Goethe's Faust (seventh section)

FAUST- THE TRAGEDY PART TWO

IN FIVE ACTS

FIRST ACT

CHARMING REGION

FAUST, BEDDED ON FLOWERING GRASS, ASLEEP,FATIGUED AND RESTLESS.

DAWN LIGHT

SPIRIT CIRCLE MOVING HOVERING, AS GRACEFUL SMALL FORMS.

ARIEL (singing, accompanied by the Aeolian Harp)

When the blossom showers of spring
Drift down over all we're seeing;
When green fields are shimmering,
Blessing every earth-born being;
Tiny elves, yet spirit-great,
Hurry, helping where they can,
Be he fair or foul they take
Pity on the luckless man.

So you who float in airy rings about
His head, reveal your noble elfin way;
Now soothe his heart's fierce turmoil and draw out
The burning, bitter arrows of remorse,
Purge from his depths the dread and dark dismay.
Four are the watches of night's course.
Now fill them up at once with friendly play.
First sink his head upon cool cushion's care
Then bathe him in the dew from Lethe's flow
And ease and loosen limbs, cramp-stiffened there,
If he's to rest to strength for day; full-show
Your elfin duty's fairest might,
Return him to the holy light.

CHORUS (Singly, in pairs and quartets, alternately and together)

When mild warming breezes drift
All through green-surrounded plains,
Sweetly scents, in veils of mist,
Sink with dusk's gold-fading flames.
Softly, sweetly whispers peace,
Rocking hearts to childlike rest;
And the eyes of weariness
Close day's portal doors at last.

Downwards night's already sinking,
Holy joining star on star,
Greater lights and smaller twinklings
Glitter near and shimmer far.
Here they glint in lake's reflecting,
There they shine in clearest night,
Sealing luck of deepest resting
Rules the moon's full-splendid light.

Now already hours are over,
Pain and bliss thus fade away.
Feel it fully! You recover;
Trust the gaze of new-born day.
Valleys grow green, hills seem swelling,
Bushes take shade-restful ways;
And in silver waves are welling
Crops that grow to harvest days.

To obtain wish after wish
Look but to clear light of day;
Slumber but soft-binds your bliss,
Sleep's a shell, cast it away!
Do not hesitate to dare
While the crowd still wavers there;
All is done by fine souls who
Comprehend and swiftly do.

A MIGHTY SOUNDING-FORTH ANNOUNCES THE NEARING OF THE SUN

ARIEL * to the elves*

Hear that! Hear the-storm of hours!
Tones that grow for spirit-hearing
From the new day's birth appearing.
Gates of rock now creak and rattle,
Phoebus' wheel-rims roll and crackle.
What a din brings light's rise near!
Trumpeting and drumming sounded,
Eyes will blink, ears be astounded,
What's unheard-of do not to hear.
Slip into each flowery bell,
Deeper, deep in stillness dwell,
In the rock, beneath a leaf,
If it strikes you, you'll feel deaf.

FAUST

Life's pulse is beating with new livingness
To softly greet ethereal first light.
O earth, you too were constant through this night,
And new-refreshed breathe where my feet now pass.
Already you envelope with delight;
You rouse and stir a strong determination
To ever strive towards higher realms of being.
Pale dawn yet lights the world for seeing,
The forest rings with thousand-voiced creation.
And in and out of valleys mist is streaming.
Yet heaven's clearness sinks into the deep,
And twig and branch, new-fresh, revived, burst forth
From fragrance-filled abyss of sunken sleep;
Hue after hue grow clear from background's source,
Where leaf and blossom drip with trembling pearls.
A paradise surrounds me in this world.

Look up! Great mountain peaks announce the sight
Of day's most festive, solemn hour. They glow,
As first to joy in everlasting light
That later will shine down on us below.
Yet now it bright-bestows new clarity
On Alpine meadows' green-descending ways;
Its downward rays arriving gradually.
The sun is out! Already it is blinding me.
Eyes stabbed by light, I turn away my gaze.

And so it is when, with new hope's aspiring,
We're happy striving towards the highest wish,
Fulfilment's doors swing open like wings flying,
Then from eternal depths bursts forth a mass
Of such excessive flame- we stand abashed;
We simply wished to light the torch of life...
A fire ocean circles us. What fire!

Is it love? Is it hate?the blaze surrounds our sight,
With pain and joy, vast-alternating higher;
So backwards towards the earth once more we gaze
To hide behind the veils of youthful haze;
So let the sun remain now at my back!
That waterfall that roars through clefts in rock,
I see it with a growing sheer delight-
From plunge to plunge in a thousand ways it flees
And then another thousand streams out-pour,
And foam on foam goes flying in the breeze.
How splendid! From this storming springs out more-
The many hues of rainbow's changing lasting,
Now purely drawn, now melting in the air,
As wide-around cool wafting showers are passing.
This mirrors human striving; this is giving
A sense to see and grasp most clearly there:
In coloured mirror-sheen we have the living.