Thou puttest off thy bodies as raiment; and as vesture dost thou fold them up.
They perish, but thou remainest: the wind rendeth and scattereth them; and the place of them shall no more be known.
For the wind is the Spirit of God in man, which bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it shall go.
Even so is the spirit of man, which cometh from afar off and tarrieth not, but passeth away to a place thou knowest not.
(6) Concerning the Mystic Exodus[77].
Evoi, Iacchos, Lord of the Sphinx; who linkest the lowest to the highest; the loins of the wild beast to the head and breast of the woman.
Thou holdest the chalice of divination: all the forms of nature are reflected therein.
Thou turnest man to destruction: then thou sayest, Come again, ye children of my hand.
Yea, blessed and holy art thou, O Master of Earth: Lord of the cross and the tree of salvation.
Vine of God, whose blood redeemeth; bread of heaven, broken on the altar of death.