FAUST REPENTENT

FAUST REPENTENT D. R. Khashaba Faust was shown the dead body of Margret. The shock emptied him. No feeling. No remorse, no grief, no pain. Only emptiness. His feet took him home and into his study. He sat gazing into nothingness. Out of nothingness, he felt the Presence. “What have you come for? What other evil are you wreaking?” Mephistopheles answered quietly: “Doctor Faust, don’t be ungrateful. I have given you all you asked for.” “You have given me nothing but vanity of vanities.” “I have given you knowledge, knowledge that is power.” “Knowledge that is power that made me soulless. I see now how you tripped Father Adam. He and his mate were living blithely as part of Nature, living in harmony with Nature. You gave them knowledge of things and all the creation around them turned into things and they themselves became things among things.” Mephistopheles for once had no answer. Time elapsed in silence. How long? In silence there is no measure. Faust murmured: “Poor Gretchen!” His eyes filled with tears. Tears ran down his face, washed his face, drenched his beard. Mephistopheles shuddered. “O Hell! I have been cheated. He has regained his soul.” He evaporated. Sixth October City, Egypt, 27 November 2014.