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the throng

      At this man’s words. I hear their mad wild cries:

      ‘Kill him; for he desires to take from us

      The gifts the gods have given to our race.’

      But unconcernedly the man speaks on.

      He tells now of that God in human form,

      Who did descend to earth and conquer death.

      He tells of Christ; and as his words flow on

      The souls around grow calm and pacified.

      One only of the heathen hearts resists,

      And swears it will wreak vengeance on the man.

      I recognize this heart; it beats again

      In yonder child, that nestles at thy side.

      The messenger of Christ speaks to it thus:

      ‘Thy fate doth not permit thee to draw nigh

      In this life; but I shall wait patiently,

      For thy path leads thee to me in the end.’

      The woman who doth stand before the man

      Falls at his feet and feels herself transformed.

      A soul prays to the God in human form;

      A heart doth love God’s messenger on earth.

      (Johannes sinks upon his knees before Maria.)

      Maria:

      Johannes, that which dawneth in thy mind

      Thou shalt awaken to full consciousness.

      E’en now within thee hath thy memory

      Wrenched itself free from fetterings of sense.

      Thou hast found me, and thou hast felt myself,

      As we were joined in former life on earth.

      Thou wast the woman whom the seeress saw,

      For so didst thou lie prostrate at my feet,

      When I as messenger of Christ did come

      Unto thy tribe in days long since gone by.

      What in Hibernia’s consecrated shrines

      Was then entrusted to me by that God,

      Who dwelt in human form, and did become

      A conqueror o’er all the powers of death,

      I had to bring to tribes, in whom still lived

      A soul that brought a willing sacrifice,

      To mighty Odin, and with sorrow thought

      Upon the death of Balder, god of light.

      The power, which from that message grew in thee,

      Attracted thee to me from the first day

      Thine eyes of sense beheld me in this life.

      And since it strove so mightily in us,

      And yet remained unrecognized by both,

      It wove into our life those sufferings,

      Which we o’ercame. Yet in that pain itself

      There lay the power to guide us on our way

      To spirit-realms, where we might recognize

      And know in very truth each other’s soul.

      Intolerably did thy pain increase

      Through all the men who thronged thee round about,

      With whom by fate’s decree thou art conjoined.

      Hence was the revelation of their selves

      Able so fiercely to convulse thine heart.

      These men hath Karma gathered round thee now,

      To wake in thee the power that once did urge

      Thee on the path of life, which selfsame power

      Hath thus far roused thee, that, from body freed,

      Thou couldst ascend into the spirit-world.

      Thou standest nearest to my soul, since thou

      Hast kept through pain thy steadfast faith in me.

      And therefore hath it fallen to my lot

      That consecration to complete in thee,

      To which thou owest this thy spirit-light.

      The brethren, who within the temple serve,

      Have wakened sight in thee; yet canst thou know

      That what thou seest is very truth indeed,

      Only when thou dost find in spirit-realms

      A being, unto whom in worlds of sense

      Thou wast united in thine inmost soul.

      And that this being might thus meet thee here,

      Before thee did the brethren send me out.

      And this did prove the hardest of thy tests,

      When I was summoned here to wait for thee.

      Our leader, Benedictus, did I ask

      To solve for me the riddle of my life,

      That seemed to be so cruel and unkind;

      And blessedness streamed from his every word,

      Telling of his own mission and of mine.

      He told me of the spirit I must serve

      With all the power which I have found in me.

      And at his words it seemed to me as though,

      All in a moment clearest spirit-light

      Streamed through and through my soul, and suffering

      Was changed to joyous blessedness; one thought

      Alone then filled my soul;—he gave me light,

      Yea, light, that gave to me the power of sight;—

      It was the will that lived within the thought

      Wholly to give myself to spirit-life,

      To make me ready for the sacrifice

      Which would unto our leader draw me near.

      This thought did generate the highest power:

      It gave wings to my soul and wafted me

      Into that realm where thou hast found me now.

      In that same moment when I felt released

      From my sense body, I was free to turn

      My spirit’s eye upon thee, and I saw

      Not only thee, Johannes, standing there;

      I saw the woman too, that followed me

      In ancient times; and had bound close to mine

      Her destiny. E’en thus was spirit-truth

      Revealed to me in spirit-realms through thee,

      Who in the world of sense already wast

      Made one with me in inmost consciousness.

      So did I gain this spirit-certainty

      And was endowed to give it unto thee.

      Sending a ray of highest, tenderest love

      To Benedictus, I went

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