The Star in the West

274 THE STAR IN THE WEST For the old gods indeed go down to death , But the new gods arise from rottenness . 1 2 The pantheistic idea , which is so near akin to the agnostic , we find set in the fine prayer of Jephthah , and still more so in the final words of Tannhäuser : I say , then “ I ”; and yet it is not “ I ” Distinct , but “ I " incorporate in All.3 It further finds development in the last four lines of “ Ode to Poesy ”: No man, No petty god , but One who governs all , Slips the sun's leash , perceives the sparrow's fall , Too high for me to fear , too near for man to call .* And arrives at full manhood in such fine lines as the following : God is the Complex as the Protoplast : He is the First ( not “ was "), and is the Last . ( Not “ will be ") ... 6 God slips you , He is Undefinable . Not good ! Not wise ! Not anything at all .6 Isis am I, and from my life are fed All stars and suns , all moons that wax and wane , Create and uncreate , living and dead , The mystery of Pain . I am the Mother ,I the silent Sea , The Earth , its travail , its fertility . Life , death , love , hatred , light , darkness , return to me To Me !? 2 1 The Fatal Force , vol . i, p . 143 . Jephthah , vol . i, p . 78 . 3 Tannhäuser , vol . i, p . 261 . 4 Mysteries : Lyrical and Dramatic , vol . i, p . 115 . 5 Tannhäuser , vol . i, p . 226 . 8 Ibid . vol .I, p . 258 . ? Ibid . vol .i, p . 262 .