But none the less with cold unfeeling eye I scan a picture that seems life itself. It seems as if its working on my soul Reserves itself until that later time Which to my spirit earlier was displayed. Within a spirit-brotherhood I could Myself and others clearly recognize; And yet just as a man doth feel a scene Of bygone days arise from memory's fount, Thomas I see, a miner and my son, And forthwith I must call to mind that soul, Who, as Thomasius, is known to me. The lady whom I know as seeress now Stands there before mine eyes as mine own child. Maria, who befriends Thomasius, Reveals herself to me in monkish garb, And doth condemn the spirit-brotherhood. And Strader wears the visage of the Jew. In Joseph Keane and in his wife I see The souls of Felix and Felicia. The others' lives lie open to my view Without concealment; so too, doth mine own. But while I am engrossed in reading it, The picture fades and disappears from view. And I can feel that those soul-elements Of which that living picture was composed Themselves are pouring into mine own soul. I feel myself endowed with strength of soul In my whole being, and I seem set free From all the fetters of the world of sense: My being doth embrace the universe. Thus do I feel that instant so prolonged Which I was able to live through, before That living picture rose before mine eyes. And now still further backward can I look. Itself condensing out of cosmic thought This forest doth appear before my gaze, This house where Felix and Felicia So often brought me comfort in distress. Now--in the world I find myself once more From which a moment since I felt myself Removed by vast expanse of time and space. And that which latterly I still could see: The picture which disclosed to me myself Is wafted like some misty fantasy O'er all that now I feel by means of sense. It is a nightmare, that oppresseth me; It gropes in deep recesses of my soul; It opens cosmic doors to breadths of Space. What storm is this that shakes my being's depths, What enters forcibly from cosmic space? A VOICE (representing spirit-conscience): Feel now what thou hast seen, Live o'er what thou hast done Refreshed from Being's source; Thine own life hast thou dreamed. Work out this deed in thee With noble spirit-light: Regard thy daily task With force of spirit-sight. If this thou canst not do, To empty Nothingness Thou art for ever doomed. Curtain, before Capesius has left the stage SCENE 11 The same meditation-chamber as in Scene 2. Maria, Ahriman. AHRIMAN: