A Marriage in Gaia

At the cathedral door I paused, amazed, Confounded at the beauty seen within; For all without was barren and forlorn, Gaunt, gray and lustreless. A throng stood there Waiting and watching, as they watch and wait Who hope to find their faith and fate fulfilled.

So I fixed their interest, so intent their joy, I could not partake their curious zeal; And so I asked a verger: Tell me, pray, What is’t impels the throng, and why they wait And may I, if I choose, go in? A smile, Part pitying and part scornful, lit his lips; They wait, he said, I cannot tell thee more. As for thy choice, thou hast none; come thou must. Must! In hot blood I spoke: That word to me is a word unknown. Yon rabble go perchance because they may, Or must, by will more mighty than their own; But he I serve, more mighty than their lord, My sovereign and my liege from whom I got Mine accolade, demands my only service. In passing by I felt a transient throb Of curious interest. Now I go on my way. Turning upon my heel I would have gone, But, as I moved, a hand Mailed, irresistible, but all unseen, smote me, And whirled me round and held me hard. Forth blazed a light,

Not as the light of earth; but colors vast, Innumerable,—beyond the violet and red; And a strange voice, not human speech, Nor sound, but vaster still, as full Of Truth, encompassing all sound, And far beyond the treble and the bass, Spoke as a whispering thunderbolt, and said: I tell thee, no, Not yet; for not thy king hath pow’r, Or ever had or shall, to thwart my will. His word, Thou must! the idiom of Truth; His voice the concentrated argument of God.

So I went in and waited with the rest. Silence at first, and then a sudden shriek Rang out, and footsteps fell in madd’ning haste Upon the marble floor. I turned to look (For all there turned to look) and saw a woman Clad if filthy rags, with hair unkempt and tangled Down her back. Her eyeballs, deeply sunken, glittered blank; From her lank jaws oozed drops of filthy slime; One long, lean arm entwined a coiling snake,— A deadly cobra hissing through its fangs,— And one uplifted grasped a curling kreese.

By her side A knightly form in solid armor strode, Armed, yet unweaponed, with a placid face. The likeness and the mien of a young god. From his shoulders fell in tawny foam A bright cascade of hair. Upon his head A helm, and ‘neath the plume for motto Graved these words: I sanctify the world. So side by side They two,—the worst and best, the noble and the base, The height and depth of all created things, Moved forward up the long cathedral aisle.

At first sight of those Discordant ones silenced the rabble; then They shuddering shrank from the mad woman. But at sight of him, so grave, so beautiful, A whispered sigh, strange looks from each to each; A feeble cheer, hushed quickly; murmurs rose, And mocking questions: Why was he demeaned By such a low companion? But at sight Of that proud crest wheron the motto blazed Some laughed in scorn, and some with bitter gibes Reviled the knight and mocked. He caring not Looked neither down nor up, nor yet to either side,— Strode straight towards the altar at the east. To the chancel rail, all garbed in white, A shadowy shape stepped forth amid a throng Of acolytes. His voice the same that thrilled Through all my soul in mighty thunder tones At the cathedral door. There they twain,— Woman and man,—before the altar stood in silence deep. In silence deep

Of knightly presence his and godly grace, But hers of hellish hate and weird, wild eyes. Willing the man, yet willing as one wills,— The nvoy and the nuncio of Will Inhabiting Eternity. But she reluctant, trembling with the force That conquered fury,—loathing to submit.

To have and hold, he said, with all my hope,— My holy hope and all my heavenly goods, The upwardness and onwardness of life, The peace of pardon that are mine to give, The potency and promise of all words I thee endow. And, as he spoke the words, a sudden change Came o’er the woman’s face. From her fierce brow The frown and fury passed; from her bold eyes the gleam Of concentrated hate, and from her lips the sneer, The demon look Slipped from her like a mask, and in their stead The lovely likeness of a new born soul. And one by one All base and odious things were changed or vanished. Curled up her hair and coiled in placid plaits; The filthy rags grew into lawn and lace; The glittering kresse dropped clanging on the Stone; The snake untwined, And hissing crawled away. A radiant princess stood, hang clasped in his Who gave her life and love.