Knock not at this door,
O traveller!
No sound reaches
The listless being behind;
For this door is barred
To your world.
Beyond this threshold
No warmth, no comfort
Awaits you.
There lies a shrine
Where a soul stands
Alone
In worship of its Gods.
None enters this shrine,
But the Gods of that
Lone soul.
A consuming fire
Blazes at the alter
Of the unknown deities;
Strange fire,
That kindles the very soul
In worship!
Shall you burn with it
And come out to be
Its God?
Have you the strength
To be worshipped?
To give the boon of
Happiness eternally?
To defy time and space?
To bless without return?
Have you the strength
To worship your worshipper?
Have you?
Nay!
Go back then,
Go back O traveller
of the world;
for this soul is not
your companion,
nor this shrine your place.
Go back by the twisted
Path you came,
Back to life
— while yet you can.
Leave this soul
To burn itself out
In its unblessed shrine.