The Curtain Falls (The Tale Continues)

Hear my tale of tragedy:

[Faustus:]

Alas, philosophy I have explored

as well as medicine and law

add to these regrettably

my studies in theology

Yet here I sit, a foolish bore

no wiser than I was before

No dog can live like this

knowledge gained is far from bliss

So I resolved my soul to free

through blackest magic and dark alchemy

[Goethe: Faust]

And from my library old

I have this book which I am told

Holds the key to strangest lands

Places never travelled by man

It will, no doubt, open my eyes

through Hell I will finally find my Paradise

[The Fool:]

From browsing through this book I have learned

that all that I have ever yearned

may be accomplished easily

with words uttered feasibly

As long as I in my circle remain

nothing can harm me, the demons are chained

And with the next word I do burn

The devils back to Hell return

[Faustus:]

As a fool summons a devil, so will I

summon the Fallen Angel of Light

And with his widom in my sight

I will remain (both day and night)

as happy as a man can be

for no knowledge will be strange to me

Of stars in heaven I will know

As life itself I will explore

Rain and thunder I do endure, likewise

fire and ice

the elements are torturing me

with the only purpose that I shall see

and know the wisdom of the lord

Lucifer I summon thee!

[Mephistopheles:]

I have come to visit you this late

(although your spells are out of date)

To see who mocks the name of God

he might be of interest to my lord

[Faustus:]

Then I will speak, and you hear this:

In my search for eternal bliss

I will give my very soul to you

If what you claim is really true

Then you will serve me loyally

obey my orders accurately

For me accomplish any task

bring me the moon if I should ask

When time is up you claim your prize:

My soul forever absent from heavenly paradise

As I do sign this covenant

in blood from a cut in my hand

My soul is not for God to claim

I will have twenty-four years with maidens and fame

And now I do enquire of you

The secrets of life, of Oceans blue

of stars upon the mighty sky

of moon and planets far up high

[Mephistopheles:]

That is not for man to know

as words can not tell what they are of

and man cannot grasp what words cannot command

for words are far more glorious than ever was man

[Faustus:]

Your tracherous lies are powerless

You do not convince me, for I stress:

do I not grasp love and hate,

pleasure and pain, lust and fate ?

I cannot describe these, yet I know

that in my heart with fire they flow

How I repent my loathsome deeds,

these devils do not fullfill my needs...

[Mephistopheles:]

Faustus! I am not at all thrilled

you try to escape, yet you have no will

but to bath in all pleasures that flesh can give

even though, as it appears, your virgin is a devil

and now is the day of your fears

I will collect what is mine after twelve years

as day and night I gave you plenty

(twelve and twelve is four-and-twenty)

thus, what was thine

is now forever mine