storm contained, sunshine boxed, freedom shackled.

i love this passage... wonder why...


"i'll be your comrade true;
here to your service i will bind me;
beck when you will, i will not pause or rest;
but in return when yonder you will find me,
then likewise shall you be at my behest.'

(Mephistopheles, the devil)

Then Faust's reply:

"the yonder to me is a trifling matter.
'tis from this earth my pleasure springs,
and this sun shines upon my sufferings;
if to the moment i shall ever say:
'ah, linger on, thou art so fair!'
then may you fetters on me lay,
the i will perish, then and there!"

(Faust)


Faust makes an arrangement with the devil: the devil will do anything that Faust wants while he is here on earth, and in exchange, Faust will serve the devil in hell. Faust's arrangement is that during the time that Mephistopheles is serving Faust, Faust is so pleased with anything the devil gives him that he wants to stay in that moment forever, he will die then and there.


i found this passage somewhere.... its parts of a book thats pieced together.... written by Goethe, a exceptional writer.

another translation i encountered....


i pledge myself to serve you here and now;
the slightest hint will put me at your beck and call,
and if beyond we meet again,
you shall do the same for me.

with that beyond, i scarcely bother.
once we smash this world to bits,
the other world may rise for all i care.
from this earth springs all my joys;
its this sun which shines on all my sorrows.
once, i must take my leave of them,
then come what may, it is of no concern.


and another....


Here to your service I will bind me;
Beck when you will, I will not pause or rest;
But in return when yonder you will find me,
Then likewise shall you be at my behest.

The yonder is to me a trifling matter.
Should you this world to ruins shatter,
The other then may rise, its place to fill.
'Tis from this earth my pleasure springs,
And this sun shines upon my sufferings;
When once I separate me from these things,
Let happen then what can and will.