by Edgar Allan Poe
(1837)
'Eudosin d'orheon korhuphai te kai pharhagges'
'Prhones te kai charhadrhai.'ALCMAN. (60 (10),646.)
The mountain pinnacles slumber; valleys, crags and caves are silent.
"LISTEN to me," said the Demon as he placed his
hand upon my head. "The region of which I speak is a dreary
region in Libya, by the borders of the river Zaire. And there
is no quiet there, nor silence.
"The waters of the river have a saffron and sickly
hue; and they flow not onwards to the sea, but palpitate
forever and forever beneath the red eye of the sun with a
tumultuous and convulsive motion. For many miles on either side
of the river's oozy bed is a pale desert of gigantic
water-lilies. They sigh one unto the other in that solitude,
and stretch towards the heaven their long and ghastly necks,
and nod to and fro their everlasting heads. And there is an
indistinct murmur which cometh out from among them like the
rushing of subterrene water. And they sigh one unto the
other.
"But there is a boundary to their realm--the
boundary of the dark, horrible, lofty forest. There, like the
waves about the Hebrides, the low underwood is agitated
continually. But there is no wind throughout the heaven. And
the tall primeval trees rock eternally hither and thither with
a crashing and mighty sound. And from their high summits, one
by one, drop everlasting dews. And at the roots strange
poisonous flowers lie writhing in perturbed slumber. And
overhead, with a rustling and loud noise, the gray clouds rush
westwardly forever, until they roll, a cataract, over the fiery
wall of the horizon. But there is no wind throughout the
heaven. And by the shores of the river Zaire there is neither
quiet nor silence.
"It was night, and the rain fell; and falling, it
was rain, but, having fallen, it was blood. And I stood in the
morass among the tall and the rain fell upon my head --and the
lilies sighed one unto the other in the solemnity of their
desolation.
"And, all at once, the moon arose through the thin
ghastly mist, and was crimson in color. And mine eyes fell upon
a huge gray rock which stood by the shore of the river, and was
lighted by the light of the moon. And the rock was gray, and
ghastly, and tall, --and the rock was gray. Upon its front were
characters engraven in the stone; and I walked through the
morass of water-lilies, until I came close unto the shore, that
I might read the characters upon the stone. But I could not
decypher them. And I was going back into the morass, when the
moon shone with a fuller red, and I turned and looked again
upon the rock, and upon the characters;--and the characters
were DESOLATION.
"And I looked upwards, and there stood a man upon
the summit of the rock; and I hid myself among the water-lilies
that I might discover the actions of the man. And the man was
tall and stately in form, and was wrapped up from his shoulders
to his feet in the toga of old Rome. And the outlines of his
figure were indistinct--but his features were the features of a
deity; for the mantle of the night, and of the mist, and of the
moon, and of the dew, had left uncovered the features of his
face. And his brow was lofty with thought, and his eye wild
with care; and, in the few furrows upon his cheek I read the
fables of sorrow, and weariness, and disgust with mankind, and
a longing after solitude.
"And the man sat upon the rock, and leaned his
head upon his hand, and looked out upon the desolation. He
looked down into the low unquiet shrubbery, and up into the
tall primeval trees, and up higher at the rustling heaven, and
into the crimson moon. And I lay close within shelter of the
lilies, and observed the actions of the man. And the man
trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned, and he sat
upon the rock.
"And the man turned his attention from the heaven,
and looked out upon the dreary river Zaire, and upon the yellow
ghastly waters, and upon the pale legions of the water-lilies.
And the man listened to the sighs of the water-lilies, and to
the murmur that came up from among them. And I lay close within
my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the man
trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat upon
the rock.
"Then I went down into the recesses of the morass,
and waded afar in among the wilderness of the lilies, and
called unto the hippopotami which dwelt among the fens in the
recesses of the morass. And the hippopotami heard my call, and
came, with the behemoth, unto the foot of the rock, and roared
loudly and fearfully beneath the moon. And I lay close within
my covert and observed the actions of the man. And the man
trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat upon
the rock.
"Then I cursed the elements with the curse of
tumult; and a frightful tempest gathered in the heaven where,
before, there had been no wind. And the heaven became livid
with the violence of the tempest --and the rain beat upon the
head of the man --and the floods of the river came down --and
the river was tormented into foam --and the water-lilies
shrieked within their beds --and the forest crumbled before the
wind --and the thunder rolled --and the lightning fell --and
the rock rocked to its foundation. And I lay close within my
covert and observed the actions of the man. And the man
trembled in the solitude; --but the night waned and he sat upon
the rock.
"Then I grew angry and cursed, with the curse of
silence, the river, and the lilies, and the wind, and the
forest, and the heaven, and the thunder, and the sighs of the
water-lilies. And they became accursed, and were still. And the
moon ceased to totter up its pathway to heaven --and the
thunder died away --and the lightning did not flash --and the
clouds hung motionless --and the waters sunk to their level and
remained --and the trees ceased to rock --and the water-lilies
sighed no more --and the murmur was heard no longer from among
them, nor any shadow of sound throughout the vast illimitable
desert. And I looked upon the characters of the rock, and they
were changed; --and the characters were SILENCE.
"And mine eyes fell upon the countenance of the
man, and his countenance was wan with terror. And, hurriedly,
he raised his head from his hand, and stood forth upon the rock
and listened. But there was no voice throughout the vast
illimitable desert, and the characters upon the rock were
SILENCE. And the man shuddered, and turned his face away, and
fled afar off, in haste, so that I beheld him no more."
Now there are fine tales in the volumes of the Magi --in the iron-bound, melancholy volumes of the Magi. Therein, I say, are glorious histories of the Heaven, and of the Earth, and of the mighty sea --and of the Genii that over-ruled the sea, and the earth, and the lofty heaven. There was much lore too in the sayings which were said by the Sybils; and holy, holy things were heard of old by the dim leaves that trembled around Dodona --but, as Allah liveth, that fable which the Demon told me as he sat by my side in the shadow of the tomb, I hold to be the most wonderful of all! And as the Demon made an end of his story, he fell back within the cavity of the tomb and laughed. And I could not laugh with the Demon, and he cursed me because I could not laugh. And the lynx which dwelleth forever in the tomb, came out therefrom, and lay down at the feet of the Demon, and looked at him steadily in the face.
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