THE FAIR ONE AND HER SOUL.
The world had grown gray, the golden stars had fled from the skies, and a silence deep yawned at the feet of one who, all hungry for that which she knew not and starved for that which she could not name, moaned: "O Soul! why am I tortured thus? Why dost thou lead me into paths I cannot walk, and drag me into depths that I fear, and scale with me heights whose atmosphere so rare and high is, that faint I grow and ill unto perishing therein. What is the quest of thine? This struggle and this reaching after that which I cannot see or feel? Weak is my flesh, though thou, dear Soul, art strong. It is ever easier for me to fall than to rise. I struggle to keep on with thee, but ever and anon thou mountest to planes where my tired and clumsy feet cannot follow thee. Ofttimes have I called unto thee and implored thee to cease the quest, to rest awhile, to sleep. Thou hast heard my moan now and again and I ran laughing into die garden that awaited me. But when I stood among the blood-red roses and White-cupped lilies and sought to pluck the pretty blossoms, ever in the heart a worm did lurk. So farther I ran to where the fruits hung high. But when on tip-toe I stood to reach the luscious ripe ones that beckoned me, lo! again the over softness of decay did break upon my gaze, and I wanted them not. Then I made to climb some steep hill whereon the clouds did seem to rest, and as I ascended, the clouds did fade farther from me, and I stood with only the cold gray mist about me, chilled and frightened, like a child lost from its mother's side.
"And so it was, O Soul, the pleasures which the earth placed at my feet palled upon me and dragged me down nigh unto the grave. Then I nestled to thee, my beloved Soul, and called thee to save and direct me, and pleaded to thee to save me from this fleshly self that keeps me earth-bound. Then thou wouldst take my hand and with me soar to mountain-heights, and we with outstretched wings would view the rosy glow that the departing sun did cast about us as it waved its grand adieu to the world we knew. Thus we stood, I trembling with gladness, thou thrilling with joy, but, O Soul, my poor fleshly self could not long abide such ecstasy nor drink the rarefied wine which the Heavens vouchsafed us, and crying I clung to thee and dragged thee down, down, until both again stood at the bottom of the heights where lately we had spied the door that leads to broader worlds. Thou, my beloved, hadst folded thy widespread wings, and thy feet were planted in the dank grasses whose roots were deep in mire. O tell me, thou whose awakening is so beautiful and whose stature is full of grace, tell me, O Soul, why, though coupled together, are we yet divided; why, though one, are we yet two?"
The Soul made answer meet: "O companion of my earthly Self's encasement of soft flesh, I love thee even as thou lovest me, and I do draw thee upward, even as thou dost drag me down. Dost thou not know that from earth thou hast come, hence to earth must go again; that thy natural tendencies are downward even unto the earth from which thou didst spring? Yet dost thou love that in me which soars even upward to the home from whence I came. A ray of eternal light am I, a glow of the warm of a spark of the central flame; hence must I ever strive to reach that perfect sphere from whence I came, more beautiful and entrancing than thou canst know, nor can I anchored be until once again that safe haven I reach wherefrom I lately came. Yet, list! sweet partner of my earthly pilgrimage, dost know why thou lovest me, even though hither and thither I draw thee? Tis that I am born of Love, and none can resist Love; and the great tender earth, thy mother, is nourished by the great Love which is the creator of thee and me. O fair and sweet companion, my earthly armour that I love, thou and I together may reach beyond where we stand reluctantly and defiantly! Gaze on me, thy soul, who giveth radiance to thee and beauty to thine eye, and dost attend all that is lovable unto thee I Gaze at me, and even that which is earthly will partake of me and become more of heaven than of earth!
"And so we will wander in joy through life; and who knows but that even the flowers may grow sweeter for our having dwelt here? If we but look upward, thou following me, and I, though loving thee much, yet yielding not to thy sweet persuasive pleadings and downward looking, who knows but we may heal those who, even like thee, do cry out against the non-adjustment of the body and the soul, who, even like thee, have known soul-hunger and soul-starvation, which disease driveth out of the body all its softness and smoothness, and even casteth a shadow on the soul which should never he shadowed, lest it loseth the sight of the home where light alone doth dwell and love alone doth reign."
The voice ceased. A great tenderness, an unbounded beauty shone on the face of the fleshly one, and turning from the deep silence that rolled at her feet, the woman gave a glad look at the stars, which once again adorned her sky and flitted away with a ringing laugh.
The Soul echoed her joy, and the world looked on amazed—for naught is there as rare in life as a happy, joyous woman.