I was a woman who had divorced her soul. I was living apart from this self which you now see. I belonged to all men, and to none. They called me harlot, and a woman possessed of seven devils. I was cursed, and I was envied.

 

 

But when His dawn-eyes looked into my eyes all the stars of my night faded away, and I became Miriam, only Miriam, a woman lost to the earth she had known, and finding herself in new places.

 

 

And now again I said to Him, “Come into my house and share bread and wine with me.”

 

 

And He said, “Why do you bid me to be your guest?”

 

 

And I said, “I beg you to come into my house.” And it was all that was sod in me, and all that was sky in me calling unto Him.

 

 

Then He looked at me, and the noontide of His eyes was upon me, and He said, “You have many lovers, and yet I alone love you. Other men love themselves in your nearness. I love you in your self. Other men see a beauty in you that shall fade away sooner than their own years. But I see in you a beauty that shall not fade away, and in the autumn of your days that beauty shall not be afraid to gaze at itself in the mirror, and it shall not be offended.

 

 

“I alone love the unseen in you.”

 

 

Then He said in a low voice, “Go away now. If this cypress tree is yours and you would not have me sit in its shadow, I will walk my way.”

 

 

And I cried to Him and I said, “Master, come to my house. I have incense to burn for you, and a silver basin for your feet. You are a stranger and yet not a stranger. I entreat you, come to my house.”

 

 

Then He stood up and looked at me even as the seasons might look down upon the field, and He smiled. And He said again: “All men love you for themselves. I love you for yourself.”

 

 

And then He walked away.

 

 

But no other man ever walked the way He walked. Was it a breath born in my garden that moved to the east? Or was it a storm that would shake all things to their foundations?

 

 

I knew not, but on that day the sunset of His eyes slew the dragon in me, and I became a woman, I became Miriam, Miriam of Mijdel.

PHILEMON
A GREEK APOTHECARY

On Jesus the Master Physician

 

The Nazarene was the Master Physician of His people. No other man knew so much of our bodies and of their elements and properties.

 

 

He made whole those who were afflicted with diseases unknown to the Greeks and the Egyptians. They say He even called back the dead to life. And whether this be true or not true, it declares His power; for only to him who has wrought great things is the greatest ever attributed.

 

 

They say also that Jesus visited India and the Country between the Two Rivers, and that there the priests revealed to Him the knowledge of all that is hidden in the recesses of our flesh.

 

 

Yet that knowledge may have been given to Him direct by the gods, and not through the priests. For that which has remained unknown to all men for an eon may be disclosed to one man in but a moment. And Apollo may lay his hand on the heart of the obscure and make it wise.

 

 

Many doors were open to the Tyrians and the Thebans, and to this man also certain sealed doors were opened. He entered the temple of the soul, which is the body; and He beheld the evil spirits that conspire against our sinews, and also the good spirits that spin the threads thereof.

 

 

Methinks it was by the power of opposition and resistance that He healed the sick, but in a manner unknown to our philosophers. He astonished fever with His snow-like touch and it retreated; and He surprised the hardened limbs with His own calm and they yielded to Him and were at peace.

 

 

He knew the ebbing sap within the furrowed bark – but how He reached the sap with His fingers I do not know. He knew the sound steel underneath the rust – but how He freed the sword and made it shine no man can tell.

 

 

Sometimes it seems to me that He heard the murmuring pain of all things that grow in the sun, and that then He lifted them up and supported them, not only by His own knowledge, but also by disclosing to them their own power to rise and become whole.

 

 

Yet He was not much concerned with Himself as a physician. He was rather preoccupied with the religion and the politics of this land. And this I regret, for first of all things we must needs be sound of body.

 

 

But these Syrians, when they are visited by an illness, seek an argument rather than medicine.

 

 

And pity it is that the greatest of all their physicians chose rather to be but a maker of speeches in the market-place.

SIMON
WHO WAS CALLED PETER

When He and His Brother were Called

 

I was on the shore of the Lake of Galilee when I first beheld Jesus my Lord and my Master.

 

 

My brother Andrew was with me and we were casting out net into the waters.

 

 

The waves were rough and high and we caught but few fish. And our hearts were heavy.

 

 

Suddenly Jesus stood near us, as if He had taken form that very moment, for we had not seen Him approaching.

 

 

He called us by our names, and He said, “If you will follow me I will lead you to an inlet where the fishes are swarming.”

 

 

And as I looked at His face the net fell from my hands, for a flame kindled within me and I recognized Him.

 

 

And my brother Andrew spoke and said, “We know all the inlets upon these shores, and we know also that on a windy day like this the fish seek a depth beyond our nets.”

 

 

And Jesus answered, “Follow me to the shores of a greater sea. I shall make you fishers of men. And your net shall never be empty.”

 

 

And we abandoned our boat and our net and followed Him.

 

 

I myself was drawn by a power, viewless, that walked beside His person.

 

 

I walked near Him, breathless and full of wonder, and my brother Andrew was behind us, bewildered and amazed.

 

 

And as we walked on the sand I made bold and said unto Him, “Sir, I and my brother will follow your footsteps, and where you go we too will go. But if it please you to come to our house this night, we shall be graced by your visit.