In the clasp of his hand, And ah! his kiss! My peace is gone, My heart is sore: I never shall find it, Ah, nevermore! My bosom yearns For him alone; Ah, dared I clasp him, And hold, and own! [Pg 6402] And kiss his mouth To heart's desire, And on his kisses At last expire! Martha's Garden MARGARET Promise me, Henry!— FAUST What I can! MARGARET How is't with thy religion, pray? Thou art a dear, good-hearted man, And yet, I think, dost not incline that way. FAUST Leave that, my child! Thou know'st my love is tender; For love, my blood and life would I surrender, And as for faith and church, I grant to each his own. MARGARET That's not enough: we must believe thereon. FAUST Must we? MARGARET Would that I had some influence! Then, too, thou honorest not the Holy Sacraments. FAUST I honor them. MARGARET Desiring no possession. 'Tis long since thou hast been to mass or to confession. Believest thou in God? FAUST My darling, who shall dare "I believe in God!" to say? [Pg 6403]Ask priest or sage the answer to declare, And it will seem a mocking play, A sarcasm on the asker. MARGARET Then thou believest not! FAUST Hear me not falsely, sweetest countenance! Who dare express Him? And who profess Him, Saying: I believe in Him! Who, feeling, seeing, Deny His being, Saying: I believe Him not! The All-enfolding, The All-upholding, Folds and upholds he not Thee, me, Himself? Arches not there the sky above us? Lies not beneath us, firm, the earth? And rise not, on us shining Friendly, the everlasting stars? Look I not, eye to eye, on thee, And feel'st not, thronging To head and heart, the force, Still weaving its eternal secret, Invisible, visible, round thy life? Vast as it is, fill with that force thy heart, And when thou in the feeling wholly blessed art, Call it, then, what thou wilt,— Call it Bliss! Heart! Love! God!— I have no name to give it! Feeling is all in all: The Name is sound and smoke, Obscuring Heaven's clear glow. MARGARET All that is fine and good, to hear it so: Much the same way the preacher spoke, Only with slightly different phrases. FAUST The same thing, in all places, All hearts that beat beneath the heavenly day— [Pg 6404]Each in its language—say; Then why not I in mine as well? MARGARET To hear it thus, it may seem passable; And yet some hitch in't there must be, For thou hast no Christianity. FAUST Dear love! MARGARET I've long been grieved to see That thou art in such company. FAUST How so? MARGARET The man who with thee goes, thy mate, Within my deepest, inmost soul I hate. In all my life there's nothing Has given my heart so keen a pang of loathing As his repulsive face has done. FAUST Nay, fear him not, my sweetest one! MARGARET I feel his presence like something ill. I've else, for all, a kindly will,