Thelema ScholarTHE ALEISTER CROWLEY COLLECTION
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1901 · PDF PAGE 56

The Soul of Osiris

…e of my damnation deep, Mine, if you will, as once your glances willed ! Take me, or break me, slay or sooth to sleep, If only yours one hour, one perfect hour, Remembrance and despair and hope to steep In the infernal potion of that flower, My poisonous passion for your blood ! Behold ! How utterly I yield, how gladly dower Our sin with my own spirit’s quenchéd gold, Clothe love with my own soul’s immortal power, Give thee my body as a fire to hold— O love, no words, no songs—your breast my bower !

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1901 · PDF PAGE 130

The Soul of Osiris

…e orderly ruling of events Shall change and blossom to a finer flower Until it serve to worlds and elements For aspiration in the nobler hour— Not mere repression, but the hope and crown Of fallen hierarchies no more cast down. O misery of triple love and grief And hope ! O joy of hatred and despair And happiness ! The little hour is brief, And the lithe fingers soothe the listless hair Less, and the kisses swoon to tenderer sighs And little sobs of sleeping ecstasies. No ! for the envy of the infinite Crushes the juice from out the poppy’s ste…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 80

The Soul of Osiris

…id his fellows as they spoke Low of his crime : his fear is like to choke His palsied throat. How, if Hell’s gate were slammed This very hour upon thy womanfolk ? Conceive, I charge thee ! Brace thy spirit up To drink at that imagination’s cup ! Then, shriek, and pass ! For thou shalt understand A little of the pressure of the hand That crushed me now. Yes, yes ! let fancy sup That grislier banquet than old Atreus planned ! Mind cannot fathom, nor the brain conceive, Nor soul assimilate, nor heart believe The horror of that Thing without a Name…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 49

The Soul of Osiris

…FANE. 37 And slip half-conscious to the old embrace. And now you will not let me see your face Or hear your voice or touch you. Ah ! the hour ! He moves. Come back, come back, my life’s one flower ! Come back. One kiss before you leave me. So ! Stop—turn—one little kiss before you go ; It is my right—you must. Oh no ! Oh no !

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1901 · PDF PAGE 118

The Soul of Osiris

…archipelago, Stars in their seigneury. Thine be the kingdom ! Thine the power ! The glory triply thine ! Thine, through Eternity’s swift hour, Eternity, thy shrine— Yea, by the holy lotus-flower, Even mine !

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1901 · PDF PAGE 126

The Soul of Osiris

114 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. Yet, in one hour I dare not hope, The mighty gate of Life may ope, And call me upwards to unite (Even my soul within the scope) With That Unutterable Light. Steady of purpose, girt with Truth, I pass, in my eternal youth, And watch the centuries wax and wane : Untouched by Time’s corroding tooth, Silent, immortal, unprofane ! My empire changes not with time. Men’s kingdom's cadent as a rhyme Move me as waves that rise and fall. They are the parts, that crash or climb, I only comprehend the All. I sit, as God must sit ; I…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 28

The Soul of Osiris

16 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. “ THE SONNET.” I. HE solemn hour, and the magnetic swoon Of midnight in a poet’s lonely hall ! Grave spirits answer (angels if he call) The invocations of his lofty tune. Thus in his measures nature craves the boon To be reflected ; and his rhymes appal Or charm mankind as tides that flow or fall, Waxes or wanes the tempestival moon. Her course is measured in the sonnet’s tether, Waxes the eight-fold ecstasy ; exceeds The minor sestet, where some passion bleeds Or truth discourses : or eclipse may end, Proof against thoug…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 42

The Soul of Osiris

30 THE SOUL OF OSIRIS. The sleep of bird and flower Proclaims that Heaven has power To guard its gentlest child. The lover knows the hour, And goes with dew for dower To wed in woodland wild. The silvern grasses shake, And through the startled brake Glides the awakened snake, Untamable and mild. The song of stars ; the wail Of women wild and pale, Forlorn and not forsaken ; The tremulous nightingale ; The waters wan that fail By frost-love overtaken, Make sacred all the valley ; And softly, musically, The breezes lull and rally, The pine stirs …

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1901 · PDF PAGE 127

The Soul of Osiris

…ome serpent sleeps, Sweet mockery of a thousand saintlier creeds ! Even I, that breathe your perfume, taste your breath, Know, even this hour, ye are not life, but death ! No death ye bring more godlike than desire, When seas roar tempest-lashed, and foam is flung Raging on pitiless crags, and gloomy fire Lurks in the master-cloud ; corpses are swung Helpless and horrible in trough and crest— That death were music, and the lord of rest. No death ye bring as when the storm is rolled, An imminent giant on the sun-ripped snows, L

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1901 · PDF PAGE 125

The Soul of Osiris

…ntain-head of God I draw out water with the rod Made luminous with light of power. I seal each æon’s period, And wait the moment and the hour. Aloof, alone, unloved, I stand With love and worship in my hand. I commune with the Gods : I wait Their summons, and I fire the brand. I speak their Word : and there is Fate. I know no happiness, no pain, No swift emotion, no disdain, No pity : but the boundless light Of the Eternal Love, unslain, Flows through me to redeem the night. Mine is a sad-slow life : but I, I would not gain release, and die A m…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 97

The Soul of Osiris

…rd, 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 Has 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 As if I choked ; some horror creeps between The spirit of my will and its desire, Some just reluctance …

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1901 · PDF PAGE 72

The Soul of Osiris

… knight, nor king—a miserable midge ! “ Yet from my shame I dare not turn and run. My oath grows urgent as my days are done. Almost mine hour is on me : for its sake I tell you this, as if my heart should break, The infinite desire—a burning sun. The listening fear—the sun-devouring snake ! ”

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1901 · PDF PAGE 75

The Soul of Osiris

…queen’s voice : “ Shall my love not match the king’s ? Here, from my finger drawn, this gem of power Shall guard thee in some unimagined hour. It hath strange virtue over mortal things. I freely give it for thy stirrup’s dower. ” I left the presence. Now the buffeting wind Gladdens my face—I leave the court behind. Am I Stark mad ? My face grows grim and grave ; I see—O Mary Mother, speak and save ! I stare and stare until mine eyes are blind— There was no jewel in the ring she gave ! Oh ! my pure heart ! Adulterous love began So subtly to iden…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 74

The Soul of Osiris

… softer than a virgin’s eyes : “ Go ! my true knight : for thither, thither lies The only road for thee ; thou hast a prayer Wafted each hour—my spirit will be there ! ” Too late I knew what subtle Paradise Her dreams and prayers portend : too fresh, too fair ! I turned more wretched than myself knew yet. I told my nameless pain I should forget Its shadow as it passed. The king did start, Gripped my strong hands, and held me to his heart, And could not speak a moment. Then he set A curb of sorrow and subdued its dart. “ Go ! and the blessing of…

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1901 · PDF PAGE 101

The Soul of Osiris

…your storm-scarred brows Burn with the star of majesty : your vows Have given you the wisdom and the power To weld eternities within one hour, To bind and braid the North wind’s serpent hair, And track the East wind to his mighty lair Even in the caverns of the womb of dawn ; To take the South wind and his fire withdrawn And clothe him with your kiss ; to seize the West In his gold palace where the sea-winds rest, And hurl him ravening on the breaking foam ; To find the Spirit in his glimmering home And draw his secret from unwilling lips ; To …

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1901 · PDF PAGE 48

The Soul of Osiris

…ooks desirable, The touch that fires, the next kiss, and the whole Body embracing, symbol of the soul, And all the perfect passion of an hour. Turn to me, pluck that amaranthine flower, And leave the doubtful blossoms of the sky ! You dare not kiss me ! dare not draw you nigh Lest I should lure you to remain ! nor speak Lest you should catch the blood within your cheek Mantling. You dared enough—so long ago !— When to my blossom body clean as snow You pressed your bosom till desire was pain, And—then—that midnight ! you did dare remain Though a…

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