Notation

Holy as Crowley

Hymn to Pana

From "Magick" part III p. 125
"The Last Ritual" 5/12-1947 e.v.

Thrill with lissome lust of the light,
O man! My man!
Come careering out of the night
Of Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan! Come over the sea
From Sicily and from Arcady!b
Roaming as Bacchus c, with fauns and pards
And nymphs and satyrs for thy guards,
On a milk-white ass, come over the sea
To me, to me,
Come with Apollo d in bridal dress
(Shepherdess and pythoness)
Come with Artemis e silken shod f,
And wash thy white thigh, beautiful God,
In the moon of the woods, on the marble mount,
The dimpled dawn a of the amber fount!
Dip the purple of passionate prayer
In the crimson shrine, the scarlet snare, b
The soul that startles in eyes of blue
To watch thy wantonness weeping through
The tangled grove, the gnarléd bole
Of the living tree that is spirit and soul
And body and brain - come over the sea,
(Io Pan! Io Pan!)
Devil or god, to me, to me,
My man! my man!
Come with trumpets sounding shrill
Over the hill!
Come with drums low muttering
From the spring!
Come with flute and come with pipe!
Am I not ripe?
I, who wait and writhe and wrestle
With air that hath no boughs to nestle
My body, weary of empty clasp,
Strong as a lion and sharp as an asp -
Come, O come!
I am numb
With the lonely lust of devildom.
Thrust the sword through the galling fetter,
All-devourer, all-begetter;
Give me the sign of the Open Eye,
And the token erect of thorny thigh,
And the word of madness and mystery,
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan Pan! Pan,
I am a man:
Do as thou wilt, as a great god can
O Pan! Io Pan!
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! I am awake
In the grip of the snake.
The eagle slashes with beak and claw;
The gods withdraw:
The great beasts come, Io Pan! I am borne
To death on the horn
Of the Unicorn.
I am Pan! Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan!
I am thy mate, I am thy man,
Goat of thy flock, I am gold, I am god,
Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod.
With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks
Through solstice stubborn to equinox.
And I rave; and I rape and I rip and I rend
Everlasting, world without end,
Mannikin, maiden, mćnad, man,
In the might of Pan.
Io Pan! Io Pan Pan! Pan! Io Pan!

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     a Pan: Greek god of herds, wild-life, forests and fertility; patron of shepherds and hunters. Part man, part goat, with horns, tail and hoofs. 'Pan is dead! Long live Pan! - Io Pan!' but few of the mysteries connected to the "all-devourer, all-begetter"

     b From Sicily and from Arcady: two landscapes one in the Roman, Italian part of Europe, the other in Greece-Persia. See earlier note

     c Bacchus: the latin name for the Greek god of wine, orgies and lustful conduct. Se earlier note

     d Apollo: Greek god of song, light and poetry. Se earlier note

     e Artemis: The Greek goddess of the hunt, and of the moon. Protector of virgins and helper in child-birth. By the Romans called Diana

     f silken shod: wearing shoes made of silk

     a dimpled dawn: the morning with the small hollows, dimpled in the ground

     b These lines often get understood in a strictly sexual way

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