<p><SPAN name="link2H_4_0067" id="link2H_4_0067">
</SPAN></p>
<div style="height: 4em;">
<br/><br/><br/><br/>
</div>
<h2> LX. THE SEVEN SEALS. </h2>
<h3> (OR THE YEA AND AMEN LAY.) </h3>
<p>1.</p>
<p>If I be a diviner and full of the divining spirit which wandereth on high
mountain-ridges, ‘twixt two seas,—</p>
<p>Wandereth ‘twixt the past and the future as a heavy cloud—hostile to
sultry plains, and to all that is weary and can neither die nor live:</p>
<p>Ready for lightning in its dark bosom, and for the redeeming flash of
light, charged with lightnings which say Yea! which laugh Yea! ready for
divining flashes of lightning:—</p>
<p>—Blessed, however, is he who is thus charged! And verily, long must
he hang like a heavy tempest on the mountain, who shall one day kindle the
light of the future!—</p>
<p>Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity and for the marriage-ring of
rings—the ring of the return?</p>
<p>Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!</p>
<p>FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY! 2.</p>
<p>If ever my wrath hath burst graves, shifted landmarks, or rolled old
shattered tables into precipitous depths:</p>
<p>If ever my scorn hath scattered mouldered words to the winds, and if I
have come like a besom to cross-spiders, and as a cleansing wind to old
charnel-houses:</p>
<p>If ever I have sat rejoicing where old Gods lie buried, world-blessing,
world-loving, beside the monuments of old world-maligners:—</p>
<p>—For even churches and Gods’-graves do I love, if only heaven
looketh through their ruined roofs with pure eyes; gladly do I sit like
grass and red poppies on ruined churches—</p>
<p>Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of
rings—the ring of the return?</p>
<p>Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!</p>
<p>FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY! 3.</p>
<p>If ever a breath hath come to me of the creative breath, and of the
heavenly necessity which compelleth even chances to dance star-dances:</p>
<p>If ever I have laughed with the laughter of the creative lightning, to
which the long thunder of the deed followeth, grumblingly, but obediently:</p>
<p>If ever I have played dice with the Gods at the divine table of the earth,
so that the earth quaked and ruptured, and snorted forth fire-streams:—</p>
<p>—For a divine table is the earth, and trembling with new creative
dictums and dice-casts of the Gods:</p>
<p>Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of
rings—the ring of the return?</p>
<p>Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!</p>
<p>FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY! 4.</p>
<p>If ever I have drunk a full draught of the foaming spice- and
confection-bowl in which all things are well mixed:</p>
<p>If ever my hand hath mingled the furthest with the nearest, fire with
spirit, joy with sorrow, and the harshest with the kindest:</p>
<p>If I myself am a grain of the saving salt which maketh everything in the
confection-bowl mix well:—</p>
<p>—For there is a salt which uniteth good with evil; and even the
evilest is worthy, as spicing and as final over-foaming:—</p>
<p>Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of
rings—the ring of the return?</p>
<p>Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!</p>
<p>FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY! 5.</p>
<p>If I be fond of the sea, and all that is sealike, and fondest of it when
it angrily contradicteth me:</p>
<p>If the exploring delight be in me, which impelleth sails to the
undiscovered, if the seafarer’s delight be in my delight:</p>
<p>If ever my rejoicing hath called out: “The shore hath vanished,—now
hath fallen from me the last chain—</p>
<p>The boundless roareth around me, far away sparkle for me space and time,—well!
cheer up! old heart!”—</p>
<p>Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of
rings—the ring of the return?</p>
<p>Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!</p>
<p>FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY! 6.</p>
<p>If my virtue be a dancer’s virtue, and if I have often sprung with both
feet into golden-emerald rapture:</p>
<p>If my wickedness be a laughing wickedness, at home among rose-banks and
hedges of lilies:</p>
<p>—For in laughter is all evil present, but it is sanctified and
absolved by its own bliss:—</p>
<p>And if it be my Alpha and Omega that everything heavy shall become light,
every body a dancer, and every spirit a bird: and verily, that is my Alpha
and Omega!—</p>
<p>Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of
rings—the ring of the return?</p>
<p>Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!</p>
<p>FOR I LOVE THEE, O ETERNITY! 7.</p>
<p>If ever I have spread out a tranquil heaven above me, and have flown into
mine own heaven with mine own pinions:</p>
<p>If I have swum playfully in profound luminous distances, and if my
freedom’s avian wisdom hath come to me:—</p>
<p>—Thus however speaketh avian wisdom:—“Lo, there is no above
and no below! Throw thyself about,—outward, backward, thou light
one! Sing! speak no more!</p>
<p>—Are not all words made for the heavy? Do not all words lie to the
light ones? Sing! speak no more!”—</p>
<p>Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of
rings—the ring of the return?</p>
<p>Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children,
unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!</p>
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />
1 of 2
2 of 2
Previous
Next
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.