William Blake - The Four Zoas (Night The Second) lyrics

VALA Night the Second Rising upon his Couch of d**h Albion beheld his Sons Turning his Eyes outward to Self. losing the Divine Vision Albion calld Urizen & said. Behold these sickning Spheres Whence is this Voice of Enion that soundeth in my Porches 5 Take thou possession! take this Scepter! go forth in my might For I am weary, & must sleep in the dark sleep of d**ht Thy brother Luvah hath smitten me but pity thou his youth Tho thou hast not pitid my Age O Urizen Prince of Light Urizen rose from the bright Feast like a star thro' the evening sky 10 Exulting at the voice that calld him from the Feast of envy First he beheld the body of Man pale, cold, the horrors of d**h 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 d**h beneath 15 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 [ page 24 ] 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 5 Luvah & Vala trembling & shrinking, beheld the great Work master And heard his Word! Divide ye bands influence by influence Build we a Bower for heavens 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 10 Some fix'd the anvil, some the loom erected, some the plow And harrow formd & framd the harness of silver & ivory The golden compa**es, the quadrant & the rule & balance They erected the furnaces, they formd the anvils of gold beaten in mills Where winter beats incessant, fixing them firm on their base 15 The bellows began to blow & the Lions of Urizen stood round the anvil [ page 25 ] And the leopards coverd with skins of beasts tended the roaring fires Sublime distinct their lineaments divine of human beautyt The tygers of wrath called the horses of instruction from their mangers They unloos'd them & put on the harness of gold & silver & ivory 5 In human forms distinct they stood round Urizen prince of Light Petrifying all the Human Imagination into rock & sand Groans ran along Tyburns brook and along the River of Oxford Among the Druid Temples. Albion groand on Tyburns brook Albion gave his loud d**h groan The Atlantic Mountains trembled 10 Aloft the Moon fled with a cry the Sun with streams of blood From Albions 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 Lambeths Vales in groans & Dewy d**h 15 The dew of anxious souls the d**h-sweat of the dying In every pillard hall & arched roof of Albions skies The brother & the brother bathe in blood upon the Severn The Maiden weeping by. The father & the mother with The Maidens father & her mother fainting over the body 20 And the Young Man the Murderer fleeing over the mountains Reuben slept on Penmaenmawr & Levi slept on Snowdon Their eyes their ears nostrils & tongues roll outward they behold What is within now seen without they are raw to the hungry wind They become Nations far remote in a little & dark Land 25 The Daughters of Albion girded around their garments of Needlework Stripping Jerusalems curtains from mild demons of the hills Across Europe & Asia to China & Japan like lightenings They go forth & return to Albion on his rocky couch Gwendolen Ragan Sabrina Gonorill Mehetabel Cordella Boadicea Conwenna Estrild Gwinefrid Ignoge Cambel 30 Binding Jerusalems Children in the dungeons of Babylon They play before the Armies before the hounds of Nimrod While The Prince of Light on Salisbury plain among the druid stone Rattling the adamantine chains & hooks heave up the ore 35 In mountainous ma**es, plung'd in furnaces, & they shut & seald The furnaces a time & times; all the while blew the North His cloudy bellows & the South & East & dismal West And all the while the plow of iron cut the dreadful furrows In Ulro beneath Beulah where the Dead wail Night & Day 40 Luvah was cast into the Furnaces of affliction & sealed And Vala fed in cruel delight, the furnaces with fire Stern Urizen beheld urg'd by necessity to keep The evil day afar, & if perchance with iron power He might avert his own despair; in woe & fear he saw [ page 26 ] Vala incircle round the furnaces where Luvah was clos'd In joy she heard his howlings, & forgot he was her Luvah With whom she walkd in bliss, in times of innocence & youth Hear ye the voice of Luvah from the furnaces of Urizen 5 If I indeed am Valas King & ye O sons of Ment 5 The workmanship of Luvahs hands; in times of Everlasting When I calld forth the Earth-worm from the cold & dark obscure I nurturd her I fed her with my rains & dews, she grew A scaled Serpent, yet I fed her tho' she hated me 10 Day after day she fed upon the mountains in Luvahs sight I brought her thro' the Wilderness, a dry & thirsty land And I commanded springs to rise for her in the black desart Till she became a Dragon winged bright & poisonoust I opend all the floodgates of the heavens to quench her thirst [ page 27 ] And I commanded the Great deep to hide her in his hand Till she became a little weeping Infant a span long I carried her in my bosom as a man carries a lamb I loved her I gave her all my soul & my delight 5 I hid her in soft gardens & in secret bowers of Summer Weaving mazes of delight along the sunny Paradise Inextricable labyrinths, She bore me sons & daughters And they have taken her away & hid her from my sight They have surrounded me with walls of iron & bra**, O Lambt 10 Of God clothed in Luvahs garments little knowest thout Of d**h Eternal that we all go to Eternal d**h To our Primeval Chaos in fortuitous concourse of incoherent Discordant principles of Love & Hate I suffer affliction Because I love. for I was love but hatred awakes in met 15 And Urizen who was Faith & Certainty is changd to Doubt The hand of Urizen is upon me because I blotted out That Human delusion to deliver all the sons of Godt From bondage of the Human form, O first born Son of Light O Urizen my enemy I weep for thy stern ambition 20 But weep in vain O when will you return Vala the Wanderer [ page 28 ] These were the words of Luvah patient in afflictions Reasoning from the loins in the unreal forms of Ulros night And when Luvah age after age was quite melted with woe The fires of Vala faded like a shadow cold & pale 5 An evanescent shadow. last she fell a heap of Ashes Beneath the furnaces a woful heap in living d**h Then were the furnaces unscald with spades & pickaxes Roaring let out the fluid, the molten metal ran in channels Cut by the plow of ages held in Urizens strong hand 10 In many a valley, for the Bulls of Luvah dragd the Plow With trembling horror pale aghast the Children of Mant 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 15 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 20 Others arose & schools Erected forming Instruments To measure out the course of heaven. Stern Urizen beheld In woe his brethren & his Sons in darkning woe lamenting Upon the winds in clouds involvd Uttering his voice in thunders Commanding all the work with care & power & severity 25 Then siezd the Lions of Urizen their work, & heated in the forge Roar the bright ma**es, 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 [center] finds; suspended there they stand 30 Casting their sparkles dire abroad into the dismal deep For measurd out in orderd spaces the Sons of Urizen With compa**es divide the deep; they the strong scales erect [ page 29 ] That Luvah rent from the faint Heart of the Fallen Man And weigh the ma**y Cubes, then fix them in their awful stationst And all the time in Caverns shut, the golden Looms erected First spun, then wove the Atmospheres, there the Spider & Worm 5 Plied the wingd shuttle piping shrill thro' all the list'ning 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 10 They bear the woven draperies; on golden hooks they hang abroad 10 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 15 The threads are spun & the cords twisted & drawn out; then the weak Begin their work; & many a net is netted; many a net [ page 30 ] 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 5 Bind them, condensing the strong energies into little compa** 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 reard all round the infinite 10 Quadrangular the building rose the heavens squared by a line. Trigon & cubes divide the elements in finite bonds Multitudes without number work incessant: the hewn stone Is placd in beds of mortar mingled with the ashes of Vala Severe the labour, female slaves the mortar trod oppressed 15 Twelve halls after the names of his twelve sons composd The wondrous building & three Central Domes after the Names Of his three daughters were encompa**d by the twelve bright halls Every hall surrounded by bright Paradises of Delight In which are towns & Cities Nations Seas Mountains & Riverst 20 Each Dome opend toward four halls & the Three Domes Encompa**d The Golden Hall of Urizen whose western side glowd bright With ever streaming fires beaming from his awful limbs His Shadowy Feminine Semblance here reposd on a White Couch Or hoverd oer his Starry head & when he smild she brightend 25 Like a bright Cloud in harvest. but when Urizen frownd She wept In mists over his carved throne & when he turnd his back Upon his Golden hall & sought the Labyrinthine porches Of his wide heaven Trembling, cold in paling fears she sat A Shadow of Despair therefore toward the West Urizen formd 30 A recess in the wall for fires to glow upon the pale Females limbs in his absence & her Daughters oft upon A Golden Altar burnt perfumes with Art Celestial formd Foursquare sculpturd & sweetly Engravd to please their shadowy mothert As[c]ending into her misty garments the blue smoke rolld to revive 35 Her cold limbs in the absence of her Lord. Also her sons With lives of Victims sacrificed upon an altar of bra** On the East side. Revivd 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 40 One thousand Men of wondrous power spent their lives in its formation It stood on twelve steps namd after the names of her twelve sons And was Erected at the chief entrance of Urizens hall When Urizen returnd from his immense labours & travels Descending She reposd beside him folding him around 45 In her bright skirts. Astonishd & Confounded he beheld Her shadowy form now Separate he shudderd & was silent Till her caresses & her tears revivd him to life & joy Two wills they had two intellects & not as in times of old This Urizen percievd & silent brooded in darkning Clouds 50 To him his Labour was but Sorrow & his Kingdom was Repentance He drave the Male Spirits all away from Ahania And she drave all the Females from him away Los joyd & Enitharmon laughd, saying Let us go down And see this labour & sorrow; They went down to see the woes 55 Of Vala & the woes of Luvah, to draw in their delights And Vala like a shadow oft appeard to Urizen [ page 31 ] The King of Light beheld her mourning among the Brick kilns compelld To labour night & day among the fires, her lamenting voice Is heard when silent night returns & the labourers take their rest O Lord wilt thou not look upon our sore afflictions 5 Among these flames incessant labouring, our hard masters laugh At all our sorrow. We are made to turn the wheel for water To carry the heavy basket on our scorched shoulders, to sift The sand & ashes, & to mix the clay with tears & repentance I see not Luvah as of old I only see his feet 10 Like pillars of fire travelling thro darkness & non entity The times are now returnd upon us, we have given ourselves To scorn and now are scorned by the slaves of our enemies Our beauty is coverd over with clay & ashes, & our backs Furrowd with whips, & our flesh bruised with the heavy basket 15 Forgive us O thou piteous one whom we have offended, forgive The weak remaining shadow of Vala that returns in sorrow to thee. Thus she lamented day & night, compelld to labour & sorrow Luvah in vain her lamentations heard; in vain his love Brought him in various forms before her still she knew him not [ page 32 ] Still she despisd him, calling on his name & knowing him not Still hating still professing love, still labouring in the smoke And Los & Enitharmon joyd, they drank in tenfold joy From all the sorrow of Luvah & the labour of Urizen 5 And Enitharmon joyd Plotting to rend the secret cloud To plant divisions in the Soul of Urizen & Ahania But infinitely beautiful the wondrous work arose In sorrow & care. a Golden World whose porches round the heavens And pillard halls & rooms recievd the eternal wandering stars 10 A wondrous golden Building; many a window many a door And many a division let in & out into the vast unknown [Cubed] in [window square] immoveable, within its walls & cielings The heavens were closd and spirits mournd their bondage night and day And the Divine Vision appeard in Luvahs robes of blood 15 Thus was the Mundane shell builded by Urizens strong power [ page 33 ] Sorrowing went the Planters forth to plant, the Sowers to sow They dug the channels for the rivers & they pourd abroad The seas & lakes, they reard the mountains & the rocks & hills On broad pavilions, on pillard roofs & porches & high towers In beauteous order, thence arose soft clouds & exhalations Wandering even to the sunny Cubes of light & heat 5 For many a window ornamented with sweet ornaments Lookd out into the World of Tharmas, where in ceaseless torrents His billows roll where monsters wander in the foamy paths On clouds the Sons of Urizen beheld Heaven walled round They weighd & orderd all & Urizen comforted saw 10 The wondrous work flow forth like visible out of the invisible For the Divine Lamb Even Jesus who is the Divine Vision Permitted all lest Man should fall into Eternal d**h For when Luvah sunk down himself put on the robes of blood Lest the state calld Luvah should cease. & the Divine Vision 15 Walked in robes of blood till he who slept should awake Thus were the stars of heaven created like a golden chain To bind the Body of Man to heaven from failing into the Abyss Each took his station, & his course began with sorrow & caret In sevens & tens & fifties, hundreds, thousands, numberd all 20 According to their various powers. Subordinate to Urizen And to his sons in their degrees & to his beauteous daughters Travelling in silent majesty along their orderd ways In right lined paths outmeasurd by proportions of number weight And measure. mathematic motion wondrous. along the deep 25 In fiery pyramid. or Cube. or unornamented pillar Of fire far shining. travelling along even to its destind end Then falling down. a terrible space recovring in winter dire Its wasted strength. it back returns upon a nether course Till fired with ardour fresh recruited in its humble season 30 It rises up on high all summer till its wearied course Turns into autumn. such the period of many worlds Others triangular right angled course maintain. others obtuse Acute Scalene, in simple paths. but others move In intricate ways biquadrate. Trapeziums Rhombs Rhomboids 35 Paralellograms. triple & quadruple. polygonic In their amazing hard subdued course in the vast deep [ page 34 II (287-386) ] And Los & Enitharmon were drawn down by their desires Descending sweet upon the wind among soft harps & voicest To plant divisions in the Soul of Urizen & Ahania To conduct the Voice of Enion to Ahanias midnight pillow 5 Urizen saw & envied & his imagination was filled Repining he contemplated the past in his bright sphere Terrified with his heart & spirit at the visions of futurity That his dread fancy formd before him in the unformd void For Los & Enitharmon walkd forth on the dewy Earth 10 Contracting or expanding their all flexible senses At will to murmur in the flowers small as the honey bee At will to stretch across the heavens & step from star to star Or standing on the Earth erect, or on the stormy waves Driving the storms before them or delighting in sunny beams 15 While round their heads the Elemental Gods kept harmony And Los said. Lo the Lilly pale & the rose reddning fierce Reproach thee & the beamy gardens sicken at thy beauty I grasp thy vest in my strong hand in vain. like water springs In the bright sands of Los. evading my embrace. then I alone 20 Wander among the virgins of the summer Look they cry The poor forsaken Los mockd by the worm the shelly snail The Emmet & the beetle hark they laugh & mock at Los Enitharmon answerd Secure now from the smitings of thy Power Demon of fury If the God enrapturd me infolds 25 In clouds of sweet obscurity my beauteous form dissolving Howl thou over the body of d**h tis thine But if among the virginst Of summer I have seen thee sleep & turn thy cheek delighted Upon the rose or lilly pale. or on a bank where sleep The beamy daughters of the light starting they rise they flee 30 From thy fierce love for tho I am dissolvd in the bright God My spirit still pursues thy false love over rocks & valleys Los answerd Therefore fade I thus dissolvd in rapturd trance Thou canst repose on clouds of secrecy while oer my limbs Cold dews & hoary frost creeps thro I lie on banks of summer 35 Among the beauties of the World Cold & repining Los 35 Still dies for Enitharmon nor a spirit springs from my dead corse Then I am dead till thou revivest me with thy sweet song Now taking on Ahanias form & now the form of Enion I know thee not as once I knew thee in those blessed fields 40 Where memory wishes to repose among the flocks of Tharmas Enitharmon answerd Wherefore didst thou throw thine arms around Ahanias Image I decievd thee & will still decieve Urizen saw thy sin & hid his beams in darkning Clouds I still keep watch altho I tremble & wither across the heavens 45 In strong vibrations of fierce jealousy for thou art mine Created for my will my slave tho strong tho I am weak Farewell the God calls me away I depart in my sweet bliss She fled vanishing on the wind And left a dead cold corse In Los's arms howlings began over the body of d**h 50 Los spoke. Thy God in vain shall call thee if by my strong power I can infuse my dear revenge into his glowing breast Then jealousy shall shadow all his mountains & Ahania Curse thee thou plague of woful Los & seek revenge on thee So saying in deep sobs he languishd till dead he also fell 55 Night pa**d & Enitharmon eer the dawn returnd in bliss She sang Oer Los reviving him to Life his groans were terrible But thus she sang. 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 60 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 d**h of her most best beloved Who dies for Love of her 65 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 70 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 & rend the nether deeps The deep lifts up his rugged head 75 And lost in infinite hum[m]ing 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 80 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 85 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 d**h O I am weary lay thine hand upon me or I faint I faint beneath these beams of thine 90 For thou hast touchd my five senses & they answerd 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 siezd her in his arms delusive hopes 95 Kindling She led him into Shadows & thence fled outstretchd Upon the immense like a bright rainbow weeping & smiling & fading Thus livd Los driving Enion far into the d**hful infinite That he may also draw Ahania's spirit into her Vortex Ah happy blindness Enion sees not the terrors of the uncertaint 100 Thus Enion wails from the dark deep, the golden heavens tremble [ page 35 ] 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 5 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 bra** my earth is iron my moon a clod of clay 10 My sun a pestilence burning at noon & a vapour of d**h 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 15 And in the witherd field where the farmer plows for bread in vain It is an easy thing to triumph in the summers 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 [ page 36 ] To listen to the hungry ravens cry in wintry season When the red blood is filld 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 5 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 10 And the captive in chains & the poor in the prison, & the soldier in the field When the shatterd 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! Ahania heard the Lamentation & a swift Vibration 15 Spread thro her Golden frame. She rose up eer the dawn of day When Urizen slept on his couch. drawn thro unbounded space Onto the margin of Non Entity the bright Female came There she beheld the Spectrous form of Enion in the Void And never from that moment could she rest upon her pillow End of the Second Night