SCENE, A high-arched, narrow, Gothic chamber
FAUST at his desk-restless
Faust. Alas! I have explored
Philosophy, and Law, and Medicine;
And over deep Divinity have pored,
Studying with ardent and laborious zeal ;
And here I am at last, a very fool,
[With useless learning curst,
No wiser than at first!
[Here am I-boast and wonder of the school:
Magister, Doctor, and I lead
These ten years past, my pupils' creed;
Winding, by dexterous words, with ease,
Their opinions as I please.
And now to feel that nothing can be known!
This is a thought that burns into my heart.
I have been more acute than all these triflers,
Doctors and authors, priests, philosophers ;
Have sounded all the depths of every science.
Scruples, or the perplexity of doubt,
Torment me not, nor fears of hell or devil.
But I have lost all peace of mind:
Whate'er I knew, or thought I knew,
Seems now unmeaning or untrue.
The fancy too has died away,
The hope, that I might, in my day,
Instruct, and elevate mankind.
Thus robbed of learning's only pleasure,
Without dominion, rank, or treasure,
Without one joy that earth can give,
Could dog-were I a dog-so live ?
Therefore to magic, with severe
And patient toil, have I applied,
Despairing of all other guide,
That from some Spirit I might hear
Deep truths, to others unrevealed,
(And mysteries from mankind sealed;
And never more, with shame of heart,
Teach things, of which I know no part.
Oh, for a glance into the earth!
To see below its dark foundations,
Life's embryo seeds before their birth
CAnd Nature's silent operations.
Thus end at once this vexing fever
Of words-mere words-repeated ever.
Beautiful Moon !-Ah! would that now,
For the last time, thy lovely beams
Shone on my troubled brow!
Oft by this desk, at middle night,
I have sat gazing for thy light,
Wearied with search, through volumes endless,
I sate 'mong papers-crowded books,
Alone-when thou, friend of the friendless,
Camest smiling in, with soothing looks.
Oh, that upon some headland height
I now were wandering in thy light!
Floating with Spirits, like a shadow,
Round mountain-cave, o'er twilight meadow;
< And from the toil of thought relieved,
No longer sickened and deceived,
In thy soft dew could bathe, and find
Tranquillity and health of mind.
Alas! and am I in the gloom
Still of this cursed dungeon room?
Where even heaven's light, so beautiful,
Through the stained glass comes thick and dull;
'Mong volumes heaped from floor to ceiling,
Scrolls with book-worms through them stealing;
Dreary walls, where dusty paper
Bears deep stains of smoky vapour;
Glasses, instruments, all lumber <Of this kind the place encumber;
All a man of learning gathers,
All bequeathed me by my fathers,
Crucibles from years undated,
Chairs of structure antiquated,
Are in strange confusion hurled!
Here, Faustus, is thy world- -a world!
Still dost thou ask, why in thy breast
The sick heart flutters ill at rest?
Why a dull sense of suffering
Deadens life's current at the spring? 76 (From living nature thou hast fled
To dwell 'mong fragments of the dead;
And for the lovely scenes which Heaven
Hath made man for, to man hath given;
Hast chosen to pore o'er mouldering bones
Of brute and human skeletons !
XAway-away and far away!
This book, where secret spells are scanned,
Traced by Nostradam's own hand,
*Will be thy strength and stay: 580
The courses of the stars to thee
No longer are a mystery;
The thoughts of Nature thou canst seek,
As Spirits with their brothers speak.
It is, it is the planet hour
Of thy own being; light, and power,
And fervour to the soul are given,
As proudly it ascends its heaven.
To ponder here, o'er spells and signs,
Symbolic letters, circles, lines; 70
And from their actual use refrain,
Were time and labour lost in vain:
Then ye, whom I feel floating near me,
Spirits, answer, ye who hear me !
[He opens the book, and lights upon the sign of the MACROCOSMUS
Ha! what new life divine, intense,
Floods in a moment every sense;
I feel the dawn of youth again,
Visiting each glowing vein !
Was it a god-a god who wrote these signs?
The tumults of my soul are stilled, 600
My withered heart with rapture filled:
In virtue of the magic lines,
The secret powers that Nature mould.
Their essence and their acts unfold-
Am I a god ?-Can mortal sight
Enjoy, endure this burst of light?
How clear these silent characters!
All Nature present to my view,
And each creative act of hers-
And is the glorious vision true?
The wise man's words at length are plain,
Whose sense so long I sought in vain :
"The Worlde of Spirits no Clouds conceale ;
Man's Eye is dim, it cannot see.
Man's Heart is dead, it cannot feele.
[Thou, who wouldst knowe the Things that be,
The Heart of Earth in the Sunrise red,
Bathe, till its Stains of Earth are fled."
[He looks over the sign attentively
Oh how the spell before my sight
Brings nature's hidden ways to light: 670
See all things with each other blending—
Each to all its being lending—
All on each in turn depending—
Heavenly ministers descending-
And again to heaven up-tending—
Floating, mingling, interweaving—
Rising, sinking, and receiving
Each from each, while each is giving.
On to each, and each relieving
Each, the pails of gold, the living
Current through the air is heaving;
Breathing blessings, see them bending,
Balanced worlds from change defending,
While everywhere diffused is harmony unending!
Oh! what a vision—but a vision only!
Can heart of man embrace
Illimitable Nature?
Fountain of life, forth-welling;
The same in every place;
That dost support and cheer
Wide heaven, and teeming earth, and every creature
That hath therein its dwelling,
[Oh! could the blighted soul but feel thee near!
To thee still turns the withered heart,
To thee the spirit, seared and lonely,
Childlike, would seek the sweet restorative;
On thy maternal bosom feed and live.
I ask a solace thou dost not impart;
The food I hunger for thou dost not give !
[He turns over the leaves of the book impatiently, till his
eye rests on the sign of the Earth-Spirit
How differently this sign affects my frame ! 50
Spirit of Earth! my nature is the same,
Or near akin to thine!
How fearlessly I read this sign!
And feel even now new powers are mine:
While my brain burns, as though with wine:
Give me the agitated strife,
The madness of the world of life;
I feel within my soul the birth
Of strength, enabling me to bear,
[And thoughts, impelling me to share 60
The fortunes, good or evil, of the Earth;
To battle with the Tempest's breath,
*Or plunge where Shipwreck grinds his teeth.
All around grows cold and cloudy,
The moon withdraws her ray;
The lamp's loose flame is shivering,
It fades, it dies away.
Ha! round my brow what sparkles ruddy
In trembling light are quivering?
Stream sheets of flame, in fearful play,
Rolled and unrolled,
In crimson fold,
They float and flow!
From the vaulted space above,
A shuddering horror seems to move
Down, down upon me creeps and seizes
The life's blood, in its grasp that freezes;
'Tis thou-I feel thee, Spirit, near,
Thou hast heard the spell, and thou
Art hovering around me now;
|