XXV.
All he knows is, that whilst with Hallam, there was Life. They went side by side, and upheld the daily burden.
He himself moved light as a carrier bird in air, and delighted in the weight he bore because Love shared it; and since he transferred half of every pain to his dear companion, he himself was never weary in either heart or limb.
XXVI.
Dismal and dreary as life has become, he nevertheless wishes to live, if only to prove the stedfastness of his affection. And he asks that if the all-seeing Eye, which already perceives the future rottenness of the living tree, and the far off ruin of the now standing tower, can detect any coming indifference in him—any failure of Love—then may the “Shadow waiting with the keys” “shroud me from my proper scorn;”[22] may Death hide me from my own self-contempt!
“In Him is no before.” Jehovah is simply, I am, to whom foresight and foreknowledge cannot be attributed, since past and future are equally present.
The morn breaks over Indian seas, because they are to the east of us.
XXVII.