The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mr. Faust This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title: Mr. Faust Author: Arthur Davison Ficke Release date: February 25, 2008 [eBook #24556] Most recently updated: January 3, 2021 Language: English Credits: Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. FAUST *** Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) THE MODERN DRAMA SERIES EDITED BY EDWIN BJÖRKMAN MR. FAUST BY ARTHUR DAVISON FICKE NEW YORK MITCHELL KENNERLEY MCMXIII COPYRIGHT 1913 BY MITCHELL KENNERLEY THE·PLIMPTON·PRESS NORWOOD·MASS·U·S·A CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTION vii LIST OF PLAYS BY ARTHUR DAVISON FICKE x MR. FAUST 1 _The author gratefully acknowledges his debt for permission to reprint one of the lyrics herein, which appeared originally in "Poetry."_ INTRODUCTION Through all the work of Arthur Davison Ficke runs a note of bigness that compels attention even when one feels that he is still groping both for form and thought. In "Mr. Faust" this note has assumed commanding proportions, while at the same time the uncertainty manifest in some of the earlier work has almost wholly disappeared. Intellectually as well as artistically, this play shows a surprising maturity. It impresses me, for one, as the expression of a well-rounded and very profound philosophy of life--and this philosophy stands in logical and sympathetic relationship to what the western world to-day regards as its most advanced thought. The evolutionary conception of life is the foundation of that philosophy, which, however, has little or nothing in common with the materialistic and dogmatic evolutionism of the last century. The work sprung from that philosophy is full of the new sense of mystery, which makes the men of to-day realize that the one attitude leading nowhere is that of denial. Faith and doubt walk hand in hand, each one being to the other check and goad alike. And with this new freedom to believe as well as to question, man becomes once more the centre of his known universe. But there he stands, humbly proud, not as the arrogant master of a "dead" world, but merely as the foremost servant of a life-principle which asserts itself in the grain of sand as in the brain of man. Yet "Mr. Faust" is by no means a philosophical or moral tract. It is, first of all and throughout, a living, breathing work of art, instinct with beauty and faithful in its every line to the principle laid down by its author in the preface to one of his earlier volumes: "Poetical imagination must fail altogether if it descends from its natural sphere and assumes work which is properly that of economic or political experience. Nor can it usefully urge its own peculiar intuitions as things of practical validity." Mr. Ficke was born in 1883 at Davenport, Iowa, and there he is still living, although I understand that he has since then been wandering in so many other regions, physical and spiritual, that he can hardly call it his home. He graduated from Harvard in 1904 and spent the next travelling in all sorts of strange and poetic places--Japan, India, the Greek mountains, the Aegean Islands. Returning to the United States, he studied law and was admitted to the Bar in 1908. While studying, he taught English for a year at the University of Iowa, lecturing on the history of the Arthurian Legends. He was a mere boy when he began to write, turning from the first to the metrical form of expression and remaining faithful to it in most of his subsequent efforts. His poems and essays have been printed in almost all the leading magazines. So far he has published five volumes of verse: "From the Isles," a series of lyrics of the Aegean Sea; "The Happy Princess," a romantic narrative poem; "The Earth Passion," a series of poems which may be characterized as the effort of a star-gazer to find satisfaction in the things of the earth; "The Breaking of Bonds," a Shelleyan drama of social unrest, where he has tried to formulate a hope for our final emergence from the maelstrom of class-conflict; and "Twelve Japanese Painters," a group of poems expressive of the peculiar and alluring charm of the great Japanese painters and their world of remote beauty. EDWIN BJÖRKMAN. LIST OF PLAYS BY ARTHUR DAVISON FICKE THE BREAKING OF BONDS, 1910 MR. FAUST, 1913 MR. FAUST INSCRIPTION Pale Goethe, Marlowe, Lessing--calm your fears! None plots to steal your laurel wreaths away. Approach; take tickets: you shall witness here The unromantic Faustus of to-day-- A Faustus whom no mystic choirs sustain, No wizard fiends blind with prodigious spell. The mortal earth shall serve him as domain Whether he mount to Heaven or sink to Hell. Yet, mount or sink, your lights around him shine. And there shall flow, bubbling with woe or mirth, From these new bottles your familiar wine, As ancient as man's rule upon the earth. MR. FAUST THE FIRST ACT _The scene is the library of John Faust, a large handsome room panelled in dark oak and lined with rows of books in open book-shelves. On the right is a carved white stone fireplace, with deep chairs before it. In the far left corner of the room, on a pedestal, stands a stiff bust of George Washington. Near it hangs a wonderful Titian portrait, a thing of another world. The furniture looks as if it were, and probably is, plunder from the palace of some prince of the Renaissance._ _A fire is burning in the fireplace; it, and several shaded lights, make a subdued brilliancy in the room. Before the fire sits John Faust. Brander and Oldham, both in evening dress, lounge comfortably in chairs near Faust. All three are smoking, and tall highball glasses stand within their reach._ BRANDER You are a thorn to me, a thorn in the flesh. Contagiously you bring to me mistrust Of all my landmarks, when, as here to-night, Out of the midst of every pleasant gift The world can offer you, you raise your voice In scoffing irony against each face, Form, action, motive, that together make Your life, and ours. FAUST Dear man, I did not mean To send my poor jokes burrowing like a mole Beneath your prized foundations. BRANDER Not alone Your attitude to-night; you always seem As if withholding from all days and deeds Moving around you--from our life and yours-- Your full assent. FAUST Dear Brander! Is it true I am as bad as that? Well, though I were, Why should it trouble you? If you find sport In this strange game, this fevered interplay, This hodge-podge crazy-quilt which we are pleased To call our life--why, like it! And say: Damned Be all who are not with me! BRANDER Are not you? FAUST I claim the criminal's privilege, and decline To answer. OLDHAM Faust, might I presume so far As to suggest that I should like a drink Before you two start breaking furniture Over this matter? FAUST Certainly; I beg Your pardon; I neglected you. (_He busies himself with the glasses_) No, no, We won't wage combat over this. You're right, Doubtless, as usual, Brander. I have not Your fortunate placidity of mind, And I get grumpy. Come, fill up your glass; And let us drink to the glories of the world. Down with the cynic! BRANDER Down with him, indeed! And may he cease to trouble you. The world Is pretty glorious when a man is young, As we are, and so many splendid choices Lie all around him. There have never been Such opportunities as now are spread Before us. Men are doing mighty things To-day. A critic tells me that last night Wullf at the opera sang "_La ci darem_" With an artistic brilliancy of tone That never has been heard on any stage Anywhere in the world. You moped at home, Doubtless; but it was wonderful, on my word. OLDHAM Whom did you go with? BRANDER Midge. OLDHAM Ah, Midge again! I thought so.... BRANDER Well, I don't know why I shouldn't. OLDHAM Those rosy-toned remarks gave you away. Perhaps 'twas not "Don Juan" that last night Was at its best, but Midge. Where did you sit? BRANDER Up in the gallery. OLDHAM The top one? BRANDER Yes. OLDHAM Once more, I thought so. You and Midge would look Nice in a box! Yes, I will pay for one If you will take it. BRANDER Oh, leave me alone! FAUST Who is this "Midge" you speak of? OLDHAM Midge, dear Faust, Is short for Margaret; which, you may guess, Describes a lady of the female sex; Said person being serviceably employed As maid-of-all-work for some ancient dame In Brander's own apartment house. She has, Beside what other virtues I know not, A most bewitching ankle and a taste For opera. And dear Brander's kindly heart Is so moved by the sight of these combined, He sometimes sneaks, by lonely alley-ways, With his fair Midge, and in the gallery High out of sight of all of us enjoys Her and the opera. FAUST I did not know You had a lady-love. BRANDER It's hardly that! But she's a mighty jolly little thing. FAUST What sort of girl is she? BRANDER A mighty nice one! Full of all kinds of happiness; but shy. I'd like to see some rounder try to speak To her on Broadway. She looks like a lady! FAUST That is too bad. BRANDER Oh, pshaw! Don't lecture me; I'm not a saint; in fact, few of us are. FAUST Unfortunately not. I least of all. And yet I wonder if.... However, I Do not presume to lecture you. Remember One thing, though, as my friend. Your Midge has deeps Not pleasant under her if you let go. BRANDER Oh, I will not let go!... Not yet, at least. OLDHAM Faust really means it, strange as it may seem. Of late he has turned moralist. FAUST Not quite: But just a little tired of pursuits That end regretfully. OLDHAM Well, don't pursue.... BRANDER (_Goes to the window and raises the shade_) See, what a night it is! The stars are out As if a bucketful of them had spilled Across the sky. And here we sit like owls, Blinking and staring at a little fire When heaven is burning! I'm afraid it's time For me to leave this owlish parliament; And I shall probably knock holes in half The windows of the town as I walk home Star-gazingly. And here it's after twelve! I might have guessed it from the fatal fact That we'd begun to talk philosophy: No sane man ever does, except in hours When by all rights he should be sound asleep. Good night to both of you. And don't stay up Talking till morning. OLDHAM Well, good night. FAUST Good night, Brander, I'm sorry you must go: come in Quite soon again, and I will try to be Less disagreeable than I was to-night. [_Brander goes out._ OLDHAM I'll bet he takes an arc-light for a star! FAUST He is warm-hearted; I am fond of him. But Midge!... However, one can say no more.... OLDHAM He's a good fellow; but he tires me Sometimes. FAUST Dear boy, I envy him. OLDHAM Of course, And so do I; but I would not exchange Heads for a kingdom. FAUST Are you so fond, then, Of what's in yours? OLDHAM No, but at least I have A certain faint perception of the gilded And quite preposterous crudeness of our days-- The sordid sickness of his life, and ours; And that is something to be thankful for. FAUST Gratitude is a graceful gift. OLDHAM Come, come! What snake has bitten you, that to your lips A poisoned irony so bitter springs To-night? FAUST I am revolving in my brain This serious question: whether 'tis not best That one turn humorist. The mind that seeks Holiness, finds it seldom; who pursues Beauty perhaps shall in a lengthened life Find it perfected only once or twice. But if one's quest were humor--what rich stores, What tropic jungles of it, lie to hand At every moment, everywhere one turns-- What luscious meadows for the humorist! OLDHAM No--for the satirist! There is no humor In what you see and I see when we look On this crude world wherein our lives are spent-- This sordid sphere where we are but spectators-- This crass grim modern spectacle of lives Torn with consuming lust of one desire-- Gold, gold, forever gold-- Or do you find Humor in that? FAUST It might be found, perhaps: The joke's on someone! OLDHAM There's no joke in it! It is the waste, the pitiful waste of life! Men--slaves to gather gold--become then slaves Beneath its gathered weight. For this one hope, All finer longings perish at their birth. Men's eyes to-day envy no sage or seer Or conqueror except his triumphs be In this base sphere of commerce. The stars go out In factory smoke; the spirit wanes and pales In poisoned air of greed. It is an age Of traders and of tricksters; all the high And hounded malefactors of great wealth Differ from the masses, in their wealth, indeed; But in their malefaction, not at all. Your grocer and my butcher have at heart The selfsame aims as he to whom we pay Tribute for every pound of coal we burn. Their scope is narrower, but their act the same As his--against whose millions all the tongues Of little tricksters in each corner store Babble and rail and shriek! FAUST Almost you do Persuade me to turn humorist on the spot! Was ever, since Gargantua, such a vine Heavy with bursting clusters of the grape Of humor? OLDHAM Of corruption! You may laugh; But there's in all your laughter hardly more Mirth than in my upbraidings. Ah, I grow So weary of this low-horizoned scene, Our generation; I am always drawn In thought toward that great noon of human life When in the streets of Florence walked the powers And princes of the earth--Politian, Pico, Angelo, Leonardo, Botticelli-- And a half-hundred more of starry-eyed Sons of the morning, in whose hearts the god Struggled unceasing. Ah, those lucent brains, Those bright imaginations, those keen souls, Arrowy toward each target where truth's gold Glimmered, or beauty's! Those were days indeed; We shall not look upon their like again. FAUST I am not sure. OLDHAM Then take my word for it! FAUST I am not sure; the lamentable fact To me seems otherwise. For I believe That this vile age of commerce and corruption Which you describe in very eloquent terms, Is still, upon the whole, the best that yet Has graced our earth. I think not more than you Am I in love with it; but, looking back, I fail to see a better, though I peer Into remote arboreal history. OLDHAM When I was six, my teachers taught me that. Why, one would think that you had never heard Of Greece or Italy! FAUST And what were they? Your Renaissance, despite its few bright gleams, Lies like a swamp of darkness, soaked in blood And agony: such tortures as we scarce Dream of to-day writhe through it; and the stench Of slaughtered cities and corrupted thrones-- Yes, even the Papal throne--draw me not back With longing toward it. Rich that time might be If one were Michael Angelo; but how If one were peasant, or meek householder, When the Free Captains ravaged to and fro, And peoples were the merest pawns of kings Enslaved by mistresses? The more I look, The more evaporates that golden haze Which cloaks the past; the more I doubt if men Had ever in their breasts more lofty souls Than those we know. And I am glad to be A citizen of this material age. OLDHAM Congratulations!--tempered with surprise At finding you, beneath your lion's skin, So sweet an optimist--whose faith can find All's for the best; and the best, this great year Nineteen Thirteen. FAUST Hardly so strong as that. OLDHAM Yes, tell me that the golden age has come! FAUST I quarrel not with ages--but with man; Whose life such play and folly seems--for all Its sweat and agony--that laughter lies The sole escape from madness. I peruse The present and the past, only to find Mountains of human effort piled aloft Like the Egyptian Pyramids, and toward No end save folly.... All is foolishness! In Argolis, a woman, somewhat vain, Preferred a fop to her own rightful lord And ran away; and then for ten long years The might of Hellas on the Trojan plain Grappled in conflict such as had been mete To guard Olympus, and Scamander ran Red with heroic blood-drops. And they got The woman. And it all was foolishness!... That was your Golden Age. I hope you like it. Foolishness!... Once a mariner set forth, With all the fires of heaven lit in his breast And godlike courage on his brow, to find New worlds beyond the unknown wastes of sea. He sailed; he found; he died in rusty chains: So that, to-day, the vermin of all climes May thither flock, and there renew the old Familiar toil toward utter foolishness.... Why all this labor unto vanity? Why all this straining toward an empty end? OLDHAM Ah, you forget what Beauty was to them! We are quite lost to that high touch to-day. Beauty hung over them, a star to draw Men's aspiration. That divides them quite From our debased modernity. FAUST Dear Oldham! My dear delightful visionary Oldham! What an adorer of the past you are! OLDHAM Yes, I adore it sacredly, and loathe To-day's whole content--except you! I loathe it So much that, if I had the dynamite, I'd blow it all--and you and me ourselves-- Into a nebula of dust.... Ah, well, We hardly can decide these things to-night, Can we? I must be off, little as I like, To end our midnight talking. FAUST Oh, not yet! OLDHAM I must; this is not good for me: I fear To let myself dwell on these restless thoughts Which with a perilous longing sometimes make My actual days so bitter that despair Grips me in horror. And besides, I'm due To pick my brother up. I have, you see, The limousine to-night, and that entails Its obligations. Dear modernity! Whose Saviour is the limousine!... Good night! FAUST Good night. May all the Furies and the Gorgons Of Greece and Florence leave you in repose To dream to-night of white-limbed goddesses And painters like archangels! OLDHAM I deserve it! And yet I fear they will not be so kind.... Sleep is no friend to me these many nights. I do not know what wrong I can have done That so offends her she will none of me. One of these days, she will carry it too far.... [_Oldham goes out. Faust turns out all but two of the lights; then seats himself wearily before the fire. The room is dark around his lighted figure._ FAUST The play drags, and the players would begone, Out of this theatre of tinsel days And lights and tawdry glamour, out to face Even the blank of night, the icy stars, The vast abysses. What the gallery-gods Could give, they well have given; but deities Inscrutabler than they annul all gifts With one gift more--the restless mind that peers Past fame, friends, learning, fortune, to enquire: Whither? Whither? Whither? And no answer comes To the cold player's lips.... I see too much To make my peace with any ordered rôle And play it heartily. To-day's thin coin Pays not my labors; and to-morrow's hope Has never been authenticated to me By a fulfilling hour when I might say: "Lo, this is what I hoped!" The vision flies As I advance; while always far ahead Its glow makes dim the color of my days; And I loathe life because my hope is fairer, And know my hope a lie. Thus, Faust, my friend, You damn yourself ingeniously to hells Of rich variety.... The eyes of men Envy me as I pass them in the street-- Me, whom sufficient fortune, moderate fame, Have made completely happy in their sight. Well, I am no barbarian: let them have The bliss of envying.... But I am sick With the hour's emptiness; and great desire Fills me for those high beauties which my dreams Yearn ever toward. I am weary; I would go Out to some golden sunset-lighted land Of silence. I have been athirst of dreams! And all earth's common goals and gifts have been But fuel to flame. O strange and piteous heart! O credulous and visionary heart! Desirous of the infinite--from defeat Arising still to grope again for light And the high word of vision! And in vain! Till, not having found, its bitterness corrodes Inward--like one betrayed by his last god.... Strange, that my father was a worthy man! Perhaps 'tis his blood in me that withholds Unreasoning my hand from washing clear This scribbled slate with one quick tide of peace. Would more of him were in me! that like him I might spend eagerly a useful life In medicining miserable men Who were better dead--employ my force To aid a world within whose marrow dwells An evil none can cure, an agony Beyond our dearest aiding. Ah, well, well! Such are the great men of this busy world, Whose ardor for the game is anodyne Against its buffets, and intoxicant To lend it reveller's meaning. Ardor given, All things are possible.... You, old marble-face, Who front me from the corner with that grave Virtuous Father-of-your-Country look, I pay you my respects; you are a light Of leading, as I see you now. Your soul Was never shaken by convulsive doubts Of life or man or liberty; you built Unsceptical of bricks, but such as lay To hand you took, nor did your purpose shake At prescient thought of how your edifice Might be turned pest-house some day. Undismayed By doubt, you rose, and in heroic mould Led--dauntless, patient, incorruptible-- A riot over taxes. Not a star In all the vaults of heaven could trouble you With whisperings of more transcendent goals. O despicable, admirable man! How much I envy you--the devil take you! [_The bust of Washington and its pedestal move slightly; gradually they change and shape themselves into the figure of a well-dressed man, rather short and stocky, with a sociable, commonplace face. His head, however, is very peculiarly modelled; it reminds one, indescribably and faintly, of the fact that men sprang from beasts. The high position of the ears help this impression, as does also the astonishing animal brilliance of the eyes. Faust, passing his hand over his forehead, turns away._ FAUST This is what comes of smoking far too much. SATAN Good evening, Mr. Faust. FAUST Well, I'll be damned!... And who, I beg, are you? SATAN I ask your pardon For thus appearing in a way unknown To strict convention. But I never set Great store by custom; and though nowadays I follow the proprieties, still I feel That one need not be slavish-- FAUST Who are you? What are you talking of? How did you get here? SATAN I am, sir, Nicholas Satan, at your service. FAUST Nicholas Satan! Quite a name. Perhaps Some relative of the illustrious one? SATAN Himself. FAUST Stop this cheap foolishness! Who are you? Or shall I ring for the police? SATAN I am Satan. If I appeared with colored fire And lightnings round me, you would doubt no more. But like your narrow and near-sighted age, You know me not in my own natural shape. Now let this end! Here is my proof. You once Summoned me to your aid, and, when I came, Weakly rejected me. You were a boy In college, and a woman blackmailed you-- A low, crude matter. I had settled it Swiftly, if you had let me. We alone, We three, on Harvard Bridge--night--and beneath, A practicable river: ah, it was A child's task! But you faltered.... You recall, Possibly. FAUST I recall.... So you are he. I did not know you. SATAN Let's forget the past. We meet now under happier auspices. FAUST Incredible. SATAN No, quite an honest fact Am I. FAUST I hardly can persuade myself Whether to laugh or pull a solemn face At seeing you. It is preposterous! I thought that you were dead--a myth--a wraith. SATAN Dead? That is rich! FAUST Well ... don't you think yourself A slight anachronism? SATAN My young friend, I am no laughing matter. With the times I, too, have changed, and am as up-to-date As the Ritz-Carlton. FAUST But your horns and tail And pitchfork? Not a vestige do I see Of your famed look! You have no frightful glance; I cannot even so far flatter you As to say special badness makes your face Great and distinguished. If you're Prince of Hell, How villanously have the poets lied! SATAN They have lied, always, horribly, of me! I am not half so black as they allege. You know, exaggeration is to them What whiskey is to most men. But time bursts Their bubbles--or at least we come to take Their work as merely art. Thus their description As art is not so bad; but if you seek For truth, it's outright libel. FAUST I admit It has a certain perfectness of evil Lacking in you. SATAN Surely to-day we know That nothing is so wholly good or bad As our forefathers thought: not black and white, But gray, predominates. Well, I am gray, Possibly. I was never black; and age Has made me stouter, and with gentle warmth Ripened my virtues; and, even though I say it, You will not find me a bad sort to meet If you will but be fair, and put aside Your ancient and poetic prejudice. FAUST Well spoken! And well met! Come, have a drink. You are the most diverting visitor I've had in many a day. Bourbon or Scotch? SATAN A very little Scotch. That's plenty, thanks. It's very seldom those who summon me Would give, not take. And did you send for me Only to have a drink? FAUST I sent for you? SATAN Did you not summon me? FAUST Why, no-- SATAN Ah, well! It's my mistake; wires get crossed sometimes. I hope I've not intruded. FAUST Not at all. Delighted to have met you. SATAN I regret That I have bothered you. I have enjoyed, However, your kind hospitality. To make amends to you, before I go, I should be glad to do you any service Within my power. FAUST I thank you; but I think That there is nothing in your special line That I have need of. SATAN Are you really, then, A man contented? FAUST I would hardly go As far as that!... I only meant to say My needs, my troubles, are not of such kind As you could remedy. SATAN Now, there again You take the poets' word for me--those low And scurvy fellows who lump all their spleen And call the mess my portrait! But in fact, I am more versatile, more broad, more kind Than they conceive. I venture to believe That I could aid you. FAUST All the fiends in Hell Lack devilry enough. SATAN If you would speak The symptoms of your trouble, I at least Could give you friendly counsel for your needs.... Oh, I am deeply learned! FAUST And besides, A most accomplished mocker!... My complaint Is quite beyond your counsel. Why, I tell you, I have examined, tried, experienced The passions and the aims of mortal life With the grave thoroughness and good intent That mark a doctor of philosophy Writing his thesis. And my careful search Of life has brought me one great verity: _I do not like it!_ No, I do not like Anything in it: birth, death, all that lies Between--I find inadequate, incomplete, Offensive. So you see me sitting here, Instead of talking politics in the streets, Or weeping at the opera, or agog At a cotillon. For the savor's gone From these, as parts of an unsavored whole. I simply have, with reason and sound thought, Convinced myself that only fools attain Their hope on earth--in a fools' paradise That does not interest me.... Now, could you treat This case, good Mr. Satan? SATAN In my day, I have relieved far sicker men than you, My dear friend Faust. And yet I would not say Even for a moment that your case is not A grave one: not so much the case itself, As what might spring from it. In such a mood, Men sometimes have done mad and foolish things With consequences sad to view. Some minds, Reaching your state, and finding life a bane, Decide within themselves that naught can be Worse than the present world, and then set out To revolutionize, rend, whirl, uproot The world's foundations. And the mess they make Is pitiful to contemplate! Such sweet And beautiful souls as I have seen go wrong Along this path: Shelley--he had your eyes; And Christ--but I'll not talk theology. Besides, his churches almost have made good His personal havoc.... FAUST That is not my line. SATAN No, no, you keep your head! Now let me see.... A temporary sedative you require To bridge the dangerous moment. I suggest A little course that old Saint Anthony, Epicure though he was, would grant as rare And finely chosen: careless days and nights-- Delicious gayeties--the Bacchic bowl-- Exquisite company from whom some two Or three, with golden or with auburn hair, A man of taste might choose to solace him In sunlight or in starlight--while the lure Of subtle secrets in those yielding breasts Spice the preceding revelries.... FAUST Go tell That tale to college boys, whose lonely dreams Have shaped Iseult of Ireland, Helen of Troy, As end of heart's desire--and, lacking these, Clasp chorus-Aphrodites. But I know That from the topmost peak of ecstasy Falls a straight precipice; half-times the foot Misses the peak--but never mortal step Has missed the gulf beyond it. And I see Where, in night's gorgeous dome, to-morrow waits With cold insistence. Me you cannot lure With this poor opiate. And I beg of you Not needlessly to tax your mental powers By now suggesting the delights of drink: I know them; and they give me headaches. SATAN Ah, How crude you think me! FAUST No, I think you human. We all are that sometimes. SATAN You have not grasped All that I meant. I know the calfish joys Of the young freshman, suddenly let loose With chorus-girls for nursemaids, are not yours. I mean far subtler things: I mean the play Of the wise soul that sees the abyss of life-- Sees the grim measure of the mortal doom-- And over that dark gulf in reckless mirth Dances on rainbows, with delightful arms And bosoms close to his. That is a mood That always thrills me with a sense of large And splendid courage. If I did not think That it would bore you, I should like to make My meaning clear by reading a few lines That I once wrote when I myself was in Your very mood-- Or would you care to hear My little poem? FAUST What! Is even the Devil A poet nowadays? SATAN Indeed he is: And not a bad one. Once I would have scorned The poets; but we moderns so surpass The ancients here that I am proud to write Some verses now and then. For we have learned That poetry, like all the other arts, Is pure technique: the mere ideas are nothing, The form is everything. That ennobles us And makes us artists. And as artist, I Am not contemptible, as you may see From this slight sample. With your leave, I'll read. (_Satan produces an enormous scrap-book of magazine-clippings, turns over the pages and at last begins to read_) A WATTEAU MELODY Oh, let me take your lily hand, And where the secret star-beams shine Draw near, to see and understand Pierrot and Columbine. Around the fountains, in the dew, Where afternoon melts into night, With gracious mirth their gracious crew Entice the shy birds of delight. Of motley dress and maskèd face, Of sparkling unrevealing eyes, They track in gentle aimless chase The moment as it flies. Their delicate beribboned rout, Gallant and fair, of light intent, Weaves through the shadows in and out With infinite artful merriment. * * * * * Dear lady of the lily hand-- Do then our stars so clearly shine That we, who do not understand, May mock Pierrot and Columbine? Beyond this garden-grove I see The wise, the noble, and the brave In ultimate futility Go down into the grave. And all they dreamed and all they sought, Crumbled and ashen grown, departs; And is as if they had not wrought These works with blood from out their hearts. The nations fall, the faiths decay, The great philosophies go by-- And life lies bare, some bitter day, A charnel that affronts the sky. The wise, the noble, and the brave-- They saw and solved--as we must see And solve--the universal grave, The ultimate futility. * * * * * Look--where beside the garden-pool A Venus rises in the grove, More suave, more debonair, more cool Than ever burned with Paphian love. 'Twas here the delicate ribboned rout Of gallants and the fair ones went Among the shadows in and out With infinite artful merriment. Then let me take your lily hand, And let us tread, where star-beams shine, A dance; and be, and understand Pierrot and Columbine. FAUST Splendid! Delightful! SATAN You are flattering me. How did you like it, really? FAUST Well, as art I think it splendid; as philosophy, I hardly praise it. 'Tis a mood that comes And has its will of us in its own hours-- Yes, irresistibly. But past the hour Wait graver judges. I decline to be, As you suggest delightfully, a fly On the spoiled beer of life. Nor do I lean Toward your ingenious blending of despair, Satiety, and child's-play. SATAN Those who take This attitude, however, swiftly grow The darlings of existence--souls that sip Of every flower the nectar, and are bound Unto no laws or standards, but move free, Viewing all things as relative.... And yet Your special temperament may not prefer Nectar. Those lines of sternness round your mouth Convince me you are right; another cure Better befits you. And a mighty one I set before you, which has ever served As lodestar for all high and glorious minds, All kings of earth, all potentates of thought, All great achievers. Power I offer you-- The one chief prize that all men have desired And shall desire forever. FAUST Now you grow Rather more interesting. What do you mean? A crown and sceptre and a thousand slaves To serve me? SATAN Do not jest. I offer you The one sole reservoir where power to-day Lies stored in sleeping cataracts. At noon Come with me into Wall Street; take your stand; Buy, sell, as I direct you; and one hour Shall make you richer than you ever dreamed In madness of desire. For three days more Come there each noon again; at end of these, If you have done my bidding, you shall be Master of the finances of the world, Despot of nations, unto whom the kings And captains of the earth shall kneel to crave Crumbs from the table. Then let pen and sword Forget their quarrel for supremacy; Since you can buy them both, or starve them both, Or cast them to the wilderness! Such power I offer as would make the pulses beat Even of a skeleton! FAUST But not a soul Grown sceptical of life. Power? Power? For what? And over what? And toward what? Not a power Over myself or pain or loneliness Or ignorance or evil; not a strength To bid the near-world cease, and in its place Instate my visions beautiful and pale, Nearer the heart's desire. No, you would give Power to direct the miseries of men, But not to stay them: power to hold the world As some cold robber-baron from his rocks Once held his little valley: power to sit In ultimate seclusion, and look down On streets and mines and workshops with the sense That I was fountain of the miseries Dark in them all. I thank you; but I think I should derive small sport from such a game. You see, I am not Satan. SATAN Well, you are A subtle one, a shrewd one! On my word, I hardly had suspected you so deep. What time I have been wasting! Mr. Faust, At last I know you for a prince of men-- A brilliant mind, a high intelligence, A spirit incorruptible. The trash, Baubles and claptrap which the foolish herd Snatch at, you scoff--and rightly. I will not With one more word of it insult your mind That admirably penetrates to deeps Where I, too, love to dwell. I put aside All trivialities, and frankly say That I can offer you one ultimate gift Fit even for you--a subtle paradise Such as not Hercules mid Western Isles Found in the Garden of Hesperides. It is a paradise of secret peace, A glorious land of amaranthine bloom; Where happiness, having fled the world, now dwells In shining gladness. Guarded, deep, sublime With lights and shadows, lies it: there have hearts The weariest and the greatest of mankind Found perfect refuge and abiding-place For time and for eternity. To few Its gates are open: it I promise you If you but trust me! FAUST But why should I trust you? If history speaks true, you have deceived All who, since Eve, have put their faith in you. Further, your paradise could hardly have Joys in it worth the grasping, to my taste. So pardon me if frankly I admit I doubt your promise. SATAN Ah, you are wholly wrong! I am quite honest with you, now having learned Your true capacity. FAUST Perhaps, perhaps. And yet I must decline. SATAN You doubt me still. But I will prove my utter honesty Beyond contention. In my deepest soul, I know this paradise will serve your need; And to make plain to you my fair intent, I offer you a bargain whose clear terms Must drive your doubts away. I am prepared To pledge myself to be your abject slave And servant for all time if you yourself Do not acknowledge that my paradise Delights you wholly! FAUST Well! That _is_ an offer! SATAN What could be fairer? You yourself shall judge; And you risk nothing. Ah, your look still doubts! You have in mind those libellous poets' tales Of bonds inscribed in blood which I exact In payment, and destroy men's souls! My friend, Have I yet asked you for a bond of blood? And if I ever do, I give you leave To wring my neck unceremoniously. FAUST Well, for the life of me, I cannot read you! Yet let me ask: why such an eager will To serve a man into whose rooms you came By chance to-night? Why give yourself such pains To furnish him a paradise? SATAN There is No mystery in that. I would ally You to myself. FAUST Thanks, I decline. SATAN You fail To understand me. For I ask not this As promise of you. FAUST What, then, do you mean? What do you count on? Whence do you expect Pay for your trouble and your risk--a risk Not trivial, I warn you? SATAN Let me make The matter clear to you. I know quite well The risk is nothing, since my paradise Will utterly delight you. Granting this, You see my profit: you will stay with me Willingly there forever, to my ends An interested assistant. I will serve Forth on my tables such delicious fare That you will freely choose to be my guest Through time and through eternity. I say: Fie for a bond written in scrawly blood! A bond of choice is better. Could a saint Speak fairer to you? I risk everything, And you risk nothing but a little time; And time, as you are placed, seems not so dear That you need hoard it. FAUST But your ends are--what? SATAN How can it matter now--if seeing them You shall approve them? FAUST Are you serious? SATAN My jests have other aspect. FAUST I accept. Your game is to my taste. For thirty years Have I made search through all the lands of earth, The realms of learning, and the tangled groves Of fancy, for some region which my soul Might with entire approval view; but none Has been vouchsafed me. If the Devil can In this surpass the world's established powers, Then I am his disciple willingly.... But if you fail, friend Satan!--I shall tie You to a cart's tail and exhibit you Like a dead whale throughout the country--or Make you curator of an orphanage! SATAN I shall not fail. OLDHAM (_enters_) I beg your pardon, Faust; I thought you'd be alone. My brother left, Not waiting for me; and, as I passed by, I saw your lights, and thought I would look in Just for a moment. I had things to say That are perhaps much better left unsaid. Good-bye, my dear friend. I will not disturb you. Good night again. FAUST Wait, Oldham; do not go. I have a visitor whose name you know, But not, perhaps, his person. Let me have The pleasure of presenting you. This is The Devil--Mr. Oldham. OLDHAM You are mad! What jest is this? SATAN I am indeed the Devil. Look in my eyes intently.... Shall I tell you Your thought, two minutes since?... Or what you hold Clutched now against your side?... _Or where you go When you go hence to-night?_... OLDHAM No!... I believe you.... Although it is incredible!... FAUST You come Just at the proper moment for good-bye, For I am going with him on a journey, And do not know how soon I shall return. If I return at all. OLDHAM A journey? Where? SATAN To paradise. FAUST He offers paradise That will suffice my wish, and gives himself As pledge of his success. SATAN Come, we must haste, For it is very far. FAUST To paradise!... OLDHAM To paradise.... Take me with you! FAUST My friend, It is not possible. I do foresee Some perils to whose touch I would subject None save myself. OLDHAM And what care I for them! Faust--on my word, when I climbed up your stair This second time, it was to say good-bye To you forever, being quite resolved To end my choking loneliness and loathing With a quick shot to-night. Take me, or I Shall carry out my purpose. What care I Whither you go, or what the perils be? I would go with you into Hell! SATAN We go To paradise. What is this Hell you name? CURTAIN THE SECOND ACT _The scene is the stone-paved courtyard of a ruined temple. In the centre lies a square pool, with wide rows of steps leading down to the water, now overgrown with lotus plants. Around the court rise long colonnades of pillars with grotesquely carven bases and capitals of luxuriant design. Beyond these appear green masses of dense tropical foliage, in which an occasional brilliant flower shines._ _Faust, Satan and Oldham, all wearing white tropical dress and sun-helmets, are seated on fragments of fallen columns in front of the pool. Luncheon is spread before them. Oldham is lighting a cigarette; Faust is just finishing his meal; Satan is leaning back, contemplating the surrounding jungle. Two dark-skinned servants, wearing white robes and turbans, are beginning to bear away the repast._ OLDHAM One's blood beats fuller in these tropic lands. Last night, as we were dining, where the beach With its plumed palm-trees sloped to meet the sea, And the white foam along the glassy waves Played in the evening light--I half believe I could have written love-songs. But to whom-- That were a problem! FAUST Yes, one's brain is lit With fire beneath this sun. At night, the glow Is magical; but at this height of day, When all the branches and the flowers and rocks And the far glimmering rivers shake and writhe In the fierce blaze, I feel a hideous touch Of madness in it. SATAN Keep you to the shade! This is the pinnacle, the very noon Of summer in these lands. One hour of sun Unshaded--and poor Oldham and poor I Might have a maniac or a corpse as guest. OLDHAM I am not sure that I would help you with him. I might be elsewhere occupied. Last night I entertained myself with imaging A project which, if I adopted it, Would preëngage me. SATAN With a single guess, I'll tell you what it was. OLDHAM I give you twenty. SATAN You thought perhaps it would be nice to be The white bull we saw yesterday, and eat Without reproof from every vender's stall Throughout the whole bazar; and you intend Thus to disguise yourself, and try the sport. OLDHAM You hit it nearer than I thought you would! 'Twas something like that. I was wondering If, in this marvellous and lazy clime, It were not possible for one to take Twenty young beauties and a hundred slaves-- Retire to some secluded isle of palms-- And live without a thought, a wish, a hope, Drugged with the warmth, the languor and the light. FAUST Possible?--For a rabbit! Not for you. SATAN I am afraid you'd find it wearisome. Some like it; but not your kind. FAUST In this heat Even he grows crazy; and we, Satan, turn Unsympathetic creatures. Whew, this blaze Is getting worse! Can't we move on? SATAN We go No farther. FAUST Lovely residence! SATAN It is here That our long journey terminates, my friends. Upon this spot I trust, if all goes well, To give your long tried patience recompense. FAUST Recompense? I am sceptical of it! But we deserve this. None but idiots Would have come with you to this boiling land On a wild-goose chase; on each step of which One gets a fleeting panoramic view Of kinds of misery one did not guess Existed in the world. Those lepers, beggars, Cripples, fanatics, reptiles--all the swarms Of loathsome creatures we have passed--will haunt My dreams forever with new vivid masks Of nightmare. Recompense? There isn't any! SATAN Await the event. You shall have recompense. OLDHAM Satan, what is your meaning? What event Do you await here? You have been to us, Through our long journey, secretive and close Of all your purposes--from day to day Giving no hint of your to-morrow's plan Nor of our destination. Now, I think, Silence is not a virtue. Have we come In fact to our last halt? SATAN This is the spot Toward which our course unswervingly has aimed Since the first day. This vast and ruined shrine, Built in forgotten times to unknown gods, And now in timeless solitude enfolded, Has long been known to me. Here, in retreat From the world's noises, dwells a holy man, A wonder-worker of unfathomed power, Now long forgotten by the troubled world Except me only. 'Tis his aged hand Shall open to you those celestial gates We come to enter. FAUST Ah, a wonder-worker! Perhaps he will perform the mango trick, Or the rope-climbing, or the boy-in-the-basket? The jugglers here have been below report One hears of them. SATAN Put by your idle sneers. He is a prophet and a saint whose like The world can offer not. Upon his face You shall behold such utter holiness, Such sublimate devotion as shall shake Your hearts' foundations. FAUST Well, I can endure The meeting if he can. OLDHAM Satan, you choose Sometimes strange company. You often speak Of friendship with such men of holiness As much surprises me. SATAN If you were but A little wiser, you would understand That I have taught them much, at various times, That is of profit to them. FAUST Pray teach me A little something also. SATAN No, you think You know too much already.... Furthermore, You do not trust me; and I will not teach One who keeps restlessly, the whole day long, His eyes upon me, as though fearful I Were waiting to spring on him unawares! FAUST Oh, you exaggerate. OLDHAM Look through yonder palms! Someone is coming. SATAN He sees us! It is he! [_Through the colonnade along the far side of the courtyard, there enters the Holy One, an aged man of venerable and sublime appearance, clad in a simple white robe. In his hand is a large copper bowl, which he carries with some care._ SATAN He brings a bowl of water from the spring-- The very bowl I gave him! OLDHAM What a face! What light, what soundless calm! FAUST He is, indeed, One of the ancient prophets.... SATAN Holy One! Satan salutes you! THE HOLY ONE Satan--come again After so long? A little longer--then No carcass of illusion here shall wait To greet you. SATAN In the greatness of the sea All waves find home.... THE HOLY ONE Yea, verily; and the deep Lies not far off. I am drawn nearer it Since last you came: I see its floods more clear, It laves me daily.... But what brings you back To my deserted dwelling from the press Where you are ever going to and fro Upon the earth? SATAN I came to seek for you, Whose feet are on the path of blessedness. THE HOLY ONE Ah, has illusion rent itself in twain For your sight also? SATAN Ask me not. I come Not on my mission, but on theirs.... THE HOLY ONE On theirs! And who are your companions? SATAN Friends, who seek What you have found. THE HOLY ONE They have not in their eyes Wholly the look of Seekers. Passion lurks Along their ruddy lips.... And yet, who knows? FAUST I offer you our greetings, reverend sir. A long way have we come to meet with you, By Satan led. THE HOLY ONE And what would you with me? FAUST Paradise! Paradise! THE HOLY ONE Too hotly spoken! Go, get you to the dancers of Tanjore.... Paradise! OLDHAM You belie us, Faust. Let me Have speech with him. Most Holy One, we come, From lands far off, beyond remotest seas Of sunset. There, in midst of toil and stress And clamor, have we dwelt, till weariness Of all life's gifts impelled us to go forth To seek if anywhere a region lay Where happiness still dwelt. To you we turn As unto one upon whose face is set The seal of peace such as we dreamed not of. SATAN They seek the Way, the Way, most Holy One. THE HOLY ONE The Blessed Eightfold Way lies free to all. I cannot ope it to them. Peace, joy, bliss, Supernal glory is it to those souls Who have put by the follies of their birth And sought its refuge. But though now I stand With lighted heart upon its blissful path, I can stretch out no hand to grasp their hands And draw them toward it. SATAN Yet the Blessed One, In Gaya first enlightened, far and wide Taught men the Way.... THE HOLY ONE Aye, verily.... Some mood Of evil in my heart has closed my mouth And darkened thus my eyesight. But 'tis gone.... Brethren, have comfort on my frugal stones. Ask me all ye desire. SATAN Most Holy One, These are my friends; I bring them in sore need Unto your wisdom. For methinks they stand Now at the cross-roads where the choice is made Of truth or vanity. I beg you, tell Unto their ears how, in your day, you came To that dark crossing. THE HOLY ONE I would do your will In this, and in all other services, My brethren. You must know that in my youth I was a lusty noble of the realm Of Jeypore; and the falcon and the sword And the nautch-dancers and the palace-girls Were mine to love and master like a lord. Lordlike I lived; the caskets of the day And of the night I crowded with bright jewels Of love and joy and laughter. No desire Panted unslaked an instant at my doors-- Nay, feasts were spread for it. And poor men gazed On me with envy, muttering from their dust: "Behold, the Heavens' darling."... OLDHAM Other lands Know the same tale. THE HOLY ONE Aye, aye, all lands. And then One night, alone in mine own garden walls, Beneath the piercing stars, I gathered my life Into my hands, and looked at it, and far Beyond it at all other mortal lives; And dust fell from mine eyelids.... For I saw Birth and desire, satiety and pain, Recurrent yearning that is never stilled, Agony, death, rebirth in other forms, And agony, and desire, and agony. But nowhere saw I happiness or peace Or rest from cravings that like vultures tear The fibres of the heart. Then wandered I Forth from my palaces in utter pain, Seeing the world as dust and vanity, A desert of despair, a raging sea Of torment.... SATAN Now why stops the Holy One? THE HOLY ONE It wearies me to speak, and to recall Those perished years.... Give me to drink. OLDHAM He speaks Out of familiar deeps. Seas sunder us, But the same stars have cast their ghostly rays Into our bosoms. FAUST And those cloudless eyes Have seen what we have seen! THE HOLY ONE I am refreshed.... Thus long ago, in my most desolate hour, I was refreshed by draughts from the deep springs Of light. Beneath a pipal tree I sat In lost despair; and thither to me came A pilgrim; and he glanced into mine eyes With sight that read the sickness of my soul, And sat beside me, and in measured words Like far-off song told me this parable: The Buddha came to where the sea Curled silver-white upon the land, And murmurs of infinity Breathed on the sand. And there lay shells like rosy foam Borne from the caverns of the deep, Frail playthings drifted from the home Of timeless, tideless sleep. And on the sand a Fisher stood, Drying his nets that late had seen The silent caverns of the flood And all the wastes between. The Fisher lingered in his place With countenance of mild surprise, And looked upon the Buddha's face With dumb, uncomprehending eyes. And Buddha spake: "Thy nets are drawn, Thy boat rocks idle on the sea, Thy day turns westward, and is gone.... Come thou with me." The Fisher marvelled: "I must toil With nets and shells among the caves, To win the sea's unwilling spoil From the harsh waves." And Buddha answered: "Cast no more Thy nets upon the troubled sea, Nor gather shells along the shore. Come thou with me. "Thou drawest shells and curious flowers From out the blue untrodden caves. Thou seest the passing of the hours. Thou hearest the clamor of the waves. "Thou openest the shell where lies The pearl more white than driven spray-- And trackless past thy vision flies Each passing day. "But I will teach thee not to stir The shell nor flower in its sleep. For thou shalt roam the sepulchre That chasms all their native deep. "And vain desire, like terror grown Deep in the chambers of thy breast, Shall be from thee forever flown, And thou shalt rest. "No search for pearls shall blind thy thought, Nor waves, with clamorous harmonies. But in the silence where is naught Thou shalt behold the One that is. "And where the days now speed like foam Across thy vision, there shall be For thee a vast eternal home-- An Infinite Sea." The Fisher looked on Buddha dumb-- Looked deep into that tender gaze-- Those eyes within whose depths had come And gone the sorrows of all days. He looked uncomprehendingly, And wearily he shook his head; And turned once more to drag the sea, Knowing not what the Buddha said. FAUST The cup again! The Holy One is faint. OLDHAM He speaks a miracle!... THE HOLY ONE And then I knew That pilgrim as a saint, whose lips revealed The glory of the Buddha. I beheld My life one poisoned network of desire And fleshly longing and pain-sowing hope-- The evil self seeking its happiness And shaping horror. And I cast away Myself, and cried: What am I but a dream, A wave within the sea, a passing cloud Upon the radiance of eternity? All yearning will I slay, and slay therewith The sorrow that succeeds it!... So the lust Of life passed from me; so the narrow I Merged in the infinite, from hope set free-- Heritor of Nirvana's holy calm, Wherein the voices of the heart's unrest Are stifled, and the soul expands to clasp Joy, nothingness, eternity and peace. FAUST Peace.... Peace.... Like bells from upland monasteries You speak the word that summons us. But where In peace is room for all once-towering hopes-- Nay, even for the wrecked and prostrate monoliths That mark those fallen pylons? THE HOLY ONE Let the earth, Ravenous of her young, these too devour, And dust and nothingness engulf their shapes-- Vain burdens, bitter monuments. FAUST And where Shall I find deeps wherein without a sound I can extinguish my wild will that leaps Flamelike to meet the stars? THE HOLY ONE In that deep sea Hid in thy breast. Seek thou that tide of calm, For it lies there awaiting. FAUST Can it be That life's whole burden may be cast aside And named as nothing, and its memory Perish forever? In the summer nights, Comes there no stealing ecstasy to stir The old forgotten longings? THE HOLY ONE In the night And in the day, one ecstasy abides Ceaselessly with the heart that has put off Desire--one ecstasy of final calm. All other voices seem harsh clamorings. OLDHAM Ah, Holy One, lead me thy way of peace! For I am weary of my heart's vain wars. My life is as a desert, where desire Corrodes me ceaselessly. Instruct my soul To follow thee home to the gulfs of rest! That, in renouncement of this bitter will, It find at last deliverance it has sought. THE HOLY ONE My son, thou hast spoken; thou shalt come in time To that abode. The Buddha's light shall guide Both thee and me, poor seekers. Bide with me; And what I know, that shalt thou freely know, And my peace shall be thy peace.... SATAN Faust, the gates Admit one form already. FAUST Ah, the gates Are pearl and silver.... Would that there were space Within them for such fevered heart as mine-- That with the restlessness of stormy winds Beats on its barriers! THE HOLY ONE There is room for all Whose souls renounce the world and life and hope To gain that soundless silence. OLDHAM Faust, I feel, Transfused with light and glory, that deep peace Awaiting. There shall perish like a flame The passions which have seared my tortured soul All my life long. They die; and nothingness Like a cool flood sweeps over me. Ah, come Where never storm shall smite! FAUST I see the gates; I see the cool breast of the silvery flood Of refuge and oblivion.... Fare you well, Oldham, and light go with you! For I go, Alas, not with you.... OLDHAM Faust, Faust, turn not back! I, who am casting all desires in dust, To one desire still cling: I long that joy Of such deliverance fill you as fills me On this first step of the sublime ascent. FAUST I see the light that waits you on the peak; And my heart follows you. But my stern soul Plucks me yet back with cold insistency I cannot master.... Go! If I could pray, My prayers should follow you. My visions shall; My love shall fold you. But I cannot come Where you shall go; I cannot cast aside All that I surely know--this pitiful And shattered mortal life, with its strange gleams And shadows--and embrace the icy void Where Being trembles on the final verge. To bid life cease--but linger as the moon Lingers in heaven--ah, that is horrible Beyond life's proper horrors!... Were my pain A single atom greater--were my soul A single breath more weary--I would come. But now I must confront the winds of heaven Still master of my destinies.... To the last, Not in such tomb-world can my spirit rest. No golden clouds that throng Nirvana's gates Shall tempt me there to enter and resign My right to strain beyond all gates that be.... But you I cannot counsel.... OLDHAM Me the peace Already laps with wavelets of the flood. FAUST The flood is sundering us. OLDHAM Farewell, farewell, Belovèd friend. I with the Holy One Henceforth am linked; and grief shall follow me In what should be your footsteps. FAUST Have no grief. In the vast deeps of life's salt bitter sea Perhaps awaits my anodyne, to heal Life's wounds.... OLDHAM Farewell! I go to paradise. [_Oldham and the Holy One move slowly away together, pass through the colonnades, and disappear into the forest. Faust follows with his eyes their retreating figures._ SATAN You do not know a paradise when you see it! Some day, when I have time, I'll start a school To give instruction to great minds like you-- Débutant! FAUST Ah, I had forgotten you.... Two men are worth a thousand devils still. SATAN I overrated you. Now get you gone Before I call the savagery that sleeps Here in the jungle to annihilate you For your unparalleled stupidity. FAUST Stupidity or no, I have one word Still to say to you, my malicious friend: To heel! SATAN What! FAUST Aye, to heel, I say! Crouch down And follow me, my hound and servitor From this hour forth! SATAN You have grown very witty. Your wit, however, does not please me. FAUST Please you! There are few things that I desire less. To heel! SATAN What fiends possess you? Ah, I see! You are still thinking of that wager made, That jest of ours. FAUST I am still thinking of it. SATAN You do not mean that now you wish to claim That forfeit seriously? FAUST I mean quite that. SATAN What an amazing man you really are! For your own sake, I tried to offer you A splendid paradise; I brought you here At infinite cost and trouble; you have had An hour of insight and experience New and instructive to you; your best friend Has found eternal bliss: and now you turn, And just because your uttermost crazy whim Is not quite satisfied with what he grasped Thankfully, you revert, with sorry taste, To my old careless generous remarks. I do not think your friends at home would call it A sporting attitude. FAUST The jungle shakes-- Do you not hear it?--with the stifled, choked Laughter of leopards, elephants, hyenas, Rhinoceroses, apes, pythons, and tigers, Who hear you and are overcome with mirth.... I also laugh with them. SATAN Magnanimous Your laughter sounds! True, you have beaten me, And I am at your mercy. By some whim, Trick, technicality, your mind rejects A noble paradise; and to my pledge You therefore are entitled. And I stand Ready to pay it. FAUST Ah, at last we have Acknowledgment of it! Frankness is good Even for the Devil, Satan. SATAN I have been Frank with you always. And, if to your taste, I will be franker still. Your stake is won; You have your triumph: but does it quite fill The chambers of your heart? Will it suffice In place of that bright paradise you dreamed Might be your gain as loser? Ah, my friend, In copper you have won, but lost in gold! And victory will not requite for that Your empty treasury. FAUST Not empty quite; You are too modest. SATAN Oh, if you choose, my pledge Shall be fulfilled, and I will be your dog-- Snarling a little, sometimes--snapping at Your friends and furniture and lady-loves-- But yet your dog. However, I can do Better for you than that.... FAUST Enough! Enough! SATAN But hear me! You'll admit, a feather's weight, A hair's breadth only held you from the gates That Oldham entered. Almost they sufficed Your spirit; yes, a moth's wing could have blown You toward them! 'Twas so nearly I fulfilled All that I promised. Therefore when I speak, You will, for justice's sake, concede I am No absolute bungler, no coarse-palated Plebeian, as to paradises. FAUST No. I will admit that. SATAN Good! Now, I would make One final offer to you. Faust, I know In other regions, beneath other skies, One haven more, the only one of earth That can be judged in glory to surpass This paradise you entered not. My faith Is absolute that it is to your need Utterly moulded. Like your heart itself, Its halls are structured, destinate for you As perfect refuge. And I say to you: Give me the leave, and I will lead you there For one supreme and ultimate trial of choice That has no doubtful outcome. And my pledge Shall still be valid! If this refuge gives Not all that you desire, you still may claim My service as your slave. Thus do you risk No atom, but have gain of one last chance To win the paradise you hunger for! FAUST A pleasing logic; but I do not trust The mind behind it. SATAN Trust it, or distrust-- What matter?--when the issue is so plain! FAUST Away! Away! SATAN Well, if this hope is vain To urge you, let despair serve in its stead As roweled spur. For see where now you stand: The mock of destiny--the man who lost All joys of the bright many that the world Cherishes! Aye, and even lost his friend, His one deep lasting friend--and stood thereafter Fixed like a donkey.... Though I led you on From paradise to paradise, and none Sufficed you--that were surely better sport-- Testing and trying with sublime contempt-- Than finger-twirling! But not thus I lead. For now you shall, you shall have paradise! FAUST Deep in my soul, there is a sense that loathes Pacts with the Devil. Yet the sanctioned powers Established in the world have proved them void And ignorant of paradise.... Where lies it? SATAN Follow, and I will lead. FAUST A long path? SATAN Yes. FAUST On! But your bondage waits you at the end. SATAN Ah, jester, jester!... Come--give me your hand! CURTAIN THE THIRD ACT _The scene is the nave of a great cathedral. Two rows of many-shafted columns stretch back to where, in the far background, rises the elaborate magnificence of the High Altar. The nave is empty, except for an occasional figure moving at the far end of the long central aisle, and an occasional attendant in sacerdotal robes making ready the Altar. Faust, entering from the right, and Satan, entering from the left, meet in the foreground. Satan is dressed in the dark robes of a priest._ FAUST I care not for your masquerade attire; But let that pass.... Well, I have kept your hour. And this perhaps is not unfitting place To make confession that you weary me A little. In this running to and fro Over the earth, my inclination tires Of your companionship. I am resolved, If three days' time brings forth no new event, To end this, and reclaim you to obey My will. SATAN I am content; three days will serve. FAUST Good! Meanwhile, 'tis at least some recompense That we return from airy Eastern domes Glittering in blank sunlight, unto lands Where men erect their temples to the gods In forms whose light and shadow, stress and play Of arch and buttress, satisfies my blood Better than does barbaric loveliness. The dome that poises its clear perfect curves Rising above the palm-trees, with the look As of a wingèd bubble lightly resting On needless masonry--that symbolled form Of heavenly perfection never fills My heart as do these knotted buttresses And writhing ribs and vaults that strain in fight-- And are victorious, as they raise to heaven The climbing spires of such an edifice. SATAN Quite right--but if you'll let me interrupt-- There is a woman yonder who, I think, Is waiting for a chance to speak to you. She looks at you, and hesitates, and turns-- As though a little fearful to approach So great a person. FAUST Where is she? I see. I wonder if I know her. SATAN She is coming. [_A young woman, hardly more than a girl, comes from between the pillars and approaches Faust. Satan withdraws a little as she approaches._ THE WOMAN I did not want to interrupt your talk; But, Mr. Faust, I wished so much to speak To you. You do not know me? FAUST Why, it seems... THE WOMAN Of course you do not; why should you remember? But I have seen your face so many times When you perhaps not noticed me at all, That I feel half-acquainted. Mr. Brander Speaks of you, too, so much that I have grown To think I know you. FAUST Ah; yes, Brander.... THE WOMAN Still I have not told you who I am, and you Do not yet know me. I am Mrs. Brander. FAUST What! Mrs. Brander! Ah, delighted ... yes.... THE WOMAN You had not heard that we were married? FAUST No. Of course, I am astounded; it's delightful-- And most surprising. THE WOMAN It was very sudden-- While you were gone. FAUST I see. Yes, I'm surprised And charmed. It's strange, at first I could not bring You to my memory. THE WOMAN I don't believe That you can yet! FAUST Why.... THE WOMAN I don't wonder at it. I used to whisk about and peer at you As you came in.... FAUST Are you then ... then are you ... Midge? MIDGE Yes! exactly. FAUST This is very charming. Now I remember perfectly, of course, Dear Mrs. Brander! I shall hope to see Brander himself to-morrow. Give him, please, My warmest wishes. MIDGE We shall hope to see you In our apartment soon. It's very tiny And in a quite unfashionable street; But it looks out across a bit of park To westward, as I've always hoped it would. Some days the sunset lights are lovely there. You must come look at them. FAUST Thank you--indeed I shall be very glad to! MIDGE And I know-- How shall I say it?--that you'll think me strange, And that I cannot ever be your friend As Mr. Brander is. I know so little-- FAUST Dear Mrs. Brander! MIDGE But I am so eager That you should give me just a little trial-- I want so much to know you, and so much He should not lose you.... FAUST Why, you make me feel Quite like a monster! MIDGE Then you'll come? FAUST I'll come! MIDGE Good-bye--and don't forget me. [_Midge gives him her hand, and moves away smiling._ FAUST Well, of all Impossible, grotesque, outrageous tricks That Brander could have played upon himself! Married--the fool, the fool!--And yet she is Curiously sweet and fresh, that kitchen-maid. SATAN Are you quite through? FAUST Quite, thank you.... It is strange.... But I forget; you are not interested. What is it you would say now? SATAN I have things Graver to speak of than admiring ladies Or Gothic architecture. Here, to-day, Unto your doubting eyes there shall be made A revelation of profounder scope Than aught that life has brought you. FAUST The hour strikes Tardily; I am wearier than I was When on this trial we entered. SATAN You have looked Askance at me these many days, perplexed To reconcile the fountains of my will With my strange acts, and with the dark report That you have heard concerning me. Dear friend, Be you not angry, now I say to you In full confession, that from day to day I have deceived you: I have hid my face Even from my friend: I have with doubtful mask In alien guises tempted you, to try Your metal. But the hour of trial is past; The event is sure; and now I ope my heart And show to you what few of living men Have guessed--my final secret. FAUST Play no tricks. Before me, Satan; try no mumming game. If you speak truth, let riddles cloak it not. SATAN Listen, and be truth's judge. I am not such As men esteem me; and my spirit's springs Rise not from buried and infernal realms, But like your own, out of the fount of God They have their being. I, though lowliest far, Yet am a servant of the House of God-- Deputed to mine office by His hand, And on His mission. FAUST You are trifling with me. SATAN I speak the gospel of the living God. FAUST Are you not Lord of Evil? God doubtless asks That service of you? SATAN God is infinite, Likewise His wisdom. His omniscience wills That I go forth among the haunts of men And offer evil to their touch. Thereby, Some spurn me--and the force whereby they spurn Lifts them up nearer to His arms. Some take The sin I offer, fall from grace, go down-- And lost in fathomless gulfs of wickedness, Cry out with utter yearning to His love That it may save them, and repentant turn Their prodigal faces toward His doors again, Never to wander more. But some few souls, Who neither spurn temptation nor repent After their fall--these unregenerate It is mine office wholly to destroy And cleanse the universe for the praise of God. Thus does all evil serve His mighty throne, And all return to Him. FAUST I have no power To take the measure of the words you speak. Why tell me such things? SATAN I would tell you all And show to you at last your destiny. The vanities of the world, the woes and sins, Are but the acid by whose fiery touch I sort the gold from out the transient brass And purify and fine it that it be Worthy God's altar. My belovèd friend, Such was your trial; thus have I tempted you With things averse to God, with forms and faiths Outcast and separate from Him. You have seen The whole world's vanities; you have come to know That in this world's illusion is no power Whose love is refuge: even the living death Of cold Nirvana frights you. Thus at last, Knowing that you are powerless, and the world Bare of salvation for your feebleness, You stand on this great threshold; and your eyes That see despair and loneliness shall raise Their sight to heaven; and peace shall fold you round; And God, who is our Father, shall be yours. FAUST This is not truth! My fevered eyes are weak To look into this glowing maze of fire With vision. All the ramparts of the world Reel round me. I have scoffed God all my days, Believing pain--your province of the world-- Proof of His non-existence. And you come Crying His glory, testifying His faith, Exhorting me to seek Him.... I am lost Where naught is known to me. SATAN He is your hope, Your sole salvation in a universe Where 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 strength Can be sustained, their impotence, bow down Each spirit: and it cries: "O God, support My helplessness; unto Thy perfect will Do 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 fills The humbled bosom; all His stars and thrones Shine down upon it; all His majesty Enters that lowly door, lifts up, sustains The sundered soul; and His beneficence With more than father-love enfolds the heart Joined to His own forever. From His light Reflected radiance pours; to the dark sight Comes glimpse of the high justice of God's will; And all roads lead to Heaven, and all hearts lie Within His love, and all's well with the world. [_Deep organ music begins to roll through the arches of the cathedral. Candles are lighted one by one on the High Altar. Worshippers begin to enter the nave: they pass down the long central aisle and gather in groups at the far end, near the Altar. Faust stands leaning against a pillar, silent and lost in meditation. Brander enters among the worshippers. He passes the spot where Faust is standing, glances at him and stops, astonished._ BRANDER You have come back! I had not heard of it. Where have you been these many months? I long To talk with you. FAUST Yes, come and see me soon. It's a long story.... I congratulate you Upon your marriage.... BRANDER Then you know.... FAUST She came And spoke to me a little while ago. BRANDER It must seem strange to you beyond my power Ever to quite unravel. But for me All things are clear; and to my blinded sight Morning has come--in this thing, as in all The 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 changed In your long absence.... FAUST These are curious words. I do not understand. BRANDER To understand, You must hear all. You know my life--how vain Its occupations, how absorbed I moved In this day's folly and to-morrow's lure-- How petty trifles made my whole small round Of being--selfish trifles, nothing worth, Stained with a cruelty that I would forget. That night we talked together--you and I And Oldham--in your rooms, I wandered home Sorely distressed. For you had stirred in me A gnawing doubt whether the whole of life Was not mere child's play. FAUST I am sorry if-- BRANDER It was the kindest act man ever did In all my life! I peered into my heart: I saw myself Judas to innocence, Betraying lightly with a careless kiss A mortal body and immortal soul; I saw no thing in all my days to claim A sane man's approbation; one by one Each glittering bauble that I late had loved Crumbled to dust beneath the parching fire Of 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 joys Like some rank thicket of bright vanities Masking a precipice. A sense of sin And loathing overcame me, and the power Of utter terror filled me. I beheld The evil riot of gross earthy things That had o'ergrown me. Like a burden lay That sense upon me, and it pressed me down To a despondence deep beyond all words, Beyond all thought. And no escape I saw Except the bullet.... FAUST What a faith we pin Upon that bullet! BRANDER Thus the doubtful days Passed like a nightmare. Till, one Sabbath morn, As restlessly I paced, some random mood Led me to enter this cathedral's doors At hour of service. As I knelt, with lips Unknown to prayer, the mighty music rolled Over my heart like an all-purging flood, And a voice chanted: "He that loveth life Shall lose it; he that hateth this world's life Shall keep the life eternal." And a voice Shortly thereafter sang, in angel tones: "Come, let our feet return unto the Lord; For He hath torn, and He will heal us." And My soul cried: "Yield thy burdens to the Lord, Upon His love cast thine unworthy self, And bid His Will Be Done." And then my soul Melted as in the warmth of His embrace. My guilt was gone like night before the sun: Light blinded me; an infinite love and joy Lifted me up, a child again, from earth Into such regions as my mortal speech Can 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 guessed Was yet unlearned by me. BRANDER No words can teach These marvels to a heart that has not known God's glories. FAUST Then this mystery of the heart Is what men mean when of the faith of God They 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 faint Almost beneath its sweetness and wild joy. My whole heart's toil is how to merit it Even a little. SATAN (_raising his hand to bless_) By the grace of God You 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 dawn Beyond our darkened night.... I was too far Estranged 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 the music._ VOICES SINGING From the waters of Zion, From the fountains of peace, Pour the floods on whose bosom Thy seeking shall cease. There the winds of His garments Shall lull thee to rest. There the night of His watching Shall enter thy breast. Thou shalt sleep, and awaken; On His morrow, to be As a star in His heavens, A wave in His sea. FAUST With old, profound, unutterable grief My spirit speaks in me: as, many a time In childhood, at the hour of evening dusk, When all the room was still and shadowy, I, at my mother's knee, wept out my heart And knew not why I wept. And I am drawn Out of myself upon the music's tide, With nameless sorrowing, with childlike pain-- As though in careless play-hours of the day I had done hurt to someone that I loved. Ah, I am homesick; and in all the world There is no knee at which I can weep out My loneliness. There is no breast of peace And silence and forgiveness for this child In any dusk-strewn chamber.... BRANDER There is God! FAUST O God, can Thine arms fold me? Can my weight Of loneliness and failure and despair With the day's fruitage, find a child's release In 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. Again the 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 valleys Shall merge in His deep. To His hands shalt thou offer All hope thou hast known. His hope and His glory Shall compass thine own. And the vain stars of longing Shall fade in His sun; And the vain hand shall stay; And His Will Shall Be Done. SATAN Let us beside our brother kneel in prayer Beseeching mercy. [_Satan and Brander kneel beside Faust._ BRANDER Brother in the Lord, Let us together from devoted hearts Repeat: "Thy Will Be Done." [_Faust continues to kneel in silence. The music ceases._ 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 rolled With blackening curtain over all the stars Within my heaven. But I stand upright Now to the end, no traitor to that dawn I cannot image. SATAN What do you mean? FAUST Begone, Judas!... Ah, Brander, would that I could yield Myself to Him who has received your burdens! But to me seems it as another sleep, Like that Nirvana which I put aside In other gardens of temptation. Sleep-- Sleep that should have no waking--happy sleep-- An anodyne for which my spirit yearns But dare not take--a yielding to some Will, Whose Will, we know not, nor do greatly care So long it be not our will.... Thus may yield The weary; I am weary, but not yet To such last slumber. Thus may yield the base; I am not base. Thus may those spirits yield Who, poisoned by some madness in their blood, Despise life's being; but not yet will I So utterly despise it. Though in gulfs Of yet unsounded ruin I should die At the end miserably, I still shall seek In life itself my refuge: not in God That stands apart from life, on heights of peace. All my desires, my visions, my dreams, my unrest, My loathing and my longing will I clutch And cry: "With all its bitterness on my head, _My Will_ be done, not Thy Will!" BRANDER Blasphemy! Ah, Faust, what madness!... FAUST With calm sight, I speak No blasphemy, but truth. Shall I buy peace So 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 held Marsh-lights of promise. My last altar lies Smoking in ruins; and I stand alone Of all the universe. But my Will be done! My errant tortured Will, my bitter Will, _My_ Will, _my_ Will! BRANDER Flee, ere the awful wrath Of God smite down these walls, these poisoned stones, That hear your words! Flee, ere the heavens rain forth Lightnings to blast us for these horrors! FAUST Nay! In this dim hour of desolation's reign Upon my soul, I summon to my soul All powers that good or evil may consign To the most lonely man in all the world; I lift my voice, burdened with all the weight Of 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 FOURTH ACT _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 Day Is more than half a year away. And we might get most awful dry If we should wait for the Fourth of July. So let us celebrate now and here With 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 the rest._ CLOWN (_shouting_) Stop! Stop! I want to teach another verse To 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--but It 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 four old men._ AN OLD MAN They are a noisy lot. SECOND OLD MAN Yes. THE FIRST OLD MAN There must be Party 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, which Began 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 the chairs set for the audience. One carries a small black surgical case; the other has a green bag under his arm._ DOCTOR We seem to be a little early--or Have 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 are To hear this talk! I personally have doubts Whether it's worth our trouble. LAWYER Well, I know The 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 deep In matters that I could not guess, that now, When he at last promises to proclaim Some strange discovery, I half believe It will be worth our coming. [_Two women enter together. The younger one is leading a child by the hand. The older, a gaunt, spinsterly-looking figure, peers about with a near-sighted glance._ MERCHANT'S WIFE Take that seat. And now be quiet. CHILD Mother, will he have The Devil with him? MERCHANT'S WIFE I don't know. The child Has been completely crazy since I told her That I would bring her with me. OLD WOMAN I am just A little curious myself. I learned When I was young all that they thought was known About the Devil; and if this Mr. Faust Has really made some new discovery About him, it seems well that even the young Should be informed of it. [_A number of detached men and women enter and take seats silently. They are followed by two plumbers in overalls, carrying the tools of their trade 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 slip A chance of hearing such a talk as this. YOUNG PLUMBER Oh, I won't go. OLD PLUMBER You'd better not. They say That all the rumors wholly underrate The real importance of his talk to-day. I've been informed, on good authority, That he will have the Devil on the platform And publicly enchain him to a cart For all of us to see. [_The two plumbers have taken their seats. A man behind 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, that Will be outrageous, in these troubled times Of 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 apologize Now that you've brought me. As I said at first, I am prepared to see a mountebank Perform his pretty tricks of eloquence To set the crowd agape. Why, once a week The Ethical Society hires one To work the same performance--quite the same Each 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, and a 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 easily Nowadays that one shouldn't let it slip. BAKER I'd go to lectures, too, if I could go Always with you. GIRL Well, now, perhaps I'll try To educate you! BAKER Oh, I wish you would! [_Satan enters, dressed as an artisan. He takes a seat in the far corner, out of sight of the platform. Two young men enter. Both have books under their arms._ YOUNG STUDENT His is the subtlest mind I ever knew. The gulfs through which he whirled bewildered me When he would talk. So I am quite prepared For a great treat to-day. YOUNGER STUDENT Oh, I forgot My 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 hand In getting him to speak; and I am sure There 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 never Think 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 I Did not get into it so easy, either. I read a lot of books before I saw The greatness of Philosophy. Now I wonder How I got on without it. Why, to-day I could not clean a sewer in peace of mind If 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 to find 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 sit Too near the front. I'd rather not have come At all to-day. But you... MIDGE Oh, don't go back Now 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 seen A 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, when Will 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 reading desk; then turns toward the audience, gripping the desk steadily, and waits a moment more for the stir to subside._ FAUST I come before you with unwilling lips-- Not led by eagerness, or wont of speech; Being not of those who easily proclaim Small miracles to move you. But the force Of grave necessity has bid me cast All thought save one aside, and in your midst, Utter strange words, with lips that must obey The soul that wills not silence. For I come Announcing not the common verities Of 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 hold Close 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 beheld Hearts, weary with recurrence of the days That held no sweetness, turn in trust to where In high aërial spaces far from earth God in his heaven to all the weary ones Offers a refuge. And in such a mood Was I, too, led toward heaven by one whom now I know my foe--Satan. Toward God I turned, Seeking in Him fulfilment of all hopes That earth had thwarted. Then, in the hour of prayer And revelation, from my deepest breast Flashed lightnings. And I saw the Lord of Hosts High on a mountain, inaccessible To yearning men, who, mastered by a dream, Turn skyward from our dark and struggling earth. I saw the crafty Satan urging on The heavenward-yearning myriads, while the world Lay like a stagnant quagmire, to his sway Wholly abandoned, and man's mortal house Burned in fierce conflagration of corruption. And lo! the lightnings from my heart smote forth Across 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 is The father of the gods--lures on your hearts Unto 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 ends One thing alone is mete--ruin of life, Of loathings and of longings that on earth Restlessly grapple with the powers of Hell. I know not if in regions yet unguessed Some gods may dwell, of nature fit to guide Us, the adventurers of an earthly fight. But I have seen with eyes that cannot lie That they reside not in this Devil's net-- This heavenly trust, this labyrinth of peace, Which draws men on to nothingness.... And I cry With all the passion of my baffled soul-- Cast down your God! Cast down your peace and trust In His far Will! It is a solace mete For slaves, not men. With bitter hand, destroy This idol of destruction! Smite all haunts Of faith and resignation and defeat And rest and peace and comfort. Heaven and earth Alike are poisoned: somnolence in heaven, Decay on earth is regnant. Every faith And law and nation must in wreck go down For 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 lips Fall lightly, I must rise here to refute Their poisonous message. Three days since, I stood With this man in the sacred halls of God, And witnessed in his heart the glory grow Of 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 gate And God's deliverance. And his bitter lips, By thirst so nearly quenched made bitterer yet, Cried blasphemies against the powers of heaven And all bright starry hopes that light our days With faith and glory. And the hand of God, Inscrutably withheld, smote him not dumb, But suffered him to go. Now in our sight He rises to proclaim his searing doubt, His hot destroying passion, and tears down Our fairest altars. I, who was his friend, Hereby renounce him; and in sober words Counsel all men to flee the company Of one who hates the great hopes of the world! [_As Brander sits down, there is some scattered applause in the audience. Faces are turned toward him. Midge sits motionless, her face buried in her hands._ FAUST I scarce foresaw that my laborious task Should profit by the aid of willing hands So freely offered. Well, the Devil moves still Unchained on earth; and while he toils, your toil Is of small matter. You have ranged yourself With things fast dying; and our feet--the feet Of trampling hordes--shall pass above your head, As we shall pass over all creeds and laws, All stately chambers and respected homes And 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 destroy Space and Time, too? YOUNG PLUMBER Hooray for hell broke loose! BUTCHER Out with him! He's an anarchist! BANKER I'm not Religious; 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 commanding gestures. The people stare at him, and after a moment are silent to hear him speak._ SATAN My friends, I think we all-- Or most of us--agree that talk like this Is a destructive influence, to be met With frowns, in justice to society. Such words disgrace humanity, affront Respectability, and fill with shame Our hearts for such a speaker. Yet the rogue Requires but rope to save the law the toil Of trial and execution. I bespeak, Therefore, your patience for this gentleman; Till he has time to wind the hempen knot Securely round his throat, let us sit by And hear him further. FAUST Thank you. You begin Well 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 heard Tales of your cleverness in foiling twice The Devil who sought to lead you to resign Your will to his. Perhaps it was not well That you so spurned his euthanasia. By your own devious path, you come at last To where all facts are vain, all visions fade, And your old wager is a laughing-stock, So valueless your will, so vain your power To shape one end of hope. Life crumbles, falls, Around you; and your kind with horror see Your utter nakedness. But I have brought A little present for you: not so nice As two the Devil once offered in its place; Yet 'twill suffice. Men who would cheat the Devil Come, with a curious unanimity, To where the lump of lead becomes a boon Unto 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 hand At least it shall lie safe, nor be a god: I worship not the bullet.... But beware What 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 dust Before me you shall cringe, though all the world Shun me, your conqueror. Vilest of slaves! Accept your servitude! BUTCHER Here! That's enough! GIRL You brute! SATAN Your slave. Command, and it shall be Fulfilled. A little snarling now and then Means naught. YOUNG PLUMBER I will not let an honest man, A worthy citizen, be spoken to Like that by a damn anarchist while I Can raise a hand! BUTCHER Nor I! MERCHANT'S WIFE Go after him! FAUST Silence! Let not your eager efforts prove You 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 lines Meet--do you see the blackened cross that grows Each moment darker with the curse of God! He is branded, he is Cain! FAUST Down, slave! Fulfil Now my command, you who my bondsman are! Seal on these eyes--too blind to take the light-- Darkness! And let me, turning from them, know They 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 forward toward the platform. From the back of the room someone hurls a chair, which strikes the great chandelier: the lights instantly go out, leaving the hall in total darkness. Confused cries, footsteps, blows._ CRIES What're you about?... Let go!... Where are the lights?... [_Suddenly two wall-brackets are illuminated, disclosing part of the crowd massed on the platform. As they surge back, there remains on the platform, fallen and motionless, the figure of Faust. He raises his head slowly._ FAUST Ah, Satan!... worthy serf to my command!... Go! I release you. For I would not die With such a slave-- Nay, though I die alone.... [_Suddenly the door bursts open, and in surge the maskers, in greater numbers and even wilder tumult than before. Dancing grotesquely, linked hand in hand, they zigzag through the hall, overturning chairs 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 here With rah, rah, rah and a bottle of beer! CURTAIN THE FIFTH ACT _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 know If anyone may see him. BRANDER I will wait A moment, and perhaps may see the doctor As he goes out. Have things been bad to-day? BUTLER Yes, sir. [_The doctor enters from the door on the left. The butler 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 stand The strain. BRANDER You see no hope? DOCTOR I only see That 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 morning If 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 restlessly about the room. A moment later, the door on the left opens, and Faust, reclining in an invalid's chair, is wheeled into the room by the butler. He is clad in a long dressing-gown; he is very pale. The butler, after placing the chair before the fireplace, goes out. 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 light Of afternoon! Meseems I have not been Happy save here, where all unhappiness Of mine had source and root. That forest holds Now nothing grievous to my eyes that see What once they saw not. Sweetness like the light Of setting suns now lingers over it In my enchambering memory-- Life, life With all its glow and wonder pours a flood On this strait room whence I have watched the world-- Whence I must go with all my love and wonder As though no love and wonder I had won. [_Faust bends his head, sinking into a daze of thought. Brander doubtfully approaches him, and at last touches his shoulder._ BRANDER I have been heavy-hearted; but that thus I find you, overwhelms me.... FAUST Why thus sad Over milk so irrevocably spilled? BRANDER I cannot utter what is in my heart. It is as though I had with my own hand Stricken you down. And yet I did not dream Of what would follow.... O Faust, Faust, forgive me! FAUST Forgive you? Aye, and thank you! Greater things Hung imminent than you dreamed of. For you set Wild lightnings free in me that smote the dark Furled round me; and they grew and flashed and flamed Even as I fell. Aye, Brander, you who strove For my salvation should rejoice at last-- Now, past all doubts and wanderings, I am saved! BRANDER Saved! Ah, impossible! FAUST Saved! And the light Of glory fills me, though my physical frame Totters 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 be That God has bent once more, and with cool touch Dispelled the feverous mists? Oh, I could weep With happiness to dream it! FAUST Nay, my words Mean more than you interpret. I am saved-- Not as you count salvation. Nay, I come To one last refuge, finding all others vain. The common joys, the peace of nescience, The trust in some far Will, the hope to flame A beacon in the darkness of men's dreams: Driven forth from these, one citadel still lifts Heaven-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, now Lure me no more. I will put hope in nothing Save in that whole strange glistening mortal life That past me streams unto an end sublime Whereof you know not. All our ends are folly, And win not what they seek; yet there is joy In seeking; and one end there is that shows A brighter glow. I am the watcher set Upon the heights. In my impassioned sight All life is holy that strives unto life: Death only is damnation. I will be More happy than the happiest man, more strong Than is the strongest! I will climb on the neck Of this great monster, Life, and guide its course-- For I am master--toward that end I see Hidden 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 past Stirs 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 wrote Last night until the doctor took it from me. It is among the papers on my desk. [_The butler searches, finds the note-book and places it 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 all I have to give to them I love so much. These pages shall cry kinship to the few Who, finding solace nowhere, yet shall find Solace in fierce destruction that assails The 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 love Floods out like light from the down-going sun Toward 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 all That 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 sleep Nirvana; past the yet more luring sleep Where dreams assuage the soul to be a dream. Thou shalt go with him, yet apart from him And 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 sprang Life's upward impulse. He is the darkness spread Ere yet was light--the matter ere was form-- The vast inertia that on motion's heels Clings viper-like. Of life and form and growth He is negator; and his ceaseless joy Is to impede and drag to chaos back The shoot that toward the light triumphant springs. But vain his victories, though he lingers yet With slowly narrowing frontiers. Past his will, Slowly the sons of light transcend, remould Their day and destiny; slowly there is born Order from chaos, flowers from formless mud, Light from the darkness, Faust's from Satan's soul. With laughing and with wonder and with triumph I 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 down And passes and transcends me--and is mine! I, one with thee, O child of Flame, behold Thy harvest--when the passion of the years Turns earthward, and in mastered order sets The house that is our dwelling. And therein, In the gold light of summer afternoons, With thee I too, careless and laughing, play Mid dreams and wonders that our will has made-- Bathe in the beauty that our eyes have poured Upon the hills--and drink in thirsty draughts The happiness we have rained upon the earth. I see, with ultimate unshaken vision! I see the earthly paradise; I see Men winged with wonder on the future throne Up 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 clings The reptile-slime of our creation--lo! Our children's children rise; and all my love Draws 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 long My portion; now all gathering storms of hate Are less than naught to me. Six months ago, When here I stood that memorable night, My gloom was starless; now one fiery star Pierces it. And this broken frame of mine Cannot annul that much of victory-- The solace born of passion to destroy That shall survive me if indeed I die. Alone my life was lived; if now I go, It is alone into a quiet grave Above whose mound the fairer future days Shall pass, and I not know them. Yet my night Takes foregleam from the vision of that dawn And I am solaced. And I leave my solace As heritage to the ever widening few Who after me shall triumph more than I In 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 great And tender; and perhaps His love may clasp Even your aloofness, if at last your heart Calls 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 scene To claim your tears, dear Brander. Doubtless days Of infinite scope lie yet before me, since No 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 smite The hearts bowed before it; all the world And the Beyond-world would I rend, having seen Serpents in their secret places. BRANDER Has no breath Of heavenly love touched this corrosive core Of hell-fire in you? FAUST There is none whose power Is half so mighty. BRANDER Through last night's long hours, Poor Midge, alone and comfortless, wept out Her 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 dreams Shudder 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 love To such as you is granted.... FAUST Midge could tell A truer tale. Her eyes were full of light And wonder as she heard me. BRANDER And she now Weeps comfortless! FAUST And shall I then regret? Is her soul yours, that you appraise and know? Life stirs in her: and like the agonies Of all life's birth, it shakes her: yet one day She shall rise strong, sister to mighty winds, A new and holy wonder in her eyes. Tell her from me that I have not forgotten My 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 stand Shelterless 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 love For 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 rise In 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 down Not singing, no, not singing!... (_He once more takes up the manuscript, and turns to the last pages_) And now, when from my shoulders like a load Begins to slip the weariness of life, And a new vigor fills me--now it seems That death is hovering close. O Grisly One, Whom once I thought a not unwelcome guest To my cold troubled house, I am not glad To hear thy steps without. For in my halls Lights kindle, and the music sobs and sings In ecstasy of other guests than thee.... (_He takes up his pen and turns to the end of the manuscript, as if to write_) Can this poor strength suffice me to complete These final words? Nay, better to leave unsaid The few last lines my vanity desires To tell and justify my end and fall Like flourish of bright trumpets. Let them sleep Unuttered; for the burden of my song Is voiced already in these labored leaves; And it is well, unfinished and unclosed Should stop this record, whose concluding words Of fairer hope, of sheerer miracle, Some greater hand than mine shall some day write And 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 is dressed in a long black cloak of foreign cut; for the first time, he has the look of sinister majesty appropriate to 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 serve No end that I desire. SATAN Aha! At last Light penetrates that cobwebbed cranium, And I can laugh in public! All these months, I several times have come perilously near Bursting 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 thanks Are in appropriate measure tendered you. SATAN Distrust me not, for lo, the game is done-- There are no battles more, no testings more To set between us. From the heart of life Have forces risen--aye, from the people's breast!-- To seal the measure of defeat; and now Why shall we quarrel further? FAUST Why, indeed? SATAN I hear that you are working on a book Recounting 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 is Completed 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 heart Whispered the tidings of that night? Or have The pages of the prophets told to you What waits within that darkness? FAUST There waits sleep. But I have lived, and do not fear life's last Inevitable word. SATAN My lips are sealed, Though I would fain prepare you for that first And 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 decay That folds the body as it mouldering lies After the racking of those final hours Where soul and body part. But have you guessed That--as the body rots without the soul-- So the soul crumbles in a vile decay You cannot picture, when the body dies? Then falls the spirit limb from reeking limb. An agony beyond all mortal thought Shakes 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 soul To 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 power To save you from this uttermost horror's grasp. For I have gift of perfect dreamless sleep; And those to whom I give shall after death Slumber unconscious while the awful change Attacks them; and oblivion shall be theirs Unbroken stretching from the final hour. FAUST That were a boon not easily despised. SATAN It shall be yours! My crushed and broken foe Shall never at my hand lack final rest Where nightmares cannot come. As honest foes We shall be quit. And for this priceless gift I 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 drawn Its curtains round my body. You have sought With long endeavor to enslave my will To nothingness; now would you doom to dark My 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 Power Which in the dust, the daisy and the star Moves 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 done And I fall spent; and over me the wave Sweeps on its way immortal; and my soul Partakes of that lost immortality. SATAN Dreamer, whose dreams shall soon be choked with dust! FAUST (_slowly rising_) I am that dreamer to whose mounting dreams No bounds are set, no region which my will May not reach out toward. And I will create-- I, and the souls that after me shall come-- By passion of desire a pillar of flame Above the wastes of life. If no God be, I will from my deep soul create a God Into 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 still Are jester, even at death-beds--knowing well I have no power to slay you. You retreat But perish not; the sphere of your domain Contracts, but it endures immortally. Have done with jesting: look me in the eyes! Acknowledge me, and all high heritors Who 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 other steadily. Faust closes his eyes, then suddenly raises himself 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 thoughts Of immortality? I am young with life! I shall not die! Hope and the eager years Of labor rise before me as I press Clear of these shadows. I have dreamed dark dreams-- One very dark of late--but now my blood Resurges in a not less passionate fire Than 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 pains The 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 opens softly and the butler enters, followed by Midge who carries an armful of flowers. She looks around the room, bewildered; then crosses quickly to Faust's chair._ 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, slightly smiling, closes his eyes._ CURTAIN *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MR. 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