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FROM FAUST.
I.
DEDICATION.
YE shadowy forms, again ye're drawing near,So wont of yore to meet my troubled gaze!
Were it in vain to seek to keep you here?
Loves still my heart that dream of olden days?
Oh, come then! and in pristine force appear,Parting the vapor mist that round me plays!
My bosom finds its youthful strength again, Feeling the magic breeze that marks your train.
Ye bring the forms of happy days of yore,And many a shadow loved attends you too;Like some old lay, whose dream was well nigh o'er,First-love appears again, and friendship true;Upon life's labyrinthine path once moreIs heard the sigh, and grief revives anew;The friends are told, who, in their hour of pride, Deceived by fortune, vanish'd from my side.
No longer do they hear my plaintive song,The souls to whom I sang in life's young day;Scatter'd for ever now the friendly throng,And mute, alas! each sweet responsive lay.
My strains but to the careless crowd belong,Their smiles but sorrow to my heart convey;And all who heard my numbers erst with gladness, If living yet, roam o'er the earth in sadness.
Long buried yearnings in my breast arise,Yon calm and solemn spirit-realm to gain;Like the AEONIAN harp's sweet melodies,My murmuring song breathes forth its changeful strain.
A trembling seizes me, tears fill mine eyes,And softer grows my rugged heart amain.
All I possess far distant seems to be, The vanish'd only seems reality.
II.
PROLOGUE IN HEAVEN.
THE ARCHANGELS' SONG.
RAPHAEL.
THE sun still chaunts, as in old time,With brother-spheres in choral song, And with his thunder-march sublimeMoves his predestined course along.
Strength find the angels in his sight,Though he by none may fathomed be;Still glorious is each work of mightAs when first form'd in majesty.
GABRIEL.
And swift and swift, in wondrous guise,Revolves the earth in splendour bright, The radiant hues of ParadiseAlternating with deepest night.
From out the gulf against the rock,In spreading billows foams the ocean,--And cliff and sea with mighty shock,The spheres whirl round in endless motion.
MICHAEL.
And storms in emulation growlFrom land to sea, from sea to land, And fashion, as they wildly howl,A circling, wonder-working band.
Destructive flames in mad careerPrecede Thy thunders on their way;Yet, Lord, Thy messengers revereThe soft mutations of Thy day.
THE THREE.
Strength find the angels in Thy sight,Though none may hope to fathom Thee;Still glorious are Thy works of might,As when first form'd in majesty.
III.
CHORUS OF ANGELS.
CHRIST is arisen!
Mortal, all hail!
Thou, of Earth's prisonDreary and frail, Bursting the veil,Proudly hast risen!
CHORUS OF WOMEN.
Rich spices and myrrh,To embalm Him we brought;His corpse to interHis true followers sought.
In pure cerements shrin'd,'Twas placed in the bier But, alas! we now findThat Christ is not here.
CHORUS OF ANGELS.
Christ is arisen!
Speechless His love.
Who to Earth's prisonCame from above, Trials to prove.
Now is He risen!
CHORUS OF YOUTHS.
Death's gloomy portalNow hath He rended,--Living, immortal,Heavenward ascended;Freed from His anguish,Sees He God's throne;We still must languish,Earthbound, alone.
Now that He's reft us,Heart-sad we pine;Why hast Thou left us,Master divine?
CHORUS OF ANGELS.
Christ is arisen,Death hath He slain;Burst ye your prison,Rend ye each chain!
Songs of praise lead ye,--
Love to show, heed ye,--
Hungry ones feed ye,--
Preaching, on speed ye,--
Coming joys plead ye,--
Then is the Master near, Then is He here!
IV.
CHORUS OF SPIRITS.
VANISH, dark clouds on high,Offspring of night!
Let a more radiant beam Through the blue ether gleam,Charming the sight!
Would the dark clouds on highMelt into air!
Stars glimmer tenderly,Planets more fairShed their soft light.
Spirits of heav'nly birth, Fairer than sons of earth, Quivering emotions trueHover above;Yearning affections, too,In their train move.
See how the spirit-band, By the soft breezes fann'd, Covers the smiling land,--Covers the leafy grove, Where happy lovers rove, Deep in a dream of love, True love that never dies!
Bowers on bowers rise,Soft tendrils twine;While from the press escapes, Born of the juicy grapes,Foaming, the wine;And as the current flows O'er the bright stones it goes,--Leaving the hilly landsFar, far behind,--Into a sea expands,Loving to wind Round the green mountain's base;And the glad-winged race,Rapture sip in, As they the sunny light, And the fair islands bright,Hasten to win, That on the billows play With sweet deceptive ray, Where in glad choral song Shout the exulting throng;Where on the verdant plainDancers we see, Spreading themselves amainOver the lea.
