4
THE STAR IN THE WEST
depths of Hell , to sink into a dirge -like Niobe
death
chaunt ,bewailing
the thirteen children of their beget
ting , rising once
more
in the song of Ligeia , enticing
men to her mire , and
at length
to
die still -voiced
as
the daughter
of Dis, whose ghostly
fingers
sinking
clutch
the
frozen
reeds
of that slough
in which
she
had so long wallowed .
Long have we peered , crouching on the watch-tower
of our minds , through
the darkness of ignorance
lit
alone
by
the northern lights
of
folly
,
till our scorched
eyes falling
as
slags upon our hearts
,
a
light celestial
hath arisen from out the
eyeless
sockets
of
Eternity
.
A
day
-
star
,
to
flash
forth into
the
west
,
winged and
wonderful
.
A
Pharos
of
gleaming
hope lighting
our
way across the boisterous ocean
of
life
to
our haven
of
eternal
rest
.
The fools and the faulty
,
the wise and
the wizened
read and tremble before
the might
of
its
majesty
,
for
into
its
flaming
horrent
hath
it
woven and braided
the
ashen
locks
of
wisdom
,
the dyed curls
of
folly
,
and
all
the glittering
circlets
of
golden youth
.
All
is
transcended
,
all
is
unified and transcendental
;
neither
is
there joy nor laughter
,
sorrow nor weeping
,
for
all
is
as
a
divine
mastery
of
Truth
and
Knowledge
to
those
who worship
the new
-
born God
,
like the Magi
of
the East
,
with gold
,
and frankincense
,
and
myrrh
.
Above whose heptagonal cradle flashes
the magic star
Lusanaher
,
that great star Cor Leonis
,
which heralds
and directs our reverent pilgrimage
.
The Star has arisen
;
let
us
like
men
drop
the silly
pretence
of
an
ostrich
-
like self
-
delusion
that the cindery
asteroid still lights
our way
;
let
us
rather apply our
mental spectroscope
to
the analysis
of
its
rays
.
There
shall
we
perchance discover the blending
of
allopposites