Prophecy II of 3

Of the Lamp Carried Backwards

Found written on the inside of a binding, where it would only be read once the book fell apart. The last line ends where the binding did.

1. 1

   A lamp carried forward lights the way. A lamp carried backwards lights the ones who follow, and the carrier walks in his own shadow.

2. 2

   He learned the road by the sound of the feet behind him.

3. 3

   They will say the dark is the enemy. The dark is the page. The light is the ink. Neither is the word.

4. 4

   When the prophecy was true, they burned it for being true. When it was false, they kept it, for comfort.

5. 5

   So the true ones are the forgotten ones. You have found one. Be careful what you do with the next hour.

6. 6

   Every threshold has someone who stopped at it, and they will tell you it was a decision.

7. 7

   You are not late. The threshold does not keep time.

8. 8

   Bring nothing. What you carry in you will be weighed. What you carry with you will be set down at the door.

9. 9

   There were nights he put the lamp down to see whether the ones behind would stop. They did not stop. That was the worst of it, and the best.

10. 10

    He was asked once what he saw, and he said: the same as you, a little earlier, and with no one to tell.

11. 11

    The lamp goes out at the end of every road. That was always the design. Do not build a road that needs the lamp.

12. 12

    Whoever copies this: leave the last line as you find it.

13. 13

    And the carrier turns, at last, and sees the road he lit, and it is full of people, and none of them is