Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Page 258
Their limits shore and sea have found;
Forth from the shore, in swift career,
O’er the glad waves, thy vessels steer;
Speak only from thy pride of place,
Thine arm the whole world doth embrace.
Here it began; on this spot stood
The first rude cabin form’d of wood;
A little ditch was sunk of yore
Where plashes now the busy oar.
Thy lofty thought, thy people’s hand,
Have won the prize from sea and land.
From here too —
Faust.
That accursed here!
It weighs upon me! Lend thine ear; —
To thine experience I must tell,
With thrust on thrust, what wounds my heart;
To bear it is impossible —
Nor can I, without shame, impart:
The old folk there above must yield;
Would that my seat those lindens were;
Those few trees not mine own, that field,
Possession of the world impair.
There I, wide view o’er all to take,
From bough to bough would scaffolds raise;
Would, for the prospect, vistas make,
On all that I have done to gaze;
To see at once before me brought
The masterwork of human thought,
Where wisdom hath achiev’d the plan,
And won broad dwelling-place for man. —
Thus are we tortur’d; — in our weal,
That which we lack, we sorely feel!
The chime, the scent of linden bloom,
Surround me like a vaulted tomb.
The will that nothing could withstand,
Is broken here upon the sand:
How from the vexing thought be safe?
The bell is pealing, and I chafe!
Mephis.
Such spiteful chance, ’tis natural,
Must thy existence fill with gall.
Who doubts it! To each noble ear,
This clanging odious must appear;
This cursed ding-dong, booming loud,
The cheerful evening sky doth shroud;
With each event of life it blends,
From birth to burial it attends,
Until this mortal life doth seem,
Twixt ding and dong, a vanish’d dream!
Faust.
Resistance, stubborn selfishness,
Can trouble lordliest success,
Till, in deep angry pain one must
Grow tired at last of being first!
Mephis.
Why let thyself be troubl’d here?
Is colonizing not thy sphere?
Faust.
Then go, to move them be thy care!
Thou knowest well the homestead fair,
I’ve chosen for the aged pair —
Mephis.
We’ll bear them off, and on new ground
Set them, ere one can look around.
The violence outliv’d and past,
Shall a fair home atone at last.
[He whistles shrilly.
The Threeenter.
Mephis.
Come! straight fulfil the lord’s behest;
The fleet to-morrow he will feast.
The Three.
The old lord us did ill requite;
A sumptuous feast is ours by right.
Mephis.
(To the spectators.) What happ’d of old, here happens too:
Still Naboth’s vineyard meets the view.
[1 Kings xvi.
Deep Night.
Lynceus,the Warder.
(On the watch-tower, singing.) Keen vision my birth-dower,
I’m plac’d on this height,
Still sworn to the watch-tower,
The world’s my delight.
I gaze on the distant,
I look on the near,
On moon and on planet,
On wood and the deer:
The beauty eternal
In all things I see;
And pleas’d with myself
All bring pleasure to me.
Glad eyes, look around ye
And gaze, for whate’er
The sight they encounter,
It still hath been fair!
[Pause.
Not alone for pleasure-taking
Am I planted thus on high;
What dire vision, horror-waking,
From yon dark world scares mine eye!
Fiery sparkles see I gleaming
Through the lindens’ twofold night;
By the breezes fann’d, their beaming
Gloweth now with fiercer light!
Ah! the peaceful hut is burning;
Stood its moss-grown walls for years;
They for speedy help are yearning —
And no rescue, none appears!
Ah, the aged folk, so kindly,
Once so careful of the fire,
Now, to smoke a prey, they blindly
Perish, oh, misfortune dire!
‘Mid red flames, the vision dazing,
Stands the moss-hut, black and bare;
From the hell, so fiercely blazing,
Could we save the honest pair!
Lightning-like the fire advances,
‘Mid the foliage, ‘mid the branches;
Wither’d boughs, — they flicker, burning,
Swiftly glow, then fall; — ah, me!
Must mine eyes, this woe discerning,
Must they so far-sighted be!
Down the lowly chapel crashes
‘Neath the branches’ fall and weight;
Winding now, the pointed flashes
To the summit climb elate.
Roots and trunks the flames have blighted;
Hollow, purple-red, they glow!
[Long pause. Song.
Gone, what once the eye delighted,
With the ages long ago!
Faust.
(On the balcony, towards the downs.)
From above what plaintive whimper?
Word and tone are here too late!
Wails my warder; me, in spirit
Grieves this deed precipitate!
Though in ruin unexpected
Charr’d now lie the lindens old,
Soon a height will be erected,
Whence the boundless to behold.
I the home shall see, enfolding
In its walls, that ancient pair,
Who, my gracious care beholding,
Shall their lives end joyful there.
Mephis.andThe Three.
(Below.)
Hither we come full speed. We crave
Your pardon! Things have not gone right!
Full many a knock and kick we gave,
They open’d not, in our despite;
Then rattl’d we and kick’d the more,
And prostrate lay the rotten door;
We call’d aloud with threat severe,
Yet sooth we found no listening ear.
And as in such case still befalls,
They heard not, would not hear our calls;
Forthwith thy mandate we obey’d,
And straight for thee a clearance made.
The pair — their sufferings were light,
Fainting they sank, and died of fright.
A stranger, harbor’d there, made show
Of force, full soon was he laid low;
In the brief space of this wild fray,
From coals, that strewn around us lay,
The straw caught fire; ’tis blazing free,
As funeral death-pyre for the three.
Faust.
To my commandments deaf were ye!
Exchange I wish’d, not robbery.
For this your wild and ruthless part; —
I curse it! Share it and depart!
Chorus.
The ancient saw still rings to-day:
Force with a w
illing mind obey;
If boldly thou canst stand the test,
Stake house, court, life, and all the rest!
[Exeunt.
Faust.
The stars their glance and radiance veil;
Smoulders the sinking fire, a gale
Fans it with moisture-laden wings,
Vapor to me and smoke it brings.
Rash mandate — rashly too obey’d! —
What hither sweeps like spectral shade?
Midnight.Four gray women enter.
First.
My name, it is Want.
Second.
And mine, it is Blame.
Third.
My name, it is Care.
Fourth.
Need, that is my name.
Three.
(Together.) The door is fastbolted, we cannot get in;
The owner is wealthy, we may not within.
Want.
There fade I to shadow.
Blame.
There cease I to be.
Need.
His visage the pamper’d still turneth from me.
Care.
Ye sisters, ye cannot, ye dare not go in;
But Care through the keyhole an entrance may win.
[Caredisappears.
Want.
Sisters, gray sisters, away let us glide!
Blame.
I bind myself to thee, quite close to thy side.
Need.
And Need at your heels doth with yours blend her breath.*
The Three.
Fast gather the clouds, they eclipse star on star.
Behind there, behind, from afar, from afar,
There comes he, our brother, there cometh he — Death.
Faust.
(In the palace.) Four saw I come, but only three went hence.
Of their discourse I could not catch the sense;
There fell upon mine ear a sound like breath,
Thereon a gloomy rhyme-word follow’d — Death;
Hollow the sound, with spectral horror fraught!
Not yet have I, in sooth, my freedom wrought;
Could I my pathway but from magic free,
And quite unlearn the spells of sorcery,
Stood I, oh, nature, man alone ‘fore thee,
Then were it worth the trouble man to be!
Such was I once, ere I in darkness sought,
And curses dire, through words with error fraught,
Upon myself and on the world have brought;
So teems the air with falsehood’s juggling brood,
That no one knows how them he may elude!
If but one day shines clear, in reason’s light —
In spectral dream envelops us the night;
From the fresh fields, as homeward we advance —
There croaks a bird: what croaks he? some mischance!
Ensnar’d by superstition, soon and late;
As sign and portent, it on us doth wait —
By fear unmann’d, we take our stand alone;
The portal creaks, and no one enters, — none.
(Agitated.)
Is some one here?
Care.
The question prompteth, yes!
Faust.
What art thou then?
Care.
Here, once for all, am I.
Faust.
Withdraw thyself!
Care.
My proper place is this.
Faust.
(First angry, then appeased. Aside.) Take heed, and speak no word of sorcery.
Care.
Though by outward ear unheard,
By my moan the heart is stirr’d;
And in ever-changeful guise,
Cruel force I exercise;
On the shore and on the sea,
Comrade dire hath man in me,
Ever found, though never sought,
Flatter’d, curs’d, so have I wrought.
Hast thou as yet Care never known?
Faust.
I have but hurried through the world, I own.
I by the hair each pleasure seiz’d;
Relinquish’d what no longer pleas’d,
That which escap’d me I let go,
I’ve crav’d, accomplish’d, and then crav’d again;
Thus through my life I’ve storm’d — with might and main,
Grandly, with power, at first; but now, indeed,
It goes more cautiously, with wiser heed.
I know enough of earth, enough of men;
The view beyond is barr’d from mortal ken;
Fool, who would yonder peer with blinking eyes,
And of his fellows dream above the skies!
Firm let him stand, the prospect round him scan,
Not mute the world to the true-hearted man.
Why need he wander through eternity?
What he can grasp, that only knoweth he.
So let him roam adown earth’s fleeting day;
If spirits haunt, let him pursue his way;
In joy or torment ever onward stride,
Though every moment still unsatisfied!
Care.
To him whom I have made mine own
All profitless the world hath grown:
Eternal gloom around him lies;
For him suns neither set nor rise;
With outward senses perfect, whole,
Dwell darknesses within his soul;
Though wealth he owneth, ne’ertheless
He nothing truly can possess.
Weal, woe, become mere phantasy;
He hungers ‘mid satiety;
Be it joy, or be it sorrow,
He postpones it till the morrow;
Of the future thinking ever,
Prompt for present action never.
Faust.
Forbear! Thou shalt not come near me!
I will not hear such folly. Hence!
Avaunt! This evil litany
The wisest even might bereave of sense.
Care.
Shall he come or go? He ponders; —
All resolve from him is taken;
On the beaten path he wanders,
Groping on, as if forsaken.
Deeper still himself he loses,
Everything his sight abuses,
Both himself and others hating,
Taking breath — and suffocating,
Without life — yet scarcely dying,
Not despairing — not relying.
Rolling on without remission:
Loathsome ought, and sad permission,
Now deliverance, now vexation,
Semi-sleep, — poor recreation,
Nail him to his place and wear him,
And at last for hell prepare him.
Faust.
Unblessed spectres! Ye mankind have so
Treated a thousand times, their thoughts deranging;
E’en uneventful days to mar ye know,
Into a tangl’d web of torment changing!
’Tis hard, I know, from demons to get free,
The mighty spirit-bond by force untying;
Yet Care, I never will acknowledge thee,
Thy strong increeping, potency defying.
Care.
Feel it then now; as thou shalt find
When with a curse from thee I’ve wended:
Through their whole lives are mortals blind —
So be thou, Faust, ere life be ended!
[She breathes on him.
Faust.
(Blind.) Deeper and deeper night is round me sinking;
Only within me shines a radiant light.
I haste to realize, in act, my thinking;
The master’s word, that only giveth might.
Up, vassals, from your couch! my project bold,
Grandly completed, now let all behold!
Seize ye your tools; your spades, your shovels ply;
The work laid down, accomplish instantly!
/> Strict rule, swift diligence, — these twain
The richest recompense obtain.
Completion of the greatest work demands
One guiding spirit for a thousand hands.
Great Fore-Court of the Palace.
Torches.
Mephis.
(An overseer leading the way.)
This way! this way! Come on! come on!
Ye Lemures, loose of tether,
Of tendon, sinew, and of bone,
Half natures, patch’d together!
Lemures.
(In chorus.)
At thy behest we’re here at hand;
Thy destin’d aim half guessing —
It is that we a spacious land
May win for our possessing.
Sharp-pointed stakes we bring with speed,
Long chains wherewith to measure.
But we’ve forgotten why indeed
To call us was thy pleasure.
Mephis.
No artist-toil we need to-day;
Sufficeth your own measure here:
At his full length the tallest let him lay!
Ye others round him straight the turf uprear;
As for our sires was done of yore,
An oblong square delve ye once more.
Out of the palace to the narrow home —
So at the last the sorry end must come!
Lemures.
(Digging, with mocking gestures.)
In youth when I did live and love,
Methought, ’twas very sweet!
Where frolic rang and mirth was rife,
Thither still sped my feet.
Now with his crutch hath spiteful age
Dealt me a blow full sore:
I stumbl’d o’er a yawning grave,
Why open stood the door!
Faust.
(Comes forth from the palace, groping his way by the door-posts.)
How doth the clang of spades delight my soul!
For me my vassals toil, the while
Earth with itself they reconcile,
The waves within their bounds control,
And gird the sea with steadfast zone —
Mephis.
(Aside.) And yet for us dost work alone,
While thou for dam and bulwark carest;
Since thus for Neptune thou prepares,
The water-fiend, a mighty fête;
Before thee naught but ruin lies;
The elements are our allies;
Onward destruction strides elate.
Faust.
Inspector!
Mephis.
Here.
Faust.
As many as you may,
Bring crowds on crowds to labor here;
Them by reward and rigor cheer;
Persuade, entice, give ample pay!
Each day be tidings brought me at what rate
The moat extends which here we excavate.
Mephis.
(Half aloud.) They speak, as if to me they gave
Report, not of a moat — but of a grave.*
Faust.
A marsh along the mountain chain
Infecteth what’s already won;
Also the noisome pool to drain —
My last best triumph then were won: