Faust: A Tragedy, Parts One and Two

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I will drag him deep into debauchery Where all proves shallow, meaningless, I’ll have him writhing, ravening, berserk;

Woman unrivaled, beauty absolute! Can such things be, a creature made perfectly? The body so indolently stretched out there Surely epitomizes all that is heavenly. Can such a marvel inhabit down here?

Nice to have but little worth. 2850 Men praise you, do it half in pity, What’s on their minds is money, money. Gold is their god, all— Oh us poor people!

Help me, Devil, please, to shorten The anxious time I must go through! Let happen quick what has to happen! Let her fate fall on me, too, crushingly, And both together perish, her and me!

In the end we are dependent on The very creatures we ourselves created.