Oscar Wilde - Ye Shall Be Gods lyrics

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.'