SATAN
He is your hope,Your sole salvation in a universeWhere never other form shall comfort you—A waif except for Him. So have all souls—The holy and the pure—from age to age,Learned, homesick for His home. Their frustrate hopes,Their burdens heavier than by mortal strengthCan be sustained, their impotence, bow downEach spirit: and it cries: "O God, supportMy helplessness; unto Thy perfect willDo I resign my vain and evil hopes,My burdens; and Thy Will Be Done Forever."Thus, with arms folded on despairing breast,With head bowed to the inscrutable decree,They seek Him: and a sudden glory fillsThe humbled bosom; all His stars and thronesShine down upon it; all His majestyEnters that lowly door, lifts up, sustainsThe sundered soul; and His beneficenceWith more than father-love enfolds the heartJoined to His own forever. From His lightReflected radiance pours; to the dark sightComes glimpse of the high justice of God's will;And all roads lead to Heaven, and all hearts lieWithin His love, and all's well with the world.[Deep organ music begins to roll through the archesof the cathedral. Candles are lighted one by oneon the High Altar. Worshippers begin to enter thenave: they pass down the long central aisle andgather in groups at the far end, near the Altar.Faust stands leaning against a pillar, silent and lostin meditation.Brander enters among the worshippers. He passesthe spot where Faust is standing, glances at him andstops, astonished.
BRANDER
You have come back! I had not heard of it.Where have you been these many months? I longTo talk with you.
FAUST
Yes, come and see me soon.It's a long story.... I congratulate youUpon your marriage....
BRANDER
Then you know....
FAUST
She cameAnd spoke to me a little while ago.
BRANDER
It must seem strange to you beyond my powerEver to quite unravel. But for meAll things are clear; and to my blinded sightMorning has come—in this thing, as in allThe doubts that once enslaved me.
FAUST
Do you mean...
BRANDER
Come here aside before the service starts.I owe it you to tell you. I have changedIn your long absence....
FAUST
These are curious words.I do not understand.
BRANDER
To understand,You must hear all. You know my life—how vainIts occupations, how absorbed I movedIn this day's folly and to-morrow's lure—How petty trifles made my whole small roundOf being—selfish trifles, nothing worth,Stained with a cruelty that I would forget.That night we talked together—you and IAnd Oldham—in your rooms, I wandered homeSorely distressed. For you had stirred in meA gnawing doubt whether the whole of lifeWas not mere child's play.
FAUST
I am sorry if—
BRANDER
It was the kindest act man ever didIn all my life! I peered into my heart:I saw myself Judas to innocence,Betraying lightly with a careless kissA mortal body and immortal soul;I saw no thing in all my days to claimA sane man's approbation; one by oneEach glittering bauble that I late had lovedCrumbled to dust beneath the parching fireOf reason.... And that night, I walked in Hell.
FAUST
Poor Brander! And my mocking did all this?
BRANDER
Thank God for it! That night I saw my joysLike some rank thicket of bright vanitiesMasking a precipice. A sense of sinAnd loathing overcame me, and the powerOf utter terror filled me. I beheldThe evil riot of gross earthy thingsThat had o'ergrown me. Like a burden layThat sense upon me, and it pressed me downTo a despondence deep beyond all words,Beyond all thought. And no escape I sawExcept the bullet....
FAUST
What a faith we pinUpon that bullet!
BRANDER
Thus the doubtful daysPassed like a nightmare. Till, one Sabbath morn,As restlessly I paced, some random moodLed me to enter this cathedral's doorsAt hour of service. As I knelt, with lipsUnknown to prayer, the mighty music rolledOver my heart like an all-purging flood,And a voice chanted: "He that loveth lifeShall lose it; he that hateth this world's lifeShall keep the life eternal." And a voiceShortly thereafter sang, in angel tones:"Come, let our feet return unto the Lord;For He hath torn, and He will heal us." AndMy soul cried: "Yield thy burdens to the Lord,Upon His love cast thine unworthy self,And bid His Will Be Done."
And then my soulMelted as in the warmth of His embrace.My guilt was gone like night before the sun:Light blinded me; an infinite love and joyLifted me up, a child again, from earthInto such regions as my mortal speechCan never utter. And from that hour forth,God has been with me.... Now you know my tale.
FAUST
You teach me more of marvels than I guessedWas yet unlearned by me.
BRANDER
No words can teachThese marvels to a heart that has not knownGod's glories.
FAUST
Then this mystery of the heartIs what men mean when of the faith of GodThey speak? I thought 'twas dogma, service, prayer;But this is life, is vision.
BRANDER
Aye, and more!Now do I walk in meadows of calm light;The love of God is over me; I faintAlmost beneath its sweetness and wild joy.My whole heart's toil is how to merit itEven a little.
SATAN(raising his hand to bless)
By the grace of GodYou shall be worthy servant, O my son.
FAUST
This, then, is what God's vision-seers behold—This revelation veiled unto mine eyes—This love unfelt by me—this light of dawnBeyond our darkened night.... I was too farEstranged from Him, of too unworthy will,Bowed by too sore a burden....[The music of the organ rolls forth once more; and,at the far end of the nave, the choir takes up themusic.
Voices Singing
From the waters of Zion,From the fountains of peace,Pour the floods on whose bosomThy seeking shall cease.There the winds of His garmentsShall lull thee to rest.There the night of His watchingShall enter thy breast.Thou shalt sleep, and awaken;On His morrow, to beAs a star in His heavens,A wave in His sea.
From the waters of Zion,From the fountains of peace,Pour the floods on whose bosomThy seeking shall cease.
There the winds of His garmentsShall lull thee to rest.There the night of His watchingShall enter thy breast.
Thou shalt sleep, and awaken;On His morrow, to beAs a star in His heavens,A wave in His sea.
FAUST
With old, profound, unutterable griefMy spirit speaks in me: as, many a timeIn childhood, at the hour of evening dusk,When all the room was still and shadowy,I, at my mother's knee, wept out my heartAnd knew not why I wept. And I am drawnOut of myself upon the music's tide,With nameless sorrowing, with childlike pain—As though in careless play-hours of the dayI had done hurt to someone that I loved.Ah, I am homesick; and in all the worldThere is no knee at which I can weep outMy loneliness. There is no breast of peaceAnd silence and forgiveness for this childIn any dusk-strewn chamber....
BRANDER
There is God!
FAUST
O God, can Thine arms fold me? Can my weightOf loneliness and failure and despairWith the day's fruitage, find a child's releaseIn Thy great tenderness? I am a child;And life's vast terrors gather round my soul;And I am frightened. I am weary, Lord!It darkens; and the storms creep on with night;The shadows come; the wanderer would turn home.[Faust falls to his knees; he bows his head. Againthe organ throbs, the choir sings.
Voices Singing
To His peace shalt thou yield thee;In His love shalt thou sleep;All the rills of thy valleysShall merge in His deep.To His hands shalt thou offerAll hope thou hast known.His hope and His gloryShall compass thine own.And the vain stars of longingShall fade in His sun;And the vain hand shall stay;And His Will Shall Be Done.
To His peace shalt thou yield thee;In His love shalt thou sleep;All the rills of thy valleysShall merge in His deep.
To His hands shalt thou offerAll hope thou hast known.His hope and His gloryShall compass thine own.
And the vain stars of longingShall fade in His sun;And the vain hand shall stay;And His Will Shall Be Done.
SATAN
Let us beside our brother kneel in prayerBeseeching mercy.[Satan and Brander kneel beside Faust.
BRANDER
Brother in the Lord,Let us together from devoted heartsRepeat: "Thy Will Be Done."[Faust continues to kneel in silence. The musicceases.
BRANDER
Faust, let us pray:"Father, we do beseech Thee for Thy light"...
SATAN
Brother, pray thus: "Thy Will Be Done"...
FAUST(rising)
What will?...
BRANDER
Faust!
FAUST
Lost is my way among eternal shadows.Darkened is every light; and clouds are rolledWith blackening curtain over all the starsWithin my heaven. But I stand uprightNow to the end, no traitor to that dawnI cannot image.
SATAN
What do you mean?
FAUST
Begone,Judas!...
Ah, Brander, would that I could yieldMyself to Him who has received your burdens!But to me seems it as another sleep,Like that Nirvana which I put asideIn other gardens of temptation. Sleep—Sleep that should have no waking—happy sleep—An anodyne for which my spirit yearnsBut dare not take—a yielding to some Will,Whose Will, we know not, nor do greatly careSo long it be not our will....
Thus may yieldThe weary; I am weary, but not yetTo such last slumber. Thus may yield the base;I am not base. Thus may those spirits yieldWho, poisoned by some madness in their blood,Despise life's being; but not yet will ISo utterly despise it. Though in gulfsOf yet unsounded ruin I should dieAt the end miserably, I still shall seekIn life itself my refuge: not in GodThat stands apart from life, on heights of peace.All my desires, my visions, my dreams, my unrest,My loathing and my longing will I clutchAnd cry: "With all its bitterness on my head,My Willbe done, not Thy Will!"
BRANDER
Blasphemy!Ah, Faust, what madness!...
FAUST
With calm sight, I speakNo blasphemy, but truth. Shall I buy peaceSo easily? Toss my burdens to God's Will—Into the fathomless void of that unknown?Such were the last, the great apostacy....I go into a darkness past your thought—Into an emptiness you know not of—A night profounder that it late has heldMarsh-lights of promise. My last altar liesSmoking in ruins; and I stand aloneOf all the universe. But my Will be done!My errant tortured Will, my bitter Will,MyWill,myWill!
BRANDER
Flee, ere the awful wrathOf God smite down these walls, these poisoned stones,That hear your words! Flee, ere the heavens rain forthLightnings to blast us for these horrors!
FAUST
Nay!In this dim hour of desolation's reignUpon my soul, I summon to my soulAll powers that good or evil may consignTo the most lonely man in all the world;I lift my voice, burdened with all the weightOf loathing and of longing, and I cry:My curse upon Thee, lure of dying hearts!May lightnings smite Thy altars back to earth!
BRANDER
Father, forgive! He knows not what he does....
CURTAIN
The scene is a public lecture-hall. To the left rises a platform, on which stands a reading-desk. To the right are rows of chairs arranged as for an audience. In the front row of these sit four old men, patiently and silently waiting. One is reading a newspaper.
Suddenly there bursts into the hall a rout of wildly gay and dancing maskers: Harlequin, Columbine, a Pig, Pantaloon, an enormously tall Ghost, Clowns, a Skeleton, Ballet-girls, Oriental Princesses, Monks, Courtiers, Turks and Jew Pedlers. The first few attempt to draw back on seeing the chairs and the four old men; but they are pushed on by those behind. Once in, they all circle about in a crazy dance, singing over and over the same verse.
THE MASKERS
Oh, children, children, New Year's DayIs more than half a year away.And we might get most awful dryIf we should wait for the Fourth of July.So let us celebrate now and hereWith rah, rah, rah and a bottle of beer![One of the maskers, who is dressed as a clown,raises his hands, ineffectually trying to hush therest.
CLOWN(shouting)
Stop! Stop! I want to teach another verseTo you before we go back to the others.[Loud laughter. The song continues.
THE SKELETON(shouting)
Isn't one bad enough?
CLOWN
A poor thing—butIt is mine own.
THE PIG
So much the worse for you!
ONE OF THE OLD MEN(rising)
Gentlemen! There's to be a lecture here.
CLOWN
Is that all? Well, I'll give it you myself.
A MONK
Not if we see you first!
THE PIG
My God! Let's run!
SKELETON
Back! Or the others will drink all the punch![The mob of maskers turbulently surges out again,leaving the hall quiet and empty except for the fourold men.
AN OLD MAN
They are a noisy lot.
SECOND OLD MAN
Yes.
THE FIRST OLD MAN
There must beParty upstairs?
SECOND OLD MAN
Yes, I suppose there is.
FIRST OLD MAN
They begin early.
THIRD OLD MAN
Early? Yes, or late.This is the end of last night's party, whichBegan at twelve, and likely'll last till noon.I know, for I'm the janitor.
FIRST OLD MAN
Well! Well![Two men enter, look around and take seats in thechairs set for the audience. One carries a small blacksurgical case; the other has a green bag under hisarm.
DOCTOR
We seem to be a little early—orHave we made some mistake?
LAWYER
No, ten's the hour.But I was anxious that we should be prompt,And so have rather overdone our haste.
DOCTOR
It doesn't matter; we can wait a bit.How curiously impatient, though, you areTo hear this talk! I personally have doubtsWhether it's worth our trouble.
LAWYER
Well, I knowThe man, however slightly; you do not,And so can hardly share my expectation.But he has been, throughout these many years,So secretive, so self-contained, so deepIn matters that I could not guess, that now,When he at last promises to proclaimSome strange discovery, I half believeIt will be worth our coming.[Two women enter together. The younger one isleading a child by the hand. The older, a gaunt,spinsterly-looking figure, peers about with a near-sightedglance.
MERCHANT'S WIFE
Take that seat.And now be quiet.
CHILD
Mother, will he haveThe Devil with him?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
I don't know. The childHas been completely crazy since I told herThat I would bring her with me.
OLD WOMAN
I am justA little curious myself. I learnedWhen I was young all that they thought was knownAbout the Devil; and if this Mr. FaustHas really made some new discoveryAbout him, it seems well that even the youngShould be informed of it.[A number of detached men and women enter andtake seats silently. They are followed by twoplumbers in overalls, carrying the tools of theirtrade still with them.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Whew, but the boss will skin us for this trick!
OLD PLUMBER
Go, if you like. But I intend to stay.I have not been, through seventeen long years,Philosopher myself, now to let slipA chance of hearing such a talk as this.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Oh, I won't go.
OLD PLUMBER
You'd better not. They sayThat all the rumors wholly underrateThe real importance of his talk to-day.I've been informed, on good authority,That he will have the Devil on the platformAnd publicly enchain him to a cartFor all of us to see.[The two plumbers have taken their seats. A manbehind them leans forward now and interrupts them.
BUTCHER
What's that? A cart?He means to drive the Devil as a horse?
OLD PLUMBER
Quite probably, quite probably.
BUTCHER
Well, thatWill be outrageous, in these troubled timesOf strikes and lock-outs. Without any doubt,If he goes trying to harness up the Devil,It will precipitate a teamsters' strike.Using non-union horses always does.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Do you think that? Why, that would be a shame,When times are bad already.
CHILD
Mother, Mother!Will there be moving pictures?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
I don't know.Don't talk so loud.[Two prosperous-looking men enter. One is elderly,the other young.
BANKER
Do not apologizeNow that you've brought me. As I said at first,I am prepared to see a mountebankPerform his pretty tricks of eloquenceTo set the crowd agape. Why, once a weekThe Ethical Society hires oneTo work the same performance—quite the sameEach time. Unearth a few forgotten doubts,Or dig your elbow into some new dogma,And you will see the mob fawn at your feet,Believing you the greatest mind since Plato.
RICH YOUNG MAN
I'm sure he isn't that kind.
BANKER
We shall see!And afterwards, the drinks shall be on you.[A gawky young man who has flour in his hair, anda vivacious and pertly dressed girl enter together.
GIRL
I go to all the lectures that I can.I do think culture is the grandest thing;And one acquires it so easilyNowadays that one shouldn't let it slip.
BAKER
I'd go to lectures, too, if I could goAlways with you.
GIRL
Well, now, perhaps I'll tryTo educate you!
BAKER
Oh, I wish you would![Satan enters, dressed as an artisan. He takes aseat in the far corner, out of sight of the platform.Two young men enter. Both have books under theirarms.
YOUNG STUDENT
His is the subtlest mind I ever knew.The gulfs through which he whirled bewildered meWhen he would talk. So I am quite preparedFor a great treat to-day.
YOUNGER STUDENT
Oh, I forgotMy note-book. Can you tear a sheet from yours?
SATAN(to a man beside him who rises, apparently tired of waiting)
What, going? Well, I wouldn't, if I were you.You ought to hear this: I have had a handIn getting him to speak; and I am sureThere will be something doing.
THE MAN
Well, I'll stay,Since you, of the committee, vouch for it.[More people enter and take their seats.
YOUNG PLUMBER(to his companion)
What do you get by being philosopher?I don't see how you do it. I could neverThink about nothing all the time, like you.
OLD PLUMBER
Perhaps your mind is not just made for it.It takes a thinker, that it does. And IDid not get into it so easy, either.I read a lot of books before I sawThe greatness of Philosophy. Now I wonderHow I got on without it. Why, to-dayI could not clean a sewer in peace of mindIf I did not know that, when I got home,I could philosophize on Space and Time.
YOUNG PLUMBER
It must be wonderful to know these things.[Brander and Midge enter together. They seem tofind some difficulty in choosing their seats.
MIDGE
Are you quite sure that we can hear him here?
BRANDER
Yes; and besides, I do not wish to sitToo near the front. I'd rather not have comeAt all to-day. But you...
MIDGE
Oh, don't go backNow on your promise! I must hear him speak.I must, I must. I cannot tell you why;I do not know. But I have never seenA face that seemed to promise me so much—Things that I cannot utter, cannot think.
BRANDER
I never want to see his face again.I shall try not to listen.
CHILD
Mother, whenWill the show start?
MERCHANT'S WIFE
Hush, very soon! Yes, see—There he is coming in.
CHILD
Oh, goody, goody![Faust enters the hall and mounts the platform.He busies himself for a moment adjusting the readingdesk; then turns toward the audience, grippingthe desk steadily, and waits a moment more for thestir to subside.
FAUST
I come before you with unwilling lips—Not led by eagerness, or wont of speech;Being not of those who easily proclaimSmall miracles to move you. But the forceOf grave necessity has bid me castAll thought save one aside, and in your midst,Utter strange words, with lips that must obeyThe soul that wills not silence.
For I comeAnnouncing not the common veritiesOf learned books, or laboratory lore,Or ancient heresies; as speaks the fool,So speak I—from my heart. What I have seen,That shall you see, and with grim gladness holdClose in your hearts. Yes, all the world shall see it—I am a tower burning to light the world!(He pauses a moment, meditatively)
OLD WOMAN(whispering)
He has a good opinion of himself.
FAUST
I have beheld the toil and pain of life,Its emptiness and defeat; I have beheldHearts, weary with recurrence of the daysThat held no sweetness, turn in trust to whereIn high aërial spaces far from earthGod in his heaven to all the weary onesOffers a refuge. And in such a moodWas I, too, led toward heaven by one whom nowI know my foe—Satan. Toward God I turned,Seeking in Him fulfilment of all hopesThat earth had thwarted. Then, in the hour of prayerAnd revelation, from my deepest breastFlashed lightnings. And I saw the Lord of HostsHigh on a mountain, inaccessibleTo yearning men, who, mastered by a dream,Turn skyward from our dark and struggling earth.I saw the crafty Satan urging onThe heavenward-yearning myriads, while the worldLay like a stagnant quagmire, to his swayWholly abandoned, and man's mortal houseBurned in fierce conflagration of corruption.And lo! the lightnings from my heart smote forthAcross the heavens; and God dissolved like cloud,And through the cloud peered Satan's sinister face.
Friends: God is dead; your God and mine is dead.And Satan in his place—Satan who isThe father of the gods—lures on your heartsUnto an idol in the untrodden skies,That, while ye dream oblivious in the void,The earth may crumble. Or if God there be,He is the God of dying hearts and spent—A deity of chaos, for whose endsOne thing alone is mete—ruin of life,Of loathings and of longings that on earthRestlessly grapple with the powers of Hell.I know not if in regions yet unguessedSome gods may dwell, of nature fit to guideUs, the adventurers of an earthly fight.But I have seen with eyes that cannot lieThat they reside not in this Devil's net—This heavenly trust, this labyrinth of peace,Which draws men on to nothingness....
And I cryWith all the passion of my baffled soul—Cast down your God! Cast down your peace and trustIn His far Will! It is a solace meteFor slaves, not men. With bitter hand, destroyThis idol of destruction! Smite all hauntsOf faith and resignation and defeatAnd rest and peace and comfort. Heaven and earthAlike are poisoned: somnolence in heaven,Decay on earth is regnant. Every faithAnd law and nation must in wreck go downFor us who see the death that taints their halls;And ruin shall walk reckless through the world,Destroying tombs where life is daily slain!(Faust pauses)
BRANDER(rises suddenly from his place in the audience)
My friends, I came to listen, not to speak.But when such words as these from impious lipsFall lightly, I must rise here to refuteTheir poisonous message. Three days since, I stoodWith this man in the sacred halls of God,And witnessed in his heart the glory growOf God's bright hope. Then suddenly from Hell,Or from his own deep, labyrinthine heart,Sprang fiends to snatch him back from heaven's clear gateAnd God's deliverance. And his bitter lips,By thirst so nearly quenched made bitterer yet,Cried blasphemies against the powers of heavenAnd all bright starry hopes that light our daysWith faith and glory. And the hand of God,Inscrutably withheld, smote him not dumb,But suffered him to go. Now in our sightHe rises to proclaim his searing doubt,His hot destroying passion, and tears downOur fairest altars. I, who was his friend,Hereby renounce him; and in sober wordsCounsel all men to flee the companyOf one who hates the great hopes of the world![As Brander sits down, there is some scattered applausein the audience. Faces are turned toward him.Midge sits motionless, her face buried in her hands.
FAUST
I scarce foresaw that my laborious taskShould profit by the aid of willing handsSo freely offered. Well, the Devil moves stillUnchained on earth; and while he toils, your toilIs of small matter. You have ranged yourselfWith things fast dying; and our feet—the feetOf trampling hordes—shall pass above your head,As we shall pass over all creeds and laws,All stately chambers and respected homesAnd hearths and council-halls and sleek vile marts—We, the destroyers of destruction!
BUTCHER
Here!Don't you go shaking any fist at me!
GIRL
I think it's awful. Someone ought to stop him.
MERCHANT'S WIFE
The man is crazy!
OLD PLUMBER
Say! Would you destroySpace and Time, too?
YOUNG PLUMBER
Hooray for hell broke loose!
BUTCHER
Out with him! He's an anarchist!
BANKER
I'm notReligious; but I cannot stand for that.
YOUNG STUDENT
Oh, let him have a chance!
BUTCHER
Not if I know it!Damn such a man![Satan suddenly rises in his place with commandinggestures. The people stare at him, and after a momentare silent to hear him speak.
SATAN
My friends, I think we all—Or most of us—agree that talk like thisIs a destructive influence, to be metWith frowns, in justice to society.Such words disgrace humanity, affrontRespectability, and fill with shameOur hearts for such a speaker. Yet the rogueRequires but rope to save the law the toilOf trial and execution. I bespeak,Therefore, your patience for this gentleman;Till he has time to wind the hempen knotSecurely round his throat, let us sit byAnd hear him further.
FAUST
Thank you. You beginWell in my service.
SATAN
Aye, indeed, indeed!You don't suppose a mouse-trap baits itself?Friends, let us hear him.
RICH YOUNG MAN
That sounds sensible.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Let each dog have his day.
OLD PLUMBER
Sit down! Shut up!
YOUNG PLUMBER
Leave me alone!
SATAN
One moment more, I pray,Of your kind patience. Sir, ere you proceed,I have a word to give you. I have heardTales of your cleverness in foiling twiceThe Devil who sought to lead you to resignYour will to his. Perhaps it was not wellThat you so spurned his euthanasia.By your own devious path, you come at lastTo where all facts are vain, all visions fade,And your old wager is a laughing-stock,So valueless your will, so vain your powerTo shape one end of hope. Life crumbles, falls,Around you; and your kind with horror seeYour utter nakedness. But I have broughtA little present for you: not so niceAs two the Devil once offered in its place;Yet 'twill suffice. Men who would cheat the DevilCome, with a curious unanimity,To where the lump of lead becomes a boonUnto the soul rejecting easier sleep.The Devil claims his own in his own day.(He approaches the platform, and offers to Faust a pistol)
YOUNG STUDENT
What is he saying?
CHILD
Are they going to shoot?
YOUNG PLUMBER
Bang yourself one! That's what it's for.
BUTCHER
Good riddance!There isn't room on earth for jokes like you!
FAUST(accepts the pistol)
In such a spirit as you offer it,I do accept this token. In my handAt least it shall lie safe, nor be a god:I worship not the bullet.... But bewareWhat mummer's part you play in this strange scene.For by the victory I have won of late,I am your master! And in grovelling dustBefore me you shall cringe, though all the worldShun me, your conqueror. Vilest of slaves!Accept your servitude!
BUTCHER
Here! That's enough!
GIRL
You brute!
SATAN
Your slave. Command, and it shall beFulfilled. A little snarling now and thenMeans naught.
YOUNG PLUMBER
I will not let an honest man,A worthy citizen, be spoken toLike that by a damn anarchist while ICan raise a hand!
BUTCHER
Nor I!
MERCHANT'S WIFE
Go after him!
FAUST
Silence! Let not your eager efforts proveYou are the beast-herd he would bid you be!
YOUNG PLUMBER
What! Let us show him how to talk to us!
SATAN
See, on his forehead, see! Where the deep linesMeet—do you see the blackened cross that growsEach moment darker with the curse of God!He is branded, he is Cain!
FAUST
Down, slave! FulfilNow my command, you who my bondsman are!Seal on these eyes—too blind to take the light—Darkness! And let me, turning from them, knowThey have not peered into my open heart.You are still my slave—though they are only fools.
YOUNG PLUMBER
Damn your infernal soul!
BUTCHER
Hit him a crack!
OLD WOMAN
Stop all your noise.
BUTCHER
Here, let me go, you fool![Suddenly aroused, some of the crowd surge forwardtoward the platform. From the back of theroom someone hurls a chair, which strikes the greatchandelier: the lights instantly go out, leaving thehall in total darkness. Confused cries, footsteps,blows.
CRIES
What're you about?... Let go!... Where are the lights?...[Suddenly two wall-brackets are illuminated, disclosingpart of the crowd massed on the platform.As they surge back, there remains on the platform,fallen and motionless, the figure of Faust. He raiseshis head slowly.
FAUST
Ah, Satan!... worthy serf to my command!...Go! I release you. For I would not dieWith such a slave— Nay, though I die alone....[Suddenly the door bursts open, and in surge themaskers, in greater numbers and even wilder tumultthan before. Dancing grotesquely, linked hand inhand, they zigzag through the hall, overturningchairs and singing at the top of their voices.
THE MASKERS
Oh, children, children, children dear,We cannot wait for any New Year.So let us celebrate now and hereWith rah, rah, rah and a bottle of beer!
CURTAIN
The scene is once more Faust's library. The dim slanting sunlight of late afternoon streams through the open windows, touching the gold of books and the brown of furniture with an enamel-like brilliancy.
Brander and Faust's butler stand just inside the door.
BUTLER
I am afraid you cannot see him now.The doctor is still here. I do not knowIf anyone may see him.
BRANDER
I will waitA moment, and perhaps may see the doctorAs he goes out. Have things been bad to-day?
BUTLER
Yes, sir.[The doctor enters from the door on the left. Thebutler goes out.
BRANDER
How is he?
DOCTOR
As one might expect.The fever's gone; but strength has gone with it:No one can tell how long his heart will standThe strain.
BRANDER
You see no hope?
DOCTOR
I only seeThat we are doing all we can for him.Beyond that, I can say no more than you.
BRANDER
You think I should not see him?
DOCTOR
Oh, no harm.You might have seen him when you came this morningIf you had waited. You can see him here.He wanted to be in this room again,And I make no objection. Well, good-bye.[The doctor goes out. Brander moves restlesslyabout the room. A moment later, the door on theleft opens, and Faust, reclining in an invalid's chair,is wheeled into the room by the butler. He is clad ina long dressing-gown; he is very pale. The butler,after placing the chair before the fireplace, goesout. Brander remains doubtfully in the background;Faust does not observe his presence.
FAUST
Again these walls!—home to what barren dreams!—And home to me! O dreams and bitterness,How are you gilded by this setting lightOf afternoon! Meseems I have not beenHappy save here, where all unhappinessOf mine had source and root. That forest holdsNow nothing grievous to my eyes that seeWhat once they saw not. Sweetness like the lightOf setting suns now lingers over itIn my enchambering memory— Life, lifeWith all its glow and wonder pours a floodOn this strait room whence I have watched the world—Whence I must go with all my love and wonderAs though no love and wonder I had won.[Faust bends his head, sinking into a daze of thought.Brander doubtfully approaches him, and at lasttouches his shoulder.
BRANDER
I have been heavy-hearted; but that thusI find you, overwhelms me....
FAUST
Why thus sadOver milk so irrevocably spilled?
BRANDER
I cannot utter what is in my heart.It is as though I had with my own handStricken you down. And yet I did not dreamOf what would follow.... O Faust, Faust, forgive me!
FAUST
Forgive you? Aye, and thank you! Greater thingsHung imminent than you dreamed of. For you setWild lightnings free in me that smote the darkFurled round me; and they grew and flashed and flamedEven as I fell. Aye, Brander, you who stroveFor my salvation should rejoice at last—Now, past all doubts and wanderings, I am saved!
BRANDER
Saved! Ah, impossible!
FAUST
Saved! And the lightOf glory fills me, though my physical frameTotters on dissolution. I believe!...The night is over.
BRANDER
Faust! O dearest friend!My heart refuses now to grasp such joy.If it were possible! Can, can it beThat God has bent once more, and with cool touchDispelled the feverous mists? Oh, I could weepWith happiness to dream it!
FAUST
Nay, my wordsMean more than you interpret. I am saved—Not as you count salvation. Nay, I comeTo one last refuge, finding all others vain.The common joys, the peace of nescience,The trust in some far Will, the hope to flameA beacon in the darkness of men's dreams:Driven forth from these, one citadel still liftsHeaven-fronting: there I stand, delivered, free,Master again—that citadel, my soul.I have escaped from all the bondages;And now bow down to nothing. Joy or pain,Defeat or conquest, good or evil, nowLure me no more. I will put hope in nothingSave in that whole strange glistening mortal lifeThat past me streams unto an end sublimeWhereof you know not. All our ends are folly,And win not what they seek; yet there is joyIn seeking; and one end there is that showsA brighter glow. I am the watcher setUpon the heights. In my impassioned sightAll life is holy that strives unto life:Death only is damnation. I will beMore happy than the happiest man, more strongThan is the strongest! I will climb on the neckOf this great monster, Life, and guide its course—For I am master—toward that end I seeHidden afar off.
BRANDER
You are sick and spent.I should not thus—
FAUST
Fear not; I do not wander.Or can you understand? No, no, you cannot.And yet some tenderness from days long pastStirs in me with a hope for you once more—Hear me for one last time.[Faust touches a bell. The butler enters.
FAUST
Bring to me, please,That large black-covered manuscript I wroteLast night until the doctor took it from me.It is among the papers on my desk.[The butler searches, finds the note-book and placesit on the table beside Faust. The butler goes out.Faust sits turning over the pages of the manuscript.
FAUST
Here to posterity I bequeath my soul—Worthless, perhaps, as heritage, but the allI have to give to them I love so much.These pages shall cry kinship to the fewWho, finding solace nowhere, yet shall findSolace in fierce destruction that assailsThe folly and the madness of mankind.(He begins to read from the manuscript)
Satan recedes; but thou who seemest near—O unborn man, whose soul is of my soul,Whose glory is of my glory—all my loveFloods out like light from the down-going sunToward thee, the nursling of a lofty line.Thou art my faith—man the divine to come—Man whom I loathe for that which he is not—Man, even now half divine because of allThat shall spring from him in the days to be.Thou, too, shalt fight with Satan, as I fought,Yea, in eternal battles till the end.Thou shalt go with him past the lure of lust,The lure of power, the lure of that great sleepNirvana; past the yet more luring sleepWhere dreams assuage the soul to be a dream.Thou shalt go with him, yet apart from himAnd all his works. He has no part in thee.He is the chaos seething at earth's core—Remnant of times when out of chaos sprangLife's upward impulse. He is the darkness spreadEre yet was light—the matter ere was form—The vast inertia that on motion's heelsClings viper-like. Of life and form and growthHe is negator; and his ceaseless joyIs to impede and drag to chaos backThe shoot that toward the light triumphant springs.
But vain his victories, though he lingers yetWith slowly narrowing frontiers. Past his will,Slowly the sons of light transcend, remouldTheir day and destiny; slowly there is bornOrder from chaos, flowers from formless mud,Light from the darkness, Faust's from Satan's soul.
With laughing and with wonder and with triumphI take that life and clasp it to my breast—I, part of all, and all a part of me—Streaming a river flashing in the sun.I am drunk with the glory of that which tramps me downAnd passes and transcends me—and is mine!
I, one with thee, O child of Flame, beholdThy harvest—when the passion of the yearsTurns earthward, and in mastered order setsThe house that is our dwelling. And therein,In the gold light of summer afternoons,With thee I too, careless and laughing, playMid dreams and wonders that our will has made—Bathe in the beauty that our eyes have pouredUpon the hills—and drink in thirsty draughtsThe happiness we have rained upon the earth.
I see, with ultimate unshaken vision!I see the earthly paradise; I seeMen winged with wonder on the future throneUp infinite vistas where life's feet shall climb.Out of the dust, out of the plant and worm,Out of ourselves about whose feet still clingsThe reptile-slime of our creation—lo!Our children's children rise; and all my loveDraws toward them and the light upon their brows.This is my faith; this is my happiness;This is my hope of heaven; this is my God.
BRANDER
The eternal God in heaven forgive you this!
FAUST
The Devil I can foil, but not my friends!Strange allies to his cause! Well, dusk was longMy portion; now all gathering storms of hateAre less than naught to me. Six months ago,When here I stood that memorable night,My gloom was starless; now one fiery starPierces it. And this broken frame of mineCannot annul that much of victory—The solace born of passion to destroyThat shall survive me if indeed I die.Alone my life was lived; if now I go,It is alone into a quiet graveAbove whose mound the fairer future daysShall pass, and I not know them. Yet my nightTakes foregleam from the vision of that dawnAnd I am solaced. And I leave my solaceAs heritage to the ever widening fewWho after me shall triumph more than IIn dawns of flaming.
BRANDER
O my friend, my friend,I would my tongue could cry as my heart cries—Turn back from darkness before the hour has struck!Even yet may mercy fold you. God is greatAnd tender; and perhaps His love may claspEven your aloofness, if at last your heartCalls in repentance to Him. O Faust, Faust,Sink your vain pride of spirit—kneel to Him—Beseech His mercy ere it is too late!
FAUST
I am no melancholy death-bed sceneTo claim your tears, dear Brander. Doubtless daysOf infinite scope lie yet before me, sinceNo oracle has foretold that I shall die.But if I die, then go I singing down,Not praying or repentant, to my grave.I would smite again the altar! I would smiteThe hearts bowed before it; all the worldAnd the Beyond-world would I rend, having seenSerpents in their secret places.
BRANDER
Has no breathOf heavenly love touched this corrosive coreOf hell-fire in you?
FAUST
There is none whose powerIs half so mighty.
BRANDER
Through last night's long hours,Poor Midge, alone and comfortless, wept outHer heart, believing all that you had said.And when I spoke to her, she cried: "Go, go!I am lost where none can help me; all my dreamsShudder and perish, even as he has perished;Yet they shall live again—but he will die!" ...Thus darkness falls from you upon men's hearts.I know not if God's deep forgiving loveTo such as you is granted....
FAUST
Midge could tellA truer tale. Her eyes were full of lightAnd wonder as she heard me.
BRANDER
And she nowWeeps comfortless!
FAUST
And shall I then regret?Is her soul yours, that you appraise and know?Life stirs in her: and like the agoniesOf all life's birth, it shakes her: yet one dayShe shall rise strong, sister to mighty winds,A new and holy wonder in her eyes.Tell her from me that I have not forgottenMy promise in the church that I would come.But if I come not, let her come to me!—Let her come with me on my luminous road.
BRANDER
Pity her, and the hosts that with her standShelterless from the blasts of your wild hate.
FAUST
Who loves must hate, who hates must burn with love....I hate the world; but like the breath of life,Sustaining me even yet a little while,Is my surpassing love for its great hopes.Aye, in the hour when I knew myself alone,My hate cried: Smite!—because of thy great loveFor one irradiant form that is to be.Now is my hate a lamp of tenderness—Now I destroy because I love beyond—I build, I triumph with bright domes that riseIn laughing loveliness into the morning!
BRANDER
I love you and I pity you—and I go.
FAUST
We shall not meet again.[Brander goes out.
FAUST
He will go downNot singing, no, not singing!...(He once more takes up the manuscript, and turnsto the last pages)And now, when from my shoulders like a loadBegins to slip the weariness of life,And a new vigor fills me—now it seemsThat death is hovering close. O Grisly One,Whom once I thought a not unwelcome guestTo my cold troubled house, I am not gladTo hear thy steps without. For in my hallsLights kindle, and the music sobs and singsIn ecstasy of other guests than thee....(He takes up his pen and turns to the end of themanuscript, as if to write)Can this poor strength suffice me to completeThese final words? Nay, better to leave unsaidThe few last lines my vanity desiresTo tell and justify my end and fallLike flourish of bright trumpets. Let them sleepUnuttered; for the burden of my songIs voiced already in these labored leaves;And it is well, unfinished and unclosedShould stop this record, whose concluding wordsOf fairer hope, of sheerer miracle,Some greater hand than mine shall some day writeAnd seal the chronicle—nay, never seal it![The butler enters.
BUTLER
There is a man waiting to see you, sir.
FAUST
Let him come in.
BUTLER
I beg your pardon, sir—Can I do nothing for you?
FAUST
Thank you, nothing.[The butler goes out again, Satan enters. He isdressed in a long black cloak of foreign cut; for thefirst time, he has the look of sinister majesty appropriateto the Prince of Hell.
SATAN
Master, your slave is here!
FAUST
This fooling still?
SATAN
What little service would my conqueror wish?
FAUST
Peace from your childish talk. The game is done.Quite well you knew that, came I victor forth,I would not, for all treasure in the world,Have such an one as servant, who can serveNo end that I desire.
SATAN
Aha! At lastLight penetrates that cobwebbed cranium,And I can laugh in public! All these months,I several times have come perilously nearBursting with mirth at the rare spectacle.
FAUST
Pray you, laugh freely.
SATAN
Nay, my mirth is spent.My heart is moved even toward an enemy,When on his head defeat its torrent pours.I offer you my sympathy.
FAUST
My thanksAre in appropriate measure tendered you.
SATAN
Distrust me not, for lo, the game is done—There are no battles more, no testings moreTo set between us. From the heart of lifeHave forces risen—aye, from the people's breast!—To seal the measure of defeat; and nowWhy shall we quarrel further?
FAUST
Why, indeed?
SATAN
I hear that you are working on a bookRecounting your adventures with the Devil.I hope 'tis finished: it had better be!You will not write large libraries, my friend,In what of life remains to you.
FAUST
It isCompleted wholly.
SATAN
May I look at it?
FAUST
You may not.
SATAN
Ah, 'tis a surprise for me!
FAUST
Possibly.
SATAN
Well, you work late into dusk.Dusk falls about you; soon the night will come,And silence.... Has an oracle in your heartWhispered the tidings of that night? Or haveThe pages of the prophets told to youWhat waits within that darkness?
FAUST
There waits sleep.But I have lived, and do not fear life's lastInevitable word.