And thine is a Face of sweet Love in despair, 45
And thine is a Face of mild sorrow & care,
And thine is a Face of wild terror & fear
That shall never be quiet till laid on its bier.
The Maiden caught me in the Wild, 1
Where I was dancing merrily;
She put me into her Cabinet,
And Lock'd me up with a golden Key.
Pickering MS. p. 10.
A passage in Jerusalem, f. 70, ll. 17-31, makes it plain that the subject of this poem is Rahab, or moral law:—
'Imputing Sin & Righteousness to Individuals, Rahab
Sat deep within him hid: his Feminine Power unreveal'd
Brooding Abstract Philosophy, to destroy Imagination, the Divine-
Humanity: A Three-fold Wonder, feminine, most beautiful. Three-fold
Each within other. On her white marble & even Neck, her Heart
Inorb'd and bonified: with locks of shadowing modesty, shining
Over her beautiful Female features, soft flourishing in beauty,
Beams mild, all love and all perfection, that when the lips
Recieve a kiss from Gods or Men, a threefold kiss returns
From the press'd loveliness; so her whole immortal form, three-fold
Three-fold embrace returns: consuming lives of Gods & Men,
In fires of beauty melting them as gold & silver in the furnace,
Her Brain enlabyrinths the whole heaven of her bosom & loins
To put in act what her Heart wills; O who can withstand her power?
Her name is Vala in Eternity: in Time her name is Rahab.'
3 Cp. Milton, f. 27, ll. 1-26:—
'Some Sons of Los surround the Passions with porches of iron & silver
Creating form & beauty around the dark regions of sorrow,
Giving to airy nothing a name and a habitation
Delightful, with bounds to the Infinite putting off the Indefinite
Into most holy forms of Thought (such is the power of inspiration).
They labour incessant, with many tears and afflections.
Creating the beautiful House for the piteous sufferer.
Others, Cabinets richly fabricate of gold & ivory
For Doubts & fears, unform'd & wretched & melancholy
The little weeping Spectre stands on the threshold of Death
Eternal . . .
Terrified the Spectre screams & rushes in fear into their Net
Of kindness & compassion & is born a weeping terror.'
