SATAN
My lips are sealed,Though I would fain prepare you for that firstAnd awful moment when, beyond death's gates,You see and know—for now you do not know—What there awaits you. You have seen the grave;You know the dissolution and decayThat folds the body as it mouldering liesAfter the racking of those final hoursWhere soul and body part. But have you guessedThat—as the body rots without the soul—So the soul crumbles in a vile decayYou cannot picture, when the body dies?Then falls the spirit limb from reeking limb.An agony beyond all mortal thoughtShakes every atom of the spiritual frame—The throes of dissolution. Death, indeed,All men can bear; but this last spiritual death,This torture of the disembodied soulTo force dissolving—ah, prepare yourself!It shall appall you!
FAUST
If it comes, it comes.
SATAN
We have been foes; but now I speak as friend.This shall not come to you! 'Tis in my powerTo save you from this uttermost horror's grasp.For I have gift of perfect dreamless sleep;And those to whom I give shall after deathSlumber unconscious while the awful changeAttacks them; and oblivion shall be theirsUnbroken stretching from the final hour.
FAUST
That were a boon not easily despised.
SATAN
It shall be yours! My crushed and broken foeShall never at my hand lack final restWhere nightmares cannot come. As honest foesWe shall be quit. And for this priceless giftI ask but that you give me, as remembrance,That book which you have wrought concerning me.
FAUST
Why still so eager?
SATAN
Eager? I am not.
FAUST
Satan, my soul still sees, though death has drawnIts curtains round my body. You have soughtWith long endeavor to enslave my willTo nothingness; now would you doom to darkMy sublimated soul, my written word,My force immortal....(He takes up the pen)This, Satan, is your answer—(He writes on the last sheet of the manuscript)"With this last word I close my testament:'Man, work thy will, and God shall come of thee.'"
SATAN
Poor thwarted fool, who would not take my lures,Being far too wise! Yet dustward now he turns,And where Faust stood shall nothingness survive!
FAUST
Approach me not: I have grown sanctified.Loathing the night and dreaming of the dawn,I claim some kinship with the Eternal PowerWhich in the dust, the daisy and the starMoves onward in its self-ordainèd sway—Life everlasting. Through my veins it sweeps,Bearing me onward; and as I am borne,I onward urge, till my short day be doneAnd I fall spent; and over me the waveSweeps on its way immortal; and my soulPartakes of that lost immortality.
SATAN
Dreamer, whose dreams shall soon be choked with dust!
FAUST(slowly rising)
I am that dreamer to whose mounting dreamsNo bounds are set, no region which my willMay not reach out toward. And I will create—I, and the souls that after me shall come—By passion of desire a pillar of flameAbove the wastes of life. If no God be,I will from my deep soul create a GodInto the universe to fight for me!(He sinks back)
SATAN
How strong a master! Why not slay me now?Put forth your strength, and try how great it be!
FAUST
Though dying, I am master. But you stillAre jester, even at death-beds—knowing wellI have no power to slay you. You retreatBut perish not; the sphere of your domainContracts, but it endures immortally.Have done with jesting: look me in the eyes!Acknowledge me, and all high heritorsWho shall succeed me, your eternal foe,Your eternal victor in half-victories—But never your destroyer to the last.
SATAN
I thank all prophets for their prophecy!But I shall still remain?...
FAUST
You shall remain....
SATAN
I shall remain!...[Faust and Satan sit silent, watching each othersteadily. Faust closes his eyes, then suddenly raiseshimself in his chair.
FAUST
Ah, what a ghastly dream!Ghastly, for all its cold and lofty state.Nay, what have I to do with yearning thoughtsOf immortality? I am young with life!I shall not die! Hope and the eager yearsOf labor rise before me as I pressClear of these shadows. I have dreamed dark dreams—One very dark of late—but now my bloodResurges in a not less passionate fireThan when, less wise, I stretched my hands to life,And all my hopes were winged. But that is past;And dreams are past: the day of deed is come.Aye, in the cities, on the hills of the world,I shall uplift the banner of high wars—I shall make mock of this strange dizziness—I shall live—and Death retreats from me afraid!
SATAN
What! Then I'll do his office!
FAUST
Spare your painsThe tide of strength recedes, swift as it came....Oldham! I cannot die! I cannot die!...And I am dying....[Faust sinks back with closed eyes. The door openssoftly and the butler enters, followed by Midgewho carries an armful of flowers. She looks aroundthe room, bewildered; then crosses quickly to Faust'schair.
SATAN
Madam, you come too late.[Faust opens his eyes—and, lifting the manuscript,with feeble hand holds it out to her.
FAUST
No, not too late.... Touch me across the dusk—[Midge, shaken and faltering, clasps the book to her.Doubtfully she touches his shoulder. Faust, slightlysmiling, closes his eyes.
CURTAIN