A poem by Alistar Crowley (1875-1947)
To-night I tread the unsubstantial way
That looms before me, as the thundering night
Falls on the ocean: I must stop, and pray
One little prayer, and then; what bitter fight
Flames at the end beyond the darkling goal?
These are my passions that my feet must read;
This is my sword, the fervour of my soul;
This is my Will, the crown upon my head.
For see! the darkness beckons: I have gone,
Before this terrible hour, towards the gloom,
Braved the wild dragon, called the tiger on
With whirling cries of pride, sought out the tomb
Where lurking vampires battened, and my steel
Has wrought its splendour through the gates of death
My courage did not falter: now I feel
My heart beat wave-wise, and my throat catch breath
As if I choked; some horror creeps between
The spirit of my will and its desire,
Some just reluctance to the Great Unseen
That coils its nameless terrors, and its dire
Fear round my heart; a devil cold as ice
Breathes somewhere, for I feel his shudder take
My veins: some deadlier asp or cockatrice
Slimes in my senses: I am half awake,
Half automatic, as I move along
Wrapped in a cloud of blackness deep as hell,
Hearing afar some half-forgotten song
As of disruption; yet strange glories dwell
Above my head, as if a sword of light,
Rayed of the very Dawn, would strike within
The limitations of this deadly night
That folds me for the sign of death and sin –
O Light! descend! My feet move vaguely on
In this amazing darkness, in the gloom
That I can touch with trembling sense. There shone
Once, in my misty memory, in the womb
Of some unformulated thought, the flame
And smoke of mighty pillars; yet my mind
Is clouded with the horror of this same
Path of the wise men: for my soul is blind
Yet: and the foemen I have never feared
I could not see (if such should cross the way),
And therefore I am strange: my soul is seared
With desolation of the blinding day
I have come out from: yes, that fearful light
Was not the Sun: my life has been the death,
This death may be the life: my spirit sight
Knows that at last, at least. My doubtful breath
Is breathing in a nobler air; I know,
I know it in my soul, despite of this,
The clinging darkness of the Long Ago,
Cruel as death, and closer than a kiss,
This horror of great darkness. I am come
Into this darkness to attain the light:
To gain my voice I make myself as dumb:
That I may see I close my outer sight:
So, I am here. My brows are bent in prayer:
I kneel already in the Gates of Dawn;
And I am come, albeit unaware,
To the deep sanctuary: my hope is drawn
From wells profounder than the very sea.
Yea, I am come, where least I guessed it so,
Into the very Presence of the Three
That Are beyond all Gods. And now I know
What spiritual Light is drawing me
Up to its stooping splendour. In my soul
I feel the Spring, the all-devouring Dawn,
Rush with my Rising. There, beyond the goal,
The Veil is rent!
Yes: let the veil be drawn.
A few random poems:
- Pensive and Faltering. by Walt Whitman
- Владимир Корнилов – Флейта в метро
- The First Lover
- Sonnet LV by William Shakespeare
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Дафнис подслушивает сов
- Someone Ate The Baby by Shel Silverstein
- Василий Курочкин – Двуглавый орел
- This we Have Now by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Владимир Высоцкий – Оплавляются свечи на старинный паркет
- Владимир Высоцкий – Расскажи, дорогой
- From: The Home We Will Never Live In That Place by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Ольга Берггольц – Она дарить любила
- English Poetry. Thomas Moore. From “Irish Melodies”. 22. Let Erin Remember the Days of Old. Томас Мур.
- Three Songs Of Zahir U Din
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Современная идиллия
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Fallen Majesty by William Butler Yeats
- Ephemera by William Butler Yeats
- Ego Dominus Tuus by William Butler Yeats
- Easter, 1916 by William Butler Yeats
- Down By The Salley Gardens by William Butler Yeats
- Demon And Beast by William Butler Yeats
- Dedication To A Book Of Stories Selected From The Irish Novelists by William Butler Yeats
- Death by William Butler Yeats
- Cuchulan’s Fight With The Sea by William Butler Yeats
- Cuchulain Comforted by William Butler Yeats
- Crazy Jane Talks With The Bishop by William Butler Yeats
- Crazy Jane Reproved by William Butler Yeats
- Crazy Jane On The Mountain by William Butler Yeats
- Crazy Jane On The Day Of Judgment by William Butler Yeats
- Crazy Jane On God by William Butler Yeats
- Crazy Jane Grown Old Looks At The Dancers by William Butler Yeats
- Crazy Jane And Jack The Journeyman by William Butler Yeats
- Coole Park, 1929 by William Butler Yeats
- Consolation by William Butler Yeats
- Come Gather Round Me, Parnellites by William Butler Yeats
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
