Manager: This altercation's gone on long enough,
it's time I saw some action too!                        215
While you are polishing your fine phrases
something useful could be going on.
What's the point of harping on the proper mood?
It never comes to him who shilly-shallies.
Since you pretend to be a poet,                         220
make poetry obey your will.
You know what we need
is a strong drink to gulp down fast,
so set to work and brew it!
What's left undone today, is still not done tomorrow;   225
to every day there is a use and purpose;
let Resoluteness promptly seize
the forelock of the Possible,
and then, reluctant to let go again,
she's forced to carry on and be productive.             230


Goethe's Collected Works, volume 2: Faust I & II
Princeton University Press
edited and translated by Stuart Atkins