Through all his limbs
there went a shock like electricity; he quivered in his inmost heart;
he kept gazing up, and a pair of glorious dark-blue eyes were looking
at him with unspeakable longing; and an unknown feeling of highest
blessedness and deepest sorrow was like to rend his heart asunder.
And as he looked, and still looked, full of warm desire, into these
charming eyes, the crystal bells sounded louder in harmonious accord,
and the glittering emeralds fell down and encircled him, flickering
round him in thousand sparkles, and sporting in resplendent threads
of gold. The Elder-bush moved and spoke: "Thou layest in my shadow; my
perfume flowed round thee, but thou understoodst me not. The perfume
is my speech, when Love kindles it." The Evening-Wind came gliding
past, and said: "I played round thy temples, but thou understoodst me
not. Breath is my speech, when Love kindles it." The sunbeams broke
through the clouds, and the sheen of it burnt, as in words: "I
overflowed thee with glowing gold, but thou understoodst me not. Glow
is my speech, when Love kindles it."
And, still deeper and deeper sunk in the view of these glorious eyes,
his longing grew keener, his desire more warm. And all rose and moved
around him, as if awakening to joyous life. Flowers and blossoms shed
their odors round him; and their odor was like the lordly singing of
a thousand softest voices; and what they sung was borne, like an
echo, on the golden evening clouds, as they flitted away, into far-off
lands.
Pages:
490
491
492
493
494
495
496
497
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514