Chapter XI

Dawn, darkness, evening, space and the stars;
that which the night conceals or shows between
its veils is mingled with the fervour of our
exalted being. Those who live with love live with
eternity.

It matters not that their reason approve or
scoff, and, upright on its high walls, hold out
to them, along the quays and harbours, its bright
torches; they are the travellers from beyond the
sea.

Far off, farther than the ocean and its black
floods, they watch the day break from shore to
shore; fixed certainty and trembling hope present
the same front to their ardent gaze.

Happy and serene, they believe eagerly; their
soul is the deep and sudden brightness with which
they burn the summit of the loftiest problems;
and to know the world, they but scrutinize
themselves.

They follow distant roads chosen by themselves,
living with the truths enclosed within their
simple, naked eyes, that are deep and gentle as
the dawn; and for them alone there is still song
in paradise.