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From THE FOUR ZOAS

(1797)

THE TORMENTS OF LOVE & JEALOUSY IN
THE DEATH AND JUDGEMENT
OF ALBION THE ANCIENT MAN

VALA

[INTRODUCTION TO NIGHT THE FIRST]

The Song of the Aged Mother which shook the heavens with wrath,

Hearing the march of long resounding, strong heroic Verse

Marshall’d in order for the day of Intellectual Battle.

The heavens quake, the earth was moved & shudder’d, & the mountains

With all their woods, the streams & valleys wail’d in dismal fear.

Four Mighty Ones are in every Man; a Perfect Unity

Cannot Exist but from the Universal Brotherhood of Eden,

The Universal Man, To Whom be Glory Evermore. Amen.

What are the Natures of those Living Creatures the Heav’nly Father only

Knoweth. No Individual knoweth, nor can know in all Eternity.

[ENION AND THARMAS]

Enion said: “Thy fear has made me tremble, thy terrors have surrounded me.

All Love is lost: Terror succeeds, & Hatred instead of Love,

And stern demands of Right & Duty instead of Liberty.

Once thou wast to Me the loveliest son of heaven—But now

Why art thou Terrible? and yet I love thee in thy terror till

I am almost Extinct & soon shall be a shadow in Oblivion,

(Unless some way can be found that I may look upon thee & live.

Hide me some shadowy semblance, secret whisp’ring in my Ear,

In secret of soft wings, in mazes of delusive beauty.

I have look’d into the secret soul of him I lov’d,

And in the Dark recesses found Sin & cannot return.”

Trembling & pale sat Tharmas, weeping in his clouds.

“Why wilt thou Examine every little fibre of my soul,

Spreading them out before the sun like stalks of flax to dry?

The infant joy is beautiful, but its anatomy

Horrible, Ghast & Deadly; nought shalt thou find in it

But Death, Despair & Everlasting brooding Melancholy.

Thou wilt go mad with horror if thou dost Examine thus

Every moment of my secret hours. Yea, I know

That I have sinn’d, & that my Emanations are become harlots.

I am already distracted at their deeds. & if I look

Upon them more, Despair will bring self-murder on my soul.

O Enion, thou art thyself a root growing in hell,

Tho’ thus heavenly beautiful to draw me to destruction.”

[THE SOLITARY WANDERER]

Enion brooded o’er the rocks; the rough rocks groaning vegetate.

Such power was given to the Solitary wanderer:

The barked Oak. the long limb’d Beech, the Chestnut tree, the Pine,

The Pear tree mild, the frowning Walnut, the sharp Crab, & Apple sweet,

The rough bark opens; twittering peep forth little beaks & wings,

The Nightingale, the Goldfinch, Robin, Lark, Linnet & Thrush.

The Coat leap’d from the craggy cliff, the Sheep awoke from the mould,

Upon its green stalk rose the Corn, waving innumerable,

Infolding the bright Infants from the desolating winds.

[URIZEN THE GOD]

Los answer’d furious: “Art thou one of those who when most complacent

Mean mischief most? If you are such, Lo! I am also such.

One must be master. Try thy Arts. I also will try mine,

For I percieve thou hast Abundance which I claim as mine.”

Urizen startled stood, but not Long; Soon he cried:

“Obey my voice, young Demon; I am God from Eternity to Eternity.

Art thou a visionary of Jesus, the soft delusion of Eternity?

Lo I am God, the terrible destroyer, & not the Saviour.

Why should the Divine Vision compell the sons of Eden

To forego each his own delight, to war against his spectre?

The Spectre is the Man. The rest is only delusion & fancy.”

Thus Urizen spoke, collected in himself in awful pride.

Ten thousand thousand were his hosts of spirits on the wind,

Ten thousand thousand glittering Chariots shining in the sky.

They pour upon the golden shore beside the silent ocean,

Rejoicing in the Victory, & the heavens were fill’d with blood.

The Earth spread forth her table wide; the Night, a silver cup

Fill’d with the wine of anguish, waited at the golden feast.

But the bright Sun was not as yet; he, filling all the expanse,

Slept as a bird in the blue shell that soon shall burst away.

[THE SONG SUNG AT THE FEAST OF LOS AND ENITHARMON]

And This is the Song sung at The Feast of Los & Enitharmon :

“Ephraim call’d out to Zion: ‘Awake, O Brother Mountainl

Let us refuse the Plow & Spade, the heavy Roller & spiked

Harrow; bum all these Corn fields, throw down all these fences!

Fatten’d on Human blood & drunk with wine of life is better far

Than all these labours of the harvest & the vintage. See the river,

Red with the blood of Men, swells lustful round my rocky knees;

My clouds are not the clouds of verdant fields & groves of fruit,

But Clouds of Human Souls: my nostrils drink the lives of Men.’

“The Villages lament: they faint, outstretch’d upon the plain.

Wailing runs round the Valleys from the Mill & from the Barn.

But most the polish’d Palaces, dark, silent, bow with dread,

Hiding their books & pictures underneath the dens of Earth.

“The Cities send to one another saying: ‘My sons are Mad

With wine of cruelty. Let us plat a scourge, 0 Sister City.

Children are nourish’d for the Slaughter; once the Child was fed

With Milk, but wherefore now are Children fed with blood?

“The Horse is of more value than the Man. The Tyger fierce

Laughs at the Human form; the Lion mocks & thirsts for blood.

They cry, ‘O Spider, spread thy web! Enlarge thy bones &, fill’d

With marrow, sinews & flesh, Exalt thyself, attain a voice.

“ ‘Call to thy dark arm’d hosts; for all the sons of Men muster together

To desolate their cities! Man shall be no morel Awake, O Hostsl’

The bow string sang upon the hills, ‘Luvah & Vala ride

Triumphant in the bloody sky, & the Human form is no more.’

“The list’ning Stars heard, & the first beam of the morning started back:

He cried out to his Father ‘depart ! depart!’ but sudden Siez’d,

And clad in steel, & his Horse proudly neigh’d; he smelt the battle

Afar off. Rushing back, redd’ning with rage, the Mighty Father

Siez’d his bright sheephook studded with gems & gold; he swung it round

His head, shrill sounding in the sky; down rush’d the Sun with noise

Of war; the Mountains fled away; they sought a place beneath.”

[THE MUNDANE SHELL]

Urizen rose from the bright Feast like a star thro’ the evening sky,

Exulting at the voice that call’d him from the Feast of envy.

First he beheld the body of Man, pale, cold; the horrors of death

Beneath his feet shot thro’ him as he stood in the Human Brain,

And all its golden porches grew pale with his sickening light,

No more exulting, for he saw Eternal Death beneath.

Pale, he beheld futurity: pale, he beheld the Abyss

Where Enion, blind & age bent, wept in direful hunger craving,

All rav’ning like the hungry worm & like the silent grave.

Mighty was the draught of Voidness to draw Existence in.

Terrific Urizen strode above in fear & pale dismay.

He saw the indefinite space beneath & his soul shrunk with horror,

His feet upon the verge of Non Existence; his voice went forth:

Luvah & Vala trembling & shrinking beheld the great Work master

And heard his Word: “Divide, ye bands, influence by influence.

Build we a Bower for heaven’s darling in the grizly deep:

Build we the Mundane Shell around the Rock of Albion.”

The Bands of Heaven flew thro’ the air singing & shouting to Urizen.

Some fix’d the anvil, some the loom erected, some the plow

And harrow form’d & fram’d the harness of silver & ivory,

The golden compasses, the quadrant, & the rule & balance.

They erected the furnaces, they form’d the anvils of gold beaten in mills

Where winter beats incessant, fixing them firm on then base.

The bellows began to blow, & the Lions of Urizen stood round the anvil

And the leopards cover’d with skins of beasts tended the roaring fires,

Sublime, distinct, their lineaments divine of human beauty.

The tygers of wrath called the horses of instruction from their mangers,

They unloos’d them & put on the harness of gold & silver & ivory,

In human forms distinct they stood round Urizen, prince of Light,

Petrifying all the Human Imagination into rock & sand.

Groans ran along Tyburn’s brook and along the River of Oxford

Among the Druid Temples. Albion groan’d on Tyburn’s brook:

Albion gave his loud death groan. The Atlantic Mountains trembled.

Aloft the Moon fled with a cry: the Sun with streams of blood.

From Albion’s Loins fled all Peoples and Nations of the Earth,

Fled with the noise of Slaughter, & the stars of heaven fled.

Jerusalem came down in a dire ruin over all the Earth, She fell cold from Lambeth’s Vales in groans & dewy death—

The dew of anxious souls, the death-sweat of the dying—

In every pillar’d hall & arched roof of Albion’s skies.

The brother & the brother bathe in blood upon the Severn,

The Maiden weeping by. The father & the mother with

The Maiden’s father & her mother fainting over the body,

And the Young Man, the Murderer, fleeing over the mountains.

[URIZEN’S WORK]

With trembling horror pale, aghast the Children of Man

Stood on the infinite Earth & saw these visions in the air,

In waters & in earth beneath; they cried to one another,

“What! are we terrors to one another? Come, O brethren, wherefore

Was this wide Earth spread all abroad? not. for wild beasts to roam.”

But many stood silent, & busied in their families.

And many said, “We see no Visions in the darksom air.

Measure the course of that sulphur orb that lights the darksom day;

Set stations on this breeding Earth & let us buy & sell.”

Others arose & schools erected, forming Instruments

To measure out the course of heaven. Stem Urizen beheld

In woe his brethren & his sons, in dark’ning woe lamenting

Upon the winds in clouds involv’d, Uttering his voice in thunders,

Commanding all the work with care & power & severity.

Then seiz’d the Lions of Urizen their work, & heated in the forge

Roar the bright masses; thund’ring beat the hammers, many a pyramid

Is form’d & thrown down thund’ring into the deeps of Non Entity.

Heated red hot they, hizzing, rend their way down many a league

Till resting, each his basement finds; suspended there they stand

Casting their sparkles dire abroad into the dismal deep.

For, measur’d out in order’d spaces, the Sons of Urizen

With compasses divide the deep; they the strong scales erect

That Luvah rent from the faint Heart of the Fallen Man,

And weigh the massy Cubes, then fix them in their awful stations.

And all the time, in Caverns shut, the golden Looms erected

First spun, then wove the Atmospheres; there the Spider & Worm

Plied the wing’d shuttle, piping shrill thro’ all the list’n-ing threads;

Beneath the Caverns roll the weights of lead & spindles of iron,

The enormous warp & woof rage direful in the affrighted deep.

While far into the vast unknown the strong wing’d Eagles bend

Their venturous flight in Human forms distinct; thro’ darkness deep

They bear the woven draperies; on golden hooks they hang abroad

The universal curtains & spread out from Sun to Sun

The vehicles of light; they separate the furious particles

Into mild currents as the water mingles with the wine.

While thus the Spirits of strongest wing enlighten the dark deep,

The threads are spun & the cords twisted & drawn out; then the weak

Begin their work, & many a net is netted, many a net

Spread, & many a Spirit caught: innumerable the nets,

Innumerable the gins & traps, & many a soothing flute

Is form’d, & many a corded lyre outspread over the immense.

In cruel delight they trap the listeners, & in cruel delight

Bind them, condensing the strong energies into little compass.

Some became seed of every plant that shall be planted; some

The bulbous roots, thrown up together into barns & garners.

Then rose the Builders. First the Architect divine his plan

Unfolds. The wondrous scaffold rear’d all round the infinite,

Quadrangular the building rose, the heavens squared by a line,

Trigons & cubes divide the elements in finite bonds.

Multitudes without number work incessant: the hewn stone

Is plac’d in beds of mortar mingled with the ashes of Vala.

Severe the labour; female slaves the mortar trod oppressed.

Twelve halls after the names of his twelve sons compos’ d

The wondrous building, & three Central Domes after the Names

Of his three daughters were encompass’d by the twelve bright halls.

Every hall surrounded by bright Paradises of Delight

In which were towns & Cities, Nations, Seas, Mountains & Rivers.

Each Dome open’d toward four halls, & the Three Domes Encompass’d

The Golden Hall of Urizen, whose western side glow’d bright

With ever streaming fires beaming from his awful limbs.

His Shadowy Feminine Semblance here repos’d on a White Couch,

Or hover’d over his starry head; & when he smil’d she brighten’d

Like a bright Cloud in harvest; but when Urizen frown’d she wept

In mists over his carved throne; & when he turned his back

Upon his Golden hall & sought the Labyrinthine porches

Of his wide heaven, Trembling, cold, in jealous fears she sat

A shadow of Despair; therefore toward the West, Urizen form’d

A recess in the wall for fires to glow upon the pale

Female’s limbs in his absence, & her Daughters oft upon

A Golden Altar burnt perfumes: with Art Celestial form’d

Foursquare, sculptur’d & sweetly Engrav’d to please their shadowy mother.

Ascending into her misty garments the blue smoke roll’d to revive

Her cold limbs in the absence of her Lord. Also her sons,

With lives of Victims sacrificed upon an altar of brass

On the East side, Reviv’d her soul with lives of beasts & birds

Slain on the Altar, up ascending into her cloudy bosom.

Of terrible workmanship the Altar, labour of ten thousand Slaves,

One thousand Men of wondrous power spent their lives in its formation.

It stood on twelve steps nam’d after the names of her twelve sons,

And was erected at the chief entrance of Urizen’s hall.

But infinitely beautiful the wondrous work arose

In sorrow and care, a Golden World whose porches round the heavens

And pillar’d halls & rooms reciev’d the eternal wandering stars.

A wondrous golden Building, many a window, many a door

And many a division let in & out the vast unknown.

Circled in infinite orb immoveable, within its walls & cielings

The heavens were clos’d, and spirits mourn’d their bondage night & day,

And the Divine Vision appear’d in Luvah’s robes of blood.

Thus was the Mundane shell builded by Urizen’s strong Power.

[THE SONG OF ENITHARMON OVER LOS]

“I sieze the sphery harp. I strike the strings.

“At the first sound the Golden sun arises from the deep
And shakes his awful hair,
The Eccho wakes the moon to unbind her silver locks,
The golden sun bears on my song
And nine bright spheres of harmony rise round the fiery king.

“The joy of woman is the death of her most best beloved
Who dies for Love of her
In torments of fierce jealousy & pangs of adoration.
The Lovers’ night bears on my song
And the nine spheres rejoice beneath my powerful controll.

“They sing unceasing to the notes of my immortal hand.
The solemn, silent moon
Reverberates the living harmony upon my limbs,
The birds & beasts rejoice & play,
And every one seeks for his mate to prove his inmost joy.

“Furious & terrible they sport & red the nether deep;
The deep lifts up his rugged head,
And lost in infinite humming wings vanishes with a cry.
The fading cry is ever dying,
The living voice is ever living in its inmost joy.

“Arise, you little glancing wings & sing your infant joy!
Arise & drink your bliss!
For every thing that lives is holy; for the source of life
Descends to be a weeping babe;
For the Earthworm renews the moisture of the sandy plain.

“Now my left hand I stretch to earth beneath,
And strike the terrible string.
I wake sweet joy in dens of sorrow & I plant a smile
In forests of affliction,
And wake the bubbling springs of life in regions of dark death.

“O, I am weary ! lay thine hand upon me or I faint,
I faint beneath these beams of thine,
For thou hast touch’d my five senses & they answer’d thee.
Now I am nothing, & I sink
And on the bed of silence sleep till thou awakest me.”

Thus sang the Lovely one in Rapturous delusive trance.

Los heard, reviving; he siez’d her in his arms; delusive hopes

Kindling, she led him into shadows & thence fled out-stretch’ d Upon the immense like a bright rainbow, weeping & smiling & fading.

[ENION’S COMPLAINT]

“I am made to sow the thistle for wheat, the nettle for a nourishing dainty.

I have planted a false oath in the earth; it has brought forth a poison tree.

I have chosen the serpent for a councellor, & the dog

For a schoolmaster to my children.

I have blotted out from light & living the dove & nightingale,

And I have caused the earth worm to beg from door to door.

“I have taught the thief a secret path into the house of the just.

I have taught pale artifice to spread his nets upon the morning.

My heavens are brass, my earth is iron, my moon a clod of clay,

My sun a pestilence burning at noon & a vapour of death in night.

“What is the price of Experience? do men buy it for a song?

Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price

Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children.

Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,

And in the wither’d field where the farmer plows for bread in vain.

“It is an easy thing to triumph in the summer’s sun

And in the vintage & to sing on the waggon loaded with corn.

It is an easy thing to talk of patience to the afflicted,

To speak the laws of prudence to the houseless wanderer,

To listen to the hungry raven’s cry in wintry season

When the red blood is fill’d with wine & with the marrow of lambs.

“It is an easy thing to laugh at wrathful elements,

To hear the dog howl at the wintry door, the ox in the slaughter house moan;

To see a god on every wind & a blessing on every blast;

To hear sounds of love in the thunder storm that destroys our enemies’ house;

To rejoice in the blight that covers his field, & the sickness that cuts off his children,

While our olive & vine sing & laugh round our door, & our children bring fruits & flowers.

“Then the groan & the dolor are quite forgotten, & the slave grinding at the mill,

And the captive in chains, & the poor in the prison, & the soldier in the field

When the shatter’d bone hath laid him groaning among the happier dead.

“It is an easy thing to rejoice in the tents of prosperity:

Thus could I sing & thus rejoice: but it is not so with me.”

[THE SORROWS OF THARMAS]

And he said: “Wherefore do I feel such love & pity?

Ah, Enionl Ah, Enionl Ah, lovely, lovely Enion!

How is this? All my hope is gone! for ever fled!

Like a famish’d Eagle, Eyeless, raging in the vast expanse,

Incessant tears are now my food, incessant rage & tears.

Deathless for ever now I wander seeking oblivion

In torrents of despair: in vain; for if I plunge beneath,

Stifling I live: If dash’d in pieces from a rocky height,

I reunite in endless torment; would I had never risen

From death’s cold sleep beneath the bottom of the raging Ocean.

And cannot those who once have lov’d ever forget their Love?

Are love & rage the same passion? they are the same in me.

Are those who love like those who died, risen again from death,

Immortal in immortal torment, never to be deliver’d?

Is it not possible that one risen again from death

Can die? When dark despair comes over, can I not

Flow down into the sea & slumber in oblivion? Ah Enion,

Deform’d I see these lineaments of ungratified desire.

The all powerful curse of an honest man be upon Urizen & Luvah.

But thou, My Son, Glorious in Brightness, comforter of Tharmas,

Go forth, Rebuild this Universe beneath my indignant power,

A Universe of Death & Decay. Let Enitharmon’s hands

Weave soft delusive forms of Man above my wat’ry world;

Renew these ruin’d souls of Men thro’ Earth, Sea, Air & Fire,

To waste in endless corruption, renew those I will destroy.

Perhaps Enion may resume some little semblance

To ease my pangs of heart & to restore some peace to Tharmas.”

[THE BINDING OF URIZEN]

And thus began the binding of Urizen; day & night in fear

Circling round the dark Demon, with howlings, dismay & sharp blightings,

The Prophet of Eternity beat on his iron links & links of brass;

And as he beat round the hurtling Demon, terrified at the Shapes

Enslav’d humanity put on, he became what he beheld.

Raging against Tharmas his God, & uttering

Ambiguous words, blasphemous, fill’d with envy, firm resolv’d

On hate Eternal, in his vast disdain he labour’d beating

The Links of fate, link after link, an endless chain of sorrows.

[SUCH IS THE DEMON]

His limbs bound down mock at his chains, for over them a flame

Of circling fire unceasing plays; to feed them with life & bring

The virtues of the Eternal worlds, ten thousand thousand spirits

Of life lament around the Demon, going forth & returning.

At his enormous call they flee into the heavens of heavens

And back return with wine & food, or dive into the deeps

To bring the thrilling joys of sense to quell his ceaseless rage.

His eyes, the lights of his large soul, contract or else expand :

Contracted they behold the secrets of the infinite mountains,

The veins of gold & silver & the hidden things of Vala,

Whatever grows from its pure bud or breathes a fragrant soul:

Expanded they behold the terrors of the Sun & Moon,

The Elemental Planets & the orbs of eccentric fire.

His nostrils breathe a fiery flame, his locks are like the forests

Of wild beasts; there the lion glares, the tyger & wolf howl there,

And there the Eagle hides her young in cliffs & precipices.

His bosom is like starry heaven expanded; all the stars

Sing round; there waves the harvest & the vintage rejoices ; the springs

Flow into rivers of delight; there the spontaneous flowers

Drink, laugh & sing, the grasshopper, the Emmet and the Fly;

The golden Moth builds there a house & spreads her silken bed.

His loins inwove with silken fires are like a furnace fierce:

As the strong Bull in summer time when bees sing round the heath

Where the herds low after the shadow & after the water spring,

The num’rous flocks cover the mountains & shine along the valley.

His knees are rocks of adament & rubie & emerald:

Spirits of strength in Palaces rejoice in golden armour

Armed with spear & shield they drink & rejoice over the slain.

Such is the Demon, such his terror on the nether deep.

[THE WOES OF URIZEN]

The Woes of Urizen shut up in the deep dens of Urthona :

“Ahl how shall Urizen the King submit to this dark mansion?

Ah! how is this? Once on the heights I stretch’d my throne sublime;

The mountains of Urizen, once of silver, where the sons of wisdom dwelt,

And on whose tops the Virgins sang, are rocks of desolation.

“My fountains, once the haunt of swans, now breed the scaly tortoise,

The houses of my harpers are become a haunt of crows,

The gardens of wisdom are become a field of horrid graves,

And on the bones I drop my tears & water them in vain.

“Once how I walked from my palace in gardens of delight,

The sons of wisdom stood around, the harpers follow’d with harps,

Nine virgins cloth’d in light compos’d the song to their immortal voices,

And at my banquets of new wine my head was crown’d with joy.

“Then in my ivory pavilions I slumber’d in the noon

And walked in the silent night among sweet smelling flowers,

Till on my silver bed I slept & sweet dreams round me hover’d,

But now my land is darken’d & my wise men are departed.

“My songs are turned into cries of Lamentation

Heard on my Mountains, & deep sighs under my palace roofs,

Because the Steeds of Urizen, once swifter than the light,

Were kept back from my Lord & from his chariot of mercies.

“O did I keep the horses of the day in silver pastures!

O I refus’d the lord of day the horses of his prince!

O did I close my treasuries with roofs of solid stone

And darken all my Palace walls with envyings & hate!

“0 Fool! to think that I could hide from his all piercing eyes

The gold & silver & costly stone, his holy workmanship !

O Fool! could I forget the light that filled my bright spheres

Was a reflection of his face who call’d me from the deep!

“I well remember, for I heard the mild & holy voice

Saying, ‘O light, spring up & shine,’ & I sprang up from the deep.

He gave me a silver scepter, & crown’d me with a golden crown,

& said, ‘Co forth & guide my Son who wanders on the ocean.’

“I went not forth: I hid myself in black clouds of my wrath;

I call’d the stars around my feet in the night of councils dark;

The stars threw down their spears & fled naked away.

We fell. I siez’d thee, dark Urthona. In my left hand falling

“I siez’d thee, beauteous Luvah; thou art faded like a flower

And like a lilly is thy wife Vala wither’d by winds.

When thou didst bear the golden cup at the immortal tables

Thy children smote their fiery wings, crown’d with the gold of heaven.

“Thy pure feet step’d on the steps divine, too pure for other feet,

And thy fair locks shadow’d thine eyes from the divine effulgence,

Then thou didst keep with Strong Urthona the living gates of heaven,

But now thou art bow’d down with him, even to the gates of hell.

“Because thou gavest Urizen the wine of the Almighty

For Steeds of Light, that they might run in thy golden chariot of pride,

I gave to thee the Steeds, I pour’d the stolen wine

And drunken with the immortal draught fell from my throne sublime.

“I will arise, Explore these dens, & find that deep pulsation

That shakes my cavern with strong shudders; perhaps this is the night

Of Prophecy, & Luvah hath burst his way from Enitharmon.

When Thought is clos’d in Caves Then love shall shew its root in deepest Hell.”

[URIZEN’S BOOK OF BRASS]

And Urizen Read in his book of brass in sounding tones:

“Listen, O Daughters, to my voice. Listen to the Words of Wisdom,

So shall [you] govern over all; let Moral Duty tune your tongue,

But be your hearts harder than the nether millstone.

To bring the Shadow of Enitharmon beneath our wondrous tree,

That Los may Evaporate like smoke & be no more,

Draw down Enitharmon to the spectre of Urthona,

And let him have dominion over Los, the terrible shade.

Compell the poor to live upon a Crust of bread, by soft mild arts.

Smile when they frown, frown when they smile; & when a man looks pale

With labour & abstinence, say he looks healthy & happy;

And when his children sicken, let them die; there are enough

Born, even too many, & our Earth will be overrun

Without these arts. If you would make the poor live with temper[ance],

With pomp give every crust of bread you give; with gracious cunning

Magnify small gifts; reduce the man to want a gift, & then give with pomp.

Say he smiles if you hear him sigh. If pale, say he is ruddy.

Preach temperance: say he is overgorg’d & drowns his wit

In strong drink, tho’ you know that bread & water are all

He can afford. Flatter his wife, pity his children, till we can

Reduce all to our will, as spaniels are taught with art.”

[THE SONS OF URIZEN]

Then left the sons of Urizen the plow & harrow, the loom,

The hammer & the chisel & the rule & compasses.

They forg’d the sword, the chariot of war, the battle ax,

The trumpet fitted to the battle & the flute of summer,

And all the arts of life they chang’d into the arts of death.

The hour glass contemn’d because its simple workmanship

Was as the workmanship of the plowman, & the water wheel

That raises water into Cisterns, broken & burn’d in fire

Because its workmanship was like the workmanship of the shepherd,

And in their stead intricate wheels invented, Wheel without wheel,

To perplex youth in their outgoings & to bind to labours Of day & night the myriads of Eternity, that they might file

And polish brass & iron hour after hour, laborious workmanship,

Kept ignorant of the use that they might spend the days of wisdom

In sorrowful drudgery to obtain a scanty pittance of bread,

In ignorance to view a small portion & think that All, And call it demonstration, blind to all the simple rules of life.

[URIZEN: KING OF PRIDE]

Darkness & sorrow cover’d all flesh. Eternity was darken’ d.

Urizen sitting in his web of deceitful religion

Felt the female death, a dull & numming stupor, such as ne’er

Before assaulted the bright human form; he felt his pores

Drink in the deadly dull delusion; horrors of Eternal Death

Shot thro’ him. Urizen sat stonied upon his rock.

Forgetful of his own Laws, pitying he began to embrace

The shadowy Female; since life cannot be quench’d, Life exuded;

His eyes shot outwards, then his breathing nostrils drawn forth,

Scales cover’d over a cold forehead & a neck outstretch’d

Into the deep to sieze the shadow; scales his neck & bosom

Cover’d & scales his hands & feet; upon his belly falling

Outstretch’d thro’ the immense, his mouth wide opening, tongueless,

His teeth a triple row, he strove to sieze the shadow in vain,

And his immense tail lash’d the Abyss; his human form a Stone,

A form of Senseless Stone remain’d in terrors on the rock,

Abominable to the eyes of mortals who explore his books.

His wisdom still remain’d, & all his memory stor’d with woe.

And still his stony form remain’d in the Abyss immense,

Like the pale visage in its sheet of lead that cannot follow—

Incessant stem disdain his scaly form gnaws inwardly,

With deep repentance for the loss of that fair form of Man.

With Envy he saw Los, with Envy Tharmas & the Spectre,

With Envy & in vain he swam around his stony form.

No longer now Erect, the King of Light outstretch’d in fury

Lashes his tail in the wild deep: his eyelids, like the Sun Arising in his pride, enlighten all the Grizly deeps,

His scales transparent give forth light like windows of the morning,

His neck flames with wrath & majesty, he lashes the Abyss,

Beating the desarts & the rocks; the desarts feel his power,

They shake their slumbers off, they wave in awful fear

Calling the Lion & the Tyger, the horse & the wild stag,

The Elephant, the wolf, the Bear, the Larma, the Satyr.

His Eyelids give their light around; his folding tail aspires

Among the stars; the Earth & all the Abysses feel his fury

When as the snow covers the mountains, oft petrific hardness

Covers the deeps, at his vast fury moaning in his rock, Hardens the Lion & the Bear; trembling in the solid mountain

They view the light & wonder; crying out in terrible existence,

Up bound the wild stag & the horse: behold the King of Pride!

[THE GATES ARE BURST]

Trembling & strucken by the Universal stroke, the trees unroot,

The rocks groan horrible & run about; the mountains & Their rivers cry with a dismal cry; the cattle gather together,

Lowing they kneel before the heavens; the wild beasts of the forests

Tremble; the Lion shuddering asks the Leopard: “Feelest thou

The dread I feel, unknown before? My voice refuses to roar,

And in weak moans I speak to thee. This night,

Before the morning’s dawn, the Eagle call’d the Vulture,

The Raven call’d the hawk, I heard them from my forests black,

Saying: ‘Let us go up far, for soon, I smell upon the wind,

A terror coming from the south.’ The Eagle & Hawk fled away

At dawn, & e’er the sun arose, the raven & Vulture follow’ d.

Let us flee also to the north.” They fled. The Sons of Men

Saw them depart in dismal droves. The trumpet sounded loud

And all the Sons of Eternity Descended into Beulah.

In the fierce flames the limbs of Mystery’lay consuming with howling

And deep despair. Rattling go up the flames around the Synagogue

Of Satan. Loud the Serpent Ore rag’d thro’ his twenty seven

Folds. The tree of Mystery went up in folding flames.

Blood issu’d out in rushing volumes, pouring in whirl pools fierce

From out the flood gates of the Sky. The Gates are burst; down pour

The torrents black upon the Earth; the blood pours down incessant.

Kings in their palaces lie drown’d. Shepherds, their flocks, their tents,

Roll down the mountains in black torrents. Cities, Villages,

High spires & Castles drown’d in the black deluge; shoal on shoal

Float the dead carcases of Men & Beasts, driven to & fro on waves

Of foaming blood beneath the black incessant sky, till all

Mystery’s tyrants are cut off & not one left on Earth.

And when all Tyranny was cut off from the face of the Earth,

Around the dragon form of Urizen, & round his strong form,

The flames rolling intense thro’ the wide Universe

Began to enter the Holy City. Ent’ring, the dismal clouds

In furrow’d lightnings break their way, the wild flames licking up

The Bloody Deluge: living flames winged with intellect

And Reason, round the Earth they march in order, flame by flame.

From the clotted gore & from the hollow den

Start forth the trembling millions into flames of mental fire,

Bathing their limbs in the bright visions of Eternity.

Beyond this Universal Confusion, beyond the remotest Pole

Where their vortexes began to operate, there stands

A Horrible rock far in the South; it was forsaken when

Urizen gave the horses of Light into the hands of Luvah.

On this rock lay the faded head of the Eternal Man

Enwrapped round with weeds of death, pale cold in sorrow & woe.

He lifts the blue lamps of his Eyes & cries with heavenly voice:

Bowing his head over the consuming Universe, he cried:

“O weakness & O weariness! 0 war within my members!

My sons, exiled from my breast, pass to & fro before me. My birds are silent on my hills, flocks die beneath my branches.

My tents are fallen, my trumpets & the sweet sound of my harp

Is silent on my clouded hills that belch forth storms & fire.

My milk of cows & honey of bees & fruit of golden harvest

Are gather’d in the scorching heat & in the driving rain.

My robe is turned to confusion, & my bright gold to stone.

Where once I sat, I weary walk in misery & pain,

For from within my wither’d breast grown narrow with my woes

The Corn is turned to thistles & the apples into poison,

The birds of song to murderous crows, My joys to bitter groans,

The voices of children in my tents to cries of helpless infants,

And all exiled from the face of light & shine of morning

In this dark world, a narrow house, I wander up & down.

I hear Mystery howling in these flames of Consummation.

When shall the Man of future times become as in days of old?

O weary life ! why sit I here & give up all my powers

To indolence, to the night of death, when indolence & mourning

Sit hovering over my dark threshold? tho’ I arise, look out

And scorn the war within my members, yet my heart is weak

And my head faint. Yet will I look again into the morning.

Whence is this sound of rage of Men drinking each other’s blood,

Drunk with the smoking gore, & red, but not with nourishing wine?”

The Eternal Man sat on the Rocks & cried with awful voice:

“O Prince of Light, where art thou? I behold thee not as once

In those Eternal fields, in clouds of morning stepping forth

With harps & songs when bright Ahania sang before thy face

And all thy sons & daughters gather’d round my ample table.

See you not all this wracking furious confusion?

Come forth from slumbers of thy cold abstraction! Come forth,

Arise to Eternal births! Shake off thy cold repose, Schoolmaster of souls, great opposer of change, arise!

That the Eternal worlds may see thy face in peace & joy,

That thou, dread form of Certainty, maist sit in town & village

While little children play around thy feet in gentle awe,

Fearing thy frown, loving thy smile, O Urizen, Prince of Light.”

He call’d; the deep buried his voice & answer none return’ d.

Then wrath burst round; the Eternal Man was wrath; again he cried:

“Arise, 0 stony form of death! O dragon of the Deeps!

Lie down before my feet, O Dragon! let Urizen arise.

O how couldst thou deform those beautiful proportions

Of life & person; for as the Person, so is his life proportion’ d.

Let Luvah rage in the dark deep, even to Consummation,

For if thou feedest not his rage, it will subside in peace.

But if thou darest obstinate refuse my stem behest,

Thy crown & scepter I will sieze, & regulate all my members

In stern severity, & cast thee out into the indefinite

Where nothing lives, there to wander; & if thou returnest weary,

Weeping at the threshold of Existence, I will steel my heart

Against thee to Eternity, & never recieve thee more.

Thy self-destroying, beast form’d Science shall be thy eternal lot.

My anger against thee is greater than against this Luvah,

For war is energy Enslav’d, but thy religion,

The first author of this war & the distracting of honest minds

Into confused perturbation & strife & horrour & pride,

Is a deciet so detestable that I will cast thee out

If thou repentest not, & leave thee as a rotten branch to be burn’d

With Mystery the Harlot & with Satan for Ever & Ever.

Error can never be redeemed in all Eternity,

But Sin, Even Rahab, is redeem’d in blood & fury & jealousy—

That line of blood that stretch’d across the windows of the morning—

Redeem’d from Error’s power. Wake, thou dragon of the deeps!”

And the Eternal Man said: “Hear my words, O Prince of Light.

Behold Jerusalem in whose bosom the Lamb of God

Is seen; tho’ slain before her Gates, he self-renew’d remains

Eternal, & I thro’ him awake from death’s dark vale.

The times revolve; the time is coming when all these delights

Shall be renew’d, & all these Elements that now consume

Shall reflourish. Then bright Ahania shall awake from death,

A glorious Vision to thine Eyes, a Self-renewing Vision:

The spring, the summer, to be thine; then sleep the wintry days

In silken garments spun by her own hands against her funeral.

The winter thou shalt plow & lay thy stores into thy barns

Expecting to recieve Ahania in the spring with joy.

Immortal thou, Regenerate She, & all the lovely Sex

From her shall learn obedience & prepare for a wintry grave,

That spring may see them rise in tenfold joy & sweet delight

Thus shall the male & female live the life of Eternity,

Because the Lamb of God Creates himself a bride & wife

That we his Children evermore may live in Jerusalem

Which now descendeth out of heaven, a City, yet a Woman,

Mother of myriads redeem’d & born in her spiritual palaces,

By a New Spiritual birth Regenerated from Death.”

[THE BURSTING UNIVERSE]

Urizen said: “I have Erred, & my Error remains with me.

What Chain encompasses? in what Lock is the river of light confin’d

That issues forth in the morning by measure & in the evening by carefulness?

Where shall we take our stand to view the infinite & unbounded ?

Or where are human feet? for Lo, our eyes are in the heavens.”

He ceas’d, for riv’n link from link, the bursting Universe explodes.

All things revers’d flew from their centers: rattling bones To bones Join: shaking convuls’d, the shivering clay breathes:

Each speck of dust to the Earth’s center nestles round & round

In pangs of an Eternal Birth: in torment & awe & fear, All spirits deceas’d, let loose from reptile prisons, come in shoals:

Wild furies from the tyger’s brain & from the lion’s eyes, And from the ox & ass come moping terrors, from the eagle

And raven: numerous as the leaves of autumn, every species

Flock to the trumpet, mutt’ring over the sides of the grave & crying

In the fierce wind round heaving rocks & mountains fill’d with groans.

On rifted rocks, suspended in the air by inward fires,

Many a woful company & many on clouds & waters,

Fathers & friends, Mothers & Infants, Kings & Warriors,

Priests & chain’d Captives, met together in a horrible fear;

And every one of the dead appears as he had liv’d before,

And all the marks remain of the slave’s scourge & tyrant’s Crown,

And of the Priest’s o’ergorged Abdomen, & of the merchant’s thin

Sinewy deception, & of the warrior’s outbraving & thoughtlessness

In lineaments too extended & in bones too strait & long.

They shew their wounds: they accuse: they sieze the opressor; howlings began

On the golden palace, songs & joy on the desart; the Cold babe

Stands in the furious air; he cries: “The children of six thousand years

Who died in infancy rage furious: a mighty multitude rage furious,

Naked & pale standing in the expecting air, to be deliver’ d.

Rend limb from limb the warrior & the tyrant, reuniting in pain.”

The furious wind still rends around; they flee in sluggish effort;

They beg, they intreat in vain now; they listened not to intreaty;

They view the flames red rolling on thro’ the wide universe

From the dark jaws of death beneath & desolate shores remote,

These covering vaults of heaven & these trembling globes of earth.

One Planet calls to another & one star enquires of another:

“What flames are these, coming from the South? what noise, what dreadful rout

As of a battle in the heavens? hark! heard you not the trumpet

As of fierce battle?” While they spoke, the flames come on intense roaring.

They see him whom they have pierc’d, they wail because of him,

They magnify themselves no more against Jerusalem, Nor

Against her little ones; the innocent, accused before the Judges,

Shines with immortal glory; trembling the judge springs from his throne

Hiding his face in the dust beneath the prisoner’s feet & saying:

“Brother of Jesus, what have I done? intreat thy lord for me:

Perhaps I may be forgiven.” While he speaks the flames roll on,

And after the flames appears the Cloud of the Son of Man

Descending from Jerusalem with power and great Glory.

All nations look up to the Cloud & behold him who was crucified.

[MYSTERY IS NO MORE]

The morning dawn’d. Urizen rose, & in his hand the Flail

Sounds on the Floor, heard terrible by all beneath the heavens.

Dismal loud redounding, the nether floor shakes with the sound,

And all Nations were threshed out, & the stars thresh’d from their husks.

Then Tharmas took the Winnowing fan; the winnowing wind furious

Above, veer’d round by violent whirlwind, driven west & south,

Tossed the Nations like chaff into the seas of Tharmas.

“O Mystery,” Fieree Tharmas cries, “Behold thy end is come !

Art thou she that made the nations drunk with the cup of Religion?

Go down, ye Kings & Councellors & Giant Warriors,

Go down into the depths, go down & hide yourselves beneath,

Go down with horse & Chariots & Trumpets of hoarse war.

“Lo, how the Pomp of Mystery goes down into the Caves!

Her great men howl & throw the dust, & rend their hoary hair.

Her delicate women & children shriek upon the bitter wind,

Spoil’d of their beauty, their hair rent & their skin shrivel’ d up.

“Lo, darkness covers the long pomp of banners on the wind,

And black horses & armed men & miserable bound captives.

Where shall the graves recieve them all, & where shall be their place?

And who shall mourn for Mystery who never loos’d her Captives?

“Let the slave, grinding at the mill, run out into the field;

Let him look up into the heavens & laugh in the bright air.

Let the inchained soul, shut up in darkness & in sighing,

Whose face has never seen a smile in thirty weary years,

Rise & look out: his chains are loose, his dungeon doors are open;

And let his wife & children return from the opressor’s scourge.

“They look behind at every step & believe it is a dream.

Are these the slaves that groan’d along the streets of Mystery?

Where are your bonds & task masters? are these the prisoners?

Where are your chains? where are your tears? why do you look around?

If you are thirsty, there is the river: go, bathe your parched limbs,

The good of all the Land is before you, for Mystery is no more.”

[THE SUN HAS LEFT HIS BLACKNESS]

The Sun has left his blackness & has found a fresher morning,

And the mild moon rejoices in the clear & cloudless night,

And Man walks forth from midst of the fires: the evil is all consum’d.

His eyes behold the Angelic spheres arising night & day;

The stars consum’d like a lamp blown out, & in their stead, behold

The Expanding Eyes of Man behold the depths of wondrous worlds!

One Earth, one sea beneath; nor Erring Globes wander, but Stars

Of fire rise up nightly from the Ocean; & one Sun

Each morning, like a New born Man, issues with songs & joy

Calling the Plowman to his Labour & the Shepherd to his rest.

He walks upon the Eternal Mountains, raising his heavenly voice,

Conversing with the Animal forms of wisdom night & day,

That, risen from the Sea of fire, renew’d walk o’er the Earth;

For Tharmas brought his flocks upon the hills, & in the Vales

Around the Eternal Man’s bright tent, the little Children play

Among the wooly flocks. The hammer of Urthona sounds

In the deep caves beneath; his limbs renew’d, his Lions roar

Around the Furnaces & in Evening sport upon the plains.

They raise their faces from the Earth, conversing with the Man:

“How is it we have walk’d thro’ fires & yet are not con-sum’ d?

How is it that all things are chang’d, even as in ancient times?”

The Sun arises from his dewy bed, & the fresh airs

Play in his smiling beams giving the seeds of life to grow,

And the fresh Earth beams forth ten thousand thousand springs of life.

Urthona is arisen in his strength, no longer now Divided from Enitharmon, no longer the Spectre Los.

Where is the Spectre of Prophecy? where is the delusive Phantom?

Departed: & Urthona rises from the ruinous Walls

In all his ancient strength to form the golden armour of science

For intellectual War. The war of swords departed now,

The dark Religions are departed & sweet Science reigns.

[NOTES WRITTEN ON THE PAGES OF THE FOUR ZOAS]

Christ’s Crucifix shall be made an excuse for Executing Criminals.

Till thou dost injure the distrest
Thou shalt never have peace within thy breast.

The Christian Religion teaches that No Man is Indifferent to you, but that every one is Either your friend or your enemy; he must necessarily be either the one or the other, And that he will be equally profitable both ways if you treat him as he deserves.

Unorganiz’d Innocence: An Impossibility.

Innocence dwells with Wisdom, but never with Ignorance.