|
|
|
Prev
| Next
| Contents
SILENCE -- A FABLE
ALCMAN. The mountain pinnacles slumber; valleys, crags and caves are
silent.
"LISTEN to me," said the Demon as he placed his hand upon my head.
"The region of which I speak is a dreary region in Libya, by the
borders of the river Zaire. And there is no quiet there, nor silence.
"The waters of the river have a saffron and sickly hue; and they flow
not onwards to the sea, but palpitate forever and forever beneath the
red eye of the sun with a tumultuous and convulsive motion. For many
miles on either side of the river's oozy bed is a pale desert of
gigantic water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude,
and stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks, and nod
to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an indistinct murmur
which cometh out from among them like the rushing of subterrene
water. And they sigh one unto the other.
"But there is a boundary to their realm -- the boundary of the dark,
horrible, lofty forest. There, like the waves about the Hebrides, the
low underwood is agitated continually. But there is no wind
throughout the heaven. And the tall primeval trees rock eternally
hither and thither with a crashing and mighty sound. And from their
high summits, one by one, drop everlasting dews. And at the roots
strange poisonous flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And
overhead, with a rustling and loud noise, the gray clouds rush
westwardly forever, until they roll, a cataract, over the fiery wall
of the horizon. But there is no wind throughout the heaven. And by
the shores of the river Zaire there is neither quiet nor silence.
"It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it was rain, but,
having fallen, it was blood. And I stood in the morass among the tall
and the rain fell upon my head -- and the lilies sighed one unto the
other in the solemnity of their desolation.
"And, all at once, the moon arose through the thin ghastly mist, and
was crimson in color. And mine eyes fell upon a huge gray rock which
stood by the shore of the river, and was lighted by the light of the
moon. And the rock was gray, and ghastly, and tall, -- and the rock
was gray. Upon its front were characters engraven in the stone; and I
walked through the morass of water-lilies, until I came close unto
the shore, that I might read the characters upon the stone. But I
could not decypher them. And I was going back into the morass, when
the moon shone with a fuller red, and I turned and looked again upon
the rock, and upon the characters; -- and the characters were
Prev
| Next
| Contents
|
|
|