LEGO Tannhäuser – Part 1
# Article: A Tale of Love and Longing
## A Dream of Joy and Sorrow
Beloved! Say, Where dwell your thoughts? Too much! Too much! Oh, that I might wake now! What troubles you? In a dream it was as if I heard what long has been unfamiliar to my ear as if I heard the joyous peal of bells… Tell me how long is it since I heard it? Where strays your mind? What possesses you? I cannot measure the time I have tarried here! Days, months exist for me no more. No more do I see the sunlight, no more the friendly stars in the sky. I see no more the fields which, freshly green, herald a new summer. No more do I hear the nightingale, harbinger of spring. Shall I never hear or see them again?
## The Lament of a Mortal in Love with a Goddess
Ha, what do I hear? What foolish complaints? Are you so soon weary of the sweet wonders which my love has lavished on you? Or can it be you so regret being a god? Have you so soon forgotten how once you suffered while now you delight yourself? My singer, rise! Take up your harp! Celebrate love, which you extol so marvelously in song, that you won for yourself the Goddess of Love! Celebrate love, for its highest prize is yours! Let your praises resound! Glorified be the wonders your might has created for me, the fortunate one! Let the sweet delights, flowing from your favor, raise my song up in a loud cry of jubilation! For joy, oh, for divine pleasure my heart yearned, my senses thirsted. What once you revealed only to gods, your favor has bestowed upon me, a mortal. But mortal, oh, I have remained, and your love overwhelms me. Though a god may incessantly savor joy, I am subject to change; I have at heart not pleasure alone, in the midst of joy I long for pain. From your kingdom I must flee. O queen! Goddess! Let me go!
## The Goddess’s Anguish and Ultimatum
What must I listen to? What a song! Into what doleful strain has your song lapsed? Where has that rapture flown, which inspired you only to songs of delight? What is it? What has my love lacked? Beloved, with what do you reproach me? Thanks be to your favor, may your love be extolled! Forever fortunate is he who has dwelt with you! Forever envied is he who, with ardent passion, has shared the divine glow in your arms! Entrancing are the wonders of your realm. Here I breathe the magic of all pleasure. No land in the wide world offers the like, what they possess you can easily spare. Yet from these rosy scents, I long for the woodland breezes, for the clear blue of our sky, for the fresh green of our meadows, for the sweet song of our birds, for the dear sound of our bells! From your kingdom I must flee. O queen! Goddess! Let me go!
## The Parting and the Curse
Faithless one! Alas! What is this I hear? You dare to spurn my love? You praise it but seek to fly from it? Has my allure grown wearisome? Ah, fair goddess, do not be angry! Has my allure grown wearisome? Your overwhelming allure it is I flee from! Woe to you! Traitor! Never was my love greater. Hypocrite! Ungrateful! I will not let you go! Never was my love truer than now, when I must leave you forever! Beloved, come! See yonder grotto permeated with the soft perfume of roses. Even a god would be enchanted by the sweetest pleasures of this abode. Come to the shore, my cavalier, my beloved! Come to this land! Would you fly? To you, you alone shall my song ever be raised! Your praise alone will I sing aloud! Your sweet charms are the fount of all beauty, and every fair wonder stems from you! The fire you kindled in my heart blazes bright as flame for you alone! Yes, against the whole world I will henceforth be your bold and tireless champion! But I must hence to the world. With you, I can only be a slave. For freedom, then, I long. To strife and struggle will I go, though it be to death and downfall! So from your kingdom I must flee. O queen! Goddess! Let me go! Begone! Madman! Begone! See, traitor, I am not holding you! I set you free! Away! Begone! What you desire shall be your doom! Away! Away! Fly to the cold world of men, from whose feeble, cheerless fancies we gods of joy fled deep into the warm womb of earth. Go then, poor fool! Seek your salvation! Seek the salvation you never shall find! Soon your proud heart will weaken. I shall see you return humbled, remorseful, crestfallen to see me out, pleading for the magic of my might! Oh, fair goddess, farewell! Never will I return to you! Ha! Never will you return to me! If you do not return then accursed shall be the entire race of men! My marvels shall it seek in vain! The world shall be desolate and its champion a menial! Return, come back to me! Never more will the pleasures of love delight me! Return if your heart bids you! Your beloved flies forever! If all the world repulses you, repentance will free me from your spell! Forgiveness never will be granted! Return if you seek salvation! My salvation? My salvation lies in Mary!
## A Pilgrim’s Prayer
Lady Holda came forth from the hill to roam through fields and meadows. Sweet sounds reached my ear. My eyes craved to see her. There I dreamed many a fair dream. Scarcely had I opened my eyes than the sun was shining warm, and May, May had come. Now I merrily play my pipe. May is here, the lovely May! To Thee I journey, Lord Jesus Christ, for Thou art the pilgrim’s hope! Praise to thee, Virgin sweet and pure. Deign to smile upon this pilgrimage! The burden of sin weights heavy upon me. I can no longer bear it! Therefore I seek neither rest nor repose and choose for myself pain and toil. At the celebration of God’s grace, I will expiate my guilt. Blessed is he who truly believes he shall be redeemed through repentance! Godspeed! Godspeed to Rome! Pray for my poor soul! Glory be to Thee, Almighty God! Great are the marvels of Thy mercy! To Thee I journey, Lord Jesus Christ, for Thou art the pilgrim’s hope! Praise to thee, Virgin sweet and pure. Deign to smile upon this pilgrimage! The burden of sin weights heavy upon me. I can no longer bear it! Therefore I seek neither rest nor repose and choose for myself pain and toil. At the celebration of God’s grace, I will expiate my guilt. Blessed is he who truly believes.
## The Return of Heinrich
Who is that yonder, deep in prayer? A penitent. By his garb, a knight. It is he! Heinrich! Heinrich! Do I see aright? Is it really you? Are you returning to the circle you forsook in haughty arrogance?…
source