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1891
NOW Tomlinson gave up the ghost in his house in Berkeley Square, | |
| And a Spirit came to his bedside and gripped him by the hair— | |
| A Spirit gripped him by the hair and carried him far away, | |
| Till he heard as the roar of a rain-fed ford the roar of the Milky Way: | |
| Till he heard the roar of the Milky Way die down and drone and cease, | 5 |
| And they came to the Gate within the Wall where Peter holds the keys. | |
| “Stand up, stand up now, Tomlinson, and answer loud and high | |
| “The good that ye did for the sake of men or ever ye came to die— | |
| “The good that ye did for the sake of men on little earth so lone!” | |
| And the naked soul of Tomlinson grew white as a rain-washed bone. | 10 |
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| “O I have a friend on earth,” he said, “that was my priest and guide, | |
| “And well would he answer all for me if he were at my side.” | |
| —“For that ye strove in neighbour-love it shall be written fair, | |
| “But now ye wait at Heaven’s Gate and not in Berkeley Square: | |
| “Though we called your friend from his bed this night, he could not speak for you, | 15 |
| “For the race is run by one and one and never by two and two.” | |
| Then Tomlinson looked up and down, and little gain was there, | |
| For the naked stars grinned overhead, and he saw that his soul was bare. | |
| The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it cut him like a knife, | |
| And Tomlinson took up the tale and spoke of his good in life. | 20 |
| “O this I have read in a book,” he said, “and that was told to me, | |
| “And this I have thought that another man thought of a Prince in Muscovy.” | |
| The good souls flocked like homing doves and bade him clear the path, | |
| And Peter twirled the jangling Keys in weariness and wrath. | |
| “Ye have read, ye have heard, ye have thought,” he said, “and the tale is yet to run: | 25 |
| “By the worth of the body that once ye had, give answer—what ha’ ye done?” | |
| Then Tomlinson looked back and forth, and little good it bore, | |
| For the darkness stayed at his shoulder-blade and Heaven’s Gate before:— | |
| “O this I have felt, and this I have guessed, and this I have heard men say, | |
| “And this they wrote that another man wrote of a carl in Norroway.” | 30 |
| “Ye have read, ye have felt, ye have guessed, good lack! Ye have hampered Heaven’s Gate; | |
| “There’s little room between the stars in idleness to prate! | |
| “O none may reach by hired speech of neighbour, priest, and kin | |
| “Through borrowed deed to God’s good meed that lies so fair within; | |
| “Get hence, get hence to the Lord of Wrong, for the doom has yet to run, | 35 |
| “And … the faith that ye share with Berkeley Square uphold you, Tomlinson!” * * * * * | |
| The Spirit gripped him by the hair, and sun by sun they fell | |
| Till they came to the belt of Naughty Stars that rim the mouth of Hell. | |
| The first are red with pride and wrath, the next are white with pain, | |
| But the third are black with clinkered sins that cannot burn again: | 40 |
| They may hold their path, they may leave their path, with never a soul to mark, | |
| They may burn or freeze, but they must not cease in the Scorn of the Outer Dark. | |
| The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it nipped him to the bone, | |
| And he yearned to the flare of Hell-gate there as the light of his own hearth-stone. | |
| The Devil he sat behind the bars, where the desperate legions drew, | 45 |
| But he caught the hasting Tomlinson and would not let him through. | |
| “Wot ye the price of good pit-coal that I must pay?” said he, | |
| “That ye rank yoursel’ so fit for Hell and ask no leave of me? | |
| “I am all o’er-sib to Adam’s breed that ye should give me scorn, | |
| “For I strove with God for your First Father the day that he was born. | 50 |
| “Sit down, sit down upon the slag, and answer loud and high | |
| “The harm that ye did to the Sons of Men or ever you came to die.” | |
| And Tomlinson looked up and up, and saw against the night | |
| The belly of a tortured star blood-red in Hell-Mouth light; | |
| And Tomlinson looked down and down, and saw beneath his feet | 55 |
| The frontlet of a tortured star milk-white in Hell-Mouth heat. | |
| “O I had a love on earth,” said he, “that kissed me to my fall; | |
| “And if ye would call my love to me I know she would answer all.” | |
| —“All that ye did in love forbid it shall be written fair, | |
| “But now ye wait at Hell-Mouth Gate and not in Berkeley Square: | 60 |
| “Though we whistled your love from her bed to-night, I trow she would not run, | |
| “For the sin ye do by two and two ye must pay for one by one!” | |
| The Wind that blows between the Worlds, it cut him like a knife, | |
| And Tomlinson took up the tale and spoke of his sins in life:— | |
| “Once I ha’ laughed at the power of Love and twice at the grip of the Grave, | 65 |
| “And thrice I ha’ patted my God on the head that men might call me brave.” | |
| The Devil he blew on a brandered soul and set it aside to cool:— | |
| “Do ye think I would waste my good pit-coal on the hide of a brain-sick fool? | |
| “I see no worth in the hobnailed mirth or the jolthead jest ye did | |
| “That I should waken my gentlemen that are sleeping three on a grid.” | 70 |
| Then Tomlinson looked back and forth, and there was little grace. | |
| For Hell-Gate filled the houseless soul with the Fear of Naked Space. | |
| “Nay, this I ha’ heard,” quo’ Tomlinson, “and this was noised abroad, | |
| “And this I ha’ got from a Belgian book on the word of a dead French lord.” | |
| —“Ye ha’ heard, ye ha’ read, ye ha’ got, good lack! and the tale begins afresh— | 75 |
| “Have ye sinned one sin for the pride o’ the eye or the sinful lust of the flesh?” | |
| Then Tomlinson he gripped the bars and yammered, “Let me in— | |
| “For I mind that I borrowed my neighbour’s wife to sin the deadly sin.” | |
| The Devil he grinned behind the bars, and banked the fires high: | |
| “Did ye read of that sin in a book?” said he; and Tomlinson said, “Ay!” | 80 |
| The Devil he blew upon his nails, and the little devils ran, | |
| And he said: “Go husk this whimpering thief that comes in the guise of a man: | |
| “Winnow him out ’twixt star and star, and sieve his proper worth: | |
| “There’s sore decline in Adam’s line if this be spawn of earth.” | |
| Empusa’s crew, so naked-new they may not face the fire, | 85 |
| But weep that they bin too small to sin to the height of their desire, | |
| Over the coal they chased the Soul, and racked it all abroad, | |
| As children rifle a caddis-case or the raven’s foolish hoard | |
| And back they came with the tattered Thing, as children after play, | |
| And they said: “The soul that he got from God he has bartered clean away. | 90 |
| “We have threshed a stook of print and book, and winnowed a chattering wind, | |
| “And many a soul wherefrom he stole, but his we cannot find. | |
| “We have handled him, we have dandled him, we have seared him to the bone, | |
| “And Sire, if tooth and nail show truth he has no soul of his own.” | |
| The Devil he bowed his head on his breast and rumbled deep and low:— | 95 |
| “I’m all o’er-sib to Adam’s breed that I should bid him go. | |
| “Yet close we lie, and deep we lie, and if I gave him place, | |
| “My gentlemen that are so proud would flout me to my face; | |
| “They’d call my house a common stews and me a careless host, | |
| “And—I would not anger my gentlemen for the sake of a shiftless ghost.” | 100 |
| The Devil he looked at the mangled Soul that prayed to feel the flame, | |
| And he thought of Holy Charity, but he thought of his own good name:— | |
| “Now ye could haste my coal to waste, and sit ye down to fry. | |
| “Did ye think of that theft for yourself?” said he; and Tomlinson said, “Ay!” | |
| The Devil he blew an outward breath, for his heart was free from care:— | 105 |
| “Ye have scarce the soul of a louse,” he said, “but the roots of sin are there. | |
| “And for that sin should ye come in were I the lord alone. | |
| “But sinful pride has rule inside—ay, mightier than my own. | |
| “Honour and Wit, fore-damned they sit, to each his Priest and Whore; | |
| “Nay, scarce I dare myself go there, and you they’d torture sore. | 110 |
| “Ye are neither spirit nor spirk,” he said; “ye are neither book nor brute— | |
| “Go, get ye back to the flesh again for the sake of Man’s repute. | |
| “I’m all o’er-sib to Adam’s breed that I should mock your pain, | |
| “But look that ye win to worthier sin ere ye come back again. | |
| “Get hence, the hearse is at your door—the grim black stallions wait— | 115 |
| “They bear your clay to place to-day. Speed, lest ye come too late! | |
| “Go back to Earth with a lip unsealed—go back with an open eye, | |
| “And carry my word to the Sons of Men or ever ye come to die: | |
| “That the sin they do by two and two they must pay for one by one, | |
| “And … the God that you took from a printed book be with you, Tomlinson!” | 120 |
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