Dead Poets Society

be
    fought.”
     
    Todd nodded.
Everyone read, “And still we sleep.” Todd continued:
     
    “We are listening
for the calling but
    never really
heeding,
    Hoping for the
future when the future’s only plans.
    Dreaming of the
wisdom that we are
    dodging daily,
    Praying for a savior
when salvation’s in our hands.
     
    “And still we sleep.
     
    “And still we sleep.
    And still we pray.
    And still we
fear...“
     
    He paused sadly,
“‘And still we sleep.’” He folded up the poem. Everyone in the cave applauded.
    “That was great!”
Meeks cheered. Todd beamed, modestly taking in all the praise and the
congratulatory slaps on the back. Keating smiled with great pride at his
student’s enormous progress. He plucked a spherical icicle hanging from the
roof of the cave and peered into it.
    “I hold in my hand a
crystal ball. In it I see great things for Todd Anderson,” he intoned. Todd
faced Mr. Keating, then suddenly, powerfully, they hugged. When they drew
apart, Keating turned to the others.
    “And now,” Keating
continued, “‘General William Booth Enters Into Heaven,’ by Vachel Lindsay. When
I pause, you ask, ‘Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? ‘”
    Keating recited:
“‘Booth led boldly with his big bass drum....’” The others answered, “’Are you
washed in the blood of the lamb?’” Keating headed out of the cave, followed by
the boys and girls, reciting poetry all the way home.
     
    As his friends paid
him homage in the cave, Neil sat alone in his darkened room at home, gazing out
the window. The passion had dried up and left his body. All feeling was drained
from his face and limbs. He believed he was a brittle empty shell that would
soon be crushed by the weight of the falling snow.

Chapter
14

     
     
    The moon was full.
The stars were out in abundance. The night was clear and cold. The trees hung
heavy with icicles as the boys, Ginny, and Chris followed Mr. Keating out into
the night. The freeze had turned the barren forest into a world of sparkling
diamonds. The group walked through the woods behind Keating as he recited: “The
Saints smiled gravely and they said, “He’s come...
    “‘Are you washed in
the blood of the Lamb?’” they chorused.
    “‘Walking lepers
followed rank on rank, lurching bravos from the ditches dank, drabs from the
alleyways and drug fiends pale,/Minds still passion ridden, soul-powers
frail...’”
    “‘Are you washed in
the blood of the Lamb?’” they repeated.
     
    As the Society
marched through the still of the night, an ominous silence settled over the
Perry home. Mr. and Mrs. Perry got into bed and turned off their bedroom light.
They did not hear the door to another room open. Neil walked into the hall. He
turned a corner and slipped quietly downstairs.
    Moonlight
illuminated Mr. Perry’s study. Neil walked to his father’s desk, opened the top
drawer and reached way in the back. He pulled out a key and with it, he
unlocked the bottom drawer of the desk. Neil sat in the leather desk chair and,
reaching across the desk, he picked up the crown of flowers he’d worn as Puck
and put it on his head.
     
    The group stopped
beside the waterfall, which had frozen. The icy sculpture seemed to defy the
laws of gravity as the students looked at its remarkable form. The sky was
incredibly clear. Moonlight bouncing off the snow cast a strange bluish glow on
the group as Keating continued the poem:
     
    “Christ came gently
with a robe and crown,
    For Booth the
soldier, while the throng knelt down.
    He saw King Jesus.
They were face to face,
    and he knelt
a-weeping in that holy place.”
     
    “’Are you washed in
the blood of the Lamb?’” they recited again.
    The moonlight and
the mystical wonder of the frozen waterfall combined with the magical poetry to
set the group dancing and playing in the snow. They worked themselves into a
joyful, frantic revelry.
    Knox and Chris
drifted away from the group and embraced. They kissed, soft and warm, under the
frozen moon.
     
    Mr. and Mrs. Perry
were fast asleep when the quick, short sound broke the night’s silence. “What
was that?” Mr. Perry sat up.
    “What?” his wife
asked, half-asleep.
    “That sound? Didn’t
you hear it?”
    “What sound?”
    Mr. Perry climbed
out of bed and walked into the hallway. He walked up and down the hall, finally
entering Neil’s room. He ran out and down the stairs as Mrs. Perry followed,
trying to get her robe on over her flailing