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Madman His Parables And Poems and The Forerunner His Parables And Poems - Kahlil Gibran · Plato Classics Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section one of The Madmen and The Forerunner. This is
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Recording by David Wales. The Madmen and the Forerunner by
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: Khalil Gabroun, Part one of The Madmen. Introduction. You ask
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: me how I became a madman? It happened thus one day,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: long before many gods were born. I woke from a
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: deep sleep and found all my masks were stolen, the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: seven masks I have fashioned and worn in seven lives.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: I ran maskless through the crowded street, shouting thieves, thieves,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the cursed thieves. Men and women laughed at me, and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: some ran to their houses in fear of me. And
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: when I reached the market place, a youth standing on
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: a housetop cried, he is a madman. I looked up
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to behold him. The sun kissed my own naked face
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: for the first time. For the first time, the son
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: kissed my own naked face, and my soul was inflamed
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: with love for the sun. And I wanted my masks
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: no more, And as if in a trance, I cried, blessed,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: blessed are the thieves who stole my masks. Thus I
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: became a madman, and I have found both freedom of
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: loneliness and safety from being understood. For those who understand
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: us enslave something in us. But let me not be
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: too proud of my safety. Even a thief in a
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: jail is safe from another thief. God in the ancient days,
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: when the first quiver of speech came to my lips,
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: I ascended the Holy Mountain and spoken to God, saying, Master,
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: I am thy slave. Thy hidden will is my law,
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  Speaker 1: and I shall obey THEE for evermore. But God made
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: no answer, and like a mighty tempest passed away, And
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: after a thousand years, I ascended the Holy Mountain and
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: again spoke unto God, saying, Creator, I am thy creation.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: Out of clay, hast thou fashioned me, and to THEE
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  Speaker 1: I owe mine all. And God made no answer. But
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: like a thousand swift wings passed away, and after a
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: thousand years, I climbed the Holy Mountain and spoke unto
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: God again, saying, Father, I am thy son in pity
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: and love, thou hast given me birth, and through love
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: and worship, I shall inherit thy kingdom. And God made
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: no answer, And like the mist that veils the distant hills,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: he passed away. And after a thousand years I climbed
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: the sacred mountain and again spoke unto God, saying, my God,
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  Speaker 1: my aim and my fulfillment. I am thy yesterday, and
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: thou art my tomorrow. I am thy root in the earth,
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: and thou art my flower in the sky, and together
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: we grow before the face of the sun. Then God
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: leaned over me, and in my ears whispered words of sweetness.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: And even as the sea that enfoldeth a brook that
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: runneth down to her, he enfolded me. And when I
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: descended to the valleys and the plains, God was there also,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: My friend, my friend, I am not what I seem
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: seeming is but a garment. I wear, a care woven
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: garment that protects me from thy questionings and THEE from
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: mine negligence. The eye in me, my friend, dwells in
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: the house of silence, and therein it shall remain for evermore, unperceived, unapproachable.
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: I would not have THEE believe.
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: In what I say, nor trust in what I do,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: for my words are not but thy own thoughts in sound,
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: and my deeds, my own hopes in action. When thou
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: sayest the wind bloweth eastward, I say I it doth
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: blow eastward word, For I would not have THEE know
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: that my mind doth not dwell upon the wind, but
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: upon the sea. Thou canst not understand my seafaring thoughts,
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Nor would I have THEE understand. I would be at
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: sea alone. When it is day with THEE, my friend,
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: it is night with me. Yet even then I speak
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: of the noontide that dances upon the hills, and of
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the purple shadow that steals its way across the valley.
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  Speaker 1: For thou canst not hear the songs of my darkness,
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  Speaker 1: nor see my wings beating against the stars. And I
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  Speaker 1: fain would not have THEE hear or see. I would
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  Speaker 1: be with night alone. When thou ascendest to thy heaven,
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  Speaker 1: I descend to my hell. Even then thou callest to
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  Speaker 1: me across the unbridgable gulf, my companion, my comrade, And
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: I call back to THEE, my comrade, my companion. For
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I would not have THEE sea my hell. The flame
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: would burn thy eyesight, and the smoke would crowd thy nostrils.
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  Speaker 1: And I love my hell too well to have THEE visited.
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  Speaker 1: I would be in hell alone. Thou lovest truth and
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  Speaker 1: beauty and righteousness, And I, for thy sake, say it
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  Speaker 1: is well and seemly to love these things. But in
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: my heart I laugh at thy love. Yet I would
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  Speaker 1: not have THEE see my laughter. I would laugh alone.
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  Speaker 1: My friend. Thou art good and cautious and wise. Nay,
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  Speaker 1: thou art perfect. And I too speak with THEE wisely
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  Speaker 1: and cautiously. And yet I am mad, but I mask
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: my madness. I would be mad alone. My friend Thou
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: art not my friend. But how shall I make THEE understand?
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: My path is not thy path? Yet together we walk
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: hand in hand the scarecrow. Once I said to a scarecrow,
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  Speaker 1: you must be tired of standing in this lonely field.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: And he said, the joy of scaring is a deep
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  Speaker 1: and lasting one, and I never tire of it, said I,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: after a minute of thought. It is true, for I
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: too have known that joy, said he. Only those who
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: were stuffed with straw can know it. Then I left him,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: not knowing whether he had complimented or belittled me. A
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: year passed during which the scarecrow turned philosopher, And when
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I passed by him again, I saw two crows building
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: a nest under his hat. The sleep walkers. In the
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: town where I was born lived a woman and her
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  Speaker 1: daughter who walked in their sleep. One night, while silence
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  Speaker 1: enfolded the world, the woman and her daughter, walking yet asleep,
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  Speaker 1: met in their mist veiled garden, and the mother spoke,
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: and she said, at last, at last, my enemy, you
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: by whom my youth was destroyed, who have built up
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: your life upon the ruins of mine? I could kill you.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: And the daughter spoke, and she said, oh, hateful woman,
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  Speaker 1: selfish and old, who stand between my freer self and me?
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  Speaker 1: Who would have my life an echo of your own
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  Speaker 1: fated life? Would you were dead? At that moment a
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: cock crew and both women awoke. The mother said gently,
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  Speaker 1: is that you, darling? And the daughter answered gently.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, dear. The wise dog.
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  Speaker 1: One day there passed by a company of cats, a
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  Speaker 1: wise dog, and as he came near and saw that
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  Speaker 1: they were very intent, and heeded him not, he stopped.
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  Speaker 1: Then there arose in the midst of the company a
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: large grave cat, and looked upon them and said, brethren,
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  Speaker 1: pray ye and when ye have prayed again and yet
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  Speaker 1: again nothing doubting, verily, then it shall reign mice. And
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: when the dog heard this, he laughed in his heart
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  Speaker 1: and turned from them, saying, O, blind and foolish cats.
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  Speaker 1: Has it not been written? And have I not known
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  Speaker 1: and my father's before me, that that which reigneth for
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  Speaker 1: prayer and faith and supplication is not mice but bones.
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  Speaker 1: The two hermits. Upon a lonely mountain, there lived two
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  Speaker 1: hermits who worshiped God and loved one another. Now these
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  Speaker 1: two hermits had one earth and bowl, and this was
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  Speaker 1: their only possession. One day an evil spirit entered into
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  Speaker 1: the heart of the older hermit, and he came to
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  Speaker 1: the younger and said, it is long that we have
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  Speaker 1: lived together. The time has come for us to part.
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  Speaker 1: Let us divide our possessions. Then the younger hermit was saddened,
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  Speaker 1: and he said, it gres me, brother, that thou shouldst
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  Speaker 1: leave me. But if thou must needs go, so be it.
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  Speaker 1: And he brought the earth and bowl and gave it
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  Speaker 1: to him, saying, we cannot divide it, brother, let it
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  Speaker 1: be thine. Then the older hermit said, charity I will
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  Speaker 1: not accept. I will take nothing but mine own. It
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  Speaker 1: must be divided. And the younger one said, if the
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  Speaker 1: bowl be broken, of what use would it be to
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: thee or to me? If it be thy pleasure, let
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: us rather cast a lot. But the older hermit said again,
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  Speaker 1: I will have but justice and mine own, And I
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  Speaker 1: will not trust justice and mine own to vain chance.
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  Speaker 1: The bowl must be divided. Then the younger hermit could
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  Speaker 1: reason no further, and he said, if it be indeed
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  Speaker 1: thy will, and if even so thou wouldst have it,
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  Speaker 1: let us now break the bowl. But the face of
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  Speaker 1: the older hermit grew exceedingly dark, and he cried, Oh, thou,
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  Speaker 1: cursed coward, thou wouldst not fight on giving and taking?
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  Speaker 1: Once there lived a man who had a valley full
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: of needles, And one day the mother of Jesus came
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  Speaker 1: to him and said, friend, my son's garment is torn,
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  Speaker 1: and I must needs mend it before he goeth to
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  Speaker 1: the temple. Wouldst thou not give me a needle? And
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  Speaker 1: he gave her not a needle, but he gave her
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  Speaker 1: a learned discourse on giving and taking to carry to
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  Speaker 1: her son before he should go to the temple. The
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  Speaker 1: seven selves in the stillest hour of the night. As
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  Speaker 1: I lay half asleep, my seven cels sat together, and
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  Speaker 1: thus conversed in whisper. First self, Here in this madman,
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  Speaker 1: I have dwelt all these years, with naught to do
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  Speaker 1: but renew his pain by day and recreate his sorrow
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  Speaker 1: by night. I can bear my fate no longer, and
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  Speaker 1: now I rebel. Second self. Yours is a better lot
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  Speaker 1: than mine, brother, For it is given to me to
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: be this madman's joyous self. I laugh his laughter and
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  Speaker 1: sing his happy hours, and with thrice winged feet I
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: dance his brightest thoughts. It is I that would rebel
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  Speaker 1: against my weary existence. Third self, And what of me,
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  Speaker 1: the love ridden self, the flaming brand of wild passion
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  Speaker 1: and fantastic desires. It is I, the love sick self,
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  Speaker 1: who would rebel against this madman. Fourth self, I, amongst
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  Speaker 1: you all am, the most miserable, for naught was given
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  Speaker 1: me but odious hatred and destructive loathing. It is I,
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  Speaker 1: the tempest like self, the one born in the black
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  Speaker 1: caves of hell, who would protest against serving this madman.
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  Speaker 1: Fifth self. Nay, it is I, the thinking self, the
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  Speaker 1: fanciful self, the self of hunger and thirst, the one
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  Speaker 1: doomed to wander without rest, in search of unknown things
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  Speaker 1: and things not yet created. It is I, not you
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: who would rebel sixth self, And I the working self,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the pitiful laborer, who, with patient hands and longing eyes,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: fashion the days into images and give the formless elements
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  Speaker 1: new and eternal forms. It is I, the solitary one,
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  Speaker 1: who would rebel against this restless madman seventh Self. How
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  Speaker 1: strange that you all would rebel against this man, because
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  Speaker 1: each and every one of you has a preordained fate
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  Speaker 1: to fulfill. Ah, Could I but be like one of you,
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  Speaker 1: a self with a determined lot? But I have none.
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  Speaker 1: I am the do nothing self, the one who sits
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: in the dumb, empty nowhere, and know when while you
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  Speaker 1: are busy recreating life, Is it you or I, neighbors,
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  Speaker 1: who should rebel? When the seventh Self thus fake, the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: other sixth sels looked with pity upon him, but said
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: nothing more. And as the night grew deeper, one after
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the other went to sleep, enfolded with a new and
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: happy submission. But the seventh Self remained watching and gazing
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: at nothingness, which is behind all things.
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  Speaker 2: War.
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  Speaker 1: One night, a feast was held in the palace, and
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: there came a man and prostrated himself before the Prince,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: and all the feasters looked upon him, and they saw
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: that one of his eyes was out, and that the
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: empty socket bled. And the Prince inquired of him, what
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: has befallen you? And the man replied, O Prince, I
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: am by profession a thief. And this night, because there
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: was no moon, I went to rob the money changer's shop.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: And as I climbed in through the window, I made
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: a mistake and entered the weaver's shop. And in the
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: dark I ran into the weaver's loom, and my eye
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: was plucked out. And now, O Prince, I ask for
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: justice upon the weaver. Then the Prince sent for the weaver,
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: and he came, and it was decreed that one of
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: his eyes should be plucked out, O Prince, said the weaver.
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  Speaker 1: The decree is just. It is right that one of
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: my eyes be taken. And yet alas both are necessary
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: to me in order that I may see the two
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: sides of the cloth that I weave. But I have
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: a neighbor, a cobbler, who has also two eyes, and
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: in his trade both eyes are not necessary. Then the
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: prince sent for the cobbler, and he came, and they
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: took out one of the cobbler's two eyes, and justice
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: was satisfied.
• 14:32
  Speaker 2: The fox. A fox looked at his.
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: Shadow at sunrise and said, I will have a camel
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: for lunch to day. And all morning he went about
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: looking for camels. But at noon he saw his shadow again,
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: and he said, a mouse will do. The wise king
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: once there ruled in the distant city of Wirani, a
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: king who was both mighty and wise, and he was
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: feared for his might and long for his wisdom. Now
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: in the heart of that city was a well whose
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: water was cool and crystalline, from which all the inhabitants drank,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: even the king and his courtiers, for there was no
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: other well. One night, when all were asleep, a witch
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: entered the city and poured seven drops of strange liquid
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: into the well, and said, from this hour he who
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: drinks this water shall become mad. Next morning, all the inhabitants,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: save the king and as Lord Chamberlain, drank from the
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: well and became mad, even as the witch had foretold.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: And during that day the people in the narrow streets
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: and in the market places did not but whisper to
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: one another. The king is mad. Our King and as
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: Lord Chamberlain have lost their reason. Surely we cannot be
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: ruled by a mad king. We must dethrone him. That
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: evening the king ordered a golden goblet to be filled
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: from the well, and when it was brought to him,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: he drank deeply and gave it to his Lord chamberlain
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: to drink. And there was great rejoicing in that city
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: of Wirani, because its king and its Lord chamberlain had
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: regained their reason ambition. Three men met at a tavern table.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: One was a weaver, another a carpenter, and the third
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: a plowman. Said the weaver, I sold a fine linen
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: shroud to day for two pieces of gold. Let us
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: have all the wine we want, and I said the carpenter.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: I sold my best coffin. We will have a great
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: roast with the wine. I only dug a grave, said
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: the plowman, But my patron paid me double. Let us
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: have honey cakes too, And all that evening the tavern
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: was busy, for they called often for wine and meat
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: and cakes, and they were merry, and the host rubbed
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: his hands and smiled at his wife. For his guests
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: were spending freely. When they left, the moon was high,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: and they walked along the road, singing and shouting together.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: The host and his wife stood in the tavern door
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: and looked after them. Ah, said the wife, these gentlemen,
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: so free handed and so gay. If only they could
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: bring us such luck every day, then our son need
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: not be a tavern keeper and work so hard. We
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: could educate him, and he could become a priest. The
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: new pleasure. Last night I invented a new pleasure, and
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: as I was giving it the first trial, an angel
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: and a devil came rushing toward my house. They met
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: at my door and fought with each other over my
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: newly created pleasure, the one crying, it is a sin,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: the other it is a virtue. The other language. Three
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: days after I was born, as I lay in my
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: silken cradle, gazing with astonished dismay on the new world
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: round about me, my mother spoke to the wetner, saying,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: how does my child? And the wetness answered, he does well, Madam.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I have fed him three times, and never before have
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: I seen a babe so young yet so gay. And
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: I was indignant, and I cried it is not true, mother,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: for my bed is hard, and the milk I have
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: sucked is bitter to my mouth, and the odor of
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: the breast is foul in my nostrils. And I am
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: most miserable. But my mother did not understand, nor did
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: the nurse, for the language I spoke was that of
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the world from which I came. And on the twenty
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: first day of my life, as I was being christened,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: the priest said to my mother, you should indeed be happy, madam,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: that your son was born a Christian. And I was surprised,
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: and I said to the priest, then your mother in
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: heaven should be unhappy, for you were not born a Christian.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: But the priest too did not understand my language. And
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: after seven moons, one day a soothsayer looked at me
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: and he said, to my mother, your son will be
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: a statesman and a great leader of men.
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: But I cried out, that.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: Is a false prophet, for I shall be a musician,
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: and not but a musician shall I be. But even
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: at that age my language was not understood, and great
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: was my astonishment. And after three and thirty years, during
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: which my mother and the nurse and the priest have
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: all died, the shadow of God be upon their spirits.
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: The soothsayer still lives, and yesterday I met him near
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: the gates of the temple, and while we were talking together,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: he said, I have always known you would become a
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: great musician, even in your infancy. I prophesied and foretold
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: your future, and I believed him. For now I too
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: have forgotten the language of that other world, the pomegranate. Once,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: when I was living in the heart of a pomegranate,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I heard a seed saying, some day I shall become
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: a tree, and the wind will sing in my branches,
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: and the sun will dance on my leaves, and I
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: shall be strong and beautiful all through all the seasons.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: Then another seed spoke and said, when I was as
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: young as you, I too held such views. But now
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: that I can weigh and measure things, I see that
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: my hopes were vain. And a third seed spoke, also,
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: I see in us nothing that promises so great a future.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: And a fourth said, but what a mockery our life
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: would be without a greater future. Said a fifth, Why
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: dispute what we shall be when we know not even
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: what we are? But a sixth replied, whatever we are
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: that we shall continue to be. And a seventh said,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: I have such a clear idea how everything will be,
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: but I cannot put it into words. Then an eight spoke,
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: and a ninth, and a tenth, and then many, until
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: all were speaking, and I could distinguish nothing for the
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: many voices.
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: And so I.
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: Moved that very day into the heart of a quince,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: where the seeds are few and almost silent. The two
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: cages in my father's garden. There are two cages. In
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: one is a lion, which my father's slaves brought from
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the desert of Nineveh, and in the other is a
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: songless sparrow. Every day at dawn, the sparrow calls to
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the lion, good morrow, to thee brother prisoner. The three ants.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Three ants met on the nose of a man who
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: was asleep in the sun, and after they had saluted
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: one another each according to the custom of his tribe,
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: they stood there conversing. The first ant said, these hills
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: and plains are the most barren I have known. I
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: have searched all day for a grain of some sort,
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: and there is none to be found. Said the second ant,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: I too have found nothing, though I have visited every
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: nook and glade. This is, I believe, what my people
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: call the soft moving land, where nothing grows. Then the
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: third aunt raised his head and said, my friends, we
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: are standing now on the nose of the Supreme Ant,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: the mighty and infinite Ant, whose body is so great
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: that we cannot see it, whose shadow is so vast
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: that we cannot trace it, whose voice is so loud
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: that we cannot hear it, and he is omnipresent. When
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the third ant spoke, thus the other ants looked at
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: each other and laughed. At that moment, the man moved, and,
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: in his sleep, raised his hand, scratched his nose, and
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: the three ants were crushed the grave digger. Once, as
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: I was burying one of my dead selves, the grave
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: digger came by and said to me, of all those
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: who come here to bury you alone, I like said I.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: You please me exceedingly. But why do you like me,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: Because said he, they come weeping and go weeping. You
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: only come laughing and go laughing. On the steps of
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: the temple, yester Eve, on the marble steps of the temple,
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I saw a woman sitting between two men. One side
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: of her face was pale, and the other was blushing
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: the blessed city. In my youth I was told that
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: in a certain city everyone lived according to the scriptures.
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: And I said, I will seek that city and the
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: blessedness thereof. And it was far, and I made great
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: provision for my journey, and after forty days I beheld
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: the city. And on the forty first day I entered
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: into it, and lo, the whole company of the inhabitants
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: had each but a single eye and but one hand.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: And I was astonished, and said to myself, shall they
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: of this so holy city have but one eye and
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: one hand? Then I saw that they too were astonished,
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: for they were marveling greatly at my two hands and
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: my two eyes. And as they were speaking together, I
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: inquired of them, saying, is this indeed the blessed city
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: where each man lives according to the scriptures? And they said, yes,
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: this is that city. And what said I hath befallen you?
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: And where are your right eyes and your right hands?
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: And all the people were moved, and they said, come
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: thou and see. And they took me to the temple
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: in the midst of the city. And in the temple
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: I saw a heap of hands and eyes all withered.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: Then said I, alas, what conqueror hath committed this cruelty
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: upon you? And they went a murmur amongst them, and
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: one of their elders stood forth and said, this doing
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: is of ourselves. God hath made us conquerors over the
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: evil that was in us. And he led me to
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: a high altar, and the people followed, and he showed
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: me above the altar and inscription graven. And I read,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: if thy right I offend THEE, pluck it out and
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: cast it from THEE, for it is profitable for THEE
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: that one of thy members should perish, and not that
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: the whole body should be cast into hell. And if
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: thy right hand offend THEE, cut it off and cast
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: it from THEE, for it is profitable for THEE that
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: one of thy members should perish, and not that thy
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: whole body should be cast into hell. Then I understood,
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: and I turned back to all the people and cried,
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: hath no man or woman among you two eyes or
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: two hands? And they answered me, saying, no, not one.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: There is none whole, save such as are yet too
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: young to read the scripture and to understand its commandment.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: And when we had come out of the temple. I
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: straightway left that blessed city, for I was not too young,
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: and I could read the scripture. End of the Madman,
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: Part one, Section two of The Madmen and the Forerunner
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: by kaylil Gebraun. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Part two of The Madmen. The Good God and the
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: Evil God. The Good God and the Evil God met
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: on the mountain top. The Good God said, good day
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: to you, brother. The Evil God did not answer, and
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: the Good God said, you are in a bad humor
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: to day. Yes, said the Evil God, for of late
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: I have been often mistaken for you, called by your name,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: and treated as if I were you, and it ill
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: pleases me. And the Good God said, but I too
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: have been mistaken for you and called by your name.
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: The Evil God walked away, cursing the stupidity of man. Defeat, defeat,
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: my defeat, my solitude, and my aloofness. You are dearer
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: to me than a thousand triumphs, and sweeter to my
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: heart than all the world glory. Defeat, my defeat, my
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: self knowledge, and my defiance. Through you, I know that
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: I am yet young and swift of foot, and not
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: to be trapped by withering laurels, and in you I
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: have found a loneness and the joy of being shunned
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: and scorned. Defeat my defeat, my shining sword and shield.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: In your eyes, I have read that to be enthroned
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: is to be enslaved, and to be understood is to
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: be leveled down. And to be grasped is but to
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: reach one's fullness, and like a ripe fruit, to fall
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: and be consumed. Defeat my defeat, my bold companion. You
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: shall hear my songs and my cries and my silences,
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: and none but you shall speak to me of the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: beating of wings, and urging of seas, and of mountains
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: that burn in the night. And you alone shall climb
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: my steep and rocky soul. Defeat my defeat, my deathless courage.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: You and I shall laugh together with the storm, and
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: together we shall dig graves for all that die in us.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: And we shall stand in the sun with a will,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: and we shall be dangerous knight and the madmen. I
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: am like thee o night, dark and naked. I walk
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: on the flaming path which is above my day dreams,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: And whenever my foot touches earth, a giant oak tree
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: comes forth. Nay thou art not like me O Madman,
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: for thou still lookest backward to see how large a
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: footprint thou leavest in the sand. I am like thee
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: O Night, silent and deep, and in the heart of
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: my loneliness lies a goddess in child bed, and in
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: him who is being born. Heaven touches hell. Nay thou
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: art not like me O Madman, for thou shudderest yet
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: before pain, and the song of the abyss terrifies thee
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: I am like thee O Night, wild and terrible. For
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: my ears are crowded with cries of conquered nations, and
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: sighe for forgotten lands. Nay thou art not like me
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: O Madman, for thou still takest thy little self for
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: a comrade, and with thy monster self, thou canst not
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: be friend. I am like thee O Night, cruel and awful,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: for my bosom is lit by burning ships at sea,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: and my lips are wet with blood of slain warriors.
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: Nay thou art not like me O madmen, for the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: desire for a sister spirit is yet upon thee and
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: thou hast not become alone unto thyself. I am like
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: thee O Night, joyous and glad, for he who dwells
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: in my shadow is now drunk with virgin wine, and
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: she who follows me is sinning mirthfully. Nay, thou art
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: not like me, O Madman, For thy soul is wrapped
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: in the veil of seven folds, and thou holdest not
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: thy heart in thy hand. I am like thee O
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Night Knight, patient and passionate, For in my breast a
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: thousand dead lovers are buried in shrouds of withered kisses. Yea, Madam,
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Art thou like me? Art thou like me? And canst
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: thou ride the tempest as a steed and grasp the
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: lightning as a sword, like thee O Knight, like thee
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: mighty and high. And my throne is built upon heaps
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: of fallen gods. And before me too pass the days
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: to kiss the hem of my garment, but never to
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: gaze at my face. Art thou like me, child of
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: my darkest heart? And dost thou think my untamed thoughts
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: and speak my vast language. Yea, we are twin brothers,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: O Knight, For thou revealest space, and I reveal my
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: soul faces. I have seen a face with a thousand countenances,
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: and a face that was but a single countenance, as
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: if held in a I have seen a face whose
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: sheen I could look through to the ugliness beneath, and
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: a face whose sheen I had to lift to see
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: how beautiful it was. I have seen an old face,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: much lined with nothing, and a smooth face in which
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: all things were graven. I know faces because I looked
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: through the fabric of my own eye weaves and behold
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: a reality. Beneath the Greater Sea. My soul and I
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: went to the Great Sea to bathe, And when we
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: reached the shore, we went about looking for a hidden
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: and lonely place.
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: But as we walked we.
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: Saw a man sitting on a gray rock, taking pinches
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: of salt from a bag and throwing them into the sea.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: This is the pessimist, said my soul. Let us leave
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: this place. We cannot bathe here. We walked on until
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: we reached an inlet. There we saw, standing on a
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: white rock, a man holding a jeweled box from which
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: he took sugar and threw it into the sea. And
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: this is the optimist, said my soul, And he too
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: must not see our naked bodies. Further on we walked,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: and on a beach we saw a man picking up
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: dead fish and tenderly putting them back into the water.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: And we cannot bathe before him, said my soul. He
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: is the humane philanthropist, and we passed on. Then we
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: came where we saw a man tracing his shadow on
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: the sand. Great waves came and erased it, but he
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: went on tracing it again and again. He is a mystic,
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: said my soul. Let us leave him, and we walked
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: on till in a quiet cove we saw a man
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: scooping up the foam and putting it into an alabaster bowl.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: He is the idealist, said my soul. Surely he must
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: not see our nudity. And on we walked. Suddenly we
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: heard a voice crying, this is the sea, This is
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: the deep sea, This is the vast and mighty sea.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: And when we reached the voice, it was a man
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: whose back was turned to the sea, and at his
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur. And
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: my soul said, let us pass on. He is the
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: realist who turns his back on the whole he cannot
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: grasp and busies himself with a fragment. And so we
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: passed on, and in a weedy place among the rocks,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: was a man with his head buried in the sand.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: And I said to my soul, we can bathe here,
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: for he cannot see us. Nay, said my soul, for
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: he is the most deadly of them all. He is
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: the Puritan. Then a great sadness came over the face
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: of my soul, and into her voice, let us go, hints,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: she said, for there is no lonely hidden place where
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: we can bathe. I would not have this wind lift
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: my golden hair, or bear my white bosom in this air,
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: or let the light disclose my sacred nakedness. Then we
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: left that sea to seek the greater sea. Crucified, I
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: cried to men I would be crucified. And they said,
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: why should your blood be upon our heads? And I answered,
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: how else shall you be exalted except by crucifying madmen?
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: And they heeded, and I was crucified, and the crucifixion
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: appeased me. And when I was hanged between Earth and Heaven,
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: they lifted up their heads to see me, and they
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: were exalted, for their heads had never before been lifted
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: But as they stood looking up at me, one called out,
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: for what art thou seeking to atone? And another cried,
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: in what cause dost thou sacrifice thyself? And a third said,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: thinkest thou with this price to buy world glory? Then
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: said a fourth, behold how he smiles? Can such pain
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: be forgiven? And I answered them all and said, remember
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: only that I smiled. I do not atone, nor sacrifice,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: nor wish for glory, and I have nothing to forgive.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: I thirsted, and I besought you to give me my
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: blood to drink, for what is there can quench a
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: madman's thirst but his own blood. I was dumb, and
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: I asked wounds of you for mouths. I was imprisoned
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: in your days and nights, and I sought a door
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: into larger days and nights.
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: And now I.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Go as others already crucified have gone, And think not
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: we are weary of crucifixion, for we must be crucified
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: by larger and yet larger men, between greater earths and
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: greater heavens. The astronomer in the shadow of the temple,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: my friend and I saw a blind man sitting alone,
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: And my friend said, behold the wisest man of our land.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Then I left my friend and approached the blind man
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: and greeted him, and we conversed. After a while, I said,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: forgive my question, But since when hast thou been blind
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: from my birth? He answered, said I? And what path
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: of wisdom follow ust thou? Said he, I am an astronomer.
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: Then he placed his hands upon his breath, saying, I
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: watch all these suns and moons and stars, the great longing.
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: Here I sit between my brother the mountain and my
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: sister the sea. We three are one in loneliness, and
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: the love that binds us together is deep and strong
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: and strange. Nay, it is deeper than my sister's depth,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: and stronger than my brother's strength, and stranger than the
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: strangeness of my madness. E Ens upon eons have passed
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: since the first gray dawn made us visible to one another.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: And though we have seen the birth and the fullness
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: and the death of many worlds, we are still eager
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: and young. We are young and eager, and yet we
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: are mateless and unvisited. And though we lie in unbroken
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: half embrace, we are uncomforted. And what comfort is there
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: for controlled desire and unspent passion. Whence shall come the
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: flaming gods to warm my sister's bed, And what she
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: torrent shall quench my brother's fire? And who is the
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: woman that shall command my heart? In the stillness of
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: the night. My sister murmurs in her sleep the fire
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: god's unknown name, and my brother calls afar upon the
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: cool and distant goddess. But upon whom I call in
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: my sleep I know not.
• 37:42
  Speaker 2: Here.
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: I sit between my brother the mountain and my sister
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: the sea. We three are one in loneliness, and the
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: love that binds us together is deep and strong and strange.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: Sat a blade of grass. Set a blade of grass
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: to an autumn leaf. You make such a noise following
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: you scatter all my winter dreams, said the leaf, indignant,
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: low born and low dwelling, song less, peevish thing. You
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: live not in the upper air, and you cannot tell
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: the sound of singing. Then the autumn leaf lay down
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: upon the earth and slept. And when spring came she
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: waked again, and she was a blade of grass. And
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: when it was autumn and her winter sleep was upon
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: her and above her through all the air the leaves
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: were falling. She muttered to herself, Oh, these autumn leaves,
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: they make such noise. They scatter all my winter dreams.
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: The eye said the eye, one day, I see beyond
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: these valleys a mountain veiled with blue mist? Is it
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: not beautiful? The ear listened, and, after listening intently awhile, said,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: but where is any mountain? I do not hear it.
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: Then the hen spoke and said, I am trying in
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: vain to feel it or touch it, and I can
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: find no mountain. And the nose said, there is no mountain.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: I cannot smell it. Then the eye turned the other way,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: and they all began to talk together about the eye's
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: strange delusion, and they said, something must be the matter
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: with the eye. The two learned men once there lived
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: in the ancient city of Afkar, two learned men who
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: hated and belittled each other's learning, for one of them
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: denied the existence of the gods and the other was
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: a believer. One day the two met in the market place,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: and amidst their followers, they began to dispute and to
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: argue about the existence or the non existence of the gods.
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: And after hours of contention, they parted. That evening the
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: unbeliever went to the temple and prostrated himself before the
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: altar and prayed the gods to forgive his wayward past.
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: And the same hour the other learned men, and he
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: who had upheld the gods burned his sacred books, for
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: he had become an unbeliever. When my sorrow was born.
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: When my sorrow was born, I nursed it with care
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: and watched over it with loving tenderness. And my sorrow
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: grew like all living things, strong and beautiful and full
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: of wondrous delights. And we loved one another, my sorrow
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: and I, and we loved the world about us. For
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: sorrow had a kindly heart, and mine was kindly with sorrow.
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: And when we conversed my sorrow and I, our days
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: were winged, and our nights were girdled with dreams. For
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: sorrow had an eloquent tongue, and mine was eloquent with sorrow.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: And when we sang together, my Sorrow and I, our
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: neighbors sat at their windows and listened, for our songs
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: were deep as the sea, and our melodies were full
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: of strange memories. And when we walked together, my Sorrow
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: and I, people gazed at us with gentle eyes, and
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: whispered in words of exceeding sweetness. And there were those
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: who looked with envy upon us, For sorrow was a
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: noble thing, and I was proud with sorrow. But my
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: sorrow died like all living things. And alone I am
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: left to muse and ponder. And now when I speak,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: my words fall heavily upon my ears. And when I
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: sing my songs, my neighbors come not to listen. And
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: when I walk the streets, no one looks at me.
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: Only in my sleep I hear voices saying, in pity,
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: see there lies the man whose sorrow is dead. And
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: when my joy was born, And when my joy was born,
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: I held it in my arms and stood on the
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: house stop shouting. Come, ye, my neighbors, come and see
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: for joy this day is born. Until me come and
• 42:01
  Speaker 1: behold this gladsome thing that laugheth in the sun. But
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: none of my neighbors came to look upon my joy.
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: And great was my astonishment. And every day for seven
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: moons I proclaimed my joy from the housetop, and yet
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: no one heeded me, and my joy and I were alone,
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: unsought and unvisited. Then my joy grew pale and weary,
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: because no other heart but mine held its loveliness, and
• 42:30
  Speaker 1: no other lips kissed its lips. And then my joy
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: died of isolation. And now I only remember my dead
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: joy in remembering my dead sorrow. But memory is an
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: autumn leaf that murmurs awhile in the wind, and then
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: is heard no more. The perfect world, God of lost souls,
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: thou who art lost amongst the gods, hear me, gentle
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: destiny that watches over us mad wandering spirits, hear me.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: I dwell in the midst of a perfect race. I
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: the most imperfect, I a human chaos and nebula of
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: confused elements. I move amongst finished worlds, people of complete
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: laws and pure order, whose thoughts are assorted, whose dreams
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: are arranged, and whose visions are enrolled and registered. Their
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: virtues o God, are measured, their sins are weighed, and
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: even the countless things that pass in the dim twilight
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: of neither sin nor virtue are recorded and cataloged. Here,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: days and nights are divided into seasons of conduct, and
• 43:45
  Speaker 1: governed by rules of blameless accuracy. To eat, to drink,
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: to sleep, to cover one's nudity, and then to be
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: weary in due time, to work, to play, to sing,
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: to dance, and then to lie still when the clock
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: strikes the hour. To think thus, to feel thus much,
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: and then to cease thinking and feeling when a certain
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: star arises over yonder horizon. To rob a neighbor with
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: a smile, To bestow gifts with the graceful wave of
• 44:19
  Speaker 1: the hand, to praise prudently, to blame cautiously, to destroy
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: a sound with a word, to burn a body with
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: a breath, and then to wash the hands when the
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: day's work is done. To love according to an established order,
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: To entertain one's best self in a preconceived manner. To
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: worship the gods becomingly, to intrigue the devils artfully, and
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: then to forget all as though memory were dead, To
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: fancy with a motive, to contemplate with consideration, to be
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: happy sweetly, to suffer nobly, and then to empty the
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: cup so that sorrow may fill it again. All these things,
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: O God, are conceived with forethought, born with determination, nursed
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: with exactness, governed by rules directed by reason, and then
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: slain and buried after a prescribed method. And even their
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: silent graves that lie within the human soul are marked
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: and numbered. It is a perfect world, a world of
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: consummate excellence, a world of supreme wonders, the ripest fruit
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: in God's garden, the master thought of the universe. But
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: why should I be here, o God? I a green
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: seed of unfulfilled passion, A mad tempest that seeketh neither
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: east nor west, A bewildered fragment from a burnt planet.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Why am I here, o, God of lost souls? Thou
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: who art lost among the gods? End of the Madman,
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Part two, Section three of The Madmen and The Forerunner
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: by Kylie Gebroun. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain.
• 46:15
  Speaker 1: Part one of The Forerunner. You are your own forerunner,
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: and the towers you have builded are but the foundation
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: of your giant self. And that self too shall be
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: a foundation. And I too am my own forerunner. For
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: the long shadow stretching before me at sunrise shall gather
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: under my feet. At the noon hour, Yet another sunrise
• 46:42
  Speaker 1: shall lay another shadow before me, and that also shall
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: be gathered at another noon. Always have we been our
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: own forerunners, and always shall we be, And all that
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: we have gathered and shall gather, shall be but seas
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: for feels, Yet unplowed. We are the fields and the plowmen,
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: the gatherers, and the gathered. When you were a wandering
• 47:09
  Speaker 1: desire in the mist, I too was there a wandering desire.
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: Then we sought one another, and out of our eagerness
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: dreams were born, and dreams were time limitless, and dreams
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: were space without measure. And when you were a silent
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: word upon life's quivering lips, I too was there another
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: silent word. Then life uttered us, and we came down
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: the years, throbbing with memories of yesterday and with longing
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: for tomorrow. For yesterday was death conquered, and tomorrow was
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: birth pursued. And now we are in God's hands. You
• 47:51
  Speaker 1: are a son in his right hand, and I am
• 47:54
  Speaker 1: Earth in his left hand. Yet you are not more
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: shining than I shone upon And we Sun and Earth
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: are but the beginning of a greater Sun and a
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: greater earth, And always shall we be the beginning. You
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: are your own forerunner, you the stranger passing by the
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: gate of my garden, And I too am my own forerunner,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: though I sit in the shadows of my trees and
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: seem motionless God's fool. Once there came from the desert
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: to the great city of Shariah, a man who was
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: a dreamer, and he had not but his garment and
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: a staff. As he walked through the streets, he gazed
• 48:41
  Speaker 1: with awe and wonder at the temples and towers and palaces.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: For the city of Shariah was of surpassing beauty. And
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: he spoke often to the passers by questioning them about
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: their city. But they understood not his language, nor he
• 48:57
  Speaker 1: their language. At the noon, now he stopped before a
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: vast inn. It was built of yellow marble, and people
• 49:05
  Speaker 1: were going in and coming out unhindered. This must be
• 49:09
  Speaker 1: a shrine, he said to himself, and he too went in.
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: But what was his surprise to find himself in a
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: hall of great splendor, and a large company of men
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: and women seated about many tables. They were eating and
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: drinking and listening to the musicians. Nay, said the dreamer,
• 49:28
  Speaker 1: this is no worshiping. It must be a feast given
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: by the prince to the people in celebration of a
• 49:35
  Speaker 1: great event. At that moment, a man whom he took
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: to be the slave of the prince approached him and
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: bade him be seated, and he was served with meat
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: and wine and most excellent sweets. When he was satisfied,
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: the dreamer rose to depart at the door, he was
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: stopped by a large man magnificently arrayed. Surely this is
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: the Prince himself, said the in his heart, and he
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: bowed to him and thanked him. Then the large man said,
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: in the language of the city, sir, you have not
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: paid for your dinner. And the dreamer did not understand,
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: and again thanked him heartily. Then the large man bethought him,
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: and he looked more closely upon the dreamer, and he
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: saw that he was a stranger, clad in but a
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: poor garment, and that indeed he had not wherewith to
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: pay for his meal. Then the large man clapped his
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: hands and called, and there came four watchmen of the city,
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: and they listened to the large man. Then they took
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: the dreamer between them, and they were two on each
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: side of him. And the dreamer noted the ceremoniousness of
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: their dress and of their manner, and he looked upon
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: them with delight. These said, he are men of distinction,
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: And they walked altogether until they came to the House
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: of Judgment. And they entered, the dreamer saw before him,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: seated upon a throne a venerable man with flowing beard,
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: robed majestically, and he thought he was the king, and
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: he rejoiced to be brought before him. Now the watchman
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: related to the judge, who was the venerable man, the
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: charge against the dreamer, and the judge appointed two advocates,
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: one to represent the charge and the other to defend
• 51:27
  Speaker 1: the stranger. And the advocates rose the one after the other,
• 51:32
  Speaker 1: and delivered each his argument. And the dreamer thought himself
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: to be listening to addresses of welcome and his heart
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: filled with gratitude to the King and the Prince for
• 51:43
  Speaker 1: all that was done for him. Then sentence was passed
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: upon the dreamer that upon a tablet hung about his neck,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: his crime should be written, and that he should ride
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: through the city on a naked horse, with a trumpeter
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: and a drummer before him, And the sentence was carried
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: out forthwith. Now, as the dreamer rode through the city
• 52:04
  Speaker 1: upon the naked horse, with the trumpeter and the drummer
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: before him, the inhabitants of the city came running forth
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: at the sound of the noise, and when they saw him,
• 52:15
  Speaker 1: they laughed one and all, and the children ran after
• 52:18
  Speaker 1: him in companies, from street to street, And the dreamer's
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: heart was filled with ecstasy, and his eyes shone upon them,
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: for to him the tablet was a sign of the
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: king's blessing, and the procession was in his honor. Now,
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: as he rode, he saw among the crowd a man
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: who was from the desert, like himself, and his heart
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: swelled with joy, and he cried out to him with
• 52:44
  Speaker 1: a shout, friend, friend, where are we? What city of
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: the heart's desire is this? What race of lavish hosts,
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: who feast the chance guest in their palaces, whose princes
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: companion him, whose king hanged token upon his breast and
• 53:02
  Speaker 1: opens to him the hospitality of a city descended from heaven.
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: And he, who was also of the desert, replied not.
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: He only smiled and slightly shook his head. And the
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: procession passed on, and the dreamer's face was uplifted, and
• 53:19
  Speaker 1: his eyes were overflowing with light.
• 53:24
  Speaker 2: Love.
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: They say, the jackal and the mole drink from the
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: self same stream where the lion comes to drink. And
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: they say, the eagle and the vulture dig their beaks
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: into the same carcass, and are at peace, one with
• 53:39
  Speaker 1: the other in the presence of the dead thing. O love,
• 53:44
  Speaker 1: whose lordly hand has bridled my desires and raised my
• 53:48
  Speaker 1: hunger and my thirst to dignity and pride. Let not
• 53:53
  Speaker 1: the strong in me and the constant eat the bread
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: or drink the wine that tempt my weaker self. Let
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: me rather starve, and let my heart parch with thirst,
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: and let me die and perish. Ere I stretch my
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: hand to a cup you did not fill, or a
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: bowl you did not Bless the king hermit. They told
• 54:17
  Speaker 1: me that in a forest among the mountains lives a
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: young man in solitude, who was once a king of
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: a vast country beyond the two rivers. And they also
• 54:27
  Speaker 1: said that he, of his own will, had left his
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: throne in the land of his glory and come to
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: dwell in the wilderness. And I said I would seek
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: that man and learn the secret of his heart, For
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: he who renounces a kingdom must needs be greater than
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: a kingdom. On that very day I went to the
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: forest where he dwells, and I found him sitting under
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: a white cypress, and in his hand a reed, as
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: if it were a scepter. And I greeted him even
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: as I would greet a king. And he he turned
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: to me and said, gently, what would you in this
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: forest of serenity? Seek you a lost self in the
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: green shadows? Or is it a homecoming in your twilight?
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: And I answered, I sought but you, for I fain
• 55:16
  Speaker 1: would know that which made you leave a kingdom for
• 55:19
  Speaker 1: a forest. And he said, brief is my story, For
• 55:24
  Speaker 1: sudden was the bursting of the bubble. It happened thus.
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: One day, as I sat at a window in my palace,
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: my chamberlain and an envoy from a foreign land were
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: walking in my garden. And as they approached my window,
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: the Lord Chamberlain was speaking of himself and saying, why
• 55:42
  Speaker 1: I am like the King. I have a thirst for
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: strong wine and a hunger for all games of chance,
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: And like my lord the King, I have storms of temper.
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: And the Lord Chamberlain and the envoy disappeared among the trees,
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: but in a few minutes they returned, and this time
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: the Lord Chamberlain was speaking of me, and he was saying,
• 56:04
  Speaker 1: my lord the King is like myself a good marksman,
• 56:08
  Speaker 1: and like me, he loves music and bathes thrice a day.
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: After a moment, he added, on the eve of that day,
• 56:16
  Speaker 1: I left my palace with but my garment, for I
• 56:20
  Speaker 1: would no longer be ruler over those who assume my
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: vices and attribute to me their virtues. And I said,
• 56:28
  Speaker 1: this is indeed a wonder and passing strange. And he said, nay,
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: my friend, you knocked at the gate of my silences
• 56:37
  Speaker 1: and received but a trifle. For who would not leave
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: a kingdom for a forest when the seasons sing and
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: dance ceaselessly. Many are those who have given their kingdom
• 56:48
  Speaker 1: for less than solitude and the sweet fellowship of a loneness.
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: Countless are the eagles who descend from the upper air
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: to live with moles, that they may know the secrets
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: of the earth. There are those who renounce the kingdom
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: of dreams that they may not seem distant from the dreamless.
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: And those who renounce the kingdom of nakedness and cover
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: their souls that others may not be ashamed in beholding
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: truth uncovered and beauty unveiled. And greater than all of
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: these is he who renounces the kingdom of sorrow, that
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: he may not seem proud and vainglorious. Then rising, he
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: leaned upon his read and said, go now to the
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: great city, and sit at its gate, and watch all
• 57:36
  Speaker 1: those who enter into it and those who go out,
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: and see that you find him who, though born a king,
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: is without kingdom, and him who, though ruled in flesh,
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: rules in spirit, though neither he nor his subjects know this.
• 57:53
  Speaker 1: And him also, who but seems to rule, yet is
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: in truth slave of his own slaves. After he had
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: said these things, he smiled on me, and there were
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: a thousand dawns upon his lips. Then he turned and
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: walked away into the heart of the forest. And I
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: returned to the city, and I sat at its gate
• 58:15
  Speaker 1: to watch the passers by, even as he had told me.
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: And from that day to this numerous are the kings
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: whose shadows have passed over me, and few are the
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: subjects over whom my shadow has passed. The Lion's daughter,
• 58:33
  Speaker 1: four slaves stood fanning an old queen who was asleep
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: upon her throne, and she was snoring, And upon the
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: queen's lap a cat lay, purring and gazing lazily at
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: the slaves. The first slaves spoke and said, how ugly
• 58:50
  Speaker 1: this old woman is in her sleep. See her mouth droops,
• 58:54
  Speaker 1: and she breathe as if the devil were choking her.
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: Then the cat said, purry, not half so ugly in
• 59:02
  Speaker 1: her sleep as you in your waking slavery. And the
• 59:06
  Speaker 1: second slave said, you would think sleep would smooth her
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: wrinkles instead of deepening them. She must be dreaming of
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: something evil. And the cat herd would that you might
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: sleep also, and a dream of your freedom. And the
• 59:23
  Speaker 1: third slave said, perhaps she is seeing the procession of
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: all those that she has slain, And the cat purd ay,
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: she sees the procession of your forefathers and your descendants.
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: And the fourth slave said, it is all very well
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: to talk about her, but it does not make me
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: less weary of standing and fanning. And the cat heard,
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: you shall be fanning to all eternity, for as it
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: is on earth, so it is in heaven. At this moment,
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: the old queen nodded in her sleep, and her crown
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: fell to the floor. One of the slaves said, that
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: is a bad omen, and the cat heard, the bad
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: omen of one is the good omen of another. And
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: the second slave said, what if she should wake and
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: find her crown fallen. She would surely slay us. And
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: the cat heard, daily from your birth, she has slain you,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: and you know it not. And the third slave said, yes,
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: she would slay us, and she would call it making
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: sacrifice to the gods. And the cat heard, only the
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: weak are sacrificed to the gods. And the fourth slave
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: silenced the others, and softly he picked up the crown
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: and replaced it without waking her, on the old queen's head,
• 1:00:45
  Speaker 1: and the cat heard, only a slave restores a crown
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: that has fallen. And after a while the old queen woke,
• 1:00:53
  Speaker 1: and she looked about her and yawned. Then she said, methought,
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: I'd dreamed, and I saw four catapills chased by a
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: scorpion around the trunk of an ancient oak tree. I
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: like not my dream. Then she closed her eyes and
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 1: went to sleep again, and she snored, and the four
• 1:01:12
  Speaker 1: slaves went on fanning her, and the cat herd fan on,
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: fan on, stupids, you fan but the fire that consumes
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: you tyranny, Thus sings the she dragon that guards the
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: seven caves by the sea. My mate shall come riding
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: on the waves his thundering roar shall fill the earth
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: with fear, and the flames of his nostrils shall set
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 1: the sky afire. At the eclipse of the moon, we
• 1:01:43
  Speaker 1: shall be wedded, And at the eclipse of the sun
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: I shall give birth to a saint George, who shall
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: slay me. Thus sings the she dragon that guards the
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: seven Caves by the sea, the Saint. In my youth,
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: I once visited a saint in his silent grove beyond
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: the hills. And as we were conversing upon the nature
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 1: of virtue, a brigand came limping wearily up the ridge.
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 1: When he reached the grove, he knelt down before the
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 1: saint and said, O, Saint, I would be comforted. My
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: sins are heavy upon me. And the saint replied, my
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 1: sins too are heavy upon me. And the brigand said,
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 1: but I am a thief and a plunderer. And the
• 1:02:29
  Speaker 1: saint replied, I too, am a thief and a plunderer.
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: And the brigand said, but I am a murderer, and
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: the blood of many men cries in my ears. And
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: the saint replied, I too, am a murderer, and in
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 1: my ears cries the blood of many men, And the
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: Brigand said, I have committed countless crimes, and the Saint replied,
• 1:02:53
  Speaker 1: I too, have committed crimes without number. Then the Brigand
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: stood up and gazed at the Saint, and there was
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: a strange look in his eyes. And when he left us,
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: he went skipping down the hill. And I turned to
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: the Saint and said, wherefore did you accuse yourself of
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: uncommitted crimes? See you not that this man went away
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: no longer believing in you? And the Saint answered, it
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: is true, he no longer believes in me. But he
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 1: went away much comforted. At that moment we heard the
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 1: Brigand singing in the distance, and the echo of his
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: song filled the valley with gladness. The Plutocrat. In my wanderings,
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: I once saw upon an island a man headed iron hoofed,
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: monster who ate of the earth and drank of the
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 1: sea incessantly. And for a long while I watched him.
• 1:03:50
  Speaker 1: Then I approached him and said, have you never enough?
• 1:03:54
  Speaker 1: Is your hunger never satisfied and your thirst never quenched?
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 1: And he answered saying, yes, I am satisfied. Nay, I
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: am weary of eating and drinking. But I am afraid
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: that tomorrow there will be no more earth to eat
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: and no more sea to drink the Greater self. This
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: came to pass. After the coronation of Nusibal, King of Biblus.
• 1:04:22
  Speaker 1: He retired to his bedchamber, the very room which the
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: three hermit magicians of the mountain had built for him.
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: He took off his crown and his royal raiment and
• 1:04:33
  Speaker 1: stood in the center of the room, thinking of himself
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: now the all powerful ruler of Biblus. Suddenly he turned
• 1:04:41
  Speaker 1: and he saw, stepping out of the silver mirror which
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: his mother had given him, a naked man. The king
• 1:04:48
  Speaker 1: was startled, and he cried out to the men, what
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 1: would you And the naked man answered nought, but this.
• 1:04:55
  Speaker 1: Why have they crowned you king? And the king answered,
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: because I am the noblest man in the land. Then
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: the naked man said, if you were still more noble,
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 1: you would not be king. And the king said, because
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: I am the mightiest man in the land, they crowned me.
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: And the naked man said, if you were mightier yet,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: you would not be king. Then the king said, because
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 1: I am the wisest man, they crowned me king. And
• 1:05:26
  Speaker 1: the naked man said, if you were still wiser, you
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 1: would not choose to be king. Then the king fell
• 1:05:33
  Speaker 1: to the floor and wept bitterly. The naked man looked
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: upon him. Then he took up the crown, and with tenderness,
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: replaced it upon the king's bent head. And the naked man,
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 1: gazing lovingly upon the king, entered into the mirror, and
• 1:05:51
  Speaker 1: the king roused, and straightway he looked into the mirror,
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: and he saw there but himself crowned, war and the
• 1:06:00
  Speaker 1: small nations. Once high above a pasture where a sheep
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: and a lamb were grazing, an eagle was circling and
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: gazing hungrily down upon the lamb, And as he was
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: about to descend and seize his prey, another eagle appeared
• 1:06:17
  Speaker 1: and hovered above the sheep and her young with the
• 1:06:20
  Speaker 1: same hungry intent. Then the two rivals began to fight,
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 1: filling the sky with their fierce cries. The sheep looked
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 1: up and was much astonished. She turned to the lamb
• 1:06:32
  Speaker 1: and said, how strange, my child, that these two noble
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 1: birds should attack one another. Is not the vast sky
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 1: large enough for both of them? Pray, my little one,
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: pray in your heart, that God may make peace between
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: your winged brothers, and the lamb prayed in his heart.
• 1:06:54
  Speaker 2: Critics.
• 1:06:56
  Speaker 1: One nightfall, a man traveling on horseback toward the sea
• 1:07:00
  Speaker 1: reached an end by the roadside. He dismounted, and confident
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 1: in man and knight, Like all riders toward the sea,
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: he tied his horse to a tree beside the door
• 1:07:11
  Speaker 1: and entered into the inn. At midnight, when all were asleep,
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 1: a thief came and stole the traveler's horse. In the morning,
• 1:07:20
  Speaker 1: the man awoke and discovered that his horse was stolen,
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 1: and he grieved for his horse, and that a man
• 1:07:26
  Speaker 1: had found it in his heart to steal. Then his
• 1:07:30
  Speaker 1: fellow lodgers came and stood around him and began to talk.
• 1:07:34
  Speaker 1: And the first man said, how foolish of you to
• 1:07:37
  Speaker 1: tie your horse outside the stable, And the second one said,
• 1:07:42
  Speaker 1: still more foolish, without even hobbling the horse. And the
• 1:07:46
  Speaker 1: third man said it is stupid at best to travel
• 1:07:49
  Speaker 1: to the sea on horseback, and the fourth said, only
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 1: the indolent and the slow of foot own horses. Then
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 1: the traveler was much astonished. At last he cried, my friends,
• 1:08:02
  Speaker 1: because my horse is stolen. You have hastened one and
• 1:08:05
  Speaker 1: all to tell me of my faults and my shortcomings.
• 1:08:09
  Speaker 1: But strange, not one word of reproach have you uttered
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 1: about the man who stole my horse.
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 2: Poets.
• 1:08:18
  Speaker 1: Four poets were sitting around a bowl of punch that
• 1:08:21
  Speaker 1: stood on a table. Said the first poet, methinks, I
• 1:08:25
  Speaker 1: see with my third eye the fragrance of this wine,
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 1: hovering in space, like a cloud of birds in an
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 1: enchanted forest. The second poet raised his head and said,
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 1: with my inner ear, I hear those mist birds singing,
• 1:08:41
  Speaker 1: and the melody holds my heart as the white rose
• 1:08:45
  Speaker 1: imprisons the bee within her petals. And the third poet
• 1:08:49
  Speaker 1: closed his eyes and stretched his arm upward and said,
• 1:08:53
  Speaker 1: I touch them with my hand. I feel their wings
• 1:08:57
  Speaker 1: like the breath of a sleeping fairy brushing against my fingers.
• 1:09:03
  Speaker 1: Then the fourth poet rose and lifted up the bowl
• 1:09:06
  Speaker 1: and said, alas friends, I am too dull of sight
• 1:09:10
  Speaker 1: and of hearing and of touch. I cannot see the
• 1:09:14
  Speaker 1: fragrance of this wine, nor hear its song, nor feel
• 1:09:17
  Speaker 1: the beating of its wings. I perceive but the wine itself. Now,
• 1:09:22
  Speaker 1: therefore must I drink it that it may sharpen my senses,
• 1:09:26
  Speaker 1: and raise me to your blissful heights. And putting the
• 1:09:30
  Speaker 1: bowl to his lips, he drank the punch to the
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 1: very last drop. The three poets, with their mouths open,
• 1:09:37
  Speaker 1: looked at him aghast, and there was a thirsty yet
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 1: unlyrical hatred in their eyes. The weathercock said the weathercock
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 1: to the wind, how tedious and monotonous you are? Can
• 1:09:52
  Speaker 1: you not blow any other way? But in my face?
• 1:09:55
  Speaker 1: You disturb my God given stability? And the wind did
• 1:09:59
  Speaker 1: not answer, It only laughed in space. The King of Ardas.
• 1:10:06
  Speaker 1: Once the elders of the city of Ardas presented themselves
• 1:10:09
  Speaker 1: before the King and besought of him a decree to
• 1:10:12
  Speaker 1: forbid two men all wine and all intoxicants within their city.
• 1:10:17
  Speaker 1: And the King turned his back upon them and went
• 1:10:20
  Speaker 1: out from them, laughing. Then the elders departed in dismay.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 1: At the door of the palace, they met the Lord Chamberlain,
• 1:10:28
  Speaker 1: and the Lord Chamberlain observed that they were troubled, and
• 1:10:32
  Speaker 1: he understood their case. Then he said, pity, my friends,
• 1:10:36
  Speaker 1: had you found the King drunk, surely he would have
• 1:10:39
  Speaker 1: granted you your petition out of my deeper heart, out
• 1:10:46
  Speaker 1: of my deeper heart, a bird rose and flew skyward.
• 1:10:50
  Speaker 1: Higher and higher did he rise, Yet larger and larger
• 1:10:54
  Speaker 1: did it grow. At first it was but like a swallow,
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 1: than a lark, then an eagle, then as vast as
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 1: a spring cloud, And then it filled the starry heavens.
• 1:11:07
  Speaker 1: Out of my heart a bird flew skyward, and it
• 1:11:10
  Speaker 1: waxed larger as it flew. Yet it left not my heart, Oh,
• 1:11:16
  Speaker 1: my faith, my untamed knowledge. How shall I fly to
• 1:11:20
  Speaker 1: your height and see with you man's larger self penciled
• 1:11:24
  Speaker 1: upon the sky. How shall I turn this sea within
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 1: me into mist and move with you in space immeasurable?
• 1:11:33
  Speaker 1: How can a prisoner within the temple behold its golden domes?
• 1:11:38
  Speaker 1: How shall the heart of a fruit be stretched to
• 1:11:40
  Speaker 1: envelop the fruit? Also, o my faith, I am in
• 1:11:45
  Speaker 1: chains behind these bars of silver and ebony, and I
• 1:11:49
  Speaker 1: cannot fly with you. Yet out of my heart you
• 1:11:53
  Speaker 1: rise skyward, And it is my heart that holds you,
• 1:11:57
  Speaker 1: and I shall be content. End of The Forerunner, Part one,
• 1:12:10
  Speaker 1: Section four of The Madmen and the Forerunner by Kliu Gabron.
• 1:12:15
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. Part two
• 1:12:20
  Speaker 1: of the Forerunner dynasties. The Queen of Ishauna was in
• 1:12:25
  Speaker 1: travail of childbirth, and the King and the mighty men
• 1:12:28
  Speaker 1: of his court were waiting in breathless anxiety in the
• 1:12:32
  Speaker 1: great Hall of the Winged Bulls at eventide. There came
• 1:12:36
  Speaker 1: suddenly a messenger in haste and prostrated himself before the
• 1:12:40
  Speaker 1: King and said, I bring glad tidings unto my lord
• 1:12:44
  Speaker 1: the King, and unto the kingdom and the slaves of
• 1:12:47
  Speaker 1: the King. Merab, the cruel, thy lifelong enemy, the king
• 1:12:52
  Speaker 1: of the throne is dead. When the King and the
• 1:12:55
  Speaker 1: mighty men heard this, they all rose and shouted for joy,
• 1:12:59
  Speaker 1: for the powerful Mirab, had he lived longer, had assuredly
• 1:13:03
  Speaker 1: overcome Ishaanna and carried the inhabitants captive. At this moment,
• 1:13:08
  Speaker 1: the court physician also entered the Hall of winged Bulls,
• 1:13:12
  Speaker 1: and behind him came the royal midwives. And the physician
• 1:13:16
  Speaker 1: prostrated himself before the king and said, my lord, the
• 1:13:20
  Speaker 1: King shall live forever, and through countless generation shall he
• 1:13:23
  Speaker 1: rule over the people of Ishana, For unto thee O
• 1:13:27
  Speaker 1: King is born this very hour a son who shall
• 1:13:30
  Speaker 1: be thy heir. Then indeed, was the soul of the
• 1:13:34
  Speaker 1: king intoxicated with joy that in the same moment his
• 1:13:38
  Speaker 1: foe was dead, and the royal line was established. Now
• 1:13:42
  Speaker 1: in the city of Ishana lived a true prophet, and
• 1:13:46
  Speaker 1: the prophet was young and bold of spirit. And the
• 1:13:49
  Speaker 1: king that very night ordered that the prophet should be
• 1:13:52
  Speaker 1: brought before him. And when he was brought, the king
• 1:13:55
  Speaker 1: said unto him, prophesy now, and foretell what shall be
• 1:13:59
  Speaker 1: the few future of my son, who is this day
• 1:14:02
  Speaker 1: born unto the kingdom. And the prophet hesitated not, but
• 1:14:06
  Speaker 1: said hearken, O King, and I will indeed prophesy of
• 1:14:10
  Speaker 1: the future of thy son, that is this day born
• 1:14:14
  Speaker 1: the soul of thy enemy, even of thy enemy, King Mehrab,
• 1:14:18
  Speaker 1: who died. Yester eve lingered but a day upon the wind.
• 1:14:23
  Speaker 1: Then it sought for itself a body to enter into,
• 1:14:26
  Speaker 1: and that which it entered into was the body of
• 1:14:29
  Speaker 1: thy son that is born unto thee this hour. Then
• 1:14:34
  Speaker 1: the king was enraged, and with his sword he slew
• 1:14:37
  Speaker 1: the prophet. And from that day to this the wise
• 1:14:40
  Speaker 1: men of Isshanna say one to another secretly. Is it
• 1:14:44
  Speaker 1: not known, and has it not been said from of
• 1:14:47
  Speaker 1: old that Ishanna is ruled by an enemy knowledge and
• 1:14:53
  Speaker 1: half knowledge. Four frogs sat upon a log that lay
• 1:14:57
  Speaker 1: floating on the edge of a river. Suddenly the log
• 1:15:00
  Speaker 1: was caught by the current and swept slowly down the stream.
• 1:15:04
  Speaker 1: The frogs were delighted and absorbed, for never before had
• 1:15:08
  Speaker 1: they sailed at length. The first frog spoke and said,
• 1:15:12
  Speaker 1: this is indeed a most marvelous log. It moves as
• 1:15:15
  Speaker 1: if alive. No such log was ever known before. Then
• 1:15:20
  Speaker 1: the second frog spoke and said, nay, my friend, the
• 1:15:23
  Speaker 1: log is like other logs and does not move. It
• 1:15:27
  Speaker 1: is the river that is walking to the sea and
• 1:15:29
  Speaker 1: carries us and the log with it. And the third
• 1:15:33
  Speaker 1: frog spoke and said, it is neither the log nor
• 1:15:37
  Speaker 1: the river that moves. The moving is in our thinking,
• 1:15:40
  Speaker 1: for without thought, nothing moves. And the three frogs began
• 1:15:45
  Speaker 1: to wrangle about what was really moving. The quarrel grew
• 1:15:49
  Speaker 1: hotter and louder, but they could not agree. Then they
• 1:15:52
  Speaker 1: turned to the fourth frog, who up to this time
• 1:15:55
  Speaker 1: had been listening attentively but holding his peace, And they
• 1:15:59
  Speaker 1: asked his appear, And the fourth frog said, each of
• 1:16:03
  Speaker 1: you is right, and none of you is wrong. The
• 1:16:06
  Speaker 1: moving is in the log and the water, and our
• 1:16:09
  Speaker 1: thinking also and the three frogs became very angry, for
• 1:16:14
  Speaker 1: none of them was willing to admit that his was
• 1:16:16
  Speaker 1: not the whole truth, and that the other two were
• 1:16:19
  Speaker 1: not wholly wrong. Then a strange thing happened. The three
• 1:16:24
  Speaker 1: frogs got together and pushed the fourth frog off the
• 1:16:27
  Speaker 1: log into the river. Set a sheet of snow white paper.
• 1:16:33
  Speaker 1: Set a sheet of snow white paper. Pure was I created,
• 1:16:37
  Speaker 1: and to pure? While I remain forever? I would rather
• 1:16:41
  Speaker 1: be burnt and turned to white ashes than suffered darkness
• 1:16:44
  Speaker 1: to touch me, or the unclean to come near me.
• 1:16:48
  Speaker 1: The ink bottle heard what the paper was saying, and
• 1:16:51
  Speaker 1: it laughed in its dark heart, but it never dared
• 1:16:55
  Speaker 1: to approach her. And the multicolored pencils heard her also,
• 1:17:00
  Speaker 1: and they too, never came near her. And the snow
• 1:17:03
  Speaker 1: white sheet of paper did remain pure and chaste, forever,
• 1:17:08
  Speaker 1: pure and chaste and empty. The scholar and the poet,
• 1:17:15
  Speaker 1: said the serpent to the lark, thou fliest, yet thou
• 1:17:19
  Speaker 1: canst not visit the recesses of the earth, where the
• 1:17:21
  Speaker 1: sap of life moveth in perfect silence. And the lark answered,
• 1:17:26
  Speaker 1: ay thou knowest over much, nay thou art wiser than
• 1:17:30
  Speaker 1: all things. Wise, Pity, thou canst not fly, And as
• 1:17:35
  Speaker 1: if he did not hear, the serpent said, thou canst
• 1:17:38
  Speaker 1: not see the secrets of the deep, nor move upon
• 1:17:41
  Speaker 1: the treasures of the hidden empire. It was but yesterday
• 1:17:45
  Speaker 1: I lay in a cave of rubies. It is like
• 1:17:48
  Speaker 1: the heart of a ripe pomegranate, and the faintest ray
• 1:17:51
  Speaker 1: of light turns it into a flame rose. Who but
• 1:17:54
  Speaker 1: me can behold such marvels? And the lark said none,
• 1:18:00
  Speaker 1: None but THEE can lie among the crystal memories of
• 1:18:03
  Speaker 1: the cycles. Pity thou canst not sing? And the serpent said,
• 1:18:08
  Speaker 1: I know a plant whose root descends to the bowels
• 1:18:11
  Speaker 1: of the earth, and he who eats of that root
• 1:18:14
  Speaker 1: becomes fairer than astarte. And the lark said no one,
• 1:18:20
  Speaker 1: no one but thee, could unveil the magic thought of
• 1:18:23
  Speaker 1: the earth. Pity thou canst not fly. And the serpent said,
• 1:18:28
  Speaker 1: there is a purple stream that runneth under the mountain,
• 1:18:32
  Speaker 1: and he who drinketh of it shall become immortal, even
• 1:18:36
  Speaker 1: as the gods. Surely no bird or beast can discover
• 1:18:40
  Speaker 1: that purple stream. And the lark answered, if thou willest,
• 1:18:45
  Speaker 1: thou canst become deathless, even as the gods pity, thou
• 1:18:50
  Speaker 1: canst not sing. And the serpent said, I know a
• 1:18:54
  Speaker 1: buried temple, which I visit once a moon. It was
• 1:18:58
  Speaker 1: built by a forgotten race of giants, and upon its
• 1:19:01
  Speaker 1: walls are graven the secrets of time and space. And
• 1:19:04
  Speaker 1: he who reads them shall understand that which pathos all understanding.
• 1:19:10
  Speaker 1: And the lark said, verily, if thou so desirest, thou
• 1:19:14
  Speaker 1: canst encircle with thy pliant body all knowledge of time
• 1:19:18
  Speaker 1: and space. Pity, thou canst not fly. Then the serpent
• 1:19:24
  Speaker 1: was disgusted, and as he turned and entered into his hole,
• 1:19:27
  Speaker 1: he muttered, empty headed songster, and the lark flew away,
• 1:19:33
  Speaker 1: singing pity. Thou canst not sing pity, pity, my wise one,
• 1:19:38
  Speaker 1: thou canst not fly. Values Once a man unearthed in
• 1:19:44
  Speaker 1: his field a marble statue of great beauty, and he
• 1:19:48
  Speaker 1: took it to a collector, who loved all beautiful things,
• 1:19:51
  Speaker 1: and offered it to him for sale, And the collector
• 1:19:54
  Speaker 1: bought it for a large price, and they parted. And
• 1:19:59
  Speaker 1: as the man walked home with his money, he thought,
• 1:20:02
  Speaker 1: and he said to himself, how much life this money means?
• 1:20:06
  Speaker 1: How can anyone give all this for a dead carved stone,
• 1:20:10
  Speaker 1: buried and undreamed of in the earth for a thousand years.
• 1:20:15
  Speaker 1: And now the collector was looking at his statue, and
• 1:20:18
  Speaker 1: he was thinking, and he said to himself, what beauty,
• 1:20:22
  Speaker 1: what life, the dream of? What a soul and fresh
• 1:20:27
  Speaker 1: with the sweet sleep of a thousand years? How can
• 1:20:30
  Speaker 1: anyone give all this for money, dead and dreamless other seas?
• 1:20:38
  Speaker 1: A fish said to another fish, above this sea of ours,
• 1:20:41
  Speaker 1: there is another sea with creatures swimming in it, and
• 1:20:45
  Speaker 1: they live there even as we live here. The fish replied,
• 1:20:50
  Speaker 1: pure fancy, Pure fancy. When you know that everything that
• 1:20:55
  Speaker 1: leaves our sea by even an inch and stays out
• 1:20:58
  Speaker 1: of it dies, what proof have you of other lives
• 1:21:02
  Speaker 1: in other seaes repentance. On a moonless night, a man
• 1:21:08
  Speaker 1: entered into his neighbour's garden and stole the largest melon
• 1:21:11
  Speaker 1: he could find, and brought it home. He opened it
• 1:21:14
  Speaker 1: and found it still unripe. Then behold a marvel. The
• 1:21:19
  Speaker 1: man's conscience awoke and smote him with remorse, and he
• 1:21:24
  Speaker 1: repented having stolen the melon. The dying man and the
• 1:21:30
  Speaker 1: vulture Wait, wait, yet Awhile, my eager friend, I shall yield,
• 1:21:36
  Speaker 1: but to soon this wasted thing, whose agony, over wrought
• 1:21:40
  Speaker 1: and useless, exhausts your patience. I would not have your
• 1:21:45
  Speaker 1: honest hunger weight upon these moments. But this chain, though
• 1:21:49
  Speaker 1: made of a breath, is hard to break. And the
• 1:21:53
  Speaker 1: will to die, stronger than all things strong, is stayed
• 1:21:57
  Speaker 1: by a will to live feebler than all things feeble.
• 1:22:02
  Speaker 1: Forgive me, comrade, I tarry too long. It is memory
• 1:22:06
  Speaker 1: that holds my spirit, A procession of distant days, a
• 1:22:10
  Speaker 1: vision of youth spent in a dream, A face that
• 1:22:14
  Speaker 1: bids my eyelids not to sleep, a voice that lingers
• 1:22:18
  Speaker 1: in my ears, a hand that touches my hand. Forgive
• 1:22:22
  Speaker 1: me that you have waited too long. It is over now,
• 1:22:26
  Speaker 1: and all is faded, the face, the voice, the hand,
• 1:22:31
  Speaker 1: and the mist that brought them hither. The knot is untied,
• 1:22:35
  Speaker 1: the cord is cleaved, and that which is neither food
• 1:22:39
  Speaker 1: nor drink is withdrawn. Approach, my hungry comrade. The board
• 1:22:44
  Speaker 1: is made ready, and the fair, frugal and spare, is
• 1:22:48
  Speaker 1: given with love. Come and dig your beak here into
• 1:22:52
  Speaker 1: the left side, and tear out of its cage. This
• 1:22:55
  Speaker 1: smaller bird, whose wings can beat no more I have it.
• 1:23:00
  Speaker 1: Soar with you into the sky. Come now, my friend.
• 1:23:04
  Speaker 1: I am your host to night, and you my welcome guest.
• 1:23:10
  Speaker 1: Beyond my solitude, beyond my solitude is another solitude. And
• 1:23:16
  Speaker 1: to him who dwells therein my aloneness is a crowded
• 1:23:19
  Speaker 1: market place, and my silence a confusion of sounds. Too
• 1:23:24
  Speaker 1: young am I, and too restless to seek that above solitude.
• 1:23:28
  Speaker 1: The voices of yonder Valley still hold my ears, and
• 1:23:32
  Speaker 1: its shadows bar my way, and I cannot go. Beyond
• 1:23:37
  Speaker 1: these hills is a grove of enchantment, and to him
• 1:23:40
  Speaker 1: who dwells therein my piece is but a whirlwind, and
• 1:23:44
  Speaker 1: my enchantment an illusion. Too young am I, and too
• 1:23:48
  Speaker 1: riotous to seek that sacred grove. The taste of blood
• 1:23:52
  Speaker 1: is clinging in my mouth, and the bow and arrows
• 1:23:55
  Speaker 1: of my father's yet linger in my hand, and I
• 1:23:58
  Speaker 1: cannot go beyond this burdened self lives my freer self,
• 1:24:05
  Speaker 1: and to him my dreams are a battle fought in twilight,
• 1:24:09
  Speaker 1: and my desires the rattling of bones. Too young am I,
• 1:24:13
  Speaker 1: and too outrage to be my free yourself? And how
• 1:24:16
  Speaker 1: shall I become my free yourself, unless I slay my
• 1:24:20
  Speaker 1: burden selves, or unless all men become free. How shall
• 1:24:25
  Speaker 1: my leaves fly singing upon the wind, unless my roots
• 1:24:29
  Speaker 1: shall wither in the dark. How shall the eagle in
• 1:24:33
  Speaker 1: me soar against the sun until my fledglings leave the
• 1:24:37
  Speaker 1: nest which I, with my own beak have built for them.
• 1:24:42
  Speaker 1: The last watch, at the high tide of night, when
• 1:24:46
  Speaker 1: the first breath of dawn came upon the wind, the forerunner,
• 1:24:50
  Speaker 1: he who calls himself echo to a voice yet unheard,
• 1:24:54
  Speaker 1: left his bed chamber and ascended to the roof of
• 1:24:57
  Speaker 1: his house. Long he stood and looked down upon the
• 1:25:01
  Speaker 1: slumbering city. Then he raised his head, and, even as
• 1:25:05
  Speaker 1: if the sleepless spirits of all those asleep had gathered
• 1:25:09
  Speaker 1: round him, he opened his lips and spoke, And he said,
• 1:25:13
  Speaker 1: my friends, and my neighbors, and you who daily passed
• 1:25:16
  Speaker 1: my gate, I would speak to you in your sleep,
• 1:25:20
  Speaker 1: and in the valley of your dreams. I would walk
• 1:25:22
  Speaker 1: naked and unrestrained. Far heedless are your waking hours, and
• 1:25:27
  Speaker 1: death are your sound burdened ears. Long did I love you,
• 1:25:32
  Speaker 1: and over much I love the one among you, as
• 1:25:36
  Speaker 1: though he were all and all as if you were one.
• 1:25:39
  Speaker 1: And in the spring of my heart I sang in
• 1:25:42
  Speaker 1: your gardens, and in the summer of my heart I
• 1:25:45
  Speaker 1: watched at your threshing floors. Yea, I loved you all,
• 1:25:49
  Speaker 1: the giant and the pigmy, the leper and the anointed,
• 1:25:53
  Speaker 1: and him who gropes in the dark, even as him
• 1:25:56
  Speaker 1: who dances his days upon the mountains. The strong have
• 1:26:01
  Speaker 1: I loved, though the marks of your iron hoofs are
• 1:26:04
  Speaker 1: yet upon my flesh. And you the weak, though you
• 1:26:07
  Speaker 1: have drained my faith and wasted my patience. You the rich,
• 1:26:12
  Speaker 1: have I loved while bitter was your honey to my mouth.
• 1:26:16
  Speaker 1: And you the poor, though you knew my empty handed shame.
• 1:26:21
  Speaker 1: You the poet with a barrowed lute and blind fingers,
• 1:26:26
  Speaker 1: You have I loved in self indulgence. And you the scholar,
• 1:26:31
  Speaker 1: ever gathering rotted shrouds in Potter's fields. You the priest
• 1:26:36
  Speaker 1: I have loved, who sit in the silences of yesterday,
• 1:26:40
  Speaker 1: questioning the fate of my tomorrow. And you, the worshippers
• 1:26:44
  Speaker 1: of God's the images of your own desires, You the
• 1:26:49
  Speaker 1: thirsting woman whose cup is ever full. I have loved
• 1:26:52
  Speaker 1: you in understanding and you, the woman of restless nights,
• 1:26:58
  Speaker 1: You too, I have loved in pity. You the talkatives
• 1:27:02
  Speaker 1: have I loved saying life hath much to say? And you,
• 1:27:07
  Speaker 1: the dumb have I loved whispering to myself? Says he
• 1:27:11
  Speaker 1: not in silence, that which I fain would hear in words.
• 1:27:16
  Speaker 1: And you, the judge and the critic, I have loved also.
• 1:27:20
  Speaker 1: Yet when you have seen me crucified, you said, he
• 1:27:24
  Speaker 1: bleeds rhythmically, and the pattern his blood makes upon his
• 1:27:28
  Speaker 1: white skin is beautiful to behold. Yea, I have loved
• 1:27:33
  Speaker 1: you all, the young and the old, the trembling reed
• 1:27:36
  Speaker 1: and the oak. But alas it was the overabundance of
• 1:27:40
  Speaker 1: my heart that turned you from me. You would drink
• 1:27:44
  Speaker 1: love from a cup, but not from a surging river.
• 1:27:47
  Speaker 1: You would hear love's faint murmur, but when love shouts,
• 1:27:51
  Speaker 1: you would muffle your ears. And because I have loved
• 1:27:54
  Speaker 1: you all you have said, too soft and yielding is
• 1:27:58
  Speaker 1: his heart, and too un discerning is his path. It
• 1:28:02
  Speaker 1: is the love of a needy one who picks crumbs
• 1:28:05
  Speaker 1: even as he sits at kingly feasts. And it is
• 1:28:08
  Speaker 1: the love of a weakling, For the strong loves only
• 1:28:12
  Speaker 1: the strong. And because I have loved you over much,
• 1:28:15
  Speaker 1: you have said, it is but the love of a
• 1:28:18
  Speaker 1: blind man, who knows not the beauty of one nor
• 1:28:21
  Speaker 1: the ugliness of another. And it is the love of
• 1:28:24
  Speaker 1: the tasteless, who drinks vinegar even as wine. And it
• 1:28:28
  Speaker 1: is the love of the impertinent and the overweening. For
• 1:28:32
  Speaker 1: what stranger would be our mother and father, and sister
• 1:28:35
  Speaker 1: and brother. This you have said, and more. For often
• 1:28:40
  Speaker 1: in the market place you pointed your fingers at me
• 1:28:43
  Speaker 1: and said, mockingly, there goes the ageless one, the man
• 1:28:47
  Speaker 1: without seasons, who at the noon hour plays games with
• 1:28:50
  Speaker 1: our children, and at eventide sits with our elders, and
• 1:28:55
  Speaker 1: assumes wisdom and understanding. And I said, I will love
• 1:29:00
  Speaker 1: them more, Aye, even more. I will hide my love
• 1:29:04
  Speaker 1: with seeming to hate, and disguise my tenderness as bitterness.
• 1:29:09
  Speaker 1: I will wear an iron mask, and only when armed
• 1:29:12
  Speaker 1: and mailed.
• 1:29:13
  Speaker 2: Shall I seek them.
• 1:29:15
  Speaker 1: Then I laid a heavy hand upon your bruises, and
• 1:29:18
  Speaker 1: like a tempest in the night, I thundered in your
• 1:29:20
  Speaker 1: ears from the housetop. I proclaimed you hypocrites, pharisees, tricksters,
• 1:29:26
  Speaker 1: faults and empty earth bubbles, the short sighted among you,
• 1:29:30
  Speaker 1: I curse for blind bats, and those too near the earth.
• 1:29:34
  Speaker 1: I likened to soul as moles. The eloquent I pronounced
• 1:29:38
  Speaker 1: forked tongue, the silent, stone lipped, and the simple and
• 1:29:43
  Speaker 1: artless I called the dead, never weary of death. The
• 1:29:47
  Speaker 1: seekers after world knowledge I condemned as offenders of the
• 1:29:51
  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, and those who would not but the Spirit
• 1:29:56
  Speaker 1: I branded as hunters of shadows, who cast their nets
• 1:29:59
  Speaker 1: in flat waters and catch but their own images. Thus,
• 1:30:03
  Speaker 1: with my lips I have denounced you, while my heart,
• 1:30:07
  Speaker 1: bleeding within me, called you tender names. It was love,
• 1:30:11
  Speaker 1: lashed by its own self, that spoke. It was pride,
• 1:30:15
  Speaker 1: half slain, that fluttered in the dust. It was my
• 1:30:19
  Speaker 1: hunger for your love that raged from the housetop, while
• 1:30:22
  Speaker 1: my own love, kneeling in silence, prayed your forgiveness. But
• 1:30:28
  Speaker 1: behold a miracle. It was my disguise that opened your eyes,
• 1:30:33
  Speaker 1: and my seeming to hate that woke your hearts. And
• 1:30:37
  Speaker 1: now you love me. You love the swords that strike
• 1:30:41
  Speaker 1: you and the arrows that crave your breast, for it
• 1:30:44
  Speaker 1: comforts you to be wounded. And only when you drink
• 1:30:47
  Speaker 1: of your own blood can you be intoxicated, like moths
• 1:30:52
  Speaker 1: that seek destruction in the flame. You gather daily in
• 1:30:56
  Speaker 1: my garden, and with faces uplifted and eyes eyes enchanted,
• 1:31:01
  Speaker 1: you watch me tear the fabric of your days, and
• 1:31:05
  Speaker 1: in whispers you say the one to the other. He
• 1:31:08
  Speaker 1: sees with the light of God. He speaks like the
• 1:31:11
  Speaker 1: prophets of old. He unveils our souls and unlocks our hearts.
• 1:31:16
  Speaker 1: And like the eagle that knows the way of foxes,
• 1:31:20
  Speaker 1: he knows our ways. Aye, in truth, I know your ways,
• 1:31:25
  Speaker 1: but only as an eagle knows the ways of his fledglings.
• 1:31:29
  Speaker 1: And I fain would disclose my secret. Yet in my
• 1:31:32
  Speaker 1: need for your nearness, I feign remoteness. And in fear
• 1:31:36
  Speaker 1: of the ebbtide of your love, I guard the flood
• 1:31:39
  Speaker 1: gates of my love. After saying these things, the Forerunner
• 1:31:44
  Speaker 1: covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly, for
• 1:31:48
  Speaker 1: he knew in his heart that love humiliated in its nakedness,
• 1:31:53
  Speaker 1: is greater than love that seeks triumph in disguise. And
• 1:31:57
  Speaker 1: he was ashamed. But suddenly he raised his head, and
• 1:32:02
  Speaker 1: like one waking from sleep, he outstretched his arms and said,
• 1:32:07
  Speaker 1: night is over, and we children of night must die
• 1:32:11
  Speaker 1: when dawn comes, leaping upon the hills, and out of
• 1:32:15
  Speaker 1: our ashes, a mightier love shall rise, and it shall
• 1:32:19
  Speaker 1: laugh in the sun, and it shall be deathless.
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 2: End of the.
• 1:32:25
  Speaker 1: Forerunner, Part two. End of the Madman and the Forerunner
• 1:32:31
  Speaker 1: by kaylil Gebraun