From the piggeries, we went to the green level where, growing beneath
eye-paining lights, was a matted mass of solid vegetation from which
came those rare sprigs of green which garnished our synthetic dishes.
But this was too monotonous to be interesting and we soon went above to
the Defence Level where were housed vast military and rebuilding
mechanisms and stores. After our guides had shown us briefly about among
these paraphernalia, we were conducted to one of the sloping ramps which
led through a heavily arched tunnel to the roof above.
Marguerite clung close to my arm, quivering with expectancy and
excitement, as we climbed up the sloping passage-way and felt on our
faces the breath of the crisp air of the May night.
The sky came into vision with startling suddenness as we walked out upon
the soft sand blanket of the roof. The night was absolutely clear and my
first impression was that every star of the heavens had miraculously
waxed in brilliancy. The moon, in the last quarter, hung midway between
the zenith and the western horizon. The milky way seemed a floating band
of whitish flame. About us, in the form of a wide crescent, for we were
near the eastern edge of the city, swung the encircling band of
searchlights, but the air was so clear that this stockade of artificial
light beams was too pale to dim the points of light in the
blue-black vault.
In anticipating this visit to the roof I had supposed it would seem
commonplace to me, and had discussed it very little with Marguerite,
lest I might reveal an undue lack of wonder. But now as I thrilled once
more beneath their holy light, the miracle of unnumbered far-flung
flaming suns stifled again the vanity of human conceit and I stood with
soul unbared and worshipful beneath the vista of incommensurate space
wherein the birth and death of worlds marks the unending roll of time.
And at my side a silent gazing woman stood, contrite and humble and the
thrill and quiver of her body filled me with a joy of wordless delight.
A blundering guide began lecturing on astronomy and pointing out with
pompous gestures the constellations and planets. But Marguerite led me
beyond the sound of his voice. "It is not the time for listening to
talk," she said. "I only want to see."
When the astronomer had finished his speech-making, our party moved
slowly toward the East, where we could just discern the first faint
light of the coming dawn. When we reached the parapet of the eastern
edge of the city's roof, the stars had faded and pale pink streaked the
eastern sky. The guides brought folding chairs from a nearby tunnel way
and most of the party sat down on a hillock of sand, very much as men
might seat themselves in the grandstand of a race course. But I was so
interested in what the dawn would reveal beneath the changing colours of
the sky, that I led Marguerite to the rail of the parapet where we could
look down into the yawning depths upon the surface of German soil.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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