Faustian Echoes

Faust: "I, Johannes Faust, do call upon thee, Mephistopheles!"

Faust:

Oh, growing moon, didst thou but shine

A last time on this pain of mine

Behind this desk how oft have I

At midnight seen thee rising high

O'er book and paper I bend

Thou didst appear, oh mournful friend

Mephistopheles:

I am the spirit that ever denies!

And justly so: for all that is born

Deserves to be destroyed in scorn

Therefore 'twere best if nothing were created

Destruction, sin, wickedness - plainly stated

All of which you as evil have classified

That is my element - there I abide

Manager:

Scatter the stars with a lavish hand

Water, fire, tavern wall

Birds and beasts, all within command

Thus in our narrow booth today

Creation's ample scope display

Wander swiftly, observing well

From the heavens, to the world, to hell!

The world of spirits is not barred to thee!

Mephistopheles: "now then, Faustus. What wouldst thou have mephisto do?"

Faust:

"I charge thee, Mephisto, wait upon me while I live... To do whatever faustus shall command. be it to make the moon drop from outer sphere, or the ocean to overwhelm the world. go bear these tidings to great lucifer: say he surrenders up his soul. so that he shall spare him four and twenty years, letting him live in all voluptiousness, having thee ever to attend on me. to give me whatsoever I shall ask."

Mephistopheles: "I will."

Faust:

Sublime spirit, thou hast given me all

All for which I besought thee, not in vain

Didst thou reveal thy countenance in the fire

Thou hast given me nature for a kingdom

With the power to enjoy and feel

Only a visit of chilling bewilderment

Thou bringest all the living creatures

And taught me to know my brothers in the air

In the deep waters and in the silent coverts

When through the forest the storm rages

Uprooting the giant pines which in their fall

Crushing, drag down neighboring boughs and trunks

Whose hollow thunder shake the hills

Then thou dost lead me to a sheltering cave

And revealest me to myself and layest bare

The deep mysterious miracle of my nature

And when the pure moon rises into sight

Soothingly above me, then about me hover

Creeping from rocky walls and dewy thickets

Silver shadows, phantoms of a bygone world

Which allay the austere joy of meditation

Now fully do I realize that man

Can never possess perfection

With this ecstasy which brings me near and nearer

To the gods

Margarete:

My mother the harlot put me to death

My father the scoundrel ate my flesh

My dear little sister laid all my bones

In a dark shaded place under the stones

Then I changed into a wood-bird

Fluttering away

Fly away

Mephistopheles:

Mankind, that foolish cosmos

Always acts as incomplete

He thought himself to be

I am part of that part which was the absolute

A part of that darkness which gave birth to light

The arrogant light which would dispute

Ancient rank of mother night

Therefore I hope it won't be long before

With matter it shall perish evermore!

Manager:

Scatter the stars with a lavish hand

Water, fire, tavern wall

Birds and beasts, all within command

Thus in our narrow booth today

Creation's ample scope display

Wander swiftly, observing well

From the heavens to the world

The world of spirits is not barred to thee!

Faust: "so, still I seek the force, the reason governing life's flow, and not just its external show."

Mephistopheles: "the governing force? She reason? some things cannot be known; they are beyond your reach even when shown."

Faust: "why should that be so?"

Mephistopheles: "they lie outside the boundaries that words can address; and man can only grasp those thoughts which language can express."

Faust: "what? Do you mean that words are greater yet than man?"

Mephistopheles: "indeed they are."

Faust: "then what of longing. Wffection, pain or grief? I can't describe these, yet I know they are in my breast. what are they?""

Mephistopheles: "without substance, as mist is."

Faust: "in that case man is only air as well!