 | Faust |  |
SCENE I.
Night.Faust discovered sitting unsettled at his desk, in a high-vaulted narrow gothic chamber.
FAUST.
Here, 'mid these books, for many a year
I've travelled science' mazy sphere,
Law, Medicine, and Philosophy,
And thee, alas! Theology,
With study most severe.
Here stand I now, with all my lore,
No wiser than I was before;
Master yclept and Doctor too,
I do as other pedants do,
And up and down, and to and fro,
Lead by the nose my scholars slow—
And see how vain is all our lore!
Which burns me to the very core.
True I am wiser than Wittenberg's hall
Can boast with her doctors, priests, parsons, and all;
No scruples nor doubts in my bosom dwell,
Nor idle fears of devils in hell,—
But for my wisdom, every joy
That sateth others, me doth cloy.
Nor vainly deem I to understand
What passes the grasp of mortal hand,
Nor, with delusive boast, pretend
The manners of the age to mend.
Nor money nor estate have I,
Nor pomp of life and dignity.
Such case no dog might longer live in!
Therefore to magic I have given
My mind, from spirit's mouth to draw
Truths passing Nature's vulgar law;
That I, with bitter-sweating brow,
No more may teach what I do not know;
That I with piercing ken may see
The world's in-dwelling energy,
The hidden seeds of life explore,
And deal in words and forms no more.
I've travelled science' mazy sphere,
Law, Medicine, and Philosophy,
And thee, alas! Theology,
With study most severe.
Here stand I now, with all my lore,
No wiser than I was before;
Master yclept and Doctor too,
I do as other pedants do,
And up and down, and to and fro,
Lead by the nose my scholars slow—
And see how vain is all our lore!
Which burns me to the very core.
True I am wiser than Wittenberg's hall
14
No scruples nor doubts in my bosom dwell,
Nor idle fears of devils in hell,—
But for my wisdom, every joy
That sateth others, me doth cloy.
Nor vainly deem I to understand
What passes the grasp of mortal hand,
Nor, with delusive boast, pretend
The manners of the age to mend.
Nor money nor estate have I,
Nor pomp of life and dignity.
Such case no dog might longer live in!
Therefore to magic I have given
My mind, from spirit's mouth to draw
Truths passing Nature's vulgar law;
That I, with bitter-sweating brow,
No more may teach what I do not know;
That I with piercing ken may see
The world's in-dwelling energy,
The hidden seeds of life explore,
And deal in words and forms no more.
Oh! shon'st thou now, thou full Moon bright.
For the last time my woes upon,
Thou, whom so many a sad midnight
Beside this desk I've watched alone;
Then over books and paper shone
On me thy soft and friendly light!
Oh! that beneath thy lovely ray,
On peaky summit I might stray,
Round mountain caves with spirits hover,
And flit the shadowy meadows over,
From all the qualms of knowledge free,
Bathe me to health within thy dewy sea!
For the last time my woes upon,
Thou, whom so many a sad midnight
Beside this desk I've watched alone;
Then over books and paper shone
On me thy soft and friendly light!
Oh! that beneath thy lovely ray,
On peaky summit I might stray,
Round mountain caves with spirits hover,
And flit the shadowy meadows over,
15
Bathe me to health within thy dewy sea!
In vain! still pines my prisoned soul
Within this curst dank dungeon hole!
Where dimly finds ev'n heaven's blest ray,
Through painted glass, its broken way.
Shut in by heaps of books up-piled,
All worm-begnawed, and dust-besoiled,
And to the ceiling from the ground,
With old smok'd papers hung around;
All circled round with chemick glasses,
Crammed full of instruments and cases,
And old ancestral furniture—
This is thy world! such den must Faustus' soul immure!
Within this curst dank dungeon hole!
Where dimly finds ev'n heaven's blest ray,
Through painted glass, its broken way.
Shut in by heaps of books up-piled,
All worm-begnawed, and dust-besoiled,
And to the ceiling from the ground,
With old smok'd papers hung around;
All circled round with chemick glasses,
Crammed full of instruments and cases,
And old ancestral furniture—
This is thy world! such den must Faustus' soul immure!
And ask I still why thrills my heart,
With timid beatings, and oppressed?
And why some secret unknown smart
Chills every life-pulse in my breast?
'Stead of the living sphere of Nature,
Where man was placed by his Creator,
Surrounds thee mouldering dust alone,
The grinning skull and skeleton!
With timid beatings, and oppressed?
And why some secret unknown smart
Chills every life-pulse in my breast?
'Stead of the living sphere of Nature,
Where man was placed by his Creator,
Surrounds thee mouldering dust alone,
The grinning skull and skeleton!
Arise! forth to the fields, arise!
And this mysterious magic page,
From Nostradamus' hand so sage,
May it not for a guide suffice?
Then dost thou see the secret tether
That binds the planet-orbs together,
And taught by Nature's mightiest spells,
Thy innate force of soul upwells,
As speaks one spirit to another.
In vain that study dull and slow,
These sacred signs would seek to know.
Ye unseen powers that hover near me,
Answer, I conjure, when ye hear me!
(He opens the book, and sees the sign of the Macrocosm.)
Ha! what ecstatic joy this page reveals,
At once through all my opening senses flowing!
Young holy zest of life my spirit feels,
In every nerve, in every vein, new glowing!
Was it a God whose hand these signs portray'd?
That charm the tempest of my soul to rest,
That fill with joy my troubled breast,
And, with mysterious impulse, spread
The powers of Nature bare to mortal sight.
Am I a God? so wondrous is the light
Within me! in these lines so pure, I see
Wide-working Nature's hidden energy.
Now may I know the sage's words aright;
“The world of spirits is not all concealed,
Thy sense is shut, thy heart is dead!
Up, scholars, bathe your earthly hearts congeal'd,
In the warm dew of morning's freshening red!”
(He looks at the sign.)
And this mysterious magic page,
From Nostradamus' hand so sage,
May it not for a guide suffice?
Then dost thou see the secret tether
That binds the planet-orbs together,
And taught by Nature's mightiest spells,
16
As speaks one spirit to another.
In vain that study dull and slow,
These sacred signs would seek to know.
Ye unseen powers that hover near me,
Answer, I conjure, when ye hear me!
(He opens the book, and sees the sign of the Macrocosm.)
Ha! what ecstatic joy this page reveals,
At once through all my opening senses flowing!
Young holy zest of life my spirit feels,
In every nerve, in every vein, new glowing!
Was it a God whose hand these signs portray'd?
That charm the tempest of my soul to rest,
That fill with joy my troubled breast,
And, with mysterious impulse, spread
The powers of Nature bare to mortal sight.
Am I a God? so wondrous is the light
Within me! in these lines so pure, I see
Wide-working Nature's hidden energy.
Now may I know the sage's words aright;
“The world of spirits is not all concealed,
Thy sense is shut, thy heart is dead!
Up, scholars, bathe your earthly hearts congeal'd,
In the warm dew of morning's freshening red!”
How mingles here in one the soul with soul,
And lives each portion in the restless whole!
How heavenly powers, a bright unwearied band,
Their golden flaggons reach from hand to hand,
And bliss-exhaling swing from pole to pole!
From the high welkin to earth's centre bounding,
Harmonious all through the great All resounding!
And lives each portion in the restless whole!
How heavenly powers, a bright unwearied band,
Their golden flaggons reach from hand to hand,
And bliss-exhaling swing from pole to pole!
17
Harmonious all through the great All resounding!
What wondrous show! alas, 'tis but a show!
Where grasp I thee, unbounded Nature, where?
And you, ye teeming breasts? ye founts, whence flow
All living influences fresh and fair,
Whereon the heavens and earth dependent hang,
Where seeks relief the withered bosom's pang,—
Your founts still well, and must I pine in vain?
(He turns the book over impatiently, and beholds the sign of the Spirit of the Earth.)
What different working on me hath this sign!
Thou, Spirit of the Earth, art to me nearer;
Already sees my strengthened spirit clearer,
And glows my frame as I had drunk new wine.
New strength I feel into the world to dash,
The woes to bear, and share the joys of life,
Its storms defy, and battle with its strife,
Unmoved ev'n in the shipwreck's hopeless crash!
Clouds hover o'er me—
The moon is dim!
The lamp's flame wanes—
It smokes!—Red beams dart forth
Around my head—a shuddering cold
Comes wafted from the vaulted roof,
And seizes on me!
I feel't thou hover'st near me, conjured spirit,
Reveal thee!
Ha! how swells with wild delight
My bursting heart!
And feelings, strange and new,
At once through all my raptured senses dart!
I feel my inmost soul to thee surrendered!
Thou must! thou must! and were my life to pay for't!
Where grasp I thee, unbounded Nature, where?
And you, ye teeming breasts? ye founts, whence flow
All living influences fresh and fair,
Whereon the heavens and earth dependent hang,
Where seeks relief the withered bosom's pang,—
Your founts still well, and must I pine in vain?
(He turns the book over impatiently, and beholds the sign of the Spirit of the Earth.)
What different working on me hath this sign!
Thou, Spirit of the Earth, art to me nearer;
Already sees my strengthened spirit clearer,
And glows my frame as I had drunk new wine.
New strength I feel into the world to dash,
The woes to bear, and share the joys of life,
Its storms defy, and battle with its strife,
Unmoved ev'n in the shipwreck's hopeless crash!
Clouds hover o'er me—
The moon is dim!
The lamp's flame wanes—
It smokes!—Red beams dart forth
Around my head—a shuddering cold
Comes wafted from the vaulted roof,
And seizes on me!
I feel't thou hover'st near me, conjured spirit,
Reveal thee!
Ha! how swells with wild delight
My bursting heart!
And feelings, strange and new,
18
I feel my inmost soul to thee surrendered!
Thou must! thou must! and were my life to pay for't!
(He seizes the book, and pronounces with a mysterious air the sign of the Spirit. A red flame darts forth, and the Spirit appears in the flame.)
SPIRIT.
Who calls me?
FAUST.
(turning away.)
Vision of affright!
SPIRIT.
Thou hast with mighty spells invoked me,
And to obey thy call provoked me,
And now—
FAUST.
Hence from my sight!
SPIRIT.
Thy panting prayer besought my form to view,
To hear my voice, and know my semblance too;
Now bending from my lofty sphere to please thee,
Here am I!—ha! what shuddering terrors seize thee,
And overpower thee quite! where now is gone
The soul's proud call? the breast that scorned to own
Earth's thrall, a world in itself created,
And bore and cherished? with its fellow sated
That swell'd with throbbing joy to leave its sphere
And vie with spirits, their exalted peer.
Where art thou, Faust? whose invocation rung
Upon mine ear, whose powers all round me clung?
Art thou that Faust? whom melts my breath away,
Trembling ev'n to the life-depths of thy frame,
Now shrunk into a piteous worm of clay!
19
Shall I then yield to thee, thou thing of flame?
I am thy peer, am Faust, am still the same!
SPIRIT.
Where life's floods flow,
And its tempests rave,
Up and down I wave,
Flit I to and fro;
Birth and the grave,
Life's secret glow,
A changing motion,
A boundless ocean,
Whose waters heave
Eternally;
Thus on the noisy loom of Time I weave
The living mantle of the Deity.
FAUST.
Thou who round the wide world wendest,
Thou busy sprite, how near I feel to thee!
SPIRIT.
Thou'rt like the spirit whom thou comprehendest,
Not me!
(vanishes.)
FAUST.
(astounded.)
Not thee!
Whom, then?
I, image of the Godhead,
Not like thee!
(knocking is heard.)
Oh death!—'tis Wagner's knock—he comes to break
The charm that bound me while the Spirit spake!
Thus my supremest bliss ends in delusion
Marr'd by a sneaking pedant-slave's intrusion!
| Faust | |