E

Could I but reach thy wither'd frame,
Thou wretched beldame, void of shame!
Full measure I might hope to win
Of pardon then for every sin.

MARGARET

Brother! what agonizing pain!

VALENTINE

I tell thee, from vain tears abstain!
'Twas thy dishonor pierced my heart,
Thy fall the fatal death-stab gave.
Through the death-sleep I now depart
To God, a soldier true and brave.

[_Dies._]

CATHEDRAL

_Service, Organ, and Anthem._

MARGARET _amongst a number of people_

EVIL-SPIRIT _behind_ MARGARET

EVIL-SPIRIT

[Illustration: VALENTINE'S DEATH Franz Simm]

How different, Gretchen, was it once with thee,
When thou, still full of innocence,
Here to the altar camest,
And from the small and well-con'd book
Didst lisp thy prayer,
Half childish sport,
Half God in thy young heart!
Gretchen!
What thoughts are thine?
What deed of shame
Lurks in thy sinful heart?
Is thy prayer utter'd for thy mother's soul,
Who into long, long torment slept through thee?
Whose blood is on thy threshold?--
And stirs there not already 'neath thy heart
Another quick'ning pulse, that even now
Tortures itself and thee
With its foreboding presence?

MARGARET

Woe! Woe!
Oh, could I free me from the thoughts
That hither, thither, crowd upon my brain,
Against my will!

CHORUS

_Dies irae, dies illa,
Solvet saeclum in favilla._

[_The organ sounds._]

EVIL-SPIRIT

Grim horror seizes thee!
The trumpet sounds!
The graves are shaken!
And thy heart
From ashy rest
For torturing flames
Anew created,
Trembles into life!

MARGARET

Would I were hence!
It is as if the organ
Choked my breath,
As if the choir
Melted my inmost heart!

CHORUS

_Judex ergo cum sedebit,
Quidquid latet adparebit,
Nil inultum remanebit._

MARGARET

I feel oppressed!
The pillars of the wall
Imprison me!
The vaulted roof
Weighs down upon me!--air!

EVIL-SPIRIT

Wouldst hide thee? sin and shame
Remain not hidden!
Air! light!
Woe's thee!

CHORUS

_Quid sum miser tunc dicturus?
Quem patronum rogaturus!
Cum vix justus sit securus._

EVIL-SPIRIT

The glorified their faces turn
Away from thee!
Shudder the pure to reach
Their hands to thee!
Woe!

CHORUS

_Quid sum miser tunc dicturus_--

MARGARET

Neighbor! your smelling bottle!

[_She swoons away._]

[Illustration: MARGARET'S DOWNFALL _From the Painting by Wilhelm von
Kaulbach_]

WALPURGIS-NIGHT

THE HARTZ MOUNTAIN