To Richard Wagner Sidney Lanier Patrick Swinkels First edition 3376 The Wagner Library
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 Articles related to Richard Wagner To Richard Wagner The Galaxy Sheldon and Company New York November 1877 24 5

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To Richard Wagner. A Dream Of The Age. I Saw a sky of stars that rolled in grime. All glory twinkled through some sweat of fight. From each tall chimney of the roaring Time That shot his fire far up the sooty night Mixt fuels—Labor's Right and Labor's Crime— Sent upward throb on throb of scarlet light, Till huge hot blushes in the heavens blent With golden hues of Trade's big firmament. The workmen drove by night and snored by day: Young Force was fain to mould all nature new; Art, raging to reverse each fair old way, Poor Epileptic! her sad circle drew All zigzag—puled and laughed when she should pray. Men's tongues accented life's large Word untrue— Shouted the trifling prefix, Time, full high, But slurred th'Eternal Syllable, in a sigh. Fierce burned that flame of Trade: yet all was well. Hope dreamed rich music in the rattling mills. "Ye Foundries, ye shall cast my Church a bell!" Loud cried the Future from the furthest hills: "Ye groaning Forces, crack me every shell Of customs, old constraints and narrow ills: Thou, lithe Invention, wake and pry and guess, Till thy deft hand can make us happiness!" And I beheld high scaffoldings of creeds Crumbling from round Religion's perfect Fane; And a vast noise of rights, wrongs, powers, needs— Cries of new Faiths that called, "The Way is plain"— Grindings of upper against lower greeds— Fond sighs for old things, shouts for new—had reign Below that stream of golden fire that broke, Mottled with red, above the seas of smoke. Hark! Gay fanfares from horns of old Romance Open the clouds of clamor: who be these That, paired in rich processional, advance From darkness, o'er the murk-mad factories, Into yon flaming road, and sink, strange Ministrants! Sheer down to earth with many minstrelsies And motions fine, and mix about the scene, And fill the Time with forms of foreign mien? Bright ladies and brave knights of Fatherland; Sad mariners, no harbor e'er may hold; A Swan soft floating tow'rds a tragic strand; Dim ghosts of earth, air, water, fire, steel, gold, Wind, care, love, lust; a lewd and lurking band Of Powers—dark Conspiracy, Cunning cold, Gray Sorcery; magic cloaks and rings and rods; Valkyries, heroes, Rhinemaids, giants, gods! Now marvels fall: each shape of yon wild Past Dissolves, as cloud will melt away with cloud, In later kindred type; the modern Last Explains the antique First; a mighty crowd Of gods and powers and ancient secrets vast New-live in steam and crank and lever loud: The large Norse forces smile to man, as mild As tender giants to a little child. Then, in my dream, those accidents of sight Passed into hearing: life was turned to sound: I heard the voice of ancient day and night With later voices swell, so linked and bound That never any ear could part aright Those threads of tune that each through other wound: And yet, O mystery of mysteries! All seemed to sing one Fugue in many keys. Grim songs of sinews, metals and blown fires Roared as from hot clay furnace-throats expressed; Deep hymns, of knights' and ladies' dear desires, Dull hearts of smiths and clerks made manifest; The lissome strings of Greek and Hebrew lyres Twang'd out the modern Theme; East uttered West; Pale girls by spinning spools in factories Sang Elsa's woes and Brünhild's passionnate pleas. O Wagner, westward bring thy heavenly art! No trifler thou: Siegfried and Wotan be Names for big ballads of the modern heart. Thine ears hear deeper than thine eyes can see. Voice of the monstrous mill, the shouting mart, Not less of airy cloud and ware and tree, Thou, thou, if even to thyself unknown, Hast power to say the Time in terms of tone! Sidney Lanier.