“I said: Who is that?
“No one answered, but the voice said: Quetzalcoatl!
“I said: Where art thou?
“So! he said. I am neither here nor there. I am thyself. Get up.
“Now all was very heavy upon me, like a tomb-stone of darkness.
“I said: Am I not old? How shall I roll this stone away?
“How art thou old, when I am new man? I will roll away the stone. Sit up!
“I sat up, and the stone went rolling, crashing down the gulfs of space.
“I said to myself: I am new man. I am younger than the young and older than the old. Lo! I am unfolded on the stem of time like a flower, I am at the midst of the flower of my manhood. Neither do I ache with desire, to tear, to burst the bud; neither do I yearn away like a seed that floats into heaven. The cup of my flowering is unfolded, in its middle the stars float balanced with array. My stem is in the air, my roots are in all the dark, the sun is no more than a cupful within me.
“Lo! I am neither young nor old, I am the flower unfolded, I am new.