Faust (10 page)

Authors: Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

BOOK: Faust

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	Poodle, be quiet! Stop racing back and forth!
	Why must you sniff at the threshold?
	Come now, lie down behind the stove,
	I’ll give you my softest pillow.
1190	On the road out in the rolling meadows
	your leaps and capers entertained us well;
	you did enough to earn my hospitality;
	lie still then and be my welcome guest.

	Ah, when the friendly lamp is burning
	and glows within our narrow cell,
	the darkened self grows clear again,
	the heart that knows itself will brighten.
	The voice of reason can be heard,
	and hope begins to bloom again;
1200	we crave to hold within our grasp
	the streams of life and ah, its sources!

	Poodle, stop growling! that brutish snarl
	is not in tune with the sacred sound
	that now enthralls my soul.
	I am used to men who mock and scorn
	the things beyond their comprehension,
	who mutter at the Good and Beautiful
	because it is often too much trouble.
	Will the dog snarl his displeasure like men?
1210	But ah! though I am full of good intention,
	contentment flows no longer from my breast.
	Why must this stream run dry so soon
	and I be parched and thirsty once again?
	I’ve had more than my share of it,
	but I am able to relieve this want:
	one learns to prize the supernatural,
	one yearns for highest Revelation,
	which nowhere burns more nobly and more bright
	than here in my New Testament.
1220	I feel impelled to read this basic text
	and to transpose the hallowed words,
	with feeling and integrity,
	into my own beloved German.
	( He opens a volume and begins .)
	It is written: “In the beginning was the Word!” ¹²
	Even now I balk. Can no one help?
	I truly cannot rate the word so high.
	I must translate it otherwise.
	I believe the Spirit has inspired me
	and I must write: “In the beginning there was Mind.”
1230	Think thoroughly on this first line,
	hold back your pen from undue haste!
	Is it mind that stirs and makes all things?
	The text should state: “In the beginning there was Power!”
	Yet while I am about to write this down,
	something warns me I will not adhere to this.
	The Spirit’s on my side! The answer is at hand:
	I write, assured, “In the beginning was the Deed.”

	If you wish to share this cell with me,
	poodle, stop your yowling;
1240	bark no more.
	A nuisance such as you
	I cannot suffer in my presence.
	One of us must leave this room;
	I now reluctantly suspend
	the law of hospitality.
	The door is open, you are free to go.
	But what is this?
	Is this a natural occurrence?
	Is it shadow or reality?
1250	How broad and long my poodle waxes!
	He rises up with mighty strength;
	this is no dog’s anatomy!
	What a specter did I bring into my house!
	Now he’s very like a river horse
	with glowing eyes and vicious teeth.
	Oh! I am sure of you!
	For such a half-satanic brood
	the key of Solomon will do.

SPIRITS
(
in the corridor
)
.
¹³

	Someone is caught within!
1260	Stay out, and no one follow!
	Like the fox in a snare
	The hell-lynx quakes.
	But take good care!
	Hover here, hover there,
	Flit up and down,
	And once he’s loose,
	You may be of use,
	Don’t leave him in the lurch.
	Remember that to all of us
1270	He granted many favors.

FAUST.

	First, to confront the brute
	I must use the Spell of the Four.
	Glow, Salamander
	Undine, coil
	Sylph, meander
	Kobold, toil. ¹⁴
	Whoever is ignorant
	of the four elements,
	of the strength they wield
1280	and of their quality,
	cannot master
	the band of the spirits.
	Vanish in flames,
	Salamander!
	In foam merge and flow,
	Undine!
	Light your stellar dome,
	Sylph!
	Bring comfort to the home,
1290	Incubus, Incubus!
	Emerge and end it all.
	None of the four
	is lodged in the beast.
	He lies quite still and grins at me.
	I have not stung him yet.
	I shall strike his core
	with stronger conjurations.
	Have you come to my cell
	A refugee from Hell?
1300	Then mark you this sign ¹⁵
	To which all must incline,
	All the black legions.
	His fur is bristling now, and he swells and puffs!
	Contemptible creature!
	Face the Teacher!
	The unconfined,
	Never defined,
	Heavenly presence
	Pierced on the Cross.

1310	My spell holds him fast behind the stove;
	now he swells to elephantine size
	and fills the chamber with his bulk.
	Now he wants to turn to vapor.
	Do not rise up to the ceiling!
	Lie at your master’s feet!
	You see, my threats are not in vain,
	I scorch you with the sacred fire!
	Do not await
	the threefold glowing light! ¹⁶
1320	Do not await
	the mightiest of my powers!

(
While the mist falls away
,
MEPHISTOPHELES
steps from behind the stove. He is dressed as a traveling scholar
.)

MEPHISTOPHELES.

Why all this noise? What is the gentleman’s pleasure?

FAUST.

	So this was the poodle’s core!
	One of the traveling scholars. This casus makes me chuckle.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I salute the learned gentleman;
	I’ve sweated mightily for you.

FAUST.

What is your name?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	This seems a trifling question
	for one so scornful of the word,
	for one removed from every outward show
1330	who always reaches for the inmost core.

FAUST.

	The essence of the like of you
	is usually inherent in the name.
	It appears in all-too-great transparency
	in names like Lord of Flies, Destroyer, Liar.
	All right, who are you then?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	A portion of that power
	which always works for Evil and effects the Good.

FAUST.

What is the meaning of this riddle?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I am the spirit that denies forever!
	And rightly so! What has arisen from the void
1340	deserves to be annihilated.
	It would be best if nothing ever would arise.
	And thus what you call havoc,
	deadly sin, or briefly stated: Evil,
	that is my proper element.

FAUST.

You call yourself a part and yet you stand before me whole?

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	I state the modest truth to you.
	While every member of your race—that little world of fools—
	likes best of all to think himself complete—
	I am a portion of that part which once was everything,
1350	a part of darkness which gave birth to Light,
	that haughty Light which now disputes the rank
	and ancient sway of Mother Night;
	and though it tries its best, it won’t succeed
	because it cleaves and sticks to bodies.
	The bodies mill about, Light beautifies the bodies,
	yet bodies have forever blocked its way—
	and so I hope it won’t be long
	before all bodies are annihilated.

FAUST.

	Now I know your noble duties.
1360	You cannot wreck the larger entities,
	and so you nibble away at the smaller things.

MEPHISTOPHELES.

	It isn’t much when all is said and done.
	What stands opposed to Nothingness—
	the bungling earth, that something more or less—
	in spite of all I undertook
	I could not get my hands on it.
	After waves and quakes and fires,
	the lands and seas are still intact,
	and all that cursèd stuff, the brood of beasts and men,
1370	is too tenacious to be shaken.
	Think of the multitudes I buried!
	Yet there is always fresh new blood in circulation.
	And so it goes; it drives me to distraction.
	In air and earth and water,
	through dryness, dampness, warmth, and cold,
	a thousand seeds will push their way to life.
	Had I neglected to reserve the flame for me,
	I should now be quite without a specialty.

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