ROBERT WILLIAMS BUCHANAN (1841 - 1901)

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{The Devil’s Case 1896}

 

                                                                                                                                                                 120

XXIV.

All the glory of the Angel
Now had utterly departed—
Quietly he now addressed me,
Calm and modern as at first;

On the lonely Heath at Hampstead
Sat my Devil, grimly smiling,
In his hand the evening journal,
Spectacles upon his nose. . . .

“Troubled by the devastation
Laying waste my little kingdom,
Showing that the Lord Almighty
Wrought against me as of old;

“Sick because the blinded masses
Clamour’d still for signs and portents,
‘Time it surely is,’ I mutter’d,
‘For another Miracle!’

“So, my Benjamin assisting,                                                                121
I the NEWSPAPER invented—
’Gainst the Church’s red battalions
Rose at last the thin black line!

“Nought that Priests and Tyrants plotted,
Nought that mortals did or suffer’d,
Nought that passes on this planet,
Any more remained in darkness!

“Nay, I tamed the very Lightning
To assist my revelations—
Thro’ the night it took its tidings
Flashing into fiery words!                                                                   [7:iv]

“On the walls of hut and palace
Flamed my messages to mortals—
Startled ’mid the feast, Earth’s rulers
Looked aghast at one another!

“All the affairs of Hell and Heaven
By my servants were recorded,—
I had watchful correspondents
Even in the Vatican!

“For the first time human creatures                                                      122
Knew the affliction of their fellows—
Tyrants blush’d to find recorded
Deeds they had not blush’d to do!

“O my Benjamin, the youngest
Of my sons, the Printer’s Devil!
I myself at times was startled
At the rogue’s irreverence!

“Nought that God had done in darkness
Could escape his circumspection!
All the evils God created
Now were patent to the world!”

“Even so,” I answer’d quickly,
“Thanks to thee, O woeful Spirit,
Ever prying and denying,
Nought is hid from eyes profane;

“Ignorance is at last completed
By this thing of thy creation,—
Foul as any other priestcraft
Is the priestcraft of the Press!

“Clamour of thy Printer’s Devil                                                          123
Silences the wise and holy,
Life grows hideous, while his shameful,
Shameless scandals fill the air;

“By the filth thou namest Knowledge
All the springs of life are poison’d,—
Foul St. Simeons of the column
Pose, and proffer absolution!

“Poison of thy fiends was scatter’d
On the world-worn eyes of Coleridge;
Poison’d daggers of thy devils
Stab’d to Keats’s heart of hearts!

“Foulest of all human follies
Is the Newspaper!” I added—
“Art and all things fair and holy
Fade at last before its breath!”

Scornfully he smiled upon me,—
“Grant,” he said, “my servant blunders;
In a scheme so democratic
Individual merit fails.

“Yet, with all its limitations                                                                 124
This, the latest of my labours,
Is a boon of light and leading
To the woe-worn race of men.

“Priests have cried, ‘Let there be darkness!
Hide away the truths thou fearest!’
I, the Devil, being wiser,
Cry, ‘Let Truth and Light prevail!’

“By the printed words, the record
Of the conscience of the people,
By my clamouring Printer’s Devil,
Freedom spreads from land to land:

“Deeds of night no more are hidden,
Deeds of grace are multiplying;
Light into the dungeon flowing
Strikes the fetters of the slave.

“At my printed protestation
On his throne the Tyrant trembles;
Words of hope, for Freedom utter’d,
Shake the footstool of the Czar!

“Even the lying leader writer                                                              125
Pillories the God he praises!
Even the critic speeds the triumph
Of the Seer he mocks and scorns!

“Ever in my open daylight
Truth and falsehood stand together—
In the daylight Falsehood withers,
Truth is known and justified!

“Those who serve your God Almighty
Cry aloud ‘The Light is hateful!’
In the night His Church has flourish’d,
In the daylight it doth fall!

“War not, in thy soul’s impatience,
’Gainst my busy benediction!
Rail not, Poet, ’gainst my Devils,
Wroth because they will not praise thee!

“If thy soul be just and gentle,
Be thou sure that men shall know it!
If thy song be great and deathless,
God nor devil can destroy it!

“I, the Devil, refuse to foster                                                              126
Vanity in God or poets!
Both believe in loaves and fishes
And in fulsome adulation.

“I, the Devil, am democratic!
For the general good I labour—
Those who would be prais’d and petted
I relinquish to the Tories.

“Tennyson I liked extremely
(Even pardon’d him for praising
That white sepulchre, King Arthur)
Till he join’d the House of Lords.

“Light and Knowledge for the masses,
Speech for Wisdom and for Folly,
These I claim, and even the zany
May announce his zanyhood;

“Busily my printing presses
Publish all things, good or evil;
When my Printer’s Devil blunders                                                     [34:iii]
’Tis at least in open day.

“Light is Death to Falsehood ever!                                                     127
Light illumes my printing presses!
Ev’n thro’ fools my truth shall triumph
And my Demos witch the world!”

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
v.7, l.4: Flashing into fiery words:
v.34, l.3: When my printer’s Devil blunders ]

 

                                                                                                                                                                   128

XXV.

For a space he paused, and gazing
Proudly upward to the heavens,
Where the countless constellations
Clustered close as if to listen,

Lost he seem’d in contemplation
Of the shining lights above him,
While the soft celestial splendour
On his woe-worn face was raining.

“Heir,” he said, “of all Earth’s sorrow,
Brother of those lonely spirits
Who on yonder stars and planets
Still perform their tasks allotted,

“I, the outcast Prince of Pity,
Have at last to Man unfolded
All the story of Creation,
Birth and Death, and Evolution.

“I have taught him how to measure                                                      129
Yonder spheres and their processions,—
Seizing for his apprehension
God’s abstractions, Space and Time!

“What Galileo dreamed, what Bruno
Guess’d from sleepless inspiration,
I at last have demonstrated
Thro’ the mouths of mighty thinkers.

“Open lies the Book of Heaven!
Children even may read its pages,—
Stranger far than any fable
Is the record of Creation!

“Nay, the mind of Man may follow
God into the depths of darkness—
From the wonders Seen divining
Those Unseen, and yet not hidden!

“By my symbols algebraic
I have counted lands and waters,
With my chemics cabalistic
I have solved the Elemental!

“Further, to the sight of mortals,                                                         130
I the womb of Earth have open’d—
Showing how, through endless ages,
Man’s strange embryos were fashion’d!

“Nay, and to their wondering vision
I have map’d the life within them—
Clear as yonder starry Heaven
Lies the microcosm, Man!

“Wondrous as the Light lifegiving
Thro’ the Universe pulsating,
Floweth Light in Man, the Unit,
From the heart, its central Sun.

“As the cell that builds the planet
Is the cell that builds the mortal—
As the greater is the lesser,
As the lesser is the greater.

“Thro’ my love and benediction
Man has plumb’d the abyss of Being—
By the law that never endeth
Life and Death revolve for ever.

devilscase7

“All the arts by God forbidden,                                                          131
All the knowledge hid in darkness,
I reveal, while the Creator
Rests in impotence of Godhead.

“Nay, I show that God is fetter’d
By the chains of His own making—
Blind and bound He broods, while Nature
Moveth on in calm progression.

“Thro’ my love and benediction
Man hath learn’d the gifts of Healing—
Now for every Church that falleth
Hospitals arise to Heaven;

“Strong, beneficent, and gentle,
Christs of surgery and leechcraft
Work their wonders, far more holy
Than the marvels of Messiahs.

“Wheresoever Death is busy
Fly my ministers of blessing,
Snatching ever from his talons
Creatures beautiful and fair.

“Cast thy look along the Ages!                                                           132 [20:i]
Read the record of the Churches!
Pestilence, Disease, and Famine
Fill the footprints of the Christ!

“Thro’ the very Fruit Forbidden,
Thro’ the laws of Light and Knowledge,
I have fought with Death and Evil,
Conquering, in despite of God—

“Curst, and yet the source of blessing,
Outcast, yet supreme ’mong Angels,
I, the only true Redeemer,
Work my miracles for men!”

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
v.20, l.1: ‘Cast thy look along the ages! ]

 

                                                                                                                                                                   133

XXVI.

Smiling scornfully, I answer’d:—
“Strange it seems to find the Devil,
Spite a record so despairing,                                                              [1:iii]
Optimistic, after all!

“Yet, methinks, thy boasted Demos
Is the very worst of tyrants!
Better far a single Cæsar
Than a Cæsar hydra-headed!

“Gaze again upon thy kingdom!
Look on Rome! As thou didst wander
In the streets of Rome departed,
Sick of God and God’s creation,

“So from day to day I wander
In the City of thy Demos,—
Demos is a fouler Cæsar,
London is a lewder Rome!

“Still the Priests and Seers and Prophets                                            134
Preach the faith they feel no longer—
Keeping to the ear the promise
They have broken to the Soul;

“Still the slaves and tyrants palter
With the truth they dare not utter—
Still the spectral Man of Sorrows
Starveth at the Church’s door;

“Still, to blind the foolish people,
With the worn-out creed men juggle,—
Even o’er their cheating parchments
Smiling lawyers hold the Cross;

“Atheist judges, cold and cruel,
Toss the murtherer to the hangman,
Crying, while they shrug their shoulders,
‘God have mercy on thy soul!’

“Dark and dissolute and dreadful
As that other Rome departed,
Is this later Rome and lewder,—
Death is crownéd here as there!

“Last, thy Demos, while denying                                                        135
All Divinity, assevers
He’s essentially a Christian
Since he leads a moral life!”

Smiling quietly my Devil
Answer’d, “True, O angry Poet—
There my Demos errs: Messiahs
Always are immoral persons!

“If the Christ of Superstition
Work’d no miracles or wonders,
If the man was well-conducted,
He was surely no Messiah!”

Sadly, wearily, he added:
“Here as in the Rome departed
Priests abide and Folly lingers,
Conquering in the name of God;

“Priests abide, but Death is reigning!
Thus, in spite of God, I triumph!
Patience, patience, for my Demos
Groweth wiser day by day!

“’Tis the way of foolish mortals,                                                          136
When they cease to feel religion,
To become severely moral,
Hating Liberty and Light—

“So, I grant, my woe-worn Demos
Makes Morality his fetish,
Closing ears and shutting eyelids
To the sanctions of the Flesh.

“Patience, patience! I will teach him
Love that passeth understanding!
All the wondrous lore of Nature
Shall be open to his gaze!

“This, at least, is certain: Never
Will he lose again his birthright!
Never bend before his tyrants,
Here on earth, or there in Heaven!

“Never will he kneel and listen
To the lies of your Messiahs,
Forfeit for a fancied blessing
Light and Liberty and Life!

“Patience, patience! Light is growing—                                               137
God at last shall be forgotten—
Man shall rise erect, subduing
All things evil, even Death!”

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
v.1, l.3: ’Spite a record so despairing, ]

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         138

XXVII.

“If thou speakest truth,” I answer’d,
“Much, indeed, thou hast been libel’d!
Yet thy very benedictions
Spring from Him, the first Creator.

“By the will of Him, the Father,
Thou hast wrought to cleanse thy kingdom—
From the first His eyes, all-seeing,
Knew thee as His instrument!

“If Mankind, tho’ dimly, darkly,
Moveth onward to perfection,
If at last the ills of Nature
Shall be heal’d and render’d whole,

“Even there I trace the Finger
Of the Almighty slowly working,
Till the hour when thou, His servant,
Kneeling low shalt be forgiven!

“Then Humanity, made holy,                                                               139
Kneeling also to the Father,
Shall accept His final blessing
And be lifted up and saved!”

Wistfully he lookt upon me,
Once again his face was clouded
With that mist of woeful pity,
While his eyes grew dim with tears. . . .

Then, another transformation!
Bright and radiant, tho’ despairing,
Rose he to his angel’s stature,
Looking up with starry orbs;

While the stars and constellations,
Fixing countless eyes upon him,
Shed upon his woe-worn features
Splendour from a million worlds,

In a voice like stars vibrating,
Answer’d by the hosts of Heaven,
Cried he, while his troubled spirit
Shook with woeful indignation:

“Cast thy thought along the Ages!                                                      140
Walk the sepulchres of Nations!
Mourn, with me, the fair things perish’d!
Mark the martyrdoms of men!

“Say, can any latter blessing
Cleanse the blood-stain’d Book of Being?
Can a remnant render’d happy
Wipe out centuries of sorrow?

“Nay, one broken life outweigheth
Twenty thousand lives made perfect!
Nay, I scorn the God whose pathway
Lieth over bleeding hearts!

“From the first the cry of anguish
Hath arisen to yonder Heaven!
From the first, the ways of Nature
Have been cruel and accurst!

“Man, thou sayest, shall yet be happy?
What avails a bliss created
Out of hecatombs of evil,
Out of endless years of pain?

“Happy? Looking ever backward                                                      141
On the graves of generations,
Haunted by the eyes despairing
Of the millions lost for ever?

“Even now the life he liveth
Builded is of shame and sorrow!
Even now his flesh is fashion’d
Of the creatures that surround him!

“From the sward the stench of slaughter
Riseth hourly to his nostrils!
By his will the beast doth anguish
And the wounded dove doth die!

“Dreamer! Even here thy fancy
Fails before the truths of Nature—
God, thy great all-loving Father,
By His will created Death!—

“Like the races long departed,
So the perfect race shall perish!
Like the suns burnt out and faded,
Shall thy sun be shrivell’d up!

“Juggle not with words and phrases!                                                  142
Lie not with the Priests and Prophets!
Pain and Death are God’s creation,
And eternal, like Himself!

“I alone, whom men call Devil,
Have allay’d the woes of Nature!
Death alone I cannot vanquish—
Death and God, perchance, are One!”

                                                                                                                                                                 143

XXVIII.

Oh, the sorrow and the splendour                                                       [1:i]
Of that woe-worn Outcast Angel!
Reverently I bent before him,
Blessing him, the Prince of Pity;

Round him, as he look’d to Heaven,
Clung a cloud of golden music—
Fair he seem’d as when, ere fallen,
Singing on the morning star!

“Thus,” he said, “throughout the ages,
O’er the world my feet have wander’d,
Watching in eternal pity
Endless harvest-fields of Death!

“One by one the tribes and races
To the silent grave have waver’d,—
Never have I seen a sleeper
Slip his shroud, to rise again!

“Dead they lie, the strong, the gentle,                                                  144
Dead alike, the good and evil,—
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes,
All is o’er—they rest at last!

“All the tears of all the martyrs
Fall’n in vain for Man’s redemption!
All the souls of all the singers
Dumb for ever in the grave!

“Where are they whose busy fingers
Wove the silks of Tyre and Sidon?
Where are they who in the desert
Raised the mighty Pyramids?

“Ants upon an ant-heap, insects
Of the crumbling cells of coral,
Coming ever, ever going,
Race on race has lived and died.

“Ev’n as Babylon departed,
So shall yonder greater City;
Like the Assyrian, like the Roman,
Celt and Briton shall depart!

“Yea, the Cities and the Peoples                                                         145
One by one have come and vanish’d:
Broken, on the sandy desert,
Lies the Bull of Nineveh!

“Ev’n as beauteous reefs of coral
Rising bright and many-colour’d
In the midst of the great waters,
Wondrous Nations have arisen;

“First the insects that upbuilt them
Labour’d busily, and dying
Left the reef of their creation
Crumbling wearily away;

“O’er the reef the salt ooze gathers,
Mud and sand are heapt upon it,
Then the trees and flowers and grasses
Bury it for evermore!

“Shall I bend in adoration
To the Lord of these delusions?
Nay, I stand erect, and scorn Him,—
Pulseless, null Omnipotence!

“Deaf to all the wails and weeping,                                                    146
Blind to all the woes of Being,
Plunging daily into darkness
All the dreams of all the Christs!”

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
v.1, l.1: O, the sorrow and the splendour ]

 

                                                                                                                                                                 147

XXIX.

“Nay,” I cried, “the Christ shall triumph!
After centuries of sorrow
Man at last shall gain his birthright
And arise, a living Soul!

“Proves not this that One above thee
Wrought in love from the beginning?
Creeds and systems come and vanish,
But the Law Divine abides!

“Out of endless tribulation
Springs the Human, casting from him
One by one the sins and sorrows
Worn in ignorance of godhead;

“All around him and within him
Lies His kingdom, but He rules it                                                        [4:ii]
By the grace of One Supremer
Who created it and him!

“‘Know thyself!’ the Voice Eternal                                                     148
Crieth; and himself he knoweth,
God incarnate, bowing meekly
To the Eternal Voice and Law.

“Even thus thy God hath conquer’d!
What thy spirit wrought against Him
Turneth ever to a witness
Of His glory everlasting!

“Kneel, then, rebel, and adore Him!
Kneel with Man and chant His praises,
Hallelujah to the Highest,
As ’twas sung in the beginning!”

Pallid in the moonlight, turning
Sad eyes upward to the Heavens,
Head erect, still proud in sorrow,
Stood that weary fallen Spirit!

“Fool,” he answer’d, “what availeth?                                                 [9:i]
Praise or prayer or lamentation?
Blindly, pitilessly, surely,
Worketh the Eternal Law.

“Dust to dust, ashes to ashes!                                                             149 [10:i]
Nought escapeth, nought abideth—
Man, the sand for ever shifting
In an hour-glass, cometh, goeth!

“Death alone is King and Master!
Death is mightiest here and yonder,—
Man, the drop within a fountain,
Riseth ever, ever falleth!

“Vain the Dream and the Endeavour!
Vain the quest of Love and Knowledge,—
Man, the dewdrop in the Rainbow,
Shineth, then is drunk for ever!

“Answerest thou, that nought can perish?
That the elements for ever
Disappearing, re-emerging,
Shape themselves to Life anew?

“Even so; but Death shall silence
All that forms thy human nature—
Memory, consciousness, self-knowledge,
Personality, and Love!

“Out of darkness God hath drawn thee,                                              150
Back to darkness thou returnest—
In that moment of thy making
Thou becam’st a conscious Soul!

“Loving, hoping, apprehending,
Yearning to the Souls around thee,—
Father, mother, wife and children,
Sharers of thy joy and sorrow;

“These are thou, and these must vanish
Leaving not a trace behind them—
With the Elemental godhead
Thou and these shall mix for ever!

“The Supreme, the Elemental,
Voiceless is, and all unconscious!
But the conscious type emerging
Shineth, and is trumpet-tongued!

“From the dark he cometh, standing
Beautiful and demigod-like,
Crying gladly, ‘Lo my kingdom,
Where I reign as God’s anointed’;

“Knowing, feeling, apprehending,                                                       151
Thus he cometh to his birthright—
Memory, consciousness, self-knowledge,
Personality, and Love!

“Fool, Death taps him on the shoulder,
Death, the wraith of the Almighty,
Saying, ‘Cease! The law of being
Meaneth endless retrogression!

“‘Back into the Night! re-mingle
With the elemental Darkness!
Only for a little moment
God permits thee to abide!’

“Broken-hearted and despairing,
Into silence he returneth—
Dust to dust, ashes to ashes!
Crush’d he lies, a crumbling shell!

“Name me not the Prince of Evil,—
Call me still the Prince of Pity,
Since alone among immortals
I have wept for human woes!

“What remaineth? One thing only,                                                       152
Since Death cometh soon or later:
Carpe diem! While it lasteth,
Stand erect, Ephemeron!

“Waste no thought on the Almighty;
Seek, with all thy soul’s endeavour,
How to make thine earthly dwelling
Bright and fair, in God’s despite!

“Only for a day thou livest!
Make that day, so quickly fleeting,
For thyself, for all thou lovest,
Beautiful with Light and Joy!

“Yet, the pity! ah, the pity!
Back, far back, along the ages,
Stretch the graves of countless creatures
Who have borne the Cross for thee!

They, too, loved the light that lieth
On the seas and on the mountains!
They, too, by their God forsaken,
Died at last on Calvary!

They, too, dreamed of Life Eternal!                                                  153
They, too, knelt before the Father!
They, too, clung to one another,
Till He drave them back to dust!”

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
In the original edition of The Devil’s Case the chapter numbers from this point are incorrect since XXVIII is repeated. The mistake was corrected in the 1901 ‘Complete Poetical Works’ and, to avoid confusion, I have adopted the corrected version from this point on. Subsequent chapters in the original were therefore numbered XXIX, XXX and XXXI.

v.4, l.2: Lies his Kingdom, but he rules it
v.9, l.1: “Fool,” he answer’d, “what availeth
v.10, l.1: ‘Dust to dust, ashes to ashes; ]

 

                                                                                                                                                                 154

XXX.

As he spake, I saw around me
Once again the Apparitions
Moving ant-wise hither and thither
’Neath the glimpses of the moon;

Faces of the dead departed
Glimmer’d on me from the shadows,
While a sound of woeful voices
Faintly wailing fill’d the air;

And again (which still was strangest!)
Never one did gaze upon me,
Though I named them, wildly sobbing,                                                 [3:iii]
Stretching hungry empty arms;

Then at last my soul within me
Sicken’d, and the air around me,
Ev’n as seas around the drowning,                                                    [4:iii]
Swung,—till sense and sight departed! . . .

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
Chapter number (XXIX) incorrect in the original.
v.3, l.3: Though I named them wildly sobbing,
v.4, l.3: Even as seas around the drowning, ]

 

                                                                                                                                                                   155

XXXI.

On the lonely Heath of Hampstead
I awoke, and as I waken’d
Saw the Devil departing from me
Thro’ the shadows of the night;

Limping lame, and bending double,
Like a venerable mortal,
Round he turn’d, before he vanish’d,
Sigh’d, and fixed his eyes on mine.

(Ah, the sleepless eyes, so woeful
With the wisdom of the Serpent!
Ah, the piteous face so weary
With the woes of all the worlds!)

Forcing then his wrinkled features
To a smile, and grimly laughing—
“Plead,” he said, “for the Defendant!
Be my Laureate, yet remember:

“If the priests were right, and yonder                                                   156
Waited Heaven and compensation,
I’d at once admit my folly,
Taking off my hat to God!”

Nodding quietly, he vanish’d
While again I sadly wander’d
O’er the lonely Heath of Hampstead,
Thro’ the silence of the Night. . . .

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
Chapter number (XXX) incorrect in the original.]

 

                                                                                                                                                                 157

XXXII.

Little did I dream or fancy
I should ever (God forgive me!)
State the Case for the Defendant
Whom I loath’d with all my soul!

From a race of cattle stealers,
Rievers of the clan Buchanan,
I, Buchanan, sprang—the riever’s
Savage blood is in my veins;

Thieves and wolves we were, but never
Foxes, and our Celtic motto
Reads in Roman lingo—“Magnest
Veritas, et prevalebit
!”                                                                   [3:iv]

Tell the truth and shame the Devil!
Tell it, even tho’ it praise him!
Tell the truth for the Defendant,
Tho’ the Accuser be thy God!

Better still—let the Defendant                                                             158
Plead his Case in his own person:
Tho’ it means thine own damnation
Let the awful truth prevail! . . . . . . . .                                                 [5:iv]

Yet, alas! that happy Eden!
All the golden, gladsome Garden!
God the Father smiling on us,
Raining gentle blessings down!

Eve, that ne’er shalt be a mother,
Wrap thy sleeping shroud about thee!
All is over, all is over,—
But the Devil was not to blame!

FINIS.

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
Chapter number (XXXI) incorrect in the original.
v.3, l.4: Veritas et prevalebit!’
v.5, l.4: Let the awful truth prevail! . . . ]

 

                                                                                                                                                                 159

EPILOGUE:

THE LITANY. DE PROFUNDIS.

 

                                                                                                                                                                 161

THE LITANY. DE PROFUNDIS.

 

O God our Father in Heaven, Holy, Unseen, and Unknown,
Have mercy on us Thy children, who pray beneath Thy Throne!

O God our Father in Heaven, Holy, Unseen, and Unknown,
Have mercy on us Thy children, who pray beneath Thy Throne!

O God the Maker of Mortals, Life of all lives that be,
Speak, that our ears may hear Thee, shine, that our eyes may see!

O God the Maker of Mortals, Life of all lives that be,
Speak, that our ears may hear Thee, shine, that our eyes may see!

O God the Unbegotten, Fountain whence all things flow,
Open the rock of Thy Secret, that we may see Thee and know.

O God the Unbegotten, Fountain whence all things flow,
Open the Rock of Thy Secret, that we may see Thee and know.

Son that had never a Father, Father that never had Son,                                        162
Here on the Earth and yonder in Heaven, Thy will be done.

Son that had never a Father, Father that never had Son,
Here on the Earth and yonder in Heaven, Thy will be done.

Remember not our offences, O Father and Lord Divine,
Pity and spare Thy children, whose sins and offences are Thine;
For if they are blind and see not, ’tis Thou who closest their eyes,
And if they are frail and foolish, ’tis Thou who shouldst make them wise!
And be not angry, O Father, but sheathe Thine avenging Sword,
Spare the things of Thy making, love them and spare them, O Lord.

We are the things of thy making, spare us and love us, O Lord.

From all things hateful and evil, which come O Father from Thee,
From Sin, the Flesh, and the Devil, whom Thou permittest to be,
From what through Thee we suffer, since Thou hast made men thus,
From lesser and greater damnation, O Lord, deliver us!

From lesser and greater damnation, O Lord, deliver us!

From pride and from vain glory, from all hypocrisy,                                                163
From envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharity,
From filth, from fornication, from all things vile and abhorred
Which leaven the bread of Thy making, deliver us, O Lord.

From filth, from fornication, from all things vile and abhorred
Which leaven the bread of Thy making, deliver us, O Lord!

From thine avenging Lightning! from Fire and Famine and Pest!
From all the terrors and portents Thy Will makes manifest!
From War Thy witless Daughter, from Murder Thy maniac Son,
From Death that at Thy bidding betrays us, Almighty One,
From all Thy hand hath fashion’d to keep men mourning thus,
From all the woes of Creation, good Lord, deliver us!

From all the woes of Creation, good Lord, deliver us!

We are the things of Thy making, we are the clouds of Thy breath!
Life hast Thou made, O Father, to flee for ever from Death,
Flesh Thou hast wrapt around us, Flesh and the lusts of the same,
Out of Thy Word ’twas fashion’d, out of Thy mouth they came!                             164
From all the doubt and the darkness Thy vials of wrath have poured
To blind the spirits that seek Thee, deliver us, good Lord!

From all the doubt and the darkness Thy vials of wrath have poured
To blind the spirits that seek thee, deliver us, good Lord!

Thou hast set these Rulers above us, to bind us, to blind our eyes,
Thou hast sent these Priests to lure us with creeds and dogmas and lies,
Thou hast built Thy Church on the sands still shifting and tremulous,
From Churches, and Priests, and Liars, good Lord, deliver us!

From Churches, and Priests, and Liars, good Lord, deliver us!

By Thyself Incarnate within us, Thy Voice in our aching ears,
By Thy birth and Thy circumcision, Thy baptism of tears,
By fasting and by temptation, from all the passionate horde
Of Devils that seize and slay us, deliver us, good Lord.

By fasting and by temptation, from all the passionate horde
Of Devils that seize and slay us, deliver us, good Lord.

By the woe Thou hast never felt, by the Cross and the Crown of Thorn,                165
By the agony and the sweat on the brow of Thine Eldest Born,
By the cry that never was answer’d and ringeth ever aloud,
By the tomb that never was open’d, the dust therein, and the shroud,
By Him who sleepeth forever, while we implore Thee thus,
From Death and from tribulation, good Lord, deliver us!

From Death and from tribulation, good Lord, deliver us!

Strengthen our hearts to know Thee, O God that cannot be known!
Make righteous the Kings who rule us, and sit on an earthly throne!
Set in their hands Thy sceptre, place in their hands Thy sword—
Help us to bear their yoke!

We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord!

Shine on the eyes of Thy Priests, illumine Thy Bishops, shed
Lightnings to quicken life in the creeds that are pulseless and dead.
When the Holy supper is set, and the Ghost of the Christ at the board
Sits, be Thou there in our mid’st!

We beseech thee to hear us, good Lord.

Instruct the Lords of the Council! endow the brain of the Fool!                              166
Bless and preserve our Masters who sit in high places and rule!
But when in their granaries yonder the harvest of toil is stored,
Spare us some mouthfuls of bread!

We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord.

Father that dwellest in Heaven, so far from the sorrows of Earth,
Soften to us, Thy children, the travails of Death and of Birth,
Teach us to love Thee and dread Thee, to eat the bread of Thy Word,
Altho’ it be hard as stone!

We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord.

We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord, when darkness and sorrow are near us,
When blindly we grope thro’ the dark, good Lord, we beseech Thee to hear us,
We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord, and send Thy Spirit to cheer us!

When Thy yoke is hardest to bear, good Lord, we beseech Thee to hear us!

Help us when we are falling, as we help others who fall!
By land and by sea preserve us, O Father, Maker of all!                                        167
Comfort the sick and the weary with tidings of hope and of peace,
All children, all women who labour that what Thou hast made may increase,
Open the gates to the captive, lift up the weak and forlorn,
Feed, too, the fatherless orphans, comfort the widows that mourn.
Have mercy, Father in Heaven, and send Thy spirit to cheer us,
We beseech Thee to hear us, good Lord!

Good Lord, we beseech Thee to hear us!

O Father who canst not conquer our sorrow, since it is Thine!
Maker who cannot unmake us, since we, like Thee, are divine!
Light that dwellest within us, Light that art far away!
Nearest to, farthest from us, answer our prayers when we pray!
Lord, have mercy upon us! Send thy Spirit to cheer us!
Have mercy and hear us, O Lord!

O Lord, have mercy and hear us!

Save us from all our enemies, Most High!

In our afflictions, Lord, be ever nigh!

Pity our sorrows, Fountain of all Light!                                                                   168

And when we pray be near us day and night!

Let us pray.

THE PRAYER.

Father, which art in Heaven, not here below!
     Be Thy Name hallowëd, in that place of worth!
And till Thy Kingdom cometh, and we know,
     Be Thy will done more tenderly on earth!
Since we must live, give us our daily bread!
     Forgive our stumblings, since Thou mad’st us blind!
If we offend Thee, Lord, at least forgive
     As tenderly as we forgive our kind.
Spare us temptation, human or divine!
     Deliver us from evil, now and then!
The Kingdom, Power, and Glory all are Thine
     For ever and for evermore. Amen.

Let us pray.

O God, Unseen, Unknown, yet dimly guessed
     By spirit and by sense,
The miracle of Nature doth attest
     Thy dread Omnipotence!

Teach us to love Thee, God and Lord of all,
     And lead us to thy Light!
We love Thee not, we are too weak and small,
     And Thou too Infinite! . . . .

O God, we have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told it unto us,              169
That Thou canst uplift or cast down, redeem, or forever undo us,
The works Thou hast made we behold as dawn after dawn cometh breaking,
But evil and pain and despair are blent with the worlds of thy making,—
Unveil the light of Thy Face, till all Thy dread ways become clear to us!

Deliver us out of the Darkness! Bend down thro’ Thy clouds and give ear to us!

Glory be Thine, O Father, from all things fashion’d by Thee.

As it was in the beginning, is, and ever shall be!

 

[Notes:
Alterations in the 1901 edition of The Complete Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan:
There are several minor changes to the punctuation (fewer exclamation marks) in ‘The Litany. De Profundis’.]

 

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