Chapter IV: The Door

Among the books that I had bought myself, I found the Bible. This to peruse I soon essayed; but ere I had read far, Behold! I found the door behind which lay The answers to my problems. Locked and barred The door was, yet I knew it was the door. For here I read of Eden, and that in the midst The Tree of Life stood, while through the land A river ran which parted in four heads; And one was Gihon, the Ethiop stream; And one was Pison, the great crystal tide Which floods Havilah, where fine gold is found, And rare bdellium and the onyx stone. So, as my tutor said, my problems were A dual secret, and the one contained The other. All the long night through I pored Above the words, and kissed the unconscious page With reverent lips. My heart was like a sponge Soaked in the water of the mystic words.