Читать книгу The Greatest German Classics (Vol. 1-14) - Various - Страница 1035

That you are master here is obvious quite;

To do your will, I'll cordially essay;

Only reflect! The hill is magic-mad tonight;

And if to show the path you choose a meteor's light,

You must not wonder should we go astray.

FAUST, MEPHISTOPHELES, IGNIS FATUUS (in alternate song)

Through the dream and magic-sphere,

As it seems, we now are speeding;

Honor win, us rightly leading,

That betimes we may appear

In yon wide and desert region!

Trees on trees, a stalwart legion,

Swiftly past us are retreating,

And the cliffs with lowly greeting;

Rocks long-snouted, row on row,

How they snort, and how they blow!

Through the stones and heather springing,

Brook and brooklet haste below;

Hark the rustling! Hark the singing!

Hearken to love's plaintive lays;

Voices of those heavenly days—

What we hope, and what we love!

Like a tale of olden time,

Echo's voice prolongs the chime.

To-whit! To-who! It sounds more near;

Plover, owl, and jay appear,

All awake, around, above?

Paunchy salamanders too

Peer, long-limbed, the bushes through!

And, like snakes, the roots of trees

Coil themselves from rock and sand,

Stretching many a wondrous band,

Us to frighten, us to seize;

From rude knots with life embued,

Polyp-fangs abroad they spread,

To snare the wanderer! 'Neath our tread,

Mice, in myriads, thousand-hued,

Through the heath and through the moss!

And the fire-flies' glittering throng,

Wildering escort, whirls along,

Here and there, our path across.

Tell me, stand we motionless,

Or still forward do we press?

All things round us whirl and fly,

Rocks and trees make strange grimaces,

Dazzling meteors change their places—

How they puff and multiply!