Come, my sword,
Cleave thou the iron!
[He draws his sword and gently and carefully cuts through the rings on both sides of the breastplate; he then lifts this off along with the greaves, so that Brünnhilde now lies before him in a soft woman's robe. He draws back startled and amazed.
That is no man!
[He stares at the sleeper, greatly excited.
Magical rapture
Pierces my heart;
Fixed is my gaze,
Burning with terror;
I reel, my heart faints and fails!
[He is seized with sudden terror.
On whom shall I call,
For aid imploring?
Mother! Mother!
Remember me!
[He sinks as if fainting on to Brünnhilde's bosom; then he starts up sighing.
How waken the maid,
Causing her eyelids to open?
[Tenderly.
Her eyelids to open?
What if her gaze strike me blind!
How shall I dare
To look on their light?
All rocks and sways
And swirls and revolves;
Uttermost longing
Burns and consumes me;
My hand on my heart,
It trembles and shakes!
What ails thee, coward?
Is this what fear means?
O mother! Mother!
Thy dauntless child!
[Very tenderly.
A woman lying asleep
Has taught him what fear is at last!
How conquer my fear?
How brace my heart?
That, myself, I waken,
I must waken the sleeper!
[As he approaches the sleeping figure again he is overcome by tenderer emotions at the light. He bends down lower; sweetly.
Softly quivers
Her flower-sweet mouth!
Its lovely trembling
Has charmed my despair!
Ah! And the fragrant,
Blissful warmth of her breath!
[As if in despair.
Awaken! Awaken,
Maiden divine!
[He gazes at her.
She hears me not.
New life from the sweetest
Of lips I will suck, then,
Even though kissing I die!
[He sinks, as if dying, on to the sleeping figure, and, closing his eyes, fastens his lips on Brünnhilde's. Brünnhilde opens her eyes. Siegfried starts up, and remains standing before her.
BRÜNNHILDE
[Rises slowly to a sitting posture. Raising her arms, she greets the earth and sky with solemn gestures on her return to consciousness.
Sun, I hail thee!
Hail, O light!
Hail, O glorious day.
Long I have slept;
I am awake.
What hero broke
Brünnhilde's sleep?
SIEGFRIED
[Awed and entranced by her look and her voice, stands as if spellbound.
Through the fierce fires flaming
Round this rock I burst;
I unloosened thy helmet strong:
I awoke thee.
Siegfried am I.
BRÜNNHILDE [Sitting upright.