Delphi Poetry Anthology: The World's Greatest Poems (Delphi Poets Series Book 50)

by Homer

  Divided into Male and Female forms time after time.

  From these Twelve all the Families of England spread abroad.

  The Male is a Furnace of beryll; the Female is a golden Loom;

  I behold them and their rushing fires overwhelm my Soul,

  In Londons darkness; and my tears fall day and night,

  Upon the Emanations of Albions Sons! the Daughters of Albion

  Names anciently rememberd, but now contemn’d as fictions:

  Although in every bosom they controll our Vegetative powers.

  40 These are united into Tirzah and her Sisters, on Mount Gilead,

  Cambel & Gwendolen & Conwenna & Cordella & Ignoge.

  And these united into Rahab in the Covering Cherub on Euphrates

  Gwiniverra & Gwinefred, & Gonorill & Sabrina beautiful,

  Estrild, Mehetabel & Ragan, lovely Daughters of Albion,

  They are the beautiful Emanations of the Twelve Sons of Albion

  The Starry Wheels revolv’d heavily over the Furnaces;

  Drawing Jerusalem in anguish of maternal love,

  Eastward a pillar of a cloud with Vala upon the mountains

  Howling in pain, redounding from the arms of Beulahs Daughters,

  50 Out from the Furnaces of Los above the head of Los.

  A pillar of smoke writhing afar into Non-Entity, redounding

  Till the cloud reaches afar outstretch’d among the Starry Wheels

  Which revolve heavily in the mighty Void above the Furnaces

  O what avail the loves & tears of Beulahs lovely Daughters

  They hold the Immortal Form in gentle bands & tender tears

  But all within is open’d into the deeps of Entuthon Benython

  A dark and unknown night, indefinite, unmeasurable, without end.

  Abstract Philosophy warring in enmity against Imagination

  (Which is the Divine Body of the Lord Jesus. blessed for ever).

  60 And there Jerusalem wanders with Vala upon the mountains,

  Attracted by the revolutions of those Wheels the Cloud of smoke

  Immense, and Jerusalem & Vala weeping in the Cloud

  Wander away into the Chaotic Void, lamenting with her Shadow

  Among the Daughters of Albion, among the Starry Wheels;

  Lamenting for her children, for the sons & daughters of Albion

  Los heard her lamentations in the deeps afar! his tears fall

  Incessant before the Furnaces, and his Emanation divided in pain,

  Eastward towards the Starry Wheels. But Westward, a black Horror,

  PLATE 6

  His spectre driv’n by the Starry Wheels of Albions sons, black and

  Opake divided from his back; he labours and he mourns!

  For as his Emanation divided, his Spectre also divided

  In terror of those starry wheels: and the Spectre stood over Los

  Howling in pain: a blackning Shadow, blackning dark & opake

  Cursing the terrible Los: bitterly cursing him for his friendship

  To Albion, suggesting murderous thoughts against Albion.

  Los rag’d and stamp’d the earth in his might & terrible wrath!

  He stood and stampd the earth! then he threw down his hammer in rage &

  10 In fury: then he sat down and wept, terrified! Then arose

  And chaunted his song, labouring with the tongs and hammer:

  But still the Spectre divided, and still his pain increas’d!

  In pain the Spectre divided: in pain of hunger and thirst:

  To devour Los’s Human Perfection, but when he saw that Los

  PLATE 7

  Was living: panting like a frighted wolf, and howling

  He stood over the Immortal, in the solitude and darkness:

  Upon the darkning Thames, across the whole Island westward,

  A horrible Shadow of Death, among the Furnaces: beneath

  The pillar of folding smoke; and he sought by other means,

  To lure Los: by tears, by arguments of science & by terrors:

  Terrors in every Nerve, by spasms & extended pains:

  While Los answer’d unterrified to the opake blackening Fiend

  And thus the Spectre spoke: Wilt thou still go on to destruction?

  10 Till thy life is all taken away by this deceitful Friendship?

  He drinks thee up like water! like wine he pours thee

  Into his tuns: thy Daughters are trodden in his vintage

  He makes thy Sons the trampling of his bulls, they are plow’d

  And harrowd for his profit, lo! thy stolen Emanation

  Is his garden of pleasure! all the Spectres of his Sons mock thee

  Look how they scorn thy once admired palaces! now in ruins

  Because of Albion! because of deceit and friendship! For Lo!

  Hand has peopled Babel & Nineveh: Hyle, Ashur & Aram:

  Cobans son is Nimrod: his son Cush is adjoind to Aram,

  20 By the Daughter of Babel, in a woven mantle of pestilence & war.

  They put forth their spectrous cloudy sails; which drive their immense

  Constellations over the deadly deeps of indefinite Udan-Adan[.]

  Kox is the Father of Shem & Ham & Japheth, he is the Noah

  Of the Flood of Udan-Adan. Hut’n is the Father of the Seven

  From Enoch to Adam; Schofield is Adam who was New-

  Created in Edom. I saw it indignant, & thou art not moved!

  This has divided thee in sunder: and wilt thou still forgive?

  O! thou seest not what I see! what is done in the Furnaces.

  Listen, I will tell thee what is done in moments to thee unknown:

  30 Luvah was cast into the Furnaces of affliction and sealed,

  And Vala fed in cruel delight, the Furnaces with fire:

  Stern Urizen beheld; urgd by necessity to keep

  The evil day afar, and if perchance with iron power

  He might avert his own despair: in woe & fear he saw

  Vala incircle round the Furnaces where Luvah was clos’d;

  With joy she heard his howlings, & forgot he was her Luvah,

  With whom she liv’d in bliss in times of innocence & youth!

  Vala comes from the Furnace in a cloud, but wretched Luvah

  Is howling in the Furnaces, in flames among Albions Spectres,

  40 To prepare the Spectre of Albion to reign over thee O Los,

  Forming the Spectres of Albion according to his rage:

  To prepare the Spectre of Adam, who is Scofield: the Ninth

  Of Albions sons, & the father of all his brethren in the Shadowy

  Generation. Cambel & Gwendolen wove webs of war & of

  Religion, to involve all Albions sons, and when they had

  Involv’d Eight; their webs roll’d outwards into darkness

  And Scofield the Ninth remaind on the outside of the Eight

  And Kox, Kotope, & Bowen, One in him, a Fourfold Wonder

  Involv’d the Eight: Such are the Generations of the Giant Albion,

  50 To separate a Law of Sin, to punish thee in thy members.

  Los answer’d. Altho’ I know not this! I know far worse than this:

  I know that Albion hath divided me, and that thou O my Spectre,

  Hast just cause to be irritated: but look stedfastly upon me:

  Comfort thyself in my strength the time will arrive,

  When all Albions injuries shall cease, and when we shall

  Embrace him tenfold bright, rising from his tomb in immortality.

  They have divided themselves by Wrath, they must be united by

  Pity: let us therefore take example & warning O my Spectre,

  O that I could abstain from wrath! O that the Lamb

  60 Of God would look upon me and pity me in my fury.

  In anguish of regeneration: in terrors of self annihilation:

  Pity must join together those whom wrath has torn in sunder,

  And the Religion of G
eneration which was meant for the destruction

  Of Jerusalem, become her covering, till the time of the End.

  O holy Generation [Image] of regeneration!

  O point of mutual forgiveness between Enemies!

  Birthplace of the Lamb of God incomprehensible!

  The Dead despise & scorn thee, & cast thee out as accursed:

  Seeing the Lamb of God in thy gardens & thy palaces:

  70 Where they desire to place the Abomination of Desolation.

  Hand sits before his furnace: scorn of others & furious pride:

  Freeze round him to bars of steel & to iron rocks beneath

  His feet: indignant self-righteousness like whirlwinds of the north:

  PLATE 8

  Rose up against me thundering from the Brook of Albions River

  From Ranelagh & Strumbolo, from Cromwells gardens & Chelsea

  The place of wounded Soldiers, but when he saw my Mace

  Whirld round from heaven to earth, trembling he sat: his cold

  Poisons rose up: & his sweet deceits coverd them all over

  With a tender cloud. As thou art now; such was he O Spectre

  I know thy deceit & thy revenges, and unless thou desist

  I will certainly create an eternal Hell for thee. Listen!

  Be attentive! be obedient! Lo the Furnaces are ready to recieve thee.

  10 I will break thee into shivers! & melt thee in the furnaces of death;

  I will cast thee into forms of abhorrence & torment if thou

  Desist not from thine own will, & obey not my stern command!

  I am closd up from my children: my Emanation is dividing

  And thou my Spectre art divided against me. But mark

  I will compell thee to assist me in my terrible labours. To beat

  These hypocritic Selfhoods on the Anvils of bitter Death

  I am inspired: I act not for myself: for Albions sake

  I now am what I am: a horror and an astonishment

  Shuddring the heavens to look upon me: Behold what cruelties

  20 Are practised in Babel & Shinar, & have approachd to Zions Hill

  While Los spoke, the terrible Spectre fell shuddring before him

  Watching his time with glowing eyes to leap upon his prey[.]

  Los opend the Furnaces in fear, the Spectre saw to Babel & Shinar

  Across all Europe & Asia, he saw the tortures of the Victims.

  He saw now from the ou[t]side what he before saw & felt from within

  He saw that Los was the sole, uncontrolld Lord of the Furnaces

  Groaning he kneeld before Los’s iron-shod feet on London Stone,

  Hungring & thirsting for Los’s life yet pretending obedience.

  While Los pursud his speech in threat’nings loud & fierce.

  30 Thou art my Pride & Self-righteousness: I have found thee out:

  Thou art reveald before me in all thy magnitude & power

  The Uncircumcised pretences to Chastity must be cut in sunder!

  Thy holy wrath & deep deceit cannot avail against me

  Nor shalt thou ever assume the triple-form of Albions Spectre

  For I am one of the living: dare not to mock my inspired fury

  If thou wast cast forth from my life! if I was dead upon the mountains

  Thou mightest be pitied & lovd: but now I am living; unless

  Thou abstain ravening I will create an eternal Hell for thee.

  Take thou this Hammer & in patience heave the thundering Bellows

  40 Take thou these Tongs: strike thou alternate with me: labour obedient[.]

  Hand & Hyle & Koban: Skofeld, Kox & Kotope, labour mightily[.]

  In the Wars of Babel & Shinar, all their Emanations were

  Condensd. Hand has absorbd all his Brethen in his might

  All the infant Loves & Graces were lost, for the mighty Hand

  PLATE 9

  Condens’d his Emanations into hard opake substances;

  And his infant thoughts & desires, into cold, dark, cliffs of death.

  His hammer of gold he siezd; and his anvil of adamant.

  He siez’d the bars of condens’d thoughts, to forge them:

  Into the sword of war: into the bow and arrow:

  Into the thundering cannon and into the murdering gun[.]

  I saw the limbs form’d for exercise, contemn’d: & the beauty of

  Eternity, look’d upon as deformity & loveliness as a dry tree:

  10 I saw disease forming a Body of Death around the Lamb

  Of God, to destroy Jerusalem, & to devour the body of Albion

  By war and stratagem to win the labour of the husbandman:

  Awkwardness arm’d in steel: folly in a helmet of gold:

  Weakness with horns & talons: ignorance with a rav’ning beak!

  Every Emanative joy forbidden as a Crime:

  And the Emanations buried alive in the earth with pomp of religion:

  Inspiration deny’d; Genius forbidden by laws of punishment:

  I saw terrified; I took the sighs & tears, & bitter groans:

  I lifted them into my Furnaces; to form the spiritual sword,

  That lays open the hidden heart: I drew forth the pang

  20 Of sorrow red hot: I workd it on my resolute anvil:

  I heated it in the flames of Hand, & Hyle, & Coban

  Nine times; Gwendolen & Cambel & Gwineverra

  Are melted into the gold, the silver, the liquid ruby,

  The crysolite, the topaz, the jacinth, & every precious stone.

  Loud roar my Furnaces and loud my hammer is heard:

  I labour day and night, I behold the soft affections

  Condense beneath my hammer into forms of cruelty

  But still I labour in hope, tho’ still my tears flow down,

  That he who will not defend Truth, may be competid to defend

  30 A Lie: that he may be snared and caught and snared and taken

  That Enthusiasm and Life may not cease: arise Spectre arise!

  Thus they contended among the Furnaces with groans & tears;

  Groaning the Spectre heavd the bellows, obeying Los’s frowns;

  Till the Spaces of Erin were perfected in the furnaces

  Of affliction, and Los drew them forth, compelling the harsh Spectre.

  PLATE 10

  Into the Furnaces & into the valleys of the Anvils of Death

  And into the mountains of the Anvils & of the heavy Hammers

  Till he should bring the Sons & Daughters of Jerusalem to be

  The Sons & Daughters of Los that he might protect them from

  Albions dread Spectres; storming, loud, thunderous & mighty

  The Bellows & the Hammers move compell’d by Los’s hand.

  And this is the manner of the Sons of Albion in their strength

  They take the Two Contraries which are calld Qualities, with which

  Every Substance is clothed, they name them Good & Evil

  10 From them they make an Abstract, which is a Negation

  Not only of the Substance from which it is derived

  A murderer of its own Body: but also a murderer

  Of every Divine Member: it is the Reasoning Power

  An Abstract objecting power, that Negatives every thing

  This is the Spectre of Man: the Holy Reasoning Power

  And in its Holiness is closed the Abomination of Desolation

  Therefore Los stands in London building Golgonooza

  Compelling his Spectre to labours mighty; trembling in fear

  The Spectre weeps, but Los unmovd by tears or threats remains

  20 I must Create a System, or be enslav’d by another Mans

  I will not Reason & Compare: my business is to Create

  So Los, in fury & strength: in indignation & burning wrath

  Shuddring the Spectre howls, his howlings terrify the night

  He stamps around the Anvil, beating blows of stern despair

  He curses He
aven & Earth, Day & Night & Sun & Moon

  He curses Forest Spring & River, Desart & sandy Waste

  Cities & Nations, Families & Peoples, Tongues & Laws

  Driven to desperation by Los’s terrors & threatning fears

  Los cries, Obey my voice & never deviate from my will

  30 And I will be merciful to thee: be thou invisible to all

  To whom I make thee invisible, but chief to my own Children

  O Spectre of Urthona: Reason not against their dear approach

  Nor them obstruct with thy temptations of doubt & despair[.]

  O Shame O strong & mighty Shame I break thy brazen fetters

  If thou refuse, thy present torments will seem southern breezes

  To what thou shalt endure if thou obey not my great will.

  The Spectre answer’d. Art thou not ashamd of those thy Sins

  That thou callest thy Children? lo the Law of God commands

  That they be offered upon his Altar: O cruelty & torment

  40 For thine are also mine! I have kept silent hitherto,

  Concerning my chief delight: but thou hast broken silence

  Now I will speak my mind! Where is my lovely Enitharmon

  O thou my enemy, where is my Great Sin? She is also thine

  I said: now is my grief at worst: incapable of being

  Surpassed: but every moment it accumulates more & more

  It continues accumulating to eternity! the joys of God advance

  For he is Righteous: he is not a Being of Pity & Compassion

  He cannot feel Distress: he feeds on Sacrifice & Offering:

  Delighting in cries & tears & clothd in holiness & solitude

  50 But my griefs advance also, for ever & ever without end

  O that I could cease to be! Despair! I am Despair

  Created to be the great example of horror & agony: also my

  Prayer is vain I called for compassion: compassion mockd

  Mercy & pity threw the grave stone over me & with lead

  And iron, bound it over me for ever: Life lives on my

  Consuming: & the Almighty hath made me his Contrary

  To be all evil, all reversed & for ever dead: knowing

  And seeing life, yet living not; how can I then behold

  And not tremble; how can I be beheld & not abhorrd

  60 So spoke the Spectre shuddring, & dark tears ran down his shadowy face

  Which Los wipd off, but comfort none could give! or beam of hope

  Yet ceasd he not from labouring at the roarings of his Forge

  With iron & brass Building Golgonooza in great contendings