THE EQUINOX
Then came understanding to me, and I took forth the
Arrows. The white arrow had no barb, but the black arrow was
barbed like a forest of fish-hooks; it was bound round with
brass, and it had been dipped in deadly poison. Then I fitted
the white arrow to the string, and I shot it against the heart
of Eros, and though I shot with all my force, it fell harmlessly
from his side. But at that moment the black arrow was thrust
through mine own heart. I am filled with fearful agony.
And the child smiles, and says: Although thy shaft hath
pierced thee not, although the envenomed barb hath struck
thee through; yet I am slain, and thou livest and triumphest,
for I am thou and thou art I.
With that he disappears, and the Aethyr splits with a roar
as of ten thousand thunders. And behold, The Arrow! The
plumes of Maat are its crown, set about the disk. It is the
Ateph crown of Thoth, and there is the shaft of burning light,
and beneath there is a silver wedge.
I shudder and tremble at the vision, for all about it are
whorls and torrents of tempestuous fire. The stars of heaven
are caught in the ashes of the flame. And they are all dark.
That which was a blazing sun is like a speck of ash. And in
the midst the Arrow burns!
I see that the crown of the Arrow is the Father of all
Light, and the shaft of the Arrow is the Father of all Life,
and the barb of the Arrow is the Father of all Love. For that
silver wedge is like a lotus flower, and the Eye within the
Ateph Crown crieth: I watch. And the Shaft crieth: I work.
And the Barb crieth: I wait. And the Voice of the Aethyr
echoeth: It beams. It burns. It blooms.
And now there cometh a strange thought; this Arrow is
134