1902 · PDF PAGE 5
Tannhäuser
TANNHAUS!ER A STORY OF ALL TIME BY ALEISTER CROWLEY @ LONDON KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. Ltp. PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD 1902
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Page 1 of 11902 · PDF PAGE 108
Tannhäuser
And Darkness on the Deep of Time. Murmurous voices call and climb ; Faces, half-formed, arise ; and He Looked from the shadow of His throne, The curtain of Eternity ; He looked —and saw Himself alone, And on the sombre sea, the primal one, Faint faces, that might not abide ; Flicker, and are foredone. So were they caught within the spacious tide, The sleepy waters that encased the world. Monsters rose up, and turned themselves, and curled Into the deep again. The darkness brooded, and the bitter pain Of chaos twisted the vast limbs of time In h…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 109
Tannhäuser
…mpassive shrine. The seat of Heaven's archipelagoes ; Yet lighted not the glory virhence it came, Nor shone upon the surface of the sea. Time, and the Great One, and the Nameless Name, Held in their grip the child, Eternity. Silence and Darkness in their womb withheld That spiritual fire, and brooded still : Nature and Time, their soleness undispelled. Ever awaiting the eternal Will. And Law was unbegotten : uttermost Night Dwelt, inaccessible to sound and sight ; Shielded from Voice, impervious to Light. Then grew within the barren womb of thi…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 141
Tannhäuser
… I sis ! Then I fell away Into some old mysterious abyss Rolling between the heights of starry space ; Flaming above, beyond the Tomb of Time, Blending the darkness into the profound Chasms of matter—so I fell away Through many strange eternities of Space, Limitless fields of Time. I knew in me That I must fall into the ground and die ; Dwell in the deep a-many years, at last To rise again—Osiris, slain and risen ! Light of the Cross, I see Thee in the sky, My future ! I must perish from the earth, Abide in desolate halls, until the hour When a…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 54
Tannhäuser
Venus. Save me, my knight ! To thy sufficing arms I cHng in this distress of womanhood ! Tannhauser. Kiss me the last time. Venus. Whom have I but thee, Thee in the ages ? Barren were my bhss And shorn my Godhead of eternal joy, Barred from thy kiss. Tannhauser. Call not thyself again Goddess. I saw thee in the Presence there. The scales are fallen, and mine eyes see clear. Venus. Then you would leave me ? Serpent if I were, My coils should press in dolorous delight Thy straining bosom, and my kiss were death ! Death ! Dost thou live, Tannhause…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 107
Tannhäuser
… knew not ! See, the strings are moved Subtly as if by witchcraft — or by God ! [Sings. In the Beginning God began, And saw the Night of Time begin ! Chaos, a speck ; and space, a span ; Ruinous cycles fallen in, o 105
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1902 · PDF PAGE 26
Tannhäuser
…? Go, seek the stars and count them and explore! Go, sift the sands beyond a starless sea ! So, find an answer where the dismal shore Of time beats back eternity ! No more ! Let me ride on more hastily than this. That so my body may be tired of me. And fling me to the old forgetful kiss. Sleep's, when my mind goes, riderless and free. Into some corner of eternity. Alas ! that mind returns from its abode With newer problems, fiercer thoughts ! But stay ! Suppose it came not ? It must be with God !— Then this dull house of gold and iron and clay …
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1902 · PDF PAGE 28
Tannhäuser
… abyss. Liken God's being to the life of man. So reason staggers. Angels, answer me ! Ye who have watched the far unfolding plan— How is time shorter than eternity ? Prove it and weigh ! By mind it cannot be. All our divisions spring in our own brain. See ! As upsprings on the horizon there A clefted hill contemptuous of the plain. (Why, which is higher ?) I am in despair. Let me essay the Pharaoh and his prayer ! [ Tannh'diiser speaks the Word of Double Power. 26
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1902 · PDF PAGE 24
Tannhäuser
I seek the mystery of Life and Time, The Key of all that is not and that is, And that which — climb, imagination ! climb ! — Transcends them both— the mystical abj'ss Where Mind and Being marry, and are Bliss. So have I journeyed —like a fool ! Ah, well ! Let pass self-scorn, as love of self is past ! But—am I further forward ? Who can tell ? God is the Complex as the Protoplast : He is the First (not " was"), and is the Last (Not " will be "). Then why travel ? To what end? What is the symbol I am set to find ? What is that burning heart of bl…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 113
Tannhäuser
…destiny of man : The desperate plan Made by the Ancient One, to keep His power. Limits He set, made space unsearchable Yet bounded, made time endless to transcend Man's thought to comprehend : Builded the Tower Of life, and girded it with walls of hell, The name of Death. This limit in all things Baffles the spirit wings, Chains the swift soul ; for even Death is bound. In its apparent amplitude I saw, I, who have slept through death, have surely found The old accursed law. And death has changed to life. This task alone Shoots to the starry thr…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 121
Tannhäuser
…d when, invoking often, thou shalt see That formless Fire ; when all the earth is shaken, The stars abide not, and the moon is gone, All Time crushed back into Eternity, The Universe by earthquake overtaken ; Light is not, and the thunders roll. The World is done : When in the darkness Chaos rolls again In the excited brain : Then, O then call not to thy view that visible Image of Nature ; fatal is her name ! It fitteth not thy body to behold That living light of Hell, The unluminous, dead flame. Until that body from the crucible Hath passed, p…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 122
Tannhäuser
…reeps Snake-wise in royal robe, Wound round that vanished glory of the globe. Unto that sky beyond the starry deeps, Beyond the Toils of Time — then formulate In thine own mind, luminous, concentrate, The Lion of the Light, a child that stands On the vast shoulders of the Steed of God : Or winged, or shooting flying shafts, or shod With the flame-sandals. Then, lift up thine hands ! Centre thee in thine heart one scarlet thought Limpid with brilliance of the Light above ! 120
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1902 · PDF PAGE 142
Tannhäuser
…row of all things. For if I die, it is not Tannhaiiser, Rather a spark of the supreme white light That dwelt and flickered in him in old time ; That Light, I say, that hides its flame awhile To shine more fully —to redeem the world ' I say, then, " I " ; and yet it is not " I " Distinct, but " I " incorporate in All. I am, the Resurrection and the Life ! The Work is finished, and the Night rolled back ! I am the Rising Sun of Life and Light, The Glory of the Shining of the Dawn ! I am Osiris ! I the Lord of Life Triumphant over death. — O Sorro…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 40
Tannhäuser
… the gentle foresters of spring Crush dainty violets in their dalliance, Laughing in chorus with the birds ; and then (Coming at harvest time upon my tracks) See these same lovers in the golden sheaves Under the sun. The same, the fuller fruit. Say you ? But somehow, nearer to the end. Lost the old sense of mystery, and lost That curious reverence in sacrilege With Wonder—the child's faculty ! Less joy, Less laughter, yes ! that symptom I approve ; Yet is that subtle fading-out of smiles Rather the coming of a dull despair. And not at all that …
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1902 · PDF PAGE 140
Tannhäuser
… gleamed above. And verily My life was borne on the dark stream of death Down whirling aeons, linked abysses, columns Built of essential time. And lo ! the light Shed from Her shoulders whom I dimly saw ; Crowned with twelve stars and horned as the moon ; Clothed with a sun to which the sun of earth Were tinsel ; and the moon was at Her feet — A moon whose brilliance breaks the sword of song Into a million fragments ; so transcends Music, that starlight-sandalled majesty ! Then—shall I contemplate the face of Her ? O Nature ! Self-begotten ! Sp…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 32
Tannhäuser
…nse, Caught in the meshes of the cruel sense, Two kissing breaths of agony and pleasure, Mixed, crowned, divided, beyond age or measure. Time, thought, or being ! Now thine eyes awake, Droop at my kisses ; the long lashes slake Their sleek and silky thirst in tears of light ! Thine eyes ! They burn me, even me ! They smite Me who am scatheless, and a flame of fire. See, in our sorrow and intense desire All worlds are caught and sealed ! The stars are taken In love's weak web, and gathered up, and shaken! Our word is mighty on the magic moon ! T…
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1902 · PDF PAGE 15
Tannhäuser
…n altogether misleading term ; monodrama is perhaps better. It is really a series of introspective studies ; not necessarily a series in time, but in psychology, and that rather the morbid psychology of the Adept than the gross mentality of the ordinary man. It may help some of my readers if I say that my Tannhauser is nearly identical in scheme with the " Pilgrim's Progress." Literary and spiritual experts will however readily detect minor differences in the treatment. It will be sufficient if I state that "the Unknown," whether minstrel, 13
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1902 · PDF PAGE 17
Tannhäuser
… Two is by shape the Coptic Aspirate " as a sample of my utmost in lyrics ; do not take the song of Wolfram as my best work in either sentiment or melody. As a quid pro quo I give you all full permission to conclude your review of this book by quoting from Act III. " Forget this nightmare!" I must express my great sense of gratitude to Oscar Eckenstein, Gerald Kelly, and Allan MacGregor, who have severally helped me in the work of revision, which has extended over more than a year of time and nearly twenty thousand miles of space. Some few of t…
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