Never yet have I found the woman by whom I should like to have children, unless it be this woman whom I love: for I love thee, O Eternity!

For I love thee, O Eternity!

If ever I have spread out a tranquil heaven above me, and have flown into mine own heaven with mine own pinions:

If I have swum playfully in profound luminous distances, and if my freedom’s avian wisdom hath come to me:⁠—

—Thus however speaketh avian wisdom:⁠—“Lo, there is no above and no below! Throw thyself about⁠—outward, backward, thou light one! Sing! speak no more!

“⁠—Are not all words made for the heavy? Do not all words lie to the light ones? Sing! speak no more!”⁠—

Oh, how could I not be ardent for Eternity, and for the marriage-ring of rings⁠—the ring of the return?