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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
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