The Land of the Time-Leeches.
Gustav Meyrink.
In the churchyard of the secluded and out-of-the-world little town of Runkel my grandfather's body is laid 'to eternal rest.' His gravestone is thickly overgrown with moss and the date well-nigh obliterated; but below it, standing out in gilt[1] and as fresh as though they were cut yesterday, are four letters ranged round a cross, thus:
| V | I |
| V | O |
'VIVO'—'I live.' Such was the meaning I was told, when as a boy I read the inscription for the first time. The word at once impressed itself as deeply on my soul as if the dead had uttered it from underneath the sod.
'VIVO'—'I live,' a strange watch-word for a tombstone! Even to-day it re-echoes in my heart; whenever I think of it, I feel as I felt long since when first I stood before that grave. In my imagination I see my grandfather—though I had never known him in the flesh—lying there, untouched by decay, with folded hands, eyes open clear as crystal, motionless; like one who has escaped corruption in the midst of the realm of mould, with silent patience awaiting resurrection.
I have since visited many a churchyard of many a town; ever have my steps been directed there by a
- ↑ Cp. the Golden Gate of the Osiric Garden, end of Der Golem.
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