| |
A Revelation in the Visions of Jehovah Seen by William Blake
(Engraved 1822)
To Lord Byron in the Wilderness:
WHAT doest thou here, Elijah? | |
| Can a Poet doubt the Visions of Jehovah? Nature has no Outline, | |
| But Imagination has. Nature has no Tune, but Imagination has. | |
| Nature has no Supernatural, and dissolves: Imagination is Eternity. | |
| |
SCENE—A rocky Country. EVE, fainted, over the dead body of ABEL, which lays near a Grave. ADAM, kneels by her. JEHOVAH stands above.
Jehovah. Adam! | 5 |
| Adam. I will not hear Thee more, Thou Spiritual Voice. | |
| Is this Death? | |
| Jehovah Adam! | |
| Adam. It is in vain: I will not hear Thee | |
| Henceforth. Is this Thy Promise, that the Woman’s seed | 10 |
| Should bruise the Serpent’s head? Is this the Serpent? Ah! | |
| Seven times, O Eve! thou hast fainted over the Dead. Ah! Ah! | |
| |
EVE revives. Eve. Is this the Promise of Jehovah? O! it is all a vain delusion | |
| This Death, and this Life, and this Jehovah! | |
| Jehovah. Woman, lift thine eyes! | 15 |
| |
A Voice is heard coming on. Voice. O Earth, cover not thou my blood! cover not thou my blood! | |
| |
Enter the Ghost of ABEL. Eve. Thou visionary Phantasm, thou art not the real Abel. | |
| Abel. Among the Elohim, a Human Victim I wander: I am their House, | |
| Prince of the Air, and our dimensions compass Zenith and Nadir. | |
| Vain is Thy Covenant, O Jehovah! I am the Accuser and Avenger | 20 |
| Of Blood. O Earth! cover not thou the blood of Abel. | |
| Jehovah. What Vengeance dost thou require? | |
| Abel. Life for Life! Life for Life! | |
| Jehovah. He who shall take Cain’s life must also die, O Abel! | |
| And who is he? Adam, wilt thou, or Eve, thou do this? | 25 |
| Adam. It is all a vain delusion of the all-creative Imagination. | |
| Eve, come away, and let us not believe these vain delusions. | |
| Abel is dead, and Cain slew him. We shall also die a death, | |
| And then—what then? be, as poor Abel, a Thought; or as | |
| This? O! what shall I call Thee, Form Divine, Father of Mercies, | 30 |
| That appearest to my Spiritual Vision? Eve, seest thou also? | |
| Eve. I see Him plainly with my Mind’s Eye. I see also Abel living, | |
| Tho’ terribly afflicted, as we also are; yet Jehovah sees him | |
| Alive and not dead. Were it not better to believe Vision | |
| With all our might and strength, tho’ we are fallen and lost? | 35 |
| Adam. Eve, thou hast spoken truly: let us kneel before His feet. | |
| |
They kneel before JEHOVAH. Abel. Are these the sacrifices of Eternity, O Jehovah—a broken spirit | |
| And a contrite heart? O? I cannot forgive: the Accuser hath | |
| Enter’d into me as into his house, and I loathe Thy Tabernacles. | |
| As Thou hast said, so is it come to pass. My desire is unto Cain, | 40 |
| And he doth rule over me; therefore my soul in fumes of blood | |
| Cries for Vengeance, Sacrifice on Sacrifice, Blood on Blood! | |
| Jehovah. Lo! I have given you a Lamb for an Atonement, instead | |
| Of the Transgressor, or no Flesh or Spirit could ever live. | |
| Abel. Compellèd I cry, O Earth! cover not the blood of Abel. | 45 |
| |
ABEL sinks down into the Grave, from which arises SATAN, armed in glittering scales, with a Crown and a Spear. Satan. I will have Human blood, and not the blood of bulls or goats, | |
| And no Atonement, O Jehovah! The Elohim live on Sacrifice | |
| Of Men: hence I am God of Men! Thou human, O Jehovah! | |
| By the rock and oak of the Druid, creeping mistletoe, and thorn, | |
| Cain’s city built with human blood, not blood of bulls and goats, | 50 |
| Thou shalt Thyself be sacrificed to Me, thy God! on Calvary. | |
| Jehovah. Such is My Will—(Thunders)—that thou thyself go to Eternal Death | |
| In Self-Annihilation, even till Satan, self-subdu’d, put off Satan | |
| Into the Bottomless Abyss, whose torment arises for ever and ever. | |
| |
On each side a Chorus of Angels, entering, sing the following:— The Elohim of the Heathen swore Vengeance for Sin! Then Thou stood’st | 55 |
| Forth, O Elohim Jehovah! in the midst of the darkness of the Oath, all clothèd | |
| In Thy Covenant of the Forgiveness of Sins. Death, O Holy! Is this Brotherhood? | |
| The Elohim saw their Oath Eternal Fire: they rollèd apart, trembling, over the | |
Mercy-seat, each in his station fixt in the firmament by Peace, Brotherhood, and Love.
The Curtain falls. | |
| |
