O love, in mercy, now, thy
swiftest
pinions grant me!
Faust, a Tragedy by Goethe
_Mephistopheles [approaching the fire_]. And what's this pot?
_The monkeys_. The dunce! I'll be shot!
He knows not the pot,
He knows not the kettle!
_Mephistopheles_. Impertinence! Hush!
_The monkey_. Here, take you the brush,
And sit on the settle!
[_He forces_ MEPHISTOPHELES _to sit down_. ]
FAUST
[_who all this time has been standing before a looking-glass,
now approaching and now receding from it_].
What do I see? What heavenly face
Doth, in this magic glass, enchant me!
O love, in mercy, now, thy swiftest pinions grant me!
And bear me to her field of space!
Ah, if I seek to approach what doth so haunt me,
If from this spot I dare to stir,
Dimly as through a mist I gaze on her! --
The loveliest vision of a woman!
Such lovely woman can there be?
Must I in these reposing limbs naught human.
But of all heavens the finest essence see?
Was such a thing on earth seen ever?
_Mephistopheles_. Why, when you see a God six days in hard work spend,
And then cry bravo at the end,
Of course you look for something clever.
Look now thy fill; I have for thee
Just such a jewel, and will lead thee to her;
And happy, whose good fortune it shall be,
To bear her home, a prospered wooer!
[FAUST _keeps on looking into the mirror_. MEPHISTOPHELES
_stretching himself out on the settle and playing with the brush,
continues speaking_. ]
Here sit I like a king upon his throne,
The sceptre in my hand,--I want the crown alone.
THE ANIMALS
[_who up to this time have been going through all sorts of queer antics
with each other, bring_ MEPHISTOPHELES _a crown with a loud cry_].
O do be so good,--
With sweat and with blood,
To take it and lime it;
[_They go about clumsily with the crown and break it into two pieces,
with which they jump round_.
