LIESCHEN.
| If she hooks him after all, she won’t fare well.
|
| The boys will tear her wreath from her
|
| and scatter chaff before the door.
36
|
| (
Exits
.)
|
GRETCHEN
(
returning home
)
.
| How once I felt so high and mighty
|
| when some poor girl would go astray;
|
| a stream of words flowed from my busy tongue
|
3580
| to rail at someone else’s sins.
|
| When it seemed black, I blackened it some more.
|
| I could never make it black enough,
|
| and blessed myself with head held high,
|
| and now it’s me who’s steeped in sin.
|
| Yet—everything that drove me to this pass
|
| was good, my God!—and ah, so sweet!
|
BY THE RAMPARTS
In a niche of the city wall, a shrine with a picture of the Mater Dolorosa. Earthen jugs filled with flowers stand before it
.
GRETCHEN
(
placing fresh flowers in the jugs
).
| Incline,
|
| O Merciful,
|
| Thy grieving countenance to me!
|
3590
| With sword in heart—
|
| A thousandfold pain—
|
| Thy gaze rests on His death.
|
| Thine eyes seek Our Father.
|
| Thy sighs ascend
|
| For His grief and Thine.
|
| How they rage
|
| Deep in my marrow,
|
| The pangs of my heart!
|
| Who can gauge and who assuage
|
3600
| My pain and my tears?
|
| Thou, oh, Thou alone!
|
| Wherever I go,
|
| Such woe! Such woe! Such woe
|
| I feel in my breast!
|
| No sooner alone,
|
| I weep, I weep, I weep;
|
| My heart is pierced within.
|
| The flowers in my window,
|
| I quenched them with my weeping;
|
3610
| I gathered them this morning
|
| And placed them for Thy keeping.
|
| When the early morning sun
|
| Shone brightly in my room,
|
| I had risen from my pillow,
|
| Deep in the grip of doom.
|
| Help me! Save me from my shame and death!
|
| Incline,
|
| O Merciful,
|
| Thy grieving countenance to me!
|
NIGHT
Street before Gretchen’s door
.
VALENTINE
(
a soldier
,
GRETCHEN
’s brother
)
.
3620
| When I and my companions were carousing
|
| and we all saw fit to boast a little,
|
| and would proudly raise our glasses
|
| to the choicest women in our town,
|
| the others drenched their praises deep in wine,
|
| with their elbows planted on the table,
|
| and I sat quietly and unconcerned,
|
| took in the swaggering and the noisy babble
|
| and stroked my beard and smiled in satisfaction.
|
| And with my hand around the brimming glass
|
3630
| I said: “To each his own, my boys!
|
| But tell me of a single maiden in our land
|
| who can measure up to Gretel, my dear sister,
|
| who can hold a candle to the girl?”
|
| And “clink!” and “clank!” “That’s so!” It made the round,
|
| and some exclaimed: “I think he’s right.
|
| She is the flower of all womankind!”
|
| And all the braggarts bit their lips.
|
| And now!—Oh, I could tear my hair
|
| and dash my head against the wall!—
|
3640
| The sneers and needlings I must bear!
|
| Any scamp can thumb his nose at me!
|
| And I must take it like a bankrupt gambler,
|
| sweating blood at every casual allusion.
|
| I’d smash them all to kingdom come
|
| if I could call them liars to their faces.
|
| What’s moving there? Who’s sneaking up the alley?
|
| That’s two of them, I think.
|
| If he’s the one, I’ll break his neck!
|
| He’ll never leave this place alive!
|
| (
FAUST
,
MEPHISTOPHELES
.)
|
FAUST.
3650
| How from the window of the sacristy
|
| the flickering flame of the eternal light
|
| grows weak and weaker on this side
|
| and darkness presses in about us—
|
| and night is spreading in my bosom.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| And I feel like a lonesome cat
|
| that prowls about the fire ladders
|
| and brushes stealthily along the walls;
|
| I feel quite virtuous at that,
|
| a little thievish, somewhat lecherous to boot.
|
3660
| Even now the glorious spirit of Walpurgis Night
37
|
| is spooking through my bone and marrow.
|
| Two nights from now will be the happy time
|
| when insomnia is delightful and worthwhile.
|
FAUST.
| The treasure I see glimmering over there—
|
| will it rise above the ground?
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Very soon you will be pleased
|
| to raise the little pot yourself.
|
| Just recently I took a squint
|
| and beheld some splendid Lion-Dollars.
38
|
FAUST.
3670
| And did you see some jewelry, some gems,
|
| that might adorn my sweetheart’s bosom?
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Yes, I saw a thing like that among the stuff,
|
| something like a string of precious pearls.
|
FAUST.
| That’s excellent! I should be very sorry
|
| to go to her without some presents.
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| You ought not feel such great distaste if now and then
|
| you can enjoy your pleasures free of charge.
|
| Now that the heavens glow with many stars,
|
| listen to my latest composition:
|
3680
| I will sing for her this moral ditty
|
| to make her putty in your hands.
|
| (
Sings accompanying himself on the zither
.)
|
| Why are you here
|
| When daylight’s near,
|
| My little Catherine dear,
|
| Before your lover’s door?
|
| He lets you in,
|
| You enter a maid,
|
| You slip through the door,
|
| A maid no more.
|
3690
| If you don’t run,
|
| It will be done;
|
| Your virtue gone,
|
| You poor, poor thing!
|
| There will be grief,
|
| His love is brief;
|
| Don’t love the thief,
|
| Except with a ring on your finger.
39
|
VALENTINE
(
coming forward
)
.
| What are you piping? Hell and fire!
|
| Damn the Hamlin Piper! Blast your hide!
|
3700
| To the devil with your zither first,
|
| and then to hell with you, you troubadour!
|
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| The zither’s smashed; so much for that, my friend.
|
VALENTINE.
| And now I’ll split your head wide open!
|
MEPHISTOPHELES
(
to
FAUST
).
| Don’t flinch, professor! At him now!
|
| Stay close by me and follow as I lead.
|
| Whip out your trusty feather duster
|
| and thrust it home! I’ll parry his attack.
|
VALENTINE.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
VALENTINE.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Gladly. Any more, my friend?
|
VALENTINE.
| I think you
|
| are the devil’s own disciple!
|
3710
| What’s that? My hand is growing lame!
|
MEPHISTOPHELES
(
to
FAUST
).
VALENTINE
(
falls
)
.
MEPHISTOPHELES.
| Now the lout is tame!
|
| Come away. It’s time to disappear;
|
| there’ll be a murderous hue and cry.
|
| I can handle the police quite well;
|
| the blood-ban,
40
though, is quite a different matter.
|
MARTHA
(
at the window
)
.
GRETCHEN
(
at the window
)
.
MARTHA
(
as above
)
.
| There’s cursing and scuffling. It’s a brawl!
|
THE CROWD.
| Someone’s lying there, dead!
|
MARTHA
(
coming out
)
.
| The murderers—did they get away?
|
GRETCHEN
(
coming out
)
.
THE CROWD.
GRETCHEN.
| Almighty God! What horror!
|
VALENTINE.
| I die. That’s quickly said
|
| and accomplished even quicker.
|
| Why do you women weep and wail?
|
| Come close and hear me to the end:
|
| (
All gather about him
.)
|
| My dear Gretchen, look, you are still young;
|
| you do not use your brains as yet,
|
| and now you’ve really made a mess of things.
|
| I’ll tell you in strict confidence:
|
3730
| You are a whore—you always were,
|
| and that’s all right with me.
|
