The Book of the Holy Graal By Arthur Edward Waite |
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| I. |
| II. |
| III. |
| IV. |
| V. |
| VI. |
| VII. |
| VIII. |
| IX. |
| X. |
| XI. |
| XII. |
| XIII. |
| XIV. | XIV
Priest and Priestess |
| XV. |
| XVI. |
| XVII. |
| XVII. |
 | The Book of the Holy Graal |  |
135
XIV
Priest and Priestess
Before the rood-screen and the veil thereof
The Pyx and Chalice of the Bearers stood,
Clear-shining in the light which pierced the Veil,
For now there rose upon its hither side
A double cube of well-white marble, graved
In gold with words and names and hidden signs,
A mystic Altar by the Holy Place;
And prompted by the monitor within
They set their vessels down.
The Pyx and Chalice of the Bearers stood,
Clear-shining in the light which pierced the Veil,
For now there rose upon its hither side
A double cube of well-white marble, graved
In gold with words and names and hidden signs,
A mystic Altar by the Holy Place;
And prompted by the monitor within
They set their vessels down.
As when they met
On life's awakening side for that first time,
Remembering a vigil in the past,
Wherein the other side of life in sleep
Forth-issued out of sleep—and what is named
Deep dream—into a being-state of soul,
Whereof all waking they had known should count
Mere shadow of reality, so now—
In vision and its open images—
Their souls recall'd that meeting in the world
Of outward icons, what it proved for them
Beyond the doubting foresight of the heart;
How mortal flesh began to feel and see
The wonder and the glory of the world;
And how the mind incorporate therein
Itself had entered on a being-state,
Of which all measures through the past made known
Were also shadows of reality.
They, standing therefore upon either horn
Of that white Altar, and themselves in light,
From living light which dwelt beyond the veil,
Began to realize that both the states
Were at their root of purpose one within.
Yet some swift-flying question pass'd through both:
Whether the waking state of body and soul,
With union reached therein, while soul and soul
Preserved but rarefied the outward part,
Had not a wholeness which the vision state
Wanted, and whether individual will—
Which shaped its ends on earth—were not for them
A truer state than this most ghostly scene.
Herein they moved as something not themselves
Directed, whether from them apart or not,
And—in the high Rite integrated—shared
No forming purpose midst activities
Thereof. Only when motived pageant ceased
Their part with one another intervened.
Then it was will, activity, a state
Of seeing in worlds on worlds, opening out
And into one another, while the things
Beheld—ineffably, essentially—
Were one with that which saw; and in a mode
Beyond all time the Everlasting Love
Was its own object.
On life's awakening side for that first time,
Remembering a vigil in the past,
Wherein the other side of life in sleep
Forth-issued out of sleep—and what is named
Deep dream—into a being-state of soul,
Whereof all waking they had known should count
Mere shadow of reality, so now—
In vision and its open images—
136
Of outward icons, what it proved for them
Beyond the doubting foresight of the heart;
How mortal flesh began to feel and see
The wonder and the glory of the world;
And how the mind incorporate therein
Itself had entered on a being-state,
Of which all measures through the past made known
Were also shadows of reality.
They, standing therefore upon either horn
Of that white Altar, and themselves in light,
From living light which dwelt beyond the veil,
Began to realize that both the states
Were at their root of purpose one within.
Yet some swift-flying question pass'd through both:
Whether the waking state of body and soul,
With union reached therein, while soul and soul
Preserved but rarefied the outward part,
Had not a wholeness which the vision state
Wanted, and whether individual will—
Which shaped its ends on earth—were not for them
A truer state than this most ghostly scene.
Herein they moved as something not themselves
Directed, whether from them apart or not,
And—in the high Rite integrated—shared
No forming purpose midst activities
Thereof. Only when motived pageant ceased
137
Then it was will, activity, a state
Of seeing in worlds on worlds, opening out
And into one another, while the things
Beheld—ineffably, essentially—
Were one with that which saw; and in a mode
Beyond all time the Everlasting Love
Was its own object.
But this moment pass'd,
While that which follow'd ravish'd from their souls
All notion of the personal part in them,
All speculation of the mind, all sense
Of place, of motive, operation there.
They knew thenceforward that the Master-Lord
Was in the many-mansion'd House, a still,
Abiding Presence; and with one intent—
To find Him, see Him, worship Him therein—
They went on quest, scarce knowing what they did,
As inly spurr'd, unconscious that they moved—
In being's keen awareness, stripp'd of self.
The Temple grew before them; but its halls,
Chapels and chambers, vast scriptoria,
Its stairways—often as to height of stars
Ascending—and its secret doors which gave,
At unsuspected angles, upon roofs
Like platforms stretching through uplifted planes—
To them concentred, burning for the end—
Were not the mighty measures of a House,
Whether by hands erected or drawn out
In spiritual spaces, but the states
And pregnant epochs of the master-quest—
How long pursued who knows, Master and Lord?
They met with spokesmen of the Mysteries
While that which follow'd ravish'd from their souls
All notion of the personal part in them,
All speculation of the mind, all sense
Of place, of motive, operation there.
They knew thenceforward that the Master-Lord
Was in the many-mansion'd House, a still,
Abiding Presence; and with one intent—
To find Him, see Him, worship Him therein—
They went on quest, scarce knowing what they did,
As inly spurr'd, unconscious that they moved—
In being's keen awareness, stripp'd of self.
The Temple grew before them; but its halls,
Chapels and chambers, vast scriptoria,
Its stairways—often as to height of stars
Ascending—and its secret doors which gave,
At unsuspected angles, upon roofs
138
To them concentred, burning for the end—
Were not the mighty measures of a House,
Whether by hands erected or drawn out
In spiritual spaces, but the states
And pregnant epochs of the master-quest—
How long pursued who knows, Master and Lord?
Who saw the Master daily in the House,
And said: Lo, here or there, turning to East
And West, proclaiming gospels in His Name
And bearing certain warrants in their hands,
A proof of embassy; while other some
On ancient books depending saw therein
His first and final message, whence they preach'd
Obedience, witnessing of penalties
And great rewards. For such the Master's House
Was not alone a Temple built with hands
But raised by them or their progenitors.
A few upon some spiritual side
Of lower grooves depended. These affirm'd
The earth His Temple, and that which seem'd a House
All profitless till spiritually known,
When chancel, altar and the Holy Place,
With any Rites enacted these within,
139
Not seen or realized, but joined in thought
By moral bonds together. There and here—
Rarest of all—a few with faces seal'd
By perfect stillness, and with light thereon
Forth shining, like the light behind the Veil,
From inward source, the arms upon their breasts
Folded, went up and down, speaking no word,
Or in the Veil's glow waited, worshipping.
These also, often on their knees received
From Pyx and Chalice, at the Bearer's hands,
The Bread and Wine, in recollection merged;
And then the lambent flickering of light
About the vessels got another mode
Of lustre—a fix'd, penetrating glow—
As if all sunbeams had been focuss'd there.
Two vessels looking like two Graals of grace,
Two Bearers, a procession of the Graal
Concentred, priest and priestess of a Rite
According to Melchizedek—Priest and King—
Kept secret age on age, were here and now
Made in the holy hiddenness manifest
To two or three, in the Great Name and Word
Gather'd together. But a thousand pass'd
For whom the Veil was just a curtain's height;
The man and maid were priests in ritual-guise
Performing sacramental ministries;
And these meant little. Of such questers, some
Beyond the ceremonial and its form
Had pass'd in thought; some held them worshipful
But done in memory; and when the Graals
Swept down the chancel, in the Bearer's hands
Uplifted, shedding the strange light of them,
Some saw the works of miracle and cried
With open mouths. These follow'd from behind,
Looking beyond the portals, where the crowd
Were fed with Wine and Bread, or mix'd themselves
With these, thereafter—up and down the land—
Preaching the Kingdom and the coming Christ,
But understanding little in the heart,
And hence from one distraction over soon
To other flowing, like a shallow stream,
At every point diverted.
Two Bearers, a procession of the Graal
Concentred, priest and priestess of a Rite
According to Melchizedek—Priest and King—
Kept secret age on age, were here and now
Made in the holy hiddenness manifest
To two or three, in the Great Name and Word
Gather'd together. But a thousand pass'd
For whom the Veil was just a curtain's height;
140
Performing sacramental ministries;
And these meant little. Of such questers, some
Beyond the ceremonial and its form
Had pass'd in thought; some held them worshipful
But done in memory; and when the Graals
Swept down the chancel, in the Bearer's hands
Uplifted, shedding the strange light of them,
Some saw the works of miracle and cried
With open mouths. These follow'd from behind,
Looking beyond the portals, where the crowd
Were fed with Wine and Bread, or mix'd themselves
With these, thereafter—up and down the land—
Preaching the Kingdom and the coming Christ,
But understanding little in the heart,
And hence from one distraction over soon
To other flowing, like a shallow stream,
At every point diverted.
Now it came
To pass, after a day of many days
Perchance, that QUÆSTOR DEI and the Maid,
BEATA MEA, on the Guide within
Depending, ceased their quest about the House
To find the Blessed Master and High Lord,
But waited—watching over Pyx and Cup—
Because when toiling feet of body or soul
Have wearied, vainly seeking up and down,
The air about them as the heart within
May with a holy suddenness give up
The Blessed Master and the end of quest.
To pass, after a day of many days
Perchance, that QUÆSTOR DEI and the Maid,
BEATA MEA, on the Guide within
Depending, ceased their quest about the House
To find the Blessed Master and High Lord,
But waited—watching over Pyx and Cup—
Because when toiling feet of body or soul
141
The air about them as the heart within
May with a holy suddenness give up
The Blessed Master and the end of quest.
143
I have borne my part in the Temples,
The solemn state of each;
I have shared in the lyrical dramas
By action, song and speech.
I have follow'd the holy functions
Wherever their Rites have call'd,
As one for those ends anointed,
Exalted and install'd.
I have held both Warrant and Charter,
And where Grand Masters sat,
Throned high in the eastern quarter,
I have join'd the debate on that
Which attests the Mastery.
It is all of it great and good
To share and hear and see;
And if in the heart—as now—
I ask whether these are Thine,
The answer is: Surely Mine.
But when I proceed: Is it Thou?
A stillness falls on the vibrant halls
And a hush on the Holy place:
They have echoed from roof to base,
But only with rumours of Thee.
The solemn state of each;
I have shared in the lyrical dramas
By action, song and speech.
I have follow'd the holy functions
Wherever their Rites have call'd,
As one for those ends anointed,
Exalted and install'd.
I have held both Warrant and Charter,
And where Grand Masters sat,
Throned high in the eastern quarter,
I have join'd the debate on that
Which attests the Mastery.
It is all of it great and good
To share and hear and see;
And if in the heart—as now—
I ask whether these are Thine,
The answer is: Surely Mine.
But when I proceed: Is it Thou?
A stillness falls on the vibrant halls
And a hush on the Holy place:
They have echoed from roof to base,
But only with rumours of Thee.
O House and Temple and Lodge,
Upon all your craft and art
I crave the grace of a blessing
And join with thankful heart,
Or ever we take the Closing
And so from such walls depart.
I have dwelt in your shaded spaces,
Have shared their guerdons and graces
To the very end and the essence;
True signs of the grand totality
Are raised up in divers places:
But Give me, O God, the reality,
One light of all in the Presence.
Upon all your craft and art
I crave the grace of a blessing
And join with thankful heart,
Or ever we take the Closing
And so from such walls depart.
I have dwelt in your shaded spaces,
Have shared their guerdons and graces
To the very end and the essence;
True signs of the grand totality
Are raised up in divers places:
But Give me, O God, the reality,
One light of all in the Presence.
| The Book of the Holy Graal | |