B00ARI2G5C EBOK
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A modulation of the mouth, that’s right!
You tall boy there, now you I’d not refuse;
But why this unbecoming priestly air?
Give me a lustful look instead, ah yes!
And please, be all a little nakeder!
Those flowing robes are decent to excess.
They turn—the rear view is too tantalizing!
Delicious monkeys! ah, how appetizing!
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CHORUS OF ANGELS. Turn, burning flames of love,
Turn into clarity!
So to the self-condemned
Truth shall bring liberty;
Freed from the evil spell
They shall win through as well
Into the blessed throng
Where all belong.
MEPHISTOPHELES [pulling himself together].
What’s wrong with me? I’m out in boils all over,
Like Job! A self-repugnant spectacle;
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And yet a triumph, when one sees the whole
Depths of oneself, and trusts them to recover.
My noble devil-parts are saved alive!
Those love-charms, as mere eczema they thrive;
The whole damned bonfire’s now a burnt-out case,
And once again I curse the whole angelic race!
CHORUS OF ANGELS. Blaze, holy fire! These
Whom you surround here
Sweet life have found here
For all to share.
With single voice now
Cry and rejoice now!
The spirit breathes
In a purified air.
[They soar upwards, carrying FAUST’s immortal part.]
MEPHISTOPHELES [looking round].
But what is this? They’ve gone! Where can they be?
You halflings, I’ve been caught off duty!
You’ve hovered off to heaven with my booty!
That’s why they snuffled round this grave; I see!
I’ve lost my greatest, my most precious prize.
That lofty soul who pledged himself to me—
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Filched cunningly before my very eyes!
Now who shall I complain to? Who
Will give me justice, give me back what’s mine?
Poor fool, at your age you’ve been tricked. A fine
Mess you are in, and well deserve it too!
I’ve misbehaved, there’s no one else to blame,
I’m in disgrace. The whole investment lost;
All that good work for nothing! Common lust,
Absurd infatuation puts to shame
The hard-boiled Devil. And if even my
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Wisdom’s no match for such tomfoolery—
Then to this strange love-madness I extend
My compliments, since it could catch me in the end!
23.MOUNTAIN GORGES*
[A wild rocky region in the forest. Holy anchorites have settled at various heights among the clefts of the mountain side.]
CHORUS and ECHO. Woods, hitherwavering,
Rocks, cliffs, downburdening,
Roots close to roots they cling,
Trunk to trunk neighbouring.
The rushing waters leap,
The sheltering caves are deep.
Lions prowl round us, dumb,
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Gentle and shy to come
Into this holy place,
Sacred to love and grace.
PATER ECSTATICUS [hovering up and down].
Joy of immortal fire
Lovebond of hot desire,
Heart’s seething agony,
Godspring of ecstasy!
Arrows, pierce through me now,
Spearpoints, subdue me now,
Clubs, strike and break me now;
Lightnings, unmake me now!
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All that is vain and void
Let it be all destroyed:
Shine, star, for evermore,
Love’s everlasting core!
PATER PROFUNDUS [in a lower region].
The rocky precipice below
Weighs on a chasm still more deep;
A thousand streamlets shine and flow
Down to the foaming flood’s dread leap;
By its own energy ascending
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The tree thrusts skywards straight and tall:
All these show forth the love unending
That shapes all things and shields them all.
How wild a roar is this, as if
The forest shook, the abyss were stirred!
Yet the great torrent from the cliff
Pours down like love, its sound half-heard,
To the valley’s thirst; and by and by
Lightning has struck, its flame makes clean
The poisoned air, the sultry sky
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Where swollen thunder-clouds have been;
These are love’s messengers! They tell
Of power all-making, all-surrounding.
Oh let it burn in me as well!
Bonds of dull sense, my mind confounding,
Torment and chill me: oh release
Me from these chains that bind so tight!
Oh God, between my thoughts make peace
And to my needy heart give light!
PATER SERAPHICUS [in the middle region].
Something hovers through the swaying
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Pine-trees’ tresses: who can tell
What it is? A cloud of daying!
In it youthful spirits dwell.
CHORUS OF BLESSED BOYS.
Father, say, what is this place?
Kind friend, is it you who call?
Here we feel such happiness:
Life is gentle to us all.
PATER SERAPHICUS. Mortal children, midnight-born,
Minds half open, sense half dead,
From your parents’ arms soon torn,
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To the angels given instead.
You have felt a lover near you:
Come to him! But, happy few,
Earth’s rough journey was to spare you
And to leave no mark on you.
Enter into me, come down now
Into my earth-worldly eyes:
You can use them as your own now.
Look at this strange paradise!
[He takes them into himself.]
These are trees, and those are rocks;
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There a waterfall that gushes
Wildly from the height—it strikes
Its steep path, and down it rushes.
THE BLESSED BOYS [from inside him].
It is sad and gloomy here
Though these sights are great to see:
We are stirred with dread and fear.
Noble father, set us free!
PATER SERAPHICUS. Rise to higher spheres and grow
Imperceptibly, as stronger
Still God’s presence there will glow,
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Pure, eternal, dimmed no longer;
For the spirits’ nurture reigning
In that free ethereal zone
And their blessed hope sustaining,
Is eternal Love made known.
CHORUS OF BLESSED BOYS [circling round the highest summits].
Dance ring-a-ringing,
All of us hand in hand
Joyfully singing,
Dance, sacred brother-band!
Heed that wise teaching!
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Him you revere,
Pure hearts upreaching
Shall see him here.
ANGELS [hovering in the upper atmosphere, carrying FAUST ‘s immortal part].
This noble spirit saved alive
Has foiled the Devil’s will!
He who strives on and lives to strive
Can earn redemption still.
And now that love itself looks down
To
favour him with grace,
The blessed host with songs may crown
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His welcome to this place.
THE YOUNGER ANGELS.
Holy penitents who gave
Roses of their love to scatter,
Helped us so in our great matter,
As we fought this soul to save,
Helped us gain this noble prize.
Devils fled before our eyes,
Hell’s dark spirits shrank back daunted
As we smote them with unwonted
Heaven-fire of love’s hot rain;
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Even old Satan felt that pain
Penetrate his master-mind.
We won! Rejoice, all angelkind!
THE MATURER ANGELS. An earthbound, immature
And fragmentary,
Fireproof yet still impure
Burden we carry.
When spirit-energy
Captures the physical
Elements powerfully,
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No force angelical
Can loose the subtle bond
That has allied them:
Only the Love beyond
Time can divide them.
THE YOUNGER ANGELS. Spirits in nebulous
Motion advancing
Round this vertiginous
Rock-peak are dancing.
Now the cloud brightens: see,
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A happy company
Circling together, new-
Freed from earth’s burden—they
Are blessed children, who
In the spring’s beauty here,
In this new higher sphere
Rejoice and play.
Let him first be with these:
To joy’s, to truth’s increase
That is his way.
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THE BLESSED BOYS. Gladly we welcome this
Chrysalid-aspirant:
Ours now his heaven-bent
New metamorphosis.
Thus from his close cocoon
We set him free:
With angel-life so soon
How fair is he!
DOCTOR MARIANUS [in the highest and purest cell].
How wide a view up here,
The soul to lift!
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What women now draw near?
Upwards they drift,
And in their midst, with stars
Crowning her splendour,
I see heaven’s Lady pass—
Those lights attend her.
[In ecstasy.]
Queen and ruler of the world!
In this deep blue sky,
In thy tent of heaven unfurled,
Show me thy mystery!
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I must love thee as a man,
And my heart’s emotion
Gives what sacred love I can:
Spurn not my devotion!
We who fiercely fight for thee,
Conquerors at thy bidding,
Gentle lovers we can be
If thou hear our pleading.
Purest Virgin, noblest Mother,
Queen of our election,
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Goddess yielding to none other
In thy great perfection!
Cloudlets surround her
Light as the elements:
These are her penitents,
Sorrowing and tender.
Drinking the ether,
Needful of mercy,
Suppliants besiege her.
Though inviolate, exempted
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In thy peerless glory,
Thou mayst listen to their story
Whom sweet sin has tempted.
They were weak, in thee they trust;
Who shall save them now?
Who can break the chains of lust?
Who will help but thou?
Easily the foot can slip,
Slide to swift destruction,
Ardent eye and flattering lip
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Breathe such strong seduction.
[The MATER GLORIOSA* hovers into view.]
CHORUS OF PENITENT WOMEN*
In the transcendent
High regions soaring,
Lady resplendent,
See us adoring,
Hear us imploring!
MAGNA PECCATRIX (Luke 7:36).
By the love that on thy glorious
Son’s feet shed a balm so tearful,
While the Pharisee’s censorious
Thoughts despised that homage fearful;
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By the fragrance poured so gladly
From the jar of alabaster,
By my hair that softly, sadly
Dried thy sacred limbs, oh Master—
MULIER SAMARITANA (John 4)
By that well where once they tarried,
Flocks by Abraham’s shepherds tended,
By the cooling draught I carried
Which his dear parched lips befriended;
By that pure rich fountain flowing
Now through all the world, unceasing,
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Ever in abundance growing,
In its brightness still increasing—
MARIA AEGYPTIACA (Acta Sanctorum).
By the holy place where they
Laid to rest our Saviour mortal,
By the arm that barred my way
As I dared approach its portal;
By my forty years awaiting
Pardon in a desert land,
By my last and blessed greeting
Written on the burning sand—
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ALL THREE. Such great sinners find a place
Near thee, by thy condescension,
And their penitent intention
Grows into eternal grace:
This good soul, who only once
Went astray and scarcely knew it,
Also seeks thy mercy—show it
As befits her innocence!
UNA POENITENTIUM once known as Gretchen [pressing close].
Virgin and Mother, thou
Lady beyond compare, oh thou
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Who art full of glory, bow
Thy face in mercy to my great joy now!
He whom I loved—oh see,
He is undarkened, he
Comes back to me!
BLESSED BOYS [circling nearer].
How soon with limbs of might
He has outsoared us!
We nurtured him aright,
He will reward us.
Out of life’s music all
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Too soon death plucked us,
But he has learnt it all;
He will instruct us.
THE PENITENT once known as Gretchen.
Ringed by that noble spirit-chorus,
This neophyte of life unknown,
Scarcely awake, and strange before us,
Already makes our form his own.
See, how all earthly bonds discarding
He casts his outworn husk aside,
And an ethereal raiment parting
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His youth steps out refortified!
O Lady, grant me now to teach him!
He is dazzled still by the new day.
MATER GLORIOSA. Come! into higher spheres
outreach him!
He must sense you to find the way.
DOCTOR MARIANUS [prostrated in adoration].
Gaze aloft—the saving eyes
See you all, such tender
Penitents; look up and render
Thanks, to blest renewal rise!
May each nobler spirit never
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Fail to serve thee; Virgin, Mother,
Queen, oh keep us in thy favour,
Goddess, kind for ever!
CHORUS MYSTICUS.
All that must disappear
Is but a parable;
What lay beyond us
, here
All is made visible;
Here deeds have understood
Words they were darkened by;
Eternal Womanhood
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Draws us on high.
SELECTED PARALIPOMENA*
(a) Unpublished note (1797) for an overall scheme of Parts One and Two (paralipomenon BA 5*)
Ideal striving to achieve interaction and empathy with the whole of Nature.
Apparition of the Spirit as the genius of the world and of deeds.
Conflict between form and the formless.
Formless content preferred to empty form.
Content brings its form with it, there is never form without content.
These contradictions to be made sharper instead of reconciling them.
Clear cold scholarly striving: Wagner.
Naïve warm scholarly striving: the Student.
[deleted: Life Activity Essence]
Personal enjoyment of life viewed [?sought] from without Part I In naivety passion.
Enjoyment of activity outwards Part II Enjoyment with consciousness, beauty.
Enjoyment of creativity from within. Epilogue in Chaos on the way to Hell.
(b) Unpublished synopsis (1816) of an early conception of Acts I, III, and IV (paralipomenon BA 70*)
At the beginning of the Second Part Faust is discovered asleep. He is surrounded by choruses of spirits, who with visible symbols and agreeable singing conjure up for him the pleasures of worldly honour, fame, power, and sovereignty. They disguise their in fact ironical propositions in flattering words and melodies. He wakes, all his previous dependence on sensuality and passion have disappeared. His spirit purified and refreshed, striving towards supreme heights.
Mephistopheles enters and gives him a light-hearted and stimulating account of the Imperial Diet at Augsburg which has been convened by the Emperor Maximilian; he makes believe it is all taking place in the square outside the window, although Faust can see nothing. Finally Mephistopheles pretends to see the Emperor in a window of the town hall, talking to a prince. He assures Faust that the Emperor has been enquiring after him, asking where he lives and whether he might perhaps be presented at court. Faust lets himself be persuaded, and the magic cloak expedites their journey. In Augsburg they land before a solitary hall, and Mephistopheles goes to explore. Faust in the meantime reverts to his earlier abstruse ruminations and lofty demands upon himself, and when his companion returns, he makes the strange stipulation that Mephistopheles must not enter the hall but stay outside the door; and moreover, that in the Emperor’s presence there is to be no trickery or juggling with appearances. Mephistopheles complies. We find ourselves in a banqueting room, where the Emperor, who has just risen from table, steps to the window with one of the princes and confesses that he would like to have Faust’s magic cloak, which would enable him to go hunting in Tyrol and be back next day to attend the session. Faust is announced and received graciously. The Emperor’s questions are all concerned with earthly obstacles and how they can be overcome by magic. Faust’s answers hint at loftier goals and loftier means. The Emperor does not understand him, still less the courtier. The conversation becomes confused, falters, and Faust in embarrassment looks round for Mephistopheles, who immediately steps up behind him and answers in his name. This enlivens the dialogue, several other people join in, everyone is pleased with the strange guest. The Emperor demands apparitions; Faust and Mephistopheles consent. Faust absents himself to make the necessary preparations. At that moment Mephistopheles assumes Faust’s shape, to entertain the older and younger ladies, who end by thinking him a most remarkable fellow, since he can cure a wart on one’s hand with a light touch, or a corn on one’s foot by treading on it a little more roughly with his disguised cloven hoof; and one blonde maiden even permits him to dab at her face with his long skinny fingers, assured by her looking-glass that this is making her freckles disappear one after another. Evening falls, and a magic theatre rises from the ground of its own accord. The figure of Helen appears. The comments of the ladies on this beauty of beauties animate the otherwise awesome spectacle. Paris enters, and is given the same treatment by the men as his partner received from the women. The disguised Faust agrees with both parties, and a very entertaining scene develops.