\u00fcnnhilde go.]\n[Laughing wildly with joy.]\nOh, valorous boy!\n Oh, glorious hero!\n Unwitting source\n Of wonderful deeds!\n Laughing, laughing I love thee;\n Laughing welcome my blindness;\n Laughing let us go doomwards,\n Laughing go down to death!\nFarewell Walhall's\n Radiant world,\n Its stately halls\n In the dust laid low!\nThe three Norns\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0See p. 103\nFarewell, glittering\n Pomp divine!\n End in bliss,\n O immortal race!\n Norns, rend in sunder\n Your rope of runes!\n Dusk steal darkly\n Over the Gods!\n Night of their downfall\n Dimly descend!\n Now Siegfried's star\n Is rising for me;\n He is for ever\n And for aye,\n My wealth, my world,\n My all in all:\n Love ever radiant,\n Laughing death!\n[While Br\u00fcnnhilde repeats the foregoing, beginning at \"Farewell Walhall's Radiant world\".]\nLaughing thou wakest,\n Thou my delight!\n Br\u00fcnnhilde lives,\n Br\u00fcnnhilde laughs!\n Hail, O day\n In glory arisen!\n Hail, O Sun\n That shines from on high!\n Hail, O light\n From the darkness sprung!\n Hail, O world\n Where Br\u00fcnnhilde dwells!\n She wakes! She lives!\n She greets me with laughter!\n Splendour streams\n From Br\u00fcnnhilde's star!\nShe is for ever\n And for aye\n My wealth, my world,\n My all in all,\n Love ever radiant,\n Laughing death!\n[Br\u00fcnnhilde throws herself into Siegfried's arms. The curtain falls.]","title":"SIEGFRIED: The Third Act","type":"page"}