was: thus I urge
The soul that served me, till it task once more
What ashes of my brain have kept their shape, {110}
And these make effort on the last o' the flesh,
Trying to taste again the truth of things"--
(He smiled)--"their very superficial truth;
As that ye are my sons, that it is long
Since James and Peter had release by death, {115}
And I am only he, your brother John,
Who saw and heard, and could remember all.
Remember all! It is not much to say.
What if the truth broke on me from above
As once and oft-times? Such might hap again: {120}
Doubtlessly He might stand in presence here,
With head wool-white, eyes, flame, and feet like brass,
The sword and the seven stars, as I have seen--
I who now shudder only and surmise
`How did your brother bear that sight and live?' {125}

--
113. superficial truth: phenomenal, relative truth;
that which is arrived at through the senses, and belongs to the domain
of the "what Knows". Essential, absolute truth can be known only
through a response thereto of the essential, the absolute,
the "what Is", in man's nature. John has attained to a measure
of absolute truth, and smiles on reverting to the very superficial
truth of things.

121-123. See The Revelation of St. John, chap. 1.

125. your brother: he means himself, of course.
--

"If I live yet, it is for good, more love
Through me to men: be naught but ashes here
That keep awhile my semblance, who was John,--
Still, when they scatter, there is left on earth
No one alive who knew (consider this!) {130}
--Saw with his eyes and handled with his hands
That which was from the first, the Word of Life.
How will it be when none more saith `I saw'?

"Such ever was love's way: to rise, it stoops.
Since I, whom Christ's mouth taught, was bidden teach, {135}
I went, for many years, about the world,
Saying, `It was so; so I heard and saw',
Speaking as the case asked: and men believed.
Afterward came the message to myself
In Patmos isle; I was not bidden teach. {140}
But simply listen, take a book and write,
Nor set down other than the given word.
With nothing left to my arbitrament
To choose or change: I wrote, and men believed.
Then, for my time grew brief, no message more, {1