LITMIR.BIZ

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their words’ sound

      So fill with happiness the spirit ears;

      That he, whose wakening nears, may thus ascend

      The path of souls unto celestial heights.

      Astrid:

      The streams of love, which warm the worlds, will I

      Direct unto his consecrated heart;

      That he may bring into his work on earth

      The grace of heaven, and create desire

      For consecration in the hearts of men.

      Luna:

      From earth’s primeval powers will I implore

      Courage and strength, that may lay them deep

      Within the seeker’s heart; that confidence

      In his own Self may guide him through his life.

      Then shall he feel secure in his own soul

      And pluck each moment’s ripened fruit, and draw

      The seeds therefrom to found eternities.

      Maria:

      With you, my sisters, joined in noble work

      I shall succeed in what I long to do.

      But hark! There rises to our world of light

      The cry of him who hath been sorely tried.

      (Johannes appears.)

      Johannes:

      ’Tis thou, Maria! Then my suffering

      Hath at the last born richest fruit for me.

      It hath withdrawn me from the phantom shape

      Which I at first did make out of myself,

      And which then held me fast, a prisoner.

      Pain do I thank for thus enabling me

      To reach thee o’er the pathways of the soul.

      Maria:

      And what then was the path that led thee here?

      Johannes:

      I felt myself from bonds of sense released:

      My sight was freed from that close barrier,

      Which hid all but the present from mine eyes.

      Quite otherwise I viewed the life of one

      I knew on earth, and looked beyond the space

      Bound by the present moment’s narrow ring.

      Capesius, who in his older years

      Hath but employed the sight of sense—this man

      The spirit placed before my soul a youth,

      As first he entered on life’s thorny path

      Full of those dreams of hope, which ofttimes brought

      A group of faithful hearers to his feet.

      And Strader, also could I see e’en thus

      As he appeared in earthly life when young,

      E’er he had full outgrown his cloistered youth:

      And I could see what he might once have been,

      If he had followed out in that same way

      The goal he set before himself of old.

      And only those who in their earthly life

      Are filled already with the spirit’s power

      Appear unchanged within the spirit-realms.

      Both Dame Felicia and good Felix too

      Had kept the forms in which they lived on earth,

      When I beheld them with my spirit’s sight.

      And then my guides showed kindness unto me,

      And spake of gifts which shall one day be mine

      When I can reach to wisdom’s lofty heights.

      And many things besides have I beheld

      With spirit-organs which sense-sight at first

      Had shown to me in its own narrow way.

      For judgment’s all-illuminating light

      Irradiated this new world of mine.

      But whether I lived in some shadowy dream,

      Or whether spirit-truth surrounded me

      Already, I could not as yet decide.

      Whether my spirit-sight was really stirred

      By other things, or whether mine own self

      Expanded into some world of its own,

      I knew not. Then didst thou appear thyself;

      Not as thou seemest at the present time,

      Nor as the past beheld thee; nay—I saw

      Thee as thou art in spirit evermore.

      Not human was thy nature: in thy soul

      Clear could I recognize the spirit-light,

      Which worked not as man clothed in flesh doth work.

      As spirit did it act, that strives to do

      Such work as in eternity hath root.

      And only now, when I dare stand complete

      In spirit nigh thee, doth the full light glow.

      In thee my sight of sense already grasped

      Reality so fast, that certainty

      Doth meet me even here in spirit-realms;

      And well I know that now before me stands

      No phantom shape. ’Tis thy true character

      In which I met thee yonder, and in which

      ’Tis now permitted me to meet thee here.

      Theodora:

      I feel compelled to speak. A glow of light

      From out thy brow, Maria, upward mounts.

      This glow takes shape, and grows to human form.

      It is a man with spirit deep imbued,

      And other men do gather round his feet.

      I gaze into dim times, long passed away

      On that good man who rose from out thy head:

      His eyes do shine with perfect peace of soul;

      And deep true feeling glows in every line

      And feature of his noble countenance.

      A woman facing him mine eye doth see,

      Who listens with devotion to the words

      Proceeding from his mouth; which words I hear,

      And thus they sound: ‘Ye have unto your gods

      Looked up with awed devotion until now.

      These gods I love, as ye love them yourselves.

      They did present unto your thought its power,

      And planted courage in your heart; but yet

      Their gifts spring from a higher spirit still.’

      I

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