of th aeon fell,

    And silence, tide of nighe hills,

    ter titans of life,

    Appeared upon tains.

    Rivers ran about t;

    t floated across ts,

    And ty above the world.

    tant thunder

    the plains.

    First God

    tward;

    I urn my face to th,

    For trils hings.

    Second God

    It is t of burnt fles and bountiful.

    I .

    First God

    It is tality parcs o flame.

    he air,

    And like foul breat

    It offends my senses.

    I urn my face to tless north.

    Second God

    It is the inflamed fragrance of brooding life

    the now and forever.

    Gods live upon sacrifice,

    t quenched by blood,

    ts appeased h young souls,

    trengthless sighs

    Of th;

    t upon tions.

    First God

    eary is my spirit of all there is.

    I  move a o create a world

    Nor to erase one.

    I  live could I but die,

    For t of aeons is upon me,

    And ts my sleep.

    Could I but lose the primal aim

    And vanised sun;

    Could I but strip my divinity of its purpose

    And breatality into space,

    And be no more;

    Could I but be consumed and pass from times memory

    Into tiness of nowhere!

    third God

    Listen my brot brothers.

    A youth in yonder vale

    Is singing  to t.

    his lyre is gold and ebony.

    his voice is silver and gold.

    Second God

    I  be so vain as to be no more.

    I could not but c way;

    to follo ty of the years;

    to soo c t the soil;

    to call ts hiding place

    And give it strengto nestle its own life,

    And to pluck it worm laug;

    to raise man from secret darkness,

    Yet keep s clinging to th;

    to give  for life, and make death his cupbearer;

    to endoh pain,

    And exalts h longing,

    And fadet embrace;

    to girdle s h dreams of higher days,

    And infuse s,

    And yet to confine s

    to table resemblance;

    to make ain,

    And  as tempests of the seas,

    And yet to give him hands slow in decision,

    And feet ion;

    to give  he may sing before us,

    And sorro o us,

    And to lay him low,

    h in her hunger cries for food;

    to raise

    t aste our tomorrow,

    And to keep he mire

    t  forget erday.

    to time,

    Governing t began hers crying,

    And ends ation of his children.

    First God

    My  ts, yet I  drink t blood of a feeble race,

    For tainted, and tage tter to my mouth.

    Like t to breathing forms

    t crept out of my dripping fingers unto the hills.

    Like ths of beginning life

    And c crao rocky s.

    Like ty thereof

    For a lure t seizes yout to generate and multiply.

    Like to shrine,

    And turned e fear of things unseen

    to tremulous faited and the unknown.

    Like tempest over his head

    t  bow before us,

    And sil o us;

    And like t led isle,

    till h died calling upon us.

    All this have I done, and more.

    And all t I y and vain.

    Vain is ty is the sleep,

    And ty and vain is the dream.

    third God

    Brot brothers,

    Dole grove

    A girl is dancing to the moon,

    A tars are in her hair,

    About  a thousand wings.

    Second God

    e ed man, our vine, and tilled the soil

    In t of t dawn.

    e che lean branches grow,

    And the days of seasonless years

    e nursed t leaves.

    From t we she bud,

    And against all dark spirits he flower.

    And no our vine he grape

    You  take it to the cup.

    ier ?

    And  as the wine?

    Man is food for the gods,

    And the glory of man begins

    h is sucked by gods hallowed lips.

    All t is s for naug remain;

    t ecstasy of youth,

    tern manhe wisdom of old age;

    triumph of warriors,

    ts and ts;

    All t lietherein is bred for gods.

    And naug bread ungraced s be

    If t not to ths.

    And as te grain turns to love songs wingale,

    Even so as bread fo gods saste godhead.

    First God

    Aye, man is meat for gods!

    And all t is man sernal board!

    th,

    t t pierces t,

    And tling he sleep she craves,

    to pour life exed from ;

    tormented,

    And t;

    tilling the barren land,

    And t of pale old age w lifes will

    Calls to the grave.

    Behis is man!

    A creature bred on hunger and made food for hungry gods.

    A vine t creeps in dust beneat of death.

    t blooms in nights of evil shadows;

    terror and shame.

    And yet you would  and drink.

    You  amongst shrouded faces

    And draony lips

    And from ernity.

    third God

    Brothers,

    th is singing,

    And thrice higher is his song.

    And pierces the sky,

    And scatters th.

    Second God (Always unhearing)

    the bee hums harshly in your ears,

    And foul is to your lips.

    Fain  you,

    But how shall I?

    Only tens wo gods,

    For measureless is t lies beties,

    And he space.

    Yet I  you,

    I would make serene your clouded sphere;

    And t,

    I would counsel you.

    of cless lig remulous sound t quickened ts of air and sea.

    t  of t droeps time y, t sets  upon our footprints, ss and desires, and seeing only h our eyes.

    And unto earto life came t, t, and none save us kne of years nebulous dreams, till  noontide of to the sun.

    And from tial ecstasy, we brougure wage.

    tars, o eartant regions; and of man, ters, e t o to tten sand of th.

    From tus land where days are born

    to perilous isles where days are slain,

    Man t ed, overbold by our purpose,

    Ventures h lyre and sword.

    Ours is the will he heralds,

    And ours ty he proclaims,

    And rodden courses are rivers, to the sea of our desires.

    e, upon ts, in mans sleep dream our dreams.

    e urge o part from ts

    And seek the hills.

    Our  tempests t she world

    And summon man from sterile peace to fertile strife

    And on to triumph.

    In our eyes is t turns mans soul to flame,

    And leads o exalted loneliness and rebellious prophecy,

    And on to crucifixion.

    Man is born to bondage,

    And in bondage is his honor and his reward.

    In man hpiece,

    And in .

    s is deafened ?

    ?

    And  , our own self image?

    third God

    Broty brothers,

    t are drunk h songs.

    t throbbing,

    And like doves her hands fly upward.

    First God

    to the lark,

    But uphe eagle soars,

    Nor tarries to he song.

    You each me self love fulfilled in mans worship,

    And content ude.

    But my self love is limitless and  measure.

    I ality

    And the heavens.

    My arms he spheres.

    I ake tarry way for a bow,

    And ts for arrows,

    And e e.

    But you  do t in your power.

    For ever as man is to man,

    So are gods to gods.

    Nay, you o my weary

    Remembrance of cycles spent in mist,

    itself among tains

    And mine eyes pursued ters;

    terday died in ch

    And only silence visits her womb,

    And treles at .

    Oerday, dead yesterday,

    Moty,

    super-god caug

    And made you breed in the cage?

    giant sun warmed your bosom

    to give me birth?

    I bless you not, yet I  curse you;

    For even as you h life

    So I have burdened man

    But less cruel have I been.

    I, immortal, made man a passing shadow;

    And you, dying, conceived me deathless.

    Yesterday, dead yesterday,

    Surn ant tomorrow,

    t I may bring you to judgment?

    And h lifes second dawn

    t I may erase your earth?

    ould t you mighe dead of yore,

    till ts oter fruit,

    And all tagnant he slain,

    And ility.

    third God

    Brothers,

    the song.

    And now she singer.

    Like a fawn in glad surprise

    Sreams

    And turns o every side.

    Oal intent,

    the eye of purpose half-born;

    t quiver

    itaste of promised delight!

    flower has fallen from heaven,

    flame has risen from hell.

    t startled t of silence

    to thless joy and fear?

    dream dreamt ,

    t gave o the wind

    t he drowsing valley

    And made c?

    Second God

    the sacred loom is given you,

    And t to he fabric.

    t shall be yours for evermore,

    And yours t,

    And yours the gold.

    Yet you .

    Your hands have spun mans soul

    From living air and fire,

    Yet nohread,

    And lend your versed fingers to an idle eternity.

    First God

    Nay, unto eternity unmoulded I would give my hands,

    And to untrodden fields assign my feet.

    joy is t heard,

    une ts

    Ere t to the wind?

    My  longs for ,

    And unto t

    I .

    Oempt me not h glory possessed,

    And seek not to comfort me h your dream or mine,

    For all t I am, and all t th,

    And all t set my soul.

    Oh my soul,

    Silent is thy face,

    And in t are sleeping.

    But terrible is thy silence,

    And t terrible.

    third God

    Brothers,

    the singer.

    Sured face.

    Pantle steps

    tling vine and fern.

    And now amid  cries

    he gazes full on her.

    Ohers,

    Is it some other god in passion

    and we?

    unbridled star ray?

    keepet from morning?

    And whose hand is upon our world?

    First God

    Oh my soul, my soul,

    t girdles me,

    hy course.

    And unto  thy eagerness?

    Oeless soul,

    In t upon thyself,

    And ears t quenc;

    For nig o thy cup,

    And t.

    Oh my soul, my soul,

    th desire,

    o fill thy sail,

    And w ide shy rudder?

    eighy wings would spread,

    But t above thee,

    And till sea mocks at ty.

    And w hee and me?

    sing of he heavens,

    t shee?

    Does te

    Bear thy Redeemer,

    One mighy vision

    ivity?

    Second God

    unate cry,

    And t,

    For deaf is te,

    And he sky.

    e are t high,

    And beternity

    Is naught save our unshaped passion

    And tive thereof.

    You invoke the unknown,

    And t

    Dwells in your own soul.

    Yea, in your own soul your Redeemer lies asleep,

    And in sleep sees  see.

    And t is t of our being.

    ould you leave t ungathered,

    In e to sohe dreaming furrow?

    And e,

    hen your own flock is seeking you,

    And her in your own shadow?

    Forbear and look dohe world.

    Behe unweaned children of your love.

    throne;

    And  hope

    Your iny.

    You  abandon him

    rives to reachrough pain.

    You  turn ahe need in his eyes.

    First God

    Does dawn  of nigo ?

    Or she bodies of her dead?

    Like dahin me

    Naked and unencumbered.

    And like ting sea

    My  casts out a perish.

    I  cling to t clings to me.

    But unto t t rises beyond my reach I would arise.

    third God

    Brothers,

    t, tar-bound spirits in tering.

    In silence ther.

    he sings no more,

    And yet  t the song;

    And in ayed

    But not asleep.

    Brotrange brothers,

    t h deep,

    And brighe moon,

    And t the sea

    A voice in rapture calleth you and me.

    Second God

    to be, to rise, to burn before the burning sun,

    to live, and to cs of the living

    As Orion ches us!

    to face th a head crowned and high,

    And to ideless breath!

    tentmaker sits darkly at his loom,

    And tter turns his wheel unaware;

    But he knowing,

    e are released from guessing and from chance.

    e pause not nor do  for t.

    e are beyond all restless questioning.

    Be content and let the dreaming go.

    Like rivers let us floo ocean

    Unhe rocks;

    And w and are merged,

    No more somorrow.

    First God

    Ohis ache of ceaseless divining,

    to t,

    And t unto dawn;

    tide of ever remembering and forgetting;

    tinies and reaping but hopes;

    ting of self from dust to mist,

    Only to long for dust, and to fall doo dust,

    And still er longing to seek t again.

    And timeless measuring of time.

    Must my soul needs to be a sea her,

    Or turn hurricane?

    ere I man, a blind fragment,

    I could  it ience.

    Or if I he Supreme Godhead,

    iness of man and of gods,

    I would be fulfilled.

    But you and I are neither human,

    Nor the Supreme above us.

    e are but ts ever rising and ever fading

    Between horizon and horizon.

    e are but gods ,

    Fates t sound trumpets

    the music come from beyond.

    And I rebel.

    I o emptiness.

    I would dissolve myself afar from your vision,

    And from t youther,

    s beside us gazing into yonder valley,

    And tters not a word.

    third God

    I speak, my unhers,

    I do indeed speak,

    But you hear only your own words.

    I bid you see your glory and mine,

    But you turn, and close your eyes,

    And rock your thrones.

    Ye sovereigns wh,

    God self-bent, omorrow,

    Self-h speech

    And lashunderings!

    Your feud is but t Lyre

    rings ten by his fingers

    he Pleiades for cymbals.

    Even noering and rumbling,

    his harp rings, his cymbals clash,

    And I beseech you hear his song.

    Behold, man and woman,

    Flame to flame,

    In acy.

    Roots t suck at t of purple earth,

    Flame flo ts of the sky.

    And ,

    And he enduring sky.

    Our soul, even the soul of life, your soul and mine,

    D in a t enflamed,

    And garments ting waves.

    Your sceptre cannot siny,

    Your  ambition.

    this and all is wiped away

    In the passion of a man and a maid.

    Second God

    Yea, his love of man and woman?

    See  ,

    And t h his song.

    Behroned,

    In t t sings to a body t dances.

    First God

    I  turn my eyes doo t of earth,

    Nor to  you call love.

    And w is love,

    But t uncertainty

    to another slow agony?

    I  look downward.

    is to behold

    Save a man and a  t greo trap them

    t t renounce self

    And parent creatures for our unborn tomorrow?

    third God

    Oion of knowing,

    tarless veil of prying and questioning

    he world;

    And to human forbearance!

    e one a waxen shape

    And say, It is a thing of clay,

    And in clay let it find its end.

    e would e flame

    And say in our ,

    It is a fragment of ourselves returning,

    A breat had escaped,

    And now s our hands and lips for more fragrance.

    Earthers,

    ain,

    e are still earth-bound,

    tiny.

    Sy from his eyes?

    So stillness,

    Or to our own passion?

    would your armies of reasoning

    ?

    they who are conquered by love,

    And upon w ran

    From sea to mountain

    And again form mountain to the sea,

    Stand even now in a shy half-embrace.

    Petal unto petal the sacred perfume,

    Soul to soul the soul of life,

    And upon their eyelids lies a prayer

    Unto you and unto me.

    Love is a nig doo a boed,

    A sky turned meadoars to fireflies.

    true it is, he beyond,

    And  high.

    But love is beyond our questioning,

    And love outsoars our song.

    Second God

    Seek you a distant orb,

    And  consider tar

    ed?

    tre in space

    Save wo self,

    And beauty filling our o shame our lips.

    t distant is t near.

    And hings.

    Oy dreaming brother,

    Return to us from times dim borderland!

    Unlace your feet from no-where and no-when,

    And dy

    erth ours

    one upon stone.

    Cast off your mantle of brooding,

    And comrade us, masters of th green and warm.

    First God

    Eternal Altar! ouldst t

    A god for sacrifice?

    Nohen, I come, and coming I offer up

    My passion and my pain.

    Lo, t of our ancient eagerness,

    And to the wind.

    And in t dancing and in t singing

    A god is slain hin me.

    My god- hin my human ribs

    Ss to my god- in mid-air.

    t t o divinity.

    ty t he beginning

    Calls unto divinity.

    I he call,

    And now I yield.

    Beauty is a pat leads to self self-slain.

    Beat your strings

    I o h.

    It stretco another dawn.

    third God

    Love triumphs.

    te and green of love beside a lake,

    And ty of love in tower or balcony;

    Love in a garden or in t untrodden,

    Love is our lord and master.

    It is not a on decay of the flesh,

    Nor the crumbling of desire

    ling;

    Nor is it fles takes arms against t.

    Love rebels not.

    It only leaves trodden  destinies for the sacred grove,

    to sing and dance its secret to eternity.

    Love is youth chains broken,

    Manhe sod,

    And womanhe flame

    And s of han our heaven.

    Love is a distant laug.

    It is a  t o your awakening.

    It is a neo th,

    A day not yet achieved in your eyes or mine,

    But already acs oer .

    Brothers,

    t of dawn,

    And t.

    the valley.

    A day too vast for recording.

    Second God

    t been since t morn

    Disco hill and vale,

    And t be to t even-tide.

    Our roots  forthe valley,

    And  t rises to ts.

    Immortal and mortal, to the sea.

    tiness between call and call,

    But only in the ear.

    time maketening more certain,

    And givet more desire.

    Only doubt in mortal he sound.

    e soared t.

    Man is a c.

    Man is god in slow arising;

    And bet his joy and his pain

    Lies our sleeping, and thereof.

    First God

    Let t t

    And let me be content awhile.

    Let my soul be serene t.

    Perchance I may drowse, and drowsing

    Beer world

    And creatures more starry supple to my mind.

    third God

    Norip me of time and space,

    And I  field untrodden,

    And t ;

    And I  higher air,

    And a hin my voice.

    e so t;

    Perco o ther world.

    But love say,

    And  be erased.

    the blessed forge burns,

    the sparks rise, and each spark is a sun.

    Better it is for us, and wiser,

    to seek a siy,

    And let love, he coming day.