"
He called me to come further.
And at last we came upon a hill where blue waters played, and white marble
lay upon the earth. I said to God, "What was here once?"
God said, "A pleasure house."
I looked, and at my feet great pillars lay. I cried aloud for joy to God,
"The marble blossoms!"
God said, "Ay, 'twas a fairy house. There has not been one like to it, nor
ever shall be. The pillars and the porticoes blossomed; and the wine cups
were as gathered flowers: on this side all the curtain was broidered with
fair designs, the stitching was of gold."
I said to God, "How came it that it fell?"
God said, "On the side of the wine-press it was dark."
And as we travelled, we came where lay a mighty ridge of sand, and a dark
river ran there; and there rose two vast mounds.
I said to God, "They are very mighty."
God said, "Ay, exceeding great."
And I listened.
God asked me what I was listening to.
And I said, "A sound of weeping, and I hear the sound of strokes, but I
cannot tell whence it comes."
God said, "It is the echo of the wine-press lingering still among the
coping-stones upon the mounds. A banquet-house stood here."
And he called me to come further.
Upon a barren hill-side, where the soil was arid, God called me to stand
still. And I looked around.
God said, "There was a feasting-house here once upon a time."
I said to God, "I see no mark of any!"
God said, "There was not left one stone upon another that has not been
thrown down.
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