THE LOOKING -GLASS
41
Lower , an ocean
of flowers ,
Trees that are warmer and leafier ,
Starrier , sunnier hours
Spurning the strain of
all
grief here
,
Bringing
a
quiet delight
to
us
,
beyond our belief
,
here
."
Whilst
in
the next three cases
I
consider
it
distinctly
faulty
:
I
see the thin web binding me
With thirteen cords
of
unity
Toward
the calm
centre
of
the sea
.?
Where larkspur and cornflower
Are blue with sunlight's hour
,3
Ring out your frosty peal
,
and smite
Loud fingers
on
the harp
,
and touch
Lutes
,
and clear psalteries musical
,
And
all
stringed instruments
,
to
indite
4
The first two
of
the above are quoted from poems
published
in
1898
,
and the
last from those published
a
year later
.
I
will not say that they are the only im
perfections
to
be
found throughout
these works
,
but
I
will say that
there
are
very few others
.
And
con
sidering
that Aleister Crowley
has written
about one
hundred thousand lines
in
the space
of
ten years
,
or
half
the
quantity
produced
by
Robert
Browning
in
fifty
-
six
,
the fewness
of
imperfections
in
his work
is
truly remarkable
.
Let
us
now
pass
from what
I
may call the
Poetic
Iconomachy
to
the Poetic Iconolatry
of
these poems
;
1
Mysteries
:
Lyrical
and Dramatic
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
125
.
2
Songs
of
the Spirit
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
31
.
Mysteries
:
Lyrical
and Dramatic
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
103
.
4
Jephthah
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
74
.
3