page 70-72
from Faust, Goethe (translation: Alice Raphael)
"What man knows not, is just what he requires;
What man knows, he cannot use in any wise."
"Alas, but to our spiritual wings
No bodily wings are granted anymore!
Yet we are born with that desire
Which drives us up and onwards to aspire,
As o'er us, lost in space of azure sky,
Warbling its song, the lark must fly [...]"
"Alas! two souls within my breast abide,
And each one from the other strives to seperate.
The one, with love and healthy lust,
The world with clutching tentacles holds fast;
The other soars with power above this dust
Into the domain of our ancestral past.
O if there be spirits here,
Between the earth and heavens holding sway,
Descend now from the golden atmosphere,
Lead me to new and varied life away!"
[evil spirits]
"They listen gladly, injure with fond intent,
Gladly obey, at cheating gladly try;
From Heaven feigning to be sent,
They lisp like angels when they lie."
"Eritis cicut Deus, scientis bonum et malum." [if anyone can translate.. ♥]
"Devils and phantoms on this law agree:
Where they steal in, they must slip out again.
Slaves of the second law, of the first we're free."
"You will be in the end just what you are!"
"Mephistopheles: By the depths of rejected love! By all the elements of Hell!
If I only knew something worse by which to swear!
Faust: What's up? What stung you? Well, well,
What a face! I've never seen one like it anywhere!
Mephistopheles: I'd go straight to the devil
If I myself were not a devil in fact!"
"Mephistopheles: Look, what varicolored flames burn bright!
Here is a club with quite a lively tone;
In little circles one is not alone."
[a peddler-witch offers her wares, old weapons of betrayal, etc.]
"Mephistopheles: Good Aunty, you're quite out of date!
What's done is past, what's past is done.
Get in a stock of novelties!
By novelties only are we won."
"A young witch: Powder, like a petticoat,
Suits gray and wrinkled faces,
So I sit naked on my goat
And show my body's graces."
"With utmost pleasure I have come,
Well pleased with all I view!
Since from the devils I foretell
The way of angels, too."
"The shooting star: Down from the heights I darted fast,
Trailing sparks and fire;
Now I lie crumpled in the grass,
Who'll help to raise me higher?"
"Mephistopheles: Once more we are at our wit's end, since we have reached the border line where human senses fail. Why do you seek our companionship if you cannot see it through? You wish to fly, yet you are not immune from dizziness? Come, come! Did we thrust ourselves upon you or you upon us?"
"What man knows not, is just what he requires;
What man knows, he cannot use in any wise."
"Alas, but to our spiritual wings
No bodily wings are granted anymore!
Yet we are born with that desire
Which drives us up and onwards to aspire,
As o'er us, lost in space of azure sky,
Warbling its song, the lark must fly [...]"
"Alas! two souls within my breast abide,
And each one from the other strives to seperate.
The one, with love and healthy lust,
The world with clutching tentacles holds fast;
The other soars with power above this dust
Into the domain of our ancestral past.
O if there be spirits here,
Between the earth and heavens holding sway,
Descend now from the golden atmosphere,
Lead me to new and varied life away!"
[evil spirits]
"They listen gladly, injure with fond intent,
Gladly obey, at cheating gladly try;
From Heaven feigning to be sent,
They lisp like angels when they lie."
"Eritis cicut Deus, scientis bonum et malum." [if anyone can translate.. ♥]
"Devils and phantoms on this law agree:
Where they steal in, they must slip out again.
Slaves of the second law, of the first we're free."
"You will be in the end just what you are!"
"Mephistopheles: By the depths of rejected love! By all the elements of Hell!
If I only knew something worse by which to swear!
Faust: What's up? What stung you? Well, well,
What a face! I've never seen one like it anywhere!
Mephistopheles: I'd go straight to the devil
If I myself were not a devil in fact!"
"Mephistopheles: Look, what varicolored flames burn bright!
Here is a club with quite a lively tone;
In little circles one is not alone."
[a peddler-witch offers her wares, old weapons of betrayal, etc.]
"Mephistopheles: Good Aunty, you're quite out of date!
What's done is past, what's past is done.
Get in a stock of novelties!
By novelties only are we won."
"A young witch: Powder, like a petticoat,
Suits gray and wrinkled faces,
So I sit naked on my goat
And show my body's graces."
"With utmost pleasure I have come,
Well pleased with all I view!
Since from the devils I foretell
The way of angels, too."
"The shooting star: Down from the heights I darted fast,
Trailing sparks and fire;
Now I lie crumpled in the grass,
Who'll help to raise me higher?"
"Mephistopheles: Once more we are at our wit's end, since we have reached the border line where human senses fail. Why do you seek our companionship if you cannot see it through? You wish to fly, yet you are not immune from dizziness? Come, come! Did we thrust ourselves upon you or you upon us?"