Thelema ScholarTHE ALEISTER CROWLEY COLLECTION
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1898 · PDF PAGE 29

Songs of the Spirit

… flicker as a flame, And then within thy tender arms to fall Tired, fain of nothing but to lie at last Upon thy bosom, and gaze in thine eyes Clear, calm, dispassionate, supremely wise, And pass with thee the gates that must be passed. O Night, on thee is set our only hope, Because our eyes, to tender for the day, Are dazed with sunlight, and poor fingers grope For those far truths that mock our vague en- deavour, Whilst we may find in thee the secrets grey Of all things God would fain have hid for ever. 19

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1898 · PDF PAGE 52

Songs of the Spirit

…zed, a shape seems always at my back To whisper wickedness, o’erheard of none, And stealthily to follow on my track, And cloke my lifted eyes with suffocating black. Vainly I turn to seek him, for my eyes Are dimmed with saltness never born of brine ; Vainly I fight the air, he sneers, and lies, And laughs at all this agony of mine, And chills my heart, and desecrates the shrine Where Love his holy incense used to burn, And mocks those thoughts, those songs, those looks divine 42

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1898 · PDF PAGE 107

Songs of the Spirit

The censer swings to slower time, The darkness falleth deep : My eyes, so solemn and sublime, Relent, and close, and weep : And on the silence, like a chime, I heard the wings of Sleep. 97

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1898 · PDF PAGE 49

Songs of the Spirit

…d : “ Now the last time I turn and go to her.” The violet smiled at him : his fingers fair Plucked the sweet blossom to his breast ; his eyes Mused like delight, and like desire were wise. There was a maiden like the sun, to whom His footsteps turned amid the myriad bloom Of flowers and leafy pathways of the wood, Where, in a dell of roses white, she stood. He came to her and looked so dear and deep Into her eyes, the wells and woods of sleep, And took the violet from his breast, and stood A glad young god within the golden wood. 39

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1898 · PDF PAGE 74

Songs of the Spirit

… sand Where lilies fill the land Are silent, while the moon ascends to span the curvéd leaves. The lordly stars arise With pity in their eyes So large and clear and wise, And angels yearn toward the world that wonders, wakes, and grieves. Sleep holds the hand of life, And, as a loving wife Moves not for fear the sufferer should wake before his hour, So sleep is deadly calm, And fills with perfect balm 64

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1898 · PDF PAGE 93

Songs of the Spirit

… detestable, In which I laugh with hell, And furies chant the knell Of all things clean. Ah God ! the shapes that throng ! Ah God ! what eyes ! The souls grown sharp and strong That my lips made their prize, The ruined souls, the wrecks Of bodies fair of flecks Long since, ere God did vex My soul with sacrifice. Pale youth and bloodless maiden Whose breasts have bled, With wrath or mercy laden, By love or terror led, Reproachful or reviling, Some pure and some defiling, Some fearful and some smiling, Some living and some dead. 83

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1898 · PDF PAGE 94

Songs of the Spirit

…o save me from their fire— Those kiss me and respire The perfume of the Name. Remorse and terror banished By pitying lovers, Who from my eyes have vanished, (The Lidless Eye discovers), Repenting souls that turn, Whose hearts with pity burn For me, who now discern Their love around me hovers. Their love wards from my head The furious hate Of those loves doubly dead That may not pass the gate : 84

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1898 · PDF PAGE 95

Songs of the Spirit

…ls fill the air To guard my steps, to bare The veil inviolate. The visions leave me now ; I sink to sleep ; Calm and content my brow, My eyes are large and deep. The morning shall behold On feet and plumes of gold My spirit soon enfold The flocks on heaven’s steep. Refreshed, encouraged, lightened, Sent on the Way Whose Sun and Star have brightened From dawning into day, I set my face, a flint, Toward where the holy glint Of lamps affords the hint That leads me—where it may. 85

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1898 · PDF PAGE 89

Songs of the Spirit

… ; Dream, subtle soul, and arise To noblest litanies That pierce the mask of night— In a man work lifts his eyelids, but his dreams lend eyes their light. So dreams and days are wed, And soul and body lie Ambrosial in Love’s bed. See, heaven with stars is spread— So glad of life am I If an angel came to call me I am sure I would not die. 79

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1898 · PDF PAGE 99

Songs of the Spirit

The very graves yield up their dead, And high thrones shake ; Because my eyes still steadily behold, And dazzle not, nor shun the night, The foam-born lamp of beaten gold And secret might ; Because my forehead bears the sacred name, And my lips bear the brand Of Him whose heaven is one flame, Whose holy hand Gathers this earth, who built the vaults of space, Moulded the stars, and fixed the iron sea, Because His love lights through my face And all of me. Because my hand may fasten on the sword If my heart falter not, and smite Those lampless li…

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1898 · PDF PAGE 82

Songs of the Spirit

…d The year acceptable before the Lord. Therefore He fills my voice with silvery sound, And by His spirit, a pillar of fire and cloud, My eyes are lightning, and my tongue a sword. 72

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1898 · PDF PAGE 104

Songs of the Spirit

My rapt eyes grow more eager now, God smites within the host, White fires illuminate my brow Lit of the Holy Ghost ; I see the angel figures bow On heaven’s silent coast. Eternity, a wheel of light, And Time, a fleece of snow, I saw, and deep beyond the night, The steady mystic glow Of that lamp’s flame unearthly bright That watches Earth below. Long avenues of sleepy trees And bowers arched with love, And kisses woven for a breeze, And lips that scarcely move, Save as long ripples on the seas, That murmur like a dove. I saw the burning lips of…

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1898 · PDF PAGE 75

Songs of the Spirit

…ms his lamp, and brings The books of many kings To spread their holy wings About his head, and sing to him the secret ways of death. His eyes are fixed, he sees Men dimly, like to trees Walking, and guesses they must be the angels of the Lord ; His hand is strong to hold The talent of fine gold, The wand so clean and cold ; His altar has a lamp divine, his girdle has a sword. 65

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1898 · PDF PAGE 106

Songs of the Spirit

…at walk to and fro, The love that hides his head. O living Head ! whose thorns are keen To bruise and pierce and slay ; O Christ ! whose eyes have always been Fixed fast upon the way, Where dim Jerusalem was seen A city cold and grey ! The flowers of fire that grow beneath, And blossom on the Tree Are fed from his despair and death Who sings of land and sea, And all those mountains where thy breath, Jehovah, still must be. 96

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1898 · PDF PAGE 77

Songs of the Spirit

…unalterable law Shudder within their spheres, as to him came His master’s spirit, like a tongue of flame, To touch his lips and ears and eyes and hands With that pale amber that divides the lands Of sense and spirit, and beheld him quail 67

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1898 · PDF PAGE 14

Songs of the Spirit

…n And brazen chain, Far from the change that men call life fled higher Into the world immutable of sleep, We see our loved one, and vain eyes desire In vain to weep. Woeful our gaze, if on Ione Earth descendent, To view the absence of yon flame afar— Yet in the Heavens, anew, divine, resplendent, Behold a star ! One light the less, that steady flamed and even Amid the dusk of Earth’s uncertain shore ; One light the less, but in Jehovah’s Heaven One star the more ! 4

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1898 · PDF PAGE 15

Songs of the Spirit

…lieve the hunter of his furs, All the wide world awaiting him, all folk Glad at his coming, only I must weep : Rise he or sink, my weary eyes invoke 5

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1898 · PDF PAGE 117

Songs of the Spirit

… that float on my stream ; My song-birds to others are dumber Than voices half heard in a dream ; My muse, louder gods overcome her, the eyes of them gleam. The sorrow that woke me to singing Is deeper than songs that I sing ; The birds that fresh music are bringing 107

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1898 · PDF PAGE 7

Songs of the Spirit

…ame Burning in dawny groves ; thy name Like dew upon the hills became, And all thy mind a star most bright ; And, following with wakeful eyes The strait meridian of the wise, My feet tread under stars and skies ; My spirit soars and seeks and flies, a child of light. Thus eager, may my purpose stand Firm as the faith of honest hand, Nor change like castles built of sand Until the sweet unchanging end. Happy not only that my eye Single and strong may win the sky, But that one day the birds that fly Heard your fair friendship call me by the name …

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1898 · PDF PAGE 57

Songs of the Spirit

Straining my eyes in horror and defeat Toward the long vista seen where rescue seems to greet. The vessel fills with brackish foam. I drink, Drink to the end, and stagger on alone Without a staff to hold me if I sink In the hot quagmires of untrusty stone. Foodless and beastless, so despairing grown, I know not, care not, only trust that soon The sun’s dominion may be overthrown, And o’er the wilderness appear the moon With cold lips to bestow the inestimable boon. Still I have never prayed for death, but rather Would be found fighting toward t…

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