Faust (5 page)
Authors: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
| | Is this all you can report? |
| | Must you come forever to accuse? |
| | Is nothing ever right for you on earth? |
| | No, my Lord. I find it there, as always, thoroughly revolting. |
| | I pity men in all their misery |
| | and actually hate to plague the wretches. |
| | Do you know Faust? |
| | The doctor? |
| | My servant! |
| 300 | Indeed! He serves you in peculiar ways. |
| | He eats and drinks no earthly nourishment, the fool. |
| | The ferment in him drives him on and on, |
| | and yet he half-knows that he’s mad. |
| | He demands the fairest stars from heaven |
| | and every deepest lust from earth. |
| | The nearest and the farthest |
| | leave his churning heart dissatisfied. |
| | If now he serves me only gropingly, |
| | I soon shall lead him into clarity. |
| 310 | The gardener knows that when his sapling greens |
| | the coming years will see it bloom and bear. |
| | What will you bet? You’ll lose him in the end, |
| | if you’ll just give me your permission |
| | to lead him gently down my street. |
| | So long as he walks the earth, |
| | so long may your wish be granted; |
| | man will stray so long as he strives. |
| | I thank you kindly; for I have never |
| | enjoyed involvement with the dead. |
| 320 | I prefer the full and rosy cheek, |
| | and I’m simply not at home to corpses. |
| | Cats like mice alive—and so do I. |
| | Very well. I leave this much to you. |
| | Draw this spirit from his primal source |
| | and—if you can hold him— |
| | lead him downward on your road; |
| | but stand ashamed when in the end you must confess: |
| | a good man in his dark and secret longings |
| | is well aware which path to go. |
| 330 | True enough! Except, it won’t be true for long. |
| | I’m not concerned about the outcome of my wager, |
| | and once I have attained my goal, |
| | please let me have my heartfelt triumph! |
| | Dust shall he eat, and that with pleasure, |
| | as did my relative, the celebrated snake. |
| | I am glad to let you have apparent freedom; |
| | I hold no hatred for the like of you. |
| | Of all the spirits that negate, |
| | the rogue to me is the least burdensome. |
| 340 | Man’s diligence is easily exhausted, |
| | he grows too fond of unremitting peace. |
| | I’m therefore pleased to give him a companion |
| | who must goad and prod and be a devil.— |
| | But you, my own true sons of Heaven, |
| | rejoice in Beauty’s vibrant wealth. |
| | That which becomes will live and work forever; |
| | let it enfold you with propitious bonds of Love. |
| | And what appears as flickering image now, |
| | fix it firmly with enduring thought. |
| | ( The heavens close; the Archangels separate .) |
| 350 | From time to time it’s good to see the Old Man; |
| | I must be careful not to break with him. |
| | How decent of so great a personage |
| | to be so human with the devil. |
NIGHTA high-vaulted, narrow, Gothic room
.
Faust, restless, in an armchair at his desk
.
| | Alas, I have studied philosophy, |
| | the law as well as medicine, |
| | and to my sorrow, theology; |
| | studied them well with ardent zeal, |
| | yet here I am, a wretched fool, |
| | no wiser than I was before. |
| 360 | They call me Magister, even Doctor, |
| | and for some ten years now |
| | I’ve led my students by the nose, |
| | up and down, across, and in circles— |
| | all I see is that we cannot know! |
| | This burns my heart. |
| | Granted I am smarter than all those fops, |
| | doctors, masters, scribes, and preachers; |
| | I am not afflicted by scruples and doubts, |
| | not afraid of Hell or the devil— |
| 370 | but in return all joy is torn from me, |
| | I don’t pretend to know a thing worth knowing, |
| | I don’t pretend that I can teach, |
| | improve, or convert my fellow men. |
| | Nor have I property or gold, |
| | or honor and glories of this world; |
| | no dog would choose to live this way! |
| | Therefore I have turned to magic, |
| | so that by the spirit’s might and main |
| | I might yet learn some secret lore; |
| 380 | that I need no longer sweat and toil |
| | and dress my ignorance in empty words; |
| | that I might behold the warp and the woof |
| | of the world’s inmost fabric, |
| | of its essential strength and fount |
| | and no longer dig about in words. |
| | O gentle moonlight, how I wish that you |
| | could see the end of all my misery! |
| | How often at this desk I sat |
| | into the depth of night and looked for you |
| 390 | until over these books and papers |
| | you appeared to me, my melancholy friend. |
| | If I could roam on mountain heights in |
| | your dear light, |
| | drift with hovering spirits over caverns, |
| | weave over meadows in your twilight glow, |
| | I would expel the smoke of learning |
| | and be drenched to wholeness in your dew. |
| | Alas! am I still wedged within this prison cell? |
| | You cursed, dank hole in the wall, |
| 400 | where even the sweet light of heaven |
| | breaks wanly through the painted glass! |
| | I’m cooped in heaps of worm-eaten books |
| | thickly laden with dust, |
| | with sooty papers fastened all around, |
| | extending to the vaulted arches— |
| | retorts and boxes strewn about |
| | with pyramids of instruments, |
| | the stuffing of ancestral rubbish— |
| | This is my world! I must call it a world! |
| 410 | And still you wonder why your heart |
| | claws anxiously against your breast? |
| | And why a misery yet unexplored |
| | stands in the way of stirring life? |
| | Instead of pulsing nature, |
| | where God had once placed man, |
| | you’re thrust into this soot and mold |
| | and ringed by sundry bones and parched cadavers. |
| | Away! Escape! Go out into the open fields! |
| | And this volume of mysterious lore |
| 420 | in Nostradamus’s 3 hand and pen— |
| | is it not sufficient company? |
| | Once you know the stars’ procession, |
| | and Nature is your guide and master, |
| | when spirits speak to spirit— |
| | your soul will then unfold its strength. |
| | My barren thoughts are wasted |
| | within the sight of sacred signs: |
| | Spirits, now you hover close to me; |
| | if you hear me, answer me! |
| | ( He opens the book and sees the sign of the macrocosm .) |
| 430 | Ha! A rush of bliss |
| | flows suddenly through all my senses! |
| | I feel a glow, a holy joy of life |
| | which sets my veins and flesh afire. |
| | Was it a god that drew these signs |
| | which soothe my inward raging |
| | and fill my wretched heart with joy, |
| | and with mysterious strength |
| | reveal about me Nature’s pulse? |
| | Am I a god? The light pervades me so! |
| 440 | In these pure ciphers I can see |
| | living Nature spread out before my soul. |
| | At last I understand the sage’s words: |
| | “The world of spirits is not closed; |
| | your mind is shut, your heart is dead! |
| | Pupil, stand up and unafraid |
| | bathe your earthly breast in morning light!” |
| | ( He gazes at the sign .) |
| | How all things are weaving one in one; |
| | each lives and works within the other. |
| | Heaven’s angels dip and soar |
| 450 | and hold their golden pails aloft; |
| | with fragrant blessings on their wings, |
| | they penetrate the earthly realm from Heaven |
| | and all make all resound in harmony. |
| | What pageantry! But alas, a pageant and no more! |
| | Where shall I clasp you, infinity of Nature? |
| | You breasts, where? You wellsprings of all life? |
| | Heaven and earth depend on you— |
| | toward you my parched soul is straining. |
| | You flow, you nourish, yet I crave in vain. |
| | ( He reluctantly turns the pages of the book and perceives the sign of the Earth Spirit .) |
| 460 | How differently this new sign works on me! |
| | You are nearer to me, spirit of the earth; |
| | even now I feel my powers rise |
| | and glow as from new wine. |
| | I feel new strength to face the world, |
| | to endure its woe and happiness, |
| | to brave the blasts of hurricanes, |
| | to scoff at my splintering ship. |
| | The airs above me thicken, |
| | the moon conceals her light— |
| 470 | the lamp goes dark! |
| | Smoke envelops me—scarlet flashes |
| | dart about my head—a chilling breath |
| | sifts downward from the vault |
| | and seizes me! |
| | I feel it, you surround me, spirit that I crave. |
| | Reveal yourself! |
| | My heart, ah, how it tears in me! |
| | How all my senses swirl, |
| | well up to novel feelings. |
| 480 | I know my heart is at your bidding! |
| | You must! You must, and if I die for it! |
| | ( He grips the book and solemnly murmurs the spell of the Earth Spirit. There is a flash of reddish flame in which the SPIRIT appears .) |
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