Now Tomlinson gave up the ghost at 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, |
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. |
«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, |
«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, |
|
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. |
«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 |
» |
The good souls flocked like homing doves and hade 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: |
«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.» |
«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! |
«For 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, |
«And... the faith that ye share with Berkeley Square |
» |
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
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, |
|
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. |
|
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, |
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’re-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. |
«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 |
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: |
|
«Though we whistled your love from her bed to-night; I |
|
«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 |
|
«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 |
|
«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.» |
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 - |
«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, «Ау!» |
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, |
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 hord, |
|
And they said: «The soul that he got from God he has bartered clean away. |
|
«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: - |
«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.» |
The Devil he looked at the mangled Soul that prayed to feel the flame, |
|
«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, «Ау!» |
The Devil he blew an outward breath, for his heart was free from care: - |
«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. |
«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 - |
«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!» |