How broad and open
Is thy brow!
Blue-branching the veins
In thy temples entwine.
I hardly can endure
My burden of bliss.—
Of something I am reminded:—
The man I first saw to-day
Already I have seen!
SIEGMUND
A dream of love
I too recall;
I saw thee there
And yearned for thee sore!
SIEGLINDE
The stream has shown me
My imaged face—
Again I see it before me;
As in the pool it arose
It is reflected by thee.
SIEGMUND
Thine is the face
I hid in my heart.
SIEGLINDE [Quickly averting her gaze.
O hush! That voice!
O let me listen!
These tones as a child
Surely I heard—
But no! I heard the sound lately,
When, calling in the wood,
My voice re-echoing rang.
SIEGMUND
To sweet and melodious
Music I listen!
SIEGLINDE [Gazing into his eyes again.
And ere now thy glowing
Eye have I seen:
The old man whose glance
Solaced my grief,
When he greeted me had that eye—
I knew him
Because of his eye,
And almost addressed him as father.
[After a pause.
Art thou Wehwalt in truth?
SIEGMUND
If dear to thee,
Wehwalt no more;
My sway is o'er bliss not sorrow!
SIEGLINDE
And Friedmund does not
Fit with thy fortunes.
SIEGMUND
Choose thou the name
Thou wouldst have me be known by:
Thy choice will also be mine!
SIEGLINDE
The name of thy father was Wölfe?
SIEGMUND
A wolf to the fearful foxes!
But he whose eye
Shone with the brightness
Which, fairest one, shines in thine own,
Was named—Wälse of old.
SIEGLINDE [Beside herself.
Was Wälse thy father,
And art thou a Wälsung?—
Stuck was for thee
His sword in the stem?—
Then let my love call thee
What it has found thee;
Siegmund
Shall be thy name.
SIEGMUND [Springs up.
Siegmund call me
For Siegmund am I!
Be witness this sword
I grasp without shrinking!
That I should find it
In sorest need
Wälse foretold.
I grasp it now!
Love the most pure
In utmost need,
Passionate love,
Consuming desire
Burning bright in my breast,
Drive to deeds and death!
Nothung! Nothung!
That, sword, is thy name.
Nothung! Nothung!
Conquering steel!
Show me thy sharp
And sundering tooth:
Come forth from thy scabbard to me!
[He draws the sword with a violent effort from the stem of the tree and shows it to the amazed and enraptured Sieglinde.
Siegmund the Wälsung
Thou dost see!
As bride-gift
He brings thee this sword;
With this he frees
The woman most blest;
He bears thee
From the house of his foe.
Far from here
Follow thou him:
Forth to the laughing
House of the spring;
Thy shield be Nothung, the sword,
When Siegmund is captive to love!
[He throws his arm round her so as to draw her forth with him.
SIEGLINDE [Delirious with excitement, tears herself
away and stands before him.
Art thou Siegmund
Standing before me,
Sieglinde am I
Who longed for thee;
Thy own twin-sister
As well as the sword thou hast
won!
[She throws herself on his breast.
SIEGMUND
Bride and sister
Be to thy brother—
So Wälsungs shall flourish for aye!
[He draws her to him with fervent passion. The curtain falls quickly.