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oming upon the island, the sky was full of stars. But, as my captain tells me, they are all useless. In these parts they spin aimlessly with no pole. The dogstar dances like an untrained Labrador. No, for this point we employed, as do most who travel to these lands, a seagnome. The little old man perches atop the bowsprit, holding a lantern upon a long pole, pointing north. Though here even he was little use: we had crossed, alas, into the Gulf of Zeno. But here, ah, here the island glew.
Pleni sunt caeli
It was about ten leagues across and blanketed in hundreds of glittering towers staring across the hungry sea. None, however, were as great as the one off the shore. It erupted from the waters in a blackness so total that, even in the darkest of nights, it was visible for miles and miles. "O night that guides me," sang the seagnome, "lovelier than the dawn." How great it was! How awful! It had the shape of a woman but ended in a terrible dome where its head should have been. And I saw pinpoints of gold, three, five a time, shuttling to and from that monstrous head.
Et terra
And we drew near and docked, and oh! the shore crept along in a magnificent crescent, each grain of sand capturing the splendor of its patron star. And now being closer, I could see that those dots of light were great steel cars ascending from a promontory above the beach. Each carried racks of shimmering orbs---still I was too far to see more, but one thing, one else: for one moment, a car passed near its zenith just above the base of the colossus and I saw, gold tigering the deep, two enormous feet of clay, cracked and crumbling.
Gloria tua
And it happened. The great dome rose, twisting upon its threaded spire, crushing the spheres of light in an instant---in the twinkling of an eye. Sparks flew upwards from all sides, each one joining the pointless dance of the stars above as new lights. And something else came down.
Hosanna in excelsis
And I was transformed. My spirit flew upon the land, and I saw one of our ship's company, a girl with golden skin and scarlet hair, walking along the promontory. With her were two men dressed in striped suits and silver watches. They approach a great white mausoleum with iron cables running up and gondolas lined up beside it. One of the men looks down at his wrist and then walks into a car. And in one moment, the doors close behind him and take him up.
Benedictus qui venit
The other two wait, not daring to look at each other, until another car arrives. Once again, the man looks down, and both of them step in. But this time, just as the doors are closing, they step back out. At last the man turns to the girl:
"Why did you do that?"
"I know what happens up there---what would happen if I went."
"You're smarter than most."
And they walk down ten great stairs, and each one greater than the last.
And with each step she grew brighter, and he darker:
And the first step they grew pale;
And the second step they grew wan;
And the third step they grew red;
And the fourth step they grew tall;
And the fifth step they grew faint;
And the sixth step they grew swift;
And the seventh step they grew strong;
And the eighth step they grew full;
And the ninth step she had hair of fire, and he of water---
As on the tenth step he turned to chains
And wailed as a ship in a gyre,
She to a dove in flames enfolded,
And descended further still.
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But what came of them next, I do not know, for my spirit returned to me. My captain awoke me, shaking my shoulders, and I found myself at the shore.
"O man! The next car leaves at daybreak! Are you out of your mind?"
But I did not come for conversation, nor for glory, and the captain had outgrown his usefulness. Already I could see the light changing, and the devouring waters tasting the land. And so I got up and went on my quest. And as I walked into the city, the sun crested and spilled its red yolk across the sea. And in that hellish light I looked back, and I saw the seagnome was looking on and on, his white hair floating, his white madman's eyes swirling, his yellow teeth grimacing, and his dark lantern pointing---for the flames of heaven now reached even unto those fell feet of clay, and under them, cast in crimson, I read the rusted lettering:
>...Give me your tired, your poor
>your huddled masses yearning to be free...
And the sea was full of stars.
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