PAINTED VEILS
BY
JAMES HUNEKER
La Vérité toute nue...
Je vomis mes maîtres
Steeplejack
Boni and Liveright
Publishers New York
1920
PAINTED VEILS
Toward the immutable land Istar, daughter of Sin, bent her steps,toward the abode of the dead, toward the seven-gated abode where Heentered, toward the abode whence there is no return.
At the first gate, the warder stripped her; he took thehigh tiara from her head.
At the second gate, the warder stripped her; he took thependants from her ears.
At the third gate, the warder stripped her; he took offthe precious stones that adorn her neck.
At the fourth gate, the warder stripped her; he took offthe jewels that adorn her breast.
At the fifth gate, the warder stripped her; he took offthe girdle that encompasses her waist.
At the sixth gate, the warder stripped her; he took therings from her feet, the rings from her hands.
At the seventh gate, the warder stripped her; he tookoff the last veil that covers her body.
Istar, daughter of Sin, went into the immutable land,she took and received the Waters of Life. She gave
the Sublime Waters, and thus, in the presence of all,delivered the Son of Life, her young lover.
EPOPÉE D'IZDUBAR (6th Chant)
(Englished by W. F. ABTHORP)
THE SEVEN DEADLY VIRTUES
Now the Seven Deadly Virtues are: Humility, Charity, Meekness,Temperance, Brotherly Love, Diligence, Chastity. And the Seven DeadlyArts are: Poetry, Music, Architecture, Painting, Sculpture, Drama,Dancing.
This Parable, with its notations and evocations of naked nerves andsoul-states, is inscribed in all gratitude to the charming morganaticladies, les belles impures, who make pleasanter this vale of tears forvirile men. What shall it profit a woman if she saves her soul, butloseth love?
"La pudeur? belle vertu! qu'on attache sur soi avec des épingles."
Madame d'Epinay
"L'amour cette forme meilleure de la charité."
Catulle Mendès
"Lo! the Lesbians, their sterile sex advancing...."
Steeplejack
... "Down from the waist they are Centaurs,
Though women all above:
But to the girdle do the gods inherit,
Beneath is all the fiend's;
There's hell, there's darkness, there's the sulphurous pit,
Burning, scalding, stench, consumption; fie, fie, fie!..."
"King Lear." Act IV, scene VI
THE FIRST GATE
At the first gate, the warder stripped her; he took the high tiarafrom her head....
I
Until the day of her death Easter never forgot that first night in NewYork. It was the initial twist of her ship's wheel, and the commonplacehappenings which followed her entrance into the Maison Felicé were togive force and direction to her entire life.
The journey from Washington had been stupid. An early Novemberafternoon sky heavy with threatening s