Mr. Faust Part 16

SATAN

I would tell you all And show to you at last your destiny.

The vanities of the world, the woes and sins, Are but the acid by whose fiery touch I sort the gold from out the transient bra.s.s And purify and fine it that it be Worthy G.o.d's altar. My beloved friend, Such was your trial; thus have I tempted you With things averse to G.o.d, with forms and faiths Outcast and separate from Him. You have seen The whole world's vanities; you have come to know That in this world's illusion is no power Whose love is refuge: even the living death Of cold Nirvana frights you. Thus at last, Knowing that you are powerless, and the world Bare of salvation for your feebleness, You stand on this great threshold; and your eyes That see despair and loneliness shall raise Their sight to heaven; and peace shall fold you round; And G.o.d, who is our Father, shall be yours.

FAUST

This is not truth! My fevered eyes are weak To look into this glowing maze of fire With vision. All the ramparts of the world Reel round me. I have scoffed G.o.d all my days, Believing pain--your province of the world-- Proof of His non-existence. And you come Crying His glory, testifying His faith, Exhorting me to seek Him.... I am lost Where naught is known to me.

SATAN

He is your hope, Your sole salvation in a universe Where never other form shall comfort you-- A waif except for Him. So have all souls-- The holy and the pure--from age to age, Learned, homesick for His home. Their frustrate hopes, Their burdens heavier than by mortal strength Can be sustained, their impotence, bow down Each spirit: and it cries: "O G.o.d, support My helplessness; unto Thy perfect will Do I resign my vain and evil hopes, My burdens; and Thy Will Be Done Forever."

Thus, with arms folded on despairing breast, With head bowed to the inscrutable decree, They seek Him: and a sudden glory fills The humbled bosom; all His stars and thrones Shine down upon it; all His majesty Enters that lowly door, lifts up, sustains The sundered soul; and His beneficence With more than father-love enfolds the heart Joined to His own forever. From His light Reflected radiance pours; to the dark sight Comes glimpse of the high justice of G.o.d's will; And all roads lead to Heaven, and all hearts lie Within His love, and all's well with the world.

[_Deep organ music begins to roll through the arches of the cathedral. Candles are lighted one by one on the High Altar. Worshippers begin to enter the nave: they pa.s.s down the long central aisle and gather in groups at the far end, near the Altar. Faust stands leaning against a pillar, silent and lost in meditation.

Brander enters among the worshippers. He pa.s.ses the spot where Faust is standing, glances at him and stops, astonished._

BRANDER

You have come back! I had not heard of it.

Where have you been these many months? I long To talk with you.

FAUST

Yes, come and see me soon.

It's a long story.... I congratulate you Upon your marriage....

BRANDER

Then you know....

FAUST

She came And spoke to me a little while ago.

BRANDER

It must seem strange to you beyond my power Ever to quite unravel. But for me All things are clear; and to my blinded sight Morning has come--in this thing, as in all The doubts that once enslaved me.

FAUST

Do you mean...

BRANDER

Come here aside before the service starts.

I owe it you to tell you. I have changed In your long absence....

FAUST

These are curious words.

I do not understand.

BRANDER

To understand, You must hear all. You know my life--how vain Its occupations, how absorbed I moved In this day's folly and to-morrow's lure-- How petty trifles made my whole small round Of being--selfish trifles, nothing worth, Stained with a cruelty that I would forget.

That night we talked together--you and I And Oldham--in your rooms, I wandered home Sorely distressed. For you had stirred in me A gnawing doubt whether the whole of life Was not mere child's play.

FAUST

I am sorry if--

BRANDER

It was the kindest act man ever did In all my life! I peered into my heart: I saw myself Judas to innocence, Betraying lightly with a careless kiss A mortal body and immortal soul; I saw no thing in all my days to claim A sane man's approbation; one by one Each glittering bauble that I late had loved Crumbled to dust beneath the parching fire Of reason.... And that night, I walked in h.e.l.l.

FAUST

Poor Brander! And my mocking did all this?

BRANDER

Thank G.o.d for it! That night I saw my joys Like some rank thicket of bright vanities Masking a precipice. A sense of sin And loathing overcame me, and the power Of utter terror filled me. I beheld The evil riot of gross earthy things That had o'ergrown me. Like a burden lay That sense upon me, and it pressed me down To a despondence deep beyond all words, Beyond all thought. And no escape I saw Except the bullet....

FAUST

What a faith we pin Upon that bullet!

BRANDER

Thus the doubtful days Pa.s.sed like a nightmare. Till, one Sabbath morn, As restlessly I paced, some random mood Led me to enter this cathedral's doors At hour of service. As I knelt, with lips Unknown to prayer, the mighty music rolled Over my heart like an all-purging flood, And a voice chanted: "He that loveth life Shall lose it; he that hateth this world's life Shall keep the life eternal." And a voice Shortly thereafter sang, in angel tones: "Come, let our feet return unto the Lord; For He hath torn, and He will heal us." And My soul cried: "Yield thy burdens to the Lord, Upon His love cast thine unworthy self, And bid His Will Be Done."

And then my soul Melted as in the warmth of His embrace.

My guilt was gone like night before the sun: Light blinded me; an infinite love and joy Lifted me up, a child again, from earth Into such regions as my mortal speech Can never utter. And from that hour forth, G.o.d has been with me.... Now you know my tale.

FAUST

You teach me more of marvels than I guessed Was yet unlearned by me.

BRANDER

No words can teach These marvels to a heart that has not known G.o.d's glories.

FAUST Then this mystery of the heart Is what men mean when of the faith of G.o.d They speak? I thought 'twas dogma, service, prayer; But this is life, is vision.

BRANDER

Aye, and more!

Now do I walk in meadows of calm light; The love of G.o.d is over me; I faint Almost beneath its sweetness and wild joy.