176
THE STAR IN THE WEST
one of his most interesting and attractive , and this is
how I interpret
it .
A soul
standing in the lupanar of life , aspiring to
grasp the
mystic
riddle from
the chilly lips of the
eternal
sphinx, salutes
us , as we
open this frail little
volume .
Our bodies are not burst asunder
as was that
of Judas , but
our
souls
are
reft
and
rent , and in the
end
know
not God
from
Satan , or which of these
twain have won .
“
All
the dream
is
wrought
a
spider
tapestry
”
yet the soul stands
on
the blood
-
red field
of
Aceldama
:
II.
whose red banners
beat
Their radiant
fire
Into my shrivelled
head
,
to
wither Love's
desire
??
The picture
becomes grander still
,
the child
of
life
becomes old
in
thought
:
III
.
I
was
a
child long years ago
,
it
seems
,
Or months
it
may
be
-
I
am still
a
child
!
They pictured
me the stars
as
wheeling
wild
In
a
huge bowl
of
water
;
but my dreams
Built
it
of
Titan oak
,
its
sides were piled
Of fearful
wood
Hewn from God's forests
,
paid with sweat
and tears and
blood
.
Yet
to
what does this infinite yearning lead
?
The
soul looks
“
out
to
the beyond
,”
and from
the shape
less and unstayed
there bursts
the cry
of
“
Nothing
,”
“
But evermore
came out
by
the same door wherein
I
went
.
In
verse
vi
we
find
the
mysticism
of
Bera
shith
“
Nothing
was
everything
";
and
in
verse
vii
,
the perfection
of
life
in
death
“
Absorbed
my
life
in
92
|
Aceldama
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
2.
a
Omar Khayyam
,