The Word (Volume 16); Monthly Magazine Devoted to Philosophy, Science, Religion Eastern Thought, Occultism, Theosophy and the Brotherhood of Humanity

by Harold Waldwin Percival

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE VOL. 16. DECEMBER, 1912. No. 3. i i. ' s Copyright, 1913, by H. W. PERCIVAL. i = CHRISTMAS LIGHT. IT is dawn of the winter solstice. Light-beams in the southern east drive away the army of night and tell of the rising lord of the day. Clouds gather as the day wears on and cast the longest shadows of the year. The trees are bare, the sap is low, and frost-darts pierce the barren ground. Evening comes; clouds change the sky into a dome of lead. The winds moan low a dirge of death; on a little space above the earth-line of the southern west, the gray sky lifts as from a stage. The dying king of heaven, a fire-globe robed in a purple shroud, sinks into trembling space, beyond the valley running through the distant hills. Colors fade; lead- clouds close above him; the winds die down; the earth is cold; and all is wrapt in gloom. Time's tragedy of its last year is done. Thinking man looks on, and in it sees symboled life's tragedy?and the forecast of his own. He sees the uselessness of effort in the endless round of life and death, and sadness falls over him. Fain would he lay down the weight of years and pass into the forgetfulness of dreamless sleep unwaking. But he cannot. The dire woe-cry of humankind breaks the gloom of sadness; and he hears. Up rise the frailties of man: Lost faiths, broken friendships, ingratitude, hypocrisy, deceit, are seen. In his heart there is no room for these. He feels the sorrows of a world in throe and throbs with the aching heart of man. In himself man hears the cry of man for power to see, to hear, to speak. Lives of the past and lives to come find voice within him, and these speak in silence. The sun's path symbols the life of man: as sure to rise? and whether the sky be bright, or overcast?sure to sink into the dark. This ha...

148 pages, Paperback

First published January 2, 2012