465 
THE WHITE WHALE 
mainmast links there; I would fain feel this pulse, and let mine beat 
against it; blood against fire! So.” Then turning — the last link 
held fast in his left hand, he put his foot upon the Parsee; and 
with fixed upward eye, and high-flung right arm, he stood erect before 
the lofty tri-pointed flames. 
“Oh ! thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian 
once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to 
this hour I bear the scar ; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I know 
that thy right worship is defiance. To neither love nor reverence wilt 
thou be kind ; and e’en for hate thou canst but kill ; and all are killed. 
No fearless fool now fronts thee. I own thy speechless, placeless 
power; but to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its un- 
conditional, unintegral mastery in me. In the midst of the person- 
ified impersonal, a personality stands here. Though but a point at 
best ; whencesoe’er I came ; wheresoe’er I go ; yet while I earthly live, 
the queenly personality lives in me, and feels her royal rights. But 
war is pain, and hate is woe. Come in thy lowest form of love, and I 
will kneel and kiss thee; but at thy highest, come as mere supernal 
power ; and though thou launchest navies of full-frighted worlds, there’s 
that in here that still remains indifferent. Oh, thou clear spirit, of 
thy fire thou madest me, and like a true child of fire, I breathe it 
back to thee.” 
[Sudden, repeated flashes of lightning; the nine flames leap to thrice 
their previous height; Ahab, with the rest , closes his eyes , his right 
hand pressed hard upon them*~\ 
“I own thy speechless, placeless power; said I not so? Nor was 
it wrung from me ; nor do I now drop these links. Thou canst blind ; 
but I can then grope. Thou canst consume; but I can then be ashes. 
Take the homage of these poor eyes, and shutter-hands. I would not 
take it. The lightning flashes through my skull; mine eyeballs ache 
and ache; my whole beaten brain seems as beheaded, and rolling on 
some stunning ground. Oh, oh! Yet blindfolded, yet will I talk to 
thee. Light though thou be, thou leapest out of darkness; but I am 
darkness leaping out of light, leaping out of thee! The javelins 
cease ; open eyes ; see, or not ? There burn in the flames ! Oh, thou 
magnanimous ! now I do glory in my genealogy. But thou art but 
