Faust II 11595-11603

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Over! A stupid word! 
Why over? What can be
Over is just not there; it's all the same to me! 
Why bother to go on creating?
Making, then endlessly annihilating!
'Over and past!' What's that supposed to mean?
It's no more than if it had never been,
Yet it goes bumbling round as if it were.
The Eternal Void is what I'd much prefer.

translated by: David Luke