Page:Anthology of Modern Slavonic Literature in Prose and Verse by Paul Selver.djvu/121

Rh wild sounds burst louder and louder from the throat, the dance-tune rages in eddying leaps, in a rumbling bass—but this morbid wish to daze the senses is in vain, cowering grief creeps forth guilefully, slowly in an indistinct, dusk-shrouded memory.

And at once, at the same time, the hands are folded in devout contrition, a prayer arises, a fervid cry for grace and forgiveness—the turmoil is still astir, but already it is dying away as the wearied head despairingly sways to and fro, while the arms droop powerlessly and the soul is sunk in dull brooding. And only a grievous sob, only a vague, dream-caught louring ----a fading rustle of the wind in the bare fields of stubble.

And again that crazed dance!

In defiance and scorn of God and the devil!

The breast heaves, that it seems about to burst, the throat grows hoarse, the soul stiffens in wild passion—but now it is the last great shout that must be dragged forth. And then the great moment of release. Not one shout, but a whole cascade of shouts are released foaming into the depths in mighty octaves—they pour down, wane, trickle away, perish in humble, abject -self-surrender to the abysmal powers, disclosing the most secret depths of the Polish soul.

A single, penitent, breast-beating "Thy will be done, O Lord!"