English poem
Mephistopheles
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
That were a charming sport, I own: I’d build a thousand bridges meanwhile, I’ve a notion. Not Art and Science serve, alone; Patience must in the work be shown. Long is the calm brain active in creation; Time, only, strengthens the fine fermentation. And all, belonging thereunto, Is rare and strange, howe’er you take it: The Devil taught the thing, ’tis true, And yet the Devil cannot make it. (Perceiving the Animals) See, what a delicate race they be! That is the maid! the man is he! (To the Animals) It seems the mistress has gone away?