FAUST. I've studied, alas, philosophy,
Law and medicine, recto and verso,
And how I regret it, theology also,
Oh God, how hard I've slaved away,
With what result? Poor fool that I am,
I'm no whit wiser than when I began!
I've got a Master of Arts degree,
On top of that a Ph.D.,
For ten long years, around and about,
Upstairs, downstairs, in and out,
I've led my students by the nose
To what conclusion? - that nobody knows,
Or ever can know, the tiniest crumb!
Which is why I feel completely undone.
Of course I'm cleverer than these stuffed shirts,
These Doctors, Masters, Jurists, Priests;
I'm not bothered by a doubt or a scruple,
I'm not afraid of Hell or the Devil -
But the consequence is, my mirth's all gone;
No longer can I fool myself
I am able to teach men
How to be better, love true worth;
I've got no money or property,
Worldly honors or celebrity;
A dog wouldn't put up with this life!
Which is why I've turned to magic,
Seeking to know, by ways occult,
From ghostly mouths, many a secret;
So I no longer need to sweat
Painfully explaining what
I don't know anything about;
So I may penetrate the power
That holds the universe together,
Behold the source whence all proceeds
And deal no more in words, words, words. 

O full moon, melancholy-bright,
Friend I've watched for, many a night,
Till your quiet-shining face
Appeared above my high-piled desk -
If this were only the last time
You looked down on my pain!
If only I might stray at will
Beneath your light, high on the hill,
Haunt with spirits upland hollows,
Fade with you in dim-lit meadows,
And soul no longer gasping in
The stink of learning's midnight lamp,
Bathe in your dews till well again!