Faust. Part I

Pray on Walpurgis mention thy request.

That ’twill a singular effect produce.

Thou must perspire, in order that the juice

Thy frame may penetrate through every part.

Then noble idleness I thee will teach to prize,

And soon with ecstasy thou’lt recognise

How Cupid stirs and gambols in thy heart.

Too lovely was that female form!

A model which all women shall surpass,

In flesh and blood ere long thou shalt survey.
(Aside.)

As works that draught, thou presently shalt greet

A Helen in each woman thou dost meet.

To offer you my arm and company?

Can without escort home repair.(She disengages herself and exit.)

No form like hers can I recall.

Virtue she hath, and modest heed,

Is piquant too, and sharp withal.

Her cheek’s soft light, her rosy lips,

No length of time will e’er eclipse!

Her downward glance in passing by,

Deep in my heart is stamp’d for aye;

How curt and sharp her answer too,

To ecstasy the feeling grew!(MEPHISTOPHELES enters.)

She from confession cometh here,

From every sin absolved and free;

I crept near the confessor’s chair.

All innocence her virgin soul,

For next to nothing went she there;

O’er such as she I’ve no control!

Like any gay Lothario,

Who every floweret from its stalk

Would pluck, and deems nor grace, nor truth,

Secure against his arts, forsooth!

This ne’er the less won’t always do.

Nor plague me with your tiresome laws!

To cut the matter short, my friend,

She must this very night be mine,—

And if to help me you decline,

Midnight shall see our compact end.

A fortnight’s space, at least, I need,

A fit occasion but to find.

Nor should I want the devil’s wile,

So young a creature to beguile.

But do not fret, I pray; why seek

To hurry to enjoyment straight?

The pleasure is not half so great,

As when at first around, above,

With all the fooleries of love,

The puppet you can knead and mould

As in Italian story oft is told.

You cannot quickly, I protest,

In winning this sweet child succeed.

By storm we cannot take the fort,

To stratagem we must resort.

Some token of the angel bring!

A kerchief from her snowy breast,

A garter bring me,—any thing!

Your pangs to sooth and aid your love,

A single moment will we not delay,

Will lead you to her room this very day.

She to a neighbour’s house will go;

But in her atmosphere alone,

The tedious hours meanwhile you may employ,

In blissful dreams of future joy.

Full many a goodly place I know,

And treasures buried long ago;

I must a bit o’erlook them now.(Exit.)

Who yonder gentleman could be!

He had a gallant air, I trow,

And doubtless was of high degree:

That written on his brow was seen—

Nor else would he so bold have been.(Exit.)

That in this hallow’d precinct reigns!

Fond yearning love, inspire my breast,

Feeding on hope’s sweet dew thy blissful pains!

What stillness here environs me!

Content and order brood around.

What fulness in this poverty!

In this small cell what bliss profound!(He throws himself on the leather arm-chair beside the bed)

Receive me thou, who hast in thine embrace,

Welcom’d in joy and grief the ages flown!

How oft the children of a by-gone race

Have cluster’d round this patriarchal throne!

Haply she, also, whom I hold so dear,

For Christmas gift, with grateful joy possess’d,

Hath with the full round cheek of childhood, here,

Her grandsire’s wither’d hand devoutly press’d.

Maiden! I feel thy spirit haunt the place,

Breathing of order and abounding grace.

As with a mother’s voice it prompteth thee,

The pure white cover o’er the board to spread,

To strew the crisping sand beneath thy tread.

Dear hand! so godlike in its ministry!

The hut becomes a paradise through thee!

And here—(He raises the bed-curtain.)

How thrills my pulse with strange delight!

Here could I linger hours untold;

Thou, Nature, didst in vision bright,

The embryo angel here unfold.

Here lay the child, her bosom warm

With life; while steeped in slumber’s dew,

To perfect grace, her godlike form,

With pure and hallow’d weavings grew!

And thou! ah here what seekest thou?

How quails mine inmost being now!

What wouldst thou here? what makes thy heart so sore?

Unhappy Faust! I know thee now no more.

Do I a magic atmosphere inhale?

Erewhile, my passion would not brook delay!

Now in a pure love-dream I melt away.

Are we the sport of every passing gale?

Should she return and enter now,

How wouldst thou rue thy guilty flame!

Proud vaunter—thou wouldst hide thy brow,—

And at her feet sink down with shame.

Of jewels, which I got elsewhere

Just lay it in the press; make haste!

I swear to you, ’twill turn her brain;

Therein some trifles I have placed,

Wherewith another to obtain.

But child is child, and play is play.

Perchance you would retain the treasure?

If such your wish, why then, I say,

Henceforth absolve me from my task,

Nor longer waste your hours of leisure.

I trust you’re not by avarice led!

I rub my hands, I scratch my head,—(He places the casket in the press and closes the lock.)

Now quick! Away!

That soon the sweet young creature may

The wish and purpose of your heart obey;

Yet stand you there

As would you to the lecture-room repair,

As if before you stood,

Arrayed in flesh and blood,

Physics and metaphysics weird and grey!—

Away!(Exeunt.)

Yet out of doors ’tis not so warm.

I feel so strange, I know not how—

I wish my mother would come home.

Through me there runs a shuddering—

I’m but a foolish timid thing!(While undressing herself she begins to sing.)

There was a king in Thule,

True even to the grave;

To whom his dying mistress

A golden beaker gave.

At every feast he drained it,

Naught was to him so dear,

And often as he drained it,

Gush’d from his eyes the tear.

When death came, unrepining

His cities o’er he told;

All to his heir resigning,

Except his cup of gold.

With many a knightly vassal

At a royal feast sat he,

In yon proud hall ancestral,

In his castle o’er the sea.

Up stood the jovial monarch,

And quaff’d his last life’s glow,

Then hurled the hallow’d goblet

Into the flood below.

He saw it splashing, drinking,

And plunging in the sea;