THE SECOND ACT

The scene is the stone-paved courtyard of a ruined temple. In the centre lies a square pool, with wide rows of steps leading down to the water, now overgrown with lotus plants. Around the court rise long colonnades of pillars with grotesquely carven bases and capitals of luxuriant design. Beyond these appear green masses of dense tropical foliage, in which an occasional brilliant flower shines.

Faust, Satan and Oldham, all wearing white tropical dress and sun-helmets, are seated on fragments of fallen columns in front of the pool. Luncheon is spread before them. Oldham is lighting a cigarette; Faust is just finishing his meal; Satan is leaning back, contemplating the surrounding jungle. Two dark-skinned servants, wearing white robes and turbans, are beginning to bear away the repast.

OLDHAM

One's blood beats fuller in these tropic lands. Last night, as we were dining, where the beach With its plumed palm-trees sloped to meet the sea, And the white foam along the glassy waves Played in the evening light—I half believe I could have written love-songs. But to whom— That were a problem!

FAUST

Yes, one's brain is lit With fire beneath this sun. At night, the glow Is magical; but at this height of day, When all the branches and the flowers and rocks And the far glimmering rivers shake and writhe In the fierce blaze, I feel a hideous touch Of madness in it.

SATAN

Keep you to the shade! This is the pinnacle, the very noon Of summer in these lands. One hour of sun Unshaded—and poor Oldham and poor I Might have a maniac or a corpse as guest.

OLDHAM

I am not sure that I would help you with him. I might be elsewhere occupied. Last night I entertained myself with imaging A project which, if I adopted it, Would preëngage me.

SATAN

With a single guess, I'll tell you what it was.

OLDHAM

I give you twenty.

SATAN

You thought perhaps it would be nice to be The white bull we saw yesterday, and eat Without reproof from every vender's stall Throughout the whole bazar; and you intend Thus to disguise yourself, and try the sport.

OLDHAM

You hit it nearer than I thought you would! 'Twas something like that. I was wondering If, in this marvellous and lazy clime, It were not possible for one to take Twenty young beauties and a hundred slaves— Retire to some secluded isle of palms— And live without a thought, a wish, a hope, Drugged with the warmth, the languor and the light.

FAUST

Possible?—For a rabbit! Not for you.

SATAN

I am afraid you'd find it wearisome. Some like it; but not your kind.

FAUST

In this heat Even he grows crazy; and we, Satan, turn Unsympathetic creatures. Whew, this blaze Is getting worse! Can't we move on?

SATAN

We go No farther.

FAUST

Lovely residence!

SATAN

It is here That our long journey terminates, my friends. Upon this spot I trust, if all goes well, To give your long tried patience recompense.

FAUST

Recompense? I am sceptical of it! But we deserve this. None but idiots Would have come with you to this boiling land On a wild-goose chase; on each step of which One gets a fleeting panoramic view Of kinds of misery one did not guess Existed in the world. Those lepers, beggars, Cripples, fanatics, reptiles—all the swarms Of loathsome creatures we have passed—will haunt My dreams forever with new vivid masks Of nightmare. Recompense? There isn't any!

SATAN

Await the event. You shall have recompense.

OLDHAM

Satan, what is your meaning? What event Do you await here? You have been to us, Through our long journey, secretive and close Of all your purposes—from day to day Giving no hint of your to-morrow's plan Nor of our destination. Now, I think, Silence is not a virtue. Have we come In fact to our last halt?

SATAN

This is the spot Toward which our course unswervingly has aimed Since the first day. This vast and ruined shrine, Built in forgotten times to unknown gods, And now in timeless solitude enfolded, Has long been known to me. Here, in retreat From the world's noises, dwells a holy man, A wonder-worker of unfathomed power, Now long forgotten by the troubled world Except me only. 'Tis his aged hand Shall open to you those celestial gates We come to enter.

FAUST

Ah, a wonder-worker! Perhaps he will perform the mango trick, Or the rope-climbing, or the boy-in-the-basket? The jugglers here have been below report One hears of them.

SATAN

Put by your idle sneers. He is a prophet and a saint whose like The world can offer not. Upon his face You shall behold such utter holiness, Such sublimate devotion as shall shake Your hearts' foundations.

FAUST

Well, I can endure The meeting if he can.

OLDHAM

Satan, you choose Sometimes strange company. You often speak Of friendship with such men of holiness As much surprises me.

SATAN

If you were but A little wiser, you would understand That I have taught them much, at various times, That is of profit to them.

FAUST

Pray teach me A little something also.

SATAN

No, you think You know too much already.... Furthermore, You do not trust me; and I will not teach One who keeps restlessly, the whole day long, His eyes upon me, as though fearful I Were waiting to spring on him unawares!

FAUST

Oh, you exaggerate.

OLDHAM

Look through yonder palms! Someone is coming.

SATAN

He sees us! It is he! [Through the colonnade along the far side of the courtyard, there enters the Holy One, an aged man of venerable and sublime appearance, clad in a simple white robe. In his hand is a large copper bowl, which he carries with some care.

SATAN

He brings a bowl of water from the spring— The very bowl I gave him!

OLDHAM

What a face! What light, what soundless calm!

FAUST

He is, indeed, One of the ancient prophets....

SATAN

Holy One! Satan salutes you!

THE HOLY ONE

Satan—come again After so long? A little longer—then No carcass of illusion here shall wait To greet you.

SATAN

In the greatness of the sea All waves find home....

THE HOLY ONE

Yea, verily; and the deep Lies not far off. I am drawn nearer it Since last you came: I see its floods more clear, It laves me daily.... But what brings you back To my deserted dwelling from the press Where you are ever going to and fro Upon the earth?

SATAN

I came to seek for you, Whose feet are on the path of blessedness.

THE HOLY ONE

Ah, has illusion rent itself in twain For your sight also?

SATAN

Ask me not. I come Not on my mission, but on theirs....

THE HOLY ONE

On theirs! And who are your companions?

SATAN

Friends, who seek What you have found.

THE HOLY ONE

They have not in their eyes Wholly the look of Seekers. Passion lurks Along their ruddy lips.... And yet, who knows?

FAUST

I offer you our greetings, reverend sir. A long way have we come to meet with you, By Satan led.

THE HOLY ONE

And what would you with me?

FAUST

Paradise! Paradise!

THE HOLY ONE

Too hotly spoken! Go, get you to the dancers of Tanjore.... Paradise!

OLDHAM

You belie us, Faust. Let me Have speech with him.

Most Holy One, we come, From lands far off, beyond remotest seas Of sunset. There, in midst of toil and stress And clamor, have we dwelt, till weariness Of all life's gifts impelled us to go forth To seek if anywhere a region lay Where happiness still dwelt. To you we turn As unto one upon whose face is set The seal of peace such as we dreamed not of.

SATAN

They seek the Way, the Way, most Holy One.

THE HOLY ONE

The Blessed Eightfold Way lies free to all. I cannot ope it to them. Peace, joy, bliss, Supernal glory is it to those souls Who have put by the follies of their birth And sought its refuge. But though now I stand With lighted heart upon its blissful path, I can stretch out no hand to grasp their hands And draw them toward it.

SATAN

Yet the Blessed One, In Gaya first enlightened, far and wide Taught men the Way....

THE HOLY ONE

Aye, verily.... Some mood Of evil in my heart has closed my mouth And darkened thus my eyesight. But 'tis gone.... Brethren, have comfort on my frugal stones. Ask me all ye desire.

SATAN

Most Holy One, These are my friends; I bring them in sore need Unto your wisdom. For methinks they stand Now at the cross-roads where the choice is made Of truth or vanity. I beg you, tell Unto their ears how, in your day, you came To that dark crossing.

THE HOLY ONE

I would do your will In this, and in all other services, My brethren.

You must know that in my youth I was a lusty noble of the realm Of Jeypore; and the falcon and the sword And the nautch-dancers and the palace-girls Were mine to love and master like a lord. Lordlike I lived; the caskets of the day And of the night I crowded with bright jewels Of love and joy and laughter. No desire Panted unslaked an instant at my doors— Nay, feasts were spread for it. And poor men gazed On me with envy, muttering from their dust: "Behold, the Heavens' darling."...

OLDHAM

Other lands Know the same tale.

THE HOLY ONE

Aye, aye, all lands. And then One night, alone in mine own garden walls, Beneath the piercing stars, I gathered my life Into my hands, and looked at it, and far Beyond it at all other mortal lives; And dust fell from mine eyelids....

For I saw Birth and desire, satiety and pain, Recurrent yearning that is never stilled, Agony, death, rebirth in other forms, And agony, and desire, and agony. But nowhere saw I happiness or peace Or rest from cravings that like vultures tear The fibres of the heart.

Then wandered I Forth from my palaces in utter pain, Seeing the world as dust and vanity, A desert of despair, a raging sea Of torment....

SATAN

Now why stops the Holy One?

THE HOLY ONE

It wearies me to speak, and to recall Those perished years.... Give me to drink.

OLDHAM

He speaks Out of familiar deeps. Seas sunder us, But the same stars have cast their ghostly rays Into our bosoms.

FAUST

And those cloudless eyes Have seen what we have seen!

THE HOLY ONE

I am refreshed.... Thus long ago, in my most desolate hour, I was refreshed by draughts from the deep springs Of light. Beneath a pipal tree I sat In lost despair; and thither to me came A pilgrim; and he glanced into mine eyes With sight that read the sickness of my soul, And sat beside me, and in measured words Like far-off song told me this parable:

The Buddha came to where the sea Curled silver-white upon the land, And murmurs of infinity Breathed on the sand.

And there lay shells like rosy foam Borne from the caverns of the deep, Frail playthings drifted from the home Of timeless, tideless sleep.

And on the sand a Fisher stood, Drying his nets that late had seen The silent caverns of the flood And all the wastes between.

The Fisher lingered in his place With countenance of mild surprise, And looked upon the Buddha's face With dumb, uncomprehending eyes.

And Buddha spake: "Thy nets are drawn, Thy boat rocks idle on the sea, Thy day turns westward, and is gone.... Come thou with me."

The Fisher marvelled: "I must toil With nets and shells among the caves, To win the sea's unwilling spoil From the harsh waves."

And Buddha answered: "Cast no more Thy nets upon the troubled sea, Nor gather shells along the shore. Come thou with me.

"Thou drawest shells and curious flowers From out the blue untrodden caves. Thou seest the passing of the hours. Thou hearest the clamor of the waves.

"Thou openest the shell where lies The pearl more white than driven spray— And trackless past thy vision flies Each passing day.

"But I will teach thee not to stir The shell nor flower in its sleep. For thou shalt roam the sepulchre That chasms all their native deep.

"And vain desire, like terror grown Deep in the chambers of thy breast, Shall be from thee forever flown, And thou shalt rest.

"No search for pearls shall blind thy thought, Nor waves, with clamorous harmonies. But in the silence where is naught Thou shalt behold the One that is.

"And where the days now speed like foam Across thy vision, there shall be For thee a vast eternal home— An Infinite Sea."

The Fisher looked on Buddha dumb— Looked deep into that tender gaze— Those eyes within whose depths had come And gone the sorrows of all days.

He looked uncomprehendingly, And wearily he shook his head; And turned once more to drag the sea, Knowing not what the Buddha said.

FAUST

The cup again! The Holy One is faint.

OLDHAM

He speaks a miracle!...

THE HOLY ONE

And then I knew That pilgrim as a saint, whose lips revealed The glory of the Buddha. I beheld My life one poisoned network of desire And fleshly longing and pain-sowing hope— The evil self seeking its happiness And shaping horror. And I cast away Myself, and cried: What am I but a dream, A wave within the sea, a passing cloud Upon the radiance of eternity? All yearning will I slay, and slay therewith The sorrow that succeeds it!...

So the lust Of life passed from me; so the narrow I Merged in the infinite, from hope set free— Heritor of Nirvana's holy calm, Wherein the voices of the heart's unrest Are stifled, and the soul expands to clasp Joy, nothingness, eternity and peace.

FAUST

Peace.... Peace.... Like bells from upland monasteries You speak the word that summons us. But where In peace is room for all once-towering hopes— Nay, even for the wrecked and prostrate monoliths That mark those fallen pylons?

THE HOLY ONE

Let the earth, Ravenous of her young, these too devour, And dust and nothingness engulf their shapes— Vain burdens, bitter monuments.

FAUST

And where Shall I find deeps wherein without a sound I can extinguish my wild will that leaps Flamelike to meet the stars?

THE HOLY ONE

In that deep sea Hid in thy breast. Seek thou that tide of calm, For it lies there awaiting.

FAUST

Can it be That life's whole burden may be cast aside And named as nothing, and its memory Perish forever? In the summer nights, Comes there no stealing ecstasy to stir The old forgotten longings?

THE HOLY ONE

In the night And in the day, one ecstasy abides Ceaselessly with the heart that has put off Desire—one ecstasy of final calm. All other voices seem harsh clamorings.

OLDHAM

Ah, Holy One, lead me thy way of peace! For I am weary of my heart's vain wars. My life is as a desert, where desire Corrodes me ceaselessly. Instruct my soul To follow thee home to the gulfs of rest! That, in renouncement of this bitter will, It find at last deliverance it has sought.

THE HOLY ONE

My son, thou hast spoken; thou shalt come in time To that abode. The Buddha's light shall guide Both thee and me, poor seekers. Bide with me; And what I know, that shalt thou freely know, And my peace shall be thy peace....

SATAN

Faust, the gates Admit one form already.

FAUST

Ah, the gates Are pearl and silver.... Would that there were space Within them for such fevered heart as mine— That with the restlessness of stormy winds Beats on its barriers!

THE HOLY ONE

There is room for all Whose souls renounce the world and life and hope To gain that soundless silence.

OLDHAM

Faust, I feel, Transfused with light and glory, that deep peace Awaiting. There shall perish like a flame The passions which have seared my tortured soul All my life long. They die; and nothingness Like a cool flood sweeps over me. Ah, come Where never storm shall smite!

FAUST

I see the gates; I see the cool breast of the silvery flood Of refuge and oblivion.... Fare you well, Oldham, and light go with you! For I go, Alas, not with you....

OLDHAM

Faust, Faust, turn not back! I, who am casting all desires in dust, To one desire still cling: I long that joy Of such deliverance fill you as fills me On this first step of the sublime ascent.

FAUST

I see the light that waits you on the peak; And my heart follows you. But my stern soul Plucks me yet back with cold insistency I cannot master.... Go! If I could pray, My prayers should follow you. My visions shall; My love shall fold you. But I cannot come Where you shall go; I cannot cast aside All that I surely know—this pitiful And shattered mortal life, with its strange gleams And shadows—and embrace the icy void Where Being trembles on the final verge. To bid life cease—but linger as the moon Lingers in heaven—ah, that is horrible Beyond life's proper horrors!... Were my pain A single atom greater—were my soul A single breath more weary—I would come. But now I must confront the winds of heaven Still master of my destinies.... To the last, Not in such tomb-world can my spirit rest. No golden clouds that throng Nirvana's gates Shall tempt me there to enter and resign My right to strain beyond all gates that be.... But you I cannot counsel....

OLDHAM

Me the peace Already laps with wavelets of the flood.

FAUST

The flood is sundering us.

OLDHAM

Farewell, farewell, Belovèd friend. I with the Holy One Henceforth am linked; and grief shall follow me In what should be your footsteps.

FAUST

Have no grief. In the vast deeps of life's salt bitter sea Perhaps awaits my anodyne, to heal Life's wounds....

OLDHAM

Farewell! I go to paradise. [Oldham and the Holy One move slowly away together, pass through the colonnades, and disappear into the forest. Faust follows with his eyes their retreating figures.

SATAN

You do not know a paradise when you see it! Some day, when I have time, I'll start a school To give instruction to great minds like you— Débutant!

FAUST

Ah, I had forgotten you.... Two men are worth a thousand devils still.

SATAN

I overrated you. Now get you gone Before I call the savagery that sleeps Here in the jungle to annihilate you For your unparalleled stupidity.

FAUST

Stupidity or no, I have one word Still to say to you, my malicious friend: To heel!

SATAN

What!

FAUST

Aye, to heel, I say! Crouch down And follow me, my hound and servitor From this hour forth!

SATAN

You have grown very witty. Your wit, however, does not please me.

FAUST

Please you! There are few things that I desire less. To heel!

SATAN

What fiends possess you? Ah, I see! You are still thinking of that wager made, That jest of ours.

FAUST

I am still thinking of it.

SATAN

You do not mean that now you wish to claim That forfeit seriously?

FAUST

I mean quite that.

SATAN

What an amazing man you really are! For your own sake, I tried to offer you A splendid paradise; I brought you here At infinite cost and trouble; you have had An hour of insight and experience New and instructive to you; your best friend Has found eternal bliss: and now you turn, And just because your uttermost crazy whim Is not quite satisfied with what he grasped Thankfully, you revert, with sorry taste, To my old careless generous remarks. I do not think your friends at home would call it A sporting attitude.

FAUST

The jungle shakes— Do you not hear it?—with the stifled, choked Laughter of leopards, elephants, hyenas, Rhinoceroses, apes, pythons, and tigers, Who hear you and are overcome with mirth.... I also laugh with them.

SATAN

Magnanimous Your laughter sounds! True, you have beaten me, And I am at your mercy. By some whim, Trick, technicality, your mind rejects A noble paradise; and to my pledge You therefore are entitled. And I stand Ready to pay it.

FAUST

Ah, at last we have Acknowledgment of it! Frankness is good Even for the Devil, Satan.

SATAN

I have been Frank with you always. And, if to your taste, I will be franker still. Your stake is won; You have your triumph: but does it quite fill The chambers of your heart? Will it suffice In place of that bright paradise you dreamed Might be your gain as loser? Ah, my friend, In copper you have won, but lost in gold! And victory will not requite for that Your empty treasury.

FAUST

Not empty quite; You are too modest.

SATAN

Oh, if you choose, my pledge Shall be fulfilled, and I will be your dog— Snarling a little, sometimes—snapping at Your friends and furniture and lady-loves— But yet your dog. However, I can do Better for you than that....

FAUST

Enough! Enough!

SATAN

But hear me! You'll admit, a feather's weight, A hair's breadth only held you from the gates That Oldham entered. Almost they sufficed Your spirit; yes, a moth's wing could have blown You toward them! 'Twas so nearly I fulfilled All that I promised. Therefore when I speak, You will, for justice's sake, concede I am No absolute bungler, no coarse-palated Plebeian, as to paradises.

FAUST

No. I will admit that.

SATAN

Good! Now, I would make One final offer to you.

Faust, I know In other regions, beneath other skies, One haven more, the only one of earth That can be judged in glory to surpass This paradise you entered not. My faith Is absolute that it is to your need Utterly moulded. Like your heart itself, Its halls are structured, destinate for you As perfect refuge. And I say to you: Give me the leave, and I will lead you there For one supreme and ultimate trial of choice That has no doubtful outcome. And my pledge Shall still be valid! If this refuge gives Not all that you desire, you still may claim My service as your slave. Thus do you risk No atom, but have gain of one last chance To win the paradise you hunger for!

FAUST

A pleasing logic; but I do not trust The mind behind it.

SATAN

Trust it, or distrust— What matter?—when the issue is so plain!

FAUST

Away! Away!

SATAN

Well, if this hope is vain To urge you, let despair serve in its stead As roweled spur. For see where now you stand: The mock of destiny—the man who lost All joys of the bright many that the world Cherishes! Aye, and even lost his friend, His one deep lasting friend—and stood thereafter Fixed like a donkey.... Though I led you on From paradise to paradise, and none Sufficed you—that were surely better sport— Testing and trying with sublime contempt— Than finger-twirling! But not thus I lead. For now you shall, you shall have paradise!

FAUST

Deep in my soul, there is a sense that loathes Pacts with the Devil. Yet the sanctioned powers Established in the world have proved them void And ignorant of paradise.... Where lies it?

SATAN

Follow, and I will lead.

FAUST

A long path?

SATAN

Yes.

FAUST

On! But your bondage waits you at the end.

SATAN

Ah, jester, jester!... Come—give me your hand!

CURTAIN