Collected Works (Vol. I)

JEZEBEL; AND OTHER TRAGIC POEMS. By CoUNT VLADIMIR SVAREFF.* Edited, with an Introduction and Epilogue, by ALEISTER CROWLEY. 1899. DEDICACE. LONDRES, /zzn 1808. PEINTRE, que ton amour inspire Des chansons toujours plus sublimes, Malgré qu’aujourd’hui ma mauvaise lyre Chante l’abtme. Nos espoirs, nos desirs nous rendent Des amis chers aux dieux ; Demain, ma voix, plus haute et plus profonde, : Chante les cieux. A GERALD.) |! PERDITA. LIKE leaves that fall before the sullen wind At summer’s parting kiss and autumn’s call, Lost thoughts fly half-forgotten from my mind, Like leaves that fall. They shall not come again ; the wintry pall Of consciousness clouds o’er them; they shall find No rest, no hope, no tear, no funeral. Into the night, despairing, bleeding, blind, They pass, nor know their former place at all, Lost to my soul, to God, to all mankind, Like leaves that fall. 1 Gerald Kelly, the eminent painter. JEZEBEL. ParRT I. A 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 fashioned as a sword, My voice is like the voice of death. The thunder of the Spirit’s wings Brings terror to the hearts of kings. Anon, and I am driven out In desert places by desire ; My mouth is salt and dry; I doubt If hell hath such another fire ; If God’s damnation can devise A lust to match these agonies. 1 Not Elijah, as the sequel shows. Foolish contemporary reviews, however, made this silly blunder. * Under this name the poet lay perdu in the heart of London, prosecuting, under circum- stances of romantic and savage interest, his first VOL. I. occult studies. 129 I