We Prophets

E'er since the time the Judge on high Conferred upon me a prophet's vision, I read in ev'ry passing eye Whole tomes of malice and derision from THE PROPHET by Lermontov A six-winged seraph stood Before me on a crossroads dreary; He touched my eyes... Now armed with a prophetic power They opened wide.... from THE PROPHET by PUSHKIN Long ago, when I was young, and what people thought about me worried me, we prophets were despised by everyone, young and old, rich and poor, devout or pagan. Who or what they were mattered as little as a single leaf on a massive oak tree: they all equally despised us. We were a sorry company, lean, pock-marked, smelly, weak to the point of fainting in a crowd, clinging to each other. We walked and walked, through forests, villages, high hills, tundra, and only stopped to rest at isolated lakes or deserted river valleys. Parishioners and priests alike banned us from entering the Churches. We prayed fiercely in our interior devotions, and sometimes raised our scrawny voices in hymns. Then an angel appeared suddenly among us, shining and glowing, and he spoke gently in our hearts. He led us in a forgotten dance, a dance of celestial things, with music we heard in our hearts accompanying our movements. It was daylight when we began, it was deepest night when he stopped. We gradually realized we were living angelic lives. We sang hymns as we danced, and did not notice the angel that had withdrawn... Each of us felt the Hand of God touch his head. Again and again we felt that touch, both gentle and firm, absolutely a touch of Grace. I have been smiling ever since! I could tell you many things, if you are ready to hear them, or I could stay silent and pass through your village. I could tell you of a life of service. I could tell of a perpetual thirst. I could tell you how we hover around artists as they struggle to make a marriage of Truth and Beauty. I could describe a Temple within our hearts, which we will never finish building. I could assure you we dive deeply into your wounded psyches, and in that electric zone neither here nor there, wrestle with demons. And we see your beings expanding to angelic proportions. Trust me, there are so many things awaiting you once your apprenticeship is over! You will say, this earthly life is vexed into a temporary glory. Oh! Oh! Everything will unfold, open out, become a thousand times more than itself, and keep opening out into Space and Time as they steadily become Eternity.