CHAPTER XIV
And all my days are trances,And all my nightly dreamsAre where thy dark eye glances,Are where thy footstep gleams.In what ethereal dances,By what eternal streams.
And all my days are trances,And all my nightly dreamsAre where thy dark eye glances,Are where thy footstep gleams.In what ethereal dances,By what eternal streams.
And all my days are trances,And all my nightly dreamsAre where thy dark eye glances,Are where thy footstep gleams.In what ethereal dances,By what eternal streams.
And all my days are trances,
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy dark eye glances,
Are where thy footstep gleams.
In what ethereal dances,
By what eternal streams.
e. a. poe.
I
I DREAMED I was in a great garden full of flowers, and beautiful trees. The lawns were smooth, with never a daisy to break the green of them, and the shadows in the moonlight lay dark upon the ground.
“For I was there at night, and there were many others with me, dream-people, who I couldn’t see. But I knew we were all gathered together to be put to some great test. I can see the night sky now above me, as I saw it in my dream, with the moon like a shining shield, and never a star.
“And the test we were put to was to count the flowers of the Solomon’s Seal.
“Do you know the plant, and the beauty of it? The flowers hang down in little bunches from a green stem that makes a rainbow span. I saw the white flowers as I bent down to seek them, and ten of them I counted as they hung there. And all the time that I was counting, there were small voices about me, like thin breaths of air.
“‘Count us, count us,’ they were saying; ‘different and yet the same; count us.’
“It seemed to me there might be some more flowers hidden among the leaves. And I turned the leaves back with my hands, seeking. I can feel the coolness, and the firmness, of them now. But I could find no more flowers than those ten. Yet the thin voices were still whispering, ‘Count us, count us.’
“Then in the great clearness of the moonlight I saw that everything in the garden had its shadow, every flower I had counted was shadowed black upon the ground; and together I made twenty, and the clamouring of the voices ceased. Then in my dream it seemed to me the time had come when we must answer. We must have been standing in a long line, for I heard the voices of the many who were there, coming nearer and nearer, like a soft wind blowing through a wood. ‘Ten—ten—ten—ten,’sounded the answers, and some one who seemed to be standing at my shoulder said ‘Ten.’ But when my turn came, I was filled with the strength of a great spirit, and cried out so that my voice filled all the hollow of the sky.
“‘Twenty, I make it!’ I called out—‘Twenty! for substance is shadow, and shadow is substance, and what is—seems, and what seems—is.’
“I d’ know, I’m sure, if that makes sense or not, my dears; but I was given Solomon’s Seal for my wisdom.”
The children sat quietly while she told her story. Even if they did not understand, they liked her voice. The logs glowed warmly beneath the hanging kettle, and the feather of steam would float out, and curl upwards from the kettle’s spout. But best of all her stories they liked one that told of a strange adventure in her dream.
“That was when I was travelling in a distant land, my dears, when I was cast out for dead upon the desert. But the life in my spirit was hidden and secret, and the flame was not blown out. I was sent on a great mission away in a foreign land; I had papers with me, and I knew in my dream if I were discovered, it would be my life they would take. Then as my dream went on, I knew I wasbetrayed into the hands of my enemies, and on the morrow I was to die.
“That was a great land I was in, a land of dead races; a land of desert sand, and ruined temples, and bright colours, and blue skies. I and many others were to come by our deaths in a strange fashion. It was this, look.
“We were all taken up to stand on the great head of a statue. Terrible it was in its sightless eyes, its heavy plaited hair, and its paws of a creature. But I had no time to feel afraid, or astonished. I was there to die. So large was this great statue that as many as thirty people, or more, could stand upon its head, and those who had to die were to leap from the head, down into the depths below. And as I stood there with the other prisoners, I looked, and saw the people walking about in their colours, far down, like spilt beads upon the earth. Every one that leaped from that statue had to cry aloud some great load cry. And I saw them leap and fall, crushed upon the earth beneath us.
“Then it came to the turn of two before me, then one before me, then it was my turn to leap. And suddenly I felt the spirit surge within me, and I thought, ‘They shall see that I, at least, knowhow to die.’ And I sent my voice out so that my throat almost burst with the strength of it, and I leaped.
“The air tore at my ears as I fell, and there was a rushing sound, and the sun reeled in the sky before me, with blood-red bars crossing the yellow of his light. Then the ground seemed to rise up and smite me, and I lay all bruised and broken from my fall. I felt the blood burst out in warm gouts in breathing, and I said, ‘I am broken to pieces. I am dying. Soon I shall be dead.’ And then I became aware of a voice speaking to me, as if through grey clouds that were around me. ‘Lie still,’ said the voice, ‘and they will think us dead like the others, and by this we may escape; lie still.’
“I knew then I was not dead but broken, and I dreaded moving because of the sickening sense of the red stream that welled from my open lips.
“Only my spirit was kept from fainting by the sound of that voice. ‘Life,’ it whispered; ‘we are not dead. Life.’
“And surely for hours the bodies fell from a height around us, and I lay listening to the sound. And when at last that sound was finished, they brought carts to take us away. I was thrown inamong the dead bodies—taken up and thrown in, like any refuse that must be carted away. My dears, this happened long ago; this happened—God knows it was no dream. And I lay in that earth with the dead around me, the dead already cold. Eyes glazed and open, lay near me, and hands with the fingers stiff upon them, thrust out against my face. Flung in they were, these dead bodies. Is there anything worse than to be alive among the dead?
“So I lay under this load of corpses, now straining my head to get a crevice to breathe through, now striving to rid myself of some cold body lying on my face.
“At last the carts started. Slowly they were driven from the town. Through a long night journey we travelled till we came to a stand. I heard the men come round, and release the pins that hold a cart steady, and when these were loosened, the heap of corpses was shot out upon the ground.
“Once more upon the earth I lay with the dead around me, and I saw the carts making their slow journey returning to the town. The wheels sounded more and more distantly, till at last all was still.
“And the sky changed from grey dusk to the flush of dawn, then a long streak of red, and I lay watching it. And in that dawn my companion and I, rose up from among the dead bodies, and took our way across the plain.
“We exchanged no words; we had but the one thought between us—to leave the dead, to get away.
“And directing our steps across the open desert, we walked silently, the sand muffling our footsteps as we went.”