The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 01 · Chapter 57Cathedral
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Service, Organ, and Anthem.
MARGARET amongst a number of people
EVIL-SPIRIT behind MARGARET
[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?
Woe! Woe! Oh, could I free me from the thoughts That hither, thither, crowd upon my brain, Against my will!
Dies irae, dies illa, Solvet sæclum in favilla.
[The organ sounds.]
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!
Would I were hence! It is as if the organ Choked my breath, As if the choir Melted my inmost heart!
Judex ergo cum sedebit, Quidquid latet adparebit, Nil inultum remanebit.
I feel oppressed! The pillars of the wall Imprison me! The vaulted roof Weighs down upon me!—air!
Wouldst hide thee? sin and shame Remain not hidden! Air! light! Woe's thee!
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus? Quem patronum rogaturus! Cum vix justus sit securus.
The glorified their faces turn Away from thee! Shudder the pure to reach Their hands to thee! Woe!
Quid sum miser tunc dicturus—
Neighbor! your smelling bottle!
[She swoons away.]
[Illustration: MARGARET'S DOWNFALL From the Painting by Wilhelm von Kaulbach]