374 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOM
his exultation, and the perfection of his gnosis.
His thought was a letter,
and his will descended from the skies,
shot like an arrow violently released from its bow.
Many hands rushed to the letter
to catch it, take it, and read it,
yet it slipped from their fingers,
and they were terrified of it and its seal.
They couldn't loosen the seal,
for the power of the seal was greater than they.
Others saw the letter and chased it,
wondering where it would land
and who might read it, who might hear it.
But a wheel caught the letter
and rolled over it, and it stuck there,
and it was a sign of the kingdom and realm.
Everything moving near the wheel
the wheel cut down,
and it destroyed a multitude of enemies
and bridged rivers and crossed over and uprooted forests,
leaving a huge ditch.
As if a body were on the wheel, a head turned
down to the feet. The wheel turned on the feet
and on whatever struck it.
The letter commanded over all districts,
and there appeared a head. It became
the son of truth from the father on high, who possessed all,
and the thought of many became nothing,
and the apostates and seducers grew brave yet fled,
and tormentors were blotted out.
The letter became a great tablet,
a volume written by the finger of god.
On it was the name of the father and the son
and the holy spirit,
and their word of dominion forever.
