The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite in two volumes ... With a Portrait |
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| VIII. | VIII
THE END CROWNS |
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 | The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite |  |
VIII
THE END CROWNS
O secret symbol, seen by bad and good,
Unfold for ever! May we know thee more,
And more expanding, may thy meaning high
Reveal the perfect measures of the law!
Pass all things dark before it, pass and die;
But on the pure, regenerated, free
Ascending mind of man, on life's new age,
Shine, mellow moon unwaning; shed thy beams
Of mildness, mercy and intelligence!
Symbolic Moon, may God light man in thee!
All earthly loves have perish'd; that remains
Wherewith we love thee and are led by thee,
And that—imperishable, peerless, strong—
By which thy spirit is to God led up,
O human nature of our emblem pure,
With whom may God remain in light and love,
In life immortal and the Crown of Life!
Unfold for ever! May we know thee more,
And more expanding, may thy meaning high
Reveal the perfect measures of the law!
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But on the pure, regenerated, free
Ascending mind of man, on life's new age,
Shine, mellow moon unwaning; shed thy beams
Of mildness, mercy and intelligence!
Symbolic Moon, may God light man in thee!
All earthly loves have perish'd; that remains
Wherewith we love thee and are led by thee,
And that—imperishable, peerless, strong—
By which thy spirit is to God led up,
O human nature of our emblem pure,
With whom may God remain in light and love,
In life immortal and the Crown of Life!
I set my Symbol, fill'd with meanings deep,
To shine before thee—in thy face, O man,
To shine in beauty! Take it, gentle world:
Be worthy thou; fulfil what wants in me!
So as the moon, new-born in month of May,
Shall wax each night, this lamp of thine and mine
Will amplify its purport. Should it prove
That in far years the lustrous beams matured
Shall offer light beyond the light of mind,
Remember him who set a beacon-torch
On his own heights to burn, and greaten more.
Peace fill thy heart, while I go faring forth,
My part to act. May all things great be thine:
If from an apex past all dream I cry,
Believe the news I send of realms unknown—
My friends, my lovers, and judge me worthy you!
To shine before thee—in thy face, O man,
To shine in beauty! Take it, gentle world:
Be worthy thou; fulfil what wants in me!
So as the moon, new-born in month of May,
Shall wax each night, this lamp of thine and mine
Will amplify its purport. Should it prove
That in far years the lustrous beams matured
Shall offer light beyond the light of mind,
Remember him who set a beacon-torch
On his own heights to burn, and greaten more.
Peace fill thy heart, while I go faring forth,
My part to act. May all things great be thine:
If from an apex past all dream I cry,
Believe the news I send of realms unknown—
My friends, my lovers, and judge me worthy you!
| The collected poems of Arthur Edward Waite | |