Art And Morality Poem by gershon hepner

Unprincipled and treacherous,
and sympathetic to the lecherous,
Wagner proves that there’s a chasm
as deep as musical orgasm,
between morality and art.
We have to think of them apart,
each valid on the terms it sets.
The heartbeats of the love duets
of Tristan and Isolde and
the songs of Wesendonck withstand
the impulses of those who quarrel
with Wagner, looking for a moral,
because their only moral duty
music lovers owe to beauty.


(5/22/07)