The Farewell

And now it was evening.

And now it was evening.

And Almitra the seeress said, Blessed be this day and this place and your spirit that has spoken.

And Almitra the seer said, Blessed be this day, this place, and your spirit that has spoken.

And he answered, Was it I who spoke? Was I not also a listener?

And he answered, Was it I who spoke? Wasn't I also a listener?

Then he descended the steps of the Temple and all the people followed him. And he reached his ship and stood upon the deck.

Then he walked down the steps of the Temple, and all the people followed him. He reached his ship and stood on the deck.

And facing the people again, he raised his voice and said:

He turned to face the people again, raised his voice, and said:

People of Orphalese, the wind bids me leave you.

People of Orphalese, the wind tells me to leave you.

Less hasty am I than the wind, yet I must go.

I am less hurried than the wind, but I must go.

We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us. Even while the earth sleeps we travel.

We wanderers always seek the lonelier path. We never begin a day where we ended the last one. No sunrise finds us where sunset left us. Even while the earth sleeps, we travel.

We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered.

We are the seeds of a hardy plant. When we are ripe and our hearts are full, we are given to the wind and scattered.

Brief were my days among you, and briefer still the words I have spoken.

My time among you was short, and the words I spoke were even fewer.

But should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again,

But if my voice fades from your ears and my love disappears from your memory, I will return,

And with a richer heart and lips more yielding to the spirit will I speak.

And I will speak with a richer heart and lips more open to the spirit.

Yea, I shall return with the tide,

Yes, I will return with the tide,

And though death may hide me, and the greater silence enfold me, yet again will I seek your understanding.

Though death may hide me and the greater silence surround me, I will seek your understanding again.

And not in vain will I seek.

And my search will not be in vain.

If aught I have said is truth, that truth shall reveal itself in a clearer voice, and in words more kin to your thoughts.

If anything I have said is true, that truth will reveal itself in a clearer voice and in words closer to your thoughts.

I go with the wind, people of Orphalese, but not down into emptiness; And if this day is not a fulfilment of your needs and my love, then let it be a promise till another day.

People of Orphalese, I go with the wind, but not into emptiness. If this day does not fulfill your needs and my love, let it be a promise for another day.

Man’s needs change, but not his love, nor his desire that his love should satisfy his needs.

A person’s needs change, but their love does not. Nor does their desire for love to meet their needs.

Know therefore, that from the greater silence I shall return.

So know that I will return from the greater silence.

The mist that drifts away at dawn, leaving but dew in the fields, shall rise and gather into a cloud and then fall down in rain.

The mist drifts away at dawn, leaving only dew in the fields. It will rise and gather into a cloud, then fall as rain.

And not unlike the mist have I been.

And I have been like the mist.

In the stillness of the night I have walked in your streets, and my spirit has entered your houses,

In the quiet of the night, I have walked your streets, and my spirit has entered your homes,

And your heart-beats were in my heart, and your breath was upon my face, and I knew you all.

And your heartbeats were in my heart, and your breath was on my face. And I knew you all.

Ay, I knew your joy and your pain, and in your sleep your dreams were my dreams.

Yes, I knew your joy and your pain, and your dreams were my dreams while you slept.

And oftentimes I was among you a lake among the mountains.

And often, among you, I was like a lake among the mountains.

I mirrored the summits in you and the bending slopes, and even the passing flocks of your thoughts and your desires.

I reflected the peaks and curved slopes within you, and even the passing flocks of your thoughts and desires.

And to my silence came the laughter of your children in streams, and the longing of your youths in rivers.

The laughter of your children came to my silence in streams, and the longing of your young people came in rivers.

And when they reached my depth the streams and the rivers ceased not yet to sing.

And when they reached my depths, the streams and rivers kept singing.

But sweeter still than laughter and greater than longing came to me.

But something even sweeter than laughter and greater than longing came to me.

It was the boundless in you;

It was the limitless part of you.

The vast man in whom you are all but cells and sinews;

The vast man in whom you are all only cells and sinews;

He in whose chant all your singing is but a soundless throbbing.

He in whose chant all your singing is only a soundless throbbing.

It is in the vast man that you are vast,

In the vast man, you are vast,

And in beholding him that I beheld you and loved you.

And by seeing him, I saw you and loved you.

For what distances can love reach that are not in that vast sphere?

For what distance can love reach that lies beyond that vast sphere?

What visions, what expectations and what presumptions can outsoar that flight?

What visions, expectations, or assumptions can soar higher than that flight?

Like a giant oak tree covered with apple blossoms is the vast man in you. His might binds you to the earth, his fragrance lifts you into space, and in his durability you are deathless.

The vast man within you is like a giant oak tree covered in apple blossoms. His strength binds you to the earth. His fragrance lifts you into space, and his endurance makes you deathless.

You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.

You have been told that, like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.

This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.

This is only half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.

To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.

Judging you by your smallest deed is like judging the ocean’s power by the fragility of its foam.

To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconstancy.

To judge you by your failures is like blaming the seasons for changing.

Ay, you are like an ocean,

Yes, you are like an ocean,

And though heavy-grounded ships await the tide upon your shores, yet, even like an ocean, you cannot hasten your tides.

And though ships lie heavily aground on your shores, waiting for the tide, still, like an ocean, you cannot hurry your tides.

And like the seasons you are also,

And you are also like the seasons,

And though in your winter you deny your spring,

And although you deny your spring in winter,

Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended. Think not I say these things in order that you may say the one to the other, “He praised us well. He saw but the good in us.”

Yet spring rests within you, smiling sleepily, and is not offended. Do not think I say these things so that you will say to one another, “He praised us well. He saw only the good in us.”

I only speak to you in words of that which you yourselves know in thought.

I only put into words what you already know in your thoughts.

And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge?

And what is knowledge in words but a shadow of knowledge without words?

Your thoughts and my words are waves from a sealed memory that keeps records of our yesterdays,

Your thoughts and my words are waves from a sealed memory that holds a record of our past,

And of the ancient days when the earth knew not us nor herself,

And of the ancient days when the earth knew neither us nor herself,

And of nights when earth was up-wrought with confusion.

And of nights when the earth was stirred up in confusion.

Wise men have come to you to give you of their wisdom. I came to take of your wisdom:

Wise men have come to share their wisdom with you. I came to learn from yours:

And behold I have found that which is greater than wisdom.

And look, I have found something greater than wisdom.

It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself,

It is a spirit of flame within you, always gathering more of itself,

While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days. It is life in quest of life in bodies that fear the grave.

While you mourn your dwindling days, unaware that it is growing. It is life seeking life in bodies that fear the grave.

There are no graves here.

There are no graves here.

These mountains and plains are a cradle and a stepping-stone.

These mountains and plains are both a cradle and a stepping stone.

Whenever you pass by the field where you have laid your ancestors look well thereupon, and you shall see yourselves and your children dancing hand in hand.

Whenever you pass the field where you buried your ancestors, look closely. You will see yourselves and your children dancing hand in hand.

Verily you often make merry without knowing.

Indeed, you often enjoy yourselves without knowing it.

Others have come to you to whom for golden promises made unto your faith you have given but riches and power and glory.

Others have come to you with golden promises for your faith. In return, you have given them only riches, power, and glory.

Less than a promise have I given, and yet more generous have you been to me.

I have given less than a promise, yet you have been even more generous to me.

You have given me my deeper thirsting after life.

You have given me a deeper thirst for life.

Surely there is no greater gift to a man than that which turns all his aims into parching lips and all life into a fountain.

Surely no gift is greater than one that turns all a man's aims into thirsty lips and all life into a fountain.

And in this lies my honour and my reward,—

And this is my honor and my reward.

That whenever I come to the fountain to drink I find the living water itself thirsty;

That whenever I come to the fountain to drink, I find that the living water itself is thirsty.

And it drinks me while I drink it.

And it drinks me while I drink it.

Some of you have deemed me proud and over-shy to receive gifts.

Some of you have thought me proud and too shy to accept gifts.

Too proud indeed am I to receive wages, but not gifts.

I am indeed too proud to accept wages, but not gifts.

And though I have eaten berries among the hills when you would have had me sit at your board,

And though I have eaten berries in the hills when you wanted me to sit at your table,

And slept in the portico of the temple when you would gladly have sheltered me,

And slept on the temple porch when you would gladly have given me shelter,

Yet was it not your loving mindfulness of my days and my nights that made food sweet to my mouth and girdled my sleep with visions?

Yet wasn't it your loving care for me, day and night, that made my food taste sweet and filled my sleep with visions?

For this I bless you most:

For this, I bless you most:

You give much and know not that you give at all. Verily the kindness that gazes upon itself in a mirror turns to stone,

You give much without even knowing you are giving. Truly, kindness that looks at itself in a mirror turns to stone,

And a good deed that calls itself by tender names becomes the parent to a curse.

And a good deed that calls itself by gentle names gives rise to a curse.

And some of you have called me aloof, and drunk with my own aloneness,

And some of you have called me distant and drunk on my own solitude,

And you have said, “He holds council with the trees of the forest, but not with men.

And you have said, “He talks with the trees of the forest, but not with people.

He sits alone on hill-tops and looks down upon our city.”

He sits alone on the hilltops and looks down at our city.”

True it is that I have climbed the hills and walked in remote places.

It is true that I have climbed the hills and walked in remote places.

How could I have seen you save from a great height or a great distance?

How could I have seen you except from a great height or a great distance?

How can one be indeed near unless he be far?

How can someone truly be near unless they are far away?

And others among you called unto me, not in words, and they said,

And others among you called to me without words, saying,

“Stranger, stranger, lover of unreachable heights, why dwell you among the summits where eagles build their nests? Why seek you the unattainable?

“Stranger, stranger, lover of unreachable heights, why do you live on the peaks where eagles build their nests? Why do you seek what you cannot reach?

What storms would you trap in your net,

What storms would you catch in your net,

And what vaporous birds do you hunt in the sky?

And what misty birds do you hunt in the sky?

Come and be one of us.

Come and be one of us.

Descend and appease your hunger with our bread and quench your thirst with our wine.”

Come down and satisfy your hunger with our bread and your thirst with our wine.”

In the solitude of their souls they said these things;

Alone in their souls, they said these things.

But were their solitude deeper they would have known that I sought but the secret of your joy and your pain,

But if their solitude had been deeper, they would have known that I sought only the secret of your joy and pain,

And I hunted only your larger selves that walk the sky.

And I hunted only your greater selves, the ones that walk the sky.

But the hunter was also the hunted;

But the hunter was also being hunted.

For many of my arrows left my bow only to seek my own breast.

For many of my arrows left my bow only to seek out my own chest.

And the flier was also the creeper;

And the one who flew was also the one who crawled.

For when my wings were spread in the sun their shadow upon the earth was a turtle.

For when I spread my wings in the sun, their shadow on the earth was a turtle.

And I the believer was also the doubter; For often have I put my finger in my own wound that I might have the greater belief in you and the greater knowledge of you.

And I, the believer, was also the doubter. For I often put my finger in my own wound so that I might believe in you more deeply and know you better.

And it is with this belief and this knowledge that I say,

And with this belief and knowledge, I say,

You are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields.

You are not contained by your bodies or confined to houses or fields.

That which is you dwells above the mountain and roves with the wind.

What is you lives above the mountain and wanders with the wind.

It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety,

It does not crawl into the sun for warmth or dig holes in the dark for safety,

But a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether.

But something free, a spirit that surrounds the earth and moves through the ether.

If these be vague words, then seek not to clear them.

If these words are vague, do not try to make them clear.

Vague and nebulous is the beginning of all things, but not their end,

The beginning of all things is unclear and hazy, but their end is not,

And I fain would have you remember me as a beginning.

And I would like you to remember me as a beginning.

Life, and all that lives, is conceived in the mist and not in the crystal. And who knows but a crystal is mist in decay?

Life and all living things are conceived in mist, not crystal. And who knows? Perhaps crystal is mist in decay.

This would I have you remember in remembering me:

When you remember me, I want you to remember this:

That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined.

What seems weakest and most confused in you is the strongest and most determined.

Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened the structure of your bones?

Isn't it your breath that has built and hardened the structure of your bones?

And is it not a dream which none of you remember having dreamt, that builded your city and fashioned all there is in it?

And wasn't it a dream that built your city and shaped everything in it? None of you remember dreaming it.

Could you but see the tides of that breath you would cease to see all else,

If you could see the tides of that breath, you would see nothing else,

And if you could hear the whispering of the dream you would hear no other sound.

And if you could hear the dream whispering, you would hear no other sound.

But you do not see, nor do you hear, and it is well.

But you do not see or hear, and that is good.

The veil that clouds your eyes shall be lifted by the hands that wove it,

The hands that wove the veil clouding your eyes will lift it,

And the clay that fills your ears shall be pierced by those fingers that kneaded it. And you shall see.

And the fingers that kneaded the clay filling your ears will pierce it. And you will see.

And you shall hear.

And you will hear.

Yet you shall not deplore having known blindness, nor regret having been deaf.

Yet you will not regret having been blind or deaf.

For in that day you shall know the hidden purposes in all things,

For on that day, you will understand the hidden purposes in all things,

And you shall bless darkness as you would bless light.

And you will bless darkness as you would bless light.

After saying these things he looked about him, and he saw the pilot of his ship standing by the helm and gazing now at the full sails and now at the distance.

After saying these things, he looked around. He saw the pilot of his ship standing by the helm. The pilot looked first at the full sails, then into the distance.

And he said:

And he said:

Patient, over patient, is the captain of my ship.

The captain of my ship is patient, more than patient.

The wind blows, and restless are the sails;

The wind blows, and the sails are restless.

Even the rudder begs direction;

Even the rudder begs for direction.

Yet quietly my captain awaits my silence.

Yet my captain quietly waits for me to fall silent.

And these my mariners, who have heard the choir of the greater sea, they too have heard me patiently. Now they shall wait no longer.

My sailors have heard the chorus of the greater sea. They too have listened to me patiently. Now they will wait no longer.

I am ready.

I am ready.

The stream has reached the sea, and once more the great mother holds her son against her breast.

The stream has reached the sea, and once again the great mother holds her son close to her chest.

Fare you well, people of Orphalese.

Farewell, people of Orphalese.

This day has ended.

This day has ended.

It is closing upon us even as the water-lily upon its own tomorrow.

It is closing around us, just as a water lily closes around its own tomorrow.

What was given us here we shall keep,

We will keep what was given to us here,

And if it suffices not, then again must we come together and together stretch our hands unto the giver.

And if it is not enough, we must come together again and reach out our hands to the giver.

Forget not that I shall come back to you.

Don't forget that I will come back to you.

A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body.

Soon, my longing will gather dust and foam to form another body.

A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me.

In a little while, after a moment of rest on the wind, another woman will bear me.

Farewell to you and the youth I have spent with you.

Goodbye to you and to the youth I spent with you.

It was but yesterday we met in a dream. You have sung to me in my aloneness, and I of your longings have built a tower in the sky.

Only yesterday, we met in a dream. You sang to me in my loneliness, and I built a tower in the sky from your longings.

But now our sleep has fled and our dream is over, and it is no longer dawn.

But now we are awake, our dream is over, and dawn has passed.

The noontide is upon us and our half waking has turned to fuller day, and we must part.

Noon is here, and our half-awake state has given way to full daylight. And we must part.

If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.

If we meet again in the twilight of memory, we will talk together again, and you will sing me a deeper song.

And if our hands should meet in another dream we shall build another tower in the sky.

And if our hands meet in another dream, we will build another tower in the sky.

So saying he made a signal to the seamen, and straightway they weighed anchor and cast the ship loose from its moorings, and they moved eastward.

After saying this, he signaled to the sailors. They immediately raised the anchor, untied the ship, and sailed east.

And a cry came from the people as from a single heart, and it rose into the dusk and was carried out over the sea like a great trumpeting.

A cry rose from the people, as if from a single heart. It rose into the dusk and carried out over the sea like a great trumpet blast.

Only Almitra was silent, gazing after the ship until it had vanished into the mist.

Only Almitra remained silent, watching the ship until it disappeared into the mist.

And when all the people were dispersed she still stood alone upon the sea-wall, remembering in her heart his saying,

After all the people had left, she still stood alone on the seawall, remembering his words in her heart,

“A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me.”

“After a little while, a moment of rest on the wind, another woman will give birth to me.”