Prophecy I of 3

Of the Sealing

Struck from the teaching at Stronghold. No hand claimed it afterwards.

1. 1

   Before there was a lamp there was a hand that hid its own eyes, and called the hiding mercy.

2. 2

   He saw the road entire, and the road was too much, and so he closed the seeing and kept the walking.

3. 3

   Do not envy the one who sees the end. The end does not ask permission to arrive.

4. 4

   There is a sight that ruins the seer and spares the seen. He chose to be ruined quietly.

5. 5

   What was sealed was not lost. It waits in the dark like a coal under ash, and it is warm to the hand.

6. 6

   Whoever struck this from the teaching left the margin blank, which is a kind of confession.

7. 7

   There is a door, and there were those who stood near it, and nearness was never the same as being called.

8. 8

   Light does not defeat the dark. It only tells you where you were standing.

9. 9

   Do not ask who will save the city. Ask what the city was built to forget.

10. 10

    And if you find the coal, do not blow on it. Sit with it. It has waited longer than you.