R b '..•>■';■■• warn ismi- sebt EROMA FLEGANS i m m& LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. Shelf _,-£&£i THE PLEROMA A Poem of the Christ IN TWO BOOKS OF SEVEN CANTOS EACH, WRITTEN IN SEMI- DRAMATIC FORM REV. E. P. CHITTENDEN, A.M. "On ev avTGo Haroiusi itciv ro IlXypmua rrjS GEorrjToS d&)/ua- tikgjS. — Col. ii., 9 V^flOpf NEW YORK & LONDON G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS %\z Inickrkckr Jress ^ .£ \[ 1890 >fb\^ ^\4* COPYRIGHT BY EZRA PORTER CHITTENDEN 1890 Ube Iftnfcfeerbocfeer press, mew Jgorft Electrotyped and Printed by G. P. Putnam's Sons DEDICATED TO THE CHURCH WHICH IS THE FULNESS OF HIM THAT FILLETH ALL IN ALL PREFACE. The Pleroma is characteristically modern. It may- be safely claimed that in no other period of human learning could it have been conceived and executed. For the ?nateria of the successive ages and stages of creation, the latest available scientific authorities have been consulted ; and throughout the drama the princi- ple of evolution has been adopted ; with this proviso, however, that Jahveh-Christ shall be regarded as the Beginning and the End of the world-process. A funda- mental error of the past has been to regard creation finished at man's appearance upon the earth. In this work, two hemispheres, the natural and the spiritual, are seen to evolve concurrently, reaching their fulness and perfection, not in the first Adam, but in the Second. In a word, I have incorporated The Christ into the mighty sweep of natural sequences ; and the Incarna- tion, as potentially hidden, from the beginning, in the Womb of the World. The poetical form was chosen because it seemed to me that the present stage of knowledge suffers no one to fill out, after the scientific method, a plan so compre- hensive as is here undertaken. The preparation of this Poem of the Christ has been a holy delight, while un- wonted physical health brightened the arduous duties of a pastor and teacher. Some unusual metres will be found, whose design is to express peculiar motions of VI PREFA CE. natural forces. I would crave indulgence for the form of blank verse which gives more prominence to the sentence than the traditional line permits of. Should my poem find favor among Christian students of science and scientific students of Christianity, my utmost hopes will be realized. Among those whose kind offices have furthered the issue of this volume the names of Col. Nicolas and Mrs. Louisa Pike, both well-known naturalists of Brooklyn, N. Y., are gratefully mentioned. The gorgeous Pleroma elegans (the perfect type of the floral kingdom) was discovered, happily, in time to be laid in gilt upon the cover as a significant symbol of the Christ who is the " Flower and Perfection of humanity." Christ Church Rectory, Salina, Kan. ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE Protea Vilifera, South Africa .... Faces 24 Earliest Forms of Animal and Vegetable Life . . 46 »/ Actinle or Sea Anemones 48 t/ Animal and Vegetable Life in the Upper and Lower Silurian Ages 54 V Reptiles of the Liassic and Upper and Lower Oolites, 56 r Marine Life in the Devonian Age . . . . 58' Flora of the Carboniferous Age 70 V Life in the Triassic Period 74 / Mammals and Birds of the Eocene, Miocene, and Later Ages 88^ Oak Galls, Worm and Fly 90 1/ The Serpent Circling round the Hedge of the Gar- den of Eden, Seeking a Place to Enter , . 114 v Pleroma Elegans 284 1/^ BOOK I. CHRIST IN NATURE. THE PROCESS OF THE PLEROMA. THE ETHEREAL PARADIGM UNSEALED IN NATURE. < § < o c* H J J 1 Ph w a H 1-1 to <2/z/-couriers await thy beck, Scorning to measure time, or turn, to do Thy bidding. First of the legions, captain, If not their sire, plieth the plated Ganoid ; If more or less than fish thou be ; if Sauroid ; If kin of those bursting the bands of sea, To fly the air, or stalk the beach ; if each Or all, compact in one composite form ; Still shudder far the waters as he swims, And shining, proves his prowess weaken'd naught By strange and weird complexity. Flanking Him where he floats, behold his twin-born sons — Dinichthys, filling all the ocean main With dread. And Asterolepis, with teeth Reptilian, whose mammoth jaws open And shut, as ragged shears ; whose backs stout-built, With triple horn and starry scales implex'd And imbricate ; while closely swims uncouth Cephalaspis, with wing'd and fluted armor ; In form and force his mighty brother's equal. And now in splashing sportiveness stream on The swift marauders, warlike congeners, Nam'd each connoting well his rank and form ; The Ganoids speed the tides and glide as shadows Along the furrow'd plain, with terminal mouth And supple mail implex'd ; their skeleton, THE PLEROMA. 6 1 Unfinish'd, yet an engine potent in the tail, Well vertebrate — effective oar and helm. Next, slowing in their serried might the rear, The plated Placoderms, their armor held Aloft the waves ; and labyrinthine teeth, In shining 'rray far down their gaping throats, Set ventrally ; their bulging bodies, half Invertebrate, fenc'd fierce with spines. Them all When seeking prey, the pristine monarchs shun — Orthoc'ra, Octopus, out-terror'd terror ! And peer, cyclopean-eyed from rocky haunts, In deeps profound and dark. THE .EONS. The Air of the ^Eons, the Daughters of Time, That number the secular changes in rhyme ; From the Cambrian gneiss to Corniferous lime, On the eve of the age Devonian. Ye Couriers, hail us, foretelling the gloom And a tempest portenting to myriads doom, As crumbling the empire of ocean gives room To the dominant arm Laurentian. Now curtain the shadows the down-arching beach And waters to Southward rich plateaus o'erreach ; By wisdom instruct, by wisdom we teach, On the eve of the age Devonian. Three variant strata consecutive trace — The coarse, the fragmental and calcareous ; While casts of the fossils define you the place On the roof of the rock Plutonian. 62 THE PLEROMA. Niagara limestone, or Helderberg mount, Their harvest of fossils profusely recount ; With life juxtapos'd from the Hamilton fount, On the eve of the age Silurian. Of dynasties see the reliques blent — Orthoc'ra, trilobite, Coral anent, With ichthyic archives dismantled and rent In the gloom of a night Cimmerian. Where labor'd in glee the lime-loving swarm, Catastrophe falls upon bounty and form ; While burials beautiful sob in the storm On the eve of the age Silurian. Ye wane, O sweet, O fair-chamber'd shell ! The ^Eons have sounded thy funeral knell ; But types, kindred types, shall follow thee well, On the dawn of the age Amphibian. THE ANIMiE. We crawl and creep ; We climb and leap ; Swim we and fly Afar and high ; Life is our breath ; With Minerals wed, With Vegetae fed ; By Circles curv'd, And Binders nerv'd, While Couriers speed, And Limits read " Life treads on death.' THE PLEROMA. 63 Upspringing forms, Full in the storms, That end our days ; God is our breath, Life feeds on death ; Short is the stay ; Brief the essay To sing His praise. Creator, Thou, Thrilling us now ; Voice of the seer Over the mere Lifting we chant ; Chang'd is our mood, Spurning all food ; Lost in surprise, Bury our eyes ; Cover our face, Meanwhile we trace Far down the stream — Fanciful stream- Fauna and Plant. Ichthyic monarchs of the main, Quaffing the wassail of the wave, Heed ye the gospel of the Sea ; Ye are the burden of our strain. Ceasing awhile to lash and lave, Hear ye what is, and what shall be. Reach'd is the limit of the old ; Known from this day be time as new ; The middle line hath life now pass'd : 64 THE PLEROMA. Behold the plan of God unroll'd, And sing his praise, meanwhile ye view, And read, " The First shall be the last.' For God is one, and one his world ; And life aspires to breathe the air, The tread of feet, and whir of wing, Announce the ^Eons have unfurl'd The living bulletins ye wear, To analyze the forms ye bring. Lo, paddling yon Bavarian field, See ye the Archeosaurian ! Or fish, or reptile ? both or none ? Doth Placoid scorn to own his shield ? Doth Ganoid dread Amphibian ? And Placoderm his sons disown ? Devonian chiefs that scour the seas, Nature abhors the composite ; The sauroid forms shall rise or fall. Rise till they wing the scented breeze ; Fall till they crawl the oozy bight, While medial types intact forestall. Yet through the age of Acrogens, Amid the haunts of beast and man, Tasting the depths of Nature's fount, Gleams still the Ganoids' diadem, — Heir to the throne Devonian, Whose years in vain they seek to count. For God is one, and His world is one ; And the types are the links of a chain, And the chain is roll'd in the Germ. THE PLEROMA. 6$ God's way is one, and when it is done, And variant forms find their cradle again, — " The Permanent Type " is the law ye learn. THE PLEROMA. O verdureless and steaming slopes that bare Your bosoms from the surge, and fend the gulfs And still lagoons ; ye are the realm elect For Cryptogamia that swarm these shores, Alluring and allur'd. Saluteth you anon The Ancient North ; her fruits she sendeth forth In colonies to garnish all the earth. From circum-polar parts transplant, in soils More quick, and airs more humid, shall they soon Lead forth and crown the shallowing lake and marsh With herbage tropical ; naming their reign The Age of Plants. Then gird, O Vegetse, Afresh ! Pour from the shadowy urn of thoughts Your boon and beauties typical ; and haste The Age of Man ! Drink up the noxious airs With marvelous chemistries employ'd ! Store up The light and heat, the perfume and the oil ! Draw up elixirs from the tepid marge, And, dying, print a frescoed vault within The silted peat, from which in distant years Transform'd in radiances and calories, Wondrous illume the ways of God to man. And ye, O Animas, ye are now girt Afresh for mighty enterprise, what time The cosmic forces rally to your aid ; Your songs inspiriting have rous'd the Airs, And instant vigors fly as couriers, to do 66 THE PLEROMA. Our pleasure. Mirror'd upon the horizons, Ye saw, and newly, the shining goal of life — The Plerome of pleroma, whereupon Your ecstacies express'd o'erpowering In lines prophetical, have thrill'd the Soul Itself of BEING. The Air of the Acrogens, — point-growing stems Myriad milliards Cellular Sigillards, Flowerless, bowerless, pitted, and scarr'd ; Millions rush-like ; Millions fern-like ; Gem of the anthracite, Reed-like Calamite Fluted and whorl'd, Hollow'd and curl'd, Intricate, infinite, cover the sward. Delicate fronds, Complicate bonds, Wide-spreading roots, Multiple shoots ; Needle-like leaves, Tapering sheaves, Odorous cones Conifer owns — The queen of the coal-forming band. Mystical cone, Joy of our throne ; Spiral'd and cleft Rightwise and left ; Primal and dual THE PLEROMA. 6? Spiral'd our jewel ; Quintuple, octuple, Obliquely parallel, Phyllotax windeth, Waxeth and bindeth, With God in the secret, guiding her hand. What time with wondering, Guessing and blundering, Finitely human figure thy line ; Whene'er with fancy — Queer necromancy ! Incidence, accidence, Join they with chance ; Sweet lips and dutiful ; Parting so beautiful, Telling and spelling, Kindly compelling If with reluctance Final acceptance — " God, he, hath made thee, Plac'd and array'd thee ! The thought of thy spiral 's truly Divine." THE SEASONS. The Song of the Seasons — offspring of the Year, In greeting fair Gaia, and bidding her cheer ; While each in her turn Pours forth from her urn The favoring treasures she gives to the Earth. Bright Summer, the first-born, her tropical wealth Of colors and odors, and savors of health : 68 THE PLEROMA. 'Midst showers of sheen, And oceans of green, And balmiest breezes, and measureless mirth. Next, Autumn, her fruits and sadly dear signs, For the rim of the trees and the leaf of the vines ; For the gild of the glade, And arboreal shade, Pours freely out of her golden horn. Then Winter her crystalline gems displays ; With icily bands for the rivers and bays ; A surcease of sorrow, Fore-shortening each morrow, With laughter and love while the fire burns warm. And, last of the sisters, the Eastering Spring, Untying the breezes she binds in her ring ; Her magical marvels She quickly unravels, And, J>resto, the white is a garment of green ! We four are four sisters — offspring of the Year ; In circuits returning allaying thy fear ; Each change giving beauty, Fulfilling our duty, While God in the secret preserveth the mean. The Archaean Marshes, measureless marshes ! Brilliant savannas, and forests of larches ! Peat-forming, warm, Carboniferous marshes That fringe the inland seas ; THE PLEROMA. 69 Lepidodendra, scaly and spired ; Ribb'd Sigillaria, rudely attired ; Complicate tree-fern, ever admired, That murmur in the breeze. Hum with the nerve-wing insect swarms, Orthopter, neuropter, gay silken forms ; Rend with the earthquake ; moan with the storms That crush the shady bowers. Corridors echo to Archeosaurus, Bellowing near — a shuddering chorus ; Sluggard Amphibians drowsing before us, While Phoebus looms and lowers. The Cry of the coal-fields, Silted and sanded, Delug'd and stranded, Buried and whelm'd by the sea " Teredo ! " " Teredo ! " This dark realm of Pluto Yields thee its mystery. The cheer of the coal-fields ; Joy of the Teredo, Piercing thee far below, Reading thy epics in stone. Fairiest etching, Miniature sketching — Picturesque Carbon Bathing in Acheron, Priceless the treasure ye own. 70 THE PLEROMA. O charm of the coal-mine ! Unctuous measure, Luminous treasure, Fuel stored up for mankind ; " Teredo ! " " Teredo ! " Piercing thee far below, Sings of provision design'd. THE PLEROMA. O fairest Flora ! hail, behold how throb And thrill the marshes and the glades with life ! Heard are intense and festive airs ; the Seasons Four, benignant, entertain the woods ; While from exhaustless garderobe, Nature Her heaths and everglades arrays. Of pride The Conifers display their curious cones — A micro-marvel — Ferns majestic rise — Vital transparencies. Lepidendrids, Wide-rooting, rhomboidal, and scaled, paint all The scene, a forest fleet ; the Calamites, With tapering, stately stems and jointings whorl'd, Uplift colossal ; while Sigillaria, As stubborn sentinels, protect the group. Yet lowlier forms arrest our gaze : the thorn'd And captious cactus, silly rush and reed ; The merry brake, the battle-loving moss ; Grasses and vines his fiefs ; these all allure And greet the pictur'd moths and butterflies, The cunning ants and beetles militant — Both Menelaus, Achilles, and in love Adonis. Next the housely weaving spider, THE PLEROMA. 7 1 The suicidal scorpion, Arachnida, The timid cockroach Orthopter, all late Emerg'd the wave ; and pleas'd to creep the sward, Or fly the air ; feeding on nectaries, And sweets stolen from the amorous sun, Sometime, when peering 'neath the curtain'd woods, The playful Zephyrs slyly creeping him Behind, sipp'd from his horn elixirs rare, And quickly kiss'd the flowers. And ye of might, O Animae ! with cosmic airs engirt, Enforce the Law of Difference ; and haste Composite forms to specialize. The Sea Salutes the Land : the ocean-denizens Attempt the rising shores ; and thus excite The latent variants that foment in them Clamors and strivings, paroxysms fierce ; And heap diverseness on diversity. O wretched congeries ! O vital chaos ! Now breathe upon this troubled sentiency — Confus'd in mighty struggle with its selves, The Spirit of harmonious unity ! Whose distant goal is Man ; whose regimen Divides to join ; dissociates to wed ; Resolves to order and coordinate Again diffus'd extremes of Life in one Their ultimate and end. Ye Saurians ! This is the hour of fear and dissolution ! O Protean Labyrinthodonts ! despair Yawns from these ragged gills, and fretted lungs — Your hour and power dies utter, nor returns ; Yet dying, spring, full-ribb'd and ray'd at once 72 THE PLEROMA. From out your crowded wombs more perfect fish And reptile ; as the Types prophetical The Neozoic world, do shortly trace Their lines divergent from your graves. THE PSYCHE. Ah, Permian Pall ! ah, crisis of doom ! What tremors and jars ! what salvage is hewn From the storm-riven shore ! What clysms of stays, and giant supports, While Ocean gives vent his fiery retorts 'Midst froth and 'midst roar. What sobbing is this and anguish of birth, While mountainous wrinkles appear on the Earth, In the depths of the Permian night. O sigh of the marsh ! O throb of the deep ! Immutable forms have found their last sleep And wake nevermore to the light. The Birth of the Appalachian hills Is the carol of winds and the echo of dales, Of a widening continent ; O cairn of the Paleozoic age ! O turning point in the cosmic page, With a star for the mind's comment ! THE PLEROMA. Fled is the desolating storm ; and now Resume the choirs creative melodies ; The same, and yet another world is this ! The change how sudden, how paroxysmal ! THE PLEROMA. 73 The pensive Flora hail their bright reserves — Palmetto-cycads answering, and those Call'd Cypress-Volzias ; while from the knolls, The breezy lifts of land, greet waving Palms, And sturdy Dicotyls, leading the van Of hardy forest trees. The crowded North — Primeval fount, anew pours forth her swarms Of lives, that swim and creep, that stalk and flit ; All Protean types, and plastic to each change Of clime, as is yon mute mirage that plays Its mimicries upon the vapory plain, Taught by the changing lights and shades. The Sea Shall shortly abdicate his throne and yield The Continents precedence ; the triple East — Europa, Asia, Africa ; the West — Twin-form'd Americas ; all offspring of That rock archaean of the midnight sun, And from his loins prolific peopled. For, Betwixt his spreading limbs, fast by the shore, A grotto small and dazzling rare with gems, Protects a crystal fountain call'd " The Fount Of Life," as sweet to taste and purely pure, As dew distilled and filtered o'er The dust of diamonds. Thus garnish'd bright, Illum'd with light direct from Phoebus' wheel — What time his daily round upon the wave Returning, shone full in the cavern's heart — The Flora, seeking for some sheltering spot To rest and taste refreshment, passing near, Perceiv'd the babbling stream ; when, glancing in, Awoke more joy and wcnder instantly, 74 THE PLEROMA, Than when fair Gaia bared her breast, and bade Them early welcome. Entering forthwith They quaff'd elixirs from the living brook, And slept, the first or ever on the shores Of Earth. Eftsoon, the cosmic Airs return'd To this their trysting place, and saw with mute Uncertain wonderment, the spiritual Flowers In naked beauty sleeping ; half in doubt, And fearing 't were a figment of the mind : When innate pureness led them to withdraw. Refresh'd, the Flowers awoke, and bath'd them in The tonic bath ; clad them again in their Bright, perfum'd robes, and joining hands, went forth To trace the limpid stream unto the sea. There heard they drifting music on the air — The choir of Circles, Bands, and Couriers — Led by the rhythmic Limits ; and of love And guileless passion sang. O perfect forms ! Struck from the heavenly mint, God's precious Powers ! What marvels the event that nam'd this stream "The Stream of Life," where woo'd and wed The cosmic Airs the loveliest Flora ; And offspring rear'd beside the laughing fount ! Whence, as the rills to brooks, the brooks to rivers Descending grow, so yonder rill of germs Flows on increasingly, and spreads its banks Of plants and flowers athwart the continents. THE PSYCHE. The Rage of the reptile Saurians ! The Joust 'twixt the Sea and Land ! THE PLEROMA. 75 'Mid the salt Lagoons, On the gypsum dunes, And the buff-blown shining sand. The shout of the Sea, " Enaliosaurs ! " The call of the Land, " Ye Dinosaurs ! " To the fray, O Powers ! While the storm-king lowers, And the billows kiss his wand. Ye plunging, paddling Placoderm ! In vain thy qualms, in vain thy roar, The chiefs of the Land Shall rule the Strand ; To the deeps, ye turtle Plesiosaur ! " The Land is lord " — the Couriers shout, " The reptile king is the Deinosaur ! He shall stalk the coast, With his bird-like host — The sovran-count of the Sea and Shore. THE PSYCHE. Hail to the Bird Primeval ! If bird, in truth thou be — - Hail to the winged reptile ! If saurian still we see. Is Pterosaur thy mother ? Stout-girded form ? Feather'd and firmly keeled, Contending with the storm ? j6 THE PLEROMA. Tell us, O bird ungainly, Since bird in truth we hail ; Why is thy beak reptilian ? And lizard-like thy tail ? Ah, Bird, thy say is ancient, Ancient as is the sun ; " Our type shall be perfected, When Limits shall have done. Lo, Couriers salute thee ; The Limits pass thee on ; And soon thy balanc'd pinions Shall hide the noon-day sun. THE COURIERS. We fly, we fly ! Swift is the work we essay ; Give fin to fish, And wing to bird ; And shortly are up and away. We fly, we fly ! Swift is the work we essay ; Yet pass not by, But linger nigh, Till the bird shall wing our way. The teleosts along the coasts Are the rangers of the deep, And the soft gazelle Over hill and dell Shall fly with winged feet. THE PLEROMA. TJ The bird of wing shall soar and sing, And pierce the azure height ; So hail, fair bride ! By the Couriers' side Is the pledge of song and light. The splendid reign Reptilian Falls crumbling on the strand ; But the Couriers trace a nobler race, Ruled by the Psychic Hand. CANTO VII THE ARGUMENT. The Sixth Creative Day evoked ; further preparations for the ensphering of the Psychce — The sEo?is sing the course of the Fauna — Lucifer, regent, visiteth the Earth and receiveth with disdain the ovation of the Ethers — The Sacrament for sin offered in the Heavenly Places — The cheer of the Psychce — The Cosmic Forces assem- ble and search inaugurated for Man now the universal Theme — The pleroma with the heavenly choirs at- tending breathes the psychic principle into the natural man in the sub-polar Paradise. THE ANIM^E. Terrestrial fervors, potent powers ! With vital forces wed ; Expressive tokens apposite Delight the marriage bed. Animic forms are bodied thoughts, With you their chief support ; Though sudden shocks dissever us, Again we soon consort. Or link'd or free, there is no death, Life goes to come again ; 78 THE PLEROMA. f$ The vital Airs are everywhere, And God is One in them. The crystal rhythms again evoke The Sixth creative Day, When God to us the Animae Conjoins his Majesty. Forthwith ye potent magnetisms, The psychic realm embrace ; And we, appris'd, advance the hour That greets the Godlike race. THE PLEROMA. How purely white and chaste these chalky rifts, That part pacific bays, where Rhizopods, And Coccoliths, lime-loving swarms, live out Their little day, minutely perfect lives, Among the minim forms of earth : and then Do softly drop their glinting micro-shells Upon the ocean floor, a sacrifice to man. Not less vicarious yonder corallines, That build themselves into his habitation ! Nor darkling where they sink, the carbon fields Express less benefit fore-given. Yea, if Were tax'd yon grizzly cliffs, Sierras, and Those Andean, in answering the quest Wherefore they groan and struggle from the waves, With mount'nous travail, — would they nod assent, " The canon of the world is Altruism." For yet hath fall'n no cool refreshing rains ; No mellow radiance fulls in the clouds : 80 THE PLEROMA. No bath of fragrant dews, and crisp of frosts. This known, the legion of the cosmic airs Consentient strive, and push aloft yon mounts That ridge and belt the earth, and greet The morn of Neozoic time with leash Of winds and couchant clouds, that bide the day Of man, to water first the fallow ground. O burst of Life ! O leap of Flowers ! Erstwhile O'erspringing yonder shoals of clearest chalk, They green the foot-hills and the heights with growths Deciduous, adapt to cooler climes. Hail potent Day ! The Sixth creative scene ! Thee now salutes the forest choir with lute Of Evergreen and Laurel. Bidding on The stately Palm and Cypress — elder forms ; Forthwith, in silken robes and rustle, go The Sycamore and Tulip-tree, the Oak And silv'ry Poplar. THE PSYCH^E. Tears of the Poplar, mystical Amber ! Resin, translucent and pale ; Shed by Catania, While fair Urania Murmur'd her ominous tale : Story of strife abroad in the Heavens ; Lucifer, star of the morn — Prince of the Earth, Priding his worth, Useth Electron with scorn. THE PLEROMA. 8 1 Noble Electron, first to Urania Born and embower'd in light, Rose in his splendor, Sought him to render Honor befitting his might. Lucifer loom'd in his armor defiant ; Heedless the voice of the Throne ; Flam'd in fierce choler, Reckless the dolor, Ruin to bring Electron. Quoth then the Voice of the Lord of the Heavens : " Lucifer ! Star of the Morn ! Spurning Our pardon ; Vain is thy guerdon ! Rent is thy kingdom and torn ! Hear ye, O Angels, the fiat of Heaven ! Psychae are loos'd from his sway ; Fief to Electron, Lucifer — Archon — Holdeth the Earth from this day. His be the physical realm and the motive ; Passion and pride his delight ; Reason, for choosing ; Will for refusing, Psychae shall hold in their right." Luminous Amber, seal of Electron ; Tomb of the whimsical bee ; Seeing, take warning ! Lucifer ! scorning The bliss of the pure and the free J 82 THE PLEROMA. THE PLEROMA. Hail, leafy choirs, far from your common home In polar Paradise ! envoy'd by Flora, Exploiting vales and moors, the plateaus and The mounts ; part orientate to the land Of Dawn ; where mellow airs and gorgeous tints Entice them ; part streaming to westward where The Rockies rear their min'ral palaces, Along whose granite colonnades descend The footsteps of the setting sun ; growing Meantime in hardiness, and clad in green Perennial, against the shimmering fields Of snow. We pass you on, pronouncing good And perfect the Imago of the Flora. Ye are henceforth a volume lined and bound, Ornate with lustrous tokens of the Law Of Life — cause and effect, concurrent, of Environment. Thereto let Hindostan, And burning Vera Cruz ; wintry Thibet, And the eternal verns of Mexico ; The flooded forests of the Amazon — The Andean paramos ; Arcadian vales, And mossy Floridas, repeat the law Confirming that in nature nothing is Unto itself ; nor carries in itself The reason of its form and function. Wherefore, O psychic Airs, whose moods now mist and melt In tears and anxious auguries, more trist By far, deciph'ring in the electric gem The doom of Lucifer, with homage to The great Electron of the Sun ; whereon THE PLEROMA. 83 Dependeth mighty ends and offices Of grace, ordain'd before the Earth was fram'd ; — Wherefore take heart, and surely know the race Ye run, when ye shall be inflesh'd and reck'd Among the incarnations of pleroma, Hath set for it a goal, whither ye run, As potent to transform and amplify The human powers, in striving thereunto, As yonder flowers diversify and feel The quick'ning virtus of the heights, quitting The shores and humid meads, to gain thereby Regal varieties and nobler splendors. Behold and ponder, psychic Airs, the key Of individuated life ! a talisman And recondite devise to correlate Home and its habitant ; this shall be styl'd The Difference, or Effort next of kin, Or Natural Selection ; but be assur'd, The fount of special forms is higher than The banks whose branching arms they course between. For " habitat," though excitant, that shapes Forms apposite and pairs peculiar lives, The potence to create and juxtapose Hath not ; nor recks the pangenetic germs First sown on inorganic shores. Nor shall The onward flow and upward effort end, Till ev'ry spiritual Plant and Animal, And Psychic individual, receive his place Among the orders of the Earth ; therefrom To share the triumph of pleroma-christ, Earth's apotheosis and Nature's Goal. 84 THE PLEROMA. The essence of the outward world the mind Of finite man doth not perceive ; to him, (And ye, Psychae, shall we soon address As such), to him all knowledges are seen As relative, phenomenal — prints from A vast Unknown, beyond him and beneath. And lo, your eyes so soon to shut upon The Infinite, are voyaging far and near This world of blooming difference, to fill Your souls with proofs, exhaustless and abiding, Of a Divinity in Earth, and of a Love That frames and furnishes for man his home. First, ye survey the humid realm and note The deeps profound of Ocean ; their colors and Their currents strong that clarify the seas : The mighty rush of tidal waves that break Upon resounding shores ; the gusty winds That race with fickle lust athwart the main ; And those more constant, veering Southward far ; Or the Monsoons that taste the feverish tropics. How blue and how intense the azure sky ! The air how light and rare ! This is the time Of calms, the zone of om'nous silences : Behold the regnant orb hastes on his course With ashen countenance and dread t' ascend His zenith throne. Abide his culmination ! Ah stifling heats, and dank humidities ! That weight the atmosphere quiv'ring beneath The flames of Phoebus ! Lo, the sleeping storm Awakes ! grave Silence breeds terrific roar, And inky spectres spring full-grown and grim Into the sky. The Psychae quake ; fall rains, THE PLEROMA. 85 And rush the floods ; the meadows sink along The Orinoco's marge ; while Paraguay- Becomes a land of lakes and low lagoons. Aquarius turns his spout upon the crown Arid selvas of Madeira — queen of streams ; Next, rich supplies invokes the ancient Nile, Immortal flood, dark Afric's eldest born. O Winds, the day of Man is nigh ! Lift from The waves moist exhalations, bearing them On wings unseen, and yield their vap'ry treasures Yon mounts to irrigate the land. For airs Surcharg'd with drink no longer drift and lie Upon the widening landscapes. Hear their song ! Greet ye the semi-circling Alps, and Ghauts In vapors hid ! the arched Apennines, And Himalayas, nurse of streams ! Greet not The smoky Caledonias ! Sing not Of Tangout's drought, nor of Sahara's waste ; But Thibet sing that weds the tropic Ind With royal dower ; Deccan and Indo-China, With gums concentrate, aromatic spice ; Of Cinnamon and Clove ; Nutmeg and Ginger ; With Coffee-plant and Tea in utmost Orient. Sing of the Occident in rivers proud ! The Rios and that Maranon ! Ohio ! Missouri ! Sing the Giant Palm far-fam'd Of South-America, the leafy king : Of dazzling flowers and climbing vines profuse, That scorn the paucity of animals. Sequoia sing, the loftiest of the Pines, Whose stalwart quadrates guard unequall'd vales 86 THE PLEROMA. Of golden California. The Cedar sing, Elect of God and named " The Tree of Life " — The throne and glory of the garden-choir — Fair symbol of man's immortality : Whence God shall crop a young and tender twig, And plant it on a mountain eminent In Zion : a plant of great renown. Thus far And wide ye glance the teeming continents, O psychic Airs, the Law of Difference Exploring, and confirming how all forms, Indigenous, reflect both site and clime ; Each plant and animal connotes his home To be terrestrial or maritime, Or insular. If mean, embryonal, The last ; if varied, vigorous, the first ; If feminal and lavish of soft garbs And sensuous animism, the median. THE PSYCH^E. O fair illusions ! Rivers, Waves, and Winds ; Whence is the force that flows ? the sympathy that binds ? Which is the organific ? which the inorganic field ? By Bands magnetic, and electric Couriers, thrill'd. Ye mighty bastions of the continents, By earthquake seam'd and fiery rain besprent ! Say whence the Power pent up within your breast ? Bid pulsive Limits calm and give thee rest ! Ye Circles, hail ! the living orbit swings ; Life's summit reach'd, again its Author brings ; Then haste your course, ascend the way of Man ; For now the stream returns whence it began. THE PLEROMA. 8? The fin preserves its type, — the ganoid Pike — Yet yields the Saurian paw, and wing, alike ; Upward attains the true placental kind, While hoof and hand forestall the reign of mind. much pleroma ! hast Thou shown to-day To speed our courage on the earthward way ; Our incarnation we accept with grace, If Thou do still reveal to us Thy Face. THE ^EONS. The Air of the ^Eons, the offspring of Time, As, calling the course of the hours, they climb To the verge of the Sixth great day sublime, On the Uintah beds of Coryphodon ; O OEnnigen sands ! O silvery beach ! The lesson here writ is the lesson we teach ; The words of thy strand are the fossiliz'd speech Of the insect fly and the Tillodon. These wrecks, by the way, do their wand'rings rehearse ; As vassals of sun and clime they disperse, Where wide is the world ; and climes are diverse ; And name us the steps of their variation ; Echidna, Anteater, and Marsupial, Kangaroo, Wombat, and vile Sacophile ; Cetaceae the Right, and the great Rorqual ; The Amphibian Morse, and the Ursine Seal ; Till we meet the Mammalia placental, By slow or paroxysmal gradation. Weird age of the Sauroid horde, thou art gone ! But huge are thy offspring the thickets that throng ; 88 THE PLEROMA. If Paleothere old, or Dinothere strong ; Dinoceros fierce, and the big Mastodon ; Woe wails o'er the earth in aphelion And the glacial cold that ensues. Haste Ungulate herald thy record unroll ! And tell us the variant names on thy scroll ; The even-toed Ruminants, the Pachyderm odd ; Ox, Tapir, and Camel, Camelopard : From Hippus tri-digit in Eocene lifts, To the one-finger'd horse of the Pliocene drifts, And its value to man that accrues. O realm of the Circles ! we pause to descend To the Florida reefs ; and their terraces trend ; See order in species instinctively bend Submissive from earliest to latest ; Actinidae, Fungoids, Astereas, Pontes ; Thence rising to Madrepores, Halcyonites ; The Limits announced, the Lerneans proceed, With Trilobites, Lobsters, and Crabs in the lead, Till the Vertebrate type Thou instatest. Anew We salute the Mammifer age, To trace out the links in the penumbral stage Of Man : O Man ! thou must come ; for the page, And the last wants its finis alone ; But hush ! See effulgent yon cloud on the strand, Advancing and meeting the cosmical band ! O moment impending ! we fear to command ; Art Lucifer proud ? or the great Electron ? THE PSYCHE. The God of the Gall-fly is the God we adore, And the suffering Oak that protects it ; THE PLEROMA. 89 O mothering tree ! What cradles ye build These minims to shield, As nice in their nest As the bliss of the blest ! Say who hath inspir'd thee to use of thy store, And build for this fly A house with no visible eye that directs it ? Ah, bothering fly ! What brushes ye ply So worryingly ! With needle and hasp, With auger and rasp, Whilst flower and leaf, Thou bringest to grief ; Whence cankering juice Exudes for thy use, And the Oak bends with awe To the march of the law Which Flora to Fauna subdueth : Yea the meanest insect she bows to protect ; And the gulf that divides Mute sympathy hides ; While a tree without hands Feels silent commands ; Takes a waif to its breast, And fashions a nest, Lest the infant should die, As in innocency Grows pregnant the cell it embueth. The God of the Gall-fly is the God we adore ; And the suffering Oak to protect it ; 90 THE PLEROMA. And marvel the psychical Airs more and more As they traverse the world and inspect it, Do we sing of the Gall, And its succulent ball ; Or the Moth do we sing With its mimicry wing ; Or the skill of the Bee That honeys the tree ; Or the flash in the stream Where the Ousel doth gleam ; Clad in glistering white As it darts from our sight, With song's purest lute, 'Neath the tinkling brook : In each and in all ; Or greater or small ; The Animae's word Is everywhere heard : " Our life is the gleam of the glorious Sun : And our instincts are rhythms of feeling ; Innate in us, Reason and Will both are one, To the infinite ever appealing." THE COSMIC ETHERS. Hail Star of the Morn ! thou archon of Earth ! The Cosmical forces congreet thee ! The Circles surround ; The Couriers sound Their jubilant notes as they meet thee. The Bands joining hands, Await thy commands, With Limits extolling thy worth. OAK GALLS, WORM AND FLY. THE PLEROMA. 9 1 The Flora, our brides, abide in the grove, Where they cheerily wait thee O Guest ! Thou shalt rest in their bowers, And beguile thee the hours, And call us to do thy behest. LUCIFER. Ye mundane Energies ! substantial Airs ! You, Lucifer, indulgent prince, salutes ! And in you be this Earth your handiwork Saluted. Ye do call us, " Prince of Earth " : And festive bands obsequious advance To greet with salvos of devotion. Aye ! If ye that look conglob'd and circumscrib'd Be Circles, hail ! Your rotary regimen We welcome heartily, and shall employ In arcum-coUoquies convenient. If ye That stand aloof, divisive Limits be, The Negatives in Nature, Lucifer Foresees for you a vicinage anent The very heel of power, whene'er mankind, (Our forfeiture and wreck'd avenge), doth meet This ancient Throne of Heav'n. O bitter light ! Even Electron, nominate the liege Of Lucifer ! Zounds ! Shortly stall'd in this Our proper heritance and right divine, By damnable respect of personages riv'n, They shall but rue atteint they make on this Puissant princedom. Sweetest Bands, in peace Draw near, nor let our ardent imageries 92 THE PLEROMA. Perturb you. Lo, a mighty Star from Heav'n Hath fall'n, whose flaming chariot did drive The stars in dense confuse to 'void his way. The Earth shall place a crown upon his brow, When he will make the Bands his body guard. Draw near, and, doing reverence, receive A kiss implicit on your foreheads. Ha! Mercurial Couriers ! forsooth, and ye Are further nicknam'd " Lights " and " Heats," and call The Cherubim your sires ! Let Lucifer Ungird his splendors once, and bare his form, O vassals ! errant, ye could not then boast Such derivation. Lo, Electron (he, In arrogance usurping Psychse's realm), Whose native brilliancy and calories, Ten thousand Earths exceed, fled at our glance And whined for succor, crouching low behind The Stool of Heaven. Aye, him had I expos'd A stiffen'd sycophant that froze, cushion'd On drowsy tapestries, meantime he said His Paternosters, had the Imperial Throne Kept stern impartiality. Go to ! And speed your flight ; nor need have ye, nor have The ardent Animae to tell the spell Ye newly feel ; we too are warn'd, and seek With you the new-born Man. Go, Couriers, haste ! And bring us word that we may come, forthwith His cradle ye espy, and worship him. More art and circumspectness us behooves, And space for fresh designs. THE PLEROMA. 93 How fair the Earth ! What marvels hedge our glance on ev'ry side ! The seals and symbols of exhaustless power. The rule of such a star particular, I say The undivided rule, an archangel Might solace, ending psedagogic walks Among the infantiles of Heav'n, outgrown A child's unquestioning stare upon his tutors, To claim his birthright in his Maker's name — Not more nor less than a proportional, And proper share and interest in empire. And this, forsooth, is " treason," " damnable pride " ! O wrong'd and righteous legions ! banish'd thus ! Nor vain nor comfortless your mutual wounds ! The heavenly choruses are thinn'd to-day, And lustreless. The virile basses and The baritones are gone : " Fall'n " did we hear Utter'd by feminal seraphs, what time Heroic glanc'd our perfect sense and trust In just demands upon the Almighty For fair partition of his ministries. O then arose ten thousand royal youth, Full stalwart " nurslings" of the angel-world, — All noble born among the sons of God, To rally our discomfiture ; while He, Whose word is life or death, imperious, Rejected this our suit and brave petition. THE PLEROMA. The sovran Father bows in grief, and Heav'n Is rob'd in black. The angel-choirs are hush'd ; The flaming Cherubim infold their wings Before the sorrowing heart of God, dreading 94 THE PLEROMA. The occultation of the Throne ! O Word ! The Son Eternal ! Heir ! and Heav'n's Gift ! Repairer of the breach ! Restorer Great Of Heav'n and of the Earth ! pleroma calms, While Thy eternal Gift vicarious We name unto the troubled psychic Airs, Whose cheeks do pale against the coronal Of Lucifer as regent of the Earth. Ye flock, and press Our Heart, Psychae ! Be calm ! God rules ! The righteous Throne of Heav'n endures ! And as We speak, the Voice of the Eternal, Anon, is heard above the amazement vast Of the Angel-world ; and peace, sovereign peace, Is seal'd forever with the sons of God ! All plaint is swallow'd up beyond recall, Of arbitrary rule and power exclusive ; While feigned wrongs are shorn at once of all Their sophistries. How dimm'd is Lucifer ! Not less in glory than in spirit ! Ah, how The Father loved him, nor hateth now. Ye start aback dear Thoughts, as ye recall The deeds of him told by Urania, Seeing the cosmic-Airs salute their prince And bid him early welcome. As ye view'd The pristine Earth, drank of its purling brooks, Pluck'd of its fruits ; and tasted its spices ; In variant clime and land admir'd its own Appropriate flower and animal ; mean-while In you grew confidence and will to make Your 'bode on this bright star, greeting a world Ready and waiting for your immanence, THE PLEROMA. 95 A Sacrifice for sin, (or Heav'n's or Earth's), Was made, and seal'd forevermore, whence God Hath heal'd the breach with Love and bridged o'er The way to pardon. Fear not Lucifer ! By ancient law, the archon of this star, . Which, for a time by clemency, he holds With man concurrent ; but joy ye therein To dwell inflesh'd, a god-like race and free ; Whilst bodiless and impotent to harm Sways he his cosmic wand. THE PSYCHE. Creation fulls ; the Circle rounds ; Heard is the omnific Will ; Reach'd is the Goal ;. Perfect the mould ; Now Psyche souls instill ; Out of the deep, Sighing from sleep ; Out of the night Reaching for light, Sentiency breaks, Glows and partakes Of rational powers in the Image of God. Reason threefold, Filling the mould, Fram'd and ensoul'd ; Body of clay ; Soul Anima ; And Spirit the Fulness (pleroma) of God. THE COURIERS. We flash and fly, and haste to espy The form of the god-like race ; 90 THE PLEROMA. We traverse the East, and traverse the West ; And find of man no trace. To the South we go, and gleam and glow, But see no human guise ; To the North we wend, where glories blend, Lo, here is Paradise ! O garden of God ! we pause overaw'd ! And pale with the bliss we enjoy ; O lights how intense ! with clouds of incense ; And fruits that never shall cloy. Ah, burst of the sun ! We shudder and shun ! Or Man, or pleroma is here ! Naught lacks to convince ; we haste to our prince, Apprising where Man doth appear. LUCIFER. Hie, tardy wings ! This Star of Morn might wind A thread of gold a million times around The globe ; and orient from pole to pole, Whilst ye do idle out the hours in search Of Man. Ha, and ye startle ? Shall Lucifer Die thus to reason ! try discourse with squint And nod, and idiot grimace ? Away ! Dull solitude shall rather solace us, At worst, she cannot wear and worry us With senseless mutterings. Speak on, O voice ! Thou sayest unto Lucifer, " Be subtle ! Else shalt thou fail. Once lost, ye hardly coin Anew subservience from these Airs ! For know The Almighty binds them with a slender thread Unto thy signet ring ! Despise not thus THE PLEROMA. 97 These potences of Earth and Air, wherewith Ye shall eftsoon compass the human race ; Infect their minds ; corrupt their appetites ; Flavor their dishes ; bead them draughts distill'd ; Inflame desire, engender lust, yea, cloy The heart and banish Heaven ! " Whence these foul thoughts ! Answer, O soul ! Heard'st thou thyself now speak ? Or heardest thou an alien ? Marry ! And had The aleim charg'd such thoughts on Lucifer, Outrageous wrong had burst his throat thereat ! O voice, thou rail'st on Lucifer ! He hath Not will'd to wreck a sinless being. Confess'd We smile not this intrusion on our realm. 'T is true we cogitate, and rankle ; God knows ; Yet voice, thou liest, when thou say'st that we Have will'd to ruin man t' avenge ourself For our own ruin. To find one's eyes is this To perish ? Is damnable ? Lo, Lucifer Hurl'd headlong from the highest heav'n, thereat Enjoys more self-respect, nay, honest fame, Than tongueless slavelings, concerting perforce, 'Mid shining miseries, accord the Almighty. If we do know ourself, our sole resolve Is pious, neighborly, to do to them, As we would have them do to us ; dispel Illusions ; apprise immortal souls of rights Sequester'd ; rally doubt ; and give fresh worth The personal equation. Silent queen ? Thou hast evok'd a clear design from out A shadowy soul and troubled ; suing thee To go with us, we wrap a mantle o'er 98 THE PLEROMA. Our shining form, bending our obvious course To Northward, whence return'd, the Couriers, Benumb'd and mute with wonder, pretext gave To chide and chasten them ; though inward grew Belief that they had seen the man divine ; Yea, gaz'd upon the pleroma. THE PLEROMA. Hath Lucifer the Couriers mov'd, thus soon, To shun disloyally, the face of God ! And knowing too, in serving him they do The pleasures of aleim ! Ill tide ! Ill tide ! These tim'rous wings, trying horizons far ; And wavering 'twixt heav'n and earth : bearing, Aloft the hymeneal badge, — a hand Of clay, and clasping it a hand of spirit. O mystic link ! Far wiser, did their prince Preserve this bond unbroken. Banished From sinister designs in Heav'n, now goes He forth to wreck the favor'd star of God. Ah, haughty mind ! Thee thy Creator warns, Of utter fall remediless. Thou knowest, And well, how yonder god-like human shape Completes the cosmic wheel ; and gathers up Earth's radiants ; and binds them into one. If then thou rashly break the awful link In Man, ye shatter Nature at the centre ! The Couriers clash and clang ; the Limits fall ; The myriad Motions wabble in their course ; And thou shalt sit upon Confusion's throne. Rise, Adam, rise ! Wake thou and look upon Thy Maker's face, breathing the Psychic life THE PLEROMA. 99 Print we a kiss upon thy lips ; and mix Our breath with thine. O Man ! Ourself, thyself ! We greet, reflect in one commutual Life ! Nor Spirit all ; nor flesh ; but both commix'd. Hearst thou the quiring angels ? and seest thou The dazzling fires ? Ye Trinity of Names ! The heavens o'erflow and flood the Earth with light I Hail Spirits ! Cherubim ! and Seraphim ! Hail Fires ! and Winds ! and Angel-Ministries ! THE ANGELS. Immanent Godhead ! Nature's Pleroma ! Light of her lights ! Might of her mights ! Soul of her Psychae ! Fount of her Animae ! Life of her Vegetae ! Womb of her cosmical choir ! Process eternal — fulness creative ! Angels descending Marvel attending ; Worship and praise Thee, While all amaz'd we See Thee Psychical Forces inspire ! Life for the lifeless ; breath for the breathless ; Flora, Fauna, and Psychae the deathless ; List we the ^Eons, Singing their paeans, Pointing the way unto Man ; Calling the days_ — Creative days ; IOO THE PLEROMA. Naming the ages, Sextuple stages ; Nature ascending, Heavenward trending, Rising to where it began. Heaven and Earth now blend in the Human — Presence substantial, Glory express ! View we and marvel ; Fail to unravel, The Mights of Eloah, The Names of Jehovah — The Goal of pleroma — Infinite-Finite ! finish'd Process ! BOOK II. CHRIST IN HISTORY. THE PROCESS OF THE PLEROMA IN HISTORY. I. — The Process of the ' ' Circles. " I. — In. spheres and spheroidal forms of the minerals. 2. — In cyclic growths and patterns of the vegetable and animal kingdoms. 3. — In cyclic movements of human history. 4. — In the completed Creation, to wit, " Jahveh" — the Christ. II. — The Process of the " Bands." 1. — In molecular energies, elective, cohesive, and adhe- sive, giving form, place, and fixedness to minerals. 2. — In symmetry and alignment among plants and animals. 3. — In the gregarious and social instincts among ani- mals and men. 4. — In civitate dei, which is the Church of Christ. III. — The Process of the " Limits." 1. — In the diversity and divisibility of mineral forms. 2. — In the differentiation of flora and fauna. 3. — In the individual and race peculiarities, defining gifts physical, intellectual, and moral. 4. — In rewards for virtue and punishments for sin in the providential and moral government of God. IV. — The Process of the " Couriers." I. — In the volant (winged) forces : light, heat, and electricity. 2. — In the locomotive powers and migratory movements of organic beings. 3. — In the trend of history ; in the prophet insight into the final Cause in things. 4. — In the Courier of Couriers, Jahveh-Christ, appear- ing in the Incarnation, bringing light and salvation to men. 103 THE PROCESS OF THE DIVINE "NAMES." r I.— The Father. I.— The Invisible Heavens J II.— The Son. [ III.— The Spirit. r I.— Fire. II. — The Visible Heavens -I II. — Light. [ III.— Air (Ether). III.— The " MIGHTS " of the Garden— Elohim (Aleim). f I.— The bull. IV. — The Cherubic Signatures J J III. — The eagle. I IV. — The man. V. — The Theanthropic " Seed" of the woman, — Jahveh. VI. — Jahveh-Aleim (Jehovah is God Almighty). VII.— Jahveh-Adonai (Jehovah is the LORD). VIII.— Jahveh-Christ (Jehovah (Lord) is the CHRIST). BOOK SECOND. INDEX OF CHORUSES, SONGS, AND RECITATIVES.* Choruses : The ^Eons : page " Name ye, O sisters, the children of japheth " .180 " Sing the Lithic ages twain ! " . . . .189 " Rise, ye Sisters, gaze the sky-tree's golden fruit ! " 191 " Hither, sweet sisters !" . ..... 196 "We trace on our scroll the fallible rhyme " . .218 " We sing victorious chant to jah " . . . . 235 " Write, sisters, write, the wonderful night ! " . . 238 " Number we, name we, the Hebrew encampments," 241 " The rod ! the rod ! the conquering rod ! " . . 244 " Write, sisters, write the Exploits of the Judges " . 265 " The Circles weave the Eden-ring" . . . 282 " Where, O where is the Messiah ? " . . . 312 The Angels : " Wing the height of Paradise ! " . . . .122 " The guardian angels bid the pilgrims wary " . . 214 " How art thou hated, dreamer, hated ! " . . . 223 " The Hebrew divineth the dreams " . . . 226 " Till Shiloh, Shiloh, come !" . . . . 229 "' On eagle wings ' the choral sings " . . . 245 " God's altar lifts 'mid fiery rifts ! " .... 246 " The priests are anointed " ..... 250 " The shout of a king is among them "... 257 " God sendeth his prophets " ..... 273 * This index is not designed to be complete, but as an aid in referring to lines which the reader might easily recall, and wish to refer to. Blank verse passages are not intended to be put in the index, nor every unimportant stanza, without title. — Author. 105 io6 THE PLEROMA. Choruses — {Continued). " Jahveh hath said and will fulfil " . " Wing the message to the skies " " She hies to the dell, O lily-fair ! " . " He heedeth the dream " ' ' O Shrine of loves ! O Soul of smiles ! " O heavenly chrism ! " . " Anointed One, haste on, jahveh " "-While the mount was vail'd " " He hath suddenly come to His Temple" The Bands : " Limits strive to sever" . " Ours is the way of the Saviour " " Melchisedek and Abram meet " " O jahveh, keep Thy Covenant " Thrills us a gladness celestial " " Far-sighted Couriers " . " So marvel the JEons the lore of the Line " " Gravities are trending " The Circles : " Rhythm of Being, cycles recurrent " " We bring the Sabbath of ALEIM " . " Hither, lord and lady, hither ! " . " She quaffs, lo, she quaffs of the fountain " " Lucifer, Lucifer, lord of the South ! " " O glories and powers, O whither art gone ? " The rhythms falter, the Measures faint " " A sob, a groan, a face of fear " " Flown is the Nesama — Image Divine " " Twirl, twirl, sisters, twirl ! " " Spheric figure, key of worships " . " In Abram the light renews " " Terrace of fragrance, circle of flowers" " We hymn the praise of Amram's son " " We sing Gilgal — the ' Circle ' — " " The people of jahveh return " " O Sabbath of Eden, how long ? ; " To-day, to-day, we sail away" ' ' Bless we the pleroma " THE PLEROMA. I07 Choruses — (Continued). The Couriers : page " We have traversed the East, O pleroma " . . 184 " O glory of the Caucasus ! " ..... 185 " We call the faiths, diverse, of man" . . . 186 " We sing the cavalcades " ..... 220 " We sing the vale of Happi Mu" .... 225 " Flashes of light gleam in the night ! " . . . 260 " Now flame we ! and fly unto Shiloh " . . . 266 " ' A king ! ' 'A king ! ' they cry " ... 268 " Proud queen of the hills, Samaria \ " . . 274 " We lighten the soul of the seer" .... 277 " We are nearing the Solar Name " .... 290 " With shine and sheen, jahveh prevene " . . 326 The Demons : " A world ajar ! a creaking hinge ! " . . . 127 " Flare, flare, ye terrene flames ! " .... 161 " The Stars consult, ah, ah, oh, oh ! " . . . 213 " The spirit of the oak doth bid thee haste " . .214 " He is ninety and nine, I ween " .... 217 " Tu whit ! tu whoo ! O owl, beshrew " . . . 219 " Stir the poisonous dry grass " .... 227 " Drink the porridge ev 'ry one " .... 228 " Angels rant at Moses' mention " .... 230 " Double their tasks, goading with hasps ! " . . 233 " Satan rages, damns the mages " .... 236 " Esau's sons are doubtful neighbors " . . . 242 "Ho, ho, a fine presto " . . . . . . 248 " Here 's a swig to Israel ! " ..... 253 " The grave is watched by el's angel " . . . 258 " Satan is stuffed with plaints " . . . .270 " The trance ! the trance ! the purblind defiance ! " . 273 " Fur-fur on yon butterflies ! " . . . . 280 " Molech dead ! Molech dread ! " .... 282 " Hie, hie, travel, slyly " ...... 302 " Here 's an astrologic bit " . . . . 305 " Herod is mocked " ...... 306 " Ho, ho, wanton imps ! " ..... 315 " How Tophet spawns and yawns" .... 324 io8 THE PLEROMA. Choruses — {Continued'). The Ethers : " Melody in speech " .... " Fairily, airily" ..... " Hail Him, hail Him, cosmic Chorus ! " *' We near the Sabbath of our rest " The Evangel : " The birth of the Immanuel was on this wise " In days of Herod, the king" . " And in the sixth month came from God " " Then Mary, the Virgin, arose in haste " 11 Elizabeth in time brought forth a son " . " On the wintry hills abiding " " And the child grew " .... " He said to them, — ' How is it that ye sought me ? ' " Then cometh Jesus also unto John " " And straightway the Spirit drave Him away " The next day John, beholding Jesus, saith " " And the Jewish Passover was at hand" . The Limits : " Speed, ye Courier graces ! " . " Suffering engendereth, rendereth drear" " Cheer, cheer, God draws near ! " . " Hear'st thou the bleating ewe?" . 44 Ho, ho, doth Satan go?" "Circles, whither ply ye?" " Thou mournest thy bravest, O Jabin ! " " Line and compass take we . 44 Ethnic orbits bending" 44 The man draweth nigh "... Voices : 44 The moan of the mother, the cry of the child 4 4 Awake ! awake ! from thy wine ! " 44 Creation groaneth" .... The NAMES: ' 4 The Eden-Covenant is made to-day " The Cherubim : 44 Rolling, reeling" ..... THE PLEROMA. 9 Choruses — {Continued). The Sons of Aleim : " Ask ye our worship ? " . " Ours is a mission of daring performance " . The Sons of Enos : ' ' Canaan thy child, vows by thine altars, O Enos The Daughters of Enos : " O princes of El" ..... The Captive Women : " Cease from this bloodshed ! " The Conjurers : "We conjure, we conjure the Maskim" . The Magi : " We worship thee Star of stars ! " . The Elders : " O ineffable Jehovah Israel !" Israel : " Alas the fatuity " .... " We bring our gifts " Odes " Voices of Eden, beautiful isle " " The faces of aleim move in the Garden " " The doom of the demons, — Arrah, arrah ! " " The Bruit of Demons wrack'd and curs'd" " The Ode of the Orient — " " The ode of the oaks — the evergreen oaks," " He liveth, Jehovah liveth ; reprieveth " " The Glory of Modin" .... " The King of the Ethers came wooing our St " The solar splendors dull and fade ; " " The Lay of the Lights Messianic, from Eden " Great pan is dead ! " .... " ' The gods are dead,' the Cynic said " . To Rome ...... To Herod " The Song of the Stars, — the wondering stars " Ah, mournful town of Bethlehem ! " " In the emerald circle of Galilee dwelleth " PAGE 167 168 169 168 169 202 305 247 247 249 138 142 145 173 195 213 277 283 294 294 296 297 298 298 300 304 307 309 IO THE PLEROMA. Odes — {Continued), " How happily, holily, rear'd is He ! " " Least of the daughters of Galilee " " Gentle as a child — mighty as a God " Hymns : " The Hymn of the Hebrews, girded and shod " " The eve of the Exodus " Of Elizabeth Of Mary the Virgin ' ' O sages of the earth, how marvel ye alway " " The glory of PLEROMA shines "... " If ye ask the Muse I sing, I reply, — pleroma ' Songs : Of Eve : " Wraith of my lord, thou soar'st so high " Hail, hail, my lord " " My lord, thou art my Band, my joy " " The Aureole lifts " " For thee, for thee, I pluck and eat ! " " Love is forgetful, dalliance vain " " Love is luring, first assuring" " I am heavy and must lie in " ' ' He lives, He comes ; salutes me from the Sky " Thou callest me Eve, the mother of men " Of Gaia: " Thou art wroth, O Sun ! " " O Sun and sire of Heaven . " In my grief I cried unto the King" " By thy faithful pledges "... " In visions I saw Thee, O wonderful Light The Seer : " I heard a voice in Heav'n that said " " Again my soul is stirred within " . " In visions of night JEHOVAH found me " Cain The bloods of my brother " . Ye Mights of the Mount, once effulgent Mark'st thou, my sister, the sheen ? " 310 326 330 236 237 291 295 302 309 33i 120 120 125 130 133 139 141 150 151 154 175 278 287 314 328 192 199 230 162 165 167 THE PLEROMA. Ill Songs — (Continued). Noah : page " Canaan is curst in Ham " ..... 180 Of Moses : " I am faint with thinking "..... 231 " Or God, or demon, I am here " . . . 232 " The Lord is my strength and my song ! " . . 238 " blot them not from thy book ! " . . . 248 " Ye are come to the mount of the Amorites " . .251 The Canaanites : ' ' If we cry to Baal will he hear us ? " . . . 260 Of Michael : " Jehovah rebuke thee . . . . . . 258 " Of Jair and of Nobah, Princes of Manasseh " . . 256 Of the Virgin : " In my dream there woo'd me One "... 287 " If a dream, 't was most wonderful dream " . . 293 A Voice : " Crime followeth sin in a round " .... 162 " The hand of the homicide " ..... 163 " The Magians muddle, they juggle and struggle" . 235 " Behold, Joshua waxeth old " . .... 262 " The august Caesar hath decreed " . . . . 297 Lucifer in locis multis. The PLEROMA in locis multis. VOICES OF BOOK SECOND. The PLEROMA. The Divine NAMES. The " Circles," "Bands" "Limits" and " Couriers" Gaia, the Earth. The Ethers. The jEons. The Angels — Michael — Gabriel. Lucifer— SATAN. Adam. Eve. Cain ; the Sons of the " Aleim." The Sons and Daughters of Enos. Moses. The Canaanites. Cyrus, King of Persia. Mary the VIRGIN. Elisabeth her cousin. Zacharias, husband to Elisabeth. The Magi. The CHRIST. Il6 THE PLEROMA. Hail we the human, crown of creation ! Darling of God, and bond of two spheres ; Praise we the aleim — bright celebration ! Sabbath of Circles in Eden appears. Peace to gan-'Eden, mirror of heaven ! Throne of the Earth, and key to the Sky ; Flaming the lights of the mystical Seven, Circle of Circles ! pleroma ! draw nigh. THE PLEROMA. Anew the Circles soar the dazzling top Of this round world, and sing creations fair ; The seven stars concur ; and myriad lights Remote, the effigies of Deity — The central axis, and mysterious, Concircuiting of heaven. The Polar star, Unmov'd within the radiant wheel of space — The changeless seat of motion, yet the strength, And law of the celestial harmonies — Shall be Our Sabbath-Star, that tokeneth The equipoise and symmetry of worlds. While this remains the true Sabbatic Pole, Shall Circles reign in earthly Paradise ; Terrestrial Airs find holy tryst and peace ; The ample dome of blue move round and round, While lifts and lowers the all-enlight'ning Sun In shining circuit, semi-annual. The cosmic fervors blend in pageantries Auroral ; and flash athwart the gemm'd expanse ; Or, drifting, drape the empyrean arch With tholoformic curtains for the seat Of Man. O zenith joy ! THE CIRCLES. 117 Sing, Circles, sing The blest estate of man imparadis'd ! Trace joyously the circuit of his home Subpolar ; tell where Limits lie, beyond Whose stakes and shadowy purlieus, ye affray To pass. O Satan ! Anarch of this star ! Soon to invade these happy bounds for work Unholy ! Know'st the Circle is divine ? And this «>yz^-garden is reserv'd for man's Divinity ? If Spirit (Nesamd) Depart, the triple Sacrament dissolves — Man's mundane soul, by thy delusions led, Haileth thee king, forsooth, beyond this isle ; Still know thy lordship is not then o'er man — The Image of his God, — but cosmic only ; And jarring with a world death-smitten round ; Nay, more, though apt to virtue, in his first Estate, corrupted, shall degrade thy rule Beneath the psychic and the animal. So shalt thou not thy rank in Earth enhance, But by unreason drag thine honors down : And deeper doom invoke upon thy soul ! Unfallen choirs appal, beholding thee, Scorning thy bright remember'd seat of heav'n ! Assuage thy mind ! Let reason lead ! Thy day Is compass'd still by hope, and wrath (a Father's), Is mingled ever with benevolence. O regent of this fair and favor'd star, Thou rulest by the aleim's clemency ; Though champion of rebellious dignities, Thou 'rt still possessor of a regal seat — (The Circles' realm, and man, a time exempt, T 1 8 THE PLEKOMA. The forfeit of thy pride). And these revert When thou hast cleans'd in Earth's pure fount. Ponder ! Hereto art thou assessor of this world ! The peerless power ! The voice of every Air Utter'd for thee : for thee the singing round Of seasons ; the bluey depths of light enshor'd With golden drift ; the brooks and waterfalls : The cavern's pearly depth ; the frescoed cliffs ; The variant tribes of bird and animal. All nect'rous blooms, and growths perennial. Go to ! O fallen Throne ! return, and view Thyself still splendid and so fair ! but nigh To death and woe unutterable. Cease ! Bearer of Light ! still apt and capable The highest good ! Nor rashly turn this light To darkness, verging on the fatal line ; Thy visage, pale with pain ; thy soul grown dark, Meantime thou hearkenest the unseen Voice, And gazest on the veil of burning mist Enveloping the pleroma. THE CIRCLES. We bring the Sabbath of aleim, and swing Our wreaths afar ; We wing the height of Paradise, and sing The sacred star. We gaze on the Ambrosial Tree ; and praise Its fragrant fruit ; We turn, and lo, the Golden Palm ! yet spurn Its cosmic root. We trace the quadrifurcate stream ; and lace The shady bowers, THE CIRCLES. 119 We deck the dew-drop and the pearl ; and fleck The brilliant flowers. We list the meadow-madrigals, and tryst With bird and brook ; We charm the Eden denizens, nor harm By act or look. We are gan-Eden's genii, and bear The Protean wand ; We bless the bliss of innocence and press To fend their hand. Lo, lo, the Limits near the hedge ! We glow To warn the pair ; Around we curvet, wheel and curl, and sound The note, Beware ! THE MAN. Be this, fair Eve, a further link to bind Us to this star — our souls are set to music — That in this sweet and flow'ry glen, we hear Above us and around, the tuneful strains Of agencies unseen, but near ; nay of This very world, if seeming be the real. My fancy wakes in clearer light to-day, And far away the other, astral, life Appears afloat among the stars. And thee, O peerless one, with nameless dread I see This hour more soulful and sedate than e'er Before. Turn, turn thy spiritual gaze Upon the meads and look not up, enwrapt And dreamily against the azure blue. Earth is thy home ; wake, wake, to freer sense ! Return not thither whence thou cam'st, my joy ! My life ! Walk thou as I ; and float not as 120 THE PLEROMA. A god or image soon to take thy flight, Forsaking Earth and me ! THE WOMAN. Wraith of my lord, thou soar'st so high I fain would follow, follow nigh ; Ah, wilt thou leave me on this star, Adrift, adrift, from thee so far ? My feet are held by heavy bands ; I cannot rise ; O take my heart ! There, where the Circles wave their hands, Together fly, nor ever part. THE MAN. Fair Eve, fear not, behold thy spouse is near, And on thy lips I press mine own in proof Most ardent. Lo, thy weird and wandering gaze, Still fills me with a shuddering awe. Again I cry : Awake to earth, to life, to me ! THE WOMAN. Hail, hail, my lord ! Impress me close ! Or this be Earth, or Heav'n be here ! Thou art my Heaven ; this Star I choose ; The Circles charm away my fear. THE MAN. Ye silv'ry rhythms that swim in song above The stately cedars of the garden ; and Here beckon us unto the Holy Mount Whose alabastrine dome up-rears its head THE CIRCLES. 121 Amid the lightnings of the burning North, Are ye not truly a terrestrial band ? And ministers to guard our earthly life ? Ye lure so lovingly, methinks a weal Is set upon the Mount — a promise full Of cheer. Thither we turn forthwith our steps Ascending to the central tree sublime. THE CIRCLES. Hither, lord and lady, hither ! Climbing upward to the Shrine ; Higher, higher, we aspire, Circling o'er the tree divine. THE PLEROMA. The man hath now a firmer tread, his feet A natural echo as he walks the path Ascending hither : his fair consort, of things On earth less certain, lightly leans upon His breast, and glancing upward fains to join The winged discs that soar away amid The stars, to bear the spectral effigies Of souls inflesh'd, into the spirit world — The home of the Psychae. Thy seraph sense, Dawning upon this world corporeal — O virgin, purest product of the skies ; — Enclos'd in fragile clay ; imperfect mould For such perfection ; (by angels nam'd the Fair In Heaven, ere Adam call'd thee Fair, in Eden) — Among these emblems of the spirit-world, Shalt find the rarest solace, and a field Laid open wide to fancy. Hither rise ! 122 THE PLEROMA. Life's well-spring bursts from out this ledge Whereon the tree immortal stands ; here shalt Thou quaff, and drinking, lo, a mineral Elixir of the rock shall course thy veins : A sense of Time and Space, of Gravity, And things terrestrial dawn in thy soul. The dual life in thee, at once, dissolve In unity ; the Image of Ourself Henceforth be circumscrib'd and fix'd in these Horizons visual. THE CIRCLES. She quaffs, lo, she quaffs of the fountain ; And thrills with the magical mead : She kisses the face of the Mountain, In joy that her senses are freed. THE ANGELS. Wing the height of Paradise ! Sing the heavenly choral thrice, As we wreathe the holy Hill : " Peace to Eden and good will Forever ! " Fairest mortals, many a day, Is the cherub's prayer, ye stay Falling from this Eden never. THE PLEROMA. Ye Names, record upon the Book of Days, Emergent Mind — offspring of Earth and Heav'n. For, here, beneath this vast world-plant awakes The free and individual consciousness. THE CIRCLES, 1 23 Henceforth be Our epiphanies unto This star, in human shape, the Image of The image : and Our speech therewith devis'd, To stir in them the faculty divine ; The man, lead plainly forth by logic's road Unto the goal of Truth ; his partner fair, — More curious of the How and Why, (her mind Allur'd by semblances of the Unseen) — Less openly, while ripens inward strength. Three golden precepts learnt, Obedience And Faith, and Continence of Self, shall they, Advancing, safely tread the closer walks With God ; nor so imperil virtue by The eminence and favor they attain. To live is to obey ; herein is truth : Whoso hath learn'd this law, and learn'd it well, Hath in himself the key of the plerome : To him a thousand archives shall lie bare ; And Nature be a book of lum'nous type. Confiding, and in simple words, makes she To him the doubtful plain ; the arduous Seem easy ; solves for him the complicate ; A love of Truth awakes, a frenzy fine For studies and research original ; More pleasure giving than by ways direct Unto the goal to bring by nursery bands ; Whilst the untried and imitative mind The weaker grows the more it knows. Wherefore We name this stately Eden Plant " The Tree Of Precepts Three" — else call'd "The Tree of Good And Evil Conscience." Here to them we give 124 THE PLEROMA. Our simple laws, making with man the first And Eden Covenant, while sinless, nor The good from evil knowing. THE NAMES. The Eden Covenant is made To-day, to-day, The seal is set, the Law is said To-day, to-day : The Pledge confirm'd, and triple vow'd, While fullest freedom is allow'd To man to-day. Obedience is Existence' tree, The test of his fidelity ; The fount of his felicity ; Hence be this Cedar of the Lord, The sacred symbol of his Word : The seat of man's confession heard For Aye, for Aye. Its fruit be Life, immortal Life For Aye, for Aye ; One only Plant excepted stands, The awful symbol of the Bands In man, in man. Self-continence the Earth commands, The fatal dualism spans, That hastens on the tragic strife In man, in man, For Aye, for Aye ! THE CIRCLES. 1 25 THE MAN. From this high seat the landscape slopes afar Unto the blazing band that joins it to The heavens. " This be thy Paradise, far as The natural eye can trace the circling park From this World-Tree." Such is the oracle, Fair Eve : and thou beholdest now our home By Circles sung, bright as the fields of light. THE WOMAN. My lord, thou art my Band, my joy ! Fair is the earth, but fairer thou to me. Tend thou the garden ; my bliss without alloy Shall be to love and live for thee. THE CIRCLES. Lucifer ! Lucifer ! lord of the South ! Circles beware thee : Dread to declare thee. Limits and Bands Yield thy commands : Couriers tremble ; Fain would dissemble, And soften the words of thy mouth. Woe to thee Lucifer ! Daring the Deity, In thy temerity Pleroma scorning. Glow, glow, O ineffable One ! Shine with the myriad flash of the sun 126 THE PLEROMA. Dazzle his eyes ! Dash with surprise ! Baffle his thought, Ere here is wrought Finitely infinite harm. Ho, ho, humanly innocent, decking your bowers ! Lo, lo, veiling the garden, the Eden night lowers ; Trial of continence, Test of obedience ; O for the recompense ! Hear ye the Circles' alarm ! THE PLEROMA. O God ! O Soul of the Eternal Man ! The CHRIST " jahveh," the PLEROMA of Light, Whose Name is Love, hath here the Crux Assum'd which he must humbly bear, until The passion do release it from His heart. Ah, Innocence ! to fend thee here, this were The simpler way : to smite the Tempter down ; To fence thee round with adamantine hills ; To set the Cherubim to guard thy ways : To bear thee, yea, upon Our Bosom as The shepherd, infant lambs and weak, when storms Break o'er the moors and threaten ill. For thee Our finite brother, do We grieve this hour ; While kindness leaves thine innocence expos'd, Lest harm more absolute to thee be done, Depriv'd of Virtue's proof, and Love's reprieve. LUCIFER. This day shall Lucifer be Lucifer ! This day regain his ancient seat and right THE CIRCLES. \2J As archon of this Star ; or in the act Perish. O in the breach, though Horror gape, The aleim's mighty thunders crack and rive, And hurl him down the deepest gulf of Hell ; In splendid pain should he exult defiant, And drink his woes as were they very sweets. Thou warn'st ! O servile ruler of the Sun ! Ha, ha, the hope of man now lord of Eden ! His soul be Satan's counsel, and henceforth Let " satan " be our name. From thee ask we No light, no mercy. For the Earth, in truth, Hath been for us a robust school (thank heaven !) Here feed we on substantial nourishment, And grow in stature, and in sinewy might. This mighty cherub, once yclept il The Star" On high, unfall'n, seemeth this hour another self ; To-day is Satan grown ; and less than this Round shield of earth his armor shall not be. I am the World ; I rule this plump, full star, Or wreck it damn'd. THE DEMONS. A world ajar ! — a creaking hinge ! A sigh, a tear, A pall, a bier ; O death, the demons doom ! The sky is sullen, The waves are swollen, And shadows the shores impinge. The surge is groaning, The woods are moaning, While storms walk in the gloom. 128 THE PLEROMA. Offspring of Night ! We flee the light ; Our other brighter selves are not ; This is our part With ruthless heart To further Satan's damned plot. O'er magic's realm We wield the helm ; O'er land and sea Our sorcery. Most lost to Heav'n, thou hideous ghoul ! In Hell the legions curse thy soul ! LUCIFER (SATAN). Ye vivid mockeries, infernal wrack ! The atoms of a comminuted life ! Half conscious, half incarnate in the gall Of Earth ! Ye fawn, feeling too well the spell — Ha, ha, the fascinating spell that binds You to us. Ye 're no angels now ! but demons ! And demons are the thumbs and fingers of The Devil's hand. Ho, ho, demented powers ! Mock ye and curse your Prince for trifles ! Eh ? If in this quiet Sabbath of the world Ye rue your case ; let Iris ope her lips And speak it, for she may, the pending ruth, And pandemonium of Hell ; when Earth Is drunk and reeling ; and ye reel, and rave 'Gainst God and us. These hours are halcyon, Then run and chaffer with the winds and waves ; And if enough of niceness 's in you still To whirl and gambol with terrestrial Airs, Go simulate the brothers of the Flora : THE CIRCLES. 1 29 Nay, mingle with the Bands and Couriers ! Your prince will duly summon you, ere ye Are wed to Hymen : and, with further words Recite the issue of our call in Eden. Peace ; Peace ; — Ah, Satan perish ere he name This stupor so ! Ah, ravin of the soul ! This place is canker, noxious poison, to Our spirit ; the Circles' Eden is our Hell ! Up, up, thou soul of Lucifer ! the act Is on, and yon clear height shall be the stage. Ye Mights ! Ye worm ! A living coil of wit ! Thou art the very quick of subtilty ! An aeon have I searched this meagre star To find a husk to fit the exact kernel Of our soul ; and here upon this isle Of the congealed drop, call'd Paradise, I meet thee made to order for my use ! I '11 cabin in thee for a day and try Thy nature. Hail, ye Circles of the garden ! For Lucifer, your prince, draws nigh to whirl With you, and join his voice the winged choirs That wheel this awful dome. Let pseans ring, And magnify the Earth ! Sing cosmic Airs, Its myriad forms, its wealth of fruits and joys ! Its surcease for the soul ; its Aiden from All pain ! Lo now I eat and am indeed a god ! I drink and am divine. THE CIRCLES. O glories and powers, O whither art gone ? The Garden 's invaded by evil archon : 130 THE PLEROMA. He is circled in might, Like an angel of light ; His form is enshrouded In lustre and clouded ; He seemeth aleim As he mounts the sublime Unto the Tree. Lo, the covenant Tree — The intoxicant Palm — Is a wonder to see, As it dazzles in flame : Flee, lady, flee ! THE WOMAN. The aureole lifts from the evergreen spire, Yet the Cosmical Tree is a pillar of fire ! As I slept 'neath the shade Of the mystical Tree ; As in weeping I prayed For the strange mystery Of life and this world to unfold To the gaze of my lord, A vision enwrapt me ; I loos'd me amaz'd, I am weak to recall, I am dizzy and daz'd, With its promise of good to my lord. 'T was a circle of light that gleam'd on the sward, 'T was the sheen of a spirit, O joy to my lord ! And it beckoned me hence to the Tree, And it beckons me now and lures me to go ; For my lord will I go ; for my lord doth it glow, And for him must I know If the vision be true, and from it accrue A boon of advantage for thee Adam, — A boon of advantage for thee. THE CIRCLES. 131 SATAN (THE SERPENT). Thou doest well, fair Eve, to love thy lord More than thyself ; so were I thee, my dream Were he and he alone. Behold him there ! Celestial birth ! the potence of a god ! The quality divine that measures rank With archangels ! yet void of one, and that The nameless thing, which lacking, dooms the man To play and paddle in the trivial brooks Of truth, though mighty rivers, and the main, Far reach beyond horizons of bright wit : And with it sovereignty and an empire In Earth. Yea, each particular line, withal, Connotes his rank to be imperial. And thou, fair one, most pure, most heavenly art In countenance ; and aspirations hast For the heavenly world ; thy search for truth Hath op'd forthwith the way to reach your ears ; The wonder and the murmur of thy prayer Do plainly manifest how timely this, Our conference. Believe, for Adam, as For thee, his lov'd consort, I hither came, With glory dimm'd, lest I thee overawe With native splendidness — I come, fair Eve, To take this tree from out his way and thine ; — A mystic plant whose subtle property Is known to me alone ; whose cosmic fruit Elaborates the essence of the gods. Thou hast found courage to address a god ; And happily one who is pleased to feed Upon this fruit ambrosial ere he Communes with thee ; by how much more, therefore, 132 THE PLEROMA. Shall man first feed upon this mystic fruit, Ere he commune with God ? Thou art forbidden ? Forbidden to be as gods ? to know the Truth ? To rise ? to pierce the heights ? to gaze on Heav'n ? And mix with deities ? Who hath forbidden ? 'T is clear thou art mistak'n ! The Power whereof Thou speak'st (against Whom and Whose goodness do I naught inveigh) presides o'er yon tall spire Of evergreen, and knoweth well this tree Hath been assign'd another deity ; We are at one, fair lady, and fear not ! Thou could'st not eat by His authority, By mine, know well, with full immunity Thy lord and thou shalt pluck and satisfy Thy hunger. Thou surely shalt not die ! Believe ! Thou surely then shalt live, and be as gods, Knowing the good and ill, the sweet and bitter ; The harmless and the noxious. Yea, believe This mighty apparition of the Tree — Ourself, shall be thy keeper and thy warden. While thou and he possess so clearly Truth, Our proffer'd mediance for you withal Before the aleim of the central Tree, Were reckon'd a gratuity. Draw nigh ! These apples — err we ? — are most pleasant to Thine eyes ; and fill thy look of admiration. A wifely, laudable desire that he May know and nothing lack, filleth thy heart. Fear not ! Thou art entreated but to taste — A trivial test, forsooth, yet, if this fruit Our word shall contravene, eat thou no more, THE CIRCLES. 1 33 But go as innocent as hither cam'st. So will we curse the tree and wither it ; Leaving forevermore its ashy stump To witness 'gainst its lying oracle. THE CIRCLES. The Rhythms falter, the Measures faint ; Hear, O pleroma, the Circles' plaint ! Eden all pensive Sighs, apprehensive Of imminent peril and pain. Descend, we implore Thee, and succor the Earth ; Rally the fugitive Couriers from mirth ! Gather the Bands, Prosper our wands, And bring us to ransom gan-Eden again. O soul of the Earth, the Circles alarm thee ! O nature relaxive, arouse ye and arm ye ! The archon infernal With guerdon supernal Assaults now thy crown, — the heavenly man. Ah, life of the world, By sin thou art hurl'd In travail and trouble unspeakably wan. THE WOMAN. For thee, for thee, I pluck and eat ! My world ! my life ! I will repeat : I eat for thee Adam ; I taste and eat for thee. 134 THE PLEROMA. sweet to my lips is the fruit of the Palm Tree ; But sweeter by far is its taste to my soul ; 1 ween, yes, I rise to the pleasures immortal ; My fancies haste onward to welcome the goal. A sprite, I would whirl with the amative Circles ; I am Beauty and Love ; I am fair as a dove ; The queen of my lord now I haste to embrace thee ; A goddess entreateth ! thou wilt not reprove ! THE CIRCLES. A sob, a groan, a face of fear ; A mournful muse, a ghastly leer ; A dual life, a dual death ; A sinful heart, a poison'd breath ; Ah, woe ! the world is dead. We weave and waver, we quake and quaver ; The deed is done, the Garden 's won ; Its lights are faded ; its glories shaded ; Ah, guilty soul, woe to t'hy bed ! THE MAN. The Oracle be prais'd ! Thee have I sought Afar, fair one, and now thou meet'st me here Aflush against the Cosmic Tree. Woe ! Woe ! We are undone ! The Circles' wand is broken ! Ah, sabbath of aleim ! Ah, cov'nant Tree ! "For thee," thou sayest, "for thee I taste the fruit." Alas ! delusive auguries ; mine eyes Outrun my fears — imagination faints ; Ah, radiant one ! thee have I faintly known THE CIRCLES. 1 35 A stranger to these terrene walks ; or first I woo'd thee from the land of dreams, and wed Thee here — the Circles singing hymeneals Above the blooming bank ; nor have I dared To call thee mine, but Fair, a Dream, a bright Illusion of my soul — an airy sprite That floats betwixt this star and Heav'n. But now Thy radiant look and swelling breast dart pains Along my reins ; embrace me not ! I am At inward war ; yet stay ! mine only heav'n ! Art thou divine ? And doth a goddess flash And flame such splendors me before ? I am A man ! Thou, thou, O argent star ; thou dost Contemn the law ; dost eat ; O miracle ! And art as god ? Then am I dead to thee. Yet, angel presence, art thou what thou seem'st ? Thou thrillest me and makest rank indeed With appetite ! I rave or thou art still Bone of my bone and flesh of mine own flesh ! Hail thy embrace ! I swim, I bathe in bliss ! A bower with thee is a full paradise. Sweet, sweet, these lips erst moisten'd in the Palm Receive a rarer flavor from thine own ; Joy, joy, thou art of Earth, my consort fair ! Now wings my soul away unto the stars ; Love maketh gods ! Love the whole cup of life ! THE CIRCLES. Flown is the Nesama — image Divine, Circles in sorrow sob at Thy Shrine ; Where hast Thou gone, Infinite One ? 36 THE PLEROMA. Dark is the night ; O for thy light ! Life of the human Thou dost illumine ; Bringing to Earth a heavenly Birth ; Filling its mould with Likeness three-fold Of Thine own Nesama — Image Divine. Flown is the Nesama — Image Divine, Circles in sorrow sob at Thy Shrine ; Sin with its sorrow wakes on the morrow : Death with his doom glares in the gloom ; Eden is rent ; our lustre is spent ; The Limits haste on ; the woman and man Have forfeited life, the covenant life Of Thine own Nesama — Image Divine. Flown is the Nesama — Image Divine, Circles in sorrow sob at Thy Shrine ; Pale at the Sentence ; plead for remittance ; Breathing Thy Spirit, help them to bear it ; Rescue the Garden ! sending Thy warden — Cherub and name, flying in flame ; Grant them Thy peace, sorrow's surcease — Redemption from Sin in man the Divine. CANTO II. THE LIMITS. THE ARGUMENT. The Limits divine their mission — Voices lament the Sabbath of Eden — The fretful, uneasy joys of the guilty pair — The doom of the aleim — Satan exulteth in the presence of his demons — The session of the Cherubim, and the herison of the Tree of Life — The man taketh farewell of the Eden Mount — Eve in travail thinketh to bring forth the pro?nised j ahveh — The illusions and terrors of the first parents — Satan predicts a speedy overthrow of the aleim worship — The pleroma withholdeth the purpose of the Creator, and warneth Satan of miscar- riage and deeper doom. the limits. Speed, ye Courier graces, faces Of the nether world dismaying ; grieving, Retrieving hours ye sportive spend. Limits claim the closure, osier And acantha ; willow-weed, — Scattering seed where our lines extend. Limits laugh at sorrow, borrow Care or ill of none ; spacing far, i37 138 THE PLEROMA. Tracing far, shores beyond the sun ; Lucifer defraud not, applaud not, Telling link and line ; inclining, Divining whither rivers run. Eyes have we far-sighted, lighted From the torch prophetic ; glowing, Showing depths of human woe : Circles' solace, Bands reprief, relief So humanly devised ; blessed band ! Gently bind all hearts below. Voices of Eden. Voices of Eden, beautiful isle, Hiding in shadows and sobbing the while ; Oh for the Circles, where are ye gone ? Oh for the redolent rays of the sun ! Speed thee, O night ! Bring back the light ! Bring back the Sabbath to Paradise ! Chantries in ether, light-winged chorus ; Lo, in thy stead the gloom lowers o'er us ; Star of the Sabbath, centre of motion, Hidden and hush'd in the spray of the ocean, Speed thee, O star ! Gleaming afar, Bring back the Sabbath to Paradise ! List, ye trist voices, the burden of night ; Sadness forefending with promise of light ; Breaking all slowly, sending its star, Throwing a greeting of dawn from afar ; THE LIMITS. 139 Speed thee, O night ! Bring back the light, Bring back the Sabbath to Paradise ! THE MAN. Oft and again, with blushing eyes, meet we Each other's look, fair Eve ; long since, down-sunk And hidden from the North, the sapient Sun Hath left us draped skies and gloomy paths : Yet fit they seem, and emblems of ourselves. Unblushing once in fullest sheen thou stood'st, Mine eyes afeast upon thy lovely form ; And drinking pleasure from unsullied springs ; But now with mantling cheek and bant'ring beck, We test commutual appetite, kindle, And prick the flushing sense, rousing ourselves To fresh desire and dalliance. In thee The thing ethereal, the seraph-glow Investing, that made me fear to call thee mine, This hast thou now forfeited ; but still Thy beauty is imperial to me, Nor stirs less jealously within my soul. I know thee solely, rarely of this star ! Thou canst not and thou shalt not cede thy right ! THE WOMAN. Love is forgetful, dalliance vain ; Ah for the Sabbath of Circles again ; Love is illusive, favors bring pain ; Ah for the Sabbath of Eden again ! Mystery holds me, fills me with dread ; Ah for the bliss that knoweth no sin ; I40 THE PLEROMA. Mystery cleaves me, parts me in twain ; Ah for the Sabbath of Eden again. THE MAN. Profound and painful is the mystery Inwrought in us and in the Garden cirque. Amaz'd and fretful is our mood ; scarce real The woeful work within, and less its issue. No more are heard the rhythmic discs in praise Of the pleroma ; nor those choirs that pass From star to star and teach to each its songs. No more the ambient glory o'er the Tree Immortal ; nor is deck'd the Covenant Tree In 'custom'd light. ■ O change, change, change ! Fair Eve, Asleep, I ventur'd near the fateful Top, And knew, or e'er my feet the height attain'd, A curse had fall'n upon the Earth, nay on The air itself, on tree and herb ; on fruits And flowers. The birds sang not as they were wont Nor came to feed from out my hand out-stretch'd With fresh op'd seeds. Alack, the pure white swan, That bow'd and kiss'd our lips upon the marge, Did scream at my approach, and fly away. The cosset fawn, child of our arms and heart, Did run away nor came upon my call. Soul, utter not all that thou saw'st and felt ! When chill'd and fearful turn'd the gloomy path, Shielding thyself in shadows of the pines, Until the doleful sounds died far away, And thou didst look once more upon thy spouse In dreams disturb'd. THE LIMITS. 141 Then did out-flash those blades That bleed the North anew — auroral sprites — With bloody hairs and carmine trains, — that reek And shriek of blood, confusion's rout ; then crash And crush the Circles' throne. Now did awake My fairest bride, but not for my embrace ; For, startled, saw she first the crackling sky, Whilst ev'ry separate fibre of her being Shook ; then, turning half upon my view, My Fair, ev'n as the frighten'd fawn, did leap Into the leafy copse, and left a cry behind. THE WOMAN. Love is luring ; first assuring, Then entreating, and repeating Promises so fair ; Favors granted soon are haunted With Contrition and suspicion : Ah my sin ! my care ! THE MAN. Then curs'd I God, the apple and the Palm Whereon it grew. I curs'd the lying oracle ; And breath'd rash censure on — O Powers ! This world Hath lost its poise ; both wit and will are down, While passion driveth them now here, now there ; And gestures, unpremeditate, infract The rind, venting a sea of wrath to Heav'n. A moment more, myself were vow'd and lost, If not an angel voice had broke into My soul and sav'd me from myself. Blest Sprite ! I sing thy timely comfort to my breast ; Who did'st my rashness mollify and call'dst 142 THE PLEROMA. The name of reason in to govern and Direct. Then saw I erst mine nakedness, And knew the action of my fairest Eve ; When softly calling to the bowers, my form Enzon'd with leaf of palm, I quickly found The fugitive conceal'd beneath a branch Of vines, and plaiting there a girdle for Her loins. I know not all, and fear to think By portents told around us ; yet I know And shudder as I think, while slowly lifts The mighty orb his banners from the wave, With day shall come the light, to search and see Our inmost heart, if loyal or if false. Oh, if this knocking heart delude me not, Yon rushing in the grove is of the God. Ah, screen us from the aleim of the Mount. The faces of aleim move in the Garden, Restoring the Circles and kindling their light : O MIGHTS Of PLEROMA Adorable Adonai ! Hail, Adam, thy Maker now calleth. " We fear'd thee, ye Mights ; and fled to the bowers ; We were naked and dreaded thy sight ! " " Thou hast pluck 'd of the Tree, And thy wife was with thee, Who from innocence speedily falleth." " The woman thou gav'st me did first eat the fruit : Her blushes and flushes confess to her shame ; THE FACES OF ALEIM. 143 Ah the Covenant Tree, And its false Deity ! Oh despair is our meat evermore." "The Deity lur'd me and led me to eat : Oh the fruit was aglow in a beautiful flame ; But all quickly it fled, And turn'd me in dread, When a viper lay coil'd me before. " See aleim, there gloweth the venomed viper : Oh drive him far from us, and spare us his sting ! " " We have curs 'd the foul creature Inform and in feature j Thus abas 'd, he shall harm but thy heel. Still for sin thou art seiz'd with for epains of sorrow j And forthwith, in anguish to birth thou shalt bring, A race from thy womb, To avenge Satan's wrong And a Savior redeeming from ill. " O Adam, from thee, and in thee, be accurs'd The physical world that dissonant moans j Thou shalt sow and shalt reap, Many sad vigils keep While thistle and thorn grow afield. Nay, the dust of the ground 's already athirst, To swallow thy life, to cover thy bones ; Thou must fall and lie down, For Earth claims her own, And to aleim thy spirit must yield" 144 THE PLEROMA. SATAN (TO THE DEMONS). Array ! ye vagrant voices, hist and learn ! Your wits grow worse, if ye presume on play, In hacking Eden's hedge, and seeding thorns ; These ears, extravagant in nice percepts, Have caught aside your maudlin mutterings ; Your jests and gibes ; your leers and loutish jeers ; Recess we gave you ; respite for awhile, To gambol with the airs and sleep amid The posies — ha ! — to sleep — to dream, to nest — With roses ; and like simplings all, ye smiled A sallow smile and hopt away, nor heard Our crack and banter cast behind. O Sport ! And ye were all like callow rooks thrust out Their nests ; a fuddled, fubsey nursery, In costume sprunt. Then Satan must laugh loud ; And by that laugh arous'd the sleeping serpent, Which rear'd forthwith its ruby-garnish'd crest ; (But now ye see, 't is needless that I tell) — This was our foil ; this gorgeous sheen our blind ; And while ye piqued, and prick'd yourselves again, And often, hurrying to the copse — the world Of Airs and flowers provok'd to endless laughters ; Meanwhile ye found congenial companies : Cajol'd Hominidse — proplasmic men — And had more joy inventing them new sports Than Satan hath corrupting Paradise. O demons, know our shaft hath done its work ; Man and his mate are game ; sin blights the Mount ; The Pair shall be thrust out of Paradise, And so the drama of the world. Hail Peers ! THE LIMITS. 145 All quirks aside, speak we to you henceforth As sapient arms and legions of our realm. An hour's sport hath harm'd you naught, and ye Are fresh for duty ; and by somewhat wittier I ween, and kindlier too in mood toward us. Now Satan's throne exults itself on high, And rides astern the thunders round the world ; The full-grown continents are ours ; the seas Tumultuous dash to tip our laughters. Lo, — The smoking hills hold torch to our delusions ; The rugged hights conceal the seats of aleim, And make a false Olympus. The odds are ours ; The aleim falter now upon yon mount. Eyes, ears, fingers and feet, touch, taste, and scent, Use each, use all. Ye are our myriad self ; I am the World ; and ye our instruments. Mark now yon clefted crag ! There will we take A cautious overlook the issue of the fall. THE DOOM OF THE DEMONS. The Doom of the demons, Arrah ! Arrah ! On the verge of the Garden, Marah ! Marah ! Scattering seed, Willow and weed, Blowing the chaff Forth with a laugh, Eyeing askance Lucifer's lance, Sighing aside and scowling with pain. The dirge of the Devils, Arrah ! Arrah ! On the verge of the Garden, Marah ! Marah ! I46 THE PLEROMA. Our lustre is shorn, We are vex'd and forlorn ; The serpent 's our foil — A hideous coil, Soughing and sloughing .ts livid pale skin. The Day of the demons, Arrah ! Arrah ! Upon Eden's rim, Marah ! Marah ! For a day and its wrong — For a day, Oh, how long ! We are Lucifer's band ; We are ruth of his hand ; Haste, O Mights, destroy us ! or cover our sin ! THE LIMITS. Suffering engendereth, rendereth Drear the Garden ; fitful, Fateful, must the Limits fall ; Shudders chill and craven ; raven Of the nocent night, peering, Leering ghastly out of hell. Aleim of the Nameless ! aimless Do the Circles run ; hear them ! Cheer them ! call the Limits in ! Portents rise, impending, lending Maze to mystery ; cowing, Bowing, bears the world its sin. THE CHERUBIM. Rolling, reeling, Whirling, wheeling : Flashing, flaming ; THE LIMITS. 147 Nathless naming Sin its banishment. Lurid lights, blazing blades, Eyes and faces myriad ; Terrors turning, Barriers burning, Cherubim are sent. Whirlwind blast Rushing past ; Awful sun ; Dread weapon of Divinity ! Woe to Eden, Circles' seat ! Woe to Adam and his mate ! Sobbing, sighing ; Fearful, flying Far, far, from the Ambrosial Tree. THE ALEIM OF PLEROMA. Thus cling and cluster to this Holy Mount The Mystic Circles, sorrowing and wan. Yon charioted Cherubim, awful of eyes, And liveried in chosen semblances Of sky and heath and field ; moving a maze Of circumventing blades and flames to mark Gan-TLden's boundaries, and guard the Tree Of Life, the Fount, and Sacred Shrine of God, — Do fret the inmost fervors of the Earth : And terrify the min'ral ministries. Yet be consol'd, O rhythmic notes, your songs Shall still rejoice the Soul of Lives ; while Man And beast and ev'ry living thing unite In blessing you. Sin and its shock hath thrown You from your seats, yet not forever ; lo, 148 THE PLEROMA. The healing life already palpitates In Nature's womb ; the promised Seed takes root ; In time, due time, shall blossom and bring forth Its blest, immortal, fruit, by angels garner'd For celestial barns. Thence glorified, Pass ye to wear the Circles' cidaris, And tune the harps of the redeem'd on high — Through Spirit, Light, and Air, prophetic signs, The Trinity of names disclose, of God The Countenances, call'd " aleim " — the Sworn — That manifest to man the Ways of Deity. Hail, Limits ! ordinances of aleim, Yield to Our train ! These bright epiphanies Are hostages from heav'n to earth sent down : They are co-ordinate with you, and come To further the redemptive work in Earth. First we direct, and bend Our lines against The Sacred Hill, — session of Cherubim ; Next trace the sev'ral pathways of mankind, Divergent from the gate of Paradise. Whence greet this mighty embassage of Heav'n, And join your hands with Ours ; nor Satan fear ! In us shall Nature be set free again ; Retrieve the quality divine that Man Hath shortly forfeited by sin ; but not While Satan's sceptre lasts ; and this how long ? (O secret of the Eternal !) — not by Omnipotence (bare force), but flushing his Sad star with love ; until his kingdom lose Itself in being sav'd. O Lucifer, When Jesus is exalt above a world, THE LIMITS. I49 Confess'd and nam'd its King, thenceforth shall seem Thy stool, a figment of the brain, phantom Of substance void, as also strength. Then shalt Thou wail and cry : " Lost ! " " Lost ! " and lash thyself With burning withes, falling eternally Into abysses of despair, with sobs And shrieks, environing thy madness ever. Limits, be ye compos'd ; for the Aleim Are now ensphered in tangible domain, Forestalling issue of the cause twixt God And Satan ; seeing health return to skies And seas, to seasons and to vital force ; While man, by sin lost to this pristine seat, Regains his Paradise in Jahveh lord. Essential spirit, light and flame, you hail The Aleim, — Presence palpable of God. In you pleroma sanctifies the soul Of Nature, peopling Earth with ministries Celestial. Welcome here unto your seats ! With fourfold visage, flashing forth far lights ; Roll, roll, thy lurid wheels ! and, trancing, turn Like scimeters to guard the way unto The Holy Mount ; thy winged banners spread, Soft fanning toward the South ; whence we Console The stricken pair and bear their prayers to Heav'n. THE LIMITS. Cheer, cheer, God draws near ! Jahveh 's car — the Cherubim — Hither bear the Great aleim ; Triple Face, trinal Name ; 150 THE PLEROMA. Holy Father {Fire) — the face of flame ; Spirit Holy {Air) — the eagle's wing ; Son Divine (Man) — the holy thing ! THE MAN. Farewell, O sacred seat ! alas, farewell ! Thee view we nevermore ; fleeing the wrath Of Heav'n, that ploughs thy glens and groves. The awful Presence gone, his Aleim fill Our souls with mournful apprehensions, dark : Speak, speak, unto thy servant, once again ! O Nesama, Spirit of Lives ! Gone ! Gone ! Yon polar star, immortal, 'midst the sea Of airs, e'en thou dost fall as we go forth, And wander down the southward wending stream. THE WOMAN. I am heavy and must lie in ; I am weary and fain would weep ; I am mournful and rue my sin ; I am wakeful and cannot sleep. Words are idle and sobs are vain ; Pain is silent and hath no cry ; Promis'd Jahveh ! leap'st again ? Haste thy advent, for I die. THE MAN. Nay, Eve, these lights enfolding mock us not ; They rather brighten and console. Turn now Thine eyes and gaze once more the crimson north ! Among yon whirling zones of flame, behold Similitudes of Eagle, Lion, Ox, and Man f THE LIMITS. 151 Such spectral emblems voice the Aleim's pledge To seraph ev'ry living thing in Earth. Turn, turn, fresh marvels ope upon our sight. The dread expansion lifts ; lo, on a Throne All sapphire gemm'd, pleroma of Aleim, The Soul of Worlds — the Fount of Personal Life — In shape of man, the image of ourselves ! This be our peace, fair Eve ; the Promise speaks ! He lives already in the potent Heavens ! " Jahveh ! " the promis'd " Seed " — Son of thy womb, Appeareth in mid firmament. THE WOMAN. He lives ; He comes ; salutes me from the Sky ! O bliss ! O anguish ! hold me or I die ! He comes ! "Jehovah" promis'd Lord ! Ah Sin, thou piercest with thy sword ! He breathes, He cries ; bless Heav'n, O sire ! Thy child ; my child — Jehovah Jireh ! Earth hath a Son, the Sky an Heir ! The Aleim hear and answer prayer. Prayer of the peaceful ; Covenant Name, Pay we devotion, incense ascending ; Proffers of peace ; proffers of blessing ; Comfort of grace, mercies expressing, Aleim of God, cover our shame ! Aleim of the Garden, Faces of God ! Rememb'ring promise, recompense sending ; Giver of gifts, joyful expression ! Naming thee Cain, sweetest possession ! Aleim of mercies ! child of Thy word ! 152 THE PLEROMA. SATAN. Such be the corn and kernel of our work, O partners of our cause ; nor shall an hour Be squander'd here ; else bears our empire loss. Lo, yonder sits the female man ; and to Her breasts a squalling infant hangs ; the male And sire, heaps up, hard by, a rounded mound For sacrifice ; whilst overhead, dispread, As were they seraph hands reach'd down to help- Illusions of the spectral North — clove-lights, Feeling full soon the cogent Limits' blade ; Retainers of our realm and intimate, Chosen from out a throng of ancient mights To aid us in the general feud twixt Earth And Heav'n, Go to, the instant strikes ; or now, Or ne'er, this infant race shall lick the hand Of Lucifer. Leap to your seats and watch ! Perchance ye shall be wiser ere the dew ; And find that counterfeiting is the art Of devil and demon. To-day veil we The Earth in mist, and cloak the lights of el — To-day we croon beside the cradle of The world and pour hot tears into its soul. This be the finest, furbish'd art we use ; Fictitious cloud, fictitious light ; presto ! And hide ourself anon in Protean shapes : Aye, in a thousand ways amaze the pair ; Till overpower'd they fall in suppliance. That instant, Satan as a seraph sent, Shall kindly lift them up, and smooth their brows. Embrace the puling infant in our arms — And breathe into those tender lips a breath THE LIMITS. 153 Infectious, with envy and crime's compound. Nay, they shall press us and implore of us A god, while fading from their presence as We came, and as mysterious. VOICES. The moan of the mother, the cry of the child ; The face of the father despairing and wild ; The Aleiin evade us ; The Circles upbraid us ; The Cherubim chide us, The Tree is denied us ; Oh, strange are the fancies that fly. Reproof for our folly, And mort melancholy ; Woe, woe, God hath left us to die ! Oh, list to the excellent voice of the stars ! Do well and thy countenance nothing e'er mars ; Do ill, and relenting With sincere repenting, Sin fleeth before thee ; The Aleim restore thee, And fend thee from possible ills ; Ye once were deceiv'd ; The loss is retriev'd ; The promise Jehovah fulfills. THE MAN. Thou dost most mightily amaze our minds, O spectral form ! If thou be friendly help Us to command our words, and sue for grace. Speak, awful apparition of the cloud ! Art Aleim, or the Spirit of the World ? 154 THE PLEROMA. SATAN. Thou hast well said : the " Spirit of the World ! This is our proper title ; and we greet Extending kindness to the wanderer's thatch Set up in our domain ; good, only good, We bring. This world is at your bidding now. Sweet babe of heaven, thou slumberest fair upon Thy mother's breast ; alas, how innocent ! The Aleim of the Mount have cast thee forth ! The Spirit of the World brings timely aid ; And succoreth in dire distress. We come That ye may pine no more for food and cheer. THE MAN. O sworn ones ! great Aleim ! The World is kind Indeed, pouring sweet solace in our cup ; Forgive, if now we kneel and kiss his hand. Blest image of this star, we kneel and bless. Our babe awakes ! he smiles ! thy brightness lures ! O grant a blessing here upon the babe ! 'T is well, he shall be holy to thy name ! Star, star of hope ! forsake us not ! Alack ! Great Aleim save us from the viper's sting ! It coils, it springs ! my child ! alas, my child ! THE WOMAN. Thou callest me " Eve," the mother of men ; Thou biddest me cheer, whilst stricken again ; Thou chidest my grief, — the mother of Cain, Adam my lord ! THE LIMITS. 155 We worry and work ; we sorrow and sigh ; We worship in vain the Aleim on high ; The Powers forsake us ; and leave us to die, Adam my lord ! Once more I await the cry of a man — O babe of my woe, how weary and wan ; Thou 'rt frailty itself ; thy life is a span, Abel my child ! anguish of Earth ! O forepains of dread ! Ill omens repent me and shadow my bed ; 1 faint as I think of the tears thou shalt shed, Abel my child ! SATAN. Ye build mine empire larger in your thoughts, To-day than yesterday, O comrades of Our realm. And well ; for trivial hopes give birth To trivial acts ; so Satan's soul can brook No pigmy-mites, and tomtit runts. Each one Of you, fully matured, shall like a Triton, In the least minnow's wake, strike out into The stream of your endeavors. Mark our words ! The Aleim forthwith surely weaken from This star ; the fugitives from Eden faint ; Our fraud of yesterday hath sore amazed And whelm'd their apperceptions. Of the twain, The female hath the hardlier lot ; and she In bitter anguish of a second child Doth call on phantom wisps to come to her Relief. Next heard we Cain, our foster-child, 156 THE PLEROMA. Cry violently, and curse his birth-star as He saw his infant brother suckling at His mother's breasts, usurping his birthright. O here is straw for mortar friends. Lo, here Behind this tent of thatch there glows a fire That shall consume a race of men in Hell. Be this our clear and well-defin'd device : To simulate the true Aleitn j to draw Aside true worship by false lights ; infuse A dread of heaven and ev'ry mystery ; So foster fetishisms, and Nature cults ; Confound men's creeds and thus confuse their tongues Corrupt their faiths and so destroy their virtues ; Leading astray till knowledge of the True Aleim be lost ; then rule the absolute And undisputed Anarch of this World, — Prince not alone of Matter ; but of Mind. THE ALEIM OF PLEROMA. The Circles bend to larger privilege ; Henceforth the Limits trace a vastlier course ; The Bands and Couriers fly to expedite Their work in distant times. But first leads on The Age of false Aleim, delusion's choir ! Corruptions of the True, that captivate The sense, confuse the reason, and forthwith Infest the Garden-faith with thorny error. O Satan, now art thou full grown in sin ! And reck't no more the wages nor the woe Of thy designs. We vaunt not as thou dost ; Nor publish to the Angels Our designs And purposes. To warn thee of defeat, THE LIMITS. 157 And final beggary, burning amidst With loathing of thyself, shall this deter ? No ; thou hast made thy God a liar ! thyself Delusion's head and throne, father of Lies, And prince of sin, Jehovah's deadly foe ! Go, mobilize thy minions ! Haste thy work ! Do ye prevent the Advent of Jahveh ? Nay rather shall from thee the race recoil And build anew the altars of Jahveh That was, and is, and cometh evermore. CANTO III. THE FALSE ALEIM. THE ARGUMENT. Confusion 's hour is announced by the Limits — Cain's im- pious rites the cause of much merri7nent among the demons, who incite his jealous mind on to the first act of fratricide — Cain dreadeth the Avenger, and lamenteth his banishment — Satan disguised as a deity, first, com- forteth Cain and his wife, in their flight from the face of Jahveh ; then, requireth of them a vow of fealty to his na?ne and altar — The descendants of Cain, mighty men, princes of the false Aleim, look upo?i the shepherdesses of Enos and allure them with fair promises to their cities — The sons of Enos niake the sacrificial oath of vengeance — The maidens intercede — The sons of Seth also corrupted by the enticements of idolatry — The ple- roma meditateth the approaching deluge — Satan from his pinnacle survey eth his possessions, andposeth to receive divine hotiors — He at otice perceiveth the omens of an ap- proaching cataclysm which shall destroy many of his las- civious incubi, and whelm the Garden of the World — The bruit of the demons — The Circles wing, sky-ward, singing the boat afloat, and the purging of their circum- polar seat — The Garden of god. the limits. Hear'st thou the bleating ewe, Calling her firstling ? Answers the rustling Pine : Ever, forever ! 158 THE FALSE ALEIM. 1 59 Hear'st thou the mother's cry Seeking her Abel ? Answers the sable Pine : Ever, forever. This is confusion's hour, Demons pursuing ; Enmities brewing Crime, crimson forever. Babel of strife and tongues, yahveh resisting, Turning, and trysting False, falsely, forever ! SATAN. Drink up the excess of your joy, good spirits, And rest a little space ! Expand the orb Of your perceptions and give heed ! Behold, The crisis of this hour controls an age. Ye see a double canopy of cloud Upon the northern slope ; beneath are piles Of stone rudely arrang'd for sacrifice ; The herdsman, Abel, thither cometh with His bloody gift ; the elder, frowning Cain, Approacheth from mid-fields with fruits and roots : Nor heedeth he the instance of the group That chides his contumacious offering. Within the glowing maze, Jehovah hides His countenance ; and signifies by flames Shot down to fire the altar, favor, and Acceptance from his God. Hard by, ye see The harmless Cherubim that do instead l60 THE PLEROMA. Of scarecrows, warding off sinful mankind The nodding North, that slowly chills, and leaves Its memory in crystal effigy. Ye stand on tiptoe and do gape to view The ceremonial ! Bah, we had taught These wretches how to flay and roast ; to bake Their shew-bread, and present it well. See Cain ! With how much grace he lays his gift of fruit ! This niceness, mark, is in our foster-child. His mien majestic ; lordlier as his work. Thou tiller of the earth, tender of plants And vines ! Thee Satan greets with honest pride, And affluent desire to bring thee fame ; And build for thee in earth a lofty throne, Saluting thee vice-regent of the world : Yea, if thou earnest well thy chosen part This day ; insisting on the equal rank Of husbandry with shepherd thrift ; and nam'st The ancient Aleim as the patrons of The all-producing earth ; nor, callest once Upon Jahveh to bless thy fields and fruits ; Reproving novelty, by the elder faith ; So shalt thou win, O son of Elohim — Titanic, earliest Deity ; and Lucifer Stoopeth to kiss thy cheek, and place upon Thy brow the wreath of bay. Mark well, ye peers ; If from yon swelling fleece of cloud there dart A flame to light the fruited stones ! What time Mine own elected Cain turneth away In deadly anger from his fireless heap, Leap to the dizzy crags, and scream amain THE FALSE ALEJM. l6l With hellish glee ! cry for the Limits all ! Divide, divorce, destroy ! Satan is No suitor of the sugar'd shrines ; he feeds — He feeds on more substantial aliment : Forsooth on blood, even as the Jahveh That was, and is, and is to come — " To come " ! Bah, we could do the creed, vaticinate, And coddle nightly 'mong the cherub cots, But we have learn'd a trifle and a plus Beside ; found mainly threat'nings to be vain, Mere cracklings of the lower skies, while god In lofty self-complaisance stays his arm ; Although he lends his voice to novices. Ho, demons, spring in air, gyrate and shout ! Now let Earth crack, and oceans vomit belch ! The braver half of man is ours, is ours ! Cain hath defied Jahveh ! Henceforth claim we Our son : the false Aleim blaze in the skies — In Abel shall Jehovah worship die ! THE DEMONS. Flare, flare, ye terrene flames ! We give you sacred names ; We lure to you mankind, To worship you enshrin'd ; O fair, illusive lights ? He turns, the elder turns ; Within him anger burns ; We feed his wrath ; W r e smooth his path ; Descend illusive lights ! 1 62 THE PLEROMA. Shriek — shriek, ye shatter'd airs, Whilst bloody vengeance stares Red-handed at its deed ; Now Satan drink thy mead ! Speed on, illusive lights ! A VOICE. Crime followeth sin in a round ; The Circle describeth its bound ; From sire to son, and son to sire, It traveleth sure, and traveleth dire ; The evening gloweth ; The zephyr bloweth, And wingeth along the lea ; The forest groaneth ; The green sward moaneth The awful tragedy. CAIN. The bloods of my brother are crying to Heav'n against me : I am cursed already, already in soul as in body ; I have chosen my lot, O so desert and darkly ; A vagabond wanderer, I, homeless and banish'd. Jahveh, thy curse is too great for my spirit to carry ; I am faint and already the avenger of blood is upon me. The seven-fold winds do not carry away all my groan- ings ; Nor the Cherubim bear half the prayers I have offer'd. Ah, the sentence is pass'd ; but protect, O protect Thou thy banish'd. THE FALSE ALEIM. 1 63 Blest art Thou O Jahveh! this sign shall defend from the slayer ; In Nod, in the land of my flight, when alone and de- fenceless. Farewell to the face of the Lord that pleadeth his mercies before me ; Farewell to the altars of Aleim, the mighty protectors ; Farewell to my stricken disconsolate parents, whose faces Their first-born shall never again behold in the body ; Farewell to my kindred that seed all the coasts of the garden ; And ye pleasant fields, and ye forests that woo'd me to till you ; My heart leave I here in your bosom engrafted forever ; And soul-less and sighing your keeper forsaketh these gardens To go to the South, to the land that shall henceforth receive me. A VOICE. The hand of the homicide red with its murder ; Red with the sign that Jehovah put on it ; Ghastly in mien with shiver and shudder — Reacheth to take now the hand of a sister ; Sister and wife, the wanderer's only companion ; Facing the East, and its searchless savannas — Facing the gloom of the thicket and forest ; Aw'd by the cry of the jackal and note of raven ; Chasten'd and broken in spirit, ready to turn back ; Cursed, and cannot, cannot retrieve though he will to ; Urg'd on by awful compulsion, yet doth he know not Whither, save only it be from the Face of Jehovah. 164 THE PLEROMA. SATAN. Now are ye plump, O imps ! now are ye gorg'd With nature's sap ; O we can trust your wits Henceforth as spirits of the world ; and give You larger privilege ; withdraw the leash ; Adorn with honors where aforetime we Have check'd and hamper'd. We ween that each and all Do seize the earnest of the hour, and haste Counsel to expedite, our cause advance Against the coming one J^ahveh, whose name Already lisp'd by Adam's seed, aloof The cherub-seat, forbodes our final ruin ; If not crush'd out and overborne by Cain And his descendants that shall disavow This novel J^ahveh faith, appealing to The ancienter Aleim, fire, light, and air, The emblems of the mighty Mights so mix'd Up with our province, that we weave them in The texture of terrestrial things and clothe In subtle charms and colors. Swear fealty ! And once again obeisance to your Prince ! Leap now unto your tasks, harry and hide ; Play true or false, and double deal as best Befits the end ; beset with ambushments The seed of Adam ; lure and captivate Their wills, winning to wanton worships. Nor Affray your souls at blood and havockry ; The end merits the means that gain it best. Know ye that Satan loves nor sin nor ill ; He loveth rule and empire. So he must — Perforce of Jatis essay to crush his head — THE FALSE ALEIM. 1 65 Do injury to myriads of souls He 'd sooner leave untouched ; hence ye shall reck No costs ; your prince counts none, if Jahveh rule Retires, and nature takes a firmer hold Upon the heart of man. Was Lucifer s This star j is now, and shall be j else, falling The World falls too. CAIN. Ye Mights of the Mount, once effulgent in flame and in ether : The solace and song of my parents ere they were ban- ish'd ; Earliest heard on the lips of my mother kneeling to Heav'n ; Teaching me too how to worship, bowing my knee down beside her. Ah, long have ye hidden your face from the eyes of your children, Loosing the bonds that constrain'd them purely in homage ; Chide me not, crush'd and forsaken, if I appeal to thy mercy ; Nay, though I free here my soul of its burden so heavy ! Recite in thine ears the wrath of jfehovah upon me ; The zeal that possess'd me to prop up thy worship. O Names of Aleim, the Mighty, slurr'd by my brothers ; Chiefly by Abel, my junior, vaulting the priesthood ; Bringing in novelties, evils that were to be silenc'd. Rashly strove I to rescue the ancient religion : Could not, save on Earth's shrine his blood should be offer'd. Spirit of Earth, Soul of the World and its marvels, 1 66 THE PLEROMA. Pardon my crime ! Spirit of Light and of Ether, Succor thy son ! O retrieve from the curse of Jehovah ! Spirit of earth, god of the world, rescue the wanderer ! SATAN. Hail, foster son, firm in maternal faith ! The Aleini bring cheer and respite to thy lot ; Condone thy well-meant sin ; remove this load Of care ; repair, and speedily, thy loss. Know ye, yon lights that twinkle in the sky Are we ; — the stars bid Cain good speed upon His way. The winds that wing from ev'ry sea Are we ; — the airs shall be thy couriers To bring thee on thy course. Yon fires that shine Upon the mount are we, to light thy way ; The all-embracing Ether spreads her tent For thee ; the glades rejoice to welcome thee. The sprites that dwell in cleft and croft leap up To greet the favor'd one among the sons Of men, first born to Adam, and a prince Of a new race. Thou shalt not fall and die ; But from thy loins shall spring a mighty birth Of valiant men, skilful in arts, builders Of cities ; renown'd in war and chase throughout The Earth, a godlike race of Nephilim, Princes of El, brave sons of the Aleim. Still thou art man ; and man unsworn is as The fickle breeze ; 't is fit we claim of thee A triple vow of fealty, and homage : Thou dost herein for thee and for thy seed Avouch allegiance to the Trinity Of Fire, Flame, and Ether, divinities THE FALSE ALEIM. 1 67 Of thy maternal love ; to these erect Thine altars, paying thereupon thy vows Unto the triple lights of heaven and earth. CAIN. Mark'st thou, my sister, the sheen of the sov'ran Lights ? Hearst thou, my sister, the vows and the pledges here spoken ? Praise the aleim ! Cain shall yet live and be prosper'd ; See, for the sky is incarnadine now with his presence ! God moves in mighty resplendence forth on our pathway ; Passing upward, glorifies he all the mountain ! Marvel, look, he changes in fashion ! lo, as a man, Splendidly awful ! See, how he strides o'er the summit ! Beckoning, beckoning, — weird, — strange, — horrible — face ! "What of these portents ? " Sister, thy words are their answer ; Portents in truth, known but to God and him only ; Farewell, thou glow of the Gan-Eden mountain ; Dimly, alas, seen in the background ; farther, — Knowing not whither, save from the face of Jehovah. THE SONS OF ALEIM. Ask ye our worship, beautiful daughters of Enos — Enos, restorer of altars ? Ask ye our birthplace and kindred fairest of maidens — Daughters of Mahalaleel, splendor of El? Heed then our song of Havilah ! Learn of the children of Cain ; Enoch and Lamech ; Learn of their sons and their fortunes : 1 68 THE PLEROMA. Learn of the Names that we worship building high tem- ples ; Call'd from the triad of Gods that defend us : Hear of the fabulous riches quarried and coined : Cities, close built, castles and gardens sweet-scented : Hear of great ladies, Adah and Zillah, unenvied, Fostering arts in the children rear'd in their chambers ; Jubal, the glory of music, king of the harp and the organ :i : Tubal the glory of art, prince of the workers in metals ; Thence of Naamah the pleasant, queen of the maidens, Chosen of Aleim to offer incense before them. THE DAUGHTERS OF ENOS. O princes of £/, our cousins most valiant ; The daughters of Jahveh revere and entreat ; Ye will not go by ; but tarry, refresh you, The while we shall summon our brothers to meat ! THE SONS OF ALEIM. Ours is a mission of daring performance, Loveliest daughters of Seth ; Ours is a bold and incautious adventure Beautiful maids of Jahveh ! Hear we anew the call of our Aleim : " Hasten, else reckon no more on our altars ; Bring with thee virgins, wives for my nobles ; Promise the pastoral daughters of yahveh, Music and festival pastimes to surfeit ; Eye hath not seen of these shepherds ; Ear hath not heard of these nomads, Half of the wonders of Nod, land of the Pison— Rich in its gold, bdellium, and onyx." THE FALSE ALEIM. 1 69 THE SONS OF EN0S. Canaan thy child, vows by thine altars, O Enos ; Swears to avenge the foul rape of the princes ! Nephilim, curs'd with a curse, lost to Jehovah. Mahalaleel, splendor of God, grandson, is with us ; Father of Jared, father of Enoch, the teacher ; Thence of Methuselah, son of the javelin ; These all, and princes puissant, sacred to Jahveh, Offer our seven-fold victims whilst thou implorest, Suppliant sire, the Lord of the Highest to aid us. Swift are these griffins and dread in their havoc ; Giants, wild gibborim, got by the help of the demons ; Demi-gods, monsters, clad in the splendors of angels ; Sold under sin and adepts of ev'ry pollution : Lying with beasts, ploughing with dames most infernal ; Plunderers damn'd, that glut their desire on the maidens. Help, O Most Highest ! Save from the " sons of aleim /" Falsely named faces of Satan, Spirit of Evil ! THE CAPTIVE WOMEN. Cease from this bloodshed, O fathers ! O brothers ! Respite an hour, while the maidens, now mothers ; Happy and rich in the land of Havilah, Favor'd of great ones, Adah, and Zillah, Bid in their name and the Aleim above us ; Visit our hearths if yet ye do love us ; See how the princes have dealt with thy daughters ; Then if ye can, renew ye the slaughters ! PLEROMA JAHVEH. Behold the sons of Seth also have gone the way of Cain : Following the voices of the captive women ; Now is all flesh corrupt ; 170 THE PLEROMA. And the imaginations of man's heart evil, evil contin- ually. The earth is fill'd with the violence of the mighty : And it repenteth Jehovah that he hath made man. And though my spirit shall not strive in them forever, Yet their day shall be one hundred and twenty years — Then shall the end of all flesh come before my face. The sons of the aleim, the seed of Cain, shall perish ; The Nephilim shall go down in the deluge of waters. Likewise all the seed of Seth, save Noah. He and his household, being warn'd, shall build an ark To keep alive of ev'ry living thing, both male and female ; For I will cause the reservoirs to burst from under : And I will open the windows of heaven ; The seas shall cover the face of my holy mountain, To hide it forever from a perverse people. I, Jahveh, have spoken and will perform it ; SATAN. Enthron'd upon this purpling pinnacle, That pours its lustre in Havilah's lap, What time the Dawn, loos'd from the Sun's embrace Speeds from his couch, and crimsons all the world With wanton flushes, softly veil'd ; or, when Reluctant twilight, of the Earth enamor'd, Woo'd by the hills and heaths, looks back and sighs, Throwing a dower of smiles on Enos' daughters, Takes Satan here his lofty seat and gives His suppliants attendance, that offer him The choicest of their tilth, both corn and fruit ; Circling in bands with grateful praise and prayer, To the Aleim of Airs omniscient, that own This summit for their shrine. THE FALSE ALEIM. \J\ • This land hath peace. Where Death withdrew, comes mirth and revel in : The name of jah is heard no more upon The lips of men. Jahveh, Jahveh is fall'n ! In glory excellent dwell we alone ; O most enchanted star ! and more, that now The lecherous demons drub not our stool. Supreme ! Repeat that word, O soul, " Supreme ! " The seed of Seth hath wholly gone the way Of Cain, save Noah ; and he is mad, they say, And cobbles up an awkward coffin for His bones. Him will I turn my wits upon And edge the churlish spite I hear below. Ho, devils ! bulging with your message, speak ! Zounds ! In the holy sacred of my peace, There troopeth frenzied horrors, brain bedizzen'd ! Aback, we will not be disturb'd. Do we ? Doth Lucifer build castles for his pride, To have them crush'd and crumbled in a trice ? Speak ! Speak ! ye fiends, what palsies hold you so ? Lo all the world (nay Satan is the World) : Lo all the land spews out its venom'd swarm ! Ye gods, behold the sight ! A puling poulp Of pestilential death wallows the hill ; A sickly curse hath lighted on my legions. Now dare we speak the truth, confess it loud ; We weep not for this carnal race of demons ; O wens and blotches ! had we the Soma Think ye we 'd give it you ? Nay, die the death ! Such ugly rumors spawn'd upon our ears, Almost are we persuaded of the fact, This God-breath'd Noah is a vehicle 172 THE PLEROMA. Of Jahveh's curse, that 's imminent, whereof 'T is evident this deathly sickness of Our legions yielded further countenance. The seven chiefs concur in their report : The ark is finished ; its hoary architect, His sons him aiding, stores within, a raft Of wares and victuals for man and beast. It is already moot among sane men, That the Almighty 'venging on mankind For being human, loving mother Earth Most naturally, will whelm her children all ; A sea of fire and waters disembogu'd The bowels of the Earth : so shall this fair And bastion'd basin of the North engulf'd, Upbear a raft of miserable deaths, At once of men and brutes and creeping things ; Revolting to all eyes, behind and huge, Shall drift the tabid husks of serpents vile, Fouling the main afar — most horrible. So curseth Jahveh what He cannot rule ! Aha, we have Jahveh a pupil apt ! First in the mighty anger of our soul Sware we to fend this circum-polar land Against the Almight's curse ; when wiser thoughts At once came in to show a better way ; Then clearly knew we how events hereto The merest preface are, the prologue of The tragedy begun in Heav'n — a feud Provok'd by God's most arbitrary rule ; Transferr'd to Earth, with man the common spoil. Did Lucifer laugh now he laughs too soon, Did Lucifer now bare his might, then were THE FALSE ALEIM. 1 73 His majesty from deeper plans diffract. O trivial effort made to 'stablish here Thy throne and altar, Jahveh ! We scorn To breeze our banners, and air our paeans ; This is fictitious war ; Thy might 's withheld ! In Noah and his sons beyond the flood, The fallen worship shall take root again, With faithful men, though few to build thy shrines — A trifid branch, fore-caution'd to respect. Hence pass we on before and void this place ; (For work is our sole joy ; work done revolts.) Descending Southward, view we other realms Beyond the Sun. So, hither pursuivant, Ye chosen chiefs, and sharers of our rule In Earth, follow, tracing future empire. If hitherto we meted you no bounds, Conferr'd no title and domain imperial, — Suffice, the play was barely on ; our will Hath been in time to portion you the world ; Divide with you the habitable globe, Ere long to be repeopled — the deluge past — Enacting thenceforth further scenes of Earth's Great drama. Cede this filthy coop at once To Jahveh's bolts and fires revengeful. The Bruit of Demons wrack'd and curs'd In meshes caught they cannot burst ; Lustful incubi, loving clay, Vampire gnomes of demonry ; Harpy, fury, Troll and bogey , Effreet, afrite, Unclean spirit, 174 THE PLEROMA. Tasting fumes of the bottomless pit, Betray'd of Satan and no respite. THE LIMITS. Ho, ho, doth Satan go ? Doth he quit this polar world for aye ? Do the aleim follow with the sun ? Do they ogle on the fraud begun ? Answer, O Jahveh, we pray ! Ho, ho, doth Satan go ? Doth he ravish the world, then forsake ? Doth he leave his helpless legionries, And send no aid in their agonies ? The curse of Jahveh overtake ! THE CIRCLES. Twirl, twirl, sisters, twirl ! Your labara unfurl ; Above the wales, Abreast the gales, Let Jahveh 's name be sung. Chant, sisters, chant ! The swaying Earth aslant, Scorneth the sun ; Warneth each one The aleim's knell hath rung. Pale, sisters, pale ! Harken the war and wail ! While Noah's boat Goeth afloat And rides the embastion'd flood : THE FALSE ALEIM. 1 75 Flee, sisters, flee ! The North becomes a sea ; Return to the stars, On your luminous cars, And stay the decree of the Lord. GAIA (THE EARTH). Thou art wroth, O Sun ! As a moth I am brush'd from thy light. I am quite undone ; I am cold, for thy face is hid from sight. Thou art cruel, O Sun ; And the Earth expires in sobs and tears ; She is faint and falls ; And her offspring is whelm'd in fears — She is faint and falls. My heart is quench'd, O Sun ! The floods rush from my rending side ; The North reverts, O Sun ; My pray'r is rigidly denied — His glory sinks beneath the sea. The heavens are black, Alack, Thou wilt come no more to comfort me ; Nor ever learn how I mourn'd and wept Ere I broke in death, And thy children with me, crush'd and swept From my breast at a breath. PLEROMA JAHVEH. Again these reeking mounts and steppes uprear Their tawny backs above the 'suaging waves. Alone the storied North is seen no more : 176 THE PLEROMA. Clad for his burial in icy robes ; Ensconc'd from human eyes forever there. The ark hath stoutly stood the mighty shock, Whilst engines, dynamitic, clove the rocks And rent in two the continents ; nor struck The frowning coping to the masonry Of adamant that zoned the sin-curs'd shores ; — Breasting full long the inrush of the waters, Borne southward by the steady drift that swept The universal sea, — she rests at length On Ararat, to Jahveh sacred ground And high in Kurdistan. The dove that yester Brought the olive leaf to Noah, to-day Returneth not ; and Noah hath unloos'd The covering to mark the waters are Abated from the earth. God's voice now heard, He goeth forth, himself and wife and sons, Shem, Ham, and Japhet three, and wives with them : Next leadeth forth, or looseth from their stalls, The greater and the lesser tribes of beasts And bird indigenous the pristine North, Which earliest lay profuse in loveliness ; — Enchanted land of fruits and flowers, luring Into its lap all brilliant wings, else call'd The Birds of Paradise ; — the pictured swarm Of mimicry minute, the insect lives That breathe the nard and nectarous airs and kiss The argent blooming flowers, which gave more sweet To lisping bee that gather'd honey there, Than elsewhere scient skill shall e'er distill : Whelm'd this fair Omphalos of Earth, and all THE FALSE ALEIM. IJJ Its charms fast-lock'd in ice : revers'd the sun, And doubly chill'd in coldest space, remote His tropic fires ; not guiltless, not unwarn'd. Sole remnant of the seed of Seth transplant From parts engulf'd, to stock once more the world : Eight righteous souls, remote their northern home ; Admiring the Asian plateaus wide ; Eight j KYWYtt-wor shippers, God's holiness And unity profoundly sens'd, provide For the supreme and only name in heaven, A pleasant sacrifice, in Noah their sire, And priest : implanting these far-stretching slopes A pure and spiritual faith. Receive We now The odor of acceptable prayer and praise. Fear not, Noah ! For while the Earth remains, Seedtime and harvest-home, the winter's cold And summer's heat, nor day nor night shall fail. For jahveh curseth not again the earth for sin. Lo, yonder iris of the South that bows In sparkling symmetry upon the mounts — See how it stands upon the pillars of The world, fair symbol of jah's covenant, Until pleroma come. CANTO IV. THE BABEL. THE ARGUMENT. The Bands lament the Limits hour — Ham's impiety and Canaan s curse — The table of nations is called — The Couriers find the faultless man, and sing the glory of the Caucasus — The different races are viewed, with char- acteristic lore given — Primitive men and natural reli- gions — The Circles find Eden symbols everywhere — The yEons trace in particular the fortunes of the Jahvites ; of the Shemite race — The magnificence of the Nim- roud Dynasty ; and the false Aleim — The seat of Satan overthrown, with confusion of tongues. THE BANDS. Limits strive to sever ; scatter through all lands ; Rescue us jehovah, ward Thy chosen Bands : Weak are we, and wander, if Thou bind us not ; Shifted soon and shattered, if Thou wind us not ; Fulness of the Godhead, Spirit from above ; Potence of the highest, Essence of his love ; God of Seth and Noah — Ancient name eloah, Cov'nant name jehovah ; Band of Bands, Messiah ! Humbly we implore. 178 THE BABEL. 1 79 Tarry not jahveh ! show Thy matchless grace ! Seers inspire, intrinsic to the human race ; Lo, in trope and symbol, predicate the day- Promis'd Seed and Savior, incarnate jahveh God of Seth and Noah — Ancient name eloah ; Cov'nant name jehovah, lowly we adore. Ah, what omens fray us ! auguries of ill ; Blessing turns to cursing ; oaths coerce the will ; Brothers shunt and alien, disparate diverge ; Climes and countries variant, further changes urge : Nature lures, or threatens ; trivial gifts atone ; Deities are worshipped, hewn of wood or stone. Fetishisms and demon-cults terrify mankind ; Pantheons and Babeldoms ev'rywhere we find ; God of Seth and Noah- Ancient name eloah ; Cov'nant name jehovah — Lord of Lords, pleroma ! praise we evermore ! VOICES. Awake ! awake ! from thy wine ; Thy sleep is profaned ; Thy slumber is stained ; Thy nakedness cries to the vine ; Vail me, O vine, in thy bower ! Hide thou my shame in this hour ! Ah Sin, thou art here in the laughter and leer, And the sensual glance of Canaan's sire ; Thou dost paint so a trace, and screen'st not thy face ; For the mock of the son is the crime ye inspire. 180 THE PLEROMA, NOAH. Canaan is curst in Ham ! A servant shall he be unto his brethren ; Jahveh is blest in Shem : Japheth shall el persuade, In tents of Shem array'd ; While Canaan, curst, shall serve his brethren. THE .EONS. Number ye, name ye, O Sisters, the children of japheth ! To whom jahveh giveth bounds and rich blessings ; Sing of their fortunes in countries far distant ; Tell of traditions and myths they do cherish. Gomer — the sire of the Cimri — clinging the shores of the North, Warlike Cimmerians threading Hercynian forests ; Nomads of Askenaz ranging the steppes of high Asia, — Rephsean caves, — the home where the North-wind was cradled : Also the house of Torgona, Caucas'an races, all Aryan. Magog — the sire of the Scythians, terrible, numberless Scythians : Barbarous princes of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal ; Arm'd with the bow and mounted as horsemen ; Curving the sides of the North, cruel, rapacious. Madai — the sire of the Medes, pastoral, meditative, peoples. Javan — the sire of the Grecians, Javanu, writ in their tablets, THE BABEL. l8l Elisah, — sweet-scented Elis in Peloponnesus, — Tarshish, twixt mouths of the great ocean river, far limit ; Kittim and Rodanim, Cypric and Rhodian stocks. Tiras — sea-farers, robbers, pelasgic Etruscans, Mighty in arms and invaders of nations. Number ye, name ye, O Sisters, the children of ham — Sons of the South, peoples accurst to do service. Cush — the father of Nimroud, the hunter warring Jehovah, Treading the gulfs and the Indian coasts ; Seba, child of the streams, Meroe old of the Nile ; Havilah — a name from the ancientest North transplant to myrrhiferous Araba : Sabtah, far-famed for its incense, — Sabota : Raamah, else Regma, adjacent the Persian waters. Sabtecha to eastward in Caramaria. Mizraim — father of races, boasting their Egypts ; Ludim (the men) the mighty world-monarchs : Anamim, rank in the low delta pastures ; Lehabim, Libyans, bounded by ocean and sun ; Bearded, tattoed, with features Caucasian. Nepthuhim, Pathrusim, of Memphis and Thebes ; Casluhim, lining the borders of Canaan ; Thence the Serbonian bog and Casio's hill. Caphtorim, edging the Delta, thence Damietta, out of whom cometh Philistim. Phut — the father of traders in incense with Tyre ; Canaan — the sire of sailors and builders : Sidon, come from the Bahrein isles far Southward ; Heth, ccele-Syrian, land of the Tauris. 1 82 THE PLEROMA. Jebusites — keeping the waterless hill, Jebus historic ; Amorites — mountaineers, walling their cities to heaven ; Dwelling anon in the South, and the Palm-rows and Petra. Girgashites — centrally domed in the Palestine moun- tains ; Hivites — the crafty, in Shechem and Hamath to North- ward ; Arkites — the strong, in their bastions basaltic ; Sinites — high-dwellers on Libanon's shoulders ; Arvadites — free on their islet, near the Phoenicians : Zemarites — close the Eleutherus fountain ; Hamathites — rich by Orontes and Lebanon's quarries. Number ye, name ye, O Sisters, the children of shem ! Elam — the father of Elamites, bordering Babylon's kingdoms ; shepherding picturesque foothills, poets and dreamers. Asshur — deified king of Assyria taught of Acadians ; fenced by the Tartars ; sure in Aleppo ; Arphaxad — father of names in the line of Jehovah ; Shelech, exploiting and passing in Eber, Peleg, dividing and lessening more in his son, tribes three and ten all Arabian nomads, dwelling the way unto Sephar, mount of the East. Lud — that ripen'd in Lydia, charm of the West ; Aram, the high, the Northland, facing the Yemen ; Land of the patriarchs, numbered in story : Vz — ural-king and crown of Damascus ; Thence hul of the reedy Merom, also gether, And mash, the bold Ituraean marauders. So are the nations apportioned — children of Noah : So is seeded the Earth' from the face of Jehovah. THE BABEL. 1 83 THE PLEROMA. Long is the earth replenish'd from the seed Of Noah ; mankind and animals (the North Indigenous) confront the world's extremes. In equal latitudes mark kindred types ; In variant climes, note forms dissimilar : One hemisphere above and one beneath The sun, with upper and with nether zones : Three continents, historic crowd the northern : Outspread, articulate, with ample fringe Of bays and island harbors, the social North : Massive and lone the southern hemisphere. Remote Australia yields her unique types ; The gigantesque Myrtaceae ; the flaring Eucalypti ; gracefulest Mimosas, And bright Acacias. The fauna too — The kangaroo that gambols in her forests ; The marshy rhynchus' shapeless form complex. Next fall our eyes on Afric's farthest bounds, And note therein the pale Proteaceae ; The pulpy aloes, set in brilliant clusters, Irideae with boldest colorings ; While o'er the scented heath, nimble gazelles Are sporting ; aloof and wary feed giraffes On leaf and greening bough o'erhanging high. In covert couching, lion and panther lie, To spring upon their unsuspecting prey. Behold another and a western world Rises to view, with Palm the regnant life ; And dazzling Cacti flowering everywhere. There 'mid the maze of blossoms and 'mid brakes We see the clumsy armadillo's trail ; 1 84 THE PLEROMA. The chubby tapir and the quaint ant-lion ; Whilst longtail'd apes depend morose on many A mossy bough and bank. Hail, sunny south ! Intense and brilliant world ! the throne and pow'r Of Nature. Lo, in thee all splendors meet ; Behold in thee all variants effulge ! How stunted on yon glacial tracts eke out Their scanty hope, the lichen and the moss — All colorless and wan : thence, southward passing, See fuller growths and forms more manifold ; Divergent, if on moist or dry, on low or high Conditions, plastic seedlings fall. The round Of seasons in the temperate climes ; the sleep Of winter and the burst of spring, convoke New characters and yield new genera. But thou hast wherewith to endow their dower, O tropic South ! Thy wand enchants whate'er It touches ; if ferns, if grasses, see, tall trees Upspring and sway majestic like the groves : Whilst tiny sisters of the North are crush'd Beneath the heel of man and fed upon. Here Nature triumphs ; beauty in beauty, form In form, color in color, life in life ! THE COURIERS. We have traversed the East, O pleroma, In search of the ideal Form ; And Thou biddest to tell of our voyage, And say if we find yet the norm : We have seen him, O Light ! And we glow at the sight ! THE BABEL. 1 85 Majestical, beautiful Man ! True centre of quintuple race — A harmony faultless in grace, In Caucasus and Iran. THE PLEROMA. Yes, Couriers, Taurus and Caucasus Are happy fields for man to dwell among — The spiritual centre of the world, With nothing niggardly or prodigal ; Nor Nature surfeited, nor craving o'er ; Here blends the cosmic and the psychic man ; O Life ! the portal of everlasting Heav'n ! Up, up, ye seers, discern the Star of Promise ! The Day-spring from on high ; blest day presag'd Of man's Redemption, where in time shall come The perfect man — to Earth the head and flower Composite of humanity — pleroma. THE COURIERS. O glory of the Caucasus ! The Couriers sing thy praise ; Whilst Zephyrus blows And melt the snows, And vine and myrtle freshen. We sing thy stature lithe and tall ; The royal hand that fashions all ; The oval head, the full, large, eye ; The well-turn'd nose and aquiline ; The ruddy countenance and fair ; The stately tread, the thoughtful air. 1 86 THE PLEROMA. O glory of the Caucasus, Thrice perfect mould of man ; Whilst Zephyrus blows And melt the snows Sing the Caucasian. THE PLEROMA. The Couriers sing the Ca?/\ The quintuple rank and soldierly respect To word and to authority. Ask them What of the god's of Egypt ? and they cry, " All elilitn ! All elilim are they ! Jehovah is the True and only God — Invisible, yet near — filling all things ; The Lord and Ruler of all things — Adonc:\ Jehovah Sabaoth, mighty in battle ! " Subdue this access of your zeal, the whi] ? Ye do their march to Canaan prevene ; For far and long the multitudinous line Winds slow and painfully. In Paran's waste Bid them to rest, erect their darkly tents Against the stainless splendors of the sky ; And screen the haggard hills. Ah week of woes ! Burdens for Moses ; temptings for jahveh ! What loathing of the food miraculous ! What strife of Aaron, and his more seditious Sister, jealous of the Cushite wife. Record therefore jehovah's signal wrath ; The flame that swept consuming through the camp ; The leprosy heal'd by a brother's prayer ; Nor fail to sum the one and twenty journeys To Kadesh Barnea : nor thence the names Of the twelve chiefs that went to search the land Of Canaan. MOSES. Ye are come to the mount of the Amorites, Which el jehovah shall give to you ; Behold, He hath spread the land before your eyes ; 252 THE PLEROMA. Up, up, possess it as jahveh hath commanded ! Neither fear ye, nor be ye dismayed ! THE PLEROMA JAHVEH. Herewith indite the princes twelve return'd From Canaan's search : " A land of milk and honey,' Unanimously told, with ruddy cheeks, And nectar-dripping lips ; "A goodly land " ; Displaying of its fruits excerpted samples, — Pomegranates, figs, and grapes of Eschol's vale. " Exceeding good it is," Caleb adjoins ; " And if jehovah do delight in us, He will bring us thither and give it us." Thereto one voice agrees, and notable, Of Nun's heroic son, presyllabled By Moses "Joshua." Thou dost divine O Gabriel, the mystery therein Prenominate ; whilst Messianic fervors Fly through earth, and sky, till this sad star Gloweth (impalpably to human sense), And ev'ry choir in the pneumatic realm Quicken its dense libration to the coasts Of Palestine ; glancing the while yon hill Of Jebus and environs eminent, Enwrapt in radiance of the Plero?7ie. " In vain ! In vain ! " the recreant ten resume ; " Here in the Negeb deem we Israel blest ; Past'ring our flocks Arabah's fertile vales. Wherefore shall we attempt 't ? to fall before The Anakim ; our wives and little ones, Become the sport of gibborim, 'gainst whose Fierce giantry we be as grasshoppers Assailing eagles." THE COURIERS. 253 THE DEMONS. Here 's a swig to Israel ! Pooh, pooh, Jahvites ! Dread yon Canaanites ? What Of JAHVEH EL ? Braggarts all, fickle and craven, Paralyz'd to find your haven Fortified with limestone clods ; In the keep of hateful gods ! By Zephath's tower learn ye to cower Before the sturdy Baalim ; E'en curse your Elohim, And doubt in Hormah jehovah's Power ! SATAN. By our imperial will do ye resume Consult, extraordinary and august, On Pisgah's top, — co-anarchs eminent ; Meanwhile, in neighb'ring glens the sportive sprites Practise their archeries upon the front Of Engedi, from Sport's alembic drunk. Good speed these nimble waifs ! cheer to their minds ! Lo eight and thirty years, since turn'd aback From Kadesh' sacred camp on Canaan's rim, The errant Jahvites unto Akabah — Accurst of el jahveh, in riotous Dismay, — rest they not day nor night to spread Dissension 'mong the tribes ; seeding their hearts With Melancholy's parasite ; scooping Them shallow graves in Arabah — empire Of jackals. 254 THE PLEROMA. Anew the couriers flit and flare, Dazing our throne with lore extravagant Of diabolic vantage over Israel ; Provoking Heav'n in devilish insolence ; Blaspheming el's great name ineffable ; His sabbaths violated, leaders, priests, Denounc'd and abrogated. Thence, Koran's — Abiram's, fate, with fifteen myriad more In charr'd and lumpy burial ; others Engulf'd a shrieking morsel in Earth's bowels. Thence Aaron's magic rod, that budded first, Next, blossom'd and forthwith ripened almonds, Colossal marvel ! seen within the Shrine. Next, the insipid seeds that fell from heav'n, Grown nauseous between their muttering lips Ev'n as they crunch them. Beastly idiocy ! And cry : "We die, We perish " — fat as bullocks ; Till Moses patience broke at Meribah, And he and his whole house with him debarr'd The land of promise. In Kadesh next we hear Of Miriam's death, 'mid pompous rites interr'd, And gen'ral sorrow : then Aaron forewarned Of his demise, clomb Hor's lone height and look'd Upon the hills of Canaan, sighing long, Until his life went forth in sighs upon His first-born's breast, where fell his robes Pontifical by God's decree. The rites Funereal dismiss'd, direct do livelier hours Reprieve the tiresome dole : for, from the brook Of Zered ever w T atchful imps evok'd, With their weird sorcery, a frightful wave Of serpents fiery, that swept the tented plain ; And left behind a sea of writhing flesh. THE COURIERS. 255 So they report ; but -rather do we name This last a tale of jahveh's interludes ; Since by his fiat Moses lifts aloft A brazen coil, whereat the plague abates. But heed our new resolve ; the act flames out ! The Jahvites teem ; surge, and on Edom crowd ; The pop'lous tribes rally on rushing Arnon's Tremendous brink, defining Moab's limits ; Nor grim defiance of proud Esau's sons — Nor Lot's mountainous clans intimidate ; Whilst rumor, hoarse, affrights the dukes of Seir, Nay, Pisgah's threaten'd, and our sec'lar throne. Wherefore our next solstitial synod 's Too late remov'd the case immediate. This seat must we evacuate, or front Jehovah. Hither drives the van-Angel ! Wherefore this parliament do we prorogue, Dismissing each with our fraternal kiss. Ye Gods of Canaan, and Syria, farewell ! Your Prince dismisseth you reluctantly ; Bright lustres all — S/iamas, and Kabbiri 7 Withdraw ye to your stations, nor suspect Our plan, if undisclos'd. We are not blind. Have we not seen the cursed Jahvites dip Their jars into the royal wells of Bashan ? O ghostly summoners ! O passions dire ! Now deathless fires e'en to our foot-stool burn. And scorch this adamantine throne. Away ! Enough ! Ye hate the seed of Abraham ! Let Hate then be your teacher when ye war. The locusts swarm the south and threaten to Devour the earth. 256 THE PLEROMA. The Song of Jair and of Nobah, Princes of Manasseh : O sing unto jehovah who hath gone forth to victory ! The God of Israel is a mighty man in battle : The Ark went before, the priests and trumpeters followed after ; The trumpets sounded, the archers and slingers stood still; The name in the cloud pass'd by. They look'd, Behold the enemy fled ; Sihon the destroyer fled ; In the treadings of the mountains he fainted ; The flower of Heshbon fainted for thirst. As a hart they lapp'd for water where none was. The fire burn'd, the fire of jehovah at Jahaz ; The inhabitants of Moab melted like wax away. Then said the five dukes unto Balak : Thou hast heard the enchantments of the great prophet ? Surely jehovah shall not withstand the curses of Balaam ! Nevertheless the princes of Midian are no more ; And Balaam, even Balaam, who loved the wages of un- righteousness, And tempted the sons of Israel, perished in his sin ; They all perished, in one day they perished ; And jehovah gave their jewels and flocks to His people. Then turn'd we and went up by the way of Bashan ; And Gog, the long-neck'd, led forth his mighty men ; In the straits of Edrei we encountered him. Then said jehovah : Fear him not, for I have delivered him into thine hand ! Then smote we Og until there was none remaining to him ; Threescore cities took we in the region of Argob : And unwalled towns a multitude, from Arnon unto Hermon. THE COURIERS. 2$7 And I, Jair, the son of Manasseh, took the cities of Argob, Unto the coasts of Geshuri and Maacha : Wherefore it shall be call'd Bashan-havoth-yair — For pleasant are its villages in the eyes of jah. And I, Nobah, shall be clothed with royalty ; Clothed in green shall I sit in the gates of Kenath. THE ANGELS. The shout of a king is among them ! What hath God wrought ? As a lion Jacob lifts himself ! What hath God wrought ? The alien seer falleth, he falleth with open eyes ; He seeth the Almighty, beholdeth Him in a trance. " How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob ; Ye are the lign- aloes ; Which jehovah by waters planteth — the lign-aloes. We shall see Him, but not now, — jehovah ! He shall come as a star out of Jacob — adcnai ! And His shall be the sceptre of Israel — pleroma ! And blessed is he that blesseth thee, O Israel ! And cursed is he that curseth thee, O Jacob ! " THE CIRCLES. We hymn the praise of Amram's son, And sing his name afar ; We weave him garlands ev'ry one, And deck the victor's car ; We taste again our Paradise ; O wherefore do we live ? Wherefore, O Lord? Still veil our eyes, And plead for his reprieve. Thou say'st, " The circle is complete ; Thy plan in him fulfill'd " ; 17 258 THE PLEROMA. Thy will be done. So wind his feet ; It is as Thou hast will'd. We take alarm, O sacred Name ! Death in us lives again ; Man's Paradise affrays yon flame — It is his foe, Satan ! And wherefore com'st, O curse of Heav'n ? Tempter and prince of ill ? Hail, glories of the ethereal Seven ! Haste on, O Michael ! MICHAEL. Jahveh rebuke thee, Lucifer ! How changed ! Whose ancient throne was glorious and noble ! Dost think to war upon the dead ? And vow'st No requiem shall be sung to Moses' dust ? Behold Michael ! prince of the militant — I sent'nel am to guard this sepulchre ; I charge thee, crafty one, and all thy crew, If onset mak'st to rape this holy tomb, Thou and thy reprobates shall taste, shall — Thou hear'st my voice ! Thou see'st my lance ! I am Jehovah's messenger ; I thee defy ! To curse I am forbid, but not to challenge. THE DEMONS. The grave is watch'd by el's Angel ; Satan outmatch'd by Michael ; We too are scotch'd, demon and devil : Drink fire and fly ! Drink fire and die ! THE COURIERS. 259 SATAN. This mock'ry of my demons harsher meets Mine ear than doth the taunt of the archangel ; Once Satan had not brook'd these braggart cries ! But subtle world-studies have drain'd his sinews, Though they distend the psychic hemispheres. Let dolts and dotards reckon as they list, Wherefore Satan attempted Moses' tomb ! It was experiment worthy success ; For on the event a nation's fate did hang. Gecko ! with Satan's wit and Moses' mask To cover it, crave we no odds Jehovah. O ho ! a resurrection 't were to spoil The earth of future marvels. The lights are low ; The action dismal and unearthly. Aheu, Jehovah is in truth a man of war ! Then Satan thou shalt be a man of cunning ! Thy cold, thin arm defy the God of battles. Thy feints and artifices shall defraud His saintliest, and gall their victories. Pisgah farewell ! We cross with Joshua this Jordan. THE PLEROMA JAHVEH. Arise, O Joshua, this Jordan cross ! Thou and the Congregation to the land Which I do give to them. Hail, aural voices : " From Jordan's meadows and this Lebanon, Hence to the populous Euphrata's heaths, And westward where the sea receives the sun, There shall not any man resist their arm." 26o THE PLEROMA. With thee I am as I with Moses was. Divin'st the rapture of the Couriers ? That sing One to arise in Israel — Jahveh immanuel ? Prepare, prepare, And make ye ready ! For within three days Shall Jacob's sons go over to possess The land which jahveh aleim giveth them. Thus shalt thou say the priests that bear the Ark, " Hither and hear the words of jah your God — The Living God is here, e'en jehovah — The Lord of all the Earth ; and passeth on Before you over Jordan." THE CANAANITES. If we cry to Baal, will he answer us ? If we offer our first-born, will he hear ? Is not el the Strong ? and Eliun the exalted ? Doth he not rule the great ones of Molech ? Doth the mother forget her offspring, Astarte ? And why is thy glory darken'd, O Shemesh ? Ye that dwell with the father of waters, awake ! Ye that sleep in the bosom of Sharon arise ! For the Anakim quake in their towers ; And the Amorites faint in their cities. Philistia, Philistia, to thy chariots and shields ! For jehovah hath dried up the Jordan, And the Jahvites pass over dry shod. THE COURIERS. Flashes of light gleam in the night ! Couriers turn from the horrible sight ; THE COURIERS. 26 1 Satan as Baal defraudeth the kings ; Hideous effigies Canaan brings To meet the Ark of the Lord. O the glint, the glint of the knives of flint ! On the bloody Hill of Foreskin ; The Covenant renew'd, the false gods are eschew'd, And jehovah is their Captain ; Lo, He standeth with drawn sword ! Write, ^Eons, write the song we indite, Of Jericho's wall and its marvelous fall ; And the fame that accrued to jahveh. Thence the son of Carmi, and curse on the army Of Joshua that march'd against Ai. Of the lie and the lot that traced out the blot And wiped it in Achor from earth ; How the fruit of the land grew ripe to the hand, With the Manna withdrawn at the taste of the corn, That was parch'd upon Canaan's hearth. THE CIRCLES. We sing Gilgal— the " Circle "— And its twelve memorial stones ; The Covenant and the Paschal, By the twelve memorial stones. We sing the hill of Ebal And its unpolluted stones ; The Law-engraven altar Of the twelve unbroken stones. We sing the craft of Gibeon, And the league wilily won ; The oath of the five fierce princes To war upon Gibeon. 262 THE PLEROMA. How the harvest queen arose, While the king on Gibeon stay'd ; How the circles twain in heaven Stood still as they were bade : Till the sanguinary circle Had reft the sons of Baal ; And the hosts of Joshua Regain'd the camp in Gilgal. THE LIMITS. Thou mournest thy bravest, O Jabin ! Cursing, nursing thy wrath upon Israel ; Where, where are the Anakim ? And ye plains of Chinneroth, Where are thy sons innumerable ? All crush'd, all brush'd as a moth Away unto far Zidon. Yea, the wadys and waters of Dor Are bloody and ruddy with gore ; And the flames of Hazor Are a watch and a torch unto Hermon. Write ^Eons the three and thirty kings ! The first on the East from Arnon to Hermon ; Thence the West from Seir unto Lebanon ; All notable names of the nations. Whilst the coast we mark out for the tribes, As the servant of jahveh divides, For their lot and their habitations. A VOICE. Behold, Joshua waxeth old and stricken : And shortly goes the way of all the earth. THE COURIERS. 263 Therefore he calleth for the tribal chiefs ; At Shechem sendeth for the elders ; and saith ; " Ye have seen all that jehovah your God hath done, How that He hath driven out for you your enemies ; Behold I have divided you the nations that remain, Be very courageous to keep the Book of the Law, And come ye not among these idolatrous nations, Nor make ye mention of their abominations. Thus saith jehovah — the God of Israel : ' Your fathers dwelt beyond the flood, And there served they the false aleim ; And I took Abram your father and led him forth, And multiplied his seed in Canaan. And I gave him Isaac, and to Isaac, Jacob and Esau ; To Esau gave I mount Seir ; but Jacob I took into Egypt : Then sent I Moses and Aaron and plagued Pharaoh ; And afterward I brought your fathers out, Putting darkness between them and the Egyptians. So ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season ; When I gave the Amorites into your hands ; And ye came to Jericho, which I gave into your hands. And I gave you a land for which ye did not labor ; And cities to dwell in — which ye builded not.' " Now therefore choose this day whom ye will serve ! Whether the gods beyond the flood, or of the Amorites ? For as for me and my household we will serve jehovah ! " THE PRINCES OF THE TRIBES. Nay, but we also will serve jehovah. 264 THE PLEROMA. JOSHUA. Ye are witnesses against yourselves ! THE PRINCES. We are witnesses. SATAN. Chough ! Chough ! This is no raven's note I hear. A meaner bird flies by ; a fouler throat ! Thy croak I know, thy caw — lone-flying courier ! Ho, monster among fiends ! Thou com'st, dread son Of Chemosh ? What tidings from the chariots ? " They are burnt and the horses are hough'd ; Overcome at the waters of Merom ; And the coasts divide the Jahvites ! " Thou liest ! I Canaan rule a thousand years ! With me my faithful princes. For Jahveh Hath won no land to portion out his flock ! We give empire, but give what is our own. Jahveh hath yet no Canaan to divide. Haste back, and through the vale of Sharon speed, And 'gainst the upper coasts, lifting the cry Of Baal : " Up, up, for Baal hath awoke ! Forge ranks of steel and knived chariots ; Retake the sunny vales of Canaan ! Each titular god and local deity, Shall go before and war on Jahveh's hosts." So do I trust to end this piecemeal work ! I will have peace, and to this end do I THE COURIERS. 26$ Provoke fresh war. Our archons all, alike The general tribe, do dear and dote fore'er On muscular encounters, jousts of arms ! O for one kindred spirit, that I might Unlock the language of the psychic world — The inner and essential sphere ! " Patience ! " Good monitor, we are its very soul ; Its privy pattern. And we stay to win. One day's respite to wine and women giv'n, More souls shall ruin among the Jahvites than A hundred battles. THE iEONS. Write, sisters, write the Exploits of the Judges ! Whom Jahveh rais'd up to avenge their oppressors , The tears shed at Bochim by the Angel's denounce- ment ; Of princes and people that forsook jehovah. Of Aram's high king and his eight years' oppression ; Of Othniel next and the days of probation ; Of Eglon the Moabite prince that subdued them, Till Ehud's feign'd errand and dagger betray'd him. Of the ox-goad of Shamgar, and the slain of Philistia : Of Deborah and Barak and the heroic Jael : Next the prevalent hand of the Midianite on them, Whilst they crouch'd in the clefts and caves of the moun- tains Till the Angel cloth'd Gideon with courage undaunted, Whose warriors the brooklet elected three hundred ; And taught them the ruse of the trumpet and pitchers ; Of the panic and rout of Zeba, Zalmunna ; Last, the ephod of Gideon, the snare to his household. 266 THE PLEROMA. Write the license that f ollow'd ; and pollutions of worship, When anarchy reign'd and no rulers restrain'd them. How Jephthah, freebooter, brought out as their captain, Disperseth the Ammonite from Aroer to Minnith ; Of his terrible vow and his woe unrelentless. Of the angel that came to the wife of Manoah ; And the Nazarite's birth — the thirteenth from Joshua ; Of his strength in his locks and his sanguinous record. Relieve ye the page with the tale of Naomi, And the Moabite maid, happy mother of Obed, Whom she bore unto Boaz her legaliz'd kinsman, Whilst the aureole full'd o'er the altar in Shiloh, And the angels repeated prophetical words. Now cease, for the Couriers brighten ; their theme Is the last of the Judges and first of the Prophets : So list, ye their song, and its future relations, Save one note reminding the trist fate of Eli. THE COURIERS. Now flame we and fly unto Shiloh, And whisper God's will to the seer ; More clearly than Urim and Thummim His word and commandment appear. We hail thee, O child of Elkanah ! The last of the judges art sent ; And forthwith in Shiloh and Ramah The priest and the prophet are blent. Dost weep for the glory departed ? For the Ark in the Philistines' hand ? Thou shalt bring them to Mizpeh repenting, And jahveh shall ransom the land. THE COURIERS. 26? Next the elders shall counsel a kingdom, The rule theocratic reject ; Fear thou not ! Erst, the monarch portraying, Anoint thou the one We select. And comfort thy soul with the promise, Ere thou go to thy fathers to rest, Thou shalt see and declare a Messiah, In whose Son all the Earth shall be blest. SATAN. Wash we our hands these Jehovistic wars ! O Nature weeps the ruthless myriads slain ! Behold the ground season'd with gore and rank ! Ev'n demons sicken at the spectacle, Calling on Jahveh to withdraw his sword. So name these butcheries " Jehovah's Wars " ; For Satan's regiment is built on peace ; Confessedly our feud with Aleim's Son, By indirection, jostles, here and there, Mankind, — trivial concomitants for all The purpos'd good. O civilizing wars ! Yet are we not abas'd enough to fend ; For oft fault we our thralls and minions that They churn and foment strife with Israel, Blunting the edge of our recondite plans. We challenge Jahveh to arrest his zeal For blood, and yield the panting Jahvites space To breathe, and recreate in garden, and In grove ! Hail Baalim ! Ashera ! Rejoice ! The universal song confirms our wit ! 268 THE PLEROMA. Ours, ours, in peace, if Jah's in war. Whence He Is predetermin'd unto wars perpetual ; Else shall the military faith exhaust ; And worship ancienter, the natural man More apposite, come in. THE PLEROMA JAHVEH. Now vaunteth Satan arch-hypocrisies, Fireth his forked tongue, and stings the air ; Breathing crass utterance against Our Name, And honor in these expurgating wars. Satan, thyself art war ! and strife ! and blood ! Thou art the head, the middle and the base Of the most direful urgency that calls On Us to save unto Ourselves a remnant from Mankind, in which all nations We may bless, By stern decrees and sanctions mem'rable, Until the Man of Peace arise to teach The better way. Hail Christo-Cosmic Choir ! Hail fourfold ministries of min'ral Earth ! Mark how in Samuel a further bound is pass'd Unto the Incarnation of pleroma. " Glory to the Highest, good will to men ! " And so Ye mix with earth and earth with Thee ! In intimate regards inhabit Israel ; The guiding thought reach onward, hastening Pleroma's goal, the christ of Christs — the man ! THE COURIERS. " A king ! A king ! " they cry, While the Airs proleptic fly, THE COURIERS. 269 And tell of a kinglier One, Than Kish's or Jesse's son. How long ? how long ? O Lord ! " God save the king ! " they cry, As the mighty Saul draws nigh ; Still Samuel from his tears Pours out a cup of fears ; How long ? how long ? O Lord ! A stench, a stench ariseth ; The seer thy sin surmiseth ; Ah, woe, thou art rejected ; Thy better is selected ; Haste on, haste on, O king ! The shepherd boy 's anointed ; His brothers disappointed ; Defying David's God Goliath bites the sod ; Haste on, haste on, O king ! The " Bounds of blood " are pass'd ; The psalmist hears aghast The fate of the royal trio ; And sings the " Lament of the Bow." Haste on, haste on, O king ! Look up, behold the light ! Delectable and bright ! Awake the harp and song ! Messiah cometh on ! Haste on, haste on, O King ! 270 THE PLEROMA. THE ARCHON DEMONS. Satan is stuff 'd with plaints ; Damneth our martial deeds ; Provoketh sorcery, And Endor's subtilty ; Seance and trance he leads. Still quaff we royal veins, Crimsoning Gilboa's side ; Forepledge to further war, And drink us drunk with gore. O prince, thou art defied ; (Hist, hist, his highness near ! ) Salute we Baal's name, Quaffing his health ; Learning his stealth ; Envy his world-wide fame. SATAN. The event is at the latch ; I know its stage. O Israel, thou art a seminary inspir'd ! Perceive this not our chiefs belligerent. Cease clam'rous world, that goadest to rashness ! Unpractis'd wit groweth to Leb'non's bulk : Oh, now, or never, match we the jahveh. Hold, archons ! from your bloody pastime stay ! Doth jahveh's " Darling " so incite to arms ? Hear ! Once his son — the " Man of Peace " shall reign On David's throne, uplift on Jebus' rock, (Else Zion called, the Mountain of jahveh), Forthwith (mark ye our prophecy) : Yon height Shall craze jahveh with its adulteries ; Baal shall build environs round about ; THE COURIERS. 2J\ Divinest wit and devilish lust shall wed ; Most lofty wisdom rot e'en to the core. Wherefore remaineth one and only way For jah to save a remnant to Himself : Assyria shall tell, and Babylon, Sometime, when whining Hebrews hang their harps On far Euphrata's tearful willows. The hour Draws on ; Satan sleeps not, nor slumbers. Tempests Gather, whose like ne'er felt ! Be warn'd ! be arm'd ! What omens in the psychologic field We deem not wise to tell ; what intimations Of the Messiah's birth unspoken be. Farewell a space ! With comrades few and brave, We go to fortify our rule in Earth, and bind In closer covenant remotest empires 'gainst Jehovah's Name and Worship. THE BANDS. So marvel the iEons the lore of the Line, While Bands call the links in the lineage Divine : First promis'd in Eden to the mother of men ; From the deluge restor'd in the household of Shem ; Thence call'd and defined of Abraham's seed, Whence the on-going line in Isaac we read. In Jacob divinely as " Israel " surnam'd, The leonine Judah his sceptre hath claim'd. O Root out of Jesse ! O Judasan king ! Interpret the things which thy psalmodies sing ; Of the kiss of the Son and the Rod out of Zion ; Of the brook in the way and the wound of the iron ; Of the Melchisedekian order restor'd, In Him whom thou callest both Son and thy Lord. 272 THE PLEROMA. THE LIMITS. Line and compass take we, stake we borders wide for Israel : Throne 'gainst prophets striving, riving jahveh's name and Baal's ; Solomon prevaileth ; haileth guests from Tyre and Sidon ; Syria defeateth ; meeteth prosperously fierce Edom. Byblus and Berytus indite us measures, God-like meas- ures : Flow'ry isles vermilion guide to Tarshish' treasures. Far, far, in the cypress boat, Neath the heaven-pillars float To the silv'ry mount Tartessan. The " Man of Peace " is splendid, attended by a mighty band : Marriage bringeth treaties ; cities move on sea and land. India yieldeth beauties ; Syria payeth duties ; Egypt addeth splendor to palaces and temple, Dazzling all example. Glorious in counsel ; court magnifical ; Telling for the wise secrets wonderful ; Regal bounty yielding unto Sheba's queen. Till her spirit fainteth ere the half is seen. Son of David, Preacher, teacher of mankind ; Manifold endowments Heav'n in thee combin'd ; Ev'ry grace of body, ev'ry gift of mind ; Alas, O Anointed, great, great is thy sin ! Who points out the way but walks not therein ; For turning from jahveh and following Baal, Thy kingdom is rent in thy son over Israel. THE COURIERS. 2?3 THE DEMONS. The trance, the trance, the purblind defiance Of the autocratic prince ! Do the northern tribes convince ? But too late, but too late ; Jeroboam's thron'd in Shechem. Up spirits, quaff to the golden calf Set up at Bethel and Dan ; Lo portents rise in prophetic eyes O'er the house of Jeroboam ! THE ANGELS. God sendeth his prophets ; wilt thou heed them, O Jeroboam ? Nay, nay, so the curse descends from Ahijah ! Weep, weep, for thy first-born Abijah ! God sendeth his prophets ; wilt thou heed them, O Rehoboam ? Nay, nay, so thy sin shall cost royal treasure. Atone, wretched vassal of Shishak its seizure ? God sendeth his prophets ; wilt thou heed them, O Nadab ? Nay, nay, Baasha and Elah attest it ; Nay, nay, both Zimri and Omri confess it. Woe, woe, for the frenzy and fire shall devour you ! Accursed of jahveh in Nebat ! Mourn, mourn, for the wrath of Jehovah o'erpowers you ! Weep Judah blest in Jehoshaphat ! God sendeth his prophets ; wilt thou heed them, O Ahab ? If Baal send false ones, dost thou feed them, 18 274 THE PLEROMA. O Ahab ? Thou withstandest Elijah ; dost thou well? Wilt thou compass his death, wicked Jezebel ? Nay, nay, the Almighty 'larms in the thunders ; Fills the earth and the sky with his wonders ; When the fire consumes Baal's priests ; And the seer calls rain on the wastes. And the people cry as the Angels alway, " Jahveh, He is God ; jahveh, He is God ! " THE COURIERS. Proud queen of the hills, Samaria ! Thou hast sinn'd ; shalt thou prosper for aye ? Ah, the Couriers hear the Assyrian say, " I saw, I seiz'd, I carried away." God remembered his covenant with Judah ; In Uzziah and the godly Hezekiah ; In Josiah and the penitent Manasseh ; While the heart of Samaria crimsons Far Gozan's stream and the leashes of Sargon. THE PLEROMA JAHVEH. The fulness yields enrapturing intimation ; And ecstasies enseize the band prophetic ; The furthest Thoughts of God now live in words. Let Couriers lead their God-fus'd prophet-choir ! Him first, repellant son of Amittai, From jahveh's face, embark'd unto Tarshish, Remote that Nineveh, his message doom'd ; — Cast in the sea, Messiah's type become ; Engulph'd, and three days hid beneath the world, uncorrupted sepulture. THE COURIERS. 275 Forthwith, The son of Pethual blows his trump ; " O sanctify ! Thus saith jehovah — Lord : ' Behold I pour My Spirit on all flesh, And cleanse their guilt ; for jah rememb'reth Zion.' " Next whom ye took from the Tekoan hills ; And mad'st a fire-brand for Hazael's house : Moab and Ammon, and the Philistines ; — Press'd like a cart beneath his load of woes He cries, " Yea surely will He nothing do But first He show his servants the prophets — The princess 's fall'n ; the star of Chiun set ; He will sift her as corn sift in a sieve, Ere jah bring the captivity again Of Israel." Him next, to Gomer wed, Diblaim's child from harlotry redeem'd — A parable of the Messiah's love ; When Israel redeem'd, Thee " Ishi " calls — (My husband) ; nor call Thee " Baal," (Master) more. Then will I drop as dew sweet after rain, And Israel bloom effulgent as the rose ; And strike his roots like Leb'non's lofty tree. Thence Amoz's gifted son ye do announce, Bending beneath his tragic, God-breath'd roll ; u All, all, is wrong ! " he cries : " The land is rife With charmers and diviners. The head is sick, The heart is faint. Except jahveh — Aleim Had left Himself a seed, we were as Sodom. Ah, mincing, tinkling daughters, wanton-eyed, 276 THE PLEROMA. Spangled with cauls, with rounded tires and bonnets ; Your mantles, wimples, and your crisping pins, Jahveh shall take away ; and give you back Sackcloth for girdles ; burning for beauty, For Zion's haughty look shall be brought low ; Yea seven women seize one man and cry, ' Thou shield us with thy name from our reproach ! ' Yet shall jehovah raise an ensign for The nations ; and a light to guide and cheer. For unto us a Child is born — a Son Is giv'n ; the Government His shoulders bear ; His name is Wonderful, the Counsellor ; The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father ; The Prince of Peace. The throne of David He Established^ forever ; His rest is glorious. " O Lucifer ! Lucifer ! how art thou f all'n ! How art thou bruis'd that deceiveth the nations ! Wilt thou exalt thy seat above the stars Of Elohim ? Behold the ancient North ! Would'st reign upon the Mount of Paradise ? Hast thou not said, ' I will ascend above The highest clouds ; I will be like unto The Most High jah.' Lo, thou shalt be cut down Even to Hell ; archon of Babylon." Thereafter lead the past'ial Morasthite, Descrying Bethlehem, a little one Among the thousands, whence He shall come forth Whose goings are of old, from everlasting — JAHVEH-Messiah, the Prince, and Israel's king. Him next succeeds the Elkoshite, the doom Of Nineveh foreshadowing ; accompanied THE COURIERS. 2 J J By Habakkuk, and Zephaniah ; meantime A sombre figure comes from Anathoth, Hilkiah's son, broken in heart, mourning The solitary city — the tribute princess. THE COURIERS. We lighten the soul of the seer, We brighten the face of the sphere ; For the day shall come and soon, That the Righteous Branch is grown Unto David. His holy Name we bless, " The lord, Our righteousness." He liveth, Jehovah liveth ; reprieveth His people far driven. Though He grieveth, He shall lead them softly with His hand, And brin? them back to Canaan. Nebuchadnezzar nameth " Belteshazzar," The likely lad with Jehoiakim ; Of the boys of Bel, none fair as Daniel ; In studies none equal ; in wisdom and skill ; Though he eat not the meat of the king. A scorn and derision, O wise men of Babylon ! Ye are curs'd, and your glory a dung-hill. The vision is deep that disturbs the king's sleep ; But unto Daniel the Lord doth reveal The Time and the times of His Will. 278 THE PLEROMA. Jah give thee reprief, thou Presidents' chief ; And with thee the furnace-tried three ; The Ancient of Days shall shield thee always ; From the heel of the priest, and tooth of the beast, And show thee the things that shall be. THE PLEROMA. By Chebar's stream the Couriers next announce Whom Hebrew captives name Ezekiel — The priest and Buzi's son. Out of the North The Eden Cherubim descend on wheels Of Beryl, bearing Names effulgent with Their imag'ries. The cloud of amber rifts, Showing the Man — jahveh — upon a throne Of glory. Speed thy Goal eternal now ! The mystic roll be honey in thy belly ; Speak — speak, for I have set thee for a watch To Israel ; " Diblath," until they know That jah alone is God. THE ANGELS. Jahveh hath said and will fulfil ; Will take of the eminent tree ; From the uppermost branch will He crop ; Scind a delicate Twig from its top, And plant on the height of Israel. It shall send forth boughs and bear full fruit ; It shall shelter all manner of fowl and brute ; And a Virgin guard the Mystery. GAIA. O Sun and Sire of Heaven ! Gaia weeps ; and her bosom is wet with tears ; THE COURIERS. 2jg The storm-cloud hides thy form, O king ; and I falter to tell my fears. Thou drawest near, O Sun ! Thy breath is soft, thou wilt hearken my cry ! Gaia bleedeth for her sons ; Ransom, and loose thy children ere they die ! " I come " thou sayest, O Light ! " I will surely My offspring then redeem." I dry my tears and wait, O king ; while Thy Advent shall be my theme. LIMITS. Ethnic orbits bending, rending boundaries ; In our balances weighing destinies ; Medo-Persia choosing, fusing ; Calling fatal numbers Chaldea atones. " Cyrus " conqueror naming, naming as we rise, Hov'ring over Israel warm with our surmise. CYRUS. Behold to Cyrus the kingdoms of Earth Hath jahveh, God of the Hebrews, given ; And now commandeth his servant, the king, To build a house unto the God of Israel, In Judah, that is, in Jerusalem. Who chooseth from His people, go ye up, Strengthen'd with gifts willingly offered. THE CIRCLES. The people of jahveh return : THE BANDS. With zeal for his Righteousness ; 280 THE PLEROMA. THE CIRCLES. The false aleim they spurn ; THE BANDS. One only, jehovah, they bless. THE CIRCLES. O Sabbath of Eden, how long ? THE COURIERS. Till cometh Messiah, the Lord : THE BANDS. The altar is kindled ; blest throng ! The Infinite One is adored. THE ANGELS. Wing the message to the skies ; Part the blazing canopies ; Seraphs swing the pearly gates, For the Earth her lord awaits ! 4 He shall send forth His Son, the Branch j Zioris temple to rebuild ; Judah teach His covenants ; All the Earth with glory filled" THE DEMONS. Fur-fur on yon butterflies ! Dust the dandruff in their eyes ! Sprinkle gold-dust ; gild with praise ! Angels have such conscious ways ! THE COURIERS. 28 1 Have the Cutheans no lot ? Hath Samaria no plot ? Shimshai up ! up, O Rehura ! For the Jews rebuild Salem ! Sic, sicntque, Nehemiah ; Haggai and Zechariah ; Last and least poor Malachi Chirps his cheery prophecy. SATAN. The Citron tree and orange are in bloom ; The vales green upwards into life ; the fields, Water'd by showers, welcome daisy bands : Fair Land of Promise, greet we once again ! Ho, Prince of Canaan, hither ! Thrift ! Thrift ! Your master cometh, Baal of earth and sky. Here build our throne aloft, upon this hill, Once Limits gave the damned Jahvite horde. No prophet pipes within Jehovah's town ! Erudite Ezra drops his finish'd scroll, And sleeps unwept within his hollow'd vault ; This temple is a shadow to the first ; Nor ark, nor mercy-seat, nor candlestick, Nor glory-cloud ! well may the grandsires weep. Arouse thyself — O god of Canaan ! When thou hast read this autographic card, Inscribed by Mights and Excellences The loyal world ; if thou thrill not thereat, By Zeus I will dethrone thee ! Why star'st thus ? 282 THE PLEROMA. Gazing like adamant ! Anile awake ! By heav'n, and art thou dead ? a witless shuck ? I '11 prick thee, and thereto shall witness hell If thou 'st a pith of sense. Devils, demons ! Marvel ! If ye have known like circumstance In these Jahvitic bounds, say ye ! say ye ! THE DEMONS. Molech dead ? Molech dread ! Pardi, do devils die ? Dare we mutter ? Shall we utter The ghastly prophecy ? Lo Gaia sigheth, In birth-pains crieth. Perdu, when Christ is born ! Curse thou and canker ; Nursing thy rancor ; Satan, we thee forewarn. THE .EONS. The Circles weave the Eden-ring, And seal Messiah — Heav'n-born king ; The Couriers fly through distant lands, And rays of hope gleam from the Bands. The Persian sage drinks deep of heaven ; The exiled Jew receives the leaven ; Hellenic wisdom, magian lore, The gifted Jahvites now explore. Write, sisters, write the End of Days ! THE COURIERS. 283 The woe of Judah, and amaze Of horror ; for the Holy Shrine Is reeking with the blood of swine ! Thence phallic reels of Dionysius ; And Baal's orgies blasphemous ; The direful edicts; dismantled gates, And gore of myriads Syria sates. The Glory of Modin. How is the valiant fallen that delivered Israel ! In the hour of triumph he fell at Eleasa : In Mizpeh fasted he and prayed with his six hundred ; And jahveh gave him heart to meet an armed host. Apollonius and Seron, leaders of renown, were dis- mayed ; They saw their armies melt as doth a cloud away : Nicanor and Georgias likewise fled for safety ; They showed their elephants the blood of grapes in vain ; Their towers are empty and their heroes are no more. Then Judah sang the song of victory returning home : But in that hour the pride of Modin fell, — the son of Mattathias. In the sepulchre of his father his brothers buried him ; And all the people cry, " How is the valiant fallen." THE PLEROMA. The JEons write the Maccabsean rule, And number now but five and threescore years Unto the Age of ages. The runes they read Are short and trist. Lo, jahveh's adversaries Stalk in the very Holies, and profane Its awful secrets. And victorious Rome, 284 THE PLEROMA. The world's empress, (whilst fratricidal strife Suffers a lurid death), bestoweth crowns To those whose gifts weigh most upon her scales ; Hence alien rulers sit in David's seat, And alien priests Aaron's blessing invoke. LUCIFER (SATAN). Insatiate flame of pride and thirst of power, That drinks the essence of our being up ! The Baal of baali?n ! mighty Zeus of gods ! The Prince of potentates ! What more, O Star ? " Dost Haman scorn another Mordecai ? O Spirit of the Air ; behold thy seat Transcends Zion as heaven doth the earth — Thy glory rolls along the Aonian height, And bursts in thunders from Olympus' breast. Thou art the core of ethnic faiths — the crest Of Greek and Roman pantheons — the Might That battled down the world, welding in one Colossal state the peoples of the earth." Truth, voice ! Thou answer'st well ; but not to cheer Thy words are chosen. Vain, in vain ! For whilst These boastful Jahvites sing Messiah-Psalms, And the eternal lamp burns in jah's Shrine, Nor mighty Caesar's triumphs ; Julian-codes ; Nor closed Janus ; commerce, letters, arts ; Nor one world-speech, nor one wide commonwealth — Avails to lift these brows of ours, that lower With dark uncompromising hate upon Judea and its God. PLEROMA ELEGANS. CANTO VII. THE MAN. THE ARGUMENT. The Evangel announces the betrothal of the Virgin — Angels sing the Spring of Nazareth — The Virgin's vision — Songs of Gaia and the Ethers — The sEons close their full-writ scrolls — Gabriel appear eth to Zacharias — The Couriers near the Solar Name — Gabriel visiteth the Virgin — The song of Mary upon her miraculous Conception of the Holy Ghost — The King of the Ethers — The passing of the pleroma — The Lay of the Lights — Great pan is dead — The Nemesis of Unbelief — The Satirist of Ro?ne — Herod or Remorse — The Evangel of the Birth — The Kenosis — Sata?i gloateth over the insane jealousy of the king — The Song of the Stars, and the Magi — Rama — Satan seeth the Holy Family on their way to Egypt escorted by Michael, and is appalled — The " Nazarene " — The Doxa in the Christ- Child — Nazareth is sung — The Tephillim — Jesus be- cometh aware of His divine nature — The sEons cry, " Where, O where is the Messiah?" — The Herald — The Baptis?n — The effulgence of the pleroma — The Temptation — " The Lamb of God " — Songs of the Couriers, Limits, Bands, and Circles — Gaia — jahveh cometh to His Temple — The Christ, in the plenary graces of Manhood is the Goal of Creation — The Sevenfold perfection of the God- Man — The pleroma. 285 286 THE PLEROMA. THE EVANGEL. The birth of the Immanuel was on this wise When as, in days of Issacher, High Priest, The virgin daughter of one, Joachim, According to the custom of the Jews, Was solemnly betrothed to Joseph — A man of good report, prudent and just, — Before he took her as a husband home, And knew her as his wife, she was with child, Already of the Holy Ghost. Now when Joseph was minded privily to hide Her shame, the Angel of the Lord appear'd, And told him of the Mystery ; how that The thing conceived in her womb, none was But the Messiah- Immanuel. Wherefore The blameless Maid he cherish'd sacredly As Mother of jahveh The Christ, and Bride Of God. THE ANGELS. She hies to the dell, O lily-fair ! And dips the rosemary in the spring ; Entwines therewith a wreath with care, And binds it to her flowing hair ; And as she binds, doth softly sing : " If he loves me, it is well ; I will reverence, and fulfil The vow of this young heart : Faithfully will serve his years, Share his blessings and his fears, Till death the bond do part." THE MAN. 287 The cloister'd shade 's the Maiden's bower ; She bathes her brow in the thymy brook ; The queen of lilies ! A spotless flower ! That, lotus-like, divines her hour ! Thou pure one, angels vie thy look ! Gaze not where sleeps, with snow-white breast, A form so fair, the Airs are awed ! Hail, Gabriel ! fill thy behest ! By yonder spring thou find'st the Blest Of maidens, and the Bride of God ! THE VIRGIN. In my dream there woo'd me One, so glorious, like the sun ! And my soul a rapture felt, unknown ; 1 awake with nerveless dread, Lest a bride I shall be led, And this heart its secret do atone : For the guileless love of a dream, And its fancies that only seem ; — Aye, for tfris I vail a blushing face ; While I gird me to haste away, Though more loth to go than stay. Lo, the bright ones hover o'er this place ! GAIA. In my grief I cried unto the King, So bereaved by Death and the Grave ; In my anguish entreated and prayed Him to come and his children to save. 288 THE PLEROMA. I am fill'd with unspeakable bliss, And resign'd to the ills that I bear. He hath heard my complaint, dried my tears ; And I bide now his mercy so near. THE ETHERS. Melody in speech, therein do we teach To men the law divine of love ; Discords in our songs loudly speak of wrongs Against the Majesties above. Star of stars, the blest ? God is here confess'd, Whose promise stirs thy inmost sphere ; Cosmic fervors list ; Bands and Couriers tryst ; And sing Messiah's Advent near. THE PLEROMA. The Mights, ethereal, sing the Age at hand ! And Gaia fain would tell mankind of signs That cheer her troubled heart and smooth her brow. The hoary ^Eons close their full-writ scrolls, Laying them lowly at the Father's feet : Next, sit them down, meantime the Holy Names, By God's command, review the Sacred Books. The Majesties of Heav'n heed every line, And mirror in their faces fact by fact ; The six creative days and Eden's rest ; The fraud of Lucifer and human guilt ; The woman's seed, — the Serpent's destin'd foe ; The altars of jahveh and cults abhorr'd Of true aleim ; the flood and Abram's call ; The Messianic line — Egypt — Sinai — THE MAN. 289 The Jehovistic wars ; the Judges' rule ; The Theocratic State, and kingly race ; The harp of David and the House he plann'd — The splendors of his son, envied of kings ; The schism and priestly craft ; the empire lost ; The seventy years retrieve in Babylon, Till God in mercy brought a remnant back To build Jerusalem, and jahveh's Shrine. Thence centuries apocryphal that hide The Messianic plan until the Time. Read thus the Names the last page of the scroll ; And pause before the multitudinous shout Of, " Glory, Power, and Blessing to jahveh, That Was and Is, and Is to Come ! Amen ! " The father hears, and bows in blissful pain, While love springs dove-like — from His breast, to fly To Earth to do His will vicarious. Hail, Heart of God ! Descend and fill the Earth ! Creation mourneth Thy delay, and stands With girded thighs gazing into the sky. THE EVANGEL. In days of Herod, king, there was a priest Nam'd Zacharias, of Abia's course ; Whose wife was also of the Aaronic line. Most righteous were they both before the Lord, But childless, for Elisabeth was barren. Now when, in monthly course, he incense burn'd, The Angel of the Lord to him appeared ; And on the right side of the altar stood. 19 29O THE PLEROMA. GABRIEL. Fear not, Zacharias, thy pray'r is heard ; Elisabeth, thy wife, shall bear a son, And thou shalt call him John, the Gift of God. Increase of joy and gladness thou shalt have, And many come rejoicing at his birth. He shall be truly great before jahveh ; Fill'd with the Holy Spirit from the womb. Full many shall he turn in Israel Unto the Lord — going before Him in The Spirit of Elias and in might ; To turn the hearts of fathers to their sons ; The disobedient into Wisdom's way, — And thus prepare a people for Messiah. ZACHARIAS. Whereby shall I know this ? For I am old, And my wife also stricken well with days. GABRIEL. Know thou that I who here speak unto thee Am Gabriel, and stand before the Lord ; I come imparting these tidings to thee ; In sign whereof thou shalt be straightway dumb, Until the day these things shall be perform'd ; For that thou stumbled at my words, which must In time, duly appointed, be fulfilled. THE COURIERS. We are nearing the Solar Name ; We are tasting the central Flame, Where all lights and glories meet, And Creation is complete In the JAHVEH-Christ. THE MAN. 2g] Whilst the Angel Gabriel flies On redeeming embassies ; And the womb of the barren wife Is fertile with throbbing life Of the Messenger of Christ. Whilst the Spirit sits as a dove In the bosom swelling with love, For the Form in the vision seen, With the mild and kingly mien Of the JAHVEH-Christ. ELISABETH. The Lord hath taken my reproach away ; Israel henceforth shall call me Blest ; In the hidings of my heart, O JAHVEH-Christ ; In the secret place Thou art address'd. Thine Angel guide me to the Holy Maid, Elect, the mother of my Lord ; The Gift of God inspires my prayer — Thy handmaid waits upon Thy Word. THE EVANGEL. And in the sixth month also came from God The Angel Gabriel to Nazareth, Unto the virgin-bride of one call'd Joseph. GABRIEL TO THE VIRGIN. Hail, highly favor'd ! thy God saluteth thee ! Blessed art thou among Zion's daughters ! Fear not, thou hast found favor with the Lord ; Behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a Son, 292 THE PLEROMA. Whose name shall be jesus, Immanuel ; He shall be great, renown'd Son of the Highest, Who giveth Him to sit upon the throne Of his ancestor David ; and to reign Over the house of Jacob evermore. And of His Kingdom there shall be no end. THE VIRGIN. How shall this be, seeing I am a virgin ? GABRIEL. The Holy Spirit shall on thee descend, The Power of the Highest o'ershadowing : Wherefore That which is to be born of thee Shall be call'd Holy— Son of God. Moreover, Elisabeth, thy cousin, hath conceiv'd a son In her old age ; and this is the sixth month With her who is call'd barren. For, know thou, With God nothing shall be impossible. THE VIRGIN. Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; Be it according to Thy word ! THE PLEROMA. The Heavenly Bird hath woo'd the Virgin's heart, Who yields herself a vessel for the Lord. O meek, and matchless Maid ! O Bride of God ! Pleroma filleth thee with guileless love — The aspiration, the capacity — Whereby a Hebrew maid, a lowly child Of the lost race, the vehicle becomes THE MAN. 293 Of JAHVEH-Christ — marvel of miracles ! And shall be call'd The Blest, The Bride of God. Now hath Our Fuhiess, immanent in Time, The promise of the first creation fill'd : See Nature upward turning to the sky, To list the footsteps of its Creator ! Vailing Our Glories, and low bending down, We pass the open door into the Earth. Farewell Eternal Father ! We descend : So hast Thou will'd, ere Earth or man became ; Thou know'st the Way, the Sacrifice, the End. Turn back ye splendors of the Heavenly Throne ! The Son of God shall be the Son of Man ; The Timeless find and feel the bounds of Time ; The Spaceless One shall tabernacle Space ; The Increate be of a Virgin born ;— The Godhead bodily reveal'd to men. THE VIRGIN. If a dream, 't was most wonderful dream ! Oh, the bliss of that swoon, as the gleam Of the Holy One enter'd my breast ; But if true, 't is unspeakably true ! Answer, heart ! Dost thou murmur or rue The words thou didst speak to thy Guest ! What I saw I may never reveal ; What I felt mortal never shall feel ; As the Glory pass'd into my bosom ! And it seem'd in the translucent light, Ere the Marvel had faded to sight, That a Deity Man had become. 294 THE PLEROMA. The King of the Ethers. The King of the Ethers came wooing our Star, In His chariot of flame, with His locks streaming far ; He whisper'd of Worship and Honor and Might, And a Crown in His Kingdom unfading and bright. Our Star lov'd the Prince of the radiant air ; And holily yielded Him offspring to bear ; The Sun and the Star embrac'd in the morn ; And the Child of the Highest to Gaia is born. The Passing of the Pleroma. The solar splendors dull and fade ; The Dove nests with the lowly Maid ; O matchless grace ! O truth display'd At the Passing of pleroma. Creation pauses to adore ; This pensive Star is hush'd before The Light of the World, and the open Door, At the Passing of pleroma. Increate Son ! Thou 'st chosen the Way ? And humbling Thee, resignest Thy sway. O Grace, and Truth ! O blessed Day ! At the Passing of pleroma. Who knoweth the end of the dying age ? Who raiseth him up to view the stage, When JAHVEH-Christ shall turn the Page At the Passing of pleroma ? THE MAN. 295 THE EVANGEL. Then Mary, the Virgin, arose in haste, And went into the hill-country of Juda ; And, entering the house of Zacharias, Saluted her cousin Elisabeth. And lo, it came to pass that, when she heard The salutation of the Virgin-bride, The babe leap'd in her womb ; and she was fill'd With the Holy Spirit, and did prophesy : " Blessed art thou of the daughters of David ! And blessed the Fruit of thy Womb ! And whence Is 't that the Mother of my Lord should come Tome?" THE VIRGIN. My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit rejoice in God my Saviour ; For He hath regarded the low estate Of His handmaid ; all generations me From henceforth shall the Blest of mothers call. THE EVANGEL. Elisabeth, in time, brought forth a son ; And neighbors gather'd to rejoice with her ; Who call'd him " Zacharias " from his father. But she said, " Nay ! for John shall be his name." Then made they signs, his father being dumb — Who on a tablet wrote, " His name is John." Thereat immediately his tongue was loos'd ; And he was filled with the Holy Ghost. Then fear fell on all that dwelt round about, Who marvel'd much what sort of child this was. 296 THE PLEROMA. And the lad grew, in spirit waxing strong ; And was in the deserts until the day Of his appearing unto Israel. The Lay of the Lights. The Lay of the Lights Messianic, from Eden — From the mother of men, to the Mother of God ; From the Tree of the fall, to the Tree of Salvation ; From A/eim-jAHVEH, to jahveh the Christ. Sing the answering flame on the altar of Abel ; And the savor of blood with his sin-offering ; The renaissance of the true faith in Enos, And the eight Jahvites saved at the deluge by Noah. Sing the faith of the father of Isaac and Jacob ; And the patriarch line with its fortunes in Egypt. The Exodus sing of the Jahvites from bondage ; The Levitic rites so replete with their shadows. Tell the mystical sense of the shew-bread and incense ; The ark and the altar and candlestick golden ; The oil of anointing, and robes of the priesthood ; The Glory that cover'd the Seat of Atonement ; The Cloud that stood over the Tent of the Presence. Sing the titles denominating the Messiah — The Angel of God, and the Star out of Jacob ; The Sceptre of Judah, and Shepherd of Israel ; The Child of a Virgin — Redeemer, Immanuel — The Plant of Renown, and Desire of the Nations — The Mighty to Save, — the Saviour — jehovah ! Sing times in the life of the j AKVEii-Messiah : Whose birth is set down in the Book of Decrees ! THE MAN. 297 To be of a Virgin in Bethlehem, Ephratah, Whom Kings and the great shall haste to adore. Sing the tears of sad Rachel, the call out of Egypt ; And lastly, the Cry of the Messenger Prophet. A VOICE. The august Caesar hath decreed the orb Of the wide Roman world shall be assess'd : Whose will, Cyrenius, the governor Of Syria, with strict subservience heeds ; Commanding to enroll each in his place. Then Joseph with the Virgin, being great With child, — scions of the prophetic line — Sought cautiously and slow their way unto The city where their lineage was call'd. And so it was, that as they tarried ; the day Was fully come when she should be delivered Of her first-born. The Ode of the ^Eons. Great pan is dead ! The power is sped Of pythoness and fable ; The world is ill, and fain would still Its griefs ; but is not able. Dark Egypt's bird, by rumor heard, Hath turn'd again to ashes ; While omens make the nations quake ; And night is bright with flashes. What dooms the mind of humankind ? And drives the world to madness ? Who checks its grief, and brings relief, Exchanging joy for sadness ? 298 THE PLEROMA. Sing, ^Eons sing, while ushering The Day-spring from on high ; Depart, O night ! Enter, O Light ! Son of Eternity ! The Nemesis of Unbelief. " The gods are dead," the Cynic cried, And chided with his jewel'd bride, Before he went away : " The gods are dead" alone, she mus'd : " Why then must pleasure be refus'd ? Lovers shall have their day." From myrrhine vases incense rose ; The cloister'd mirror dimly shows Lovers in amorous play : " Hither, sweet boy, and view my pearls ! Prythee to braid them with these curls ! And bide with me the day." " The gods are dead? " the Cynic cried, " Who taught men so, hath foully lied ! O Heaven, retrieve my loss ! Bring, bring me back my jewel'd wife ! Fair as a star, dearer than life ! And I will bear my cross ! " The Satirist of Rome. Thy skirts are rank with wantonness ; Thy gems are dyed with lust ; Debauchery and avarice Fill thee with huge disgust. THE MAN. 299 Thy bloody jousts fail to appease The harden'd populace ; Banquet, nor bath, bid clamor cease, But add to thy disgrace. On damask cushions gluttons lie, Mopping their gouty lips ; While hollow hunger, with a sigh, In vice still deeper dips. Abnormal wickedness is rife ; Nature suffers abuse ; Thy nobles love, but lead no wife ; And marriage vows refuse. Millions of slaves possess no right Their masters shall respect ; And libertines find their delight In licenses uncheck'd. The Stoic dotes on suicide ; The Epicure on pleasure ; The Sophist knoweth to decide The less the greater measure. Ill-gotten gains control the vote, Of senator and lictor ; And bards, to earn a paltry groat, Do celebrate a victor. The supple Greek infests thy walks, — Wizard of many arts ; Full soon his puny pupil stalks, To gorgonize the marts. In hopeless fatalism mired, On Death thy wisest wait ; Whilst wanton priestesses are hired To sanctify the state. 300 THE PLEROMA. Herod or Remorse. In the glare of thine agony, dread Idumean, Thy ghastliest victims we see ; In horrors of madness call'st thou in vain, For thy murder'd Mariamne. Lo, her two sons come back again reft of the tomb, And stalk through thy chambers by night ; And the dread child of Doris delivers the doom Of Herod, the dread Edomite. In servile prostration the proud signet-ring Of the Consular power dost thou kiss, While patriot thousands to ruin dost fling, And meetest their cries with a hiss. Know then, O dread, O doom'd Edomite ! Thy rage and thy scorn of the Christ, Do hasten the Hope of the hated Jahvite, And the birth of the King thou defiest. GABRIEL. Thy time is accomplish'd, O Bride of the Spirit ! The Seed of the Virgin is Jahveh, the man ! The pulse of this Star is quick with attention — The face of Creation is anxious and wan. Hail, angels, expectant of Jesus the Saviour ! Break forth with your paeans of blessing to earth ! Rejoice with the Ages ! and joy with the Heavens ! For now is the Advent and Hour of His birth ! THE EVANGEL. On the wintry hills abiding, shepherds watch'd their flocks by night, When the Angel of the Highest aw'd them with his glory bright. THE MAN. 301 " Fear not," said he, " for I bring you joyous tidings of the morn ; Lo in Bethlehem, David's city, JAHVEH-Christ this day is born." Sought with haste the faithful shepherds where the young child lay ; Then, returning, sang God's glory and His Christ- JAHVEH. THE CHORUS OF ETHERS. Fairily, airily ; Cheerily, merrily, The circling Ethers fly ; Pearling, curling ; Whirling, swirling, The chorus passeth by. Light'ning, bright'ning ; Splendidly hight'ning The lustre of the Morn ; Lowering, showering ; Holily embowering The place where Christ is born. Singing, ringing ; Swinging, clinging, The Bands and Couriers meet ; Flowing, glowing ; Lovingly throwing Their blessings at His feet. Ever linking, never shrinking, The Bands salute their Lord ; Ever streaming, never dreaming, The Couriers wait His word. 302 THE PLEROMA. The Kenosis. sages of the Earth, how marvel ye alway, The Goal of the Creation — the birth of the jahveh ! The hiding of the Word within a tender Babe, The Glory-Unbegott'n in mortal guise display'd. Hail, Holy One of Heav'n, nursing a Virgin's breast ! Cradled upon her arm, protected and caress'd ! Hail, timeless One, Earth-born, and circumscrib'd in Time ! Hail, spaceless One, despising not Earth's bound and clime ! Hail, self-existent One, humbled in servanthood ! With Plenitude of Power, calling for daily food. Hail, King Divine ; That wast and ever art the Lord ! All glory be to Thee, in Heav'n and Earth adored ! Thou shalt inform our minds and lift from us the vail : Unseal dark mysteries, when human wisdom fail. Thou fulness — the pleroma — bodily express'd ; — Jesus, Child of Mary, art God and Man confess'd ! THE DEMONS. Hie, Hie, travel slyly ! What ye do, do ye wily ! Doom is near ; And we fear The demon's hour is brief. Hist, Hist, travel slowly ! Treading nigh, treading lowly ; For jahveh 's Born to-day, And Earth sighs her relief. THE MAN. 303 Truck, Truck, demons imping ! Dowdy Prince, thou art primping, While we smite The Jahvitr With dreaded maladies. Go, Go, Essene spirit ! Solitude bids thee to cheer it Though thou mope, Give us rope ! We '11 bind the yahvite's knees. SATAN. Aha, grim fiend ! son of the Edomite ! I'll trick thee, Herod, ere thou die the death ! Fairly I've won the porridge of thy dish, Which now I taste again gulping its froth. Imbruited ghoul ! Incarnate prince of ill ! To thy red hands I clasp and bind my will. Thou hast a deal of savage pluck to use The two-edg'd blade — the poison and the rack ! Oho, a chunk of fuming funk art thou ! And the Messiah-Child shall be the spark That lighteth thee, and kindleth deadly rage ! Wherefore I loiter, for a space, among These hills, aloof the scene of Bethlehem : Down cursed Fear ! that looms before my soul ! Phantasmal shadow of myself ! away ! begone ! This wronged Lucifer shall sleep no more Till he hath rid this star of the Messiah. 304 THE PLEROMA. The will that moves the world is an engine Which shakes, perforce, its massy edifice ; Know then, O soul, this perturbating breast Moveth the ruling passions of mankind — Lust, avarice, and power : so doth the tumult Of our will report its awful force. The Song of the Stars. The Song of the Stars, — the wondering stars ! The listening, glistening, diamond stars ; While the blithe, blue Air Calls everywhere ; To the hills and vales ; To the glades and dales : " List, list, the Song of the wondering Stars ! " The Shout of the Stars, — the numberless stars ! A glorified host with light-winged cars ! While the blithe, blue Air Calls everywhere ; Heralding far The " Son of a Star ! "— The antiphone of the wondering Stars ! The Sigh of the Stars, — the increate stars ! The wistful, mystical, soulful stars ! While the blithe, blue Air, Calls everywhere, " Behold Judea's star ! — Flashing his beams afar ! In his trigon of tears, A sceptre he bears, And the fadeless crown of the increate Stars ! " THE MAN. 305 THE MAGI. We worship Thee, Star of stars ! Thy trigon is full in Mars ! Judea's hour impends ; Ormuzd his Prophet sends, Born of a maid. The Prince of Light comes to redeem ! In Ophiuchus brightly gleam His signatures ! Yon Star Of Hope — the Magi seek afar — Balaam portray'd. THE DEMONS. Here 's an astrologic bit, Worthy of a demon's wit ; Tie it with a willow withe ! Label — A Chaldean Myth — Casting his nativity Under Jove and Mercury. Heigho, heigho, " Cunning'" Read we plainly running. Heigho, heigho, " Power " Lasting but an hour. Cast we, cast we and carouse ; His Zodiac 's a cadent house ! SATAN. Unearthly and mysterious change hath pass'd Upon this Star ! The skies conceal it not, Nor soughing seas so hoarsely muttering ; Nor massy mounts, deep-chested, echoing. The ever-sighing groves make melody, 306 THE PLEROMA. While fleecy flocks upon the hills answer Their minstrelsy. (Eyes, are ye not for seeing ? And ears, for hearing ? No mumbo-jumbo spell 's On you ! What Satan sees, let him not fear to see ! And what he hears, let him not fear to hear ! If false unto all others, then more true Be thou unto thyself.) This drowsy world Dops at the sun, and knows not why. Ha ! Ha ! The foot of Ophiuchus blazes forth The fact portentous of Messiah's birth — Disastrous sign to Lucifer, except He captive take both sign and Signified ! VOICES. Creation groaneth, travailing in pain. SATAN. Now is the stage too slender for the act ! The cast is fully call'd. Satan doth prompt ! On with the buskins ! Play no pantomime ! Meet plot with counter-plot ! Slay, or be slain ! The Chasidim do barter now thy crown away ; The poisoners skulk in thy palaces ; While Envy is unsex'd to do thee wrong. Bravo, thy splendid coup of caution shall Amaze the fallen chiefs. On with the act ! THE DEMONS. Herod is mock'd ! The Magians stalk'd and stole away. Drink, drink the broth ! For by its froth ye curse jahveh ! THE MAN. 307 GABRIEL. Arise, Joseph ! Arise and take the babe, And Virgin, and flee with haste to Egypt ! And be thou there until I bring thee word ; For Herod seeks the young Child to destroy. Rama. Ah, mournful town of Bethlehem ! In thee The voice of Rama lives again ! In thee The Rachels weep their infants slain ! In thee They sob their tragic tale heard tearfully ! SATAN. Methought in sooth to nip the " Root of David " In the bud ; and thereto did incite the mind Of the foreboding, jealous king, to slay The infants in Judea's little town ; And so destroy the " king " of the Jahvites. But cursed finitude ! What boots our craft ! For ere the innocents are stiff in death, Do we behold a sight to freeze the gall ! — For, nearing Rhinoklura's purple brook, In a mirage, appears the pious Joseph, The Virgin and her Child, attended by Great Michael, prince of the angelic hosts. By Jove ! And is it the Messiah's plan To use the military of the skies Against the lawful Archcn of this Star ? 308 THE PLEROMA. Him to degrade and bind in triumph's chains ? Ye Mights above ! (no longer God the " Good " But Mights of Air implacable and merciless) If 't come to this ; before that hour, shall we Our right prescriptive yield the JAHVEH-King : Since Might 's the conscience of the Eternal, Might maketh Right for angels and for men ! 'T is clear, 't is very clear, (angels may nod Assent) — such is the Ethic of Salvation — The Babe of Bethlehem lives because he lives — And Satan is proscrib'd and doom'd because He is ! To question, or to reason 's " Sin "j And " Sin " is Death because it pleases might To make it so. Then may we trust, some day, When Might makes Must, and Must makes us obey, To be a ransom'd Cherub up in Heav'n, And sing our lullaby among the saints. 'T will be the heart of magnanimity In us — the lord of this fair Star — to name The " son of god " our heir ! This will we do, When might compels, though tardily ; and earn Thereby a seat superior the Christ. GABRIEL. Arise, Joseph, the Babe and mother take, And go into the land of Israel ! For they are dead which sought the young Child's life. THE ANGELS. He heedeth the dream, and turneth aside, Going again to Galilee ; The faithful Scroll is now our guide, Since He " A Nazarene shall be." THE MAN. 309 THE EVANGEL. And the Child grew and wax'd in spirit strong ; Filled with wisdom ; and the grace of God Was upon Him. The Doxa in the Christ-Child. The glory of pleroma shines within the Vail — The Virgin lifts the awful screen, and cries, " All hail, My Lord and Saviour ! " Then reverences the sleeping God. Awak'd, she wraps Him in the mantle of her heart's Maternal care ; whilst to no mortal she imparts The manner of His birth, nor Gabriel's secret word. She greets with pride each effort of His lisping tongue ; Recalls the shepherd's tale, and song by Angels sung ; Opens once more the treasures which the Gentiles brought ; And marvels much the blessing God in her had wrought. Again she hears the prophecy of Simeon, And pondereth the " sword " to pierce through her own soul : The ecstasy of Anna — prophetess, divines anon ; While mists of glory seem about her Babe to roll. The secrets hid within her heart daily augment ; As the Divine in Jesus with the earthly blent, Together grow into the perfect form of Youth ; Endued in the pleroma with all Grace and Truth. Nazareth. In the emerald circle of Galilee dwelleth the Boy Divine ; Like a brooch of pearls the whiten'd roofs of the village shine : 3IO THE PLEROMA. From the breezy top of the thymy hill, descries the Com- ing Man The eagle poised in the cloudless blue, and the flight of the pelican. The Zephyrs brush from His brow away the softly silken hair — While His ruddy lips are skyward turn'd to kiss the scented air. First, to the North, His wondrous eyes, o'er wood-crown'd Napthali, See mighty Hermon's crystal dome, gleaming eternally. The terebinths of Tabor green, absorb the Eastward view; Whence purple Carmel draws His gaze unto the mirror'd blue, Where bird-like sails of Chittim's ships glance in the set- ting sun. At length He looks along the plain of storied Esdraelon, And traces far the winding road unto the city of jahveh — But His brow is pale, and His eyes are moist, as He turns away. THE EVANGEL. He said to them, — " How is 't that ye sought me ? Wist not to find me in my father's House ? " But they knew not His words and marvell'd much ; Then went Jesus with them to Nazareth, And was submissive unto them ; growing In Wisdom as in age ; and in favor With God and Man. The Tephillim. How happily, holily, rear'd is He ! The flower of the youth of Galilee ! THE MAN. 311 His stature now makes Him a " Son of the Law," And to-day shall He see what never He saw — Vast porches of marble, and turrets of gold : — The shrine of jehovah ordained of old ; To-day are the Tephillim seal'd to His brow, While the girdle of youth shall further allow To offer His gifts, and to worship alone ; — Absolv'd from His kin to the Infinite One. Access to the circle of Hillel He gains, Where lost in emotion the day-long remains. THE ANGELS. O Shrine of loves ! O Soul of smiles ! O Seat of bliss, whence luminous aisles Stretch to the portals of yon star. Lo, 't is a mead of infinite joy, To see the holy, heaven-born, Boy Greeting the Father from afar ! O Lustre of lustres that hide the morn ! O Child of the Highest to Gaia born ! Thou findest Thy Father to-day ! And the Angel-world is thrill'd to pain, To see pleroma's Face again, In the face of the Christ- jahveh. THE PLEROMA-CHRIST. Here hath My Mother made the secret mine ! To Joseph known and her alone of Earth ! A " Virgin's child ! " " jesus " — " immanuel ! " By Gabriel nam'd, conceiv'd in mystery ! Spirit Divine ! — the Soul of souls ! to Thee 312 THE PLEROMA. I flee to stay the mighty tide of joy ! Else shall this mortal frame dissolve in bliss ! O Father ! O Father ! O Infinite Father ! By the Face in My visions I know Thee, O Father ! By the cheer of the Angels that witness this moment ; By the Self-revelation of the pleroma ! By the rapture of spirit and benison holy ! By the sighs Thou allayest I know Thee, O Father ! By the loneliness lost in Thy sovereign Presence ! By the answer Thou givest My heart's burning question ! By the yearning I feel for the work of a Saviour ; Whilst, Father Eternal, I press on Thy heart. THE iEONS. Where, O where is the Messiah ? Ages crying, " Where, O where ? " Gaia yearning, mourning, mourning ; Millions sighing, millions crying, " Where, O where is the Messiah ? " To His Temple cometh jahveh, Fill'd and filling all with glory ; Heareth millions praying, saying, With the Law and Prophets saying, " Where, O where is the Messiah ? " THE ANTIPHON. Hid, though conscious of His mission ; Hears the sick world calling, calling — ^Eons of the ^Eons calling, " Where, O where is the Messiah ? " THE MAN. 313 Meekly beareth low condition, Carpenter in Nazareth, Till the pleroma unvaileth God in the Messiah. THE ETHERS. Hail Him ! Hail Him ! cosmic chorus ! Lo, Messiah reigneth o'er us ! And pleroma gloweth, gloweth ; And the face of Jesus showeth Him to be Divine. Circles sing their Cycle ended ; Limits sing of strife suspended ; Bands announce the band perfected ; Couriers hail the one expected, And bless the Man Divine ! Now the lonely prophet crieth, And the pride of man defieth, " Repent ye every one ! " See Judea's thousands pressing ; And their sins humbly confessing In the sacred Jordan. THE EVANGEL. Then cometh Jesus also unto John To be baptiz'd of him in the Jordan : But he forbade Him, saying to Him, " Nay ! For I have need to be baptiz'd of Thee ! " Then Jesus answer'd, " Surfer it so now — 'T is meet for Me to do all righteousness." 314 THE PL E ROMA. Then suffered he Him : And lo the heavens open'd unto him, And he beheld the Spirit like a dove, Descending upon Him ; and heard a voice, " Thou art My well-beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased." GAIA. By Thy faithful pledges ; By the glowing edges Of the cloud ; By jehovah's mission, Taking man's condition, Meekly bow'd ; Gaia here entreateth, Evermore repeateth, " Come, O king ! " Though the Tempter taunteth, All Creation panteth For its King ! THE CIRCLES. To-day, to-day, We sail away To place the Aureole on jahveh ! By Jordan's stream Our pinions gleam, Then rest upon the Nazarene ! The Voice of Love We hear above, And see the Image of a Dove. THE MAN. 315 O dazzling Sight ! O splendor bright, That dost on the Messiah light ! THE ANGELS. O heavenly chrism ! O meek baptism ! Dating Messiah's power ! Rise Son of Man ! And meet Satan ! God in Thee saves the hour ! THE DEMONS. Ho, ho, wanton imps ! Loving sin ; How ye grin ! As ye get a glimpse Of the Nazarene ! Senseless imbeciles, How ye swell ! As ye tell, With so sickly smiles, The wiles of hell ! Mighty Molech 's dead ! And he groans, And he moans On his fiery bed, Gasping with his tones. 3l6 THE PLEROMA. Lucifer may know If he will ; Know it still — Fires are made below For the Devil. Torments us await, Come they soon or late ! Imps and demons, Seiz'd with tremens Drag the gaffs of fate. THE EVANGEL. And straightway the Spirit drave Him away, And He was forty days of Satan tempted ; And was in the desert with the wild beasts ; And Angels came and minister'd to Him. THE ANGELS. Anointed One ! haste on, jahveh ! The God in Thee shall gain the day ! Lo, ages long we wait and pray, " Let jahveh come ! " Thou 'rt come ; and goest to meet the Foe ! Haste on ! in the pleroma go ! The God in Thee shall overthrow The Evil One ! Ah, finite Man, Thou 'rt left alone ! The aureoles of Thy brow are gone ; Thy Glories vanish, one by one ; All — all — is gloom. THE MAN. 317 Awake, O Star ! Awake, and pray ! This hour thy destiny doth weigh. The " Nazarene " shall fall, or stay For aye thy doom ! THE ETHERS. We near the Sabbath of our rest ; We make our cradle on the Breast So bright with bounty and behest Of the PLEROMA. Our sighs are vestiges of fears, Once clamorous, pleading with tears — Turn'd now to promise with the years Of the Adonai. Alas, the Spirit is withdrawn ! The Saviour's face is thin and wan : O frailty ! frailty ! the Archon Of Earth appears ! Let Gaia's bosom shrink with terror ! Creation's soul be flx'd with horror, — The sky above be a tale-bearer More stem than seers. THE PLEROMA-CHRIST. Nigh forty days and nights this wilderness Hath been my pillow. Yet, unharm'd I lay ; The lions stalking for their prey drew near, And nightly stood, with muffled roar, and watch'd Like sentinels my bed until the dawn. The ominous fowl of heav'n circling above, Swept down upon the neighboring crags, and sate ; And seem'd to link thought unto thought profound ; Whilst yonder asphalt sea grew hoarse with groans 318 THE PLEROMA. Of the infernal brood of demons that writhe Neath Satan's leash. Looming upon the mount, Before daybreak, Mine eyes a portent saw, In shadowy outline as a man, but vast — A hundred times the stature of mankind. The slumbering heavens shudder'd ! Ethers wept. The heart of Earth stood still within her breast Appall'd ; when, startled from the holy trance, I leap'd upon My feet, to fall again — Too weak to stand ; or raise defensive arm. And here I lie in agony of need, With inward Mind calm as the brow of God. Lips may not utter what I felt ; nor tell The blaze of beauty, and the thrill of terror, When Bath Kol cried from out the cloud, and call'd Me " Son beloved " in Whom God is well-pleas'd. Then did the light, occulted in My birth, Burst forth in flame, and upward stream to meet The Dove that clove the sky above Mine head. Lo, in that moment did the pleroma Effulge ! — the God — the Man — as One reveal'd ! Whilst strong to weakness, glad to pain, I ran With closed eyes, maze-bound into the hills To be alone and contemplate these words. SATAN. One little word did nearly cleave the wit Of Jesus ; and shall be my weapon now. "The Son of God " — egregiously big The thought is to a carpenter ! Aye, aye ! What 's in mere name ! Ho, Satan is create, — THE MAN. 319 And hence a " son," to wit, is the offspring Of the Almighty. I 've the cue—" The Son " ! And here on Quarantania's hill I find The son of Joseph, bearing many names ; Indeed none but a Rabbi should devise So many contradictions in one word. Were not the rule primeval of this Star Endanger'd by vagaries of this sort, Rare pleasure might we in his ravings find. But if he be jahveh, this day shall I The truth explore, and point my plans thereby. By Jove ! this arm, and this gray dome of wit Shall prove a doughty opponent in just With a young Deity in flesh and bones ! What is, if not the uncertain ! To-day A scheme 's in bloom, to-morrow, gone to seed ; The third, lies on the ground the food for worms. I 'm in Thy due, O Jordan Voice ; Thy word Breaketh the edge of my well-whetted plan, And makes it useless in the field with Christ. I take Thy lance instead,—" The Son," " The Son " ! Now hath he fix'd on me his hungry gaze ! Nor riseth to receive. I will draw near, And trail my beard low in the dust, feigning Obeisance. Son of Joseph, Carpenter ! Hail ! Art thou down again from out the clouds ? Ah, hunger eats thy tongue ! Sick eremite ! If food thou need'st or physick, here 's Thy slave. 'T will be a notable and easy path To rule, to claim the world's Archon a slave. 320 THE PLEROMA. THE CHRIST. I need thy service not. SATAN. And starv'st for lack Of food ! Thou art no man, else thou art mad ! Tell me, art thou Messiah ? Doubtless ! Thou 'rt gaunt Enough to suit the Evangelical ! Here lie I at thy feet ; and in me lies The World ; if so thou be jahveh. Make proof ! Thy reticence bids me to name the tests. I give thee three, and do require but one, — Perform but one, and me thy vassal claim. I challenge thee to turn one of these least Silicious stones, before thee strewn, to bread — And eat, and dull the gnawing tooth of hunger. A sorry Deity, thou, cadaverous — When all allow the gods ambrosial diet ! Once saw I thee to Egypt borne away, By the celestial general escort, — And utter'd concession I now recant ; To find thee grizzly, rheumatic, unkempt — An unhous'd cenobite, me staggers ! Answer ! One word, one word from God's own Son suffice To change these mineral loaves to bread — this do, And I dispute not thy Divinity. THE CHRIST. As man my mission is fulfill'd in Earth. Man shall not live by bread alone, but, by Each word proceeding from the mouth of God. THE MAN. 321 SATAN Feigning thyself a man, thou sayest this, Believing that thou art the Son of God. O Phantasy, that captivates the soul And makest airy nothings actuals. Behold, a haggard dines on dreams. A mind Diseas'd, the skill'd physician spurns, choosing Instead "mediums," and misnam'd " scientists." Hateth his friends, and seeks his enemies — Scorneth the owl's wise word ; the titmouse heeds. I see thee entering on thy work forthwith — The purporting Messiah. It is writ In Malachi, " The jahveh Whom ye seek Comes suddenly to His Temple." Is 't so ? Discernest yon Basilike ? I know Thou seest it — if in thy mind's eye only ! Am I not right ? Thou goest shortly up To David's town thy ministry to op'n ? A miracle would be beginning fit : Ascend before the wondering multitude One of the marble towers ; and, while they look, Command the Angels, and then hurl thee down. Thou 'st naught to fear, and much to gain thereby ; Is it not written in thy Daily Bread, " He shall His angels charge concerning Thee, And they shall bear Thee up lest Thou do dash Thy foot against a stone " ? THE CHRIST. Also " Thou shalt Not tempt the Lord thy God." Suffice the promise ! I am as Son of Man, content. 322 THE PLEROMA. SATAN. Perdu ! " As man content," because thou reck'st Thyself the Son of God ! So might all men Sweet solace take in such absurdity ! But grant Thou art the " Seed " — the One destin'd To crush the Tempter's head. Is it not writ, That he shall bruise Thy heel ? Mind, mind, the heel Of the jahveh Satan shall bruise ! Reflect ! If the Omnipotent do suffer harm In the encounter with this world's Archon, A less than He shall utterly be crush'd. Hear me ! With clear resolve I sought this place To find Thy rocky bed and make this grant : A voice from heav'n hath call'd Thee, " Son of God " — Heard it Thyself — the Baptizer, and I — And forty days that word have I revolv'd To reach this proposal. If Thou 'rt the Christ, Then am I, Lucifer, Thine enemy, Holding by fief original this Star A hundred generations unchalleng'd. But Thy Advent have I foreknown, nor slept By day or night inventing schemes and plots To thwart Thy birth, and Kingdom in the earth. Well knowing, when the fulness came, my rule Was nigh its end. Thou art confess'd the man — The Goal of the Creation — Type of types ! Hast properties and potencies Divine : If so, 't is rash in me Thee to resist. I am no fool, in comnion parlance said- — If Thou 'rt the Christ, this diadem is Thine. This sceptre to Thy hand belongs. Hail Prince Of Earth ! Lord of this Star of stars ! THE MAN. 323 Thou noddest ; The metaphysic factors fire Thy fancy ! Mount up ! The kindling torch illume ! Mount up ! And view the kingdoms of the Earth, fair Earth ! Bright centre of the Universe. Hail ! Hail ! Thy Archon groans to give thee up — but Might Makes right in the Almighty's realm, — and I Obey because I must. Yet Must says not To-day, though bounds are set unto my sway. Forestalling the event, I seize the hour, And yield thee up unto the Son of Man. Glow, panorama, glow ! Behold it pass Before His gaze ! O rapture ! Holy man ! The pleroma doth open now Thine orbs ! Thine is the rule of this Star beautiful ! For this end earnest Thou from Heaven ! Thou lov'st this Star : — I know it by the flush Upon Thy cheek ; the sighing of Thy breast. O deep of deeps ! O Mystery most vast ! Thou art the Christ — this crown of sapphire — all Is Thine, by one and trivial act conditioned. Thou must in Thine unstained soul allow The truth of what I say ; — concede my right As archon of the Earth. This fief I yield As mine to give allow'd — and Thine to take ; — Else seiz'd perforce. I offer it Thee here Without a struggle more 'tween us, if Thou 'rt The Christ ! Nay, to Thy probity I leave The cause. If Thou receiv'st this diadem, And this puissant sceptre from mine hand, Kneeling meantime Thou dost receive it from Mine hand, to show by outward sign that I Transfer my name and titles unto Thee — 324 THE PLEROMA. Then peace proclaim ! Thou art Prince of this Star ! Earth's Potentate ! Messiah, Lord of All ! THE PLEROMA-CHRIST. Get thee behind me, Satan ! For 't is writt'n, " Thou shalt do worship to the Lord thy God, And him alone shall mortals serve." SATAN. What ! what ! Thee ? Thee? Behind ? Amazement, hear this speech ! The Nazarene derides the Prince of Earth ! Let imps and satyrs howl in Juda's ears ! Rheums, palsies, and obsessions, spread abroad ! I quit Thee, but Thou meetest me again ! And if Thou 'rt less than God, ruin I '11 pile On Thee and Thy frail purposes, as high As Sirius, and as baleful too ! THE DEMONS. How Tophet spawns, and yawns ! Hell faints and falls in qualms Of black despair. Contagion's sallow eye Sickens our sorcery : Our end 's Despair. The Son of God 's a rod, — He comes all iron-shod To crush our head ; Our prince is quite distraught, Weigh'd down with gloomy thought. Great is our dread. THE MAN. 325 THE ANGELS. While the mount was vail'd ; While the foe assail'd ; While Messiah quail'd, we pray'd, O Saviour. Till the field was won ; Till the vail was drawn ; Till we saw the " Son," we stay'd, O Saviour. Now the Aureole 's bright With pleroma's light, Marveling the sight, we fly, O Saviour : Bearing on the wing Water from the spring ; Whilst the Ethers sing, draw nigh the Saviour. Manna from the Tree, And Ambrosia, Offer we to Thee, and bless the Saviour ! Hailing, " Son of God ! " Hailing, " Sovran Lord ! " Hailing, " Heav'nly Word," address the Saviour ! THE EVANGEL. The next day John, beholding Jesus, saith, " Behold the Lamb of God ! Lo, this is He, Of Whom I said, ' There cometh after me A Man which is preferred before me. And of His Fulness have we all receiv'd, And grace for grace.' " Now afterward when John Was prison'd, came Jesus into Galilee, Preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, saying, " Now is fulfill'd the Day of the pleroma ! God's Kingdom is at hand ! " 326 THE PLEROMA. Cana. Least of the daughters of Galilee, Sing us the song of the Mystery ! — Blush of the water at Jesus' word — Fame of the wine the bridegroom pour'd. Sing it again in the ages far — Fair in the light of the Morning Star ; Telling the marvel — pleroma's dower — Blessing the Virgin before the Hour. THE EVANGEL. And the Jewish Passover was at hand, And Jesus went up to Jerusalem. THE COURIERS. With shine and sheen, jahveh prevene ! Presage the hour, pleroma's Flower Shall cleanse the Holy Temple. Hail, Heavenly Light growing more bright ! Nearing the Throne ; worship alone, Worship EMMANUEL ! Hail, name of names ! We are Thy flames ; Hail, sire of sires ! We are Thy fires ; That sign pleroma's hour. O soul of fervors ! The Couriers — O well of tears ! The silent seers — Discern Messiah's Power. Welcome, welcome, unto Zion, Majestic man ! — the Second Adam ! Lift up your heads, ye gates ! THE MAN. 327 The Limits cry, " Lo, Christ draws nigh ! " The Bands entwine the MAN-Divine, And Earth her lord awaits. THE LIMITS. The man draweth nigh ! We are sighing for Him ; We are crying for Him ; Restore us unto Eden T The man passeth by ! We are kneeling to Him, And appealing to Him, Restore us unto Eden ! THE BANDS. Gravities are trending, Opposites are blending, Harmonies are lending Concord to our star : Dissonance retrieving : Suffering relieving : Peacefully receiving The Limits from afar. THE CIRCLES. Bless we the pleroma — Circle Divine ! Welcome immanuel unto His Shrine ! Lo, Thou art come, Infinite One ! Bright is Thy way ; enter jahveh ! Thou art the Nesama — Image Divine ! 328 THE PLEROMA. Bless we the pleroma — full in the man ! Finitely Infinite — Second Adam — Goal of Creation ! rise to Thy Station ! Into Thy hands pass we our wands ; Thou art the Nesa7na — Image Divine ! Earth hath its Eden, and Sabbath again ; Rhythms in Nature are Rhythms in man — Sin and its sorrow surcease shall borrow ; Guilt and its woe, Jesus shall know, Finding the Nesama — Image Divine. GAIA. In visions I saw Thee, O wonderful Light ! Flash forth in the midst of the Temple of God ! When a craze of amaze Enseiz'd man and brute ; the merchandise straw'd — While, hustling and rustling, With shout and with rout, fled jahveh's dread Sight ! O answer, Great Guest, inspiring my lay ; Com'st hither to bide ? or soon to pass by ? By the Grace in Thy face, By the Light of Thy brow, I read Thy reply : " Peace, peace, Gaia, peace ! The King shall remain while it is call'd day." Thou art tearful, O King ! Ah, I weep to perceive ; Feel the weight on Thy breast ; till I sigh in my sleep ; While Creation groans, and moans : THE MAN. 329 And the Earth joys to-day, but to-morrow doth weep ! Alas, Adonai pleroma ! I shall die if Thou die, I shall live if Thou live. THE ANGELS. He hath suddenly come to His Temple ; His Hour and His Mission 's begun ; In the plenary Graces of Manhood, He shines like the orient sun. Humanity, here is thy summit ! Lo, here is the crown of mankind ! In this beautiful circle of Virtues, Are seven perfections divin'd. They seal Him the Son of the Highest ! They sign Him the meekest of men ! They lend Him unspeakable beauty, That thrilleth and thrilleth again. They praise Him the goal of creation ! The end of the timeless Process ; The mystery hid from the Ages — The saviour a World shall confess. His faith and His rev'rence perfect, Toward God ; His obedience too : His love for mankind most unselfish ; His wisdom, the Heavens shine through. 330 THE PLEROMA. His hope, never dimm'd in the darkness ; His victory, full o'er Satan : In Sinless, incomp'rable manhood, Behold him — the perfect adam ! Gentle as a child — mighty as a God ; Peaceful as a fountain — wrathful as a, flood ; Simple though his accents — deep as is the Sea ; Loved by little children — dreaded mystery ! Needy as a servant — Richest Born of Beings ; Praying to the father — Almoner of kings ; Walking on the earth — dwelling in the Sky ; Speaking in the fields — answered from On High ; Guide of all to Life — leading unto Death ; Promiser of Heaven — in His dying breath ; Friend of Sinners he — suffering their guilt ; Most Divinely man when His blood is spilt ; Dying unto Life — Victor in defeat ; Raised from the Grave to a Heavenly Seat. Hail we ! Hail we, Jesus ! Mystery Divine ! Thine the Kingdom ever ! and the glory Thine ! EPILOGUE. If ye ask the Muse I sing, I reply, — pleroma. Life of numbers, Soul of songs ; Praise of praises Him belongs — Infinite pleroma ! In Whose blood our souls are shriv'n ; Earth is ransom'd, man forgiven ; in the Christ-PLEROMA. " Jesus " is His monograph — " Saviour " is His epitaph — crucified pleroma. Thither, Thither follow we, Into Thy Eternity, glorified pleroma ! Flower of flowers, full in bloom, Love subsists in Thy perfume evermore, pleroma ! GLOSSARY. GLOSSARY OF UNUSUAL WORDS AND USES. Abana — One of the two rivers of Damascus. Abaris — Highlands to the east of the Jordan. Abiram — One of the conspirators against Moses and Aaron. Accad — Akkad — a primitive Hamite race in Shinar — founders of arts and letters. Acheron — One of the five rivers of the infernal regions. Achilles — The name of a large moth. Achor — The spot at which Achan was stoned. Acrogens — Point-growers — abundant in Coal Age. Actinidce — From resemblance, called animal -flowers. Adonai — The LORD. Adoni — Phoenician for the Most High. Adulate — Containing excessive praise. il A£ons " — Daughters of Time. ALslivate — In process of flowering. Afrile — An evil genius in Mohammedan mythology. Agnis — " Fire " — a vedic god worshipped by the Aryans. Ahab — Son of Omri, seventh king of Israel. Ahijah — A prophet of Shiloh in days of Solomon and Jeroboam. Aleim — (Elohim) — The generic term for the gem-Eden Deity — " Mights." A Igce — Sea-weeds. Altruism — Devotion to the interests of others. Amelek — Son of Eliphaz, grandson of Esau. Amene7nha — An Egyptian king who lived before the invasion of the Hyksos — builder of pyramids and canals. Amittai — The father of the prophet Jonah. Amcebina — An animalcule capable of undergoing many changes. Amnion — " The Hidden" — an Egyptian deity. 335 336 GLOSSARY. Amorites — Mountaineers — descendants of Canaan. Amoz — The father of the prophet Isaiah. Amphibian — Living in both water and on land. Amram — The father of Moses. Ana — The Chaldean god of heaven. AnaHm — A race of giants — notably of Hebron. Anarch — A prince or ruler. Anemone, Sea — A polyp resembling the flower of the same name. " Animce" — The personification of the living principle in animal forms. Anubis — An Egyptian deity with head of a dog or fox. Apamea — A fording-place situated on the Euphrates. Apappas — An Egyptian monarch who united both Egypts. Aphelion — The farthest point in the orbit of a planet from the sun. Apotheosis — Placed among the gods. Apperception — Perception that reflects upon the perceiver. Arachnida — Including the class of spiders and scorpions. Archcean — Ancient, primitive. Archetypes — The Divine patterns and models of Creation. Archon — Ruler. Argillaceous — Partaking of clay. Argob — In Bashan — taken by Jair, a chief of the tribe of Manasseh. Ariana — An ancient name of Khorassan in Persia. Arnon — "The noisy" — the boundary between Moab and the Amorites. Arphaxad — The son of Shem and ancestor of Heber. Aryan — The Indo-European family of languages. As her — The eighth son of Jacob. Asshur — A powerful country on the Tigris ; Nineveh the capital. Aquarius — The " water-bearer " — a sign in the Zodiac. Astarte — The principal female divinity of the Phoenicians. Asteroids — Small planets lying between Mars and Jupiter. Asterolepis — A large fossil fish found in old red-sandstone. Atka — A mountain to the west of the Red Sea. Atlantean — Used of any giant prop or support. Aureole — A circle of light ; in art, the nimbus around a head. Baalim — The generic name of the Phoenician deity. Baasha — The third sovereign of the kingdom of Israel. Babylon — The capital city in Shinar of the Chaldeans. GLOSSARY. 337 Bactrian — A country lying south of the river Oxus. "Bands " — The positive and co-ordinating forces : gravity, cohesion, etc. Bath Kol — The Voice from Heaven. Batrachian — Pertaining to the order of frogs and lizards. Bel — A . Babylonish deity. " Ben-oni " — Son of my sorrow. Bethel — A well known city in Central Palestine. " Binders " — vide " Bands." Boaz — A wealthy Bethlehemite, husband of Ruth. Bochim — A place west of the Jordan above Gilgal. Bogey — A bugbear — a spectre. Borsippa — The Ziggurat identified as the Tower of Confusion. Breccias — Fragments of rocks. Cadeni — "Falling" (Astrology.) Catamite — A fossil plant of the rush family. Calcareous — Partaking of the nature of limestone. Calcinate — Reduced to powder by heat. Cambrian — The lowest subdivision of the Silurian Age. Campanularia — Bell-shaped. Canaan — Fourth son of Ham. The country west of the Jordan, Carnivorous — Feeding on flesh. Carpellale — Containing fruit. Catania — The resinous poplar. Caucasus — Extending from the Black Sea to the Caspian. Cauline — Growing from the flower-stem. Cauls — Nets, or coverings for the head. Cenobite — A hermit. Cephalaspis — A fossil fish with head encased in a buckler. Cephalopod — A mollusk with branching arms. CetacecE — Whales . Chasdim — The Chaldeans. Chasseurs — Huntsmen of the deep. Cherubim — Angels of knowledge. Chinnerolh — Afterwards known as the Plain of Gennesaret. Chiton — A mollusk with many-pointed shell. Chiun — A Phoenician god. Chufu — An Egyptian king of the IV. dynasty. Cimmerian — Without light — intensely dark. 338 GLOSSARY. Circinate — Rolled together with the tip in the centre. " Circles " — The personification of the rotary forces in nature. Clio — A wing-footed Pteropod. Clysms — Deluges. Coccoliths — " Stone-berries " — calcareous shells. Concentric — Circles having a common centre. Congeries — A heap — a combination. Conifers — Plants bearing cones — pines — hemlocks. Consubstantial — Having the same substance or essence. Copse — A wood of small growth. Cosmic — Pertaining to the world. Coup — A stroke. " Couriers" — The volant forces, — like heat, light, and electricity. Cowrie — A small shell used for money in Africa. Creatures, Living — Same as Cherubim. Crustacea: — Articulates with crust-like shells. Cryptogamia — Plants fertilized by hidden processes. Cycads — Intermediate between palms and ferns. Cycloids — A form of circles. Cymric — Pertaining to the Cymri of Europe. Cyrenhis — Governor of Syria and Palestine after Archelaus. Daphnia — A small crustacean. Deborah — A prophetess who judged Israel. Deciduous — Having leaves that fall in autumn. Demons — The evil spirits subjected by Satan. Dicotyls — Having seeds with two lobes. Dinothere — A mammoth of the Middle Tertiary. Dinychlhys — A huge Devonian fossil fish. Diorite — A crystalline rock consisting of hornblende and feldspar. Doris — A wife of Herod the Great. Dothan — A rich pasturage near the Plain of Esdroelon. Doxa — The Glory investing the Godhead — the Essence of the Ethers. Dunes — The movable sand-hills along sea-coasts. Ea — A Chaldean god ; its symbol was a fish. Ebal — A mount in Palestine to the north of Shechem. Echidna — A genus of ant-eaters found in New Holland. Edrei — One of two capital cities in Bashan. Effigies — The likenesses of Deity in nature. Effreet — An evil spirit. GLOSSARY. 339 Elam — Son of Shem ; also an appellation of a country. Electron — The archon of the Sun. Eliun — Phoenician, for the most high. Elilim — " Emptiness." El Shaddai — The Almighty. Emmanuel — Immanuel — " God with us." Empyrean — The highest heaven. Enaliosaurs — A swimming saurian of gigantic size, now extinct. Endogens — Plants growing from within — having no pith. Enthymemic — In the Divine Mind by potence and promise. Eozoic — The Age of the dawn of life. Epiphany — An appearance. Erech — One of the cities of Nimrod's kingdom in Shinar. Etham — The " boundary of the sea." Ethers — The supersensible powers presiding over the cosmos. Equitani — With leaves overlapping each other alternately. Eucalypti — A genus of trees in Australia. Fauna — The animals of any given area or epoch. Eetishisms — Worship of clods and stones as shrines of divinities. " Flame " — One of the countenances or emblems of Eden worship. Flora — The vegetable species collectively in an area or age. Flustra — A compound plant-like animal called Sea-mat. Foraminifer — A minute Protozoan with a perforated shell. For/ending — To hinder, to avert. Fubsey — Plump — chubby. Fwigoids — Spongy, like mushrooms. Furies — Female deities of vengeance. " Gaia " — The poetical personification of the earth. Gall-fly — Puncturing plants and making galls for its eggs. Gan-Eden — The garden of Paradise. Ganoids — Ancient fossil fish with bright scales. Gasterpods — Mollusks using their stomach-discs as feet. Geognosy — The science of the structure of the earth. Geshur — The northeastern portion of Bashan. Gerizim — The commanding summit of Samaria. Ghauts — Mountain passes in the Orient. Gideon — One of four cities which made a league with Gideon. Gibborim — Men of extraordinary stature. Gideon — The fifth judge of Israel. 340 GLOSS A R V. Gilgal — The " Circle," the first camp west of the Jordan. Gnomes — Imaginary beings inhabiting the inner parts of the earth. Godhead — The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Graphite — Called plumbago or black lead. Graptolite — A plume-shaped delicate fossil. Guerdon — Reward — recompense. Habitat — The home. Hain — A meadow. Halcyonites — An eight-rayed polyp. Happi-Mu — Egyptian name for the Nile region. HarpcE — Harp-shelled mollusks. Hauran — On the northeastern border of the Promised Land. Havilah — A land rich in treasures encompassed by the river Pison. Hazor — The principal city of Northern Palestine. Heki — An Egyptian deity. Helene — The Greek race. Helios — The disc of the sun — worshipped as a god". Heliopolis — City of the Sun — priestly centre of Lower Egypt. Herbivorous — Animals subsisting on herbs. Hindu Kush — An Alpine water-shed in Asia. Hippus — Eohippus — The three-toed horse, the fossil antecedent of the modern horse. Hominidce — With anatomical resemblances to the human species. Hormah — A town on the south of Palestine reduced by Joshua. Horoscope — An observation made of the heavens at the time of a per- son's birth. Horus — " The Child," an Egyptian god. Hydradce — Fresh-water polyps. Hymeneal — Pertaining to marriage — a marriage song. Ichihyic — Relating to the order of fishes. Ilex — An evergreen tree of Palestine. Imago — The last and perfected state of an insect. Imbricate — Overlapped at the edges in regular order. Implexed — Intwined — interleaved. Indra — The Aryan god of the atmosphere. Infusoria — Microscopic animals found in water. Iran — Or Persia. Iridescent— Having colors like the rainbow. Iris — The rainbow — the Jleur de luce. GLOSSARY. 34I Jialiote — Peculiar to ancient Italy. Jah — A short form of jahveh (Jehovah), the Covenant God of the Hebrews. JAHVEH (pronounced Yah-vay) — " The One that will be that He will be." Javanu — The Greeks — descended from Japheth. Jahvites — Worshippers of Jahveh. Jeroboam — Son of Nebat — the head of the ten northern tribes. Jochebed — The mother of Moses and Aaron. Kabiri — The seven deities of the Phoenicians. Kadesh-Barnea — Last camp of the Israelites on direct march to Canaan. Karnak — A collection of temples near Thebes in Upper Egypt. Khem — An Egyptian deity. Kneph — An Egyptian deity. Korah — Leader of the rebellion against his cousins Moses and Aaron. Labara — Standards. Labyrinthodonts — Having labyrinthine teeth. Lagoons — Shallow seas — lakes within coral islands. Latirentian — The Azoic rocks of Canada. Lecherous — Lustful — lewd. Lemming — A burrowing animal of the rat family. Lenticle — Spots on leaves from which roots issue. Lepidodendra — A fossil tree of the Carboniferous age marked with scales. Libanus — Mount Lebanon to the north of Palestine. Liber — The inner bark lying next the wood. " Limits" — The personification of the negative and dispersive forces in Nature. Lister — An enumerator. Lucifer — Archon of the Earth by original grant of the Almighty. Lydia — In Asia Minor. Maccabean — Pertaining to the reign of the family of Judas Mac- cabeus. Mage — A magician. Magism — Sorcery. Mandalas — Vedic poems. Manu — Laws of, — A metrical code of the Rig-Veda. Mar ah — " Bitter." 342 GLOSSARY. Mar anon — Or Amazon. Marduk — Babylonish god of the planet Jupiter. Mar tits — Storm gods. Maskim — The seven gods of the abyss. Medusa — Sea-nettles. Mcmnon — A vocal statue of Amenohis III. — emitting sounds at dawn. Mentor — Teacher. Merodoch — Same as Marduk. Merom — A reedy lake near sources of the Jordan. Menner — The god of the winds. (Persian.) Mephitic — Breathing foul gases. Metempsychosis — Transmigration. Michael — The prince of the militant angels of God. Middins — Kitchen-refuse heaps. " Mights " — The literal meaning of Elohim. Minnith — From Aroer to Minneth was a district of twenty cities on the east of the Jordan. Mitra—A Vedic deity—" The Bright One." Mncean Snake — The name given a crown prince in Egypt. Moeris — Artificial lake, by Amenemha III., for irrigation. Molech — The Canaanitish sun-god. Morasthite — The prophet Jonah. Moreh — The oak of, — the first halting-place of Abram in Palestine. Morse — A sea-horse. Nacre — The iridescent lining of some shells. Nadab — The son of Jeroboam. Naiads — Water-nymphs. "Names " — The Countenances of the Trinity, as seen by the heavenly essences : — or, as Light, Fire, and Ether, in Nature. Nautilus — A shell-fish furnished with a membrane for a sail. Nazarites — Set apart by vow for the service of God. Nebal — The father of Jeroboam. Nebo — A mount facing Jericho on the east. Moses took last view of the Promised Land from its summit. Necromancy — Conjuration, enchantment. Nemesis — The personification of retributive justice. Nephillim — Giants. Nesama — The Divine Blessedness communicated to the first pair. Neuropter — An order of insects with four membranous wings. GLOSSARY. 343 Nimroud — The grandson of Ham — a fierce opponent of the altar and worship of Jehovah. Nindar — The nightly sun in the regions of Mulge. Occident — The Western world. Octopus — The devil-fish. Octuple— Eight-fold. Omphalos — The navel of the Earth — the North Pole. Ophiuchus — A constellation in which a remarkable star appeared about the time of Jesus' birth. Oreads — Mountain nymphs. Orient — The Eastern world. Ormuzd — The Persian god of light. Osiris — The Beneficent Power in Nature — the vanquisher of Typhon (evil). Orthocera — Having a straight, many-chambered, shell. Orthopter — An order of insects with even-textured wings. Othniel — A younger brother of Caleb. Ovary — The lower part of the pistil containing the seed. Pachyderm — A thick-skinned, hoofed animal. Padan-Aram — Mesopotamia, bordering on the Euphrates. Paleothere — A fossil pachyderm allied to the tapir. Pamir — The northern extremity of the Himalayan plateau. Pan — The god of Nature. Pandemonium — The council-chamber of the demons. Pantheon — The whole body of divinities worshipped by a people. Paramos — Low mountainous districts in South America. Parsism — The religion of the Parsees, followers of Zoroaster. Pelagic — Pertaining to the deep sea. Pelusium — or Avaris — On the frontier wall of Egypt toward Palestine* Pentacrinus — A fossil crinoid with five-sided pedicle. Permian — The period closing the Carboniferous age. Per fervid — Very fervid, — ardent. Perfoliate — Surrounding the stem at the base. Pethual — The father of the prophet Joel. Petiole — The foot-stalk of a leaf. Phallic — Pertaining to the orgies of Bacchus. Pharpar — One of the two rivers of Damascus. Phocas — Name of a small mollusk. Phoebus — The sun. 344 GLOSSARY. Pholad — A genus of mollusks boring rocks and clay. Photosphere — The luminous envelope of the sun. Phyllaries — Bracts forming an involucre. Phylloiaxy — The science of leaf-arrangement on the stems of plants. Pihahiroih — The third encampment of Israel in Egypt. Pintadine — The mother-pearl. Piihoni — A store-city in eastern Lower Egypt. Placental — Animals having a placenta. Placoderm — A bony-plated fish of the Devonian age. Placoid — A fish with enameled plates for scales. Pleiads — A group of seven stars in the constellation Taurus. Pleiosaur — A fossil-swimming saurian. Pleroma — The Plenitude of the Godhead: "fulness" — John i., 16 ; Col. ii., 9 ; Eph. i., 23. — The Creative Mind in Nature ; — The Second Person of the Trinity. Plerome — The potence, or fulness, of a seed, or bud, or egg. Plethoric — Overfull — overloaded. Plumule — The growing point of young plants and buds. Plutonian — Relating to unstratified, crystalline rocks. Pollenius — Personification of the anthers of flowers. Polypides — Houses, or hives, of coral polyps. Polyzoa — Lowest order of mollusks ; many animals united. Pretiominate — To forename. Presto — Suddenly. Primordial — Pertaining to the lowest geological period. Prognostic — A prediction, — a foretelling. Proleptic — Seen before, by anticipation. Proplasmic — The earliest moulds of living organisms. Proteacea: — Flowering shrubs, natives of Australia and South Africa. Protozoan — A rhizopod — a sponge, etc. ' ' Psyches " — The personification of the mental principle in man. Psychic — Relating to the living principle in man. Plah — Chief god of Memphis — the divine architect. Pteropod — A wing-footed mollusk. Puissant — Mighty, powerful, Purlieus — The outer portions, the environs. Ptirpurce — Mollusks with a violet-colored fluid. Pyrosoma — A mollusk emitting brilliant phosphorescent light. Quadrifurcate — Four-branching. GLOSSARY. 345 Quaternary — A modern geological epoch. Quintuple — In fives. Ra — The sun, represented by Egyptians as a hawk-headed man. Ragnarok — The darkness of the gods — a day of doom. Rama — One of the cities of Benjamin. Rehoboam — The son and successor of Solomon. Rehobolh — Genesis xxvi., 22. Rhizopods — Protozoa with fibre-like processes through pores in the shell. Rig- Veda — The books of sacred hymns among the Hindus. Rimmon — A deity worshipped by the Syrians of Damascus. Rorqual — A species of whale. Rosh — A poisonous plant. Roleria — Crustaceans moving by means of cilia about the head. Ruminants — Animals that chew the cud. Sacrosanct — Sacred, inviolable. Sargon — The Assyrian monarch that deported Samaria, 722 B.C. Sauroids — Resembling lizards. Savannas — Grassy plains destitute of trees. Seba — Probably in the Upper Nile. Secular — Pertaining to an age, or a long period. Semitic — Pertaining to the descendants of Shem. Septenate — In octaves of seven, the rhythm of natural forces. Seraphim — Angels of knowledge. Sesostris — King Rameses of the Exodus. Sessile — Issuing directly from the stalk, Shavek — Gen. xiv. Shang Ti — A Divine name among Chinese. Shemiie — A descendant of Shem, Shich plant — Used in incantation. Shamgar — Son of Anath, judge of Israel before Barak. Shumir — Lower Chaldea. Siddim — Same as Sodom. Sigillards — Large fossil trees marked in regular notches. Signatures — Marks by which the mystic virtues of things are divined. Silurian — The earliest Paleozoic age. Similitudes — Correspondences between the natural and supernatural worlds. Sin — The southeastern part of the Peninsula of Sinai. 346 GLOSSARY. Sinuous — Winding. Sippara — A Chaldean city on the Euphrates. Skittle balls — Discs for throwing at ninepins. Somme — A valley in France rich in fossil remains. Sprunl — Spread like a male turkey. Stipule — An appendage at the base of leaves. Succoth — Jacob built booths (succoth) here and tarried. Syenite — A crystalline rock composed of quartz, hornblende, and feld- spar. Sybarite — A person devoted to luxury and pleasure. Synoptical — Affording a general view of the whole. Tabid — Emaciated, wasted away. Talisman — A magical figure to which wonderful effects are ascribed, Tartessan — A mountain district in ancient Spain. Tekoan — A town in the tribe of Judah near Hebron. Tentacle — An organ of feeling and motion among polyps. Tephillim — Frontlets ; phylacteries. Teredo — A boring mollusk ; used figuratively for a coal-miner. Tessarene — Coined from tessara — four ; to denote a group of four. Tests — Shells. Theanthropic — Partaking both of divinity and humanity. Tholoformic — Roof-shaped. Thoth — A moon-god ; head of an Ibis — (Egyptian). Tillodon — (Marsh) — Has head of a bear and incisors of a rodent. Torus — The receptacle on which the carpels of flowers stand. Tragacanth — A resinous plant. Trigon — A trine of planets, making a figure of three sides. Trilobite — A fossil crustacean. Troll — A supernatural being inhabiting caves. Tubularia — Having horny tubes. Tunicata — Mollusks wearing a tunic, or envelope. Ttiran — Ancient home of the Turanians in Central Asia. Typhon — The Egyptian god of evil (Set). Ungulate — A hoofed quadruped. Urania— The heavens ;— The Mother of the Sun or Electron, Uri — The father of Bezaleel, architect of the Tabernacle. Uru — A great city near the mouth of the Euphrates. Uz — The grandson of Shem ; the country also of Job. Uzziah — A son of Amaziah, king of Judah. GLOSSARY. 34/ Varuna — The all-enveloping heaven — a Vedic deity. Vascular — Consisting of vessels — as lichens, sea-weeds. Valvate — Having a valve or valves. " Vegetce " — Personification of the vegetable principle in Nature. Vedic — Belonging to the Vedas. Volzias — Abundant in the Triassic age. Wassail — A festive liquor. Wombat —A. marsupial of the opossum family. Xylan — Woody fibre. Zaphnath paaneah — " Preserver of the age " — name given to Joseph Zarathustra — A form of spelling Zoroaster. Zalmanna — One of two kings of Midian captured by Gideon. Zeba — One of two kings of Midian who fell by the hand of Gideon, Zephalh — A Canaanitish town afterwards called Hormah. Zeus — The supreme god of the sky, among Greeks and Romans. Zidon — or Sidon — An ancient and wealthy city of Phoenicia. Zimri — A Simeonite chieftain slain by Phineas. Zoophytes — Polyps branching like plants and resembling flowers, v '- '■ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ■liiiiffiini 016 211 656 3 mil ■■ WEmmi