READING
From Liber Lapidis Lazuli: Chapter II.
- O my God! use Thou me again, alway. For ever! For ever!
- That which came fire from Thee cometh water from me; let
therefore Thy Spirit lay hold on me, so that my right hand loose
the lightning.
- Travelling through space, I saw the onrush of two galaxies,
butting each other and goring like bulls upon earth. I was afraid.
- Thus they ceased fight, and turned upon me, and I was sorely
crushed and torn.
- I had rather have been trampled by the World-Elephant.
- O my God! Thou art my little pet tortoise!
- Yet Thou sustainest the World-Elephant.
- I creep under Thy carapace, like a lover into the bed of
his beautiful; I creep in, and sit in Thine heart, as cubby and
cosy as may be.
- Thou shelterest me, that I hear not the trumpeting of that
World-Elephant.
- Thou art not worth an obol in the agora; yet Thou art not
to be bought at the ransom of the whole Universe.
- Thou art like a beautiful Nubian slave leaning her naked
purple against the green pillars of marble that are above the
bath.
- Wine jets from her black nipples.
- I drank wine awhile agone in the house of Pertinax. The cup-boy
favoured me, and gave me of the right sweet Chian.
- There was a Doric boy, skilled in feats of strength, an athlete.
The
full moon fled away angrily down the wrack.
Ah! but we laughed.
- I was pernicious drunk, O my God! Yet Pertinax brought me
to the bridal.
- I had a crown of thorns for all my dower.
- Thou art like a goat's horn from Astor, O Thou God of mine,
gnarl'd and crook'd and devilish strong.
- Colder than all the ice of all the glaciers of the Naked
Mountain was the wine it poured for me.
- A wild country and a waning moon.
Clouds scudding over the sky.
A circuit of pines, and of tall yews beyond. Thou in the midst!
- O all ye toads and cats, rejoice! Ye slimy things, come hither!
- Dance, dance to the Lord our God!
- He is he! He is he! He is he!
- Why should I go on?
- Why? Why? comes the sudden cackle of a million imps of hell.
- And the laughter runs.
- But sickens not the Universe; but shakes not the stars.
- God! how I love Thee!
- I am walking in an asylum; all the men and women about me
are insane.
- Oh madness! madness! madness! desirable art thou!
- But I love Thee, O God!
- These men and women rave and howl; they froth out folly.
- I begin to be afraid. I have no check; I am alone. Alone.
Alone.
- Think, O God, how I am happy in Thy love.
- O marble Pan! O false leering face! I love Thy dark kisses,
bloody and stinking! O marble Pan! Thy kisses are like sunlight
on the blue Ægean; their blood is the blood of the sunset
over Athens; their stink is like a garden of Roses of Macedonia.
- I dreamt of sunset and roses and vines; Thou wast there,
O my God, Thou didst habit Thyself as an Athenian courtesan,
and I loved Thee.
- Thou art no dream, O Thou too beautiful alike for sleep and
waking!
- I disperse the insane folk of the earth; I walk alone with
my little puppets in the garden.
- I am Gargantuan great; yon galaxy is but the smoke-ring of
mine incense.
- Burn Thou strange herbs, O God!
- Brew me a magic liquor, boys, with your glances!
- The very soul is drunken.
- Thou art drunken, O my God, upon my kisses.
- The Universe reels; Thou hast looked upon it.
- Twice, and all is done.
- Come, O my God, and let us embrace!
- Lazily, hungrily, ardently, patiently; so will I work.
- There shall be an End.
- O God! O God!
- I am a fool to love Thee; Thou art cruel, Thou withholdest
Thyself.
- Come to me now! I love Thee! I love Thee!
- O my darling, my darling --- Kiss me! Kiss me! Ah! but again.
- Sleep, take me! Death, take me! This life is too full; it
pains, it slays, it suffices.
- Let me go back into the world; yea, back into the world.
RESPONSORY
- Long hast thou slept, O great God Terminus! Awake Thou! wait
no more!
- --- There shall be an end.
- Lazily, hungrily, ardently, patiently, so will I work.
- --- There shall be...