There, above, does he erect his huts—his huts of peace; there longs and
loves, until comes the most welcome of all hours to draw him down into
that fountain’s source. Upon the surface floats all that is earthly—it
is hurried back by storms; but that which was hallowed by the breath of
love, freely streams it forth, through hidden paths, into that realm
beyond the mountain chain, and there, exhaled as incense, becomes mixed
with loves that have slept. Still, cheerful light, dost thou waken the
weary to his toil, still pourest thou glad life into my breast; but from
the mossy monument that memory has raised, thence canst thou not allure
me. Willingly will I employ my hands in industry and toil; I will look
around me at thy bidding; I will celebrate the full glory of thy
splendour; trace out, untired, the beauteous consistency of thy wondrous
work; willingly will I mark the marvellous course of thy mighty, glowing
timepiece; observe the balance of gigantic powers, and the laws of the
wondrous play of countless spaces and their periods. But true to the
Night remains my heart of hearts, and to creative Love, her daughter.
Canst thou show me a heart for ever faithful? Hath thy sun fond eyes
that know me? Do thy stars clasp my proffered hand? Do they return the
tender pressure, the caressing word? Hast thou clothed her with fair
hues and pleasing outline? Or was it she who gave thine ornament a
higher, dearer meaning? What pleasure, what enjoyment, can thy life
afford, that shall overweigh the ecstasies of death? Bears not
everything that inspires us the colours of the Night? Thee she cherishes
with a mother’s care; to her thou owest all thy majesty. Thou hadst
melted in thyself, hadst been dissolved in endless space, had she not
restrained and encircled thee, so that thou wert warm, and gavest life to
the world. Verily I was, before thou wert: the mother sent me with my
sisters to inhabit thy world, to hallow it with love, so that it might be
gazed on as a memorial for ever, to plant it with unfading flowers. As
yet they have borne no fruit, these godlike thoughts; but few as yet are
the traces of our revelation. The day shall come when thy timepiece
pointeth to the end of time, when thou shalt be even as one of us; and,
filled with longing and ardent love, be blotted out and die. Within my
soul I feel the end of thy distracted power, heavenly freedom, hailed
return. In wild sorrow I recognise thy distance from our home, thy
hostility towards the ancient glorious heaven. In vain are thy tumult
and thy rage. Indestructible remains the cross—a victorious banner of
our race.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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