Page:The plumed serpent - 1926.djvu/192

another, laughing in a quiet way. But their daytime voices, and their daytime eyes had gone.

Then Ramón’s voice was heard, and the men were suddenly silent, listening with bent heads. Ramón sat with his face lifted, looking far away, in the of prayer.

“There is no Before and After, there is only Now,” he said, speaking in a proud, but inward voice.

“The great Snake coils and uncoils the plasm of his folds, and stars appear, and worlds fade out. It is no more than and easing of the plasm.

“I always am, says his sleep.

“As a man in a deep sleep knows not, is, so is the Snake of the coiled cosmos, wearing its plasm.

“As a man in a deep sleep has no to-morrow, no yester-day, nor to-day, but only is, so is the limpid, far-reaching Snake of the eternal Cosmos, Now, and forever Now.

“Now, and only Now, and forever Now.

“But dreams arise and fade in the sleep of the Snake.

“And worlds arise as dreams, and are gone as dreams.

“And man is a dream in the sleep of the Snake

“And only the sleep that is dreamless breathes I Am!

“In the dreamless Now, I Am.

“Dreams arise as they must man is a dream arisen.

“But the dreamless of the is the plasm of a man, of his body, his soul, and his spirit at one.

“And the perfect sleep `of the Snake I Am is the plasm of a man, who is whole.

“When the plasm of the body, and the plasm of the soul, and the plasm of the spirit are at one, in the Snake I Am.

“I am Now.

“Was-not is a dream, and shall-be is a dream, like two separate, heavy feet.

“But Now, I Am.

“The trees put forth their leaves in sleep, and flowering emerge out of dreams, into pure I Am.

“The birds forget the stress of their dreams, and sing aloud in the Now, I Am! I Am!

“For dreams have wings and feet, and journeys to and efforts to make.

“But the glimmering Snake of the Now is wingless footless, and undivided, and perfectly coiled.