I would we had nothing more to do
with the world; yet, swear to me, Masa, that when the world holds us
in its embrace again, you will love me eternally--say eternally!"
"What does eternally mean?" asked she, softly. "I do not know what
eternally means. All life is a single day. At sunrise this morning I
felt that I loved you, and now do you suppose that Masa is so
forgetful a child that she cannot preserve what she feels in her
heart for a single day until the sun sets in the evening?"
"Yes, Masa, you are right!" exclaimed Mohammed, in tones of
enthusiasm. "Life is as a single day. When the sun sets, night
comes, and we sink down and dream, and in our dream we are conscious
only of the love of the blissful day. Yes, life is but a day, and
may this day end blissfully for us as it began! It is dark around
us, and I cannot see you. But look, Allah is kind; he sends us his
light. The moon has broken forth from behind the clouds, and it
shines into our grotto and illumines your fair face. The moon and
the stars love you, Masa; yet they shall not tear you from me. No,
Masa must remain with me, that my life may not end in darkness and
misery, that I may be happy. O good moon, messenger of the prophet,
with your brilliancy you light up the countenance of my houri.
Journey on in your course, good moon, and tell the houris and the
angels above that one of their sisters has remained here in the
paradise grotto, and that this houri is mine; mine--in the name of
Heaven.
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