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and meanness inexplicable, beauty, and
madness, and holiness, and loving-kindness;
these followed him, crying aloud with the
exultation and the passion of their fullness
of life. [227]
Close upon him came one[8] who was all
music, fierce, wild, mystical, and most
melancholy. The waves of his music were
like pines in the vast forest, and like the
undulations of frozen steppes; but his own
face was full of a calm glory touched with
pity.
Behind him, frowning, came a hectic,
ape-like dwarf[9]. But in his train were
many people of all climes, soft Indians,
fierce Malays and Pathans and Sikhs, proud
Normans, humble Saxons, and many a frail
figure of woman. These were too self-
assertive, Iliel thought, to be as real as
those of the other man. And the figure
himself was strained, even in his pride.
Now came a marvellous person[10] --
almost a god, she thought. For about him
were a multitude of bones that built
themselves up constantly into the loveliest
living forms, that changed from one into
another, ever increasing in stature and in
glory. And in his broad brow she read the
knowledge of the Unity of Things, and in
these eyes the joy unspeakable which that
knowledge gives. Yet they were insatiable
as death itself; she could see that every
ounce of the man's giant strength was
strained toward some new attainment.
And now came another of the sons of
music[11]. But this man's waves were fiery
flames like snakes contorted and terrible.
It seemed to Iliel as if all heaven were torn
asunder by those pangs. Wave strove with
wave, and the battle was eaten up by fresh
swords of fire that burst from him as he
waved onward those battalions to fresh
wrath. These waves moreover were
peopled with immense and tragic figures;
Iliel thought that she could recognize
Electra, and Salome, daughter of Herodias.
Next, amid a cloud of angels bearing
silver trumpets, came one[12] with great
height of brow, and eyes of golden flashes.
In him the whole heaven [228] rocked with
harmonious music, and faint shapes formed
up among the waves, like Venus born of
ocean foam. They had not substance, like
so many Iliel had seen; they were too
great, too godlike, to be human. Not one
was there of whom it could not be said
"Half a woman made with half a god." And
these, enormous and tragic, fiery, with
wings and sandals of pure light,
encompassed him and wooed him.
Last of this company -- only a few of the
visions are recorded here -- came the
greatest of them all[13]. His face was
abrupt and vehement; but a veil was woven
over it, because of the glory of his eyes,
and a thick scarf, like a cloud, held over his
mouth, lest the thunder of it destroy men's
hearing. This man was so enormous that his
stature spanned all heaven; and his
creatures, that moved about him, were all
godlike -- immensely greater than the
human. Yet were they human; but so
patriarchal, so intense, that they almost
overwhelmed Iliel. On him she dared not
look. He had the gift of making every thing
a thousand times larger than its natural
size. She heard one word of his, a mere call
to a pet: "Tiger, tiger!" But the beast that
broke through the mazes of heaven was so
vast that its claws spanned star and star.
And with all that he smiled, and a million
babe-children blossomed before him like
new-budded flowers. And this man
quickened as he came nigh to Iliel; he
seemed to understand wholly the nature of
the Great Experiment.
But every soul in all that glorious cohort
of immortals, as it touched the cone, was
whirled away like a pellet thrown upon a
swiftly moving fly-wheel. And presently she
perceived the cause of this.
The tip of the cone was sheathed in
silver. So white and glittering with fierce
heat was that corselot, and so mighty its
pulse of vibration that she had [229]
thought it part of the cone. She understood
this to be the formula of the circle, and
realized with a great ache, and then a
sudden anger, that it was by this that she
was to be prevented from what might have
been her fortune, the gaining of the
wardenship of a Chopin or of a Paul
Verlaine.
But upon the face of Artemis was gaiety
of triumph. The last of the souls whirled
away into the darkness. Humanity had tried
and failed; it was its right to try; it was its
fate to fail; now came the turn of the
chosen spirits, proved worthy of the fitted
fastness.
They came upon the Terrace in their
legions, Valkyrie-brave in silver arms, or
like priestesses in white vestments, their
hair close bound upon their brows, or like
queens of the woodland, swift for the
chase, with loose locks and bright eyes, or
like little children, timid and gracious.
But amid their ranks were the black
hideous forms of hags, bent and wrinkled;
and these fled instantly in fear at the vision
of the blazing cone. There were many
other animal shapes; but these, seeing the
cone, turned away indifferent, as not
understanding. Only the highest human-
seeming forms remained; and these
appeared as if in some perplexity.
Constantly they looked from Artemis to the
cone, and back again to Artemis. Iliel could
feel their thought; it was a child-like
bewilderment, "But don't you understand?
This is a most dangerous place. Why did
you bring us here? Surely you know that to
touch the cone is certain death to us?"
Iliel understood. The human souls had
long since made themselves perfect, true
images of the cosmos, by accepting the
formula of Love and Death; they had made
the great sacrifice again and again; they
were veterans of the spiritual world-war,
and asked nothing better than to go back to
the trenches. But these others were partial
souls; they had not yet [230] attained
humanity; they had not understood that in
order to grow one must assimilate oneself
with another being, the death of two to
create the life of one, in whom the two live
once more, transmuted and glorified, the
corruptible having put on incorruption. To
them incarnation was death; and they did
not know that death was life. They were
not ready for the Great Adventure.
So they stood like tall lilies about the
coruscating cone of Light, wondering,
doubting, drooping. But at the last came
one taller than all the rest, sadder of mien,
and lovelier of features; her robes were
stained and soiled, as if by contact with
other colours. Artemis drew back with
quick repulsion.
For the first time the maiden goddess
spoke.
"What is thy name?" she cried.
"I am Malkah of the tribe of the Sickles."
"And thy crime?"
"I love a mortal."
Artemis drew back once more.
"Thou, too, hast loved," said Malkah.
"I drew my mortal lovers unto me; I did
not sully my life with theirs; I am virgin
unto Pan!"
"I also am virgin; for whom I loved is
dead. He[14] was a poet, and he loved thee
above women, `And haply the Queen-Moon
is on her throne clustered around by all her
starry fays` whereof I being one, loved him
that he loved Thee! But he died in the city
of Mars and the Wolf, before I could make
him even aware of me. I am come hither to
seek immolation; I am weary of the pale
beauty of Levanah; I will seek him, at the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]