I
will wear an iron mask, and only when armed and mailed shall I seek
them.'
"Then I laid a heavy hand upon your bruises, and like a tempest in the
night I thundered in your ears.
"From the housetop I proclaimed you hypocrites, Pharisees, tricksters,
false and empty earth-bubbles.
"The short-sighted among you I cursed for blind bats, and those too
near the earth I likened to soulless moles.
"The eloquent I pronounced fork-tongued, the silent, stone-lipped, and
the simple and artless I called the dead never weary of death.
"The seekers after world knowledge I condemned as offenders of the
holy spirit and those who would naught but the spirit I branded as
hunters of shadows who cast their nets in flat waters and catch but
their own images.
"Thus with my lips have I denounced you, while my heart, bleeding
within me, called you tender names.
"It was love lashed by its own self that spoke. It was pride half
slain that fluttered in the dust. It was my hunger for your love that
raged from the housetop, while my own love, kneeling in silence,
prayed your forgiveness.
"But behold a miracle!
"It was my disguise that opened your eyes, and my seeming to hate that
woke your hearts.
"And now you love me.
"You love the swords that stroke you and the arrows that crave your
breast. For it comforts you to be wounded and only when you drink of
your own blood can you be intoxicated.
"Like moths that seek destruction in the flame you gather daily in my
garden; and with faces uplifted and eyes enchanted you watch me tear
the fabric of your days. And in whispers you say the one to the other,
'He sees with the light of God. He speaks like the prophets of old. He
unveils our souls and unlocks our hearts, and like the eagle that
knows the way of foxes he knows our ways.'
"Aye, in truth, I know your ways, but only as an eagle knows the ways
of his fledglings. And I fain would disclose my secret. Yet in my need
for your nearness I feign remoteness, and in fear of the ebb tide of
your love I guard the floodgates of my love."
After saying these things the forerunner covered his face with his
hands and wept bitterly. For he knew in his heart that love humiliated
in its nakedness is greater than love that seeks triumph in disguise;
and he was ashamed.
But suddenly he raised his head, and like one waking from sleep he
outstretched his arms and said, "Night is over, and we children of
night must die when dawn comes leaping upon the hills; and out of our
ashes a mightier love shall rise. And it shall laugh in the sun, and
it shall be deathless."
* * *
.
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