MARGARET
I brought it up, and it was fond of me.
Father had died before it saw the light,
And mother’s case seemed hopeless quite,
So weak and miserable she lay;
And she recovered, then, so slowly, day by day.
She could not think, herself, of giving
The poor wee thing its natural living;
And so I nursed it all alone
With milk and water: ’twas my own.
Lulled in my lap with many a song,
It smiled, and tumbled, and grew strong.
FAUST
The purest bliss was surely then thy dower.
MARGARET
But surely, also, many a weary hour.
I kept the baby’s cradle near
My bed at night: if ’t even stirred, I’d guess it,
And waking, hear.
And I must nurse it, warm beside me press it,
And oft, to quiet it, my bed forsake,
And dandling back and forth the restless creature take,
Then at the wash-tub stand, at morning’s break;
And then the marketing and kitchen-tending,
Day after day, the same thing, never-ending.
One’s spirits, Sir, are thus not always good,
But then one learns to relish rest and food.
[They pass.
MARTHA
Yes, the poor women are bad off, ’tis true:
A stubborn bachelor there’s no converting.
MEPHISTOPHELES