IX: Der Einsiedler

O grandest of the Angels, and most wise,

O fallen God, fate-driven from the skies,

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

O first of exiles who endurest wrong,

Yet growest, in thy hatred, still more strong,

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

O subterranean King, omniscient,

Healer of man’s immortal discontent,

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

To lepers and to outcasts thou dost show

That Passion is the Paradise below.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thou by thy mistress Death hast given to man

Hope, the imperishable courtesan.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thou givest to the Guilty their calm mien

Which damns the crowd around the guillotine

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thou knowest the corners of the jealous Earth

Where God has hidden jewels of great worth.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thou dost discover by mysterious signs

Where sleep the buried people of the mines.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thou stretchest forth a saving hand to keep

Such men as roam upon the roofs in sleep.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thy power can make the halting Drunkard’s feet

Avoid the peril of the surging street.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thou, to console our helplessness, didst plot

The cunning use of powder and of shot.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Thy awful name is written as with pitch

On the unrelenting foreheads of the rich.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

In strange and hidden places thou dost move

Where women cry for torture in their love.

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Father of those whom God’s tempestuous ire

Has flung from Paradise with sword and fire,

Satan, at last take pity on our pain.

Prayer:

Satan, to thee be praise upon the Height

Where thou wast king of old, and in the night

Of Hell, where thou dost dream on silently.

Grant that one day beneath the Knowledge-tree,

When it shoots forth to grace thy royal brow,

My soul may sit, that cries upon thee now.