Thee must I now address who not for long Canst occupy the ground where thou dost stand. The temple's power can at the present time Not yet release Johannes from thy grasp. In times to come he will be ours again, When those fruits of our sister shall be ripe Whose blossoms we already see unfold.
She could behold in bygone earthly lives How closely linked Johannes was to her. He followed after her so long ago As in these days when she would fain oppose The light whose humble handmaid now she is. When soul-links prove themselves so staunchly true As to outlast the spirit's wanderings Then shall the Lord of Wishes find his power Unable to effect a severance.
But Benedictus' will itself compelled Johannes' and Maria's souls to part. And wheresoe'er men from each other part There is the field made ready for my power. I ever work for separateness of soul, To set the earth-life free, and for all time To break its servitude to cosmic chains. Maria's being, in monastic garb, Turned from its father yonder soul away That now is dweller in Johannes' form. This too hath caused some germs of mine to sprout Which I shall surely bring to ripening.
In human nature there are springs of love To which thy power can never penetrate. They are unsealed when faults of former lives-- A load unwittingly assumed by man,-- Are in a later life by spirit seen, And by the free-will of self-sacrifice Transformed to earthly action, which shall tend To bear fruit for the real good of man. The powers of destiny have granted me The vision which can penetrate the past; Already too have I received the signs So to direct my free-will sacrifice That good may pour therefrom for every soul Whose thread of life shall have to twine with mine Throughout the evolution of this earth. I saw how in its earthly frame of yore Johannes' soul turned from his sire away, And saw the forces that compelled myself To make the son repel the father's heart. Thus is the father now opposed to me To bring to mind my own offence of old. Plainly he speaks in cosmic language clear Whose symbols are the actions of man's life. That which I set between the sire and son Must reappear, though in another form In this my life in which Johannes' soul Hath once again been closely knit to mine. The suffering which I had to undergo In severing Johannes from myself Was but my own act's fated consequence. If now my soul is faithful to the light Which from the spirit-forces comes to it, It will be strengthened by the services Which it may render to Capesius In this sore stress of his life-pilgrimage. And with such forces, similarly won, Will also learn to see Johannes' star When he, by fetters of desire misled Treads not the way illumined by the light. The spirit-vision which hath led me back To distant days on earth will teach me now How I must deal with soul-links at this time So that life-powers unconsciously prepared Shall henceforth work awakened for man's weal.