Vala, or The Four Zoas/Night the Sixth

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So Urizen arose & leaning on his Spear explord his dens He threw his flight thro the dark air to where a river flowd And taking off his silver helmet filled it & drank But when Unsatiated his thirst he assayd to gather more Lo three terrific women at the verge of the bright flood Who would not suffer him to approach. but drove him back with storms Urizen knew them not & thus addressd the spirits of darkness Who art thou Eldest Woman sitting in thy clouds What is that name written on thy forehead? what art thou? And wherefore dost thou pour this water forth in sighs & care She answerd not but filld her urn & pourd it forth abroad Answerest thou not said Urizen. then thou maist answer me Thou terrible woman clad in blue, whose strong attractive power Draws all into a fountain at the rock of thy attraction With frowning brow thou sittest mistress of these mighty waters She answerd not but stretchd her arms & threw her limbs abroad Or wilt thou answer youngest Woman clad in shining greent With labour & care thou dost divide the current into fourt Queen of these dreadful rivers speak & let me hear thy voice

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They reard up a wall of rocks and Urizen raisd his spear. They gave a scream, they knew their father Urizen knew his daughters They shrunk into their channels. dry the rocky strand beneath his feet Hiding themselves in rocky forms from the Eyes of Urizen Then Urizen wept & thus his lamentation poured forth O horrible O dreadful state! those whom I loved best On whom I pourd the beauties of my light adorning them With jewels & precious ornament labourd with art divine Vests of the radiant colours of heaven & crowns of golden fire I gave sweet lillies to their breasts & roses to their hair I taught them songs of sweet delight, I gave their tender voices Into the blue expanse & I invented with laborious art Sweet instruments of sound. in pride encompassing my Knees They pourd their radiance above all. the daughters of Luvah Envied At their exceeding brightness & the sons of eternity sent them gifts Now will I pour my fury on them & I will reverse The precious benediction. for their colours of loveliness I will give blackness for jewels hoary frost for ornament deformity For crowns wreathd Serpents for sweet odors stinking corruptibility For voices of delight hoarse croakings inarticulate thro frost For labourd fatherly care & sweet instruction. I will give Chains of dark ignorance & cords of twisted self conceit And whips of stern repentance & food of stubborn obstinacy That they may curse Tharmas their God & Los his adopted son That they may curse & worship the obscure Demon of destruction That they may worship terrors & obey the violent Go forth sons of my curse Go forth daughters of my abhorrence Tharmas heard the deadly scream across his watry world And Urizens loud sounding voice lamenting on the wind And he came riding in his fury. froze to solid were his waves

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Silent in ridges he beheld them stand round Urizen A dreary waste of solid waters for the King of Light Darkend his brows with his cold helmet & his gloomy spear Darkend before him. Silent on the ridgy waves he took His gloomy way before him Tharmas fled & flying fought Crying. What & who art thou Cold Demon. art thou Urizen Art thou like me risen again from death or art thou deathless If thou art he my desperate purpose hear & give me death For death to me is better far than life. death my desire That I in vain in various paths have sought but still I live The Body of Man is given to me I seek in vain to destroy For still it surges forth in fish & monsters of the deeps And in these monstrous forms I Live in an Eternal woet And thou O Urizen art falln never to be deliverd Withhold thy light from me for ever & I will withhold From thee thy food so shall we cease to be & all our sorrows End & the Eternal Man no more renew beneath our power If thou refusest in eternal flight thy beams in vain Shall pursue Tharmas & in vain shalt crave for food I will Pour down my flight thro dark immensity Eternal falling Thou shalt pursue me but in vain till starvd upon the void Thou hangst a dried skin shrunk up weak wailing in the wind So Tharmas spoke but Urizen replied not. On his way He took. high bounding over hills & desarts floods & horrible chasms Infinite was his labour without end his travel he strove In vain for hideous monsters of the deeps annoyd him sore Scaled & finnd with iron & brass they devourd the path before him Incessant was the conflict. On he bent his weary steps Making a path toward the dark world of Urthona. he rose With pain upon the dreary mountains & with pain descended And saw their grizly fears & his eyes sickend at the sight The howlings gnashings groanings shriekings shudderings sobbings burstings Mingle together to create a world for Los. In cruel delight

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Los brooded on the darkness. nor saw Urizen with a Globe of fire Lighting his dismal journey thro the pathless world of death Writing in bitter tears & groans in books of iron & brass The enormous wonders of the Abysses once his brightest joy For Urizen beheld the terrors of the Abyss wandring among The ruind spirits once his children & the children of Luvah Scard at the sound of their own sigh that seems to shake the immense They wander Moping in their heart a Sun a Dreary moon A Universe of fiery constellations in their brain An Earth of wintry woe beneath their feet & round their loinst Waters or winds or clouds or brooding lightnings & pestilential plagues Beyond the bounds of their own self their senses cannot penetrate As the tree knows not what is outside of its leaves & bark And yet it drinks the summer joy & fears the winter sorrow So in the regions of the grave none knows his dark compeer Tho he partakes of his dire woes & mutual returns the pang The throb the dolor the convulsion in soul sickening woes The horrid shapes & sights of torment in burning dungeons & in Fetters of red hot iron some with crowns of serpents & some With monsters girding round their bosoms, Some lying on beds of sulphur On racks & wheels he beheld women marching oer burning wastes Of Sand in bands of hundreds & of fifties & of thousands strucken with Lightnings which blazed after them upon their shoulders in their march In successive vollies with loud thunders swift flew the King of Light Over the burning desarts Then the desarts passd. involvd in clouds Of smoke with myriads moping in the stifling vapours. Swift Flew the King tho flagd his powers labring. till over rocks And Mountains faint weary he wanderd. where multitudes were shut Up in the solid mountains & in rocks which heaved with their torments Then came he among fiery cities & castles built of burning steel Then he beheld the forms of tygers & of Lions dishumanizd men Many in serpents & in worms stretchd out enormous length Over the sullen mould & slimy tracks obstruct his way Drawn out from deep to deep woven by ribbd And scaled monsters or armd in iron shell or shell of brass Or gold a glittering torment shining & hissing in eternal pain Some [as] columns of fire or of water sometimes stretchd out in heighth Sometimes in length sometimes englobing wandering in vain seeking for easet His voice to them was but an inarticulate thunder for their Ears Were heavy & dull & their eyes & nostrils closed up Oft he stood by a howling victim Questioning in words Soothing or Furious no one answerd every one wrapd up In his own sorrow howld regardless of his words, nor voice Of sweet response could he obtain tho oft assayd with tears He knew they were his Children ruind in his ruind world

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Oft would he stand & question a fierce scorpion glowing with gold In vain the terror heard not. then a lion he would Sieze By the fierce mane staying his howling course in vain the voicet Of Urizen vain the Eloquent tongue. A Rock a Cloud a Mountain Were now not Vocal as in Climes of happy Eternity Where the lamb replies to the infant voice & the lion to the man of years Giving them sweet instructions Where the Cloud the River & the Field Talk with the husbandman & shepherd. But these attackd him sore Siezing upon his feet & rending the Sinews that in Caves He hid to recure his obstructed powers with rest & oblivion

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Here he had time enough to repent of his rashly threatend curse He saw them cursd beyond his Curse his soul melted with fear

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He could not take their fetters off for they grew from the soul Nor could he quench the fires for they flamd out from the heart Nor could he calm the Elements because himself was Subject So he threw his flight in terror & pain & in repentant tears When he had passd these southern terrors he approachd the East Void pathless beaten With iron sleet & eternal hail & raint No form was there no living thing & yet his way lay thro This dismal world. he stood a while & lookd back oer his former Terrific voyage. Hills & Vales of torment & despair Sighing & Wiping a fresh tear. then turning round he threw Himself into the dismal void. falling he fell & fell Whirling in unresistible revolutions down & down In the horrid bottomless vacuity falling failing falling Into the Eastern vacuity the empty world of Luvah The ever pitying one who seeth all things saw his fall And in the dark vacuity created a bosom of clayt When wearied dead he fell his limbs reposd in the bosom of slime As the seed falls from the sowers hand so Urizen fell & death Shut up his powers in oblivion. then as the seed shoots forth In pain & sorrow. So the slimy bed his limbs renewd At first an infant weakness. periods passd he gatherd strength But still in solitude he sat then rising threw his flight Onward tho falling thro the waste of night & ending in death And in another resurrection to sorrow & weary travel But still his books he bore in his strong hands & his iron pen For when he died they lay beside his grave & when he rose He siezd them with a gloomy smile for wrapd in his death clothes He hid them when he slept in death when he revivd the clothes Were rotted by the winds the books remaind still unconsumd Still to be written & interleavd with brass & iron & gold Time after time for such a journey none but iron pens Can write And adamantine leaves recieve nor can the man who goes

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The journey obstinate refuse to write time after time Endless had been his travel but the Divine hand him led For infinite the distance & obscurd by Combustions dire By rocky masses frowning in the abysses revolving erratic Round Lakes of fire in the dark deep the ruins of Urizens world	5 Oft would he sit in a dark rift & regulate his books Or sleep such sleep as spirits eternal wearied in his dark Tearful & sorrowful state. then rise look out & ponder His dismal voyage eyeing the next sphere tho far remote Then darting into the Abyss of night his venturous limbs Thro lightnings thunders earthquakes & concussions fires & floods Stemming his downward fall labouring up against futurity Creating many a Vortex fixing many a Science in the deep And thence throwing his venturous limbs into the Vast unknown Swift Swift from Chaos to chaos from void to void a road immense For when he came to where a Vortex ceasd to operate Nor down nor up remaind then if he turnd & lookd back From whence he came twas upward all. & if he turnd and viewd The unpassd void upward was still his mighty wandring The midst between an Equilibrium grey of air serene Where he might live in peace & where his life might meet repose But Urizen said Can I not leave this world of Cumbrous wheels Circle oer Circle nor on high attain a void Where self sustaining I may view all things beneath my feet Or sinking thro these Elemental wonders swift to fall I thought perhaps to find an End a world beneath of voidness Whence I might travel round the outside of this Dark confusion When I bend downward bending my bead downward into the deep Tis upward all which way soever I my course begin But when A Vortex formd on high by labour & sorrow & care And weariness begins on all my limbs then sleep revives My wearied spirits waking then tis downward all which way So ever I my spirits turn no end I find of all O what a world is here unlike those climes of bliss Where my sons gatherd round my knees O thou poor ruind world Thou horrible ruin once like me thou wast all glorious And now like me partaking desolate thy masters lot Art thou O ruin the once glorious heaven are these thy rocks Where joy sang in the trees & pleasure sported on the rivers

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And laughter sat beneath the Oaks & innocence sported round Upon the green plains & sweet friendship met in palaces And books & instruments of song & pictures of delight Where are they whelmd beneath these ruins in horrible destruction And if Eternal falling I repose on the dark bosom Of winds & waters or thence fall into a Void where air Is not down falling thro immensity ever & ever I lose my powers weakend every revolution till a death Shuts up my powers then a seed in the vast womb of darkness I dwell in dim oblivion. brooding over me the Enormous worlds Reorganize me shooting forth in bones & flesh & blood I am regenerated to fall or rise at will or to remain A labourer of ages a dire discontent a living woe Wandring in vain. Here will I fix my foot & here rebuild Here Mountains of Brass promise much riches in their dreadful bosoms So he began to dig form[ing] of gold silver & iron And brass vast instruments to measure out the immense & fix The whole into another world better suited to obey His will where none should dare oppose his will himself being King Of All & all futurity be bound in his vast chain And the Sciences were fixd & the Vortexes began to operate On all the sons of men & every human soul terrified At the turning wheels of heaven shrunk away inward withring away Gaining a New Dominion over all his sons & Daughters & over the Sons & daughters of Luvah in the horrible Abyss For Urizen lamented over them in a selfish lamentation Till a white woof coverd his cold limbs from head to feet Hair white as snow coverd him in flaky locks terrific Overspreading his limbs. in pride he wanderd weeping Clothed in aged venerableness obstinately resolvd Travelling thro darkness & whereever he traveld a dire Web Followd behind him as the Web of a Spider dusky & cold Shivering across from Vortex to Vortex drawn out from his mantle of years A living Mantle adjoind to his life & growing from his Soul And the Web of Urizen stre[t]chd direful shivring in clouds And uttering such woes such bursts such thunderings The eyelids expansive as morning & the Ears As a golden ascent winding round to the heavens of heavens Within the dark horrors of the Abysses lion or tyger or scorpion

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For every one opend within into Eternity at will But they refusd because their outward forms were in the Abyss And the wing like tent of the Universe beautiful surrounding all Or drawn up or let down at the will of the immortal man Vibrated in such anguish the eyelids quiverd Weak & Weaker their expansive orbs began shrinking Pangs smote thro the brain & a universal shriek Ran thro the Abysses rending the web torment on torment Thus Urizen in sorrows wanderd many a dreary way Warring with monsters of the Deeps in his most hideous pilgrimage Till his bright hair scatterd in snows his skin barkd oer with wrinkles Four Caverns rooting downwards their foundations thrusting forth The metal rock & stone in ever painful throes of vegetation The Cave of Orc stood to the South a furnace of dire flames Quenchless unceasing. In the west the Cave of Urizen For Urizen fell as the Midday sun falls down into the West North stood Urthonas stedfast throne a World of Solid darkness Shut up in stifling obstruction rooted in dumb despair The East was Void. But Tharmas rolld his billows in ceaseless eddies Void pathless beat with Snows eternal & iron hail & raint All thro the caverns of fire & air & Earth, Seeking For Enions limbs nought finding but the black sea weed & sickning slime Flying away from Urizen that he might not give him food Above beneath on all sides round in the vast deep of immensity That he might starve the sons & daughters of Urizen on the winds Making between horrible chasms into the vast unknown All these around the world of Los cast forth their monstrous births But in Eternal times the Seat of Urizen is in the South Urthona in the North Luvah in East Tharmas in West And now he came into the Abhorred world of Dark Urthona By Providence divine conducted not bent from his own will Lest death Eternal should be the result for the Will cannot be violated Into the doleful vales where no tree grew nor river flowd Nor man nor beast nor creeping thing nor sun nor cloud nor star Still he with his globe of fire immense in his venturous hand Bore on thro the Affrighted vales ascending & descending Oerwearied or in cumbrous flight he venturd oer dark rifts Or down dark precipices or climbd with pain and labour huge Till he beheld the world of Los from the Peaked rock of Urthona And heard the howling of red Orc distincter & distincter	40

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Redoubling his immortal efforts thro the narrow vales With difficulty down descending guided by his Ear And by his globe of fire he went down the Vale of Urthona Between the enormous iron walls built by the Spectre dark Dark grew his globe reddning with mists & full before his path	5 Striding across the narrow vale the Shadow of Urthona A spectre Vast appeard whose feet & legs with iron scaled Stampd the hard rocks expectant of the unknown wanderer Whom he had seen wandring his nether world when distant far And watchd his swift approach collected dark the Spectre stood Beside hi[m] Tharmas stayd his flight & stood in stern defiance Communing with the Spectre who rejoicd along the vale Round his loins a girdle glowd with many colourd fires In his hand a knotted Club whose knots like mountains frownd Desart among the Stars them withering with its ridges cold Black scales of iron arm the dread visage iron spikes instead Of hair shoot from his orbed scull. his glowing eyes Burn like two furnaces. he calld with Voice of Thunder Four winged heralds mount the furious blasts & blow their trumps Gold Silver Brass & iron clangors clamoring rend the shores Like white clouds rising from the Vales his fifty two armies From the four Cliffs of Urthona rise glowing around the Spectre Four sons of Urizen the Squadrons of Urthona led in arms Of gold & silver brass & iron he knew his mighty sons Then Urizen arose upon the wind back many a mile Retiring into his dire Web scattering fleecy snows As he ascended howling loud the Web vibrated strong From heaven to heaven from globe to globe. In vast excentric paths Compulsive rolld the Comets at his dread command the dreary way Falling with wheel impetuous down among Urthonas vales And round red Orc returning back to Urizen gorgd with bloodt Slow roll the massy Globes at his command & slow oerwheel The dismal squadrons of Urthona. weaving the dire Web In their progressions & preparing Urizens path before him

End of the Sixth Night