Thelema ScholarTHE ALEISTER CROWLEY COLLECTION
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1905 · PDF PAGE 57

Oracles

…subtle complice, who as blatant Beast Brandest vile Crœsus, him that pities least ! O Satan, have pity of my long misery ! Who in girls’ eyes and hearts implantest deep Lust for the wound, the twain that wound bids weep ! O Satan, have pity of my long misery ! Staff of the exiled, the inventor’s spark, Confessor of hanged men and plotters dark ! O Satan, have pity of my long misery ! Adopted sire of whom black wrath and power Of God the Father chased from Eden Bower ! O Satan, have pity of my long misery ! FEMMES DAMNÉES. Like pensive cattle co…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 33

Oracles

MY WIFE DIES “ Marriage and death and division Make barren our lives.”—SWINBURNE. THE sun of love shone through my love’s deep eyes And made a rainbow of her tender tears, And on her cheeks I saw a blush arise When her lips opened to say, loverwise, “ I love ”—and light broke through the cloud of fears That hid her eyes. The storm of passion woke in her red lips When first they clung to mine and rested there ; Lightnings of love were eager to eclipse That earlier sunshine, and her whole soul clips My soul—I kissed out life, within her hair Upon…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 90

Oracles

HYMN TO APOLLO 85 O hear me ! hear me ! hear me ! for my hands, Dews deathly bathe them ; sinks the stricken song ; Eyes that were feeble have become the strong, See thee and glisten. Blindness is mine ; my spirit understands, Weighs out the offering, accepts the pain, Hearing the pæan of the unprofane ! Lycian, listen ! God of the fiery face, the eyes inviolate ! Lord of soundless thunders, lightnings lightless ! Hear me now, for joy that I see thee sightless, Fervent to follow. Grant one boon ; destroy me, let me die elate, Blasted with light…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 133

Oracles

… more I saw than this, The shadowy bending to the first sweet kiss That surely could not end, though earth should end. Therefore my shut eyes blend With sleep’s own secret eyes and eyelashes, Long and deep ecstasies, Knowing as now I know—at last—how this Foreshadows my own bliss Of falling into death when life is tired. For all things desired Not one as death is so desirable, Seeing all sorrows pass, all joys endure, All lessons last. Not heaven and not hell (My spirit is grown sure) Await the lover But death’s veil draws, life’s mother to dis…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 123

Oracles

…hing lived : Death, and nought died. The king’s brow fell. Sore grieved He rose, not knowing : and before his will Swan’s throat, dove’s eyes, moon’s breast, and woman’s mouth, And form desirable Of all the clustered love drew back : grew still “ O turn, my lover, turn thee to the South ! ” The girl’s warm song of the Siesta’s hour. Heedless of all that flower, Eager to feel the strong brown fingers close On the unshrinking rose And pluck it to his breast to perish there, With neither thought nor care Nor knowledge he went forth : none stayed, …

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1905 · PDF PAGE 100

Oracles

…! I stood and laughed upon the Ancient One. For He was silent as my body’s kiss, And sleeping as my many-coloured hair, And living as my eyes and lips ; and where The vast creation round him cried “ He Is ! ”, No murmur reached Him ; He was set alone, Alone and central. And my eyes were dim; I worshipped even ; for I envied Him. So, moving upward to the azure throne, I spread my arms unto that ambient mist ; Lifted my life and soul up to be kissed !

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1905 · PDF PAGE 37

Oracles

32 THE CANNIBALS I might behold thine eyes as red as fire A tigress maddened with supreme desire ; White arms that clasp me ; fervent breast that glides An eager snake, about my breast and sides ; Teeth keen to bite, red tongue that never tires, And lips ensaguine with unfed desires, A very beast of prey ; hot hands caress, And violent breath that surfeits not excess. But raise no head ! I know thee, breast and thigh, Lips, hair, and eyes, and mouth : I will not die But thou come with me o’er the gate of death. So, bloody and body furious with …

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1905 · PDF PAGE 31

Oracles

…ome, love, within the gloom ! For one last night, sweet sister, be the same ; Come, nestle with me in sweet Death’s hot womb ! Two sunny eyes ! And this is all my ruin ! Two gleaming thighs ! And all to my undoing ! Far-swelling curves in ivory rapture rise Warm and too white—bethink you of the wooing ! A kiss of fire ; A touch of passionate yearning Steals higher and higher— And kisses are returning ! The strong white grasp draws me still nigher and nigher, Our fusing forms in one fierce furnace burning ! 26

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1905 · PDF PAGE 29

Oracles

…I Skies are grown redder far ; Tempest draws nigher ; Dark lowers a single star ; Mars, like the fire ! Fiercer our lips engage ; Limbs, eyes, ears gather rage ; Sharp grows desire. Hear thy short bitter cries ? Pity thine agonies ? Loose, though love tire ? Nay, neither hear nor spare ; Frenzy shall mock at prayer ; Torture’s red torch shall flare Till thou expire. IV Stars stud a cloudless sky ; Moon silvers blue ; Breeze is content to die ; Lightly falls dew.

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1905 · PDF PAGE 165

Oracles

…he conquering master-note Sublety. Faint, stray showers of twilight float In shadows round the well-poised head ; dark, true, Joyous the eyes laugh—and are weeping too, For all the victory of her royal throat. She showed her purse with tantalizing grace : Some sous, a franc, a key, some stuff, soft grey. The mocking laughter trills upon her tongue : “ There’s all my fortune.” “ And your pretty face ! What do you do ? ” Wearily, “ I am gay.” “ What do you hope for ? ” Simply, “ To die young.” 160

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1905 · PDF PAGE 153

Oracles

ST PATRICK’S DAY 1902 Written at Delhi. O GOOD St Patrick, turn again Thy mild eyes to the Western main ! Shalt thou be silent ? thou forget ? Are there no snakes in Ireland yet ? Death to the Saxon ! Slay nor spare ! O God of Justice, hear us swear ! The iron Saxon’s bloody hand Metes out his murder on the land. The light of Erin is forlorn. The country fades : the people mourn. Of land bereft, of right beguiled, Starved, tortured, murdered, or exiled ; Of freedom robbed, of faith cajoled, In secret councils bought and sold ! Their weapons are…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 116

Oracles

…tten in the woods above Kandy. Inscribed to T. Davidson. LURED by the loud big-breasted courtezan That plies trained lechery of obedient eyes, He sits, holds bed’s last slattern-sweet surprise, Late plucked from gutter to grace groves of Pan. The third one, ruddy as they twain are wan, Hungrily gazes, sees her tower of lies Blasted that instant in some wizard wise— The frozen look—the miserable man ! What sudden barb of what detested dart Springs from Apollo’s bowstring to his heart ? On sense-dulled ears what Voice rings the decree ? “ For the…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 92

Oracles

…wn : Surely the laurel and crown have faded and left me alone. Vainly I cry in the sunlight ; moon pities my passion in vain. Dark to my eyes is the one light, aching in bosom and brain. Surely, O mother, thou knowest ! Have I not followed thy star ? I have gone whither thou goest, bitterly followed afar, 87

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1905 · PDF PAGE 45

Oracles

… makes my face grey ; my senses swoon. Here, in the glamour of the moon, will not some pitying godhead weep For cold grey anguish of her eyes, that look to God, and look in vain, For death, the anodyne of pain, for sleep, earth’s trivial paradise ? Sleep I forget. Her silky breath no longer fans my ears ; I dream I float on some forgotten stream that hath a savour still of death, A sweet warm smell of hidden flowers whose heavy petals kiss the sun, Fierce tropic poisons every one that fume and sweat through forest hours. They grow in darkness ;…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 50

Oracles

… draw my breath ; my face Loses its lustre in the grace of her quick bosom ; sinister The raving spectres reel ; I see beyond my Circe’s eyes no shape Save vague cloud-measures that escape the dance’s whirling witchery.

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1905 · PDF PAGE 136

Oracles

… love missed them, Awaiting the moon ? But thou, who art Light, and above them, Who art fire and above them as fire, Shall thy sightless eyes not love them Who are all of thine own desire ? Immaculate daughters of passion, Shalt thou as they pass be past ? And thy people bewail thee, Thalassian, Lost, lost at the last ? III Nay, ere ye pass your people pass, As snow on summer hills, As dew upon the grass, As one that love fulfils, If he in folly wills Love a lass. Yet on this night of smiles and tears A maiden is the theme. The universe appears…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 47

Oracles

…ke angels’ wings, when as a flood God’s essence fills them, and the blood throughout their web grows icy cold ? To thy red centre are my eyes held fast and fervent, as at night Some sad miasma lends a light of strange and silent blasphemies To lure a soul to hell, to draw some saint’s charred lust, to tempt, to win Another sacrifice to sin, another poet’s heart to gnaw With dubious remorse. Oh ! flame of torturing flower- love ! sacrament Of Satan, triple element of mystery and love and shame, Green, gold, and crimson, in my heart you strive wi…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 156

Oracles

…y of this wandering. Had he been able to have counted Love Or Power, or Knowledge as the sole strong thing Fit to suffice his quest, his eyes had gleamed With the success already grasped. The sting Of all he suffered, was that he esteemed His quest partook of all and yet of none. So as he rode the woodlands out there beamed The dull large spectre of a grim flat sun, Red and obscure upon the leaden haze That lapped and wrapped and rode the horizon. The Earl rode steadily on. A crest caught rays Of that abominable sunset, sharp With needles of yo…

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1905 · PDF PAGE 137

Oracles

…o am I ? To-night if her heart I uncover No heart in the night I espy. I am grips with the question of eld, and the sphinx holds fast My eyes to the past. Who am I, when I say I languish ? Who is she, if I call her mine ? And the fool’s and the wise man’s anguish Are burnt in the bitter shrine. The god is far as the stars, and the wine and fire Salt with desire. Desunt cetera.

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1905 · PDF PAGE 80

Oracles

…uch, draw me with thy kiss Into thine own deep bliss, Into thy sleep, thy life, thy imperishable crown ! Let that young godhead in thine eyes Pierce mine, fulfil me of their secrecies, Thy peace, thy purity, thy soul impenetrably wise. II All things which are complete are solitary ; The circling moon, the inconscient drift of stars, The central systems. Burn they, change they, vary ? Theirs is no motion beyond the eternal bars. Seasons and scars Stain not the planets, the unfathomed home, The spaceless, unformed faces in the dome Brighter and b…

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