| ‘MORTALS, that behold a Woman | |
| Rising ’twixt the Moon and Sun; | |
| Who am I the heavens assume? an | |
| All am I, and I am one. | |
| |
| ‘Multitudinous ascend I, | 5 |
| Dreadful as a battle arrayed, | |
| For I bear you whither tend I; | |
| Ye are I: be undismayed! | |
| I, the Ark that for the graven | |
| Tables of the Law was made; | 10 |
| Man’s own heart was one; one, Heaven; | |
| Both within my womb were laid. | |
| For there Anteros with Eros, | |
| Heaven with man, conjoinèd was,— | |
| Twin-stone of the Law, Ischyros, | 15 |
| Agios Athanatos. | |
| |
| ‘I, the flesh-girt Paradises | |
| Gardenered by the Adam new, | |
| Daintied o’er with dear devices | |
| Which He loveth, for He grew. | 20 |
| I, the boundless strict savannah | |
| Which God’s leaping feet go through; | |
| I, the heaven whence the Manna, | |
| Weary Israel, slid on you! | |
| He the Anteros and Eros, | 25 |
| I the body, He the Cross; | |
| He upbeareth me, Ischyros, | |
| Agios Athanatos! | |
| |
| ‘I am Daniel’s mystic Mountain, | |
| Whence the mighty stone was rolled; | 30 |
| I am the four Rivers’ Fountain, | |
| Watering Paradise of old; | |
| Cloud down-raining the Just One am, | |
| Danae of the Shower of Gold; | |
| I the Hostel of the Sun am; | 35 |
| He the Lamb, and I the Fold. | |
| He the Anteros and Eros, | |
| I the body, He the Cross; | |
| He is fast to me, Ischyros, | |
| Agios Athanatos! | 40 |
| |
| ‘I, the presence-hall where Angels | |
| Do enwheel their placèd King— | |
| Even my thoughts which, without change else, | |
| Cyclic burn and cyclic sing. | |
| To the hollow of Heaven transplanted, | 45 |
| I a breathing Eden spring, | |
| Where with venom all outpanted | |
| Lies the slimed Curse shrivelling. | |
| For the brazen Serpent clear on | |
| That old fangèd knowledge shone; | 50 |
| I to Wisdom rise, Ischyron, | |
| Agion Athanaton! | |
| |
| ‘Then commanded and spake to me | |
| He who framed all things that be; | |
| And my Maker entered through me, | 55 |
| In my tent His rest took He. | |
| Lo! He standeth, Spouse and Brother, | |
| I to Him, and He to me, | |
| Who upraised me where my mother | |
| Fell, beneath the apple-tree. | 60 |
| Risen ’twixt Anteros and Eros, | |
| Blood and Water, Moon and Sun, | |
| He upbears me, He Ischyros, | |
| I bear Him, the Athanaton!’ | |
| |
| Where is laid the Lord arisen? | 65 |
| In the light we walk in gloom; | |
| Though the Sun has burst his prison, | |
| We know not his biding-room. | |
| Tell us where the Lord sojourneth, | |
| For we find an empty tomb. | 70 |
| ‘Whence He sprung, there He returneth, | |
| Mystic Sun,—the Virgin’s Womb.’ | |
| Hidden Sun, His beams so near us, | |
| Cloud enpillared as He was | |
| From of old, there He, Ischyros, | 75 |
| Waits our search, Athanatos. | |
| |
| ‘Who will give Him me for brother, | |
| Counted of my family, | |
| Sucking the sweet breasts of my Mother?— | |
| I His flesh, and mine is He; | 80 |
| To my Bread myself the bread is, | |
| And my Wine doth drink me: see, | |
| His left hand beneath my head is. | |
| His right hand embraceth me!’ | |
| Sweetest Anteros and Eros,’ | 85 |
| Lo, her arms He learns across; | |
| Dead that we die not, stooped to rear us, | |
| Thanatos Athanatos. | |
| Who is She, in candid vesture, | |
| Rushing up from out the brine? | 90 |
| Treading with resilient gesture | |
| Air, and with that Cup divine? | |
| She in us and we in her are, | |
| Beating Godward; all that pine, | |
| Lo, a wonder and a terror— | 95 |
| The Sun hath blushed the Sea to Wine! | |
| He the Anteros and Eros, | |
| She the Bride and Spirit; for | |
| Now the days of promise near us, | |
| And the Sea shall be no more. | 100 |
| |
| Open wide thy gates, O Virgin, | |
| That the King may enter thee! | |
| At all gates the clangours gurge in, | |
| God’s paludament lightens, see! | |
| Camp of Angels! Well we even | 105 |
| Of this thing may doubtful be,— | |
| If thou art assumed to Heaven, | |
| Or is Heaven assumed to thee! | |
| Consummatum. Christ the promised. | |
| Thy maiden realm, is won, O Strong! | 110 |
| Since to such sweet Kingdom comest, | |
| Remember me, poor Thief of Song! | |
| |
| Cadent fails the stars along:— | |
| Mortals, that behold a Woman | |
| Rising ’twixt the Moon and Sun; | 115 |
| Who am I the heavens assume? an | |
| All am I, and I am one. | |
