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1904 · PDF PAGE 10

The Sword of Song

ASCENSION DAY 3 Or, cradle be hardship, and finally coffin, ease, Love being filth? let us ask Aristophanes ! Or, heaven’s sun bake us, while Earth’s bugs and fleas kill us, Love the God’s scourge ? I refer you to Aeschylus ! (Nay ! that’s a slip ! Say we “Earth’s grim device, cool loss !—” Better the old Greek orthography !—Aischulos !14) Or, love be God’s cham pagne’s foam ; deat h i n m an’s trough, hock lees, Pathos our port’s beeswing ? what answers Sophocles ? Brief, with love’s medicine let’s draught, bolus, globule us ! Wise and succinc…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 30

The Sword of Song

…hing. I slid back To common sense, as reason bids, And “hence,” my friend, “the Pyramids.” At last I met a maniac With mild eyes full of love, and tresses Blanched in those lonely wildernesses Where he found wisdom, and long hands Gentle, pale olive ’gainst the sand’s Amber and gold. At sight, I knew him ; Swifter than light I flashed, ran to him, And at his holy feet prostrated My head ; then, all my being sated With love, cried “Master ! I must know. Already I can love.” E’en so. The sage saluted me ram, ram,9 lmba p'av kI b'I dam , janI yh s…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 48

The Sword of Song

…ter ! The plain fact is : materialise What spiritual fact you choose, And all such turn to folly—lose The subtle splendour, and the wise Love and dear bliss of truth. Beware Lest your lewd laughter set a snare For any ! Thus and only thus Will I admit a difference ’Twixt spirit and the things of sense. What is the quarrel between us ? Why do our thoughts so idly clatter ? I do not care one jot for matter, One jot for spirit, while you say One is pure ether, one pure clay. I’ve talked too long : you’re very good— I only hope you’ve understood ! …

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1904 · PDF PAGE 77

The Sword of Song

…t shooteth down fresh roots into the aching earth. F or the boy grew and becam e a m an; and his ey es kindled with the lust of life and love; and the de- sire stirred him to see the round world and its many marvels. Wherefore he went forth, taking his father’s store of gold, laid up for him against that bitter day , and he took fair maidens, and was their servant. And he builded a fine house and dwelt therein. And he took no thought. But he said : Here is a change indeed ! 1 T he com mon for mula for beginning a “Jataka,” or story of a previou…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 87

The Sword of Song

…grip, y et for others —well, let each m an take his s word! The way went through a forest. Now between two trees hung a man by one heel (Love was that tree).5 Crossed were his legs, and his arms behind his head, that hung ever downw ards, the fingers locked. “Who art thou ?” quoth our Father. “He that came before thee.” “Who am I ?” “ He that com eth after m e.” W ith that wors hipped our F ather, and took a present of a great jewel fro m him, and went his way s. And he was bitterly a-cold, for that was th e great W ater he had passed. But our …

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1904 · PDF PAGE 34

The Sword of Song

…e first-born necessity. I come to tell you why I shun The sight of men, the life and fun You know I can enjoy so well, The Nature that I love as none (I think) before me ever loved. You know I scorn the fear of Hell, By worship and all else unmoved 190 195 200 205 210 215 220 225 Our logical method. Clas- sical allusion, demonstrating erudition of poet. Whether or not spirit and matter are dis- tinct, let us in- vestigate the fundamental necessities of thought. Impermanence of the soul.

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1904 · PDF PAGE 36

The Sword of Song

…not be that one step further “’This lotused Buddha roaring murther !” ?39 Nibbana is the state above you Christians and them Hindus—Lord love you !— Where Nothing is perceived as such. This clever thought doth please me much. But if das Essen ist das Nichts— Ha ! Hegel’s window ! Ancient Lichts ! And two is one and one is two— “Bother this nonsense ! Go on, do !” My wandering thoughts you well recall ! I focus logic’s perfect prism : Lo ! the informing syllogism ! The premiss major. Life at best Is but a sorry sort of jest ; At worst, a play of…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 24

The Sword of Song

…l Betwixt Iscariot and the Devil, Throned in their midst ! No pain to feel, Tossed on some burning bed of steel, But theirs : my soul of love should swell And, on those piteous floors they trod, Feel, and make God feel, out of Hell, Across the gulf impassable, That He was damned and I was God ! Ay! Let him rise and answer me That false creative Deity, Whence came his right to rack the Earth With pangs of death,70 disease, and birth : No joy unmarred by pain and grief : Insult on injury heaped high In that quack-doctor infamy The Panacea of—Beli…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 37

The Sword of Song

…f pain, Time, space, to that eternal calm ? Blavatsky’s Himalayan Balm43 Aids us no whit—if to improve Thus the All-light, All-life, All-love, By evolution’s myrrh and gall, It would not then have been the All. Thus all conceptions fail and fall. But see the Cyclopædia-article On “Metaphysics”; miss no particle 310 315 320 325 330 335 340 345 Visible Image of the Soul of Nature, whose Name is Fat- ality. Futility of all investigations of the Mind into the First Cause. Faith our only alternative to Despair ? So says Mansel.

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1904 · PDF PAGE 80

The Sword of Song

… dagoba: and the children of light would gather round it in the cool of the evening, or in the misty glamour of dawn, and turn f orth in love and pity towards all mankind—nay , to the smallest grain of dust tossed on the utmost storms of the Sahara ! “Blessed and more blessed ! For one day came a holy Bikkhu from the land of the Peacock,2 and would take up his abode in t he hollow of their very tree. And little Perdu’ R Abu us ed to keep the mosquitoes away with the gossamer of his wings, so that the good man might be at peace. “Now the British…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 26

The Sword of Song

…y stays. One ageless anguish filled my days So that no item, like a star Sole in the supreme night, above Stands up for hope, or joy, or love. Nay, not one ignis fatuus glides Sole in that marsh, one agony To make the rest look light. Abides The thick sepulchral changeless shape Shapeless, continuous misery Whereof no smoke-wreaths might escape To show me whither lay the end, Whence the beginning. All is black, Void of all cause, all aim ; unkenned, As if I had been dead indeed— All in Christ’s name ! And I look back, And then and long time aft…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 39

The Sword of Song

… these pages Millions together—mighty sages Whom the least obstacle enrages ? Condemn the mystic if he prove Thinking less valuable than love ? Well, let them try their various plans ! Do they resolve that doubt of man’s ? How many are Hegelians ? This, though I hold him mostly true. But, to teach others that same view ? Surely long years develop reason.45 After long years, too, in thy season Bloom, Concentration’s midnight flower ! After much practice to this end I gain at last the long sought power (Which you believe you have this hour, But c…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 18

The Sword of Song

…No Yogi shot his Chandra56 so. Will Christ return ? What ho ? What ho ! What ? What ? “He meditates above Still with his Sire for mercy, love,—” And other trifles ! Far enough That Father’s purpose from such stuff ! You see, when I was young, they said : “Whate’er you ponder in your head, Or make the rest of Scripture mean, You can’t evade John iii. 16.” * “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” 340 345 350 355 360 365 370 375 Former com- par…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 46

The Sword of Song

…e And all earth’s wine may run to waste ! For by this very means Christ gained56 His glimpse into that world above Which he denominated “Love.” Indeed I think the man attained By some such means—I have not strained Out mind by chance of sense or sex To find a way less iron-brained Determining direction x;57 I know not if these Hindu methods Be best (’tis no such life and death odds, Since suffering souls to save or damn Never existed). So I fall Confessing : Well, perhance I am Myself a Christian after all ! So far at least. I must concede Chri…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 14

The Sword of Song

…nglish seems to fail me!) So, as a surgeon to a man, sir, Let me excise your Christian cancer Impersonally, without vanity, Just in pure love of poor humanity ! Here’s just the chance you’d have ! Behold The warm sun tint with early gold Yon spire : to-day’s event provide My text of wrath—Ascension-tide ! Oh ! ’tis a worthy day to wrest Hate’s diadem from Jesus’ Crest ! Ascends he ? ’Tis the very test By which we men may fairly judge, From the rough roads we mortals trudge Or God’s paths paved with heliotrope, The morals of the crucified. (Both…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 63

The Sword of Song

… man who could conceive as he did must himself have had some glorious chord in his heart vibrating to the eternal principle of Boundless Love. That this love was wrecked is for me, in some sort a relative of his, a real and bitter sorrow. He might have been so great ! He missed Heaven ! Think kindly of him ! 169. Correctly rhymes.41—Such lines, how- ever noble in sentiment, as: “ À bas les Anglais ! The Irish up !” w ill not be admitted to the competition. Irish is accented on the penultimate—bad cess ot the bloody Saxons that made it so ! The …

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1904 · PDF PAGE 9

The Sword of Song

…a courtesan! “Truth, that’s the gold”12 But don’t worry about it! I, you, or Simpkin13 can get on without it! If life’s task be work and love’s (the soft-lippèd) ease, Death be God’s glory ? discuss with Euripides ! * The numbered notes are given at p. 48 † Bacon, “Essay on Truth,” line 1. ‡ “Childe Roland to the dark Tower came.”—BROWNING. Curious posi- tion of poet. What is Truth? said jesting Pilate: but Crowley waits for an answer.† Alternative theories of Greek authors. Browning’s summary. 5 10 15 20 25 30

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1904 · PDF PAGE 122

The Sword of Song

…ul cause of woe. The will, we all know, is ever readier than the mind, and so, though w e aspire to renounce the pleasures of s ense, to love and pity all that lives, yet perhaps we often fail in the accom plishment of our aspiration. But if the desire to becom e pitiful and pure be but honest and earnest, we have gained the Second Step upon the Path—Sammasankappo, Right Aspiration. “He whose motives are pure has no need to conceal the Truth—he who truly loves and who has a m alice towards none, will ever speak only fair and s oft words. By a m…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 127

The Sword of Song

…sion growing to distil a doubtful tear. These are with m e, these are of m e, these approve me, these obey, Choose me, move me, fear me, love me, master of the night and day. These are real, these illusion: I am of them, false or frail, True or lasting, all is fusion in the spirit’s shadow-veil, Till the Knowledge-Lotus flowering hides the world beneath its stem; Neither I, nor God life-showering, find a counterpart in them. As a spirit in a vision shows a countenance of fear, Laughs the looker to derision, only comes to disappear, Gods and mor…

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1904 · PDF PAGE 54

The Sword of Song

…y his servant. Regan avenges her husband promptly, and I have little doubt that this act of excessive courtesy towards a man she did not love is the moral cause of her unhappy end. I would not that we should not attempt to draw any opinions as to the author’s design from the conversation of the vulgar ; even had we not Coriolanus to show us what he thought. IV. Act IV. develops the plot and is little germane to our matter, save that w e catch a glimpse of the unspeakably vile Cordelia, with no pity for her father’s serious condition (though no …

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