Peter Pears - Chaos, chaos and sickness [aria from "Death in Venice"] (Benjamin Britten)

Favorite aria from Britten's "Death in Venice". The last stanza always gets me.... Chaos, chaos and sickness. What if all were dead and only we two left alive? O Aschenbach... Famous as master... Self-discipline... your strength... All folly, all pretence – O perilous, perilous sweetness the wisdom poets crave. Socrates knew. Socrates told us. Does beauty lead to wisdom, Phaedrus? Yes, but through the senses. Can poets take this way then For senses lead to passion, Phaedrus, Passion leads to knowledge Knowledge to forgiveness To compassion with the abyss. Should we then reject it, Phaedrus, The wisdom poets crave, Seeking only form and pure detachment Simplicity and discipline? But this beauty, Phaedrus, Discovered through the senses And senses lead to passion, Phaedrus And passion to the abyss. * And now, Phaedrus, I will go, But you stay here and when your eyes no longer see me, then you go too.