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faust in english

Dedication

Ye wavering shapes, again ye do enfold me,
As erst upon my troubled sight ye stole;
Shall I this time attempt to clasp, to hold ye?
Still for the fond illusion yearns my soul?
Ye press around! Come then, your captive hold me,
As upward from the vapoury mist ye roll;
Within my breast youth's throbbing pulse is bounding,
Fann'd by the magic breath your march surrounding.

Shades fondly loved appear, your train attending,
And visions fair of many a blissful day;
First-love and friendship their fond accents blending,
Like to some ancient, half-expiring lay;
Sorrow revives, her wail of anguish sending
Back o'er life's devious labyrinthine way,
And names the dear ones, they whom Fate bereaving
Of life's fair hours, left me behind them grieving.

They hear me not my later cadence singing,
The souls to whom my earlier lays I sang;
Dispersed the throng, their severed flight now winging;
Mute are the voices that responsive rang.
For stranger crowds the Orphean lyre now stringing,
E'en their applause is to my heart a pang;
Of old who listened to my song, glad hearted,
If yet they live, now wander widely parted.

A yearning long unfelt, each impulse swaying,
To yon calm spirit-realm uplifts my soul;
In faltering cadence, as when Zephyr playing,
Fans the Aeolian harp, my numbers roll;
Tear follows tear, my steadfast heart obeying
The tender impulse, loses its control;
What I possess as from afar I see;
Those I have lost become realities to me.

faust

Zueignung.

  Ihr naht euch wieder, schwankende Gestalten,
  Die früh sich einst dem trüben Blick gezeigt.
  Versuch ich wohl, euch diesmal festzuhalten?
  Fühl ich mein Herz noch jenem Wahn geneigt?
  Ihr drängt euch zu! nun gut, so mögt ihr walten,
  Wie ihr aus Dunst und Nebel um mich steigt;
  Mein Busen fühlt sich jugendlich erschüttert
  Vom Zauberhauch, der euren Zug umwittert.

  Ihr bringt mit euch die Bilder froher Tage,
  Und manche liebe Schatten steigen auf;
  Gleich einer alten, halbverklungnen Sage
  Kommt erste Lieb und Freundschaft mit herauf;
  Der Schmerz wird neu, es wiederholt die Klage
  Des Lebens labyrinthisch irren Lauf,
  Und nennt die Guten, die, um schöne Stunden
  Vom Glück getäuscht, vor mir hinweggeschwunden.

  Sie hören nicht die folgenden Gesänge,
  Die Seelen, denen ich die ersten sang;
  Zerstoben ist das freundliche Gedränge,
  Verklungen, ach! der erste Widerklang.
  Mein Lied ertönt der unbekannten Menge,
  Ihr Beifall selbst macht meinem Herzen bang,
  Und was sich sonst an meinem Lied erfreuet,
  Wenn es noch lebt, irrt in der Welt zerstreuet.

  Und mich ergreift ein längst entwöhntes Sehnen
  Nach jenem stillen, ernsten Geisterreich,
  Es schwebet nun in unbestimmten Tönen
  Mein lispelnd Lied, der Äolsharfe gleich,
  Ein Schauer faßt mich, Träne folgt den Tränen,
  Das strenge Herz, es fühlt sich mild und weich;
  Was ich besitze, seh ich wie im Weiten,
  Und was verschwand, wird mir zu Wirklichkeiten.

The Day the Sun Exploded from The Old Farmer’s Almanac

The Day the Sun Exploded What happens to Earth when the Sun “explodes”? Read more stories like this from our astronomy editor, Bob Berman, when you have The Old Farmer’s Almanac at your side.

Dear Solar Spectator, The Old Farmer’s Almanac’s astronomy editor, Bob Berman, has been interested in what happens on Earth when the Sun “explodes.” Solar flares, violent solar phenomena that make even modern solar researchers nervous, were first witnessed in 1859 by a scientific community that was puzzled and fascinated by sunspots—dark marks on the solar surface that came and went in roughly 11-year cycles. None of these experts had any idea what they were, how they moved across the Sun, or whether they affected Earth. One of them, 33-year-old British astronomer Richard Carrington, was obsessed by solar activity. Through his 4-inch refracting telescope, he observed the spots on every clear day. The days leading into September 1859 had seen unusually intense solar storms, and scientists were abuzz. Suddenly, at 11:18 a.m. on September 1, Carrington was rewarded for his diligence: To his amazement, a large sunspot cluster near the top of the Sun grew strangely dazzling. Despite a protective eye filter, he could barely watch. The flare became so luminous that it doubled the brightness of the Sun. He knew that this was no optical illusion, and his observation was soon confirmed by another British observer, Richard Hodgson. As Carrington and Hodgson watched the flare, instruments at England’s King’s Observatory recorded a disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field. Would this be the long-sought evidence that events on the Sun affect our planet? The answer arrived that night.

goethe