Shortly thereafter sang, in angel tones:
"Come, let our feet return unto the Lord;
For He hath torn, and He will heal us." And
My soul cried: "Yield thy burdens to the Lord,
Upon His love cast thine unworthy self,
And bid His Will Be Done."
And then my soul
Melted as in the warmth of His embrace.
My guilt was gone like night before the sun:
Light blinded me; an infinite love and joy
Lifted me up, a child again, from earth
Into such regions as my mortal speech
Can never utter. And from that hour forth,
God has been with me.... Now you know my tale.
FAUST
You teach me more of marvels than I guessed
Was yet unlearned by me.
BRANDER
No words can teach
These marvels to a heart that has not known
God's glories.
FAUST
Then this mystery of the heart
Is what men mean when of the faith of God
They speak? I thought 'twas dogma, service, prayer;
But this is life, is vision.
BRANDER
Aye, and more!
Now do I walk in meadows of calm light;
The love of God is over me; I faint
Almost beneath its sweetness and wild joy.
My whole heart's toil is how to merit it
Even a little.
SATAN (_raising his hand to bless_)
By the grace of God
You shall be worthy servant, O my son.
FAUST
This, then, is what God's vision-seers behold--
This revelation veiled unto mine eyes--
This love unfelt by me--this light of dawn
Beyond our darkened night.... I was too far
Estranged from Him, of too unworthy will,
Bowed by too sore a burden....
[_The music of the organ rolls forth once more;
and, at the far end of the nave, the choir takes up
the music._
VOICES SINGING
From the waters of Zion,
From the fountains of peace,
Pour the floods on whose bosom
Thy seeking shall cease.
There the winds of His garments
Shall lull thee to rest.
There the night of His watching
Shall enter thy breast.
Thou shalt sleep, and awaken;
On His morrow, to be
As a star in His heavens,
A wave in His sea.
FAUST
With old, profound, unutterable grief
My spirit speaks in me: as, many a time
In childhood, at the hour of evening dusk,
When all the room was still and shadowy,
I, at my mother's knee, wept out my heart
And knew not why I wept. And I am drawn
Out of myself upon the music's tide,
With nameless sorrowing, wit
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