Page:The prophetic books of William Blake, Milton.djvu/74

 I will have writings written all over it in Human Words,

That every Infant that is born upon the Earth shall read

And get by rote as a hard task of a life of sixty years.

I will have Kings inwoven upon it, & Councellors & Mighty Men:

The Famine shall clasp it together with buckles & Clasps,

And the Pestilence shall be its fringe & the War its girdle,

To divide into Rahab & Tirzah that Milton may come to our tents.

For I will put on the Human Form & take the Image of God,

Even Pity & Humanity, but my Clothing shall be Cruelty:

And I will put on Holiness as a breastplate & as a helmet,

And all my ornaments shall be of the gold of broken hearts,

And the precious stones of anxiety & care & desperation & death

And repentance for sin & sorrow & punishment & fear,

To defend me from thy terrors, O Orc! my only beloved!

Orc answer'd: Take not the Human Form, O loveliest, Take not

Terror upon thee! Behold how I am, & tremble lest thou also

Consume in my Consummation: but thou maist take a Form

Female & lovely, that cannot consume in Man's consummation.

Wherefore dost thou Create & Weave this Satan for a Covering?

When thou attemptest to put on the Human Form, my wrath

Burns to the top of heaven against thee in Jealousy & Fear.

Then I rend thee asunder, then I howl over thy clay & ashes.

When wilt thou put on the Female Form as in times of old,

With a Garment of Pity & Compassion like the Garment of God?

His Garments are long sufferings for the Children of Men,

Jerusalem is his Garment & not thy Covering Cherub, O lovely

Shadow of my delight, who wanderest seeking for the prey.

So spoke Orc, when Oothoon & Leutha hover'd over his Couch

Of fire in interchange of Beauty & Perfection in the darkness.

Opening interiorly into Jerusalem & Babylon shining glorious,

In the Shadowy Female's bosom Jealous her darkness grew:

Howlings fill'd all the desolate places in accusations of Sin,

In Female beauty shining in the unform'd void, & Orc in vain

Stretch'd out his hands of fire, & wooed: they triumph in his pain.

Thus darken'd the Shadowy Female tenfold, & Orc tenfold

Glow'd on his rocky Couch against the darkness: loud thunders

Told of the enormous conflict, Earthquake beneath, around,

Rent the Immortal Females, limb from limb & joint from joint, 50