Lilith
Lilith
Lilith
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"We have been to the top of the hill to hear the waters on their way," he said. "They will be in the den of the<br />
monsters to−night.−− But why did you not await our return?"<br />
"My child could not sleep," I answered.<br />
"She is fast asleep!" he rejoined.<br />
"Yes, now!" I said; "but she was awake when I laid her down."<br />
"She was asleep all the time!" he insisted. "She was perhaps dreaming about you−−and came to you?"<br />
"She did."<br />
"And did you not see that her eyes were closed?"<br />
"Now I think of it, I did."<br />
"If you had looked ere you laid her down, you would have seen her asleep on the couch."<br />
"That would have been terrible!"<br />
"You would only have found that she was no longer in your arms."<br />
"That would have been worse!"<br />
"It is, perhaps, to think of; but to see it would not have troubled you."<br />
"Dear father," I said, "how is it that I am not sleepy? I thought I should go to sleep like the Little Ones the<br />
moment I laid my head down!"<br />
"Your hour is not quite come. You must have food ere you sleep."<br />
"Ah, I ought not to have lain down without your leave, for I cannot sleep without your help! I will get up at<br />
once!"<br />
But I found my own weight more than I could move.<br />
"There is no need: we will serve you here," he answered. "−−You do not feel cold, do you?"<br />
"Not too cold to lie still, but perhaps too cold to eat!"<br />
<strong>Lilith</strong><br />
He came to the side of my couch, bent over me, and breathed on my heart. At once I was warm.<br />
As he left me, I heard a voice, and knew it was the Mother's. She was singing, and her song was sweet and<br />
soft and low, and I thought she sat by my bed in the dark; but ere it ceased, her song soared aloft, and seemed<br />
to come from the throat of a woman−angel, high above all the region of larks, higher than man had ever yet<br />
lifted up his heart. I heard every word she sang, but could keep only this:−−<br />
"Many a wrong, and its curing song; Many a road, and many an inn; Room to roam, but only one home For<br />
all the world to win!"<br />
<strong>Lilith</strong> 146