"Therefore, I bid you not dwell in hell but in heaven, or while ye
must, upon earth, which is a part of heaven, and forsooth no foul
part.
"Forsooth, he that waketh in hell and feeleth his heart fail him,
shall have memory of the merry days of earth, and how that when his
heart failed him there, he cried on his fellow, were it his wife or
his son or his brother or his gossip or his brother sworn in arms, and
how that his fellow heard him and came and they mourned together under
the sun, till again they laughed together and were but half sorry
between them. This shall he think on in hell, and cry on his fellow
to help him, and shall find that therein is no help because there is
no fellowship, but every man for himself. Therefore, I tell you that
the proud, despiteous rich man, though he knoweth it not, is in hell
already, because he hath no fellow; and he that hath so hardy a heart
that in sorrow he thinketh of fellowship, his sorrow is soon but a
story of sorrow--a little change in the life that knows not ill."
He left off for a little; and indeed for some time his voice had
fallen, but it was so clear and the summer evening so soft and still,
and the silence of the folk so complete, that every word told.
Pages:
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47