There was silence. The men turned, speaking to one another, laughing in a quiet way. But their daytime voices, and their daytime eyes had gone.
Then Ramón’s voice was heard, and the men were suddenly silent, listening with bent heads. Ramón sat with his face lifted, looking far away, in the pride of prayer.
“There is no Before and After, there is only Now,” he said, speaking in a proud, but inward voice.
“The great Snake coils and uncoils the plasm of his folds, and stars appear, and worlds fade out. It is no more than the changing and easing of the plasm.
“I always am, says his sleep.
“As a man in a deep sleep knows not, but is, so is the Snake of the coiled cosmos, wearing its plasm.
“As a man in a deep sleep has no to-morrow, no yesterday, nor to-day, but only is, so is the limpid, far-reaching Snake of the eternal Cosmos, Now, and forever Now.
“Now, and only Now, and forever Now.
“But dreams arise and fade in the sleep of the Snake.
“And worlds arise as dreams, and are gone as dreams.