Stories in Verse Part 14

The rain beat on it, and the active wind Crowned it with desert dust. Always the sun Made salutation to it, flus.h.i.+ng it Until it seemed more ghastly than before.

But after this mad crime the older brother grew Jealous of him, the younger. One dark morn They found the last-born lifeless in the street, Stabbed by a long, sharp poniard in the back.

Misrule followed misrule, and justice fled.

Laws were abolished, and pleasure's lewdest voice Hawked in the market-place, and through the streets.

Her story done, Veera entreated me To set my face for Mesched with the dawn.

"Not yet," I said, "not yet." And then I made Strange pa.s.ses with my hands, and braced my will, To sway her will; then with a questioning glance She pa.s.sed out to a calm Mesmeric sleep.

So, well I knew that I had found the soul My purpose needed, and I bade her wake.

VII.

THE MIDNIGHT VISITOR.

I sat and pondered in my room that night Until the towers and steeples, near and far, Like sentries of the sky, issued the hour Of midnight. Then I wrought magnetic force With waving hands; and set my swerveless will That Veera should approach me, and that none Should harm or see her as she pa.s.sed the streets.

At last I heard her footstep on the stair-- The patter of her feet as soft as rain, And then she turned the hinge and entered in.

A long white wrapper made of satin, bound With lace of gold, and fastened at the throat With b.u.t.tons of cut diamond, clad her form.

A band of opals was around her neck-- A hundred little worlds with central fires.

Her feet were naked, and her hair was down.

Her large eyes, wide and staring, took no heed Of anything before them; thus she slept.

I bade her sit beside me, and I placed The Bible on her knee, and laid her hand Upon the verse that names the tree of life.

"Tell me," I said, "where may this tree be found."

"The way is long," she answered me at last, "And I am worn and weary. I have tracked The sh.o.r.e of one long river, many a mile.

The sun scorches like fire. I am athirst.

I cannot find the tree; my search is done."

"Look down the past, and find if any knew Where grows this tree, or how it might be found."

Again her lips made answer: "One I see, Long dead, who bends above a written scroll, And therein makes strange characters, which hold Some hidden sense pertaining to this tree.

In Milan, in the Ambrosian library there, I see this scroll to-night; 'tis worn with age."

"Now seek thy home again," I said, "sweet soul.

Thou art as meek and pure as him whose hand First wrote G.o.d's words." So she arose, and pa.s.sed Along the dark, deserted street, and I Followed her closely, till I saw her cross The threshold of her cottage; then I turned, And found my home, and calmly slept till dawn.

VIII.

THE PALIMPSEST.

In Milan, in the Ambrosian library there, Among Pinellian writings seared with age, I found a prophet's palimpsest--a scroll That Angelo Maio had brought to light.

And on the margin of this scroll, I found Mysterious signs which baffled me at first.

After a full week's search I chanced to find The mongrel dialect of which they were.

I thus translated: _Gihon is the Nile.

A perfect soul may find long life and gold._ Surely, I thought, Veera the maid is pure.

Her life's blue sky has not one cloud of sin.

If her feet press the soil where Eve first trod, I can but follow and attain. So I Back to Vienna came and found Veera.

To her I made my double purpose plain, And prayed her to go with me in my search.

She smiled a.s.sent. To be near me, she said, Had brought her to Vienna; this indeed Detained her from her kinsmen. Her heart's book Lay open to me, and I read her love.

So we were wed, and both lives ran to one.

IX.

GIHON.

Now for the Nile we journeyed, gaining first The town of Gondokoro, where the stream Of Bahr el Abiad, or White Nile, flows.

Thence we pa.s.sed on, and with the savage kings Of Karagwe, Uganda and Ungoro, stopped, To rest our weary feet, or in their huts Escape the sun's fierce glare. At last we found The sources of the Nile; two lakes that now Are called Nyanza and Nzige. If here I had but paused, and had retraced my steps, The whole world would have known and praised my name, For I was first to find the secret out.

But then I cared not for it, journeying on.

After a week, we came upon a land All void, and barren of a single leaf.

Veera was pale and worn, although she bore Fatigue with generous patience for my sake.

Our feet were swollen, and with the hot sand scorched, Our garments were in tatters, and we seemed Like beggars, in a land where there were none to give.

At night we slept beside a wide, cool stream, Whereat we quenched our thirst, and bathed our feet.

My beard was grown, and all my hair hung down Neglected, on my shoulders. I was weak, And thin, and feverish, and Veera, too, I saw was sick, and languished hour by hour.

X.

GOLD!

In the sand, lo! something to the sun Replied with brilliant l.u.s.tre; as I brushed The dust away, I saw that it was gold!-- A solid bar of gold--and yet so weak Was I, I could not move it from its place.

I would have given then the bar of gold To buy a crust, but could not. So we pa.s.sed, And came where five great rivers went their ways.

Which should we follow? One I knew Led to the tree of life, but all the rest Went back to death. Here a dead bird we found, And tearing off its gaudy plumage, ate.

Upon occasional trees grew strange spa.r.s.e fruits, And these sustained us as we wandered on.

Along the banks for many a mile we went By each of these five rivers, then returned.

So all my hope was dead, and long I prayed That I might live to see my land again.

XI.

THE MESSAGE OF THE THREE MEN.

The night came on, and unto sleep we gave Our spirits. When the golden day was born Veera awoke, and told me all her dream; "Lo, in the night three men have talked with me-- Three strange good men who said the kindest words, And said that only those who were released From sin, could find the garden of the Lord.

And this release was bought upon a cross By One, a Nazarene, with priceless blood.

If He would bear our sins, then we might reach The garden; but we must not touch or eat The tree of life that flourished in the midst."

Then I abased my soul, and prayed again, And cast off all the burden of my sins, Tearing my strange ambition from my heart.

And Veera, too, embraced the Christian Faith.

So we arose, and went upon our way, And journeying eastward, Eden found at last!

XII.

THE GARDEN.

The trees were housed with nests, and every one Was like a city of song. The streams too Were voluble; they laughed and gurgled there Like men who, at a banquet, sit and drink And chatter. All the gra.s.s was like a robe Of velvet, and there was no need of rain.

In dells roofed with green leaf.a.ge, nature spread Couches meet for a Sybarite. Sweet food The servant trees extended us to eat In their long, branchy arms. Even the sun Was tempered, and the sky was always blue.

Corpulent grapes along the crystal rocks, Made consorts of the long-robed lady leaves.

The b.u.t.terfly and bee, from morn till eve, Consulted with the roses, lip to lip, Which grew in rank profusion. They at times Dared to invade the empire of the gra.s.s, And overthrew its green-robed, spear-armed hosts.

The lilies too were like an army there, And every night they struck their snowy tents, To please their great commander, the round moon-- G.o.d's lily in the everlasting sky.

XIII.

CAST OUT.

As to the heliotrope comes fluttering down The peac.o.c.k-b.u.t.terfly, who sips and flies, So each glad day gold-winged came to the land And sipped its sip of time and fled away.

Now in an evil hour I hungered, and I saw The tree of life that grew forbidden fruit.

What harm, I thought, is there to always live?

To live is happiness; but to die is pain.

The rental claimed by death falls due too soon.

So I reached forth, and took the fruit, and ate.