Biebrich Feb. 16, 62.* Lady-friend ! You do wrong to pay any heed to me ; this time it positively shames me. I was unaware, and accordingly uneasy. One word sufficed, one mournful, hopeless word ! O how much happier to be dead oneself, than see a loved one die ! — So it is moving over you, and you are receiving one initiation after another! To the serious mind it is initiation : thought and feeling blend in it to one ; it feels the deepest-thought, and knows how direly true that is ! For your mother I have shed a tear-drop big with meaning ; for yourself, be welcomed to this solemn realm where I am now a denizen, and whence alone I still can look upon the world, — can even see it bright of semblance, since I look no longer into, but from out the night ! Leave the Meistersinger quite aside ; the manuscript belongs to you ; I had no other purpose than to render you your property ! Heartfelt greetings to Otto and the children ! R. W. Biebrich (bei Architect Frickhoffer).
Richard Wagner
Source: Richard Wagner to Mathilde Wesendonck, translated by Ellis, No. 130