Before the dividing of days
Or the singing of summer or spring
God from the dust did raise
A splendid and goodly thing:
Man - from the womb of the land,
Man - from the sterile sod
Torn by a terrible hand-
Formed in the image of God.
But the life of man is a sorrow
And d**h a relief from pain,
For love only lasts till tomorrow
And life without love is vain.
And your strength will wither like gra**
Scorched by a pitiless sun,
And the might of your hands will pa**
And the sands of your life will run.
O gods not of saving but of sorrow
Whose joy is in weeping of men
Who shall lend thee their life, or who borrow
From others to give thee again?
O gods ever wrathful and tearless,
O gods not of night but of day,
Though your faces be frowning and fearless
Thy kingdom shall pa** - men say.
The spirit of man is arisen
And crowned as a mighty King.
The people have broken from prison
And the voices once voiceless now sing.
Cry aloud, O dethroned and defeated,
Cry aloud for the fading of might,
Too long were ye feared and entreated,
Too long did men worship thy light.
Aye, weep for your crimes without number,
The loving and luring of men,
For your greatness is sunken in slumber,
Your light will n'er lighten again.
But as many a lovely flower
Is born of a sterile seed,
In a fatal and fearful hour
There grew from this creedless breed
Love - fostered in flame and in fire
That dies but to blossom again,
Love - ever distilling desire
Like wine with the eyelids of men
We kneel to the great Iapygian,
We bow to the Lampsacene's shrine,
For hers is the only religion,
And hers to entice and entwine-
There once was another, men tell us,
The giver and taker of life,
A lovingless God and Jealous
Whose joy was in weeping and strife.
He is gone; and his temple 'tis sunken
In ashes and fallen in dust,
For the souls of the people are drunken
With dreams of the Lady of Lust-
We kneel to the Cyprian Mother,
We take up our lyres and sing,
'Thou are crowned with the crown of another
Thou are throned where another was King.'