Jerusalem. The Emanation of the Giant Albion/Plate 22

Albion thy fear has made me tremble; thy terrors have surrounded me Thy Sons have naild me on the Gates piercing my hands & feet: Till Skofields Nimrod the mighty Huntsman Jehovah came, With Cush his Son & took me down. He in a golden Ark, Bears me before his Armies tho my shadow hovers here The flesh of multitudes fed & nouris[h]d me in my childhood My morn & evening food were prepard in Battles of Men Great is the cry of the Hounds of Nimrod along the Valley Of Vision, they scent the odor of War in the Valley of Vision. All Love is lost! terror succeeds & Hatred instead of Love And stern demands of Right & Duty instead of Liberty Once thou wast to me the loveliest Son of heaven; but now Where shall I hide from thy dread countenance & searching eyes I have looked into the secret Soul of him I loved And in the dark recesses found Sin & can never return. Albion again utterd his voice beneath the silent Moon

I brought Love into light of day to pride in chaste beauty I brought Love into light & fancied Innocence is no more

Then spoke Jerusalem O Albion! my Father Albion Why wilt thou number every little fibre of my Soul Spreading them out before the Sun like stalks of flax to dry? The Infant Joy is beautiful, but its anatomy Horrible ghast & deadly! nought shalt thou find in it But dark despair & everlasting brooding melancholy!

Then Albion turnd his face toward Jerusalem & spoke

Hide thou Jerusalem in impalpable voidness, not to be Touchd by the hand nor seen with the eye: O Jerusalem Would thou wert not & that thy place might never be found But come O Vala with knife & cup: drain my blood To the last drop! then hide me in thy Scarlet Tabernacle For I see Luvah whom I slew. I behold him in my Spectre As I behold Jerusalem in thee O Vala dark and cold

Jerusalem then stretchd her hand toward the Moon & spoke Why should Punishment Weave the Veil with Iron Wheels of War When Forgiveness might it Weave with Wings of Cherubim Loud groand Albion from mountain to mountain & replied