I am that Faust, and Spirit is my name!
Spirit.
Where life’s floods flow
And its tempests rave,
Up and down I wave,
Flit I to and fro!
Birth and the grave,
Life’s hidden glow,
A shifting motion,
A boundless ocean
Whose waters heave
Eternally;
Thus on the sounding loom of Time I weave
The living mantle of the Deity.
Faust.
Thou who round the wide world wendest,
Thou busy Spirit, how near I feel to thee!
Spirit.
Thou’rt like the spirit whom thou comprehendest,
Not me! [Vanishes.
Faust.
Not thee!
Whom, then?
I, image of the Godhead,
Dwarfed by thee! [Knocking is heard.]
O death!—’tis Wagner’s knock—I know it well,
My famulus; he comes to mar the spell!
Woe’s me that such bright vision of the spheres
Must vanish when this pedant-slave appears!
Scene II.
Enter Wagner in night-gown and night-cap; a lamp in his hand.
Wagner.
Your pardon, sir, I heard your voice declaiming,
No doubt some old Greek drama, and I came in,
To profit by your learned recitation;
For in these days the art of declamation
Is held in highest estimation;
And I have heard asserted that a preacher
Might wisely have an actor for his teacher.
Faust.
