Angels and Women (1924)

224 ANGELS AND WOMEN
who can read the secrets of the hearts knows
the struggle, the difficulties through which
He has permitted me to pass. With no human
guide to direct, no one to understand
but He who is the Father of the fatherless.
A nameless melancholy fills my heart.
Upon a rock projecting from the water
stood motionless a tall figure enshrouded in
black robes, leaning upon a heavy sword, and
as we floated near, I recognized the dread
form of Azelles, the Dark Angel! His eye
swept over the waste of waters and I heard
these words:
"The work is finished, the decrees of the
Most High are fulfilled and I go to Him from
whom I came."
So saying he loosened his black cowl and
mantle and cast them with his sword into the
sea; for the insignia of pain and woe are not
permitted to enter the realm of Heaven.
As he soared upward, there was revealed
a form so ineffably fair, a face so radiant
with eternal youth, that in sudden surprise,