I dreamed that from far off in the darkness I heard groans which seemed
to come from every quarter to which I turned. At length they came only
out of the gate of a valley which led between two, rocky ridges, where
the darkness was illumined only by the red light of a comet, with its
sparkling eye, and its tail sweeping back and forth like that of a
tiger thirsty for blood. Then several wagons, filled with amputated
hands grasping one the other either in prayer or struggle, came softly
towards me on unrevolving wheels; and one small wagon also, full of
eyes without eyelids, which grimly gazed upon and mirrored one another.
A long metal coffin, mounted on the wheels of a gun-carriage, was with
difficulty pulled along by iron elephants. On it was inscribed, "The
ashes of the tenth army." With frightful exertion it was dragged like a
tall tree round the corner of the narrow, rocky valley,--forced to bend
by the weight of its contents, and the end of it seeming never to come.
Over the earth, and the sorrow of it, was a round ball of fire like a
sun, whence came incessant flashes of lightning. And thirsty people
opened vessels full of vipers, which darted out, and stung them to more
burning thirst.... A crown, great like a shield, and red-hot, came
whirling down with circular motion into a group of soldiers dancing,
and scattered them. Upon still-gaping wounds it rained down thistles,
which took root quickly and grew; and upon every fallen corpse struck a
thunderbolt, and slew it again. I looked up to the heavens for
consolation; but there, in the place of the sunset's glow, and the
colors of the dawn, and the northern lights, was smoking blood. Swift
as an arrow, villages and cities shot through the air like long clouds
of ashes; some few streets only, which had been blown up by mining,
hanging fast in the sky, with the remnants of houses and of men
clinging to them. On a neighboring mountain were glaciers and ice-peaks,
upon which children were transfixed; and on the distant summits, whence
one could look down upon the battle-field, were parents and children
and brides, eagerly gazing upon a mirror held over it.
At length the gate sprang open, and broke in pieces on the
battle-field, and the storm of woe burst forth. Then I looked in upon
that terrible world, and fell senseless to the earth; for what I saw
was too horrible for man to look upon or to remember.
Gradually it seemed to me in my swoon as if this frightful field was
moving further and further off, while its sounds of horror died away
into songs of swans. And out of the distance floated up to me, on the
gentle breezes, the tones of shepherd's flutes,--now far off, now
near,--breaking, at length, with full sound upon my ear. And then I was
lifted up and borne along on wings of ether, with the light breaking
through my closed eyelids. And a creative finger touched me, and high
in heaven, upon a green cloud, I opened my eyes. Above me was the blue
abyss of the stars; below me stretched a blue ocean, on whose horizon
glittered, in the glow of the sunset, the countless islands of the
blessed; around me floated scattered cloudlets, tinted with the red and
white of roses and of lilies, and with the many colors of manifold
flowers.
"Who, O God, has brought me to life out of my woe?" I cried.
"Child of man, it is my Father who has done it," answered a soft voice
very near me. But I saw no form of any person; only a halo of glory
hovering near me indicated the place of the invisible being.
Under the stare now, on high, rose again, like the songs of the
spheres, the old mournful tones. The islands on the horizon began to
move, and swim in joy around one another. Many of them dipped into the
dark waves, and came up again brilliant as the colors of the morning.
Some went down into the sea, and reappeared covered with pearls. But
one of them, crowned with cedars and palms and oaks, with strong young
giants on its shores, went straight out into the ocean, toward the
east.
"Am I upon earth?" I inquired.
"Ask me not," replied the voice, "for I know all thy thoughts, and will
answer thee in thy heart. Thou wilt be upon the earth when it rises in
the east from the sea; beneath the sea it circles swiftly round the
sun. The sea of time is the wave on the ocean of eternity."
As if borne upon a stream, the cedar island came ever nearer to the
green cloud. Youths greater than those of earth looked down upon the
blue sea, and sang songs of gladness,--or gazed in rapture upon the
heavens, and folded their hands in prayer,--or slumbered in arbors of
rainbows and tears of joy. Behind them stood lions; above them circled
eagles.
"Upon the cedar island dwell men _who, like me_, have died for the
earth; but in earthly faces shall it be revealed to thee how the
Infinite Father rewards those who have shed their blood for their
country. The youths who are looking down into the waves have a nearer
view of their old earth moving in the waters, as the island moves with
it. They see only happy countries, and their friends who rejoice in
their deeds, and posterity which praises them. And every flower which
sprang from their blood is shown to them of God.
"Those who are gazing up to heaven, and praying, see an altar upon
every sun,--and greater brethren who make higher sacrifices to the
Highest; and they are entreating the Father to summon them also to
still higher sacrifices. And when he thunders, he calls them.
"Those who are slumbering in tears of joy are seeing their brother
soldiers dying bravely, and are comforting them in death, and welcoming
them in tearful recognition as they pass from the earth to the island."
And now white flowers floated up from the earth to the surface of the
sea, and all the sleepers awoke. The flowers were the souls of their
mothers, who in death were following their sons fallen upon the
battle-field; and the flowers became angels and flew towards the youths.
It was an endless dying of endless joy. The soft murmurs of love from
those who thus again found one another stirred the lilies and the roses
to sounds as of harps. But as the mothers breathed the vibrating air
and their hearts beat tremulously in harmony with the sound, they died
away and exhaled into a flower-cloud. And the cloud arose and floated
along the heavens to the distant islands where dwell the good mothers
and the happy brides, longing still for the time when all the islands
of the blessed were one fixed land of promise.
"Ye sons of men, joy is an eternity older than pain, and ever will be
so,--for that has scarcely existed. Sacrifice ye, then, time to
eternity."
A noble old man with the martyr's crown on his head looked up to the
green cloud and prayed to the voice near me. Then saw I mirrored in the
old man's eyes the form of the being near me. And my heart was humbled
before the greatest man of earth as he repeated to me again the words,
"Sacrifice time to eternity."
And now there came up from the sea near the cedar island a smoke as of
a volcano, but throwing out only crowns of oak-leaves and palm-branches
and streams of light. And at length a vast altar covered with young men
and old, sleeping, rose from the waves. But when the light of heaven
touched the sleepers they awoke suddenly, and, rushing upon the island,
fell upon the breasts of their old comrades in arms. And the stars of
heaven shone over them in glad, undying token of their union. The
oak-forests rustled and the lions roared and the eagles, circling in
the air, bathed themselves for joy in the fire and the lightning which
shot from the stars. And the storm spread itself over the universe, and
scattered balls of fire like suns, and thundered as with the noise of
many worlds, and mingled its hot tears of joy with those of the heroes.
And from below the sea came a dull echo from the earth. Then the cloud
sank upon the island, and with a rushing sound received up into itself
the heroes who had prayed to the Father to permit them to sacrifice in
higher worlds.
When the storm had disappeared with them behind the stars, the vastness
of creation appeared. All being rejoiced in eternity. The worlds lay
along the heavens like an Alpine chain; the suns encircled the primal
source of light; and covering all was the Throne of God.
"Pray before thou wakest, for the earth, too, will disappear," said the
voice near me. And my whole heart was filled with prayer by the very
nearness of this higher being. But the green cloud now moved more
rapidly with me eastward toward the approaching earth; and the cedar
island floated with its happy multitudes towards the other islands. The
sea glowed in the east as with the colors of the dawn; and deeper and
deeper sank the green cloud into the aurora of earth.
Suddenly, then, the halo of glory round the head of the invisible being
became as a great rainbow, and was absorbed in an infinite radiance
which filled the heavens.
And the earth passed away like a summer night.
I awoke, and instead of the cloud there was a green meadow around me,
and above me glittered the stars. The first night of summer had
followed the last night of spring. The moon was rising like a silver
bow in the ghostly air. And in the north the sunset colors of the
spring were changing upon the mountain-tops into the morning glow of
the summer. My heart still clung to the eternal stars, where now awake
I lingered in my dream, and I sighed, "Alas! each day above is the
beginning of spring." Then I heard the voice in me repeat the old
words, "Child of man, sacrifice time to eternity,"--and I sighed no
more.