Status Updates From فاوست

Pater Seraphicus: Children, come and enter into
My old earth- accustomed eyes;
Through them you can look about you,
View the world that round you lies.

Care: You do, do you? Well, as I vanish,
Feel it in my parting curse at last.
The human race is blind from start to finish:
Blindness strike you down, too, Faust!

Faust: The man’s a fool who, gazing up, imagines
Above the clouds his like dwell in the heavens.
With feet well planted let him look about the earth,
This world speaks volumes to a man of worth.

Faust: I’ve still not won my freedom yet.
If only I could give up sorcery,
Unlearn my spells, put magic by entirely,
And face you, Nature, simply as a man,
It would be worth it being human then—

Faust: This, this, is the worst torment,
To have so much, yet still to want!

Faust: You’ve never heard of the mirages
Seen on Sicilian shores and marshes?
Visible in the bright day,
They hover halfway up the sky,
Reflections in the atmosphere.
Very strange these visions are—
Cities floating in the air,
Gardens, too— it’s all true, Sir!
Image image following,
Appearing and then disappearing.

Emperor: To play it safe, they reckon, is being shrewd;
Who cares for honor, duty, gratitude?
They see their neighbor’s house catch fire, burn,
And never think it might soon be their turn.

Mephisto: And right you are!
The priesthood’s bellies were their biggest care;

Faust:
I’d like to see the people prosper,
In their own fashion have some pleasure,
Learn to read, be educated
(So know how to foment rebellions).

Euphorion’s voice: [From below]
Mother, in drear darkness,
Don’t leave me alone!

Phorkyas: Those old tales have lost all meaning,
We aim at a higher goal:
From the soul must come the feeling
That can move another’s soul.

Proteus: All men do upon dry land
Is toil away without end—
The eternal sea suits life much better.
So off you go into the water
With your uncle Proteus,
Who changes to a dolphin— thus!
[He transforms himself.]

Humanculus: However—let me say, between us,
I’ve been following two famous
Men, philosophers the pair are,
Whose every word is “Nature! Nature!”
[Thales and Anaxagoras]

Thales: In wetness lies the origin of life.

Griffins: Gray, grim, grouchy, grudging, grisly, gruesome,
All etymologically alike in origin.

[Mephisto, to the audience] In the end we are dependent on
The very creatures we ourselves created.

[Mephisto] Spare me that, that’s ancient history!
A contest between tyranny and slavery.
It’s all so boring! No sooner one war’s done,
They start another one right up again,
And never notice, they’re so asinine,
Asmodeus it is who eggs them on.
It’s freedom that they fight for, each side says;
Look close, you see it’s slaves who fight with slaves.

[Mephisto, To the younger section of the audience, who have refrained from applauding.]
My words, I notice, leave you cold.
Well, never mind, you’re all good children.
Remember that the Devil’s old,
When you’re old, too, you’ll understand him.

[Mephisto] Go thy ways, rare genius, in your glory!
How chagrined you’d be to know
There’s nothing wise and nothing silly
Wasn’t thought of long ago

Faust: When once you’ve seen her you can’t live without her.

Helen appears.
Mephisto: So there she is! Well, I am not bowled over.
Pretty, yes, but not the type I favor.

Mephisto: Prompting is the Devil’s rhetoric.

[Herald]
O youth, O youth, will you learn ever
You must moderate your pleasure?
O Majesty, will you learn ever
Reason must consort with power?

[Gnomes]
It’s not our fault that things are so;
We bear with it, and you must, too.

[Herald]
He looks a king, rich as a shah.
Happy the man who wins his favor!
He’s got nothing more to strive for.
Where there’s a need, who spies it quicker?
The pleasure that he takes in giving
Means more to him than all his having.

[Clotho]
Lives devoid of any good use
Spun out to the very end;
Lives full of hope, of glorious promise,
Cut short and dragged underground.

[Mephisto] Aha, those accents! That’s a man of learning.
What you can’t touch, be sure it has no being,
What you can’t grasp, for you it counts as nothing,
What you can’t put in numbers, is a cheat,
What you can’t weigh, well then, it has no weight,
What you don’t mint yourself is counterfeit.

Here on earth
Is opportunity enough.

[Faust] I wish I had never been born.