“Thou knowest where I am going, Lord? I am going to betray Thee into the hands of Thine enemies.”
And there was a long silence, and the stillness of even and piercing black shadows.
“Thou art silent, Lord? Thou commandest me to go?”
And silence again.
“Bid me stay. But Thou canst not? Or darest not? Or wilt not?”
And again silence, immense as the eyes of Eternity.
“But Thou knowest that I love Thee. Thou knowest all. Why lookest Thou thus upon Judas? Great is the secret of Thy beautiful eyes, but is mine the less? Bid me stay.... But Thou art silent. Thou art ever silent? Lord, Lord, why in anguish and with yearning have I sought Thee always, sought Thee all my life and found Thee? Make Thou me free. Lift from me the burden; it is greater than mountains of lead. Hearest Thou not the bosom of Judas of Kerioth groaning beneath it?”
And final silence, unfathomable as the last glance of Eternity.
“I go.”
And the stillness of even was not broken, it cried not out nor wept, nor faintly echoed the fine and glassy air—so still was the sound of his departing steps. They sounded and were lost. And the stillness of even relapsed into musing, it stretched its lengthening shadows, and blushed darkly, then suddenly sighed with the yearning rustle of stirring foliage; it sighed and was still, lost in the embrace of Night.