The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse

ALEISTER CROWLEY The Neophyte SIGHT I tread the unsubstantial way ‘That looms before me, as the thundering night Falls on the ocean : I must stop, and pray One little prayer, and then—what bitter fight Flames at the end beyond the darkling goal ? “These are my passions that my feet must tread; ‘This is my sword, the fervour of my soul ; ‘This is my Will, the crown upon my head. For see! the darkness beckons : I have gone, Before this terrible hour, towards the gloom, Braved the wild dragon, called the tiger on With whirling cries of pride, sought out the tomb Where lurking vampires battened, and my steel Fhas wrought its splendour through the gates of death, ‘My courage did not falter: now I feel My heart beat wave-wise, and my throat catch breath Asif [choked; some horror creeps between ‘The spirit of my will and its desire, Some just reluctance to the Great Unseen ‘That coils its nameless terrors, and its dit Fear round my heart ; a devil cold as ice Breathes somewhere, for I feel his shudder take ‘My veins: some deadlier asp or cockatrice Slimes in my senses : T am half awake, ‘Half automatic, as I move along Wrappedin a cloud of blackness deep as hell, _ Hsing afar some halt-forgicen 005 s of dsraption; yet strange glories dwell Aonemy fel oro is the very Dawn, would strike wis "The limitationsof this deadly aight, _ ‘That folds me for the sign of death and sin— aa es: “ te = describes the Init ‘of the true * Hermeth nit of BeBe en of