PAN TO ARTEMIS

               UNCHARMABLE charmer
                 Of Bacchus and Mars
               In the sounding rebounding
                 Abyss of the stars!
               O virgin in armour,
                 Thine arrows unsling
               In the brilliant resilient
                 First rays of the spring!

               By the force of the fashion
                 Of love, when I broke
               Through the shroud, through the cloud,
                 Through the storm, through the smoke,
               To the mountain of passion
                 Volcanic that woke ---
               By the rage of the mage
                 I invoke, I invoke!

               By the midnight of madness: ---
                 The lone-lying sea,
               The swoon of the moon,
                 Your swoon into me,
               The sentinel sadness
                 Of cliff-clinging pine,
               That night of delight
                 You were mine, you were mine!
                                                          {197}
               You were mine, O my saint,
                 My maiden, my mate,
               By the might of the right
                 Of the night of our fate.
               Though I fall, though I faint,
                 Though I char, though I choke,
               By the hour of our power
                 I invoke, I invoke!

               By the mystical union
                 Of fairy and faun,
               Unspoken, unbroken ---
                 The dust to the dawn! ---
               A secret communion
                 Unmeasured, unsung,
               The listless, resistless,
                 Tumultuous tongue! ---

               O virgin in armour,
                 Thine arrows unsling,
               In the brilliant resilient
                 First rays of the spring!
               No Godhead could charm her,
                 But manhood awoke ---
               O fiery Valkyrie,
                 I invoke, I invoke!
                                           ALEISTER CROWLEY.


               {198}