He smiled, saying, “Seek her throughout the world.”
I said, “Why tell me of the world? My world is here, between these
walls and the sheet of glass above; here among gilded flagons and
dull jewelled arms, tarnished frames and canvasses, black chests and
high-backed chairs, quaintly carved and stained in blue and gold.”
“For whom do you wait?” he said, and I answered, “When she comes I
shall know her.”
On my hearth a tongue of flame whispered secrets to the whitening
ashes. In the street below I heard footsteps, a voice, and a song.
“For whom then do you wait?” he said, and I answered, “I shall know
her.”
Footsteps, a voice, and a song in the street below, and I knew the song
but neither the steps nor the voice.
“Fool!” he cried, “the song is the same, the voice and steps have but
changed with years!”
On the hearth a tongue of flame whispered above the whitening ashes:
“Wait no more; they have passed, the steps and the voice in the street
below.”
Then he smiled, saying, “For whom do you wait? Seek her throughout the
world!”
I answered, “My world is here, between these walls and the sheet
of glass above; here among gilded flagons and dull jewelled arms,
tarnished frames and canvasses, black chests and high-backed chairs,
quaintly carved and stained in blue and gold.”