LITMIR.BIZ

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men did I present unto the earth

      Whose spirit-powers were fructified through thee.

      They found their soul’s awakening in thy words

      When meditation dry had lamed them both.

      Thy gifts to them make thee my debtor too.

      Their spirit doth not of itself suffice

      To render full repayment unto me

      For all the service which I did for them.

      Felicia:

      For many years one of these men did come

      To our small cottage, that he might obtain

      The strength that lent unto his words their fire.

      Later he brought the other with him too;

      And so they two consumed the fruits, whose worth

      Was then unknown to me: but little good

      Did I receive from them as recompense.

      Their kind of knowledge to our son they gave,

      With good intent indeed, but yet the child

      Found nought therein but death unto his soul.

      He grew to manhood steeped in all the light,

      His father Felix, through the spirit-speech,

      Taught him from fountains and from rocks and hills:

      To this was joined all that had lived and grown

      In my own soul from my first childhood’s years;

      And yet our son’s clear spirit-sense was killed

      By the deep gloom of sombre sciences.

      Instead of some blithe happy child, there grew

      A man of desert soul and empty heart.

      And now forsooth thou dost demand of me

      That I should pay what they do owe to thee!

      Spirit:

      It must be so, for thou at first didst serve

      The earthly part in them; and so through me

      The spirit bids thee now complete the work.

      Felicia:

      ’Tis not my wont to shrink from any debt;

      But tell me first what detriment will grow

      In mine own self from this love-service done?

      Spirit:

      What thou at first didst do for them on earth,

      Robbed of his spirit-powers thine only son;

      And what thou givest to their spirits now

      Is lost henceforth to thee from thine own self;

      Which lessening of the powers of life in thee

      Will show as ugliness in thine own flesh.

      Felicia:

      They robbed my child of all his spirit-power,

      And in return I needs must wander forth

      A monster in the sight of men, that fruits

      May ripen for them, which work little good!

      Spirit:

      Yet thy work aids the welfare of mankind

      And leads as well to thine own happiness.

      Thy mother’s beauty and thy child’s own life

      Will blossom for thee in a loftier way,

      When one day in the souls and hearts of men,

      New spirit-powers shall seed and fructify.

      Felicia:

      What must I do?

      Spirit:

      What must I do? Mankind thou hast inspired

      Full often with thy words. Inspire then now

      The spirits of the rocks: in this same hour

      Thou must bring forth from out thy treasured store

      Of fairy pictures some one tale to give

      Those beings who do serve me in my work.

      Felicia:

      So be it then:—A being once did live

      Who flew from East to West, as runs the sun.

      He flew o’er lands and seas, and from this height

      He looked upon the doings of mankind.

      He saw how men did one another love,

      And, how in hatred they did persecute.

      Yet naught could stay this being in his flight,

      For love and hatred none the less bring forth

      Full many thousand times the same results.

      Yet o’er one house—there must the being stay;

      For therein dwelt a tired and weary man,

      Who pondered on the love of humankind,

      And pondered also over human hate.

      His contemplations had already graved

      Deep furrows on his brow; his hair was white.

      And, grieving o’er this man, the being lost

      His sun-guide’s leadership, and stayed with him

      Within his room e’en when the sun went down.

      And when the sun arose again, once more

      The being joined the spirit of the sun;

      And once again he saw mankind pass through

      The cycle of the earth in love and hate.

      But when he came, still following the sun,

      A second time above that selfsame house,

      His gaze did fall upon a man quite dead.

      (Germanus, invisible behind the rock, speaks. As he speaks, he gradually drags his unwieldy size on to the stage; his feet like clogs are almost earth-bound.)

      Germanus:

      A man once lived, who went from East to West:

      Whose eager thirst for knowledge lured him on

      O’er land and sea; and with his wisdom’s sight

      He looked upon the doings of mankind.

      He saw how men did one another love,

      And, how in hatred they did persecute;

      And at each turn of life the man did note

      How blind was wisdom’s eye to probe its depths.

      For, though the world is ruled by love and hate,

      Yet could he not combine them into law.

      A thousand single cases wrote he down

      Yet still he lacked the comprehending eye.

      This dull, dry seeker after truth once met

      Upon his path a being formed of light;

      Who found existence fraught with heaviness

      Since it must live in constant combat with

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