Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No 83 Auerbach's Cellar in Leipzig

AUERBACH’S CELLAR IN LEIPZIG

Mephistopheles takes Faust to some drinking companions to see if he can seduce him into that life-style. In the original this works and a drunken Faust flies away on a wine barrel, however in Goethe's version Faust is hardly engaged in it at all. It provides a somewhat comic interlude. Auerbach's Cellar is a real place that still exists (although it has undergone many changes and even has a "Mephisto" bar). The young Goethe frequented it at times when he was a student in Leipzig university.

Goethe often visited Auerbach’s Cellar while studying in Leipzig 1765-1768 and called it his favourite wine bar. He saw there two paintings on wood dating from 1625, one depicting the magician and astrologer Faust drinking with students and the other showing him riding out the door astride a wine barrel. Goethe was already familiar with the Faust legend from his youth, since a puppet show Dr. Faust, was frequently performed at local street fairs. The scene Auerbach’s Cellar in Leipzig in his drama Faust I is his literary memorial to his student tavern and to the city, albeit an ironic one. According to legend, the alchemist Dr. Johann Georg Faust once rode a wine barrel from the cellar to the street at Auerbach's Cellar, something he could have accomplished only with the help of the Devil.- Wikipedia

Three of the four drinking companions are stereotypes from the academic world. Frosch was a nickname for a freshman. Brander was a term for a second year student and Altmayer (which derives from a headman, older steward or farmer as distinct from a young one) was slang for an ex-pupil or alumnus. Siebel derives from a distinguished family name from Northern Germany.

The song about the rat mirrors (in a comic way) the theme of tragic love that is central in Faust I. The song about the flea satirises the way in which courtiers could exist as parasites within medieval courts.

It is noteworthy that Mephistopheles' magic at the end is not merely fooling but has an edge of nastiness to it.

 Woodcut after a painting by Eduard Grützner

AUERBACH’S CELLAR IN LEIPZIG

MERRY GROUP OF DRINKING COMPANIONS

FROSCH

Will no one laugh? Will no one drink?
I’ll teach you to pull faces. I think
You’re really like wet straw some days,
Yet other times you burn light’s blaze.

BRANDER

Fault falls on you; you’ve added nothing new!
No stupid jokes and no obscenity.

FROSCH (POURING A GLASS OF WINE OVER BRANDER’S HEAD)

There you have both!

BRANDER You swine twice through!

FROSCH

You wanted it, we give it free!

SIEBEL

Now those who want to fight get out!
With open breast sing round songs, swill and shout!
Right! Holla! Ho!

ALTIMEYER Woe’s me! I’m lost, I fear!
Some cotton wool! The beggar’s split my ear!

SIEBEL

When echoes fill this vaulted space,
You really feel the basic power of bass.

FROSCH

That’s right, let’s toss out those who take exception.
Ah! Tara lara da!

ALTMAYER

Ah! Tara lara da!

FROSH

Our throats are now tuned to perfection.

HE SINGS

The Holy Roman Empire,
How does it hold together?

BRANDER

A nasty song! Phew, a political song,
A tiresome song! Thank God each morning time
That you don’t have to care about that realm.
At least I take it as a richly beneficial thing
That I am neither chancellor nor king.
But we must have a leader too;
We shall elect a pope. And you
All know what qualification can
Tip up the scales and raise the man.

FROSCH (SINGS)

Lady Nightingale, soar up above,
Ten thousand times greet my fair love.

SIEBEL

I will not hear of it! No greetings for that one!

FROSCH

My dear one greet and kiss! You cannot stop my fun!

HE SINGS

Draw the latch! in night’s still hour.
Draw the latch! your love wakes now.
Bolt it fast! It’s dawn at last.

SIEBEL

Yes sing, go on, sing up and boast and praise her loudly.
I’ll have my laugh when it is due.
She took me in and she will do the same to you.
And may a goblin be her love tonight
And may he flirt with her where crossroads lie,
May some old billy, back from Blocksberg’s height,
Bleat out good night there as he gallops by.
I’d wish her some fine lad of flesh now, but
That’s much too good for that cheap slut.
There’s but one greeting I would claim:
I’d smash her every window pane.

BRANDER (BANGING ON THE TABLE)

Pay heed! Pay heed! Now hear my bit!
Good sirs, admit! I know what’s fit;
Some lovesick lads sit here and thus,
In keeping with their state, I must
Treat them to this good night salute!
Take heed! A song of newest type!
Sing its refrain with all your might!

HE SINGS  
In a cellar nest there was a rat 
Living but on fat and butter, 
 Such a sack-like belly getting that  
He looked like Doctor Luther.  
Some poison bait the cook put out, 
 The world grew narrow round about- 
 As if he had love in his system.

CHORUS (GLEEFULLY) As if he had love in his system.

BRANDER  
He ran around and out he raced  
And guzzled from each puddle’s pool,  
He gnawed and scratched throughout the place,  
Nothing eased the frenzied fool;  
He sprang with many an anguished leap,  
But soon, poor beast, he was quite beat-  
As if he had love in his system.

CHORUS As if he had love in his system.


BRANDER  
In fear he fled into the kitchen,  
With bright day full sight granting,  
Fell by the stove and lay there twitching 
With pitiful, frantic panting.  
His poisoner laughed at his death, 
“See how he gasps out his last breath- 
 As if he had love in his system.”

CHORUS As if he had love in his system.

SIEBEL

How pleased the morons are at that!
It takes much skill it seems to me
To poison an unlucky rat.

BRANDER

They’re high in your regard, I see.

ALTMAYER

A big pot-belly with a bald patch;
Misfortune’s made him tame and weak,
And now he sees in bloated rats
A natural image for his physique.

FAUST AND MEPHISTOPHELES ENTER

MEPHISTOPHELES

I must, before much time can slip,
Bring you some bright companionship,
So that you see how lightly life can run.
The folk here make each day a day of fun.
With little wit and much ease, each threads
His dance upon a narrow, circling trail-
A kitten following its tail.
When not lamenting aching heads
And while the host gives credit, they’re
Quite happy and without a care.

BRANDER

They’ve just come in here from a trip.
You see their funny manner. It’s my tip
They haven’t been here yet an hour.

FROSCH

My word, you’re right! So let me praise my Leipzig now!
It’s a little Paris that gives its people culture’s power.

SIEBEL

What do you think they are about?

FROSCH

Leave it to me! For over a full glass
I’ll draw forth these fine fellow’s past
As lightly as a child’s first tooth comes out.
They seem to me to be of high descent,
They look so proud, so full of discontent.

BRANDER
They’re swindlers- bet my bottom dollar!  

ALTMAYER

Perhaps.

FROSCH  

         You watch. I’ll get them steamed.

MEPHISTOPHELES

These simpletons would not detect the fiend,
Not even when he’s got them by the collar.

FAUST

My greetings, friends!

SIEBEL Much thanks! The same but multiplied.

SOFTLY. LOOKING ASKANCE AT MEPHISTOPHELES

Why does that fellow limp one side?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Is it all right with you if we sit by?
Instead of decent drinks, which one cannot get here,
Companionship shall satisfy.

ALTMEYER

You’re very spoilt- it would appear.

FROSCH

Departed late from Rippach? You supped, I see,
With Mr. Jack Ass before you set upon your way?

MEPHISTOPHELES

We had to ride on past today;
But talked a lot last time we met, and he
Had much to say of his dear, near relations,
And asked I send you all his warmest salutations.

HE BOWS TOWARDS FROSCH

ALTMAYER (SOFTLY)

You have it! That one knows.

SIEBEL A crafty customer.

FROSCH

Just wait. I’ll get him yet, the cur!

MEPHISTOPHELES

We heard, unless I’m greatly wrong,
A chorus of skilled voices ringing;
I’m sure these vaults would sound along,
Re-echoing with excellence, your singing.

FROSCH

You are, perhaps, a virtuoso?

MEPHISTOPHELES

I fear not. My desire’s strong. My power so-so.

ALTMAYER

Give us a song!

MEPHISTOPHELES

As many as are mine.

SIEBEL

Then something in a brand-new vein!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Now we have just returned from visiting Spain,
The lovely land of song and wine.

HE SINGS

Now once there lived a king
Who had an enormous flea-

FROSCH
Hear that? A flea! You get it, get the jest?
A flea’s a lovely sort of guest.

MEPHISTOPHELES (SINGING)

Now once there lived a king
Who had an enormous flea
That he loved like anything,
Like an only son was he.
He bade his tailor come,
The man came to his call-
You dress this noble one,
Fit him with pants and all.

BRANDER

And don’t forget to make the tailor see
His measuring is most exact;
And if he likes his head intact,
The trousers must be wrinkle-free.

MEPHISTOPHELES

In silk and velvet, he
Was done up for the part-
Beribboned finery,
A cross upon his heart.
At once made Minister,
With star of great degree;
His brothers and sisters were
Made court nobility.

The lords and ladies there
Were tortured by this brood,
The queen and maid, both fair,
Were bitten and were chewed.
They weren’t allowed to crack them,
They weren’t allowed to scratch.
But we can get right at them
And crack and choke our catch.

CHORUS (SHOUTING)

But we can get right at them
And crack and choke our catch.

FROSCH

Bravo! Bravo! that was great!

SIEBEL

All fleas should go to such a fate!

BRANDER

Point your fingers, nip neat and fine!

ALTMAYER

Now long live freedom! And long live wine!

MEPHISTOPHELES

I would, to honour freedom, like to lift my glass,
Were but your wine of somewhat better class.

SIEBEL

Let us not hear of that again!

MEPHISTOPHELES

I merely feared the landlord might complain
Were I to give each honoured guest
A vintage worthy of the best.

SIEBEL

Go on! I’ll shoulder any blame.

FROSCH

Well, if they’re good , then you’ll be praised up to the skies,
But make your sample some fair size,
For if I am to judge at all,
I like to have my mouth quite full.

ALTMAYER (SOFTLY)

Yes, they’re from Rhineland, now I’m sure.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Get me an augur then.

BRANDER But what will you prepare?
You surely don’t have casks outside the door?

ALTMAYER

The landlord’s tools are over there.

MEPHISTOPHELES (TAKING THE AUGER)

(TO FROSCH)

What would you like to taste? Feel free.

FROSCH

What do you mean? Have you so many kinds?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Well, each is free to make up his own mind.

ALTMAYER (TO FROSCH)

Aha! You start to lick your lips, I see.

FROSCH

Good! Now if I am to choose, I’ll have a nice Rhine wine.
Our fatherland bestows the best of every line.

MEPHISTOPHELES (BORING A HOLE IN THE TABLE WHERE FROSCH IS SITTING)

Give me a little wax so I can make the stoppers.

ALTMAYER

Oh, it is merely some old trick of jugglers.

MEPHISTOPHELES (TO BRANDER)

And you?

BRANDER A good champagne for me,
One really sparkling prettily.

MEPHISTOPHELES BORES. SOMEONE, MEANTIME, HAS MADE THE WAX STOPPERS AND PLUGGED THE HOLES

BRANDER

Don’t pass by all that’s not our own.
Good often lies quite far away.
Although an honest German leaves the French alone,
He’ll drink their wine up any day.

SIEBEL (AS MEPHISTOPHELES NEARS HIS PLACE)

I must confess, I do not like the dry;
Give me a glass that’s really sweet.

MEPHISTOPHELES (BORING A HOLE)

For you Tokay would be a treat.

BRANDER

No, gentlemen, look me in the eye!
I see that this is just a jest.

MEPHISTOPHELES

My, my! With such distinguished guests
That would be tempting gentle fate.
Be quick! Come out and tell me straight-
What wine would you like served, my friend?

ALTMAYER

Why waste time asking? They’re all great.

AFTER ALL THE HOLES HAVE BEEN PIERCED AND STOPPED

MEPHISTOPHELES (WITH CURIOUS GESTURES) Vines bear grapes aloft, Billy goat bears horns up top; The wine is juicy, wood the vine, The wooden table can thus give wine. Deep insight into nature’s way! Here is a wonder, believe just what I say! Now pull the corks, enjoy your fill!

ALL (AS THEY PULL THE STOPPERS OUT AND THE DESIRED WINE FLOWS INTO EACH GLASS)

A lovely fountain flows for us at will!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Just have a care no drop of this stuff spills!

(THEY DRINK REPEATEDLY)

ALL (SINGING) We feel as fine as cannibals, Just like five hundred sows.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Just look how well it goes when folk are free!

FAUST

I do not wish to stay here longer.

MEPHISTOPHELES

But first watch this, their bestiality
Will soon be shown in all its splendour.

SIEBEL (DRINKING CARELESSLY SO THAT THE WINE FLOWS TO THE FLOOR AND TURNS INTO FLAME)

Help! Fire! Help! This flame’s hell-sent!

MEPHISTOPHELES (SPEAKING TO THE FLAME)

Be peaceful, friendly element!

(TO THE COMPANIONS)

This time was but a drop of purgatory’s flame.

SIEBEL

What’s that mean? You’ll pay dearly for this game.

Seems you don’t know us, clever gent.

FROSCH

Just let him try that one on us again.

ALTMAYER

I think we’ll tell him just to quietly go away.

SIEBEL

What sir! You dare to come and play

Your hocus-pocus on good men.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Shut up! old wine cask!

SIEBEL

Broomstick man

Will you try rudeness on us too?

BRANDER

Just wait; for blows shall rain on you!

ALTMAYER (PULLS A CORK OUT OF THE TABLE, FLAMES SPURT OUT AT HIM)

I’m burning! I’m burning!

SIEBEL

Spells for sure!

Get him! This creep’s outside the law!

THEY DRAW KNIVES AND ADVANCE ON MEPHISTOPHELES

MEPHISTOPHELES (WITH EARNEST GESTURES) False words, scenes in air,

Make sense and place elsewhere,

Be here, yet be there!

(THEY STAND ASTONISHED AND LOOK AT ONE ANOTHER)

ALTMAYER

Where am I? What a beautiful land!

FROSCH

Look vineyards! Do I see rightly?

SIEBEL

Grapes right at my hand!

BRANDER

Beneath green-clustered leaves, what shapes!

Look, what a vine! Look, what fine grapes!

HE GRABS SIEBEL BY THE NOSE. THE OTHERS DO SIMILARLY AND RAISE THEIR KNIVES

MEPHISTOPHELES

Error, loose blindfolds from this band!

And note the jokes the devil throws.

HE DISAPPEARS WITH FAUST. THE COMPANIONS FALL

APART AND SEPARATE

SIEBEL

What’s up?

ALTMAYER Was that your nose?

BRANDER (TO SIEBEL)

And I’ve got yours too in my hand!

ALTMAYER

That was a shock that went through every limb.
A chair. I’ll faint. My eyes are dim.

FROSCH

Now tell me, what was going on?

SIEBEL

Where is that rat? If I track him,
He will not be alive for long.

ALYMAYER

He rode a cask: I saw the thing-
Out through the cellar door he’s gone-
My feet both feel lead-heavy loads.

TURNING TOWARDS THE TABLE

Say! Do you think the wine still flows?

SIEBEL

It was all lies and tricky show.

FROSCH

It seemed like drinking good wine though.

BRANDER

But how about those grapes we saw?

ALTMAYER

Now tell me you are sure
There are no wonders any more! 

Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No 82 Coastal Drought

COASTAL DROUGHT

On the north coast of NSW sometimes it can get rather dry in the spring as the weeks go by without rain. One such period inspired this poem. Of course, Australia is a land of droughts and they get far worse inland. The poem also makes the point that despite the amazing growth of modern technology we are still basically dependent on nature and what the ancient called the four elements- earth, water, air and fire. All these are points I made in an earlier poem Longing for Rain. This poem is a second bite at the apple but I think it does approach the subject in a rather different way.

COASTAL DROUGHT

Sun of spring is cruel without

rain sustaining growth's renewal.

Wisps of white cloud hold no promise;

sunburnt hilltops bare harsh brown.

Leaves show drooping; some are shed.

Grasses parch now: yellow, dead.

Blue sky means but lasting dry.

How welcome now would be dark cloud

weeping water on the dust.

How sweet would be the sudden storm

with drenching sheets

of grey rain sweeping down

upon this baked and cracking earth.

And so it is that here we see,

despite our proud technology,

extracted from the realm of stone,

that we are still of greater world,

that we still breathe with living need

for grace from over us,

for blessing from above.

O, shifting kingdoms of the clouds,

we are filled with longing now.

O, waters of the sky

bring your blessing to the ground,

fall upon us from on high.

Oh, relieving life,

oh, revitalizing,

lulling, falling, cooling, flowing,

come again

angels of the waters,

cloud-winged with rain!

Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No 81 This Lunar Night

THIS LUNAR NIGHT

This poem set in the suburbs of Sydney reflects on the natural creatures that are around us even in the cities. They are often hidden away and especially at night when we are indoors or asleep another world awakens.

                For those not familiar with them Frogmouths are a form of nocturnal bird related to night-jars. The Tawny Frogmouth is sometimes mistaken for an owl due to its large size and colouring. During the day they are easily overlooked for when asleep they look a lot like a bit of dead tree branch.

Bandicoots are small, omnivorous marsupials. They have a pointy snout, humped back, thin tail and large hind feet. Their great sense of smell helps them find insects and worms even beneath the soil.

THIS LUNAR NIGHT

This lunar night

the houses of the street are quiet.

Familiar shapes are cast in white.

Cats prowl their gardened territories.

The tawny frogmouth and the owl

keep watch on silence; possums climb

within the clustered silver of thin leaves.

A flying fox flits over stars;

a far dog barks. A bandicoot

soft-scrabbles at the ghostly earth.

And pale moths mass on the window pane...

For half this world’s inhabitants

awake to light

this lunar night.

Mark Scrivener Poetry Blog No 80 Study Scene (Scene 4- 3rd study scene) from Faust

STUDY SCENE - SCENE 4 FAUST (3rd study scene)

This scene is important in the play as a whole as it is when Faust and Mephistopheles come to a deal. However, this deal is not a bargain - but a wager, a bet. The bet is that Mephistopheles cannot supply from the world of outer experience a moment that would wholly satisfy Faust. In there interaction Faust is full of a sort romantic (in the literary movement sense) despair over life while Mephistopheles is the epitome of irony and cold cynicism. In particular his characterization of various realms of "learning" to the student are quite amusing and have a certain justification (though both with Faust and the student he makes it clear that the abandonment of knowledge would put them more under his influence). This scene is quite long but breaking it in two would weaken the impression, I think.

Faust and Mephistopheles illustration Tony Johannot

STUDY

FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES

FAUST

A knock? Come in! Who wants to bother me?

MEPHISTOPHELES

It is I.

FAUST
Come in!

MEPHISTOPHELES
Now you must make it three.

FAUST

Come in then.

MEPHISTOPHELES
That’s how you’ll please me.
I hope we’ll get on well together!
To chase away your fancy’s bother,
Here I’m a noble squire- see
My suit of red with braids of gilt,
A little cloak of heavy silk,
My cock’s bright feather on my hat,
Long, pointed rapier one side.
In brief, let me advise you that
You dress the same way and decide,
Thus being free and not held fast,
To learn what living is at last.

FAUST

In any clothes I’d feel the pain of this
Restricted earth-imprisoned stay.
I am too old to merely play,
Too young to be without a wish.
What has the world to offer me?
Renounce, renounce you shall- entirely!
Yes, that is the eternal song
That in each person’s ears is ringing,
That thus, throughout our whole life long,
Each hour is ever hoarsely singing.
I only wake with horror in the morning,
And could weep bitterly to see the sun
Proclaim the risen day that in its forming
Will not fulfill one wish, not one;
With stubborn quibbling it will crush all traces,
All hints of any faint delight;
What stirs as heart’s creative might
It hinders with a thousand hideous grimaces.
What’s more, when night descends then I lie down
So anxiously upon my bed,
That there for me no rest is found,
But wild dreams frighten me instead.
The god that dwells within my heart,
Though inmost depths stir to his call,
Though ruling all my powers, his art
Can’t move the world outside at all.
So all existence is so burdened that
Life’s hateful to me, I desire death.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Yet death is never an entirely welcome guest.

FAUST

O happy he who dies with triumph’s glance,
A bloody laurel round his brow; or tires
After maddened, swift and frantic dance
And in a girl’s soft arms expires!
Oh, that before that high-born spirit’s power,
In rapture I’d sunk down- a lifeless pile!

MEPHISTOPHELES

And yet somebody failed, one late night hour,
To drink the brown juice from a phial.

FAUST

It looks like spying is your sport.

MEPHISTOPHELES

All-knowing I am not, and yet I know a lot.

FAUST

Though from a fearful turmoil, I
Was drawn by sweet-familiar ringing;
Though echoes of glad times gone by
Fooled what is left of childhood feeling;
I curse what circles soul's own ways
With lures, glitz, and trickery,
And bans it to this sad, sad cave
With force of sham and flattery!
Cursed first of all the high importance
In which the spirit wraps its being,
Cursed be the dazzle of appearance
That crowds on us from all our seeing.
Cursed be what feigns in dreams of fame,
False dreams of long-enduring name,
Cursed what so flatters as possession’s power,
As wife and child, as servant and as plough.
And cursed be Mammon when, with treasure,
He spurs us on to daring deeds,
Or lures us to idle leisure,
Adjusts the cushions to our needs.
Cursed be the fluid balm of grape.
Cursed be the highest gift of love. Let fall
A curse on hope! A curse on faith!
And cursed be patience most of all!

SPIRIT CHOIR (INVISIBLE)

Woe! Woe!
With forceful fist
You’ve destroyed and scattered
The beautiful world;
It tumbles, it’s shattered!
A demi-god has struck, uncaring!
We’re bearing
The ruins into the void;
Despairing,
We lament lost beauty’s worth.
Great one in
The sons of earth,
Build again,
More splendid-bright,
Build it up within your heart!
And a new life path
Begin
With clearest sight,
Let new songs ring,
Ring and sound forth!

MEPHISTOHELES

Small ones these be
Serving me.
Hear their sage advice to you-
Out to deeds and pleasure too!
Into wide creation,
From this isolation,
Where sense and sap grow still,
They would lure your will.

Hear this- don’t play so with your grieving
Which feeds on your life like a vulture; even
The worst companionship would find
You feeling like a man within mankind.
This does not mean we’ll see
You thrust into the rabble’s state;
Although I’m not one of the great,
Yet if you're closely joined with me
To take your steps through life, then I’m
Quite happy to submit my time
To be yours on the spot. So then
I shall be your friend,
And, if I suit you,
I’ll be your humble servant too!

FAUST

And what, for you, must I do in return?

MEPHISTOPHELES

There’s lots of time for that, so don’t insist.

FAUST

No, no, the devil is an egotist,
Not lightly serving God’s concern,
To give what’s needed for another. First list
All your conditions face to face,
Such servants brings much danger to one’s place.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I’ll bind myself to service to you here,
Be at your call without a rest. When we
Are yonder over there drawn near,
Then you shall do the same for me.

FAUST

That “yonder” is no trouble in my eyes.
Once you have smashed to bits this world,
Then let the other one arise.
For from this earth comes all my gladness,
And this sun shines upon my sadness;
Once I can part from them, let be unfurled
What will and can then, in whatever guise.
I’ll hear no more of this: of whether
One finds in that realm hate and love;
Or if, within those spheres hereafter,
There’s some Below and some Above.

MEPHISTOPHELES

With such an outlook you can risk a try.
Commit yourself. As coming weeks slip by,
With joy you’ll view my art’s vast scene,
I’ll give to you what no man’s ever seen.

FAUST

And what, poor devil, will you be giving?
When will the human spirit, with its noble striving,
Be grasped by such as live by lies?
For have you food that never satisfies,
Red gold that ceaseless runs and flies
Right through your fingers like quicksilver’s kin?
A game that you can never win,
A girl that as I hold her tight
Already binds my neighbour with her eyes,
Great honour’s most divine delight
That like some meteor swift-flies?
Show me the fruit that rots before it’s picked,
And trees that daily will renew their green.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Well, tasks like that don’t have me licked;
I’ll serve you with such treasure’s gleam.
And yet a time will also come, my friend,
To feast in peace upon those things which please.

FAUST

If ever I lie tranquil on a bed of ease,
Then let that instant be my end!
If flattering you fool me so,
That I’m pleased with my self and way,
Deceive me so with pleasure’s glow,
Then let that be my final day!
This bet I offer.

MEPHISTOPHELES
Done.

FAUST

And done I say!
If I, to any moment, say- Remain,
And linger on, you are so fair!
Then you may cast me into chains,
Then gladly I shall perish there!
Then may the tones of death-knell toll,
Then from your service you’ll be free,
The clock may stop, the hands may fall,
For then let time be done for me!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Consider well, for we shall not forget.

FAUST

You have a perfect right to that.
I did not lightly rate my bet.
If I'm a servant, this I swear,
To you or what else- who could care?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Today, at once now, at the doctor’s feast
I’ll do my duty serving you.
One thing! In terms with life and death
I’d beg from you a line or two.

FAUST

Demanding writing too, pedantic bird?
And have you never known a man or man’s true word?
And isn’t it enough my speaking can
Direct my days for all eternity?
Does not the world in all its streams rush on
And shall a promise fasten me?
Yet this illusion lies within our hearts, and who
Would willingly be free of it?
Oh, happy’s he whose heart clear-bears the true,
No sacrifice will he regret!
But only parchment, written up, all stamped and neat,
Is like a ghost before which all retreat.
The word has died within the pen,
For wax and leather rule it then.
Foul spirit, what shall I complete?
Brass, marble, parchment, paper sheet?
And will a chisel, pen or stylus do?
I give you every freedom for your choice.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Now why adopt this heated voice,
And overdone rhetoric too?
Just any scrap of paper’s fine.
Just take a little drop of blood and sign.

FAUST

Well, if it makes you happy- I'm
Prepared to let this farce stay in the act.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Blood is a very special fluid

FAUST

You needn’t fear that I shall break this pact
With all my might I'm striving toward
Precisely what I pledged, in fact.
I'd puffed-up thoughts about my role,
But I’m just one of your degree.
The mighty spirit scorned my soul,
And nature’s shut her gates on me.
The thread of thinking’s snapped. All knowing
Has long been sickening to me.
In deeps of sensuality
Let us quench passion’s fiery glowing!
In never-yet-pierced veils of magic might
Be every wonder ready for our sight!
We’ll plunge into the rush of time, we’ll swing
Into the whirl of happening!
Then may the pleasure and the pain,
The chagrin and the gain,
Swap with each other, as they can;
Only restless-active makes the man.

MEPHISTOPHELES

For you no mark or measure’s set.
If it please you to taste of everything
Or snatch up something on the wing;
May what delights, go well with you. Just grip
Right onto me and don’t be shy!

FAUST

I’ve said that joy is not the question. I
Shall now devote myself to giddy passion, find
Most painful of enjoyments, like the bind
Of loving hate or quickening distress.
Completely cured of all this,
This will to knowledge, then my heart
In future will not shut out pain and strife.
Whatever’s portioned out as mankind’s part
I wish to taste in my own inward life,
Grasp in my spirit high points and the low,
Pile on my breast all of its weal and woe,
Thus widen my own self to self of humankind,
And so like it, be shipwrecked in the end.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Oh, believe me, who, for many a thousand year,
Has chewed upon this hard old thing,
That from the cradle to the bier,
No man’s digested this old leavening.
Take it from one of us. The whole design
Is made but for a god. He finds
Himself in an eternal shine;
He’s thrown us into darkness with his might,
You’re only fit for day and night.

FAUST

But I alone will!

MEPHISTOPHELES
Well said, friend!
I fear but one thing makes you wrong:
That time is short and art is long.
You ought to be instructed then.
So find some poet, if you please.
Let him rove through what thoughts he’s bred,
And all the noble qualities
Heap up upon your honourable head,
The lion’s daring,
The hind’s fleet footedness,
Italian’s fiery blood and bearing,
The northerner’s tough steadfastness.
Let him teach you the secret mix
Of generosity and tricks:
With warm and youthful impulses you can
Then fall in love according to a plan.
I’d like to meet a man like that- good day
Sir Microcosm, I would say.

FAUST

What am I then, if there’s a bar
On ever gaining mankind’s crown,
That all our senses strive to own?

MEPHISTOPHELES

You’re ultimately- what you are.
Put on a periwig that has a million curls,
Or fit your feet with boots with yard-high soles,
You’ll still remain just what you are.

FAUST

I feel that I have gathered up in vain
The treasures of the human spirit. When
At last I sit and ponder it is plain
No new force wells within; I am not then
One hair breath higher because of it,
No nearer to the infinite.

MEPHISTOPHELES

My friend, you see the thing as those
Who merely see the thing. We must
Look sharper here, don’t you suppose,
Before the joy of living flies from us.
Confound it! Hands, feet, head and bum,
Are yours to have and own- that’s fine.
But things I find are really fun,
Now why are they at all less mine?
If I’ve six stallions as my own,
There strength is mine too, isn’t it?
I rush along and what a man I’ve grown,
As if I had two dozen pairs of feet.
Look alive! Let all reflecting be
And plunge into the world quite free.
I say the fool who ponders everything
|Is like a beast upon an arid heath
That some strange, evil spirit leads round in a ring,
While beautiful green meadows lie beneath.

FAUST

How shall we set about it?

MEPHISTOPHELES

We’ll simply flee.
What sort of torture chamber could this be?
What kind of life is this for you,
To bore yourself and the youngsters too?
Leave it to neighbour Paunch to lead.
Why plague yourself by threshing straw?
The best of what you know, indeed,
You may not tell the youths you get.
Right now I hear one in the hall.

FAUST

I really can’t see him just yet.

MEPHISTOPHELES

The poor boy’s waited long to call,
He mustn’t go away upset.
Come, give me now your cap and gown;
On me this costume reeks renown.

HE CHANGES CLOTHES

Just leave it to my ready wit!
I only need a quarter hour for it.
And meantime you prepare for our fine trip!

FAUST EXITS

MEPHISTOPHELES (IN FAUST’S LONG GOWN)

Despise all knowledge and all reason’s seeing,
All-highest power within the human being,
And just allow yourself to be,
In works of fraud and sorcery,
Thus strengthened by the spirit of lies,
And then, in any case, I’ll get your soul.
For fate has given him a spirit that’s so driving
It presses forward without control,
Leaps over all the joys that earth provides,
In its so over-hasty striving.
I’ll drag him through wild life and right
Through shallow triviality,
I’ll make him flounder, stiffen and stick tight.
In his insatiability
The drink shall float before his greedy lips,
In vain he’ll beg me for refreshing sips;
And even if had not signed
A bargain with a fiendish friend,
He’d still come to a nasty end.

A STUDENT ENTERS

STUDENT

I’ve only come quite recently;
I’ve come, in all humility,
To meet and speak with one all name
With reverence that is quite plain.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Your courtesy most pleases me.
You see a man like any that may be.
But have you made some calls on others?

STUDENT

I beg you, take me in these quarters.
I’ve come with every good resolve,
Fresh blood, a moderate bit of gold.
My mother would hardly let me depart.
While out, I’d like to learn a useful art.

MEPHISTOPHELES

You’re at the right location then.

STUDENT

Frankly, I would I could be off again:
I don’t like being here at all;
In all these walls, in all these halls,
I feel so very cramped. I see
Not one green thing, not even a tree.
And all the schoolroom benches hurt me,
My hearing, sense and thought desert me.

MEPHISTOPHELES

It’s just a habit; wait and see.
A child upon its mother’s breast,
That won’t at first take willingly,
Is quite soon sucking like the rest.
So you’ll find wisdom’s breasts, my boy,
Will every day bring you more joy.

STUDENT

I’d hang upon her neck with great delight,
If you can tell me how to reach that right.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Before continuing, please tell me
What is your chosen faculty?

STUDENT

I’d like great learning, want to try
To grasp all in the earth and sky.
All that's in knowledge I would know
And all that shines in Nature's day.

MEPHISTOPHELES

You’re on the proper track, although
Take care you do not go astray.

STUDENT

With body and with soul I’ll strive;
Yet I admit it’s good to raise
Some free time, just for being alive,
On sunny, summer holidays.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Make use of time, it flows so quickly past,
But system conquers it at last.
My dear friend, my advice to you
Is study logic first right through.
For when your mind is well and truly trained
And laced in “Spanish Boots” and maimed,
It’ll creep more carefully along
The paths of thought and not go on
Like something darting everywhere,
Will-o’-the-wisping here and there.
Then you’ll be taught, as your days fly,
That what you did once in a single try,
Like eating and drinking, unhampered and free,
Must be in order, one, two, three!
It's true, thought’s working is like this-
A weaver’s ceaseless masterpiece;
One pedal rules a thousand lines,
The shuttle shoots forth to and fro,
Lines flow unseen, and at a blow
A thousand threads are intertwined.
And then steps in philosophy
And proves that's how that it must be:
If first were so, and second so,
Then third and fourth would be so too-
If first and second were not though,
Then third and fourth would never do.
Though praised by pupils everywhere,
None find they win the weaver’s flair.
And he who studies what a living thing’s about
Seeks first to drive the spirit out;
He has each part now in his hand,
But lacks, I fear- the spirit’s band.“Manipulating Nature's sphere",
So it is called by Chemistry-
Not knowing its self-mockery.

STUDENT

I didn’t quite get all of it.

MEPHISTOPHELES

That will improve though, after a bit,
When you have learnt to lessen creation
And use a proper classification.

STUDENT

I feel confused by all you’ve said,
As though a mill wheel turned within my head.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Before all other things you must
Bite into Metaphysic’s crust.
There study and profoundly claim
What won’t go in the human brain.
For what is grasped and what’s not too,
A splendid word will always do.
Above all, for your first half year,
It’s best to keep strict order here.
So take five classes every day
And be there on the bell, I say!
Be well prepared before hand too,
Each paragraph quite studied through,
So you can tell, without a look,
That nothing’s said that’s not there in the book.
And eagerly take down each note,
As if the holy spirit spoke.

STUDENT

You shall no have to tell me twice!
I see how that makes useful sense;
For what you’ve got in black and white
You can bear home with confidence.

MEPHISTOPHELES

You’ve yet to choose a faculty!

STUDENT

I’m just not comfortable, I fear, with law.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I cannot blame you there, I’m sure.
I know about this field’s deformity
Like lasting illness rules and rights pass over
From one sad generation to another-
Soft-shift from place to place, thief-like.
Sound sense turns nonsense then; kind deeds to blight.
You’re still a youth, alas for you!
The rights we’re born with, sad but true,
Are never given their right due.

STUDENT

I loathe it even more. I am
In luck to learn from such a man.
I’m almost leaning towards Theology.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I would not wish to lead you so astray. You see,
Where knowledge of this sort applies,
It is so hard to shun false paths- within
This work so much well-hidden poison lies,
It’s hard to separate it from the medicine.
Here too it’s best if only one is heard;
One swears upon one master’s word.
In all- hold onto words! Thus sure,
Through this, the safest portal’s door,
You’ll enter the temple of certainty.

STUDENT

Yet thoughts must go with words to some degree.

MEPHISTOPHELES

All right! But do not be too anxious over that,
For just there, where ideas fall flat,
A word turns up in a nick of time. Trust me,
Words let you have fine altercation,
Or bring a system to creation.
In words you can believe unshaken,
For from a word there’s nothing can be taken.

STUDENT

Forgive me holding you with many questions,
Still I must trouble you once more.
Concerning medicine, I’m sure
You also have some strong suggestions.
Three years just flee so quickly past,
And God, the field is all too vast.
If only one had but one hint, just that alone
Would help one feel one's way to further levels.

MEPHISTOPHELES (ASIDE)

I’m fed up with this dust-dry tone;
Again I must right-play the devil.

(ALOUD)

The spirit of medicine’s easily grasped;
You work through macro- and then microcosm,
And then you let things go at last
As God wills them.
In vain you roam on being scientific,
For each one learns just what he can.
But he who seizes on the moment that’s specific,
He is your clued-up man.
You’re passably well-built. Audacity
Won’t fail you either, and if you
Will only trust yourself you’ll see
That other souls will trust you too.
Particularly learn a lot
About the managing of women;
For their eternal sighs and woes,
So thousandfold,
Can all be cured at one spot;
And if you’re just halfway discreet,
You’ll have them all right at your feet.
First off a title makes them trust
Your art transcends the common art;
For greetings you can tap each personal sweet part
Which others must skirt round for years. You grasp
Just how to press the little pulse
And clasp her, with a sly and fiery glance,
Around her slender, pretty waist
To see how tightly she is laced.

STUDENT

That’s more my thing. You see just why and how that way.

MEPHISTOPHELES

All theory, my dear friend, is grey;
The golden tree of life is green.

STUDENT

I swear to you, to me it’s like a dream.
So may I trouble you another time to sound
Your depths of wisdom to their very ground?

MEPHISTOPHELES

I’ll gladly do now what I can.

STUDENT

I cannot possibly be off again
Until I pass my album to you. Grant this good
Sign of your favour, if you would.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Very well.

HE WRITES AND HANDS IT BACK

STUDENT (READING)

Eritis sicut Deus scientes bonum et malum.
You’ll be like God, knowing good and evil.

STUDENT CLOSES THE BOOK REVERENTIALLY AND
EXITS

MEPHISTOPHELES

Just follow that and with it my cousin, the snake;
One day your likeness to God will make
You shiver and shake.

FAUST ENTERS

FAUST

And where shall we go now?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Wherever you want, don’t wait.
We’ll see the little world and then the great.
And with what joy, what gain you’ll find
You’ll sponge on through this course of mine.

FAUST

With my long beard you know that I’ll
Quite fail to lead the light life-style.
So this attempt’s no good. I’ve never grasped
How one’s to fit into the world at large.
I feel so small in front of others, I
Forever feel embarrassed if I try.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES

Good friend, that will all pass, have no misgiving;
When you can trust yourself, you’ll learn the art of living.

FAUST

How are we going? Who will get
The horses, coach and coachmen too?

MEPHISTOPHELES

We’ll just spread out my cloak a bit
And that will bear us through the blue.
So take this daring step and go,
But please don’t take much luggage though.
A little fire air, that I shall now prepare,
Will lift us swiftly from earth’s care.
And when we’re light we’ll quickly rise from here.
My friend, congratulations on your new career!