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(adapted from Faust, Pt. I, by Goethe)

My pathos soon thy laughter would awake

Hadst thou the laughing mood not long forsworn

Of suns and worlds I have nothing to say

I see alone mankind's self-torturing pains

The little world-god the self-same stamp retains

And is as wondrous now as on the primal day

Better he might have fared, poor wight

Hadst thou not given him a gleam of heav'nly light