THE ASSEMBLY
OF THE GODS OF THE ANCIENT PEOPLES
That tempestuous wind, those night black clouds | |
in their darkness the lightning itself had lost its lustre; | |
an ocean suspended in their air, | |
its skirt rent, few pearls pouring, | 1600 |
its shore invisible, its waves high-surging, | |
high-surging, powerless to battle with the winds. | |
Rumi and I in that sea of pitch | |
were as phantoms in the bedchamber of the mind | |
he much-travelled, I new to travel, | 1605 |
my eyes impatient to gaze abroad. | |
Continually I cried: My sight is inadequate, | |
I do not see where the other world may be! | |
Presently a mountain-range appeared, | |
a river, a broad meadow appeared, | 1610 |
mountain and plain embracing a hundred springtides | |
fragrant with musk came the breeze from the hills. | |
Songs of birds conspiring together, | |
fountains, and verdant herbs half-grown. | |
The body was fortified by the emanation of that air, | 1615 |
the pure spirit in the flesh keener of vision. | |
I fixed my gaze on the top of a mountain; | |
a joyful the mountain, the slope, the stretching plain; | |
a lovely valley, even, not sinking nor rising | |
the water of Kbizr would have need of such a land. | 1620 |
In this valley were the ancient gods, | |
there the God of Egypt, here the Lord of Yemen, | |
there a Lord of the Arabs, here of Iraq, | |
this one the god of union, that the god of separation, | |
here an offspring of the sun, and the moons son-in-law, | 1625 |
another looking to the consort of Jupiter, | |
one holding a two-edged sword in his hand, | |
another with a serpent wreathed about his throat. | |
Each one was trembling at the Beautiful Name, | |
each wounded by the smiting of Abraham. | 1630 |
Mardukh said: Man has fled from God, | |
fled from church and sanctuary, lamenting, | |
and to augment his vision and perception | |
turns his gaze backwards to the past age. | |
He takes delight in ancient relics, | 1635 |
makes speeches about our theophanies. | |
Time has revealed a new legend; | |
a favourable wind is wafting from younder earth. | |
Baal in excess of joy chanted sweetly | |
Unveiling our secrets to the gods. | 1640 |