seemed to look through the windows of the body, and see the soul within, striving and aspiring upwards like white flame? Then knew I the Beloved, because he sought loss, not gain; to give and not to take; to conquer, not to enjoy. And I took him as my leader, and vowed myself to his quest, and knew that while I would lose myself to him, I would yield him up in turn for the weal of all the disinherited and the oppressed.
Such were the tokens, by which I recognised my Beloved, of old, and long before, the companion of my soul.
Nor is he different, now that he is withdrawn from sight. His life was as a single word, uttered to reveal the soul. The soul that was revealed, remains the same.
Much was there that the strife with earth made difficult to tell, and this has grown in him, not lessened.
That reply that my mind made to his,
