The Madman | Page 7

and she who follows me is
sinning mirthfully."
"Nay, thou art not like me, O, Madman, for thy soul is wrapped in the

veil of seven folds and thou holdest not they heart in thine hand."
"I am like thee, O, Night, patient and passionate; for in my breast a
thousand dead lovers are buried in shrouds of withered kisses."
"Yea, Madman, art thou like me? Art thou like me? And canst thou ride
the tempest as a steed, and grasp the lightning as a sword?"
"Like thee, O, Night, like thee, mighty and high, and my throne is built
upon heaps of fallen Gods; and before me too pass the days to kiss the
hem of my garment but never to gaze at my face."
"Art thou like me, child of my darkest heart? And dost thou think my
untamed thoughts and speak my vast language?"
"Yea, we are twin brothers, O, Night; for thou revealest space and I
reveal my soul."
Faces
I have seen a face with a thousand countenances, and a face that was
but a single countenance as if held in a mould.
I have seen a face whose sheen I could look through to the ugliness
beneath, and a face whose sheen I had to lift to see how beautiful it
was.
I have seen an old face much lined with nothing, and a smooth face in
which all things were graven.
I know faces, because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves,
and behold the reality beneath.
The Greater Sea
My soul and I went to the great sea to bathe. And when we reached the
shore, we went about looking for a hidden and lonely place.
But as we walked, we saw a man sitting on a grey rock taking pinches

of salt from a bag and throwing them into the sea.
"This is the pessimist," said my soul, "Let us leave this place. We
cannot bathe here."
We walked on until we reached an inlet. There we saw, standing on a
white rock, a man holding a bejeweled box, from which he took sugar
and threw it into the sea.
"And this is the optimist," said my soul, "And he too must not see our
naked bodies.
Further on we walked. And on a beach we saw a man picking up dead
fish and tenderly putting them back into the water.
"And we cannot bathe before him," said my soul. "He is the humane
philanthropist."
And we passed on.
Then we came where we saw a man tracing his shadow on the sand.
Great waves came and erased it. But he went on tracing it again and
again.
"He is the mystic," said my soul, "Let us leave him."
And we walked on, till in a quiet cover we saw a man scooping up the
foam and putting it into an alabaster bowl.
"He is the idealist," said my soul, "Surely he must not see our nudity."
And on we walked. Suddenly we heard a voice crying, "This is the sea.
This is the deep sea. This is the vast and mighty sea." And when we
reached the voice it was a man whose back was turned to the sea, and at
his ear he held a shell, listening to its murmur.
And my soul said, "Let us pass on. He is the realist, who turns his back
on the whole he cannot grasp, and busies himself with a fragment."

So we passed on. And in a weedy place among the rocks was a man
with his head buried in the sand. And I said to my soul, "We can bath
here, for he cannot see us."
"Nay," said my soul, "For he is the most deadly of them all. He is the
puritan."
Then a great sadness came over the face of my soul, and into her voice.
"Let us go hence," she said, "For there is no lonely, hidden place where
we can bathe. I would not have this wind lift my golden hair, or bare
my white bosom in this air, or let the light disclose my sacred
nakedness."
Then we left that sea to seek the Greater Sea.
Crucified
I cried to men, "I would be crucified!"
And they said, "Why should your blood be upon our heads?"
And I answered, "How else shall you be exalted except by crucifying
madmen?"
And they heeded and I was crucified. And the crucifixion appeased me.
And when I was hanged between earth and heaven they lifted up their
heads to see me. And they were exalted, for their heads had never
before been lifted.
But as they stood looking up at me one called out, "For what art thou
seeking to atone?"
And another cried, "In what cause dost thou