THE SONG
OF PRAISES
[Tau] XXXII [Saturn]
Thine is the Sign of the End, Being fulfilled
Sum of existences:
Thine is the ultimate Door opened on Night's
unuttered mystery:
Thine, the first hesitant step into the dark
of those but latterly
Born to the Labyrinth!
[Shin] XXXI [Fire]
Shining O Fire in thy strength, laughing in flames
rushing to heavenward,
Sharp is thy tooth to devour all things of earth,
all things transmutable,
Winning them into thine own force incorrupt,
turning them hiddenly
Back to their principles!
[Resh] XXX [Sol]
Rise in thy splendour, O King! -- glorious brow,
gaze on thy governance
Gladdening all who behold! Soaring as song,
rule and illuminate:
Crysoleth gleaming thy crown, rise and inspire,
Lion-gold, Falcon-flight,
Joyous, ambrosial!
[Qoph] XXIX [Pisces]
Quietly under the Moon vanishes Day's
vaunted autonomy:
Softly the voices of Night sound at our gates,
stir from oblivion
Calling for sacrifice! Lo, children are we
all of one parentage:
Go we with thanksgiving!
[Tzaddi] XXVIII [Aquarius]
Tzaphqiel, Bright one beyond veils of the night!
Envoy and countenance
Thou of the Mother, all hail! Thine is that far
fortress of radiance
Lightning the drouth of our way: fountain of hope,
water celestial
Deathless our thirst for it!
[Peh] XXVII [Mars]
Play of the Breath and the Word, Life and the Law,
counterchange intricate
Weaving the ground of our days: this is our strength,
this is our jeopardy.
Spirit oracular, tell: knowledge and love,
will they keep unity
Or, opposed, shatter us?
[Ayin] XXVI [Capricorn]
Out of the wellspring of forms filling the wide
spheres with its fashionings
Myriad images rise, wild or serene,
fleshly, ethereal:
Hail, O thou Eye that hast seen all things that are,
Knowledge to gaze on them
Blessing their goodliness!
[Samekh] XXV [Saggittarius]
Stone of the Patriarch's dream, pillow austere
couchin the wanderer
While between heaven and earth glorious Shapes
came and went ceaselessly:
Hail to thee, Gate of the Worlds, column unhewn
set for memorial
Pointing the Arrow-road!
[Nun] XXIV [Scorpio]
Nearest the heart of the seas watches the Fish,
shimmering, nacreous,
Moving with pulse of the tides, gliding far down
under their turbulence,
Crossing the fathomless caves, threading the lost
hulls of the argosies--
Shadow inscrutable!
[Mem] XXIII [Water]
Mother of waters progound, dark are thy halls,
bitter thy fragrances:
Voices of love and of awe call thee: arise,
leave thou thy sorrowing!
Robe thee in web of the waves, Mother of Life,
robe thee in radiance,
Sing of thy Mysteries!
[Lamed] XXII [Libra]
Lash of the Winds be thou named, waking the storm,
stirring the hurricane,
Flailing the forests, the plaints, stripping the dead
leafage of yesteryear,
Sweeping the summer's decay! Dance and exult,
beauty invisible,
Terrible innocence!
[Kaph] XXI [Jupiter]
Cup that receives and betows, generous palm
garnering, scattering,
Thine are the bountiful rains, thine is the fount
purpled and perilous:
Thine is dominion to cast down to the pit,
thine to give sanctuary--
Yea, to give liberty!
[Yod] XX [Virgo]
Youth everllasting art thou, timeless as light
going forth silently,
Prince of the ripening grain, hand that creates,
changes and fecundates,
Touching the stars that they blaze, touching the vast
whorls of the nebulae,
Siring forth galaxies!
[Tetch] XIX [Leo]
Twelve are the boundary-signs framing the bright
dragon celestial,
Theli or Ouroboros, circling the world,
serpentine, leonine:
Thee whom the Thunderer strove vainly to move,
mighty one, shining one:
Thine be all reverance!
[Cheth] XVIII [Cancer]
Chaos is close at our gates: sure be the wall,
strong be the citadel!
Now by adversity's fire wrought to endure,
be thou our champion:
Be thou our shield of defence till, at the last,
Tumult shall comprehend
Harmony manifest!
[Zayin] XVII [Gemini]
Zephyr, or Boreas wild: which is thy breath,
what is thy purposing?
Storm-flash or clear morning-rise, under what guise
hail we thy countenance?
Twain are the serpents fo power, twain the august
Thummim of prophecy:
Twofold thy praises be!
[Vav] XVI [Taurus]
Votary steadfast as stone, ardent as flame,
stanchion of unity,
Kin to that spirit divine fixed in the sun,
self-spending, bountiful
Life of the fosterling words! So standest thou,
pontifex-sacrifice,
Changeless fidelity!
[Heh] XV [Aries]
High and victorious, hail! Scarlet-bedraped
windows are thronged for thee,
Thee to behold, who behold'st but to achieve,
victor who conquerest
But to make whole, to fulfil: judge who sees truth!
Hail, thou whose gonfanon
Leads the year's pageantry!
[Daleth] XIV [Venus]
Doorway of vision fulfilled, bringer of dreams
forth to adventuring,
Sacred to thee are the red portals of dawn,
sacred the emerald
Gates of the jubilant spring, Mother of deeds
manifest, multiform --
Mother of destiny!
[Gimel] XIII [Luna]
Grace of the glimmering night, beautiful pale
camel thou journeyest
Comely with bridle of pearl, cloth of most fair
silver caparisoned:
Tracing the trackless abodes, knowing all times,
knowing the numberless
Seeds of the firmament!
[Beth] XII [Mercury]
Bearing thy truth in thy heart, opal-fire sealed
deep and inviolate,
Over the seven-hued bridge pass to the worlds,
share in their variance,
Hail to the voice of thy power, speaking all tongues,
many in purposes,
One in divinity!
[Aleph] XI [Air]
Ally of harbourless air, primrose-pale child,
shadow-lord azurine,
Whirling the mill of the spheres, circling their course,
tracing their vortices,
Bright as chalcedony, forth flashing then sped,
fervid as galbanum,
Hail, breath of origin!