The Star in the West

6 THE STAR IN THE WEST As another Ariadne I here offer this work to my readers as a twisted clue of silk and hemp to guide them safely through the labyrinthine mysteries of poetry and magic , whose taurine crags hug the blue sky , amorous as the kisses of Pasiphae ; across the Elysian fields of myrtle and asphodel , up the eagle -crested slopes of Olympus , and over the shining sun -scorched sands of Ammon , tawny and silken as the crouching form of some colossal lion , to the cool groves of Eleusis child -like dreaming in the bosom of silvery Attica by the blue Ægean sea . Yet those who would drink deeper of the wine of this magical Eucharist , spilt with due reverence on the pages of this volume , they must seek it in the Sibyl line verses of those books from which this one has drawn its life -blood . And they are : Aceldama . The Tale of Archais . Songs of the Spirit . Jezebel . An Appeal to the American People . Jephthah . The Mother's Tragedy . The Soul of Osiris . Carmen Saeculare . Tannhäuser . Berashith . Ahab . The God -Eater Alice . The Sword of Song . The Star and the Garter . The Argonauts . Goetia .