diff options
Diffstat (limited to '26675.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 26675.txt | 1389 |
1 files changed, 1389 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/26675.txt b/26675.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9098b94 --- /dev/null +++ b/26675.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1389 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Masque of the Elements, by Herman Scheffauer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Masque of the Elements + +Author: Herman Scheffauer + +Release Date: September 20, 2008 [EBook #26675] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASQUE OF THE ELEMENTS *** + + + + +Produced by Ruth Hart + + + + +[Note: This text contains many words with archaic spelling, which +I have not modernized. Also, while the first word of each poem +is usually capitalized, not all of them are, and I have left +the uncapitalized words as is. Finally, in the original text, +the verse was printed with regular type, while the prose was +italicized. I have not indicated these differences for this +online version.] + + + +THE MASQUE OF THE ELEMENTS +BY HERMAN SCHEFFAUER + + + +LONDON: J. M. Dent & Sons, Limited +Bedford Street, Strand 1912 +New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. + +All rights reserved + + + +TO MY DEAR FRIEND +ALBERT M. BENDER + + + +CONTENTS + +ARGUMENT 9 + +THE PASSING + +Song of the Spirit of Chaos 14 +Song of the Sun 16 +Song of the Planet Earth 18 +Song of the Moon Wraith 20 +Song of Earth the Element 22 +Song of Air 24 +Song of the Sea 26 +Song of Fire 28 +Song of the Spirit of Chaos 31 + +RE-BIRTH + +Song of the Spirit of Creation 37 +Song of the Sun 39 +Song of the Planet Earth 41 +Song of the Moon 43 +Song of Air 45 +Song of the Sea 47 +Song of Earth the Element 48 +Song of Fire 51 +Song of the Spirit of Creation 55 + + + +ARGUMENT + +In this Threnody and Birth-song of the Elements, written in +California some five years ago, I have striven to capture +and present some of the chief-factors and phases of the +eternal drama of Life and Death in the Universe. These powers, +elements and agents I have endowed with human attributes +and human emotions as though it were Man himself who uttered +himself through them. + +The actors in this cosmic masque or pageant of the planets +are the Sun, the Moon and the Earth with her four Elements; +for stage there is the limitless background of Time and +Space, and the audience may be conceived as being represented +by Immanent Nature. Creation and Dissolution are her ministers, +twin forces of that divine everlasting Energy which brings +to pass the cycles of the Eternal Recurrence. + +The action takes its course with a certain regard for the +laws and revelations of Science, but this compliance is only +such as poetry need observe. Despite the inherent and mystic +majesty of Matter,--too commonly reviled!--fantasy must have +leave, in such a work, to force its way past the barrier of +facts or to reshape them to its needs. + +Whether the action begin with the impulse of Dissolution or +with that of Creation does not in any way affect the essentials +of the plan. The alternations of Life and Death, of Cosmic Night +and Day, must inevitably follow and destroy each other, like +the serpents in the ancient symbol. Yet I thought it desirable +to end this work with the larger and salient note of hope and +joy that rings out of the Birth that is Re-birth rather than with +the Passing which is but a recurrent preparation for that Birth. + +HERMAN SCHEFFAUER. +London, 1911. + + + +THE PASSING + +The song of the Spirit of Chaos is heard on high above the aged +Solar Universe. + +The Sun hangs in the black wastes below. His dazzling beams are +shorn away. He glows, but dimly, like an ember, with a red and +smouldering heat. + +In their concentric rounds lie poised the planets, like weary-winged +cup-bearers, circling about their sleepless lord. + +His fire, dull with death, wavers across their dim faces, even unto +dusky Uranus and lowering Neptune in the cold, outermost rings. + +In the dark, all-surrounding void new constellations gleam on the +thrones of the heavens. The old are changed, deposed or dead. + +Their figures, unfixed in the abyss, have been shifted like errant +sands of Earth. + +The spirit of Chaos, from her uncharted tracts, summons her +ministrant powers of Death and Change. She beholds them blight +the worlds. Her presence enfolds destroyers and destroyed as with +a cloak. + +The dusks and damps of dissolution spread out their lethal and +invisible wings. + +The voice of the Spirit, like spheral music, flows out of the +darkness. + +The orbs listen and are filled with a miraculous consciousness +and the soft lassitude of Death. + + + +SONG OF THE SPIRIT OF CHAOS + +THE staring vessels of these worlds no wine + Of Life refills, no seeds of potent change. +So may Death's pale and lingering weeds entwine + These hollow globes that still unhindered range +Through Heaven. O famished Time! thy jaws devour + The suns and slumbers of the broken spheres, +Whose knell young stars have heard, whose rounded hour + Strikes, and is buried in thy bourneless years. +They glow like fevered jewels in the deeps, + Like sullen embers in remorseless Night, +Like flowers with'ring when the Winter creeps + With iron dews their little lives to blight. +Since recordless immensities of Time + I stand whose ne'er-sealed eyes the birth behold +Of worlds dream-born,--their fiery infant clime, + Their teeming life, their epochs gray and cold, +Peace kiss and blot their tarnished light and close + Their leaden urns with gentleness. I shed +The ashes of my silence on their snows,-- + Then waft them to my kingdoms of the dead. + +Through the doomed Sun runs a tremor from core to crust. There is +a faltering in his flight. + +His vassal globes roll on, disturbed and bleak. + +The Lord of Day shakes upon his central seat and turns up his +hectic front in dumb questionings of despair. He yearns for sleep +to seal his kingly eye. + +The calcined wounds upon him are like many mouths. They roll forth +trembling thunder. + +And now is heard the voice of the Sun in agony: + + + +SONG OF THE SUN + +WEARY am I at last! weary am I! + Shall the old eons bring me no repose? +Oh, in long-promised slumbers once to lie + And feel the films of sleep mine eyelids close! +Oh, once to lave my burning head in Night-- + Blest Night! my planets joy thee--every one! +Perish, fatigueless Fire! and thou, O Light! + Vanish. Go leave your emperor, your Sun! +For I am done with blessings scattered wide + Throughout the waste, oppressive Universe, +And yonder fading Earth-globe, once my bride, + Becomes to me a burden and a curse. +No more she smiles for me, no more my rays + Urge on her frozen roots to coloured bloom, +No clouds enrobe her nakedness--her days, + Once golden in the dance, are bent on doom. +A loathing throngs the vision, and the face + Of Man is stone and ashen, fallen supine. +How long with Light and Love I warmed his race! + Now iron crowns of Ruin and Death be mine. + +The Earth-orb and her four elements are locked in the arms of +decay. + +She, like a stricken mother, bereaved of all beloved things, calls +on the Sun, her primal fount of Life. + +The saddest of all her twilights has fallen and is moving on +to night. + +Life, be it of man, or beast, or flower, is slowly quenched, as a +torch is quenched in a midnight lake. + +The haunts and habitations of men have vanished; they are not any +more. Yet their ruins are heaped with snow that shall know no thawing. + +Every hour of Earth is an eon and her day has yet many hours. + +Her elements sing each their song. The parent Earth sends forth her +cry into the void. + + + +SONG OF THE PLANET EARTH + +NOT now thy beams arouse me morn by morn, + O Sun! as when my flesh was warm and young. +Out of our love what children fair were born + To rapture! ere thy last wild song was sung. +I deem thy day is Night and thou the Moon-- + So feeble is thy kiss, so cold thy light,-- +Lamp of my life, alas!--how soon, how soon-- + O speak! comes thy last greeting and good-night? +My breasts are sere as sand, no flowers bloom, + No grass, no forests hide my misery bare; +The reaches of the tyrannous poles consume + Those gardens of delight we made so fair, +And men lie dark in caves, a sullen race, + Framed of ray daughter's flesh but now my bane, +Yet shall I not withdraw my patient face, + Nor tomb them in my hollow caves of pain. +Soon shall I creep no more about thee, orb + Of Heaven, for all my thews grow stark and dry. +When the years drag me to my end--absorb, + Embrace, enfold, caress me, ere I die! + +A song fours down from the skies, a plangent song of triumph from +the Moon. Yet it is not her voice, but that of the Moon Wraith. She +reigns in mockery and malice upon her peaks in gulfs of solitude. + +She sings for her who perished long ago. Her voice is flung +exulting over the ruins. + +The Phantasm turns the ashen sphere about the rusted poles. + +The mystery of the Moons invisible hemisphere is now revealed. + +It too is desolation. + + + +SONG OF THE MOON WRAITH + +THEY are dying! all are dying! Night shall force + Us headlong through her shoreless regions blind. +Then must I, an empty lamp, around the corse + Of Earth my dark, unending spirals wind. +I loved the Sun. My heart was molten stone, + Like Earth my face for him with beauty bloomed, +Ere lust and hatred scarred my every zone, + And passion tore my beauty and consumed. +They are dying! I have waited lone and long,-- + Long have hung, a warning skull that gleamed +Above their feast of Life and Love;--their song + Is ended, and the Sun sheds blood. They dreamed. +Earth that called me cold and pale, grows pale and cold,-- + Now wearily her groaning axle turns +Those alternating glories that she rolled + To mock my ashen tombs and crater-urns! +No more her midnight ghouls nor lovers creep + To curse or bless my light; my shadow crawls +Like some dark moth upon her. I shall sleep + Equal with her in death. The tyrant falls! + +The Element of Earth, waste and inert, hears at last the cry +of the Mother-globe. + +Her crests and peaks, her vales and plains, lie white and whelmed +with snow. + +The mountain ranges draw their icy shrouds over the faces of dead +continents. + +A convulsion seizes on her granite heart, and the lips of her +hills are heard uttering their dirge. + + + +SONG OF EARTH THE ELEMENT + +SPRUNG molten from the fierce embrace of stars, + Graven by hungry seas and winds and fires-- +Lo, my poor frame terrene with all its scars + Lies arid like the dross of blasted pyres! +Opulent fields and fruits, and forest tracts-- + O fourfold largess of the seasons! grain, +Once on this bosom waving! cataracts + Poured from my heart!--each precious living vein +Of gold or gleaming mineral, and flower + And grass and mated creature that I gave +To man unstinted from my royal dower, + Lie cold in this my never-sated grave. +And he, my noblest offspring, whom my breasts + Suckled when ushered from my fertile womb, +Lies low in dark and underearthen nests, + Calling on slow and silent-footed doom. +No more, no more the joyous spring shall thaw + These crystal cere-cloths from my withered heart,-- +No more shall Life his golden pageant draw, + Nor ever a seed shall spring nor a flower start. + +The all-embracing and tender Air is without motion, lifeless +and exhaust. + +His eight lordly sons lie undone in eight far regions of the globe. + +Thinner and thinner grows the element as it is drained away to +dissolution. + +Meteors from the outer vast pierce, unconsumed, the canopy of the +dying Air. The helpless Earth is smitten with showers of fire-javelins. + +Sighs suffuse the atmosphere and putrescence rises with its legions +of leaden ghosts. + +What is this sound, so low, so faint, so thin? It seems like the +first whisper of the youngest of all the Angels, or the last sigh +of the oldest of all Men. + +It is the Song of the dying Air. + + + +SONG OF AIR + +DEAD! dark! flown! my primal happiness; + The stark ice ribs my high and hollow cave. +The vortex of the World spins raptureless, + And languorously crawls the oily wave. +From sun-shot peaks of dawn no more I leap + Like a launching condor past control,-- +O speak, Son of the West! if this be Sleep-- + Or Death that is our destiny and goal? +Thick torpor clouds the climes; eternal snow + Falling, falling, falling, throngs my realm. +Shall nevermore my breath o'er Ocean blow? + Nor wrestle with his seas that roar and whelm? +No balsam to the woods can I restore, + Nor render pure my breath for man to drain; +I faint within his nostrils that implore + My draught to rouse his drooping heart again. +My Earth that I enfolded like a bloom, + Lies but a withered creature,--sterile, cold,-- +Hither, fly hither! O winds who share my doom, + Oh, wail your dying sire whose days are told. + +A prone and expiring giant lifts up his bulk once more and +would not die. + +It is Ocean, usurper of Earth's deepest vales, besieger of islands, +batterer of continents. + +His great green front and land-fettered limbs glimmer up to his +mistress Moon. His breast heaves unto her as of old with an +awful and passionate longing. + +But a film has veiled his eyes, and now stagnation builds up +her muddy pillars in his heart. There Death reigns amidst havoc. + +His leviathans and huge worms and wrecks of ships rot on every +shore and in his dunnest deeps amidst pearls and sea-born blooms. + +The innumerable myrmidons of his empire, fretted masses, chained +by weeds, oppress the old Equator. + +The coasts he laved and swept are marred with deadly froth. +They are now but ruins of the vast poison-chalice of the sea, +all fringed with bloody spume. + +This is his final anguish and these his final groans. + +It is the last song of the sorrowing Sea! + +Hoarsely reverberates his threnody; he piles up higher and +higher his tremendous tomb of sound, beneath which he shall +compose himself in tideless calms of sleep. + + + +SONG OF THE SEA + +Oh, I am old and hoar! so old that none + Of all my drops holds memory of birth: +My mists no longer rise to robe the Sun, + No longer lend great rivers to the Earth. +Low in my deeps my broken creatures die,-- + They die! and their corruption loads my floors; +Countless and cold, my lordly monsters lie + On league-long sands of continental shores. +Where bide you, O white stallions of the waves? + And you torrential surges,--where the crest +You flung on leaping mountains that you drave + Across your father's fields from East to West? +Shine forth, O Moon! unveil thee, pallid queen! + Heal me, as when my passion clomb to thine; +Shed down thy lucent drench, thy light serene, + Oh, lift me back to Life and Love--oh, shine! +My salt hath lost its virtue in men's blood + And o'er their hearts the marish vapour crawls; +Now Death o'erwhelms me with his colder flood, + And, prey to Time, my royal glory falls. + +Daemon of Fire, fairest of all elements, fairest, purest, divinest, +Spirit of Life and Power, that dwells never with Death! + +His feet take hold on Earth, but his crest rears its unhampered +glory in the highest airs. + +Fleeing from Nature's frozen breast, he trends to lowest crypts, +swift to some final refuge, moving in leaping sheets and sinuous +trails. + +The mouths of all volcanoes, once his throne, are choked with +snow. In subterranean corridors cold creeps upon the central vaults +of flame. + + + +SONG OF FIRE + +BACK to the womb I creep, back to the womb! + Let snows and stagnant seas my province blight, +Deep down in matrix grots shall I consume + My mother's flesh, my spirit and the night. +I shall beat about her heart a few brief years,-- + I, who once rolled fiery gold through all her veins, +And soared from mountain-throats o'er hemispheres, + And throbbed in huts and palaces and fanes. +What power in me abode! what loveliness! + The three vast elements proclaimed me king, +Straight from the Sun I sank with gifts to bless + The world with living tongue and burning wing. +I came, and Man sat caverned with the brute; + I nursed him and he rose into a god; +I leave him and he withers with the fruit + Of ages on the ground his splendour trod. +Farewell, you airs and skies from whence I fell, + Fond Earth, farewell, and all thy beauty past-- +And thou, old pulseless Ocean foe, farewell!-- + All dead! I too shall die, though I be last. + +Utter silence and utter lifelessness engulf the Globe; the frozen +and adamantine bars of oblivion fall. + +As the soft sibilant tones of the Fire-daemon flutter away, slowly +the spheres recede and vanish in the clasp of Night. + +Once more is heard, sweet and clear, the voice of the Spirit +of Chaos. + +Her music of mercy sinks softly down like star-dust, or as of old +dew on terrestrial flowers. + +Through the infinite Universe, through Eternity, she sings her +everlasting song. + +She lulls her endless flocks of worlds asleep; she seals them up +in the dark cycles of mutation--or makes them to bloom in the Night. + +For they awaken once more when rings aloud the impulsive alternating +song of the Spirit of Life, her joyful sister, clad with inevitable +day. + +Now the solar orbs are overcast with swift eclipse as with a mantle. + +They are swept into illimitable abysses. + +Above, below and all about gleam vast cohorts and constellations +of living stars, pouring crystalline melody from thrones of Light. + +Ghosts of worlds drift by, and suns wrapped in extinction. + +They too are floating tombs, in them too, Life, Love and Thought +lie sepultured like seeds. + +Sepultured, until from the mighty marriage of orb with orb in +planetary impact shall the great rose of Existence re-unfold its +leaves in the light and warmth of suns new-born. + +So follow and follow the unending successions of the Seasons of +Eternity. + + + +SONG OF THE SPIRIT OF CHAOS + +DARKNESS, unconquered Darkness, spread thy tent, + Silence, build up thy co-eternal wall. +Death, who art silent and dark, this firmament + Is thine, these withered worlds--Oh, take them all! +Pearls dead and lustreless, float back to Death,-- + You from the sun-dust born and starry spray, +Life set you free and warmed you with his breath + A day, and Night hath fallen on that day. +Float back to Death, pearls dead and lustreless, + So he may sow you on the stormy streams +That wander unto aweful wars and press + Onward their throneless orbs that know no beams,-- +Blind sepulchres that hold within their stones + Ashes that sang and dust that shone with thought. +Though suns on suns emergent dash your zones + With lustre-floods,--no wonder shall be wrought, +Till out of ruins of transmuting strife + With sister globes that weld the eternal chain, +You win alternate Life and Death and Life + Again . . . and again . . . and again . . . + +The voice of the Spirit passes away into Immensity. + +Darkness and Silence in Immanence. + +The unheard rhythmical suspiration of the Universe. + +Peace. + + + +RE-BIRTH + +The vacant room of stars is flooded with a presence. + +The tides of Life pulsate with the prophecy of Birth. + +Now it is the Song of the Spirit of Creation that is heard on high +above the perished Solar Universe. + +The dead worlds are hidden in the lap of Night, sightless, forlorn +wanderers. They move in darkness, unseeing and unseen, though +smitten by the rays of living stars. + +Upon their cold breasts of stone the dust of ruined worlds lies as +a garment. Windless it lies as it falls or rises out of Chaos that +encompasses all. + +The Spirit of Creation moves grandly through the deeps. In her hands +she bears Fire and Light, on her lips her all-conquering command. +She flings dead worlds among the dead, as a sower his seed or a +slinger his stones. + +A spark is lit in the vast obscure. A glory, a rose of fire, blooms +in the pit of darkness. It is now a glowing mist with far-spread +vans, a phoenix wrought of flame. + +The cloud gathers about it its flowing veils and swarming foam of +Fire. It winds them around its white effulgent heart. The sundered +flakes of crimson twist and turn, they shrink, yet do not flee. + +Out of the blazing mists a new-born Sun shapes forth his awful +splendour. His worlds divest themselves of robes and wings, shining +in beauty white and pure. + +The dead are born again and the stars rejoice in light. + +From the molten orbs there comes a murmur, a fresh music to mingle +with the Sun's. + +The words of the Spirit of Creation swell in a harmonious storm, +they mould the worlds as with hands, they sweep the plumbless spaces +as with a besom of winds. + + + +SONG OF THE SPIRIT OF CREATION + +LET orb be wedded unto orb!--let light + Engender in the wombs of fiery clouds +In flashing spirals scarring the dead Night, + With tongues of argent fire and crimson shrouds. +You bear the seed of Worlds; from you shall spring + A Universe through roaring cycles spun +Round him whose bulk enormous crowns him king + And master of all vassal orbs, the Sun! +You golden worlds or white, you gelid Moons, + Each in your mountant orbit king or queen, +In midnights plunged or soaring in your noons, + Accoutred in glory male, or virgin sheen, +Awake! awake! the dark unbars her gate! + Burst forth like gems from Death's titanic tomb! +The joyous zenith and mute nadir wait, + Vessels of Life reborn, to yield you room. +Rocks and their garnered ores shall form your flesh, + And you shall pant in flowing seas of Air; +You shall have boon of Waters, salt and fresh, + And gift of godlike Fire to make you fair. + +Afloat in splendour, panoplied in light--the arch-pontifical Sun! + +He shakes his threshing, intolerable mane of flames, his face bans +darkness and makes a burning void in his domains. He pours his +lustihood and power upon the joyous spheres. His rays transmute all +things. Through the dancing infant host his Magnificat is upborne +on the breath of his desire. + +Triumphant rolls his paean. He casts from him his tempests of solar +melody, vibrant and far-winged. + + + +SONG OF THE SUN + +EMBATTLED life in living light immerst, + I shed the glory of my fatherhood! +These shafts shall quell the surgent dark and burst + The walls of night that pent my circling brood. +Rolled twyfold in each shining cirque and arch, + My jewelled court of splendour ring on ring, +Salutes me down my firmamental march, + Hailing me sire, all-quickener, lord and king! +I fling eternal largesses of light + And warmth, and wave my torch within the deep,-- +Dance! purple planet-children, in my sight + Around Creation's golden core! Go sweep +Within this blaze of winnowed flames, you sons + And daughters wing'd with veils of rain and fire, +Hold high your mirrored Moons!--you myrmidons + Of meteors robed with flame--you comets dire, +Far-wandering lights, go seek my brother spheres + And yonder orbs, now basking span on span; +And bear me tidings if their ripened years + Have made them joyous with the face of Man. + +Emblazoned with crests of lustre like the Sun, the Earth-orb wanders +singing through her rounds. + +She flings her arms and tresses of Fire to the stars, a maenad in +the planetary dance. + +The cold voids of hungry space drink up her ardours. She glows redly; +the Fires retreat into her heart and her form is clothed with lava +as with the Sea. Now is she muffled in her new-born clouds and the +rains struggle through her fervent Airs. + +She floats, a watery globe, in the face of the Sun. + +She urges up her writhing continents that smoke high unto Heaven. + +And they grow green as her Seas are green. The Winds are in her +hair, the Sun dowers her with riches as a bride, the Waters lace her +robes with silver cords. + +The tributary seasons begin their march, laden with store of beauty. + +The stately sphere lifts up her chant, measured unto her dance in +majestic tides of rhythm: + + + +SONG OF THE PLANET EARTH + +Again before thee winding, O Sun, at length,-- + At length, thou call'st me from the wintry deep! +With cornucopian Fire thou giv'st me strength, + Caresses and golden hours and grace of sleep. +My filial song I weave with theirs who roll + Afar or close, past thy celestial face, +My sister lamps that o'er the Zodiac's scroll + From fane to fane in adoration pace. +The rapt Equator's crimson cincture holds + Me close; my emerald ocean-robes flow free, +And purple soar my mountains, folds on folds, + With vale and plain. My bondmaid Moon to me +Reveals her marbled snow in cusp and shale-- + Whilst in my flinty womb the valiant strife +Of Fire proclaims me thine and bans the pale + Usurper Death beyond my fields of Life. +In Winds that wrap my path, lo, I shall sing + To thee a choral eternal, Lord of Days, +And Life with myriad hearts in me shall sing + Thy glory to scan forever, and chant thy praise. + +The wrinkled Moon, charred by the fires of her brief youth, sits +serene above the rose-blown round of Earth. + +Like an aged beldam she crouches in the heavens, ashes upon +her head, weaving her ancient silver magic, spelling enchantment +upon the nether Sea. + +She is a sybil in whom the wisdom of the worlds is garnered up. +Her eyelids are heavy with the poppy. + +She smiles and spins in sunlight and in shadow, weaving robes +of slumber for her mistress. She holds her shining disk on +high as a mirror for her queen. + +Her song is such as the watchers sing that sit by the couches +of birth and death. + + + +SONG OF THE MOON + +THE silvern mistress of the golden Sun, + The milk-white sister to the wine-red Earth, +My lord still smiles upon me, nor will shun + My face for hers of younger, fairer birth. +Though oft her fruitful beauty glides between + And robs me of his countenance, I will +Ne'er hate her, but yield up my borrowed sheen + To make her hallowed nights more hallowed still. +Burn then, my pale and vestal flame, make fair + The nuptials of the amorous Earth with night! +My sickle reaps the lurking stars in air, + My argent shield hangs lucent on the height. +Yet he that chafes and wounds the Earthen shores, + And flees though she embrace--the yearning Sea,-- +Is shackled by my smiling and implores + My chaster, colder kiss and mounts to me. +With pearls of white enchantment I bestrew + The happy realms where lovers hunt their bliss; +My ray is pale as frost and soft as dew; + My path is woven in snow through the abyss. + +The ambient fluid of the Winds is born, Air is born, invisible +Element, felt yet unfeeling. The fissure of the lightning leaves +it unwounded, the destroying tempest undestroyed. + +It is the bath of the girdled Earth, perfumed with balms and +essences. It is the crystal shell whereunder Earth ripens like a +fruit. + +The light Winds sing as they roll in their courses, weaving the +bland and passionate Airs into prophetic chords. + +The Element stirs into harmony and musters into one universal +voice: + + + +SONG OF AIR + +AGAIN I clasp the pure, the passive globe, + Her delving valleys and each granite range,-- +The Sun and Heaven's bent azure form my robe: + With me the Oceans rove, the cloudlands change. +Once more the quarters of the world I part, + And part those quarters 'twixt my princely sons +And pennoned fowl! Let lark and eagle dart! + And warbling flocks fill my dominions! +Son of the South! bring perfume, nard and spice, + Lade all thine amorous burdens on my gales:-- +Thou that the Pole-star wooest, mailed in ice, + Let swarm thy snow-white bees upon these vales! +O West Wind, from each rude and swooping wing + Shake forth thy salty tempests, from the plains +Transport me healing! Golden Orient, sing, + And fan me with thy murmurous painted vanes. +O whirlwinds, rash and rude! O headlong wrath + Of your unbridled and cyclonic staves! +Shall man yet tread you like some earthly path? + Shall I, your king, wear shackles like his slaves? + +Lord of all waters, Ocean, wrapped in emerald robes, clasps +and usurps the world. + +The flagrant arrows of the Sun shower on his glancing mail. The +estray Winds are wanton with his locks. His mutinous waves +whisper each to each, and leap and sink. + +Desire irresistible roves within his heaving deeps. Life wields a +goad in every drop. + +He decks his floods for the face of the Moon, and enlaces them +with chains of shackled pearls and bands of foam. + +He sends his salty breath aloft and wreathes the Sun with +clouds. But his mists return again, falling as tears upon his face. + +Inert in the profounds the blind bathybus lies. Fecundity flings +her seeds and spores into the glazed abysses, and they teem. +There is a heaving in the broken, sunless bottoms; the continents +and islands are upcast, rugged and black, shaking the roaring +Seas from their flanks. + +The labour and song of the Sea begin; the billows repeat it +to the lips of the infant land. + + + +SONG OF THE SEA + +FLOW, Waters! spread afar my zones of green, + So I with salt baptismal waves may haunt +And bathe the new-sprung continents terrene, + Hearing my freshets and young rivers chaunt. +O white-armed children of mine elder waves, + Behold what golden lands lie in your sight! +Bellow! you molten thunders, in my caves, + You whales, gush forth your fountains of delight! +Dance, merfolk and mad dolphins, dance the Seas,-- + My watery palace-halls are deep and wide, +And Earth hath quaffed mine emerald wine whose lees + Shall make her shores teem fertile. O'er my tide, +The ermine of my surges and the flags + And mews lie dense, and pearls sleep in my breast. +The coral burns upon my darkest crags, + And the slow, mountant atoll knows no rest. +My leman fair, the charmed Moon, bends low + To draw me with her webs of mute desire, +And lo! beyond her magic empires glow + Pale fires of sunrise and red sunset fire! + + + +SONG OF EARTH THE ELEMENT + +Earth, the Element, mute, impassive, primal, lies shaped to +valley, plain and peak. Enwombed in her, the ancient vast +fertility lives on. + +Her veins are charged with promise and birth, exhaustless +quickenings of her eager flesh. She drinks from rocky bowls +where lakes lie spread, from twining rivers and living streams. + +She pours her virgin vigour through fields no plow has riven. +In darkness granite-ribbed, she prisons her mineral hoards. + +She lies as a garment upon the Mother-sphere; her feet trespass +on Ocean. + +Her heart is fretted with Fire, her flanks by the Seas, her +brows by Sun and Wind. + +In patience and sweet sufferance she lies, substance, nurse +and genetrix of Life. + +Her Song is heard, a mutter of music, low yet coalescent in +slow estrangement from her lips. + +I WAKE again!--O dauntless peaks that stand, + Watch-towers to all the Heavens--O vales that lie,-- +See where I rise or stretch, the lusty land + Checks Seas and winnows Winds and frets the sky. +Deep in my vaulted heart and womb of fire, + And in the domes and chambers of my breasts, +The seeds of Life glow teeming--O Sun-king, sire! + Arch-quickener of Existence, gild these crests;-- +Scatter thy warmth till harvest clothe these plains, + And I shall broider me in bridal dreams, +Yea, light my feast with blazonry, my veins + Leap like my crystal and tellurian streams. +In me bright blooms and golden fruitage blown + Shall mark where errant, immortal summers creep, +And man that is flesh of me, in every zone + Build jewelled towns where quick and dead shall sleep. +O fixed and faithful through the seasons round, + The throne of Earth, her sceptre and her loom, +Are mine, with mute, maternal glory crowned, + In me all Life shall flower, all Death re-bloom! + +Child of the Sun, unmastered and insurgent pulse of Life; breath +of the empyrean, seraph winged with ardours and with loveliness! + +Comes Fire, pontiff celestial, King of Elements, errant angel, +that basks and rejoices in his spaces. + +He comes and takes from darkness and cold their undivided +victories. Out of the famished sands he leaps, out of the crater's +maw. + +The genius of flame winds on, touching the peaks with consecration. +His red and golden nakedness is crested with his sable clouds of hair. + +Upward and onward he aspires. His crimson vans are spread against +the heavens, his torches flutter, making glorious the funerals +of the day. His feet are a scourge across the soil; his arms +are lifted to the stars. + +Co-eval with them he burns and sings with a thousand tongues. + + + +SONG OF FIRE + +A FETTERLESS, bright spirit, wing'd and pure, + Soul from all souls of Suns in essence bred, +Lo! Fire am I,--without me shall endure + No Life, nor plant nor creature lift its head. +In burning beards of comets red I float; + I dance with lambent torches on the stars; +I wash with sulphurous flame the roaring throat + Of peaks, and blaze beneath the thunder's cars. +Master of Earth am I;--on her my will + I stamp, and with fierce searing kisses press +My passion on her naked flesh and thrill + Her hidden veins with rapture. My caress +Is lustral. In her lovers' hearts I creep + And tip with fateful coals the prophet's tongue; +God-like from lips of poets I sing and leap,-- + I the eternal fair, the eternal young! +And none shall conquer me save they who call + My strength to sovereign toil in craft or strife; +With me shall tribes of men hold festival,-- + Cities and realms shall find me Death or Life. + +Repossessed of their ancient heritage, the four conqueror Elements +sit on their dowered spheres. + +Wind, Ember, Current, conscious Earth, the eternal weavers +and toilers, labour in felicity. + +Chaos and Night and Death are disenthroned. The system burns along +its orbits through the dark. The benisons of the stars and suns +are cast upon these youngest worlds. + +Buoyant and blithe the planets wheel. + +Their year-long arcs and each season's ordained processional +are portioned unto them: their vassal moons also and the speed of +their turning and their measure of night and day. + +The ruddy jocund Earth presses close to the Sun, timorous of the +outer void, baring her bosom to his kiss. + +Has not the inevitable and recurrent Spring of Existence come +unto her once again? The iron shackles of Silence--are they +not broken?--the granite of the Night, is it not crumbled low?--the +ice of Death, is it not molten? + +She blooms in her resurrection; her voice is lifted in the +universal litany to Life. She rolls in her golden garniture of +beams, circling with the singing sister-spheres. Her rondure +floats against the distant cohorts of the constellations. + +The ancient Spirit of Chaos swings her pitchy cressets, and +sinks down the starless deep on her tall catafalque of Death. + +Rejoice, O orb vestured in beauty! Put forth thy wings, thy +coronals of Love, wrap thee with fluctuant Winds and exulting Seas! + +Shall thy offspring feel dismay, knowing what light shall burst +from dark, what life leap from Death, what flowers blow from dust? + +So the anointed and belted spheres, re-risen from their +bath of silence and their sleep of time, move on companioned +with eternal hope. + +The fingers of the Sun stroke forth a glorious strain; the +worlds are shawns and cymbals for his minstrelsy. The Spirit +of Creation pours forth her victorious baptismal harmonies. + +Triumphantly her music daunts the firmament and echoes against +the dusks of the Unapproachable. + + + +SONG OF THE SPIRIT OF CREATION + +ONCE more the soft, terraqueous chaunt I hear + In choral, and the nuptial planet-dance +I mark. With puissant sceptre o'er each sphere, + Life thrones in music and in wonder's trance. +Hail! vessels solar and terrestrial, hail! + Whose prows shall cross the dim, celestial bars +With helm sidereal and cloudy sail, + Bannered with youth and lanterned with the stars. +What fates for ballast? by what voices grim + And laughters urged, your astral course I mark,-- +Warped to what ports remote your hulks shall swim + Or anchor silent in what stagnant dark? +Mine arms have raised you from the cosmic deep; + Now Fire hath sprent his jewelled drops and sown +Marvellous seeds whence beauty's plants shall creep + Season to season weaving, zone to zone. +Now sacerdotal Love shall shape and dye + His forms within the house of joy and tears, +And Birth shall bless and Death shall sanctify + Earth's passion and her pageant through the years. + +Down the everlasting, unchangeable cope the hymnal of Life is +reft away. + +But its music is showered over Earth. + +It is prisoned in the sea-shells; the flowers garner it in +their chalices. + +It stirs in the heart of Man. + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Masque of the Elements, by Herman Scheffauer + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MASQUE OF THE ELEMENTS *** + +***** This file should be named 26675.txt or 26675.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/6/7/26675/ + +Produced by Ruth Hart + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |