42
THE
STAR
IN THE WEST
from Aleister Crowley's
war against
poetic
form , to
his
adoration
of poetic
imagery ;
and
then
to
the
keynote
of
the
whole
of
his
poetry,
and ,
as
we
shall presently see , his philosophy
as well , namely
---
Ecstasy
.
In
“
Gargoyles
”
we find
several
truly
wonderful
picture poems
.
Thus
in
“
The White Cat
”:
Hail
,
sweet
my sister
!
hail
,
adulterous spouse
,
Gilded with passionate pomp
,
and gay with guilt
:
Rioting
,
rioting
in
the dreary house
With
blood
and wine and
roses
splashed
and spilt
About thy dabbling feet
,
and aching jaws
Whose tongue
licks mine
,
twin asps like moons
that
curl
,
Red moons
of
blood
!
Whose catlike body claws
,
Like
a
white swan
raping
a
jet
-
black girl
,
Mine
,
with hysteric laughter
And
the
following
four
verses
in
"
Saida
”
superb
:
The spears
of
the night
at
her onset
Are lords
of
the day for
a
while
,
The magical green
of
the sunset
,
The magical blue
of
the Nile
.
Afloat are the gales
In
our slumberous sails
On the beautiful
breast
of
the Nile
.
are
We have swooned through the midday exhausted
By the lips
--
they are whips
-
of
the sun
,
The horizon befogged and befrosted
By
the haze
and
the grays and
the dun
Of the whirlings
of
sand
Let loose
on the land
By the wind that
is
born
of
the sun
.
Thrilled
through
to
the marrow with heat
We abode
(
as
we glode
)
on
the river
.
Every arrow
he
launched from his seat
,
Gargoyles
,
vol
.
iii,
p
.
86
.