Read The Portable William Blake Online
Authors: William Blake
The Portable William Blake (36 page)
III
IV
1.The Lungs heave incessant, dull, and heavy;
For as yet were all other parts formless,
Shiv‘ring, clinging around like a cloud,
Dim & glutinous as the white Polypus
Driv’n by waves & englob’d on the tide.
For as yet were all other parts formless,
Shiv‘ring, clinging around like a cloud,
Dim & glutinous as the white Polypus
Driv’n by waves & englob’d on the tide.
2.And the unformed part crav’d repose;
Sleep began; the Lungs heave on the wave:
Weary, overweigh’d, sinking beneath
In a stifling black fluid, he woke.
Sleep began; the Lungs heave on the wave:
Weary, overweigh’d, sinking beneath
In a stifling black fluid, he woke.
3.He arose on the waters; but soon
Heavy falling, his organs like roots
Shooting out from the seed, shot beneath,
And a vast world of waters around him
In furious torrents began.
Heavy falling, his organs like roots
Shooting out from the seed, shot beneath,
And a vast world of waters around him
In furious torrents began.
4.Then he sunk, & around his spent Lungs
Began intricate pipes that drew in
The spawn of the waters, Outbranching
An immense Fibrous Form, stretching out
Thro’ the bottoms of immensity raging.
Began intricate pipes that drew in
The spawn of the waters, Outbranching
An immense Fibrous Form, stretching out
Thro’ the bottoms of immensity raging.
5.He rose on the floods; then he smote
The wild deep with his terrible wrath,
Seperating the heavy and thin.
The wild deep with his terrible wrath,
Seperating the heavy and thin.
6.Down the heavy sunk, cleaving around
To the fragments of solid: up rose
The thin, flowing round the fierce fires
That glow’d furious in the expanse.
To the fragments of solid: up rose
The thin, flowing round the fierce fires
That glow’d furious in the expanse.
1.Then Light first began: from the fires,
Beams, conducted by fluid so pure,
Flow’d around the Immense. Los beheld
Forthwith, writhing upon the dark void,
The Back bone of Urizen appear
Hurtling upon the wind
Like a serpent! like an iron chain
Whirling about in the Deep.
Beams, conducted by fluid so pure,
Flow’d around the Immense. Los beheld
Forthwith, writhing upon the dark void,
The Back bone of Urizen appear
Hurtling upon the wind
Like a serpent! like an iron chain
Whirling about in the Deep.
2.Upfolding his Fibres together
To a Form of impregnable strength,
Los, astonish’d and terrified, built
Furnaces; he formed an Anvil,
A Hammer of adamant: then began
The binding of Urizen day and night.
To a Form of impregnable strength,
Los, astonish’d and terrified, built
Furnaces; he formed an Anvil,
A Hammer of adamant: then began
The binding of Urizen day and night.
3.Circling round the dark Demon with bowlings,
Dismay & sharp blightings, the Prophet-Of
Eternity beat on his iron links.
Dismay & sharp blightings, the Prophet-Of
Eternity beat on his iron links.
4.And first from those infinite fires,
The light that flow’d down on the winds
He siez‘d, beating incessant, condensing
The subtil particles in an Orb.
The light that flow’d down on the winds
He siez‘d, beating incessant, condensing
The subtil particles in an Orb.
5.Roaring indignant, the bright sparks
Endur’d the vast Hammer; but unwearied
Los beat on the Anvil, till glorious
An immense Orb of fire he fram’d.
Endur’d the vast Hammer; but unwearied
Los beat on the Anvil, till glorious
An immense Orb of fire he fram’d.
6.Oft he quench’d it beneath in the Deeps,
Then survey’d the all bright mass, Again
Siezing fires from the terrific Orbs,
He heated the round Globe, then beat,
While, roaring, his Furnaces endur’d
The chain’d Orb in their infinite wombs
.Then survey’d the all bright mass, Again
Siezing fires from the terrific Orbs,
He heated the round Globe, then beat,
While, roaring, his Furnaces endur’d
The chain’d Orb in their infinite wombs
7.Nine ages completed their circles
When Los heated the glowing mass, casting
It down into the Deeps: the Deeps fled
Away in redounding smoke: the Sun
Stood self-balanc’d. And Los smil’d with joy.
He the vast Spine of Urizen siez’d,
And bound down to the glowing illusion.
When Los heated the glowing mass, casting
It down into the Deeps: the Deeps fled
Away in redounding smoke: the Sun
Stood self-balanc’d. And Los smil’d with joy.
He the vast Spine of Urizen siez’d,
And bound down to the glowing illusion.
8.But no light! for the Deep fled away
On all sides, and left an unform’d
Dark vacuity: here Urizen lay
In fierce torments on his glowing bed;
On all sides, and left an unform’d
Dark vacuity: here Urizen lay
In fierce torments on his glowing bed;
9.Till his Brain in a rock & his Heart
In a fleshy slough formed four rivers
Obscuring the immense Orb of fire
Flowing down into night: till a Form
Was completed, a Human Illusion
In darkness and deep clouds involv’d.
In a fleshy slough formed four rivers
Obscuring the immense Orb of fire
Flowing down into night: till a Form
Was completed, a Human Illusion
In darkness and deep clouds involv’d.
THE END OF THE BOOK OF LOS
THE SONG OF LOS
(1795)
AFRICAI will sing you a song of Los, the Eternal Prophet:
He sung it to four harps at the tables of Etemity. In heart-formed Africa
Urizen faded! Ariston shudder’d! And thus the Song began:
Adam stood in the garden of Eden
And Noah on the mountains of Ararat;
They saw Urizen give his Laws to the Nations
By the hands of the children of Los.
And Noah on the mountains of Ararat;
They saw Urizen give his Laws to the Nations
By the hands of the children of Los.
Adam shudder’d! Noah faded! black grew the sunny African
When Rintrah gave Abstract Philosophy to Brama in the East.
(Night spoke to the Cloud:
“Lo these Human form’d spirits, in smiling hipocrisy, War
Against one another; so let them War on, slaves to the eternal Elements.”)
Noah shrunk beneath the waters;
Abram fled in fires from Chaldea;
Moses beheld upon Mount Sinai forms of dark delusion.
To Trismegistus, Palamabron gave an abstract Law:
To Pythagoras, Socrates & Plato.
Times rolled on o‘er all the sons of Har: time after time
Ore on Mount Atlas howl’d, chain’d down with the Chain of Jealousy;
Then Oothoon hover’d over Judah & Jerusalem,
And Jesus heard her voice (a man of sorrows) he reciev’ d
A Gospel from wretched Theotormon.
The human race began to wither, for the healthy built
Secluded places, fearing the joys of Love,
And the diseased only propagated.
So Antamon call’d up Leutha from her valleys of delight
And to Mahomet a loose Bible gave.
But in the North, to Odin, Sotha gave a Code of War,
Because of Diralada, thinking to reclaim his joy.
These were the Churches, Hospitals, Castles, Palaces,
Like nets & gins & traps to catch the joys of Eternity,
And all the rest a desart;
Till, like a dream, Eternity was obliterated & erased.
Since that dread day when Har and Heva fled
Because their brethren & sisters liv’d in War & Lust;
And as they fled they shrunk
Into two narrow doleful forms
Creeping in reptile flesh upon
The bosom of the ground;
And all the vast of Nature shrunk
Before their shrunken eyes.
Thus the terrible race of Los & Enitharmon gave
Laws & Religions to the sons of Har, binding them more And more to Earth, closing and restraining,
Till a Philosophy of Five Senses was complete.
Urizen wept & gave it into the hands of Newton & Locke.
Clouds roll heavy upon the Alps round Rousseau & Voltaire,
And on the mountains of Lebanon round the deceased Gods
Of Asia, & on the desarts of Africa round the Fallen Angels
The Guardian Prince of Albion burns in his nightly tent.
ASIAThe Kings of Asia heard
The howl rise up from Europe,
And each ran out from his Web,
From his ancient woven Den;
For the darkness of Asia was startled
At the thick-flaming, thought-creating fires of Orc.
The howl rise up from Europe,
And each ran out from his Web,
From his ancient woven Den;
For the darkness of Asia was startled
At the thick-flaming, thought-creating fires of Orc.
And the Kings of Asia stood
And cried in bitterness of soul:
And cried in bitterness of soul:
“Shall not the King call for Famine from the heath,
Nor the Priest for Pestilence from the fen,
To restrain, to dismay, to thin
The inhabitants of mountain and plain,
In the day of full-feeding prosperity
And the night of delicious songs?
Nor the Priest for Pestilence from the fen,
To restrain, to dismay, to thin
The inhabitants of mountain and plain,
In the day of full-feeding prosperity
And the night of delicious songs?
“Shall not the Councellor throw his curb
Of Poverty on the laborious,
To fix the price of labour,
To invent allegoric riches?
Of Poverty on the laborious,
To fix the price of labour,
To invent allegoric riches?
“And the privy admonishers of men
Call for fires in the City,
For heaps of smoking ruins
In the night of prosperity & wantonness?
Call for fires in the City,
For heaps of smoking ruins
In the night of prosperity & wantonness?
“To turn man from his path,
To restrain the child from the womb,
To cut off the bread from the city,
That the remnant may learn to obey,
To restrain the child from the womb,
To cut off the bread from the city,
That the remnant may learn to obey,
“That the pride of the heart may fail,
That the lust of the eyes may be quench‘d,
That the delicate ear in its infancy
May be dull’d, and the nostrils clos’d up,
To teach mortal worms the path
That leads from the gates of the Grave?”
That the lust of the eyes may be quench‘d,
That the delicate ear in its infancy
May be dull’d, and the nostrils clos’d up,
To teach mortal worms the path
That leads from the gates of the Grave?”
Urizen heard them cry,
And his shudd’ring, waving wings
Went enormous above the red flames,
Drawing clouds of despair thro’ the heavens
Of Europe as he went.
And his Books of brass, iron & gold
Melted over the land as he flew,
Heavy-waving, howling, weeping.
And his shudd’ring, waving wings
Went enormous above the red flames,
Drawing clouds of despair thro’ the heavens
Of Europe as he went.
And his Books of brass, iron & gold
Melted over the land as he flew,
Heavy-waving, howling, weeping.
And he stood over Judea,
And stay’d in his ancient place,
And stretch’d his clouds over Jerusalem;
And stay’d in his ancient place,
And stretch’d his clouds over Jerusalem;
For Adam, a mouldering skeleton,
Lay bleach’d on the garden of Eden;
And Noah, as white as snow,
On the mountains of Ararat.
Lay bleach’d on the garden of Eden;
And Noah, as white as snow,
On the mountains of Ararat.
Then the thunders of Urizen bellow’d aloud
From his woven darkness above.
From his woven darkness above.
Ore, raging in European darkness,
Arose like a pillar of fire above the Alps,
Like a serpent of fiery flame!
The sullen Earth
Shrunk!
Arose like a pillar of fire above the Alps,
Like a serpent of fiery flame!
The sullen Earth
Shrunk!
Forth from the dead dust, rattling bones to bones
Join; shaking convuls‘d, the shiv’ring clay breathes,
And all flesh naked stands: Fathers and Friends,
Mothers & Infants, Kings & Warriors.
Join; shaking convuls‘d, the shiv’ring clay breathes,
And all flesh naked stands: Fathers and Friends,
Mothers & Infants, Kings & Warriors.
The Grave shrieks with delight & shakes
Her hollow womb & clasps the solid stem:
Her bosom swells with wild desire,
And milk & blood & glandous wine
In rivers rush & shout & dance,
On mountain, dale and plain.
Her hollow womb & clasps the solid stem:
Her bosom swells with wild desire,
And milk & blood & glandous wine
In rivers rush & shout & dance,
On mountain, dale and plain.
The SONG of LOS is Ended.
Urizen Wept.
From THE FOUR ZOAS
(1797)
THE TORMENTS OF LOVE & JEALOUSY IN
THE DEATH AND JUDGEMENT
OF ALBION THE ANCIENT MAN
THE DEATH AND JUDGEMENT
OF ALBION THE ANCIENT MAN
VALA
[INTRODUCTION TO NIGHT THE FIRST]The Song of the Aged Mother which shook the heavens with wrath,
Hearing the march of long resounding, strong heroic Verse
Marshall’d in order for the day of Intellectual Battle.
The heavens quake, the earth was moved & shudder’d, & the mountains
With all their woods, the streams & valleys wail’d in dismal fear.
Four Mighty Ones are in every Man; a Perfect Unity
Cannot Exist but from the Universal Brotherhood of Eden,
The Universal Man, To Whom be Glory Evermore. Amen.
What are the Natures of those Living Creatures the Heav’nly Father only
Knoweth. No Individual knoweth, nor can know in all Eternity.
[ENION AND THARMAS]Enion said: “Thy fear has made me tremble, thy terrors have surrounded me.
All Love is lost: Terror succeeds, & Hatred instead of Love,
And stern demands of Right & Duty instead of Liberty.
Once thou wast to Me the loveliest son of heaven—But now
Why art thou Terrible? and yet I love thee in thy terror till
I am almost Extinct & soon shall be a shadow in Oblivion,
(Unless some way can be found that I may look upon thee & live.
Hide me some shadowy semblance, secret whisp’ring in my Ear,
In secret of soft wings, in mazes of delusive beauty.
I have look’d into the secret soul of him I lov’d,
And in the Dark recesses found Sin & cannot return.”
Trembling & pale sat Tharmas, weeping in his clouds.
“Why wilt thou Examine every little fibre of my soul,
Spreading them out before the sun like stalks of flax to dry?
The infant joy is beautiful, but its anatomy
Horrible, Ghast & Deadly; nought shalt thou find in it
But Death, Despair & Everlasting brooding Melancholy.
Thou wilt go mad with horror if thou dost Examine thus
Every moment of my secret hours. Yea, I know
That I have sinn’d, & that my Emanations are become harlots.
I am already distracted at their deeds. & if I look
Upon them more, Despair will bring self-murder on my soul.
O Enion, thou art thyself a root growing in hell,
Tho’ thus heavenly beautiful to draw me to destruction.”
[THE SOLITARY WANDERER]Enion brooded o’er the rocks; the rough rocks groaning vegetate.
Such power was given to the Solitary wanderer:
The barked Oak. the long limb’d Beech, the Chestnut tree, the Pine,
The Pear tree mild, the frowning Walnut, the sharp Crab, & Apple sweet,
The rough bark opens; twittering peep forth little beaks & wings,
The Nightingale, the Goldfinch, Robin, Lark, Linnet & Thrush.
The Coat leap’d from the craggy cliff, the Sheep awoke from the mould,
Upon its green stalk rose the Corn, waving innumerable,
Infolding the bright Infants from the desolating winds.
[URIZEN THE GOD]Los answer’d furious: “Art thou one of those who when most complacent
Mean mischief most? If you are such, Lo! I am also such.
One must be master. Try thy Arts. I also will try mine,
For I percieve thou hast Abundance which I claim as mine.”
Urizen startled stood, but not Long; Soon he cried:
“Obey my voice, young Demon; I am God from Eternity to Eternity.
Art thou a visionary of Jesus, the soft delusion of Eternity?
Lo I am God, the terrible destroyer, & not the Saviour.
Why should the Divine Vision compell the sons of Eden
To forego each his own delight, to war against his spectre?
The Spectre is the Man. The rest is only delusion & fancy.
”
”
Thus Urizen spoke, collected in himself in awful pride.
Ten thousand thousand were his hosts of spirits on the wind,
Ten thousand thousand glittering Chariots shining in the sky.
They pour upon the golden shore beside the silent ocean,
Rejoicing in the Victory, & the heavens were fill’d with blood.
The Earth spread forth her table wide; the Night, a silver cup
Fill’d with the wine of anguish, waited at the golden feast.
But the bright Sun was not as yet; he, filling all the expanse,
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