Time and the Gods | Page 2

ashamed to come in the guise of men with
Their cloaks wrapped about their faces. Therefore no city shall ever
hear the songs that are sung in the marble citadel by those in whose
ears have rung the voices of the gods. No report shall ever come to
other lands of the music of the fall of Sardathrion's fountains, when the
waters which went heavenward return again into the lake where the
gods cool Their brows sometimes in the guise of men. None may ever
hear the speech of the poets of that city, to whom the gods have spoken.
It stands a city aloof. There hath been no rumour of it--I alone have
dreamed of it, and I may not be sure that my dreams are true.
* * * * *
Above the Twilight the gods were seated in the after years, ruling the
worlds. No longer now They walked at evening in the Marble City
hearing the fountains splash, or listening to the singing of the men they
loved, because it was in the after years and the work of the gods was to
be done.
But often as they rested a moment from doing the work of the gods,

from hearing the prayers of men or sending here the Pestilence or there
Mercy, They would speak awhile with one another of the olden years
saying, "Rememberest thou not Sardathrion?" and another would
answer "Ah! Sardathrion, and all Sardathrion's mist-draped marble
lawns whereon we walk not now."
Then the gods turned to do the work of the gods, answering the prayers
of men or smiting them, and ever They sent Their swarthy servant
Time to heal or overwhelm. And Time went forth into the worlds to
obey the commands of the gods, yet he cast furtive glances at his
masters, and the gods distrusted Time because he had known the
worlds or ever the gods became.
One day when furtive Time had gone into the worlds to nimbly smite
some city whereof the gods were weary, the gods above the twilight
speaking to one another said:
"Surely we are the lords of Time and gods of the worlds besides. See
how our city Sardathrion lifts over other cities. Others arise and perish
but Sardathrion standeth yet, the first and the last of cities. Rivers are
lost in the sea and streams forsake the hills, but ever Sardathrion's
fountains arise in our dream city. As was Sardathrion when the gods
were young, so are her streets to-day as a sign that we are the gods."
Suddenly the swart figure of Time stood up before the gods, with both
hands dripping with blood and a red sword dangling idly from his
fingers, and said:
"Sardathrion is gone! I have overthrown it!"
And the gods said:
"Sardathrion? Sardathrion, the marble city? Thou, thou hast overthrown
it? Thou, the slave of the gods?"
And the oldest of the gods said:
"Sardathrion, Sardathrion, and is Sardathrion gone?"

And furtively Time looked him in the face and edged towards him
fingering with his dripping fingers the hilt of his nimble sword.
Then the gods feared with a new fear that he that had overthrown Their
city would one day slay the gods. And a new cry went wailing through
the Twilight, the lament of the gods for Their dream city, crying:
"Tears may not bring again Sardathrion.
"But this the gods may do who have seen, and seen with unrelenting
eyes, the sorrows of ten thousand worlds--thy gods may weep for thee.
"Tears may not bring again Sardathrion.
"Believe it not, Sardathrion, that ever thy gods sent this doom to thee;
he that hath overthrown thee shall overthrow thy gods.
"How oft when Night came suddenly on Morning playing in the fields
of Twilight did we watch thy pinnacles emerging from the darkness,
Sardathrion, Sardathrion, dream city of the gods, and thine onyx lions
looming limb by limb from the dusk.
"How often have we sent our child the Dawn to play with thy fountain
tops; how often hath Evening, loveliest of our goddesses, strayed long
upon thy balconies.
"Let one fragment of thy marbles stand up above the dust for thine old
gods to caress, as a man when all else is lost treasures one lock of the
hair of his beloved.
"Sardathrion, the gods must kiss once more the place where thy streets
were once.
"There were wonderful marbles in thy streets, Sardathrion."
"Sardathrion, Sardathrion, the gods weep for thee."

THE COMING OF THE SEA
Once there was no sea, and the gods went walking over the green plains
of earth.
Upon an evening of the forgotten years the gods were seated on the
hills, and all the little rivers of the world lay coiled at Their feet asleep,
when Slid, the new god,