The waves were phosphorescent, and laved the beach with a fire that cooled it.
Returning, we espied4 Babbalanja advancing in his snow-white mantle5. The fiery6 tide was ebbing7; and in the soft, moist sand, at every step, he left a lustrous8 foot-print.
"Sweet friends! this isle9 is full of mysteries," he said. "I have dreamed of wondrous10 things. After I had laid me down, thought pressed hard upon me. By my eyes passed pageant11 visions. I started at a low, strange melody, deep in my inmost soul. At last, methought my eyes were fixed12 on heaven; and there, I saw a shining spot, unlike a star. Thwarting13 the sky, it grew, and grew, descending14; till bright wings were visible: between them, a pensive15 face angelic, downward beaming; and, for one golden moment, gauze-vailed in spangled Berenice's Locks.
"Then, as white flame from yellow, out from that starry16 cluster it emerged; and brushed the astral Crosses, Crowns, and Cups. And as in violet, tropic seas, ships leave a radiant-white, and fire-fly wake; so, in long extension tapering18, behind the vision, gleamed another Milky-Way.
"Strange throbbings seized me; my soul tossed on its own tides. But soon the inward harmony bounded in exulting19 choral strains. I heard a feathery rush; and straight beheld20 a form, traced all over with veins21 of vivid light. The vision undulated round me.
"'Oh! Spirit!! angel! god! whate'er thou art,'—I cried, 'leave me; I. — am but man.'
"Then, I heard a low, sad sound, no voice. It said, or breathed upon me,—'Thou hast proved the grace of Alma: tell me what thou'st learned.'
"Silent replied my soul, for voice was gone,—'This have I learned, oh! spirit!—In things mysterious, to seek no more; but rest content, with knowing naught22 but Love.'
"'Blessed art thou for that: thrice blessed,' then I heard, and since humility23 is thine, thou art one apt to learn. That which thy own wisdom could not find, thy ignorance confessed shall gain. Come, and see new things.'
"Once more it undulated round me; its lightning wings grew dim; nearer, nearer; till I felt a shock electric,—and nested 'neath its wing.
"We clove24 the air; passed systems, suns, and moons: what seem from Mardi's isles25, the glow-worm stars.
"By distant fleets of worlds we sped, as voyagers pass far sails at sea, and hail them not. Foam26 played before them as they darted27 on; wild music was their wake; and many tracks of sound we crossed, where worlds had sailed before.
"Soon, we gained a point, where a new heaven was seen; whence all our firmament28 seemed one nebula29. Its glories burned like thousand steadfast-flaming lights.
"We lighted on a ring, circling a space, where mornings seemed forever dawning over worlds unlike.
"'Here,' I heard, 'thou viewest thy Mardi's Heaven. Herein each world is portioned.'
"As he who climbs to mountain tops pants hard for breath; so panted I. — for Mardi's grosser air. But that which caused my flesh to faint, was new vitality33 to my soul. My eyes swept over all before me. The spheres were plain as villages that dot a landscape. I saw most beauteous forms, yet like our own. Strange sounds I heard of gladness that seemed mixed with sadness:—a low, sweet harmony of both. Else, I know not how to phrase what never man but me e'er heard.
"'In these blest souls are blent,' my guide discoursed35, 'far higher thoughts, and sweeter plaints than thine. Rude joy were discord36 here. And as a sudden shout in thy hushed mountain-passes brings down the awful avalanche37; so one note of laughter here, might start some white and silent world.'
"Then low I murmured:—'Is their's, oh guide! no happiness supreme38? their state still mixed? Sigh these yet to know? Can these sin?'
"Then I heard:—'No mind but Oro's can know all; no mind that knows not all can be content; content alone approximates to happiness. Holiness comes by wisdom; and it is because great Oro is supremely40 wise, that He's supremely holy. But as perfect wisdom can be only Oro's; so, perfect holiness is his alone. And whoso is otherwise than perfect in his holiness, is liable to sin.
"'And though death gave these beings knowledge, it also opened other mysteries, which they pant to know, and yet may learn. And still they fear the thing of evil; though for them, 'tis hard to fall. Thus hoping and thus fearing, then, their's is no state complete. And since Oro is past finding out, and mysteries ever open into mysteries beyond; so, though these beings will for aye progress in wisdom and in good; yet, will they never gain a fixed beatitude. Know, then, oh mortal Mardian! that when translated hither, thou wilt41 but put off lowly temporal pinings, for angel and eternal aspirations42. Start not: thy human joy hath here no place: no name.
"Still, I mournful mused43; then said:—'Many Mardians live, who have no aptitude44 for Mardian lives of thought: how then endure more earnest, everlasting45, meditations46?'
"'Such have their place,' I heard.
"'Then low I moaned, 'And what, oh! guide! of those who, living thoughtless lives of sin, die unregenerate; no service done to Oro or to Mardian?'
"'They, too, have their place,' I heard; 'but 'tis not here. And Mardian! know, that as your Mardian lives are long preserved through strict obedience47 to the organic law, so are your spiritual lives prolonged by fast keeping of the law of mind. Sin is death.'
"'Ah, then,' yet lower moan made I; 'and why create the germs that sin and suffer, but to perish?'
"'That,' breathed my guide; 'is the last mystery which underlieth all the rest. Archangel may not fathom48 it; that makes of Oro the everlasting mystery he is; that to divulge49, were to make equal to himself in knowledge all the souls that are; that mystery Oro guards; and none but him may know.'
"Alas50! were it recalled, no words have I to tell of all that now my guide discoursed, concerning things unsearchable to us. My sixth sense which he opened, sleeps again, with all the wisdom that it gained.
"Time passed; it seemed a moment, might have been an age; when from high in the golden haze51 that canopied52 this heaven, another angel came; its vans like East and West; a sunrise one, sunset the other. As silver-fish in vases, so, in his azure53 eyes swam tears unshed.
"'Oh, spirit! archangel! god! whate'er thou art,' it breathed; 'leave me: I am but blessed, not glorified56.'
"So saying, as down from doves, from its wings dropped sounds. Still nesting me, it crouched57 its plumes58.
"Then, in a snow of softest syllables59, thus breathed the greater and more beautiful:—'From far away, in fields beyond thy ken60, I heard thy fond discourse34 with this lone39 Mardian. It pleased me well; for thy humility was manifeat; no arrogance61 of knowing. Come thou and learn new things.'
"And straight it overarched us with its plumes; which, then, down- sweeping62, bore us up to regions where my first guide had sunk, but for the power that buoyed63 us, trembling, both.
"My eyes did wane64, like moons eclipsed in overwhelming dawns: such radiance was around; such vermeil light, born of no sun, but pervading65 all the scene. Transparent66, fleck-less, calm, all glowed one flame.
"Then said the greater guide This is the night of all ye here behold— its day ye could not bide67. Your utmost heaven is far below.'
"Abashed68, smote69 down, I, quaking, upward gazed; where, to and fro, the spirits sailed, like broad-winged crimson-dyed flamingos70, spiraling in sunset-clouds. But a sadness glorified, deep-fringed their mystic temples, crowned with weeping halos, bird-like, floating o'er them, whereso'er they roamed.
"Sights and odors blended. As when new-morning winds, in summer's prime, blow down from hanging gardens, wafting71 sweets that never pall72; so, from those flowery pinions73, at every motion, came a flood of fragrance74.
"And now the spirits twain discoursed of things, whose very terms, to me, were dark. But my first guide grew wise. For me, I could but blankly list; yet comprehended naught; and, like the fish that's mocked with wings, and vainly seeks to fly;—again I sought my lower element.
"As poised75, we hung in this rapt ether, a sudden trembling seized the four wings now folding me. And afar of, in zones still upward reaching, suns' orbits off, I, tranced, beheld an awful glory. Sphere in sphere, it burned:—the one Shekinah! The air was flaked76 with fire;—deep in which, fell showers of silvery globes, tears magnified —braiding the flame with rainbows. I heard a sound; but not for me, nor my first guide, was that unutterable utterance77. Then, my second guide was swept aloft, as rises a cloud of red-dyed leaves in autumn whirlwinds.
"Fast clasping me, the other drooped78, and, instant, sank, as in a vacuum; myriad79 suns' diameters in a breath;—my five senses merged17 in one, of falling; till we gained the nether80 sky, descending still.
"Then strange things—soft, sad, and faint, I saw or heard; as, when, in sunny, summer seas, down, down, you dive, starting at pensive phantoms81, that you can not fix.
"'These,' breathed my guide, 'are spirits in their essences; sad, even in undevelopment. With these, all space is peopled;—all the air is vital with intelligence, which seeks embodiment. This it is, that unbeknown to Mardians, causes them to strangely start in solitudes82 of night, and in the fixed flood of their enchanted83 noons. From hence, are formed your mortal souls; and all those sad and shadowy dreams, and boundless84 thoughts man hath, are vague remembrances of the time when the soul's sad germ, wide wandered through these realms. And hence it is, that when ye Mardians feel most sad, then ye feel most immortal85.
"Like a spark new-struck from flint, soon Mardi showed afar. It glowed within a sphere, which seemed, in space, a bubble, rising from vast depths to the sea's surface. Piercing it, my Mardian strength returned; but the angel's veins once more grew dim.
"Nearing the isles, thus breathed my guide:—'Loved one, love on! But know, that heaven hath no roof. To know all is to be all. Beatitude there is none. And your only Mardian happiness is but exemption86 from great woes—no more. Great Love is sad; and heaven is Love. Sadness makes the silence throughout the realms of space; sadness is universal and eternal; but sadness is tranquillity87; tranquillity the uttermost that souls may hope for.'
"Then, with its wings it fanned adieu; and disappeared where the sun flames highest."
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1
bower
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| n.凉亭，树荫下凉快之处；闺房；v.荫蔽 | |
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2
meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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3
glistening
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| adj.闪耀的，反光的v.湿物闪耀，闪亮( glisten的现在分词 ) | |
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4
espied
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| v.看到( espy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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5
mantle
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| n.斗篷，覆罩之物，罩子；v.罩住，覆盖，脸红 | |
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6
fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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7
ebbing
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| （指潮水）退( ebb的现在分词 )； 落； 减少； 衰落 | |
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8
lustrous
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| adj.有光泽的；光辉的 | |
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9
isle
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| n.小岛，岛 | |
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10
wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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11
pageant
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| n.壮观的游行；露天历史剧 | |
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12
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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13
thwarting
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| 阻挠( thwart的现在分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过 | |
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14
descending
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| n. 下行 adj. 下降的 | |
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15
pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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starry
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| adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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17
merged
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| （使）混合( merge的过去式和过去分词 )； 相融； 融入； 渐渐消失在某物中 | |
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18
tapering
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| adj.尖端细的 | |
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19
exulting
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| vi. 欢欣鼓舞，狂喜 | |
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20
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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21
veins
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| n.纹理；矿脉( vein的名词复数 )；静脉；叶脉；纹理 | |
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22
naught
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| n.无，零 [=nought] | |
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23
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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24
clove
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| n.丁香味 | |
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isles
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| 岛( isle的名词复数 ) | |
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26
foam
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| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
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27
darted
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的过去式和过去分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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nebula
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| n.星云，喷雾剂 | |
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swarms
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| 蜂群，一大群( swarm的名词复数 ) | |
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31
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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32
ineffable
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| adj.无法表达的，不可言喻的 | |
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33
vitality
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| n.活力，生命力，效力 | |
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34
discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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35
discoursed
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| 演说（discourse的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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36
discord
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| n.不和，意见不合，争论，（音乐）不和谐 | |
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avalanche
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| n.雪崩，大量涌来 | |
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38
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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lone
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| adj.孤寂的，单独的；唯一的 | |
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40
supremely
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| adv.无上地，崇高地 | |
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41
wilt
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| v.(使)植物凋谢或枯萎；(指人)疲倦，衰弱 | |
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42
aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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43
mused
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| v.沉思，冥想( muse的过去式和过去分词 )；沉思自语说（某事） | |
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44
aptitude
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| n.(学习方面的)才能，资质，天资 | |
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45
everlasting
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| adj.永恒的，持久的，无止境的 | |
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46
meditations
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| 默想( meditation的名词复数 )； 默念； 沉思； 冥想 | |
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47
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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48
fathom
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| v.领悟，彻底了解 | |
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49
divulge
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| v.泄漏(秘密等)；宣布，公布 | |
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50
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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51
haze
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| n.霾，烟雾；懵懂，迷糊；vi.(over)变模糊 | |
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52
canopied
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| adj. 遮有天篷的 | |
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53
azure
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| adj.天蓝色的，蔚蓝色的 | |
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54
waning
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| adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡 | |
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55
throbbed
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| 抽痛( throb的过去式和过去分词 )； （心脏、脉搏等）跳动 | |
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56
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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57
crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
plumes
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| 羽毛( plume的名词复数 )； 羽毛饰； 羽毛状物； 升上空中的羽状物 | |
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59
syllables
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| n.音节( syllable的名词复数 ) | |
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60
ken
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| n.视野，知识领域 | |
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61
arrogance
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| n.傲慢，自大 | |
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62
sweeping
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| adj.范围广大的，一扫无遗的 | |
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63
buoyed
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| v.使浮起( buoy的过去式和过去分词 )；支持；为…设浮标；振奋…的精神 | |
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64
wane
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| n.衰微，亏缺，变弱；v.变小，亏缺，呈下弦 | |
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65
pervading
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的现在分词 ) | |
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66
transparent
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| adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的 | |
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67
bide
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| v.忍耐；等候；住 | |
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68
abashed
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| adj.窘迫的，尴尬的v.使羞愧，使局促，使窘迫( abash的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
smote
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| v.猛打，重击，打击( smite的过去式 ) | |
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70
flamingos
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| n.红鹳，火烈鸟（羽毛粉红、长颈的大涉禽）( flamingo的名词复数 ) | |
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71
wafting
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| v.吹送，飘送，（使）浮动( waft的现在分词 ) | |
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72
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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73
pinions
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| v.抓住[捆住]（双臂）( pinion的第三人称单数 ) | |
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74
fragrance
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| n.芬芳，香味，香气 | |
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75
poised
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| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
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flaked
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| 精疲力竭的，失去知觉的，睡去的 | |
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77
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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78
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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79
myriad
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| adj.无数的；n.无数，极大数量 | |
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80
nether
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| adj.下部的，下面的；n.阴间；下层社会 | |
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81
phantoms
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| n.鬼怪，幽灵( phantom的名词复数 ) | |
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82
solitudes
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| n.独居( solitude的名词复数 )；孤独；荒僻的地方；人迹罕至的地方 | |
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83
enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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84
boundless
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| adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的 | |
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85
immortal
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| adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的 | |
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86
exemption
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| n.豁免，免税额，免除 | |
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87
tranquillity
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| n. 平静, 安静 | |
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88
repose
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| v.(使)休息；n.安息 | |
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