Collected Works (Vol. I)

THE HOLY PLACE 203 The first face spake and said: ‘“Welcome, O King, art thou! Await thy throne a thousand dead ; A crown awaits thy brow, A seven-sting scorpion; for thy rod thou hast a bauble now.” The next face spake and said: ‘“* Welcome, O Priest, to me! Red blood shall dye thee robes of red, Hell’s cries thy litany | Thy mitre sits, divided strength, to end thy church and thee !” The third face spake and said: ** Welcome, O Man, to Death! Thy little span of life is sped, Sighed out thy little breath. The worm that never dies is thine; the fire that lingereth !” ‘¢ Three voices has thy frame, Their music is but one. Fool-demon, slave of night and shame, That canst not see the sun ! I am the Lord thy God:? make thou homage and orison !” The wild heads. sank in fear: Then, troubled, to those eyes Remembrance crept of many a year, Barred gates of Paradise. Again the Voice rolled in the deep, mingled with murmuring sighs : ‘¢T mind me of the day One? came from Death to me; His soul was weary of the day, His look was melancholy ; He bade me open in the Name that binds Eternity. ‘‘ Yet though He passed within And plunged within the deep, 1 The assumption of the form ofthe God of the Force whom one addresses is the Egyptian magical spell to subdue it. 2 Jeheshua, or ‘' Jesus.” The seven palaces of sin, And slept the lonely sleep, Yet came He out alone: but then I thought I heard Them weep. ‘* Fle passed alone, above, Out of the Gates of Night ; Angels of Purity and Love Drew to my sound and sight. I heard Them cry that even there He fixed the eternal Light. ‘“‘T think beneath these groans, And laughters madness-born, Tears fell that might dissolve the stones That grind the accurséd corn. Beneath the deep, beneath the deep, may dwell the star of morn ! ‘‘ Therefore, O God, I pray Redemption for the folk That dread the scourging light of day, That bear the midnight yoke. The Chaos was no less than this—and there the light awoke.” ‘©O Dog of Evil, yea! Thou hast in wisdom said. The glory of the living day Shall shine among the dead. Thy faith shall have a holier task, thy strength a goodlier stead.” Then I withdrew the light Of mine own Godhead up, As stars that close with broken night Their adamantine cup. I sought the solar airs: my soul on its own tears might sup. For in the vast profound Still burns the rescuing sign ;} Beyond all sight and sense and sound The symbol flames divine. For He shall make all life, all death, His solitary shrine. 1 The Triangle surmounted by the Cross. This was the symbol of the ‘Golden Dawn.”