THE
LOOKING - GLASS
45
Down to the loveless sea
Where lay Persephone
Violate , where the shade
of earth is black ,
Crystalline
out of space
Flames the immortal face !
The glory of the comet -tailed track
Blinds all black earth with tears.
Silence awakes and hears
The music of thy moving come
over the starry spheres.'
The song of
“
The Hours,» 2 and
“ Spring ,
also magnificent , as are
the
Invocation
of Hecate ;'
the three Judges ,' and the Furies
;
the latter of which
is one
of the most musical lyrics Crowley
has as yet
written .
The Song of Orpheus
flashes and flames
as
we read it :
" 3 are
The magical task and the labour is ended ;
The toils are unwoven , the battle is done ;
My lover comes
back to my arms , to the splendid
Abyss of the air and abode of the sun .
The sword be assuaged, and the bow be unbended
!
The labour is past, and the victory won .
The arrows of song through Hell
cease
to hurtle.
Away to the passionate gardens of Greece ,
Where the thrush is awake , and the voice of the turtle
Is soft in the amorous places of peace ,
And the tamarisk groves and the olive and myrtle
Stir ever with love and content and release .
O bountiful bowers and O beautiful gardens !
O isles in the azure Ionian deep !
Ere ripens the sun , ere the spring -wind hardens
Your fruits once again ye shall have
me to keep.
The sleep -god laments, and the love -goddess pardons ,
When love at the last sinks unweary to sleep .?
1 Orpheus, vol.
iii,
p
.
168
.
3
Ibid
.
vol
.
iii,
pp
.
146
,
147
.
s
Ibid
.
vol
.
iii,
pp
.
182-187
.
Ibid
.
vol
.
iii,
p
.
200
.
2
Ibid
.
vol
.
iii,
p
.
145
.
4
Ibid
.
vol
.
iii
,
p
.
177
.
6
Ibid
.
vol
.
iii,
pp
.
194-199
.