Page:Tales, Edgar Allan Poe, 1846.djvu/124

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THE

CONVERSATION OF EIROS AND CHARMION.




Πυρ σοι προσοισω
I will bring fire to thee.

Euripides—Androm:


EIROS.

Why do you call me Eiros?


CHARMION.

So henceforth will you always be called. You must forget, too, my earthly name, and speak to me as Charmion.


EIROS.

This is indeed no dream!


CHARMION.

Dreams are with us no more;—but of these mysteries anon. I rejoice to see you looking life-like and rational. The film of the shadow has already passed from off your eyes. Be of heart and fear nothing. Your allotted days of stupor have expired; and, to-morrow, I will myself induct you into the full joys and wonders of your novel existence.


EIROS.

True—I feel no stupor—none at all. The wild sickness and the terrible darkness have left me, and I hear no longer that mad, rushing, horrible sound, like the "voice of many waters." Yet my senses are bewildered, Charmion, with the keenness of their perception of the new.

CHARMION.

A few days will remove all this;—but I fully understand you, and feel for you. It is now ten earthly years since I underwent