THE FIDDLER
The Fiddler saws the strings, His light brown hair he tosses and flings.
He carries a sabre at his side, He wears a pleated habit wide.
"Fiddler, why that frantic sound?
Why do you gaze so wildly round?
Why leaps your blood, like the surging sea?
What drives your bow so desperately?"
"Why do I fiddle? Or the wild waves roar?
That they might pound the rocky shore, That eye be blinded, that bosom swell, That Soul's cry carry down to Hell.""Fiddler, with scorn you rend your heart.
A radiant God lent you your art, To dazzle with waves of melody, To soar to the star-dance in the sky.""How so! I plunge, plunge wihout fail My blood-black sabre into your soul.
That art God neither wants nor wists, It leaps to the brain from Hell's black mists.
"Till heart's bewitched, till senses reel:
With Satan I have struck my deal.
He chalks the signs, beats time for me, I play the death march fast and free.
"I must play dark, I must play light, Till bowstrings break my heart outright."The Fiddler saws the strings, His light brown hair he tosses and flings.
He carries a sabre at his side, He wears a pleated habit wide.
