The Vision and the Voice

THE VISION AND THE VOICE Light, Life and Love are like three glow-worms at thy feet: the whole universe of stars, the dewdrops on the grass whereon thou walkest! Iam quite blind. Thou art Nuit! Strain, strain, strain my whole soul! Aka dua Tuf ur biu Bi a’a chefu Dudu ner af an nuteru. Falutli! Falutli! I cling unto the burning Aethyr like Lucifer that fell through the Abyss, and by the fury of his flight kindled the air. And I am Belial, for having seen the Rose upon thy breast, I have denied God. And I am Satan! I am Satan! I am cast out upon a burn- ing crag! And the sea boils about the desolation thereof. And already the vultures gather, and feast upon my flesh. Yea! Before thee all the most holy is profane, O thou desolator of shrines! O thou falsifier of the oracles of truth! Ever as I went, hath it been thus. The truth of the profane was the falsehood of the Neophyte, and the truth of the Neo- phyte was the falsehood of the Zelator! Again and again the fortress must be battered down! Again and again the pylon must be overthrown! Again and again must the gods be desecrated! And now I lie supine before thee, in terror and abasement. O Purity! O Truth! What shall I say? My tongue cleaveth to my jaws, O thou Medusa that hast turned me into stone! Yet is that stone the stone of the philosophers. Yet is that tongue Hadit. 159