Dallas Wiebe, p.1
LISTENING TO WAGNER’S “LIEBESTOD”
Gave we not our hearts away
We would speak no more of Tristan
and Isolde.
Refused we not our love’s vials
We would sing no more of love’s death
or its potions.
Believed we not in timeless passions
We would break our violin bows
and the strings in our throats
That sing, oh yes sing,
of our yearning for an orchestra
To accompany us off
to our final humming.
Had we not our tongues untied
for our foreplay and afterplay
in the death of our feelings
for a little season
We’d plunk our lust down
beside the dust.
Cared we not for our mother tongue
or listed slightly
towards the evening sun
We’d all speak German
and swallow the poison.
Gave we not our hearts away
We would speak no more of Tristan
and Isolde.
Refused we not our love’s vials
We would sing no more of love’s death
or its potions.
Believed we not in timeless passions
We would break our violin bows
and the strings in our throats
That sing, oh yes sing,
of our yearning for an orchestra
To accompany us off
to our final humming.
Had we not our tongues untied
for our foreplay and afterplay
in the death of our feelings
for a little season
We’d plunk our lust down
beside the dust.
Cared we not for our mother tongue
or listed slightly
towards the evening sun
We’d all speak German
and swallow the poison.