PLATE 43 [29]
Then the Divine Vision like a silent Sun appeard above
Albions dark rocks: setting behind the Gardens of Kensington
On Tyburns River, in clouds of blood: where was mild Zion Hills
Most ancient promontory, and in the Sun, a Human Form
appeard
And thus the Voice Divine went forth upon the rocks of Albion
I elected Albion for my glory; I gave to him the Nations,
Of the whole Earth. he was the Angel of my Presence: and all
The Sons of God were Albions Sons: and Jerusalem was my joy.
The Reactor hath hid himself thro envy. I behold him.
But you cannot behold him till he be reveald in his System
Albions Reactor must have a Place prepard: Albion must Sleep
The Sleep of Death, till the Man of Sin & Repentance be reveald.
Hidden in Albions Forests he lurks: he admits of no Reply
From Albion: but hath founded his Reaction into a Law
Of Action, for Obedience to destroy the Contraries of Man[.]
He hath compelld Albion to become a Punisher & hath possessd
Himself of Albions Forests & Wilds! and Jerusalem is taken!
The City of the Woods in the Forest of Ephratah is taken!
London is a stone of her ruins; Oxford is the dust of her walls!
Sussex & Kent are her scatterd garments: Ireland her holy place!
And the murderd bodies of her little ones are Scotland and Wales
The Cities of the Nations are the smoke of her consummation
The Nations are her dust! ground by the chariot wheels
Of her lordly conquerors, her palaces levelld with the dust
I come that I may find a way for my banished ones to return
Fear not O little Flock I come! Albion shall rise again.
So saying, the mild Sun inclosd the Human Family.
Forthwith from Albions darkning [r]ocks came two Immortal forms
Saying We alone are escaped. O merciful Lord and Saviour,
We flee from the interiors of Albions hills and mountains!
From his Valleys Eastward: from Amalek Canaan & Moab:
Beneath his vast ranges of hills surrounding Jerusalem.
Albion walkd on the steps of fire before his Halls
And Vala walkd with him in dreams of soft deluding slumber.
He looked up & saw the Prince of Light with splendor faded
Then Albion ascended mourning into the porches of his Palace
Above him rose a Shadow from his wearied intellect:
Of living gold, pure, perfect, holy: in white linen pure he
hoverd
A sweet entrancing self-delusion a watry vision of Albion
Soft exulting in existence; all the Man absorbing!
Albion fell upon his face prostrate before the watry Shadow
Saying O Lord whence is this change! thou knowest I am nothing!
And Vala trembled & coverd her face! & her locks were spread
on
the pavement
We heard astonishd at the Vision & our heart trembled within us:
We heard the voice of slumberous Albion, and thus he spake,
Idolatrous to his own Shadow words of eternity uttering:
O I am nothing when I enter into judgment with thee!
If thou withdraw thy breath I die & vanish into Hades
If thou dost lay thine hand upon me behold I am silent:
If thou withhold thine hand; I perish like a fallen leaf:
O I am nothing: and to nothing must return again:
If thou withdraw thy breath. Behold I am oblivion.
He ceasd: the shadowy voice was silent: but the cloud hoverd over
their heads
In golden wreathes, the sorrow of Man; & the balmy drops fell
down.
And lo! that son of Man that Shadowy Spirit of mild Albion:
Luvah descended from the cloud; in terror Albion rose:
Indignant rose the awful Man, & turnd his back on Vala.
We heard the voice of Albion starting from his sleep:
Whence is this voice crying Enion! that soundeth in my ears?
O cruel pity! O dark deceit! can love seek for dominion?
And Luvah strove to gain dominion over Albion
They strove together above the Body where Vala was inclosd
And the dark Body of Albion left prostrate upon the crystal
pavement,
Coverd with boils from head to foot: the terrible smitings of
Luvah.
Then frownd the fallen Man, and put forth Luvah from his presence
Saying. Go and Die the Death of Man, for Vala the sweet wanderer.
I will turn the volutions of your ears outward, and bend your
nostrils
Downward, and your fluxile eyes englob'd roll round in fear:
Your withring lips and tongue shrink up into a narrow circle,
Till into narrow forms you creep: go take your fiery way:
And learn what tis to absorb the Man you Spirits of Pity & Love.
They heard the voice and fled swift as the winters setting sun.
And now the human blood foamd high, the Spirits Luvah & Vala,
Went down the Human Heart where Paradise & its joys abounded,
In jealous fears & fury & rage, & flames roll round
their fervid
feet:
And the vast form of Nature like a serpent playd before them
And as they fled in folding fires & thunders of the deep:
Vala shrunk in like the dark sea that leaves its slimy banks.
And from her bosom Luvah fell far as the east and west.
And the vast form of Nature like a serpent rolld between,
Whether of Jerusalems or Valas ruins congenerated, we know not:
All is confusion: all is tumult, & we alone are escaped.
So spoke the fugitives; they joind the Divine Family,trembling
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Notes:
Blake often used the Sun as a symbol for the Divine
Vision, God, etc.
"a Human Form appeard":
No man has seen God, but in the Vision leading to this Plate the
Human Form appeard in a Voice Divine and spoke
:
He elected Albion and all that entailed, but the hiddlen Reactor
set up a law of obedience. He compelled Albion to become a
punisher (but always remember that the Reactor is not a 'he', but
a state of mind.)
The Nations were
"ground by the chariot wheels Of her lordly
conquerors,"
"
Forthwith from Albions darkning [r]ocks came two Immortal forms
Saying We alone are escaped. O merciful Lord and Saviour,":
Are these the two witnesses of Revelation, whom Blake once named
Whitefield and Wesley? It seems to recur often in Blake's poetry.
It also suggests the passage in Job where someone came with news of a disaster:
This from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org:wiki/William_Blake%27s_Illustrations_of_the_Book_of_Job#Table_of_Illustrations
The two messengers came to Job with news of the catastrophic loss of his family.
"Albion walkd on the steps of fire before his Halls
And Vala walkd with him in dreams of soft deluding slumber."
The wife of the Eternal Albion is Jerusalem; the whore of the fallen Albion was Vala. Like many husbands in this fallen world for pleasure Albion preferred a whore.
The slumberous Albion spoke:
"I am nothing when I enter into judgment with thee!
If thou withdraw thy breath I die & vanish into Hades
If thou dost lay thine hand upon me behold I am silent:
If thou withhold thine hand; I perish like a fallen leaf:
O I am nothing: and to nothing must return again:
If thou withdraw thy breath. Behold I am oblivion."
Might well be an Old Testament Psalm except that it was offered to the Devil.
"And lo! that son of Man that Shadowy Spirit of mild Albion:
Luvah descended from the cloud; in terror Albion rose:
Indignant rose the awful Man, & turnd his back on Vala."
That's the good news; Son of Man was the primary name that Jesus used for himself.
Astonish'd! lovely! embracing the sublime shade: the Daughters of Beulah Beheld her with wonder! With awful hands she took A Moment of Time, drawing it out with many tears & afflictions And many sorrows: oblique across the Atlantic Vale Which is the Vale of Rephaim dreadful from East to West, Where the Human Harvest waves abundant in the beams of Eden Into a Rainbow of jewels and gold, a mild Reflection from Albions dread Tomb. Eight thousand and five hundred years In its extension. Every two hundred years has a door to Eden She also took an Atom of Space, with dire pain opening it a Center Into Beulah: trembling the Daughters of Beulah dried Her tears. she ardent embrac'd her sorrows. occupied in labours Of sublime mercy in Rephaims Vale. Perusing Albions Tomb She sat: she walk'd among the ornaments solemn mourning. The Daughters attended her shudderings, wiping the death sweat Los also saw her in his seventh Furnace, he also terrified Saw the finger of God go forth upon his seventh Furnace: Away from the Starry Wheels to prepare Jerusalem a place. When with a dreadful groan the Emanation mild of Albion. Burst from his bosom in the Tomb like a pale snowy cloud, Female and lovely, struggling to put off the Human form Writhing in pain. The Daughters of Beulah in kind arms reciev'd Jerusalem: weeping over her among the Spaces of Erin, In the Ends of Beulah, where the Dead wail night & day. And thus Erin spoke to the Daughters of Beulah, in soft tears Albion the Vortex of the Dead! Albion the Generous! Albion the mildest son of Heaven! The Place of Holy Sacrifice! Where Friends Die for each other: will become the Place, Of Murder, & Unforgiving, Never-awaking Sacrifice of Enemies The Children must be sacrific'd! (a horror never known Till now in Beulah.) unless a Refuge can be found To hide them from the wrath of Albions Law that freezes sore Upon his Sons & Daughters, self-exiled from his bosom Draw ye Jerusalem away from Albions Mountains To give a Place for Redemption, let Sihon and Og Remove Eastward to Bashan and Gilead, and leave PLATE 49 The secret coverts of Albion & the hidden places of America
