Venus monologue (Act 3) — Tannhäuser : $b A story of all time

Ha! My true knight! I ask thee once again, Once more invoke the epithets of love, Suspend my powers—constrain thee on my knees For thine old kisses. See, I am all thine! All thine the splendid body, and the shape Of mighty breasts, and supple limbs, and wide Lips, and slow almond eyes! Adorable, Seductive, sombre, moving amorously, Droop the long eyelids, purple with young blood, The lazy lashes and the flowing mane, The flame of fire from head to feet of me! The subtle fervours, drunken heats and ways, And perfumes maddening from the soul of spring! The little nipples, and the dangerous pit Set smiling in the alabaster; thine, The glowing arms are thine, the desperate Fresh kisses, and the gold that lurks upon The sunny skin, the marble of these brows, The roses, and the poppies, and the scent Subtle and sinful—thine, all thine, are these, What with my heart that only beats for thee, The many-throned and many-minded soul Centred to do thee worship. Hither, hither!