SATAN’S LAMENT
| God of the righteous and the unrighteous, | |
| man’s company has devastated me. | |
| Not once has he rebelled against my rule; | |
| he has closed his eyes to himself, and has not found himself. | 2510 |
| His dust is a stranger to the joy of disobedience, | |
| a stranger to the spark of pride. | |
| The prey says to the huntsman, ‘Seize me’: | |
| save me from the all too obedient servant! | |
| Set me free from such a quarry; | 2515 |
| remember my obedience of yesterday. | |
| My lofty aspiration through him has been abased; | |
| alas for me, alas for me, alas for me! | |
| His nature is raw, his resolution weak, | |
| this opponent cannot withstand one blow from me. | 2520 |
| I need a servant of God possessed of vision, | |
| I need a riper adversary! | |
| Take back this plaything of water and clay: | |
| a child’s toy suits not a man of a certain age. | |
| What is man? A handful of straw; | 2525 |
| one spark from me is enough for a handful of straw. | |
| If nothing but straw existed in this world, | |
| what profited it to endow me with so much fire? | |
| It were a shame to melt a piece of glass; | |
| to melt a rock-that is a proper task! | 2530 |
| I have become so saddened by all my triumphs | |
| that now I come to You for recompense; | |
| I seek from You one who dares to deny me— | |
| guide me, to such a man of God. | |
| I need a man who will twist my neck, | 2535 |
| whose glance will set my body quivering, | |
| one who will say, ‘Depart from my presence’, | |
| one in whose eyes I am not worth two barleycorns. | |
| Grant me, O God, one living man of faith; | |
| haply I shall know delight at last in defeat. | 2540 |