things droll and humorous
And held these only full of wit and charm,
Deeming that for my brain at any rate,
They always would provide material
Best fitted to fill up the time that lies
Between my recreation and my work.
But now quite tasteless to me seem such things;
The Power Invisible hath conquered me;
And I have learned to feel that there may be
More powerful forces in humanity,
Than all our wit’s frail castles in the air.
Capesius:
And did it seem that nowhere else but here
’Twas possible to find such spirit-powers?
Germanus:
Indeed the life I lived did offer me
Full many a type of intellectual works:
Yet cared I not to pluck or taste their fruit.
But this strange mode of thought which blossoms here
Seemed to attract and draw me to itself
However little I desired to come.
Capesius:
Most pleasant hath this hour of converse been,
And we are debtors to our hostess here.
(Exeunt all, except Maria and Johannes.)
Johannes:
Oh, stay a little while yet by my side,
I am afraid:—so desperately afraid:—
Maria:
What is it aileth thee, my friend? Speak forth.
Johannes:
The first cause was our leader’s speech; and then
The chequered converse of these people here.
It all hath moved and stirred me through and through.
Maria:
But how could simple speeches such as these
Seize on thine heart with such intensity?
Johannes:
Each word seemed in that moment unto me
A dreadful symbol of our nothingness.
Maria:
Indeed it was significant to see
Pour forth in such short time so many kinds
Of life and man’s conflicting tendencies,
In all the speeches that we lately heard.
Yet ’tis indeed a most peculiar trait
Of life, as it is lived amongst us here,
To bring to speech the inner mind of man;
And much that otherwise comes slowly forth,
Stands here revealed in little space of time.
Johannes:
A mirrored picture ’twas of fullest life
That showed me to myself in clearest lines:
This spirit-revelation makes me feel
That most of us protect and train one trait
And one alone in all our character,
Which thus persuades itself it is the whole.
I sought to unify these many traits
In mine own self and boldly trod the path
Which here is shown, to lead unto that goal;
And it hath made of me a nothingness.
Keenly I feel what all these others lack,
And yet I sense as keenly that they all
Have actual part in life itself, whilst I
Stand but on unsubstantial nothingness.
It seemed whole lines of life ran into one
Significant in those brief speeches here.
But then mine own life’s portrait also rose
And stood forth vividly within my soul.
The days of childhood first were painted there,
With all its fulness and its joy in life:
Then came the picture of my youthful prime
With that proud hopefulness in parent-hearts
Awakened by the talents of their son.
Then dreams concerning my career in art,
Which formed life’s all in those old happy days,
Surged up from out my spirit’s inmost depths
Exhorting to fulfil my cherished hopes;
And then those dreams in which thyself didst see
How I translated into coloured form
The spirit-life that liveth in thy soul.
Then saw I tongues of fire spring up and lick
Around my youthful dreams and artist hopes,
Reducing all to dust and nothingness.
Thereafter rose another pictured form
From out that drear and dreadful nothingness—
A human form, which once had linked its fate
In faithful love with mine in days long past.
She sought to hold me by her when I turned
Long
