Page:Kickerbocker Feb 1833 vol 1 no 2.djvu/16
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80
Horæ Germanicæ.
[Feb.
Then let thy chains assert their prey,
And swift perdition claim her right.
Then sound the knell, prepare the pall,
From thy obedience then be free;
The clock may stop, the pointer fall,
And time forever cease for me.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Think of it well, we shall remember this.
Mephistopheles.Faust. 'Tis just it should not be forgot.
But I am firm, your doubts dismiss,
Since slavery is at last my lot,
I care not who my master is.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Well, henceforth your amusement is the task
To which my powers and talents I must bring—
Only, since life is an uncertain thing,
Two lines in writing I'll be bold to ask.
Mephistopheles.Faust. What, Pedant, must thou have a writing too.
Unused with honest men to have to do,
Let it suffice thee that my spoken word
Shall bind my soul like a recorded vow;
Though in this reckless world it seems absurd
That forms of promise should appal me now.
Yet such a weakness still the heart retains,
So unresolv'd, enslav'd, our feeble minds.
Ah, happier those where stedfast Truth remains,
And late repentance no admission finds;
But a sealed bond, in vulgar eyes, maintains
Its rank with bugbears and portentous signs.
Well, pens must supersede the word,
Which wax and parchment can record.
Come, demon, bring thy tablets on,
Thy paper, parchment, ore, or stone;
With chisel, pencil, or, with quill
I'll write, to me 'tis all the same.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Nay, thus your dazzling rhetoric still
Shoots far beyond its mark and aim—
Come, any scrap you please is good,
Just sign it with a drop of blood.
Mephistopheles.Faust. Well, well, I'm in the yielding mood,
So pray play out your silly game.
Mephistopheles.Meph. 'Tis a strange juice this ink of ours.
Mephistopheles.Faust. Well, fear not but I hold my vow.
The earnest aim of all my powers,
Is that which I have promis'd now.
Once I aspired, but now despair
To loftier rank than thine to rise—
The loftier spirit mock'd my prayer,
And nature's secrets thock my eyes.
My thread of thought is snapp'd in twain—
My sicken'd heart finds knowledge vain—
And now, let passion sound and try
The very inmost depths of feeling,
From mystery's secret veil revealing,
The wonders that beneath it lie.
Adown the stream, now rushing by,
Of time and change, our bark shall fly—
And so let joy and care,
And fortune and despair,
Succeed, and arrive, and depart as they can,
But action and change are existence for man.
And swift perdition claim her right.
Then sound the knell, prepare the pall,
From thy obedience then be free;
The clock may stop, the pointer fall,
And time forever cease for me.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Think of it well, we shall remember this.
Mephistopheles.Faust. 'Tis just it should not be forgot.
But I am firm, your doubts dismiss,
Since slavery is at last my lot,
I care not who my master is.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Well, henceforth your amusement is the task
To which my powers and talents I must bring—
Only, since life is an uncertain thing,
Two lines in writing I'll be bold to ask.
Mephistopheles.Faust. What, Pedant, must thou have a writing too.
Unused with honest men to have to do,
Let it suffice thee that my spoken word
Shall bind my soul like a recorded vow;
Though in this reckless world it seems absurd
That forms of promise should appal me now.
Yet such a weakness still the heart retains,
So unresolv'd, enslav'd, our feeble minds.
Ah, happier those where stedfast Truth remains,
And late repentance no admission finds;
But a sealed bond, in vulgar eyes, maintains
Its rank with bugbears and portentous signs.
Well, pens must supersede the word,
Which wax and parchment can record.
Come, demon, bring thy tablets on,
Thy paper, parchment, ore, or stone;
With chisel, pencil, or, with quill
I'll write, to me 'tis all the same.
Mephistopheles.Meph. Nay, thus your dazzling rhetoric still
Shoots far beyond its mark and aim—
Come, any scrap you please is good,
Just sign it with a drop of blood.
Mephistopheles.Faust. Well, well, I'm in the yielding mood,
So pray play out your silly game.
Mephistopheles.Meph. 'Tis a strange juice this ink of ours.
Mephistopheles.Faust. Well, fear not but I hold my vow.
The earnest aim of all my powers,
Is that which I have promis'd now.
Once I aspired, but now despair
To loftier rank than thine to rise—
The loftier spirit mock'd my prayer,
And nature's secrets thock my eyes.
My thread of thought is snapp'd in twain—
My sicken'd heart finds knowledge vain—
And now, let passion sound and try
The very inmost depths of feeling,
From mystery's secret veil revealing,
The wonders that beneath it lie.
Adown the stream, now rushing by,
Of time and change, our bark shall fly—
And so let joy and care,
And fortune and despair,
Succeed, and arrive, and depart as they can,
But action and change are existence for man.