The goddess in the dressing-room
Richard Georg Strauss
What a chaotic
Household!
What an erotic
Myriad!
All these niches,
All these canopies,
All these tables,
All these stands!
Compartments, niches,
All hung with tassels;
Pearls and gemstones
All in little caskets!
Gleaming rings,
Shimmering chains,
Golden baubles!
Silver leaves!
Needles & pins,
Hooks and eyelets,
Threads and twines,
Patches and mendings!
All kinds of wrappings,
All kinds of ribbons,
All kinds of gussets,
All kinds of stripings!
In the confusion
Of colorful tangles,
From confusion
Fears one's glance.
What a powerful
Sorceress must be,
That of this division
Can force a unity?
There from the portals
She walks in.
Look at the ribbons!
Just look at the clasps!
All these effects,
How they bestir themselves,
From their little niches
All hopping towards her.
All the little knick-knacks
Ribbons, stays,
Around her fingers,
Surrounding her limbs!
Suddenly from bottom
To top she stands
All with colorful
Spangles wrapped around her.
Everything, how it orders itself
Still and harmoniously,
Reposes itself, contents itself,
To her powerful will.
The elements
Has she bound,
Has in the separateness
Sensed a Whole.
And from the living
Inner breath
Comes to her the surroundings
Life finally as well.
Creator, Unfolder,
Heavenly Ornament,
Do you stand before me,
The Muse of Formation?
Or are You, Love,
Accorder,
Of earthly Enmeshment
The Simplifier?
For only you both
Unify
The colorful jewelry
Of human existence.
For only you both
Transform nothingness,
Chaos, into raiment
Of heavenly light.