|
Chapter 10
1. So, he saw that suspicious men were following him and spying on him—and he told those who stayed around him,
2. ‘Now that my Hour is approaching I will speak no more to you because I am going to die—but announce what I have said throughout the land.
3. ‘And to test men if they ask you what you are announcing—tell them: I announce anarchy.
4. ‘And reject whoever is scared of this word—for a firm and unshakeable mind is not afraid of a word.
5. ‘But now withdraw because one victim is enough.’ And they withdrew to do as he had said.
6. And when he was alone a man came up to him and said with feigned gentleness, ‘Come with me, my master wishes to speak to you.’
7. He thought, ‘I’m done for, but everything I had to say is said.’ And he followed the man to his master’s house.
8. And when they entered, they seized him brutally and threw him in prison—laughing at him and at what he had announced.
9. And the following day they brought him before a special court—made up of judges told to condemn him.
10. And false witnesses came to accuse him of a hundred imaginary crimes—some absurd, others detestable.
11. And the judges were hypocritically outraged against him—and in the crowd many said: He’s really a serious criminal.’
12. But he, knowing he was condemned in advance, remained silent—and they sentenced him to death. 13. And they threw him on death row—and staying alone, he meditated.
14. Then he remembered an old woman who was all alone, far from there—and whose heart would be broken learning of his death.
15. And he saw again a sweet little house in the mountains—surrounded by a nice, quiet garden,
16. Where she whom he loved had told him, ‘I love you’, to hold him back—but whom he had fled without even kissing her,
17. To announce the Hour in the country, towns and cities—knowing beforehand what would happen and how it would finish.
18. For man does not do what he wants—but what the power of things imposes on him.
19. And a cruel anguish came over him—and it was like the throes of death.
20. But after he had wept bitterly over himself and those he loved—his spirit was calmed and his heart became quiet.
21. And he thought, ‘Now everything is going to be accomplished—as the logic of things ordains and as I have foreseen.
22. ‘As the fig tree gives only figs and no other fruits—he who feels it in himself to speak the truth can’t stay silent,
23. ‘Nor be bound to any other thing but to announce it and publish it—without worrying about the dangers it incurs.
24. ‘What seems to be happiness to others is to him dull and unattractive—he wouldn’t know how to take pleasure in it.
25. ‘But his happiness is to follow the inclination of his spirit—even though he knows that he is preparing his ruin.
26. ‘For the voice that announces menacing truths—disturbs and upsets the powerful, even from the bottom of death row.
27. ‘If they can’t reduce it to silence, they suffocate it in blood—in order not to hear it and to be able to think themselves safe.
28. ‘But this blood that they spill is a testimony they render of the truth—and the death of him who spoke becomes the pledge of his word.
29. ‘Therefore, it is good that I die now that I have said everything that I had to say—so that my blood may seal my word.
30. ‘And that those who have heard me think: He spoke the truth, seeing that those whom truth offends killed him to keep him quiet.’
31. Having spoken thus, he dreamed of the wonderful order of things—and awaited his punishment with calmness and steadfastness.
32. And the following day at sunrise they killed him—and threw his body in a mass grave.
33. And because they killed him, they thought they had silenced his voice—but they are soon going to learn of their mistake.
Paul Berthelot, ‘Temps Nouveaux’ No. 54, Paris, 1912.
Chapter 9
Black Lung
home |
