Chapter III: Part 3

Oh, no harm. You might have seen him when you came this morning If you had waited. You can see him here. He wanted to be in this room again, And I make no objection. Well, good-bye.

[_The doctor goes out. Brander moves restlessly
about the room. A moment later, the door on the
left opens, and Faust, reclining in an invalid's
chair, is wheeled into the room by the butler. He
is clad in a long dressing-gown; he is very pale.
The butler, after placing the chair before the
fireplace, goes out. Brander remains doubtfully in
the background; Faust does not observe his
presence._

FAUST

Again these walls!--home to what barren dreams!-- And home to me! O dreams and bitterness, How are you gilded by this setting light Of afternoon! Meseems I have not been Happy save here, where all unhappiness Of mine had source and root. That forest holds Now nothing grievous to my eyes that see What once they saw not. Sweetness like the light Of setting suns now lingers over it In my enchambering memory-- Life, life With all its glow and wonder pours a flood On this strait room whence I have watched the world-- Whence I must go with all my love and wonder As though no love and wonder I had won.

[_Faust bends his head, sinking into a daze of
thought. Brander doubtfully approaches him, and at
last touches his shoulder._

BRANDER

I have been heavy-hearted; but that thus I find you, overwhelms me....

FAUST

Why thus sad
Over milk so irrevocably spilled?

BRANDER

I cannot utter what is in my heart. It is as though I had with my own hand Stricken you down. And yet I did not dream Of what would follow.... O Faust, Faust, forgive me!

FAUST

Forgive you? Aye, and thank you! Greater things Hung imminent than you dreamed of. For you set Wild lightnings free in me that smote the dark Furled round me; and they grew and flashed and flamed Even as I fell. Aye, Brander, you who strove For my salvation should rejoice at last-- Now, past all doubts and wanderings, I am saved!

BRANDER

Saved! Ah, impossible!

FAUST

Saved! And the light Of glory fills me, though my physical frame Totters on dissolution. I believe!... The night is over.

BRANDER

Faust! O dearest friend! My heart refuses now to grasp such joy. If it were possible! Can, can it be That God has bent once more, and with cool touch Dispelled the feverous mists? Oh, I could weep With happiness to dream it!

FAUST

Nay, my words Mean more than you interpret. I am saved-- Not as you count salvation. Nay, I come To one last refuge, finding all others vain. The common joys, the peace of nescience, The trust in some far Will, the hope to flame A beacon in the darkness of men's dreams: Driven forth from these, one citadel still lifts Heaven-fronting: there I stand, delivered, free, Master again--that citadel, my soul. I have escaped from all the bondages; And now bow down to nothing. Joy or pain, Defeat or conquest, good or evil, now Lure me no more. I will put hope in nothing Save in that whole strange glistening mortal life That past me streams unto an end sublime Whereof you know not. All our ends are folly, And win not what they seek; yet there is joy In seeking; and one end there is that shows A brighter glow. I am the watcher set Upon the heights. In my impassioned sight All life is holy that strives unto life: Death only is damnation. I will be More happy than the happiest man, more strong Than is the strongest! I will climb on the neck Of this great monster, Life, and guide its course-- For I am master--toward that end I see Hidden afar off.

BRANDER

You are sick and spent.
I should not thus--

FAUST

Fear not; I do not wander. Or can you understand? No, no, you cannot. And yet some tenderness from days long past Stirs in me with a hope for you once more-- Hear me for one last time.

[_Faust touches a bell. The butler enters._

FAUST

Bring to me, please, That large black-covered manuscript I wrote Last night until the doctor took it from me. It is among the papers on my desk.

[_The butler searches, finds the note-book and
places it on the table beside Faust. The butler
goes out. Faust sits turning over the pages of the
manuscript._

FAUST

Here to posterity I bequeath my soul-- Worthless, perhaps, as heritage, but the all I have to give to them I love so much. These pages shall cry kinship to the few Who, finding solace nowhere, yet shall find Solace in fierce destruction that assails The folly and the madness of mankind.

(_He begins to read from the manuscript_)

Satan recedes; but thou who seemest near-- O unborn man, whose soul is of my soul, Whose glory is of my glory--all my love Floods out like light from the down-going sun Toward thee, the nursling of a lofty line. Thou art my faith--man the divine to come-- Man whom I loathe for that which he is not-- Man, even now half divine because of all That shall spring from him in the days to be. Thou, too, shalt fight with Satan, as I fought, Yea, in eternal battles till the end. Thou shalt go with him past the lure of lust, The lure of power, the lure of that great sleep Nirvana; past the yet more luring sleep Where dreams assuage the soul to be a dream. Thou shalt go with him, yet apart from him And all his works. He has no part in thee. He is the chaos seething at earth's core-- Remnant of times when out of chaos sprang Life's upward impulse. He is the darkness spread Ere yet was light--the matter ere was form-- The vast inertia that on motion's heels Clings viper-like. Of life and form and growth He is negator; and his ceaseless joy Is to impede and drag to chaos back The shoot that toward the light triumphant springs.

But vain his victories, though he lingers yet With slowly narrowing frontiers. Past his will, Slowly the sons of light transcend, remould Their day and destiny; slowly there is born Order from chaos, flowers from formless mud, Light from the darkness, Faust's from Satan's soul.

With laughing and with wonder and with triumph I take that life and clasp it to my breast-- I, part of all, and all a part of me-- Streaming a river flashing in the sun. I am drunk with the glory of that which tramps me down And passes and transcends me--and is mine!

I, one with thee, O child of Flame, behold Thy harvest--when the passion of the years Turns earthward, and in mastered order sets The house that is our dwelling. And therein, In the gold light of summer afternoons, With thee I too, careless and laughing, play Mid dreams and wonders that our will has made-- Bathe in the beauty that our eyes have poured Upon the hills--and drink in thirsty draughts The happiness we have rained upon the earth.

I see, with ultimate unshaken vision! I see the earthly paradise; I see Men winged with wonder on the future throne Up infinite vistas where life's feet shall climb. Out of the dust, out of the plant and worm, Out of ourselves about whose feet still clings The reptile-slime of our creation--lo! Our children's children rise; and all my love Draws toward them and the light upon their brows. This is my faith; this is my happiness; This is my hope of heaven; this is my God.

BRANDER

The eternal God in heaven forgive you this!

FAUST

The Devil I can foil, but not my friends! Strange allies to his cause! Well, dusk was long My portion; now all gathering storms of hate Are less than naught to me. Six months ago, When here I stood that memorable night, My gloom was starless; now one fiery star Pierces it. And this broken frame of mine Cannot annul that much of victory-- The solace born of passion to destroy That shall survive me if indeed I die. Alone my life was lived; if now I go, It is alone into a quiet grave Above whose mound the fairer future days Shall pass, and I not know them. Yet my night Takes foregleam from the vision of that dawn And I am solaced. And I leave my solace As heritage to the ever widening few Who after me shall triumph more than I In dawns of flaming.

BRANDER

O my friend, my friend, I would my tongue could cry as my heart cries-- Turn back from darkness before the hour has struck! Even yet may mercy fold you. God is great And tender; and perhaps His love may clasp Even your aloofness, if at last your heart Calls in repentance to Him. O Faust, Faust, Sink your vain pride of spirit--kneel to Him-- Beseech His mercy ere it is too late!

FAUST

I am no melancholy death-bed scene To claim your tears, dear Brander. Doubtless days Of infinite scope lie yet before me, since No oracle has foretold that I shall die. But if I die, then go I singing down, Not praying or repentant, to my grave. I would smite again the altar! I would smite The hearts bowed before it; all the world And the Beyond-world would I rend, having seen Serpents in their secret places.

BRANDER

Has no breath Of heavenly love touched this corrosive core Of hell-fire in you?

FAUST

There is none whose power
Is half so mighty.

BRANDER

Through last night's long hours, Poor Midge, alone and comfortless, wept out Her heart, believing all that you had said. And when I spoke to her, she cried: "Go, go! I am lost where none can help me; all my dreams Shudder and perish, even as he has perished; Yet they shall live again--but he will die!" ... Thus darkness falls from you upon men's hearts. I know not if God's deep forgiving love To such as you is granted....

FAUST

Midge could tell A truer tale. Her eyes were full of light And wonder as she heard me.

BRANDER

And she now
Weeps comfortless!

FAUST

And shall I then regret? Is her soul yours, that you appraise and know? Life stirs in her: and like the agonies Of all life's birth, it shakes her: yet one day She shall rise strong, sister to mighty winds, A new and holy wonder in her eyes. Tell her from me that I have not forgotten My promise in the church that I would come. But if I come not, let her come to me!-- Let her come with me on my luminous road.

BRANDER

Pity her, and the hosts that with her stand Shelterless from the blasts of your wild hate.

FAUST

Who loves must hate, who hates must burn with love.... I hate the world; but like the breath of life, Sustaining me even yet a little while, Is my surpassing love for its great hopes. Aye, in the hour when I knew myself alone, My hate cried: Smite!--because of thy great love For one irradiant form that is to be. Now is my hate a lamp of tenderness-- Now I destroy because I love beyond-- I build, I triumph with bright domes that rise In laughing loveliness into the morning!

BRANDER

I love you and I pity you--and I go.

FAUST

We shall not meet again.

[_Brander goes out._

FAUST

He will go down
Not singing, no, not singing!...

(_He once more takes up the manuscript, and turns
to the last pages_)

And now, when from my shoulders like a load Begins to slip the weariness of life, And a new vigor fills me--now it seems That death is hovering close. O Grisly One, Whom once I thought a not unwelcome guest To my cold troubled house, I am not glad To hear thy steps without. For in my halls Lights kindle, and the music sobs and sings In ecstasy of other guests than thee....

(_He takes up his pen and turns to the end of the
manuscript, as if to write_)

Can this poor strength suffice me to complete These final words? Nay, better to leave unsaid The few last lines my vanity desires To tell and justify my end and fall Like flourish of bright trumpets. Let them sleep Unuttered; for the burden of my song Is voiced already in these labored leaves; And it is well, unfinished and unclosed Should stop this record, whose concluding words Of fairer hope, of sheerer miracle, Some greater hand than mine shall some day write And seal the chronicle--nay, never seal it!

[_The butler enters._

BUTLER

There is a man waiting to see you, sir.

FAUST

Let him come in.

BUTLER

I beg your pardon, sir--
Can I do nothing for you?

FAUST

Thank you, nothing.

[_The butler goes out again, Satan enters. He is
dressed in a long black cloak of foreign cut; for
the first time, he has the look of sinister majesty
appropriate to the Prince of Hell._

SATAN

Master, your slave is here!

FAUST

This fooling still?

SATAN

What little service would my conqueror wish?

FAUST

Peace from your childish talk. The game is done. Quite well you knew that, came I victor forth, I would not, for all treasure in the world, Have such an one as servant, who can serve No end that I desire.

SATAN

Aha! At last Light penetrates that cobwebbed cranium, And I can laugh in public! All these months, I several times have come perilously near Bursting with mirth at the rare spectacle.

FAUST

Pray you, laugh freely.

SATAN

Nay, my mirth is spent. My heart is moved even toward an enemy, When on his head defeat its torrent pours. I offer you my sympathy.

FAUST

My thanks
Are in appropriate measure tendered you.

SATAN

Distrust me not, for lo, the game is done-- There are no battles more, no testings more To set between us. From the heart of life Have forces risen--aye, from the people's breast!-- To seal the measure of defeat; and now Why shall we quarrel further?

FAUST

Why, indeed?

SATAN

I hear that you are working on a book Recounting your adventures with the Devil. I hope 'tis finished: it had better be! You will not write large libraries, my friend, In what of life remains to you.

FAUST

It is
Completed wholly.

SATAN

May I look at it?

FAUST

You may not.

SATAN

Ah, 'tis a surprise for me!

FAUST

Possibly.

SATAN

Well, you work late into dusk. Dusk falls about you; soon the night will come, And silence.... Has an oracle in your heart Whispered the tidings of that night? Or have The pages of the prophets told to you What waits within that darkness?

FAUST

There waits sleep. But I have lived, and do not fear life's last Inevitable word.

SATAN

My lips are sealed, Though I would fain prepare you for that first And awful moment when, beyond death's gates, You see and know--for now you do not know-- What there awaits you. You have seen the grave; You know the dissolution and decay That folds the body as it mouldering lies After the racking of those final hours Where soul and body part. But have you guessed That--as the body rots without the soul-- So the soul crumbles in a vile decay You cannot picture, when the body dies? Then falls the spirit limb from reeking limb. An agony beyond all mortal thought Shakes every atom of the spiritual frame-- The throes of dissolution. Death, indeed, All men can bear; but this last spiritual death, This torture of the disembodied soul To force dissolving--ah, prepare yourself! It shall appall you!

FAUST

If it comes, it comes.

SATAN

We have been foes; but now I speak as friend. This shall not come to you! 'Tis in my power To save you from this uttermost horror's grasp. For I have gift of perfect dreamless sleep; And those to whom I give shall after death Slumber unconscious while the awful change Attacks them; and oblivion shall be theirs Unbroken stretching from the final hour.

FAUST

That were a boon not easily despised.

SATAN

It shall be yours! My crushed and broken foe Shall never at my hand lack final rest Where nightmares cannot come. As honest foes We shall be quit. And for this priceless gift I ask but that you give me, as remembrance, That book which you have wrought concerning me.

FAUST

Why still so eager?

SATAN

Eager? I am not.

FAUST

Satan, my soul still sees, though death has drawn Its curtains round my body. You have sought With long endeavor to enslave my will To nothingness; now would you doom to dark My sublimated soul, my written word, My force immortal....

(_He takes up the pen_)

This, Satan, is your answer--

(_He writes on the last sheet of the manuscript_)

"With this last word I close my testament: 'Man, work thy will, and God shall come of thee.'"

SATAN

Poor thwarted fool, who would not take my lures, Being far too wise! Yet dustward now he turns, And where Faust stood shall nothingness survive!

FAUST

Approach me not: I have grown sanctified. Loathing the night and dreaming of the dawn, I claim some kinship with the Eternal Power Which in the dust, the daisy and the star Moves onward in its self-ordainèd sway-- Life everlasting. Through my veins it sweeps, Bearing me onward; and as I am borne, I onward urge, till my short day be done And I fall spent; and over me the wave Sweeps on its way immortal; and my soul Partakes of that lost immortality.

SATAN

Dreamer, whose dreams shall soon be choked with dust!

FAUST (_slowly rising_)

I am that dreamer to whose mounting dreams No bounds are set, no region which my will May not reach out toward. And I will create-- I, and the souls that after me shall come-- By passion of desire a pillar of flame Above the wastes of life. If no God be, I will from my deep soul create a God Into the universe to fight for me!

(_He sinks back_)

SATAN

How strong a master! Why not slay me now? Put forth your strength, and try how great it be!

FAUST

Though dying, I am master. But you still Are jester, even at death-beds--knowing well I have no power to slay you. You retreat But perish not; the sphere of your domain Contracts, but it endures immortally. Have done with jesting: look me in the eyes! Acknowledge me, and all high heritors Who shall succeed me, your eternal foe, Your eternal victor in half-victories-- But never your destroyer to the last.

SATAN

I thank all prophets for their prophecy! But I shall still remain?...

FAUST

You shall remain....

SATAN

I shall remain!...

[_Faust and Satan sit silent, watching each other
steadily. Faust closes his eyes, then suddenly
raises himself in his chair._

FAUST

Ah, what a ghastly dream! Ghastly, for all its cold and lofty state. Nay, what have I to do with yearning thoughts Of immortality? I am young with life! I shall not die! Hope and the eager years Of labor rise before me as I press Clear of these shadows. I have dreamed dark dreams-- One very dark of late--but now my blood Resurges in a not less passionate fire Than when, less wise, I stretched my hands to life, And all my hopes were winged. But that is past; And dreams are past: the day of deed is come. Aye, in the cities, on the hills of the world, I shall uplift the banner of high wars-- I shall make mock of this strange dizziness-- I shall live--and Death retreats from me afraid!

SATAN

What! Then I'll do his office!

FAUST

Spare your pains The tide of strength recedes, swift as it came.... Oldham! I cannot die! I cannot die!... And I am dying....

[_Faust sinks back with closed eyes. The door opens
softly and the butler enters, followed by Midge who
carries an armful of flowers. She looks around the
room, bewildered; then crosses quickly to Faust's
chair._

SATAN

Madam, you come too late.

[_Faust opens his eyes--and, lifting the
manuscript, with feeble hand holds it out to her._

FAUST

No, not too late.... Touch me across the dusk--

[_Midge, shaken and faltering, clasps the book to
her. Doubtfully she touches his shoulder. Faust,
slightly smiling, closes his eyes._

CURTAIN