| James and Mary Ford, eds. Every Day in the Year. 1902. | | | | August 28 | | Lohengrin | | By Andrew E. Watrous (d. 1902) |
| | | | The first performance of Lohengrin was given in Weimar on Goethe’s birthday, August 28, 1850. |
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THE SUN has stricken the armor splendid, | |
| Till the silver scales into golden melt, | |
| And the stately sail of the swan is ended | |
| At the thronging bank of the sparkling Scheldt. | |
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| The shout has risen, the strident clamor | 5 |
| From the sense assured of a portent great, | |
| As the hero moves in his awful glamour, | |
| The gleaming shaft of a heavenly hate. | |
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| Then, where the fierce drum savage hastened, | |
| In the troubled wake of the horns harsh blown, | 10 |
| From the charmed hush of the tumult chastened, | |
| The swan knight sings to the swan—alone. | |
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| There was one height left for the tenor-master, | |
| Who hath clearness taught to the silver bell, | |
| Who may lend the trump when the strain grows vaster— | 15 |
| A deeper volume, a broader swell. | |
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| For though the eye like the pendant glistens, | |
| When Fernand’s voice to the pendant flows, | |
| In a mellow whisper, one knows he listens | |
| To mortal miming a mortal’s woes. | 20 |
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| But in the old, half-sacred stories, | |
| The mystic mountain, the shining king, | |
| The awful cup, with its crimson glories, | |
| My faith was full as I heard him sing. | |
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| And naught I’d know of the strange or terrent, | 25 |
| Had the Grail-flame lighted his face upon, | |
| For ’twas the voice of an angel-errant, | |
| Wherewith he spake to the faithful swan. | | | |
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