III
1. Verily and Amen! I passed through the deep sea,
and by the rivers of running water that abound therein,
and I came unto the Land of No Desire.
2. Wherein was a white unicorn with a silver collar,
whereon was graven the aphorism Linea viridis gyrat
universa.
3. Then the word of Adonai came unto me by the
mouth of the Magister mine, saying: O heart that art
girt about with the coils of the old serpent, lift up thyself
unto the mountain of initiation!
4. But I remembered. Yea, Than, yea, Theli, yea,
Lilith! these three were about me from of old. For they
are one.
5. Beautiful wast thou, O Lilith, thou serpent-woman!
6. Thou wast lithe and delicious to the taste, and thy
perfume was of musk mingled with ambergris.
7. Close didst thou cling with thy coils unto the heart,
and it was as the joy of all the spring.
8. But I beheld in thee a certain taint, even in that
wherein I delighted.
9. I beheld in thee the taint of thy father the ape, of
thy grandsire the Blind Worm of Slime.
1o. I gazed upon the Crystal of the Future, and I saw
the horror of the End of thee.
11. Further, I destroyed the time Past, and the time to
Come—had I not the Power of the Sand-glass?
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