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Page 1 of 21901 · PDF PAGE 89
…E.” OME lives complain of their own happiness. In perfect love no sure abiding stands, In perfect faith are no immortal bands Of God and man. This passion we possess Necessitous ; insistent none the less Because we know not how its purpose brands Our lives. Even on God’s knees and in His hands : The Law of Change. “ Out, out, adulteress ! ” ? These be the furies, and the harpies these ? That discontent should sum the happiest sky ? That of all boons man lacks the greatest—rest ? Nay ! But the promise of the centuries, The certain pledge of immo…
1901 · PDF PAGE 47
…g To dwell before thee, and do thy throne no wrong ? Art thou grown jealous of the fiery band ? Lo ! thou hast spoken, and thy strong command Bade earth and air divide, and on the sea Thy spirit moved—and thou must envy me ! Gird all thy godhead to destroy a man Whose little moment is a single span, Whose small desire is nothing—and thy power Must root from out his bosom the fair flower Of passion ! Listen to thine own voice yet : “ A rich man many flocks and herds did get, “ And took the poor man’s lamb.” Thou art the man ! Our love must lie b…
1901 · PDF PAGE 57
THE COURT OF THE PROFANE. 45 “ MANY WATERS CANNOT QUENCH LOVE.” N my distress I made complaint to Death : Thy shadow strides across the starry air ; Thou comest as a serpent unaware, Striking love’s heart and crushing out man’s breath : Thy destiny is even as God saith To mark the impotence of human prayer, Choke hope, sting all but Love ; and never care If man or flower or sparrow perisheth. Thee, I invoke thee, though no mercy move Thy heart ! No power is to thy hate assigned On love (sing, poets ! shrill, Pandean reeds !). But me, look on me…
1901 · PDF PAGE 123
THE HOLY OF HOLIES. 111 TO ALLAN MACGREGOR. MAN of Sorrows : brother unto Grief ! O pale with suffering, and dumb hours of pain ! O worn with Thought ! thy Godhead springs again The Soul of Resurrection : thou art chief And lord of all thy Soul : O patient thief Of God’s own fire ! What mysteries find fane In the white shrine of thy white spirit’s reign, Thou man of Sorrows : O, beyond belief ! Let God's own Peace be with thee : let thy days Prosper in spite of thine unselfish soul ; And as thou lovest, so let Love increase Upon thee and about …
1901 · PDF PAGE 65
…GATE OF THE SANCTUARY. 53 “ THE TWO MINDS.” “ THEY SHALL BE NO MORE TWAIN, BUT ONE FLESH.” ELL have I said, “ O God, Thou art, alone, In many forms and faces manifest ! Thou, stronger than the universe, Thy throne ! Thou, calm in strength as the sea’s heart at rest ! ” But I have also answered : “ Let the groan Of this Thy world reach up to Thee, and wrest Thy bloody sceptre : let the wild winds own Man’s lordship, and obey at his behest ! ” Man has two minds : the first beholding all, As from a centre to the endless end : The second reaches fr…
1901 · PDF PAGE 124
…its mesh, slaves to its yoke. Silent, unknown, I work and will Redemption, godhead’s master-stroke, And breaking of the wands of ill. No man hath seen beneath my brows Eternity’s exultant house. No man hath noted in my brain The knowledge of my mystic spouse. I watch the centuries wax and wane. Poor, in the kingdom of strong gold, My power is swift and uncontrolled. Simple, amid the maze of lies ; A child, among the cruel old, I plot their stealthy destinies. I
1901 · PDF PAGE 73
…hrill and loud : One cursed, one crossed himself, another vowed His soul against the quest ; the tumult ran Indecorous in that presence, man to man. Stilled suddenly, beholding how I bowed My soul in thought : another cry began. “ Gereth the dauntless ! Gereth of the Sea ! Gereth the loyal ! Child of royalty ! Witch-mothered Gereth ! Sword above the strong, Heart pure, head many-wiled ! ” The knightly throng Clamour my name, and flattering words, to me— If they may ’scape the quest—I do them wrong ; They are my friends—Yet something terrible Ri…
1901 · PDF PAGE 48
…dare not kiss me ! dare not draw you nigh Lest I should lure you to remain ! nor speak Lest you should catch the blood within your cheek Mantling. You dared enough—so long ago !— When to my blossom body clean as snow You pressed your bosom till desire was pain, And—then—that midnight ! you did dare remain Though all my limbs were bloody with your mouth That tore their flesh to satiate its drouth, That was not thereby satisfied ! And now A pallid coward, with sly, skulking brow, You must leave Sodom for your spouse’s sake Coward and coward and c…
1901 · PDF PAGE 112
…f suffering a share, Leave me unmoved, or leave me conquering. O miserable ! that it should be so ! Lord Jesus, Sufferer for the sins of man, Thou didst invite me to Thy shame and loss. And I am happy ! Pity me ! Bestow The right to work in the eternal Plan, The right to hang on the eternal Cross ! I
1901 · PDF PAGE 30
18 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. JEZEBEL. PART I. LION’S mane, a leopard’s skin Across my dusty shoulders thrown ; A swart fierce face, with eyes where sin Lurks like a serpent by a stone. A man driven forth by lust to seek Rest from himself on Carmel’s peak. A prophet with wild hair behind, Streaming in fiery clusters ! Yea, Tangled with vehemence of the wind, And knotted with the tears that slay ; And all my face parched up and dried, And all my body crucified. Ofttimes the Spirit of the Lord Descends and floods me with his breath ; My words are fashio…
1901 · PDF PAGE 58
…which I fill To the epic-mark—one sonnet to distil, In this poor miracle—my love to cheat. Dinner clangs cheerily from my lady’s gong. A man must eat in intervals of song ! Swift feet run back to hide my hate of her. And then—that hate flies truant, as my thought Rests (surely it beseems the overwrought) And I am left her slave and minister.
1901 · PDF PAGE 43
…en, A web of fairy ticken, To make a fairy rose : Pure as the seas that lave With phosphorescent wave The sombre architrave Of Castle No-man-knows. Pure as the dreams, undreamt (That men have in contempt, That wise men yearn to see), Of angel forms exempt From mockeries that tempt Who fly about the lea ; Proclaiming things unheard, Unknown to brightest bird, Things, whose unspoken word Is utmost secrecy. So pure, so pale we lie, Like angels eye to eye, Like lovers lip to lip. So, the elect knight, I Keep vigil to the sky, While the dumb moments…
1901 · PDF PAGE 28
… he call) The invocations of his lofty tune. Thus in his measures nature craves the boon To be reflected ; and his rhymes appal Or charm mankind as tides that flow or fall, Waxes or wanes the tempestival moon. Her course is measured in the sonnet’s tether, Waxes the eight-fold ecstasy ; exceeds The minor sestet, where some passion bleeds Or truth discourses : or eclipse may end, Proof against thought ; but if man comprehend The stars in all their stations sing together. II. What power or fascination can there lie In this fair garden of the stra…
1901 · PDF PAGE 117
…ll on the mystic Tree of Life My soul is crucified ; Still strikes the sacrificial knife Where lurks some serpent-eyed Fear, passion, or man’s deadly wife Desire, the suicide ! Before me dwells the Holy One Anointed Beauty’s King ; Behind me, mightier than the Sun, To whom the cherubs sing, A strong archangel, known of none, Comes crowned and conquering. An angel stands on my right hand With strength of ocean’s wrath ; Upon my left the fiery brand, Charioted fire smites forth : Four great archangels to withstand The furies of the path.
1901 · PDF PAGE 71
…The king was silent. Tense the high-strung air Must save itself by trembling—if it dare. Then a long shudder ran across the space ; Each man ashamed to see his fellow’s face, Each troubled and confused. He did not spare Our fear—he spake not yet a little space. After a while he took the word again : “ Go thou then moonwards on the great salt plain ; So to a pillar. Adamant, alone, It stands. Around it see them overthrown, King, earl, and knight. There lie the questing slain, A thousand years forgotten—bone by bone. T
1901 · PDF PAGE 104
… 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,…
1901 · PDF PAGE 138
…e to hope the sun. I seek the darkness, not the light. O Lord Harpocrates, be still The moveless centre of my will ! My sorrows are more manifold Than His that bore the sins of man. My sins are like the starry fold, My hopes their desolation wan. O Nuit, the starry one arise, And set thy starlight in my skies ! In darkness, in the void abyss, I grope with vain despairing arms. The silence as a serpent is, The rustle of the world alarms. O Horus, Light in Darkness, bless My failure with thine own success ! My suffering is keen as theirs That in …
1901 · PDF PAGE 34
22 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. Then, as a man betrayed, and doomed Already, I arose and went, And wrestled with myself, consumed With passion for that sacrament Of shame. From that day unto this My cheek desires that hideous kiss. Her hate, her scorn, her cruel blows, Fill my whole life, consume my breath ; Her red-fanged hatred in me glows ; I lust for her, and hell, and death ; I see that ghastly look, and yearn Toward the brands of her that burn. Sleep shuns me ; dreams divide the night (My parched throat thirsty for her veins), That she and I with …
1901 · PDF PAGE 18
…sconceiving zone, Nor any planet’s may be shone, Within the circle of the grove, Where burn the sanctities of love : Nor may the foot of man be known, Nor evil eyes of mothers thrown On maidens that desire the kiss Only of maiden Artemis. But horned and huntress from the skies, She bends her lips upon the breeze, And pure and perfect in her eyes, Burn magical virginity’s Sweet intermittent sorceries. When the slow wind from her sweet word In all their conchéd ears is heard. And like the slumber of the seas, There murmur through the holy trees T…
1901 · PDF PAGE 120
…tude. Even beyond the keen delight—to Be— Steals that diviner mood Of wonder at the miracle—the plan Of Nature crowned by the astounding Man ! The secret of the Lord is set with him That wonders at His Majesty : his praise Wells from no trembler’s misery : his hymn Swells the exultant day’s. His psalm wings upward, and reflected down Even in Hell makes music and renown. Yea ! for the echo of the anthem rolls Down to the lost unfathomable deep. Down, to the darkness of all shades and souls, The founts of music sweep. Even the devils in the utter…