Never Liked Goethe’s Faust Poem by Margaret Alice

Today I shall try to apply
what Gretchen meant when
she said “Es schmeckt die Ruhe”
today I shall pursue hard work
so as to enjoy the rest afterwards

But I never liked Goethe’s Faust
and will never do, disliking the universe
of malevolence in which Mephistopheles
helped Faust to seduce the innocent
girl - Gretchen

She drowns her baby; is taken to jail
Mephistopheles appears and offers to save her –
she thinks at the cost of her soul; refuses the evil
offer to save her from burning in hell
everlasting

She seems to be an intelligent girl, it is
incomprehensible why she never knew of
any moral warnings against the machinations of
men like Faust under the guidance of a
demon from hell,

She simply refused his offer to escape
false human justice… I’ll never study Faust
ever again; there is no description of a benevolent
universe as delineated by Ayn Rand, no
rationalism and objective self-interest

In the choices made by the young Gretchen,
the only thing I retain, inspiring my thoughts
and my toil, is Grectchen’s wise declaration
“Es schmeckt die Ruhe”

When one is working hard, that girl really
was smart; how could she have allowed Faust
– guided by Mephistopheles –
to ruin her life so completely?