Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No 38. The Sorcerer's Apprentice (From the German of Goethe)

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE

This ballad is a translation or English version of a German poem by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, the author of Faust. It is, perhaps, still relevant as the archetypal warning about summoning or creating that which you cannot control. The basic tale can be found in a work Philópseudēs ("Lover of Lies") by Lucien AD 150. Paul Dukas wrote an orchestral piece based on this poem and that music was the basis of the famous sequence with Mickey Mouse as the apprentice in Disney's Fantasia. It was also the basis of the more recent Disney film of the same name. 

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE

after the German of Goethe

So, for once, he's gone away,

Gone the old witch lord, that's great!

Now his spirits shall obey,

Live and act as I dictate!

Words, ways, workings now,

I've seen what to do,

And with spirits' power

I'll work wonders too.

Wander, wander

Many paths

That to baths

Water flows,

Brought in right, full floods from yonder,

Down into the tub it goes.

And now come, you old, old broom!

Dress in rotten rags, I say.

Long you've served us in this room:

Now obey my will, obey!

Take two legs below,

Have a head above,

Hurry now and go

With the water jug!

Wander, wander

Many paths

That to baths

Water flows,

Brought in right, full floods from yonder,

Down into the tub it goes.

Look he runs down to the brink!

Yes, he's at the river's gleam,

Back again, quick as a wink,

Pours it in a rushing stream.

Here a second time!

Now the tub fills up!

Swelling waters line

Every basin's top!

Still! Stand here!

Of this stuff

We've enough

For today!-

Oh! I see! Oh, dear, oh, dear!

I've forgotten what to say!

Oh, the word that would indeed

Make it what it was before.

Oh, it runs and brings with speed!

Would you were a broom once more!

Ever new, new fills

It brings here instead

And a hundred spills

Pours upon my head.

No, no longer

Can I leave it;

I shall seize it,

Thing of spite!

How my fear grows ever stronger!

What a face- the eyes alight!

Oh! you offspring of foul hell,

Shall the whole, whole house be drowned?

I see every threshold swell

With the running streams all round.

Cursed broom won't, I fear,

Listen anymore!

Stick, change back, you hear.

Stand still as before!

Will it never,

Never leave it?

I shall seize it,

I shall catch it,

This old wood I'll quickly sever,

Split it with the sharp, sharp hatchet.

See, again it's trundling back!

Right, I'll stop its masquerade.

Goblin, I shall knock you flat;

Crack, it's hit with sharp, smooth blade.

Truly, well hit, man!

It's in two, just see!

Now I hope I can

Breathe more easily.

Woe, oh woe!

Both the parts

Stand and start

Serving now,

Fully ready, set to go!

Help me, oh! you high-born powers!

Away they run now! Wet and wetter

On the steps and in the hall,

What a ghastly lot of water!

Lord and master! Hear my call!-

Ah! my master's here!

Sir, I'm all messed up!

Spirits I called near,

I can't make them stop.

"To the corner,

Broom, oh, broom,

And your former

Role resume!

For, as spirit,

To such purpose, none command

You, but your old master's hand."

© Mark Scrivener 2015