Yet I am a man and consumed in the fires of manhood in my need for you. Still you remain veiled in reserve and I pray to the great god for the assurance that some day my sister in love will be truly mine. Her reserve and modesty, treasured as gifts to be surrendered in love, mean more to me than gold and pearls or the treasures of kings. What is mine no king, no matter how great, can claim. It is love’s mantle bestowed on manliness. The night comes and I dream it is our wedding night and you are beside me. My spirit rises on wings ofjoy, singing, “O let my love find its ultimate expression in this night of beauty!” Your breath caresses me with the fragrance of Heaven, your lips dispense the heavy wine of love. Our bodies meet in ecstasy and part, but our spirits remain mingled in the greater bond that knows no severance. Our united souls share together the destiny of eternity. I sleep at last in the gentle arms of contentment.
0 Great Readers of the Souls of Men, see the strength of my love. Is it not untainted with base feelings? Is it not wholesome and undemanding? Is it not protective of womanly secrets? Let it endure on Earth, that it may blossom in glorious fullness throughout the great ages in everlasting splendour. May it shine forever in the unwalled Halls of Eternity. O grant me my heart’s desire!
CHAPTER THIRTY
THE SONGS OF TANTALIP
Two
1 am one on whom the fates smile. My sister in love is the light of my life. She is the promise of love enduring, the brazier of a love undying, the hope ofjoy throughout eternity. The night becomes silent, for its fragrance is as nothing to her sweetness. The brightness of the dawn fades before her loveliness and the dove hangs its head before her virtue.
She breathes gently and caresses with her glance. Her skin exudes a sweet perfume and her hair is proud and confident, as becomes the guardian of secret mysteries of charm and delight.
She is graceful, her robes are not stiffened, they are not of royal or white linen and caress her softly. Her sandals are daintily bedecked with beads and her lovely curls are clasped in a circlet of blue and red stones. Her bosom is covered with cloth of Ithika and held by a clasp of silver.
She flutters her fan with delicacy and grace. Her speech is gentle as the cool breeze. Her eyes sparkle as the moonlit waters, their deep pools enhanced with tinges of green and purple delicately applied. Men say, “Who is she who walks with graceful steps and lively air? The blush of the blood rose is on her cheeks, the perfume of morning sweetness breathes from her parted lips. High-spirited joy tempered with innocence and modesty sparkles in her eyes. Her voice tinkles like sweetly rippling waters, and from the gay cheerfulness of her tender heart she gladdens all nature with her gentle singing”.
I say, “She is mine, my wife in waiting”, and confidently know all her secret charms are for me alone. I shall be lifted in joy above all men or cast into the abyss of despair. I wonder about her in the manner of men and rebuke myself for my thoughts. Could such beauty ever betray love?
I inhale the sweet breezes which once filled her mouth, and each day my thoughts recall her beauty. My heart longs for the sweetness of her lovely voice, fresh as the cool north wind. Her love strengthens my limbs, my heart rises from its place. Let me clasp once more the delicate hands that hold my heart. Let me feel her once again in warm embrace. I hear her name whispered on the cool nightwind, and never do I hear it without my spirit responding.
0 my Lord God, who led me in the conquest, who directed my right arm in battle and chastened my pride in victory, help me now in the time of peace. Help me when the turmoil is over. I am well skilled in the ways of war, but am a ready victim for the snares and wiles of peaceful life.
Give to me my heart’s desire, to be the mother of my children and the companion of my life. I am burnt with passion and need the cool quenching waters of true love. My body cries out in the night towards one so distant from me. You made me as men are made, you gave me the craving, now grant me relief.
1 am alone and one when I should be two. I speak and none answers, I eat and my food lacks flavour, I thirst and none brings water. I am a sword unused, let the sword not rust in the sheath.
I await my other self, my right side desires union with my left, I wait and know that the waiting is not in vain. I await her coming, she is on her way, as she was from me beginning of time. She draws near and my spirit leaps from its seat and dances from the body to meet her. I see her, she is mine, fashioned for me by the ages, her body is made for mine and mine for hers. We are betrothed by eternity.
I will keep her always for myself, I will never let her go hungry or let her live to lament her fate. We will share seven lives together and in each I will seek her anew.
Man is two, the life force and the life material. Love holds all things together and no man can know the joys of love who shares the secret charms of his beloved with another.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
THE MARRIAGE SONG
O devotee of a love that rises above the mire of matter and flowers in realms where romantic love is glorified! O daughter of love and sweet mistress of life, now is the hour of your fulfilment. Prepare to accept the sceptre of womanhood as becomes a true maiden, prepare to accept the burdens and pleasures of motherhood as becomes a true woman. Verily you are a disciple of love.
Earth knows no greater joy than that of contented wedded love. Such love is a beaconlight to all mankind, it guides the caravan of its journeying with a pure and sacred flame. Sweet, hallowed love has a temple in the heart of every chaste maiden, and all men worship the mystery enshrined within. O resolute priestess and guardian, you are now worthy of the white crown of love.
Great has been your inspiration to man. Well have you fulfilled the duty of maidenhood, now step forward to accept the joyful burden of womanhood, the crown that proclaims you a wife. Marriage is sanctified by ancient tradition, for it has survived the tests of time and turmoil. It has ever been the anchor of society and the shield of the family.
Loveliness belongs to all women, for it is the heritage of womanhood. Beauty of face and form is carried away by the passing years, but the beauty of heart and thought grows as the waters rise and fall. The glorious channs of modesty and purity can be possessed by any woman.
Weave a mantle of contentment around your chosen mate, O gentle bearer of womanly charms. Remember that you are the mother of generations yet unborn. Maidenhood, wifehood and motherhood, these are the phases of a woman’s life. A chaste maiden becomes a good wife and a good wife becomes a good mother. Thus it is written. May The Great God whom you now worship spread His protecting wings over you, and may you enjoy the companionship of many children. May your life be enwrapped in peace and contentment, and may it be attended by the four bearers of prosperity.
O son of strength and goodness, remember always your obligations and duties as a husband and father. Love belongs nowhere but beside your own hearth, for what foolishness it would be for a man to expend it on one other than his wife! That which a man gives to his wife is his also, a love truly shared is joy multiplied. He who sows beside his own hearth reaps a manifold harvest.
Be not harsh with your wife or impatient because of her weaknesses, for her ways are those of all women. Be gentle with her, remembering that the dart of love cannot penetrate a hard and inconsiderate heart. Love is a treasure unearthed by few. It is found by less than one in a thousand. Yet, where it is let it be held sacred, for it is the decree of a divine destiny uniting one to the other in ever increasing glory and beauty, as they rise from life to life.
Is not every part of the Earth paired with its mate? Even Heaven and Earth are mated, for does not Earth cherish and nourish whatever Heaven lets fall? When Earth lacks heat Heaven bestows it bountifully upon her, and when she loses her freshness and withers. Heaven restores her freshness with gentle soothing waters.