250
THE STAR IN THE WEST
Master , the night is falling yet again .
I hear dim tramplings of unholy forces :
I see the assembly of the foully slain :
The scent of murder steams
: riderless horses
Gallop across the earth , and
seek
the inane :
The sun and moon
are shaken in their courses :
The kings are gathered , and the vultures fall
Screaming , to hold their ghastly festival .'
The
search
after Mystery is finely described
in
the
opening dedication of “
The Songs of the Spirit
" :
Mine was the holy fire that drew
Its perfect passion from the dew ,
And all the flowers that blushed
and blew
On sunny
slopes
by little brooks .
Mine the desire that brushed aside
The thorns, and would not be denied ,
And sought, more
eager than a bride ,
The cold grey secret
wan and wide of sacred books .2
It is in this search that the soul unfurls
its
wings and
sweeps into the infinite ether
of
existence
,
bending
its
course towards God
in
its
own unutterable ideal
.
With burning eyes intent
to
penetrate
The black circumference
,
and find
out God
.
3
In
“
The
Alchemist
,
”
or
in
that
beautiful
poem
“
The Farewell
of
Paracelsus
to
Aprile
.”
“
Struggling
in
vain
to
what
one
hopes
the
best
."
4
We find this
larger
hope
is
here
the keynote
,
as
it
is
in
so
many
of
Crowley's
poems
;
to
mention perhaps the most noted
,
we find this sacred flame flashing forth
in
"
Aceldama
,"
“
Paracelsus
,"
"
The Ultimate
Voyage
,"
"
The Name
less
Quest
,"
“
The Neophyte
,”
and
in
“
Tannhäuser
.”
i
Jephthah
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
66
.
2
Songs
of
the Spirit
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
29
.
3
Ibid
.
vol
.
i,
p
.
32
.
*
Ibid
.
vol
.
i,
p.
40
.