Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“ Had I seven hours, to call my own, Without the devil's aid, alone I'd snare with ease so young a creature.
Mephistopheles. You talk quite Frenchman-like to-day;
But don't be vexed beyond all measure.
What boots it thus to snatch at pleasure?
'Tis not so great, by a long way,
As if you first, with tender twaddle,
And every sort of fiddle-faddle,
Your little doll should mould and knead,
As one in French romances may read.
Faust. My appetite needs no such spur.
Mephistopheles. Now, then, without a jest or slur,
I tell you, once for all, such speed
With the fair creature won't succeed. ”

“ It seems as if all heaven the room were filling.
Faust. One passion only has thy heart possessed;
The other, friend, O, learn it never!
Two souls, alas! are lodged in my wild breast,
Which evermore opposing ways endeavor,
The one lives only on the joys of time,
Still to the world with clamp-like organs clinging;
The other leaves this earthly dust and slime,
To fields of sainted sires up-springing.
O, are there spirits in the air,
That empire hold 'twixt earth's and heaven's dominions,
Down from your realm of golden haze repair,
Waft me to new, rich life, upon your rosy pinions! ”

“ Faust. What new life-power it gives me, canst thou guess—
This conversation with the wilderness?
Ay, couldst thou dream how sweet the employment,
Thou wouldst be devil enough to grudge me my enjoyment.
Mephistopheles. Ay, joy from super-earthly fountains!
By night and day to lie upon the mountains,
To clasp in ecstasy both earth and heaven,
Swelled to a deity by fancy's leaven,
Pierce, like a nervous thrill, earth's very marrow,
Feel the whole six days' work for thee too narrow,
To enjoy, I know not what, in blest elation,
Then with thy lavish love o'erflow the whole creation. ”

“ Mephistopheles. Hast thou done?
Faust. Rescue her! O woe be unto thee! The most horrible curse on thee for thousands of years!
Mephistopheles. I cannot loose the bonds of the avenger, nor open his bolts.—Rescue her!—Who was it that plunged her into ruin? I or thou? [FAUST looks wildly round.] Grasp'st thou after the thunder? Well that it was not given to you miserable mortals! To crush an innocent respondent, that is a sort of tyrant's-way of getting room to breathe in embarrassment.
Faust. Lead me to her! She shall be free!
Mephistopheles. And the danger which thou incurrest? ”

“ Wagner. Thou seest! a dog we have, no spectre, here! He growls and stops, crawls on his belly, too, And wags his tail,—as all dogs do.
Faust. Come here, sir! come, our comrade be!
Wagner. He has a poodle's drollery.
Stand still, and he, too, waits to see;
Speak to him, and he jumps on thee;
Lose something, drop thy cane or sling it
Into the stream, he'll run and bring it.
Faust. I think you're right; I trace no spirit here, 'Tis all the fruit of training, that is clear.
Wagner. A well-trained dog is a great treasure,
Wise men in such will oft take pleasure. ”

“ How this true soul that loves so dearly,
Yet hugs, at every cost,
The faith which she
Counts Heaven itself, is horror-struck sincerely
To think of giving up her dearest man for lost.
Mephistopheles. Thou supersensual, sensual wooer, A girl by the nose is leading thee.
Faust. Abortion vile of fire and sewer!
Mephistopheles. In physiognomy, too, her skill is masterly.
When I am near she feels she knows not how,
My little mask some secret meaning shows;
She thinks, I'm certainly a genius, now,
Perhaps the very devil—who knows?
To-night then?—
Faust. ”

“ Where art thou, Faust? whose voice rang through my ear,
Whose mighty yearning drew me from my sphere?
Is this thing thou? that, blasted by my breath,
Through all life's windings shuddereth,
A shrinking, cringing, writhing worm!
Faust. Thee, flame-born creature, shall I fear? 'Tis I, 'tis Faust, behold thy peer!
Spirit. In life's tide currents, in action's storm,
Up and down, like a wave,
Like the wind I sweep! ”

“ And thou repelling me freezingly;
And 'tis thou, the same good soul, I see.
Faust. If thou feelest 'tis I, then come with me
Margaret. Out yonder?
Faust. Into the open air.
Margaret. If the grave is there, If death is lurking; then come! From here to the endless resting-place, And not another pace—Thou go'st e'en now? O, Henry, might I too.
Faust. Thou canst! 'Tis but to will! The door stands open.
Margaret. I dare not go; for me there's no more hoping. What use to fly? They lie in wait for me. So wretched the lot to go round begging, With an evil conscience thy spirit plaguing! ”

“ What then? 'Tis half for pity's sake
They praise your pretty features.
Each burns for gold,
All turns on gold,—
Alas for us! poor creatures!
PROMENADE. FAUST [going up and down in thought.] MEPHISTOPHELES to him.
Mephistopheles. By all that ever was jilted! By all the infernal fires! I wish I knew something worse, to curse as my heart desires!
Faust. What griping pain has hold of thee? Such grins ne'er saw I in the worst stage-ranter!
Mephistopheles. Oh, to the devil I'd give myself instanter, If I were not already he!
Faust. Some pin's loose in your head, old fellow! ”

“ Shouldst thou manure, thyself, the field thou reapest;
Follow this course and, trust to me,
For eighty years thy youth thou keepest!
Faust. I am not used to that, I ne'er could bring me to it, To wield the spade, I could not do it. The narrow life befits me not at all.
Mephistopheles. So must we on the witch, then, call.
Faust. But why just that old hag? Canst thou Not brew thyself the needful liquor?
Mephistopheles. That were a pretty pastime now
I'd build about a thousand bridges quicker.
Science and art alone won't do,
The work will call for patience, too ”

“ Plunge into human life's full sea of passion!
Each lives it, few its meaning ever guessed,
Touch where you will, 'tis full of interest.
Bright shadows fleeting o'er a mirror,
A spark of truth and clouds of error,
By means like these a drink is brewed
To cheer and edify the multitude.
The fairest flower of the youth sit listening
Before your play, and wait the revelation;
Each melancholy heart, with soft eyes glistening,
Draws sad, sweet nourishment from your creation;
This passion now, now that is stirred, by turns,
And each one sees what in his bosom burns. ”

“ Then believ'st thou not?
Faust. Sweet face, do not misunderstand my thought!
Who dares express him?
And who confess him,
Saying, I do believe?
A man's heart bearing,
What man has the daring
To say: I acknowledge him not?
The All-enfolder,
The All-upholder,
Enfolds, upholds He not
Thee, me, Himself?
Upsprings not Heaven's blue arch high o'er thee?
Underneath thee does not earth stand fast?
See'st thou not, nightly climbing,
Tenderly glancing eternal stars? ”

“ The earth looks gray, my friend,
The air grows cool, the mists ascend!
At night we learn our homes to prize.—
Why dost thou stop and stare with all thy eyes?
What can so chain thy sight there, in the gloaming?
Faust. Seest thou that black dog through stalks and stubble roaming?
Wagner. I saw him some time since, he seemed not strange to me.
Faust. Look sharply! What dost take the beast to be?
Wagner. For some poor poodle who has lost his master, And, dog-like, scents him o'er the ground.
Faust. Markst thou how, ever nearer, ever faster,
Towards us his spiral track wheels round and round? ”

“ At times she'll be laughing, seldom smile,
At times wept-out she'll seem,
Then again tranquil, you'd deem,—
Lovesick all the while.
Faust. Viper! Viper!
Mephistopheles [aside] . Ay! and the prey grows riper!
Faust. Reprobate! take thee far behind me!
No more that lovely woman name!
Bid not desire for her sweet person flame
Through each half-maddened sense, again to blind me!
Mephistopheles. What then's to do? She fancies thou hast flown, And more than half she's right, I own.
Faust. I'm near her, and, though far away, my word,
I'd not forget her, lose her; never fear it! ”

“ Jack-o'lantern. Out of respect, I hope I shall be able To rein a nature quite unstable; We usually take a zigzag way.
Mephistopheles. Heigh! heigh! He thinks man's crooked course to travel. Go straight ahead, or, by the devil, I'll blow your flickering life out with a puff.
Jack-o'lantern. You're master of the house, that's plain enough,
So I'll comply with your desire.
But see! The mountain's magic-mad to-night,
And if your guide's to be a Jack-o'lantern's light,
Strict rectitude you'll scarce require.
FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, JACK-O'LANTERN, in alternate song. ”

“ The Godhead's live garment, eternal in bloom.
Faust. Spirit that sweep'st the world from end to end, How near, this hour, I feel myself to thee!
Spirit. Thou'rt like the spirit thou canst comprehend, Not me! [Vanishes.]
Faust. [Collapsing.] Not thee?
Whom then?
I, image of the Godhead,
And no peer for thee!
[A knocking.]
O Death! I know it!—'tis my Famulus—
Good-bye, ye dreams of bliss Elysian!
Shame! that so many a glowing vision
This dried-up sneak must scatter thus!
[WAGNER, in sleeping-gown and night-cap, a lamp in his hand.
FAUST turns round with an annoyed look.]
Wagner. ”

“ Faust. Would thou hadst something else to do, That thus to spoil my joy thou burnest.
Mephistopheles. Well! well! I'll leave thee, gladly too!—
Thou dar'st not tell me that in earnest!
'Twere no great loss, a fellow such as you,
So crazy, snappish, and uncivil.
One has, all day, his hands full, and more too;
To worm out from him what he'd have one do,
Or not do, puzzles e'en the very devil.
Faust. Now, that I like! That's just the tone! Wants thanks for boring me till I'm half dead!
Mephistopheles. Poor son of earth, if left alone,
What sort of life wouldst thou have led? ”

“ What! and the lofty birthright Nature gave,
The noblest talent Heaven to man has lent,
Thou bid'st the Poet fling to folly's ocean!
How does he stir each deep emotion?
How does he conquer every element?
But by the tide of song that from his bosom springs,
And draws into his heart all living things?
When Nature's hand, in endless iteration,
The thread across the whizzing spindle flings,
When the complex, monotonous creation
Jangles with all its million strings:
Who, then, the long, dull series animating,
Breaks into rhythmic march the soulless round? ”

“ The inborn angel's features drew!
Here lay the child, when life's fresh heavings
Its tender bosom first made warm,
And here with pure, mysterious weavings
The spirit wrought its godlike form!
And thou! What brought thee here? what power
Stirs in my deepest soul this hour?
What wouldst thou here? What makes thy heart so sore?
Unhappy Faust! I know thee thus no more.
Breathe I a magic atmosphere?
The will to enjoy how strong I felt it,—
And in a dream of love am now all melted!
Are we the sport of every puff of air? ”