wave and fling their caps up in the air
1020
and almost fall upon their knees
as if the Host were passing by.
FAUST.
A few more steps up to that rock,
then let us rest from our wanderings.
Here, deep in thought, I often sat alone
and racked myself with fast and prayer.
Rich in hope, and firm in faith,
with tears and sighs and wringing hands
I sought to wrest from the Lord in Heaven
the means to end the pestilence.
1030
The crowd’s acclaim now sounds like mockery.
Oh, could you read my inmost soul,
you’d find how little son and father
were worthy of the folk’s acclaim.
My father, man of darkling honor,
brooded about Nature’s sacred spheres
in deep sincerity, yet in peculiar fashion,
and with a crank’s obsessive zeal,
within a circle of adepts
ensconced himself in his black kitchen
1040
and sought to fuse two hostile elements, or more,
according to his endless recipes.
A daring wooer called Red Lion
was wedded to the Lily in a tepid bath;
both were exposed to open, searing flames
and driven hapless to another Bridal Chamber. 11
When thereupon in cheerful colors
the youthful Queen shone in her flask:
that was the medication; the patients died,
and no one asked: Did anyone get better?
1050
And so with our hellish potions
we raged about these plains and mountains
and were more deadly than the plague.
I myself administered the poison;
I saw thousands wilt, and now must live to see
how praise is heaped upon the shameless killers.
WAGNER.
How can you yield to such depression!
A worthy man can do no more
than execute with care and strict conformity
the art which was bequeathed to him.
1060
If one reveres his father as a youth,
one will accept his teachings eagerly,
and if you gain advances for your science,
your son may yet attain to higher goals.
FAUST.
Oh, happy he who still can hope in our day
to breathe the truth while plunged in seas of error!
What we don’t know is really what we need,
and what we know is of no use to us whatever!
But the radiance of this hour
must not be marred by gloomy thoughts.
1070
Mark the shimmering huts in green surroundings,
basking in the evening sunlight’s glow.
It fades and sinks away; the day is spent,
the sun moves on to nourish other life.
Oh, if I had wings to lift me from this earth,
to seek the sun and follow him!
Then I should see within the constant evening ray
the silent world beneath my feet,
the peaks illumined, and in every valley peace,
the silver brook flow into golden streams.
1080
No savage peaks nor all the roaring gorges
could then impede my godlike course.
Even now the ocean and its sun-warmed bays
appear to my astonished eyes.
When it would seem the sun has faded,
a newborn urge awakes in me.
I hurry off to drink eternal light;
before me lies the day, behind the night,
the sky above me, and the seas below.
A lovely dream; meanwhile the sun has slipped away.
1090
Alas, the spirit’s wings will not be joined
so easily to heavier wings of flesh and blood.
Yet every man has inward longings
and sweeping, skyward aspirations
when up above, forlorn in azure space,
the lark sends out a lusty melody;
when over jagged mountains, soaring over pines,
the outstretched eagle draws his circles,
and high above the plains and oceans
the cranes press onward, homeward bound.
WAGNER.
1100
I’ve had myself at times peculiar notions,
but never have I felt an urge like that.
One quickly has one’s fill of woods and meadows,
and I shall never envy birds their wings.
How differently the spirit’s higher pleasures
buoy us up through many books and pages!
Those wintry nights hold charm and beauty,
a blessed life warms every limb,
and ah! when we unroll a precious parchment,
the very skies come down to us.
FAUST.
1110
You’re conscious only of a
1020
and almost fall upon their knees
as if the Host were passing by.
FAUST.
A few more steps up to that rock,
then let us rest from our wanderings.
Here, deep in thought, I often sat alone
and racked myself with fast and prayer.
Rich in hope, and firm in faith,
with tears and sighs and wringing hands
I sought to wrest from the Lord in Heaven
the means to end the pestilence.
1030
The crowd’s acclaim now sounds like mockery.
Oh, could you read my inmost soul,
you’d find how little son and father
were worthy of the folk’s acclaim.
My father, man of darkling honor,
brooded about Nature’s sacred spheres
in deep sincerity, yet in peculiar fashion,
and with a crank’s obsessive zeal,
within a circle of adepts
ensconced himself in his black kitchen
1040
and sought to fuse two hostile elements, or more,
according to his endless recipes.
A daring wooer called Red Lion
was wedded to the Lily in a tepid bath;
both were exposed to open, searing flames
and driven hapless to another Bridal Chamber. 11
When thereupon in cheerful colors
the youthful Queen shone in her flask:
that was the medication; the patients died,
and no one asked: Did anyone get better?
1050
And so with our hellish potions
we raged about these plains and mountains
and were more deadly than the plague.
I myself administered the poison;
I saw thousands wilt, and now must live to see
how praise is heaped upon the shameless killers.
WAGNER.
How can you yield to such depression!
A worthy man can do no more
than execute with care and strict conformity
the art which was bequeathed to him.
1060
If one reveres his father as a youth,
one will accept his teachings eagerly,
and if you gain advances for your science,
your son may yet attain to higher goals.
FAUST.
Oh, happy he who still can hope in our day
to breathe the truth while plunged in seas of error!
What we don’t know is really what we need,
and what we know is of no use to us whatever!
But the radiance of this hour
must not be marred by gloomy thoughts.
1070
Mark the shimmering huts in green surroundings,
basking in the evening sunlight’s glow.
It fades and sinks away; the day is spent,
the sun moves on to nourish other life.
Oh, if I had wings to lift me from this earth,
to seek the sun and follow him!
Then I should see within the constant evening ray
the silent world beneath my feet,
the peaks illumined, and in every valley peace,
the silver brook flow into golden streams.
1080
No savage peaks nor all the roaring gorges
could then impede my godlike course.
Even now the ocean and its sun-warmed bays
appear to my astonished eyes.
When it would seem the sun has faded,
a newborn urge awakes in me.
I hurry off to drink eternal light;
before me lies the day, behind the night,
the sky above me, and the seas below.
A lovely dream; meanwhile the sun has slipped away.
1090
Alas, the spirit’s wings will not be joined
so easily to heavier wings of flesh and blood.
Yet every man has inward longings
and sweeping, skyward aspirations
when up above, forlorn in azure space,
the lark sends out a lusty melody;
when over jagged mountains, soaring over pines,
the outstretched eagle draws his circles,
and high above the plains and oceans
the cranes press onward, homeward bound.
WAGNER.
1100
I’ve had myself at times peculiar notions,
but never have I felt an urge like that.
One quickly has one’s fill of woods and meadows,
and I shall never envy birds their wings.
How differently the spirit’s higher pleasures
buoy us up through many books and pages!
Those wintry nights hold charm and beauty,
a blessed life warms every limb,
and ah! when we unroll a precious parchment,
the very skies come down to us.
FAUST.
1110
You’re conscious only of a
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