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- 32
- u80ici1.11hLIBER LXV
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- I
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- 1. I am the Heart; and the Snake is entwined
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- About the invisible core of the mind.
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- Rise, O my snake! It is now is the hour
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- Of the hooded and holy ineffable flower.
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- Rise, O my snake, into brilliance of bloom
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- On the corpse of Osiris afloat in the tomb!
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- O heart of my mother, my sister, mine own,
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- Thou art given to Nile, to the terror Typhon!
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- Ah me! but the glory of ravening storm
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- Enswathes thee and wraps thee in frenzy of form.
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- Be still, O my soul! that the spell may dissolve
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- As the wands are upraised, and the aeons revolve.
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- Behold! in my beauty how joyous Thou art,
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- O Snake that caresses the crown of mine heart!
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- Behold! we are one, and the tempest of years
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- Goes down to the dusk, and the Beetle appears.
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- O Beetle! the drone of Thy dolorous note
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- Be ever the trance of this tremulous throat!
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- I await the awaking! The summons on high
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- From the Lord Adonai, from the Lord Adonai!
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- 2. Adonai spake unto V.V.V.V.V., saying: There must ever be division in the
- word.
-
- 3. For the colours are many, but the light is one.
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- 4. Therefore thou writest that which is of mother of emerald, and of lapis-
- lazuli, and of turquoise, and of alexandrite.
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- 5. Another writeth the words of topaz, and of deep amethyst, and of gray
- sapphire, and of deep sapphire with a tinge as of blood.
- 6. Therefore do ye fret yourselves because of this.
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- 7. Be not contented with the image.
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- 8. I who am the Image of an Image say this.
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- 9. Debate not of the image, saying Beyond! Beyond!
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- One mounteth unto the Crown by the moon and by the Sun, and by the
- arrow, and by the Foundation, and by the dark home of the stars from the black
- earth.
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- 10. Not otherwise may ye reach unto the Smooth Point.
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- 11. Nor is it fitting for the cobbler to prate of the Royal matter. O
- cobbler! mend me this shoe, that I may walk. O king! if I be thy son, let us
- speak of the Embassy to the King thy Brother.
-
- 12. Then was there silence. Speech had done with us awhile.
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- There is a light so strenuous that it is not perceived as light.
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- 13. Wolf 's bane is not so sharp as steel; yet it pierceth the body more
- subtly.
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- 14. Even as evil kisses corrupt the blood, so do my words devour the spirit
- of man.
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- 15. I breathe, and there is infinite dis-ease in the spirit.
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- 16. As an acid eats into steel, as a cancer that utterly corrupts the body;
- so am I unto the spirit of man.
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- 17. I shall not rest until I have dissolved it all.
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- 18. So also the light that is absorbed. One absorbs little and is called
- white and glistening; one absorbs all and is called black.
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- 19. Therefore, O my darling, art thou black.
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- 20. O my beautiful, I have likened thee to a jet Nubian slave, a boy of
- melancholy eyes.
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- 21. O the filthy one! the dog! they cry against thee.
-
- Because thou art my beloved.
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- 22. Happy are they that praise thee; for they see thee with Mine eyes.
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- 23. Not aloud shall they praise thee; but in the night watch one shall steal
- close, and grip thee with the secret grip; another shall privily cast a crown
- of violets over thee; a third shall greatly dare, and press mad lips to thine.
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- 24. Yea! the night shall cover all, the night shall cover all.
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- 25. Thou wast long seeking Me; thou didst run forward so fast that I was
- unable to come up with thee.
- O thou darling fool! what bitterness thou didst crown thy days
- withal.
-
- 26. Now I am with thee; I will never leave thy being.
-
- 27. For I am the soft sinuous one entwined about thee, heart of gold!
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- 28. My head is jewelled with twelve stars; My body is white as milk of the
- stars; it is bright with the blue of the abyss of stars invisible.
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- 29. I have found that which could not be found; I have found a vessel of
- quicksilver.
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- 30. Thou shalt instruct thy servant in his ways, thou shalt speak often with
- him.
-
- 31. (The scribe looketh upwards and crieth) Amen! Thou hast spoken it, Lord
- God!
-
- 32. Further Adonai spake unto V.V.V.V.V. and said:
-
- 33. Let us take our delight in the multitude of men!
-
- Let us shape unto ourselves a boat of mother-of-pearl from them, that
- we may ride upon the river of Amrit!
-
- 34. Thou seest yon petal of amaranth, blown by the wind from the low sweet
- brows of Hathor?
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- 35. (The Magister saw it and rejoiced in the beauty of it.) Listen!
-
- 36. (From a certain world came an infinite wail.)
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- That falling petal seemed to the little ones a wave to engulph their
- continent.
-
- 37. So they will reproach thy servant, saying: Who hath set thee to save us?
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- 38. He will be sore distressed.
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- 39. All they understand not that thou and I are fashioning a boat of mother-
- of-pearl. We will sail down the river of Amrit even to the yew-groves of
- Yama, where we may rejoice exceedingly.
-