I will have writings written all over it in Human Words,
That every Infant that is born upon the Earth shall read
And get by rote as a hard task of a life of sixty years.
15I will have Kings inwoven upon it, & Councellors & Mighty Men:
The Famine shall clasp it together with buckles & Clasps,
And the Pestilence shall be its fringe & the War its girdle,
To divide into Rahab & Tirzah that Milton may come to our tents.
For I will put on the Human Form & take the Image of God,
20Even Pity & Humanity, but my Clothing shall be Cruelty:
And I will put on Holiness as a breastplate & as a helmet,
And all my ornaments shall be of the gold of broken hearts,
And the precious stones of anxiety & care & desperation & death
And repentance for sin & sorrow & punishment & fear,
25To defend me from thy terrors, O Orc! my only beloved!
Orc answer'd: Take not the Human Form, O loveliest, Take not
Terror upon thee! Behold how I am, & tremble lest thou also
Consume in my Consummation: but thou maist take a Form
Female & lovely, that cannot consume in Man's consummation.
30Wherefore dost thou Create & Weave this Satan for a Covering?
When thou attemptest to put on the Human Form, my wrath
Burns to the top of heaven against thee in Jealousy & Fear.
Then I rend thee asunder, then I howl over thy clay & ashes.
When wilt thou put on the Female Form as in times of old,
35With a Garment of Pity & Compassion like the Garment of God?
His Garments are long sufferings for the Children of Men,
Jerusalem is his Garment & not thy Covering Cherub, O lovely
Shadow of my delight, who wanderest seeking for the prey.
So spoke Orc, when Oothoon & Leutha hover'd over his Couch
40Of fire in interchange of Beauty & Perfection in the darkness.
Opening interiorly into Jerusalem & Babylon shining glorious,
In the Shadowy Female's bosom Jealous her darkness grew:
Howlings fill'd all the desolate places in accusations of Sin,
In Female beauty shining in the unform'd void, & Orc in vain
45Stretch'd out his hands of fire, & wooed: they triumph in his pain.
Thus darken'd the Shadowy Female tenfold, & Orc tenfold
Glow'd on his rocky Couch against the darkness: loud thunders
Told of the enormous conflict, Earthquake beneath, around,
Rent the Immortal Females, limb from limb & joint from joint,
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