The Greatest Weight

What if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness
And say to you, "Everything unutterably small or great in this life will have to return to you,
All in the same succession and sequence, even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself - the eternal hourglass."

Speck of dust!
Speck of dust!
Speck of dust!

Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus?
Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him..
You would have answered him..
You would have answered him:
"You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine!"
If this thought gained possession of you, it would change you,
Or perhaps it would crush you;
The question in each and everything,
"Do you desire this once more, and innumerable times more?"
The question in each and everything,
"Do you desire this once more, and innumerable times more?"
Would you lie upon your actions as the greatest weight!

This life as you now live and have lived it before,
You will live once again
And there will be nothing,
But every pain and joy,
And every thought and sigh,
And every pain and joy,
And every thought and sigh!

Or how well disposed would you become to yourself and to life to crave nothing more fervently than this ultimate eternal confirmation and seal?

The question is..
The question is..
The question is..
The greatest weight!