Plate 44

So spoke the fugitives; they joind the Divine Family,
trembling

PLATE 44 [30]
And the Two that escaped; were the Emanation of Los & his
Spectre: for whereever the Emanation goes, the Spectre
Attends her as her Guard, & Los's Emanation is named
Enitharmon, & his Spectre is named Urthona: they knew
Not where to flee: they had been on a visit to Albions Children
And they strove to weave a Shadow of the Emanation
To hide themselves: weeping & lamenting for the Vegetation
Of Albions Children; fleeing thro Albions vales in streams of
gore

Being not irritated by insult bearing insulting benevolences
They percieved that corporeal friends are spiritual enemies
They saw the Sexual Religion in its embryon Uncircumcision
And the Divine hand was upon them bearing them thro darkness
Back safe to their Humanity as doves to their windows:
Therefore the Sons of Eden praise Urthonas Spectre in Songs
Because he kept the Divine Vision in time of trouble.

They wept & trembled: & Los put forth his hand & took them in
Into his Bosom: from which Albion shrunk in dismal pain;
Rending the fibres of Brotherhood & in Feminine Allegories
Inclosing Los: but the Divine Vision appeard with Los
Following Albion into his Central Void among his Oaks.

And Los prayed and said. O Divine Saviour arise
Upon the Mountains of Albion as in ancient time. Behold!
The Cities of Albion seek thy face, London groans in pain
From Hill to Hill & the Thames laments along the Valleys
The little Villages of Middlesex & Surrey hunger & thirst
The Twenty-eight Cities of Albion stretch their hands to thee:
Because of the Opressors of Albion in every City & Village:
They mock at the Labourers limbs! they mock at his starvd
Children.
They buy his Daughters that they may have power to sell his Sons:
They compell the Poor to live upon a crust of bread by soft mild
arts:
They reduce the Man to want: then give with pomp & ceremony.
The praise of Jehovah is chaunted from lips of hunger & thirst!
Humanity knows not of Sex: wherefore are Sexes in Beulah?
In Beulah the Female lets down her beautiful Tabernacle;
Which the Male enters magnificent between her Cherubim:
And becomes One with her mingling condensing in Self-love
The Rocky Law of Condemnation & double Generation, & Death.

Albion hath enterd the Loins the place of the Last Judgment:
And Luvah hath drawn the Curtains around Albion in Vala's bosom
The Dead awake to Generation! Arise O Lord, & rend the Veil!

So Los in lamentations followd Albion, Albion coverd,

PLATE 45 [31]
His western heaven with rocky clouds of death & despair.
(Erdman 193-4)

Notes:
we spoke about the 'two that escaped in a recent post. in this case
they are the Emanation of Los and his Spectre, called Urothona
(Urothona has a far different meaning in the general case, where he
could better be called Los before he fell. They were distressed at
the "Vegetation Of Albions Children;" They wanted to avoid the same
fate, namely to descend into Ulro.

"They percieved that corporeal friends are spiritual enemies" (This
sentence also appears in the Bard's Song, Plate 4 of Milton.) The
word corporeal is what we mean when we say materialistic.

"They saw the Sexual Religion in its embryon Uncircumcision": Sexual
Religion is associated with War and other forms of Domination (like
Slavery for example).

Blake goes on to describe the relationship between a creative Los and
a fallen Albion. Albion was 'Rending the fibres of Brotherhood & in
Feminine Allegories Inclosing Los:, but the Divine Vision was with
Los. (Blake actually believed that his own salvation lay in seeing and
hearing the Divine Vision and attempting to share them with us, his
disciples.)

Los prays a long prayer describing to the Savior that "Because of the
Opressors of Albion in every City & Village:
They mock at the Labourers limbs! they mock at his starvd Children.
They buy his Daughters that they may have power to sell his Sons:
They compell the Poor to live upon a crust of bread by soft mild
arts:
They reduce the Man to want: then give with pomp & ceremony."
(Doesn't that sound like 2011?)
Los ends with "The Dead awake to Generation! Arise O Lord, & rend the
Veil! Any Bible scholar can tell you that when Jesus died, he rent
the veil from top to bottom. (The veil appears often in the Bible,
such as the time Moses covered himself with a veil so his people
would not be blinded.)