said Enion
accursed
wretch!
Blake - Zoas
in mazes of delusive beauty
I have lookd into the secret soul of him I lovd
And in the Dark recesses found Sin & cannot return
Trembling & pale sat Tharmas weeping in his clouds
Why wilt thou Examine every little fibre of my soul *{This and the following 4 lines are written down the top right hand edge of the page. LFS}
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 Death Despair & Everlasting brooding Melancholy
Thou wilt go mad with horror if thou dost Examine thus * {added on center right margin, 90 degrees rotated LFS}
Every moment of my secret hours Yea I know
That I have sinnd & that my Emanations are become harlots
I am already distracted at their deeds & if I look
Upon them more Despair will bring self murder on my soul
O Enion thou art thyself a root growing in hell
Tho thus heavenly beautiful to draw me to destruction
Sometimes I think thou art a flower expanding *{This and the following four lines are added evidently in light pencil in the top margin. LFS}
Sometimes I think thou art fruit breaking from its bud
In dreadful dolor & pain & I am like an atom
A Nothing left in darkness yet I am an identity
I wish & feel & weep & groan Ah terrible terrible
PAGE 5 In Beulah Eden,Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils*
{First 8 lines inserted over a deleted strata LFS} Woven by their own hands to hide them in the darksom grave
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide. from thy searching eyes
So saying--From her bosom weaving soft in Sinewy threads
A tabernacleof Delight for Jerusalem. She sat among the Rocks*
{insert over strike out LFS} Singing her Lamentation. Tharmas groand among his Clouds
Weeping, and then bending from his Clouds he stoopd his holy innocent head*
{innocent replaces holy LFS} And stretching out his holy hand in the vast Deep sublime
Turnd round the circle of Destiny with tears & bitter sighs
And said. Return O Wanderer when the Day of Clouds is oer
So saying he sunk down into the sea a pale white corse*
{this and the following 2 lines appear written over an erased strata LFS} So saying In torment he sunk down & flowd among her filmy Wooft
His Spectre issuing from his feet in flames of fire
In dismal gnawing pain drawn out by her lovd fingers every nerve t
She counted. every vein & lacteal threading them among
Her woof of terror. Terrified & drinking tears of woe
Shuddring she wove--nine days & nights Sleepless her food was tears
Wondring she saw her woof begin to animate. & not
As Garments woven subservient to her hands but having a will
Of its own perverse & wayward Enion lovd & wept*
{written vertically up the right margin LFS}
Nine days she labourd at her work. & nine dark sleepless nights
But on the tenth bright trembling morn the Circle of Destiny Completet
Round rolld the Sea Englobing in a watry Globe self balancd*
{a light line appears through this line LFS} A Frowning Continent appeard Where Enion in the Desart
Terrified in her own Creation viewing her woven shadow
Sat in a sweet dread intoxication of false woven bliss self woven sorrow Repentance & Contrition*
{sequence of revisions, appearent in order presented here LFS} There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest
Namd Beulah a Soft Moony Universe feminine lovely
Pure mild & Gentle given in Mercy to those who sleep
Eternally. Created by the Lamb of God around
On all sides within & without the Universal Man
The Daughters of Beulah follow sleepers in all their Dreamst
Creating Spaces lest they fall into Eternal Death
The Circle of Destiny complete they gave to it a Space
And namd the Space Ulro & brooded over it in care & love*
{this entire passage is written vertically down the right margin and appears to have been first entered lightly (pencil? ) and then written over (ink? ) LFS}
They said The Spectre is in every man insane & most
Deformd Thro the three heavens descending in fury & fire
We meet it with our Songs & loving blandishments & give
To it a form of vegetation But this Spectre of Tharmas
Is Eternal Death What shall we do O God help pity & help
So spoke they & closd the Gate of Auricular power nerves the Tongue in trembling fear*
{Passage written down the right margin LFS}
What have I done!
said Enion accursed wretch! What deed.
Is this a deed of Love I know what I have done. I know
Too late now to repent. Love is changd to deadly Hate [Fears]
A [All? ] life is blotted out & I alone remain possessd with Fears
I see the [remembrance] Shadow of the dead within my [eyes] Soul wandering*
{bracketed words blotted out, revised as indicated by italics LFS} In darkness & solitude forming Seas of [Trouble] Doubt & rocks of [sorrow] Repentance*
{bracketed words blotted LFS} Already are my Eyes reverted. all that I behold
Within my Soul has lost its splendor & a brooding Fear
Shadows me oer & drives me outward to a world of woe
So waild she trembling before her own Created Phantasm*
{These 10 lines circled and lightly struck out as a block, restored in Erdman. Internal revisions as noted LFS}
[Who animating times on times by the Force of her sweet song]
But standing on the Rocks her woven shadow glowing bright* {The line indicated here as erased (as it appears to be in the reproduction) Erdman notes is penciled in, as a replacement for the line indicated as struck out LFS}
PAGE 6 She drew the Spectre forth from Tharmas in her shining loom
Of Vegetation weeping in wayward infancy & sullen youth
Listning to her soft lamentations soon his tongue began
To Lisp out words & soon in masculine strength augmenting he*
{These two lines appear to be penciled in LFS} Reard up a form of gold & stood upon the glittering rock*
{At some point, this was the first line on this page, linked to follow the deleted line at the bottom of page 5, where the prompt word for the next page is "Reard". This is a crucial set of revisions, reflecting some ambiguity about the relation between "shadow" and "spectre". LFS}
A shadowy human form winged & in his depths
The dazzlings as of gems shone clear, rapturous in joy fury
Glorying in his own eyes Exalted in terrific Pride
[ Searching for glory wishing that the heavens had eyes to See
And courting that the Earth would ope her Eyelids & behold
Such wondrous beauty repining in the midst of all his glory
That nought but Enion could be found to praise adore & love
Three days in self admiring raptures on the rocks he flamd
And three dark nights repind the solitude. but the third morn
Astonishd he found Enion hidden in the darksom Cave
She spoke What am I wherefore was I put forth on these rocks
Among the Clouds to tremble in the wind in solitude
Where is the voice that lately woke the desart Where the face
That wept among the clouds & where the voice that shall reply
No other living thing is here. The Sea the Earth. the Heaven
And Enion desolate where art though Tharmas O return
Three days she waild & three dark nights sitting among the Rocks
While the bright spectre hid himself among the ? backing clouds
Then sleep fell on her eyelids in a Chasm of the Valley
The Sixteenth morn the Spectre stood before her manifest ]
The Spectre thus spoke. [ Art thou not my slave & shalt thou dare
To smite me with thy tongue beware lest I sting also thee,]
Who art thou Diminutive husk & shell* [
Broke from my bonds I scorn my prison & yet I love]
If thou hast sinnd & art polluted know that I am pure*
And unpolluted & will bring to rigid strict account
All thy past deeds [So] hear what I tell thee! mark it well!
I have lookd into the secret soul of him I lovd
And in the Dark recesses found Sin & cannot return
Trembling & pale sat Tharmas weeping in his clouds
Why wilt thou Examine every little fibre of my soul *{This and the following 4 lines are written down the top right hand edge of the page. LFS}
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 Death Despair & Everlasting brooding Melancholy
Thou wilt go mad with horror if thou dost Examine thus * {added on center right margin, 90 degrees rotated LFS}
Every moment of my secret hours Yea I know
That I have sinnd & that my Emanations are become harlots
I am already distracted at their deeds & if I look
Upon them more Despair will bring self murder on my soul
O Enion thou art thyself a root growing in hell
Tho thus heavenly beautiful to draw me to destruction
Sometimes I think thou art a flower expanding *{This and the following four lines are added evidently in light pencil in the top margin. LFS}
Sometimes I think thou art fruit breaking from its bud
In dreadful dolor & pain & I am like an atom
A Nothing left in darkness yet I am an identity
I wish & feel & weep & groan Ah terrible terrible
PAGE 5 In Beulah Eden,Females sleep the winter in soft silken veils*
{First 8 lines inserted over a deleted strata LFS} Woven by their own hands to hide them in the darksom grave
But Males immortal live renewd by female deaths. in soft
Delight they die & they revive in spring with music & songs
Enion said Farewell I die I hide. from thy searching eyes
So saying--From her bosom weaving soft in Sinewy threads
A tabernacleof Delight for Jerusalem. She sat among the Rocks*
{insert over strike out LFS} Singing her Lamentation. Tharmas groand among his Clouds
Weeping, and then bending from his Clouds he stoopd his holy innocent head*
{innocent replaces holy LFS} And stretching out his holy hand in the vast Deep sublime
Turnd round the circle of Destiny with tears & bitter sighs
And said. Return O Wanderer when the Day of Clouds is oer
So saying he sunk down into the sea a pale white corse*
{this and the following 2 lines appear written over an erased strata LFS} So saying In torment he sunk down & flowd among her filmy Wooft
His Spectre issuing from his feet in flames of fire
In dismal gnawing pain drawn out by her lovd fingers every nerve t
She counted. every vein & lacteal threading them among
Her woof of terror. Terrified & drinking tears of woe
Shuddring she wove--nine days & nights Sleepless her food was tears
Wondring she saw her woof begin to animate. & not
As Garments woven subservient to her hands but having a will
Of its own perverse & wayward Enion lovd & wept*
{written vertically up the right margin LFS}
Nine days she labourd at her work. & nine dark sleepless nights
But on the tenth bright trembling morn the Circle of Destiny Completet
Round rolld the Sea Englobing in a watry Globe self balancd*
{a light line appears through this line LFS} A Frowning Continent appeard Where Enion in the Desart
Terrified in her own Creation viewing her woven shadow
Sat in a sweet dread intoxication of false woven bliss self woven sorrow Repentance & Contrition*
{sequence of revisions, appearent in order presented here LFS} There is from Great Eternity a mild & pleasant rest
Namd Beulah a Soft Moony Universe feminine lovely
Pure mild & Gentle given in Mercy to those who sleep
Eternally. Created by the Lamb of God around
On all sides within & without the Universal Man
The Daughters of Beulah follow sleepers in all their Dreamst
Creating Spaces lest they fall into Eternal Death
The Circle of Destiny complete they gave to it a Space
And namd the Space Ulro & brooded over it in care & love*
{this entire passage is written vertically down the right margin and appears to have been first entered lightly (pencil? ) and then written over (ink? ) LFS}
They said The Spectre is in every man insane & most
Deformd Thro the three heavens descending in fury & fire
We meet it with our Songs & loving blandishments & give
To it a form of vegetation But this Spectre of Tharmas
Is Eternal Death What shall we do O God help pity & help
So spoke they & closd the Gate of Auricular power nerves the Tongue in trembling fear*
{Passage written down the right margin LFS}
What have I done!
said Enion accursed wretch! What deed.
Is this a deed of Love I know what I have done. I know
Too late now to repent. Love is changd to deadly Hate [Fears]
A [All? ] life is blotted out & I alone remain possessd with Fears
I see the [remembrance] Shadow of the dead within my [eyes] Soul wandering*
{bracketed words blotted out, revised as indicated by italics LFS} In darkness & solitude forming Seas of [Trouble] Doubt & rocks of [sorrow] Repentance*
{bracketed words blotted LFS} Already are my Eyes reverted. all that I behold
Within my Soul has lost its splendor & a brooding Fear
Shadows me oer & drives me outward to a world of woe
So waild she trembling before her own Created Phantasm*
{These 10 lines circled and lightly struck out as a block, restored in Erdman. Internal revisions as noted LFS}
[Who animating times on times by the Force of her sweet song]
But standing on the Rocks her woven shadow glowing bright* {The line indicated here as erased (as it appears to be in the reproduction) Erdman notes is penciled in, as a replacement for the line indicated as struck out LFS}
PAGE 6 She drew the Spectre forth from Tharmas in her shining loom
Of Vegetation weeping in wayward infancy & sullen youth
Listning to her soft lamentations soon his tongue began
To Lisp out words & soon in masculine strength augmenting he*
{These two lines appear to be penciled in LFS} Reard up a form of gold & stood upon the glittering rock*
{At some point, this was the first line on this page, linked to follow the deleted line at the bottom of page 5, where the prompt word for the next page is "Reard". This is a crucial set of revisions, reflecting some ambiguity about the relation between "shadow" and "spectre". LFS}
A shadowy human form winged & in his depths
The dazzlings as of gems shone clear, rapturous in joy fury
Glorying in his own eyes Exalted in terrific Pride
[ Searching for glory wishing that the heavens had eyes to See
And courting that the Earth would ope her Eyelids & behold
Such wondrous beauty repining in the midst of all his glory
That nought but Enion could be found to praise adore & love
Three days in self admiring raptures on the rocks he flamd
And three dark nights repind the solitude. but the third morn
Astonishd he found Enion hidden in the darksom Cave
She spoke What am I wherefore was I put forth on these rocks
Among the Clouds to tremble in the wind in solitude
Where is the voice that lately woke the desart Where the face
That wept among the clouds & where the voice that shall reply
No other living thing is here. The Sea the Earth. the Heaven
And Enion desolate where art though Tharmas O return
Three days she waild & three dark nights sitting among the Rocks
While the bright spectre hid himself among the ? backing clouds
Then sleep fell on her eyelids in a Chasm of the Valley
The Sixteenth morn the Spectre stood before her manifest ]
The Spectre thus spoke. [ Art thou not my slave & shalt thou dare
To smite me with thy tongue beware lest I sting also thee,]
Who art thou Diminutive husk & shell* [
Broke from my bonds I scorn my prison & yet I love]
If thou hast sinnd & art polluted know that I am pure*
And unpolluted & will bring to rigid strict account
All thy past deeds [So] hear what I tell thee! mark it well!
