The Complete Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Part 173

A VOICE: She dropped poison upon me as I pa.s.sed.

Here are the wounds--

CHORUS OF WITCHES: Come away! come along!

The way is wide, the way is long, _170 But what is that for a Bedlam throng?

Stick with the p.r.o.ng, and scratch with the broom.

The child in the cradle lies strangled at home, And the mother is clapping her hands.--

SEMICHORUS OF WIZARDS 1: We glide in Like snails when the women are all away; _175 And from a house once given over to sin Woman has a thousand steps to stray.

SEMICHORUS 2: A thousand steps must a woman take, Where a man but a single spring will make.

VOICES ABOVE: Come with us, come with us, from Felsensee. _180

NOTE: _180 Felsensee 1862 ("Relics of Sh.e.l.ley", page 96); Felumee 1822; Felunsee editions 1824, 1839.

VOICES BELOW: With what joy would we fly through the upper sky!

We are washed, we are 'nointed, stark naked are we; But our toil and our pain are forever in vain.

NOTE: _183 are editions 1839; is 1822, 1824.

BOTH CHORUSES: The wind is still, the stars are fled, _185 The melancholy moon is dead; The magic notes, like spark on spark, Drizzle, whistling through the dark. Come away!

VOICES BELOW: Stay, Oh, stay!

VOICES ABOVE: Out of the crannies of the rocks _190 Who calls?

VOICES BELOW: Oh, let me join your flocks!

I, three hundred years have striven To catch your skirt and mount to Heaven,-- And still in vain. Oh, might I be With company akin to me! _195

BOTH CHORUSES: Some on a ram and some on a p.r.o.ng, On poles and on broomsticks we flutter along; Forlorn is the wight who can rise not to-night.

A HALF-WITCH BELOW: I have been tripping this many an hour: Are the others already so far before? _200 No quiet at home, and no peace abroad!

And less methinks is found by the road.

CHORUS OF WITCHES: Come onward, away! aroint thee, aroint!

A witch to be strong must anoint--anoint-- Then every trough will be boat enough; _205 With a rag for a sail we can sweep through the sky, Who flies not to-night, when means he to fly?

BOTH CHORUSES: We cling to the skirt, and we strike on the ground; Witch-legions thicken around and around; Wizard-swarms cover the heath all over. _210

[THEY DESCEND.]

MEPHISTOPHELES: What thronging, das.h.i.+ng, raging, rustling; What whispering, babbling, hissing, bustling; What glimmering, spurting, stinking, burning, As Heaven and Earth were overturning.

There is a true witch element about us; _215 Take hold on me, or we shall be divided:-- Where are you?

NOTE: _217 What! wanting, 1822.

FAUST [FROM A DISTANCE]: Here!

MEPHISTOPHELES: What!

I must exert my authority in the house.

Place for young Voland! pray make way, good people.

Take hold on me, doctor, an with one step _220 Let us escape from this unpleasant crowd: They are too mad for people of my sort.

Just there s.h.i.+nes a peculiar kind of light-- Something attracts me in those bushes. Come This way: we shall slip down there in a minute. _225

FAUST: Spirit of Contradiction! Well, lead on-- 'Twere a wise feat indeed to wander out Into the Brocken upon May-day night, And then to isolate oneself in scorn, Disgusted with the humours of the time. _230

MEPHISTOPHELES: See yonder, round a many-coloured flame A merry club is huddled altogether: Even with such little people as sit there One would not be alone.

FAUST: Would that I were Up yonder in the glow and whirling smoke, _235 Where the blind million rush impetuously To meet the evil ones; there might I solve Many a riddle that torments me.

MEPHISTOPHELES: Yet Many a riddle there is tied anew Inextricably. Let the great world rage! _240 We will stay here safe in the quiet dwellings.

'Tis an old custom. Men have ever built Their own small world in the great world of all.

I see young witches naked there, and old ones Wisely attired with greater decency. _245 Be guided now by me, and you shall buy A pound of pleasure with a dram of trouble.

I hear them tune their instruments--one must Get used to this d.a.m.ned sc.r.a.ping. Come, I'll lead you Among them; and what there you do and see, _250 As a fresh compact 'twixt us two shall be.

How say you now? this s.p.a.ce is wide enough-- Look forth, you cannot see the end of it-- An hundred bonfires burn in rows, and they Who throng around them seem innumerable: _255 Dancing and drinking, jabbering, making love, And cooking, are at work. Now tell me, friend, What is there better in the world than this?

NOTE: _254 An 1824; A editions 1839.

FAUST: In introducing us, do you a.s.sume The character of Wizard or of Devil? _260

MEPHISTOPHELES: In truth, I generally go about In strict incognito; and yet one likes To wear one's orders upon gala days.

I have no ribbon at my knee; but here At home, the cloven foot is honourable. _265 See you that snail there?--she comes creeping up, And with her feeling eyes hath smelt out something.

I could not, if I would, mask myself here.

Come now, we'll go about from fire to fire: I'll be the Pimp, and you shall be the Lover. _270 [TO SOME OLD WOMEN, WHO ARE SITTING ROUND A HEAP OF GLIMMERING COALS.]

Old gentlewomen, what do you do out here?

You ought to be with the young rioters Right in the thickest of the revelry-- But every one is best content at home.

NOTE: _264 my wanting, 1822.

General.

Who dare confide in right or a just claim? _275 So much as I had done for them! and now-- With women and the people 'tis the same, Youth will stand foremost ever,--age may go To the dark grave unhonoured.

NOTE: _275 right editions 1824, 1839; night 1822.

MINISTER: Nowadays People a.s.sert their rights: they go too far; _280 But as for me, the good old times I praise; Then we were all in all--'twas something worth One's while to be in place and wear a star; That was indeed the golden age on earth.

PARVENU: We too are active, and we did and do _285 What we ought not, perhaps; and yet we now Will seize, whilst all things are whirled round and round, A spoke of Fortune's wheel, and keep our ground.

NOTE: _285 Parvenu: (Note) A sort of fundholder 1822, editions 1824, 1839.

AUTHOR: Who now can taste a treatise of deep sense And ponderous volume? 'tis impertinence _290 To write what none will read, therefore will I To please the young and thoughtless people try.

NOTE: _290 ponderous 1824; wonderous 1822.

MEPHISTOPHELES [WHO AT ONCE APPEARS TO HAVE GROWN VERY OLD]: I find the people ripe for the last day, Since I last came up to the wizard mountain; And as my little cask runs turbid now, _295 So is the world drained to the dregs.

PEDLAR-WITCH: Look here, Gentlemen; do not hurry on so fast; And lose the chance of a good pennyworth.

I have a pack full of the choicest wares Of every sort, and yet in all my bundle _300 Is nothing like what may be found on earth; Nothing that in a moment will make rich Men and the world with fine malicious mischief-- There is no dagger drunk with blood; no bowl From which consuming poison may be drained _305 By innocent and healthy lips; no jewel, The price of an abandoned maiden's shame; No sword which cuts the bond it cannot loose, Or stabs the wearer's enemy in the back; No--