The Descent into Hell Second Edition, Revised and Re-arranged, with an Analysis and Notes: To which are added, Uriel, a Fragment and Three Odes. By John A. Heraud |
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| XI. |
| XII. | XII. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH. |
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 | The Descent into Hell |  |
XII. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH.
1.
Say, have the Gates of Death been oped to thee?
The portals of his Shadow hast thou seen
Within the Valley of his Mystery?
The portals of his Shadow hast thou seen
Within the Valley of his Mystery?
Beyond that boundless gulph they stand between
The bottomless chasm, the abyss ineffable,
And those far gardens of perpetual green;
The bottomless chasm, the abyss ineffable,
And those far gardens of perpetual green;
Gardens of hope where happy spirits dwell,
And that dark bourn of terrour where the bad
Pine in their prison, expectant of worse hell.
And that dark bourn of terrour where the bad
Pine in their prison, expectant of worse hell.
—Lo, there the Gate of Paradise makes glad
The mighty desart with its golden face;
Thereat a shadow, pensive but not sad,
The mighty desart with its golden face;
Thereat a shadow, pensive but not sad,
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Keeps guard; fair form and lovely in the grace
Of undecaying beauty, shedding day
And light immortal in that obscure place.
Of undecaying beauty, shedding day
And light immortal in that obscure place.
A stole, white as the snows, and pure as they,
Her perfects limbs enfolds, yet hides them not,
But in more chaste proportion doth display:—
Her perfects limbs enfolds, yet hides them not,
But in more chaste proportion doth display:—
A silver stole it is, and without spot,
An amaranthine crown is on her head,
And in her hand a sceptre she hath got.
An amaranthine crown is on her head,
And in her hand a sceptre she hath got.
Beautiful Angel! solemn though not dread
Of countenance, and lovely though severe—
Who may she be?..the Living in the Dead.
Of countenance, and lovely though severe—
Who may she be?..the Living in the Dead.
—Thou seest Death. Not such as thou while-ere
Beheldst him, vaunting on his paly steed;
For spirits can in either sex appear:
Beheldst him, vaunting on his paly steed;
For spirits can in either sex appear:
And Death is multiform, and comes with speed
Or slackness, and in terrours or in smiles,
As men with fear or faith his coming heed.
Or slackness, and in terrours or in smiles,
As men with fear or faith his coming heed.
They call her death whom still the flesh beguiles,
But they do name her Immortality
Who placid dwell within those pleasant isles.
But they do name her Immortality
Who placid dwell within those pleasant isles.
She to the Saint brings tidings from the sky,
And sheds the halo o'er his dying brow,
Type of the Crown that he shall wear on high;
And sheds the halo o'er his dying brow,
Type of the Crown that he shall wear on high;
She broods upon his soul which, quickened so,
Soars like a dove away, and is at peace,
Far in the mountains where she dwelleth.—Lo!
Soars like a dove away, and is at peace,
Far in the mountains where she dwelleth.—Lo!
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Hither the enfranchised spirit joyous flees,
Beyond the Abyss of Space, and free from Time,
Heir of the realm of pure realities.
Beyond the Abyss of Space, and free from Time,
Heir of the realm of pure realities.
2.
Happy that region of eternal Prime,
Happy the Dwellers of its palaces,
Where thoughts are things, how beauteous, how sublime,
Happy the Dwellers of its palaces,
Where thoughts are things, how beauteous, how sublime,
How musical! transpicuously express
In truth and spirit to pure Intelligence,
As words and objects, in material dress,
In truth and spirit to pure Intelligence,
As words and objects, in material dress,
To fleshly organs of external sense;
Forms of the mind, yet dwelling far apart,
Substantial beings, their own evidence,
Forms of the mind, yet dwelling far apart,
Substantial beings, their own evidence,
And witnesses to thee, O Faith! who art
The evidence of things invisible,
Yet real as the pantings of the heart.
The evidence of things invisible,
Yet real as the pantings of the heart.
—O Faith! thou dost constrain us like a spell;
We pass the gulph that parts that world from ours,
Heaven dwells in us, and we in heaven do dwell.
We pass the gulph that parts that world from ours,
Heaven dwells in us, and we in heaven do dwell.
So we imparadise our souls in bowers
Of asphodel beneath Elysian skies,
And hold high converse with celestial Powers!
Of asphodel beneath Elysian skies,
And hold high converse with celestial Powers!
—There shadows are not, no appearance lies;
But Being and eternal Truth and Good,
Pure Freedom and developed Energies;
But Being and eternal Truth and Good,
Pure Freedom and developed Energies;
No great, no little, there is understood;
The pure, the perfect, and the permanent,
Only are there, with peace and plentitude.
The pure, the perfect, and the permanent,
Only are there, with peace and plentitude.
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—How blest, freed from each empty element,
When the religious soul finds entrance there,
For whom yon gate is opened, with consent
When the religious soul finds entrance there,
For whom yon gate is opened, with consent
Of the Eternal and Unearthly, where
Unearthly spirits, in no temporal clime,
Await the growth of Heaven's consummate year.
Unearthly spirits, in no temporal clime,
Await the growth of Heaven's consummate year.
—How curst, whose wings are only purged from slime
Of mortal coil, and earthly circumstance
Of pain and peril, evil care and crime,
Of mortal coil, and earthly circumstance
Of pain and peril, evil care and crime,
Urged by the will and the strong governance
Of coinherent impulse, to prefer
That Other Gate, which glows as they advance,
Of coinherent impulse, to prefer
That Other Gate, which glows as they advance,
Eager as death, and as the sepulchre
Insatiate, to embrace and then immure,
In darkness, and the fire shut up in her.
Insatiate, to embrace and then immure,
In darkness, and the fire shut up in her.
—And there are found who love that vale obscure,
Even for its gloom, the flame even for its ire;
Dark spirits of wrath such sympathies allure;
Even for its gloom, the flame even for its ire;
Dark spirits of wrath such sympathies allure;
And, verily, they have but their desire,
For all their ends are madness. And, lo, She
Them to her adamantine gate of fire
For all their ends are madness. And, lo, She
Them to her adamantine gate of fire
Attracts. There Madness in mock majesty,
Hell's Porteress, sits, all in her sable stole,
As she of the realm were queen, who keeps the key.
Hell's Porteress, sits, all in her sable stole,
As she of the realm were queen, who keeps the key.
3.
Her boundless eye expatiates sans control,
And limits to its wanderings are none;
Nought sees she as it is, as part or whole.
And limits to its wanderings are none;
Nought sees she as it is, as part or whole.
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Yet she creates a Beauty of her own,
Though both dishonest and irrational,
And amiable to herself alone;
Though both dishonest and irrational,
And amiable to herself alone;
Her Avarice, Ambition, Lust, enthrall;
These she misnames the graceful—noble—free—
Pious, ascetick, and heroical.
These she misnames the graceful—noble—free—
Pious, ascetick, and heroical.
—Then first known when th' Angelick Hierarchy
Turned from the bright and beatifick Vision
Their willing Love, and sought Felicity
Turned from the bright and beatifick Vision
Their willing Love, and sought Felicity
Each in the centre of Self-Intuition,
Or in the Foreign Infinite beyond,
Illimitable as desires elysian—
Or in the Foreign Infinite beyond,
Illimitable as desires elysian—
Then she leapt up from Chaos, free from bond,
And cried aloud in phrenzy—“I have being!”
Alien of heaven, incapable as fond.
And cried aloud in phrenzy—“I have being!”
Alien of heaven, incapable as fond.
—She ranged amidst the Hosts, till the All-Seeing
Sent forth celestial Wisdom ever-blest,
From midst his Glory, where, with Love agreeing,
Sent forth celestial Wisdom ever-blest,
From midst his Glory, where, with Love agreeing,
Before his works of old, he her possest.
She went forth from his bosom, and displayed
His Judgements, and his Power made manifest.
She went forth from his bosom, and displayed
His Judgements, and his Power made manifest.
—His Will is wise, by Wisdom is obeyed—
And all his Creatures only in its sphere
Are what they are, and in his gifts arrayed.
And all his Creatures only in its sphere
Are what they are, and in his gifts arrayed.
Lo! Wisdom dwells with Prudence, and the Fear
Of God is her beginning; and to know
The Holy One is understanding clear.
Of God is her beginning; and to know
The Holy One is understanding clear.
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In reason and in righteousness also,
Subsists the Universe; and from his Will
Life, Light and Motion, as their fountain, flow.
Subsists the Universe; and from his Will
Life, Light and Motion, as their fountain, flow.
The Lord by Wisdom founded every hill,
By Understanding he established heaven,
Brake up the depths by Knowledge and by Skill.
By Understanding he established heaven,
Brake up the depths by Knowledge and by Skill.
And o'er the Gate of Hell hath Wisdom graven
The hidden Counsel of the Eternal Three—
This legend lettered in perpetual leven;
The hidden Counsel of the Eternal Three—
This legend lettered in perpetual leven;
—“Order and Love and Possibility,
Eternal Possibility, and Will
For ever active, Bounty ever free,
Perfect to purpose, powerful to fulfil.”
Eternal Possibility, and Will
For ever active, Bounty ever free,
| The Descent into Hell | |