Collected Works (Vol. III)

LIBER QUARTUS VEL MORTIS 209 ORPHEUS. No more. AGAVE. No longer ? ORPHEUS. Nothing. AGAVE, What then here Dost thou amid these sacred woods? ORPHEUS. I weep. AGAVE. Weep then red wine ! AUTONOE. Or we will draw thy tears, Red tears of blood. AGAVE. On, girls! this bitter fool Would stop our revel ! ORPHEUS. Nay! ye bid me cease Weeping. AGAVE. Then listen ! drink this deep full cup, Or here we tear thee limb from limb! ORPHEUS., Do so! Ay, me! I am Orpheus, poor lost fool of Fate ! Orpheus, can cha:m the wildest to my lyre. Beasts, rocks, obey—ah, Hades, didst thou} mock, Alone of all, my songs? Thee I praise not. [AUTONOE embraces him. Audacious woman ! AGAVE, Tear the fool in shreds! Then to the dance! VOL, III. ORPHEwvs. ! The old Egyptian spell ! Stir, then, poor children, if ye can! Ah me! [Szgs. Unity uttermost showea, I adore the might of thy breath, Supreme and terrible God Who makest the Gods and death To tremble before thee :— I, I adore thee ! O Hawk of gold with power enwalled, Whose face is like an emerald ; Whose crown is indigo as night ; Smaragdine snakes about thy brow Twine, and the disc of flaming light Is on thee, seated in the prow Of the Sun’s bark, enthroned above With lapis-lazuli for love And ruby for enormous force Chosen to seat thee, thee girt round With leopard’s pell, and golden sound Of planets choral in their course! O thou self-formulated sire! Self-master of thy dam’s desire ! Thine eyes blaze forth with fiery light; Thine heart a secret sun of flame ! I adore the insuperable might : I bow before the unspoken Name. For I am Yesterday, and I To-day, and I to-morrow, born Now and again, on high, on high Travelling on Dian’s naked horn | I am the Soul that doth create The Gods, and all the Kin of Breath. I come from the sequestered state; My birth is from the House of Death. Hail! ye twin hawks high pinnacled That watch upon the universe ! Ye that the bier of God beheld ! That bore it onwards, ministers Of peace within the House of Wrath, 1 Much of the following invocation is a free rendering of several fine passages in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. O