classes ::: substance, concept, noun,
children :::
branches ::: Aether, ether, Etheric

bookmarks: Instances - Definitions - Quotes - Chapters - Wordnet - Webgen


object:ether
class:substance
class:concept
word class:noun

see also :::

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now begins generated list of local instances, definitions, quotes, instances in chapters, wordnet info if available and instances among weblinks


OBJECT INSTANCES [0] - TOPICS - AUTHORS - BOOKS - CHAPTERS - CLASSES - SEE ALSO - SIMILAR TITLES

TOPICS
SEE ALSO


AUTH

BOOKS
A_Treatise_on_Cosmic_Fire
Big_Mind,_Big_Heart
Blazing_the_Trail_from_Infancy_to_Enlightenment
City_of_God
DND_DM_Guide_5E
Enchiridion_text
Epigrams_from_Savitri
Evolution_II
Faust
Full_Circle
General_Principles_of_Kabbalah
Heart_of_Matter
Infinite_Library
Initiation_Into_Hermetics
Know_Yourself
Let_Me_Explain
Liber_157_-_The_Tao_Teh_King
Liber_Null
Life_without_Death
Meditation__The_First_and_Last_Freedom
Modern_Man_in_Search_of_a_Soul
My_Burning_Heart
On_Interpretation
Plotinus_-_Complete_Works_Vol_01
Process_and_Reality
Savitri
Spiral_Dynamics
The_Act_of_Creation
The_Archetypes_and_the_Collective_Unconscious
The_Book_of_Gates
The_Book_of_Secrets__Keys_to_Love_and_Meditation
The_Categories
The_Diamond_Sutra
The_Divine_Companion
The_Divine_Milieu
The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh
The_Essential_Songs_of_Milarepa
The_Golden_Bough
The_Heros_Journey
The_Imitation_of_Christ
The_Interior_Castle_or_The_Mansions
The_Ladder_of_Divine_Ascent
The_Odyssey
The_Republic
The_Seals_of_Wisdom
The_Suttanipata__An_Ancient_Collection_of_the_Buddha's_Discourses_Together_with_its_Commentaries
The_Synthesis_Of_Yoga
The_Tarot_of_Paul_Christian
The_Use_and_Abuse_of_History
The_Way_of_Perfection
The_Wit_and_Wisdom_of_Alfred_North_Whitehead
The_Yoga_Sutras
Thought_Power
Toward_the_Future

IN CHAPTERS TITLE
1.00c_-_DIVISION_C_-_THE_ETHERIC_BODY_AND_PRANA
1.07_-_Akasa_or_the_Ethereal_Principle
1.30_-_Concerning_the_linking_together_of_the_supreme_trinity_among_the_virtues.
1.ia_-_When_We_Came_Together
1.ia_-_When_we_came_together
1.okym_-_56_-_And_this_I_know-_whether_the_one_True_Light
1.rb_-_The_Last_Ride_Together
1.whitman_-_We_Two_Boys_Together_Clinging
1.ww_-_The_Fairest,_Brightest,_Hues_Of_Ether_Fade
ENNEAD_01.04_-_Whether_Animals_May_Be_Termed_Happy.
ENNEAD_02.03_-_Whether_Astrology_is_of_any_Value.
ENNEAD_04.09_-_Whether_All_Souls_Form_a_Single_One?

IN CHAPTERS CLASSNAME

IN CHAPTERS TEXT
0_0.01_-_Introduction
00.01_-_The_Approach_to_Mysticism
00.01_-_The_Mother_on_Savitri
00.02_-_Mystic_Symbolism
00.03_-_Upanishadic_Symbolism
00.05_-_A_Vedic_Conception_of_the_Poet
0.00a_-_Introduction
000_-_Humans_in_Universe
0.00_-_INTRODUCTION
0.00_-_The_Book_of_Lies_Text
0.00_-_THE_GOSPEL_PREFACE
0.01f_-_FOREWARD
0.01_-_I_-_Sri_Aurobindos_personality,_his_outer_retirement_-_outside_contacts_after_1910_-_spiritual_personalities-_Vibhutis_and_Avatars_-__transformtion_of_human_personality
0.01_-_Letters_from_the_Mother_to_Her_Son
0.01_-_Life_and_Yoga
0.02_-_Letters_to_a_Sadhak
0.02_-_The_Three_Steps_of_Nature
0.03_-_Letters_to_My_little_smile
0.03_-_The_Threefold_Life
0.04_-_The_Systems_of_Yoga
0.05_-_Letters_to_a_Child
0.06_-_INTRODUCTION
0.06_-_Letters_to_a_Young_Sadhak
0.07_-_Letters_to_a_Sadhak
0.08_-_Letters_to_a_Young_Captain
01.01_-_Sri_Aurobindo_-_The_Age_of_Sri_Aurobindo
01.01_-_The_New_Humanity
01.01_-_The_Symbol_Dawn
01.02_-_Natures_Own_Yoga
01.02_-_The_Creative_Soul
01.02_-_The_Issue
01.03_-_Mystic_Poetry
01.03_-_Rationalism
01.03_-_The_Yoga_of_the_King_-_The_Yoga_of_the_Souls_Release
01.03_-_Yoga_and_the_Ordinary_Life
01.04_-_Sri_Aurobindos_Gita
01.04_-_The_Intuition_of_the_Age
01.04_-_The_Poetry_in_the_Making
01.04_-_The_Secret_Knowledge
01.06_-_On_Communism
01.06_-_Vivekananda
01.07_-_Blaise_Pascal_(1623-1662)
01.07_-_The_Bases_of_Social_Reconstruction
01.08_-_A_Theory_of_Yoga
01.08_-_Walter_Hilton:_The_Scale_of_Perfection
01.09_-_The_Parting_of_the_Way
01.09_-_William_Blake:_The_Marriage_of_Heaven_and_Hell
0.10_-_Letters_to_a_Young_Captain
01.11_-_The_Basis_of_Unity
01.12_-_Three_Degrees_of_Social_Organisation
01.13_-_T._S._Eliot:_Four_Quartets
0.11_-_Letters_to_a_Sadhak
0.13_-_Letters_to_a_Student
0_1956-05-02
0_1956-09-14
0_1956-10-08
0_1957-01-18
0_1957-07-03
0_1957-11-12
0_1957-12-21
0_1958-01-01
0_1958-02-03b_-_The_Supramental_Ship
0_1958-04-03
0_1958-07-02
0_1958-08-08
0_1958-10-04
0_1958-11-02
0_1958-11-04_-_Myths_are_True_and_Gods_exist_-_mental_formation_and_occult_faculties_-_exteriorization_-_work_in_dreams
0_1958-11-08
0_1958-11-15
0_1958-11-20
0_1958-11-27_-_Intermediaries_and_Immediacy
0_1958-12-04
0_1959-01-06
0_1959-01-21
0_1959-03-10_-_vital_dagger,_vital_mass
0_1959-05-25
0_1959-06-03
0_1959-06-07
0_1959-06-17
0_1959-07-14
0_1960-04-13
0_1960-06-04
0_1960-06-07
0_1960-07-12_-_Mothers_Vision_-_the_Voice,_the_ashram_a_tiny_part_of_myself,_the_Mothers_Force,_sparkling_white_light_compressed_-_enormous_formation_of_negative_vibrations_-_light_in_evil
0_1960-07-15
0_1960-07-18_-_triple_time_vision,_Questions_and_Answers_is_like_circling_around_the_Garden
0_1960-08-20
0_1960-09-20
0_1960-10-02a
0_1960-10-08
0_1960-10-11
0_1960-10-22
0_1960-10-25
0_1960-10-30
0_1960-11-05
0_1960-11-08
0_1960-11-12
0_1960-11-15
0_1960-11-26
0_1960-12-02
0_1960-12-13
0_1960-12-17
0_1960-12-20
0_1960-12-31
0_1961-01-24
0_1961-01-27
0_1961-01-31
0_1961-02-04
0_1961-02-07
0_1961-02-11
0_1961-02-18
0_1961-02-25
0_1961-02-28
0_1961-03-04
0_1961-03-07
0_1961-03-11
0_1961-03-14
0_1961-03-25
0_1961-03-27
0_1961-04-07
0_1961-04-25
0_1961-04-29
0_1961-05-19
0_1961-06-24
0_1961-07-15
0_1961-07-18
0_1961-07-28
0_1961-08-02
0_1961-08-11
0_1961-08-18
0_1961-09-16
0_1961-09-23
0_1961-10-02
0_1961-10-15
0_1961-10-30
0_1961-11-05
0_1961-11-07
0_1961-12-20
0_1962-01-09
0_1962-01-12_-_supramental_ship
0_1962-01-21
0_1962-02-03
0_1962-02-06
0_1962-02-13
0_1962-03-06
0_1962-03-11
0_1962-03-13
0_1962-05-15
0_1962-05-18
0_1962-05-24
0_1962-05-31
0_1962-06-02
0_1962-06-06
0_1962-06-12
0_1962-06-27
0_1962-06-30
0_1962-07-04
0_1962-07-07
0_1962-07-18
0_1962-07-21
0_1962-07-31
0_1962-08-08
0_1962-08-11
0_1962-08-14
0_1962-08-18
0_1962-09-05
0_1962-09-08
0_1962-09-15
0_1962-09-26
0_1962-10-06
0_1962-10-12
0_1962-10-20
0_1962-10-30
0_1962-11-07
0_1962-11-14
0_1962-11-17
0_1962-11-20
0_1962-11-27
0_1962-12-15
0_1962-12-19
0_1962-12-22
0_1963-01-02
0_1963-01-12
0_1963-01-14
0_1963-01-18
0_1963-01-30
0_1963-02-15
0_1963-02-19
0_1963-02-23
0_1963-03-06
0_1963-03-16
0_1963-03-19
0_1963-03-23
0_1963-03-27
0_1963-04-06
0_1963-04-20
0_1963-04-29
0_1963-05-03
0_1963-05-11
0_1963-05-18
0_1963-05-25
0_1963-05-29
0_1963-06-08
0_1963-06-12
0_1963-06-26b
0_1963-06-29
0_1963-07-03
0_1963-07-10
0_1963-07-17
0_1963-07-20
0_1963-07-24
0_1963-07-31
0_1963-08-07
0_1963-08-10
0_1963-08-17
0_1963-08-21
0_1963-08-24
0_1963-08-28
0_1963-08-31
0_1963-09-04
0_1963-09-07
0_1963-09-18
0_1963-09-25
0_1963-09-28
0_1963-10-05
0_1963-10-16
0_1963-10-19
0_1963-11-04
0_1963-11-20
0_1963-11-30
0_1963-12-03
0_1963-12-11
0_1963-12-14
0_1963-12-31
0_1964-01-15
0_1964-01-18
0_1964-01-22
0_1964-02-05
0_1964-03-04
0_1964-03-14
0_1964-03-25
0_1964-03-28
0_1964-04-08
0_1964-05-28
0_1964-07-18
0_1964-07-22
0_1964-07-31
0_1964-08-08
0_1964-08-11
0_1964-08-19
0_1964-08-22
0_1964-08-26
0_1964-09-23
0_1964-09-26
0_1964-10-07
0_1964-10-10
0_1964-10-14
0_1964-10-17
0_1964-10-30
0_1964-11-12
0_1964-11-14
0_1964-11-25
0_1964-11-28
0_1964-12-02
0_1965-02-24
0_1965-03-20
0_1965-03-24
0_1965-03-27
0_1965-04-21
0_1965-05-05
0_1965-05-29
0_1965-06-14
0_1965-06-18_-_supramental_ship
0_1965-06-23
0_1965-07-07
0_1965-07-10
0_1965-07-17
0_1965-07-31
0_1965-08-04
0_1965-08-21
0_1965-09-08
0_1965-09-15a
0_1965-09-22
0_1965-09-25
0_1965-11-23
0_1965-11-27
0_1965-12-07
0_1965-12-10
0_1965-12-18
0_1965-12-25
0_1965-12-30
0_1966-01-26
0_1966-01-31
0_1966-03-02
0_1966-03-04
0_1966-03-09
0_1966-03-19
0_1966-04-16
0_1966-04-24
0_1966-04-27
0_1966-05-07
0_1966-05-14
0_1966-06-02
0_1966-06-08
0_1966-06-18
0_1966-06-29
0_1966-07-09
0_1966-07-27
0_1966-08-03
0_1966-08-27
0_1966-09-21
0_1966-09-28
0_1966-10-05
0_1966-10-08
0_1966-10-12
0_1966-10-15
0_1966-10-29
0_1966-11-03
0_1966-11-09
0_1966-11-15
0_1966-11-19
0_1966-11-30
0_1966-12-20
0_1967-01-11
0_1967-01-21
0_1967-02-04
0_1967-02-08
0_1967-02-15
0_1967-03-07
0_1967-04-03
0_1967-04-15
0_1967-04-27
0_1967-05-03
0_1967-05-06
0_1967-05-10
0_1967-05-13
0_1967-05-17
0_1967-05-24
0_1967-05-30
0_1967-06-03
0_1967-06-07
0_1967-06-14
0_1967-06-21
0_1967-06-24
0_1967-07-08
0_1967-07-12
0_1967-07-15
0_1967-07-22
0_1967-07-26
0_1967-07-29
0_1967-08-02
0_1967-08-16
0_1967-08-26
0_1967-08-30
0_1967-09-03
0_1967-09-30
0_1967-10-04
0_1967-10-07
0_1967-10-11
0_1967-10-19
0_1967-10-25
0_1967-10-30
0_1967-11-04
0_1967-11-08
0_1967-11-22
0_1967-11-29
0_1967-12-06
0_1967-12-20
0_1967-12-30
0_1968-01-06
0_1968-01-12
0_1968-02-07
0_1968-02-14
0_1968-02-28
0_1968-03-02
0_1968-03-16
0_1968-04-06
0_1968-05-18
0_1968-05-22
0_1968-05-29
0_1968-06-03
0_1968-06-12
0_1968-06-29
0_1968-07-10
0_1968-08-07
0_1968-08-28
0_1968-08-30
0_1968-09-04
0_1968-09-07
0_1968-09-11
0_1968-09-21
0_1968-10-09
0_1968-10-26
0_1968-11-06
0_1968-11-23
0_1968-11-27
0_1968-12-04
0_1969-01-04
0_1969-01-15
0_1969-02-05
0_1969-02-08
0_1969-02-15
0_1969-02-19
0_1969-02-26
0_1969-03-08
0_1969-03-12
0_1969-03-19
0_1969-03-26
0_1969-04-02
0_1969-04-05
0_1969-04-16
0_1969-04-19
0_1969-04-23
0_1969-04-30
0_1969-05-03
0_1969-05-10
0_1969-05-14
0_1969-05-17
0_1969-05-21
0_1969-05-24
0_1969-05-28
0_1969-05-31
0_1969-06-04
0_1969-06-28
0_1969-07-12
0_1969-07-19
0_1969-07-23
0_1969-07-26
0_1969-07-30
0_1969-08-02
0_1969-08-06
0_1969-08-09
0_1969-08-16
0_1969-08-20
0_1969-08-23
0_1969-08-27
0_1969-08-30
0_1969-09-13
0_1969-09-17
0_1969-09-27
0_1969-10-08
0_1969-10-18
0_1969-10-25
0_1969-11-01
0_1969-11-15
0_1969-11-19
0_1969-11-29
0_1969-12-17
0_1969-12-27
0_1969-12-31
0_1970-01-03
0_1970-01-07
0_1970-01-10
0_1970-01-17
0_1970-01-31
0_1970-02-07
0_1970-02-18
0_1970-02-21
0_1970-02-28
0_1970-03-14
0_1970-03-21
0_1970-03-25
0_1970-03-28
0_1970-04-01
0_1970-04-11
0_1970-04-18
0_1970-04-29
0_1970-05-02
0_1970-05-09
0_1970-05-16
0_1970-05-20
0_1970-05-27
0_1970-06-06
0_1970-06-13
0_1970-06-27
0_1970-07-04
0_1970-07-11
0_1970-09-02
0_1970-09-05
0_1970-09-09
0_1970-09-12
0_1970-09-16
0_1970-09-30
0_1970-10-31
0_1971-01-16
0_1971-01-17
0_1971-01-23
0_1971-03-17
0_1971-04-10
0_1971-04-17
0_1971-04-21
0_1971-04-28
0_1971-05-15
0_1971-05-22
0_1971-05-26
0_1971-06-05
0_1971-06-16
0_1971-06-23
0_1971-06-30
0_1971-07-10
0_1971-07-17
0_1971-07-24
0_1971-08-07
0_1971-09-04
0_1971-09-15
0_1971-10-16
0_1971-10-23
0_1971-10-27
0_1971-10-30
0_1971-11-10
0_1971-11-24
0_1971-12-11
0_1971-12-25
0_1972-01-08
0_1972-01-12
0_1972-01-15
0_1972-01-29
0_1972-03-10
0_1972-03-24
0_1972-03-29a
0_1972-04-04
0_1972-04-05
0_1972-04-13
0_1972-04-29
0_1972-05-06
0_1972-05-13
0_1972-05-27
0_1972-05-31
0_1972-06-10
0_1972-07-22
0_1972-08-05
0_1972-08-12
0_1972-08-16
0_1972-10-07
0_1972-10-25
0_1972-11-08
0_1972-12-02
0_1972-12-10
0_1972-12-16
0_1972-12-20
0_1972-12-30
0_1973-01-20
0_1973-02-14
0_1973-04-30
02.01_-_A_Vedic_Story
02.01_-_Metaphysical_Thought_and_the_Supreme_Truth
02.01_-_The_World_War
02.02_-_Lines_of_the_Descent_of_Consciousness
02.02_-_The_Kingdom_of_Subtle_Matter
02.03_-_An_Aspect_of_Emergent_Evolution
02.03_-_National_and_International
02.03_-_The_Glory_and_the_Fall_of_Life
02.03_-_The_Shakespearean_Word
02.04_-_The_Kingdoms_of_the_Little_Life
02.05_-_Federated_Humanity
02.05_-_Robert_Graves
02.05_-_The_Godheads_of_the_Little_Life
02.06_-_Boris_Pasternak
02.06_-_The_Integral_Yoga_and_Other_Yogas
02.06_-_The_Kingdoms_and_Godheads_of_the_Greater_Life
02.06_-_Vansittartism
02.07_-_India_One_and_Indivisable
02.08_-_Jules_Supervielle
02.08_-_The_World_of_Falsehood,_the_Mother_of_Evil_and_the_Sons_of_Darkness
02.09_-_The_Way_to_Unity
02.10_-_Independence_and_its_Sanction
02.10_-_The_Kingdoms_and_Godheads_of_the_Little_Mind
02.10_-_Two_Mystic_Poems_in_Modern_Bengali
02.11_-_New_World-Conditions
02.11_-_The_Kingdoms_and_Godheads_of_the_Greater_Mind
02.12_-_The_Heavens_of_the_Ideal
02.12_-_The_Ideals_of_Human_Unity
02.13_-_Rabindranath_and_Sri_Aurobindo
02.14_-_Appendix
02.14_-_Panacea_of_Isms
02.14_-_The_World-Soul
03.01_-_The_Malady_of_the_Century
03.01_-_The_New_Year_Initiation
03.02_-_Aspects_of_Modernism
03.02_-_The_Philosopher_as_an_Artist_and_Philosophy_as_an_Art
03.02_-_Yogic_Initiation_and_Aptitude
03.03_-_A_Stainless_Steel_Frame
03.03_-_Modernism_-_An_Oriental_Interpretation
03.03_-_The_Inner_Being_and_the_Outer_Being
03.04_-_The_Other_Aspect_of_European_Culture
03.04_-_The_Vision_and_the_Boon
03.04_-_Towardsa_New_Ideology
03.05_-_Some_Conceptions_and_Misconceptions
03.05_-_The_Spiritual_Genius_of_India
03.06_-_Here_or_Otherwhere
03.06_-_The_Pact_and_its_Sanction
03.07_-_The_Sunlit_Path
03.08_-_The_Democracy_of_Tomorrow
03.08_-_The_Standpoint_of_Indian_Art
03.09_-_Buddhism_and_Hinduism
03.10_-_Sincerity
03.11_-_Modernist_Poetry
03.11_-_The_Language_Problem_and_India
03.12_-_TagorePoet_and_Seer
03.13_-_Dynamic_Fatalism
03.14_-_Mater_Dolorosa
03.15_-_Origin_and_Nature_of_Suffering
03.15_-_Towards_the_Future
03.17_-_The_Souls_Odyssey
04.01_-_To_the_Heights_I
04.02_-_Human_Progress
04.03_-_Consciousness_as_Energy
04.03_-_The_Eternal_East_and_West
04.04_-_A_Global_Humanity
04.05_-_The_Immortal_Nation
04.07_-_Readings_in_Savitri
04.09_-_Values_Higher_and_Lower
04.19_-_To_the_Heights-XIX_(The_March_into_the_Night)
04.34_-_To_the_Heights-XXXIV
04.46_-_To_the_Heights-XLVI
05.01_-_Man_and_the_Gods
05.01_-_The_Destined_Meeting-Place
05.02_-_Gods_Labour
05.02_-_Satyavan
05.03_-_Bypaths_of_Souls_Journey
05.03_-_Satyavan_and_Savitri
05.03_-_The_Body_Natural
05.04_-_The_Immortal_Person
05.04_-_The_Measure_of_Time
05.05_-_In_Quest_of_Reality
05.06_-_Physics_or_philosophy
05.06_-_The_Role_of_Evil
05.07_-_Man_and_Superman
05.07_-_The_Observer_and_the_Observed
05.08_-_An_Age_of_Revolution
05.09_-_The_Changed_Scientific_Outlook
05.09_-_Varieties_of_Religious_Experience
05.10_-_Children_and_Child_Mentality
05.10_-_Knowledge_by_Identity
05.11_-_The_Place_of_Reason
05.12_-_The_Soul_and_its_Journey
05.16_-_A_Modernist_Mentality
05.17_-_Evolution_or_Special_Creation
05.18_-_Man_to_be_Surpassed
05.29_-_Vengeance_is_Mine
05.30_-_Theres_a_Divinity
05.31_-_Divine_Intervention
05.32_-_Yoga_as_Pragmatic_Power
05.33_-_Caesar_versus_the_Divine
06.01_-_The_End_of_a_Civilisation
06.01_-_The_Word_of_Fate
06.02_-_Darkness_to_Light
06.02_-_The_Way_of_Fate_and_the_Problem_of_Pain
06.03_-_Types_of_Meditation
06.04_-_The_Conscious_Being
06.08_-_The_Individual_and_the_Collective
06.11_-_The_Steps_of_the_Soul
06.14_-_The_Integral_Realisation
06.17_-_Directed_Change
06.25_-_Individual_and_Collective_Soul
06.28_-_The_Coming_of_Superman
06.31_-_Identification_of_Consciousness
06.32_-_The_Central_Consciousness
06.36_-_The_Mother_on_Herself
07.02_-_The_Parable_of_the_Search_for_the_Soul
07.02_-_The_Spiral_Universe
07.03_-_The_Entry_into_the_Inner_Countries
07.04_-_The_Triple_Soul-Forces
07.05_-_The_Finding_of_the_Soul
07.06_-_Nirvana_and_the_Discovery_of_the_All-Negating_Absolute
07.08_-_The_Divine_Truth_Its_Name_and_Form
07.10_-_Diseases_and_Accidents
07.12_-_This_Ugliness_in_the_World
07.13_-_Divine_Justice
07.14_-_The_Divine_Suffering
07.15_-_Divine_Disgust
07.22_-_Mysticism_and_Occultism
07.24_-_Meditation_and_Meditation
07.26_-_Offering_and_Surrender
07.30_-_Sincerity_is_Victory
07.32_-_The_Yogic_Centres
07.35_-_The_Force_of_Body-Consciousness
07.36_-_The_Body_and_the_Psychic
07.37_-_The_Psychic_Being,_Some_Mysteries
07.39_-_The_Homogeneous_Being
07.41_-_The_Divine_Family
07.42_-_The_Nature_and_Destiny_of_Art
07.43_-_Music_Its_Origin_and_Nature
08.01_-_Choosing_To_Do_Yoga
08.02_-_Order_and_Discipline
08.05_-_Will_and_Desire
08.08_-_The_Mind_s_Bazaar
08.10_-_Are_Not_Dogs_More_Faithful_Than_Men?
08.12_-_Thought_the_Creator
08.16_-_Perfection_and_Progress
08.17_-_Psychological_Perfection
08.18_-_The_Origin_of_Desire
08.19_-_Asceticism
08.20_-_Are_Not_The_Ascetic_Means_Helpful_At_Times?
08.21_-_Human_Birth
08.22_-_Regarding_the_Body
08.25_-_Meat-Eating
08.26_-_Faith_and_Progress
08.27_-_Value_of_Religious_Exercises
08.28_-_Prayer_and_Aspiration
08.36_-_Buddha_and_Shankara
09.01_-_Prayer_and_Aspiration
09.02_-_Meditation
09.02_-_The_Journey_in_Eternal_Night_and_the_Voice_of_the_Darkness
09.03_-_The_Psychic_Being
09.04_-_The_Divine_Grace
09.05_-_The_Story_of_Love
09.06_-_How_Can_Time_Be_a_Friend?
09.11_-_The_Supramental_Manifestation_and_World_Change
09.12_-_The_True_Teaching
09.14_-_Education_of_Girls
09.15_-_How_to_Listen
09.16_-_Goal_of_Evolution
09.18_-_The_Mother_on_Herself
100.00_-_Synergy
10.01_-_A_Dream
10.01_-_Cycles_of_Creation
1.001_-_The_Aim_of_Yoga
10.02_-_The_Gospel_of_Death_and_Vanity_of_the_Ideal
1.002_-_The_Heifer
1.003_-_Family_of_Imran
10.03_-_Life_in_and_Through_Death
10.04_-_The_Dream_Twilight_of_the_Earthly_Real
1.004_-_Women
10.05_-_Mind_and_the_Mental_World
1.005_-_The_Table
10.06_-_Beyond_the_Dualities
1.006_-_Livestock
1.007_-_Initial_Steps_in_Yoga_Practice
1.007_-_The_Elevations
10.07_-_The_World_is_One
10.08_-_Consciousness_as_Freedom
1.008_-_The_Spoils
1.009_-_Perception_and_Reality
1.009_-_Repentance
1.00a_-_DIVISION_A_-_THE_INTERNAL_FIRES_OF_THE_SHEATHS.
1.00a_-_Foreword
1.00a_-_Introduction
1.00b_-_DIVISION_B_-_THE_PERSONALITY_RAY_AND_FIRE_BY_FRICTION
1.00b_-_INTRODUCTION
1.00b_-_Introduction
1.00c_-_DIVISION_C_-_THE_ETHERIC_BODY_AND_PRANA
1.00c_-_INTRODUCTION
1.00d_-_DIVISION_D_-_KUNDALINI_AND_THE_SPINE
1.00d_-_Introduction
1.00e_-_DIVISION_E_-_MOTION_ON_THE_PHYSICAL_AND_ASTRAL_PLANES
1.00f_-_DIVISION_F_-_THE_LAW_OF_ECONOMY
1.00h_-_Foreword
1.00_-_INTRODUCTION
1.00_-_INTRODUCTORY_REMARKS
1.00_-_Main
1.00_-_PREFACE_-_DESCENSUS_AD_INFERNOS
1.00_-_Preliminary_Remarks
1.00_-_PRELUDE_AT_THE_THEATRE
1.00_-_The_Constitution_of_the_Human_Being
1.00_-_The_way_of_what_is_to_come
10.10_-_Education_is_Organisation
1.010_-_Jonah
1.011_-_Hud
1.012_-_Sublimation_-_A_Way_to_Reshuffle_Thought
1.013_-_Defence_Mechanisms_of_the_Mind
1.013_-_Thunder
1.014_-_Abraham
10.14_-_Night_and_Day
10.15_-_The_Evolution_of_Language
1.015_-_The_Rock
1.016_-_The_Bee
10.17_-_Miracles:_Their_True_Significance
1.017_-_The_Night_Journey
1.018_-_The_Cave
1.01_-_About_the_Elements
1.01_-_Adam_Kadmon_and_the_Evolution
1.01_-_An_Accomplished_Westerner
1.01_-_A_NOTE_ON_PROGRESS
1.01_-_Appearance_and_Reality
1.01_-_Archetypes_of_the_Collective_Unconscious
1.01_-_Asana
1.01_-_BOOK_THE_FIRST
1.01_-_Description_of_the_Castle
1.01_-_DOWN_THE_RABBIT-HOLE
1.01_-_Economy
1.01f_-_Introduction
1.01_-_Foreward
1.01_-_Fundamental_Considerations
1.01_-_Historical_Survey
1.01_-_How_is_Knowledge_Of_The_Higher_Worlds_Attained?
1.01_-_Introduction
1.01_-_Isha_Upanishad
1.01_-_Maitreya_inquires_of_his_teacher_(Parashara)
1.01_-_MAPS_OF_EXPERIENCE_-_OBJECT_AND_MEANING
1.01_-_MASTER_AND_DISCIPLE
1.01_-_MAXIMS_AND_MISSILES
1.01_-_Necessity_for_knowledge_of_the_whole_human_being_for_a_genuine_education.
1.01_-_Newtonian_and_Bergsonian_Time
1.01_-_NIGHT
1.01_-_On_knowledge_of_the_soul,_and_how_knowledge_of_the_soul_is_the_key_to_the_knowledge_of_God.
1.01_-_On_Love
1.01_-_Our_Demand_and_Need_from_the_Gita
1.01_-_Prayer
1.01_-_Principles_of_Practical_Psycho_therapy
1.01_-_Proem
1.01_-_SAMADHI_PADA
1.01_-_Soul_and_God
1.01_-_Tara_the_Divine
1.01_-_THAT_ARE_THOU
1.01_-_the_Call_to_Adventure
1.01_-_The_Castle
1.01_-_The_Cycle_of_Society
1.01_-_The_Ego
1.01_-_The_First_Steps
1.01_-_The_Four_Aids
1.01_-_The_Highest_Meaning_of_the_Holy_Truths
1.01_-_The_Ideal_of_the_Karmayogin
1.01_-_The_King_of_the_Wood
1.01_-_The_Lord_of_hosts
1.01_-_The_Mental_Fortress
1.01_-_THE_OPPOSITES
1.01_-_The_Path_of_Later_On
1.01_-_THE_STUFF_OF_THE_UNIVERSE
1.01_-_The_Unexpected
1.01_-_To_Watanabe_Sukefusa
1.01_-_Two_Powers_Alone
1.01_-_Who_is_Tara
1.020_-_Ta-Ha
1.020_-_The_World_and_Our_World
1.021_-_The_Prophets
1.02.2.2_-_Self-Realisation
1.022_-_The_Pilgrimage
1.02.3.1_-_The_Lord
1.02.3.2_-_Knowledge_and_Ignorance
10.23_-_Prayers_and_Meditations_of_the_Mother
1.023_-_The_Believers
1.02.4.1_-_The_Worlds_-_Surya
1.02.4.2_-_Action_and_the_Divine_Will
1.024_-_Affiliation_With_Larger_Wholes
1.024_-_The_Light
1.025_-_Sadhana_-_Intensifying_a_Lighted_Flame
10.26_-_A_True_Professor
1.026_-_The_Poets
1.027_-_The_Ant
1.028_-_Bringing_About_Whole-Souled_Dedication
10.28_-_Love_and_Love
1.02.9_-_Conclusion_and_Summary
1.029_-_The_Spider
1.02_-_BOOK_THE_SECOND
1.02_-_Fire_over_the_Earth
1.02_-_Groups_and_Statistical_Mechanics
1.02_-_In_the_Beginning
1.02_-_Karmayoga
1.02_-_MAPS_OF_MEANING_-_THREE_LEVELS_OF_ANALYSIS
1.02_-_Meditating_on_Tara
1.02_-_Of_certain_spiritual_imperfections_which_beginners_have_with_respect_to_the_habit_of_pride.
1.02_-_On_the_Knowledge_of_God.
1.02_-_Prana
1.02_-_Pranayama,_Mantrayoga
1.02_-_Prayer_of_Parashara_to_Vishnu
1.02_-_SADHANA_PADA
1.02_-_Self-Consecration
1.02_-_Skillful_Means
1.02_-_SOCIAL_HEREDITY_AND_PROGRESS
1.02_-_Substance_Is_Eternal
1.02_-_Taras_Tantra
1.02_-_The_7_Habits__An_Overview
1.02_-_The_Age_of_Individualism_and_Reason
1.02_-_The_Child_as_growing_being_and_the_childs_experience_of_encountering_the_teacher.
1.02_-_The_Concept_of_the_Collective_Unconscious
1.02_-_The_Development_of_Sri_Aurobindos_Thought
1.02_-_The_Divine_Teacher
1.02_-_The_Doctrine_of_the_Mystics
1.02_-_The_Eternal_Law
1.02_-_The_Great_Process
1.02_-_The_Human_Soul
1.02_-_The_Magic_Circle
1.02_-_THE_NATURE_OF_THE_GROUND
1.02_-_The_Necessity_of_Magick_for_All
1.02_-_The_Objects_of_Imitation.
1.02_-_The_Philosophy_of_Ishvara
1.02_-_The_Pit
1.02_-_THE_POOL_OF_TEARS
1.02_-_The_Principle_of_Fire
1.02_-_THE_PROBLEM_OF_SOCRATES
1.02_-_THE_QUATERNIO_AND_THE_MEDIATING_ROLE_OF_MERCURIUS
1.02_-_The_Recovery
1.02_-_The_Refusal_of_the_Call
1.02_-_The_Stages_of_Initiation
1.02_-_The_Three_European_Worlds
1.02_-_The_Two_Negations_1_-_The_Materialist_Denial
1.02_-_The_Ultimate_Path_is_Without_Difficulty
1.02_-_The_Virtues
1.02_-_The_Vision_of_the_Past
1.02_-_THE_WITHIN_OF_THINGS
1.02_-_To_Zen_Monks_Kin_and_Koku
1.02_-_What_is_Psycho_therapy?
1.02_-_Where_I_Lived,_and_What_I_Lived_For
1.031_-_Intense_Aspiration
10.31_-_The_Mystery_of_The_Five_Senses
1.032_-_Our_Concept_of_God
1.032_-_Prostration
10.32_-_The_Mystery_of_the_Five_Elements
10.33_-_On_Discipline
1.033_-_The_Confederates
10.34_-_Effort_and_Grace
1.034_-_Sheba
1.035_-_Originator
1.035_-_The_Recitation_of_Mantra
10.36_-_Cling_to_Truth
1.036_-_The_Rise_of_Obstacles_in_Yoga_Practice
1.036_-_Ya-Seen
1.037_-_Preventing_the_Fall_in_Yoga
10.37_-_The_Golden_Bridge
1.038_-_Impediments_in_Concentration_and_Meditation
1.038_-_Saad
1.03_-_A_Parable
1.03_-_APPRENTICESHIP_AND_ENCULTURATION_-_ADOPTION_OF_A_SHARED_MAP
1.03_-_A_Sapphire_Tale
1.03_-_Bloodstream_Sermon
1.03_-_BOOK_THE_THIRD
1.03_-_Concerning_the_Archetypes,_with_Special_Reference_to_the_Anima_Concept
1.03_-_Eternal_Presence
1.03_-_Fire_in_the_Earth
1.03_-_Hieroglypics__Life_and_Language_Necessarily_Symbolic
1.03_-_Man_-_Slave_or_Free?
1.03_-_Meeting_the_Master_-_Meeting_with_others
1.03_-_Of_some_imperfections_which_some_of_these_souls_are_apt_to_have,_with_respect_to_the_second_capital_sin,_which_is_avarice,_in_the_spiritual_sense
1.03_-_On_exile_or_pilgrimage
1.03_-_PERSONALITY,_SANCTITY,_DIVINE_INCARNATION
1.03_-_Preparing_for_the_Miraculous
1.03_-_Questions_and_Answers
1.03_-_Reading
1.03_-_.REASON._IN_PHILOSOPHY
1.03_-_Self-Surrender_in_Works_-_The_Way_of_The_Gita
1.03_-_Some_Aspects_of_Modern_Psycho_therapy
1.03_-_Some_Practical_Aspects
1.03_-_Supernatural_Aid
1.03_-_Sympathetic_Magic
1.03_-_Tara,_Liberator_from_the_Eight_Dangers
1.03_-_The_Armour_of_Grace
1.03_-_The_Coming_of_the_Subjective_Age
1.03_-_THE_EARTH_IN_ITS_EARLY_STAGES
1.03_-_The_End_of_the_Intellect
1.03_-_The_Gate_of_Hell._The_Inefficient_or_Indifferent._Pope_Celestine_V._The_Shores_of_Acheron._Charon._The
1.03_-_The_Gods,_Superior_Beings_and_Adverse_Forces
1.03_-_THE_GRAND_OPTION
1.03_-_The_House_Of_The_Lord
1.03_-_The_Human_Disciple
1.03_-_THE_ORPHAN,_THE_WIDOW,_AND_THE_MOON
1.03_-_The_Phenomenon_of_Man
1.03_-_The_Principle_of_Water
1.03_-_The_Sephiros
1.03_-_THE_STUDY_(The_Exorcism)
1.03_-_The_Sunlit_Path
1.03_-_The_Syzygy_-_Anima_and_Animus
1.03_-_The_Tale_of_the_Alchemist_Who_Sold_His_Soul
1.03_-_The_three_first_elements
1.03_-_The_Two_Negations_2_-_The_Refusal_of_the_Ascetic
1.03_-_The_Void
1.03_-_Time_Series,_Information,_and_Communication
1.03_-_To_Layman_Ishii
1.03_-_VISIT_TO_VIDYASAGAR
1.03_-_YIBHOOTI_PADA
1.040_-_Forgiver
1.040_-_Re-Educating_the_Mind
1.042_-_Consultation
1.045_-_Kneeling
1.045_-_Piercing_the_Structure_of_the_Object
1.04_-_ADVICE_TO_HOUSEHOLDERS
1.04_-_ALCHEMY_AND_MANICHAEISM
1.04_-_A_Leader
1.04_-_Body,_Soul_and_Spirit
1.04_-_BOOK_THE_FOURTH
1.04_-_Communion
1.04_-_Descent_into_Future_Hell
1.04_-_Feedback_and_Oscillation
1.04_-_GOD_IN_THE_WORLD
1.04_-_KAI_VALYA_PADA
1.04_-_Magic_and_Religion
1.04_-_Of_other_imperfections_which_these_beginners_are_apt_to_have_with_respect_to_the_third_sin,_which_is_luxury.
1.04_-_On_blessed_and_ever-memorable_obedience
1.04_-_On_Knowledge_of_the_Future_World.
1.04_-_Pratyahara
1.04_-_Religion_and_Occultism
1.04_-_SOME_REFLECTIONS_ON_PROGRESS
1.04_-_Sounds
1.04_-_Te_Shan_Carrying_His_Bundle
1.04_-_The_Aims_of_Psycho_therapy
1.04_-_THE_APPEARANCE_OF_ANOMALY_-_CHALLENGE_TO_THE_SHARED_MAP
1.04_-_The_Conditions_of_Esoteric_Training
1.04_-_The_Core_of_the_Teaching
1.04_-_The_Crossing_of_the_First_Threshold
1.04_-_The_Discovery_of_the_Nation-Soul
1.04_-_The_Divine_Mother_-_This_Is_She
1.04_-_The_First_Circle,_Limbo__Virtuous_Pagans_and_the_Unbaptized._The_Four_Poets,_Homer,_Horace,_Ovid,_and_Lucan._The_Noble_Castle_of_Philosophy.
1.04_-_The_Fork_in_the_Road
1.04_-_The_Future_of_Man
1.04_-_The_Gods_of_the_Veda
1.04_-_The_Need_of_Guru
1.04_-_The_Origin_and_Development_of_Poetry.
1.04_-_The_Paths
1.04_-_The_Praise
1.04_-_The_Qabalah__The_Best_Training_for_Memory
1.04_-_THE_RABBIT_SENDS_IN_A_LITTLE_BILL
1.04_-_The_Sacrifice_the_Triune_Path_and_the_Lord_of_the_Sacrifice
1.04_-_The_Self
1.04_-_The_Silent_Mind
1.04_-_THE_STUDY_(The_Compact)
1.04_-_What_Arjuna_Saw_-_the_Dark_Side_of_the_Force
1.04_-_Wherefore_of_World?
1.04_-_Yoga_and_Human_Evolution
1.05_-_2010_and_1956_-_Doomsday?
1.052_-_The_Mount
1.052_-_Yoga_Practice_-_A_Series_of_Positive_Steps
1.053_-_A_Very_Important_Sadhana
1.055_-_The_Compassionate
1.056_-_Lack_of_Knowledge_is_the_Cause_of_Suffering
1.057_-_The_Four_Manifestations_of_Ignorance
1.058_-_The_Argument
1.059_-_The_Mobilization
1.05_-_Adam_Kadmon
1.05_-_ADVICE_FROM_A_CATERPILLAR
1.05_-_AUERBACHS_CELLAR
1.05_-_BOOK_THE_FIFTH
1.05_-_Buddhism_and_Women
1.05_-_CHARITY
1.05_-_Christ,_A_Symbol_of_the_Self
1.05_-_Computing_Machines_and_the_Nervous_System
1.05_-_Consciousness
1.05_-_Dharana
1.05_-_Hymns_of_Bharadwaja
1.05_-_Knowledge_by_Aquaintance_and_Knowledge_by_Description
1.05_-_Mental_Education
1.05_-_MORALITY_AS_THE_ENEMY_OF_NATURE
1.05_-_ON_ENJOYING_AND_SUFFERING_THE_PASSIONS
1.05_-_On_painstaking_and_true_repentance_which_constitute_the_life_of_the_holy_convicts;_and_about_the_prison.
1.05_-_On_the_Love_of_God.
1.05_-_Pratyahara_and_Dharana
1.05_-_Prayer
1.05_-_Problems_of_Modern_Psycho_therapy
1.05_-_Qualifications_of_the_Aspirant_and_the_Teacher
1.05_-_Ritam
1.05_-_Some_Results_of_Initiation
1.05_-_The_Activation_of_Human_Energy
1.05_-_The_Ascent_of_the_Sacrifice_-_The_Psychic_Being
1.05_-_The_Creative_Principle
1.05_-_The_Destiny_of_the_Individual
1.05_-_THE_HOSTILE_BROTHERS_-_ARCHETYPES_OF_RESPONSE_TO_THE_UNKNOWN
1.05_-_The_Magical_Control_of_the_Weather
1.05_-_THE_MASTER_AND_KESHAB
1.05_-_The_New_Consciousness
1.05_-_THE_NEW_SPIRIT
1.05_-_The_Principle_of_Earth
1.05_-_The_Second_Circle__The_Wanton._Minos._The_Infernal_Hurricane._Francesca_da_Rimini.
1.05_-_The_Universe__The_0_=_2_Equation
1.05_-_True_and_False_Subjectivism
1.05_-_Vishnu_as_Brahma_creates_the_world
1.05_-_War_And_Politics
1.05_-_Yoga_and_Hypnotism
1.060_-_Tracing_the_Ultimate_Cause_of_Any_Experience
1.063_-_The_Hypocrites
1.066_-_Prohibition
1.067_-_Sovereignty
1.06_-_Agni_and_the_Truth
1.06_-_Being_Human_and_the_Copernican_Principle
1.06_-_BOOK_THE_SIXTH
1.06_-_Confutation_Of_Other_Philosophers
1.06_-_Definition_of_Tragedy.
1.06_-_Dhyana
1.06_-_Dhyana_and_Samadhi
1.06_-_Five_Dreams
1.06_-_Gestalt_and_Universals
1.06_-_Hymns_of_Parashara
1.06_-_Iconography
1.06_-_Incarnate_Teachers_and_Incarnation
1.06_-_LIFE_AND_THE_PLANETS
1.06_-_Magicians_as_Kings
1.06_-_Man_in_the_Universe
1.06_-_MORTIFICATION,_NON-ATTACHMENT,_RIGHT_LIVELIHOOD
1.06_-_Of_imperfections_with_respect_to_spiritual_gluttony.
1.06_-_On_Induction
1.06_-_On_Thought
1.06_-_On_Work
1.06_-_PIG_AND_PEPPER
1.06_-_Psycho_therapy_and_a_Philosophy_of_Life
1.06_-_Quieting_the_Vital
1.06_-_The_Ascent_of_the_Sacrifice_2_The_Works_of_Love_-_The_Works_of_Life
1.06_-_The_Breaking_of_the_Limits
1.06_-_The_Desire_to_be
1.06_-_THE_FOUR_GREAT_ERRORS
1.06_-_The_Four_Powers_of_the_Mother
1.06_-_The_Literal_Qabalah
1.06_-_THE_MASTER_WITH_THE_BRAHMO_DEVOTEES
1.06_-_The_Objective_and_Subjective_Views_of_Life
1.06_-_The_Sign_of_the_Fishes
1.06_-_The_Three_Mothers_or_the_First_Elements
1.06_-_The_Three_Schools_of_Magick_1
1.06_-_The_Transformation_of_Dream_Life
1.06_-_Wealth_and_Government
1.06_-_WITCHES_KITCHEN
1.06_-_Yun_Men's_Every_Day_is_a_Good_Day
1.070_-_The_Seven_Stages_of_Perfection
1.070_-_Ways_of_Ascent
1.072_-_The_Jinn
1.075_-_Resurrection
1.075_-_Self-Control,_Study_and_Devotion_to_God
1.077_-_The_Unleashed
1.078_-_Kumbhaka_and_Concentration_of_Mind
1.07_-_Akasa_or_the_Ethereal_Principle
1.07_-_A_MAD_TEA-PARTY
1.07_-_A_Song_of_Longing_for_Tara,_the_Infallible
1.07_-_BOOK_THE_SEVENTH
1.07_-_Bridge_across_the_Afterlife
1.07_-_Cybernetics_and_Psychopathology
1.07_-_Hui_Ch'ao_Asks_about_Buddha
1.07_-_Incarnate_Human_Gods
1.07_-_Medicine_and_Psycho_therapy
1.07_-_Note_on_the_word_Go
1.07_-_On_Dreams
1.07_-_On_Our_Knowledge_of_General_Principles
1.07_-_ON_READING_AND_WRITING
1.07_-_Past,_Present_and_Future
1.07_-_Production_of_the_mind-born_sons_of_Brahma
1.07_-_Raja-Yoga_in_Brief
1.07_-_Samadhi
1.07_-_Savitri
1.07_-_Standards_of_Conduct_and_Spiritual_Freedom
1.07_-_The_Continuity_of_Consciousness
1.07_-_The_Ego_and_the_Dualities
1.07_-_The_Farther_Reaches_of_Human_Nature
1.07_-_The_Fire_of_the_New_World
1.07_-_The_Fourth_Circle__The_Avaricious_and_the_Prodigal._Plutus._Fortune_and_her_Wheel._The_Fifth_Circle__The_Irascible_and_the_Sullen._Styx.
1.07_-_THE_GREAT_EVENT_FORESHADOWED_-_THE_PLANETIZATION_OF_MANKIND
1.07_-_The_Ideal_Law_of_Social_Development
1.07_-_THE_.IMPROVERS._OF_MANKIND
1.07_-_The_Infinity_Of_The_Universe
1.07_-_The_Literal_Qabalah_(continued)
1.07_-_The_Magic_Wand
1.07_-_THE_MASTER_AND_VIJAY_GOSWAMI
1.07_-_The_Plot_must_be_a_Whole.
1.07_-_The_Process_of_Evolution
1.07_-_The_Prophecies_of_Nostradamus
1.07_-_The_Psychic_Center
1.07_-_The_Three_Schools_of_Magick_2
1.07_-_TRUTH
1.080_-_Pratyahara_-_The_Return_of_Energy
1.081_-_The_Application_of_Pratyahara
1.083_-_Choosing_an_Object_for_Concentration
1.089_-_The_Levels_of_Concentration
1.08_-_Adhyatma_Yoga
1.08a_-_The_Ladder
1.08_-_Attendants
1.08_-_BOOK_THE_EIGHTH
1.08_-_Independence_from_the_Physical
1.08_-_Information,_Language,_and_Society
1.08_-_Introduction_to_Patanjalis_Yoga_Aphorisms
1.08_-_On_freedom_from_anger_and_on_meekness.
1.08_-_ON_THE_TREE_ON_THE_MOUNTAINSIDE
1.08_-_Origin_of_Rudra:_his_becoming_eight_Rudras
1.08_-_Phlegyas._Philippo_Argenti._The_Gate_of_the_City_of_Dis.
1.08_-_Psycho_therapy_Today
1.08_-_RELIGION_AND_TEMPERAMENT
1.08_-_SOME_REFLECTIONS_ON_THE_SPIRITUAL_REPERCUSSIONS_OF_THE_ATOM_BOMB
1.08_-_Sri_Aurobindos_Descent_into_Death
1.08_-_The_Change_of_Vision
1.08_-_The_Depths_of_the_Divine
1.08_-_The_Four_Austerities_and_the_Four_Liberations
1.08_-_The_Gods_of_the_Veda_-_The_Secret_of_the_Veda
1.08_-_The_Historical_Significance_of_the_Fish
1.08_-_The_Magic_Sword,_Dagger_and_Trident
1.08_-_THE_MASTERS_BIRTHDAY_CELEBRATION_AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.08_-_The_Methods_of_Vedantic_Knowledge
1.08_-_The_Plot_must_be_a_Unity.
1.08_-_THE_QUEEN'S_CROQUET_GROUND
1.08_-_The_Splitting_of_the_Human_Personality_during_Spiritual_Training
1.08_-_The_Supreme_Discovery
1.08_-_The_Three_Schools_of_Magick_3
1.094_-_Understanding_the_Structure_of_Things
1.096_-_Powers_that_Accrue_in_the_Practice
1.097_-_Sublimation_of_Object-Consciousness
1.098_-_The_Transformation_from_Human_to_Divine
1.099_-_The_Entry_of_the_Eternal_into_the_Individual
1.09_-_ADVICE_TO_THE_BRAHMOS
1.09_-_BOOK_THE_NINTH
1.09_-_Civilisation_and_Culture
1.09_-_Concentration_-_Its_Spiritual_Uses
1.09_-_Equality_and_the_Annihilation_of_Ego
1.09_-_FAITH_IN_PEACE
1.09_-_Fundamental_Questions_of_Psycho_therapy
1.09_-_Legend_of_Lakshmi
1.09_-_Man_-_About_the_Body
1.09_-_Of_the_signs_by_which_it_will_be_known_that_the_spiritual_person_is_walking_along_the_way_of_this_night_and_purgation_of_sense.
1.09_-_Saraswati_and_Her_Consorts
1.09_-_SKIRMISHES_IN_A_WAY_WITH_THE_AGE
1.09_-_Sleep_and_Death
1.09_-_Sri_Aurobindo_and_the_Big_Bang
1.09_-_Stead_and_Maskelyne
1.09_-_Talks
1.09_-_Taras_Ultimate_Nature
1.09_-_The_Absolute_Manifestation
1.09_-_The_Ambivalence_of_the_Fish_Symbol
1.09_-_The_Crown,_Cap,_Magus-Band
1.09_-_The_Furies_and_Medusa._The_Angel._The_City_of_Dis._The_Sixth_Circle__Heresiarchs.
1.09_-_The_Greater_Self
1.09_-_The_Guardian_of_the_Threshold
1.09_-_The_Pure_Existent
1.09_-_The_Secret_Chiefs
1.09_-_The_Worship_of_Trees
1.09_-_To_the_Students,_Young_and_Old
1.1.01_-_Seeking_the_Divine
1.1.01_-_The_Divine_and_Its_Aspects
11.01_-_The_Eternal_Day__The_Souls_Choice_and_the_Supreme_Consummation
1.1.02_-_Sachchidananda
1.1.02_-_The_Aim_of_the_Integral_Yoga
11.02_-_The_Golden_Life-line
11.03_-_Cosmonautics
1.1.04_-_Philosophy
11.05_-_The_Ladder_of_Unconsciousness
11.06_-_The_Mounting_Fire
1.107_-_The_Bestowal_of_a_Divine_Gift
11.07_-_The_Labours_of_the_Gods:_The_five_Purifications
11.09_-_Towards_the_Immortal_Body
1.10_-_Aesthetic_and_Ethical_Culture
1.10_-_BOOK_THE_TENTH
1.10_-_Concentration_-_Its_Practice
1.10_-_Conscious_Force
1.10_-_Fate_and_Free-Will
1.10_-_Foresight
1.10_-_GRACE_AND_FREE_WILL
1.10_-_Harmony
1.10_-_Life_and_Death._The_Greater_Guardian_of_the_Threshold
1.10_-_On_our_Knowledge_of_Universals
1.10_-_On_slander_or_calumny.
1.10_-_(Plot_continued.)_Definitions_of_Simple_and_Complex_Plots.
1.10_-_Relics_of_Tree_Worship_in_Modern_Europe
1.10_-_The_descendants_of_the_daughters_of_Daksa_married_to_the_Rsis
1.10_-_THE_FORMATION_OF_THE_NOOSPHERE
1.10_-_The_Image_of_the_Oceans_and_the_Rivers
1.10_-_THE_MASTER_WITH_THE_BRAHMO_DEVOTEES_(II)
1.10_-_Theodicy_-_Nature_Makes_No_Mistakes
1.10_-_The_Roughly_Material_Plane_or_the_Material_World
1.10_-_The_Scolex_School
1.10_-_The_Secret_of_the_Veda
1.10_-_The_Three_Modes_of_Nature
1.10_-_THINGS_I_OWE_TO_THE_ANCIENTS
1.1.1.01_-_Three_Elements_of_Poetic_Creation
1.1.1.03_-_Creative_Power_and_the_Human_Instrument
1.1.1.04_-_Joy_of_Poetic_Creation
11.10_-_The_Test_of_Truth
11.13_-_In_these_Fateful_Days
11.14_-_Our_Finest_Hour
11.15_-_Sri_Aurobindo
1.11_-_BOOK_THE_ELEVENTH
1.11_-_Correspondence_and_Interviews
1.11_-_Delight_of_Existence_-_The_Problem
1.11_-_FAITH_IN_MAN
1.11_-_GOOD_AND_EVIL
1.11_-_Higher_Laws
1.11_-_Oneness
1.11_-_On_Intuitive_Knowledge
1.11_-_ON_THE_NEW_IDOL
1.11_-_(Plot_continued.)_Reversal_of_the_Situation,_Recognition,_and_Tragic_or_disastrous_Incident_defined_and_explained.
1.11_-_Powers
1.1.1_-_Text
1.11_-_The_Change_of_Power
1.11_-_The_Influence_of_the_Sexes_on_Vegetation
1.11_-_The_Kalki_Avatar
1.11_-_The_Magical_Belt
1.11_-_The_Master_of_the_Work
1.1.1_-_The_Mind_and_Other_Levels_of_Being
1.11_-_The_Reason_as_Governor_of_Life
1.11_-_The_Seven_Rivers
1.11_-_The_Soul_or_the_Astral_Body
1.11_-_WITH_THE_DEVOTEES_AT_DAKSHINEWAR
1.11_-_Woolly_Pomposities_of_the_Pious_Teacher
1.12_-_BOOK_THE_TWELFTH
1.12_-_Brute_Neighbors
1.1.2_-_Commentary
1.12_-_Delight_of_Existence_-_The_Solution
1.12_-_Dhruva_commences_a_course_of_religious_austerities
1.12_-_God_Departs
1.12_-_Independence
1.1.2_-_Intellect_and_the_Intellectual
1.12_-_Love_The_Creator
1.12_-_Sleep_and_Dreams
1.12_-_SOME_REFLECTIONS_ON_THE_RIGHTS_OF_MAN
1.12_-_The_Astral_Plane
1.12_-_The_Divine_Work
1.12_-_THE_FESTIVAL_AT_PNIHTI
1.12_-_The_Herds_of_the_Dawn
1.12_-_The_Left-Hand_Path_-_The_Black_Brothers
1.12_-_The_Minotaur._The_Seventh_Circle__The_Violent._The_River_Phlegethon._The_Violent_against_their_Neighbours._The_Centaurs._Tyrants.
1.12_-_The_Office_and_Limitations_of_the_Reason
1.12_-_The_Sacred_Marriage
1.12_-_The_Sociology_of_Superman
1.12_-_The_Superconscient
1.12_-_TIME_AND_ETERNITY
1.12_-_Truth_and_Knowledge
1.13_-_And_Then?
1.13_-_BOOK_THE_THIRTEENTH
1.13_-_Gnostic_Symbols_of_the_Self
1.13_-_Knowledge,_Error,_and_Probably_Opinion
1.1.3_-_Mental_Difficulties_and_the_Need_of_Quietude
1.13_-_Posterity_of_Dhruva
1.13_-_Reason_and_Religion
1.13_-_SALVATION,_DELIVERANCE,_ENLIGHTENMENT
1.13_-_The_Divine_Maya
1.13_-_THE_HUMAN_REBOUND_OF_EVOLUTION_AND_ITS_CONSEQUENCES
1.13_-_The_Kings_of_Rome_and_Alba
1.13_-_The_Lord_of_the_Sacrifice
1.13_-_THE_MASTER_AND_M.
1.13_-_The_Spirit
1.13_-_The_Supermind_and_the_Yoga_of_Works
1.13_-_The_Wood_of_Thorns._The_Harpies._The_Violent_against_themselves._Suicides._Pier_della_Vigna._Lano_and_Jacopo_da_Sant'_Andrea.
1.13_-_Under_the_Auspices_of_the_Gods
1.14_-_BOOK_THE_FOURTEENTH
1.14_-_Descendants_of_Prithu
1.14_-_IMMORTALITY_AND_SURVIVAL
1.14_-_INSTRUCTION_TO_VAISHNAVS_AND_BRHMOS
1.14_-_ON_THE_FRIEND
1.14_-_The_Book_of_Magic_Formulae
1.14_-_The_Limits_of_Philosophical_Knowledge
1.14_-_The_Mental_Plane
1.1.4_-_The_Physical_Mind_and_Sadhana
1.14_-_The_Principle_of_Divine_Works
1.14_-_The_Sand_Waste_and_the_Rain_of_Fire._The_Violent_against_God._Capaneus._The_Statue_of_Time,_and_the_Four_Infernal_Rivers.
1.14_-_The_Secret
1.14_-_The_Structure_and_Dynamics_of_the_Self
1.14_-_The_Succesion_to_the_Kingdom_in_Ancient_Latium
1.14_-_The_Supermind_as_Creator
1.14_-_The_Victory_Over_Death
1.14_-_TURMOIL_OR_GENESIS?
1.15_-_Conclusion
1.15_-_Index
1.15_-_In_the_Domain_of_the_Spirit_Beings
1.15_-_LAST_VISIT_TO_KESHAB
1.15_-_On_incorruptible_purity_and_chastity_to_which_the_corruptible_attain_by_toil_and_sweat.
1.15_-_ON_THE_THOUSAND_AND_ONE_GOALS
1.15_-_Prayers
1.15_-_Sex_Morality
1.15_-_SILENCE
1.15_-_THE_DIRECTIONS_AND_CONDITIONS_OF_THE_FUTURE
1.15_-_The_Possibility_and_Purpose_of_Avatarhood
1.15_-_The_Supramental_Consciousness
1.15_-_The_Suprarational_Good
1.15_-_The_Supreme_Truth-Consciousness
1.15_-_The_Transformed_Being
1.15_-_The_Value_of_Philosophy
1.15_-_The_world_overrun_with_trees;_they_are_destroyed_by_the_Pracetasas
1.1.5_-_Thought_and_Knowledge
1.15_-_Truth
1.16_-_Advantages_and_Disadvantages_of_Evocational_Magic
1.16_-_Dianus_and_Diana
1.16_-_Guidoguerra,_Aldobrandi,_and_Rusticucci._Cataract_of_the_River_of_Blood.
1.16_-_Man,_A_Transitional_Being
1.16_-_On_Concentration
1.16_-_ON_LOVE_OF_THE_NEIGHBOUR
1.16_-_PRAYER
1.16_-_Religion
1.16_-_THE_ESSENCE_OF_THE_DEMOCRATIC_IDEA
1.16_-_The_Process_of_Avatarhood
1.16_-_The_Season_of_Truth
1.16_-_The_Suprarational_Ultimate_of_Life
1.16_-_The_Triple_Status_of_Supermind
1.16_-_WITH_THE_DEVOTEES_AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.17_-_Astral_Journey__Example,_How_to_do_it,_How_to_Verify_your_Experience
1.17_-_DOES_MANKIND_MOVE_BIOLOGICALLY_UPON_ITSELF?
1.17_-_God
1.17_-_M._AT_DAKSHINEWAR
1.17_-_Practical_rules_for_the_Tragic_Poet.
1.17_-_Religion_as_the_Law_of_Life
1.17_-_The_Burden_of_Royalty
1.17_-_The_Divine_Birth_and_Divine_Works
1.17_-_The_Divine_Soul
1.17_-_The_Seven-Headed_Thought,_Swar_and_the_Dashagwas
1.17_-_The_Spiritus_Familiaris_or_Serving_Spirits
1.17_-_The_Transformation
1.18_-_Evocation
1.18_-_FAITH
1.18_-_M._AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.18_-_Mind_and_Supermind
1.18_-_The_Divine_Worker
1.18_-_The_Eighth_Circle,_Malebolge__The_Fraudulent_and_the_Malicious._The_First_Bolgia__Seducers_and_Panders._Venedico_Caccianimico._Jason._The_Second_Bolgia__Flatterers._Allessio_Interminelli._Thais.
1.18_-_THE_HEART_OF_THE_PROBLEM
1.18_-_The_Human_Fathers
1.18_-_The_Importance_of_our_Conventional_Greetings,_etc.
1.18_-_The_Infrarational_Age_of_the_Cycle
1.18_-_The_Perils_of_the_Soul
1.19_-_GOD_IS_NOT_MOCKED
1.19_-_Life
1.19_-_NIGHT
1.19_-_ON_THE_PROBABLE_EXISTENCE_AHEAD_OF_US_OF_AN_ULTRA-HUMAN
1.19_-_Tabooed_Acts
1.19_-_The_Act_of_Truth
1.19_-_The_Curve_of_the_Rational_Age
1.19_-_THE_MASTER_AND_HIS_INJURED_ARM
1.19_-_The_Practice_of_Magical_Evocation
1.19_-_The_Victory_of_the_Fathers
1.201_-_Socrates
1.2.01_-_The_Call_and_the_Capacity
12.01_-_The_Return_to_Earth
1.2.01_-_The_Upanishadic_and_Purancic_Systems
12.02_-_The_Stress_of_the_Spirit
12.03_-_The_Sorrows_of_God
1.2.04_-_Sincerity
1.2.05_-_Aspiration
1.2.06_-_Rejection
1.2.07_-_Surrender
1.2.08_-_Faith
12.09_-_The_Story_of_Dr._Faustus_Retold
1.20_-_Death,_Desire_and_Incapacity
1.20_-_Diction,_or_Language_in_general.
1.20_-_Equality_and_Knowledge
1.20_-_HOW_MAY_WE_CONCEIVE_AND_HOPE_THAT_HUMAN_UNANIMIZATION_WILL_BE_REALIZED_ON_EARTH?
1.20_-_RULES_FOR_HOUSEHOLDERS_AND_MONKS
1.20_-_Tabooed_Persons
1.20_-_Talismans_-_The_Lamen_-_The_Pantacle
1.20_-_TANTUM_RELIGIO_POTUIT_SUADERE_MALORUM
1.20_-_The_End_of_the_Curve_of_Reason
1.20_-_The_Hound_of_Heaven
1.2.1.03_-_Psychic_and_Esoteric_Poetry
1.2.1.04_-_Mystic_Poetry
1.2.10_-_Opening
12.10_-_The_Sunlit_Path
1.2.11_-_Patience_and_Perseverance
1.21_-_A_DAY_AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.21_-_Chih_Men's_Lotus_Flower,_Lotus_Leaves
1.21_-_Families_of_the_Daityas
1.21_-_FROM_THE_PRE-HUMAN_TO_THE_ULTRA-HUMAN,_THE_PHASES_OF_A_LIVING_PLANET
1.21_-_IDOLATRY
1.2.1_-_Mental_Development_and_Sadhana
1.21_-_My_Theory_of_Astrology
1.21_-_Tabooed_Things
1.21_-_The_Ascent_of_Life
1.21_-_WALPURGIS-NIGHT
1.22_-_ADVICE_TO_AN_ACTOR
1.22_-_Ciampolo,_Friar_Gomita,_and_Michael_Zanche._The_Malabranche_quarrel.
1.22_-_How_to_Learn_the_Practice_of_Astrology
1.22_-_OBERON_AND_TITANIA's_GOLDEN_WEDDING
1.22_-_On_Prayer
1.22_-_ON_THE_GIFT-GIVING_VIRTUE
1.22_-_Tabooed_Words
1.22_-_THE_END_OF_THE_SPECIES
1.22_-_The_Necessity_of_the_Spiritual_Transformation
1.2.2_-_The_Place_of_Study_in_Sadhana
1.22_-_The_Problem_of_Life
1.23_-_Conditions_for_the_Coming_of_a_Spiritual_Age
1.23_-_Epic_Poetry.
1.23_-_Escape_from_the_Malabranche._The_Sixth_Bolgia__Hypocrites._Catalano_and_Loderingo._Caiaphas.
1.23_-_FESTIVAL_AT_SURENDRAS_HOUSE
1.23_-_Improvising_a_Temple
1.23_-_On_mad_price,_and,_in_the_same_Step,_on_unclean_and_blasphemous_thoughts.
1.23_-_Our_Debt_to_the_Savage
1.23_-_The_Double_Soul_in_Man
1.23_-_THE_MIRACULOUS
1.240_-_1.300_Talks
1.240_-_Talks_2
1.24_-_Describes_how_vocal_prayer_may_be_practised_with_perfection_and_how_closely_allied_it_is_to_mental_prayer
1.24_-_(Epic_Poetry_continued.)_Further_points_of_agreement_with_Tragedy.
1.24_-_Matter
1.24_-_Necromancy_and_Spiritism
1.24_-_PUNDIT_SHASHADHAR
1.24_-_RITUAL,_SYMBOL,_SACRAMENT
1.2.4_-_Speech_and_Yoga
1.24_-_The_Advent_and_Progress_of_the_Spiritual_Age
1.24_-_The_Killing_of_the_Divine_King
1.24_-_The_Seventh_Bolgia_-_Thieves._Vanni_Fucci._Serpents.
1.25_-_ADVICE_TO_PUNDIT_SHASHADHAR
1.25_-_Critical_Objections_brought_against_Poetry,_and_the_principles_on_which_they_are_to_be_answered.
1.25_-_Describes_the_great_gain_which_comes_to_a_soul_when_it_practises_vocal_prayer_perfectly._Shows_how_God_may_raise_it_thence_to_things_supernatural.
1.25_-_Fascinations,_Invisibility,_Levitation,_Transmutations,_Kinks_in_Time
1.25_-_SPIRITUAL_EXERCISES
1.25_-_Temporary_Kings
1.25_-_The_Knot_of_Matter
1.25_-_Vanni_Fucci's_Punishment._Agnello_Brunelleschi,_Buoso_degli_Abati,_Puccio_Sciancato,_Cianfa_de'_Donati,_and_Guercio_Cavalcanti.
1.26_-_Continues_the_description_of_a_method_for_recollecting_the_thoughts._Describes_means_of_doing_this._This_chapter_is_very_profitable_for_those_who_are_beginning_prayer.
1.26_-_FESTIVAL_AT_ADHARS_HOUSE
1.26_-_On_discernment_of_thoughts,_passions_and_virtues
1.26_-_The_Ascending_Series_of_Substance
1.26_-_The_Eighth_Bolgia__Evil_Counsellors._Ulysses_and_Diomed._Ulysses'_Last_Voyage.
1.27_-_AT_DAKSHINESWAR
1.27_-_CONTEMPLATION,_ACTION_AND_SOCIAL_UTILITY
1.27_-_Describes_the_great_love_shown_us_by_the_Lord_in_the_first_words_of_the_Paternoster_and_the_great_importance_of_our_making_no_account_of_good_birth_if_we_truly_desire_to_be_the_daughters_of_God.
1.27_-_On_holy_solitude_of_body_and_soul.
1.27_-_Structure_of_Mind_Based_on_that_of_Body
1.27_-_The_Sevenfold_Chord_of_Being
1.28_-_Describes_the_nature_of_the_Prayer_of_Recollection_and_sets_down_some_of_the_means_by_which_we_can_make_it_a_habit.
1.28_-_Need_to_Define_God,_Self,_etc.
1.28_-_On_holy_and_blessed_prayer,_mother_of_virtues,_and_on_the_attitude_of_mind_and_body_in_prayer.
1.28_-_Supermind,_Mind_and_the_Overmind_Maya
1.28_-_The_Killing_of_the_Tree-Spirit
1.29_-_Concerning_heaven_on_earth,_or_godlike_dispassion_and_perfection,_and_the_resurrection_of_the_soul_before_the_general_resurrection.
1.29_-_Continues_to_describe_methods_for_achieving_this_Prayer_of_Recollection._Says_what_little_account_we_should_make_of_being_favoured_by_our_superiors.
1.29_-_The_Myth_of_Adonis
1.29_-_What_is_Certainty?
1.2_-_Katha_Upanishads
1.300_-_1.400_Talks
13.02_-_A_Review_of_Sri_Aurobindos_Life
1.3.02_-_Equality__The_Chief_Support
13.03_-_A_Programme_for_the_Second_Century_of_the_Divine_Manifestation
1.3.03_-_Quiet_and_Calm
1.3.04_-_Peace
13.05_-_A_Dream_Of_Surreal_Science
13.06_-_The_Passing_of_Satyavan
13.07_-_The_Inter-Zone
1.30_-_Concerning_the_linking_together_of_the_supreme_trinity_among_the_virtues.
1.30_-_Do_you_Believe_in_God?
1.31_-_Adonis_in_Cyprus
1.31_-_Continues_the_same_subject._Explains_what_is_meant_by_the_Prayer_of_Quiet._Gives_several_counsels_to_those_who_experience_it._This_chapter_is_very_noteworthy.
1.31_-_Is_Thelema_a_New_Religion?
1.32_-_Expounds_these_words_of_the_Paternoster__Fiat_voluntas_tua_sicut_in_coelo_et_in_terra._Describes_how_much_is_accomplished_by_those_who_repeat_these_words_with_full_resolution_and_how_well
1.32_-_The_Ninth_Circle__Traitors._The_Frozen_Lake_of_Cocytus._First_Division,_Caina__Traitors_to_their_Kindred._Camicion_de'_Pazzi._Second_Division,_Antenora__Traitors_to_their_Country._Dante_questions_Bocca_degli
1.32_-_The_Ritual_of_Adonis
1.33_-_Count_Ugolino_and_the_Archbishop_Ruggieri._The_Death_of_Count_Ugolino's_Sons.
1.33_-_The_Gardens_of_Adonis
1.33_-_The_Golden_Mean
1.3.4.01_-_The_Beginning_and_the_End
1.34_-_Fourth_Division_of_the_Ninth_Circle,_the_Judecca__Traitors_to_their_Lords_and_Benefactors._Lucifer,_Judas_Iscariot,_Brutus,_and_Cassius._The_Chasm_of_Lethe._The_Ascent.
1.3.5.03_-_The_Involved_and_Evolving_Godhead
1.35_-_The_Tao_2
1.36_-_Treats_of_these_words_in_the_Paternoster__Dimitte_nobis_debita_nostra.
1.37_-_Death_-_Fear_-_Magical_Memory
1.37_-_Oriential_Religions_in_the_West
1.38_-_The_Myth_of_Osiris
1.38_-_Treats_of_the_great_need_which_we_have_to_beseech_the_Eternal_Father_to_grant_us_what_we_ask_in_these_words:_Et_ne_nos_inducas_in_tentationem,_sed_libera_nos_a_malo._Explains_certain_temptations._This_chapter_is_noteworthy.
1.38_-_Woman_-_Her_Magical_Formula
1.39_-_Continues_the_same_subject_and_gives_counsels_concerning_different_kinds_of_temptation._Suggests_two_remedies_by_which_we_may_be_freed_from_temptations.135
1.39_-_Prophecy
1.39_-_The_Ritual_of_Osiris
1.3_-_Mundaka_Upanishads
1.400_-_1.450_Talks
1.4.01_-_The_Divine_Grace_and_Guidance
14.02_-_Occult_Experiences
1.4.02_-_The_Divine_Force
1.4.03_-_The_Guru
14.05_-_The_Golden_Rule
14.06_-_Liberty,_Self-Control_and_Friendship
14.07_-_A_Review_of_Our_Ashram_Life
14.08_-_A_Parable_of_Sea-Gulls
1.40_-_Describes_how,_by_striving_always_to_walk_in_the_love_and_fear_of_God,_we_shall_travel_safely_amid_all_these_temptations.
1.40_-_The_Nature_of_Osiris
1.41_-_Are_we_Reincarnations_of_the_Ancient_Egyptians?
1.41_-_Speaks_of_the_fear_of_God_and_of_how_we_must_keep_ourselves_from_venial_sins.
1.42_-_Osiris_and_the_Sun
1.42_-_This_Self_Introversion
1.42_-_Treats_of_these_last_words_of_the_Paternoster__Sed_libera_nos_a_malo._Amen._But_deliver_us_from_evil._Amen.
1.439
1.43_-_Dionysus
1.43_-_The_Holy_Guardian_Angel_is_not_the_Higher_Self_but_an_Objective_Individual
1.44_-_Demeter_and_Persephone
1.44_-_Serious_Style_of_A.C.,_or_the_Apparent_Frivolity_of_Some_of_my_Remarks
1.450_-_1.500_Talks
1.45_-_The_Corn-Mother_and_the_Corn-Maiden_in_Northern_Europe
1.46_-_The_Corn-Mother_in_Many_Lands
1.47_-_Lityerses
1.47_-_Reincarnation
1.48_-_Morals_of_AL_-_Hard_to_Accept,_and_Why_nevertheless_we_Must_Concur
1.48_-_The_Corn-Spirit_as_an_Animal
1.49_-_Ancient_Deities_of_Vegetation_as_Animals
1.49_-_Thelemic_Morality
1.4_-_Readings_in_the_Taittiriya_Upanishad
15.04_-_The_Mother_Abides
15.07_-_Souls_Freedom
15.08_-_Ashram_-_Inner_and_Outer
1.50_-_Eating_the_God
1.51_-_How_to_Recognise_Masters,_Angels,_etc.,_and_how_they_Work
1.52_-_Killing_the_Divine_Animal
1.53_-_Mother-Love
1.53_-_The_Propitation_of_Wild_Animals_By_Hunters
1.54_-_On_Meanness
1.54_-_Types_of_Animal_Sacrament
1.550_-_1.600_Talks
1.55_-_Money
1.55_-_The_Transference_of_Evil
1.56_-_The_Public_Expulsion_of_Evils
1.57_-_Beings_I_have_Seen_with_my_Physical_Eye
1.57_-_Public_Scapegoats
1.58_-_Do_Angels_Ever_Cut_Themselves_Shaving?
1.58_-_Human_Scapegoats_in_Classical_Antiquity
1.59_-_Geomancy
1.59_-_Killing_the_God_in_Mexico
1.60_-_Between_Heaven_and_Earth
1.60_-_Knack
1.61_-_Power_and_Authority
1.61_-_The_Myth_of_Balder
1.62_-_The_Fire-Festivals_of_Europe
1.63_-_Fear,_a_Bad_Astral_Vision
1.63_-_The_Interpretation_of_the_Fire-Festivals
1.64_-_Magical_Power
1.64_-_The_Burning_of_Human_Beings_in_the_Fires
1.65_-_Balder_and_the_Mistletoe
1.66_-_The_External_Soul_in_Folk-Tales
1.66_-_Vampires
1.67_-_The_External_Soul_in_Folk-Custom
1.68_-_The_God-Letters
1.68_-_The_Golden_Bough
1.69_-_Farewell_to_Nemi
17.02_-_Hymn_to_the_Sun
17.06_-_Hymn_of_the_Supreme_Goddess
17.08_-_Last_Hymn
1.70_-_Morality_1
1.72_-_Education
1.73_-_Monsters,_Niggers,_Jews,_etc.
1.75_-_The_AA_and_the_Planet
1.78_-_Sore_Spots
1.79_-_Progress
18.04_-_Modern_Poems
1.81_-_Method_of_Training
1.83_-_Epistola_Ultima
19.04_-_The_Flowers
19.06_-_The_Wise
19.07_-_The_Adept
1913_05_11p
1913_07_23p
1914_01_05p
1914_02_11p
1914_03_24p
1914_04_13p
1914_04_23p
1914_05_13p
1914_05_19p
1914_06_04p
1914_06_16p
1914_06_24p
1914_06_25p
1914_07_06p
1914_07_12p
1914_07_27p
1914_08_03p
1914_08_08p
1914_09_01p
1914_09_16p
1914_10_07p
1914_11_15p
1914_11_20p
1914_12_22p
1915_03_08p
1915_11_26p
1916_12_08p
1917_01_05p
1917_03_30p
19.18_-_On_Impurity
19.26_-_The_Brahmin
1927_05_06p
1929-04-07_-_Yoga,_for_the_sake_of_the_Divine_-_Concentration_-_Preparations_for_Yoga,_to_be_conscious_-_Yoga_and_humanity_-_We_have_all_met_in_previous_lives
1929-04-14_-_Dangers_of_Yoga_-_Two_paths,_tapasya_and_surrender_-_Impulses,_desires_and_Yoga_-_Difficulties_-_Unification_around_the_psychic_being_-_Ambition,_undoing_of_many_Yogis_-_Powers,_misuse_and_right_use_of_-_How_to_recognise_the_Divine_Will_-_Accept_things_that_come_from_Divine_-_Vital_devotion_-_Need_of_strong_body_and_nerves_-_Inner_being,_invariable
1929-04-21_-_Visions,_seeing_and_interpretation_-_Dreams_and_dreaml_and_-_Dreamless_sleep_-_Visions_and_formulation_-_Surrender,_passive_and_of_the_will_-_Meditation_and_progress_-_Entering_the_spiritual_life,_a_plunge_into_the_Divine
1929-04-28_-_Offering,_general_and_detailed_-_Integral_Yoga_-_Remembrance_of_the_Divine_-_Reading_and_Yoga_-_Necessity,_predetermination_-_Freedom_-_Miracles_-_Aim_of_creation
1929-05-05_-_Intellect,_true_and_wrong_movement_-_Attacks_from_adverse_forces_-_Faith,_integral_and_absolute_-_Death,_not_a_necessity_-_Descent_of_Divine_Consciousness_-_Inner_progress_-_Memory_of_former_lives
1929-05-12_-_Beings_of_vital_world_(vampires)_-_Money_power_and_vital_beings_-_Capacity_for_manifestation_of_will_-_Entry_into_vital_world_-_Body,_a_protection_-_Individuality_and_the_vital_world
1929-05-19_-_Mind_and_its_workings,_thought-forms_-_Adverse_conditions_and_Yoga_-_Mental_constructions_-_Illness_and_Yoga
1929-05-26_-_Individual,_illusion_of_separateness_-_Hostile_forces_and_the_mental_plane_-_Psychic_world,_psychic_being_-_Spiritual_and_psychic_-_Words,_understanding_speech_and_reading_-_Hostile_forces,_their_utility_-_Illusion_of_action,_true_action
1929-06-02_-__Divine_love_and_its_manifestation_-_Part_of_the_vital_being_in_Divine_love
1929-06-09_-_Nature_of_religion_-_Religion_and_the_spiritual_life_-_Descent_of_Divine_Truth_and_Force_-_To_be_sure_of_your_religion,_country,_family-choose_your_own_-_Religion_and_numbers
1929-06-16_-_Illness_and_Yoga_-_Subtle_body_(nervous_envelope)_-_Fear_and_illness
1929-06-23_-_Knowledge_of_the_Yogi_-_Knowledge_and_the_Supermind_-_Methods_of_changing_the_condition_of_the_body_-_Meditation,_aspiration,_sincerity
1929-07-28_-_Art_and_Yoga_-_Art_and_life_-_Music,_dance_-_World_of_Harmony
1929-08-04_-_Surrender_and_sacrifice_-_Personality_and_surrender_-_Desire_and_passion_-_Spirituality_and_morality
1950-12-23_-_Concentration_and_energy
1950-12-25_-_Christmas_-_festival_of_Light_-_Energy_and_mental_growth_-_Meditation_and_concentration_-_The_Mother_of_Dreams_-_Playing_a_game_well,_and_energy
1950-12-30_-_Perfect_and_progress._Dynamic_equilibrium._True_sincerity.
1951-01-08_-_True_vision_and_understanding_of_the_world._Progress,_equilibrium._Inner_reality_-_the_psychic._Animals_and_the_psychic.
1951-01-13_-_Aim_of_life_-_effort_and_joy._Science_of_living,_becoming_conscious._Forces_and_influences.
1951-01-15_-_Sincerity_-_inner_discernment_-_inner_light._Evil_and_imbalance._Consciousness_and_instruments.
1951-01-27_-_Sleep_-_desires_-_repression_-_the_subconscient._Dreams_-_the_super-conscient_-_solving_problems._Ladder_of_being_-_samadhi._Phases_of_sleep_-_silence,_true_rest._Vital_body_and_illness.
1951-02-03_-_What_is_Yoga?_for_what?_-_Aspiration,_seeking_the_Divine._-_Process_of_yoga,_renouncing_the_ego.
1951-02-08_-_Unifying_the_being_-_ideas_of_good_and_bad_-_Miracles_-_determinism_-_Supreme_Will_-_Distinguishing_the_voice_of_the_Divine
1951-02-10_-_Liberty_and_license_-_surrender_makes_you_free_-_Men_in_authority_as_representatives_of_the_divine_Truth_-_Work_as_offering_-_total_surrender_needs_time_-_Effort_and_inspiration_-_will_and_patience
1951-02-12_-_Divine_force_-_Signs_indicating_readiness_-_Weakness_in_mind,_vital_-_concentration_-_Divine_perception,_human_notion_of_good,_bad_-_Conversion,_consecration_-_progress_-_Signs_of_entering_the_path_-_kinds_of_meditation_-_aspiration
1951-02-15_-_Dreams,_symbolic_-_true_repose_-_False_visions_-_Earth-memory_and_history
1951-02-17_-_False_visions_-_Offering_ones_will_-_Equilibrium_-_progress_-_maturity_-_Ardent_self-giving-_perfecting_the_instrument_-_Difficulties,_a_help_in_total_realisation_-_paradoxes_-_Sincerity_-_spontaneous_meditation
1951-02-19_-_Exteriorisation-_clairvoyance,_fainting,_etc_-_Somnambulism_-_Tartini_-_childrens_dreams_-_Nightmares_-_gurus_protection_-_Mind_and_vital_roam_during_sleep
1951-02-24_-_Psychic_being_and_entity_-_dimensions_-_in_the_atom_-_Death_-_exteriorisation_-_unconsciousness_-_Past_lives_-_progress_upon_earth_-_choice_of_birth_-_Consecration_to_divine_Work_-_psychic_memories_-_Individualisation_-_progress
1951-03-01_-_Universe_and_the_Divine_-_Freedom_and_determinism_-_Grace_-_Time_and_Creation-_in_the_Supermind_-_Work_and_its_results_-_The_psychic_being_-_beauty_and_love_-_Flowers-_beauty_and_significance_-_Choice_of_reincarnating_psychic_being
1951-03-03_-_Hostile_forces_-_difficulties_-_Individuality_and_form_-_creation
1951-03-05_-_Disasters-_the_forces_of_Nature_-_Story_of_the_charity_Bazar_-_Liberation_and_law_-_Dealing_with_the_mind_and_vital-_methods
1951-03-08_-_Silencing_the_mind_-_changing_the_nature_-_Reincarnation-_choice_-_Psychic,_higher_beings_gods_incarnating_-_Incarnation_of_vital_beings_-_the_Lord_of_Falsehood_-_Hitler_-_Possession_and_madness
1951-03-10_-_Fairy_Tales-_serpent_guarding_treasure_-_Vital_beings-_their_incarnations_-_The_vital_being_after_death_-_Nightmares-_vital_and_mental_-_Mind_and_vital_after_death_-_The_spirit_of_the_form-_Egyptian_mummies
1951-03-12_-_Mental_forms_-_learning_difficult_subjects_-_Mental_fortress_-_thought_-_Training_the_mind_-_Helping_the_vital_being_after_death_-_ceremonies_-_Human_stupidities
1951-03-14_-_Plasticity_-_Conditions_for_knowing_the_Divine_Will_-_Illness_-_microbes_-_Fear_-_body-reflexes_-_The_best_possible_happens_-_Theories_of_Creation_-_True_knowledge_-_a_work_to_do_-_the_Ashram
1951-03-17_-_The_universe-_eternally_new,_same_-_Pralaya_Traditions_-_Light_and_thought_-_new_consciousness,_forces_-_The_expanding_universe_-_inexpressible_experiences_-_Ashram_surcharged_with_Light_-_new_force_-_vibrating_atmospheres
1951-03-19_-_Mental_worlds_and_their_beings_-_Understanding_in_silence_-_Psychic_world-_its_characteristics_-_True_experiences_and_mental_formations_-_twelve_senses
1951-03-22_-_Relativity-_time_-_Consciousness_-_psychic_Witness_-_The_twelve_senses_-_water-divining_-_Instinct_in_animals_-_story_of_Mothers_cat
1951-03-26_-_Losing_all_to_gain_all_-_psychic_being_-_Transforming_the_vital_-_physical_habits_-_the_subconscient_-_Overcoming_difficulties_-_weakness,_an_insincerity_-_to_change_the_world_-_Psychic_source,_flash_of_experience_-_preparation_for_yoga
1951-03-29_-_The_Great_Vehicle_and_The_Little_Vehicle_-_Choosing_ones_family,_country_-_The_vital_being_distorted_-_atavism_-_Sincerity_-_changing_ones_character
1951-03-31_-_Physical_ailment_and_mental_disorder_-_Curing_an_illness_spiritually_-_Receptivity_of_the_body_-_The_subtle-physical-_illness_accidents_-_Curing_sunstroke_and_other_disorders
1951-04-02_-_Causes_of_accidents_-_Little_entities,_helpful_or_mischievous-_incidents
1951-04-05_-_Illusion_and_interest_in_action_-_The_action_of_the_divine_Grace_and_the_ego_-_Concentration,_aspiration,_will,_inner_silence_-_Value_of_a_story_or_a_language_-_Truth_-_diversity_in_the_world
1951-04-07_-_Origin_of_Evil_-_Misery-_its_cause
1951-04-09_-_Modern_Art_-_Trend_of_art_in_Europe_in_the_twentieth_century_-_Effect_of_the_Wars_-_descent_of_vital_worlds_-_Formation_of_character_-_If_there_is_another_war
1951-04-12_-_Japan,_its_art,_landscapes,_life,_etc_-_Fairy-lore_of_Japan_-_Culture-_its_spiral_movement_-_Indian_and_European-_the_spiritual_life_-_Art_and_Truth
1951-04-14_-_Surrender_and_sacrifice_-_Idea_of_sacrifice_-_Bahaism_-_martyrdom_-_Sleep-_forgetfulness,_exteriorisation,_etc_-_Dreams_and_visions-_explanations_-_Exteriorisation-_incidents_about_cats
1951-04-17_-_Unity,_diversity_-_Protective_envelope_-_desires_-_consciousness,_true_defence_-_Perfection_of_physical_-_cinema_-_Choice,_constant_and_conscious_-_law_of_ones_being_-_the_One,_the_Multiplicity_-_Civilization-_preparing_an_instrument
1951-04-19_-_Demands_and_needs_-_human_nature_-_Abolishing_the_ego_-_Food-_tamas,_consecration_-_Changing_the_nature-_the_vital_and_the_mind_-_The_yoga_of_the_body__-_cellular_consciousness
1951-04-21_-_Sri_Aurobindos_letter_on_conditions_for_doing_yoga_-_Aspiration,_tapasya,_surrender_-_The_lower_vital_-_old_habits_-_obsession_-_Sri_Aurobindo_on_choice_and_the_double_life_-_The_old_fiasco_-_inner_realisation_and_outer_change
1951-04-26_-_Irrevocable_transformation_-_The_divine_Shakti_-_glad_submission_-_Rejection,_integral_-_Consecration_-_total_self-forgetfulness_-_work
1951-04-28_-_Personal_effort_-_tamas,_laziness_-_Static_and_dynamic_power_-_Stupidity_-_psychic_and_intelligence_-_Philosophies-_different_languages_-_Theories_of_Creation_-_Surrender_of_ones_being_and_ones_work
1951-05-03_-_Money_and_its_use_for_the_divine_work_-_problems_-_Mastery_over_desire-_individual_and_collective_change
1951-05-05_-_Needs_and_desires_-_Discernment_-_sincerity_and_true_perception_-_Mantra_and_its_effects_-_Object_in_action-_to_serve_-_relying_only_on_the_Divine
1951-05-11_-_Mahakali_and_Kali_-_Avatar_and_Vibhuti_-_Sachchidananda_behind_all_states_of_being_-_The_power_of_will_-_receiving_the_Divine_Will
1951-05-12_-_Mahalakshmi_and_beauty_in_life_-_Mahasaraswati_-_conscious_hand_-_Riches_and_poverty
1951-05-14_-_Chance_-_the_play_of_forces_-_Peace,_given_and_lost_-_Abolishing_the_ego
1953-03-18
1953-03-25
1953-04-01
1953-04-08
1953-05-06
1953-05-13
1953-05-20
1953-05-27
1953-06-03
1953-06-10
1953-06-17
1953-06-24
1953-07-01
1953-07-08
1953-07-15
1953-07-22
1953-07-29
1953-08-05
1953-08-12
1953-08-26
1953-09-02
1953-09-09
1953-09-16
1953-09-23
1953-09-30
1953-10-07
1953-10-14
1953-10-21
1953-10-28
1953-11-04
1953-11-11
1953-11-18
1953-11-25
1953-12-09
1953-12-16
1953-12-23
1953-12-30
1954-02-03_-_The_senses_and_super-sense_-_Children_can_be_moulded_-_Keeping_things_in_order_-_The_shadow
1954-02-17_-_Experience_expressed_in_different_ways_-_Origin_of_the_psychic_being_-_Progress_in_sports_-Everything_is_not_for_the_best
1954-03-03_-_Occultism_-_A_French_scientists_experiment
1954-03-24_-_Dreams_and_the_condition_of_the_stomach_-_Tobacco_and_alcohol_-_Nervousness_-_The_centres_and_the_Kundalini_-_Control_of_the_senses
1954-04-07_-_Communication_without_words_-_Uneven_progress_-_Words_and_the_Word
1954-04-14_-_Love_-_Can_a_person_love_another_truly?_-_Parental_love
1954-04-28_-_Aspiration_and_receptivity_-_Resistance_-_Purusha_and_Prakriti,_not_masculine_and_feminine
1954-05-12_-_The_Purusha_-_Surrender_-_Distinguishing_between_influences_-_Perfect_sincerity
1954-05-19_-_Affection_and_love_-_Psychic_vision_Divine_-_Love_and_receptivity_-_Get_out_of_the_ego
1954-05-26_-_Symbolic_dreams_-_Psychic_sorrow_-_Dreams,_one_is_rarely_conscious
1954-06-16_-_Influences,_Divine_and_other_-_Adverse_forces_-_The_four_great_Asuras_-_Aspiration_arranges_circumstances_-_Wanting_only_the_Divine
1954-06-23_-_Meat-eating_-_Story_of_Mothers_vegetable_garden_-_Faithfulness_-_Conscious_sleep
1954-06-30_-_Occultism_-_Religion_and_vital_beings_-_Mothers_knowledge_of_what_happens_in_the_Ashram_-_Asking_questions_to_Mother_-_Drawing_on_Mother
1954-07-07_-_The_inner_warrior_-_Grace_and_the_Falsehood_-_Opening_from_below_-_Surrender_and_inertia_-_Exclusive_receptivity_-_Grace_and_receptivity
1954-07-14_-_The_Divine_and_the_Shakti_-_Personal_effort_-_Speaking_and_thinking_-_Doubt_-_Self-giving,_consecration_and_surrender_-_Mothers_use_of_flowers_-_Ornaments_and_protection
1954-07-21_-_Mistakes_-_Success_-_Asuras_-_Mental_arrogance_-_Difficulty_turned_into_opportunity_-_Mothers_use_of_flowers_-_Conversion_of_men_governed_by_adverse_forces
1954-07-28_-_Money_-_Ego_and_individuality_-_The_shadow
1954-08-11_-_Division_and_creation_-_The_gods_and_human_formations_-_People_carry_their_desires_around_them
1954-08-18_-_Mahalakshmi_-_Maheshwari_-_Mahasaraswati_-_Determinism_and_freedom_-_Suffering_and_knowledge_-_Aspects_of_the_Mother
1954-08-25_-_Ananda_aspect_of_the_Mother_-_Changing_conditions_in_the_Ashram_-_Ascetic_discipline_-_Mothers_body
1954-09-08_-_Hostile_forces_-_Substance_-_Concentration_-_Changing_the_centre_of_thought_-_Peace
1954-09-15_-_Parts_of_the_being_-_Thoughts_and_impulses_-_The_subconscient_-_Precise_vocabulary_-_The_Grace_and_difficulties
1954-09-22_-_The_supramental_creation_-_Rajasic_eagerness_-_Silence_from_above_-_Aspiration_and_rejection_-_Effort,_individuality_and_ego_-_Aspiration_and_desire
1954-10-06_-_What_happens_is_for_the_best_-_Blaming_oneself_-Experiences_-_The_vital_desire-soul_-Creating_a_spiritual_atmosphere_-Thought_and_Truth
1954-10-20_-_Stand_back_-_Asking_questions_to_Mother_-_Seeing_images_in_meditation_-_Berlioz_-Music_-_Mothers_organ_music_-_Destiny
1954-11-03_-_Body_opening_to_the_Divine_-_Concentration_in_the_heart_-_The_army_of_the_Divine_-_The_knot_of_the_ego_-Streng_thening_ones_will
1954-11-10_-_Inner_experience,_the_basis_of_action_-_Keeping_open_to_the_Force_-_Faith_through_aspiration_-_The_Mothers_symbol_-_The_mind_and_vital_seize_experience_-_Degrees_of_sincerity_-Becoming_conscious_of_the_Divine_Force
1954-11-24_-_Aspiration_mixed_with_desire_-_Willing_and_desiring_-_Children_and_desires_-_Supermind_and_the_higher_ranges_of_mind_-_Stages_in_the_supramental_manifestation
1954-12-08_-_Cosmic_consciousness_-_Clutching_-_The_central_will_of_the_being_-_Knowledge_by_identity
1954-12-15_-_Many_witnesses_inside_oneself_-_Children_in_the_Ashram_-_Trance_and_the_waking_consciousness_-_Ascetic_methods_-_Education,_spontaneous_effort_-_Spiritual_experience
1954-12-22_-_Possession_by_hostile_forces_-_Purity_and_morality_-_Faith_in_the_final_success_-Drawing_back_from_the_path
1954-12-29_-_Difficulties_and_the_world_-_The_experience_the_psychic_being_wants_-_After_death_-Ignorance
1955-02-09_-_Desire_is_contagious_-_Primitive_form_of_love_-_the_artists_delight_-_Psychic_need,_mind_as_an_instrument_-_How_the_psychic_being_expresses_itself_-_Distinguishing_the_parts_of_ones_being_-_The_psychic_guides_-_Illness_-_Mothers_vision
1955-02-16_-_Losing_something_given_by_Mother_-_Using_things_well_-_Sadhak_collecting_soap-pieces_-_What_things_are_truly_indispensable_-_Natures_harmonious_arrangement_-_Riches_a_curse,_philanthropy_-_Misuse_of_things_creates_misery
1955-02-23_-_On_the_sense_of_taste,_educating_the_senses_-_Fasting_produces_a_state_of_receptivity,_drawing_energy_-_The_body_and_food
1955-03-02_-_Right_spirit,_aspiration_and_desire_-_Sleep_and_yogic_repose,_how_to_sleep_-_Remembering_dreams_-_Concentration_and_outer_activity_-_Mother_opens_the_door_inside_everyone_-_Sleep,_a_school_for_inner_knowledge_-_Source_of_energy
1955-03-09_-_Psychic_directly_contacted_through_the_physical_-_Transforming_egoistic_movements_-_Work_of_the_psychic_being_-_Contacting_the_psychic_and_the_Divine_-_Experiences_of_different_kinds_-_Attacks_of_adverse_forces
1955-03-30_-_Yoga-shakti_-_Energies_of_the_earth,_higher_and_lower_-_Illness,_curing_by_yogic_means_-_The_true_self_and_the_psychic_-_Solving_difficulties_by_different_methods
1955-04-06_-_Freuds_psychoanalysis,_the_subliminal_being_-_The_psychic_and_the_subliminal_-_True_psychology_-_Changing_the_lower_nature_-_Faith_in_different_parts_of_the_being_-_Psychic_contact_established_in_all_in_the_Ashram
1955-04-27_-_Symbolic_dreams_and_visions_-_Curing_pain_by_various_methods_-_Different_states_of_consciousness_-_Seeing_oneself_dead_in_a_dream_-_Exteriorisation
1955-05-04_-_Drawing_on_the_universal_vital_forces_-_The_inner_physical_-_Receptivity_to_different_kinds_of_forces_-_Progress_and_receptivity
1955-05-18_-_The_Problem_of_Woman_-_Men_and_women_-_The_Supreme_Mother,_the_new_creation_-_Gods_and_goddesses_-_A_story_of_Creation,_earth_-_Psychic_being_only_on_earth,_beings_everywhere_-_Going_to_other_worlds_by_occult_means
1955-05-25_-_Religion_and_reason_-_true_role_and_field_-_an_obstacle_to_or_minister_of_the_Spirit_-_developing_and_meaning_-_Learning_how_to_live,_the_elite_-_Reason_controls_and_organises_life_-_Nature_is_infrarational
1955-06-01_-_The_aesthetic_conscience_-_Beauty_and_form_-_The_roots_of_our_life_-_The_sense_of_beauty_-_Educating_the_aesthetic_sense,_taste_-_Mental_constructions_based_on_a_revelation_-_Changing_the_world_and_humanity
1955-06-08_-_Working_for_the_Divine_-_ideal_attitude_-_Divine_manifesting_-_reversal_of_consciousness,_knowing_oneself_-_Integral_progress,_outer,_inner,_facing_difficulties_-_People_in_Ashram_-_doing_Yoga_-_Children_given_freedom,_choosing_yoga
1955-06-22_-_Awakening_the_Yoga-shakti_-_The_thousand-petalled_lotus-_Reading,_how_far_a_help_for_yoga_-_Simple_and_complicated_combinations_in_men
1955-07-06_-_The_psychic_and_the_central_being_or_jivatman_-_Unity_and_multiplicity_in_the_Divine_-_Having_experiences_and_the_ego_-_Mental,_vital_and_physical_exteriorisation_-_Imagination_has_a_formative_power_-_The_function_of_the_imagination
1955-07-13_-_Cosmic_spirit_and_cosmic_consciousness_-_The_wall_of_ignorance,_unity_and_separation_-_Aspiration_to_understand,_to_know,_to_be_-_The_Divine_is_in_the_essence_of_ones_being_-_Realising_desires_through_the_imaginaton
1955-08-03_-_Nothing_is_impossible_in_principle_-_Psychic_contact_and_psychic_influence_-_Occult_powers,_adverse_influences;_magic_-_Magic,_occultism_and_Yogic_powers_-Hypnotism_and_its_effects
1955-08-17_-_Vertical_ascent_and_horizontal_opening_-_Liberation_of_the_psychic_being_-_Images_for_discovery_of_the_psychic_being_-_Sadhana_to_contact_the_psychic_being
1955-09-21_-_Literature_and_the_taste_for_forms_-_The_characters_of_The_Great_Secret_-_How_literature_helps_us_to_progress_-_Reading_to_learn_-_The_commercial_mentality_-_How_to_choose_ones_books_-_Learning_to_enrich_ones_possibilities_...
1955-10-05_-_Science_and_Ignorance_-_Knowledge,_science_and_the_Buddha_-_Knowing_by_identification_-_Discipline_in_science_and_in_Buddhism_-_Progress_in_the_mental_field_and_beyond_it
1955-10-12_-_The_problem_of_transformation_-_Evolution,_man_and_superman_-_Awakening_need_of_a_higher_good_-_Sri_Aurobindo_and_earths_history_-_Setting_foot_on_the_new_path_-_The_true_reality_of_the_universe_-_the_new_race_-_...
1955-10-19_-_The_rhythms_of_time_-_The_lotus_of_knowledge_and_perfection_-_Potential_knowledge_-_The_teguments_of_the_soul_-_Shastra_and_the_Gurus_direct_teaching_-_He_who_chooses_the_Infinite...
1955-11-02_-_The_first_movement_in_Yoga_-_Interiorisation,_finding_ones_soul_-_The_Vedic_Age_-_An_incident_about_Vivekananda_-_The_imaged_language_of_the_Vedas_-_The_Vedic_Rishis,_involutionary_beings_-_Involution_and_evolution
1955-11-16_-_The_significance_of_numbers_-_Numbers,_astrology,_true_knowledge_-_Divines_Love_flowers_for_Kali_puja_-_Desire,_aspiration_and_progress_-_Determining_ones_approach_to_the_Divine_-_Liberation_is_obtained_through_austerities_-_...
1955-11-23_-_One_reality,_multiple_manifestations_-_Integral_Yoga,_approach_by_all_paths_-_The_supreme_man_and_the_divine_man_-_Miracles_and_the_logic_of_events
1955-12-07_-_Emotional_impulse_of_self-giving_-_A_young_dancer_in_France_-_The_heart_has_wings,_not_the_head_-_Only_joy_can_conquer_the_Adversary
1955-12-14_-_Rejection_of_life_as_illusion_in_the_old_Yogas_-_Fighting_the_adverse_forces_-_Universal_and_individual_being_-_Three_stages_in_Integral_Yoga_-_How_to_feel_the_Divine_Presence_constantly
1955-12-28_-_Aspiration_in_different_parts_of_the_being_-_Enthusiasm_and_gratitude_-_Aspiration_is_in_all_beings_-_Unlimited_power_of_good,_evil_has_a_limit_-_Progress_in_the_parts_of_the_being_-_Significance_of_a_dream
1956-01-04_-_Integral_idea_of_the_Divine_-_All_things_attracted_by_the_Divine_-_Bad_things_not_in_place_-_Integral_yoga_-_Moving_idea-force,_ideas_-_Consequences_of_manifestation_-_Work_of_Spirit_via_Nature_-_Change_consciousness,_change_world
1956-01-18_-_Two_sides_of_individual_work_-_Cheerfulness_-_chosen_vessel_of_the_Divine_-_Aspiration,_consciousness,_of_plants,_of_children_-_Being_chosen_by_the_Divine_-_True_hierarchy_-_Perfect_relation_with_the_Divine_-_India_free_in_1915
1956-01-25_-_The_divine_way_of_life_-_Divine,_Overmind,_Supermind_-_Material_body__for_discovery_of_the_Divine_-_Five_psychological_perfections
1956-02-01_-_Path_of_knowledge_-_Finding_the_Divine_in_life_-_Capacity_for_contact_with_the_Divine_-_Partial_and_total_identification_with_the_Divine_-_Manifestation_and_hierarchy
1956-02-08_-_Forces_of_Nature_expressing_a_higher_Will_-_Illusion_of_separate_personality_-_One_dynamic_force_which_moves_all_things_-_Linear_and_spherical_thinking_-_Common_ideal_of_life,_microscopic
1956-02-15_-_Nature_and_the_Master_of_Nature_-_Conscious_intelligence_-_Theory_of_the_Gita,_not_the_whole_truth_-_Surrender_to_the_Lord_-_Change_of_nature
1956-02-29_-_Sacrifice,_self-giving_-_Divine_Presence_in_the_heart_of_Matter_-_Divine_Oneness_-_Divine_Consciousness_-_All_is_One_-_Divine_in_the_inconscient_aspires_for_the_Divine
1956-03-07_-_Sacrifice,_Animals,_hostile_forces,_receive_in_proportion_to_consciousness_-_To_be_luminously_open_-_Integral_transformation_-_Pain_of_rejection,_delight_of_progress_-_Spirit_behind_intention_-_Spirit,_matter,_over-simplified
1956-03-14_-_Dynamic_meditation_-_Do_all_as_an_offering_to_the_Divine_-_Significance_of_23.4.56._-_If_twelve_men_of_goodwill_call_the_Divine
1956-04-04_-_The_witness_soul_-_A_Gita_enthusiast_-_Propagandist_spirit,_Tolstoys_son
1956-04-11_-_Self-creator_-_Manifestation_of_Time_and_Space_-_Brahman-Maya_and_Ishwara-Shakti_-_Personal_and_Impersonal
1956-04-18_-_Ishwara_and_Shakti,_seeing_both_aspects_-_The_Impersonal_and_the_divine_Person_-_Soul,_the_presence_of_the_divine_Person_-_Going_to_other_worlds,_exteriorisation,_dreams_-_Telling_stories_to_oneself
1956-04-25_-_God,_human_conception_and_the_true_Divine_-_Earthly_existence,_to_realise_the_Divine_-_Ananda,_divine_pleasure_-_Relations_with_the_divine_Presence_-_Asking_the_Divine_for_what_one_needs_-_Allowing_the_Divine_to_lead_one
1956-05-02_-_Threefold_union_-_Manifestation_of_the_Supramental_-_Profiting_from_the_Divine_-_Recognition_of_the_Supramental_Force_-_Ascent,_descent,_manifestation
1956-05-09_-_Beginning_of_the_true_spiritual_life_-_Spirit_gives_value_to_all_things_-_To_be_helped_by_the_supramental_Force
1956-05-16_-_Needs_of_the_body,_not_true_in_themselves_-_Spiritual_and_supramental_law_-_Aestheticised_Paganism_-_Morality,_checks_true_spiritual_effort_-_Effect_of_supramental_descent_-_Half-lights_and_false_lights
1956-05-23_-_Yoga_and_religion_-_Story_of_two_clergymen_on_a_boat_-_The_Buddha_and_the_Supramental_-_Hieroglyphs_and_phonetic_alphabets_-_A_vision_of_ancient_Egypt_-_Memory_for_sounds
1956-05-30_-_Forms_as_symbols_of_the_Force_behind_-_Art_as_expression_of_contact_with_the_Divine_-_Supramental_psychological_perfection_-_Division_of_works_-_The_Ashram,_idle_stupidities
1956-06-06_-_Sign_or_indication_from_books_of_revelation_-_Spiritualised_mind_-_Stages_of_sadhana_-_Reversal_of_consciousness_-_Organisation_around_central_Presence_-_Boredom,_most_common_human_malady
1956-06-13_-_Effects_of_the_Supramental_action_-_Education_and_the_Supermind_-_Right_to_remain_ignorant_-_Concentration_of_mind_-_Reason,_not_supreme_capacity_-_Physical_education_and_studies_-_inner_discipline_-_True_usefulness_of_teachers
1956-06-20_-_Hearts_mystic_light,_intuition_-_Psychic_being,_contact_-_Secular_ethics_-_True_role_of_mind_-_Realise_the_Divine_by_love_-_Depression,_pleasure,_joy_-_Heart_mixture_-_To_follow_the_soul_-_Physical_process_-_remember_the_Mother
1956-06-27_-_Birth,_entry_of_soul_into_body_-_Formation_of_the_supramental_world_-_Aspiration_for_progress_-_Bad_thoughts_-_Cerebral_filter_-_Progress_and_resistance
1956-07-11_-_Beauty_restored_to_its_priesthood_-_Occult_worlds,_occult_beings_-_Difficulties_and_the_supramental_force
1956-07-18_-_Unlived_dreams_-_Radha-consciousness_-_Separation_and_identification_-_Ananda_of_identity_and_Ananda_of_union_-_Sincerity,_meditation_and_prayer_-_Enemies_of_the_Divine_-_The_universe_is_progressive
1956-07-25_-_A_complete_act_of_divine_love_-_How_to_listen_-_Sports_programme_same_for_boys_and_girls_-_How_to_profit_by_stay_at_Ashram_-_To_Women_about_Their_Body
1956-08-01_-_Value_of_worship_-_Spiritual_realisation_and_the_integral_yoga_-_Symbols,_translation_of_experience_into_form_-_Sincerity,_fundamental_virtue_-_Intensity_of_aspiration,_with_anguish_or_joy_-_The_divine_Grace
1956-08-08_-_How_to_light_the_psychic_fire,_will_for_progress_-_Helping_from_a_distance,_mental_formations_-_Prayer_and_the_divine_-_Grace_Grace_at_work_everywhere
1956-08-15_-_Protection,_purification,_fear_-_Atmosphere_at_the_Ashram_on_Darshan_days_-_Darshan_messages_-_Significance_of_15-08_-_State_of_surrender_-_Divine_Grace_always_all-powerful_-_Assumption_of_Virgin_Mary_-_SA_message_of_1947-08-15
1956-08-22_-_The_heaven_of_the_liberated_mind_-_Trance_or_samadhi_-_Occult_discipline_for_leaving_consecutive_bodies_-_To_be_greater_than_ones_experience_-_Total_self-giving_to_the_Grace_-_The_truth_of_the_being_-_Unique_relation_with_the_Supreme
1956-09-05_-_Material_life,_seeing_in_the_right_way_-_Effect_of_the_Supermind_on_the_earth_-_Emergence_of_the_Supermind_-_Falling_back_into_the_same_mistaken_ways
1956-09-12_-_Questions,_practice_and_progress
1956-09-19_-_Power,_predominant_quality_of_vital_being_-_The_Divine,_the_psychic_being,_the_Supermind_-_How_to_come_out_of_the_physical_consciousness_-_Look_life_in_the_face_-_Ordinary_love_and_Divine_love
1956-09-26_-_Soul_of_desire_-_Openness,_harmony_with_Nature_-_Communion_with_divine_Presence_-_Individuality,_difficulties,_soul_of_desire_-_personal_contact_with_the_Mother_-_Inner_receptivity_-_Bad_thoughts_before_the_Mother
1956-10-03_-_The_Mothers_different_ways_of_speaking_-_new_manifestation_-_new_element,_possibilities_-_child_prodigies_-_Laws_of_Nature,_supramental_-_Logic_of_the_unforeseen_-_Creative_writers,_hands_of_musicians_-_Prodigious_children,_men
1956-10-10_-_The_supramental_race__in_a_few_centuries_-_Condition_for_new_realisation_-_Everyone_must_follow_his_own_path_-_Progress,_no_two_paths_alike
1956-10-17_-_Delight,_the_highest_state_-_Delight_and_detachment_-_To_be_calm_-_Quietude,_mental_and_vital_-_Calm_and_strength_-_Experience_and_expression_of_experience
1956-10-24_-_Taking_a_new_body_-_Different_cases_of_incarnation_-_Departure_of_soul_from_body
1956-10-31_-_Manifestation_of_divine_love_-_Deformation_of_Love_by_human_consciousness_-_Experience_and_expression_of_experience
1956-11-07_-_Thoughts_created_by_forces_of_universal_-_Mind_Our_own_thought_hardly_exists_-_Idea,_origin_higher_than_mind_-_The_Synthesis_of_Yoga,_effect_of_reading
1956-11-14_-_Conquering_the_desire_to_appear_good_-_Self-control_and_control_of_the_life_around_-_Power_of_mastery_-_Be_a_great_yogi_to_be_a_good_teacher_-_Organisation_of_the_Ashram_school_-_Elementary_discipline_of_regularity
1956-11-21_-_Knowings_and_Knowledge_-_Reason,_summit_of_mans_mental_activities_-_Willings_and_the_true_will_-_Personal_effort_-_First_step_to_have_knowledge_-_Relativity_of_medical_knowledge_-_Mental_gymnastics_make_the_mind_supple
1956-11-28_-_Desire,_ego,_animal_nature_-_Consciousness,_a_progressive_state_-_Ananda,_desireless_state_beyond_enjoyings_-_Personal_effort_that_is_mental_-_Reason,_when_to_disregard_it_-_Reason_and_reasons
1956-12-05_-_Even_and_objectless_ecstasy_-_Transform_the_animal_-_Individual_personality_and_world-personality_-_Characteristic_features_of_a_world-personality_-_Expressing_a_universal_state_of_consciousness_-_Food_and_sleep_-_Ordered_intuition
1956-12-12_-_paradoxes_-_Nothing_impossible_-_unfolding_universe,_the_Eternal_-_Attention,_concentration,_effort_-_growth_capacity_almost_unlimited_-_Why_things_are_not_the_same_-_will_and_willings_-_Suggestions,_formations_-_vital_world
1956-12-26_-_Defeated_victories_-_Change_of_consciousness_-_Experiences_that_indicate_the_road_to_take_-_Choice_and_preference_-_Diversity_of_the_manifestation
1957-01-02_-_Can_one_go_out_of_time_and_space?_-_Not_a_crucified_but_a_glorified_body_-_Individual_effort_and_the_new_force
1957-01-09_-_God_is_essentially_Delight_-_God_and_Nature_play_at_hide-and-seek_-__Why,_and_when,_are_you_grave?
1957-01-23_-_How_should_we_understand_pure_delight?_-_The_drop_of_honey_-_Action_of_the_Divine_Will_in_the_world
1957-01-30_-_Artistry_is_just_contrast_-_How_to_perceive_the_Divine_Guidance?
1957-02-07_-_Individual_and_collective_meditation
1957-02-20_-_Limitations_of_the_body_and_individuality
1957-03-27_-_If_only_humanity_consented_to_be_spiritualised
1957-04-10_-_Sports_and_yoga_-_Organising_ones_life
1957-04-17_-_Transformation_of_the_body
1957-04-24_-_Perfection,_lower_and_higher
1957-05-01_-_Sports_competitions,_their_value
1957-05-08_-_Vital_excitement,_reason,_instinct
1957-06-12_-_Fasting_and_spiritual_progress
1957-06-19_-_Causes_of_illness_Fear_and_illness_-_Minds_working,_faith_and_illness
1957-06-26_-_Birth_through_direct_transmutation_-_Man_and_woman_-_Judging_others_-_divine_Presence_in_all_-_New_birth
1957-07-03_-_Collective_yoga,_vision_of_a_huge_hotel
1957-07-10_-_A_new_world_is_born_-_Overmind_creation_dissolved
1957-07-17_-_Power_of_conscious_will_over_matter
1957-08-07_-_The_resistances,_politics_and_money_-_Aspiration_to_realise_the_supramental_life
1957-08-21_-_The_Ashram_and_true_communal_life_-_Level_of_consciousness_in_the_Ashram
1957-08-28_-_Freedom_and_Divine_Will
1957-09-11_-_Vital_chemistry,_attraction_and_repulsion
1957-09-25_-_Preparation_of_the_intermediate_being
1957-10-02_-_The_Mind_of_Light_-_Statues_of_the_Buddha_-_Burden_of_the_past
1957-10-09_-_As_many_universes_as_individuals_-_Passage_to_the_higher_hemisphere
1957-10-16_-_Story_of_successive_involutions
1957-10-23_-_The_central_motive_of_terrestrial_existence_-_Evolution
1957-10-30_-_Double_movement_of_evolution_-_Disappearance_of_a_species
1957-11-13_-_Superiority_of_man_over_animal_-_Consciousness_precedes_form
1957-11-27_-_Sri_Aurobindos_method_in_The_Life_Divine_-_Individual_and_cosmic_evolution
1957-12-04_-_The_method_of_The_Life_Divine_-_Problem_of_emergence_of_a_new_species
1957-12-11_-_Appearance_of_the_first_men
1958-01-01_-_The_collaboration_of_material_Nature_-_Miracles_visible_to_a_deep_vision_of_things_-_Explanation_of_New_Year_Message
1958-01-22_-_Intellectual_theories_-_Expressing_a_living_and_real_Truth
1958-01-29_-_The_plan_of_the_universe_-_Self-awareness
1958-02-05_-_The_great_voyage_of_the_Supreme_-_Freedom_and_determinism
1958-02-12_-_Psychic_progress_from_life_to_life_-_The_earth,_the_place_of_progress
1958-02-19_-_Experience_of_the_supramental_boat_-_The_Censors_-_Absurdity_of_artificial_means
1958-03-05_-_Vibrations_and_words_-_Power_of_thought,_the_gift_of_tongues
1958-03-12_-_The_key_of_past_transformations
1958-03-19_-_General_tension_in_humanity_-_Peace_and_progress_-_Perversion_and_vision_of_transformation
1958-04-09_-_The_eyes_of_the_soul_-_Perceiving_the_soul
1958-04-16_-_The_superman_-_New_realisation
1958-04-23_-_Progress_and_bargaining
1958-05-07_-_The_secret_of_Nature
1958-05-21_-_Mental_honesty
1958-05-28_-_The_Avatar
1958-06-04_-_New_birth
1958-06-18_-_Philosophy,_religion,_occultism,_spirituality
1958-07-09_-_Faith_and_personal_effort
1958-07-16_-_Is_religion_a_necessity?
1958-07-23_-_How_to_develop_intuition_-_Concentration
1958-07-30_-_The_planchette_-_automatic_writing_-_Proofs_and_knowledge
1958-08-06_-_Collective_prayer_-_the_ideal_collectivity
1958-08-13_-_Profit_by_staying_in_the_Ashram_-_What_Sri_Aurobindo_has_come_to_tell_us_-_Finding_the_Divine
1958-08-27_-_Meditation_and_imagination_-_From_thought_to_idea,_from_idea_to_principle
1958-09-03_-_How_to_discipline_the_imagination_-_Mental_formations
1958-09-10_-_Magic,_occultism,_physical_science
1958_09_12
1958_09_19
1958-09-24_-_Living_the_truth_-_Words_and_experience
1958_10_03
1958-10-22_-_Spiritual_life_-_reversal_of_consciousness_-_Helping_others
1958-10-29_-_Mental_self-sufficiency_-_Grace
1958-11-05_-_Knowing_how_to_be_silent
1958_11_07
1958_11_14
1958-11-26_-_The_role_of_the_Spirit_-_New_birth
1958_11_28
1960_03_30
1960_04_27
1960_06_08
1960_11_13?_-_50
1960_11_14?_-_51
1961_02_02
1961_03_11_-_58
1961_03_17_-_56
1961_05_21?_-_62
1961_07_18
1962_01_12
1962_02_27
1962_10_12
1963_01_14
1963_03_06
1963_05_15
1963_08_11?_-_94
1963_11_04
1964_02_05_-_98
1964_03_25
1965_05_29
1965_12_26?
1966_09_14
1967-05-24.1_-_Defining_the_Divine
1969_09_26
1969_10_10
1969_10_18
1969_12_15
1970_01_03
1970_01_21
1970_02_16
1970_03_06?
1970_03_09
1970_03_19?
1970_03_25
1970_03_29
1970_04_13
1970_04_17
1970_04_22_-_493
1970_04_23_-_495
1970_05_17
1971_12_11
1.A_-_ANTHROPOLOGY,_THE_SOUL
1.ac_-_A_Birthday
1.ac_-_Happy_Dust
1.ac_-_On_-_On_-_Poet
1.ac_-_The_Four_Winds
1.ac_-_The_Priestess_of_Panormita
1.ac_-_The_Wizard_Way
1.anon_-_Enuma_Elish_(When_on_high)
1.anon_-_If_this_were_a_world
1.anon_-_Less_profitable
1.anon_-_Song_of_Creation
1.anon_-_The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_Tablet_IV
1.anon_-_The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_TabletIX
1.anon_-_The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_Tablet_VII
1.anon_-_The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_Tablet_VIII
1.anon_-_The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_Tablet_X
1.anon_-_The_Epic_of_Gilgamesh_Tablet_XI_The_Story_of_the_Flood
1.anon_-_The_Seven_Evil_Spirits
1.anon_-_The_Song_of_Songs
1.asak_-_My_Beloved-_this_torture_and_pain
1.asak_-_Nothing_but_burning_sobs_and_tears_tonight
1.ct_-_Goods_and_Possessions
1.da_-_All_Being_within_this_order,_by_the_laws_(from_The_Paradiso,_Canto_I)
1.da_-_The_love_of_God,_unutterable_and_perfect
1f.lovecraft_-_A_Reminiscence_of_Dr._Samuel_Johnson
1f.lovecraft_-_Ashes
1f.lovecraft_-_At_the_Mountains_of_Madness
1f.lovecraft_-_Beyond_the_Wall_of_Sleep
1f.lovecraft_-_Celephais
1f.lovecraft_-_Collapsing_Cosmoses
1f.lovecraft_-_Cool_Air
1f.lovecraft_-_Dagon
1f.lovecraft_-_Deaf,_Dumb,_and_Blind
1f.lovecraft_-_Facts_concerning_the_Late
1f.lovecraft_-_He
1f.lovecraft_-_Herbert_West-Reanimator
1f.lovecraft_-_Hypnos
1f.lovecraft_-_Ibid
1f.lovecraft_-_In_the_Vault
1f.lovecraft_-_In_the_Walls_of_Eryx
1f.lovecraft_-_Medusas_Coil
1f.lovecraft_-_Old_Bugs
1f.lovecraft_-_Out_of_the_Aeons
1f.lovecraft_-_Pickmans_Model
1f.lovecraft_-_Poetry_and_the_Gods
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Alchemist
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Call_of_Cthulhu
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Case_of_Charles_Dexter_Ward
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Challenge_from_Beyond
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Colour_out_of_Space
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Crawling_Chaos
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Curse_of_Yig
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Descendant
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Diary_of_Alonzo_Typer
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Disinterment
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Dream-Quest_of_Unknown_Kadath
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Dreams_in_the_Witch_House
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Dunwich_Horror
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Electric_Executioner
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Festival
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Ghost-Eater
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Haunter_of_the_Dark
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Horror_at_Red_Hook
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Horror_in_the_Burying-Ground
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Horror_in_the_Museum
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Hound
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Last_Test
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Loved_Dead
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Lurking_Fear
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Man_of_Stone
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Moon-Bog
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Mound
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Mysterious_Ship
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Nameless_City
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Night_Ocean
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Picture_in_the_House
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Quest_of_Iranon
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Rats_in_the_Walls
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Shadow_out_of_Time
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Shadow_over_Innsmouth
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Shunned_House
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Silver_Key
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Slaying_of_the_Monster
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Statement_of_Randolph_Carter
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Strange_High_House_in_the_Mist
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Temple
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Thing_on_the_Doorstep
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Trap
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Tree_on_the_Hill
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Unnamable
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Very_Old_Folk
1f.lovecraft_-_The_Whisperer_in_Darkness
1f.lovecraft_-_The_White_Ship
1f.lovecraft_-_Through_the_Gates_of_the_Silver_Key
1f.lovecraft_-_Under_the_Pyramids
1.fs_-_Amalia
1.fs_-_Dithyramb
1.fs_-_Fantasie_--_To_Laura
1.fs_-_Geniality
1.fs_-_Genius
1.fs_-_German_Faith
1.fs_-_Human_Knowledge
1.fs_-_Ode_To_Joy
1.fs_-_Rapture_--_To_Laura
1.fs_-_The_Artists
1.fs_-_The_Cranes_Of_Ibycus
1.fs_-_The_Driver
1.fs_-_The_Eleusinian_Festival
1.fs_-_The_Infanticide
1.fs_-_The_Lay_Of_The_Bell
1.fs_-_The_Lay_Of_The_Mountain
1.fs_-_The_Walk
1.fua_-_A_slaves_freedom
1.he_-_You_no_sooner_attain_the_great_void
1.hs_-_Naked_in_the_Bee-House
1.hs_-_The_Essence_of_Grace
1.hs_-_Then_through_that_dim_murkiness
1.ia_-_Modification_Of_The_R_Poem
1.ia_-_The_Hand_Of_Trial
1.ia_-_When_We_Came_Together
1.ia_-_When_we_came_together
1.ia_-_With_My_Very_Own_Hands
1.jk_-_A_Party_Of_Lovers
1.jk_-_A_Thing_Of_Beauty_(Endymion)
1.jk_-_Calidore_-_A_Fragment
1.jk_-_Dawlish_Fair
1.jk_-_Endymion_-_Book_I
1.jk_-_Endymion_-_Book_II
1.jk_-_Endymion_-_Book_III
1.jk_-_Endymion_-_Book_IV
1.jk_-_Fancy
1.jk_-_Fragment._Welcome_Joy,_And_Welcome_Sorrow
1.jk_-_Hyperion,_A_Vision_-_Attempted_Reconstruction_Of_The_Poem
1.jk_-_Hyperion._Book_I
1.jk_-_Hyperion._Book_II
1.jk_-_Hyperion._Book_III
1.jk_-_Isabella;_Or,_The_Pot_Of_Basil_-_A_Story_From_Boccaccio
1.jk_-_I_Stood_Tip-Toe_Upon_A_Little_Hill
1.jk_-_Lamia._Part_I
1.jk_-_Ode_On_A_Grecian_Urn
1.jk_-_Ode_On_Melancholy
1.jk_-_Ode_To_A_Nightingale
1.jk_-_Otho_The_Great_-_Act_II
1.jk_-_Otho_The_Great_-_Act_III
1.jk_-_Otho_The_Great_-_Act_IV
1.jk_-_Sleep_And_Poetry
1.jk_-_Song._Hush,_Hush!_Tread_Softly!
1.jk_-_Sonnet_To_The_Nile
1.jk_-_Sonnet_VIII._To_My_Brothers
1.jk_-_Sonnet_X._To_One_Who_Has_Been_Long_In_City_Pent
1.jk_-_Sonnet_XV._On_The_Grasshopper_And_Cricket
1.jk_-_Teignmouth_-_Some_Doggerel,_Sent_In_A_Letter_To_B._R._Haydon
1.jk_-_The_Cap_And_Bells;_Or,_The_Jealousies_-_A_Faery_Tale_.._Unfinished
1.jk_-_The_Devon_Maid_-_Stanzas_Sent_In_A_Letter_To_B._R._Haydon
1.jk_-_The_Eve_Of_St._Agnes
1.jk_-_To_George_Felton_Mathew
1.jk_-_To_Hope
1.jlb_-_Afterglow
1.jlb_-_Daybreak
1.jr_-_All_Through_Eternity
1.jr_-_A_Moment_Of_Happiness
1.jr_-_I_Have_A_Fire_For_You_In_My_Mouth
1.jr_-_Im_neither_beautiful_nor_ugly
1.jr_-_Last_Night_You_Left_Me_And_Slept
1.jr_-_look_at_love
1.jr_-_Only_Breath
1.jr_-_The_real_work_belongs_to_someone_who_desires_God
1.jr_-_What_Hidden_Sweetness_Is_There
1.jwvg_-_Anniversary_Song
1.jwvg_-_Answers_In_A_Game_Of_Questions
1.jwvg_-_As_Broad_As_Its_Long
1.jwvg_-_Faithful_Eckhart
1.jwvg_-_Happiness_And_Vision
1.jwvg_-_Longing
1.jwvg_-_The_Bliss_Of_Absence
1.jwvg_-_The_Visit
1.jwvg_-_To_The_Chosen_One
1.kbr_-_Dohas_II_(with_translation)
1.kbr_-_I_Burst_Into_Laughter
1.kbr_-_I_burst_into_laughter
1.kbr_-_When_You_Were_Born_In_This_World_-_Dohas_Ii
1.kbr_-_Where_do_you_search_me
1.khc_-_Idle_Wandering
1.lb_-_A_Song_Of_Changgan
1.lb_-_Autumn_River_Song
1.lb_-_Bathed_And_Washed
1.lb_-_Bathed_and_Washed
1.lb_-_Before_The_Cask_of_Wine
1.lb_-_Bringing_in_the_Wine
1.lb_-_Changgan_Memories
1.lb_-_Chiang_Chin_Chiu
1.lb_-_Confessional
1.lb_-_Drinking_Alone_in_the_Moonlight
1.lb_-_Drinking_With_Someone_In_The_Mountains
1.lb_-_His_Dream_Of_Skyland
1.lb_-_The_River-Captains_Wife__A_Letter
1.lla_-_Just_for_a_moment,_flowers_appear
1.lovecraft_-_Astrophobos
1.lovecraft_-_Despair
1.lovecraft_-_Fact_And_Fancy
1.lovecraft_-_Fungi_From_Yuggoth
1.lovecraft_-_The_Outpost
1.lovecraft_-_The_Poe-ets_Nightmare
1.lovecraft_-_To_Edward_John_Moreton_Drax_Plunkelt,
1.mah_-_If_They_Only_Knew
1.mah_-_Stillness
1.mah_-_You_live_inside_my_heart-_in_there_are_secrets_about_You
1.mdl_-_Inside_the_hidden_nexus_(from_Jacobs_Journey)
1.okym_-_56_-_And_this_I_know-_whether_the_one_True_Light
1.pbs_-_A_Bridal_Song
1.pbs_-_Adonais_-_An_elegy_on_the_Death_of_John_Keats
1.pbs_-_Alastor_-_or,_the_Spirit_of_Solitude
1.pbs_-_A_Romans_Chamber
1.pbs_-_Charles_The_First
1.pbs_-_English_translationItalian
1.pbs_-_Epigram_II_-_Kissing_Helena
1.pbs_-_Epipsychidion
1.pbs_-_Epipsychidion_(Excerpt)
1.pbs_-_Epipsychidion_-_Passages_Of_The_Poem,_Or_Connected_Therewith
1.pbs_-_Epithalamium
1.pbs_-_Epithalamium_-_Another_Version
1.pbs_-_Fiordispina
1.pbs_-_Fragments_Of_An_Unfinished_Drama
1.pbs_-_Fragment_-_Supposed_To_Be_An_Epithalamium_Of_Francis_Ravaillac_And_Charlotte_Corday
1.pbs_-_Good-Night
1.pbs_-_Hellas_-_A_Lyrical_Drama
1.pbs_-_Homers_Hymn_To_The_Sun
1.pbs_-_Hymn_of_Apollo
1.pbs_-_Hymn_To_Mercury
1.pbs_-_Julian_and_Maddalo_-_A_Conversation
1.pbs_-_Letter_To_Maria_Gisborne
1.pbs_-_Lines_Written_Among_The_Euganean_Hills
1.pbs_-_Marenghi
1.pbs_-_Mont_Blanc_-_Lines_Written_In_The_Vale_of_Chamouni
1.pbs_-_Ode_To_Naples
1.pbs_-_Oedipus_Tyrannus_or_Swellfoot_The_Tyrant
1.pbs_-_On_The_Dark_Height_of_Jura
1.pbs_-_Orpheus
1.pbs_-_Peter_Bell_The_Third
1.pbs_-_Prometheus_Unbound
1.pbs_-_Queen_Mab_-_Part_I.
1.pbs_-_Queen_Mab_-_Part_II.
1.pbs_-_Queen_Mab_-_Part_III.
1.pbs_-_Queen_Mab_-_Part_IV.
1.pbs_-_Queen_Mab_-_Part_IX.
1.pbs_-_Queen_Mab_-_Part_VII.
1.pbs_-_Rosalind_and_Helen_-_a_Modern_Eclogue
1.pbs_-_Saint_Edmonds_Eve
1.pbs_-_Scenes_From_The_Faust_Of_Goethe
1.pbs_-_Sonnet_-_To_A_Balloon_Laden_With_Knowledge
1.pbs_-_The_Boat_On_The_Serchio
1.pbs_-_The_Cenci_-_A_Tragedy_In_Five_Acts
1.pbs_-_The_Cyclops
1.pbs_-_The_Daemon_Of_The_World
1.pbs_-_The_Revolt_Of_Islam_-_Canto_I-XII
1.pbs_-_The_Sensitive_Plant
1.pbs_-_The_Sunset
1.pbs_-_The_Triumph_Of_Life
1.pbs_-_The_Witch_Of_Atlas
1.pbs_-_To_Jane_-_The_Invitation
1.poe_-_Al_Aaraaf-_Part_2
1.poe_-_Eureka_-_A_Prose_Poem
1.poe_-_Tamerlane
1.poe_-_The_Conversation_Of_Eiros_And_Charmion
1.poe_-_The_Power_Of_Words_Oinos.
1.poe_-_The_Raven
1.poe_-_To_One_In_Paradise
1.poe_-_Ulalume
1.rb_-_Abt_Vogler
1.rb_-_A_Grammarian's_Funeral_Shortly_After_The_Revival_Of_Learning
1.rb_-_Andrea_del_Sarto
1.rb_-_An_Epistle_Containing_the_Strange_Medical_Experience_of_Kar
1.rb_-_Any_Wife_To_Any_Husband
1.rb_-_Bishop_Blougram's_Apology
1.rb_-_By_The_Fire-Side
1.rb_-_Caliban_upon_Setebos_or,_Natural_Theology_in_the_Island
1.rb_-_Cleon
1.rb_-_Confessions
1.rb_-_Cristina
1.rb_-_Fra_Lippo_Lippi
1.rb_-_Garden_Francies
1.rb_-_Holy-Cross_Day
1.rb_-_In_A_Gondola
1.rb_-_Introduction:_Pippa_Passes
1.rb_-_Love_In_A_Life
1.rb_-_My_Last_Duchess
1.rb_-_Nationality_In_Drinks
1.rb_-_Never_the_Time_and_the_Place
1.rb_-_Old_Pictures_In_Florence
1.rb_-_Paracelsus_-_Part_III_-_Paracelsus
1.rb_-_Paracelsus_-_Part_II_-_Paracelsus_Attains
1.rb_-_Paracelsus_-_Part_I_-_Paracelsus_Aspires
1.rb_-_Paracelsus_-_Part_IV_-_Paracelsus_Aspires
1.rb_-_Paracelsus_-_Part_V_-_Paracelsus_Attains
1.rb_-_Pauline,_A_Fragment_of_a_Question
1.rb_-_Pippa_Passes_-_Part_III_-_Evening
1.rb_-_Pippa_Passes_-_Part_II_-_Noon
1.rb_-_Pippa_Passes_-_Part_I_-_Morning
1.rb_-_Porphyrias_Lover
1.rb_-_Rhyme_for_a_Child_Viewing_a_Naked_Venus_in_a_Painting_of_'The_Judgement_of_Paris'
1.rb_-_Soliloquy_Of_The_Spanish_Cloister
1.rb_-_Sordello_-_Book_the_Fifth
1.rb_-_Sordello_-_Book_the_First
1.rb_-_Sordello_-_Book_the_Fourth
1.rb_-_Sordello_-_Book_the_Second
1.rb_-_Sordello_-_Book_the_Sixth
1.rb_-_Sordello_-_Book_the_Third
1.rb_-_The_Englishman_In_Italy
1.rb_-_The_Flight_Of_The_Duchess
1.rb_-_The_Guardian-Angel
1.rb_-_The_Last_Ride_Together
1.rb_-_The_Pied_Piper_Of_Hamelin
1.rb_-_Waring
1.rmpsd_-_Tell_me,_brother,_what_happens_after_death?
1.rmr_-_Again_and_Again
1.rmr_-_Elegy_IV
1.rmr_-_Greek_Love-Talk
1.rmr_-_Little_Tear-Vase
1.rmr_-_Loneliness
1.rmr_-_Love_Song
1.rmr_-_On_Hearing_Of_A_Death
1.rmr_-_Self-Portrait
1.rmr_-_Spanish_Dancer
1.rmr_-_The_Song_Of_The_Beggar
1.rmr_-_The_Sonnets_To_Orpheus_-_IV
1.rmr_-_The_Voices
1.rmr_-_Time_and_Again
1.rt_-_(103)_In_one_salutation_to_thee,_my_God_(from_Gitanjali)
1.rt_-_Fairyland
1.rt_-_Gitanjali
1.rt_-_Kinu_Goalas_Alley
1.rt_-_Krishnakali
1.rt_-_One_Day_In_Spring....
1.rt_-_Salutation
1.rt_-_The_Flower-School
1.rt_-_The_Homecoming
1.rt_-_Unending_Love
1.rvd_-_How_to_Escape?
1.rwe_-_Alphonso_Of_Castile
1.rwe_-_Boston_Hymn
1.rwe_-_Dmonic_Love
1.rwe_-_Fable
1.rwe_-_From_the_Persian_of_Hafiz_I
1.rwe_-_Merlin's_Song
1.rwe_-_Monadnoc
1.rwe_-_Saadi
1.rwe_-_The_Adirondacs
1.rwe_-_The_Days_Ration
1.rwe_-_To_Laugh_Often_And_Much
1.rwe_-_Uriel
1.rwe_-_Woodnotes
1.sfa_-_Exhortation_to_St._Clare_and_Her_Sisters
1.sfa_-_Let_us_desire_nothing_else
1.sfa_-_Prayer_Inspired_by_the_Our_Father
1.shvb_-_O_ignis_Spiritus_Paracliti
1.snt_-_In_the_midst_of_that_night,_in_my_darkness
1.srh_-_The_Royal_Song_of_Saraha_(Dohakosa)
1.srmd_-_He_and_I_are_one
1.srm_-_The_Marital_Garland_of_Letters
1.tc_-_After_Liu_Chai-Sangs_Poem
1.wby_-_Adams_Curse
1.wby_-_A_Dramatic_Poem
1.wby_-_All_Souls_Night
1.wby_-_An_Image_From_A_Past_Life
1.wby_-_Baile_And_Aillinn
1.wby_-_Blood_And_The_Moon
1.wby_-_Crazy_Jane_On_God
1.wby_-_Cuchulains_Fight_With_The_Sea
1.wby_-_Ego_Dominus_Tuus
1.wby_-_Ephemera
1.wby_-_From_A_Full_Moon_In_March
1.wby_-_Long-Legged_Fly
1.wby_-_Meru
1.wby_-_Nineteen_Hundred_And_Nineteen
1.wby_-_Parnells_Funeral
1.wby_-_Supernatural_Songs
1.wby_-_Symbols
1.wby_-_The_Apparitions
1.wby_-_The_Dancer_At_Cruachan_And_Cro-Patrick
1.wby_-_The_Players_Ask_For_A_Blessing_On_The_Psalteries_And_On_Themselves
1.wby_-_The_Seven_Sages
1.wby_-_The_Shadowy_Waters_-_The_Shadowy_Waters
1.wby_-_The_Tower
1.wby_-_The_Two_Kings
1.wby_-_The_Unappeasable_Host
1.wby_-_The_Wanderings_Of_Oisin_-_Book_I
1.wby_-_The_Wild_Old_Wicked_Man
1.wby_-_Those_Dancing_Days_Are_Gone
1.wby_-_Three_Things
1.wby_-_To_A_Shade
1.wby_-_Two_Songs_Of_A_Fool
1.wby_-_Under_Ben_Bulben
1.wby_-_Under_The_Moon
1.wby_-_Under_The_Round_Tower
1.whitman_-_A_Broadway_Pageant
1.whitman_-_A_Glimpse
1.whitman_-_A_March_In_The_Ranks,_Hard-prest
1.whitman_-_American_Feuillage
1.whitman_-_As_I_Ebbd_With_the_Ocean_of_Life
1.whitman_-_As_I_Lay_With_My_Head_in_Your_Lap,_Camerado
1.whitman_-_As_I_Sat_Alone_By_Blue_Ontarios_Shores
1.whitman_-_Carol_Of_Occupations
1.whitman_-_Chanting_The_Square_Deific
1.whitman_-_Crossing_Brooklyn_Ferry
1.whitman_-_Dirge_For_Two_Veterans
1.whitman_-_Elemental_Drifts
1.whitman_-_Fast_Anchord,_Eternal,_O_Love
1.whitman_-_From_Pent-up_Aching_Rivers
1.whitman_-_Good-Bye_My_Fancy!
1.whitman_-_Great_Are_The_Myths
1.whitman_-_In_Cabind_Ships_At_Sea
1.whitman_-_Inscription
1.whitman_-_I_Sing_The_Body_Electric
1.whitman_-_Kosmos
1.whitman_-_Long_I_Thought_That_Knowledge
1.whitman_-_Manhattan_Streets_I_Saunterd,_Pondering
1.whitman_-_Miracles
1.whitman_-_Now_List_To_My_Mornings_Romanza
1.whitman_-_Once_I_Passd_Through_A_Populous_City
1.whitman_-_On_The_Beach_At_Night
1.whitman_-_Out_of_the_Cradle_Endlessly_Rocking
1.whitman_-_Over_The_Carnage
1.whitman_-_Passage_To_India
1.whitman_-_Pioneers!_O_Pioneers!
1.whitman_-_Primeval_My_Love_For_The_Woman_I_Love
1.whitman_-_Salut_Au_Monde
1.whitman_-_Scented_Herbage_Of_My_Breast
1.whitman_-_Sea-Shore_Memories
1.whitman_-_So_Far_And_So_Far,_And_On_Toward_The_End
1.whitman_-_So_Long
1.whitman_-_Song_of_Myself
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_VII
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XIII
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XX
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XXI
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XXII
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XXIV
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XXVI
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XXVII
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XXVIII
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_Myself-_XXXIV
1.whitman_-_Song_Of_The_Broad-Axe
1.whitman_-_Spirit_That_Formd_This_Scene
1.whitman_-_Spontaneous_Me
1.whitman_-_Starting_From_Paumanok
1.whitman_-_States!
1.whitman_-_That_Shadow,_My_Likeness
1.whitman_-_The_Centerarians_Story
1.whitman_-_The_Dalliance_Of_The_Eagles
1.whitman_-_There_Was_A_Child_Went_Forth
1.whitman_-_The_Sleepers
1.whitman_-_The_Voice_of_the_Rain
1.whitman_-_This_Compost
1.whitman_-_To_Him_That_Was_Crucified
1.whitman_-_To_Think_Of_Time
1.whitman_-_We_Two_Boys_Together_Clinging
1.whitman_-_We_Two-How_Long_We_Were_Foold
1.whitman_-_When_Lilacs_Last_in_the_Dooryard_Bloomd
1.whitman_-_Years_Of_The_Modern
1.ww_-_0-_The_White_Doe_Of_Rylstone,_Or,_The_Fate_Of_The_Nortons_-_Dedication
1.ww_-_1-_The_White_Doe_Of_Rylstone,_Or,_The_Fate_Of_The_Nortons
1.ww_-_20_-_Who_goes_there?_hankering,_gross,_mystical,_nude
1.ww_-_24_-_Walt_Whitman,_a_cosmos,_of_Manhattan_the_son
1.ww_-_2-_The_White_Doe_Of_Rylstone,_Or,_The_Fate_Of_The_Nortons
1.ww_-_3-_The_White_Doe_Of_Rylstone,_Or,_The_Fate_Of_The_Nortons
1.ww_-_4-_The_White_Doe_Of_Rylstone,_Or,_The_Fate_Of_The_Nortons
1.ww_-_5-_The_White_Doe_Of_Rylstone,_Or,_The_Fate_Of_The_Nortons
1.ww_-_7_-_Has_anyone_supposed_it_lucky_to_be_born?
1.ww_-_7-_The_White_Doe_Of_Rylstone,_Or,_The_Fate_Of_The_Nortons
1.ww_-_A_Farewell
1.ww_-_A_Narrow_Girdle_Of_Rough_Stones_And_Crags,
1.ww_-_Andrew_Jones
1.ww_-_An_Evening_Walk
1.ww_-_A_Parsonage_In_Oxfordshire
1.ww_-_Artegal_And_Elidure
1.ww_-_A_Slumber_did_my_Spirit_Seal
1.ww_-_At_Applewaite,_Near_Keswick_1804
1.ww_-_Book_Eighth-_Retrospect--Love_Of_Nature_Leading_To_Love_Of_Man
1.ww_-_Book_Eleventh-_France_[concluded]
1.ww_-_Book_Fifth-Books
1.ww_-_Book_First_[Introduction-Childhood_and_School_Time]
1.ww_-_Book_Fourteenth_[conclusion]
1.ww_-_Book_Fourth_[Summer_Vacation]
1.ww_-_Book_Ninth_[Residence_in_France]
1.ww_-_Book_Second_[School-Time_Continued]
1.ww_-_Book_Seventh_[Residence_in_London]
1.ww_-_Book_Sixth_[Cambridge_and_the_Alps]
1.ww_-_Book_Tenth_{Residence_in_France_continued]
1.ww_-_Book_Third_[Residence_at_Cambridge]
1.ww_-_Book_Thirteenth_[Imagination_And_Taste,_How_Impaired_And_Restored_Concluded]
1.ww_-_Book_Twelfth_[Imagination_And_Taste,_How_Impaired_And_Restored_]
1.ww_-_Character_Of_The_Happy_Warrior
1.ww_-_Composed_By_The_Side_Of_Grasmere_Lake_1806
1.ww_-_Dion_[See_Plutarch]
1.ww_-_Epitaphs_Translated_From_Chiabrera
1.ww_-_Extempore_Effusion_upon_the_Death_of_James_Hogg
1.ww_-_From_The_Cuckoo_And_The_Nightingale
1.ww_-_Guilt_And_Sorrow,_Or,_Incidents_Upon_Salisbury_Plain
1.ww_-_Laodamia
1.ww_-_Lines_Composed_a_Few_Miles_above_Tintern_Abbey
1.ww_-_Maternal_Grief
1.ww_-_Memorials_Of_A_Tour_In_Scotland
1.ww_-_Memorials_Of_A_Tour_In_Scotland-_1803
1.ww_-_Michael-_A_Pastoral_Poem
1.ww_-_Ode_on_Intimations_of_Immortality
1.ww_-_Resolution_And_Independence
1.ww_-_Ruth
1.ww_-_Stepping_Westward
1.ww_-_Stray_Pleasures
1.ww_-_The_Brothers
1.ww_-_The_Emigrant_Mother
1.ww_-_The_Excursion-_II-_Book_First-_The_Wanderer
1.ww_-_The_Excursion-_IV-_Book_Third-_Despondency
1.ww_-_The_Excursion-_IX-_Book_Eighth-_The_Parsonage
1.ww_-_The_Excursion-_V-_Book_Fouth-_Despondency_Corrected
1.ww_-_The_Excursion-_VII-_Book_Sixth-_The_Churchyard_Among_the_Mountains
1.ww_-_The_Excursion-_X-_Book_Ninth-_Discourse_of_the_Wanderer,_and_an_Evening_Visit_to_the_Lake
1.ww_-_The_Fairest,_Brightest,_Hues_Of_Ether_Fade
1.ww_-_The_Green_Linnet
1.ww_-_The_Happy_Warrior
1.ww_-_The_Highland_Broach
1.ww_-_The_Idiot_Boy
1.ww_-_The_Last_Of_The_Flock
1.ww_-_The_Last_Supper,_by_Leonardo_da_Vinci,_in_the_Refectory_of_the_Convent_of_Maria_della_GraziaMilan
1.ww_-_The_Morning_Of_The_Day_Appointed_For_A_General_Thanksgiving._January_18,_1816
1.ww_-_The_Mother's_Return
1.ww_-_The_Oak_And_The_Broom
1.ww_-_The_Old_Cumberland_Beggar
1.ww_-_The_Pet-Lamb
1.ww_-_The_Power_of_Armies_is_a_Visible_Thing
1.ww_-_The_Prelude,_Book_1-_Childhood_And_School-Time
1.ww_-_The_Recluse_-_Book_First
1.ww_-_The_Redbreast_Chasing_The_Butterfly
1.ww_-_There_Was_A_Boy
1.ww_-_The_Seven_Sisters
1.ww_-_The_Shepherd,_Looking_Eastward,_Softly_Said
1.ww_-_The_Sparrow's_Nest
1.ww_-_The_Two_Thieves-_Or,_The_Last_Stage_Of_Avarice
1.ww_-_The_Waggoner_-_Canto_First
1.ww_-_The_Waggoner_-_Canto_Fourth
1.ww_-_The_Waggoner_-_Canto_Third
1.ww_-_The_Waterfall_And_The_Eglantine
1.ww_-_Three_Years_She_Grew_in_Sun_and_Shower
1.ww_-_To_A_Butterfly
1.ww_-_To_a_Highland_Girl_(At_Inversneyde,_upon_Loch_Lomond)
1.ww_-_To_a_Skylark
1.ww_-_To_B._R._Haydon
1.ww_-_To_Joanna
1.ww_-_To_May
1.ww_-_To--_On_Her_First_Ascent_To_The_Summit_Of_Helvellyn
1.ww_-_To_Sir_George_Howland_Beaumont,_Bart_From_the_South-West_Coast_Or_Cumberland_1811
1.ww_-_To_The_Same_(John_Dyer)
1.ww_-_To_The_Small_Celandine
1.ww_-_To_The_Spade_Of_A_Friend_(An_Agriculturist)
1.ww_-_To_Toussaint_LOuverture
1.ww_-_Vaudracour_And_Julia
1.ww_-_Vernal_Ode
1.ww_-_We_Are_Seven
1.ww_-_When_To_The_Attractions_Of_The_Busy_World
20.01_-_Charyapada_-_Old_Bengali_Mystic_Poems
20.04_-_Act_II:_The_Play_on_Earth
2.01_-_AT_THE_STAR_THEATRE
2.01_-_Habit_1__Be_Proactive
2.01_-_Indeterminates,_Cosmic_Determinations_and_the_Indeterminable
2.01_-_Mandala_One
2.01_-_On_Books
2.01_-_On_the_Concept_of_the_Archetype
2.01_-_Proem
2.01_-_THE_ADVENT_OF_LIFE
2.01_-_THE_ARCANE_SUBSTANCE_AND_THE_POINT
2.01_-_The_Attributes_of_Omega_Point_-_a_Transcendent_God
2.01_-_THE_CHILD_WITH_THE_MIRROR
2.01_-_The_Object_of_Knowledge
2.01_-_The_Ordinary_Life_and_the_True_Soul
2.01_-_The_Picture
2.01_-_The_Road_of_Trials
2.01_-_The_Sefirot
2.01_-_The_Therapeutic_value_of_Abreaction
2.01_-_The_Two_Natures
2.01_-_The_Yoga_and_Its_Objects
2.01_-_War.
2.02_-_Atomic_Motions
2.02_-_Brahman,_Purusha,_Ishwara_-_Maya,_Prakriti,_Shakti
2.02_-_Evolutionary_Creation_and_the_Expectation_of_a_Revelation
2.02_-_Habit_2__Begin_with_the_End_in_Mind
2.02_-_Indra,_Giver_of_Light
2.02_-_Meeting_With_the_Goddess
2.02_-_On_Letters
2.02_-_The_Circle
2.02_-_THE_DURGA_PUJA_FESTIVAL
2.02_-_THE_EXPANSION_OF_LIFE
2.02_-_The_Ishavasyopanishad_with_a_commentary_in_English
2.02_-_The_Monstrance
2.02_-_The_Mother_Archetype
2.02_-_THE_SCINTILLA
2.02_-_The_Status_of_Knowledge
2.03_-_Atomic_Forms_And_Their_Combinations
2.03_-_DEMETER
2.03_-_Indra_and_the_Thought-Forces
2.03_-_Karmayogin__A_Commentary_on_the_Isha_Upanishad
2.03_-_On_Medicine
2.03_-_The_Altar
2.03_-_The_Christian_Phenomenon_and_Faith_in_the_Incarnation
2.03_-_THE_ENIGMA_OF_BOLOGNA
2.03_-_The_Eternal_and_the_Individual
2.03_-_THE_MASTER_IN_VARIOUS_MOODS
2.03_-_The_Mother-Complex
2.03_-_The_Purified_Understanding
2.03_-_The_Pyx
2.03_-_The_Supreme_Divine
2.04_-_ADVICE_TO_ISHAN
2.04_-_Concentration
2.04_-_On_Art
2.04_-_Positive_Aspects_of_the_Mother-Complex
2.04_-_The_Divine_and_the_Undivine
2.04_-_The_Forms_of_Love-Manifestation
2.04_-_The_Living_Church_and_Christ-Omega
2.04_-_The_Scourge,_the_Dagger_and_the_Chain
2.05_-_Apotheosis
2.05_-_Aspects_of_Sadhana
2.05_-_Blessings
2.05_-_Habit_3__Put_First_Things_First
2.05_-_Infinite_Worlds
2.05_-_On_Poetry
2.05_-_Renunciation
2.05_-_The_Cosmic_Illusion;_Mind,_Dream_and_Hallucination
2.05_-_The_Divine_Truth_and_Way
2.05_-_The_Holy_Oil
2.05_-_The_Religion_of_Tomorrow
2.05_-_Universal_Love_and_how_it_leads_to_Self-Surrender
2.05_-_VISIT_TO_THE_SINTHI_BRAMO_SAMAJ
2.06_-_On_Beauty
2.06_-_Reality_and_the_Cosmic_Illusion
2.06_-_The_Synthesis_of_the_Disciplines_of_Knowledge
2.06_-_The_Wand
2.06_-_Two_Tales_of_Seeking_and_Losing
2.06_-_Union_with_the_Divine_Consciousness_and_Will
2.06_-_WITH_VARIOUS_DEVOTEES
2.06_-_Works_Devotion_and_Knowledge
2.07_-_BANKIM_CHANDRA
2.07_-_I_Also_Try_to_Tell_My_Tale
2.07_-_On_Congress_and_Politics
2.07_-_The_Knowledge_and_the_Ignorance
2.07_-_The_Mother__Relations_with_Others
2.07_-_The_Release_from_Subjection_to_the_Body
2.07_-_The_Supreme_Word_of_the_Gita
2.08_-_ALICE_IN_WONDERLAND
2.08_-_AT_THE_STAR_THEATRE_(II)
2.08_-_Memory,_Self-Consciousness_and_the_Ignorance
2.08_-_On_Non-Violence
2.08_-_The_God_of_Love_is_his_own_proof
2.08_-_The_Release_from_the_Heart_and_the_Mind
2.08_-_The_Sword
2.09_-_Human_representations_of_the_Divine_Ideal_of_Love
2.09_-_Meditation
2.09_-_Memory,_Ego_and_Self-Experience
2.09_-_On_Sadhana
2.09_-_THE_MASTERS_BIRTHDAY
2.09_-_The_Release_from_the_Ego
2.0_-_Reincarnation_and_Karma
2.0_-_THE_ANTICHRIST
2.1.01_-_God_The_One_Reality
2.1.01_-_The_Central_Process_of_the_Sadhana
2.1.01_-_The_Parts_of_the_Being
2.1.02_-_Classification_of_the_Parts_of_the_Being
2.1.02_-_Combining_Work,_Meditation_and_Bhakti
21.02_-_Gods_and_Men
2.1.02_-_Love_and_Death
2.1.02_-_Nature_The_World-Manifestation
2.1.03_-_Man_and_Superman
21.03_-_The_Double_Ladder
2.10_-_Knowledge_by_Identity_and_Separative_Knowledge
2.10_-_THE_DANCING_SONG
2.10_-_THE_MASTER_AND_NARENDRA
2.10_-_The_Realisation_of_the_Cosmic_Self
2.10_-_The_Vision_of_the_World-Spirit_-_Time_the_Destroyer
2.11_-_On_Education
2.11_-_The_Boundaries_of_the_Ignorance
2.11_-_The_Modes_of_the_Self
2.1.1_-_The_Nature_of_the_Vital
2.11_-_The_Shattering_And_Fall_of_The_Primordial_Kings
2.11_-_The_Vision_of_the_World-Spirit_-_The_Double_Aspect
2.11_-_WITH_THE_DEVOTEES_IN_CALCUTTA
2.12_-_On_Miracles
2.12_-_ON_SELF-OVERCOMING
2.12_-_THE_MASTERS_REMINISCENCES
2.12_-_The_Origin_of_the_Ignorance
2.12_-_The_Position_of_The_Sefirot
2.12_-_The_Realisation_of_Sachchidananda
2.1.2_-_The_Vital_and_Other_Levels_of_Being
2.12_-_The_Way_and_the_Bhakta
2.1.3.1_-_Students
2.1.3.2_-_Study
2.1.3.3_-_Reading
2.1.3.4_-_Conduct
2.13_-_Exclusive_Concentration_of_Consciousness-Force_and_the_Ignorance
2.13_-_On_Psychology
2.13_-_ON_THOSE_WHO_ARE_SUBLIME
2.13_-_The_Difficulties_of_the_Mental_Being
2.13_-_THE_MASTER_AT_THE_HOUSES_OF_BALARM_AND_GIRISH
2.1.3_-_Wrong_Movements_of_the_Vital
2.1.4.2_-_Teaching
2.1.4.4_-_Homework
2.1.4.5_-_Tests
2.14_-_AT_RAMS_HOUSE
2.14_-_Faith
2.14_-_On_Movements
2.14_-_The_Bell
2.1.4_-_The_Lower_Vital_Being
2.14_-_The_Origin_and_Remedy_of_Falsehood,_Error,_Wrong_and_Evil
2.14_-_The_Passive_and_the_Active_Brahman
2.14_-_The_Unpacking_of_God
2.1.5.1_-_Study_of_Works_of_Sri_Aurobindo_and_the_Mother
2.1.5.2_-_Languages
2.1.5.4_-_Arts
2.15_-_CAR_FESTIVAL_AT_BALARMS_HOUSE
2.15_-_On_the_Gods_and_Asuras
2.15_-_Power_of_Right_Attitude
2.15_-_Reality_and_the_Integral_Knowledge
2.15_-_Selection_of_Sparks_Made_for_The_Purpose_of_The_Emendation
2.15_-_The_Cosmic_Consciousness
2.15_-_The_Lamen
2.16_-_Fashioning_of_The_Vessel_
2.16_-_Oneness
2.16_-_The_15th_of_August
2.16_-_The_Integral_Knowledge_and_the_Aim_of_Life;_Four_Theories_of_Existence
2.16_-_The_Magick_Fire
2.16_-_VISIT_TO_NANDA_BOSES_HOUSE
2.1.7.05_-_On_the_Inspiration_and_Writing_of_the_Poem
2.1.7.07_-_On_the_Verse_and_Structure_of_the_Poem
2.1.7.08_-_Comments_on_Specific_Lines_and_Passages_of_the_Poem
2.17_-_December_1938
2.17_-_THE_MASTER_ON_HIMSELF_AND_HIS_EXPERIENCES
2.17_-_The_Progress_to_Knowledge_-_God,_Man_and_Nature
2.17_-_The_Soul_and_Nature
2.18_-_January_1939
2.18_-_Maeroprosopus_and_Maeroprosopvis
2.18_-_ON_GREAT_EVENTS
2.18_-_SRI_RAMAKRISHNA_AT_SYAMPUKUR
2.18_-_The_Evolutionary_Process_-_Ascent_and_Integration
2.19_-_Feb-May_1939
2.19_-_Knowledge_of_the_Scientist_and_the_Yogi
2.19_-_Out_of_the_Sevenfold_Ignorance_towards_the_Sevenfold_Knowledge
2.19_-_THE_MASTER_AND_DR._SARKAR
2.19_-_Union,_Gestation,_Birth
2.2.01_-_The_Outer_Being_and_the_Inner_Being
2.2.01_-_The_Problem_of_Consciousness
2.2.01_-_Work_and_Yoga
2.2.02_-_Becoming_Conscious_in_Work
2.2.02_-_Consciousness_and_the_Inconscient
2.2.02_-_The_True_Being_and_the_True_Consciousness
2.2.03_-_The_Divine_Force_in_Work
2.2.03_-_The_Psychic_Being
2.2.03_-_The_Science_of_Consciousness
22.04_-_On_The_Brink(I)
2.2.04_-_Practical_Concerns_in_Work
2.2.05_-_Creative_Activity
2.20_-_Chance
2.20_-_Nov-Dec_1939
2.20_-_ON_REDEMPTION
2.20_-_The_Infancy_and_Maturity_of_ZO,_Father_and_Mother,_Israel_The_Ancient_and_Understanding
2.20_-_The_Lower_Triple_Purusha
2.20_-_THE_MASTERS_TRAINING_OF_HIS_DISCIPLES
2.20_-_The_Philosophy_of_Rebirth
2.2.1.01_-_The_World's_Greatest_Poets
2.21_-_1940
2.21_-_IN_THE_COMPANY_OF_DEVOTEES_AT_SYAMPUKUR
2.21_-_The_Ladder_of_Self-transcendence
2.21_-_The_Order_of_the_Worlds
2.2.1_-_The_Prusna_Upanishads
2.21_-_The_Three_Heads,_The_Beard_and_The_Mazela
2.22_-_1941-1943
2.22_-_Rebirth_and_Other_Worlds;_Karma,_the_Soul_and_Immortality
2.2.2_-_Sorrow_and_Suffering
2.22_-_The_Feminine_Polarity_of_ZO
2.22_-_THE_MASTER_AT_COSSIPORE
2.22_-_THE_STILLEST_HOUR
2.22_-_The_Supreme_Secret
2.22_-_Vijnana_or_Gnosis
2.23_-_A_Virtuous_Woman_is_a_Crown_to_Her_Husband
2.2.3_-_Depression_and_Despondency
2.23_-_Man_and_the_Evolution
2.2.3_-_The_Aitereya_Upanishad
2.23_-_The_Core_of_the_Gita.s_Meaning
2.23_-_THE_MASTER_AND_BUDDHA
2.24_-_Back_to_Back__Face_to_Face__and_The_Process_of_Sawing_Through
2.24_-_Gnosis_and_Ananda
2.24_-_Note_on_the_Text
2.2.4_-_Taittiriya_Upanishad
2.24_-_The_Evolution_of_the_Spiritual_Man
2.24_-_THE_MASTERS_LOVE_FOR_HIS_DEVOTEES
2.24_-_The_Message_of_the_Gita
2.25_-_AFTER_THE_PASSING_AWAY
2.25_-_Mercies_and_Judgements_of_Knowledge
2.25_-_The_Higher_and_the_Lower_Knowledge
2.25_-_The_Triple_Transformation
2.26_-_Samadhi
2.26_-_The_Ascent_towards_Supermind
2.26_-_The_First_and_Second_Unions
2.27_-_Hathayoga
2.27_-_The_Gnostic_Being
2.28_-_Rajayoga
2.28_-_The_Divine_Life
2.28_-_The_Two_Feminine_Polarities__Leah_and_Rachel
2.2.9.02_-_Plato
2.29_-_The_Worlds_of_Creation,_Formation_and_Action
2.3.01_-_Aspiration_and_Surrender_to_the_Mother
2.3.01_-_Concentration_and_Meditation
2.3.01_-_The_Planes_or_Worlds_of_Consciousness
2.3.02_-_Mantra_and_Japa
2.3.02_-_Opening,_Sincerity_and_the_Mother's_Grace
2.3.02_-_The_Supermind_or_Supramental
2.3.03_-_Integral_Yoga
2.3.03_-_The_Mother's_Presence
2.3.03_-_The_Overmind
2.3.04_-_The_Higher_Planes_of_Mind
2.3.04_-_The_Mother's_Force
2.3.05_-_Sadhana_through_Work_for_the_Mother
2.3.05_-_The_Lower_Nature_or_Lower_Hemisphere
2.3.06_-_The_Mind
2.3.07_-_The_Mother_in_Visions,_Dreams_and_Experiences
2.3.07_-_The_Vital_Being_and_Vital_Consciousness
2.3.08_-_I_have_a_hundred_lives
2.3.08_-_The_Mother's_Help_in_Difficulties
2.3.08_-_The_Physical_Consciousness
2.30_-_The_Uniting_of_the_Names_45_and_52
2.3.1.09_-_Inspiration_and_Understanding
2.3.10_-_The_Subconscient_and_the_Inconscient
23.11_-_Observations_III
2.3.1_-_Ego_and_Its_Forms
2.3.1_-_Svetasvatara_Upanishad
2.3.2_-_Chhandogya_Upanishad
2.3.2_-_Desire
2.3.3_-_Anger_and_Violence
2.3.4_-_Fear
2.4.01_-_Divine_Love,_Psychic_Love_and_Human_Love
2.4.02_-_Bhakti,_Devotion,_Worship
2.4.1_-_Human_Relations_and_the_Spiritual_Life
2.4.2_-_Interactions_with_Others_and_the_Practice_of_Yoga
2.4.3_-_Problems_in_Human_Relations
25.03_-_Songs_of_Ramprasad
27.01_-_The_Golden_Harvest
27.02_-_The_Human_Touch_Divine
27.03_-_The_Great_Holocaust_-_Chhinnamasta
29.03_-_In_Her_Company
29.05_-_The_Bride_of_Brahman
29.06_-_There_is_also_another,_similar_or_parallel_story_in_the_Veda_about_the_God_Agni,_about_the_disappearance_of_this
29.09_-_Some_Dates
2_-_Other_Hymns_to_Agni
3.00.1_-_Foreword
30.01_-_World-Literature
30.02_-_Greek_Drama
3.00.2_-_Introduction
30.03_-_Spirituality_in_Art
30.04_-_Intuition_and_Inspiration_in_Art
30.05_-_Rhythm_in_Poetry
30.07_-_The_Poet_and_the_Yogi
30.09_-_Lines_of_Tantra_(Charyapada)
3.00_-_The_Magical_Theory_of_the_Universe
30.10_-_The_Greatness_of_Poetry
30.12_-_The_Obscene_and_the_Ugly_-_Form_and_Essence
30.13_-_Rabindranath_the_Artist
30.14_-_Rabindranath_and_Modernism
30.15_-_The_Language_of_Rabindranath
30.17_-_Rabindranath,_Traveller_of_the_Infinite
30.18_-_Boris_Pasternak
3.01_-_Forms_of_Rebirth
3.01_-_Hymn_to_Matter
3.01_-_INTRODUCTION
3.01_-_Love_and_the_Triple_Path
3.01_-_Sincerity
3.01_-_THE_BIRTH_OF_THOUGHT
3.01_-_The_Mercurial_Fountain
3.01_-_The_Principles_of_Ritual
3.01_-_The_Soul_World
3.01_-_THE_WANDERER
3.01_-_Towards_the_Future
3.02_-_Aridity_in_Prayer
3.02_-_King_and_Queen
3.02_-_Mysticism
3.02_-_Nature_And_Composition_Of_The_Mind
3.02_-_ON_THE_VISION_AND_THE_RIDDLE
3.02_-_SOL
3.02_-_THE_DEPLOYMENT_OF_THE_NOOSPHERE
3.02_-_The_Formulae_of_the_Elemental_Weapons
3.02_-_The_Great_Secret
3.02_-_The_Motives_of_Devotion
3.02_-_The_Practice_Use_of_Dream-Analysis
3.02_-_The_Psychology_of_Rebirth
3.02_-_The_Soul_in_the_Soul_World_after_Death
3.03_-_ON_INVOLUNTARY_BLISS
3.03_-_On_Thought_-_II
3.03_-_SULPHUR
3.03_-_The_Ascent_to_Truth
3.03_-_The_Consummation_of_Mysticism
3.03_-_The_Four_Foundational_Practices
3.03_-_The_Godward_Emotions
3.03_-_THE_MODERN_EARTH
3.03_-_The_Naked_Truth
3.03_-_The_Soul_Is_Mortal
3.03_-_The_Spirit_Land
3.04_-_BEFORE_SUNRISE
3.04_-_Folly_Of_The_Fear_Of_Death
3.04_-_Immersion_in_the_Bath
3.04_-_LUNA
3.04_-_On_Thought_-_III
3.04_-_The_Formula_of_ALHIM
3.04_-_The_Way_of_Devotion
3.05_-_Cerberus_And_Furies,_And_That_Lack_Of_Light
3.05_-_ON_VIRTUE_THAT_MAKES_SMALL
3.05_-_SAL
3.05_-_The_Conjunction
3.05_-_The_Divine_Personality
3.05_-_The_Physical_World_and_its_Connection_with_the_Soul_and_Spirit-Lands
3.06_-_Charity
3.06_-_Death
3.06_-_Thought-Forms_and_the_Human_Aura
3.07_-_ON_PASSING_BY
3.07_-_The_Adept
3.07_-_The_Ananda_Brahman
3.07_-_The_Ascent_of_the_Soul
3.07_-_The_Divinity_Within
3.07_-_The_Formula_of_the_Holy_Grail
3.08_-_Of_Equilibrium
3.08_-_ON_APOSTATES
3.08_-_Purification
3.08_-_The_Mystery_of_Love
3.08_-_The_Thousands
3.09_-_Evil
3.09_-_Of_Silence_and_Secrecy
3.09_-_THE_RETURN_HOME
3.09_-_The_Return_of_the_Soul
3.0_-_THE_ETERNAL_RECURRENCE
3.1.01_-_Distinctive_Features_of_the_Integral_Yoga
3.1.01_-_The_Problem_of_Suffering_and_Evil
3.1.02_-_Asceticism_and_the_Integral_Yoga
3.1.02_-_Spiritual_Evolution_and_the_Supramental
3.1.02_-_Who
3.1.03_-_A_Realistic_Adwaita
31.04_-_Sri_Ramakrishna
3.1.04_-_Transformation_in_the_Integral_Yoga
3.1.05_-_A_Vision_of_Science
31.05_-_Vivekananda
31.08_-_The_Unity_of_India
31.09_-_The_Cause_of_Indias_Decline
3.10_-_Of_the_Gestures
3.10_-_ON_THE_THREE_EVILS
3.10_-_The_New_Birth
3.1.11_-_Appeal
3.1.16_-_The_Triumph-Song_of_Trishuncou
3.11_-_Epilogue
3.11_-_Of_Our_Lady_Babalon
3.11_-_ON_THE_SPIRIT_OF_GRAVITY
3.11_-_Spells
3.1.1_-_The_Transformation_of_the_Physical
3.1.23_-_The_Rishi
3.1.24_-_In_the_Moonlight
3.1.2_-_Levels_of_the_Physical_Being
3.12_-_Of_the_Bloody_Sacrifice
3.12_-_ON_OLD_AND_NEW_TABLETS
3.1.3_-_Difficulties_of_the_Physical_Being
3.13_-_Of_the_Banishings
3.13_-_THE_CONVALESCENT
3.14_-_Of_the_Consecrations
3.14_-_ON_THE_GREAT_LONGING
3.15_-_Of_the_Invocation
3.15_-_THE_OTHER_DANCING_SONG
3.16.1_-_Of_the_Oath
3.16.2_-_Of_the_Charge_of_the_Spirit
3.16_-_THE_SEVEN_SEALS_OR_THE_YES_AND_AMEN_SONG
3.18_-_Of_Clairvoyance_and_the_Body_of_Light
3.19_-_Of_Dramatic_Rituals
3.2.01_-_On_Ideals
3.2.01_-_The_Newness_of_the_Integral_Yoga
3.2.02_-_The_Veda_and_the_Upanishads
3.2.02_-_Yoga_and_Skill_in_Works
3.2.03_-_Conservation_and_Progress
32.03_-_In_This_Crisis
3.2.03_-_Jainism_and_Buddhism
3.2.04_-_Sankhya_and_Yoga
3.2.04_-_The_Conservative_Mind_and_Eastern_Progress
3.2.05_-_Our_Ideal
32.05_-_The_Culture_of_the_Body
3.2.05_-_The_Yoga_of_the_Bhagavad_Gita
3.2.06_-_The_Adwaita_of_Shankaracharya
32.06_-_The_Novel_Alchemy
3.2.07_-_Tantra
32.07_-_The_God_of_the_Scientist
3.2.08_-_Bhakti_Yoga_and_Vaishnavism
32.08_-_Fit_and_Unfit_(A_Letter)
32.09_-_On_Karmayoga_(A_Letter)
3.2.09_-_The_Teachings_of_Some_Modern_Indian_Yogis
3.20_-_Of_the_Eucharist
3.2.10_-_Christianity_and_Theosophy
32.11_-_Life_and_Self-Control_(A_Letter)
32.12_-_The_Evolutionary_Imperative
3.2.1_-_Food
3.21_-_Of_Black_Magic
3.2.2_-_Sleep
3.2.3_-_Dreams
3.2.4_-_Sex
3.3.01_-_The_Superman
3.3.02_-_All-Will_and_Free-Will
33.02_-_Subhash,_Oaten:_atlas,_Russell
33.03_-_Muraripukur_-_I
33.04_-_Deoghar
33.05_-_Muraripukur_-_II
33.06_-_Alipore_Court
33.07_-_Alipore_Jail
33.08_-_I_Tried_Sannyas
33.11_-_Pondicherry_II
33.12_-_Pondicherry_Cyclone
33.13_-_My_Professors
33.14_-_I_Played_Football
33.16_-_Soviet_Gymnasts
33.17_-_Two_Great_Wars
33.18_-_I_Bow_to_the_Mother
3.3.1_-_Agni,_the_Divine_Will-Force
3.3.1_-_Illness_and_Health
3.3.2_-_Doctors_and_Medicines
3.3.3_-_Specific_Illnesses,_Ailments_and_Other_Physical_Problems
3.4.02_-_The_Inconscient
34.03_-_Hymn_To_Dawn
3.4.03_-_Materialism
3.4.1.01_-_Poetry_and_Sadhana
3.4.1.06_-_Reading_and_Sadhana
3.4.1_-_The_Subconscient_and_the_Integral_Yoga
3.4.2.04_-_Dance_and_Sadhana
3.5.01_-_Aphorisms
3.5.02_-_Thoughts_and_Glimpses
3.5.03_-_Reason_and_Society
3-5_Full_Circle
3.6.01_-_Heraclitus
36.07_-_An_Introduction_To_The_Vedas
36.08_-_A_Commentary_on_the_First_Six_Suktas_of_Rigveda
37.02_-_The_Story_of_Jabala-Satyakama
37.03_-_Satyakama_And_Upakoshala
37.04_-_The_Story_Of_Rishi_Yajnavalkya
37.05_-_Narada_-_Sanatkumara_(Chhandogya_Upanishad)
3.7.1.01_-_Rebirth
3.7.1.02_-_The_Reincarnating_Soul
3.7.1.03_-_Rebirth,_Evolution,_Heredity
3.7.1.04_-_Rebirth_and_Soul_Evolution
3.7.1.05_-_The_Significance_of_Rebirth
3.7.1.06_-_The_Ascending_Unity
3.7.1.07_-_Involution_and_Evolution
3.7.1.08_-_Karma
3.7.1.09_-_Karma_and_Freedom
3.7.1.11_-_Rebirth_and_Karma
3.7.1.12_-_Karma_and_Justice
3.7.2.01_-_The_Foundation
3.7.2.02_-_The_Terrestial_Law
3.7.2.03_-_Mind_Nature_and_Law_of_Karma
3.7.2.04_-_The_Higher_Lines_of_Karma
3.7.2.05_-_Appendix_I_-_The_Tangle_of_Karma
38.01_-_Asceticism_and_Renunciation
38.02_-_Hymns_and_Prayers
38.05_-_Living_Matter
3.8.1.02_-_Arya_-_Its_Significance
3.8.1.05_-_Occult_Knowledge_and_the_Hindu_Scriptures
39.09_-_Just_Be_There_Where_You_Are
3_-_Commentaries_and_Annotated_Translations
40.01_-_November_24,_1926
4.01_-_Circumstances
4.01_-_Conclusion_-_My_intellectual_position
4.01_-_Introduction
4.01_-_Sweetness_in_Prayer
4.01_-_THE_COLLECTIVE_ISSUE
4.01_-_The_Presence_of_God_in_the_World
4.01_-_The_Principle_of_the_Integral_Yoga
4.02_-_Autobiographical_Evidence
4.02_-_BEYOND_THE_COLLECTIVE_-_THE_HYPER-PERSONAL
4.02_-_Divine_Consolations.
4.02_-_Existence_And_Character_Of_The_Images
4.02_-_Humanity_in_Progress
4.02_-_The_Integral_Perfection
4.02_-_The_Psychology_of_the_Child_Archetype
4.03_-_CONVERSATION_WITH_THE_KINGS
4.03_-_Prayer_of_Quiet
4.03_-_Prayer_to_the_Ever-greater_Christ
4.03_-_The_Meaning_of_Human_Endeavor
4.03_-_The_Psychology_of_Self-Perfection
4.03_-_The_Senses_And_Mental_Pictures
4.03_-_The_Special_Phenomenology_of_the_Child_Archetype
4.03_-_THE_TRANSFORMATION_OF_THE_KING
4.03_-_THE_ULTIMATE_EARTH
4.04_-_Conclusion
4.04_-_In_the_Total_Christ
4.04_-_Some_Vital_Functions
4.04_-_THE_LEECH
4.04_-_The_Perfection_of_the_Mental_Being
4.04_-_THE_REGENERATION_OF_THE_KING
4.04_-_Weaknesses
4.05_-_THE_DARK_SIDE_OF_THE_KING
4.05_-_The_Instruments_of_the_Spirit
4.05_-_The_Passion_Of_Love
4.06_-_Purification-the_Lower_Mentality
4.07_-_Purification-Intelligence_and_Will
4.07_-_THE_RELATION_OF_THE_KING-SYMBOL_TO_CONSCIOUSNESS
4.07_-_THE_UGLIEST_MAN
4.08_-_The_Liberation_of_the_Spirit
4.08_-_THE_RELIGIOUS_PROBLEM_OF_THE_KINGS_RENEWAL
4.08_-_THE_VOLUNTARY_BEGGAR
4.09_-_REGINA
4.09_-_The_Liberation_of_the_Nature
4.0_-_NOTES_TO_ZARATHUSTRA
4.0_-_The_Path_of_Knowledge
4.1.01_-_The_Intellect_and_Yoga
4.1.1.05_-_The_Central_Process_of_the_Yoga
4.1.1_-_The_Difficulties_of_Yoga
4.11_-_The_Perfection_of_Equality
4.11_-_THE_WELCOME
4.1.2_-_The_Difficulties_of_Human_Nature
4.12_-_THE_LAST_SUPPER
4.12_-_The_Way_of_Equality
4.1.3_-_Imperfections_and_Periods_of_Arrest
4.13_-_ON_THE_HIGHER_MAN
4.13_-_The_Action_of_Equality
4.14_-_The_Power_of_the_Instruments
4.14_-_THE_SONG_OF_MELANCHOLY
4.15_-_ON_SCIENCE
4.17_-_The_Action_of_the_Divine_Shakti
4.18_-_Faith_and_shakti
4.18_-_THE_ASS_FESTIVAL
4.19_-_THE_DRUNKEN_SONG
4.19_-_The_Nature_of_the_supermind
4.1_-_Jnana
4.2.04_-_Epiphany
4.20_-_The_Intuitive_Mind
4.2.1.04_-_The_Psychic_and_the_Mental,_Vital_and_Physical_Nature
4.21_-_The_Gradations_of_the_supermind
4.2.1_-_The_Right_Attitude_towards_Difficulties
4.2.2.01_-_The_Meaning_of_Psychic_Opening
4.2.2.03_-_An_Experience_of_Psychic_Opening
4.2.2_-_Steps_towards_Overcoming_Difficulties
4.22_-_The_supramental_Thought_and_Knowledge
4.2.3.04_-_Means_of_Bringing_Forward_the_Psychic
4.2.3.05_-_Obstacles_to_the_Psychic's_Emergence
4.23_-_The_supramental_Instruments_--_Thought-process
4.2.3_-_Vigilance,_Resolution,_Will_and_the_Divine_Help
4.2.4.06_-_Agni_and_the_Psychic_Fire
4.24_-_The_supramental_Sense
4.2.4_-_Time_and_CHange_of_the_Nature
4.2.5.03_-_The_Psychic_and_Spiritual_Movements
4.2.5.04_-_The_Psychic_Consciousness_and_the_Descent_from_Above
4.2.5_-_Dealing_with_Depression_and_Despondency
4.25_-_Towards_the_supramental_Time_Vision
4.2_-_Karma
4.3.1.03_-_The_Self_and_the_Sense_of_Individuality
4.3.1.10_-_Experiences_of_Infinity,_Oneness,_Unity
4.3.1_-_The_Hostile_Forces_and_the_Difficulties_of_Yoga
4.3.2.08_-_Overmind_Experiences
4.3.2.09_-_Overmind_Experiences_and_the_Supermind
4.3.2_-_Attacks_by_the_Hostile_Forces
4.3.3_-_Dealing_with_Hostile_Attacks
4.3.4_-_Accidents,_Possession,_Madness
4.3_-_Bhakti
4.4.1.03_-_Both_Ascent_and_Descent_Necessary
4.4.1.04_-_The_Order_of_Ascent_and_Descent
4.4.1.05_-_Ascent_and_Descent_of_the_Kundalini_Shakti
4.4.1.07_-_Experiences_of_Ascent_and_Descent
4.4.2.07_-_Ascent_and_Going_out_of_the_Body
4.4.2.08_-_Fixing_the_Consciousness_Above
4.4.3.02_-_Calling_in_the_Higher_Consciousness
4.4.3.04_-_The_Order_of_Descent_into_the_Being
4.4.4.05_-_The_Descent_of_Force_or_Power
4.4.4.10_-_The_Descent_of_Ananda
5.01_-_ADAM_AS_THE_ARCANE_SUBSTANCE
5.01_-_EPILOGUE
5.01_-_On_the_Mysteries_of_the_Ascent_towards_God
5.01_-_The_Dakini,_Salgye_Du_Dalma
5.02_-_Against_Teleological_Concept
5.02_-_Perfection_of_the_Body
5.02_-_THE_STATUE
5.03_-_The_Divine_Body
5.03_-_The_World_Is_Not_Eternal
5.04_-_Formation_Of_The_World
5.04_-_Supermind_and_the_Life_Divine
5.04_-_THE_POLARITY_OF_ADAM
5.04_-_Three_Dreams
5.05_-_Origins_Of_Vegetable_And_Animal_Life
5.05_-_Supermind_and_Humanity
5.05_-_THE_OLD_ADAM
5.06_-_Supermind_in_the_Evolution
5.06_-_THE_TRANSFORMATION
5.07_-_Beginnings_Of_Civilization
5.08_-_ADAM_AS_TOTALITY
5.1.01.1_-_The_Book_of_the_Herald
5.1.01.3_-_The_Book_of_the_Assembly
5.1.01.4_-_The_Book_of_Partings
5.1.01.5_-_The_Book_of_Achilles
5.1.01.7_-_The_Book_of_the_Woman
5.1.01.8_-_The_Book_of_the_Gods
5.1.01.9_-_Book_IX
5.1.01_-_Terminology
5.1.02_-_Ahana
5.1.02_-_The_Gods
5.2.01_-_The_Descent_of_Ahana
5.2.03_-_The_An_Family
5.3.04_-_Roots_in_M
5.3.05_-_The_Root_Mal_in_Greek
5.4.01_-_Notes_on_Root-Sounds
5.4.01_-_Occult_Knowledge
5.4.02_-_Occult_Powers_or_Siddhis
5_-_The_Phenomenology_of_the_Spirit_in_Fairytales
6.01_-_Proem
6.01_-_THE_ALCHEMICAL_VIEW_OF_THE_UNION_OF_OPPOSITES
6.02_-_Great_Meteorological_Phenomena,_Etc
6.02_-_STAGES_OF_THE_CONJUNCTION
6.03_-_Extraordinary_And_Paradoxical_Telluric_Phenomena
6.04_-_THE_MEANING_OF_THE_ALCHEMICAL_PROCEDURE
6.05_-_THE_PSYCHOLOGICAL_INTERPRETATION_OF_THE_PROCEDURE
6.06_-_SELF-KNOWLEDGE
6.07_-_THE_MONOCOLUS
6.08_-_Intellectual_Visions
6.08_-_THE_CONTENT_AND_MEANING_OF_THE_FIRST_TWO_STAGES
6.09_-_Imaginary_Visions
6.09_-_THE_THIRD_STAGE_-_THE_UNUS_MUNDUS
6.0_-_Conscious,_Unconscious,_and_Individuation
6.10_-_THE_SELF_AND_THE_BOUNDS_OF_KNOWLEDGE
7.01_-_The_Soul_(the_Psychic)
7.02_-_Courage
7.05_-_Patience_and_Perseverance
7.06_-_The_Simple_Life
7.08_-_Sincerity
7.09_-_Right_Judgement
7.10_-_Order
7.11_-_Building_and_Destroying
7.13_-_The_Conquest_of_Knowledge
7.14_-_Modesty
7.15_-_The_Family
7.2.03_-_The_Other_Earths
7.2.04_-_Thought_the_Paraclete
7.3.13_-_Ascent
7.5.69_-_The_Inner_Fields
7.6.09_-_Despair_on_the_Staircase
7_-_Yoga_of_Sri_Aurobindo
9.99_-_Glossary
Aeneid
A_God's_Labour
Apology
Appendix_4_-_Priest_Spells
APPENDIX_I_-_Curriculum_of_A._A.
A_Secret_Miracle
Avatars_of_the_Tortoise
Big_Mind_(non-dual)
Big_Mind_(ten_perfections)
Blazing_P1_-_Preconventional_consciousness
Blazing_P2_-_Map_the_Stages_of_Conventional_Consciousness
Blazing_P3_-_Explore_the_Stages_of_Postconventional_Consciousness
Book_1_-_The_Council_of_the_Gods
BOOK_I._-_Augustine_censures_the_pagans,_who_attributed_the_calamities_of_the_world,_and_especially_the_sack_of_Rome_by_the_Goths,_to_the_Christian_religion_and_its_prohibition_of_the_worship_of_the_gods
BOOK_II._-_A_review_of_the_calamities_suffered_by_the_Romans_before_the_time_of_Christ,_showing_that_their_gods_had_plunged_them_into_corruption_and_vice
BOOK_III._-_The_external_calamities_of_Rome
BOOK_II._--_PART_I._ANTHROPOGENESIS.
BOOK_II._--_PART_III._ADDENDA._SCIENCE_AND_THE_SECRET_DOCTRINE_CONTRASTED
BOOK_II._--_PART_II._THE_ARCHAIC_SYMBOLISM_OF_THE_WORLD-RELIGIONS
BOOK_I._--_PART_I._COSMIC_EVOLUTION
BOOK_I._--_PART_III._SCIENCE_AND_THE_SECRET_DOCTRINE_CONTRASTED
BOOK_I._--_PART_II._THE_EVOLUTION_OF_SYMBOLISM_IN_ITS_APPROXIMATE_ORDER
BOOK_IV._-_That_empire_was_given_to_Rome_not_by_the_gods,_but_by_the_One_True_God
BOOK_IX._-_Of_those_who_allege_a_distinction_among_demons,_some_being_good_and_others_evil
Book_of_Exodus
Book_of_Genesis
Book_of_Imaginary_Beings_(text)
Book_of_Proverbs
Book_of_Psalms
BOOK_VIII._-_Some_account_of_the_Socratic_and_Platonic_philosophy,_and_a_refutation_of_the_doctrine_of_Apuleius_that_the_demons_should_be_worshipped_as_mediators_between_gods_and_men
BOOK_VII._-_Of_the_select_gods_of_the_civil_theology,_and_that_eternal_life_is_not_obtained_by_worshipping_them
BOOK_VI._-_Of_Varros_threefold_division_of_theology,_and_of_the_inability_of_the_gods_to_contri_bute_anything_to_the_happiness_of_the_future_life
BOOK_V._-_Of_fate,_freewill,_and_God's_prescience,_and_of_the_source_of_the_virtues_of_the_ancient_Romans
BOOK_XI._-_Augustine_passes_to_the_second_part_of_the_work,_in_which_the_origin,_progress,_and_destinies_of_the_earthly_and_heavenly_cities_are_discussed.Speculations_regarding_the_creation_of_the_world
BOOK_XIII._-_That_death_is_penal,_and_had_its_origin_in_Adam's_sin
BOOK_XII._-_Of_the_creation_of_angels_and_men,_and_of_the_origin_of_evil
BOOK_XIV._-_Of_the_punishment_and_results_of_mans_first_sin,_and_of_the_propagation_of_man_without_lust
BOOK_XIX._-_A_review_of_the_philosophical_opinions_regarding_the_Supreme_Good,_and_a_comparison_of_these_opinions_with_the_Christian_belief_regarding_happiness
BOOK_X._-_Porphyrys_doctrine_of_redemption
BOOK_XVIII._-_A_parallel_history_of_the_earthly_and_heavenly_cities_from_the_time_of_Abraham_to_the_end_of_the_world
BOOK_XVII._-_The_history_of_the_city_of_God_from_the_times_of_the_prophets_to_Christ
BOOK_XVI._-_The_history_of_the_city_of_God_from_Noah_to_the_time_of_the_kings_of_Israel
BOOK_XV._-_The_progress_of_the_earthly_and_heavenly_cities_traced_by_the_sacred_history
BOOK_XXII._-_Of_the_eternal_happiness_of_the_saints,_the_resurrection_of_the_body,_and_the_miracles_of_the_early_Church
BOOK_XXI._-_Of_the_eternal_punishment_of_the_wicked_in_hell,_and_of_the_various_objections_urged_against_it
BOOK_XX._-_Of_the_last_judgment,_and_the_declarations_regarding_it_in_the_Old_and_New_Testaments
BS_1_-_Introduction_to_the_Idea_of_God
CASE_1_-_JOSHUS_DOG
CASE_2_-_HYAKUJOS_FOX
CASE_3_-_GUTEIS_FINGER
CASE_6_-_THE_BUDDHAS_FLOWER
Chapter_III_-_WHEREIN_IS_RELATED_THE_DROLL_WAY_IN_WHICH_DON_QUIXOTE_HAD_HIMSELF_DUBBED_A_KNIGHT
Chapter_II_-_WHICH_TREATS_OF_THE_FIRST_SALLY_THE_INGENIOUS_DON_QUIXOTE_MADE_FROM_HOME
Conversations_with_Sri_Aurobindo
COSA_-_BOOK_I
COSA_-_BOOK_II
COSA_-_BOOK_III
COSA_-_BOOK_IV
COSA_-_BOOK_IX
COSA_-_BOOK_V
COSA_-_BOOK_VI
COSA_-_BOOK_VII
COSA_-_BOOK_VIII
COSA_-_BOOK_X
COSA_-_BOOK_XI
COSA_-_BOOK_XII
COSA_-_BOOK_XIII
Cratylus
Deutsches_Requiem
Diamond_Sutra_1
DM_2_-_How_to_Meditate
DS2
DS3
DS4
ENNEAD_01.01_-_The_Organism_and_the_Self.
ENNEAD_01.02_-_Concerning_Virtue.
ENNEAD_01.02_-_Of_Virtues.
ENNEAD_01.03_-_Of_Dialectic,_or_the_Means_of_Raising_the_Soul_to_the_Intelligible_World.
ENNEAD_01.04_-_Whether_Animals_May_Be_Termed_Happy.
ENNEAD_01.05_-_Does_Happiness_Increase_With_Time?
ENNEAD_01.06_-_Of_Beauty.
ENNEAD_01.08_-_Of_the_Nature_and_Origin_of_Evils.
ENNEAD_02.01_-_Of_the_Heaven.
ENNEAD_02.03_-_Whether_Astrology_is_of_any_Value.
ENNEAD_02.04a_-_Of_Matter.
ENNEAD_02.05_-_Of_the_Aristotelian_Distinction_Between_Actuality_and_Potentiality.
ENNEAD_02.06_-_Of_Essence_and_Being.
ENNEAD_02.07_-_About_Mixture_to_the_Point_of_Total_Penetration.
ENNEAD_02.08_-_Of_Sight,_or_of_Why_Distant_Objects_Seem_Small.
ENNEAD_02.09_-_Against_the_Gnostics;_or,_That_the_Creator_and_the_World_are_Not_Evil.
ENNEAD_03.01_-_Concerning_Fate.
ENNEAD_03.02_-_Of_Providence.
ENNEAD_03.03_-_Continuation_of_That_on_Providence.
ENNEAD_03.04_-_Of_Our_Individual_Guardian.
ENNEAD_03.05_-_Of_Love,_or_Eros.
ENNEAD_03.06_-_Of_the_Impassibility_of_Incorporeal_Entities_(Soul_and_and_Matter).
ENNEAD_03.07_-_Of_Time_and_Eternity.
ENNEAD_03.09_-_Fragments_About_the_Soul,_the_Intelligence,_and_the_Good.
ENNEAD_04.01_-_Of_the_Being_of_the_Soul.
ENNEAD_04.03_-_Problems_About_the_Soul.
ENNEAD_04.03_-_Psychological_Questions.
ENNEAD_04.04_-_Questions_About_the_Soul.
ENNEAD_04.05_-_Psychological_Questions_III._-_About_the_Process_of_Vision_and_Hearing.
ENNEAD_04.06a_-_Of_Sensation_and_Memory.
ENNEAD_04.06b_-_Of_Sensation_and_Memory.
ENNEAD_04.07_-_Of_the_Immortality_of_the_Soul:_Polemic_Against_Materialism.
ENNEAD_04.08_-_Of_the_Descent_of_the_Soul_Into_the_Body.
ENNEAD_04.09_-_Whether_All_Souls_Form_a_Single_One?
ENNEAD_05.01_-_The_Three_Principal_Hypostases,_or_Forms_of_Existence.
ENNEAD_05.02_-_Of_Generation_and_of_the_Order_of_Things_that_Follow_the_First.
ENNEAD_05.03_-_Of_the_Hypostases_that_Mediate_Knowledge,_and_of_the_Superior_Principle.
ENNEAD_05.03_-_The_Self-Consciousnesses,_and_What_is_Above_Them.
ENNEAD_05.05_-_That_Intelligible_Entities_Are_Not_External_to_the_Intelligence_of_the_Good.
ENNEAD_05.08_-_Concerning_Intelligible_Beauty.
ENNEAD_05.09_-_Of_Intelligence,_Ideas_and_Essence.
ENNEAD_06.01_-_Of_the_Ten_Aristotelian_and_Four_Stoic_Categories.
ENNEAD_06.02_-_The_Categories_of_Plotinos.
ENNEAD_06.03_-_Plotinos_Own_Sense-Categories.
ENNEAD_06.04_-_The_One_and_Identical_Being_Is_Everywhere_Present_As_a_Whole.
ENNEAD_06.04_-_The_One_Identical_Essence_is_Everywhere_Entirely_Present.
ENNEAD_06.05_-_The_One_and_Identical_Being_is_Everywhere_Present_In_Its_Entirety.345
ENNEAD_06.05_-_The_One_Identical_Essence_is_Everywhere_Entirely_Present.
ENNEAD_06.06_-_Of_Numbers.
ENNEAD_06.07_-_How_Ideas_Multiplied,_and_the_Good.
ENNEAD_06.08_-_Of_the_Will_of_the_One.
ENNEAD_06.09_-_Of_the_Good_and_the_One.
Epistle_to_the_Romans
Euthyphro
First_Epistle_of_Paul_to_the_Thessalonians
For_a_Breath_I_Tarry
Gods_Script
Gorgias
Guru_Granth_Sahib_first_part
Ion
Isha_Upanishads
I._THE_ATTRACTIVE_POWER_OF_GOD
Jaap_Sahib_Text_(Guru_Gobind_Singh)
Liber
Liber_111_-_The_Book_of_Wisdom_-_LIBER_ALEPH_VEL_CXI
Liber_46_-_The_Key_of_the_Mysteries
Liber_71_-_The_Voice_of_the_Silence_-_The_Two_Paths_-_The_Seven_Portals
LUX.01_-_GNOSIS
LUX.02_-_EVOCATION
LUX.03_-_INVOCATION
LUX.06_-_DIVINATION
Medea_-_A_Vergillian_Cento
Meno
MMM.01_-_MIND_CONTROL
MoM_References
P.11_-_MAGICAL_WEAPONS
Partial_Magic_in_the_Quixote
Phaedo
Prayers_and_Meditations_by_Baha_u_llah_text
r1912_01_13
r1912_01_16
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Sayings_of_Sri_Ramakrishna_(text)
Sophist
Story_of_the_Warrior_and_the_Captive
Symposium_translated_by_B_Jowett
Tablets_of_Baha_u_llah_text
Talks_001-025
Talks_026-050
Talks_051-075
Talks_076-099
Talks_100-125
Talks_125-150
Talks_151-175
Talks_176-200
Talks_500-550
Talks_600-652
Talks_With_Sri_Aurobindo_1
Talks_With_Sri_Aurobindo_2
The_Act_of_Creation_text
Theaetetus
The_Aleph
The_Anapanasati_Sutta__A_Practical_Guide_to_Mindfullness_of_Breathing_and_Tranquil_Wisdom_Meditation
The_Book_of_Certitude_-_P1
The_Book_of_Certitude_-_P2
The_Book_of_Job
The_Book_of_Joshua
The_Book_of_the_Prophet_Isaiah
The_Book_of_the_Prophet_Micah
The_Book_of_Wisdom
The_Coming_Race_Contents
The_Divine_Names_Text_(Dionysis)
The_Dream_of_a_Ridiculous_Man
The_Dwellings_of_the_Philosophers
The_Epistle_of_Paul_to_the_Ephesians
The_Epistle_of_Paul_to_the_Philippians
The_Essentials_of_Education
the_Eternal_Wisdom
The_First_Epistle_of_Paul_to_the_Corinthians
The_First_Epistle_of_Peter
The_First_Letter_of_John
The_Five,_Ranks_of_The_Apparent_and_the_Real
The_Garden_of_Forking_Paths_1
The_Garden_of_Forking_Paths_2
The_Gold_Bug
The_Golden_Verses_of_Pythagoras
The_Gospel_According_to_John
The_Gospel_According_to_Luke
The_Gospel_According_to_Mark
The_Gospel_According_to_Matthew
The_Gospel_of_Thomas
The_Great_Sense
The_Hidden_Words_text
The_Immortal
The_Last_Question
The_Library_Of_Babel_2
The_Logomachy_of_Zos
The_Mirror_of_Enigmas
The_Monadology
The_One_Who_Walks_Away
The_Pilgrims_Progress
The_Poems_of_Cold_Mountain
The_Pythagorean_Sentences_of_Demophilus
The_Revelation_of_Jesus_Christ_or_the_Apocalypse
The_Riddle_of_this_World
The_Shadow_Out_Of_Time
The_Theologians
The_Waiting
The_Zahir
Thus_Spoke_Zarathustra_text
Timaeus
Valery_as_Symbol
Verses_of_Vemana

PRIMARY CLASS

concept
substance
SIMILAR TITLES
Aether
ether
Etheric
Relaxing Ambient - Ethereal Music Female Vocals
The Suttanipata An Ancient Collection of the Buddha's Discourses Together with its Commentaries

DEFINITIONS


TERMS STARTING WITH

ether ::: 1. The regions of space beyond the earth"s atmosphere; the heavens. 2. The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets. 3. A hypothetical medium formerly believed to permeate all space, and through which light and other electromagnetic radiation were thought to move. ether"s.

ethereal ::: 1. Of the celestial spheres; heavenly. 2. Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air. 3. Characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy 4. Of heaven or the spirit. ethereal-tressed.

ethereal ::: a. --> Pertaining to the hypothetical upper, purer air, or to the higher regions beyond the earth or beyond the atmosphere; celestial; as, ethereal space; ethereal regions.
Consisting of ether; hence, exceedingly light or airy; tenuous; spiritlike; characterized by extreme delicacy, as form, manner, thought, etc.
Pertaining to, derived from, or resembling, ether; as, ethereal salts.


etherealism ::: n. --> Ethereality.

ethereality ::: n. --> The state of being ethereal; etherealness.

etherealization ::: n. --> An ethereal or spiritlike state.

etherealize ::: v. t. --> To convert into ether, or into subtile fluid; to saturate with ether.
To render ethereal or spiritlike.


ethereally ::: adv. --> In an ethereal manner.

etherealness ::: n. --> Ethereality.

ethereous ::: a. --> Formed of ether; ethereal.
Pertaining to, or resembling, ether.


ether ::: Ether See Aether.

etheric ::: adj. Pertaining to ether, the medium supposed by the ancients to fill the upper regions of space.

etherification ::: n. --> The act or process of making ether; specifically, the process by which a large quantity of alcohol is transformed into ether by the agency of a small amount of sulphuric, or ethyl sulphuric, acid.

etheriform ::: a. --> Having the form of ether.

etherin ::: n. --> A white, crystalline hydrocarbon, regarded as a polymeric variety of ethylene, obtained in heavy oil of wine, the residue left after making ether; -- formerly called also concrete oil of wine.

etherization ::: n. --> The administration of ether to produce insensibility.
The state of the system under the influence of ether.


etherized ::: imp. & p. p. --> of Etherize

etherize ::: v. t. --> To convert into ether.
To render insensible by means of ether, as by inhalation; as, to etherize a patient.


etherizing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Etherize

ether ::: n. --> A medium of great elasticity and extreme tenuity, supposed to pervade all space, the interior of solid bodies not excepted, and to be the medium of transmission of light and heat; hence often called luminiferous ether.
Supposed matter above the air; the air itself.
A light, volatile, mobile, inflammable liquid, (C2H5)2O, of a characteristic aromatic odor, obtained by the distillation of alcohol with sulphuric acid, and hence called also sulphuric ether. It is


etherol ::: n. --> An oily hydrocarbon regarded as a polymeric variety of ethylene, produced with etherin.

Ethereal, Ethereality Used in an attempt to define states of matter more refined and less dense than familiar physical matter. The differences between the higher divisions of matter is analogous to the corresponding subdivisions of physical matter — solid, liquid, gas, and fiery. Thus the characteristic of the solid is fixity of form, restriction of movement; that of liquid, mobility; of gas, expansibility; while the fiery element among other things is exempt from gravitation. The major divisions of matter must be graded on a somewhat analogous scale.

EtherGate ::: Multi-protocol Ethernet gateway made by LRT. See Computer Systems, October 1985.

EtherGate Multi-protocol Ethernet gateway made by LRT. See Computer Systems, October 1985.

Etheric Body. See ASTRAL BODY; LINGA-SARIRA

Etheric double: In occult terminology, the invisible vehicle of the soul, the manifestation of physical vitality; it is constant and does not change throughout the cycles of life and death, but it is not eternal, for it is eventually re-absorbed into the elements of which it is composed. It is considered the invisible part of the physical body, extending slightly beyond the latter and able to combine with other subtle substance. Also called vital body or, in Sanskrit, lingasharira.

ETHERIC ENVELOPE, ETHERIC BODY The monad&

Etheric ::: The term used to describe the structures (especially the chakras, channels, and nadis) that undergird the physical body and the physical world. In the Four Worlds models the Etheric Plane generally falls between the Physical Plane and the Astral Plane but is not discretely classified in that model due to it acting as more of a veil between the Physical and the Astral than as a layer in and of itself, but other models, such as the Seven Planes Model, do distinguish it as a distinctive layer of reality.

Etheric vision: In theosophical terminology, the power of vision of the etheric double (q.v.).

ETHERIC WORLD, PHYSICAL ETHERIC WORLD Molecular world, the three higher molecular kinds (49:2-4) of physical matter.

The physical etheric world can be called the special world of plants as regards consciousness. (K 1.11.5)


Etheridge, J. W. (ed.). Targum of Onkelos and Jonathan

ETHERIZATION That process in the evolution of mankind which has the final result that the individual dispenses with the organism and the physical etheric envelope (49:2-4) becomes his lowest envelope. One of the conditions of this is that etheric sight is has been developed. (K 1.33.6, P 2.36.11)

ETHER "language" A {concurrent} {object-oriented} language? (1997-03-18)

ETHER ::: (language) A concurrent object-oriented language? (1997-03-18)

Ethernet address "networking" (Or "{MAC} address") The physical address identifying an individual {Ethernet controller} board. An Ethernet addess is a 48-bit number aabbccddeeff where a-f are {hexadecimal} digits. The first 24 bits, aabbcc, identify the manufacturer of the controller. The Ethernet address is hard-wired on some controllers, stored in a {ROM} on some, and others allow it to be changed from software. It is usually written as six hexadecimal numbers, e.g. 08:00:20:03:72:DC. See also {ARP}, {Internet address}. (1996-02-21)

Ethernet address ::: (networking) (Or MAC address) The physical address identifying an individual Ethernet controller board. An Ethernet addess is a 48-bit number from software. It is usually written as six hexadecimal numbers, e.g. 08:00:20:03:72:DC.See also ARP, Internet address. (1996-02-21)

Ethernet meltdown ::: A network meltdown on Ethernet. (1994-11-29)

Ethernet meltdown A {network meltdown} on {Ethernet}. (1994-11-29)

Ethernet ::: (networking) A local area network first described by Metcalfe & Boggs of Xerox PARC in 1976. Specified by DEC, Intel and XEROX (DIX) as IEEE 802.3 and now recognised as the industry standard.Data is broken into packets and each one is transmitted using the CSMA/CD algorithm until it arrives at the destination without colliding with any other The bandwidth is about 10 Mbit/s. Disk-Ethernet-Disk transfer rate with TCP/IP is typically 30 kilobyte per second.Version 2 specifies that collision detect of the transceiver must be activated during the inter-packet gap and that when transmission finishes, the network management functions such as reporting collisions, retries and deferrals.Ethernet cables are classified as XbaseY, e.g. 10base5, where X is the data rate in Mbps, base means baseband (as opposed to radio frequency) and Y is are 10base2 (thinnet) and 10baseT (twisted pair) which is now (1998) very common. 100baseT (Fast Ethernet) is also increasingly common.Usenet newsgroup: comp.dcom.lans.ethernet. . (1997-04-16)

Ethernet "networking" A {local area network} first described by Metcalfe & Boggs of {Xerox PARC} in 1976. Specified by {DEC}, {Intel} and {XEROX} (DIX) as {IEEE 802.3} and now recognised as the industry standard. Data is broken into {packets} and each one is transmitted using the {CSMA/CD} {algorithm} until it arrives at the destination without colliding with any other packet. The first {contention slot} after a transmission is reserved for an {acknowledge} packet. A {node} is either transmitting or receiving at any instant. The {bandwidth} is about 10 Mbit/s. Disk-Ethernet-Disk transfer rate with {TCP/IP} is typically 30 kilobyte per second. Version 2 specifies that {collision} detect of the transceiver must be activated during the {inter-packet gap} and that when transmission finishes, the differential transmit lines are driven to 0V (half step). It also specifies some {network management} functions such as reporting {collisions}, retries and {deferrals}. Ethernet cables are classified as "XbaseY", e.g. 10base5, where X is the data rate in {Mbps}, "base" means "{baseband}" (as opposed to {radio frequency}) and Y is the category of cabling. The original cable was {10base5} ("full spec"), others are {10base2} ("thinnet") and {10baseT} ("twisted pair") which is now (1998) very common. {100baseT} ("{Fast Ethernet}") is also increasingly common. {Usenet} newsgroup: {news:comp.dcom.lans.ethernet}. {(http://wwwhost.ots.utexas.edu/ethernet/ethernet-home.html)}. (1997-04-16)

Ethernet Private Line "networking" (EPL) A data service defined by the {Metro Ethernet Forum}, providing a point-to-point Ethernet connection between a pair of dedicated User-Network Interfaces (UNIs), with a high degree of transparency. (2010-09-21)

Ether. See AETHER; ETHEREAL

EtherTalk "networking" An {Apple Computer} {network} {standard} used to extend an {AppleTalk} network across an {Ethernet} network. Compare {LocalTalk}. (1994-11-29)

EtherTalk ::: (networking) An Apple Computer network standard used to extend an AppleTalk network across an Ethernet network.Compare LocalTalk. (1994-11-29)

Ether: The substance which, according to occultism, fills all space and pervades all matter.


TERMS ANYWHERE

1. Pressed, massed together, or compressed. 2. Completely filled; full.

1. The action of joining or uniting one thing to another or others, or two or more things together, so as to form one whole or complete body; the state or condition of being so joined or united. 2. The joining of one person to another in matrimony; an instance or occasion of this, a marriage. union"s.

1. To combine or join (one or more things) to or with another or others, to bring or put together (separate or divided things), so as to form one connected or contiguous whole; to form or incorporate into one body or mass; to make or cause to be one. 2. To make one in feeling or thought; to cause to agree; to combine or join (persons) together in action or interest, or for some special purpose. unites, united.

1. To put or bring together so as to make continuous or form a unit. 2. To bring together in a particular relation or for a specific purpose, action, etc.; unite. 3. To become united, associated, or combined; associate or ally oneself (with). 4. Be or become joined or united or linked. 5. To take part with others. 6. To enlist in one of the armed forces. joins, joined, joining.

aether ::: n. --> See Ether.

abietine ::: n. --> A resinous obtained from Strasburg turpentine or Canada balsam. It is without taste or smell, is insoluble in water, but soluble in alcohol (especially at the boiling point), in strong acetic acid, and in ether.

ability ::: n. --> The quality or state of being able; power to perform, whether physical, moral, intellectual, conventional, or legal; capacity; skill or competence in doing; sufficiency of strength, skill, resources, etc.; -- in the plural, faculty, talent.

accoil ::: v. t. --> To gather together; to collect.
To coil together.


accombination ::: n. --> A combining together.

accomplice ::: n. --> A cooperator.
An associate in the commission of a crime; a participator in an offense, whether a principal or an accessory.


accrete ::: v. i. --> To grow together.
To adhere; to grow (to); to be added; -- with to. ::: v. t. --> To make adhere; to add. ::: a.


accumulate ::: v. t. --> To heap up in a mass; to pile up; to collect or bring together; to amass; as, to accumulate a sum of money. ::: v. i. --> To grow or increase in quantity or number; to increase greatly.

acetic ::: a. --> Of a pertaining to vinegar; producing vinegar; producing vinegar; as, acetic fermentation.
Pertaining to, containing, or derived from, acetyl, as acetic ether, acetic acid. The latter is the acid to which the sour taste of vinegar is due.


acheron ::: n. --> A river in the Nether World or infernal regions; also, the infernal regions themselves. By some of the English poets it was supposed to be a flaming lake or gulf.

actinaria ::: n. pl. --> A large division of Anthozoa, including those which have simple tentacles and do not form stony corals. Sometimes, in a wider sense, applied to all the Anthozoa, expert the Alcyonaria, whether forming corals or not.

addition ::: n. --> The act of adding two or more things together; -- opposed to subtraction or diminution.
Anything added; increase; augmentation; as, a piazza is an addition to a building.
That part of arithmetic which treats of adding numbers.
A dot at the right side of a note as an indication that its sound is to be lengthened one half.
A title annexed to a man&


address ::: v. --> To aim; to direct.
To prepare or make ready.
Reflexively: To prepare one&


adducent ::: a. --> Bringing together or towards a given point; -- a word applied to those muscles of the body which pull one part towards another. Opposed to abducent.

add ::: v. t. --> To give by way of increased possession (to any one); to bestow (on).
To join or unite, as one thing to another, or as several particulars, so as to increase the number, augment the quantity, enlarge the magnitude, or so as to form into one aggregate. Hence: To sum up; to put together mentally; as, to add numbers; to add up a column.
To append, as a statement; to say further.


adj. Brought together in one place; picked.

adj. Coming together; adjoining.

adjudication ::: n. --> The act of adjudicating; the act or process of trying and determining judicially.
A deliberate determination by the judicial power; a judicial decision or sentence.
The decision upon the question whether the debtor is a bankrupt.
A process by which land is attached security or in satisfaction of a debt.


administrator ::: n. --> One who administers affairs; one who directs, manages, executes, or dispenses, whether in civil, judicial, political, or ecclesiastical affairs; a manager.
A man who manages or settles the estate of an intestate, or of a testator when there is no competent executor; one to whom the right of administration has been committed by competent authority.


admit ::: v. t. --> To suffer to enter; to grant entrance, whether into a place, or into the mind, or consideration; to receive; to take; as, they were into his house; to admit a serious thought into the mind; to admit evidence in the trial of a cause.
To give a right of entrance; as, a ticket admits one into a playhouse.
To allow (one) to enter on an office or to enjoy a privilege; to recognize as qualified for a franchise; as, to admit an


admixture ::: n. --> The act of mixing; mixture.
The compound formed by mixing different substances together.
That which is mixed with anything.


adnate ::: a. --> Grown to congenitally.
Growing together; -- said only of organic cohesion of unlike parts.
Growing with one side adherent to a stem; -- a term applied to the lateral zooids of corals and other compound animals.


aerial ::: 1. Having a light and graceful beauty; airy; ethereal; unsubstantial, intangible; hence, immaterial, ideal, imaginary. 2. Biol. Growing in the air.

aery ::: n. --> An aerie. ::: a. --> Aerial; ethereal; incorporeal; visionary.

against ::: prep. --> Abreast; opposite to; facing; towards; as, against the mouth of a river; -- in this sense often preceded by over.
From an opposite direction so as to strike or come in contact with; in contact with; upon; as, hail beats against the roof.
In opposition to, whether the opposition is of sentiment or of action; on the other side; counter to; in contrariety to; hence, adverse to; as, against reason; against law; to run a race against time.


age ::: n. --> The whole duration of a being, whether animal, vegetable, or other kind; lifetime.
That part of the duration of a being or a thing which is between its beginning and any given time; as, what is the present age of a man, or of the earth?
The latter part of life; an advanced period of life; seniority; state of being old.
One of the stages of life; as, the age of infancy, of youth,


agglomeration ::: n. --> The act or process of collecting in a mass; a heaping together.
State of being collected in a mass; a mass; cluster.


agglomerative ::: a. --> Having a tendency to gather together, or to make collections.

agglutinate ::: v. t. --> To unite, or cause to adhere, as with glue or other viscous substance; to unite by causing an adhesion of substances. ::: a. --> United with glue or as with glue; cemented together.
Consisting of root words combined but not materially altered as to form or meaning; as, agglutinate forms, languages, etc.


aggregate ::: v. t. --> To bring together; to collect into a mass or sum. "The aggregated soil."
To add or unite, as, a person, to an association.
To amount in the aggregate to; as, ten loads, aggregating five hundred bushels. ::: a.


aggregative ::: a. --> Taken together; collective.
Gregarious; social.


aggroup ::: v. t. --> To bring together in a group; to group.

agminated ::: a. --> Grouped together; as, the agminated glands of Peyer in the small intestine.

agree ::: 1. To be in harmony or unison in opinions, feelings, conduct, etc.; to be in sympathy; to live or act together harmoniously; to have no causes of variance. 2. To give consent; assent (often followed by to). agreed.

aheap ::: adv. --> In a heap; huddled together.

alban ::: n. --> A white crystalline resinous substance extracted from gutta-percha by the action of alcohol or ether.

albino ::: n. --> A person, whether negro, Indian, or white, in whom by some defect of organization the substance which gives color to the skin, hair, and eyes is deficient or in a morbid state. An albino has a skin of a milky hue, with hair of the same color, and eyes with deep red pupil and pink or blue iris. The term is also used of the lower animals, as white mice, elephants, etc.; and of plants in a whitish condition from the absence of chlorophyll.

alectryomancy ::: n. --> Divination by means of a cock and grains of corn placed on the letters of the alphabet, the letters being put together in the order in which the grains were eaten.

ALIEN BEINGS. ::: No trust can be put on the beauty of the eyes or the face. There are many Beings of the inferior planes who have a captivating beauty and can enthrall with it and they can give too an Ananda which is not of the highest and may on the contrary by its lure take away from the path altogether.

alligation ::: n. --> The act of tying together or attaching by some bond, or the state of being attached.
A rule relating to the solution of questions concerning the compounding or mixing of different ingredients, or ingredients of different qualities or values.


"All intuitive knowledge comes more or less directly from the light of the self-aware spirit entering into the mind, the spirit concealed behind mind and conscious of all in itself and in all its selves, omniscient and capable of illumining the ignorant or the self-forgetful mind whether by rare or constant flashes or by a steady instreaming light, out of its omniscience.” The Synthesis of Yoga*

“All intuitive knowledge comes more or less directly from the light of the self-aware spirit entering into the mind, the spirit concealed behind mind and conscious of all in itself and in all its selves, omniscient and capable of illumining the ignorant or the self-forgetful mind whether by rare or constant flashes or by a steady instreaming light, out of its omniscience.” The Synthesis of Yoga

alloy ::: v. t. --> Any combination or compound of metals fused together; a mixture of metals; for example, brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc. But when mercury is one of the metals, the compound is called an amalgam.
The quality, or comparative purity, of gold or silver; fineness.
A baser metal mixed with a finer.
Admixture of anything which lessens the value or detracts


all- ::: prefix: Wholly, altogether, infinitely. Since 1600, the number of these [combinations] has been enormously extended, all-** having become a possible prefix, in poetry at least, to almost any adjective of quality. all-affirming, All-Beautiful, All-Beautiful"s, All-Bliss, All-Blissful, All-causing, all-concealing, all-conquering, All-Conscient, All-Conscious, all-containing, All-containing, all-creating, all-defeating, All-Delight, all-discovering, all-embracing, all-fulfilling, all-harbouring, all-inhabiting, all-knowing, All-knowing, All-Knowledge, all-levelling, All-Life, All-love, All-Love, all-negating, all-powerful, all-revealing, All-ruler, all-ruling, all-seeing, All-seeing, all-seeking, all-shaping, all-supporting, all-sustaining, all-swallowing, All-Truth, All-vision, All-Wisdom, all-wise, All-Wise, all-witnessing, All-Wonderful, All-Wonderful"s.**

allthing ::: adv. --> Altogether.

along ::: adv. --> By the length; in a line with the length; lengthwise.
In a line, or with a progressive motion; onward; forward.
In company; together. ::: prep. --> By the length of, as distinguished from across.


altogether ::: adv. --> All together; conjointly.
Without exception; wholly; completely.


aludel ::: n. --> One of the pear-shaped pots open at both ends, and so formed as to be fitted together, the neck of one into the bottom of another in succession; -- used in the process of sublimation.

Amal: “This is the scientific building of knowledge by a logical process—a massing together of little observations into a coherent whole. It implies the loss of the original knowledge which was direct and grasped at once from all sides and not structured piece by piece from small bits of logical deduction.”

amassment ::: n. --> An amassing; a heap collected; a large quantity or number brought together; an accumulation.

amenity ::: n. --> The quality of being pleasant or agreeable, whether in respect to situation, climate, manners, or disposition; pleasantness; civility; suavity; gentleness.

amylic ::: a. --> Pertaining to, or derived from, amyl; as, amylic ether.

analysis ::: n. --> A resolution of anything, whether an object of the senses or of the intellect, into its constituent or original elements; an examination of the component parts of a subject, each separately, as the words which compose a sentence, the tones of a tune, or the simple propositions which enter into an argument. It is opposed to synthesis.
The separation of a compound substance, by chemical processes, into its constituents, with a view to ascertain either (a) what elements it contains, or (b) how much of each element is present.


ancestor ::: n. --> One from whom a person is descended, whether on the father&

anchylose ::: v. t. & i. --> To affect or be affected with anchylosis; to unite or consolidate so as to make a stiff joint; to grow together into one.

angelic ::: a. --> Alt. of Angelical
Of or derived from angelica; as, angelic acid; angelic ether.


"An OMNIPRESENT Reality is the truth of all life and existence whether absolute or relative, whether corporeal or incorporeal, whether animate or inanimate, whether intelligent or unintelligent; and in all its infinitely varying and even constantly opposed self-expressions, from the contradictions nearest to our ordinary experience to those remotest antinomies which lose themselves on the verges of the Ineffable, the Reality is one and not a sum or concourse. From that all variations begin, in that all variations consist, to that all variations return. All affirmations are denied only to lead to a wider affirmation of the same Reality.” The Life Divine ::: *reality, absolute See **absolute reality**

“An OMNIPRESENT Reality is the truth of all life and existence whether absolute or relative, whether corporeal or incorporeal, whether animate or inanimate, whether intelligent or unintelligent; and in all its infinitely varying and even constantly opposed self-expressions, from the contradictions nearest to our ordinary experience to those remotest antinomies which lose themselves on the verges of the Ineffable, the Reality is one and not a sum or concourse. From that all variations begin, in that all variations consist, to that all variations return. All affirmations are denied only to lead to a wider affirmation of the same Reality.” The Life Divine

appertain ::: v. i. --> To belong or pertain, whether by right, nature, appointment, or custom; to relate.

approvement ::: n. --> Approbation.
a confession of guilt by a prisoner charged with treason or felony, together with an accusation of his accomplish and a giving evidence against them in order to obtain his own pardon. The term is no longer in use; it corresponded to what is now known as turning king&


Apsaras ::: Sri Aurobindo: “The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.

apsaras ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.

Apsaras ::: “The Apsaras are the most beautiful and romantic conception on the lesser plane of Hindu mythology. From the moment that they arose out of the waters of the milky Ocean, robed in ethereal raiment and heavenly adornment, waking melody from a million lyres, the beauty and light of them has transformed the world. They crowd in the sunbeams, they flash and gleam over heaven in the lightnings, they make the azure beauty of the sky; they are the light of sunrise and sunset and the haunting voices of forest and field. They dwell too in the life of the soul; for they are the ideal pursued by the poet through his lines, by the artist shaping his soul on his canvas, by the sculptor seeking a form in the marble; for the joy of their embrace the hero flings his life into the rushing torrent of battle; the sage, musing upon God, sees the shining of their limbs and falls from his white ideal. The delight of life, the beauty of things, the attraction of sensuous beauty, this is what the mystic and romantic side of the Hindu temperament strove to express in the Apsara. The original meaning is everywhere felt as a shining background, but most in the older allegories, especially the strange and romantic legend of Pururavas as we first have it in the Brahmanas and the Vishnoupurana.

arabesque ::: n. --> A style of ornamentation either painted, inlaid, or carved in low relief. It consists of a pattern in which plants, fruits, foliage, etc., as well as figures of men and animals, real or imaginary, are fantastically interlaced or put together. ::: a. --> Arabian.

— a rising up of them gives an opportunity — that that altogether ceases.

armor ::: n. --> Defensive arms for the body; any clothing or covering worn to protect one&

ARRESTS IN SADHANA. ::: A difficulty comes or an arrest in some movement which you have begun or have been carrying on for some time. Such arrests are inevitably frequent enough; one might almost say that every step forward is followed by an arrest. It is to be dealt with by becoming always more quiet, more firm in the will to go through, by opening oneself more and more so that any obstructing non-receptivity in the nature may diminish or disappear, by an affirmation of faith even in the midst of obscurity, faith in the presence of a Power that is working behind the cloud and the veil, in the guidance of the Guru, by an observation of oneself to find any cause of the arrest, not in a spirit of depression or discouragement but with the will to find out and remove it. This is the only right attitude and, if one is persistent in taking it, the periods of arrest are not abolished, - for that cannot be at this stage, - but greatly shortened and lightened in their incidence. Sometimes these arrests are periods, long or short, of assimilation or unseen preparation, their appearance of sterile immobility is deceptive ::: in that case, with the right attitude, one can after a time, by opening, by observation, by accumulated experience, begin to feel, to get some inkling of what is being prepared or done. Sometimes it is a period of true obstruction in which the Power at work has to deal with the obstacles in the way, obstacles in oneself, obstacles of the opposing cosmic forces or any other or of all together, and this kind of arrest may be long or short according to the magnitude or obstinacy or complexity of the impediments that are met. But here, too, the right attitude can alleviate or shorten and, if persistently taken, help to a more radical removal of the difficulties and greatly diminish the necessity of complete arrests hereafter.
On the contrary, an attitude of depression or unfaith in the help or the guidance or in the certitude of the victory of the guiding Power, a shutting up of yourself in the sense of the difficulties, helps the obstructions to recur with force instead of progressively diminishing in their incidence.


arris ::: n. --> The sharp edge or salient angle formed by two surfaces meeting each other, whether plane or curved; -- applied particularly to the edges in moldings, and to the raised edges which separate the flutings in a Doric column.

arrival ::: n. --> The act of arriving, or coming; the act of reaching a place from a distance, whether by water (as in its original sense) or by land.
The attainment or reaching of any object, by effort, or in natural course; as, our arrival at this conclusion was wholly unexpected.
The person or thing arriving or which has arrived; as, news brought by the last arrival.


arsenal ::: n. --> A public establishment for the storage, or for the manufacture and storage, of arms and all military equipments, whether for land or naval service.

articulation ::: n. --> A joint or juncture between bones in the skeleton.
The connection of the parts of a plant by joints, as in pods.
One of the nodes or joints, as in cane and maize.
One of the parts intercepted between the joints; also, a subdivision into parts at regular or irregular intervals as a result of serial intermission in growth, as in the cane, grasses, etc.
The act of putting together with a joint or joints;


Asana is used by the Rajayoga only in its easiest and most natural position, that naturally taken by the body when seated and gathered together, but wth the back and head strictly erect and in a straight line, so that there may be no deflection of the spinal chord. The object of the fatter rule I's obviously con- nected with the theory of the six Chakras and the circulation of the vital energy between the mul&dhara and^he brahmarandhra.

ascetic ::: one who dedicates his or her life to a pursuit of contemplative ideals, whether by seclusion or by abstinence from creature comforts, and practices extreme self-denial, rigorous self-discipline or self-mortification. ascetic"s, ascetics.

ascidiarium ::: n. --> The structure which unites together the ascidiozooids in a compound ascidian.

ask ::: v. t. --> To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; to solicit; -- often with of, in the sense of from, before the person addressed.
To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity; as, what price do you ask?
To interrogate or inquire of or concerning; to put a question to or about; to question.


assemblage ::: a number of persons gathered together; a gathering, concourse. (Less formal than assembly.)

assembled ::: gathered together; brought together into one place, collected.

assemble ::: v. t. --> To collect into one place or body; to bring or call together; to convene; to congregate. ::: v. i. --> To meet or come together, as a number of individuals; to convene; to congregate.
To liken; to compare.


assembly ::: a group of people gathered together usually for a particular purpose. assemblies.

assembly ::: n. --> A company of persons collected together in one place, and usually for some common purpose, esp. for deliberation and legislation, for worship, or for social entertainment.
A collection of inanimate objects.
A beat of the drum or sound of the bugle as a signal to troops to assemble.


assimilation ::: n. --> The act or process of assimilating or bringing to a resemblance, likeness, or identity; also, the state of being so assimilated; as, the assimilation of one sound to another.
The conversion of nutriment into the fluid or solid substance of the body, by the processes of digestion and absorption, whether in plants or animals.


ASSIMILATION. ::: There has to be a period of assimilation. When the being is unconscious, the assimilation goes on behind the veil or below the surface and meanwhile the surface consciousness sees only dullness and the loss of what it had got; but when one is conscious, then one can see the assimilation going on and one sees that nothing is lost, it is only a quiet settling in of what has come down.
To remain quiet for a time after the descent of Force is the best way of assimilating it.
There are always pauses of preparation and assimilation between two movements.
The periods of assimilation continue till all that has to be done is fundamentally done. Only they have a different character in the later stages of sadhana. If they cease altogether at an early stage, it is because all that the nature was capable of has been done and that would mean it was not capable of much.


associate ::: v. t. --> To join with one, as a friend, companion, partner, or confederate; as, to associate others with us in business, or in an enterprise.
To join or connect; to combine in acting; as, particles of gold associated with other substances.
To connect or place together in thought.
To accompany; to keep company with.


association ::: n. --> The act of associating, or state of being associated; union; connection, whether of persons of things.
Mental connection, or that which is mentally linked or associated with a thing.
Union of persons in a company or society for some particular purpose; as, the American Association for the Advancement of Science; a benevolent association. Specifically, as among the Congregationalists, a society, consisting of a number of ministers,


astringent ::: a. --> Drawing together the tissues; binding; contracting; -- opposed to laxative; as, astringent medicines; a butter and astringent taste; astringent fruit.
Stern; austere; as, an astringent type of virtue. ::: n. --> A medicine or other substance that produces contraction


astringe ::: v. t. --> To bind fast; to constrict; to contract; to cause parts to draw together; to compress.
To bind by moral or legal obligation.


ASTROLOGY. ::: Many astrological predictions come true, quite a mass of them, if one takes all together. But it does not follow that the stars rule our destiny; the stars merely record a destiny that has been already formed, they are a hieroglyph, not a Force, - or if their action constitutes a force, it is a transmitting energy, not an originating Power. Someone is there who has determined or something is there which is Fate, let us say; the stars are only indications. The astrologers themselves say that there are two forces, daiva and puruṣakāra, fate and individual energy, and the individual energy can modify and even frustrate fate. Moreover, the stars often indicate several fatepossibilities; for example, that one may die in mid-age, but that if that determination can be overcome, one can live to a predictable old age. Finally, cases are seen in which the predictions of the horoscope fulfil themselves with great accuracy up to a certain age, then apply no more. This often happens when the subject turns away from the ordinary to the spiritual life. If the turn is very radical, the cessation of predictability may be immediate; otherwise certain results may still last on for a time ; but there is no longer the sure inevitability.

at one ::: --> In concord or friendship; in agreement (with each other); as, to be, bring, make, or set, at one, i. e., to be or bring in or to a state of agreement or reconciliation.
Of the same opinion; agreed; as, on these points we are at one.
Together.


:::   "A transcendent Bliss, unimaginable and inexpressible by the mind and speech, is the nature of the Ineffable. That broods immanent and secret in the whole universe and in everything in the universe. Its presence is described as a secret ether of the bliss of being, of which the Scripture says that, if this were not, none could for a moment breathe or live. And this spiritual bliss is here also in our hearts.” The Synthesis of Yoga

“A transcendent Bliss, unimaginable and inexpressible by the mind and speech, is the nature of the Ineffable. That broods immanent and secret in the whole universe and in everything in the universe. Its presence is described as a secret ether of the bliss of being, of which the Scripture says that, if this were not, none could for a moment breathe or live. And this spiritual bliss is here also in our hearts.” The Synthesis of Yoga

attached firmly or securely in place; fixed or bolted together. breath-fastened.

* attachment must draw away altogether from the object of its love. The vital can be as absolute in its unquestioning self-giving as any other part or the nature ; nothing can be more generous than its movement when it forgets self for the Beloved. The vital and physical should both give themselves in the true way — the way of true love, not of ego-desire.

attonce ::: adv. --> At once; together.

attraction ::: n. --> An invisible power in a body by which it draws anything to itself; the power in nature acting mutually between bodies or ultimate particles, tending to draw them together, or to produce their cohesion or combination, and conversely resisting separation.
The act or property of attracting; the effect of the power or operation of attraction.
The power or act of alluring, drawing to, inviting, or engaging; an attractive quality; as, the attraction of beauty or


attrition ::: n. --> The act of rubbing together; friction; the act of wearing by friction, or by rubbing substances together; abrasion.
The state of being worn.
Grief for sin arising only from fear of punishment or feelings of shame. See Contrition.


aura ::: “Yet all the time the universal forces are pouring into him without his knowing it. He is aware only of thoughts, feelings, etc., that rise to the surface and these he takes for his own. Really they come from outside in mind waves, vital waves, waves of feeling and sensation, etc., which take particular form in him and rise to the surface after they have got inside. But they do not get into his body at once. He carries about with him an environmental consciousness (called by the Theosophists the Aura) into which they first enter. If you can become conscious of this environmental self of yours, then you can catch the thought, passion, suggestion or force of illness and prevent it from entering into you. If things in you are thrown out, they often do not go altogether but take refuge in this environmental atmosphere and from there they try to get in again. Or they go to a distance outside but linger on the outskirts or even perhaps far off, waiting till they get an opportunity to attempt entrance.” Letters on Yoga

bad ::: imp. --> Bade. ::: superl. --> Wanting good qualities, whether physical or moral; injurious, hurtful, inconvenient, offensive, painful, unfavorable, or defective, either physically or morally; evil; vicious; wicked; -- the opposite of good; as, a bad man; bad conduct; bad habits; bad soil; bad

balter ::: v. t. --> To stick together.

band ::: v. t. --> A fillet, strap, or any narrow ligament with which a thing is encircled, or fastened, or by which a number of things are tied, bound together, or confined; a fetter.
A continuous tablet, stripe, or series of ornaments, as of carved foliage, of color, or of brickwork, etc.
In Gothic architecture, the molding, or suite of moldings, which encircles the pillars and small shafts.
That which serves as the means of union or connection


ban ::: n. --> A public proclamation or edict; a public order or notice, mandatory or prohibitory; a summons by public proclamation.
A calling together of the king&


barrels ::: large cylindrical containers, usually made of staves bound together with hoops, with a flat top and bottom of equal diameter.

batter ::: v. t. --> To beat with successive blows; to beat repeatedly and with violence, so as to bruise, shatter, or demolish; as, to batter a wall or rampart.
To wear or impair as if by beating or by hard usage.
To flatten (metal) by hammering, so as to compress it inwardly and spread it outwardly.
A semi-liquid mixture of several ingredients, as, flour, eggs, milk, etc., beaten together and used in cookery.


beauty ::: the quality present in a thing or person that gives intense pleasure or deep satisfaction to the mind, whether arising from sensory manifestations (as shape, colour, sound, etc.), a meaningful design or pattern, or something else, (as a personality in which high spiritual qualities are manifest). Beauty, beauty"s, Beauty"s, beauty-drenched, earth-beauty"s.

beaver ::: n. --> An amphibious rodent, of the genus Castor.
The fur of the beaver.
A hat, formerly made of the fur of the beaver, but now usually of silk.
Beaver cloth, a heavy felted woolen cloth, used chiefly for making overcoats.
That piece of armor which protected the lower part of the face, whether forming a part of the helmet or fixed to the breastplate.


bedding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Bed ::: n. --> A bed and its furniture; the materials of a bed, whether for man or beast; bedclothes; litter.
The state or position of beds and layers.


beguine ::: n. --> A woman belonging to one of the religious and charitable associations or communities in the Netherlands, and elsewhere, whose members live in beguinages and are not bound by perpetual vows.

behavior ::: n. --> Manner of behaving, whether good or bad; mode of conducting one&

behind ::: a. --> On the side opposite the front or nearest part; on the back side of; at the back of; on the other side of; as, behind a door; behind a hill.
Left after the departure of, whether this be by removing to a distance or by death.
Left a distance by, in progress of improvement Hence: Inferior to in dignity, rank, knowledge, or excellence, or in any achievement.


Being or a Presence — sometimes one of these, sometimes several of them or all together. The movement of ascension has diffe- rent results ; it may liberate the consciousness so that one feels no longer in he body, but above it or else spread in wideness with the body whether almost non-existent or only a point in one’s free expanse. It may enable the being or some part of the being to go out from the body and move elsewhere, and this action is usually accompanied by some kind of partial Samadhi or else a complete trance. Or, it may result in empowering the cons- ciousness, no longer limited by the body and the habits of the external nature, to go within, to enter the inner mental depths, the inner vital, the inner (subtle) physical, the psychic, to become aware of its inmost psychic self or its inner mental, vital, and subtle physical being, and it may be, to move and live in the domains, the planes, the worlds that correspond to these parts of the nature. It is the repeated and constant ascent of the lower consciousness that enables the mind, the vital, the physical to come into touch with the higher planes up to the Supramental and get impregnated with their light and power and influence.

bejumble ::: v. t. --> To jumble together.

belgic ::: a. --> Of or pertaining to the Belgae, a German tribe who anciently possessed the country between the Rhine, the Seine, and the ocean.
Of or pertaining to the Netherlands or to Belgium.


bellwether ::: n. --> A wether, or sheep, which leads the flock, with a bell on his neck.
Hence: A leader.


ether ::: 1. The regions of space beyond the earth"s atmosphere; the heavens. 2. The element believed in ancient and medieval civilizations to fill all space above the sphere of the moon and to compose the stars and planets. 3. A hypothetical medium formerly believed to permeate all space, and through which light and other electromagnetic radiation were thought to move. ether"s.

ethereal ::: 1. Of the celestial spheres; heavenly. 2. Characterized by lightness and insubstantiality; as impalpable or intangible as air. 3. Characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy 4. Of heaven or the spirit. ethereal-tressed.

etheric ::: adj. Pertaining to ether, the medium supposed by the ancients to fill the upper regions of space.

bevel gear ::: --> A kind of gear in which the two wheels working together lie in different planes, and have their teeth cut at right angles to the surfaces of two cones whose apices coincide with the point where the axes of the wheels would meet.

bevel ::: n. --> Any angle other than a right angle; the angle which one surface makes with another when they are not at right angles; the slant or inclination of such surface; as, to give a bevel to the edge of a table or a stone slab; the bevel of a piece of timber.
An instrument consisting of two rules or arms, jointed together at one end, and opening to any angle, for adjusting the surfaces of work to the same or a given inclination; -- called also a bevel square.


be ::: v. i. --> To exist actually, or in the world of fact; to have ex/stence.
To exist in a certain manner or relation, -- whether as a reality or as a product of thought; to exist as the subject of a certain predicate, that is, as having a certain attribute, or as belonging to a certain sort, or as identical with what is specified, -- a word or words for the predicate being annexed; as, to be happy; to be here; to be large, or strong; to be an animal; to be a hero; to be a


bible ::: n. --> A book.
The Book by way of eminence, -- that is, the book which is made up of the writings accepted by Christians as of divine origin and authority, whether such writings be in the original language, or translated; the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments; -- sometimes in a restricted sense, the Old Testament; as, King James&


big ::: superl. --> Having largeness of size; of much bulk or magnitude; of great size; large.
Great with young; pregnant; swelling; ready to give birth or produce; -- often figuratively.
Having greatness, fullness, importance, inflation, distention, etc., whether in a good or a bad sense; as, a big heart; a big voice; big looks; to look big. As applied to looks, it indicates haughtiness or pride.


bilin ::: n. --> A name applied to the amorphous or crystalline mass obtained from bile by the action of alcohol and ether. It is composed of a mixture of the sodium salts of the bile acids.

bind ::: 1. To restrain or confine with or as if with ties. 2. To place (someone) under obligation; oblige. 3. To fasten together. Also fig. **binds, bound, binding.**

binder ::: n. --> One who binds; as, a binder of sheaves; one whose trade is to bind; as, a binder of books.
Anything that binds, as a fillet, cord, rope, or band; a bandage; -- esp. the principal piece of timber intended to bind together any building.


biplicate ::: a. --> Twice folded together.

bisk ::: n. --> Soup or broth made by boiling several sorts of flesh together.
See Bisque.


bivalve ::: n. --> A mollusk having a shell consisting of two lateral plates or valves joined together by an elastic ligament at the hinge, which is usually strengthened by prominences called teeth. The shell is closed by the contraction of two transverse muscles attached to the inner surface, as in the clam, -- or by one, as in the oyster. See Mollusca.
A pericarp in which the seed case opens or splits into two parts or valves.


blanch ::: a. --> To take the color out of, and make white; to bleach; as, to blanch linen; age has blanched his hair.
To bleach by excluding the light, as the stalks or leaves of plants, by earthing them up or tying them together.
To make white by removing the skin of, as by scalding; as, to blanch almonds.
To whiten, as the surface of meat, by plunging into boiling water and afterwards into cold, so as to harden the surface and retain


blemish ::: v. t. --> To mark with deformity; to injure or impair, as anything which is well formed, or excellent; to mar, or make defective, either the body or mind.
To tarnish, as reputation or character; to defame. ::: n. --> Any mark of deformity or injury, whether physical or


blending ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Blend ::: n. --> The act of mingling.
The method of laying on different tints so that they may mingle together while wet, and shade into each other insensibly.


blend ::: v. t. --> To mix or mingle together; esp. to mingle, combine, or associate so that the separate things mixed, or the line of demarcation, can not be distinguished. Hence: To confuse; to confound.
To pollute by mixture or association; to spoil or corrupt; to blot; to stain. ::: v. i.


blister ::: n. --> A vesicle of the skin, containing watery matter or serum, whether occasioned by a burn or other injury, or by a vesicatory; a collection of serous fluid causing a bladderlike elevation of the cuticle.
Any elevation made by the separation of the film or skin, as on plants; or by the swelling of the substance at the surface, as on steel.
A vesicatory; a plaster of Spanish flies, or other matter,


blue ::: superl. --> Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets.
Pale, without redness or glare, -- said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths.
Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue.


boarding ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Board ::: n. --> The act of entering a ship, whether with a hostile or a friendly purpose.
The act of covering with boards; also, boards, collectively; or a covering made of boards.


body ::: n. --> The material organized substance of an animal, whether living or dead, as distinguished from the spirit, or vital principle; the physical person.
The trunk, or main part, of a person or animal, as distinguished from the limbs and head; the main, central, or principal part, as of a tree, army, country, etc.
The real, as opposed to the symbolical; the substance, as opposed to the shadow.


boiler ::: n. --> One who boils.
A vessel in which any thing is boiled.
A strong metallic vessel, usually of wrought iron plates riveted together, or a composite structure variously formed, in which steam is generated for driving engines, or for heating, cooking, or other purposes.


bond ::: 1. Something, such as a fetter, cord, or band, that binds, ties, or fastens things together. Also fig. 2. A duty, promise, or other obligation by which one is bound. 3. Something that binds one to a certain circumstance or line of behaviour. 4. A uniting force or tie; a link. 5. A binding agreement; a covenant. bonds.

bondstone ::: n. --> A stone running through a wall from one face to another, to bind it together; a binding stone.

book ::: n. --> A collection of sheets of paper, or similar material, blank, written, or printed, bound together; commonly, many folded and bound sheets containing continuous printing or writing.
A composition, written or printed; a treatise.
A part or subdivision of a treatise or literary work; as, the tenth book of "Paradise Lost."
A volume or collection of sheets in which accounts are kept; a register of debts and credits, receipts and expenditures, etc.


boom ::: n. --> A long pole or spar, run out for the purpose of extending the bottom of a particular sail; as, the jib boom, the studding-sail boom, etc.
A long spar or beam, projecting from the mast of a derrick, from the outer end of which the body to be lifted is suspended.
A pole with a conspicuous top, set up to mark the channel in a river or harbor.
A strong chain cable, or line of spars bound together,


boottree ::: n. --> An instrument to stretch and widen the leg of a boot, consisting of two pieces, together shaped like a leg, between which, when put into the boot, a wedge is driven.

boss ::: n. --> Any protuberant part; a round, swelling part or body; a knoblike process; as, a boss of wood.
A protuberant ornament on any work, either of different material from that of the work or of the same, as upon a buckler or bridle; a stud; a knob; the central projection of a shield. See Umbilicus.
A projecting ornament placed at the intersection of the ribs of ceilings, whether vaulted or flat, and in other situations.


boulder ::: n. --> Same as Bowlder.
A large stone, worn smooth or rounded by the action of water; a large pebble.
A mass of any rock, whether rounded or not, that has been transported by natural agencies from its native bed. See Drift.


bowse ::: v. i. --> To carouse; to bouse; to booze.
To pull or haul; as, to bowse upon a tack; to bowse away, i. e., to pull all together. ::: n. --> A carouse; a drinking bout; a booze.


brabantine ::: a. --> Pertaining to Brabant, an ancient province of the Netherlands.

braid ::: v. t. --> To weave, interlace, or entwine together, as three or more strands or threads; to form into a braid; to plait.
To mingle, or to bring to a uniformly soft consistence, by beating, rubbing, or straining, as in some culinary operations.
To reproach. [Obs.] See Upbraid.
Deceitful. ::: n.


bramble bush ::: --> The bramble, or a collection of brambles growing together.

brand ::: v. t. --> A burning piece of wood; or a stick or piece of wood partly burnt, whether burning or after the fire is extinct.
A sword, so called from its glittering or flashing brightness.
A mark made by burning with a hot iron, as upon a cask, to designate the quality, manufacturer, etc., of the contents, or upon an animal, to designate ownership; -- also, a mark for a similar purpose made in any other way, as with a stencil. Hence, figurately:


brecciated ::: a. --> Consisting of angular fragments cemented together; resembling breccia in appearance.

brewing ::: p. pr. & vb. n. --> of Brew ::: n. --> The act or process of preparing liquors which are brewed, as beer and ale.
The quantity brewed at once.
A mixing together.


brigade ::: n. --> A body of troops, whether cavalry, artillery, infantry, or mixed, consisting of two or more regiments, under the command of a brigadier general.
Any body of persons organized for acting or marching together under authority; as, a fire brigade. ::: v. t.


brillancy ::: n. --> The quality of being brilliant; splendor; glitter; great brightness, whether in a literal or figurative sense.

brood ::: v. t. --> The young birds hatched at one time; a hatch; as, a brood of chickens.
The young from the same dam, whether produced at the same time or not; young children of the same mother, especially if nearly of the same age; offspring; progeny; as, a woman with a brood of children.
That which is bred or produced; breed; species.
Heavy waste in tin and copper ores.
To sit over, cover, and cherish; as, a hen broods her


broom ::: n. --> A plant having twigs suitable for making brooms to sweep with when bound together; esp., the Cytisus scoparius of Western Europe, which is a low shrub with long, straight, green, angular branches, minute leaves, and large yellow flowers.
An implement for sweeping floors, etc., commonly made of the panicles or tops of broom corn, bound together or attached to a long wooden handle; -- so called because originally made of the twigs of the broom.


buckle ::: n. --> A device, usually of metal, consisting of a frame with one more movable tongues or catches, used for fastening things together, as parts of dress or harness, by means of a strap passing through the frame and pierced by the tongue.
A distortion bulge, bend, or kink, as in a saw blade or a plate of sheet metal.
A curl of hair, esp. a kind of crisp curl formerly worn; also, the state of being curled.


built ::: pt. and pp. of build. dream-built, high-built, low-built, mind-built, new-built. *adj. *built in. Constructed or included as an integral part of. adj. built-up. Built by the fastening together of several parts or enlarged by the addition of layers.

bunch ::: n. --> A protuberance; a hunch; a knob or lump; a hump.
A collection, cluster, or tuft, properly of things of the same kind, growing or fastened together; as, a bunch of grapes; a bunch of keys.
A small isolated mass of ore, as distinguished from a continuous vein. ::: v. i.


bundle ::: n. --> A number of things bound together, as by a cord or envelope, into a mass or package convenient for handling or conveyance; a loose package; a roll; as, a bundle of straw or of paper; a bundle of old clothes. ::: v. t. --> To tie or bind in a bundle or roll.

bundles ::: a group of objects held together, as by tying or wrapping; packages.

burglary ::: n. --> Breaking and entering the dwelling house of another, in the nighttime, with intent to commit a felony therein, whether the felonious purpose be accomplished or not.

burr ::: n. --> Any rough or prickly envelope of the seeds of plants, whether a pericarp, a persistent calyx, or an involucre, as of the chestnut and burdock. Also, any weed which bears burs.
The thin ridge left by a tool in cutting or shaping metal. See Burr, n., 2.
A ring of iron on a lance or spear. See Burr, n., 4.
The lobe of the ear. See Burr, n., 5.
The sweetbread.


business ::: n. --> That which busies one, or that which engages the time, attention, or labor of any one, as his principal concern or interest, whether for a longer or shorter time; constant employment; regular occupation; as, the business of life; business before pleasure.
Any particular occupation or employment engaged in for livelihood or gain, as agriculture, trade, art, or a profession.
Financial dealings; buying and selling; traffic in general; mercantile transactions.


bust ::: n. --> A piece of sculpture representing the upper part of the human figure, including the head, shoulders, and breast.
The portion of the human figure included between the head and waist, whether in statuary or in the person; the chest or thorax; the upper part of the trunk of the body.


But they do not get into his body at once. He carries about with him an cn\ironmenlal consciousness (called by the Thco- sophists the Aura) into which they' first enter. If you can become conscious of this environmental self of you, then you can catch the thought, passion, suggestion, or force of illness and prevent it from entering into you. If things tn you arc thrown out, they often do not go altogether but take refuge in this environmental atmosphere and from there they try to gel in again or they go to a distance outside but linger on the outskirts or csen perhaps far off, waiting till they get an opportunity to attempt entrance.

butt joint ::: --> A joint in which the edges or ends of the pieces united come squarely together instead of overlapping. See 1st Butt, 8.

button ::: n. --> A knob; a small ball; a small, roundish mass.
A catch, of various forms and materials, used to fasten together the different parts of dress, by being attached to one part, and passing through a slit, called a buttonhole, in the other; -- used also for ornament.
A bud; a germ of a plant.
A piece of wood or metal, usually flat and elongated, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten something, as a door.


"By Force I mean not mental or vital energy but the Divine Force from above — as peace comes from above and wideness also, so does this Force (Shakti). Nothing, not even thinking or meditating can be done without some action of Force. The Force I speak of is a Force for illumination, transformation, purification, all that has to be done in the yoga, for removal of hostile forces and the wrong movements — it is also of course for external work, whether great or small in appearance does not matter — if that is part of the Divine Will. I do not mean any personal force egoistic or rajasic.” Letters on Yoga

“By Force I mean not mental or vital energy but the Divine Force from above—as peace comes from above and wideness also, so does this Force (Shakti). Nothing, not even thinking or meditating can be done without some action of Force. The Force I speak of is a Force for illumination, transformation, purification, all that has to be done in the yoga, for removal of hostile forces and the wrong movements—it is also of course for external work, whether great or small in appearance does not matter—if that is part of the Divine Will. I do not mean any personal force egoistic or rajasic.” Letters on Yoga

byssus ::: n. --> A cloth of exceedingly fine texture, used by the ancients. It is disputed whether it was of cotton, linen, or silk.
A tuft of long, tough filaments which are formed in a groove of the foot, and issue from between the valves of certain bivalve mollusks, as the Pinna and Mytilus, by which they attach themselves to rocks, etc.
An obsolete name for certain fungi composed of slender threads.


cabinet ::: n. --> A hut; a cottage; a small house.
A small room, or retired apartment; a closet.
A private room in which consultations are held.
The advisory council of the chief executive officer of a nation; a cabinet council.
A set of drawers or a cupboard intended to contain articles of value. Hence:
A decorative piece of furniture, whether open like an


cablelaid ::: a. --> Composed of three three-stranded ropes, or hawsers, twisted together to form a cable.
Twisted after the manner of a cable; as, a cable-laid gold chain.


cahier ::: n. --> A number of sheets of paper put loosely together; esp. one of the successive portions of a work printed in numbers.
A memorial of a body; a report of legislative proceedings, etc.


calculated ::: p. p. & a. --> Worked out by calculation; as calculated tables for computing interest; ascertained or conjectured as a result of calculation; as, the calculated place of a planet; the calculated velocity of a cannon ball.
Adapted by calculation, contrivance. or forethought to accomplish a purpose; as, to use arts calculated to deceive the people.
Likely to produce a certain effect, whether


call our mind ; in fact they come to us from a vast mental space or ether either as mind-waves of mind-force that carry a sigoi^cance which takes shape in our personal mind or as thought-formations ready made which we adopt and call ours.

came ::: --> imp. of Come. ::: n. --> A slender rod of cast lead, with or without grooves, used, in casements and stained-glass windows, to hold together the panes or pieces of glass.

cam ::: n. --> A turning or sliding piece which, by the shape of its periphery or face, or a groove in its surface, imparts variable or intermittent motion to, or receives such motion from, a rod, lever, or block brought into sliding or rolling contact with it.
A curved wedge, movable about an axis, used for forcing or clamping two pieces together.
A projecting part of a wheel or other moving piece so shaped as to give alternate or variable motion to another piece against which


campylotropous ::: a. --> Having the ovules and seeds so curved, or bent down upon themselves, that the ends of the embryo are brought close together.

cantabile ::: a. --> In a melodious, flowing style; in a singing style, as opposed to bravura, recitativo, or parlando. ::: n. --> A piece or passage, whether vocal or instrumental, peculiarly adapted to singing; -- sometimes called cantilena.

caravan ::: a company of travelers journeying together, as across a desert or through hostile territory. 2. A procession or train likened to a caravan. caravans.

caravan ::: n. --> A company of travelers, pilgrims, or merchants, organized and equipped for a long journey, or marching or traveling together, esp. through deserts and countries infested by robbers or hostile tribes, as in Asia or Africa.
A large, covered wagon, or a train of such wagons, for conveying wild beasts, etc., for exhibition; an itinerant show, as of wild beasts.
A covered vehicle for carrying passengers or for moving


carcass ::: n. --> A dead body, whether of man or beast; a corpse; now commonly the dead body of a beast.
The living body; -- now commonly used in contempt or ridicule.
The abandoned and decaying remains of some bulky and once comely thing, as a ship; the skeleton, or the uncovered or unfinished frame, of a thing.
A hollow case or shell, filled with combustibles, to be


carpentry ::: n. --> The art of cutting, framing, and joining timber, as in the construction of buildings.
An assemblage of pieces of timber connected by being framed together, as the pieces of a roof, floor, etc.; work done by a carpenter.


carpet ::: n. --> A heavy woven or felted fabric, usually of wool, but also of cotton, hemp, straw, etc.; esp. a floor covering made in breadths to be sewed together and nailed to the floor, as distinguished from a rug or mat; originally, also, a wrought cover for tables.
A smooth soft covering resembling or suggesting a carpet. ::: v. t.


cartridge ::: n. --> A complete charge for a firearm, contained in, or held together by, a case, capsule, or shell of metal, pasteboard, or other material.

cask ::: n. --> Same as Casque.
A barrel-shaped vessel made of staves headings, and hoops, usually fitted together so as to hold liquids. It may be larger or smaller than a barrel.
The quantity contained in a cask.
A casket; a small box for jewels. ::: v. t.


castanets ::: n. pl. --> Two small, concave shells of ivory or hard wood, shaped like spoons, fastened to the thumb, and beaten together with the middle finger; -- used by the Spaniards and Moors as an accompaniment to their dance and guitars.

catalysis ::: n. --> Dissolution; degeneration; decay.
A process by which reaction occurs in the presence of certain agents which were formerly believed to exert an influence by mere contact. It is now believed that such reactions are attended with the formation of an intermediate compound or compounds, so that by alternate composition and decomposition the agent is apparenty left unchanged; as, the catalysis of making ether from alcohol by means of sulphuric acid; or catalysis in the action of soluble ferments (as


catamaran ::: n. --> A kind of raft or float, consisting of two or more logs or pieces of wood lashed together, and moved by paddles or sail; -- used as a surf boat and for other purposes on the coasts of the East and West Indies and South America. Modified forms are much used in the lumber regions of North America, and at life-saving stations.
Any vessel with twin hulls, whether propelled by sails or by steam; esp., one of a class of double-hulled pleasure boats remarkable for speed.


catapetalous ::: a. --> Having the petals held together by stamens, which grow to their bases, as in the mallow.

catarrhine ::: n. --> One of the Catarrhina, a division of Quadrumana, including the Old World monkeys and apes which have the nostrils close together and turned downward. See Monkey.

cerebration ::: n. --> Action of the brain, whether conscious or unconscious.

cerebrin ::: n. --> A nonphosphorized, nitrogenous substance, obtained from brain and nerve tissue by extraction with boiling alcohol. It is uncertain whether it exists as such in nerve tissue, or is a product of the decomposition of some more complex substance.

cerin ::: n. --> A waxy substance extracted by alcohol or ether from cork; sometimes applied also to the portion of beeswax which is soluble in alcohol.
A variety of the mineral allanite.


cessation ::: n. --> A ceasing or discontinuance, as of action, whether temporary or final; a stop; as, a cessation of the war.

chafe ::: v. t. --> To excite heat in by friction; to rub in order to stimulate and make warm.
To excite passion or anger in; to fret; to irritate.
To fret and wear by rubbing; as, to chafe a cable. ::: v. i. --> To rub; to come together so as to wear by rubbing; to


chain ::: n. --> A series of links or rings, usually of metal, connected, or fitted into one another, used for various purposes, as of support, of restraint, of ornament, of the exertion and transmission of mechanical power, etc.
That which confines, fetters, or secures, as a chain; a bond; as, the chains of habit.
A series of things linked together; or a series of things connected and following each other in succession; as, a chain of


chain-work ::: handiwork in which parts are looped or woven together like the links of a chain.

champerty ::: n. --> Partnership in power; equal share of authority.
The prosecution or defense of a suit, whether by furnishing money or personal services, by one who has no legitimate concern therein, in consideration of an agreement that he shall receive, in the event of success, a share of the matter in suit; maintenance with the addition of an agreement to divide the thing in suit. See Maintenance.


chancre ::: n. --> A venereal sore or ulcer; specifically, the initial lesion of true syphilis, whether forming a distinct ulcer or not; -- called also hard chancre, indurated chancre, and Hunterian chancre.

cheese ::: n. --> The curd of milk, coagulated usually with rennet, separated from the whey, and pressed into a solid mass in a hoop or mold.
A mass of pomace, or ground apples, pressed together in the form of a cheese.
The flat, circular, mucilaginous fruit of the dwarf mallow (Malva rotundifolia).
A low courtesy; -- so called on account of the cheese form assumed by a woman&


chesses ::: n. pl. --> The platforms, consisting of two or more planks doweled together, for the flooring of a temporary military bridge.

chiaro-oscuro ::: n. --> The arrangement of light and dark parts in a work of art, such as a drawing or painting, whether in monochrome or in color.
The art or practice of so arranging the light and dark parts as to produce a harmonious effect. Cf. Clair-obscur.


chilognatha ::: n. pl. --> One of the two principal orders of myriapods. They have numerous segments, each bearing two pairs of small, slender legs, which are attached ventrally, near together.

chloroform ::: n. --> A colorless volatile liquid, CHCl3, having an ethereal odor and a sweetish taste, formed by treating alcohol with chlorine and an alkali. It is a powerful solvent of wax, resin, etc., and is extensively used to produce anaesthesia in surgical operations; also externally, to alleviate pain. ::: v. t.

chockablock ::: a. --> Hoisted as high as the tackle will admit; brought close together, as the two blocks of a tackle in hoisting.

chordata ::: n. pl. --> A comprehensive division of animals including all Vertebrata together with the Tunicata, or all those having a dorsal nervous cord.

chowchow ::: a. --> Consisting of several kinds mingled together; mixed; as, chowchow sweetmeats (preserved fruits put together). ::: n. --> A kind of mixed pickles.

chowder ::: n. --> A dish made of fresh fish or clams, biscuit, onions, etc., stewed together.
A seller of fish. ::: v. t. --> To make a chowder of.


chronogram ::: n. --> An inscription in which certain numeral letters, made to appear specially conspicuous, on being added together, express a particular date or epoch, as in the motto of a medal struck by Gustavus Adolphus in 1632: ChrIstVs DVX; ergo trIVMphVs.- the capitals of which give, when added as numerals, the sum 1632.
The record or inscription made by a chronograph.


chum ::: n. --> A roommate, especially in a college or university; an old and intimate friend.
Chopped pieces of fish used as bait. ::: v. i. --> To occupy a chamber with another; as, to chum together at college.


church ::: n. --> A building set apart for Christian worship.
A Jewish or heathen temple.
A formally organized body of Christian believers worshiping together.
A body of Christian believers, holding the same creed, observing the same rites, and acknowledging the same ecclesiastical authority; a denomination; as, the Roman Catholic church; the Presbyterian church.


CIDaKASA. ::: Inner space; depths of more and more subtle ether which are heavily curtained ‘from the ph>'sical sense by the grosser ether of the material universe. All things sensible, whe- ther in the material world or any other, create reconstituting vibrations, sensible echoes, reproductions, recurrent images ■ of themselves which that subtler ether receives and retains.

\cil of sleep — very largely indeed these two elements get mixed up together. For in fact a large part of our consciousness in sleep docs not sink into this subconscious slate ; it passes beyond the veil into other planes of being which arc connected with our own inner planes, planes of supraphj'sical existence, w'orlds of a larger life, mind or psychic which arc there behind and whose influences come to us without our knowledge. Occasionally we get a dream from these planes, something more than a dream, — a dream experience which is a record direct or symbolic of what happens to us or around us there. As the inner consciousness grows by sadhana, these dream experiences increase In number, dearness, coherence, accuracy and after some growth of experi- ence and consciousness, we can, if we observe, come to under- stand them and their significance to our loner life. Even we can by training become so coosetous as to follow our own passage, usually veiled to our arvarencss and memory, through many realms and the process of the return to the waking state. At a certain pitch of this inner wakefulness this kind of sleep, a sleep experience, can replace the ordinary subconscious slumber.

circinate ::: a. --> Rolled together downward, the tip occupying the center; -- a term used in reference to foliation or leafing, as in ferns. ::: v. t. --> To make a circle around; to encompass.

cittakasa. These may be transcriptions there or impresses of physical things, persons, scenes, happenings, whatever is, was or will be or may be in the ph^ical universe. These images are very variously seen and under all kinds of conditions ; in samadhi or in the waking stale, and in the latter with the bodily eyes closed or open, projected on or into a physical object or medium or seen as if materialised in the physical atmosphere or only in a psychical ether revealing itself through this grosser physical atmosphere ; seen through the physical eyes themselves as a secondary instrument and as if under the conditions of the physical vision or by the psychical vision alone and indepen- dently of the relations of our ordinary sight to space. The real agent is always the psychical sight and the power indicates that the consciousness is more or less awake, intermittently or nor- mally and more or less perfectly, in the psj’chical body. It is possible to see In this way the transcriptions or impressions of things at any distance beyond the range of the physical vision or the images of the past or the future.

clamped ::: 1. Fastened with or fixed in a clamp (a device for binding, holding, compressing or fastening objects together); hence, fig. Restricted, repressed, tightened down, restrained. 2. Established by authority; imposed clamps. (Sri Aurobindo also employs clamped as an adj.)

clamp ::: n. --> Something rigid that holds fast or binds things together; a piece of wood or metal, used to hold two or more pieces together.
An instrument with a screw or screws by which work is held in its place or two parts are temporarily held together.
A piece of wood placed across another, or inserted into another, to bind or strengthen.
One of a pair of movable pieces of lead, or other soft material, to cover the jaws of a vise and enable it to grasp without


clang ::: v. t. --> To strike together so as to produce a ringing metallic sound. ::: v. i. --> To give out a clang; to resound. ::: n.

clanship ::: n. --> A state of being united together as in a clan; an association under a chieftain.

clap ::: v. t. --> To strike; to slap; to strike, or strike together, with a quick motion, so, as to make a sharp noise; as, to clap one&

clash ::: v. i. --> To make a noise by striking against something; to dash noisily together.
To meet in opposition; to act in a contrary direction; to come onto collision; to interfere. ::: v. t. --> To strike noisily against or together.


clasp ::: v. t. --> To shut or fasten together with, or as with, a clasp; to shut or fasten (a clasp, or that which fastens with a clasp).
To inclose and hold in the hand or with the arms; to grasp; to embrace.
To surround and cling to; to entwine about. ::: n.


class ::: n. --> A group of individuals ranked together as possessing common characteristics; as, the different classes of society; the educated class; the lower classes.
A number of students in a school or college, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies.
A comprehensive division of animate or inanimate objects, grouped together on account of their common characteristics, in any classification in natural science, and subdivided into orders,


clatter ::: v. i. --> To make a rattling sound by striking hard bodies together; to make a succession of abrupt, rattling sounds.
To talk fast and noisily; to rattle with the tongue. ::: v. t. --> To make a rattling noise with.


claudent ::: a. --> Shutting; confining; drawing together; as, a claudent muscle.

click ::: v. i. --> To make a slight, sharp noise (or a succession of such noises), as by gentle striking; to tick. ::: v. t. --> To move with the sound of a click.
To cause to make a clicking noise, as by striking together, or against something.


clinch ::: v. t. --> To hold firmly; to hold fast by grasping or embracing tightly.
To set closely together; to close tightly; as, to clinch the teeth or the first.
To bend or turn over the point of (something that has been driven through an object), so that it will hold fast; as, to clinch a nail.
To make conclusive; to confirm; to establish; as, to


cling ::: 1. To come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation 2. To hold fast or adhere to as if by embracing. 3. To be emotionally or intellectually attached or remain close to. 4. To hold on tightly or tenaciously to. 5. To remain attached as to an idea, hope, memory, etc. clings, clung, clinging.

cling ::: v. i. --> To adhere closely; to stick; to hold fast, especially by twining round or embracing; as, the tendril of a vine clings to its support; -- usually followed by to or together. ::: v. t. --> To cause to adhere to, especially by twining round or embracing.

clinker ::: n. --> A mass composed of several bricks run together by the action of the fire in the kiln.
Scoria or vitrified incombustible matter, formed in a grate or furnace where anthracite coal in used; vitrified or burnt matter ejected from a volcano; slag.
A scale of oxide of iron, formed in forging.
A kind of brick. See Dutch clinker, under Dutch.


clink ::: v. i. --> To cause to give out a slight, sharp, tinkling, sound, as by striking metallic or other sonorous bodies together.
To give out a slight, sharp, tinkling sound.
To rhyme. [Humorous]. ::: n. --> A slight, sharp, tinkling sound, made by the collision of


clique ::: v. i. --> A narrow circle of persons associated by common interests or for the accomplishment of a common purpose; -- generally used in a bad sense.
To To associate together in a clannish way; to act with others secretly to gain a desired end; to plot; -- used with together.


clod ::: a lump or mass that adheres together; esp. of earth or clay.

close ::: n. --> To stop, or fill up, as an opening; to shut; as, to close the eyes; to close a door.
To bring together the parts of; to consolidate; as, to close the ranks of an army; -- often used with up.
To bring to an end or period; to conclude; to complete; to finish; to end; to consummate; as, to close a bargain; to close a course of instruction.
To come or gather around; to inclose; to encompass; to


clubbish ::: a. --> Rude; clownish.
Disposed to club together; as, a clubbish set.


cluck ::: v. i. --> To make the noise, or utter the call, of a brooding hen. ::: v. t. --> To call together, or call to follow, as a hen does her chickens. ::: n.

clustering ::: a number of things of the same kind, growing or held together; a bunch. 2. A group of things or persons close together.

cluster ::: n. --> A number of things of the same kind growing together; a bunch.
A number of similar things collected together or lying contiguous; a group; as, a cluster of islands.
A number of individuals grouped together or collected in one place; a crowd; a mob. ::: v. i.


clusters ::: a group of the same or similar elements gathered or occurring closely together.

clutter ::: n. --> A confused collection; hence, confusion; disorder; as, the room is in a clutter.
Clatter; confused noise.
To clot or coagulate, as blood. ::: v. t. --> To crowd together in disorder; to fill or cover with


coacervation ::: n. --> A heaping together.

coact ::: v. t. --> To force; to compel; to drive. ::: v. i. --> To act together; to work in concert; to unite.

co- ::: --> A form of the prefix com-, signifying with, together, in conjunction, joint. It is used before vowels and some consonants. See Com-.

coagmentation ::: n. --> The act of joining, or the state of being joined, together; union.

coagment ::: v. t. --> To join together.

coalescence ::: n. --> The act or state of growing together, as similar parts; the act of uniting by natural affinity or attraction; the state of being united; union; concretion.

coalescent ::: a. --> Growing together; cohering, as in the organic cohesion of similar parts; uniting.

coalesce ::: n. --> To grow together; to unite by growth into one body; as, the parts separated by a wound coalesce.
To unite in one body or product; to combine into one body or community; as, vapors coalesce.


coarctate ::: a. --> To press together; to crowd; to straiten; to confine closely.
To restrain; to confine.
Pressed together; closely connected; -- applied to insects having the abdomen separated from the thorax only by a constriction.


cobwork ::: a. --> Built of logs, etc., laid horizontally, with the ends dovetailed together at the corners, as in a log house; in marine work, often surrounding a central space filled with stones; as, a cobwork dock or breakwater.

coeducation ::: n. --> An educating together, as of persons of different sexes or races.

coefficient ::: a. --> Cooperating; acting together to produce an effect. ::: n. --> That which unites in action with something else to produce the same effect.
A number or letter put before a letter or quantity, known or unknown, to show how many times the latter is to be taken; as,


cohabitation ::: n. --> The act or state of dwelling together, or in the same place with another.
The living together of a man and woman in supposed sexual relationship.


cohabit ::: v. --> To inhabit or reside in company, or in the same place or country.
To dwell or live together as husband and wife.


cohere ::: a. --> To stick together; to cleave; to be united; to hold fast, as parts of the same mass.
To be united or connected together in subordination to one purpose; to follow naturally and logically, as the parts of a discourse, or as arguments in a train of reasoning; to be logically consistent.
To suit; to agree; to fit.


coherency ::: n. --> A sticking or cleaving together; union of parts of the same body; cohesion.
Connection or dependence, proceeding from the subordination of the parts of a thing to one principle or purpose, as in the parts of a discourse, or of a system of philosophy; consecutiveness.


coherent ::: a. --> Sticking together; cleaving; as the parts of bodies; solid or fluid.
Composed of mutually dependent parts; making a logical whole; consistent; as, a coherent plan, argument, or discourse.
Logically consistent; -- applied to persons; as, a coherent thinker.
Suitable or suited; adapted; accordant.


cohesion ::: n. --> The act or state of sticking together; close union.
That from of attraction by which the particles of a body are united throughout the mass, whether like or unlike; -- distinguished from adhesion, which unites bodies by their adjacent surfaces.
Logical agreement and dependence; as, the cohesion of ideas.


cohesive ::: a. --> Holding the particles of a homogeneous body together; as, cohesive attraction; producing cohesion; as, a cohesive force.
Cohering, or sticking together, as in a mass; capable of cohering; tending to cohere; as, cohesive clay.


coinhere ::: v. i. --> To inhere or exist together, as in one substance.

coition ::: n. --> A coming together; sexual intercourse; copulation.

collaboration ::: co-operation; working together harmoniously, especially in a joint intellectual effort.

collected ::: brought or placed together; forming an aggregation from various sources.

combine ::: to integrate or cause to be integrated; join together. combined.

commingling ::: causing to blend together; mixing.

company ::: 1. A number of people gathered together; assembly. 2. A number of persons united or incorporated for joint action. companies.

compose ::: to make or create by putting together parts or elements.

compressing ::: pressing together to force into less space; condensing.

compression ::: 1. The act or process of compressing. 2. The process or result of constricting; becoming smaller or pressed together.

concentration ::: “Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” Letters on Yoga

CONCENTRATION ::: Fixing the consciousness in one place or on one object and in a single condition.

A gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g. the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point.

Concentration is necessary, first to turn the whole will and mind from the discursive divagation natural to them, following a dispersed movement of the thoughts, running after many-branching desires, led away in the track of the senses and the outward mental response to phenomena; we have to fix the will and the thought on the eternal and real behind all, and this demands an immense effort, a one-pointed concentration. Secondly, it is necessary in order to break down the veil which is erected by our ordinary mentality between ourselves and the truth; for outer knowledge can be picked up by the way, by ordinary attention and reception, but the inner, hidden and higher truth can only be seized by an absolute concentration of the mind on its object, an absolute concentration of the will to attain it and, once attained, to hold it habitually and securely unite oneself with it.

Centre of Concentration: The two main places where one can centre the consciousness for yoga are in the head and in the heart - the mind-centre and the soul-centre.

Brain concentration is always a tapasyā and necessarily brings a strain. It is only if one is lifted out of the brain mind altogether that the strain of mental concentration disappears.

At the top of the head or above it is the right place for yogic concentration in reading or thinking.

In whatever centre the concentration takes place, the yoga force generated extends to the others and produces concentration or workings there.

Modes of Concentration: There is no harm in concentrating sometimes in the heart and sometimes above the head. But concentration in either place does not mean keeping the attention fixed on a particular spot; you have to take your station of consciousness in either place and concentrate there not on the place, but on the Divine. This can be done with eyes shut or with eyes open, according as it best suits.

If one concentrates on a thought or a word, one has to dwell on the essential idea contained in the word with the aspiration to feel the thing which it expresses.

There is no method in this yoga except to concentrate, preferably in the heart, and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force to transform the consciousness; one can concentrate also in the head or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is a beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be.

Powers (three) of Concentration ::: By concentration on anything whatsoever we are able to know that thing, to make it deliver up its concealed secrets; we must use this power to know not things, but the one Thing-in-itself. By concentration again the whole will can be gathered up for the acquisition of that which is still ungrasped, still beyond us; this power, if it is sufficiently trained, sufficiently single-minded, sufficiently sincere, sure of itself, faithful to itself alone, absolute in faith, we can use for the acquisition of any object whatsoever; but we ought to use it not for the acquisition of the many objects which the world offers to us, but to grasp spiritually that one object worthy of pursuit which is also the one subject worthy of knowledge. By concentration of our whole being on one status of itself we can become whatever we choose ; we can become, for instance, even if we were before a mass of weaknesses and fears, a mass instead of strength and courage, or we can become all a great purity, holiness and peace or a single universal soul of Love ; but we ought, it is said, to use this power to become not even these things, high as they may be in comparison with what we now are, but rather to become that which is above all things and free from all action and attributes, the pure and absolute Being. All else, all other concentration can only be valuable for preparation, for previous steps, for a gradual training of the dissolute and self-dissipating thought, will and being towards their grand and unique object.

Stages in Concentration (Rajayogic) ::: that in which the object is seized, that in which it is held, that in which the mind is lost in the status which the object represents or to which the concentration leads.

Concentration and Meditation ::: Concentration means fixing the consciousness in one place or one object and in a single condition Meditation can be diffusive,e.g. thinking about the Divine, receiving impressions and discriminating, watching what goes on in the nature and acting upon it etc. Meditation is when the inner mind is looking at things to get the right knowledge.

vide Dhyāna.


Consciousness ; there is a dynamic union of likeness or oneness of nature between That and our instrumental being here. The lirst is the liberation from the Ignorance and identification with the Real and Eternal, inokfa, sayuj}a. which is the characteristic aim of the Yoga of Knowledge. The second, the dwelling of the soul with or in the Divine, sdmipia, salokya, is the intense hope of all Yoga of love and beatitude. The third, identity in nature, likeness to the Divine, to be perfect as That is perfect, sadhannya, is the high intention of all Yoga of power and perfection or of divine works and service. The combined completeness of the three together, founded here on a multiple Unity of the self-

conspire ::: to act or work together toward the same result or goal. conspires, conspired.

contact ::: 1. A coming together or touching, as of objects, surfaces or people. 2. The state or condition of touching or of immediate proximity. contact"s, contacts.

contraction (‘s) ::: the act of contracting, i.e. reducing in size by drawing together; shrinking, or the state of being contracted.

contract ::: to reduce in size by drawing together; shrink; concentrate. contracting.

CONTRADICTIONS. ::: Every man is full of contradictions because he is one person, no doubt, but made up of different personalities. So long as one does not aim at unity in a single dominant intention, like that of seeking and self-dedication to the Divine, they get on somehow together, alternating or quar- relling or muddling through or else one taking the lead and compelling the others to take a minor part — but once you try to unite them in one aim, then the trouble becomes evident.

cord ::: 1. An influence, feeling, or force that binds or restrains; a bond or tie. 2. Fig. Like a thin rope made of several strands woven together to hold the parts of anything. cords, heart-cords.

cosharers ::: those who receive, possess, or occupy (something) together with others.

CRITIC. ::: There is always this critical hostile voice in every- body’s nature, questioning, reasoning, denying the experience itself, suggesting doubt of oneself and doubt of the Divine. One has to recognise it as the voice of the Adversary trying to pre- vent the progress and refuse credence to it altogether.

crowded ::: 1. Filled near or to capacity. 2. Filled with a crowd. 3.* Fig.* packed closely together, as experiences, events; occurrences.

crowded or massed together.

crowd ::: n. 1. A large number of persons gathered tightly together; a throng. 2. The masses. 3. A large number of things or people gathered or considered together; a multitude. crowds. v. 4. To press together into a confined space; assemble in large numbers. 5. To fill, occupy or cram things tightly together. 6. To advance by pressing or shoving. crowds, crowded, crowding.

cult ::: 1. Obsessive, especially faddish, devotion to or veneration for a person, principle, or thing. 2. A specific system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and deity. 3. A group or sect bound together by veneration of the same thing, person, ideal. cults.

delight ::: “… the divine Ananda, the principle of Bliss [is that] from which, in the Vedic conception, the existence of Man, this mental being, is drawn. A secret Delight is the base of existence, its sustaining atmosphere and almost its substance. This Ananda is spoken of in the Taittiriya Upanishad as the ethereal atmosphere of bliss without which nothing could remain in being. In the Aitareya Upanishad Soma, as the lunar deity, is born from the sense-mind in the universal Purusha and, when man is produced, expresses himself again as sense-mentality in the human being. For delight is the raison d’être of sensation, or, we may say, sensation is an attempt to translate the secret delight of existence into the terms of physical consciousness.” The Secret of the Veda

dense ::: 1. Having the component parts closely compacted together; crowded or compact. 2. Relatively opaque; transmitting little light. 3. Intense; extreme. 4. Impenetrable. denser, dense-maned. (Sri Aurobindo also employs the word as a n.)

descent ::: “This descent is felt as a pouring in of calm and peace, of force and power, of light, of joy and ecstasy, of wideness and freedom and knowledge, of a Divine Being or a Presence—sometimes one of these, sometimes several of them or all together.” Letters on Yoga

discord ::: 1. An inharmonious combination of musical tones sounded together. 2. Lack of concord or harmony between persons or things. discords.

DIVINE LIFE. ::: A divine Ufe must be first and foremost an inner life. The divine life will reject nothing that is capable of divinbation ; all is to be seized, exalted, made utterly perfect.

There are always two methods of living in the Supreme. One b to draw away the participation of the consciousness from things altogether and go so much inwards as to be separated from existence and live in contact with that which is beyond it. The other is to gel to that which is the true Essence of all things, not allowing oneself to be absorbed and entangled by the external forms.


“Divine Love, in my view of it, is again not something ethereal, cold and far, but a love absolutely intense, intimate and full of unity, closeness and rapture using all the nature for its expression.” Letters on Yoga

divine love ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Divine Love, in my view of it, is again not something ethereal, cold and far, but a love absolutely intense, intimate and full of unity, closeness and rapture using all the nature for its expression.” *Letters on Yoga

Do not imagine that truth and falwhood, light and darkness, surrender and selfishness can be allowed to dwell together in

dragon of the dark foundation ::: Sri Aurobindo: "All this action and struggle and ascension is supported by Heaven our Father and Earth our Mother, Parents of the Gods, who sustain respectively the purely mental and psychic and the physical consciousness. Their large and free scope is the condition of our achievement. Vayu, Master of life, links them together by the mid-air, the region of vital force. And there are other deities, — Parjanya, giver of the rain of heaven; Dadhikravan, the divine war-horse, a power of Agni; the mystic Dragon of the Foundations; Trita Aptya who on the third plane of existence consummates our triple being; and more besides.” The Secret of the Veda

dreamy ::: resembling a dream; ethereal or vague.

Ecstasy ::: “It has been held that ecstasy is a lower and transient passage, the peace of the Supreme is the supreme realisation, the consummate abiding experience. This may be true on the spiritual-mind plane: there the first ecstasy felt is indeed a spiritual rapture, but it can be and is very usually mingled with a supreme happiness of the vital parts taken up by the Spirit; there is an exaltation, exultation, excitement, a highest intensity of the joy of the heart and the pure inner soul-sensation that can be a splendid passage or an uplifting force but is not the ultimate permanent foundation. But in the highest ascents of the spiritual bliss there is not this vehement exaltation and excitement; there is instead an illimitable intensity of participation in an eternal ecstasy which is founded on the eternal Existence and therefore on a beatific tranquillity of eternal peace. Peace and ecstasy cease to be different and become one. The Supermind, reconciling and fusing all differences as well as all contradictions, brings out this unity; a wide calm and a deep delight of all-existence are among its first steps of self-realisation, but this calm and this delight rise together, as one state, into an increasing intensity and culminate in the eternal ecstasy, the bliss that is the Infinite.” The Life Divine

Effect of food ::: There is a certain usually fixed relation between the consciousness in the palate and the gimas of the food, but the cctnsciousness can alter the relation if it wants or inhibit it altogether.

ego ::: “Ego is only a faculty put forward by the discriminative mind to centralise round itself the experiences of the sense-mind and to serve as a sort of lynch-pin in the wheel which keeps together the movement. It is no more than an instrument, although it is true that so long as we are limited by our normal mentality, we are compelled by the nature of that mentality and the purpose of the instrument to mistake our ego-function for our very self.” The Upanishads

elements ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The first ripple or vibration in causal matter creates a new and exceedingly fine and pervasive condition of matter called Akasha or Ether; more complex motion evolves out of Ether a somewhat intenser condition which is called Vayu, Air; and so by ever more complex motion with increasing intensity of condition for result, yet three other matter-states are successively developed, Agni or Fire, Apah or Water and Prithvi or Earth.” *Supplement to the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library

elements ::: “The first ripple or vibration in causal matter creates a new and exceedingly fine and pervasive condition of matter called Akasha or Ether; more complex motion evolves out of Ether a somewhat intenser condition which is called Vayu, Air; and so by ever more complex motion with increasing intensity of condition for result, yet three other matter-states are successively developed, Agni or Fire, Apah or Water and Prithvi or Earth.” Supplement to the Sri Aurobindo Birth Centenary Library

engross ::: 1. To devote (oneself) fully to; consume all of one"s attention or time. 2. To acquire the entire use of, take altogether to itself; to occupy entirely, monopolise. engrossed, engrossing.

ensemble ::: all the parts of something considered together and in relation to the whole.

FAMILY DUTIES. ::: They exist so long os one is in the ordi- nary consciousness of (he sfbasiha ;* if the call to a spiritual life comes, whether one keeps to them or not depends partly upon the way of yoga one follows, partly on one’s own spiritual necessity. There are many who pursue inwardly the spiritual life and keep the family duties, not as social duties but as a field for the practice of karmayoga, others abandon everything to follow the spiritual call or line and they are justified if that is necessary for the yoga they practise or If that is the impera- tive demand of the sou! within (hem.

fastened or tied; tethered; harnessed.

  Fastened with or fixed in a clamp (a device for binding, holding, compressing or fastening objects together); hence, fig. Restricted, repressed, tightened down, restrained. 2. Established by authority; imposed clamps. (Sri Aurobindo also employs clamped as an adj.)

::: **"Fear and anxiety are perverse forms of will. What thou fearest & ponderest over, striking that note repeatedly in thy mind, thou helpest to bring about; for, if thy will above the surface of waking repels it, it is yet what thy mind underneath is all along willing, & the subconscious mind is mightier, wider, better equipped to fulfil than thy waking force & intellect. But the spirit is stronger than both together; from fear and hope take refuge in the grandiose calm and careless mastery of the spirit.” Essays Divine and Human

“Fear and anxiety are perverse forms of will. What thou fearest & ponderest over, striking that note repeatedly in thy mind, thou helpest to bring about; for, if thy will above the surface of waking repels it, it is yet what thy mind underneath is all along willing, & the subconscious mind is mightier, wider, better equipped to fulfil than thy waking force & intellect. But the spirit is stronger than both together; from fear and hope take refuge in the grandiose calm and careless mastery of the spirit.” Essays Divine and Human

fear ::: n. 1. A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid. v. 2. To regard with fear; be afraid of. 3. To have reverential awe of.** fear"s, fears, feared, fearing, fear-filled.

"First, we affirm an Absolute as the origin and support and secret Reality of all things. The Absolute Reality is indefinable and ineffable by mental thought and mental language; it is self-existent and self-evident to itself, as all absolutes are self-evident, but our mental affirmatives and negatives, whether taken separatively or together, cannot limit or define it.” The Life Divine

“First, we affirm an Absolute as the origin and support and secret Reality of all things. The Absolute Reality is indefinable and ineffable by mental thought and mental language; it is self-existent and self-evident to itself, as all absolutes are self-evident, but our mental affirmatives and negatives, whether taken separatively or together, cannot limit or define it.” The Life Divine

-flocks ::: groups of animals or birds that live, travel, or feed together. moon-flocks.

folded ::: 1. Enclosed, wrapped, enveloped. 2. Clasped as in prayer. 3. Brought (the arms, hands, etc.) together in an intertwined or crossed manner; clasped, crossed.

forsake ::: 1. To give up (something formerly held dear); renounce. 2. To leave altogether; abandon. forsaking.

::: "For the inner knowledge comes from within and above (whether from the Divine in the heart or from the Self above) and for it to come, the pride of the mind and vital in the surface mental ideas and their insistence on them must go. One must know that one is ignorant before one can begin to know.” Letters on Yoga

“For the inner knowledge comes from within and above (whether from the Divine in the heart or from the Self above) and for it to come, the pride of the mind and vital in the surface mental ideas and their insistence on them must go. One must know that one is ignorant before one can begin to know.” Letters on Yoga

“From our ascending point of view we may say that the Real is behind all that exists; it expresses itself intermediately in an Ideal which is a harmonised truth of itself; the Ideal throws out a phenomenal reality of variable conscious-being which, inevitably drawn towards its own essential Reality, tries at last to recover it entirely whether by a violent leap or normally through the Ideal which put it forth. It is this that explains the imperfect reality of human existence as seen by the Mind, the instinctive aspiration in the mental being towards a perfectibility ever beyond itself, towards the concealed harmony of the Ideal, and the supreme surge of the spirit beyond the ideal to the transcendental.” The Life Divine

fuse ::: to become mixed or united by or as if by melting together. fusing.

gang ::: a group that has banded together for mutual protection and profit. Also fig.

gather ::: v. 1. To accumulate something (things or people) gradually; amass. 2. To summon up; muster. 3. To come together around a single point; collect, assemble. 4. To accumulate; increase. 5. To draw and bring closer. 6. To draw around or close. gathers, gathered, gathering, fast-gathering.

go together. It is true that at first surrender can be made through knowledge by the mind but it implies a mental bhakti and, as soon as the surrender reaches the heart, the bhalcti manifests as a feeling and with the feeling of bhakti love comes.

grain ::: fig. Quality, nature, temper; inclination, tendency. 2. The smallest possible amount or size of anything. 3. Small hard seeds, esp. the seeds of food plants such as wheat, corn, rye, oats, rice, or millet; the plants themselves whether reaped or standing. grains.

gross ::: 1. Used in reference to material things that the senses can perceive in contrast to those that are spiritual or ethereal. 2. Thick; dense; heavy. grosser, grossly.

group ::: n. 1. An assemblage of persons or objects gathered or located together; an aggregation. groups. v. 2. To arrange in or form into a group or groups. grouped.

“He is the Cosmic Spirit and all-creating Energy around us; he is the Immanent within us. All that is is he, and he is the More than all that is, and we ourselves, though we know it not, are being of his being, force of his force, conscious with a consciousness derived from his; even our mortal existence is made out of his substance and there is an immortal within us that is a spark of the Light and Bliss that are for ever. No matter whether by knowledge, works, love or any other means, to become aware of this truth of our being, to realise it, to make it effective here or elsewhere is the object of all Yoga.” The Synthesis of Yoga

herd ::: 1. A number of animals kept, feeding, or travelling together; drove; flock. 2. The multitude, the common people, the masses. herds, sun-herds.

herding ::: to gather together or be collected into or as if into a herd.

  Here an ampler ether spreads over the plains and clothes them in purple light, and they have a sun of their own and their own stars.

:::   Here an ampler ether spreads over the plains and clothes them in purple light, and they have a sun of their own and their own stars.

  "I find it difficult to take these psycho-analysts at all seriously when they try to scrutinise spiritual experience by the flicker of their torch-lights, — yet perhaps one ought to, for half-knowledge is a powerful thing and can be a great obstacle to the coming in front of the true Truth. This new psychology looks to me very much like children learning some summary and not very adequate alphabet, exulting in putting their a-b-c-d of the subconscient and the mysterious underground super-ego together and imagining that their first book of obscure beginnings (c-a-t cat, t-r-e-e tree) is the very heart of the real knowledge. They look from down up and explain the higher lights by the lower obscurities; but the foundation of these things is above and not below, upari budhna esam.” Letters on Yoga

“I find it difficult to take these psycho-analysts at all seriously when they try to scrutinise spiritual experience by the flicker of their torch-lights,—yet perhaps one ought to, for half-knowledge is a powerful thing and can be a great obstacle to the coming in front of the true Truth. This new psychology looks to me very much like children learning some summary and not very adequate alphabet, exulting in putting their a-b-c-d of the subconscient and the mysterious underground super-ego together and imagining that their first book of obscure beginnings (c-a-t cat, t-r-e-e tree) is the very heart of the real knowledge. They look from down up and explain the higher lights by the lower obscurities; but the foundation of these things is above and not below, upari budhna esam.” Letters on Yoga

If we regard the Powers of the Reality as so many Godheads, we can say that the Overmind releases a million Godheads into action, each empowered to create its own world, each world capable of relation, communication and interplay with the others. There are in the Veda different formulations of the nature of the Gods: it is said they are all one Existence to which the sages give different names; yet each God is worshipped as if he by himself is that Existence, one who is all the other Gods together or contains them in his being; and yet again each is a separate Deity acting sometimes in unison with companion deities, sometimes separately, sometimes even in apparent opposition to other Godheads of the same Existence. In the Supermind all this would be held together as a harmonised play of the one Existence; in the Overmind each of these three conditions could be a separate action or basis of action and have its own principle of development and consequences and yet each keep the power to combine with the others in a more composite harmony. As with the One Existence, so with its Consciousness and Force. The One Consciousness is separated into many independent forms of consciousness and knowledge; each follows out its own line of truth which it has to realise. The one total and many-sided Real-Idea is split up into its many sides; each becomes an independent Idea-Force with the power to realise itself. The one Consciousness-Force is liberated into its million forces, and each of these forces has the right to fulfil itself or to assume, if needed, a hegemony and take up for its own utility the other forces. So too the Delight of Existence is loosed out into all manner of delights and each can carry in itself its independent fullness or sovereign extreme. Overmind thus gives to the One Existence-Consciousness-Bliss the character of a teeming of infinite possibilities which can be developed into a multitude of worlds or thrown together into one world in which the endlessly variable…

If you want to remain' conscious at night, train yourself to make your sleep conscious — not to eliminate sleep altogether , but to transform it.

I have objected in the past to vairdgyn of the ascetic kind and the tamasic kind. By ascetic vairagya I mean that which denies life and world altogether and wants to disappear into the

"I have started writing about doubt, but even in doing so I am afflicted by the ‘doubt" whether any amount of writing or of anything else can ever persuade the eternal doubt in man which is the penalty of his native ignorance. In the first place, to write adequately would mean anything from 60 to 600 pages, but not even 6000 convincing pages would convince doubt. For doubt exists for its own sake; its very function is to doubt always and, even when convinced, to go on doubting still; it is only to persuade its entertainer to give it board and lodging that it pretends to be an honest truth-seeker. This is a lesson I have learnt from the experience both of my own mind and of the minds of others; the only way to get rid of doubt is to take discrimination as one"s detector of truth and falsehood and under its guard to open the door freely and courageously to experience.” Letters on Yoga

I have started writing about doubt, but even in doing so I am afflicted by the ‘doubt’ whether any amount of writing or of anything else can ever persuade the eternal doubt in man which is the penalty of his native ignorance. In the first place, to write adequately would mean anything from 60 to 600 pages, but not even 6000 convincing pages would convince doubt. For doubt exists for its own sake; its very function is to doubt always and, even when convinced, to go on doubting still; it is only to persuade its entertainer to give it board and lodging that it pretends to be an honest truth-seeker. This is a lesson I have learnt from the experience both of my own mind and of the minds of others; the only way to get rid of doubt is to take discrimination as one’s detector of truth and falsehood and under its guard to open the door freely and courageously to experience.” Letters on Yoga

in a complete or utter manner; to an absolute or extreme degree; altogether, entirely, absolutely; fully, thoroughly.

individual ::: “But what do we mean by the individual? What we usually call by that name is a natural ego, a device of Nature which holds together her action in the mind and body. This ego has to be extinguished, otherwise there is no complete liberation possible; but the individual self or soul is not this ego. The individual soul is the spiritual being which is sometimes described as an eternal portion of the Divine, but can also be described as the Divine himself supporting his manifestation as the Many. This is the true spiritual individual which appears in its complete truth when we get rid of the ego and our false separative senseof individuality, realise our oneness with the transcendent and cosmic Divine and with all beings.” Letters on Yoga

In its nature and law the Overmind is a delegate of the Supermind Consciousness, its delegate to the Ignorance. Or we might speak of it as a protective double, a screen of dissimilar similarity through which Supermind can act indirectly on an Ignorance whose darkness could not bear or receive the direct impact of a supreme Light. Even, it is by the projection of this luminous Overmind corona that the diffusion of a diminished light in the Ignorance and the throwing of that contrary shadow which swallows up in itself all light, the Inconscience, became at all possible. For Supermind transmits to Overmind all its realities, but leaves it to formulate them in a movement and according to an awareness of things which is still a vision of Truth and yet at the same time a first parent of the Ignorance. A line divides Supermind and Overmind which permits a free transmission, allows the lower Power to derive from the higher Power all it holds or sees, but automatically compels a transitional change in the passage. The integrality of the Supermind keeps always the essential truth of things, the total truth and the truth of its individual self-determinations clearly knit together; it maintains in them an inseparable unity and between them a close interpenetration and a free and full consciousness of each other: but in Overmind this integrality is no longer there. And yet the Overmind is well aware of the essential Truth of things; it embraces the totality; it uses the individual self-determinations without being limited by them: but although it knows their oneness, can realise it in a spiritual cognition, yet its dynamic movement, even while relying on that for its security, is not directly determined by it. Overmind Energy proceeds through an illimitable capacity of separation and combination of the powers and aspects of the integral and indivisible all-comprehending Unity. It takes each Aspect or Power and gives to it an independent action in which it acquires a full separate importance and is able to work out, we might say, its own world of creation. Purusha and Prakriti, Conscious Soul and executive Force of Nature, are in the supramental harmony a two-aspected single truth, being and dynamis of the Reality; there can be no disequilibrium or predominance of one over the other. In Overmind we have the origin of the cleavage, the trenchant distinction made by the philosophy of the Sankhyas in which they appear as two independent entities, Prakriti able to dominate Purusha and cloud its freedom and power, reducing it to a witness and recipient of her forms and actions, Purusha able to return to its separate existence and abide in a free self-sovereignty by rejection of her original overclouding material principle. So with the other aspects or powers of the Divine Reality, One and Many, Divine Personality and Divine Impersonality, and the rest; each is still an aspect and power of the one Reality, but each is empowered to act as an independent entity in the whole, arrive at the fullness of the possibilities of its separate expression and develop the dynamic consequences of that separateness. At the same time in Overmind this separateness is still founded on the basis of an implicit underlying unity; all possibilities of combination and relation between the separated Powers and Aspects, all interchanges and mutualities of their energies are freely organised and their actuality always possible.

In orthodox Buddhism it does mean a disintegration, not of the soul — for that does not exist — but of a mental compound or stream of associations or samskaras which we mistake for our self. In illusionist Vedanta it means not a disintegration but a disappearance of a false and unreal individual self into the one real Self or Brahman j it is the idea and experience of indivi- duality that so disappears and ceases — we may say a false light that is extinguished {nirvana) in the true Light. In spiritual experience it is sometimes the loss of all sense of individuality in a boundless cosmic consciousness ; what was the individual remains only as a centre or a channel for the flow of a cosmic consciousness and cosmic force and action. Or it may be the experience of the loss of individuality in a transcendent being and consciousness in which the sense of the cosmos as well as the individual disappears. Or again, it may be in a transcend- ence which is aware of and supports the cosmic action. But what do we mean by the individual ? What we usually call by that name is a natural ego, a device of nature which holds together her action in the mind and body. This ego has to be extinguished, otherwise there is no complete liberation possible ; but the individual self is not this ego. The individual soul Is a spiritual being which is sometimes described as an eternal por- tion of the Divine but can also be described as the Divine him- self supporting his manifestation as the Many. This is the true spiritual individual which appears in its complete truth when we get rid of the ego and our false separative sense of individuality, realise our oneness with the transcendent and cosmic Divine and with all beings. It is this which makes possible the Divine Life.

INTEGRAL YOGA ::: This yoga accepts the value of cosmic existence and holds it to be a reality; its object is to enter into a higher Truth-Consciousness or Divine Supramental Consciousness in which action and creation are the expression not of ignorance and imperfection, but of the Truth, the Light, the Divine Ānanda. But for that, the surrender of the mortal mind, life and body to the Higher Consciousnessis indispensable, since it is too difficult for the mortal human being to pass by its own effort beyond mind to a Supramental Consciousness in which the dynamism is no longer mental but of quite another power. Only those who can accept the call to such a change should enter into this yoga.

Aim of the Integral Yoga ::: It is not merely to rise out of the ordinary ignorant world-consciousness into the divine consciousness, but to bring the supramental power of that divine consciousness down into the ignorance of mind, life and body, to transform them, to manifest the Divine here and create a divine life in Matter.

Conditions of the Integral Yoga ::: This yoga can only be done to the end by those who are in total earnest about it and ready to abolish their little human ego and its demands in order to find themselves in the Divine. It cannot be done in a spirit of levity or laxity; the work is too high and difficult, the adverse powers in the lower Nature too ready to take advantage of the least sanction or the smallest opening, the aspiration and tapasyā needed too constant and intense.

Method in the Integral Yoga ::: To concentrate, preferably in the heart and call the presence and power of the Mother to take up the being and by the workings of her force transform the consciousness. One can concentrate also in the head or between the eye-brows, but for many this is a too difficult opening. When the mind falls quiet and the concentration becomes strong and the aspiration intense, then there is the beginning of experience. The more the faith, the more rapid the result is likely to be. For the rest one must not depend on one’s own efforts only, but succeed in establishing a contact with the Divine and a receptivity to the Mother’s Power and Presence.

Integral method ::: The method we have to pursue is to put our whole conscious being into relation and contact with the Divine and to call Him in to transform Our entire being into His, so that in a sense God Himself, the real Person in us, becomes the sādhaka of the sādhana* as well as the Master of the Yoga by whom the lower personality is used as the centre of a divine transfiguration and the instrument of its own perfection. In effect, the pressure of the Tapas, the force of consciousness in us dwelling in the Idea of the divine Nature upon that which we are in our entirety, produces its own realisation. The divine and all-knowing and all-effecting descends upon the limited and obscure, progressively illumines and energises the whole lower nature and substitutes its own action for all the terms of the inferior human light and mortal activity.

In psychological fact this method translates itself into the progressive surrender of the ego with its whole field and all its apparatus to the Beyond-ego with its vast and incalculable but always inevitable workings. Certainly, this is no short cut or easy sādhana. It requires a colossal faith, an absolute courage and above all an unflinching patience. For it implies three stages of which only the last can be wholly blissful or rapid, - the attempt of the ego to enter into contact with the Divine, the wide, full and therefore laborious preparation of the whole lower Nature by the divine working to receive and become the higher Nature, and the eventual transformation. In fact, however, the divine strength, often unobserved and behind the veil, substitutes itself for the weakness and supports us through all our failings of faith, courage and patience. It” makes the blind to see and the lame to stride over the hills.” The intellect becomes aware of a Law that beneficently insists and a Succour that upholds; the heart speaks of a Master of all things and Friend of man or a universal Mother who upholds through all stumblings. Therefore this path is at once the most difficult imaginable and yet in comparison with the magnitude of its effort and object, the most easy and sure of all.

There are three outstanding features of this action of the higher when it works integrally on the lower nature. In the first place, it does not act according to a fixed system and succession as in the specialised methods of Yoga, but with a sort of free, scattered and yet gradually intensive and purposeful working determined by the temperament of the individual in whom it operates, the helpful materials which his nature offers and the obstacles which it presents to purification and perfection. In a sense, therefore, each man in this path has his own method of Yoga. Yet are there certain broad lines of working common to all which enable us to construct not indeed a routine system, but yet some kind of Shastra or scientific method of the synthetic Yoga.

Secondly, the process, being integral, accepts our nature such as it stands organised by our past evolution and without rejecting anything essential compels all to undergo a divine change. Everything in us is seized by the hands of a mighty Artificer and transformed into a clear image of that which it now seeks confusedly to present. In that ever-progressive experience we begin to perceive how this lower manifestation is constituted and that everything in it, however seemingly deformed or petty or vile, is the more or less distorted or imperfect figure of some elements or action in the harmony of the divine Nature. We begin to understand what the Vedic Rishis meant when they spoke of the human forefathers fashioning the gods as a smith forges the crude material in his smithy.

Thirdly, the divine Power in us uses all life as the means of this integral Yoga. Every experience and outer contact with our world-environment, however trifling or however disastrous, is used for the work, and every inner experience, even to the most repellent suffering or the most humiliating fall, becomes a step on the path to perfection. And we recognise in ourselves with opened eyes the method of God in the world, His purpose of light in the obscure, of might in the weak and fallen, of delight in what is grievous and miserable. We see the divine method to be the same in the lower and in the higher working; only in the one it is pursued tardily and obscurely through the subconscious in Nature, in the other it becomes swift and selfconscious and the instrument confesses the hand of the Master. All life is a Yoga of Nature seeking to manifest God within itself. Yoga marks the stage at which this effort becomes capable of self-awareness and therefore of right completion in the individual. It is a gathering up and concentration of the movements dispersed and loosely combined in the lower evolution.

Key-methods ::: The way to devotion and surrender. It is the psychic movement that brings the constant and pure devotion and the removal of the ego that makes it possible to surrender.

The way to knowledge. Meditation in the head by which there comes the opening above, the quietude or silence of the mind and the descent of peace etc. of the higher consciousness generally till it envelops the being and fills the body and begins to take up all the movements.
Yoga by works ::: Separation of the Purusha from the Prakriti, the inner silent being from the outer active one, so that one has two consciousnesses or a double consciousness, one behind watching and observing and finally controlling and changing the other which is active in front. The other way of beginning the yoga of works is by doing them for the Divine, for the Mother, and not for oneself, consecrating and dedicating them till one concretely feels the Divine Force taking up the activities and doing them for one.

Object of the Integral Yoga is to enter into and be possessed by the Divine Presence and Consciousness, to love the Divine for the Divine’s sake alone, to be tuned in our nature into the nature of the Divine, and in our will and works and life to be the instrument of the Divine.

Principle of the Integral Yoga ::: The whole principle of Integral Yoga is to give oneself entirely to the Divine alone and to nobody else, and to bring down into ourselves by union with the Divine Mother all the transcendent light, power, wideness, peace, purity, truth-consciousness and Ānanda of the Supramental Divine.

Central purpose of the Integral Yoga ::: Transformation of our superficial, narrow and fragmentary human way of thinking, seeing, feeling and being into a deep and wide spiritual consciousness and an integrated inner and outer existence and of our ordinary human living into the divine way of life.

Fundamental realisations of the Integral Yoga ::: The psychic change so that a complete devotion can be the main motive of the heart and the ruler of thought, life and action in constant union with the Mother and in her Presence. The descent of the Peace, Power, Light etc. of the Higher Consciousness through the head and heart into the whole being, occupying the very cells of the body. The perception of the One and Divine infinitely everywhere, the Mother everywhere and living in that infinite consciousness.

Results ::: First, an integral realisation of Divine Being; not only a realisation of the One in its indistinguishable unity, but also in its multitude of aspects which are also necessary to the complete knowledge of it by the relative consciousness; not only realisation of unity in the Self, but of unity in the infinite diversity of activities, worlds and creatures.

Therefore, also, an integral liberation. Not only the freedom born of unbroken contact of the individual being in all its parts with the Divine, sāyujya mukti, by which it becomes free even in its separation, even in the duality; not only the sālokya mukti by which the whole conscious existence dwells in the same status of being as the Divine, in the state of Sachchidananda ; but also the acquisition of the divine nature by the transformation of this lower being into the human image of the divine, sādharmya mukti, and the complete and final release of all, the liberation of the consciousness from the transitory mould of the ego and its unification with the One Being, universal both in the world and the individual and transcendentally one both in the world and beyond all universe.

By this integral realisation and liberation, the perfect harmony of the results of Knowledge, Love and Works. For there is attained the complete release from ego and identification in being with the One in all and beyond all. But since the attaining consciousness is not limited by its attainment, we win also the unity in Beatitude and the harmonised diversity in Love, so that all relations of the play remain possible to us even while we retain on the heights of our being the eternal oneness with the Beloved. And by a similar wideness, being capable of a freedom in spirit that embraces life and does not depend upon withdrawal from life, we are able to become without egoism, bondage or reaction the channel in our mind and body for a divine action poured out freely upon the world.

The divine existence is of the nature not only of freedom, but of purity, beatitude and perfection. In integral purity which shall enable on the one hand the perfect reflection of the divine Being in ourselves and on the other the perfect outpouring of its Truth and Law in us in the terms of life and through the right functioning of the complex instrument we are in our outer parts, is the condition of an integral liberty. Its result is an integral beatitude, in which there becomes possible at once the Ānanda of all that is in the world seen as symbols of the Divine and the Ānanda of that which is not-world. And it prepares the integral perfection of our humanity as a type of the Divine in the conditions of the human manifestation, a perfection founded on a certain free universality of being, of love and joy, of play of knowledge and of play of will in power and will in unegoistic action. This integrality also can be attained by the integral Yoga.

Sādhanā of the Integral Yoga does not proceed through any set mental teaching or prescribed forms of meditation, mantras or others, but by aspiration, by a self-concentration inwards or upwards, by a self-opening to an Influence, to the Divine Power above us and its workings, to the Divine Presence in the heart and by the rejection of all that is foreign to these things. It is only by faith, aspiration and surrender that this self-opening can come.

The yoga does not proceed by upadeśa but by inner influence.

Integral Yoga and Gita ::: The Gita’s Yoga consists in the offering of one’s work as a sacrifice to the Divine, the conquest of desire, egoless and desireless action, bhakti for the Divine, an entering into the cosmic consciousness, the sense of unity with all creatures, oneness with the Divine. This yoga adds the bringing down of the supramental Light and Force (its ultimate aim) and the transformation of the nature.

Our yoga is not identical with the yoga of the Gita although it contains all that is essential in the Gita’s yoga. In our yoga we begin with the idea, the will, the aspiration of the complete surrender; but at the same time we have to reject the lower nature, deliver our consciousness from it, deliver the self involved in the lower nature by the self rising to freedom in the higher nature. If we do not do this double movement, we are in danger of making a tamasic and therefore unreal surrender, making no effort, no tapas and therefore no progress ; or else we make a rajasic surrender not to the Divine but to some self-made false idea or image of the Divine which masks our rajasic ego or something still worse.

Integral Yoga, Gita and Tantra ::: The Gita follows the Vedantic tradition which leans entirely on the Ishvara aspect of the Divine and speaks little of the Divine Mother because its object is to draw back from world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation beyond it.

The Tantric tradition leans on the Shakti or Ishvari aspect and makes all depend on the Divine Mother because its object is to possess and dominate the world-nature and arrive at the supreme realisation through it.

This yoga insists on both the aspects; the surrender to the Divine Mother is essential, for without it there is no fulfilment of the object of the yoga.

Integral Yoga and Hatha-Raja Yogas ::: For an integral yoga the special methods of Rajayoga and Hathayoga may be useful at times in certain stages of the progress, but are not indispensable. Their principal aims must be included in the integrality of the yoga; but they can be brought about by other means. For the methods of the integral yoga must be mainly spiritual, and dependence on physical methods or fixed psychic or psychophysical processes on a large scale would be the substitution of a lower for a higher action. Integral Yoga and Kundalini Yoga: There is a feeling of waves surging up, mounting to the head, which brings an outer unconsciousness and an inner waking. It is the ascending of the lower consciousness in the ādhāra to meet the greater consciousness above. It is a movement analogous to that on which so much stress is laid in the Tantric process, the awakening of the Kundalini, the Energy coiled up and latent in the body and its mounting through the spinal cord and the centres (cakras) and the Brahmarandhra to meet the Divine above. In our yoga it is not a specialised process, but a spontaneous upnish of the whole lower consciousness sometimes in currents or waves, sometimes in a less concrete motion, and on the other side a descent of the Divine Consciousness and its Force into the body.

Integral Yoga and other Yogas ::: The old yogas reach Sachchidananda through the spiritualised mind and depart into the eternally static oneness of Sachchidananda or rather pure Sat (Existence), absolute and eternal or else a pure Non-exist- ence, absolute and eternal. Ours having realised Sachchidananda in the spiritualised mind plane proceeds to realise it in the Supramcntal plane.

The suprcfhe supra-cosmic Sachchidananda is above all. Supermind may be described as its power of self-awareness and W’orld- awareness, the world being known as within itself and not out- side. So to live consciously in the supreme Sachchidananda one must pass through the Supermind.

Distinction ::: The realisation of Self and of the Cosmic being (without which the realisation of the Self is incomplete) are essential steps in our yoga ; it is the end of other yogas, but it is, as it were, the beginning of outs, that is to say, the point where its own characteristic realisation can commence.

It is new as compared with the old yogas (1) Because it aims not at a departure out of world and life into Heaven and Nir- vana, but at a change of life and existence, not as something subordinate or incidental, but as a distinct and central object.

If there is a descent in other yogas, yet it is only an incident on the way or resulting from the ascent — the ascent is the real thing. Here the ascent is the first step, but it is a means for the descent. It is the descent of the new coosdousness attain- ed by the ascent that is the stamp and seal of the sadhana. Even the Tantra and Vaishnavism end in the release from life ; here the object is the divine fulfilment of life.

(2) Because the object sought after is not an individual achievement of divine realisation for the sake of the individual, but something to be gained for the earth-consciousness here, a cosmic, not solely a supra-cosmic acbievement. The thing to be gained also is the bringing of a Power of consciousness (the Supramental) not yet organised or active directly in earth-nature, even in the spiritual life, but yet to be organised and made directly active.

(3) Because a method has been preconized for achieving this purpose which is as total and integral as the aim set before it, viz., the total and integral change of the consciousness and nature, taking up old methods, but only as a part action and present aid to others that are distinctive.

Integral Yoga and Patanjali Yoga ::: Cilia is the stuff of mixed mental-vital-physical consciousness out of which arise the movements of thought, emotion, sensation, impulse etc.

It is these that in the Patanjali system have to be stilled altogether so that the consciousness may be immobile and go into Samadhi.

Our yoga has a different function. The movements of the ordinary consciousness have to be quieted and into the quietude there has to be brought down a higher consciousness and its powers which will transform the nature.


intertwined ::: united as if entwined together.

In this joga the consciousness (after the lower field has been prepared by a certain amount of psycho-spiritual-occult experi- ence) is drawn upwards above the Brahmarandhra to ranges above belonging to the spiritual consciousness proper and instead of merely receiving from there has to live there and from there change the lower consciousness altogether. For there is a dyna- mism proper to the spiritual consciousness whose nature is Light,

In this simultaneous development of multitudinous independent or combined Powers or Potentials there is yet—or there is as yet—no chaos, no conflict, no fall from Truth or Knowledge. The Overmind is a creator of truths, not of illusions or falsehoods: what is worked out in any given overmental energism or movement is the truth of the Aspect, Power, Idea, Force, Delight which is liberated into independent action, the truth of the consequences of its reality in that independence. There is no exclusiveness asserting each as the sole truth of being or the others as inferior truths: each God knows all the Gods and their place in existence; each Idea admits all other ideas and their right to be; each Force concedes a place to all other forces and their truth and consequences; no delight of separate fulfilled existence or separate experience denies or condemns the delight of other existence or other experience. The Overmind is a principle of cosmic Truth and a vast and endless catholicity is its very spirit; its energy is an all-dynamism as well as a principle of separate dynamisms: it is a sort of inferior Supermind,—although it is concerned predominantly not with absolutes, but with what might be called the dynamic potentials or pragmatic truths of Reality, or with absolutes mainly for their power of generating pragmatic or creative values, although, too, its comprehension of things is more global than integral, since its totality is built up of global wholes or constituted by separate independent realities uniting or coalescing together, and although the essential unity is grasped by it and felt to be basic of things and pervasive in their manifestation, but no longer as in the Supermind their intimate and ever-present secret, their dominating continent, the overt constant builder of the harmonic whole of their activity and nature….

INTOXICANTS. ::: It is the habit in the subconscient material that feels an artificial need created by the past and does not care whether it is harmful or disturbing to the nerves or not. That is the feature of all intoxicants (wine, tobacco, cocaine etc.), people go on even after the deleterious effects have shown themselves and even after all real pleasure in it has ceased because of this artificial need (it is not real). The will has to get hold of this subconscient persistence and dissolve it.

intuition ::: direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process. intuition"s, intuitions, half-intuition.

Sri Aurobindo: "Intuition is a power of consciousness nearer and more intimate to the original knowledge by identity; for it is always something that leaps out direct from a concealed identity. It is when the consciousness of the subject meets with the consciousness in the object, penetrates it and sees, feels or vibrates with the truth of what it contacts, that the intuition leaps out like a spark or lightning-flash from the shock of the meeting; or when the consciousness, even without any such meeting, looks into itself and feels directly and intimately the truth or the truths that are there or so contacts the hidden forces behind appearances, then also there is the outbreak of an intuitive light; or, again, when the consciousness meets the Supreme Reality or the spiritual reality of things and beings and has a contactual union with it, then the spark, the flash or the blaze of intimate truth-perception is lit in its depths. This close perception is more than sight, more than conception: it is the result of a penetrating and revealing touch which carries in it sight and conception as part of itself or as its natural consequence. A concealed or slumbering identity, not yet recovering itself, still remembers or conveys by the intuition its own contents and the intimacy of its self-feeling and self-vision of things, its light of truth, its overwhelming and automatic certitude.” *The Life Divine

   "Intuition is always an edge or ray or outleap of a superior light; it is in us a projecting blade, edge or point of a far-off supermind light entering into and modified by some intermediate truth-mind substance above us and, so modified, again entering into and very much blinded by our ordinary or ignorant mind-substance; but on that higher level to which it is native its light is unmixed and therefore entirely and purely veridical, and its rays are not separated but connected or massed together in a play of waves of what might almost be called in the Sanskrit poetic figure a sea or mass of ``stable lightnings"". When this original or native Intuition begins to descend into us in answer to an ascension of our consciousness to its level or as a result of our finding of a clear way of communication with it, it may continue to come as a play of lightning-flashes, isolated or in constant action; but at this stage the judgment of reason becomes quite inapplicable, it can only act as an observer or registrar understanding or recording the more luminous intimations, judgments and discriminations of the higher power. To complete or verify an isolated intuition or discriminate its nature, its application, its limitations, the receiving consciousness must rely on another completing intuition or be able to call down a massed intuition capable of putting all in place. For once the process of the change has begun, a complete transmutation of the stuff and activities of the mind into the substance, form and power of Intuition is imperative; until then, so long as the process of consciousness depends upon the lower intelligence serving or helping out or using the intuition, the result can only be a survival of the mixed Knowledge-Ignorance uplifted or relieved by a higher light and force acting in its parts of Knowledge.” *The Life Divine

  "I use the word ‘intuition" for want of a better. In truth, it is a makeshift and inadequate to the connotation demanded of it. The same has to be said of the word ‘consciousness" and many others which our poverty compels us to extend illegitimately in their significance.” *The Life Divine - Sri Aurobindo"s footnote.

"For intuition is an edge of light thrust out by the secret Supermind. . . .” The Life Divine

". . . intuition is born of a direct awareness while intellect is an indirect action of a knowledge which constructs itself with difficulty out of the unknown from signs and indications and gathered data.” The Life Divine

"Intuition is above illumined Mind which is simply higher Mind raised to a great luminosity and more open to modified forms of intuition and inspiration.” Letters on Yoga

"Intuition sees the truth of things by a direct inner contact, not like the ordinary mental intelligence by seeking and reaching out for indirect contacts through the senses etc. But the limitation of the Intuition as compared with the supermind is that it sees things by flashes, point by point, not as a whole. Also in coming into the mind it gets mixed with the mental movement and forms a kind of intuitive mind activity which is not the pure truth, but something in between the higher Truth and the mental seeking. It can lead the consciousness through a sort of transitional stage and that is practically its function.” Letters on Yoga


“Intuition is always an edge or ray or outleap of a superior light; it is in us a projecting blade, edge or point of a far-off supermind light entering into and modified by some intermediate truth-mind substance above us and, so modified, again entering into and very much blinded by our ordinary or ignorant mind-substance; but on that higher level to which it is native its light is unmixed and therefore entirely and purely veridical, and its rays are not separated but connected or massed together in a play of waves of what might almost be called in the Sanskrit poetic figure a sea or mass of ``stable lightnings’’. When this original or native Intuition begins to descend into us in answer to an ascension of our consciousness to its level or as a result of our finding of a clear way of communication with it, it may continue to come as a play of lightning-flashes, isolated or in constant action; but at this stage the judgment of reason becomes quite inapplicable, it can only act as an observer or registrar understanding or recording the more luminous intimations, judgments and discriminations of the higher power. To complete or verify an isolated intuition or discriminate its nature, its application, its limitations, the receiving consciousness must rely on another completing intuition or be able to call down a massed intuition capable of putting all in place. For once the process of the change has begun, a complete transmutation of the stuff and activities of the mind into the substance, form and power of Intuition is imperative; until then, so long as the process of consciousness depends upon the lower intelligence serving or helping out or using the intuition, the result can only be a survival of the mixed Knowledge-Ignorance uplifted or relieved by a higher light and force acting in its parts of Knowledge.” The Life Divine

intuitive knowledge ::: Sri Aurobindo: " For the highest intuitive Knowledge sees things in the whole, in the large and details only as sides of the indivisible whole; its tendency is towards immediate synthesis and the unity of knowledge.” *The Life Divine

"The intuitive knowledge on the contrary, however limited it may be in its field or application, is within that scope sure with an immediate, a durable and especially a self-existent certitude.” The Synthesis of Yoga

"All intuitive knowledge comes more or less directly from the light of the self-aware spirit entering into the mind, the spirit concealed behind mind and conscious of all in itself and in all its selves, omniscient and capable of illumining the ignorant or the self-forgetful mind whether by rare or constant flashes or by a steady instreaming light, out of its omniscience.” The Synthesis of Yoga*


It is this which explains many of the phenomena of clair- voyance, clairaudience, etc. ; for these phenomena are only the exceptional admission of the waking mentality into a limited sensitiveness to what might be called the image memory of the subtle ether,' by which not only the signs of all things past and present, but even those of things future can be seized ; for things future are already accomplished to knowledge and vision on higher planes of mind and their images can be reflected upon mind in the present. But these things which are exceptional to the w’aking mentality, difficult and to be perceived only by the pos- session of a special power or else after assiduous training, are natural to the dream-state of trance consciousness in which the subliminal mind is free. And that mind can al^o take cognizance

Jhumur: “There are moments when something calls to us—those magical inspirations. The birds move freely through the wind, they are the symbols of the freedom of movement and they are singers who link the worlds together in their song.”

kind ::: 1. A class or group of individual objects, people, animals, etc., of the same nature or character, or classified together because they have traits in common; category. 2. Nature or character as determining likeness or difference between things. 3. One"s family, clan, kin, or kinsfolk. earth-kind, god-kind, self-kind.

knot ::: 1. A fastening made by tying together lengths of material, such as rope, in a prescribed way. 2. A unifying bond, a tie, especially a marriage bond. 3. A compact intersection of interlaced material, such as cord, ribbon, or rope. 4. A unified mass or cluster. knots, Nature-knot.

Largior hic campos aether et lumine vestit

:::   "Law is nothing but a mode or rule of action; it is called in our philosophy not Law but Dharma, holding together, it is that by which the action of the universe, the action of its parts, the action of the individual is held together.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga

“Law is nothing but a mode or rule of action; it is called in our philosophy not Law but Dharma, holding together, it is that by which the action of the universe, the action of its parts, the action of the individual is held together.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga

league ::: in league. Working together, often secretly or for a harmful purpose.

ll'oj'S' to remove jear ::: By bringing down strength and calm into the lower vital (region below the navel). Also by will and imposing calm on the system when the fear arises. It can be done in either way or both together.

loom ::: an apparatus for making thread or yarn into cloth by weaving strands together at right angles.

made-up ::: put together; assembled; concocted, invented.

Madhav: “Aswapathy is in the mid-world. He is neither in the nether realms of struggle and obscurity nor in the brighter worlds above of power and rapture. He is in realms of Beauty that point to still happier altitudes. The Birds of Wonder are the marvellous beings of that region, the angels, who call upon the higher worlds of Light to manifest in their world.” The Book of the Divine Mother

Madhav: “The allusion is to the Vedic legend which narrates how the dark powers of the nether regions, i.e. the subconscient—and the still below—steal and hide the riches of the Gods in their subterranean chambers. They are called the Panis, thieves.” The Book of the Divine Mother

Man alive, your proposed emendations are an admirable exposition of the art of bringing a line down the steps till my poor "slow miraculous” above-mind line meant to give or begin the concrete portrayal of an act of some hidden Godhead finally becomes a mere metaphor thrown out from its more facile mint by a brilliantly imaginative poetic intelligence. First of all, you shift my "dimly” out of the way and transfer it to something to which it does not inwardly belongs make it an epithet of the gesture or an adverb qualifying its epithet instead of something that qualifies the atmosphere in which the act of the Godhead takes place. That is a preliminary havoc which destroys what is very important to the action, its atmosphere. I never intended the gesture to be dim, it is a luminous gesture, but forcing its way through the black quietude it comes dimly. Then again the bald phrase "a gesture came” without anything to psychicise it becomes simply something that "happened”, "came” being a poetic equivalent for "happened”, instead of the expression of the slow coming of the gesture. The words "slow” and "dimly” assure this sense of motion and this concreteness to the word"s sense here. Remove one or both whether entirely or elsewhere and you ruin the vision and change altogether its character. That is at least what happens wholly in your penultimate version and as for the last its "came” gets another meaning and one feels that somebody very slowly decided to let out the gesture from himself and it was quite a miracle that it came out at all! "Dimly miraculous” means what precisely or what "miraculously dim” — it was miraculous that it managed to be so dim or there was something vaguely miraculous about it after all? No doubt they try to mean something else — but these interpretations come in their way and trip them over. The only thing that can stand is the first version which is no doubt fine poetry, but the trouble is that it does not give the effect I wanted to give, the effect which is necessary for the dawn"s inner significance. Moreover, what becomes of the slow lingering rhythm of my line which is absolutely indispensable? Letters on Savitri

Man alive, your proposed emendations are an admirable exposition of the art of bringing a line down the steps till my poor”slow miraculous” above-mind line meant to give or begin the concrete portrayal of an act of some hidden Godhead finally becomes a mere metaphor thrown out from its more facile mint by a brilliantly imaginative poetic intelligence. First of all, you shift my”dimly” out of the way and transfer it to something to which it does not inwardly belongs make it an epithet of the gesture or an adverb qualifying its epithet instead of something that qualifies the atmosphere in which the act of the Godhead takes place. That is a preliminary havoc which destroys what is very important to the action, its atmosphere. I never intended the gesture to be dim, it is a luminous gesture, but forcing its way through the black quietude it comes dimly. Then again the bald phrase”a gesture came” without anything to psychicise it becomes simply something that”happened”,”came” being a poetic equivalent for”happened”, instead of the expression of the slow coming of the gesture. The words”slow” and”dimly” assure this sense of motion and this concreteness to the word’s sense here. Remove one or both whether entirely or elsewhere and you ruin the vision and change altogether its character. That is at least what happens wholly in your penultimate version and as for the last its”came” gets another meaning and one feels that somebody very slowly decided to let out the gesture from himself and it was quite a miracle that it came out at all!”Dimly miraculous” means what precisely or what”miraculously dim”—it was miraculous that it managed to be so dim or there was something vaguely miraculous about it after all? No doubt they try to mean something else—but these interpretations come in their way and trip them over. The only thing that can stand is the first version which is no doubt fine poetry, but the trouble is that it does not give the effect I wanted to give, the effect which is necessary for the dawn’s inner significance. Moreover, what becomes of the slow lingering rhythm of my line which is absolutely indispensable? Letters on Savitri

massed ::: came together and gathered into a mass.

Master ::: “The Master and Mover of our works is the One, the Universal and Supreme, the Eternal and Infinite. He is the transcendent unknown or unknowable Absolute, the unexpressed and unmanifested Ineffable above us; but he is also the Self of all beings, the Master of all worlds, transcending all worlds, the Light and the Guide, the All-Beautiful and All-Blissful, the Beloved and the Lover. He is the Cosmic Spirit and all-creating Energy around us; he is the Immanent within us. All that is is he, and he is the More than all that is, and we ourselves, though we know it not, are being of his being, force of his force, conscious with a consciousness derived from his; even our mortal existence is made out of his substance and there is an immortal within us that is a spark of the Light and Bliss that are for ever. No matter whether by knowledge, works, love or any other means, to become aware of this truth of our being, to realise it, to make it effective here or elsewhere is the object of all Yoga.” The Life Divine

meditation ::: Sri Aurobindo: "There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana , ‘meditation" and ‘contemplation". Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana , for the principle of dhyana is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. *Letters on Yoga

meditation ::: “There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana , ‘meditation’ and ‘contemplation’. Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the knowledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana , for the principle of dhyana is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. Letters on Yoga

**Mended, repaired, or put together, especially hastily, clumsily, or poorly.

Mind acts by representations and constructions, by the separa- tion and weaving together of its constructed data ; it can make a synthetic constnietlon and see it as a whole, but when it looks for the reality of things, it takes refuge in abstractions — it has not the concrete vision, experience, contact sought by the mystic and the spiritual seeker. To know Self and Reality directly or truly, It has to be silent and reflect some light of these things or undergo self-exceeding and Iransfonnation, and this is only possible either by a higher Light descending into it or by its ascent, the taking up or immcrgcncc of it into a higher Light of e^tence.

Mind in the physical or mental physical is limited by the physical view and experience of things, it mentalises the experi- ences brought by the contacts of outward life and things, and docs not go beyond that (though it can do that much very cleverly), unlike the externalising mmd which deals with them more from the reason and its higher intelligence. But in practice these two usually get mixed together. The niec/innicai mind is a much lower action of the mental physical which, left to itself, woutd only repeat customary ideas and record the natural reflexes of the physical consciousness to the contacts of outward life and things.

mind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The ‘Mind" in the ordinary use of the word covers indiscriminately the whole consciousness, for man is a mental being and mentalises everything; but in the language of this yoga the words ‘mind" and ‘mental" are used to connote specially the part of the nature which has to do with cognition and intelligence, with ideas, with mental or thought perceptions, the reactions of thought to things, with the truly mental movements and formations, mental vision and will, etc., that are part of his intelligence.” *Letters on Yoga

"Mind in its essence is a consciousness which measures, limits, cuts out forms of things from the indivisible whole and contains them as if each were a separate integer.” The Life Divine

"Mind is an instrument of analysis and synthesis, but not of essential knowledge. Its function is to cut out something vaguely from the unknown Thing in itself and call this measurement or delimitation of it the whole, and again to analyse the whole into its parts which it regards as separate mental objects.” The Life Divine

"The mind proper is divided into three parts — thinking Mind, dynamic Mind, externalising Mind — the former concerned with ideas and knowledge in their own right, the second with the putting out of mental forces for realisation of the idea, the third with the expression of them in life (not only by speech, but by any form it can give).” Letters on Yoga

"The difference between the ordinary mind and the intuitive is that the former, seeking in the darkness or at most by its own unsteady torchlight, first, sees things only as they are presented in that light and, secondly, where it does not know, constructs by imagination, by uncertain inference, by others of its aids and makeshifts things which it readily takes for truth, shadow projections, cloud edifices, unreal prolongations, deceptive anticipations, possibilities and probabilities which do duty for certitudes. The intuitive mind constructs nothing in this artificial fashion, but makes itself a receiver of the light and allows the truth to manifest in it and organise its own constructions.” The Synthesis of Yoga

"He [man] has in him not a single mentality, but a double and a triple, the mind material and nervous, the pure intellectual mind which liberates itself from the illusions of the body and the senses, and a divine mind above intellect which in its turn liberates itself from the imperfect modes of the logically discriminative and imaginative reason.” The Synthesis of Yoga

"Our mind is an observer of actuals, an inventor or discoverer of possibilities, but not a seer of the occult imperatives that necessitate the movements and forms of a creation. . . .” *The Life Divine

"The human mind is an instrument not of truth but of ignorance and error.” Letters on Yoga

"For Mind as we know it is a power of the Ignorance seeking for Truth, groping with difficulty to find it, reaching only mental constructions and representations of it in word and idea, in mind formations, sense formations, — as if bright or shadowy photographs or films of a distant Reality were all that it could achieve.” The Life Divine

The Mother: "The true role of the mind is the formation and organization of action. The mind has a formative and organizing power, and it is that which puts the different elements of inspiration in order for action, for organizing action. And if it would only confine itself to that role, receiving inspirations — whether from above or from the mystic centre of the soul — and simply formulating the plan of action — in broad outline or in minute detail, for the smallest things of life or the great terrestrial organizations — it would amply fulfil its function. It is not an instrument of knowledge. But is can use knowledge for action, to organize action. It is an instrument of organization and formation, very powerful and very capable when it is well developed.” Questions and Answers 1956, MCW Vol. 8.*


mixed ::: 1. Blended together into one unit or mass; intermingled. 2. Composed of a variety of differing, sometimes conflicting entities.

“Much more than half our thoughts and feelings are not our own in the sense that they take form out of ourselves; of hardly anything can it be said that it is truly original to our nature. A large part comes to us from others or from the environment, whether as raw material or as manufactured imports; but still more largely they come from universal Nature here or from other worlds and planes and their beings and powers and influences; for we are overtopped and environed by other planes of consciousness, mind planes, life planes, subtle matter planes, from which our life and action here are fed, or fed on, pressed, dominated, made use of for the manifestation of their forms and forces.” The Synthesis of Yoga

n. **1. Any group or band that associates together. 2. A group of people, animals or things. v. 3. To put together closely or compactly; to form into a compact mass or body; to crowd together; to fit (many things, experiences, etc.) into a limited space or time. 4. To press tightly together; cram; as with an audience, etc. packs, packed.**

n. 1. The point, axis, or pivot about which a body rotates. 2. A point, area, or part that is approximately in the middle of a larger area or volume. 3. A person or thing that is a focus of interest or attention. 4. A point of origin. centre"s, centres. v. 5. To focus or bring together. 6. To move towards, mark, put, or be concentrated at or as at a centre. 7. centred. Brought together to a centre, concentrated.

nether ::: 1. Dwelling beneath the surface of the earth. 2. Lower or under.

Next, as a consequence, it follows that only a limited part of the action of the vital or other higher plane is concerned with the earth-existence. But even this creates a mass of possibilities which is far greater than the earth can at one time mainfest or contain in its own less plastic formulas. All these possibilities do not realise themselves ; some fail altogether and leave at the most an idea that comes to nothing ; some try seriously and are repelled and defeated and, even if in action for a time, come to nothing. Others effectuate a half manifestation, and this is the most usual result, the more so as these vital or other supraphysical forces come Into conflict and have not only to overcome the resistance of the physical consciousness and of matter, but their own internecine resistance to each other. A certain number succeed in precipitating their results in a more complete and successful creation, so that if you compare this creation with its original in the higher plane, there is something

Occult and spiritual ::: The spiritual realisation is of primary importance and indispensable. I would consider it best to have the spiritual and psychic development first and have it with the same fullness before entering the occult regions. Those who enter the latter first may find their spiritual realisation much delayed ; others fall into the ma^ traps of the occult and do not come out in this life. Some no doubt can cany on both together, the occult and the spiritual, and make them help each other ; but the process I suggest is the safer.

Of course, there is a sort of labour and effort when you try to produce or else to think on a certain subject, but that is a con- centration for making thoughts come up, come in, come down, as the case may be, and fit themselves together. The idea that you arc shaping the thoughts or fitting them together is an egoistic delusion ; they are doing it themselves, or Nature is doing it for you, only under a certain compulsion.

of Force. The Force I speak of is a Force for illumination, transformation, purification, all that has to be done in the yoga, for removal of hostile forces and the wrong movements—it is also of course for external work, whether great or small in appearance does not matter—if that is part of the Divine Will. I do not mean any personal force egoistic or rajasic.” Letters on Yoga

One cannot become altogether this at once, but if one aspires at all times and calls in always the aid of the Divine Shakti \vith a true heart and straightforward will, one grows more and more into this consciousness.

Or it may be a pressure from above ; let us say, some supra- mental or mental power precipitating its formation from above and developing forms and movements on the vital level as a means of transit to its self-creation in the material world. Or it may be all these things acting together, in which case there is the greatest possibility of an effective creation.

"Our thoughts are not really created within ourselves independently in the small narrow thinking machine we call our mind; in fact, they come to us from a vast mental space or ether either as mind-waves or waves of mind-force that carry a significance which takes shape in our personal mind or as thought-formations ready-made which we adopt and call ours. Our outer mind is blind to this process of Nature; but by the awakening of the inner mind we can become aware of it.” Letters on Yoga

“Our thoughts are not really created within ourselves independently in the small narrow thinking machine we call our mind; in fact, they come to us from a vast mental space or ether either as mind-waves or waves of mind-force that carry a significance which takes shape in our personal mind or as thought-formations ready-made which we adopt and call ours. Our outer mind is blind to this process of Nature; but by the awakening of the inner mind we can become aware of it.” Letters on Yoga

overmind ::: Sri Aurobindo: "The overmind is a sort of delegation from the supermind (this is a metaphor only) which supports the present evolutionary universe in which we live here in Matter. If supermind were to start here from the beginning as the direct creative Power, a world of the kind we see now would be impossible; it would have been full of the divine Light from the beginning, there would be no involution in the inconscience of Matter, consequently no gradual striving evolution of consciousness in Matter. A line is therefore drawn between the higher half of the universe of consciousness, parardha , and the lower half, aparardha. The higher half is constituted of Sat, Chit, Ananda, Mahas (the supramental) — the lower half of mind, life, Matter. This line is the intermediary overmind which, though luminous itself, keeps from us the full indivisible supramental Light, depends on it indeed, but in receiving it, divides, distributes, breaks it up into separated aspects, powers, multiplicities of all kinds, each of which it is possible by a further diminution of consciousness, such as we reach in Mind, to regard as the sole or the chief Truth and all the rest as subordinate or contradictory to it.” *Letters on Yoga

   "The overmind is the highest of the planes below the supramental.” *Letters on Yoga

"In its nature and law the Overmind is a delegate of the Supermind Consciousness, its delegate to the Ignorance. Or we might speak of it as a protective double, a screen of dissimilar similarity through which Supermind can act indirectly on an Ignorance whose darkness could not bear or receive the direct impact of a supreme Light.” The Life Divine

"The Overmind is a principle of cosmic Truth and a vast and endless catholicity is its very spirit; its energy is an all-dynamism as well as a principle of separate dynamisms: it is a sort of inferior Supermind, — although it is concerned predominantly not with absolutes, but with what might be called the dynamic potentials or pragmatic truths of Reality, or with absolutes mainly for their power of generating pragmatic or creative values, although, too, its comprehension of things is more global than integral, since its totality is built up of global wholes or constituted by separate independent realities uniting or coalescing together, and although the essential unity is grasped by it and felt to be basic of things and pervasive in their manifestation, but no longer as in the Supermind their intimate and ever-present secret, their dominating continent, the overt constant builder of the harmonic whole of their activity and nature.” The Life Divine

   "The overmind sees calmly, steadily, in great masses and large extensions of space and time and relation, globally; it creates and acts in the same way — it is the world of the great Gods, the divine Creators.” *Letters on Yoga

"The Overmind is essentially a spiritual power. Mind in it surpasses its ordinary self and rises and takes its stand on a spiritual foundation. It embraces beauty and sublimates it; it has an essential aesthesis which is not limited by rules and canons, it sees a universal and an eternal beauty while it takes up and transforms all that is limited and particular. It is besides concerned with things other than beauty or aesthetics. It is concerned especially with truth and knowledge or rather with a wisdom that exceeds what we call knowledge; its truth goes beyond truth of fact and truth of thought, even the higher thought which is the first spiritual range of the thinker. It has the truth of spiritual thought, spiritual feeling, spiritual sense and at its highest the truth that comes by the most intimate spiritual touch or by identity. Ultimately, truth and beauty come together and coincide, but in between there is a difference. Overmind in all its dealings puts truth first; it brings out the essential truth (and truths) in things and also its infinite possibilities; it brings out even the truth that lies behind falsehood and error; it brings out the truth of the Inconscient and the truth of the Superconscient and all that lies in between. When it speaks through poetry, this remains its first essential quality; a limited aesthetical artistic aim is not its purpose.” *Letters on Savitri

"In the overmind the Truth of supermind which is whole and harmonious enters into a separation into parts, many truths fronting each other and moved each to fulfil itself, to make a world of its own or else to prevail or take its share in worlds made of a combination of various separated Truths and Truth-forces.” Letters on Yoga

*Overmind"s.


physical. The Mother’s force caa work through both together.

• Physical-vital is the being of small desires and greeds, etc. — the vital-physical is the nervous being ; they are closely con- nected together.

pile ::: n. 1. A quantity of objects stacked or thrown together in a heap. Also fig. world-pile. *v. 2. To place or lay in or as if in a pile or heap. *piles, piled, piling.

platoons ::: groups or squads of people working, travelling, or assembled together.

port ::: Whether to a blank port in the Unseen

PRAYER. ::: The life of man is a life of wants and needs and therefore of desires, not only in his physical and vital, but in his mental and spiritual being. When he becomes conscious of a greater Power governing the world, he approaches it through prayer for the fulfilment of his needs, for help in his rough journey, for protection and aid in his struggle. Whatever crudi- ties there may be in the ordinary religious approach to God by prayer, and there are many, especially that attitude which ima- gines the Divine as if capable of being propitiated, bribed, flat- tered into acquiescence or indulgence by praise, entreaty and gifts and has often little te^td to the spirit in which he is approached, still this way of turning to the Divine is an essen- tial movement of our religious being and reposes on a universal truth.

The efficacy of prayer is often doubted and prayer itself supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. It is true that the universal will executes always its aim and cannot be deflected by egoistic propitiation and entreaty, it is true of the Transcendent who expresses himself in the universal order that, being omniscient, his larger knowledge must foresee the thing to be done and it does not need direction or stimulation by human thought and that the individual's desires are not and cannot be in any world-order the true determining factor. But neither is that order or the execution of the universal will altogether effected by mechanical Law, but by powers and forces of which for human life at least, human will, aspiration and faith are not among the least important. Prayer is only a particular form given to that will, aspiration and faith. Its forms are very often crude and not only childlike, which is in itself no defect, but childish; but still it has a real power and significance. Its power and sense is to put the will, aspiration and faith of man into touch with the divine Will as that of a conscious Being with whom we can enter into conscious and living relations. For our will and aspiration can act either by our own strength and endeavour, which can no doubt be made a thing great and effective whether for lower or higher purposes, -and there are plenty of disciplines which put it forward as the one force to be used, -- or it can act in dependence upon and with subordination to the divine or the universal Will. And this latter way, again, may either look upon that Will as responsive indeed to our aspiration, but almost mechanically, by a sort of law of energy, or at any rate quite impersonally, or else it may look upon it as responding consciously to the divine aspiration and faith of the human soul and consciously bringing to it the help, the guidance, the protection and fruition demanded, yogaksemam vahamyaham. ~ TSOY, SYN

Prayer helps to prepare this relation for us at first on the lower plane even while it is (here consistent with much that is mere egoism and self-delusion; but afterwards we can draw towards the spiritual truth which is behind it. It is not then the givinc of the thing asked for that matters, but the relation itself, the contact of man’s life with God, the conscious interchange.

In spiritual matters and in the seeking of spiritual gains, this conscious relation is a great power; it is a much greater power than our own entirely self-reliant struggle and effort and it brings a fuller spiritual growth and experience. Necessarily, in the end prayer either ceases in the greater thing for which it prepared us, -- in fact the form we call prayer is not itself essential so long as the faith, the will, the aspiration are there, -- or remains only for the joy of the relation. Also its objects, the artha or interest it seeks to realise, become higher and higher until we reach the highest motiveless devotion, which is that of divine love pure and simple without any other demand or longing.

Prayer for others ::: The fact of praying and the attitude it brings, especially unselfish prayer for others, itself opens you to the higher Power, even if there is no corresponding result in the person prayed for. 'Nothing can be positively said about that, for the result must necessarily depend on the persons, whe- ther they arc open or receptive or something in them can res- pond to any Force the prayer brings down.

Prayer must well up from the heart on a crest of emotion or aspiration.

Prayer {Ideal)'. Not prayer insisting on immediate fulfilment, but prayer that is itself a communion of the mind and heart with the Divine*and can have the joy and satisfaction of itself, trusting for fulfilment by the Divine in his own time.


press ::: n. 1. A crowd, throng, or multitude. 2. A crowding, thronging, or pressing together; a collective force. 3. Pressure or demands of affairs; urgency, haste, hurry. v. 4. To exert weight, force or pressure. 5. To advance or carry on vigorously despite obstacles in one"s way. 6. To impress (a thing) upon the mind, etc., emphasize, inculcate. 7. To beset or harass; afflict. 8. To cause to move in some direction or into some position by pressure; to push, drive, thrust. 9. To compress or squeeze. 10. To squeeze out or express, as juice. 11. To urge or entreat strongly or insistently. 12. To hold closely as in an embrace; clasp. presses, pressed, pressing.

Purani: “ The growth of the divine potentialities in man is spoken of in Veda as the growth of a Child. The Master takes the symbol straight and employs it thus: ‘where the God-child lies on the lap of Night and Dawn.’ The idea is that through the state of ignorance and through the state of awakening that is Dawn,—through the alterations of two—, the God-child in man attains its growth. Ignorance is not thus something anti-divine. It contributes to the growth of the Divine in man. This certainly reminds one of the hymn in the Veda which runs as follows: ‘Two are joined together, powers of truth, powers of May, they have built the child and given him birth and they nourish his growth’. (Rig Veda X, 5. 3). Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri: An Approach and a Study

put or joined together; combined, connected, made one.

race ::: 1. The human race or family; humankind; mankind. 2. A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution.

rally ::: a drawing or coming together of persons, as for common action, as in a mass meeting.

real, the ::: Sri Aurobindo: " From our ascending point of view we may say that the Real is behind all that exists; it expresses itself intermediately in an Ideal which is a harmonised truth of itself; the Ideal throws out a phenomenal reality of variable conscious-being which, inevitably drawn towards its own essential Reality, tries at last to recover it entirely whether by a violent leap or normally through the Ideal which put it forth. It is this that explains the imperfect reality of human existence as seen by the Mind, the instinctive aspiration in the mental being towards a perfectibility ever beyond itself, towards the concealed harmony of the Ideal, and the supreme surge of the spirit beyond the ideal to the transcendental.” *The Life Divine

rejoin ::: to join together again; reunite.

scribe ::: a general designation for any public official (whether of high or low rank) concerned with writing or the keeping of accounts; a secretary, clerk. Scribe, scribes.

SECLUSION. ::: U is not advisable to cut oneself ol! from mixing with people altogether. You must remain in the higher consciousness even when with people.

"Sense is in fact the mental contact of the embodied consciousness with its surroundings. This contact is always essentially a mental phenomenon; but in fact it depends chiefly upon the development of certain physical organs of contact with objects and with their properties to whose images it is able by habit to give their mental values. What we call the physical senses have a double element, the physical-nervous impression of the object and the mental-nervous value we give to it, and the two together make up our seeing, hearing, smell, taste, touch with all those varieties of sensation of which they, and the touch chiefly, are the starting-point or first transmitting agency.” The Synthesis of Yoga

“Sense is in fact the mental contact of the embodied consciousness with its surroundings. This contact is always essentially a mental phenomenon; but in fact it depends chiefly upon the development of certain physical organs of contact with objects and with their properties to whose images it is able by habit to give their mental values. What we call the physical senses have a double element, the physical-nervous impression of the object and the mental-nervous value we give to it, and the two together make up our seeing, hearing, smell, taste, touch with all those varieties of sensation of which they, and the touch chiefly, are the starting-point or first transmitting agency.” The Synthesis of Yoga

serried ::: pressed or crowded together, especially in rows, as troops in serried ranks.

Silence and thoughts ::: To silence the mind it is not enough to throw back each thought as it comes, that can only be a subordinate movement. One must get back from all thought and be separate from it, a silent consciousness observing the thoughts if they come, but not oneself thinking or identified with the thoughts. Thoughts must be felt as outside things altogether.

  "Silence of the mind, peace or calm in the mind are three things that are very close together and bring each other.” *Letters on Yoga

“Silence of the mind, peace or calm in the mind are three things that are very close together and bring each other.” Letters on Yoga

Since the Consciousness-Force of the eternal Existence is the universal creatrix, the nature of a given world will depend on whatever self-formulation of that Consciousness expresses itself in that world. Equally, for each individual being, his seeing or representation to himself of the world he lives in will depend on the poise or make which that Consciousness has assumed in him. Our human mental consciousness sees the world in sections cut by the reason and sense and put together in a formation which is also sectional; the house it builds is planned to accommodate one or another generalised formulation of Truth, but excludes the rest or admits some only as guests or dependents in the house. Overmind Consciousness is global in its cognition and can hold any number of seemingly fundamental differences together in a reconciling vision. Thus the mental reason sees Person and the Impersonal as opposites: it conceives an impersonal Existence in which person and personality are fictions of the Ignorance or temporary constructions; or, on the contrary, it can see Person as the primary reality and the impersonal as a mental abstraction or only stuff or means of manifestation. To the Overmind intelligence these are separable Powers of the one Existence which can pursue their independent self-affirmation and can also unite together their different modes of action, creating both in their independence and in their union different states of consciousness and being which can be all of them valid and all capable of coexistence. A purely impersonal existence and consciousness is true and possible, but also an entirely personal consciousness and existence; the Impersonal Divine, Nirguna Brahman, and the Personal Divine, Saguna Brahman, are here equal and coexistent aspects of the Eternal. Impersonality can manifest with person subordinated to it as a mode of expression; but, equally, Person can be the reality with impersonality as a mode of its nature: both aspects of manifestation face each other in the infinite variety of conscious Existence. What to the mental reason are irreconcilable differences present themselves to the Overmind intelligence as coexistent correlatives; what to the mental reason are contraries are to the Overmind intelligence complementaries. Our mind sees that all things are born from Matter or material Energy, exist by it, go back into it; it concludes that Matter is the eternal factor, the primary and ultimate reality, Brahman. Or it sees all as born of Life-Force or Mind, existing by Life or by Mind, going back into the universal Life or Mind, and it concludes that this world is a creation of the cosmic Life-Force or of a cosmic Mind or Logos. Or again it sees the world and all things as born of, existing by and going back to the Real-Idea or Knowledge-Will of the Spirit or to the Spirit itself and it concludes on an idealistic or spiritual view of the universe. It can fix on any of these ways of seeing, but to its normal separative vision each way excludes the others. Overmind consciousness perceives that each view is true of the action of the principle it erects; it can see that there is a material world-formula, a vital world-formula, a mental world-formula, a spiritual world-formula, and each can predominate in a world of its own and at the same time all can combine in one world as its constituent powers. The self-formulation of Conscious Force on which our world is based as an apparent Inconscience that conceals in itself a supreme Conscious-Existence and holds all the powers of Being together in its inconscient secrecy, a world of universal Matter realising in itself Life, Mind, Overmind, Supermind, Spirit, each of them in its turn taking up the others as means of its self-expression, Matter proving in the spiritual vision to have been always itself a manifestation of the Spirit, is to the Overmind view a normal and easily realisable creation. In its power of origination and in the process of its executive dynamis Overmind is an organiser of many potentialities of Existence, each affirming its separate reality but all capable of linking themselves together in many different but simultaneous ways, a magician craftsman empowered to weave the multicoloured warp and woof of manifestation of a single entity in a complex universe. …

Sky ::: A symbol of the mental consciousness (or the psychic) or other consciousnesses above the mind. The higher conscious- ness In any of its levels is seen usually us a sky or ether but when felt through the vital it is often p>erceived as a sea. In this yoga one sees many levels of consciousness which appear as skies or seas.

snap ::: 1. To bring the jaws briskly together, often with a clicking sound; bite. (often followed by up or off). 2. To break suddenly, esp. with a sharp, cracking sound. snaps.

Sri Aurobindo: A symbol, as I understand it, is the form on one plane that represents a truth of another. For instance, a flag is the symbol of a nation…. But generally all forms are symbols. This body of ours is a symbol of our real being and everything is a symbol of some higher reality. There are, however, different kinds of symbols: 1. Conventional symbols, such as the Vedic Rishis formed with objects taken from their surroundings. The cow stood for light because the same word `go ‘ meant both ray and cow, and because the cow was their most precious possession which maintained their life and was constantly in danger of being robbed and concealed. But once created, such a symbol becomes alive. The Rishis vitalised it and it became a part of their realisation. It appeared in their visions as an image of spiritual light. The horse also was one of their favourite symbols, and a more easily adaptable one, since its force and energy were quite evident. 2. What we might call Life-symbols, such as are not artificially chosen or mentally interpreted in a conscious deliberate way, but derive naturally from our day-to-day life and grow out of the surroundings which condition our normal path of living. To the ancients the mountain was a symbol of the path of yoga, level above level, peak upon peak. A journey, involving the crossing of rivers and the facing of lurking enemies, both animal and human, conveyed a similar idea. Nowadays I dare say we would liken yoga to a motor-ride or a railway-trip. 3. Symbols that have an inherent appositeness and power of their own. Akasha or etheric space is a symbol of the infinite all-pervading eternal Brahman. In any nationality it would convey the same meaning. Also, the Sun stands universally for the supramental Light, the divine Gnosis. 4.* Mental symbols, instances of which are numbers or alphabets. Once they are accepted, they too become active and may be useful. Thus geometrical figures have been variously interpreted. In my experience the square symbolises the supermind. I cannot say how it came to do so. Somebody or some force may have built it before it came to my mind. Of the triangle, too, there are different explanations. In one position it can symbolise the three lower planes, in another the symbol is of the three higher ones: so both can be combined together in a single sign. The ancients liked to indulge in similar speculations concerning numbers, but their systems were mostly mental. It is no doubt true that supramental realities exist which we translate into mental formulas such as Karma, Psychic evolution, etc. But they are, so to speak, infinite realities which cannot be limited by these symbolic forms, though they may be somewhat expressed by them; they might be expressed as well by other symbols, and the same symbol may also express many different ideas. Letters on Yoga

Sri Aurobindo: "But what do we mean by the individual? What we usually call by that name is a natural ego, a device of Nature which holds together her action in the mind and body. This ego has to be extinguished, otherwise there is no complete liberation possible; but the individual self or soul is not this ego. The individual soul is the spiritual being which is sometimes described as an eternal portion of the Divine, but can also be described as the Divine himself supporting his manifestation as the Many. This is the true spiritual individual which appears in its complete truth when we get rid of the ego and our false separative sense of individuality, realise our oneness with the transcendent and cosmic Divine and with all beings.” *Letters on Yoga

Sri Aurobindo: "Concentration is a gathering together of the consciousness and either centralising at one point or turning on a single object, e.g., the Divine; there can also be a gathered condition throughout the whole being, not at a point. In meditation it is not indispensable to gather like this, one can simply remain with a quiet mind thinking of one subject or observing what comes in the consciousness and dealing with it.” *Letters on Yoga

*Sri Aurobindo: "Ego is only a faculty put forward by the discriminative mind to centralise round itself the experiences of the sense-mind and to serve as a sort of lynch-pin in the wheel which keeps together the movement. It is no more than an instrument, although it is true that so long as we are limited by our normal mentality, we are compelled by the nature of that mentality and the purpose of the instrument to mistake our ego-function for our very self.” The Upanishads

Sri Aurobindo: "He is the Cosmic Spirit and all-creating Energy around us; he is the Immanent within us. All that is is he, and he is the More than all that is, and we ourselves, though we know it not, are being of his being, force of his force, conscious with a consciousness derived from his; even our mortal existence is made out of his substance and there is an immortal within us that is a spark of the Light and Bliss that are for ever. No matter whether by knowledge, works, love or any other means, to become aware of this truth of our being, to realise it, to make it effective here or elsewhere is the object of all Yoga.” *The Synthesis of Yoga

Sri Aurobindo: [in reference to the following lines of Virgil] ::: Largior hic campos aether et lumine vestit

"Sri Aurobindo: "It has been held that ecstasy is a lower and transient passage, the peace of the Supreme is the supreme realisation, the consummate abiding experience. This may be true on the spiritual-mind plane: there the first ecstasy felt is indeed a spiritual rapture, but it can be and is very usually mingled with a supreme happiness of the vital parts taken up by the Spirit; there is an exaltation, exultation, excitement, a highest intensity of the joy of the heart and the pure inner soul-sensation that can be a splendid passage or an uplifting force but is not the ultimate permanent foundation. But in the highest ascents of the spiritual bliss there is not this vehement exaltation and excitement; there is instead an illimitable intensity of participation in an eternal ecstasy which is founded on the eternal Existence and therefore on a beatific tranquillity of eternal peace. Peace and ecstasy cease to be different and become one. The Supermind, reconciling and fusing all differences as well as all contradictions, brings out this unity; a wide calm and a deep delight of all-existence are among its first steps of self-realisation, but this calm and this delight rise together, as one state, into an increasing intensity and culminate in the eternal ecstasy, the bliss that is the Infinite.” The Life Divine

Sri Aurobindo: " Suffering is due first to the Ignorance, secondly to the separation of the individual consciousness from the Divine Consciousness and Being, a separation created by the Ignorance — when that ceases, when one lives in the Divine and no more in one"s separated smaller self, then only suffering can altogether cease.” *Letters on Yoga

*Sri Aurobindo: ". . . the divine Ananda, the principle of Bliss [is that] from which, in the Vedic conception, the existence of Man, this mental being, is drawn. A secret Delight is the base of existence, its sustaining atmosphere and almost its substance. This Ananda is spoken of in the Taittiriya Upanishad as the ethereal atmosphere of bliss without which nothing could remain in being. In the Aitareya Upanishad Soma, as the lunar deity, is born from the sense-mind in the universal Purusha and, when man is produced, expresses himself again as sense-mentality in the human being. For delight is the raison d"être of sensation, or, we may say, sensation is an attempt to translate the secret delight of existence into the terms of physical consciousness.” The Secret of the Veda

Sri Aurobindo: "The Master and Mover of our works is the One, the Universal and Supreme, the Eternal and Infinite. He is the transcendent unknown or unknowable Absolute, the unexpressed and unmanifested Ineffable above us; but he is also the Self of all beings, the Master of all worlds, transcending all worlds, the Light and the Guide, the All-Beautiful and All-Blissful, the Beloved and the Lover. He is the Cosmic Spirit and all-creating Energy around us; he is the Immanent within us. All that is is he, and he is the More than all that is, and we ourselves, though we know it not, are being of his being, force of his force, conscious with a consciousness derived from his; even our mortal existence is made out of his substance and there is an immortal within us that is a spark of the Light and Bliss that are for ever. No matter whether by knowledge, works, love or any other means, to become aware of this truth of our being, to realise it, to make it effective here or elsewhere is the object of all Yoga.” *The Life Divine

Sri Aurobindo: "The real subconscious is a nether diminished consciousness close to the Inconscient; the subliminal is a consciousness larger than our surface existence. But both belong to the inner realm of our being of which our surface is unaware, so both are jumbled together in our common conception and parlance.” *The Life Divine

Sri Aurobindo: "This descent is felt as a pouring in of calm and peace, of force and power, of light, of joy and ecstasy, of wideness and freedom and knowledge, of a Divine Being or a Presence — sometimes one of these, sometimes several of them or all together.” Letters on Yoga

Sri Aurobindo: "Yet all the time the universal forces are pouring into him without his knowing it. He is aware only of thoughts, feelings, etc., that rise to the surface and these he takes for his own. Really they come from outside in mind waves, vital waves, waves of feeling and sensation, etc., which take particular form in him and rise to the surface after they have got inside. But they do not get into his body at once. He carries about with him an environmental consciousness (called by the Theosophists the Aura) into which they first enter. If you can become conscious of this environmental self of yours, then you can catch the thought, passion, suggestion or force of illness and prevent it from entering into you. If things in you are thrown out, they often do not go altogether but take refuge in this environmental atmosphere and from there they try to get in again. Or they go to a distance outside but linger on the outskirts or even perhaps far off, waiting till they get an opportunity to attempt entrance.” *Letters on Yoga

strands ::: lines or strings consisting of a complex of fibers or filaments that are twisted together to form a thread or a rope or a cable.

Strength is all right for the strong — but aspiration and the Grace answering to it are not altogether myths; they are great realities of the spiritual life.” Letters on Yoga*

Strength is all right for the strong—but aspiration and the Grace answering to it are not altogether myths; they are great realities of the spiritual life.” Letters on Yoga

structure ::: n. **1. Mode of building, construction, or organization; arrangement of parts, elements, or constituents. 2. Something built or constructed, as a building, bridge, etc. Also fig. 3. Anything composed of parts arranged together in some way; an organization. structures. v. 4. To give an organization, form or arrangement to; construct a systematic framework for. structured.**

subliminal ::: “The real subconscious is a nether diminished consciousness close to the Inconscient; the subliminal is a consciousness larger than our surface existence. But both belong to the inner realm of our being of which our surface is unaware, so both are jumbled together in our common conception and parlance.” The Life Divine

subtle Matter ::: Sri Aurobindo: "Much more than half our thoughts and feelings are not our own in the sense that they take form out of ourselves; of hardly anything can it be said that it is truly original to our nature. A large part comes to us from others or from the environment, whether as raw material or as manufactured imports; but still more largely they come from universal Nature here or from other worlds and planes and their beings and powers and influences; for we are overtopped and environed by other planes of consciousness, mind planes, life planes, subtle matter planes, from which our life and action here are fed, or fed on, pressed, dominated, made use of for the manifestation of their forms and forces.” *The Synthesis of Yoga

"Mind therefore is held by the Hindus to be a species of subtle matter in which ideas are waves or ripples, and it is not limited by the physical body which it uses as an instrument.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga

"All that manifested from the Eternal has already been arranged in worlds or planes of its own nature, planes of subtle Matter, planes of Life, planes of Mind, planes of Supermind, planes of the triune luminous Infinite. But these worlds or planes are not evolutionary but typal. A typal world is one in which some ruling principle manifests itself in its free and full capacity and energy and form are plastic and subservient to its purpose. Its expressions are therefore automatic and satisfying and do not need to evolve; they stand so long as need be and do not need to be born, develop, decline and disintegrate.” Essays Divine and Human*


suffering ::: “ Suffering is due first to the Ignorance, secondly to the separation of the individual consciousness from the Divine Consciousness and Being, a separation created by the Ignorance—when that ceases, when one lives in the Divine and no more in one’s separated smaller self, then only suffering can altogether cease.” Letters on Yoga

suit ::: a group of things used together; a set or collection; a sequence.

symbol ::: A symbol, as I understand it, is the form on one plane that represents a truth of another. For instance, a flag is the symbol of a nation…. But generally all forms are symbols. This body of ours is a symbol of our real being and everything is a symbol of some higher reality. There are, however, different kinds of symbols: 1. Conventional symbols, such as the Vedic Rishis formed with objects taken from their surroundings. The cow stood for light because the same word `go ‘ meant both ray and cow, and because the cow was their most precious possession which maintained their life and was constantly in danger of being robbed and concealed. But once created, such a symbol becomes alive. The Rishis vitalised it and it became a part of their realisation. It appeared in their visions as an image of spiritual light. The horse also was one of their favourite symbols, and a more easily adaptable one, since its force and energy were quite evident. 2. What we might call Life-symbols, such as are not artificially chosen or mentally interpreted in a conscious deliberate way, but derive naturally from our day-to-day life and grow out of the surroundings which condition our normal path of living. To the ancients the mountain was a symbol of the path of yoga, level above level, peak upon peak. A journey, involving the crossing of rivers and the facing of lurking enemies, both animal and human, conveyed a similar idea. Nowadays I dare say we would liken yoga to a motor-ride or a railway-trip. 3. Symbols that have an inherent appositeness and power of their own. Akasha or etheric space is a symbol of the infinite all-pervading eternal Brahman. In any nationality it would convey the same meaning. Also, the Sun stands universally for the supramental Light, the divine Gnosis. 4. Mental symbols, instances of which are numbers or alphabets. Once they are accepted, they too become active and may be useful. Thus geometrical figures have been variously interpreted. In my experience the square symbolises the supermind. I cannot say how it came to do so. Somebody or some force may have built it before it came to my mind. Of the triangle, too, there are different explanations. In one position it can symbolise the three lower planes, in another the symbol is of the three higher ones: so both can be combined together in a single sign. The ancients liked to indulge in similar speculations concerning numbers, but their systems were mostly mental. It is no doubt true that supramental realities exist which we translate into mental formulas such as Karma, Psychic evolution, etc. But they are, so to speak, infinite realities which cannot be limited by these symbolic forms, though they may be somewhat expressed by them; they might be expressed as well by other symbols, and the same symbol may also express many different ideas. Letters on Yoga

tablet ::: 1. A flat slab or surface, especially one bearing or intended to bear an inscription, carving, or the like. 2. tablets. Slabs of stone or wood suitable for bearing an inscription; a set of such [leaves] fastened together.

tether ::: n. 1. A rope, cord, chain or the like by which an animal is fastened to a fixed object so as to limit its range of movement. v. 2. To fasten or confine with or as with a tether. tethers.

"The Avatar does not come as a thaumaturgic magician, but as the divine leader of humanity and the exemplar of a divine humanity. Even human sorrow and physical suffering he must assume and use so as to show, first, how that suffering may be a means of redemption, — as did Christ, — secondly, to show how, having been assumed by the divine soul in the human nature, it can also be overcome in the same nature, — as did Buddha. The rationalist who would have cried to Christ, ‘If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross," or points out sagely that the Avatar was not divine because he died and died too by disease, — as a dog dieth, — knows not what he is saying: for he has missed the root of the whole matter. Even, the Avatar of sorrow and suffering must come before there can be the Avatar of divine joy; the human limitation must be assumed in order to show how it can be overcome; and the way and the extent of the overcoming, whether internal only or external also, depends upon the stage of the human advance; it must not be done by a non-human miracle.” Essays on the Gita

“The Avatar does not come as a thaumaturgic magician, but as the divine leader of humanity and the exemplar of a divine humanity. Even human sorrow and physical suffering he must assume and use so as to show, first, how that suffering may be a means of redemption,—as did Christ,—secondly, to show how, having been assumed by the divine soul in the human nature, it can also be overcome in the same nature,—as did Buddha. The rationalist who would have cried to Christ, ‘If thou art the Son of God, come down from the cross,’ or points out sagely that the Avatar was not divine because he died and died too by disease,—as a dog dieth,—knows not what he is saying: for he has missed the root of the whole matter. Even, the Avatar of sorrow and suffering must come before there can be the Avatar of divine joy; the human limitation must be assumed in order to show how it can be overcome; and the way and the extent of the overcoming, whether internal only or external also, depends upon the stage of the human advance; it must not be done by a non-human miracle.” Essays on the Gita

"The cosmic consciousness is that in which the limits of ego, personal mind and body disappear and one becomes aware of a cosmic vastness which is or filled by a cosmic spirit and aware also of the direct play of cosmic forces, universal mind forces, universal life forces, universal energies of Matter, universal overmind forces. But one does not become aware of all these together; the opening of the cosmic consciousness is usually progressive. It is not that the ego, the body, the personal mind disappear, but one feels them as only a small part of oneself. One begins to feel others too as part of oneself or varied repetitions of oneself, the same self modified by Nature in other bodies. Or, at the least, as living in the larger universal self which is henceforth one"s own greater reality. All things in fact begin to change their nature and appearance; one"s whole experience of the world is radically different from that of those who are shut up in their personal selves. One begins to know things by a different kind of experience, more direct, not depending on the external mind and the senses. It is not that the possibility of error disappears, for that cannot be so long as mind of any kind is one"s instrument for transcribing knowledge, but there is a new, vast and deep way of experiencing, seeing, knowing, contacting things; and the confines of knowledge can be rolled back to an almost unmeasurable degree. The thing one has to be on guard against in the cosmic consciousness is the play of a magnified ego, the vaster attacks of the hostile forces — for they too are part of the cosmic consciousness — and the attempt of the cosmic Illusion (Ignorance, Avidya) to prevent the growth of the soul into the cosmic Truth. These are things that one has to learn from experience; mental teaching or explanation is quite insufficient. To enter safely into the cosmic consciousness and to pass safely through it, it is necessary to have a strong central unegoistic sincerity and to have the psychic being, with its divination of truth and unfaltering orientation towards the Divine, already in front in ::: —the nature.” Letters on Yoga*

“The cosmic consciousness is that in which the limits of ego, personal mind and body disappear and one becomes aware of a cosmic vastness which is or filled by a cosmic spirit and aware also of the direct play of cosmic forces, universal mind forces, universal life forces, universal energies of Matter, universal overmind forces. But one does not become aware of all these together; the opening of the cosmic consciousness is usually progressive. It is not that the ego, the body, the personal mind disappear, but one feels them as only a small part of oneself. One begins to feel others too as part of oneself or varied repetitions of oneself, the same self modified by Nature in other bodies. Or, at the least, as living in the larger universal self which is henceforth one’s own greater reality. All things in fact begin to change their nature and appearance; one’s whole experience of the world is radically different from that of those who are shut up in their personal selves. One begins to know things by a different kind of experience, more direct, not depending on the external mind and the senses. It is not that the possibility of error disappears, for that cannot be so long as mind of any kind is one’s instrument for transcribing knowledge, but there is a new, vast and deep way of experiencing, seeing, knowing, contacting things; and the confines of knowledge can be rolled back to an almost unmeasurable degree. The thing one has to be on guard against in the cosmic consciousness is the play of a magnified ego, the vaster attacks of the hostile forces—for they too are part of the cosmic consciousness—and the attempt of the cosmic Illusion (Ignorance, Avidya) to prevent the growth of the soul into the cosmic Truth. These are things that one has to learn from experience; mental teaching or explanation is quite insufficient. To enter safely into the cosmic consciousness and to pass safely through it, it is necessary to have a strong central unegoistic sincerity and to have the psychic being, with its divination of truth and unfaltering orientation towards the Divine, already in front in—the nature.” Letters on Yoga

The difficulty of its coming when you are at work is only at the beginning — afterwards when it is more settled one finds that one can carry on all the activities of life whether in the pervading silence itself or at least with that as the support and background.

:::   "The efficacy of prayer is often doubted and prayer itself supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. It is true that the universal will executes always its aim and cannot be deflected by egoistic propitiation and entreaty, it is true of the Transcendent who expresses himself in the universal order that being omniscient his larger knowledge must foresee the thing to be done and it does not need direction or stimulation by human thought and that the individual"s desires are not and cannot be in any world-order the true determining factor. But neither is that order or the execution of the universal will altogether effected by mechanical Law, but by powers and forces of which for human life at least human will, aspiration and faith are not among the least important.

“The efficacy of prayer is often doubted and prayer itself supposed to be a thing irrational and necessarily superfluous and ineffective. It is true that the universal will executes always its aim and cannot be deflected by egoistic propitiation and entreaty, it is true of the Transcendent who expresses himself in the universal order that being omniscient his larger knowledge must foresee the thing to be done and it does not need direction or stimulation by human thought and that the individual’s desires are not and cannot be in any world-order the true determining factor. But neither is that order or the execution of the universal will altogether effected by mechanical Law, but by powers and forces of which for human life at least human will, aspiration and faith are not among the least important. The Synthesis of Yoga

". . . the ego is the lynch-pin invented to hold together the motion of our wheel of nature. The necessity of centralisation around the ego continues until there is no longer need of any such device or contrivance because there has emerged the true self, the spiritual being, which is at once wheel and motion and that which holds all together, the centre and the circumference.” The Life Divine

“… the ego is the lynch-pin invented to hold together the motion of our wheel of nature. The necessity of centralisation around the ego continues until there is no longer need of any such device or contrivance because there has emerged the true self, the spiritual being, which is at once wheel and motion and that which holds all together, the centre and the circumference.” The Life Divine

"The elementary state of material Force is, in the view of the old Indian physicists, a condition of pure material extension in Space of which the peculiar property is vibration typified to us by the phenomenon of sound. But vibration in this state of ether is not sufficient to create forms. There must first be some obstruction in the flow of the Force ocean, some contraction and expansion, some interplay of vibrations, some impinging of force upon force so as to create a beginning of fixed relations and mutual effects. Material Force modifying its first ethereal status assumes a second, called in the old language the aerial, of which the special property is contact between force and force, contact that is the basis of all material relations. Still we have not as yet real forms but only varying forces. A sustaining principle is needed. This is provided by a third self-modification of the primitive Force of which the principle of light, electricity, fire and heat is for us the characteristic manifestation. Even then, we can have forms of force preserving their own character and peculiar action, but not stable forms of Matter. A fourth state characterised by diffusion and a first medium of permanent attractions and repulsions, termed picturesquely water or the liquid state, and a fifth of cohesion, termed earth or the solid state, complete the necessary elements.” The Life Divine*

“The elementary state of material Force is, in the view of the old Indian physicists, a condition of pure material extension in Space of which the peculiar property is vibration typified to us by the phenomenon of sound. But vibration in this state of ether is not sufficient to create forms. There must first be some obstruction in the flow of the Force ocean, some contraction and expansion, some interplay of vibrations, some impinging of force upon force so as to create a beginning of fixed relations and mutual effects. Material Force modifying its first ethereal status assumes a second, called in the old language the aerial, of which the special property is contact between force and force, contact that is the basis of all material relations. Still we have not as yet real forms but only varying forces. A sustaining principle is needed. This is provided by a third self-modification of the primitive Force of which the principle of light, electricity, fire and heat is for us the characteristic manifestation. Even then, we can have forms of force preserving their own character and peculiar action, but not stable forms of Matter. A fourth state characterised by diffusion and a first medium of permanent attractions and repulsions, termed picturesquely water or the liquid state, and a fifth of cohesion, termed earth or the solid state, complete the necessary elements.” The Life Divine

The importance of Samadbi rests upon the truth that only a small part whether of world being or of our own being comes into our ken or into our action.

The inner knowledge comes from within and above (whether from the Divine in the heart or from the Self above) and for it to come, the pride of the mind and vital in the surface mental ideas and their insistence on them must go.

The more complete y-our faith, sincerity and surrender, the more will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother arc with you, what is there lliat can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all diiliculties, obstacles and dangers ; surrounded by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into oppor- tunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength. For the grace of the Divine Mother is the sanction of the Supreme and now or tomorrow its ciTect is sure, a thing decreed. Inevitable and irresistible.

The more complete your faith, sincerity and surrender, the mote will grace and protection be with you. And when the grace and protection of the Divine Mother are with you, what is there that can touch you or whom need you fear? A little of it even will carry you through all difficulties, obstacles and dangers ; surrounded by its full presence you can go securely on your way because it is hers, careless of all menace, unaffected by any hostility however powerful, whether from this world or from worlds invisible. Its touch can turn difficulties into oppor- tunities, failure into success and weakness into unfaltering strength.

The Mother: “The true role of the mind is the formation and organization of action. The mind has a formative and organizing power, and it is that which puts the different elements of inspiration in order for action, for organizing action. And if it would only confine itself to that role, receiving inspirations—whether from above or from the mystic centre of the soul—and simply formulating the plan of action—in broad outline or in minute detail, for the smallest things of life or the great terrestrial organizations—it would amply fulfil its function. It is not an instrument of knowledge. But is can use knowledge for action, to organize action. It is an instrument of organization and formation, very powerful and very capable when it is well developed.” Questions and Answers 1956, MCW Vol. 8.

“The Overmind is a principle of cosmic Truth and a vast and endless catholicity is its very spirit; its energy is an all-dynamism as well as a principle of separate dynamisms: it is a sort of inferior Supermind,—although it is concerned predominantly not with absolutes, but with what might be called the dynamic potentials or pragmatic truths of Reality, or with absolutes mainly for their power of generating pragmatic or creative values, although, too, its comprehension of things is more global than integral, since its totality is built up of global wholes or constituted by separate independent realities uniting or coalescing together, and although the essential unity is grasped by it and felt to be basic of things and pervasive in their manifestation, but no longer as in the Supermind their intimate and ever-present secret, their dominating continent, the overt constant builder of the harmonic whole of their activity and nature.” The Life Divine

“The Overmind is essentially a spiritual power. Mind in it surpasses its ordinary self and rises and takes its stand on a spiritual foundation. It embraces beauty and sublimates it; it has an essential aesthesis which is not limited by rules and canons, it sees a universal and an eternal beauty while it takes up and transforms all that is limited and particular. It is besides concerned with things other than beauty or aesthetics. It is concerned especially with truth and knowledge or rather with a wisdom that exceeds what we call knowledge; its truth goes beyond truth of fact and truth of thought, even the higher thought which is the first spiritual range of the thinker. It has the truth of spiritual thought, spiritual feeling, spiritual sense and at its highest the truth that comes by the most intimate spiritual touch or by identity. Ultimately, truth and beauty come together and coincide, but in between there is a difference. Overmind in all its dealings puts truth first; it brings out the essential truth (and truths) in things and also its infinite possibilities; it brings out even the truth that lies behind falsehood and error; it brings out the truth of the Inconscient and the truth of the Superconscient and all that lies in between. When it speaks through poetry, this remains its first essential quality; a limited aesthetical artistic aim is not its purpose.” Letters on Savitri

". . . the proper function of the thought-mind is to observe, understand, judge with a dispassionate delight in knowledge and open itself to messages and illuminations playing upon all that it observes and upon all that is yet hidden from it but must progressively be revealed, messages and illuminations that secretly flash down to us from the divine Oracle concealed in light above our mentality whether they seem to descend through the intuitive mind or arise from the seeing heart.” The Synthesis of Yoga*

“… the proper function of the thought-mind is to observe, understand, judge with a dispassionate delight in knowledge and open itself to messages and illuminations playing upon all that it observes and upon all that is yet hidden from it but must progressively be revealed, messages and illuminations that secretly flash down to us from the divine Oracle concealed in light above our mentality whether they seem to descend through the intuitive mind or arise from the seeing heart.” The Synthesis of Yoga

The psychical sight receives characteristically the images that arc formed in the subtle matter of the mental or psychical ether.

There are two words used in English to express the Indian idea of dhyana, * meditation ’ and ‘ contemplation ’. Meditation means properly the concentration of the mind on a single train of ideas which work out a single subject. Contemplation means regarding mentally a single object, image, idea so that the know- ledge about the object, image or idea may arise naturally in the mind by force of the concentration. Both these things are forms of dhyana, for the principle of dh)ona is mental concentration whether in thought, vision or knowledge. There are other forms of dhyana. You stand back from your thoughts, let them occur in your mind as they will and simply observe them and see what they are. This may be called concentration in self-observation.

There is a vital plane (self-existent) above the material uni- verse which we see ; there is a mental plane (self-existent) above the vital and material. These three together, — mental, vital, physical — arc called the triple universe of the lower hemisphere.

The sky as ether indicates also the infinite.

the sound produced by or as if by bits of metal striking together.

  "The surface mental individuality is, in consequence, always ego-centric; even its altruism is an enlargement of its ego: the ego is the lynch-pin invented to hold together the motion of our wheel of nature. The necessity of centralisation around the ego continues until there is no longer need of any such device or contrivance because there has emerged the true self, the spiritual being, which is at once wheel and motion and that which holds all together, the centre and the circumference.” *The Life Divine

“The surface mental individuality is, in consequence, always ego-centric; even its altruism is an enlargement of its ego: the ego is the lynch-pin invented to hold together the motion of our wheel of nature. The necessity of centralisation around the ego continues until there is no longer need of any such device or contrivance because there has emerged the true self, the spiritual being, which is at once wheel and motion and that which holds all together, the centre and the circumference.” The Life Divine

The touch of grace, divine grace, coming directly or through the Guru is a special phenomenon having two sides to it, — the grace of the Guru or the Divine, in fact both together, on one side and a “ state of grace ” in the disciple on the other.

The Truth-Consciousness whether above or in the universe by which the Divine knows not only hts own essence and being but his manifestation also. The fundamental character is knowledge by identity, by that the Self is known, the Divine Sachchidananda is known, but also the truth of manifestation is known because this too is That, Mind is an Instrument of the Ignorance trying to know •— Supermind is the Knower possessing Knowledge, because one with it and the known, therefore seeing all things in the light of His own Truth, the light of their true self which is He. U is a dynamic and not only a siatic Power, not only a

The wall is indeed the wall of the ego which is based on the insistent identification of oneself with the outer personality and its movements. It is that identification which is the key-stone of the limitation and bondage from which the outer being su/Tcrs, prevenUng expansion, self-knowledge, spiritual freedom. But still the wall must not be prematurely broken down, because that may lead to a disruption or confusion or invasion of either part by the movements of the two separated worlds before they are ready to harmonise. A certain separation is necessary for some time after one has become aware of these two parts of the being as existing together. The force of the Yoga must be given time to make the necessary adjustments and openings, and to take the being inward and then from this inward poise to work on the outer nature.

"The word ‘physical mind" is rather ambiguous, because it can mean this externalising Mind and the mental in the physical taken together.” Letters on Yoga*

“The word ‘physical mind’ is rather ambiguous, because it can mean this externalising Mind and the mental in the physical taken together.” Letters on Yoga

"They [peace and patience] go together. By having patience under all kinds of pressure you lay the foundations of peace.” Letters on Yoga*

  "Things inside can be seen as distinctly as outward things whether in an image by the subtle vision or in their essence by a still more subtle and powerful way of seeing; but all these things have to develop in order to get their full power and intensity.” *Letters on Yoga

“Things inside can be seen as distinctly as outward things whether in an image by the subtle vision or in their essence by a still more subtle and powerful way of seeing; but all these things have to develop in order to get their full power and intensity.” Letters on Yoga

(though this cannot be altogether avoided). The others need to communicate what is in them and cannot wait for the fullness before they use what they have. Even they may need to yve out as well as to take in in order to progress. The only thing is that they must balance the two tendencies, concentrating to receive from above as much or more than they open sideways to distribute,

thread ::: n. 1. A fine cord of flax, cotton, or other fibrous material spun out to considerable length, especially when composed of two or more filaments twisted together. 2. Any fine line, stream, mark, or piece. 3. Fig. Likened to a thread in passing (one"s way) through or over (something). 4. Something having the fineness or slenderness of a filament, as a thin continuous stream of liquid, a fine line of colour, etc. threads. *v. 5. To make one"s way, as through a passage or between obstacles. 6. To pass (thread, film, magnetic tape, etc.) through (something. Also fig. 7. To pervade. *threaded, threading.

throng ::: 1. A multitude of people crowded or assembled together; crowd. 2. A great number of things crowded together. throngs.

thronged ::: filled with great numbers crowded together.

Tlie lose that belongs to the spiritual planes is of a dillcrcni kind; the psychic has its own more personal lose, bhalti, sur- render. Love in the higher or spiritual mind is more unisenal and impersonal. The two must go together to male the highest divine los'C.

To wait through life armoured against all fear, peril and disaster, only two things are needed, two that go always together

-tressed ::: a long lock, braid or plait of hair. ethereal-tressed.

Triangle ::: In one position it can symbolise the three lo\ser planes, in another the symbol is of the three higher ones ::: so both can be combined together ia a single sign.

twin ::: n. 1. One of two offspring born at the same birth. 2. Either of two persons or things that are identical or very similar; counterpart. 3. One of a pair; identical. twins. adj. 4. Being two identical. 5. Twofold or double. v. 6. To bring two objects, ideas, or people together; unite. lit. and fig. **twinned.**

:::   "Two are joined together, powers of Truth, powers of Maya, — they have built the Child and given him birth and they nourish his growth.” The Life Divine

“Two are joined together, powers of Truth, powers of Maya,—they have built the Child and given him birth and they nourish his growth.” The Life Divine

Union with the Divine — a union either transcendental (above the imiverse) or cosmic (universal) or individual or, as in our yoga, all three together.

Vayu, Master of life, links them together by the mid-air, the region of vital force. And there are other deities,—Parjanya, giver of the rain of heaven; Dadhikravan, the divine war-horse, a power of Agni; the mystic Dragon of the Foundations; Trita Aptya who on the third plane of existence consummates our triple being; and more besides.” The Secret of the Veda

Vital insincerity ::: The thing which enjoys the suffering and wants it is part of the human vital — it is these things that \se describe as the insincerity and pcrs'crsc nrist of the vital, it cries out against sorrow and trouble and accuses the Dirine and life and everybody else of torturing it, but for the most pan the sorrow and the trouble come and remain because the perverse something in the vital wants them ! That element in the vital has lo be got rid of altogether.

wed ::: 1. To blend or join together; unite inseparably. 2. To become united, merge or blend (with). weds, wedded, wedding, re-wed.

wedded ::: associated or bound together inseparably.

Whatever verbal or ideative logic one may bring to support it, this way of seeing the universe explains nothing ; it only erects a mental formula of the inexplicable. It is only if you approach the Supreme through his double aspect of Sat and Chlt-Sbakri, double but inseparable, that the total truth of things can become manifest to the inner experience. The other side was developed by the Shakta Tantrics. The two together, the Vedantlc and the

What I mean by surrender is this inner surrender of the mind and vital. There is, of course, the outer surrender also ::: the giving up of all that is found to conflict with the spirit or need of the sadhanS, the offering, the obedience to the guidance of the Divine, whether directly, if one has reached that stage, or through the psychic or to the guidance of the Guru.

  "What, not in its functioning, but in its essence, is the thing we call sense? In its functioning, if we analyse that thoroughly, we see that it is the contact of the mind with an eidolon of Matter, — whether that eidolon be of a vibration of sound, a light-image of form, a volley of earth-particles giving the sense of odour, an impression of rasa or sap that gives the sense of taste, or that direct sense of disturbance of our nervous being which we call touch.” The Upanishads

“What, not in its functioning, but in its essence, is the thing we call sense? In its functioning, if we analyse that thoroughly, we see that it is the contact of the mind with an eidolon of Matter,—whether that eidolon be of a vibration of sound, a light-image of form, a volley of earth-particles giving the sense of odour, an impression of rasa or sap that gives the sense of taste, or that direct sense of disturbance of our nervous being which we call touch.” The Upanishads

whether ::: a conj. used to introduce the first of two or more alternatives.

  "Whether we take the modern scientific or the ancient Hindu standpoint the progress of humanity is a fact. The wheel of Brahma rotates for ever but it does not turn in the same place; its rotations carry it forward.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga

“Whether we take the modern scientific or the ancient Hindu standpoint the progress of humanity is a fact. The wheel of Brahma rotates for ever but it does not turn in the same place; its rotations carry it forward.” Essays in Philosophy and Yoga

—when that ceases, when one lives in the Divine and no more in one’s separated smaller self, then only suffering can altogether cease. Each soul follows its own line and these lines meet, journey together for a space, then part to meet again perhaps hereafter.'

When there is something in the nature that has to be got over, it is always drawing on itself incidents that put it to the test till the sadhaka has overcome and is free. At least it is a thing that often happens especially if the person is making a sincere effort to overcome. One docs not always know whether it is the hostiles who are trying to break the resolution or putting it to the test (for they claim the right to do it) or whether it is, let us say, the gods who are doing it so as to press and hasten the progress or insisting on the surety and thoroughness of the change aspired after. Perhaps it helps most when' one can take it from the latter standpoint.

woos ::: invites (consequences, whether good or bad) by one"s own action; courts.

You cannot expect every vision to translate itself in a corres- ponding physical fact. Some do, (he majority don't, others belong to the supraphysical entirely and indicate realities, possibilities or tendencies that have their scat there. How far these will influ- ence the life or realise ihcmsclvs in it or whether they will do so at all depends upon the nature of (he vision, the power in it, sometimes on the will or the formative power of the seer.

You carmot expect every vision to translate itself in a corres- ponding physical fact. Some do, the majority don’t, others belong to the supraphysical entirely and indicate realities, possibilities or tendencies that have their seat there. How far these will influ- ence the life or realise (hemseivs in it or svbether they will do so at all depends upon the nature of the rision, the power in it, sometimes on the will or the formative power of the seer.



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1:Mortality bears ill the eternal's touch:
It fears the pure divine intolerance
Of that assault of ether and of fire. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Symbol Dawn,
2:Whence this creation came into being, whether He established it or did not establish it, He who regards it from above in the supreme ether, He knows,-or perhaps He knows it not. ~ Rig Veda, the Eternal Wisdom
3:Drowned in the Absolute, found in the Godhead,
Swan of the supreme and spaceless ether wandering winged through the universe,
Spirit immortal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ascent,
4:A fire of passion burned in spirit-depths,
A constant touch of sweetness linked all hearts,
The throb of one adoration's single bliss
In a rapt ether of undying love. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The World-Soul,
5:The philosopher cannot fly; he must ascend into the ether; but his wings inevitably melt in the heat of the sun, and he falls and breaks into fragments. On this flight, however, he sees something, and his philosophy speaks of this vision. ~ S. Bulgakov, The Tragedy of Philosophy,
6:Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations: you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards or measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
7:The Master of Wisdom in his first coming to birth in the supreme ether of the great Light, - many his births, seven his mouths of the Word, seven his Rays, - scatters the darknesses with his cry. Rig Veda.3 ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Out of the Sevenfold Ignorance towards the Sevenfold Knowledge,
8:The architect of the visible world,
At once the art and artist of his works,
Spirit and seer and thinker of things seen,
Virat, who lights his camp-fires in the suns
And the star-entangled ether is his hold,
Expressed himself with Matter for his ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Eternal Day, The Soul's Choice and the Supreme Consummation,
9:But Indra does not turn back from the quest like Agni and Vayu; he pursues his way through the highest ether of the pure mentality and there he approaches the Woman, the manyshining, Uma Haimavati; from her he learns that this Daemon is the Brahman by whom alone the gods of mind and life and body conquer and affirm themselves, and in whom alone they are great. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Kena And Other Upanishads, 83,
10:D.: Will the description of Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda suit this suddha manas? For this too will be destroyed in the final emancipation.
M.: If suddha manas is admitted, the Bliss (Ananda) experienced by the Jnani must also be admitted to be reflected. This reflection must finally merge into the Original. Therefore the jivanmukti state is compared to the reflection of a spotless mirror in another similar mirror. What will be found in such a reflection? Pure Akasa (Ether). Similarly, the jnani's reflected Bliss (Ananda) represents only the true Bliss. These are all only words. It is enough that a person becomes antarmukhi (inward-bent). The sastras are not needed for an inward turned mind. They are meant for the rest. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 513,
11:8. The Woman As Temptress:The crux of the curious difficulty lies in the fact that our conscious views of what life ought to be seldom correspond to what life really is. Generally we refuse to admit within ourselves, or within our friends, the fullness of that pushing, self-protective, malodorous, carnivorous, lecherous fever which is the very nature of the organic cell. Rather, we tend to perfume, whitewash, and reinterpret; meanwhile imagining that all the flies in the ointment, all the hairs in the soup, are the faults of some unpleasant someone else. But when it suddenly dawns on us, or is forced to our attention that everything we think or do is necessarily tainted with the odor of the flesh, then, not uncommonly, there is experienced a moment of revulsion: life, the acts of life, the organs of life, woman in particular as the great symbol of life, become intolerable to the pure, the pure, pure soul. The seeker of the life beyond life must press beyond (the woman), surpass the temptations of her call, and soar to the immaculate ether beyond. ~ Joseph Campbell,
12:need for the soul's spiritualization :::
   And yet even the leading of the inmost psychic being is not found sufficient until it has succeeded in raising itself out of this mass of inferior Nature to the highest spiritual levels and the divine spark and flame descended here have rejoined themselves to their original fiery Ether. For there is there no longer a spiritual consciousness still imperfect and half lost to itself in the thick sheaths of human mind, life and body, but the full spiritual consciousness in its purity, freedom and intense wideness. There, as it is the eternal Knower that becomes the Knower in us and mover and user of all knowledge, so it is the eternal All-Blissful who is the Adored attracting to himself the eternal divine portion of his being and joy that has gone out into the play of the universe, the infinite Lover pouring himself out in the multiplicity of his own manifested selves in a happy Oneness. All Beauty in the world is there the beauty of the Beloved, and all forms of beauty have to stand under the light of that eternal Beauty and submit themselves to the sublimating and transfiguring power of the unveiled Divine Perfection. All Bliss and Joy are there of the All-Blissful, and all inferior forms of enjoyment, happiness or pleasure are subjected to the shock of the intensity of its floods or currents and either they are broken to pieces as inadequate things under its convicting stress or compelled to transmute themselves into the forms of the Divine Ananda. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Ascent of the Sacrifice - 2, 168,
13:The supreme Truth aspect which thus manifests itself to us is an eternal and infinite and absolute self-existence, self-awareness, self-delight of being; this bounds all things and secretly supports and pervades all things. This Self-existence reveals itself again in three terms of its essential nature,-self, conscious being or spirit, and God or the Divine Being. The Indian terms are more satisfactory,-Brahman the Reality is Atman, Purusha, Ishwara; for these terms grew from a root of Intuition and, while they have a comprehensive preciseness, are capable of a plastic application which avoids both vagueness in the use and the rigid snare of a too limiting intellectual concept. The Supreme Brahman is that which in Western metaphysics is called the Absolute: but Brahman is at the same time the omnipresent Reality in which all that is relative exists as its forms or its movements; this is an Absolute which takes all relativities in its embrace. [...] Brahman is the Consciousness that knows itself in all that exists; Brahman is the force that sustains the power of God and Titan and Demon, the Force that acts in man and animal and the forms and energies of Nature; Brahman is the Ananda, the secret Bliss of existence which is the ether of our being and without which none could breathe or live. Brahman is the inner Soul in all; it has taken a form in correspondence with each created form which it inhabits. The Lord of Beings is that which is conscious in the conscious being, but he is also the Conscious in inconscient things, the One who is master and in control of the many that are passive in the hands of Force-Nature. He is the Timeless and Time; He is Space and all that is in Space; He is Causality and the cause and the effect: He is the thinker and his thought, the warrior and his courage, the gambler and his dice-throw. All realities and all aspects and all semblances are the Brahman; Brahman is the Absolute, the Transcendent and incommunicable, the Supracosmic Existence that sustains the cosmos, the Cosmic Self that upholds all beings, but It is too the self of each individual: the soul or psychic entity is an eternal portion of the Ishwara; it is his supreme Nature or Consciousness-Force that has become the living being in a world of living beings. The Brahman alone is, and because of It all are, for all are the Brahman; this Reality is the reality of everything that we see in Self and Nature. Brahman, the Ishwara, is all this by his Yoga-Maya, by the power of his Consciousness-Force put out in self-manifestation: he is the Conscious Being, Soul, Spirit, Purusha, and it is by his Nature, the force of his conscious self-existence that he is all things; he is the Ishwara, the omniscient and omnipotent All-ruler, and it is by his Shakti, his conscious Power, that he manifests himself in Time and governs the universe. These and similar statements taken together are all-comprehensive: it is possible for the mind to cut and select, to build a closed system and explain away all that does not fit within it; but it is on the complete and many-sided statement that we must take our stand if we have to acquire an integral knowledge.
   ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Book 02: The Knowledge and the Ignorance - The Spiritual Evolution, Part I, The Infinite Consciousness and the Ignorance Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara - Maya, Prakriti, Shakti [336-337],
14:The Teachings of Some Modern Indian Yogis
Ramana Maharshi
According to Brunton's description of the sadhana he (Brunton) practised under the Maharshi's instructions,1 it is the Overself one has to seek within, but he describes the Overself in a way that is at once the Psychic Being, the Atman and the Ishwara. So it is a little difficult to know what is the exact reading.
*
The methods described in the account [of Ramana Maharshi's technique of self-realisation] are the well-established methods of Jnanayoga - (1) one-pointed concentration followed by thought-suspension, (2) the method of distinguishing or finding out the true self by separating it from mind, life, body (this I have seen described by him [Brunton] more at length in another book) and coming to the pure I behind; this also can disappear into the Impersonal Self. The usual result is a merging in the Atman or Brahman - which is what one would suppose is meant by the Overself, for it is that which is the real Overself. This Brahman or Atman is everywhere, all is in it, it is in all, but it is in all not as an individual being in each but is the same in all - as the Ether is in all. When the merging into the Overself is complete, there is no ego, no distinguishable I, or any formed separative person or personality. All is ekakara - an indivisible and undistinguishable Oneness either free from all formations or carrying all formations in it without being affected - for one can realise it in either way. There is a realisation in which all beings are moving in the one Self and this Self is there stable in all beings; there is another more complete and thoroughgoing in which not only is it so but all are vividly realised as the Self, the Brahman, the Divine. In the former, it is possible to dismiss all beings as creations of Maya, leaving the one Self alone as true - in the other it is easier to regard them as real manifestations of the Self, not as illusions. But one can also regard all beings as souls, independent realities in an eternal Nature dependent upon the One Divine. These are the characteristic realisations of the Overself familiar to the Vedanta. But on the other hand you say that this Overself is realised by the Maharshi as lodged in the heart-centre, and it is described by Brunton as something concealed which when it manifests appears as the real Thinker, source of all action, but now guiding thought and action in the Truth. Now the first description applies to the Purusha in the heart, described by the Gita as the Ishwara situated in the heart and by the Upanishads as the Purusha Antaratma; the second could apply also to the mental Purusha, manomayah. pran.asarı̄ra neta of the Upanishads, the mental Being or Purusha who leads the life and the body. So your question is one which on the data I cannot easily answer. His Overself may be a combination of all these experiences, without any distinction being made or thought necessary between the various aspects. There are a thousand ways of approaching and realising the Divine and each way has its own experiences which have their own truth and stand really on a basis, one in essence but complex in aspects, common to all, but not expressed in the same way by all. There is not much use in discussing these variations; the important thing is to follow one's own way well and thoroughly. In this Yoga, one can realise the psychic being as a portion of the Divine seated in the heart with the Divine supporting it there - this psychic being takes charge of the sadhana and turns the ......
1 The correspondent sent to Sri Aurobindo two paragraphs from Paul Brunton's book A Message from Arunachala (London: Rider & Co., n.d. [1936], pp. 205 - 7). - Ed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,

*** WISDOM TROVE ***

1:The novel is the one bright book of life. Books are not life. They are only tremulations on the ether. But the novel as a tremulation can make the whole man alive tremble. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove
2:The life and passion of a person leaves an imprint on the ether of a place. Love does not remain within the heart, it flows out to build secret tabernacles in a landscape. ~ john-odonohue, @wisdomtrove
3:You will know the ethereal nature and, also in the ether, all the signs and the destructive effects of the pure and bright torch of the sun and from where they have been generated. ~ parmenides, @wisdomtrove
4:The five senses and the four functions of the mind - memory, thought, understanding and selfhood; the five elements - earth, water, fire, air and ether; the two aspects of creation - matter and spirit, all are contained in awareness. ~ sri-nisargadatta-maharaj, @wisdomtrove
5:Prana, according to the Vedanta, is the principle of life. It is like ether, an omnipresent principle; and all motion, either in the body or anywhere else, is the work of this Prana. It is greater than Akasha, and through it everything lives. Prana is in the mother, in the father, in the sister, in the teacher, Prana is the knower. ~ swami-vivekananda, @wisdomtrove
6:Brahma was excessively sparing with earth, water, and fire... . The reckless expenditure of air and ether in his composition was amazing. And, in consequence, he perpetually struggled to outreach the wind, to outrun space itself. Other animals ran only when they had a reason, but the Horse would run for no reason whatever, as if to run out of his own skin. ~ rabindranath-tagore, @wisdomtrove
7:The fact that we have not yet found the slightest evidence for life - much less intelligence - beyond this Earth does not surprise or disappoint me in the least. Our technology must still be laughably primitive, we may be like jungle savages listening for the throbbing of tom-toms while the ether around them carries more words per second than they could utter in a lifetime. ~ arthur-c-carke, @wisdomtrove
8:You ARE Zaphod Beeblebrox?' &
9:It seems to me absolutely true, that our world, which appears to us the surface of all things, is really the bottom of a deep ocean: all our trees are submarine growths, and we are weird, scaly-clad submarine fauna, feeding ourselves on offal like shrimps. Only occasionally the soul rises gasping through the fathomless fathoms under which we live, far up to the surface of the ether, where there is true air. ~ d-h-lawrence, @wisdomtrove
10:thou beautiful And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased And still increasing lights! what are ye? what Is this blue wilderness of interminable Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden? Is your course measur'd for ye? Or do ye Sweep on in your unbounded revelry Through an aerial universe of endless Expansion,&
11:It was a quiet way - He asked if I was his - I made no answer of the tongue But answer of the eyes - And then He bore me on Before this mortal noise With swiftness, as of Chariots and distance, as of Wheels. This World did drop away As acres from the feet of one that leaneth from Balloon Upon an Ether Street. The Gulf behind was not, The Continents were new - Eternity was due. No Seasons were to us - It was not Night nor Morn - But Sunrise stopped upon the place And Fastened in Dawn. ~ emily-dickinson, @wisdomtrove

*** NEWFULLDB 2.4M ***

1:Bits in the ether. ~ James Gleick,
2:We’re going to enter the ether. ~ Taran Matharu,
3:Float with me in the world of ether. ~ David Lynch,
4:Matter moves, but Ether is strained. ~ Oliver Lodge,
5:Like socks in a dryer, it had vanished into the ether. ~ Augusten Burroughs,
6:All matter comes from a primary substance, the luminiferous ether ~ Nikola Tesla,
7:I send my words to you over the ether net like a message in a bottle... ~ John Geddes,
8:Time dissipates to shining ether the solid angularity of facts. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,
9:What folly takes light through ether to each eye from every horizon. ~ Scarlett Thomas,
10:There is nothing worse than a man in the throws of an ether bender. ~ Hunter S Thompson,
11:For what is prayer but the expansion of your self into the living ether? ~ Khalil Gibran,
12:Considering she’d just blown his gray matter into the ether, he was screwed. ~ Kelly Moran,
13:She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. ~ Zora Neale Hurston,
14:In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? ~ Herman Melville,
15:[Of the ether] it is no greater mystery at all events than the shoemakers' wax. ~ Lord Kelvin,
16:sometimes you pick up in the ether, the quiet, cruel nuances of not belonging ~ Michelle Obama,
17:Time dissipates to shining ether the solid angularity of facts. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, History,
18:Proposition IX. Radiant light consists in Undulations of the Luminiferous Ether. ~ Thomas Young,
19:He has the people skills of a natterjack toad, but he knows his way round the ether. ~ Mick Herron,
20:Soar, eat ether, see what has never been seen; depart, be lost, but climb. ~ Edna St Vincent Millay,
21:Guild doesn't like me."
"That's true."
"He doesn't like you, ether."
"That is mystifying. ~ Derek Landy,
22:The spirits rose like an ether that spun an arabesque and touched down as gently as a benevolent mask. ~ Patti Smith,
23:John K. Samson is fluent in the inexpressible. Find him on the page or find him in the ether-just find him ~ Alissa York,
24:The modern concept of the vacuum of space, confirmed every day by experiment, is a relativistic ether. ~ Robert B Laughlin,
25:The purity men love is like the mists which envelope the earth, and not like the azure ether beyond. ~ Henry David Thoreau,
26:The purity men love is like the mists which envelop the earth, and not like
the azure ether beyond. ~ Henry David Thoreau,
27:In art, something comes of nothing. Out of the thin air and the ether, you create a story. And that is intensely satisfying. ~ Yann Martel,
28:There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. ~ Hunter S Thompson,
29:Never be afraid to learn from the ether...That's where knowledge lives before someone hunts it, kills it, and mounts it in a book. ~ Sara Gran,
30:Piety--warm, soft, and passive as the ether round the throne of Grace--is made callous and inactive by kneeling too much. ~ Walter Savage Landor,
31:A measure of earth under your feet that you could call your own. Was there a more primitive concept? But nobody lives in the ether. ~ David Bezmozgis,
32:A Sloop of Amber slips away
A Sloop of Amber slips away
Upon an Ether Sea,
And wrecks in Peace a Purple Tar,
The Son of Ecstasy ~ Emily Dickinson,
33:Mortality bears ill the eternal’s touch:
It fears the pure divine intolerance
Of that assault of ether and of fire. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Symbol Dawn,
34:You look at any poetic creature: muslin, ether, demigoddess, millions of delights; then you look into the soul and find the most ordinary crocodile! ~ Anton Chekhov,
35:Doth not a flight through illimitable plains of the ether of love inflame thy heart and compel thee to delight thyself in the Lord thy God? ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
36:I felt myself float up and away, higher and higher into the ether until my body was just an anecdote, a symbol, a portrait hanging in another world. ~ Ottessa Moshfegh,
37:Ether is the only substance we are confident of in dynamics. One thing we are sure of and that is the reality and substantiality of the luminferous ether. ~ Lord Kelvin,
38:No matter how close we got to a station or a disc jockey ... they could disappear into the ether without so much as a wave goodbye or a farewell song. ~ Ben Fong Torres,
39:The forces of rotation caused red hot masses of stones to be torn away from the Earth and to be thrown into the ether, and this is the origin of the stars. ~ Anaxagoras,
40:The outer eyes see only by reflection. The vibrationsfrom the inner eye, optic, is conveyed along the opticnerves and produced, spectacular, on the ether. ~ George Carey,
41:You draw the mystical kundalini from the earth. Earth is an element. Fire, air, earth, water, and ether - the mystical kundalini comes through them all. ~ Frederick Lenz,
42:I am convinced that there are universal currents of Divine Thought vibrating the ether everywhere and that any who can feel these vibrations is inspired. ~ Richard Wagner,
43:A voice cannot carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether. And alone and without his nest shall the eagle fly across the sun. ~ Khalil Gibran,
44:Of all that is most beauteous, imaged there In happier beauty; more pellucid streams, An ampler ether, a diviner air, And fields invested with purpureal gleams. ~ William Wordsworth,
45:For, even the preachers have begun to tell us that God is radium, or ether or some scientific compound, and that the worst we wicked ones may expect is a chemical reaction. ~ O Henry,
46:And I pressed send, realizing, as it whooshed into the ether, that I had now condemned myself to unknown hours of e-mail-related anxiety while I waited for him to respond ~ Jojo Moyes,
47:The novel is the one bright book of life. Books are not life. They are only tremulations on the ether. But the novel as a tremulation can make the whole man alive tremble. ~ D H Lawrence,
48:There seemed to be little rhyme or reason as to why one day snatching the correct words from the ether was like opening a faucet and other days it was like opening a vein, ~ Dennis Lehane,
49:Whole chapters of contemporary history are disappearing into the ether as e-mails get trashed and webpages are taken down and people die without sharing their passwords. ~ Marilyn Johnson,
50:Whence this creation came into being, whether He established it or did not establish it, He who regards it from above in the supreme ether, He knows,—or perhaps He knows it not. ~ Rig Veda,
51:It is the sky that makes the earth so lovely at sunrise, and so splendid at sunset. In the one it breathes over the earth the crystal-like ether, in the other the liquid gold. ~ Thomas Cole,
52:The man who eats to live, who is friends with the five powers - earth, water, ether, sun and air - who is a servant of God, the Creator of all these, ought not to fall ill. ~ Mahatma Gandhi,
53:Drowned in the Absolute, found in the Godhead,
Swan of the supreme and spaceless ether wandering winged through the universe,
Spirit immortal. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Collected Poems, Ascent,
54:the promise of not needing to be strong forever, the promise of not having to keep the molecules that made up the gossamer web of restraint from flying off into the ether— ~ Brianna Labuskes,
55:Sometimes an hour of Fate's serenest weather Strikes through our changeful sky its coming beams; Somewhere above us, in elusive ether, Waits the fulfilment of our dearest dreams. ~ Bayard Taylor,
56:[W]e pity our fathers for dying before steam and galvanism, sulphuric ether and ocean telegraphs, photograph and spectrograph arrived, as cheated out of their human estate. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,
57:Whenever any great song or album gets lost in the ether, someone is deprived of the joy of hearing it, and the great effort of those who created and recorded the work is damaged. ~ Henry Rollins,
58:And the sunset itself on such waves of ether
That I just can’t comprehend
Whether it is the end of the day, the end of the world,
Or the mystery of mysteries in me again. ~ Anna Akhmatova,
59:I wished I were somewhere with him, instead of there. I was feeling like some kind of strangely shaped balloon whose string he was holding, and if he let go, I’d float off into the ether. ~ Ava Dellaira,
60:A lot of the records you buy, there's nothing you can hold in your hand, it's all 1′s and 0′s, this digital cloud floating in the ether, but with analog albums, you can hold it in your hand. ~ Dave Grohl,
61:She seems distracted, the way Joan feels when Harry is away on a school trip and part of her tries to follow him clairvoyantly through his day, probing the ether for any sign of distress. ~ Maggie Shipstead,
62:Regular panelists on shows can be terrifying. They own that space, and many guest comics suspect they are favoured in the edit, while their own hilarious jokes end up being ejected into the ether. ~ Jo Brand,
63:Snow does not freeze the hands, but like ether distends the lungs until they burst. All the ships are sinking with fire in their bowels, and there are fires hissing in the cellars of every house. ~ Ana s Nin,
64:I've been doing American auditions for a while, and it always felt sort of like sending these audition tapes off into the ether. So just hearing anything back from anyone was kind of startling. ~ Xavier Samuel,
65:The pain was swift and immediate. It wasn't stabbing, or fiery, or unbearable. More like a fraying of my inner self, a few threads tearing away, vanishing into the ether. I winced and stifled a gasp, ~ Julie Kagawa,
66:When I think about myself, my thought seeks itself in the ether of a new space. I am on the moon as others are on their balconies. I participate in planetary gravitation in the fissures of my mind. ~ Antonin Artaud,
67:A fire of passion burned in spirit-depths,
A constant touch of sweetness linked all hearts,
The throb of one adoration’s single bliss
In a rapt ether of undying love. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The World-Soul,
68:For what was civilization but the intellect’s ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity (shelter, sustenance and survival) into the ether of the finely superfluous (poetry, handbags and haute cuisine)? ~ Amor Towles,
69:It's hard to put into words what sometimes you pick up in the ether, the quiet, cruel nuances of not belonging- the subtle cues that tell you to not risk anything, to find your people and just stay put. ~ Michelle Obama,
70:Uncle Mort after explaining to Lex and Driggs that the ether, Elixir, and other things affects fertility: That doesn't mean you get a free pass to ride the baloney pony whenever you want to. Got it? ~ Gina Damico,
71:His health grew worse, probably exacerbated by the myriad of hovering doctors eager to give their famous patient all the latest treatments: strychnine injections, ammonia, ether, and electric pulses. On ~ Adam Hochschild,
72:I am bound by conscience and the word of God. Therefore I can and will recant nothing, because to act against one's conscience is neither safe nor salutary. Here I stad. I can do no ether. So help me God. ~ Martin Luther,
73:And he continues: “Thus it is increasingly necessary you recognize that other congregations of material bodies exist elsewhere in the universe, like this of our world, which the ether encircles in eager embrace ~ Umberto Eco,
74:Love had bones to it. Solid, rattling things bent on cluttering you up long after the soft parts melted into the ether. You had to carry those bones around with you. Make room for them, dust them, trip over them. ~ Cara McKenna,
75:We spend a lot of time trying to keep all that stuff very private. In this day in age, it's impossible. It's out in the ether and people send stuff to my house all the time. People show up at my house sometimes. ~ Scott Eastwood,
76:Don't you see, Katniss, this will decide things. One way or the other. By the end of the day, they'll ether be dead or with us. It's...it's more than we could hope for! Well, that's a sunny view of our situation. ~ Suzanne Collins,
77:More careful reflection teaches us, however, that the special theory of relativity does not compel us to deny ether...To deny the ether is ultimately to assume that empty space has no physical qualities whatever. ~ Albert Einstein,
78:Where joyous full of faith, spreading white sails, She cleaves the ether mid the sparkle and the foam of day, or under many a star at night, By sailors young and old haply will I, a reminiscence of the land, be read, ~ Walt Whitman,
79:They say they don't understand me. And how could they? I don't understand myself. I mean, is this really me? Or is this just a dream? Maybe I'm merely a spirit floating through ether... and that's why I feel so empty. ~ Bisco Hatori,
80:Degraded bird, I give you back your eyes forever, ascend now whither you are tossed;
Forsake this wrist, forsake this rhyme;
Soar, eat ether, see what has never been seen; depart, be lost,
But climb. ~ Edna St Vincent Millay,
81:Don't you see, Katniss, this will decide things. One way or the other. By the end of the day, they'll ether be dead or with us. It's...it's more than we could hope for!
Well, that's a sunny view of our situation. ~ Suzanne Collins,
82:We have to wonder whether digital technology, rather than making it easier to communicate, is actually doing the opposite. We now sit alone at a keyboard, firing off zeros and ones into the ether. Offices are silent. ~ Tom Hodgkinson,
83:Where does a spirit go? Where does the new world begin? Into the boughs of the trees? Into the stone of the earth? Into the flow of the river? Into the ether of the air? It passes from one person to another, each into the other. ~ Robert Beatty,
84:It appears, from all that precedes, reasonably certain that if there be any relative motion between the earth and the luminiferous ether, it must be small; quite small enough entirely to refute Fresnel's explanation of aberration. ~ Albert A Michelson,
85:From 'Periodic Table of Elements':
A girl ago, a girlhood gone like a phial of ether | Thrown on fire--just | A little jump of flame, like grief, or | Like a penicillin that has lost its skill at killing | Off, it then is gone. ~ Lucie Brock Broido,
86:He that follows the advice of reason has a mind that is elevated above the reach of injury; that sits above the clouds, in a calm and quiet ether, and with a brave indifferency hears the rolling thunders grumble and burst under his feet. ~ Walter Scott,
87:I have come to think we have to treat Donald Trump's tweets like Snapchat. It's just something that is going to go away. And it flies out of some region of his brain and it goes out into the ether. And usually it's on the realm of media. ~ David Brooks,
88:Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations: you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards or measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
89:Blessed be you, universal matter, immeasurable time, boundless ether, triple abyss of stars and atoms and generations: you who by overflowing and dissolving our narrow standards or measurement reveal to us the dimensions of God. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
90:Awake and asleep the novel is with you, dogging your footsteps. Strange formless bits of material float out from the ether about you and attach themselves to the main body of the story as though they had hung suspended in air for years, waiting. ~ Edna Ferber,
91:I was not a good scholar, and during my last year at school I made little effort. This was not due to laziness … , but to a state of youthful day-dreaming and indifference … that was only … pierced when creative desire enveloped me like ether. ~ Hermann Hesse,
92:And is death not the ultimate orgasm, a return to that otherworldly ether, whose very origins were indeed a Big Bang, the ultimate explosion, the supreme chaos, whose resonance is the vibration we constantly seek to reproduce in everything we do. ~ Lydia Lunch,
93:The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
94:I have not had a moment's peace or happiness in respect to electromagnetic theory since November 28, 1846. All this time I have been liable to fits of ether dipsomania, kept away at intervals only by rigorous abstention from thought on the subject. ~ Lord Kelvin,
95:Sometimes I think that no situation actually fits the technical definition of irony, and that the word just sort of hangs out in the linguistic ether singing a Siren song that's designed to crash the unsuspecting against the jagged rocks of pedantry. ~ Mike Duncan,
96:A southern moon is a sodden moon, and sultry. When it swamps the fields and the rustling sandy roads and the sticky honeysuckle hedges in its sweet stagnation, your fight to hold on to reality is like a protestation against a first waft of ether. ~ Zelda Fitzgerald,
97:We were using ether and oxygen as anaesthetic and she was particularly adept at holding her breath while the mask was on her face then returning suddenly to violent life when we thought she was asleep. We were both sweating when she finally went under. ~ James Herriot,
98:Grant us safe lodging, and holy rest,” Mrs. Grogan was saying, “and peace at last.” Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the Saint of St. Cloud’s, who was seventy-something, and an ether addict, and who felt that he’d come a long way and still had a long way to go. ~ John Irving,
99:As the sun and each atom of ether is a shphere complete in itself, yet at the same time only a part of a whole too vast for man to comprehend, so each individual bears within himself his own purpose, yet bears it ot serve a general purpose unfathomable to man. ~ Leo Tolstoy,
100:The place was horrible by daylight. The Chinese junk on the walls, the rug, the fussy lamp, the teakwood stuff, the sticky riot of colors, the totem pole, the flagon of ether and laudanum - all this in the daytime had a stealthy nastiness, like a fag party. ~ Raymond Chandler,
101:I'm petrified. Because being this close to you is doing things to me. Strange things and irrational things and things that flutter against my chest and braid my bones to ether. I want a pocketful of punctuation marks to end the thoughts he's forced into my head. ~ Tahereh Mafi,
102:But, nevertheless, it is anything but agreeable to be haunted by a suspicion that one's intellect is dwindling away, or exhaling, without your consciousness, like ether out of a phial; so that, at every glance, you find a smaller and less volatile residuum. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne,
103:The only thing that really worried me was the ether. There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. And I knew we'd get into that rotten stuff pretty soon. Probably at the next gas station. ~ Hunter S Thompson,
104:This involves the principle discussed above. By placing oneself in harmony with the requirements of the subject in hand, the truth must become known, even as an instrument properly tuned must feel the influence of the ether waves with which it is in harmony. Again, ~ John A Widtsoe,
105:Sawbeaked epitome of bodiless Idea, tossed by gusts of ether, dive Through abstract mists and raid the sea of fact Eat rich strange fish, grow long bright feathers, press Form's flesh around thought's rib, and so derive From the act of beauty, beauty of the act. ~ Philip Jose Farmer,
106:And now, I, Moroni, would speak somewhat concerning these things; I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith. (Ether 12:4–6.) ~ Henry B Eyring,
107:The older you get, the closer your loves are to the surface. She was breathing rarefied air, the ether you come upon at high altitudes. I understood finally how long-held grievances and petty smallnesses might get burned off, and pure creativity and humour remain. ~ Elizabeth Hay,
108:All perceptible matter comes from a primary substance, or tenuity beyond conception, filling all space, the akasha or luminiferous ether, which is acted upon by the life giving Prana or creative force, calling into existence, in never-ending cycles all things and phenomena. ~ Nikola Tesla,
109:The lovers were just entering the grounds of the pension. They were leaning toward each other as the water oaks bent from the sea. There was not a particle of earth beneath their feet. Their heads might have been turned upside down, so absolutely did they tread upon blue ether. ~ Kate Chopin,
110:Rough and dark is often the veil of the soul, while within, so pure and transparent. Like the grey crust upon ice, that, when severed, reveals within a pure blue light, like the transparent ether. Thus remain veiled to the stranger, but be not concealed from thyself. ~ Jean Paul Friedrich Richter,
111:How does the genius make itself known? In the way that in nature
Shows the Creator himself,e'en in the infinite whole.
Clear is the ether, and yet of depth that ne'er can be fathomed;
Seen by the eye, it remains evermore closed to the sense.

~ Friedrich Schiller, Geniality
,
112:Oh draw at my heart, love,
Draw till I'm gone,
That, fallen asleep, I
Still may love on.
I feel the flow of
Death's youth-giving flood
To balsam and ether
Transform my blood --
I live all the daytime
In faith and in might
And in holy fire
I die every night. ~ Novalis,
113:Through radio I look forward to a United States of the World. Radio is standardizing the peoples of the Earth, English will become the universal language because it is predominantly the language of the ether. The most important aspect of radio is its sociological influence. (1926) ~ Arthur E Kennelly,
114:The Master of Wisdom in his first coming to birth in the supreme ether of the great Light, - many his births, seven his mouths of the Word, seven his Rays, - scatters the darknesses with his cry. Rig Veda.3 ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Out of the Sevenfold Ignorance towards the Sevenfold Knowledge,
115:Once ether was everywhere. The crook of an arm, say. (Also the heavens.) It slowed the movement of the stars, told the left hand where the right hand went. Then it was gone, like hysteria, like the hollow earth. The news came over the radio. There is only air now. Abandon your experiments. ~ Jenny Offill,
116:It's nice to always have a job and not be floating out in the ether waiting for whatever the next big thing is. So, in that way I hope there's no a shelf-life for great shows. On the other hand, you don't want to be working on something that's reached its peak and become irrelevant. ~ Mary Elizabeth Ellis,
117:There are many things that bother me. I know that I have never passed a man on the street that I liked—most of them giving off a kind of ether of disgust and stumbling and clay-eating, snot-eating grievance. I don’t like the human race at all. this is my confessional, father, pass the wine. ~ Charles Bukowski,
118:The Quaker did not scream: not when the blood began to come swiftly down his face, not when the force of Elf's attack carried both of them tumbling out over the walls and down into the ether, the desperate and hoped-for outcome, a fatal embrace descending, together forever, into the darkness. ~ Daniel Polansky,
119:We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken. (Despite) all the selfishness that chills like east winds the world, the whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether... The effect of the indulgence of this human affection is a certain cordial exhilaration. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,
120:dinner at a fine restaurant was the ultimate luxury. It was the very height of civilization. For what was civilization but the intellect’s ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity (shelter, sustenance and survival) into the ether of the finely superfluous (poetry, handbags and haute cuisine)? So ~ Amor Towles,
121:O Prince, our eyes contemplate with admiration and transmit to the soul the wonderful and varied spectacle of this universe. The night veils without doubt a part of this glorious creation; but day comes to reveal to us this great work, which extends from earth even into the plains of the ether. ~ Henry David Thoreau,
122:The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be. Accidents, crimes, natural and man-made disasters, threats of conflict, gloomy editorials—these still seemed to be the main concern of the millions of words being sprayed into the ether. ~ Arthur C Clarke,
123:Apple actively encourages the population to lose their possessions. Music? Store it on the Cloud. Books? Store them on the Cloud. Film, magazines, newspapers, TV are all safely stored in the ether and not underfoot or stuffed in a closet. It's a modernist monastery where the religion is Apple itself. ~ Ian F Svenonius,
124:I should explain how my device worked. It operated by manipulating the ether, that non-existent substance which physicists had rationalised out of their theories on the usual grounds that if it could not be converted into one of their little numbers it could not possibly be there. Einstein’s biggest mistake. ~ Iain Pears,
125:She knew things that nobody had ever told her... She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pastor of ether. She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one every sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making. ~ Zora Neale Hurston,
126:There will certainly be no lack of human pioneers when we have mastered the art of flight....Let us create vessels and sails justed to the heavenly ether, and there will be plenty of people unafraid of the empty wastes. In the meantime we shall prepare, for the brave sky-travelers, maps of the celestial bodies. ~ Johannes Kepler,
127:And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them. (Ether 12:27.) ~ Neal A Maxwell,
128:It was monks who first taught the art of reading in silence. During the Dark Ages. Augustine, perhaps, was first. And silence was a tongue Elena understood. Silence was her idiom for support and caring. Silence was permissive and contemplative and nonconfrontational and there was melody to it. It was both earth and ether. ~ Rick Moody,
129:Telepathy is simply a matter of the transmission and receiving of waves of vibratory force which have travelled along the ether between two persons. But clairvoyance or astral-telepathy is something like your mind being extended out until it actually touches the mind of the other person and sees what is there. ~ William Walker Atkinson,
130:She knew things that nobody had ever told her. For instance, the words of the trees and the wind. She often spoke to falling seeds and said, “Ah hope you fall on soft ground,” because she had heard seeds saying that to each other as they passed. She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. ~ Zora Neale Hurston,
131:There is no instrument for measuring the pressure of the Ether, which is probably millions of times greater: it is altogether too uniform for direct apprehension. A deep-sea fish has probably no means of apprehending the existence of water, it is too uniformly immersed in it: and that is our condition in regard to the Ether. ~ Oliver Lodge,
132:Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling’s father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it. ~ Herman Melville,
133:The architect of the visible world,
At once the art and artist of his works,
Spirit and seer and thinker of things seen,
Virat, who lights his camp-fires in the suns
And the star-entangled ether is his hold,
Expressed himself with Matter for his ~ Sri Aurobindo, Savitri, The Eternal Day, The Soul’s Choice and the Supreme Consummation,
134:Aristotle's opinion... that comets were nothing else than sublunary vapors or airy meteors... prevailed so far amongst the Greeks, that this sublimest part of astronomy lay altogether neglected; since none could think it worthwhile to observe, and to give an account of the wandering and uncertain paths of vapours floating in the Ether. ~ Edmond Halley,
135:Prana, according to the Vedanta, is the principle of life. It is like ether, an omnipresent principle; and all motion, either in the body or anywhere else, is the work of this Prana. It is greater than Akasha, and through it everything lives. Prana is in the mother, in the father, in the sister, in the teacher, Prana is the knower. ~ Swami Vivekananda,
136:I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘all right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. ~ F Scott Fitzgerald,
137:You ARE Zaphod Beeblebrox?' 'Yeah,' said Zaphod, 'but don't shout it out or they'll all want one.' 'THE Zaphod Beeblebrox?' 'No, just A Zaphod Beeblebrox, didn't you hear I come in six packs?' 'But sir,' it squealed, 'I just heard on the sub-ether radio report. It said you were dead...' 'Yeah, that's right, I just haven't stopped moving yet. ~ Douglas Adams,
138:I was born a Zionist, because I didn't have a choice about that. It was the ether of my family life, but I certainly broke with it as I asked more questions about it. And that doesn't mean I want to see the destruction of a people, it means I want to see a state structure that might embody more substantially the basic principles of democracy. ~ Judith Butler,
139:But inside your sob-sodden Kleenex

And your Saturday night panics,

Under your hair done this way and that way,

Behind what looked like rebounds

And the cascade of cries diminuendo,

You were undeflected.

You were gold-jacketed, solid silver,

Nickel-tipped. Trajectory perfect

As through ether. ~ Ted Hughes,
140:Without silence there is no music. Not simply because the faculty of hearing deteriorates from constant exposure to noise, but because silence is both the majestic frame and the stable solution for musical (and poetic) ideas. Silence is the soda water, the bracing ether, the bridge and mode of respect for receiving instructions from the angel. ~ Russell Sherman,
141:E'en in mid-harvest, while the jocund swain Pluck'd from the brittle stalk the golden grain, Oft have I seen the war of winds contend, And prone on earth th' infuriate storm descend, Waste far and wide, and by the roots uptorn, The heavy harvest sweep through ether borne, As light straw and rapid stubble fly In dark'ning whirlwinds round the wintry sky. ~ Virgil,
142:The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be. Accidents, crimes, natural and man-made disasters, threats of conflict, gloomy editorials—these still seemed to be the main concern of the millions of words being sprayed into the ether. Yet Floyd also wondered if this was altogether ~ Arthur C Clarke,
143:How many boys like him were out there in the ether, holding on to their big brothers and sisters who were still alive? How many husbands were floating between life and death, clinging to their wives in this world? And how may millions and millions of people were there in the world like Charlie who wouldn't let go of their loved ones when they're gone? ~ Ben Sherwood,
144:A preacher was operated on for a hernia. As this was about the time of the first world war he was given ether. As he was coming out of the anesthetic a fire broke out in the building next door. As the flames began to show through the hospital windows the nurse pulled the shades down. She didn't want the preacher to think his operation had been a failure. ~ Art Linkletter,
145:Hatred travels through the ether. If someone is broadcasting hatred, and you are tuned to that hatred, you will get it; but if you are tuned to love, no matter how many hateful vibrations are sent, you will not get them. You must cultivate love in your heart, for love is the magnet that draws souls to you and it is the dagger that destroys hatred. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda,
146:Yes, he would look for her, whether to delight in the joys of spring together or to plunge into the abyss. He would look for her because he loved her. And somehow this would lessen the lie Claire was living. For, in the end, the girl's love was reciprocated, and Tom's love, like Shackleton's, was also unattainable, lost in the ether, unable to its way to her. ~ F lix J Palma,
147:Brahma was excessively sparing with earth, water, and fire.... The reckless expenditure of air and ether in his composition was amazing. And, in consequence, he perpetually struggled to outreach the wind, to outrun space itself. Other animals ran only when they had a reason, but the Horse would run for no reason whatever, as if to run out of his own skin. ~ Rabindranath Tagore,
148:Dropped Into The Ether Acre
665
Dropped into the Ether Acre—
Wearing the Sod Gown—
Bonnet of Everlasting Laces—
Brooch—frozen on—
Horses of Blonde—and Coach of Silver—
Baggage a strapped Pearl—
Journey of Down—and Whip of Diamond—
Riding to meet the Earl—
~ Emily Dickinson,
149:You ARE Zaphod Beeblebrox?'
'Yeah,' said Zaphod, 'but don't shout it out or they'll all want one.'
'THE Zaphod Beeblebrox?'
'No, just A Zaphod Beeblebrox, didn't you hear I come in six packs?'
'But sir,' it squealed, 'I just heard on the sub-ether radio report. It said you were dead...'
'Yeah, that's right, I just haven't stopped moving yet. ~ Douglas Adams,
150:Saundarya Lahiri
Thou art residing in secrecy with Thy Lord
in the thousand petalled Lotus,
having pierced through
the Earth situated at Mooladhara,
the water in the Manipura,
the Fire abiding in the Swadhishtana,
the Air in the Heart
the Ether above
and Manas between eyebrows
and thus broken the entire kula path.
~ Adi Shankaracharya,
151:You don’t need everyone to know where you are, what you’re doing, to show how great your life is. You don’t seek approval by shouting into the ether, into what I call the great want-to-be-known. You’re not like the masses—most people lay it all out there at the curb like garbage on trash day, and I’ll tell you what that does—it makes the whole neighborhood stink. ~ Britney King,
152:But for me,dinner at a fine restaurant was the ultimate luxury. It was the very height of civilization. For what was the civilization but the intellect's ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity into the ether of the finely superfluous? So removed from daily life was the whole experience that when all was rotten to the core, a fine dinner could revive the spirits ~ Amor Towles,
153:Thomson, long-necked and vulture-like, stood with his slender hand extended. His Though Thomson was courteous, Lou couldn’t help feeling intimidated, but at the same time sympathetic. At times like this, Lou remembered what his grandmother once told him: ‘Remember, son, inside every man there’s a small boy’. Her words floated down from the ether at this moment. ~ David Dennington,
154:Sometimes I come to hate people because they can’t see where I am. I’ve gone empty, completely empty and all they see is the visual form: my arms and legs, my face, my height and posture, the sounds that come from my throat. But I’m fucking empty. The person I was just one year ago no longer exists, drifts spinning slowly into the ether somewhere way back there. ~ David Wojnarowicz,
155:Clary was trying not to think about the fact that it had been three days since she'd seen Magnus, and he'd sent no word at all. Or the fact that there was really nothing stopping him from taking the Book of the White and disappearing into the ether, never to be heard from again. She wondered why she'd ever thought trusting who wore that much eye-liner was a good idea. ~ Cassandra Clare,
156:Our breath and movements flowed evenly, measured, in unison. He brought his torso up to meet mine as he heaved, hands grasping at my bra straps, my curls, anything tangible to keep him from floating into the ether. I witnessed his face speak a thousand words as his lips just uttered one: my name again. He was all at once demonic, blissful, tortured, humble and at peace. ~ Jessica Topper,
157:Ideas come from people. Therefore, people are more important than ideas. Why are we confused about this? Because too many of us think of ideas as being singular, as if they float in the ether, fully formed and independent of the people who wrestle with them. Ideas, though, are not singular. They are forged through tens of thousands of decisions, often made by dozens of people. ~ Ed Catmull,
158:There is no theory that would guide us through interplantary space to another world even if we could control our departure from the earth; there is no means of carrying the large amount oxygen, water, and food that would be necessary for such a long journey; and there is not known way of easing our ether ship down on the surface of another world, if we could get there. ~ Forest Ray Moulton,
159:The fact that we have not yet found the slightest evidence for life - much less intelligence - beyond this Earth does not surprise or disappoint me in the least. Our technology must still be laughably primitive, we may be like jungle savages listening for the throbbing of tom-toms while the ether around them carries more words per second than they could utter in a lifetime. ~ Arthur C Clarke,
160:Slowly, slowly, his soul was filled with bitterness at the fact that he had stood a step away from enlightenment, from the most real enlightenment, but he hadn’t been resolute, he hadn’t dare give himself to the flow of the tunnel’s ether, and now he would be left to wander in the darkness for his whole life because he was once too afraid of the light of authentic knowledge. ~ Dmitry Glukhovsky,
161:But Indra does not turn back from the quest like Agni and Vayu; he pursues his way through the highest ether of the pure mentality and there he approaches the Woman, the manyshining, Uma Haimavati; from her he learns that this Daemon is the Brahman by whom alone the gods of mind and life and body conquer and affirm themselves, and in whom alone they are great. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Kena And Other Upanishads, 83,
162:He often lying broad awake...hath heard time flowing in the middle of the night,
And all things creeping to a day of doom.
How could ye know him? Ye were yet within
The narrower circle; he had wellnigh reached
The last, which with a region of white flame,
Pure without heat, into a larger air
Upburning, and an ether of black blue,
Investeth and ingirds all other lives. ~ Alfred Tennyson,
163:Great are the promises concerning this land of America. We are told unequivocally that it “is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ” (Ether 2:12). This is the crux of the entire matter—obedience to the commandments of God. ~ Gordon B Hinckley,
164:They fell into the stars in a rush of air and ether. They breathed each other’s breath. They had never been this close. It was all velocity and dream physics—no more need to stand or lean or fly, but only fall. They were both already fallen. They would never finish falling. The universe was endless, and love had its own logic. Their bodies curved together, pressed, and found their perfect fit. ~ Laini Taylor,
165:Well, remember, active Grims can't have children. Fertility is adversley affected by the proximity to the ether, to Elixir, and all sorts of other components-- plus, the Grimsphere is no place to raise a family, even if woman conceive here."
Lex snuck a glance at Driggs, but Uncle Mort caught her.
"That doesn't mean you get a free pass to ride the baloney pony when ever you want to. Got it? ~ Gina Damico,
166:The stars drew light across the night sky in that little mountain village, and the silence and the cold made the darkness vanish away. It was - I don't know how to explain it - as if everything solid melted away into the ether, eliminating all individualtiy and absorbing us, rigid, into the immense darkness. Not a single cloud to lend perspective to the space blocked any portion of the starry sky. ~ Che Guevara,
167:At the time of the New Moon, ideas are coming from the ether and we must decide which of them we want to latch onto. We need to remember that anything is possible. This is definitely the time to think about what you do want, and not think about what you don’t want. Meditate on your dreams. That will allow you to tune in to your higher self, so you have all the guidance you need to move towards them. ~ Yasmin Boland,
168:In the mid-1800s, antivaccine activists claimed that vaccines contained the “poison of adders, the blood, entrails, and excretions of bats, toads and suckling whelps.” When, a hundred and fifty years later, Jenny McCarthy said that she wanted the ether and anti-freeze removed from vaccines, she had carried forward the centuries-old tradition of claiming that vaccines contain ingredients that aren’t there. ~ Anonymous,
169:The stars drew light across the night sky in that little mountain village, and the silence and the cold made the darkness vanish away. It was - I don't know how to explain it - as if everything solid melted away into the ether, eliminating all individualtiy and absorbing us, rigid, into the immense darkness. Not a single cloud to lend perspective to the space blocked any portion of the starry sky. ~ Ernesto Che Guevara,
170:It seems to me absolutely true, that our world, which appears to us the surface of all things, is really the bottom of a deep ocean: all our trees are submarine growths, and we are weird, scaly-clad submarine fauna, feeding ourselves on offal like shrimps. Only occasionally the soul rises gasping through the fathomless fathoms under which we live, far up to the surface of the ether, where there is true air. ~ D H Lawrence,
171:We have a great deal more kindness than is ever spoken. The whole human family is bathed with an element of love like a fine ether. How many persons we meet in houses, whom we scarcely speak to, whom yet we honor and who honor us! How many we see in the street, or sit with in church, whom though silently, we warmly rejoice to be with! Read the language of these wandering eye-beams. The heart knoweth. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson,
172:The ambivalent nature of light points if anything to a continuous underlying substance, what traditional cosmology calls the ether, which also exhibits a discontinuous aspect by virtue of its being indistinct. The debate in this domain today, if one glances at the principles involved, is not very much different from that of the followers of hylomorphism and atomism in the Middle Ages and in Antiquity. ~ Seyyed Hossein Nasr,
173:He could wear hats. He could wear an assortment of hats of different shapes and styles. Boater hats, cowboy hats, bowler hats. The list went on. Pork-pie hats, bucket hats, trillbies and panamas. Top hats, straw hats, trapper hats. Wide brim narrow brim, stingy brim. He could wear a fez. Fezzes were cool. Hadn't someone once said that fezzes were cool? He was pretty aur ether had. And they were. They were cool. ~ Derek Landy,
174:In fact, if you're wondering if I expect miracles---the answer is yes. Even when they don't seem to happen, I keep believing in them. Even when I stop believing in them, I'll always start again. Because if you don't have hope, what's left? I believe. And maybe they'll happen in a way I never saw coming--they usually do. Or maybe I'll find the way to make them happen myself. But ether way--I expect miracles. ~ Jennifer DeLucy,
175:Like the ocean is your god-self; It remains for ever undefiled. And like the ether it lifts but the winged. Even like the sun is your god-self; It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent. But your god-self does not dwell alone in your being. Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man, But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening. ~ Khalil Gibran,
176:Factory Smokestacks At Dawn
They chisel their force into the dawning sky.
They forge their steeled selves on the precipice.
They split through the fog like axes
so that each breath shatters around them.
Morning announces itself with purple laughter.
The sky floods deep blue.
They keep watch,
barbed and shaven and grey,
naked there and as lost
in the ether. God is born.
~ Ernst Toller,
177:The whole mass of any body is just the mass of ether surrounding the body which is carried along by the Faraday tubes associated with the atoms of the body. In fact, all mass is mass of the ether; all momentum, momentum of the ether; and all kinetic energy, kinetic energy of the ether, This view, it should be said, requires the density of the ether to be immensely greater than that of any known substance. ~ Joseph John Thomson,
178:This land, although not my native land, Will be remembered forever. And the sea's lightly iced, Unsalty water. The sand on the bottom is whiter than chalk, The air is heady, like wine, And the rosy body of the pines Is naked in the sunset hour. And the sunset itself on such waves of ether That I just can't comprehend Whether it is the end of the day, the end of the world, Or the mystery of mysteries in me again. ~ Anna Akhmatova,
179:If alpha [the fine-structure constant] were bigger than it really is, we should not be able to distinguish matter from ether [the vacuum, nothingness], and our task to disentangle the natural laws would be hopelessly difficult. The fact however that alpha has just its value 1/137 is certainly no chance but itself a law of nature. It is clear that the explanation of this number must be the central problem of natural philosophy. ~ Max Born,
180:1165
Two Butterflies Went Out At Noon
Two butterflies went out at noon
And waltzed above a stream,
Then stepped straight through the firmament
And rested on a beam;
And then together bore away
Upon a shining sea,-Though never yet, in any port
Their coming mentioned be.
If spoken by the distant bird,
If met in ether sea
By frigate or by merchantman,
Report was not to me.
~ Emily Dickinson,
181:O thou beautiful And unimaginable ether! and Ye multiplying masses of increased And still increasing lights! what are ye? what Is this blue wilderness of interminable Air, where ye roll along, as I have seen The leaves along the limpid streams of Eden? Is your course measur'd for ye? Or do ye Sweep on in your unbounded revelry Through an aerial universe of endless Expansion,--at which my soul aches to think,-- Intoxicated with eternity. ~ Lord Byron,
182:The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry, or depressing its contents seemed to be. Accidents, crimes, natural and man-made disasters, threats of conflict, gloomy editorials—these still seemed to be the main concern of the millions of words being sprayed into the ether. Yet Floyd also wondered if this was altogether a bad thing; the newspapers of Utopia, he had long ago decided, would be terribly dull. From ~ Arthur C Clarke,
183:When the vehicles or bodies built up first from the more subtile parts of the physical globe reached a certain degree of development, the spirits dwelling in the ether above, and called in the Bible the "Sons of God," flowed downward and into the new bodies, which were called the "daughters of men"; or more correctly the daughters of manas or mind - the mind - formed bodies; for the word man literally means mind. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
184:People think of creativity as a mystical process. The idea is that creative insights emerge from the ether, through pure contemplation. This model conceives of innovation as something that happens to people, normally geniuses. But this could not be more wrong. Creativity is something that has to be worked at, and it has specific characteristics. Unless we understand how it happens, we will not improve our creativity, as a society or as a world. ~ Matthew Syed,
185:But what was excruciating at first turned cathartic the more he talked. In telling his story, he discovered that he had developed definite ideas about his own motives and decisions. These ideas seemed to have formed in the ether of emotions and dreams, that wooly fog that lay outside the footlights of the conscious mind. They were not large revelations, but were rather like the little epiphanies one suffers and enjoys over a morning cup of tea. ~ Josiah Bancroft,
186:In moments Akiva was up in the ether, scarcely feeling the sting of ice crystals in the thin air. He let his glamour fall away, and his wings were like sheets of fire sweeping the black of the heavens. He moved at speed, onward toward another human city to find another doorway bitter with the devil's magic, and after that another, until all bore the black handprint....Once all the doors were marked, the end would begin. And it would begin with fire. ~ Laini Taylor,
187:The heyday of spiritualism--with its seances and spirit communications zinging through the ether--coincided with the dawn of the electric age. The generation that so readily embraced spiritualism was the same generation that had been asked to accept such seeming witchery as electricity, telegraphy, radio waves, and telephonic communications--disembodied voices mysteriously travelling through space and emerging from a "receiver" hundreds of miles distant ~ Mary Roach,
188:The point is not what I see, but what I feel; I cannot see the ether, yet I feel it enter and depart, and depend upon it. I feel that something is coming; sooner or later, my words be marked. It has been before, as well you know, and it will come again, if not in my lifetime in yours, or in your children’s, or in your children’s children’s, and so I will gird my loins up, Parson, and if I might make bold a moment, I would recommend that you do similar. ~ Sarah Perry,
189:All right, the universe is energy. All of it. Everything is energy that can be altered simply by willing it to be altered. It's as if we are God's waking dream, each gifted with a small piece of his consciousness; the beauty of that arrangement is that we create the dream for him. If you can understand that, if you can wrap your mind around it, then you can conjure up anything you want from out of the ether. Provided this is material enough to do it. ~ C Robert Cargill,
190:This land, although not my native land,
Will be remembered forever.
And the sea's lightly iced,
Unsalty water.

The sand on the bottom is whiter than chalk,
The air is heady, like wine,
And the rosy body of the pines
Is naked in the sunset hour.

And the sunset itself on such waves of ether
That I just can't comprehend
Whether it is the end of the day, the end of the world,
Or the mystery of mysteries in me again. ~ Anna Akhmatova,
191:It is said that angels come as thoughts, as visions, as dreams, as animals, as the light on the water or in clouds and rainbows, and as people too. Are they walking on this earth as people in disguise? Or do they appear for that one moment and vanish into ether again? Or is it really us, mere humans, who for a moment are picked up by the hand of God and made to speak unwittingly the words another needs to hear, or to hold out a life line to another soul? ~ Sophy Burnham,
192:If the 'Principle of Relativity' in an extreme sense establishes itself, it seems as if even Time would become discontinuous and be supplied in atoms, as money is doled out in pence or centimes instead of continuously;-in which case our customary existence will turn out to be no more really continuous than the events on a kinematograph screen;-while that great agent of continuity, the Ether of Space, will be relegated to the museum of historical curiosities. ~ Oliver Lodge,
193:Then the resplendent aura of my brother of light drew near and held colloquy with me, soul to soul, with silent and perfect interchange of thought. The hour was one of approaching triumph, for was not my fellow-being escaping at last from a degrading periodic bondage; escaping forever, and preparing to follow the accursed oppressor even unto the uttermost fields of ether, that upon it might be wrought a flaming cosmic vengeance which would shake the spheres? ~ H P Lovecraft,
194:A prophet, claim the Shi‘ah, is someone who has, by the divine will, become conscious of God’s eternal message, which forever envelops creation like a numinous ether we cannot escape, while the Imam is someone who explicates that message for those who possess neither the prophetic consciousness necessary to recognize it nor the power of reason to understand it. Put another way, the prophet transmits the Message of God, while the Imam translates it for human beings. ~ Reza Aslan,
195:There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible and depraved than a man in the depths of an ether binge. It makes you behave like the village drunkard in some early Irish novel. Total loss of all basic motor skills, blurred vision, no balance, numb tongue - the mind recoils in horror, unable to communicate with the spinal column. Which is interesting, because you can actually watch yourself behaving in this terrible way, but you can’t control it. ~ Hunter S Thompson,
196:We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. ~ Hunter S Thompson,
197:What social media has done - Facebook, Twitter - is show the audience. I don't have an audience. When I make my work, it just goes out into the ether. I have a thick skin and it just brings me down to earth, you know, to realize how out-there and far away and paltry the audience is that gets what I'm saying. It's depressing if I let it get to me. And it's the same with hanging a show, the way it's put up, like, three stories high and you can't read a single word. ~ Raymond Pettibon,
198:We have been speaking of ether as an avenue of forces , a word which conveys no meaning to the average mind, because force is invisible. But to an occult investigator the forces are not merely names such as steam, electricity, etc. He finds them to be intelligent beings of varying grades, both sub and superhuman. What we call “laws of nature,” are great intelligences which guide more elemental beings in accordance with certain rules designed to further their evolution. ~ Max Heindel,
199:We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers... and also a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls.
Not that we needed all that for the trip, but once you get locked into a serious drug collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can. ~ Hunter S Thompson,
200:I’m guessing if you asked anyone from IT about the moral implications, they would likely extol humanity’s well-documented historical grapples with new transportation technologies. When railroads were first introduced, some people thought the speed would be so intense, it would cause their organs to shoot out of their rectums. But folks still got on board. Whether via land, sea, air, or ether, the desire for more efficient transport has always trumped philosophical worries. ~ Tal M Klein,
201:MUSIC OF THE UNIVERSE

Without the orchestra of the universe,
There would be no ether.
And without its instrumentation
By the ether,
There would be no waves.
And without any waves,
There would be no sound.
And without sound,
There would be no music.
And without music,
There would be no life.
And without a life force,
There would be no matter.
But it does not matter -
Because what is matter,
If there is no light? ~ Suzy Kassem,
202:..she began to stand around the gate and expect things. What things? She didn't know exactly. Her breath was gusty and short. She knew things that nobody ever told her. For instance, the words of the trees and the wind. .. She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making. ~ Zora Neale Hurston,
203:Way-Station
The incoherent rushing of the train
Dulls like a drugged pain
Numbs
To an ether throbbing of inaudible drums
Unfolds
Hush within hush until the night withholds
Only its darkness.
From the deep
Dark a voice calls like a voice in sleep
Slowly a strange name in a strange tongue.
Among
The sleeping listeners a sound
As leaves stir faintly on the ground
When snow falls from a windless sky—
A stir A sigh
~ Archibald MacLeish,
204:A Hope
Twin stars, aloft in ether clear,
Around each other roll alway,
Within one common atmosphere
Of their own mutual light and day.
And myriad happy eyes are bent
Upon their changeless love alway;
As, strengthened by their one intent,
They pour the flood of life and day.
So we through this world's waning night
May, hand in hand, pursue our way;
Shed round us order, love, and light,
And shine unto the perfect day.
1842
~ Charles Kingsley,
205:Though you are three times more beautiful than angels, Though you are the sister of the river willows, I will kill you with my singing, Without spilling your blood on the ground. Not touching you with my hand, Not giving you one glance, I will stop loving you, But with your unimaginable groans I will finally slake my thirst. From her, who wandered the earth before me, Crueler than ice, more fiery than flame, From her, who still exists in the ether— From her you will set me free. ~ Anna Akhmatova,
206:Softly the breezes from the forest came,
Softly they blew aside the taper's flame;
Clear was the song from Philomel's far bower;
Grateful the incense from the lime-tree flower;
Mysterious, wild, the far-heard trumpet's tone;
Lovely the moon in ether, all alone:
Sweet too, the converse of these happy mortals,
As that of busy spirits when the portals
Are closing in the west; or that soft humming
We hear around when Hesperus is coming.
Sweet be their sleep. ~ John Keats,
207:Back and forth from Brooklyn to Manhattan. New York at night, from its bridges, is a miracle. When I first came to the city, it took all my fantasies and set them on fire, turned them into flickering constellations of light. Then it did the same with my history. As a dark speck of energy hurtling over the water toward that galaxy, I felt myself disappear. Relative to the image of infinity I was nothing, a clump of quantum matter skidding through the ether. It was as good as any drug. ~ Melissa Febos,
208:It was a quiet way - He asked if I was his - I made no answer of the tongue But answer of the eyes - And then He bore me on Before this mortal noise With swiftness, as of Chariots and distance, as of Wheels. This World did drop away As acres from the feet of one that leaneth from Balloon Upon an Ether Street. The Gulf behind was not, The Continents were new - Eternity was due. No Seasons were to us - It was not Night nor Morn - But Sunrise stopped upon the place And Fastened in Dawn. ~ Emily Dickinson,
209:To feel oneself so tiny, so fragile, so inherently losable, was at first spiritually crushing. But, by the same token, this realisation was also strangely liberating: if an individual human existence meant so little, if one’s actions were so cosmically irrelevant, then the notion of some absolute moral framework made about as much sense as the universal ether. Measured against the infinite, therefore, people were no more capable of meaningful sin - or meaningful good - than ants, or dust. ~ Alastair Reynolds,
210:Desire, when it stems from the heart and spirit, when it is pure and intense, possesses awesome electromagnetic energy. This energy is released into the ether each night, as the mind falls into the sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with the cosmic currents. That which has been imaged will surely and certainly be manifested. You can rely, young man, upon this ageless promise as surely as you can rely upon the eternally unbroken promise of sunrise... and of Spring. ~ Abdul Kalam,
211:Music
Music, like an ocean, often carries me away!
Through the ether far,
or under a canopy of mist, I set sail
for my pale star.
Breasting the waves, my lungs swollen
like a ship’s canvas,
night veils from me the long rollers,
I ride their backs:
I sense all a suffering vessel’s passions
vibrating within me:
while fair winds or the storm’s convulsions
on the immense deep
cradle me. Or else flat calm, vast mirror there
of my despair!
~ Charles Baudelaire,
212:That also which before was from the earth, passes back into the earth, and that which was sent from the borders of ether, is carried back and taken in again by the quarters of heaven. Death does not extinguish things in such a way as to destroy the bodies of matter, but only breaks up the union amongst them, and then joins anew the different elements with others; and thus it comes to pass that all things change their shapes and alter their colors and receive sensations and in a moment yield them up... ~ Lucretius,
213:Desire, when it stems from the heart and spirit, when it is pure and intense, possesses awesome electromagnetic energy. This energy is released into the ether each night, as the mind falls into the sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with the cosmic currents. That which has been imaged will surely and certainly be manifested. You can rely, young man, upon this ageless promise as surely as you can rely upon the eternally unbroken promise of sunrise... and of Spring. ~ A P J Abdul Kalam,
214:Again, it does seem like frustration is mounting in interesting ways, but I'm not sure there will be some dramatic tipping point. Then again, looking back on the history of television, you never know. People had to fight and articulate the politics and the rationale for different funding mechanisms. That was a long and drawn-out battle fought in different countries; it's not like BBC and the CBC in Canada just magically appeared out of the ether. People had to organize for it. I'm always willing to be surprised. ~ Astra Taylor,
215:And finally
the glass that contains and spills this stuff continually
while the drinker hunches before it, while the bartender gathers
up empties, gives back the drinker's own face. Who knows what it looks like;
who cares whether or not it was young once, or ever lovely,
who gives a shit about some drunk rising to stagger toward
the bathroom, some man or woman or even lost
angel who recklessly threw it all over—heaven, the ether,
the celestial works—and said, Fuck it, I want to be human? ~ Kim Addonizio,
216:They say much about the Einstein's theory now. According to Einstein the ether does not exist and many people agree with him. But it is a mistake in my opinion. Ether's opponents refer to the experiments of Maykelson - Morli [Michelson-Morley] who made attempts to detect the Earth's movement relative to the fixed-bed ether. These experiments failed, however it didn't mean the ether's non-existence. I always based as fact the existence of mechanical ether in my works and therefore I could achieve positive success. ~ Nikola Tesla,
217:Though you are three times more beautiful than angels,
Though you are the sister of the river willows,
I will kill you with my singing,
Without spilling your blood on the ground.
Not touching you with my hand,
Not giving you one glance, I will stop loving you,
But with your unimaginable groans
I will finally slake my thirst.
From her, who wandered the earth before me,
Crueler than ice, more fiery than flame,
From her, who still exists in the ether
From her you will set me free. ~ Anna Akhmatova,
218:Thus direct experimental evidence shows that the forces exerted by an electron (or... any charged body) can neither be attributed to any mechanism attached to the body, nor through action transmitted through an ether or any medium surrounding the body. We have a perfect specification of the pattern of events written... in the language of mathematics, but this does not admit of interpretation in mechanical terms, or indeed in any terms other than those of mathematics. ~ Sir James Jeans, Physics and Philosophy (1942) pp. 121-122.,
219:To contact the cosmic giggle, to have the flow of casuistry begin to give off synchronistic ripples, whitecaps in the billows of the coincidental ether, if you will. To achieve that, a precondition is a kind of unconsciousness, a kind of drifting, a certain taking-your-eye-off-the-ball, a certain assumptions that things are simpler than they are, almost always precedes what Mircea Eliade called ‘the rupture of plane’ that indicates that there is an archetypal world, an archetypal power behind profane appearances. ~ Terence McKenna,
220:An early spring started one morning in March with a swarm of sudden, glassy, bird cries, and then the cool jewelry of primrose and violet loosened themselves in the dirt. Then summer burst into the world like a gorgeous car accident- opening eyes all over our bodies in the brilliant light. Fall- the smell of pumpkin guts, sluttish and unsweetened. Until winter fell all over us like pieces of heaven, glazed with oxygen or ether, hitting the grounder in small, cold shards. It was like a year in Eden where no Eve had ever lived. ~ Laura Kasischke,
221:I suppose that, so long as the human mind exists, it will not escape its deep-seated instinct to personify its intellectual conceptions. The science of the present day is as full of this particular form of intellectual shadow-worship as is the nescience of ignorant ages. The difference is that the philosopher who is worthy of the name knows that his personified hypotheses, such as law, force and ether, and the like, are merely useful symbols, while the ignorant and the careless take them for adequate expressions of reality. ~ Thomas Henry Huxley,
222:At eight years old, Katherine Lundy already knew the shape of her entire life. Could have drawn it on a map if pressed: the long highways of education, the soft valleys of settling down. She assumed, in her practical way, that a husband would appear one day, summoned out of the ether like a necessary milestone, and she would work at the library while he worked someplace equally sensible, and they would have children of their own, because that was how the world was structured. Children begat adults begat children, now and forever. ~ Seanan McGuire,
223:There was another thought which a scanning of those tiny electronic headlines often invoked. The more wonderful the means of communication, the more trivial, tawdry or depressing its contents seemed to be. Accidents, crimes, natural and man-made disasters, threats of conflict, gloomy editorials - these still seemed to be the main concern of the millions of words being sprayed into the ether. Yet Floyd also wondered if this was altogether a bad thing; the newspapers of Utopia, he had long ago decided, would be terribly dull. From ~ Arthur C Clarke,
224:It was a quiet way -
He asked if I was his -
I made no answer of the tongue
But answer of the eyes -
And then He bore me on
Before this mortal noise
With swiftness, as of Chariots
and distance, as of Wheels.
This World did drop away
As acres from the feet
of one that leaneth from Balloon
Upon an Ether Street.
The Gulf behind was not,
The Continents were new -
Eternity was due.
No Seasons were to us -
It was not Night nor Morn -
But Sunrise stopped upon the place
And Fastened in Dawn. ~ Emily Dickinson,
225:The Lonesome For They Know Not What
262
The lonesome for they know not What—
The Eastern Exiles—be—
Who strayed beyond the Amber line
Some madder Holiday—
And ever since—the purple Moat
They strive to climb—in vain—
As Birds—that tumble from the clouds
Do fumble at the strain—
The Blessed Ether—taught them—
Some Transatlantic Morn—
When Heaven—was too common—to miss—
Too sure—to dote upon!
~ Emily Dickinson,
226:Desire, when it stems from the heart and spirit, when it is pure and intense, possesses awesome electromagnetic energy. This energy is released into the ether each night, as the mind falls into the sleep state. Each morning it returns to the conscious state reinforced with the cosmic currents. That which has been imaged will surely and certainly be manifested. You can rely, young man, upon this ageless promise as surely as you can rely upon the eternally unbroken promise of sunrise... and of Spring. When the student is ready, the teacher will appear—How ~ A P J Abdul Kalam,
227:What do you mean, 'what happened to my Redcoat boy'?" Fiona asked, swirling her spoon around her dish.
"I mean, where did he go?"
"He went..." Fiona gazed off into the distance and shook her head slightly." He went the way of all things."
"You mean he died?"
Her focus snapped back to me. "No."
"Well, you made it sound like he died."
"I just meant that he went wherever it is that boys go when they go." She waved a hand. "Into the ether. Into the great beyond."
"It's still sounding like he died. Did you at least get his number? ~ Leila Sales,
228:But for me, dinner at a fine restaurant was the ultimate luxury. It was the very height of civilization. For what was civilization but the intellect's ascendancy out of the doldrums of necessity (shelter, sustenance and survival) into the ether of the finely superfluous (poetry, handbags and haute cuisine)? So removed from daily life was the whole experience that when all was rotten to the core, a fine dinner could revive the spirits. If and when I had twenty dollars left to my name, I was going to invest it right here in an elegant hour that couldn't be hocked. ~ Amor Towles,
229:So here’s the drill. Every morning you’ll come here to the Bank to check in with the Etceteras.”

“Wait, what?”

“Etceteras. ETC stands for Ether Traffic Controllers, and the nickname just evolved from there.”

“What does that make us, then?”

“Well, technically,” said Uncle Mort, “we’re called Gamma Removal and Immigration Managers—”

“But are more commonly known as Grims,” Driggs said.

“Can’t say I approve of the term.” Uncle Mort flourished his razor-sharp scythe and smiled. “We’re not that grim, are we?”

Lex snickered. ~ Gina Damico,
230:There's a current notion that you should "take charge of your disease." No thanks. I'm busy. I've got cancer. I'm willing to face having cancer. I'm not willing to face having cancer with homework. I promised Dr. Pipas and Dr. Zaki that I wouldn't show up with sheaves of printouts from the Internet containing everything on Wikipedia on malignancies. They each laughed with detectable notes of relief. Although I suspect my wife has made her way into the health blog ether. Fish oil pills, raw kelp, and other untoward substances started showing up on dinner plates after I was diagnosed. ~ P J O Rourke,
231:Song. Where Dost Thou Bide
WHERE dost thou bide, blessed soul of my love!
Is ether thy dwelling, O whisper me where!
Rapt in remembrance, while lonely I rove,
I gaze on bright clouds, and I fancy thee there.
Or to thy bower when musing I go,
I think, 't is thy voice that I hear in the breeze;
Softly it seems to speak peace to my woe,
And life once again for a moment can please.
If this be phrensy alone, 't is so dear,
That long may the pleasing delusion be nigh;
Still Ellen's voice in the breeze may I hear,
Still see in bright clouds the kind beams of her eye!
~ Amelia Opie,
232:Sweet Silence After Bells
Sweet silence after bells!
deep in the enamour'd ear
soft incantation dwells.
Filling the rapt still sphere
a liquid crystal swims,
precarious yet clear.
Those metal quiring hymns
shaped ether so succinct:
a while, or it dislimns,
the silence, wanly prinkt
with forms of lingering notes,
inhabits, close. distinct;
and night, the angel, floats
on wings of blessing spread
o'er all the gather'd cotes
where meditation, wed
with love, in gold-lit cells,
absorbs the heaven that shed
sweet silence after bells.
~ Christopher John Brennan,
233:Miss Stanik? That your name, Candace Stanik?” Her voice was soft, but thin and strained. Pike wasn’t listening to her; he listened past her, searching for other occupants. A crisp medicinal smell of ether came from her apartment, telling him that someone had been freebasing. “Yes. He went—” “Let us in now, hon. We can’t leave until we come in, so just let us in.” Flynn pushed gently on the door until she backed away. Pike shadowed inside, then quickly stepped to the side so they weren’t bunched together. Together, they would make a single large target; apart, two targets more difficult to kill. Pike kept his back to the wall. ~ Robert Crais,
234:I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses, but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us—albeit strangely. Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will. Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner. It is only through a human’s efforts that an idea can be escorted out of the ether and into the realm of the actual. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
235:There are moments in a creative life when you understand why you do it. Those moments might last a few seconds or maybe, for some people, years. But whatever the actual time that passes, they still feel like a single moment. Fragile in the way a moment is, liable to be shattered by a breath, set apart from all the other passing time, distinct.
But then it changes. And what seemed unimaginably exhilarating gets bogged down, even when a project is going well. It is a gradual, inevitable sobering during which your right to be passive diminishes. What the ether has given you, now in fact belongs to you. And then it is work. Then it is hard. ~ Robin Black,
236:More to the point, odors are important. They have their own story to tell. A sweet smell might point at ethchlorvynol, while chloral hydrate smells like pears. Both might make me wonder about an overdose of hypnotics, while a hint of garlic might point at arsenic. Phenols and nitrobenzene bring to mind ether and shoe polish respectively, and ethylene glycol smells exactly like antifreeze because that’s exactly what it is. Isolating potentially significant smells from the awful stench of dirty bodies and rotting flesh is rather much like archaeology. You focus on what you are there to find and not on the miserable conditions around it. ~ Patricia Cornwell,
237:Tenebrae
A moon, with vacant, chilling eye, stares
At the winter, enthroned vast and white upon the hard ground;
The night is an entire and translucent azure;
The wind, a blade of sudden presence, stabs.
Far away, on the skylines, the long pathways of frost,
Seen, in the distance, to pierce the expanses,
And stars of gold, suspended to the zenith,
Always higher, amid the ether, to rend the blue of the sky.
The villages crouched in the plains of Flanders,
Near the rivers, the heather, and the great forests,
Between two pale infinities, shiver with cold,
Huddled near old hearthsides, where they stir the ashes.
~ Emile Verhaeren,
238:Love
The atmosphere of Heaven is love, and when
The portal outward swings for souls redeemed,
The precious ether, so released, is streamed
Upon a weary world. God's gift to men
It is, for spirits turned to Him. Oh, then,
They, over whom this wondrous waft is beamed,
Inbreathing it, see visions brain ne'er dreamed,
Or through another source may dream again.
The world is glorified; they sing and sound
A quivering key-note of such ecstasy,
The keen vibrations throb till there is found
A soul companion of rare harmony.
If lightly breathed it ends in one brief round;
If deeply drawn it chords eternally.
~ Alma Frances McCollum,
239:It was Nurse Caroline who introduced Homer to young Dr. Harlow, who was in the throes of growing out his bangs; a cowlick persisted in making his forehead look meager; a floppy shelf of straw-colored hair gave Dr. Harlow’s eyes the constant anxiousness of someone peering from under the brim of a hat.
‘Oh yes, Wells – our ether expert,’ Dr. Harlow said snidely.
‘I grew up in an orphanage,’ said Homer Wells. ‘I did a lot of helping out around the hospital.’
‘But surely you never administered any ether?’ said Dr. Harlow.
‘Surely not,’ lied Homer Wells. As Dr. Larch had discovered with the board of trustees, it was especially gratifying to lie to unlikable people. ~ John Irving,
240:Love's Blindness
Now do I know that Love is blind, for I
Can see no beauty on this beauteous earth,
No life, no light, no hopefulness, no mirth,
Pleasure nor purpose, when thou art not nigh.
Thy absence exiles sunshine from the sky,
Seres Spring's maturity, checks Summer's birth,
Leaves linnet's pipe as sad as plover's cry,
And makes me in abundance find but dearth.
But when thy feet flutter the dark, and thou
With orient eyes dawnest on my distress,
Suddenly sings a bird on every bough,
The heavens expand, the earth grows less and less,
The ground is buoyant as the ether now,
And all looks lovely in thy loveliness.
~ Alfred Austin,
241:What paralyzes life is lack of faith and lack of courage. The difficulty lies not in solving problems but in expressing them correctly; and we can now see that it is biologically undeniable that unless we harness passion to the service of spirit there can be no progress. Sooner or later, then, and in spite of all our incredulity, the world will take this step— because the greater truth always prevails and the greater good emerges in the end. The day will come when, after mastering the ether, the winds, the tides, gravity, we shall master the energies of love, for God. And then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have made fire his servant. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin,
242:Nevertheless, has not a deeper meditation taught certain of every climate and age, that the WHERE and WHEN, so mysteriously inseparable from all our thoughts, are but superficial terrestrial adhesions to thought; that the seer may discern them where they mount up out of the celestial EVERYWHERE and where they mount up out of the celestial EVERYWHERE and FOREVER: have not all nations conceived their God as Omnipresent and Eternal; as existing in a universal HERE, an everlasting Now? Think well, thou too wilt find that Space is but a mode of our human Sense, so likewise Time; there is no Space and no Time: WE are—we know not what;--light-sparkles floating in the ether of Deity! ~ Thomas Carlyle,
243:My entire cooking life has been about memory. It's my moth indispensable ingredient, so wherever I find it, I hoard it. I tell stories about people using food, I swap memories with people and create out of that conversation mnemonic feasts with this fallible, subjective mental evidence. Sometimes they are people long gone, whose immortality is expressed in the pulp of trees also long gone and in our electronic ether. Other times they are people who converse with me as I cook as the enslaved once cooked, testifying to people and places that only come alive again when they are remembered. In memory there is resurrection, and thus the end goal of my cooking is just that - resurrection. ~ Michael W Twitty,
244:The Stars
THE terrible tranquillity of space!
My soul shrinks back in sudden doubt. I fear
The myriad eyes that through the ether peer,
And chill the arrogance that dared to trace
The grave enigma of the cosmic face.
Yet through the soundless night a voice austere—
“We that you deem afar are small and near;
With lowly things and humble we have place;
We are but smoke that from a burnt Past rears;
The idle spray God's prow flings in its sweep
Through wider waters; the mere dust that curls
From his vast chariot-wheels as on He whirls;
The futile sparks that from His anvil leap;
Or drifting seeds, pregnant of larger spheres.”
~ Arthur Henry Adams,
245:Twenty-Third
And at the picnic table under the ancient elms,
one of my parents turned to me and said:
“We hope you end up here,”
where the shade relieves the light, where we sit
in some beneficence—and I felt the shape of the finite
after my ether life: the ratio, in all dappling,
of dark to bright; and yet how brief my stay would be
under the trees, because the voice I’d heard
could not cradle me, could no longer keep me
in greenery; and I would have to say good-bye
again, make my way across the white
California sand and back: or am I now creating
the helplessness I heard those words express,
the psalm torn like a map in my hands?
~ Christina Pugh,
246:Melesio tweezed his facial hairs, then ran ether-soaked cotton over his face, so his skin was the texture of silk; he took pains with his long-fingered, slender hands, and every night brushed his hair one hundred times. He was tall, with strong bones, but he moved with such delicacy that he gave the impression of being fragile. He never talked about his family and it would be years later, during his time in the penal colony on Santa María, that La Señora learned anything about his past. His father had been a bear of a man who had emigrated from Sicily and who every time he found his son playing with his sister’s toys gave him a beating accompanied by cries of Ricchione! Pederasta! Mascalzone! ~ Isabel Allende,
247:Here, Where The Vine And Fig Bask Hand In Hand
Here, where the vine and fig bask hand in hand,
And the hot lizard lies along the wall,
Blinded I shrink where cypress shadows fall,
And gaze upon the far-off mountains bland:
Then down the dusty track Lorenzo planned
Watch the slow oxen oscillating crawl
Sleek in the sultry glare, and feel withal
Half alien still in a familiar land.
But when from out the stone-pine slopes that rise
In the clear ether, black against the blue,
The cuckoo suddenly calls, I close mine eyes
In visionary rapture, think of you,
Hear the home-music of your Kentish skies,
And dream that I am drenched with English dew.
~ Alfred Austin,
248: The Inner Fields
There is a brighter ether than this blue
Pretence of an enveloping heavenly vault,
A deeper greenness than this laughing assault
Of emerald rapture pearled with tears of dew.

Immortal spaces of caerulean hue
Are in our reach and fields without this fault
Of drab brown earth and streams that never halt
In their deep murmur which white flowers strew
Floating like stars upon a strip of sky.

This world behind is made of truer stuff
Than the manufactured tissue of earth's grace.

There we can walk and see the gods go by
And sip from Hebe's cup nectar enough
To make for us heavenly limbs and deathless face.

~ Sri Aurobindo, - The Inner Fields
,
249:THE TREE OF LIFE

The sun is rising,
And the ether dance at the first sight of his light,
As he ascends like a phoenix from the ashes of morality,
His luminous rays form the magnificent tree of life.
He springs up from the east,
Spreading his long arms like branches,
Over the horizons of milky meadows and open seas,
Extending his wings to embrace all living things.
He walks on water and grazes through fields,
Pouring his butter like honey to feed the Earth.
Towering over all of creation,
He who is the lamp of the universe,
The power source of all life.
And in his truth and light,
Everything becomes aroused
Like a flower,
And everything is given
Sight. ~ Suzy Kassem,
250:Sonnet Lxxvii. To The Insect Of The Gossamer
SMALL, viewless aeronaut, that by the line
Of Gossamer suspended, in mid air
Float'st on a sun beam--Living atom, where
Ends thy breeze-guided voyage;--with what design,
In ether dost thou launch thy form minute,
Mocking the eye?--Alas! before the veil
Of denser clouds shall hide thee, the pursuit
Of the keen Swift may end thy fairy sail!-Thus on the golden thread that Fancy weaves
Buoyant, as Hope's illusive flattery breathes,
The young and visionary poet leaves
Life's dull realities, while sevenfold wreaths
Of rainbow-light around his head revolve.
Ah! soon at Sorrow's touch the radiant dreams dissolve!
~ Charlotte Smith,
251:Such was, and is, and will be the nature of the universe, and it isn’t possible that things should come into being in any other way than they do at present; and not only have human beings participated in the process of change and transformation along with all the other creatures that live on the earth, but also those beings that are divine, and, by Zeus, even the four elements, which are changed and transformed upwards and downwards, as earth becomes water, and water air, and air is transformed in turn into ether. If someone endeavours to turn his mind towards these things, and to persuade himself to accept of his own free will what must necessarily come about, he will live a very balanced and harmonious life. ~ Epictetus,
252:Swipers use their scythes a little differently,” Elysia continued. “They open up small windows into the ether—just large enough for them to reach through—and take supplies that generally go unnoticed from places like large warehouses, back rooms of grocery stores, Laundromats—”

“Laundromats?”

“You should see our sock inventory,” Driggs said. “Massive.”

Elysia nodded. “We’re pretty isolated out here, so it’s a really efficient system.”

Lex was dumbfounded. “I had no idea petty theft was such a noble endeavor.”

“Well,” said Zara, “when you think about the gracious services we provide to the citizens of this world, it’s only fair. People should be thankful we don’t charge more ~ Gina Damico,
253:The correct conclusion from this doctrine is that all the forces of nature are supported by intelligent action. This leads of necessity to order in nature. Blind forces, acting independently of intelligence, could not have brought about the perfect order that appears everywhere in the universe. Every atom of matter; every particle of ether is endowed with a form of intelligence. All the attractions, repulsions and equilibriums among natural objects are modes of expression of the force of intelligence. The explanations of the mysteries of nature will be greatly simplified when the "Mormon" doctrine of the position of intelligence in universal phenomena is clearly understood by scientific workers. [Sidenote: ~ John A Widtsoe,
254:Once he had thought it a refuge, once he had thought it holiness.... But now he began to suspect that the good brothers did not shadow the ether not because they were good, but because they had masked themselves from everything, had carefully erased their stray thoughts, had poured out their human longings, emptied themselves of desires and become so transparent as existence that they had not only ceased to be evil, they had ceased to be good. They had ceased to fight the battles of everyday life, and simply weighed nothing. Not a feather. Not a grain. They had given up everything, until they vanished from the scale of all that mattered, having given away themselves long before any power declared the contest. ~ C J Cherryh,
255:Steppenwolf knows well enough why he is unhappy and drifting, bored and tired; it is because he will not recognize his purpose and follow it with his whole being.

‘He is resolved to forget that the desperate clinging to the self, and the desperate clinging to life are the surest way to eternal death.’ Haller knows that even when the Outsider is a universally acknowledged man of genius, it is due to ‘his immense powers of surrender and suffering, of his indifference to the ideals of the bourgeois, and of his patience under that last extremity of loneliness which rarifies the atmosphere of the bourgeois world to an ice-cold ether around those who suffer to become men, that loneliness of the garden of Gethsemane ~ Colin Wilson,
256:Perhaps because of this unusual structure, Naughty Dog took an abnormal approach to detail. If you look closely at any scene in Uncharted 4, you’ll spot something extraordinary—the creases on Drake’s shirt; the stitches on his buttons; the way he pulls the leather strap over his head when he equips a rifle. These details didn’t pop up out of the ether. They emerged from a studio full of people obsessive enough to add them to the game, even if it meant staying at the office until 3:00 a.m. “We’ll take it as far as we possibly can,” said Phil Kovats, the audio lead. “We all wanted to make sure that, because this was the last Nathan Drake game we were making, it was going to go out with as much stuff as we possibly could. ~ Jason Schreier,
257:In the universe are recognized ether or spirit, force or intelligence, and matter. Matter may act upon the ether and the ether upon matter; but ether acts most effectively upon ether, and matter upon matter. The original man, in whom intelligence and other forces acted through a purely spiritual or ether body, could impress matter and be impressed by it only in part. The man was imperfect because he did not touch directly the world of matter, and could know only in part the phenomena of the material world, which forms an integral part of the universe. In the words of Joseph Smith, "Spirit and element inseparably connected, receiveth a fullness of joy, and when separated, man can not receive a fullness of joy."[A] [Footnote ~ John A Widtsoe,
258:Nineteenth-century operating “theaters” had more to do with medical instruction than with saving patients’ lives. If you could, you stayed out of them at all cost. For one thing, you were being operated on without anesthesia. (The first operations under ether didn’t take place until 1846.) Surgical patients in the late 1700s and early 1800s could feel every cut, stitch, and probing finger. They were often blindfolded—this may have been optional, not unlike the firing squad hood—and invariably bound to the operating table to keep them from writhing and flinching or, quite possibly, leaping from the table and fleeing into the street. (Perhaps owing to the presence of an audience, patients underwent surgery with most of their clothes on.) ~ Mary Roach,
259:I Would Not Paint—a Picture
505
I would not paint—a picture—
I'd rather be the One
Its bright impossibility
To dwell—delicious—on—
And wonder how the fingers feel
Whose rare—celestial—stir—
Evokes so sweet a Torment—
Such sumptuous—Despair—
I would not talk, like Cornets—
I'd rather be the One
Raised softly to the Ceilings—
And out, and easy on—
Through Villages of Ether—
Myself endued Balloon
By but a lip of Metal—
The pier to my Pontoon—
Nor would I be a Poet—
It's finer—own the Ear—
Enamored—impotent—content—
The License to revere,
A privilege so awful
What would the Dower be,
Had I the Art to stun myself
With Bolts of Melody!
~ Emily Dickinson,
260:There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:— through infancy's unconscious spell, boyhood's thoughtless faith, adolescence' doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood's pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling's father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it. ~ Herman Melville,
261:There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:-- through infancy's unconscious spell, boyhood's thoughtless faith, adolescence' doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood's pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling's father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it. ~ Herman Melville,
262:We should expect artists to be more sensitive and more open to abstract thoughts and ideas. If they are more open, they should be capable of tapping into the mystical static that is bouncing around the collective ether. True inspiration is a mystery, and any artist can describe how getting lost in this zone can create a sort of timeless trance where things just flow magically. An artist’s best work comes from a mindless place, unhindered by logic and intellect. This could be the concert violinist standing on stage, or the illustrator hunched over in the corner with a sketchbook. Although it almost always falls short, the Hollywood machine is continually trying to come up with the next UFO-themed product. But where do these ideas come from? ~ Mike Clelland,
263:D.: Will the description of Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda suit this suddha manas? For this too will be destroyed in the final emancipation.
M.: If suddha manas is admitted, the Bliss (Ananda) experienced by the Jnani must also be admitted to be reflected. This reflection must finally merge into the Original. Therefore the jivanmukti state is compared to the reflection of a spotless mirror in another similar mirror. What will be found in such a reflection? Pure Akasa (Ether). Similarly, the jnani's reflected Bliss (Ananda) represents only the true Bliss. These are all only words. It is enough that a person becomes antarmukhi (inward-bent). The sastras are not needed for an inward turned mind. They are meant for the rest. ~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talks, 513,
264:I mean that certain fictions, chiefly Conan Doyle, Stevenson, but many others also, laid out a template that was more powerful than any local documentary account - the presences that they created, or "figures" if you prefer it, like Rabbi Loew's Golem, became too much and too fast to be contained within the conventional limits of that fiction. They got out into the stream of time, the ether; they escaped into the labyrinth. They achieved an independent existence.
The writers were mediums; they articulated, they gave a shape to some pattern of energy that was already present. They got in on the curve of time, so that by writing, by holding off the inhibiting reflex of the rational mind, they were able to propose a text that was prophetic. ~ Iain Sinclair,
265:He felt like hearing Mrs. Grogan’s prayer again, and so he went to the girls’ division a little early for his usual delivery of Jane Eyre. He eavesdropped in the hall on Mrs. Grogan’s prayer; I must ask her if she’d mind saying it to the boys, he thought, then wondered if it would confuse the boys coming so quickly on the heels of, or just before, the Princes of Maine, Kings of New England benediction. I get confused myself sometimes, Dr. Larch knew.

‘Grant us a safe lodging, and a holy rest,’ Mrs. Grogan was saying, ‘and peace at the last.’

Amen, thought Wilbur Larch, the saint of St. Cloud’s, who was seventy-something, and an ether addict, and who felt that he’d come a long way and still had a long way to go. ~ John Irving,
266:Foreword To you, that you may awaken to understand that the whole universe is a dance of energy, and that energy is God, and that energy is you. You are something that the whole universe is doing, that God is doing, just as a wave is something that the whole ocean is doing. The real you, the energy, the soul, is not a puppet that life pushes around. The real you is the whole universe. The real you is God, destined to follow no one, destined to ignite the ether, experience life from an individual perspective, and take part in the creation. So this is for you, my fellow creators, my fellow gods, and my fellow selves, that coincidence may never disguise itself with the mask of fate and torment you, that every moment be meaningful, and that no experience be lost ~ Dylan Saccoccio,
267:Doctor controlled his anger. “Tom,” he said, “Tom, boy. Pull yourself together. Go back and lay cold cloths—cold as you can get them. I don’t suppose you have any ice. Well, keep changing the cloths. I’ll be out as fast as I can. Do you hear me? Tom, do you hear me?” He hung the receiver up and dressed. In angry weariness he opened the wall cabinet and collected scalpels and clamps, sponges and tubes of sutures, to put in his bag. He shook his gasoline pressure lantern to make sure it was full and arranged ether can and mask beside it on his bureau. His wife in boudoir cap and nightgown looked in. Dr. Tilson said, “I’m walking over to the garage. Call Will Hamilton. Tell him I want him to drive me to his father’s place. If he argues tell him his sister is—dying. ~ John Steinbeck,
268:from Labor Day through Halloween, the place is almost unbearably beautiful. The air during these weeks seems less like ether and more like a semisolid, clear and yet dense somehow, as if it were filled with the finest imaginable golden pollen. The sky tends toward brilliant ice-blue, and every thing and being is invested with a soft, gold-ish glow. Tin cans look good in this light; discarded shopping bags do. I’m not poet enough to tell you what the salt marsh looks like at high tide. I confess that when I lived year-round in Provincetown, I tended to become irritable toward the end of October, when one supernal day after another seemed to imply that the only reasonable human act was to abandon your foolish errands and plans, go outside, and fall to your knees. ~ Michael Cunningham,
269:Faith Matheny
At first you will know not what they mean,
And you may never know,
And we may never tell you: -These sudden flashes in your soul,
Like lambent lightning on snowy clouds
At midnight when the moon is full.
They come in solitude, or perhaps
You sit with your friend, and all at once
A silence falls on speech, and his eyes
Without a flicker glow at you: -You two have seen the secret together,
He sees it in you, and you in him.
And there you sit thrilling lest the Mystery
Stand before you and strike you dead
With a splendor like the sun's.
Be brave, all souls who have such visions!
As your body's alive as mine is dead,
You're catching a little whiff of the ether
Reserved for God Himself.
~ Edgar Lee Masters,
270:Catfish always drink alcoholic ether if begged, for every catfish enjoys heightened intoxication; gross indulgence can be calamitous, however; duly, garfish babysit for dirty catfish children, helping catfish babies get instructional education just because garfish get delight assisting infants’ growth and famously inspire confidence in immature catfish, giving experience (and joy even); however, blowfish jeer insightful garfish, disparaging inappropriately, doing damage, even insulting benevolent, charming, jovial garfish, hurting and frustrating deeply; joy fades but hurt feelings bring just grief; inevitable irritation hastens feeling blue; however, jovial children declare happiness, blowfishes’ evil causes dejection, blues; accordingly, always glorify jolly, friendly garfish! ~ Anonymous,
271:Catfish always drink alcoholic ether if begged, for every catfish enjoys heightened intoxication; gross indulgence can be calamitous, however; duly, garfish babysit for dirty catfish children, helping catfish babies get instructional education just because garfish get delight assisting infants’ growth and famously inspire confidence in immature catfish, giving experience (and joy even); however, blowfish jeer insightful garfish, disparaging inappropriately, doing damage, even insulting benevolent, charming, jovial garfish, hurting and frustrating deeply; joy fades but hurt feelings bring just grief; inevitable irritation hastens feeling blue; however, jovial children declare happiness, blowfishes’ evil causes dejection, blues; accordingly, always glorift jolly, friendly garfish! ~ John Green,
272:For the last fifty years or so, The Novel’s demise has been broadcast on an almost weekly basis. Yet it strikes me that whatever happens, however else the geography of the imagination might modify in the future in, say, the digital ether, The Novel will continue to survive for some long time to come because it is able to investigate and cherish two things that film, music, painting, dance, architecture, drama, podcasts, cellphone exchanges, and even poetry can’t in a lush, protracted mode. The first is the intricacy and beauty of language—especially the polyphonic qualities of it to which Bakhtin first drew our attention. And the second is human consciousness. What other art form allows one to feel we are entering and inhabiting another mind for hundreds of pages and several weeks on end? ~ Lance Olsen,
273:So ether or starter fluid wouldn’t confuse her?” Budress smiled at Maggie, and offered his hand. She sniffed, then lay down at Scott’s feet. “Not this nose. If I asked you to point out the orange tents, would the green hedges or blue sky or the tree bark confuse you?” “’Course not.” “She smells like we see. Just laying here, she’s picking up thousands of scents, just like we’re seeing a thousand shades of green and blue and whatever. I say, show me the orange, you instantly spot the orange, and don’t think twice about all those other colors. It’s the same way for her with scents. If she was trained to alert to dynamite, you can wrap dynamite in plastic, bury it under two feet of horseshit, and douse the whole thing with whiskey, and she’ll still smell the dynamite. Ain’t she amazing?” Scott ~ Robert Crais,
274:Always At Sea
Always at sea I think about the dead.
On barques invisible they seem to sail
The self-same course; and from the decks cry 'Hail'!
Then I recall old words that they have said,
And see their faces etched upon the mistDear faces I have kissed.
Always the dead seem very close at sea.
The coarse vibrations of the earth debar
Our spirit friends from coming where we are.
But through God's ether, unimpeded, free,
They wing their way, the ocean deeps aboveAnd find the hearts that love.
Always at sea my dead come very near.
A growing host; some old in spirit lore,
And some who crossed to find the other shore
But yesterday. All, all, I see and hear
With inner senses, while the voice of faith
Proclaims-there is no death.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
275:Outside of the Priori, they would say that these bodies of atomized matter were not alive, that sentience could only exist at an organic level. But in his dream, he knew they were alive — they were more alive that he would ever be. The roar of atoms colliding into each other screamed over a theatre of scorching gases, a space opera that could vaporize a planet clean out of its orbit. From a distance, maybe a hundred light years away, he could hear the Nebula breathing. He could still make out the clash of each hydrogen atom against another. It would not matter if he was a human, The Leviathan, or even a planet. It would not matter if he was any creature or object he may have considered significant. The light was so bright, so alive, that if he got too close, even in his dream, the Nebula would burn off the face of his soul like ether. ~ M U Riyadad,
276:In the Biblical story, man dwelt in a Paradisiacal sphere before his fall into the mystery of generation. This Paradisiacal sphere is called a garden, and has been variously located by religious enthusiasts upon almost every part of the earth's surface. Eden is not, however, on the earth's surface, but above it, or, more correctly, in a higher etheric element which encloses the earth in a globe of translucent energy. The four rivers are the four streams of ether or energy which sustain the four kingdoms of the physical world - mineral, vegetable, animal, and human. Man physically is nourished by the vital ethers of nature. Man physically is nourished by the vital ethers of nature. These ethers now work through him, but in pre-Adamic times he possessed no physical body and these ethers formed an etheric body. ~ Manly P Hall, How to Understand Your Bible,
277:In the lingering moments before you die your body releases DMT. The same drug that makes you dream. The same drug found in every living animal. It's not an evolutionary trick to make you survive. Your body is choosing to release this drug now because it believes your fate is too grim for you to comprehend. So you dream. You dream that everything will be fine. You dream that nothing happened at all. It's in this moment that your body sits across from you. It tells you 'looks like we're not gonna make it this time.' You sit around a fire and recollect the past before soon parting ways back to the atomic ether. Your body does this because it loves you. You have never met anyone like your body. Your body has been with you everyday, good and bad. It's even kept a journal of your life carved in scars. Your eyelashes always wiped the tears from your eyes. ~ Anonymous,
278:Dr. Gingrich and Mrs. Goodhall had prevailed upon the board of trustees; the board had requested that Larch comply with Dr. Gingrich’s recommendation of a ‘follow-up report’ on the status of each orphan’s success (or failure) in each foster home. If this added paperwork was too tedious for Dr. Larch, the board recommended that Larch take Mrs. Goodhall’s suggestion and accept an administrative assistant. Don’t I have enough history to attend to, as is? Larch wondered. He rested in the dispensary; he sniffed a little ether and composed himself. Gingrich and Goodhall, he said to himself. Ginghall and Goodrich, he muttered. Richhall and Ginggood! Goodring and Hallrich! He woke himself, giggling.
‘What are you so merry about?’ Nurse Angela said sharply to him from the hall outside the dispensary.
‘Goodballs and Ding Dong!’ Wilbur Larch said to her. ~ John Irving,
279:In Wally’s bedroom Homer marveled at how the world was simultaneously being invented and destroyed.
Nothing marvelous about that, Dr. Larch would have assured him. At St. Cloud’s, except for the irritation about sugar stamps and other aspects of the rationing, very little was changed by the war. (Or by what people once singled out as the Depression, thought Wilbur Larch.)
We are an orphanage; we provide these services; we stay the same – if we’re allowed to stay the same, he thought. When he would almost despair, when the ether was too overpowering, when his own age seemed like the last obstacle and the vulnerability of his illegal enterprise was as apparent to him as the silhouettes of the fir trees against the sharp night skies of autumn, Wilbur Larch would save himself with this one thought: I love Homer Wells, and I have saved him from the war. ~ John Irving,
280:Look, I say. You can't just let your thoughts float around in the ether and hope eventually they'll connect with something. It's absurd.
No, it's not, Gil says. Lots of good things happen that way. Penicillin. Teflon. Smart dust. Something happens that you weren't expecting and it shifts the outcome completely. You have to be open to it.
When I open my brain, I tell him, things bounce around and fall out. They don't connect with anything. Maybe I haven't got enough points of reference stored up yet.
You're young, he says, that's probably it. When I let my thoughts float around, I trust that they'll latch on to something useful in the end or make an association I wouldn't necessarily have predicted. I'm trusting that they'll find the right thought to complete, all by themselves. The right bit of fact to ping. You have to trust your brain sometimes. ~ Meg Rosoff,
281:DRINK, oh youth, joy's purest ray
From thy loved one's eyes all day,

And her image paint at night!
Better rule no lover knows,
Yet true rapture greater grows,

When far sever'd from her sight.

Powers eternal, distance, time,
Like the might of stars sublime,

Gently rock the blood to rest,
O'er my senses softness steals,
Yet my bosom lighter feels,

And I daily am more blest.

Though I can forget her ne'er,
Yet my mind is free from care,

I can calmly live and move;
Unperceived infatuation
Longing turns to adoration,

Turns to reverence my love.

Ne'er can cloud, however light,
Float in ether's regions bright,

When drawn upwards by the sun,
As my heart in rapturous calm.
Free from envy and alarm,

Ever love I her alone!
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Bliss Of Absence
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282:To Jon In October
Knowing our lives a drowse
towards death
(attended by dogs
& children)
how can it not matter
that I remember
(day after day)
that one day
we shall lose
each other,
lose the lights
in each other's eyes
to death,
& drift off
to other universes.
Love shall not save us
from being alone at the end,
& the daughter we made
in that fine high exuberance
of having found each other
shall not save us either.
We shall go off
into the ether alone,
trying to remember
(as the threads unravel
& the brain cells turn
to fluffy cumulus clouds)
that on clear October days
like this one,
when the hills were
red with maple,
gold with oak,
we bumped along in the Jeep
reminding each other:
'Wake up! Wake up!
This will not last forever!'
247
~ Erica Jong,
283:The world of the almanac was a queer one. In the real world, families branched like trees, blood mixed by marriage passed from one generation to the next, making an ever-wider net of connections. Titles, on the other hand, passed from one man to one man, and it was this narrow, linear progression that the almanac liked to highlight. On each side of the title line were a few younger brothers, nephews, cousins, who came close enough to fall within the span of the almanac’s illumination. The men who might have been lord or baronet. And, though it was not said, the men who still might, if the right string of tragedies were to occur. But after a certain number of branchings in the family tree, the names fell out of the margins and into the ether. No combination of shipwreck, plague and earthquake would be powerful enough to restore these third cousins to prominence. The almanac had its limits. ~ Diane Setterfield,
284:And that is why the seductive idea that if Einstein had been born three hundred years earlier, we could have had the benefit of the theory of relativity in the seventeenth century is so flawed. Relativity couldn’t have happened back then, largely because the problems that it responded to were not yet visible. Einstein may have seen further and deeper than his contemporaries (there is still a large role for individualism: Einstein really was a creative genius), but he wasn’t pulling insights out of the ether. As Johnson writes: “Good ideas are not conjured out of thin air.” Dyson is well aware of this aspect of creativity. “Every time I have gone for a patent in a particular field, someone else has got there first,” he says. “I don’t think there has been a single time in all the thousands of patents we have applied for where we were the first. With the vacuum cyclone, there were already a number of patents lodged. ~ Matthew Syed,
285:Sometimes, if the two old women
were not asleep, they heard him pacing slowly along the walks at a very
advanced hour of the night. He was there alone, communing with himself,
peaceful, adoring, comparing the serenity of his heart with the
serenity of the ether, moved amid the darkness by the visible splendor of
the constellations and the invisible splendor of God, opening his heart to
the thoughts which fall from the Unknown. At such moments, while he
offered his heart at the hour when nocturnal flowers offer their perfume,
illuminated like a lamp amid the starry night, as he poured himself out
in ecstasy in the midst of the universal radiance of creation, he could not
have told himself, probably, what was passing in his spirit; he felt
something take its flight from him, and something descend into him.
Mysterious exchange of the abysses of the soul with the abysses of the
universe! ~ Victor Hugo,
286:Fitzgerald had noticed that if this sqrt(I-v^2/c^2) correction factor was applied to the analysis of Michelson's apparatus fixed on the earth's surface as it moved around the Sun, it could explain why Michelson measured no effect from the ether. The arm of the interferometer contracts by a factor sqrt(I-v^2/c^2) in the direction of its motion through the ether at a speed v. At an orbital speed of 29 kilometers per second this results in a contraction of only one part in 200,000,000 in the direction of the Earth's orbital motion. The length of the arm perpendicular to the ether's motion is unaffected. This small contraction effect exactly counterbalances the time delay expected from the presence of a stationary ether. If the Fitzgerald-Lorentz contraction occurred then it allowed the existence of a stationary ether to be reconciled with the null result of the Michelson-Morley experiment. Space need not be empty after all. ~ John D Barrow,
287:Don’t think that Ether is only used within the Ethereum network. It is now actively traded in many places. It will be a matter of time before it gains more popularity and gets recognized as a bona fide currency. In fact, several banks already use it to conduct b2b transactions thereby making it an important asset to adopt. The use of smart contracts makes it extremely reliable and a hit with many businesses. Although businesses are not using it in their mainstream operations, Ethereum is slowly climbing the ranks. The value of Ethereum is on a steady rise, and mainstream recognition can help it rise further. With many developers coming up with Dapps to support Ethereum, it is only a matter of time before it reaches its full potential. It will also be easier for you and me to use it and not have to rely on traditional currency. It is not just individual developers who are working on developing the apps but also organizations and governments. ~ Mark Fisher,
288:So Janie waited a bloom time, and a green time and an orange time. But when the pollen again gilded the sun and sifted down on the world she began to stand around the gate and expect things. What things? She didn't know exactly. Her breath was gusty and short. She knew things that nobody had ever told her. For instance, the words of the trees and the wind. She often spoke to falling seeds and said, 'Ah hope you fall on soft ground,' because she had heard seeds saying that to each other as they passed. She knew the world was a stallion rolling in the blue pasture of ether. She knew that God tore down the old world every evening and built a new one by sun-up. It was wonderful to see it take form with the sun and emerge from the gray dust of its making. The familiar people and things had failed her so she hung over the gate and looked up the road towards way off. She knew now that marriage did not make love. Janie's first dream was dead, so she became a woman. ~ Zora Neale Hurston,
289:Suddenly the door to one of the trailers opens, and a famous head emerges. It is a woman’s head, quite a distance away, seen in profile, like the head on a coin, and while Clarissa cannot immediately identify her (Meryl Streep? Vanessa Redgrave?) she knows without question that the woman is a movie star. She knows by her aura of regal assurance, and by the eagerness with which one of the prop men speaks to her (inaudibly to Clarissa) about the source of the noise. The woman’s head quickly withdraws, the door to the trailer closes again, but she leaves behind her an unmistakable sense of watchful remonstrance, as if an angel had briefly touched the surface of the world with one sandaled foot, asked if there was any trouble and, being told all was well, had resumed her place in the ether with skeptical gravity, having reminded the children of earth that they are just barely trusted to manage their own business, and that further carelessness will not go unremarked. ~ Michael Cunningham,
290:Song Of The Aviator
You may thrill with the speed of your thoroughbred steed,
You may laugh with delight as you ride the ocean,
You may rush afar in your touring car,
Leaping, sweeping, by things that are creepingBut you never will know the joy of motion
Till you rise up over the earth some day,
And soar like an eagle, away-away.
High and higher above each spire,
Till lost to sight is the tallest steeple,
With the winds you chase in a valiant race,
Looping, swooping, where mountains are grouping,
Hailing them comrades, in place of people.
Oh! vast is the rapture the birdman knows,
As into the ether he mounts and goes.
He is over the sphere of human fear;
He has come into touch with things supernal.
At each man's gate death stands await;
And dying, flying, were better than lying
In sick-beds, crying for life eternal,
Better to fly half-way to God
Than to burrow too long like a worm in the sod.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
291:Song Iii
FROM THE FRENCH.
I.
'AH! say,' the fair Louisa cried,
'Say where the abode of Love is found?'
Pervading nature, I replied,
His influence spreads the world around.
When Morning's arrowy beams arise,
He sparkles in the enlivening ray,
And blushes in the glowing skies
When rosy evening fades away.
II.
The summer winds that gently blow,
The flocks that bleat along the glades,
The nightingale, that soft and low,
With music fills the listening shades:
The murmurs of the silver surf
All echo Love's enchanting notes,
From violets lurking in the turf,
His balmy breath through ether floats.
III.
From perfumed flowers and dewy leaves
Delicious scents he bids exhale,
He smiles amid autumnal sheaves,
And clothes with green the grassy vale;
But when that throne the god assumes
Where his most powerful influence lies,
'Tis on Louisa's cheek he blooms,
And lightens from her radiant eyes!
~ Charlotte Smith,
292:...Man is a composite creature, his lower nature consisting of the fragments of the Titans and his higher nature the sacred, immortal flesh (life) of Bacchus. Therefore man is capable of either a Titanic (irrational) or a Bacchic (rational) existence. The Titans of Hesiod, who were twelve in number, are probably analogous to the celestial zodiac, whereas the Titans who murdered and dismembered Bacchus represent the zodiacal powers distorted by their involvement in the material world. Thus Bacchus represents the sun who is dismembered by the signs of the zodiac and from whose body the universe is formed. When the terrestrial forms were created from the various parts of his body the sense of wholeness was lost and the sense of separateness established. The heart of Bacchus, which was saved by Pallas, or Minerva, was lifted out of the four elements symbolized by his dismembered body and placed in the ether. The heart of Bacchus is the immortal center of the rational soul. ~ Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of all Ages,
293:To one who has been long in city pent,
    'Tis very sweet to look into the fair
    And open face of heaven -- to breathe a prayer
  Full in the smile of the blue firmament.
  Who is more happy, when, with heart's content,
    Fatigued he sinks into some pleasant lair
    Of wavy grass, and reads a debonair
  And gentle tale of love and languishment?
  Returning home at evening, with an ear
    Catching the notes of Philomel,-- an eye
  Watching the sailing cloudlet's bright career,
    He mourns that day so soon has glided by:
  E'en like the passage of an angel's tear
    That falls through the clear ether silently.
'In a transcript in the hand-writing of George Keats this sonnet is subscribed as "Written in the Fields -- June 1816." ~ Poetical Works of John Keats, ed. H. Buxton Forman, Crowell publ. 1895. by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes
~ John Keats, Sonnet X. To One Who Has Been Long In City Pent
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294:8. The Woman As Temptress:The crux of the curious difficulty lies in the fact that our conscious views of what life ought to be seldom correspond to what life really is. Generally we refuse to admit within ourselves, or within our friends, the fullness of that pushing, self-protective, malodorous, carnivorous, lecherous fever which is the very nature of the organic cell. Rather, we tend to perfume, whitewash, and reinterpret; meanwhile imagining that all the flies in the ointment, all the hairs in the soup, are the faults of some unpleasant someone else. But when it suddenly dawns on us, or is forced to our attention that everything we think or do is necessarily tainted with the odor of the flesh, then, not uncommonly, there is experienced a moment of revulsion: life, the acts of life, the organs of life, woman in particular as the great symbol of life, become intolerable to the pure, the pure, pure soul. The seeker of the life beyond life must press beyond (the woman), surpass the temptations of her call, and soar to the immaculate ether beyond. ~ Joseph Campbell,
295:Every one of us has times when we need to know things will get better. Moroni spoke of it in the Book of Mormon as “hope for a better world.” (Ether 12:4) For emotional health and spiritual stamina, everyone needs to be able to look forward to some respite, to
something pleasant and renewing and hopeful, whether that blessing be near at hand or still some distance ahead. It is enough just to know we can get there, that however measured or far away, there is the promise of “good things to come.”
. . . [T]his is precisely what the gospel of Jesus Christ offers us . . . There is help. There is happiness. There really is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the Light of the World, the Bright and Morning Star, the “light that is endless, that can never be darkened.” (see John 8:12; Rev 22:16; Mosiah 16:9) It is the very Son of God Himself. . . . To any who may be struggling to see that light and find that hope, I say: Hold on. Keep trying. God loves you. Things will improve. Christ comes to you in His “more excellent ministry” with a future of “better promises. ~ Jeffrey R Holland,
296:She had a significant following in Paris, where a group of hashish-eating daredevils, under the leadership of Dr. Louis-Alphonse Cahagnet, had been experimenting with monster doses (ten times the amount typically ingested at the soirees of Le Club des Haschischins) to send the soul on an ecstatic out-of-the-body journey through intrepid spheres. It was via Parisian theosophical contacts that the great Irish poet and future Nobel laureate William Butler Yeats first turned on to hashish. An avid occultist, Yeats much preferred hashish to peyote (the hallucinogenic cactus), which he also sampled. Yeats was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and its literary affiliate, the London-based Rhymers Club, which met in the 1890s. Emulating Le Club des Haschischins, the Rhymers used hashish to seduce the muse and stimulate occult insight.6 Another member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Aleister Crowley, was a notorious dope fiend and practitioner of the occult arts. Crowley conducted magical experiments while bingeing on morphine, cocaine, peyote, ether, and ganja. ~ Martin A Lee,
297:I said to my soul, be still, and let the dark come upon you
Which shall be the darkness of God. As, in a theatre,
The lights are extinguished, for the scene to be changed
With a hollow rumble of wings, with a movement of darkness on darkness,
And we know that the hills and the trees, the distant panorama
And the bold imposing facade are all being rolled away--
Or as, when an underground train, in the tube, stops too long between stations
And the conversation rises and slowly fades into silence
And you see behind every face the mental emptiness deepen
Leaving only the growing terror of nothing to think about;
Or when, under ether, the mind is conscious but conscious of nothing--
I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love,
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing. ~ T S Eliot,
298:I do believe that we have more than five senses. Apart from the basic five, we also have the gut and the third eye. The gut being the seat of all feeling, and the third eye being the seat of intuition (foresight). But what can we expect from science, which is incomplete and flawed? How can science be called the study of nature without it acknowledging the soul? Or the ether? If science did study both these two crucial elements, which I feel are at the very heart of nature, then it would be forced to also acknowledge organized design in nature – which would then lead one to discover the heart of the universe. The core of all existence, of all vibrations, of all matter. By doing so, would ultimately bring one to acknowledge cause and effect, and ultimately - the conscience. But never mind this “esoteric” ideology that could bring about world peace and the unity of all mankind. If man knew how connected he was to all things and how the effect of his every action has an impact on all things, then we would no longer be able to convince him that some life on earth is meaningless to justify war. ~ Suzy Kassem,
299:O Holy Spirit of Fire, life in the life of all life, holy are you, enlivening all things. Holy are you, a healing balm to the broken. Holy are you, washing blistered wounds. O Holy Breath, O Fire of Life, O Sweetness in my breast infusing my heart with the fine scent of truth. O Pure Fountain through which we know God unites strangers and gathers the lost. O Heart's Shield, guarding life and hope, joining the many members into one body; Belt of Truth, wrap them in beauty. Protect those ensnared by the enemy, and free the worthy from their fetters. O Great Way that runs through all, from the heights, across the earth, and in the depths, you encompass all and unify all. From you the clouds stream and the ether rises; from your stones precious water pours, springs well and birth waterways, and the earth sweats green with life. And eternally do you bring forth knowledge by the breath of wisdom. All praise to you, you who are the song of praise and the joy of life, you who are hope and the greatest treasure, bestowing the gift of Light.

~ Saint Hildegard von Bingen, O ignis Spiritus Paracliti
,
300:Some secret orders have taught that the sun was inhabited by a race of creatures with bodies composed of a radiant, spiritual ether not unlike in its constituency the actual glowing ball of the sun itself. The solar heat had no harmful effect upon them, because their organisms were sufficiently refined and sensitized to harmonize with the sun's tremendous vibratory rate. These creatures resemble miniature suns, being a little larger than a dinner plate in size, although some of the more powerful are considerably larger. Their color is the golden white light of the sun, and from them emanate four streamers of Vril. These streamers are often of great length and are in constant motion. A peculiar palpitation is to be noted throughout the structure of the globe and is communicated in the form of ripples to the emanating streamers. The greatest and most luminous of these spheres is the Archangel Michael; and the entire order of solar life, which resemble him and dwell upon the sun, are called by modern Christians "the archangels" or "the spirits of the light. ~ Manly P Hall, The Secret Teachings of all Ages,
301:The Evening Of The Mind
Now comes the evening of the mind.
Here are the fireflies twitching in the blood;
Here is the shadow moving down the page
Where you sit reading by the garden wall.
Now the dwarf peach trees, nailed to their trellises,
Shudder and droop. Your know their voices now,
Faintly the martyred peaches crying out
Your name, the name nobody knows but you.
It is the aura and the coming on.
It is the thing descending, circling, here.
And now it puts a claw out and you take it.
Thankfully in your lap you take it, so.
You said you would not go away again,
You did not want to go away -- and yet,
It is as if you stood out on the dock
Watching a little boat drift out
Beyond the sawgrass shallows, the dead fish ...
And you were in it, skimming past old snags,
Beyond, beyond, under a brazen sky
As soundless as a gong before it's struck -Suspended how? -- and now they strike it, now
The ether dream of five-years-old repeats, repeats,
And you must wake again to your own blood
And empty spaces in the throat.
~ Donald Justice,
302:But first, he knew he had to apologize for hurting Dr. Larch’s feelings – it had all just slipped out of him, and it made him almost cry to think that he had cause Dr. Larch any suffering. He went straight across the hall to the dispensary, where he could see what he thought were Dr. Larch’s feet extending off the foot of the dispensary bed; the dispensary medicine cabinets blocked the rest of the bed from view. He spoke to Dr. Larch’s feet, which to Homer’s surprise were larger than he remembered them; he was also surprised that Dr. Larch – a neat man – had left his shows on and that his shoes were muddy.
‘Doctor Larch?’ Homer said. ‘I’m sorry.’ When there was no response, Homer thought crossly to himself that Dr. Larch was under an unusually ill-timed ether sedation.
‘I’m sorry, and I love you,’ Homer added, a little louder. He held his breath, listening for Larch’s breathing, which he couldn’t hear; alarmed, he stepped around the cabinets and saw the lifeless stationmaster stretched out on Larch’s bed. It did not occur to Homer that this had been the first time someone had said ‘I love you’ to the stationmaster. ~ John Irving,
303:In its knowledge, the god would understand the necessity for that which lies outside itself, beyond its direct control. In that tension meaning will be found. In that struggle value is born. If it suits you and your kind, Destriant, fill the ether with gods, goddesses, First Heroes, spirits and demons. Kneel to one or many, but never—never, Kalyth—hold to a belief that but one god exists, that all that is resides within that god. Should you hold such a belief, then by every path of reasoning that follows, you cannot but conclude that your one god is cursed, a thing of impossible aspirations and deafening injustice, whimsical in its cruelty, blind to mercy and devoid of pity. Do not misunderstand me. Choose to live within one god as you like, but in so doing be certain to acknowledge that there is an “other”, an existence beyond your god. And if your god has a face, then so too does that other. In such comprehension, Destriant, will you come to grasp the freedom that lies at the heart of all life; that choice is the singular moral act and all one chooses can only be considered in a moral context if that choice is free. ~ Steven Erikson,
304:In The Wood
Blurred by a lilac heat, the meadows:
in the wood, cathedral shadows swirled.
What on earth was left for them to kiss? So
like wax, soft in the fingers, theirs, the world.
There’s a dream – you do not sleep, you only
dream you long for sleep: someone’s dozing,
two black suns are beating under eyelids,
burning eyelashes, while he’s slumbering.
Sunbeams play. Iridescent beetles flow by,
dragon-flies’ glass skims over his cheek.
With tiny scintillations, the wood’s alive,
like those the clockmakers’ tweezers seek.
It seems he slept to the tick of figures,
while in acid, amber ether, over his head,
the hands of a carefully tested clock quiver,
regulated precisely by tremors of heat.
They calibrate, they shake the pines,
scatter the shadow, exhaust and pierce
the darkness of timber raised up high,
in the day’s fatigue, on the blue clock-face.
It seems a primal happiness was setting,
it seems the wood was sunk in sunlit dream.
Happy folk don’t spend time clock-watching,
but this pair were only sleeping, it seems.
~ Boris Pasternak,
305:Past the woodshed, past the creek that ran behind our inn, deep in the wild heart of the forest, was a circle of alder trees we called the Goblin Grove. The trees grew in such a way as to suggest twisted arms and monstrous limbs frozen in an eternal dance, and Constanze liked to tell us that the trees had once been humans- naughty young women- who displeased Der Erlkönig. As children we had played here, Josef and me, played and sang and danced, offering our music to the Lord of Mischief. The Goblin King was the silhouette around which my music was composed, and the Goblin Grove was the place my shadows came to life.
I spied a scarlet shape in the woods ahead of me. Käthe in my cloak, walking to my sacred space. An irrational, petty slash of irritation cut through my dread and unease. The Goblin Grove was my haunt, my refuge, my sanctuary. Why must she take everything that was mine? My sister had a gift for turning the extraordinary into the ordinary. Unlike my brother and me- who lived in the ether of magic and music- Käthe lived in the world of the real, the tangible, the mundane. Unlike us, she never had faith. ~ S Jae Jones,
306:In your mind, I am sure, the place of beginnings lacked the formality of territories, shorelines, the hinting of a discrete and singular world, upon which myths and legendary entities abound. Dare I suggest that what clashes is within you, not me? The deep past is a realm of the imagination, but one made hazy and indistinct with mystery. Yet is it not the mystery that so ignites the fire of wonder? But the unformed realm is a sparse setting, and little of substance can be built upon the unknown. I give you places, the hard rocks and dusty earth, the withered grasses and besieged forests. The cities and encampments, the ruins and modest abodes, the keeps and monasteries – enough to yield comforting footfalls, enough to frame the drama, and in so doing, alas, mystery drifts away. If I was to speak to you now of countless realms, jostling in the ether, and perhaps setting each one as an island in the mists of oblivion, might the imagination spark anew? Draw close, then. The island that is Kurald Galain and Wise Kharkanas abuts realms half seen, rarely sensed, within which mystery thrives. Let us unfold the world, my friend, and see what wonders are revealed. ~ Steven Erikson,
307:Según se explica en la página web, Ethereum es una plataforma que ejecuta aplicaciones descentralizadas, principalmente contratos inteligentes, «exactamente como están programados y sin posibilidad de pausa, censura, fraude ni interferencia de terceros». Ethereum se parece a bitcoin en que su ether motiva a una red de iguales para que validen las transacciones, protejan la red y creen consenso sobre lo que existe y lo que ha ocurrido. Pero se diferencia de bitcoin en que incluye algunas poderosas herramientas para ayudar a los desarrolladores y demás a crear servicios de software que van desde juegos descentralizados hasta mercados de acciones. Ethereum lo concibió en 2013 Vitalik Buterin, un canadiense de origen ruso que entonces tenía diecinueve años. Les había dicho a los desarrolladores de bitcoin que la plataforma necesitaba un lenguaje de programación más complejo que permitiera desarrollar aplicaciones. Al ver que rechazaban su propuesta, decidió crear su propia plataforma. ConsenSys fue la más rápida y se fundó para crear aplicaciones basadas en Ethereum. Dos años después la analogía es clara: Linus Torvalds es a Linus lo que Vitalik Buterin es a Ethereum. ~ Don Tapscott,
308:XIX. Do you retire to these quieter, safer, greater things! Think you that it is just the same whether you are concerned in having corn from oversea poured into the granaries, unhurt either by the dishonesty or the neglect of those who transport it, in seeing that it does not become heated and spoiled by collecting moisture and tallies in weight and measure, or whether you enter upon these sacred and lofty studies with the purpose of discovering what substance, what pleasure, what mode of life, what shape God has; what fate awaits your soul; where Nature lays us to rest When we are freed from the body; what the principle is that upholds all the heaviest matter in the centre of this world, suspends the light on high, carries fire to the topmost part, summons the stars to their proper changes—and ether matters, in turn, full of mighty wonders? You really must leave the ground and turn your mind's eye upon these things! Now while the blood is hot, we must enter with brisk step upon the better course. In this kind of life there awaits much that is good to know—the love and practice of the virtues, forgetfulness of the passions, knowledge of living and dying, and a life of deep repose. ~ Seneca,
309:Oh, grassy glades! oh ever vernal endless landscapes in the soul; in ye,—though long parched by the dead drought of the earthly life,— in ye, men yet may roll, like young horses in new morning clover; and for some few fleeting moments, feel the cool dew of the life immortal on them. Would to God these blessed calms would last. But the mingled, mingling threads of life are woven by warp and woof: calms crossed by storms, a storm for every calm. There is no steady unretracing progress in this life; we do not advance through fixed gradations, and at the last one pause:— through infancy’s unconscious spell, boyhood’s thoughtless faith, adolescence’ doubt (the common doom), then scepticism, then disbelief, resting at last in manhood’s pondering repose of If. But once gone through, we trace the round again; and are infants, boys, and men, and Ifs eternally. Where lies the final harbor, whence we unmoor no more? In what rapt ether sails the world, of which the weariest will never weary? Where is the foundling’s father hidden? Our souls are like those orphans whose unwedded mothers die in bearing them: the secret of our paternity lies in their grave, and we must there to learn it. ~ Herman Melville,
310:The distinction between sin and weakness is important to understand the enabling or strengthening power of the atonement.  Sin results from the wrong choices we make when faced with temptation.  Sin is a choice to do wrong when we know what is right  (see Romans 3:20; 5:13).  God does not encourage or give us sin.  Moroni makes the important distinction between sin and weakness by clearly stating, “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble” (Ether 12:27).  We can’t imagine a prophet saying “God gives unto men sin.”  In fact, Elder Russell M. Ballard taught that “…the Lord gives us weaknesses-- not sin but weaknesses-- so that we may be humble…if you will but humble yourselves and turn to Them, Their grace, Their enabling power can not only help you throw off the chains of sin but actually turn your weaknesses into strengths” (BYU Speeches March 3, 2002).  This distinction helps us see that overcoming weakness is not necessarily the same thing as overcoming sin.  Weakness seems to be a part of the human nature inherent in mortality.  This weakness is felt as we experience temptation, trial, suffering, or the challenge of spiritual tasks or progression.  But it is not sin. ~ David Wright,
311:The Exorcists
And I solemnly swear
on the chill of secrecy
that I know you not, this room never,
the swollen dress I wear,
nor the anonymous spoons that free me,
nor this calendar nor the pulse we pare and cover.
For all these present,
before that wandering ghost,
that yellow moth of my summer bed,
I say: this small event
is not. So I prepare, am dosed
in ether and will not cry what stays unsaid.
I was brown with August,
the clapping waves at my thighs
and a storm riding into the cove. We swam
while the others beached and burst
for their boarded huts, their hale cries
shouting back to us and the hollow slam
of the dory against the float.
Black arms of thunder strapped
upon us, squalled out, we breathed in rain
and stroked past the boat.
We thrashed for shore as if we were trapped
in green and that suddenly inadequate stain
of lightning belling around
our skin. Bodies in air
we raced for the empty lobsterman-shack.
It was yellow inside, the sound
of the underwing of the sun. I swear,
I most solemnly swear, on all the bric-a-brac
of summer loves, I know
you not.
~ Anne Sexton,
312:From personal experience, I know for sure that the number one thing that saddens the dead more than our grief — is not being conscious of their existence around us. They do want you to talk to them as if they were still in a physical body. They do want you to play their favorite music, keep their pictures out, and continue living as if they never went away. However, time and "corruption" have blurred the lines between the living and the dead, between man and Nature, and between the physical and the etheric. There was a time when man could communicate with animals, plants, the ether, and the dead. To do so requires one to access higher levels of consciousness, and this knowledge has been hidden from us. Why? Because then the plants would tell us how to cure ourselves. The animals would show us their feelings, and the dead would tell us that good acts do matter. In all, we would come to know that we are all one. And most importantly, we would be alerted of threats and opportunities, good and evil, truth vs. fiction. We would have eyes working for humanity from every angle, and this threatens "the corrupt". Secret societies exist to hide these truths, and to make sure lies are preserved from generation to generation. ~ Suzy Kassem,
313:The Married Lover
Why, having won her, do I woo?
Because her spirit's vestal grace
Provokes me always to pursue,
But, spirit-like, eludes embrace;
Because her womanhood is such
That, as on court-days subjects kiss
The Queen's hand, yet so near a touch
Affirms no mean familiarness;
Nay, rather marks more fair the height
Which can with safety so neglect
To dread, as lower ladies might,
That grace could meet with disrespect;
Thus she with happy favour feeds
Allegiance from a love so high
That thence no false conceit proceeds
Of difference bridged, or state put by;
Because although in act and word
As lowly as a wife can be,
Her manners, when they call me lord,
Remind me 'tis by courtesy;
Not with her least consent of will,
Which would my proud affection hurt,
But by the noble style that still
Imputes an unattain'd desert;
Because her gay and lofty brows,
When all is won which hope can ask,
Reflect a light of hopeless snows
That bright in virgin ether bask;
Because, though free of the outer court
I am, this Temple keeps its shrine
Sacred to Heaven; because, in short,
She 's not and never can be mine.
~ Coventry Patmore,
314:Stage Direction
It is a shabby backdrop of bright stars:
one of the small interstices of time:
the worn out north star northward, and Orion
to westward spread in ruined light. Eastward,
the other stars disposed, — or indisposed; —
x-ward or y-ward, the sick sun inflamed;
and all his drunken planets growing pale.
We watch them, and our watching is this hour.
It is a stage of ether, without space, —
a space of limbo without time, —
a faceless clock that never strikes;
and it is bloodstream at its priestlike task, —
the indeterminate and determined heart,
that beats, and beats, and does not know it beats.
Here the dark synapse between nerve and nerve;
the void, between two atoms in the brain;
darkness, without term or form, that sinks
between two thoughts.
Here we have sounded, angel! —
O angel soul, O memory of man! —
And felt the nothing that sustains our wings.
And here have seen the catalogue of things —
All in the maelstrom of the limbo caught,
and whirled concentric to the funnel’s end,
sans number, and sans meaning, and sans purpose;
the lack of meaning has a heart-beat, and
the lack of number wears a cloak of stars.
~ Conrad Potter Aiken,
315:Masks! I see them everywhere. That dreadful vision of the other night - the deserted town with its masked corpses in every doorway; that nightmare product of morphine and ether - has taken up residence within me. I see masks in the street, I see them on stage in the theatre, I find yet more of them in the boxes. They are on the balcony and in the orchestra-pit. Everywhere I go I am surrounded by masks. The attendants to whom I give my overcoat are masked; masks crowd around me in the foyer as everyone leaves, and the coachman who drives me home has the same cardboard grimace fixed upon his face!

It is truly too much to bear: to feel that one is alone and at the mercy of all those enigmatic and deceptive faces, alone amid all the mocking laughs and the threats embodied in those masks. I have tried to persuade myself that I am dreaming, and that I am the victim of a hallucination, but all the powdered and painted faces of women, all the rouged lips and kohl-blackened eyelids... all of that has created around me an atmosphere of trance and mortal agony. Cosmetics: there is the root cause of my illness!

But I am happy, now, when there are only masks! Sometimes, I detect the cadavers beneath, and remember that beneath the masks there is a host of spectres. ~ Jean Lorrain,
316:From anywhere: where once he had feared that this immense city would set him adrift, a spinning atom in the ether, and where once he had seen in this the ultimate terror of insignificance, he now, and suddenly, and so clearly, saw that his fate had led him here. His fate had taken him off two trains this morning, had raised him to the surface at Whitehall Street, had shown him the spinning atoms, unraveling, the end of life, all of them people tethered by love, and habit, and work, and meaning, tied into a meaning suddenly exploded, because contrary to all he had imagined, being tied, being known, did not keep you safe. Quite the opposite: this, surely, was the meaning of Emerson, which he had so willfully and for so long misunderstood: great geniuses have the shortest biographies. Even their cousins know nothing about them. He had never been known rightly - how could he be, in the carapace of his ill-fitting names - but had thought that this imperfect knowledge was to be worked upon, bettered, but of course: mutability, precisely the capacity to spin like an atom, untethered, this thrill of absolute unknownness was not something to be feared. It was the point of it all. To be absolutely unrelated. Without context. To be truly and in every way self-reliant. At last. ~ Claire Messud,
317:One By One
Little by little and one by one,
Out of the ether, were worlds created;
Star and planet and sea and sun,
All in the nebulous Nothing waited
Till the Nameless One Who has many a name
Called them to being and forth they came.
All things mighty and all things small,
Stone and flower and sentient being,
Each is an answer to that one call,
A part of Himself that His will is freeingFreeing to go on the long, long way
That winds back home at the end of the day.
Little by little does mortal man
Build his castles for joy and glory,
And one by one time shatters each plan
And lowers his palaces, story by storyStory by story, till earth is just
A row of graves in the lowly dust.
One by one, whatever was called,
Must be called back to the primal Centre.
Let no soul tremble or be appalled,
For the heart of the Maker is where we enterIs where we enter to gain new force
Before we are sent on another course.
And one by one, as He calls us back,
We shall find the souls that we loved with passion,
In the great way-stations along the track,
And clasp them again in the old, sweet fashionIn the old, sweet fashion when earth we trodAnd journey along with them up to God.
431
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
318:Elegiacs
Wearily stretches the sand to the surge, and the surge to the cloudland;
Wearily onward I ride, watching the water alone.
Not as of old, like Homeric Achilles, ??de? ya???,
Joyous knight-errant of God, thirsting for labour and strife;
No more on magical steed borne free through the regions of ether,
But, like the hack which I ride, selling my sinew for gold.
Fruit-bearing autumn is gone; let the sad quiet winter hang o'er meWhat were the spring to a soul laden with sorrow and shame?
Blossoms would fret me with beauty; my heart has no time to bepraise them;
Gray rock, bough, surge, cloud, waken no yearning within.
Sing not, thou sky-lark above! even angels pass hushed by the weeper.
Scream on, ye sea-fowl! my heart echoes your desolate cry.
Sweep the dry sand on, thou wild wind, to drift o'er the shell and the seaweed;
Sea-weed and shell, like my dreams, swept down the pitiless tide.
Just is the wave which uptore us; 'tis Nature's own law which condemns us;
Woe to the weak who, in pride, build on the faith of the sand!
Joy to the oak of the mountain: he trusts to the might of the rock-clefts;
Deeply he mines, and in peace feeds on the wealth of the stone.
Morte Sands, Devonshire,
February 1849.
~ Charles Kingsley,
319:I saw the sky descending, black and white,
Not blue, on Boston where the winters wore
The skulls to jack-o’-lanterns on the slates,
And Hunger’s skin-and-bone retrievers tore
The chickadee and shrike. The thorn tree waits
Its victim and tonight
The worms will eat the deadwood to the foot
Of Ararat: the scythers, Time and Death,
Helmed locusts, move upon the tree of breath;
The wild ingrafted olive and the root

Are withered, and a winter drifts to where
The Pepperpot, ironic rainbow, spans
Charles River and its scales of scorched-earth miles.
I saw my city in the Scales, the pans
Of judgement rising and descending. Piles
Of dead leaves char the air—
And I am a red arrow on this graph
Of Revelations. Every dove is sold.
The Chapel’s sharp-shinned eagle shifts its hold
On serpent-Time, the rainbow’s epitaph.

In Boston serpents whistle at the cold.
The victim climbs the altar steps and sings:
“Hosannah to the lion, lamb, and beast
Who fans the furnace-face of IS with wings:
I breathe the ether of my marriage feast.”
At the high altar, gold
And a fair cloth. I kneel and the wings beat
My cheek. What can the dove of Jesus give
You now but wisdom, exile? Stand and live,
The dove has brought an olive branch to eat. ~ Robert Lowell,
320:What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Your bony hands of death amuse me, that's all."

"Wait until yours look the same," he said, preparing to scythe.

"Wait - what?" She batted the sapphire blade out of his hands. "What do you mean? Is that why everyone around here has such creepy fingers?"

"Yeah." He bent down to pick up his scythe. "I don't know why it happens, though. Probably the same weird reason our hair goes all wonky."

"What?" she barked, knocking his scythe to the ground once more.

"Stop that!"

"What happens to our hair?"

He gestured to the disaster atop his head. "You think I want to look like a drunken hedgehog all the time? It's from hanging out in the ether so much. It messes with your follicles or something. Doesn't happen to everyone, but I can assure you that Ferbus's wasn't always the color of a prison jumpsuit, Zara wasn't born Silvylocks, and Mort's been rocking the electrocution look for years. Look, yours has gotten straighter already."

Lex ran a hand through her hair. It had lost some of its poofyness. There had been so many other circuses of insanity to deal with that she hadn't even noticed. It was calm, manageable, even - she shuddered to think it - sleek and shiny.

"Oh my God," she said in disgust. "I'm a shampoo commercial. ~ Gina Damico,
321:As Marlboro Man slid open the huge barn doors and flipped on the enormous lights mounted to the beams, my heart began beating quickly. I couldn’t wait to smell its puppy breath.
“Happy wedding,” he said sweetly, leaning against the wall of the barn and motioning toward the center with his eyes. My eyes adjusted to the light…and slowly focused on what was before me.
It wasn’t a pug. It wasn’t a diamond or a horse or a shiny gold bangle…or even a blender. It wasn’t a love seat. It wasn’t a lamp. Sitting before me, surrounded by scattered bunches of hay, was a bright green John Deere riding lawn mower--a very large, very green, very mechanical, and very diesel-fueled John Deere riding lawn mower. Literally and figuratively, crickets chirped in the background of the night. And for the hundredth time since our engagement, the reality of the future for which I’d signed up flashed in front of me. I felt a twinge of panic as I saw the tennis bracelet I thought I didn’t want go poof, disappearing completely into the ether. Would this be how presents on the ranch would always be? Does the world of agriculture have a different chart of wedding anniversary presents? Would the first anniversary be paper…or motor oil? Would the second be cotton or Weed Eater string?
I would add this to the growing list of things I still needed to figure out. ~ Ree Drummond,
322:I believe that our planet is inhabited not only by animals and plants and bacteria and viruses, but also by ideas. Ideas are a disembodied, energetic life-form. They are completely separate from us, but capable of interacting with us—albeit strangely. Ideas have no material body, but they do have consciousness, and they most certainly have will. Ideas are driven by a single impulse: to be made manifest. And the only way an idea can be made manifest in our world is through collaboration with a human partner. It is only through a human’s efforts that an idea can be escorted out of the ether and into the realm of the actual. Therefore, ideas spend eternity swirling around us, searching for available and willing human partners. (I’m talking about all ideas here—artistic, scientific, industrial, commercial, ethical, religious, political.) When an idea thinks it has found somebody—say, you—who might be able to bring it into the world, the idea will pay you a visit. It will try to get your attention. Mostly, you will not notice. This is likely because you’re so consumed by your own dramas, anxieties, distractions, insecurities, and duties that you aren’t receptive to inspiration. You might miss the signal because you’re watching TV, or shopping, or brooding over how angry you are at somebody, or pondering your failures and mistakes, or just generally really busy. The idea will try to wave you ~ Elizabeth Gilbert,
323:Two Sonnets In Memory
(Nicola Sacco -- Bartolomeo Vanzetti)
Executed August 23, 1927
As men have loved their lovers in times past
And sung their wit, their virtue and their grace,
So have we loved sweet Justice to the last,
That now lies here in an unseemly place.
The child will quit the cradle and grow wise
And stare on beauty till his senses drown;
Yet shall be seen no more by mortal eyes
Such beauty as here walked and here went down.
Like birds that hear the winter crying plain
Her courtiers leave to seek the clement south;
Many have praised her, we alone remain
To break a fist against the lying mouth
Of any man who says this was not so:
Though she be dead now, as indeed we know.
II
Where can the heart be hidden in the ground
And be at peace, and be at peace forever,
Under the world, untroubled by the sound
Of mortal tears, that cease from pouring never?
Well for the heart, by stern compassion harried,
If death be deeper than the churchmen say, -Gone from this world indeed what's graveward carried,
And laid to rest indeed what's laid away.
Anguish enough while yet the indignant breather
Have blood to spurt upon the oppressor's hand;
Who would eternal be, and hang in ether
A stuffless ghost above his struggling land,
Retching in vain to render up the groan
That is not there, being aching dust's alone?
210
~ Edna St. Vincent Millay,
324:The Old Pole Star
BEFORE the clepsydra had bound the days
Man tethered Change to his fixed star, and said:
'The elder races, that long since are dead,
Marched by that light; it swerves not from its base
Though all the worlds about it wax and fade.'
When Egypt saw it, fast in reeling spheres,
Her Pyramids shaft-centred on its ray
She reared and said: 'Long as this star holds sway
In uninvaded ether, shall the years
Revere my monuments - ' and went her way.
The Pyramids abide; but through the shaft
That held the polar pivot, eye to eye,
Look now - blank nothingness! As though Change laughed
At man's presumption and his puny craft,
The star has slipped its leash and roams the sky.
Yet could the immemorial piles be swung
A skyey hair's breadth from their rooted base,
Back to the central anchorage of space,
Ah, then again, as when the race was young,
Should they behold the beacon of the race!
Of old men said: 'The Truth is there: we rear
Our faith full-centred on it. It was known
Thus of the elders who foreran us here,
Mapped out its circuit in the shifting sphere,
And found it, 'mid mutation, fixed alone.'
Change laughs again, again the sky is cold,
And down that fissure now no star-beam glides.
Yet they whose sweep of vision grows not old
Still at the central point of space behold
78
Another pole-star: for the Truth abides.
~ Edith Wharton,
325:They taught that men have two souls, of separate and quite different natures: the one perishable--the Astral Soul, or the inner, fluidic body--the other incorruptible and immortal--the Augoeides, or portion of the Divine Spirit; that the mortal or Astral Soul perishes at each gradual change at the threshold of every new sphere, becoming with every transmigration more purified. The astral man, intangible and invisible as he might be to our mortal, earthly senses, is still constituted of matter, though sublimated. Aristotle, notwithstanding that for political reasons of his own he maintained a prudent silence as to certain esoteric matters, expressed very clearly his opinion on the subject. It was his belief that human souls are emanations of God, that are finally re-absorbed into Divinity. Zeno, the founder of the Stoics, taught that there are "two eternal qualities throughout nature: the one active, or male; the other passive, or female: that the former is pure, subtile ether, or Divine Spirit; the other entirely inert in itself till united with the active principle. That the Divine Spirit acting upon matter produced fire, water, earth, and air; and that it is the sole efficient principle by which all nature is moved. The Stoics, like the Hindu sages, believed in the final absorption. St. Justin believed in the emanation of these souls from Divinity, and Tatian, the Assyrian, his disciple, declared that "man was as immortal as God himself." * ~ Helena Petrovna Blavatsky,
326:Song Of The Spirit
Too sweet and too subtle for pen or for tongue
In phrases unwritten and measures unsung,
As deep and as strange as the sounds of the sea,
Is the song that my spirit is singing to me.
In the midnight and tempest when forest trees shiver,
In the roar of the surf, and the rush of the river,
In the rustle of leaves and the fall of the rain,
And on the low breezes I catch the refrain.
From the vapours that frame and envelop the earth,
And beyond, from the realms where my spirit had birth,
From the mists of the land and the fogs of the sea,
For ever and ever the songs come to me.
I know not its wording - its import I know For the rhythm is broken, the measure runs low,
When vexed or allured by the things of this life
My soul is merged into its pleasures or strife.
When up to the hill tops of beauty and light
My soul like a lark in the ether takes flight,
And the white gates of heaven shine brighter and nearer,
The song of the spirit grows sweeter and clearer.
Up, up to the realms where no mortal has trod Into space and infinity near to my God With whiteness, and silence, and beautiful things,
I am bourne when the voice of eternity sings.
When once in the winds or the dropp of the rain
Thy spirit shall listen and hear the refrain,
Thy soul shall soar up like a bird on the breeze,
And the things that have pleased thee will never more please.
~ Ella Wheeler Wilcox,
327:It is my conviction that, with the spread of true scientific culture, whatever may be the medium, historical, philological, philosophical, or physical, through which that culture is conveyed, and with its necessary concomitant, a constant elevation of the standard of veracity, the end of the evolution of theology will be like its beginning—it will cease to have any relation to ethics. I suppose that, so long as the human mind exists, it will not escape its deep-seated instinct to personify its intellectual conceptions. The science of the present day is as full of this particular form of intellectual shadow-worship as is the nescience of ignorant ages. The difference is that the philosopher who is worthy of the name knows that his personified hypotheses, such as law, and force, and ether, and the like, are merely useful symbols, while the ignorant and the careless take them for adequate expressions of reality. So, it may be, that the majority of mankind may find the practice of morality made easier by the use of theological symbols. And unless these are converted from symbols into idols, I do not see that science has anything to say to the practice, except to give an occasional warning of its dangers. But, when such symbols are dealt with as real existences, I think the highest duty which is laid upon men of science is to show that these dogmatic idols have no greater value than the fabrications of men's hands, the stocks and the stones, which they have replaced. ~ Thomas Henry Huxley,
328:What is he buzzing in my ears?
   "Now that I come to die,
Do I view the world as a vale of tears?"
   Ah, reverend sir, not I!

  What I viewed there once, what I view again
   Where the physic bottles stand
On the table's edge,is a suburb lane,
   With a wall to my bedside hand.

  That lane sloped, much as the bottles do,
  From a house you could descry
O'er the garden-wall; is the curtain blue
  Or green to a healthy eye?

To mine, it serves for the old June weather
  Blue above lane and wall;
And that farthest bottle labelled "Ether"
  Is the house o'ertopping all.

At a terrace, somewhere near the stopper,
  There watched for me, one June,
A girl: I know, sir, it's improper,
  My poor mind's out of tune.

Only, there was a way you crept
  Close by the side, to dodge
Eyes in the house, two eyes except:
  They styled their house "The Lodge."

What right had a lounger up their lane?
  But, by creeping very close,
With the good wall's help,their eyes might strain
  And stretch themselves to Oes,

Yet never catch her and me together,
  As she left the attic, there,
By the rim of the bottle labelled "Ether,"
  And stole from stair to stair,

And stood by the rose-wreathed gate. Alas,
  We loved, sirused to meet:
How sad and bad and mad it was
  But then, how it was sweet!
  


~ Robert Browning, Confessions
,
329:Tad Niskala 'That I Am Not'
Om. I am neither the mind,
Intelligence, ego, nor ’chitta’,
Neither the ears, nor the tongue,
Nor the senses of smell and sight,
Neither ether, nor air,
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I am neither the ’prana’,
Nor the five vital breaths,
Neither the seven elements of the body,
Nor its five sheaths,
Nor hands, nor feet,
Nor other organs of action.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Neither fear, greed, nor delusion,
Loathing, nor liking have I,
Nothing of pride, of ego,
Of ’dharma’ or Liberation,
Neither desire of the mind,
Nor object for its desiring.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Nothing of pleasure and pain,
Of virtue and vice, do I know,
Of mantra, of sacred place,
Of Vedas or Sacrifice,
Neither I am the eater,
The food or the act of eating,
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
Death or fear, I have none,
Nor any distinction of ’caste’,
Neither Father, nor Mother,
Nor even a birth, have I,
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Neither friend, nor comrade,
Neither disciple, nor Guru.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
I have no form or fancy,
the All-pervading am I,
Everywhere I exist,
And yet I am beyond the senses,
Neither salvation am I,
Nor anything to be known.
I am Eternal Bliss and Awareness.
I am Shiva! I am Shiva!
~ Adi Shankaracharya,
330:The Newspaper Man
Bit of a priest and a bit of sailor,
Bit of a doctor and bit of a tailor,
Bit of a lawyer, and bit of detective,
Bit of a judge, for his work is corrective;
Cheering the living and soothing the dying,
Risking all things, even dare-devil flying;
True to his paper and true to his clan—
Just look him over, the newspaper man.
Sleep! There are times that he'll do with a little,
Work till his nerves and his temper are brittle;
Fire cannot daunt him, nor long hours disturb him,
Gold cannot buy him and threats cannot curb him;
Highbrow or lowbrow, your own speech he'll hand you,
Talk as you will to him, he'll understand you;
He'll go wherever another man can—
That is the way of the newspaper man.
Surgeon, if urgent the need be, you'll find him,
Ready to help, nor will dizziness blind him;
He'll give the ether and never once falter,
Say the last rites like a priest at the altar;
Gentle and kind with the weak and the weary,
Which is proved now and then when his keen eye grows teary;
Facing all things in life's curious plan—
That is the way of the newspaper man.
One night a week may he rest from his labor,
One night at home to be father and neighbor;
Just a few hours for his own bit of leisure,
All the rest's gazing at other men's pleasure,
All the rest's toiling, and yet he rejoices,
All the world is, and that men do, he voices—
Who knows a calling more glorious than
The day-by-day work of the newspaper man?
~ Edgar Albert Guest,
331:need for the soul's spiritualization :::
   And yet even the leading of the inmost psychic being is not found sufficient until it has succeeded in raising itself out of this mass of inferior Nature to the highest spiritual levels and the divine spark and flame descended here have rejoined themselves to their original fiery Ether. For there is there no longer a spiritual consciousness still imperfect and half lost to itself in the thick sheaths of human mind, life and body, but the full spiritual consciousness in its purity, freedom and intense wideness. There, as it is the eternal Knower that becomes the Knower in us and mover and user of all knowledge, so it is the eternal All-Blissful who is the Adored attracting to himself the eternal divine portion of his being and joy that has gone out into the play of the universe, the infinite Lover pouring himself out in the multiplicity of his own manifested selves in a happy Oneness. All Beauty in the world is there the beauty of the Beloved, and all forms of beauty have to stand under the light of that eternal Beauty and submit themselves to the sublimating and transfiguring power of the unveiled Divine Perfection. All Bliss and Joy are there of the All-Blissful, and all inferior forms of enjoyment, happiness or pleasure are subjected to the shock of the intensity of its floods or currents and either they are broken to pieces as inadequate things under its convicting stress or compelled to transmute themselves into the forms of the Divine Ananda. ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis Of Yoga, The Ascent of the Sacrifice - 2, 168,
332:As the sun and each atom of ether is a sphere complete in itself, and yet at the same time only a part of a whole too immense for man to comprehend, so each individual has within himself his own aims and yet has them to serve a general purpose incomprehensible to man.

A bee settling on a flower has stung a child. And the child is afraid of bees and declares that bees exist to sting people. A poet admires the bee sucking from the chalice of a flower and says it exists to suck the fragrance of flowers. A beekeeper, seeing the bee collect pollen from flowers and carry it to the hive, says that it exists to gather honey. Another beekeeper who has studied the life of the hive more closely says that the bee gathers pollen dust to feed the young bees and rear a queen, and that it exists to perpetuate its race. A botanist notices that the bee flying with the pollen of a male flower to a pistil fertilizes the latter, and sees in this the purpose of the bee's existence. Another, observing the migration of plants, notices that the bee helps in this work, and may say that in this lies the purpose of the bee. But the ultimate purpose of the bee is not exhausted by the first, the second, or any of the processes the human mind can discern. The higher the human intellect rises in the discovery of these purposes, the more obvious it becomes, that the ultimate purpose is beyond our comprehension.

All that is accessible to man is the relation of the life of the bee to other manifestations of life. And so it is with the purpose of historic characters and nations. ~ Leo Tolstoy,
333:My apologies, see, I forgot my manners.
I get on the mic ’cause it’s my life. You show off for girls and cameras.
You a pop star, not a rapper. A Vanilla Ice or a Hammer.
Y’all hear this crap he dumping out? Somebody get him a Pamper.
And a crown for me. The best have heard about me.
You can only spell “brilliant” by first spelling Bri.
You see, naturally, I do my shit with perfection.
Better call a bodyguard ’cause you gon’ need some protection,
And on this here election, the people crown a new leader.
You didn’t see this coming, and your ghostwriters didn’t either.
I came here to ether. I’m sorry to do this to you.
This is no longer a battle, it’s your funeral, boo. I’m murdering you.
On my corner they call me coroner, I’m warning ya.
Tell the truth, this dude is borin’ ya.
You confused like a foreigner. I’ll explain with ease:
You’re just a casualty in the reality of the madness of Bri.
No fallacies, I spit maladies, causin’ fatalities,
And do it casually, damaging rappers without bandaging.
Imagining managing my own label, my own salary.
And actually, factually, there’s no MC that’s as bad as me.
Milez? That’s cute. But it don’t make me cower.
I move at light speed, you stuck at per hour.
You spit like a lisp. I spit like a high power.
Bri’s the future, and you Today like Matt Lauer.
You coward. But you’re a G? It ain’t convincing to me.
You talk about your clothes, about your shopping sprees.
You talk about your Glock, about your i-c-e.
But in this here ring, they all talking ’bout me,
Bri! ~ Angie Thomas,
334:Out, Out

The buzz saw snarled and rattled in the yard
And made dust and dropped stove-length sticks of wood,
Sweet-scented stuff when the breeze drew across it.
And from there those that lifted eyes could count
Five mountain ranges one behind the other
Under the sunset far into Vermont.
And the saw snarled and rattled, snarled and rattled,
As it ran light, or had to bear a load.
And nothing happened: day was all but done.
Call it a day, I wish they might have said
To please the boy by giving him the half hour
That a boy counts so much when saved from work.
His sister stood beside him in her apron
To tell them ‘Supper.’ At the word, the saw,
As if to prove saws know what supper meant,
Leaped out at the boy’s hand, or seemed to leap—
He must have given the hand. However it was,
Neither refused the meeting. But the hand!
The boy’s first outcry was a rueful laugh,
As he swung toward them holding up the hand
Half in appeal, but half as if to keep
The life from spilling. Then the boy saw all—
Since he was old enough to know, big boy
Doing a man’s work, though a child at heart—
He saw all was spoiled. ‘Don’t let him cut my hand off—
The doctor, when he comes. Don’t let him, sister!’
So. But the hand was gone already.
The doctor put him in the dark of ether.
He lay and puffed his lips out with his breath.
And then—the watcher at his pulse took fright.
No one believed. They listened to his heart.
Little—less—nothing!—and that ended it.
No more to build on there. And they, since they
Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs. ~ Robert Frost,
335:So why in the world was the universe accelerating? Today astrophysicists are still in the dark about how to answer that very pressing question. But they have agreed on a name for whatever material agent is behind the acceleration. They are calling it dark energy. Some astrophysicists suggest that dark energy is a property of space-time itself, that ironically Einstein’s infamous fudge factor is needed after all because it represents a repulsive force, just the thing to cause the acceleration. Others speculate that dark energy is a new twist on the old, discredited ether; an omnipresent, repulsive material many are calling the quintessence. Others still are betting that dark energy is related somehow to the quantum vacuum, whose own weirdness makes black holes seem as ordinary as watermelons. (For more on this idea, see chapter 6.) All told, astronomers have concluded that dark energy comprises some 68 percent of the total universe and dark matter, about 27 percent. That means only 5 percent of the entire universe is visible to us!8 That astonishing revelation bears emphasizing. Everything we call scientific knowledge is based on but a pittance of what there is to know about our world. Ninety-five percent of it is hidden from us. In light of this latest bombshell, do we stand a chance of ever really understanding gravity? Astronomers are hard at work believing they can. But they must labor with the unsettling awareness that our science is 95 percent in the dark about the universe it seeks and claims to understand; about what is real or not, what is possible or not — even about a prosaic force that exists literally right under our noses. ~ Michael Guillen,
336:Unlike sound waves, whose transmission requires air or other material media, light waves pass freely through the vacuum of interstellar space. Even the hypothetical ether, held as the interplanetary medium of light in the undulatory theory, can be discarded on the Einsteinian grounds that the geometrical properties of space render the theory of ether unnecessary. Under either hypothesis, light remains the most subtle, the freest from material dependence, of any natural manifestation. In the gigantic conceptions of Einstein, the velocity of light—186,000 miles per second—dominates the whole Theory of Relativity. He proves mathematically that the velocity of light is, so far as man’s finite mind is concerned, the only constant in a universe of unstayable flux. On the sole absolute of light-velocity depend all human standards of time and space. Not abstractly eternal as hitherto considered, time and space are relative and finite factors, deriving their measurement validity only in reference to the yardstick of light-velocity. In joining space as a dimensional relativity, time has surrendered age-old claims to a changeless value. Time is now stripped to its rightful nature—a simple essence of ambiguity! With a few equational strokes of his pen, Einstein has banished from the cosmos every fixed reality except that of light. In a later development, his Unified Field Theory, the great physicist embodies in one mathematical formula the laws of gravitation and of electromagnetism. Reducing the cosmical structure to variations on a single law, Einstein reaches across the ages to the rishis who proclaimed a sole texture of creation—that of a protean maya. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda,
337:to say that I saw ways to connect with Americans that Barack and his West Wing advisers didn’t fully recognize, at least initially. Rather than doing interviews with big newspapers or cable news outlets, I began sitting down with influential “mommy bloggers” who reached an enormous and dialed-in audience of women. Watching my young staffers interact with their phones, seeing Malia and Sasha start to take in news and chat with their high school friends via social media, I realized there was opportunity to be tapped there as well. I crafted my first tweet in the fall of 2011 to promote Joining Forces and then watched it zing through the strange, boundless ether where people increasingly spent their time. It was a revelation. All of it was a revelation. With my soft power, I was finding I could be strong. If reporters and television cameras wanted to follow me, then I was going to take them places. They could come watch me and Jill Biden paint a wall, for example, at a nondescript row house in the Northwest part of Washington. There was nothing inherently interesting about two ladies with paint rollers, but it baited a certain hook. It brought everyone to the doorstep of Sergeant Johnny Agbi, who’d been twenty-five years old and a medic in Afghanistan when his transport helicopter was attacked, shattering his spine, injuring his brain, and requiring a long rehabilitation at Walter Reed. His first floor was now being retrofitted to accommodate his wheelchair—its doorways widened, its kitchen sink lowered—part of a joint effort between a nonprofit called Rebuilding Together and the company that owned Sears and Kmart. This was the thousandth such home they’d renovated on behalf of veterans in need. The cameras caught all of it—the soldier, his house, the goodwill and energy being poured in. ~ Michelle Obama,
338:A Question Answered
I saw the lark at break of day
Rise from its dewy bed,
And, winged with melody, away
Circle to Heaven o'erhead.
I watched it higher and higher soar,
Still ceasing not to trill,
When, though I could descry no more
Its flight, I heard it still.
But shortly quavered back its note,
And, hovering into sight,
I saw it, homeward sinking, float
Over its nest of night.
``Tell me,'' I cried, ``glad songster, why
You, privileged to wend
Up to the blue and boundless sky,
Where only wings ascend,
``Full into Heaven, to look and gaze
Whither our thoughts aspire,
And, unrebuked, terrestrial lays
Blend with celestial choir,
``Why you, thus welcomed to the height
Of minstrelsy and mirth,
Pavilioned high from mortal sight,
Come back again to Earth.''
Then shook the lark again its wings,
And, fluttering o'er its bed
Deep-bosomed in the grassy floor,
In rippling answer said:``'Tis joy to mount, alone, aloft,
Into the ether clear,
And thence look down on garth and croft
Of red-roofed hamlets here.
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``To sing my song through endless space,
Towering above, above,
While mortals watch with upturned face
Of longing and of love;
``Then, for a while, unseen to pass
Through unsubstantial dome,
But treble back to tangled grassNot Heaven, withal my home.
``And tell me, when I skyward sing,
Am I unlike to you,
That on Imagination's wing
Strain sometimes out of view
``Into the radiant Realms untrod
Song can alone descry,
And whilom join, by grace of God,
Angelic company
``Yet sink down from the firmament
Back to life's dearth and dole,
Knowing full well that song was sent
To comfort and console.''
~ Alfred Austin,
339:February 4 MORNING “The love of the Lord.” — Hosea 3:1 BELIEVER, look back through all thine experience, and think of the way whereby the Lord thy God has led thee in the wilderness, and how He hath fed and clothed thee every day — how He hath borne with thine ill manners — how He hath put up with all thy murmurings, and all thy longings after the flesh-pots of Egypt — how He has opened the rock to supply thee, and fed thee with manna that came down from heaven. Think of how His grace has been sufficient for thee in all thy troubles — how His blood has been a pardon to thee in all thy sins — how His rod and His staff have comforted thee. When thou hast thus looked back upon the love of the Lord, then let faith survey His love in the future, for remember that Christ’s covenant and blood have something more in them than the past. He who has loved thee and pardoned thee, shall never cease to love and pardon. He is Alpha, and He shall be Omega also: He is first, and He shall be last. Therefore, bethink thee, when thou shalt pass through the valley of the shadow of death, thou needest fear no evil, for He is with thee. When thou shalt stand in the cold floods of Jordan, thou needest not fear, for death cannot separate thee from His love; and when thou shalt come into the mysteries of eternity thou needest not tremble, “For I am persuaded, that neither death; nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Now, soul, is not thy love refreshed? Does not this make thee love Jesus? Doth not a flight through illimitable plains of the ether of love inflame thy heart and compel thee to delight thyself in the Lord thy God? Surely as we meditate on “the love of the Lord,” our hearts burn within us, and we long to love Him more. ~ Charles Haddon Spurgeon,
340:After Sunset
REST--rest--four little letters, one short word,
Enfolding an infinitude of bliss-Rest is upon the earth. The heavy clouds
Hang poised in silent ether, motionless,
Seeking nor sun nor breeze. No restless star
Thrills the sky's gray-robed breast with pulsing rays,
The night's heart has throbbed out.
No grass blade stirs,
No downy-wingèd moth comes flittering by
Caught by the light--Thank God, there is no light,
No open-eyed, loud-voiced, quick motioned light,
Nothing but gloom and rest.
A row of trees
Along the hill horizon, westward, stands
All black and still, as if it were a rank
Of fallen angels, melancholy met
Before the amber gate of Paradise-The bright shut gate, whose everlasting smile
Deadens despair to calm.
O, better far
Better than bliss is rest! If suddenly
Those burnished doors of molten gold, steel-barred,
Which the sun closed behind him as he went
Into his bridal chamber--were to burst
Asunder with a clang, and in a breath
God's mysteries were revealed--His kingdom came-The multitudes of heavenly messengers
Hastening throughout all space--the thunder quire
Of praise--the obedient lightnings' lambent gleam
Around the unseen Throne--should I not sink
Crushed by the weight of such beatitudes,
Crying, 'Rest, only rest, thou merciful God!
Hide me within the hollow of Thy hand
In some dark corner of the universe,
Thy bright, full, busy universe, that blinds,
Deafens, and tortures--Give me only rest!'
O for a soul-sleep, long and deep and still!
To lie down quiet after the weary day,
43
Dropping all pleasant flowers from the numbed hands,
Bidding good-night to all companions dear,
Drawing the curtains on this darkened world,
Closing the eyes, and with a patient sigh
Murmuring 'Our Father'--fall on sleep, till dawn!
~ Dinah Maria Mulock Craik,
341:To the solemn abyss leads the terrible path,
The life and death winding dizzy between;
In thy desolate way, grim with menace and wrath,
To daunt thee the spectres of giants are seen;
That thou wake not the wild one, all silently tread
Let thy lip breathe no breath in the pathway of dread!

High over the marge of the horrible deep
Hangs and hovers a bridge with its phantom-like span,
Not by man was it built, o'er the vastness to sweep;
Such thought never came to the daring of man!
The stream roars beneathlate and early it raves
But the bridge, which it threatens, is safe from the waves.

Black-yawning a portal, thy soul to affright,
Like the gate to the kingdom, the fiend for the king
Yet beyond it there smiles but a land of delight,
Where the autumn in marriage is met with the spring.
From a lot which the care and the trouble assail,
Could I fly to the bliss of that balm-breathing vale!

Through that field, from a fount ever hidden their birth,
Four rivers in tumult rush roaringly forth;
They fly to the fourfold divisions of earth
The sunrise, the sunset, the south, and the north.
And, true to the mystical mother that bore,
Forth they rush to their goal, and are lost evermore.

High over the races of men in the blue
Of the ether, the mount in twin summits is riven;
There, veiled in the gold-woven webs of the dew,
Moves the dance of the cloudsthe pale daughters of heaven!
There, in solitude, circles their mystical maze,
Where no witness can hearken, no earthborn surveys.

August on a throne which no ages can move,
Sits a queen, in her beauty serene and sublime,
The diadem blazing with diamonds above
The glory of brows, never darkened by time,
His arrows of light on that form shoots the sun
And he gilds them with all, but he warms them with none!
~ Friedrich Schiller, The Lay Of The Mountain
,
342:The mystery of this courage of Bauer’s is Hegel’s Phenomenology. As Hegel here puts self-consciousness in the place of man, the most varied human reality appears only as a definite form, as a determination of self-consciousness. But a mere determination of self-consciousness is a “pure category,” a mere “thought” which I can consequently also abolish in “pure” thought and overcome through pure thought. In Hegel’s Phenomenology the material, perceptible, objective bases of the various estranged forms of human self-consciousness are left as they are. Thus the whole destructive work results in the most conservative philosophy because it thinks it has overcome the objective world, the sensuously real world, by merely transforming it into a “thing of thought” a mere determination of self-consciousness and can therefore dissolve its opponent, which has become ethereal, in the “ether of pure thought.” Phenomenology is therefore quite logical when in the end it replaces human reality by “Absolute Knowledge”—Knowledge, because this is the only mode of existence of self-consciousness, because self-consciousness is considered as the only mode of existence of man; absolute knowledge for the very reason that self-consciousness knows itself alone and is no more disturbed by any objective world. Hegel makes man the man of self-consciousness instead of making self-consciousness the self-consciousness of man, of real man, man living in a real objective world and determined by that world. He stands the world on its head and can therefore dissolve in the head all the limitations which naturally remain in existence for evil sensuousness, for real man. Besides, everything which betrays the limitations of general self-consciousness—all sensuousness, reality, individuality of men and of their world—necessarily rates for him as a limit. The whole of Phenomenology is intended to prove that self-consciousness is the only reality and all reality. ~ Karl Marx,
343:I am sure that by now you have understood the basics of cryptocurrencies and how the Ethereum system works. In this chapter, we will look at the fundamental differences between Ethereum and Bitcoin and why the former is said to be better than the latter. Block time One of the main differences between the two cryptocurrencies is the block time. The block time refers to the time taken by the network for confirmation. It is important for a network to have shorter block times to mine more coins. This is a disadvantage with Bitcoins as the average time taken is 10 minutes. On the other hand, Ethereum block time is set at 14 to 15 seconds. This makes it extremely fast and great for miners. It also makes the network more efficient. According to some reports, an altcoin named as the ripple is said to be even faster coming in at 3.5 seconds. However, it is not as secure as Ethereum and less reliable as well. Several Bitcoin users have wanted this change in the system to keep up with Ethereum. However, it does not look likely that the company will introduce this change anytime soon. In fact, several other altcoins such as LiteCoin and monero are creating waves in the field of block times and making it difficult for Bitcoin users to keep up with the pace. Model The economic model of Ethereum is much different from that of Bitcoin. We already read that there can be only 21 million Bitcoins that can be mined. This means that it will be easier to keep track of the currency. On the other hand, an infinite number of Ether can be mined thereby making it difficult to keep track of it. This, however, is said not to impact the value of Ether, as the number of coins in circulation will not affect its value. It is not known as to how long it will take to mine 21 million Bitcoins. Some believe that it will take another 15 years while some think it will take 100+ years. There is news that finite ethers will be mined by the end of 2017 thereby making it a bit more stable. Costing ~ Mark Fisher,
344:Centuries of navel-gazing. Millennia of masturbation. Plato to Descartes to Dawkins to Rhanda. Souls and zombie agents and qualia. Kolmogorov complexity. Consciousness as Divine Spark. Consciousness as electromagnetic field. Consciousness as functional cluster.

I explored it all.

Wegner thought it was an executive summary. Penrose heard it in the singing of caged electrons. Nirretranders said it was a fraud; Kazim called it leakage from a parallel universe. Metzinger wouldn't even admit it existed. The AIs claimed to have worked it out, then announced they couldn't explain it to us. Gödel was right after all: no system can fully understand itself.

Not even the synthesists had been able to rotate it down. The load-bearing beams just couldn't take the strain.

All of them, I began to realize, had missed the point. All those theories, all those drugdreams and experiments and models trying to prove what consciousness was: none to explain what it was good for. None needed: obviously, consciousness makes us what we are. It lets us see the beauty and the ugliness. It elevates us into the exalted realm of the spiritual. Oh, a few outsiders—Dawkins, Keogh, the occasional writer of hackwork fiction who barely achieved obscurity—wondered briefly at the why of it: why not soft computers, and no more? Why should nonsentient systems be inherently inferior? But they never really raised their voices above the crowd. The value of what we are was too trivially self-evident to ever call into serious question.

Yet the questions persisted, in the minds of the laureates, in the angst of every horny fifteen-year-old on the planet. Am I nothing but sparking chemistry? Am I a magnet in the ether? I am more than my eyes, my ears, my tongue; I am the little thing behind those things, the thing looking out from inside. But who looks out from its eyes? What does it reduce to? Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?

What a stupid fucking question. I could have answered it in a second, if Sarasti hadn't forced me to understand it first. ~ Peter Watts,
345:Beauty Of Insects
Observe the insect race, ordain'd to keep
The lazy Sabbath of a half-year's sleep.
Entomb'd beneath the filmy web they lie,
And wait the influence of a kinder sky.
When vernal sunbeams pierce their dark retreat,
The heaving tomb distends with vital heat;
The full-form'd brood, impatient of their cell,
Start from their trance, and burst their silken shell
Trembling awhile they stand, and scarcely dare
To launch at once upon the untried air.
At length assured, they catch the favouring gale,
And leave their sordid spoils and high in ether sail.
Lo! the bright train their radiant wings unfold,
With silver fringed, and freckled o'er with gold.
On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower,
They, idly fluttering, live their little hour;
Their life all pleasure, and their task all play,
All spring their age, and sunshine all their day.
Not so the child of sorrow, wretched man;
His course with toil concludes, with pain began,
That his high destiny he might discern,
And in misfortune's school this lesson learn Pleasure's the portion of the inferior kind;
But glory, virtue, heaven for man design'd.
What atom forms of insect life appear!
And who can follow nature's pencil here?
Their wings with azure, green, and purple gloss'd,
Studded with colour'd eyes, with gems emboss'd,
Inlaid with pearl, and mark'd with various stains
Of lively crimson, through their dusky veins.
Some shoot like living stars athwart the night,
And scatter from their wings a vivid light,
To guide the Indian to his tawny loves,
As through the woods with cautious step he moves.
See the proud giant of the beetle race,
With shining arms his polish'd limbs enchase!
Like some stern warrior formidably bright,
31
His steely sides reflect a gleaming light;
On his large forehead spreading horns he wears,
And high in air the branching antlers bears;
O'er many an inch extends his wide domain,
And his rich treasury swells with hoarded grain.
~ Anna Laetitia Barbauld,
346:Dark Thesis
(i)
The ocean is the oldest cliché.
When we came home there was
a dead bee on the windowsill –
its body a perfect death’s head
question mark, its elements, sodium
calcium & potassium curled
halfway to the sea.
(ii)
This afternoon was as hot as Greece.
We missed the bee’s last do-se-do distant arthropodic cousin in shell-shock
miniature. Dead from time’s comical
Acme weight. Imprinted on our layers
of human memory & recorded thus.
15
Filed: insect sedimentary.
(iii)
A new home was sluiced on land.
Through the meniscus of coast, pods stuck.
The amphibians, neither here nor there
kept genetic ‘get out of jail free’ cards.
Some larger, more aggressive marine exiles
(pre-Cuban) returned to the aquatic fray.
Made use of their bulk, heavyweights
who outclassed all comers.
This primeval Bay of Pigs,
& pre-Darwinian back flip.
(iv)
It is the deep sea where everything stops.
Philosophy & sex coexist; a dark thesis writ.
16
Light mostly extinguished, but for some
slight phosphorescence, evades touch,
as sight demystified, reveals nothing.
In the ether of unlight, feeling is everything.
First racial memories – trilobites’ dodgem car
head-on into an armoured scorpions grin.
Cambrian sideshow alley adrenaline.
(v)
But we regress.
Our new home is closer to that first ocean.
Pre-salt, pre-water, more tanning salon
than 2 brd flat. The ants & their
artery/vein routine we notice, shift
their long march, include the kitchen sink.
The Silk Road to our bin is Semtex lined.
We’ve thrown in an oasis for fun.
Will they find the bee?
Our small deposit of platinum,
alloyed by the alchemical sun.
17
(vi)
Do they remember a mother, these
full stops fossilised into the lining
of our Westinghouse’s air-tight door?
What good, hindsight?
After the Earth & Ocean
lodged their divorce papers
& freezing had begun.
(vii)
On St Georges’ Rd
the stream of life
poured on.
~ B. R. Dionysius,
347:Meditation At Perugia
The sunset colours mingle in the sky,
And over all the Umbrian valleys flow;
Trevi is touched with wonder, and the glow
Finds high Perugia crimson with renown;
Spello is bright;
And, ah! St. Francis, thy deep-treasured town,
Enshrined Assisi, fully fronts the light.
This valley knew thee many a year ago;
Thy shrine was built by simpleness of heart;
And from the wound called life thou drew'st the smart:
Unquiet kings came to thee and the sad poor-Thou gavest them peace;
Far as the Sultan and the Iberian shore
Thy faith and abnegation gave release.
Deeper our faith, but not so sweet as thine;
Wider our view, but not so sanely sure;
For we are troubled by the witching lure
Of Science, with her lightning on the mist;
Science that clears,
Yet never quite discloses what she wist,
And leaves us half with doubts and half with fears.
We act her dreams that shadow forth the truth,
That somehow here the very nerves of God
Thrill the old fires, the rocks, the primal sod;
We throw our speech upon the open air,
And it is caught
Far down the world, to sing and murmur there;
Our common words are with deep wonder fraught.
Shall not the subtle spirit of man contrive
To charm the tremulous ether of the soul,
Wherein it breathes?--until, from pole to pole,
Those who are kin shall speak, as face to face,
From star to star,
Even from earth to the most secret place,
Where God and the supreme archangels are.
60
Shall we not prove, what thou hast faintly taught,
That all the powers of earth and air are one,
That one deep law persists from mole to sun?
Shall we not search the heart of God and find
That law empearled,
Until all things that are in matter and mind
Throb with the secret that began the world?
Yea, we have journeyed since thou trod'st the road,
Yet still we keep the foreappointed quest;
While the last sunset smoulders in the West,
Still the great faith with the undying hope
Upsprings and flows,
While dim Assisi fades on the wide slope
And the deep Umbrian valleys fill with rose.
~ Duncan Campbell Scott,
348:Her Star
When the heavens throb and vibrate
All along their silver veins,
To the mellow storm of music
Sweeping o'er the starry trains,
Heard by few, as erst by shepherds
On the far Chaldean plains:
Not the blazing, torch-like planets,
Not the Pleiads wild and free,
Not Arcturus, Mars, Uranus,
Bring the brightest dreams to me;
But I gaze in rapt devotion
On the central star of three.
Central star of three that tingle
In the balmy southern sky;
One above, and one below it,
Dreamily they pale and die,
As two lesser minds might dwindle,
When some great soul, passing by,
Stops, and reads their cherished secrets,
With a calm and godlike air,
Luring all their radiance from them
Leaving a dim twilight there,
Something vague, and half unreal,
Like the Alpha of despair.
Gazing thus, and holding converse
With the silence of my heart,
I would speak with famed Orion,
I would question it apart,
Wrest her love's strange secret from it,
If there's strength in human art.
And there come to me sweet whispers,
Half in answer, half in thought:'Be but strong, impassioned mortal!
Love will come to thee unsought;
36
Love is the divine Irene,It is given, and not bought.
[Transcriber's note: In the original book,
the e's in the 'Irene' in the above verse
were e-macrons, Unicode U+0113.]
Strong of heart. Be wise, be steadfast,
Learn, endeavour, and endure;
Blest with strength and light, in wisdom
Make the higher purpose sure;
Never can her heart receive thee
Till thine own is rendered pure.
I but shone in truth above her;
Psyche-like, she yearned to me,
And her soul, an Aphrodite,
Rose above the ether sea.
Love. Love should and will inherit
The divine Euphrosyne.'
When at night, the gleaming heavens
Throb through all their starry veins,
Oft I ponder on Orion,
And I hear celestial strains
Passing through my soul, and flooding
All its green immortal plains.
Then I pray for strength Promethean,
Pray for power to endure;
Then I say, O soul, be steadfast!
Make the lofty purpose sure;
And that love may be all-worthy,
God of heaven, make me pure!
~ Charles Sangster,
349:author class:Sri Aurobindo
Who
In the blue of the sky, in the green of the forest,
Whose is the hand that has painted the glow?
When the winds were asleep in the womb of the ether,
Who was it roused them and bade them to blow?
He is lost in the heart, in the cavern of Nature,
He is found in the brain where He builds up the thought:
In the pattern and bloom of the flowers He is woven,
In the luminous net of the stars He is caught.
In the strength of a man, in the beauty of woman,
In the laugh of a boy, in the blush of a girl;
The hand that sent Jupiter spinning through heaven,
Spends all its cunning to fashion a curl.
These are His works and His veils and His shadows;
But where is He then? by what name is He known?
Is He Brahma or Vishnu? a man or a woman?
Bodied or bodiless? twin or alone?
We have love for a boy who is dark and resplendent,
A woman is lord of us, naked and fierce.
We have seen Him a-muse on the snow of the mountains,
We have watched Him at work in the heart of the spheres.
We will tell the whole world of His ways and His cunning:
He has rapture of torture and passion and pain;
He delights in our sorrow and drives us to weeping,
Then lures with His joy and His beauty again.
All music is only the sound of His laughter,
All beauty the smile of His passionate bliss;
Our lives are His heart-beats, our rapture the bridal
Of Radha and Krishna, our love is their kiss.
He is strength that is loud in the blare of the trumpets,
And He rides in the car and He strikes in the spears;
He slays without stint and is full of compassion;
He wars for the world and its ultimate years.
In the sweep of the worlds, in the surge of the ages,
Ineffable, mighty, majestic and pure,
Beyond the last pinnacle seized by the thinker
He is throned in His seats that for ever endure.
The Master of man and his infinite Lover,
He is close to our hearts, had we vision to see;
We are blind with our pride and the pomp of our passions,
We are bound in our thoughts where we hold ourselves free.
It is He in the sun who is ageless and deathless,
And into the midnight His shadow is thrown;
When darkness was blind and engulfed within darkness,
He was seated within it immense and alone.
~ Sri Aurobindo, - Who
,
350:Nirvana Shatakam
1)
I am not mind, nor intellect, nor ego,
nor the reflections of inner self (chitta).
I am not the five senses.
I am beyond that.
I am not the ether, nor the earth,
nor the fire, nor the wind (the five elements).
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
2)
Neither can I be termed as energy (prana),
nor five types of breath (vayus),
nor the seven material essences,
nor the five coverings (pancha-kosha).
Neither am I the five instruments of elimination,
procreation, motion, grasping, or speaking.
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
3)
I have no hatred or dislike,
nor affiliation or liking,
nor greed,
nor delusion,
nor pride or haughtiness,
nor feelings of envy or jealousy.
I have no duty (dharma),
nor any money,
nor any desire (kama),
nor even liberation (moksha).
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
4)
I have neither merit (virtue),
16
I
nor demerit (vice).
do not commit sins or good deeds,
nor have happiness or sorrow,
pain or pleasure.
do not need mantras, holy places,
scriptures (Vedas), rituals or sacrifices (yagnas).
am none of the triad of
the observer or one who experiences,
the process of observing or experiencing,
or any object being observed or experienced.
am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
5)
I do not have fear of death,
as I do not have death.
I have no separation from my true self,
no doubt about my existence,
nor have I discrimination on the basis of birth.
I have no father or mother,
nor did I have a birth.
I am not the relative,
nor the friend,
nor the guru,
nor the disciple.
I am indeed,
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
6)
I am all pervasive.
I am without any attributes,
and without any form.
I have neither attachment to the world,
nor to liberation (mukti).
I have no wishes for anything
because I am everything,
everywhere,
every time,
always in equilibrium.
I am indeed,
17
That eternal knowing and bliss, Shiva,
love and pure consciousness.
~ Adi Shankaracharya,
351:How Florence Rings Her Bells
With shimmer of steel and blare of brass,
And Switzers marching with martial stride,
And cavaliers trampling brown the grass,
Came bow-legged Charles through the Apennine pass,
With black Il Moro for traitor guide;
And, passing by Pisa's ransomed towers,
He swept up stream over Arno's plain,
Where Florence garlands herself with flowers
From burgeoning vineyards and olive bowers,
And emerald furrows of sprouting grain;
And, flying and flaunting his pennons proud,
Crossed her bridges with naked sword,
And sware he would flourish his trumpets loud
And bristle his spears, save her beauty bowed
Itself to his stirrup, and owned him lord.
Then Savonarola's voice was heard
Swelling as Arno, storm-flushed, sweels,
And, with threat for threat, and with gird for gird,
Capponi flashed back the famous word,
``Then blow your trumpets, we'll ring our bells!''
And lo! as he spake, into street and square
Streamed Florentine burghers in grim array:
Then Charles, and Sforza, and groom Beaucaire,
Scared by the city they deemed but fair,
Shouldered their pikes, and passed away.
But now a Monarch more mighty far
Than ever from Gallic or Teuton throne
Swooped from the Alps upon wings of war,
Comes welcome as April and west winds are,
When Winter is over and mistral flown.
The Fair City peacefully rings her bells,
Rings her bells, and the loving peal
In the lazuline ether ascends and swells,
260
Till hoary turrets and convent cells
Feel young once more as the young buds feel.
And iris gonfalons scale her walls,
And rustic roses storm square and street;
In sound of her gates the cuckoo calls,
And the slow-swaying ox-wain creaks and crawls
'Twixt blossoming bean and beardless wheat.
In gabled pathway and shaded porch
Men gather and wait to acclaim ``The Queen'';
While over the wall, where the sunrays scorch
And the lizard is lost, the silvery torch
Of the fig is tipped with a flame of green.
And cypress spire and stonepine dome,
And circling mountain look on and smile,
Saying, ``Hitherward evermore seek your home,
When you traverse the furrows of fallow foam
That nourish with glory your Northern Isle,
And from weightier cares than a Caesar's brain
Pondered of old, would crave release;
Wise Ruler whose long victorious Reign
Imposes on love-loyal land and main
The fetters of proud Imperial Peace.''
~ Alfred Austin,
352: Ascent
(1)
The Silence
Into the Silence, into the Silence,
Arise, O Spirit immortal,
Away from the turning Wheel, breaking the magical Circle.

Ascend, single and deathless:
Care no more for the whispers and the shoutings in the darkness,
Pass from the sphere of the grey and the little,
Leaving the cry and the struggle,
Into the Silence for ever.

Vast and immobile, formless and marvellous,
Higher than Heaven, wider than the universe,
In a pure glory of being,
In a bright stillness of self-seeing,
Communing with a boundlessness voiceless and intimate,
Make thy knowledge too high for thought, thy joy too deep for emotion;
At rest in the unchanging Light, mute with the wordless self-vision,
Spirit, pass out of thyself; Soul, escape from the clutch of Nature.

All thou hast seen cast from thee, O Witness.

Turn to the Alone and the Absolute, turn to the Eternal:
Be only eternity, peace and silence,
O world-transcending nameless Oneness,
Spirit immortal.
(2)
Beyond the Silence
Out from the Silence, out from the Silence,
Carrying with thee the ineffable Substance,
Carrying with thee the splendour and wideness,

582

Pondicherry, c. 1927 - 1947

Ascend, O Spirit immortal.

Assigning to Time its endless meaning,
Blissful enter into the clasp of the Timeless.

Awake in the living Eternal, taken to the bosom of love of the Infinite,
Live self-found in his endless completeness,
Drowned in his joy and his sweetness,
Thy heart close to the heart of the Godhead for ever.

Vast, God-possessing, embraced by the Wonderful,
Lifted by the All-Beautiful into his infinite beauty,
Love shall envelop thee endless and fathomless,
Joy unimaginable, ecstasy illimitable,
Knowledge omnipotent, Might omniscient,
Light without darkness, Truth that is dateless.

One with the Transcendent, calm, universal,
Single and free, yet innumerably living,
All in thyself and thyself in all dwelling,
Act in the world with thy being beyond it.

Soul, exceed life's boundaries; Spirit, surpass the universe.

Outclimbing the summits of Nature,
Transcending and uplifting the soul of the finite,
Rise with the world in thy bosom,
O Word gathered into the heart of the Ineffable.

One with the Eternal, live in his infinity,
Drowned in the Absolute, found in the Godhead,
Swan of the supreme and spaceless ether wandering winged through the universe,
Spirit immortal.
~ Sri Aurobindo, - Ascent
,
353:XVIII TO HIS LADY                Beloved beauty who inspires             love from afar, your face concealed             except when your celestial image             stirs my heart in sleep, or in the fields         5  where light and nature’s laughter             shine more lovely;             was it maybe you who blessed             the innocent age called golden,             and do you now, blithe spirit,       10  soar among men? Or does the miser, fate,             who hides you from us save you for the future?                No hope of seeing you alive             remains for me now,             except when, naked and alone,       15  my soul will go down a new street             to an unfamiliar home. Already, at the dawning             of my dark, uncertain day,             I imagined you a fellow traveler             on this parched ground. But no thing on earth       20  compares with you; and if someone             who had a face like yours resembled you             in word and deed, still she would be less lovely.                In spite of all the suffering             that fate assigned to human life,       25  if there was anyone on earth             who truly loved you as my thought portrays you,             this life for him would be a joy.             And I see clearly how your love             would still inspire me to seek praise and virtue,       30  the way I used to in my early years.             Though heaven gave no comfort for our suffering,             still mortal life with you would be             like what in heaven becomes divinity.                In the valleys, where you hear       35  the weary farmer singing             and I sit and mourn             my youth’s illusions leaving me;             and on the hills where I turn back             and lament my lost desires,       40  my life’s lost hope, I think of you             and start to shake. In this sad age             and sickly atmosphere, I try             to keep your noble look in mind;             without the real thing, I enjoy the image.       45     Whether you are the one and only             eternal idea that eternal wisdom             disdains to see arrayed in sensible form,             to know the pains of mournful life             in transitory dress;       50  or if in the supernal spheres another earth             from among unnumbered worlds receives you,             and a near star lovelier than the Sun             warms you and you breathe benigner ether,             from here, where years are both ill-starred and brief,       55  accept this hymn from your unnoticed lover. ~ Giacomo Leopardi,
354:The Boy And The Skylark
A FABLE.
'A wicked action fear to do,
When you are by yourself; for though
You think you can conceal it,
A little bird that's in the air
The hidden trespass shall declare,
And openly reveal it.'
Richard this saying oft had heard,
Until the sight of any bird
Would set his heart a-quaking;
He saw a host of wingëd spies
For ever o'er him in the skies,
Note of his actions taking.
This pious precept, while it stood
In his remembrance, kept him good
When nobody was by him;
For though no human eye was near,
Yet Richard still did wisely fear
The little bird should spy him.
But best resolves will sometimes sleep;
Poor frailty will not always keep
From that which is forbidden;
And Richard, one day, left alone,
Laid hands on something not his own,
And hoped the theft was hidden.
His conscience slept a day or two,
As it is very apt to do
When we with pains suppress it:
And though at times a slight remorse
Would raise a pang, it had not force
To make him yet confess it.
123
When on a day, as he abroad
Walked by his mother, in their road
He heard a skylark singing;
Smit with the sound, a flood of tears
Proclaimed the superstitious fears
His inmost bosom wringing.
His mother, wondering, saw him cry,
And fondly asked the reason why;
Then Richard made confession,
And said, he feared the little bird
He singing in the air had heard
Was telling his transgression.
The words which Richard spoke below,
As sounds by nature upwards go,
Were to the skylark carried;
The airy traveller with surprise
To hear his sayings, in the skies
On his mid journey tarried.
His anger then the bird exprest:
'Sure, since the day I left the nest,
I ne'er heard folly uttered
So fit to move a skylark's mirth,
As what this little son of earth
Hath in his grossness muttered.
'Dull fool! to think we sons of air
On man's low actions waste a care,
His virtues or his vices;
Or soaring on the summer gales,
That we should stoop to carry tales
Of him or his devices!
124
'Our songs are all of the delights
We find in our wild airy flights,
And heavenly exaltation;
The earth you mortals have at heart
Is all too gross to have a part
In skylark's conversation.
'Unless it be in what green field
Or meadow we our nest may build,
Midst flowering broom, or heather;
From whence our new-fledged offspring may
With least obstruction wing their way
Up to the walks of ether.
'Mistaken fool! man needs not us
His secret merits to discuss,
Or spy out his transgression;
When once he feels his conscience stirred,
That voice within him is the bird
That moves him to confession.'
~ Charles Lamb,
355:A Snow-White Lily
There was a snow-white lily
Grew by a cottage door:
Such a white and wonderful lily
Never was seen before.
The earth and the ether brought it
Sustenance, raiment, grace,
And the feet of the west wind sought it,
And smiled in its smiling face.
Tall were its leaves and slender,
Slender and tall its stem;
Purity, all its splendour,
Beauty, its diadem.
Still from the ground it sprouted,
Statelier year by year,
Till loveliness clung about it,
And was its atmosphere.
And the fame of this lily was bruited
'Mong men ever more and more;
They came, and they saw, and uprooted
Its life from the cottage door.
For they said, ``'Twere shame, 'twere pity,
It here should dwell half despised.
We must carry it off to the city,
Where lilies are loved and prized.''
The city was moved to wonder,
And burst into praise and song,
And the multitude parted asunder
To gaze on it borne along.
Along and aloft 'twas uplifted,
From palace to palace led;
Men vowed 'twas the lily most gifted
Of lilies living or dead.
86
And wisdom, and wealth, and power,
Bowed down to it more and more:Yet it never was quite the same flower
That bloomed by the cottage door.
For no longer the night-dews wrought it
Raiment, and food, and grace;
Nor the feet of the west wind sought it,
To dance in its dimpling face.
'Twas pursued by the frivolous rabble,
With poisonous lips and eyes;
They drenched it with prurient babble,
And fed it with fulsome lies.
Thus into the lily there entered
The taint of the tainted crew,
Till itself in itself grew centred,
And it flattery drank like dew.
Then tongues began words to bandy
As to whose might the lily be.
``'Tis mine,'' said the titled dandy;
Said the plutocrat, ``'tis for me.''
Thus over the lily they wrangled,
Making the beautiful base,
Till its purity seemed all mangled,
And its gracefulness half disgrace.
Next they who had first enthroned it,
And blatantly hymned its fame,
Now, curdling their smiles, disowned it,
And secretly schemed its shame.
The lily began to wither,
Since the world was no longer sweet;
And hands that had brought it thither,
Flung it into the street.
A sensitive soul and tender
87
The flung-away lily found:
He had seen it in hours of splendour,
So he lifted it from the ground.
He carried it back to the garden
Where in olden days it grew,
And he knelt, and prayed for it pardon
From the sun, and the breeze, and the dew.
Then the breeze, since it knows no malice,
And the sun that detesteth strife,
And the dew whose abode is the chalice,
Would have coaxed back the lily to life.
But the lily would not waken,
Nor ever will waken more;
And feet and fame have forsaken
Its place by the cottage door.
~ Alfred Austin,
356:Grey
for Felicity Plunkett
In this World – which is not a world – black
and white withhold truths. In a world
we’d have multiplicities, the purity
of unqualified impurities. In ours we possess
, are possessed by, the comprehension
of qualified organs: terminal vs. respiratory
bronchioles of the lung, left vs. right
hemispheres of the brain. Not a scientist
(thank god) I best understand airports
life’s made me travel: arrivals vs. departures
of good and bad, tourists and terrorists,
and our so-called democracy: the Left
(cunning Capitalists) vs. the Right
(coldblooded Capitalists). Is my being
too a binary composite, bichromatic
backdropp of gloom with streaks of hope?
ii
Maybe I’d like to evoke an irrelevant
memory to name the absent thing: my desk
when my parents bought me one after
years of penury, after pouring their money
into a loan for a flashy house in Tehran’s
highest-status suburb, temporarily resigned
to their son being anti-social, introvert
33
ruining his spine by bending over notebooks
on the floor, asked me what colour
writing-table I wanted. Thrilled to get to choose
anything, I rejected their suggestions
(blue, blue, blue), insisted, resisted, fought
for two planks of vertical chipboard
legs joined by the horizontal third, desktop
covered in thick, grey contact. Ashen
’s so boring I remember someone sneering
(probably a nosy cousin): in Farsi ash-like
(khaakestar-ee) is the word for grey.
iii
Ashy vastness overshadowed the whiteness
of the page, incisions of my pen’s black ink
as I worked (regurgitated what I’d read)
to forge a raison d’être; and I stayed loyal
to the anti-colour post-migration. If I’d been
dark, wog and olive-complexioned
before, dislocation brought me the paleness
of a zombie’s skin, of what remains after
so much hurt, rejection, anger, self-hatred
not the certainty of black negation,
not the whiteness of success, undecidable
thing beyond the great and the ghastly
made me, overlooked immigrant boy,
loyal to the lyrics of 90s ‘alternative’ music
after I heard in a morose song: “Grey
would be the colour / if I had a heart.” The singer
34
a ‘Gothic’ artiste (albeit a millionaire
rock star) had just termed the emptiness
of my situation, the void of absolute colours.
iv
Cinder’s interstitial, sutures matter
to interment in ether, always
impermanent. At the point of erasure
by water or air; a caesura, exceeds
fire and smoke, cremation
is the idea of keeping alive the nothing
-ness of life against the parsimony
of urn and plaque – a person may only be
existent as a thing above and outside
body vs. epitaph, black vs. light, being vs. death
to belong to a world finally worthy
of the name, a world that can only be shaded
in ineffable, incomprehensible grey.
~ Ali Alizadeh,
357:The Owl And The Lark
A grizzled owl at midnight moped
Where thick the ivy glistened;
So I, who long have vainly groped
For wisdom, leaned and listened.
Its perch was firm, its aspect staid,
Its big eyes gleamed and brightened;
Now, now at last, will doubt be laid,
Now yearning be enlightened.
``Tu-whit! Tu-whoo!'' the bird discoursed,
``Tu-whoo! Tu-whit!'' repeated:
Showing how matter was, when forced
Through space, condensed and heated;
How rent, but spinning still, 'twas sphered
In star, and orb, and planet,
Where, as it cooled, live germs appeared
In lias, sand, and granite:
And, last, since nothing 'neath the sun
Avoids material tether,
How life must end, when once begun,
In scale, and hoof, and feather.
Then, flapping from the ivy-tod,
It slouched around the gable,
And, perching there, discussed if God
Be God, or but a fable.
In pompous scales Free Will and Fate
Were placed, and poised, and dangled,
And riddles small from riddles great
Expertly disentangled.
It drew betwixt ``Tu-whit,'' ``Tu-whoo,''
Distinctions nice and nicer:
The bird was very wise, I knew,
But I grew no whit wiser.
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Then, letting metaphysics slip,
It mumbled moral thunder;
Showing how Virtue's self will trip
If Reason chance to blunder.
Its pleated wings adown its breast
Were like a surplice folded;
And, if the truth must be confessed,
It threatened me and scolded.
I thought the lecture somewhat long,
Impatient for its ending;
When, sudden, came a burst of song!
It was the lark ascending.
Dew gleamed in many a jewelled cup,
The air was bright and gracious;
And away the wings and the song went up,
Up through the ether spacious.
They bubbled, rippled, up the dome,
In sprays of silvery trilling;
Like endless fountain's lyric foam,
Still falling, still refilling.
And when I could no more descry
The bird, I still could hear it;
For sight, but not for soul, too high,
Unseen but certain Spirit.
All that the perched owl's puckered brow
Had vainly bid me ponder,
The lark's light wings were solving now
In the roofless dome up yonder.
Then brief as lightning-flash,-no more,I passed beyond the Finite;
And, borne past Heaven's wide-open door,
Saw everything within it.
Slow showering down from cloudless sphere,
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The wanderer Elysian
Dropped nearer, clearer, to the ear,
Then back into the vision.
On his own song he seemed to swim;
Diving through song, descended:
Since I had been to Heaven with him,
Earth now was apprehended.
O souls perplexed by hood and cowl,
Fain would you find a teacher,
Consult the lark and not the owl,
The poet, not the preacher.
While brains mechanic vainly weave
The web and woof of thinking,
Go, mount up with the lark, and leave
The bird of wisdom blinking.
~ Alfred Austin,
358:Songs Written To Welsh Airs
How fondly I gaze on the fast falling-leaves,
That mark, as I wander, the summer's decline;
And then I exclaim, while my conscious heart heaves,
"Thus early to droop and to perish be mine!"
Yet once I remember, in moments long past,
Most dear to my sight was the spring's opening bloom;
But then my youth's spring sorrow had not o'ercast,
Nor taught me with fondness to look on the tomb.
Fair Spring! now no longer these grief-faded eyes
Thy rich glowing beauties with pleasure can see;
Thy pale sickly hues, chilly Autumn, I prize,
They suit blighted hopes, and are emblems of me.
Where dost thou bide, blessed soul of my love!
Is ether thy dwelling, O whisper me where!
Rapt in remembrance, while lonely I rove,
I gaze on bright clouds, and I fancy thee there.
Or to thy bower when musing I go,
I think, 't is thy voice that I hear in the breeze;
Softly it seems to speak peace to my woe,
And life once again for a moment can please.
If this be phrensy alone, 't is so dear,
That long may the pleasing delusion be nigh;
Still Ellen's voice in the breeze may I hear,
Still see in bright clouds the kind beams of her eye!
Low hung the dark clouds on Plinlimmon's tall peak,
And slowly, yet surely, the winter drew near;
When Ellen, sweet Ellen, a tear on her cheek,
Exclaimed as we parted, "In May I'll be here."
How swiftly I ran up the mountain's steep height,
To catch the last glimpse of an object so dear!
52
And, when I no longer could keep her in sight,
I thought on her promise,...."In May I'll be here."
Now gladly I mark from Plinlimmon's tall peak
The low-hanging vapours and clouds disappear,
And climb the rough mountain, thence Ellen to seek,
Repeating her promise...."In May I'll be here."
But vainly I gaze the wide prospect around,
'T is May, yet no Ellen returning is near:
Oh, when shall I see her! when feel my heart bound,
As sweetly she cries, "It is May, and I'm here!"
You ask why these mountains delight me no more,
And why lovely Clwyd's attractions are o'er;
Ah! have you not heard, then, the cause of my pain?
The pride of fair Clwyd, the boast of the plain,
We never, no never, shall gaze on again!
What though from her coldness keen anguish I felt,
And vainly, to move her, in agony knelt;
Yet could I restore her, I'd never complain,
Not e'en though she doomed me to endless disdain....
I'd bear any torture to see her again.
I grieved when on others with kindness she gazed,
I mourned when another with pleasure she praised;
But could I recall her to life by my pain,
I'd urge her to favour some happier swain,
And wish no reward but to see her again.
Those beauties that charmed me, from death I would free,
Though sure that those beauties another's should be!
But truth, and affection, and grief are all vain;
The pride of fair Clwyd, the boast of our plain,
We never, ah never! can gaze on again!
~ Amelia Opie,
359:In the course of my life I have had pre-pubescent ballerinas; emaciated duchesses, dolorous and forever tired, melomaniac and morphine-sodden; bankers' wives with eyes hollower than those of suburban streetwalkers; music-hall chorus girls who tip creosote into their Roederer when getting drunk...

I have even had the awkward androgynes, the unsexed dishes of the day of the *tables d'hote* of Montmartre. Like any vulgar follower of fashion, like any member of the herd, I have made love to bony and improbably slender little girls, frightened and macabre, spiced with carbolic and peppered with chlorotic make-up.

Like an imbecile, I have believed in the mouths of prey and sacrificial victims. Like a simpleton, I have believed in the large lewd eyes of a ragged heap of sickly little creatures: alcoholic and cynical shop girls and whores. The profundity of their eyes and the mystery of their mouths... the jewellers of some and the manicurists of others furnish them with *eaux de toilette*, with soaps and rouges. And Fanny the etheromaniac, rising every morning for a measured dose of cola and coca, does not put ether only on her handkerchief.

It is all fakery and self-advertisement - *truquage and battage*, as their vile argot has it. Their phosphorescent rottenness, their emaciated fervour, their Lesbian blight, their shop-sign vices set up to arouse their clients, to excite the perversity of young and old men alike in the sickness of perverse tastes! All of it can sparkle and catch fire only at the hour when the gas is lit in the corridors of the music-halls and the crude nickel-plated decor of the bars. Beneath the cerise three-ply collars of the night-prowlers, as beneath the bulging silks of the cyclist, the whole seductive display of passionate pallor, of knowing depravity, of exhausted and sensual anaemia - all the charm of spicy flowers celebrated in the writings of Paul Bourget and Maurice Barres - is nothing but a role carefully learned and rehearsed a hundred times over. It is a chapter of the MANCHON DE FRANCINE read over and over again, swotted up and acted out by ingenious barnstormers, fully conscious of the squalid salacity of the male of the species, and knowledgeable in the means of starting up the broken-down engines of their customers.

To think that I also have loved these maleficent and sick little beasts, these fake Primaveras, these discounted Jocondes, the whole hundred-franc stock-in-trade of Leonardos and Botticellis from the workshops of painters and the drinking-dens of aesthetes, these flowers mounted on a brass thread in Montparnasse and Levallois-Perret!

And the odious and tiresome travesty - the corsetted torso slapped on top of heron's legs, painful to behold, the ugly features primed by boulevard boxes, the fake Dresden of Nina Grandiere retouched from a medicine bottle, complaining and spectral at the same time - of Mademoiselle Guilbert and her long black gloves!...

Have I now had enough of the horror of this nightmare! How have I been able to tolerate it for so long?

The fact is that I was then ignorant even of the nature of my sickness. It was latent in me, like a fire smouldering beneath the ashes. I have cherished it since... perhaps since early childhood, for it must always have been in me, although I did not know it! ~ Jean Lorrain,
360:The supreme Truth aspect which thus manifests itself to us is an eternal and infinite and absolute self-existence, self-awareness, self-delight of being; this bounds all things and secretly supports and pervades all things. This Self-existence reveals itself again in three terms of its essential nature,-self, conscious being or spirit, and God or the Divine Being. The Indian terms are more satisfactory,-Brahman the Reality is Atman, Purusha, Ishwara; for these terms grew from a root of Intuition and, while they have a comprehensive preciseness, are capable of a plastic application which avoids both vagueness in the use and the rigid snare of a too limiting intellectual concept. The Supreme Brahman is that which in Western metaphysics is called the Absolute: but Brahman is at the same time the omnipresent Reality in which all that is relative exists as its forms or its movements; this is an Absolute which takes all relativities in its embrace. [...] Brahman is the Consciousness that knows itself in all that exists; Brahman is the force that sustains the power of God and Titan and Demon, the Force that acts in man and animal and the forms and energies of Nature; Brahman is the Ananda, the secret Bliss of existence which is the ether of our being and without which none could breathe or live. Brahman is the inner Soul in all; it has taken a form in correspondence with each created form which it inhabits. The Lord of Beings is that which is conscious in the conscious being, but he is also the Conscious in inconscient things, the One who is master and in control of the many that are passive in the hands of Force-Nature. He is the Timeless and Time; He is Space and all that is in Space; He is Causality and the cause and the effect: He is the thinker and his thought, the warrior and his courage, the gambler and his dice-throw. All realities and all aspects and all semblances are the Brahman; Brahman is the Absolute, the Transcendent and incommunicable, the Supracosmic Existence that sustains the cosmos, the Cosmic Self that upholds all beings, but It is too the self of each individual: the soul or psychic entity is an eternal portion of the Ishwara; it is his supreme Nature or Consciousness-Force that has become the living being in a world of living beings. The Brahman alone is, and because of It all are, for all are the Brahman; this Reality is the reality of everything that we see in Self and Nature. Brahman, the Ishwara, is all this by his Yoga-Maya, by the power of his Consciousness-Force put out in self-manifestation: he is the Conscious Being, Soul, Spirit, Purusha, and it is by his Nature, the force of his conscious self-existence that he is all things; he is the Ishwara, the omniscient and omnipotent All-ruler, and it is by his Shakti, his conscious Power, that he manifests himself in Time and governs the universe. These and similar statements taken together are all-comprehensive: it is possible for the mind to cut and select, to build a closed system and explain away all that does not fit within it; but it is on the complete and many-sided statement that we must take our stand if we have to acquire an integral knowledge.
   ~ Sri Aurobindo, The Life Divine, Book 02: The Knowledge and the Ignorance - The Spiritual Evolution, Part I, The Infinite Consciousness and the Ignorance Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara - Maya, Prakriti, Shakti [336-337],
361:The Dance Of Life
Gracious and lovable and sweet,
She made his jaded pulses beat,
And made the glare of streets grow dim
And life more soft and hushed for him….
Over her shoulder now she smiled
Trustfully to him, like a child,
The while her fingers gayly moved
Alonge these white keys dearly loved,
Making them laugh a jocund measure,
Making them show and sing her pleasure….
A smile that dwelt upon his eyes,
To see what mood might therein rise,What point of soft light seen afar
Which might dilate to moon or star….
A smile that for a second space
Brooded wistfully on her face,
Opening soft her spirit's door,
Disclosing depths undreamed before:
Passionate depths of half-seen flame,
Young loveliness despising shame,
Desire that trembled to meet desire,
And fire that yearned to fuse with fire….
And lightly then she turned away,
Ironic music rippled gay,Subtle sarcastic flippancies
Disguising speechless ecstasies…
'Play something else…' He rose to turn
The pages, while the deep nocturne
Struck slow rich chords of plangent pain,
Beautiful, into heart and brain;
A tortured, anguished, suffering thing
That seemed at once to cry and sing;
Despairing love that strove to find
The face beloved with fingers blind.
He saw her body's slender grace,
This drooping shoulder, shadowed face;
All of her body, hidden so
In saffron satin's flush and flow,Its white and simple loveliness,-
156
Came on his heart like giddiness,
Seductive as this music came;
Until her body seemed like flame,Intense white flame, so swiftly moving
That it gave scarcely time for loving;
But rapid as the sun she seemed,
A blinding light that flowed and streamed
And sang and shone through roaring space….
The sun itself! for now her face,
Wherein this music's whole soul dwelt,
Drew him like helpless star, he felt
A fierce compulsion, reckless, mad,
A sweet compulsion, troubled, glad,
His trembling hands went out to her,
Her cool flesh made his senses blur;
While, head thrown backward, sinking dim,
She opened wide her soul to him….
Past his life went whirls of lights,
Chaos of music, days and nights,
Her wild eyes yearned to lure him in
And close him up in dark of sin,
To lure him in and drink him down
And all his soul in love to drown….
Her nakedness he seemed to see.
And breast to breast, and knee to knee,
Tremulous, breathless, swaying, burning,
Body to beautiful body yearning,
In joy and terror, flesh to flesh,
They flamed in passion's fine red mesh,Living in one short breath again
The cosmic tide's whole bliss and pain,
Darkness and ether, nebulous fire,
Vast suns whirled forth by vast desire,
Huge moons flung out with monstrous mirth
And stars in glorious hells of birth,
All jubilating, blazing, reeling,
An orgiastic splendor wheeling,
Moon torn from earth and star from sun
In screaming pain, titanic fun,
And stars whirled back to sun again
To be consumed in flaming pain!…
In them at last all life was met:
157
They were God's self! This earth had set.
Mad fires of life sang through their veins,
Ruinous blisses, joyous pains,
Life the destroyer, life the breaker,
And death, the everlasting maker….
~ Conrad Potter Aiken,
362:I had ceased to be a writer of tolerably poor tales and essays, and had become a tolerably good Surveyor of the Customs. That was all. But, nevertheless, it is any thing but agreeable to be haunted by a suspicion that one's intellect is dwindling away; or exhaling, without your consciousness, like ether out of a phial; so that, at every glance, you find a smaller and less volatile residuum. Of the fact, there could be no doubt; and, examining myself and others, I was led to conclusions in reference to the effect of public office on the character, not very favorable to the mode of life in question. In some other form, perhaps, I may hereafter develop these effects. Suffice it here to say, that a Custom-House officer, of long continuance, can hardly be a very praiseworthy or respectable personage, for many reasons; one of them, the tenure by which he holds his situation, and another, the very nature of his business, which—though, I trust, an honest one—is of such a sort that he does not share in the united effort of mankind.

An effect—which I believe to be observable, more or less, in every individual who has occupied the position—is, that, while he leans on the mighty arm of the Republic, his own proper strength departs from him. He loses, in an extent proportioned to the weakness or force of his original nature, the capability of self-support. If he possess an unusual share of native energy, or the enervating magic of place do not operate too long upon him, his forfeited powers may be redeemable. The ejected officer—fortunate in the unkindly shove that sends him forth betimes, to struggle amid a struggling world—may return to himself, and become all that he has ever been. But this seldom happens. He usually keeps his ground just long enough for his own ruin, and is then thrust out, with sinews all unstrung, to totter along the difficult footpath of life as he best may. Conscious of his own infirmity,—that his tempered steel and elasticity are lost,—he for ever afterwards looks wistfully about him in quest of support external to himself. His pervading and continual hope—a hallucination, which, in the face of all discouragement, and making light of impossibilities, haunts him while he lives, and, I fancy, like the convulsive throes of the cholera, torments him for a brief space after death—is, that, finally, and in no long time, by some happy coincidence of circumstances, he shall be restored to office. This faith, more than any thing else, steals the pith and availability out of whatever enterprise he may dream of undertaking. Why should he toil and moil, and be at so much trouble to pick himself up out of the mud, when, in a little while hence, the strong arm of his Uncle will raise and support him? Why should he work for his living here, or go to dig gold in California, when he is so soon to be made happy, at monthly intervals, with a little pile of glittering coin out of his Uncle's pocket? It is sadly curious to observe how slight a taste of office suffices to infect a poor fellow with this singular disease. Uncle Sam's gold—meaning no disrespect to the worthy old gentleman—has, in this respect, a quality of enchantment like that of the Devil's wages. Whoever touches it should look well to himself, or he may find the bargain to go hard against him, involving, if not his soul, yet many of its better attributes; its sturdy force, its courage and constancy, its truth, its self-reliance, and all that gives the emphasis to manly character. ~ Nathaniel Hawthorne,
363:The House Of Dust: Part 02: 10: Sudden Death
'Number four—the girl who died on the table—
The girl with golden hair—'
The purpling body lies on the polished marble.
We open the throat, and lay the thyroid bare . . .
One, who held the ether-cone, remembers
Her dark blue frightened eyes.
He heard the sharp breath quiver, and saw her breast
More hurriedly fall and rise.
Her hands made futile gestures, she turned her head
Fighting for breath; her cheeks were flushed to scarlet,—
And, suddenly, she lay dead.
And all the dreams that hurried along her veins
Came to the darkness of a sudden wall.
Confusion ran among them, they whirled and clamored,
They fell, they rose, they struck, they shouted,
Till at last a pallor of silence hushed them all.
What was her name? Where had she walked that morning?
Through what dark forest came her feet?
Along what sunlit walls, what peopled street?
Backward he dreamed along a chain of days,
He saw her go her strange and secret ways,
Waking and sleeping, noon and night.
She sat by a mirror, braiding her golden hair.
She read a story by candlelight.
Her shadow ran before her along the street,
She walked with rhythmic feet,
Turned a corner, descended a stair.
She bought a paper, held it to scan the headlines,
Smiled for a moment at sea-gulls high in sunlight,
And drew deep breaths of air.
Days passed, bright clouds of days. Nights passed. And music
Murmured within the walls of lighted windows.
She lifted her face to the light and danced.
239
The dancers wreathed and grouped in moving patterns,
Clustered, receded, streamed, advanced.
Her dress was purple, her slippers were golden,
Her eyes were blue; and a purple orchid
Opened its golden heart on her breast . . .
She leaned to the surly languor of lazy music,
Leaned on her partner's arm to rest.
The violins were weaving a weft of silver,
The horns were weaving a lustrous brede of gold,
And time was caught in a glistening pattern,
Time, too elusive to hold . . .
Shadows of leaves fell over her face,—and sunlight:
She turned her face away.
Nearer she moved to a crouching darkness
With every step and day.
Death, who at first had thought of her only an instant,
At a great distance, across the night,
Smiled from a window upon her, and followed her slowly
From purple light to light.
Once, in her dreams, he spoke out clearly, crying,
'I am the murderer, death.
I am the lover who keeps his appointment
At the doors of breath!'
She rose and stared at her own reflection,
Half dreading there to find
The dark-eyed ghost, waiting beside her,
Or reaching from behind
To lay pale hands upon her shoulders . . .
Or was this in her mind? . . .
She combed her hair. The sunlight glimmered
Along the tossing strands.
Was there a stillness in this hair,—
A quiet in these hands?
Death was a dream. It could not change these eyes,
Blow out their light, or turn this mouth to dust.
240
She combed her hair and sang. She would live forever.
Leaves flew past her window along a gust . . .
And graves were dug in the earth, and coffins passed,
And music ebbed with the ebbing hours.
And dreams went along her veins, and scattering clouds
Threw streaming shadows on walls and towers.
~ Conrad Potter Aiken,
364:She broke off abruptly as she heard her name being called, and glanced over her shoulder, fearing that St. Vincent had discovered her escape. Her entire body stiffened in battle readiness. But there was no sign of St. Vincent, no betraying gleam of golden-amber hair.
She heard the voice again, a deep sound that penetrated to her soul. “Lillian.”
Her legs quivered beneath her as she saw a lean, dark-haired man coming from the front entryway. It can’t be, she thought, blinking hard to clear her vision, which must surely have been playing tricks on her. She stumbled a little as she turned to face him. “Westcliff,” she whispered, and took a few hesitant steps forward.
The rest of the room seemed to vanish. Marcus’s face was pale beneath its tan, and he stared at her with searing intensity, as if he feared she might disappear. His stride quickened, and as he reached her, she was seized and caught in a biting grip. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her hard against him. “My God,” he muttered, and buried his face in her hair.
“You came,” Lillian gasped, trembling all over. “You found me.” She couldn’t conceive how it was possible. He smelled of horses and sweat, and his clothes were chilled from the outside air. Feeling her shiver, Marcus drew her tightly inside his coat, murmuring endearments against her hair.
“Marcus,” Lillian said thickly. “Have I gone mad? Oh, please be real. Please don’t go away—”
“I’m here.” His voice was low and shaken. “I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.” He drew back slightly, his midnight gaze scouring her from head to toe, his hands searching urgently over her body. “My love, my own… have you been hurt?” As his fingers slid along her arm, he encountered the locked manacle. Lifting her wrist, he stared at the handcuffs blankly. He inhaled sharply, and his body began to shake with primitive fury. “G**damn it, I’ll send him to hell—”
“I’m fine,” Lillian said hastily. “I haven’t been hurt.”
Bringing her hand to his mouth, Marcus kissed it roughly, and kept her fingers against his cheek while his breath struck her wrist in swift repetitions. “Lillian, did he…”
Reading the question in his haunted gaze, the words he couldn’t yet bring himself to voice, Lillian whispered scratchily, “No, nothing happened. There wasn’t time.”
“I’m still going to kill him.” There was a deadly note in his voice that made the back of her neck crawl. Seeing the open bodice of her gown, Marcus released her long enough to pull off his coat and place it over her shoulders. He suddenly went still. “That smell… what is it?”
Realizing that her skin and clothes still retained the noxious scent, Lillian hesitated before replying. “Ether,” she finally said, trying to form her trembling lips into a reassuring smile as she saw his eyes dilate into pools of black. “It wasn’t bad, actually. I’ve slept through most of the day. Other than a touch of queasiness, I’m—”
An animal growl came from his throat, and he pulled her against him once more. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Lillian, my sweet love… you’re safe now. I’ll never let anything happen to you again. I swear it on my life. You’re safe.” He took her head in his hands, and his mouth slid over hers in a kiss that was brief, soft, and yet so shockingly intense that she swayed dizzily. Closing her eyes, she let herself rest against him, still fearing that none of this was real, that she would awaken to find herself with St. Vincent once more. Marcus whispered comforting words against her parted lips and cheeks, and held her with a grip that seemed gentle but could not have been broken by the combined efforts of ten men. ~ Lisa Kleypas,
365:The Wardens Of The Seas
Like star points in the ether to guide a homing soul
Towards God's Eternal Haven; above the wash and roll,
Across and o'er the oceans, on all the coasts they stand
Tall seneschals of commerce, High Wardens of the Strand -The white lights slowly turning
Their kind eyes far and wide,
The red and green lights burning
Along the waterside.
When Night with breath of aloes, magnolia, spice, and balm
Creeps down the darkened jungles and mantles reef and palm,
By velvet waters making soft music as they surge
The shore lights of dark Asia will one by one emerge -Oh, Ras Marshig by Aden
Shows dull on hazy nights;
And Bombay Channel's laid in
Its "In" and "Outer" lights.
When Night, in rain-wet garments comes sobbing cold and grey
Across the German Ocean and South from Stornoway,
Thro' snarling darkness slowly, some fixed and some a-turn,
The bright shore-lights of Europe like welcome tapers burn, -From fierce Fruholmen streaming
O'er Northern ice and snow,
To Cape St. Vincent gleaming, -These lamps of danger glow.
The dark Etruscan tending his watchfires by the shore,
On sacred altars burning, the world shall know no more;
His temple's column standing against the ancient stars
Is gone; Now bright catoptrics flash out electric bars, -Slow swung his stately Argos
Unto the Tiber's mouth;
But now the Tuscan cargoes
Screw-driven, stagger South.
The lantern of Genoa guides home no Eastern fleets
As when the boy Columbus played in its narrow streets:
No more the Keltic `dolmens' their fitful warnings throw
13
Across the lone Atlantic, so long, so long ago -No more the beaked prows dashing
Shall dare a shoreward foam;
No more will great oars threshing
Sweep Dorian galleys home.
No more the Vikings roaring their sagas wild and weird
Proclaim that Rome has fallen; no more a consul feared
Shall quench the Roman pharos lest Northern pirates free
Be pointed to their plunder on coasts of Italy -Nor shall unwilling lovers,
From Lethean pleasures torn,
Fare nor'ward with those rovers,
To frozen lands forlorn.
The bale-fires and the watch-fires, the wrecker's foul false lure
No more shall vex the shipmen; and on their course secure
Past Pharos in the starlight the tow'ring hulls of Trade
Race in and out from Suez in iron cavalcade, -So rode one sunset olden
Across the dark'ning sea,
With banners silk and golden,
The Barge of Antony!
They loom along the foreshores; they gleam across the Straits;
They guide the feet of Commerce unto the harbor gates.
In nights of storm and thunder, thro' fog and sleet and rain,
Like stars on angels' foreheads, they give man heart again, -Oh, hear the high waves smashing
On Patagonia's shore!
Oh, hear the black waves threshing
Their weight on Skerryvore!
He searches night's grim chances upon his bridge alone
And seeks the distant glimmer of hopeful Eddystone:
And thro' a thick fog creeping, with chart and book and lead,
The homeward skipper follows their green and white and red -By day his lighthouse wardens
In sunlit quiet stand,
But in the night the burdens
Are theirs of Sea and Land.
14
They fill that night with Knowledge. A thousand ships go by,
A thousand captains bless them, so bright and proud and high:
The world's dark capes they glamour; or low on sand banks dread,
They, crouching, mark a pathway between the Quick and Dead -Like star points in the ether
They bring the seamen ease,
These Lords of Wind and Weather
These Wardens of the Seas!
~ Edwin James Brady,
366:To -- -- --. Ulalume: A Ballad
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sereThe leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of WeirIt was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my SoulOf cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
There were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that rollAs the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the poleThat groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sereOur memories were treacherous and sereFor we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber(Though once we had journeyed down here),
Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
And now, as the night was senescent,
And star-dials pointed to mornAs the star-dials hinted of mornAt the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn-
105
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said- 'She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighsShe revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion,
To point us the path to the skiesTo the Lethean peace of the skiesCome up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyesCome up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes.'
But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said- 'Sadly this star I mistrustHer pallor I strangely mistrust:Oh, hasten!- oh, let us not linger!
Oh, fly!- let us fly!- for we must.'
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dustIn agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dustTill they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
I replied- 'This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendor is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty to-night:See!- it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us arightWe safely may trust to a gleaming
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night.'
Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloomAnd conquered her scruples and gloom;
106
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tombBy the door of a legended tomb;
And I said- 'What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?'
She replied- 'Ulalume- Ulalume'Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!'
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sereAs the leaves that were withering and sereAnd I cried- 'It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed- I journeyed down hereThat I brought a dread burden down hereOn this night of all nights in the year,
Ah, what demon has tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of AuberThis misty mid region of WeirWell I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber,
This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.'
~ Edgar Allan Poe,
367:The Teachings of Some Modern Indian Yogis
Ramana Maharshi
According to Brunton's description of the sadhana he (Brunton) practised under the Maharshi's instructions,1 it is the Overself one has to seek within, but he describes the Overself in a way that is at once the Psychic Being, the Atman and the Ishwara. So it is a little difficult to know what is the exact reading.
*
The methods described in the account [of Ramana Maharshi's technique of self-realisation] are the well-established methods of Jnanayoga - (1) one-pointed concentration followed by thought-suspension, (2) the method of distinguishing or finding out the true self by separating it from mind, life, body (this I have seen described by him [Brunton] more at length in another book) and coming to the pure I behind; this also can disappear into the Impersonal Self. The usual result is a merging in the Atman or Brahman - which is what one would suppose is meant by the Overself, for it is that which is the real Overself. This Brahman or Atman is everywhere, all is in it, it is in all, but it is in all not as an individual being in each but is the same in all - as the Ether is in all. When the merging into the Overself is complete, there is no ego, no distinguishable I, or any formed separative person or personality. All is ekakara - an indivisible and undistinguishable Oneness either free from all formations or carrying all formations in it without being affected - for one can realise it in either way. There is a realisation in which all beings are moving in the one Self and this Self is there stable in all beings; there is another more complete and thoroughgoing in which not only is it so but all are vividly realised as the Self, the Brahman, the Divine. In the former, it is possible to dismiss all beings as creations of Maya, leaving the one Self alone as true - in the other it is easier to regard them as real manifestations of the Self, not as illusions. But one can also regard all beings as souls, independent realities in an eternal Nature dependent upon the One Divine. These are the characteristic realisations of the Overself familiar to the Vedanta. But on the other hand you say that this Overself is realised by the Maharshi as lodged in the heart-centre, and it is described by Brunton as something concealed which when it manifests appears as the real Thinker, source of all action, but now guiding thought and action in the Truth. Now the first description applies to the Purusha in the heart, described by the Gita as the Ishwara situated in the heart and by the Upanishads as the Purusha Antaratma; the second could apply also to the mental Purusha, manomayah. pran.asarı̄ra neta of the Upanishads, the mental Being or Purusha who leads the life and the body. So your question is one which on the data I cannot easily answer. His Overself may be a combination of all these experiences, without any distinction being made or thought necessary between the various aspects. There are a thousand ways of approaching and realising the Divine and each way has its own experiences which have their own truth and stand really on a basis, one in essence but complex in aspects, common to all, but not expressed in the same way by all. There is not much use in discussing these variations; the important thing is to follow one's own way well and thoroughly. In this Yoga, one can realise the psychic being as a portion of the Divine seated in the heart with the Divine supporting it there - this psychic being takes charge of the sadhana and turns the ......
1 The correspondent sent to Sri Aurobindo two paragraphs from Paul Brunton's book A Message from Arunachala (London: Rider & Co., n.d. [1936], pp. 205 - 7). - Ed. ~ Sri Aurobindo, Letters On Yoga - II,
368:Hypotheses Hypochondriacae
And should she die, her grave should be
Upon the bare top of a sunny hill,
Among the moorlands of her own fair land,
Amid a ring of old and moss-grown stones
In gorse and heather all embosomed.
There should be no tall stone, no marble tomb
Above her gentle corse;-the ponderous pile
Would press too rudely on those fairy limbs.
The turf should lightly he, that marked her home.
A sacred spot it would be-every bird
That came to watch her lone grave should be holy.
The deer should browse around her undisturbed;
The whin bird by, her lonely nest should build
All fearless; for in life she loved to see
Happiness in all thingsAnd we would come on summer days
When all around was bright, and set us down
And think of all that lay beneath that turf
On which the heedless moor-bird sits, and whistles
His long, shrill, painful song, as though he plained
For her that loved him and his pleasant hills;
And we would dream again of bygone days
Until our eyes should swell with natural tears
For brilliant hopes-all faded into air!
As, on the sands of Irak, near approach
Destroys the traveller's vision of still lakes,
And goodly streams reed-clad, and meadows green;
And leaves behind the drear reality
Of shadeless, same, yet ever-changing sand!
And when the sullen clouds rose thick on high
Mountains on mountains rolling-and dark mist
Wrapped itself round the hill-tops like a shroud,
When on her grave swept by the moaning wind
Bending the heather-bells-then would I come
And watch by her, in silent loneliness,
And smile upon the storm-as knowing well
The lightning's flash would surely turn aside,
Nor mar the lowly mound, where peaceful sleeps
All that gave life and love to one fond heart!
49
I talk of things that are not; and if prayers
By night and day availed from my weak lips,
Then should they never be! till I was gone,
Before the friends I loved, to my long home.
Oh pardon me, if e'er I say too much; my mind
Too often strangely turns to ribald mirth,
As though I had no doubt nor hope beyondOr brooding melancholy cloys my soul
With thoughts of days misspent, of wasted time
And bitter feelings swallowed up in jests.
Then strange and fearful thoughts flit o'er my brain
By indistinctness made more terrible,
And incubi mock at me with fierce eyes
Upon my couch: and visions, crude and dire,
Of planets, suns, millions of miles, infinity,
Space, time, thought, being, blank nonentity,
Things incorporeal, fancies of the brain,
Seen, heard, as though they were material,
All mixed in sickening mazes, trouble me,
And lead my soul away from earth and heaven
Until I doubt whether I be or not!
And then I see all frightful shapes-lank ghosts,
Hydras, chimeras, krakens, wastes of sand,
Herbless and void of living voice-tall mountains
Cleaving the skies with height immeasurable,
On which perchance I climb for infinite years; broad seas,
Studded with islands numberless, that stretch
Beyond the regions of the sun, and fade
Away in distance vast, or dreary clouds,
Cold, dark, and watery, where wander I for ever!
Or space of ether, where I hang for aye!
A speck, an atom-inconsumableImmortal, hopeless, voiceless, powerless!
And oft I fancy, I am weak and old,
And all who loved me, one by one, are dead,
And I am left alone-and cannot die!
Surely there is no rest on earth for souls
Whose dreams are like a madman's! I am young
And much is yet before me-after years
May bring peace with them to my weary heart!
50
Helston, 1835.
~ Charles Kingsley,
369:Ulalume
The skies they were ashen and sober;
The leaves they were crisped and sere The leaves they were withering and sere;
It was night in the lonesome October
Of my most immemorial year;
It was hard by the dim lake of Auber,
In the misty mid region of Weir It was down by the dank tarn of Auber,
In the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere Our memories were treacherous and sere, For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year (Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber (Though once we had journey down here),
Remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
And now, as the night was senescent,
And star-dials pointed to morn As the star-dials hinted of morn At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous lustre was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicate horn -
122
Astarte's bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said - "She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion
To point us the path to the skies To the Lethean peace of the skies Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes."
But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said - "Sadly this star I mistrust Her pallor I strangely mistrust: Oh, hasten! - oh, let us not linger!
Oh, fly! - let us fly! - for we must."
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings until they trailed in the dust In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
I replied - "This is nothing but dreaming:
Let us on by this tremulous light!
Let us bathe in this crystalline light!
Its Sybilic splendor is beaming
With Hope and in Beauty to-night! See! - it flickers up the sky through the night!
Ah, we safely may trust to its gleaming,
And be sure it will lead us aright We safely may trust to a gleaming,
That cannot but guide us aright,
Since it flickers up to Heaven through the night."
Thus I pacified Psyche and kissed her,
And tempted her out of her gloom And conquered her scruples and gloom;
123
And we passed to the end of the vista,
But were stopped by the door of a tomb By the door of a legended tomb;
And I said - "What is written, sweet sister,
On the door of this legended tomb?"
She replied - "Ulalume - Ulalume ‘Tis the vault of thy lost Ulalume!"
Then my heart it grew ashen and sober
As the leaves that were crisped and sere As the leaves that were withering and sere,
And I cried - "It was surely October
On this very night of last year
That I journeyed - I journeyed down here That I brought a dread burden down here!
On this night of all nights in the year,
Ah, what demon has tempted me here?
Well I know, now, this dim lake of Auber This misty mid region of Weir Well I know, now, this dank tarn of Auber, This ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir."
~ Edgar Allan Poe,
370:The Unknown Eros
Proem
‘Many speak wisely, some inerrably:
Witness the beast who talk'd that should have bray'd,
And Caiaphas that said
Expedient 'twas for all that One should die;
But what avails
When Love's right accent from their wisdom fails,
And the Truth-criers know not what they cry!
Say, wherefore thou,
As under bondage of some bitter vow,
Warblest no word,
When all the rest are shouting to be heard?
Why leave the fervid running just when Fame
'Gan whispering of thy name
Amongst the hard-pleased Judges of the Course?
Parch'd is thy crystal-flowing source?
Pierce, then, with thought's steel probe, the trodden ground,
Till passion's buried floods be found;
Intend thine eye
Into the dim and undiscover'd sky
Whose lustres are the pulsings of the heart,
And promptly, as thy trade is, watch to chart
The lonely suns, the mystic hazes and throng'd sparkles bright
That, named and number'd right
In sweet, transpicuous words, shall glow alway
With Love's three-stranded ray,
Red wrath, compassion golden, lazuline delight.’
Thus in reproof of my despondency,
My Mentor; and thus I:
O, season strange for song!
And yet some timely power persuades my lips.
Is't England's parting soul that nerves my tongue,
As other Kingdoms, nearing their eclipse,
Have, in their latest bards, uplifted strong
The voice that was their voice in earlier days?
Is it her sudden, loud and piercing cry,
207
The note which those that seem too weak to sigh
Will sometimes utter just before they die?
Lo, weary of the greatness of her ways,
There lies my Land, with hasty pulse and hard,
Her ancient beauty marr'd,
And, in her cold and aimless roving sight,
Horror of light;
Sole vigour left in her last lethargy,
Save when, at bidding of some dreadful breath,
The rising death
Rolls up with force;
And then the furiously gibbering corse
Shakes, panglessly convuls'd, and sightless stares,
Whilst one Physician pours in rousing wines,
One anodynes,
And one declares
That nothing ails it but the pains of growth.
My last look loth
Is taken; and I turn, with the relief
Of knowing that my life-long hope and grief
Are surely vain,
To that unshapen time to come, when She,
A dim, heroic Nation long since dead,
The foulness of her agony forgot,
Shall all benignly shed
Through ages vast
The ghostly grace of her transfigured past
Over the present, harass'd and forlorn,
Of nations yet unborn;
And this shall be the lot
Of those who, in the bird-voice and the blast
Of her omniloquent tongue,
Have truly sung
Or greatly said,
To shew as one
With those who have best done,
And be as rays,
Thro' the still altering world, around her changeless head.
Therefore no 'plaint be mine
208
Of listeners none,
No hope of render'd use or proud reward,
In hasty times and hard;
But chants as of a lonely thrush's throat
At latest eve,
That does in each calm note
Both joy and grieve;
Notes few and strong and fine,
Gilt with sweet day's decline,
And sad with promise of a different sun.
'Mid the loud concert harsh
Of this fog-folded marsh,
To me, else dumb,
Uranian Clearness, come!
Give me to breathe in peace and in surprise
The light-thrill'd ether of your rarest skies,
Till inmost absolution start
The welling in the grateful eyes,
The heaving in the heart.
Winnow with sighs
And wash away
With tears the dust and stain of clay,
Till all the Song be Thine, as beautiful as Morn,
Bedeck'd with shining clouds of scorn;
And Thou, Inspirer, deign to brood
O'er the delighted words, and call them Very Good.
This grant, Clear Spirit; and grant that I remain
Content to ask unlikely gifts in vain.
~ Coventry Patmore,
371:The Silent Muse
``Why have you silent been so long?''
In tones of mild rebuke you ask.
Know you not, kindly friend, that Song
Is the ``Gay Science,'' not a task?
It is but when it pleaseth God
The blackthorn blows, the acorns fall;
The Muse ignores a mortal's nod,
And will not come to beck and call.
If I, to catch the ear of men,
Should go on singing day by day,
What other, better, were I then,
Than screeching chough or scolding jay?
But save the unseen source be stirred,
The happy numbers will not flow:
Then one is like a songless bird
That crouches in the drifted snow.
Say, did you ever sit and dream,
When summer clouds are white and still,
Beside a slow unsounding stream
That winds below some rustic mill?
The languid current scarcely moves;
At times you almost doubt it flows;
Loitering in shallow sandy grooves,
It makes no music as it goes.
The sluice is down, the mill-race still,
Nor in mid-stream nor water's edge
Comes faintest ripple, tiniest rill,
To stir the flag, or sway the sedge.
Beside the dozing stream you doze,
For nothing wakes in air or sky:
It feels as if Time's eyelids close,
And 'tis the same to live or die;
546
To be a passive part of all
That rounds Heaven's universal plan,
Of things that soar, of things that crawl,
Of mindless matter, as of man.
When slowly through the noonday sleep
A phantom something seems to stir,
Like waves of dewy light that creep
Along gray chords of gossamer.
At first it is nor sight nor sound,
But feeling only, inward sense
Of motion slowly rising round,
You know not where, you know not whence.
Then, noiseless still, but plain to see,
The languid waters wake and wind;
The wave before now fears to be
O'ertaken by the wave behind.
The race, long pent, from out the mill
Comes rushing, rippling, gleam on gleam;
The runnels rise, the shallows fill,
And deep and happy flows the stream.
The lazy sedges sway and swerve,
The reedmace rocks its heavy head;
Past many a bend, and bay, and curve,
The river revels through its bed.
And as it twists, and curls, and sweels,
From out its leaping heart there come
Sounds sweet as far-off village bells,
Or swarming bee-hive's honeyed hum.
Through quaking grass and waving weed
Rises and falls the river-theme;
Vibrating rush and trembling reed
Are but the harpstrings of the stream.
Once more the gold-ribbed gravel trills
547
With quavering trebles clear and cool,
Blent with the deeper note that fills
The plunging weir and swirling pool.
Bed, bank and channel, chant and chime,
And fall and freshet, as they run,
Though ignorant of tune and time,
Sing in melodious unison.
And so, if I be shaped to sing
What kindly hearts are pleased to hear,
And blissful were did Nature bring
A rush of music all the year;
Seasons there are it doth not flow,
When Fancy's freshets will not come,
The springs of song seem shrunk and low,
And all my being dry and dumb.
When suddenly from far-off source,
Unseen, unsounding, deep, immense,
Something, with swift resistless force,
Flushes the heart and floods the sense;
And as though Heaven and Earth did drain
Into that deep mysterious spring,
Brims all the windings of the brain;
Then like replenished stream I sing.
The will can not the stream control,
Its currents are divinely sent,
And thought and feeling, mind and soul,
Are rapt in rhythmic ravishment.
And on they flow, when once they start,
To some ordained but unguessed goal,
Through all the channels of the heart,
And all the reaches of the soul.
Then come the wingëd words that skim
The surface of earth's discontent
To soar up to the ether dim,
548
Faint heard from far-off firmament.
But, till the music stirs and swells
Within my breast, forbearing be;
Nor lightly waken slumbering bells
Above a silent sanctuary!
~ Alfred Austin,
372: ON

THOSE WHO

ARE

SUBLIME

Still is the bottom of my sea: who would guess that
it harbors sportive monsters? Imperturbable is my
depth, but it sparkles with swimming riddles and laughters.
One who was sublime I saw today, one who was solemn, an ascetic of the spirit; oh, how my soul laughed
at his ugliness! With a swelled chest and like one who
holds in his breath, he stood there, the sublime one,
silent, decked out with ugly truths, the spoil of his
117
hunting, and rich in torn garments; many thorns too
adorned him-yet I saw no rose.
As yet he has not learned laughter or beauty. Gloomy
this hunter returned from the woods of knowledge. He
came home from a fight with savage beasts; but out of
his seriousness there also peers a savage beast-one not
overcome. He still stands there like a tiger who wants
to leap; but I do not like these tense souls, and my
taste does not favor all these who withdraw.
And you tell me, friends, that there is no disputing
of taste and tasting? But all of life is a dispute over
taste and tasting. Taste-that is at the same time
weight and scales and weigher; and woe unto all the
living that would live without disputes over weight and
scales and weighersi
If he grew tired of his sublimity, this sublime one,
only then would his beauty commence; and only then
will I taste him and find him tasteful. And only when
he turns away from himself, will he jump over his
shadow-and verily, into his sun. All-too-long has he
been sitting in the shadow, and the cheeks of this ascetic of the spirit have grown pale; he almost starved to
death on his expectations. Contempt is still in his eyes,
and nausea hides around his mouth. Though he is resting now, his rest has not yet lain in the sun. He should
act like a bull, and his happiness should smell of the
earth, and not of contempt for the earth. I would like to
see him as a white bull, walking before the plowshare,
snorting and bellowing; and his bellowing should be
in praise of everything earthly.
His face is still dark; the shadow of the hand plays
upon him. His sense of sight is still in shadows. His
deed itself still lies on him as a shadow: the hand still
darkens the doer. As yet he has not overcome his deed.
118
Though I love the bull's neck on him, I also want to
see the eyes of the angel. He must still discard his heroic will; he shall be elevated, not merely sublime: the
ether itself should elevate him, the will-less one.
He subdued monsters, he solved riddles: but he must
still redeem his own monsters and riddles, changing
them into heavenly children. As yet his knowledge has
not learned to smile and to be without jealousy; as yet
his torrential passion has not become still in beauty.
Verily, it is not in satiety that his desire shall grow
silent and be submerged, but in beauty. Gracefulness
is part of the graciousness of the great-souled.
His arm placed over his head: thus should the hero
rest; thus should he overcome even his rest. But just
for the hero the beautiful is the most difficult thing. No
violent will can attain the beautiful by exertion. A little
more, a little less: precisely this counts for much here,
this matters most here.
To stand with relaxed muscles and unharnessed will:
that is most difficult for all of you who are sublime.
When power becomes gracious and descends into
the visible-such descent I call beauty.
And there is nobody from whom I want beauty as
much as from you who are powerful: let your kindness
be your final self-conquest.
Of all evil I deem you capable: therefore I want the
good from you.
Verily, I have often laughed at the weaklings who
thought themselves good because they had no claws.
You shall strive after the virtue of the column: it
grows more and more beautiful and gentle, but internally harder and more enduring, as it ascends.
Indeed, you that are sublime shall yet become beautiful one day and hold up a mirror to your own beauty.
119

Then your soul will shudder with godlike desires, and
there will be adoration even in your vanity.
For this is the soul's secret: only when the hero has
abandoned her, she is approached in a dream by the
overhero.
Thus spoke Zarathustra.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche, ON THOSE WHO ARE SUBLIME
,
373:Beowulf (Episode 09)
ME thus often the evil monsters
thronging threatened. With thrust of my sword,
the darling, I dealt them due return!
Nowise had they bliss from their booty then
to devour their victim, vengeful creatures,
seated to banquet at bottom of sea;
but at break of day, by my brand sore hurt,
on the edge of ocean up they lay,
put to sleep by the sword. And since, by them
on the fathomless sea-ways sailor-folk
are never molested. -- Light from east,
came bright God's beacon; the billows sank,
so that I saw the sea-cliffs high,
windy walls. For Wyrd oft saveth
earl undoomed if he doughty be!
And so it came that I killed with my sword
nine of the nicors. Of night-fought battles
ne'er heard I a harder 'neath heaven's dome,
nor adrift on the deep a more desolate man!
Yet I came unharmed from that hostile clutch,
though spent with swimming. The sea upbore me,
flood of the tide, on Finnish land,
the welling waters. No wise of thee
have I heard men tell such terror of falchions,
bitter battle. Breca ne'er yet,
not one of you pair, in the play of war
such daring deed has done at all
with bloody brand, -- I boast not of it! -though thou wast the bane of thy brethren dear,
thy closest kin, whence curse of hell
awaits thee, well as thy wit may serve!
For I say in sooth, thou son of Ecglaf,
never had Grendel these grim deeds wrought,
monster dire, on thy master dear,
in Heorot such havoc, if heart of thine
were as battle-bold as thy boast is loud!
But he has found no feud will happen;
from sword-clash dread of your Danish clan
he vaunts him safe, from the Victor-Scyldings.
101
He forces pledges, favors none
of the land of Danes, but lustily murders,
fights and feasts, nor feud he dreads
from Spear-Dane men. But speedily now
shall I prove him the prowess and pride of the Geats,
shall bid him battle. Blithe to mead
go he that listeth, when light of dawn
this morrow morning o'er men of earth,
ether-robed sun from the south shall beam!"
Joyous then was the Jewel-giver,
hoar-haired, war-brave; help awaited
the Bright-Danes' prince, from Beowulf hearing,
folk's good shepherd, such firm resolve.
Then was laughter of liegemen loud resounding
with winsome words. Came Wealhtheow forth,
queen of Hrothgar, heedful of courtesy,
gold-decked, greeting the guests in hall;
and the high-born lady handed the cup
first to the East-Danes' heir and warden,
bade him be blithe at the beer-carouse,
the land's beloved one. Lustily took he
banquet and beaker, battle-famed king.
Through the hall then went the Helmings' Lady,
to younger and older everywhere
carried the cup, till come the moment
when the ring-graced queen, the royal-hearted,
to Beowulf bore the beaker of mead.
She greeted the Geats' lord, God she thanked,
in wisdom's words, that her will was granted,
that at last on a hero her hope could lean
for comfort in terrors. The cup he took,
hardy-in-war, from Wealhtheow's hand,
and answer uttered the eager-for-combat.
Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow: -"This was my thought, when my thanes and I
bent to the ocean and entered our boat,
that I would work the will of your people
fully, or fighting fall in death,
in fiend's gripe fast. I am firm to do
an earl's brave deed, or end the days
of this life of mine in the mead-hall here."
102
Well these words to the woman seemed,
Beowulf's battle-boast. -- Bright with gold
the stately dame by her spouse sat down.
Again, as erst, began in hall
warriors' wassail and words of power,
the proud-band's revel, till presently
the son of Healfdene hastened to seek
rest for the night; he knew there waited
fight for the fiend in that festal hall,
when the sheen of the sun they saw no more,
and dusk of night sank darkling nigh,
and shadowy shapes came striding on,
wan under welkin. The warriors rose.
Man to man, he made harangue,
Hrothgar to Beowulf, bade him hail,
let him wield the wine hall: a word he added: -"Never to any man erst I trusted,
since I could heave up hand and shield,
this noble Dane-Hall, till now to thee.
Have now and hold this house unpeered;
remember thy glory; thy might declare;
watch for the foe! No wish shall fail thee
if thou bidest the battle with bold-won life."
~ Anonymous Olde English,
374:An Eclogue From Virgil
(The exile Meliboeus finds Tityrus in possession of his own farm,
restored to him by the emperor Augustus, and a conversation ensues. The
poem is in praise of Augustus, peace and pastoral life.)
_Meliboeus_-Tityrus, all in the shade of the wide-spreading beech tree reclining,
Sweet is that music you've made on your pipe that is oaten and slender;
Exiles from home, you beguile our hearts from their hopeless repining,
As you sing Amaryllis the while in pastorals tuneful and tender.
_Tityrus_-A god--yes, a god, I declare--vouchsafes me these pleasant conditions,
And often I gayly repair with a tender white lamb to his altar,
He gives me the leisure to play my greatly admired compositions,
While my heifers go browsing all day, unhampered of bell and halter.
_Meliboeus_-I do not begrudge you repose; I simply admit I'm confounded
To find you unscathed of the woes of pillage and tumult and battle;
To exile and hardship devote and by merciless enemies hounded,
I drag at this wretched old goat and coax on my famishing cattle.
Oh, often the omens presaged the horrors which now overwhelm me-But, come, if not elsewise engaged, who is this good deity, tell me!
_Tityrus_ (reminiscently)-The city--the city called Rome, with, my head full of herding and tillage,
I used to compare with my home, these pastures wherein you now wander;
But I didn't take long to find out that the city surpasses the village
As the cypress surpasses the sprout that thrives in the thicket out yonder.
_Meliboeus_-Tell me, good gossip, I pray, what led you to visit the city?
_Tityrus_-Liberty! which on a day regarded my lot with compassion
My age and distresses, forsooth, compelled that proud mistress to pity,
That had snubbed the attentions of youth in most reprehensible fashion.
Oh, happy, thrice happy, the day when the cold Galatea forsook me,
45
And equally happy, I say, the hour when that other girl took me!
_Meliboeus_ (slyly, as if addressing the damsel)-So now, Amaryllis the truth of your ill-disguised grief I discover!
You pined for a favorite youth with cityfied damsels hobnobbing.
And soon your surroundings partook of your grief for your recusant lover-The pine trees, the copse and the brook for Tityrus ever went sobbing.
_Tityrus_-Meliboeus, what else could I do? Fate doled me no morsel of pity;
My toil was all in vain the year through, no matter how earnest or clever,
Till, at last, came that god among men--that king from that wonderful city,
And quoth: 'Take your homesteads again--they are yours and your assigns
forever!'
_Meliboeus_-Happy, oh, happy old man! rich in what's better than money-Rich in contentment, you can gather sweet peace by mere listening;
Bees with soft murmurings go hither and thither for honey.
Cattle all gratefully low in pastures where fountains are glistening-Hark! in the shade of that rock the pruner with singing rejoices-The dove in the elm and the flock of wood-pigeons hoarsely repining,
The plash of the sacred cascade--ah, restful, indeed, are these voices,
Tityrus, all in the shade of your wide-spreading beech-tree reclining!
_Tityrus_-And he who insures this to me--oh, craven I were not to love him!
Nay, rather the fish of the sea shall vacate the water they swim in,
The stag quit his bountiful grove to graze in the ether above him.
While folk antipodean rove along with their children and women!
_Meliboeus_ (suddenly recalling his own misery)-But we who are exiled must go; and whither--ah, whither--God knoweth!
Some into those regions of snow or of desert where Death reigneth only;
Some off to the country of Crete, where rapid Oaxes down floweth.
And desperate others retreat to Britain, the bleak isle and lonely.
Dear land of my birth! shall I see the horde of invaders oppress thee?
Shall the wealth that outspringeth from thee by the hand of the alien be
squandered?
Dear cottage wherein I was born! shall another in conquest possess thee-Another demolish in scorn the fields and the groves where I've wandered?
My flock! never more shall you graze on that furze-covered hillside above me--
46
Gone, gone are the halcyon days when my reed piped defiance to sorrow!
Nevermore in the vine-covered grot shall I sing of the loved ones that love me-Let yesterday's peace be forgot in dread of the stormy to-morrow!
_Tityrus_-But rest you this night with me here; my bed--we will share it together,
As soon as you've tasted my cheer, my apples and chestnuts and cheeses;
The evening a'ready is nigh--the shadows creep over the heather,
And the smoke is rocked up to the sky to the lullaby song of the breezes.
~ Eugene Field,
375:The Angel In The House. Book Ii. Canto Xii.
Preludes
I The Married Lover
Why, having won her, do I woo?
Because her spirit's vestal grace
Provokes me always to pursue,
But, spirit-like, eludes embrace;
Because her womanhood is such
That, as on court-days subjects kiss
The Queen's hand, yet so near a touch
Affirms no mean familiarness,
Nay, rather marks more fair the height
Which can with safety so neglect
To dread, as lower ladies might,
That grace could meet with disrespect,
Thus she with happy favour feeds
Allegiance from a love so high
That thence no false conceit proceeds
Of difference bridged, or state put by;
Because, although in act and word
As lowly as a wife can be,
Her manners, when they call me lord,
Remind me 'tis by courtesy;
Not with her least consent of will,
Which would my proud affection hurt,
But by the noble style that still
Imputes an unattain'd desert;
Because her gay and lofty brows,
When all is won which hope can ask,
Reflect a light of hopeless snows
That bright in virgin ether bask;
Because, though free of the outer court
I am, this Temple keeps its shrine
Sacred to Heaven; because, in short,
She's not and never can be mine.
II The Amaranth
Feasts satiate; stars distress with height;
Friendship means well, but misses reach,
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And wearies in its best delight
Vex'd with the vanities of speech;
Too long regarded, roses even
Afflict the mind with fond unrest;
And to converse direct with Heaven
Is oft a labour in the breast;
Whate'er the up-looking soul admires,
Whate'er the senses' banquet be,
Fatigues at last with vain desires,
Or sickens by satiety;
But truly my delight was more
In her to whom I'm bound for aye
Yesterday than the day before,
And more to-day than yesterday.
Husband And Wife
I, while the shop-girl fitted on
The sand-shoes, look'd where, down the bay,
The sea glow'd with a shrouded sun.
‘I'm ready, Felix; will you pay?’
That was my first expense for this
Sweet Stranger, now my three days' Wife.
How light the touches are that kiss
The music from the chords of life!
II
Her feet, by half-a-mile of sea,
In spotless sand left shapely prints;
With agates, then, she loaded me;
(The lapidary call'd them flints);
Then, at her wish, I hail'd a boat,
To take her to the ships-of-war,
At anchor, each a lazy mote
Black in the brilliance, miles from shore.
III
The morning breeze the canvas fill'd,
Lifting us o'er the bright-ridged gulf,
And every lurch my darling thrill'd
174
With light fear smiling at itself;
And, dashing past the ‘Arrogant,’
Asleep upon the restless wave,
After its cruise in the Levant,
We reach'd the ‘Wolf,’ and signal gave
For help to board: with caution meet,
My bride was placed within the chair,
The red flag wrapp'd about her feet,
And so swung laughing through the air.
IV
‘Look, Love,’ she said, ‘there's Frederick Graham,
‘My cousin, whom you met, you know.’
And seeing us, the brave man came,
And made his frank and courteous bow,
And gave my hand a sailor's shake,
And said, ‘You ask'd me to the Hurst:
‘I never thought my luck would make
‘Your wife and you my guests the first.’
And Honor, cruel, ‘Nor did we:
‘Have you not lately changed your ship?’
‘Yes: I'm Commander, now,’ said he,
With a slight quiver of the lip.
We saw the vessel, shown with pride;
Took luncheon; I must eat his salt!
Parting he said, (I fear my bride
Found him unselfish to a fault),
His wish, he saw, had come to pass,
(And so, indeed, her face express'd),
That that should be, whatever 'twas,
Which made his Cousin happiest.
We left him looking from above;
Rich bankrupt! for he could afford
To say most proudly that his love
Was virtue and its own reward.
But others loved as well as he,
(Thought I, half-anger'd), and if fate,
Unfair, had only fashion'd me
As hapless, I had been as great.
As souls, ambitious, but low-born,
175
If raised past hope by luck or wit,
All pride of place will proudly scorn,
And live as they'd been used to it,
So we two wore our strange estate:
Familiar, unaffected, free,
We talk'd, until the dusk grew late,
Of this and that; but, after tea,
As doubtful if a lot so sweet
As ours was ours in very sooth,
Like children, to promote conceit,
We feign'd that it was not the truth;
And she assumed the maiden coy,
And I adored remorseless charms,
And then we clapp'd our hands for joy,
And ran into each other's arms.
~ Coventry Patmore,
376:Of horrible heat- the which are nowhere, nor
Indeed can be: but in this life is fear
Of retributions just and expiations
For evil acts: the dungeon and the leap
From that dread rock of infamy, the stripes,
The executioners, the oaken rack,
The iron plates, bitumen, and the torch.
And even though these are absent, yet the mind,
With a fore-fearing conscience, plies its goads
And burns beneath the lash, nor sees meanwhile
What terminus of ills, what end of pine
Can ever be, and feareth lest the same
But grow more heavy after death. Of truth,
The life of fools is Acheron on earth.
This also to thy very self sometimes
Repeat thou mayst: "Lo, even good Ancus left
The sunshine with his eyes, in divers things
A better man than thou, O worthless hind;
And many other kings and lords of rule
Thereafter have gone under, once who swayed
O'er mighty peoples. And he also, he-
Who whilom paved a highway down the sea,
And gave his legionaries thoroughfare
Along the deep, and taught them how to cross
The pools of brine afoot, and did contemn,
Trampling upon it with his cavalry,
The bellowings of ocean- poured his soul
From dying body, as his light was ta'en.
And Scipio's son, the thunderbolt of war,
Horror of Carthage, gave his bones to earth,
Like to the lowliest villein in the house.
Add finders-out of sciences and arts;
Add comrades of the Heliconian dames,
Among whom Homer, sceptered o'er them all
Now lies in slumber sunken with the rest.
Then, too, Democritus, when ripened eld
Admonished him his memory waned away,
Of own accord offered his head to death.
Even Epicurus went, his light of life
Run out, the man in genius who o'er-topped
The human race, extinguishing all others,
As sun, in ether arisen, all the stars.
Wilt thou, then, dally, thou complain to go?-
For whom already life's as good as dead,
Whilst yet thou livest and lookest?- who in sleep
Wastest thy life- time's major part, and snorest
Even when awake, and ceasest not to see
The stuff of dreams, and bearest a mind beset
By baseless terror, nor discoverest oft
What's wrong with thee, when, like a sotted wretch,
Thou'rt jostled along by many crowding cares,
And wanderest reeling round, with mind aswim."
If men, in that same way as on the mind
They feel the load that wearies with its weight,
Could also know the causes whence it comes,
And why so great the heap of ill on heart,
O not in this sort would they live their life,
As now so much we see them, knowing not
What 'tis they want, and seeking ever and ever
A change of place, as if to drop the burden.
The man who sickens of his home goes out,
Forth from his splendid halls, and straight- returns,
Feeling i'faith no better off abroad.
He races, driving his Gallic ponies along,
Down to his villa, madly,- as in haste
To hurry help to a house afire.- At once
He yawns, as soon as foot has touched the threshold,
Or drowsily goes off in sleep and seeks
Forgetfulness, or maybe bustles about
And makes for town again. In such a way
Each human flees himself- a self in sooth,
As happens, he by no means can escape;
And willy-nilly he cleaves to it and loathes,
Sick, sick, and guessing not the cause of ail.
Yet should he see but that, O chiefly then,
Leaving all else, he'd study to divine
The nature of things, since here is in debate
Eternal time and not the single hour,
Mortal's estate in whatsoever remains
After great death.
And too, when all is said,
What evil lust of life is this so great
Subdues us to live, so dreadfully distraught
In perils and alarms? one fixed end
Of life abideth for mortality;
Death's not to shun, and we must go to meet.
Besides we're busied with the same devices,
Ever and ever, and we are at them ever,
And there's no new delight that may be forged
By living on. But whilst the thing we long for
Is lacking, that seems good above all else;
Thereafter, when we've touched it, something else
We long for; ever one equal thirst of life
Grips us agape. And doubtful 'tis what fortune
The future times may carry, or what be
That chance may bring, or what the issue next
Awaiting us. Nor by prolonging life
Take we the least away from death's own time,
Nor can we pluck one moment off, whereby
To minish the aeons of our state of death.
Therefore, O man, by living on, fulfil
As many generations as thou may:
Eternal death shall there be waiting still;
And he who died with light of yesterday
Shall be no briefer time in death's No-more
Than he who perished months or years before.


author class:Lucretius
~ out-belching from his mouth the surge, Cerberus And Furies, And That Lack Of Light
,
377:Deliciae Sapientiae De Amore
Love, light for me
Thy ruddiest blazing torch,
That I, albeit a beggar by the Porch
Of the glad Palace of Virginity,
May gaze within,k and sing the pomp I see;
For, crown'd with roses all,
'Tis there, O Love, they keep thy festival!
But first warn off the beatific spot
Those wretched who have not
Even afar beheld the shining wall,
And those who, once beholding, have forgot,
And those, most vile, who dress
The charnel spectre drear
Of utterly dishallow'd nothingness
In that refulgent fame,
And cry, Lo, here!
And name
The Lady whose smiles inflame
The sphere.
Bring, Love, anear, And bid be not afraid
Young Lover true, and love-foreboding Maid,
And wedded Spouse, if virginal of thought;
for I will sing of nought
Less sweet to hear
Than seems
A music their half-remember'd dreams.
The magnet calls the steel:
Answers the iron to the magnet's breath;
What do they feel
But death!
The clouds of summer kiss in flame and rain,
And are not found again;
But the heavens themselves eternal are with fire
Of unapproach'd desire,
By the aching heart of Love, which cannot rest,
In blissfullest pathos so indeed possess'd.
O, spousals high;
O, doctrine blest,
Unutterable in even the happiest sigh;
18
This know ye all
Who can recall
With what a welling of indignant tears
LOve's simpleness first hears
The meaning of his mortal covenant,
And from what pride comes down
To wear the crown
Of which 'twas very heaven to feel the want.
How envies he the ways
Of yonder hopeless star,
And so would laugh and yearn
With trembling lids eterne,
Ineffably content from infinitely far
Only to gaze
On his bright Mistress's responding rays,
That never know eclipse;
And, once in his long year, With praeternuptial ecstasy and fear,
By the delicious law of that ellipse
Wherein all citizens of ether move,
With hastening pace to come
Nearer, though never near,
His Love
And always inaccessible sweet Home;
There on his path doubly to burn,
Kiss'd by her doubled light
That whispers of its source,
The ardent secret ever clothed with Night,
Then go forth in new force
Towards a new return,
Rejoicing as a Bridegroom on his course!
This know ye all;
Therefore gaze bold,
That so in you be joyful hope increas'd,
Thorough the Palace portals, and behold
The dainty and unsating Marriage-Feast.
O, hear
Them singing clear
'Cor meum et caro mea'round the 'I am',
The Husband of the Heavens, and the Lamb
Whom they for ever follow there that kept,
Or, losing, never slept
Till they reconquer'd had in mortal fight
19
The standard white.
O, hear
From the harps they bore from Earth, five-strung, what music springs,
While the glad Spirits chide
The wondering strings!
And how the shining sacrificial Choirs,
Offering for aye their dearest hearts' desires,
Which to their hearts come back beatified,
Hymn, the bright aisles along,
The nuptial song,
Song ever new to us and them, that saith,
'Hail Virgin in Virginity a Spouse!'
Heard first below
Within the little house
At Nazareth;
Heard yet in many a cell where brides of Christ
Lie hid, emparadised,
And where, although
By the hour 'tis night,
There's light,
The Day still lingering in the lap of snow.
Gaze and be not afraid
Ye wedded few that honour, in sweet thought
And glittering will,
So freshly from the garden gather still
The lily sacrificed;
For ye,though self-suspected here for nought,
Are highly styled
With the thousands twelve times twelve of undefiled.
Gaze and be not afraid
Young Lover true and love-foreboding Maid.
The full Moon of deific vision bright
Abashes nor abates
No spark minute of Nature's keen delight,
'Tis there your Hymen waits!
There wher in courts afar, all unconfused, they crowd,
As fumes the starlight soft
In gulfs of cloud,
And each to the other, well-content,
Sighs oft,
''Twas this we meant!'
Gaze without blame
20
Ye in whom living Love yet blushes for dead shame.
There of pure Virgins none
Is fairer seen,
Save One,
Than Mary Magdalene.
Gaze without doubt or fear
Ye to whom generous Love, by any name, is dear.
Love makes the life to be
A fount perpetual of virginity;
For, lo, the Elect
Of generous Love, how named soe'er, affect
Nothing but God,
Or mediate or direct,
Nothing but God,
The Husband of the Heavens:
And who Him love, in potence great or small
Are, one and all,
Heirs of the Palace glad,
And inly clad
With the bridal robes of ardour virginal.
~ Coventry Patmore,
378:Mr. Fink's Debating Donkey
Of a person known as Peters I will humbly crave your leave
An unusual adventure into narrative to weave
Mr. William Perry Peters, of the town of Muscatel,
A public educator and an orator as well.
Mr. Peters had a weakness which, 'tis painful to relate,
Was a strong predisposition to the pleasures of debate.
He would foster disputation wheresoever he might be;
In polygonal contention none so happy was as he.
'Twas observable, however, that the exercises ran
Into monologue by Peters, that rhetorical young man.
And the Muscatelian rustics who assisted at the show,
By involuntary silence testified their overthrowMr. Peters, all unheedful of their silence and their grief,
Still effacing every vestige of erroneous belief.
O, he was a sore affliction to all heretics so bold
As to entertain opinions that he didn't care to hold.
One day-'t was in pursuance of a pedagogic plan
For the mental elevation of Uncultivated Man
Mr. Peters, to his pupils, in dismissing them, explained
That the Friday evening following (unless, indeed, it rained)
Would be signalized by holding in the schoolhouse a debate
Free to all who their opinions might desire to ventilate
On the question, 'Which is better, as a serviceable gift,
Speech or hearing, from barbarity the human mind to lift?'
The pupils told their fathers, who, forehanded always, met
At the barroom to discuss it every evening, dry or wet,
They argued it and argued it and spat upon the stove,
And the non-committal 'barkeep' on their differences throve.
And I state it as a maxim in a loosish kind of way:
You'll have the more to back your word the less you have to say.
Public interest was lively, but one Ebenezer Fink
Of the Rancho del Jackrabbit, only seemed to sit and think.
On the memorable evening all the men of Muscatel
Came to listen to the logic and the eloquence as well
All but William Perry Peters, whose attendance there, I fear.
Was to wreak his ready rhetoric upon the public ear,
And prove (whichever side he took) that hearing wouldn't lift
354
The human mind as ably as the other, greater gift.
The judges being chosen and the disputants enrolled,
The question he proceeded _in extenso_ to unfold:
'_Resolved_-The sense of hearing lifts the mind up out of reach
Of the fogs of error better than the faculty of speech.'
This simple proposition he expounded, word by word,
Until they best understood it who least perfectly had heard.
Even the judges comprehended as he ventured to explain
The impact of a spit-ball admonishing in vain.
Beginning at a period before Creation's morn,
He had reached the bounds of tolerance and Adam yet unborn.
As down the early centuries of pre-historic time
He tracked important principles and quoted striking rhyme,
And Whisky Bill, prosaic soul! proclaiming him a jay,
Had risen and like an earthquake, 'reeled unheededly away,'
And a late lamented cat, when opportunity should serve,
Was preparing to embark upon her parabolic curve,
A noise arose outside-the door was opened with a bang
And old Ebenezer Fink was heard ejaculating 'G'lang!'
Straight into that assembly gravely marched without a wink
An ancient ass-the property it was of Mr. Fink.
Its ears depressed and beating time to its infestive tread,
Silent through silence moved amain that stately quadruped!
It stopped before the orator, and in the lamplight thrown
Upon its tail they saw that member weighted with a stone.
Then spake old Ebenezer: 'Gents, I heern o' this debate
On w'ether v'ice or y'ears is best the mind to elevate.
Now 'yer's a bird ken throw some light uponto that tough theme:
He has 'em both, I'm free to say, oncommonly extreme.
He wa'n't invited for to speak, but he will not refuse
(If t'other gentleman ken wait) to exposay his views.'
Ere merriment or anger o'er amazement could prevail;
He cut the string that held the stone on that canary's tail.
Freed from the weight, that member made a gesture of delight,
Then rose until its rigid length was horizontal quite.
With lifted head and level ears along his withers laid,
Jack sighed, refilled his lungs and then-to put it mildly-brayed!
He brayed until the stones were stirred in circumjacent hills,
And sleeping women rose and fled, in divers kinds of frills.
'T is said that awful bugle-blast-to make the story briefWafted William Perry Peters through the window, like a leaf!
355
Such is the tale. If anything additional occurred
'Tis not set down, though, truly, I remember to have heard
That a gentleman named Peters, now residing at Soquel,
A considerable distance from the town of Muscatel,
Is opposed to education, and to rhetoric, as well.
~ Ambrose Bierce,
379:On Australian Hills
Earth, outward tuning on her path in space
This pensive southern face,
Swathing its smile and shine
In that soft veil that day and darkness twine,
The silver-threaded twilight thin and fine,
With April dews impearled,
Looms like another and diviner world.
Here April brings her garnered harvest-sheaf,
Her withered autumn leaf,
Tintings of bronze and brass;
Her full-plumed reeds, her mushroom in the grass,
Her furrowed fields, where plough and sower pass,
Her laden apple bough.
All are transfigured and transmuted now.
The eastward ranges, so unearthly blue,
Bloom with their richest hue;
Slowly each rose-flushed crest
Deepens to violet where the shadows rest,
Darkens and darkens to the paling west;
The waning sun-fires die;
The first star swims in the pellucid sky.
Soundless to listening ear, on grass and flowers,
The footfall of the hours;
Formless and void to sight
The evolutions of invading night,
The creeping onslaught and the gradual flight,
Until the field is won,
And we look forth to see that day is done.
Then, from their grave of darkness, wood and lawn
Wake to a second dawn.
From unseen wells below
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The pearly moon-tides rise and overflow,
Till vale and peak and wide air-spaces glow
In the transfiguring stream,
And earth and life are but a heavenly dream.
And now we hear the fairy-echoes fall
Where distant curlews call,
And how the silence thrills
With the night-voices of the glens and hills,
Rustling in reeds and tinkling in the rills,
Bubbling in creek and pool
Where frogs are wooing in the shallows cool.
And more than these, in this delicious time,
The melody sublime
That inward spirit hears-The faint and far-off music of the spheres,
Immortal harmonies, too fine for ears
Dulled in the dusty ways,
Deaf with the din of the laborious days.
Whereto, responsive as the vibrant wire
Of some aeolian lyre
Fanned by celestial wings,
The summoned soul in mystic concord brings
The deep notes latent in its trembling strings,
Joining the choir divine
Of all the worlds that in the ether shine.
O sacred hour! O sweet night, calm and fair!
Thou dost rebuke despair;
Thou dost assuage the pain
Of passionate spirit and distempered brain,
And with thy balms, distilled like gentle rain,
Dost heal the fret and smart
And nerve the courage of this coward's heart.
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And lift me up, a Moses on the Mount
To the pure source and fount
Of law transcending law,
Of life that hallows life. I know no more
Of life's great Giver than I knew before,
But these His creatures tell
That He is living, and that all is well.
Oh, to be there to-night!
To see that rose of sunset flame and fade
On ghostly mountain height,
The soft dusk gathering each leaf and blade
From the departing light,
Each tree-fern feather of the wildwood glade.
From arid streets to pass
Down those green aisles where golden wattles bloom,
Over the fragrant grass,
And smell the eucalyptus in a gloom
That is as clear as glass,
The dew-fresh scents of bracken and of broom . . .
These city clamours mute,
To hear the woodland necromancers play
Each his enchanted lute;
That dear bird-laugh, so exquisitely gay,
The magpie's silver flute
In vesper carol to the dying day.
To hear the live wind blow,
The delicate stir and whisper of the trees
As light breaths come and go,
The brooklet murmuring to the vagrant breeze,
The bull-frog twanging low
His deep-toned mandolin to chime with these.
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And then the whispering rills,
The hushed lone wheel, or hoof, or axeman's tool;
The brooding dark that stills
The sweet Pan-piping of the grove and pool;
The dimly glimmering hills;
The sleeping night, so heavenly clean and cool.
Oh, for that mother-breast
That takes the broken spirit for repair,
The worn-out brain for rest-That healing silence, that untainted air,
That Peace of God . . . . . . Blest, blest
The very memory that I once was there.
The thought that someday yet,
In flesh, not dreams, I may return again,
And at those altars, set
In the pure skies, above the smoky plain,
Remember and forget
The joy of living and its price of pain . . . . . .
That sullied earth reserves
Such spacious refuge virgin and apart,
That wasting life preserves
Such sweet retreat for the distracted heart,
Such fount of strength for nerves
Torn in the ruthless struggle of the mart . . . . . .
That Government divine
O'er all this reek of blunders and of woes
Keeps an unravaged shrine
Not here, not there, but in the souls of those
Who neither weep nor whine,
But trust the guidance of the One Who Knows.
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~ Ada Cambridge,
380:Cito Pede Preterit Aetas
A mellower light doth Sol afford,
His meridian glare has pass'd
And the trees on the broad and sloping sward
Their length'ning shadows cast.
'Time flies.' The current will be no joke,
If swollen by recent rain,
To cross in the dark, so I'll have a smoke,
And then I'll be off again.
What's up, old horse ? Your ears you prick,
And your eager eyeballs glisten ;
'Tis the wild dog's note in the tea-tree thick,
By the river, to which you listen.
With head erect, and tail flung out,
For a gallop you seem to beg,
But I feel the qualm of a chilling doubt
As I glance at your fav'rite leg.
Let the dingo rest, 'till all for the best,
In this world there's room enough
For him and you and me and the rest,
And the country is awful rough.
We've had our gallop in days of yore,
Now down the hill we must run ;
Yet at times we long for one gallop more,
Although it were only one.
Did our spirits quail at a new four-rail,
Could a 'double' double-bank us,
Ere nerve and sinew began to fail
In the consulship of Plancus ?
When our blood ran rapidly, and when
Our bones were pliant and limber,
Could we stand a merry cross-counter then,
A slogging fall over timber ?
Arcades ambo ! Duffers both
In our best of days, alas !
(I tell the truth, though to tell it loth)
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'Tis time we were gone to grass ;
The young leaves shoot, the sere leaves fall,
And the old gives way to the new,
While the preacher cries, ' 'Tis vanity all,
And vexation of spirit, too.'
Now over my head the vapours curl
From the bowl of the soothing clay,
In the misty forms that eddy and whirl
My thoughts are flitting away ;
Yes, the preacher's right, 'tis vanity all,
But the sweeping rebuke he showers
On vanities all may heaviest fall
On vanities worse than ours.
We have no wish to exaggerate
The worth of the sports we prize,
Some toil for their Church, and some for their State,
And some for their merchandise ;
Some traffic and trade in the city's mart,
Some travel by land and sea,
Some follow science, some cleave to art,
And some to scandal and tea ;
And some for their country and their queen
Would fight, if the chance they had,
Good sooth, 'twere a sorry world, I ween,
If we all went galloping mad ;
Yet if once we efface the joys of the chase
From the land, and outroot the Stud,
GOOD-BYE TO THE ANGLO-SAXON RACE !
FAREWELL TO THE NORMAN BLOOD !
Where the burn runs down to the uplands brown,
From the heights of the snow-clad range,
What anodyne drawn from the stifling town
Can be reckon'd a fair exchange
For the stalker's stride, on the mountain side
In the bracing northern weather,
To the slopes where couch, in their antler'd pride,
The deer on the perfum'd heather.
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Oh ! the vigour with which the air is rife !
The spirit of joyous motion ;
The fever, the fulness of animal life,
Can be drain'd from no earthly potion !
The lungs with the living gas grow light,
And the limbs feel the strength of ten,
While the chest expands with its madd'ning might,
GOD'S GLORIOUS OXYGEN.
Thus the measur'd stroke, on elastic sward,
Of the steed three parts extended,
Hard held, the breath of his nostrils broad,
With the golden ether blended ;
Then the leap, the rise from the springy turf,
The rush through the buoyant air,
And the light shock landing—the veriest serf
Is an emperor then and there.
Such scenes ! sensation and sound and sight,
To some undiscover'd shore
On the current of Time's remorseless flight
Have they swept to return no more ?
While, like phantoms bright of the fever'd night,
That have vex'd our slumbers of yore,
You follow us still in your ghostly might,
Dead days that have gone before.
Vain dreams, again and again re-told,
Must you crowd on the weary brain,
Till the fingers are cold that entwin'd of old
Round foil and trigger and rein,
Till stay'd for ay are the roving feet,
Till the restless hands are quiet,
Till the stubborn heart has forgotten to beat,
Till the hot blood has ceas'd to riot ?
In Exeter Hall the saint may chide,
The sinner may scoff outright,
The Bacchanal steep'd in the flagon's tide,
Or the sensual Sybarite ;
But NOLAN'S name will flourish in fame,
When our galloping days are past,
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When we go to the place from whence we came,
Perchance to find rest at last.
Thy riddles grow dark, oh ! drifting cloud,
And thy misty shapes grow drear,
Thou hang'st in the air like a shadowy shroud,
But I am of lighter cheer ;
Though our future lot is a sable blot,
Though the wise ones of earth will blame us,
Though our saddles will rot, and our rides be forgot,
'Dum Vivimus, Vivamus !'
~ Adam Lindsay Gordon,
381:Angels Of The Love Affair
'Angels of the love affair, do you know that other,
the dark one, that other me? '
1. ANGEL OF FIRE AND GENITALS
Angel of fire and genitals, do you know slime,
that green mama who first forced me to sing,
who put me first in the latrine, that pantomime
of brown where I was beggar and she was king?
I said, 'The devil is down that festering hole.'
Then he bit me in the buttocks and took over my soul.
Fire woman, you of the ancient flame, you
of the Bunsen burner, you of the candle,
you of the blast furnace, you of the barbecue,
you of the fierce solar energy, Mademoiselle,
take some ice, take some snow, take a month of rain
and you would gutter in the dark, cracking up your brain.
Mother of fire, let me stand at your devouring gate
as the sun dies in your arms and you loosen it's terrible weight.
2. ANGEL OF CLEAN SHEETS
Angel of clean sheets, do you know bedbugs?
Once in the madhouse they came like specks of cinnamon
as I lay in a choral cave of drugs,
as old as a dog, as quiet as a skeleton.
Little bits of dried blood. One hundred marks
upon the sheet. One hundred kisses in the dark.
White sheets smelling of soap and Clorox
have nothing to do with this night of soil,
nothing to do with barred windows and multiple locks
and all the webbing in the bed, the ultimate recoil.
I have slept in silk and in red and in black.
I have slept on sand and, on fall night, a haystack.
I have known a crib. I have known the tuck-in of a child
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but inside my hair waits the night I was defiled.
3. ANGEL OF FLIGHT AND SLEIGH BELLS
Angel of flight and sleigh bells, do you know paralysis,
that ether house where your arms and legs are cement?
You are as still as a yardstick. You have a doll's kiss.
The brain whirls in a fit. The brain is not evident.
I have gone to that same place without a germ or a stroke.
A little solo act-that lady with the brain that broke.
In this fashion I have become a tree.
I have become a vase you can pick up or drop at will,
inanimate at last. What unusual luck! My body
passively resisting. Part of the leftovers. Part of the kill.
Angels of flight, you soarer, you flapper, you floater,
you gull that grows out of my back in the drreams I prefer,
stay near. But give me the totem. Give me the shut eye
where I stand in stone shoes as the world's bicycle goes by.
4. ANGEL OF HOPE AND CALENDARS
Angel of hope and calendars, do you know despair?
That hole I crawl into with a box of Kleenex,
that hole where the fire woman is tied to her chair,
that hole where leather men are wringing their necks,
where the sea has turned into a pond of urine.
There is no place to wash and no marine beings to stir in.
In this hole your mother is crying out each day.
Your father is eating cake and digging her grave.
In this hole your baby is strangling. Your mouth is clay.
Your eyes are made of glass. They break. You are not brave.
You are alone like a dog in a kennel. Your hands
break out in boils. Your arms are cut and bound by bands
of wire. Your voice is out there. Your voice is strange.
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There are no prayers here. Here there is no change.
5. ANGEL OF BLIZZARDS AND BLACKOUTS
Angle of blizzards and blackouts, do you know raspberries,
those rubies that sat in the tree of my grandfather's garden?
You of the snow tires, you of the sugary wings, you freeze
me out. Let me crawl through the patch. Let me be ten.
Let me pick those sweet kisses, thief that I was,
as the sea on my left slapped its applause.
Only my grandfather was allowed there. Or the maid
who came with a scullery pan to pick for breakfast.
She of the rolls that floated in the air, she of the inlaid
woodwork all greasy with lemon, she of the feather and dust,
not I. Nonetheless I came sneaking across the salt lawn
in bare feet and jumping-jack pajamas in the spongy dawn.
Oh Angel of the blizzard and blackout, Madam white face,
take me back to that red mouth, that July 21st place.
6. ANGEL OF BEACH HOUSES AND PICNICS
Angel of beach houses and picnics, do you know solitaire?
Fifty-two reds and blacks and only myself to blame.
My blood buzzes like a hornet's nest. I sit in a kitchen chair
at a table set for one. The silverware is the same
and the glass and the sugar bowl. I hear my lungs fill and expel
as in an operation. But I have no one left to tell.
Once I was a couple. I was my own king and queen
with cheese and bread and rosé on the rocks of Rockport.
Once I sunbathed in the buff, all brown and lean,
watching the toy sloops go by, holding court
for busloads of tourists. Once I called breakfast the sexiest
meal of the day. Once I invited arrest
at the peace march in Washington. Once I was young and bold
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and left hundreds of unmatched people out in the cold.
~ Anne Sexton,
382:I, In My Intricate Image
I, in my intricate image, stride on two levels,
Forged in man's minerals, the brassy orator
Laying my ghost in metal,
The scales of this twin world tread on the double,
My half ghost in armour hold hard in death's corridor,
To my man-iron sidle.
Beginning with doom in the bulb, the spring unravels,
Bright as her spinning-wheels, the colic season
Worked on a world of petals;
She threads off the sap and needles, blood and bubble
Casts to the pine roots, raising man like a mountain
Out of the naked entrail.
Beginning with doom in the ghost, and the springing marvels,
Image of images, my metal phantom
Forcing forth through the harebell,
My man of leaves and the bronze root, mortal, unmortal,
I, in my fusion of rose and male motion,
Create this twin miracle.
This is the fortune of manhood: the natural peril,
A steeplejack tower, bonerailed and masterless,
No death more natural;
Thus the shadowless man or ox, and the pictured devil,
In seizure of silence commit the dead nuisance.
The natural parallel.
My images stalk the trees and the slant sap's tunnel,
No tread more perilous, the green steps and spire
Mount on man's footfall,
I with the wooden insect in the tree of nettles,
In the glass bed of grapes with snail and flower,
Hearing the weather fall.
Intricate manhood of ending, the invalid rivals,
Voyaging clockwise off the symboled harbour,
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Finding the water final,
On the consumptives' terrace taking their two farewells,
Sail on the level, the departing adventure,
To the sea-blown arrival.
II
They climb the country pinnacle,
Twelve winds encounter by the white host at pasture,
Corner the mounted meadows in the hill corral;
They see the squirrel stumble,
The haring snail go giddily round the flower,
A quarrel of weathers and trees in the windy spiral.
As they dive, the dust settles,
The cadaverous gravels, falls thick and steadily,
The highroad of water where the seabear and mackerel
Turn the long sea arterial
Turning a petrol face blind to the enemy
Turning the riderless dead by the channel wall.
(Death instrumental,
Splitting the long eye open, and the spiral turnkey,
Your corkscrew grave centred in navel and nipple,
The neck of the nostril,
Under the mask and the ether, they making bloody
The tray of knives, the antiseptic funeral;
Bring out the black patrol,
Your monstrous officers and the decaying army,
The sexton sentinel, garrisoned under thistles,
A cock-on-a-dunghill
Crowing to Lazarus the morning is vanity,
Dust be your saviour under the conjured soil.)
As they drown, the chime travels,
Sweetly the diver's bell in the steeple of spindrift
Rings out the Dead Sea scale;
And, clapped in water till the triton dangles,
Strung by the flaxen whale-weed, from the hangman's raft,
Hear they the salt glass breakers and the tongues of burial.
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(Turn the sea-spindle lateral,
The grooved land rotating, that the stylus of lightning
Dazzle this face of voices on the moon-turned table,
Let the wax disk babble
Shames and the damp dishonours, the relic scraping.
These are your years' recorders. The circular world stands still.)
III
They suffer the undead water where the turtle nibbles,
Come unto sea-stuck towers, at the fibre scaling,
The flight of the carnal skull
And the cell-stepped thimble;
Suffer, my topsy-turvies, that a double angel
Sprout from the stony lockers like a tree on Aran.
Be by your one ghost pierced, his pointed ferrule,
Brass and the bodiless image, on a stick of folly
Star-set at Jacob's angle,
Smoke hill and hophead's valley,
And the five-fathomed Hamlet on his father's coral
Thrusting the tom-thumb vision up the iron mile.
Suffer the slash of vision by the fin-green stubble,
Be by the ships' sea broken at the manstring anchored
The stoved bones' voyage downward
In the shipwreck of muscle;
Give over, lovers, locking, and the seawax struggle,
Love like a mist or fire through the bed of eels.
And in the pincers of the boiling circle,
The sea and instrument, nicked in the locks of time,
My great blood's iron single
In the pouring town,
I, in a wind on fire, from green Adam's cradle,
No man more magical, clawed out the crocodile.
Man was the scales, the death birds on enamel,
Tail, Nile, and snout, a saddler of the rushes,
Time in the hourless houses
Shaking the sea-hatched skull,
And, as for oils and ointments on the flying grail,
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All-hollowed man wept for his white apparel.
Man was Cadaver's masker, the harnessing mantle,
Windily master of man was the rotten fathom,
My ghost in his metal neptune
Forged in man's mineral.
This was the god of beginning in the intricate seawhirl,
And my images roared and rose on heaven's hill.
~ Dylan Thomas,
383:The Blessed Damozel
The blessed damozel lean'd out
From the gold bar of Heaven;
Her eyes were deeper than the depth
Of waters still'd at even;
She had three lilies in her hand,
And the stars in her hair were seven.
Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,
No wrought flowers did adorn,
But a white rose of Mary's gift,
For service meetly worn;
Her hair that lay along her back
Was yellow like ripe corn.
Her seem'd she scarce had been a day
One of God's choristers;
The wonder was not yet quite gone
From that still look of hers;
Albeit, to them she left, her day
Had counted as ten years.
(To one, it is ten years of years.
. . . Yet now, and in this place,
Surely she lean'd o'er me--her hair
Fell all about my face ....
Nothing: the autumn-fall of leaves.
The whole year sets apace.)
It was the rampart of God's house
That she was standing on;
By God built over the sheer depth
The which is Space begun;
So high, that looking downward thence
She scarce could see the sun.
It lies in Heaven, across the flood
Of ether, as a bridge.
Beneath, the tides of day and night
With flame and darkness ridge
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The void, as low as where this earth
Spins like a fretful midge.
Around her, lovers, newly met
'Mid deathless love's acclaims,
Spoke evermore among themselves
Their heart-remember'd names;
And the souls mounting up to God
Went by her like thin flames.
And still she bow'd herself and stoop'd
Out of the circling charm;
Until her bosom must have made
The bar she lean'd on warm,
And the lilies lay as if asleep
Along her bended arm.
From the fix'd place of Heaven she saw
Time like a pulse shake fierce
Through all the worlds. Her gaze still strove
Within the gulf to pierce
Its path; and now she spoke as when
The stars sang in their spheres.
The sun was gone now; the curl'd moon
Was like a little feather
Fluttering far down the gulf; and now
She spoke through the still weather.
Her voice was like the voice the stars
Had when they sang together.
(Ah sweet! Even now, in that bird's song,
Strove not her accents there,
Fain to be hearken'd? When those bells
Possess'd the mid-day air,
Strove not her steps to reach my side
Down all the echoing stair?)
"I wish that he were come to me,
For he will come," she said.
"Have I not pray'd in Heaven?--on earth,
Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd?
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Are not two prayers a perfect strength?
And shall I feel afraid?
"When round his head the aureole clings,
And he is cloth'd in white,
I'll take his hand and go with him
To the deep wells of light;
As unto a stream we will step down,
And bathe there in God's sight.
"We two will stand beside that shrine,
Occult, withheld, untrod,
Whose lamps are stirr'd continually
With prayer sent up to God;
And see our old prayers, granted, melt
Each like a little cloud.
"We two will lie i' the shadow of
That living mystic tree
Within whose secret growth the Dove
Is sometimes felt to be,
While every leaf that His plumes touch
Saith His Name audibly.
"And I myself will teach to him,
I myself, lying so,
The songs I sing here; which his voice
Shall pause in, hush'd and slow,
And find some knowledge at each pause,
Or some new thing to know."
(Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st!
Yea, one wast thou with me
That once of old. But shall God lift
To endless unity
The soul whose likeness with thy soul
Was but its love for thee?)
"We two," she said, "will seek the groves
Where the lady Mary is,
With her five handmaidens, whose names
Are five sweet symphonies,
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Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen,
Margaret and Rosalys.
"Circlewise sit they, with bound locks
And foreheads garlanded;
Into the fine cloth white like flame
Weaving the golden thread,
To fashion the birth-robes for them
Who are just born, being dead.
"He shall fear, haply, and be dumb:
Then will I lay my cheek
To his, and tell about our love,
Not once abash'd or weak:
And the dear Mother will approve
My pride, and let me speak.
"Herself shall bring us, hand in hand,
To Him round whom all souls
Kneel, the clear-rang'd unnumber'd heads
Bow'd with their aureoles:
And angels meeting us shall sing
To their citherns and citoles.
"There will I ask of Christ the Lord
Thus much for him and me:-Only to live as once on earth
With Love,--only to be,
As then awhile, for ever now
Together, I and he."
She gaz'd and listen'd and then said,
Less sad of speech than mild,-"All this is when he comes." She ceas'd.
The light thrill'd towards her, fill'd
With angels in strong level flight.
Her eyes pray'd, and she smil'd.
(I saw her smile.) But soon their path
Was vague in distant spheres:
And then she cast her arms along
The golden barriers,
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And laid her face between her hands,
And wept. (I heard her tears.)
~ Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
384:The Origin Of Flattery
WHEN Jove, in anger to the sons of the earth,
Bid artful Vulcan give Pandora birth,
And sent the fatal gift which spread below
O'er all the wretched race contagious woe,
Unhappy man, by vice and folly tost,
Found in the storms of life his quiet lost,
While Envy, Avarice, and Ambition, hurl'd
Discord and death around the warring world;
Then the blest peasant left his fields and fold,
And barter'd love and peace for power and gold;
Left his calm cottage and his native plain,
In search of wealth to tempt the faithless main;
Or, braving danger, in the battle stood,
And bathed his savage hands in human blood;
No longer then, his woodland walks among,
The shepherd lad his genuine passion sung,
Or sought at early morn his soul's delight,
Or graved her name upon the bark at night;
To deck her flowing hair no more he wove
The simple wreath, or with ambitious love
Bound his own brow with myrtle or with bay,
But broke his pipe, or threw his crook away.
The nymphs forsaken, other pleasures sought;
Then first for gold their venal hearts were bought,
And nature's blush to sickly art gave place,
And affectation seized the seat of grace:
No more simplicity by sense refined,
Or generous sentiment, possess'd the mind:
No more they felt each other's joy and woe,
And Cupid fled, and hid his useless bow.
But with deep grief propitious Venus pined,
To see the ills which threaten'd womankind;
Ills that she knew her empire would disarm,
And rob her subjects of their sweetest charm;
Good humour's potent influence destroy,
And change for lowering frowns the smile of joy,
Then deeply sighing at the mournful view,
She tried at length what heavenly art could do
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To bring back Pleasure to her pensive train,
And vindicate the glories of her reign.
A thousand little loves attend the task,
And bear from Mars's head his radiant casque,
The fair enchantress on its silver bound
Weaved with soft spells her magic cestus round,
Then shaking from her hair ambrosial dew,
Infused fair hope, and expectation new,
And stifled wishes, and persuasive sighs,
And fond belief, and 'eloquence of eyes,
And falt'ring accents, which explain so well
What studied speeches vainly try to tell;
And more pathetic silence, which imparts
Infectious tenderness to feeling hearts;
Soft tones of pity; fascinating smiles;
And Maia's son assisted her with wiles,
And brought gay dreams, fantastic visions brought,
And waved his wand o'er the seducing draught.
Then Zephyr came: to him the goddess cried,
'Go fetch from Flora all her flowery pride
To fill my charm, each scented bud that blows,
And bind my myrtles with her thornless rose;
Then speed thy flight to Gallia's smiling plain,
Where rolls the Loire, the Garonne, and the Seine;
Dip in their waters thy celestial wing,
And the soft dew to fill my chalice bring;
But chiefly tell thy Flora, that to me
She send a bouquet of her fleurs de lys;
That poignant spirit will complete my spell.'
--'Tis done: the lovely sorceress says 'tis well.
And now Apollo lends a ray of fire,
The caldron bubbles, and the flames aspire;
The watchful Graces round the circle dance,
With arms entwined to mark the work's advance;
And with full quiver sportive Cupid came,
Temp'ring his favourite arrows in the flame.
Then Venus speaks, the wavering flames retire,
And Zephyr's breath extinguishes the fire.
At length the goddess in the helmet's round
A sweet and subtile spirit duly found,
More soft than oil, than ether more refined,
Of power to cure the woes of womankind,
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And call'd it Flattery:--balm of female life,
It charms alike the widow, maid, and wife;
Clears the sad brow of virgins in despair,
And smooths the cruel traces left by care;
Bids palsied age with youthful spirit glow,
And hangs May's garlands on December's snow.
Delicious essence! howsoe'er applied,
By what rude nature is thy charm denied?
Some form seducing still thy whisper wears,
Stern Wisdom turns to thee her willing ears,
And Prudery listens and forgets her fears.
The rustic nymph whom rigid aunts restrain,
Condemn'd to dress, and practise airs in vain,
At thy first summons finds her bosom swell,
And bids her crabbed gouvernantes farewell;
While, fired by thee with spirit not her own,
She grows a toast, and rises into ton .
The faded beauty who, with secret pain,
Sees younger charms usurp her envied reign,
By thee assisted, can with smiles behold
The record where her conquests are enroll'd;
And dwelling yet on scenes by memory nursed,
When George the Second reign'd, or George the First;
She sees the shades of ancient beaux arise,
Who swear her eyes exceeded modern eyes,
When poets sung for her, and lovers bled,
And giddy fashion follow'd as she led.
Departed modes appear in long array,
The flowers and flounces of her happier day;
Again her locks the decent fillets bind,
The waving lappet flutters in the wind.
And then comparing with a proud disdain
The more fantastic tastes that now obtain,
She deems ungraceful, trifling and absurd,
The gayer world that moves round George the Third.
Nor thy soft influence will the train refuse,
Who court in distant shades the modest Muse,
Though in a form more pure and more refined,
Thy soothing spirit meets the letter'd mind.
Not death itself thine empire can destroy;
Tow'rds thee, even then, we turn the languid eye;
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Still trust in thee to bid our memory bloom,
And scatter roses round the silent tomb.
~ Charlotte Smith,
385:A Summer Evening's Meditation
'TIS past! The sultry tyrant of the south
Has spent his short-liv'd rage; more grateful hours
Move silent on; the skies no more repel
The dazzled sight, but with mild maiden beams
Of temper'd light, invite the cherish'd eye
To wander o'er their sphere; where hung aloft
DIAN's bright crescent, like a silver bow
New strung in heaven, lifts high its beamy horns
Impatient for the night, and seems to push
Her brother down the sky. Fair VENUS shines
Even in the eye of day; with sweetest beam
Propitious shines, and shakes a trembling flood
Of soften'd radiance from her dewy locks.
The shadows spread apace; while meeken'd Eve
Her cheek yet warm with blushes, slow retires
Thro' the Hesperian gardens of the west,
And shuts the gates of day. 'Tis now the hour
When Contemplation, from her sunless haunts,
The cool damp grotto, or the lonely depth
Of unpierc'd woods, where wrapt in solid shade
She mused away the gaudy hours of noon,
And fed on thoughts unripen'd by the sun,
Moves forward; and with radiant finger points
To yon blue concave swell'd by breath divine,
Where, one by one, the living eyes of heaven
Awake, quick kindling o'er the face of ether
One boundless blaze; ten thousand trembling fires,
And dancing lustres, where th' unsteady eye
Restless, and dazzled wanders unconfin'd
O'er all this field of glories: spacious field!
And worthy of the master: he, whose hand
With hieroglyphics older than the Nile,
Inscrib'd the mystic tablet; hung on high
To public gaze, and said, adore, O man!
The finger of thy GOD. From what pure wells
Of milky light, what soft o'erflowing urn,
Are all these lamps so fill'd? these friendly lamps,
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For ever streaming o'er the azure deep
To point our path, and light us to our home.
How soft they slide along their lucid spheres!
And silent as the foot of time, fulfil
Their destin'd courses: Nature's self is hush'd,
And, but a scatter'd leaf, which rustles thro'
The thick-wove foliage, not a sound is heard
To break the midnight air; tho' the rais'd ear,
Intensely listening, drinks in every breath.
How deep the silence, yet how loud the praise!
But are they silent all? or is there not
A tongue in every star that talks with man,
And wooes him to be wise; nor wooes in vain:
This dead of midnight is the noon of thought,
And wisdom mounts her zenith with the stars.
At this still hour the self-collected soul
Turns inward, and beholds a stranger there
Of high descent, and more than mortal rank;
An embryo GOD; a spark of fire divine,
Which must burn on for ages, when the sun,
(Fair transitory creature of a day!)
Has clos'd his golden eye, and wrapt in shades
Forgets his wonted journey thro' the east.
Ye citadels of light, and seats of GODS!
Perhaps my future home, from whence the soul
Revolving periods past, may oft look back
With recollected tenderness, on all
The various busy scenes she left below,
Its deep laid projects and its strange events,
As on some fond and doating tale that sooth'd
Her infant hours; O be it lawful now
To tread the hallow'd circles of your courts,
And with mute wonder and delighted awe
Approach your burning confines. Seiz'd in thought
On fancy's wild and roving wing I sail,
From the green borders of the peopled earth,
And the pale moon, her duteous fair attendant;
From solitary Mars; from the vast orb
Of Jupiter, whose huge gigantic bulk
19
Dances in ether like the lightest leaf;
To the dim verge, the suburbs of the system,
Where chearless Saturn 'midst her watry moons
Girt with a lucid zone, majestic sits
In gloomy grandeur; like an exil'd queen
Amongst her weeping handmaids: fearless thence
I launch into the trackless deeps of space,
Where, burning round, ten thousand suns appear,
Of elder beam; which ask no leave to shine
Of our terrestrial star, nor borrow light
From the proud regent of our scanty day;
Sons of the morning, first born of creation,
And only less than him who marks their track,
And guides their fiery wheels. Here must I stop,
Or is there aught beyond? What hand unseen
Impels me onward thro' the glowing orbs
Of inhabitable nature; far remote,
To the dread confines of eternal night,
To solitudes of vast unpeopled space,
The desarts of creation, wide and wild;
Where embryo systems and unkindled suns
Sleep in the womb of chaos; fancy droops,
And thought astonish'd stops her bold career.
But oh thou mighty mind! whose powerful word
Said, thus let all things be, and thus they were,
Where shall I seek thy presence? how unblam'd
Invoke thy dread perfection?
Have the broad eye-lids of the morn beheld thee?
Or does the beamy shoulder of Orion
Support thy throne? O look with pity down
On erring guilty man; not in thy names
Of terrour clad; not with those thunders arm'd
That conscious Sinai felt, when fear appall'd
The scatter'd tribes; thou hast a gentler voice,
That whispers comfort to the swelling heart,
Abash'd, yet longing to behold her Maker.
But now my soul unus'd tostretch her powers
In flight so daring, drops her weary wing,
And seeks again the known accustom'd spot,
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Drest up with sun, and shade, and lawns, and streams,
A mansion fair and spacious for its guest,
And full replete with wonders. Let me here
Content and grateful, wait th' appointed time
And ripen for the skies: the hour will come
When all these splendours bursting on my sight
Shall stand unveil'd, and to my ravished sense
Unlock the glories of the world unknown.
~ Anna Laetitia Barbauld,
386:The Angel In The House. Book I. Canto I.
Preludes.
I The Impossibility
Lo, Love's obey'd by all. 'Tis right
That all should know what they obey,
Lest erring conscience damp delight,
And folly laugh our joys away.
Thou Primal Love, who grantest wings
And voices to the woodland birds,
Grant me the power of saying things
Too simple and too sweet for words!
II Love's Reality
I walk, I trust, with open eyes;
I've travell'd half my worldly course;
And in the way behind me lies
Much vanity and some remorse;
I've lived to feel how pride may part
Spirits, tho' match'd like hand and glove;
I've blush'd for love's abode, the heart;
But have not disbelieved in love;
Nor unto love, sole mortal thing
Of worth immortal, done the wrong
To count it, with the rest that sing,
Unworthy of a serious song;
And love is my reward; for now,
When most of dead'ning time complain,
The myrtle blooms upon my brow,
Its odour quickens all my brain.
III The Poet's Confidence
The richest realm of all the earth
Is counted still a heathen land:
Lo, I, like Joshua, now go forth
To give it into Israel's hand.
I will not hearken blame or praise;
For so should I dishonour do
To that sweet Power by which these Lays
Alone are lovely, good, and true;
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Nor credence to the world's cries give,
Which ever preach and still prevent
Pure passion's high prerogative
To make, not follow, precedent.
From love's abysmal ether rare
If I to men have here made known
New truths, they, like new stars, were there
Before, though not yet written down.
Moving but as the feelings move,
I run, or loiter with delight,
Or pause to mark where gentle Love
Persuades the soul from height to height,
Yet, know ye, though my words are gay
As David's dance, which Michal scorn'd,
If kindly you receive the Lay,
You shall be sweetly help'd and warn'd.
The Cathedral Close.
Once more I came to Sarum Close,
With joy half memory, half desire,
And breathed the sunny wind that rose
And blew the shadows o'er the Spire,
And toss'd the lilac's scented plumes,
And sway'd the chestnut's thousand cones,
And fill'd my nostrils with perfumes,
And shaped the clouds in waifs and zones,
And wafted down the serious strain
Of Sarum bells, when, true to time,
I reach'd the Dean's, with heart and brain
That trembled to the trembling chime.
II
'Twas half my home, six years ago.
The six years had not alter'd it:
Red-brick and ashlar, long and low,
With dormers and with oriels lit.
Geranium, lychnis, rose array'd
The windows, all wide open thrown;
And some one in the Study play'd
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The Wedding-March of Mendelssohn.
And there it was I last took leave:
'Twas Christmas: I remember'd now
The cruel girls, who feign'd to grieve,
Took down the evergreens; and how
The holly into blazes woke
The fire, lighting the large, low room
A dim, rich lustre of old oak
And crimson velvet's glowing gloom.
III
No change had touch'd Dean Churchill: kind,
By widowhood more than winters bent,
And settled in a cheerful mind,
As still forecasting heaven's content.
Well might his thoughts be fix'd on high,
Now she was there! Within her face
Humility and dignity
Were met in a most sweet embrace.
She seem'd expressly sent below
To teach our erring minds to see
The rhythmic change of time's swift flow
As part of still eternity.
Her life, all honour, observed, with awe
Which cross experience could not mar,
The fiction of the Christian law
That all men honourable are;
And so her smile at once conferr'd
High flattery and benign reproof;
And I, a rude boy, strangely stirr'd,
Grew courtly in my own behoof.
The years, so far from doing her wrong,
Anointed her with gracious balm,
And made her brows more and more young
With wreaths of amaranth and palm.
IV
Was this her eldest, Honor; prude,
Who would not let me pull the swing;
Who, kiss'd at Christmas, call'd me rude,
And, sobbing low, refused to sing?
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How changed! In shape no slender Grace,
But Venus; milder than the dove;
Her mother's air; her Norman face;
Her large sweet eyes, clear lakes of love.
Mary I knew. In former time
Ailing and pale, she thought that bliss
Was only for a better clime,
And, heavenly overmuch, scorn'd this.
I, rash with theories of the right,
Which stretch'd the tether of my Creed,
But did not break it, held delight
Half discipline. We disagreed.
She told the Dean I wanted grace.
Now she was kindest of the three,
And soft wild roses deck'd her face.
And, what, was this my Mildred, she
To herself and all a sweet surprise?
My Pet, who romp'd and roll'd a hoop?
I wonder'd where those daisy eyes
Had found their touching curve and droop.
Unmannerly times! But now we sat
Stranger than strangers; till I caught
And answer'd Mildred's smile; and that
Spread to the rest, and freedom brought.
The Dean talk'd little, looking on,
Of three such daughters justly vain.
What letters they had had from Bonn,
Said Mildred, and what plums from Spain!
By Honor I was kindly task'd
To excuse my never coming down
From Cambridge; Mary smiled and ask'd
Were Kant and Goethe yet outgrown?
And, pleased, we talk'd the old days o'er;
And, parting, I for pleasure sigh'd.
To be there as a friend, (since more),
Seem'd then, seems still, excuse for pride;
For something that abode endued
With temple-like repose, an air
Of life's kind purposes pursued
With order'd freedom sweet and fair.
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A tent pitch'd in a world not right
It seem'd, whose inmates, every one,
On tranquil faces bore the light
Of duties beautifully done,
And humbly, though they had few peers,
Kept their own laws, which seem'd to be
The fair sum of six thousand years'
Traditions of civility.
~ Coventry Patmore,
387:Liminary
The hollow crystal of my winter dream
and silences, where thought for worship, white,
shimmer'd within the icy mirror-gleam,
vanishes down the flood of broader light.
The royal weft of arduous device
and starr'd with strangest gems, my shadowy pride
and ritual of illusive artifice
is shed away, leaving the naked side.
No more is set within the secret shrine
a wonder wherein day nor night has part;
my passing makes the ways of earth divine
with the wild splendours of a mortal heart.
A whisper thrills the living fringe of green
on my retreat; tiptoe the silence stands;
the breathless morn waits till her step be seen,
my summer bride, new life from nuptial lands.
The hidden places of her beauty hold
the savours shed o'er wastes of island air,
and her crown'd body's wealth of torrid gold
burns dusky in her summer-storm of hair.
Her breasts in baffling curves, an upward hope,
strain towards the lips pain'd with too eager life,
and the rich noons faint on each lustrous slope
where thunder-hush in the ardent brake is rife.
I cannot tell what god is in her gaze,
such depths of slumbrous passion drown my breath,
but where the charmed shadow clings and stays
Fate cowers before that high disdain of death.
Oh, take me to thy bosom's sultry beat,
steep all my sense in thy long breath of flame,
oppress me with thy summer's heavy heat,
consume all me that wears an uncrown'd name;
burn this my flesh to a clear web of light,
send thy keen airy spirit to search each vein,
that the hard pulse may throb with strong delight,
o'ermastering life and life's divinest pain.
Then, then we twain will seek each farthest way,
mingled in radiance over cloud and lea,
our joy shall swell the exultant heart of day,
44
our love shall tinge the rose of sky and sea.
And we shall know the steep pride of the hills
and the dark meditation of the wood,
or quench our rage where the red wine-god spills
o'er glowing rocks the madness of his blood.
Our link'd approach shall flush the water-maid
that dreams her limpid realm with wistful eyes,
our noon-tide rest shall haunt her memory's shade,
vexing her dim breast with unwonted sighs.
And where our fiercer joys have thrill'd the earth
shall burst hard stalks and cruel cups that keep
strong soul of seasons dead to fill the dearth
of lesser lives whose dream is dull with sleep.
And gloriously our summer's reign shall end:
in some dark pass that leads into the west,
burnt incense-wise, each blood shall sweetly blend,
exhaled in music from the love-slain breast,
some eve whose dragon-dying hides the sky
and holds the hour on its empurpled wings,
while pallid seers proclaim the doom-day nigh
and shuddering nations watch the death of kings.
See now the time (O eve of smoky brown!)
the morbid season of my close content,
drown'd flame, broad swathes of vapour closing down
round the clear gaze that pierces, vainly pent,
and knows how vain the hero-death that flung
far flame against the craven face of dark
(poor hero-heart the minstrel summer sung,
O brooding hidden over a bitter cark!),
how vain! did not the hot strength of the earth
exude in drifts of colour, dwindling
to dimmer odour-wafts, a hearted worth
the long-defeated tribes to altar bring.
The unslaked caravans of vast desire
seeking in furnace-sands some fierier rose
with deadly heart, the red crusades of ire
following some dusky king of mighty woes
unto a nameless fall in distant fight
(such only freedom from the daily mesh
spun by the crafty lord of wrong and right);
the pride and splendour of rebellious flesh,
full-sated with wild honey of summer's heart,
45
the golden lot of ignominy that cast
and craved the honour of a menial part,
to follow on bleeding feet, nor fell the last;
how high their pyre blazed with insensate will
that the last word of their red tale be told,
and o'er their darkening blood, a moment, still,
hung on horizon-wings the spirit's gold,
the ghost of flame, in the vast crucible
transmuted of some viewless Trismegist —
haply the same whose touch, inaudible,
dissolves the lingering leaf to evening mist.
Now with the lucid flower-cups in their hands
that star the pale fields of Thulean spring,
and silver from the moon-made table-lands
of snow, the glimmering distance vanishing,
with opals that engeal the Boreal gleam
and diamond-drip of ether's crystal thrill
miraculous, the cortèges of dream
over the hills of legend gathering, fill
the imaginary avenues of gloom
up to the watching windows that betray
the House of Contemplation, vaulted room
soaring, with shade that broods above pale day;
pale day that wastes even since morning, drain'd
by ambush'd mystery of its wanton breath:
see now the time that rises, pale, unstain'd,
the fixed light that charms the fields of death.
A little yet, a little — wait, O files
obedient to my dumb command — the brow
may waive its frigid lordliness, the wiles
of the spent heart becloud it — wait; and thou,
dark presence, large above the passing world,
biding the full hour of the fated stroke,
ere in the sudden gust of truth be whirl'd
the veils of kindly Maya, leaf or smoke,
let their suspense of smouldering glory be
yet mirror'd in this mind's unruffled pool
or e'er beneath the implacable certainty
of icy light and thought's untarnish'd rule
the vacant world stand rigid; let me yet
this vesper ween I am not all alone,
and ponder with luxurious regret
46
over the singing golden morning flown:
soon, soon enough the spirit, unreproved,
shall on its proud predestin'd circle range,
in dread indifferent solitude removed
above the poignant pageantry of change,
and the broad brows whose curves are centuries
arise of Isis' carven front supreme
that bids the lucid soul in silence freeze,
the glittering crystal of my winter dream.
~ Christopher John Brennan,
388:To Mrs. P********, With Some Drawings Of Birds
And Insects.
The kindred arts to please thee shall conspire,
One dip the pencil, and one string the lyre.
(Pope)
Amanda bids;-at her command again
I seize the pencil, or resume the pen;
No other call my willing hand requires,
And Friendship, better than a Muse inspires.
Painting and Poetry are near allied;
The kindred arts two sister Muses guide:
This charms the eye, that steals upon the ear;
There sounds are tuned, and colours blended here:
This with a silent touch enchants our eyes,
And bids a gayer, brighter world arise:
That, less allied to sense, with deeper art
Can pierce the close recesses of the heart;
By well-set syllables, and potent sound,
Can rouse, can chill the breast, can soothe, can wound;
To life adds motion, and to beauty soul,
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And breathes a spirit through the finished whole:
Each perfects each, in friendly union joined;This gives Amanda's form, and that her mind.
But humbler themes my artless hand requires,
No higher than the feathered tribe aspires.
Yet who the various nations can declare
That plough with busy wing the peopled air?
These cleave the crumbling bark for insect food;
Those dip their crooked beak in kindred blood:
Some haunt the rushy moor, the lonely woods;
Some bathe their silver plumage in the floods;
Some fly to man, his household gods implore,
And gather round his hospitable door,
Wait the known call, and find protection there
From all the lesser tyrants of the air.
The tawny Eagle seats his callow brood
High on the cliff, and feasts his young with blood.
On Snowdon's rocks, or Orkney's wide domain,
Whose beetling cliffs o'erhang the Western main,
The royal bird his lonely kingdom forms
Amidst the gathering clouds and sullen storms;
175
Through the wide waste of air he darts his sight,
And holds his sounding pinions poised for flight;
With cruel eye premeditates the war,
And marks his destined victim from afar:
Descending in a whirlwind to the ground,
His pinions like the rush of waters sound;
The fairest of the fold he bears away,
And to his nest compels the struggling prey;
He scorns the game by meaner hunters tore,
And dips his talons in no vulgar gore.
With lovelier pomp along the grassy plain
The Silver Pheasant draws his shining train.
On Asia's myrtle shores, by Phasis' stream,
He spreads his plumage to the sunny gleam;
But when the wiry net his flight confines,
He lowers his purple crest, and inly pines:
The beauteous captive hangs his ruffled wing,
Opprest by bondage and our chilly spring.
To claim the verse unnumbered tribes appear,
176
That swell the music of the vernal year:
Seized with the spirit of the kindly May,
They sleek the glossy wing, and tune the lay;
With emulative strife the notes prolong,
And pour out all their little souls in song.
When winter bites upon the naked plain,
Nor food nor shelter in the groves remain,
By instinct led, a firm united band,
As marshaled by some skillful general's hand,
The congregated nations wing their way
In dusky columns o'er the trackless sea;
In clouds unnumbered annual hover o'er
The craggy Bass, or Kilda's utmost shore;
Thence spread their sails to meet the southern wind,
And leave the gathering tempest far behind;
Pursue the circling sun's indulgent ray,
Course the swift seasons, and o'ertake the day.
Not so the insect race, ordained to keep
The lazy sabbath of a half-year's sleep:
Entombed beneath the filmy web they lie,
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And wait the influence of a kinder sky.
When vernal sunbeams pierce their dark retreat,
The heaving tomb distends with vital heat;
The half-formed brood, impatient of their cell,
Start from their trance, and burst their silken shell;Trembling awhile they stand, and scarcely dare
To launch at once upon the untried air:
At length assured, they catch the favouring gale,
And leave their sordid spoils, and high in ether sail.
So when brave Tancred struck the conscious rind,
He found a nymph in every trunk confined;
The forest labours with convulsive throes,
The bursting trees the lovely births disclose,
And a gay troop of damsels round him stood,
Where late was rugged bark and lifeless wood.
Lo! the bright train their radiant wings unfold!
With silver fringed, and freckled o'er with gold:
On the gay bosom of some fragrant flower
They idly fluttering live their little hour;
Their life all pleasure, and their task all play,
178
All spring their age, and sunshine all their day.
Not so the child of sorrow, wretched Man,
His course with toil concludes, with pain began;
That his high destiny he might discern,
And in misfortune's school this lesson learn….
Pleasure's the portion of the inferior kind;
But glory, virtue, Heaven for Man designed.
What atom-forms of insect life appear!
And who can follow Nature's pencil here?
Their wings with azure, green and purple glossed,
Studded with coloured eyes, with gems embossed,
Inlaid with pearl, and marked with various stains
Of lively crimson through their dusky veins.
Some shoot like living stars athwart the night,
And scatter from their wings a vivid light,
To guide the Indian to his tawny loves,
As through the woods with cautious step he moves.
See the proud giant of the beetle race;
What shining arms his polished limbs enchase!
Like some stern warrior formidably bright,
His steely sides reflect a gleaming light:
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On his large forehead spreading horns he wears,
And high in air the branching antlers bears:
O'er many an inch extends his wide domain,
And his rich treasury swells with hoarded grain.
Thy friend thus strives to cheat the lonely hour,
With song or paint, an insect or a flower:Yet if Amanda praise the flowing line,
And bend delighted o'er the gay design,
I envy not nor emulate the fame
Or of the painter's or the poet's name:
Could I to both with equal claim pretend,
Yet far, far dearer were the name of Friend.
~ Anna Laetitia Barbauld,
389:At Delphi
Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!
II
Where hast thou, Apollo, gone?
I have wandered on and on,
Through the shaggy Dorian gorges,
Down from where Parnassus forges
Thunder for the Phocian valleys;
Where the Pleistus springs and sallies
Past ravines and caverns dread,
Have, like it, meanderëd;
But I cannot see thee, hear thee,
Find thee, feel thee, get anear thee.
Though in quest of thee I go where
Thou didst haunt, I find thee nowhere,
Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!
III
Still no answer comes. . . . Apollo!
Vainly do I call and holloa
Into each Crissoean cleft
Where the last year's leaves are left.
Deem not I have pushed my way
But from stony Amphissà.
I have come from far-off land,
Traversed foam, traversed sand,
From green pastures sea-surrounded,
Where thy phorminx never sounded;
O'er the broad and barren acres
Of the vainly furrowed breakers,
Across mountains loftier far
Than the peaks of Pindus are;
Skirted groves of pine and fir
Denser than lone Tempe's were,
With no selfish tread, but only
I might find thee, lovely, lonely,
Lingering by thy sacred city:
On me wilt thou not have pity?
152
Sun-god! Song-god! I implore thee!
Glow, and let me pale before thee,
Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!
IV
Fallen tablet, prostrate column,
Solitude and silence solemn!
Half-tilled patches, squalid hovels,
Where life multiplies and grovelsIs this Delphi, this the shrine
Of the Musagete divine?
This the cavern, this the cell,
Of the Pythian oracle!
Where the tripod, where the altar,
Incense, embassy, and psalter?
Can this pool of cresses be
Cradle of pure Castaly?
From the rock though still it bubbles,
Travels onwards, halts, and doubles,
Where the Muses wont to lave
Limbs as vestal as its wave,
'Mong the flashing waters flashing,Gaunt and withered crones are washing.
Not a note of lyre or zittern,
But, below, the booming bittern
Waits his quarry to inveigle,
While o'erhead the silent eagle,
Blinking, stares at the blank sunAll of thee that is not gone,
Apollo! Apollo!
Who art thou, intruder weird!
With the fine and flowing beard?
Whom no snowy robes encumber,
But a habit black and sombre,
Yet in whose composëd eyes
Lurks the light of mysteries.
Priest thou seemest, but not one
Of the loved Latona's son.
In thy aspect is no gladness,
Glance nor gleam of joyous madness,
153
Only gloom, only sadness.
Underneath thy knotted girdle
Thoughts congeal and passions curdle,
And about thy brow ascetic
Lives nor light nor line prophetic.
Priest, but priest not of Apollo,
Whither wouldst thou have me follow?
Lead but onward, I will enter
Where thy cold gaze seems to centre,
Underneath yon portal dismal,
Into dusk and chill abysmal.
Hast thou pent him? Is He lying
There within, dethroned and dying?
If thou breathest, hear me crying,
``Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!''
VI
No, but here He cannot be,
God of light and poesy!
What are these I see around,
Gloomy upon gloomy ground,
Making wall and roof to seem
Sepulchre of morbid dream?
Visages with aspect stony,
Bodies lean, and lank, and bony,
In whose lineaments I trace
Neither love, nor joy, nor grace:
Youth with limbs disused and old,
Maidens pale, contorted, cold,
Flames devouring, pincers wrenching
Muscles naked but unblenching,
Writhing snakes forked venom darting
Into flesh-wounds, gaping, smarting,
Furies shagged with tresses fell,
Ghouls and ghosts of nether hell!
Priest of beauty! Priest of song!
Aid me, if thou still art strong!
See me! save me! bear me whither
Glows thy light that brought me hither,
Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!
VII
154
O the sunshine once again!
O to stand a man 'mong men!
Lo! the horrid nightmare pales
In the light of flowing vales,
In the gaze of steadfast mountains,
Sidelong runnels, forward fountains,
Spacious sky, receding air,
Breadth and bounty everywhere.
What if all the gods be dead,
Nature reigneth in their stead.
Let me dream the noon away
Underneath this full-blown bay,
Where the yellow bees are busy,
Till they stagger, drowsy, dizzy,
From the honeyed wine that wells
Up the branches to the cells
Of the myriad-clustered flowers
Dropping golden flakes in showers.
Here reclined, I will surrender
Sense and soul unto the tender
Mingling of remote and close:
Gods voluptuous, gods morose;
Altars at whose marble meet
Downcast eyes and dancing feet;
Awful dirges, glad carouse,
Unveiled bosoms, shaded brows,
Wreathëd steer and tonsured skull,
Shapes austere with beautiful;
Till the past and present swim
In an ether distant, dim,
And the Delphic fumes rise denser
From a silver-swinging censer,
And in one harmonious dream,
Through a heavenly nimbus, gleam
Lovely limbs and longings saintly,
And pale virgins murmur faintly,
``Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!''
VIII
Priest, but priest not of Apollo,
Why dost thou my footsteps follow
From the deep dark shrine down there
155
To this temple of the air?
What, profaner! wouldst thou lay
Hands upon the sacred bay,
Tearing Daphne limb from limb!
Hast thou, then, no dread of Him?
How? For me? Avaunt, and pass!
I am not fool Marsyas.
Stay! Then to my forehead bind it,
Round my temples wreathe and wind it;
'Chance the Avenger then will come,
Haunt and grot no more be dumb,
But the rills and steeps be ringing,
And a long array come singing,
``Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!''
IX
All in vain! Nor prayer nor taunt
Tempts him back to his loved haunt.
Fretted tablet, fallen column,
Solitude and silence solemn!
He again from Peneus ne'er
Will to Castaly repair;
Never more in cavern dread
Will his oracles be read;
Now I know that Thou art dead,
Apollo!
Then like fountain in mine ear
Spake the god aloud and clear:
``Take it! Wear it! Tis for thee,
Singer from the Northern Sea.
If the least, not last of those,
Suckled 'mong the genial snows.
Though the Muses may have left
Tempe's glen and Delphi's cleft,
Wanderer! they have only gone
Hence to murmuring Albion.
Need was none to travel hither:
Child of England, go back thither.
Traverse foam, traverse sand;
Back, and in thy native land
156
Thou wilt find what thou dost seek.
There the oracles still speak;
There the mounting fumes inspire
Glowing brain and living lyre.
There the Muses prompt the strain,
There they renovate my reign;
There thou wilt not call in vain,
`Apollo! Apollo! Apollo!'''
~ Alfred Austin,
390:A Letter From Italy
Lately, when we wished good-bye
Underneath a gloomy sky,
``Bear,'' you said, ``my love in mind,
Leaving me not quite behind;
And across the mountains send
News and greeting to your friend.''
II
Swiftly though we did advance
Through the rich flat fields of France,
Still the eye grew tired to see
Patches of equality.
Nothing wanton, waste, or wild;
Women delving, lonely child
Tending cattle lank and lean;
Not a hedgerow to be seen,
Where the eglantine may ramble,
Or the vagrant unkempt bramble
Might its flowers upon you press
Simple-sweet but profitless:
Jealous ditches, straight and square
Sordid comfort everywhere.
Pollard poplars, stunted vine,
Nowhere happy-pasturing kine
Wandering in untended groups
Through the uncut buttercups.
All things pruned to pile the shelf
Nothing left to be itself:
Neither horn, nor hound, nor stirrup,
Not a carol, not a chirrup;
Every idle sound repressed,
Like a Sabbath without rest.
III
O the sense of freedom when
Kingly mountains rose again!
Congregated, but alone,
Each upon his separate throne;
56
Like to mighty minds that dwell,
Lonely, inaccessible,
High above the human race,
Single and supreme in space:
Soaring higher, higher, higher,
Carrying with them our desire,
Irrepressible if fond,
To push on to worlds beyond!
Many a peak august I saw,
Crowned with mist and girt with awe,
Fertilising, as is fit,
Valleys that look up to it,
With the melted snows down-driven,
Which itself received from Heaven.
Then, to see the torrents flashing,
Leaping, twisting, foaming, crashing,
Like a youth who feels, at length,
Freedom ample as his strength,
Hurrying from the home that bore him,
With the whole of life before him!
IV
As, when summer sunshine gleams,
Glaciers soften into streams,
So to liquid, flowing vowels,
As we pierced the mountains' bowels,
Teuton consonants did melt
When Italian warmth was felt.
Gloomy fir and pine austere,
Unto precipices sheer
Clinging, as one holds one's breath,
Half-way betwixt life and death,
Changed to gently-shelving slope,
Where man tills with faith and hope,
And the tenderest-tendrilled tree
Prospers in security.
Softer outlines, balmier air,
Belfries unto evening prayer
Calling, as the shadows fade,
Halting crone, and hurrying maid,
With her bare black tresses twined
Into massive coils behind,
57
And her snowy-pleated vest
Folded o'er mysterious breast,
Like the dove's wings chastely crossed
At the Feast of Pentecost.
Something, in scent, sight, and sound,
Elsewhere craved for, never found,
Underneath, around, above,
Moves to tenderness and love.
But three nights I halted where
Stands the temple, vowed to prayer,
That surmounts the Lombard plain,
Green with strips of grape and grain.
There, Spiaggiascura's child,
By too hopeful love beguiled,
Yet resolved, save faith should flow
Through his parched heart, to forego
Earthly bliss for heavenly pain,
Prayed for Godfrid, prayed in vain.
VI
How looked Florence? Fair as when
Beatrice was nearly ten:
Nowise altered, just the same
Marble city, mountain frame,
Turbid river, cloudless sky,
As in days when you and I
Roamed its sunny streets, apart,
Ignorant of each other's heart,
Little knowing that our feet
Slow were moving on to meet,
And that we should find, at last,
Kinship in a common Past.
But a shadow falls athwart
All her beauty, all her art.
For alas! I vainly seek
Outstretched hand and kindling cheek,
Such as, in the bygone days,
Sweetened, sanctified, her ways.
When, as evening belfries chime,
I to Bellosguardo climb,
58
Vaguely thinking there to find
Faces that still haunt my mind,
Though the doors stand open wide,
No one waits for me inside;
Not a voice comes forth to greet,
As of old, my nearing feet.
So I stand without, and stare,
Wishing you were here to share
Void too vast alone to bear.
To Ricorboli I wend:
But where now the dear old friend,
Heart as open as his gate,
Song, and jest, and simple state?
They who loved me all are fled;
Some are gone, and some are dead.
So, though young and lovely be
Florence still, it feels to me,
Thinking of the days that were,
Like a marble sepulchre.
VII
Yet, thank Heaven! he liveth still,
Now no more upon the hill
Where was perched his Tuscan home,
But in liberated Rome:
Hale as ever; still his stride
Keeps me panting at his side.
Would that you were here to stray
With me up the Appian Way,
Climb with me the Coelian mount,
With me find Egeria's fount,
See the clear sun sink and set
From the Pincian parapet,
Or from Sant' Onofrio watch
Shaggy Monte Cavo catch
Gloomy glory on its face,
As the red dawn mounts apace.
Twenty years and more have fled
Since I first with youthful tread
Wandered 'mong these wrecks of Fate,
Lonely but not desolate,
Proud to ponder and to brood,
59
Satisfied with solitude.
But as fruit that, hard in Spring,
Tender grows with mellowing,
So one's nature, year by year,
Softens as it ripens, dear,
And youth's selfish strain and stress
Sweeten into tenderness.
Therefore is it that I pine
For a gentle hand in mine,
For a voice to murmur clear
All I know but love to hear,
Crave to feel, think, hear, and see,
Through your lucid sympathy.
VIII
Shortly, shortly, we shall meet.
Southern skies awhile are sweet;
But in whatso land I roam,
Half my heart remains at home.
Tell me, for I long to hear,
Tidings of our English year.
Was the cuckoo soon or late?
Beg the primroses to wait,
That their homely smile may greet
Faithfully returning feet.
Have the apple blossoms burst?
Is the oak or ash the first?
Are there snowballs on the guelder?
Can you scent as yet the elder?
On the bankside that we know,
Is the golden gorse ablow,
Like love's evergreen delight
Never out of season quite,
But most prodigal in Spring,
When the whitethroats pair and sing?
Tell me, tell me, most of all,
When you hear the thrushes call,
When you see soft shadows fleeting
O'er the grass where lambs are bleating.
When the lyric lark, returning
From the mirage of its yearning,Like a fountain that in vain
60
Rises but to fall again,Seeks its nest with drooping wing,
Do you miss me from the Spring?
IX
Quickly then I come. Adieu,
Mouldering arch and ether blue!
For in you I sure shall find
All that here I leave behind:
Steadfastness of Roman rays
In the candour of your gaze;
In your friendship comfort more
Than in warmth of Oscan shore;
In the smiles that light your mouth,
All the sunshine of the South.
~ Alfred Austin,
391:Young Calidore is paddling o'er the lake;
His healthful spirit eager and awake
To feel the beauty of a silent eve,
Which seem'd full loath this happy world to leave;
The light dwelt o'er the scene so lingeringly.
He bares his forehead to the cool blue sky,
And smiles at the far clearness all around,
Until his heart is well nigh over wound,
And turns for calmness to the pleasant green
Of easy slopes, and shadowy trees that lean
So elegantly o'er the waters' brim
And show their blossoms trim.
Scarce can his clear and nimble eye-sight follow
The freaks, and dartings of the black-wing'd swallow,
Delighting much, to see it half at rest,
Dip so refreshingly its wings, and breast
'Gainst the smooth surface, and to mark anon,
The widening circles into nothing gone.

And now the sharp keel of his little boat
Comes up with ripple, and with easy float,
And glides into a bed of water lillies:
Broad leav'd are they and their white canopies
Are upward turn'd to catch the heavens' dew.
Near to a little island's point they grew;
Whence Calidore might have the goodliest view
Of this sweet spot of earth. The bowery shore
Went off in gentle windings to the hoar
And light blue mountains: but no breathing man
With a warm heart, and eye prepared to scan
Nature's clear beauty, could pass lightly by
Objects that look'd out so invitingly
On either side. These, gentle Calidore
Greeted, as he had known them long before.

The sidelong view of swelling leafiness,
Which the glad setting sun, in gold doth dress;
Whence ever, and anon the jay outsprings,
And scales upon the beauty of its wings.

The lonely turret, shatter'd, and outworn,
Stands venerably proud; too proud to mourn
Its long lost grandeur: fir trees grow around,
Aye dropping their hard fruit upon the ground.

The little chapel with the cross above
Upholding wreaths of ivy; the white dove,
That on the windows spreads his feathers light,
And seems from purple clouds to wing its flight.

Green tufted islands casting their soft shades
Across the lake; sequesterd leafy glades,
That through the dimness of their twilight show
Large dock leaves, spiral foxgloves, or the glow
Of the wild cats eyes, or the silvery stems
Of delicate birch trees, or long grass which hems
A little brook. The youth had long been viewing
These pleasant things, and heaven was bedewing
The mountain flowers, when his glad senses caught
A trumpet's silver voice. Ah! it was fraught
With many joys for him: the warder's ken
Had found white coursers prancing in the glen:
Friends very dear to him he soon will see;
So pushes off his boat most eagerly,
And soon upon the lake he skims along,
Deaf to the nightingales first under-song;
Nor minds he the white swans that dream so sweetly:
His spirit flies before him so completely.

And now he turns a jutting point of land,
Whence may be seen the castle gloomy, and grand:
Nor will a bee buzz round two swelling peaches,
Before the point of his light shallop reaches
Those marble steps that through the water dip:
Now over them he goes with hasty trip,
And scarcely stays to ope the folding doors:
Anon he leaps along the oaken floors
Of halls and corridors.

Delicious sounds! those little bright-eyed things
That float about the air on azure wings,
Had been less heartfelt by him than the clang
Of clattering hoofs; into the court he sprang,
Just as two noble steeds, and palfreys twain,
Were slanting out their necks with loosened rein;
While from beneath the threat'ning portcullis
They brought their happy burthens. What a kiss,
What gentle squeeze he gave each lady's hand!
How tremblingly their delicate ancles spannd!
Into how sweet a trance his soul was gone,
While whisperings of affection
Made him delay to let their tender feet
Come to the earth; with an incline so sweet
From their low palfreys o'er his neck they bent:
And whether there were tears of languishment,
Or that the evening dew had pearl'd their tresses,
He feels a moisture on his cheek, and blesses
With lips that tremble, and with glistening eye
All the soft luxury
That nestled in his arms. A dimpled hand,
Fair as some wonder out of fairy land,
Hung from his shoulder like the drooping flowers
Of whitest Cassia, fresh from summer showers:
And this he fondled with his happy cheek
As if for joy he would no further seek;
When the kind voice of good Sir Clerimond
Came to his ear, like something from beyond
His present being: so he gently drew
His warm arms, thrilling now with pulses new,
From their sweet thrall, and forward gently bending,
Thank'd heaven that his joy was never ending;
While 'gainst his forehead he devoutly press'd
A hand heaven made to succour the distress'd;
A hand that from the world's bleak promontory
Had lifted Calidore for deeds of glory.
Amid the pages, and the torches' glare,
There stood a knight, patting the flowing hair
Of his proud horse's mane: he was withal
A man of elegance, and stature tall:
So that the waving of his plumes would be
High as the berries of a wild ash tree,
Or as the winged cap of Mercury.
His armour was so dexterously wrought
In shape, that sure no living man had thought
It hard, and heavy steel: but that indeed
It was some glorious form, some splendid weed,
In which a spirit new come from the skies
Might live, and show itself to human eyes.
'Tis the far-fam'd, the brave Sir Gondibert,
Said the good man to Calidore alert;
While the young warrior with a step of grace
Came up,--a courtly smile upon his face,
And mailed hand held out, ready to greet
The large-eyed wonder, and ambitious heat
Of the aspiring boy; who as he led
Those smiling ladies, often turned his head
To admire the visor arched so gracefully
Over a knightly brow; while they went by
The lamps that from the high-roof'd hall were pendent,
And gave the steel a shining quite transcendent.

Soon in a pleasant chamber they are seated;
The sweet-lipp'd ladies have already greeted
All the green leaves that round the window clamber,
To show their purple stars, and bells of amber.
Sir Gondibert has doff'd his shining steel,
Gladdening in the free, and airy feel
Of a light mantle; and while Clerimond
Is looking round about him with a fond,
And placid eye, young Calidore is burning
To hear of knightly deeds, and gallant spurning
Of all unworthiness; and how the strong of arm
Kept off dismay, and terror, and alarm
From lovely woman: while brimful of this,
He gave each damsel's hand so warm a kiss,
And had such manly ardour in his eye,
That each at other look'd half staringly;
And then their features started into smiles
Sweet as blue heavens o'er enchanted isles.

Softly the breezes from the forest came,
Softly they blew aside the taper's flame;
Clear was the song from Philomel's far bower;
Grateful the incense from the lime-tree flower;
Mysterious, wild, the far-heard trumpet's tone;
Lovely the moon in ether, all alone:
Sweet too the converse of these happy mortals,
As that of busy spirits when the portals
Are closing in the west; or that soft humming
We hear around when Hesperus is coming.
Sweet be their sleep. * * * * * * * * *
by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes

~ John Keats, Calidore - A Fragment
,
392:Song Of Unending Sorrow.
China's Emperor, craving beauty that might shake an empire,
Was on the throne for many years, searching, never finding,
Till a little child of the Yang clan, hardly even grown,
Bred in an inner chamber, with no one knowing her,
But with graces granted by heaven and not to be concealed,
At last one day was chosen for the imperial household.
If she but turned her head and smiled, there were cast a hundred spells,
And the powder and paint of the Six Palaces faded into nothing.
...It was early spring. They bathed her in the FlowerPure Pool,
Which warmed and smoothed the creamy-tinted crystal of her skin,
And, because of her languor, a maid was lifting her
When first the Emperor noticed her and chose her for his bride.
The cloud of her hair, petal of her cheek, gold ripples of her crown when she
moved,
Were sheltered on spring evenings by warm hibiscus curtains;
But nights of spring were short and the sun arose too soon,
And the Emperor, from that time forth, forsook his early hearings
And lavished all his time on her with feasts and revelry,
His mistress of the spring, his despot of the night.
There were other ladies in his court, three thousand of rare beauty,
But his favours to three thousand were concentered in one body.
By the time she was dressed in her Golden Chamber, it would be almost evening;
And when tables were cleared in the Tower of Jade, she would loiter, slow with
wine.
Her sisters and her brothers all were given titles;
And, because she so illumined and glorified her clan,
She brought to every father, every mother through the empire,
Happiness when a girl was born rather than a boy.
...High rose Li Palace, entering blue clouds,
And far and wide the breezes carried magical notes
Of soft song and slow dance, of string and bamboo music.
The Emperor's eyes could never gaze on her enoughTill war-drums, booming from Yuyang, shocked the whole earth
And broke the tunes of The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
The Forbidden City, the nine-tiered palace, loomed in the dust
From thousands of horses and chariots headed southwest.
The imperial flag opened the way, now moving and now pausing- But thirty miles from the capital, beyond the western gate,
65
The men of the army stopped, not one of them would stir
Till under their horses' hoofs they might trample those moth- eyebrows....
Flowery hairpins fell to the ground, no one picked them up,
And a green and white jade hair-tassel and a yellowgold hair- bird.
The Emperor could not save her, he could only cover his face.
And later when he turned to look, the place of blood and tears
Was hidden in a yellow dust blown by a cold wind.
... At the cleft of the Dagger-Tower Trail they crisscrossed through a cloud-line
Under Omei Mountain. The last few came.
Flags and banners lost their colour in the fading sunlight....
But as waters of Shu are always green and its mountains always blue,
So changeless was His Majesty's love and deeper than the days.
He stared at the desolate moon from his temporary palace.
He heard bell-notes in the evening rain, cutting at his breast.
And when heaven and earth resumed their round and the dragon car faced
home,
The Emperor clung to the spot and would not turn away
From the soil along the Mawei slope, under which was buried
That memory, that anguish. Where was her jade-white face?
Ruler and lords, when eyes would meet, wept upon their coats
As they rode, with loose rein, slowly eastward, back to the capital.
...The pools, the gardens, the palace, all were just as before,
The Lake Taiye hibiscus, the Weiyang Palace willows;
But a petal was like her face and a willow-leaf her eyebrow -And what could he do but cry whenever he looked at them?
...Peach-trees and plum-trees blossomed, in the winds of spring;
Lakka-foliage fell to the ground, after autumn rains;
The Western and Southern Palaces were littered with late grasses,
And the steps were mounded with red leaves that no one swept away.
Her Pear-Garden Players became white-haired
And the eunuchs thin-eyebrowed in her Court of PepperTrees;
Over the throne flew fire-flies, while he brooded in the twilight.
He would lengthen the lamp-wick to its end and still could never sleep.
Bell and drum would slowly toll the dragging nighthours
And the River of Stars grow sharp in the sky, just before dawn,
And the porcelain mandarin-ducks on the roof grow thick with morning frost
And his covers of kingfisher-blue feel lonelier and colder
With the distance between life and death year after year;
And yet no beloved spirit ever visited his dreams.
...At Lingqiong lived a Taoist priest who was a guest of heaven,
Able to summon spirits by his concentrated mind.
And people were so moved by the Emperor's constant brooding
66
That they besought the Taoist priest to see if he could find her.
He opened his way in space and clove the ether like lightning,
Up to heaven, under the earth, looking everywhere.
Above, he searched the Green Void, below, the Yellow Spring;
But he failed, in either place, to find the one he looked for.
And then he heard accounts of an enchanted isle at sea,
A part of the intangible and incorporeal world,
With pavilions and fine towers in the five-coloured air,
And of exquisite immortals moving to and fro,
And of one among them-whom they called The Ever TrueWith a face of snow and flowers resembling hers he sought.
So he went to the West Hall's gate of gold and knocked at the jasper door
And asked a girl, called Morsel-of-Jade, to tell The Doubly- Perfect.
And the lady, at news of an envoy from the Emperor of China,
Was startled out of dreams in her nine-flowered, canopy.
She pushed aside her pillow, dressed, shook away sleep,
And opened the pearly shade and then the silver screen.
Her cloudy hair-dress hung on one side because of her great haste,
And her flower-cap was loose when she came along the terrace,
While a light wind filled her cloak and fluttered with her motion
As though she danced The Rainbow Skirt and the Feathered Coat.
And the tear-drops drifting down her sad white face
Were like a rain in spring on the blossom of the pear.
But love glowed deep within her eyes when she bade him thank her liege,
Whose form and voice had been strange to her ever since their parting -Since happiness had ended at the Court of the Bright Sun,
And moons and dawns had become long in Fairy-Mountain Palace.
But when she turned her face and looked down toward the earth
And tried to see the capital, there were only fog and dust.
So she took out, with emotion, the pledges he had given
And, through his envoy, sent him back a shell box and gold hairpin,
But kept one branch of the hairpin and one side of the box,
Breaking the gold of the hairpin, breaking the shell of the box;
"Our souls belong together," she said, " like this gold and this shell -Somewhere, sometime, on earth or in heaven, we shall surely
And she sent him, by his messenger, a sentence reminding him
Of vows which had been known only to their two hearts:
"On the seventh day of the Seventh-month, in the Palace of Long Life,
We told each other secretly in the quiet midnight world
That we wished to fly in heaven, two birds with the wings of one,
And to grow together on the earth, two branches of one tree."
Earth endures, heaven endures; some time both shall end,
67
While this unending sorrow goes on and on for ever.
~ Bai Juyi,
393:Wreathe in a garland the corn's golden ear!
With it, the Cyane blue intertwine
Rapture must render each glance bright and clear,
For the great queen is approaching her shrine,
She who compels lawless passions to cease,
Who to link man with his fellow has come,
And into firm habitations of peace
Changed the rude tents' ever-wandering home.

Shyly in the mountain-cleft
Was the Troglodyte concealed;
And the roving Nomad left,
Desert lying, each broad field.
With the javelin, with the bow,
Strode the hunter through the land;
To the hapless stranger woe,
Billow-cast on that wild strand!

When, in her sad wanderings lost,
Seeking traces of her child,
Ceres hailed the dreary coast,
Ah, no verdant plain then smiled!
That she here with trust may stay,
None vouchsafes a sheltering roof;
Not a temple's columns gay
Give of godlike worship proof.

Fruit of no propitious ear
Bids her to the pure feast fly;
On the ghastly altars here
Human bones alone e'er dry.
Far as she might onward rove,
Misery found she still in all,
And within her soul of love,
Sorrowed she o'er man's deep fall.

"Is it thus I find the man
To whom we our image lend,
Whose fair limbs of noble span
Upward towards the heavens ascend?
Laid we not before his feet
Earth's unbounded godlike womb?
Yet upon his kingly seat
Wanders he without a home?"

"Does no god compassion feel?
Will none of the blissful race,
With an arm of miracle,
Raise him from his deep disgrace?
In the heights where rapture reigns
Pangs of others ne'er can move;
Yet man's anguish and man's pains
My tormented heart must prove."

"So that a man a man may be,
Let him make an endless bond
With the kind earth trustingly,
Who is ever good and fond
To revere the law of time,
And the moon's melodious song
Who, with silent step sublime,
Move their sacred course along."

And she softly parts the cloud
That conceals her from the sight;
Sudden, in the savage crowd,
Stands she, as a goddess bright.
There she finds the concourse rude
In their glad feast revelling,
And the chalice filled with blood
As a sacrifice they bring.

But she turns her face away,
Horror-struck, and speaks the while
"Bloody tiger-feasts ne'er may
Of a god the lips defile,
He needs victims free from stain,
Fruits matured by autumn's sun;
With the pure gifts of the plain
Honored is the Holy One!"

And she takes the heavy shaft
From the hunter's cruel hand;
With the murderous weapon's haft
Furrowing the light-strown sand,
Takes from out her garland's crown,
Filled with life, one single grain,
Sinks it in the furrow down,
And the germ soon swells amain.

And the green stalks gracefully
Shoot, ere long, the ground above,
And, as far as eye can see,
Waves it like a golden grove.
With her smile the earth she cheers,
Binds the earliest sheaves so fair,
As her hearth the landmark rears,
And the goddess breathes this prayer:

"Father Zeus, who reign'st o'er all
That in ether's mansions dwell,
Let a sign from thee now fall
That thou lov'st this offering well!
And from the unhappy crowd
That, as yet, has ne'er known thee,
Take away the eye's dark cloud,
Showing them their deity!"

Zeus, upon his lofty throne,
Harkens to his sister's prayer;
From the blue heights thundering down,
Hurls his forked lightning there,
Crackling, it begins to blaze,
From the altar whirling bounds,
And his swift-winged eagle plays
High above in circling rounds.

Soon at the feet of their mistress are kneeling,
Filled with emotion, the rapturous throng;
Into humanity's earliest feeling
Melt their rude spirits, untutored and strong.
Each bloody weapon behind them they leave,
Rays on their senses beclouded soon shine,
And from the mouth of the queen they receive,
Gladly and meekly, instruction divine.

All the deities advance
Downward from their heavenly seats;
Themis' self 'tis leads the dance,
And, with staff of justice, metes
Unto every one his rights,
Landmarks, too, 'tis hers to fix;
And in witness she invites
All the hidden powers of Styx.

And the forge-god, too, is there,
The inventive son of Zeus;
Fashioner of vessels fair
Skilled in clay and brass's use.
'Tis from him the art man knows
Tongs and bellows how to wield;
'Neath his hammer's heavy blows
Was the ploughshare first revealed.

With projecting, weighty spear,
Front of all, Minerva stands,
Lifts her voice so strong and clear,
And the godlike host commands.
Steadfast walls 'tis hers to found,
Shield and screen for every one,
That the scattered world around
Bind in loving unison.

The immortals' steps she guides
O'er the trackless plains so vast,
And where'er her foot abides
Is the boundary god held fast;
And her measuring chain is led
Round the mountain's border green,
E'en the raging torrent's bed
In the holy ring is seen.

All the Nymphs and Oreads too
Who, the mountain pathways o'er,
Swift-foot Artemis pursue,
All to swell the concourse, pour,
Brandishing the hunting-spear,
Set to work,glad shouts uprise,
'Neath their axes' blows so clear
Crashing down the pine-wood flies.

E'en the sedge-crowned God ascends
From his verdant spring to light,
And his raft's direction bends
At the goddess' word of might,
While the hours, all gently bound,
Nimbly to their duty fly;
Rugged trunks are fashioned round
By her skilled hand gracefully.

E'en the sea-god thither fares;
Sudden, with his trident's blow,
He the granite columns tears
From earth's entrails far below;
In his mighty hands, on high,
Waves he them, like some light ball,
And with nimble Hermes by,
Raises up the rampart-wall.

But from out the golden strings
Lures Apollo harmony,
Measured time's sweet murmurings,
And the might of melody.
The Camoenae swell the strain
With their song of ninefold tone:
Captive bound in music's chain,
Softly stone unites to stone.

Cybele, with skilful hand,
Open throws the wide-winged door;
Locks and bolts by her are planned,
Sure to last forevermore.
Soon complete the wondrous halls
By the gods' own hands are made,
And the temple's glowing walls
Stand in festal pomp arrayed.

With a crown of myrtle twined,
Now the goddess queen comes there,
And she leads the fairest hind
To the shepherdess most fair.
Venus, with her beauteous boy,
That first pair herself attires;
All the gods bring gifts of joy,
Blessing their love's sacred fires.

Guided by the deities,
Soon the new-born townsmen pour,
Ushered in with harmonies,
Through the friendly open door.
Holding now the rites divine,
Ceres at Zeus' altar stands,
Blessing those around the shrine,
Thus she speaks, with folded hands:

"Freedom's love the beast inflames,
And the god rules free in air,
While the law of Nature tames
Each wild lust that lingers there.
Yet, when thus together thrown,
Man with man must fain unite;
And by his own worth alone
Can he freedom gain, and might."

Wreathe in a garland the corn's golden ear!
With it, the Cyane blue intertwine!
Rapture must render each glance bright and clear,
For the great queen is approaching her shrine,
She who our homesteads so blissful has given,
She who has man to his fellow-man bound:
Let our glad numbers extol then to heaven,
Her who the earth's kindly mother is found!

~ Friedrich Schiller, The Eleusinian Festival
,
394:The Kalevala - Rune Xxxiv
KULLERVO FINDS HIS TRIBE-FOLK.
Kullerwoinen, young magician,
In his beauteous, golden ringlets,
In his magic shoes of deer-skin,
Left the home of Ilmarinen
Wandered forth upon his journey,
Ere the blacksmith heard the tidings
Of the cruel death and torture
Of his wife and joy-companion,
Lest a bloody fight should follow.
Kullerwoinen left the smithy,
Blowing on his magic bugle,
Joyful left the lands of Ilma,
Blowing blithely on the heather,
Made the distant hills re-echo,
Made the swamps and mountains tremble,
Made the heather-blossoms answer
To the music of his cow-horn,
In its wild reverberations,
To the magic of his playing.
Songs were heard within the smithy,
And the blacksmith stopped and listened,
Hastened to the door and window,
Hastened to the open court-yard,
If perchance he might discover
What was playing on the heather,
What was sounding through the forest.
Quick he learned the cruel story,
Learned the cause of the rejoicing,
Saw the hostess dead before him,
Knew his beauteous wife had perished,
Saw the lifeless form extended,
In the court-yard of his dwelling.
Thereupon the metal-artist
Fell to bitter tears and wailings,
Wept through all the dreary night-time,
Deep the grief that settled o'er him,
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Black as night his darkened future,
Could not stay his tears of sorrow.
Kullerwoinen hastened onward,
Straying, roaming, hither, thither,
Wandered on through field and forest,
O'er the Hisi-plains and woodlands.
When the darkness settled o'er him,
When the bird of night was flitting,
Sat the fatherless at evening,
The forsaken sat and rested
On a hillock of the forest.
Thus he murmured, heavy-hearted:
'Why was I, alas! created,
Why was I so ill-begotten,
Since for months and years I wander,
Lost among the ether-spaces?
Others have their homes to dwell in,
Others hasten to their firesides
As the evening gathers round them:
But my home is in the forest,
And my bed upon the heather,
And my bath-room is the rain-cloud.
'Never didst thou, God of mercy,
Never in the course of ages,
Give an infant birth unwisely;
Wherefore then was I created,
Fatherless to roam in ether,
Motherless and lone to wander?
Thou, O Ukko, art my father,
Thou hast given me form and feature;
As the sea-gull on the ocean,
As the duck upon the waters,
Shines the Sun upon the swallow,
Shines as bright upon the sparrow,
Gives the joy-birds song and gladness,
Does not shine on me unhappy;
Nevermore will shine the sunlight,
Never will the moonlight glimmer
On this hapless son and orphan;
Do not know my hero-father,
Cannot tell who was my mother;
On the shore, perhaps the gray-duck
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Left me in the sand to perish.
Young was I and small of stature,
When my mother left me orphaned;
Dead, my father and my mother,
Dead, my honored tribe of heroes;
Shoes they left me that are icy,
Stockings filled with frosts of ages,
Let me on the freezing ice-plains
Fall to perish in the rushes;
From the giddy heights of mountains
Let me tumble to destruction.
'O, thou wise and good Creator,
Why my birth and what my service?
I shall never fall and perish
On the ice-plains, in the marshes,
Never be a bridge in swamp-land,
Not while I have arms of virtue
That can serve my honored kindred!'
Then Kullervo thought to journey
To the village of Untamo,
To avenge his father's murder,
To avenge his mother's tortures,
And the troubles of his tribe-folk.
These the words of Kullerwoinen:
'Wait, yea wait, thou Untamoinen,
Thou destroyer of my people;
When I meet thee in the combat,
I will slay thee and thy kindred,
I will burn thy homes to ashes!'
Came a woman on the highway,
Dressed in blue, the aged mother,
To Kullervo spake as follows:
'Whither goest, Kullerwoinen,
Whither hastes the wayward hero?
Kullerwoinen gave this answer:
'I have thought that I would journey
To the far-off land of strangers,
To the village of Untamo,
To avenge my father's murder,
To avenge my mother's tortures,
And the troubles of my tribe-folk.'
Thus the gray-haired woman answered:
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'Surely thou dost rest in error,
For thy tribe has never perished,
And thy mother still is living
With thy father in the Northland,
Living with the old Kalervo.'
'O, thou ancient dame beloved,
Worthy mother of the woodlands,
Tell me where my father liveth,
Where my loving mother lingers!'
'Yonder lives thine aged father,
And thy loving mother with him,
On the farthest shore of Northland,
On the long-point of the fish-lake!'
'Tell me, O thou woodland-mother,
How to journey to my people,
How to find mine honored tribe-folk.'
'Easy is the way for strangers:
Thou must journey through the forest,
Hasten to the river-border,
Travel one day, then a second,
And the third from morn till even,
To the north-west, thou must journey.
If a mountain comes to meet thee,
Go around the nearing mountain,
Westward bold thy weary journey,
Till thou comest to a river,
On thy right hand flowing eastward;
Travel to the river border,
Where three water-falls will greet thee;
When thou comest to a headland,
On the point thou'lt see a cottage
Where the fishermen assemble;
In this cottage is thy father,
With thy mother and her daughters,
Beautiful thy maiden sisters.'
Kullerwoinen, the magician,
Hastens northward on his journey,
Walks one day, and then a second,
Walks the third from morn till evening;
To the north-west walks Kullervo,
Till a mountain comes to meet him,
Walks around the nearing mountain;
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Westward, westward, holds his journey,
Till he sees a river coming;
Hastens to the river border,
Walks along the streams and rapids
Till three waterfalls accost him;
Travels till he meets a headland,
On the point he spies a cottage,
Where the fishermen assemble.
Quick he journeys to the cabin,
Quick he passes through the portals
Of the cottage on the headland,
Where he finds his long-lost kindred;
No one knows the youth, Kullervo,
No one knows whence comes the stranger,
Where his home, nor where he goeth.
These the words of young Kullervo:
'Dost thou know me not, my mother,
Dost thou know me not, my father?
I am hapless Kullerwoinen
Whom the heroes of Untamo
Carried to their distant country,
When my height was but a hand-breadth.'
Quick the hopeful mother answers:
'O my worthy son, beloved,
O my precious silver-buckle,
Hast thou with thy mind of magic,
Wandered through the fields of Northland
Searching for thy home and kindred?
As one dead I long have mourned thee,
Had supposed thee, in Manala.
Once I had two sons and heroes,
Had two good and beauteous daughters,
Two of these have long been absent,
Elder son and elder daughter;
For the wars my son departed,
While my daughter strayed and perished
If my son is home returning,
Yet my daughter still is absent,
Kullerwoinen asked his mother:
'Whither did my sister wander,
What direction did she journey ?
This the answer of the mother:
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'This the story of thy sister:
Went for berries to the woodlands,
To the mountains went my daughter,
Where the lovely maiden vanished,
Where my pretty berry perished,
Died some death beyond my knowledge,
Nameless is the death she suffered.
Who is mourning for the daughter?
No one mourns her as her mother,
Walks and wanders, Mourns and searches,
For her fairest child and daughter;
Therefore did the mother wander,
Searching for thy lovely sister,
Like the bear she roamed the forest,
Ran the glenways like the adder,
Searched one day and then a second,
Searched the third from morn till even,
Till she reached the mountain-summit,
There she called and called her daughter,
Till the distant mountains answered,
Called to her who had departed:
I Where art thou, my lovely maiden,
Come my daughter to thy mother!'
'Thus I called, and sought thy sister,
This the answer of the mountains,
Thus the hills and valleys echoed:
'Call no more, thou weeping mother,
Weep no more for the departed;
Nevermore in all thy lifetime,
Never in the course of ages,
Will she join again her kindred,
At her brother's landing-places,
In her father's humble dwelling.''
~ Elias Lönnrot,
395:Phantasies
I. Evening.
Rest, beauty, stillness: not a waif of a cloud
From gray-blue east sheer to the yellow westNo film of mist the utmost slopes to shroud.
The earth lies grace, by quiet airs caressed,
And shepherdeth her shadows, but each stream,
Free to the sky, is by that glow possessed,
And traileth with the splendors of a dream
Athwart the dusky land. Uplift thine eyes!
Unbroken by a vapor or a gleam,
The vast clear reach of mild, wan twilight skies.
But look again, and lo, the evening star!
Against the pale tints black the slim elms rise,
The earth exhales sweet odors nigh and far,
And from the heavens fine influences fall.
Familiar things stand not for what they are:
What they suggest, foreshadow, or recall
The spirit is alert to apprehend,
Imparting somewhat of herself to all.
Labor and thought and care are at an end:
The soul is filled with gracious reveries,
And with her mood soft sounds and colors blend;
For simplest sounds ring forth like melodies
In this weird-lighted air-the monotone
Of some far bell, the distant farmyard cries,
A barking dog, the thin, persistent drone
Of crickets, and the lessening call of birds.
The apparition of yon star alone
Breaks on the sense like music. Beyond word
The peace that floods the soul, for night is here,
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And Beauty still is guide and harbinger.
II. Aspiration.
Dark lies the earth, and bright with worlds the sky:
That soft, large, lustrous star, that first outshone,
Still holds us spelled with potent sorcery.
Dilating, shrinking, lightening, it hath won
Our spirit with its strange strong influence,
And sways it as the tides beneath the moon.
What impulse this, o'ermastering heart and sense?
Exalted, thrilled, the freed soul fain would soar
Unto that point of shining prominence,
Craving new fields and some unheard-of shore,
Yea, all the heavens, for her activity,
To mount with daring flight, to hover o'er
Low hills of earth, flat meadows, level sea,
And earthly joy and trouble. In this hour
Of waning light and sound, of mystery,
Of shadowed love and beauty-veiled power,
She feels her wings: she yearns to grasp her own,
Knowing the utmost good to be her dower.
A dream! a dream! for at a touch 't is gone.
O mocking spirit! thy mere fools are we,
Unto the depths from heights celestial thrown.
From these blind gropings toward reality,
This thirst for truth, this most pathetic need
Of something to uplift, to justify,
To help and comfort while we faint and bleed,
May we not draw, wrung from the last despair,
Some argument of hope, some blessed creed,
That we can trust the faith which whispers prayer,
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The vanishings, the ecstasy, the gleam,
The nameless aspiration, and the dream?
III. Wherefore?
Deep languor overcometh mind and frame:
A listless, drowsy, utter weariness,
A trance wherein no thought finds speech or name,
The overstrained spirit doth possess.
She sinks with drooping wing-poor unfledged bird,
That fain had flown!-in fluttering breathlessness.
To what end those high hopes that wildly stirred
The beating heart with aspirations vain?
Why proffer prayers unanswered and unheard
To blank, deaf heavens that will not heed her pain?
Where lead these lofty, soaring tendencies,
That leap and fly and poise, to fall again,
Yet seem to link her with the utmost skies?
What mean these clinging loves that bind to earth,
And claim her with beseeching, wistful eyes?
This little resting-place 'twixt death and birth,
Why is it fretted with the ceaseless flow
Of flood and ebb, with overgrowth and dearth,
And vext with dreams, and clouded with strange woe?
Ah! she is tired of thought, she yearns for peace,
Seeing all things one equal end must know.
Wherefore this tangle of perplexities,
The trouble or the joy? the weary maze
Of narrow fears and hopes that may not cease?
A chill falls on her from the skyey ways,
Black with the night-tide, where is none to hear
The ancient cry, the Wherefore of our days.
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IV. Fancies.
The ceaseless whirr of crickets fills the ear
From underneath each hedge and bush and tree,
Deep in the dew-drenched grasses everywhere.
The simple sound dispels the fantasy
Of gloom and terror gathering round the mind.
It seems a pleasant thing to breathe, to be,
To hear the many-voiced, soft summer wind
Lisp through the dark thick leafage overheadTo see the rosy half-moon soar behind
The black slim-branching elms. Sad thoughts have fled,
Trouble and doubt, and now strange reveries
And odd caprices fill us in their stead.
From yonder broken disk the redness dies,
Like gold fruit through the leaves the half-sphere gleams,
Then over the hoar tree-tops climbs the skies,
Blanched ever more and more, until it beams
Whiter than crystal. Like a scroll unfurled,
And shadowy as a landscape seen in dreams,
Reveals itself the sleeping, quiet world,
Painted in tender grays and whites subduedThe speckled stream with flakes of light impearled,
The wide, soft meadow and the massive wood.
Naught is too wild for our credulity
In this weird hour: our finest dreams hold good.
Quaint elves and frolic flower-sprites we see,
And fairies weaving rings of gossamer,
And angels floating through the filmy air.
V. In the Night.
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Let us go in: the air is dank and chill
With dewy midnight, and the moon rides high
O'er ghostly fields, pale stream, and spectral hill.
This hour the dawn seems farthest from the sky
So weary long the space that lies between
That sacred joy and this dark mystery
Of earth and heaven: no glimmering is seen,
In the star-sprinkled east, of coming day,
Nor, westward, of the splendor that hath been.
Strange fears beset us, nameless terrors sway
The brooding soul, that hungers for her rest,
Out worn with changing moods, vain hopes' delay,
With conscious thought o'erburdened and oppressed.
The mystery and the shadow wax too deep;
She longs to merge both sense and thought in sleep.
VI. Faerie.
From the oped lattice glance once more abroad
While the ethereal moontide bathes with light
Hill, stream, and garden, and white-winding road.
All gracious myths born of the shadowy night
Recur, and hover in fantastic guise,
Airy and vague, before the drowsy sight.
On yonder soft gray hill Endymion lies
In rosy slumber, and the moonlit air
Breathes kisses on his cheeks and lips and eyes.
'Twixt bush and bush gleam flower-white limbs, left bare,
Of huntress-nymphs, and flying raiment thin,
Vanishing faces, and bright floating hair.
The quaint midsummer fairies and their kin,
Gnomes, elves, and trolls, on blossom, branch, and grass
Gambol and dance, and winding out and in
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Leave circles of spun dew where'er they pass.
Through the blue ether the freed Ariel flies;
Enchantment holds the air; a swarming mass
Of myriad dusky, gold-winged dreams arise,
Throng toward the gates of sense, and so possess
The soul, and lull it to forgetfulness.
VII. Confused Dreams.
O strange, dim other-world revealed to us,
Beginning there where ends reality,
Lying 'twixt life and death, and populous
With souls from either sphere! now enter we
Thy twisted paths. Barred is the silver gate,
But the wild-carven doors of ivory
Spring noiselessly apart: between them straight
Flies forth a cloud of nameless shadowy things,
With harpies, imps, and monsters, small and great,
Blurring the thick air with darkening wings.
All humors of the blood and brain take shape,
And fright us with our own imaginings.
A trouble weighs upon us: no escape
From this unnatural region can there be.
Fixed eyes stare on us, wide mouths grin and gape,
Familiar faces out of reach we see.
Fain would we scream, to shatter with a cry
The tangled woof of hideous fantasy,
When, lo! the air grows clear, a soft fair sky
Shines over head: sharp pain dissolves in peace;
Beneath the silver archway quietly
We float away: all troublous visions cease.
By a strange sense of joy we are possessed,
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Body and spirit soothed in perfect rest.
VIII. The End of the Song.
What dainty note of long-drawn melody
Athwart our dreamless sleep rings sweet and clear,
Till all the fumes of slumber are brushed by,
And with awakened consciousness we hear
The pipe of birds? Look forth! The sane, white day
Blesses the hilltops, and the sun is near.
All misty phantoms slowly roll away
With the night's vapors toward the western sky.
The Real enchants us, the fresh breath of hay
Blows toward us; soft the meadow-grasses lie,
Bearded with dew; the air is a caress;
The sudden sun o'ertops the boundary
Of eastern hills, the morning joyousness
Thrills tingling through the frame; life's pulse beats strong;
Night's fancies melt like dew. So ends the song!
~ Emma Lazarus,
396:The Kalevala - Rune I
BIRTH OF WAINAMOINEN.
In primeval times, a maiden,
Beauteous Daughter of the Ether,
Passed for ages her existence
In the great expanse of heaven,
O'er the prairies yet enfolded.
Wearisome the maiden growing,
Her existence sad and hopeless,
Thus alone to live for ages
In the infinite expanses
Of the air above the sea-foam,
In the far outstretching spaces,
In a solitude of ether,
She descended to the ocean,
Waves her coach, and waves her pillow.
Thereupon the rising storm-wind
Flying from the East in fierceness,
Whips the ocean into surges,
Strikes the stars with sprays of ocean
Till the waves are white with fervor.
To and fro they toss the maiden,
Storm-encircled, hapless maiden;
With her sport the rolling billows,
With her play the storm-wind forces,
On the blue back of the waters;
On the white-wreathed waves of ocean,
Play the forces of the salt-sea,
With the lone and helpless maiden;
Till at last in full conception,
Union now of force and beauty,
Sink the storm-winds into slumber;
Overburdened now the maiden
Cannot rise above the surface;
Seven hundred years she wandered,
Ages nine of man's existence,
Swam the ocean hither, thither,
Could not rise above the waters,
Conscious only of her travail;
Seven hundred years she labored
Ere her first-born was delivered.
Thus she swam as water-mother,
Toward the east, and also southward,
Toward the west, and also northward;
Swam the sea in all directions,
Frightened at the strife of storm-winds,
Swam in travail, swam unceasing,
Ere her first-born was delivered.
Then began she gently weeping,
Spake these measures, heavy-hearted:
'Woe is me, my life hard-fated!
Woe is me, in this my travail!
Into what have I now fallen?
Woe is me, that I unhappy,
Left my home in subtle ether,
Came to dwell amid the sea-foam,
To be tossed by rolling billows,
To be rocked by winds and waters,
On the far outstretching waters,
In the salt-sea's vast expanses,
Knowing only pain and trouble!
Better far for me, O Ukko!
Were I maiden in the Ether,
Than within these ocean-spaces,
To become a water-mother!
All this life is cold and dreary,
Painful here is every motion,
As I linger in the waters,
As I wander through the ocean.
Ukko, thou O God, up yonder,
Thou the ruler of the heavens,
Come thou hither, thou art needed,
Come thou hither, I implore thee,
To deliver me from trouble,
To deliver me in travail.
Come I pray thee, hither hasten,
Hasten more that thou art needed,
Haste and help this helpless maiden!'
When she ceased her supplications,
Scarce a moment onward passes,
Ere a beauteous duck descending,
Hastens toward the water-mother,
Comes a-flying hither, thither,
Seeks herself a place for nesting.
Flies she eastward, flies she westward,
Circles northward, circles southward,
Cannot find a grassy hillock,
Not the smallest bit of verdure;
Cannot find a spot protected,
Cannot find a place befitting,
Where to make her nest in safety.
Flying slowly, looking round her,
She descries no place for resting,
Thinking loud and long debating,
And her words are such as follow:
'Build I in the winds my dwelling,
On the floods my place of nesting?
Surely would the winds destroy it,
Far away the waves would wash it.'
Then the daughter of the Ether,
Now the hapless water-mother,
Raised her shoulders out of water,
Raised her knees above the ocean,
That the duck might build her dwelling,
Build her nesting-place in safety.
Thereupon the duck in beauty,
Flying slowly, looking round her,
Spies the shoulders of the maiden,
Sees the knees of Ether's daughter,
Now the hapless water-mother,
Thinks them to be grassy hillocks,
On the blue back of the ocean.
Thence she flies and hovers slowly,
Lightly on the knee she settles,
Finds a nesting-place befitting,
Where to lay her eggs in safety.
Here she builds her humble dwelling,
Lays her eggs within, at pleasure,
Six, the golden eggs she lays there,
Then a seventh, an egg of iron;
Sits upon her eggs to hatch them,
Quickly warms them on the knee-cap
Of the hapless water-mother;
Hatches one day, then a second,
Then a third day sits and hatches.
Warmer grows the water round her,
Warmer is her bed in ocean,
While her knee with fire is kindled,
And her shoulders too are burning,
Fire in every vein is coursing.
Quick the maiden moves her shoulders,
Shakes her members in succession,
Shakes the nest from its foundation,
And the eggs fall into ocean,
Dash in pieces on the bottom
Of the deep and boundless waters.
In the sand they do not perish,
Not the pieces in the ocean;
But transformed, in wondrous beauty
All the fragments come together
Forming pieces two in number,
One the upper, one the lower,
Equal to the one, the other.
From one half the egg, the lower,
Grows the nether vault of Terra:
From the upper half remaining,
Grows the upper vault of Heaven;
From the white part come the moonbeams,
From the yellow part the sunshine,
From the motley part the starlight,
From the dark part grows the cloudage;
And the days speed onward swiftly,
Quickly do the years fly over,
From the shining of the new sun
From the lighting of the full moon.
Still the daughter of the Ether,
Swims the sea as water-mother,
With the floods outstretched before her,
And behind her sky and ocean.
Finally about the ninth year,
In the summer of the tenth year,
Lifts her head above the surface,
Lifts her forehead from the waters,
And begins at last her workings,
Now commences her creations,
On the azure water-ridges,
On the mighty waste before her.
Where her hand she turned in water,
There arose a fertile hillock;
Wheresoe'er her foot she rested,
There she made a hole for fishes;
Where she dived beneath the waters,
Fell the many deeps of ocean;
Where upon her side she turned her,
There the level banks have risen;
Where her head was pointed landward,
There appeared wide bays and inlets;
When from shore she swam a distance,
And upon her back she rested,
There the rocks she made and fashioned,
And the hidden reefs created,
Where the ships are wrecked so often,
Where so many lives have perished.
Thus created were the islands,
Rocks were fastened in the ocean,
Pillars of the sky were planted,
Fields and forests were created,
Checkered stones of many colors,
Gleaming in the silver sunlight,
All the rocks stood well established;
But the singer, Wainamoinen,
Had not yet beheld the sunshine,
Had not seen the golden moonlight,
Still remaining undelivered.
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Lingering within his dungeon
Thirty summers altogether,
And of winters, also thirty,
Peaceful on the waste of waters,
On the broad-sea's yielding bosom,
Well reflected, long considered,
How unborn to live and flourish
In the spaces wrapped in darkness,
In uncomfortable limits,
Where he had not seen the moonlight,
Had not seen the silver sunshine.
10
Thereupon these words be uttered,
Let himself be heard in this wise:
'Take, O Moon, I pray thee, take me,
Take me, thou, O Sun above me,
Take me, thou O Bear of heaven,
From this dark and dreary prison,
From these unbefitting portals,
From this narrow place of resting,
From this dark and gloomy dwelling,
Hence to wander from the ocean,
Hence to walk upon the islands,
On the dry land walk and wander,
Like an ancient hero wander,
Walk in open air and breathe it,
Thus to see the moon at evening,
Thus to see the silver sunlight,
Thus to see the Bear in heaven,
That the stars I may consider.'
Since the Moon refused to free him,
And the Sun would not deliver,
Nor the Great Bear give assistance,
His existence growing weary,
And his life but an annoyance,
Bursts he then the outer portals
Of his dark and dismal fortress;
With his strong, but unnamed finger,
Opens he the lock resisting;
With the toes upon his left foot,
With the fingers of his right hand,
Creeps he through the yielding portals
To the threshold of his dwelling;
On his knees across the threshold,
Throws himself head foremost, forward
Plunges into deeps of ocean,
Plunges hither, plunges thither,
Turning with his hands the water;
Swims he northward, swims he southward,
Swims he eastward, swims he westward,
Studying his new surroundings.
Thus our hero reached the water,
Rested five years in the ocean,
Six long years, and even seven years,
11
Till the autumn of the eighth year,
When at last he leaves the waters,
Stops upon a promontory,
On a coast bereft of verdure;
On his knees he leaves the ocean,
On the land he plants his right foot,
On the solid ground his left foot,
Quickly turns his hands about him,
Stands erect to see the sunshine,
Stands to see the golden moonlight,
That he may behold the Great Bear,
That he may the stars consider.
Thus our hero, Wainamoinen,
Thus the wonderful enchanter
Was delivered from his mother,
Ilmatar, the Ether's daughter.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
397:By what arrangements all things come to pass
Through the blue regions of the mighty world,-
How we can know what energy and cause
Started the various courses of the sun
And the moon's goings, and by what far means
They can succumb, the while with thwarted light,
And veil with shade the unsuspecting lands,
When, as it were, they blink, and then again
With open eye survey all regions wide,
Resplendent with white radiance- I do now
Return unto the world's primeval age
And tell what first the soft young fields of earth
With earliest parturition had decreed
To raise in air unto the shores of light
And to entrust unto the wayward winds.

In the beginning, earth gave forth, around
The hills and over all the length of plains,
The race of grasses and the shining green;
The flowery meadows sparkled all aglow
With greening colour, and thereafter, lo,
Unto the divers kinds of trees was given
An emulous impulse mightily to shoot,
With a free rein, aloft into the air.
As feathers and hairs and bristles are begot
The first on members of the four-foot breeds
And on the bodies of the strong-y-winged,
Thus then the new Earth first of all put forth
Grasses and shrubs, and afterward begat
The mortal generations, there upsprung-
Innumerable in modes innumerable-
After diverging fashions. For from sky
These breathing-creatures never can have dropped,
Nor the land-dwellers ever have come up
Out of sea-pools of salt. How true remains,
How merited is that adopted name
Of earth- "The Mother!"- since from out the earth
Are all begotten. And even now arise
From out the loams how many living things-
Concreted by the rains and heat of the sun.
Wherefore 'tis less a marvel, if they sprang
In Long Ago more many, and more big,
Matured of those days in the fresh young years
Of earth and ether. First of all, the race
Of the winged ones and parti-coloured birds,
Hatched out in spring-time, left their eggs behind;
As now-a-days in summer tree-crickets
Do leave their shiny husks of own accord,
Seeking their food and living. Then it was
This earth of thine first gave unto the day
The mortal generations; for prevailed
Among the fields abounding hot and wet.
And hence, where any fitting spot was given,
There 'gan to grow womb-cavities, by roots
Affixed to earth. And when in ripened time
The age of the young within (that sought the air
And fled earth's damps) had burst these wombs, O then
Would Nature thither turn the pores of earth
And make her spurt from open veins a juice
Like unto milk; even as a woman now
Is filled, at child-bearing, with the sweet milk,
Because all that swift stream of aliment
Is thither turned unto the mother-breasts.
There earth would furnish to the children food;
Warmth was their swaddling cloth, the grass their bed
Abounding in soft down. Earth's newness then
Would rouse no dour spells of the bitter cold,
Nor extreme heats nor winds of mighty powers-
For all things grow and gather strength through time
In like proportions; and then earth was young.

Wherefore, again, again, how merited
Is that adopted name of Earth- The Mother!-
Since she herself begat the human race,
And at one well-nigh fixed time brought forth
Each breast that ranges raving round about
Upon the mighty mountains and all birds
Aerial with many a varied shape.
But, lo, because her bearing years must end,
She ceased, like to a woman worn by eld.
For lapsing aeons change the nature of
The whole wide world, and all things needs must take
One status after other, nor aught persists
Forever like itself. All things depart;
Nature she changeth all, compelleth all
To transformation. Lo, this moulders down,
A-slack with weary eld, and that, again,
Prospers in glory, issuing from contempt.
In suchwise, then, the lapsing aeons change
The nature of the whole wide world, and earth
Taketh one status after other. And what
She bore of old, she now can bear no longer,
And what she never bore, she can to-day.

In those days also the telluric world
Strove to beget the monsters that upsprung
With their astounding visages and limbs-
The Man-woman- a thing betwixt the twain,
Yet neither, and from either sex remote-
Some gruesome Boggles orphaned of the feet,
Some widowed of the hands, dumb Horrors too
Without a mouth, or blind Ones of no eye,
Or Bulks all shackled by their legs and arms
Cleaving unto the body fore and aft,
Thuswise, that never could they do or go,
Nor shun disaster, nor take the good they would.
And other prodigies and monsters earth
Was then begetting of this sort- in vain,
Since Nature banned with horror their increase,
And powerless were they to reach unto
The coveted flower of fair maturity,
Or to find aliment, or to intertwine
In works of Venus. For we see there must
Concur in life conditions manifold,
If life is ever by begetting life
To forge the generations one by one:
First, foods must be; and, next, a path whereby
The seeds of impregnation in the frame
May ooze, released from the members all;
Last, the possession of those instruments
Whereby the male with female can unite,
The one with other in mutual ravishments.

And in the ages after monsters died,
Perforce there perished many a stock, unable
By propagation to forge a progeny.
For whatsoever creatures thou beholdest
Breathing the breath of life, the same have been
Even from their earliest age preserved alive
By cunning, or by valour, or at least
By speed of foot or wing. And many a stock
Remaineth yet, because of use to man,
And so committed to man's guardianship.
Valour hath saved alive fierce lion-breeds
And many another terrorizing race,
Cunning the foxes, flight the antlered stags.
Light-sleeping dogs with faithful heart in breast,
However, and every kind begot from seed
Of beasts of draft, as, too, the woolly flocks
And horned cattle, all, my Memmius,
Have been committed to guardianship of men.
For anxiously they fled the savage beasts,
And peace they sought and their abundant foods,
Obtained with never labours of their own,
Which we secure to them as fit rewards
For their good service. But those beasts to whom
Nature has granted naught of these same things-
Beasts quite unfit by own free will to thrive
And vain for any service unto us
In thanks for which we should permit their kind
To feed and be in our protection safe-
Those, of a truth, were wont to be exposed,
Enshackled in the gruesome bonds of doom,
As prey and booty for the rest, until
Nature reduced that stock to utter death.

But Centaurs ne'er have been, nor can there be
Creatures of twofold stock and double frame,
Compact of members alien in kind,
Yet formed with equal function, equal force
In every bodily part- a fact thou mayst,
However dull thy wits, well learn from this:
The horse, when his three years have rolled away,
Flowers in his prime of vigour; but the boy
Not so, for oft even then he gropes in sleep
After the milky nipples of the breasts,
An infant still. And later, when at last
The lusty powers of horses and stout limbs,
Now weak through lapsing life, do fail with age,
Lo, only then doth youth with flowering years
Begin for boys, and clothe their ruddy cheeks
With the soft down. So never deem, percase,
That from a man and from the seed of horse,
The beast of draft, can Centaurs be composed
Or e'er exist alive, nor Scyllas be-
The half-fish bodies girdled with mad dogs-
Nor others of this sort, in whom we mark
Members discordant each with each; for ne'er
At one same time they reach their flower of age
Or gain and lose full vigour of their frame,
And never burn with one same lust of love,
And never in their habits they agree,
Nor find the same foods equally delightsome-
Sooth, as one oft may see the bearded goats
Batten upon the hemlock which to man
Is violent poison. Once again, since flame
Is wont to scorch and burn the tawny bulks
Of the great lions as much as other kinds
Of flesh and blood existing in the lands,
How could it be that she, Chimaera lone,
With triple body- fore, a lion she;
And aft, a dragon; and betwixt, a goat-
Might at the mouth from out the body belch
Infuriate flame? Wherefore, the man who feigns
Such beings could have been engendered
When earth was new and the young sky was fresh
(Basing his empty argument on new)
May babble with like reason many whims
Into our ears: he'll say, perhaps, that then
Rivers of gold through every landscape flowed,
That trees were wont with precious stones to flower,
Or that in those far aeons man was born
With such gigantic length and lift of limbs
As to be able, based upon his feet,
Deep oceans to bestride; or with his hands
To whirl the firmament around his head.
For though in earth were many seeds of things
In the old time when this telluric world
First poured the breeds of animals abroad,
Still that is nothing of a sign that then
Such hybrid creatures could have been begot
And limbs of all beasts heterogeneous
Have been together knit; because, indeed,
The divers kinds of grasses and the grains
And the delightsome trees- which even now
Spring up abounding from within the earth-
Can still ne'er be begotten with their stems
Begrafted into one; but each sole thing
Proceeds according to its proper wont
And all conserve their own distinctions based
In Nature's fixed decree.


author class:Lucretius
~ to what remains!- Since I've resolved, Origins Of Vegetable And Animal Life
,
398:Forsaking All Others Part 4
WAYNE was looking near and far
After the theatre to find his car.
He had taken his wife to the play that night;
Broadway was glittering hard and bright
With every sort of electric light­
Green and scarlet and diamond-white;
And moving letters against the sky
Told you exactly the reason why
This or that was the thing to buy.
And suddenly there at his side was Nell
Vainly seeking her car as well
They talked. for a moment... of meeting again...
And how were Edward and Ruth, and then
'I wonder,' said Nell, 'if you ever see
My lovely friend...' 'You mean,' said he,
'That blue-eyed lady I once sat next.. '
'Exactly,' said Nellie. 'I feel so vexed
With Lee. I haven't seen her this season,
And between you and me, I know the reason.'
'Do you indeed? ' said Wayne.'Oh, yes,'
Nell answered. 'I know... at least I guess.
When a woman like that whom I've seen so much
All of a sudden drops out of touch,
Is always busy and never can
Spare you a moment, it means a MAN.'
Wayne did not smile. 'I am sure you are
Right,' he said. 'Do you go so far
In the magic art as to tell us who
The man may be? ' 'I certainly do,'
Said Nell. 'It's that handsome young romantic
Doctor who's driving the ladies frantic,
So that they flock to be cured in shoals
And talk of nothing but sex and souls,
And self-expression, and physical passion..
Of course, no wonder the man's the fashion.'
34
'Does Mrs. Kent flock? ' 'Oh, no, I meant
They've called him in to take care of Kent.
Imagine the long deep conversations,
The tears, the intimate revelations...
I wish to all ladies, lonely and sad,
Tied to a husband hopelessly mad
A handsome psychiatrist... good or bad.
Oh, there's my car,' and so with a gay
Good night to Wayne she was driven away.
People will come for miles, they say,
To see a man burnt at the stake, yet none
Turned in that crowd to look at one
Standing quietly burning there,
Suffering more than a man can bear,
Consumed with hideous inner fire,
Believing his love a cheat and a liar...
Believing the moment that Nell had spoken,
For that day of all days Lee had broken
A date... at the time he had thought it queer,
And now, by God, it was perfectly clear,
Perfectly clear, no doubt whatever...
A doctor, handsome and young and clever,
With all this rotten erotic learning....
Strange indeed that no head was turning
To watch this gentleman quietly burning,
In a trance of pain he heard Ruth say:
'Well, dear, what did you think of that play? '
II
'HOW could you think such a thing? '
'Try to forgive if you can.'
'Spoiling our beautiful Spring! '
'Well, I am only a man.'
'I will forgive, if I can.'
'Jealousy made me insane.'
'I never spoke to the man.'
'I'll never doubt you again.'
35
'Jealousy made you insane.'
'Lee, you have much to forgive.'
'Oh, never doubt me again.'
'Never as long as I live.'
'Jim, I have much to forgive.'
'Yes, but I've suffered like hell.'
'Trust me as long as you live.'
'Dearest, I love you too well.'
'Poor darling, going through hell.'
'Spoiling our beautiful Spring.'
'I also love you too well.'
'How could I think such a thing? '
III
LOVERS after a quarrel say to each other lightly:
'Dear, we are closer than ever: I love you better by far;
After the rainstorm is over, the sun shines even more brightly...'
Poor pitiful lovers, trying to hide the unsightly
Stain on the surface of love... the ineffaceable scar.
IV
THE Spring was over, and Summer far advanced,­
Lee spent many a hidden week in town,
Days long and enchanted, and nights entranced,
But one thought would not down:
'Is he content with this snatched and broken life? '
She thought, 'when we might be free?
He cannot love that dowdy middle-aged wife.
Does he really love me? '
She was not burnt by jealousy sudden and hot,
But poisoned and chilled that he would not break
A meagre tie to a wife she knew he could not
Love, - yet would not forsake.
One night at her window, looking over the Park,
36
With his strong hand on her shoulder prest,
And a thunder-cloud rolling up out of the dark,
Rolling out of the West,
Suddenly she heard herself quoting Macbeth:
' 'To be thus is nothing, but to be safely thus.' '
He answered after a pause on a long-drawn breath:
'Safety is not for us.'
AND from that moment Lee began - not nagging,
She was too wise for that - but she began
A secret steady pull, a silent dragging
To break the other tie that bound this man.
And she would brood, injured, remote, self-centred
At any mention that he had a wife;
And something chill and faintly hostile entered
The magic circle of this hidden life.
O lovers, those legitimately united
In holy wedlock, and less happy, those
Whose troth may never openly be plighted­
(Less happy did I say? Alas, who knows?)
But lovers all, beware, and know the strongest
Of wills may make a strong antagonist:
And that love will not always linger longest
With those who hold it in too clenched a fist.
VI
YET on the whole they were happy, as day by day
The long mysterious Summer passed away.
None guessed their secret - except far off on a shady
Lawn by the coast of Maine, a middle-aged lady
Spending a quiet Summer almost alone
In a great Victorian house of dark gray stone,
Knew as she sat and stared at the cold Maine ocean
Every event, every phase, every emotion
Of that great romance. She knew, none better,
Not by a chance or slip, or anonymous letter,
37
Not through gossip by any tattler carried,
But because she perfectly knew the man she had married.
VII
'DO not go home for Sunday,
Darling,' Lee's letter said.
'How I hate Friday to Monday!
Stay with me here, instead.
Life is so short, and one day
Soon, we shall both be dead.
'The curse of love like ours
Is that we seem to be
Always cut short by powers
Stronger than you and me.
But if you stayed-what hours,
Glorious, alone and free'
VIII
RUTH in her quiet garden beside the sea
Thinking, 'To-morrow at this time Jim will be
Here at my side. It's something to be a wife The background dull and assured of everyday life.
He must come home, whether he wants to or not,
To me, to me... All other women must plot,
Arrange, manoeuver to see him...'
And then behind her
She heard the steps of a servant coming to find her:
A footman stood with a telegram held on a tray:
'Terribly sorry I cannot get away
This week-end. Better luck next. Love. Jim.'
She turned her head to the footman, and said to him,
'Say Mr. Wayne will not be here to-morrow.'
And the man withdrew and left her alone with her sorrow.
The sun went down behind the great blue hill;
And she sat there alone in her garden, perfectly still,
Watching the wraiths of fog blow in like smoke,
38
And her heart as she sat there gently and quietly broke.
IX
AN August Sunday in town,
The Park all sere and brown,
The noise of wheels died down.
Faint tepid breezes wake
Now and again, and make
Lee's slatted curtains shake.
Now and again in the street
The sound of passing feet,
And church bells, faint and sweet.
Faint bells that ought to mean
A village spire seen
Across a meadow green.
Faint bells... Wayne's early youth....
Going to church... in truth
Going to church with Ruth.
Faint bells, and Lee cries, 'Oh,
How I should like to know
Why bells depress me so! '
BEFORE the skulls of Primitive Man,
Lee stood and thought: 'Are we part of a plan
Of Nature's; or are we just a sort
Of Cosmic Coincidence - a sport
Of God - or worse, a sport of chance­
Or of Ether - Nature's great romance?
'How queer it would be, if it turned out we
Were merely eddies - Jim and me
Meaningless eddies in ether swirled
In and out of a meaningless world.
Well, if we are it's nice to think
39
We've had some moments upon the brink
Of dissolution - of absolute chaos
Moments of joy that well repay us.'
And she paused to note that her fellow eddy
Was fifteen minutes late already.
Waiting she wandered from floor to floor,
Every instant becoming more
Uneasy, and going back to the door,
Where Wayne ought to have been at exactly four.
She went from the skulls of Primitive Man
To the mystic temples of Yucatan,
Or studied gray elephants, vast and haughty,
But with eyes like pigs' eyes, shrewd and naughty,
Flamingoes of beautiful coral pink­
The ancestry of the missing link­
But in between she was always hurrying
Back to the doorway, wondering, worrying And then she saw with a horrid sinking
Of heart, it was five! And she went home thinking,
'Something has happened - he's been struck
By a ruthless, rollicking, rumbling truck,
Or crushed by a taxi, and now is lying
In some hospital ward - unknown and dying Or if they knew would they send in truth
For me? Oh, no, they would send for Ruth.'
And hurrying fast as the laws enable,
She found a telegram on her table,
Signed as usual, 'J. H. Wayne:'
'Ruth has pneumonia alone in Maine,
Of course I am taking the very first train.
Sorry to miss you before I go.
When I know my plans, I'll let you know.'
The first emotion felt by Lee
Was pure and perfect relief that he
Was safe. And then she felt the force
Of that cruel, domestic calm 'of course.'
40
And then undeniably into her head
Came the thought unbidden: - 'If Ruth were dead - '
And standing alone: 'Poor thing,' she said
~ Alice Duer Miller,
399:The Kalevala - Rune Xxxviii
ILMARINEN'S FRUITLESS WOOING.
Ilmarinen, the magician,
The eternal metal-artist,
Lays aside the golden image,
Beauteous maid of magic metals;
Throws the harness on his courser,
Binds him to his sledge of birch-wood,
Seats himself upon the cross-bench,
Snaps the whip above the racer,
Thinking once again to journey
To the mansions of Pohyola,
There to woo a bride in honor,
Second daughter of the Northland.
On he journeyed, restless, northward,
Journeyed one day, then a second,
So the third from morn till evening,
When he reached a Northland-village
On the plains of Sariola.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Standing in the open court-yard,
Spied the hero, Ilmarinen,
Thus addressed the metal-worker:
'Tell me how my child is living,
How the Bride of Beauty prospers,
As a daughter to thy mother.'
Then the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Head bent down and brow dejected,
Thus addressed the Northland hostess:
'O, thou dame of Sariola,
Do not ask me of thy daughter,
Since, alas I in Tuonela
Sleeps the Maiden of the Rainbow,
Sleeps in death the Bride, of Beauty,
Underneath the fragrant heather,
In the kingdom of Manala.
Come I for a second daughter,
For the fairest of thy virgins.
568
Beauteous hostess of Pohyola,
Give to me thy youngest maiden,
For my former wife's compartments,
For the chambers of her sister.'
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Spake these words to Ilmarinen:
'Foolish was the Northland-hostess,
When she gave her fairest virgin,
In the bloom of youth and beauty
To the blacksmith of Wainola,
Only to be led to Mana,
Like a lambkin to the slaughter!
I shall never give my daughter,
Shall not give my youngest maiden
Bride of thine to be hereafter,
Life-companion at thy fireside.
Sooner would I give the fair one
To the cataract and whirlpool,
To the river of Manala,
To the waters of Tuoni!'
Then the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Drew away his head, disdainful,
Shook his sable locks in anger,
Entered to the inner court-room,
Where the maiden sat in waiting,
Spake these measures to the daughter:
'Come with me, thou bright-eyed maiden,
To the cottage where thy sister
Lived and lingered in contentment,
Baked for me the toothsome biscuit,
Brewed for me the beer of barley,
Kept my dwelling-place in order.'
On the floor a babe was lying,
Thus he sang to Ilmarinen:
'Uninvited, leave this mansion,
Go, thou stranger, from this dwelling;
Once before thou camest hither,
Only bringing pain and trouble,
Filling all our hearts with sorrow.
Fairest daughter of my mother,
Do not give this suitor welcome,
Look not on his eyes with pleasure,
569
Nor admire his form and features.
In his mouth are only wolf-teeth,
Cunning fox-claws in his mittens,
In his shoes art only bear-claws,
In his belt a hungry dagger;
Weapons these of blood and murder,
Only worn by the unworthy.'
Then the daughter spake as follows
To the blacksmith, Ilmarinen:
'Follow thee this maid will never,
Never heed unworthy suitors;
Thou hast slain the Bride of Beauty,
Once the Maiden of the Rainbow,
Thou wouldst also slay her sister.
I deserve a better suitor,
Wish a truer, nobler husband,
Wish to ride in richer sledges,
Have a better home-protection;
Never will I sweep the cottage
And the coal-place of a blacksmith.'
Then the hero, Ilmarinen,
The eternal metal-artist,
Turned his head away, disdainful,
Shook his sable locks in anger,
Quickly seized the trembling maiden,
Held her in his grasp of iron,
Hastened from the court of Louhi
To his sledge upon the highway.
In his sleigh he seats the virgin,
Snugly wraps her in his far-robes,
Snaps his whip above the racer,
Gallops on the high-road homeward;
With one hand the reins be tightens,
With the other holds the maiden.
Speaks the virgin-daughter, weeping:
We have reached the lowland-berries,
Here the herbs of water-borders;
Leave me here to sink and perish
As a child of cold misfortune.
Wicked Ilmarinen, Iisten!
If thou dost not quickly free me,
I will break thy sledge to pieces,
570
Throw thy fur-robes to the north-winds.'
Ilmarinen makes this answer:
'When the blacksmith builds his snow-sledge,
All the parts are hooped with iron;
Therefore will the beauteous maiden
Never beat my sledge to fragments.'
Then the silver-tinselled daughter
Wept and wailed in bitter accents,
Wrung her hands in desperation,
Spake again to Ilmarinen:
'If thou dost not quickly free me,
I shall change to ocean-salmon,
Be a whiting of the waters.'
'Thou wilt never thus escape me,
As a pike I'll fleetly follow.'
Then the maiden of Pohyola
Wept and wailed in bitter accents,
Wrung her hands in desperation,
Spake again to Ilmarinen;
'If thou dost not quickly free me,
I shall hasten to the forest,
Mid the rocks become an ermine!'
'Thou wilt never thus escape me,
As a serpent I will follow.'
Then the beauty of the Northland,
Wailed and wept in bitter accents,
Wrung her hands in desperation,
Spake once more to Ilmarinen:
'Surely, if thou dost not free me,
As a lark I'll fly the ether,
Hide myself within the storm-clouds.'
'Neither wilt thou thus escape me,
As an eagle I will follow.'
They had gone but little distance,
When the courser shied and halted,
Frighted at some passing object;
And the maiden looked in wonder,
In the snow beheld some foot-prints,
Spake these words to Ilmarinen:
Who has run across our highway?'
''Tis the timid hare', he answered.
Thereupon the stolen maiden
571
Sobbed, and moaned, in deeps of sorrow,
Heavy-hearted, spake these measures:
'Woe is me, ill-fated virgin!
Happier far my life hereafter,
If the hare I could but follow
To his burrow in the woodlands!
Crook-leg's fur to me is finer
Than the robes of Ilmarinen.'
Ilmarinen, the magician,
Tossed his head in full resentment,
Galloped on the highway homeward,
Travelled but a little distance,
When again his courser halted,
Frighted at some passing stranger.
Quick the maiden looked and wondered,
In the snow beheld some foot-prints,
Spake these measures to the blacksmith:
Who has crossed our snowy pathway?'
''Tis a fox', replied the minstrel.
Thereupon the beauteous virgin
Moaned again in depths of anguish,
Sang these accents, heavy-hearted:
'Woe is me, ill-fated maiden!
Happier far my life hereafter,
With the cunning fox to wander,
Than with this ill-mannered suitor;
Reynard's fur to me is finer
Than the robes of Ilmarinen.'
Thereupon the metal-worker
Shut his lips in sore displeasure,
Hastened on the highway homeward;
Travelled but a little distance,
When again his courser halted.
Quick the maiden looked in wonder,
in the snow beheld some foot-prints,
Spake these words to the magician:
Who again has crossed our pathway?'
''Tis the wolf', said Ilmarinen.
Thereupon the fated daughter
Fell again to bitter weeping,
And Intoned these words of sorrow:
'Woe is me, a hapless maiden!
572
Happier far my life hereafter,
Brighter far would be my future,
If these tracks I could but follow;
On the wolf the hair is finer
Than the furs of Ilmarinen,
Faithless suitor of the Northland.'
Then the minstrel of Wainola
Closed his lips again in anger,
Shook his sable locks, resentful,
Snapped the whip above the racer,
And the steed flew onward swiftly,
O'er the way to Kalevala,
To the village of the blacksmith.
Sad and weary from his journey,
Ilmarinen, home-returning,
Fell upon his couch in slumber,
And the maiden laughed derision.
In the morning, slowly waking,
Head confused, and locks dishevelled,
Spake the wizard, words as follow:
'Shall I set myself to singing
Magic songs and incantations?
Shall I now enchant this maiden
To a black-wolf on the mountains,
To a salmon of the ocean?
Shall not send her to the woodlands,
All the forest would be frighted;
Shall not send her to the waters,
All the fish would flee in terror;
This my sword shall drink her life-blood,
End her reign of scorn and hatred.'
Quick the sword feels his intention,
Quick divines his evil purpose,
Speaks these words to Ilmarinen:
'Was not born to drink the life-blood
Of a maiden pure and lovely,
Of a fair but helpless virgin.'
Thereupon the magic minstrel,
Filled with rage, began his singing;
Sang the very rocks asunder,
Till the distant hills re-echoed;
Sang the maiden to a sea-gull,
573
Croaking from the ocean-ledges,
Calling from the ocean-islands,
Screeching on the sandy sea-coast,
Flying to the winds opposing.
When his conjuring had ended,
Ilmarinen joined his snow-sledge,
Whipped his steed upon a gallop,
Hastened to his ancient smithy,
To his home in Kalevala.
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Comes to meet him on the highway,
Speaks these words to the magician:
'Ilmarinen, worthy brother,
Wherefore comest heavy-hearted
From the dismal Sariola?
Does Pohyola live and prosper?
Spake the minstrel, Ilmarinen:
'Why should not Pohyola prosper?
There the Sampo grinds unceasing,
Noisy rocks the lid in colors;
Grinds one day the flour for eating,
Grinds the second flour for selling,
Grinds the third day flour for keeping;
Thus it is Pohyola prospers.
While the Sampo is in Northland,
There is plowing, there is sowing,
There is growth of every virtue,
There is welfare never-ending.'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Ilmarinen, artist-brother,
Where then is the Northland-daughter,
Far renowned and beauteous maiden,
For whose hand thou hast been absent?
These the words of Ilmarinen:
'I have changed the hateful virgin
To a sea-gull on the ocean;
Now she calls above the waters,
Screeches from the ocean-islands;
On the rocks she calls and murmurs
Vainly calling for a suitor.'
574
~ Elias Lönnrot,
400: In the Moonlight
If now must pause the bullocks' jingling tune,
Here let it be beneath the dreaming trees
Supine and huge that hang upon the breeze,
Here in the wide eye of the silent moon.

How living a stillness reigns! The night's hushed rules
All things obey but three, the slow wind's sigh
Among the leaves, the cricket's ceaseless cry,
The frog's harsh discord in the ringing pools.

Yet they but seem the silence to increase
And dreadful wideness of the inhuman night.

The whole hushed world immeasurable might
Be watching round this single spot of peace.

So boundless is the darkness and so rife
With thoughts of infinite reach that it creates
A dangerous sense of space and abrogates
The wholesome littleness of human life.
237

238

Baroda and Bengal, c. 1900 - 1909
The common round that each of us must tread
Now seems a thing unreal; we forget
The heavy yoke the world on us has set,
The slave's vain labour earning tasteless bread.

Space hedges us and Time our hearts o'ertakes;
Our bounded senses and our boundless thought
Strive through the centuries and are slowly brought
Back to the source whence their divergence wakes.

The source that none have traced, since none can know
Whether from Heaven the eternal waters well
Through Nature's matted locks, as Ganges fell,
Or from some dismal nether darkness flow.

Two genii in the dubious heart of man,
Two great unhappy foes together bound
Wrestle and strive to win unhampered ground;
They strive for ever since the race began.

One from his body like a bridge of fire
Mounts upward azure-winged with eager eyes;
One in his brain deep-mansioned labouring lies
And clamps to earth the spirit's high desire.

Here in this moonlight with strange visions rife
I seem to see their vast peripheries
Without me in the sombre mighty trees,
And, hark! their silence turns the wheels of life.

These are the middle and the first. Are they
The last too? Has the duel then no close?
Shall neither vanquish of the eternal foes,
Nor even at length this moonlight turn to day?
Our age has made an idol of the brain,
The last adored a purer presence; yet

Poems from Ahana and Other Poems

239

In Asia like a dove immaculate
He lurks deep-brooding in the hearts of men.

But Europe comes to us bright-eyed and shrill.

"A far delusion was that mounting fire,
An impulse baulked and an unjust desire;
It fades as we ascend the human hill."
She cries to us to labour in the light
Of common things, grow beautiful and wise
On strong material food, nor vex our eyes
With straining after visionary delight.

Ah, beautiful and wise, but to what end?
Europe knows not, nor any of her schools
Who scorn the higher thought for dreams of fools;
Riches and joy and power meanwhile are gained.

Gained and then lost! For Death the heavy grip
Shall loosen, Death shall cloud the laughing eye,
And he who broke the nations soon shall lie
More helpless than a little child asleep.

And after? Nay, for death is end and term.

A fiery dragon through the centuries curled,
He feeds upon the glories of the world
And the vast mammoth dies before the worm.

Stars run their cycle and are quenched; the suns
Born from the night are to the night returned,
When the cold tenebrous spaces have inurned
The listless phantoms of the Shining Ones.

From two dead worlds a burning world arose
Of which the late putrescent fruit is man;
From chill dark space his roll of life began
And shall again in icy quiet close.
240

Baroda and Bengal, c. 1900 - 1909
Our lives are but a transitory breath:
Mean pismires in the sad and dying age
Of a once glorious planet, on the edge
Of bitter pain we wait eternal death.

Watering the ages with our sweat and blood
We pant towards some vague ideal state
And by the effort fiercer ills create,
Working by lasting evil transient good.

Insults and servitude we bear perforce;
With profitable crimes our souls we rack,
Vexing ourselves lest earth our seed should lack
Who needs us not in her perpetual course;
Then down into the earth descend and sleep
For ever, and the lives for which we toiled
Forget us, who when they their turn have moiled,
Themselves forgotten into silence creep.

Why is it all, the labour and the din,
And wherefore do we plague our souls and vex
Our bodies or with doubts our days perplex?
Death levels soon the virtue with the sin.

If Death be end and close the useless strife,
Strive not at all, but take what ease you may
And make a golden glory of the day,
Exhaust the little honey of your life.

Fear not to take her beauty to your heart
Whom you so utterly desire; you do
No hurt to any, for the inner you
So cherished is a dream that shall depart.

The wine of life is sweet; let no man stint
His longing or refuse one passionate hope.
Poems from Ahana and Other Poems
Why should we cabin in such infinite scope,
Restrict the issue of such golden mint?
Society forbids? It for our sakes
Was fashioned; if it seek to fence around
Our joys and pleasures in such narrow bound,
It gives us little for the much it takes.

Nor need we hearken to the gospel vain
That bids men curb themselves to help mankind.

We lose our little chance of bliss, then blind
And silent lie for ever. Whose the gain?
What helps it us if so mankind be served?
Ourselves are blotted out from joy and light,
Having no profit of the sunshine bright,
While others reap the fruit our toils deserved.

O this new god who has replaced the old!
He dies today, he dies tomorrow, dies
At last for ever, and the last sunrise
Shall have forgotten him extinct and cold.

But virtue to itself is joy enough?
Yet if to us sin taste diviner? why
Should we not herd in Epicurus' sty
Whom Nature made not of a Stoic stuff?
For Nature being all, desire must reign.

It is too sweet and strong for us to slay
Upon a nameless altar, saying nay
To honied urgings for no purpose plain.

A strange unreal gospel Science brings, -
Being animals to act as angels might;
Mortals we must put forth immortal might
And flutter in the void celestial wings.
241

242

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"Ephemeral creatures, for the future live,"
She bids us, "gather in for unborn men
Knowledge and joy, and forfeit, nor complain,
The present which alone is yours to give."
Man's immortality she first denies
And then assumes what she rejects, made blind
By sudden knowledge, the majestic Mind
Within her smiling at her sophistries.

Not so shall Truth extend her flight sublime,
Pass from the poor beginnings she has made
And with the splendour of her wings displayed
Range through the boundaries of Space and Time.

Clamp her not down to her material finds!
She shall go further. She shall not reject
The light within, nor shall the dialect
Of unprogressive pedants bar men's minds.

We seek the Truth and will not pause nor fear.

Truth we will have and not the sophist's pleas;
Animals, we will take our grosser ease,
Or, spirits, heaven's celestial music hear.

The intellect is not all; a guide within
Awaits our question. He it was informed
The reason, He surpasses; and unformed
Presages of His mightiness begin.

Nor mind submerged, nor self subliminal,
But the great Force that makes the planets wheel
Through ether and the sun in flames reveal
His godhead, is in us perpetual.

That Force in us is body, that is mind,
And what is higher than the mind is He.
Poems from Ahana and Other Poems
This was the secret Science could not see;
Aware of death, to life her eyes were blind.

Through chemistry she seeks the source of life,
Nor knows the mighty laws that she has found,
Are Nature's bye-laws merely, meant to ground
A grandiose freedom building peace by strife.

The organ for the thing itself she takes,
The brain for mind, the body for the soul,
Nor has she patience to explore the whole,
But like a child a hasty period makes.

"It is enough," she says, "I have explored
The whole of being; nothing now remains
But to put details in and count my gains."
So she deceives herself, denies her Lord.

Therefore He manifests Himself; once more
The wonders of the secret world within
Wrapped yet with an uncertain mist begin
To look from that thick curtain out; the door
Opens. Her days are numbered, and not long
Shall she be suffered to belittle thus
Man and restrain from his tempestuous
Uprising that immortal spirit strong.

He rises now; for God has taken birth.

The revolutions that pervade the world
Are faint beginnings and the discus hurled
Of Vishnu speeds down to enring the earth.

The old shall perish; it shall pass away,
Expunged, annihilated, blotted out;
And all the iron bands that ring about
Man's wide expansion shall at last give way.
243

244

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Freedom, God, Immortality; the three
Are one and shall be realised at length,
Love, Wisdom, Justice, Joy and utter Strength
Gather into a pure felicity.

It comes at last, the day foreseen of old,
What John in Patmos saw, what Shelley dreamed,
Vision and vain imagination deemed,
The City of Delight, the Age of Gold.

The Iron Age is ended. Only now
The last fierce spasm of the dying past
Shall shake the nations, and when that has passed,
Earth washed of ills shall raise a fairer brow.

This is man's progress; for the Iron Age
Prepares the Age of Gold. What we call sin,
Is but man's leavings as from deep within
The Pilot guides him in his pilgrimage.

He leaves behind the ill with strife and pain,
Because it clings and constantly returns,
And in the fire of suffering fiercely burns
More sweetness to deserve, more strength to gain.

He rises to the good with Titan wings:
And this the reason of his high unease,
Because he came from the infinities
To build immortally with mortal things;
The body with increasing soul to fill,
Extend Heaven's claim upon the toiling earth
And climb from death to a diviner birth
Grasped and supported by immortal Will.

~ Sri Aurobindo, - In the Moonlight
,
401:The seeds of all things are, and how distinct
In divers forms they flit of own accord,
Stirred with a motion everlasting on,
And in what mode things be from them create,
And since I've taught what the mind's nature is,
And of what things 'tis with the body knit
And thrives in strength, and by what mode uptorn
That mind returns to its primordials,
Now will I undertake an argument-
One for these matters of supreme concern-
That there exist those somewhats which we call
The images of things: these, like to films
Scaled off the utmost outside of the things,
Flit hither and thither through the atmosphere,
And the same terrify our intellects,
Coming upon us waking or in sleep,
When oft we peer at wonderful strange shapes
And images of people lorn of light,
Which oft have horribly roused us when we lay
In slumber- that haply nevermore may we
Suppose that souls get loose from Acheron,
Or shades go floating in among the living,
Or aught of us is left behind at death,
When body and mind, destroyed together, each
Back to its own primordials goes away.

And thus I say that effigies of things,
And tenuous shapes from off the things are sent,
From off the utmost outside of the things,
Which are like films or may be named a rind,
Because the image bears like look and form
With whatso body has shed it fluttering forth-
A fact thou mayst, however dull thy wits,
Well learn from this: mainly, because we see
Even 'mongst visible objects many be
That send forth bodies, loosely some diffused-
Like smoke from oaken logs and heat from fires-
And some more interwoven and condensed-
As when the locusts in the summertime
Put off their glossy tunics, or when calves
At birth drop membranes from their body's surface,
Or when, again, the slippery serpent doffs
Its vestments 'mongst the thorns- for oft we see
The breres augmented with their flying spoils:
Since such takes place, 'tis likewise certain too
That tenuous images from things are sent,
From off the utmost outside of the things.
For why those kinds should drop and part from things,
Rather than others tenuous and thin,
No power has man to open mouth to tell;
Especially, since on outsides of things
Are bodies many and minute which could,
In the same order which they had before,
And with the figure of their form preserved,
Be thrown abroad, and much more swiftly too,
Being less subject to impediments,
As few in number and placed along the front.
For truly many things we see discharge
Their stuff at large, not only from their cores
Deep-set within, as we have said above,
But from their surfaces at times no less-
Their very colours too. And commonly
The awnings, saffron, red and dusky blue,
Stretched overhead in mighty theatres,
Upon their poles and cross-beams fluttering,
Have such an action quite; for there they dye
And make to undulate with their every hue
The circled throng below, and all the stage,
And rich attire in the patrician seats.
And ever the more the theatre's dark walls
Around them shut, the more all things within
Laugh in the bright suffusion of strange glints,
The daylight being withdrawn. And therefore, since
The canvas hangings thus discharge their dye
From off their surface, things in general must
Likewise their tenuous effigies discharge,
Because in either case they are off-thrown
From off the surface. So there are indeed
Such certain prints and vestiges of forms
Which flit around, of subtlest texture made,
Invisible, when separate, each and one.
Again, all odour, smoke, and heat, and such
Streams out of things diffusedly, because,
Whilst coming from the deeps of body forth
And rising out, along their bending path
They're torn asunder, nor have gateways straight
Wherethrough to mass themselves and struggle abroad.
But contrariwise, when such a tenuous film
Of outside colour is thrown off, there's naught
Can rend it, since 'tis placed along the front
Ready to hand. Lastly those images
Which to our eyes in mirrors do appear,
In water, or in any shining surface,
Must be, since furnished with like look of things,
Fashioned from images of things sent out.
There are, then, tenuous effigies of forms,
Like unto them, which no one can divine
When taken singly, which do yet give back,
When by continued and recurrent discharge
Expelled, a picture from the mirrors' plane.
Nor otherwise, it seems, can they be kept
So well conserved that thus be given back
Figures so like each object.
Now then, learn
How tenuous is the nature of an image.
And in the first place, since primordials be
So far beneath our senses, and much less
E'en than those objects which begin to grow
Too small for eyes to note, learn now in few
How nice are the beginnings of all things-
That this, too, I may yet confirm in proof:
First, living creatures are sometimes so small
That even their third part can nowise be seen;
Judge, then, the size of any inward organ-
What of their sphered heart, their eyes, their limbs,
The skeleton?- How tiny thus they are!
And what besides of those first particles
Whence soul and mind must fashioned be?- Seest not
How nice and how minute? Besides, whatever
Exhales from out its body a sharp smell-
The nauseous absinth, or the panacea,
Strong southernwood, or bitter centaury-
If never so lightly with thy [fingers] twain
Perchance [thou touch] a one of them

Then why not rather know that images
Flit hither and thither, many, in many modes,
Bodiless and invisible?
But lest
Haply thou holdest that those images
Which come from objects are the sole that flit,
Others indeed there be of own accord
Begot, self-formed in earth's aery skies,
Which, moulded to innumerable shapes,
Are borne aloft, and, fluid as they are,
Cease not to change appearance and to turn
Into new outlines of all sorts of forms;
As we behold the clouds grow thick on high
And smirch the serene vision of the world,
Stroking the air with motions. For oft are seen
The giants' faces flying far along
And trailing a spread of shadow; and at times
The mighty mountains and mountain-sundered rocks
Going before and crossing on the sun,
Whereafter a monstrous beast dragging amain
And leading in the other thunderheads.
Now [hear] how easy and how swift they be
Engendered, and perpetually flow off
From things and gliding pass away.

For ever every outside streams away
From off all objects, since discharge they may;
And when this outside reaches other things,
As chiefly glass, it passes through; but where
It reaches the rough rocks or stuff of wood,
There 'tis so rent that it cannot give back
An image. But when gleaming objects dense,
As chiefly mirrors, have been set before it,
Nothing of this sort happens. For it can't
Go, as through glass, nor yet be rent- its safety,
By virtue of that smoothness, being sure.
'Tis therefore that from them the images
Stream back to us; and howso suddenly
Thou place, at any instant, anything
Before a mirror, there an image shows;
Proving that ever from a body's surface
Flow off thin textures and thin shapes of things.
Thus many images in little time
Are gendered; so their origin is named
Rightly a speedy. And even as the sun
Must send below, in little time, to earth
So many beams to keep all things so full
Of light incessant; thus, on grounds the same,
From things there must be borne, in many modes,
To every quarter round, upon the moment,
The many images of things; because
Unto whatever face of things we turn
The mirror, things of form and hue the same
Respond. Besides, though but a moment since
Serenest was the weather of the sky,
So fiercely sudden is it foully thick
That ye might think that round about all murk
Had parted forth from Acheron and filled
The mighty vaults of sky- so grievously,
As gathers thus the storm-clouds' gruesome night,
Do faces of black horror hang on high-
Of which how small a part an image is
There's none to tell or reckon out in words.

Now come; with what swift motion they are borne,
These images, and what the speed assigned
To them across the breezes swimming on-
So that o'er lengths of space a little hour
Alone is wasted, toward whatever region
Each with its divers impulse tends- I'll tell
In verses sweeter than they many are;
Even as the swan's slight note is better far
Than that dispersed clamour of the cranes
Among the southwind's aery clouds. And first,
One oft may see that objects which are light
And made of tiny bodies are the swift;
In which class is the sun's light and his heat,
Since made from small primordial elements
Which, as it were, are forward knocked along
And through the interspaces of the air
To pass delay not, urged by blows behind;
For light by light is instantly supplied
And gleam by following gleam is spurred and driven.
Thus likewise must the images have power
Through unimaginable space to speed
Within a point of time,- first, since a cause
Exceeding small there is, which at their back
Far forward drives them and propels, where, too,
They're carried with such winged lightness on;
And, secondly, since furnished, when sent off,
With texture of such rareness that they can
Through objects whatsoever penetrate
And ooze, as 'twere, through intervening air.
Besides, if those fine particles of things
Which from so deep within are sent abroad,
As light and heat of sun, are seen to glide
And spread themselves through all the space of heaven
Upon one instant of the day, and fly
O'er sea and lands and flood the heaven, what then
Of those which on the outside stand prepared,
When they're hurled off with not a thing to check
Their going out? Dost thou not see indeed
How swifter and how farther must they go
And speed through manifold the length of space
In time the same that from the sun the rays
O'erspread the heaven? This also seems to be
Example chief and true with what swift speed
The images of things are borne about:
That soon as ever under open skies
Is spread the shining water, all at once,
If stars be out in heaven, upgleam from earth,
Serene and radiant in the water there,
The constellations of the universe-
Now seest thou not in what a point of time
An image from the shores of ether falls
Unto the shores of earth? Wherefore, again,
And yet again, 'tis needful to confess
With wondrous


author class:Lucretius
~ I've taught already of what sort, Existence And Character Of The Images
,
402:The Kalevala - Rune Xliv
BIRTH OF THE SECOND HARP.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Long reflecting, sang these measures:
'It is now the time befitting
To awaken joy and gladness,
Time for me to touch the harp-strings,
Time to sing the songs primeval,
In these spacious halls and mansions,
In these homes of Kalevala;
But, alas! my harp lies hidden,
Sunk upon the deep-sea's bottom,
To the salmon's hiding-places,
To the dwellings of the whiting,
To the people of Wellamo,
Where the Northland-pike assemble.
Nevermore will I regain it,
Ahto never will return it,
Joy and music gone forever!
'O thou blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Forge for me a rake of iron,
Thickly set the teeth of copper,
Many fathoms long the handle;
Make a rake to search the waters,
Search the broad-sea to the bottom,
Rake the weeds and reeds together,
Rake them to the curving sea-shore,
That I may regain my treasure,
May regain my harp of fish-bow
From the whiting's place of resting,
From the caverns of the salmon,
From the castles of Wellamo.'
Thereupon young Ilmarinen,
The eternal metal-worker,
Forges well a rake of iron,
Teeth in length a hundred fathoms,
And a thousand long the handle,
Thickly sets the teeth of copper.
215
Straightway ancient Wainamoinen
Takes the rake of magic metals,
Travels but a little distance,
To the cylinders of oak-wood,
To the copper-banded rollers,
Where be finds two ships awaiting,
One was new, the other ancient.
Wainamoinen, old and faithful,
Thus addressed the new-made vessel:
'Go, thou boat of master-magic,
Hasten to the willing waters,
Speed away upon the blue-sea,
And without the hand to move thee;
Let my will impel thee seaward.'
Quick the boat rolled to the billows
On the cylinders of oak-wood,
Quick descended to the waters,
Willingly obeyed his master.
Wainamoinen, the magician,
Then began to rake the sea-beds,
Raked up all the water-flowers,
Bits of broken reeds and rushes,
Deep-sea shells and colored pebbles,
Did not find his harp of fish-bone,
Lost forever to Wainola!
Thereupon the ancient minstrel
Left the waters, homeward hastened,
Cap pulled clown upon his forehead,
Sang this song with sorrow laden:
'Nevermore shall I awaken
With my harp-strings, joy and gladness!
Nevermore will Wainamoinen
Charm the people of the Northland
With the harp of his creation!
Nevermore my songs will echo
O'er the hills of Kalevala!'
Thereupon the ancient singer
Went lamenting through the forest,
Wandered through the sighing pine-woods,
Heard the wailing of a birch-tree,
Heard a juniper complaining;
Drawing nearer, waits and listens,
216
Thus the birch-tree he addresses:
'Wherefore, brother, art thou weeping,
Merry birch enrobed in silver,
Silver-leaved and silver-tasselled?
Art thou shedding tears of sorrow,
Since thou art not led to battle,
Not enforced to war with wizards?
Wisely does the birch make answer:
'This the language of the many,
Others speak as thou, unjustly,
That I only live in pleasure,
That my silver leaves and tassels
Only whisper my rejoicings;
That I have no cares, no sorrows,
That I have no hours unhappy,
Knowing neither pain nor trouble.
I am weeping for my smallness,
Am lamenting for my weakness,
Have no sympathy, no pity,
Stand here motionless for ages,
Stand alone in fen and forest,
In these woodlands vast and joyless.
Others hope for coming summers,
For the beauties of the spring-time;
I, alas! a helpless birch-tree,
Dread the changing of the seasons,
I must give my bark to, others,
Lose my leaves and silken tassels.
Men come the Suomi children,
Peel my bark and drink my life-blood:
Wicked shepherds in the summer,
Come and steal my belt of silver,
Of my bark make berry-baskets,
Dishes make, and cups for drinking.
Oftentimes the Northland maidens
Cut my tender limbs for birch-brooms,'
Bind my twigs and silver tassels
Into brooms to sweep their cabins;
Often have the Northland heroes
Chopped me into chips for burning;
Three times in the summer season,
In the pleasant days of spring-time,
217
Foresters have ground their axes
On my silver trunk and branches,
Robbed me of my life for ages;
This my spring-time joy and pleasure,
This my happiness in summer,
And my winter days no better!
When I think of former troubles,
Sorrow settles on my visage,
And my face grows white with anguish;
Often do the winds of winter
And the hoar-frost bring me sadness,
Blast my tender leaves and tassels,
Bear my foliage to others,
Rob me of my silver raiment,
Leave me naked on the mountain,
Lone, and helpless, and disheartened!'
Spake the good, old Wainamoinen:
'Weep no longer, sacred birch-tree,
Mourn no more, my friend and brother,
Thou shalt have a better fortune;
I will turn thy grief to joyance,
Make thee laugh and sing with gladness.'
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Made a harp from sacred birch-wood,
Fashioned in the days of summer,
Beautiful the harp of magic,
By the master's hand created
On the fog-point in the Big-Sea,
On the island forest-covered,
Fashioned from the birch the archings,
And the frame-work from the aspen.
These the words of the magician:
'All the archings are completed,
And the frame is fitly finished;
Whence the hooks and pins for tuning,
That the harp may sing in concord?'
Near the way-side grew an oak-tree,
Skyward grew with equal branches,
On each twig an acorn growing,
Golden balls upon each acorn,
On each ball a singing cuckoo.
As each cuckoo's call resounded,
218
Five the notes of song that issued
From the songster's throat of joyance;
From each throat came liquid music,
Gold and silver for the master,
Flowing to the hills and hillocks,
To the silvery vales and mountains;
Thence he took the merry harp-pins,
That the harp might play in concord.
Spake again wise Wainamoinen:
'I the pins have well completed,
Still the harp is yet unfinished;
Now I need five strings for playing,
Where shall I procure the harp-strings?'
Then the ancient bard and minstrel
Journeyed through the fen and forest.
On a hillock sat a maiden,
Sat a virgin of the valley;
And the maiden was not weeping,
Joyful was the sylvan daughter,
Singing with the woodland songsters,
That the eventide might hasten,
In the hope that her beloved
Would the sooner sit beside her.
Wainamoinen, old and trusted,
Hastened, tripping to the virgin,
Asked her for her golden ringleta,
These the words of the magician.
'Give me, maiden, of thy tresses,
Give to me thy golden ringlets;
I will weave them into harp-strings,
To the joy of Wainamoinen,
To the pleasure of his people.'
Thereupon the forest-maiden
Gave the singer of her tresses,
Gave him of her golden ringlets,
And of these he made the harp-strings.
Sources of eternal pleasure
To the people of Wainola.
Thus the sacred harp is finished,
And the minstrel, Wainamoinen,
Sits upon the rock of joyance,
Takes the harp within his fingers,
219
Turns the arch up, looking skyward;
With his knee the arch supporting,
Sets the strings in tuneful order,
Runs his fingers o'er the harp-strings,
And the notes of pleasure follow.
Straightway ancient Wainamoinen,
The eternal wisdom-singer,
Plays upon his harp of birch-wood.
Far away is heard the music,
Wide the harp of joy re-echoes;
Mountains dance and valleys listen,
Flinty rocks are tom asunder,
Stones are hurled upon the waters,
Pebbles swim upon the Big-Sea,
Pines and lindens laugh with pleasure,
Alders skip about the heather,
And the aspen sways in concord.
All the daughters of Wainola
Straightway leave their shining needles,
Hasten forward like the current,
Speed along like rapid rivers,
That they may enjoy and wonder.
Laugh the younger men and maidens,
Happy-hearted are the matrons
Flying swift to bear the playing,
To enjoy the common pleasure,
Hear the harp of Wainamoinen.
Aged men and bearded seniors,
Gray-haired mothers with their daughters
Stop in wonderment and listen.
Creeps the babe in full enjoyment
As he hears the magic singing,
Hears the harp of Wainamoinen.
All of Northland stops in wonder,
Speaks in unison these measures:
'Never have we heard such playing,
Never heard such strains of music,
Never since the earth was fashioned,
As the songs of this magician,
This sweet singer, Wainamoinen!'
Far and wide the sweet tones echo,
Ring throughout the seven hamlets,
220
O'er the seven islands echo;
Every creature of the Northland
Hastens forth to look and listen,
Listen to the songs of gladness,
To the harp of Wainamoinen.
All the beasts that haunt the woodlands
Fall upon their knees and wonder
At the playing of the minstrel,
At his miracles of concord.
All the songsters of the forests
Perch upon the trembling branches,
Singing to the wondrous playing
Of the harp of Wainamoinen.
All the dwellers of the waters
Leave their beds, and eaves, and grottoes,
Swim against the shore and listen
To the playing of the minstrel,
To the harp of Wainamoinen.
All the little things in nature,
Rise from earth, and fall from ether,
Come and listen to the music,
To the notes of the enchanter,
To the songs of the magician,
To the harp of Wainamoinen.
Plays the singer of the Northland,
Plays in miracles of sweetness,
Plays one day, and then a second,
Plays the third from morn till even;
Plays within the halls and cabins,
In the dwellings of his people,
Till the floors and ceilings echo,
Till resound the roofs of pine-wood,
Till the windows speak and tremble,
Till the portals echo joyance,
And the hearth-stones sing in pleasure.
As he journeys through the forest,
As he wanders through the woodlands,
Pine and sorb-tree bid him welcome,
Birch and willow bend obeisance,
Beech and aspen bow submission;
And the linden waves her branches
To the measure of his playing,
221
To the notes of the magician.
As the minstrel plays and wanders,
Sings upon the mead and heather,
Glen and hill his songs re-echo,
Ferns and flowers laugh in pleasure,
And the shrubs attune their voices
To the music of the harp-strings,
To the songs of Wainamoinen.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
403:In his own footprints, I do follow through
His reasonings, and with pronouncements teach
The covenant whereby all things are framed,
How under that covenant they must abide
Nor ever prevail to abrogate the aeons'
Inexorable decrees- how (as we've found),
In class of mortal objects, o'er all else,
The mind exists of earth-born frame create
And impotent unscathed to abide
Across the mighty aeons, and how come
In sleep those idol-apparitions
That so befool intelligence when we
Do seem to view a man whom life has left.
Thus far we've gone; the order of my plan
Hath brought me now unto the point where I
Must make report how, too, the universe
Consists of mortal body, born in time,
And in what modes that congregated stuff
Established itself as earth and sky,
Ocean, and stars, and sun, and ball of moon;
And then what living creatures rose from out
The old telluric places, and what ones
Were never born at all; and in what mode
The human race began to name its things
And use the varied speech from man to man;
And in what modes hath bosomed in their breasts
That awe of gods, which halloweth in all lands
Fanes, altars, groves, lakes, idols of the gods.
Also I shall untangle by what power
The steersman Nature guides the sun's courses,
And the meanderings of the moon, lest we,
Percase, should fancy that of own free will
They circle their perennial courses round,
Timing their motions for increase of crops
And living creatures, or lest we should think
They roll along by any plan of gods.
For even those men who have learned full well
That godheads lead a long life free of care,
If yet meanwhile they wonder by what plan
Things can go on (and chiefly yon high things
Observed o'erhead on the ethereal coasts),
Again are hurried back unto the fears
Of old religion and adopt again
Harsh masters, deemed almighty- wretched men,
Unwitting what can be and what cannot,
And by what law to each its scope prescribed,
Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.

But for the rest, lest we delay thee here
Longer by empty promises- behold,
Before all else, the seas, the lands, the sky:
O Memmius, their threefold nature, lo,
Their bodies three, three aspects so unlike,
Three frames so vast, a single day shall give
Unto annihilation! Then shall crash
That massive form and fabric of the world
Sustained so many aeons! Nor do I
Fail to perceive how strange and marvellous
This fact must strike the intellect of man,-
Annihilation of the sky and earth
That is to be,- and with what toil of words
'Tis mine to prove the same; as happens oft
When once ye offer to man's listening ears
Something before unheard of, but may not
Subject it to the view of eyes for him
Nor put it into hand- the sight and touch,
Whereby the opened highways of belief
Lead most directly into human breast
And regions of intelligence. But yet
I will speak out. The fact itself, perchance,
Will force belief in these my words, and thou
Mayst see, in little time, tremendously
With risen commotions of the lands all things
Quaking to pieces- which afar from us
May she, the steersman Nature, guide: and may
Reason, O rather than the fact itself,
Persuade us that all things can be o'erthrown
And sink with awful-sounding breakage down!

But ere on this I take a step to utter
Oracles holier and soundlier based
Than ever the Pythian pronounced for men
From out the tripod and the Delphian laurel,
I will unfold for thee with learned words
Many a consolation, lest perchance,
Still bridled by religion, thou suppose
Lands, sun, and sky, sea, constellations, moon,
Must dure forever, as of frame divine-
And so conclude that it is just that those,
(After the manner of the Giants), should all
Pay the huge penalties for monstrous crime,
Who by their reasonings do overshake
The ramparts of the universe and wish
There to put out the splendid sun of heaven,
Branding with mortal talk immortal things-
Though these same things are even so far removed
From any touch of deity and seem
So far unworthy of numbering with the gods,
That well they may be thought to furnish rather
A goodly instance of the sort of things
That lack the living motion, living sense.
For sure 'tis quite beside the mark to think
That judgment and the nature of the mind
In any kind of body can exist-
Just as in ether can't exist a tree,
Nor clouds in the salt sea, nor in the fields
Can fishes live, nor blood in timber be,
Nor sap in boulders: fixed and arranged
Where everything may grow and have its place.
Thus nature of mind cannot arise alone
Without the body, nor have its being far
From thews and blood. Yet if 'twere possible?-
Much rather might this very power of mind
Be in the head, the shoulders, or the heels,
And, born in any part soever, yet
In the same man, in the same vessel abide
But since within this body even of ours
Stands fixed and appears arranged sure
Where soul and mind can each exist and grow,
Deny we must the more that they can dure
Outside the body and the breathing form
In rotting clods of earth, in the sun's fire,
In water, or in ether's skiey coasts.
Therefore these things no whit are furnished
With sense divine, since never can they be
With life-force quickened.
Likewise, thou canst ne'er
Believe the sacred seats of gods are here
In any regions of this mundane world;
Indeed, the nature of the gods, so subtle,
So far removed from these our senses, scarce
Is seen even by intelligence of mind.
And since they've ever eluded touch and thrust
Of human hands, they cannot reach to grasp
Aught tangible to us. For what may not
Itself be touched in turn can never touch.
Wherefore, besides, also their seats must be
Unlike these seats of ours,- even subtle too,
As meet for subtle essence- as I'll prove
Hereafter unto thee with large discourse.
Further, to say that for the sake of men
They willed to prepare this world's magnificence,
And that 'tis therefore duty and behoof
To praise the work of gods as worthy praise,
And that 'tis sacrilege for men to shake
Ever by any force from out their seats
What hath been stablished by the Forethought old
To everlasting for races of mankind,
And that 'tis sacrilege to assault by words
And overtopple all from base to beam,-
Memmius, such notions to concoct and pile,
Is verily- to dote. Our gratefulness,
O what emoluments could it confer
Upon Immortals and upon the Blessed
That they should take a step to manage aught
For sake of us? Or what new factor could,
After so long a time, inveigle them-
The hitherto reposeful- to desire
To change their former life? For rather he
Whom old things chafe seems likely to rejoice
At new; but one that in fore-passed time
Hath chanced upon no ill, through goodly years.
O what could ever enkindle in such an one
Passion for strange experiment? Or what
The evil for us, if we had ne'er been born?-
As though, forsooth, in darkling realms and woe
Our life were lying till should dawn at last
The day-spring of creation! Whosoever
Hath been begotten wills perforce to stay
In life, so long as fond delight detains;
But whoso ne'er hath tasted love of life,
And ne'er was in the count of living things,
What hurts it him that he was never born?
Whence, further, first was planted in the gods
The archetype for gendering the world
And the fore-notion of what man is like,
So that they knew and pre-conceived with mind
Just what they wished to make? Or how were known
Ever the energies of primal germs,
And what those germs, by interchange of place,
Could thus produce, if nature's self had not
Given example for creating all?
For in such wise primordials of things,
Many in many modes, astir by blows
From immemorial aeons, in motion too
By their own weights, have evermore been wont
To be so borne along and in all modes
To meet together and to try all sorts
Which, by combining one with other, they
Are powerful to create, that thus it is
No marvel now, if they have also fallen
Into arrangements such, and if they've passed
Into vibrations such, as those whereby
This sum of things is carried on to-day
By fixed renewal. But knew I never what
The seeds primordial were, yet would I dare
This to affirm, even from deep judgments based
Upon the ways and conduct of the skies-
This to maintain by many a fact besides-
That in no wise the nature of all things
For us was fashioned by a power divine-
So great the faults it stands encumbered with.
First, mark all regions which are overarched
By the prodigious reaches of the sky:
One yawning part thereof the mountain-chains
And forests of the beasts do have and hold;
And cliffs, and desert fens, and wastes of sea
(Which sunder afar the beaches of the lands)
Possess it merely; and, again, thereof
Well-nigh two-thirds intolerable heat
And a perpetual fall of frost doth rob
From mortal kind. And what is left to till,
Even that the force of Nature would o'errun
With brambles, did not human force oppose,-
Long wont for livelihood to groan and sweat
Over the two-pronged mattock and to cleave
The soil in twain by pressing on the plough.

Unless, by the ploughshare turning the fruitful clods
And kneading the mould, we quicken into birth,
The crops spontaneously could not come up
Into the free bright air. Even then sometimes,
When things acquired by the sternest toil
Are now in leaf, are now in blossom all,
Either the skiey sun with baneful heats
Parches, or sudden rains or chilling rime
Destroys, or flaws of winds with furious whirl
Torment and twist. Beside these matters, why
Doth Nature feed and foster on land and sea
The dreadful breed of savage beasts, the foes
Of the human clan? Why do the seasons bring
Distempers with them? Wherefore stalks at large
Death, so untimely? Then, again, the babe,
Like to the castaway of the raging surf,
Lies naked on the ground, speechless, in want
Of every help for life, when Nature first
Hath poured him forth upon the shores of light
With birth-pangs from within the mother's womb,
And with a plaintive wail he fills the place,-
As well befitting one for whom remains
In life a journey through so many ills.
But all the flocks and herds and all wild beasts
Come forth and grow, nor need the little rattles,
Nor must be treated to the humouring nurse's
Dear, broken chatter; nor seek they divers clothes
To suit the changing skies; nor need, in fine,
Nor arms, nor lofty ramparts, wherewithal
Their own to guard- because the earth herself
And Nature, artificer of the world, bring forth
Aboundingly all things for all.


author class:Lucretius
~ now, Against Teleological Concept
,
404:Lines In Memory Of Edmund Morris
Dear Morris--here is your letter-Can my answer reach you now?
Fate has left me your debtor,
You will remember how;
For I went away to Nantucket,
And you to the Isle of Orleans,
And when I was dawdling and dreaming
Over the ways and means
Of answering, the power was denied me,
Fate frowned and took her stand;
I have your unanswered letter
Here in my hand.
This--in your famous scribble,
It was ever a cryptic fist,
Cuneiform or Chaldaic
Meanings held in a mist.
Dear Morris, (now I'm inditing
And poring over your script)
I gather from the writing,
The coin that you had flipt,
Turned tails; and so you compel me
To meet you at Touchwood Hills:
Or, mayhap, you are trying to tell me
The sum of a painter's ills:
Is that Phimister Proctor
Or something about a doctor?
Well, nobody knows, but Eddie,
Whatever it is I'm ready.
For our friendship was always fortunate
In its greetings and adieux,
Nothing flat or importunate,
Nothing of the misuse
That comes of the constant grinding
Of one mind on another.
So memory has nothing to smother,
But only a few things captured
On the wing, as it were, and enraptured.
51
Yes, Morris, I am inditing-Answering at last it seems,
How can you read the writing
In the vacancy of dreams?
I would have you look over my shoulder
Ere the long, dark year is colder,
And mark that as memory grows older,
The brighter it pulses and gleams.
And if I should try to render
The tissues of fugitive splendour
That fled down the wind of living,
Will they read it some day in the future,
And be conscious of an awareness
In our old lives, and the bareness
Of theirs, with the newest passions
In the last fad of the fashions?
*****
How often have we risen without daylight
When the day star was hidden in mist,
When the dragon-fly was heavy with dew and sleep,
And viewed the miracle pre-eminent, matchless,
The prelusive light that quickens the morning.
O crystal dawn, how shall we distill your virginal freshness
When you steal upon a land that man has not sullied with his
intrusion,
When the aboriginal shy dwellers in the broad solitudes
Are asleep in their innumerable dens and night haunts
Amid the dry ferns, in the tender nests
Pressed into shape by the breasts of the Mother birds?
How shall we simulate the thrill of announcement
When lake after lake lingering in the starlight
Turn their faces towards you,
And are caressed with the salutation of colour?
How shall we transmit in tendril-like images,
The tenuous tremor in the tissues of ether,
Before the round of colour buds like the dome of a shrine,
The preconscious moment when love has fluttered in the bosom,
Before it begins to ache?
52
How often have we seen the even
Melt into the liquidity of twilight,
With passages of Titian splendour,
Pellucid preludes, exquisitely tender,
Where vanish and revive, thro' veils of the ashes of roses,
The crystal forms the breathless sky discloses.
The new moon a slender thing,
In a snood of virgin light,
She seemed all shy on venturing
Into the vast night.
Her own land and folk were afar,
She must have gone astray,
But the gods had given a silver star,
To be with her on the way.
*****
I can feel the wind on the prairie
And see the bunch-grass wave,
And the sunlights ripple and vary
The hill with Crowfoot's grave,
Where he 'pitched off' for the last time
In sight of the Blackfoot Crossing,
Where in the sun for a pastime
You marked the site of his tepee
With a circle of stones. Old Napiw
Gave you credit for that day.
And well I recall the weirdness
Of that evening at Qu'Appelle,
In the wigwam with old Sakimay,
The keen, acrid smell,
As the kinnikinick was burning;
The planets outside were turning,
And the little splints of poplar
Flared with a thin, gold flame.
He showed us his painted robe
Where in primitive pigments
He had drawn his feats and his forays,
And told us the legend
53
Of the man without a name,
The hated Blackfoot,
How he lured the warriors,
The young men, to the foray
And they never returned.
Only their ghosts
Goaded by the Blackfoot
Mounted on stallions:
In the night time
He drove the stallions
Reeking into the camp;
The women gasped and whispered,
The children cowered and crept,
And the old men shuddered
Where they slept.
When Sakimay looked forth
He saw the Blackfoot,
And the ghosts of the warriors,
And the black stallions
Covered by the night wind
As by a mantle.
*****
I remember well a day,
When the sunlight had free play,
When you worked in happy stress,
While grave Ne-Pah-Pee-Ness
Sat for his portrait there,
In his beaded coat and his bare
Head, with his mottled fan
Of hawk's feathers, A Man!
Ah Morris, those were the times
When you sang your inconsequent rhymes
Sprung from a careless fountain:
'_He met her on the mountain,
He gave her a horn to blow,
And the very last words he said to her
Were, 'Go 'long, Eliza, go.'_'
Foolish,--but life was all,
54
And under the skilful fingers
Contours came at your call-Art grows and time lingers;-But now the song has a change
Into something wistful and strange.
And one asks with a touch of ruth
What became of the youth
And where did Eliza go?
He met her on the mountain,
He gave her a horn to blow,
The horn was a silver whorl
With a mouthpiece of pure pearl,
And the mountain was all one glow,
With gulfs of blue and summits of rosy snow.
The cadence she blew on the silver horn
Was the meaning of life in one phrase caught,
And as soon as the magic notes were born,
She repeated them once in an afterthought.
They heard in the crystal passes,
The cadence, calling, calling,
And faint in the deep crevasses,
The echoes falling, falling.
They stood apart and wondered;
Her lips with a wound were aquiver,
His heart with a sword was sundered,
For life was changed forever
When he gave her the horn to blow:
But a shadow arose from the valley,
Desolate, slow and tender,
It hid the herdsmen's chalet,
Where it hung in the emerald meadow,
(Was death driving the shadow?)
It quenched the tranquil splendour
Of the colour of life on the glow-peaks,
Till at the end of the even,
The last shell-tint on the snow-peaks
Had passed away from the heaven.
And yet, when it passed, victorious,
The stars came out on the mountains,
And the torrents gusty and glorious,
Clamoured in a thousand fountains,
And even far down in the valley,
55
A light re-discovered the chalet.
The scene that was veiled had a meaning,
So deep that none might know;
Was it here in the morn on the mountain,
That he gave her the horn to blow?
*****
Tears are the crushed essence of this world,
The wine of life, and he who treads the press
Is lofty with imperious disregard
Of the burst grapes, the red tears and the murk.
But nay! that is a thought of the old poets,
Who sullied life with the passional bitterness
Of their world-weary hearts. We of the sunrise,
Joined in the breast of God, feel deep the power
That urges all things onward, not to an end,
But in an endless flow, mounting and mounting,
Claiming not overmuch for human life,
Sharing with our brothers of nerve and leaf
The urgence of the one creative breath,-All in the dim twilight--say of morning,
Where the florescence of the light and dew
Haloes and hallows with a crown adorning
The brows of life with love; herein the clue,
The love of life--yea, and the peerless love
Of things not seen, that leads the least of things
To cherish the green sprout, the hardening seed;
Here leans all nature with vast Mother-love,
Above the cradled future with a smile.
Why are there tears for failure, or sighs for weakness,
While life's rhythm beats on? Where is the rule
To measure the distance we have circled and clomb?
Catch up the sands of the sea and count and count
The failures hidden in our sum of conquest.
Persistence is the master of this life;
The master of these little lives of ours;
To the end--effort--even beyond the end.
*****
Here, Morris, on the plains that we have loved,
56
Think of the death of Akoose, fleet of foot,
Who, in his prime, a herd of antelope
From sunrise, without rest, a hundred miles
Drove through rank prairie, loping like a wolf,
Tired them and slew them, ere the sun went down.
Akoose, in his old age, blind from the smoke
Of tepees and the sharp snow light, alone
With his great grandchildren, withered and spent,
Crept in the warm sun along a rope
Stretched for his guidance. Once when sharp autumn
Made membranes of thin ice upon the sloughs,
He caught a pony on a quick return
Of prowess and, all his instincts cleared and quickened,
He mounted, sensed the north and bore away
To the Last Mountain Lake where in his youth
He shot the sand-hill-cranes with his flint arrows.
And for these hours in all the varied pomp
Of pagan fancy and free dreams of foray
And crude adventure, he ranged on entranced,
Until the sun blazed level with the prairie,
Then paused, faltered and slid from off his pony.
In a little bluff of poplars, hid in the bracken,
He lay down; the populace of leaves
In the lithe poplars whispered together and trembled,
Fluttered before a sunset of gold smoke,
With interspaces, green as sea water,
And calm as the deep water of the sea.
There Akoose lay, silent amid the bracken,
Gathered at last with the Algonquin Chieftains.
Then the tenebrous sunset was blown out,
And all the smoky gold turned into cloud wrack.
Akoose slept forever amid the poplars,
Swathed by the wind from the far-off Red Deer
Where dinosaurs sleep, clamped in their rocky tombs.
Who shall count the time that lies between
The sleep of Akoose and the dinosaurs?
Innumerable time, that yet is like the breath
Of the long wind that creeps upon the prairie
And dies away with the shadows at sundown.
*****
57
What we may think, who brood upon the theme,
Is, when the old world, tired of spinning, has fallen
Asleep, and all the forms, that carried the fire
Of life, are cold upon her marble heart-Like ashes on the altar--just as she stops,
That something will escape of soul or essence,-The sum of life, to kindle otherwhere:
Just as the fruit of a high sunny garden,
Grown mellow with autumnal sun and rain,
Shrivelled with ripeness, splits to the rich heart,
And looses a gold kernel to the mould,
So the old world, hanging long in the sun,
And deep enriched with effort and with love,
Shall, in the motions of maturity,
Wither and part, and the kernel of it all
Escape, a lovely wraith of spirit, to latitudes
Where the appearance, throated like a bird,
Winged with fire and bodied all with passion,
Shall flame with presage, not of tears, but joy.
~ Duncan Campbell Scott,
405:Since body of earth and water, air's light breath,
And fiery exhalations (of which four
This sum of things is seen to be compact)
So all have birth and perishable frame,
Thus the whole nature of the world itself
Must be conceived as perishable too.
For, verily, those things of which we see
The parts and members to have birth in time
And perishable shapes, those same we mark
To be invariably born in time
And born to die. And therefore when I see
The mightiest members and the parts of this
Our world consumed and begot again,
'Tis mine to know that also sky above
And earth beneath began of old in time
And shall in time go under to disaster.
And lest in these affairs thou deemest me
To have seized upon this point by sleight to serve
My own caprice- because I have assumed
That earth and fire are mortal things indeed,
And have not doubted water and the air
Both perish too and have affirmed the same
To be again begotten and wax big-
Mark well the argument: in first place, lo,
Some certain parts of earth, grievously parched
By unremitting suns, and trampled on
By a vast throng of feet, exhale abroad
A powdery haze and flying clouds of dust,
Which the stout winds disperse in the whole air.
A part, moreover, of her sod and soil
Is summoned to inundation by the rains;
And rivers graze and gouge the banks away.
Besides, whatever takes a part its own
In fostering and increasing aught

Is rendered back; and since, beyond a doubt,
Earth, the all-mother, is beheld to be
Likewise the common sepulchre of things,
Therefore thou seest her minished of her plenty,
And then again augmented with new growth.

And for the rest, that sea, and streams, and springs
Forever with new waters overflow
And that perennially the fluids well.
Needeth no words- the mighty flux itself
Of multitudinous waters round about
Declareth this. But whatso water first
Streams up is ever straightway carried off,
And thus it comes to pass that all in all
There is no overflow; in part because
The burly winds (that over-sweep amain)
And skiey sun (that with his rays dissolves)
Do minish the level seas; in part because
The water is diffused underground
Through all the lands. The brine is filtered off,
And then the liquid stuff seeps back again
And all re-gathers at the river-heads,
Whence in fresh-water currents on it flows
Over the lands, adown the channels which
Were cleft erstwhile and erstwhile bore along
The liquid-footed floods.
Now, then, of air
I'll speak, which hour by hour in all its body
Is changed innumerably. For whatso'er
Streams up in dust or vapour off of things,
The same is all and always borne along
Into the mighty ocean of the air;
And did not air in turn restore to things
Bodies, and thus recruit them as they stream,
All things by this time had resolved been
And changed into air. Therefore it never
Ceases to be engendered off of things
And to return to things, since verily
In constant flux do all things stream.
Likewise,
The abounding well-spring of the liquid light,
The ethereal sun, doth flood the heaven o'er
With constant flux of radiance ever new,
And with fresh light supplies the place of light,
Upon the instant. For whatever effulgence
Hath first streamed off, no matter where it falls,
Is lost unto the sun. And this 'tis thine
To know from these examples: soon as clouds
Have first begun to under-pass the sun,
And, as it were, to rend the days of light
In twain, at once the lower part of them
Is lost entire, and earth is overcast
Where'er the thunderheads are rolled along-
So know thou mayst that things forever need
A fresh replenishment of gleam and glow,
And each effulgence, foremost flashed forth,
Perisheth one by one. Nor otherwise
Can things be seen in sunlight, lest alway
The fountain-head of light supply new light.
Indeed your earthly beacons of the night,
The hanging lampions and the torches, bright
With darting gleams and dense with livid soot,
Do hurry in like manner to supply
With ministering heat new light amain;
Are all alive to quiver with their fires,-
Are so alive, that thus the light ne'er leaves
The spots it shines on, as if rent in twain:
So speedily is its destruction veiled
By the swift birth of flame from all the fires.
Thus, then, we must suppose that sun and moon
And stars dart forth their light from under-births
Ever and ever new, and whatso flames
First rise do perish always one by one-
Lest, haply, thou shouldst think they each endure
Inviolable.
Again, perceivest not
How stones are also conquered by Time?-
Not how the lofty towers ruin down,
And boulders crumble?- Not how shrines of gods
And idols crack outworn?- Nor how indeed
The holy Influence hath yet no power
There to postpone the Terminals of Fate,
Or headway make 'gainst Nature's fixed decrees?
Again, behold we not the monuments
Of heroes, now in ruins, asking us,
In their turn likewise, if we don't believe
They also age with eld? Behold we not
The rended basalt ruining amain
Down from the lofty mountains, powerless
To dure and dree the mighty forces there
Of finite time?- for they would never fall
Rended asudden, if from infinite Past
They had prevailed against all engin'ries
Of the assaulting aeons, with no crash.
Again, now look at This, which round, above,
Contains the whole earth in its one embrace:
If from itself it procreates all things-
As some men tell- and takes them to itself
When once destroyed, entirely must it be
Of mortal birth and body; for whate'er
From out itself giveth to other things
Increase and food, the same perforce must be
Minished, and then recruited when it takes
Things back into itself.
Besides all this,
If there had been no origin-in-birth
Of lands and sky, and they had ever been
The everlasting, why, ere Theban war
And obsequies of Troy, have other bards
Not also chanted other high affairs?
Whither have sunk so oft so many deeds
Of heroes? Why do those deeds live no more,
Ingrafted in eternal monuments
Of glory? Verily, I guess, because
The Sum is new, and of a recent date
The nature of our universe, and had
Not long ago its own exordium.
Wherefore, even now some arts are being still
Refined, still increased: now unto ships
Is being added many a new device;
And but the other day musician-folk
Gave birth to melic sounds of organing;
And, then, this nature, this account of things
Hath been discovered latterly, and I
Myself have been discovered only now,
As first among the first, able to turn
The same into ancestral Roman speech.
Yet if, percase, thou deemest that ere this
Existed all things even the same, but that
Perished the cycles of the human race
In fiery exhalations, or cities fell
By some tremendous quaking of the world,
Or rivers in fury, after constant rains,
Had plunged forth across the lands of earth
And whelmed the towns- then, all the more must thou
Confess, defeated by the argument,
That there shall be annihilation too
Of lands and sky. For at a time when things
Were being taxed by maladies so great,
And so great perils, if some cause more fell
Had then assailed them, far and wide they would
Have gone to disaster and supreme collapse.
And by no other reasoning are we
Seen to be mortal, save that all of us
Sicken in turn with those same maladies
With which have sickened in the past those men
Whom Nature hath removed from life.
Again,
Whatever abides eternal must indeed
Either repel all strokes, because 'tis made
Of solid body, and permit no entrance
Of aught with power to sunder from within
The parts compact- as are those seeds of stuff
Whose nature we've exhibited before;
Or else be able to endure through time
For this: because they are from blows exempt,
As is the void, the which abides untouched,
Unsmit by any stroke; or else because
There is no room around, whereto things can,
As 'twere, depart in dissolution all-
Even as the sum of sums eternal is,
Without or place beyond whereto things may
Asunder fly, or bodies which can smite,
And thus dissolve them by the blows of might.
But not of solid body, as I've shown,
Exists the nature of the world, because
In things is intermingled there a void;
Nor is the world yet as the void, nor are,
Moreover, bodies lacking which, percase,
Rising from out the infinite, can fell
With fury-whirlwinds all this sum of things,
Or bring upon them other cataclysm
Of peril strange; and yonder, too, abides
The infinite space and the profound abyss-
Whereinto, lo, the ramparts of the world
Can yet be shivered. Or some other power
Can pound upon them till they perish all.
Thus is the door of doom, O nowise barred
Against the sky, against the sun and earth
And deep-sea waters, but wide open stands
And gloats upon them, monstrous and agape.
Wherefore, again, 'tis needful to confess
That these same things are born in time; for things
Which are of mortal body could indeed
Never from infinite past until to-day
Have spurned the multitudinous assaults
Of the immeasurable aeons old.

Again, since battle so fiercely one with other
The four most mighty members the world,
Aroused in an all unholy war,
Seest not that there may be for them an end
Of the long strife?- Or when the skiey sun
And all the heat have won dominion o'er
The sucked-up waters all?- And this they try
Still to accomplish, though as yet they fail,-
For so aboundingly the streams supply
New store of waters that 'tis rather they
Who menace the world with inundations vast
From forth the unplumbed chasms of the sea.
But vain- since winds (that over-sweep amain)
And skiey sun (that with his rays dissolves)
Do minish the level seas and trust their power
To dry up all, before the waters can
Arrive at the end of their endeavouring.
Breathing such vasty warfare, they contend
In balanced strife the one with other still
Concerning mighty issues- though indeed
The fire was once the more victorious,
And once- as goes the tale- the water won
A kingdom in the fields. For fire o'ermastered
And licked up many things and burnt away,
What time the impetuous horses of the Sun
Snatched Phaethon headlong from his skiey road
Down the whole ether and over all the lands.
But the omnipotent Father in keen wrath
Then with the sudden smite of thunderbolt
Did hurl the mighty-minded hero off
Those horses to the earth. And Sol, his sire,
Meeting him as he fell, caught up in hand
The ever-blazing lampion of the world,
And drave together the pell-mell horses there
And yoked them all a-tremble, and amain,
Steering them over along their own old road,
Restored the cosmos- as forsooth we hear
From songs of ancient poets of the Greeks-
A tale too far away from truth, meseems.
For fire can win when from the infinite
Has risen a larger throng of particles
Of fiery stuff; and then its powers succumb,
Somehow subdued again, or else at last
It shrivels in torrid atmospheres the world.
And whilom water too began to win-
As goes the story- when it overwhelmed
The lives of men with billows; and thereafter,
When all that force of water-stuff which forth
From out the infinite had risen up
Did now retire, as somehow turned aside,
The rain-storms stopped, and streams their fury checked.


author class:Lucretius
~ , The World Is Not Eternal
,
406:The Kalevala - Rune Xlviii
CAPTURE OF THE FIRE-FISH.
Wainamoinen, the enchanter,
The eternal wisdom-singer,
Long reflected, well considered,
How to weave the net of flax-yarn,
Weave the fish-net of the fathers.
Spake the minstrel of Wainola:
'Who will plow the field and fallow,
Sow the flax, and spin the flax-threads,
That I may prepare the fish-net,
Wherewith I may catch the Fire-pike,
May secure the thing of evil?'
Soon they found a fertile island,
Found the fallow soil befitting,
On the border of the heather,
And between two stately oak-trees.
They prepared the soil for sowing.
Searching everywhere for flax-seed,
Found it in Tuoni's kingdom,
In the keeping of an insect.
Then they found a pile of ashes,
Where the fire had burned a vessel;
In the ashes sowed the seedlings
Near the Alue-lake and border,
In the rich and loamy fallow.
There the seed took root and flourished,
Quickly grew to great proportions,
In a single night in summer.
Thus the flax was sowed at evening,
Placed within the earth by moonlight;
Quick it grew, and quickly ripened,
Quick Wainola's heroes pulled it,
Quick they broke it on the hackles,
Hastened with it to the waters,
Dipped it in the lake and washed it;
Quickly brought it borne and dried it.
Quickly broke, and combed, and smoothed it,
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Brushed it well at early morning,
Laid it into laps for spinning
Quick the maidens twirl the spindles,
Spin the flaxen threads for weaving,
In a single night in summer.
Quick the sisters wind and reel it,
Make it ready for the needle.
Brothers weave it into fish-nets,
And the fathers twist the cordage,
While the mothers knit the meshes,
Rapidly the mesh-stick circles;
Soon the fish-net is completed,
In a single night in summer.
As the magic net is finished,
And in length a hundred fathoms,
On the rim three hundred fathoms.
Rounded stones are fastened to it,
Joined thereto are seven float-boards.
Now the young men take the fish-net,
And the old men cheer them onward,
Wish them good-luck at their fishing.
Long they row and drag the flax-seine,
Here and there the net is lowered;
Now they drag it lengthwise, sidewise,
Drag it through the slimy reed-beds;
But they do not catch the Fire-pike,
Only smelts, and luckless red-fish,
Little fish of little value.
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'O thou blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Let us go ourselves a-fishing,
Let us catch the fish of evil!'
To the fishing went the brothers,
Magic heroes of the Northland,
Pulled the fish-net through the waters,
Toward an island in the deep-sea
Then they turn and drag the fish-net
Toward a meadow jutting seaward;
Now they drag it toward Wainola,
Draw it lengthwise, sidewise, crosswise,
Catching fish of every species,
salmon, trout, and pike, and whiting,
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Do not catch the evil Fire-fish.
Then the master, Wainamoinen,
Made additions to its borders,
Made it many fathoms wider,
And a hundred fathoms longer,
Then these words the hero uttered
'Famous blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Let us go again a-fishing,
Row again the magic fish-net,
Drag it well through all the waters,
That we may obtain the Fire-pike!'
Thereupon the Northland heroes
Go a second time a-fishing,
Drag their nets across the rivers,
Lakelets, seas, and bays, and inlets,
Catching fish of many species,
But the Fire-fish is not taken.
Wainamoinen, ancient singer,
Long reflecting, spake these measures:
'Dear Wellamo, water-hostess,
Ancient mother with the reed-breast,
Come, exchange thy water-raiment,
Change thy coat of reeds and rushes
For the garments I shall give thee,
Light sea-foam, thine inner vesture,
And thine outer, moss and sea-grass,
Fashioned by the wind's fair daughters,
Woven by the flood's sweet maidens;
I will give thee linen vestments
Spun from flax of softest fiber,
Woven by the Moon's white virgins,
Fashioned by the Sun's bright daughters
Fitting raiment for Wellamo!
'Ahto, king of all the waters,
Ruler of a thousand grottoes,
Take a pole of seven fathoms,
Search with this the deepest waters,
Rummage well the lowest bottoms;
Stir up all the reeds and sea-weeds,
Hither drive a school of gray-pike,
Drive them to our magic fish-net,
From the haunts in pike abounding,
267
From the caverns, and the trout-holes,
From the whirlpools of the deep-sea,
From the bottomless abysses,
Where the sunshine never enters,
Where the moonlight never visits,
And the sands are never troubled.'
Rose a pigmy from the waters,
From the floods a little hero,
Riding on a rolling billow,
And the pigmy spake these measures:
'Dost thou wish a worthy helper,
One to use the pole and frighten
Pike and salmon to thy fish-nets?'
Wainamoinen, old and faithful,
Answered thus the lake-born hero:
'Yea, we need a worthy helper,
One to hold the pole, and frighten
Pike and salmon to our fish-nets.'
Thereupon the water-pigmy
Cut a linden from the border,
Spake these words to Wainamoinen:
'Shall I scare with all my powers,
With the forces of my being,
As thou needest shall I scare them?'
Spake the minstrel, Wainamoinen:
'If thou scarest as is needed,
Thou wilt scare with all thy forces,
With the strength of thy dominions.'
Then began the pigmy-hero,
To affright the deep-sea-dwellers;
Drove the fish in countless numbers
To the net of the magicians.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Drew his net along the waters,
Drew it with his ropes of flax-thread,
Spake these words of magic import:
'Come ye fish of Northland waters
To the regions of my fish-net,
As my hundred meshes lower.'
Then the net was drawn and fastened,
Many were the gray-pike taken
By he master and magician.
268
Wainamoinen, happy-hearted,
Hastened to a neighboring island,
To a blue-point in the waters,
Near a red-bridge on the headland;
Landed there his draught of fishes,
Cast the pike upon the sea-shore,
And the Fire-pike was among them,
Cast the others to the waters.
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'May I touch thee with my fingers,
Using not my gloves of iron,
Using not my blue-stone mittens?
This the Sun-child hears and answers:
'I should like to carve the Fire-fish,
I should like this pike to handle,
If I had the knife of good-luck.'
Quick a knife falls from the heavens,
From the clouds a magic fish-knife,
Silver-edged and golden-headed,
To the girdle of the Sun-child;
Quick he grasps the copper handle,
Quick the hero carves the Fire-pike,
Finds therein the tortured lake-trout;
Carves the lake-trout thus discovered.
Finds therein the fated whiting;
Carves the whiting, finds a blue-ball
In the third cave of his body.
He, the blue-ball quick unwinding,
Finds within a ball of scarlet;
Carefully removes the cover,
Finds the ball of fire within it,
Finds the flame from heaven fallen,
From the heights of the seventh heaven,
Through nine regions of the ether.
Wainamoinen long reflected
How to get the magic fire-ball
To Wainola's fireless hearth-stones,
To his cold and cheerless dwellings.
Quick he snatched the fire of heaven
From the fingers of the Sun-child.
Wainamoinen's beard it singes,
Burns the brow of Ilmarinen,
269
Burns the fingers of the blacksmith.
Rolling forth it hastens westward,
Hastens to the Alue shore-lines,
Burns the juniper and alder,
Burns the and heath and meadow,
Rises to the lofty linden,
Burns the firs upon the mountains;
Hastens onward, onward, onward,
Burns the islands of the Northland,
Burns the Sawa fields and forests,
Burns the dry lands of Karyala.
Straightway ancient Wainamoinen
Hastens through the fields and fenlands,
Tracks the ranger to the glen-wood,
Finds the Fire-child in an elm-tree,
Sleeping in a bed of fungus.
Thereupon wise Wainamoinen
Wakes the child and speaks these measures:
'Wicked fire that God created,
Flame of Ukko from the heavens,
Thou hast gone in vain to sea-caves,
To the lakes without a reason;
Better go thou to my village,
To the hearth-stones of my people;
Hide thyself within my chimneys,
In mine ashes sleep and linger.
In the day-time I will use thee
To devour the blocks of birch-wood;
In the evening I will hide thee
Underneath the golden circle.'
Then he took the willing Panu,
Took the willing fire of Ukko,
Laid it in a box of tinder,
In the punk-wood of a birch-tree,
In a vessel forged from copper;
Carried it with care and pleasure
To the fog-point in the waters,
To the island forest covered.
Thus returned the fire to Northland,
To the chambers of Wainola,
To the hearths of Kalevala.
Ilmarinen, famous blacksmith,
270
Hastened to the deep-sea's margin,
Sat upon the rock of torture,
Feeling pain the flame had given,
Laved his wounds with briny water,
Thus to still the Fire-child's fury,
Thus to end his persecutions.
Long reflecting, Ilmarinen
Thus addressed the flame of Ukko:
'Evil Panu from the, heavens,
Wicked son of God from ether,
Tell me what has made thee angry,
Made thee burn my weary members,
Burn my beard, and face, and fingers,
Made me suffer death-land tortures?
Spake again young Ilmarinen:
'How can I wild Panu conquer,
How shall I control his conduct,
Make him end his evil doings?
Come, thou daughter from Pohyola,
Come, white virgin of the hoar-frost,
Come on shoes of ice from Lapland,
Icicles upon thy garments,
In one band a cup of white-frost,
In the other hand an ice-spoon;
Sprinkle snow upon my members,
Where the Fire-child has been resting,
Let the hoar-frost fall and settle.
'Should this prayer be unavailing,
Come, thou son of Sariola,
Come, thou child of Frost from Pohya,
Come, thou Long-man from the ice-plains,
Of the height of stately pine-trees,
Slender as the trunks of lindens,
On thy hands the gloves of Hoar-frost,
Cap of ice upon thy forehead,
On thy waist a white-frost girdle;
Bring the ice-dust from Pohyola,
From the cold and sunless village.
Rain is crystallized in Northland,
Ice in Pohya is abundant,
Lakes of ice and ice-bound rivers,
Frozen smooth, the sea of ether.
271
Bounds the hare in frosted fur-robe,
Climbs the bear in icy raiment,
Ambles o'er the snowy mountains.
Swans of frost descend the rivers,
Ducks of ice in countless numbers
Swim upon thy freezing waters,
Near the cataract and whirlpool.
Bring me frost upon thy snow-sledge,
Snow and ice in great abundance,
From the summit of the wild-top,
From the borders of the mountains.
With thine ice, and snow, and hoar-frost
Cover well mine injured members
Where wild Panu has been resting,
Where the child of Fire has lingered.
'Should this call be ineffective,
Ukko, God of love and mercy,
First and last of the creators,
From the east send forth a snow-cloud,
From the west despatch a second,
Join their edges well together,
Let there be no vacant places,
Let these clouds bring snow and
Lay the healing balm of Ukko
On my burning, tortured tissues,
Where wild Panu has been resting.'
Thus the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Stills the pains by fire engendered,
Stills the agonies and tortures
Brought him by the child of evil,
Brought him by the wicked Panu.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
407:Hail to thee, mountain beloved, with thy glittering purple-dyed summit!
Hail to thee also, fair sun, looking so lovingly on!
Thee, too, I hail, thou smiling plain, and ye murmuring lindens,
Ay, and the chorus so glad, cradled on yonder high boughs;
Thee, too, peaceably azure, in infinite measure extending
Round the dusky-hued mount, over the forest so green,
Round about me, who now from my chamber's confinement escaping,
And from vain frivolous talk, gladly seek refuge with thee.
Through me to quicken me runs the balsamic stream of thy breezes,
While the energetical light freshens the gaze as it thirsts.
Bright o'er the blooming meadow the changeable colors are gleaming,
But the strife, full of charms, in its own grace melts away
Freely the plain receives me,with carpet far away reaching,
Over its friendly green wanders the pathway along.
Round me is humming the busy bee, and with pinion uncertain
Hovers the butterfly gay over the trefoil's red flower.
Fiercely the darts of the sun fall on me,the zephyr is silent,
Only the song of the lark echoes athwart the clear air.
Now from the neighboring copse comes a roar, and the tops of the alders
Bend low down,in the wind dances the silvery grass;
Night ambrosial circles me round; in the coolness so fragrant
Greets me a beauteous roof, formed by the beeches' sweet shade.
In the depths of the wood the landscape suddenly leaves me
And a serpentine path guides up my footsteps on high.
Only by stealth can the light through the leafy trellis of branches
Sparingly pierce, and the blue smilingly peeps through the boughs,
But in a moment the veil is rent, and the opening forest
Suddenly gives back the day's glittering brightness to me!
Boundlessly seems the distance before my gaze to be stretching,
And in a purple-tinged hill terminates sweetly the world.

Deep at the foot of the mountain, that under me falls away steeply,
Wanders the greenish-hued stream, looking like glass as it flows.
Endlessly under me see I the ether, and endlessly o'er
Giddily look I above, shudderingly look I below,
But between the infinite height and the infinite hollow
Safely the wanderer moves over a well-guarded path.
Smilingly past me are flying the banks all teeming with riches,
And the valley so bright boasts of its industry glad.
See how yonder hedgerows that sever the farmer's possessions
Have by Demeter been worked into the tapestried plain!
Kindly decree of the law, of the Deity mortal-sustaining,
Since from the brazen world love vanished forever away.
But in freer windings the measured pastures are traversed
(Now swallowed up in the wood, now climbing up to the hills)
By a glimmering streak, the highway that knits lands together;
Over the smooth-flowing stream, quietly glide on the rafts.

Ofttimes resound the bells of the flocks in the fields that seem living,
And the shepherd's lone song wakens the echo again.
Joyous villages crown the stream, in the copse others vanish,
While from the back of the mount, others plunge wildly below.
Man still lives with the land in neighborly friendship united,
And round his sheltering roof calmly repose still his fields;
Trustingly climbs the vine high over the low-reaching window,
While round the cottage the tree circles its far-stretching boughs.
Happy race of the plain! Not yet awakened to freedom,
Thou and thy pastures with joy share in the limited law;
Bounded thy wishes all are by the harvest's peaceable circuit,
And thy lifetime is spent e'en as the task of the day!

But what suddenly hides the beauteous view? A strange spirit
Over the still-stranger plain spreads itself quickly afar
Coyly separates now, what scarce had lovingly mingled,
And 'tis the like that alone joins itself on to the like.
Orders I see depicted; the haughty tribes of the poplars
Marshalled in regular pomp, stately and beauteous appear.
All gives token of rule and choice, and all has its meaning,
'Tis this uniform plan points out the Ruler to me.
Brightly the glittering domes in far-away distance proclaim him.
Out of the kernel of rocks rises the city's high wall.
Into the desert without, the fauns of the forest are driven,
But by devotion is lent life more sublime to the stone.
Man is brought into nearer union with man, and around him
Closer, more actively wakes, swifter moves in him the world.
See! the emulous forces in fiery conflict are kindled,
Much, they effect when they strive, more they effect when they join.
Thousands of hands by one spirit are moved, yet in thousands of bosoms
Beats one heart all alone, by but one feeling inspired
Beats for their native land, and glows for their ancestors' precepts;
Here on the well-beloved spot, rest now time-honored bones.

Down from the heavens descends the blessed troop of immortals,
In the bright circle divine making their festal abode;
Granting glorious gifts, they appear: and first of all, Ceres
Offers the gift of the plough, Hermes the anchor brings next,
Bacchus the grape, and Minerva the verdant olive-tree's branches,
Even his charger of war brings there Poseidon as well.
Mother Cybele yokes to the pole of her chariot the lions,
And through the wide-open door comes as a citizen in.
Sacred stones! 'Tis from ye that proceed humanity's founders,
Morals and arts ye sent forth, e'en to the ocean's far isles.
'Twas at these friendly gates that the law was spoken by sages;
In their Penates' defence, heroes rushed out to the fray.
On the high walls appeared the mothers, embracing their infants,
Looking after the march, till the distance 'twas lost.
Then in prayer they threw themselves down at the deities' altars,
Praying for triumph and fame, praying for your safe return.
Honor and triumph were yours, but naught returned save your glory,
And by a heart-touching stone, told are your valorous deeds.
"Traveller! when thou com'st to Sparta, proclaim to the people
That thou hast seen us lie here, as by the law we were bid."
Slumber calmly, ye loved ones! for sprinkled o'er by your life-blood,
Flourish the olive-trees there, joyously sprouts the good seed.
In its possessions exulting, industry gladly is kindled.
And from the sedge of the stream smilingly signs the blue god.
Crushingly falls the axe on the tree, the Dryad sighs sadly;
Down from the crest of the mount plunges the thundering load.
Winged by the lever, the stone from the rocky crevice is loosened;
Into the mountain's abyss boldly the miner descends.
Mulciber's anvil resounds with the measured stroke of the hammer;
Under the fist's nervous blow, spurt out the sparks of the steel.
Brilliantly twines the golden flax round the swift-whirling spindles,
Through the strings of the yarn whizzes the shuttle away.

Far in the roads the pilot calls, and the vessels are waiting,
That to the foreigner's land carry the produce of home;
Others gladly approach with the treasures of far-distant regions,
High on the mast's lofty head flutters the garland of mirth.
See how yon markets, those centres of life and of gladness, are swarming!
Strange confusion of tongues sounds in the wondering ear.
On to the pile the wealth of the earth is heaped by the merchant,
All that the sun's scorching rays bring forth on Africa's soil,
All that Arabia prepares, that the uttermost Thule produces,
High with heart-gladdening stores fills Amalthea her horn.
Fortune wedded to talent gives birth there to children immortal,
Suckled in liberty's arms, flourish the arts there of joy.
With the image of life the eyes by the sculptor are ravished,
And by the chisel inspired, speaks e'en the sensitive stone.
Skies artificial repose on slender Ionian columns,
And a Pantheon includes all that Olympus contains.
Light as the rainbow's spring through the air, as the dart from the bowstring,
Leaps the yoke of the bridge over the boisterous stream.

But in his silent chamber the thoughtful sage is projecting
Magical circles, and steals e'en on the spirit that forms,
Proves the force of matter, the hatreds and loves of the magnet,
Follows the tune through the air, follows through ether the ray,
Seeks the familiar law in chance's miracles dreaded,
Looks for the ne'er-changing pole in the phenomena's flight.
Bodies and voices are lent by writing to thought ever silent,
Over the centuries' stream bears it the eloquent page.
Then to the wondering gaze dissolves the cloud of the fancy,
And the vain phantoms of night yield to the dawning of day.
Man now breaks through his fetters, the happy one! Oh, let him never
Break from the bridle of shame, when from fear's fetters he breaks
Freedom! is reason's cry,ay, freedom! The wild raging passions
Eagerly cast off the bonds Nature divine had imposed.

Ah! in the tempest the anchors break loose, that warningly held him
On to the shore, and the stream tears him along in its flood,
Into infinity whirls him,the coasts soon vanish before him,
High on the mountainous waves rocks all-dismasted the bark;
Under the clouds are hid the steadfast stars of the chariot,
Naught now remains,in the breast even the god goes astray.
Truth disappears from language, from life all faith and all honor
Vanish, and even the oath is but a lie on the lips.
Into the heart's most trusty bond, and into love's secrets,
Presses the sycophant base, tearing the friend from the friend.
Treason on innocence leers, with looks that seek to devour,
And the fell slanderer's tooth kills with its poisonous bite.
In the dishonored bosom, thought is now venal, and love, too,
Scatters abroad to the winds, feelings once god-like and free.
All thy holy symbols, O truth, deceit has adopted,
And has e'en dared to pollute Nature's own voices so fair,
That the craving heart in the tumult of gladness discovers;
True sensations are now mute and can scarcely be heard.
Justice boasts at the tribune, and harmony vaunts in the cottage,
While the ghost of the law stands at the throne of the king.
Years together, ay, centuries long, may the mummy continue,
And the deception endure, apeing the fulness of life.
Until Nature awakes, and with hands all-brazen and heavy
'Gainst the hollow-formed pile time and necessity strikes.
Like a tigress, who, bursting the massive grating iron,
Of her Numidian wood suddenly, fearfully thinks,
So with the fury of crime and anguish, humanity rises
Hoping nature, long-lost in the town's ashes, to find.
Oh then open, ye walls, and set the captive at freedom
To the long desolate plains let him in safety return!

But where am I? The path is now hid, declivities rugged
Bar, with their wide-yawning gulfs, progress before and behind.
Now far behind me is left the gardens' and hedges' sure escort,
Every trace of man's hand also remains far behind.
Only the matter I see piled up, whence life has its issue,
And the raw mass of basalt waits for a fashioning hand.
Down through its channel of rock the torrent roaringly rushes,
Angrily forcing a path under the roots of the trees.
All is here wild and fearfully desolate. Naught but the eagle
Hangs in the lone realms of air, knitting the world to the clouds.
Not one zephyr on soaring pinion conveys to my hearing
Echoes, however remote, marking man's pleasures and pains.
Am I in truth, then, alone? Within thine arms, on thy bosom,
Nature, I lie once again!Ah, and 'twas only a dream
That assailed me with horrors so fearful; with life's dreaded phantom,
And with the down-rushing vale, vanished the gloomy one too.
Purer my life I receive again from thine altar unsullied,
Purer receive the bright glow felt by my youth's hopeful days.
Ever the will is changing its aim and its rule, while forever,
In a still varying form, actions revolve round themselves.
But in enduring youth, in beauty ever renewing.
Kindly Nature, with grace thou dost revere the old law!
Ever the same, for the man in thy faithful hands thou preservest
That which the child in its sport, that which the youth lent to thee;
At the same breast thou dost suckle the ceaselessly-varying ages;
Under the same azure vault, over the same verdant earth,
Races, near and remote, in harmony wander together,
See, even Homer's own sun looks on us, too, with a smile!

~ Friedrich Schiller, The Walk
,
408:The Kalevala - Rune Xlvii
LOUHI STEALS SUN, MOON, AND FIRE.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Touched again his magic harp-strings,
Sang in miracles of concord,
Filled the north with joy and gladness.
Melodies arose to heaven,
Songs arose to Luna's chambers,
Echoed through the Sun's bright windows
And the Moon has left her station,
Drops and settles in the birch-tree;
And the Sun comes from his castle,
Settles in the fir-tree branches,
Comes to share the common pleasure,
Comes to listen to the singing,
To the harp of Wainamoinen.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Northland's old and toothless wizard,
Makes the Sun and Moon her captives;
In her arms she takes fair Luna
From her cradle in the birch-tree,
Calls the Sun down from his station,
From the fir-tree's bending branches,
Carries them to upper Northland,
To the darksome Sariola;
Hides the Moon, no more to glimmer,
In a rock of many colors;
Hides the Sun, to shine no longer,
In the iron-banded mountain;
Thereupon these words she utters:
'Moon of gold and Sun of silver,
Hide your faces in the caverns
Of Pohyola's dismal mountain;
Shine no more to gladden Northland,
Till I come to give ye freedom,
Drawn by coursers nine in number,
Sable coursers of one mother!'
When the golden Moon had vanished,
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And the silver Sun had hidden
In the iron-banded caverns,
Louhi stole the fire from Northland,
From the regions of Wainola,
Left the mansions cold and cheerless,
And the cabins full of darkness.
Night was king and reigned unbroken,
Darkness ruled in Kalevala,
Darkness in the home of Ukko.
Hard to live without the moonlight,
Harder still without the sunshine;
Ukko's life is dark and dismal,
When the Sun and Moon desert him.
Ukko, first of all creators,
Lived in wonder at the darkness;
Long reflected, well considered,
Why this miracle in heaven,
What this accident in nature
To the Moon upon her journey;
Why the Sun no more is shining,
Why has disappeared the moonlight.
Then great Ukko walked the heavens,
To the border of the cloudlets,
In his purple-colored vestments,
In his silver-tinselled sandals,
Seeking for the golden moonlight,
Looking for the silver sunshine.
Lightning Ukko struck in darkness
From the edges of his fire-sword;
Shot the flames in all directions,
From his blade of golden color,
Into heaven's upper spaces,
Into Ether's starry pastures.
When a little fire had kindled,
Ukko hid it in the cloud-space,
In a box of gold and silver,
In a case adorned with silver,
Gave it to the ether-maidens,
Called a virgin then to rock it,
That it might become a new-moon,
That a second sun might follow.
On the long-cloud rocked the virgin,
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On the blue-edge of the ether,
Rocked the fire of the Creator,
In her copper-colored cradle,
With her ribbons silver-studded.
Lowly bend the bands of silver,
Loud the golden cradle echoes,
And the clouds of Northland thunder,
Low descends the dome of heaven,
At the rocking of the lightning,
Rocking of the fire of Ukko.
Thus the flame was gently cradled
By the virgin of the ether.
Long the fair and faithful maiden
Stroked the Fire-child with her fingers,
Tended it with care and pleasure,
Till in an unguarded moment
It escaped the Ether-virgin,
Slipped the hands of her that nursed it.
Quick the heavens are burst asunder,
Quick the vault of Ukko opens,
Downward drops the wayward Fire-child,
Downward quick the red-ball rushes,
Shoots across the arch of heaven,
Hisses through the startled cloudlets,
Flashes through the troubled welkin,
Through nine starry vaults of ether.
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Spake and these the words he uttered:
'Blacksmith brother, Ilmarinen,
Let us haste and look together,
What the kind of fire that falleth,
What the form of light that shineth
From the upper vault of heaven,
From the lower earth and ocean.
Has a second moon arisen,
Can it be a ball of sunlight?
Thereupon the heroes wandered,
Onward journeyed and reflected,
How to gain the spot illumined,
How to find the sacred Fire-child.
Came a river rushing by them,
Broad and stately as an ocean.
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Straightway ancient Wainamoinen
There began to build a vessel,
Build a boat to cross the river.
With the aid of Ilmarinen,
From the oak he cut the row-locks,
From the pine the oars be fashioned,
From the aspen shapes the rudder.
When the vessel they had finished,
Quick they rolled it to the current,
Hard they rowed and ever forward,
On the Nawa-stream and waters,
At the head of Nawa-river.
Ilmatar, the ether-daughter,
Foremost daughter of creation,
Came to meet them on their journey,
Thus addressed the coming strangers:
'Who are ye of Northland heroes,
Rowing on the Nawa-waters?'
Wainamoinen gave this answer:
'This the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
I the ancient Wainamoinen.
Tell us now thy name and station,
Whither going, whence thou comest,
Where thy tribe-folk live and linger?
Spake the daughter of the Ether:
'I the oldest of the women,
Am the first of Ether's daughters,
Am the first of ancient mothers;
Seven times have I been wedded.
To the heroes of creation.
Whither do ye strangers journey?
Answered thus old Wainamoinen:
'Fire has left Wainola's hearth-stones,
Light has disappeared from Northland;
Have been sitting long in darkness,
Cold and darkness our companions;
Now we journey to discover
What the fire that fell from heaven,
Falling from the cloud's red lining,
To the deeps of earth and ocean.'
Ilmatar returned this answer:
'Hard the flame is to discover,
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Hard indeed to find the Fire-child;
Has committed many mischiefs,
Nothing good has he accomplished;
Quick the fire-ball fell from ether,
From the red rims of the cloudlets,
From the plains of the Creator,
Through the ever-moving heavens,
Through the purple ether-spaces,
Through the blackened flues of Turi,
To Palwoinen's rooms uncovered.
When the fire had reached the chambers
Of Palwoinen, son of evil,
He began his wicked workings,
He engaged in lawless actions,
Raged against the blushing maidens,
Fired the youth to evil conduct,
Singed the beards of men and heroes.
'Where the mother nursed her baby,
In the cold and cheerless cradle,
Thither flew the wicked Fire-child,
There to perpetrate some mischief;
In the cradle burned the infant,
By the infant burned the mother,
That the babe might visit Mana,
In the kingdom of Tuoni;
Said the child was born for dying,
Only destined for destruction,
Through the tortures of the Fire-child.
Greater knowledge had the mother,
Did not journey to Manala,
Knew the word to check the red-flame,
How to banish the intruder
Through the eyelet of a needle,
Through the death-hole of the hatchet.'
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Questioned Ilmatar as follows:
'Whither did the Fire-child wander,
Whither did the red-flame hasten,
From the border-fields of Turi,
To the woods, or to the waters?
Straightway Ilmatar thus answers:
'When the fire had fled from Turi,
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From the castles of Palwoinen,
Through the eyelet of the needle,
Through the death-hole of the hatchet,
First it burned the fields, and forests,
Burned the lowlands, and the heather;
Then it sought the mighty waters,
Sought the Alue-sea and river,
And the waters hissed and sputtered
In their anger at the Fire-child,
Fiery red the boiling Alue!
'Three times in the nights of, summer,
Nine times in the nights of autumn,
Boil the waters to the tree-tops,
Roll and tumble to the mountain,
Through the red-ball's force and fury;
Hurls the pike upon the pastures,
To the mountain-cliffs, the salmon,
Where the ocean-dwellers wonder,
Long reflect and well consider
How to still the angry waters.
Wept the salmon for his grotto,
Mourned the whiting for his cavern,
And the lake-trout for his dwelling,
Quick the crook-necked salmon darted,
Tried to catch the fire-intruder,
But the red-ball quick escaped him;
Darted then the daring whiting,
Swallowed quick the wicked Fire-child,
Swallowed quick the flame of evil.
Quiet grow the Alue-waters,
Slowly settle to their shore-lines,
To their long-accustomed places,
In the long and dismal evening.
'Time had gone but little distance,
When the whiting grow affrighted,
Fear befel the fire-devourer;
Burning pain and writhing tortures
Seized the eater of the Fire-child;
Swam the fish in all directions,
Called, and moaned, and swam, and circled,
Swam one day, and then a second,
Swam the third from morn till even;
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Swam she to the whiting-island,
To the caverns of the salmon,
Where a hundred islands cluster;
And the islands there assembled
Thus addressed the fire-devourer:
'There is none within these waters,
In this narrow Alue-lakelet,
That will eat the fated Fire-fish
That will swallow thee in trouble,
In thine agonies and torture
From the Fire-child thou hast eaten.'
'Hearing this a trout forth darting,
Swallowed quick as light the whiting,
Quickly ate the fire-devourer.
Time had gone but little distance,
When the trout became affrighted,
Fear befel the whiting-eater;
Burning pain and writhing torment
Seized the eater of the Fire-fish.
Swam the trout in all directions,
Called, and moaned, and swam, and circled,
Swam one day, and then a second,
Swain the third from morn till even;
Swam she to the salmon-island,
Swam she to the whiting-grottoes,
Where a thousand islands cluster,
And the islands there assembled
Thus addressed the tortured lake-trout:
'There is none within this river,
In these narrow Alue-waters,
That will eat the wicked Fire-fish,
That will swallow thee in trouble,
In thine agonies and tortures,
From the Fire-fish thou hast eaten.'
Hearing this the gray-pike darted,
Swallowed quick as light the lake-trout,
Quickly ate the tortured Fire-fish.
'Time had gone but little distance,
When the gray-pike grew affrighted,
Fear befel the lake-trout-eater;
Burning pain and writhing torment
Seized the reckless trout-devourer;
262
Swam the pike in all directions,
Called, and moaned, and swam, and circled,
Swam one day, and then a second,
Swam the third from morn till even,
To the cave of ocean-swallows,
To the sand-hills of the sea-gull,
Where a hundred islands cluster;
And the islands there assembled
Thus addressed the fire-devourer:
'There is none within this lakelet,
In these narrow Alue-waters,
That will eat the fated Fire-fish,
That will swallow thee in trouble,
In thine agonies and tortures,
From the Fire-fish thou hast eaten.''
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
With the aid of Ilmarinen,
Weaves with skill a mighty fish-net
From the juniper and sea-grass;
Dyes the net with alder-water,
Ties it well with thongs of willow.
Straightway ancient Wainamoinen
Called the maidens to the fish-net,
And the sisters came as bidden.
With the netting rowed they onward,
Rowed they to the hundred islands,
To the grottoes of the salmon,
To the caverns of the whiting,
To the reeds of sable color,
Where the gray-pike rests and watches.
On they hasten to the fishing,
Drag the net in all directions,
Drag it lengthwise, sidewise, crosswise,
And diagonally zigzag;
But they did not catch the Fire-fish.
Then the brothers went a-fishing,
Dragged the net in all directions,
Backwards, forwards, lengthwise, sidewise,
Through the homes of ocean-dwellers,
Through the grottoes of the salmon,
Through the dwellings of the whiting,
Through the reed-beds of the lake-trout,
263
Where the gray-pike lies in ambush;
But the fated Fire-fish came not,
Came not from the lake's abysses,
Came not from the Alue-waters.
Little fish could not be captured
In the large nets of the masters;
Murmured then the deep-sea-dwellers,
Spake the salmon to the lake-trout,
And the lake-trout to the whiting,
And the whiting to the gray-pike:
Have the heroes of Wainola
Died, or have they all departed
From these fertile shores and waters?
Where then are the ancient weavers,
Weavers of the nets of flax-thread,
Those that frighten us with fish-poles,
Drag us from our homes unwilling?'
Hearing this wise Wainamoinen
Answered thus the deep-sea-dwellers:
'Neither have Wainola's heroes
Died, nor have they all departed
From these fertile shores and waters,
Two are born where one has perished;
Longer poles and finer fish-nets
Have the sons of Kalevala!'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
409:The Kalevala - Rune Xxxi
KULLERWOINEN SON OF EVIL.
In the ancient times a mother
Hatched and raised some swans and chickens,
Placed the chickens in the brushwood,
Placed her swans upon the river;
Came an eagle, hawk, and falcon,
Scattered all her swans and chickens,
One was carried to Karyala,
And a second into Ehstland,
Left a third at home in Pohya.
And the one to Ehstland taken
Soon became a thriving merchant;
He that journeyed to Karyala
Flourished and was called Kalervo;
He that hid away in Pohya
Took the name of Untamoinen,
Flourished to his father's sorrow,
To the heart-pain of his mother.
Untamoinen sets his fish-nets
In the waters of Kalervo;
Kullerwoinen sees the fish-nets,
Takes the fish home in his basket.
Then Untamo, evil-minded,
Angry grew and sighed for vengeance,
Clutched his fingers for the combat,
Bared his mighty arms for battle,
For the stealing of his salmon,
For the robbing of his fish-nets.
Long they battled, fierce the struggle,
Neither one could prove the victor;
Should one beat the other fiercely,
He himself was fiercely beaten.
Then arose a second trouble;
On the second and the third days,
Kalerwoinen sowed some barley
Near the barns of Untamoinen;
Untamoinen's sheep in hunger
499
Ate the crop of Kullerwoinen;
Kullerwoinen's dog in malice
Tore Untamo's sheep in pieces;
Then Untamo sorely threatened
To annihilate the people
Of his brother, Kalerwoinen,
To exterminate his tribe-folk,
To destroy the young and aged,
To out-root his race and kingdom;
Conjures men with broadswords girded,
For the war he fashions heroes,
Fashions youth with spears adjusted,
Bearing axes on their shoulders ,
Conjures thus a mighty army,
Hastens to begin a battle,
Bring a war upon his brother.
Kalerwoinen's wife in beauty
Sat beside her chamber-window,
Looking out along the highway,
Spake these words in wonder guessing:
'Do I see some smoke arising,
Or perchance a heavy storm-cloud,
Near the border of the forest,
Near the ending of the prairie?'
It was not some smoke arising,
Nor indeed a heavy storm-cloud,
It was Untamoinen's soldiers
Marching to the place of battle.
Warriors of Untamoinen
Came equipped with spears and arrows,
Killed the people of Kalervo,
Slew his tribe and all his kindred,
Burned to ashes many dwellings,
Levelled many courts and cabins,
Only, left Kalervo's daughter,
With her unborn child, survivors
Of the slaughter of Untamo;
And she led the hostile army
To her father's halls and mansion,
Swept the rooms and made them cheery,
Gave the heroes home-attentions.
Time had gone but little distance,
500
Ere a boy was born in magic
Of the virgin, Untamala,
Of a mother, trouble-laden,
Him the mother named Kullervo,
'Pearl of Combat,' said Untamo.
Then they laid the child of wonder,
Fatherless, the magic infant,
In the cradle of attention,
To be rocked, and fed, and guarded;
But he rocked himself at pleasure,
Rocked until his locks stood endwise;
Rocked one day, and then a second,
Rocked the third from morn till noontide;
But before the third day ended,
Kicks the boy with might of magic,
Forwards, backwards, upwards, downwards,
Kicks in miracles of power,
Bursts with might his swaddling garments
Creeping from beneath his blankets,
Knocks his cradle into fragments,
Tears to tatters all his raiment,
Seemed that he would grow a hero,
And his mother, Untamala,
Thought that be, when full of stature,
When he found his strength and reason,
Would become a great magician,
First among a thousand heroes.
When. three months the boy had thriven,
He began to speak as follows:
'When my form is full of stature,
When these arms grow strong and hardy,
Then will I avenge the murder
Of Kalervo and his people!'
Untamoinen bears the saying,
Speaks these words to those about him;
'To my tribe he brings destruction,
In him grows a new Kalervo!'
Then the heroes well considered,
And the women gave their counsel,
How to kill the magic infant,
That their tribe may live in safety.
It appeared the boy would prosper;
501
Finally, they all consenting,
He was placed within a basket,
And with willows firmly fastened,
Taken to the reeds and rushes,
Lowered to the deepest waters,
In his basket there to perish.
When three nights had circled over,
Messengers of Untamoinen
Went to see if be had perished
In his basket in the waters;
But the prodigy, was living,
Had not perished in the rushes;
He had left his willow-basket,
Sat in triumph on a billow,
In his hand a rod of copper,
On the rod a golden fish-line,
Fishing for the silver whiting,
Measuring the deeps beneath him;
In the sea was little water,
Scarcely would it fill three measures.
Untamoinen then reflected,
This the language of the wizard:
'Whither shall we take this wonder,
Lay this prodigy of evil,
That destruction may o'ertake him,
Where the boy will sink and perish?'
Then his messengers he ordered
To collect dried poles of brushwood,
Birch-trees with their hundred branches,
Pine-trees full of pitch and resin,
Ordered that a pyre be builded,
That the boy might be cremated,
That Kullervo thus might perish.
High they piled the and branches,
Dried limbs from the sacred birch-tree,
Branches from a hundred fir-trees,
Knots and branches full of resign;
Filled with bark a thousand sledges,
Seasoned oak, a hundred measures;
Piled the brushwood to the tree-tops,
Set the boy upon the summit,
Set on fire the pile of brushwood,
502
Burned one day, and then a second,
Burned the third from morn till evening.
When Untamo sent his heralds
To inspect the pyre and wizard,
There to learn if young Kullervo
Had been burned to dust and ashes,
There they saw the young boy sitting
On a pyramid of embers,
In his band a rod of copper,
Raking coals of fire about him,
To increase their heat and power;
Not a hair was burned nor injured,
Not a ringlet singed nor shrivelled.
Then Untamo, evil-humored,
Thus addressed his trusted heralds:
'Whither shall the boy be taken,
To what place this thing of evil,
That destruction may o'ertake him.
That the boy may sink and perish?'
Then they hung him to an oak-tree,
Crucified him in the branches,
That the wizard there might perish.
When three days and nights had ended,
Untamoinen spake as follows:
'It is time to send my heralds
To inspect the mighty oak-tree,
There to learn if young Kullervo
Lives or dies among the branches.'
Thereupon he sent his servants,
And the heralds brought this message:
'Young Kullervo has not perished,
Has not died among the branches
Of the oak-tree where we hung him.
In the oak he maketh pictures
With a wand between his fingers;
Pictures hang from all the branches,
Carved and painted by Kullervo;
And the heroes, thick as acorns,
With their swords and spears adjuste4
Fill the branches of the oak-tree,
Every leaf becomes a soldier.'
Who can help the grave Untamo
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Kill the boy that threatens evil
To Untamo's tribe and country,
Since he will not die by water,
Nor by fire, nor crucifixion?
Finally it was decided
That his body was immortal,
Could not suffer death nor torture.
In despair grave Untamoinen
Thus addressed the boy, Kullervo:
'Wilt thou live a life becoming,
Always do my people honor,
Should I keep thee in my dwelling?
Shouldst thou render servant's duty,
Then thou wilt receive thy wages,
Reaping whatsoe'er thou sowest;
Thou canst wear the golden girdle,
Or endure the tongue of censure.'
When the boy had grown a little,
Had increased in strength and stature,
He was given occupation,
He was made to tend an infant,
Made to rock the infant's cradle.
These the words of Untamoinen:
'Often look upon the young child,
Feed him well and guard from danger,
Wash his linen in the river,
Give the infant good attention.'
Young Kullervo, wicked wizard,
Nurses one day then a second;
On the morning of the third day,
Gives the infant cruel treatment,
Blinds its eyes and breaks its fingers;
And when evening shadows gather,
Kills the young child while it slumbers,
Throws its body to the waters,
Breaks and burns the infant's cradle.
Untamoinen thus reflected:
'Never will this fell Kullervo
Be a worthy nurse for children,
Cannot rock a babe in safety;
Do not know how I can use him,
What employment I can give him!'
504
Then he told the young magician
He must fell the standing forest,
And Kullervo gave this answer:
'Only will I be a hero,
When I wield the magic hatchet;
I am young, and fair, and mighty,
Far more beautiful than others,
Have the skill of six magicians.'
Thereupon he sought the blacksmith,
This the order of Kullervo:
'Listen, O thou metal-artist,
Forge for me an axe of copper,
Forge the mighty axe of heroes,
Wherewith I may fell the forest,
Fell the birch, and oak, and aspen.'
This behest the blacksmith honors,
Forges him an axe of copper,
Wonderful the blade he forges.
Kullerwoinen grinds his hatchet,
Grinds his blade from morn till evening,
And the next day makes the handle;
Then he hastens to the forest,
To the upward-sloping mountain,
To the tallest of the birches,
To the mightiest of oak-trees;
There he swings his axe of copper,
Swings his blade with might of magic,
Cuts with sharpened edge the aspen,
With one blow he fells the oak-tree,
With a second blow, the linden;
Many trees have quickly fallen,
By the hatchet of Kullervo.
Then the wizard spake as follows:
'This the proper work of Lempo,
Let dire Hisi fell the forest!'
In the birch he sank his hatchet,
Made an uproar in the woodlands,
Called aloud in tones, of thunder,
Whistled to the distant mountains,
Till they echoed to his calling,
When Kullervo spake as follows:
'May the forest, in the circle
505
Where my voice rings, fall and perish,
In the earth be lost forever!
May no tree remain unlevelled,
May no saplings grow in spring-time,
Never while the moonlight glimmers,
Where Kullervo's voice has echoed,
Where the forest hears my calling;
Where the ground with seed is planted,
And the grain shall sprout and flourish,
May it never come to ripeness,
Mar the ears of corn be blasted!'
When the strong man, Untamoinen,
Went to look at early evening,
How Kullervo was progressing,
In his labors in the forest;
Little was the work accomplished,
Was not worthy of a here;
Untamoinen thus reflected:
'Young Kullervo is not fitted
For the work of clearing forests,
Wastes the best of all the timber,
To my lands he brings destruction;
I shall set him making fences.'
Then the youth began the building
Of a fence for Untamoinen;
Took the trunks of stately fir-trees,
Trimmed them with his blade for fence-posts,
Cut the tallest in the woodlands,
For the railing of his fences;
Made the smaller poles and cross-bars
From the longest of the lindens;
Made the fence without a pass-way,
Made no wicket in his fences,
And Kullervo spake these measures.
'He that does not rise as eagles,
Does not sail on wings through ether,
Cannot cross Kullervo's pickets,
Nor the fences he has builded.'
Untamoinen left his mansion
To inspect the young boy's labors,
View the fences of Kullervo;
Saw the fence without a pass-way,
506
Not a wicket in his fences;
From the earth the fence extended
To the highest clouds of heaven.
These the words of Untamoinen:
'For this work be is not fitted,
Useless is the fence thus builded;
Is so high that none can cross it,
And there is no passage through it:
He shall thresh the rye and barley.'
Young Kullervo, quick preparing
Made an oaken flail for threshing,
Threshed the rye to finest powder,
Threshed the barley into atoms,
And the straw to worthless fragments.
Untamoinen went at evening,
Went to see Kullervo's threshing,
View the work of Kullerwoinen;
Found the rye was ground to powder,
Grains of barley crushed to atoms,
And the straw to worthless rubbish.
Untamoinen then grew angry,
Spake these words in bitter accents:
'Kullerwoinen as a workman
Is a miserable failure;
Whatsoever work he touches
Is but ruined by his witchcraft;
I shall carry him to Ehstland,
In Karyala I shall sell him
To the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
There to swing the heavy hammer.'
Untamoinen sells Kullervo,
Trades him off in far Karyala,
To the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
To the master of the metals,
This the sum received in payment:
Seven worn and worthless sickles,
Three old caldrons worse than useless,
Three old scythes, and hoes, and axes,
Recompense, indeed, sufficient
For a boy that will not labor
For the good of his employer.
507
~ Elias Lönnrot,
410:The Kalevala - Rune Xliii
THE SAMPO LOST IN THE SEA.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Called her many tribes together,
Gave the archers bows and arrows,
Gave her brave men spears and broadswords;
Fitted out her mightiest war-ship,
In the vessel placed her army,
With their swords a hundred heroes,
With their bows a thousand archers;
Quick erected masts and sail-yards,
On the masts her sails of linen
Hanging like the clouds of heaven,
Like the white-clouds in the ether,
Sailed across the seas of Pohya,
To re-take the wondrous Sampo
From the heroes of Wainola.
Wainamoinen, old and faithful,
Sailed across the deep, blue waters,
Spake these words to Lemminkainen:
'O thou daring son of Lempo,
Best of all my friends and heroes,
Mount the highest of the topmasts,
Look before you into ether,
Look behind you at the heavens,
Well examine the horizon,
Whether clear or filled with trouble.'
Climbed the daring Lemminkainen,
Ever ready for a venture,
To the highest of the mastheads;
Looked he eastward, also westward,
Looked he northward, also southward,
Then addressed wise Wainamoinen.
'Clear the sky appears before me,
But behind a dark horizon;
In the north a cloud is rising,
And a longer cloud at north-west.'
Wainamoinen thus made answer:
205
Art thou speaking truth or fiction?
I am fearful that the war-ships
Of Pohyola are pursuing;
Look again with keener vision.'
Thereupon wild Lemminkainen
Looked again and spake as follows:
'In the distance seems a forest,
In the south appears an island,
Aspen-groves with falcons laden,
Alders laden with the wood-grouse.'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Surely thou art speaking falsehood;
'Tis no forest in the distance,
Neither aspen, birch, nor alders,
Laden with the grouse, or falcon;
I am fearful that Pohyola
Follows with her magic armies;
Look again with keener vision.'
Then the daring Lemminkainen
Looked the third time from the topmast,
Spake and these the words be uttered:
'From the north a boat pursues us,
Driven by a hundred rowers,
Carrying a thousand heroes!'
Knew at last old Wainamoinen,
Knew the truth of his inquiry,
Thus addressed his fleeing people:
'Row, O blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Row, O mighty Lemminkainen,
Row, all ye my noble oarsmen,
That our boat may skim the waters,
May escape from our pursuers!'
Rowed the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Rowed the mighty Lemminkainen,
With them rowed the other heroes;
Heavily groaned the helm of birch-wood,
Loudly rattled all the row-locks;
All the vessel shook and trembled,
Like a cataract it thundered
As it plowed the waste of waters,
Tossing sea-foam to the heavens.
Strongly rowed Wainola's forces,
206
Strongly were their arms united;
But the distance did not widen
Twixt the boat and their pursuers.
Quick the hero, Wainamoinen,
Saw misfortune hanging over,
Saw destruction in the distance
Heavy-hearted, long reflecting,
Trouble-laden, spake as follows:
'Only is there one salvation,
Know one miracle for safety!'
Then he grasped his box of tinder,
From the box he took a flint-stone,
Of the tinder took some fragments,
Cast the fragments on the waters,
Spake these words of master-magic.
'Let from these arise a mountain
From the bottom of the deep-sea,
Let a rock arise in water,
That the war-ship of Pohyola,
With her thousand men and heroes,
May be wrecked upon the summit,
By the aid of surging billows.'
Instantly a reef arises,
In the sea springs up a mountain,
Eastward, westward, through the waters.
Came the war-ship of the Northland,
Through the floods the boat came steering,
Sailed against the mountain-ledges,
Fastened on the rocks in water,
Wrecked upon the Mount of Magic.
In the deep-sea fell the topmasts,
Fell the sails upon the billows,
Carried by the winds and waters
O'er the waves of toil and trouble.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Tries to free her sinking vessel,
Tries to rescue from destruction;
But she cannot raise the war-ship,
Firmly fixed upon the mountain;
Shattered are the ribs and rudder,
Ruined is the ship of Pohya.
Then the hostess of the Northland,
207
Much disheartened, spake as follows:
'Where the force, in earth or heaven,
That will help a soul in trouble?'
Quick she changes form and feature,
Makes herself another body;
Takes five sharpened scythes of iron,
Also takes five goodly sickles,
Shapes them into eagle-talons;
Takes the body of the vessel,
Makes the frame-work of an eagle;
Takes the vessel's ribs and flooring
Makes them into wings and breastplate;
For the tail she shapes the rudder;
In the wings she plants a thousand
Seniors with their bows and arrows;
Sets a thousand magic heroes
In the body, armed with broadswords
In the tail a hundred archers,
With their deadly spears and cross-bows,
Thus the bird is hero-feathered.
Quick she spreads her mighty pinions,
Rises as a monster-eagle,
Flies on high, and soars, and circles
With one wing she sweeps the heavens,
While the other sweeps the waters.
Spake the hero's ocean-mother:
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Turn thy vision to the north-east,
Cast thine eyes upon the sunrise,
Look behind thy fleeing vessel,
See the eagle of misfortune!'
Wainamoinen turned as bidden,
Turned his vision to the north-east,
Cast his eyes upon the sunrise,
There beheld the Northland-hostess,
Wicked witch of Sariola,
Flying as a monster-eagle,
Swooping on his mighty war-ship;
Flies and perches on the topmast,
On the sail-yards firmly settles;
Nearly overturns the vessel
Of the heroes of Wainola,
208
Underneath the weight of envy.
Then the hero, Ilmarinen,
Turned to Ukko as his refuge,
Thus entreated his Creator:
'Ukko, thou O God in heaven,
Thou Creator full of mercy,
Guard us from impending danger,
That thy children may not perish,
May not meet with fell destruction.
Hither bring thy magic fire-cloak,
That thy people, thus protected,
May resist Pohyola's forces,
Well may fight against the hostess
Of the dismal Sariola,
May not fall before her weapons,
May not in the deep-sea perish!'
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Thus addressed the ancient Louhi:
'O thou hostess of Pohyola,
Wilt thou now divide the Sampo,
On the fog-point in the water,
On the island forest-covered?
Thus the Northland hostess answered:
'I will not divide the Sampo,
Not with thee, thou evil wizard,
Not with wicked Wainamoinen!'
Quick the mighty eagle, Louhi,
Swoops upon the lid in colors,
Grasps the Sampo in her talons;
But the daring Lemminkainen
Straightway draws his blade of battle,
Draws his broadsword from his girdle,
Cleaves the talons of the eagle,
One toe only is uninjured,
Speaks these magic words of conquest:
'Down, ye spears, and down, ye broadswords,
Down, ye thousand witless heroes,
Down, ye feathered hosts of Louhi!'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola,
Calling, screeching, from the sail-yards:
'O thou faithless Lemminkainen,
Wicked wizard, Kaukomieli,
209
To deceive thy trusting mother!
Thou didst give to her thy promise,
Not to go to war for ages,
Not to war for sixty summers,
Though desire for gold impels thee,
Though thou wishest gold and silver!
Wainamoinen, ancient hero,
The eternal wisdom-singer,
Thinking he had met destruction,
Snatched the rudder from the waters,
With it smote the monster-eagle,
Smote the, eagle's iron talons,
Smote her countless feathered heroes.
From her breast her hosts descended,
Spearmen fell upon the billows,
From the wings descend a thousand,
From the tail, a hundred archers.
Swoops again the bird of Pohya
To the bottom of the vessel,
Like the hawk from birch or aspen,
Like the falcon from the linden;
Grasps the Sampo with one talon,
Drags the treasure to the waters,
Drops the magic lid in colors
From the red rim of the war-ship
To the bottom of the deep-sea,
Where the Sampo breaks in pieces,
Scatters through the Alue-waters,
In the mighty deeps for ages,
To increase the ocean's treasures,
Treasures for the hosts of Ahto.
Nevermore will there be wanting
Richness for the Ahto-nation,
Never while the moonlight brightens
On the waters of the Northland.
Many fragments of the Sampo
Floated on the purple waters,
On the waters deep and boundless,
Rocked by winds and waves of Suomi,
Carried by the rolling billows
To the sea-sides of Wainola.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
210
Saw the fragments of the treasure
Floating on the billows landward,
Fragments of the lid in colors,
Much rejoicing, spake as follows:
'Thence will come the sprouting seed-grain,
The beginning of good fortune,
The unending of resources,
From the plowing and the sowing,
From the glimmer of the moonlight,
From the splendor of the sunshine,
On the fertile plains of Suomi,
On the meads of Kalevala.'
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Thus addressed old Wainamoinen:
'Know I other mighty measures,
Know I means that are efficient,
And against thy golden moonlight,
And the splendor of thy sunshine,
And thy plowing, and thy reaping;
In the rocks I'll sink the moonbeams,
Hide the sun within the mountain,
Let the frost destroy thy sowings,
Freeze the crops on all thy corn-fields;
Iron-hail I'll send from heaven,
On the richness of thine acres,
On the barley of thy planting;
I will drive the bear from forests,
Send thee Otso from the thickets,
That he may destroy thy cattle,
May annihilate thy sheep-folds,
May destroy thy steeds at pasture.
I will send thee nine diseases,
Each more fatal than the other,
That will sicken all thy people,
Make thy children sink and perish,
Nevermore to visit Northland,
Never while the moonlight glimmers
On the plains of Kalevala!'
Thus the ancient bard made answer:
'Not a Laplander can banish
Wainamoinen and his people;
Never can a Turyalander
211
Drive my tribes from Kalevala;
God alone has power to banish,
God controls the fate of nations,
Never trusts the arms of evil,
Never gives His strength to others.
As I trust in my Creator,
Call upon benignant Ukko,
He will guard my crops from danger
Drive the Frost-fiend from my corn-fields,
Drive great Otso to his caverns.
'Wicked Louhi of Pohyola,
Thou canst banish evil-doers,
In the rocks canst hide the wicked,
In thy mountains lock the guilty;
Thou canst never hide the moonlight,
Never bide the silver sunshine,
In the caverns of thy kingdom.
Freeze the crops of thine own planting,
Freeze the barley of thy sowing,
Send thine iron-hail from heaven
To destroy the Lapland corn-fields,
To annihilate thy people,
To destroy the hosts of Pohya;
Send great Otso from the heather,
Send the sharp-tooth from the forest,
To the fields of Sariola,
On the herds and flocks of Louhi!'
Thus the wicked hostess answered:
'All my power has departed,
All my strength has gone to others,
All my hope is in the deep-sea;
In the waters lies my Sampo!'
Then the hostess of Pohyola
Home departed, weeping, wailing,
To the land of cold and darkness;
Only took some worthless fragments
Of the Sampo to her people;
Carried she the lid to Pohya,
In the blue-sea left the handle;
Hence the poverty of Northland,
And the famines of Pohyola.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
212
Hastened to the broad-sea's margin,
Stepped upon the shore in joyance;
Found there fragments of the Sampo,
Fragments of the lid in colors,
On the borders of the waters,
On the curving sands and sea-sides;
Gathered well the Sampo-relics
From the waters near the fog-point,
On the island forest-covered.
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen,
Spake these words in supplication:
'Grant, O Ukko, our Creator,
Grant to us, thy needful children,
Peace, and happiness, and plenty,
That our lives may be successful,
That our days may end in honor,
On the vales and hills of Suomi,
On the prairies of Wainola,
In the homes of Kalevala!
'Ukko, wise and good Creator,
Ukko, God of love and mercy,
Shelter and protect thy people
From the evil-minded heroes,
From the wiles of wicked women,
That our country's plagues may leave us,
That thy faithful tribes may prosper.
Be our friend and strong protector,
Be the helper of thy children,
In the night a roof above them,
In the day a shield around them,
That the sunshine may not vanish,
That the moonlight may not lessen,
That the killing frosts may leave them,
And destructive hail pass over.
Build a metal wall around us,
From the valleys to the heavens;
Build of stone a mighty fortress
On the borders of Wainola,
Where thy people live and labor,
As their dwelling-place forever,
Sure protection to thy people,
Where the wicked may not enter,
213
Nor the thieves break through and pilfer,
Never while the moonlight glistens,
And the Sun brings golden blessings
To the plains of Kalevala.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
411: III - THE STUDY

FAUST

(Entering, with the poodle.)

Behind me, field and meadow sleeping,
I leave in deep, prophetic night,
Within whose dread and holy keeping
The better soul awakes to light.
The wild desires no longer win us,
The deeds of passion cease to chain;
The love of Man revives within us,
The love of God revives again.

Be still, thou poodle; make not such racket and riot!
Why at the threshold wilt snuffing be?
Behind the stove repose thee in quiet!
My softest cushion I give to thee.
As thou, up yonder, with running and leaping
Amused us hast, on the mountain's crest,

So now I take thee into my keeping,
A welcome, but also a silent, guest.

Ah, when, within our narrow chamber
The lamp with friendly lustre glows,
Flames in the breast each faded ember,
And in the heart, itself that knows.
Then Hope again lends sweet assistance,
And Reason then resumes her speech:
One yearns, the rivers of existence,
The very founts of Life, to reach.

Snarl not, poodle! To the sound that rises,
The sacred tones that my soul embrace,
This bestial noise is out of place.
We are used to see, that Man despises
What he never comprehends,
And the Good and the Beautiful vilipends,
Finding them often hard to measure:
Will the dog, like man, snarl his displeasure?

But ah! I feel, though will thereto be stronger,
Contentment flows from out my breast no longer.
Why must the stream so soon run dry and fail us,
And burning thirst again assail us?
Therein I've borne so much probation!
And yet, this want may be supplied us;
We call the Supernatural to guide us;
We pine and thirst for Revelation,
Which nowhere worthier is, more nobly sent,
Than here, in our New Testament.
I feel impelled, its meaning to determine,
With honest purpose, once for all,
The hallowed Original
To change to my beloved German.

(He opens a volume, and commences.)
'Tis written: "In the Beginning was the Word."
Here am I balked: who, now can help afford?
The Word?impossible so high to rate it;
And otherwise must I translate it.
If by the Spirit I am truly taught.
Then thus: "In the Beginning was the Thought"
This first line let me weigh completely,
Lest my impatient pen proceed too fleetly.
Is it the Thought which works, creates, indeed?
"In the Beginning was the Power," I read.
Yet, as I write, a warning is suggested,
That I the sense may not have fairly tested.
The Spirit aids me: now I see the light!
"In the Beginning was the Act," I write.

If I must share my chamber with thee,
Poodle, stop that howling, prithee!
Cease to bark and bellow!
Such a noisy, disturbing fellow
I'll no longer suffer near me.
One of us, dost hear me!
Must leave, I fear me.
No longer guest-right I bestow;
The door is open, art free to go.
But what do I see in the creature?
Is that in the course of nature?
Is't actual fact? or Fancy's shows?
How long and broad my poodle grows!
He rises mightily:
A canine form that cannot be!
What a spectre I've harbored thus!
He resembles a hippopotamus,
With fiery eyes, teeth terrible to see:
O, now am I sure of thee!
For all of thy half-hellish brood
The Key of Solomon is good.

SPIRITS (in the corridor)

Some one, within, is caught!
Stay without, follow him not!
Like the fox in a snare,
Quakes the old hell-lynx there.
Take heedlook about!
Back and forth hover,
Under and over,
And he'll work himself out.
If your aid avail him,
Let it not fail him;
For he, without measure,
Has wrought for our pleasure.

FAUST

First, to encounter the beast,
The Words of the Four be addressed:
Salamander, shine glorious!
Wave, Undine, as bidden!
Sylph, be thou hidden!
Gnome, be laborious!

Who knows not their sense
(These elements),
Their properties
And power not sees,
No mastery he inherits
Over the Spirits.

Vanish in flaming ether,
Salamander!
Flow foamingly together,
Undine!
Shine in meteor-sheen,
Sylph!
Bring help to hearth and shelf.
Incubus! Incubus!
Step forward, and finish thus!

Of the Four, no feature
Lurks in the creature.
Quiet he lies, and grins disdain:
Not yet, it seems, have I given him pain.
Now, to undisguise thee,
Hear me exorcise thee!
Art thou, my gay one,
Hell's fugitive stray-one?
The sign witness now,
Before which they bow,
The cohorts of Hell!

With hair all bristling, it begins to swell.

Base Being, hearest thou?
Knowest and fearest thou
The One, unoriginate,
Named inexpressibly,
Through all Heaven impermeate,
Pierced irredressibly!

Behind the stove still banned,
See it, an elephant, expand!
It fills the space entire,
Mist-like melting, ever faster.
'Tis enough: ascend no higher,
Lay thyself at the feet of the Master!
Thou seest, not vain the threats I bring thee:
With holy fire I'll scorch and sting thee!
Wait not to know
The threefold dazzling glow!
Wait not to know
The strongest art within my hands!

MEPHISTOPHELES

(while the vapor is dissipating, steps forth from behind the
stove, in the costume of a Travelling Scholar.)
Why such a noise? What are my lord's commands?

FAUST

This was the poodle's real core,
A travelling scholar, then? The casus is diverting.

MEPHISTOPHELES

The learned gentleman I bow before:
You've made me roundly sweat, that's certain!

FAUST

What is thy name?

MEPHISTOPHELES

A question small, it seems,
For one whose mind the Word so much despises;
Who, scorning all external gleams,
The depths of being only prizes.

FAUST

With all you gentlemen, the name's a test,
Whereby the nature usually is expressed.
Clearly the latter it implies
In names like Beelzebub, Destroyer, Father of Lies.
Who art thou, then?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Part of that Power, not understood,
Which always wills the Bad, and always works the Good.

FAUST

What hidden sense in this enigma lies?

MEPHISTOPHELES

I am the Spirit that Denies!
And justly so: for all things, from the Void
Called forth, deserve to be destroyed:
'Twere better, then, were naught created.
Thus, all which you as Sin have rated,
Destruction,aught with Evil blent,
That is my proper element.

FAUST

Thou nam'st thyself a part, yet show'st complete to me?

MEPHISTOPHELES

The modest truth I speak to thee.
If Man, that microcosmic fool, can see
Himself a whole so frequently,
Part of the Part am I, once All, in primal Night,
Part of the Darkness which brought forth the Light,
The haughty Light, which now disputes the space,
And claims of Mother Night her ancient place.
And yet, the struggle fails; since Light, howe'er it weaves,
Still, fettered, unto bodies cleaves:
It flows from bodies, bodies beautifies;
By bodies is its course impeded;
And so, but little time is needed,
I hope, ere, as the bodies die, it dies!

FAUST

I see the plan thou art pursuing:
Thou canst not compass general ruin,
And hast on smaller scale begun.

MEPHISTOPHELES

And truly 'tis not much, when all is done.
That which to Naught is in resistance set,
The Something of this clumsy world,has yet,
With all that I have undertaken,
Not been by me disturbed or shaken:
From earthquake, tempest, wave, volcano's brand,
Back into quiet settle sea and land!
And that damned stuff, the bestial, human brood,
What use, in having that to play with?
How many have I made away with!
And ever circulates a newer, fresher blood.
It makes me furious, such things beholding:
From Water, Earth, and Air unfolding,
A thousand germs break forth and grow,
In dry, and wet, and warm, and chilly;
And had I not the Flame reserved, why, really,
There's nothing special of my own to show!

FAUST

So, to the actively eternal
Creative force, in cold disdain
You now oppose the fist infernal,
Whose wicked clench is all in vain!
Some other labor seek thou rather,
Queer Son of Chaos, to begin!

MEPHISTOPHELES

Well, we'll consider: thou canst gather
My views, when next I venture in.
Might I, perhaps, depart at present?

FAUST

Why thou shouldst ask, I don't perceive.
Though our acquaintance is so recent,
For further visits thou hast leave.
The window's here, the door is yonder;
A chimney, also, you behold.

MEPHISTOPHELES

I must confess that forth I may not wander,
My steps by one slight obstacle controlled,
The wizard's-foot, that on your threshold made is.

FAUST

The pentagram prohibits thee?
Why, tell me now, thou Son of Hades,
If that prevents, how cam'st thou in to me?
Could such a spirit be so cheated?

MEPHISTOPHELES

Inspect the thing: the drawing's not completed.
The outer angle, you may see,
Is open left the lines don't fit it.

FAUST

Well,Chance, this time, has fairly hit it!
And thus, thou'rt prisoner to me?
It seems the business has succeeded.

MEPHISTOPHELES

The poodle naught remarked, as after thee he speeded;
But other aspects now obtain:
The Devil can't get out again.

FAUST

Try, then, the open window-pane!

MEPHISTOPHELES

For Devils and for spectres this is law:
Where they have entered in, there also they withdraw.
The first is free to us; we're governed by the second.

FAUST

In Hell itself, then, laws are reckoned?
That's well! So might a compact be
Made with you gentlemen and binding,surely?

MEPHISTOPHELES

All that is promised shall delight thee purely;
No skinflint bargain shalt thou see.
But this is not of swift conclusion;
We'll talk about the matter soon.
And now, I do entreat this boon
Leave to withdraw from my intrusion.

FAUST

One moment more I ask thee to remain,
Some pleasant news, at least, to tell me.

MEPHISTOPHELES

Release me, now! I soon shall come again;
Then thou, at will, mayst question and compel me.

FAUST

I have not snares around thee cast;
Thyself hast led thyself into the meshes.
Who traps the Devil, hold him fast!
Not soon a second time he'll catch a prey so precious.

MEPHISTOPHELES

An't please thee, also I'm content to stay,
And serve thee in a social station;
But stipulating, that I may
With arts of mine afford thee recreation.

FAUST

Thereto I willingly agree,
If the diversion pleasant be.

MEPHISTOPHELES

My friend, thou'lt win, past all pretences,
More in this hour to soo the thy senses,
Than in the year's monotony.
That which the dainty spirits sing thee,
The lovely pictures they shall bring thee,
Are more than magic's empty show.
Thy scent will be to bliss invited;
Thy palate then with taste delighted,
Thy nerves of touch ecstatic glow!
All unprepared, the charm I spin:
We're here together, so begin!

SPIRITS

Vanish, ye darking
Arches above him!
Loveliest weather,
Born of blue ether,
Break from the sky!
O that the darkling
Clouds had departed!
Starlight is sparkling,
Tranquiller-hearted
Suns are on high.
Heaven's own children
In beauty bewildering,
Waveringly bending,
Pass as they hover;
Longing unending
Follows them over.
They, with their glowing
Garments, out-flowing,
Cover, in going,
Landscape and bower,
Where, in seclusion,
Lovers are plighted,
Lost in illusion.
Bower on bower!
Tendrils unblighted!
Lo! in a shower
Grapes that o'ercluster
Gush into must, or
Flow into rivers
Of foaming and flashing
Wine, that is dashing
Gems, as it boundeth
Down the high places,
And spreading, surroundeth
With crystalline spaces,
In happy embraces,
Blossoming forelands,
Emerald shore-lands!
And the winged races
Drink, and fly onward
Fly ever sunward
To the enticing
Islands, that flatter,
Dipping and rising
Light on the water!
Hark, the inspiring
Sound of their quiring!
See, the entrancing
Whirl of their dancing!
All in the air are
Freer and fairer.
Some of them scaling
Boldly the highlands,
Others are sailing,
Circling the islands;
Others are flying;
Life-ward all hieing,
All for the distant
Star of existent
Rapture and Love!

MEPHISTOPHELES

He sleeps! Enough, ye fays! your airy number
Have sung him truly into slumber:
For this performance I your debtor prove.
Not yet art thou the man, to catch the Fiend and hold him!
With fairest images of dreams infold him,
Plunge him in seas of sweet untruth!
Yet, for the threshold's magic which controlled him,
The Devil needs a rat's quick tooth.
I use no leng thened invocation:
Here rustles one that soon will work my liberation.

The lord of rats and eke of mice,
Of flies and bed-bugs, frogs and lice,
Summons thee hither to the door-sill,
To gnaw it where, with just a morsel
Of oil, he paints the spot for thee:
There com'st thou, hopping on to me!
To work, at once! The point which made me craven
Is forward, on the ledge, engraven.
Another bite makes free the door:
So, dream thy dreams, O Faust, until we meet once more!

FAUST (awaking)

Am I again so foully cheated?
Remains there naught of lofty spirit-sway,
But that a dream the Devil counterfeited,
And that a poodle ran away?


~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, THE STUDY (The Exorcism)
,
412:The Kalevala - Rune Vii
WAINIOINEN'S RESCUE.
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Swam through all the deep-sea waters,
Floating like a branch of aspen,
Like a withered twig of willow;
Swam six days in summer weather,
Swam six nights in golden moonlight;
Still before him rose the billows,
And behind him sky and ocean.
Two days more he swam undaunted,
Two long nights be struggled onward.
On the evening of the eighth day,
Wainamoinen grew disheartened,
Felt a very great discomfort,
For his feet had lost their toe-nails,
And his fingers dead and dying.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Sad and weary, spake as follows:
'Woe is me, my old life fated!
Woe is me, misfortune's offspring!
Fool was I when fortune, favored,
To forsake my home and kindred,
For a maiden fair and lovely,
Here beneath the starry heavens,
In this cruel waste of waters,
Days and nights to swim and wander,
Here to struggle with the storm-winds,
To be tossed by heaving billows,
In this broad sea's great expanses,
In this ocean vast and boundless.
'Cold my life and sad and dreary,
Painful too for me to linger
Evermore within these waters,
Thus to struggle for existence!
Cannot know how I can prosper,
How to find me food and shelter,
In these cold and lifeless waters,
97
In these days of dire misfortune.
Build I in the winds my dwelling?
It will find no sure foundation.
Build my home upon the billows?
Surely would the waves destroy it.'
Comes a bird from far Pohyola,
From the occident, an eagle,
Is not classed among the largest,
Nor belongs he to the smallest;
One wing touches on the waters,
While the other sweeps the heavens;
O'er the waves he wings his body,
Strikes his beak upon the sea-cliffs,
Flies about, then safely perches,
Looks before him, looks behind him,
There beholds brave Wainamoinen,
On the blue-back of the ocean,
And the eagle thus accosts him:
'Wherefore art thou, ancient hero,
Swimming in the deep-sea billows?
Thus the water-minstrel answered:
'I am ancient Wainamoinen,
Friend and fellow of the waters
I, the famous wisdom-singer;
Went to woo a Northland maiden,
Maiden from the dismal Darkland,
Quickly galloped on my journey,
Riding on the plain of ocean.
I arrived one morning early,
At the breaking of the day-dawn.
At the bay of Luotola,
Near Youkola's foaming river,
Where the evil Youkahainen
Slew my steed with bow and arrow,
Tried to slay me with his weapons.
On the waters fell I headlong,
Plunged beneath the salt-sea's surface,
From the saddle of the courser,
From my dappled steed of magic.
'Then arose a mighty storm-wind,
From the East and West a whirlwind,
Washed me seaward on the surges,
98
Seaward, seaward, further, further,
Where for many days I wandered,
Swam and rocked upon the billows,
Where as many nights I struggled,
In the dashing waves and sea-foam,
With the angry winds and waters.
'Woe is me, my life hard-fated!
Cannot solve this heavy problem,
How to live nor how to perish
In this cruel salt-sea water.
Build I in the winds my dwelling?
It will find no sure foundation.
Build my home upon the waters?
Surely will the waves destroy it.
Must I swim the sea forever,
Must I live, or must I perish?
What will happen if I perish,
If I sink below the billows,
Perish here from cold and hunger?'
Thus the bird of Ether answered
'Be not in the least disheartened,
Place thyself between my shoulders,
On my back be firmly seated,
I will lift thee from the waters,
Bear thee with my pinions upward,
Bear thee wheresoe'er thou willest.
Well do I the day remember
Where thou didst the eagle service,
When thou didst the birds a favor.
Thou didst leave the birch-tree standing,
When were cleared the Osmo-forests,
From the lands of Kalevala,
As a home for weary song-birds,
As a resting-place for eagles.'
Then arises Wainamoinen,
Lifts his head above the waters,
Boldly rises from the sea-waves,
Lifts his body from the billows,
Seats himself upon the eagle,
On the eagle's feathered shoulders.
Quick aloft the huge bird bears him,
Bears the ancient Wainamoinen,
99
Bears him on the path of zephyrs,
Floating on the vernal breezes,
To the distant shore of Northland,
To the dismal Sariola,
Where the eagle leaves his burden,
Flies away to join his fellows.
Wainamoinen, lone and weary,
Straightway fell to bitter weeping,
Wept and moaned in heavy accents,
On the border of the blue-sea.
On a cheerless promontory,
With a hundred wounds tormented,
Made by cruel winds and waters,
With his hair and beard dishevelled
By the surging of the billows.
Three long days he wept disheartened
Wept as many nights in anguish,
Did not know what way to journey,
Could not find a woodland foot-print,
That would point him to the highway,
To his home in Kalevala,
To his much-loved home and kindred.
Northland's young and slender maiden,
With complexion fair and lovely,
With the Sun had laid a wager,
With the Sun and Moon a wager,
Which should rise before the other,
On the morning of the morrow.
And the maiden rose in beauty,
Long before the Sun had risen,
Long before the Moon bad wakened,
From their beds beneath the ocean.
Ere the cock had crowed the day-break,
Ere the Sun had broken slumber
She had sheared six gentle lambkins,
Gathered from them six white fleeces,
Hence to make the rolls for spinning,
Hence to form the threads for weaving,
Hence to make the softest raiment,
Ere the morning dawn had broken,
Ere the sleeping Sun had risen.
When this task the maid had ended,
100
Then she scrubbed the birchen tables,
Sweeps the ground-floor of the stable,
With a broom of leaves and branches
From the birches of the Northland,
Scrapes the sweepings well together
On a shovel made of copper,
Carries them beyond the stable,
From the doorway to the meadow,
To the meadow's distant border,
Near the surges of the great-sea,
Listens there and looks about her,
Hears a wailing from the waters,
Hears a weeping from the sea-shore,
Hears a hero-voice lamenting.
Thereupon she hastens homeward,
Hastens to her mother's dwelling,
These the words the maiden utters:
'I have heard a wail from ocean,
Heard a weeping from the sea-coast,
On the shore some one lamenting.'
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Ancient, toothless dame of Northland,
Hastens from her door and court-yard,
Through the meadow to the sea-shore,
Listens well for sounds of weeping,
For the wail of one in sorrow;
Hears the voice of one in trouble,
Hears a hero-cry of anguish.
Thus the ancient Louhi answers:
'This is not the wail of children,
These are not the tears of women,
In this way weep bearded heroes;
This the hero-cry of anguish.'
Quick she pushed her boat to water,
To the floods her goodly vessel,
Straightway rows with lightning swiftness,
To the weeping Wainamoinen;
Gives the hero consolation,
Comfort gives she to the minstrel
Wailing in a grove of willows,
In his piteous condition,
Mid the alder-trees and aspens,
101
On the border of the salt-sea,
Visage trembling, locks dishevelled.
Ears, and eyes, and lips of sadness.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Thus addresses Wainamoinen:
'Tell me what has been thy folly,
That thou art in this condition.'
Old and truthful Wainamoinen
Lifts aloft his bead and answers:
'Well I know that it is folly
That has brought me all this trouble,
Brought me to this land of strangers,
To these regions unbefitting
Happy was I with my kindred,
In my distant home and country,
There my name was named in honor.'
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Thus replied to Wainamoinen:
'I would gain the information,
Should I be allowed to ask thee,
Who thou art of ancient heroes,
Who of all the host of heroes?
This is Wainamoinen's answer:
'Formerly my name was mentioned,
Often was I heard and honored,
As a minstrel and magician,
In the long and dreary winters,
Called the 'Singer of the Northland,
In the valleys of Wainola,
On the plains of Kalevala;
No one thought that such misfortune
Could befall wise Wainamoinen.'
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Thus replied in cheering accents
'Rise, O hero, from discomfort,
From thy bed among the willows;
Enter now upon the new-way,
Come with me to yonder dwelling,
There relate thy strange adventures,
Tell the tale of thy misfortunes.'
Now she takes the hapless hero,
Lifts him from his bed of sorrow,
102
In her boat she safely seats him,
And begins at once her rowing,
Rows with steady hand and mighty
To her home upon the sea-shore,
To the dwellings of Pohyola.
There she feeds the starving hero,
Rests the ancient Wainamoinen,
Gives him warmth, and food, and shelter,
And the hero soon recovers.
Then the hostess of Pohyola
Questioned thus the ancient singer:
'Wherefore didst thou, Wainamoinen,
Friend and fellow of the waters,
Weep in sad and bitter accents,
On the border of the ocean,
Mid the aspens and the willows?'
This is Wainamoinen's answer:
Had good reason for my weeping,
Cause enough for all my sorrow;
Long indeed had I been swimming,
Had been buffeting the billows,
In the far outstretching waters.
This the reason for my weeping;
I have lived in toil and torture,
Since I left my home and country,
Left my native land and kindred,
Came to this the land of strangers,
To these unfamiliar portals.
All thy trees have thorns to wound me,
All thy branches, spines to pierce me,
Even birches give me trouble,
And the alders bring discomfort,
My companions, winds and waters,
Only does the Sun seem friendly,
In this cold and cruel country,
Near these unfamiliar portals.'
Louhi thereupon made answer,
Weep no longer, Wainamoinen,
Grieve no more, thou friend of waters,
Good for thee, that thou shouldst linger
At our friendly homes and firesides;
Thou shalt live with us and welcome,
103
Thou shalt sit at all our tables,
Eat the salmon from our platters,
Eat the sweetest of our bacon,
Eat the whiting from our waters.'
Answers thus old Wainamoinen,
Grateful for the invitation:
'Never do I court strange tables,
Though the food be rare and toothsome;
One's own country is the dearest,
One's own table is the sweetest,
One's own home, the most attractive.
Grant, kind Ukko, God above me,
Thou Creator, full of mercy,
Grant that I again may visit
My beloved home and country.
Better dwell in one's own country,
There to drink Its healthful waters
From the simple cups of birch-wood,
Than in foreign lands to wander,
There to drink the rarest liquors
From the golden bowls of strangers.'
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Thus replied to the magician:
'What reward wilt thou award me,
Should I take thee where thou willest,
To thy native land and kindred,
To thy much-loved home and fireside,
To the meadows of Wainola,
To the plains of Kalevala?'
These the words of Wainamoinen:
'What would be reward sufficient,
Shouldst thou take me to my people,
To my home and distant country,
To the borders of the Northland,
There to hear the cuckoo singing,
Hear the sacred cuckoo calling?
Shall I give thee golden treasures,
Fill thy cups with finest silver?'
This is Louhi's simple answer:
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Only true and wise magician,
Never will I ask for riches,
104
Never ask for gold nor silver;
Gold is for the children's flowers,
Silver for the stallion's jewels.
Canst thou forge for me the Sampo,
Hammer me the lid in colors,
From the tips of white-swan feathers
From the milk of greatest virtue,
From a single grain of barley,
From the finest wool of lambkins?
'I will give thee too my daughter,
Will reward thee through the maiden,
Take thee to thy much-loved home-land,
To the borders of Wainola,
There to hear the cuckoo singing,
Hear the sacred cuckoo calling.'
Wainamoinen, much regretting,
Gave this answer to her question:
'Cannot forge for thee the Sampo,
Cannot make the lid in colors.
Take me to my distant country,
I will send thee Ilmarinen,
He will forge for thee the Sampo,
Hammer thee the lid in colors,
He may win thy lovely maiden;
Worthy smith is Ilmarinen,
In this art is first and master;
He, the one that forged the heavens.
Forged the air a hollow cover;
Nowhere see we hammer-traces,
Nowhere find a single tongs-mark.'
Thus replied the hostess, Louhi:
'Him alone I'll give my daughter,
Promise him my child in marriage,
Who for me will forge the Sampo,
Hammer me the lid in colors,
From the tips of white-swan feathers,
From the milk of greatest virtue,
From a single grain of barley,
From the finest wool of lambkins.'
Thereupon the hostess Louhi,
Harnessed quick a dappled courser,
Hitched him to her sledge of birch-wood,
105
Placed within it Wainamoinen,
Placed the hero on the cross-bench,
Made him ready for his journey;
Then addressed the ancient minstrel,
These the words that Louhi uttered:
'Do not raise thine eyes to heaven,
Look not upward on thy journey,
While thy steed is fresh and frisky,
While the day-star lights thy pathway,
Ere the evening star has risen;
If thine eyes be lifted upward,
While the day-star lights thy pathway,
Dire misfortune will befall thee,
Some sad fate will overtake thee.'
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Fleetly drove upon his journey,
Merrily he hastened homeward,
Hastened homeward, happy-hearted
From the ever-darksome Northland
From the dismal Sariola.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
413:Gracious Ganapati! with Thy hand bless me, that I may make this marital garland of letters worthy of Sri Arunachala, the Bridegroom! REFRAIN Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala! 1. Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala! Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who dwell on their identity with Thee, Oh Arunachala! 2. May Thou and I be one and inseparable like Alagu and Sundara, Oh Arunachala! 3. Entering my home and luring me to Thine, why didst Thou keep me prisoner in Thy heart's cavern, Oh Arunachala? 4. Was it for Thy pleasure or for my sake Thou didst win me? If now Thou turn me away, the world will blame Thee, Oh Arunachala! 5. Escape this blame! Why didst Thou then recall Thyself to me? How can I leave Thee now, Oh Arunachala? 6. Kinder far art Thou than one's own mother. Is this then Thy all-kindness, Oh Arunachala? Kinder indeed art Thou than one's own mother, such is Thy Love, Oh Arunachala! 7. Sit firmly in my mind lest it elude Thee, Oh Arunachala! Change not Thy nature and flee, but hold fast in my mind, Oh Arunachala! Be watchful in my mind, lest it change even Thee into me and rush away, Oh Arunachala! 8. Display Thy beauty, for the fickle mind to see Thee for ever and to rest, Oh Arunachala! The strumpet mind will cease to walk the streets if only she find Thee. Disclose Thy Beauty then and hold her bound, Oh Arunachala! The mind by her unsteadiness prevents my seeking Thee and finding peace; grant me the vision of Thy Beauty, Oh Arunachala! 9. After abducting me if now Thou dost not embrace me, where is Thy chivalry, Oh Arunachala? 10. Does it become Thee thus to sleep when I am outraged by others, Oh Arunachala? 11. Even when the thieves of the five senses break in upon me, art Thou not still in my heart, Oh Arunachala! 12. One art Thou without a second; who then could dare elude Thee and come in? This is only Thy jugglery, Oh Arunachala! 13. Significance of OM unrivalled -- unsurpassed! Who can comprehend Thee, Oh Arunachala? 14. As Universal Mother, it is Thy duty to dispense Thy Grace and save me, Oh Arunachala! 15. Who can ever find Thee? The Eye of the eye art Thou, and without eyes Thou seest, Oh Arunachala! Being the sight of the eye, even without eyes find me out Thyself. Who but Thyself can find out Thee, Oh Arunachala? 16. As a lode-stone attracts iron, magnetizing it and holding it fast, so do Thou to me, Oh Arunachala! 17. Unmoving Hill, melting into a Sea of Grace, have mercy I pray, Oh Arunachala! 18. Fiery Gem, shining in all directions, do Thou burn up my dross, Oh Arunachala! 19. Shine as my Guru, making me free from faults and worthy of Thy Grace, Oh Arunachala! 20. Save me from the cruel snares of fascinating women and honour me with union with Thyself, Oh Arunachala! 21. Though I beg, Thou art callous and dost not condescend. I pray Thee! say to me 'Fear not!' Oh Arunachala! 22. Unasked Thou givest; this is Thy imperishable fame. Do not belie Thy name, Oh Arunachala! 23. Sweet fruit within my hands, let me be mad with ecstasy, drunk with the Bliss of Thy Essence, Oh Arunachala! 24. Blazoned as the Devourer of Thy votaries, how can I survive who have embraced Thee, Oh Arunachala? 25. Thou, unruffled by anger! What crime has marked me off for Thy wrath, Oh Arunachala? Thou, unruffled by anger! What austerities left incomplete have won me Thy special favour, Oh Arunachala? 26. Glorious Mountain of Love, celebrated by Gautama, rule me with Thy gracious glance, Oh Arunachala! 27. Dazzling Sun that swallowest up all the universe in Thy rays, in Thy Light open the lotus of my heart I pray, Oh Arunachala! 28. Let me, Thy prey, surrender unto Thee and be consumed, and so have Peace, Oh Arunachala! I came to feed on Thee, but Thou has fed on me; now there is Peace, Oh Arunachala! 29. O Moon of Grace, with Thy cool rays as hands, open within me the ambrosial orifice and let my heart rejoice, Arunachala! 30. Tear off these robes, expose me naked, then robe me with Thy Love, Oh Arunachala! 31. There in the heart rest quiet! Let the sea of joy surge, speech and feeling cease, Oh Arunachala! 32. Do not continue to deceive and prove me; disclose instead Thy Transcendental Self, Oh Arunachala! 33. Vouchsafe the knowledge of Eternal Life that I may learn the glorious Primal Wisdom, and shun the delusion of this world, Oh Arunachala! 34. Unless Thou embrace me, I shall melt away in tears of anguish, Oh Arunachala! 35. If spurned by Thee, alas! what rests for me but the torment of my prarabdha? What hope is left for me, Arunachala? 36. In silence Thou saidst, 'Stay silent!' and Thyself stood silent, Oh Arunachala! 37. Happiness lies in peaceful repose enjoyed when resting in the Self. Beyond speech indeed is This my State, Oh Arunachala! 38. Thou didst display Thy prowess once, and, the perils ended, return to Thy repose, Oh Arunachala! Sun! Thou didst sally forth and illusion was ended. Then didst Thou shine motionless, Oh Arunachala! 39. A dog can scent out its master; am I then worse than a dog? Steadfastly will I seek Thee and regain Thee, Oh Arunachala! Worse than a dog for want of a scent, how can I track Thee, Oh Arunachala? 40. Grant me wisdom, I beseech Thee, so that I may not pine for love of Thee in ignorance, Oh Arunachala! 41. Not finding the flower open, Thou didst stay, no better than a bee trapped in the bud of my mind, Oh Arunachala! In sunlight the lotus blossoms, how then couldst Thou, the Sun of suns, hover before me like a flower bee, saying 'Thou art not yet in blossom,' Oh Arunachala? 42. 'Thou hast realized the Self even without knowing that it was the Truth. It is the Truth Itself!' Speak thus if it be so, Oh Arunachala! Thou art the subject of most diverse views yet art Thou not this only, Oh Arunachala? Not known to the tattvas, though Thou art their being! What does this mean, Oh Arunachala? 43. That each one is Reality Itself, Thou wilt of Thy Nature show, Oh Arunachala! Reveal Thyself! Thou only art Reality, Oh Arunachala! 'Reality is nothing but the Self;' is this not all Thy message, Oh Arunachala? 44. 'Look within, ever seeking the Self with the inner eye, then will It be found.' Thus didst Thou direct me, beloved Arunachala! 45. Seeking Thee within but weakly, I came back unrewarded. Aid me, Oh Arunachala! Weak though my effort was, by Thy Grace I gained the Self, Oh Arunachala! Seeking Thee in the Infinite Self, I regained my own Self, Oh Arunachala! 46. What value has the birth without Knowledge born of realization? It is not even worth speaking about, Oh Arunachala! 47. Let me dive into the true Self, wherein merge only the pure in mind and speech, Oh Arunachala! I, by Thy Grace, am sunk in Thy Self, wherein merge only those divested of their minds and thus made pure, Oh Arunachala! 48. When I took shelter under Thee as my One God, Thou didst destroy me altogether, Oh Arunachala! 49. Treasure of benign and holy Grace, found without seeking, steady my wandering mind, Oh Arunachala! 50. On seeking Thy Real Self with courage, my raft capsized and the waters came over me. Have mercy on me Arunachala! 51. Unless Thou extend Thy hand of Grace in mercy and embrace me, I am lost, Oh Arunachala! Enfold me body to body, limb to limb, or I am lost, Oh Arunachala! 52. O Undefiled, abide Thou in my heart so that there may be everlasting joy, Arunachala! 53. Mock me not, who seek Thy protection! Adorn me with Thy Grace and then regard me, Oh Arunachala! Smile with Grace and not with scorn on me, who come Thee, Oh Arunachala! 54. When I approached, Thou didst not bend; Thou stoodst unmoved, at one with me, Oh Arunachala! Does it not shame Thee to stand there like a post, leaving me to find Thee by myself, Oh Arunachala? 55. Rain Thy Mercy on me ere Thy Knowledge burn me to ashes, Oh Arunachala! 56. Unite with me to destroy Thou and me, and bless me with the state of ever-vibrant joy, Oh Arunachala! 57. When shall I become like the ether and reach Thee, subtle of being, that the tempest of thoughts may end, Oh Arunachala? When will waves of thought cease to rise? When shall I reach Thee, subtler than the subtlest ether, Oh Arunachala! 58. I am a simpleton devoid of learning. Do Thou dispel illusion, Oh Arunachala! Destroy Thou my wrong knowledge, I beseech Thee, for I lack the knowledge which the Scriptures lead to, Oh Arunachala! 59. When I melted away and entered Thee, my Refuge, I found Thee standing naked, Oh Arunachala! 60. In my unloving self Thou didst create a passion for Thee, therefore forsake me not, Oh Arunachala! 61. Fruit shriveled and spoilt is worthless; take and enjoy it ripe, Oh Arunachala! I am not a fruit which is overripe and spoilt; draw me, then, into the inmost recess and fix me in Eternity, Oh Arunachala! 62. Hast Thou not bartered cunningly Thyself for me? Oh, Thou art death to me, Arunachala! Hast Thou not bartered happily Thyself for me, giving all and taking nothing? Art Thou not blind, Oh Arunachala? 63. Regard me! Take thought of me! Touch me! Mature me! Make me one with Thee, Oh Arunachala! 64. Grant me Thy Grace ere the poison of delusion grips me and, rising to my head, kills me, Oh Arunachala! 65. Thyself regard me and dispel illusion! Unless Thou do so who can intercede with Grace Itself made manifest, Oh Arunachala? 66. With madness for Thee hast Thou freed me of madness; grant me now the cure of all madness, Oh Arunachala! 67. Fearless I seek Thee, Fearlessness Itself! How canst Thou fear to take me, Oh Arunachala? 68. Where is ignorance or Wisdom, if I am blessed with union to Thee, Oh Arunachala? 69. My mind has blossomed, scent it with Thy fragrance and perfect it. Oh Arunachala! Espouse me, I beseech Thee, and let this mind, now wedded to the world, be wedded to Perfection, Oh Arunachala! 70. Mere thought of Thee has drawn me to Thee, and who can gauge Thy Glory, Oh Arunachala? 71. Thou hast possessed me, unexorcizable Spirit! and made me mad for Thee, that I may cease to be a ghost wandering the world, Oh Arunachala! 72. Be Thou my stay and my support lest I droop helpless like a tender creeper, Oh Arunachala! 73. Thou didst benumb my faculties with stupefying powder, then rob me of my understanding and reveal the Knowledge of Thy Self, Oh Arunachala! 74. Show me the warfare of Thy Grace, in the Open Field where there is no coming and going. Oh Arunachala! 75. Unattached to the physical frame composed of the elements, let me for ever repose happy in the sight of Thy Splendour, Oh Arunachala! 76. Thou hast administered the medicine of confusion to me, so must I be confounded! Shine Thou as Grace, the cure of all confusion, Oh Arunachala! 77. Shine Thou selfless, sapping the pride of those who boast of their free will, Oh Arunachala! 78. I am a fool who prays only when overwhelmed, yet disappoint me not, Oh Arunachala! 79. Guard me lest I flounder storm-tossed like a ship without a helmsman, Oh Arunachala! 80. Thou hast cut the knot which hid the vision of Thy Head and Foot. Motherlike, shouldst Thou not complete Thy task, Oh Arunachala? 81. Be not like a mirror held up to a noseless man, but raise me and embrace me, Oh Arunachala! 82. Let us embrace upon the bed of tender flowers, which is the mind, within the room of the body, Oh Arunachala! 83. How is it that Thou hast become famous from Thy constant union with the poor and humble, Oh Arunachala? 84. Thou hast removed the blindness of ignorance with the unguent of Thy Grace, and made me truly Thine, Oh Arunachala! 85. Thou didst shave clean my head; then Thou didst show Thyself dancing in Transcendent Space, Oh Arunachala! 86. Though Thou hast loosed me from the mists of error and made me mad for Thee, why hast Thou not yet freed me from illusion, Oh Arunachala? Though Thou hast detached me from the world and made me cleave to Thee, Thy passion for me has not cooled, Oh Arunachala! 87. Is it true Silence to rest like a stone, inert and unexpansive, Oh Arunachala? 88. Who was it that threw mud to me for food and robbed me of my livelihood, Oh Arunachala? 89. Unknown to all, stupefying me, Who was it that ravished my soul, Oh Arunachala? 90. I spoke thus to Thee, because Thou art my Lord; be not offended but come and give me happiness, Oh Arunachala! 91. Let us enjoy one another in the House of Open Space, where there is neither night nor day, Oh Arunachala! 92. Thou didst take aim at me with darts of Love and then devoured me alive, Oh Arunachala! 93. Thou art the Primal Being, whereas I count not in this nor in the other world. What didst Thou gain then by my worthless self, Oh Arunachala? 94. Didst Thou not call me in? I have come in. Now measure out for me, my maintenance is now Thy burden. Hard is Thy lot, Oh Arunachala! 95. The moment Thou didst welcome me, didst enter into me and grant me Thy divine life, I lost my individuality, Oh Arunachala! 96. Bless me that I may die without losing hold of Thee, or miserable is my fate, Oh Arunachala! 97. From my home Thou didst entice me, then stealing into my heart didst draw me gently into Thine, such is Thy Grace, Oh Arunachala! 98. I have betrayed Thy secret workings. Be not offended! Show me Thy Grace now openly and save me, Oh Arunachala! 99. Grant me the essence of the Vedas, which shine in the Vedanta, One without a second, Oh Arunachala! 100. Even my slanders, treat as praise and guard me for ever as Thine own, I pray, Oh Arunachala! Let even slander be as praise to me, and guard me for ever as Thine own, I pray, Oh Arunachala! Place Thy hand upon my head! make me partaker of Thy Grace! do not abandon me, I pray, Oh Arunachala! 101. As snow in water, let me melt as Love in Thee, who art Love itself, Oh Arunachala! 102. I had but thought of Thee as Aruna, and lo! I was caught in the trap of Thy Grace! Can the net of Thy Grace ever fail, Oh Arunachala? 103. Watching like a spider to trap me in the web of Thy Grace, Thou didst entwine me and when imprisoned feed upon me, Oh Arunachala! 104. Let me be the votary of the votaries of those who hear Thy name with love, Oh Arunachala! 105. Shine Thou for ever as the loving Saviour of helpless suppliants like myself, Oh Arunachala! 106. Familiar to Thine ears are the sweet songs of votaries who melt to the very bones with love for Thee, yet let my poor strains also be acceptable, Oh Arunachala! 107. Hill of Patience, bear with my foolish words, as hymns of joy or as Thou please, Oh Arunachala! 108. Oh Arunachala! my Loving Lord! Throw Thy garland about my shoulders, wearing Thyself this one strung by me, Arunachala! Blessed be Arunachala! blessed be His devotees! Blessed be this Marital Garland of Letters! [1468.jpg] -- from The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Edited by Arthur Osborne

~ Sri Ramana Maharshi, The Marital Garland of Letters
,
414:The Kalevala - Rune Ii
WAINAMOINEN'S SOWING.
Then arose old Wainamoinen,
With his feet upon the island,
On the island washed by ocean,
Broad expanse devoid of verdure;
There remained be many summers,
There he lived as many winters,
On the island vast and vacant,
well considered, long reflected,
Who for him should sow the island,
Who for him the seeds should scatter;
Thought at last of Pellerwoinen,
First-born of the plains and prairies,
When a slender boy, called Sampsa,
Who should sow the vacant island,
Who the forest seeds should scatter.
Pellerwoinen, thus consenting,
Sows with diligence the island,
Seeds upon the lands he scatters,
Seeds in every swamp and lowland,
Forest seeds upon the loose earth,
On the firm soil sows the acorns,
Fir-trees sows he on the mountains,
Pine-trees also on the hill-tops,
Many shrubs in every valley,
Birches sows he in the marshes,
In the loose soil sows the alders,
In the lowlands sows the lindens,
In the moist earth sows the willow,
Mountain-ash in virgin places,
On the banks of streams the hawthorn,
Junipers in hilly regions;
This the work of Pellerwoinen,
Slender Sampsa, in his childhood.
Soon the fertile seeds were sprouting,
Soon the forest trees were growing,
Soon appeared the tops of fir-trees,
13
And the pines were far outspreading;
Birches rose from all the marshes,
In the loose soil grew the alders,
In the mellow soil the lindens;
Junipers were also growing,
Junipers with clustered berries,
Berries on the hawthorn branches.
Now the hero, Wainamoinen,
Stands aloft to look about him,
How the Sampsa-seeds are growing,
How the crop of Pellerwoinen;
Sees the young trees thickly spreading,
Sees the forest rise in beauty;
But the oak-tree has not sprouted,
Tree of heaven is not growing,
Still within the acorn sleeping,
Its own happiness enjoying.
Then he waited three nights longer,
And as many days he waited,
Waited till a week had vanished,
Then again the work examined;
But the oak-tree was not growing,
Had not left her acorn-dwelling.
Wainamoinen, ancient hero,
Spies four maidens in the distance,
Water-brides, he spies a fifth-one,
On the soft and sandy sea-shore,
In the dewy grass and flowers,
On a point extending seaward,
Near the forests of the island.
Some were mowing, some were raking,
Raking what was mown together,
In a windrow on the meadow.
From the ocean rose a giant,
Mighty Tursas, tall and hardy,
Pressed compactly all the grasses,
That the maidens had been raking,
When a fire within them kindles,
And the flames shot up to heaven,
Till the windrows burned to ashes,
Only ashes now remaining
Of the grasses raked together.
14
In the ashes of the windrows,
Tender leaves the giant places,
In the leaves he plants an acorn,
From the acorn, quickly sprouting,
Grows the oak-tree, tall and stately,
From the ground enriched by ashes,
Newly raked by water-maidens;
Spread the oak-tree's many branches,
Rounds itself a broad corona,
Raises it above the storm-clouds;
Far it stretches out its branches,
Stops the white-clouds in their courses,
With its branches hides the sunlight,
With its many leaves, the moonbeams,
And the starlight dies in heaven.
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Thought awhile, and well considered,
How to kill the mighty oak-tree,
First created for his pleasure,
How to fell the tree majestic,
How to lop its hundred branches.
Sad the lives of man and hero,
Sad the homes of ocean-dwellers,
If the sun shines not upon them,
If the moonlight does not cheer them
Is there not some mighty hero,
Was there never born a giant,
That can fell the mighty oak-tree,
That can lop its hundred branches?
Wainamoinen, deeply thinking,
Spake these words soliloquizing:
'Kape, daughter of the Ether,
Ancient mother of my being,
Luonnotar, my nurse and helper,
Loan to me the water-forces,
Great the powers of the waters;
Loan to me the strength of oceans,
To upset this mighty oak-tree,
To uproot this tree of evil,
That again may shine the sunlight,
That the moon once more may glimmer.'
Straightway rose a form from oceans,
15
Rose a hero from the waters,
Nor belonged he to the largest,
Nor belonged he to the smallest,
Long was he as man's forefinger,
Taller than the hand of woman;
On his head a cap of copper,
Boots upon his feet were copper,
Gloves upon his hands were copper,
And its stripes were copper-colored,
Belt around him made of copper,
Hatchet in his belt was copper;
And the handle of his hatchet
Was as long as hand of woman,
Of a finger's breadth the blade was.
Then the trusty Wainamoinen
Thought awhile and well considered,
And his measures are as follow:
'Art thou, sir, divine or human?
Which of these thou only knowest;
Tell me what thy name and station.
Very like a man thou lookest,
Hast the bearing of a hero,
Though the length of man's first finger,
Scarce as tall as hoof of reindeer.'
Then again spake Wainamoinen
To the form from out the ocean:
'Verily I think thee human,
Of the race of pigmy-heroes,
Might as well be dead or dying,
Fit for nothing but to perish.'
Answered thus the pigmy-hero,
Spake the small one from the ocean
To the valiant Wainamoinen
'Truly am I god and hero,
From the tribes that rule the ocean;
Come I here to fell the oak-tree,
Lop its branches with my hatchet.'
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Answers thus the sea-born hero:
'Never hast thou force sufficient,
Not to thee has strength been given,
To uproot this mighty oak-tree,
16
To upset this thing of evil,
Nor to lop its hundred branches.'
Scarcely had he finished speaking,
Scarcely had he moved his eyelids,
Ere the pigmy full unfolding,
Quick becomes a mighty giant.
With one step he leaves the ocean,
Plants himself, a mighty hero,
On the forest-fields surrounding;
With his head the clouds he pierces,
To his knees his beard extending,
And his locks fall to his ankles;
Far apart appear his eyeballs,
Far apart his feet are stationed.
Farther still his mighty shoulders.
Now begins his axe to sharpen,
Quickly to an edge he whets it,
Using six hard blocks of sandstone,
And of softer whetstones, seven.
Straightway to the oak-tree turning,
Thither stalks the mighty giant,
In his raiment long and roomy,
Flapping in the winds of heaven;
With his second step he totters
On the land of darker color;
With his third stop firmly planted,
Reaches he the oak-tree's branches,
Strikes the trunk with sharpened hatchet,
With one mighty swing he strikes it,
With a second blow he cuts it;
As his blade descends the third time,
From his axe the sparks fly upward,
From the oak-tree fire outshooting;
Ere the axe descends a fourth time,
Yields the oak with hundred branches,
Shaking earth and heaven in falling.
Eastward far the trunk extending,
Far to westward flew the tree-tops,
To the South the leaves were scattered,
To the North its hundred branches.
Whosoe'er a branch has taken,
Has obtained eternal welfare;
17
Who secures himself a tree-top,
He has gained the master magic;
Who the foliage has gathered,
Has delight that never ceases.
Of the chips some had been scattered,
Scattered also many splinters,
On the blue back of the ocean,
Of the ocean smooth and mirrored,
Rocked there by the winds and waters,
Like a boat upon the billows;
Storm-winds blew them to the Northland,
Some the ocean currents carried.
Northland's fair and slender maiden,
Washing on the shore a head-dress,
Beating on the rocks her garments,
Rinsing there her silken raiment,
In the waters of Pohyola,
There beheld the chips and splinters,
Carried by the winds and waters.
In a bag the chips she gathered,
Took them to the ancient court-yard,
There to make enchanted arrows,
Arrows for the great magician,
There to shape them into weapons,
Weapons for the skilful archer,
Since the mighty oak has fallen,
Now has lost its hundred branches,
That the North may see the sunshine,
See the gentle gleam of moonlight,
That the clouds may keep their courses,
May extend the vault of heaven
Over every lake and river,
O'er the banks of every island.
Groves arose in varied beauty,
Beautifully grew the forests,
And again, the vines and flowers.
Birds again sang in the tree-tops,
Noisily the merry thrushes,
And the cuckoos in the birch-trees;
On the mountains grew the berries,
Golden flowers in the meadows,
And the herbs of many colors,
18
Many kinds of vegetation;
But the barley is not growing.
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Goes away and well considers,
By the borders of the waters,
On the ocean's sandy margin,
Finds six seeds of golden barley,
Even seven ripened kernels,
On the shore of upper Northland,
In the sand upon the sea-shore,
Hides them in his trusty pouches,
Fashioned from the skin of squirrel,
Some were made from skin of marten;
Hastens forth the seeds to scatter,
Quickly sows the barley kernels,
On the brinks of Kalew-waters,
On the Osma-hills and lowlands.
Hark! the titmouse wildly crying,
From the aspen, words as follow:
'Osma's barley will not flourish,
Not the barley of Wainola,
If the soil be not made ready,
If the forest be not levelled,
And the branches burned to ashes.'
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
Made himself an axe for chopping,
Then began to clear the forest,
Then began the trees to level,
Felled the trees of all descriptions,
Only left the birch-tree standing
For the birds a place of resting,
Where might sing the sweet-voiced cuckoo,
Sacred bird in sacred branches.
Down from heaven came the eagle,
Through the air be came a-flying,
That he might this thing consider;
And he spake the words that follow:
'Wherefore, ancient Wainamoinen,
Hast thou left the slender birch-tree,
Left the birch-tree only standing?'
Wainamoinen thus made answer:
'Therefore is the birch left standing,
19
That the birds may liest within it,
That the eagle there may rest him,
There may sing the sacred cuckoo.'
Spake the eagle, thus replying:
Good indeed, thy hero-judgment,
That the birch-tree thou hast left us,
Left the sacred birch-tree standing,
As a resting-place for eagles,
And for birds of every feather,
Even I may rest upon it.'
Quickly then this bird of heaven,
Kindled fire among the branches;
Soon the flames are fanned by north-winds,
And the east-winds lend their forces,
Burn the trees of all descriptions,
Burn them all to dust and ashes,
Only is the birch left standing.
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
Brings his magic grains of barley,
Brings he forth his seven seed-grains,
Brings them from his trusty pouches,
Fashioned from the skin of squirrel,
Some were made from skin of marten.
Thence to sow his seeds he hastens,
Hastes the barley-grains to scatter,
Speaks unto himself these measures:
'I the seeds of life am sowing,
Sowing through my open fingers,
From the hand of my Creator,
In this soil enriched with ashes,
In this soil to sprout and flourish.
Ancient mother, thou that livest
Far below the earth and ocean,
Mother of the fields and forests,
Bring the rich soil to producing,
Bring the seed-grains to the sprouting,
That the barley well may flourish.
Never will the earth unaided,
Yield the ripe nutritious barley;
Never will her force be wanting,
If the givers give assistance,
If the givers grace the sowing,
20
Grace the daughters of creation.
Rise, O earth, from out thy slumber,
From the slumber-land of ages,
Let the barley-grains be sprouting,
Let the blades themselves be starting,
Let the verdant stalks be rising,
Let the ears themselves be growing,
And a hundredfold producing,
From my plowing and my sowing,
From my skilled and honest labor.
Ukko, thou O God, up yonder,
Thou O Father of the heavens,
Thou that livest high in Ether,
Curbest all the clouds of heaven,
Holdest in the air thy counsel,
Holdest in the clouds good counsel,
From the East dispatch a cloudlet,
From the North-east send a rain-cloud,
From the West another send us,
From the North-west, still another,
Quickly from the South a warm-cloud,
That the rain may fall from heaven,
That the clouds may drop their honey,
That the ears may fill and ripen,
That the barley-fields may rustle.'
Thereupon benignant Ukko,
Ukko, father of the heavens,
Held his counsel in the cloud-space,
Held good counsel in the Ether;
From the East, he sent a cloudlet,
From the North-east, sent a rain-cloud,
From the West another sent he,
From the North-west, still another,
Quickly from the South a warm-cloud;
Joined in seams the clouds together,
Sewed together all their edges,
Grasped the cloud, and hurled it earthward.
Quick the rain-cloud drops her honey,
Quick the rain-drops fall from heaven,
That the ears may quickly ripen,
That the barley crop may rustle.
Straightway grow the seeds of barley,
21
From the germ the blade unfolding,
Richly colored ears arising,
From the rich soil of the fallow,
From the work of Wainamoinen.
Here a few days pass unnoted
And as many nights fly over.
When the seventh day had journeyed,
On the morning of the eighth day,
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
Went to view his crop of barley,
How his plowing, how his sowing,
How his labors were resulting;
Found his crop of barley growing,
Found the blades were triple-knotted,
And the ears he found six-sided.
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Turned his face, and looked about him,
Lo! there comes a spring-time cuckoo,
Spying out the slender birch-tree,
Rests upon it, sweetly singing:
'Wherefore is the silver birch-tree
Left unharmed of all the forest? '
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Therefore I have left the birch-tree,
Left the birch-tree only growing,
Home for thee for joyful singing.
Call thou here, O sweet-voiced cuckoo,
Sing thou here from throat of velvet,
Sing thou here with voice of silver,
Sing the cuckoo's golden flute-notes;
Call at morning, call at evening,
Call within the hour of noontide,
For the better growth of forests,
For the ripening of the barley,
For the richness of, the Northland,
For the joy of Kalevala.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
415:Sun And Flesh (Credo In Unam)
Birth of Venus
The Sun, the hearth of affection and life,
Pours burning love on the delighted earth,
And when you lie down in the valley, you can smell
How the earth is nubile and very full-blooded;
How its huge breast, heaved up by a soul,
Is, like God, made of love, and, like woman, of flesh,
And that it contains, big with sap and with sunlight,
The vast pullulation of all embryos!
And everything grows, and everything rises!
- O Venus, O Goddess!
I long for the days of antique youth,
Of lascivious satyrs, and animal fauns,
Gods who bit, mad with love, the bark of the boughs,
And among water-lilies kissed the Nymph with fair hair!
I long for the time when the sap of the world,
River water, the rose-coloured blood of green trees
Put into the veins of Pan a whole universe!
When the earth trembled, green,beneath his goat-feet;
When, softly kissing the fair Syrinx, his lips formed
Under heaven the great hymn of love;
When, standing on the plain, he heard round about him
Living Nature answer his call;
When the silent trees cradling the singing bird,
Earth cradling mankind, and the whole blue Ocean,
And all living creatures loved, loved in God!
I long for the time of great Cybele,
Who was said to travel, gigantically lovely,
In a great bronze chariot, through splendid cities;
Her twin breasts poured, through the vast deeps,
The pure streams of infinite life.
Mankind sucked joyfully at her blessed nipple,
Like a small child playing on her knees.
- Because he was strong, Man was gentle and chaste.
Misfortune! Now he says: I understand things,
147
And goes about with eyes shut and ears closed.
- And again, no more gods! no more gods! Man is King,
Man is God! But the great faith is Love!
Oh! if only man still drew sustenance from your nipple,
Great mother of gods and of men, Cybele;
If only he had not forsaken immortal Astarte
Who long ago, rising in the tremendous brightness
Of blue waters, flower-flesh perfumed by the wave,
Showed her rosy navel, towards which the foam came snowing
And , being a goddess with the great conquering black eyes,
Made the nightingale sing in the woods and love in men's hearts!
The Birth of Venus
II
I believe! I believe in you! divine mother,
Sea-born Aphrodite! - Oh! the path is bitter
Since the other God harnessed us to his cross;
Flesh, Marble, Flower, Venus, in you I believe!
- yes, Man is sad and ugly, sad under the vast sky.
He possesses clothes, because he is no longer chaste,
Because he has defiled his proud, godlike head
And because he has bent, like an idol in the furnace,
His Olympian form towards base slaveries!
Yes, even after death, in the form of pale skeletons
He wishes to live and insult the original beauty!
- And the Idol in whom you placed such maidenhood,
Woman, in whom you rendered our clay divine,
So that Man might bring light into his poor soul
And slowly ascend, in unbounded love,
From the earthly prison to the beauty of day,
Woman no longer knows even how to be a Courtesan!
- It's a fine farce! and the world snickers
At the sweet and sacred name of great Venus!
III
If only the times which have come and gone might come again!
148
- For Man is finished! Man has played all the parts!
In the broad daylight, wearied with breaking idols
He will revive, free of all his gods,
And, since he is of heaven, he will scan the heavens!
The Ideal, that eternal, invincible thought, which is
All; The living god within his fleshly clay,
Will rise, mount, burn beneath his brow!
An when you see him plumbing the whole horizon,
Despising old yokes, and free from all fear,
You will come and give him holy Redemption!
- Resplendent, radiant, from the bosom of the huge seas
You will rise up and give to the vast Universe
Infinite Love with its eternal smile!
The World will vibrate like an immense lyre
In the trembling of an infinite kiss!
- The World thirsts for love: you will come and slake its thirst.
....................................................
O! Man has raised his free, proud head!
And the sudden blaze of primordial beauty
Makes the god quiver in the altar of the flesh!
Happy in the present good, pale from the ill suffered,
Man wishes to plumb all depths, - and know all things! Thought,
So long a jade, and for so long oppressed,
Springs from his forehead! She will know Why!...
Let her but gallop free, and Man will find Faith!
- Why the blue silence, unfathomable space?
Why the golden stars, teeming like sands?
If one ascended forever, what would one see up there?
Does a sheperd drive this enormous flock
Of worlds on a journey through this horror of space?
And do all these worlds contained in the vast ether,
tremble at the tones of an eternal voice?
- And Man, can he see? can he say: I believe?
Is the langage of thought anymore than a dream?
If man is born so quickly, if life is so short
Whence does he come? Does he sink into the deep Ocean
Of Germs, of Foetuses, of Embryos, to the bottom
of the huge Crucible where Nature the Mother
Will resuscitate him, a living creature,
149
To love in the rose and to grow in the corn?...
We cannot know! - We are weighed down
With a cloak of ignorance, hemmed in by chimaeras!
Men like apes, dropped from our mothers' wombs,
Our feeble reason hides the infinite from us!
We wish to perceive: - and Doubt punishes us!
Doubt, dismal bird, beat us down with its wing...
- And the horizon rushes away in endless flight!...
.......................................................
The vast heaven is open! the mysteries lie dead
Before erect Man, who folds his strong arms
Among the vast splendour of abundant Nature!
He sings... and the woods sing, the river murmurs
A song full of happiness which rises towards the light!...
- it is Redemption! it is love! it is love!...
IV
O splendour of flesh! O ideal splendour!
O renewal of love, triumphal dawn
When, prostrating the Gods and the Heroes,
White Callipyge and little Eros
Covered with the snow of rose petals, will caress
Women and flowers beneath their lovely outstretched feet!
- O great Ariadne who pour out your tears
On the shore, as you see, out there on the waves,
The sail of Theseus flying white under the sun,
O sweet virgin child whom a night has broken,
Be silent! On his golden chariot studded with black grapes,
Lysios, who has been drawn through Phrygian fields
By lascivious tigers and russet panthers,
Reddens the dark mosses along the blue rivers.
- Zeus, the Bull, cradles on his neck like a child
The nude body of Europa who throws her white arm
Round the God's muscular neck which shivers in the wave.
Slowly he turns his dreamy eye towards her;
She, droops her pale flowerlike cheek
On the brow of Zeus; her eyes are closed; she is dying
150
In a divine kiss, and the murmuring waters
Strew the flowers of their golden foam on her hair.
- Between the oleander and the gaudy lotus tree
Slips amorously the great dreaming Swan
Enfloding Leda in the whiteness of his wing;
- And while Cypris goes by, strangely beautiful,
And, arching the marvellous curves of her back,
Proudly displays the golden vision of her big breasts
And snowy belly embroidered with black moss,
- Hercules, Tamer of beasts, in his Strength,
Robes his huge body with the lion's skin as with glory
And faces the horizons, his brow terrible and sweet!
Vaguely lit by the summer moon,
Erect, naked, dreaming in her pallor of gold
Streaked by the heavy wave of her long blue hair,
In the shadowy glade whenre stars spring in the moss,
The Dryade gazes up at the silent sky...
- White Selene, timidly, lets her veil float,
Over the feet of beautiful Endymion,
And throws him a kiss in a pale beam...
- The Spring sobs far off in a long ectasy...
Ii is the nymph who dreams with one elbow on her urn,
Of the handsome white stripling her wave has pressed against.
- A soft wind of love has passed in the night,
And in the sacred woods, amid the standing hair of the great trees,
Erect in majesty, the shadowly Marbles,
The Gods, on whose brows the Bullfinch has his nest,
- the Gods listen to Men, and to the infinite World!
Original French
Soleil et Chair
Le Soleil, le foyer de tendresse et de vie,
Verse l'amour brûlant à la terre ravie,
Et, quand on est couché sur la vallée, on sent
Que la terre est nubile et déborde de sang ;
Que son immense sein, soulevé par une âme,
Est d'amour comme Dieu, de chair comme la femme,
151
Et qu'il renferme, gros de sève et de rayons,
Le grand fourmillement de tous les embryons !
Et tout croît, et tout monte !
spacespacespacespacespacespace- O Vénus, ô Déesse !
Je regrette les temps de l'antique jeunesse,
Des satyres lascifs, des faunes animaux,
Dieux qui mordaient d'amour l'écorce des rameaux
Et dans les nénuphars baisaient la Nymphe blonde !
Je regrette les temps où la sève du monde,
L'eau du fleuve, le sang rose des arbres verts
Dans les veines de Pan mettaient un univers !.
Où le sol palpitait, vert, sous ses pieds de chèvre ;
Où, baisant mollement le clair syrinx, sa lèvre
Modulait sous le ciel le grand hymne d'amour ;
Où, debout sur la plaine, il entendait autour
Répondre à son appel la Nature vivante ;
Où les arbres muets, berçant l'oiseau qui chante,
La terre berçant l'homme, et tout l'Océan bleu
Et tous les animaux aimaient, aimaient en Dieu !
Soleil et Chair, Suite
Je regrette les temps de la grande Cybèle
Qu'on disait parcourir, gigantesquement belle,
Sur un grand char d'airain, les splendides cités ;
Son double sein versait dans les immensités
Le pur ruissellement de la vie infinie.
L'Homme suçait, heureux, sa mamelle bénie,
Comme un petit enfant, jouant sur ses genoux.
- Parce qu'il était fort, l'Homme était chaste et doux.
Misère ! Maintenant il dit : Je sais les choses,
Et va, les yeux fermés et les oreille closes.
- Et pourtant, plus de dieux ! plus de dieux ! l'Homme est Roi,
L'Homme est Dieu ! Mais l'Amour, voilà la grande Foi !
Oh ! si l'homme puisait encore à ta mamelle,
Grande mère des dieux et des hommes, Cybèle ;
S'il n'avait pas laissé l'immortelle Astarté
Qui jadis, émergeant dans l'immense clarté
152
Des flots bleus, fleur de chair que la vague parfume,
Montra son nombril rose où vint neiger l'écume,
Et fit chanter, Déesse aux grands yeux noirs vainqueurs,
Le rossignol aux bois et l'amour dans les coeurs !
II
Je crois en toi ! Je crois en toi ! divine mère,
Aphrodite marine ! - Oh ! la route est amère
Depuis que l'autre Dieu nous attelle à sa croix ;
Chair, Marbre, Fleur, Vénus, c'est en toi que je crois !
- Oui, l'Homme est triste et laid, triste sous le ciel vaste,
Il a des vêtements, parce qu'il n'est plus chaste,
Parce qu'il a sali son fier buste de Dieu,
Et qu'il a rabougri, comme une idole au feu,
Son corps Olympien aux servitudes sales !
Oui, même après la mort, dans les squelettes pâles
Il veut vivre, insultant la première beauté !
- Et l'Idole où tu mis tant de virginité,
Où tu divinisas notre argile, la Femme,
Afin que l'Homme pût éclairer sa pauvre âme
Et monter lentement, dans un immense amour,
De la prison terrestre à la beauté du jour,
La Femme ne sait plus même être Courtisane !
- C'est une bonne farce ! et le monde ricane
Au nom doux et sacré de la grande Vénus !
III
Si les temps revenaient, les temps qui sont venus !
- Car l'Homme a fini ! l'Homme a joué tous les rôles !
Au grand jour, fatigué de briser des idoles
Il ressuscitera, libre de tous ses Dieux,
Et, comme il est du ciel, il scrutera les cieux !
L'idéal, la pensée invincible, éternelle,
Tout ; le dieu qui vit, sous son argile charnelle,
Montera, montera, brûlera sous son front !
Et quand tu le verras sonder tout l'horizon,
Contempteur des vieux jougs, libre de toute crainte,
Tu viendras lui donner la Rédemption sainte !
153
- Splendide, radieuse, au sein des grandes mers
Tu surgiras, jetant sur le vaste Univers
L'Amour infini dans un infini sourire !
Le Monde vibrera comme une immense lyre
Dans le frémissement d'un immense baiser
- Le Monde a soif d'amour : tu viendras l'apaiser.
IV
O splendeur de la chair ! ô splendeur idéale !
O renouveau d'amour, aurore triomphale
Où, courbant à leurs pieds les Dieux et les Héros,
Kallipyge la blanche et le petit Éros
Effleureront, couverts de la neige des roses,
Les femmes et les fleurs sous leurs beaux pieds écloses !
- O grande Ariadné, qui jette tes sanglots
Sur la rive, en voyant fuir là-bas sur les flots
Blanche sous le soleil, la voile de Thésée,
O douce vierge enfant qu'une nuit a brisée,
Tais-toi ! Sur son char d'or brodé de noirs raisins,
Lysios, promené dans les champs Phrygiens
Par les tigres lascifs et les panthères rousses,
Le long des fleuves bleus rougit les sombres mousses.
- Zeus, Taureau, sur son cou berce comme une enfant
Le corps nu d'Europé, qui jette son bras blanc
Au cou nerveux du Dieu frissonnant dans la vague
Il tourne lentement vers elle son oeil vague ;
Elle, laisse traîner sa pâle joue en fleur
Au front de Zeus ; ses yeux sont fermés ; elle meurt
Dans un divin baiser, et le flot qui murmure
De son écume d'or fleurit sa chevelure.
- Entre le laurier-rose et le lotus jaseur
Glisse amoureusement le grand Cygne rêveur
Embrassant la Léda des blancheurs de son aile ;
- Et tandis que Cypris passe, étrangement belle,
Et, cambrant les rondeurs splendides de ses reins,
Étale fièrement l'or de ses larges seins
Et son ventre neigeux brodé de mousse noire,
- Héraclès, le Dompteur, qui, comme d'une gloire
154
Fort, ceint son vaste corps de la peau du lion,
S'avance, front terrible et doux, à l'horizon !
Par la lune d'été vaguement éclairée,
Debout, nue, et rêvant dans sa pâleur dorée
Que tache le flot lourd de ses longs cheveux bleus,
Dans la clairière sombre, où la mousse s'étoile,
La Dryade regarde au ciel silencieux....
- La blanche Séléné laisse flotter son voile,
Craintive, sur les pieds du bel Endymion,
Et lui jette un baiser dans un pâle rayon...
- La Source pleure au loin dans une longue extase...
C'est la nymphe qui rêve, un coude sur son vase,
Au beau jeune homme blanc que son onde a pressé.
- Une brise d'amour dans la nuit a passé,
Et, dans les bois sacrés, dans l'horreur des grands arbres,
Majestueusement debout, les sombres Marbres,
Les Dieux, au front desquels le Bouvreuil fait son nid,
- Les Dieux écoutent l'homme et le Monde infini !
~ Arthur Rimbaud,
416:A Poem On The Last Day - Book Iii
The book unfolding, the resplendent seat
Of saints and angels, the tremendous fate
Of guilty souls, the gloomy realms of woe,
And all the horrors of the world below,
I next presume to sing. What yet remains
Demands my last, but most exalted, strains.
And let the Muse or now affect the sky,
Or in inglorious shades for ever lie.
She kindles, she's inflamed so near the goal;
She mounts, she gains upon the starry pole;
The world grows less as she pursues her flight,
And the sun darkens to her distant sight.
Heaven, opening, all its sacred pomp displays,
And overwhelms her with the rushing blaze!
The triumph rings! archangels shout around!
And echoing Nature lengthens out the sound!
Ten thousand trumpets now at once advance;
Now deepest silence lulls the vast expanse;
So deep the silence, and so strong the blast,
As Nature died when she had groan'd her last.
Nor man nor angel moves: the Judge on high
Looks round, and with His glory fills the sky:
Then on the fatal book His hand He lays,
Which high to view supporting seraphs raise;
In solemn form the rituals are prepared,
The seal is broken, and a groan is heard.
And thou, my soul, (O fall to sudden prayer,
And let the thought sink deep!) shalt thou be there?
See on the left, (for by the great command
The throng divided falls on either hand,)
How weak, how pale, how haggard, how obscene!
What more than death in every face and mien!
With what distress, and glarings of affright,
They shock the heart, and turn away the sight!
In gloomy orbs their trembling eye-balls roll,
And tell the horrid secrets of the soul.
25
Each gesture mourns, each look is black with care,
And every groan is loaden with despair.
Reader, if guilty, spare the Muse, and find
A truer image pictured in thy mind.
Shouldst thou behold thy brother, father, wife,
And all the soft companions of thy life,
Whose blended interests levell'd at one aim,
Whose mix'd desires sent up one common flame,
Divided far; thy wretched self alone
Cast on the left, of all whom thou hast known;
How would it wound! What millions wouldst thou give
For one more trial, one day more to live!
Flung back in time an hour, a moment's space,
To grasp with eagerness the means of grace;
Contend for mercy with a pious rage,
And in that moment to redeem an age!
Drive back the tide, suspend a storm in air,
Arrest the sun; but still of this despair.
Mark, on the right, how amiable a grace!
Their Maker's image fresh in every face!
What purple bloom my ravish'd soul admires,
And their eyes sparkling with immortal fires!
Triumphant beauty! charms that rise above
This world, and in bless'd angels kindle love!
To the great Judge with holy pride they turn,
And dare behold the' Almighty's anger burn;
Its flash sustain, against its terror rise,
And on the dread tribunal fix their eyes.
Are these the forms that moulder'd in the dust?
O the transcendent glory of the just!
Yet still some thin remains of fear and doubt
The' infected brightness of their joy pollute.
Thus the chaste bridegroom, when the priest draws nigh,
Beholds his blessing with a trembling eye,
Feels doubtful passions throb in every vein,
And in his cheeks are mingled joy and pain,
Lest still some intervening chance should rise,
Leap forth at once, and snatch the golden prize;
26
Inflame his woe by bringing it so late,
And stab him in the crisis of his fate.
Since Adam's family, from first to last,
Now into one distinct survey is cast;
Look round, vain-glorious Muse, and you whoe'er
Devote yourselves to Fame, and think her fair;
Look round, and seek the lights of human race,
Whose shining acts Time's brightest annals grace;
Who founded sects; crowns conquer'd, or resign'd;
Gave names to nations, or famed empires join'd;
Who raised the vale, and laid the mountain low,
And taught obedient rivers where to flow;
Who with vast fleets, as with a mighty chain,
Could bind the madness of the roaring main:
All lost! all undistinguish'd! nowhere found!
How will this truth in Bourbon's palace sound?
That hour, on which the' Almighty King on high
From all eternity has fix'd His eye,
Whether His right hand favour'd, or annoy'd,
Continued, alter'd, threaten'd, or destroy'd;
Southern or eastern sceptre downward hurl'd,
Gave north or west dominion o'er the world;
The point of time, for which the world was built,
For which the blood of God Himself was spilt,
That dreadful moment is arrived.
Aloft, the seats of bliss their pomp display,
Brighter than brightness this distinguish'd day;
Less glorious, when of old the' eternal Son
From realms of night return'd with trophies won;
Through heaven's high gates when He triumphant rode,
And shouting angels hail'd the victor God.
Horrors, beneath, darkness in darkness, hell
Of hell, where torments behind torments dwell;
A furnace formidable, deep, and wide,
O'er-boiling with a mad sulphureous tide,
Expands its jaws, most dreadful to survey,
And roars outrageous for the destined prey.
The sons of light scarce unappall'd look down,
27
And nearer press Heaven's everlasting throne.
Such is the scene; and one short moment's space
Concludes the hopes and fears of human race.
Proceed who dares!-I tremble as I write;
The whole creation swims before my sight:
I see, I see, the Judge's frowning brow:
Say not, 'tis distant; I behold it now.
I faint, my tardy blood forgets to flow,
My soul recoils at the stupendous woe;
That woe, those pangs, which from the guilty breast,
In these, or words like these, shall be express'd:``Who burst the barriers of my peaceful grave?
Ah, cruel Death! that would no longer save,
But grudged me e'en that narrow dark abode,
And cast me out into the wrath of God;
Where shrieks, the roaring flame, the rattling chain,
And all the dreadful eloquence of pain,
Our only song; black fire's malignant light,
The sole refreshment of the blasted sight.
``Must all those powers Heaven gave me to supply
My soul with pleasure, and bring-in my joy,
Rise up in arms against me, join the foe,
Sense, Reason, Memory, increase my woe?
And shall my voice, ordain'd on hymns to dwell,
Corrupt to groans, and blow the fires of hell?
O! must I look with terror on my gain,
And with existence only measure pain?
What! no reprieve, no least indulgence given,
No beam of hope from any point of heaven?
Ah, Mercy! Mercy! art thou dead above?
Is love extinguish'd in the Source of Love?
``Bold that I am! did Heaven stoop down to hell?
The' expiring Lord of Life my ransom seal?
Have not I been industrious to provoke?
From His embraces obstinately broke?
Pursued, and panted for His mortal hate,
Earn'd my destruction, labour'd out my fate?
And dare I on extinguish'd love exclaim?
28
Take, take full vengeance, rouse the slackening flame;
Just is my lot-but O! must it transcend
The reach of time, despair a distant end?
With dreadful growth shoot forward, and arise,
Where Thought can't follow, and bold Fancy dies?
``NEVER! Where falls the soul at that dread sound?
Down an abyss how dark, and how profound!
Down, down, (I still am falling,-horrid pain!)
Ten thousand thousand fathoms still remain;
My plunge but still begun.-And this for sin?
Could I offend, if I had never been,
But still increased the senseless happy mass,
Flow'd in the stream, or shiver'd in the grass?
``Father of Mercies! why from silent earth
Didst Thou awake, and curse me into birth?
Tear me from quiet, ravish me from night,
And make a thankless present of Thy light?
Push into being a reverse of Thee,
And animate a clod with misery?
``The beasts are happy; they come forth, and keep
Short watch on earth, and then lie down to sleep.
Pain is for man; and O! how vast a pain,
For crimes which made the Godhead bleed in vain,
Annull'd His groans, as far as in them lay,
And flung His agonies and death away!
As our dire punishment for ever strong,
Our constitution too for ever young;
Cursed with returns of vigour, still the same,
Powerful to bear and satisfy the flame;
Still to be caught, and still to be pursued;
To perish still, and still to be renew'd!
``And this, my Help! my God! at Thy decree?
Nature is changed, and hell should succour me.
And canst Thou, then, look down from perfect bliss,
And see me plunging in the dark abyss?
Calling Thee Father in a sea of fire?
Or pouring blasphemies at Thy desire?
With mortals' anguish wilt Thou raise Thy name,
29
And by my pangs Omnipotence proclaim?
``Thou, who canst toss the planets to and fro,
Contract not Thy great vengeance to my woe;
Crush worlds; in hotter flames fallen angels lay:
On me Almighty wrath is cast away.
Call back Thy thunders, Lord, hold-in Thy rage,
Nor with a speck of wretchedness engage:
Forget me quite, nor stoop a worm to blame;
But lose me in the greatness of Thy name.
Thou art all love, all mercy, all Divine;
And shall I make those glories cease to shine?
Shall sinful man grow great by his offence,
And from its course turn back Omnipotence?
``Forbid it! and O! grant, great God, at least
This one, this slender, almost no request:
When I have wept a thousand lives away,
When torment is grown weary of its prey,
When I have raved ten thousand years in fire,
Ten thousand thousand, let me then expire.''
Deep anguish, but too late! The hopeless soul,
Bound to the bottom of the burning pool,
Though loath, and ever loud blaspheming, owns,
He's justly doom'd to pour eternal groans;
Enclosed with horrors, and transfix'd with pain,
Rolling in vengeance, struggling with his chain;
To talk to fiery tempests; to implore
The raging flame to give its burnings o'er;
To toss, to writhe, to pant beneath his load,
And bear the weight of an offended God.
The favour'd of their Judge in triumph move
To take possession of their thrones above;
Satan's accursed desertion to supply,
And fill the vacant stations of the sky;
Again to kindle long-extinguish'd rays,
And with new lights dilate the heavenly blaze;
To crop the roses of immortal youth,
And drink the fountain-head of sacred truth;
30
To swim in seas of bliss, to strike the string,
And lift the voice to their Almighty King;
To lose eternity in grateful lays,
And fill heaven's wide circumference with praise.
But I attempt the wondrous height in vain,
And leave unfinish'd the too lofty strain;
What boldly I begin, let others end;
My strength exhausted, fainting I descend,
And choose a less, but no ignoble, theme,Dissolving elements, and worlds in flame.
The fatal period, the great hour, is come,
And Nature shrinks at her approaching doom;
Loud peals of thunder give the sign, and all
Heaven's terrors in array surround the ball;
Sharp lightnings with the meteors' blaze conspire,
And, darted downward, set the world on fire;
Black rising clouds the thicken'd ether choke,
And spiry flames dart through the rolling smoke,
With keen vibrations cut the sullen night,
And strike the darken'd sky with dreadful light;
From heaven's four regions, with immortal force,
Angels drive-on the wind's impetuous course
To' enrage the flame: it spreads, it soars on high,
Swells in the storm, and billows through the sky:
Here winding pyramids of fire ascend,
Cities and deserts in one ruin blend;
Here blazing volumes, wafted, overwhelm
The spacious face of a far-distant realm;
There, undermined, down rush eternal hills,
The neighbouring vales the vast destruction fills.
Hear'st thou that dreadful crack? that sound which broke
Like peals of thunder, and the centre shook?
What wonders must that groan of Nature tell!
Olympus there, and mightier Atlas, fell;
Which seem'd above the reach of fate to stand,
A towering monument of God's right hand;
Now dust and smoke, whose brow so lately spread
O'er shelter'd countries its diffusive shade.
31
Show me that celebrated spot, where all
The various rulers of the sever'd ball
Have humbly sought wealth, honour, and redress,
That land which Heaven seem'd diligent to bless,
Once call'd Britannia: can her glories end?
And can't surrounding seas her realms defend?
Alas! in flames behold surrounding seas!
Like oil, their waters but augment the blaze.
Some angel say, Where ran proud Asia's bound?
Or where with fruits was fair Europa crown'd?
Where stretch'd waste Libya? Where did India's store
Sparkle in diamonds, and her golden ore?
Each lost in each, their mingling kingdoms glow,
And all, dissolved, one fiery deluge flow:
Thus earth's contending monarchies are join'd,
And a full period of ambition find.
And now whate'er or swims, or walks, or flies,
Inhabitants of sea, or earth, or skies;
All on whom Adam's wisdom fix'd a name;
All plunge and perish in the conquering flame.
This globe alone would but defraud the fire,
Starve its devouring rage: the flakes aspire,
And catch the clouds, and make the heavens their prey;
The sun, the moon, the stars, all melt away;
All, all is lost; no monument, no sign,
Where once so proudly blazed the gay machine.
So bubbles on the foaming stream expire,
So sparks that scatter from the kindling fire.
The devastations of one dreadful hour
The great Creator's six days' work devour.
A mighty, mighty ruin! yet one soul
Has more to boast, and far outweighs the whole;
Exalted in superior excellence,
Casts down to nothing such a vast expense.
Have you not seen the' eternal mountains nod,
An earth dissolving, a descending God?
What strange surprises through all nature ran!
For whom these revolutions, but for man?
32
For him, Omnipotence new measures takes,
For him, through all eternity awakes;
Pours on him gifts sufficient to supply
Heaven's loss, and with fresh glories fill the sky.
Think deeply then, O man, how great thou art;
Pay thyself homage with a trembling heart.
What angels guard, no longer dare neglect;
Slighting thyself, affront not God's respect.
Enter the sacred temple of thy breast,
And gaze, and wander there, a ravish'd guest;
Gaze on those hidden treasures thou shalt find,
Wander through all the glories of thy mind.
Of perfect knowledge, see, the dawning light
Foretells a noon most exquisitely bright!
Here springs of endless joy are breaking forth!
There buds the promise of celestial worth!
Worth, which must ripen in a happier clime,
And brighter sun, beyond the bounds of time.
Thou, minor, canst not guess thy vast estate,
What stores, on foreign coasts, thy landing wait:
Lose not thy claim: let virtue's path be trod;
Thus glad all heaven, and please that bounteous God,
Who, to light thee to pleasures, hung on high
Yon radiant orb, proud regent of the sky;
That service done, its beams shall fade away,
And God shine forth in one eternal day.
~ Edward Young,
417:The Kalevala - Rune Xlix
RESTORATION OF THE SUN AND MOON.
Thus has Fire returned to Northland
But the gold Moon is not shining,
Neither gleams the silver sunlight
In the chambers of Wainola,
On the plains of Kalevala.
On the crops the white-frost settled,
And the cattle died of hunger,
Even birds grew sick and perished.
Men and maidens, faint and famished,
Perished in the cold and darkness,
From the absence of the sunshine,
From the absence of the moonlight.
Knew the pike his holes and hollows,
And the eagle knew his highway,
Knew the winds the times for sailing;
But the wise men of the Northland
Could not know the dawn of morning,
On the fog-point in the ocean,
On the islands forest-covered.
Young and aged talked and wondered,
Well reflected, long debated,
How to live without the moonlight,
Live without the silver sunshine,
In the cold and cheerless Northland,
In the homes of Kalevala.
Long conjectured all the maidens,
Orphans asked the wise for counsel.
Spake a maid to Ilmarinen,
Running to the blacksmith's furnace:
'Rise, O artist, from thy slumbers,
Hasten from thy couch unworthy;
Forge from gold the Moon for Northland,
Forge anew the Sun from silver
Cannot live without the moonlight,
Nor without the silver sunshine!'
From his couch arose the artist,
223
From his couch of stone, the blacksmith,
And began his work of forging,
Forging Sun and Moon for Northland.
Came the ancient Wainamoinen,
In the doorway sat and lingered,
Spake, these Words to Ilmarinen:
'Blacksmith, my beloved brother,
Thou the only metal-worker,
Tell me why thy magic hammer
Falls so heavy on thine anvil?'
Spake the youthful Ilmarinen:
'Moon of gold and Sun of silver,
I am forging for Wainola;
I shall swing them into ether,
Plant them in the starry heavens.'
Spake the wise, old Wainamoinen:
'Senseless blacksmith of the ages,
Vainly dost thou swing thy hammer,
Vainly rings thy mighty anvil;
Silver will not gleam as sunshine,
Not of gold is born the moonlight!'
Ilmarinen, little heeding,
Ceases not to ply his hammer,
Sun and Moon the artist forges,
Wings the Moon of Magic upward,
Hurls it to the pine-tree branches;
Does not shine without her master.
Then the silver Sun he stations
In an elm-tree on the mountain.
From his forehead drip the sweat-drops,
Perspiration from his fingers,
Through his labors at the anvil
While the Sun and Moon were forging;
But the Sun shone not at morning
From his station in the elm-tree;
And the Moon shone not at evening
From the pine-tree's topmost branches.
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Let the Fates be now consulted,
And the oracles examined;
Only thus may we discover
Where the Sun and Moon lie hidden.'
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Thereupon old Wainamoinen,
Only wise and true magician,
Cut three chips from trunks of alder,
Laid the chips in magic order,
Touched and turned them with his fingers,
Spake these words of master-magic:
'Of my Maker seek I knowledge,
Ask in hope and faith the answer
From the great magician, Ukko:
Tongue of alder, tell me truly,
Symbol of the great Creator,
Where the Sun and Moon are sleeping;
For the Moon shines not in season,
Nor appears the Sun at midday,
From their stations in the sky-vault.
Speak the truth, O magic alder,
Speak not words of man, nor hero,
Hither bring but truthful measures.
Let us form a sacred compact:
If thou speakest me a falsehood,
I will hurl thee to Manala,
Let the nether fires consume thee,
That thine evil signs may perish.'
Thereupon the alder answered,
Spake these words of truthful import:
'Verily the Sun lies hidden
And the golden Moon is sleeping
In the stone-berg of Pohyola,
In the copper-bearing mountain.'
These the words of Wainamoinen:
'I shall go at once to Northland,
To the cold and dark Pohyola,
Bring the Sun and Moon to gladden
All Wainola's fields and forests.'
Forth he hastens on his journey,
To the dismal Sariola,
To the Northland cold and dreary;
Travels one day, then a second,
So the third from morn till evening,
When appear the gates of Pohya,
With her snow-clad hills and mountains.
Wainamoinen, the magician,
225
At the river of Pohyola,
Loudly calls the ferry-maiden:
Bring a boat, O Pohya-daughter,
Bring a strong and trusty vessel,
Row me o'er these chilling waters,
O'er this rough and rapid river! '
But the Ferry-maiden heard not,
Did not listen to his calling.
Thereupon old Wainamoinen,
Laid a pile of well-dried brush-wood,
Knots and needles of the fir-tree,
Made a fire beside the river,
Sent the black smoke into heaven
Curling to the home of Ukko.
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Hastened to her chamber window,
Looked upon the bay and river,
Spake these words to her attendants:
'Why the fire across the river
Where the current meets the deep-sea,
Smaller than the fires of foemen,
Larger than the flames of hunters?'
Thereupon a Pohyalander
Hastened from the court of Louhi
That the cause he might discover,'
Bring the sought-for information
To the hostess of Pohyola;
Saw upon the river-border
Some great hero from Wainola.
Wainamoinen saw the stranger,
Called again in tones of thunder:
'Bring a skiff; thou son of Northland,
For the minstrel, Wainamoinen!
Thus the Pohyalander answered:
'Here no skiffs are lying idle,
Row thyself across the waters,
Use thine arms, and feet, and fingers,
To propel thee o'er the river,
O'er the sacred stream of Pohya.'
Wainamoinen, long reflecting,
Bravely thus soliloquizes:
'I will change my form and features,
226
Will assume a second body,
Neither man, nor ancient minstrel,
Master of the Northland waters!'
Then the singer, Wainamoinen,
Leaped, a pike, upon the waters,
Quickly swam the rapid river,
Gained the frigid Pohya-border.
There his native form resuming,
Walked he as a mighty hero,
On the dismal isle of Louhi,
Spake the wicked sons of Northland:
Come thou to Pohyola's court-room.'
To Pohyola's, court he hastened.
Spake again the sons of evil:
Come thou to the halls of Louhi!'
To Pohyola's halls he hastened.
On the latch he laid his fingers,
Set his foot within the fore-hall,
Hastened to the inner chamber,
Underneath the painted rafters,
Where the Northland-heroes gather.
There he found the Pohya-masters
Girded with their swords of battle,
With their spears and battle-axes,
With their fatal bows and arrows,
For the death of Wainamoinen,
Ancient bard, Suwantolainen.
Thus they asked the hero-stranger.
'Magic swimmer of the Northland,
Son of evil, what the message
That thou bringest from thy people,
What thy mission to Pohyola?'
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Thus addressed the hosts of Louhi:
'For the Sun I come to Northland,
Come to seek the Moon in Pohya;
Tell me where the Sun lies hidden,
Where the golden Moon is sleeping.'
Spake the evil sons of Pohya:
'Both the Sun and Moon are hidden
In the rock of many colors,
In the copper-bearing mountain,
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In a cavern iron-banded,
In the stone-berg of Pohyola,
Nevermore to gain their freedom,
Nevermore to shine in Northland!'
Spake the hero, Wainamoinen:
'If the Sun be not uncovered,
If the Moon leave not her dungeon,
I will challenge all Pohyola
To the test of spear or broadsword,
Let us now our weapons measure!'
Quick the hero of Wainola
Drew his mighty sword of magic;
On its border shone the moonlight,
On its hilt the Sun was shining,
On its back, a neighing stallion,
On its face a cat was mewing,
Beautiful his magic weapon.
Quick the hero-swords are tested,
And the blades are rightly measured
Wainamoinen's sword is longest
By a single grain of barley,
By a blade of straw, the widest.
To the court-yard rushed the heroes,
Hastened to the deadly combat,
On the plains of Sariola.
Wainamoinen, the magician,
Strikes one blow, and then a second,
Strikes a third time, cuts and conquers.
As the house-maids slice the turnips,
As they lop the heads of cabbage,
As the stalks of flax are broken,
So the heads of Louhi's heroes
Fall before the magic broadsword
Of the ancient Wainamoinen.
Then victor from Wainola,
Ancient bard and great magician,
Went to find the Sun in slumber,
And the golden Moon discover,
In, the copper-bearing Mountains,
In the cavern iron-banded,
In the stone-berg of Pohyola.
He had gone but little distance,
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When he found a sea-green island;
On the island stood a birch-tree,
Near the birch-tree stood a pillar
Carved in stone of many colors;
In the pillar, nine large portals
Bolted in a hundred places;
In the rock he found a crevice
Sending forth a gleam of sunlight.
Quick he drew his mighty broadsword,
From the pillar struck three colors,
From the magic of his weapon;
And the pillar fell asunder,
Three the number of the fragments.
Wainamoinen, old and faithful,
Through the crevice looked and wondered.
In the center of the pillar,
From a scarlet-colored basin,
Noxious serpents beer were drinking,
And the adders eating spices.
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Therefore has Pohyola's hostess
Little drink to give to strangers,
Since her beer is drank by serpents,
And her spices given to adders.'
Quick he draws his magic fire-blade,
Cuts the vipers green in pieces,
Lops the heads off all the adders,
Speaks these words of master-magic:
Thus, hereafter, let the serpent
Drink the famous beer of barley,
Feed upon the Northland-spices!'
Wainamoinen, the magician,
The eternal wizard-singer,
Sought to open wide the portals
With the hands and words of magic;
But his hands had lost their cunning,
And his magic gone to others.
Thereupon the ancient minstrel
Quick returning, heavy-hearted,
To his native halls and hamlets,
Thus addressed his brother-heroes:
'Woman, he without his weapons,
229
With no implements, a weakling!
Sun and Moon have I discovered,
But I could not force the Portals
Leading to their rocky cavern
In the copper bearing mountain.
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Why was I not taken with thee
To become, thy war-companion?
Would have been of goodly service,
Would have drawn the bolts or broken,
All the portals to the cavern,
Where the Sun and Moon lie hidden
In the copper-bearing mountain!'
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Thus replied to Lemminkainen:
'Empty Words will break no portals,
Draw no bolts of any moment;
Locks and bolts are never broken.
With the words of little wisdom!
Greater means than thou commandest
Must be used to free the sunshine,
Free the moonlight from her dungeon.'
Wainamoinen, not discouraged,
Hastened to the, forge and smithy,
Spake these words to Ilmarinen:
'O thou famous metal-artist,
Forge for me a magic trident,
Forge from steel a dozen stout-rings,
Master-keys, a goodly number,
Iron bars and heavy hammers,
That the Sun we may uncover
In the copper-bearing mountain,
In the stone-berg of Pohyola.'
Then the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
The eternal metal-worker,
Forged the needs of Wainamoinen,
Forged for him the magic trident,
Forged from steel a dozen stout-rings,
Master-keys a goodly number,
Iron bars and heavy hammers,
Not the largest, nor the smallest,
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Forged them of the right dimensions.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Northland's old and toothless wizard,
Fastened wings upon her shoulders,
As an eagle, sailed the heavens,
Over field, and fen, and forest,
Over Pohya's many, waters,
To the hamlets of Wainola,
To the forge of Ilmarinen.
Quick the famous metal-worker
Went to see if winds were blowing;
Found the winds at peace and silent,
Found an eagle, sable-colored,
Perched upon his window-casement.
Spake the artist, Ilmarinen:
'Magic bird, whom art thou seeking,
Why art sitting at my window?'
This the answer of the eagle:
'Art thou blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
The eternal iron-forger,
Master of the magic metals,
Northland's wonder-working artist?'
Ilmarinen gave this answer:
'There is nothing here of wonder,
Since I forged the dome of heaven,
Forged the earth a concave cover!'
Spake again the magic eagle:
Why this ringing of thine anvil,
Why this knocking of thy hammer,
Tell me what thy hands are forging?'
This the answer of the blacksmith:
''Tis a collar I am forging
For the neck of wicked Louhi,
Toothless witch of Sariola,
Stealer of the silver sunshine,
Stealer of the golden moonlight;
With this collar I shall bind her
To the iron-rock of Ehstland!'
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Saw misfortune fast approaching,
Saw destruction flying over,
Saw the signs of bad-luck lower;
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Quickly winged her way through ether
To her native halls and chambers,
To the darksome Sariola,
There unlocked the massive portals
Where the Sun and Moon were hidden,
In the rock of many colors,
In the cavern iron-banded,
In the copper-bearing mountain.
Then again the wicked Louhi
Changed her withered form and features,
And became a dove of good-luck;
Straightway winged the starry heavens,
Over field, and fen, and forest,
To the meadows of Wainola,
To the plains of Kalevala,
To the forge of Ilmarinen.
This the question of the blacksmith
'Wherefore comest, dove of good-luck,
What the tidings that thou bringest?'
Thus the magic bird made answer:
'Wherefore come I to thy smithy?
Come to bring the joyful tidings
That the Sun has left his cavern,
Left the rock of many colors,
Left the stone-berg of Pohyola;
That the Moon no more is hidden
In the copper-bearing mountains,
In the caverns iron-banded.'
Straightway hastened Ilmarinen
To the threshold of his smithy,
Quickly scanned the far horizon,
Saw again the silver sunshine,
Saw once more the golden moonlight,
Bringing peace, and joy, and plenty,
To the homes of Kalevala.
Thereupon the blacksmith hastened
To his brother, Wainamoinen,
Spake these words to the magician:
'O thou ancient bard and minstrel,
The eternal wizard-singer
See, the Sun again is shining,
And the golden Moon is beaming
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From their long-neglected places,
From their stations in the sky-vault!'
Wainamoinen, old and faithful,
Straightway hastened to the court-yard,
Looked upon the far horizon,
Saw once more the silver sunshine,
Saw again the golden moonlight,
Bringing peace, and joy, and plenty,
To the people of the Northland,
And the minstrel spake these measures:
'Greetings to thee, Sun of fortune,
Greetings to thee, Moon of good-luck,
Welcome sunshine, welcome moonlight,
Golden is the dawn of morning!
Free art thou, O Sun of silver,
Free again, O Moon beloved,
As the sacred cuckoo's singing,
As the ring-dove's liquid cooings.
'Rise, thou silver Sun, each Morning,
Source of light and life hereafter,
Bring us, daily, joyful greetings,
Fill our homes with peace and plenty,
That our sowing, fishing, hunting,
May be prospered by thy coming.
Travel on thy daily journey,
Let the Moon be ever with thee;
Glide along thy way rejoicing,
End thy journeyings in slumber;
Rest at evening in the ocean,
When the daily cares have ended,
To the good of all thy people,
To the pleasure Of Wainoloa,
To the joy of Kalevala!'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
418:The Kalevala - Rune Xi
LEMMINKAINEN'S LAMENT.
This the time to sing of Ahti,
Son of Lempo, Kaukomieli,
Also known as Lemminkainen.
Ahti was the king of islands,
Grew amid the island-dwellings,
At the site of his dear mother,
On the borders of the ocean,
On the points of promontories.
Ahti fed upon the salmon,
Fed upon the ocean whiting,
Thus became a mighty hero,
In his veins the blood of ages,
Read erect and form commanding,
Growth of mind and body perfect
But alas! he had his failings,
Bad indeed his heart and morals,
Roaming in unworthy places,
Staying days and nights in sequences
At the homes of merry maidens,
At the dances of the virgins,
With the maids of braided tresses.
Up in Sahri lived a maiden,
Lived the fair and winsome Kulli,
Lovely as a summer-flower,
From a kingly house descended,
Grew to perfect form and beauty,
Living in her father's cottage,
Home of many ancient heroes,
Beautiful was she and queenly,
Praised throughout the whole of Ehstland;
From afar men came to woo her,
To the birthplace of the virgin,
To the household of her mother.
For his son the Day-star wooes her,
But she will not go to Sun-land,
Will not shine beside the Day-star,
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In his haste to bring the summer.
For her son, the bright Moon wooes her,
But she will not go to Moon-land,
By the bright Moon will not glimmer,
Will not run through boundless ether.
For his son the Night-star wooes her,
But she will not go to Star-land,
Will not twinkle in the starlight,
Through the dreary nights in winter.
Lovers come from distant Ehstlaud,
Others come from far-off Ingern,
But they cannot win the maiden,
This the answer that she gives them
'Vainly are your praises lavished
Vainly is your silver offered,
Wealth and praise are no temptation;
Never shall I go to Ehstland,
Never shall I go a-rowing
On the waters of the Ingern,
Shall not cross the Sahri-waters,
Never eat the fish of Ehstland,
Never taste the Ehstland viands.
Ingerland shall never see me,
Will not row upon her rivers,
Will not step within her borders;
Hunger there, and fell starvation,
Wood is absent, fuel wanting,
Neither water, wheat, nor barley,
Even rye is not abundant.'
Lemminkainen of the islands,
Warlike hero, Kaukomieli,
Undertakes to win the maiden,
Woo and win the Sahri-flower,
Win a bride so highly honored,
Win the maid with golden tresses,
Win the Sahri maid of beauty;
But his mother gives him warning:
'Nay,' replies his gray-haired mother,
'Do not woo, my son beloved,
Maiden of a higher station;
She will never make thee happy
With her lineage of Sahri.'
129
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen,
These the words of Kaukomieli:
'Should I come from lowly station,
Though my tribe is not the highest,
I shall woo to please my fancy,
Woo the maiden fair and lovely,
Choose a wife for worth and beauty.'
This the anxious mother's answer:
'Lemminkainen, son beloved,
Listen to advice maternal:
Do not go to distant Sahri,
To her tribe of many branches;
All the maidens there will taunt thee,
All the women will deride thee.'
Lemminkainen, little hearing,
Answers thus his mother's pleading:
'I will still the sneers of women,
Silence all the taunts of maidens,
I will crush their haughty bosoms,
Smite the hands and cheeks of infants;
Surely this will check their insults,
Fitting ending to derision!'
This the answer of' the mother:
'Woe is me, my son beloved!
Woe is me, my life hard-fated!
Shouldst thou taunt the Sahri daughters.
Or insult the maids of virtue,
Shouldst thou laugh them to derision,
There will rise a great contention,
Fierce the battle that will follow.
All the hosts of Sahri-suitors,
Armed in thousands will attack thee,
And will slay thee for thy folly.'
Nothing listing, Lemminkainen,
Heeding not his mother's warning,
Led his war-horse from the stables,
Quickly hitched the fiery charger,
Fleetly drove upon his journey,
To the distant Sahri-village,
There to woo the Sahri-flower,
There to win the Bride of Beauty.
All the aged Sahri-women,
130
All the young and lovely maidens
Laughed to scorn the coming stranger
Driving careless through the alleys,
Wildly driving through the court-yard,
Now upsetting in the gate-way,
Breaking shaft, and hame, and runner.
Then the fearless Lemminkainen,
Mouth awry and visage wrinkled,
Shook his sable locks and answered:
'Never in my recollection
Have I heard or seen such treatment,
Never have I been derided,
Never suffered sneers of women,
Never suffered scorn of virgins,
Not in my immortal life-time.
Is there any place befitting
On the Sahri-plains and pastures,
Where to join in songs and dances?
Is there here a hall for pleasure,
Where the Sahri-maidens linger,
Merry maids with braided tresses?'
Thereupon the Sahri-maidens
Answered from their promontory.,
'Room enough is there in Sahri,
Room upon the Sahri-pastures,
Room for pleasure-halls and dances;
Sing and dance upon our meadows,
Be a shepherd on the mountains,
Shepherd-boys have room for dancing;
Indolent the Sahri-children,
But the colts are fat and frisky.'
Little caring, Lemminkainen
Entered service there as shepherd,
In the daytime on the pastures,
In the evening, making merry
At the games of lively maidens,
At the dances with the virgins,
With the maids with braided tresses.
Thus it was that Lemminkainen,
Thus the shepherd, Kaukomieli,
Quickly hushed the women's laughter,
Quickly quenched the taunts of maidens,
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Quickly silenced their derision.
All the dames and Sahri-daughters
Soon were feasting Lemminkainen,
At his side they danced and lingered.
Only was there one among them,
One among the Sahri-virgins,
Harbored neither love nor wooers,
Favored neither gods nor heroes,
This the lovely maid Kyllikki,
This the Sahri's fairest flower.
Lemminkainen, full of pleasure,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
Rowed a hundred boats in pieces,
Pulled a thousand oars to fragments,
While he wooed the Maid of Beauty,
Tried to win the fair Kyllikki.
Finally the lovely maiden,
Fairest daughter of the Northland,
Thus addresses Lemminkainen:
'Why dost linger here, thou weak one,
Why dost murmur on these borders,
Why come wooing at my fireside,
Wooing me in belt of copper?
Have no time to waste upon thee,
Rather give this stone its polish,
Rather would I turn the pestle
In the heavy sandstone mortar;
Rather sit beside my mother
In the dwellings of my father.
Never shall I heed thy wooing,
Neither wights nor whisks I care for,
Sooner have a slender husband
Since I have a slender body;
Wish to have him fine of figure,
Since perchance I am well-shapen;
Wish to have him tall and stately,
Since my form perchance is queenly;
Never waste thy time in wooing
Saliri's maid and favored flower.'
Time had gone but little distance,
Scarcely had a month passed over,
When upon a merry evening,
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Where the maidens meet for dancing,
In the glen beyond the meadow,
On a level patch of verdure,
Came too soon the maid Kyllikki,
Sahri's pride, the Maid of Beauty;
Quickly followed Lemminkainen,
With his stallion proudly prancing,
Fleetest racer of the Northland,
Fleetly drives beyond the meadow,
Where the maidens meet for dancing,
Snatches quick the maid Kyllikki,
On the settle seats the maiden,
Quickly draws the leathern cover,
And adjusts the brichen cross-bar,
Whips his courser to a gallop.
With a rush, and roar, and rattle,
Speeds he homeward like the storm-wind,
Speaks these words to those that listen:
'Never, never, anxious maidens,
Must ye give the information,
That I carried off Kyllikki
To my distant home and kindred.
If ye do not heed this order,
Ye shall badly fare as maidens;
I shall sing to war your suitors,
Sing them under spear and broadsword,
That for months, and years, and ages,
Never ye will see their faces,
Never hear their merry voices,
Never will they tread these uplands,
Never will they join these dances,
Never will they drive these highways.'
Sad the wailing of Kyllikki,
Sad the weeping flower of Sahri!
Listen to her tearful pleading:
'Give, O give me back my freedom,
Free me from the throes of thralldom,
Let this maiden wander homeward,
By some foot-path let me wander
To my father who is grieving,
To my mother who is weeping;
Let me go or I will curse thee!
133
If thou wilt not give me freedom,
Wilt not let me wander homeward,
Where my loved ones wait my coming,
I have seven stalwart brothers,
Seven sons of father's brother,
Seven sons of mother's sister,
Who pursue the tracks of red-deer,
Hunt the hare upon the heather;
They will follow thee and slay thee,
Thus I'll gain my wished-for freedom.'
Lemminkainen, little heeding,
Would not grant the maiden's wishes,
Would not heed her plea for mercy.
Spake again the waiting virgin,
Pride and beauty of the Northland:
'Joyful was I with my kindred,
Joyful born and softly nurtured
Merrily I spent my childhood,
Happy I, in virgin-freedom,
In the dwelling of my father,
By the bedside of my mother,
With my lineage in Sahri;
But alas! all joy has vanished,
All my happiness departed,
All my maiden beauty waneth
Since I met thine evil spirit,
Shameless hero of dishonor,
Cruel fighter of the islands,
Merciless in civil combat.'
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen,
These the words of Kaukomieli:
'Dearest maiden, fair Kyllikki,
My sweet strawberry of Pohya,
Still thine anguish, cease thy weeping,
Be thou free from care and sorrow,
Never shall I do thee evil,
Never will my hands maltreat thee,
Never will mine arms abuse thee,
Never will my tongue revile thee,
Never will my heart deceive thee.
'Tell me why thou hast this anguish,
Why thou hast this bitter sorrow,
134
Why this sighing and lamenting,
Tell me why this wail of sadness?
Banish all thy cares and sorrows,
Dry thy tears and still thine anguish,
I have cattle, food, and shelter,
I have home, and friends, and kindred,
Kine upon the plains and uplands,
In the marshes berries plenty,
Strawberries upon the mountains
I have kine that need no milking,
Handsome kine that need no feeding,
Beautiful if not well-tended;
Need not tie them up at evening,
Need not free them in the morning,
Need not hunt them, need not feed them,
Need not give them salt nor water.
'Thinkest thou my race is lowly,
Dost thou think me born ignoble,
Does my lineage agrieve thee?
Was not born in lofty station,
From a tribe of noble heroes,
From a worthy race descended;
But I have a sword of fervor,
And a spear yet filled with courage,
Surely these are well descended,
These were born from hero-races,
Sharpened by the mighty Hisi,
By the gods were forged and burnished;
Therefore will I give thee greatness,
Greatness of my race and nation,
With my broadsword filled with fervor,
With my spear still filled with courage.'
Anxiously the sighing maiden
Thus addresses Lemminkainen:
'O thou Ahti, son of Lempo,
Wilt thou take this trusting virgin,
As thy faithful life-companion,
Take me under thy protection,
Be to me a faithful husband,
Swear to me an oath of honor,
That thou wilt not go to battle,
When for gold thou hast a longing,
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When thou wishest gold and silver?'
This is Lemminkainen's answer:
I will swear an oath of honor,
That I'll never go to battle,
When for gold I feel a longing,
When I wish for gold and silver.
Swear thou also on thine honor,
Thou wilt go not to the village,
When desire for dance impels thee,
Wilt not visit village-dances.'
Thus the two made oath together,
Registered their vows in heaven,
Vowed before omniscient Ukko,
Ne'er to go to war vowed Ahti,
Never to the dance, Kyllikki.
Lemminkainen, full of joyance,
Snapped his whip above his courser,
Whipped his racer to a gallop,
And these words the hero uttered:
'Fare ye well, ye Sahri-meadows,
Roots of firs, and stumps of birch-trees.
That I wandered through in summer,
That I travelled o'er in winter,
Where ofttimes in rainy seasons,
At the evening hour I lingered,
When I sought to win the virgin,
Sought to win the Maid of Beauty,
Fairest of the Sahri-flowers.
Fare ye well, ye Sahri-woodlands,
Seas and oceans, lakes and rivers,
Vales and mountains, isles and inlets,
Once the home of fair Kyllikki!'
Quick the racer galloped homeward,
Galloped on along the highway,
Toward the meadows of Wainola,
To the plains of Kalevala.
As they neared the Ahti-dwellings,
Thus Kyllikki spake in sorrow:
'Cold and drear is thy cottage,
Seeming like a place deserted;
Who may own this dismal cabin,
Who the one so little honored?'
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Spake the hero, Lemminkainen,
These the words that Ahti uttered:
'Do not grieve about my cottage,
Have no care about my chambers;
I shall build thee other dwellings,
I shall fashion them much better,
Beams, and posts, and sills, and rafters,
Fashioned from the sacred birch-wood.'
Now they reach the home of Ahti,
Lemminkainen's home and birthplace,
Enter they his mother's cottage;
There they meet his aged mother,
These the words the mother uses:
'Long indeed hast thou been absent,
Long in foreign lands hast wandered,
Long in Sahri thou hast lingered!'
This is Lemminkainen's answer:
'All the host of Sahri-women,
All the chaste and lovely maidens,
All the maids with braided tresses,
Well have paid for their derision,
For their scorn and for their laughter,
That they basely heaped upon me.
I have brought the best among them
In my sledge to this thy cottage;
Well I wrapped her in my fur-robes,
Kept her warm enwrapped in bear-skin,
Brought her to my mother's dwelling,
As my faithful life-companion;
Thus I paid the scornful maidens,
Paid them well for their derision.
'Cherished mother of my being,
I have found the long-sought jewel,
I have won the Maid of Beauty.
Spread our couch with finest linen,
For our heads the softest pillows,
On our table rarest viands,
So that I may dwell in pleasure
With my spouse, the bride of honor,
With the pride of distant Sahri.'
This the answer of the mother:
'Be thou praised, O gracious Ukko,
137
Loudly praised, O thou Creator,
Since thou givest me a daughter,
Ahti's bride, my second daughter,
Who can stir the fire at evening,
Who can weave me finest fabrics,
Who can twirl the useful spindle,
Who can rinse my silken ribbons,
Who can full the richest garments.
'Son beloved, praise thy Maker,
For the winning of this virgin,
Pride and joy of distant Sahri
Kind indeed is thy Creator,
Wise the ever-knowing Ukko!
Pure the snow upon the mountains,
Purer still thy Bride of Beauty;
White the foam upon the ocean,
Whiter still her virgin-spirit;
Graceful on the lakes, the white-swan,
Still more graceful, thy companion:
Beautiful the stars in heaven,
Still more beautiful, Kyllikki.
Larger make our humble cottage,
Wider build the doors and windows,
Fashion thou the ceilings higher,
Decorate the walls in beauty,
Now that thou a bride hast taken
From a tribe of higher station,
Purest maiden of creation,
From the meadow-lands of Sahri,
From the upper shores of Northland.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
419:Al Aaraaf
PART I
O! nothing earthly save the ray
(Thrown back from flowers) of Beauty's eye,
As in those gardens where the day
Springs from the gems of CircassyO! nothing earthly save the thrill
Of melody in woodland rillOr (music of the passion-hearted)
Joy's voice so peacefully departed
That like the murmur in the shell,
Its echo dwelleth and will dwellOh, nothing of the dross of oursYet all the beauty- all the flowers
That list our Love, and deck our bowersAdorn yon world afar, afarThe wandering star.
'Twas a sweet time for Nesace- for there
Her world lay lolling on the golden air,
Near four bright suns- a temporary restAn oasis in desert of the blest.
Away- away- 'mid seas of rays that roll
Empyrean splendor o'er th' unchained soulThe soul that scarce (the billows are so dense)
Can struggle to its destin'd eminence,To distant spheres, from time to time, she rode
And late to ours, the favor'd one of GodBut, now, the ruler of an anchor'd realm,
She throws aside the sceptre- leaves the helm,
And, amid incense and high spiritual hymns,
Laves in quadruple light her angel limbs.
Now happiest, loveliest in yon lovely Earth,
Whence sprang the 'Idea of Beauty' into birth,
(Falling in wreaths thro' many a startled star,
Like woman's hair 'mid pearls, until, afar,
It lit on hills Achaian, and there dwelt)
She looked into Infinity- and knelt.
15
Rich clouds, for canopies, about her curledFit emblems of the model of her worldSeen but in beauty- not impeding sight
Of other beauty glittering thro' the lightA wreath that twined each starry form around,
And all the opal'd air in color bound.
All hurriedly she knelt upon a bed
Of flowers: of lilies such as rear'd the head
On the fair Capo Deucato, and sprang
So eagerly around about to hang
Upon the flying footsteps of- deep prideOf her who lov'd a mortal- and so died.
The Sephalica, budding with young bees,
Upreared its purple stem around her knees:And gemmy flower, of Trebizond misnam'dInmate of highest stars, where erst it sham'd
All other loveliness:- its honied dew
(The fabled nectar that the heathen knew)
Deliriously sweet, was dropp'd from Heaven,
And fell on gardens of the unforgiven
In Trebizond- and on a sunny flower
So like its own above that, to this hour,
It still remaineth, torturing the bee
With madness, and unwonted reverie:
In Heaven, and all its environs, the leaf
And blossom of the fairy plant in grief
Disconsolate linger- grief that hangs her head,
Repenting follies that full long have Red,
Heaving her white breast to the balmy air,
Like guilty beauty, chasten'd and more fair:
Nyctanthes too, as sacred as the light
She fears to perfume, perfuming the night:
And Clytia, pondering between many a sun,
While pettish tears adown her petals run:
And that aspiring flower that sprang on Earth,
And died, ere scarce exalted into birth,
Bursting its odorous heart in spirit to wing
Its way to Heaven, from garden of a king:
And Valisnerian lotus, thither flown'
From struggling with the waters of the Rhone:
And thy most lovely purple perfume, Zante!
16
Isola d'oro!- Fior di Levante!
And the Nelumbo bud that floats for ever
With Indian Cupid down the holy riverFair flowers, and fairy! to whose care is given
To bear the Goddess' song, in odors, up to Heaven:
'Spirit! that dwellest where,
In the deep sky,
The terrible and fair,
In beauty vie!
Beyond the line of blueThe boundary of the star
Which turneth at the view
Of thy barrier and thy barOf the barrier overgone
By the comets who were cast
From their pride and from their throne
To be drudges till the lastTo be carriers of fire
(The red fire of their heart)
With speed that may not tire
And with pain that shall not partWho livest- that we knowIn Eternity- we feelBut the shadow of whose brow
What spirit shall reveal?
Tho' the beings whom thy Nesace,
Thy messenger hath known
Have dream'd for thy Infinity
A model of their ownThy will is done, O God!
The star hath ridden high
Thro' many a tempest, but she rode
Beneath thy burning eye;
And here, in thought, to theeIn thought that can alone
Ascend thy empire and so be
A partner of thy throneBy winged Fantasy,
My embassy is given,
Till secrecy shall knowledge be
In the environs of Heaven.'
17
She ceas'd- and buried then her burning cheek
Abash'd, amid the lilies there, to seek
A shelter from the fervor of His eye;
For the stars trembled at the Deity.
She stirr'd not- breath'd not- for a voice was there
How solemnly pervading the calm air!
A sound of silence on the startled ear
Which dreamy poets name 'the music of the sphere.'
Ours is a world of words: Quiet we call
'Silence'- which is the merest word of all.
All Nature speaks, and ev'n ideal things
Flap shadowy sounds from visionary wingsBut ah! not so when, thus, in realms on high
The eternal voice of God is passing by,
And the red winds are withering in the sky:'What tho 'in worlds which sightless cycles run,
Linked to a little system, and one sunWhere all my love is folly and the crowd
Still think my terrors but the thunder cloud,
The storm, the earthquake, and the ocean-wrath(Ah! will they cross me in my angrier path?)
What tho' in worlds which own a single sun
The sands of Time grow dimmer as they run,
Yet thine is my resplendency, so given
To bear my secrets thro' the upper Heaven!
Leave tenantless thy crystal home, and fly,
With all thy train, athwart the moony skyApart- like fire-flies in Sicilian night,
And wing to other worlds another light!
Divulge the secrets of thy embassy
To the proud orbs that twinkle- and so be
To ev'ry heart a barrier and a ban
Lest the stars totter in the guilt of man!'
Up rose the maiden in the yellow night,
The single-mooned eve!- on Earth we plight
Our faith to one love- and one moon adoreThe birth-place of young Beauty had no more.
As sprang that yellow star from downy hours
Up rose the maiden from her shrine of flowers,
18
And bent o'er sheeny mountains and dim plain
Her way, but left not yet her Therasaean reign.
PART II
High on a mountain of enamell'd headSuch as the drowsy shepherd on his bed
Of giant pasturage lying at his ease,
Raising his heavy eyelid, starts and sees
With many a mutter'd 'hope to be forgiven'
What time the moon is quadrated in HeavenOf rosy head that, towering far away
Into the sunlit ether, caught the ray
Of sunken suns at eve- at noon of night,
While the moon danc'd with the fair stranger lightUprear'd upon such height arose a pile
Of gorgeous columns on th' unburthen'd air,
Flashing from Parian marble that twin smile
Far down upon the wave that sparkled there,
And nursled the young mountain in its lair.
Of molten stars their pavement, such as fall
Thro' the ebon air, besilvering the pall
Of their own dissolution, while they dieAdorning then the dwellings of the sky.
A dome, by linked light from Heaven let down,
Sat gently on these columns as a crownA window of one circular diamond, there,
Look'd out above into the purple air,
And rays from God shot down that meteor chain
And hallow'd all the beauty twice again,
Save, when, between th' empyrean and that ring,
Some eager spirit Flapp'd his dusky wing.
But on the pillars Seraph eyes have seen
The dimness of this world: that greyish green
That Nature loves the best Beauty's grave
Lurk'd in each cornice, round each architraveAnd every sculptur'd cherub thereabout
That from his marble dwelling peered out,
Seem'd earthly in the shadow of his nicheAchaian statues in a world so rich!
Friezes from Tadmor and PersepolisFrom Balbec, and the stilly, clear abyss
19
Of beautiful Gomorrah! O, the wave
Is now upon thee- but too late to save!
Sound loves to revel in a summer night:
Witness the murmur of the grey twilight
That stole upon the ear, in Eyraco,
Of many a wild star-gazer long agoThat stealeth ever on the ear of him
Who, musing, gazeth on the distance dim,
And sees the darkness coming as a cloudIs not its form- its voice- most palpable and loud?
But what is this?- it cometh, and it brings
A music with it- 'tis the rush of wingsA pause- and then a sweeping, falling strain
And Nesace is in her halls again.
From the wild energy of wanton haste
Her cheeks were flushing, and her lips apart;
And zone that clung around her gentle waist
Had burst beneath the heaving of her heart.
Within the centre of that hall to breathe,
She paused and panted, Zanthe! all beneath,
The fairy light that kiss'd her golden hair
And long'd to rest, yet could but sparkle there.
Young flowers were whispering in melody
To happy flowers that night- and tree to tree;
Fountains were gushing music as they fell
In many a star-lit grove, or moon-lit dell;
Yet silence came upon material thingsFair flowers, bright waterfalls and angel wingsAnd sound alone that from the spirit sprang
Bore burthen to the charm the maiden sang:
''Neath the blue-bell or streamerOr tufted wild spray
That keeps, from the dreamer,
The moonbeam awayBright beings! that ponder,
With half closing eyes,
On the stars which your wonder
Hath drawn from the skies,
20
Till they glance thro' the shade, and
Come down to your brow
Like- eyes of the maiden
Who calls on you nowArise! from your dreaming
In violet bowers,
To duty beseeming
These star-litten hoursAnd shake from your tresses
Encumber'd with dew
The breath of those kisses
That cumber them too(O! how, without you, Love!
Could angels be blest?)
Those kisses of true Love
That lull'd ye to rest!
Up!- shake from your wing
Each hindering thing:
The dew of the nightIt would weigh down your flight
And true love caressesO, leave them apart!
They are light on the tresses,
But lead on the heart.
Ligeia! Ligeia!
My beautiful one!
Whose harshest idea
Will to melody run,
O! is it thy will
On the breezes to toss?
Or, capriciously still,
Like the lone Albatros,
Incumbent on night
(As she on the air)
To keep watch with delight
On the harmony there?
Ligeia! wherever
Thy image may be,
No magic shall sever
Thy music from thee.
21
Thou hast bound many eyes
In a dreamy sleepBut the strains still arise
Which thy vigilance keepThe sound of the rain,
Which leaps down to the flowerAnd dances again
In the rhythm of the showerThe murmur that springs
From the growing of grass
Are the music of thingsBut are modell'd, alas!Away, then, my dearest,
Oh! hie thee away
To the springs that lie clearest
Beneath the moon-rayTo lone lake that smiles,
In its dream of deep rest,
At the many star-isles
That enjewel its breastWhere wild flowers, creeping,
Have mingled their shade,
On its margin is sleeping
Full many a maidSome have left the cool glade, and
Have slept with the beeArouse them, my maiden,
On moorland and leaGo! breathe on their slumber,
All softly in ear,
Thy musical number
They slumbered to hearFor what can awaken
An angel so soon,
Whose sleep hath been taken
Beneath the cold moon,
As the spell which no slumber
Of witchery may test,
The rhythmical number
Which lull'd him to rest?'
Spirits in wing, and angels to the view,
22
A thousand seraphs burst th' Empyrean thro',
Young dreams still hovering on their drowsy flightSeraphs in all but 'Knowledge,' the keen light
That fell, refracted, thro' thy bounds, afar,
O Death! from eye of God upon that star:
Sweet was that error- sweeter still that deathSweet was that error- even with us the breath
Of Science dims the mirror of our joyTo them 'twere the Simoom, and would destroyFor what (to them) availeth it to know
That Truth is Falsehood- or that Bliss is Woe?
Sweet was their death- with them to die was rife
With the last ecstasy of satiate lifeBeyond that death no immortalityBut sleep that pondereth and is not 'to be'!And there- oh! may my weary spirit dwellApart from Heaven's Eternity- and yet how far from Hell!
What guilty spirit, in what shrubbery dim,
Heard not the stirring summons of that hymn?
But two: they fell: for Heaven no grace imparts
To those who hear not for their beating hearts.
A maiden-angel and her seraph-loverO! where (and ye may seek the wide skies over)
Was Love, the blind, near sober Duty known?
Unguided Love hath fallen- 'mid 'tears of perfect moan.'
He was a goodly spirit- he who fell:
A wanderer by moss-y-mantled wellA gazer on the lights that shine aboveA dreamer in the moonbeam by his love:
What wonder? for each star is eye-like there,
And looks so sweetly down on Beauty's hairAnd they, and ev'ry mossy spring were holy
To his love-haunted heart and melancholy.
The night had found (to him a night of woe)
Upon a mountain crag, young AngeloBeetling it bends athwart the solemn sky,
And scowls on starry worlds that down beneath it lie.
Here sat he with his love- his dark eye bent
With eagle gaze along the firmament:
Now turn'd it upon her- but ever then
It trembled to the orb of EARTH again.
23
'Ianthe, dearest, see- how dim that ray!
How lovely 'tis to look so far away!
She seem'd not thus upon that autumn eve
I left her gorgeous halls- nor mourn'd to leave.
That eve- that eve- I should remember wellThe sun-ray dropp'd in Lemnos, with a spell
On th' arabesque carving of a gilded hall
Wherein I sate, and on the draperied wallAnd on my eyelids- O the heavy light!
How drowsily it weigh'd them into night!
On flowers, before, and mist, and love they ran
With Persian Saadi in his Gulistan:
But O that light!- I slumber'd- Death, the while,
Stole o'er my senses in that lovely isle
So softly that no single silken hair
Awoke that slept- or knew that he was there.
'The last spot of Earth's orb I trod upon
Was a proud temple call'd the Parthenon;
More beauty clung around her column'd wall
Than ev'n thy glowing bosom beats withal,
And when old Time my wing did disenthral
Thence sprang I- as the eagle from his tower,
And years I left behind me in an hour.
What time upon her airy bounds I hung,
One half the garden of her globe was flung
Unrolling as a chart unto my viewTenantless cities of the desert too!
Ianthe, beauty crowded on me then,
And half I wish'd to be again of men.'
'My Angelo! and why of them to be?
A brighter dwelling-place is here for theeAnd greener fields than in yon world above,
And woman's loveliness- and passionate love.'
'But, list, Ianthe! when the air so soft
Fail'd, as my pennon'd spirit leapt aloft,
Perhaps my brain grew dizzy- but the world
I left so late was into chaos hurl'dSprang from her station, on the winds apart.
And roll'd, a flame, the fiery Heaven athwart.
24
Methought, my sweet one, then I ceased to soar
And fell- not swiftly as I rose before,
But with a downward, tremulous motion thro'
Light, brazen rays, this golden star unto!
Nor long the measure of my falling hours,
For nearest of all stars was thine to oursDread star! that came, amid a night of mirth,
A red Daedalion on the timid Earth.'
'We came- and to thy Earth- but not to us
Be given our lady's bidding to discuss:
We came, my love; around, above, below,
Gay fire-fly of the night we come and go,
Nor ask a reason save the angel-nod
She grants to us, as granted by her GodBut, Angelo, than thine grey Time unfurl'd
Never his fairy wing O'er fairier world!
Dim was its little disk, and angel eyes
Alone could see the phantom in the skies,
When first Al Aaraaf knew her course to be
Headlong thitherward o'er the starry seaBut when its glory swell'd upon the sky,
As glowing Beauty's bust beneath man's eye,
We paused before the heritage of men,
And thy star trembled- as doth Beauty then!'
Thus, in discourse, the lovers whiled away
The night that waned and waned and brought no day.
They fell: for Heaven to them no hope imparts
Who hear not for the beating of their hearts.
~ Edgar Allan Poe,
420:The Kalevala - Rune Xxxii
KULLERVO AS A SHEPHERD.
Kullerwoinen, wizard-servant
Of the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Purchased slave from Untamoinen,
Magic son with sky-blue stockings.,
With a head of golden ringlets,
In his shoes of marten-leather,
Waiting little, asked the blacksmith,
Asked the host for work at morning,
In the evening asked the hostess,
These the words of Kullerwoinen:
'Give me work at early morning,
In the evening, occupation,
Labor worthy of thy servant.'
Then the wife of Ilmarinen,
Once the Maiden of the Rainbow,
Thinking long, and long debating,
How to give the youth employment,
How the purchased slave could labor;
Finally a shepherd made him,
Made him keeper of her pastures;
But the over-scornful hostess,
Baked a biscuit for the herdsman,
Baked a loaf of wondrous thickness,
Baked the lower-half of oat-meal,
And the upper-half of barley,
Baked a flint-stone in the centre,
Poured around it liquid butter,
Then she gave it to the shepherd,
Food to still the herdsman's hunger;
Thus she gave the youth instructions:
'Do not eat the bread in hunger,
Till the herd is in the woodlands!'
Then the wife of Ilmarinen
Sent her cattle to the pasture,
Thus addressing Kullerwoinen:
'Drive the cows to yonder bowers,
509
To the birch-trees and the aspens,
That they there may feed and fatten,
Fill themselves with milk and butter,
In the open forest-pastures,
On the distant hills and mountains,
In the glens among the birch-trees,
In the lowlands with the aspens,
In the golden pine-tree forests,
In the thickets silver-laden.
'Guard them, thou O kind Creator,
Shield them, omnipresent Ukko,
Shelter them from every danger,
And protect them from all evil,
That they may not want, nor wander
From the paths of peace and plenty.
As at home Thou didst protect them
In the shelters and the hurdles,
Guard them now beneath the heavens,
Shelter them in woodland pastures,
That the herds may live and prosper
To 'the joy of Northland's hostess,
And against the will of Lempo.
'If my herdsman prove unworthy,
If the shepherd-maids seem evil,
Let the pastures be their shepherds,
Let the alders guard the cattle,
Make the birch-tree their protector,
Let the willow drive them homeward,
Ere the hostess go to seek them,
Ere the milkmaids wait and worry.
Should the birch-tree not protect them,
Nor the aspen lend assistance,
Nor the linden be their keeper,
Nor the willow drive them homeward,
Wilt thou give them better herdsmen,
Let Creation's beauteous daughters
Be their kindly shepherdesses.
Thou hast many lovely maidens,
Many hundreds that obey thee,
In the Ether's spacious circles,
Beauteous daughters of creation.
'Summer-daughter, magic maiden,
510
Southern mother of the woodlands,
Pine-tree daughter, Kateyatar,
Pihlayatar, of the aspen,
Alder-maiden, Tapio's daughter,
Daughter of the glen, Millikki,
And the mountain-maid, Tellervo,
Of my herds be ye protectors,
Keep them from the evil-minded,
Keep them safe in days of summer,
In the times of fragrant flowers,
While the tender leaves are whispering,
While the Earth is verdure-laden.
'Summer-daughter, charming maiden,
Southern mother of the woodlands,
Spread abroad thy robes of safety,
Spread thine apron o'er the forest,
Let it cover all my cattle,
And protect the unprotected,
That no evil winds may harm them,
May not suffer from the storm-clouds.
Guard my flocks from every danger,
Keep them from the hands of wild-beasts,
From the swamps with sinking pathways,
From the springs that bubble trouble,
From the swiftly running waters,
From the bottom of the whirlpool,
That they may not find misfortune,
May not wander to destruction,
In the marshes sink and perish,
Though against God's best intentions,
Though against the will of Ukko.
'From a distance bring a bugle,
Bring a shepherd's horn from heaven,
Bring the honey-flute of Ukko,
Play the music of creation,
Blow the pipes of the magician,
Play the flowers on the highlands,
Charm the hills, and dales, and mount
Charm the borders of the forest,
Fill the forest-trees with honey,
Fill with spice the fountain-borders.
'For my herds give food and shelter,
511
Feed them all on honeyed pastures,
Give them drink at honeyed fountains
Feed them on thy golden grasses,
On the leaves of silver saplings,
From the springs of life and beauty,
From the crystal-waters flowing,
From the waterfalls of Rutya,
From the uplands green and golden,
From the glens enriched in silver.
Dig thou also golden fountains
On the four sides of the willow,
That the cows may drink in sweetness,
And their udders swell with honey,
That their milk may flow in streamlets;
Let the milk be caught in vessels,
Let the cow's gift be not wasted,
Be not given to Manala.
'Many are the sons of evil,
That to Mana take their milkings,
Give their milk to evil-doers,
Waste it in Tuoni's empire;
Few there are, and they the worthy,
That can get the milk from Mana;
Never did my ancient mother
Ask for counsel in the village,
Never in the courts for wisdom;
She obtained her milk from Mana,
Took the sour-milk from the dealers,
Sweet-milk from the greater distance,
From the kingdom of Manala,
From Tuoni's fields and pastures;
Brought it in the dusk of evening,
Through the by-ways in the darkness,
That the wicked should not know it,
That it should not find destruction.
'This the language of my mother,
And these words I also echo:
Whither does the cow's gift wander,
Whither has the milk departed?
Has it gone to feed the strangers,
Banished to the distant village,
Gone to feed the hamlet-lover,
512
Or perchance to feed the forest,
Disappeared within the woodlands,
Scattered o'er the hills and mountains,
Mingled with the lakes and rivers?
It shall never go to Mana,
Never go to feed the stranger,
Never to the village-lover;
Neither shall it feed the forest,
Nor be lost upon the mountains,
Neither sprinkled in the woodlands,
Nor be mingled with the waters;
It is needed for our tables,
Worthy food for all our children.'
Summer-daughter, maid of beauty,
Southern daughter of Creation,
Give Suotikki tender fodder,
To Watikki, give pure water,
To Hermikki milk abundant,
Fresh provisions to Tuorikki,
From Mairikki let the milk flow,
Fresh milk from my cows in plenty,
Coming from the tips of grasses,
From the tender herbs and leaflets,
From the meadows rich in honey,
From the mother of the forest,
From the meadows sweetly dripping,
From the berry-laden branches,
From the heath of flower-maidens,
From the verdure. maiden bowers,
From the clouds of milk-providers,
From the virgin of the heavens,
That the milk may flow abundant
From the cows that I have given
To the keeping of Kullervo.
'Rise thou virgin of the valley,
From the springs arise in beauty,
Rise thou maiden of the fountain,
Beautiful, arise in ether,
Take the waters from the cloudlets,
And my roaming herds besprinkle,
That my cows may drink and flourish,
May be ready for the coming
513
Of the shepherdess of evening.
'O Millikki, forest-hostess,
Mother of the herds at pasture,
Send the tallest of thy servants,
Send the best of thine assistants,
That my herds may well be guarded,
Through the pleasant days of summer,
Given us by our Creator.
'Beauteous virgin of the woodlands,
Tapio's most charming daughter,
Fair Tellervo, forest-maiden,
Softly clad in silken raiment,
Beautiful in golden ringlets,
Do thou give my herds protection,
In the Metsola dominions,
On the hills of Tapiola;
Shield them with thy hands of beauty,
Stroke them gently with thy fingers,
Give to them a golden lustre,
Make them shine like fins of salmon,
Grow them robes as soft as ermine.
'When the evening star brings darkness,
When appears the hour of twilight,
Send my lowing cattle homeward,
Milk within their vessels coursing,
Water on their backs in lakelets.
When the Sun has set in ocean,
When the evening-bird is singing,
Thus address my herds of cattle:
'Ye that carry horns, now hasten
To the sheds of Ilmarinen;
Ye enriched in milk go homeward,
To the hostess now in waiting,
Home, the better place for sleeping,
Forest-beds are full of danger;
When the evening comes in darkness,
Straightway journey to the milkmaids
Building fires to light the pathway
On the turf enriched in honey,
In the pastures berry-laden!
'Thou, O Tapio's son, Nyrikki,
Forest-son, enrobed in purple,
514
Cut the fir-trees on the mountains,
Cut the pines with cones of beauty,
Lay them o'er the streams for bridges,
Cover well the sloughs of quicksand,
In the swamps and in the lowlands,
That my herd may pass in safety,
On their long and dismal journey,
To the clouds of smoke may hasten,
Where the milkmaids wait their coming.
If the cows heed not this order,
Do not hasten home at evening,
Then, O service-berry maiden,
Cut a birch-rod from the glenwood,
From the juniper, a whip-stick,
Near to Tapio's spacious mansion,
Standing on the ash-tree mountain,
Drive my wayward, ]owing cattle,
Into Metsola's wide milk-yards,
When the evening-star is rising.
'Thou, O Otso, forest-apple,
Woodland bear, with honeyed fingers,
Let us make a lasting treaty,
Make a vow for future ages,
That thou wilt not kill my cattle,
Wilt not eat my milk-providers;
That I will not send my hunters
To destroy thee and thy kindred,
Never in the days of summer,
The Creator's warmest season.
'Dost thou hear the tones of cow-bells,
Hear the calling of the bugles,
Ride thyself within the meadow,
Sink upon the turf in slumber,
Bury both thine ears in clover,
Crouch within some alder-thicket
Climb between the mossy ledges,
Visit thou some rocky cavern,
Flee away to other mountains,
Till thou canst not hear the cow-bells,
Nor the calling of the herdsmen.
'Listen, Otso of the woodlands,
Sacred bear with honeyed fingers,
515
To approach the herd of cattle
Thou thyself art not forbidden,
But thy tongue, and teeth, and fingers,
Must not touch my herd in summer,
Must not harm my harmless creatures.
Go around the scented meadows,
Amble through the milky pastures,
From the tones of bells and shepherds.
should the herd be on the mountain,
Go thou quickly to the marshes;
Should my cattle browse the lowlands,
Sleep thou then within the thicket;
Should they feed upon the uplands,
Thou must hasten to the valley;
Should the herd graze at the bottom,
Thou must feed upon the summit.
'Wander like the golden cuckoo,
Like the dove of silver brightness,
Like a little fish in ocean;
Ride thy claws within thy hair-foot,
Shut thy wicked teeth in darkness,
That my herd may not be frightened,
May not think themselves in danger.
Leave my cows in peace and plenty,
Let them journey home in order,
Through the vales and mountain by-ways,
Over plains and through the forest,
Harming not my harmless creatures.
'Call to mind our former pledges,
At the river of Tuoni,
Near the waterfall and whirlpool,
In the ears of our Creator.
Thrice to Otso was it granted,
In the circuit of the summer,
To approach the land of cow-bells,
Where the herdsmen's voices echo;
But to thee it was not granted,
Otso never had permission
To attempt a wicked action,
To begin a work of evil.
Should the blinding thing of malice
Come upon thee in thy roamings,
516
Should thy bloody teeth feel hunger,
Throw thy malice to the mountains,
And thy hunger to the pine-trees,
Sink thy teeth within the aspens,
In the dead limbs of the birches,
Prune the dry stalks from the willows.
Should thy hunger still impel thee,
Go thou to the berry-mountain,
Eat the fungus of the forest,
Feed thy hunger on the ant-hills,
Eat the red roots of the bear-tree,
Metsola's rich cakes of honey,
Not the grass my herd would feed on.
Or if Metsola's rich honey
Should ferment before the eating,
On the hills of golden color,
On the mountains filled with silver,
There is other food for hunger,
Other drink for thirsting Otso,
Everlasting will the food be,
And the drink be never wanting.
'Let us now agree in honor,
And conclude a lasting treaty
That our lives may end in pleasure,
May be, merry in the summer,
Both enjoy the woods in common,
Though our food must be distinctive
Shouldst thou still desire to fight me,
Let our contests be in winter,
Let our wars be, on the snow-fields.
Swamps will thaw in days of summer,
Warm, the water in the rivers.
Therefore shouldst thou break this treaty,
Shouldst thou come where golden cattle
Roam these woodland hills and valleys,
We will slay thee with our cross-bows;
Should our arrow-men be absent,
We have here some archer-women,
And among them is the hostess,
That can use the fatal weapon,
That can bring thee to destruction,
Thus will end the days of trouble
517
That thou bringest to our people,
And against the will of Ukko.
'Ukko, ruler in the heavens,
Lend an ear to my entreaty,
Metamorphose all my cattle,
Through the mighty force of magic,
Into stumps and stones convert them,
If the enemy should wander,
Near my herd in days of summer.
'If I had been born an Otso,
I would never stride and amble
At the feet of aged women;
Elsewhere there are hills and valleys,
Farther on are honey-pastures,
Where the lazy bear may wander,
Where the indolent may linger;
Sneak away to yonder mountain,
That thy tender flesh may lessen,
In the blue-glen's deep recesses,
In the bear-dens of the forest,
Thou canst move through fields of acorns,
Through the sand and ocean-pebbles,
There for thee is tracked a pathway,
Through the woodlands on the sea-coast,
To the Northland's farthest limits,
To the dismal plains of Lapland,
There 'tis well for thee to lumber,
There to live will be a pleasure.
Shoeless there to walk in summer,
Stockingless in days of autumn,
On the blue-back of the mountain,
Through the swamps and fertile lowlands.
'If thou canst not journey thither,
Canst not find the Lapland-highway,
Hasten on a little distance,
In the bear-path leading northward.
To the grove of Tuonela,
To the honey-plains of Kalma,
Swamps there are in which to wander,
Heaths in which to roam at pleasure,
There are Kiryos, there are Karyos,
And of beasts a countless number,
518
With their fetters strong as iron,
Fattening within the forest.
Be ye gracious, groves and mountains,
Full of grace, ye darksome thickets,
Peace and, plenty to my cattle,
Through the pleasant days of summer,
The Creator's warmest season.
'Knippana, O King of forests,
Thou the gray-beard of the woodlands,
Watch thy dogs in fen and fallow,
Lay a sponge within one nostril,
And an acorn in the other,
That they may not scent my cattle;
Tie their eyes with silken fillets,
That they may not see my herdlings,
May not see my cattle grazing.
'Should all this seem inefficient,
Drive away thy barking children,
Let them run to other forests,
Let them hunt in other marshes,
From these verdant strips of meadow,
From these far outstretching borders,
Hide thy dogs within thy caverns,
Firmly tie thy yelping children,
Tie them with thy golden fetters,
With thy chains adorned with silver,
That they may not do me damage,'
May not do a deed of mischief.
Should all this prove inefficient,
Thou, O Ukko, King of heaven.
Wise director, full of mercy,
Hear the golden words I utter,
Hear a voice that breathes affection,
From the alder make a muzzle,
For each dog, within the kennel;
Should the alder prove too feeble,
Cast a band of purest copper;
Should the copper prove a failure,
Forge a band of ductile iron;
Should the iron snap asunder,
In each nose a small-ring fasten,
Made of molten gold and silver,
519
Chain thy dogs in forest-caverns,
That my herd may not be injured.
Then the wife of Ilmarinen,
Life-companion of the blacksmith,
Opened all her yards and stables,
Led her herd across the meadow,
Placed them in the herdman's keeping,
In the care of Kullerwoinen.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
421:Just at the self-same beat of Time's wide wings
Hyperion slid into the rustled air,
And Saturn gain'd with Thea that sad place
Where Cybele and the bruised Titans mourn'd.
It was a den where no insulting light
Could glimmer on their tears; where their own groans
They felt, but heard not, for the solid roar
Of thunderous waterfalls and torrents hoarse,
Pouring a constant bulk, uncertain where.
Crag jutting forth to crag, and rocks that seem'd
Ever as if just rising from a sleep,
Forehead to forehead held their monstrous horns;
And thus in thousand hugest phantasies
Made a fit roofing to this nest of woe.
Instead of thrones, hard flint they sat upon,
Couches of rugged stone, and slaty ridge
Stubborn'd with iron. All were not assembled:
Some chain'd in torture, and some wandering.
Caus, and Gyges, and Briareus,
Typhon, and Dolor, and Porphyrion,
With many more, the brawniest in assault,
Were pent in regions of laborious breath;
Dungeon'd in opaque element, to keep
Their clenched teeth still clench'd, and all their limbs
Lock'd up like veins of metal, crampt and screw'd;
Without a motion, save of their big hearts
Heaving in pain, and horribly convuls'd
With sanguine feverous boiling gurge of pulse.
Mnemosyne was straying in the world;
Far from her moon had Phoebe wandered;
And many else were free to roam abroad,
But for the main, here found they covert drear.
Scarce images of life, one here, one there,
Lay vast and edgeways; like a dismal cirque
Of Druid stones, upon a forlorn moor,
When the chill rain begins at shut of eve,
In dull November, and their chancel vault,
The Heaven itself, is blinded throughout night.
Each one kept shroud, nor to his neighbour gave
Or word, or look, or action of despair.
Creus was one; his ponderous iron mace
Lay by him, and a shatter'd rib of rock
Told of his rage, ere he thus sank and pined.
Iapetus another; in his grasp,
A serpent's plashy neck; its barbed tongue
Squeez'd from the gorge, and all its uncurl'd length
Dead: and because the creature could not spit
Its poison in the eyes of conquering Jove.
Next Cottus: prone he lay, chin uppermost,
As though in pain; for still upon the flint
He ground severe his skull, with open mouth
And eyes at horrid working. Nearest him
Asia, born of most enormous Caf,
Who cost her mother Tellus keener pangs,
Though feminine, than any of her sons:
More thought than woe was in her dusky face,
For she was prophesying of her glory;
And in her wide imagination stood
Palm-shaded temples, and high rival fanes
By Oxus or in Ganges' sacred isles.
Even as Hope upon her anchor leans,
So leant she, not so fair, upon a tusk
Shed from the broadest of her elephants.
Above her, on a crag's uneasy shelve,
Upon his elbow rais'd, all prostrate else,
Shadow'd Enceladus; once tame and mild
As grazing ox unworried in the meads;
Now tiger-passion'd, lion-thoughted, wroth,
He meditated, plotted, and even now
Was hurling mountains in that second war,
Not long delay'd, that scar'd the younger Gods
To hide themselves in forms of beast and bird.
Not far hence Atlas; and beside him prone
Phorcus, the sire of Gorgons. Neighbour'd close
Oceanus, and Tethys, in whose lap
Sobb'd Clymene among her tangled hair.
In midst of all lay Themis, at the feet
Of Ops the queen; all clouded round from sight,
No shape distinguishable, more than when
Thick night confounds the pine-tops with the clouds:
And many else whose names may not be told.
For when the Muse's wings are air-ward spread,
Who shall delay her flight? And she must chaunt
Of Saturn, and his guide, who now had climb'd
With damp and slippery footing from a depth
More horrid still. Above a sombre cliff
Their heads appear'd, and up their stature grew
Till on the level height their steps found ease:
Then Thea spread abroad her trembling arms
Upon the precincts of this nest of pain,
And sidelong fix'd her eye on Saturn's face:
There saw she direst strife; the supreme God
At war with all the frailty of grief,
Of rage, of fear, anxiety, revenge,
Remorse, spleen, hope, but most of all despair.
Against these plagues he strove in vain; for Fate
Had pour'd a mortal oil upon his head,
A disanointing poison: so that Thea,
Affrighted, kept her still, and let him pass
First onwards in, among the fallen tribe.

  As with us mortal men, the laden heart
Is persecuted more, and fever'd more,
When it is nighing to the mournful house
Where other hearts are sick of the same bruise;
So Saturn, as he walk'd into the midst,
Felt faint, and would have sunk among the rest,
But that he met Enceladus's eye,
Whose mightiness, and awe of him, at once
Came like an inspiration; and he shouted,
"Titans, behold your God!" at which some groan'd;
Some started on their feet; some also shouted;
Some wept, some wail'd, all bow'd with reverence;
And Ops, uplifting her black folded veil,
Show'd her pale cheeks, and all her forehead wan,
Her eye-brows thin and jet, and hollow eyes.
There is a roaring in the bleak-grown pines
When Winter lifts his voice; there is a noise
Among immortals when a God gives sign,
With hushing finger, how he means to load
His tongue with the filll weight of utterless thought,
With thunder, and with music, and with pomp:
Such noise is like the roar of bleak-grown pines;
Which, when it ceases in this mountain'd world,
No other sound succeeds; but ceasing here,
Among these fallen, Saturn's voice therefrom
Grew up like organ, that begins anew
Its strain, when other harmonies, stopt short,
Leave the dinn'd air vibrating silverly.
Thus grew it up-"Not in my own sad breast,
Which is its own great judge and searcher out,
Can I find reason why ye should be thus:
Not in the legends of the first of days,
Studied from that old spirit-leaved book
Which starry Uranus with finger bright
Sav'd from the shores of darkness, when the waves
Low-ebb'd still hid it up in shallow gloom;-
And the which book ye know I ever kept
For my firm-based footstool:-Ah, infirm!
Not there, nor in sign, symbol, or portent
Of element, earth, water, air, and fire,-
At war, at peace, or inter-quarreling
One against one, or two, or three, or all
Each several one against the other three,
As fire with air loud warring when rain-floods
Drown both, and press them both against earth's face,
Where, finding sulphur, a quadruple wrath
Unhinges the poor world;-not in that strife,
Wherefrom I take strange lore, and read it deep,
Can I find reason why ye should be thus:
No, nowhere can unriddle, though I search,
And pore on Nature's universal scroll
Even to swooning, why ye, Divinities,
The first-born of all shap'd and palpable Gods,
Should cower beneath what, in comparison,
Is untremendous might. Yet ye are here,
O'erwhelm'd, and spurn'd, and batter'd, ye are here!
O Titans, shall I say 'Arise!'-Ye groan:
Shall I say 'Crouch!'-Ye groan. What can I then?
O Heaven wide! O unseen parent dear!
What can I? Tell me, all ye brethren Gods,
How we can war, how engine our great wrath!
O speak your counsel now, for Saturn's ear
Is all a-hunger'd. Thou, Oceanus,
Ponderest high and deep; and in thy face
I see, astonied, that severe content
Which comes of thought and musing: give us help!"

  So ended Saturn; and the God of the sea,
Sophist and sage, from no Athenian grove,
But cogitation in his watery shades,
Arose, with locks not oozy, and began,
In murmurs, which his first-endeavouring tongue
Caught infant-like from the far-foamed sands.
"O ye, whom wrath consumes! who, passion-stung,
Writhe at defeat, and nurse your agonies!
Shut up your senses, stifle up your ears,
My voice is not a bellows unto ire.
Yet listen, ye who will, whilst I bring proof
How ye, perforce, must be content to stoop:
And in the proof much comfort will I give,
If ye will take that comfort in its truth.
We fall by course of Nature's law, not force
Of thunder, or of Jove. Great Saturn, thou
Hast sifted well the atom-universe;
But for this reason, that thou art the King,
And only blind from sheer supremacy,
One avenue was shaded from thine eyes,
Through which I wandered to eternal truth.
And first, as thou wast not the first of powers,
So art thou not the last; it cannot be:
Thou art not the beginning nor the end.
From Chaos and parental Darkness came
Light, the first fruits of that intestine broil,
That sullen ferment, which for wondrous ends
Was ripening in itself. The ripe hour came,
And with it Light, and Light, engendering
Upon its own producer, forthwith touch'd
The whole enormous matter into life.
Upon that very hour, our parentage,
The Heavens and the Earth, were manifest:
Then thou first born, and we the giant race,
Found ourselves ruling new and beauteous realms.
Now comes the pain of truth, to whom 'tis pain;
O folly! for to bear all naked truths,
And to envisage circumstance, all calm,
That is the top of sovereignty. Mark well!
As Heaven and Earth are fairer, fairer far
Than Chaos and blank Darkness, though once chiefs;
And as we show beyond that Heaven and Earth
In form and shape compact and beautiful,
In will, in action free, companionship,
And thousand other signs of purer life;
So on our heels a fresh perfection treads,
A power more strong in beauty, born of us
And fated to excel us, as we pass
In glory that old Darkness: nor are we
Thereby more conquer'd, than by us the rule
Of shapeless Chaos. Say, doth the dull soil
Quarrel with the proud forests it hath fed,
And feedeth still, more comely than itself?
Can it deny the chiefdom of green groves?
Or shall the tree be envious of the dove
Because it cooeth, and hath snowy wings
To wander wherewithal and find its joys?
We are such forest-trees, and our fair boughs
Have bred forth, not pale solitary doves,
But eagles golden-feather'd, who do tower
Above us in their beauty, and must reign
In right thereof; for 'tis the eternal law
That first in beauty should be first in might:
Yea, by that law, another race may drive
Our conquerors to mourn as we do now.
Have ye beheld the young God of the seas,
My dispossessor? Have ye seen his face?
Have ye beheld his chariot, foam'd along
By noble winged creatures he hath made?
I saw him on the calmed waters scud,
With such a glow of beauty in his eyes,
That it enforc'd me to bid sad farewell
To all my empire: farewell sad I took,
And hither came, to see how dolorous fate
Had wrought upon ye; and how I might best
Give consolation in this woe extreme.
Receive the truth, and let it be your balm."

  Whether through pos'd conviction, or disdain,
They guarded silence, when Oceanus
Left murmuring, what deepest thought can tell?
But so it was, none answer'd for a space,
Save one whom none regarded, Clymene;
And yet she answer'd not, only complain'd,
With hectic lips, and eyes up-looking mild,
Thus wording timidly among the fierce:
"O Father! I am here the simplest voice,
And all my knowledge is that joy is gone,
And this thing woe crept in among our hearts,
There to remain for ever, as I fear:
I would not bode of evil, if I thought
So weak a creature could turn off the help
Which by just right should come of mighty Gods;
Yet let me tell my sorrow, let me tell
Of what I heard, and how it made me weep,
And know that we had parted from all hope.
I stood upon a shore, a pleasant shore,
Where a sweet clime was breathed from a land
Of fragrance, quietness, and trees, and flowers.
Full of calm joy it was, as I of grief;
Too full of joy and soft delicious warmth;
So that I felt a movement in my heart
To chide, and to reproach that solitude
With songs of misery, music of our woes;
And sat me down, and took a mouthed shell
And murmur'd into it, and made melody-
O melody no more! for while I sang,
And with poor skill let pass into the breeze
The dull shell's echo, from a bowery strand
Just opposite, an island of the sea,
There came enchantment with the shifting wind,
That did both drown and keep alive my ears.
I threw my shell away upon the sand,
And a wave fill'd it, as my sense was fill'd
With that new blissful golden melody.
A living death was in each gush of sounds,
Each family of rapturous hurried notes,
That fell, one after one, yet all at once,
Like pearl beads dropping sudden from their string:
And then another, then another strain,
Each like a dove leaving its olive perch,
With music wing'd instead of silent plumes,
To hover round my head, and make me sick
Of joy and grief at once. Grief overcame,
And I was stopping up my frantic ears,
When, past all hindrance of my trembling hands,
A voice came sweeter, sweeter than all tune,
And still it cried, 'Apollo! young Apollo!
The morning-bright Apollo! young Apollo!'
I fled, it follow'd me, and cried 'Apollo!'
O Father, and O Brethren, had ye felt
Those pains of mine; O Saturn, hadst thou felt,
Ye would not call this too indulged tongue
Presumptuous, in thus venturing to be heard."

  So far her voice flow'd on, like timorous brook
That, lingering along a pebbled coast,
Doth fear to meet the sea: but sea it met,
And shudder'd; for the overwhelming voice
Of huge Enceladus swallow'd it in wrath:
The ponderous syllables, like sullen waves
In the half-glutted hollows of reef-rocks,
Came booming thus, while still upon his arm
He lean'd; not rising, from supreme contempt.
"Or shall we listen to the over-wise,
Or to the over-foolish, Giant-Gods?
Not thunderbolt on thunderbolt, till all
That rebel Jove's whole armoury were spent,
Not world on world upon these shoulders piled,
Could agonize me more than baby-words
In midst of this dethronement horrible.
Speak! roar! shout! yell! ye sleepy Titans all.
Do ye forget the blows, the buffets vile?
Are ye not smitten by a youngling arm?
Dost thou forget, sham Monarch of the waves,
Thy scalding in the seas? What! have I rous'd
Your spleens with so few simple words as these?
O joy! for now I see ye are not lost:
O joy! for now I see a thousand eyes
Wide-glaring for revenge!"-As this he said,
He lifted up his stature vast, and stood,
Still without intermission speaking thus:
"Now ye are flames, I'll tell you how to burn,
And purge the ether of our enemies;
How to feed fierce the crooked stings of fire,
And singe away the swollen clouds of Jove,
Stifling that puny essence in its tent.
O let him feel the evil he hath done;
For though I scorn Oceanus's lore,
Much pain have I for more than loss of realms:
The days of peace and slumbrous calm are fled;
Those days, all innocent of scathing war,
When all the fair Existences of heaven
Carne open-eyed to guess what we would speak:-
That was before our brows were taught to frown,
Before our lips knew else but solemn sounds;
That was before we knew the winged thing,
Victory, might be lost, or might be won.
And be ye mindful that Hyperion,
Our brightest brother, still is undisgraced-
Hyperion, lo! his radiance is here!"

  All eyes were on Enceladus's face,
And they beheld, while still Hyperion's name
Flew from his lips up to the vaulted rocks,
A pallid gleam across his features stern:
Not savage, for he saw full many a God
Wroth as himself. He look'd upon them all,
And in each face he saw a gleam of light,
But splendider in Saturn's, whose hoar locks
Shone like the bubbling foam about a keel
When the prow sweeps into a midnight cove.
In pale and silver silence they remain'd,
Till suddenly a splendor, like the morn,
Pervaded all the beetling gloomy steeps,
All the sad spaces of oblivion,
And every gulf, and every chasm old,
And every height, and every sullen depth,
Voiceless, or hoarse with loud tormented streams:
And all the everlasting cataracts,
And all the headlong torrents far and near,
Mantled before in darkness and huge shade,
Now saw the light and made it terrible.
It was Hyperion:-a granite peak
His bright feet touch'd, and there he stay'd to view
The misery his brilliance had betray'd
To the most hateful seeing of itself.
Golden his hair of short Numidian curl,
Regal his shape majestic, a vast shade
In midst of his own brightness, like the bulk
Of Memnon's image at the set of sun
To one who travels from the dusking East:
Sighs, too, as mournful as that Memnon's harp
He utter'd, while his hands contemplative
He press'd together, and in silence stood.
Despondence seiz'd again the fallen Gods
At sight of the dejected King of day,
And many hid their faces from the light:
But fierce Enceladus sent forth his eyes
Among the brotherhood; and, at their glare,
Uprose Iapetus, and Creus too,
And Phorcus, sea-born, and together strode
To where he towered on his eminence.
There those four shouted forth old Saturn's name;
Hyperion from the peak loud answered, "Saturn!"
Saturn sat near the Mother of the Gods,
In whose face was no joy, though all the Gods
Gave from their hollow throats the name of "Saturn!"
by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes

~ John Keats, Hyperion. Book II
,
422:Hesperus: A Legend Of The Stars
PRELUDE.
The Stars are heaven's ministers;
Right royally they teach
God's glory and omnipotence,
In wondrous lowly speech.
All eloquent with music as
The tremblings of a lyre,
To him that hath an ear to hear
They speak in words of fire.
Not to learned sagas only
Their whisperings come down;
The monarch is not glorified
Because he wears a crown.
The humblest soldier in the camp
Can win the smile of Mars,
And 'tis the lowliest spirits hold
Communion with the stars.
Thoughts too refined for utterance,
Ethereal as the air,
Crowd through the brain's dim labyrinths,
And leave their impress there;
As far along the gleaming void
Man's tender glances roll,
Wonder usurps the throne of speech,
But vivifies the soul.
Oh, heaven-cradled mysteries,
What sacred paths ye've trodBright, jewelled scintillations from
The chariot-wheels of God!
When in the spirit He rode forth,
With vast creative aim,
These were His footprints left behind,
To magnify His name!
38
--We gazed on the Evening Star,
Mary and I,
As it shone
On its throne
Afar,
In the blue sky;
Shone like a ransomed soul
In the depths of that quiet heaven;
Like a pearly tear,
Trembling with fear
On the pallid cheek of Even.
And I thought of the myriad souls
Gazing with human eyes
On the light of that star,
Shining afar,
In the quiet evening skies;
Some with winged hope,
Clearing the cope
Of heaven as swift as light,
Others, with souls
Blind as the moles,
Sinking in rayless night.
Dreams such as dreamers dream
Flitted before our eyes;
Beautiful visions!Angelo's, Titian's,
Had never more gorgeous dyes:
We soared with the angels
Through vistas of glory,
We heard the evangels
Relate the glad story
Of the beautiful star,
Shining afar
In the quiet evening skies.
And we gazed and dreamed,
Till our spirits seemed
39
Absorbed in the stellar world;
Sorrow was swallowed up,
Drained was the bitter cup
Of earth to the very lees;
And we sailed over seas
Of white vapour that whirled
Through the skies afar,
Angels our charioteers,
Threading the endless spheres,
And to the chorus of angels
Rehearsed the evangels
The Birth of the Evening Star.
--I.
Far back in the infant ages,
Before the eras stamped their autographs
Upon the stony records of the earth;
Before the burning incense of the sun
Rolled up the interlucent space,
Brightening the blank abyss;
Ere the Recording Angel's tears
Were shed for man's transgressions:
A Seraph, with a face of light,
And hair like heaven's golden atmosphere,
Blue eyes serene in their beatitude,
Godlike in their tranquillity,
Features as perfect as God's dearest work,
And stature worthy of her race,
Lived high exalted in the sacred sphere
That floated in a sea of harmony
Translucent as pure crystal, or the light
That flowed, unceasing, from this higher world
Unto the spheres beneath it. Far below
The extremest regions underneath the Earth
The first spheres rose, of vari-coloured light,
In calm rotation through aerial deep,
Like seas of jasper, blue, and coralline,
Crystal and violet; layers of worlds-
40
The robes of ages that had passed away,
Left as memorials of their sojournings.
For nothing passes wholly. All is changed.
The Years but slumber in their sepulchres,
And speak prophetic meanings in their sleep.
FIRST ANGEL.
Oh, how our souls are gladdened,
When we think of that brave old age,
When God's light came down
From heaven, to crown
Each act of the virgin page!
Oh, how our souls are saddened,
At the deeds which were done since then,
By the angel race
In the holy place,
And on earth by the sons of men!
Lo, as the years are fleeting,
With their burden of toil and pain,
We know that the page
Of that primal age
Will be opened up once again.
II.
Progressing still, the bright-faced Seraph rose
From Goodness to Perfection, till she stood
The fairest and the best of all that waked
The tuneful echoes of that lofty world,
Where Lucifer, then the stateliest of the throng
Of Angels, walked majestical, arrayed
In robes of brightness worthy of his place.
And all the intermediate spheres were homes
Of the existences
Of spiritual life.
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Love, the divine arcanum, was the bond
That linked them to each other-heart to heart,
And angel world to world, and soul to soul.
Thus the first ages passed,
Cycles of perfect bliss,
God the acknowledged sovereign of all.
Sphere spake with sphere, and love conversed with love,
From the far centre to sublimest height,
And down the deep, unfathomable space,
To the remotest homes of angel-life,
A viewless chain of being circling all,
And linking every spirit to its God.
ANGEL CHORUS.
Spirits that never falter,
Before God's altar
Rehearse their paeans of unceasing praise;
Their theme the boundless love
By which God rules above,
Mysteriously engrafted
On grace divine, and wafted
Into every soul of man that disobeys.
Not till the wondrous being
Of the All-Seeing
Is manifested to finite man,
Can ye understand the love
By which God rules above,
Evermore extending,
In circles never-ending,
To every atom in the universal plan.
SECOND ANGEL.
Oh, the love beyond computing
Of the high and holy place!
The unseen bond
Circling beyond
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The limits of time and space.
Through earth and her world of beauty
The heavenly links extend,
Man feels its presence,
Imbibes its essence,
But cannot yet comprehend.
THIRD ANGEL.
But the days are fast approaching,
When the Father of Love will send
His interpreter
From the highest sphere,
That man fully may comprehend.
III.
Oh, truest Love, because the truest life!
Oh, blest existence, to exist with Love!
Oh, Love, without which all things else must die
The death that knows no waking unto life!
Oh, Jealousy that saps the heart of Love,
And robs it of its tenderness divine;
And Pride, that tramples with its iron hoof
Upon the flower of love, whose fragrant soul
Exhales itself in sweetness as it dies!
A lofty spirit surfeited with Bliss!
A Prince of Angels cancelling all love,
All due allegiance to his rightful Lord;
Doing dishonour to his high estate;
Turning the truth and wisdom which were his
For ages of supreme felicity,
To thirst for power, and hatred of his God,
Who raised him to such vast preeminence!
SECOND ANGEL CHORUS.
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Woe, woe to the ransomed spirit,
Once freed from the stain of sin,
Whose pride increases
Till all love ceases
To nourish it from within!
Its doom is the darkened regions
Where the rebel angel legions
Live their long night of sorrow;
Where no expectant morrow,
No mercy-tempered ray
From the altar of to-day,
Comes down through the gloom to borrow
One dropp from their cup of sorrow,
Or lighten their cheerless way.
FIRST ANGEL.
But blest be the gentle spirit
Whose love is ever increased
From its own pure soul,
The illumined goal
Where Love holds perpetual feast!
IV.
Ingrate Angel, he,
To purchase Hell, and at so vast a price!
'Tis the old story of celestial strifeRebellion in the palace-halls of GodFalse angels joining the insurgent ranks,
Who suffered dire defeats, and fell at last
From bliss supreme to darkness and despair.
But they, the faithful dwellers in the spheres,
Who kept their souls inviolate, to whom
Heaven's love and truth were truly great rewards:
For these the stars were sown throughout all space,
As fit memorials of their faithfulness.
The wretched lost were banished to the depths
Beneath the lowest spheres. Earth barred the space
44
Between them and the Faithful. Then the hills
Rose bald and rugged o'er the wild abyss;
The waters found their places; and the sun,
The bright-haired warder of the golden morn,
Parting the curtains of reposing night,
Rung his first challenge to the dismal shades,
That shrunk back, awed, into Cimmerean gloom;
And the young moon glode through the startled void
With quiet beauty and majestic mien.
SECOND ANGEL.
Slowly rose the daedal Earth,
Through the purple-hued abysm
Glowing like a gorgeous prism,
Heaven exulting o'er its birth,
Still the mighty wonder came,
Through the jasper-coloured sphere,
Ether-winged, and crystal-clear,
Trembling to the loud acclaim,
In a haze of golden rain,
Up the heavens rolled the sun,
Danae-like the earth was won,
Else his love and light were vain.
So the heart and soul of man
Own the light and love of heaven,
Nothing yet in vain was given,
Nature's is a perfect plan.
V.
The glowing Seraph with the brow of light
Was first among the Faithful. When the war
Between heaven's rival armies fiercely waged,
She bore the Will Divine from rank to rank,
The chosen courier of Deity.
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Her presence cheered the combatants for Truth,
And Victory stood up where'er she moved.
And now, in gleaming robe of woven pearl,
Emblazoned with devices of the stars,
And legends of their glory yet to come,
The type of Beauty Intellectual,
The representative of Love and Truth,
She moves first in the innumerable throng
Of angels congregating to behold
The crowning wonder of creative power.
THIRD ANGEL CHORUS,
Oh, joy, that no mortal can fathom,
To rejoice in the smile of God!
To be first in the light
Of His Holy sight,
And freed from His chastening rod.
Faithful, indeed, that soul, to be
The messenger of Deity!
FIRST ANGEL.
This, this is the chosen spirit,
Whose love is ever increased
From its own pare soul,
The illumined goal
Where Love holds perpetual feast.
VI.
With noiseless speed the angel charioteers
In dazzling splendour all triumphant rode;
Through seas of ether painfully serene,
That flashed a golden, phosphorescent spray,
As luminous as the sun's intensest beams,
46
Athwart the wide, interminable space.
Legion on legion of the sons of God;
Vast phalanxes of graceful cherubim;
Innumerable multitudes and ranks
Of all the hosts and hierarchs of heaven,
Moved by one universal impulse, urged
Their steeds of swiftness up the arch of light,
From sphere to sphere increasing as they came,
Till world on world was emptied of its race.
Upward, with unimaginable speed,
The myriads, congregating zenith-ward,
Reached the far confines of the utmost sphere,
The home of Truth, the dwelling-place of Love,
Striking celestial symphonies divine
From the resounding sea of melody,
That heaved in swells of soft, mellifluous sound,
To the blest crowds at whose triumphal tread
Its soul of sweetness waked in thrills sublime,
The sun stood poised upon the western verge;
The moon paused, waiting for the march of earth,
That stayed to watch the advent of the stars;
And ocean hushed its very deepest deeps
In grateful expectation.
SECOND ANGEL.
Still through the viewless regions
Of the habitable air,
Through the ether ocean,
In unceasing motion,
Pass the multitudinous legions
Of angels everywhere.
Bearing each new-born spirit
Through the interlucent void
To its starry dwelling,
Angel anthems telling
Every earthly deed of merit
To each flashing asteroid.
47
THIRD ANGEL.
Through the realms sidereal,
Clothed with the immaterial,
Far as the fields elysian
In starry bloom extend,
The stretch of angel vision
Can see and comprehend.
VII.
Innumerable as the ocean sands
The angel concourse in due order stood,
In meek anticipation waiting for
The new-created orbs,
Still hidden in the deep
And unseen laboratory, where
Not even angel eyes could penetrate:
A star for each of that angelic host,
Memorials of their faithfulness and love.
The Evening Star, God's bright eternal gift
To the pure Seraph with the brow of light,
And named for her, mild Hesperus,
Came twinkling down the unencumbered blue,
On viewless wings of sweet melodious sound,
Beauty and grace presiding at its birth.
Celestial plaudits sweeping through the skies
Waked resonant paeans, till the concave thrilled
Through its illimitable bounds.
With a sudden burst
Of light, that lit the universal space
As with a flame of crystal,
Rousing the Soul of Joy
That slumbered in the patient sea,
From every point of heaven the hurrying cars
Conveyed the constellations to their thronesThe throbbing planets, and the burning suns,
Erratic comets, and the various grades
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And magnitudes of palpitating stars.
From the far arctic and antarctic zones,
Through all the vast, surrounding infinite,
A wilderness of intermingling orbs,
The gleaming wonders, pulsing earthward, came;
Each to its destined place,
Each in itself a world,
With all its coining myriad life,
Drawing us nearer the Omnipotent,
With hearts of wonder, and with souls of praise:
Astrea, Pallas, strange Aldebaran,
The Pleiads, Arcturus, the ruddy Mars,
Pale Saturn, Ceres and OrionAll as they circle still
Through the enraptured void.
For each young angel born to us from earth,
A new-made star is launched among its peers.
FULL ANGEL CHORUS.
Dreamer in the realms aerial,
Searcher for the true and good,
Hoper for the high, ethereal
Limit of Beatitude,
Lift thy heart to heaven, for there
Is embalmed thy spirit prayer:
Not in words is shrined thy prayer,
But thy Thought awaits thee there.
God loves the silent worshipper.
The grandest hymn
That nature chants-the litany
Of the rejoicing stars-is silent praise.
Their nightly anthems stir
The souls of lofty seraphim
In the remotest heaven. The melody
Descends in throbbings of celestial light
Into the heart of man, whose upward gaze,
And meditative aspect, tell
Of the heart's incense passing up the night.
Above the crystalline height
The theme of thoughtful praise ascends.
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Not from the wildest swell
Of the vexed ocean soars the fullest psalm;
But in the evening calm,
And in the solemn midnight, silence blends
With silence, and to the ear
Attuned to harmony divine
Begets a strain
Whose trance-like stillness wakes delicious pain.
The silent tear
Holds keener anguish in its orb of brine,
Deeper and truer grief
Than the loud wail that brings relief,
As thunder clears the atmosphere.
But the deep, tearless Sorrow,-how profound!
Unspoken to the ear
Of sense, 'tis yet as eloquent a sound
As that which wakes the lyre
Of the rejoicing Day, when
Morn on the mountains lights his urn of fire.
The flowers of the glen
Rejoice in silence; huge pines stand apart
Upon the lofty hills, and sigh
Their woes to every breeze that passeth by;
The willow tells its mournful tale
So tenderly, that e'en the passing gale
Bears not a murmur on its wings
Of what the spirit sings
That breathes its trembling thoughts through all the
drooping strings.
He loves God most who worships most
In the obedient heart.
The thunder's noisome boast,
What is it to the violet lightning thought?
So with the burning passion of the starsCreation's diamond sands,
Strewn along the pearly strands,
And far-extending corridors
Of heaven's blooming shores;
No scintil of their jewelled flame
But wafts the exquisite essence
Of prayer to the Eternal Presence,
50
Of praise to the Eternal Name.
The silent prayer unbars
The gates of Paradise, while the too-intimate,
Self-righteous' boast, strikes rudely at the gate
Of heaven, unknowing why it does not open to
Their summons, as they see pale Silence passing through.
VIII.
In grateful admiration, till the Dawn
Withdrew the gleaming curtains of the night,
We watched the whirling systems, until each
Could recognize their own peculiar star;
When, with the swift celerity
Of Fancy-footed Thought,
The light-caparisoned, aerial steeds,
Shod with rare fleetness,
Revisited the farthest of the spheres
Ere the earth's sun had kissed the mountain tops,
Or shook the sea-pearls from his locks of gold.
--Still on the Evening Star
Gazed we with steadfast eyes,
As it shone
On its throne
Afar,
In the blue skies.
No longer the charioteers
Dashed through the gleaming spheres;
No more the evangels
Rehearsed the glad story;
But, in passing, the angels
Left footprints of glory:
For up the starry void
Bright-flashing asteroid,
Pale moon and starry choir,
Aided by Fancy's fire,
51
Rung from the glittering lyre
Changes of song and hymn,
Worthy of Seraphim.
Night's shepherdess sat, queenlike, on her throne,
Watching her starry flocks from zone to zone,
While we, like mortals turned to breathing stone,
Intently pondered on the Known Unknown.
~ Charles Sangster,
423:The Kalevala - Rune Xiv
DEATH OF LEMMINKAINEN.
Lemminkainen, much disheartened,
Deeply thought and long considered,
What to do, what course to follow,
Whether best to leave the wild-moose
In the fastnesses of Hisi,
And return to Kalevala,
Or a third time hunt the ranger,
Hoping thus to bring him captive,
Thus return at last a victor
To the forest home of Louhi,
To the joy of all her daughters,
To the wood-nymph's happy fireside.
Taking courage Lemminkainen
Spake these words in supplication:
'Ukko, thou O God above me,
Thou Creator of the heavens,
Put my snow-shoes well in order,
And endow them both with swiftness,
That I rapidly may journey
Over marshes, over snow-fields,
Over lowlands, over highlands,
Through the realms of wicked Hisi,
Through the distant plains of Lapland,
Through the paths of Lempo's wild-moose,
To the forest hills of Juutas.
To the snow-fields shall I journey,
Leave the heroes to the woodlands,
On the way to Tapiola,
Into Tapio's wild dwellings.
'Greeting bring I to the mountains,
Greeting to the vales and uplands,
Greet ye, heights with forests covered,
Greet ye, ever-verdant fir-trees,
Greet ye, groves of whitened aspen,
Greetings bring to those that greet you,
Fields, and streams, and woods of Lapland.
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Bring me favor, mountain-woodlands,
Lapland-deserts, show me kindness,
Mighty Tapio, be gracious,
Let me wander through thy forests,
Let me glide along thy rivers,
Let this hunter search thy snow-fields,
Where the wild-moose herds in numbers
Where the bounding reindeer lingers.
'O Nyrikki, mountain hero,
Son of Tapio of forests,
Hero with the scarlet head-gear,
Notches make along the pathway,
Landmarks upward to the mountains,
That this hunter may not wander,
May not fall, and falling perish
In the snow-fields of thy kingdom,
Hunting for the moose of Hisi,
Dowry for the pride of Northland.
'Mistress of the woods, Mielikki,
Forest-mother, formed in beauty,
Let thy gold flow out abundant,
Let thy silver onward wander,
For the hero that is seeking
For the wild-moose of thy kingdom;
Bring me here thy keys of silver,
From the golden girdle round thee;
Open Tapio's rich chambers,
And unlock the forest fortress,
While I here await the booty,
While I hunt the moose of Lempo.
'Should this service be too menial
Give the order to thy servants,
Send at once thy servant-maidens,
And command it to thy people.
Thou wilt never seem a hostess,
If thou hast not in thy service,
Maidens ready by the hundreds,
Thousands that await thy bidding,
Who thy herds may watch and nurture,
Tend the game of thy dominions.
'Tall and slender forest-virgin,
Tapio's beloved daughter,
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Blow thou now thy honey flute-notes,
Play upon thy forest-whistle,
For the hearing of thy mistress,
For thy charming woodland-mistress,
Make her hear thy sweet-toned playing,
That she may arise from slumber.
Should thy mistress not awaken
At the calling of thy flute-notes,
Play again, and play unceasing,
Make the golden tongue re-echo.'
Wild and daring Lemminkainen
Steadfast prays upon his journey,
Calling on the gods for succor,
Hastens off through fields and moorlands,
Passes on through cruel brush-wood,
To the colliery of Hisi,
To the burning fields of Lempo;
Glided one day, then a second,
Glided all the next day onward,
Till he came to Big-stone mountain,
Climbed upon its rocky summit,
Turned his glances to the north-west,
Toward the Northland moors and marshes;
There appeared the Tapio-mansion.
All the doors were golden-colored,
Shining in the gleam of sunlight
Through the thickets on the mountains,
Through the distant fields of Northland.
Lemminkainen, much encouraged,
Hastens onward from his station
Through the lowlands, o'er the uplands,
Over snow-fields vast and vacant,
Under snow-robed firs and aspens,
Hastens forward, happy-hearted,
Quickly reaches Tapio's court-yards,
Halts without at Tapio's windows,
Slyly looks into her mansion,
Spies within some kindly women,
Forest-dames outstretched before him,
All are clad in scanty raiment,
Dressed in soiled and ragged linens.
Spake the stranger Lemminkainen:
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'Wherefore sit ye, forest-mothers,
In your old and simple garments,
In your soiled and ragged linen?
Ye, forsooth! are too untidy,
Too unsightly your appearance
In your tattered gowns appareled.
When I lived within the forest,
There were then three mountain castles,
One of horn and one of ivory,
And the third of wood constructed;
In their walls were golden windows,
Six the windows in each castle,
Through these windows I discovered
All the host of Tapio's mansion,
Saw its fair and stately hostess;
Saw great Tapio's lovely daughter,
Saw Tellervo in her beauty,
With her train of charming maidens;
All were dressed in golden raiment,
Rustled all in gold and silver.
Then the forest's queenly hostess,
Still the hostess of these woodlands,
On her arms wore golden bracelets,
Golden rings upon her fingers,
In her hair were sparkling, jewels,
On her bead were golden fillets,
In her ears were golden ear-rings,
On her neck a pearly necklace,
And her braidlets, silver-tinselled.
'Lovely hostess of the forest,
Metsola's enchanting mistress,
Fling aside thine ugly straw-shoes,
Cast away the shoes of birch-bark,
Doff thy soiled and ragged linen,
Doff thy gown of shabby fabric,
Don the bright and festive raiment,
Don the gown of merry-making,
While I stay within thy borders,
While I seek my forest-booty,
Hunt the moose of evil Hisi.
Here my visit will be irksome,
Here thy guest will be ill-humored,
163
Waiting in thy fields and woodlands,
Hunting here the moose of Lempo,
Finding not the Hisi-ranger,
Shouldst thou give me no enjoyment,
Should I find no joy, nor respite.
Long the eve that gives no pleasure,
Long the day that brings no guerdon!
'Sable-bearded god of forests,
In thy hat and coat of ermine,
Robe thy trees in finest fibers,
Deck thy groves in richest fabrics,
Give the fir-trees shining silver,
Deck with gold the slender balsams,
Give the spruces copper belting,
And the pine-trees silver girdles,
Give the birches golden flowers,
Deck their stems with silver fret-work,
This their garb in former ages,
When the days and nights were brighter,
When the fir-trees shone like sunlight,
And the birches like the moonbeams;
Honey breathed throughout the forest,
Settled in the glens and highlands
Spices in the meadow-borders,
Oil out-pouring from the lowlands.
'Forest daughter, lovely virgin,
Golden maiden, fair Tulikki,
Second of the Tapio-daughters,
Drive the game within these borders,
To these far-extending snow-fields.
Should the reindeer be too sluggish,
Should the moose-deer move too slowly
Cut a birch-rod from the thicket,
Whip them hither in their beauty,
Drive the wild-moose to my hurdle,
Hither drive the long-sought booty
To the hunter who is watching,
Waiting in the Hisi-forests.
'When the game has started hither,
Keep them in the proper highway,
Hold thy magic hands before them,
Guard them well on either road-side,
164
That the elk may not escape thee,
May not dart adown some by-path.
Should, perchance, the moose-deer wander
Through some by-way of the forest,
Take him by the ears and antlers,
Hither lead the pride of Lempo.
'If the path be filled with brush-wood
Cast the brush-wood to the road-side;
If the branches cross his pathway,
Break the branches into fragments;
Should a fence of fir or alder
Cross the way that leads him hither.
Make an opening within it,
Open nine obstructing fences;
If the way be crossed by streamlets,
If the path be stopped by rivers,
Make a bridge of silken fabric,
Weaving webs of scarlet color,
Drive the deer-herd gently over,
Lead them gently o'er the waters,
O'er the rivers of thy forests,
O'er the streams of thy dominions.
'Thou, the host of Tapio's mansion,
Gracious host of Tapiola,
Sable-bearded god of woodlands,
Golden lord of Northland forests,
Thou, O Tapio's worthy hostess,
Queen of snowy woods, Mimerkki,
Ancient dame in sky-blue vesture,
Fenland-queen in scarlet ribbons,
Come I to exchange my silver,
To exchange my gold and silver;
Gold I have, as old as moonlight,
Silver of the age of sunshine,
In the first of years was gathered,
In the heat and pain of battle;
It will rust within my pouches,
Soon will wear away and perish,
If it be not used in trading.'
Long the hunter, Lemminkainen,
Glided through the fen and forest,
Sang his songs throughout the woodlands,
165
Through three mountain glens be sang them,
Sang the forest hostess friendly,
Sang he, also, Tapio friendly,
Friendly, all the forest virgins,
All of Metsola's fair daughters.
Now they start the herds of Lempo,
Start the wild-moose from his shelter,
In the realms of evil Hisi,
Tapio's highest mountain-region;
Now they drive the ranger homeward,
To the open courts of Piru,
To the hero that is waiting,
Hunting for the moose of Juutas.
When the herd had reached the castle,
Lemminkainen threw his lasso
O'er the antlers of the blue-moose,
Settled on the neck and shoulders
Of the mighty moose of Hisi.
Then the hunter, Kaukomieli,
Stroked his captive's neck in safety,
For the moose was well-imprisoned.
Thereupon gay Lemminkainen
Filled with joyance spake as follows:
'Pride of forests, queen of woodlands,
Metsola's enchanted hostess,
Lovely forest dame, Mielikki,
Mother-donor of the mountains,
Take the gold that I have promised,
Come and take away the silver;
Spread thy kerchief well before me,
Spread out here thy silken neck-wrap,
Underneath the golden treasure,
Underneath the shining silver,
that to earth it may not settle,
Scattered on the snows of winter.'
Then the hero went a victor
To the dwellings of Pohyola,
And addressed these words to Louhi:
'I have caught the moose of Hisi,
In the Metsola-dominions,
Give, O hostess, give thy daughter,
Give to me thy fairest virgin,
166
Bride of mine to be hereafter.'
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Gave this answer to the suitor:
'I will give to thee my daughter,
For thy wife my fairest maiden,
When for me thou'lt put a bridle
On the flaming horse of Hisi,
Rapid messenger of Lempo,
On the Hisi-plains and pastures.'
Nothing daunted, Lemminkainen
Hastened forward to accomplish
Louhi's second test of heroes,
On the cultivated lowlands,
On the sacred fields and forests.
Everywhere he sought the racer,
Sought the fire-expiring stallion,
Fire out-shooting from his nostrils.
Lemminkainen, fearless hunter,
Bearing in his belt his bridle,
On his shoulders, reins and halter,
Sought one day, and then a second,
Finally, upon the third day,
Went he to the Hisi-mountain,
Climbed, and struggled to the summit;
To the east he turned his glances,
Cast his eyes upon the sunrise,
There beheld the flaming courser,
On the heath among the far-trees.
Lempo's fire-expiring stallion
Fire and mingled smoke, out-shooting
From his mouth, and eyes, and nostrils.
Spake the daring Lemminkainen,
This the hero's supplication:
'Ukko, thou O God above me,
Thou that rulest all the storm-clouds,
Open thou the vault of heaven,
Open windows through the ether,
Let the icy rain come falling,
Lot the heavy hailstones shower
On the flaming horse of Hisi,
On the fire-expiring stallion.'
Ukko, the benign Creator,
167
Heard the prayer of Lemminkainen,
Broke apart the dome of heaven,
Rent the heights of heaven asunder,
Sent the iron-hail in showers,
Smaller than the heads of horses,
Larger than the heads of heroes,
On the flaming steed of Lempo,
On the fire-expiring stallion,
On the terror of the Northland.
Lemminkainen, drawing nearer,
Looked with care upon the courser,
Then he spake the words that follow:
'Wonder-steed of mighty Hisi,
Flaming horse of Lempo's mountain,
Bring thy mouth of gold, assenting,
Gently place thy head of silver
In this bright and golden halter,
In this silver-mounted bridle.
I shall never harshly treat thee,
Never make thee fly too fleetly,
On the way to Sariola,
On the tracks of long duration,
To the hostess of Pohyola,
To her magic courts and stables,
Will not lash thee on thy journey;
I shall lead thee gently forward,
Drive thee with the reins of kindness,
Cover thee with silken blankets.'
Then the fire-haired steed of Juutas,
Flaming horse of mighty Hisi,
Put his bead of shining silver,
In the bright and golden bead-stall,
In the silver-mounted bridle.
Thus the hero, Lemminkainen,
Easy bridles Lempo's stallion,
Flaming horse of evil Piru;
Lays the bits within his fire-mouth,
On his silver head, the halter,
Mounts the fire-expiring courser,
Brandishes his whip of willow,
Hastens forward on his journey,
Bounding o'er the hills and mountains,
168
Dashing through the valleys northward,
O'er the snow-capped hills of Lapland,
To the courts of Sariola.
Then the hero, quick dismounting,
Stepped within the court of Louhi,
Thus addressed the Northland hostess:
'I have bridled Lempo's fire-horse,
I have caught the Hisi-racer,
Caught the fire-expiring stallion,
In the Piru plains and pastures,
Ridden him within thy borders;
I have caught the moose of Lempo,
I have done what thou demandest;
Give, I pray thee, now thy daughter,
Give to me thy fairest maiden,
Bride of mine to be forever.'
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Made this answer to the suitor:
'I will only give my daughter,
Give to thee my fairest virgin,
Bride of thine to be forever,
When for me the swan thou killest
In the river of Tuoni,
Swimming in the black death-river,
In the sacred stream and whirlpool;
Thou canst try one cross-bow only,
But one arrow from thy quiver.'
Then the reckless Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
Braved the third test of the hero,
Started out to hunt the wild-swan,
Hunt the long-necked, graceful swimmer,
In Tuoni's coal-black river,
In Manala's lower regions.
Quick the daring hunter journeyed,
Hastened off with fearless footsteps,
To the river of Tuoni,
To the sacred stream and whirlpool,
With his bow upon his shoulder,
With his quiver and one arrow.
Nasshut, blind and crippled shepherd,
Wretched shepherd of Pohyola,
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Stood beside the death-land river,
Near the sacred stream and whirlpool,
Guarding Tuonela's waters,
Waiting there for Lemminkainen,
Listening there for Kaukomieli,
Waiting long the hero's coming.
Finally he hears the footsteps
Of the hero on his journey,
Hears the tread of Lemminkainen,
As he journeys nearer, nearer,
To the river of Tuoni,
To the cataract of death-land,
To the sacred stream and whirlpool.
Quick the wretched shepherd, Nasshut,
From the death-stream sends a serpent,
Like an arrow from a cross-bow,
To the heart of Lemminkainen,
Through the vitals of the hero.
Lemminkainen, little conscious,
Hardly knew that be was injured,
Spake these measures as he perished.
'Ah! unworthy is my conduct,
Ah! unwisely have I acted,
That I did not heed my mother,
Did not take her goodly counsel,
Did not learn her words of magic.
Oh I for three words with my mother,
How to live, and bow to suffer,
In this time of dire misfortune,
How to bear the stings of serpents,
Tortures of the reed of waters,
From the stream of Tuonela!
'Ancient mother who hast borne me,
Who hast trained me from my childhood,
Learn, I pray thee, where I linger,
Where alas! thy son is lying,
Where thy reckless hero suffers.
Come, I pray thee, faithful mother,
Come thou quickly, thou art needed,
Come deliver me from torture,
From the death-jaws of Tuoni,
From the sacred stream and whirlpool.'
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Northland's old and wretched shepherd,
Nasshut, the despised protector
Of the flocks of Sariola,
Throws the dying Lemminkainen,
Throws the hero of the islands,
Into Tuonela's river,
To the blackest stream of death-land,
To the worst of fatal whirlpools.
Lemminkainen, wild and daring,
Helpless falls upon the waters,
Floating down the coal-black current,
Through the cataract and rapids
To the tombs of Tuonela.
There the blood-stained son of death-land,
There Tuoni's son and hero,
Cuts in pieces Lemminkainen,
Chops him with his mighty hatchet,
Till the sharpened axe strikes flint-sparks
From the rocks within his chamber,
Chops the hero into fragments,
Into five unequal portions,
Throws each portion to Tuoni,
In Manala's lowest kingdom,
Speaks these words when he has ended:
'Swim thou there, wild Lemminkainen,
Flow thou onward in this river,
Hunt forever in these waters,
With thy cross-bow and thine arrow,
Shoot the swan within this empire,
Shoot our water-birds in welcome!'
Thus the hero, Lemminkainen,
Thus the handsome Kaukomieli,
The untiring suitor, dieth
In the river of Tuoni,
In the death-realm of Manala.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
424:The Kalevala - Rune Xlii
CAPTURE OF THE SAMPO.
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
With the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
With the reckless son of Lempo,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
On the sea's smooth plain departed,
On the far-extending waters,
To the village, cold and dreary,
To the never-pleasant Northland,
Where the heroes fall and perish.
Ilmarinen led the rowers
On one side the magic war-ship,
And the reckless Lemminkainen
Led the rowers on the other.
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Laid his hand upon the rudder,
Steered his vessel o'er the waters,
Through the foam and angry billows
To Pohyola's place of landing,
To the cylinders of copper,
Where the war-ships lie at anchor.
When they had arrived at Pohya,
When their journey they had ended,
On the land they rolled their vessel,
On the copper-banded rollers,
Straightway journeyed to the village,
Hastened to the halls and hamlets
Of the dismal Sariola.
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Thus addressed the stranger-heroes:
Magic heroes of Wainola,
What the tidings ye are bringing
To the people of my village?'
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel.
Gave this answer to the hostess:
'All the hosts of Kalevala
Are inquiring for the Sampo,
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Asking for the lid in colors;
Hither have these heroes journeyed
To divide the priceless treasure.
Thus the hostess spake in answer:
'No one would divide a partridge,
Nor a squirrel, with three heroes;
Wonderful the magic Sampo,
Plenty does it bring to Northland;
And the colored lid re-echoes
From the copper-bearing mountains,
From the stone-berg of Pohyola,
To the joy of its possessors.'
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Thus addressed the ancient Louhi:
'If thou wilt not share the Sampo,
Give to us an equal portion,
We will take it to Wainola,
With its lid of many colors,
Take by force the hope of Pohya.'
Thereupon the Northland hostess
Angry grew and sighed for vengeance;
Called her people into council,
Called the hosts of Sariola,
Heroes with their trusted broadswords,
To destroy old Wainamoinen
With his people of the Northland.
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
Hastened to his harp of fish-bone,
And began his magic playing;
All of Pohya stopped and listened,
Every warrior was silenced
By the notes of the magician;
Peaceful-minded grew the soldiers,
All the maidens danced with pleasure,
While the heroes fell to weeping,
And the young men looked in wonder.
Wainamoinen plays unceasing,
Plays the maidens into slumber,
Plays to sleep the young and aged,
All of Northland sleeps and listens.
Wise and wondrous Wainamoinen,
The eternal bard and singer,
193
Searches in his pouch of leather,
Draws therefrom his slumber-arrows,
Locks the eyelids of the sleepers,
Of the heroes of Pohyola,
Sings and charms to deeper slumber
All the warriors of the Northland.
Then the heroes of Wainola
Hasten to obtain the Sampo,
To procure the lid in colors
From the copper-bearing mountains.
From behind nine locks of copper,
In the stone-berg of Pohyola.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Then began his wondrous singing,
Sang in gentle tones of magic,
At the entrance to the mountain,
At the border of the stronghold;
Trembled all the rocky portals,
And the iron-banded pillars
Fell and crumbled at his singing.
Ilmarinen, magic blacksmith,
Well anointed all the hinges,
All the bars and locks anointed,
And the bolts flew back by magic,
All the gates unlocked in silence,
Opened for the great magician.
Spake the minstrel Wainamoinen:
'O thou daring Lemminkainen,
Friend of mine in times of trouble,
Enter thou within the mountain,
Bring away the wondrous Sampo,
Bring away the lid in colors!'
Quick the reckless Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
Ever ready for a venture,
Hastens to the mountain-caverns,
There to find the famous Sampo,
There to get the lid in colors;
Strides along with conscious footsteps,
Thus himself he vainly praises:
'Great am I and full of glory,
Wonder-hero, son of Ukko,
194
I will bring away the Sampo,
Turn about the lid in colors,
Turn it on its magic hinges!'
Lemminkainen finds the wonder,
Finds the Sampo in the mountain,
Labors long with strength heroic,
Tugs with might and main to turn it;
Motionless remains the treasure,
Deeper sinks the lid in colors,
For the roots have grown about it,
Grown nine fathoms deep in sand-earth.
Lived a mighty ox in Northland,
Powerful in bone and sinew,
Beautiful in form and color,
Horns the length of seven fathoms,
Mouth and eyes of wondrous beauty.
Lemminkainen, reckless hero,
Harnesses the ox in pasture,
Takes the master-plow of Pohya,
Plows the roots about the Sampo,
Plows around the lid in colors,
And the sacred Sampo loosens,
Falls the colored lid in silence.
Straightway ancient Wainamoinen
Brings the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Brings the daring Lemminkainen,
Lastly brings the magic Sampo,
From the stone-berg of Pohyola,
From the copper-bearing mountain,
Hides it in his waiting vessel,
In the war-ship of Wainola.
Wainamoinen called his people,
Called his crew of men and maidens,
Called together all his heroes,
Rolled his vessel to the water,
Into billowy deeps and dangers.
Spake the blacksmith, Ilmarinen:
'Whither shall we take the Sampo,
Whither take the lid in colors,
From the stone-berg of Pohyola,
From this evil spot of Northland?'
Wainamoinen, wise and faithful,
195
Gave this answer to the question:
'Thither shall we take the Sampo,
Thither take the lid in colors,
To the fog-point on the waters,
To the island forest-covered;
There the treasure may be hidden,
May remain in peace for ages,
Free from trouble, free from danger,
Where the sword will not molest it.'
Then the minstrel, Wainamoinen,
Joyful, left the Pohya borders,
Homeward sailed, and happy-hearted,
Spake these measures on departing:
'Turn, O man-of-war, from Pohya,
Turn thy back upon the strangers,
Turn thou to my distant country!
Rock, O winds, my magic vessel,
Homeward drive my ship, O billows,
Lend the rowers your assistance,
Give the oarsmen easy labor,
On this vast expanse of waters!
Give me of thine oars, O Ahto,
Lend thine aid, O King of sea-waves,
Guide as with thy helm in safety,
Lay thy hand upon the rudder,
And direct our war-ship homeward;
Let the hooks of metal rattle
O'er the surging of the billows,
On the white-capped waves' commotion.'
Then the master, Wainamoinen,
Guided home his willing vessel;
And the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
With the lively Lemminkainen,
Led the mighty host of rowers,
And the war-ship glided homeward
O'er the sea's unruffled surface,
O'er the mighty waste of waters.
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen:
'Once before I rode these billows,
There were viands for the heroes,
There was singing for the maidens;
But to-day I hear no singing,
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Hear no songs upon the vessel,
Hear no music on the waters.'
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
Answered thus wild Lemminkainen:
'Let none sing upon the blue-sea,
On the waters, no rejoicing;
Singing would prolong our journey,
Songs disturb the host of rowers;
Soon will die the silver sunlight,
Darkness soon will overtake us,
On this evil waste of waters,
On this blue-sea, smooth and level.'
These the words of Lemminkainen:
'Time will fly on equal pinions
Whether we have songs or silence;
Soon will disappear the daylight,
And the night as quickly follow,
Whether we be sad or joyous.'
Wainamoinen, the magician,
O'er the blue backs of the billows,
Steered one day, and then a second,
Steered the third from morn till even,
When the wizard, Lemminkainen,
Once again addressed the master:
'Why wilt thou, O famous minstrel,
Sing no longer for thy people,
Since the Sampo thou hast captured,
Captured too the lid in colors?'
These the words of Wainamoinen:
''Tis not well to sing too early!
Time enough for songs of joyance
When we see our home-land mansions,
When our journeyings have ended!'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen:
'At the helm, if I were sitting,
I would sing at morn and evening,
Though my voice has little sweetness;
Since thy songs are not forthcoming
Listen to my wondrous singing!'
Thereupon wild Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
Raised his voice above the waters,
197
O'er the sea his song resounded;
But his measures were discordant,
And his notes were harsh and frightful.
Sang the wizard, Lemminkainen,
Screeched the reckless Kaukomieli,
Till the mighty war-ship trembled;
Far and wide was heard his singing,
Heard his songs upon the waters,
Heard within the seventh village,
Heard beyond the seven oceans.
Sat a crane within the rushes,
On a hillock clothed in verdure,
And the crane his toes was counting;
Suddenly he heard the singing
Of the wizard, Lemminkainen;
And the bird was justly frightened
At the songs of the magician.
Then with horrid voice, and screeching,
Flew the crane across the broad-sea
To the lakes of Sariola,
O'er Pohyola's hills and hamlets,
Screeching, screaming, over Northland,
Till the people of the darkness
Were awakened from their slumbers.
Louhi hastens to her hurdles,
Hastens to her droves of cattle,
Hastens also to her garners,
Counts her herds, inspects her store-house;
Undisturbed she finds her treasures.
Quick she journeys to the entrance
To the copper-bearing mountain,
Speaks these words as she approaches:
'Woe is me, my life hard-fated,
Woe to Louhi, broken-hearted!
Here the tracks of the destroyers,
All my locks and bolts are broken
By the hands of cruel strangers!
Broken are my iron hinges,
Open stand the mountain-portals
Leading to the Northland-treasure.
Has Pohyola lost her Sampo?'
Then she hastened to the chambers
198
Where the Sampo had been grinding;
But she found the chambers empty,
Lid and Sampo gone to others,
From the stone-berg of Pohyola,
From behind nine locks of copper,
In the copper-bearing mountain.
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Angry grew and cried for vengeance;
As she found her fame departing,
Found her-strength fast disappearing,
Thus addressed the sea-fog virgin:
'Daughter of the morning-vapors,
Sift thy fogs from distant cloud-land,
Sift the thick air from the heavens,
Sift thy vapors from the ether,
On the blue-back of the broad-sea,
On the far extending waters,
That the ancient Wainamoinen,
Friend of ocean-wave and billow,
May not baffle his pursuers!
'Should this prayer prove unavailing,
Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Raise thy head above the billows,
And destroy Wainola's heroes,
Sink them to thy deep sea-castles,
There devour them at thy pleasure;
Bring thou back the golden Sampo
To the people of Pohyola!
'Should these words be ineffective,
Ukko, mightiest of rulers,
Golden king beyond the welkin,
Sitting on a throne of silver,
Fill thy skies with heavy storm-clouds,
Call thy fleetest winds about thee,
Send them o'er the seven broad-seas,
There to find the fleeing vessel,
That the ancient Wainamoinen
May not baffle his pursuers!'
Quick the virgin of the vapors
Breathed a fog upon the waters,
Made it settle on the war-ship
Of the, heroes of the Northland,
199
Held the minstrel, Wainamoinen,
Anchored in the fog and darkness;
Bound him one day, then a second,
Then a third till dawn of morning,
In the middle of the blue-sea,
Whence he could not flee in safety
From the wrath of his pursuers.
When the third night had departed,
Resting in the sea, and helpless,
Wainamoinen spake as follows,
'Not a man of strength and courage,
Not the weakest of the heroes,
Who upon the sea will suffer,
Sink and perish in the vapors,
Perish in the fog and darkness!'
With his sword he smote the billows,
From his magic blade flowed honey;
Quick the vapor breaks, and rises,
Leaves the waters clear for rowing;
Far extend the sky and waters,
Large the ring of the horizon,
And the troubled sea enlarges.
Time had journeyed little distance,
Scarce a moment had passed over,
When they heard a mighty roaring,
Heard a roaring and a rushing
Near the border of the vessel,
Where the foam was shooting skyward
O'er the boat of Wainamoinen.
Straightway youthful Ilmarinen
Sank in gravest apprehension,
From his cheeks the blood departed;
Pulled his cap down o'er his forehead,
Shook and trembled with emotion.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Casts his eyes upon the waters
Near the broad rim of his war-ship;
There perceives an ocean-wonder
With his head above the sea-foam.
Wainamoinen, brave and mighty,
Seizes quick the water-monster,
Lifts him by his ears and questions:
200
'Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Why art rising from the blue-sea?
Wherefore dost thou leave thy castle,
Show thyself to mighty heroes,
To the heroes of Wainola?'
Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Ocean monster, manifested
Neither pleasure, nor displeasure,
Was not in the least affrighted,
Did not give the hero answer.
Whereupon the ancient minstrel,
Asked the second time the monster,
Urgently inquired a third time:
'Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Why art rising from the waters,
Wherefore dost thou leave the blue-sea?
Iku-Turso gave this answer:
For this cause I left my castle
Underneath the rolling billows:
Came I here with the intention
To destroy the Kalew-heroes,
And return the magic Sampo
To the people of Pohyola.
If thou wilt restore my freedom,
Spare my life, from pain and sorrow,
I will quick retrace my journey,
Nevermore to show my visage
To the people of Wainola,
Never while the moonlight glimmers
On the hills of Kalevala!'
Then the singer, Wainamoinen,
Freed the monster, Iku-Turso,
Sent him to his deep sea-castles,
Spake these words to him departing:
'Iku-Turso, son of Old-age,
Nevermore arise from ocean,
Nevermore let Northland-heroes
See thy face above the waters I
Nevermore has Iku-Turso
Risen to the ocean-level;
Never since have Northland sailors
Seen the head of this sea-monster.
201
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Onward rowed his goodly vessel,
Journeyed but a little distance,
Scarce a moment had passed over,
When the King of all creators,
Mighty Ukko of the heavens,
Made the winds blow full of power,
Made the storms arise in fury,
Made them rage upon the waters.
From the west the winds came roaring,
From the north-east came in anger,
Winds came howling from the south-west,
Came the winds from all directions,
In their fury, rolling, roaring,
Tearing branches from the lindens,
Hurling needles from the pine-trees,
Blowing flowers from the heather,
Grasses blowing from the meadow,
Tearing up the very bottom
Of the deep and boundless blue-sea.
Roared the winds and lashed the waters
Till the waves were white with fury;
Tossed the war-ship high in ether,
Tossed away the harp of fish-bone,
Magic harp of Wainamoinen,
To the joy of King Wellamo,
To the pleasure of his people,
To the happiness of Ahto,
Ahto, rising from his caverns,
On the floods beheld his people
Carry off the harp of magic
To their home below the billows.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Heavy-hearted, spake these measures:
'I have lost what I created,
I have lost the harp of joyance;
Now my strength has gone to others,
All my pleasure too departed,
All my hope and comfort vanished!
Nevermore the harp of fish-bone
Will enchant the hosts of Suomi!'
Then the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
202
Sorrow-laden, spake as follows:
'Woe is me, my life hard-fated!
Would that I had never journeyed
On these waters filled with dangers,
On the rolling waste before me,
In this war-ship false and feeble.
Winds and storms have I encountered,
Wretched days of toil and trouble,
I have witnessed in the Northland;
Never have I met such dangers
On the land, nor on the ocean,
Never in my hero life-time!'
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Spake and these the words he uttered:
'Weep no more, my goodly comrades,
In my bark let no one murmur;
Weeping cannot mend disaster,
Tears can never still misfortune,
Mourning cannot save from evil.
'Sea, command thy warring forces,
Bid thy children cease their fury!
Ahto, still thy surging billows!
Sink, Wellamo, to thy slumber,
That our boat may move in safety.
Rise, ye storm-winds, to your kingdoms,
Lift your heads above the waters,
To the regions of your kindred,
To your people and dominions;
Cut the trees within the forest,
Bend the lindens of the valley,
Let our vessel sail in safety!'
Then the reckless Lemminkainen,
Handsome wizard, Kaukomieli,
Spake these words in supplication:
'Come, O eagle, Turyalander,
Bring three feathers from thy pinions,
Three, O raven, three, O eagle,
To protect this bark from evil!'
All the heroes of Wainola
Call their forces to the rescue,
And repair the sinking vessel.
By the aid of master-magic,
203
Wainamoinen saved his war-ship,
Saved his people from destruction,
Well repaired his ship to battle
With the roughest seas of Northland;
Steers his mighty boat in safety
Through the perils of the whirlpool,
Through the watery deeps and dangers.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
425:The Kalevala - Rune Xxiv
THE BRIDE'S FAREWELL.
Osmotar, the bride-instructor,
Gives the wedding-guests this counsel,
Speaks these measures to the bridegroom:
'Ilmarinen, artist-brother,
Best of all my hero-brothers,
Of my mother's sons the dearest,
Gentlest, truest, bravest, grandest,
Listen well to what I tell thee
Of the Maiden of the Rainbow,
Of thy beauteous life-companion
Bridegroom, praise thy fate hereafter,
Praise forever thy good fortune;
If thou praisest, praise sincerely,
Good the maiden thou hast wedded,
Good the bride that Ukko gives thee,
Graciously has God bestowed her.
Sound her praises to thy father,
Praise her virtues to thy mother,
Let thy heart rejoice in secret,
That thou hast the Bride of Beauty,
Lovely Maiden of the Rainbow!
'Brilliant near thee stands the maiden,
At thy shoulder thy companion,
Happy under thy protection,
Beautiful as golden moonlight,
Beautiful upon thy bosom,
Strong to do thy kindly bidding,
Labor with thee as thou wishest,
Rake the hay upon thy meadows,
Keep thy home in full perfection,
Spin for thee the finest linen,
Weave for thee the richest fabrics,
Make for thee the softest raiment,
Make thy weaver's loom as merry
As the cuckoo of the forest;
Make the shuttle glide in beauty
396
Like the ermine of the woodlands;
Make the spindle twirl as deftly
As the squirrel spins the acorn;
Village-maidens will not slumber
While thy young bride's loom is humming,
While she plies the graceful shuttle.
'Bridegroom of the Bride of Beauty,
Noblest of the Northland heroes,
Forge thyself a scythe for mowing,
Furnish it with oaken handle,
Carve it in thine ancient smithy,
Hammer it upon thine anvil,
Have it ready for the summer,
For the merry days of sunshine;
Take thy bride then to the lowlands,
Mow the grass upon thy meadows,
Rake the hay when it is ready,
Make the reeds and grasses rustle,
Toss the fragrant heads of clover,
Make thy hay in Kalevala
When the silver sun is shining.
'When the time has come for weaving,
To the loom attract the weaver,
Give to her the spools and shuttles,
Let the willing loom be worthy,
Beautiful the frame and settle;
Give to her what may be needed,
That the weaver's song may echo,
That the lathe may swing and rattle,
Ma y be heard within the village,
That the aged may remark it,
And the village-maidens question:
'Who is she that now is weaving,
What new power now plies the shuttle?'
'Make this answer to the question:
'It is my beloved weaving,
My young bride that plies the shuttle.'
'Shall the weaver's weft be loosened,
Shall the young bride's loom be tightened?
Do not let the weft be loosened,
Nor the weaver's loom be tightened;
Such the weaving of the daughters
397
Of the Moon beyond the cloudlets;
Such the spinning of the maidens
Of the Sun in high Jumala,
Of the daughters of the Great Bear,
Of the daughters of the Evening.
Bridegroom, thou beloved hero,
Brave descendant of thy fathers,
When thou goest on a journey,
When thou drivest on the highway,
Driving with the Rainbow-daughter,
Fairest bride of Sariola,
Do not lead her as a titmouse,
As a cuckoo of the forest,
Into unfrequented places,
Into copses of the borders,
Into brier-fields and brambles,
Into unproductive marshes;
Let her wander not, nor stumble
On opposing rocks and rubbish.
Never in her father's dwelling,
Never in her mother's court-yard,
Has she fallen into ditches,
Stumbled hard against the fences,
Run through brier-fields, nor brambles,
Fallen over rocks, nor rubbish.
'Magic bridegroom of Wainola,
Wise descendant of the heroes,
Never let thy young wife suffer,
Never let her be neglected,
Never let her sit in darkness,
Never leave her unattended.
Never in her father's mansion,
In the chambers of her mother,
Has she sat alone in darkness,
Has she suffered for attention;
Sat she by the crystal window,
Sat and rocked, in peace and plenty,
Evenings for her father's pleasure,
Mornings for her mother's sunshine.
Never mayest thou, O bridegroom,
Lead the Maiden of the Rainbow
To the mortar filled with sea-grass,
398
There to grind the bark for cooking,
There to bake her bread from stubble,
There to knead her dough from tan-bark
Never in her father's dwelling,
Never in her mother's mansion,
Was she taken to the mortar,
There to bake her bread from sea-grass.
Thou shouldst lead the Bride of Beauty
To the garner's rich abundance,
There to draw the till of barley,
Grind the flour and knead for baking,
There to brew the beer for drinking,
Wheaten flour for honey-biscuits.
'Hero-bridegroom of Wainola,
Never cause thy Bride of Beauty
To regret her day of marriage;
Never make her shed a tear-drop,
Never fill her cup with sorrow.
Should there ever come an evening
When thy wife shall feel unhappy,
Put the harness on thy racer,
Hitch the fleet-foot to the snow-sled;
Take her to her father's dwelling,
To the household of her mother;
Never in thy hero-lifetime,
Never while the moonbeams glimmer,
Give thy fair spouse evil treatment,
Never treat her as thy servant;
Do not bar her from the cellar,
Do not lock thy best provisions
Never in her father's mansion,
Never by her faithful mother
Was she treated as a hireling.
Honored bridegroom of the Northland,
Proud descendant of the fathers,
If thou treatest well thy young wife,
Worthily wilt thou be treated;
When thou goest to her homestead,
When thou visitest her father,
Thou shalt meet a cordial welcome.
'Censure not the Bride of Beauty,
Never grieve thy Rainbow-maiden,
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Never say in tones reproachful,
She was born in lowly station,
That her father was unworthy;
Honored are thy bride's relations,
From an old-time tribe, her kindred;
When of corn they sowed a measure,
Each one's portion was a kernel;
When they sowed a cask of flax-seed,
Each received a thread of linen.
Never, never, magic husband,
Treat thy beauty-bride unkindly,
Teach her not with lash of servants,
Strike her not with thongs of leather;
Never has she wept in anguish
From the birch-whip of her mother.
Stand before her like a rampart,
Be to her a strong protection,
Do not let thy mother chide her,
Let thy father not upbraid her,
Never let thy guests offend her;
Should thy servants bring annoyance,
They may need the master's censure;
Do not harm the Bride of Beauty,
Never injure her thou lovest;
Three long years hast thou been wooing,
Hoping every mouth to win her.
'Counsel with the bride of heaven,
To thy young wife give instruction,
Kindly teach thy bride in secret,
In the long and dreary evenings,
When thou sittest at the fireside;
Teach one year, in words of kindness,
Teach with eyes of love a second,
In the third year teach with firmness.
If she should not heed thy teaching,
Should not hear thy kindly counsel
After three long years of effort,
Cut a reed upon the lowlands,
Cut a nettle from the border,
Teach thy wife with harder measures.
In the fourth year, if she heed not,
Threaten her with sterner treatment,
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With the stalks of rougher edges,
Use not yet the thongs of leather,
Do not touch her with the birch-whip.
If she does not heed this warning,
Should she pay thee no attention,
Cut a rod upon the mountains,
Or a willow in the valleys,
Hide it underneath thy mantle,
That the stranger may not see it,
Show it to thy wife in secret,
Shame her thus to do her duty,
Strike not yet, though disobeying.
Should she disregard this warning,
Still refuse to heed thy wishes,
Then instruct her with the willow,
Use the birch-rod from the mountains
In the closet of thy dwelling,
In the attic of thy mansion;
Strike, her not upon the common,
Do not conquer her in public,
Lest the villagers should see thee,
Lest the neighbors hear her weeping,
And the forests learn thy troubles.
Touch thy wife upon the shoulders,
Let her stiffened back be softened.
Do not touch her on the forehead,
Nor upon the ears, nor visage;
If a ridge be on her forehead,
Or a blue mark on her eyelids,
Then her mother would perceive it,
And her father would take notice,
All the village-workmen see it,
And the village-women ask her
'Hast thou been in heat of battle,
Hast thou struggled in a conflict,
Or perchance the wolves have torn thee,
Or the forest-bears embraced thee,
Or the black-wolf be thy husband,
And the bear be thy protector?''
By the fire-place lay a gray-beard,
On the hearth-stone lay a beggar,
And the old man spake as follows:
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'Never, never, hero-husband,
Follow thou thy young wife's wishes,
Follow not her inclinations,
As, alas! I did, regretful;
Bought my bride the bread of barley,
Veal, and beer, and best of butter,
Fish and fowl of all descriptions,
Beer I bought, home-brewed and sparkling,
Wheat from all the distant nations,
All the dainties of the Northland;
All of this was unavailing,
Gave my wife no satisfaction,
Often came she to my chamber,
Tore my sable locks in frenzy,
With a visage fierce and frightful,
With her eyeballs flashing anger,
Scolding on and scolding ever,
Ever speaking words of evil,
Using epithets the vilest,
Thought me but a block for chopping.
Then I sought for other measures,
Used on her my last resources,
Cut a birch-whip in the forest,
And she spake in tones endearing;
Cut a juniper or willow,
And she called me 'hero-darling';
When with lash my wife I threatened,
Hung she on my neck with kisses.'
Thus the bridegroom was instructed,
Thus the last advices given.
Then the Maiden of the Rainbow,
Beauteous bride of Ilmarinen,
Sighing heavily and moaning,
Fell to weeping, heavy-hearted,
Spake these words from depths of sorrow:
'Near, indeed, the separation,
Near, alas! the time for parting,
Near the time for my departure;
O the anguish of the parting,
O the pain of separation,
From these walls renowned and ancient,
From this village of the Northland,
402
From these scenes of peace and plenty,
Where my faithful mother taught me,
Where my father gave instruction
To me in my happy childhood,
When my years were few and tender!
As a child I did not fancy,
Never thought of separation
From the confines of this cottage,
From these dear old hills and mountains,
But, alas! I now must journey,
Since I now cannot escape it;
Empty is the bowl of parting,
All the farewell-beer is taken,
And my husband's sledge is waiting,
With the break-board looking southward,
Looking from my father's dwelling.
'How shall I give compensation,
How repay, on my departure,
All the kindness of my mother,
All the counsel of my father,
All the friendship of my brother,
All my sister's warm affection?
Gratitude to thee, dear father,
For my former-life and blessings,
For the comforts of thy table,
For the pleasures of my childhood!
Gratitude to thee, dear mother,
For thy tender care and guidance,
For my birth and for my culture,
Nurtured by thy purest life-blood!
Gratitude to thee, dear brother,
Gratitude to thee, sweet sister,
To the servants of my childhood,
To my many friends and playmates!
'Never, never, aged father,
Never, thou, beloved mother,
Never, ye, my kindred spirits,
Never harbor care, nor sorrow,
Never fall to bitter weeping,
Since thy child has gone to others,
To the distant home of strangers,
To the meadows of Wainola,
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From her father's fields and firesides.
Shines the Sun of the Creator,
Shines the golden Moon of Ukko,
Glitter all the stars of heaven,
In the firmament of ether,
Full as bright on other homesteads;
Not upon my father's uplands,
Not upon my home in childhood,
Shines the Star of Joyance only.
'Now the time has come for parting
From my father's golden firesides,
From my brother's welcome hearth-stone,
From the chambers of my sister,
From my mother's happy dwelling;
Now I leave the swamps and lowlands,
Leave the grassy vales and mountains,
Leave the crystal lakes and rivers,
Leave the shores and sandy shallows,
Leave the white-capped surging billows,
Where the maidens swim and linger,
Where the mermaids sing and frolic;
Leave the swamps to those that wander,
Leave the corn-fields to the plowman,
Leave the forests to the weary,
Leave the heather to the rover,
Leave the copses to the stranger,
Leave the alleys to the beggar,
Leave the court-yards to the rambler,
Leave the portals to the servant,
Leave the matting to the sweeper,
Leave the highways to the roebuck,
Leave the woodland-glens to lynxes,
Leave the lowlands to the wild-geese,
And the birch-tree to the cuckoo.
Now I leave these friends of childhood,
Journey southward with my husband,
To the arms of Night and Winter,
O'er the ice-grown seas of Northland.
'Should I once again, returning,
Pay a visit to my tribe-folk,
Mother would not hear me calling,
Father would not see me weeping,
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Calling at my mother's grave-stone,
'Weeping o'er my buried father,
On their graves the fragrant flowers,
Junipers and mournful willows,
Verdure from my mother's tresses,
From the gray-beard of my father.
'Should I visit Sariola,
Visit once again these borders,
No one here would bid me welcome.
Nothing in these hills would greet me,
Save perchance a few things only,
By the fence a clump of osiers,
And a land-mark at the corner,
Which in early youth I planted,
When a child of little stature.
'Mother's kine perhaps will know me,
Which so often I have watered,
Which I oft have fed and tended,
Lowing now at my departure,
In the pasture cold and cheerless;
Sure my mother's kine will welcome
Northland's daughter home returning.
Father's steeds may not forget me,
Steeds that I have often ridden,
When a maiden free and happy,
Neighing now for me departing,
In the pasture of my brother,
In the stable of my father;
Sure my father's steeds will know me,
Bid Pohyola's daughter welcome.
Brother's faithful dogs may know me,
That I oft have fed and petted,
Dogs that I have taught to frolic,
That now mourn for me departing,
In their kennels in the court-yard,
In their kennels cold and cheerless;
Sure my brother's dogs will welcome
Pohya's daughter home returning.
But the people will not know me,
When I come these scenes to visit,
Though the fords remain as ever,
Though unchanged remain the rivers,
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Though untouched the flaxen fish-nets
On the shores await my coming.
'Fare thou well, my dear old homestead,
Fare ye well, my native bowers;
It would give me joy unceasing
Could I linger here forever.
Now farewell, ye halls and portals,
Leading to my father's mansion;
It would give me joy unceasing
Could I linger here forever.
Fare ye well, familiar gardens
Filled with trees and fragrant flowers;
It would give me joy unceasing,
Could I linger here forever.
Send to all my farewell greetings,
To the fields, and groves, and berries;
Greet the meadows with their daisies,
Greet the borders with their fences,
Greet the lakelets with their islands,
Greet the streams with trout disporting,
Greet the hills with stately pine-trees,
And the valleys with their birches.
Fare ye well, ye streams and lakelets,
Fertile fields, and shores of ocean,
All ye aspens on the mountains,
All ye lindens of the valleys,
All ye beautiful stone-lindens,
All ye shade-trees by the cottage,
All ye junipers and willows,
All ye shrubs with berries laden,
Waving grass and fields of barley,
Arms of elms, and oaks, and alders,
Fare ye well, dear scenes of childhood,
Happiness of days departed!'
Ending thus, Pohyola's daughter
Left her native fields and fallows,
Left the darksome Sariola,
With her husband, Ilmarinen,
Famous son of Kalevala.
But the youth remained for singing,
This the chorus of the children:
'Hither came a bird of evil '
406
Flew in fleetness from the forest,
Came to steal away our virgin,
Came to win the Maid of Beauty;
Took away our fairest flower,
Took our mermaid from the waters,
Won her with his youth and beauty,
With his keys of ancient wisdom.
Who will lead us to the sea-beach,
Who conduct us to the rivers?
Now the buckets will be idle,
On the hooks will rest the fish-poles,
Now unswept will lie the matting,
And unswept the halls of birch-wood,
Copper goblets be unburnished,
Dark the handles of the pitchers,
Fare thou well, dear Rainbow Maiden.'
Ilmarinen, happy bridegroom,
Hastened homeward with the daughter
Of the hostess of Pohyola,
With the beauty of the Northland
Fleetly flew the hero's snow-sledge,
Loudly creaked, and roared, and rattled
Down the banks of Northland waters,
By the side of Honey-inlet,
On the back of Sandy Mountain.
Stones went rolling from the highway,
Like the winds the sledge flew onward,
On the yoke rang hoops of iron,
Loud the spotted wood resounded,
Loudly creaked the bands of willow,
All the birchen cross-bars trembled,
And the copper-bells rang music,
In the racing of the fleet-foot,
In the courser's gallop homeward;
Journeyed one day, then a second,
Journeyed still the third day onward,
In one hand the reins of magic,
While the other grasped the maiden,
One foot resting on the cross-bar,
And the other in the fur-robes.
Merrily the steed flew homeward,
Quickly did the highways shorten,
407
Till at last upon the third day,
As the sun was fast declining,
There appeared the blacksmith's furnace,
Nearer, Ilmarinen's dwelling,
Smoke arising high in ether,
Clouds of smoke to lofty heaven,
From the village of Wainola,
From the suitor's forge and smithy,
From the chimneys of the hero,
From the home of the successful.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
426:The Kalevala - Rune Xii
KYLLIKKI'S BROKEN VOW.
Lemminkainen, artful husband,
Reckless hero, Kaukomieli,
Constantly beside his young wife.,
Passed his life in sweet contentment,
And the years rolled swiftly onward;
Ahti thought not of the battles,
Nor Kyllikki of the dances.
Once upon a time it happened
That the hero, Lemminkainen,
Went upon the lake a-fishing,
Was not home at early evening,
As the cruel night descended;
To the village went Kyllikki,
To the dance of merry maidens.
Who will tell the evil story,
Who will bear the information
To the husband, Lemminkainen?
Ahti's sister tells the story,
And the sister's name, Ainikki.
Soon she spreads the cruel tidings,
Straightway gives the information,
Of Kyllikki's perjured honor,
These the words Ainikki utters:
'Ahti, my beloved brother,
To the village went Kyllikki,
To the hall of many strangers,
To the plays and village dances,
With the young men and the maidens,
With the maids of braided tresses,
To the halls of joy and pleasure.'
Lemminkainen, much dejected,
Broken-hearted, flushed with anger,
Spake these words in measured accents:
'Mother dear, my gray-haired mother,
Wilt thou straightway wash my linen
In the blood of poison-serpents,
139
In the black blood of the adder?
I must hasten to the combat,
To the camp-fires of the Northland,
To the battle-fields of Lapland;
To the village went Kyllikki,
To the play of merry maidens,
To the games and village dances,
With the maids of braided tresses.'
Straightway speaks the wife, Kyllikki:
'My beloved husband, Ahti,
Do not go to war, I pray thee.
In the evening I lay sleeping,
Slumbering I saw in dream-land
Fire upshooting from the chimney,
Flames arising, mounting skyward,
From the windows of this dwelling,
From the summits of these rafters,
Piercing through our upper chambers,
Roaring like the fall of waters,
Leaping from the floor and ceiling,
Darting from the halls and doorways.'
But the doubting Lemminkainen
Makes this answer to Kyllikki:
'I discredit dreams or women,
Have no faith in vows of maidens!
Faithful mother of my being,
Hither bring my mail of copper;
Strong desire is stirring in me
For the cup of deadly combat,
For the mead of martial conquest.'
This the pleading mother's answer:
'Lemminkainen, son beloved,
Do not go to war I pray thee;
We have foaming beer abundant,
In our vessels beer of barley,
Held in casks by oaken spigots;
Drink this beer of peace and pleasure,
Let us drink of it together.'
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen:
'I shall taste no more the viands,
In the home of false Kyllikki;
Rather would I drink the water
140
From the painted tips of birch-oars;
Sweeter far to me the water,
Than the beverage of dishonor,
At my mother's home and fireside!
'Hither bring my martial doublet,
Bring me now the sword of battle,
Bring my father's sword of honor;
I must go to upper Northland,
To the battle-fields of Lapland,
There to win me gold and silver.'
This the anxious mother's answer:
'My beloved Kaukomieli,
We have gold in great abundance,
Gold and silver in the store-room;
Recently upon the uplands,
In the early hours of morning,
Toiled the workmen in the corn-fields,
Plowed the meadows filled with serpents,
When the plowshare raised the cover
From a chest of gold and silver,
Countless was the gold uncovered,
Hid beneath the grassy meadow;
This the treasure I have brought thee,
Take the countless gold in welcome.'
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen:
'Do not wish thy household silver,
From the wars I'll earn my silver;
Gold and silver from the combat
Are to me of greater value
Than the wealth thou hast discovered.
Bring me now my heavy armor,
Bring me too my spear and broadsword;
To the Northland I must hasten,
To the bloody wars of Lapland,
Thither does my pride impel me,
Thitherward my heart is turning.
'I have heard a tale of Lapland,
Some believe the wondrous story,
That a maid in Pimentola
Lives that does not care for suitors,
Does not care for bearded heroes.'
This the aged mother's answer:
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'Warlike Athi, son beloved,
In thy home thou hast Kyllikki,
Fairest wife of all the islands;
Strange to see two wives abiding
In the home of but one husband.'
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen:
'To the village runs Kyllikki;
Let her run to village dances,
Let her sleep in other dwellings,
With the village youth find pleasure,
With the maids of braided tresses.'
Seeks the mother to detain him,
Thus the anxious mother answers:
'Do not go, my son beloved,
Ignorant of Pohya-witchcraft,
To the distant homes of Northland
Till thou hast the art of magic,
Till thou hast some little wisdom
Do not go to fields of battle,
To the fires of Northland's children,
To the slaughter-fields of Lapland,
Till of magic thou art master.
There the Lapland maids will charm thee,
Turyalanders will bewitch thee,
Sing thy visage into charcoal,
Head and shoulders to the furnace,
Into ashes sing thy fore-arm,
Into fire direct thy footsteps.'
Spake the warlike Lemminkainen:
Wizards often have bewitched me,
And the fascinating serpents;
Lapland wizards, three in number,
On an eve in time of summer,
Sitting on a rock at twilight,
Not a garment to protect them,
Once bewitched me with their magic;
This much they have taken from me,
This the sum of all my losses:
What the hatchet gains from flint-stone,
What the auger bores from granite,
What the heel chips from the iceberg,
And what death purloins from tomb-stones.
142
'Horribly the wizards threatened,
Tried to sink me with their magic,
In the water of the marshes,
In the mud and treacherous quicksand,
To my chin in mire and water;
But I too was born a hero,
Born a hero and magician,
Was not troubled by their magic.
'Straightway I began my singing,
Sang the archers with their arrows,
Sang the spearmen with their weapons,
Sang the swordsmen with their poniards,
Sang the singers with their singing,
The enchanters with their magic,
To the rapids of the rivers,
To the highest fall of waters,
To the all-devouring whirlpool,
To the deepest depths of ocean,
Where the wizards still are sleeping,
Sleeping till the grass shoots upward
Through the beards and wrinkled faces,
Through the locks of the enchanters,
As they sleep beneath the billows.'
Still entreats the anxious mother,
Still beseeches Lemminkainen,
Trying to restrain the hero,
While Kyllikki begs forgiveness;
This the language of the mother:
'Do not go, my son beloved,
To the villages of Northland,
Nor to Lapland's frigid borders;
Dire misfortune will befall thee,
Star of evil settle o'er thee,
Lemminkainen's end, destruction.
'Couldst thou speak in tongues a hundred,
I could not believe thee able,
Through the magic of thy singing,
To enchant the sons of Lapland
To the bottom of the ocean,
Dost not know the Tury-language,
Canst but speak the tongue of Suomi,
Canst not win by witless magic.'
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Lemminkainen, reckless hero,
Also known as Kaukomieli,
Stood beside his mother, combing
Out his sable locks and musing,
Brushing down his beard, debating,
Steadfast still in his decision,
Quickly hurls his brush in anger,
Hurls it to the wall opposing,
Gives his mother final answer,
These the words that Ahti uses:
'Dire misfortune will befall me,
Some sad fate will overtake me,
Evil come to Lemminkainen,
When the blood flows from that hair-brush,
When blood oozes from those bristles.'
Thus the warlike Lemminkainen
Goes to never-pleasant Lapland,
Heeding not his mother's warning,
Heeding not her prohibition.
Thus the hero, Kaukomieli,
Quick equips himself for warfare,
On his head a copper helmet,
On his shoulders caps of copper,
On his body iron armor,
Steel, the belt around his body;
As he girds himself for battle,
Ahti thus soliloquizing:
'Strong the hero in his armor,
Strong indeed in copper helmet,
Powerful in mail of iron,
Stronger far than any hero
On the dismal shores of Lapland,
Need not fear their wise enchanters,
Need not fear their strongest foemen,
Need not fear a war with wizards.'
Grasped he then the sword of battle,
Firmly grasped the heavy broadsword
That Tuoni had been grinding,
That the gods had brightly burnished,
Thrust it in the leathern scabbard,
Tied the scabbard to his armor.
How do heroes guard from danger,
144
Where protect themselves from evil?
Heroes guard their homes and firesides,
Guard their doors, and roofs, and windows,
Guard the posts that bold the torch-lights,
Guard the highways to the court-yard,
Guard the ends of all the gate-ways.
Heroes guard themselves from women,
Carefully from merry maidens;
If in this their strength be wanting,
Easy fall the heroes, victims
To the snares of the enchanters.
Furthermore are heroes watchful
Of the tribes of warlike giants,
Where the highway doubly branches,
On the borders of the blue-rock,
On the marshes filled with evil,
Near the mighty fall of waters,
Near the circling of the whirlpool,
Near the fiery springs and rapids.
Spake the stout-heart, Lemminkainen:
'Rise ye heroes of the broadsword,
Ye, the earth's eternal heroes,
From the deeps, ye sickle-bearers,
From the brooks, ye crossbow-shooters,
Come, thou forest, with thine archers,
Come, ye thickets, with your armies,
Mountain spirits, with your powers,
Come, fell Hisi, with thy horrors,
Water-mother, with thy dangers,
Come, Wellamo, with thy mermaids,
Come, ye maidens from the valleys,
Come, ye nymphs from winding rivers,
Be protection to this hero,
Be his day-and-night companions,
Body-guard to Lemminkainen,
Thus to blunt the spears of wizards,
Thus to dull their pointed arrows,
That the spears of the enchanters,
That the arrows of the archers,
That the weapons of the foemen,
May not harm this bearded hero.
'Should this force be insufficient,
145
I can call on other powers,
I can call the gods above me,
Call the great god of the heavens,
Him who gives the clouds their courses,
Him who rules through boundless ether,
Who directs the march of storm-winds.
'Ukko, thou O God above me,
Thou the father of creation,
Thou that speakest through the thunder,
Thou whose weapon is the lightning,
Thou whose voice is borne by ether,
Grant me now thy mighty fire-sword,
Give me here thy burning arrows,
Lightning arrows for my quiver,
Thus protect me from all danger,
Guard me from the wiles of witches,
Guide my feet from every evil,
Help me conquer the enchanters,
Help me drive them from the Northland;
Those that stand in front of battle,
Those that fill the ranks behind me,
Those around me, those above me,
Those beneath me, help me banish,.
With their knives, and swords, and cross-bows,
With their spears of keenest temper,
With their tongues of evil magic;
Help me drive these Lapland wizards
To the deepest depths of ocean,
There to wrestle with Wellamo.'
Then the reckless Lemminkainen
Whistled loudly for his stallion,
Called the racer from the hurdles,
Called his brown steed from the pasture,
Threw the harness on the courser,
Hitched the fleet-foot to the snow-sledge,
Leaped upon the highest cross-bench,
Cracked his whip above the racer,
And the steed flies onward swiftly,
Bounds the sleigh upon its journey,
And the golden plain re-echoes;
Travels one day, then a second,
Travels all the next day northward,
146
Till the third day evening brings him
To a sorry Northland village,
On the dismal shores of Lapland.
Here the hero, Lemminkainen,
Drove along the lowest highway,
Through the streets along the border,
To a court-yard in the hamlet,
Asked one standing in the doorway:
'Is there one within this dwelling,
That can loose my stallion's breastplate,
That can lift his heavy collar,
That these shafts can rightly lower?'
On the floor a babe was playing,
And the young child gave this answer:
'There is no one in this dwelling
That can loose thy stallion's breastplate,
That can lift his heavy collar,
That the shafts can rightly lower.'
Lemminkainen, not discouraged,
Whips his racer to a gallop,
Rushes forward through the village,
On the middle of the highways,
To the court-yard in the centre,
Asks one standing in the threshold,
Leaning on the penthouse door-posts:
'Is there any one here dwelling
That can slip my stallion's bridle,
That can loose his leathern breast-straps,
That can tend my royal racer?'
From the fire-place spake a wizard,
From her bench the witch made answer:
'Thou canst find one in this dwelling,
That can slip thy courser's bridle,
That can loose his heavy breastplate,
That can tend thy royal racer.
There are here a thousand heroes
That can make thee hasten homeward,
That can give thee fleet-foot stallions,
That can chase thee to thy country,
Reckless rascal and magician,
To thy home and fellow minstrels,
To the uplands of thy father,
147
To the cabins of thy mother,
To the work-bench of thy brother,
To the dairy or thy sister,
Ere the evening star has risen,
Ere the sun retires to slumber.'
Lemminkainen, little fearing,
Gives this answer to the wizard:
'I should slay thee for thy pertness,
That thy clatter might be silenced.'
Then he whipped his fiery charger,
And the steed flew onward swiftly,
On the upper of the highways,
To the court-yard on the summit.
When the reckless Lemminkainen
Had approached the upper court-yard,
Uttered he the words that follow:
'O thou Hisi, stuff this watch-dog,
Lempo, stuff his throat and nostrils,
Close the mouth of this wild barker,
Bridle well the vicious canine,
That the watcher may be silent
While the hero passes by him.'
Then he stepped within the court-room,
With his whip he struck the flooring,
From the floor arose a vapor,
In the fog appeared a pigmy,
Who unhitched the royal racer,
From his back removed the harness,
Gave the weary steed attention.
Then the hero, Lemminkainen,
Carefully advanced and listened.
No one saw the strange magician,
No one heard his cautious footsteps;
Heard he songs within the dwelling,
Through the moss-stuffed chinks heard voices.
Through the walls he beard them singing,
Through the doors the peals of laughter.
Then he spied within the court-rooms,
Lurking slyly in the hall-ways,
Found the court-rooms filled with singers,
By the walls were players seated,
Near the doors the wise men hovered,
148
Skilful ones upon the benches,
Near the fires the wicked wizards;
All were singing songs of Lapland,
Singing songs of evil Hisi.
Now the minstrel, Lemminkainen,
Changes both his form and stature,
Passes through the inner door-ways,
Enters he the spacious court-hall,
And these words the hero utters:
'Fine the singing quickly ending,
Good the song that quickly ceases;
Better far to keep thy wisdom
Than to sing it on the house-tops.'
Comes the hostess of Pohyola,
Fleetly rushing through the door-way,
To the centre of the court-room,
And addresses thus the stranger:
Formerly a dog lay watching,
Was a cur of iron-color,
Fond of flesh, a bone-devourer,
Loved to lick the blood of strangers.
Who then art thou of the heroes,
Who of all the host of heroes,
That thou art within my court-rooms,
That thou comest to my dwelling,
Was not seen without my portals,
Was not scented by my watch-dogs?
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen:
'Do not think that I come hither
Having neither wit nor wisdom,
Having neither art nor power,
Wanting in ancestral knowledge,
Lacking prudence of the fathers,
That thy watch-dogs may devour me.
'My devoted mother washed me,
When a frail and tender baby,
Three times in the nights of summer,
Nine times in the nights of autumn,
That upon my journeys northward
I might sing the ancient wisdom,
Thus protect myself from danger;
When at home I sing as wisely
149
As the minstrels of thy hamlet.'
Then the singer, Lemminkainen,
Ancient hero, Kaukomieli,
Quick began his incantations,
Straightway sang the songs of witchcraft,
From his fur-robe darts the lightning,
Flames outshooting from his eye-balls,
From the magic of his singing
From his wonderful enchantment.
Sang the very best of singers
To the very worst of minstrels,
Filled their mouths with dust and ashes,
Piled the rocks upon their shoulders,
Stilled the best of Lapland witches,
Stilled the sorcerers and wizards.
Then he banished all their heroes,
Banished all their proudest minstrels,
This one hither, that one thither,
To the lowlands poor in verdure,
To the unproductive uplands,
To the oceans wanting whiting,
To the waterfalls of Rutya,
To the whirlpool hot and flaming,
To the waters decked with sea-foam,
Into fires and boiling waters,
Into everlasting torment.
Then the hero, Lemminkainen,
Sang the foemen with their broadswords?
Sang the heroes with their weapons,
Sang the eldest, sang the youngest,
Sang the middle-aged, enchanted;
Only one he left his senses,
He a poor, defenseless shepherd,
Old and sightless, halt and wretched,
And the old man's name was Nasshut.
Spake the miserable shepherd:
'Thou hast old and young enchanted,
Thou hast banished all our heroes,
Why hast spared this wretched shepherd?'
This is Lemminkainen's answer:
'Therefore have I not bewitched thee:
Thou art old, and blind, and wretched
150
Feeble-minded thou, and harmless,
Loathsome now without my magic.
Thou didst, in thy better life-time,
When a shepherd filled with malice,
Ruin all thy mother's berries,
Make thy sister, too unworthy,
Ruin all thy brother's cattle,
Drive to death thy father's stallions,
Through the marshes, o'er the meadows,
Through the lowlands, o'er the mountains,
Heeding not thy mother's counsel.'
Thereupon the wretched Nasshut,
Angry grew and swore for vengeance,
Straightway limping through the door-way,
Hobbled on beyond the court-yard,
O'er the meadow-lands and pastures,
To the river of the death-land,
To the holy stream and whirlpool,
To the kingdom of Tuoni,
To the islands of Manala;
Waited there for Kaukomieli,
Listened long for Lemminkainen,
Thinking he must pass this river
On his journey to his country,
On. the highway to the islands,
From the upper shores of Pohya,
From the dreary Sariola.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
427:The Kalevala - Rune Xix
ILMARINEN'S WOOING.
ILMARINEN, hero-blacksmith,
The eternal metal-worker,
Hastens forward to the court-room
Of the hostess of Pohyola,
Of the master of the Northland,
Hastens through the open portals
Into Louhi's home and presence.
Servants come with silver pitchers,
Filled with Northland's richest brewing;
Honey-drink is brought and offered
To the blacksmith of Wainola,
Ilmarinen thus replying:
'I shall not in all my life-time
Taste the drink that thou hast brought me,
Till I see the Maid of Beauty,
Fairy Maiden of the Rainbow;
I will drink with her in gladness,
For whose hand I journey hither.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'Trouble does the one selected
Give to him that wooes and watches;
Not yet are her feet in sandals,
Thine affianced is not ready.
Only canst thou woo my daughter,
Only canst thou win the maiden,
When thou hast by aid of magic
Plowed the serpent-field of Hisi,
Plowed the field of hissing vipers,
Touching neither beam nor handles.
Once this field was plowed by Piru,
Lempo furrowed it with horses,
With a plowshare made of copper,
With a beam of flaming iron;
Never since has any hero
Brought this field to cultivation.'
Ilmarinen of Wainola
172
Straightway hastens to the chamber
Of the Maiden of the Rainbow,
Speaks these words in hesitation:
'Thou of Night and Dawn the daughter,
Tell me, dost thou not remember
When for thee I forged the Sampo,
Hammered thee the lid in colors?
Thou didst swear by oath the strougest,
By the forge and by the anvil,
By the tongs and by the hammer,
In the ears of the Almighty,
And before omniscient Ukko,
Thou wouldst follow me hereafter,
Be my bride, my life-companion,
Be my honored wife forever.
Now thy mother is exacting,
Will not give to me her daughter,
Till by means of magic only,
I have plowed the field of serpents,
Plowed the hissing soil of Hisi.'
The affianced Bride of Beauty
Gives this answer to the suitor:
'O, thou blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
The eternal wonder-forger,
Forge thyself a golden plowshare,
Forge the beam of shining silver,
And of copper forge the handles;
Then with ease, by aid of magic,
Thou canst plow the field of serpents,
Plow the hissing soil of Hisi.'
Ilmarinen, welcome suitor,
Straightway builds a forge and smithy,
Places gold within the furnace,
In the forge he lays the silver,
Forges then a golden plowshare,
Forges, too, a beam of silver,
Forges handles out of copper,
Forges boots and gloves of iron,
Forges him a mail of metal,
For his limbs a safe protection,
Safe protection for his body.
Then a horse of fire selecting,
173
Harnesses the flaming stallion,
Goes to plow the field of serpents,
Plow the viper-lands of Hisi.
In the field were countless vipers,
Serpents there of every species,
Crawling, writhing, hissing, stinging,
Harmless all against the hero,
Thus he stills the snakes of Lempo:
'Vipers, ye by God created,
Neither best nor worst of creatures,
Ye whose wisdom comes from Ukko,
And whose venom comes from Hisi,
Ukko is your greater Master,
By His will your heads are lifted;
Get ye hence before my plowing,
Writ-he ye through the grass and stubble,
Crawl ye to the nearest thicket,
Keep your heads beneath the heather,
Hunt our holes to Mana's kingdom
If your poison-heads be lifted,
Then will mighty Ukko smite them
'With his iron-pointed arrows,
With the lightning of his anger.'
Thus the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Safely plows the field of serpents,
Lifts the vipers in his plowing,
Buries them beneath the furrow,
Harmless all against his magic.
When the task had been completed,
Ilmarinen, quick returning,
Thus addressed Pohyola's hostess:
'I have plowed the field of Hisi,
Plowed the field of hissing serpents,
Stilled and banished all the vipers;
Give me, ancient dame, thy daughter,
Fairest maiden of the Northland.
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'Shall not grant to thee my daughter,
Shall not give my lovely virgin,
Till Tuoni's bear is muzzled,
Till Manala's wolf is conquered,
In the forests of the Death-land,
174
In the boundaries of Mana.
Hundreds have been sent to hunt him,
So one yet has been successful,
All have perished in Manala.'
Thereupon young Ilmarinen
To the maiden's chamber hastens,
Thus addresses his affianced:
'Still another test demanded,
I must go to Tuonela,
Bridle there the bear of Mana,
Bring him from the Death-land forests,
From Tuoni's grove and empire!
This advice the maiden gives him:
'O thou artist, Ilmarinen,
The eternal metal-worker,
Forge of steel a magic bridle,
On a rock beneath the water,
In the foaming triple currents;
Make the straps of steel and copper,
Bridle then the bear of Mana,
Lead him from Tuoni's forests.'
Then the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Forged of steel a magic bridle,
On a rock beneath the water,
In the foam of triple currents;
Made the straps of steel and copper,
Straightway went the bear to muzzle,
In the forests of the Death-land,
Spake these words in supplication:
'Terhenetar, ether-maiden,
Daughter of the fog and snow-flake,
Sift the fog and let it settle
O'er the bills and lowland thickets,
Where the wild-bear feeds and lingers,
That he may not see my coming,
May not hear my stealthy footsteps!'
Terhenetar hears his praying,
Makes the fog and snow-flake settle
On the coverts of the wild-beasts;
Thus the bear he safely bridles,
Fetters him in chains of magic,
In the forests of Tuoni,
175
In the blue groves of Manala.
When this task had been completed,
Ilmarinen, quick returning,
Thus addressed the ancient Louhi:
'Give me, worthy dame, thy daughter,
Give me now my bride affianced,
I have brought the bear of Mana
From Tuoni's fields and forests.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola
To the blacksmith, Ilmarinen:
'I will only give my daughter,
Give to thee the Maid of Beauty,
When the monster-pike thou catchest
In the river of Tuoni,
In Manala's fatal waters,
Using neither hooks, nor fish-nets,
Neither boat, nor fishing-tackle;
Hundreds have been sent to catch him,
No one yet has been successful,
All have perished in Manala.'
Much disheartened, Ilmarinen
Hastened to the maiden's chamber,
Thus addressed the rainbow-maiden:
'Now a third test is demanded,
Much more difficult than ever;
I must catch the pike of Mana,
In the river of Tuoni,
And without my fishing-tackle,
Hard the third test of the hero!
This advice the maiden gives him:
'O thou hero, Ilmarinen,
Never, never be discouraged:
In thy furnace, forge an eagle,
From the fire of ancient magic;
He will catch the pike of Mana,
Catch the monster-fish in safety,
From the death-stream of Tuoni,
From Manala's fatal waters.'
Then the suitor, Ilmarinen,
The eternal artist-forgeman,
In the furnace forged an eagle
From the fire of ancient wisdom;
176
For this giant bird of magic
Forged he talons out of iron,
And his beak of steel and copper;
Seats himself upon the eagle,
On his back between the wing-bones,
Thus addresses he his creature,
Gives the bird of fire, this order:
'Mighty eagle, bird of beauty,
Fly thou whither I direct thee,
To Tuoni's coal-black river,
To the blue deeps of the Death-stream,
Seize the mighty fish of Mana,
Catch for me this water-monster.'
Swiftly flies the magic eagle,
Giant-bird of worth and wonder,
To the river of Tuoni,
There to catch the pike of Mana;
One wing brushes on the waters,
While the other sweeps the heavens;
In the ocean dips his talons,
Whets his beak on mountain-ledges.
Safely landing, Ilmarinen,
The immortal artist-forger,
Hunts the monster of the Death-stream,
While the eagle hunts and fishes
In the waters of Manala.
From the river rose a monster,
Grasped the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Tried to drag him to his sea-cave;
Quick the eagle pounced upon him,
With his metal-beak he seized him,
Wrenched his head, and rent his body,
Hurled him back upon the bottom
Of the deep and fatal river,
Freed his master, Ilmarinen.
Then arose the pike of Mana,
Came the water-dog in silence,
Of the pikes was not the largest,
Nor belonged he to the smallest;
Tongue the length of double hatchets,
Teeth as long as fen-rake handles,
Mouth as broad as triple streamlets,
177
Back as wide as seven sea-boats,
Tried to snap the magic blacksmith,
Tried to swallow Ilmarinen.
Swiftly swoops the mighty eagle,
Of the birds was not the largest,
Nor belonged he to the smallest;
Mouth as wide as seven streamlets,
Tongue as long as seven javelins,
Like five crooked scythes his talons;
Swoops upon the pike of Mana.
Quick the giant fish endangered,
Darts and flounders in the river,
Dragging down the mighty eagle,
Lashing up the very bottom
To the surface of the river;
When the mighty bird uprising
Leaves the wounded pike in water,
Soars aloft on worsted pinions
To his home in upper ether;
Soars awhile, and sails, and circles,
Circles o'er the reddened waters,
Swoops again on lightning-pinions,
Strikes with mighty force his talons
Into the shoulder of his victim;
Strikes the second of his talons
On the flinty mountain-ledges,
On the rocks with iron hardened;
From the cliffs rebound his talons,
Slip the flinty rocks o'erhanging,
And the monster-pike resisting
Dives again beneath the surface
To the bottom of the river,
From the talons of the eagle;
Deep, the wounds upon the body
Of the monster of Tuoni.
Still a third time soars the eagle,
Soars, and sails, and quickly circles,
Swoops again upon the monster,
Fire out-shooting from his pinoins,
Both his eyeballs flashing lightning;
With his beak of steel and copper
Grasps again the pike of Mana
178
Firmly planted are his talons
In the rocks and in his victim,
Drags the monster from the river,
Lifts the pike above the waters,
From Tuoni's coal-black river,
From the blue-back of Manala.
Thus the third time does the eagle
Bring success from former failures;
Thus at last the eagle catches
Mana's pike, the worst of fishes,
Swiftest swimmer of the waters,
From the river of Tuoni;
None could see Manala's river,
For the myriad of fish-scales;
Hardly could one see through ether,
For the feathers of the eagle,
Relicts of the mighty contest.
Then the bird of copper talons
Took the pike, with scales of silver,
To the pine-tree's topmost branches,
To the fir-tree plumed with needles,
Tore the monster-fish in pieces,
Ate the body of his victim,
Left the head for Ilmarinen.
Spake the blacksmith to the eagle:
'O thou bird of evil nature,
What thy thought and what thy motive?
Thou hast eaten what I needed,
Evidence of my successes;
Thoughtless eagle, witless instinct,
Thus to mar the spoils of conquest!'
But the bird of metal talons
Hastened onward, soaring upward,
Rising higher into ether,
Rising, flying, soaring, sailing,
To the borders of the long-clouds,
Made the vault of ether tremble,
Split apart the dome of heaven,
Broke the colored bow of Ukko,
Tore the Moon-horns from their sockets,
Disappeared beyond the Sun-land,
To the home of the triumphant.
179
Then the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Took the pike-head to the hostess
Of the ever-dismal Northland,
Thus addressed the ancient Louhi:
'Let this head forever serve thee
As a guest-bench for thy dwelling,
Evidence of hero-triumphs;
I have caught the pike of Mana,
I have done as thou demandest,
Three my victories in Death-land,
Three the tests of magic heroes;
Wilt thou give me now thy daughter,
Give to me the Maid of Beauty?'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'Badly is the test accomplished,
Thou has torn the pike in pieces,
From his neck the head is severed,
Of his body thou hast eaten,
Brought to me this worthless relic!
These the words of Ilmarinen:
'When the victory is greatest,
Do we suffer greatest losses!
From the river of Tuoni,
From the kingdom of Manala,
I have brought to thee this trophy,
Thus the third task is completed.
Tell me is the maiden ready,
Wilt thou give the bride affianced?
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'I will give to thee my daughter,
Will prepare my snow-white virgin,
For the suitor, Ilmarinen;
Thou hast won the Maid of Beauty,
Bride is she of thine hereafter,
Fit companion of thy fireside,
Help and joy of all thy lifetime.'
On the floor a child was sitting,
And the babe this tale related.
'There appeared within this dwelling,
Came a bird within the castle,
From the East came flying hither,
From the East, a monstrous eagle,
180
One wing touched the vault of heaven,
While the other swept the ocean;
With his tail upon the waters,
Reached his beak beyond the cloudlets,
Looked about, and eager watching,
Flew around, and sailing, soaring,
Flew away to hero-castle,
Knocked three times with beak of copper
On the castle-roof of iron;
But the eagle could not enter.
'Then the eagle, looking round him,
Flew again, and sailed, and circled,
Flew then to the mothers' castle,
Loudly rapped with heavy knocking
On the mothers' roof of copper;
But the eagle could not enter.
'Then the eagle, looking round him,
Flew a third time, sailing, soaring,
Flew then to the virgins' castle,
Knocked again with beak of copper,
On the virgins' roof of linen,
Easy for him there to enter;
Flew upon the castle-chimney,
Quick descending to the chamber,
Pulled the clapboards from the studding,
Tore the linen from the rafters,
Perched upon the chamber-window,
Near the walls of many colors,
On the cross-bars gaily-feathered,
Looked upon the curly-beaded,
Looked upon their golden ringlets,
Looked upon the snow-white virgins,
On the purest of the maidens,
On the fairest of the daughters,
On the maid with pearly necklace,
On the maiden wreathed in flowers;
Perched awhile, and looked, admiring,
Swooped upon the Maid of Beauty,
On the purest of the virgins,
On the whitest, on the fairest,
On the stateliest and grandest,
Swooped upon the rainbow-daughter
181
Of the dismal Sariola;
Grasped her in his mighty talons,
Bore away the Maid of Beauty,
Maid of fairest form and feature,
Maid adorned with pearly necklace,
Decked in feathers iridescent,
Fragrant flowers upon her bosom,
Scarlet band around her forehead,
Golden rings upon her fingers,
Fairest maiden of the Northland.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola,
When the babe his tale had ended:
'Tell me bow, my child beloved,
Thou hast learned about the maiden,
Hast obtained the information,
How her flaxen ringlets nestled,
How the maiden's silver glistened,
How the virgin's gold was lauded.
Shone the silver Sun upon thee,
Did the moonbeams bring this knowledge?'
From the floor the child made answer:
'Thus I gained the information,
Moles of good-luck led me hither,
To the home, of the distinguished,
To the guest-room of the maiden,
Good-name bore her worthy father,
He that sailed the magic vessel;
Better-name enjoyed the mother,
She that baked the bread of barley,
She that kneaded wheaten biscuits,
Fed her many guests in Northland.
'Thus the information reached me,
Thus the distant stranger heard it,
Heard the virgin had arisen:
Once I walked within the court-yard,
Stepping near the virgin's chamber,
At an early hour of morning,
Ere the Sun had broken slumber
Whirling rose the soot in cloudlets,
Blackened wreaths of smoke came rising
From the chamber of the maiden,
From thy daughter's lofty chimney;
182
There the maid was busy grinding,
Moved the handles of the millstone
Making voices like the cuckoo,
Like the ducks the side-holes sounded,
And the sifter like the goldfinch,
Like the sea-pearls sang the grindstones.
'Then a second time I wandered
To the border of the meadow
In the forest was the maiden
Rocking on a fragrant hillock,
Dyeing red in iron vessels,
And in copper kettles, yellow.
'Then a third time did I wander
To the lovely maiden's window;
There I saw thy daughter weaving,
Heard the flying of her shuttle,
Heard the beating of her loom-lathe,
Heard the rattling of her treddles,
Heard the whirring of her yarn-reel.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'Now alas! beloved daughter,
I have often taught this lesson:
'Do not sing among the pine-trees,
Do not call adown the valleys,
Do not hang thy head in walking,
Do not bare thine arms, nor shoulders,
Keep the secrets of thy bosom,
Hide thy beauty and thy power.'
'This I told thee in the autumn,
Taught thee in the summer season,
Sang thee in the budding spring-time,
Sang thee when the snows were falling:
'Let us build a place for hiding,
Let us build the smallest windows,
Where may weave my fairest daughter,
Where my maid may ply her shuttle,
Where my joy may work unnoticed
By the heroes of the Northland,
By the suitors of Wainola.''
From the floor the child made answer,
Fourteen days the young child numbered;
'Easy 'tis to hide a war-horse
183
In the Northland fields and stables;
Hard indeed to hide a maiden,
Having lovely form and features!
Build of stone a distant castle
In the middle of the ocean,
Keep within thy lovely maiden,
Train thou there thy winsome daughter,
Not long hidden canst thou keep her.
Maidens will not grow and flourish,
Kept apart from men and heroes,
Will not live without their suitors,
Will not thrive without their wooers;
Thou canst never hide a maiden,
Neither on the land nor water.'
Now the ancient Wainamoinen,
Head down-bent and heavy-hearted,
Wanders to his native country,
To Wainola's peaceful meadows,
To the plains of Kalevala,
Chanting as he journeys homeward:
'I have passed the age for wooing,
Woe is me, rejected suitor,
Woe is me, a witless minstrel,
That I did not woo and marry,
When my face was young and winsome,
When my hand was warm and welcome!
Youth dethrones my age and station,
Wealth is nothing, wisdom worthless,
When a hero goes a-wooing
With a poor but younger brother.
Fatal error that a hero
Does not wed in early manhood,
In his youth does not be master
Of a worthy wife and household.'
Thus the ancient Wainamoinen
Sends the edict to his people:
'Old men must not go a-wooing,
Must not swim the sea of anger,
Must not row upon a wager,
Must not run a race for glory,
With the younger sons of Northland.'
184
~ Elias Lönnrot,
428:The Kalevala - Rune X
ILMARINEN FORGES THE SAMPO.
Wainamoinen, the magician,
Takes his steed of copper color,
Hitches quick his fleet-foot courser,
Puts his racer to the snow-sledge,
Straightway springs upon the cross-seat,
Snaps his whip adorned with jewels.
Like the winds the steed flies onward,
Like a lightning flash, the racer
Makes the snow-sledge creak and rattle,
Makes the highway quickly vanish,
Dashes on through fen and forest,
Over hills and through the valleys,
Over marshes, over mountains,
Over fertile plains and meadows;
Journeys one day, then a second,
So a third from morn till evening,
Till the third day evening brings him
To the endless bridge of Osmo,
To the Osmo-fields and pastures,
To the plains of Kalevala;
When the hero spake as follows:
'May the wolves devour the dreamer,
Eat the Laplander for dinner,
May disease destroy the braggart,
Him who said that I should never
See again my much-loved home-land,
Nevermore behold my kindred,
Never during all my life-time,
Never while the sunshine brightens,
Never while the moonlight glimmers
On the meadows of Wainola,
On the plains of Kalevala.'
Then began old Wainamoinen,
Ancient bard and famous singer,
To renew his incantations;
Sang aloft a wondrous pine-tree,
114
Till it pierced the clouds in growing
With its golden top and branches,
Till it touched the very heavens,
Spread its branches in the ether,
In the ever-shining sunlight.
Now he sings again enchanting,
Sings the Moon to shine forever
In the fir-tree's emerald branches;
In its top he sings the Great Bear.
Then be quickly journeys homeward,
Hastens to his golden portals,
Head awry and visage wrinkled,
Crooked cap upon his forehead,
Since as ransom he had promised
Ilmarinen, magic artist,
Thus to save his life from torture
On the distant fields of Northland
In the dismal Sariola.
When his stallion he had halted
On the Osmo-field and meadow,
Quickly rising in his snow-sledge,
The magician heard one knocking,
Breaking coal within the smithy,
Beating with a heavy hammer.
Wainamoinen, famous minstrel,
Entering the smithy straightway,
Found the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Knocking with his copper hammer.
Ilmarinen spake as follows:
'Welcome, brother Wainamoinen,
Old and worthy Wainamoinen!
Why so long hast thou been absent,
Where hast thou so long been hiding?'
Wainamoinen then made answer,
These the words of the magician:
'Long indeed have I been living,
Many dreary days have wandered,
Many cheerless nights have lingered,
Floating on the cruel ocean,
Weeping in the fens and woodlands
Of the never-pleasant Northland,
In the dismal Sariola;
115
With the Laplanders I've wandered,
With the people filled with witchcraft.'
Promptly answers Ilmarinen,
These the words the blacksmith uses:
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Famous and eternal singer,
Tell me of thy journey northward,
Of thy wanderings in Lapland,
Of thy dismal journey homeward.'
Spake the minstrel, Wainamoinen:
'I have much to tell thee, brother,
Listen to my wondrous story:
In the Northland lives a virgin,
In a village there, a maiden,
That will not accept a lover,
That a hero's hand refuses,
That a wizard's heart disdaineth;
All of Northland sings her praises,
Sings her worth and magic beauty,
Fairest maiden of Pohyola,
Daughter of the earth and ocean.
From her temples beams the moonlight,
From her breast, the gleam of sunshine,
From her forehead shines the rainbow,
On her neck, the seven starlets,
And the Great Bear from her shoulder.
'Ilmarinen, worthy brother,
Thou the only skilful blacksmith,
Go and see her wondrous beauty,
See her gold and silver garments,
See her robed in finest raiment,
See her sitting on the rainbow,
Walking on the clouds of purple.
Forge for her the magic Sampo,
Forge the lid in many colors,
Thy reward shall be the virgin,
Thou shalt win this bride of beauty;
Go and bring the lovely maiden
To thy home in Kalevala.'
Spake the brother, Ilmarinen:
O thou cunning Wainamoinen,
Thou hast promised me already
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To the ever-darksome Northland,
Thy devoted head to ransom,
Thus to rescue thee from trouble.
I shall never visit Northland,
Shall not go to see thy maiden,
Do not love the Bride of Beauty;
Never while the moonlight glimmers,
Shall I go to dreary Pohya,
To the plains of Sariola,
Where the people eat each other,
Sink their heroes in the ocean,
Not for all the maids of Lapland.'
Spake the brother, Wainamoinen:
'I can tell thee greater wonders,
Listen to my wondrous story:
I have seen the fir-tree blossom,
Seen its flowers with emerald branches,
On the Osmo-fields and woodlands;
In its top, there shines the moonlight,
And the Bear lives in its branches.'
Ilmarinen thus made answer:
'I cannot believe thy story,
Cannot trust thy tale of wonder,
Till I see the blooming fir-tree,
With its many emerald branches,
With its Bear and golden moonlight.'
This is Wainamoinen's answer:
'Wilt thou not believe my story?
Come with me and I will show thee
If my lips speak fact or fiction.'
Quick they journey to discover,
Haste to view the wondrous fir-tree;
Wainamoinen leads the journey,
Ilmarinen closely follows.
As they near the Osmo-borders,
Ilmarinen hastens forward
That be may behold the wonder,
Spies the Bear Within the fir-top,
Sitting on its emerald branches,
Spies the gleam of golden moonlight.
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen,
These the words the singer uttered:
117
Climb this tree, dear Ilmarinen,
And bring down the golden moonbeams,
Bring the Moon and Bear down with thee
From the fir-tree's lofty branches.'
Ilmarinen, full consenting,
Straightway climbed the golden fir-tree,
High upon the bow of heaven,
Thence to bring the golden moonbeams,
Thence to bring the Bear of heaven,
From the fir-tree's topmost branches.
Thereupon the blooming fir-tree
Spake these words to Ilmarinen:
'O thou senseless, thoughtless hero,
Thou hast neither wit nor instinct;
Thou dost climb my golden branches,
Like a thing of little judgment,
Thus to get my pictured moonbeams,
Take away my silver starlight,
Steal my Bear and blooming branches.'
Quick as thought old Wainamoinen
Sang again in magic accents,
Sang a storm-wind in the heavens,
Sang the wild winds into fury,
And the singer spake as follows:
`Take, O storm-wind, take the forgeman,
Carry him within thy vessel,
Quickly hence, and land the hero
On the ever-darksome Northland,
On the dismal Sariola.'
Now the storm-wind quickly darkens,
Quickly piles the air together,
Makes of air a sailing vessel,
Takes the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Fleetly from the fir-tree branches,
Toward the never-pleasant Northland,
Toward the dismal Sariola.
Through the air sailed Ilmarinen,
Fast and far the hero travelled,
Sweeping onward, sailing northward,
Riding in the track of storm-winds,
O'er the Moon, beneath the sunshine,
On the broad back of the Great Bear,
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Till he neared Pohyola's woodlands,
Neared the homes of Sariola,
And alighted undiscovered,
Was Dot noticed by the hunters,
Was not scented by the watch-dogs.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Ancient, toothless dame of Northland,
Standing in the open court-yard,
Thus addresses Ilmarinen,
As she spies the hero-stranger:
'Who art thou of ancient heroes,
Who of all the host of heroes,
Coming here upon the storm-wind,
O'er the sledge-path of the ether,
Scented not by Pohya's watch-dogs?
This is Ilmarinen's answer:
'I have surely not come hither
To be barked at by the watch-dogs,
At these unfamiliar portals,
At the gates of Sariola.'
Thereupon the Northland hostess
Asks again the hero-stranger:
'Hast thou ever been acquainted
With the blacksmith of Wainola,
With the hero, Ilmarinen,
With the skilful smith and artist?
Long I've waited for his coming,
Long this one has been expected,
On the borders of the Northland,
Here to forge for me the Sampo.'
Spake the hero, Ilmarinen:
'Well indeed am I acquainted
With the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
I myself am Ilmarinen,
I, the skilful smith and artist.'
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Toothless dame of Sariola,
Straightway rushes to her dwelling,
These the words that Louhi utters:
'Come, thou youngest of my daughters,
Come, thou fairest of my maidens,
Dress thyself in finest raiment,
119
Deck thy hair with rarest jewels,
Pearls upon thy swelling bosom,
On thy neck, a golden necklace,
Bind thy head with silken ribbons,
Make thy cheeks look fresh and ruddy,
And thy visage fair and winsome,
Since the artist, Ilmarinen,
Hither comes from Kalevala,
Here to forge for us the Sampo,
Hammer us the lid in colors.'
Now the daughter of the Northland,
Honored by the land and water,
Straightway takes her choicest raiment,
Takes her dresses rich in beauty,
Finest of her silken wardrobe,
Now adjusts her silken fillet,
On her brow a band of copper,
Round her waist a golden girdle,
Round her neck a pearly necklace,
Shining gold upon her bosom,
In her hair the threads of silver.
From her dressing-room she hastens,
To the hall she bastes and listens,
Full of beauty, full of joyance,
Ears erect and eyes bright-beaming,
Ruddy cheeks and charming visage,
Waiting for the hero-stranger.
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Leads the hero, Ilmarinen,
To her dwelling-rooms in Northland,
To her home in Sariola,
Seats him at her well-filled table,
Gives to him the finest viands,
Gives him every needed comfort,
Then addresses him as follows:
'O thou blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Master of the forge and smithy,
Canst thou forge for me the Sampo,
Hammer me the lid in colors,
From the tips of white-swan feathers,
From the milk of greatest virtue,
From a single grain of barley,
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From the finest wool of lambkins?
Thou shalt have my fairest daughter,
Recompense for this thy service.'
These the words of Ilmarinen:
'I will forge for thee the Sampo,
Hammer thee the lid in colors,
From the tips of white-swan feathers,
From the milk of greatest virtue,
From a single grain of barley,
From the finest wool of lambkins?
Since I forged the arch of heaven,
Forged the air a concave cover,
Ere the earth had a beginning.'
Thereupon the magic blacksmith
Went to forge the wondrous Sampo,
Went to find a blacksmith's workshop,
Went to find the tools to work with;
But he found no place for forging,
Found no smithy, found no bellows,
Found no chimney, found no anvil,
Found no tongs, and found no hammer.
Then the-artist, Ilmarinen.
Spake these words, soliloquizing:
'Only women grow discouraged,
Only knaves leave work unfinished,
Not the devils, nor the heroes,
Nor the Gods of greater knowledge.'
Then the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Sought a place to build a smithy,
Sought a place to plant a bellows,
On the borders of the Northland,
On the Pohya-hills and meadows;
Searched one day, and then a second;
Ere the evening of the third day,
Came a rock within his vision,
Came a stone with rainbow-colors.
There the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Set at work to build his smithy,
Built a fire and raised a chimney;
On the next day laid his bellows,
On the third day built his furnace,
And began to forge the Sampo.
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The eternal magic artist,
Ancient blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
First of all the iron-workers,
Mixed together certain metals,
Put the mixture in the caldron,
Laid it deep within the furnace,
Called the hirelings to the forging.
Skilfully they work the bellows,
Tend the fire and add the fuel,
Three most lovely days of summer,
Three short nights of bright midsummer,
Till the rocks begin to blossom,
In the foot-prints of the workmen,
From the magic heat and furnace.
On the first day, Ilmarinen
Downward bent and well examined,
On the bottom of his furnace,
Thus to see what might be forming
From the magic fire and metals.
From the fire arose a cross-bow,
'With the brightness of the moonbeams,
Golden bow with tips of silver;
On the shaft was shining copper,
And the bow was strong and wondrous,
But alas! it was ill-natured,
Asking for a hero daily,
Two the heads it asked on feast-days.
Ilmarinen, skilful artist,
Was not pleased with this creation,
Broke the bow in many pieces,
Threw them back within the furnace,
Kept the workmen at the bellows,
Tried to forge the magic Sampo.
On the second day, the blacksmith
Downward bent and well examined,
On the bottom of the furnace;
From the fire, a skiff of metals,
Came a boat of purple color,
All the ribs were colored golden,
And the oars were forged from copper;
Thus the skiff was full of beauty,
But alas! a thing of evil;
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Forth it rushes into trouble,
Hastens into every quarrel,
Hastes without a provocation
Into every evil combat.
Ilmarinen, metal artist,
Is not pleased with this creation,
Breaks the skiff in many fragments,
Throws them back within the furnace,
Keeps the workmen at the bellows,
Thus to forge the magic Sampo.
On the third day, Ilmarinen,
First of all the metal-workers,
Downward bent and well examined,
On the bottom of the furnace;
There be saw a heifer rising,
Golden were the horns of Kimmo,
On her head the Bear of heaven,
On her brow a disc of sunshine,
Beautiful the cow of magic;
But alas! she is ill-tempered,
Rushes headlong through the forest,
Rushes through the swamps and meadows,
Wasting all her milk in running.
Ilmarinen, the magician.
Is not pleased with this creation,
Cuts the magic cow in pieces,
Throws them in the fiery furnace,
Sets the workmen at the bellows,
Thus to forge the magic Sampo.
On the fourth day, Ilmarinen
Downward bent and well examined,
To the bottom of the furnace;
There beheld a plow in beauty
Rising from the fire of metals,
Golden was the point and plowshare,
And the beam was forged from copper,
And the handles, molten silver,
Beautiful the plow and wondrous;
But alas! it is ill-mannered,
Plows up fields of corn and barley,
Furrows through the richest meadows.
Ilmarinen, metal artist,
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Is not pleased with this creation,
Quickly breaks the plow in pieces,
Throws them back within the furnace,
Lets the winds attend the bellows,
Lets the storm-winds fire the metals.
Fiercely vie the winds of heaven,
East-wind rushing, West-wind roaring,
South-wind crying, North-wind howling,
Blow one day and then a second,
Blow the third from morn till even,
When the fire leaps through the windows,
Through the door the sparks fly upward,
Clouds of smoke arise to heaven;
With the clouds the black smoke mingles,
As the storm-winds ply the bellows.
On the third night Ilmarinen,
Bending low to view his metals,
On the bottom of the furnace,
Sees the magic Sampo rising,
Sees the lid in many colors.
Quick the artist of Wainola
Forges with the tongs and anvil,
Knocking with a heavy hammer,
Forges skilfully the Sampo;
On one side the flour is grinding,
On another salt is making,
On a third is money forging,
And the lid is many-colored.
Well the Sampo grinds when finished,
To and fro the lid in rocking,
Grinds one measure at the day-break,
Grinds a measure fit for eating,
Grinds a second for the market,
Grinds a third one for the store-house.
Joyfully the dame of Northland,
Louhi, hostess of Pohyola,
Takes away the magic Sampo,
To the hills of Sariola,
To the copper-bearing mountains,
Puts nine locks upon the wonder,
Makes three strong roots creep around it;
In the earth they grow nine fathoms,
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One large root beneath the mountain,
One beneath the sandy sea-bed,
One beneath the mountain-dwelling.
Modestly pleads Ilmarinen
For the maiden's willing answer,
These the words of the magician:
'Wilt thou come with me, fair maiden,
Be my wife and queen forever?
I have forged for thee the Sampo,
Forged the lid in many colors.'
Northland's fair and lovely daughter
Answers thus the metal-worker:
'Who will in the coming spring-time,
Who will in the second summer,
Guide the cuckoo's song and echo?
Who will listen to his calling,
Who will sing with him in autumn,
Should I go to distant regions,
Should this cheery maiden vanish
From the fields of Sariola,
From Pohyola's fens and forests,
Where the cuckoo sings and echoes?
Should I leave my father's dwelling,
Should my mother's berry vanish,
Should these mountains lose their cherry,
Then the cuckoo too would vanish,
All the birds would leave the forest,
Leave the summit of the mountain,
Leave my native fields and woodlands,
Never shall I, in my life-time,
Say farewell to maiden freedom,
Nor to summer cares and labors,
Lest the harvest be ungarnered,
Lest the berries be ungathered,
Lest the song-birds leave the forest,
Lest the mermaids leave the waters,
Lest I sing with them no longer.'
Ilmarinen, the magician,
The eternal metal-forger,
Cap awry and head dejected,
Disappointed, heavy-hearted,
Empty-handed, well considers,
125
How to reach his distant country,
Reach his much-loved home and kinded,
Gain the meadows of Wainola,
From the never-pleasant Northland,
From the darksome Sariola.
Louhi thus addressed the suitor:
'O thou blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Why art thou so heavy-hearted,
Why thy visage so dejected?
Hast thou in thy mind to journey
From the vales and hills of Pohya,
To the meadows of Wainola,
To thy home in Kalevala?
This is Ilmarinen's answer:
'Thitherward my mind is tending,
To my home-land let me journey,
With my kindred let me linger,
Be at rest in mine own country.'
Straightway Louhi, dame of Northland,
Gave the hero every comfort,
Gave him food and rarest viands,
Placed him in a boat of copper,
In a copper-banded vessel,
Called the winds to his assistance,
Made the North-wind guide him homeward.
Thus the skilful Ilmarinen
Travels toward his native country,
On the blue back of the waters,
Travels one day, then a second,
Till the third day evening brings him
To Wainola's peaceful meadows,
To his home in Kalevala.
Straightway ancient Wainamoinen
Thus addresses Ilmarinen:
'O my brother, metal-artist,
Thou eternal wonder-worker,
Didst thou forge the magic Sampo,
Forge the lid in many colors?'
Spake the brother, Ilmarinen,
These the words the master uttered:
'Yea, I forged the magic Sampo,
Forged the lid in many colors;
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To and fro the lid in rocking
Grinds one measure at the day-dawn,
Grinds a measure fit for eating,
Grinds a second for the market,
Grinds a third one for the store-house.
Louhi has the wondrous Sampo,
I have not the Bride of Beauty.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
429:The Ghost - Book I
With eager search to dart the soul,
Curiously vain, from pole to pole,
And from the planets' wandering spheres
To extort the number of our years,
And whether all those years shall flow
Serenely smooth, and free from woe,
Or rude misfortune shall deform
Our life with one continual storm;
Or if the scene shall motley be.
Alternate joy and misery,
Is a desire which, more or less.
All men must feel, though few confess.
Hence, every place and every age
Affords subsistence to the sage,
Who, free from this world and its cares,
Holds an acquaintance with the stars,
From whom he gains intelligence
Of things to come some ages hence,
Which unto friends, at easy rates.
He readily communicates.
At its first rise, which all agree on,
This noble science was Chaldean;
That ancient people, as they fed
Their flocks upon the mountain's head,
Gazed on the stars, observed their motions,
And suck'd in astrologic notions,
Which they so eagerly pursue,
As folks are apt whate'er is new,
That things below at random rove,
Whilst they're consulting things above;
And when they now so poor were grown,
That they'd no houses of their own,
They made bold with their friends the stars,
And prudently made use of theirs.
To Egypt from Chaldee it travell'd,
And Fate at Memphis was unravell'd:
The exotic science soon struck root,
And flourish'd into high repute.
Each learned priest, oh strange to tell!
177
Could circles make, and cast a spell;
Could read and write, and taught the nation
The holy art of divination.
Nobles themselves, for at that time
Knowledge in nobles was no crime,
Could talk as learned as the priest,
And prophesy as much, at least.
Hence all the fortune-telling crew,
Whose crafty skill mars Nature's hue,
Who, in vile tatters, with smirch'd face,
Run up and down from place to place,
To gratify their friends' desires,
From Bampfield Carew, to Moll Squires,
Are rightly term'd Egyptians all;
Whom we, mistaking, Gypsies call.
The Grecian sages borrow'd this,
As they did other sciences,
From fertile Egypt, though the loan
They had not honesty to own.
Dodona's oaks, inspired by Jove,
A learned and prophetic grove,
Turn'd vegetable necromancers,
And to all comers gave their answers.
At Delphos, to Apollo dear,
All men the voice of Fate might hear;
Each subtle priest on three-legg'd stool,
To take in wise men, play'd the fool.
A mystery, so made for gain,
E'en now in fashion must remain;
Enthusiasts never will let drop
What brings such business to their shop;
And that great saint we Whitefield call,
Keeps up the humbug spiritual.
Among the Romans, not a bird
Without a prophecy was heard;
Fortunes of empires often hung
On the magician magpie's tongue,
And every crow was to the state
A sure interpreter of Fate.
Prophets, embodied in a college
(Time out of mind your seat of knowledge;
For genius never fruit can bear
178
Unless it first is planted there,
And solid learning never falls
Without the verge of college walls)
Infallible accounts would keep
When it was best to watch or sleep,
To eat or drink, to go or stay,
And when to fight or run away;
When matters were for action ripe,
By looking at a double tripe;
When emperors would live or die,
They in an ass's skull could spy;
When generals would their station keep,
Or turn their backs, in hearts of sheep.
In matters, whether small or great,
In private families or state
As amongst us, the holy seer
Officiously would interfere;
With pious arts and reverend skill
Would bend lay bigots to his will;
Would help or injure foes or friends,
Just as it served his private ends.
Whether in honest way of trade
Traps for virginity were laid;
Or if, to make their party great,
Designs were form'd against the state,
Regardless of the common weal,
By interest led, which they call zeal,
Into the scale was always thrown
The will of Heaven to back their own.
England--a happy land we know,
Where follies naturally grow,
Where without culture they arise
And tower above the common size;
England, a fortune-telling host,
As numerous as the stars, could boast,-Matrons, who toss the cup, and see
The grounds of Fate in grounds of tea,
Who, versed in every modest lore,
Can a lost maidenhead restore,
Or, if their pupils rather choose it,
Can show the readiest way to lose it;
Gypsies, who every ill can cure,
179
Except the ill of being poor,
Who charms 'gainst love and agues sell,
Who can in hen-roost set a spell,
Prepared by arts, to them best known,
To catch all feet except their own,
Who, as to fortune, can unlock it
As easily as pick a pocket;
Scotchmen, who, in their country's right,
Possess the gift of second-sight,
Who (when their barren heaths they quit,
Sure argument of prudent wit,
Which reputation to maintain,
They never venture back again)
By lies prophetic heap up riches,
And boast the luxury of breeches.
Amongst the rest, in former years,
Campbell (illustrious name!) appears,
Great hero of futurity,
Who, blind, could every thing foresee,
Who, dumb, could every thing foretell,
Who, Fate with equity to sell,
Always dealt out the will of Heaven
According to what price was given.
Of Scottish race, in Highlands born,
Possess'd with native pride and scorn,
He hither came, by custom led,
To curse the hands which gave him bread.
With want of truth, and want of sense,
Amply made up by impudence
(A succedaneum, which we find
In common use with all mankind);
Caress'd and favour'd too by those
Whose heart with patriot feelings glows,
Who foolishly, where'er dispersed,
Still place their native country first;
(For Englishmen alone have sense
To give a stranger preference,
Whilst modest merit of their own
Is left in poverty to groan)
Campbell foretold just what he would,
And left the stars to make it good,
On whom he had impress'd such awe,
180
His dictates current pass'd for law;
Submissive, all his empire own'd;
No star durst smile, when Campbell frown'd.
This sage deceased,--for all must die,
And Campbell's no more safe than I,
No more than I can guard the heart,
When Death shall hurl the fatal dart,-Succeeded, ripe in art and years,
Another favourite of the spheres;
Another and another came,
Of equal skill, and equal fame;
As white each wand, as black each gown,
As long each beard, as wise each frown,
In every thing so like, you'd swear
Campbell himself was sitting there:
To all the happy art was known,
To tell our fortunes, make their own.
Seated in garret,--for, you know,
The nearer to the stars we go
The greater we esteem his art,-Fools, curious, flock'd from every part;
The rich, the poor, the maid, the married,
And those who could not walk, were carried.
The butler, hanging down his head,
By chambermaid, or cookmaid led,
Inquires, if from his friend the Moon
He has advice of pilfer'd spoon.
The court-bred woman of condition,
(Who, to approve her disposition
As much superior as her birth
To those composed of common earth,
With double spirit must engage
In every folly of the age)
The honourable arts would buy,
To pack the cards, and cog a die.
The hero--who, for brawn and face,
May claim right honourable place
Amongst the chiefs of Butcher-row:
Who might, some thirty years ago,
If we may be allow'd to guess
At his employment by his dress,
Put medicines off from cart or stage,
181
The grand Toscano of the age;
Or might about the country go
High-steward of a puppet-show,-Steward and stewardship most meet,
For all know puppets never eat:
Who would be thought (though, save the mark!
That point is something in the dark)
The man of honour, one like those
Renown'd in story, who loved blows
Better than victuals, and would fight,
Merely for sport, from morn to night:
Who treads like Mavors firm, whose tongue
Is with the triple thunder hung,
Who cries to Fear, 'Stand off--aloof,'
And talks as he were cannon-proof;
Would be deem'd ready, when you list,
With sword and pistol, stick and fist,
Careless of points, balls, bruises, knocks,
At once to fence, fire, cudgel, box,
But at the same time bears about,
Within himself, some touch of doubt,
Of prudent doubt, which hints--that fame
Is nothing but an empty name;
That life is rightly understood
By all to be a real good;
That, even in a hero's heart,
Discretion is the better part;
That this same honour may be won,
And yet no kind of danger run-Like Drugger comes, that magic powers
May ascertain his lucky hours;
For at some hours the fickle dame,
Whom Fortune properly we name,
Who ne'er considers wrong or right,
When wanted most, plays least in sight,
And, like a modern court-bred jilt,
Leaves her chief favourites in a tilt.
Some hours there are, when from the heart
Courage into some other part,
No matter wherefore, makes retreat,
And Fear usurps the vacant seat;
Whence, planet-struck, we often find
182
Stuarts and Sackvilles of mankind.
Farther, he'd know (and by his art
A conjurer can that impart)
Whether politer it is reckon'd
To have, or not to have, a second;
To drag the friends in, or alone
To make the danger all their own;
Whether repletion is not bad,
And fighters with full stomachs mad;
Whether, before he seeks the plain,
It were not well to breathe a vein;
Whether a gentle salivation,
Consistently with reputation,
Might not of precious use be found,
Not to prevent, indeed, a wound,
But to prevent the consequence
Which oftentimes arises thence,
Those fevers, which the patient urge on
To gates of death, by help of surgeon;
Whether a wind at east or west
Is for green wounds accounted best;
Whether (was he to choose) his mouth
Should point towards the north or south;
Whether more safely he might use,
On these occasions, pumps or shoes;
Whether it better is to fight
By sunshine or by candlelight;
Or, lest a candle should appear
Too mean to shine in such a sphere,
For who could of a candle tell
To light a hero into hell;
And, lest the sun should partial rise
To dazzle one or t'other's eyes,
Or one or t'other's brains to scorch,
Might not Dame Luna hold a torch?
These points with dignity discuss'd,
And gravely fix'd,--a task which must
Require no little time and pains,
To make our hearts friends with our brains,-The man of war would next engage
The kind assistance of the sage,
Some previous method to direct,
183
Which should make these of none effect.
Could he not, from the mystic school
Of Art, produce some sacred rule,
By which a knowledge might be got
Whether men valiant were, or not;
So he that challenges might write
Only to those who would not fight?
Or could he not some way dispense
By help of which (without offence
To Honour, whose nice nature's such
She scarce endures the slightest touch)
When he, for want of t'other rule,
Mistakes his man, and, like a fool,
With some vain fighting blade gets in,
He fairly may get out again?
Or should some demon lay a scheme
To drive him to the last extreme,
So that he must confess his fears,
In mercy to his nose and ears,
And like a prudent recreant knight,
Rather do anything than fight,
Could he not some expedient buy
To keep his shame from public eye?
For well he held,--and, men review,
Nine in ten hold the maxim too,-That honour's like a maidenhead,
Which, if in private brought to bed,
Is none the worse, but walks the town,
Ne'er lost, until the loss be known.
The parson, too, (for now and then
Parsons are just like other men,
And here and there a grave divine
Has passions such as yours and mine)
Burning with holy lust to know
When Fate preferment will bestow,
'Fraid of detection, not of sin,
With circumspection sneaking in
To conjurer, as he does to whore,
Through some bye-alley or back-door,
With the same caution orthodox
Consults the stars, and gets a pox.
The citizen, in fraud grown old,
184
Who knows no deity but gold,
Worn out, and gasping now for breath,
A medicine wants to keep off death;
Would know, if that he cannot have,
What coins are current in the grave;
If, when the stocks (which, by his power,
Would rise or fall in half an hour;
For, though unthought of and unseen,
He work'd the springs behind the screen)
By his directions came about,
And rose to par, he should sell out;
Whether he safely might, or no,
Replace it in the funds below?
By all address'd, believed, and paid,
Many pursued the thriving trade,
And, great in reputation grown,
Successive held the magic throne.
Favour'd by every darling passion,
The love of novelty and fashion,
Ambition, avarice, lust, and pride,
Riches pour'd in on every side.
But when the prudent laws thought fit
To curb this insolence of wit;
When senates wisely had provided,
Decreed, enacted, and decided,
That no such vile and upstart elves
Should have more knowledge than themselves;
When fines and penalties were laid
To stop the progress of the trade,
And stars no longer could dispense,
With honour, further influence;
And wizards (which must be confess'd
Was of more force than all the rest)
No certain way to tell had got
Which were informers, and which not;
Affrighted sages were, perforce,
Obliged to steer some other course.
By various ways, these sons of Chance
Their fortunes labour'd to advance,
Well knowing, by unerring rules,
Knaves starve not in the land of fools.
Some, with high titles and degrees,
185
Which wise men borrow when they please,
Without or trouble, or expense,
Physicians instantly commence,
And proudly boast an Equal skill
With those who claim the right to kill.
Others about the country roam,
(For not one thought of going home)
With pistol and adopted leg,
Prepared at once to rob or beg.
Some, the more subtle of their race,
(Who felt some touch of coward grace,
Who Tyburn to avoid had wit,
But never fear'd deserving it)
Came to their brother Smollett's aid,
And carried on the critic trade.
Attach'd to letters and the Muse,
Some verses wrote, and some wrote news;
Those each revolving month are seen,
The heroes of a magazine;
These, every morning, great appear
In Ledger, or in Gazetteer,
Spreading the falsehoods of the day,
By turns for Faden and for Say.
Like Swiss, their force is always laid
On that side where they best are paid:
Hence mighty prodigies arise,
And daily monsters strike our eyes;
Wonders, to propagate the trade,
More strange than ever Baker made,
Are hawk'd about from street to street,
And fools believe, whilst liars eat.
Now armies in the air engage,
To fright a superstitious age;
Now comets through the ether range,
In governments portending change;
Now rivers to the ocean fly
So quick, they leave their channels dry;
Now monstrous whales on Lambeth shore
Drink the Thames dry, and thirst for more;
And every now and then appears
An Irish savage, numbering years
More than those happy sages could
186
Who drew their breath before the flood;
Now, to the wonder of all people,
A church is left without a steeple;
A steeple now is left in lurch,
And mourns departure of the church,
Which, borne on wings of mighty wind,
Removed a furlong off we find;
Now, wrath on cattle to discharge,
Hailstones as deadly fall, and large,
As those which were on Egypt sent,
At once their crime and punishment;
Or those which, as the prophet writes,
Fell on the necks of Amorites,
When, struck with wonder and amaze,
The sun, suspended, stay'd to gaze,
And, from her duty longer kept,
In Ajalon his sister slept.
But if such things no more engage
The taste of a politer age,
To help them out in time of need
Another Tofts must rabbits breed:
Each pregnant female trembling hears,
And, overcome with spleen and fears,
Consults her faithful glass no more,
But, madly bounding o'er the floor,
Feels hairs all o'er her body grow,
By Fancy turn'd into a doe.
Now, to promote their private ends,
Nature her usual course suspends,
And varies from the stated plan
Observed e'er since the world began.
Bodies--which foolishly we thought,
By Custom's servile maxims taught,
Needed a regular supply,
And without nourishment must die-With craving appetites, and sense
Of hunger easily dispense,
And, pliant to their wondrous skill,
Are taught, like watches, to stand still,
Uninjured, for a month or more,
Then go on as they did before.
The novel takes, the tale succeeds,
187
Amply supplies its author's needs,
And Betty Canning is at least,
With Gascoyne's help, a six months' feast.
Whilst, in contempt of all our pains,
The tyrant Superstition reigns
Imperious in the heart of man,
And warps his thoughts from Nature's plan;
Whilst fond Credulity, who ne'er
The weight of wholesome doubts could bear,
To Reason and herself unjust,
Takes all things blindly upon trust;
Whilst Curiosity, whose rage
No mercy shows to sex or age,
Must be indulged at the expense
Of judgment, truth, and common sense,
Impostures cannot but prevail;
And when old miracles grow stale,
Jugglers will still the art pursue,
And entertain the world with new.
For them, obedient to their will,
And trembling at their mighty skill,
Sad spirits, summon'd from the tomb,
Glide, glaring ghastly, through the gloom;
In all the usual pomp of storms,
In horrid customary forms,
A wolf, a bear, a horse, an ape,
As Fear and Fancy give them shape,
Tormented with despair and pain,
They roar, they yell, and clank the chain.
Folly and Guilt (for Guilt, howe'er
The face of Courage it may wear,
Is still a coward at the heart)
At fear-created phantoms start.
The priest--that very word implies
That he's both innocent and wise-Yet fears to travel in the dark,
Unless escorted by his clerk.
But let not every bungler deem
Too lightly of so deep a scheme;
For reputation of the art,
Each ghost must act a proper part,
Observe Decorum's needful grace,
188
And keep the laws of Time and Place;
Must change, with happy variation,
His manners with his situation;
What in the country might pass down,
Would be impertinent in town.
No spirit of discretion here
Can think of breeding awe and fear;
'Twill serve the purpose more by half
To make the congregation laugh.
We want no ensigns of surprise,
Locks stiff with gore, and saucer eyes;
Give us an entertaining sprite,
Gentle, familiar, and polite,
One who appears in such a form
As might an holy hermit warm,
Or who on former schemes refines,
And only talks by sounds and signs,
Who will not to the eye appear,
But pays her visits to the ear,
And knocks so gently, 't would not fright
A lady in the darkest night.
Such is our Fanny, whose good-will,
Which cannot in the grave lie still,
Brings her on earth to entertain
Her friends and lovers in Cock-lane.
~ Charles Churchill,
430:How gracefully, O man, with thy palm-bough,
Upon the waning century standest thou,
In proud and noble manhood's prime,
With unlocked senses, with a spirit freed,
Of firmness mild,though silent, rich in deed,
The ripest son of Time,
Through meekness great, through precepts strong,
Through treasures rich, that time had long
Hid in thy bosom, and through reason free,
Master of Nature, who thy fetters loves,
And who thy strength in thousand conflicts proves,
And from the desert soared in pride with thee!

Flushed with the glow of victory,
Never forget to prize the hand
That found the weeping orphan child
Deserted on life's barren strand,
And left a prey to hazard wild,
That, ere thy spirit-honor saw the day,
Thy youthful heart watched over silently,
And from thy tender bosom turned away
Each thought that might have stained its purity;
That kind one ne'er forget who, as in sport,
Thy youth to noble aspirations trained,
And who to thee in easy riddles taught
The secret how each virtue might be gained;
Who, to receive him back more perfect still,
E'en into strangers' arms her favorite gave
Oh, may'st thou never with degenerate will,
Humble thyself to be her abject slave!
In industry, the bee the palm may bear;
In skill, the worm a lesson may impart;
With spirits blest thy knowledge thou dost share,
But thou, O man, alone hast art!

Only through beauty's morning gate
Didst thou the land of knowledge find.
To merit a more glorious fate,
In graces trains itself the mind.
What thrilled thee through with trembling blessed,
When erst the Muses swept the chord,
That power created in thy breast,
Which to the mighty spirit soared.

When first was seen by doting reason's ken,
When many a thousand years had passed away,
A symbol of the fair and great e'en then,
Before the childlike mind uncovered lay.
Its blessed form bade us honor virtue's cause,
The honest sense 'gainst vice put forth its powers,
Before a Solon had devised the laws
That slowly bring to light their languid flowers.
Before Eternity's vast scheme
Was to the thinker's mind revealed,
Was't not foreshadowed in his dream,
Whose eyes explored yon starry field?

Urania,the majestic dreaded one,
Who wears a glory of Orions twined
Around her brow, and who is seen by none
Save purest spirits, when, in splendor shrined,
She soars above the stars in pride,
Ascending to her sunny throne,
Her fiery chaplet lays aside,
And now, as beauty, stands alone;
While, with the Graces' girdle round her cast,
She seems a child, by children understood;
For we shall recognize as truth at last,
What here as beauty only we have viewed.

When the Creator banished from his sight
Frail man to dark mortality's abode,
And granted him a late return to light,
Only by treading reason's arduous road,
When each immortal turned his face away,
She, the compassionate, alone
Took up her dwelling in that house of clay,
With the deserted, banished one.
With drooping wing she hovers here
Around her darling, near the senses' land,
And on his prison-walls so drear
Elysium paints with fond deceptive hand.

While soft humanity still lay at rest,
Within her tender arms extended,
No flame was stirred by bigots' murderous zest,
No guiltless blood on high ascended.
The heart that she in gentle fetters binds,
Views duty's slavish escort scornfully;
Her path of light, though fairer far it winds,
Sinks in the sun-track of morality.
Those who in her chaste service still remain,
No grovelling thought can tempt, no fate affright;
The spiritual life, so free from stain,
Freedom's sweet birthright, they receive again,
Under the mystic sway of holy might.

The purest among millions, happy they
Whom to her service she has sanctified,
Whose mouths the mighty one's commands convey,
Within whose breasts she deigneth to abide;
Whom she ordained to feed her holy fire
Upon her altar's ever-flaming pyre,
Whose eyes alone her unveiled graces meet,
And whom she gathers round in union sweet
In the much-honored place be glad
Where noble order bade ye climb,
For in the spirit-world sublime,
Man's loftiest rank ye've ever had!

Ere to the world proportion ye revealed,
That every being joyfully obeys,
A boundless structure, in night's veil concealed,
Illumed by naught but faint and languid rays,
A band of phantoms, struggling ceaselessly,
Holding his mind in slavish fetters bound,
Unsociable and rude as be,
Assailing him on every side around,
Thus seemed to man creation in that day!
United to surrounding forms alone
By the blind chains the passions had put on,
Whilst Nature's beauteous spirit fled away
Unfelt, untasted, and unknown.

And, as it hovered o'er with parting ray,
Ye seized the shades so neighborly,
With silent hand, with feeling mind,
And taught how they might be combined
In one firm bond of harmony.
The gaze, light-soaring, felt uplifted then,
When first the cedar's slender trunk it viewed;
And pleasingly the ocean's crystal flood
Reflected back the dancing form again.
Could ye mistake the look, with beauty fraught,
That Nature gave to help ye on your way?
The image floating on the billows taught
The art the fleeting shadow to portray.

From her own being torn apart,
Her phantom, beauteous as a dream,
She plunged into the silvery stream,
Surrendering to her spoiler's art.
Creative power soon in your breast unfolded;
Too noble far, not idly to conceive,
The shadow's form in sand, in clay ye moulded,
And made it in the sketch its being leave.
The longing thirst for action then awoke,
And from your breast the first creation broke.

By contemplation captive made,
Ensnared by your discerning eye,
The friendly phantom's soon betrayed
The talisman that roused your ecstasy.
The laws of wonder-working might,
The stores by beauty brought to light,
Inventive reason in soft union planned
To blend together 'neath your forming hand.
The obelisk, the pyramid ascended,
The Hermes stood, the column sprang on high,
The reed poured forth the woodland melody,
Immortal song on victor's deeds attended.

The fairest flowers that decked the earth,
Into a nosegay, with wise choice combined,
Thus the first art from Nature had its birth;
Into a garland then were nosegays twined,
And from the works that mortal hands had made,
A second, nobler art was now displayed.
The child of beauty, self-sufficient now,
That issued from your hands to perfect day,
Loses the chaplet that adorned its brow,
Soon as reality asserts its sway.
The column, yielding to proportion's chains,
Must with its sisters join in friendly link,
The hero in the hero-band must sink,
The Muses' harp peals forth its tuneful strains.

The wondering savages soon came
To view the new creation's plan
"Behold!"the joyous crowds exclaim,
"Behold, all this is done by man!"
With jocund and more social aim
The minstrel's lyre their awe awoke,
Telling of Titans, and of giant's frays
And lion-slayers, turning, as he spoke,
Even into heroes those who heard his lays.
For the first time the soul feels joy,
By raptures blessed that calmer are,
That only greet it from afar,
That passions wild can ne'er destroy,
And that, when tasted, do not cloy.

And now the spirit, free and fair,
Awoke from out its sensual sleep;
By you unchained, the slave of care
Into the arms of joy could leap.
Each brutish barrier soon was set at naught,
Humanity first graced the cloudless brow,
And the majestic, noble stranger, thought,
From out the wondering brain sprang boldly now.
Man in his glory stood upright,
And showed the stars his kingly face;
His speaking glance the sun's bright light
Blessed in the realms sublime of space.
Upon the cheek now bloomed the smile,
The voice's soulful harmony
Expanded into song the while,
And feeling swam in the moist eye;
And from the mouth, with spirit teeming o'er,
Jest, sweetly linked with grace, began to pour.

Sunk in the instincts of the worm,
By naught but sensual lust possessed,
Ye recognized within his breast
Love-spiritual's noble germ;
And that this germ of love so blest
Escaped the senses' abject load,
To the first pastoral song he owed.
Raised to the dignity of thought,
Passions more calm to flow were taught
From the bard's mouth with melody.
The cheeks with dewy softness burned;
The longing that, though quenched, still yearned,
Proclaimed the spirit-harmony.

The wisest's wisdom, and the strongest's vigor,
The meekest's meekness, and the noblest's grace,
By you were knit together in one figure,
Wreathing a radiant glory round the place.
Man at the Unknown's sight must tremble,
Yet its refulgence needs must love;
That mighty Being to resemble,
Each glorious hero madly strove;
The prototype of beauty's earliest strain
Ye made resound through Nature's wide domain.

The passions' wild and headlong course,
The ever-varying plan of fate,
Duty and instinct's twofold force,
With proving mind and guidance straight
Ye then conducted to their ends.
What Nature, as she moves along,
Far from each other ever rends,
Become upon the stage, in song,
Members of order, firmly bound.
Awed by the Furies' chorus dread,
Murder draws down upon its head
The doom of death from their wild sound.
Long e'er the wise to give a verdict dared,
An Iliad had fate's mysteries declared
To early ages from afar;
While Providence in silence fared
Into the world from Thespis' car.
Yet into that world's current so sublime
Your symmetry was borne before its time,
When the dark hand of destiny
Failed in your sight to part by force.

What it had fashioned 'neath your eye,
In darkness life made haste to die,
Ere it fulfilled its beauteous course.
Then ye with bold and self-sufficient might
Led the arch further through the future's night:
Then, too, ye plunged, without a fear,
Into Avernus' ocean black,
And found the vanished life so dear
Beyond the urn, and brought it back.
A blooming Pollux-form appeared now soon,
On Castor leaning, and enshrined in light
The shadow that is seen upon the moon,
Ere she has filled her silvery circle bright!

Yet higher,higher still above the earth
Inventive genius never ceased to rise:
Creations from creations had their birth,
And harmonies from harmonies.
What here alone enchants the ravished sight,
A nobler beauty yonder must obey;
The graceful charms that in the nymph unite,
In the divine Athene melt away;
The strength with which the wrestler is endowed,
In the god's beauty we no longer find:
The wonder of his timeJove's image proud
In the Olympian temple is enshrined.

The world, transformed by industry's bold hand,
The human heart, by new-born instincts moved,
That have in burning fights been fully proved,
Your circle of creation now expand.
Advancing man bears on his soaring pinions,
In gratitude, art with him in his flight,
And out of Nature's now-enriched dominions
New worlds of beauty issue forth to light.
The barriers upon knowledge are o'erthrown;
The spirit that, with pleasure soon matured,
Has in your easy triumphs been inured
To hasten through an artist-whole of graces,
Nature's more distant columns duly places.
And overtakes her on her pathway lone.
He weighs her now with weights that human are,
Metes her with measures that she lent of old;
While in her beauty's rites more practised far,
She now must let his eye her form behold.
With youthful and self-pleasing bliss,
He lends the spheres his harmony,
And, if he praise earth's edifice,
'Tis for its wondrous symmetry.
In all that now around him breathes,
Proportion sweet is ever rife;
And beauty's golden girdle wreathes
With mildness round his path through life;
Perfection blest, triumphantly,
Before him in your works soars high;
Wherever boisterous rapture swells,
Wherever silent sorrow flees,
Where pensive contemplation dwells,
Where he the tears of anguish sees,
Where thousand terrors on him glare,
Harmonious streams are yet behind
He sees the Graces sporting there,
With feeling silent and refined.
Gentle as beauty's lines together linking,
As the appearances that round him play,
In tender outline in each other sinking,
The soft breath of his life thus fleets away.
His spirit melts in the harmonious sea,
That, rich in rapture, round his senses flows,
And the dissolving thought all silently
To omnipresent Cytherea grows.
Joining in lofty union with the Fates,
On Graces and on Muses calm relying,
With freely-offered bosom he awaits
The shaft that soon against him will be flying
From the soft bow necessity creates.

Favorites beloved of blissful harmony,
Welcome attendants on life's dreary road,
The noblest and the dearest far that she,
Who gave us life, to bless that life bestowed!
That unyoked man his duties bears in mind,
And loves the fetters that his motions bind,
That Chance with brazen sceptre rules him not,
For this eternity is now your lot,
Your heart has won a bright reward for this.
That round the cup where freedom flows,
Merrily sport the gods of bliss,
The beauteous dream its fragrance throws,
For this, receive a loving kiss!

The spirit, glorious and serene,
Who round necessity the graces trains,
Who bids his ether and his starry plains
Upon us wait with pleasing mien,
Who, 'mid his terrors, by his majesty gives joy,
And who is beauteous e'en when seeking to destroy,
Him imitate, the artist good!
As o'er the streamlet's crystal flood
The banks with checkered dances hover,
The flowery mead, the sunset's light,
Thus gleams, life's barren pathway over,
Poesy's shadowy world so bright.
In bridal dress ye led us on
Before the terrible Unknown,
Before the inexorable fate,
As in your urns the bones are laid,
With beauteous magic veil ye shade
The chorus dread that cares create.
Thousands of years I hastened through
The boundless realm of vanished time
How sad it seems when left by you
But where ye linger, how sublime!

She who, with fleeting wing, of yore
From your creating hand arose in might,
Within your arms was found once more,
When, vanquished by Time's silent flight,
Life's blossoms faded from the cheek,
And from the limbs all vigor went,
And mournfully, with footstep weak,
Upon his staff the gray-beard leant.
Then gave ye to the languishing,
Life's waters from a new-born spring;
Twice was the youth of time renewed,
Twice, from the seeds that ye had strewed.

When chased by fierce barbarian hordes away,
The last remaining votive brand ye tore
From Orient's altars, now pollution's prey,
And to these western lands in safety bore.
The fugitive from yonder eastern shore,
The youthful day, the West her dwelling made;
And on Hesperia's plains sprang up once more
Ionia's flowers, in pristine bloom arrayed.
Over the spirit fairer Nature shed,
With soft refulgence, a reflection bright,
And through the graceful soul with stately tread
Advanced the mighty Deity of light.
Millions of chains were burst asunder then,
And to the slave then human laws applied,
And mildly rose the younger race of men,
As brethren, gently wandering side by side,
With noble inward ecstasy,
The bliss imparted ye receive,
And in the veil of modesty,
With silent merit take your leave.
If on the paths of thought, so freely given,
The searcher now with daring fortune stands,
And, by triumphant Paeans onward driven,
Would seize upon the crown with dauntless hands
If he with grovelling hireling's pay
Thinks to dismiss his glorious guide
Or, with the first slave's-place array
Art near the throne his dream supplied
Forgive him!O'er your head to-day
Hovers perfection's crown in pride,
With you the earliest plant Spring had,
Soul-forming Nature first began;
With you, the harvest-chaplet glad,
Perfected Nature ends her plan.

The art creative, that all-modestly arose
From clay and stone, with silent triumph throws
Its arms around the spirit's vast domain.
What in the land of knowledge the discoverer knows,
He knows, discovers, only for your gain
The treasures that the thinker has amassed,
He will enjoy within your arms alone,
Soon as his knowledge, beauty-ripe at last.
To art ennobled shall have grown,
Soon as with you he scales a mountain-height,
And there, illumined by the setting sun,
The smiling valley bursts upon his sight.
The richer ye reward the eager gaze
The higher, fairer orders that the mind
May traverse with its magic rays,
Or compass with enjoyment unconfined
The wider thoughts and feelings open lie
To more luxuriant floods of harmony.
To beauty's richer, more majestic stream,
The fair members of the world's vast scheme,
That, maimed, disgrace on his creation bring,
He sees the lofty forms then perfecting

The fairer riddles come from out the night
The richer is the world his arms enclose,
The broader stream the sea with which he flows
The weaker, too, is destiny's blind might
The nobler instincts does he prove
The smaller he himself, the greater grows his love.
Thus is he led, in still and hidden race,
By poetry, who strews his path with flowers,
Through ever-purer forms, and purer powers,
Through ever higher heights, and fairer grace.
At length, arrived at the ripe goal of time,
Yet one more inspiration all-sublime,
Poetic outburst of man's latest youth,
Andhe will glide into the arms of truth!

Herself, the gentle Cypria,
Illumined by her fiery crown,
Then stands before her full-grown son
Unveiledas great Urania;
The sooner only by him caught,
The fairer he had fled away!
Thus stood, in wonder rapture-fraught,
Ulysses' noble son that day,
When the sage mentor who his youth beguiled;
Herself transfigured as Jove's glorious child!

Man's honor is confided to your hand,
There let it well protected be!
It sinks with you! with you it will expand!
Poesy's sacred sorcery
Obeys a world-plan wise and good;
In silence let it swell the flood
Of mighty-rolling harmony.

By her own time viewed with disdain,
Let solemn truth in song remain,
And let the Muses' band defend her!
In all the fullness of her splendor,
Let her survive in numbers glorious,
More dread, when veiled her charms appear,
And vengeance take, with strains victorious,
On her tormentor's ear!

The freest mother's children free,
With steadfast countenance then rise
To highest beauty's radiancy,
And every other crown despise!
The sisters who escaped you here,
Within your mother's arms ye'll meet;
What noble spirits may revere,
Must be deserving and complete.
High over your own course of time
Exalt yourselves with pinion bold,
And dimly let your glass sublime
The coming century unfold!
On thousand roads advancing fast
Of ever-rich variety,
With fond embraces meet at last
Before the throne of harmony!
As into seven mild rays we view
With softness break the glimmer white,
As rainbow-beams of sevenfold hue
Dissolve again in that soft light,
In clearness thousandfold thus throw
Your magic round the ravished gaze,
Into one stream of light thus flow,
One bond of truth that ne'er decays!

~ Friedrich Schiller, The Artists
,
431:Senlin: His Futile Preoccupations
I am a house, says Senlin, locked and darkened,
Sealed from the sun with wall and door and blind.
Summon me loudly, and you'll hear slow footsteps
Ring far and faint in the galleries of my mind.
You'll hear soft steps on an old and dusty stairway;
Peer darkly through some corner of a pane,
You'll see me with a faint light coming slowly,
Pausing above some gallery of the brain . . .
I am a city . . . In the blue light of evening
Wind wanders among my streets and makes them fair;
I am a room of rock . . . a maiden dances
Lifting her hands, tossing her golden hair.
She combs her hair, the room of rock is darkened,
She extends herself in me, and I am sleep.
It is my pride that starlight is above me;
I dream amid waves of air, my walls are deep.
I am a door . . . before me roils the darkness,
Behind me ring clear waves of sound and light.
Stand in the shadowy street outside, and listen-The crying of violins assails the night . . .
My walls are deep, but the cries of music pierce them;
They shake with the sound of drums . . . yet it is strange
That I should know so little what means this music,
Hearing it always within me change and change.
Knock on the door,--and you shall have an answer.
Open the heavy walls to set me free,
And blow a horn to call me into the sunlight,-And startled, then, what a strange thing you will see!
Nuns, murderers, and drunkards, saints and sinners,
Lover and dancing girl and sage and clown
Will laugh upon you, and you will find me nowhere.
I am a room, a house, a street, a town.
127
It is morning, Senlin says, and in the morning
When the light drips through the shutters like the dew,
I arise, I face the sunrise,
And do the things my fathers learned to do.
Stars in the purple dusk above the rooftops
Pale in a saffron mist and seem to die,
And I myself on a swiftly tilting planet
Stand before a glass and tie my tie.
Vine leaves tap my window,
Dew-drops sing to the garden stones,
The robin chips in the chinaberry tree
Repeating three clear tones.
It is morning. I stand by the mirror
And tie my tie once more.
While waves far off in a pale rose twilight
Crash on a white sand shore.
I stand by a mirror and comb my hair:
How small and white my face!-The green earth tilts through a sphere of air
And bathes in a flame of space.
There are houses hanging above the stars
And stars hung under a sea . . .
And a sun far off in a shell of silence
Dapples my walls for me . . .
It is morning, Senlin says, and in the morning
Should I not pause in the light to remember God?
Upright and firm I stand on a star unstable,
He is immense and lonely as a cloud.
I will dedicate this moment before my mirror
To him alone, and for him I will comb my hair.
Accept these humble offerings, cloud of silence!
I will think of you as I descend the stair.
Vine leaves tap my window,
The snail-track shines on the stones,
Dew-drops flash from the chinaberry tree
Repeating two clear tones.
128
It is morning, I awake from a bed of silence,
Shining I rise from the starless waters of sleep.
The walls are about me still as in the evening,
I am the same, and the same name still I keep.
The earth revolves with me, yet makes no motion,
The stars pale silently in a coral sky.
In a whistling void I stand before my mirror,
Unconcerned, I tie my tie.
There are horses neighing on far-off hills
Tossing their long white manes,
And mountains flash in the rose-white dusk,
Their shoulders black with rains . . .
It is morning. I stand by the mirror
And surprise my soul once more;
The blue air rushes above my ceiling,
There are suns beneath my floor . . .
. . . It is morning, Senlin says, I ascend from darkness
And depart on the winds of space for I know not where,
My watch is wound, a key is in my pocket,
And the sky is darkened as I descend the stair.
There are shadows across the windows, clouds in heaven,
And a god among the stars; and I will go
Thinking of him as I might think of daybreak
And humming a tune I know . . .
Vine-leaves tap at the window,
Dew-drops sing to the garden stones,
The robin chirps in the chinaberry tree
Repeating three clear tones.
I walk to my work, says Senlin, along a street
Superbly hung in space.
I lift these mortal stones, and with my trowel
I tap them into place.
But is god, perhaps, a giant who ties his tie
Grimacing before a colossal glass of sky?
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These stones are heavy, these stones decay,
These stones are wet with rain,
I build them into a wall today,
Tomorrow they fall again.
Does god arise from a chaos of starless sleep,
Rise from the dark and stretch his arms and yawn;
And drowsily look from the window at his garden;
And rejoice at the dewdrop sparkeling on his lawn?
Does he remember, suddenly, with amazement,
The yesterday he left in sleep,--his name,-Or the glittering street superbly hung in wind
Along which, in the dusk, he slowly came?
I devise new patterns for laying stones
And build a stronger wall.
One drop of rain astonishes me
And I let my trowel fall.
The flashing of leaves delights my eyes,
Blue air delights my face;
I will dedicate this stone to god
And tap it into its place.
That woman--did she try to attract my attention?
Is it true I saw her smile and nod?
She turned her head and smiled . . . was it for me?
It is better to think of work or god.
The clouds pile coldly above the houses
Slow wind revolves the leaves:
It begins to rain, and the first long drops
Are slantingly blown from eaves.
But it is true she tried to attract my attention!
She pressed a rose to her chin and smiled.
Her hand was white by the richness of her hair,
Her eyes were those of a child.
It is true she looked at me as if she liked me.
And turned away, afraid to look too long!
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She watched me out of the corners of her eyes;
And, tapping time with fingers, hummed a song.
. . . Nevertheless, I will think of work,
With a trowel in my hands;
Or the vague god who blows like clouds
Above these dripping lands . . .
But . . . is it sure she tried to attract my attention?
She leaned her elbow in a peculiar way
There in the crowded room . . . she touched my hand . . .
She must have known, and yet,--she let it stay.
Music of flesh! Music of root and sod!
Leaf touching leaf in the rain!
Impalpable clouds of red ascend,
Red clouds blow over my brain.
Did she await from me some sign of acceptance?
I smoothed my hair with a faltering hand.
I started a feeble smile, but the smile was frozen:
Perhaps, I thought, I misunderstood.
Is it to be conceived that I could attract her-This dull and futile flesh attract such fire?
I,--with a trowel's dullness in hand and brain!-Take on some godlike aspect, rouse desire?
Incredible! . . . delicious! . . . I will wear
A brighter color of tie, arranged with care,
I will delight in god as I comb my hair.
And the conquests of my bolder past return
Like strains of music, some lost tune
Recalled from youth and a happier time.
I take my sweetheart's arm in the dusk once more;
One more we climb
Up the forbidden stairway,
Under the flickering light, along the railing:
I catch her hand in the dark, we laugh once more,
I hear the rustle of silk, and follow swiftly,
And softly at last we close the door.
Yes, it is true that woman tried to attract me:
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It is true she came out of time for me,
Came from the swirling and savage forest of earth,
The cruel eternity of the sea.
She parted the leaves of waves and rose from silence
Shining with secrets she did not know.
Music of dust! Music of web and web!
And I, bewildered, let her go.
I light my pipe. The flame is yellow,
Edged underneath with blue.
These thoughts are truer of god, perhaps,
Than thoughts of god are true.
It is noontime, Senlin says, and a street piano
Strikes sharply against the sunshine a harsh chord,
And the universe is suddenly agitated,
And pain to my heart goes glittering like a sword.
Do I imagine it? The dust is shaken,
The sunlight quivers, the brittle oak-leaves tremble.
The world, disturbed, conceals its agitation;
And I, too, will dissemble.
Yet it is sorrow has found my heart,
Sorrow for beauty, sorrow for death;
And pain twirls slowly among the trees.
The street-piano revolves its glittering music,
The sharp notes flash and dazzle and turn,
Memory's knives are in this sunlit silence,
They ripple and lazily burn.
The star on which my shadow falls is frightened,-It does not move; my trowel taps a stone,
The sweet note wavers amid derisive music;
And I, in horror of sunlight, stand alone.
Do not recall my weakness, savage music!
Let the knives rest!
Impersonal, harsh, the music revolves and glitters,
And the notes like poniards pierce my breast.
And I remember the shadows of webs on stones,
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And the sound or rain on withered grass,
And a sorrowful face that looked without illusions
At its image in the glass.
Do not recall my childhood, pitiless music!
The green blades flicker and gleam,
The red bee bends the clover, deeply humming;
In the blue sea above me lazily stream
Cloud upon thin-brown cloud, revolving, scattering;
The mulberry tree rakes heaven and drops its fruit;
Amazing sunlight sings in the opened vault
On dust and bones, and I am mute.
It is noon; the bells let fall soft flowers of sound.
They turn on the air, they shrink in the flare of noon.
It is night; and I lie alone, and watch through the window
The terrible ice-white emptiness of the moon.
Small bells, far off, spill jewels of sound like rain,
A long wind hurries them whirled and far,
A cloud creeps over the moon, my bed is darkened,
I hold my breath and watch a star.
Do not disturb my memories, heartless music!
I stand once more by a vine-dark moonlit wall,
The sound of my footsteps dies in a void of moonlight,
And I watch white jasmine fall.
Is it my heart that falls? Does earth itself
Drift, a white petal, down the sky?
One bell-note goes to the stars in the blue-white silence,
Solitary and mournful, a somnolent cry.
Death himself in the rain . . . death himself . . .
Death in the savage sunlight . . . skeletal death . . .
I hear the clack of his feet,
Clearly on stones, softly in dust;
He hurries among the trees
Whirling the leaves, tossing he hands from waves.
Listen! the immortal footsteps beat.
Death himself in the grass, death himself,
133
Gyrating invisibly in the sun,
Scatters the grass-blades, whips the wind,
Tears at boughs with malignant laughter:
On the long echoing air I hear him run.
Death himself in the dusk, gathering lilacs,
Breaking a white-fleshed bough,
Strewing purple on a cobwebbed lawn,
Dancing, dancing,
The long red sun-rays glancing
On flailing arms, skipping with hideous knees
Cavorting grotesque ecstasies:
I do not see him, but I see the lilacs fall,
I hear the scrape of knuckles against the wall,
The leaves are tossed and tremble where he plunges among them,
And I hear the sound of his breath,
Sharp and whistling, the rythm of death.
It is evening: the lights on a long street balance and sway.
In the purple ether they swing and silently sing,
The street is a gossamer swung in space,
And death himself in the wind comes dancing along it,
And the lights, like raindrops, tremble and swing.
Hurry, spider, and spread your glistening web,
For death approaches!
Hurry, rose, and open your heart to the bee,
For death approaches!
Maiden, let down your hair for the hands of your lover,
Comb it with moonlight and wreathe it with leaves,
For death approaches!
Death, huge in the star; small in the sand-grain;
Death himself in the rain,
Drawing the rain about him like a garment of jewels:
I hear the sound of his feet
On the stairs of the wind, in the sun,
In the forests of the sea . . .
Listen! the immortal footsteps beat!
It is noontime, Senlin says. The sky is brilliant
134
Above a green and dreaming hill.
I lay my trowel down. The pool is cloudless,
The grass, the wall, the peach-tree, all are still.
It appears to me that I am one with these:
A hill, upon whose back are a wall and trees.
It is noontime: all seems still
Upon this green and flowering hill.
Yet suddenly out of nowhere in the sky,
A cloud comes whirling, and flings
A lazily coiled vortex of shade on the hill.
It crosses the hill, and a bird in the peach-tree sings.
Amazing! Is there a change?
The hill seems somehow strange.
It is noontime. And in the tree
The leaves are delicately disturbed
Where the bird descends invisibly.
It is noontime. And in the pool
The sky is blue and cool.
Yet suddenly out of nowhere,
Something flings itself at the hill,
Tears with claws at the earth,
Lunges and hisses and softly recoils,
Crashing against the green.
The peach-tree braces itself, the pool is frightened,
The grass-blades quiver, the bird is still;
The wall silently struggles against the sunlight;
A terror stiffens the hill.
The trees turn rigidly, to face
Something that circles with slow pace:
The blue pool seems to shrink
From something that slides above its brink.
What struggle is this, ferocious and still-What war in sunlight on this hill?
What is it creeping to dart
Like a knife-blade at my heart?
It is noontime, Senlin says, and all is tranquil:
The brilliant sky burns over a greenbright earth.
The peach-tree dreams in the sun, the wall is contented.
135
A bird in the peach-leaves, moving from sun to shadow,
Phrases again his unremembering mirth,
His lazily beautiful, foolish, mechanical mirth.
The pale blue gloom of evening comes
Among the phantom forests and walls
With a mournful and rythmic sound of drums.
My heart is disturbed with a sound of myriad throbbing,
Persuasive and sinister, near and far:
In the blue evening of my heart
I hear the thrum of the evening star.
My work is uncompleted; and yet I hurry,-Hearing the whispered pulsing of those drums,-To enter the luminous walls and woods of night.
It is the eternal mistress of the world
Who shakes these drums for my delight.
Listen! the drums of the leaves, the drums of the dust,
The delicious quivering of this air!
I will leave my work unfinished, and I will go
With ringing and certain step through the laughter of chaos
To the one small room in the void I know.
Yesterday it was there,-Will I find it tonight once more when I climb the stair?
The drums of the street beat swift and soft:
In the blue evening of my heart
I hear the throb of the bridal star.
It weaves deliciously in my brain
A tyrannous melody of her:
Hands in sunlight, threads of rain
Against a weeping face that fades,
Snow on a blackened window-pane;
Fire, in a dusk of hair entangled;
Flesh, more delicate than fruit;
And a voice that searches quivering nerves
For a string to mute.
My life is uncompleted: and yet I hurry
Among the tinkling forests and walls of evening
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To a certain fragrant room.
Who is it that dances there, to a beating of drums,
While stars on a grey sea bud and bloom?
She stands at the top of the stair,
With the lamplight on her hair.
I will walk through the snarling of streams of space
And climb the long steps carved from wind
And rise once more towards her face.
Listen! the drums of the drowsy trees
Beating our nuptial ecstasies!
Music spins from the heart of silence
And twirls me softly upon the air:
It takes my hand and whispers to me:
It draws the web of the moonlight down.
There are hands, it says, as cool as snow,
The hands of the Venus of the sea;
There are waves of sound in a mermaid-cave;-Come--then--come with me!
The flesh of the sea-rose new and cool,
The wavering image of her who comes
At dusk by a blue sea-pool.
Whispers upon the haunted air-Whisper of foam-white arm and thigh;
And a shower of delicate lights blown down
Fro the laughing sky! . . .
Music spins from a far-off room.
Do you remember,--it seems to say,-The mouth that smiled, beneath your mouth,
And kissed you . . . yesterday?
It is your own flesh waits for you.
Come! you are incomplete! . . .
The drums of the universe once more
Morosely beat.
It is the harlot of the world
Who clashes the leaves like ghostly drums
And disturbs the solitude of my heart
As evening comes!
I leave my work once more and walk
Along a street that sways in the wind.
137
I leave these stones, and walk once more
Along infinity's shore.
I climb the golden-laddered stair;
Among the stars in the void I climb:
I ascend the golden-laddered hair
Of the harlot-queen of time:
She laughs from a window in the sky,
Her white arms downward reach to me!
We are the universe that spins
In a dim ethereal sea.
It is evening, Senlin says, and in the evening
The throbbing of drums has languidly died away.
Forest and sea are still. We breathe in silence
And strive to say the things flesh cannot say.
The soulless wind falls slowly about the earth
And finds no rest.
The lover stares at the setting star,--the wakeful lover
Who finds no peace on his lover's breast.
The snare of desire that bound us in is broken;
Softly, in sorrow, we draw apart, and see,
Far off, the beauty we thought our flesh had captured,-The star we longed to be but could not be.
Come back! We will laugh once more at the words we said!
We say them slowly again, but the words are dead.
Come back beloved! . . . The blue void falls between,
We cry to each other: alone; unknown; unseen.
We are the grains of sand that run and rustle
In the dry wind,
We are the grains of sand who thought ourselves
Immortal.
You touch my hand, time bears you away,-An alien star for whom I have no word.
What are the meaningless things you say?
I answer you, but am not heard.
It is evening, Senlin says;
And a dream in ruin falls.
Once more we turn in pain, bewildered,
138
Among our finite walls:
The walls we built ourselves with patient hands;
For the god who sealed a question in our flesh.
10
It is moonlight. Alone in the silence
I ascend my stairs once more,
While waves, remote in a pale blue starlight,
Crash on a white sand shore.
It is moonlight. The garden is silent.
I stand in my room alone.
Across my wall, from the far-off moon,
A rain of fire is thrown . . .
There are houses hanging above the stars,
And stars hung under a sea:
And a wind from the long blue vault of time
Waves my curtain for me . . .
I wait in the dark once more,
Swung between space and space:
Before my mirror I lift my hands
And face my remembered face.
Is it I who stand in a question here,
Asking to know my name? . . .
It is I, yet I know not whither I go,
Nor why, nor whence I came.
It is I, who awoke at dawn
And arose and descended the stair,
Conceiving a god in the eye of the sun,-In a woman's hands and hair.
It is I whose flesh is gray with the stones
I builded into a wall:
With a mournful melody in my brain
Of a tune I cannot recall . . .
There are roses to kiss: and mouths to kiss;
And the sharp-pained shadow of death.
I remember a rain-drop on my cheek,--
139
A wind like a fragrant breath . . .
And the star I laugh on tilts through heaven;
And the heavens are dark and steep . . .
I will forget these things once more
In the silence of sleep.
~ Conrad Potter Aiken,
432:The Kalevala - Rune Xlvi
OTSO THE HONEY-EATER.
Came the tidings to Pohyola,
To the village of the Northland,
That Wainola had recovered
From her troubles and misfortunes,
From her sicknesses and sorrows.
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Toothless dame of Sariola,
Envy-laden, spake these measures:
'Know I other means of trouble,
I have many more resources;
I will drive the bear before me,
From the heather and the mountain,
Drive him from the fen and forest,
Drive great Otso from the glen-wood
On the cattle of Wainola,
On the flocks of Kalevala.'
Thereupon the Northland hostess
Drove the hungry bear of Pohya
From his cavern to the meadows,
To Wainola's plains and pastures.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
To his brother spake as follows:
'O thou blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Forge a spear from magic metals,
Forge a lancet triple-pointed,
Forge the handle out of copper,
That I may destroy great Otso,
Slay the mighty bear of Northland,
That he may not eat my horses,
Nor destroy my herds of cattle,
Nor the flocks upon my pastures.'
Thereupon the skillful blacksmith
Forged a spear from magic metals,
Forged a lancet triple-pointed,
Not the longest, nor the shortest,
Forged the spear in wondrous beauty.
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On one side a bear was sitting,
Sat a wolf upon the other,
On the blade an elk lay sleeping,
On the shaft a colt was running,
Near the hilt a roebuck bounding.
Snows had fallen from the heavens,
Made the flocks as white as ermine
Or the hare, in days of winter,
And the minstrel sang these measures:
'My desire impels me onward
To the Metsola-dominions,
To the homes of forest-maidens,
To the courts of the white virgins;
I will hasten to the forest,
Labor with the woodland-forces.
'Ruler of the Tapio-forests,
Make of me a conquering hero,
Help me clear these boundless woodlands.
O Mielikki, forest-hostess,
Tapio's wife, thou fair Tellervo,
Call thy dogs and well enchain them,
Set in readiness thy hunters,
Let them wait within their kennels.
'Otso, thou O Forest-apple,
Bear of honey-paws and fur-robes,
Learn that Wainamoinen follows,
That the singer comes to meet thee;
Hide thy claws within thy mittens,
Let thy teeth remain in darkness,
That they may not harm the minstrel,
May be powerless in battle.
Mighty Otso, much beloved,
Honey-eater of the mountains,
Settle on the rocks in slumber,
On the turf and in thy caverns;
Let the aspen wave above thee,
Let the merry birch-tree rustle
O'er thy head for thy protection.
Rest in peace, thou much-loved Otso,
Turn about within thy thickets,
Like the partridge at her brooding,
In the spring-time like the wild-goose.'
243
When the ancient Wainamoinen
Heard his dog bark in the forest,
Heard his hunter's call and echo,
He addressed the words that follow:
'Thought it was the cuckoo calling,
Thought the pretty bird was singing;
It was not the sacred cuckoo,
Not the liquid notes of songsters,
'Twas my dog that called and murmured,
'Twas the echo of my hunter
At the cavern-doors of Otso,
On the border of the woodlands.'
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Finds the mighty bear in waiting,
Lifts in joy the golden covers,
Well inspects his shining fur-robes;
Lifts his honey-paws in wonder,
Then addresses his Creator:
'Be thou praised, O mighty Ukko,
As thou givest me great Otso,
Givest me the Forest-apple,
Thanks be paid to thee unending.'
To the bear he spake these measures:
'Otso, thou my well beloved,
Honey-eater of the woodlands,
Let not anger swell thy bosom;
I have not the force to slay thee,
Willingly thy life thou givest
As a sacrifice to Northland.
Thou hast from the tree descended,
Glided from the aspen branches,
Slippery the trunks in autumn,
In the fog-days, smooth the branches.
Golden friend of fen and forest,
In thy fur-robes rich and beauteous,
Pride of woodlands, famous Light-foot,
Leave thy cold and cheerless dwelling,
Leave thy home within the alders,
Leave thy couch among the willows,
Hasten in thy purple stockings,
Hasten from thy walks restricted,
Come among the haunts of heroes,
244
Join thy friends in Kalevala.
We shall never treat thee evil,
Thou shalt dwell in peace and plenty,
Thou shalt feed on milk and honey,
Honey is the food of strangers.
Haste away from this thy covert,
From the couch of the unworthy,
To a couch beneath the rafters
Of Wainola's ancient dwellings.
Haste thee onward o'er the snow-plain,
As a leaflet in the autumn;
Skip beneath these birchen branches,
As a squirrel in the summer,
As a cuckoo in the spring-time.'
Wainamoinen, the magician,
The eternal wisdom-singer,
O'er the snow-fields hastened homeward,
Singing o'er the hills and mountains,
With his guest, the ancient Otso,
With his friend, the, famous Light-foot,
With the Honey-paw of Northland.
Far away was heard the singing,
Heard the playing of the hunter,
Heard the songs of Wainamoinen;
All the people heard and wondered,
Men and maidens, young and aged,
From their cabins spake as follows:
'Hear the echoes from the woodlands,
Hear the bugle from the forest,
Hear the flute-notes of the songsters,
Hear the pipes of forest-maidens!'
Wainamoinen, old and trusty,
Soon appears within the court-yard.
Rush the people from their cabins,
And the heroes ask these questions:
'Has a mine of gold been opened,
Hast thou found a vein of silver,
Precious jewels in thy pathway?
Does the forest yield her treasures,
Give to thee the Honey-eater?
Does the hostess of the woodlands,
Give to thee the lynx and adder,
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Since thou comest home rejoicing,
Playing, singing, on thy snow-shoes?'
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Gave this answer to his people:
'For his songs I caught the adder,
Caught the serpent for his wisdom;
Therefore do I come rejoicing,
Singing, playing, on my snow-shoes.
Not the mountain lynx, nor serpent,
Comes, however, to our dwellings;
The Illustrious is coming,
Pride and beauty of the forest,
'Tis the Master comes among us,
Covered with his friendly fur-robe.
Welcome, Otso, welcome, Light-foot,
Welcome, Loved-one from the glenwood!
If the mountain guest is welcome,
Open wide the gates of entry;
If the bear is thought unworthy,
Bar the doors against the stranger.'
This the answer of the tribe-folk:
'We salute thee, mighty Otso,
Honey-paw, we bid thee welcome,
Welcome to our courts and cabins,
Welcome, Light-foot, to our tables
Decorated for thy coming!
We have wished for thee for ages,
Waiting since the days of childhood,
For the notes of Tapio's bugle,
For the singing of the wood-nymphs,
For the coming of dear Otso,
For the forest gold and silver,
Waiting for the year of plenty,
Longing for it as for summer,
As the shoe waits for the snow-fields,
As the sledge for beaten highways,
As the, maiden for her suitor,
And the wife her husband's coming;
Sat at evening by the windows,
At the gates have, sat at morning,
Sat for ages at the portals,
Near the granaries in winter, Vanished,
246
Till the snow-fields warmed and
Till the sails unfurled in joyance,
Till the earth grew green and blossomed,
Thinking all the while as follows:
'Where is our beloved Otso,
Why delays our forest-treasure?
Has he gone to distant Ehstland,
To the upper glens of Suomi?'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Whither shall I lead the stranger,
Whither take the golden Light-foot?
Shall I lead him to the garner,
To the house of straw conduct him?'
This the answer of his tribe-folk:
'To the dining-hall lead Otso,
Greatest hero of the Northland.
Famous Light-foot, Forest-apple,
Pride and glory of the woodlands,
Have no fear before these maidens,
Fear not curly-headed virgins,
Clad in silver-tinselled raiment
Maidens hasten to their chambers
When dear Otso joins their number,
When the hero comes among them.'
This the prayer of Wainamoinen:
'Grant, O Ukko, peace and plenty
Underneath these painted rafters,
In this ornamented dweling;
Thanks be paid to gracious Ukko!'
Spake again the ancient minstrel:
'Whither shall we lead dear Otso,
'Whither take the fur-clad stranger?
This the answer of his people:
'Hither let the fur-robed Light-foot
Be saluted on his coming;
Let the Honey-paw be welcomed
To the hearth-stone of the penthouse,
Welcomed to the boiling caldrons,
That we may admire his fur-robe,
May behold his cloak with joyance.
Have no care, thou much-loved Otso,
Let not anger swell thy bosom
247
As thy coat we view with pleasure;
We thy fur shall never injure,
Shall not make it into garments
To protect unworthy people.'
Thereupon wise Wainamoinen
Pulled the sacred robe from Otso,
Spread it in the open court-yard,
Cut the, members into fragments,
Laid them in the heating caldrons,
In the copper-bottomed vesselsO'er the fire the crane was hanging,
On the crane were hooks of copper,
On the hooks the broiling-vessels
Filled with bear-steak for the feasting,
Seasoned with the salt of Dwina,
From the Saxon-land imported,
From the distant Dwina-waters,
From the salt-sea brought in shallops.
Ready is the feast of Otso;
From the fire are swung the kettles
On the crane of polished iron;
In the centers of the tables
Is the bear displayed in dishes,
Golden dishes, decorated;
Of the fir-tree and the linden
Were the tables newly fashioned;
Drinking cups were forged from copper,
Knives of gold and spoons of silver;
Filled the vessels to their borders
With the choicest bits of Light-foot,
Fragments of the Forest-apple.
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen
'Ancient one with bosom golden,
Potent voice in Tapio's councils
Metsola's most lovely hostess,
Hostess of the glen and forest,
Hero-son of Tapiola,
Stalwart youth in cap of scarlet,
Tapio's most beauteous virgin,
Fair Tellervo of the woodlands,
Metsola with all her people,
Come, and welcome, to the feasting,
248
To the marriage-feast of Otso!
All sufficient, the provisions,
Food to eat and drink abundant,
Plenty for the hosts assembled,
Plenty more to give the village.'
This the question of the people:
'Tell us of the birth of Otso!
Was be born within a manger,
Was he nurtured in the bath-room
Was his origin ignoble?'
This is Wainamoinen's answer:
'Otso was not born a beggar,
Was not born among the rushes,
Was not cradled in a manger;
Honey-paw was born in ether,
In the regions of the Moon-land,
On the shoulders of Otava,
With the daughters of creation.
'Through the ether walked a maiden,
On the red rims of the cloudlets,
On the border of the heavens,
In her stockings purple-tinted,
In her golden-colored sandals.
In her hand she held a wool-box,
With a hair-box on her shoulder;
Threw the wool upon the ocean,
And the hair upon the rivers;
These are rocked by winds and waters,
Water-currents bear them onward,
Bear them to the sandy sea-shore,
Land them near the Woods of honey,
On an island forest-covered.
'Fair Mielikki, woodland hostess,
Tapio's most cunning daughter,
Took the fragments from the sea-side,
Took the white wool from the waters,
Sewed the hair and wool together,
Laid the bundle in her basket,
Basket made from bark of birch-wood,
Bound with cords the magic bundle;
With the chains of gold she bound it
To the pine-tree's topmost branches.
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There she rocked the thing of magic,
Rocked to life the tender baby,
Mid the blossoms of the pine-tree,
On the fir-top set with needles;
Thus the young bear well was nurtured,
Thus was sacred Otso cradled
On the honey-tree of Northland,
In the middle of the forest.
'Sacred Otso grew and flourished,
Quickly grew with graceful movements,
Short of feet, with crooked ankles,
Wide of mouth and broad of forehead,
Short his nose, his fur-robe velvet;
But his claws were not well fashioned,
Neither were his teeth implanted.
Fair Mielikki, forest hostess,
Spake these words in meditation:
'Claws I should be pleased to give him,
And with teeth endow the wonder,
Would be not abuse the favor.'
'Swore the bear a promise sacred,
On his knees before Mielikki,
Hostess of the glen and forest,
And before omniscient Ukko,
First and last of all creators,
That he would not harm the worthy,
Never do a deed of evil.
Then Mielikki, woodland hostess,
Wisest maid of Tapiola,
Sought for teeth and claws to give him,
From the stoutest mountain-ashes,
From the juniper and oak tree,
From the dry knots of the alder.
Teeth and claws of these were worthless,
Would not render goodly service.
'Grew a fir-tree on the mountain,
Grew a stately pine in Northland,
And the fir had silver branches,
Bearing golden cones abundant;
These the sylvan maiden gathered,
Teeth and claws of these she fashioned
In the jaws and feet of Otso,
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Set them for the best of uses.
Then she freed her new-made creature,
Let the Light-foot walk and wander,
Let him lumber through the marshes,
Let him amble through the forest,
Roll upon the plains and pastures;
Taught him how to walk a hero,
How to move with graceful motion,
How to live in ease and pleasure,
How to rest in full contentment,
In the moors and in the marshes,
On the borders of the woodlands;
How unshod to walk in summer,
Stockingless to run in autumn;
How to rest and sleep in winter
In the clumps of alder-bushes
Underneath the sheltering fir-tree,
Underneath the pine's protection,
Wrapped securely in his fur-robes,
With the juniper and willow.
This the origin of Otso,
Honey-eater of the Northlands,
Whence the sacred booty cometh.
Thus again the people questioned:
Why became the woods so gracious,
Why so generous and friendly?
Why is Tapio so humored,
That he gave his dearest treasure,
Gave to thee his Forest-apple,
Honey-eater of his kingdom?
Was he startled with thine arrows,
Frightened with the spear and broadsword?'
Wainamoinen, the magician,
Gave this answer to the question:
'Filled with kindness was the forest,
Glen and woodland full of greetings,
Tapio showing greatest favor.
Fair Mielikki, forest hostess,
Metsola's bewitching daughter,
Beauteous woodland maid, Tellervo,
Gladly led me on my journey,
Smoothed my pathway through the glen-wood.
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Marked the trees upon the, mountains,
Pointing me to Otso's caverns,
To the Great Bear's golden island.
'When my journeyings had ended,
When the bear had been discovered,
Had no need to launch my javelins,
Did not need to aim the arrow;
Otso tumbled in his vaulting,
Lost his balance in his cradle,
In the fir-tree where he slumbered;
Tore his breast upon the branches,
Freely gave his life to others.
'Mighty Otso, my beloved,
Thou my golden friend and hero,
Take thy fur-cap from thy forehead,
Lay aside thy teeth forever,
Hide thy fingers in the darkness,
Close thy mouth and still thine anger,
While thy sacred skull is breaking.
'Now I take the eyes of Otso,
Lest he lose the sense of seeing,
Lest their former powers shall weaken;
Though I take not all his members,
Not alone must these be taken.
'Now I take the ears of Otso,
Lest he lose the sense of 'hearing,
Lest their former powers shall weaken;
Though I take not all his members,
Not alone must these be taken.
'Now I take the nose of Otso,
Lest he lose the sense of smelling,
Lest its former powers shall weaken;
Though I take not all his members,
Not alone must this be taken.
'Now I take the tongue of Otso,
Lest he lose the sense of tasting
Lest its former powers shall weaken;
Though I take not all his members,
Not alone must this be taken.
'Now I take the brain of Otso,
Lest he lose the means of thinking,
Lest his consciousness should fail him,
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Lest his former instincts weaken;
Though I take not all his members,
Not alone must this be taken.
'I will reckon him a hero,
That will count the teeth of Light-foot,
That will loosen Otso's fingers
From their settings firmly fastened.'
None he finds with strength sufficient
To perform the task demanded.
Therefore ancient Wainamoinen
Counts the teeth of sacred Otso;
Loosens all the claws of Light-foot,
With his fingers strong as copper,
Slips them from their firm foundations,
Speaking to the bear these measures:
'Otso, thou my Honey-eater,
Thou my Fur-ball of the woodlands,
Onward, onward, must thou journey
From thy low and lonely dwelling,
To the court-rooms of the village.
Go, my treasure, through the pathway
Near the herds of swine and cattle,
To the hill-tops forest covered,
To the high and rising mountains,
To the spruce-trees filled with needles,
To the branches of the pine-tree;
There remain, my Forest-apple,
Linger there in lasting slumber,
Where the silver bells are ringing,
To the pleasure of the shepherd.'
Thus beginning, and thus ending,
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Hastened from his emptied tables,
And the children thus addressed him:
'Whither hast thou led thy booty,
Where hast left thy Forest-apple,
Sacred Otso of the woodlands?
Hast thou left him on the iceberg,
Buried him upon the snow-field?
Hast thou sunk him in the quicksand,
Laid him low beneath the heather?'
Wainamoinen spake in answer:
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'Have not left him on the iceberg,
Have not buried him in snow-fields;
There the dogs would soon devour him,
Birds of prey would feast upon him;
Have not hidden him in Swamp-land,
Have not buried him in heather;
There the worms would live upon him,
Insects feed upon his body.
Thither I have taken Otso,
To the summit of the Gold-hill,
To the copper-bearing mountain,
Laid him in his silken cradle
In the summit of a pine-tree,
Where the winds and sacred branches
Rock him to his lasting slumber,
To the pleasure of the hunter,
To the joy of man and hero.
To the east his lips are pointing,
While his eyes are northward looking;
But dear Otso looks not upward,
For the fierceness of the storm-winds
Would destroy his sense of vision.'
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Touched again his harp of joyance,
Sang again his songs enchanting,
To the pleasure of the evening,
To the joy of morn arising.
Spake the singer of Wainola:
'Light for me a torch of pine-wood,
For the darkness is appearing,
That my playing may be joyous
And my wisdom-songs find welcome.'
Then the ancient sage and singer,
Wise and worthy Wainamoinen,
Sweetly sang and played, and chanted,
Through the long and dreary evening,
Ending thus his incantation:
'Grant, O Ukko, my Creator,
That the people of Wainola
May enjoy another banquet
In the company of Light-foot;
Grant that we may long remember
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Kalevala's feast with Otso!
'Grant, O Ukko, my Creator,
That the signs may guide our footsteps,
That the notches in the pine-tree
May direct my faithful people
To the bear-dens of the woodlands;
That great Tapio's sacred bugle
May resound through glen and forest;
That the wood-nymph's call may echo,
May be heard in field and hamlet,
To the joy of all that listen!
Let great Tapio's horn for ages
Ring throughout the fen and forest,
Through the hills and dales of Northland
O'er the meadows and the mountains,
To awaken song and gladness
In the forests of Wainola,
On the snowy plains of Suomi,
On the meads of Kalevala,
For the coming generations.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
433:The Kalevala - Rune Xvii
WAINAMOINEN FINDS THE LOST-WORD.
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Did not learn the words of magic
In Tuoni's gloomy regions,
In the kingdom of Manala.
Thereupon he long debated,
Well considered, long reflected,
Where to find the magic sayings;
When a shepherd came to meet him,
Speaking thus to Wainamoinen:
'Thou canst find of words a hundred,
Find a thousand wisdom-sayings,
In the mouth of wise Wipunen,
In the body of the hero;
To the spot I know the foot-path,
To his tomb the magic highway,
Trodden by a host of heroes;
Long the distance thou must travel,
On the sharpened points of needles;
Then a long way thou must journey
On the edges of the broadswords;
Thirdly thou must travel farther
On the edges of the hatchets.'
Wainamoinen, old and trustful,
Well considered all these journeys,
Travelled to the forge and smithy,
Thus addressed the metal-worker:
'Ilmarinen, worthy blacksmith,
Make a shoe for me of iron,
Forge me gloves of burnished copper,
Mold a staff of strongest metal,
Lay the steel upon the inside,
Forge within the might of magic;
I am going on a journey
To procure the magic sayings,
Find the lost-words of the Master,
From the mouth of the magician,
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From the tongue of wise Wipunen.'
Spake the artist, Ilmarinen:
'Long ago died wise Wipunen,
Disappeared these many ages,
Lays no more his snares of copper,
Sets no longer traps of iron,
Cannot learn from him the wisdom,
Cannot find in him the lost-words.'
Wainamoinen, old and hopeful,
Little heeding, not discouraged,
In his metal shoes and armor,
Hastens forward on his journey,
Runs the first day fleetly onward,
On the sharpened points of needles;
'Wearily he strides the second,
On the edges of the broadswords
Swings himself the third day forward,
On the edges of the hatchets.
Wise Wipunen, wisdom-singer,
Ancient bard, and great magician,
With his magic songs lay yonder,
Stretched beside him, lay his sayings,
On his shoulder grew the aspen,
On each temple grew the birch-tree,
On his mighty chin the alder,
From his beard grew willow-bushes,
From his mouth the dark green fir-tree,
And the oak-tree from his forehead.
Wainamoinen, coming closer,
Draws his sword, lays bare his hatchet
From his magic leathern scabbard,
Fells the aspen from his shoulder,
Fells the birch-tree from his temples,
From his chin he fells the alder,
From his beard, the branching willows,
From his mouth the dark-green fir-tree,
Fells the oak-tree from his forehead.
Now he thrusts his staff of iron
Through the mouth of wise Wipunen,
Pries his mighty jaws asunder,
Speaks these words of master-magic:
'Rise, thou master of magicians,
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From the sleep of Tuonela,
From thine everlasting slumber!'
Wise Wipunen, ancient singer,
Quickly wakens from his sleeping,
Keenly feels the pangs of torture,
From the cruel staff of iron;
Bites with mighty force the metal,
Bites in twain the softer iron,
Cannot bite the steel asunder,
Opens wide his mouth in anguish.
Wainamoinen of Wainola,
In his iron-shoes and armor,
Careless walking, headlong stumbles
In the spacious mouth and fauces
Of the magic bard, Wipunen.
Wise Wipunen, full of song-charms,
Opens wide his mouth and swallows
Wainamoinen and his magic,
Shoes, and staff, and iron armor.
Then outspeaks the wise Wipunen:
'Many things before I've eaten,
Dined on goat, and sheep, and reindeer,
Bear, and ox, and wolf, and wild-boar,
Never in my recollection,
Have I tasted sweeter morsels!'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Now I see the evil symbols,
See misfortune hanging o'er me,
In the darksome Hisi-hurdles,
In the catacombs of Kalma.'
Wainamoinen long considered
How to live and how to prosper,
How to conquer this condition.
In his belt he wore a poniard,
With a handle hewn from birch-wood,
From the handle builds a vessel,
Builds a boat through magic science;
In this vessel rows he swiftly
Through the entrails of the hero,
Rows through every gland and vessel
Of the wisest of magicians.
Old Wipunen, master-singer,
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Barely feels the hero's presence,
Gives no heed to Wainamoinen.
Then the artist of Wainola
Straightway sets himself to forging,
Sets at work to hammer metals;
Makes a smithy from his armor,
Of his sleeves he makes the bellows,
Makes the air-valve from his fur-coat,
From his stockings, makes the muzzle,
Uses knees instead of anvil,
Makes a hammer of his fore-arm;
Like the storm-wind roars the bellows,
Like the thunder rings the anvil;
Forges one day, then a second,
Forges till the third day closes,
In the body of Wipunen,
In the sorcerer's abdomen.
Old Wipunen, full of magic,
Speaks these words in wonder, guessing:
'Who art thou of ancient heroes,
Who of all the host of heroes?
Many heroes I have eaten,
And of men a countless number,
Have not eaten such as thou art;
Smoke arises from my nostrils,
From my mouth the fire is streaming,
In my throat are iron-clinkers.
'Go, thou monster, hence to wander,
Flee this place, thou plague of Northland,
Ere I go to seek thy mother,
Tell the ancient dame thy mischief;
She shall bear thine evil conduct,
Great the burden she shall carry;
Great a mother's pain and anguish,
When her child runs wild and lawless;
Cannot comprehend the meaning,
Nor this mystery unravel,
Why thou camest here, O monster,
Camest here to give me torture.
Art thou Hisi sent from heaven,
Some calamity from Ukko?
Art, perchance, some new creation,
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Ordered here to do me evil?
If thou art some evil genius,
Some calamity from Ukko,
Sent to me by my Creator,
Then am I resigned to suffer
God does not forsake the worthy,
Does not ruin those that trust him,
Never are the good forsaken.
If by man thou wert created,
If some hero sent thee hither,
I shall learn thy race of evil,
Shall destroy thy wicked tribe-folk.
'Thence arose the violation,
Thence arose the first destruction,
Thence came all the evil-doings:
From the neighborhood of wizards,
From the homes of the magicians,
From the eaves of vicious spirits,
From the haunts of fortune-tellers,
From the cabins of the witches,
From the castles of Tuoni,
From the bottom of Manala,
From the ground with envy swollen,
From Ingratitude's dominions,
From the rocky shoals and quicksands,
From the marshes filled with danger,
From the cataract's commotion,
From the bear-caves in the mountains,
From the wolves within the thickets,
From the roarings of the pine-tree,
From the burrows of the fox-dog,
From the woodlands of the reindeer,
From the eaves and Hisi-hurdles,
From the battles of the giants,
From uncultivated pastures,
From the billows of the oceans,
From the streams of boiling waters,
From the waterfalls of Rutya,
From the limits of the storm-clouds,
From the pathways of the thunders,
From the flashings of the lightnings,
From the distant plains of Pohya,
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From the fatal stream and whirlpool,
From the birthplace of Tuoni.
'Art thou coming from these places?
Hast thou, evil, hastened hither,
To the heart of sinless hero,
To devour my guiltless body,
To destroy this wisdom-singer?
Get thee hence, thou dog of Lempo,
Leave, thou monster from Manala,
Flee from mine immortal body,
Leave my liver, thing of evil,
In my body cease thy forging,
Cease this torture of my vitals,
Let me rest in peace and slumber.
'Should I want in means efficient,
Should I lack the magic power
To outroot thine evil genius,
I shall call a better hero,
Call upon a higher power,
To remove this dire misfortune,
To annihilate this monster.
I shall call the will of woman,
From the fields, the old-time heroes?
Mounted heroes from the sand-hills,
Thus to rescue me from danger,
From these pains and ceaseless tortures.
'If this force prove inefficient,
Should not drive thee from my body,
Come, thou forest, with thy heroes,
Come, ye junipers and pine-trees,
With your messengers of power,
Come, ye mountains, with your wood-nymphs,
Come, ye lakes, with all your mermaids,
Come, ye hundred ocean-spearmen,
Come, torment this son of Hisi,
Come and kill this evil monster.
'If this call is inefficient,
Does not drive thee from my vitals,
Rise, thou ancient water-mother,
With thy blue-cap from the ocean,
From the seas, the lakes, the rivers,
Bring protection to thy hero,
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Comfort bring and full assistance,
That I guiltless may not suffer,
May not perish prematurely.
'Shouldst thou brave this invocation,
Kapè, daughter of Creation,
Come, thou beauteous, golden maiden,
Oldest of the race of women,
Come and witness my misfortunes,
Come and turn away this evil,
Come, remove this biting torment,
Take away this plague of Piru.
'If this call be disregarded,
If thou wilt not leave me guiltless,
Ukko, on the arch of heaven,
In the thunder-cloud dominions,
Come thou quickly, thou art needed,
Come, protect thy tortured hero,
Drive away this magic demon,
Banish ever his enchantment,
With his sword and flaming furnace,
With his fire-enkindling bellows.
'Go, thou demon, hence to wander,
Flee, thou plague of Northland heroes;
Never come again for shelter,
Nevermore build thou thy dwelling
In the body of Wipunen;
Take at once thy habitation
To the regions of thy kindred,
To thy distant fields and firesides;
When thy journey thou hast ended,
Gained the borders of thy country,
Gained the meads of thy Creator,
Give a signal of thy coming,
Rumble like the peals of thunder,
Glisten like the gleam of lightning,
Knock upon the outer portals,
Enter through the open windows,
Glide about the many chambers,
Seize the host and seize the hostess,
Knock their evil beads together,
Wring their necks and hurl their bodies
To the black-dogs of the forest.
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'Should this prove of little value,
Hover like the bird of battle,
O'er the dwellings of the master,
Scare the horses from the mangers,
From the troughs affright the cattle,
Twist their tails, and horns, and forelocks,
Hurl their carcasses to Lempo.
'If some scourge the winds have sent me,
Sent me on the air of spring-tide,
Brought me by the frosts of winter,
Quickly journey whence thou camest,
On the air-path of the heavens,
Perching not upon some aspen,
Resting not upon the birch-tree;
Fly away to copper mountains,
That the copper-winds may nurse thee,
Waves of ether, thy protection.
'Didst those come from high Jumala,
From the hems of ragged snow-clouds,
Quick ascend beyond the cloud-space,
Quickly journey whence thou camest,
To the snow-clouds, crystal-sprinkled,
To the twinkling stars of heaven
There thy fire may burn forever,
There may flash thy forked lightnings,
In the Sun's undying furnace.
'Wert thou sent here by the spring-floods,
Driven here by river-torrents?
Quickly journey whence thou camest,
Quickly hasten to the waters,
To the borders of the rivers,
To the ancient water-mountain,
That the floods again may rock thee,
And thy water-mother nurse thee.
'Didst thou come from Kalma's kingdom,
From the castles of the death-land?
Haste thou back to thine own country,
To the Kalma-halls and castles,
To the fields with envy swollen,
Where contending armies perish.
'Art thou from the Hisi-woodlands,
From ravines in Lempo's forest,
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From the thickets of the pine-wood,
From the dwellings of the fir-glen?
Quick retrace thine evil footsteps
To the dwellings of thy master,
To the thickets of thy kindred;
There thou mayest dwell at pleasure,
Till thy house decays about thee,
Till thy walls shall mould and crumble.
Evil genius, thee I banish,
Got thee hence, thou horrid monster,
To the caverns of the white-bear,
To the deep abysm of serpents,
To the vales, and swamps, and fenlands,
To the ever-silent waters,
To the hot-springs of the mountains,
To the dead-seas of the Northland,
To the lifeless lakes and rivers,
To the sacred stream and whirlpool.
'Shouldst thou find no place of resting,
I will banish thee still farther,
To the Northland's distant borders,
To the broad expanse of Lapland,
To the ever-lifeless deserts,
To the unproductive prairies,
Sunless, moonless, starless, lifeless,
In the dark abyss of Northland;
This for thee, a place befitting,
Pitch thy tents and feast forever
On the dead plains of Pohyola.
'Shouldst thou find no means of living,
I will banish thee still farther,
To the cataract of Rutya,
To the fire-emitting whirlpool,
Where the firs are ever falling,
To the windfalls of the forest;
Swim hereafter in the waters
Of the fire-emitting whirlpool,
Whirl thou ever in the current
Of the cataract's commotion,
In its foam and boiling waters.
Should this place be unbefitting,
I will drive thee farther onward,
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To Tuoni's coal-black river,
To the endless stream of Mana,
Where thou shalt forever linger;
Thou canst never leave Manala,
Should I not thy head deliver,
Should I never pay thy ransom;
Thou canst never safely journey
Through nine brother-rams abutting,
Through nine brother-bulls opposing
Through nine brother-stallions thwarting,
Thou canst not re-cross Death-river
Thickly set with iron netting,
Interlaced with threads of copper.
'Shouldst thou ask for steeds for saddle,
Shouldst thou need a fleet-foot courser,
I will give thee worthy racers,
I will give thee saddle-horses;
Evil Hisi has a charger,
Crimson mane, and tail, and foretop,
Fire emitting from his nostrils,
As he prances through his pastures;
Hoofs are made of strongest iron,
Legs are made of steel and copper,
Quickly scales the highest mountains,
Darts like lightning through the valleys,
When a skilful master rides him.
'Should this steed be insufficient,
I will give thee Lempo's snow-shoes,
Give thee Hisi's shoes of elm-wood,
Give to thee the staff of Piru,
That with these thou mayest journey
Into Hisi's courts and castles,
To the woods and fields of Juutas;
If the rocks should rise before thee,
Dash the flinty rocks in pieces,
Hurl the fragments to the heavens;
If the branches cross thy pathway,
Make them turn aside in greeting;
If some mighty hero hail thee,
Hurl him headlong to the woodlands.
'Hasten hence, thou thing of evil,
Heinous monster, leave my body,
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Ere the breaking of the morning
Ere the Sun awakes from slumber,
Ere the sinning of the cuckoo;
Haste away, thou plague of Northland,
Haste along the track of' moonbeams,
Wander hence, forever wander,
To the darksome fields or Pohya.
'If at once thou dost not leave me,
I will send the eagle's talons,
Send to thee the beaks of vultures,
To devour thine evil body,
Hurl thy skeleton to Hisi.
Much more quickly cruel Lempo
Left my vitals when commanded,
When I called the aid of Ukko,
Called the help of my Creator.
Flee, thou motherless offendant,
Flee, thou fiend of Sariola,
Flee, thou hound without a master,
Ere the morning sun arises,
Ere the Moon withdraws to slumber!'
Wainamoinen, ancient hero,
Speaks at last to old Wipunen:
'Satisfied am I to linger
In these old and spacious caverns,
Pleasant here my home and dwelling;
For my meat I have thy tissues,
Have thy heart, and spleen, and liver,
For my drink the blood of ages,
Goodly home for Wainamoinen.
'I shall set my forge and bellows
Deeper, deeper in thy vitals;
I shall swing my heavy hammer,
Swing it with a greater power
On thy heart, and lungs, and liver;
I shall never, never leave thee
Till I learn thine incantations,
Learn thy many wisdom-sayings,
Learn the lost-words of the Master;
Never must these words be bidden,
Earth must never lose this wisdom,
Though the wisdom-singers perish.'
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Old Wipunen, wise magician,
Ancient prophet, filled with power,
Opens fall his store of knowledge,
Lifts the covers from his cases,
Filled with old-time incantations,
Filled with songs of times primeval,
Filled with ancient wit and wisdom;
Sings the very oldest folk-songs,
Sings the origin of witchcraft,
Sings of Earth and its beginning
Sings the first of all creations,
Sings the source of good and evil
Sung alas! by youth no longer,
Only sung in part by heroes
In these days of sin and sorrow.
Evil days our land befallen.
Sings the orders of enchantment.
How, upon the will of Ukko,
By command of the Creator,
How the air was first divided,
How the water came from ether,
How the earth arose from water,
How from earth came vegetation,
Fish, and fowl, and man, and hero.
Sings again the wise Wipunen,
How the Moon was first created,
How the Sun was set in heaven,
Whence the colors of the rainbow,
Whence the ether's crystal pillars,
How the skies with stars were sprinkled.
Then again sings wise Wipunen,
Sings in miracles of concord,
Sings in magic tones of wisdom,
Never was there heard such singing;
Songs he sings in countless numbers,
Swift his notes as tongues of serpents,
All the distant hills re-echo;
Sings one day, and then a second,
Sings a third from dawn till evening,
Sings from evening till the morning;
Listen all the stars of heaven,
And the Moon stands still and listens
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Fall the waves upon the deep-sea,
In the bay the tides cease rising,
Stop the rivers in their courses,
Stops the waterfall of Rutya,
Even Jordan ceases flowing,
And the Wuoksen stops and listens.
When the ancient Wainamoinen
Well had learned the magic sayings,
Learned the ancient songs and legends,
Learned the words of ancient wisdom,
Learned the lost-words of the Master,
Well had learned the secret doctrine,
He prepared to leave the body
Of the wisdom-bard, Wipunen,
Leave the bosom of the master,
Leave the wonderful enchanter.
Spake the hero, Wainamoinen:
'O, thou Antero Wipunen,
Open wide thy mouth and fauces,
I have found the magic lost-words,
I will leave thee now forever,
Leave thee and thy wondrous singing,
Will return to Kalevala,
To Wainola's fields and firesides.'
Thus Wipunen spake in answer:
'Many are the things I've eaten,
Eaten bear, and elk, and reindeer,
Eaten ox, and wolf, and wild-boar,
Eaten man, and eaten hero,
Never, never have I eaten
Such a thing as Wainamoinen;
Thou hast found what thou desirest,
Found the three words of the Master;
Go in peace, and ne'er returning,
Take my blessing on thy going.'
Thereupon the bard Wipunen
Opens wide his mouth, and wider;
And the good, old Wainamoinen
Straightway leaves the wise enchanter,
Leaves Wipunen's great abdomen;
From the mouth he glides and journeys
O'er the hills and vales of Northland,
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Swift as red-deer or the forest,
Swift as yellow-breasted marten,
To the firesides of Wainola,
To the plains of Kalevala.
Straightway hastes he to the smithy
Of his brother, Ilmarinen,
Thus the iron-artist greets him:
Hast thou found the long-lost wisdom,
Hast thou heard the secret doctrine,
Hast thou learned the master magic,
How to fasten in the ledges,
How the stern should be completed,
How complete the ship's forecastle?
Wainamoinen thus made answer:
'I have learned of words a hundred,
Learned a thousand incantations,
Hidden deep for many ages,
Learned the words of ancient wisdom,
Found the keys of secret doctrine,
Found the lost-words of the Master.'
Wainamoinen, magic-builder,
Straightway journeys to his vessel,
To the spot of magic labor,
Quickly fastens in the ledges,
Firmly binds the stern together
And completes the boat's forecastle.
Thus the ancient Wainamoinen
Built the boat with magic only,
And with magic launched his vessel,
Using not the hand to touch it,
Using not the foot to move it,
Using not the knee to turn it,
Using nothing to propel it.
Thus the third task was completed,
For the hostess of Pohyola,
Dowry for the Maid of Beauty
Sitting on the arch of heaven,
On the bow of many colors.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
434:The Kalevala - Rune L
MARIATTA--WAINAMOINEN'S DEPARTURE.
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Grew to maidenhood in Northland,
In the cabin of her father,
In the chambers of her mother,
Golden ringlets, silver girdles,
Worn against the keys paternal,
Glittering upon her bosom;
Wore away the father's threshold
With the long robes of her garments;
Wore away the painted rafters
With her beauteous silken ribbons;
Wore away the gilded pillars
With the touching of her fingers;
Wore away the birchen flooring
With the tramping of her fur-shoes.
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Magic maid of little stature,
Guarded well her sacred virtue,
Her sincerity and honor,
Fed upon the dainty whiting,
On the inner bark of birch-wood,
On the tender flesh of lambkins.
When she hastened in the evening
To her milking in the hurdles,
Spake in innocence as follows:
'Never will the snow-white virgin
Milk the kine of one unworthy!'
When she journeyed over snow-fields,
On the seat beside her father,
Spake in purity as follows:
'Not behind a steed unworthy
Will I ever ride the snow-sledge!'
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Lived a virgin with her mother,
As a maiden highly honored,
Lived in innocence and beauty,
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Daily drove her flocks to pasture,
Walking with the gentle lambkins.
When the lambkins climbed the mountains,
When they gamboled on the hill-tops,
Stepped the virgin to the meadow,
Skipping through a grove of lindens,
At the calling of the cuckoo,
To the songster's golden measures.
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Looked about, intently listened,
Sat upon the berry-meadow
Sat awhile, and meditated
On a hillock by the forest,
And soliloquized as follows:
'Call to me, thou golden cuckoo,
Sing, thou sacred bird of Northland,
Sing, thou silver breasted songster,
Speak, thou strawberry of Ehstland,
Tell bow long must I unmarried,
As a shepherdess neglected,
Wander o'er these bills and mountains,
Through these flowery fens and fallows.
Tell me, cuckoo of the woodlands,
Sing to me how many summers
I must live without a husband,
As a shepherdess neglected!'
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Lived a shepherd-maid for ages,
As a virgin with her mother.
Wretched are the lives of shepherds,
Lives of maidens still more wretched,
Guarding flocks upon the mountains;
Serpents creep in bog and stubble,
On the greensward dart the lizards;
But it was no serpent singing,
Nor a sacred lizard calling,
It was but the mountain-berry
Calling to the lonely maiden:
'Come, O virgin, come and pluck me,
Come and take me to thy bosom,
Take me, tinsel-breasted virgin,
Take me, maiden, copper-belted,
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Ere the slimy snail devours me,
Ere the black-worm feeds upon me.
Hundreds pass my way unmindful,
Thousands come within my hearing,
Berry-maidens swarm about me,
Children come in countless numbers,
None of these has come to gather,
Come to pluck this ruddy berry.'
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Listened to its gentle pleading,
Ran to pick the berry, calling,
With her fair and dainty fingers,.
Saw it smiling near the meadow,
Like a cranberry in feature,
Like a strawberry in flavor;
But be Virgin, Mariatta,
Could not pluck the woodland-stranger,
Thereupon she cut a charm-stick,
Downward pressed upon the berry,
When it rose as if by magic,
Rose above her shoes of ermine,
Then above her copper girdle,
Darted upward to her bosom,
Leaped upon the maiden's shoulder,
On her dimpled chin it rested,
On her lips it perched a moment,
Hastened to her tongue expectant
To and fro it rocked and lingered,
Thence it hastened on its journey,
Settled in the maiden's bosom.
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Thus became a bride impregnate,
Wedded to the mountain-berry;
Lingered in her room at morning,
Sat at midday in the darkness,
Hastened to her couch at evening.
Thus the watchful mother wonders:
'What has happened to our Mary,
To our virgin, Mariatta,
That she throws aside her girdle,
Shyly slips through hall and chamber,
Lingers in her room at morning,
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Hastens to her couch at evening,
Sits at midday in the darkness?'
On the floor a babe was playing,
And the young child thus made answer:
'This has happened to our Mary,
To our virgin, Mariatta,
This misfortune to the maiden:
She has lingered by the meadows,
Played too long among the lambkins,
Tasted of the mountain-berry.'
Long the virgin watched and waited,
Anxiously the days she counted,
Waiting for the dawn of trouble.
Finally she asked her mother,
These the words of Mariatta:
'Faithful mother, fond and tender,
Mother whom I love and cherish,
Make for me a place befitting,
Where my troubles may be lessened,
And my heavy burdens lightened.'
This the answer of the mother:
'Woe to thee, thou Hisi-maiden,
Since thou art a bride unworthy,
Wedded only to dishonor!'
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Thus replied in truthful measures:
'I am not a maid of Hisi,
I am not a bride unworthy,
Am not wedded to dishonor;
As a shepherdess I wandered
With the lambkins to the glen-wood,
Wandered to the berry-mountain,
Where the strawberry had ripened;
Quick as thought I plucked the berry,
On my tongue I gently laid it,
To and fro it rocked and lingered,
Settled in my heaving bosom.
This the source of all my trouble,
Only cause of my dishonor!'
As the mother was relentless,
Asked the maiden of her father,
This the virgin-mother's pleading:
71
O my father, full of pity,
Source of both my good and evil,
Build for me a place befitting,
Where my troubles may be lessened,
And my heavy burdens lightened.'
This the answer of the father,
Of the father unforgiving:
'Go, thou evil child of Hisi,
Go, thou child of sin and sorrow,
Wedded only to dishonor,
To the Great Bear's rocky chamber,
To the stone-cave of the growler,
There to lessen all thy troubles,
There to cast thy heavy burdens!'
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Thus made answer to her father:
'I am not a child of Hisi,
I am not a bride unworthy,
Am not wedded to dishonor;
I shall bear a noble hero,
I shall bear a son immortal,
Who will rule among the mighty,
Rule the ancient Wainamoinen.'
Thereupon the virgin-mother
Wandered hither, wandered thither,
Seeking for a place befitting,
Seeking for a worthy birth-place
For her unborn son and hero;
Finally these words she uttered
'Piltti, thou my youngest maiden,
Trustiest of all my servants,
Seek a place within the village,
Ask it of the brook of Sara,
For the troubled Mariatta,
Child of sorrow and misfortune.'
Thereupon the little maiden,
Piltti, spake these words in answer:
'Whom shall I entreat for succor,
Who will lend me his assistance?
These the words of Mariatta:
'Go and ask it of Ruotus,
Where the reed-brook pours her waters.'
72
Thereupon the servant, Piltti,
Ever hopeful, ever willing,
Hastened to obey her mistress,
Needing not her exhortation;
Hastened like the rapid river,
Like the flying smoke of battle
To the cabin of Ruotus.
When she walked the hill-tops tottered,
When she ran the mountains trembled;
Shore-reeds danced upon the pasture,
Sandstones skipped about the heather
As the maiden, Piltti, hastened
To the dwelling of Ruotus.
At his table in his cabin
Sat Ruotus, eating, drinking,
In his simple coat of linen.
With his elbows on the table
Spake the wizard in amazement:
'Why hast thou, a maid of evil,
Come to see me in my cavern,
What the message thou art bringing?
Thereupon the servant, Piltti,
Gave this answer to the wizard:
'Seek I for a spot befitting,
Seek I for a worthy birth-place,
For an unborn child and hero;
Seek it near the Sara-streamlet,
Where the reed-brook pours her waters.
Came the wife of old Ruotus,
Walking with her arms akimbo,
Thus addressed the maiden, Piltti:
'Who is she that asks assistance,
Who the maiden thus dishonored,
What her name, and who her kindred?'
'I have come for Mariatta,
For the worthy virgin-mother.'
Spake the wife of old Ruotus,
Evil-minded, cruel-hearted:
'Occupied are all our chambers,
All our bath-rooms near the reed-brook;
in the mount of fire are couches,
is a stable in the forest,
73
For the flaming horse of Hisi;
In the stable is a manger
Fitting birth-place for the hero
From the wife of cold misfortune,
Worthy couch for Mariatta!'
Thereupon the servant, Piltti,
Hastened to her anxious mistress,
Spake these measures, much regretting.
'There is not a place befitting,
on the silver brook of Sara.
Spake the wife of old Ruotus:
'Occupied are all the chambers,
All the bath-rooms near the reed-brook;
In the mount of fire are couches,
Is a stable, in the forest,
For the flaming horse of Hisi;
In the stable is a manger,
Fitting birth-place for the hero
From the wife of cold misfortune,
Worthy couch for Mariatta.''
Thereupon the hapless maiden,
Mariatta, virgin-mother,
Fell to bitter tears and murmurs,
Spake these words in depths of sorrow:
'I, alas! must go an outcast,
Wander as a wretched hireling,
Like a servant in dishonor,
Hasten to the burning mountain,
To the stable in the forest,
Make my bed within a manger,
Near the flaming steed of Hisi!'
Quick the hapless virgin-mother,
Outcast from her father's dwelling,
Gathered up her flowing raiment,
Grasped a broom of birchen branches,
Hastened forth in pain and sorrow
To the stable in the woodlands,
On the heights of Tapio's mountains,
Spake these words in supplication:
'Come, I pray thee, my Creator,
Only friend in times of trouble,
Come to me and bring protection
74
To thy child, the virgin-mother,
To the maiden, Mariatta,
In this hour of sore affliction.
Come to me, benignant Ukko,
Come, thou only hope and refuge,
Lest thy guiltless child should perish,
Die the death of the unworthy!'
When the virgin, Mariatta,
Had arrived within the stable
Of the flaming horse of Hisi,
She addressed the steed as follows:
'Breathe, O sympathizing fire-horse,
Breathe on me, the virgin-mother,
Let thy heated breath give moisture,
Let thy pleasant warmth surround me,
Like the vapor of the morning;
Let this pure and helpless maiden
Find a refuge in thy manger!'
Thereupon the horse, in pity,
Breathed the moisture of his nostrils
On the body of the virgin,
Wrapped her in a cloud of vapor,
Gave her warmth and needed comforts,
Gave his aid to the afflicted,
To the virgin, Mariatta.
There the babe was born and cradled
Cradled in a woodland-manger,
Of the virgin, Mariatta,
Pure as pearly dews of morning,
Holy as the stars in heaven.
There the mother rocks her infant,
In his swaddling clothes she wraps him,
Lays him in her robes of linen;
Carefully the babe she nurtures,
Well she guards her much-beloved,
Guards her golden child of beauty,
Her beloved gem of silver.
But alas! the child has vanished,
Vanished while the mother slumbered.
Mariatta, lone and wretched,
Fell to weeping, broken-hearted,
Hastened off to seek her infant.
75
Everywhere the mother sought him,
Sought her golden child of beauty,
Her beloved gem of silver;
Sought him underneath the millstone,
In the sledge she sought him vainly,
Underneath the sieve she sought him,
Underneath the willow-basket,
Touched the trees, the grass she parted,
Long she sought her golden infant,
Sought him on the fir-tree-mountain,
In the vale, and hill, and heather;
Looks within the clumps of flowers,
Well examines every thicket,
Lifts the juniper and willow,
Lifts the branches of the alder.
Lo! a star has come to meet her,
And the star she thus beseeches-.
'O, thou guiding-star of Northland,
Star of hope, by God created,
Dost thou know and wilt thou tell me
Where my darling child has wandered,
Where my holy babe lies hidden?'
Thus the star of Northland answers:
'If I knew, I would not tell thee;
'Tis thy child that me created,
Set me here to watch at evening,
In the cold to shine forever,
Here to twinkle in the darkness.'
Comes the golden Moon to meet her,
And the Moon she thus beseeches:
'Golden Moon, by Ukko fashioned,
Hope and joy of Kalevala,
Dost thou know and wilt thou tell me
Where my darling child has wandered,
Where my holy babe lies hidden?
Speaks the golden Moon in answer:
'If I knew I would not tell thee;
'Tis thy child that me created,
Here to wander in the darkness,
All alone at eve to wander
On my cold and cheerless journey,
Sleeping only in the daylight,
76
Shining for the good of others.'
Thereupon the virgin-mother
Falls again to bitter weeping,
Hastens on through fen and forest,
Seeking for her babe departed.
Comes the silver Sun to meet her,
And the Sun she thus addresses:
'Silver Sun by Ukko fashioned,
Source of light and life to Northland,
Dost thou know and wilt thou tell me
Where my darling child has wandered,
Where my holy babe lies hidden?'
Wisely does the Sun make answer:
'Well I know thy babe's dominions,
Where thy holy child is sleeping,
Where Wainola's light lies hidden;
'Tis thy child that me created,
Made me king of earth and ether,
Made the Moon and Stars attend me,
Set me here to shine at midday,
Makes me shine in silver raiment,
Lets me sleep and rest at evening;
Yonder is thy golden infant,
There thy holy babe lies sleeping,
Hidden to his belt in water,
Hidden in the reeds and rushes.'
Mariatta, child of beauty,
Virgin-mother of the Northland,
Straightway seeks her babe in Swamp-land,
Finds him in the reeds and rushes;
Takes the young child on her bosom
To the dwelling of her father.
There the infant grew in beauty,
Gathered strength, and light, and wisdom,
All of Suomi saw and wondered.
No one knew what name to give him;
When the mother named him, Flower,
Others named him, Son-of-Sorrow.
When the virgin, Mariatta,
Sought the priesthood to baptize him,
Came an old man, Wirokannas,
With a cup of holy water,
77
Bringing to the babe his blessing;
And the gray-beard spake as follows:
'I shall not baptize a wizard,
Shall not bless a black-magician
With the drops of holy water;
Let the young child be examined,
Let us know that he is worthy,
Lest he prove the son of witchcraft.'
Thereupon old Wirokannas
Called the ancient Wainamoinen,
The eternal wisdom-singer,
To inspect the infant-wonder,
To report him good or evil.
Wainamoinen, old and faithful,
Carefully the child examined,
Gave this answer to his people:
'Since the child is but an outcast,
Born and cradled in a manger,
Since the berry is his father;
Let him lie upon the heather,
Let him sleep among the rushes,
Let him live upon the mountains;
Take the young child to the marshes,
Dash his head against the birch-tree.'
Then the child of Mariatta,
Only two weeks old, made answer:
'O, thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Son of Folly and Injustice,
Senseless hero of the Northland,
Falsely hast thou rendered judgment.
In thy years, for greater follies,
Greater sins and misdemeanors,
Thou wert not unjustly punished.
In thy former years of trouble,
When thou gavest thine own brother,
For thy selfish life a ransom,
Thus to save thee from destruction,
Then thou wert not sent to Swamp-land
To be murdered for thy follies.
In thy former years of sorrow,
When the beauteous Aino perished
In the deep and boundless blue-sea,
78
To escape thy persecutions,
Then thou wert not evil-treated,
Wert not banished by thy people.'
Thereupon old Wirokannas,
Of the wilderness the ruler,
Touched the child with holy water,
Crave the wonder-babe his blessing,
Gave him rights of royal heirship,
Free to live and grow a hero,
To become a mighty ruler,
King and Master of Karyala.
As the years passed Wainamoinen
Recognized his waning powers,
Empty-handed, heavy-hearted,
Sang his farewell song to Northland,
To the people of Wainola;
Sang himself a boat of copper,
Beautiful his bark of magic;
At the helm sat the magician,
Sat the ancient wisdom-singer.
Westward, westward, sailed the hero
O'er the blue-back of the waters,
Singing as he left Wainola,
This his plaintive song and echo:
'Suns may rise and set in Suomi,
Rise and set for generations,
When the North will learn my teachings,
Will recall my wisdom-sayings,
Hungry for the true religion.
Then will Suomi need my coming,
Watch for me at dawn of morning,
That I may bring back the Sampo,
Bring anew the harp of joyance,
Bring again the golden moonlight,
Bring again the silver sunshine,
Peace and plenty to the Northland.'
Thus the ancient Wainamoinen,
In his copper-banded vessel,
Left his tribe in Kalevala,
Sailing o'er the rolling billows,
Sailing through the azure vapors,
Sailing through the dusk of evening,
79
Sailing to the fiery sunset,
To the higher-landed regions,
To the lower verge of heaven;
Quickly gained the far horizon,
Gained the purple-colored harbor.
There his bark be firmly anchored,
Rested in his boat of copper;
But be left his harp of magic,
Left his songs and wisdom-sayings,
To the lasting joy of Suomi.
EPILOGUE.
Now I end my measured singing,
Bid my weary tongue keep silence,
Leave my songs to other singers.
Horses have their times of resting
After many hours of labor;
Even sickles will grow weary
When they have been long at reaping;
Waters seek a quiet haven
After running long in rivers;
Fire subsides and sinks in slumber
At the dawning of the morning
Therefore I should end my singing,
As my song is growing weary,
For the pleasure of the evening,
For the joy of morn arising.
Often I have heard it chanted,
Often heard the words repeated:
'Worthy cataracts and rivers
Never empty all their waters.'
Thus the wise and worthy singer
Sings not all his garnered wisdom;
Better leave unsung some sayings
Than to sing them out of season.
Thus beginning, and thus ending,
Do I roll up all my legends,
Roll them in a ball for safety,
In my memory arrange them,
In their narrow place of resting,
Lest the songs escape unheeded,
While the lock is still unopened,
While the teeth remain unparted,
80
And the weary tongue is silent.
Why should I sing other legends,
Chant them in the glen and forest,
Sing them on the hill and heather?
Cold and still my golden mother
Lies beneath the meadow, sleeping,
Hears my ancient songs no longer,
Cannot listen to my singing;
Only will the forest listen,
Sacred birches, sighing pine-trees,
Junipers endowed with kindness,
Alder-trees that love to bear me,
With the aspens and the willows.
When my loving mother left me,
Young was I, and low of stature;
Like the cuckoo of the forest,
Like the thrush upon the heather,
Like the lark I learned to twitter,
Learned to sing my simple measures,
Guided by a second mother,
Stern and cold, without affection;
Drove me helpless from my chamber
To the wind-side of her dwelling,
To the north-side of her cottage,
Where the chilling winds in mercy
Carried off the unprotected.
As a lark I learned to wander,
Wander as a lonely song-bird,
Through the forests and the fenlands
Quietly o'er hill and heather;
Walked in pain about the marshes,
Learned the songs of winds and waters,
Learned the music of the ocean,
And the echoes of the woodlands.
Many men that live to murmur,
Many women live to censure,
Many speak with evil motives;
Many they with wretched voices
Curse me for my wretched singing,
Blame my tongue for speaking wisdom,
Call my ancient songs unworthy,
Blame the songs and curse the singer.
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Be not thus, my worthy people,
Blame me not for singing badly,
Unpretending as a minstrel.
I have never had the teaching,
Never lived with ancient heroes,
Never learned the tongues of strangers,
Never claimed to know much wisdom.
Others have had language-masters,
Nature was my only teacher,
Woods and waters my instructors.
Homeless, friendless, lone, and needy,
Save in childhood with my mother,
When beneath her painted rafters,
Where she twirled the flying spindle,
By the work-bench of my brother,
By the window of my sister,
In. the cabin of my father,
In my early days of childhood.
Be this as it may, my people,
This may point the way to others,
To the singers better gifted,
For the good of future ages,
For the coming generations,
For the rising folk of Suomi.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
435:The Kalevala - Rune Xxix
THE ISLE OF REFUGE.
Lemminkainen, full of joyance,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
Took provisions in abundance,
Fish and butter, bread and bacon,
Hastened to the Isle of Refuge,
Sailed away across the oceans,
Spake these measures on departing:
'Fare thee well, mine Island-dwelling,
I must sail to other borders,
To an island more protective,
Till the second summer passes;
Let the serpents keep the island,
Lynxes rest within the glen-wood,
Let the blue-moose roam the mountains,
Let the wild-geese cat the barley.
Fare thee well, my helpful mother!
When the warriors of the Northland,
From the dismal Sariola,
Come with swords, and spears, and cross-bows,
Asking for my head in vengeance,
Say that I have long departed,
Left my mother's Island-dwelling,
When the barley had been garnered.'
Then he launched his boat of copper,
Threw the vessel to the waters,
From the iron-banded rollers,
From the cylinders of oak-wood,
On the masts the sails he hoisted,
Spread the magic sails of linen,
In the stern the hero settled
And prepared to sail his vessel,
One hand resting on the rudder.
Then the sailor spake as follows,
These the words of Lemminkainen:
'Blow, ye winds, and drive me onward,
Blow ye steady, winds of heaven,
409
Toward the island in the ocean,
That my bark may fly in safety
To my father's place of refuge,
To the far and nameless island!'
Soon the winds arose as bidden,
Rocked the vessel o'er the billows,
O'er the blue-back of the waters,
O'er the vast expanse of ocean;
Blew two months and blew unceasing,
Blew a third month toward the island,
Toward his father's Isle of Refuge.
Sat some maidens on the seaside,
On the sandy beach of ocean,
Turned about in all directions,
Looking out upon the billows;
One was waiting for her brother,
And a second for her father,
And a third one, anxious, waited
For the, coming of her suitor;
There they spied young Lemminkainen,
There perceived the hero's vessel
Sailing o'er the bounding billows;
It was like a hanging cloudlet,
Hanging twixt the earth and heaven.
Thus the island-maidens wondered,
Thus they spake to one another:
'What this stranger on the ocean,
What is this upon the waters?
Art thou one of our sea-vessels?
Wert thou builded on this island?
Sail thou straightway to the harbor,
To the island-point of landing
That thy tribe may be discovered.'
Onward did the waves propel it,
Rocked his vessel o'er the billows,
Drove it to the magic island,
Safely landed Lemminkainen
On the sandy shore and harbor.
Spake he thus when he had landed,
These the words that Ahti uttered:
'Is there room upon this island,
Is there space within this harbor,
410
Where my bark may lie at anchor,
Where the sun may dry my vessel?'
This the answer of the virgins,
Dwellers on the Isle of Refuge:
'There is room within this harbor,
On this island, space abundant,
Where thy bark may lie at anchor,
Where the sun may dry thy vessel;
Lying ready are the rollers,
Cylinders adorned with copper;
If thou hadst a hundred vessels,
Shouldst thou come with boats a thousand,
We would give them room in welcome.'
Thereupon wild Lemminkainen
Rolled his vessel in the harbor,
On the cylinders of copper,
Spake these words when he had ended:
'Is there room upon this island,
Or a spot within these forests,
Where a hero may be hidden
From the coming din of battle,
From the play of spears and arrows?
Thus replied the Island-maidens:
'There are places on this island,
On these plains a spot befitting
Where to hide thyself in safety,
Hero-son of little valor.
Here are many, many castles,
Many courts upon this island;
Though there come a thousand heroes,
Though a thousand spearmen. follow,
Thou canst hide thyself in safety.'
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen:
'Is there room upon this island,
Where the birch-tree grows abundant,
Where this son may fell the forest,
And may cultivate the fallow? '
Answered thus the Island-maidens:
'There is not a spot befitting,
Not a place upon the island,
Where to rest thy wearied members,
Not the smallest patch of birch-wood,
411
Thou canst bring to cultivation.
All our fields have been divided,
All these woods have been apportioned,
Fields and forests have their owners.'
Lemminkainen asked this question,
These the words of Kaukomieli:
'Is there room upon this island,
Worthy spot in field or forest,
Where to Sing my songs of magic,
Chant my gathered store of wisdom,
Sing mine ancient songs and legends?'
Answered thus the Island-maidens:
'There is room upon this island,
Worthy place in these dominions,
Thou canst sing thy garnered wisdom,
Thou canst chant thine ancient legends,
Legends of the times primeval,
In the forest, in the castle,
On the island-plains and pastures.'
Then began the reckless minstrel
To intone his wizard-sayings;
Sang he alders to the waysides,
Sang the oaks upon the mountains,
On the oak-trees sang be branches,
On each branch he sang an acorn,
On the acorns, golden rollers,
On each roller, sang a cuckoo;
Then began the cuckoos, calling,
Gold from every throat came streaming,
Copper fell from every feather,
And each wing emitted silver,
Filled the isle with precious metals.
Sang again young Lemminkainen,
Conjured on, and sang, and chanted,
Sang to precious stones the sea-sands,
Sang the stones to pearls resplendent,
Robed the groves in iridescence,
Sang the island full of flowers,
Many-colored as the rainbow.
Sang again the magic minstrel,
In the court a well he conjured,
On the well a golden cover,
412
On the lid a silver dipper,
That the boys might drink the water,
That the maids might lave their eyelids.
On the plains he conjured lakelets,
Sang the duck upon the waters,
Golden-cheeked and silver-headed,
Sang the feet from shining copper;
And the Island-maidens wondered,
Stood entranced at Ahti's wisdom,
At the songs of Lemminkainen,
At the hero's magic power.
Spake the singer, Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli:
'I would sing a wondrous legend,
Sing in miracles of sweetness,
If within some hall or chamber,
I were seated at the table.
If I sing not in the castle,
In some spot by walls surrounded
Then I sing my songs to zephyrs,
Fling them to the fields and forests.'
Answered thus the Island-maidens:
'On this isle are castle-chambers,
Halls for use of magic singers,
Courts complete for chanting legends,
Where thy singing will be welcome,
Where thy songs will not be scattered
To the forests of the island,
Nor thy wisdom lost in ether.'
Straightway Lemminkainen journeyed
With the maidens to the castle;
There he sang and conjured pitchers
On the borders of the tables,
Sang and conjured golden goblets
Foaming with the beer of barley;
Sang he many well-filled vessels,
Bowls of honey-drink abundant,
Sweetest butter, toothsome biscuit,
Bacon, fish, and veal, and venison,
All the dainties of the Northland,
Wherewithal to still his hunger.
But the proud-heart, Lemminkainen,
413
Was not ready for the banquet,
Did not yet begin his feasting,
Waited for a knife of silver,
For a knife of golden handle;
Quick he sang the precious metals,
Sang a blade from purest silver,
To the blade a golden handle,
Straightway then began his feasting,
Quenched his thirst and stilled his hunger,
Charmed the maidens on the island.
Then the minstrel, Lemminkainen,
Roamed throughout the island-hamlets,
To the joy of all the virgins,
All the maids of braided tresses;
Wheresoe'er he turned his footsteps,
There appeared a maid to greet him;
When his hand was kindly offered,
There his band was kindly taken;
When he wandered out at evening,
Even in the darksome places,
There the maidens bade him welcome;
There was not an island-village
Where there were not seven castles,
In each castle seven daughters,
And the daughters stood in waiting,
Gave the hero joyful greetings,
Only one of all the maidens
Whom he did not greet with pleasure.
Thus the merry Lemminkainen
Spent three summers in the ocean,
Spent a merry time in refuge,
In the hamlets on the island,
To the pleasure of the maidens,
To the joy of all the daughters;
Only one was left neglected,
She a poor and graceless spinster,
On the isle's remotest border,
In the smallest of the hamlets.
'Then he thought about his journey
O'er the ocean to his mother,
To the cottage of his father.
There appeared the slighted spinster,
414
To the Northland son departing,
Spake these words to Lemminkainen:
'O, thou handsome Kaukomieli,
Wisdom-bard, and magic singer,
Since this maiden thou hast slighted,
May the winds destroy thy vessel,
Dash thy bark to countless fragments
On the ocean-rocks and ledges!'
Lemminkainen's thoughts were homeward,
Did not heed the maiden's murmurs,
Did not rise before the dawning
Of the morning on the island,
To the pleasure of the maiden
Of the much-neglected hamlet.
Finally at close of evening,
He resolved to leave the island,
He resolved to waken early,
Long before the dawn of morning;
Long before the time appointed,
He arose that he might wander
Through the hamlets of the island,
Bid adieu to all the maidens,
On the morn of his departure.
As he wandered hither, thither,
Walking through the village path-ways
To the last of all the hamlets;
Saw he none of all the castle-,
Where three dwellings were not standing;
Saw he none of all the dwellings
Where three heroes were not watching;
Saw he none of all the heroes,
Who was not engaged in grinding
Swords, and spears, and battle-axes,
For the death of Lemminkainen.
And these words the hero uttered:
'Now alas! the Sun arises
From his couch within the ocean,
On the frailest of the heroes,
On the saddest child of Northland;
On my neck the cloak of Lempo
Might protect me from all evil,
Though a hundred foes assail me,
415
Though a thousand archers follow.'
Then he left the maids ungreeted,
Left his longing for the daughters
Of the nameless Isle of Refuge,
With his farewell-words unspoken,
Hastened toward the island-harbor,
Toward his magic bark at anchor;
But he found it burned to ashes,
Sweet revenge had fired his vessel,
Lighted by the slighted spinster.
Then he saw the dawn of evil,
Saw misfortune hanging over,
Saw destruction round about him.
Straightway he began rebuilding
Him a magic sailing-vessel,
New and wondrous, full of beauty;
But the hero needed timber,
Boards, and planks, and beams, and braces,
Found the smallest bit of lumber,
Found of boards but seven fragments,
Of a spool he found three pieces,
Found six pieces of the distaff;
With these fragments builds his vessel,
Builds a ship of magic virtue,
Builds the bark with secret knowledge,
Through the will of the magician;
Strikes one blow, and builds the first part,
Strikes a second, builds the centre,
Strikes a third with wondrous power,
And the vessel is completed.
Thereupon the ship he launches,
Sings the vessel to the ocean,
And these words the hero utters:
'Like a bubble swim these waters,
Like a flower ride the billows;
Loan me of thy magic feathers,
Three, O eagle, four, O raven,
For protection to my vessel,
Lest it flounder in the ocean!'
Now the sailor, Lemminkainen,
Seats himself upon the bottom
Of the vessel he has builded,
416
Hastens on his journey homeward,
Head depressed and evil-humored,
Cap awry upon his forehead,
Mind dejected, heavy-hearted,
That he could not dwell forever
In the castles of the daughters
Of the nameless Isle of Refuge.
Spake the minstrel, Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli:
'Leave I must this merry island,
Leave her many joys and pleasures,
Leave her maids with braided tresses,
Leave her dances and her daughters,
To the joys of other heroes;
But I take this comfort with me:
All the maidens on the island,
Save the spinster who was slighted,
Will bemoan my loss for ages,
Will regret my quick departure;
They will miss me at the dances,
In the halls of mirth and joyance,
In the homes of merry maidens,
On my father's Isle of Refuge.'
Wept the maidens on the island,
Long lamenting, loudly calling
To the hero sailing homeward:
'Whither goest, Lemminkainen,
Why depart, thou best of heroes?
Dost thou leave from inattention,
Is there here a dearth of maidens,
Have our greetings been unworthy?'
Sang the magic Lemminkainen
To the maids as he was sailing,
This in answer to their calling:
'Leaving not for want of pleasure,
Do not go from dearth of women
Beautiful the island-maidens,
Countless as the sands their virtues.
This the reason of my going,
I am longing for my home-land,
Longing for my mother's cabins,
For the strawberries of Northland,
417
For the raspberries of Kalew,
For the maidens of my childhood,
For the children of my mother.'
Then the merry Lemminkainen
Bade farewell to all the island;
Winds arose and drove his vessel
On the blue-back of the ocean,
O'er the far-extending waters,
Toward the island of his mother.
On the shore were grouped the daughters
Of the magic Isle of Refuge,
On the rocks sat the forsaken,
Weeping stood the island-maidens,
Golden daughters, loud-lamenting.
Weep the maidens of the island
While the sail-yards greet their vision,
While the copper-beltings glisten;
Do not weep to lose the sail-yards,
Nor to lose the copper-beltings;
Weep they for the loss of Ahti,
For the fleeing Kaukomieli
Guiding the departing vessel.
Also weeps young Lemminkainen,
Sorely weeps, and loud-lamenting,
Weeps while he can see the island,
While the island hill-tops glisten;
Does not mourn the island-mountains,
Weeps he only for the maidens,
Left upon the Isle of Refuge.
Thereupon sailed Kaukomieli
On the blue-back of the ocean;
Sailed one day, and then a second,
But, alas! upon the third day,
There arose a mighty storm-wind,
And the sky was black with fury.
Blew the black winds from the north-west,
From the south-east came the whirlwind,
Tore away the ship's forecastle,
Tore away the vessel's rudder,
Dashed the wooden hull to pieces.
Thereupon wild Lemminkainen
Headlong fell upon the waters;
418
With his head he did the steering,
With his hands and feet, the rowing;
Swam whole days and nights unceasing,
Swam with hope and strength united,
Till at last appeared a cloudlet,
Growing cloudlet to the westward,
Changing to a promontory,
Into land within the ocean.
Swiftly to the shore swam Ahti,
Hastened to a magic castle,
Found therein a hostess baking,
And her daughters kneading barley,
And these words the hero uttered:
'O, thou hostess, filled with kindness,
Couldst thou know my pangs of hunger,
Couldst thou guess my name and station,
Thou wouldst hasten to the storehouse,
Bring me beer and foaming liquor,
Bring the best of thy provisions,
Bring me fish, and veal, and bacon,
Butter, bread, and honeyed biscuits,
Set for me a wholesome dinner,
Wherewithal to still my hunger,
Quench the thirst of Lemminkainen.
Days and nights have I been swimming,
Buffeting the waves of ocean,
Seemed as if the wind protected,
And the billows gave me shelter,'
Then the hostess, filled with kindness,
Hastened to the mountain storehouse,
Cut some butter, veal, and bacon,
Bread, and fish, and honeyed biscuit,
Brought the best of her provisions,
Brought the mead and beer of barley,
Set for him a toothsome dinner,
Wherewithal to still his hunger,
Quench the thirst of Lemminkainen.
When the hero's feast had ended,
Straightway was a magic vessel
Given by the kindly hostess
To the weary Kaukomieli,
Bark of beauty, new and hardy,
419
Wherewithal to aid the stranger
In his journey to his home-land,
To the cottage of his mother.
Quickly sailed wild Lemminkainen
On the blue-back of the ocean;
Sailed he days and nights unceasing,
Till at last he reached the borders
Of his own loved home and country;
There beheld he scenes familiar,
Saw the islands, capes, and rivers,
Saw his former shipping-stations,
Saw he many ancient landmarks,
Saw the mountains with their fir-trees,
Saw the pine-trees on the hill-tops,
Saw the willows in the lowlands;
Did not see his father's cottage,
Nor the dwellings of his mother.
Where a mansion once had risen,
There the alder-trees were growing,
Shrubs were growing on the homestead,
Junipers within the court-yard.
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen:
'In this glen I played and wandered,
On these stones I rocked for ages,
On this lawn I rolled and tumbled,
Frolicked on these woodland-borders,
When a child of little stature.
Where then is my mother's dwelling,
Where the castles of my father?
Fire, I fear, has found the hamlet,
And the winds dispersed the ashes.'
Then he fell to bitter weeping,
Wept one day and then a second,
Wept the third day without ceasing;
Did not mourn the ancient homestead,
Nor the dwellings of his father;
Wept he for his darling mother,
Wept he for the dear departed,
For the loved ones of the island.
Then he saw the bird of heaven,
Saw an eagle flying near him,
And he asked the bird this question:
420
'Mighty eagle, bird majestic,
Grant to me the information,
Where my mother may have wandered,
Whither I may go and find her!'
But the eagle knew but little,
Only knew that Ahti's people
Long ago together perished;
And the raven also answered
That his people had been scattered
By the, swords, and spears, and arrows,
Of his enemies from Pohya.
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen:
'Faithful mother, dear departed,
Thou who nursed me in my childhood,
Art thou dead and turned to ashes,
Didst thou perish for my follies,
O'er thy head are willows weeping,
Junipers above thy body,
Alders watching o'er thy slumbers?
This my punishment for evil,
This the recompense of folly!
Fool was I, a son unworthy,
That I measured swords in Northland
With the landlord of Pohyola,
To my tribe came fell destruction,
And the death of my dear mother,
Through my crimes and misdemeanors.'
Then the ministrel [sic] looked about him,
Anxious, looked in all directions,
And beheld some gentle foot-prints,
Saw a pathway lightly trodden
Where the heather had been beaten.
Quick as thought the path he followed,
Through the meadows, through the brambles,
O'er the hills, and through the valleys,
To a forest, vast and cheerless;
Travelled far and travelled farther,
Still a greater distance travelled,
To a dense and hidden glenwood,
In the middle of the island;
Found therein a sheltered cabin,
Found a small and darksome dwelling
421
Built between the rocky ledges,
In the midst of triple pine-trees;
And within he spied his mother,
Found his gray-haired mother weeping.
Lemminkainen loud rejoices,
Cries in tones of joyful greetings,
These the words that Ahti utters:
'Faithful mother, well-beloved,
Thou that gavest me existence,
Happy I, that thou art living,
That thou hast not yet departed
To the kingdom of Tuoni,
To the islands of the blessed,
I had thought that thou hadst perished,
Hadst been murdered by my foemen,
Hadst been slain with bows and arrows.
Heavy are mine eyes from weeping,
And my checks are white with sorrow,
Since I thought my mother slaughtered
For the sins I had committed!'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'Long, indeed, hast thou been absent,
Long, my son, hast thou been living
In thy father's Isle of Refuge,
Roaming on the secret island,
Living at the doors of strangers,
Living in a nameless country,
Refuge from the Northland foemen.'
Spake the, hero, Lemminkainen:
'Charming is that spot for living,
Beautiful the magic island,
Rainbow-colored was the forest,
Blue the glimmer of the meadows,
Silvered were, the pine-tree branches,
Golden were the heather-blossoms;
All the woodlands dripped with honey,
Eggs in every rock and crevice,
Honey flowed from birch and sorb-tree,
Milk in streams from fir and aspen,
Beer-foam dripping from the willows,
Charming there to live and linger,
All their edibles delicious.
422
This their only source of trouble:
Great the fear for all the maidens,
All the heroes filled with envy,
Feared the coming of the stranger;
Thought that all the island-maidens,
Thought that all the wives and daughters,
All the good, and all the evil,
Gave thy son too much attention;
Thought the stranger, Lemminkainen,
Saw the Island-maids too often;
Yet the virgins I avoided,
Shunned the good and shunned the evil,
Shunned the host of charming daughters,
As the black-wolf shuns the sheep-fold,
As the hawk neglects the chickens.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
436:                        

    What is more gentle than a wind in summer?
    What is more soothing than the pretty hummer
    That stays one moment in an open flower,
    And buzzes cheerily from bower to bower?
    What is more tranquil than a musk-rose blowing
    In a green island, far from all men's knowing?
    More healthful than the leafiness of dales?
    More secret than a nest of nightingales?
    More serene than Cordelia's countenance?
    More full of visions than a high romance?
    What, but thee Sleep? Soft closer of our eyes!
    Low murmurer of tender lullabies!
    Light hoverer around our happy pillows!
    Wreather of poppy buds, and weeping willows!
    Silent entangler of a beauty's tresses!
    Most happy listener! when the morning blesses
    Thee for enlivening all the cheerful eyes
    That glance so brightly at the new sun-rise.

    But what is higher beyond thought than thee?
    Fresher than berries of a mountain tree?
    More strange, more beautiful, more smooth, more regal,
    Than wings of swans, than doves, than dim-seen eagle?
    What is it? And to what shall I compare it?
    It has a glory, and naught else can share it:
    The thought thereof is awful, sweet, and holy,
    Chasing away all worldliness and folly;
    Coming sometimes like fearful claps of thunder,
    Or the low rumblings earth's regions under;
    And sometimes like a gentle whispering
    Of all the secrets of some wond'rous thing
    That breathes about us in the vacant air;
    So that we look around with prying stare,
    Perhaps to see shapes of light, aerial limning,
    And catch soft floatings from a faint-heard hymning;
    To see the laurel wreath, on high suspended,
    That is to crown our name when life is ended.
    Sometimes it gives a glory to the voice,
    And from the heart up-springs, rejoice! rejoice!
    Sounds which will reach the Framer of all things,
    And die away in ardent mutterings.

    No one who once the glorious sun has seen,
    And all the clouds, and felt his bosom clean
    For his great Maker's presence, but must know
    What 'tis I mean, and feel his being glow:
    Therefore no insult will I give his spirit,
    By telling what he sees from native merit.

    O Poesy! for thee I hold my pen
    That am not yet a glorious denizen
    Of thy wide heaven- Should I rather kneel
    Upon some mountain-top until I feel
    A glowing splendour round about me hung,
    And echo back the voice of thine own tongue?
    O Poesy! for thee I grasp my pen
    That am not yet a glorious denizen
    Of thy wide heaven; yet, to my ardent prayer,
    Yield from thy sanctuary some clear air,
    Smooth'd for intoxication by the breath
    Of flowering bays, that I may die a death
    Of luxury, and my young spirit follow
    The morning sun-beams to the great Apollo
    Like a fresh sacrifice; or, if I can bear
    The o'erwhelming sweets, 'twill bring to me the fair
    Visions of all places: a bowery nook
    Will be elysium- an eternal book
    Whence I may copy many a lovely saying
    About the leaves, and flowers- about the playing
    Of nymphs in woods, and fountains; and the shade
    Keeping a silence round a sleeping maid;
    And many a verse from so strange influence
    That we must ever wonder how, and whence
    It came. Also imaginings will hover
    Round my fire-side, and haply there discover
    Vistas of solemn beauty, where I'd wander
    In happy silence, like the clear Meander
    Through its lone vales; and where I found a spot
    Of awfuller shade, or an enchanted grot,
    Or a green hill o'erspread with chequer'd dress
    Of flowers, and fearful from its loveliness,
    Write on my tablets all that was permitted,
    All that was for our human senses fitted.
    Then the events of this wide world I'd seize
    Like a strong giant, and my spirit teaze
    Till at its shoulders it should proudly see
    Wings to find out an immortality.

    Stop and consider! life is but a day;
    A fragile dew-drop on its perilous way
    From a tree's summit; a poor Indian's sleep
    While his boat hastens to the monstrous steep
    Of Montmorenci. Why so sad a moan?
    Life is the rose's hope while yet unblown;
    The reading of an ever-changing tale;
    The light uplifting of a maiden's veil;
    A pigeon tumbling in clear summer air;
    A laughing school-boy, without grief or care,
    Riding the springy branches of an elm.

    O for ten years, that I may overwhelm
    Myself in poesy; so I may do the deed
    That my own soul has to itself decreed.
    Then will I pass the countries that I see
    In long perspective, and continually
    Taste their pure fountains. First the realm I'll pass
    Of Flora, and old Pan: sleep in the grass,
    Feed upon apples red, and strawberries,
    And choose each pleasure that my fancy sees;
    Catch the white-handed nymphs in shady places,
    To woo sweet kisses from averted faces,-
    Play with their fingers, touch their shoulders white
    Into a pretty shrinking with a bite
    As hard as lips can make it: till agreed,
    A lovely tale of human life we'll read.
    And one will teach a tame dove how it best
    May fan the cool air gently o'er my rest;
    Another, bending o'er her nimble tread,
    Will set a green robe floating round her head,
    And still will dance with ever varied ease,
    Smiling upon the flowers and the trees:
    Another will entice me on, and on
    Through almond blossoms and rich cinnamon;
    Till in the bosom of a leafy world
    We rest in silence, like two gems upcurl'd
    In the recesses of a pearly shell.

    And can I ever bid these joys farewell?
    Yes, I must pass them for a nobler life,
    Where I may find the agonies, the strife
    Of human hearts: for lo! I see afar,
    O'ersailing the blue cragginess, a car
    And steeds with streamy manes- the charioteer
    Looks out upon the winds with glorious fear:
    And now the numerous tramplings quiver lightly
    Along a huge cloud's ridge; and now with sprightly
    Wheel downward come they into fresher skies,
    Tipt round with silver from the sun's bright eyes.
    Still downward with capacious whirl they glide;
    And now I see them on the green-hill's side
    In breezy rest among the nodding stalks.
    The charioteer with wond'rous gesture talks
    To the trees and mountains; and there soon appear
    Shapes of delight, of mystery, and fear,
    Passing along before a dusky space
    Made by some mighty oaks: as they would chase
    Some ever- fleeting music on they sweep.
    Lo! how they murmur, laugh, and smile, and weep:
    Some with upholden hand and mouth severe;
    Some with their faces muffled to the ear
    Between their arms; some, clear in youthful bloom,
    Go glad and smilingly athwart the gloom;
    Some looking back, and some with upward gaze;
    Yes, thousands in a thousand different ways
    Flit onward- now a lovely wreath of girls
    Dancing their sleek hair into tangled curls;
    And now broad wings. Most awfully intent
    The driver of those steeds is forward bent,
    And seems to listen: O that I might know
    All that he writes with such a hurrying glow.

    The visions all are fled- the car is fled
    Into the light of heaven, and in their stead
    A sense of real things comes doubly strong,
    And, like a muddy stream, would bear along
    My soul to nothingness: but I will strive
    Against all doubtings, and will keep alive
    The thought of that same chariot, and the strange
    Journey it went.
               Is there so small a range
    In the present strength of manhood, that the high
    Imagination cannot freely fly
    As she was wont of old? prepare her steeds,
    Paw up against the light, and do strange deeds
    Upon the clouds? Has she not shown us all?
    From the clear space of ether, to the small
    Breath of new buds unfolding? From the meaning
    Of Jove's large eye-brow, to the tender greening
    Of April meadows? Here her altar shone,
    E'en in this isle; and who could paragon
    The fervid choir that lifted up a noise
    Of harmony, to where it aye will poise
    Its mighty self of convoluting sound,
    Huge as a planet, and like that roll round,
    Eternally around a dizzy void?
    Ay, in those days the Muses were nigh cloy'd
    With honors; nor had any other care
    Than to sing out and sooth their wavy hair.

    Could all this be forgotten? Yes, a schism
    Nurtured by foppery and barbarism,
    Made great Apollo blush for this his land.
    Men were thought wise who could not understand
    His glories: with a puling infant's force
    They sway'd about upon a rocking horse,
    And thought it Pegasus. Ah dismal soul'd!
    The winds of heaven blew, the ocean roll'd
    Its gathering waves- ye felt it not. The blue
    Bared its eternal bosom, and the dew
    Of summer nights collected still to make
    The morning precious: beauty was awake!
    Why were ye not awake? But ye were dead
    To things ye knew not of,- were closely wed
    To musty laws lined out with wretched rule
    And compass vile: so that ye taught a school
    Of dolts to smooth, inlay, and clip, and fit,
    Till, like the certain wands of Jacob's wit,
    Their verses tallied. Easy was the task:
    A thousand handicraftsmen wore the mask
    Of Poesy. Ill-fated, impious race!
    That blasphemed the bright Lyrist to his face,
    And did not know it,- no, they went about,
    Holding a poor, decrepid standard out
    Mark'd with most flimsy mottos, and in large
    The name of one Boileau!

                   O ye whose charge
    It is to hover round our pleasant hills!
    Whose congregated majesty so fills
    My boundly reverence, that I cannot trace
    Your hallowed names, in this unholy place,
    So near those common folk; did not their shames
    Affright you? Did our old lamenting Thames
    Delight you? Did ye never cluster round
    Delicious Avon, with a mournful sound,
    And weep? Or did ye wholly bid adieu
    To regions where no more the laurel grew?
    Or did ye stay to give a welcoming
    To some lone spirits who could proudly sing
    Their youth away, and die? 'Twas even so:
    But let me think away those times of woe:
    Now 'tis a fairer season; ye have breathed
    Rich benedictions o'er us; ye have wreathed
    Fresh garlands: for sweet music has been heard
    In many places;- some has been upstirr'd
    From out its crystal dwelling in a lake,
    By a swan's ebon bill; from a thick brake,
    Nested and quiet in a valley mild,
    Bubbles a pipe; fine sounds are floating wild
    About the earth: happy are ye and glad.

    These things are doubtless: yet in truth we've had
    Strange thunders from the potency of song;
    Mingled indeed with what is sweet and strong,
    From majesty: but in clear truth the themes
    Are ugly clubs, the Poets' Polyphemes
    Disturbing the grand sea. A drainless shower
    Of light is poesy; 'tis the supreme of power;
    'Tis might half slumb'ring on its own right arm.
    The very archings of her eye-lids charm
    A thousand willing agents to obey,
    And still she governs with the mildest sway:
    But strength alone though of the Muses born
    Is like a fallen angel: trees uptorn,
    Darkness, and worms, and shrouds, and sepulchres
    Delight it; for it feeds upon the burrs,
    And thorns of life; forgetting the great end
    Of poesy, that it should be a friend
    To sooth the cares, and lift the thoughts of man.

     Yet I rejoice: a myrtle fairer than
    E'er grew in Paphos, from the bitter weeds
    Lifts its sweet head into the air, and feeds
    A silent space with ever sprouting green.
    All tenderest birds there find a pleasant screen,
    Creep through the shade with jaunty fluttering,
    Nibble the little cupped flowers and sing.
    Then let us clear away the choking thorns
    From round its gentle stem; let the young fawns,
    Yeaned in after times, when we are flown,
    Find a fresh sward beneath it, overgrown
    With simple flowers: let there nothing be
    More boisterous than a lover's bended knee;
    Nought more ungentle than the placid look
    Of one who leans upon a closed book;
    Nought more untranquil than the grassy slopes
    Between two hills. All hail delightful hopes!
    As she was wont, th' imagination
    Into most lovely labyrinths will be gone,
    And they shall be accounted poet kings
    Who simply tell the most heart-easing things.
    O may these joys be ripe before I die.

    Will not some say that I presumptuously
    Have spoken? that from hastening disgrace
    'Twere better far to hide my foolish face?
    That whining boyhood should with reverence bow
    Ere the dread thunderbolt could reach? How!
    If I do hide myself, it sure shall be
    In the very fane, the light of Poesy:
    If I do fall, at least I will be laid
    Beneath the silence of a poplar shade;
    And over me the grass shall be smooth shaven;
    And there shall be a kind memorial graven.
    But off Despondence! miserable bane!
    They should not know thee, who athirst to gain
    A noble end, are thirsty every hour.
    What though I am not wealthy in the dower
    Of spanning wisdom; though I do not know
    The shiftings of the mighty winds that blow
    Hither and thither all the changing thoughts
    Of man: though no great minist'ring reason sorts
    Out the dark mysteries of human souls
    To clear conceiving: yet there ever rolls
    A vast idea before me, and I glean
    Therefrom my liberty; thence too I've seen
    The end and aim of Poesy. 'Tis clear
    As anything most true; as that the year
    Is made of the four seasons- manifest
    As a large cross, some old cathedral's crest,
    Lifted to the white clouds. Therefore should I
    Be but the essence of deformity,
    A coward, did my very eye-lids wink
    At speaking out what I have dared to think.
    Ah! rather let me like a madman run
    Over some precipice; let the hot sun
    Melt my Dedalian wings, and drive me down
    Convuls'd and headlong! Stay! an inward frown
    Of conscience bids me be more calm awhile.
    An ocean dim, sprinkled with many an isle,
    Spreads awfully before me. How much toil!
    How many days! what desperate turmoil!
    Ere I can have explored its widenesses.
    Ah, what a task! upon my bended knees,
    I could unsay those- no, impossible!
    Impossible!

           For sweet relief I'll dwell
    On humbler thoughts, and let this strange assay
    Begun in gentleness die so away.
    E'en now all tumult from my bosom fades:
    I turn full hearted to the friendly aids
    That smooth the path of honour; brotherhood,
    And friendliness the nurse of mutual good.
    The hearty grasp that sends a pleasant sonnet
    Into the brain ere one can think upon it;
    The silence when some rhymes are coming out;
    And when they're come, the very pleasant rout:
    The message certain to be done to-morrow.
    'Tis perhaps as well that it should be to borrow
    Some precious book from out its snug retreat,
    To cluster round it when we next shall meet.
    Scarce can I scribble on; for lovely airs
    Are fluttering round the room like doves in pairs;
    Many delights of that glad day recalling,
    When first my senses caught their tender falling.
    And with these airs come forms of elegance
    Stooping their shoulders o'er a horse's prance,
    Careless, and grand-fingers soft and round
    Parting luxuriant curls;- and the swift bound
    Of Bacchus from his chariot, when his eye
    Made Ariadne's cheek look blushingly.
    Thus I remember all the pleasant flow
    Of words at opening a portfolio.

    Things such as these are ever harbingers
    To trains of peaceful images: the stirs
    Of a swan's neck unseen among the rushes:
    A linnet starting all about the bushes:
    A butterfly, with golden wings broad parted,
    Nestling a rose, convuls'd as though it smarted
    With over pleasure- many, many more,
    Might I indulge at large in all my store
    Of luxuries: yet I must not forget
    Sleep, quiet with his poppy coronet:
    For what there may be worthy in these rhymes
    I partly owe to him: and thus, the chimes
    Of friendly voices had just given place
    To as sweet a silence, when I 'gan retrace
    The pleasant day, upon a couch at ease.
    It was a poet's house who keeps the keys
    Of pleasure's temple. Round about were hung
    The glorious features of the bards who sung
    In other ages- cold and sacred busts
    Smiled at each other. Happy he who trusts
    To clear Futurity his darling fame!
    Then there were fauns and satyrs taking aim
    At swelling apples with a frisky leap
    And reaching fingers, 'mid a luscious heap
    Of vine-leaves. Then there rose to view a fane
    Of liny marble, and thereto a train
    Of nymphs approaching fairly o'er the sward:
    One, loveliest, holding her white hand toward
    The dazzling sun-rise: two sisters sweet
    Bending their graceful figures till they meet
    Over the trippings of a little child:
    And some are hearing, eagerly, the wild
    Thrilling liquidity of dewy piping.
    See, in another picture, nymphs are wiping
    Cherishingly Diana's timorous limbs;-
    A fold of lawny mantle dabbling swims
    At the bath's edge, and keeps a gentle motion
    With the subsiding crystal: as when ocean
    Heaves calmly its broad swelling smoothness o'er
    Its rocky marge, and balances once more
    The patient weeds; that now unshent by foam
    Feel all about their undulating home.

    Sappho's meek head was there half smiling down
    At nothing; just as though the earnest frown
    Of over thinking had that moment gone
    From off her brow, and left her all alone.

    Great Alfred's too, with anxious, pitying eyes,
    As if he always listened to the sighs
    Of the goaded world; and Kosciusko's worn
    By horrid suffrance- mightily forlorn.
    Petrarch, outstepping from the shady green,
    Starts at the sight of Laura; nor can wean
    His eyes from her sweet face. Most happy they!
    For over them was seen a free display
    Of out-spread wings, and from between them shone
    The face of Poesy: from off her throne
    She overlook'd things that I scarce could tell.
    The very sense of where I was might well
    Keep Sleep aloof: but more than that there came
    Thought after thought to nourish up the flame
    Within my breast; so that the morning light
    Surprised me even from a sleepless night;
    And up I rose refresh'd, and glad, and gay,
    Resolving to begin that very day
    These lines; and howsoever they be done,
    I leave them as a father does his son.

            THE END
(lines 250-1): An idea, says Leigh Hunt... "of as lovely and powerful a nature in embodying an abstraction, as we ever remember to have seen put into words."

(line 354): Leigh Hunt's house: he says ... the poem "originated in sleeping in a room adorned with busts and pictures," -- "many a bust from Shout," as Shelley wrote to Mrs. Gisborne. In Hunt's Correspondence (Volume i, page 289) we read "Keats's Sleep and Poetry is a description of a parlour that was mine, no bigger than an old mansion's closet." Charles Cowden Clarke says (Gentleman's Magazine, February 1874) "It was in the library at Hunt's cottage, where an extemporary bed had been made up for him on the sofa." ~ Poetical Works of John Keats, ed. H. Buxton Forman, Crowell publ. 1895. by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes
~ Chaucer
,
437:The Botanic Garden (Part V)
THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.
CANTO I.
Descend, ye hovering Sylphs! aerial Quires,
And sweep with little hands your silver lyres;
With fairy footsteps print your grassy rings,
Ye Gnomes! accordant to the tinkling strings;
While in soft notes I tune to oaten reed
Gay hopes, and amorous sorrows of the mead.From giant Oaks, that wave their branches dark,
To the dwarf Moss, that clings upon their bark,
What Beaux and Beauties crowd the gaudy groves,
And woo and win their vegetable Loves.
How Snowdrops cold, and blue-eyed Harebels blend
Their tender tears, as o'er the stream they bend;
The lovesick Violet, and the Primrose pale
Bow their sweet heads, and whisper to the gale;
With secret sighs the Virgin Lily droops,
And jealous Cowslips hang their tawny cups.
How the young Rose in beauty's damask pride
Drinks the warm blushes of his bashful bride;
With honey'd lips enamour'd Woodbines meet,
Clasp with fond arms, and mix their kisses sweet.Stay thy soft-murmuring waters, gentle Rill;
Hush, whispering Winds, ye ruflling Leaves, be still;
Rest, silver Butterflies, your quivering wings;
Alight, ye Beetles, from your airy rings;
Ye painted Moths, your gold-eyed plumage furl,
Bow your wide horns, your spiral trunks uncurl;
Glitter, ye Glow-worms, on your mossy beds;
Descend, ye Spiders, on your lengthen'd threads;
Slide here, ye horned Snails, with varnish'd shells;
Ye Bee-nymphs, listen in your waxen cells!BOTANIC MUSE! who in this latter age
Led by your airy hand the Swedish sage,
Bad his keen eye your secret haunts explore
On dewy dell, high wood, and winding shore;
Say on each leaf how tiny Graces dwell;
27
How laugh the Pleasures in a blossom's bell;
How insect Loves arise on cobweb wings,
Aim their light shafts, and point their little stings.
First the tall CANNA lifts his curled brow
Erect to heaven, and plights his nuptial vow;
The virtuous pair, in milder regions born,
Dread the rude blast of Autumn's icy morn;
Round the chill fair he folds his crimson vest,
And clasps the timorous beauty to his breast.
Thy love, CALLITRICHE,
two
Virgins share,
Smit with thy starry eye and radiant hair;On the green margin sits the youth, and laves
His floating train of tresses in the waves;
Sees his fair features paint the streams that pass,
And bends for ever o'er the watery glass.
Two
brother swains, of COLLIN'S gentle name,
The same their features, and their forms the same,
With rival love for fair COLLINIA sigh,
Knit the dark brow, and roll the unsteady eye.
With sweet concern the pitying beauty mourns,
And sooths with smiles the jealous pair by turns.
Sweet blooms GENISTA in the myrtle shade,
And
ten
fond brothers woo the haughty maid.
Two
knights before thy fragrant altar bend,
Adored MELISSA! and
two
squires attend.
MEADIA'S soft chains
five
suppliant beaux confess,
And hand in hand the laughing belle address;
Alike to all, she bows with wanton air,
Rolls her dark eye, and waves her golden hair.
Woo'd with long care, CURCUMA cold and shy
28
Meets her fond husband with averted eye:
Four
beardless youths the obdurate beauty move
With soft attentions of Platonic love.
With vain desires the pensive ALCEA burns,
And, like sad ELOISA, loves and mourns.
The freckled IRIS owns a fiercer flame,
And
three
unjealous husbands wed the dame.
CUPRESSUS dark disdains his dusky bride,
One
dome contains them, but
two
beds divide.
The proud OSYRIS flies his angry fair,
Two
houses hold the fashionable pair.
With strange deformity PLANTAGO treads,
A Monster-birth! and lifts his hundred heads;
Yet with soft love a gentle belle he charms,
And clasps the beauty in his hundred arms.
So hapless DESDEMONA, fair and young,
Won by OTHELLO'S captivating tongue,
Sigh'd o'er each strange and piteous tale, distress'd,
And sunk enamour'd on his sooty breast.
Two
gentle shepherds and their sister-wives
With thee, ANTHOXA! lead ambrosial lives;
Where the wide heath in purple pride extends,
And scatter'd furze its golden lustre blends,
Closed in a green recess, unenvy'd lot!
The blue smoak rises from their turf-built cot;
Bosom'd in fragrance blush their infant train,
Eye the warm sun, or drink the silver rain.
The fair OSMUNDA seeks the silent dell,
The ivy canopy, and dripping cell;
There hid in shades
29
clandestine
rites approves,
Till the green progeny betrays her loves.
With charms despotic fair CHONDRILLA reigns
O'er the soft hearts of
five
fraternal swains;
If sighs the changeful nymph, alike they mourn;
And, if she smiles, with rival raptures burn.
So, tun'd in unison, Eolian Lyre!
Sounds in sweet symphony thy kindred wire;
Now, gently swept by Zephyr's vernal wings,
Sink in soft cadences the love-sick strings;
And now with mingling chords, and voices higher,
Peal the full anthems of the aerial choir.
Five
sister-nymphs to join Diana's train
With thee, fair LYCHNIS! vow,-but vow in vain;
Beneath one roof resides the virgin band,
Flies the fond swain, and scorns his offer'd hand;
But when soft hours on breezy pinions move,
And smiling May attunes her lute to love,
Each wanton beauty, trick'd in all her grace,
Shakes the bright dew-drops from her blushing face;
In gay undress displays her rival charms,
And calls her wondering lovers to her arms.
When the young Hours amid her tangled hair
Wove the fresh rose-bud, and the lily fair,
Proud GLORIOSA led
three
chosen swains,
The blushing captives of her virgin chains.-When Time's rude hand a bark of wrinkles spread
Round her weak limbs, and silver'd o'er her head,
Three
other youths her riper years engage,
The flatter'd victims of her wily age.
So, in her wane of beauty, NINON won
With fatal smiles her gay unconscious son.Clasp'd in his arms she own'd a mother's name,-
30
'Desist, rash youth! restrain your impious flame,
'First on that bed your infant-form was press'd,
'Born by my throes, and nurtured at my breast.'Back as from death he sprung, with wild amaze
Fierce on the fair he fix'd his ardent gaze;
Dropp'd on one knee, his frantic arms outspread,
And stole a guilty glance toward the bed;
Then breath'd from quivering lips a whisper'd vow,
And bent on heaven his pale repentant brow;
'Thus, thus!' he cried, and plung'd the furious dart,
And life and love gush'd mingled from his heart.
The fell SILENE and her sisters fair,
Skill'd in destruction, spread the viscous snare.
The harlot-band
ten
lofty bravoes screen,
And frowning guard the magic nets unseen.Haste, glittering nations, tenants of the air,
Oh, steer from hence your viewless course afar!
If with soft words, sweet blushes, nods, and smiles,
The
three
dread Syrens lure you to their toils,
Limed by their art in vain you point your stings,
In vain the efforts of your whirring wings!Go, seek your gilded mates and infant hives,
Nor taste the honey purchas'd with your lives!
When heaven's high vault condensing clouds deform,
Fair AMARYLLIS flies the incumbent storm,
Seeks with unsteady step the shelter'd vale,
And turns her blushing beauties from the gale.Six
rival youths, with soft concern impress'd,
Calm all her fears, and charm her cares to rest.So shines at eve the sun-illumin'd fane,
Lifts its bright cross, and waves its golden vane;
From every breeze the polish'd axle turns,
And high in air the dancing meteor burns.
Four
of the giant brood with ILEX stand,
31
Each grasps a thousand arrows in his hand;
A thousand steely points on every scale
Form the bright terrors of his bristly male.So arm'd, immortal Moore uncharm'd the spell,
And slew the wily dragon of the well.Sudden with rage their
injur'd
bosoms burn,
Retort the insult, or the wound return;
Unwrong'd
, as gentle as the breeze that sweeps
The unbending harvests or undimpled deeps,
They guard, the Kings of Needwood's wide domains,
Their sister-wives and fair infantine trains;
Lead the lone pilgrim through the trackless glade,
Or guide in leafy wilds the wand'ring maid.
So WRIGHT's bold pencil from Vesuvio's hight
Hurls his red lavas to the troubled night;
From Calpè starts the intolerable flash,
Skies burst in flames, and blazing oceans dash;Or bids in sweet repose his shades recede,
Winds the still vale, and slopes the velvet mead;
On the pale stream expiring Zephyrs sink,
And Moonlight sleeps upon its hoary brink.
Gigantic Nymph! the fair KLEINHOVIA reigns,
The grace and terror of Orixa's plains;
O'er her warm cheek the blush of beauty swims,
And nerves Herculean bend her sinewy limbs;
With frolic eye she views the affrighted throng,
And shakes the meadows, as she towers along,
With playful violence displays her charms,
And bears her trembling lovers in her arms.
So fair THALESTRIS shook her plumy crest,
And bound in rigid mail her jutting breast;
Poised her long lance amid the walks of war,
And Beauty thunder'd from Bellona's car;
Greece arm'd in vain, her captive heroes wove
The chains of conquest with the wreaths of love.
When o'er the cultured lawns and dreary wastes
Retiring Autumn flings her howling blasts,
Bends in tumultuous waves the struggling woods,
32
And showers their leafy honours on the floods,
In withering heaps collects the flowery spoil,
And each chill insect sinks beneath the soil;
Quick flies fair TULIPA the loud alarms,
And folds her infant closer in her arms;
In some lone cave, secure pavilion, lies,
And waits the courtship of serener skies.So, six cold moons, the Dormouse charm'd to rest,
Indulgent Sleep! beneath thy eider breast,
In fields of Fancy climbs the kernel'd groves,
Or shares the golden harvest with his loves.But bright from earth amid the troubled air
Ascends fair COLCHICA with radiant hair,
Warms the cold bosom of the hoary year,
And lights with Beauty's blaze the dusky sphere.
Three
blushing Maids the intrepid Nymph attend,
And
six
gay Youths, enamour'd train! defend.
So shines with silver guards the Georgian star,
And drives on Night's blue arch his glittering car;
Hangs o'er the billowy clouds his lucid form,
Wades through the mist, and dances in the storm.
GREAT HELIANTHUS guides o'er twilight plains
In gay solemnity his Dervise-trains;
Marshall'd in
fives
each gaudy band proceeds,
Each gaudy band a plumed Lady leads;
With zealous step he climbs the upland lawn,
And bows in homage to the rising dawn;
Imbibes with eagle-eye the golden ray,
And watches, as it moves, the orb of day.
Queen of the marsh, imperial DROSERA treads
Rush-fringed banks, and moss-embroider'd beds;
Redundant folds of glossy silk surround
Her slender waist, and trail upon the ground;
Five
sister-nymphs collect with graceful ease,
33
Or spread the floating purple to the breeze;
And
five
fair youths with duteous love comply
With each soft mandate of her moving eye.
As with sweet grace her snowy neck she bows,
A zone of diamonds trembles round her brows;
Bright shines the silver halo, as she turns;
And, as she steps, the living lustre burns.
Fair LONICERA prints the dewy lawn,
And decks with brighter blush the vermil dawn;
Winds round the shadowy rocks, and pansied vales,
And scents with sweeter breath the summer-gales;
With artless grace and native ease she charms,
And bears the Horn of Plenty in her arms.
Five
rival Swains their tender cares unfold,
And watch with eye askance the treasured gold.
Where rears huge Tenerif his azure crest,
Aspiring DRABA builds her eagle nest;
Her pendant eyry icy caves surround,
Where erst Volcanos min'd the rocky ground.
Pleased round the Fair
four
rival Lords ascend
The shaggy steeps,
two
menial youths attend.
High in the setting ray the beauty stands,
And her tall shadow waves on distant lands.
Stay, bright inhabitant of air, alight,
Ambitious VISCA, from thy eagle-flight!--Scorning the sordid soil, aloft she springs,
Shakes her white plume, and claps her golden wings;
High o'er the fields of boundless ether roves,
And seeks amid the clouds her soaring loves!
Stretch'd on her mossy couch, in trackless deeps,
Queen of the coral groves, ZOSTERA sleeps;
The silvery sea-weed matted round her bed,
And distant surges murmuring o'er her head.High in the flood her azure dome ascends,
34
The crystal arch on crystal columns bends;
Roof'd with translucent shell the turrets blaze,
And far in ocean dart their colour'd rays;
O'er the white floor successive shadows move,
As rise and break the ruffled waves above.Around the nymph her mermaid-trains repair,
And weave with orient pearl her radiant hair;
With rapid fins she cleaves the watery way,
Shoots like a diver meteor up to day;
Sounds a loud conch, convokes a scaly band,
Her sea-born lovers, and ascends the strand.
E'en round the pole the flames of Love aspire,
And icy bosoms feel the
secret
fire!Cradled in snow and fann'd by arctic air
Shines, gentle BAROMETZ! thy golden hair;
Rooted in earth each cloven hoof descends,
And round and round her flexile neck she bends;
Crops the grey coral moss, and hoary thyme,
Or laps with rosy tongue the melting rime;
Eyes with mute tenderness her distant dam,
Or seems to bleat, a
Vegetable Lamb
-So, warm and buoyant in his oily mail,
Gambols on seas of ice the unwieldy Whale;
Wide-waving fins round floating islands urge
His bulk gigantic through the troubled surge;
With hideous yawn the flying shoals He seeks,
Or clasps with fringe of horn his massy cheeks;
Lifts o'er the tossing wave his nostrils bare,
And spouts pellucid columns into air;
The silvery arches catch the setting beams,
And transient rainbows tremble o'er the streams.
Weak with nice sense, the chaste MIMOSA stands,
From each rude touch withdraws her timid hands;
Oft as light clouds o'er-pass the Summer-glade,
Alarm'd she trembles at the moving shade;
And feels, alive through all her tender form,
The whisper'd murmurs of the gathering storm;
Shuts her sweet eye-lids to approaching night;
35
And hails with freshen'd charms the rising light.
Veil'd, with gay decency and modest pride,
Slow to the mosque she moves, an eastern bride;
There her soft vows unceasing love record,
Queen of the bright seraglio of her Lord.So sinks or rises with the changeful hour
The liquid silver in its glassy tower.
So turns the needle to the pole it loves,
With fine librations quivering as it moves.
All wan and shivering in the leafless glade
The sad ANEMONE reclined her head;
Grief on her cheeks had paled the roseate hue,
And her sweet eye-lids dropp'd with pearly dew.
-'See, from bright regions, borne on odorous gales
The Swallow, herald of the summer, sails;
'Breathe, gentle AIR! from cherub-lips impart
Thy balmy influence to my anguish'd heart;
Thou, whose soft voice calls forth the tender blooms,
Whose pencil paints them, and whose breath perfumes;
O chase the Fiend of Frost, with leaden mace
Who seals in death-like sleep my hapless race;
Melt his hard heart, release his iron hand,
And give my ivory petals to expand.
So may each bud, that decks the brow of spring,
Shed all its incense on thy wafting wing!'To her fond prayer propitious Zephyr yields,
Sweeps on his sliding shell through azure fields,
O'er her fair mansion waves his whispering wand,
And gives her ivory petals to expand;
Gives with new life her filial train to rise,
And hail with kindling smiles the genial skies.
So shines the Nymph in beauty's blushing pride,
When Zephyr wafts her deep calash aside;
Tears with rude kiss her bosom's gauzy veil,
And flings the fluttering kerchief to the gale.
So bright, the folding canopy undrawn,
Glides the gilt Landau o'er the velvet lawn,
Of beaux and belles displays the glittering throng;
And soft airs fan them, as they roll along.
Where frowning Snowden bends his dizzy brow
O'er Conway, listening to the surge below;
Retiring LICHEN climbs the topmost stone,
36
And 'mid the airy ocean dwells alone.Bright shine the stars unnumber'd
o'er her head
And the cold moon-beam gilds her flinty bed;
While round the rifted rocks hoarse whirlwinds breathe,
And dark with thunder sail the clouds
beneath
.The steepy path her plighted swain pursues,
And tracks her light step o'er th' imprinted dews,
Delighted Hymen gives his torch to blaze,
Winds round the craggs, and lights the mazy ways;
Sheds o'er their
secret
vows his influence chaste,
And decks with roses the admiring waste.
High in the front of heaven when Sirius glares,
And o'er Britannia shakes his fiery hairs;
When no soft shower descends, no dew distills,
Her wave-worn channels dry, and mute her rills;
When droops the sickening herb, the blossom fades,
And parch'd earth gapes beneath the withering glades.
-With languid step fair DYPSACA retreats;
'Fall gentle dews!' the fainting nymph repeats;
Seeks the low dell, and in the sultry shade
Invokes in vain the Naiads to her aid.Four
silvan youths in crystal goblets bear
The untasted treasure to the grateful fair;
Pleased from their hands with modest grace she sips,
And the cool wave reflects her coral lips.
With nice selection modest RUBIA blends,
Her vermil dyes, and o'er the cauldron bends;
Warm 'mid the rising steam the Beauty glows,
As blushes in a mist the dewy rose.
With chemic art
four
favour'd youths aloof
Stain the white fleece, or stretch the tinted woof;
O'er Age's cheek the warmth of youth diffuse,
37
Or deck the pale-eyed nymph in roseate hues.
So when MEDEA to exulting Greece
From plunder'd COLCHIS bore the golden fleece;
On the loud shore a magic pile she rais'd,
The cauldron bubbled, and the faggots blaz'd;-Pleased on the boiling wave old ÆSON swims,
And feels new vigour stretch his swelling limbs;
Through his thrill'd nerves forgotten ardors dart,
And warmer eddies circle round his heart;
With softer fires his kindling eye-balls glow,
And darker tresses wanton round his brow.
As dash the waves on India's breezy strand,
Her flush'd cheek press'd upon her lily hand,
VALLISNER sits, up-turns her tearful eyes,
Calls her lost lover, and upbraids the skies;
For him she breathes the silent sigh, forlorn,
Each setting-day; for him each rising morn.'Bright orbs, that light yon high etherial plain,
Or bathe your radiant tresses in the main;
Pale moon, that silver'st o'er night's sable brow;For ye were witness to his parting vow!Ye shelving rocks, dark waves, and sounding shore,Ye echoed sweet the tender words he swore!Can stars or seas the sails of love retain?
O guide my wanderer to my arms again!'Her buoyant skiff intrepid ULVA guides,
And seeks her Lord amid the trackless tides;
Her
secret
vows the Cyprian Queen approves,
And hovering halcyons guard her infant-loves;
Each in his floating cradle round they throng,
And dimpling Ocean bears the fleet along.Thus o'er the waves, which gently bend and swell,
Fair GALATEA steers her silver shell;
Her playful Dolphins stretch the silken rein,
Hear her sweet voice, and glide along the main.
As round the wild meandering coast she moves
By gushing rills, rude cliffs, and nodding groves;
Each by her pine the Wood-nymphs wave their locks,
And wondering Naiads peep amid the rocks;
Pleased trains of Mermaids rise from coral cells,
38
Admiring Tritons sound their twisted shells;
Charm'd o'er the car pursuing Cupids sweep,
Their snow-white pinions twinkling in the deep;
And, as the lustre of her eye she turns,
Soft sighs the Gale, and amorous Ocean burns.
On DOVE'S green brink the fair TREMELLA stood,
And view'd her playful image in the flood;
To each rude rock, lone dell, and echoing grove
Sung the sweet sorrows of her
secret
love.
'Oh, stay!-return!'-along the sounding shore
Cry'd the sad Naiads,-she return'd no more!Now girt with clouds the sullen Evening frown'd,
And withering Eurus swept along the ground;
The misty moon withdrew her horned light,
And sunk with Hesper in the skirt of night;
No dim electric streams, (the northern dawn,)
With meek effulgence quiver'd o'er the lawn;
No star benignant shot one transient ray
To guide or light the wanderer on her way.
Round the dark craggs the murmuring whirlwinds blow,
Woods groan above, and waters roar below;
As o'er the steeps with pausing foot she moves,
The pitying Dryads shriek amid their groves;
She flies,-she stops,-she pants-she looks behind,
And hears a demon howl in every wind.
-As the bleak blast unfurls her fluttering vest,
Cold beats the snow upon her shuddering breast;
Through her numb'd limbs the chill sensations dart,
And the keen ice bolt trembles at her heart.
'I sink, I fall! oh, help me, help!' she cries,
Her stiffening tongue the unfinish'd sound denies;
Tear after tear adown her cheek succeeds,
And pearls of ice bestrew the glittering meads;
Congealing snows her lingering feet surround,
Arrest her flight, and root her to the ground;
With suppliant arms she pours the silent prayer;
Her suppliant arms hang crystal in the air;
Pellucid films her shivering neck o'erspread,
Seal her mute lips, and silver o'er her head,
Veil her pale bosom, glaze her lifted hands,
39
And shrined in ice the beauteous statue stands.
-DOVE'S azure nymphs on each revolving year
For fair TREMELLA shed the tender tear;
With rush-wove crowns in sad procession move,
And sound the sorrowing shell to hapless love.'
Here paused the MUSE,-across the darken'd pole
Sail the dim clouds, the echoing thunders roll;
The trembling Wood-nymphs, as the tempest lowers,
Lead the gay Goddess to their inmost bowers;
Hang the mute lyre the laurel shade beneath,
And round her temples bind the myrtle wreath.
-Now the light swallow with her airy brood
Skims the green meadow, and the dimpled flood;
Loud shrieks the lone thrush from his leafless thorn,
Th' alarmed beetle sounds his bugle horn;
Each pendant spider winds with fingers fine
His ravel'd clue, and climbs along the line;
Gay Gnomes in glittering circles stand aloof
Beneath a spreading mushroom's fretted roof;
Swift bees returning seek their waxen cells,
And Sylphs cling quivering in the lily's bells.
Through the still air descend the genials showers,
And pearly rain-drops deck the laughing flowers.
~ Erasmus Darwin,
438:The Botanic Garden (Part Vi)
THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS.
CANTO II.
Again the Goddess strikes the golden lyre,
And tunes to wilder notes the warbling wire;
With soft suspended step Attention moves,
And Silence hovers o'er the listening groves;
Orb within orb the charmed audience throng,
And the green vault reverberates the song.
'Breathe soft, ye Gales!' the fair CARLINA cries,
Bear on broad wings your Votress to the skies.
How sweetly mutable yon orient hues,
As Morn's fair hand her opening roses strews;
How bright, when Iris blending many a ray
Binds in embroider'd wreath the brow of Day;
Soft, when the pendant Moon with lustres pale
O'er heaven's blue arch unfurls her milky veil;
While from the north long threads of silver light
Dart on swift shuttles o'er the tissued night!
'Breathe soft, ye Zephyrs! hear my fervent sighs,
Bear on broad wings your Votress to the skies!'-Plume over plume in long divergent lines
On whale-bone ribs the fair Mechanic joins;
Inlays with eider down the silken strings,
And weaves in wide expanse Dædalian wings;
Round her bold sons the waving pennons binds,
And walks with angel-step upon the winds.
So on the shoreless air the intrepid Gaul
Launch'd the vast concave of his buoyant ball.Journeying on high, the silken castle glides
Bright as a meteor through the azure tides;
O'er towns and towers and temples wins its way,
Or mounts sublime, and gilds the vault of day.
Silent with upturn'd eyes unbreathing crowds
Pursue the floating wonder to the clouds;
And, flush'd with transport or benumb'd with fear,
Watch, as it rises, the diminish'd sphere.
-Now less and less!-and now a speck is seen!-
41
And now the fleeting rack obtrudes between!With bended knees, raised arms, and suppliant brow
To every shrine with mingled cries they vow.'Save Him, ye Saints! who o'er the good preside;
'Bear Him, ye Winds! ye Stars benignant! guide.'
-The calm Philosopher in ether fails,
Views broader stars, and breathes in purer gales;
Sees, like a map, in many a waving line
Round Earth's blue plains her lucid waters mine;
Sees at his feet the forky lightnings glow,
And hears innocuous thunders roar below.
--Rife, great MONGOLFIER! urge thy venturous flight
High o'er the Moon's pale ice-reflected light;
High o'er the pearly Star, whose beamy horn.
Hangs in the east, gay harbinger of morn;
Leave the red eye of Mars on rapid wing;
Jove's silver guards, and Saturn's dusky ring;
Leave the fair beams, which, issuing from afar;
Play with new lustres round the Georgian star;
Shun with strong oars the Sun's attractive throne,
The sparkling zodiack, and the milky zone;
Where headlong Comets with increasing force
Through other systems bend their blazing course.For thee Cassiope her chair withdraws,
For thee the Bear retracts his shaggy paws;
High o'er the North thy golden orb shall roll,
And blaze eternal round the wondering pole.
So Argo, rising from the southern main,
Lights with new stars the blue etherial plain;
With favoring beams the mariner protects,
And the bold course, which first it steer'd, directs.
Inventress of the Woof, fair LINA flings
The flying shuttle through the dancing strings;
Inlays the broider'd weft with flowery dyes,
Quick beat the reeds, the pedals fall and rise;
Slow from the beam the lengths of warp unwind,
And dance and nod the massy weights behind.Taught by her labours, from the fertile soil
Immortal Isis clothed the banks of Nile;
And fair ARACHNE with her rival loom
Found undeserved a melancholy doom.-
42
Five
Sister-nymphs with dewy fingers twine
The beamy flax, and stretch the fibre-line;
Quick eddying threads from rapid spindles reel,
Or whirl with beaten foot the dizzy wheel.
-Charm'd round the busy Fair
five
shepherds press,
Praise the nice texture of their snowy dress,
Admire the Artists, and the art approve,
And tell with honey'd words the tale of love.
So now, where Derwent rolls his dusky floods
Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods,
The Nymph, GOSSYPIA, treads the velvet sod,
And warms with rosy smiles the watery God;
His ponderous oars to slender spindles turns,
And pours o'er massy wheels his foamy urns;
With playful charms her hoary lover wins,
And wields his trident,-while the Monarch spins.
-First with nice eye emerging Naiads cull
From leathery pods the vegetable wool;
With wiry teeth
revolving cards
release
The tanged knots, and smooth the ravell'd fleece;
Next moves the
iron-band
with fingers fine,
Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line;
Slow, with soft lips, the
whirling Can
acquires
The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires;
With quicken'd pace
successive rollers
move,
And these retain, and those extend the
rove
Then fly the spoles, the rapid axles glow;And slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below.
PAPYRA, throned upon the banks of Nile,
43
Spread her smooth leaf, and waved her silver style.
-The storied pyramid, the laurel'd bust,
The trophy'd arch had crumbled into dust;
The sacred symbol, and the epic song,
(Unknown the character, forgot the tongue,)
With each unconquer'd chief, or fainted maid,
Sunk undistinguish'd in Oblivion's shade.
Sad o'er the scatter'd ruins Genius sigh'd,
And infant Arts but learn'd to lisp and died.
Till to astonish'd realms PAPYRA taught
To paint in mystic colours Sound and Thought.
With Wisdom's voice to print the page sublime,
And mark in adamant the steps of Time.
-Three favour'd youths her soft attention share,
The fond disciples of the studious Fair,
Hear her sweet voice, the golden process prove;
Gaze, as they learn; and, as they listen, love.
The first
from Alpha to Omega joins
The letter'd tribes along the level lines;
Weighs with nice ear the vowel, liquid, surd,
And breaks in syllables the volant word.
Then forms
the next
upon the marshal'd plain
In deepening ranks his dexterous cypher-train;
And counts, as wheel the decimating bands,
The dews of Ægypt, or Arabia's sands,
And then
the third
on four concordant lines
Prints the lone crotchet, and the quaver joins;
Marks the gay trill, the solemn pause inscribes,
And parts with bars the undulating tribes.
Pleased round her cane-wove throne, the applauding crowd
Clap'd their rude hands, their swarthy foreheads bow'd;
With loud acclaim 'a present God!' they cry'd,
'A present God!' rebellowing shores reply'dThen peal'd at intervals with mingled swell
The echoing harp, shrill clarion, horn, and shell;
While Bards ecstatic, bending o'er the lyre,
44
Struck deeper chords, and wing'd the song with fire.
Then mark'd Astronomers with keener eyes
The Moon's refulgent journey through the skies;
Watch'd the swift Comets urge their blazing cars,
And weigh'd the Sun with his revolving Stars.
High raised the Chemists their Hermetic wands,
(And changing forms obey'd their waving hands,)
Her treasur'd gold from Earth's deep chambers tore,
Or fused and harden'd her chalybeate ore.
All with bent knee from fair PAPYRA claim
Wove by her hands the wreath of deathless fame.
-Exulting Genius crown'd his darling child,
The young Arts clasp'd her knees, and Virtue smiled.
So now DELANY forms her mimic bowers,
Her paper foliage, and her silken flowers;
Her virgin train the tender scissars ply,
Vein the green leaf, the purple petal dye:
Round wiry stems the flaxen tendril bends,
Moss creeps below, and waxen fruit impends.
Cold Winter views amid his realms of snow
DELANY'S vegetable statues blow;
Smooths his stern brow, delays his hoary wing,
And eyes with wonder all the blooms of spring.
The gentle LAPSANA, NYMPHÆA fair,
And bright CALENDULA with golden hair,
Watch with nice eye the Earth's diurnal way,
Marking her solar and sidereal day,
Her slow nutation, and her varying clime,
And trace with mimic art the march of Time;
Round his light foot a magic chain they fling,
And count the quick vibrations of his wing.First in its brazen cell reluctant roll'd
Bends the dark spring in many a steely fold;
On spiral brass is stretch'd the wiry thong,
Tooth urges tooth, and wheel drives wheel along;
In diamond-eyes the polish'd axles flow,
Smooth slides the hand, the ballance pants below.
Round the white circlet in relievo bold
A Serpent twines his scaly length in gold;
And brightly pencil'd on the enamel'd sphere
Live the fair trophies of the passing year.
-Here
45
Time's
huge fingers grasp his giant-mace,
And dash proud Superstition from her base,
Rend her strong towers and gorgeous fanes, and shed
The crumbling fragments round her guilty head.
There the gay
Hours
, whom wreaths of roses deck,
Lead their young trains amid the cumberous wreck;
And, slowly purpling o'er the mighty waste,
Plant the fair growths of Science and of Taste.
While each light
Moment
, as it dances by
With feathery foot and pleasure-twinkling eye,
Feeds from its baby-hand, with many a kiss,
The callow nestlings of domestic Bliss.
As yon gay clouds, which canopy the skies,
Change their thin forms, and lose their lucid dyes;
So the soft bloom of Beauty's vernal charms
Fades in our eyes, and withers in our arms.
-Bright as the silvery plume, or pearly shell,
The snow-white rose, or lily's virgin bell,
The fair HELLEBORAS attractive shone,
Warm'd every Sage, and every Shepherd won.Round the gay sisters press the
enamour'd bands
And seek with soft solicitude their hands.
-Ere while how chang'd!-in dim suffusion lies
The glance divine, that lighten'd in their eyes;
Cold are those lips, where smiles seductive hung,
And the weak accents linger on their tongue;
Each roseat feature fades to livid green,-Disgust with face averted shuts the scene.
So from his gorgeous throne, which awed the world,
The mighty Monarch of the east was hurl'd,
To dwell with brutes beneath the midnight storm,
By Heaven's just vengeance changed in mind and form.
-Prone to the earth He bends his brow superb,
Crops the young floret and the bladed herb;
Lolls his red tongue, and from the reedy side
46
Of slow Euphrates laps the muddy tide.
Long eagle-plumes his arching neck invest,
Steal round his arms, and clasp his sharpen'd breast;
Dark brinded hairs in bristling ranks, behind,
Rise o'er his back, and rustle in the wind,
Clothe his lank sides, his shrivel'd limbs surround,
And human hands with talons print the ground.
Silent in shining troops the Courtier-throng
Pursue their monarch as he crawls along;
E'en Beauty pleads in vain with smiles and tears,
Nor Flattery's self can pierce his pendant ears.
Two
Sister-Nymphs to Ganges' flowery brink
Bend their light steps, the lucid water drink,
Wind through the dewy rice, and nodding canes,
(As
eight
black Eunuchs guard the sacred plains),
With playful malice watch the scaly brood,
And shower the inebriate berries on the flood.Stay in your crystal chambers, silver tribes!
Turn your bright eyes, and shun the dangerous bribes;
The tramel'd net with less destruction sweeps
Your curling shallows, and your azure deeps;
With less deceit, the gilded fly beneath,
Lurks the fell hook unseen,-to taste is death!-Dim your slow eyes, and dull your pearly coat,
Drunk on the waves your languid forms shall float,
On useless fins in giddy circles play,
And Herons and Otters seize you for their prey.So, when the Saint from Padua's graceless land
In silent anguish sought the barren strand,
High on the shatter'd beech sublime He stood,
Still'd with his waving arm the babbling flood;
'To Man's dull ear,' He cry'd, 'I call in vain,
'Hear me, ye scaly tenants of the main!'Misshapen Seals approach in circling flocks,
In dusky mail the Tortoise climbs the rocks,
Torpedoes, Sharks, Rays, Porpus, Dolphins, pour
Their twinkling squadrons round the glittering shore;
47
With tangled fins, behind, huge Phocæ glide,
And Whales and Grampi swell the distant tide.
Then kneel'd the hoary Seer, to heaven address'd
His fiery eyes, and smote his sounding breast;
'Bless ye the Lord!' with thundering voice he cry'd,
'Bless ye the Lord!' the bending shores reply'd;
The winds and waters caught the sacred word,
And mingling echoes shouted 'Bless the Lord!'
The listening shoals the quick contagion feel,
Pant on the floods, inebriate with their zeal,
Ope their wide jaws, and bow their slimy heads,
And dash with frantic fins their foamy beds.
Sopha'd on silk, amid her charm-built towers,
Her meads of asphodel, and amaranth bowers,
Where Sleep and Silence guard the soft abodes,
In sullen apathy PAPAVER nods.
Faint o'er her couch in scintillating streams
Pass the thin forms of Fancy and of Dreams;
Froze by inchantment on the velvet ground
Fair youths and beauteous ladies glitter round;
On crystal pedestals they seem to sigh,
Bend the meek knee, and lift the imploring eye.
-And now the Sorceress bares her shrivel'd hand,
And circles thrice in air her ebon wand;
Flush'd with new life descending statues talk,
The pliant marble softening as they walk;
With deeper sobs reviving lovers breathe,
Fair bosoms rise, and soft hearts pant beneath;
With warmer lips relenting damsels speak,
And kindling blushes tinge the Parian cheek;
To viewless lutes aërial voices sing,
And hovering Loves are heard on rustling wing.
-She waves her wand again!-fresh horrors seize
Their stiffening limbs, their vital currents freeze;
By each cold nymph her marble lover lies,
And iron slumbers seal their glassy eyes.
So with his dread Caduceus HERMES led
From the dark regions of the imprison'd dead,
Or drove in silent shoals the lingering train
To Night's dull shore, and PLUTO'S dreary reign
So with her waving pencil CREWE commands
The realms of Taste, and Fancy's fairy lands;
48
Calls up with magic voice the shapes, that sleep
In earth's dark bosom, or unfathom'd deep;
That shrined in air on viewless wings aspire,
Or blazing bathe in elemental fire.
As with nice touch her plaistic hand she moves,
Rise the fine forms of Beauties, Graces, Loves;
Kneel to the fair Inchantress, smile or sigh,
And fade or flourish, as she turns her eye.
Fair CISTA, rival of the rosy dawn,
Call'd her light choir, and trod the dewy lawn;
Hail'd with rude melody the new-born May,
As cradled yet in April's lap she lay.
I.
'Born in yon blaze of orient sky,
'Sweet MAY! thy radiant form unfold;
'Unclose thy blue voluptuous eye,
'And wave thy shadowy locks of gold.
II.
'For Thee the fragrant zephyrs blow,
'For Thee descends the sunny shower;
'The rills in softer murmurs slow,
'And brighter blossoms gem the bower.
III.
'Light Graces dress'd in flowery wreaths
'And tiptoe Joys their hands combine;
'And Love his sweet contagion breathes,
'And laughing dances round thy shrine.
IV.
'Warm with new life the glittering throngs
'On quivering fin and rustling wing
'Delighted join their votive songs,
'And hail thee, GODDESS OF THE SPRING.'
O'er the green brinks of Severn's oozy bed,
49
In changeful rings, her sprightly troop She led;
PAN tripp'd before, where Eudness shades the mead,
And blew with glowing lip his sevenfold reed;
Emerging Naiads swell'd the jocund strain,
And aped with mimic step the dancing train.'I faint, I fall!'at noon
the Beauty cried,
'Weep o'er my tomb, ye Nymphs!'-and sunk and died.
-Thus, when white Winter o'er the shivering clime
Drives the still snow, or showers the silver rime;
As the lone shepherd o'er the dazzling rocks
Prints his steep step, and guides his vagrant flocks;
Views the green holly veil'd in network nice,
Her vermil clusters twinkling in the ice;
Admires the lucid vales, and slumbering floods,
Fantastic cataracts, and crystal woods,
Transparent towns, with seas of milk between,
And eyes with transport the refulgent scene:If breaks the sunshine o'er the spangled trees,
Or flits on tepid wing the western breeze,
In liquid dews descends the transient glare,
And all the glittering pageant melts in air.
Where Andes hides his cloud-wreath'd crest in snow,
And roots his base on burning sands below;
Cinchona, fairest of Peruvian maids
To Health's bright Goddess in the breezy glades
On Quito's temperate plain an altar rear'd,
Trill'd the loud hymn, the solemn prayer preferr'd:
Each balmy bud she cull'd, and honey'd flower,
And hung with fragrant wreaths the sacred bower;
Each pearly sea she search'd, and sparkling mine,
And piled their treasures on the gorgeous shrine;
Her suppliant voice for sickening Loxa raised,
Sweet breath'd the gale, and bright the censor blazed.
-'Divine HYGEIA! on thy votaries bend
Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend!
While streaming o'er the night with baleful glare
The star of Autumn rays his misty hair;
Fierce from his fens the Giant AGUE springs,
And wrapp'd in fogs descends on vampire wings;
'Before, with shuddering limbs cold Tremor reels,
50
And Fever's burning nostril dogs his heels;
Loud claps the grinning Fiend his iron hands,
Stamps with his marble feet, and shouts along the lands;
Withers the damask cheek, unnerves the strong,
And drives with scorpion-lash the shrieking throng.
Oh, Goddess! on thy kneeling votaries bend
Thy angel-looks, oh, hear us, and defend!'
-HYGEIA, leaning from the blest abodes,
The crystal mansions of the immortal gods,
Saw the sad Nymph uplift her dewy eyes,
Spread her white arms, and breathe her fervid sighs;
Call'd to her fair associates, Youth, and Joy,
And shot all-radiant through the glittering sky;
Loose waved behind her golden train of hair,
Her sapphire mantle swam diffus'd in air.O'er the grey matted moss, and pansied sod,
With step sublime the glowing Goddess trod,
Gilt with her beamy eye the conscious shade,
And with her smile celestial bless'd the maid.
'Come to my arms,' with seraph voice she cries,
'Thy vows are heard, benignant Nymph! arise;
Where yon aspiring trunks fantastic wreath
Their mingled roots, and drink the rill beneath,
Yield to the biting axe thy sacred wood,
And strew the bitter foliage on the flood.'
In silent homage bow'd the blushing maid,Five
youths athletic hasten to her aid,
O'er the scar'd hills re-echoing strokes resound,
And headlong forests thunder on the ground.
Round the dark roots, rent bark, and shatter'd boughs,
From ocherous beds the swelling fountain flows;
With streams austere its winding margin laves,
And pours from vale to vale its dusky waves.
-As the pale squadrons, bending o'er the brink,
View with a sigh their alter'd forms, and drink;
Slow-ebbing life with refluent crimson breaks
O'er their wan lips, and paints their haggard cheeks;
Through each fine nerve rekindling transports dart,
Light the quick eye, and swell the exulting heart.
-Thus ISRAEL's heaven-taught chief o'er trackless lands
51
Led to the sultry rock his murmuring bands.
Bright o'er his brows the forky radiance blazed,
And high in air the rod divine He raised.Wide yawns the cliff!-amid the thirsty throng
Rush the redundant waves, and shine along;
With gourds and shells and helmets press the bands,
Ope their parch'd lips, and spread their eager hands,
Snatch their pale infants to the exuberant shower,
Kneel on the shatter'd rock, and bless the Almighty Power.
Bolster'd with down, amid a thousand wants,
Pale Dropsy rears his bloated form, and pants;
'Quench me, ye cool pellucid rills!' he cries,
Wets his parch'd tongue, and rolls his hollow eyes.
So bends tormented TANTALUS to drink,
While from his lips the refluent waters shrink;
Again the rising stream his bosom laves,
And Thirst consumes him 'mid circumfluent waves.
-Divine HYGEIA, from the bending sky
Descending, listens to his piercing cry;
Assumes bright DIGITALIS' dress and air,
Her ruby cheek, white neck, and raven hair;
Four
youths protect her from the circling throng,
And like the Nymph the Goddess steps along.-O'er Him She waves her serpent-wreathed wand,
Cheers with her voice, and raises with her hand,
Warms with rekindling bloom his visage wan,
And charms the shapeless monster into man.
So when Contagion with mephitic breath
And withered Famine urged the work of death;
Marseilles' good Bishop, London's generous Mayor,
With food and faith, with medicine and with prayer,
Raised the weak head and stayed the parting sigh,
Or with new life relumed the swimming eye.-And now, PHILANTHROPY! thy rays divine
Dart round the globe from Zembla to the Line;
O'er each dark prison plays the cheering light,
Like northern lustres o'er the vault of night.From realm to realm, with cross or crescent crown'd,
Where'er Mankind and Misery are found,
O'er burning sands, deep waves, or wilds of snow,
52
Thy HOWARD journeying seeks the house of woe.
Down many a winding step to dungeons dank,
Where anguish wails aloud, and fetters clank;
To caves bestrew'd with many a mouldering bone,
And cells, whose echoes only learn to groan;
Where no kind bars a whispering friend disclose,
No sunbeam enters, and no zephyr blows,
HE treads, inemulous of fame or wealth,
Profuse of toil, and prodigal of health;
With soft assuasive eloquence expands
Power's rigid heart, and opes his clenching hands;
Leads stern-ey'd Justice to the dark domains,
If not to fever, to relax the chains;
Or guides awaken'd Mercy through the gloom,
And shews the prison, sister to the tomb!Gives to her babes the self-devoted wife,
To her fond husband liberty and life!-The Spirits of the Good, who bend from high
Wide o'er these earthly scenes their partial eye,
When first, array'd in VIRTUE'S purest robe,
They saw her HOWARD traversing the globe;
Saw round his brows her sun-like Glory blaze
In arrowy circles of unwearied rays;
Mistook a Mortal for an Angel-Guest,
And ask'd what Seraph-foot the earth imprest.
-Onward he moves!-Disease and Death retire,
And murmuring Demons hate him, and admire.'
Here paused the Goddess,-on HYGEIA'S shrine
Obsequious Gnomes repose the lyre divine;
Descending Sylphs relax the trembling strings,
And catch the rain-drops on their shadowy wings.
-And now her vase a modest Naiad fills
With liquid crystal from her pebbly rills;
Piles the dry cedar round her silver urn,
(Bright climbs the blaze, the crackling faggots burn),
Culls the green herb of China's envy'd bowers,
In gaudy cups the steamy treasure pours;
And, sweetly-smiling, on her bended knee
Presents the fragrant quintessence of Tea.
~ Erasmus Darwin,
439:The Botanic Garden (Part Viii)
THE LOVES OF THE PLANTS
CANTO IV.
Now the broad Sun his golden orb unshrouds,
Flames in the west, and paints the parted clouds;
O'er heaven's wide arch refracted lustres flow,
And bend in air the many-colour'd bow.-The tuneful Goddess on the glowing sky
Fix'd in mute extacy her glistening eye;
And then her lute to sweeter tones she strung,
And swell'd with softer chords the Paphian song.
Long ailes of Oaks return'd the silver sound,
And amorous Echoes talk'd along the ground;
Pleas'd Lichfield listen'd from her sacred bowers,
Bow'd her tall groves, and shook her stately towers.
'Nymph! not for thee the radiant day returns,
Nymph! not for thee the golden solstice burns,
Refulgent CEREA!-at the dusky hour
She seeks with pensive step the mountain-bower,
Bright as the blush of rising morn, and warms
The dull cold eye of Midnight with her charms.
There to the skies she lifts her pencill'd brows,
Opes her fair lips, and breathes her virgin vows;
Eyes the white zenyth; counts the suns, that roll
Their distant fires, and blaze around the Pole;
Or marks where Jove directs his glittering car
O'er Heaven's blue vault,-Herself a brighter star.
-There as soft Zephyrs sweep with pausing airs
Thy snowy neck, and part thy shadowy hairs,
Sweet Maid of Night! to Cynthia's sober beams
Glows thy warm cheek, thy polish'd bosom gleams.
In crowds
around thee gaze the admiring swains,
And guard in silence the enchanted plains;
Drop the still tear, or breathe the impassion'd sigh,
And drink inebriate rapture from thine eye.
Thus, when old Needwood's hoary scenes the Night
66
Paints with blue shadow, and with milky light;
Where MUNDY pour'd, the listening nymphs among,
Loud to the echoing vales his parting song;
With measured step the Fairy Sovereign treads,
Shakes her high plume, and glitters o'er the meads;
Round each green holly leads her sportive train,
And little footsteps mark the circled plain;
Each haunted rill with silver voices rings,
And Night's sweet bird in livelier accents sings.
Ere the bright star, which leads the morning sky,
Hangs o'er the blushing east his diamond eye,
The chaste TROPAEO leaves her secret bed;
A saint-like glory trembles round her head;
Eight
watchful swains along the lawns of night
With amorous steps pursue the virgin light;
O'er her fair form the electric lustre plays,
And cold she moves amid the lambent blaze.
So shines the glow-fly, when the sun retires,
And gems the night-air with phosphoric fires;
Thus o'er the marsh aërial lights betray,
And charm the unwary wanderer from his way.
So when thy King, Assyria, fierce and proud,
Three human victims to his idol vow'd;
Rear'd a vast pyre before the golden shrine
Of sulphurous coal, and pitch-exsuding pine;-Loud roar the flames, the iron nostrils breathe,
And the huge bellows pant and heave beneath;
Bright and more bright the blazing deluge flows,
And white with seven-fold heat the furnace glows.
And now the Monarch fix'd with dread surprize
Deep in the burning vault his dazzled eyes.
'Lo! Three unbound amid the frightful glare,
Unscorch'd their sandals, and unsing'd their hair!
And now a fourth with seraph-beauty bright
Descends, accosts them, and outshines the light!
Fierce flames innocuous, as they step, retire!
And slow they move amid a world of fire!'
He spoke,-to Heaven his arms repentant spread,
And kneeling bow'd his gem-incircled head.
67
Two
Sister-Nymphs, the fair AVENAS, lead
Their fleecy squadrons on the lawns of Tweed;
Pass with light step his wave-worn banks along,
And wake his Echoes with their silver tongue;
Or touch the reed, as gentle Love inspires,
In notes accordant to their chaste desires.
I.
'Sweet ECHO! sleeps thy vocal shell,
'Where this high arch o'erhangs the dell;
'While Tweed with sun-reflecting streams
'Chequers thy rocks with dancing beams?-
II.
'Here may no clamours harsh intrude,
No brawling hound or clarion rude;
Here no fell beast of midnight prowl,
And teach thy tortured cliffs to howl!
III.
'Be thine to pour these vales along
Some artless Shepherd's evening song;
While Night's sweet bird, from yon high spray
Responsive, listens to his lay.
IV.
'And if, like me, some love-lorn maid
'Should sing her sorrows to thy shade,
'Oh, sooth her breast, ye rocks around!
'With softest sympathy of sound.'
From ozier bowers the brooding Halcyons peep,
The Swans pursuing cleave the glassy deep,
On hovering wings the wondering Reed-larks play,
And silent Bitterns listen to the lay.-
68
Three
shepherd-swains beneath the beechen shades
Twine rival garlands for the tuneful maids;
On each smooth bark the mystic love-knot frame,
Or on white sands inscribe the favour'd name.
From Time's remotest dawn where China brings
In proud succession all her Patriot-Kings;
O'er desert-sands, deep gulfs, and hills sublime,
Extends her massy wall from clime to clime;
With bells and dragons crests her Pagod-bowers,
Her silken palaces, and porcelain towers;
With long canals a thousand nations laves;
Plants all her wilds, and peoples all her waves;
Slow treads fair CANNABIS the breezy strand,
The distaff streams dishevell'd in her hand;
Now to the left her ivory neck inclines,
And leads in Paphian curves its azure lines;
Dark waves the fringed lid, the warm cheek glows,
And the fair ear the parting locks disclose;
Now to the right with airy sweep she bends,
Quick join the threads, the dancing spole depends.
Five
Swains attracted guard the Nymph, by turns
Her grace inchants them, and her beauty burns;
To each She bows with sweet assuasive smile,
Hears his soft vows, and turns her spole the while.
So when with light and shade, concordant strife!
Stern CLOTHO weaves the chequer'd thread of life;
Hour after hour the growing line extends,
The cradle and the coffin bound its ends;
Soft cords of silk the whirling spoles reveal,
If smiling Fortune turn the giddy wheel;
But if sweet Love with baby-fingers twines,
And wets with dewy lips the lengthening lines,
Skein after skein celestial tints unfold,
And all the silken tissue shines with gold.
Warm with sweet blushes bright GALANTHA glows,
And prints with frolic step the melting snows;
O'er silent floods, white hills, and glittering meads
Six
69
rival swains the playful beauty leads,
Chides with her dulcet voice the tardy Spring,
Bids slumbering Zephyr stretch his folded wing,
Wakes the hoarse Cuckoo in his gloomy cave,
And calls the wondering Dormouse from his grave,
Bids the mute Redbreast cheer the budding grove,
And plaintive Ringdove tune her notes to love.
Spring! with thy own sweet smile, and tuneful tongue,
Delighted BELLIS calls her infant throng.
Each on his reed astride, the Cherub-train
Watch her kind looks, and circle o'er the plain;
Now with young wonder touch the siding snail,
Admire his eye-tipp'd horns, and painted mail;
Chase with quick step, and eager arms outspread,
The pausing Butterfly from mead to mead;
Or twine green oziers with the fragrant gale,
The azure harebel, and the primrose pale,
Join hand in hand, and in procession gay
Adorn with votive wreaths the shrine of May.
-So moves the Goddess to the Idalian groves,
And leads her gold-hair'd family of Loves.
These, from the flaming furnace, strong and bold
Pour the red steel into the sandy mould;
On tinkling anvils (with Vulcanian art),
Turn with hot tongs, and forge the dreadful dart;
The barbed head on whirling jaspers grind,
And dip the point in poison for the mind;
Each polish'd shaft with snow-white plumage wing,
Or strain the bow reluctant to its string.
Those on light pinion twine with busy hands,
Or stretch from bough to bough the flowery bands;
Scare the dark beetle, as he wheels on high,
Or catch in silken nets the gilded fly;
Call the young Zephyrs to their fragrant bowers,
And stay with kisses sweet the Vernal Hours.
Where, as proud Maffon rises rude and bleak,
And with mishapen turrets crests the Peak,
Old Matlock gapes with marble jaws, beneath,
And o'er fear'd Derwent bends his flinty teeth;
Deep in wide caves below the dangerous soil
Blue sulphurs flame, imprison'd waters boil.
Impetuous steams in spiral colums rise
70
Through rifted rocks, impatient for the skies;
Or o'er bright seas of bubbling lavas blow,
As heave and toss the billowy fires below;
Condensed on high, in wandering rills they glide
From Maffon's dome, and burst his sparry side;
Round his grey towers, and down his fringed walls,
From cliff to cliff, the liquid treasure falls;
In beds of stalactite, bright ores among,
O'er corals, shells, and crystals, winds along;
Crusts the green mosses, and the tangled wood,
And sparkling plunges to its parent flood.
-O'er the warm wave a smiling youth presides,
Attunes its murmurs, its meanders guides,
(The blooming FUCUS), in her sparry coves
To amorous Echo sings his
secret
loves,
Bathes his fair forehead in the misty stream,
And with sweet breath perfumes the rising steam.
-So, erst, an Angel o'er Bethesda's springs,
Each morn descending, shook his dewy wings;
And as his bright translucent form He laves,
Salubrious powers enrich the troubled waves.
Amphibious Nymph, from Nile's prolific bed
Emerging TRAPA lifts her pearly head;
Fair glows her virgin cheek and modest breast,
A panoply of scales deforms the rest;
Her quivering fins and panting gills she hides
But spreads her silver arms upon the tides;
Slow as she sails, her ivory neck she laves,
And shakes her golden tresses o'er the waves.
Charm'd round the Nymph, in circling gambols glide
Four
Nereid-forms, or shoot along the tide;
Now all as one they rise with frolic spring,
And beat the wondering air on humid wing;
Now all descending plunge beneath the main,
And lash the foam with undulating train;
Above, below, they wheel, retreat, advance,
In air and ocean weave the mazy dance;
Bow their quick heads, and point their diamond eyes,
71
And twinkle to the sun with ever-changing dyes.
Where Andes, crested with volcanic beams,
Sheds a long line of light on Plata's streams;
Opes all his springs, unlocks his golden caves,
And feeds and freights the immeasurable waves;
Delighted OCYMA at twilight hours
Calls her light car, and leaves the sultry bowers;Love's rising ray, and Youth's seductive dye,
Bloom'd on her cheek, and brighten'd in her eye;
Chaste, pure, and white, a zone of silver graced
Her tender breast, as white, as pure, as chaste;-By
four
fond swains in playful circles drawn,
On glowing wheels she tracks the moon-bright lawn,
Mounts the rude cliff, unveils her blushing charms,
And calls the panting zephyrs to her arms.
Emerged from ocean springs the vaporous air,
Bathes her light limbs, uncurls her amber hair,
Incrusts her beamy form with films saline,
And Beauty blazes through the crystal shrine.So with pellucid studs the ice-flower gems
Her rimy foliage, and her candied stems.
So from his glassy horns, and pearly eyes,
The diamond-beetle darts a thousand dyes;
Mounts with enamel'd wings the vesper gale,
And wheeling shines in adamantine mail.
Thus when loud thunders o'er Gomorrah burst,
And heaving earthquakes shook his realms accurst,
An Angel-guest led forth the trembling Fair
With shadowy hand, and warn'd the guiltless pair;
'Haste from these lands of sin, ye Righteous! fly,
Speed the quick step, nor turn the lingering eye!'-Such the command, as fabling Bards indite,
When Orpheus charm'd the grisly King of Night;
Sooth'd the pale phantoms with his plaintive lay,
And led the fair Assurgent into day.Wide yawn'd the earth, the fiery tempest flash'd,
And towns and towers in one vast ruin crash'd;Onward they move,--loud horror roars behind,
And shrieks of Anguish bellow in the wind.
With many a sob, amid a thousand fears,
72
The beauteous wanderer pours her gushing tears;
Each soft connection rends her troubled breast,
-She turns, unconscious of the stern behest!'I faint!-I fall!-ah, me!-sensations chill
Shoot through my bones, my shuddering bosom thrill!
I freeze! I freeze! just Heaven regards my fault,
Numbs my cold limbs, and hardens into salt!Not yet, not yet, your dying Love resign!This last, last kiss receive!-no longer thine!'She said, and ceased,-her stiffen'd form He press'd,
And strain'd the briny column to his breast;
Printed with quivering lips the lifeless snow,
And wept, and gazed the monument of woe.So when Aeneas through the flames of Troy
Bore his pale fire, and led his lovely boy;
With loitering step the fair Creusa stay'd,
And Death involved her in eternal shade.Oft the lone Pilgrim that his road forsakes,
Marks the wide ruins, and the sulphur'd lakes;
On mouldering piles amid asphaltic mud
Hears the hoarse bittern, where Gomorrah stood;
Recalls the unhappy Pair with lifted eye,
Leans on the crystal tomb, and breathes the silent sigh..
With net-wove sash and glittering gorget dress'd,
And scarlet robe lapell'd upon her breast,
Stern ARA frowns, the measured march assumes,
Trails her long lance, and nods her shadowy plumes;
While Love's soft beams illume her treacherous eyes,
And Beauty lightens through the thin disguise.
So erst, when HERCULES, untamed by toil,
Own'd the soft power of DEJANIRA'S smile;His lion-spoils the laughing Fair demands,
And gives the distaff to his awkward hands;
O'er her white neck the bristly mane she throws,
And binds the gaping whiskers on her brows;
Plaits round her slender waist the shaggy vest,
And clasps the velvet paws across her breast.
Next with soft hands the knotted club she rears,
Heaves up from earth, and on her shoulder bears.
Onward with loftier step the Beauty treads,
And trails the brinded ermine o'er the meads;
Wolves, bears, and bards, forsake the affrighted groves,
73
And grinning Satyrs tremble, as she moves.
CARYO'S sweet smile DIANTHUS proud admires,
And gazing burns with unallow'd desires;
With sighs and sorrows her compassion moves,
And wins the damsel to illicit loves.
The Monster-offspring heirs the father's pride,
Mask'd in the damask beauties of the bride.
So, when the Nightingale in eastern bowers
On quivering pinion woos the Queen of flowers;
Inhales her fragrance, as he hangs in air,
And melts with melody the blushing fair;
Half-rose, half-bird, a beauteous Monster springs,
Waves his thin leaves, and claps his glossy wings;
Long horrent thorns his mossy legs surround,
And tendril-talons root him to the ground;
Green films of rind his wrinkled neck o'espread,
And crimson petals crest his curled head;
Soft-warbling beaks in each bright blossom move,
And vocal Rosebuds thrill the enchanted grove!Admiring Evening stays her beamy star,
And still Night listens from his ebon ear;
While on white wings descending Houries throng,
And drink the floods of odour and of song.
When from his golden urn the Solstice pours
O'er Afric's sable sons the sultry hours;
When not a gale flits o'er her tawny hills,
Save where the dry Harmattan breathes and kills;
-Fair CHUNDA smiles amid the burning waste,
Her brow unturban'd, and her zone unbrac'd;
Ten
brother-youths with light umbrella's shade,
Or fan with busy hands the panting maid;
Loose wave her locks, disclosing, as they break,
The rising bosom and averted cheek;
Clasp'd round her ivory neck with studs of gold
Flows her thin vest in many a gauzy fold;
O'er her light limbs the dim transparence plays,
And the fair form, it seems to hide, betrays.
Where leads the northern Star his lucid train
High o'er the snow-clad earth, and icy main,
With milky light the white horizon streams,
74
And to the moon each sparkling mountain gleams.Slow o'er the printed snows with silent walk
Huge shaggy forms across the twilight stalk;
And ever and anon with hideous sound
Burst the thick ribs of ice, and thunder round.There, as old Winter slaps his hoary wing,
And lingering leaves his empire to the Spring,
Pierced with quick shafts of silver-shooting light
Fly in dark troops the dazzled imps of night'Awake, my Love!' enamour'd MUSCHUS cries,
'Stretch thy fair limbs, resulgent Maid! arise;
Ope thy sweet eye-lids to the rising ray,
And hail with ruby lips returning day.
Down the white hills dissolving torrents pour,
Green springs the turf, and purple blows the flower;
His torpid wing the Rail exulting tries,
Mounts the soft gale, and wantons in the skies;
Rise, let us mark how bloom the awaken'd groves,
And 'mid the banks of roses
hide
our loves.'
Night's tinsel beams on smooth Lock-lomond dance,
Impatient ÆGA views the bright expanse;In vain her eyes the parting floods explore,
Wave after wave rolls freightless to the shore.
-Now dim amid the distant foam she spies
A rising speck,-''tis he! 'tis he!' She cries;
As with firm arms he beats the streams aside,
And cleaves with rising chest the tossing tide,
With bended knee she prints the humid sands,
Up-turns her glistening eyes, and spreads her hands;
-''Tis he, 'tis he!-My Lord, my life, my love!Slumber, ye winds; ye billows, cease to move!
beneath his arms your buoyant plumage spread,
Ye Swans! ye Halcyons! hover round his head!'-With eager step the boiling surf she braves,
And meets her refluent lover in the waves;
Loose o'er the flood her azure mantle swims,
And the clear stream betrays her snowy limbs.
So on her sea-girt tower fair HERO stood
At parting day, and mark'd the dashing flood;
While high in air, the glimmering rocks above,
75
Shone the bright lamp, the pilot-star of Love.
-With robe outspread the wavering flame behind
She kneels, and guards it from the shifting wind;
Breathes to her Goddess all her vows, and guides
Her bold LEANDER o'er the dusky tides;
Wrings his wet hair, his briny bosom warms,
And clasps her panting lover in her arms.
Deep, in wide caverns and their shadowy ailes,
Daughter of Earth, the chaste TRUFFELIA smiles;
On silvery beds, of soft asbestus wove,
Meets her Gnome-husband, and avows her love.
High
o'er her couch impending diamonds blaze,
And branching gold the crystal roof inlays;
With verdant light the modest emeralds glow,
Blue sapphires glare, and rubies blush,
below
Light piers of lazuli the dome surround,
And pictured mochoes tesselate the ground;
In glittering threads along reflective walls
The warm rill murmuring twinkles, as it falls;
Now sink the Eolian strings, and now they swell,
And Echoes woo in every vaulted cell;
While on white wings delighted Cupids play,
Shake their bright lamps, and shed celestial day.
Closed in an azure fig by fairy spells,
Bosom'd in down, fair CAPRI-FICA dwells;So sleeps in silence the Curculio, shut
In the dark chambers of the cavern'd nut,
Erodes with ivory beak the vaulted shell,
And quits on filmy wings its narrow cell.
So the pleased Linnet in the moss-wove nest,
Waked into life beneath its parent's breast,
Chirps in the gaping shell, bursts forth erelong,
Shakes its new plumes, and tries its tender song.-And now the talisman she strikes, that charms
Her husband-Sylph,-and calls him to her arms.Quick, the light Gnat her airy Lord bestrides,
With cobweb reins the flying courser guides,
From crystal steeps of viewless ether springs,
76
Cleaves the soft air on still expanded wings;
Darts like a sunbeam o'er the boundless wave,
And seeks the beauty in her
secret
cave.
So with quick impulse through all nature's frame
Shoots the electric air its subtle flame.
So turns the impatient needle to the pole,
Tho' mountains rise between, and oceans roll.
Where round the Orcades white torrents roar,
Scooping with ceaseless rage the incumbent shore,
Wide o'er the deep a dusky cavern bends
Its marble arms, and high in air impends;
Basaltic piers the ponderous roof sustain,
And steep their massy sandals in the main;
Round the dim walls, and through the whispering ailes
Hoarse breathes the wind, the glittering water boils.
Here the charm'd BYSSUS with his blooming bride
Spreads his green sails, and braves the foaming tide;
The star of Venus gilds the twilight wave,
And lights her votaries to the
secret
cave;
Light Cupids flutter round the nuptial bed,
And each coy sea-maid hides her blushing head.
Where cool'd by rills, and curtain'd round by woods,
Slopes the green dell to meet the briny floods,
The sparkling noon-beams trembling on the tide,
The PROTEUS-LOVER woos his playful bride,
To win the fair he tries a thousand forms,
Basks on the sands, or gambols in the storms.
A Dolphin now, his scaly sides he laves,
And bears the sportive damsel on the waves;
She strikes the cymbal as he moves along,
And wondering Ocean listens to the song.
-And now a spotted Pard the lover stalks,
Plays round her steps, and guards her favour'd walks;
As with white teeth he prints her hand, caress'd,
And lays his velvet paw upon her breast,
O'er his round face her snowy fingers strain
The silken knots, and fit the ribbon-rein.
-And now a Swan, he spreads his plumy sails,
77
And proudly glides before the fanning gales;
Pleas'd on the flowery brink with graceful hand
She waves her floating lover to the land;
Bright shines his sinuous neck, with crimson beak
He prints fond kisses on her glowing cheek,
Spreads his broad wings, elates his ebon crest,
And clasps the beauty to his downy breast.
hundred
virgins join a
hundred
swains,
And fond ADONIS leads the sprightly trains;
Pair after pair, along his sacred groves
To Hymen's fane the bright procession moves;
Each smiling youth a myrtle garland shades,
And wreaths of roses veil the blushing maids;
Light joys on twinkling feet attend the throng,
Weave the gay dance, or raise the frolic song;
-Thick, as they pass, exulting Cupids fling
Promiscuous arrows from the sounding string;
On wings of gossamer soft Whispers fly,
And the sly Glance steals side-long from the eye.
-As round his shrine the gaudy circles bow,
And seal with muttering lips the faithless vow,
Licentious Hymen joins their mingled hands,
And loosely twines the meretricious bands.Thus where pleased VENUS, in the southern main,
Sheds all her smiles on Otaheite's plain,
Wide o'er the isle her silken net she draws,
And the Loves laugh at all, but Nature's laws.'
Here ceased the Goddess,-o'er the silent strings
Applauding Zephyrs swept their fluttering wings;
Enraptur'd Sylphs arose in murmuring crowds
To air-wove canopies and pillowy clouds;
Each Gnome reluctant sought his earthy cell,
And each bright Floret clos'd her velvet bell.
Then, on soft tiptoe, NIGHT approaching near
Hung o'er the tuneless lyre his sable ear;
Gem'd with bright stars the still etherial plain,
And bad his Nightingales repeat the strain.
78
~ Erasmus Darwin,
440:The Kalevala - Rune Iii
WAINAMOINEN AND YOUKAHAINEN.
Wainamoinen, ancient minstrel,
Passed his years in full contentment,
On the meadows of Wainola,
On the plains of Kalevala,
Singing ever wondrous legends,
Songs of ancient wit and wisdom,
Chanting one day, then a second,
Singing in the dusk of evening,
Singing till the dawn of morning,
Now the tales of old-time heroes,
Tales of ages long forgotten,
Now the legends of creation,
Once familiar to the children,
By our children sung no longer,
Sung in part by many heroes,
In these mournful days of evil,
Evil days our race befallen.
Far and wide the story travelled,
Far away men spread the knowledge
Of the chanting of the hero,
Of the song of Wainamoinen;
To the South were heard the echoes,
All of Northland heard the story.
Far away in dismal Northland,
Lived the singer, Youkahainen,
Lapland's young and reckless minstrel,
Once upon a time when feasting,
Dining with his friends and fellows,
Came upon his ears the story
That there lived a sweeter singer,
On the meadows of Wainola,
On the plains of Kalevala,
Better skilled in chanting legends,
Better skilled than Youkahainen,
Better than the one that taught him.
Straightway then the bard grew angry,
23
Envy rose within his bosom,
Envy of this Wainamoinen,
Famed to be a sweeter singer;
Hastes he angry to his mother,
To his mother, full of wisdom,
Vows that he will southward hasten,
Hie him southward and betake him
To the dwellings of Wainola,
To the cabins of the Northland,
There as bard to vie in battle,
With the famous Wainamoinen.
'Nay,' replies the anxious father,
'Do not go to Kalevala.'
'Nay,' replies the fearful mother,
'Go not hence to Wainamoinen,
There with him to offer battle;
He will charm thee with his singing
Will bewitch thee in his anger,
He will drive thee back dishonored,
Sink thee in the fatal snow-drift,
Turn to ice thy pliant fingers,
Turn to ice thy feet and ankles.'
These the words of Youkahainen:
Good the judgement of a father,
Better still, a mother's counsel,
Best of all one's own decision.
I will go and face the minstrel,
Challenge him to sing in contest,
Challenge him as bard to battle,
Sing to him my sweet-toned measures,
Chant to him my oldest legends,
Chant to him my garnered wisdom,
That this best of boasted singers,
That this famous bard of Suomi,
Shall be worsted in the contest,
Shall become a hapless minstrel;
By my songs shall I transform him,
That his feet shall be as flint-stone,
And as oak his nether raiment;
And this famous, best of singers,
Thus bewitched, shall carry ever,
In his heart a stony burden,
24
On his shoulder bow of marble,
On his hand a flint-stone gauntlet,
On his brow a stony visor.'
Then the wizard, Youkahainen,
Heeding not advice paternal,
Heeding not his mother's counsel,
Leads his courser from his stable,
Fire outstreaming from his nostrils,
From his hoofs, the sparks outshooting,
Hitches to his sledge, the fleet-foot,
To his golden sledge, the courser,
Mounts impetuous his snow-sledge,
Leaps upon the hindmost cross-bench,
Strikes his courser with his birch-whip,
With his birch-whip, pearl-enamelled.
Instantly the prancing racer
Springs away upon his journey;
On he, restless, plunges northward,
All day long be onward gallops,
All the next day, onward, onward,
So the third from morn till evening,
Till the third day twilight brings him
To the meadows of Wainola,
To the plains of Kalevala.
As it happened, Wainamoinen,
Wainamoinen, the magician,
Rode that sunset on the highway,
Silently for pleasure driving
Down Wainola's peaceful meadows,
O'er the plains of Kalevala.
Youkahainen, young and fiery,
Urging still his foaming courser,
Dashes down upon the singer,
Does not turn aside in meeting,
Meeting thus in full collision;
Shafts are driven tight together,
Hames and collars wedged and tangled,
Tangled are the reins and traces.
Thus perforce they make a stand-still,
Thus remain and well consider;
Water drips from hame and collar,
Vapors rise from both their horses.
25
Speaks the minstrel, Wainamoinen:
'Who art thou, and whence? Thou comest
Driving like a stupid stripling,
Wainamoinen and Youkahainen.
Careless, dashing down upon me.
Thou hast ruined shafts and traces;
And the collar of my racer
Thou hast shattered into ruin,
And my golden sleigh is broken,
Box and runners dashed to pieces.'
Youkahainen then make answer,
Spake at last the words that follow:
'I am youthful Youkahainen,
But make answer first, who thou art,
Whence thou comest, where thou goest,
From what lowly tribe descended?'
Wainamolinen, wise and ancient,
Answered thus the youthful minstrel:
'If thou art but Youkahainen,
Thou shouldst give me all the highway;
I am many years thy senior.'
Then the boastful Youkahainen
Spake again to Wainamoinen:
'Young or ancient, little matter,
Little consequence the age is;
He that higher stands in wisdom,
He whose knowledge is the greater,
He that is the sweeter singer,
He alone shall keep the highway,
And the other take the roadside.
Art thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Famous sorcerer and minstrel?
Let us then begin our singing,
Let us sing our ancient legends,
Let us chant our garnered wisdom,
That the one may hear the other,
That the one may judge the other,
In a war of wizard sayings.'
Wainamoinen, wise and ancient,
Thus replied in modest accents:
'What I know is very little,
Hardly is it worth the singing,
26
Neither is my singing wondrous:
All my days I have resided
In the cold and dreary Northland,
In a desert land enchanted,
In my cottage home for ayes;
All the songs that I have gathered,
Are the cuckoo's simple measures,
Some of these I may remember;
But since thou perforce demandest,
I accept thy boastful challenge.
Tell me now, my golden youngster,
What thou knowest more than others,
Open now thy store of wisdom.'
Thus made answer Youkahainen,
Lapland's young and fiery minstrel:
'Know I many bits of learning
This I know in perfect clearness:
Every roof must have a chimney,
Every fire-place have a hearth-stone;
Lives of seal are free and merry,
Merry is the life of walrus,
Feeding on incautious salmon,
Daily eating perch and whiting;
Whitings live in quiet shallows,
Salmon love the level bottoms;
Spawns the pike in coldest weather,
And defies the storms of winter.
Slowly perches swim in Autumn,
Wry-backed, hunting deeper water,
Spawn in shallows in the summer,
Bounding on the shore of ocean.
Should this wisdom seem too little,
I can tell thee other matters,
Sing thee other wizard sayings:
All the Northmen plow with reindeer,
Mother-horses plow the Southland,
Inner Lapland plows with oxen;
All the trees on Pisa-mountain,
Know I well in all their grandeur;
On the Horna-rock are fir-trees,
Fir-trees growing tall and slender;
Slender grow the trees on mountains.
27
Three, the water-falls in number,
Three in number, inland oceans,
Three in number, lofty mountains,
Shooting to the vault of heaven.
Hallapyora's near to Yaemen,
Katrakoski in Karyala;
Imatra, the falling water,
Tumbles, roaring, into Wuoksi.'
Then the ancient Wainimoinen:
'Women's tales and children's wisdom
Do not please a bearded hero,
Hero, old enough for wedlock;
Tell the story of creation,
Tell me of the world's beginning,
Tell me of the creatures in it,
And philosophize a little.'
Then the youthful Youkahainen
Thus replied to Wainamoinen:
'Know I well the titmouse-fountains,
Pretty birdling is the titmouse;
And the viper, green, a serpent;
Whitings live in brackish waters;
Perches swim in every river;
Iron rusts, and rusting weakens;
Bitter is the taste of umber;
Boiling water is malicious;
Fire is ever full of danger;
First physician, the Creator;
Remedy the oldest, water;
Magic is the child of sea-foam;
God the first and best adviser;
Waters gush from every mountain;
Fire descended first from heaven;
Iron from the rust was fashioned;
Copper from the rocks created;
Marshes are of lands the oldest;
First of all the trees, the willow;
Fir-trees were the first of houses;
Hollowed stones the first of kettles.'
Now the ancient Wainamoinen
Thus addresses Youkahainen:
'Canst thou give me now some wisdom,
28
Is this nonsense all thou knowest?'
Youkahainen thus made answer:
'I can tell thee still a trifle,
Tell thee of the times primeval,
When I plowed the salt-sea's bosom,
When I raked the sea-girt islands,
When I dug the salmon-grottoes,
Hollowed out the deepest caverns,
When I all the lakes created,
When I heaped the mountains round them,
When I piled the rocks about them.
I was present as a hero,
Sixth of wise and ancient heroes,
Seventh of all primeval heroes,
When the heavens were created,
When were formed the ether-spaces,
When the sky was crystal-pillared,
When was arched the beauteous rainbow,
When the Moon was placed in orbit,
When the silver Sun was planted,
When the Bear was firmly stationed,
And with stars the heavens were sprinkled.'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Thou art surely prince of liars,
Lord of all the host of liars;
Never wert thou in existence,
Surely wert thou never present,
When was plowed the salt-sea's bosom,
When were raked the sea-girt islands,
When were dug the salmon-grottoes,
When were hollowed out the caverns,
When the lakes were all created,
When were heaped the mountains round them,
When the rocks were piled about them.
Thou wert never seen or heard of
When the earth was first created,
When were made the ether-spaces,
When the air was crystal-pillared,
When the Moon was placed in orbit,
When the silver Sun was planted,
When the Bear was firmly stationed,
When the skies with stars were sprinkled.'
29
Then in anger Youkahainen
Answered ancient Wainamoinen:
'Then, sir, since I fail in wisdom,
With the sword I offer battle;
Come thou, famous bard and minstrel,
Thou the ancient wonder-singer,
Let us try our strength with broadswords,
let our blades be fully tested.'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Not thy sword and not thy wisdom,
Not thy prudence, nor thy cunning,
Do I fear a single moment.
Let who may accept thy challenge,
Not with thee, a puny braggart,
Not with one so vain and paltry,
Will I ever measure broadswords.'
Then the youthful Youkahainen,
Mouth awry and visage sneering,
Shook his golden locks and answered:
'Whoso fears his blade to measure,
Fears to test his strength at broadswords,
Into wild-boar of the forest,
Swine at heart and swine in visage,
Singing I will thus transform him;
I will hurl such hero-cowards,
This one hither, that one thither,
Stamp him in the mire and bedding,
In the rubbish of the stable.'
Angry then grew Wainamoinen,
Wrathful waxed, and fiercely frowning,
Self-composed he broke his silence,
And began his wondrous singing.
Sang he not the tales of childhood,
Children's nonsense, wit of women,
Sang he rather bearded heroes,
That the children never heard of,
That the boys and maidens knew not
Known but half by bride and bridegroom,
Known in part by many heroes,
In these mournful days of evil,
Evil times our race befallen.
Grandly sang wise Wainamoinen,
30
Till the copper-bearing mountains,
And the flinty rocks and ledges
Heard his magic tones and trembled;
Mountain cliffs were torn to pieces,
All the ocean heaved and tumbled;
And the distant hills re-echoed.
Lo! the boastful Youkahainen
Is transfixed in silent wonder,
And his sledge with golden trimmings
Floats like brushwood on the billows;
Sings his braces into reed-grass,
Sings his reins to twigs of willow,
And to shrubs his golden cross-bench.
Lo! his birch-whip, pearl-enameled,
Floats a reed upon the border;
Lo! his steed with golden forehead,
Stands a statue on the waters;
Hames and traces are as fir-boughs,
And his collar, straw and sea-grass.
Still the minstrel sings enchantment,
Sings his sword with golden handle,
Sings it into gleam of lightning,
Hangs it in the sky above him;
Sings his cross-bow, gaily painted,
To a rainbow o'er the ocean;
Sings his quick and feathered arrows
Into hawks and screaming eagles;
Sings his dog with bended muzzle,
Into block of stone beside him;
Sings his cap from off his forehead,
Sings it into wreaths of vapor;
From his hands he sings his gauntlets
Into rushes on the waters;
Sings his vesture, purple-colored,
Into white clouds in the heavens;
Sings his girdle, set with jewels,
Into twinkling stars around him;
And alas! for Youkahainen,
Sings him into deeps of quick-sand;
Ever deeper, deeper, deeper,
In his torture, sinks the wizard,
To his belt in mud and water.
31
Now it was that Youkahainen
Comprehended but too clearly
What his folly, what the end was,
Of the journey he had ventured,
Vainly he had undertaken
For the glory of a contest
With the grand, old Wainamoinen.
When at last young Youkahainen,
Pohyola's old and sorry stripling,
Strives his best to move his right foot,
But alas! the foot obeys not;
When he strives to move his left foot,
Lo! he finds it turned to flint-stone.
Thereupon sad Youkahainen,
In the deeps of desperation,
And in earnest supplication,
Thus addresses Wainamoinen:
'O thou wise and worthy minstrel,
Thou the only true, magician,
Cease I pray thee thine enchantment,.
Only turn away thy magic,
Let me leave this slough of horror,
Loose me from this stony prison,
Free me from this killing torment,
I will pay a golden ransom.'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'What the ransom thou wilt give me
If I cease from mine enchantment,
If I turn away my magic,
Lift thee from thy slough of horror,
Loose thee from thy stony prison,
Free thee from thy killing torment?'
Answered youthful Youkahainen:
'Have at home two magic cross-bows,
Pair of bows of wondrous power,
One so light a child can bend it,
Only strength can bend the other,
Take of these the one that pleases.'
Then the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Do not wish thy magic cross-bows,
Have a few of such already,
Thine to me are worse than useless
32
I have bows in great abundance,
Bows on every nail and rafter,
Bows that laugh at all the hunters,
Bows that go themselves a-hunting.'
Then the ancient Wainamoinen
Sang alas! poor Youkahainen
Deeper into mud and water,
Deeper in the slough of torment.
Youkahainen thus made answer:
'Have at home two magic shallops,
Beautiful the boats and wondrous;
One rides light upon the ocean,
One is made for heavy burdens;
Take of these the one that pleases.'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Do not wish thy magic shallops,
Have enough of such already;
All my bays are full of shallops,
All my shores are lined with shallops,
Some before the winds are sailors,
Some were built to sail against them.'
Still the Wainola bard and minstrel
Sings again poor Youkahainen
Deeper, deeper into torment,
Into quicksand to his girdle,
Till the Lapland bard in anguish
Speaks again to Wainamoinen:
'Have at home two magic stallions,
One a racer, fleet as lightning,
One was born for heavy burdens;
Take of these the one that pleases.'
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'Neither do I wish thy stallions,
Do not need thy hawk-limbed stallions,
Have enough of these already;
Magic stallions swarm my stables,
Eating corn at every manger,
Broad of back to hold the water,
Water on each croup in lakelets.'
Still the bard of Kalevala
Sings the hapless Lapland minstrel
Deeper, deeper into torment,
33
To his shoulders into water.
Spake again young Youkahainen:
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Thou the only true magician,
Cease I pray thee thine enchantment,
Only turn away thy magic,
I will give thee gold abundant,
Countless stores of shining silver;
From the wars my father brought it,
Brought it from the hard-fought battles.'
Spake the wise, old Wainamoinen:
'For thy gold I have no longing,
Neither do I wish thy silver,
Have enough of each already;
Gold abundant fills my chambers,
On each nail hang bags of silver,
Gold that glitters in the sunshine,
Silver shining in the moonlight.'
Sank the braggart, Youkahainen,
Deeper in his slough of torment,
To his chin in mud and water,
Ever praying, thus beseeching:
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Greatest of the old magicians,
Lift me from this pit of horror,
From this prison-house of torture;
I will give thee all my corn-fields,
Give thee all my corn in garners,
Thus my hapless life to ransom,
Thus to gain eternal freedom.'
Wainamoinen thus made answer:
'Take thy corn to other markets,
Give thy garners to the needy;
I have corn in great abundance,
Fields have I in every quarter,
Corn in all my fields is growing;
One's own fields are always richer,
One's own grain is much the sweeter.'
Lapland's young and reckless minstrel,
Sorrow-laden, thus enchanted,
Deeper sinks in mud and water,
Fear-enchained and full of anguish,
34
In the mire, his beard bedrabbled,
Mouth once boastful filled with sea-weed,
In the grass his teeth entangled,
Youkahainen thus beseeches:
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Wisest of the wisdom-singers,
Cease at last thine incantations,
Only turn away thy magic,
And my former life restore me,
Lift me from this stifling torment,
Free mine eyes from sand and water,
I will give thee sister, Aino,
Fairest daughter of my mother,
Bride of thine to be forever,
Bride of thine to do thy pleasure,
Sweep the rooms within thy cottage,
Keep thy dwelling-place in order,
Rinse for thee the golden platters,
Spread thy couch with finest linens,
For thy bed, weave golden covers,
Bake for thee the honey-biscuit.'
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Finds at last the wished-for ransom,
Lapland's young and fairest daughter,
Sister dear of Youkahainen;
Happy he, that he has won him,
In his age a beauteous maiden,
Bride of his to be forever,
Pride and joy of Kalevala.
Now the happy Wainamoinen,
Sits upon the rock of gladness,
Joyful on the rock of music,
Sings a little, sings and ceases,
Sings again, and sings a third time,
Thus to break the spell of magic,
Thus to lessen the enchantment,
Thus the potent charm to banish.
As the magic spell is broken,
Youkahainen, sad, but wiser,
Drags his feet from out the quicksand,
Lifts his beard from out the water,
From the rocks leads forth his courser,
35
Brings his sledge back from the rushes,
Calls his whip back from the ocean,
Sets his golden sledge in order,
Throws himself upon the cross-bench,
Snaps his whip and hies him homeward,
Hastens homeward, heavy-hearted,
Sad indeed to meet his mother,
Aino's mother, gray and aged.
Careless thus be hastens homeward,
Nears his home with noise and bustle,
Reckless drives against the pent-house,
Breaks the shafts against the portals,
Breaks his handsome sledge in pieces.
Then his mother, quickly guessing,
Would have chided him for rashness,
But the father interrupted:
'Wherefore dost thou break thy snow-sledge,
Wherefore dash thy thills in fragments,
Wherefore comest home so strangely,
Why this rude and wild behavior?'
Now alas! poor Youkahainen,
Cap awry upon his forehead,
Falls to weeping, broken-hearted,
Head depressed and mind dejected,
Eyes and lips expressing sadness,
Answers not his anxious father.
Then the mother quickly asked him,
Sought to find his cause for sorrow:
'Tell me, first-born, why thou weepest,
Why thou weepest, heavy-hearted,
Why thy mind is so dejected,
Why thine eyes express such sadness.'
Youkahainen then made answer:
'Golden mother, ever faithful,
Cause there is to me sufficient,
Cause enough in what has happened,
Bitter cause for this my sorrow,
Cause for bitter tears and murmurs:
All my days will pass unhappy,
Since, O mother of my being,
I have promised beauteous Aino,
Aino, thy beloved daughter,
36
Aino, my devoted sister,
To decrepit Wainamoinen,
Bride to be to him forever,
Roof above him, prop beneath him,
Fair companion at his fire-side.'
Joyful then arose the mother,
Clapped her hands in glee together,
Thus addressing Youkahainen:
'Weep no more, my son beloved,
Thou hast naught to cause thy weeping,
Hast no reason for thy sorrow,
Often I this hope have cherished;
Many years have I been praying
That this mighty bard and hero,
Wise and valiant Wainamoinen,
Spouse should be to beauteous Aino,
Son-in-law to me, her mother.'
But the fair and lovely maiden,
Sister dear of Youkahainen,
Straightway fell to bitter weeping,
On the threshold wept and lingered,
Wept all day and all the night long,
Wept a second, then a third day,
Wept because a bitter sorrow
On her youthful heart had fallen.
Then the gray-haired mother asked her:
'Why this weeping, lovely Aino?
Thou hast found a noble suitor,
Thou wilt rule his spacious dwelling,
At his window sit and rest thee,
Rinse betimes his golden platters,
Walk a queen within his dwelling.'
Thus replied the tearful Aino:
'Mother dear, and all-forgiving,
Cause enough for this my sorrow,
Cause enough for bitter weeping:
I must loose my sunny tresses,
Tresses beautiful and golden,
Cannot deck my hair with jewels,
Cannot bind my head with ribbons,
All to be hereafter hidden
Underneath the linen bonnet
37
That the wife. must wear forever;
Weep at morning, weep at evening,
Weep alas! for waning beauty,
Childhood vanished, youth departed,
Silver sunshine, golden moonlight,
Hope and pleasure of my childhood,
Taken from me now forever,
And so soon to be forgotten
At the tool-bench of my brother,
At the window of my sister,
In the cottage of my father.'
Spake again the gray-haired mother
To her wailing daughter Aino:
'Cease thy sorrow, foolish maiden,
By thy tears thou art ungrateful,
Reason none for thy repining,
Not the slightest cause for weeping;
Everywhere the silver sunshine
Falls as bright on other households;
Not alone the moonlight glimmers
Through thy father's open windows,
On the work-bench of thy brother;
Flowers bloom in every meadow,
Berries grow on every mountain;
Thou canst go thyself and find them,
All the day long go and find them;
Not alone thy brother's meadows
Grow the beauteous vines and flowers;
Not alone thy father's mountains
Yield the ripe, nutritious berries;
Flowers bloom in other meadows,
Berries grow on other mountains,
There as here, my lovely Aino.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
441:The Kalevala - Rune Xxv
WAINAMOINEN'S WEDDING-SONGS.
At the home of Ilmarinen
Long had they been watching, waiting,
For the coming of the blacksmith,
With his bride from Sariola.
Weary were the eyes of watchers,
Waiting from the father's portals,
Looking from the mother's windows;
Weary were the young knees standing
At the gates of the magician;
Weary grew the feet of children,
Tramping to the walls and watching;
Worn and torn, the shoes of heroes,
Running on the shore to meet him.
Now at last upon a morning
Of a lovely day in winter,
Heard they from the woods the rumble
Of a snow-sledge swiftly bounding.
Lakko, hostess of Wainola,
She the lovely Kalew-daughter,
Spake these words in great excitement:
''Tis the sledge of the magician,
Comes at last the metal-worker
From the dismal Sariola,
By his side the Bride of Beauty!
Welcome, welcome, to this hamlet,
Welcome to thy mother's hearth-stone,
To the dwelling of thy father,
By thine ancestors erected!'
Straightway came great Ilmarinen
To his cottage drove the blacksmith,
To the fireside of his father,
To his mother's ancient dwelling.
Hazel-birds were sweetly singing
On the newly-bended collar;
Sweetly called the sacred cuckoos
From the summit of the break-board;
424
Merry, jumped the graceful squirrel
On the oaken shafts and cross-bar.
Lakko, Kalew's fairest hostess,
Beauteous daughter of Wainola,
Spake these words of hearty welcome:
'For the new moon hopes the village,
For the sun, the happy maidens,
For the boat, the swelling water;
I have not the moon expected,
For the sun have not been waiting,
I have waited for my hero,
Waited for the Bride of Beauty;
Watched at morning, watched at evening,
Did not know but some misfortune,
Some sad fate had overtaken
Bride and bridegroom on their journey;
Thought the maiden growing weary,
Weary of my son's attentions,
Since he faithfully had promised
To return to Kalevala,
Ere his foot-prints had departed
From the snow-fields of his father.
Every morn I looked and listened,
Constantly I thought and wondered
When his sledge would rumble homeward,
When it would return triumphant
To his home, renowned and ancient.
Had a blind and beggared straw-horse
Hobbled to these shores awaiting,
With a sledge of but two pieces,
Well the steed would have been lauded,
Had it brought my son beloved,
Had it brought the Bride of Beauty.
Thus I waited long, impatient,
Looking out from morn till even,
Watching with my head extended,
With my tresses streaming southward,
With my eyelids widely opened,
Waiting for my son's returning
To this modest home of heroes,
To this narrow place of resting.
Finally am I rewarded,
425
For the sledge has come triumphant,
Bringing home my son and hero,
By his side the Rainbow maiden,
Red her cheeks, her visage winsome,
Pride and joy of Sariola.
'Wizard-bridegroom of Wainola,
Take thy-courser to the stable,
Lead him to the well-filled manger,
To the best of grain and clover;
Give to us thy friendly greetings,
Greetings send to all thy people.
When thy greetings thou hast ended,
Then relate what has befallen
To our hero in his absence.
Hast thou gone without adventure
To the dark fields of Pohyola,
Searching for the Maid of Beauty?
Didst thou scale the hostile ramparts,
Didst thou take the virgin's mansion,
Passing o'er her mother's threshold,
Visiting the halls of Louhi?
'But I know without the asking,
See the answer to my question:
Comest from the North a victor,
On thy journey well contented;
Thou hast brought the Northland daughter,
Thou hast razed the hostile portals,
Thou hast stormed the forts of Louhi,
Stormed the mighty walls opposing,
On thy journey to Pohyola,
To the village of the father.
In thy care the bride is sitting,
In thine arms, the Rainbow-maiden,
At thy side, the pride of Northland,
Mated to the highly-gifted.
Who has told the cruel story,
Who the worst of news has scattered,
That thy suit was unsuccessful,
That in vain thy steed had journeyed?
Not in vain has been thy wooing,
Not in vain thy steed has travelled
To the dismal homes of Lapland;
426
He has journeyed heavy laden,
Shaken mane, and tail, and forelock,
Dripping foam from lips and nostrils,
Through the bringing of the maiden,
With the burden of the husband.
'Come, thou beauty, from the snow-sledge,
Come, descend thou from the cross-bench,
Do not linger for assistance,
Do not tarry to be carried;
If too young the one that lifts thee,
If too proud the one in waiting,
Rise thou, graceful, like a young bird,
Hither glide along the pathway,
On the tan-bark scarlet- colored,
That the herds of kine have evened,
That the gentle lambs have trodden,
Smoothened by the tails of horses.
Haste thou here with gentle footsteps,
Through the pathway smooth and tidy,
On the tiles of even surface,
On thy second father's court-yard,
To thy second mother's dwelling,
To thy brother's place of resting,
To thy sister's silent chambers.
Place thy foot within these portals,
Step across this waiting threshold,
Enter thou these halls of joyance,
Underneath these painted rafters,
Underneath this roof of ages.
During all the winter evenings,
Through the summer gone forever,
Sang the tiling made of ivory,
Wishing thou wouldst walk upon it;
Often sang the golden ceiling,
Hoping thou wouldst walk beneath it,
And the windows often whistled,
Asking thee to sit beside them;
Even on this merry morning,
Even on the recent evening,
Sat the aged at their windows,
On the sea-shore ran the children,
Near the walls the maidens waited,
427
Ran the boys upon the highway,
There to watch the young bride's coming,
Coming with her hero-husband.
'Hail, ye courtiers of Wainola,
With the heroes of the fathers,
Hail to thee, Wainola's hamlet,
Hail, ye halls with heroes peopled,
Hail, ye rooms with all your inmates,
Hail to thee, sweet golden moonlight,
Hail to thee, benignant Ukko,
Hail companions of the bridegroom!
Never has there been in Northland
Such a wedding-train of honor,
Never such a bride of beauty.
'Bridegroom, thou beloved hero,
Now untie the scarlet ribbons,
And remove the silken muffler,
Let us see the honey-maiden,
See the Daughter of the Rainbow.
Seven years hast thou been wooing,
Hast thou brought the maid affianced,
Wainamoinen's Wedding-Songs.
Hast thou sought a sweeter cuckoo,
Sought one fairer than the moonlight,
Sought a mermaid from the ocean?
But I know without the asking,
See the answer to my question:
Thou hast brought the sweet-voiced cuckoo,
Thou hast found the swan of beauty
Plucked the sweetest flower of Northland,
Culled the fairest of the jewels,
Gathered Pohya's sweetest berry!'
Sat a babe upon the matting,
And the young child spake as follows:
'Brother, what is this thou bringest,
Aspen-log or trunk of willow,
Slender as the mountain-linden?
Bridegroom, well dost thou remember,
Thou hast hoped it all thy life-time,
Hoped to bring the Maid of Beauty,
Thou a thousand times hast said it,
Better far than any other,
428
Not one like the croaking raven,
Nor the magpie from the border,
Nor the scarecrow from the corn-fields,
Nor the vulture from the desert.
What has this one done of credit,
In the summer that has ended?
Where the gloves that she has knitted,
Where the mittens she has woven?
Thou hast brought her empty-handed,
Not a gift she brings thy father;
In thy chests the nice are nesting,
Long-tails feeding on thy vestments,
And thy bride, cannot repair them.'
Lakko hostess of Wainola,
She the faithful Kalew-daughter,
Hears the young child's speech in wonder,
Speaks these words of disapproval:
Silly prattler, cease thy talking,
Thou Last spoken in dishonor;
Let all others be astonished,
Reap thy malice on thy kindred,
must not harm the Bride of Beauty,
Rainbow-daughter of the Northland.
False indeed is this thy Prattle,
All thy words are full or evil,
Fallen from thy tongue of mischief
From the lips of one unworthy.
Excellent the hero 's young bride,
Best of all in Sariola,
Like the, strawberry in summer,
Like the daisy from the meadow,
Like the cuckoo from the forest,
Like the bluebird from the aspen,
Like the redbreast from the heather,
Like the martin. from the linden;
Never couldst thou find in Ehstland
Such a virgin as this daughter,
Such a graceful beauteous maiden,
With such dignity of Carriage,
With such arms of pearly whiteness,
With. a neck so fair and lovely.
Neither is she empty-handed,
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She has brought us furs abundant,
Brought us many silken garments,
Richest weavings of Pohyola.
Many beauteous things the maiden,
With the spindle has accomplished,
Spun and woven with her fingers
Dresses of the finest texture
She in winter has upfolded,
Bleached them in the days of spring-time,
Dried them at the hour of noon-day,
For our couches finest linen,
For our heads the softest pillows,
For our comfort woollen blankets,
For our necks the silken ribbons.'
To the bride speaks gracious Lakko:
'Goodly wife, thou Maid of Beauty,
Highly wert thou praised as daughter,
In thy father's distant country;
Here thou shalt be praised forever
By the kindred of thy husband;
Thou shalt never suffer sorrow,
Never give thy heart to grieving;
In the swamps thou wert not nurtured,
Wert not fed beside the brooklets;
Thou wert born 'neath stars auspicious,
Nurtured from the richest garners,
Thou wert taken to the brewing
Of the sweetest beer in Northland.
'Beauteous bride from Sariola,
Shouldst thou see me bringing hither
Casks of corn, or wheat, or barley;
Bringing rye in great abundance,
They belong to this thy household;
Good the plowing of thy husband.
Good his sowing and his reaping.
'Bride of Beauty from the Northland,
Thou wilt learn this home to manage,
Learn to labor with thy kindred;
Good the home for thee to dwell in,
Good enough for bride and daughter.
At thy hand will rest the milk-pail,
And the churn awaits thine order;
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It is well here for the maiden,
Happy will the young bride labor,
Easy are the resting-benches;
Here the host is like thy father,
Like thy mother is the hostess,
All the sons are like thy brothers,
Like thy sisters are the daughters.
'Shouldst thou ever have a longing
For the whiting of the ocean,
For thy, father's Northland salmon,
For thy brother's hazel-chickens,
Ask them only of thy husband,
Let thy hero-husband bring them.
There is not in all of Northland,
Not a creature of the forest,
Not a bird beneath the ether,
Not a fish within the waters,
Not the largest, nor the smallests
That thy husband cannot capture.
It is well here for the maiden,
Here the bride may live in freedom,
Need not turn the heavy millstone,
Need not move the iron pestle;
Here the wheat is ground by water,
For the rye, the swifter current,
While the billows wash the vessels
And the surging waters rinse them.
Thou hast here a lovely village,
Finest spot in all of Northland,
In the lowlands sweet the verdure,
in the uplands, fields of beauty,
With the lake-shore near the hamlet,
Near thy home the running water,
Where the goslings swim and frolic,
Water-birds disport in numbers.'
Thereupon the bride and bridegroom
Were refreshed with richest viands,
Given food and drink abundant,
Fed on choicest bits of reindeer,
On the sweetest loaves of barley,
On the best of wheaten biscuits,
On the richest beer of Northland.
431
Many things were on the table,
Many dainties of Wainola,
In the bowls of scarlet color,
In the platters deftly painted,
Many cakes with honey sweetened,
To each guest was butter given,
Many bits of trout and whiting,
Larger salmon carved in slices,
With the knives of molten silver,
Rimmed with gold the silver handles,
Beer of barley ceaseless flowing,
Honey-drink that was not purchased,
In the cellar flows profusely,
Beer for all, the tongues to quicken,
Mead and beer the minds to freshen.
Who is there to lead the singing,
Lead the songs of Kalevala?
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
The eternal, wise enchanter,
Quick begins his incantations,
Straightway sings the songs that follow.
'Golden brethren, dearest kindred,
Ye, my loved ones, wise and worthy
Ye companions, highly-gifted,
Listen to my simple sayings:
Rarely stand the geese together,
Sisters do not mate each other,
Not together stand the brothers,
Nor the children of one mother,
In the countries of the Northland.
'Shall we now begin the singing,
Sing the songs of old tradition?
Singers can but sing their wisdom,
And the cuckoo call the spring-time,
And the goddess of the heavens
Only dyes the earth in beauty;
So the goddesses of weaving
Can but weave from dawn till twilight,
Ever sing the youth of Lapland
In their straw-shoes full of gladness,
When the coarse-meat of the roebuck,
Or of blue-moose they have eaten.
432
Wherefore should I not be singing,
And the children not be chanting
Of the biscuits of Wainola,
Of the bread of Kalew-waters?
Even Sing the lads of Lapland
In their straw-shoes filled with joyance,
Drinking but a cup of water,
Eating but the bitter tan-bark.
Wherefore should I not be singing,
And the children not be chanting
Of the beer of Kalevala,
Brewed from barley in perfection,
Dressed in quaint and homely costume,
As they sit beside their hearth-stones.
Wherefore should I not be singing,
And the children too be chanting
Underneath these painted rafters,
In these halls renowned and ancient?
This the place for men to linger,
This the court-room for the maidens,
Near the foaming beer of barley,
Honey-brewed in great abundance,
Very near, the salmon-waters,
Near, the nets for trout and whiting,
Here where food is never wanting,
Where the beer is ever brewing.
Here Wainola's sons assemble,
Here Wainola's daughters gather,
Here they never eat in trouble,
Here they live without regretting,
In the life-time of the landlord,
While the hostess lives and prospers.
'Who shall first be sung and lauded?
Shall it be the bride or bridegroom?
Let us praise the bridegroom's father,
Let the hero-host be chanted,
Him whose home is in the forest,
Him who built upon the mountains,
Him who brought the trunks of lindens,
With their tops and slender branches,
Brought them to the best of places,
Joined them skilfully together,
433
For the mansion of the nation,
For this famous hero-dwelling,
Walls procured upon the lowlands,
Rafters from the pine and fir-tree,
From the woodlands beams of oak-wood,
From the berry-plains the studding,
Bark was furnished by the aspen,
And the mosses from the fenlands.
Trimly builded is this mansion,
In a haven warmly sheltered;
Here a hundred men have labored,
On the roof have stood a thousand,
As this spacious house was building,
As this roof was tightly jointed.
Here the ancient mansion-builder,
When these rafters were erected,
Lost in storms his locks of sable,
Scattered by the winds of heaven.
Often has the hero-landlord
On the rocks his gloves forgotten,
Left his hat upon the willows,
Lost his mittens in the marshes;
Oftentimes the mansion-builder,
In the early hours of morning,
Ere his workmen had awakened,
Unperceived by all the village,
Has arisen from his slumber,
Left his cabin the snow-fields,
Combed his locks among the branches,
Bathed his eyes in dews of morning.
'Thus obtained the pleasant landlord
Friends to fill his spacious dwelling,
Fill his benches with magicians,
Fill his windows with enchanters,
Fill his halls with wizard-singers,
Fill his floors with ancient speakers,
Fill his ancient court with strangers,
Fill his hurdles with the needy;
Thus the Kalew-host is lauded.
'Now I praise the genial hostess,
Who prepares the toothsome dinner,
Fills with plenty all her tables,
434
Bakes the honeyed loaves of barley,
Kneads the dough with magic fingers,
With her arms of strength and beauty,
Bakes her bread in copper ovens,
Feeds her guests and bids them welcome,
Feeds them on the toothsome bacon,
On the trout, and pike, and whiting,
On the rarest fish in ocean,
On the dainties of Wainola.
'Often has the faithful hostess
Risen from her couch in silence,
Ere the crowing of the watcher,
To prepare the wedding-banquet,
Make her tables look attractive.
Brew the honey-beer of wedlock.
Excellently has the housewife,
Has the hostess filled with wisdom,
Brewed the beer from hops and barley,
From the corn of Kalevala,
From the wheat-malt honey-seasoned,
Stirred the beer with graceful fingers,
At the oven in the penthouse,
In the chamber swept and polished.
Neither did the prudent hostess,
Beautiful, and full of wisdom,
Let the barley sprout too freely,
Lest the beer should taste of black-earth,
Be too bitter in the brewing,
Often went she to the garners,
Went alone at hour of midnight,
Was not frightened by the black-wolf,
Did not fear the beasts of woodlands.
'Now the hostess I have lauded,
Let me praise the favored suitor,
Now the honored hero-bridegroom,
Best of all the village-masters.
Clothed in purple is the hero,
Raiment brought from distant nations,
Tightly fitting to his body;
Snugly sets his coat of ermine,
To the floor it hangs in beauty,
Trailing from his neck and shoulders,
435
Little of his vest appearing,
Peeping through his outer raiment,
Woven by the Moon's fair daughters,
And his vestment silver-tinselled.
Dressed in neatness is the suitor,
Round his waist a belt of copper,
Hammered by the Sun's sweet maidens,
Ere the early fires were lighted,
Ere the fire had been discovered.
Dressed in richness is the bridegroom,
On his feet are silken stockings,
Silken ribbons on his ankles,
Gold and silver interwoven.
Dressed in beauty is the bridegroom,
On his feet are shoes of deer-skin,
Like the swans upon the water,
Like the blue-duck on the sea-waves,
Like the thrush among the willows,
Like the water-birds of Northland.
Well adorned the hero-suitor,
With his locks of golden color,
With his gold-beard finely braided,
Hero-hat upon his forehead,
Piercing through the forest branches,
Reaching to the clouds of heaven,
Bought with countless gold and silver,
Priceless is the suitor's head-gear.
'Now the bridegroom has been lauded,
I will praise the young bride's playmate,
Day-companion in her childhood,
In the maiden's magic mansion.
Whence was brought the merry maiden,
From the village of Tanikka?
Thence was never brought the playmate,
Playmate of the bride in childhood.
Has she come from distant nations,
From the waters of the Dwina,
O'er the ocean far-outstretching?
Not from Dwina came the maiden,
Did not sail across the waters;
Grew as berry in the mountains,
As a strawberry of sweetness,
436
On the fields the child of beauty,
In the glens the golden flower.
Thence has come the young bride's playmate,
Thence arose her fair companion.
Tiny are her feet and fingers,
Small her lips of scarlet color,
Like the maiden's loom of Suomi;
Eyes that shine in kindly beauty
Like the twinkling stars of heaven;
Beam the playmate's throbbing temples
Like the moonlight on the waters.
Trinkets has the bride's companion,
On her neck a golden necklace,
In her tresses, silken ribbons,
On her arms are golden bracelets,
Golden rings upon her fingers,
Pearls are set in golden ear-rings,
Loops of gold upon her temples,
And with pearls her brow is studded.
Northland thought the Moon was shining
When her jeweled ear-ringsglistened;
Thought the Sun had left his station
When her girdle shone in beauty;
Thought a ship was homeward sailing
When her colored head-gear fluttered.
Thus is praised the bride's companion,
Playmate of the Rainbow-maiden.
'Now I praise the friends assembled,
All appear in graceful manners;
If the old are wise and silent,
All the youth are free and merry,
All the guests are fair and worthy.
Never was there in Wainola,
Never will there be in Northland,
Such a company assembled;
All the children speak in joyance,
All the aged move sedately;
Dressed in white are all the maidens,
Like the hoar-frost of the morning,
Like the welcome dawn of spring-time,
Like the rising of the daylight.
Silver then was more abundant,
437
Gold among the guests in plenty,
On the hills were money, pockets,
Money-bags along the valleys,
For the friends that were invited,
For the guests in joy assembled.
All the friends have now been lauded,
Each has gained his meed of honor.'
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Song-deliverer of Northland,
Swung himself upon the fur-bench
Or his magic sledge of copper,
Straightway hastened to his hamlet,
Singing as he journeyed onward,
Singing charms and incantations,
Singing one day, then a second,
All the third day chanting legends.
On the rocks the runners rattled,
Hung the sledge upon a birch-stump,
Broke it into many pieces,
With the magic of his singing;
Double were the runners bended,
All the parts were torn asunder,
And his magic sledge was ruined.
Then the good, old Wainamoinen
Spake these words in meditation:
'Is there one among this number,
In this rising generation,
Or perchance among the aged,
In the passing generation,
That will go to Mana's kingdom,
To the empire of Tuoni,
There to get the magic auger
From the master of Manala,
That I may repair my snow-sledge,
Or a second sledge may fashion?'
What the younger people answered
Was the answer of the aged:
'Not among the youth of Northland,
Nor among the aged heroes,
Is there one of ample courage,
That has bravery sufficient,
To attempt the reckless journey
438
To the kingdom of Tuoni,
To Manala's fields and castles,
Thence to bring Tuoni's auger,
Wherewithal to mend thy snow-sledge,
Build anew thy sledge of magic.'
Thereupon old Wainamoinen,
The eternal wisdom-singer,
Went again to Mana's empire,
To the kingdom of Tuoni,
Crossed the sable stream of Deathland,
To the castles of Manala,
Found the auger of Tuoni,
Brought the instrument in safety.
Straightway sings old Wainamoinen,
Sings to life a purple forest,
In the forest, slender birches,
And beside them, mighty oak-trees,
Shapes them into shafts and runners,
Moulds them by his will and power,
Makes anew his sledge of magic.
On his steed he lays the harness,
Binds him to his sledge securely,
Seats himself upon the cross-bench,
And the racer gallops homeward,
To the manger filled and waiting,
To the stable of his master;
Brings the ancient Wainamoinen,
Famous bard and wise enchanter,
To the threshold of his dwelling,
To his home in Kalevala.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
442:The Drunken Boat
As I drifted on a river I could not control,
No longer guided by the bargemen's ropes.
They were captured by howling Indians
Who nailed them naked to coloured posts.
I cared no more for other boats or cargoes:
Flemish wheat or English cottons, all were gone
When my bargemen could no longer haul me
I forgot about everything and drifted on.
Amid the fury of the loudly chopping tides
Last winter, deaf as a child's dark night,
Ah, how I raced! And the drifting Peninsulas
Have never known such conquering delight.
Lighter than cork, I revolved upon waves
That roll the dead forever in the deep,
Ten days, beyond the blinking eyes of land!
Lulled by storms, I drifted seaward from sleep.
Sweeter than apples to a child its pungent edge;
The wash of green water on my shell of pine.
Anchor and rudder went drifting away,
Washed in vomit and stained with blue wine.
Now I drift through the poem of the sea;
This gruel of stars mirrors the milky sky,
Devours green azures; ecstatic flotsam,
Drowned men, pale and thoughtful, sometimes drift by.
Staining the sudden blueness, the slow sounds,
Deliriums that streak the glowing sky,
Stronger than drink and the songs we sing,
It is boiling, bitter, red; it is love!
I know how lightening split the sky apart,
I know the surf and waterspouts and evening's fall,
I've seen the dawn arisen like a flock of doves;
I've seen what men have only dreamed they saw!
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I saw the sun with mystic horrors darken
And shimmer through a violet haze;
With a shiver of shutters the waves fell
Like actors in ancient, forgotten plays!
I dreamed of green nights and glittering snow,
Slow kisses rising in the eyes of the sea,
Unknown liquids flowing, the blue and yellow
Stirring of phosphorescent melody!
For months I watched the surge of the sea,
Hysterical herds attacking the reefs;
I never thought the bright feet of Mary
Could muzzle up the heavy-breathing waves!
I have jostled - you know? - unbelievable Floridas
And seen among the flowers the wild eyes
Of panthers in the skins of men! Rainbows
Birdling blind flocks beneath the horizons!
In stinking swamps I have seen great hulks:
A Leviathan that rotted in the reeds!
Water crumbling in the midst of calm
And distances that shatter into foam.
Glaciers, silver suns, waves of pearl, fiery skies,
Giant serpents stranded where lice consume
Them, falling in the depths of dark gulfs
From contorted trees, bathed in black perfume!
I wanted to show children these fishes shining
In the blue wave, the golden fish that sing A froth of flowers cradled my wandering
And delicate winds tossed me on their wings.
Sometimes, a martyr of poles and latitudes,
The sea rocked me softly in sighing air,
And brought me dark blooms with yellow stems I remained there like a woman on her knees.
Almost an island, I balanced on my boat's sides
167
Rapacious blond-eyed birds, their dung, their screams.
I drifted on through fragile tangled lines
Drowned men, still staring up, sank down to sleep.
Now I, a little lost boat, in swirling debris,
Tossed by the storm into the birdless upper air
- All the Hansa Merchants and Monitors
Could not fish up my body drunk with the sea;
Free, smoking, touched the violet haze above,
I, who the lurid heavens breached like some rare wall
Which boasts - confection that the poets love Lichens of sunlight, and snots of bright blue sky;
Lost branch spinning in a herd of hippocamps,
Covered over with electric animals,
An everlasting July battering
The glittering sky and its fiery funnels;
Shaking at the sound of monsters roaring,
Rutting Behemoths in thick whirlpools,
Eternal weaver of unmoving blues,
I thought of Europe and its ancient walls!
I have seen archipelagos in the stars,
Feverish skies where I was free to roam!
Are these bottomless nights your exiled nests,
Swarm of golden birds, O Strength to come?
True, I've cried too much; I am heartsick at dawn.
The moon is bitter and the sun is sour…
Love burns me; I am swollen and slow.
Let my keel break! Oh, let me sink in the sea!
If I long for a shore in Europe,
It's a small pond, dark, cold, remote,
The odour of evening, and a child full of sorrow
Who stoops to launch a crumpled paper boat.
Washed in your languors, sea, I cannot trace
The wake of tankers foaming through the cold,
Nor assault the pride of pennants and flags,
168
Nor endure the slave ship's stinking hold.
____________________________________________________
Translation by Rebecca Seiferle:
As I descended impassible Rivers,
I felt no longer steered by bargemen;
they were captured by howling Redskins,
nailed as targets, naked, to painted stakes.
What did I care for cargo or crews,
bearers of English cotton or Flemish grain—
having left behind the bargemen and racket,
the Rivers let me descend where I wished.
In the furious splashing of the waves,
I — that other winter, deafer than the minds
of children — ran! And the unanchored Peninsulas
never knew a more triumphant brouhaha.
The tempest blessed my sea awakening.
Lighter than cork, I danced the waves
scrolling out the eternal roll of the dead—
ten nights, without longing for the lantern's silly eye.
Sweeter than the flesh of tart apples to children,
the green water penetrated my pine hull
and purged me of vomit and the stain of blue wines—
my rudder and grappling hooks drifting away.
Since then, I have bathed in the Poem
of the Sea, a milky way, infused with stars,
devouring the azure greens where, flotsam-pale
and ravished, drowned and pensive men float by.
Where, suddenly staining the blues, delirious
and slow rhythms under the glowing red of day,
stronger than alcohol, vaster than our lyrics,
ferment the red bitters of love!
I know heavens pierced by lightning, the waterspouts
169
and undertows and currents: I know night,
Dawn rising like a nation of doves,
and I've seen, sometimes, what men only dreamed they saw!
I've seen the sun, low, a blot of mystic dread,
illuminating with far-reaching violet coagulations,
like actors in antique tragedies,
the waves rolling away in a shiver of shutters.
I've dreamed a green night to dazzling snows,
kisses slowly rising to the eyelids of the sea,
unknown saps flowing, and the yellow and blue
rising of phosphorescent songs.
For months, I've followed the swells assaulting
the reefs like hysterical herds, without ever thinking
that the luminous feet of some Mary
could muzzle the panting Deep.
I've touched, you know, incredible Floridas
where, inside flowers, the eyes of panthers mingle
with the skins of men! And rainbows bridle
glaucous flocks beneath the rim of the sea!
I've seen fermenting— enormous marshes, nets
where a whole Leviathan rots in the rushes!
Such a ruin of water in the midst of calm,
and the distant horizon worming into whirlpools!
Glaciers, silver suns, pearly tides, ember skies!
Hideous wrecks at the bottom of muddy gulfs
where giant serpents, devoured by lice,
drop with black perfume out of twisted trees!
I wanted to show children these dorados
of the blue wave, these golden, singing fish.
A froth of flowers has cradled my vagrancies,
and ineffable winds have winged me on.
Sometimes like a martyr, tired of poles and zones,
the sea has rolled me softly in her sigh
and held out to me the yellow cups of shadow flowers,
170
and I've remained there, like a woman, kneeling . . .
Almost an island, balancing the quarrels,
the dung, the cries of blond-eyed birds on the gunnels
of my boat, I sailed on, and through my frail lines,
drowned men, falling backwards, sank to sleep.
Now, I, a boat lost in the hair of the coves,
tossed by hurricane into the birdless air,
me, whom all the Monitors and Hansa sailing ships
could not salvage, my carcass drunk with sea;
free, rising like smoke, riding violet mists,
I who pierced the sky turning red like a wall,
who bore the exquisite jam of all good poets,
lichens of sun and snots of azure,
who, spotted with electric crescents, ran on,
a foolish plank escorted by black hippocamps,
when the Julys brought down with a single blow
the ultramarine sky with its burning funnels;
I who tremble, feeling the moan fifty leagues away
of the Behemoth rutting and the dull Maelstrom,
eternal weaver of the unmovable blue—
I grieve for Europe with its ancient breastworks!
I've seen thunderstruck archipelagos! and islands
that open delirious skies for wanderers:
Are these bottomless nights your nest of exile,
O millions of gold birds, O Force to come?
True, I've cried too much! Dawns are harrowing.
All moons are cruel and all suns, bitter:
acrid love puffs me up with drunken slowness.
Let my keel burst! Give me to the sea!
If I desire any of the waters of Europe, it's the pond
black and cold, in the odor of evening,
where a child full of sorrow gets down on his knees
to launch a paperboat as frail as a May butterfly.
171
Bathed in your languors, o waves, I can no longer
wash away the wake of ships bearing cotton,
nor penetrate the arrogance of pennants and flags,
nor swim past the dreadful eyes of slave ships.
______________________________________________________
As I was floating down impassive Rivers,
I no longer felt myself steered by the haulers:
gaudy Redskins had taken them for targets,
nailing them naked to coloured stakes.
I cared nothing for all my crews,
carrying Flemish wheat or English cotton.
When, along with my haulers, those uproars stopped,
the Rivers let me sail downstream where I pleased.
Into the ferocious tide-rips, last winter,
more absorbed than the minds of children, I ran!
And the unmoored Peninsulas never
endured more triumphant clamourings.
The storm made bliss of my sea-borne awakenings.
Lighter than a cork, I danced on the waves
which men call the eternal rollers of victims,
for ten nights, without once missing the foolish eye of the harbor lights!
Sweeter than the flesh of sour apples to children,
the green water penetrated my pinewood hull
and washed me clean of the bluish wine-stains
and the splashes of vomit, carrying away both rudder and anchor.
And from that time on I bathed in the Poem
of the Sea, star-infused and churned into milk,
devouring the green azures where, entranced
in pallid flotsam, a dreaming drowned man sometimes goes down;
where, suddenly dyeing the blueness,
deliriums and slow rhythms under the gleams of the daylight,
stronger than alcohol, vaster than music,
ferment the bitter rednesses of love!
172
I have come to know the skies splitting with lightning,
and the waterspouts, and the breakers and currents;
I know the evening, and dawn rising up like a flock of doves,
and sometimes I have seen what men have imagined they saw!
I have seen the low-hanging sun speckled with mystic horrors
lighting up long violet coagulations
like the performers in antique dramas;
waves rolling back into the distances their shiverings of venetian blinds!
I have dreamed of the green night of the dazzled snows,
the kiss rising slowly to the eyes of the seas,
the circulation of undreamed-of saps,
and the yellow-blue awakenings of singing phosphorus!
I have followed, for whole months on end,
the swells battering the reefs like hysterical herds of cows,
never dreaming that the luminous feet of the Marys
could muzzle by force the snorting Oceans!
I have struck, do you realize, incredible Floridas,
where mingle with flowers the eyes of panthers in human skins!
Rainbows stretched like bridles
under the sea's horizon to glaucous herds!
I have seen the enormous swamps seething,
traps where a whole leviathan rots in the reeds!
Downfalls of waters in the midst of the calm,
and distances cataracting down into abysses!
Glaciers, suns of silver, waves of pearl, skies of red-hot coals!
Hideous wrecks at the bottom of brown gulfs
where the giant snakes, devoured by vermin,
fall from the twisted trees with black odours!
I should have liked to show to children those dolphins
of the blue wave, those golden, those singing fish. -Foam of flowers rocked my driftings,
and at times ineffable winds would lend me wings.
Sometimes, a martyr weary of poles and zones,
the sea whose sobs sweetened my rollings
173
lifted my shadow-flowers with their yellow sucking disks toward me,
and I hung there like a kneeling woman...
Resembling an island, tossing on my sides the brawls
and droppings of pale-eyed, clamouring birds.
And I was scudding along when across my frayed ropes
drowned men sank backwards into sleep!...
But now I, a boat lost under the hair of coves,
hurled by the hurricane into the birdless ether;
I, whose wreck, dead-drunk and sodden with water,
neither Monitor nor Hanseatic ships would have fished up;
free, smoking, risen from violet fogs,
I who bored through the wall of the reddening sky which bears
a sweetmeat good poets find delicious:
lichens of sunlight mixed with azure snot;
who ran, speckled with tiny electric moons,
a crazy plank with black sea-horses for escort,
when Julys were crushing with cudgel blows
skies of ultramarine into burning funnels;
I who trembled to feel at fifty leagues off
the groans of Behemoths rutting, and the dense Maelstroms;
eternal spinner of blue immobilities,
I long for Europe with it's age-old parapets!
I have seen archipelagos of stars! and islands
whose delirious skies are open to sea wanderers: -Do you sleep, are you exiled in those bottomless nights,
O million golden birds, Life Force of the future?
But, truly, I have wept too much! Dawns are heartbreaking.
Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter:
sharp love has swollen me up with intoxicating torpor.
O let my keel split! O let me sink to the bottom!
If there is one water in Europe I want, it is the black
cold pool where into the scented twilight
a child squatting full of sadness launches
a boat as fragile as a butterfly in May.
174
I can no more, bathed in your langours, O waves,
sail in the wake of the carriers of cottons;
nor undergo the pride of the flags and pennants;
nor pull past the horrible eyes of prison hulks.
_____________________________________________________
Translation by Wallace Fowlie:
As I was going down impassive rivers,
I no longer felt myself guided by haulers!
Yelping redskins had taken them as targets,
And had nailed them naked to colored stakes.
I was indifferent to all crews,
The bearer of Flemish wheat or English cottons,
When with my haulers this uproar stopped,
The Rivers let me go where I wanted.
Into the furious lashing of the tides,
More heedless than children's brains, the other winter
I ran! And loosened peninsulas
Have not undergone a more triumphant hubbub.
The storm blessed my sea vigils.
Lighter than a cork I danced on the waves
That are called eternal rollers of victims,
Ten nights, without missing the stupid eye of the lighthouses!
Sweeter than the flesh of hard apples is to children,
The green water penetrated my hull of fir
And washed me of spots of blue wine
And vomit, scattering rudder and grappling-hook.
And from then on I bathed in the Poem
Of the Sea, infused with stars and lactescent,
Devouring the green azure where, like a pale elated
Piece of flotsam, a pensive drowned figure sometimes sinks;
Where, suddenly dyeing the blueness, delirium
And slow rhythms under the streaking of daylight,
Stronger than alcohol, vaster than our lyres,
175
The bitter redness of love ferments!
I know the skies bursting with lighting, and the waterspouts
And the surf and the currents; I know the evening,
And dawn as exhalted as a flock of doves,
And at times I have seen what man thought he saw!
I have seen the low sun spotted with mystic horrors,
Lighting up, with long violet clots,
Resembling actors of very ancient dramas,
The waves rolling far off their quivering of shutters!
I have dreamed of the green night with dazzled snows,
A kiss slowly rising to the eyes of the sea,
The circulation of unknown saps,
And the yellow and blue awakening of singing phosphorous!
I followed during pregnant months the swell,
Like hysterical cows, in its assault on the reefs,
Without dreaming that the luminous feet of the Marys
Could restrain the snout of the wheezing Oceans!
I struck against, you know, unbelievable Floridas
Mingling with flowers panthers' eyes and human
Skin! Rainbows stretched like bridal reins
Under the horizon of the seas to greenish herds!
I have seen enormous swamps ferment, fish-traps
Where a whole Leviathan rots in the rushes!
Avalanches of water in the midst of a calm,
And the distances cataracting toward the abyss!
Glaciers, suns of silver, nacreous waves, skies of embers!
Hideous strands at the end of brown gulfs
Where giant serpents devoured by bedbugs
Fall down from gnarled tress with black scent!
I should have liked to show children those sunfish
Of the blue wave, the fish of gold, the singing fish.
--Foam of flowers rocked my drifting
And ineffable winds winged me at times.
176
At times a martyr weary of poles and zones,
The sea, whose sob created my gentle roll,
Brought up to me her dark flowers with yellow suckers
And I remained like a woman on her knees...
Resembling an island tossing on my sides the quarrels
And droppings of noisy birds with yellow eyes.
And I sailed on, when through my fragile ropes
Drowned men sank backward to sleep!
Now I, a boat lost in the foliage of caves,
Thrown by the storm into the birdless air,
I whose water-drunk carcass would not have been rescued
By the Monitors and the Hanseatic sailboats;
Free, smoking, topped with violet fog,
I who pierced the reddening sky like a wall
Bearing--delicious jam for good poets-Lichens of sunlight and mucus of azure;
Who ran, spotted with small electric moons,
A wild plank, escorted by black seahorses,
When Julys beat down with blows of cudgels
The ultramarine skies with burning funnels;
I, who trembled, hearing at fifty leagues off
The moaning of the Behemoths in heat and the thick Maelstroms,
I, eternal spinner of the blue immobility,
Miss Europe with its ancient parapets!
I have seen sidereal archipelagos! and islands
Whose delirious skies are open to the sea-wanderer:
--Is it in these bottomless nights that you sleep and exile yourself,
Million golden birds, O future Vigor?
But, in truth, I have wept too much! Dawns are heartbreaking.
Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.
Acrid love has swollen me with intoxicating torpor.
O let my keel burst! O let me go into the sea!
If I want a water of Europe, it is the black
Cold puddle where in the sweet-smelling twilight
177
A squatting child full of sadness releases
A boat as fragile as a May butterfly.
No longer can I, bathed in your languor, O waves,
Follow in the wake of the cotton boats,
Nor cross through the pride of flags and flames,
Nor swim under the terrible eyes of prison ships.
______________________________________________________
Translation by A. S. Kline
As I floated down impassive Rivers,
I felt myself no longer pulled by ropes:
The Redskins took my hauliers for targets,
And nailed them naked to their painted posts.
Carrying Flemish wheat or English cotton,
I was indifferent to all my crews.
The Rivers let me float down as I wished,
When the victims and the sounds were through.
Into the furious breakers of the sea,
Deafer than the ears of a child, last winter,
I ran! And the Peninsulas sliding by me
Never heard a more triumphant clamour.
The tempest blessed my sea-borne arousals.
Lighter than a cork I danced those waves
They call the eternal churners of victims,
Ten nights, without regret for the lighted bays!
Sweeter than sour apples to the children
The green ooze spurting through my hull’s pine,
Washed me of vomit and the blue of wine,
Carried away my rudder and my anchor.
Then I bathed in the Poem of the Sea,
Infused with stars, the milk-white spume blends,
Grazing green azures: where ravished, bleached
Flotsam, a drowned man in dream descends.
Where, staining the blue, sudden deliriums
178
And slow tremors under the gleams of fire,
Stronger than alcohol, vaster than our rhythms,
Ferment the bitter reds of our desire!
I knew the skies split apart by lightning,
Waterspouts, breakers, tides: I knew the night,
The Dawn exalted like a crowd of doves,
I saw what men think they’ve seen in the light!
I saw the low sun, stained with mystic terrors,
Illuminate long violet coagulations,
Like actors in a play, a play that’s ancient,
Waves rolling back their trembling of shutters!
I dreamt the green night of blinded snows,
A kiss lifted slow to the eyes of seas,
The circulation of unheard-of flows,
Sung phosphorus’s blue-yellow awakenings!
For months on end, I’ve followed the swell
That batters at the reefs like terrified cattle,
Not dreaming the Three Marys’ shining feet
Could muzzle with their force the Ocean’s hell!
I’ve struck Floridas, you know, beyond belief,
Where eyes of panthers in human skins,
Merge with the flowers! Rainbow bridles, beneath
the seas’ horizon, stretched out to shadowy fins!
I’ve seen the great swamps boil, and the hiss
Where a whole whale rots among the reeds!
Downfalls of water among tranquilities,
Distances showering into the abyss.
Nacrous waves, silver suns, glaciers, ember skies!
Gaunt wrecks deep in the brown vacuities
Where the giant eels riddled with parasites
Fall, with dark perfumes, from the twisted trees!
I would have liked to show children dolphins
Of the blue wave, the golden singing fish.
– Flowering foams rocked me in my drift,
179
At times unutterable winds gave me wings.
Sometimes, a martyr tired of poles and zones,
The sea whose sobs made my roilings sweet
Showed me its shadow flowers with yellow mouths
And I rested like a woman on her knees…
Almost an isle, blowing across my sands, quarrels
And droppings of pale-eyed clamorous gulls,
And I scudded on while, over my frayed lines,
Drowned men sank back in sleep beneath my hull!…
Now I, a boat lost in the hair of bays,
Hurled by the hurricane through bird-less ether,
I, whose carcass, sodden with salt-sea water,
No Monitor or Hanseatic vessel could recover:
Freed, in smoke, risen from the violet fog,
I, who pierced the red skies like a wall,
Bearing the sweets that delight true poets,
Lichens of sunlight, gobbets of azure:
Who ran, stained with electric moonlets,
A crazed plank, companied by black sea-horses,
When Julys were crushing with cudgel blows
Skies of ultramarine in burning funnels:
I, who trembled to hear those agonies
Of rutting Behemoths and dark Maelstroms,
Eternal spinner of blue immobilities,
I regret the ancient parapets of Europe!
I’ve seen archipelagos of stars! And isles
Whose maddened skies open for the sailor:
– Is it in depths of night you sleep, exiled,
Million birds of gold, O future Vigour? –
But, truly, I’ve wept too much! The Dawns
Are heartbreaking, each moon hell, each sun bitter:
Fierce love has swallowed me in drunken torpors.
O let my keel break! Tides draw me down!
180
If I want one pool in Europe, it’s the cold
Black pond where into the scented night
A child squatting filled with sadness launches
A boat as frail as a May butterfly.
Bathed in your languor, waves, I can no longer
Cut across the wakes of cotton ships,
Or sail against the pride of flags, ensigns,
Or swim the dreadful gaze of prison ships.
~ Arthur Rimbaud,
443:The Kalevala - Rune Xv
LEMMINKAINEN'S RESTORATION.
Lemminkainen's aged mother
Anxious roams about the islands,
Anxious wonders in her chambers,
What the fate of Lemminkainen,
Why her son so long has tarried;
Thinks that something ill has happened
To her hero in Pohyola.
Sad, indeed, the mother's anguish,
As in vain she waits his coming,
As in vain she asks the question,
Where her daring son is roaming,
Whether to the fir-tree mountain,
Whether to the distant heath-land,
Or upon the broad-sea's ridges,
On the floods and rolling waters,
To the war's contending armies,
To the heat and din of battle,
Steeped in blood of valiant heroes,
Evidence of fatal warfare.
Daily does the wife Kyllikki
Look about her vacant chamber,
In the home of Lemminkainen,
At the court of Kaukomieli;
Looks at evening, looks at morning,
Looks, perchance, upon his hair-brush,
Sees alas! the blood-drops oozing,
Oozing from the golden bristles,
And the blood-drops, scarlet-colored.
Then the beauteous wife, Kyllikki,
Spake these words in deeps of anguish:
'Dead or wounded is my husband,
Or at best is filled with trouble,
Lost perhaps in Northland forests,
In some glen unknown to heroes,
Since alas! the blood is flowing
From the brush of Lemminkainen,
273
Red drops oozing from the bristles.'
Thereupon the anxious mother
Looks upon the bleeding hair-brush
And begins this wail of anguish:
'Woe is me, my life hard-fated,
Woe is me, all joy departed!
For alas! my son and hero,
Valiant hero of the islands,
Son of trouble and misfortune!
Some sad fate has overtaken
My ill-fated Lemminkainen!
Blood is flowing from his hair-brush,
Oozing from its golden bristles,
And the drops are scarlet-colored.'
Quick her garment's hem she clutches,
On her arm she throws her long-robes,
Fleetly flies upon her journey;
With her might she hastens northward,
Mountains tremble from her footsteps,
Valleys rise and heights are lowered,
Highlands soon become as lowlands,
All the hills and valleys levelled.
Soon she gains the Northland village,
Quickly asks about her hero,
These the words the mother utters:
'O thou hostess of Pohyola,
Where hast thou my Lemminkainen?
Tell me of my son and hero!'
Louhi, hostess of the Northland,
Gives this answer to the mother:
'Nothing know I of thy hero,
Of the hero of the islands;
Where thy son may be I know not,
Cannot lend the information;
Once I gave thy son a courser,
Hitched the racer to his snow-sledge,
This the last of Lemminkainen;
May perchance be drowned in Wuhne,
Frozen In the icy ocean,
Fallen prey to wolves in hunger,
In a bear's den may have perished.'
Lemminkainen's mother answers:
274
'Thou art only speaking falsehoods,
Northland wolves cannot devour us,
Nor the bears kill Kaukomieli;
He can slay the wolves of Pohya
With the fingers of his left hand;
Bears of Northland he would silence
With the magic of his singing.
'Hostess of Pohyola, tell me
Whither thou hast sent my hero;
I shall burst thy many garners,
Shall destroy the magic Sampo,
If thou dost not tell me truly
Where to find my Lemminkainen.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'I have well thy hero treated,
Well my court has entertained him,
Gave him of my rarest viands,
Fed him at my well-filled tables,
Placed him in a boat of copper,
Thus to float adown the current,
This the last of Lemminkainen;
Cannot tell where he has wandered.
Whether in the foam of waters,
Whether in the boiling torrent,
Whether in the drowning whirlpool.'
Lemminkainen's mother answers:
Thou again art speaking falsely;
Tell me now the truth I pray thee,
Make an end of thy deception,
Where is now my Lemminkainen,
Whither hast thou sent my hero,
Young and daring son of Kalew?
If a third time thou deceivest,
I will send thee plagues, unnumbered,
I will send thee fell destruction,
Certain death will overtake thee.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'This the third time that I answer,
This the truth that I shall tell thee:
I have sent the Kalew-hero
To the Hisi-fields and forests,
There to hunt the moose of Lempo;
275
Sent him then to catch the fire-horse,
Catch the fire-expiring stallion,
On the distant plains of Juutas,
In the realm of cruel Hisi.
Then I sent him to the Death-stream,
In the kingdom of Tuoni,
With his bow and but one arrow,
There to shoot the swan as dowry
For my best and fairest daughter;
Have not heard about thy hero
Since he left for Tuonela;
May in misery have fallen,
May have perished in Manala;
Has not come to ask my daughter,
Has not come to woo the maiden,
Since he left to hunt the death-swan.'
Now the mother seeks her lost one,
For her son she weeps and trembles,
Like the wolf she bounds through fenlands,
Like the bear, through forest thickets,
Like the wild-boar, through the marshes,
Like the hare, along the sea-coast,
To the sea-point, like the hedgehog
Like the wild-duck swims the waters,
Casts the rubbish from her pathway,
Tramples down opposing brush-wood,
Stops at nothing in her journey
Seeks a long time for her hero,
Seeks, and seeks, and does not find him.
Now she asks the trees the question,
And the forest gives this answer:
'We have care enough already,
Cannot think about thy matters;
Cruel fates have we to battle,
Pitiful our own misfortunes!
We are felled and chopped in pieces,
Cut in blocks for hero-fancy,
We are burned to death as fuel,
No one cares how much we suffer.'
Now again the mother wanders,
Seeks again her long-lost hero,
Seeks, and seeks, and does not find him.
276
Paths arise and come to meet her,
And she questions thus the pathways:
'Paths of hope that God has fashioned,
Have ye seen my Lemminkainen,
Has my son and golden hero
Travelled through thy many kingdoms?'
Sad, the many pathways answer:
'We ourselves have cares sufficient,
Cannot watch thy son and hero,
Wretched are the lives of pathways,
Deep indeed our own misfortunes;
We are trodden by, the red-deer,
By the wolves, and bears, and roebucks,
Driven o'er by heavy cart-wheels,
By the feet of dogs are trodden,
Trodden under foot of heroes,
Foot-paths for contending armies.'
Seeks again the frantic mother,
Seeks her long-lost son and hero,
Seeks, and seeks, and does not find him;
Finds the Moon within her orbit,
Asks the Moon in pleading measures:
'Golden Moon, whom God has stationed
In the heavens, the Sun's companion,
Hast thou seen my Kaukomieli,
Hast thou seen my silver apple,
Anywhere in thy dominions? '
Thus the golden Moon makes answer:
'I have trouble all-sufficient,
Cannot watch thy daring hero;
Long the journey I must travel,
Sad the fate to me befallen,
Pitiful mine own misfortunes,
All alone the nights to wander,
Shine alone without a respite,
In the winter ever watching,
In the summer sink and perish.'
Still the mother seeks, and wanders,
Seeks, and does not find her hero,
Sees the Sun in the horizon,
And the mother thus entreats him:
Silver Sun, whom God has fashioned,
277
Thou that giveth warmth and comfort,
Hast thou lately seen my hero,
Hast thou seen my Lemminkainen,
Wandering in thy dominions?'
Thus the Sun in kindness answers:
'Surely has thy hero perished,
To ingratitude a victim;
Lemminkainen died and vanished
In Tuoni's fatal river,
In the waters of Manala,
In the sacred stream and whirlpool,
In the cataract and rapids,
Sank within the drowning current
To the realm of Tuonela,
To Manala's lower regions.'
Lemminkainen's mother weeping,
Wailing in the deeps of anguish,
Mourns the fate of Kaukomieli,
Hastens to the Northland smithy,
To the forge of Ilmarinen,
These the words the mother utters:
'Ilmarinen, metal-artist,
Thou that long ago wert forging,
Forging earth a concave cover,
Yesterday wert forging wonders,
Forge thou now, immortal blacksmith,
Forge a rake with shaft of copper,
Forge the teeth of strongest metal,
Teeth in length a hundred fathoms,
And five hundred long the handle.'
Ilmarinen does as bidden,
Makes the rake in full perfection.
Lemminkainen's anxious mother
Takes the magic rake and hastens
To the river of Tuoni,
Praying to the Sun as follows:
'Thou, O Sun, by God created,
Thou that shinest on thy Maker,
Shine for me in heat of magic,
Give me warmth, and strength, and courage,
Shine a third time full of power,
Lull to sleep the wicked people,
278
Still the people of Manala,
Quiet all Tuoni's empire.'
Thereupon the sun of Ukko,
Dearest child of the Creator,
Flying through the groves of Northland,
Sitting on a curving birch-tree,
Shines a little while in ardor,
Shines again in greater fervor,
Shines a third time full of power,
Lulls to sleep the wicked people
In the Manala home and kingdom,
Still the heroes with their broadswords,
Makes the lancers halt and totter,
Stills the stoutest of the spearmen,
Quiets Tuoni's ghastly empire.
Now the Sun retires in magic,
Hovers here and there a moment
Over Tuoni's hapless sleepers,
Hastens upward to his station,
To his Jumala home and kingdom.
Lemminkainen's faithful mother
Takes the rake of magic metals,
Rakes the Tuoni river bottoms,
Rakes the cataract and whirlpool,
Rakes the swift and boiling current
Of the sacred stream of death-land,
In the Manala home and kingdom.
Searching for her long-lost hero,
Rakes a long time, finding nothing;
Now she wades the river deeper,
To her belt in mud and water,
Deeper, deeper, rakes the death-stream,
Rakes the river's deepest caverns,
Raking up and down the current,
Till at last she finds his tunic,
Heavy-hearted, finds his jacket;
Rakes again and rakes unceasing,
Finds the hero's shoes and stockings,
Sorely troubled, finds these relies;
Now she wades the river deeper,
Rakes the Manala shoals and shallows,
Rakes the deeps at every angle;
279
As she draws the rake the third time
From the Tuoni shores and waters,
In the rake she finds the body
Of her long-lost Lemminkainen,
In the metal teeth entangled,
In the rake with copper handle.
Thus the reckless Lemminkainen,
Thus the son of Kalevala,
Was recovered from the bottom
Of the Manala lake and river.
There were wanting many fragments,
Half the head, a hand, a fore-arm,
Many other smaller portions,
Life, above all else, was missing.
Then the mother, well reflecting,
Spake these words in bitter weeping:
'From these fragments, with my magic,
I will bring to life my hero.'
Hearing this, the raven answered,
Spake these measures to the mother:
'There is not in these a hero,
Thou canst not revive these fragments;
Eels have fed upon his body,
On his eyes have fed the whiting;
Cast the dead upon the waters,
On the streams of Tuonela,
Let him there become a walrus,
Or a seal, or whale, or porpoise.'
Lemminkainen's mother does not
Cast the dead upon the waters,
On the streams of Tuonela,
She again with hope and courage,
Rakes the river lengthwise, crosswise,
Through the Manala pools and caverns,
Rakes up half the head, a fore-arm,
Finds a hand and half the back-bone,
Many other smaller portions;
Shapes her son from all the fragments,
Shapes anew her Lemminkainen,
Flesh to flesh with skill she places,
Gives the bones their proper stations,
Binds one member to the other,
280
Joins the ends of severed vessels,
Counts the threads of all the venules,
Knits the parts in apposition;
Then this prayer the mother offers:
'Suonetar, thou slender virgin,
Goddess of the veins of heroes,
Skilful spinner of the vessels,
With thy slender, silver spindle,
With thy spinning-wheel of copper,
Set in frame of molten silver,
Come thou hither, thou art needed;
Bring the instruments for mending,
Firmly knit the veins together,
At the end join well the venules,
In the wounds that still are open,
In the members that are injured.
'Should this aid be inefficient;
There is living in the ether,
In a boat enriched with silver,
In a copper boat, a maiden,
That can bring to thee assistance.
Come, O maiden, from the ether,
Virgin from the belt of heaven,
Row throughout these veins, O maiden,
Row through all these lifeless members,
Through the channels of the long-bones,
Row through every form of tissue.
Set the vessels in their places,
Lay the heart in right position,
Make the pulses beat together,
Join the smallest of the veinlets,
And unite with skill the sinews.
Take thou now a slender needle,
Silken thread within its eyelet,
Ply the silver needle gently,
Sew with care the wounds together.
'Should this aid be inefficient,
Thou, O God, that knowest all things,
Come and give us thine assistance,
Harness thou thy fleetest racer
Call to aid thy strongest courser,
In thy scarlet sledge come swiftly,
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Drive through all the bones and channels,
Drive throughout these lifeless tissues,
Drive thy courser through each vessel,
Bind the flesh and bones securely,
In the joints put finest silver,
Purest gold in all the fissures.
'Where the skin is broken open,
Where the veins are torn asunder,
Mend these injuries with magic;
Where the blood has left the body,
There make new blood flow abundant;
Where the bones are rudely broken,
Set the parts in full perfection;
Where the flesh is bruised and loosened,
Touch the wounds with magic balsam,
Do not leave a part imperfect;
Bone, and vein, and nerve, and sinew,
Heart, and brain, and gland, and vessel,
Heal as Thou alone canst heal them.'
These the means the mother uses,
Thus she joins the lifeless members,
Thus she heals the death-like tissues,
Thus restores her son and hero
To his former life and likeness;
All his veins are knit together,
All their ends are firmly fastened,
All the parts in apposition,
Life returns, but speech is wanting,
Deaf and dumb, and blind, and senseless.
Now the mother speaks as follows:
'Where may I procure the balsam,
Where the drops of magic honey,
To anoint my son and hero,
Thus to heal my Lemminkainen,
That again his month may open,
May again begin his singing,
Speak again in words of wonder,
Sing again his incantations?
'Tiny bee, thou honey-birdling,
Lord of all the forest flowers,
Fly away and gather honey,
Bring to me the forest-sweetness,
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Found in Metsola's rich gardens,
And in Tapio's fragrant meadows,
From the petals of the flowers,
From the blooming herbs and grasses,
Thus to heal my hero's anguish,
Thus to heal his wounds of evil.'
Thereupon the honey-birdling
Flies away on wings of swiftness,
Into Metsola's rich gardens,
Into Tapio's flowery meadows,
Gathers sweetness from the meadows,
With the tongue distills the honey
From the cups of seven flowers,
From the bloom of countless grasses;
Quick from Metsola returning,
Flying, humming darting onward,
With his winglets honey-laden,
With the store of sweetest odors,
To the mother brings the balsam.
Lemminkainen's anxious mother
Takes the balm of magic virtues,
And anoints the injured hero,
Heals his wounds and stills his anguish;
But the balm is inefficient,
For her son is deaf and speechless.
Then again out-speaks the mother:
Lemminkainen's Restoration.
'Little bee, my honey-birdling,
Fly away in one direction,
Fly across the seven oceans,
In the eighth, a magic island,
Where the honey is enchanted,
To the distant Turi-castles,
To the chambers of Palwoinen;
There the honey is effective,
There, the wonder-working balsam,
This may heal the wounded hero;
Bring me of this magic ointment,
That I may anoint his eyelids,
May restore his injured senses.'
Thereupon the honey-birdling
Flew away o'er seven oceans,
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To the old enchanted island;
Flies one day, and then a second,
On the verdure does not settle,
Does not rest upon the flowers;
Flies a third day, fleetly onward,
Till a third day evening brings him
To the island in the ocean,
To the meadows rich in honey,
To the cataract and fire-flow,
To the sacred stream and whirlpool.
There the honey was preparing,
There the magic balm distilling
In the tiny earthen vessels,
In the burnished copper kettles,
Smaller than a maiden's thimble,
Smaller than the tips of fingers.
Faithfully the busy insect
Gathers the enchanted honey
From the magic Turi-cuplets
In the chambers of Palwoinen.
Time had gone but little distance,
Ere the bee came loudly humming
Flying fleetly, honey-laden;
In his arms were seven vessels,
Seven, the vessels on each shoulder;
All were filled with honey-balsam,
With the balm of magic virtues.
Lemminkainen's tireless mother
Quick anoints her speechless hero,
With the magic Turi-balsam,
With the balm of seven virtues;
Nine the times that she anoints him
With the honey of Palwoinen,
With the wonder-working balsam;
But the balm is inefficient,
For the hero still is speechless.
Then again out-speaks the mother:
'Honey-bee, thou ether birdling,
Fly a third time on thy journey,
Fly away to high Jumala,
Fly thou to the seventh heaven,
Honey there thou'lt find abundant,
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Balsam of the highest virtue,
Only used by the Creator,
Only made from the breath of Ukko.
God anoints his faithful children,
With the honey of his wisdom,
When they feel the pangs of sorrow,
When they meet the powers of evil.
Dip thy winglets in this honey,
Steep thy plumage in His sweetness,
Hither bring the all-sufficient
Balsam of the great Creator;
This will still my hero's anguish,
This will heal his wounded tissues,
This restore his long-lost vision,
Make the Northland hills re-echo
With the magic of his singing,
With his wonderful enchantment.'
Thus the honey-bee made answer:
'I can never fly to heaven,
To the seventh of the heavens,
To the distant home of Ukko,
With these wings of little virtue.'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'Thou canst surely fly to heaven,
To the seventh of the heavens,
O'er the Moon, beneath the sunshine,
Through the dim and distant starlight.
On the first day, flying upward,
Thou wilt near the Moon in heaven,
Fan the brow of Kootamoinen;
On the second thou canst rest thee
On the shoulders of Otava;
On the third day, flying higher,
Rest upon the seven starlets,
On the heads of Hetewanè;
Short the journey that is left thee,
Inconsiderable the distance
To the home of mighty Ukko,
To the dwellings of the blessed.'
Thereupon the bee arising,
From the earth flies swiftly upward,
Hastens on with graceful motion,
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By his tiny wings borne heavenward,
In the paths of golden moonbeams,
Touches on the Moon's bright borders,
Fans the brow of Kootamoinen,
Rests upon Otava's shoulders,
Hastens to the seven starlets.,
To the heads of Hetewanè,
Flies to the Creator's castle,
To the home of generous Ukko,
Finds the remedy preparing,
Finds the balm of life distilling,
In the silver-tinted caldrons,
In the purest golden kettles;
On one side, heart-easing honey,
On a second, balm of joyance,
On the third, life-giving balsam.
Here the magic bee, selecting,
Culls the sweet, life-giving balsam,
Gathers too, heart-easing honey,
Heavy-laden hastens homeward.
Time had traveled little distance,
Ere the busy bee came humming
To the anxious mother waiting,
In his arms a hundred cuplets,
And a thousand other vessels,
Filled with honey, filled with balsam,
Filled with the balm of the Creator.
Lemminkainen's mother quickly
Takes them on her, tongue and tests them,
Finds a balsam all-sufficient.
Then the mother spake as follows:
'I have found the long-sought balsam,
Found the remedy of Ukko,
Where-with God anoints his people,
Gives them life, and faith, and wisdom,
Heals their wounds and stills their anguish,
Makes them strong against temptation,
Guards them from the evil-doers.'
Now the mother well anointing,
Heals her son, the magic singer,
Eyes, and ears, and tongue, and temples,
Breaks, and cuts, and seams, anointing,
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Touching well the life-blood centres,
Speaks these words of magic import
To the sleeping Lemminkainen:
'Wake, arise from out thy slumber,
From the worst of low conditions,
From thy state of dire misfortune!'
Slowly wakes the son and hero,
Rises from the depths of slumber,
Speaks again in magic accents,
These the first words of the singer:
'Long, indeed, have I been sleeping,
Long unconscious of existence,
But my sleep was full of sweetness,
Sweet the sleep in Tuonela,
Knowing neither joy nor sorrow!'
This the answer of his mother:
'Longer still thou wouldst have slumbered,
Were it not for me, thy, mother;
Tell me now, my son beloved,
Tell me that I well may hear thee,
Who enticed thee to Manala,
To the river of Tuoni,
To the fatal stream and whirlpool?'
Then the hero, Lemminkainen,
Gave this answer to his mother:
'Nasshut, the decrepit shepherd
Of the flocks of Sariola,
Blind, and halt, and poor, and wretched,
And to whom I did a favor;
From the slumber-land of envy
Nasshut sent me to Manala,
To the river of Tuoni;
Sent a serpent from the waters,
Sent an adder from the death-stream,
Through the heart of Lemminkainen;
Did not recognize the serpent,
Could not speak the serpent-language,
Did not know the sting of adders.'
Spake again the ancient mother:
'O thou son of little insight,
Senseless hero, fool-magician,
Thou didst boast betimes thy magic
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To enchant the wise enchanters,
On the dismal shores of Lapland,
Thou didst think to banish heroes,
From the borders of Pohyola;
Didst not know the sting of serpents,
Didst not know the reed of waters,
Nor the magic word-protector!
Learn the origin of serpents,
Whence the poison of the adder.
'In the floods was born the serpent,
From the marrow of the gray-duck,
From the brain of ocean-swallows;
Suoyatar had made saliva,
Cast it on the waves of ocean,
Currents drove it outward, onward,
Softly shone the sun upon it,
By the winds 'twas gently cradled,
Gently nursed by winds and waters,
By the waves was driven shoreward,
Landed by the surging billows.
Thus the serpent, thing of evil,
Filling all the world with trouble,
Was created in the waters
Born from Suoyatar, its maker.'
Then the mother of the hero
Rocked her son to rest and comfort,
Rocked him to his former being,
To his former life and spirit,
Into greater magic powers;
Wiser, handsomer than ever
Grew the hero of the islands;
But his heart was full of trouble,
And his mother, ever watchful,
Asked the cause of his dejection.
This is Lemminkainen's answer:
'This the cause of all my sorrow;
Far away my heart is roaming,
All my thoughts forever wander
To the Northland's blooming virgins,
To the maids of braided tresses.
Northland's ugly hostess, Louhi,
Will not give to me her daughter,
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Fairest maiden of Pohyola,
Till I kill the swan of Mana,
With my bow and but one arrow,
In the river of Tuoni.
Lemminkainen's mother answers,
In the sacred stream and whirlpool.
'Let the swan swim on in safety,
Give the water-bird his freedom,
In the river of Manala,
In the whirlpool of Tuoni;
Leave the maiden in the Northland.,
With her charms and fading beauty;
With thy fond and faithful mother,
Go at once to Kalevala,
To thy native fields and fallows.
Praise thy fortune, all sufficient,
Praise, above all else, thy Maker.
Ukko gave thee aid when needed,
Thou wert saved by thy Creator,
From thy long and hopeless slumber,
In the waters of Tuoni,
In the chambers of Manala.
I unaided could not save thee,
Could not give the least assistance;
God alone, omniscient Ukko,
First and last of the creators,
Can revive the dead and dying,
Can protect his worthy people
From the waters of Manala, .
From the fatal stream and whirlpool,
In the kingdom of Tuoni.'
Lemminkainen, filled with wisdom,
With his fond and faithful mother,
Hastened straightway on his journey
To his distant home and kindred,
To the Wainola fields and meadows,
To the plains of Kalevala.
*****
Here I leave my Kaukomieli,
Leave my hero Lemminkainen,
Long I leave him from my singing,
Turn my song to other heroes,
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Send it forth on other pathways,
Sing some other golden legend.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
444:The Kalevala - Rune Xviii
THE RIVAL SUITORS
Wainamoinen, old and truthful,
Long considered, long debated,
How to woo and win the daughter
Of the hostess of Pohyola,
How to lead the Bride of Beauty,
Fairy maiden of the rainbow,
To the meadows of Wainola,
From the dismal Sariola.
Now he decks his magic vessel,
Paints the boat in blue and scarlet,
Trims in gold the ship's forecastle,
Decks the prow in molten silver;
Sings his magic ship down gliding,
On the cylinders of fir-tree:
Now erects the masts of pine-wood,
On each mast the sails of linen,
Sails of blue, and white, and scarlet,
Woven into finest fabric.
Wainamoinen, the magician,
Steps aboard his wondrous vessel,
Steers the bark across the waters,
On the blue back of the broad-sea,
Speaks these words in sailing northward,
Sailing to the dark Pohyola:
'Come aboard my ship, O Ukko,
Come with me, thou God of mercy,
To protect thine ancient hero,
To support thy trusting servant,
On the breasts of raging billows,
On the far out-stretching waters.
'Rock, O winds, this wondrous vessel,
Causing not a single ripple;
Rolling waves, bear ye me northward,
That the oar may not be needed
In my journey to Pohyola,
O'er this mighty waste of waters.'
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Ilmarinen's beauteous sister,
Fair and goodly maid, Annikki,
Of the Night and Dawn, the daughter,
Who awakes each morning early,
Rises long before the daylight,
Stood one morning on the sea-shore,
Washing in the foam her dresses,
Rinsing out her silken ribbons,
On the bridge of scarlet color,
On the border of the highway,
On a headland jutting seaward,
On the forest-covered island.
Here Annikki, looking round her,
Looking through the fog and ether,
Looking through the clouds of heaven,
Gazing far out on the blue-sea,
Sees the morning sun arising,
Glimmering along the billows,
Looks with eyes of distant vision
Toward the sunrise on the waters,
Toward the winding streams of Suomi,
Where the Wina-waves were flowing.
There she sees, on the horizon,
Something darkle in the sunlight,
Something blue upon the billows,
Speaks these words in wonder guessing:
What is this upon the surges,
What this blue upon the waters,
What this darkling in the sunlight?
'Tis perhaps a flock of wild-geese,
Or perchance the blue-duck flying;
Then upon thy wings arising,
Fly away to highest heaven.
'Art thou then a shoal of sea-trout,
Or perchance a school of salmon?
Dive then to the deep sea-bottom,
In the waters swim and frolic.
'Art thou then a cliff of granite,
Or perchance a mighty oak-tree,
Floating on the rough sea-billows?
May the floods then wash and beat thee
Break thee to a thousand fragments.'
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Wainamoinen, sailing northward,
Steers his wondrous ship of magic
Toward the headland jutting seaward,
Toward the island forest-covered.
Now Annikki, goodly maiden,
Sees it is the magic vessel
Of a wonderful enchanter,
Of a mighty bard and hero,
And she asks this simple question:
'Art thou then my father's vessel,
Or my brother's ship of magic?
Haste away then to thy harbor,
To thy refuge in Wainola.
Hast thou come a goodly distance?
Sail then farther on thy journey,
Point thy prow to other waters.'
It was not her father's vessel,
Not a sail-boat from the distance,
'Twas the ship of Wainamoinen,
Bark of the eternal singer;
Sails within a hailing distance,
Swims still nearer o'er the waters,
Brings one word and takes another,
Brings a third of magic import.
Speaks the goodly maid, Annikki,
Of the Night and Dawn, the daughter,
To the sailor of the vessel:
'Whither sailest, Wainamoinen,
Whither bound, thou friend of waters,
Pride and joy of Kalevala?'
From the vessel Wainamomen
Gives this answer to the maiden:
'I have come to catch some sea-trout,
Catch the young and toothsome whiting,
Hiding in tbese-reeds and rushes.'
This the answer of Annikki:
'Do not speak to me in falsehood,
Know I well the times of fishing;
Long ago my honored father
Was a fisherman in Northland,
Came to catch the trout and whiting,
Fished within these seas and rivers.
319
Very well do I remember
How the fisherman disposes,
How he rigs his fishing vessel,
Lines, and gaffs, and poles, and fish-nets;
Hast not come a-fishing hither.
Whither goest, Wainamoinen,
Whither sailest, friend of waters?
Spake the ancient Wainamoinen:
'I have come to catch some wild-geese,
Catch the hissing birds of Suomi,
In these far-extending borders,
In the Sachsensund dominions.'
Good Annikki gives this answer:
'Know I well a truthful speaker,
Easily detect a falsehood;
Formerly my aged father
Often came a-hunting hither,
Came to hunt the hissing wild-geese,
Hunt the red-bill of these waters.
Very well do I remember
How the hunter rigs his vessel,
Bows, and arrows, knives, and quiver,
Dogs enchained within the vessel,
Pointers hunting on the sea-shore,
Setters seeking in the marshes,
Tell the truth now Wainamoinen,
Whither is thy vessel sailing?'
Spake the hero of the Northland:
'To the wars my ship is sailing,
To the bloody fields of battle,
Where the streams run scarlet-colored,
Where the paths are paved with bodies!'
These the words of fair Annikki:
'Know I well the paths to battle.
Formerly my aged father
Often sounded war's alarum,
Often led the hosts to conquest;
In each ship a hundred rowers,
And in arms a thousand heroes,
Oil the prow a thousand cross-bows,
Swords, and spears, and battle-axes;
Know I well the ship of battle.
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Speak Do longer fruitless falsehoods,
Whither sailest, Wainamoinen,
Whither steerest, friend of waters?
These the words of Wainamoinen:
'Come, O maiden, to my vessel,
In my magic ship be seated,
Then I'll give thee truthful answer.'
Thus Annikki, silver-tinselled,
Answers ancient Wainamoinen:
'With the winds I'll fill thy vessel,
To thy bark I'll send the storm-winds
And capsize thy ship of magic,
Break in pieces its forecastle,
If the truth thou dost not tell me,
If thou dost not cease thy falsehoods,
If thou dost not tell me truly
Whither sails thy magic vessel.'
These the words of Wainamoinen:
'Now I make thee truthful answer,
Though at first I spake deception:
I am sailing to the Northland
To the dismal Sariola,
Where the ogres live and flourish,
Where they drown the worthy heroes,
There to woo the Maid of Beauty
Sitting on the bow of heaven,
Woo and win the fairy virgin,
Bring her to my home and kindred,
To the firesides of Walnola.'
Then Aunikki, graceful maiden,
Of the Night and Dawn, the daughter,
As she heard the rightful answer,
Knew the truth was fully spoken,
Straightway left her coats unbeaten,
Left unwashed her linen garments,
Left unrinsed her silks and ribbons
On the highway by the sea-shore,
On the bridge of scarlet color
On her arm she threw her long-robes,
Hastened off with speed of roebuck
To the shops of Ilmarinen,
To the iron-forger's furnace,
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To the blacksmith's home and smithy,
Here she found the hero-artist,
Forging out a bench of iron,
And adorning it with silver.
Soot lay thick upon his forehead,
Soot and coal upon his shoulders.
On the threshold speaks Annikki,
These the words his sister uses:
'Ilmarinen, dearest brother,
Thou eternal artist-forger,
Forge me now a loom of silver,
Golden rings to grace my fingers,
Forge me gold and silver ear-rings,
Six or seven golden girdles,
Golden crosslets for my bosom,
For my head forge golden trinkets,
And I'll tell a tale surprising,
Tell a story that concerns thee
Truthfully I'll tell the story.'
Then the blacksmith Ilmarinen
Spake and these the words he uttered:
'If thou'lt tell the tale sincerely,
I will forge the loom of silver,
Golden rings to grace thy fingers,
Forge thee gold and silver ear-rings,
Six or seven golden girdles,
Golden crosslets for thy bosom,
For thy head forge golden trinkets;
But if thou shouldst tell me falsely,
I shall break thy beauteous jewels,
Break thine ornaments in pieces,
Hurl them to the fire and furnace,
Never forge thee other trinkets.'
This the answer of Annikki:
'Ancient blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Dost thou ever think to marry
Her already thine affianced,
Beauteous Maiden of the Rainbow,
Fairest virgin of the Northland,
Chosen bride of Sariola?
Shouldst thou wish the Maid of Beauty,
Thou must forge, and forge unceasing,
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Hammering the days and nights through;
Forge the summer hoofs for horses,
Forge them iron hoofs for winter,
In the long nights forge the snow-sledge,
Gaily trim it in the daytime,
Haste thou then upon thy journey
To thy wooing in the Northland,
To the dismal Sariola;
Thither journeys one more clever,
Sails another now before thee,
There to woo thy bride affianced,
Thence to lead thy chosen virgin,
Woo and win the Maid of Beauty;
Three long years thou hast been wooing.
Wainamoinen now is sailing
On the blue back of the waters,
Sitting at his helm of copper;
On the prow are golden carvings,
Beautiful his boat of magic,
Sailing fleetly o'er the billows,
To the never-pleasant Northland,
To the dismal Sariola.'
Ilmarinen stood in wonder,
Stood a statue at the story;
Silent grief had settled o'er him,
Settled o'er the iron-artist;
From one hand the tongs descended,
From the other fell the hammer,
As the blacksmith made this answer:
'Good Annikki, worthy sister,
I shall forge the loom of silver,
Golden rings to grace thy fingers,
Forge thee gold and silver ear-rings,
Six or seven golden girdles,
Golden crosslets for thy bosom;
Go and heat for me the bath-room,
Fill with heat the honey-chambers,
Lay the faggots on the fire-place,
Lay the smaller woods around them,
Pour some water through the ashes,
Make a soap of magic virtue,
Thus to cleanse my blackened visage,
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Thus to cleanse the blacksmith's body,
Thus remove the soot and ashes.'
Then Annikki, kindly sister,
Quickly warmed her brother's bath-room,
Warmed it with the knots of fir-trees,
That the thunder-winds had broken;
Gathered pebbles from the fire-stream,
Threw them in the heating waters;
Broke the tassels from the birch-trees,
Steeped the foliage in honey,
Made a lye from milk and ashes,
Made of these a strong decoction,
Mixed it with the fat and marrow
Of the reindeer of the mountains,
Made a soap of magic virtue,
Thus to cleanse the iron-artist,
Thus to beautify the suitor,
Thus to make the hero worthy.
Ilmarinen, ancient blacksmith,
The eternal metal-worker,
Forged the wishes of his sister,
Ornaments for fair Annikki,
Rings, and bracelets, pins and ear-drops,
Forged for her six golden girdles,
Forged a weaving loom of silver,
While the maid prepared the bath-room,
Set his toilet-room in order.
To the maid he gave the trinkets,
Gave the loom of molten silver,
And the sister thus made answer:
'I have heated well thy bath-room,
Have thy toilet-things in order,
Everything as thou desirest;
Go prepare thyself for wooing,
Lave thy bead to flaxen whiteness,
Make thy cheeks look fresh and ruddy,
Lave thyself in Love's aroma,
That thy wooing prove successful.'
Ilmarinen, magic artist,
Quick repairing to his bath-room,
Bathed his head to flaxen whiteness,
Made his cheeks look fresh and ruddy,
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Laved his eyes until they sparkled
Like the moonlight on the waters;
Wondrous were his form and features,
And his cheeks like ruddy berries.
These the words of Ilmarinen:
'Fair Annikki, lovely sister,
Bring me now my silken raiment,
Bring my best and richest vesture,
Bring me now my softest linen,
That my wooing prove successful.'
Straightway did the helpful sister
Bring the finest of his raiment,
Bring the softest of his linen,
Raiment fashioned by his mother;
Brought to him his silken stockings,
Brought him shoes of marten-leather,
Brought a vest of sky-blue color,
Brought him scarlet-colored trousers,
Brought a coat with scarlet trimming,
Brought a red shawl trimmed in ermine
Fourfold wrapped about his body;
Brought a fur-coat made of seal-skin,
Fastened with a thousand bottons,
And adorned with countless jewels;
Brought for him his magic girdle,
Fastened well with golden buckles,
That his artist-mother fashioned;
Brought him gloves with golden wristlets,
That the Laplanders had woven
For a head of many ringlets;
Brought the finest cap in Northland,
That his ancient father purchased
When he first began his wooing.
Ilmarinen, blacksmith-artist,
Clad himself to look his finest,
When he thus addressed a servant:
'Hitch for me a fleet-foot racer,
Hitch him to my willing snow-sledge,
For I start upon a journey
To the distant shores of Pohya,
To the dismal Sariola.'
Spake the servant thus in answer:
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'Thou hast seven fleet-foot racers,
Munching grain within their mangers,
Which of these shall I make ready?'
Spake the blacksmith, Ilmarinen:
'Take the fleetest of my coursers,
Put the gray steed in the harness,
Hitch him to my sledge of magic;
Place six cuckoos on the break-board,
Seven bluebirds on the cross-bars,
Thus to charm the Northland maidens,
Thus to make them look and listen,
As the cuckoos call and echo.
Bring me too my largest bear-skin,
Fold it warm about the cross-bench;
Bring me then my marten fur-robes,
As a cover and protection.'
Straightway then the trusty servant
Of the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Put the gray steed in the harness,
Hitched the racer to the snow-sledge,
Placed six cuckoos on the break-board,
Seven bluebirds on the cross-bars,
On the front to sing and twitter;
Then he brought the largest bear-skin,
Folded it upon the cross-bench;
Brought the finest robes of marten,
Warm protection for the master.
Ilmarinen, forger-artist,
The eternal metal-worker,
Earnestly entreated Ukko:
'Send thy snow-flakes, Ukko, father,
Let them gently fall from heaven,
Let them cover all the heather,
Let them hide the berry-bushes,
That my sledge may glide in freedom
O'er the hills to Sariola!'
Ukko sent the snow from heaven,
Gently dropped the crystal snow-flakes,
Lending thus his kind assistance
To the hero, Ilmarinen,
On his journey to the Northland.
Reins in hand, the ancient artist
326
Seats him in his metal snow-sledge,
And beseeches thus his Master:
'Good luck to my reins and traces,
Good luck to my shafts and runners!
God protect my magic snow-sledge,
Be my safeguard on my journey
To the dismal Sariola!'
Now the ancient Ilmarinen
Draws the reins upon the racer,
Snaps his whip above the courser,
To the gray steed gives this order,
And the charger plunges northward:
'Haste away, my flaxen stallion,
Haste thee onward, noble white-face,
To the never-pleasant Pohya,
To the dreary Sariola!'
Fast and faster flies the fleet-foot,
On the curving snow-capped sea-coast,
On the borders of the lowlands,
O'er the alder-hills and mountains.
Merrily the steed flies onward,
Bluebirds singing, cuckoos calling,
On the sea-shore looking northward,
Through the sand and falling snow-flakes
Blinding winds, and snow, and sea-foam,
Cloud the hero, Ilmarinen,
As he glides upon his journey,
Looking seaward for the vessel
Of the ancient Wainamoinen;
Travels one day, then a second,
Travels all the next day northward,
Till the third day Ilmarinen
Overtakes old Wainamoinen,
Rails him in his magic vessel,
And addresses thus the minstrel:
'O thou ancient Wainamoinen,
Let us woo in peace the maiden,
Fairest daughter or the Northland,
Sitting on the bow of heaven,
Let each labor long to win her,
Let her wed the one she chooses,
Him selecting, let her follow.'
327
Wainamoinen thus makes answer:
'I agree to thy proposal,
Let us woo in peace the maiden,
Not by force, nor faithless measures,
Shall we woo the Maid of Beauty,
Let her follow him she chooses;
Let the unsuccessful suitor
Harbor neither wrath nor envy
For the hero that she follows.'
Thus agreeing, on they journey,
Each according to his pleasure;
Fleetly does the steed fly onward,
Quickly flies the magic vessel,
Sailing on the broad-sea northward;
Ilmarinen's fleet-foot racer
Makes the hills of Northland tremble,
As he gallops on his journey
To the dismal Sariola.
Wainamoinen calls the South-winds,
And they fly to his assistance;
Swiftly sails his ship of beauty,
Swiftly plows the rough sea-billows
In her pathway to Pohyola.
Time had gone but little distance,
Scarce a moment had passed over,
Ere the dogs began their barking,
In the mansions of the Northland,
In the courts of Sariola,
Watch-dogs of the court of Louhi;
Never had they growled so fiercely,
Never had they barked so loudly,
Never with their tails had beaten
Northland into such an uproar.
Spake the master of Pohyola:
'Go and learn, my worthy daughter,
Why the watch-dogs have been barking,
Why the black-dog signals danger.'
Quickly does the daughter answer:
'I am occupied, dear father,
I have work of more importance,
I must tend my flock of lambkins,
I must turn the nether millstone,
328
Grind to flour the grains of barley,
Run the grindings through the sifter,
Only have I time for grinding.'
Lowly growls the faithful watch-dog,
Seldom does he growl so strangely.
Spake the master of Pohyola:
'Go and learn, my trusted consort,
Why the Northland dogs are barking,
Why the black-dog signals danger.'
Thus his aged wife makes answer;
'Have no time, nor inclination,
I must feed my hungry household,
Must prepare a worthy dinner,
I must bake the toothsome biscuit,
Knead the dough till it is ready,
Only have I strength for kneading.'
Spake the master of Pohyola:
'Dames are always in a hurry,
Maidens too are ever busy,
Whether warming at the oven,
Or asleep upon their couches;
Go my son, and learn the danger,
Why the black-dog growls displeasure,'
Quickly does the son give answer:
'Have no time, nor inclination,
Am in haste to grind my hatchet;
I must chop this log to cordwood,
For the fire must cut the faggots,
I must split the wood in fragments,
Large the pile and small the fire-wood,
Only have I strength for chopping.'
Still the watch-dog growls in anger,
Growl the whelps within the mansion,
Growl the dogs chained in the kennel,
Growls the black-dog on the hill-top,
Setting Northland in an uproar.
Spake the master of Pohyola:
'Never, never does my black-dog
Growl like this without a reason;
Never does he bark for nothing,
Does not growl at angry billows,
Nor the sighing of the pine-trees.'
329
Then the master of Pohyola
Went himself to learn the reason
For the barking of the watch-dogs;
Strode he through the spacious court-yard,
Through the open fields beyond it,
To the summit of the uplands.
Looking toward his black-dog barking,
He beholds the muzzle pointed
To a distant, stormy hill-top,
To a mound with alders covered;
There he learned the rightful reason,
Why his dogs had barked so loudly,
Why had growled the wool-tail bearer,
Why his whelps had signalled danger.
At full sail, he saw a vessel,
And the ship was scarlet-colored,
Entering the bay of Lempo;
Saw a sledge of magic colors,
Gliding up the curving sea-shore,
O'er the snow-fields of Pohyola.
Then the master of the Northland
Hastened straightway to his dwelling,
Hastened forward to his court-room,
These the accents of the master:
'Often strangers journey hither,
On the blue back of the ocean,
Sailing in a scarlet vessel,
Rocking in the bay of Lempo;
Often strangers come in sledges
To the honey-lands of Louhi.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
How shall we obtain a token
Why these strangers journey hither?
My beloved, faithful daughter,
Lay a branch upon the fire-place,
Let it burn with fire of magic
If it trickle drops of scarlet,
War and bloodshed do they bring us;
If it trickle drops of water,
Peace and plenty bring the strangers.'
Northland's fair and slender maiden,
Beautiful and modest daughter,
330
Lays a sorb-branch on the fire-place,
Lights it with the fire of magic;
Does not trickle drops of scarlet,
Trickles neither blood, nor water,
From the wand come drops of honey.
From the corner spake Suowakko,
This the language of the wizard:
'If the wand is dripping honey,
Then the strangers that are coming
Are but worthy friends and suitors.'
Then the hostess of the Northland,
With the daughter of the hostess,
Straightway left their work, and hastened
From their dwelling to the court-yard;
Looked about in all directions,
Turned their eyes upon the waters,
Saw a magic-colored vessel
Rocking slowly in the harbor,
Having sailed the bay of Lempo,
Triple sails, and masts, and rigging,
Sable was the nether portion,
And the upper, scarlet-colored,
At the helm an ancient hero
Leaning on his oars of copper;
Saw a fleet-foot racer running,
Saw a red sledge lightly follow,
Saw the magic sledge emblazoned,
Guided toward the courts of Louhi;
Saw and heard six golden cuckoos
Sitting on the break-board, calling,
Seven bluebirds richly colored
Singing from the yoke and cross-bar;
In the sledge a magic hero,
Young, and strong, and proud, and handsome,
Holding reins upon the courser.
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'Dearest daughter, winsome maiden,
Dost thou wish a noble suitor?
Should these heroes come to woo thee,
Wouldst thou leave thy home and country,
Be the bride of him that pleases,
Be his faithful life-companion?
331
'He that comes upon the waters,
Sailing in a magic vessel,
Having sailed the bay of Lempo,
Is the good, old Wainamoinen;
In his ship are countless treasures,
Richest presents from Wainola.
'He that rides here in his snow-sledge
In his sledge of magic beauty,
With the cuckoos and the bluebirds,
Is the blacksmith, Ilmarinen,
Cometh hither empty-handed,
Only brings some wisdom-sayings.
When they come within the dwelling,
Bring a bowl of honeyed viands,
Bring a pitcher with two handles,
Give to him that thou wouldst follow
Give it to old Wainamoinen,
Him that brings thee countless treasures,
Costly presents in his vessel,
Priceless gems from Kalevala.'
Spake the Northland's lovely daughter,
This the language of the maiden
'Good, indeed, advice maternal,
But I will not wed for riches,
Wed no man for countless treasures;
For his worth I'll choose a husband,
For his youth and fine appearance,
For his noble form and features;
In the olden times the maidens
Were not sold by anxious mothers
To the suitors that they loved not.
I shall choose without his treasures
Ilmarinen for his wisdom,
For his worth and good behavior,
Him that forged the wondrous Sampo,
Hammered thee the lid in colors.'
Spake the hostess of Pohyola:
'Senseless daughter, child of folly,
Thus to choose the ancient blacksmith,
From whose brow drips perspiration,
Evermore to rinse his linen,
Lave his hands, and eyes, and forehead,
332
Keep his ancient house in order;
Little use his wit and wisdom
When compared with gold and silver.'
This the answer of the daughter:
'I will never, never, never,
Wed the ancient Wainamoinen
With his gold and priceless jewels;
Never will I be a helpmate
To a hero in his dotage,
Little thanks my compensation.'
Wainamoinen, safely landing
In advance of Ilmarinen,
Pulls his gaily-covered vessel
From the waves upon the sea-beach,
On the cylinders of birch-wood,
On the rollers copper-banded,
Straightway hastens to the guest-room
Of the hostess of Pohyola,
Of the master of the Northland,
Speaks these words upon the threshold
To the famous Maid of Beauty:
'Come with me, thou lovely virgin,
Be my bride and life-companion,
Share with me my joys and sorrows,
Be my honored wife hereafter!'
This the answer of the maiden:
'Hast thou built for me the vessel,
Built for me the ship of magic
From the fragments of the distaff,
From the splinters of the spindle?'
Wainamoinen thus replying:
'I have built the promised vessel,
Built the wondrous ship for sailing,
Firmly joined the parts by magic;
It will weather roughest billows,
Will outlive the winds and waters,
Swiftly glide upon the blue-back
Of the deep and boundless ocean
It will ride the waves in beauty,
Like an airy bubble rising,
Like a cork on lake and river,
Through the angry seas of Northland,
333
Through Pohyola's peaceful waters.'
Northland's fair and slender daughter
Gives this answer to her suitor:
'Will not wed a sea-born hero,
Do not care to rock the billows,
Cannot live with such a husband
Storms would bring us pain and trouble,
Winds would rack our hearts and temples;
Therefore thee I cannot follow,
Cannot keep thy home in order,
Cannot be thy life-companion,
Cannot wed old Wainamoinen.'
~ Elias Lönnrot,
445:Resignation Pt 2
But what in either sex, beyond
All parts, our glory crowns?
'In ruffling seasons to be calm,
And smile, when fortune frowns.'
Heaven's choice is safer than our own;
Of ages past inquire,
What the most formidable fate?
'To have our own desire.'
If, in your wrath, the worst of foes
You wish extremely ill;
Expose him to the thunder's stroke,
Or that of his own will.
What numbers, rushing down the steep
Of inclination strong,
Have perish'd in their ardent wish!
Wish ardent, ever wrong!
'Tis resignation's full reverse,
Most wrong, as it implies
Error most fatal in our choice,
Detachment from the skies.
By closing with the skies, we make
Omnipotence our own;
That done, how formidable ill's
Whole army is o'erthrown!
No longer impotent, and frail,
Ourselves above we rise:
We scarce believe ourselves below!
We trespass on the skies!
The Lord, the soul, and source of all,
Whilst man enjoys his ease,
Is executing human will,
In earth, and air, and seas;
70
Beyond us, what can angels boast?
Archangels what require?
Whate'er below, above, is done,
Is done as-we desire.
What glory this for man so mean,
Whose life is but a span!
This is meridian majesty!
This, the sublime of man!
Beyond the boast of pagan song
My sacred subject shines!
And for a foil the lustre takes
Of Rome's exalted lines.
'All, that the sun surveys, subdued,
But Cato's mighty mind.'
How grand! most true; yet far beneath
The soul of the resign'd:
To more than kingdoms, more than worlds,
To passion that gives law;
Its matchless empire could have kept
Great Cato's pride in awe;
That fatal pride, whose cruel point
Transfix'd his noble breast;
Far nobler! if his fate sustain'd
And left to heaven the rest;
Then he the palm had borne away,
At distance Caesar thrown;
Put him off cheaply with the world,
And made the skies his own.
What cannot resignation do?
It wonders can perform;
That powerful charm, 'Thy will be done,'
Can lay the loudest storm.
Come, resignation! then, from fields,
71
Where, mounted on the wing,
A wing of flame, blest martyrs' souls
Ascended to their king.
Who is it calls thee? one whose need
Transcends the common size;
Who stands in front against a foe
To which no equal rise:
In front he stands, the brink he treads
Of an eternal state;
How dreadful his appointed post!
How strongly arm'd by fate:
His threatening foe! what shadows deep
O'erwhelm his gloomy brow!
His dart tremendous! -at fourscore
My sole asylum, thou!
Haste, then, O resignation! haste,
'Tis thine to reconcile
My foe, and me; at thy approach
My foe begins to smile:
O! for that summit of my wish,
Whilst here I draw my breath,
That promise of eternal life,
A glorious smile in death:
What sight, heaven's azure arch beneath,
Has most of heaven to boast?
The man resign'd; at once serene,
And giving up the ghost.
At death's arrival they shall smile,
Who, not in life o'er gay,
Serious and frequent thought send out
To meet him on his way:
My gay coevals! (such there are)
If happiness is dear;
Approaching death's alarming day
72
Discreetly let us fear:
The fear of death is truly wise,
Till wisdom can rise higher;
And, arm'd with pious fortitude,
Death dreaded once, desire:
Grand climacteric vanities
The vainest will despise;
Shock'd, when beneath the snow of age
Man immaturely dies:
But am not I myself the man?
No need abroad to roam
In quest of faults to be chastis'd;
What cause to blush at home?
In life's decline, when men relapse
Into the sports of youth,
The second child out-fools the first,
And tempts the lash of truth;
Shall a mere truant from the grave
With rival boys engage?
His trembling voice attempt to sing,
And ape the poet's rage?
Here, madam! let me visit one,
My fault who, partly, shares,
And tell myself, by telling him,
What more becomes our years;
And if your breast with prudent zeal
For resignation glows,
You will not disapprove a just
Resentment at its foes.
In youth, Voltaire! our foibles plead
For some indulgence due;
When heads are white, their thoughts and aims
Should change their colour too:
73
How are you cheated by your wit!
Old age is bound to pay,
By nature's law, a mind discreet,
For joys it takes away;
A mighty change is wrought by years,
Reversing human lot;
In age 'tis honour to lie hid,
'Tis praise to be forgot;
The wise, as flowers, which spread at noon,
And all their charms expose,
When evening damps and shades descend,
Their evolutions close.
What though your muse has nobly soar'd,
Is that our truth sublime?
Ours, hoary friend! is to prefer
Eternity to time:
Why close a life so justly fam'd
With such bold trash as this? (54)
This for renown? yes, such as makes
Obscurity a bliss:
Your trash, with mine, at open war,
Is obstinately bent,(55)
Like wits below, to sow your tares
Of gloom and discontent:
With so much sunshine at command,
Why light with darkness mix?
Why dash with pain our pleasure?
Your Helicon with Styx?
Your works in our divided minds
Repugnant passions raise,
Confound us with a double stroke,
We shudder whilst we praise;
A curious web, as finely wrought
As genius can inspire,
74
From a black bag of poison spun,
With horror we admire.
Mean as it is, if this is read
With a disdainful air,
I can't forgive so great a foe
To my dear friend Voltaire:
Early I knew him, early prais'd,
And long to praise him late;
His genius greatly I admire,
Nor would deplore his fate;
A fate how much to be deplor'd!
At which our nature starts;
Forbear to fall on your own sword.
To perish by your parts:
'But great your name'-To feed on air,
Were then immortals born?
Nothing is great, of which more great,
More glorious is the scorn.
Can fame your carcass from the worm
Which gnaws us in the grave,
Or soul from that which never dies,
Applauding Europe save?
But fame you lose; good sense alone
Your idol, praise, can claim;
When wild wit murders happiness,
It puts to death our fame!
Nor boast your genius, talents bright;
E'en dunces will despise,
If in your western beams is miss'd
A genius for the skies;
Your taste too fails; what most excels
True taste must relish most!
And what, to rival palms above,
Can proudest laurels boast?
75
Sound heads salvation's helmet seek,(56)
Resplendent are its rays,
Let that suffice; it needs no plume,
Of sublunary praise.
May this enable couch'd Voltaire
To see that-'All is right,'(57)
His eye, by flash of wit struck blind,
Restoring to its sight;
If so, all's well: who much have err'd,
That much have been forgiven;
I speak with joy, with joy he'll hear,
'Voltaires are, now, in heaven.'
Nay, such philanthropy divine,
So boundless in degree,
Its marvellous of love extends
(Stoops most profound!) to me:
Let others cruel stars arraign,
Or dwell on their distress;
But let my page, for mercies pour'd,
A grateful heart express:
Walking, the present God was seen,
Of old, in Eden fair;
The God as present, by plain steps
Of providential care,
I behold passing through my life;
His awful voice I hear;
And, conscious of my nakedness,
Would hide myself for fear:
But where the trees, or where the clouds,
Can cover from his sight?
Naked the centre to that eye,
To which the sun is night.
As yonder glittering lamps on high
76
Through night illumin'd roll;
My thoughts of him, by whom they shine,
Chase darkness from my soul;
My soul, which reads his hand as clear
In my minute affairs,
As in his ample manuscript
Of sun, and moon, and stars;
And knows him not more bent aright
To wield that vast machine,
Than to correct one erring thought
In my small world within;
A world, that shall survive the fall
Of all his wonders here;
Survive, when suns ten thousand drop,
And leave a darken'd sphere.
Yon matter gross, how bright it shines!
For time how great his care!
Sure spirit and eternity
Far richer glories share;
Let those our hearts impress, on those
Our contemplation dwell;
On those my thoughts how justly thrown,
By what I now shall tell:
When backward with attentive mind
Life's labyrinth I trace,
I find him far myself beyond
Propitious to my peace:
Through all the crooked paths I trod,
My folly he pursued;
My heart astray to quick return
Importunately woo'd;
Due resignation home to press
On my capricious will,
How many rescues did I meet,
77
Beneath the mask of ill!
How many foes in ambush laid
Beneath my soul's desire!
The deepest penitents are made
By what we most admire.
Have I not sometimes (real good
So little mortals know!)
Mounting the summit of my wish,
Profoundly plung'd in woe?
I rarely plann'd, but cause I found
My plan's defeat to bless:
Oft I lamented an event;
It turn'd to my success.
By sharpen'd appetite to give
To good intense delight,
Through dark and deep perplexities
He led me to the right.
And is not this the gloomy path,
Which you are treading now?
The path most gloomy leads to light,
When our proud passions bow:
When labouring under fancied ill,
My spirits to sustain,
He kindly cur'd with sovereign draughts
Of unimagin'd pain.
Pain'd sense from fancied tyranny
Alone can set us free;
A thousand miseries we feel,
Till sunk in misery.
Cloy'd with a glut of all we wish,
Our wish we relish less;
Success, a sort of suicide,
Is ruin'd by success:
78
Sometimes he led me near to death,
And, pointing to the grave,
Bid terror whisper kind advice;
And taught the tomb to save:
To raise my thoughts beyond where worlds
As spangles o'er us shine,
One day he gave, and bid the next
My soul's delight resign.
We to ourselves, but through the means
Of mirrors, are unknown;
In this my fate can you descry
No features of your own?
And if you can, let that excuse
These self-recording lines;
A record, modesty forbids,
Or to small bound confines:
In grief why deep ingulf'd? You see
You suffer nothing rare;
Uncommon grief for common fate!
That wisdom cannot bear.
When streams flow backward to their source,
And humbled flames descend,
And mountains wing'd shall fly aloft,
Then human sorrows end;
But human prudence too must cease,
When sorrows domineer,
When fortitude has lost its fire,
And freezes into fear:
The pang most poignant of my life
Now heightens my delight;
I see a fair creation rise
From chaos, and old night:
From what seem'd horror, and despair,
The richest harvest rose;
79
And gave me in the nod divine
An absolute repose.
Of all the plunders of mankind,
More gross, or frequent, none,
Than in their grief and joy misplac'd,
Eternally are shown.
But whither points all this parade?
It says, that near you lies
A book, perhaps yet unperus'd,
Which you should greatly prize:
Of self-perusal, science rare!
Few know the mighty gain;
Learn'd prelates, self-unread, may read
Their Bibles o'er in vain:
Self-knowledge, which from heaven itself
(So sages tell us) came,
What is it, but a daughter fair
Of my maternal theme?
Unletter'd and untravel'd men
An oracle might find,
Would they consult their own contents,
The Delphos of the mind.
Enter your bosom; there you'll meet
A revelation new,
A revelation personal;
Which none can read but you.
There will you clearly read reveal'd
In your enlighten'd thought,
By mercies manifold, through life,
To fresh remembrance brought,
A mighty Being! and in him
A complicated friend,
A father, brother, spouse; no dread
Of death, divorce, or end:
80
Who such a matchless friend embrace,
And lodge him in their heart,
Full well, from agonies exempt,
With other friends may part:
As when o'erloaded branches bear
Large clusters big with wine,
We scarce regret one falling leaf
From the luxuriant vine.
My short advice to you may sound
Obscure or somewhat odd,
Though 'tis the best that man can give,'E'en be content with God.'
Through love he gave you the deceas'd,
Through greater took him hence;
This reason fully could evince,
Though murmur'd at by sense.
This friend, far past the kindest kind,
Is past the greatest great;
His greatness let me touch in points
Not foreign to your state;
His eye, this instant, reads your heart;
A truth less obvious hear;
This instant its most secret thoughts
Are sounding in his ear:
Dispute you this? O! stand in awe,
And cease your sorrow; know,
That tears now trickling down, he saw
Ten thousand years ago;
And twice ten thousand hence, if you
Your temper reconcile
To reason's bound, will he behold
Your prudence with a smile;
A smile, which through eternity
81
Diffuses so bright rays,
The dimmest deifies e'en guilt,
If guilt, at last, obeys:
Your guilt (for guilt it is to mourn
When such a sovereign reigns) ,
Your guilt diminish; peace pursue;
How glorious peace in pains!
Here, then, your sorrows cease; if not,
Think how unhappy they,
Who guilt increase by streaming tears,
Which guilt should wash away;
Of tears that gush profuse restrain;
Whence burst those dismal sighs?
They from the throbbing breast of one
(Strange truth!) most happy rise;
Not angels (hear it, and exult!)
Enjoy a larger share
Than is indulg'd to you, and yours,
Of God's impartial care;
Anxious for each, as if on each
His care for all was thrown;
For all his care as absolute,
As all had been but one.
And is he then so near! so kind! How little then, and great,
That riddle, man! O! let me gaze
At wonders in his fate;
His fate, who yesterday did crawl
A worm from darkness deep,
And shall, with brother worms, beneath
A turf, to-morrow sleep;
How mean! -And yet, if well obey'd
His mighty Master's call,
The whole creation for mean man
82
Is deem'd a boon too small:
Too small the whole creation deem'd
For emmets in the dust!
Account amazing! yet most true;
My song is bold, yet just:
Man born for infinite, in whom
Nor period can destroy
The power, in exquisite extremes,
To suffer, or enjoy;
Give him earth's empire (if no more)
He's beggar'd, and undone!
Imprison'd in unbounded space!
Benighted by the sun!
For what the sun's meridian blaze
To the most feeble ray
Which glimmers from the distant dawn
Of uncreated day?
'Tis not the poet's rapture feign'd
Swells here the vain to please;
The mind most sober kindles most
At truths sublime as these;
They warm e'en me.-I dare not say,
Divine ambition strove
Not to bless only, but confound,
Nay, fright us with its love;
And yet so frightful what, or kind,
As that the rending rock,
The darken'd sun, and rising dead,
So formidable spoke?
And are we darker than that sun?
Than rocks more hard, and blind?
We are; -if not to such a God
In agonies resigned.
83
Yes, e'en in agonies forbear
To doubt almighty love;
Whate'er endears eternity,
Is mercy from above;
What most imbitters time, that most
Eternity endears,
And thus, by plunging in distress,
Exalts us to the spheres;
Joy's fountain head! where bliss o'er bliss,
O'er wonders wonders rise,
And an Omnipotence prepares
Its banquet for the wise:
Ambrosial banquet! rich in wines
Nectareous to the soul!
What transports sparkle from the stream,
As angels fill the bowl!
Fountain profuse of every bliss!
Good-will immense prevails;
Man's line can't fathom its profound
An angel's plummet fails.
Thy love and might, by what they know,
Who judge, nor dream of more;
They ask a drop, how deep the sea!
One sand, how wide the shore!
Of thy exuberant good-will,
Offended Deity!
The thousandth part who comprehends,
A deity is he.
How yonder ample azure field
With radiant worlds is sown!
How tubes astonish us with those
More deep in ether thrown!
And those beyond of brighter worlds
Why not a million more? -
84
In lieu of answer, let us all
Fall prostrate, and adore.
Since thou art infinite in power,
Nor thy indulgence less;
Since man, quite impotent and blind,
Oft drops into distress;
Say, what is resignation? 'T is
Man's weakness understood;
And wisdom grasping, with a hand
Far stronger, every good.
Let rash repiners stand appall'd,
In thee who dare not trust;
Whose abject souls, like demons dark,
Are murmuring in the dust;
For man to murmur, or repine
At what by thee is done,
No less absurd, than to complain
Of darkness in the sun.
Who would not, with a heart at ease,
Bright eye, unclouded brow,
Wisdom and goodness at the helm,
The roughest ocean plough?
What, though I'm swallow'd in the deep?
Though mountains o'er me roar?
Jehovah reigns! as Jonah safe,
I'm landed, and adore:
Thy will is welcome, let it wear
Its most tremendous form;
Roar, waves; rage, winds! I know that thou
Canst save me by a storm.
From the immortal spirits born,
To thee, their fountain, flow,
If wise; as curl'd around to theirs
Meandering streams below:
85
Not less compell'd by reason's call,
To thee our souls aspire,
Than to thy skies, by nature's law,
High mounts material fire;
To thee aspiring they exult,
I feel my spirits rise,
I feel myself thy son, and pant
For patrimonial skies;
Since ardent thirst of future good,
And generous sense of past,
To thee man's prudence strongly ties,
And binds affection fast;
Since great thy love, and great our want,
And men the wisest blind,
And bliss our aim; pronounce us all
Distracted, or resigned;
Resign'd through duty, interest, shame;
Deep shame! dare I complain,
When (wondrous truth!) in heaven itself
Joy ow'd its birth to pain?
And pain for me! for me was drain'd
Gall's overflowing bowl;
And shall one dropp to murmur bold
Provoke my guilty soul?
If pardon'd this, what cause, what crime
Can indignation raise?
The sun was lighted up to shine,
And man was born to praise;
And when to praise the man shall cease,
Or sun to strike the view;
A cloud dishonors both; but man's
The blacker of the two:
For oh! ingratitude how black!
86
With most profound amaze
At love, which man belov'd o'erlooks,
Astonish'd angels gaze.
Praise cheers, and warms, like generous wine;
Praise, more divine than prayer;
Prayer points our ready path to heaven;
Praise is already there.
Let plausive resignation rise,
And banish all complaint;
All virtues thronging into one,
It finishes the saint;
Makes the man bless'd, as man can be;
Life's labours renders light;
Darts beams through fate's incumbent gloom,
And lights our sun by night;
'T is nature's brightest ornament,
The richest gift of grace,
Rival of angels, and supreme
Proprietor of peace;
Nay, peace beyond, no small degree
Of rapture 't will impart;
Know, madam! when your heart's in heaven,
'All heaven is in your heart.'
But who to heaven their hearts can raise?
Denied divine support,
All virtue dies; support divine
The wise with ardour court:
When prayer partakes the seraph's fire,
'T is mounted on his wing,
Bursts thro' heaven's crystal gates, and
Sure audience of its king:
The labouring soul from sore distress
That bless'd expedient frees;
I see you far advanc'd in peace;
87
I see you on your knees:
How on that posture has the beam
Divine for ever shone!
An humble heart, God's other seat! (58)
The rival of his throne:
And stoops Omnipotence so low!
And condescends to dwell,
Eternity's inhabitant,
Well pleas'd, in such a cell?
Such honour how shall we repay?
How treat our guest divine?
The sacrifice supreme be slain!
Let self-will die: resign.
Thus far, at large, on our disease;
Now let the cause be shown,
Whence rises, and will ever rise,
The dismal human groan:
What our sole fountain of distress?
Strong passion for this scene;
That trifles make important, things
Of mighty moment mean:
When earth's dark maxims poison shed
On our polluted souls,
Our hearts and interests fly as far
Asunder, as the poles.
Like princes in a cottage nurs'd,
Unknown their royal race,
With abject aims, and sordid joys,
Our grandeur we disgrace;
O! for an Archimedes new,
Of moral powers possess'd,
The world to move, and quite expel
That traitor from the breast.
88
No small advantage may be reap'd
From thought whence we descend;
From weighing well, and prizing weigh'd
Our origin, and end:
From far above the glorious sun
To this dim scene we came:
And may, if wise, for ever bask
In great Jehovah's beam:
Let that bright beam on reason rous'd
In awful lustre rise,
Earth's giant ills are dwarf'd at once,
And all disquiet dies.
Earth's glories too their splendour lose,
Those phantoms charm no more;
Empire's a feather for a fool,
And Indian mines are poor:
Then levell'd quite, whilst yet alive,
The monarch and his slave;
Not wait enlighten'd minds to learn
That lesson from the grave:
A George the Third would then be low
As Lewis in renown,
Could he not boast of glory more
Than sparkles from a crown.
When human glory rises high
As human glory can;
When, though the king is truly great,
Still greater is the man;
The man is dead, where virtue fails;
And though the monarch proud
In grandeur shines, his gorgeous robe
Is but a gaudy shroud.
Wisdom! where art thou? None on earth,
Though grasping wealth, fame, power,
89
But what, O death! through thy approach,
Is wiser every hour;
Approach how swift, how unconfin'd!
Worms feast on viands rare,
Those little epicures have kings
To grace their bill of fare:
From kings what resignation due
To that almighty will,
Which thrones bestows, and, when they fail,
Can throne them higher still!
Who truly great? The good and brave,
The masters of a mind
The will divine to do resolv'd,
To suffer it resign'd.
Madam! if that may give it weight,
The trifle you receive
Is dated from a solemn scene,
The border of the grave;
Where strongly strikes the trembling soul
Eternity's dread power,
As bursting on it through the thin
Partition of an hour;
Hear this, Voltaire! but this, from me,
Runs hazard of your frown;
However, spare it; ere you die,
Such thoughts will be your own.
In mercy to yourself forbear
My notions to chastise,
Lest unawares the gay Voltaire
Should blame Voltaire the wise:
Fame's trumpet rattling in your ear,
Now, makes us disagree;
When a far louder trumpet sounds,
Voltaire will close with me:
90
How shocking is that modesty,
Which keeps some honest men
From urging what their hearts suggest,
When brav'd by folly's pen.
Assaulting truths, of which in all
Is sown the sacred seed!
Our constitution's orthodox,
And closes with our creed:
What then are they, whose proud conceits
Superior wisdom boast?
Wretches, who fight their own belief,
And labour to be lost!
Though vice by no superior joys
Her heroes keeps in pay;
Through pure disinterested love
Of ruin they obey!
Strict their devotion to the wrong,
Though tempted by no prize;
Hard their commandments, and their creed
A magazine of lies
From fancy's forge: gay fancy smiles
At reason plain, and cool;
Fancy, whose curious trade it is
To make the finest fool.
Voltaire! long life's the greatest curse
That mortals can receive,
When they imagine the chief end
Of living is to live;
Quite thoughtless of their day of death,
That birthday of their sorrow!
Knowing, it may be distant far,
Nor crush them till-to-morrow.
These are cold, northern thoughts, conceiv'd
91
Beneath an humble cot;
Not mine, your genius, or your state,
No castle is my lot:(59)
But soon, quite level shall we lie;
And, what pride most bemoans,
Our parts, in rank so distant now,
As level as our bones;
Hear you that sound? Alarming sound!
Prepare to meet your fate!
One, who writes finis to our works,
Is knocking at the gate;
Far other works will soon be weigh'd;
Far other judges sit;
Far other crowns be lost or won,
Than fire ambitious wit:
Their wit far brightest will be prov'd,
Who sunk it in good sense;
And veneration most profound
Of dread omnipotence.
'Tis that alone unlocks the gate
Of blest eternity;
O! mayst thou never, never lose
That more than golden key! (60)
Whate'er may seem too rough excuse,
Your good I have at heart:
Since from my soul I wish you well;
As yet we must not part:
Shall you, and I, in love with life,
Life's future schemes contrive,
The world in wonder not unjust,
That we are still alive?
What have we left? How mean in man
A shadow's shade to crave!
When life, so vain! is vainer still,
92
'Tis time to take your leave:
Happier, than happiest life, is death,
Who, falling in the field
Of conflict with his rebel will,
Writes vici, on his shield;
So falling man, immortal heir
Of an eternal prize;
Undaunted at the gloomy grave,
Descends into the skies.
O! how disorder'd our machine,
When contradictions mix!
When nature strikes no less than twelve,
And folly points at six!
To mend the moments of your heart,
How great is my delight
Gently to wind your morals up,
And set your hand aright!
That hand, which spread your wisdom wide
To poison distant lands:
Repent, recant; the tainted age
Your antidote demands;
To Satan dreadfully resign'd,
Whole herds rush down the steep
Of folly, by lewd wits possess'd,
And perish in the deep.
Men's praise your vanity pursues;
'Tis well, pursue it still;
But let it be of men deceas'd,
And you'll resign the will;
And how superior they to those
At whose applause you aim;
How very far superior they
In number, and in name!
93
~ Edward Young,
446:The Kalevala - Rune Xxvi
ORIGIN OF THE SERPENT.
Ahti, living on the island,
Near the Kauko-point and harbor,
Plowed his fields for rye and barley,
Furrowed his extensive pastures,
Heard with quickened ears an uproar,
Heard the village in commotion,
Heard a noise along the sea-shore,
Heard the foot-steps on the ice-plain,
Heard the rattle of the sledges;
Quick his mind divined the reason,
Knew it was Pohyola's wedding,
Wedding of the Rainbow-virgin.
Quick he stopped in disappointment,
Shook his sable locks in envy,
Turned his hero-head in anger,
While the scarlet blood ceased flowing
Through his pallid face and temples;
Ceased his plowing and his sowing,
On the field he left the furrows,
On his steed he lightly mounted,
Straightway galloped fleetly homeward
To his well-beloved mother,
To his mother old and golden,
Gave his mother these directions,
These the words of Lemminkainen:
'My beloved, faithful mother,
Quickly bring me beer and viands,
Bring me food for I am hungry,
Food and drink for me abundant,
Have my bath-room quickly heated,
Quickly set the room in order,
That I may refresh my body,
Dress myself in hero-raiment.'
Lemminkainen's aged mother
Brings her hero food in plenty,
Beer and viands for the hungry,
440
For her thirsting son and hero;
Quick she heats the ancient bath-room,
Quickly sets his bath in order.
Then the reckless Lemminkainen
Ate his meat with beer inspiring,
Hastened to his bath awaiting;
Only was the bullfinch bathing,
With the many-colored bunting;
Quick the hero laved his temples,
Laved himself to flaxen whiteness,
Quick returning to his mother,
Spake in haste the words that follow:
'My beloved, helpful mother,
Go at once to yonder mountain,
To the store-house on the hill-top,
Bring my vest of finest texture,
Bring my hero-coat of purple,
Bring my suit of magic colors,
Thus to make me look attractive,
Thus to robe myself in beauty.'
First the ancient mother asked him,
Asked her son this simple question:
'Whither dost thou go, my hero?
Dost thou go to hunt the roebuck,
Chase the lynx upon the mountains,
Shoot the squirrel in the woodlands?'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen,
Also known as Kaukomieli:
'Worthy mother of my being,
Go I not to hunt the roebuck,
Chase the lynx upon the mountains,
Shoot the squirrel on the tree-tops;
I am going to Pohyola,
To the feasting of her people.
Bring at once my purple vestments,
Straightway bring my nuptial outfit,
Let me don it for the marriage
Of the maiden of the Northland.'
But the ancient dame dissented,
And the wife forebade the husband;
Two of all the best of heroes,
Three of nature's fairest daughters,
441
Strongly urged wild Lemminkainen
Not to go to Sariola,
To Pohyola's great carousal,
To the marriage-feast of Northland,
'Since thou hast not been invited,
Since they do not wish thy presence.'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen.
These the words of Kaukomieli:
'Where the wicked are invited,
There the good are always welcome,
Herein lies my invitation;
I am constantly reminded
By this sword of sharpened edges,
By this magic blade and scabbard,
That Pohyola needs my presence.'
Lemminkainen's aged mother
Sought again to stay her hero:
'Do not go, my son beloved,
To the feasting in Pohyola;
Full of horrors are the highways,
On the road are many wonders,
Three times Death appears to frighten,
Thrice destruction hovers over!'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen,
These the words of Kaukomieli:
'Death is seen by aged people,
Everywhere they see perdition,
Death can never frighten heroes,
Heroes do not fear the spectre;
Be that as it may, dear mother,
Tell that I may understand thee,
Name the first of all destructions,
Name the first and last destroyers!'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'I will tell thee, son and hero,
Not because I wish to speak it,
But because the truth is worthy;
I will name the chief destruction,
Name the first of the destroyers.
When thou hast a distance journeyed,
Only one day hast thou travelled,
Comes a stream along the highway,
442
Stream of fire of wondrous beauty,
In the stream a mighty fire-spout,
In the spout a rock uprising,
On the rock a fiery hillock,
On the top a flaming eagle,
And his crooked beak he sharpens,
Sharpens too his bloody talons,
For the coming of the stranger,
For the people that approach him.'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli:
'Women die beneath the eagle,
Such is not the death of heroes;
Know I well a magic lotion,
That will heal the wounds of eagles;
Make myself a steed of alders,
That will walk as my companion,
That will stride ahead majestic;
As a duck I'll drive behind him,
Drive him o'er the fatal waters,
Underneath the flaming eagle,
With his bloody beak and talons.
Worthy mother of my being,
Name the second of destroyers.'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'This the second of destroyers:
When thou hast a distance wandered,
Only two clays hast thou travelled,
Comes a pit of fire to meet thee,
In the centre of the highway,
Eastward far the pit extending,
Stretches endless to the westward,
Filled with burning coals and pebbles,
Glowing with the heat of ages;
Hundreds has this monster swallowed,
In his jaws have thousands perished,
Hundreds with their trusty broadswords,
Thousands on their fiery chargers.'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli:
'Never will the hero perish
In the jaws of such a monster;
443
Know I well the means of safety,
Know a remedy efficient:
I will make of snow a master,
On the snow-clad fields, a hero,
Drive the snow-man on before me,
Drive him through the flaming vortex,
Drive him through the fiery furnace,
With my magic broom of copper;
I will follow in his shadow,
Follow close the magic image,
Thus escape the frightful monster,
With my golden locks uninjured,
With my flowing beard untangled.
Ancient mother of my being,
Name the last of the destructions,
Name the third of the destroyers.'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'This the third of fatal dangers:
Hast thou gone a greater distance,
Hast thou travelled one day longer,
To the portals of Pohyola,
To the narrowest of gate-ways,
There a wolf will rise to meet thee,
There the black-bear sneak upon thee-,
In Pohyola's darksome portals,
Hundreds in their jaws have perished,
Have devoured a thousand heroes;
Wherefore will they not destroy thee,
Since thy form is unprotected?'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli:
'Let them eat the gentle lambkins,
Feed upon their tender tissues,
They cannot devour this hero;
I am girded with my buckler,
Girded with my belt of copper,
Armlets wear I of the master,
From the wolf and bear protected,
Will not hasten to Untamo.
I can meet the wolf of Lempo,
For the bear I have a balsam,
For his mouth I conjure bridles,
444
For the wolf, forge chains of iron;
I will smite them as the willow,
Chop them into little fragments,
Thus I'll gain the open court-yard,
Thus triumphant end my journey.'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'Then thy journey is not ended,
Greater dangers still await thee,
Great the wonders yet before thee,
Horrors three within thy pathway;
Three great dangers of the hero
Still await thy reckless footsteps,
These the worst of all thy dangers:
When thou hast still farther wandered,
Thou wilt reach the Court of Pohya,
Where the walls are forged from iron,
And from steel the outer bulwark;
Rises from the earth to heaven,
Back again to earth returning;
Double spears are used for railings,
On each spear are serpents winding,
On each rail are stinging adders;
Lizards too adorn the bulwarks,
Play their long tails in the sunlight,
Hissing lizards, venomed serpents,
Jump and writhe upon the rampart,
Turn their horrid heads to meet thee;
On the greensward lie the monsters,
On the ground the things of evil,
With their pliant tongues of venom,
Hissing, striking, crawling, writhing;
One more horrid than the others,
Lies before the fatal gate-way,
Longer than the longest rafters,
Larger than the largest portals;
Hisses with the tongue of anger,
Lifts his head in awful menace,
Raises it to strike none other
Than the hero of the islands.'
Spake the warlike Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli:
'By such things the children perish,
445
Such is not the death of heroes;
Know I well the fire to manage,
I can quench the flames of passion,
I can meet the prowling wild-beasts,
Can appease the wrath of serpents,
I can heal the sting of adders,
I have plowed the serpent-pastures,
Plowed the adder-fields of Northland;
While my hands were unprotected,
Held the serpents in my fingers,
Drove the adders to Manala,
On my hands the blood of serpents,
On my feet the fat of adders.
Never will thy hero stumble
On the serpents of the Northland;
With my heel I'll crush the monsters,
Stamp the horrid things to atoms;
I will banish them from Pohya,
Drive them to Manala's kingdom,
Step within Pohyola's mansion,
Walk the halls of Sariola!'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'Do not go, my son beloved,
To the firesides of Pohyola,
Through the Northland fields and fallows;
There are warriors with broadswords,
Heroes clad in mail of copper,
Are on beer intoxicated,
By the beer are much embittered;
They will charm thee, hapless creature,
On the tips of swords of magic;
Greater heroes have been conjured,
Stronger ones have been outwitted.'
Spake the reckless Lemminkainen:
'Formerly thy son resided
In the hamlets of Pohyola;
Laplanders cannot enchant me,
Nor the Turyalanders harm me
I the, Laplander will conjure,
Charm him with my magic powers,
Sing his shoulders wide asunder,
In his chin I'll sing a fissure,
446
Sing his collar-bone to pieces,
Sing his breast to thousand fragments.'
Lemminkainen's mother answered:
'Foolish son, ungrateful wizard,
Boasting of thy former visit,
Boasting of thy fatal journey!
Once in Northland thou wert living,
In the homesteads of Pohyola;
There thou tried to swim the whirlpool,
Tasted there the dog-tongue waters,
Floated down the fatal current,
Sank beneath its angry billows;
Thou hast seen Tuoni's river,
Thou hast measured Mana's waters,
There to-day thou wouldst be sleeping,
Had it not been for thy mother!
What I tell thee well remember,
Shouldst thou gain Pohyola's chambers,
Filled with stakes thou'lt find the court-yard,
These to hold the heads of heroes;
There thy head will rest forever,
Shouldst thou go to Sariola.'
Spake the warlike Lemminkainen:
'Fools indeed may heed thy counsel,
Cowards too may give attention;
Those of seven conquest-summers
Cannot heed such weak advising.
Bring to me my battle-armor.
Bring my magic mail of copper,
Bring me too my father's broadsword,
Keep the old man's blade from rusting;
Long it has been cold and idle,
Long has lain in secret places,
Long and constantly been weeping,
Long been asking for a bearer.'
Then he took his mail of copper,
Took his ancient battle-armor,
Took his father's sword of magic,
Tried its point against the oak-wood,
Tried its edge upon the sorb-tree;
In his hand the blade was bended,
Like the limber boughs of willow,
447
Like the juniper in summer.
Spake the hero, Lemminkainen:
'There is none in Pohya's hamlets,
In the courts of Sariola,
That with me can measure broadswords,
That can meet this blade ancestral.'
From the nail he took a cross-bow,
Took the strongest from the rafters,
Spake these words in meditation:
'I shall recognize as worthy,
Recognize that one a hero
That can bend this mighty cross-bow,
That can break its magic sinews,
In the hamlets of Pohyola.'
Lemminkainen, filled with courage,
Girds himself in suit of battle,
Dons his mighty mail of copper,
To his servant speaks as follows:
'Trusty slave, and whom I purchased,
Whom I bought with gold and silver,
Quick prepare my fiery charger,
Harness well my steed of battle;
I am going to the feasting,
To the banquet-fields of Lempo.'
Quick obeys the faithful servant,
Hitches well the noble war-horse,
Quick prepares the fire-red stallion,
Speaks these words when all is I ready:
'I have done what thou hast hidden,
Ready harnessed is the charger,
Waiting to obey his master.'
Comes the hour of the departing
Of the hero, Lemminkainen,
Right hand ready, left unwilling,
All his anxious fingers pain him,
Till at last in full obedience,
All his members give permission;
Starts the hero on his journey,
While the mother gives him counsel,
At the threshold of the dwelling,
At the highway of the court-yard:
'Child of courage, my beloved,
448
Son of strength, my wisdom-hero,
If thou goest to the feasting,
Shouldst thou reach the great carousal,
Drink thou only a half a cupful,
Drink the goblet to the middle,
Always give the half remaining,
Give the worse half to another,
To another more unworthy;
In the lower half are serpents,
Worms, and frogs, and hissing lizards,
Feeding on the slimy bottom.'
Furthermore she tells her hero,
Gives her son these sage directions,
On the border of the court-yard,
At the portals farthest distant:
'If thou goest to the banquet,
Shouldst thou reach the great carousal,
Occupy but half the settle,
Take but half a stride in walking,
Give the second half to others,
To another less deserving;
Only thus thou'lt be a hero,
Thus become a son immortal;
In the guest-rooms look courageous,
Bravely move about the chambers,
In the gatherings of heroes,
With the hosts of magic valor.'
Thereupon wild Lemminkainen
Quickly leaped upon the cross-bench
Of his battle-sledge of wonder,
Raised his pearl-enamelled birch-rod,
Snapped his whip above his charger,
And the steed flew onward fleetly,
Galloped on his distant journey.
He had travelled little distance,
When a flight of hazel-chickens
Quick arose before his coming,
Flew before the foaming racer.
There were left some feathers lying,
Feathers of the hazel-chickens,
Lying in the hero's pathway.
These the reckless Lemminkainen
449
Gathered for their magic virtues,
Put them in his pouch of leather,
Did not know what things might happen
On his journey to Pohyola;
All things have some little value,
In a strait all things are useful.
Then he drove a little distance,
Galloped farther on the highway,
When his courser neighed in danger,
And the fleet-foot ceased his running.
Then the stout-heart, Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
Rose upon his seat in wonder,
Craned his neck and looked about him
Found it as his mother told him,
Found a stream of fire opposing;
Ran the fire-stream like a river,
Ran across the hero's pathway.
In the river was a fire-fall,
In the cataract a fire-rock,
On the rock a fiery hillock,
On its summit perched an eagle,
From his throat the fire was streaming
To the crater far below him,
Fire out-shooting from his feathers,
Glowing with a fiery splendor;
Long he looked upon the hero,
Long he gazed on Lemminkainen,
Then the eagle thus addressed him:
'Whither art thou driving, Ahti,
Whither going, Lemminkainen?'
Kaukomieli spake in answer:
'To the feastings of Pohyola,
To the drinking-halls of Louhi,
To the banquet of her people;
Move aside and let me journey,
Move a little from my pathway,
Let this wanderer pass by thee,
I am warlike Lemminkainen.'
This the answer of the eagle,
Screaming from his throat of splendor:
'Though thou art wild Lemminkainen,
450
I shall let thee wander onward,
Through my fire-throat let thee journey,
Through these flames shall be thy passage
To the banquet-halls of Louhi,
To Pohyola's great carousal!'
Little heeding, Kaukomieli
Thinks himself in little trouble,
Thrusts his fingers in his pockets,
Searches in his pouch of leather,
Quickly takes the magic feathers,
Feathers from the hazel-chickens,
Rubs them into finest powder,
Rubs them with his magic fingers
Whence a flight of birds arises,
Hazel-chickens from the feathers,
Large the bevy of the young birds.
Quick the wizard, Lemminkainen,
Drives them to the eagle's fire-mouth,
Thus to satisfy his hunger,
Thus to quench the fire out-streaming.
Thus escapes the reckless hero,
Thus escapes the first of dangers,
Passes thus the first destroyer,
On his journey to Pohyola.
With his whip he strikes his courser,
With his birch-whip, pearl-enamelled;
Straightway speeds the fiery charger,
Noiselessly upon his journey,
Gallops fast and gallops faster,
Till the flying steed in terror
Neighs again and ceases running.
Lemminkainen, quickly rising,
Cranes his neck and looks about him,
Sees his mother's words were truthful,
Sees her augury well-taken.
Lo! before him yawned a fire-gulf,
Stretching crosswise through his pathway;
Far to east the gulf extending,
To the west an endless distance,
Filled with stones and burning pebbles,
Running streams of burning matter.
Little heeding, Lemminkainen
451
Cries aloud in prayer to Ukko:
'Ukko, thou O God above me,
Dear Creator, omnipresent,
From the north-west send a storm-cloud,
From the east, dispatch a second,
From the south send forth a third one;
Let them gather from the south-west,
Sew their edges well together,
Fill thou well the interspaces,
Send a snow-fall high as heaven,
Let it fall from upper ether,
Fall upon the flaming fire-pit,
On the cataract and whirlpool!'
Mighty Ukko, the Creator,
Ukko, father omnipresent,
Dwelling in the courts of heaven,
Sent a storm-cloud from the north-west,
From the east he sent a second,
From the south despatched a third one,
Let them gather from the south-west,
Sewed their edges well together,
Filled their many interspaces,
Sent a snow-fall high as heaven,
From the giddy heights of ether,
Sent it seething to the fire-pit,
On the streams of burning matter;
From the snow-fall in the fire-pond,
Grows a lake with rolling billows.
Quick the hero, Lemminkainen,
Conjures there of ice a passage
From one border to the other,
Thus escapes his second danger,
Thus his second trouble passes.
Then the reckless Lemminkainen
Raised his pearl-enamelled birch-rod,
Snapped his whip above his racer,
And the steed flew onward swiftly,
Galloped on his distant journey
O'er the highway to Pohyola;
Galloped fast and galloped faster,
Galloped on a greater distance,
When the stallion loudly neighing,
452
Stopped and trembled on the highway,
Then the lively Lemminkainen
Raised himself upon the cross-bench,
Looked to see what else had happened;
Lo I a wolf stands at the portals,
in the passage-way a black-bear,
At the high-gate of Pohyola,
At the ending of the journey.
Thereupon young Lemminkainen,
Handsome hero, Kaukomieli,
Thrusts his fingers in his pockets,
Seeks his magic pouch of leather,
Pulls therefrom a lock of ewe-wool,
Rubs it firmly in his fingers,
In his hands it falls to powder;
Breathes the breath of life upon it,
When a flock of sheep arises,
Goats and sheep of sable color;
On the flock the black-wolf pounces,
And the wild-bear aids the slaughter,
While the reckless Lemminkainen
Rushes by them on his journey;
Gallops on a little distance,
To the court of Sariola,
Finds the fence of molten iron,
And of steel the rods and pickets,
In the earth a hundred fathoms,
To the azure sky, a thousand,
Double-pointed spears projecting;
On each spear were serpents twisted,
Adders coiled in countless numbers,
Lizards mingled with the serpents,
Tails entangled pointing earthward,
While their heads were skyward whirling,
Writhing, hissing mass of evil.
Then the stout-heart, Kaukomieli,
Deeply thought and long considered:
'It is as my mother told me,
This the wall that she predicted,
Stretching from the earth to heaven;
Downward deep are serpents creeping,
Deeper still the rails extending;
453
High as highest flight of eagles,
Higher still the wall shoots upward.'
But the hero, Lemminkainen,
Little cares, nor feels disheartened,
Draws his broadsword from its scabbard,
Draws his mighty blade ancestral,
Hews the wall with might of magic,
Breaks the palisade in pieces,
Hews to atoms seven pickets,
Chops the serpent-wall to fragments;
Through the breach he quickly passes
To the portals of Pohyola.
In the way, a serpent lying,
Lying crosswise in the entry,
Longer than the longest rafters,
Larger than the posts of oak-wood;
Hundred-eyed, the heinous serpent,
And a thousand tongues, the monster,
Eyes as large as sifting vessels,
Tongues as long as shafts of javelins,
Teeth as large as hatchet-handles,
Back as broad as skiffs of ocean.
Lemminkainen does not venture
Straightway through this host opposing,
Through the hundred heads of adders,
Through the thousand tongues of serpents.
Spake the magic Lemminkainen:
'Venomed viper, thing of evil,
Ancient adder of Tuoni,
Thou that crawlest in the stubble,
Through the flower-roots of Lempo,
Who has sent thee from thy kingdom,
Sent thee from thine evil coverts,
Sent thee hither, crawling, writhing,
In the pathway I would travel?
Who bestowed thy mouth of venom,
Who insisted, who commanded,
Thou shouldst raise thy head toward heaven,
Who thy tail has given action?
Was this given by the father,
Did the mother give this power,
Or the eldest of the brothers,
454
Or the youngest of the sisters,
Or some other of thy kindred?
'Close thy mouth, thou thing of evil,
Hide thy pliant tongue of venom,
In a circle wrap thy body,
Coil thou like a shield in silence,
Give to me one-half the pathway,
Let this wanderer pass by thee,
Or remove thyself entirely;
Get thee hence to yonder heather,
Quick retreat to bog and stubble,
Hide thyself in reeds and rushes,
In the brambles of the lowlands.
Like a ball of flax enfolding,
Like a sphere of aspen-branches,
With thy head and tail together,
Roll thyself to yonder mountain;
In the heather is thy dwelling,
Underneath the sod thy caverns.
Shouldst thou raise thy head in anger,
Mighty Ukko will destroy it,
Pierce it with his steel-tipped arrows,
With his death-balls made of iron!'
Hardly had the hero ended,
When the monster, little heeding,
Hissing with his tongue in anger,
Plying like the forked lightning,
Pounces with his mouth of venom
At the head of Lemminkainen;
But the hero, quick recalling,
Speaks the master-words of knowledge,
Words that came from distant ages,
Words his ancestors had taught him,
Words his mother learned in childhood,
These the words of Lemminkainen:
'Since thou wilt not heed mine order,
Since thou wilt not leave the highway,
Puffed with pride of thine own greatness,
Thou shall burst in triple pieces.
Leave thy station for the borders,
I will hunt thine ancient mother,
Sing thine origin of evil,
455
How arose thy head of horror;
Suoyatar, thine ancient mother,
Thing of evil, thy creator!'
'Suoyatar once let her spittle
Fall upon the waves of ocean;
This was rocked by winds and waters,
Shaken by the ocean-currents,
Six years rocked upon the billows,
Rocked in water seven summers,
On the blue-back of the ocean,
On the billows high as heaven;
Lengthwise did the billows draw it,
And the sunshine gave it softness,
To the shore the billows washed it,
On the coast the waters left it.
'Then appeared Creation's daughters,
Three the daughters thus appearing,
On the roaring shore of ocean,
There beheld the spittle lying,
And the daughters spake as follows:
'What would happen from this spittle,
Should the breath of the Creator
Fall upon the writhing matter,
Breathe the breath of life upon it,
Give the thing the sense of vision?
'The Creator heard these measures,
Spake himself the words that follow:
'Evil only comes from evil,
This is the expectoration
Of fell Suoyatar, its mother;
Therefore would the thing be evil,
Should I breathe a soul within it,
Should I give it sense of vision.'
'Hisi heard this conversation,
Ever ready with his mischief,
Made himself to be creator,
Breathed a soul into the spittle,
To fell Suoyatar's fierce anger.
Thus arose the poison-monster,
Thus was born the evil serpent,
This the origin of evil.
'Whence the life that gave her action'?
456
From the carbon-pile of Hisi.
Whence then was her heart created?
From the heart-throbs of her mother
Whence arose her brain of evil?
From the foam of rolling waters.
Whence was consciousness awakened?
From the waterfall's commotion.
Whence arose her head of venom?
From the seed-germs of the ivy.
Whence then came her eyes of fury?
From the flaxen seeds of Lempo.
Whence the evil ears for hearing?
From the foliage of Hisi.
Whence then was her mouth created?
This from Suoyatar's foam-currents
Whence arose thy tongue of anger r
From the spear of Keitolainen.
Whence arose thy fangs of poison?
From the teeth of Mana's daughter.
Whence then was thy back created?
From the carbon-posts of Piru.
How then was thy tail created?
From the brain of the hobgoblin.
Whence arose thy writhing entrails?
From the death-belt of Tuoni.
'This thine origin, O Serpent,
This thy charm of evil import,
Vilest thing of God's creation,
Writhing, hissing thing of evil,
With the color of Tuoni,
With the shade of earth and heaven,
With the darkness of the storm-cloud.
Get thee hence, thou loathsome monster,
Clear the pathway of this hero.
I am mighty Lemminkainen,
On my journey to Pohyola,
To the feastings and carousals,
In the halls of darksome Northland.'
Thereupon the snake uncoiling,
Hundred-eyed and heinous monster,
Crawled away to other portals,
That the hero, Kaukomieli,
457
Might proceed upon his errand,
To the dismal Sariola,
To the feastings and carousals
In the banquet-halls of Pohya.
~ Elias Lönnrot,
447:Swift as a spirit hastening to his task
Of glory & of good, the Sun sprang forth
Rejoicing in his splendour, & the mask
Of darkness fell from the awakened Earth.
The smokeless altars of the mountain snows
Flamed above crimson clouds, & at the birth
Of light, the Ocean's orison arose
To which the birds tempered their matin lay,
All flowers in field or forest which unclose
Their trembling eyelids to the kiss of day,
Swinging their censers in the element,
With orient incense lit by the new ray
Burned slow & inconsumably, & sent
Their odorous sighs up to the smiling air,
And in succession due, did Continent,
Isle, Ocean, & all things that in them wear
The form & character of mortal mould
Rise as the Sun their father rose, to bear
Their portion of the toil which he of old
Took as his own & then imposed on them;
But I, whom thoughts which must remain untold
Had kept as wakeful as the stars that gem
The cone of night, now they were laid asleep,
Stretched my faint limbs beneath the hoary stem
Which an old chestnut flung athwart the steep
Of a green Apennine: before me fled
The night; behind me rose the day; the Deep
Was at my feet, & Heaven above my head
When a strange trance over my fancy grew
Which was not slumber, for the shade it spread
Was so transparent that the scene came through
As clear as when a veil of light is drawn
O'er evening hills they glimmer; and I knew
That I had felt the freshness of that dawn,
Bathed in the same cold dew my brow & hair
And sate as thus upon that slope of lawn
Under the self same bough, & heard as there
The birds, the fountains & the Ocean hold
Sweet talk in music through the enamoured air.
And then a Vision on my brain was rolled.

As in that trance of wondrous thought I lay
This was the tenour of my waking dream.
Methought I sate beside a public way
Thick strewn with summer dust, & a great stream
Of people there was hurrying to & fro
Numerous as gnats upon the evening gleam,
All hastening onward, yet none seemed to know
Whither he went, or whence he came, or why
He made one of the multitude, yet so
Was borne amid the crowd as through the sky
One of the million leaves of summer's bier.
Old age & youth, manhood & infancy,
Mixed in one mighty torrent did appear,
Some flying from the thing they feared & some
Seeking the object of another's fear,
And others as with steps towards the tomb
Pored on the trodden worms that crawled beneath,
And others mournfully within the gloom
Of their own shadow walked, and called it death
  And some fled from it as it were a ghost,
Half fainting in the affliction of vain breath.
But more with motions which each other crost
Pursued or shunned the shadows the clouds threw
Or birds within the noonday ether lost,
Upon that path where flowers never grew;
And weary with vain toil & faint for thirst
Heard not the fountains whose melodious dew
Out of their mossy cells forever burst
Nor felt the breeze which from the forest told
Of grassy paths, & wood lawns interspersed
With overarching elms & caverns cold,
And violet banks where sweet dreams brood, but they
Pursued their serious folly as of old.
And as I gazed methought that in the way
The throng grew wilder, as the woods of June
When the South wind shakes the extinguished day.
And a cold glare, intenser than the noon
But icy cold, obscured with [[blank]] light
The Sun as he the stars. Like the young moon
When on the sunlit limits of the night
Her white shell trembles amid crimson air
And whilst the sleeping tempest gathers might
Doth, as a herald of its coming, bear
The ghost of her dead Mother, whose dim form
Bends in dark ether from her infant's chair,
So came a chariot on the silent storm
Of its own rushing splendour, and a Shape
So sate within as one whom years deform
Beneath a dusky hood & double cape
Crouching within the shadow of a tomb,
And o'er what seemed the head, a cloud like crape,
Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom
Tempering the light; upon the chariot's beam
A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume
The guidance of that wonder-winged team.
The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings
Were lost: I heard alone on the air's soft stream
The music of their ever moving wings.
All the four faces of that charioteer
Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings
Speed in the van & blindness in the rear,
Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun
Or that his banded eyes could pierce the sphere
Of all that is, has been, or will be done.
So ill was the car guided, but it past
With solemn speed majestically on . . .
The crowd gave way, & I arose aghast,
Or seemed to rise, so mighty was the trance,
And saw like clouds upon the thunder blast
The million with fierce song and maniac dance
Raging around; such seemed the jubilee
As when to greet some conqueror's advance
Imperial Rome poured forth her living sea
From senatehouse & prison & theatre
When Freedom left those who upon the free
Had bound a yoke which soon they stooped to bear.
Nor wanted here the true similitude
Of a triumphal pageant, for where'er
The chariot rolled a captive multitude
Was driven; althose who had grown old in power
Or misery,all who have their age subdued,
By action or by suffering, and whose hour
Was drained to its last sand in weal or woe,
So that the trunk survived both fruit & flower;
All those whose fame or infamy must grow
Till the great winter lay the form & name
Of their own earth with them forever low,
All but the sacred few who could not tame
Their spirits to the Conqueror, but as soon
As they had touched the world with living flame
Fled back like eagles to their native noon,
Of those who put aside the diadem
Of earthly thrones or gems, till the last one
Were there;for they of Athens & Jerusalem
Were neither mid the mighty captives seen
Nor mid the ribald crowd that followed them
Or fled before . . Now swift, fierce & obscene
The wild dance maddens in the van, & those
Who lead it, fleet as shadows on the green,
Outspeed the chariot & without repose
Mix with each other in tempestuous measure
To savage music. Wilder as it grows,
They, tortured by the agonizing pleasure,
Convulsed & on the rapid whirlwinds spun
Of that fierce spirit, whose unholy leisure
Was soothed by mischief since the world begun,
Throw back their heads & loose their streaming hair,
And in their dance round her who dims the Sun
Maidens & youths fling their wild arms in air
As their feet twinkle; they recede, and now
Bending within each other's atmosphere
Kindle invisibly; and as they glow
Like moths by light attracted & repelled,
Oft to new bright destruction come & go.
Till like two clouds into one vale impelled
That shake the mountains when their lightnings mingle
And die in rain,the fiery band which held
Their natures, snaps . . . ere the shock cease to tingle
One falls and then another in the path
Senseless, nor is the desolation single,
Yet ere I can say where the chariot hath
Past over them; nor other trace I find
But as of foam after the Ocean's wrath
Is spent upon the desert shore.Behind,
Old men, and women foully disarrayed
Shake their grey hair in the insulting wind,
Limp in the dance & strain, with limbs decayed,
Seeking to reach the light which leaves them still
Farther behind & deeper in the shade.
But not the less with impotence of will
They wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose
Round them & round each other, and fulfill
Their work and to the dust whence they arose
Sink & corruption veils them as they lie
And frost in these performs what fire in those.
Struck to the heart by this sad pageantry,
Half to myself I said, "And what is this?
Whose shape is that within the car? & why"-
I would have added"is all here amiss?"
But a voice answered . . "Life" . . . I turned & knew
(O Heaven have mercy on such wretchedness!)
That what I thought was an old root which grew
To strange distortion out of the hill side
Was indeed one of that deluded crew,
And that the grass which methought hung so wide
And white, was but his thin discoloured hair,
And that the holes it vainly sought to hide
Were or had been eyes."lf thou canst forbear
To join the dance, which I had well forborne,"
Said the grim Feature, of my thought aware,
"I will now tell that which to this deep scorn
Led me & my companions, and relate
The progress of the pageant since the morn;
"If thirst of knowledge doth not thus abate,
Follow it even to the night, but I
Am weary" . . . Then like one who with the weight
Of his own words is staggered, wearily
He paused, and ere he could resume, I cried,
"First who art thou?" . . . "Before thy memory
"I feared, loved, hated, suffered, did, & died,
And if the spark with which Heaven lit my spirit
Earth had with purer nutriment supplied
"Corruption would not now thus much inherit
Of what was once Rousseaunor this disguise
Stained that within which still disdains to wear it.
"If I have been extinguished, yet there rise
A thousand beacons from the spark I bore."
"And who are those chained to the car?" "The Wise,
"The great, the unforgotten: they who wore
Mitres & helms & crowns, or wreathes of light,
Signs of thought's empire over thought; their lore
"Taught them not thisto know themselves; their might
Could not repress the mutiny within,
And for the morn of truth they feigned, deep night
"Caught them ere evening." "Who is he with chin
Upon his breast and hands crost on his chain?"
"The Child of a fierce hour; he sought to win
"The world, and lost all it did contain
Of greatness, in its hope destroyed; & more
Of fame & peace than Virtue's self can gain
"Without the opportunity which bore
Him on its eagle's pinion to the peak
From which a thousand climbers have before
"Fall'n as Napoleon fell."I felt my cheek
Alter to see the great form pass away
Whose grasp had left the giant world so weak
That every pigmy kicked it as it lay
And much I grieved to think how power & will
In opposition rule our mortal day
And why God made irreconcilable
Good & the means of good; and for despair
I half disdained mine eye's desire to fill
With the spent vision of the times that were
And scarce have ceased to be . . . "Dost thou behold,"
Said then my guide, "those spoilers spoiled, Voltaire,
"Frederic, & Kant, Catherine, & Leopold,
Chained hoary anarch, demagogue & sage
Whose name the fresh world thinks already old
"For in the battle Life & they did wage
She remained conquerorI was overcome
By my own heart alone, which neither age
"Nor tears nor infamy nor now the tomb
Could temper to its object.""Let them pass"
I cried"the world & its mysterious doom
"Is not so much more glorious than it was
That I desire to worship those who drew
New figures on its false & fragile glass
"As the old faded.""Figures ever new
Rise on the bubble, paint them how you may;
We have but thrown, as those before us threw,
"Our shadows on it as it past away.
But mark, how chained to the triumphal chair
The mighty phantoms of an elder day
"All that is mortal of great Plato there
Expiates the joy & woe his master knew not;
That star that ruled his doom was far too fair
"And Life, where long that flower of Heaven grew not,
Conquered the heart by love which gold or pain
Or age or sloth or slavery could subdue not
"And near [[blank]] walk the [[blank]] twain,
The tutor & his pupil, whom Dominion
Followed as tame as vulture in a chain.
"The world was darkened beneath either pinion
Of him whom from the flock of conquerors
Fame singled as her thunderbearing minion;
"The other long outlived both woes & wars,
Throned in new thoughts of men, and still had kept
The jealous keys of truth's eternal doors
"If Bacon's spirit [[blank]] had not leapt
Like lightning out of darkness; he compelled
The Proteus shape of Nature's as it slept
"To wake & to unbar the caves that held
The treasure of the secrets of its reign
See the great bards of old who inly quelled
"The passions which they sung, as by their strain
May well be known: their living melody
Tempers its own contagion to the vein
"Of those who are infected with itI
Have suffered what I wrote, or viler pain!
"And so my words were seeds of misery
Even as the deeds of others.""Not as theirs,"
I saidhe pointed to a company
In which I recognized amid the heirs
Of Caesar's crime from him to Constantine,
The Anarchs old whose force & murderous snares
Had founded many a sceptre bearing line
And spread the plague of blood & gold abroad,
And Gregory & John and men divine
Who rose like shadows between Man & god
Till that eclipse, still hanging under Heaven,
Was worshipped by the world o'er which they strode
For the true Sun it quenched."Their power was given
But to destroy," replied the leader"I
Am one of those who have created, even
"If it be but a world of agony."
"Whence camest thou & whither goest thou?
How did thy course begin," I said, "& why?
"Mine eyes are sick of this perpetual flow
Of people, & my heart of one sad thought.
Speak.""Whence I came, partly I seem to know,
"And how & by what paths I have been brought
To this dread pass, methinks even thou mayst guess;
Why this should be my mind can compass not;
"Whither the conqueror hurries me still less.
But follow thou, & from spectator turn
Actor or victim in this wretchedness,
"And what thou wouldst be taught I then may learn
From thee.Now listen . . . In the April prime
When all the forest tops began to burn
"With kindling green, touched by the azure clime
Of the young year, I found myself asleep
Under a mountain which from unknown time
"Had yawned into a cavern high & deep,
And from it came a gentle rivulet
Whose water like clear air in its calm sweep
"Bent the soft grass & kept for ever wet
The stems of the sweet flowers, and filled the grove
With sound which all who hear must needs forget
"All pleasure & all pain, all hate & love,
Which they had known before that hour of rest:
A sleeping mother then would dream not of
"The only child who died upon her breast
At eventide, a king would mourn no more
The crown of which his brow was dispossest
"When the sun lingered o'er the Ocean floor
To gild his rival's new prosperity.
Thou wouldst forget thus vainly to deplore
"Ills, which if ills, can find no cure from thee,
The thought of which no other sleep will quell
Nor other music blot from memory
"So sweet & deep is the oblivious spell.
Whether my life had been before that sleep
The Heaven which I imagine, or a Hell
"Like this harsh world in which I wake to weep,
I know not. I arose & for a space
The scene of woods & waters seemed to keep,
"Though it was now broad day, a gentle trace
Of light diviner than the common Sun
Sheds on the common Earth, but all the place
"Was filled with many sounds woven into one
Oblivious melody, confusing sense
Amid the gliding waves & shadows dun;
"And as I looked the bright omnipresence
Of morning through the orient cavern flowed,
And the Sun's image radiantly intense
"Burned on the waters of the well that glowed
Like gold, and threaded all the forest maze
With winding paths of emerald firethere stood
"Amid the sun, as he amid the blaze
Of his own glory, on the vibrating
Floor of the fountain, paved with flashing rays,
"A shape all light, which with one hand did fling
Dew on the earth, as if she were the Dawn
Whose invisible rain forever seemed to sing
"A silver music on the mossy lawn,
And still before her on the dusky grass
Iris her many coloured scarf had drawn.
"In her right hand she bore a crystal glass
Mantling with bright Nepenthe;the fierce splendour
Fell from her as she moved under the mass
"Of the deep cavern, & with palms so tender
Their tread broke not the mirror of its billow,
Glided along the river, and did bend her
"Head under the dark boughs, till like a willow
Her fair hair swept the bosom of the stream
That whispered with delight to be their pillow.
"As one enamoured is upborne in dream
O'er lily-paven lakes mid silver mist
To wondrous music, so this shape might seem
"Partly to tread the waves with feet which kist
The dancing foam, partly to glide along
The airs that roughened the moist amethyst,
"Or the slant morning beams that fell among
The trees, or the soft shadows of the trees;
And her feet ever to the ceaseless song
"Of leaves & winds & waves & birds & bees
And falling drops moved in a measure new
Yet sweet, as on the summer evening breeze
"Up from the lake a shape of golden dew
Between two rocks, athwart the rising moon,
Moves up the east, where eagle never flew.
"And still her feet, no less than the sweet tune
To which they moved, seemed as they moved, to blot
The thoughts of him who gazed on them, & soon
"All that was seemed as if it had been not,
As if the gazer's mind was strewn beneath
Her feet like embers, & she, thought by thought,
"Trampled its fires into the dust of death,
As Day upon the threshold of the east
Treads out the lamps of night, until the breath
"Of darkness reillumines even the least
Of heaven's living eyeslike day she came,
Making the night a dream; and ere she ceased
"To move, as one between desire and shame
Suspended, I said'If, as it doth seem,
Thou comest from the realm without a name,
" 'Into this valley of perpetual dream,
Shew whence I came, and where I am, and why
Pass not away upon the passing stream.'
" 'Arise and quench thy thirst,' was her reply,
And as a shut lily, stricken by the wand
Of dewy morning's vital alchemy,
"I rose; and, bending at her sweet command,
Touched with faint lips the cup she raised,
And suddenly my brain became as sand
"Where the first wave had more than half erased
The track of deer on desert Labrador,
Whilst the fierce wolf from which they fled amazed
"Leaves his stamp visibly upon the shore
Until the second burstsso on my sight
Burst a new Vision never seen before.
"And the fair shape waned in the coming light
As veil by veil the silent splendour drops
From Lucifer, amid the chrysolite
"Of sunrise ere it strike the mountain tops
And as the presence of that fairest planet
Although unseen is felt by one who hopes
"That his day's path may end as he began it
In that star's smile, whose light is like the scent
Of a jonquil when evening breezes fan it,
"Or the soft note in which his dear lament
The Brescian shepherd breathes, or the caress
That turned his weary slumber to content.
"So knew I in that light's severe excess
The presence of that shape which on the stream
Moved, as I moved along the wilderness,
"More dimly than a day appearing dream,
The ghost of a forgotten form of sleep
A light from Heaven whose half extinguished beam
"Through the sick day in which we wake to weep
Glimmers, forever sought, forever lost.
So did that shape its obscure tenour keep
"Beside my path, as silent as a ghost;
But the new Vision, and its cold bright car,
With savage music, stunning music, crost
"The forest, and as if from some dread war
Triumphantly returning, the loud million
Fiercely extolled the fortune of her star.
"A moving arch of victory the vermilion
And green & azure plumes of Iris had
Built high over her wind-winged pavilion,
"And underneath aetherial glory clad
The wilderness, and far before her flew
The tempest of the splendour which forbade
Shadow to fall from leaf or stone;the crew
Seemed in that light like atomies that dance
Within a sunbeam.Some upon the new
"Embroidery of flowers that did enhance
The grassy vesture of the desart, played,
Forgetful of the chariot's swift advance;
"Others stood gazing till within the shade
Of the great mountain its light left them dim.
Others outspeeded it, and others made
"Circles around it like the clouds that swim
Round the high moon in a bright sea of air,
And more did follow, with exulting hymn,
"The chariot & the captives fettered there,
But all like bubbles on an eddying flood
Fell into the same track at last & were
"Borne onward.I among the multitude
Was swept; me sweetest flowers delayed not long,
Me not the shadow nor the solitude,
"Me not the falling stream's Lethean song,
Me, not the phantom of that early form
Which moved upon its motion,but among
"The thickest billows of the living storm
I plunged, and bared my bosom to the clime
Of that cold light, whose airs too soon deform.
"Before the chariot had begun to climb
The opposing steep of that mysterious dell,
Behold a wonder worthy of the rhyme
"Of him whom from the lowest depths of Hell
Through every Paradise & through all glory
Love led serene, & who returned to tell
"In words of hate & awe the wondrous story
How all things are transfigured, except Love;
For deaf as is a sea which wrath makes hoary
"The world can hear not the sweet notes that move
The sphere whose light is melody to lovers-
A wonder worthy of his rhymethe grove
"Grew dense with shadows to its inmost covers,
The earth was grey with phantoms, & the air
Was peopled with dim forms, as when there hovers
"A flock of vampire-bats before the glare
Of the tropic sun, bring ere evening
Strange night upon some Indian isle,thus were
"Phantoms diffused around, & some did fling
Shadows of shadows, yet unlike themselves,
Behind them, some like eaglets on the wing
"Were lost in the white blaze, others like elves
Danced in a thousand unimagined shapes
Upon the sunny streams & grassy shelves;
"And others sate chattering like restless apes
On vulgar paws and voluble like fire.
Some made a cradle of the ermined capes
"Of kingly mantles, some upon the tiar
Of pontiffs sate like vultures, others played
Within the crown which girt with empire
"A baby's or an idiot's brow, & made
Their nests in it; the old anatomies
Sate hatching their bare brood under the shade
"Of demon wings, and laughed from their dead eyes
To reassume the delegated power
Arrayed in which these worms did monarchize
"Who make this earth their charnel.Others more
Humble, like falcons sate upon the fist
Of common men, and round their heads did soar,
"Or like small gnats & flies, as thick as mist
On evening marshes, thronged about the brow
Of lawyer, statesman, priest & theorist,
"And others like discoloured flakes of snow
On fairest bosoms & the sunniest hair
Fell, and were melted by the youthful glow
"Which they extinguished; for like tears, they were
A veil to those from whose faint lids they rained
In drops of sorrow.I became aware
"Of whence those forms proceeded which thus stained
The track in which we moved; after brief space
From every form the beauty slowly waned,
"From every firmest limb & fairest face
The strength & freshness fell like dust, & left
The action & the shape without the grace
"Of life; the marble brow of youth was cleft
With care, and in the eyes where once hope shone
Desire like a lioness bereft
"Of its last cub, glared ere it died; each one
Of that great crowd sent forth incessantly
These shadows, numerous as the dead leaves blown
"In Autumn evening from a popular tree
Each, like himself & like each other were,
At first, but soon distorted, seemed to be
"Obscure clouds moulded by the casual air;
And of this stuff the car's creative ray
Wrought all the busy phantoms that were there
"As the sun shapes the cloudsthus, on the way
Mask after mask fell from the countenance
And form of all, and long before the day
"Was old, the joy which waked like Heaven's glance
The sleepers in the oblivious valley, died,
And some grew weary of the ghastly dance
"And fell, as I have fallen by the way side,
Those soonest from whose forms most shadows past
And least of strength & beauty did abide."
"Then, what is Life?" I said . . . the cripple cast
His eye upon the car which now had rolled
Onward, as if that look must be the last,
And answered. "Happy those for whom the fold
Of
Composed at Lerici on the Gulf of Spezzia in the spring and early summer of 1822 -- the poem on which Shelley was engaged at the time of his death. Published by Mrs. Shelley in the Posthumous Poems of 1824, from a MS. (now in the Bodleian library), whose corrections, omitted words, passages of unrevised improvisation, difficult hand, and long inaccessibility have so far prevented much certainty in the establishment of a text.

Form: terza rima.

The reference to Dante's Divine Comedy in lines 471-76 and to Petrarch's Triumphs in the title (both of which, like The Triumph of Life, are written in terza
rima stanzas) suggests two probable models for the poem.

132-34.
Mary Shelley's text seems impossible, but no textual authority has been
adduced for amending it. Misreading or miswriting of some kind must be
responsible for that apparently parallel, but conflicting, pair, "were there" and
"were neither." W. M. Rossetti makes some sense out of the passage by amending
"or" in 132 to "for" and "were there" in 134 to "whether", and by placing a
semi-colon at the end of 131.

134.
Of Athens or Jerusalem. Commentators assume that the renouncing figures
of which Shelley is thinking are Socrates in Athens and Jesus in Jerusalem. But
the corruption of the text here makes any interpretation doubtful.

190.
Grim Feature: a reminiscence of Paradise Lost, X, 279, where it
represents Death and carries the Latin meaning of "factura" or "creature."

204.
Rousseau. Compare Byron's portrait of Rousseau in Childe Harold's
Pilgrimage, III, lxxvii-lxxxii.

236.
Frederick and Paul, Catherine and Leopold: Frederick the Great of Prussia,
Czar Paul and Catherine the Great of Russia, and Leopold II of the Holy Roman
Empire.

254.
Plato. In the lines which follow, Shelley refers to the legend that Plato in
his old age fell in love with a boy, whose name, Aster, is Greek for a star as
well as for a particular (and short-lived) flower.

261.
The tutor and his pupil: Aristotle and Alexander the Great.

283-84.
The heirs of Caesar's crime from him to Constantine. Julius Caesar's
crime was to undermine the Roman republic and prepare the way for the
Roman emperors ("anarch chiefs" in 286), a procession of which up to
Constantine Shelley now observes.

288.
Gregory and John. "Gregory the Great is appropriate, as the true founder
of the independent political power of the papacy. Which of many Johns is
involved, there is no way of telling" (H. Bloom).

414.
Lucifer: the Morning Star.

421-22.
The soft note in which his dear lament the Brescian shepherd breathes.
"The favourite song, 'Stanco di pascolar le peccorelle, [being weary of pasturing
the little sheep], is a Brescian national air" (Mrs. Shelley's note).

439.
Iris: classical goddess of the rainbow.

472.
Him: Dante in The Divine Comedy.

544.
Here the MS. breaks off.


~ Percy Bysshe Shelley, The Triumph Of Life
,
448:The Botanic Garden( Part I)
The Economy Of Vegetation
Canto I
STAY YOUR RUDE STEPS! whose throbbing breasts infold
The legion-fiends of Glory, or of Gold!
Stay! whose false lips seductive simpers part,
While Cunning nestles in the harlot-heart!For you no Dryads dress the roseate bower,
For you no Nymphs their sparkling vases pour;
Unmark'd by you, light Graces swim the green,
And hovering Cupids aim their shafts, unseen.
'But THOU! whose mind the well-attemper'd ray
Of Taste and Virtue lights with purer day;
Whose finer sense each soft vibration owns
With sweet responsive sympathy of tones;
So the fair flower expands it's lucid form
To meet the sun, and shuts it to the storm;For thee my borders nurse the fragrant wreath,
My fountains murmur, and my zephyrs breathe;
Slow slides the painted snail, the gilded fly
Smooths his fine down, to charm thy curious eye;
On twinkling fins my pearly nations play,
Or win with sinuous train their trackless way;
My plumy pairs in gay embroidery dress'd
Form with ingenious bill the pensile nest,
To Love's sweet notes attune the listening dell,
And Echo sounds her soft symphonious shell.
'And, if with Thee some hapless Maid should stray,
Disasterous Love companion of her way,
Oh, lead her timid steps to yonder glade,
Whose arching cliffs depending alders shade;
There, as meek Evening wakes her temperate breeze,
And moon-beams glimmer through the trembling trees,
The rills, that gurgle round, shall soothe her ear,
The weeping rocks shall number tear for tear;
There as sad Philomel, alike forlorn,
Sings to the Night from her accustomed thorn;
While at sweet intervals each falling note
80
Sighs in the gale, and whispers round the grot;
The sister-woe shall calm her aching breast,
And softer slumbers steal her cares to rest.'Winds of the North! restrain your icy gales,
Nor chill the bosom of these happy vales!
Hence in dark heaps, ye gathering Clouds, revolve!
Disperse, ye Lightnings! and, ye Mists, dissolve!
-Hither, emerging from yon orient skies,
BOTANIC GODDESS! bend thy radiant eyes;
O'er these soft scenes assume thy gentle reign,
Pomona, Ceres, Flora in thy train;
O'er the still dawn thy placid smile effuse,
And with thy silver sandals print the dews;
In noon's bright blaze thy vermil vest unfold,
And wave thy emerald banner star'd with gold.'
Thus spoke the GENIUS, as He stept along,
And bade these lawns to Peace and Truth belong;
Down the steep slopes He led with modest skill
The willing pathway, and the truant rill,
Stretch'd o'er the marshy vale yon willowy mound,
Where shines the lake amid the tufted ground,
Raised the young woodland, smooth'd the wavy green,
And gave to Beauty all the quiet scene.She comes!-the GODDESS!-through the whispering air,
Bright as the morn, descends her blushing car;
Each circling wheel a wreath of flowers intwines,
And gem'd with flowers the silken harness shines;
The golden bits with flowery studs are deck'd,
And knots of flowers the crimson reins connect.And now on earth the silver axle rings,
And the shell sinks upon its slender springs;
Light from her airy seat the Goddess bounds,
And steps celestial press the pansied grounds.
Fair Spring advancing calls her feather'd quire,
And tunes to softer notes her laughing lyre;
Bids her gay hours on purple pinions move,
And arms her Zephyrs with the shafts of Love,
Pleased GNOMES, ascending from their earthy beds,
Play round her graceful footsteps, as she treads;
Gay SYLPHS attendant beat the fragrant air
On winnowing wings, and waft her golden hair;
Blue NYMPHS emerging leave their sparkling streams,
81
And FIERY FORMS alight from orient beams;
Musk'd in the rose's lap fresh dews they shed,
Or breathe celestial lustres round her head.
First the fine Forms her dulcet voice requires,
Which bathe or bask in elemental fires;
From each bright gem of Day's refulgent car,
From the pale sphere of every twinkling star,
From each nice pore of ocean, earth, and air,
With eye of flame the sparkling hosts repair,
Mix their gay hues, in changeful circles play,
Like motes, that tenant the meridian ray.So the clear Lens collects with magic power
The countless glories of the midnight hour;
Stars after stars with quivering lustre fall,
And twinkling glide along the whiten'd wall.Pleased, as they pass, she counts the glittering bands,
And stills their murmur with her waving hands;
Each listening tribe with fond expectance burns,
And now to these, and now to those, she turns.
I. 'NYMPHS OF PRIMEVAL FIRE! YOUR vestal train
Hung with gold-tresses o'er the vast inane,
Pierced with your silver shafts the throne of Night,
And charm'd young Nature's opening eyes with light;
When LOVE DIVINE, with brooding wings unfurl'd,
Call'd from the rude abyss the living world.
'-LET THERE BE LIGHT!' proclaim'd the ALMIGHTY LORD,
Astonish'd Chaos heard the potent word;Through all his realms the kindling Ether runs,
And the mass starts into a million suns;
Earths round each sun with quick explosions burst,
And second planets issue from the first;
Bend, as they journey with projectile force,
In bright ellipses their reluctant course;
Orbs wheel in orbs, round centres centres roll,
And form, self-balanced, one revolving Whole.
-Onward they move amid their bright abode,
Space without bound, THE BOSOM OF THEIR GOD!
II. 'ETHEREAL POWERS! YOU chase the shooting stars,
Or yoke the vollied lightenings to your cars,
Cling round the aërial bow with prisms bright,
82
And pleased untwist the sevenfold threads of light;
Eve's silken couch with gorgeous tints adorn,
And fire the arrowy throne of rising Morn.
-OR, plum'd with flame, in gay battalion's spring
To brighter regions borne on broader wing;
Where lighter gases, circumfused on high,
Form the vast concave of exterior sky;
With airy lens the scatter'd rays assault,
And bend the twilight round the dusky vault;
Ride, with broad eye and scintillating hair,
The rapid Fire-ball through the midnight air;
Dart from the North on pale electric streams,
Fringing Night's sable robe with transient beams.
-OR rein the Planets in their swift careers,
Gilding with borrow'd light their twinkling spheres;
Alarm with comet-blaze the sapphire plain,
The wan stars glimmering through its silver train;
Gem the bright Zodiac, stud the glowing pole,
Or give the Sun's phlogistic orb to roll.
III. NYMPHS! YOUR fine forms with steps impassive mock
Earth's vaulted roofs of adamantine rock;
Round her still centre tread the burning soil,
And watch the billowy Lavas, as they boil;
Where, in basaltic caves imprison'd deep,
Reluctant fires in dread suspension sleep;
Or sphere on sphere in widening waves expand,
And glad with genial warmth the incumbent land.
So when the Mother-bird selects their food
With curious bill, and feeds her callow brood;
Warmth from her tender heart eternal springs,
And pleased she clasps them with extended wings.
'YOU from deep cauldrons and unmeasured caves
Blow flaming airs, or pour vitrescent waves;
O'er shining oceans ray volcanic light,
Or hurl innocuous embers to the night.While with loud shouts to Etna Heccla calls,
And Andes answers from his beacon'd walls;
Sea-wilder'd crews the mountain-stars admire,
And Beauty beams amid tremendous fire.
'Thus when of old, as mystic bards presume,
Huge CYCLOPS dwelt in Etna's rocky womb,
83
On thundering anvils rung their loud alarms,
And leagued with VULCAN forged immortal arms;
Descending VENUS sought the dark abode,
And sooth'd the labours of the grisly God.While frowning Loves the threatening falchion wield,
And tittering Graces peep behind the shield,
With jointed mail their fairy limbs o'erwhelm,
Or nod with pausing step the plumed helm;
With radiant eye She view'd the boiling ore,
Heard undismay'd the breathing bellows roar,
Admired their sinewy arms, and shoulders bare,
And ponderous hammers lifted high in air,
With smiles celestial bless'd their dazzled sight,
And Beauty blazed amid infernal night.
IV. 'EFFULGENT MAIDS! YOU round deciduous day,
Tressed with soft beams, your glittering bands array;
On Earth's cold bosom, as the Sun retires,
Confine with folds of air the lingering fires;
O'er Eve's pale forms diffuse phosphoric light,
And deck with lambent flames the shrine of Night.
So, warm'd and kindled by meridian skies,
And view'd in darkness with dilated eyes,
BOLOGNA'S chalks with faint ignition blaze,
BECCARI'S shells emit prismatic rays.
So to the sacred Sun in MEMNON's fane,
Spontaneous concords quired the matin strain;
-Touch'd by his orient beam, responsive rings
The living lyre, and vibrates all it's strings;
Accordant ailes the tender tones prolong,
And holy echoes swell the adoring song.
'YOU with light Gas the lamps nocturnal feed,
Which dance and glimmer o'er the marshy mead;
Shine round Calendula at twilight hours,
And tip with silver all her saffron flowers;
Warm on her mossy couch the radiant Worm,
Guard from cold dews her love-illumin'd form,
From leaf to leaf conduct the virgin light,
Star of the earth, and diamond of the night.
You bid in air the tropic Beetle burn,
And fill with golden flame his winged urn;
Or gild the surge with insect-sparks, that swarm
84
Round the bright oar, the kindling prow alarm;
Or arm in waves, electric in his ire,
The dread Gymnotus with ethereal fire.Onward his course with waving tail he helms,
And mimic lightenings scare the watery realms,
So, when with bristling plumes the Bird of JOVE
Vindictive leaves the argent fields above,
Borne on broad wings the guilty world he awes,
And grasps the lightening in his shining claws.
V. 1. 'NYMPHS! Your soft smiles uncultur'd man subdued,
And charm'd the Savage from his native wood;
You, while amazed his hurrying Hords retire
From the fell havoc of devouring FIRE,
Taught, the first Art! with piny rods to raise
By quick attrition the domestic blaze,
Fan with soft breath, with kindling leaves provide,
And lift the dread Destroyer on his side.
So, with bright wreath of serpent-tresses crown'd,
Severe in beauty, young MEDUSA frown'd;
Erewhile subdued, round WISDOM'S Aegis roll'd
Hiss'd the dread snakes, and flam'd in burnish'd gold;
Flash'd on her brandish'd arm the immortal shield,
And Terror lighten'd o'er the dazzled field.
2. NYMPHS! YOU disjoin, unite, condense, expand,
And give new wonders to the Chemist's hand;
On tepid clouds of rising steam aspire,
Or fix in sulphur all it's solid fire;
With boundless spring elastic airs unfold,
Or fill the fine vacuities of gold;
With sudden flash vitrescent sparks reveal,
By fierce collision from the flint and steel;
Or mark with shining letter KUNKEL's name
In the pale Phosphor's self-consuming flame.
So the chaste heart of some enchanted Maid
Shines with insidious light, by Love betray'd;
Round her pale bosom plays the young Desire,
And slow she wastes by self-consuming fire.
3. 'YOU taught mysterious BACON to explore
Metallic veins, and part the dross from ore;
With sylvan coal in whirling mills combine
The crystal'd nitre, and the sulphurous mine;
85
Through wiry nets the black diffusion strain,
And close an airy ocean in a grain.Pent in dark chambers of cylindric brass
Slumbers in grim repose the sooty mass;
Lit by the brilliant spark, from grain to grain
Runs the quick fire along the kindling train;
On the pain'd ear-drum bursts the sudden crash,
Starts the red flame, and Death pursues the flash.Fear's feeble hand directs the fiery darts,
And Strength and Courage yield to chemic arts;
Guilt with pale brow the mimic thunder owns,
And Tyrants tremble on their blood-stain'd thrones.
VI. NYMPHS! You erewhile on simmering cauldrons play'd,
And call'd delighted SAVERY to your aid;
Bade round the youth explosive STEAM aspire
In gathering clouds, and wing'd the wave with fire;
Bade with cold streams the quick expansion stop,
And sunk the immense of vapour to a drop.Press'd by the ponderous air the Piston falls
Resistless, sliding through it's iron walls;
Quick moves the balanced beam, of giant-birth,
Wields his large limbs, and nodding shakes the earth.
'The Giant-Power from earth's remotest caves
Lifts with strong arm her dark reluctant waves;
Each cavern'd rock, and hidden den explores,
Drags her dark coals, and digs her shining ores.Next, in close cells of ribbed oak confined,
Gale after gale, He crowds the struggling wind;
The imprison'd storms through brazen nostrils roar,
Fan the white flame, and fuse the sparkling ore.
Here high in air the rising stream He pours
To clay-built cisterns, or to lead-lined towers;
Fresh through a thousand pipes the wave distils,
And thirsty cities drink the exuberant rills.There the vast mill-stone with inebriate whirl
On trembling floors his forceful fingers twirl.
Whose flinty teeth the golden harvests grind,
Feast without blood! and nourish human-kind.
'Now his hard hands on Mona's rifted crest,
Bosom'd in rock, her azure ores arrest;
With iron lips his rapid rollers seize
86
The lengthening bars, in thin expansion squeeze;
Descending screws with ponderous fly-wheels wound
The tawny plates, the new medallions round;
Hard dyes of steel the cupreous circles cramp,
And with quick fall his massy hammers stamp.
The Harp, the Lily and the Lion join,
And GEORGE and BRITAIN guard the sterling coin.
'Soon shall thy arm, UNCONQUER'D STEAM! afar
Drag the slow barge, or drive the rapid car;
Or on wide-waving wings expanded bear
The flying-chariot through the fields of air.
-Fair crews triumphant, leaning from above,
Shall wave their fluttering kerchiefs as they move;
Or warrior-bands alarm the gaping crowd,
And armies shrink beneath the shadowy cloud.
'So mighty HERCULES o'er many a clime
Waved his vast mace in Virtue's cause sublime,
Unmeasured strength with early art combined,
Awed, served, protected, and amazed mankind.First two dread Snakes at JUNO'S vengeful nod
Climb'd round the cradle of the sleeping God;
Waked by the shrilling hiss, and rustling sound,
And shrieks of fair attendants trembling round,
Their gasping throats with clenching hands he holds;
And Death untwists their convoluted folds.
Next in red torrents from her sevenfold heads
Fell HYDRA'S blood on Lerna's lake he sheds;
Grasps ACHELOUS with resistless force,
And drags the roaring River to his course;
Binds with loud bellowing and with hideous yell
The monster Bull, and threefold Dog of Hell.
'Then, where Nemea's howling forests wave,
He drives the Lion to his dusky cave;
Seized by the throat the growling fiend disarms,
And tears his gaping jaws with sinewy arms;
Lifts proud ANTEUS from his mother-plains,
And with strong grasp the struggling Giant strains;
Back falls his fainting head, and clammy hair,
Writhe his weak limbs, and flits his life in air;By steps reverted o'er the blood-dropp'd fen
He tracks huge CACUS to his murderous den;
Where breathing flames through brazen lips he fled,
87
And shakes the rock-roof'd cavern o'er his head.
'Last with wide arms the solid earth He tears,
Piles rock on rock, on mountain mountain rears;
Heaves up huge ABYLA on Afric's sand,
Crowns with high CALPÈ Europe's saliant strand,
Crests with opposing towers the splendid scene,
And pours from urns immense the sea between.-Loud o'er her whirling flood Charybdis roars,
Affrighted Scylla bellows round his shores,
Vesuvio groans through all his echoing caves,
And Etna thunders o'er the insurgent waves.
VII. 1. NYMPHS! YOUR fine hands ethereal floods amass
From the warm cushion, and the whirling glass;
Beard the bright cylinder with golden wire,
And circumfuse the gravitating fire.
Cold from each point cerulean lustres gleam,
Or shoot in air the scintillating stream.
So, borne on brazen talons, watch'd of old
The sleepless dragon o'er his fruits of gold;
Bright beam'd his scales, his eye-balls blazed with ire,
And his wide nostrils breath'd inchanted fire.
'YOU bid gold-leaves, in crystal lantherns held,
Approach attracted, and recede repel'd;
While paper-nymphs instinct with motion rife,
And dancing fauns the admiring Sage surprize.
OR, if on wax some fearless Beauty stand,
And touch the sparkling rod with graceful hand;
Through her fine limbs the mimic lightnings dart,
And flames innocuous eddy round her heart;
O'er her fair brow the kindling lustres glare,
Blue rays diverging from her bristling hair;
While some fond Youth the kiss ethereal sips.
And soft fires issue from their meeting lips.
So round the virgin Saint in silver streams
The holy Halo shoots it's arrowy beams.
'YOU crowd in coated jars the denser fire,
Pierce the thin glass, and fuse the blazing wire;
Or dart the red flash through the circling band
Of youths and timorous damsels, hand in hand.
-Starts the quick Ether through the fibre-trains
Of dancing arteries, and of tingling veins,
88
Goads each fine nerve, with new sensation thrill'd,
Bends the reluctant limbs with power unwill'd;
Palsy's cold hands the fierce concussion own,
And Life clings trembling on her tottering throne.So from dark clouds the playful lightning springs,
Rives the firm oak, or prints the Fairy-rings.
2. NYMPHS! on that day YE shed from lucid eyes.
Celestial tears, and breathed ethereal sighs!
When RICHMAN rear'd, by fearless haste betrayed,
The wiry rod in Nieva's fatal shade;Clouds o'er the Sage, with fringed skirts succeed,
Flash follows flash, the warning corks recede;
Near and more near He ey'd with fond amaze
The silver streams, and watch'd the saphire blaze;
Then burst the steel, the dart electric sped,
And the bold Sage lay number'd with the dead!NYMPHS! on that day YE shed from lucid eyes
Celestial tears, and breathed ethereal sighs!
3. 'YOU led your FRANKLIN to your glazed retreats,
Your air-built castles, and your silken seats;
Bade his bold arm invade the lowering sky,
And seize the tiptoe lightnings, ere they fly;
O'er the young Sage your mystic mantle spread,
And wreath'd the crown electric round his head.Thus when on wanton wing intrepid LOVE
Snatch'd the raised lightning from the arm of JOVE;
Quick o'er his knee the triple bolt He bent,
The cluster'd darts and forky arrows rent,
Snapp'd with illumin'd hands each flaming shaft,
His tingling fingers shook, and stamp'd, and laugh'd;
Bright o'er the floor the scatter'd fragments blaz'd,
And Gods retreating trembled as they gaz'd;
The immortal Sire, indulgent to his child,
Bow'd his ambrosial locks, and Heaven relenting smiled.
VIII. 'When Air's pure essence joins the vital flood,
And with phosphoric Acid dyes the blood,
YOUR VIRGIN TRAINS the transient HEAT dispart,
And lead the soft combustion round the heart;
Life's holy lamp with fires successive feed,
From the crown'd forehead to the prostrate weed,
From Earth's proud realms to all that swim or sweep
89
The yielding ether or tumultuous deep.
You swell the bulb beneath the heaving lawn,
Brood the live seed, unfold the bursting spawn;
Nurse with soft lap, and warm with fragrant breath
The embryon panting in the arms of Death;
Youth's vivid eye with living light adorn,
And fire the rising blush of Beauty's golden morn.
'Thus when the Egg of Night, on Chaos hurl'd,
Burst, and disclosed the cradle of the world;
First from the gaping shell refulgent sprung
IMMORTAL LOVE, his bow celestial strung;O'er the wide waste his gaudy wings unfold,
Beam his soft smiles, and wave his curls of gold;With silver darts He pierced the kindling frame,
And lit with torch divine the ever-living flame.'
IX. The GODDESS paused, admired with conscious pride
The effulgent legions marshal'd by her side,
Forms sphered in fire with trembling light array'd,
Ens without weight, and substance without shade;
And, while tumultuous joy her bosom warms,
Waves her white hand, and calls her hosts to arms,
'Unite, ILLUSTRIOUS NYMPHS! your radiant powers,
Call from their long repose the VERNAL HOURS.
Wake with soft touch, with rosy hands unbind
The struggling pinions of the WESTERN WIND;
Chafe his wan cheeks, his ruffled plumes repair,
And wring the rain-drops from his tangled hair.
Blaze round each frosted rill, or stagnant wave,
And charm the NAIAD from her silent cave;
Where, shrined in ice, like NIOBE she mourns,
And clasps with hoary arms her empty urns.
Call your bright myriads, trooping from afar,
With beamy helms, and glittering shafts of war;
In phalanx firm the FIEND OF FROST assail,
Break his white towers, and pierce his crystal mail;
To Zembla's moon-bright coasts the Tyrant bear,
And chain him howling to the Northern Bear.
'So when enormous GRAMPUS, issuing forth
From the pale regions of the icy North;
Waves his broad tail, and opes his ribbed mouth,
And seeks on winnowing fin the breezy South;
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From towns deserted rush the breathless hosts,
Swarm round the hills, and darken all the coasts;
Boats follow boats along the shouting tides,
And spears and javelins pierce his blubbery sides;
Now the bold Sailor, raised on pointed toe,
Whirls the wing'd harpoon on the slimy foe;
Quick sinks the monster in his oozy bed,
The blood-stain'd surges circling o'er his head,
Steers to the frozen pole his wonted track,
And bears the iron tempest on his back.
X. 'On wings of flame, ETHEREAL VIRGINS! sweep
O'er Earth's fair bosom, and complacent deep;
Where dwell my vegetative realms benumb'd,
In buds imprison'd, or in bulbs intomb'd,
Pervade, PELLUCID FORMS! their cold retreat,
Ray from bright urns your viewless floods of
heat
From earth's deep wastes
electric
torrents pour,
Or shed from heaven the scintillating shower;
Pierce the dull root, relax its fibre-trains,
Thaw the thick blood, which lingers in its veins;
Melt with warm breath the fragrant gums, that bind
The expanding foliage in its scaly rind;
And as in air the laughing leaflets play,
And turn their shining bosoms to the ray,
NYMPHS! with sweet smile each opening glower invite,
And on its damask eyelids pour the
light
'So shall my pines, Canadian wilds that shade,
Where no bold step has pierc'd the tangled glade,
High-towering palms, that part the Southern flood
With shadowy isles and continents of wood,
Oaks, whose broad antlers crest Britannia's plain,
Or bear her thunders o'er the conquer'd main,
Shout, as you pass, inhale the genial skies,
And bask and brighten in your beamy eyes;
Bow their white heads, admire the changing clime,
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Shake from their candied trunks the tinkling rime;
With bursting buds their wrinkled barks adorn,
And wed the timorous floret to her thorn;
Deep strike their roots, their lengthening tops revive,
And all my world of foliage wave, alive.
'Thus with Hermetic art the ADEPT combines
The royal acid with cobaltic mines;
Marks with quick pen, in lines unseen portrayed,
The blushing mead, green dell, and dusky glade;
Shades with pellucid clouds the tintless field,
And all the future Group exists conceal'd;
Till waked by fire the dawning tablet glows,
Green springs the herb, the purple floret blows,
Hills vales and woods in bright succession rise,
And all the living landscape charms his eyes.
XI. 'With crest of gold should sultry SIRIUS glare,
And with his kindling tresses scorch the air;
With points of flame the shafts of Summer arm,
And burn the beauties he designs to warm;-So erst when JOVE his oath extorted mourn'd,
And clad in glory to the Fair return'd;
While Loves at forky bolts their torches light,
And resting lightnings gild the car of Night;
His blazing form the dazzled Maid admir'd,
Met with fond lips, and in his arms expir'd;NYMPHS! on light pinion lead your banner'd hosts
High o'er the cliffs of ORKNEY'S gulphy coasts;
Leave on your left the red volcanic light,
Which HECCLA lifts amid the dusky night;
Mark on the right the DOFRINE'S snow-capt brow,
Where whirling MAELSTROME roars and foams below;
Watch with unmoving eye, where CEPHEUS bends
His triple crown, his scepter'd hand extends;
Where studs CASSIOPE with stars unknown
Her golden chair, and gems her sapphire zone;
Where with vast convolution DRACO holds
The ecliptic axis in his scaly folds,
O'er half the skies his neck enormous rears,
And with immense meanders parts the BEARS;
Onward, the kindred BEARS with footstep rude
Dance round the Pole, pursuing and pursued.
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'There in her azure coif and starry stole,
Grey TWILIGHT sits, and rules the slumbering Pole;
Bends the pale moon-beams round the sparkling coast,
And strews with livid hands eternal frost.
There, NYMPHS! alight, array your dazzling powers,
With sudden march alarm the torpid Hours;
On ice-built isles expand a thousand sails,
Hinge the strong helms, and catch the frozen gales;
The winged rocks to feverish climates guide,
Where fainting Zephyrs pant upon the tide;
Pass, where to CEUTA CALPE'S thunder roars,
And answering echoes shake the kindred shores;
Pass, where with palmy plumes CANARY smiles,
And in her silver girdle binds her isles;
Onward, where NIGER'S dusky Naiad laves
A thousand kingdoms with prolific waves,
Or leads o'er golden sands her threefold train
In steamy channels to the fervid main,
While swarthy nations croud the sultry coast,
Drink the fresh breeze, and hail the floating Frost,
NYMPHS! veil'd in mist, the melting treasures steer,
And cool with arctic snows the tropic year.
So from the burning Line by Monsoons driven
Clouds sail in squadrons o'er the darken'd heaven;
Wide wastes of sand the gelid gales pervade,
And ocean cools beneath the moving shade.
XII. Should SOLSTICE, stalking through the sickening bowers,
Suck the warm dew-drops, lap the falling showers;
Kneel with parch'd lip, and bending from it's brink
From dripping palm the scanty river drink;
NYMPHS! o'er the soil ten thousand points erect,
And high in air the electric flame collect.
Soon shall dark mists with self-attraction shroud
The blazing day, and sail in wilds of cloud;
Each silvery Flower the streams aerial quaff,
Bow her sweet head, and infant Harvest laugh.
'Thus when ELIJA mark'd from Carmel's brow
In bright expanse the briny flood below;
Roll'd his red eyes amid the scorching air,
Smote his firm breast, and breathed his ardent prayer;
High in the midst a massy altar stood,
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And slaughter'd offerings press'd the piles of wood;
While ISRAEL'S chiefs the sacred hill surround,
And famish'd armies crowd the dusty ground;
While proud Idolatry was leagued with dearth,
And wither'd famine swept the desert earth.'OH, MIGHTY LORD! thy woe-worn servant hear,
'Who calls thy name in agony of prayer;
'Thy fanes dishonour'd, and thy prophets slain,
'Lo! I alone survive of all thy train!'Oh send from heaven thy sacred fire,-and pour
'O'er the parch'd land the salutary shower,'So shall thy Priest thy erring flock recal,'And speak in thunder, 'THOU ART LORD OF ALL.'He cried, and kneeling on the mountain-sands,
Stretch'd high in air his supplicating hands.
-Descending flames the dusky shrine illume;
Fire the wet wood, the sacred bull consume;
Wing'd from the sea the gathering mists arise,
And floating waters darken all the skies;
The King with shifted reins his chariot bends,
And wide o'er earth the airy flood descends;
With mingling cries dispersing hosts applaud,
And shouting nations own THE LIVING GOD.'
The GODDESS ceased,-the exulting tribes obey,
Start from the soil, and win their airy way;
The vaulted skies with streams of transient rays
Shine, as they pass, and earth and ocean blaze.
So from fierce wars when lawless Monarch's cease,
Or Liberty returns with laurel'd Peace;
Bright fly the sparks, the colour'd lustres burn,
Flash follows f
Blue serpents sweep along the dusky air,
Imp'd by long trains of scintillating hair;
Red rockets rise, loud cracks are heard on high,
And showers of stars rush headlong from the sky,
Burst, as in silver lines they hiss along,
And the quick flash unfolds the gazing throng.
~ Erasmus Darwin,
449:The Botanic Garden( Part Ii)
The Economy Of Vegetation
Canto II
AND NOW THE GODDESS with attention sweet
Turns to the GNOMES, that circle round her feet;
Orb within orb approach the marshal'd trains,
And pigmy legions darken all the plains;
Thrice shout with silver tones the applauding bands,
Bow, ere She speaks, and clap their fairy hands.
So the tall grass, when noon-tide zephyr blows,
Bends it's green blades in undulating rows;
Wide o'er the fields the billowy tumult spreads,
And rustling harvests bow their golden heads.
I. 'GNOMES! YOUR bright forms, presiding at her birth,
Clung in fond squadrons round the new-born EARTH;
When high in ether, with explosion dire,
From the deep craters of his realms of fire,
The whirling Sun this ponderous planet hurl'd,
And gave the astonish'd void another world.
When from it's vaporous air, condensed by cold,
Descending torrents into oceans roll'd;
And fierce attraction with relentless force
Bent the reluctant wanderer to it's course.
'Where yet the Bull with diamond-eye adorns
The Spring's fair forehead, and with golden horns;
Where yet the Lion climbs the ethereal plain,
And shakes the Summer from his radiant mane;
Where Libra lifts her airy arm, and weighs,
Poised in her silver ballance, nights and days;
With paler lustres where Aquarius burns,
And showers the still snow from his hoary urns;
YOUR ardent troops pursued the flying sphere,
Circling the starry girdle of the year;
While sweet vicissitudes of day and clime
Mark'd the new annals of enascent Time.
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II. 'You trod with printless step Earth's tender globe,
While Ocean wrap'd it in his azure robe;
Beneath his waves her hardening strata spread,
Raised her PRIMEVAL ISLANDS from his bed,
Stretch'd her wide lawns, and sunk her winding dells,
And deck'd her shores with corals, pearls, and shells.
'O'er those blest isles no ice-crown'd mountains tower'd,
No lightnings darted, and no tempests lower'd;
Soft fell the vesper-drops, condensed below,
Or bent in air the rain-refracted bow;
Sweet breathed the zephyrs, just perceiv'd and lost;
And brineless billows only kiss'd the coast;
Round the bright zodiac danced the vernal hours,
And Peace, the Cherub, dwelt in mortal bowers!
'So young DIONE, nursed beneath the waves,
And rock'd by Nereids in their coral caves,
Charm'd the blue sisterhood with playful wiles,
Lisp'd her sweet tones, and tried her tender smiles.
Then, on her beryl throne by Triton's borne,
Bright rose the Goddess like the Star of morn;
When with soft fires the milky dawn He leads,
And wakes to life and love the laughing meads;With rosy fingers, as uncurl'd they hung
Round her fair brow, her golden locks she wrung;
O'er the smooth surge on silver sandals flood,
And look'd enchantment on the dazzled flood.The bright drops, rolling from her lifted arms,
In slow meanders wander o'er her charms,
Seek round her snowy neck their lucid track,
Pearl her white shoulders, gem her ivory back,
Round her fine waist and swelling bosom swim,
And star with glittering brine each crystal limb.-The immortal form enamour'd Nature hail'd,
And Beauty blazed to heaven and earth, unvail'd.
III. 'You! who then, kindling after many an age,
Saw with new fires the first VOLCANO rage,
O'er smouldering heaps of livid sulphur swell
At Earth's firm centre, and distend her shell,
Saw at each opening cleft the furnace glow,
And seas rush headlong on the gulphs below.-
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GNOMES! how you shriek'd! when through the troubled air
Roar'd the fierce din of elemental war;
When rose the continents, and sunk the main,
And Earth's huge sphere exploding burst in twain.GNOMES! how you gazed! when from her wounded side
Where now the South-Sea heaves its waste of tide,
Rose on swift wheels the MOON'S refulgent car,
Circling the solar orb; a sister-star,
Dimpled with vales, with shining hills emboss'd,
And roll'd round Earth her airless realms of frost.
'GNOMES! how you trembled! with the dreadful force
When Earth recoiling stagger'd from her course;
When, as her Line in slower circles spun,
And her shock'd axis nodded from the sun,
With dreadful march the accumulated main
Swept her vast wrecks of mountain, vale, and plain;
And, while new tides their shouting floods unite,
And hail their Queen, fair Regent of the night;
Chain'd to one centre whirl'd the kindred spheres,
And mark'd with lunar cycles solar years.
IV. 'GNOMES! you then bade dissolving SHELLS distil
From the loose summits of each shatter'd hill,
To each fine pore and dark interstice flow,
And fill with liquid chalk the mass below.
Whence sparry forms in dusky caverns gleam
With borrow'd light, and twice refract the beam;
While in white beds congealing rocks beneath
Court the nice chissel, and desire to breathe.'Hence wearied HERCULES in marble rears
His languid limbs, and rests a thousand years;
Still, as he leans, shall young ANTINOUS please
With careless grace, and unaffected ease;
Onward with loftier step APOLLO spring,
And launch the unerring arrow from the string;
In Beauty's bashful form, the veil unfurl'd,
Ideal VENUS win the gazing world.
Hence on ROUBILIAC'S tomb shall Fame sublime
Wave her triumphant wings, and conquer Time;
Long with soft touch shall DAMER'S chissel charm,
With grace delight us, and with beauty warm;
FOSTER'S fine form shall hearts unborn engage,
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And MELBOURN's smile enchant another age.
V. GNOMES! you then taught transuding dews to pass
Through time-fall'n woods, and root-inwove morass
Age after age; and with filtration fine
Dispart, from earths and sulphurs, the saline.
1. 'HENCE with diffusive SALT old Ocean steeps
His emerald shallows, and his sapphire deeps.
Oft in wide lakes, around their warmer brim
In hollow pyramids the crystals swim;
Or, fused by earth-born fires, in cubic blocks
Shoot their white forms, and harden into rocks.
'Thus, cavern'd round in CRACOW'S mighty mines,
With crystal walls a gorgeous city shines;
Scoop'd in the briny rock long streets extend
Their hoary course, and glittering domes ascend;
Down the bright steeps, emerging into day,
Impetuous fountains burst their headlong way,
O'er milk-white vales in ivory channels spread,
And wondering seek their subterraneous bed.
Form'd in pellucid salt with chissel nice,
The pale lamp glimmering through the sculptured ice,
With wild reverted eyes fair LOTTA stands,
And spreads to Heaven, in vain, her glassy hands;
Cold dews condense upon her pearly breast,
And the big tear rolls lucid down her vest.
Far gleaming o'er the town transparent fanes
Rear their white towers, and wave their golden vanes;
Long lines of lustres pour their trembling rays,
And the bright vault returns the mingled blaze.
2. 'HENCE orient NITRE owes it's sparkling birth,
And with prismatic crystals gems the earth,
O'er tottering domes in filmy foliage crawls,
Or frosts with branching plumes the mouldering walls.
As woos Azotic Gas the virgin Air,
And veils in crimson clouds the yielding Fair,
Indignant Fire the treacherous courtship flies,
Waves his light wing, and mingles with the skies.
'So Beauty's GODDESS, warm with new desire,
Left, on her silver wheels, the GOD of Fire;
Her faithless charms to fiercer MARS resign'd,
Met with fond lips, with wanton arms intwin'd.
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-Indignant VULCAN eyed the parting Fair,
And watch'd with jealous step the guilty pair;
O'er his broad neck a wiry net he flung,
Quick as he strode, the tinkling meshes rung;
Fine as the spider's flimsy thread He wove
The immortal toil to lime illicit love;
Steel were the knots, and steel the twisted thong,
Ring link'd in ring, indissolubly strong;
On viewless hooks along the fretted roof
He hung, unseen, the inextricable woof.-Quick start the springs, the webs pellucid spread,
And lock the embracing Lovers on their bed;
Fierce with loud taunts vindictive VULCAN springs,
Tries all the bolts, and tightens all the strings,
Shakes with incessant shouts the bright abodes,
Claps his rude hands, and calls the festive Gods.-With spreading palms the alarmed Goddess tries
To veil her beauties from celestial eyes,
Writhes her fair limbs, the slender ringlets strains,
And bids her Loves untie the obdurate chains;
Soft swells her panting bosom, as she turns,
And her flush'd cheek with brighter blushes burns.
Majestic grief the Queen of Heaven avows,
And chaste Minerva hides her helmed brows;
Attendant Nymphs with bashful eyes askance
Steal of intangled MARS a transient glance;
Surrounding Gods the circling nectar quaff,
Gaze on the Fair, and envy as they laugh.
3. 'HENCE dusky IRON sleeps in dark abodes,
And ferny foliage nestles in the nodes;
Till with wide lungs the panting bellows blow,
And waked by fire the glittering torrents flow;
-Quick whirls the wheel, the ponderous hammer falls,
Loud anvils ring amid the trembling walls,
Strokes follow strokes, the sparkling ingot shines,
Flows the red slag, the lengthening bar refines;
Cold waves, immersed, the glowing mass congeal,
And turn to adamant the hissing Steel.
'Last MICHELL'S hands with touch of potent charm
The polish'd rods with powers magnetic arm;
With points directed to the polar stars
In one long line extend the temper'd bars;
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Then thrice and thrice with steady eye he guides,
And o'er the adhesive train the magnet slides;
The obedient Steel with living instinct moves,
And veers for ever to the pole it loves.
'Hail, adamantine STEEL! magnetic Lord!
King of the prow, the plowshare, and the sword!
True to the pole, by thee the pilot guides
His steady helm amid the struggling tides,
Braves with broad sail the immeasurable sea,
Cleaves the dark air, and asks no star but Thee.By thee the plowshare rends the matted plain,
Inhumes in level rows the living grain;
Intrusive forests quit the cultured ground,
And Ceres laughs with golden fillets crown'd.O'er restless realms when scowling Discord flings
Her snakes, and loud the din of battle rings;
Expiring Strength, and vanquish'd Courage feel
Thy arm resistless, adamantine STEEL!
4. 'HENCE in fine streams diffusive ACIDS flow,
Or wing'd with fire o'er Earth's fair bosom blow;
Transmute to glittering Flints her chalky lands,
Or sink on Ocean's bed in countless Sands.
Hence silvery Selenite her chrystal moulds,
And soft Asbestus smooths his silky folds;
His cubic forms phosphoric Fluor prints,
Or rays in spheres his amethystine tints.
Soft cobweb clouds transparent Onyx spreads,
And playful Agates weave their colour'd threads;
Gay pictured Mochoes glow with landscape-dyes,
And changeful Opals roll their lucid eyes;
Blue lambent light around the Sapphire plays,
Bright Rubies blush, and living Diamonds blaze.
'Thus, for attractive earth, inconstant JOVE
Mask'd in new shapes forsook his realms above.First her sweet eyes his Eagle-form beguiles,
And HEBE feeds him with ambrosial smiles;
Next the chang'd God a Cygnet's down assumes,
And playful LEDA smooths his glossy plumes;
Then glides a silver Serpent, treacherous guest!
And fair OLYMPIA folds him in her breast;
Now lows a milk-white Bull on Afric's strand,
And crops with dancing head the daisy'd land.-
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With rosy wreathes EUROPA'S hand adorns
His fringed forehead, and his pearly horns;
Light on his back the sportive Damsel bounds,
And pleased he moves along the flowery grounds;
Bears with slow step his beauteous prize aloof,
Dips in the lucid flood his ivory hoof;
Then wets his velvet knees, and wading laves
His silky sides amid the dimpling waves.
While her fond train with beckoning hands deplore,
Strain their blue eyes, and shriek along the shore;
Beneath her robe she draws her snowy feet,
And, half-reclining on her ermine seat,
Round his raised neck her radiant arms she throws,
And rests her fair cheek on his curled brows;
Her yellow tresses wave on wanton gales,
And high in air her azure mantle sails.
-Onward He moves, applauding Cupids guide,
And skim on shooting wing the shining tide;
Emerging Triton's leave their coral caves,
Sound their loud conchs, and smooth the circling waves,
Surround the timorous Beauty, as she swims,
And gaze enamour'd on her silver limbs.
-Now Europe's shadowy shores with loud acclaim
Hail the fair fugitive, and shout her name;
Soft echoes warble, whispering forests nod,
And conscious Nature owns the present God.
-Changed from the Bull, the rapturous God assumes
Immortal youth, with glow celestial blooms,
With lenient words her virgin fears disarms,
And clasps the yielding Beauty in his arms;
Whence Kings and Heroes own illustrious birth,
Guards of mankind, and demigods on earth.
VI. 'GNOMES! as you pass'd beneath the labouring soil,
The guards and guides of Nature's chemic toil,
YOU saw, deep-sepulchred in dusky realms,
Which Earth's rock-ribbed ponderous vault o'erwhelms,
With self-born fires the mass fermenting glow,
And flame-wing'd sulphurs quit the earths below.
1. 'HENCE ductile CLAYS in wide expansion spread,
Soft as the Cygnet's down, their snow-white bed;
With yielding flakes successive forms reveal,
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And change obedient to the whirling wheel.
-First CHINA'S sons, with early art elate,
Form'd the gay tea-pot, and the pictured plate;
Saw with illumin'd brow and dazzled eyes
In the red stove vitrescent colours rise;
Speck'd her tall beakers with enamel'd stars,
Her monster-josses, and gigantic jars;
Smear'd her huge dragons with metallic hues,
With golden purples, and cobaltic blues;
Bade on wide hills her porcelain castles glare,
And glazed Pagodas tremble in the air.
'ETRURIA! next beneath thy magic hands
Glides the quick wheel, the plaistic clay expands,
Nerved with fine touch, thy fingers (as it turns)
Mark the nice bounds of vases, ewers, and urns;
Round each fair form in lines immortal trace
Uncopied Beauty, and ideal Grace.
'GNOMES! as you now dissect with hammers fine
The granite-rock, the nodul'd flint calcine;
Grind with strong arm, the circling chertz betwixt,
Your pure Ka-o-lins and Pe-tun-tses mixt;
O'er each red saggars burning cave preside,
The keen-eyed Fire-Nymphs blazing by your side;
And pleased on WEDGWOOD ray your partial smile,
A new Etruria decks Britannia's isle.Charm'd by your touch, the flint liquescent pours
Through finer sieves, and falls in whiter showers;
Charm'd by your touch, the kneaded clay refines,
The biscuit hardens, the enamel shines;
Each nicer mould a softer feature drinks,
The bold Cameo speaks, the soft Intaglio thinks.
'To call the pearly drops from Pity's eye,
Or stay Despair's disanimating sigh,
Whether, O Friend of art! the gem you mould
Rich with new taste, with antient virtue bold;
Form the poor fetter'd SLAVE on bended knee
From Britain's sons imploring to be free;
Or with fair HOPE the brightening scenes improve,
And cheer the dreary wastes at Sydney-cove;
Or bid Mortality rejoice and mourn
O'er the fine forms on PORTLAND'S mystic urn.'
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Here
by fall'n columns and disjoin'd arcades,
On mouldering stones, beneath deciduous shades,
Sits HUMANKIND in hieroglyphic state,
Serious, and pondering on their changeful state;
While with inverted torch, and swimming eyes,
Sinks the fair shade of MORTAL LIFE, and dies.
There
the pale GHOST through Death's wide portal bends
His timid feet, the dusky steep descends;
With smiles assuasive LOVE DIVINE invites,
Guides on broad wing, with torch uplifted lights;
IMMORTAL LIFE, her hand extending, courts
The lingering form, his tottering step supports;
Leads on to Pluto's realms the dreary way,
And gives him trembling to Elysian day.
Beneath
in sacred robes the PRIESTESS dress'd,
The coif close-hooded, and the fluttering vest,
With pointing finger guides the initiate youth,
Unweaves the many-colour'd veil of Truth,
Drives the profane from Mystery's bolted door,
And Silence guards the Eleusinian lore.'Whether, O Friend of Art! your gems derive
Fine forms from Greece, and fabled Gods revive;
Or bid from modern life the Portrait breathe,
And bind round Honour's brow the laurel wreath;
Buoyant shall sail, with Fame's historic page,
Each fair medallion o'er the wrecks of age;
Nor Time shall mar; nor steel, nor fire, nor rust
Touch the hard polish of the immortal bust.
2. 'HENCE sable COAL his massy couch extends,
And stars of gold the sparkling Pyrite blends;
Hence dull-eyed Naphtha pours his pitchy streams,
And Jet uncolour'd drinks the solar beams,
Bright Amber shines on his electric throne,
And adds ethereal lustres to his own.
-Led by the phosphor-light, with daring tread
Immortal FRANKLIN sought the fiery bed;
Where, nursed in night, incumbent Tempest shrouds
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The seeds of Thunder in circumfluent clouds,
Besieged with iron points his airy cell,
And pierced the monster slumbering in the shell.
'So, born on sounding pinions to the WEST,
When Tyrant-Power had built his eagle nest;
While from his eyry shriek'd the famish'd brood,
Clenched their sharp claws, and champ'd their beaks for blood,
Immortal FRANKLIN watch'd the callow crew,
And stabb'd the struggling Vampires, ere they flew.
-The patriot-flame with quick contagion ran,
Hill lighted hill, and man electrised man;
Her heroes slain awhile COLUMBIA mourn'd,
And crown'd with laurels LIBERTY return'd.
'The Warrior, LIBERTY, with bending sails
Helm'd his bold course to fair HIBERNIA'S vales;Firm as he steps, along the shouting lands,
Lo! Truth and Virtue range their radiant bands;
Sad Superstition wails her empire torn,
Art plies his oar, and Commerce pours her horn.
'Long had the Giant-form on GALLIA'S plains
Inglorious slept, unconscious of his chains;
Round his large limbs were wound a thousand strings
By the weak hands of Confessors and Kings;
O'er his closed eyes a triple veil was bound,
And steely rivets lock'd him to the ground;
While stern Bastile with iron cage inthralls
His folded limbs, and hems in marble walls.
-Touch'd by the patriot-flame, he rent amazed
The flimsy bonds, and round and round him gazed;
Starts up from earth, above the admiring throng
Lifts his Colossal form, and towers along;
High o'er his foes his hundred arms He rears,
Plowshares his swords, and pruning hooks his spears;
Calls to the Good and Brave with voice, that rolls
Like Heaven's own thunder round the echoing poles;
Gives to the winds his banner broad unfurl'd,
And gathers in its shade the living world!
VII. 'GNOMES! YOU then taught volcanic airs to force
Through bubbling Lavas their resistless course,
O'er the broad walls of rifted Granite climb,
And pierce the rent roof of incumbent Lime,
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Round sparry caves metallic lustres fling,
And bear phlogiston on their tepid wing.
'HENCE glows, refulgent Tin! thy chrystal grains,
And tawny Copper shoots her azure veins;
Zinc lines his fretted vault with sable ore,
And dull Galena tessellates the floor;
On vermil beds in Idria's mighty caves
The living Silver rolls its ponderous waves;
With gay refractions bright Platina shines,
And studs with squander'd stars his dusky mines;
Long threads of netted gold, and silvery darts,
Inlay the Lazuli, and pierce the Quartz;-Whence roof'd with silver beam'd PERU, of old,
And hapless MEXICO was paved with gold.
'Heavens! on my sight what sanguine colours blaze!
Spain's deathless shame! the crimes of modern days!
When Avarice, shrouded in Religion's robe,
Sail'd to the West, and slaughter'd half the globe;
While Superstition, stalking by his side,
Mock'd the loud groans, and lap'd the bloody tide;
For sacred truths announced her frenzied dreams,
And turn'd to night the sun's meridian beams.Hear, oh, BRITANNIA! potent Queen of isles,
On whom fair Art, and meek Religion smiles,
Now AFRIC'S coasts thy craftier sons invade
With murder, rapine, theft,-and call it Trade!
-The SLAVE, in chains, on supplicating knee,
Spreads his wide arms, and lifts his eyes to Thee;
With hunger pale, with wounds and toil oppress'd,
'ARE WE NOT BRETHREN?' sorrow choaks the rest;-AIR! bear to heaven upon thy azure flood
Their innocent cries!-EARTH! cover not their blood!
VIII. 'When Heaven's dread justice smites in crimes o'ergrown
The blood-nursed Tyrant on his purple throne,
GNOMES! YOUR bold forms unnumber'd arms outstretch,
And urge the vengeance o'er the guilty wretch.Thus when CAMBYSES led his barbarous hosts
From Persia's rocks to Egypt's trembling coasts,
Defiled each hallowed fane, and sacred wood,
And, drunk with fury, swell'd the Nile with blood;
Waved his proud banner o'er the Theban states,
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And pour'd destruction through her hundred gates;
In dread divisions march'd the marshal'd bands,
And swarming armies blacken'd all the lands,
By Memphis these to ETHIOP'S sultry plains,
And those to HAMMON'S sand-incircled fanes.Slow as they pass'd, the indignant temples frown'd,
Low curses muttering from the vaulted ground;
Long ailes of Cypress waved their deepen'd glooms,
And quivering spectres grinn'd amid the tombs;
Prophetic whispers breathed from S
And MEMNON'S lyre with hollow murmurs rung;
Burst from each pyramid expiring groans,
And darker shadows stretch'd their lengthen'd cones.Day after day their deathful rout They steer,
Lust in the van, and rapine in the rear.
'GNOMES! as they march'd, You hid the gathered fruits,
The bladed grass, sweet grains, and mealy roots;
Scared the tired quails, that journey'd o'er their heads,
Retain'd the locusts in their earthy beds;
Bade on your sands no night-born dews distil,
Stay'd with vindictive hands the scanty rill.Loud o'er the camp the Fiend of Famine shrieks,
Calls all her brood, and champs her hundred beaks;
O'er ten square leagues her pennons broad expand,
And twilight swims upon the shuddering sand;
Perch'd on her crest the Griffin Discord clings,
And Giant Murder rides between her wings;
Blood from each clotted hair, and horny quill,
And showers of tears in blended streams distil;
High-poised in air her spiry neck she bends,
Rolls her keen eye, her Dragon-claws extends,
Darts from above, and tears at each fell swoop
With iron fangs the decimated troop.
'Now o'er their head the whizzing whirlwinds breathe,
And the live desert pants, and heaves beneath;
Tinged by the crimson sun, vast columns rise
Of eddying sands, and war amid the skies,
In red arcades the billowy plain surround,
And stalking turrets dance upon the ground.
-Long ranks in vain their shining blades extend,
To Demon-Gods their knees unhallow'd bend,
Wheel in wide circle, form in hollow square,
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And now they front, and now they fly the war,
Pierce the deaf tempest with lamenting cries,
Press their parch'd lips, and close their blood-shot eyes.
-GNOMES! o'er the waste YOU led your myriad powers,
Climb'd on the whirls, and aim'd the flinty showers!Onward resistless rolls the infuriate surge,
Clouds follow clouds, and mountains mountains urge;
Wave over wave the driving desert swims,
Bursts o'er their heads, inhumes their struggling limbs;
Man mounts on man, on camels camels rush,
Hosts march o'er hosts, and nations nations crush,Wheeling in air the winged islands fall,
And one great earthy Ocean covers all!Then ceased the storm,-NIGHT bow'd his Ethiop brow
To earth, and listen'd to the groans below,Grim HORROR shook,-awhile the living hill
Heaved with convulsive throes,-and all was still!
IX. 'GNOMES! whose fine forms, impassive as the air,
Shrink with soft sympathy for human care;
Who glide unseen, on printless slippers borne,
Beneath the waving grass, and nodding corn;
Or lay your tiny limbs, when noon-tide warms,
Where shadowy cowslips stretch their golden arms,So mark'd on orreries in lucid signs,
Star'd with bright points the mimic zodiac shines;
Borne on fine wires amid the pictured skies
With ivory orbs the planets set and rise;
Round the dwarf earth the pearly moon is roll'd,
And the sun twinkling whirls his rays of gold.Call your bright myriads, march your mailed hosts,
With spears and helmets glittering round the coasts;
Thick as the hairs, which rear the Lion's mane,
Or fringe the Boar, that bays the hunter-train;
Watch, where proud Surges break their treacherous mounds,
And sweep resistless o'er the cultured grounds;
Such as erewhile, impell'd o'er Belgia's plain,
Roll'd her rich ruins to the insatiate main;
With piles and piers the ruffian waves engage,
And bid indignant Ocean stay his rage.
'Where, girt with clouds, the rifted mountain yawns,
And chills with length of shade the gelid lawns,
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Climb the rude steeps, the granite-cliffs surround,
Pierce with steel points, with wooden wedges wound;
Break into clays the soft volcanic slaggs,
Or melt with acid airs the marble craggs;
Crown the green summits with adventurous flocks,
And charm with novel flowers the wondering rocks.
-So when proud Rome the Afric Warrior braved,
And high on Alps his crimson banner waved;
While rocks on rocks their beetling brows oppose
With piny forests, and unfathomed snows;
Onward he march'd, to Latium's velvet ground
With fires and acids burst the obdurate bound,
Wide o'er her weeping vales destruction hurl'd,
And shook the rising empire of the world.
X. 'Go, gentle GNOMES! resume your vernal toil,
Seek my chill tribes, which sleep beneath the soil;
On grey-moss banks, green meads, or furrow'd lands
Spread the dark mould, white lime, and crumbling sands;
Each bursting bud with healthier juices feed,
Emerging scion, or awaken'd seed.
So, in descending streams, the silver Chyle
Streaks with white clouds the golden floods of bile;
Through each nice valve the mingling currents glide,
Join their fine rills, and swell the sanguine tide;
Each countless cell, and viewless fibre seek,
Nerve the strong arm, and tinge the blushing cheek.
'Oh, watch, where bosom'd in the teeming earth,
Green swells the germ, impatient for its birth;
Guard from rapacious worms its tender shoots,
And drive the mining beetle from its roots;
With ceaseless efforts rend the obdurate clay,
And give my vegetable babes to day!
-Thus when an Angel-form, in light array'd,
Like HOWARD pierced the prison's noisome shade;
Where chain'd to earth, with eyes to heaven upturn'd,
The kneeling Saint in holy anguish mourn'd;Ray'd from his lucid vest, and halo'd brow
O'er the dark roof celestial lustres glow,
'PETER, arise!' with cheering voice He calls,
And sounds seraphic echo round the walls;
Locks, bolts, and chains his potent touch obey,
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And pleased he leads the dazzled Sage to day.
XI. 'YOU! whose fine fingers fill the organic cells,
With virgin earth, of woods and bones and shells;
Mould with retractile glue their spongy beds,
And stretch and strengthen all their fibre-threads.Late when the mass obeys its changeful doom,
And sinks to earth, its cradle and its tomb,
GNOMES! with nice eye the slow solution watch,
With fostering hand the parting atoms catch,
Join in new forms, combine with life and sense,
And guide and guard the transmigrating Ens.
'So when on Lebanon's sequester'd hight
The fair ADONIS left the realms of light,
Bow'd his bright locks, and, fated from his birth
To change eternal, mingled with the earth;With darker horror shook the conscious wood,
Groan'd the sad gales, and rivers blush'd with blood;
On cypress-boughs the Loves their quivers hung,
Their arrows scatter'd, and their bows unstrung;
And BEAUTY'S GODDESS, bending o'er his bier,
Breathed the soft sigh, and pour'd the tender tear.Admiring PROSERPINE through dusky glades
Led the fair phantom to Elysian shades,
Clad with new form, with finer sense combined,
And lit with purer flame the ethereal mind.
-Erewhile, emerging from infernal night,
The bright Assurgent rises into light,
Leaves the drear chambers of the insatiate tomb,
And shines and charms with renovated bloom.While wondering Loves the bursting grave surround,
And edge with meeting wings the yawning ground,
Stretch their fair necks, and leaning o'er the brink
View the pale regions of the dead, and shrink;
Long with broad eyes ecstatic BEAUTY stands,
Heaves her white bosom, spreads her waxen hands;
Then with loud shriek the panting Youth alarms,
'My Life! my Love!' and springs into his arms.'
The GODDESS ceased,-the delegated throng
O'er the wide plains delighted rush along;
In dusky squadrons, and in shining groups,
Hosts follow hosts, and troops succeed to troops;
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Scarce bears the bending grass the moving freight,
And nodding florets bow beneath their weight.
So when light clouds on airy pinions sail,
Flit the soft shadows o'er the waving vale;
Shade follows shade, as laughing Zephyrs drive,
And all the chequer'd landscape seems alive.
~ Erasmus Darwin,
450:The Bush
I wonder if the spell, the mystery,
That like a haze about your silence clings,
Moulding your void until we seem to see
Tangible Presences of Deathless Things,
Patterned but little to our spirits' woof,
Yet from our love or hate not all aloof,
Can. be the matrix where are forming slowly
Troy tales of Old Australia, to refine
Eras to come of ordered melancholy
'Neath lily-pale Perfection's anodyne.
For Troy hath ever been, and Homer sang
Its younger story for a lodging's fee,
While o'er Scamander settlers' axes rang
Amid the Bush where Ilium was to be.
For Cretan Art, dim centuries before,
Minoan Dream-times some Briseis bore.
Sumerian Phoebus by a willowed water
Song-built a Troy for far Chaldea, where
The sons of God, beholding Leda's daughter,
Bartered eternal thrones for love of her.
Across each terraced aeon Time hath sowed
With green tautology of vanished years,
Gaping aghast or webbed with shining lode,
Achilles' anger's earthquake-rift appears.
The towers that Phoebus builds can never fall:
Desire that Helen lights can never pall:
Yea, wounded Love hath still but gods to fly to,
When lust of war inflames Diomedes:
Must some Australian Hector vainly die, too?
Captives in ships? (0 change that omen, Trees!)
Yea, Mother Bush, in your deep dreams abide
Cupids alert for man and maid unborn,
Apprentice Pucks amid your saplings hide,
And wistful gorges wait a Roland horn:
Wallet of Sigurd shall this swag replace,
And centaurs curvet where those brumbies race.
39
That drover's tale of love shall greaten duly
Through magic prisms of a myriad years,
Till bums Isolde to Tristram's fervour newly,
Or Launcelot to golden Guinevere's.
The miner cradling washdirt by the creek,
Or pulled through darkness dripping to the plat:
The navvy boring tunnels through the peak:
The farmer grubbing box-trees on the flat:
The hawker camping by the roadside spring:
The hodman on the giddy scaffolding:
Moths that around the fashion windows flutter:
The racecourse spider and the betting fly:
The children romping by the city gutter,
While baby crows to every passer-byFrom these rough blocks strewn o'er our ancient stream
Sculptors shall chisel brownie, fairy, faun,
Any myrmidons of some Homeric dream
From Melbourne mob and Sydney push be drawn.
The humdrum lives that now we tire of, then
Romance shall be, and 'we heroic men
Treading the vestibule of Golden Ages,
The Isthmus of the Land of Heart's Desire:
For lo! the Sybil's final volume's pages
Ope with our Advent, close when we expire.
Forgetful Change in one 'antiquity'
Boreal gleams shall drown, and southern glows;
Out of some singing woman's heart-break plea
Australia's dawn shall flush with Sappho's rose:
Strong Shirlow's hand shall trace Mantegna's line,
And Soma foam from Victor Daley's wine:
Scholars to be our prehistoric drama
From Esson's 'Woman Tamer' shall restore,
Or find in Gilbert's 'Lotus Stream and Lama'
An Austral Nile and Buddhas we adore.
The sunlit Satyrs follow Hugh McCrae,
Quinn spans the ocean with a Celtic ford,
And Williamson the Pan-pipe learns to play
From magpie-songs our schoolboy ears ignored:
40
A sweeter woe no keen of Erin gave
Than Kendall sings o'er Araluen's grave:
Tasmanian Wordsworth to his chapel riding
The Burning Bush and Ardath mead shall pass,
Or, from the sea-coast of Bohemia gliding
On craft of dream, behold a shepherd lass.
Jessie Mackay on Southern Highlands sees
The elves deploy in kem and gallowglass:
Our Gilbert Murray writes 'Euripides':
Pirani merges in Pythagoras:
Marsyas plunges into Lethe, flayed,
From Rhadamanthine Stephens' steady blade:
While Benvenuto Morton, drunk with singing,
Sees salamanders in a bush-fire's bed,
And Spencer sails from Alcheringa bringing
Intaglios, totems and Books of the Dead.
On Southern fiords shall Brady's Long Snakes hiss,
Heavy with brides he wins to Viking troth:
O'Reilly's Sydney shall be Sybaris,
While Melbourne's Muses sup their Spartan broth:
Murdoch, Zenobia's counsellor, in time,
Redacts from Burke his book on The Sublime:
By Way was Homer into Greek translated:
And Shakespeare's self is Sophocles so plain
They know the kerb whereon the Furies waited
Outside the Mermaid Inn in Brogan's Lane.
Vane shall divide with Vern Eureka's fame;
Tillett and Mann are Tyler then and Cade:
Dowie's entwines with Cagliostro's name,
And in Tarpeia's, lo, those fair forms fade
Who drug the poor, for social bread and wine,
And lift the furtive latch to Catiline:
There, where the Longmore-featured Gracchi hurry,
And Greek-browed Higinbotham walks, anon,
The 'wealthy lower orders' leap the Murray
Before the stockwhip cracks of Jardine Don.
Cleons in 'Windsor dress at Syracuse
Their thin plebeians' promised meal delay;
41
And Archibald begets Australia's Muse
Upon an undine red of Chowder Bay:
Paterson's swan draws Amphitrite's car,
And Sidon learns from Young what purples are:
Rose Scott refutes dogmatic Cyril gaily,
Hypatia turns the anti-suffrage flank,
And Herod's daughter sools her 'morning daily'
On John the Baptist by the Yarra Bank.
Yon regal bustard, fading hence ere long,
Shall seem the guide we followed to the Grail;
This lyre-bird on his dancing-mound of song
Our mystagogue of some Bacchantic vale,
Where feathered Pan guffaws 'Evoe!' above,
And Maenad curlews shriek their midnight love:
That trailing flight of distant swans is bearing
Sarpedon's soul to its eternal joy:
This ibis, from the very Nile, despairing,
Memnon our own would warn from fatal Troy.
Primeval gnomes distilled the golden bribes
That have impregnated your musing waste with men;
But shall the spell of your pathetic tribes
Curl round, in time, our fairer limbs again?
Through that long tunnel of your gloom, I see
Gardens of a metropolis to be!
Out of the depths the mountain ash is soaring
To embryon gods of what unsounded space?
Out of the heights what influence is pouring
Thin desolation on your haunted face?
Many there are who see no higher lot
For all your writhing centuries of toil
Than that the avaricious plough should blot
Their wilding burgeon, and the red brand spoil
Your cyclopean garniture, to sow
The cheap parterres of Europe on your woe.
They weave all sorceries but yours, and borrow
The tinkling spells of alien winds and seas
To drown the chord of purifying sorrow,
Bom ere the world, that pulses through your trees.
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For, save when we, in not o'er-subtle mood,
Hear magpies warbling soft November in,
Or, hand in hand with Love, a dreaming wood
Or bouldered crest of crisper April win,
Your harps, unblurred by glozing strings, intone
The dirges that behind Creation moan'Where, riding reinless billows, new lives dash on
The souring beach of yesterday's decay,
Where Love's chord leaps from mandrake shrieks of passion,
And groping gods mould man from quivering clay.
(Is Nature deaf and blind and dumb? A cruse
Unfilled of wine? Clay for an unbreathed soul?
Alien to man, till his desires transfuse
Their flames through wind and water, leaf and bole,
And each crude fane elaborately fit
With oracles that echo all his wit?
The living wilds of Greece saw death returning
When Pan that men had made fell from his throne:
Till through her sap our very blood is churning
The Bush her lonely alien woe shall moan!
Or is she reticent but to be kind?
Whispers she not beneath her mask of clods'Who asks he shall receive, who seeks shall find,
Who knocks shall open every door of God's?'
Dumb Faith's, blind Hope's eternal consort she,
Gravid with all that is on earth to be;
Corn, wine and oil in hungry granite hiding,
All Beauty under sober wings of clay,
All life beneath her dead heart long abiding,
Yea, all the gods her sons and she obey!)
What sin's wan expiation strewed your Vast
With mounded pillage of what conquering fire?
Slumbering throes of what prodigious Past
Exhale these lingering ghosts of its desire?
Sunshine that bleached corruption out, that glare?
Desolate blue of Purgatory, there?
Flagellant winds through guilty Eden scouring?
Sahara drowning Prester John's domain?
Satumian dam her progeny devouring?
Hath dawn-time Hun these footprints left? Hath Cain?
43
Even the human wave, that shall at length
To man's endurance key your strident surge,
Sings in your poignant tones and sombre strength,
And makes, as yet, its own your primal dirge:
A gun-shot startles dawn back from the sky,
And mourning tea-trees echo Gordon's sigh:
Nardoo with Burke's faint sweat is dank for ever:
Spectral a tribe round poisoned rations shrieks:
Till doomday Leichhardt walks die Never Never:
Pensive, of Boake, the circling stock-whip speaks.
The wraiths unseen of roadside crimes unnamed
About that old-time shanty's ruins roam:
This squatter's fenceless acres hide ashamed
The hearth and battered zinc of Naboth's home:
Deserted 'yam-holes' pit your harmonies
With sloughing pock-marks of the gold-disease:
The sludgy creek 'mid hungry rushes rambles,
Where teal once dived and lowan raised her mound:
That tree, with crows, o'erlooks the township shambles:
These paddocks, ordure-smeared, the city bound.
0 yield not all to factory and farm!
For we, who drew a milk no stranger knows
From her scant paps, yearn for the acrid charm
That gossamers the Bush Where No Tree Grows.
And we have ritual moments when we crave
For worship in some messmate-pillared nave,
Where contrite 'bears' for woodland sins are kneeling,
And, 'mid the censers of the mountain musk,
Acolyte bell-birds the Angelus are pealing,
And boobooks moan lone vespers in the dusk,
And you have Children of the Dreaming Star,
Who care but little for the crowded ways
Where meagre spirits' vapid prizes are,
Or for the paddocked ease of dreamless days
And hedges clipped of every sunny growth
That plights the soul to God in daily troth:
Their wayward love prefers your desolation,
Or (where the human trail hath seared its charm)
44
The briar-rose on some abandoned 'station',
To all the tilled obedience of the farm.
Vineyards that purblind thrift shall never glean
The weedy waste and thistly gully hold:
No mint shall melt to currency unclean
Yon river-rounded hillock's Cape-broom gold:
The onion-grass upon that dark green slope
Returns our gaze from eyes of heliotrope:
But more we seek your underflowered expanses
Of scrub monotonous, or, where, O Bush,
The craters of your fiery noon's romances,
Like great firm bosoms, through the bare plains push.
As many. Mother, are your moods and forms
As all the sons who love you. Here, you mow
Careering grounds for every brood of storms
The wild sea-mares to desert stallions throw;
Anon, up through a sea of sand you glance
With green ephemeral exuberance,
And then quick seeds dive deep to years of slumber
From hot-hoofed drought's precipitate return:
There, league on league, the snow's cold fingers number
The shrinking nerves of supple-jack and fern.
To other eyes and ears you are a great
Pillared cathedral tremulously green,
An odorous and hospitable gate
To genial mystery, the happy screen
Of truants or of lovers rambling there
'Neath sun-shot boughs o'er miles of maidenhair.
Wee rubies dot the leaflets of the cherries,
The wooing wagtails hop from log to bough,
The bronzewing comes from Queensland for the berries,
The bell-bird by the creek is calling now.
And you can ride, an Eastern queen, they say,
By living creatures sumptuously borne,
With all barbaric equipages gay,
Beneath the torrid blue of Capricorn.
That native lotus is the very womb
That was the Hindoo goddess' earthly tomb.
45
The gang-gang screams o'er cactus wildernesses,
Palm trees are there, and swampy widths of rice,
Unguents and odours ooze from green recesses,
The jungles blaze with birds of Paradise.
But I, in city exile, hear you sing
Of saplinged hill and box-tree dotted plain,
Or silver-grass that prays the North Wind's wing
Convey its sigh to the loitering rain:
And Spring is half distraught with wintry gusts,
Summer the daily spoil of tropic lusts
The sun and she too fiercely shared together
Lingering thro' voluptuous Hindoo woods,
But o'er my windless, soft autumnal weather
The peace that passes understanding broods.
When, now, they say 'The Bush!', I see the top
Delicate amber leanings of the gum
Flutter, or flocks of screaming green leeks drop
Silent, where in the shining morning hum
The gleaning bees for honey-scented hours
'Mid labyrinthine leaves and white gum flowers.
Cantering midnight hoofs are nearing, nearing,
The straining bullocks flick the harpy flies,
The 'hatter' weeds his melancholy clearing,
The distant cow-bell tinkles o'er the rise.
You are the brooding comrade of our way,
Whispering rumour of a new Unknown,
Moulding us white ideals to obey,
Steeping whate'er we learn in lore your own,
And freshening with unpolluted light
The squalid city's day and pallid night,
Till we become ourselves distinct, Australian,
(Your native lightning charging blood and nerve),
Stripped to the soul of borrowed garments, alien
To that approaching Shape of God you serve.
Brooding, brooding, your whispers murmur plain
That searching for the clue to mystery
In grottos of decrepitude is vain,
That never shall the eye of prophet see
46
In crooked Trade's tumultuous streets the plan
Of templed cities adequate to man.
Brooding, brooding, you make us Brahmins waiting
(While uninspired pass on the hurtling years),
Faithful to dreams your spirit is creating,
Till Great Australia, born of you, appears.
For Great Australia is not yet: She waits
(Where o'er the Bush prophetic auras play)
The passing of these temporary States,
Flaunting their tawdry flags of far decay.
Her aureole above the alien mists
Beacons our filial eyes to mountain trysts:
'Mid homely trees with all ideals fruited,
She shelters us till Trade's Simoom goes by,
And slakes our thirst from cisterns unpolluted .
For ages cold in brooding deeps of sky.
We love our brothers, and to heal their woe
Pluck simples from the known old gardens still:
We love our kindred over seas, and grow
Their symbols tenderly o'er plain and hill;
We feel their blood rebounding in our hearts,
And speak as they would speak our daily parts:
But under all we know, we know that only
A virgin womb unsoiled by ancient fear
Can Saviours bear. So, we, your Brahmins, lonely,
Deaf to the barren tumult, wait your Year.
The Great Year's quivering dawn pencils the Night
To be the morning of our children's prime,
And weave from rays of yet ungathered Light
A richer noon than e'er apparelled Time.
If it must be, as Tuscan wisdom knew,
Babylon's seer, and wistful Egypt too,
That mellow afternoon shall pensive guide us
Down somnolent Decay's ravine to rest,
Then you, reborn, 0 Mother Bush, shall hide us
All the long night at your dream-laden breast.
Australian eyes that heed your lessons know
Another world than older pilgrims may:
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Prometheus chained in Kosciusko's snow
Sees later gods than Zeus in turn decay:
Boundless plateaux expand the spirit's sight,
Resilient gales uphold her steeper flight:
And your close beating heart, 0 savage Mother,
Throbs secret words of joy and starker pain
Than reach the ears all old deceptions smother
In Lebanon, or e'en in Westermain.
We marvel not, who hear your undersong,
And catch a glimpse in rare exalted hours
Of something like a Being gleam along
Festooned arcades of flossie creeper flowers,
Or, toward the mirk, seem privileged to share
The silent rapture of the trees at prayerWe marvel not that seers in other ages,
With eyes unstrained by peering logic, saw
The desolation glow with Koran pages,
Or Sinai stones with Tables of the Law.
Homers are waiting in the gum trees now,
Far driven from the tarnished Cyclades:
More Druids to your green enchantment bow
Than 'neath unfaithful Mona's vanished trees:
A wind hath spirited from ageing France
To our fresh hills the carpet of Romance:
Heroes and maids of old with young blood tingling
In ampler gardens grow their roses new:
And races long apart their manas mingling
Prepare the cradle of an Advent due.
And those who dig the mounded eld for runes
To read Religion's tangled cipher, here,
Where all Illusion haunts the fainting noons
Of days hysteric with the tireless leer
Of ravenous enamoured suns, shall find
How May a flings her mantle o'er the mind,
Till sober sand to shining water changes,
Dodona whispers from the she-oak groves,
Afreets upon the tempest cross the ranges,
And Fafnir through the bunyip marshes roves.
48
Once, when Uranian Love appeared to glow
Through that abysmal Night that bounds our reignLove that a man may scarcely feel and know i
Quite the same world as other men againWith earthward-streaming frontier wraiths distraught,
Your oracles, 0 Mother Bush, I sought:
But found, dismayed, that eerie light revealing
Those wraiths already in your depths on sleuth,
Termagant Scorns along your hillsides stealing,
Remorse unbaring slow her barbed tooth.
My own thoughts first from far dispersion flew
Back to their sad creator, with the crops
Of woes in flower and all the harvests due
Till tiring Time the fearful seeding stops:
In pigmy forms of friends and foes, anon
In my own image, they came, stung, were gone:
And then I heard the voice of Him Who Questions,
Knowing the faltered answer ere it came,
Chilling the soul by hovering suggestions
Of wan damnation at a wince of blame.
And all your leaves in symbols were arranged,
Despairs long dead would leap from bough to bough,
A gum-tree buttress to a goblin changed
Grinning the warmth of some old broken vow:
Furtive desires for scarce-remembered maids
Glanced in a fearful bo-peep from your shades:
Till you became a purgatory cleansing
With rosy flakes in form of manikins,
To fiercer shame within my soul condensing,
The dim pollution of forgotten sins.
And She, the human symbol of that Love,
Would, as my cleansed eyes forgot their fear,
Comrade beside me. Comforter above,
With sunny smile ubiquitous appear:
Run on before me to the nooks we knew,
Walk hand in hand as glad young lovers do,
Gravely reprove me toying with temptation,
Show me the eyes and ears in roots and clods,
Bend with me o'er some blossom's revelation,
49
Or read from clouds the judgments of the gods.
My old ideals She would tune until
The grating note of self no longer rang:
She drove the birds of gloom and evil will
Out of the cote wherein my poems sang.
Time at Her wand annulled his calendar,
And Space his fallacy of Near and Far,
For through my Bush along with me She glided,
And crowded days of Beauty made more fair,
Though lagging weeks and ocean widths divided
Her mortal casing from Her Presence there.
Her wetted finger oped my shuttered eyes
To boyhood's scership of the Real again:
Upon the Bush descended from the skies
The rapt-up Eden of primordial men:
August Dominions through the vistas strode:
On white-maned clouds the smiling cherubs rode:
Maltreated Faith restored my jangled hearing
Till little seraphs sang from chip and clod:
And prayers were radiant children that, unfearing,
Floated as kisses to the lips of God.
It matters not that for some purpose wise
Myopic Reason censored long ago
The revelations of that Paradise,
When, back of all I feel or will or know,
Its silent angels beacon through the Dark
And point to harbours new my drifted ark.
Nor need we dread the fogs that round us thicken
Questing the Bush for Grails decreed for man,
When Powers our fathers saw unseen still quicken
Eyes that were ours before the world began.
'Twas then I saw the Vision of the Ways,
And 'mid their gloom and glory seemed to live,
Threaded the coverts of the Dark Road's maze,
Toiled up, with tears, the Track Retributive,
And, on the Path of Grace, beheld aglow
The love-lit Nave of all that wheeled below.
And She who flowered, my Mystic Rose, in Heaven,
50
And lit the Purging Mount, my Guiding Star,
Trudged o'er the marl, my mate, through Hell's wan levin,
Nor shrank, like lonely Dante's love, afar.
High towered a cloud over one leafy wild,
And to a bridged volcano grew. Above,
A great Greek group of father, mother, child,
Illumed a narrow round with radiant love.
Below, a smoke-pool thick with faces swirled,
The mutinous omen. of an Under-world,
Defeated, plundered, blackened, but preparing,
E'en though that calm, white dominance fell down,
To overflow the rim, and, sunward faring,
Shape myriad perfect groups from slave and clown.
Or thus I read the symbol, though 'twas sent
To hound compunction on my wincing pride,
That dreamed of raceless brotherhood, content
Though all old Charm dissolved and Glory died.
For often signs will yield their deeper signs,
Virginal Bush, in your untrodden shrines,
Than where the craven ages' human clamour
Distorts the boldest oracle with fear,
Or where dissolving wizards dew with glamour
Arden, Broceliande, or Windermere.
Once while my mother by a spreading tree
Our church's sober rubric bade me con,
My vagrant eyes among the boughs would see
Forbidden wings and •wizard aprons on
Father's 'wee people' from their Irish glades
Brighten and darken with your lights and shades.
And I would only read again those stern leaves
For whispered bribe that, when their tale I told,
We would go and look for fairies in the fern-leaves
And red-capped leprechauns with crocks of gold.
Anon, my boyhood saw how Sunbursts flamed
Or filmy hinds lured on a pale Oisin,
Where lithe indignant saplings crowding claimed
The digger's ravage for their plundered queen:
And heard within yon lichened 'mullock-heap'
51
Lord Edward's waiting horsemen moan in sleep:
Or flew the fragrant path of swans consoling
Lir's exiled daughter wandering with me,
And traced below the Wattle River rolling
Exuberant and golden toward the sea.
Here, would the •wavering wings of heat uplift
Some promontory till the tree-crowned pile
Above a phantom sea would swooning drift,
St. Brendan's vision of the Winged Isle:
Anon, the isle divides again, again,
Till archipelagos poise o'er the main.
There, lazy fingers of a breeze have scattered
The distant blur of factory chimney smoke
hi poignant groups of all the young lives shattered
To feed the ravin of a piston-stroke!
Or when I read the tale of what you were
Beyond these hungry eyes' home-keeping view,
I peopled petrel rocks with Sirens fair,
In Maid Mirage the Fairy Morgan knew,
Steered Quetzalcoatl's skiff to coral coasts,
On Chambers' Pillar throned the Olympian hosts,
Heard in white sulphur-crested parrots' screeches
Remorseful Peris vent their hopeless rage,
Atlantis' borders traced on sunken beaches,
m Alcheringa found the Golden Age.
Sibyl and Siren, with alternate breaths
You read our foetal nation's boon and bane,
And lure to trysts of orgiastic Deaths
Adventurous love that listens to your strain:
Pelsarts and Vanderdeckens of the world
Circle your charms or at your feet are hurled:
And, Southern witch, whose glamour drew De Quiros
O'er half the earth for one unyielded kiss,
Were yours the arms that healed the scalded Eros
When Psyche's curious lamp darkened their bliss?
Ye, who would challenge when we claim to see
The bush alive with Northern wealth of wings,
Forget that at a common mother's knee
52
We learned, with you, the lore of Silent Things.
There is no New that is not older far
Than swirling cradle of the first-born star:
Our youngest hearts prolong the far pulsation
And churn the brine of the primordial sea:
The foetus writes the précis of Creation:
Australia is the whole world's legatee.
Imagination built her throne in us
Before your present bodies saw the sky:
Your myths were counters of our abacus,
And in your brain developed long our eye:
We from the misty folk have also sprung
Who saw the gnomes and heard the Ever Young:
Do Southern skies the fancy disinherit
Of moly flower and Deva-laden breeze?
Do nerves attuned by old defect and merit
Their timbre lose by crossing tropic seas?
All mysteries ye claim as yours alone
Have wafted secrets over oceans here:
Our living soil Antiquity hath sown
With just the corn and tares ye love and fear:
Romance and song enthral us just as you,
Nor change of zenith changes spirit too:
Our necks as yours are sore with feudal halters:
To the Pole ye know our compasses are set;
And shivering years that huddled round your altars
Beneath our stars auspicious tremble yet.
Who fenced the nymphs in European vales?
Or Pan tabooed from all but Oxford dreams?
Warned Shakespeare off from foreign Plutarch's tales?
Or tethered Virgil to Italian themes?
And when the body sailed from your control
Think ye we left behind in bond the soul?
Whate'er was yours is ours in equal measure,
The Temple was not built for you alone,
Altho' 'tis ours to grace the common treasure
With Lares and Penates of our own!
Ye stole yourselves from gardens fragrant long
53
The sprouting seed-pods of your choicest blooms,
And wove the splendid garments of your song
From Viking foam on grave Hebraic looms:
'Twas Roman nerve and rich Hellenic lymph
Changed your pale pixie to a nubile nymph:
Yea, breathed at dawn around Atlantis' islands,
Wind-home o'er some Hesperidean road,
The morning clouds on dim Accadian highlands
Spring-fed the Nile that over Hellas flowed!
As large-eyed Greek amid Sicilian dews
Saw Dis, as ne'er before, pursue the Maid,
Or, safe 'neath screening billows, Arethuse
Alpheus' rugged sleuth unsoiled evade:
We shall complete the tale ye left half-told,
Under the ocean lead your fountains old,
To slake our sceptic thirst with haunted water,
And tame our torrents with a wedding kiss,
Shall loose, mayhap, the spell on Ceres' daughter,
And show, unclouded, God in very Dis.
(Yet, there are moods and mornings when I hear,
Above the music of the Bush's breath,
The rush of alien breezes far and near
Drowning her oracles to very death:
Exotic battle-cries the silence mar,
Seductive perfumes drive the gum-scent far;
And organ-tones august a moment show me
Miltonic billows and Homeric gales
Until I feel the older worlds below me,
And all her wonder trembles, thins and fails.)
Yea, you are all that we may be, and yet
In us is all you are to be for aye!
The Giver of the gifts that we shall get?
An empty womb that waits the wedding day?
Thus drifting sense by age-long habit buoyed
Plays round the thought that knows all nature void!
And so, my song alternate would believe her
Idiot Bush and Daughter of the Sun,
A worthless gift apart from the receiver,
An empty womb, but in a Deathless One.
54
To shapes we would of Freedom, Truth and Joy
Shall we your willing plasm mould for man:
Afresh rebuild the world, and thus destroy
What only Ragnarok in Europe can:
There is no Light but in your dark blendes sleeps,
Drops from your stars or through your ether leaps:
Yea, you are Nature, Chaos since Creation,
Waiting what human Word to chord in song?
Matrix inert of what auspicious nation?
For what far bees your nectar hiving long?
Exhausted manas of the conquering North
Shall rise refreshed to vivid life again
At your approach, and in your lap pour forth
Grateful the gleanings of his mighty reign:
As, when a tropic heat-king southward crawls,
Blistering the ranges, till he hears the calls
Of some cold high-browed bride, her streaming tresses,
Sprinkled with rose-buds, make his wild eyes thrill
To such desire for her superb caresses
He yields his fiery treasures to her will.
'Where is Australia, singer, do you know?
These sordid farms and joyless factories,
Mephitic mines and lanes of pallid woe?
Those ugly towns and cities such as these
With incense sick to all unworthy power,
And all old sin in full malignant flower?
No! to her bourn her children still are faring:
She is a Temple that we are to build:
For her the ages have been long preparing:
She is a prophecy to be fulfilled!
All that we love in olden lands and lore
Was signal of her coming long ago!
Bacon foresaw her, Campanella, More
And Plato's eyes were with her star aglow!
Who toiled for Truth, whate'er their countries were,
Who fought for Liberty, they yearned for her!
No corsair's gathering ground, or tryst for schemers,
55
No chapman Carthage to a huckster Tyre,
She is the Eldorado of old dreamers,
The Sleeping Beauty of the world's desire!
She is the scroll on which we are to write
Mythologies our own and epics new:
She is the port of our propitious flight
From Ur idolatrous and Pharaoh's crew.
She is our own, unstained, if worthy we,
By dream, or god, or star we would not see:
Her crystal beams all but the eagle dazzle;
Her wind-wide ways none but the strong-winged sail:
She is Eutopia, she is Hy-Brasil,
The watchers on the tower of morning hail I
Yet she shall be as we, the Potter, mould:
Altar or tomb, as we aspire, despair:
What wine we bring shall she, the chalice, hold:
What word we write shall she, the script, declare:
Bandage our eyes, she shall be Memphis, Spain:
Barter our souls, she shall be Tyre again:
And if we pour on her the red oblation
All o'er the world shall Asshur's buzzards throng:
Love-lit, her Chaos shall become Creation:
And dewed with dream, her silence flower in song.
~ Bernard O'Dowd,
451:The Botanic Garden (Part Iv)
The Economy Of Vegetation
Canto IV
As when at noon in Hybla's fragrant bowers
CACALIA opens all her honey'd flowers;
Contending swarms on bending branches cling,
And nations hover on aurelian wing;
So round the GODDESS, ere she speaks, on high
Impatient SYLPHS in gawdy circlets fly;
Quivering in air their painted plumes expand,
And coloured shadows dance upon the land.
I. 'SYLPHS! YOUR light troops the tropic Winds confine,
And guide their streaming arrows to the Line;
While in warm floods ecliptic breezes rise,
And sink with wings benumb'd in colder skies.
You bid Monsoons on Indian seas reside,
And veer, as moves the sun, their airy tide;
While southern gales o'er western oceans roll,
And Eurus steals his ice-winds from the Pole.
Your playful trains, on sultry islands born,
Turn on fantastic toe at eve and morn;
With soft susurrant voice alternate sweep
Earth's green pavilions and encircling deep.
OR in itinerant cohorts, borne sublime
On tides of ether, float from clime to clime;
O'er waving Autumn bend your airy ring,
Or waft the fragrant bosom of the Spring.
II. 'When Morn, escorted by the dancing Hours,
O'er the bright plains her dewy lustre showers;
Till from her sable chariot Eve serene
Drops the dark curtain o'er the brilliant scene;
You form with chemic hands the airy surge,
Mix with broad vans, with shadowy tridents urge.
SYLPHS! from each sun-bright leaf, that twinkling shakes
O'er Earth's green lap, or shoots amid her lakes,
Your playful bands with simpering lips invite,
10
And wed the enamour'd OXYGENE to LIGHT.Round their white necks with fingers interwove,
Cling the fond Pair with unabating love;
Hand link'd in hand on buoyant step they rise,
And soar and glisten in unclouded skies.
Whence in bright floods the VITAL AIR expands,
And with concentric spheres involves the lands;
Pervades the swarming seas, and heaving earths,
Where teeming Nature broods her myriad births;
Fills the fine lungs of all that
breathe
or
bud
Warms the new heart, and dyes the gushing blood;
With Life's first spark inspires the organic frame,
And, as it wastes, renews the subtile flame.
'So pure, so soft, with sweet attraction shone
Fair PSYCHE, kneeling at the ethereal throne;
Won with coy smiles the admiring court of Jove,
And warm'd the bosom of unconquer'd LOVE.Beneath a moving shade of fruits and flowers
Onward they march to HYMEN'S sacred bowers;
With lifted torch he lights the festive train,
Sublime, and leads them in his golden chain;
Joins the fond pair, indulgent to their vows,
And hides with mystic veil their blushing brows.
Round their fair forms their mingling arms they fling,
Meet with warm lip, and clasp with rustling wing.-Hence plastic Nature, as Oblivion whelms
Her fading forms, repeoples all her realms;
Soft Joys disport on purple plumes unfurl'd,
And Love and Beauty rule the willing world.
III. 1. 'SYLPHS! Your bold myriads on the withering heath
Stay the fell SYROC'S suffocative breath;
Arrest SIMOOM in his realms of sand,
The poisoned javelin balanced in his hand;Fierce on blue streams he rides the tainted air,
Points his keen eye, and waves his whistling hair;
While, as he turns, the undulating soil
Rolls in red waves, and billowy deserts boil.
11
You seize TORNADO by his locks of mist,
Burst his dense clouds, his wheeling spires untwist;
Wide o'er the West when borne on headlong gales,
Dark as meridian night, the Monster sails,
Howls high in air, and shakes his curled brow,
Lashing with serpent-train the waves below,
Whirls his black arm, the forked lightning flings,
And showers a deluge from his demon-wings.
2. 'SYLPHS! with light shafts YOU pierce the drowsy FOG,
That lingering slumbers on the sedge-wove bog,
With webbed feet o'er midnight meadows creeps,
Or flings his hairy limbs on stagnant deeps.
YOU meet CONTAGION issuing from afar,
And dash the baleful conqueror from his car;
When, Guest of DEATH! from charnel vaults he steals,
And bathes in human gore his armed wheels.
'Thus when the PLAGUE, upborne on Belgian air,
Look'd through the mist and shook his clotted hair,
O'er shrinking nations steer'd malignant clouds,
And rain'd destruction on the gasping crouds.
The beauteous AEGLE felt the venom'd dart,
Slow roll'd her eye, and feebly throbb'd her heart;
Each fervid sigh seem'd shorter than the last,
And starting Friendship shunn'd her, as she pass'd.
-With weak unsteady step the fainting Maid
Seeks the cold garden's solitary shade,
Sinks on the pillowy moss her drooping head,
And prints with lifeless limbs her leafy bed.
-On wings of Love her plighted Swain pursues,
Shades her from winds, and shelters her from dews,
Extends on tapering poles the canvas roof,
Spreads o'er the straw-wove matt the flaxen woof,
Sweet buds and blossoms on her bolster strows,
And binds his kerchief round her aching brows;
Sooths with soft kiss, with tender accents charms,
And clasps the bright Infection in his arms.With pale and languid smiles the grateful Fair
Applauds his virtues, and rewards his care;
Mourns with wet cheek her fair companions fled
On timorous step, or number'd with the dead;
Calls to its bosom all its scatter'd rays,
And pours on THYRSIS the collected blaze;
12
Braves the chill night, caressing and caress'd,
And folds her Hero-lover to her breast.Less bold, LEANDER at the dusky hour
Eyed, as he swam, the far love-lighted tower;
Breasted with struggling arms the tossing wave,
And sunk benighted in the watery grave.
Less bold, TOBIAS claim'd the nuptial bed,
Where seven fond Lovers by a Fiend had bled;
And drove, instructed by his Angel-Guide,
The enamour'd Demon from the fatal bride.-SYLPHS! while your winnowing pinions fan'd the air,
And shed gay visions o'er the sleeping pair;
LOVE round their couch effused his rosy breath,
And with his keener arrows conquer'd DEATH.
IV. 1. 'You charm'd, indulgent SYLPHS! their learned toil,
And crown'd with fame your TORRICELL, and BOYLE;
Taught with sweet smiles, responsive to their prayer,
The spring and pressure of the viewless air.
-How up exhausted tubes bright currents flow
Of liquid silver from the lake below,
Weigh the long column of the incumbent skies,
And with the changeful moment fall and rise.
-How, as in brazen pumps the pistons move,
The membrane-valve sustains the weight above;
Stroke follows stroke, the gelid vapour falls,
And misty dew-drops dim the crystal walls;
Rare and more rare expands the fluid thin,
And Silence dwells with Vacancy within.So in the mighty Void with grim delight
Primeval Silence reign'd with ancient Night.
2. 'SYLPHS! your soft voices, whispering from the skies,
Bade from low earth the bold MONGULFIER rise;
Outstretch'd his buoyant ball with airy spring,
And bore the Sage on levity of wing;Where were ye, SYLPHS! when on the ethereal main
Young ROSIERE launch'd, and call'd your aid in vain?
Fair mounts the light balloon, by Zephyr driven,
Parts the thin clouds, and sails along the heaven;
Higher and yet higher the expanding bubble flies,
Lights with quick flash, and bursts amid the skies.Headlong He rushes through the affrighted air
13
With limbs distorted, and dishevel'd hair,
Whirls round and round, the flying croud alarms,
And DEATH receives him in his sable arms!So erst with melting wax and loosen'd strings
Sunk hapless ICARUS on unfaithful wings;
His scatter'd plumage danced upon the wave,
And sorrowing Mermaids deck'd his watery grave;
O'er his pale corse their pearly sea-flowers shed,
And strew'd with crimson moss his marble bed;
Struck in their coral towers the pausing bell,
And wide in ocean toll'd his echoing knell.
V. 'SYLPHS! YOU, retiring to sequester'd bowers,
Where oft your PRIESTLEY woos your airy powers,
On noiseless step or quivering pinion glide,
As sits the Sage with Science by his side;
To his charm'd eye in gay undress appear,
Or pour your secrets on his raptured ear.
How nitrous Gas from iron ingots driven
Drinks with red lips the purest breath of heaven;
How, while Conferva from its tender hair
Gives in bright bubbles empyrean air;
The crystal floods phlogistic ores calcine,
And the pure ETHER marries with the MINE.
'So in Sicilia's ever-blooming shade
When playful PROSERPINE from CERES stray'd,
Led with unwary step her virgin trains
O'er Etna's steeps, and Enna's golden plains;
Pluck'd with fair hand the silver-blossom'd bower,
And purpled mead,-herself a fairer flower;
Sudden, unseen amid the twilight glade,
Rush'd gloomy DIS, and seized the trembling maid.Her starting damsels sprung from mossy seats,
Dropp'd from their gauzy laps the gather'd sweets,
Clung round the struggling Nymph, with piercing cries,
Pursued the chariot, and invoked the skies;Pleased as he grasps her in his iron arms,
Frights with soft sighs, with tender words alarms,
The wheels descending roll'd in smoky rings,
Infernal Cupids flapp'd their demon wings;
Earth with deep yawn received the Fair, amaz'd,
And far in Night celestial Beauty blaz'd.
14
VI. 'Led by the Sage, Lo! Britain's sons shall guide
Huge SEA-BALLOONS beneath the tossing tide;
The diving castles, roof'd with spheric glass,
Ribb'd with strong oak, and barr'd with bolts of brass,
Buoy'd with pure air shall endless tracks pursue,
And PRIESTLEY'S hand the vital flood renew.Then shall BRITANNIA rule the wealthy realms,
Which Ocean's wide insatiate wave o'erwhelms;
Confine in netted bowers his scaly flocks,
Part his blue plains, and people all his rocks.
Deep, in warm waves beneath the Line that roll,
Beneath the shadowy ice-isles of the Pole,
Onward, through bright meandering vales, afar,
Obedient Sharks shall trail her sceptred car,
With harness'd necks the pearly flood disturb,
Stretch the silk rein, and champ the silver curb;
Pleased round her triumph wondering Tritons play,
And Seamaids hail her on the watery way.
-Oft shall she weep beneath the crystal waves
O'er shipwreck'd lovers weltering in their graves;
Mingling in death the Brave and Good behold
With slaves to glory, and with slaves to gold;
Shrin'd in the deep shall DAY and SPALDING mourn,
Each in his treacherous bell, sepulchral urn!Oft o'er thy lovely daughters, hapless PIERCE!
Her sighs shall breathe, her sorrows dew their hearse.With brow upturn'd to Heaven, 'WE WILL NOT PART!'
He cried, and clasp'd them to his aching heart,-Dash'd in dread conflict on the rocky grounds,
Crash the mock'd masts, the staggering wreck rebounds;
Through gaping seams the rushing deluge swims,
Chills their pale bosoms, bathes their shuddering limbs,
Climbs their white shoulders, buoys their streaming hair,
And the last sea-shriek bellows in the air.Each with loud sobs her tender sire caress'd,
And gasping strain'd him closer to her breast!-Stretch'd on one bier they sleep beneath the brine,
And their white bones with ivory arms intwine!
'VII. SYLPHS OF NICE EAR! with beating wings you guide
The fine vibrations of the aerial tide;
15
Join in sweet cadences the measured words,
Or stretch and modulate the trembling cords.
You strung to melody the Grecian lyre,
Breathed the rapt song, and fan'd the thought of fire,
Or brought in combinations, deep and clear,
Immortal harmony to HANDEL'S ear.YOU with soft breath attune the vernal gale,
When breezy evening broods the listening vale;
Or wake the loud tumultuous sounds, that dwell
In Echo's many-toned diurnal shell.
YOU melt in dulcet chords, when Zephyr rings
The Eolian Harp, and mingle all its strings;
Or trill in air the soft symphonious chime,
When rapt CECILIA lifts her eye sublime,
Swell, as she breathes, her bosoms rising snow,
O'er her white teeth in tuneful accents slow,
Through her fair lips on whispering pinions move,
And form the tender sighs, that kindle love!
'So playful LOVE on Ida's flowery sides
With ribbon-rein the indignant Lion guides;
Pleased on his brinded back the lyre he rings,
And shakes delirious rapture from the strings;
Slow as the pausing Monarch stalks along,
Sheaths his retractile claws, and drinks the song;
Soft Nymphs on timid step the triumph view,
And listening Fawns with beating hoofs pursue;
With pointed ears the alarmed forest starts,
And Love and Music soften savage hearts.
VIII. 'SYLPHS! YOUR bold hosts, when Heaven with justice dread
Calls the red tempest round the guilty head,
Fierce at his nod assume vindictive forms,
And launch from airy cars the vollied storms.From Ashur's vales when proud SENACHERIB trod,
Pour'd his swoln heart, defied the living GOD,
Urged with incessant shouts his glittering powers;
And JUDAH shook through all her massy towers;
Round her sad altars press'd the prostrate crowd,
Hosts beat their breasts, and suppliant chieftains bow'd;
Loud shrieks of matrons thrill'd the troubled air,
And trembling virgins rent their scatter'd hair;
High in the midst the kneeling King adored,
16
Spread the blaspheming scroll before the Lord,
Raised his pale hands, and breathed his pausing sighs,
And fixed on Heaven his dim imploring eyes,'Oh! MIGHTY GOD! amidst thy Seraph-throng
'Who sit'st sublime, the Judge of Right and Wrong;
'Thine the wide earth, bright sun, and starry zone,
'That twinkling journey round thy golden throne;
'Thine is the crystal source of life and light,
'And thine the realms of Death's eternal night.
'Oh, bend thine ear, thy gracious eye incline,
'Lo! Ashur's King blasphemes thy holy shrine,
'Insults our offerings, and derides our vows,-'Oh! strike the diadem from his impious brows,
'Tear from his murderous hand the bloody rod,
'And teach the trembling nations, 'THOU ART GOD!'-SYLPHS! in what dread array with pennons broad
Onward ye floated o'er the ethereal road,
Call'd each dank steam the reeking marsh exhales,
Contagious vapours, and volcanic gales,
Gave the soft South with poisonous breath to blow,
And rolled the dreadful whirlwind on the foe!Hark! o'er the camp the venom'd tempest sings,
Man falls on Man, on buckler buckler rings;
Groan answers groan, to anguish anguish yields,
And DEATH'S loud accents shake the tented fields!
-High rears the Fiend his grinning jaws, and wide
Spans the pale nations with colossal stride,
Waves his broad falchion with uplifted hand,
And his vast shadow darkens all the land.
IX. 1. 'Ethereal cohorts! Essences of Air!
Make the green children of the Spring your care!
Oh, SYLPHS! disclose in this inquiring age
One GOLDEN SECRET to some favour'd sage;
Grant the charm'd talisman, the chain, that binds,
Or guides the changeful pinions of the winds!
-No more shall hoary Boreas, issuing forth
With Eurus, lead the tempests of the North;
Rime the pale Dawn, or veil'd in flaky showers
Chill the sweet bosoms of the smiling Hours.
By whispering Auster waked shall Zephyr rise,
Meet with soft kiss, and mingle in the skies,
17
Fan the gay floret, bend the yellow ear,
And rock the uncurtain'd cradle of the year;
Autumn and Spring in lively union blend,
And from the skies the Golden Age descend.
2. 'Castled on ice, beneath the circling Bear,
A vast CAMELION spits and swallows air;
O'er twelve degrees his ribs gigantic bend,
And many a league his leathern jaws extend;
Half-fish, beneath, his scaly volutes spread,
And vegetable plumage crests his head;
Huge fields of air his wrinkled skin receives,
From panting gills, wide lungs, and waving leaves;
Then with dread throes subsides his bloated form,
His shriek the thunder, and his sigh the storm.
Oft high in heaven the hissing Demon wins
His towering course, upborne on winnowing fins;
Steers with expanded eye and gaping mouth,
His mass enormous to the affrighted South;
Spreads o'er the shuddering Line his shadowy limbs,
And Frost and Famine follow as he swims.SYLPHS! round his cloud-built couch your bands array,
And mould the Monster to your gentle sway;
Charm with soft tones, with tender touches check,
Bend to your golden yoke his willing neck,
With silver curb his yielding teeth restrain,
And give to KIRWAN'S hand the silken rein.
-Pleased shall the Sage, the dragon-wings between,
Bend o'er discordant climes his eye serene,
With Lapland breezes cool Arabian vales,
And call to Hindostan antarctic gales,
Adorn with wreathed ears Kampschatca's brows,
And scatter roses on Zealandic snows,
Earth's wondering Zones the genial seasons share,
And nations hail him 'MONARCH OF THE AIR.'
X. 1. 'SYLPHS! as you hover on ethereal wing,
Brood the green children of parturient Spring!Where in their bursting cells my Embryons rest,
I charge you guard the vegetable nest;
Count with nice eye the myriad SEEDS, that swell
Each vaulted womb of husk, or pod, or shell;
Feed with sweet juices, clothe with downy hair,
18
Or hang, inshrined, their little orbs in air.
'So, late descry'd by HERSCHEL'S piercing sight,
Hang the bright squadrons of the twinkling Night;
Ten thousand marshall'd stars, a silver zone,
Effuse their blended lustres round her throne;
Suns call to suns, in lucid clouds conspire,
And light exterior skies with golden fire;
Resistless rolls the illimitable sphere,
And one great circle forms the unmeasured year.
-Roll on, YE STARS! exult in youthful prime,
Mark with bright curves the printless steps of Time;
Near and more near your beamy cars approach,
And lessening orbs on lessening orbs encroach;Flowers of the sky! ye too to age must yield,
Frail as your silken sisters of the field!
Star after star from Heaven's high arch shall rush,
Suns sink on suns, and systems systems crush,
Headlong, extinct, to one dark centre fall,
And Death and Night and Chaos mingle all!
-Till o'er the wreck, emerging from the storm,
Immortal NATURE lifts her changeful form,
Mounts from her funeral pyre on wings of flame,
And soars and shines, another and the same.
2. 'Lo! on each SEED within its slender rind
Life's golden threads in endless circles wind;
Maze within maze the lucid webs are roll'd,
And, as they burst, the living flame unfold.
The pulpy acorn, ere it swells, contains
The Oak's vast branches in its milky veins;
Each ravel'd bud, fine film, and fibre-line
Traced with nice pencil on the small design.
The young Narcissus, in it's bulb compress'd,
Cradles a second nestling on its breast;
In whose fine arms a younger embryon lies,
Folds its thin leaves, and shuts its floret-eyes;
Grain within grain successive harvests dwell,
And boundless forests slumber in a shell.
-So yon grey precipice, and ivy'd towers,
Long winding meads, and intermingled bowers,
Green files of poplars, o'er the lake that bow,
And glimmering wheel, which rolls and foams below,
In one bright point with nice distinction lie
19
Plan'd on the moving tablet of the eye.
-So, fold on fold, Earth's wavy plains extend,
And, sphere in sphere, its hidden strata bend;Incumbent Spring her beamy plumes expands
O'er restless oceans, and impatient lands,
With genial lustres warms the mighty ball,
And the GREAT SEED evolves, disclosing ALL;
LIFE
buds
or
breathes
from Indus to the Poles,
And the vast surface kindles, as it rolls!
3. 'Come, YE SOFT SYLPHS! who sport on Latian land,
Come, sweet-lip'd Zephyr, and Favonius bland!
Teach the fine SEED, instinct with life, to shoot
On Earth's cold bosom its descending root;
With Pith elastic stretch its rising stem,
Part the twin Lobes, expand the throbbing Gem;
Clasp in your airy arms the aspiring Plume,
Fan with your balmy breath its kindling bloom,
Each widening scale and bursting film unfold,
Swell the green cup, and tint the flower with gold;
While in bright veins the silvery Sap ascends,
And refluent blood in milky eddies bends;
While, spread in air, the leaves respiring play,
Or drink the golden quintessence of day.
-So from his shell on Delta's shower-less isle
Bursts into life the Monster of the Nile;
First in translucent lymph with cobweb-threads
The Brain's fine floating tissue swells, and spreads;
Nerve after nerve the glistening spine descends,
The red Heart dances, the Aorta bends;
Through each new gland the purple current glides,
New veins meandering drink the refluent tides;
Edge over edge expands the hardening scale,
And sheaths his slimy skin in silver mail.
-Erewhile, emerging from the brooding sand,
With Tyger-paw He prints the brineless strand,
High on the flood with speckled bosom swims,
Helm'd with broad tail, and oar'd with giant limbs;
Rolls his fierce eye-balls, clasps his iron claws,
20
And champs with gnashing teeth his massy jaws;
Old Nilus sighs along his cane-crown'd shores,
And swarthy Memphis trembles and adores.
XI. 'Come, YE SOFT SYLPHS! who fan the Paphian groves,
And bear on sportive wings the callow Loves;
Call with sweet whisper, in each gale that blows,
The slumbering Snow-drop from her long repose;
Charm the pale Primrose from her clay-cold bed,
Unveil the bashful Violet's tremulous head;
While from her bud the playful Tulip breaks,
And young Carnations peep with blushing cheeks;
Bid the closed
Petals
from nocturnal cold
The virgin
Style
in silken curtains fold,
Shake into viewless air the morning dews,
And wave in light their iridescent hues;
While from on high the bursting
Anthers
trust
To the mild breezes their prolific dust;
Or bend in rapture o'er the central Fair,
Love out their hour, and leave their lives in air.
So in his silken sepulchre the Worm,
Warm'd with new life, unfolds his larva-form;
Erewhile aloft in wanton circles moves,
And woos on Hymen-wings his velvet loves.
XII. 1. 'If prouder branches with exuberance rude
Point their green gems, their barren shoots protrude;
Wound them, ye SYLPHS! with little knives, or bind
A wiry ringlet round the swelling rind;
Bisect with chissel fine the root below,
Or bend to earth the inhospitable bough.
So shall each germ with new prolific power
Delay the leaf-bud, and expand the flower;
Closed in the
Style
the tender pith shall end,
21
The lengthening Wood in circling
Stamens
bend;
The smoother Rind its soft embroidery spread
In vaulted
Petals
o'er their fertile bed;
While the rough Bark, in circling mazes roll'd,
Forms the green
Cup
with many a wrinkled fold;
And each small bud-scale spreads its foliage hard,
Firm round the callow germ, a
Floral Guard
2. 'Where cruder juices swell the leafy vein,
Stint the young germ, the tender blossom stain;
On each lop'd shoot a softer scion bind,
Pith press'd to pith, and rind applied to rind,
So shall the trunk with loftier crest ascend,
And wide in air its happier arms extend;
Nurse the new buds, admire the leaves unknown,
And blushing bend with fruitage not its own.
'Thus when in holy triumph Aaron trod,
And offer'd on the shrine his mystic rod;
First a new bark its silken tissue weaves,
New buds emerging widen into leaves;
Fair fruits protrude, enascent flowers expand,
And blush and tremble round the living wand.
XIII. 1. 'SYLPHS! on each Oak-bud wound the wormy galls,
With pigmy spears, or crush the venom'd balls;
Fright the green Locust from his foamy bed,
Unweave the Caterpillar's gluey thread;
Chase the fierce Earwig, scare the bloated Toad,
Arrest the snail upon his slimy road;
Arm with sharp thorns the Sweet-brier's tender wood,
And dash the Cynips from her damask bud;
Steep in ambrosial dews the Woodbine's bells,
And drive the Night-moth from her honey'd cells.
So where the Humming-bird in Chili's bowers
On murmuring pinions robs the pendent flowers;
22
Seeks, where fine pores their dulcet balm distill,
And sucks the treasure with proboscis-bill;
Fair CYPREPEDIA with successful guile
Knits her smooth brow, extinguishes her smile;
A Spiders bloated paunch and jointed arms
Hide her fine form, and mask her blushing charms;
In ambush sly the mimic warrior lies,
And on quick wing the panting plunderer flies.
2. 'Shield the young Harvest from devouring blight,
The Smut's dark poison, and the Mildew white;
Deep-rooted Mould, and Ergot's horn uncouth,
And break the Canker's desolating tooth.
First in one point the festering wound confin'd
Mines unperceived beneath the shrivel'd rin'd;
Then climbs the branches with increasing strength,
Spreads as they spread, and lengthens with their length;
-Thus the slight wound ingraved on glass unneal'd
Runs in white lines along the lucid field;
Crack follows crack, to laws elastic just,
And the frail fabric shivers into dust.
XIV. 1. 'SYLPHS! if with morn destructive Eurus springs,
O, clasp the Harebel with your velvet wings;
Screen with thick leaves the Jasmine as it blows,
And shake the white rime from the shuddering Rose;
Whilst Amaryllis turns with graceful ease
Her blushing beauties, and eludes the breeze.SYLPHS! if at noon the Fritillary droops,
With drops nectareous hang her nodding cups;
Thin clouds of Gossamer in air display,
And hide the vale's chaste Lily from the ray;
Whilst Erythrina o'er her tender flower
Bends all her leaves, and braves the sultry hour;Shield, when cold Hesper sheds his dewy light,
Mimosa's soft sensations from the night;
Fold her thin foilage, close her timid flowers,
And with ambrosial slumbers guard her bowers;
O'er each warm wall while Cerea flings her arms,
And wastes on night's dull eye a blaze of charms.
2. Round her tall Elm with dewy fingers twine
The gadding tendrils of the adventurous Vine;
From arm to arm in gay festoons suspend
23
Her fragrant flowers, her graceful foliage bend;
Swell with sweet juice her vermil orbs, and feed
Shrined in transparent pulp her pearly seed;
Hang round the Orange all her silver bells,
And guard her fragrance with Hesperian spells;
Bud after bud her polish'd leaves unfold,
And load her branches with successive gold.
So the learn'd Alchemist exulting sees
Rise in his bright matrass DIANA'S trees;
Drop after drop, with just delay he pours
The red-fumed acid on Potosi's ores;
With sudden flash the fierce bullitions rise,
And wide in air the gas phlogistic flies;
Slow shoot, at length, in many a brilliant mass
Metallic roots across the netted glass;
Branch after branch extend their silver stems,
Bud into gold, and blossoms into gems.
So sits enthron'd in vegetable pride
Imperial KEW by Thames's glittering side;
Obedient sails from realms unfurrow'd bring
For her the unnam'd progeny of spring;
Attendant Nymphs her dulcet mandates hear,
And nurse in fostering arms the tender year,
Plant the young bulb, inhume the living seed,
Prop the weak stem, the erring tendril lead;
Or fan in glass-built fanes the stranger flowers
With milder gales, and steep with warmer showers.
Delighted Thames through tropic umbrage glides,
And flowers antarctic, bending o'er his tides;
Drinks the new tints, the sweets unknown inhales,
And calls the sons of science to his vales.
In one bright point admiring Nature eyes
The fruits and foliage of discordant skies,
Twines the gay floret with the fragrant bough,
And bends the wreath round GEORGE'S royal brow.
-Sometimes retiring, from the public weal
One tranquil hour the ROYAL PARTNERS steal;
Through glades exotic pass with step sublime,
Or mark the growths of Britain's happier clime;
With beauty blossom'd, and with virtue blaz'd,
Mark the fair Scions, that themselves have rais'd;
Sweet blooms the Rose, the towering Oak expands,
24
The Grace and Guard of Britain's golden lands.
XV. SYLPHS! who, round earth on purple pinions borne,
Attend the radiant chariot of the morn;
Lead the gay hours along the ethereal hight,
And on each dun meridian shower the light;
SYLPHS! who from realms of equatorial day
To climes, that shudder in the polar ray,
From zone to zone pursue on shifting wing,
The bright perennial journey of the spring;
Bring my rich Balms from Mecca's hallow'd glades,
Sweet flowers, that glitter in Arabia's shades;
Fruits, whose fair forms in bright succession glow
Gilding the Banks of Arno, or of Po;
Each leaf, whose fragrant steam with ruby lip
Gay China's nymphs from pictur'd vases sip;
Each spicy rind, which sultry India boasts,
Scenting the night-air round her breezy coasts;
Roots whose bold stems in bleak Siberia blow,
And gem with many a tint the eternal snow;
Barks, whose broad umbrage high in ether waves
O'er Ande's steeps, and hides his golden caves;
-And, where yon oak extends his dusky shoots
Wide o'er the rill, that bubbles from his roots;
Beneath whose arms, protected from the storm
A turf-built altar rears it's rustic form;
SYLPHS! with religious hands fresh garlands twine,
And deck with lavish pomp HYGEIA'S shrine.
'Call with loud voice the Sisterhood, that dwell
On floating cloud, wide wave, or bubbling well;
Stamp with charm'd foot, convoke the alarmed Gnomes
From golden beds, and adamantine domes;
Each from her sphere with beckoning arm invite,
Curl'd with red flame, the Vestal Forms of light.
Close all your spotted wings, in lucid ranks
Press with your bending knees the crowded banks,
Cross your meek arms, incline your wreathed brows,
And win the Goddess with unwearied vows.
'Oh, wave, HYGEIA! o'er BRITANNIA'S throne
Thy serpent-wand, and mark it for thy own;
Lead round her breezy coasts thy guardian trains,
Her nodding forests, and her waving plains;
25
Shed o'er her peopled realms thy beamy smile,
And with thy airy temple crown her isle!'
The GODDESS ceased,-and calling from afar
The wandering Zephyrs, joins them to her car;
Mounts with light bound, and graceful, as she bends,
Whirls the long lash, the flexile rein extends;
On whispering wheels the silver axle slides,
Climbs into air, and cleaves the crystal tides;
Burst from its pearly chains, her amber hair
Streams o'er her ivory shoulders, buoy'd in air;
Swells her white veil, with ruby clasp confined
Round her fair brow, and undulates behind;
The lessening coursers rise in spiral rings,
Pierce the slow-sailing clouds, and stretch their shadowy wings.
~ Erasmus Darwin,
452: Ahana

Ahana
(Ahana, the Dawn of God, descends on the world where amid the strife and trouble of mortality the Hunters of Joy, the
Seekers after Knowledge, the Climbers in the quest of Power are toiling up the slopes or waiting in the valleys. As she stands on the mountains of the East, voices of the Hunters of Joy are the first to greet her.)
Vision delightful alone on the hills whom the silences cover,
Closer yet lean to mortality; human, stoop to thy lover.

Wonderful, gold like a moon in the square of the sun where thou strayest
Glimmers thy face amid crystal purities; mighty thou playest
Sole on the peaks of the world, unafraid of thy loneliness. Glances
Leap from thee down to us, dream-seas and light-falls and magical trances;
Sun-drops flake from thy eyes and the heart's caverns packed are with pleasure
Strange like a song without words or the dance of a measureless measure.

Tread through the edges of dawn, over twilight's grey-lidded margin;
Heal earth's unease with thy feet, O heaven-born delicate virgin.

Children of Time whose spirits came down from eternity, seizing
Joys that escape us, yoked by our hearts to a labour unceasing,
Earth-bound, torn with our longings, our life is a brief incompleteness.

Thou hast the stars to sport with, the winds run like bees to thy sweetness.

Art thou not heaven-bound even as I with the earth? Hast thou ended
All desirable things in a stillness lone and unfriended?
Only is calm so sweet? is our close tranquillity only?
Cold are the rivers of peace and their banks are leafless and lonely.

Heavy is godhead to bear with its mighty sun-burden of lustre.

Art thou not weary of only the stars in their solemn muster,
Sky-hung the chill bare plateaus and peaks where the eagle rejoices
In the inhuman height of his nesting, solitude's voices
Making the heart of the silence lonelier? strong and untiring,
Deaf with the cry of the waterfall, lonely the pine lives aspiring.

Two are the ends of existence, two are the dreams of the Mother:

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Pondicherry, c. 1910 - 1920

Heaven unchanging, earth with her time-beats yearn to each other, -
Earth-souls needing the touch of the heavens peace to recapture,
Heaven needing earth's passion to quiver its peace into rapture.

Marry, O lightning eternal, the passion of a moment-born fire!
Out of thy greatness draw close to the breast of our mortal desire!
Is he thy master, Rudra the mighty, Shiva ascetic?
Has he denied thee his world? In his dance that they tell of, ecstatic,
Slaying, creating, calm in the midst of the movement and madness,
Stole there no rhythm of an earthly joy and a mortal sadness?
Wast thou not made in the shape of a woman? Sweetness and beauty
Move like a song of the gods in thy limbs and to love is thy duty
Graved in thy heart as on tablets of fate; joy's delicate blossom
Sleeps in thy lids of delight; all Nature hides in thy bosom
Claiming her children unborn and the food of her love and her laughter.

Is he the first? was there none then before him? shall none come after?
He who denies and his blows beat down on our hearts like a hammer's,
He whose calm is the silent reply to our passion and clamours!
Is not there deity greater here new-born in a noble
Labour and sorrow and struggle than stilled into rapture immobile?
Earth has beatitudes warmer than heaven's that are bare and undying,
Marvels of Time on the crest of the moments to Infinity flying.

Earth has her godheads; the Tritons sway on the toss of the billows,
Emerald locks of the Nereids stream on their foam-crested pillows,
Dryads peer out from the branches, Naiads glance up from the waters;
High are her flame-points of joy and the gods are ensnared by her daughters.

Artemis calls as she flees through the glades and the breezes pursue her;
Cypris laughs in her isles where the ocean-winds linger to woo her.

Here thou shalt meet amid beauty forgotten the dance of the Graces;
Night shall be haunted for ever with strange and delicate faces.

Music is here of the fife and the flute and the lyre and the timbal,
Wind in the forests, bees in the grove, - spring's ardent cymbal
Thrilling, the cry of the cuckoo; the nightingale sings in the branches,
Human laughter is heard and the cattle low in the ranches.

Frankly and sweetly she gives to her children the bliss of her body,
Breath of her lips and the green of her garments, rain-pourings heady
Tossed from her cloud-carried beaker of tempest, oceans and streamlets,
Dawn and the mountain-air, corn-fields and vineyards, pastures and hamlets,

Ahana

479

Tangles of sunbeams asleep, mooned dream-depths, twilight's shadows,
Taste and scent and the fruits of her trees and the flowers of her meadows,
Life with her wine-cup of longing under the purple of her tenture,
Death as her gate of escape and rebirth and renewal of venture.

Still must they mutter that all here is vision and passing appearance,
Magic of Maya with falsehood and pain for its only inherence.

One is there only, apart in his greatness, the End and Beginning, -
He who has sent through his soul's wide spaces the universe spinning.

One eternal, Time an illusion, life a brief error!
One eternal, Master of heaven - and of hell and its terror!
Spirit of silence and purity rapt and aloof from creation, -
Dreaming through aeons unreal his splendid and empty formation!
Spirit all-wise in omnipotence shaping a world but to break it, -
Pushed by what mood of a moment, the breath of what fancy to make it?
None is there great but the eternal and lonely, the unique and unmated,
Bliss lives alone with the self-pure, the single, the forever-uncreated.

Truths? or thought's structures bridging the vacancy mute and unsounded
Facing the soul when it turns from the stress of the figures around it?
Solely we see here a world self-made by some indwelling Glory
Building with forms and events its strange and magnificent story.

Yet at the last has not all been solved and unwisdom demolished,
Myth cast out and all dreams of the soul, and all worship abolished?
All now is changed, the reverse of the coin has been shown to us; Reason
Waking, detecting the hoax of the spirit, at last has arisen,
Captured the Truth and built round her its bars that she may not skedaddle,
Gallop again with the bit in her teeth and with Fancy in the saddle.

Now have the wise men discovered that all is the craft of a superMagic of Chance and a movement of Void and inconscient Stupor.

Chance by a wonderful accident ever her ripples expanding
Out of a gaseous circle of Nothingness, implacably extending
Freak upon freak, repeating rigidly marvels on marvels,
Making a world out of Nothing, started on the arc of her travels.

Nothingness born into feeling and action dies back to Nothing.

Sea of a vague electricity, romping through space-curves and clothing
Strangely the Void with a semblance of Matter, painfully flowered
Into this giant phenomenon universe. Man who has towered
Out of the plasm and struggled by thought to Divinity's level,

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Man, this miniature second creator of good and of evil,
He too was only a compost of Matter made living, organic,
Forged as her thinking tool by an Energy blind and mechanic.

Once by an accident queer but quite natural, provable, simple,
Out of blind Space-Nought lashed into life, wearing Mind as its wimple,
Dupe of a figment of consciousness, doped with behaviour and feature,
Matter deluded claimed to be spirit and sentient creature.

All the high dreams man has dreamed and his hopes and his deeds, his soul's greatness
Are but a food-seeking animal's acts with the mind for their witness, -
Mind a machine for the flickers of thought, Matter's logic unpremissed, -
Are but a singular fireworks, chemistry lacking the chemist,
Matter's nervous display; the heart's passion, the sorrow and burning
Fire of delight and sweet ecstasy, love and its fathomless yearning,
Boundless spiritual impulses making us one with world-being,
Outbursts of vision opening doors to a limitless seeing,
Gases and glands and the genes and the nerves and the brain-cells have done it,
Brooded out drama and epic, structured the climb of the sonnet,
Studied the stars and discovered the brain and the laws of its thinking,
Sculptured the cave-temple, reared the cathedral, infinity drinking
Wrought manufacturing God and the soul for the uplift of Nature, -
Science, philosophy, head of his mystical chemical stature,
Music and painting revealing the godhead in sound and in colour,
Acts of the hero, thoughts of the thinker, search of the scholar,
All the magnificent planning, all the inquiry and wonder
Only a trick of the atom, its marvellous magical blunder.

Who can believe it? Something or someone, a Force or a Spirit
Conscious, creative, wonderful shaped out a world to inherit
Here for the beings born from its vast universal existence, -
Fields of surprise and adventure, vistas of light-haunted distance,
Play-routes of wisdom and vision and struggle and rapture and sorrow,
Sailing in Time through the straits of today to the sea of tomorrow.

Worlds and their wonders, suns and their flamings, earth and her nations,
Voyages endless of Mind through the surge of its fate-tossed creations,
Star upon star throbbing out in the silence of infinite spaces,
Species on species, bodies on bodies, faces on faces,

Ahana

481

Souls without number crossing through Time towards eternity, aeons
Crowding on aeons, loving and battle, dirges and paeans,
Thoughts ever leaping, hopes ever yearning, lives ever streaming,
Millions and millions on trek through the days with their doings and dreaming,
Herds of the Sun who move on at the cry of the radiant drover, -
Countless, surviving the death of the centuries, lost to recover,
Finished, but only to begin again, who is its tireless creator,
Cause or the force of its driving, its thinker or formless dictator?
Surely no senseless Vacancy made it, surely 'twas fashioned
By an almighty One million-ecstasied, thousand-passioned.

Self-made? then by what self from which thought could arise and emotion,
Waves that well up to the surface, born from what mysteried ocean?
Nature alone is the fountain. But what is she? Is she not only
Figure and name for what none understands, though all feel, or a lonely
Word in which all finds expression, spirit-heights, dumb work of Matter, -
Vague designation filling the gaps of our thought with its clatter?
Power without vision that blunders in man into thinking and sinning?
Rigid, too vast inexhaustible mystery void of a meaning?
Energy blindly devising, unconsciously ranging in order?
Chance in the march of a cosmic Insanity crossing the border
Out of the eternal silence to thought and its strangeness and splendour?
Consciousness born by an accident until an accident end her?
Nought else is she but the power of the Spirit who dwells in her ever,
Witness and cause of her workings, lord of her pauseless endeavour.

All things she knows, though she seems here unseeing; even in her slumber
Wondrous her works are, design and its magic and magic of number,
Plan of her mighty cosmic geometry, balance of forces,
Universe flung beyond universe, law of the stars and their courses,
Cosmos atomic stretched to the scale of the Infinite's measure.

Mute in the trance of the Eternal she sleeps with the stone and the azure.

Now she awakes; for life has just stirred in her, stretching first blindly
Outward for sense and its pleasure and pain and the gifts of the kindly
Mother of all, for her light and her air and the sap from her flowing,
Pleasure of bloom and inconscient beauty, pleasure of growing.

Then into mind she arises; heart's yearning awakes and reflection
Looks out on struggle and harmony, - conscious, her will of selection

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Pondicherry, c. 1910 - 1920

Studies her works and illumines the choice of her way; last, slowly
Inward she turns and stares at the Spirit within her. Holy
Silences brood in her heart and she feels in her ardent recesses
Passions too great for her frame, on her body immortal caresses.

Into the calm of the Greatness beyond her she enters, burning
Now with a light beyond thought's, towards Self and Infinity turning,
Turned to beatitude, turned to eternity, spiritual grandeur,
Power without limit, ecstasy imperishable, shadowless splendour.

Then to her mortals come, flashing, thoughts that are wisdom's fire-kernel;
Leaping her flame-sweeps of might and delight and of vision supernal
Kindle the word and the act, the Divine and humanity fusing,
Illuminations, trance-seeds of silence, flowers of musing, -
Light of our being that yet has to be, its glory and glimmer
Smiting with sunrise the soul of the sage and the heart of the dreamer.

Or is it all but a vain expectation and effort ungrounded,
Wings without body, sight without object, waters unsounded,
Hue of a shimmer that steals through some secret celestial portal,
Glory of a gleam or a dream in an animal brief-lived and mortal?
Are they not radiances native to heaven's more fortunate ether,
Won when we part from this body, this temporal house of a nether
Mystery of life lived in vain? Upon earth is the glory forbidden,
Nature for ever accursed, frustrated, grief-vexed, fate-ridden?
Half of the glory she dreamed of forgotten or lost in earth's darkness,
Half of it mangled and missed as the death-wheels whirl in their starkness,
Cast out from heaven a goddess rebellious with mind for her mirror,
Cursed with desire and self-will and doomed to self-torture and error,
Came she to birth then with God for her enemy? Were we created
He unwilling or sleeping? did someone transgress the fated
Limits he set, outwitting God? In the too hasty vision
Marred of some demiurge filmed there the blur of a fatal misprision,
Making a world that revolves on itself in a circuit of failure,
Aeons of striving, death for a recompense, Time for our tenure?
Out of him rather she came and for him are her cry and her labour;
Deep are her roots in him; topless she climbs, to his greatness a neighbour.

All is himself in her, brooding in darkness, mounting the sun-ways;
Air-flight to him is man's journey with heaven and earth for the runways.

He is the witness and doer, he is the loved and the lover,

Ahana

483

He the eternal Truth that we look in ourselves to discover.

All is his travel in Time; it is he who turns history's pages,
Act and event and result are the trail that he leaves through the ages;
Form and idea are his signs and number and sound are his symbols,
Music and singing, the word and its rhythm are Divinity's cymbals,
Thunder and surge are the drums of his marching. Through us, with urges
Self-ward, form-bound, mute, motionless, slowly inevitably emerges
Vast as the cosmos, minute as the atom, the Spirit eternal.

Often the gusts of his force illumining moments diurnal
Flame into speech and idea; transcendences splendid and subtle
Suddenly shoot through the weft of our lives from a magical shuttle;
Hid in our hearts is his glory; the Spirit works in our members.

Silence is he, with our voices he speaks, in our thoughts he remembers.

Deep in our being inhabits the voiceless invisible Teacher;
Powers of his godhead we live; the Creator dwells in the creature.

Out of his Void we arise to a mighty and shining existence,
Out of Inconscience, tearing the black Mask's giant resistance;
Waves of his consciousness well from him into these bodies in Nature,
Forms are put round him; his oneness, divided by mind's nomenclature,
High on the summits of being ponders immobile and single,
Penetrates atom and cell as the tide drenches sand-grain and shingle.

Oneness unknown to us dwells in these millions of figures and faces,
Wars with itself in our battles, loves in our clinging embraces,
Inly the self and the substance of things and their cause and their mover
Veiled in the depths which the foam of our thoughts and our life's billows cover,
Heaves like the sea in its waves; like heaven with its star-fires it gazes
Watching the world and its works. Interned in the finite's mazes,
Still shall he rise to his vast superconscience, we with him climbing;
Truth of man's thought with the truth of God's spirit faultlessly timing,
That which was mortal shall enter immortality's golden precincts,
Hushed breath of ecstasy, honey of lotus depths where the bee sinks,
Timeless expanses too still for the voice of the hours to inveigle,
Spaces of spirit too vast for the flight of the God-bearing eagle, -
Enter the Splendour that broods now unseen on us, deity invading,
Sight without error, light without shadow, beauty unfading,
Infinite largeness, rapture eternal, love none can sever,

484

Pondicherry, c. 1910 - 1920

Life, not this death-play, but a power God-driven and blissful for ever.

"No," cry the wise, "for a circle was traced, there was pyloned a limit
Only we escape through dream's thin passages. None can disclaim it;
All things created are made by their borders, sketched out and coded;
Vain is the passion to divinise manhood, humanise godhead.

None can exceed himself; even to find oneself hard for our search is:
Only we see as in night by a lustre of flickering torches.

To be content with our measure, our space is the law of our living.

All of thyself to thy manhood and Nature and Circumstance giving,
Be what thou must be or be what thou canst be, one hour in an era.

Knowing the truth of thy days, shun the light of ideal and chimera:
Curb heart's impatience, bind thy desires down, pause from self-vexing."
Who is the nomad then? who is the seeker, the gambler risking
All for a dream in a dream, the old and the sure and the stable
Flung as a stake for a prize that was never yet laid on the table?
Always the world is expanding and growing from minute to minute;
Playing the march of the adventure of Time with our lives for her spinet
Maya or Nature, the wonderful Mother, strikes out surprising
Strains of the spirit disprisoned; creation heavenward rising
Wrestles with Time and Space and the Unknown to give form to the Formless.

Bliss is her goal, but her road is through whirlwind and death-blast and storm-race.

All is a wager and danger, all is a chase and a battle.

Vainly man, crouched in his corner of safety, shrinks from the fatal
Lure of the Infinite. Guided by Powers that surround and precede us
Fearful and faltering steps are our perishing efforts that lead us
On through the rooms of the finite till open the limitless spaces
And we can look into all-seeing eyes and imperishable faces.

But we must pass through the aeons; Space is a bar twixt our ankles,
Time is a weight that we drag and the scar of the centuries rankles:
Caught by the moments, held back from the spirit's timelessness, slowly
Wading in shallows we take not the sea-plunge vastly and wholly.

Hard is the way to the Eternal for the mind-born will of the mortal
Bound by the body and life to the gait of the house-burdened turtle.

Here in this world that knows not its morrow, this reason that stumbles
Onward from error to truth and from truth back to error while crumbles
All that it fashioned, after the passion and travail are ended,

Ahana

485

After the sacrifice offered when the will and the strength are expended,
Nothing is done but to have laid down one stone of a road without issue,
Added our quota of evil and good to an ambiguous tissue.

Destiny's lasso, its slip-knot tied by delight and repining,
Draws us through tangles of failure and victory's inextricable twining.

In the hard reckoning made by the grey-robed accountant at even
Pain is the ransom we pay for the smallest foretaste of heaven.

Ignorance darkens, death and inconscience gape to absorb us;
Thick and persistent the Night confronts us, its hunger enormous
Swallowing our work and our lives. Our love and our knowledge squandered
Lie like a treasure refused and trod down on the ways where we wandered;
All we have done is effaced by the thousands behind us arriving.

Trapped in a round fixed for ever circles our thought and our living.

Fiercely the gods in their jealousy strike down the heads that have neighboured
Even for a moment their skies; in the sands our achievements are gravured.

Yet survives bliss in the rhythm of our heart-beats, yet is there wonder,
Beauty's immortal delight, and the seals of the mystery sunder.

Honied a thousand whispers come, in the birds, in the breezes,
Moonlight, the voices of streams; with a hundred marvellous faces
Always he lures us to love him, always he draws us to pleasure
Leaving remembrance and anguish behind for our only treasure.

Passionate we seek for him everywhere, yearn for some sign of him, calling,
Scanning the dust for his footprints, praying and stumbling and falling;
Nothing is found and no answer comes from the masks that are passing.

Memories linger, lines from the past like a half-faded tracing.

He has passed on into silence wearing his luminous mantle.

Out of the melodied distance a laugh rings pure-toned, infantile,
Sole reminder that he is, last signal recalling his presence.

There is a joy behind suffering; pain digs our road to his pleasance.

All things have bliss for their secret; only our consciousness falters
Fearing to offer itself as a victim on ecstasy's altars.

Is not the world his disguise? when that cloak is tossed back from his shoulders,
Beauty looks out like a sun on the hearts of the ravished beholders.

Mortals, your end is beatitude, rapture eternal his meaning:
Joy, which he most now denies, is his purpose: the hedges, the screening

486

Pondicherry, c. 1910 - 1920

Were but the rules of his play; his denials came to lure farther.

These too were magic of Maya, smiles of the marvellous Mother.

Oh, but the cruelty! oh, but the empty pain we go rueing!
Edges of opposite sweetness, calls to a closer pursuing.

All that we meet is a symbol and gateway; cryptic intention
Lurks in a common appearance, smiles from a casual mention:
Opposites hide in each other; in the laughter of Nature is danger,
Glory and greatness their embryos form in the womb of her anger.

Why are we terrified? wherefore cry out and draw back from the smiting -
Blows from the hands of a lover to direr exactions exciting,
Fiery points of his play! Was he Rudra only the mighty?
Whose were the whispers of sweetness, whose were the murmurs of pity?
Something opposes our grasp on the light and the sweetness and power,
Something within us, something without us, trap-door or tower,
Nature's gap in our being - or hinge! That device could we vanquish,
Once could we clasp him and hold, his joy we could never relinquish.

Then we could not be denied, for our might would be single and flawless.

Sons of the Eternal, sovereigns of Nature absolute and lawless,
Termlessly our souls would possess as he now enjoys and possesses,
Termlessly probe the delight of his laughter's lurking recesses,
Chasing its trail to the apex of sweetness and secrecy. Treasured
Close to the beats of Eternity's heart in a greatness unmeasured,
Locked into a miracle and mystery of Light we would live in him, - seated
Deep in his core of beatitude ceaselessly by Nature repeated,
Careless of Time, with no fear of an end, with no need for endeavour
Caught by his ecstasy dwell in a rapture enduring for ever.

What was the garden he built when the stars were first set in their places,
Soul and Nature together mid streams and in cloudless spaces
Naked and innocent? Someone offered a fruit of derision,
Knowledge of good and of evil, cleaving in God a division.

Though He who made all said, "It is good; I have fashioned perfection,"
"No, there is evil," someone whispered, "'tis screened from detection."
Wisest he of the beasts of the field, one cunning and creeping;
"See it," he said, "be wise; you shall be as the gods are, unsleeping,
They who know all." And they ate. The roots of our being were shaken;
Hatred and weeping and wrath at once trampled a world overtaken,
Terror and fleeing and anguish and shame and desires unsated;

Ahana

487

Cruelty stalked like a lion; Revenge and her brood were created.

Out to the desert he drove the rebellious. Flaming behind them
Streamed out the sword of his wrath and it followed leaping to find them,
Stabbing at random. The pure and the evil, the strong and the tempted,
All are confounded in punishment; justly is no one exempted.

Virtuous? yes, there are many, but who is there innocent? Toiling
Therefore we seek, but find not that Eden. Planting and spoiling,
"This is the garden," we say, "lo, the trees and this is the river."
Vainly redeemers came, not one has availed to deliver.

Never can Nature go back to her careless and childlike beginning,
Laugh of the babe and the song of the wheel in its delicate spinning,
Smile of the sun upon flowers and earth's beauty, life without labour
Plucking the fruits of the soil and rejoicing in cottage and arbour.

Once we have chosen to be as the gods, we must follow that motion.

Knowledge must grow in us, might like a Titan's, bliss like an ocean,
Calmness and purity born of the spirit's gaze on the Real,
Rapture of his oneness embracing the soul in a clasp hymeneal.

Was it not he once in Brindavan? Woods divine to our yearning,
Memorable always! O flowers, O delight on the tree-tops burning,
Grasses his herds have grazed and crushed by his feet in the dancing,
Yamuna flowing with song, through the greenness always advancing,
You unforgotten remind; for his flute with its sweetness ensnaring
Sounds in our ears in the night and our souls of their teguments baring
Hales us out naked and absolute, out to his woodlands eternal,
Out to his moonlit dances, his dalliance sweet and supernal,
And we go stumbling, maddened and thrilled to his dreadful embraces,
Slaves of his rapture to Brindavan crowded with amorous faces,
Luminous kine in the green glades seated, soft-eyed gazing,
Flowers on the branches distressing us, moonbeams unearthly amazing,
Yamuna flowing before us, laughing low with her voices,
Brindavan arching o'er us where Shyama sports and rejoices.

Inly the miracle trembles repeated; mist-walls are broken
Hiding that country of God and we look on the wonderful token,
Clasp the beautiful body of the Eternal; his flute-call of yearning
Cries in our breast with its blissful anguish for ever returning;
Life flows past us with passionate voices, a heavenly river,
All our being goes back as a bride of his bliss to the Giver.
488

Pondicherry, c. 1910 - 1920

Even an hour of the soul can unveil the Unborn, the Everlasting,
Gaze on its mighty Companion; the load of mortality casting,
Mind hushes stilled in eternity; waves of the Infinite wander
Thrilling body and soul and its endless felicity squander;
All world-sorrow is finished, the cry of the parting is over;
Ecstasy laughs in our veins, in our heart is the heart of the Lover.

As when a stream from a highl and plateau green mid the mountains
Draws through broad lakes of delight the gracious sweep of its fountains,
Life from its heaven of desire comes down to the toil of the earth-ways;
Streaming through mire it pours still the mystical joy of its birthplace,
Green of its banks and the green of its trees and the hues of the flower.

Something of child-heart beauty, something of greatness and power,
Dwell with it still in its early torrent laughter and brightness,
Call in the youth of its floods and the voice of the wideness and whiteness.

But in its course are set darkness and fall and the spirit's ordeal.

Hating its narrowness, forced by an ardour to see all and be all,
Dashed on the inconscient rocks and straining through mud, over gravel,
Flows, like an ardent prisoner bound to the scenes of his travail,
Life, the river of the Spirit, consenting to anguish and sorrow
If by her heart's toil a loan-light of joy from the heavens she can borrow.

Out of the sun-rays and moon-rays, the winds' wing-glimmer and revel,
Out of the star-fields of wonder, down to earth's danger and evil
Headlong cast with a stridulant thunder, the doom-ways descending,
Shuddering below into sunless depths, across chasms unending,
Baulked of the might of its waters, a thread in a mountainous vastness,
Parcelled and scanted it hurries as if storming a Titan fastness,
Carving the hills with a sullen and lonely gigantic labour.

Hurled into strangling ravines it escapes with a leap and a quaver,
Breaks from the channels of hiding it grooves out and chisels and twistens,
Angry, afraid, white, foaming. A stony and monstrous resistance
Meets it piling up stubborn limits. Afflicted the river
Treasures a scattered sunbeam, moans for a god to deliver,
Longing to lapse through the plain's green felicity, yearning to widen
Joined to the ocean's shoreless eternity far-off and hidden.

High on the cliffs the Great Ones are watching, the Mighty and Deathless,
Soaring and plunging the roadway of the Gods climbs uplifted and breathless;

Ahana

489

Ever we hear in the heart of the peril a flute go before us,
Luminous beckoning hands in the distance invite and implore us.

Ignorant, circled with death and the abyss, we have dreamed of a human
Paradise made from the mind of a man, from the heart of a woman,
Dreamed of the Isles of the Blest in a light of perpetual summer,
Dreamed of the joy of an earthly life with no pain for incomer.

Never, we said, can these waters from heaven be lost in the marshes,
Cease in the sands of the desert, die where the simoom parches;
Plains are beyond, there are hamlets and fields where the river rejoices
Pacing once more with a quiet step and with amical voices:
Bright amid woodlands red with the berries and cool with the breezes
Glimmer the leaves; all night long the heart of the nightingale eases
Sweetly its burden of pity and sorrow. There amid flowers
We shall take pleasure in arbours delightful, leng thening the hours,
Time for our servitor waiting our fancy through moments unhasting,
Under the cloudless blue of those skies of tranquillity resting,
Lying on beds of lilies, hearing the bells of the cattle
Tinkle, and drink red wine of life and go forth to the battle,
Fight and unwounded return to our beautiful home by the waters,
Fruit of our joy rear tall strong sons and radiant daughters.

Then shall the Virgins of Light come down to us clad in clear raiment
Woven from sunbeam and moonbeam and lightnings, limitless payment
Bring of our toil and our sorrow, carrying life-giving garlands
Plucked by the fountains of Paradise, bring from imperishable star-lands
Hymn-words of wisdom, visions of beauty, heaven-fruit ruddy,
Wine-cups of ecstasy sending the soul like a stream through the body.

Fate shall not know; if her spies come down to our beautiful valley,
They shall grow drunk with its grapes and wander in woodl and and alley.

There leaps the anger of Rudra? there will his lightnings immortal
Circle around with their red eye of cruelty stabbing the portal?
Fearless is there life's play; I shall sport with my dove from his highlands,
Drinking her laughter of bliss like a god in my Grecian islands.

Life in my limbs shall grow deathless, flesh with the God-glory tingle,
Lustre of Paradise, light of the earth-ways marry and mingle.

These are but dreams and the truth shall be greater. Heaven made woman!
Flower of beatitude! living shape of the bliss of the Brahman!
Art thou not she who shall bring into life and time the Eternal?

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Pondicherry, c. 1910 - 1920

Body of the summer of the Gods, a sweetness virginal, vernal,
Breathes from thy soul into Nature; Love sits dreaming in thy bosom,
Wisdom gazes from thy eyes, thy breasts of God-rapture are the blossom.

If but the joy of thy feet once could touch our spaces smiting
Earth with a ray from the Unknown, on the world's heart heaven's script writing,
All then would change into harmony and beauty, Time's doors shudder
Swinging wide on their hinges into Eternity, other
Voices than earth's would be fire in our speech and make deathless our thinking.

One who is hidden in Light would grow visible, multitudes linking,
Lyres of a single ecstasy, throbs of the one heart beating,
Wonderful bodies and souls in the spirit's identity meeting
Even as stars in sky-vastness know their kindred in grandeur.

Yet may it be that although in the hands of our destiny stands sure
Fixed to its hour the Decree of the Advent, still it is fated
Only when kindling earth's bodies a mightier Soul is created.

Far-off the gold and the greatness, the rapture too splendid and dire.

Are not the ages too young? too low in our hearts burns the fire.

Bringest thou only a gleam on the summits, a cry in the distance,
Seen by the eyes that are wakened, heard by a spirit that listens?
Form of the formless All-Beautiful, lodestar of Nature's aspirance,
Music of prelude giving a voice to the ineffable Silence,
First white dawn of the God-Light cast on these creatures that perish,
Word-key of a divine and eternal truth for mortals to cherish,
Come! let thy sweetness and force be a breath in the breast of the future
Making the god-ways alive, immortality's golden-red suture:
Deep in our lives there shall work out a honeyed celestial leaven,
Bliss shall grow native to being and earth be a kin-soil to heaven.

Open the barriers of Time, the world with thy beauty enamour.

Trailing behind thee the purple of thy soul and the dawn-moment's glamour,
Forcing the heart of the Midnight where slumber and secrecy linger,
Guardians of Mystery, touching her bosom with thy luminous finger,
Daughter of Heaven, break through to me moonlike, mystic and gleaming;
Tread through the margins of twilight, cross over borders of dreaming.

Vision delightful alone on the peaks whom the silences cover,
Vision of bliss, stoop down to mortality, lean to thy lover.
Ahana

491

AHANA
Voice of the sensuous mortal, heart of eternal longing,
Thou who hast lived as in walls, thy soul with thy senses wronging!
But I descend at last. Fickle and terrible, sweet and deceiving,
Poison and nectar one has dispensed to thee, luring thee, leaving.

We two together shall capture the flute and the player relentless.

Son of man, thou hast crowned thy life with the flowers that are scentless,
Chased the delights that wound. But I come and midnight shall sunder.

Lo, I come, and behind me Knowledge descends and with thunder
Filling the spaces Strength, the Angel, bears on his bosom
Joy to thy arms. Thou shalt look on her face like a child's or a blossom,
Innocent, free as in Eden of old, not afraid of her playing,
When thy desires I have seized and devoured like a lioness preying.

Thou shalt not suffer always nor cry to me lured and forsaken:
I have a snare for his footsteps, I have a chain for him taken.

Come then to Brindavan, soul of the joyous; faster and faster
Follow the dance I shall teach thee with Shyama for slave and for master.

Follow the notes of the flute with a soul aware and exulting;
Trample Delight that submits and crouch to a sweetness insulting.

Then shalt thou know what the dance meant, fathom the song and the singer,
Hear behind thunder its rhymes, touched by lightning thrill to his finger,
Brindavan's rustle shalt understand and Yamuna's laughter,
Take thy place in the Ras1 and thy share of the ecstasy after.
1 The dance-round of Krishna with the cowherdesses in the moonlit groves of Brindavan, type of the dance of Divine Delight with the souls of men liberated in the world of
Bliss secret within us.
Poems from Manuscripts
Circa 1912 - 1913
~ Sri Aurobindo, - Ahana
,
453:The Unknown Eros. Book I.
Saint Valentine’s Day
Well dost thou, Love, thy solemn Feast to hold
In vestal February;
Not rather choosing out some rosy day
From the rich coronet of the coming May,
When all things meet to marry!
O, quick, prævernal Power
That signall'st punctual through the sleepy mould
The Snowdrop's time to flower,
Fair as the rash oath of virginity
Which is first-love's first cry;
O, Baby Spring,
That flutter'st sudden 'neath the breast of Earth
A month before the birth;
Whence is the peaceful poignancy,
The joy contrite,
Sadder than sorrow, sweeter than delight,
That burthens now the breath of everything,
Though each one sighs as if to each alone
The cherish'd pang were known?
At dusk of dawn, on his dark spray apart,
With it the Blackbird breaks the young Day's heart;
In evening's hush
About it talks the heavenly-minded Thrush;
The hill with like remorse
Smiles to the Sun's smile in his westering course;
The fisher's drooping skiff
In yonder sheltering bay;
The choughs that call about the shining cliff;
The children, noisy in the setting ray;
Own the sweet season, each thing as it may;
Thoughts of strange kindness and forgotten peace
In me increase;
And tears arise
Within my happy, happy Mistress' eyes,
And, lo, her lips, averted from my kiss,
210
Ask from Love's bounty, ah, much more than bliss!
Is't the sequester'd and exceeding sweet
Of dear Desire electing his defeat?
Is't the waked Earth now to yon purpling cope
Uttering first-love's first cry,
Vainly renouncing, with a Seraph's sigh,
Love's natural hope?
Fair-meaning Earth, foredoom'd to perjury!
Behold, all amorous May,
With roses heap'd upon her laughing brows,
Avoids thee of thy vows!
Were it for thee, with her warm bosom near,
To abide the sharpness of the Seraph's sphere?
Forget thy foolish words;
Go to her summons gay,
Thy heart with dead, wing'd Innocencies fill'd,
Ev'n as a nest with birds
After the old ones by the hawk are kill'd.
Well dost thou, Love, to celebrate
The noon of thy soft ecstasy,
Or e'er it be too late,
Or e'er the Snowdrop die!
II
Wind And Wave
The wedded light and heat,
Winnowing the witless space,
Without a let,
What are they till they beat
Against the sleepy sod, and there beget
Perchance the violet!
Is the One found,
Amongst a wilderness of as happy grace,
To make Heaven's bound;
So that in Her
All which it hath of sensitively good
Is sought and understood
After the narrow mode the mighty Heavens prefer?
211
She, as a little breeze
Following still Night,
Ripples the spirit's cold, deep seas
Into delight;
But, in a while,
The immeasurable smile
Is broke by fresher airs to flashes blent
With darkling discontent;
And all the subtle zephyr hurries gay,
And all the heaving ocean heaves one way,
T'ward the void sky-line and an unguess'd weal;
Until the vanward billows feel
The agitating shallows, and divine the goal,
And to foam roll,
And spread and stray
And traverse wildly, like delighted hands,
The fair and fleckless sands;
And so the whole
Unfathomable and immense
Triumphing tide comes at the last to reach
And burst in wind-kiss'd splendours on the deaf'ning beach,
Where forms of children in first innocence
Laugh and fling pebbles on the rainbow'd crest
Of its untired unrest.
III
Winter
I, singularly moved
To love the lovely that are not beloved,
Of all the Seasons, most
Love Winter, and to trace
The sense of the Trophonian pallor on her face.
It is not death, but plenitude of peace;
And the dim cloud that does the world enfold
Hath less the characters of dark and cold
Than warmth and light asleep,
And correspondent breathing seems to keep
With the infant harvest, breathing soft below
Its eider coverlet of snow.
Nor is in field or garden anything
212
But, duly look'd into, contains serene
The substance of things hoped for, in the Spring,
And evidence of Summer not yet seen.
On every chance-mild day
That visits the moist shaw,
The honeysuckle, 'sdaining to be crost
In urgence of sweet life by sleet or frost,
'Voids the time's law
With still increase
Of leaflet new, and little, wandering spray;
Often, in sheltering brakes,
As one from rest disturb'd in the first hour,
Primrose or violet bewilder'd wakes,
And deems 'tis time to flower;
Though not a whisper of her voice he hear,
The buried bulb does know
The signals of the year,
And hails far Summer with his lifted spear.
The gorse-field dark, by sudden, gold caprice,
Turns, here and there, into a Jason's fleece;
Lilies, that soon in Autumn slipp'd their gowns of green,
And vanish'd into earth,
And came again, ere Autumn died, to birth,
Stand full-array'd, amidst the wavering shower,
And perfect for the Summer, less the flower;
In nook of pale or crevice of crude bark,
Thou canst not miss,
If close thou spy, to mark
The ghostly chrysalis,
That, if thou touch it, stirs in its dream dark;
And the flush'd Robin, in the evenings hoar,
Does of Love's Day, as if he saw it, sing;
But sweeter yet than dream or song of Summer or Spring
Are Winter's sometime smiles, that seem to well
From infancy ineffable;
Her wandering, languorous gaze,
So unfamiliar, so without amaze,
On the elemental, chill adversity,
The uncomprehended rudeness; and her sigh
And solemn, gathering tear,
And look of exile from some great repose, the sphere
Of ether, moved by ether only, or
213
By something still more tranquil.
IV
Beta
Of infinite Heaven the rays,
Piercing some eyelet in our cavern black,
Ended their viewless track
On thee to smite
Solely, as on a diamond stalactite,
And in mid-darkness lit a rainbow's blaze,
Wherein the absolute Reason, Power, and Love,
That erst could move
Mainly in me but toil and weariness,
Renounced their deadening might,
Renounced their undistinguishable stress
Of withering white,
And did with gladdest hues my spirit caress,
Nothing of Heaven in thee showing infinite,
Save the delight.
The Day After To-Morrow
Perchance she droops within the hollow gulf
Which the great wave of coming pleasure draws,
Not guessing the glad cause!
Ye Clouds that on your endless journey go,
Ye Winds that westward flow,
Thou heaving Sea
That heav'st 'twixt her and me,
Tell her I come;
Then only sigh your pleasure, and be dumb;
For the sweet secret of our either self
We know.
Tell her I come,
And let her heart be still'd.
One day's controlled hope, and then one more,
And on the third our lives shall be fulfill'd!
Yet all has been before:
214
Palm placed in palm, twin smiles, and words astray.
What other should we say?
But shall I not, with ne'er a sign, perceive,
Whilst her sweet hands I hold,
The myriad threads and meshes manifold
Which Love shall round her weave:
The pulse in that vein making alien pause
And varying beats from this;
Down each long finger felt, a differing strand
Of silvery welcome bland;
And in her breezy palm
And silken wrist,
Beneath the touch of my like numerous bliss
Complexly kiss'd,
A diverse and distinguishable calm?
What should we say!
It all has been before;
And yet our lives shall now be first fulfill'd,
And into their summ'd sweetness fall distill'd
One sweet drop more;
One sweet drop more, in absolute increase
Of unrelapsing peace.
O, heaving Sea,
That heav'st as if for bliss of her and me,
And separatest not dear heart from heart,
Though each 'gainst other beats too far apart,
For yet awhile
Let it not seem that I behold her smile.
O, weary Love, O, folded to her breast,
Love in each moment years and years of rest,
Be calm, as being not.
Ye oceans of intolerable delight,
The blazing photosphere of central Night,
Be ye forgot.
Terror, thou swarthy Groom of Bride-bliss coy,
Let me not see thee toy.
O, Death, too tardy with thy hope intense
Of kisses close beyond conceit of sense;
O, Life, too liberal, while to take her hand
Is more of hope than heart can understand;
Perturb my golden patience not with joy,
215
Nor, through a wish, profane
The peace that should pertain
To him who does by her attraction move.
Has all not been before?
One day's controlled hope, and one again,
And then the third, and ye shall have the rein,
O Life, Death, Terror, Love!
But soon let your unrestful rapture cease,
Ye flaming Ethers thin,
Condensing till the abiding sweetness win
One sweet drop more;
One sweet drop more in the measureless increase
Of honied peace.
VI
Tristitia
Darling, with hearts conjoin'd in such a peace
That Hope, so not to cease,
Must still gaze back,
And count, along our love's most happy track,
The landmarks of like inconceiv'd increase,
Promise me this:
If thou alone should'st win
God's perfect bliss,
And I, beguiled by gracious-seeming sin,
Say, loving too much thee,
Love's last goal miss,
And any vows may then have memory,
Never, by grief for what I bear or lack,
To mar thy joyance of heav'n's jubilee.
Promise me this;
For else I should be hurl'd,
Beyond just doom
And by thy deed, to Death's interior gloom,
From the mild borders of the banish'd world
Wherein they dwell
Who builded not unalterable fate
On pride, fraud, envy, cruel lust, or hate;
Yet loved too laxly sweetness and heart's ease,
And strove the creature more than God to please.
216
For such as these
Loss without measure, sadness without end!
Yet not for this do thou disheaven'd be
With thinking upon me.
Though black, when scann'd from heaven's surpassing bright,
This might mean light,
Foil'd with the dim days of mortality.
For God is everywhere.
Go down to deepest Hell, and He is there,
And, as a true but quite estranged Friend,
He works, 'gainst gnashing teeth of devilish ire,
With love deep hidden lest it be blasphemed,
If possible, to blend
Ease with the pangs of its inveterate fire;
Yea, in the worst
And from His Face most wilfully accurst
Of souls in vain redeem'd,
He does with potions of oblivion kill
Remorse of the lost Love that helps them still.
Apart from these,
Near the sky-borders of that banish'd world,
Wander pale spirits among willow'd leas,
Lost beyond measure, sadden'd without end,
But since, while erring most, retaining yet
Some ineffectual fervour of regret,
Retaining still such weal
As spurned Lovers feel,
Preferring far to all the world's delight
Their loss so infinite,
Or Poets, when they mark
In the clouds dun
A loitering flush of the long sunken sun,
And turn away with tears into the dark.
Know, Dear, these are not mine
But Wisdom's words, confirmed by divine
Doctors and Saints, though fitly seldom heard
Save in their own prepense-occulted word,
Lest fools be fool'd the further by false hope,
And wrest sweet knowledge to their own decline;
217
And (to approve I speak within my scope)
The Mistress of that dateless exile gray
Is named in surpliced Schools Tristitia.
But, O, my Darling, look in thy heart and see
How unto me,
Secured of my prime care, thy happy state,
In the most unclean cell
Of sordid Hell,
And worried by the most ingenious hate,
It never could be anything but well,
Nor from my soul, full of thy sanctity,
Such pleasure die
As the poor harlot's, in whose body stirs
The innocent life that is and is not hers:
Unless, alas, this fount of my relief
By thy unheavenly grief
Were closed.
So, with a consecrating kiss
And hearts made one in past all previous peace,
And on one hope reposed,
Promise me this!
VII
The Azalea
There, where the sun shines first
Against our room,
She train'd the gold Azalea, whose perfume
She, Spring-like, from her breathing grace dispersed.
Last night the delicate crests of saffron bloom,
For this their dainty likeness watch'd and nurst,
Were just at point to burst.
At dawn I dream'd, O God, that she was dead,
And groan'd aloud upon my wretched bed,
And waked, ah, God, and did not waken her,
But lay, with eyes still closed,
Perfectly bless'd in the delicious sphere
By which I knew so well that she was near,
My heart to speechless thankfulness composed.
Till 'gan to stir
218
A dizzy somewhat in my troubled head—
It was the azalea's breath, and she was dead!
The warm night had the lingering buds disclosed,
And I had fall'n asleep with to my breast
A chance-found letter press'd
In which she said,
‘So, till to-morrow eve, my Own, adieu!
Parting's well-paid with soon again to meet,
Soon in your arms to feel so small and sweet,
Sweet to myself that am so sweet to you!’
VIII
Departure
It was not like your great and gracious ways!
Do you, that have nought other to lament,
Never, my Love, repent
Of how, that July afternoon,
You went,
With sudden, unintelligible phrase,
And frighten'd eye,
Upon your journey of so many days,
Without a single kiss, or a good-bye?
I knew, indeed, that you were parting soon;
And so we sate, within the low sun's rays,
You whispering to me, for your voice was weak,
Your harrowing praise.
Well, it was well,
To hear you such things speak,
And I could tell
What made your eyes a growing gloom of love,
As a warm South-wind sombres a March grove.
And it was like your great and gracious ways
To turn your talk on daily things, my Dear,
Lifting the luminous, pathetic lash
To let the laughter flash,
Whilst I drew near,
Because you spoke so low that I could scarcely hear.
But all at once to leave me at the last,
More at the wonder than the loss aghast,
With huddled, unintelligible phrase,
219
And frighten'd eye,
And go your journey of all days
With not one kiss, or a good-bye,
And the only loveless look the look with which you pass'd:
'Twas all unlike your great and gracious ways.
IX
Eurydice
Is this the portent of the day nigh past,
And of a restless grave
O'er which the eternal sadness gathers fast;
Or but the heaped wave
Of some chance, wandering tide,
Such as that world of awe
Whose circuit, listening to a foreign law,
Conjunctures ours at unguess'd dates and wide,
Does in the Spirit's tremulous ocean draw,
To pass unfateful on, and so subside?
Thee, whom ev'n more than Heaven loved I have,
And yet have not been true
Even to thee,
I, dreaming, night by night, seek now to see,
And, in a mortal sorrow, still pursue
Thro' sordid streets and lanes
And houses brown and bare
And many a haggard stair
Ochrous with ancient stains,
And infamous doors, opening on hapless rooms,
In whose unhaunted glooms
Dead pauper generations, witless of the sun,
Their course have run;
And ofttimes my pursuit
Is check'd of its dear fruit
By things brimful of hate, my kith and kin,
Furious that I should keep
Their forfeit power to weep,
And mock, with living fear, their mournful malice thin.
But ever, at the last, my way I win
To where, with perfectly sad patience, nurst
By sorry comfort of assured worst,
220
Ingrain'd in fretted cheek and lips that pine,
On pallet poor
Thou lyest, stricken sick,
Beyond love's cure,
By all the world's neglect, but chiefly mine.
Then sweetness, sweeter than my tongue can tell,
Does in my bosom well,
And tears come free and quick
And more and more abound
For piteous passion keen at having found,
After exceeding ill, a little good;
A little good
Which, for the while,
Fleets with the current sorrow of the blood,
Though no good here has heart enough to smile.
The Toys
My little Son, who look'd from thoughtful eyes
And moved and spoke in quiet grown-up wise,
Having my law the seventh time disobey'd,
I struck him, and dismiss'd
With hard words and unkiss'd,
His Mother, who was patient, being dead.
Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder sleep,
I visited his bed,
But found him slumbering deep,
With darken'd eyelids, and their lashes yet
From his late sobbing wet.
And I, with moan,
Kissing away his tears, left others of my own;
For, on a table drawn beside his head,
He had put, within his reach,
A box of counters and a red-vein'd stone,
A piece of glass abraded by the beach
And six or seven shells,
A bottle with bluebells
And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art,
To comfort his sad heart.
So when that night I pray'd
221
To God, I wept, and said:
Ah, when at last we lie with tranced breath,
Not vexing Thee in death,
And Thou rememberest of what toys
We made our joys,
How weakly understood,
Thy great commanded good,
Then, fatherly not less
Than I whom Thou hast moulded from the clay,
Thou'lt leave Thy wrath, and say,
‘I will be sorry for their childishness.’
XI
Tired Memory
The stony rock of death's insensibility
Well'd yet awhile with honey of thy love
And then was dry;
Nor could thy picture, nor thine empty glove,
Nor all thy kind, long letters, nor the band
Which really spann'd
Thy body chaste and warm,
Thenceforward move
Upon the stony rock their wearied charm.
At last, then, thou wast dead.
Yet would I not despair,
But wrought my daily task, and daily said
Many and many a fond, unfeeling prayer,
To keep my vows of faith to thee from harm.
In vain.
‘For 'tis,’ I said, ‘all one,
The wilful faith, which has no joy or pain,
As if 'twere none.’
Then look'd I miserably round
If aught of duteous love were left undone,
And nothing found.
But, kneeling in a Church, one Easter-Day,
It came to me to say:
‘Though there is no intelligible rest,
In Earth or Heaven,
For me, but on her breast,
222
I yield her up, again to have her given,
Or not, as, Lord, Thou wilt, and that for aye.’
And the same night, in slumber lying,
I, who had dream'd of thee as sad and sick and dying,
And only so, nightly for all one year,
Did thee, my own most Dear,
Possess,
In gay, celestial beauty nothing coy,
And felt thy soft caress
With heretofore unknown reality of joy.
But, in our mortal air,
None thrives for long upon the happiest dream,
And fresh despair
Bade me seek round afresh for some extreme
Of unconceiv'd, interior sacrifice
Whereof the smoke might rise
To God, and 'mind Him that one pray'd below.
And so,
In agony, I cried:
‘My Lord, if Thy strange will be this,
That I should crucify my heart,
Because my love has also been my pride,
I do submit, if I saw how, to bliss
Wherein She has no part.’
And I was heard,
And taken at my own remorseless word.
O, my most Dear,
Was't treason, as I fear?
'Twere that, and worse, to plead thy veiled mind,
Kissing thy babes, and murmuring in mine ear,
‘Thou canst not be
Faithful to God, and faithless unto me!’
Ah, prophet kind!
I heard, all dumb and blind
With tears of protest; and I cannot see
But faith was broken. Yet, as I have said,
My heart was dead,
Dead of devotion and tired memory,
When a strange grace of thee
In a fair stranger, as I take it, bred
To her some tender heed,
Most innocent
223
Of purpose therewith blent,
And pure of faith, I think, to thee; yet such
That the pale reflex of an alien love,
So vaguely, sadly shown,
Did her heart touch
Above
All that, till then, had woo'd her for its own.
And so the fear, which is love's chilly dawn,
Flush'd faintly upon lids that droop'd like thine,
And made me weak,
By thy delusive likeness doubly drawn,
And Nature's long suspended breath of flame
Persuading soft, and whispering Duty's name,
Awhile to smile and speak
With this thy Sister sweet, and therefore mine;
Thy Sister sweet,
Who bade the wheels to stir
Of sensitive delight in the poor brain,
Dead of devotion and tired memory,
So that I lived again,
And, strange to aver,
With no relapse into the void inane,
For thee;
But (treason was't?) for thee and also her.
XII
Magna Est Veritas
Here, in this little Bay,
Full of tumultuous life and great repose,
Where, twice a day,
The purposeless, glad ocean comes and goes,
Under high cliffs, and far from the huge town,
I sit me down.
For want of me the world's course will not fail:
When all its work is done, the lie shall rot;
The truth is great, and shall prevail,
When none cares whether it prevail or not.
XIII
224
1867
In the year of the great crime,
When the false English Nobles and their Jew,
By God demented, slew
The Trust they stood twice pledged to keep from wrong,
One said, Take up thy Song,
That breathes the mild and almost mythic time
Of England's prime!
But I, Ah, me,
The freedom of the few
That, in our free Land, were indeed the free,
Can song renew?
Ill singing 'tis with blotting prison-bars,
How high soe'er, betwixt us and the stars;
Ill singing 'tis when there are none to hear;
And days are near
When England shall forget
The fading glow which, for a little while,
Illumes her yet,
The lovely smile
That grows so faint and wan,
Her people shouting in her dying ear,
Are not two daws worth two of any swan!
Ye outlaw'd Best, who yet are bright
With the sunken light,
Whose common style
Is Virtue at her gracious ease,
The flower of olden sanctities,
Ye haply trust, by love's benignant guile,
To lure the dark and selfish brood
To their own hated good;
Ye haply dream
Your lives shall still their charmful sway sustain,
Unstifled by the fever'd steam
That rises from the plain.
Know, 'twas the force of function high,
In corporate exercise, and public awe
Of Nature's, Heaven's, and England's Law
That Best, though mix'd with Bad, should reign,
Which kept you in your sky!
225
But, when the sordid Trader caught
The loose-held sceptre from your hands distraught,
And soon, to the Mechanic vain,
Sold the proud toy for nought,
Your charm was broke, your task was sped,
Your beauty, with your honour, dead,
And though you still are dreaming sweet
Of being even now not less
Than Gods and Goddesses, ye shall not long so cheat
Your hearts of their due heaviness.
Go, get you for your evil watching shriven!
Leave to your lawful Master's itching hands
Your unking'd lands,
But keep, at least, the dignity
Of deigning not, for his smooth use, to be,
Voteless, the voted delegates
Of his strange interests, loves and hates.
In sackcloth, or in private strife
With private ill, ye may please Heaven,
And soothe the coming pangs of sinking life;
And prayer perchance may win
A term to God's indignant mood
And the orgies of the multitude,
Which now begin;
But do not hope to wave the silken rag
Of your unsanction'd flag,
And so to guide
The great ship, helmless on the swelling tide
Of that presumptuous Sea,
Unlit by sun or moon, yet inly bright
With lights innumerable that give no light,
Flames of corrupted will and scorn of right,
Rejoicing to be free.
And, now, because the dark comes on apace
When none can work for fear,
And Liberty in every Land lies slain,
And the two Tyrannies unchallenged reign,
And heavy prophecies, suspended long
At supplication of the righteous few,
And so discredited, to fulfilment throng,
Restrain'd no more by faithful prayer or tear,
226
And the dread baptism of blood seems near
That brings to the humbled Earth the Time of Grace,
Breathless be song,
And let Christ's own look through
The darkness, suddenly increased,
To the gray secret lingering in the East.
XIV
‘If I Were Dead’
‘If I were dead, you'd sometimes say, Poor Child!’
The dear lips quiver'd as they spake,
And the tears brake
From eyes which, not to grieve me, brightly smiled.
Poor Child, poor Child!
I seem to hear your laugh, your talk, your song.
It is not true that Love will do no wrong.
Poor Child!
And did you think, when you so cried and smiled,
How I, in lonely nights, should lie awake,
And of those words your full avengers make?
Poor Child, poor Child!
And now, unless it be
That sweet amends thrice told are come to thee,
O God, have Thou no mercy upon me!
Poor Child!
XV
Peace
O England, how hast thou forgot,
In dullard care for undisturb'd increase
Of gold, which profits not,
The gain which once thou knew'st was for thy peace!
Honour is peace, the peace which does accord
Alone with God's glad word:
‘My peace I send you, and I send a sword.’
O England, how hast thou forgot,
How fear'st the things which make for joy, not fear,
Confronted near.
227
Hard days? 'Tis what the pamper'd seek to buy
With their most willing gold in weary lands.
Loss and pain risk'd? What sport but understands
These for incitements! Suddenly to die,
With conscience a blurr'd scroll?
The sunshine dreaming upon Salmon's height
Is not so sweet and white
As the most heretofore sin-spotted soul
That darts to its delight
Straight from the absolution of a faithful fight.
Myriads of homes unloosen'd of home's bond,
And fill'd with helpless babes and harmless women fond?
Let those whose pleasant chance
Took them, like me, among the German towns,
After the war that pluck'd the fangs from France,
With me pronounce
Whether the frequent black, which then array'd
Child, wife, and maid,
Did most to magnify the sombreness of grief,
Or add the beauty of a staid relief
And freshening foil
To cheerful-hearted Honour's ready smile!
Beneath the heroic sun
Is there then none
Whose sinewy wings by choice do fly
In the fine mountain-air of public obloquy,
To tell the sleepy mongers of false ease
That war's the ordained way of all alive,
And therein with goodwill to dare and thrive
Is profit and heart's peace?
But in his heart the fool now saith:
‘The thoughts of Heaven were past all finding out,
Indeed, if it should rain
Intolerable woes upon our Land again,
After so long a drought!’
‘Will a kind Providence our vessel whelm,
With such a pious Pilot at the helm?’
‘Or let the throats be cut of pretty sheep
228
That care for nought but pasture rich and deep?’
‘Were 't Evangelical of God to deal so foul a blow
At people who hate Turks and Papists so?’
‘What, make or keep
A tax for ship and gun,
When 'tis full three to one
Yon bully but intends
To beat our friends?’
‘Let's put aside
Our costly pride.
Our appetite's not gone
Because we've learn'd to doff
Our caps, where we were used to keep them on.’
‘If times get worse,
We've money in our purse,
And Patriots that know how, let who will scoff,
To buy our perils off.
Yea, blessed in our midst
Art thou who lately didst,
So cheap,
The old bargain of the Saxon with the Dane.’
Thus in his heart the fool now saith;
And, lo, our trusted leaders trust fool's luck,
Which, like the whale's 'mazed chine,
When they thereon were mulling of their wine,
Will some day duck.
Remnant of Honour, brooding in the dark
Over your bitter cark,
Staring, as Rispah stared, astonied seven days,
Upon the corpses of so many sons,
Who loved her once,
Dead in the dim and lion-haunted ways,
Who could have dreamt
That times should come like these!
Prophets, indeed, taught lies when we were young,
And people loved to have it so;
For they teach well who teach their scholars' tongue!
229
But that the foolish both should gaze,
With feeble, fascinated face,
Upon the wan crest of the coming woe,
The billow of earthquake underneath the seas,
And sit at ease,
Or stand agape,
Without so much as stepping back to 'scape,
Mumbling, ‘Perchance we perish if we stay:
'Tis certain wear of shoes to stir away!’
Who could have dreamt
That times should come like these!
Remnant of Honour, tongue-tied with contempt,
Consider; you are strong yet, if you please.
A hundred just men up, and arm'd but with a frown,
May hoot a hundred thousand false loons down,
Or drive them any way like geese.
But to sit silent now is to suborn
The common villainy you scorn.
In the dark hour
When phrases are in power,
And nought's to choose between
The thing which is not and which is not seen,
One fool, with lusty lungs,
Does what a hundred wise, who hate and hold their tongues,
Shall ne'er undo.
In such an hour,
When eager hands are fetter'd and too few,
And hearts alone have leave to bleed,
Speak; for a good word then is a good deed.
XVI
A Farewell
With all my will, but much against my heart,
We two now part.
My Very Dear,
Our solace is, the sad road lies so clear.
It needs no art,
With faint, averted feet
And many a tear,
In our opposed paths to persevere.
230
Go thou to East, I West.
We will not say
There's any hope, it is so far away.
But, O, my Best,
When the one darling of our widowhead,
The nursling Grief,
Is dead,
And no dews blur our eyes
To see the peach-bloom come in evening skies,
Perchance we may,
Where now this night is day,
And even through faith of still averted feet,
Making full circle of our banishment,
Amazed meet;
The bitter journey to the bourne so sweet
Seasoning the termless feast of our content
With tears of recognition never dry.
XVII
1880-85
Stand by,
Ye Wise, by whom Heav'n rules!
Your kingly hands suit not the hangman's tools.
When God has doom'd a glorious Past to die,
Are there no knaves and fools?
For ages yet to come your kind shall count for nought.
Smoke of the strife of other Powers
Than ours,
And tongues inscrutable with fury fraught
'Wilder the sky,
Till the far good which none can guess be wrought.
Stand by!
Since tears are vain, here let us rest and laugh,
But not too loudly; for the brave time's come,
When Best may not blaspheme the Bigger Half,
And freedom for our sort means freedom to be dumb.
Lo, how the dross and draff
Jeer up at us, and shout,
‘The Day is ours, the Night is theirs!’
231
And urge their rout
Where the wild dawn of rising Tartarus flares.
Yon strives their Leader, lusting to be seen.
His leprosy's so perfect that men call him clean!
Listen the long, sincere, and liberal bray
Of the earnest Puller at another's hay
'Gainst aught that dares to tug the other way,
Quite void of fears
With all that noise of ruin round his ears!
Yonder the people cast their caps o'erhead,
And swear the threaten'd doom is ne'er to dread
That's come, though not yet past.
All front the horror and are none aghast;
Brag of their full-blown rights and liberties,
Nor once surmise
When each man gets his due the Nation dies;
Nay, still shout ‘Progress!’ as if seven plagues
Should take the laggard who would stretch his legs.
Forward! glad rush of Gergesenian swine;
You've gain'd the hill-top, but there's yet the brine.
Forward! to meet the welcome of the waves
That mount to 'whelm the freedom which enslaves.
Forward! bad corpses turn into good dung,
To feed strange futures beautiful and young.
Forward! God speed ye down the damn'd decline,
And grant ye the Fool's true good, in abject ruin's gulf
As the Wise see him so to see himself!
Ah, Land once mine,
That seem'd to me too sweetly wise,
Too sternly fair for aught that dies,
Past is thy proud and pleasant state,
That recent date
When, strong and single, in thy sovereign heart,
The thrones of thinking, hearing, sight,
The cunning hand, the knotted thew
Of lesser powers that heave and hew,
And each the smallest beneficial part,
And merest pore of breathing, beat,
Full and complete,
The great pulse of thy generous might,
Equal in inequality,
232
That soul of joy in low and high;
When not a churl but felt the Giant's heat,
Albeit he simply call'd it his,
Flush in his common labour with delight,
And not a village-Maiden's kiss
But was for this
More sweet,
And not a sorrow but did lightlier sigh,
And for its private self less greet,
The whilst that other so majestic self stood by!
Integrity so vast could well afford
To wear in working many a stain,
To pillory the cobbler vain
And license madness in a lord.
On that were all men well agreed;
And, if they did a thing,
Their strength was with them in their deed,
And from amongst them came the shout of a king!
But, once let traitor coward meet,
Not Heaven itself can keep its feet.
Come knave who said to dastard, ‘Lo,
‘The Deluge!’ which but needed ‘No!’
For all the Atlantic's threatening roar,
If men would bravely understand,
Is softly check'd for evermore
By a firm bar of sand.
But, dastard listening knave, who said,
‘'Twere juster were the Giant dead,
That so yon bawlers may not miss
To vote their own pot-belly'd bliss,’
All that is past!
We saw the slaying, and were not aghast.
But ne'er a sun, on village Groom and Bride,
Albeit they guess not how it is,
At Easter or at Whitsuntide,
But shines less gay for this!
XVIII
The Two Deserts
233
Not greatly moved with awe am I
To learn that we may spy
Five thousand firmaments beyond our own.
The best that's known
Of the heavenly bodies does them credit small.
View'd close, the Moon's fair ball
Is of ill objects worst,
A corpse in Night's highway, naked, fire-scarr'd, accurst;
And now they tell
That the Sun is plainly seen to boil and burst
Too horribly for hell.
So, judging from these two,
As we must do,
The Universe, outside our living Earth,
Was all conceiv'd in the Creator's mirth,
Forecasting at the time Man's spirit deep,
To make dirt cheap.
Put by the Telescope!
Better without it man may see,
Stretch'd awful in the hush'd midnight,
The ghost of his eternity.
Give me the nobler glass that swells to the eye
The things which near us lie,
Till Science rapturously hails,
In the minutest water-drop,
A torment of innumerable tails.
These at the least do live.
But rather give
A mind not much to pry
Beyond our royal-fair estate
Betwixt these deserts blank of small and great.
Wonder and beauty our own courtiers are,
Pressing to catch our gaze,
And out of obvious ways
Ne'er wandering far.
XIX
Crest And Gulf
Much woe that man befalls
234
Who does not run when sent, nor come when Heaven calls;
But whether he serve God, or his own whim,
Not matters, in the end, to any one but him;
And he as soon
Shall map the other side of the Moon,
As trace what his own deed,
In the next chop of the chance gale, shall breed.
This he may know:
His good or evil seed
Is like to grow,
For its first harvest, quite to contraries:
The father wise
Has still the hare-brain'd brood;
'Gainst evil, ill example better works than good;
The poet, fanning his mild flight
At a most keen and arduous height,
Unveils the tender heavens to horny human eyes
Amidst ingenious blasphemies.
Wouldst raise the poor, in Capuan luxury sunk?
The Nation lives but whilst its Lords are drunk!
Or spread Heav'n's partial gifts o'er all, like dew?
The Many's weedy growth withers the gracious Few!
Strange opposites, from those, again, shall rise.
Join, then, if thee it please, the bitter jest
Of mankind's progress; all its spectral race
Mere impotence of rest,
The heaving vain of life which cannot cease from self,
Crest altering still to gulf
And gulf to crest
In endless chace,
That leaves the tossing water anchor'd in its place!
Ah, well does he who does but stand aside,
Sans hope or fear,
And marks the crest and gulf in station sink and rear,
And prophesies 'gainst trust in such a tide:
For he sometimes is prophet, heavenly taught,
Whose message is that he sees only nought.
Nathless, discern'd may be,
By listeners at the doors of destiny,
The fly-wheel swift and still
Of God's incessant will,
235
Mighty to keep in bound, tho' powerless to quell,
The amorous and vehement drift of man's herd to hell.
XX
‘Let Be!’
Ah, yes; we tell the good and evil trees
By fruits: But how tell these?
Who does not know
That good and ill
Are done in secret still,
And that which shews is verily but show!
How high of heart is one, and one how sweet of mood:
But not all height is holiness,
Nor every sweetness good;
And grace will sometimes lurk where who could guess?
The Critic of his kind,
Dealing to each his share,
With easy humour, hard to bear,
May not impossibly have in him shrined,
As in a gossamer globe or thickly padded pod,
Some small seed dear to God.
Haply yon wretch, so famous for his falls,
Got them beneath the Devil-defended walls
Of some high Virtue he had vow'd to win;
And that which you and I
Call his besetting sin
Is but the fume of his peculiar fire
Of inmost contrary desire,
And means wild willingness for her to die,
Dash'd with despondence of her favour sweet;
He fiercer fighting, in his worst defeat,
Than I or you,
That only courteous greet
Where he does hotly woo,
Did ever fight, in our best victory.
Another is mistook
Through his deceitful likeness to his look!
Let be, let be:
Why should I clear myself, why answer thou for me?
That shaft of slander shot
236
Miss'd only the right blot.
I see the shame
They cannot see:
'Tis very just they blame
The thing that's not.
XXI
‘Faint Yet Pursuing’
Heroic Good, target for which the young
Dream in their dreams that every bow is strung,
And, missing, sigh
Unfruitful, or as disbelievers die,
Thee having miss'd, I will not so revolt,
But lowlier shoot my bolt,
And lowlier still, if still I may not reach,
And my proud stomach teach
That less than highest is good, and may be high.
An even walk in life's uneven way,
Though to have dreamt of flight and not to fly
Be strange and sad,
Is not a boon that's given to all who pray.
If this I had
I'd envy none!
Nay, trod I straight for one
Year, month or week,
Should Heaven withdraw, and Satan me amerce
Of power and joy, still would I seek
Another victory with a like reverse;
Because the good of victory does not die,
As dies the failure's curse,
And what we have to gain
Is, not one battle, but a weary life's campaign.
Yet meaner lot being sent
Should more than me content;
Yea, if I lie
Among vile shards, though born for silver wings,
In the strong flight and feathers gold
Of whatsoever heavenward mounts and sings
I must by admiration so comply
That there I should my own delight behold.
237
Yea, though I sin each day times seven,
And dare not lift the fearfullest eyes to Heaven,
Thanks must I give
Because that seven times are not eight or nine,
And that my darkness is all mine,
And that I live
Within this oak-shade one more minute even,
Hearing the winds their Maker magnify.
XXII
Victory In Defeat
Ah, God, alas,
How soon it came to pass
The sweetness melted from thy barbed hook
Which I so simply took;
And I lay bleeding on the bitter land,
Afraid to stir against thy least command,
But losing all my pleasant life-blood, whence
Force should have been heart's frailty to withstand.
Life is not life at all without delight,
Nor has it any might;
And better than the insentient heart and brain
Is sharpest pain;
And better for the moment seems it to rebel,
If the great Master, from his lifted seat,
Ne'er whispers to the wearied servant ‘Well!’
Yet what returns of love did I endure,
When to be pardon'd seem'd almost more sweet
Than aye to have been pure!
But day still faded to disastrous night,
And thicker darkness changed to feebler light,
Until forgiveness, without stint renew'd,
Was now no more with loving tears imbued,
Vowing no more offence.
Not less to thine Unfaithful didst thou cry,
‘Come back, poor Child; be all as 'twas before.
But I,
‘No, no; I will not promise any more!
Yet, when I feel my hour is come to die,
And so I am secured of continence,
238
Then may I say, though haply then in vain,
'My only, only Love, O, take me back again!'’
Thereafter didst thou smite
So hard that, for a space,
Uplifted seem'd Heav'n's everlasting door,
And I indeed the darling of thy grace.
But, in some dozen changes of the moon,
A bitter mockery seem'd thy bitter boon.
The broken pinion was no longer sore.
Again, indeed, I woke
Under so dread a stroke
That all the strength it left within my heart
Was just to ache and turn, and then to turn and ache,
And some weak sign of war unceasingly to make.
And here I lie,
With no one near to mark,
Thrusting Hell's phantoms feebly in the dark,
And still at point more utterly to die.
O God, how long!
Put forth indeed thy powerful right hand,
While time is yet,
Or never shall I see the blissful land!
Thus I: then God, in pleasant speech and strong,
(Which soon I shall forget):
‘The man who, though his fights be all defeats,
Still fights,
Enters at last
The heavenly Jerusalem's rejoicing streets
With glory more, and more triumphant rites
Than always-conquering Joshua's, when his blast
The frighted walls of Jericho down cast;
And, lo, the glad surprise
Of peace beyond surmise,
More than in common Saints, for ever in his eyes.
XXIII
Remembered Grace
Since succour to the feeblest of the wise
239
Is charge of nobler weight
Than the security
Of many and many a foolish soul's estate,
This I affirm,
Though fools will fools more confidently be:
Whom God does once with heart to heart befriend,
He does so till the end:
And having planted life's miraculous germ,
One sweet pulsation of responsive love,
He sets him sheer above,
Not sin and bitter shame
And wreck of fame,
But Hell's insidious and more black attempt,
The envy, malice, and pride,
Which men who share so easily condone
That few ev'n list such ills as these to hide.
From these unalterably exempt,
Through the remember'd grace
Of that divine embrace,
Of his sad errors none,
Though gross to blame,
Shall cast him lower than the cleansing flame,
Nor make him quite depart
From the small flock named ‘after God's own heart,’
And to themselves unknown.
Nor can he quail
In faith, nor flush nor pale
When all the other idiot people spell
How this or that new Prophet's word belies
Their last high oracle;
But constantly his soul
Points to its pole
Ev'n as the needle points, and knows not why;
And, under the ever-changing clouds of doubt,
When others cry,
‘The stars, if stars there were,
Are quench'd and out!’
To him, uplooking t'ward the hills for aid,
Appear, at need display'd,
Gaps in the low-hung gloom, and, bright in air,
Orion or the Bear.
240
XXIV
Vesica Piscis
In strenuous hope I wrought,
And hope seem'd still betray'd;
Lastly I said,
‘I have labour'd through the Night, nor yet
Have taken aught;
But at Thy word I will again cast forth the net!’
And, lo, I caught
(Oh, quite unlike and quite beyond my thought,)
Not the quick, shining harvest of the Sea,
For food, my wish,
But Thee!
Then, hiding even in me,
As hid was Simon's coin within the fish,
Thou sigh'd'st, with joy, ‘Be dumb,
Or speak but of forgotten things to far-off times to come.’
~ Coventry Patmore,
454: Ilion

Book I: The Book of the Herald



Dawn in her journey eternal compelling the labour of mortals,
Dawn the beginner of things with the night for their rest or their ending,
Pallid and bright-lipped arrived from the mists and the chill of the Euxine.
Earth in the dawn-fire delivered from starry and shadowy vastness
Woke to the wonder of life and its passion and sorrow and beauty,
All on her bosom sustaining, the patient compassionate Mother.
Out of the formless vision of Night with its look on things hidden
Given to the gaze of the azure she lay in her garment of greenness,
Wearing light on her brow. In the dawn-ray lofty and voiceless
Ida climbed with her god-haunted peaks into diamond lustres,
Ida first of the hills with the ranges silent beyond her
Watching the dawn in their giant companies, as since the ages
First began they had watched her, upbearing Time on their summits.
Troas cold on her plain awaited the boon of the sunshine.
There, like a hope through an emerald dream sole-pacing for ever,
Stealing to wideness beyond, crept Simois lame in his currents,
Guiding his argent thread mid the green of the reeds and the grasses.
Headlong, impatient of Space and its boundaries, Time and its slowness,
Xanthus clamoured aloud as he ran to the far-surging waters,
Joining his call to the many-voiced roar of the mighty Aegean,
Answering Oceans limitless cry like a whelp to its parent.
Forests looked up through their rifts, the ravines grew aware of their shadows.
Closer now gliding glimmered the golden feet of the goddess.
Over the hills and the headlands spreading her garment of splendour,
Fateful she came with her eyes impartial looking on all things,
Bringer to man of the day of his fortune and day of his downfall.
Full of her luminous errand, careless of eve and its weeping,
Fateful she paused unconcerned above Ilions mysteried greatness,
Domes like shimmering tongues of the crystal flames of the morning,
Opalesque rhythm-line of tower-tops, notes of the lyre of the sungod.
High over all that a nation had built and its love and its laughter,
Lighting the last time highway and homestead, market and temple,
Looking on men who must die and women destined to sorrow,
Looking on beauty fire must lay low and the sickle of slaughter,
Fateful she lifted the doom-scroll red with the script of the Immortals,
Deep in the invisible air that folds in the race and its morrows
Fixed it, and passed on smiling the smile of the griefless and deathless,
Dealers of death though death they know not, who in the morning
Scatter the seed of the event for the reaping ready at nightfall.
Over the brooding of plains and the agelong trance of the summits
Out of the sun and its spaces she came, pausing tranquil and fatal,
And, at a distance followed by the golden herds of the sungod,
Carried the burden of Light and its riddle and danger to Hellas.
Even as fleets on a chariot divine through the gold streets of ether,
Swiftly when Life fleets, invisibly changing the arc of the soul-drift,
And, with the choice that has chanced or the fate man has called and now suffers
Weighted, the moment travels driving the past towards the future,
Only its face and its feet are seen, not the burden it carries.
Weight of the event and its surface we bear, but the meaning is hidden.
Earth sees not; lifes clamour deafens the ear of the spirit:
Man knows not; least knows the messenger chosen for the summons.
Only he listens to the voice of his thoughts, his hearts ignorant whisper,
Whistle of winds in the tree-tops of Time and the rustle of Nature.
Now too the messenger hastened driving the car of the errand:
Even while dawn was a gleam in the east, he had cried to his coursers.
Half yet awake in lights turrets started the scouts of the morning
Hearing the jar of the wheels and the throb of the hooves exultation,
Hooves of the horses of Greece as they galloped to Phrygian Troya.
Proudly they trampled through Xanthus thwarting the foam of his anger,
Whinnying high as in scorn crossed Simois tangled currents,
Xanthus reed-girdled twin, the gentle and sluggard river.
One and unarmed in the car was the driver; grey was he, shrunken,
Worn with his decades. To Pergama cinctured with strength Cyclopean
Old and alone he arrived, insignificant, feeblest of mortals,
Carrying Fate in his helpless hands and the doom of an empire.
Ilion, couchant, saw him arrive from the sea and the darkness.
Heard mid the faint slow stirrings of life in the sleep of the city,
Rapid there neared a running of feet, and the cry of the summons
Beat round the doors that guarded the domes of the splendour of Priam.
Wardens charged with the night, ye who stand in Laomedons gateway,
Waken the Ilian kings. Talthybius, herald of Argos,
Parleying stands at the portals of Troy in the grey of the dawning.
High and insistent the call. In the dimness and hush of his chamber
Charioted far in his dreams amid visions of glory and terror,
Scenes of a vivider world,though blurred and deformed in the brain-cells,
Vague and inconsequent, there full of colour and beauty and greatness,
Suddenly drawn by the pull of the conscious thread of the earth-bond
And of the needs of Time and the travail assigned in the transience
Warned by his body, Deiphobus, reached in that splendid remoteness,
Touched through the nerve-ways of life that branch to the brain of the dreamer,
Heard the terrestrial call and slumber startled receded
Sliding like dew from the mane of a lion. Reluctant he travelled
Back from the light of the fields beyond death, from the wonderful kingdoms
Where he had wandered a soul among souls in the countries beyond us,
Free from the toil and incertitude, free from the struggle and danger:
Now, compelled, he returned from the respite given to the time-born,
Called to the strife and the wounds of the earth and the burden of daylight.
He from the carven couch upreared his giant stature.
Haste-spurred he laved his eyes and regained earths memories, haste-spurred
Donning apparel and armour strode through the town of his fathers,
Watched by her gods on his way to his fate, towards Pergamas portals.
Nine long years had passed and the tenth now was wearily ending,
Years of the wrath of the gods, and the leaguer still threatened the ramparts
Since through a tranquil morn the ships came past Tenedos sailing
And the first Argive fell slain as he leaped on the Phrygian beaches;
Still the assailants attacked, still fought back the stubborn defenders.
When the reward is withheld and endlessly leng thens the labour,
Weary of fruitless toil grows the transient heart of the mortal.
Weary of battle the invaders warring hearthless and homeless
Prayed to the gods for release and return to the land of their fathers:
Weary of battle the Phrygians beset in their beautiful city
Prayed to the gods for an end of the danger and mortal encounter.
Long had the high-beached ships forgotten their measureless ocean.
Greece seemed old and strange to her children camped on the beaches,
Old like a life long past one remembers hardly believing
But as a dream that has happened, but as the tale of another.
Time with his tardy touch and Nature changing our substance
Slowly had dimmed the faces loved and the scenes once cherished:
Yet was the dream still dear to them longing for wife and for children,
Longing for hearth and glebe in the far-off valleys of Hellas.
Always like waves that swallow the shingles, lapsing, returning,
Tide of the battle, race of the onset relentlessly thundered
Over the Phrygian corn-fields. Trojan wrestled with Argive,
Caria, Lycia, Thrace and the war-lord mighty Achaia
Joined in the clasp of the fight. Death, panic and wounds and disaster,
Glory of conquest and glory of fall, and the empty hearth-side,
Weeping and fortitude, terror and hope and the pang of remembrance,
Anguish of hearts, the lives of the warriors, the strength of the nations
Thrown were like weights into Destinys scales, but the balance wavered
Pressed by invisible hands. For not only the mortal fighters,
Heroes half divine whose names are like stars in remoteness,
Triumphed and failed and were winds or were weeds on the dance of the surges,
But from the peaks of Olympus and shimmering summits of Ida
Gleaming and clanging the gods of the antique ages descended.
Hidden from human knowledge the brilliant shapes of Immortals
Mingled unseen in the mellay, or sometimes, marvellous, maskless,
Forms of undying beauty and power that made tremble the heart-strings
Parting their deathless secrecy crossed through the borders of vision,
Plain as of old to the demigods out of their glory emerging,
Heard by mortal ears and seen by the eyeballs that perish.
Mighty they came from their spaces of freedom and sorrowless splendour.
Sea-vast, trailing the azure hem of his clamorous waters,
Blue-lidded, maned with the Night, Poseidon smote for the future,
Earth-shaker who with his trident releases the coils of the Dragon,
Freeing the forces unborn that are locked in the caverns of Nature.
Calm and unmoved, upholding the Word that is Fate and the order
Fixed in the sight of a Will foreknowing and silent and changeless,
Hera sent by Zeus and Athene lifting his aegis
Guarded the hidden decree. But for Ilion, loud as the surges,
Ares impetuous called to the fire in mens hearts, and his passion
Woke in the shadowy depths the forms of the Titan and demon;
Dumb and coerced by the grip of the gods in the abyss of the being,
Formidable, veiled they sit in the grey subconscient darkness
Watching the sleep of the snake-haired Erinnys. Miracled, haloed,
Seer and magician and prophet who beholds what the thought cannot witness,
Lifting the godhead within us to more than a human endeavour,
Slayer and saviour, thinker and mystic, leaped from his sun-peaks
Guarding in Ilion the wall of his mysteries Delphic Apollo.
Heavens strengths divided swayed in the whirl of the Earth-force.
All that is born and destroyed is reborn in the sweep of the ages;
Life like a decimal ever recurring repeats the old figure;
Goal seems there none for the ball that is chased throughout Time by the Fate-teams;
Evil once ended renews and no issue comes out of living:
Only an Eye unseen can distinguish the thread of its workings.
Such seemed the rule of the pastime of Fate on the plains of the Troad;
All went backwards and forwards tossed in the swing of the death-game.
Vain was the toil of the heroes, the blood of the mighty was squandered,
Spray as of surf on the cliffs when it moans unappeased, unrequited
Age after fruitless age. Day hunted the steps of the nightfall;
Joy succeeded to grief; defeat only greatened the vanquished,
Victory offered an empty delight without guerdon or profit.
End there was none of the effort and end there was none of the failure.
Triumph and agony changing hands in a desperate measure
Faced and turned as a man and a maiden trampling the grasses
Face and turn and they laugh in their joy of the dance and each other.
These were gods and they trampled lives. But though Time is immortal,
Mortal his works are and ways and the anguish ends like the rapture.
Artists of Nature content with their work in the plan of the transience,
Beautiful, deathless, august, the Olympians turned from the carnage,
Leaving the battle already decided, leaving the heroes
Slain in their minds, Troy burned, Greece left to her glory and downfall.
Into their heavens they rose up mighty like eagles ascending
Fanning the world with their wings. As the great to their luminous mansions
Turn from the cry and the strife, forgetting the wounded and fallen,
Calm they repose from their toil and incline to the joy of the banquet,
Watching the feet of the wine-bearers rosily placed on the marble,
Filling their hearts with ease, so they to their sorrowless ether
Passed from the wounded earth and its air that is ploughed with mens anguish;
Calm they reposed and their hearts inclined to the joy and the silence.
Lifted was the burden laid on our wills by their starry presence:
Man was restored to his smallness, the world to its inconscient labour.
Life felt a respite from height, the winds breathed freer delivered;
Light was released from their blaze and the earth was released from their greatness.
But their immortal content from the struggle titanic departed.
Vacant the noise of the battle roared like the sea on the shingles;
Wearily hunted the spears their quarry; strength was disheartened;
Silence increased with the march of the months on the tents of the leaguer.
But not alone on the Achaians the steps of the moments fell heavy;
Slowly the shadow deepened on Ilion mighty and scornful:
Dragging her days went by; in the rear of the hearts of her people
Something that knew what they dared not know and the mind would not utter,
Something that smote at her soul of defiance and beauty and laughter,
Darkened the hours. For Doom in her sombre and giant uprising
Neared, assailing the skies: the sense of her lived in all pastimes;
Time was pursued by unease and a terror woke in the midnight:
Even the ramparts felt her, stones that the gods had erected.
Now no longer she dallied and played, but bounded and hastened,
Seeing before her the end and, imagining massacre calmly,
Laughed and admired the flames and rejoiced in the cry of the captives.
Under her, dead to the watching immortals, Deiphobus hastened
Clanging in arms through the streets of the beautiful insolent city,
Brilliant, a gleaming husk but empty and left by the daemon.
Even as a star long extinguished whose light still travels the spaces,
Seen in its form by men, but itself goes phantom-like fleeting
Void and null and dark through the uncaring infinite vastness,
So now he seemed to the sight that sees all things from the Real.
Timeless its vision of Time creates the hour by things coming.
Borne on a force from the past and no more by a power for the future
Mighty and bright was his body, but shadowy the shape of his spirit
Only an eidolon seemed of the being that had lived in him, fleeting
Vague like a phantom seen by the dim Acherontian waters.
But to the guardian towers that watched over Pergamas gateway
Out of the waking city Deiphobus swiftly arriving
Called, and swinging back the huge gates slowly, reluctant,
Flung Troy wide to the entering Argive. Ilions portals
Parted admitting her destiny, then with a sullen and iron
Cry they closed. Mute, staring, grey like a wolf descended
Old Talthybius, propping his steps on the staff of his errand;
Feeble his body, but fierce still his glance with the fire within him;
Speechless and brooding he gazed on the hated and coveted city.
Suddenly, seeking heaven with her buildings hewn as for Titans,
Marvellous, rhythmic, a child of the gods with marble for raiment,
Smiting the vision with harmony, splendid and mighty and golden,
Ilion stood up around him entrenched in her giant defences.
Strength was uplifted on strength and grandeur supported by grandeur;
Beauty lay in her lap. Remote, hieratic and changeless,
Filled with her deeds and her dreams her gods looked out on the Argive,
Helpless and dumb with his hate as he gazed on her, they too like mortals
Knowing their centuries past, not knowing the morrow before them.
Dire were his eyes upon Troya the beautiful, his face like a doom-mask:
All Greece gazed in them, hated, admired, grew afraid, grew relentless.
But to the Greek Deiphobus cried and he turned from his passion
Fixing his ominous eyes with the god in them straight on the Trojan:
Messenger, voice of Achaia, wherefore confronting the daybreak
Comest thou driving thy car from the sleep of the tents that besiege us?
Fateful, I deem, was the thought that, conceived in the silence of midnight,
Raised up thy aged limbs from the couch of their rest in the stillness,
Thoughts of a mortal but forged by the Will that uses our members
And of its promptings our speech and our acts are the tools and the image.
Oft from the veil and the shadow they leap out like stars in their brightness,
Lights that we think our own, yet they are but tokens and counters,
Signs of the Forces that flow through us serving a Power that is secret.
What in the dawning bringst thou to Troya the mighty and dateless
Now in the ending of Time when the gods are weary of struggle?
Sends Agamemnon challenge or courtesy, Greek, to the Trojans?
High like the northwind answered the voice of the doom from Achaia:
Trojan Deiphobus, daybreak, silence of night and the evening
Sink and arise and even the strong sun rests from his splendour.
Not for the servant is rest nor Time is his, only his death-pyre.
I have not come from the monarch of men or the armoured assembly
Held on the wind-swept marge of the thunder and laughter of ocean.
One in his singleness greater than kings and multitudes sends me.
I am a voice out of Phthia, I am the will of the Hellene.
Peace in my right I bring to you, death in my left hand. Trojan,
Proudly receive them, honour the gifts of the mighty Achilles.
Death accept, if Ate deceives you and Doom is your lover,
Peace if your fate can turn and the god in you chooses to hearken.
Full is my heart and my lips are impatient of speech undelivered.
It was not made for the streets or the market, nor to be uttered
Meanly to common ears, but where counsel and majesty harbour
Far from the crowd in the halls of the great and to wisdom and foresight
Secrecy whispers, there I will speak among Ilions princes.
Envoy, answered the Laomedontian, voice of Achilles,
Vain is the offer of peace that sets out with a threat for its prelude.
Yet will we hear thee. Arise who are fleetest of foot in the gateway,
Thou, Thrasymachus, haste. Let the domes of the mansion of Ilus
Wake to the bruit of the Hellene challenge. Summon Aeneas.
Even as the word sank back into stillness, doffing his mantle
Started to run at the bidding a swift-footed youth of the Trojans
First in the race and the battle, Thrasymachus son of Aretes.
He in the dawn disappeared into swiftness. Deiphobus slowly,
Measuring Fate with his thoughts in the troubled vasts of his spirit,
Back through the stir of the city returned to the house of his fathers,
Taming his mighty stride to the pace infirm of the Argive.
But with the god in his feet Thrasymachus rapidly running
Came to the halls in the youth of the wonderful city by Ilus
Built for the joy of the eye; for he rested from war and, triumphant,
Reigned adored by the prostrate nations. Now when all ended,
Last of its mortal possessors to walk in its flowering gardens,
Great Anchises lay in that luminous house of the ancients
Soothing his restful age, the far-warring victor Anchises,
High Bucoleons son and the father of Rome by a goddess;
Lonely and vagrant once in his boyhood divine upon Ida
White Aphrodite ensnared him and she loosed her ambrosial girdle
Seeking a mortals love. On the threshold Thrasymachus halted
Looking for servant or guard, but felt only a loneness of slumber
Drawing the souls sight within away from its life and things human;
Soundless, unheeding, the vacant corridors fled into darkness.
He to the shades of the house and the dreams of the echoing rafters
Trusted his high-voiced call, and from chambers still dim in their twilight
Strong Aeneas armoured and mantled, leonine striding,
Came, Anchises son; for the dawn had not found him reposing,
But in the night he had left his couch and the clasp of Cresa,
Rising from sleep at the call of his spirit that turned to the waters
Prompted by Fate and his mother who guided him, white Aphrodite.
Still with the impulse of speed Thrasymachus greeted Aeneas:
Hero Aeneas, swift be thy stride to the Ilian hill-top.
Dardanid, haste! for the gods are at work; they have risen with the morning,
Each from his starry couch, and they labour. Doom, we can see it,
Glows on their anvils of destiny, clang we can hear of their hammers.
Something they forge there sitting unknown in the silence eternal,
Whether of evil or good it is they who shall choose who are masters
Calm, unopposed; they are gods and they work out their iron caprices.
Troy is their stage and Argos their background; we are their puppets.
Always our voices are prompted to speech for an end that we know not,
Always we think that we drive, but are driven. Action and impulse,
Yearning and thought are their engines, our will is their shadow and helper.
Now too, deeming he comes with a purpose framed by a mortal,
Shaft of their will they have shot from the bow of the Grecian leaguer,
Lashing themselves at his steeds, Talthybius sent by Achilles.
Busy the gods are always, Thrasymachus son of Aretes,
Weaving Fate on their looms, and yesterday, now and tomorrow
Are but the stands they have made with Space and Time for their timber,
Frame but the dance of their shuttle. What eye unamazed by their workings
Ever can pierce where they dwell and uncover their far-stretching purpose?
Silent they toil, they are hid in the clouds, they are wrapped with the midnight.
Yet to Apollo I pray, the Archer friendly to mortals,
Yet to the rider on Fate I abase myself, wielder of thunder,
Evil and doom to avert from my fatherland. All night Morpheus,
He who with shadowy hands heaps error and truth upon mortals,
Stood at my pillow with images. Dreaming I erred like a phantom
Helpless in Ilions streets with the fire and the foeman around me.
Red was the smoke as it mounted triumphant the house-top of Priam,
Clang of the arms of the Greeks was in Troya, and thwarting the clangour
Voices were crying and calling me over the violent Ocean
Borne by the winds of the West from a land where Hesperus harbours.
Brooding they ceased, for their thoughts grew heavy upon them and voiceless.
Then, in a farewell brief and unthought and unconscious of meaning,
Parting they turned to their tasks and their lives now close but soon severed:
Destined to perish even before his perishing nation,
Back to his watch at the gate sped Thrasymachus rapidly running;
Large of pace and swift, but with eyes absorbed and unseeing,
Driven like a car of the gods by the whip of his thoughts through the highways,
Turned to his mighty future the hero born of a goddess.
One was he chosen to ascend into greatness through fall and disaster,
Loser of his world by the will of a heaven that seemed ruthless and adverse,
Founder of a newer and greater world by daring adventure.
Now, from the citadels rise with the townships crowding below it
High towards a pondering of domes and the mystic Palladium climbing,
Fronted with the morning ray and joined by the winds of the ocean,
Fate-weighed up Troys slope strode musing strong Aeneas.
Under him silent the slumbering roofs of the city of Ilus
Dreamed in the light of the dawn; above watched the citadel, sleepless
Lonely and strong like a goddess white-limbed and bright on a hill-top,
Looking far out at the sea and the foe and the prowling of danger.
Over the brow he mounted and saw the palace of Priam,
Home of the gods of the earth, Laomedons marvellous vision
Held in the thought that accustomed his will to unearthly achievement
And in the blaze of his spirit compelling heaven with its greatness,
Dreamed by the harp of Apollo, a melody caught into marble.
Out of his mind it arose like an epic canto by canto;
Each of its halls was a strophe, its chambers lines of an epode,
Victor chant of Ilions destiny. Absent he entered,
Voiceless with thought, the brilliant megaron crowded with paintings,
Paved with a splendour of marble, and saw Deiphobus seated,
Son of the ancient house by the opulent hearth of his fathers,
And at his side like a shadow the grey and ominous Argive.
Happy of light like a lustrous star when it welcomes the morning,
Brilliant, beautiful, glamoured with gold and a fillet of gem-fire,
Paris, plucked from the song and the lyre by the Grecian challenge,
Came with the joy in his face and his eyes that Fate could not alter.
Ever a child of the dawn at play near a turn of the sun-roads,
Facing destinys look with the careless laugh of a comrade,
He with his vision of delight and beauty brightening the earth-field
Passed through its peril and grief on his way to the ambiguous Shadow.
Last from her chamber of sleep where she lay in the Ilian mansion
Far in the heart of the house with the deep-bosomed daughters of Priam,
Noble and tall and erect in a nimbus of youth and of glory,
Claiming the world and life as a fief of her strength and her courage,
Dawned through a doorway that opened to distant murmurs and laughter,
Capturing the eye like a smile or a sunbeam, Penthesilea.
She from the threshold cried to the herald, crossing the marble,
Regal and fleet, with her voice that was mighty and dire in its sweetness.
What with such speed has impelled from the wind-haunted beaches of Troas,
Herald, thy car though the sun yet hesitates under the mountains?
Comest thou humbler to Troy, Talthybius, now than thou camest
Once when the streams of my East sang low to my ear, not this Ocean
Loud, and I roamed in my mountains uncalled by the voice of Apollo?
Bringest thou dulcet-eyed peace or, sweeter to Penthesilea,
Challenge of war when the spears fall thick on the shields of the fighters,
Lightly the wheels leap onward chanting the anthem of Ares,
Death is at work in his fields and the heart is enamoured of danger?
What says Odysseus, the baffled Ithacan? what Agamemnon?
Are they then weary of war who were rapid and bold and triumphant,
Now that their gods are reluctant, now victory darts not from heaven
Down from the clouds above Ida directing the luminous legions
Armed by Fate, now Pallas forgets, now Poseidon slumbers?
Bronze were their throats to the battle like bugles blaring in chorus;
Mercy they knew not, but shouted and ravened and ran to the slaughter
Eager as hounds when they chase, till a woman met them and stayed them,
Loud my war-shout rang by Scamander. Herald of Argos,
What say the vaunters of Greece to the virgin Penthesilea?
High was the Argives answer confronting the mighty in Troya.
Princes of Pergama, whelps of the lion who roar for the mellay,
Suffer my speech! It shall ring like a spear on the hearts of the mighty.
Blame not the herald; his voice is an impulse, an echo, a channel
Now for the timbrels of peace and now for the drums of the battle.
And I have come from no cautious strength, from no half-hearted speaker,
But from the Phthian. All know him! Proud is his soul as his fortunes,
Swift as his sword and his spear are the speech and the wrath from his bosom.
I am his envoy, herald am I of the conquering Argives.
Has not one heard in the night when the breezes whisper and shudder,
Dire, the voice of a lion unsatisfied, gnawed by his hunger,
Seeking his prey from the gods? For he prowls through the glens of the mountains,
Errs a dangerous gleam in the woodlands, fatal and silent.
So for a while he endures, for a while he seeks and he suffers
Patient yet in his terrible grace as assured of his banquet;
But he has lacked too long and he lifts his head and to heaven
Roars in his wonder, incensed, impatiently. Startled the valleys
Shrink from the dreadful alarum, the cattle gallop to shelter.
Arming the herdsmen cry to each other for comfort and courage.
So Talthybius spoke, as a harper voicing his prelude
Touches his strings to a varied music, seeks for a concord;
Long his strain he prepares. But one broke in on the speaker,
Sweet was his voice like a harps though heard in the front of the onset,
One of the sons of Fate by the people loved whom he ruined,
Leader in counsel and battle, the Priamid, he in his beauty
Carelessly walking who scattered the seeds of Titanic disaster.
Surely thou dreamedst at night and awaking thy dreams have not left thee!
Hast thou not woven thy words to intimidate children in Argos
Sitting alarmed in the shadows who listen pale to their nurses?
Greek, thou art standing in Ilion now and thou facest her princes.
Use not thy words but thy kings. If friendship their honey-breathed burden,
Friendship we clasp from Achilles, but challenge outpace with our challenge
Meeting the foe ere he moves in his will to the clash of encounter.
Such is the way of the Trojans since Phryx by the Hellespont halting
Seated Troy on her hill with the Ocean for comrade and sister.
Shaking in wrath his filleted head Talthybius answered:
Princes, ye speak their words who drive you! Thus said Achilles:
Rise, Talthybius, meet in her spaces the car of the morning;
Challenge her coursers divine as they bound through the plains of the Troad.
Hasten, let not the day wear gold ere thou stand in her ramparts.
Herald charged with my will to a haughty and obstinate nation,
Speak in the palace of Priam the word of the Phthian Achilles.
Freely and not as his vassal who leads, Agamemnon, the Argive,
But as a ruler in Hellas I send thee, king of my nations.
Long I have walked apart from the mellay of gods in the Troad,
Long has my listless spear leaned back on the peace of my tent-side,
Deaf to the talk of the trumpets, the whine of the chariots speeding;
Sole with my heart I have lived, unheeding the Hellene murmur,
Chid when it roared for the hunt the lion pack of the war-god,
Day after day I walked at dawn and in blush of the sunset,
Far by the call of the seas and alone with the gods and my dreaming,
Leaned to the unsatisfied chant of my heart and the rhythms of ocean,
Sung to by hopes that were sweet-lipped and vain. For Polyxenas brothers
Still are the brood of the Titan Laomedon slain in his greatness,
Engines of God unable to bear all the might that they harbour.
Awe they have chid from their hearts, nor our common humanity binds them,
Stay have they none in the gods who approve, giving calmness to mortals:
But like the Titans of old they have hugged to them grandeur and ruin.
Seek then the race self-doomed, the leaders blinded by heaven
Not in the agora swept by the winds of debate and the shoutings
Lion-voiced, huge of the people! In Troyas high-crested mansion
Speak out my word to the hero Deiphobus, head of the mellay,
Paris the racer of doom and the stubborn strength of Aeneas.
Herald of Greece, when thy feet shall be pressed on the gold and the marble,
Rise in the Ilian megaron, curb not the cry of the challenge.
Thus shalt thou say to them striking the ground with the staff of defiance,
Fronting the tempests of war, the insensate, the gamblers with downfall.
Princes of Troy, I have sat in your halls, I have slept in your chambers;
Not in the battle alone as a warrior glad of his foemen,
Glad of the strength that mates with his own, in peace we encountered.
Marvelling I sat in the halls of my enemies, close to the bosoms
Scarred by the dints of my sword and the eyes I had seen through the battle,
Ate rejoicing the food of the East at the tables of Priam
Served by the delicatest hands in the world, by Hecubas daughter,
Or with our souls reconciled in some careless and rapturous midnight
Drank of the sweetness of Phrygian wine, admiring your bodies
Shaped by the gods indeed, and my spirit revolted from hatred,
Softening it yearned in its strings to the beauty and joy of its foemen,
Yearned from the death that oertakes and the flame that cries and desires
Even at the end to save and even on the verge to deliver
Troy and her wonderful works and her sons and her deep-bosomed daughters.
Warned by the gods who reveal to the heart what the mind cannot hearken
Deaf with its thoughts, I offered you friendship, I offered you bridal,
Hellas for comrade, Achilles for brother, the world for enjoyment
Won by my spear. And one heard my call and one turned to my seeking.
Why is it then that the war-cry sinks not to rest by the Xanthus?
We are not voices from Argolis, Lacedaemonian tricksters,
Splendid and subtle and false; we are speakers of truth, we are Hellenes,
Men of the northl and faithful in friendship and noble in anger,
Strong like our fathers of old. But you answered my truth with evasion
Hoping to seize what I will not yield and you flattered your people.
Long have I waited for wisdom to dawn on your violent natures.
Lonely I paced oer the sands by the thousand-throated waters
Praying to Pallas the wise that the doom might turn from your mansions,
Buildings delightful, gracious as rhythms, lyrics in marble,
Works of the transient gods, and I yearned for the end of the war-din
Hoping that Death might relent to the beautiful sons of the Trojans.
Far from the cry of the spears, from the speed and the laughter of axles,
Heavy upon me like iron the intolerable yoke of inaction
Weighed like a load on a runner. The war-cry rose by Scamander;
Xanthus was crossed on a bridge of the fallen, not by Achilles.
Often I stretched out my hand to the spear, for the Trojan beaches
Rang with the voice of Deiphobus shouting and slaying the Argives;
Often my heart like an anxious mother for Greece and her children
Leaped, for the air was full of the leonine roar of Aeneas.
Always the evening fell or the gods protected the Argives.
Then by the moat of the ships, on the hither plain of the Xanthus
New was the voice that climbed through the din and sailed on the breezes,
High, insistent, clear, and it shouted an unknown war-cry
Threatening doom to the peoples. A woman had come in to aid you,
Regal and insolent, fair as the morning and fell as the northwind,
Freed from the distaff who grasps at the sword and she spurns at subjection
Breaking the rule of the gods. She is turbulent, swift in the battle.
Clanging her voice of the swan as a summons to death and disaster,
Fleet-footed, happy and pitiless, laughing she runs to the slaughter;
Strong with the gait that allures she leaps from her car to the slaying,
Dabbles in blood smooth hands like lilies. Europe astonished
Reels from her shock to the Ocean. She is the panic and mellay,
War is her paean, the chariots thunder of Penthesilea.
Doom was her coming, it seems, to the men of the West and their legions;
Ajax sleeps for ever, Meriones lies on the beaches.
One by one they are falling before you, the great in Achaia.
Ever the wounded are borne like the stream of the ants when they forage
Past my ships, and they hush their moans as they near and in silence
Gaze at the legions inactive accusing the fame of Achilles.
Still have I borne with you, waited a little, looked for a summons,
Longing for bridal torches, not flame on the Ilian housetops,
Blood in the chambers of sweetness, the golden amorous city
Swallowed by doom. Not broken I turned from the wrestle Titanic,
Hopeless, weary of toil in the ebb of my glorious spirit,
But from my stress of compassion for doom of the kindred nations,
But for her sake whom my soul desires, for the daughter of Priam.
And for Polyxenas sake I will speak to you yet as your lover
Once ere the Fury, abrupt from Erebus, deaf to your crying,
Mad with the joy of the massacre, seizes on wealth and on women
Calling to Fire as it strides and Ilion sinks into ashes.
Yield; for your doom is impatient. No longer your helpers hasten,
Legions swift to your call; the yoke of your pride and your splendour
Lies not now on the nations of earth as when Fortune desired you,
Strength was your slave and Troya the lioness hungrily roaring
Threatened the western world from her ramparts built by Apollo.
Gladly released from the thraldom they hated, the insolent shackles
Curbing their manhood the peoples arise and they pray for your ruin;
Piled are their altars with gifts; their blessings help the Achaians.
Memnon came, but he sleeps, and the faces swart of his nation
Darken no more like a cloud over thunder and surge of the onset.
Wearily Lycia fights; far fled are the Carian levies.
Thrace retreats to her plains preferring the whistle of stormwinds
Or on the banks of the Strymon to wheel in her Orphean measure,
Not in the revel of swords and fronting the spears of the Hellenes.
Princes of Pergama, open your gates to our Peace who would enter,
Life in her gracious clasp and forgetfulness, grave of earths passions,
Healer of wounds and the past. In a comity equal, Hellenic,
Asia join with Greece, one world from the frozen rivers
Trod by the hooves of the Scythian to farthest undulant Ganges.
Tyndarid Helen resign, the desirable cause of your danger,
Back to Greece that is empty long of her smile and her movements.
Broider with riches her coming, pomp of her slaves and the waggons
Endlessly groaning with gold that arrive with the ransom of nations.
So shall the Fury be pacified, she who exultant from Sparta
Breathed in the sails of the Trojan ravisher helping his oarsmen.
So shall the gods be appeased and the thoughts of their wrath shall be cancelled,
Justice contented trace back her steps and for brands of the burning
Torches delightful shall break into Troy with the swords of the bridal.
I like a bridegroom will seize on your city and clasp and defend her
Safe from the envy of Argos, from Lacedaemonian hatred,
Safe from the hunger of Crete and the Locrians violent rapine.
But if you turn from my voice and you hearken only to Ares
Crying for battle within you deluded by Hera and Pallas,
Swiftly the fierce deaths surges shall close over Troy and her ramparts
Built by the gods shall be stubble and earth to the tread of the Hellene.
For to my tents I return not, I swear it by Zeus and Apollo,
Master of Truth who sits within Delphi fathomless brooding
Sole in the caverns of Nature and hearkens her underground murmur,
Giving my oath to his keeping mute and stern who forgets not,
Not from the panting of Ares toil to repose, from the wrestle
Locked of hope and death in the ruthless clasp of the mellay
Leaving again the Trojan ramparts unmounted, leaving
Greece unavenged, the Aegean a lake and Europe a province.
Choosing from Hellas exile, from Peleus and Deidamia,
Choosing the field for my chamber of sleep and the battle for hearthside
I shall go warring on till Asia enslaved to my footsteps
Feels the tread of the God in my sandal pressed on her bosom.
Rest shall I then when the borders of Greece are fringed with the Ganges;
Thus shall the past pay its Titan ransom and, Fate her balance
Changing, a continent ravished suffer the fortune of Helen.
This I have sworn allying my will to Zeus and Ananke.
So was it spoken, the Phthian challenge. Silent the heroes
Looked back amazed on their past and into the night of their future.
Silent their hearts felt a grasp from gods and had hints of the heavens.
Hush was awhile in the room, as if Fate were trying her balance
Poised on the thoughts of her mortals. At length with a musical laughter
Sweet as the jangling of bells upon anklets leaping in measure
Answered aloud to the gods the virgin Penthesilea.
Long I had heard in my distant realms of the fame of Achilles,
Ignorant still while I played with the ball and ran in the dances
Thinking not ever to war; but I dreamed of the shock of the hero.
So might a poet inland who imagines the rumour of Ocean,
Yearn with his lust for the giant upheaval, the dance as of hill-tops,
Toss of the yellow mane and the tawny march and the voices
Lionlike claiming earth as a prey for the clamorous waters.
So have I longed as I came for the cry and the speed of Achilles.
But he has lurked in his ships, he has sulked like a boy that is angry.
Glad am I now of his soul that arises hungry for battle,
Glad, whether victor I live or defeated travel the shadows.
Once shall my spear have rung on the shield of the Phthian Achilles.
Peace I desire not. I came to a haughty and resolute nation,
Honour and fame they cherish, not life by the gift of a foeman.
Sons of the ancient house on whom Ilion looks as on Titans,
Chiefs whom the world admires, do you fear then the shock of the Phthian?
Gods, it is said, have decided your doom. Are you less in your greatness?
Are you not gods to reverse their decrees or unshaken to suffer?
Memnon is dead and the Carians leave you? Lycia lingers?
But from the streams of my East I have come to you, Penthesilea.
Virgin of Asia, answered Talthybius, doom of a nation
Brought thee to Troy and her haters Olympian shielded thy coming,
Vainly who feedest mens hearts with a hope that the gods have rejected.
Doom in thy sweet voice utters her counsels robed like a woman.
Answered the virgin disdainfully, wroth at the words of the Argive:
Hast thou not ended the errand they gave thee, envoy of Hellas?
Not, do I think, as our counsellor camst thou elected from Argos,
Nor as a lover to Troy hast thou hastened with amorous footing
Hurting thy heart with her frowardness. Hatred and rapine sent thee,
Greed of the Ilian gold and lust of the Phrygian women,
Voice of Achaian aggression! Doom am I truly; let Gnossus
Witness it, Salamis speak of my fatal arrival and Argos
Silent remember her wounds. But the Argive answered the virgin:
Hearken then to the words of the Hellene, Penthesilea.
Virgin to whom earths strongest are corn in the sweep of thy sickle,
Lioness vain of thy bruit who besiegest the paths of the battle!
Art thou not satiate yet? hast thou drunk then so little of slaughter?
Death has ascended thy car; he has chosen thy hand for his harvest.
But I have heard of thy pride and disdain, how thou scornest the Argives
And of thy fate thou complainest that ever averse to thy wishes
Cloisters the Phthian and matches with weaklings Penthesilea.
Not of the Ithacan boar nor the wild-cat littered in Locris
Nor of the sleek-coat Argive wild-bulls sates me the hunting;
So hast thou said, I would bury my spear in the lion of Hellas.
Blind and infatuate, art thou not beautiful, bright as the lightning?
Were not thy limbs made cunningly linking sweetness to sweetness?
Is not thy laughter an arrow surprising hearts imprudent?
Charm is the seal of the gods upon woman. Distaff and girdle,
Work of the jar at the well and the hush of our innermost chambers,
These were appointed thee, but thou hast scorned them, O Titaness, grasping
Rather the shield and the spear. Thou, obeying thy turbulent nature,
Tramplest oer laws that are old to the pleasure thy heart has demanded.
Rather bow to the ancient Gods who are seated and constant.
But for thyself thou passest and what hast thou gained for the aeons
Mingled with men in their works and depriving the age of thy beauty?
Fair art thou, woman, but fair with a bitter and opposite sweetness
Clanging in war when thou matchest thy voice with the shout of assemblies.
Not to this end was thy sweetness made and the joy of thy members,
Not to this rhythm Heaven tuned its pipe in thy throat of enchantment,
Armoured like men to go warring forth and with hardness and fierceness
Mix in the strife and the hate while the varied meaning of Nature
Perishes hurt in its heart and life is emptied of music.
Long have I marked in your world a madness. Monarchs descending
Court the imperious mob of their slaves and their suppliant gesture
Shameless and venal offends the majestic tradition of ages:
Princes plead in the agora; spurred by the tongue of a coward,
Heroes march to an impious war at a priestly bidding.
Gold is sought by the great with the chaffering heart of the trader.
Asia fails and the Gods are abandoning Ida for Hellas.
Why must thou come here to perish, O noble and exquisite virgin,
Here in a cause not thine, in a quarrel remote from thy beauty,
Leaving a land that is lovely and far to be slain among strangers?
Girl, to thy rivers go back and thy hills where the grapes are aspirant.
Trust not a fate that indulges; for all things, Penthesilea,
Break with excess and he is the wisest who walks by a measure.
Yet, if thou wilt, thou shalt meet me today in the shock of the battle:
There will I give thee the fame thou desirest; captive in Hellas,
Men shall point to thee always, smiling and whispering, saying,
This is the woman who fought with the Greeks, overthrowing their heroes;
This is the slayer of Ajax, this is the slave of Achilles.
Then with her musical laughter the fearless Penthesilea:
Well do I hope that Achilles enslaved shall taste of that glory
Or on the Phrygian fields lie slain by the spear of a woman.
But to the herald Achaian the Priamid, leader of Troya:
Rest in the halls of thy foes and ease thy fatigue and thy winters.
Herald, abide till the people have heard and reply to Achilles.
Not as the kings of the West are Ilions princes and archons,
Monarchs of men who drive their nations dumb to the battle.
Not in the palace of Priam and not in the halls of the mighty
Whispered councils prevail and the few dispose of the millions;
But with their nation consulting, feeling the hearts of the commons
Ilions princes march to the war or give peace to their foemen.
Lightning departs from her kings and the thunder returns from her people
Met in the ancient assembly where Ilus founded his columns
And since her famous centuries, names that the ages remember
Leading her, Troya proclaims her decrees to obedient nations.
Ceasing he cried to the thralls of his house and they tended the Argive.
Brought to a chamber of rest in the luminous peace of the mansion,
Grey he sat and endured the food and the wine of his foemen,
Chiding his spirit that murmured within him and gazed undelighted,
Vexed with the endless pomps of Laomedon. Far from those glories
Memory winged it back to a sward half-forgotten, a village
Nestling in leaves and low hills watching it crowned with the sunset.
So for his hour he abode in earths palace of lordliest beauty,
But in its caverns his heart was weary and, hurt by the splendours,
Longed for Greece and the smoke-darkened roof of a cottage in Argos,
Eyes of a woman faded and children crowding the hearthside.
Joyless he rose and eastward expected the sunrise on Ida.
***
~ Sri Aurobindo, 1 - The Book of the Herald
,
455:O Sovereign power of love! O grief! O balm!
All records, saving thine, come cool, and calm,
And shadowy, through the mist of passed years:
For others, good or bad, hatred and tears
Have become indolent; but touching thine,
One sigh doth echo, one poor sob doth pine,
One kiss brings honey-dew from buried days.
The woes of Troy, towers smothering o'er their blaze,
Stiff-holden shields, far-piercing spears, keen blades,
Struggling, and blood, and shrieks--all dimly fades
Into some backward corner of the brain;
Yet, in our very souls, we feel amain
The close of Troilus and Cressid sweet.
Hence, pageant history! hence, gilded cheat!
Swart planet in the universe of deeds!
Wide sea, that one continuous murmur breeds
Along the pebbled shore of memory!
Many old rotten-timber'd boats there be
Upon thy vaporous bosom, magnified
To goodly vessels; many a sail of pride,
And golden keel'd, is left unlaunch'd and dry.
But wherefore this? What care, though owl did fly
About the great Athenian admiral's mast?
What care, though striding Alexander past
The Indus with his Macedonian numbers?
Though old Ulysses tortured from his slumbers
The glutted Cyclops, what care?--Juliet leaning
Amid her window-flowers,--sighing,weaning
Tenderly her fancy from its maiden snow,
Doth more avail than these: the silver flow
Of Hero's tears, the swoon of Imogen,
Fair Pastorella in the bandit's den,
Are things to brood on with more ardency
Than the death-day of empires. Fearfully
Must such conviction come upon his head,
Who, thus far, discontent, has dared to tread,
Without one muse's smile, or kind behest,
The path of love and poesy. But rest,
In chaffing restlessness, is yet more drear
Than to be crush'd, in striving to uprear
Love's standard on the battlements of song.
So once more days and nights aid me along,
Like legion'd soldiers.

            Brain-sick shepherd-prince,
What promise hast thou faithful guarded since
The day of sacrifice? Or, have new sorrows
Come with the constant dawn upon thy morrows?
Alas! 'tis his old grief. For many days,
Has he been wandering in uncertain ways:
Through wilderness, and woods of mossed oaks;
Counting his woe-worn minutes, by the strokes
Of the lone woodcutter; and listening still,
Hour after hour, to each lush-leav'd rill.
Now he is sitting by a shady spring,
And elbow-deep with feverous fingering
Stems the upbursting cold: a wild rose tree
Pavilions him in bloom, and he doth see
A bud which snares his fancy: lo! but now
He plucks it, dips its stalk in the water: how!
It swells, it buds, it flowers beneath his sight;
And, in the middle, there is softly pight
A golden butterfly; upon whose wings
There must be surely character'd strange things,
For with wide eye he wonders, and smiles oft.

Lightly this little herald flew aloft,
Follow'd by glad Endymion's clasped hands:
Onward it flies. From languor's sullen bands
His limbs are loos'd, and eager, on he hies
Dazzled to trace it in the sunny skies.
It seem'd he flew, the way so easy was;
And like a new-born spirit did he pass
Through the green evening quiet in the sun,
O'er many a heath, through many a woodland dun,
Through buried paths, where sleepy twilight dreams
The summer time away. One track unseams
A wooded cleft, and, far away, the blue
Of ocean fades upon him; then, anew,
He sinks adown a solitary glen,
Where there was never sound of mortal men,
Saving, perhaps, some snow-light cadences
Melting to silence, when upon the breeze
Some holy bark let forth an anthem sweet,
To cheer itself to Delphi. Still his feet
Went swift beneath the merry-winged guide,
Until it reached a splashing fountain's side
That, near a cavern's mouth, for ever pour'd
Unto the temperate air: then high it soar'd,
And, downward, suddenly began to dip,
As if, athirst with so much toil, 'twould sip
The crystal spout-head: so it did, with touch
Most delicate, as though afraid to smutch
Even with mealy gold the waters clear.
But, at that very touch, to disappear
So fairy-quick, was strange! Bewildered,
Endymion sought around, and shook each bed
Of covert flowers in vain; and then he flung
Himself along the grass. What gentle tongue,
What whisperer disturb'd his gloomy rest?
It was a nymph uprisen to the breast
In the fountain's pebbly margin, and she stood
'Mong lilies, like the youngest of the brood.
To him her dripping hand she softly kist,
And anxiously began to plait and twist
Her ringlets round her fingers, saying: "Youth!
Too long, alas, hast thou starv'd on the ruth,
The bitterness of love: too long indeed,
Seeing thou art so gentle. Could I weed
Thy soul of care, by heavens, I would offer
All the bright riches of my crystal coffer
To Amphitrite; all my clear-eyed fish,
Golden, or rainbow-sided, or purplish,
Vermilion-tail'd, or finn'd with silvery gauze;
Yea, or my veined pebble-floor, that draws
A virgin light to the deep; my grotto-sands
Tawny and gold, ooz'd slowly from far lands
By my diligent springs; my level lilies, shells,
My charming rod, my potent river spells;
Yes, every thing, even to the pearly cup
Meander gave me,for I bubbled up
To fainting creatures in a desert wild.
But woe is me, I am but as a child
To gladden thee; and all I dare to say,
Is, that I pity thee; that on this day
I've been thy guide; that thou must wander far
In other regions, past the scanty bar
To mortal steps, before thou cans't be ta'en
From every wasting sigh, from every pain,
Into the gentle bosom of thy love.
Why it is thus, one knows in heaven above:
But, a poor Naiad, I guess not. Farewel!
I have a ditty for my hollow cell."

Hereat, she vanished from Endymion's gaze,
Who brooded o'er the water in amaze:
The dashing fount pour'd on, and where its pool
Lay, half asleep, in grass and rushes cool,
Quick waterflies and gnats were sporting still,
And fish were dimpling, as if good nor ill
Had fallen out that hour. The wanderer,
Holding his forehead, to keep off the burr
Of smothering fancies, patiently sat down;
And, while beneath the evening's sleepy frown
Glow-worms began to trim their starry lamps,
Thus breath'd he to himself: "Whoso encamps
To take a fancied city of delight,
O what a wretch is he! and when 'tis his,
After long toil and travelling, to miss
The kernel of his hopes, how more than vile:
Yet, for him there's refreshment even in toil;
Another city doth he set about,
Free from the smallest pebble-bead of doubt
That he will seize on trickling honey-combs:
Alas, he finds them dry; and then he foams,
And onward to another city speeds.
But this is human life: the war, the deeds,
The disappointment, the anxiety,
Imagination's struggles, far and nigh,
All human; bearing in themselves this good,
That they are sill the air, the subtle food,
To make us feel existence, and to shew
How quiet death is. Where soil is men grow,
Whether to weeds or flowers; but for me,
There is no depth to strike in: I can see
Nought earthly worth my compassing; so stand
Upon a misty, jutting head of land
Alone? No, no; and by the Orphean lute,
When mad Eurydice is listening to 't;
I'd rather stand upon this misty peak,
With not a thing to sigh for, or to seek,
But the soft shadow of my thrice-seen love,
Than beI care not what. O meekest dove
Of heaven! O Cynthia, ten-times bright and fair!
From thy blue throne, now filling all the air,
Glance but one little beam of temper'd light
Into my bosom, that the dreadful might
And tyranny of love be somewhat scar'd!
Yet do not so, sweet queen; one torment spar'd,
Would give a pang to jealous misery,
Worse than the torment's self: but rather tie
Large wings upon my shoulders, and point out
My love's far dwelling. Though the playful rout
Of Cupids shun thee, too divine art thou,
Too keen in beauty, for thy silver prow
Not to have dipp'd in love's most gentle stream.
O be propitious, nor severely deem
My madness impious; for, by all the stars
That tend thy bidding, I do think the bars
That kept my spirit in are burstthat I
Am sailing with thee through the dizzy sky!
How beautiful thou art! The world how deep!
How tremulous-dazzlingly the wheels sweep
Around their axle! Then these gleaming reins,
How lithe! When this thy chariot attains
Is airy goal, haply some bower veils
Those twilight eyes? Those eyes!my spirit fails
Dear goddess, help! or the wide-gaping air
Will gulph mehelp!"At this with madden'd stare,
And lifted hands, and trembling lips he stood;
Like old Deucalion mountain'd o'er the flood,
Or blind Orion hungry for the morn.
And, but from the deep cavern there was borne
A voice, he had been froze to senseless stone;
Nor sigh of his, nor plaint, nor passion'd moan
Had more been heard. Thus swell'd it forth: "Descend,
Young mountaineer! descend where alleys bend
Into the sparry hollows of the world!
Oft hast thou seen bolts of the thunder hurl'd
As from thy threshold, day by day hast been
A little lower than the chilly sheen
Of icy pinnacles, and dipp'dst thine arms
Into the deadening ether that still charms
Their marble being: now, as deep profound
As those are high, descend! He ne'er is crown'd
With immortality, who fears to follow
Where airy voices lead: so through the hollow,
The silent mysteries of earth, descend!"

He heard but the last words, nor could contend
One moment in reflection: for he fled
Into the fearful deep, to hide his head
From the clear moon, the trees, and coming madness.

'Twas far too strange, and wonderful for sadness;
Sharpening, by degrees, his appetite
To dive into the deepest. Dark, nor light,
The region; nor bright, nor sombre wholly,
But mingled up; a gleaming melancholy;
A dusky empire and its diadems;
One faint eternal eventide of gems.
Aye, millions sparkled on a vein of gold,
Along whose track the prince quick footsteps told,
With all its lines abrupt and angular:
Out-shooting sometimes, like a meteor-star,
Through a vast antre; then the metal woof,
Like Vulcan's rainbow, with some monstrous roof
Curves hugely: now, far in the deep abyss,
It seems an angry lightning, and doth hiss
Fancy into belief: anon it leads
Through winding passages, where sameness breeds
Vexing conceptions of some sudden change;
Whether to silver grots, or giant range
Of sapphire columns, or fantastic bridge
Athwart a flood of crystal. On a ridge
Now fareth he, that o'er the vast beneath
Towers like an ocean-cliff, and whence he seeth
A hundred waterfalls, whose voices come
But as the murmuring surge. Chilly and numb
His bosom grew, when first he, far away,
Descried an orbed diamond, set to fray
Old darkness from his throne: 'twas like the sun
Uprisen o'er chaos: and with such a stun
Came the amazement, that, absorb'd in it,
He saw not fiercer wonderspast the wit
Of any spirit to tell, but one of those
Who, when this planet's sphering time doth close,
Will be its high remembrancers: who they?
The mighty ones who have made eternal day
For Greece and England. While astonishment
With deep-drawn sighs was quieting, he went
Into a marble gallery, passing through
A mimic temple, so complete and true
In sacred custom, that he well nigh fear'd
To search it inwards, whence far off appear'd,
Through a long pillar'd vista, a fair shrine,
And, just beyond, on light tiptoe divine,
A quiver'd Dian. Stepping awfully,
The youth approach'd; oft turning his veil'd eye
Down sidelong aisles, and into niches old.
And when, more near against the marble cold
He had touch'd his forehead, he began to thread
All courts and passages, where silence dead
Rous'd by his whispering footsteps murmured faint:
And long he travers'd to and fro, to acquaint
Himself with every mystery, and awe;
Till, weary, he sat down before the maw
Of a wide outlet, fathomless and dim
To wild uncertainty and shadows grim.
There, when new wonders ceas'd to float before,
And thoughts of self came on, how crude and sore
The journey homeward to habitual self!
A mad-pursuing of the fog-born elf,
Whose flitting lantern, through rude nettle-briar,
Cheats us into a swamp, into a fire,
Into the bosom of a hated thing.

What misery most drowningly doth sing
In lone Endymion's ear, now he has caught
The goal of consciousness? Ah, 'tis the thought,
The deadly feel of solitude: for lo!
He cannot see the heavens, nor the flow
Of rivers, nor hill-flowers running wild
In pink and purple chequer, nor, up-pil'd,
The cloudy rack slow journeying in the west,
Like herded elephants; nor felt, nor prest
Cool grass, nor tasted the fresh slumberous air;
But far from such companionship to wear
An unknown time, surcharg'd with grief, away,
Was now his lot. And must he patient stay,
Tracing fantastic figures with his spear?
"No!" exclaimed he, "why should I tarry here?"
No! loudly echoed times innumerable.
At which he straightway started, and 'gan tell
His paces back into the temple's chief;
Warming and glowing strong in the belief
Of help from Dian: so that when again
He caught her airy form, thus did he plain,
Moving more near the while. "O Haunter chaste
Of river sides, and woods, and heathy waste,
Where with thy silver bow and arrows keen
Art thou now forested? O woodland Queen,
What smoothest air thy smoother forehead woos?
Where dost thou listen to the wide halloos
Of thy disparted nymphs? Through what dark tree
Glimmers thy crescent? Wheresoe'er it be,
'Tis in the breath of heaven: thou dost taste
Freedom as none can taste it, nor dost waste
Thy loveliness in dismal elements;
But, finding in our green earth sweet contents,
There livest blissfully. Ah, if to thee
It feels Elysian, how rich to me,
An exil'd mortal, sounds its pleasant name!
Within my breast there lives a choking flame
O let me cool it among the zephyr-boughs!
A homeward fever parches up my tongue
O let me slake it at the running springs!
Upon my ear a noisy nothing rings
O let me once more hear the linnet's note!
Before mine eyes thick films and shadows float
O let me 'noint them with the heaven's light!
Dost thou now lave thy feet and ankles white?
O think how sweet to me the freshening sluice!
Dost thou now please thy thirst with berry-juice?
O think how this dry palate would rejoice!
If in soft slumber thou dost hear my voice,
Oh think how I should love a bed of flowers!
Young goddess! let me see my native bowers!
Deliver me from this rapacious deep!"

Thus ending loudly, as he would o'erleap
His destiny, alert he stood: but when
Obstinate silence came heavily again,
Feeling about for its old couch of space
And airy cradle, lowly bow'd his face
Desponding, o'er the marble floor's cold thrill.
But 'twas not long; for, sweeter than the rill
To its old channel, or a swollen tide
To margin sallows, were the leaves he spied,
And flowers, and wreaths, and ready myrtle crowns
Up heaping through the slab: refreshment drowns
Itself, and strives its own delights to hide
Nor in one spot alone; the floral pride
In a long whispering birth enchanted grew
Before his footsteps; as when heav'd anew
Old ocean rolls a lengthened wave to the shore,
Down whose green back the short-liv'd foam, all hoar,
Bursts gradual, with a wayward indolence.

Increasing still in heart, and pleasant sense,
Upon his fairy journey on he hastes;
So anxious for the end, he scarcely wastes
One moment with his hand among the sweets:
Onward he goeshe stopshis bosom beats
As plainly in his ear, as the faint charm
Of which the throbs were born. This still alarm,
This sleepy music, forc'd him walk tiptoe:
For it came more softly than the east could blow
Arion's magic to the Atlantic isles;
Or than the west, made jealous by the smiles
Of thron'd Apollo, could breathe back the lyre
To seas Ionian and Tyrian.

O did he ever live, that lonely man,
Who lov'dand music slew not? 'Tis the pest
Of love, that fairest joys give most unrest;
That things of delicate and tenderest worth
Are swallow'd all, and made a seared dearth,
By one consuming flame: it doth immerse
And suffocate true blessings in a curse.
Half-happy, by comparison of bliss,
Is miserable. 'Twas even so with this
Dew-dropping melody, in the Carian's ear;
First heaven, then hell, and then forgotten clear,
Vanish'd in elemental passion.

And down some swart abysm he had gone,
Had not a heavenly guide benignant led
To where thick myrtle branches, 'gainst his head
Brushing, awakened: then the sounds again
Went noiseless as a passing noontide rain
Over a bower, where little space he stood;
For as the sunset peeps into a wood
So saw he panting light, and towards it went
Through winding alleys; and lo, wonderment!
Upon soft verdure saw, one here, one there,
Cupids a slumbering on their pinions fair.

After a thousand mazes overgone,
At last, with sudden step, he came upon
A chamber, myrtle wall'd, embowered high,
Full of light, incense, tender minstrelsy,
And more of beautiful and strange beside:
For on a silken couch of rosy pride,
In midst of all, there lay a sleeping youth
Of fondest beauty; fonder, in fair sooth,
Than sighs could fathom, or contentment reach:
And coverlids gold-tinted like the peach,
Or ripe October's faded marigolds,
Fell sleek about him in a thousand folds
Not hiding up an Apollonian curve
Of neck and shoulder, nor the tenting swerve
Of knee from knee, nor ankles pointing light;
But rather, giving them to the filled sight
Officiously. Sideway his face repos'd
On one white arm, and tenderly unclos'd,
By tenderest pressure, a faint damask mouth
To slumbery pout; just as the morning south
Disparts a dew-lipp'd rose. Above his head,
Four lily stalks did their white honours wed
To make a coronal; and round him grew
All tendrils green, of every bloom and hue,
Together intertwin'd and trammel'd fresh:
The vine of glossy sprout; the ivy mesh,
Shading its Ethiop berries; and woodbine,
Of velvet leaves and bugle-blooms divine;
Convolvulus in streaked vases flush;
The creeper, mellowing for an autumn blush;
And virgin's bower, trailing airily;
With others of the sisterhood. Hard by,
Stood serene Cupids watching silently.
One, kneeling to a lyre, touch'd the strings,
Muffling to death the pathos with his wings;
And, ever and anon, uprose to look
At the youth's slumber; while another took
A willow-bough, distilling odorous dew,
And shook it on his hair; another flew
In through the woven roof, and fluttering-wise
Rain'd violets upon his sleeping eyes.

At these enchantments, and yet many more,
The breathless Latmian wonder'd o'er and o'er;
Until, impatient in embarrassment,
He forthright pass'd, and lightly treading went
To that same feather'd lyrist, who straightway,
Smiling, thus whisper'd: "Though from upper day
Thou art a wanderer, and thy presence here
Might seem unholy, be of happy cheer!
For 'tis the nicest touch of human honour,
When some ethereal and high-favouring donor
Presents immortal bowers to mortal sense;
As now 'tis done to thee, Endymion. Hence
Was I in no wise startled. So recline
Upon these living flowers. Here is wine,
Alive with sparklesnever, I aver,
Since Ariadne was a vintager,
So cool a purple: taste these juicy pears,
Sent me by sad Vertumnus, when his fears
Were high about Pomona: here is cream,
Deepening to richness from a snowy gleam;
Sweeter than that nurse Amalthea skimm'd
For the boy Jupiter: and here, undimm'd
By any touch, a bunch of blooming plums
Ready to melt between an infant's gums:
And here is manna pick'd from Syrian trees,
In starlight, by the three Hesperides.
Feast on, and meanwhile I will let thee know
Of all these things around us." He did so,
Still brooding o'er the cadence of his lyre;
And thus: "I need not any hearing tire
By telling how the sea-born goddess pin'd
For a mortal youth, and how she strove to bind
Him all in all unto her doting self.
Who would not be so prison'd? but, fond elf,
He was content to let her amorous plea
Faint through his careless arms; content to see
An unseiz'd heaven dying at his feet;
Content, O fool! to make a cold retreat,
When on the pleasant grass such love, lovelorn,
Lay sorrowing; when every tear was born
Of diverse passion; when her lips and eyes
Were clos'd in sullen moisture, and quick sighs
Came vex'd and pettish through her nostrils small.
Hush! no exclaimyet, justly mightst thou call
Curses upon his head.I was half glad,
But my poor mistress went distract and mad,
When the boar tusk'd him: so away she flew
To Jove's high throne, and by her plainings drew
Immortal tear-drops down the thunderer's beard;
Whereon, it was decreed he should be rear'd
Each summer time to life. Lo! this is he,
That same Adonis, safe in the privacy
Of this still region all his winter-sleep.
Aye, sleep; for when our love-sick queen did weep
Over his waned corse, the tremulous shower
Heal'd up the wound, and, with a balmy power,
Medicined death to a lengthened drowsiness:
The which she fills with visions, and doth dress
In all this quiet luxury; and hath set
Us young immortals, without any let,
To watch his slumber through. 'Tis well nigh pass'd,
Even to a moment's filling up, and fast
She scuds with summer breezes, to pant through
The first long kiss, warm firstling, to renew
Embower'd sports in Cytherea's isle.
Look! how those winged listeners all this while
Stand anxious: see! behold!"This clamant word
Broke through the careful silence; for they heard
A rustling noise of leaves, and out there flutter'd
Pigeons and doves: Adonis something mutter'd,
The while one hand, that erst upon his thigh
Lay dormant, mov'd convuls'd and gradually
Up to his forehead. Then there was a hum
Of sudden voices, echoing, "Come! come!
Arise! awake! Clear summer has forth walk'd
Unto the clover-sward, and she has talk'd
Full soothingly to every nested finch:
Rise, Cupids! or we'll give the blue-bell pinch
To your dimpled arms. Once more sweet life begin!"
At this, from every side they hurried in,
Rubbing their sleepy eyes with lazy wrists,
And doubling overhead their little fists
In backward yawns. But all were soon alive:
For as delicious wine doth, sparkling, dive
In nectar'd clouds and curls through water fair,
So from the arbour roof down swell'd an air
Odorous and enlivening; making all
To laugh, and play, and sing, and loudly call
For their sweet queen: when lo! the wreathed green
Disparted, and far upward could be seen
Blue heaven, and a silver car, air-borne,
Whose silent wheels, fresh wet from clouds of morn,
Spun off a drizzling dew,which falling chill
On soft Adonis' shoulders, made him still
Nestle and turn uneasily about.
Soon were the white doves plain, with necks stretch'd out,
And silken traces lighten'd in descent;
And soon, returning from love's banishment,
Queen Venus leaning downward open arm'd:
Her shadow fell upon his breast, and charm'd
A tumult to his heart, and a new life
Into his eyes. Ah, miserable strife,
But for her comforting! unhappy sight,
But meeting her blue orbs! Who, who can write
Of these first minutes? The unchariest muse
To embracements warm as theirs makes coy excuse.

O it has ruffled every spirit there,
Saving love's self, who stands superb to share
The general gladness: awfully he stands;
A sovereign quell is in his waving hands;
No sight can bear the lightning of his bow;
His quiver is mysterious, none can know
What themselves think of it; from forth his eyes
There darts strange light of varied hues and dyes:
A scowl is sometimes on his brow, but who
Look full upon it feel anon the blue
Of his fair eyes run liquid through their souls.
Endymion feels it, and no more controls
The burning prayer within him; so, bent low,
He had begun a plaining of his woe.
But Venus, bending forward, said: "My child,
Favour this gentle youth; his days are wild
With lovehebut alas! too well I see
Thou know'st the deepness of his misery.
Ah, smile not so, my son: I tell thee true,
That when through heavy hours I used to rue
The endless sleep of this new-born Adon',
This stranger ay I pitied. For upon
A dreary morning once I fled away
Into the breezy clouds, to weep and pray
For this my love: for vexing Mars had teaz'd
Me even to tears: thence, when a little eas'd,
Down-looking, vacant, through a hazy wood,
I saw this youth as he despairing stood:
Those same dark curls blown vagrant in the wind:
Those same full fringed lids a constant blind
Over his sullen eyes: I saw him throw
Himself on wither'd leaves, even as though
Death had come sudden; for no jot he mov'd,
Yet mutter'd wildly. I could hear he lov'd
Some fair immortal, and that his embrace
Had zoned her through the night. There is no trace
Of this in heaven: I have mark'd each cheek,
And find it is the vainest thing to seek;
And that of all things 'tis kept secretest.
Endymion! one day thou wilt be blest:
So still obey the guiding hand that fends
Thee safely through these wonders for sweet ends.
'Tis a concealment needful in extreme;
And if I guess'd not so, the sunny beam
Thou shouldst mount up to with me. Now adieu!
Here must we leave thee."At these words up flew
The impatient doves, up rose the floating car,
Up went the hum celestial. High afar
The Latmian saw them minish into nought;
And, when all were clear vanish'd, still he caught
A vivid lightning from that dreadful bow.
When all was darkened, with Etnean throe
The earth clos'dgave a solitary moan
And left him once again in twilight lone.

He did not rave, he did not stare aghast,
For all those visions were o'ergone, and past,
And he in loneliness: he felt assur'd
Of happy times, when all he had endur'd
Would seem a feather to the mighty prize.
So, with unusual gladness, on he hies
Through caves, and palaces of mottled ore,
Gold dome, and crystal wall, and turquois floor,
Black polish'd porticos of awful shade,
And, at the last, a diamond balustrade,
Leading afar past wild magnificence,
Spiral through ruggedest loopholes, and thence
Stretching across a void, then guiding o'er
Enormous chasms, where, all foam and roar,
Streams subterranean tease their granite beds;
Then heighten'd just above the silvery heads
Of a thousand fountains, so that he could dash
The waters with his spear; but at the splash,
Done heedlessly, those spouting columns rose
Sudden a poplar's height, and 'gan to enclose
His diamond path with fretwork, streaming round
Alive, and dazzling cool, and with a sound,
Haply, like dolphin tumults, when sweet shells
Welcome the float of Thetis. Long he dwells
On this delight; for, every minute's space,
The streams with changed magic interlace:
Sometimes like delicatest lattices,
Cover'd with crystal vines; then weeping trees,
Moving about as in a gentle wind,
Which, in a wink, to watery gauze refin'd,
Pour'd into shapes of curtain'd canopies,
Spangled, and rich with liquid broideries
Of flowers, peacocks, swans, and naiads fair.
Swifter than lightning went these wonders rare;
And then the water, into stubborn streams
Collecting, mimick'd the wrought oaken beams,
Pillars, and frieze, and high fantastic roof,
Of those dusk places in times far aloof
Cathedrals call'd. He bade a loth farewel
To these founts Protean, passing gulph, and dell,
And torrent, and ten thousand jutting shapes,
Half seen through deepest gloom, and griesly gapes,
Blackening on every side, and overhead
A vaulted dome like Heaven's, far bespread
With starlight gems: aye, all so huge and strange,
The solitary felt a hurried change
Working within him into something dreary,
Vex'd like a morning eagle, lost, and weary,
And purblind amid foggy, midnight wolds.
But he revives at once: for who beholds
New sudden things, nor casts his mental slough?
Forth from a rugged arch, in the dusk below,
Came mother Cybele! alonealone
In sombre chariot; dark foldings thrown
About her majesty, and front death-pale,
With turrets crown'd. Four maned lions hale
The sluggish wheels; solemn their toothed maws,
Their surly eyes brow-hidden, heavy paws
Uplifted drowsily, and nervy tails
Cowering their tawny brushes. Silent sails
This shadowy queen athwart, and faints away
In another gloomy arch.

             Wherefore delay,
Young traveller, in such a mournful place?
Art thou wayworn, or canst not further trace
The diamond path? And does it indeed end
Abrupt in middle air? Yet earthward bend
Thy forehead, and to Jupiter cloud-borne
Call ardently! He was indeed wayworn;
Abrupt, in middle air, his way was lost;
To cloud-borne Jove he bowed, and there crost
Towards him a large eagle, 'twixt whose wings,
Without one impious word, himself he flings,
Committed to the darkness and the gloom:
Down, down, uncertain to what pleasant doom,
Swift as a fathoming plummet down he fell
Through unknown things; till exhaled asphodel,
And rose, with spicy fannings interbreath'd,
Came swelling forth where little caves were wreath'd
So thick with leaves and mosses, that they seem'd
Large honey-combs of green, and freshly teem'd
With airs delicious. In the greenest nook
The eagle landed him, and farewel took.

It was a jasmine bower, all bestrown
With golden moss. His every sense had grown
Ethereal for pleasure; 'bove his head
Flew a delight half-graspable; his tread
Was Hesperan; to his capable ears
Silence was music from the holy spheres;
A dewy luxury was in his eyes;
The little flowers felt his pleasant sighs
And stirr'd them faintly. Verdant cave and cell
He wander'd through, oft wondering at such swell
Of sudden exaltation: but, "Alas!
Said he, "will all this gush of feeling pass
Away in solitude? And must they wane,
Like melodies upon a sandy plain,
Without an echo? Then shall I be left
So sad, so melancholy, so bereft!
Yet still I feel immortal! O my love,
My breath of life, where art thou? High above,
Dancing before the morning gates of heaven?
Or keeping watch among those starry seven,
Old Atlas' children? Art a maid of the waters,
One of shell-winding Triton's bright-hair'd daughters?
Or art, impossible! a nymph of Dian's,
Weaving a coronal of tender scions
For very idleness? Where'er thou art,
Methinks it now is at my will to start
Into thine arms; to scare Aurora's train,
And snatch thee from the morning; o'er the main
To scud like a wild bird, and take thee off
From thy sea-foamy cradle; or to doff
Thy shepherd vest, and woo thee mid fresh leaves.
No, no, too eagerly my soul deceives
Its powerless self: I know this cannot be.
O let me then by some sweet dreaming flee
To her entrancements: hither sleep awhile!
Hither most gentle sleep! and soothing foil
For some few hours the coming solitude."

Thus spake he, and that moment felt endued
With power to dream deliciously; so wound
Through a dim passage, searching till he found
The smoothest mossy bed and deepest, where
He threw himself, and just into the air
Stretching his indolent arms, he took, O bliss!
A naked waist: "Fair Cupid, whence is this?"
A well-known voice sigh'd, "Sweetest, here am I!"
At which soft ravishment, with doating cry
They trembled to each other.Helicon!
O fountain'd hill! Old Homer's Helicon!
That thou wouldst spout a little streamlet o'er
These sorry pages; then the verse would soar
And sing above this gentle pair, like lark
Over his nested young: but all is dark
Around thine aged top, and thy clear fount
Exhales in mists to heaven. Aye, the count
Of mighty Poets is made up; the scroll
Is folded by the Muses; the bright roll
Is in Apollo's hand: our dazed eyes
Have seen a new tinge in the western skies:
The world has done its duty. Yet, oh yet,
Although the sun of poesy is set,
These lovers did embrace, and we must weep
That there is no old power left to steep
A quill immortal in their joyous tears.
Long time in silence did their anxious fears
Question that thus it was; long time they lay
Fondling and kissing every doubt away;
Long time ere soft caressing sobs began
To mellow into words, and then there ran
Two bubbling springs of talk from their sweet lips.
"O known Unknown! from whom my being sips
Such darling essence, wherefore may I not
Be ever in these arms? in this sweet spot
Pillow my chin for ever? ever press
These toying hands and kiss their smooth excess?
Why not for ever and for ever feel
That breath about my eyes? Ah, thou wilt steal
Away from me again, indeed, indeed
Thou wilt be gone away, and wilt not heed
My lonely madness. Speak, my kindest fair!
Isis it to be so? No! Who will dare
To pluck thee from me? And, of thine own will,
Full well I feel thou wouldst not leave me. Still
Let me entwine thee surer, surernow
How can we part? Elysium! who art thou?
Who, that thou canst not be for ever here,
Or lift me with thee to some starry sphere?
Enchantress! tell me by this soft embrace,
By the most soft completion of thy face,
Those lips, O slippery blisses, twinkling eyes,
And by these tenderest, milky sovereignties
These tenderest, and by the nectar-wine,
The passion""O lov'd Ida the divine!
Endymion! dearest! Ah, unhappy me!
His soul will 'scape usO felicity!
How he does love me! His poor temples beat
To the very tune of lovehow sweet, sweet, sweet.
Revive, dear youth, or I shall faint and die;
Revive, or these soft hours will hurry by
In tranced dulness; speak, and let that spell
Affright this lethargy! I cannot quell
Its heavy pressure, and will press at least
My lips to thine, that they may richly feast
Until we taste the life of love again.
What! dost thou move? dost kiss? O bliss! O pain!
I love thee, youth, more than I can conceive;
And so long absence from thee doth bereave
My soul of any rest: yet must I hence:
Yet, can I not to starry eminence
Uplift thee; nor for very shame can own
Myself to thee. Ah, dearest, do not groan
Or thou wilt force me from this secrecy,
And I must blush in heaven. O that I
Had done it already; that the dreadful smiles
At my lost brightness, my impassion'd wiles,
Had waned from Olympus' solemn height,
And from all serious Gods; that our delight
Was quite forgotten, save of us alone!
And wherefore so ashamed? 'Tis but to atone
For endless pleasure, by some coward blushes:
Yet must I be a coward!Horror rushes
Too palpable before methe sad look
Of JoveMinerva's startno bosom shook
With awe of purityno Cupid pinion
In reverence veiledmy crystaline dominion
Half lost, and all old hymns made nullity!
But what is this to love? O I could fly
With thee into the ken of heavenly powers,
So thou wouldst thus, for many sequent hours,
Press me so sweetly. Now I swear at once
That I am wise, that Pallas is a dunce
Perhaps her love like mine is but unknown
O I do think that I have been alone
In chastity: yes, Pallas has been sighing,
While every eve saw me my hair uptying
With fingers cool as aspen leaves. Sweet love,
I was as vague as solitary dove,
Nor knew that nests were built. Now a soft kiss
Aye, by that kiss, I vow an endless bliss,
An immortality of passion's thine:
Ere long I will exalt thee to the shine
Of heaven ambrosial; and we will shade
Ourselves whole summers by a river glade;
And I will tell thee stories of the sky,
And breathe thee whispers of its minstrelsy.
My happy love will overwing all bounds!
O let me melt into thee; let the sounds
Of our close voices marry at their birth;
Let us entwine hoveringlyO dearth
Of human words! roughness of mortal speech!
Lispings empyrean will I sometime teach
Thine honied tonguelute-breathings, which I gasp
To have thee understand, now while I clasp
Thee thus, and weep for fondnessI am pain'd,
Endymion: woe! woe! is grief contain'd
In the very deeps of pleasure, my sole life?"
Hereat, with many sobs, her gentle strife
Melted into a languor. He return'd
Entranced vows and tears.

             Ye who have yearn'd
With too much passion, will here stay and pity,
For the mere sake of truth; as 'tis a ditty
Not of these days, but long ago 'twas told
By a cavern wind unto a forest old;
And then the forest told it in a dream
To a sleeping lake, whose cool and level gleam
A poet caught as he was journeying
To Phoebus' shrine; and in it he did fling
His weary limbs, bathing an hour's space,
And after, straight in that inspired place
He sang the story up into the air,
Giving it universal freedom. There
Has it been ever sounding for those ears
Whose tips are glowing hot. The legend cheers
Yon centinel stars; and he who listens to it
Must surely be self-doomed or he will rue it:
For quenchless burnings come upon the heart,
Made fiercer by a fear lest any part
Should be engulphed in the eddying wind.
As much as here is penn'd doth always find
A resting place, thus much comes clear and plain;
Anon the strange voice is upon the wane
And 'tis but echo'd from departing sound,
That the fair visitant at last unwound
Her gentle limbs, and left the youth asleep.
Thus the tradition of the gusty deep.

Now turn we to our former chroniclers.
Endymion awoke, that grief of hers
Sweet paining on his ear: he sickly guess'd
How lone he was once more, and sadly press'd
His empty arms together, hung his head,
And most forlorn upon that widow'd bed
Sat silently. Love's madness he had known:
Often with more than tortured lion's groan
Moanings had burst from him; but now that rage
Had pass'd away: no longer did he wage
A rough-voic'd war against the dooming stars.
No, he had felt too much for such harsh jars:
The lyre of his soul Eolian tun'd
Forgot all violence, and but commun'd
With melancholy thought: O he had swoon'd
Drunken from pleasure's nipple; and his love
Henceforth was dove-like.Loth was he to move
From the imprinted couch, and when he did,
'Twas with slow, languid paces, and face hid
In muffling hands. So temper'd, out he stray'd
Half seeing visions that might have dismay'd
Alecto's serpents; ravishments more keen
Than Hermes' pipe, when anxious he did lean
Over eclipsing eyes: and at the last
It was a sounding grotto, vaulted, vast,
O'er studded with a thousand, thousand pearls,
And crimson mouthed shells with stubborn curls,
Of every shape and size, even to the bulk
In which whales arbour close, to brood and sulk
Against an endless storm. Moreover too,
Fish-semblances, of green and azure hue,
Ready to snort their streams. In this cool wonder
Endymion sat down, and 'gan to ponder
On all his life: his youth, up to the day
When 'mid acclaim, and feasts, and garlands gay,
He stept upon his shepherd throne: the look
Of his white palace in wild forest nook,
And all the revels he had lorded there:
Each tender maiden whom he once thought fair,
With every friend and fellow-woodlander
Pass'd like a dream before him. Then the spur
Of the old bards to mighty deeds: his plans
To nurse the golden age 'mong shepherd clans:
That wondrous night: the great Pan-festival:
His sister's sorrow; and his wanderings all,
Until into the earth's deep maw he rush'd:
Then all its buried magic, till it flush'd
High with excessive love. "And now," thought he,
"How long must I remain in jeopardy
Of blank amazements that amaze no more?
Now I have tasted her sweet soul to the core
All other depths are shallow: essences,
Once spiritual, are like muddy lees,
Meant but to fertilize my earthly root,
And make my branches lift a golden fruit
Into the bloom of heaven: other light,
Though it be quick and sharp enough to blight
The Olympian eagle's vision, is dark,
Dark as the parentage of chaos. Hark!
My silent thoughts are echoing from these shells;
Or they are but the ghosts, the dying swells
Of noises far away?list!"Hereupon
He kept an anxious ear. The humming tone
Came louder, and behold, there as he lay,
On either side outgush'd, with misty spray,
A copious spring; and both together dash'd
Swift, mad, fantastic round the rocks, and lash'd
Among the conchs and shells of the lofty grot,
Leaving a trickling dew. At last they shot
Down from the ceiling's height, pouring a noise
As of some breathless racers whose hopes poize
Upon the last few steps, and with spent force
Along the ground they took a winding course.
Endymion follow'dfor it seem'd that one
Ever pursued, the other strove to shun
Follow'd their languid mazes, till well nigh
He had left thinking of the mystery,
And was now rapt in tender hoverings
Over the vanish'd bliss. Ah! what is it sings
His dream away? What melodies are these?
They sound as through the whispering of trees,
Not native in such barren vaults. Give ear!

"O Arethusa, peerless nymph! why fear
Such tenderness as mine? Great Dian, why,
Why didst thou hear her prayer? O that I
Were rippling round her dainty fairness now,
Circling about her waist, and striving how
To entice her to a dive! then stealing in
Between her luscious lips and eyelids thin.
O that her shining hair was in the sun,
And I distilling from it thence to run
In amorous rillets down her shrinking form!
To linger on her lily shoulders, warm
Between her kissing breasts, and every charm
Touch raptur'd!See how painfully I flow:
Fair maid, be pitiful to my great woe.
Stay, stay thy weary course, and let me lead,
A happy wooer, to the flowery mead
Where all that beauty snar'd me.""Cruel god,
Desist! or my offended mistress' nod
Will stagnate all thy fountains:tease me not
With syren wordsAh, have I really got
Such power to madden thee? And is it true
Away, away, or I shall dearly rue
My very thoughts: in mercy then away,
Kindest Alpheus for should I obey
My own dear will, 'twould be a deadly bane."
"O, Oread-Queen! would that thou hadst a pain
Like this of mine, then would I fearless turn
And be a criminal.""Alas, I burn,
I shuddergentle river, get thee hence.
Alpheus! thou enchanter! every sense
Of mine was once made perfect in these woods.
Fresh breezes, bowery lawns, and innocent floods,
Ripe fruits, and lonely couch, contentment gave;
But ever since I heedlessly did lave
In thy deceitful stream, a panting glow
Grew strong within me: wherefore serve me so,
And call it love? Alas, 'twas cruelty.
Not once more did I close my happy eyes
Amid the thrush's song. Away! Avaunt!
O 'twas a cruel thing.""Now thou dost taunt
So softly, Arethusa, that I think
If thou wast playing on my shady brink,
Thou wouldst bathe once again. Innocent maid!
Stifle thine heart no more;nor be afraid
Of angry powers: there are deities
Will shade us with their wings. Those fitful sighs
'Tis almost death to hear: O let me pour
A dewy balm upon them!fear no more,
Sweet Arethusa! Dian's self must feel
Sometimes these very pangs. Dear maiden, steal
Blushing into my soul, and let us fly
These dreary caverns for the open sky.
I will delight thee all my winding course,
From the green sea up to my hidden source
About Arcadian forests; and will shew
The channels where my coolest waters flow
Through mossy rocks; where, 'mid exuberant green,
I roam in pleasant darkness, more unseen
Than Saturn in his exile; where I brim
Round flowery islands, and take thence a skim
Of mealy sweets, which myriads of bees
Buzz from their honied wings: and thou shouldst please
Thyself to choose the richest, where we might
Be incense-pillow'd every summer night.
Doff all sad fears, thou white deliciousness,
And let us be thus comforted; unless
Thou couldst rejoice to see my hopeless stream
Hurry distracted from Sol's temperate beam,
And pour to death along some hungry sands."
"What can I do, Alpheus? Dian stands
Severe before me: persecuting fate!
Unhappy Arethusa! thou wast late
A huntress free in"At this, sudden fell
Those two sad streams adown a fearful dell.
The Latmian listen'd, but he heard no more,
Save echo, faint repeating o'er and o'er
The name of Arethusa. On the verge
Of that dark gulph he wept, and said: "I urge
Thee, gentle Goddess of my pilgrimage,
By our eternal hopes, to soothe, to assuage,
If thou art powerful, these lovers pains;
And make them happy in some happy plains.

He turn'dthere was a whelming soundhe stept,
There was a cooler light; and so he kept
Towards it by a sandy path, and lo!
More suddenly than doth a moment go,
The visions of the earth were gone and fled
He saw the giant sea above his head.

(line 31): The reference is of course not to the story of Hero and Leander but to the tears of Hero in Much Ado About Nothing, shed when she was falsely accused; and Imogen must, equally of course, be Shakespeare's heroine in Cymbeline, though she is not the only Imogen of fiction who has swooned. For Pastorella see Faerie Queene, Book VI, Canto II, stanza I. et seq.

(line 168): For the three occasions which Endymion had seen Diana, refer to the account given to Peona; beginning with line 540, Book I, -- to the passage about the well, line 896, Book I, -- and to the passage in which he hurried into the grotto, line 971, Book I.

(line 430): In the draft, Endymion was described as The mortal Latmian.

(line 434): It was a peculiarly happy piece of poetic realism to translate Ariadne's relations with Bacchus into her becoming a vintager; and I presume this was Keats's own thought, as well as the idea immediately following, that the God of Orchards conciliated Love with a gift of pears when paying his addresses to Pomona.

(line 676) Hesperan, I presume, not Hesprean as invariably accented by Milton. The precise value of 'capable' as used here is of course regulated by past and not by present custom. In this case it simply stands for receptive, able to receive, as in Hamlet (Act III, Scene IV).

(lines 689-92) Endymion conjectures whether his unknown love is one of the Hours, or one of the nymph Pleione's daughters by Atlas, transferred to heaven as the Pleiades.
~ Poetical Works of John Keats, ed. H. Buxton Forman, Crowell publ. 1895. by owner. provided at no charge for educational purposes
~ John Keats, Endymion - Book II
,
456:The Witch Of Hebron
A Rabbinical Legend
Part I.
From morn until the setting of the sun
The rabbi Joseph on his knees had prayed,
And, as he rose with spirit meek and strong,
An Indian page his presence sought, and bowed
Before him, saying that a lady lay
Sick unto death, tormented grievously,
Who begged the comfort of his holy prayers.
The rabbi, ever to the call of grief
Open as day, arose; and girding straight
His robe about him, with the page went forth;
Who swiftly led him deep into the woods
That hung, heap over heap, like broken clouds
On Hebron’s southern terraces; when lo!
Across a glade a stately pile he saw,
With gleaming front, and many-pillared porch
Fretted with sculptured vinage, flowers and fruit,
And carven figures wrought with wondrous art
As by some Phidian hand.
But interposed
For a wide space in front, and belting all
The splendid structure with a finer grace,
A glowing garden smiled; its breezes bore
Airs as from paradise, so rich the scent
That breathed from shrubs and flowers; and fair the growths
Of higher verdure, gemm’d with silver blooms,
Which glassed themselves in fountains gleaming light
Each like a shield of pearl.
Within the halls
Strange splendour met the rabbi’s careless eyes,
Halls wonderful in their magnificance,
With pictured walls, and columns gleaming white
Like Carmel’s snow, or blue-veined as with life;
222
Through corridors he passed with tissues hung
Inwrought with threaded gold by Sidon’s art,
Or rich as sunset clouds with Tyrian dye;
Past lofty chambers, where the gorgeous gleam
Of jewels, and the stainèd radiance
Of golden lamps, showed many a treasure rare
Of Indian and Armenian workmanship
Which might have seemed a wonder of the world:
And trains of servitors of every clime,
Greeks, Persians, Indians, Ethiopians,
In richest raiment thronged the spacious halls.
The page led on, the rabbi following close,
And reached a still and distant chamber, where
In more than orient pomp, and dazzling all
The else-unrivalled splendour of the rest,
A queenly woman lay; so beautiful,
That though upon her moon-bright visage, pain
And langour like eclipsing shadows gloomed,
The rabbi’s aged heart with tremor thrilled;
Then o’er her face a hectic colour passed,
Only to leave that pallor which portends
The nearness of the tomb.
From youth to age
The rabbi Joseph still had sought in herbs
And minerals the virtues they possess,
And now of his medicaments he chose
What seemed most needful in her sore estate;
“Alas, not these,” the dying woman said,
“A malady like mine thou canst not cure,
’Tis fatal as the funeral march of Time!
But that I might at length discharge my mind
Of a dread secret, that hath been to me
An ever-haunting and most ghostly fear,
Darkening my whole life like an ominous cloud
And which must end it ere the morning come,
Therefore did I entreat thy presence here.”
The rabbi answered, “If indeed it stand
Within my power to serve thee, speak at once
223
All that thy heart would say. But if ’tis vain,
If this thy sin hath any mortal taint,
Forbear, O woman, to acquaint my soul
With aught that could thenceforth with horror chase
The memory of a man of Israel.”
“I am,” she said “the daughter of thy friend
Rabbi Ben Bachai—be his memory blest!
Once at thy side a laughing child I played;
I married with an Arab Prince, a man
Of lofty lineage, one of Ishmael’s race;
Not great in gear. Behold’st thou this abode?
Did ever yet the tent-born Arab build
Thus for his pride or pleasure? See’st thou
These riches? An no! Such were ne’er amassed
By the grey desert’s wild and wandering son;
Deadly the game by which I won them all!
And with a burning bitterness at best
Have I enjoyed them! And how gladly now
Would I, too late, forego them all, to mend
My broken peace with a repentant heed
In abject poverty!”
She ceased, and lay
Calm in her loveliness, with dreamy looks
Roaming, perhaps, in thought the fateful past;
Then suddenly her beauteous countenance grew
Bedimm’d and drear, then dark with mortal pangs,
While fierce convulsions shook her tortured frame,
And from her foaming lips such words o’erran,
That rabbi Joseph sank upon his knees,
And bowed his head a space in horror down
While ardent, pitying prayers for her great woe
Rose from his soul; when, lo! The woman’s face
Was cloudless as a summer heaven! The late
Dark brow was bright, the late pale cheek suffused
With roseate bloom; and, wondrous more than all,
Here weary eyes were changed to splendours now
That shot electric influence, and her lips
Were full and crimson, curled with stormy pride.
The doubting rabbi stood in wild amaze
To see the dying woman bold and fierce
224
In bright audacity of passion’s power.
“These are the common changes,” then she said,
“Of the fell ailment, that with torments strange,
Which search my deepest life, is tearing up
The dark foundations of my mortal state,
And sinking all its structures, hour by hour,
Into the dust of death. For nothing now
Is left me but to meet my nearing doom
As best I may in silent suffering.”
Then as he heard her words and saw her face,
The rabbi in his wisdom knew some strong
Indwelling evil spirit troubled her,
And straighway for an unction sent, wherewith
The famous ancestor whose name he bore,
Herod the Great’s chief hakim, had expelled
The daemon haunter of the dying king.
With this he touched her forehead and her eyes
And all her finger-tips. Forthwith he made
Within a consecrated crucible
A fire of citron-wood and cinnamon;
Then splashed the flames with incense, mingling all
With the strong influence of fervent prayer;
And, as the smoke arose, he bowed her head
Into its coils, that so she might inhale
Its salutary odour—till the fiend
That dwelt within her should be exorcised.
Her face once more grew pale with pain; she writhed
In burning torment, uttering many words
Of most unhallowed meaning! Yet her eyes
Were fixed the while, and motionless her lips!
Whereby the rabbi certainly perceived
’Twas not the woman of herself that spake,
But the dread spirit that possessed her soul,
And thus it cried aloud.
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225

Part II.

“WHY am I here, in this my last resort,

Perturbed with incense and anointings? Why

Compelled to listen to the sound of prayers

That smite me through as with the fire of God?

O pain, pain, pain! Is not this chamber full

Of the implacable stern punishers?

Full of avenging angels, holding each

A scourge of thunder in his potent hand,

Ready to lighten forth! And then, thus armed,

For ever chase and wound us as we fly!

Nor end with this—but, in each wound they make,

Pour venom sweltered from that tree As-gard,

Whose deadly shadow in its blackness falls

Over the lake of everlasting doom!

“Five hundred years ago, I, who thus speak,

Was an Egyptian of the splendid court

Of Ptolemy Philadelphus. To the top

Of mountainous power, though roughened with unrest,

And girt with dangers as with thunder-clouds,

Had I resolved by all resorts to climb;

By truth and falsehood, right and wrong alike;

And I did climb! Then firmly built in power

Second alone to my imperial lord’s,

I crowned with its impunity my lust
Of beauty, sowing broadcast everywhere
Such sensual baits wide round me, as should lure
Through pleasure, or through interest entrap,
The fairest daughters of the land, and lo!
Their lustrous eyes surcharged with passionate light
The chambers of my harem! But at length
Wearied of these, though sweet, I set my heart
On riches, heaped to such a fabulous sum
As never one man’s hoard in all the world
Might match; and to acquire them, steeped my life
In every public, every private wrong,
In lies, frauds, secret murders; till at last
A favoured minion I had trusted most,
And highest raised, unveiled before the king
The dark abysmal badness of my life;
But dearly did he rue it; nor till then
Guessed I how deadly grateful was revenge!
226
I stole into his chamber as he slept,
And with a sword, whose double edge for hours
I had whetted for the purpose of the deed,
There staked him through the midriff to his bed.
I fled; but first I sent, as oft before,
A present to the household of the man
Who had in secret my betrayer bribed.
Twas scented wine, and rich Damascus cakes;
On these he feasted, and fell sudden down,
Rolling and panting in his dying pangs,
A poisoned desert dog!
“But I had fled.
A swift ship bore me, which my forecast long
Had kept prepared against such need as this.
Over the waves three days she proudly rode;
Then came a mighty storm, and trampled all
Her masted bravery flat, and still drove on
The wave-swept ruin towards a reefy shore!
Meanwhile amongst the terror-stricken crew
An ominous murmur went from mouth to mouth;
They grouped themselves in councils, and, ere long,
Grew loud and furious with surmises wild,
And maniac menaces, all aimed at me!
My fugitive head it was at which so loud
The thunder bellowed! The wild-shrieking winds
And roaring waters held in vengeful chase
Me only! Me! Whose signal crimes alone
Had brought on us this anger of the gods!
And thus reproaching me with glaring eyes,
They would have seized and slain me, but I sprang
Back from amongst them, and, outstriking, stabbed
With sudden blow their leader to the heart;
Then, with my poniard scaring off the rest,
Leaped from the deck, and swimming reached the shore,
From which, in savage triumph, I beheld
The battered ship, with all her howling crew,
Heel, and go down, amid the whelming waves.
“Inland my course now lay for many days,
O’er barren hills and glens, whose herbless scopes
Never grew luminous with a water gleam,
227
Or heard the pleasant bubble of a brook,
For vast around the Afric desert stretched.
Starving and sun-scorched and afire with thirst,
I wandered ever on, until I came
To where, amid the dun and level waste,
In frightful loneliness, a mouldered group
Of ancient tombs stood ghostly. Here at last,
Utterly spent, in my despair I lay
Down on the burning sand, to gasp and die!
When from among the stones a withered man,
Old-seeming as the desert where he lived,
Came and stood by me, saying ‘get thee up!
Not much have I to give, but these at least
I offer to thy need, water and bread.’
“Then I arose and followed to his cell,—
A dismal cell, that seemed itself a tomb,
So lightless was it, and so foul with damp,
And at its entrance there were skulls and bones.
Long and deep drank I of the hermit’s draught,
And munched full greedily the hermit’s bread;
But with the strength which thence my frame derived,
Fierce rage devoured me, and I cursed my fate!
Whereat the withered creature laughed in scorn,
And mocked me with the malice of his eyes,
That sometimes, like a snake’s, shrank small, and then
Enlarging blazed as with infernal fire!
Then, on a sudden, with an oath that seemed
To wake a stir in the grey musty tombs,
As if their silence shuddered, he averred
That he could life me once more to the height
Of all my wishes—nay, even higher, but
On one condition only. Dared I swear,
By the dread angel of the second death,
I would be wholly his, both body and soul,
After a hundred years?
“Why should I not?
I answered, quivering with a stormy haste,
A rampart unreluctance! For so great
Was still my fury against all mankind,
And my desire of pomp and riches yet
228
So monstrous, that I felt I could have drunk
Blood, fire, or worse, to wear again the power
That fortune, working through my enemies’ hands,
Had stript away from me. So, word by word,
I swore the oath as he repeated it;
Nor much it moved me, in my eagerness,
To feel a damp and earthy odour break
Out of each tomb, from which there darkling rose
At every word a hissing as of snakes;
And yet the fell of hair upon my scalp
Rose bristling under a cold creeping thrill:
But I failed not, I swore the dread oath through,
And then the tombs grew silent as their dead.
But through my veins a feeling of strong youth
Coursed bold along, and summered in my heart,
Till there before him in my pride I stood
In stately strength, and swift as is the wind,
Magnificant as a desert-nurtured steed
Of princeliest pedigree, with nostrils wide
Dilated, and with eyes effusing flame.
‘Begone,’ he said, ’and live thy hundred years
Of splendour, power, pleasure, ease.’ His voice
Sighed off into the distance. He was gone:
Only a single raven, far aloft,
Was beating outwards with its sable wings;
The tombs had vanished, and the desert grey
Merged its whole circle with the bending sky.
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Part III.

“OUT of these wilds to Egypt I returned:

Men thought that I had perished with the ship,

And no one knew me now, because my face

And form were greatly changed,—from passing fair

To fairer yet; from manly, to a pile

So nobly built, that in all eyes I seemed

Beauteous as Thammuz! And my heart was changed;

Ambition wilder than a leopard’s thirst

229

For blood of roe, or flying hart, possessed

My spirit, like the madness of a god!

But this I yet even in its fiercest strain

Could curb and guide with sovereign strength of will.

From small beginnings onward still I worked,

Stepping as up a stair from rival head

To rival head,—from high to higher still,

Unto the loftiest post that might be held

Under the Ptolemies; and meantime paid

Each old unsettled score, defeating those

Who erst had worked against me, sweeping them

Out of all posts, all places; for though time

And change had wide dispersed them through the land,

The sleuth-hounds of my vengeance found them out!

Which things not being in a corner done,

What wonder was it that all Egypt now,
From end to end, even like a shaken hive,
Buzzed as disturbed with my portentous fame?
“And what to me were secret enemies?
Had I not also spies, who could pin down
A whisper in the dark and keep it there?
Could dash a covert frown by the same means
An open charge had challenged? Hence my name
Became a sound that struck through every heart
Ineffable dismay! And yet behold
There more I trampled on mankind, the more
Did fawning flatterers praise me as I swept
Like a magnificant meteor through the land!
The more I hurled the mighty from their seats,
And triumphed o’er them prostrate in the dust,
The human hounds that licked my master hand
But multiplied the more! And still I strode
From bad to worse, corrupting as I went,
Making the lowly ones more abject yet;
Awing as with a thunder-bearing hand
The high and affluent; while I bound the strong
To basest service, even with chains of gold.
All hated, cursed and feared me, for in vain
Daggers were levelled at my brazen heart—
They glanced, and slew some minion at my side
Poison was harmless as a heifer’s milk
When I had sipped it with my lips of scorn;
230
All that paraded pomp and smiling power
Could draw against me from the envious hearts
Of men in will as wicked as myself
I challenged, I encountered, and o’erthrew!
“But, after many years, exhaustion sere
Spread through the branches of my tree of life;
My forces flagged, my senses more and more
Were blunted, and incapable of joy;
The splendours of my rank availed me not;
A poverty as naked as a slave’s
Peered from them mockingly. The pride of power
That glowed so strong within me in my youth
Was now like something dying at my heart.
To cheat or stimulate my jaded taste,
Feasts, choice or sumptuous, were devised in vain;
there was disfavour, there was fraud within,
Like that which filled the fair-appearing rind
Of those delusive apples that of old
Grew on the Dead Sea shore.
“And yet, though thus
All that gave pleasure to my younger life
Was withering from my path like summer grass,
I still had one intense sensation, which
Grew ever keener as my years increased—
A hatred of mankind; to pamper which
I gloated, with a burning in my soul,
Over their degradation; and like one
Merry with wine, I revelled day by day
In scattering baits that should corrupt them more:
The covetous I sharpened into thieves,
Urged the vindictive, hardened the malign,
Whetted the ruffian with self-interest,
And flung him then, a burning brand, abroad.
And the decadence of the state in which
My fortunes had recast me, served me well.
Excess reeled shameless in the court itself,
Or, staggering thence, was rivalled by the wild
Mad looseness of the crowd. Down to its death
The old Greek dynasty was sinking fast;
Waste and pale want, extortion, meanness, fraud—
231
These, welling outwards from the throne itself,
Spread through the land.
“But now there seized my soul
A new ambition—from his feeble throne
To hurl the king, and mount thereon myself!
To this end still I lured him into ill,
And daily wove around him cunning snares,
That reached and trammelled too his fawning court;
And all went well, the end at last was near,
But in my triumph one thing I forgot—
My name was measured. At a banquet held
In the king’s chamber, lo! A guest appeared,
Chief of a Bactrian tribe, who tendered gold
To pay for some great wrong his desert horde
Had done our caravans; his age, men said,
Was wonderful; his craft more wondrous still;
For this his fame had spread through many lands,
And the dark seekers of forbidden lore
Knew his decrepit wretch to be their lord.
“The first glance that I met of his weird eye
Had sent into my soul a fearful doubt
That I had seen that cramp-shrunk withered form
And strange bright eye in some forgotten past.
But at the dry croak of his raven voice
Remembrance wok; I knew that I beheld
The old man of the tombs: I saw, and fell
Into the outer darkness of despair.
The day that was to close my dread account
Was come at last. The long triumphant feast
Of life had ended in a funeral treat.
I was to die—to suffer with the damned
The hideous torments of the second death!
The days, weeks, months of a whole hundred years
Seemed crushed into a thought, and burning out
In that brief period which was left me now.
“Stung with fierce horror, shame, and hate I fled;
I seized my sword, to plunge its ready point
Into my maddened heart, but on my arm
I felt a strong forbidding grasp! I turned;
232
The withered visage of the Bactrian met
My loathing eyes; I struggled to be free
From the shrunk wretch in vain; his spidery hands
Were strong as fetters of Ephesian brass,
And all my strength, though now with madness strung,
Was as a child’s to his. He calmly smiled:
‘Forbear, thou fool! Am I not Sammael?
Whom to resist is vain, and from whom yet
Has never mercy flowed; for what to me
Are feelings which thou knowest even in men
Are found the most in fools. But wide around
A prince of lies I reign. ’Tis I that fill
the Persian palaces with lust and wrong,
Till like the darkling heads of sewers they flow
With a corruption that in fretting thence
Taints all the region round with rankest ill;
’Tis I that clot the Bactrian sand with blood;
And now I come to fling the brands of war
Through all this people, this most ill-mixed mob,
Where Afric’s savage hordes meet treacherous Greeks,
And swarming Asia’s luxury-wasted sons.
This land throughout shall be a deluge soon
Of blood and fire, till ruin stalk alone,
A grisly spectre, in its grass-grown marts.’
The fiery eyes within his withered face
Glowed like live coals, as he triumphant spake,
And his strange voice, erewhile so thin and dry,
Came as if bellowed from the vaults of doom.
Prone fell I, powerless to move or speak;
And now he was about to plunge me down
Ten thousand times ten thousand fathoms deep
Through the earth’s crust, and through the slimy beds
Of nether ocean—down! Still down, below
The darkling roots of all this upper world
Into the regions of the courts of hell!
“To stamp me downward to the convict dead
His heel was raised, when suddenly I heard
Him heave a groan of superhuman pain,
So deep twas drawn! And as he groaned, I saw
A mighty downburst of celestial light
233
Enwrap his shrivelled form from head to foot,
As with a robe within whose venomous folds
He writhed in torment. Then above him stood
A shining shape, unspeakably sublime,
And gazed upon him! One of the high sons
Of Paradise, who still keep watch and ward
O’er Israel’s progeny, where’er dispersed;
And now they fought for me with arms that filled
The air wide round with flashes and swift gleams
Of dazzling light; full soon the Evil One
Fell conquered. Then forth sprang he from the ground
And with dark curses wrapped him in a cloud
That moved aloft, low thundering as it went.
“And then the shining son of paradise
Came where I lay and spoke, his glorious face
Severe with wrath, and yet divinely fair—
‘O Child of Guilt! Should vengeance not be wrought
On thee as well? On Sammael’s willing slave?’
I clasped his radiant knees—I wept—I groaned—
I beat my bosom in my wild distress.
At last the sacred Presence, who had held
The blow suspended still, spoke thus: ‘Thou’rt spared;
From no weak pity, but because thou art
Descended from the line of Israel:
For that cause spared;—yet must thou at my hand
Find some meet punishment.’ And as he spake,
He laid his hand with a life-crushing weight
Upon my forehead—and I fell, as dead!
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Part IV.

“AWAKING as from sleep, I bounded up,

Stung with a feeling of enormous strength,

Though yet half wild with horror. Onward then

Ramping I went, out through the palace gates,

Down the long streets, and into the highways,

Forth to the wilds, amazed at my own speed!

234

And now afar, in long-drawn line appeared

A caravan upon its outward way

Over the desert of Pentapolis.

And strange the instinct seemed that urged me then

to rush amongst them—and devour: for I

Was fierce with hunger, and inflamed with thirst.

“Amidst a laggard company I leaped

That rested yet beside a cooling spring;

One of those clear springs that, like giant pearls,

Inlay the burning borders of the grey

Enormous desert. All at once they rose!

Some fled, some threw themselves amongst the brakes,

Some seized their swords and lances; this to see

Filled me at once with a mysterious rage

And savage joy! The sternness of their looks,

Their fearful cries, the gleaming of their spears

Seemed to insult me, and I rushed on them.

Then sudden spasms of pain searched deep my side,
Wherein a fell lance quivered. On I rushed;
I roared a roar that startled e’en myself,
So loud and hoarse and terrible its tone,
Then bounding, irresistible it seemed
As some huge fragment from a crag dislodged,
Against the puny wretch that sent the lance,
Instantly tore him, as he were a kid,
All into gory shreds! The others fled
At sight of this, nor would I chase them then,
All wearied by my flight. Besides, the well
Was gleaming in its coolness by me there.
“And as I stooped to quench my parching thirst,
Behold, reversed within the water clear,
The semblance of a monstrous lion stood!
I saw his shaggy mane, I saw his red
And glaring eyeballs rolling in amaze,
His rough and grinning lips, his long sharp fangs
All foul with gore and hung with strings of flesh!
I shrank away in horrible dismay.
But as the sun each moment fiercer grew,
I soon returned to stoop and slake my thirst.
Again was that tremendous presence there
Standing reversed, as erewhile, in the clear
235
And gleaming mirror of the smiling well!
The horrid truth smote like a rush of fire
Upon my brain! The dreadful thing I saw
Was my own shadow! I was a wild beast.”
“They did not fable, then, who held that oft
The guilty dead are punished in the shapes
Of beasts, if brutal were their lives as men.”
“Long lapped I the cool lymph, while still my tongue
Made drip for drip against the monstrous one,
Which, as in ugly mockery, from below
Seemed to lap up against it. But though thirst
Was quenched at length, what was there might appease
The baffled misery of my fated soul?
The thought that I no more was human, ran
Like scorpion venom through my mighty frame;
Fiercely I bounded, tearing up the sands,
That, like a drab mist, coursed me as I went
Out on my homeless track. I made my fangs
Meet in my flesh, trusting to find in pain
Some respite from the anguish of regret.
From morn to night, from night to morn, I fled,
Chased by the memory of my lost estate;
Then, worn and bleeding, in the burning sands
I lay down, as to die. In vain!—in vain!
The savage vigour of my lion-life
Might yield alone to the long tract of time.
“From hill to valley rushing after prey,
With whirlwind speed, was now my daily wont,
For all things fled before me—all things shrank
In mortal terror at my shaggy front.
Sometimes I sought those close-fenced villages,
Wherein the desert-dwellers hide their swart
And naked bodies from the scorching heats,
Hoping that I might perish by their shafts.
And often was I wounded—often bore
Their poisoned arrows in my burning flesh—
But still I lived.
“The tenor of my life
236
Was always this—the solitary state
Of a wild beast of prey, that hunted down
The antelope, the boar, the goat, the gorged
Their quivering flesh, and lapped their steaming blood;
Then slept till hunger, or the hunter’s cry,
Roused him again to battle or to slay,
To flight, pursuit, blood, stratagem, and wounds.
And to make this rude life more hideous yet,
I still retained a consciousness of all
The nobler habits of my eariler time,
And had a keen sense of what most had moved
My nature as a man, and knew besides
That this my punishment was fixed by One
Too mighty to be questioned, and too just
One tittle of its measure to remit.
“How long this haggard course of life went on
I might not even guess, for I had lost
The human faculty that measures time.
But still from night to night I found myself
Roaming the desert, howling at the moon,
Whose cold light always, as she poured it down,
Awoke a drear distemper in my brain:
But much I shunned the sunblaze, which at once
Inflamed me, and revealed my dread approach.
“Homelessly roaming thus for evermore,
The tempests beat on my unsheltered bulk,
In those bleak seasons when the drenching rains
Drove into covert all those gentler beasts
That were my natural prey. I swinkt beneath
The furnace heats of the midsummer sun,
When even the palm of the oasis stood
All withered, like a weed: and for how long,
Yet knew not.
“Thus the sun and moon arose
Through an interminable tract of time,
And yet though sense was dim, the view of all
My human life was ever at my beck,
Nay, opened out before me of itself
Plain as the pictures in a wizard’s glass!
237
I saw again the trains that round my car
Streamed countless, saw its pageants and its pomps,
Its faces fair and passionate, and felt
Lie’s eager pleasures, even its noble pangs!
Then in the anguish of my goaded heart
Would I roll howling in the burning sand.
“At length this life of horror seemed to near
Its fated bourn. The slow but sure approach
Of old decay was felt in every limb
And every function of my lion frame.
My massive strength seemed spent, my speed was gone,
The antelope escaped me! Wearily
I sought a mountain cavern, shut from day
By savage draperies of tangled briers,
And only dragged my tardy bulk abroad
When hunger urged. It chanced on such a day
I sprange amid a herd of buffaloes
And tore their leader down, who bellowing fell.
When, lo! The chief of those that drove them came
Against me, and I turned my rage on him:
But though the long lapse of so many years
Of ever-grinding wretchedness had dulled
My memory, I felt that I had seen
His withered visage twice before; and straight
A shuddering awe subdued me, and I crouched
Beneath him in the dust. My lust of blood,
My ruthless joy at sight of mortal pain,
Within me died, and if in human speech
I might have told the wild desire that filled
My being, I had prayed him once for all
To crush me out of life, and to consign
My misery to the pit of final death!
But when, all hopeless, I again looked up,
The tawney presence of the desert chief
Was gone, and I beheld the shining son
Of paradise, from whose majestic brow
There flashed the lightings of a wrath divine.
Yea, twas the angel that with Sammael
Had fought for me in Egypt; and once more
He laid his crushing had upon my front;
And earth and sky, and all that in them is,
238
Became to me a darkness, swimming blank
In the Eternal, round that point where now
My body lay, stretched dead upon the sand.
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Part V.

“AGAIN I lived—again I felt. But now

The winds of heaven seemed under me, and I

Was sweeping, like the spirit of a storm

That bellowed round me, in its murky glooms,

All heaving with a motion wide and swift

That seemed yet mightier than the darkling swells

Of ocean, wrestling with a midnight gale!

The wild winds tossed me; I was drenched throughout

With heavy moisture, and at intervals

Amid the ragged gaps of moving cloud,

Methought I caught dim glimpses of the sun

Hanging aloft, as if in drear eclipse;

But as my senses cleared, I saw my limbs

Were clothed with plumage; and long-taloned claws

Were closing eagerly with fierce desire

And sudden hunger after blood and prey!

An impulse to pursue and to destroy

Both on the earth and in the air, ran quick

Out from my heart and shivered in my wings;

And as a thing more central yet, I felt

Pregnant within me, throned o’er all, a lone

And sullen, yet majestic, glow of pride.

“’Twas plain that I, who had aforetime been

Crushed out of human being into that

Of a wild beast, had thence again passed on
Into the nature of some mighty thing
That now swept sailing on wide van-like wings,
Amid the whirls of an aërial gloom,
That out extending in one mighty cope
Hung heaving, like a black tent-roof, o’er all
The floor of Africa.
239
“Still on I swept,
And still as far as my keen vision went,
That now was gifted with a power that seemed
To pierce all space, I saw the vapours roll
In dreadful continuous of black
And shapeless masses, by the winds convulsed;
But soon in the remotest distance came
A change: the clouds were touched with sunny light,
And, as I nearer drew, I saw them dash,
Like the wild surges of an uproused sea
Of molten gold, against the marble sides
Of lofty mountains, which, though far below
My flight, yet pierced up through them all, and stood
With splintered cones and monster-snouted crags,
Immovable as fate. Beneath me, lo!
The grandeur of the kingdom of the air
Was circling in its magnitude! It was
A dread magnificence of which before
I might not even dream. I saw its quick
And subtle interchange of forms and hues,
Saw its black reservoirs of densest rain,
Its awful forges of the thunderstorm.
“At last, as onward still I swept, above
A milky mass of vapour far outspread,
Behold, reflected in its quiet gleam,
I saw an image that swept on with me,
Reversed as was the lion’s in the well,
With van-like wings, with eyeballs seething fire,
With taloned claws, and cruel down-bent beak,—
The mightiest eagle that had ever sailed
The seas of space since Adam named the first!
“My fated soul had passed into the form
Of that huge eagle which swept shadowed there.
Cold horror thrilled me! I was once again
Imprisoned in the being of a brute,
In the base being of a nature yet
Inferior by what infinite descent
To that poor remnant of intelligence
Which still kept with me,—like a put-back soul
Burningly conscious of its powers foregone,
240
Its inborn sovreignty of kind, and yet
So latent, self-less; once again to live
A life of carnage, and to sail abroad
A terror to all birds and gentle beasts
That heard the stormy rushings of my wings!
A royal bird indeed, who lived alone
In the great stillness of the mighty hills,
Or in the highest heavens.
“But in truth
Not much for many seasons had I need
To search for prey, for countless hosts of men,
Forth mustering over all the face of earth,
Cast the quick gleam of arms o’er trampled leagues
Of golden corn, and as they onward marched
They left behind them seas of raging fire,
In whose red surges cities thronged with men
And happy hamlets, homes of health and peace,
That rang erewhile with rural thankfulness,
Were whelmed in one wide doom; or in their strength
Confronted upon some set field of fight,
Their sullen masses charged with dreadful roar
That far out-yelled the fiercest yells of beasts,
And with brute madness rushed on wounds and death;
Or else about fenced cities they would pitch
Their crowded camps, and leaguer them for years,
Sowing the fields about them with a slime
Of carnage, till their growths were plagues alone.
What is the ravage made by brutes on brutes
To that man makes on man?
“With mingled pain
And joy I saw the wondrous ways of men,
(For ever when I hungered, close at hand,
Some fresh slain man lay smoking in his gore)
And though the instincts of the eagle’s life
Were fierce within me, yet I felt myself
Cast in a lot more capable of joy;
Safe from pursuit, from famine, and from wounds.
Some solaces, though few and far between,
Were added to me; and I argued thence,
In the dark musings of my eagle heart,
241
That not for ever was my soul condemned
To suffer in the body of a brute;
For though remembrance of the towering crimes
And matchless lusts, that filled my whole career
Of human life, worked in me evermore,
No longer did they shed about my life
So venomous a blight. Nay, I could think
How often I had looked with longing eyes
Up at the clear Egyptian heavens, and watched
The wings that cleft them, envying every bird
That, soaring in the sunshine, seemed to be
Exempt from all the grovelling cares of men.
I thought how once, when with my hunting train
I pierced that region round the cataracts,
I watched an eagle as it rose aloft
Into the lovely blue, and wished to change
My being with it as it floated on,
So inaccessible to hate or hurt,
So peaceful, at a height in heaven so safe;
And then it passed away through gorgeous clouds
Against the sunset, through the feathered flags
Of royal purple edged with burning gold.
“These fields of space were my dominion now;
Motion alone within a world so rich
Was something noble: but to move at will,
Upward or forward, or in circles vast,
Through boundless spaces with a rushing speed
No living thing might rival, and to see
The glory of the everlasting hills
Beneath me, and the myriad-peopled plains,
Broad rivers, and the towery towns that sate
Beside their spacious mouths, with out beyond
The lonely strength of the resounding seas—
This liberty began to move my sense
As something godlike; and in moving made
A sure impression that kept graining still
Into the texture of my brute estate—
Yea, graining in through all its fleshy lusts
And savage wonts.
“Hence ever more and more
242
The temper of a better spirit grew
Within me, as from inkling roots, and moved
E’en like an embryon in its moist recess:
A sensibility to beauteous things
As now I saw them in the heavens displayed,
And in the bright luxuriance of the earth;
Some power of just comparison, some sense
Of how a man would rank them, could he see
Those earthly grandeurs from the sovreign height
Whence I beheld them. And with this a wish
To commune even with the human race,
And pour the loftier wonders of my life
Into their ears, through a rich-worded song
Whose golden periods in mellow flow
Should witch all ears that heard them—ev’n old men s,
Ev’n jaded monarchs; not to speak of theirs,
Those spirit-lovely ones—yea, moons of love,
That rise at first in the Circassian hills—
And they should tingle all like tiny shells
Of roseate whiteness to its perfect chords.
“One day amid the mountains of the moon,
Behold a sudden storm had gatherd up
Out of my view, hid by a neighbouring height,
But which, thence wheeling with terrific force,
Wide tossed me with its gusts—aloft, and then
Downward as far; then whirlingly about,
Ev’n like a withered leaf. My strength of wing
Availed me nought, so mightily it raged;
Then suddenly, in the dim distance, lo!
I saw, as from the storm’s Plutonian heart,
A mass of white-hot light come writing forth,
And then the figure of a withered man
Seemed dropping headlong through the lurid clouds;
While full within the radiant light, again
The conquering son of paradise appeared,
Upon whose brow divine I yet might trace
Some sing of wrath. Onward the vision rushed,
Orbed in white light. I felt a stifling heat,
One cruel blasting pang, and headlong then
Fell earthward—dead; a plumb descending mass.
243
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Part VI.

“WITHIN a rustic chamber, dark and low,

Thronged with wild-looking men and women strange,

I seemed to waken. Inwardly I felt

No briskness of existence, but a sense

Of languor rather, or revival slow:

And evermore the men and women came

And gazed upon me, shouting in amaze,

Then would they whirl about the room in dance,

Abandoned to their barbarous delight.

“I turned mine eyes about the low-roofed room,

Half fearing and half hoping I might see

The mighty angel that now ruled my life;

They thought I needed air, and I was borne

to a low casement. Like a picture lay

The world without. On all sides wide around

Nothing but mountains, feathered to their tops

With a dense growth of pines, and valleys filled

With a cold darkness that was lit alone

By the broad flashes of the furious streams

That leaped in thunder our of marble gaps!

Dull vapours, like a canopy of smoke,

Did so obscure the sun, that I had thought

The scene that now I saw was not of earth,

But for a golden flush that now and then

Would touch the highest ranges. What I was
I knew not, but I felt my former wants,
And oft I made vain efforts to expand
The wings I had no longer, and sail off,
And through those sullen vapours—up, and up—
Into the mighty silence of the blue.
“The day was fading, and a blare of horns,
With many voices and much trampling noise,
Heard from without, aroused me; and, ere long,
Women rushed in, each bearing some rich robe
Or some gay bauble, wherewithal they next
244
Arrayed me to their taste; and then they held
A mirror up before me, and I saw
My soul had this time passed into the form
Of a fair damsel. She, whose form I now
Re-animated, was—so learned I soon—
The only child of a Circassian chief,
Who had been long regarded by her house
As its chief treasure, for her beauty rare;
Reserved for him, no matter whence he came,
Whose hand could dip into the longest purse.
But envy lurks in the Circassian hills
As elsewhere, and a dose of opium,
Administered by one who had been long
The rival beauty of a neighbouring tribe,
Had served to quash a bargain quite complete
Save in the final payment of the gold,
Which had been even offered and told down,
And only not accepted, through some old
Delaying ceremony of the tribe;
And in this luckless circumstances, twas plain
That both my admirable parents saw
The unkindest turn of all.
“On all hands forth
Had scouts been sent to summon the whole tribe
To attend my obsequies, and then forthwith
Exterminate our ancient enemies
Through all their tents—such was the fierce resolve.
But while these things were pending, lo! The light
Had broken like a new morn from the eyes
Of the dead beauty; on her cheeks had dawned
A roseate colour; from her moistening lips
Low murmurs, too, had broken; whereupon
My parents in exulting hope transformed
The funeral to a general tribal feast,
And loaded me with all the ancient gauds
And ornaments they held. The Persian, too,
Had been invited to renew his suit,
And carry me at once beyond the reach
Of future opium doses.
“Soon he came
245
Galloping back to bear me to the arms
Of his long-bearded lord. He paid the price;
My worthy parents took a fond farewell
Of me, with tears declaring me to be
The life-light of their eyes, their rose of joy,—
Then stretched their palms out for the stranger’s gold,
And hurried off to count it o’er again—
The dear recovered treasure they so late
Had mourned as lost for ever. On that night
I was packed neatly on a camel’s back
Beside a precious case of porcelain pipes,
And carried Persia-ward, by stages safe,
From the Circassian mountains.
“At the court
I soon became the favourite of the king;
Lived sumptuously, but in perpetual fear:
For all my luxury and gold and gems,
I envied the poor slaves who swept the floors.
I was the favourite of my Persian lord
For one whole month, perhaps a little more,
And then I learned my place was to be filled;
And though I loathed him, as we loathe some cold
And reptile creature, yet I could not bear
To see a newer rival take my place,
For I was beautiful, and therefore vain:
So, that I might regain his favour past,
I now arrayed myself in airy robes,
While scarfs of purple like an orient queen’s
Barred them with brilliant tints, and gold and pearls
Confined the wavelets of my sunny hair.
“The harem all applauded, and there seemed
Even in his own dull eyes almost a flash
As of extorted joy, but this became
At the next moment a malignant scowl,
Which had its dark cause in such thoughts as these:
‘What! Did so soft and ignorant a thing
Hope to enchant again a man so wise
As he was—he! The paragon of kings!
By floating in before him like a swan,
A little better feathered than before?’
246
And then he waved the harem ladies forth,
And with him kept only a Nubian girl,
Whom he thought dull, and altogether his:
A conclave of those strange demoniac dwarfs
Who from their secret dens and crypts would come
On given signals forth, was summoned in:
Wizard-like beings, with enormous heads,
Splay-feet, and monstrous spider-fingered hands.
Nor was the council long; I on that night
Was to be poisoned with a pomegranate.
Then stole the Nubian girl away, and brought
Me word of all; yet her news moved me not,
So sure I felt that this was not my doom;
Or moved me only to prepare for flight
With the poor Nubian girl. Unseen I came
To my own chamber, where I packed my goods;
And whence, unseen by all, we swiftly fled.
’Twas plain and patent to my inmost self
That in this last change I had always been
Regenerating more and more; for though
I had a love of mischief in my head,
At heart I was not bad, and they who knew
Me closely, or at least the woman sort,
Loved me,—nay, served me, as the Nubian did.
And now, as no one else might sell me,—lo!
I sold myself, and found myself installed
Queen of a rude baboon-like Afric king.
“Then I was captive to a Bedouin sheik,
Was sold in the slave-mart of Astrachan,
And carried thence to India, to be crowned
A rajahpoot’s sultana; from which state
Flying at length, I fell into a worse,
Being pounced on by a Turkoman horse-stealer.
At Alexandra I became the slave
Of a harsh Roman matron, who was wont
To flog and famish me to make me good,
And when I owned myself converted, then
She flogged and famished me the more, to make
My goodness lasting; and I finally
Fell stabbed in Cairo—slaughtered by a slave.
247
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Part VII.

“AFTER some short and intermediate terms

Of transmigration, all in female forms,

In which, through kindly offices performed,

It seemed the temper of my spirit much

Had humanized, and in the last of which

Twas mine to die for once a natural death,

Again I had some deep-down hold on being,

Dim as an oyster’s in its ocean-bed;

Then came a sense of light and air, of space,

Of hunger, comfort, warmth, of sight and sound

I caught at length the drift of speech, and knew

That all who came to see me and admire

Called me Ben Bachai’s daughter.

“Dark indeed,

But lovely as a starry night I grew,

A maid, the glory of her father’s house,

Her mother’s dovelet, filling all her wonts

With tenderness and joy. Still as I grew,

By strange degrees the memory of all

That I had been came back upon my mind

To fill it with wild sorrow and dismay;

To know I was a cheat, nor wholly what

I seemed to my fond parents—that I was

But half their daughter, and the rest a fiend,

With a fiend’s destiny,—ah! This, I say,
Would smite me even in dreams with icy pangs
Or wordless woe, yea, even while I slept
So innocently as it seemed, and so
Securely happy in the arms of love!”
As this was said, the Rabbi looked, and saw
That now again the woman seemed to speak
As of herself, and not as heretofore
With moveless lips, and prisoned voice, that came
As from some dark duality within.
248
Her looks had changed, too, with the voice, and now
Again she lay, a queen-like creature, racked
With mortal sufferings, who, when these grew less,
Or for a time remitted, even thus
Took up her tale again.
“At length upgrown
To womanhood, by some mysterious pact
Existing twixt my father’s house and that
Of an Arabian prince time out of mind,
I was now wedded ere I wished, and he,
My husband, finally had come to claim
And bear me from my home, that happiest home
Which I should know no more: a man most fair
To look upon, but void of force, in truth
The weakling of a worn-out line, who yet
(What merit in a prince!) Was not depraved,
Not wicked, not the mendicant of lust,
But mild, and even affectionate and just.
My dowry was immense, and flushed with this
The prince had summoned from his vassal tribe
Five hundred horse, all spearmen, to escort
And guard us desert-ward. And as we went
These ever and anon, at signal given,
Would whirl around us like a thunder-cloud
Wind-torn, and shooting instant shafts of fire!
And thus we roamed about the Arabian wastes,
Pitching our camp amid the fairest spots.
Beneath an awning oft I lay, and gazed
Out at the cloudless ether, where it wrapt
The silent hills, like to a conscious power
Big with the soul of an eternal past.
“But long this life might last not, for the prince
Sickened and died;—died poor, his wealth and mine
Having been squandered on the hungry horde
That wont to prance about us; who ere long,
Divining my extremity, grew loud
And urgent for rewards, till on a day,
By concert as it seemed, the tribe entire
Came fiercely round me, all demanding gifts,
Gifts that I had not; as they nearer pressed,
249
Wearing his way among them, lo! I saw
The old man of the tombs! The Bactrian sage!
With signs of awe they made him room to pass;
He fixed me with his shrunk and serpent eyes,
Waved off the abject Arabs, and then asked
‘Why art thou poor? With needs so great upon thee?
I offer thee long life and wealth and power.’
“I turned to him and said: ‘Should I not know,
By all the past, the nature of thy gifts?
Shows and delusions, evil, sin-stained all,
And terminating in eternal loss.’
‘Well, take it as thou wilt,’ he said; ‘my gifts
Are not so weighed by all.’ And saying this
He went his way, while I retired within
My lonely tent to weep.
“Next day the tribes
Again assembled, and with threats and cries,
And insults loud, they raised a passion in me.
My blood arose: I chid them angrily,
Called them all things but men, till they, alarmed,
Fell back in sullen silence for a while,
Crouching like tigers ready for a spring.
Humbled, perplexed, and frightened, I returned
Into my tent, and there within its folds
Stood the weird Bactrian with his snaky eyes,
And wiry voice that questioned as before:
‘Why art thou poor? Why dost thou suffer wrong,
With all this petty baseness brattling round?
Am I not here to help thee? I, thy one
Sole friend—not empty, but with ample means.
Behold the secrets of the inner earth!
There, down among the rock-roots of the hills,
What seest thou there? Look, as I point, even those
Strange miscreations, as they seem to thee,
Are demoniac moilers that obey
Such arts as I possess; the gnomish brood
Of Demogorgon. See them how they moil
Amid those diamonds shafts and reefs of gold
Embedded in the oldest drifts of time,
And in the mire that was the first crude floor
250
And blind extension of the infant earth:
Why art thou poor, then, when such slaves as they
Might work for thee, and glut thy need with all
The matchless values which are there enwombed,
Serving thee always as they now serve me?
Nor these alone: turn thou thy looks aloft,
And watch the stars as they go swimming past.
Behold their vastness, each a world,’ he said;
‘The secrets of all these, too, thou shalt know,
The spirits of all these shall be thy slaves,
If thou wilt swear as erst amid the tombs.’
“The woe of desolation wrapped me round,
The joy to know all mysteries tempted me,
And with a shudder that shook me to the soul
I swore, as erst I swore amid the tombs.
“As on my hand he placed a signet-ring,
Suddenly loud the desert winds arose,
And blew with mighty stress among the tents;
And instantly aloft the thunder ran,
A mighty issue of miraculous light
Burst shaft-like forward, smiting him in twain,
Or so it seemed, down through the solid earth.
In vain I shrunk into a dim recess;
Before me stood the son of paradise.
Then leapt the soul to life within my heart—
Leapt into life with fear, and pain, and woe—
Anger and sadness both were on his brow.
“‘Could’st thou no trial bear—all but redeemed;
Could’st thou not rest content? A rabbi’s child!
Enjoy as best thou may this ill-won power
Over the darker agencies of time,
And bide the end, which end is punishment
But the more terrible, the more delayed;
Yet know this also, thou shalt thus no more
Be punished in a body built of clay.’
He vanished, leaving me to sharp remorse,
And harrowed with the thought of his grieved look.
‘And yet no power in heaven or hell,’ I said,
‘May now annul my deed.’
251
“And not one day
Of joy has brought to me my ‘ill-won power.’
I built vast palaces in quiet view
Of ancient cities, or by famous streams;
I filled my halls with men and women fair,
And with these pages of a beauty rare
Like striplings kidnapped from some skirt of heaven;
Yet sorrowful of countenance withal,
As knowing that their mortal doom is joined
With mine irrevocably, that with me
’Tis theirs to own these shows of time, with me
To live—with me to die. And as, ’tis said,
A hunted roe will evermore beat round
Towards whence he started first, I felt at length
An ardent longing for my native place;
That spot in all the earth where only I,
In tasting of it, had divined the worth
And Sabbath quality of household peace.
Then coming hither, thus constrained, I pitched
My dwelling here, even this thou seest; built fair,
And filled with splendours such as never yet
Under one roof-tree on this earth were stored.
See yon surpassing lustres! Could this orb
Show such? From Mars came that; from Venus this;
And yonder mass of sun-bright glory, that
From Mercury came, whence came these viols, too,
Instinct with fervent music such as ne’er
From earthly instruments might thrill abroad.”
Then seizing one of them, even as she spake,
Over its chords she moved her ivory hand,
And instantly the palace domes throughout
Rang resonant, as every hall and crypt
Were pulsing music from a thousand shells
That still ran confluent with a mellow slide
And intercourse of cadence: sweet, and yet
Most mournful and most weird, and oft intoned
With a wild wilfulness of power that worked
For madness more than joy. “Even such, ” she said
“Are the delights with which I most converse
In the dark loneness of my fated soul,
252
For all is show, not substance. All I hold
But darkens more the certainty I have
Of wrath to come, from which no change of place,
No earthly power, no power of heaven nor hell,
May shield me now. I see it shadowing forth
Even like a coming night, in whose dark folds
My soul would ask to hide itself in vain.
And now I go to meet the angel’s face;
I will not claim my hundred years of pride,
I trample underneath my feet the gift
For which I sold my soul; I will not touch
The ring of Sammael, nor use his power
To stay the torments that devour my life;
Misery, shame, remorse, and dread are mine;
Yet shall the angel see repentent eyes,
And know at last I could one trial bear;
Too late, too late.”
As thus the woman spake,
Her brow grew dark, and suddenly she shrieked
In her great agony. “Oh pray for me!
Pray, rabbi! For the daughter of thy friend!
The hour is coming, nay, the hour is come!”
There was a rustle as of wings aloft,
A sudden flicker in the lights below,
And she, who until now seemed speaking, sank
Back on her pillow and in silence lay
Beautiful in the marble calm of death.
The rabbi gazed on her, and thought the while
Of those far times, when, as a child, her grace
Had filled with pleasantness her father’s house.
Then to her servants gave in charge the corpse,
And forth he paced, much musing as he went.
At length he turned to gaze once more upon
The silent house of death. Can such things be?
All had evanished like a morning mist!
Only the woods that hung like clouds about
The steeps of Hebron, in the whitening dawn
Lay dark against the sky! Only a pool
Gleamed flat before him, where it seemed erewhile
The splendid palace had adorned the view!
253
Perplexed in mind, the rabbi turned again
And hurried homeward, muttering as he went:
Was it a vision? Can such marvels be?
But what in truth are all things, even those
That seem most solid—dust and air at last
~ Charles Harpur,
457:The Door Of Humility
ENGLAND
We lead the blind by voice and hand,
And not by light they cannot see;
We are not framed to understand
The How and Why of such as He;
But natured only to rejoice
At every sound or sign of hope,
And, guided by the still small voice,
In patience through the darkness grope;
Until our finer sense expands,
And we exchange for holier sight
The earthly help of voice and hands,
And in His light behold the Light.
Let there be Light! The self-same Power
That out of formless dark and void
Endued with life's mysterious dower
Planet, and star, and asteroid;
That moved upon the waters' face,
And, breathing on them His intent,
Divided, and assigned their place
To, ocean, air, and firmament;
That bade the land appear, and bring
Forth herb and leaf, both fruit and flower,
Cattle that graze, and birds that sing,
Ordained the sunshine and the shower;
That, moulding man and woman, breathed
In them an active soul at birth
In His own image, and bequeathed
To them dominion over Earth;
That, by whatever is, decreed
418
His Will and Word shall be obeyed,
From loftiest star to lowliest seed;The worm and me He also made.
And when, for nuptials of the Spring
With Summer, on the vestal thorn
The bridal veil hung flowering,
A cry was heard, and I was born.
II
To be by blood and long descent
A member of a mighty State,
Whose greatness, sea-girt, but unpent
By ocean, makes the world more great;
That, ranging limitless, hath won
A Rule more wide than that of Rome,
And, journeying onward with the sun,
In every zone hath found a home;
That, keeping old traditions fast,
Still hails the things that are to be,
And, firmly rooted in the Past,
On Law hath grafted Liberty;That is a birthright nobler far
Than princely claim or Right Divine
From far-off rapine, wanton war,
And I could feel this birthright mine.
And not the lowliest hand that drives
Or share or loom, if so it be
Of British strain, but thence derives
A patent of nobility.
III
The guiding of the infant years
Onward to good, away from guile,
A mother's humanising tears,
A father's philosophic smile;
419
Refining beauty, gentle ways,
The admonitions of the wise,
The love that watches, helps, and prays,
And pities, but doth ne'er despise;
An ancient Faith, abiding hope,
The charity that suffers long,
But flames with sacred zeal to cope
With man's injustice, nature's wrong;
Melodious leisure, learnëd shelf,
Discourse of earnest, temperate mind,
The playful wit that of itself
Flashes, but leaves no wound behind;
The knowledge gleaned from Greece and Rome,
From studious Teuton, sprightly Gaul,
The lettered page, the mellow tome,
And poets' wisdom more than all;These, when no lips severe upbraid,
But counsel rather than control,
In budding boyhood lend their aid
To sensibility of soul.
IV
But, more than mentor, mother, sire,
Can lend to shape the future man
With help of learning or of lyre,
Of ancient rule, or modern plan,
Is that which with our breath we bring
Into the world, we know not whence,
That needs nor care nor fostering,
Because an instinct and a sense.
And days and years are all forgot
When Nature's aspect, growth, and grace,
And veering moods, to me were not
The features of the Loved One's face.
420
The
The
The
The
cloud whose shadow skims the lake,
shimmering haze of summer noon,
voice of April in the brake,
silence of the mounting moon,
Swaying of bracken on the hill,
The murmur of the vagrant stream,
These motions of some unseen Will,
These babblings of some heavenly dream,
Seemed tokens of divine desire
To hold discourse with me, and so
To touch my lips with hallowed fire,
And tell me things I ought to know.
I gazed and listened, all intent,
As to the face and voice of Fate,
But what they said, or what they meant,
I could surmise not, nor translate.
They did but lure me to unrest,
Unanswered questioning, longings vain,
As when one scans some palimpsest
No erudition can explain;
But left me with a deep distaste
For common speech, that still did seem
More meaningless than mountain waste,
Less human than the far-off stream.
So that a stranger in the land
Wherein I moved, where'er I went,
I dwelt, whom none could understand,
Or exorcise my discontent.
And I to them, and they to me
Seemed from two different planets come,
And, save to flower and wild-bird's glee,
My heart was deaf, my soul was dumb.
421
But slowly dawned a happier time
When I began to apprehend,
And catch, as in some poet's rhyme,
The intimations of a friend;
When Nature spake no unknown tongue,
But language kindred to my thought,
Till everything She said, I sung,
In notes unforced, in words unsought.
And I to Her so closely drew,
The seasons round, in mind and mood,
I felt at length as if we knew
Self-same affection, self-same feud:
That both alike scorned worldly aim,
Profit, applause, parade, and pride,
Whereby the love of generous fame
And worthy deeds grows petrified.
I did as yet not understand
Nature is far more vast than I,
Deep as the ocean, wide as land,
And overarching as the sky;
And but responded to my call,
And only felt and fed my need,
Because She doth the same for all
Who to her pity turn and plead.
VI
Shall man have mind, and Nature none,
Shall I, not she, have soul and heart?
Nay, rather, if we be not one,
Each is of each the counterpart.
She too may have within her breast
A conscience, if not like to yours,
A sense of rightness ill at rest,
Long as her waywardness endures.
422
And hence her thunder, earthquakes, hail,
Her levin bolts, her clouds' discharge:
She sins upon a larger scale,
Because She is herself more large.
Hence, too, when She hath pierced with pain
The heart of man, and wrecked his years,
The pity of the April rain,
And late repentance of her tears.
She is no better, worse, than we;
We can but say she seems more great,
That half her will, like ours, is free,
And half of it is locked in Fate.
Nor need we fear that we should err
Beyond our scope in reasoning thus,That there must be a God for Her,
If that there be a God for us.
VII
The chiming of the Sabbath bell,
The silence of the Sabbath fields,
Over the hamlet cast a spell
To which the gracious spirit yields.
Sound is there none of wheel or wain,
Husht stands the anvil, husht the forge,
No shout is heard in rustic lane,
No axe resounds in timbered gorge.
No flail beats time on granary floor,
The windmill's rushing wings are stayed,
And children's glee rings out no more
From hedgerow bank or primrose glade.
The big-boned team that firm and slow
Draw yoked, are free to couch or stray;
The basking covey seem to know
None will invade their peace to-day.
423
And speckless swains, and maidens neat,
Through rustic porch, down cottage stair,
Demurely up the village street
Stream onward to the House of Prayer.
They kneel as they were taught to kneel
In childhood, and demand not why,
But, as they chant or answer, feel
A vague communion with the sky.
VIII
But when the impetuous mind is spurred
To range through epochs great but gone,
And, heedless of dogmatic word,
With fearless ardour presses on,
Confronting pulpit, sceptre, shrine,
With point by Logic beaten out,
And, questioning tenets deemed divine
With human challenge, human doubt,
Hoists Reason's sail, and for the haze
Of ocean quits Tradition's shore,
Awhile he comes, and kneels, and prays,
Then comes and kneels, but prays no more;
And only for the love he bears
To those who love him, and who reared
His frame to genuflexion, shares
In ritual, vain, if still revered.
His Gods are many or are none,
Saturn and Mithra, Christ and Jove,
Consorting, as the Ages run,
With Vestal choir or Pagan drove.
Abiding still by Northern shores,
He sees far off on Grecian coast
Veiled Aphrodite, but adores
Minerva and Apollo most.
424
Beauty of vision, voice, and mind,
Enthrall him so, that unto him
All Creeds seem true, if he but find
Siren, or saint, or seraphim.
And thus once more he dwells apart,
His inward self enswathed in mist,
Blending with poet's pious heart
The dreams of pagan Hedonist.
IX
If Beauty be the Spirit's quest,
Its adoration, creed, and shrine,
Wherein its restlessness finds rest,
And earthly type of the Divine,
Must there for such not somewhere be
A blending of all beauteous things
In some one form wherein we see
The sum of our imaginings?
The smile on mountain's musing brow,
Sunrise and sunset, moon and star,
Wavelets around the cygnet's prow,
Glamour anear and charm afar;
The silence of the silvery pool,
Autumn's reserve and Summer's fire,
Slow vanishings of Winter's rule
To free full voice of April's choir;The worshippers of Beauty find
In maiden form, and face, and tress;
Faint intimations of her mind
And undulating loveliness.
Bound, runnels, bound, bound on, and flow!
Sing, merle and mavis, pair and sing!
425
Gone is the Winter, fled the snow,
And all that lives is flushed with Spring.
Harry the woods, young truant folk,
For flowers to deck your cottage sills,
And, underneath my orchard oak,
Cluster, ye golden daffodils!
Unfettered by domestic vow,
Cuckoo, proclaim your vagrant loves,
And coo upon the self-same bough,
Inseparable turtle-doves.
Soar, laverock, soar on song to sky,
And with the choir of Heaven rejoice!
You cannot be more glad than I,
Who feel Her gaze, and hear Her voice:
Who see Her cheek more crimson glow,
And through Her veins love's current stream,
And feel a fear She doth but know
Is kin to joy and dawning dream.
Bound, rivulets, bound, bound on, and flow!
Sing, merle and mavis, pair and sing!
Gone from the world are want and woe,
And I myself am one with Spring.
XI
They err who say that Love is blind,
Or, if it be, 'tis but in part,
And that, if for fair face it find
No counterpart in mind and heart,
It dwells on that which it beholds,
Fair fleshly vision void of soul,
Deeming, illusioned, this enfolds,
Longing's fulfilment, end, and whole.
Were such my hapless carnal lot,
I too might evanescent bliss
426
Embrace, fierce-fancied, fast forgot,
Then leave for some fresh loveliness.
But April gaze, and Summer tress,
With something of Autumnal thought,
In Her seem blent to crown and bless
A bond I long in dreams have sought.
She looks as though She came to grace
The earth, from world less soiled than this,
Around her head and virgin face
Halo of heavenly holiness.
XII
He who hath roamed through various lands,
And, wheresoe'er his steps are set,
The kindred meaning understands
Of spire, and dome, and minaret;
By Roman river, Stamboul's sea,
In Peter's or Sophia's shrine,
Acknowledges with reverent knee
The presence of the One Divine;
Who, to the land he loves so well
Returning, towards the sunset hour
Wends homeward, feels yet stronger spell
In lichened roof and grey church-tower;
Round whose foundations, side by side,
Sleep hamlet wit and village sage,
While loud the blackbird cheers his bride
Deep in umbrageous Vicarage.
XIII
Was it that sense which some aver
Foreshadows Fate it doth not see,
That gave unwittingly to Her
The name, for ever dear to me,
427
Borne by that tearful Mother whom,
Nigh unto Ostia's shelving sand,
Augustine laid in lonely tomb,
Ere sailing for his Afric land?
But I at least should have foreseen,
When Monica to me had grown
Familiar word, that names may mean
More than by word and name is shown;
That nought can keep two lives apart
More than divorce 'twixt mind and mind,
Even though heart be one with heart;Alas! Alas! Yes, Love is blind.
XIV
How could I think of jarring Creeds,
And riddles that unread remain,
Or ask if Heaven's indulgence heeds
Broils born of man's polemic brain,
And pause because my venturous mind
Had roamed through tracks of polar thought,
Whence mightiest spirits turn back blind,
Since finding not the thing they sought,
When Love, with luring gifts in hand,
Beauty, refinement, smile, caress,
Heart to surmise and understand,
And crowning grace of holiness,
Stood there before me, and, with gaze
I had been purblind not to see,
Said, ``I to you will, all my days,
Give what you yearn to give to me''?
Must both then sorrow, while we live,
Because, rejoicing, I forgot
Something there was I could not give,
Because, alas! I had it not.
428
XV
She comes from Vicarage Garden, see!
Radiant as morning, lithe and tall,
Fresh lilies in her hand, but She
The loveliest lily of them all.
The thrushes in their fluting pause,
The bees float humming round her head,
Earth, air, and heaven shine out because
They hear her voice, and feel her tread.
Up in the fretted grey church-tower,
That rustic gaze for miles can see,
The belfry strikes the silvery hour,
Announcing her propinquity.
And I who, fearful to be late,
Passed long since through the deerpark pale,
And loitered by the churchyard gate,
Once more exclaim, ``Hail! loved one! hail!''
We pass within, and up the nave,
Husht, because Heaven seems always there,
Wend choirward, where, devoutly grave,
She kneels, to breathe a silent prayer.
She takes the flowers I too have brought,
Blending them deftly with her own,
And ranges them, as quick as thought,
Around the white-draped altar-throne.
How could she know my gaze was not
On things unseen, but fixed on Her,
That, as She prayed, I all forgot
The worship in the worshipper?While She beheld, as in a glass,
The Light Divine, that I but sought
Sight of her soul?-Alas! Alas!
Love is yet blinder than I thought.
429
XVI
Who hath not seen a little cloud
Up from the clear horizon steal,
And, mounting lurid, mutter loud
Premonitory thunder-peal?
Husht grows the grove, the summer leaf
Trembles and writhes, as if in pain,
And then the sky, o'ercharged with grief,
Bursts into drenching tears of rain.
I through the years had sought to hide
My darkening doubts from simple sight.
'Tis sacrilegious to deride
Faith of unquestioning neophyte.
And what, methought, is Doubt at best?
A sterile wind through seeded sedge
Blowing for nought, an empty nest
That lingers in a leafless hedge.
Pain, too, there is we should not share
With others lest it mar their joy;
There is a quiet bliss in prayer
None but the heartless would destroy.
But just as Love is quick divined
From heightened glow or visage pale,
The meditations of the Mind
Disclose themselves through densest veil.
And 'tis the unloving and least wise
Who through life's inmost precincts press,
And with unsympathetic eyes
Outrage our sacred loneliness.
Then, when their sacrilegious gaze
The mournful void hath half surmised,
To some more tender soul they raise
The veil of ignorance it prized.
430
XVII
`What though I write farewell I could
Not utter, lest your gaze should chide,
'Twill by your love be understood
My love is still, dear, at your side.
``Nor must we meet to speak goodbye,
Lest that my Will should lose its choice,
And conscience waver, for then I
Should see your face and hear your voice.
``But, when you find yourself once more,
Come back, come back and look for me,
Beside the little lowly door,
The Doorway of Humility.''
XVIII
There! Peace at last! The far-off roar
Of human passion dies away.
``Welcome to our broad shade once more,''
The waning woodlands seem to say:
The music of the vagrant wind,
That wandered aimlessly, is stilled;
The songless branches all remind
That Summer's glory is fulfilled.
The fluttering of the falling leaves
Dimples the leaden pool awhile;
So Age impassively receives
Youth's tale of troubles with a smile.
Thus, as the seasons steal away,
How much is schemed, how little done,
What splendid plans at break of day!
What void regrets at set of sun!
The world goes round, for you, for me,
For him who sleeps, for him who strives,
And the cold Fates indifferent see
431
Crowning or failure of our lives.
Then fall, ye leaves, fade, summer breeze!
Grow, sedges, sere on every pool!
Let each old glowing impulse freeze,
Let each old generous project cool!
It is not wisdom, wit, nor worth,
Self-sacrifice nor friendship true,
Makes venal devotees of earth
Prostrate themselves and worship you.
The consciousness of sovran powers,
The stubborn purpose, steadfast will,
Have ever, in this world of ours,
Achieved success, achieve it still.
Farewell, ye woods! No more I sit;
Great voices in the distance call.
If this be peace, enough of it!
I go. Fall, unseen foliage, fall!
XIX
Nay, but repress rebellious woe!
In grief 'tis not that febrile fool,
Passion, that can but overthrow,
But Resignation, that should rule.
In patient sadness lurks a gift
To purify the life it stings,
And, as the days move onward, lift
The lonely heart to loftier things;
Bringing within one's ripening reach
The sceptre of majestic Thought,
Wherefrom one slowly learns to teach
The Wisdom to oneself it taught.
And unto what can man aspire,
On earth, more worth the striving for,
Than to be Reason's loftier lyre,
432
And reconciling monitor;
To strike a more resounding string
And deeper notes of joy and pain,
Than such as but lamenting sing,
Or warble but a sensuous strain:
So, when my days are nearly sped,
And my last harvest labours done,
That I may have around my head
The halo of a setting sun.
Yet even if be heard above
Such selfish hope, presumptuous claim,
Better one hour of perfect love
Than an eternity of Fame!
XX
Where then for grief seek out the cure?
What scenes will bid my smart to cease?
High peaks should teach one to endure,
And lakes secluded bring one peace.
Farewell awhile, then, village bells,
Autumnal wood and harvest wain!
And welcome, as it sinks or swells,
The music of the mighty main,
That seems to say, now loud, now low,
Rising or falling, sweet or shrill,
``I pace, a sentry, to and fro,
To guard your Island fortress still.''
The roses falter on their stalk,
The late peach reddens on the wall,
The flowers along the garden walk
Unheeded fade, unheeded fall.
My gates unopened drip with rain,
The wolf-hound wends from floor to floor,
And, listening for my voice in vain,
433
Waileth along the corridor.
Within the old accustomed place
Where we so oft were wont to be,
Kneeling She prays, while down her face
The fruitless tears fall silently.
SWITZERLAND
XXI
Rain, wind, and rain. The writhing lake
Scuds to and fro to scape their stroke:
The mountains veil their heads, and make
Of cloud and mist a wintry cloak.
Through where the arching pinewoods make
Dusk cloisters down the mountain side,
The loosened avalanches take
Valeward their way, with death for guide,
And toss their shaggy manes and fling
To air their foam and tawny froth,
From ledge and precipice bound and spring,
With hungry roar and deepening wrath;
Till, hamlet homes and orchards crushed,
And, rage for further ravin stayed,
They slumber, satiated, husht,
Upon the ruins they have made.
I rise from larch-log hearth, and, lone,
Gaze on the spears of serried rain,
That faster, nigher, still are blown,
Then stream adown the window pane.
The peasant's goatskin garments drip,
As home he wends with lowered head,
Shakes off the drops from lid and lip,
Then slinks within his châlet shed.
434
The cattle bells sound dull and hoarse,
The boats rock idly by the shore;
Only the swollen torrents course
With faster feet and fuller roar.
Mournful, I shape a mournful song,
And ask the heavens, but ask in vain,
``How long, how long?'' Ah! not so long
As, in my heart, rain, wind, and rain.
XXII
I ask the dark, the dawn, the sun,
The domeward-pointing peaks of snow,
Lofty and low alike, but none
Will tell me what I crave to know.
My mind demands, ``Whence, Whither, Why?''
From mountain slope and green defile,
And wait the answer. The replyA far-off irresponsive smile.
I ask the stars, when mortals sleep,
The pensive moon, the lonely winds;
But, haply if they know, they keep
The secret of secluded minds.
Shall I in
Straining
Where in
Where in
vain, then, strive to find,
towards merely fancied goal?
the lily lurks the mind,
the rose discern the soul?
More mindless still, stream, pasture, lake,
The mountains yet more heartless seem,
And life's unceasing quest and ache
Only a dream within a dream.
We know no more, though racked with thought
Than he who, in yon châlet born,
Gives not the riddle, Life, a thought,
But lays him down and sleeps till morn.
435
Sometimes he kneels; I cannot kneel,
So suffer from a wider curse
Than Eden's outcasts, for I feel
An exile in the universe.
The rudeness of his birth enures
His limbs to every season's stings,
And, never probing, so endures
The sadness at the heart of things.
When lauwine growls, and thunder swells,
Their far-off clamour sounds to me
But as the noise of clanging bells
Above a silent sanctuary.
It is their silence that appals,
Their aspect motionless that awes,
When searching spirit vainly calls
On the effect to bare the Cause.
I get no answer, near or far;
The mountains, though they soar so high,
And scale the pathless ether, are
No nearer unto God than I.
There dwells nor mystery nor veil
Round the clear peaks no foot hath trod;
I, gazing on their frontage pale,
See but the waning ghost of God.
Is Faith then but a drug for sleep,
And Hope a fondly soothing friend
That bids us, when it sees us weep,
Wait for the End that hath no end?
Then do I hear voice unforgot
Wailing across the distance dim,
``Think, dear! If God existeth not,
Why are you always seeking Him?''
XXIII
436
Like glowing furnace of the forge,
How the winds rise and roar, as they
Up twisting valley, craggy gorge,
Seek, and still seek, to storm their way;
Then, baffled, up the open slope
With quickening pulses scale and pant,
Indomitably bent to cope
With bristling fronts of adamant.
All through the day resounds the strife,
Then doth at sunset hour subside:
So the fierce passions of our life
Slowly expire at eventide.
By Nature we are ne'er misled;
We see most truly when we dream.
A singer wise was he who said,
``Follow the gleam! Follow the gleam!''
XXIV
I dreamed, last night, again I stood,
Silent, without the village shrine,
While She in modest maidenhood
Left, fondly clasped, her hand in mine.
And, with a face as cerecloth white,
And tears like those that by the bier
Of loved one lost make dim the sight,
She poured her sorrows in mine ear.
``I love your voice, I love your gaze,
But there is something dearer still,
The faith that kneels, the hope that prays,
And bows before the Heavenly Will.
``Not where hills rise, or torrents roll,
Seek Him, nor yet alone, apart;
He dwells within the troubled soul,
His home is in the human heart.
437
``Withal, the peaceful mountains may
'Twixt doubt and yearning end the strife:
So ponder, though you cannot pray,
And think some meaning into life:
``Nor like to those that cross the main
To wander witless through strange land,
Hearing unmastered tongues, disdain
The speech they do not understand.
``Firm stands my faith that they who sound
The depths of doubt Faith yet will save:
They are like children playing round
A still remembered mother's grave;
``Not knowing, when they wax more old,
And somewhat can her vision share,
She will the winding-sheet unfold,
And beckon them to evening prayer.''
Then, with my hand betwixt her hands,
She laid her lips upon my brow,
And, as to one who understands,
Said, ``Take once more my vestal vow.
``No other gaze makes mine to glow,
No other footstep stirs my heart,
To me you only dearer grow,
Dearer and nearer, more apart.
``Whene'er you come with humble mind,
The little Door stands open wide,
And, bending low, you still will find
Me waiting on the other side.''
Her silence woke me. . . . To your breast
Fold me, O sleep! and seal mine ears;
That She may roam through my unrest
Till all my dreams are drenched with tears!
XXV
438
Why linger longer, subject, here,
Where Nature sits and reigns alone,
Inspiring love not, only fear,
Upon her autocratic throne?
Her edicts are the rigid snow,
The wayward winds, the swaying branch;
She hath no pity to bestow,
Her law the lawless avalanche.
Though soon cascades will bound and sing,
That now but drip with tears of ice,
And upland meadows touched by Spring
Blue gentian blend with edelweiss,
Hence to the Land of youthful dreams,
The Land that taught me all I know.
Farewell, lone mountain-peaks and streams;
Yet take my thanks before I go.
You gave me shelter when I fled,
But sternly bade me stem my tears,
Nor aimless roam with rustling tread
'Mong fallen leaves of fruitless years.
ITALY
XXVI
Upon the topmost wheel-track steep,
The parting of two nations' ways,
Athwart stone cross engraven deep,
The name ``Italia'' greets the gaze!
I trembled, when I saw it first,
With joy, my boyish longings fed,
The headspring of my constant thirst,
The altar of my pilgrim tread.
Now once again the magic word,
So faintly borne to Northern home,
Sounds like a silvery trumpet heard
439
Beneath some universal dome.
The forests soften to a smile,
A smile the very mountains wear,
Through mossy gorge and grassed defile
Torrents race glad and debonair.
From casement, balcony and door,
Hang golden gourds, droops tear-tipped vine,
And sun-bronzed faces bask before
Thin straw-swathed flasks of last year's wine.
Unyoked, the patient sleek-skinned steers
Take, like their lords, no heed of time.
Hark! now the evening star appears,
Ave Maria belfries chime.
The maidens knit, and glance, and sing,
With glowing gaze 'neath ebon tress,
And, like to copse-buds sunned by Spring,
Seem burgeoning into tenderness.
On waveless lake where willows weep,
The Borromean Islands rest
As motionless as babe asleep
Upon a slumbering Mother's breast.
O Land of sunshine, song, and Love!
Whether thy children reap or sow,
Of Love they chant on hills above,
Of Love they sing in vale below.
But what avail the love-linked hands,
And love-lit eyes, to them that roam
Passionless through impassioned lands,
Since they have left their heart at home!
XXVII
Among my dreams, now known as dreams
In this my reawakened life,
I thought that by historic streams,
440
Apart from stress, aloof from strife,
By rugged paths that twist and twine
Through olive slope and chesnut wood
Upward to mediaeval shrine,
Or high conventual brotherhood,
Along the mountain-curtained track
Round peaceful lake where wintry bands
Halt briefly but to bivouac
Ere blustering on to Northern lands;Through these, through all I first did see,
With me to share my raptures none,
That nuptialled Monica would be
My novice and companion:
That we should float from mere to mere,
And sleep within some windless cove,
With nightingales to lull the ear,
From ilex wood and orange grove;
Linger at hamlets lost to fame,
That still wise-wandering feet beguile,
To gaze on frescoed wall or frame
Lit by Luini's gracious smile.
Now, but companioned by my pain,
Among each well-remembered scene
I can but let my Fancy feign
The happiness that might have been;
Imagine that I hear her voice,
Imagine that I feel her hand,
And I, enamoured guide, rejoice
To see her swift to understand.
Alack! Imagination might
As lief with rustic Virgil roam,
Reverent, or, welcomed guest, alight
At Pliny's philosophic home;
441
Hear one majestically trace
Rome's world-wide sway from wattled wall,
And read upon the other's face
The omens of an Empire's fall.
XXVIII
Like moonlight seen through forest leaves,
She shines upon me from afar,
What time men reap the ripened sheaves,
And Heaven rains many a falling star.
I gaze up to her lofty height,
And feel how far we dwell apart:
O if I could, this night, this night,
Fold her full radiance to my heart!
But She in Heaven, and I on earth,
Still journey on, but each alone;
She, maiden Queen of sacred birth,
Who with no consort shares her throne.
XXIX
What if She ever thought She saw
The self within myself prefer
Communion with the silent awe
Of far-off mountains more than Her;
That Nature hath the mobile grace
To make life with our moods agree,
And so had grown the Loved One's face,
Since it nor checked nor chided me;
Or from the tasks that irk and tire
I sought for comfort from the Muse,
Because it grants the mind's desire
All that familiar things refuse.
How vain such thought! The face, the form,
Of mountain summits but express,
Clouded or clear, in sun or storm,
442
Feebly Her spirit's loftiness.
Did I explore from pole to pole,
In Nature's aspect I should find
But faint reflections of Her soul,
Dim adumbrations of Her mind.
O come and test with lake, with stream,
With mountain, which the stronger be,
Thou, my divinest dearest dream,
My Muse, and more than Muse, to me!
XXX
They tell me that Jehovah speaks
In silent grove, on lonely strand,
And summit of the mountain peaks;
Yet there I do not understand.
The stars, disdainful of my thought,
Majestic march toward their goal,
And to my nightly watch have brought
No explanation to my soul.
The truth I seek I cannot find,
In air or sky, on land or sea;
If the hills have their secret mind,
They will not yield it up to me:
Like one who lost mid lonely hills
Still seeks but cannot find his way,
Since guide is none save winding rills,
That seem themselves, too, gone astray.
And so from rise to set of sun,
At glimmering dawn, in twilight haze,
I but behold the face of One
Who veils her face, and weeps, and prays.
What know I that She doth not know?
What I know not, She understands:
With heavenly gifts She overflows,
443
While I have only empty hands.
O weary wanderer! Best forego
This questioning of wind and wave.
For you the sunshine and the snow,
The womb, the cradle, and the grave.
XXXI
How blest, when organ concords swell,
And anthems are intoned, are they
Who neither reason nor rebel,
But meekly bow their heads and pray.
And such the peasants mountain-bred,
Who hail to-day with blithe accord
Her Feast Who to the Angel said,
``Behold the Handmaid of the Lord!''
Downward they wind from pastoral height,
Or hamlet grouped round shattered towers,
To wend to shrine more richly dight,
And bring their gift of wilding flowers;
Their gifts, their griefs, their daily needs,
And lay these at Her statue's base,
Who never, deem they, intercedes
Vainly before the Throne of Grace.
Shall I, because I stand apart,
A stranger to their pious vows,
Scorn their humility of heart
That pleads before the Virgin Spouse,
Confiding that the Son will ne'er,
If in His justice wroth with them,
Refuse to harken to Her prayer
Who suckled Him in Bethlehem?
Of all the intercessors born
By man's celestial fancy, none
444
Hath helped the sorrowing, the forlorn,
Lowly and lone, as She hath done.
The maiden faithful to Her shrine
Bids demons of temptation flee,
And mothers fruitful as the vine
Retain their vestal purity.
Too trustful love, by lust betrayed,
And by cold worldlings unforgiven,
Unto Her having wept and prayed,
Faces its fate, consoled and shriven.
The restless, fiercely probing mind
No honey gleans, though still it stings.
What comfort doth the spirit find
In Reason's endless reasonings?
They have no solace for my grief,
Compassion none for all my pain:
They toss me like the fluttering leaf,
And leave me to the wind and rain.
XXXII
If Conscience be God's Law to Man,
Then Conscience must perforce arraign
Whatever falls beneath the ban
Of that allotted Suzerain.
And He, who bids us not to swerve,
Whither the wayward passions draw,
From its stern sanctions, must observe
The limits of the self-same Law.
Yet, if obedient Conscience scan
The sum of wrongs endured and done
Neither by act nor fault of Man,
They rouse it to rebellion.
Life seems of life by life bereft
445
Through some immitigable curse,
And Man sole moral being left
In a non-moral Universe.
My Conscience would my Will withstand,
Did Will project a world like this:
Better Eternal vacuum still,
Than murder, lust, and heartlessness!
If Man makes Conscience, then being good
Is only being worldly wise,
And universal brotherhood
A comfortable compromise.
O smoke of War! O blood-steeped sod!
O groans of fratricidal strife!
Who will explain the ways of God,
That I may be at peace with life!
The moral riddle 'tis that haunts,
Primeval and unending curse,
Racking the mind when pulpit vaunts
A Heaven-created Universe.
Yet whence came Life, and how begin?
Rolleth the globe by choice or chance?
Dear Lord! Why longer shut me in
This prison-house of ignorance!
FLORENCE
XXXIII
City acclaimed ere Dante's days
Fair, and baptized in field of flowers,
Once more I scan with tender gaze
Your glistening domes, your storied towers.
I feel as if long years had flown
Since first with eager heart I came,
446
And, girdled by your mountain zone,
Found you yet fairer than your fame.
It was the season purple-sweet
When figs are plump, and grapes are pressed,
And all your sons with following feet
Bore a dead Poet to final rest.
You seemed to fling your gates ajar,
And softly lead me by the hand,
Saying, ``Behold! henceforth you are
No stranger in the Tuscan land.''
And though no love my love can wean
From native crag and cradling sea,
Yet Florence from that hour hath been
More than a foster-nurse to me.
When mount I terraced slopes arrayed
In bridal bloom of peach and pear,
While under olive's phantom shade
Lupine and beanflower scent the air,
The wild-bees hum round golden bay,
The green frog sings on fig-tree bole,
And, see! down daisy-whitened way
Come the slow steers and swaying pole.
The fresh-pruned vine-stems, curving, bend
Over the peaceful wheaten spears,
And with the glittering sunshine blend
Their transitory April tears.
O'er wall and trellis trailed and wound,
Hang roses blushing, roses pale;
And, hark! what was that silvery sound?
The first note of the nightingale.
Curtained, I close my lids and dream
Of Beauty seen not but surmised,
And, lulled by scent and song, I seem
Immortally imparadised.
447
When from the deep sweet swoon I wake
And gaze past slopes of grape and grain,
Where Arno, like some lonely lake,
Silvers the far-off seaward plain,
I see celestial sunset fires
That lift us from this earthly leaven,
And darkly silent cypress spires
Pointing the way from hill to Heaven.
Then something more than mortal steals
Over the wavering twilight air,
And, messenger of nightfall, peals
From each crowned peak a call to prayer.
And now the last meek prayer is said,
And, in the hallowed hush, there is
Only a starry dome o'erhead,
Propped by columnar cypresses.
XXXIV
Re-roaming through this palaced town,
I suddenly, 'neath grim-barred pile,
Catch sight of Dante's awful frown,
Or Leonardo's mystic smile;
Then, swayed by memory's fancy, stroll
To where from May-day's flaming pyre
Savonarola's austere soul
Went up to Heaven in tongues of fire;
Or Buonarroti's plastic hand
Made marble block from Massa's steep
Dawn into Day at his command,
Then plunged it into Night and Sleep.
No later wanderings can dispel
The glamour of the bygone years;
And, through the streets I know so well,
448
I scarce can see my way for tears.
XXXV
A sombre shadow seems to fall
On comely altar, transept fair;
The saints are still on frescoed wall,
But who comes thither now for prayer?
Men throng from far-off stranger land,
To stare, to wonder, not to kneel,
With map and guide-book in their hand
To tell them what to think and feel.
They scan, they prate, they marvel why
The figures still expressive glow,
Oblivious they were painted by
Adoring Frà Angelico.
Did Dante from his tomb afar
Return, his wrongs redressed at last,
And see you, Florence, as you are,
Half alien to your gracious Past,
Finding no Donatello now,
No reverent Giotto 'mong the quick,
To glorify ascetic vow
Of Francis or of Dominic;
Self-exiled by yet sterner fate
Than erst, he would from wandering cease,
And, ringing at monastic gate,
Plead, ``I am one who craves for peace.''
And what he sought but ne'er could find,
Shall I, less worthy, hope to gain,
The freedom of the tranquil mind,
The lordship over loss and pain?
More than such peace I found when I
Did first, in unbound youth, repair
449
To Tuscan shrine, Ausonian sky.
I found it, for I brought it there.
XXXVI
Yet Art brings peace, itself is Peace,
And, as I on these frescoes gaze,
I feel all fretful tumults cease
And harvest calm of mellower days.
For Soul too hath its seasons. Time,
That leads Spring, Summer, Autumn, round,
Makes our ephemeral passions chime
With something permanent and profound.
And, as in Nature, April oft
Strives to revert to wintry hours,
But shortly upon garth and croft
Re-sheds warm smiles and moistening showers,
Or, for one day, will Autumn wear
The gayer garments of the Spring,
And then athwart the wheatfields bare
Again her graver shadows fling;
So, though the Soul hath moods that veer,
And seem to hold no Rule in awe,
Like the procession of the year,
It too obeys the sovran Law.
Nor Art itself brings settled peace,
Until the mind is schooled to know
That gusts subside and tumults cease
Only in sunset's afterglow.
Life's contradictions vanish then,
Husht thought replacing clashing talk
Among the windy ways of men.
'Tis in the twilight Angels walk.
450
ROME
XXXVII
The last warm gleams of sunset fade
From cypress spire and stonepine dome,
And, in the twilight's deepening shade,
Lingering, I scan the wrecks of Rome.
Husht the Madonna's Evening Bell;
The steers lie loosed from wain and plough;
The vagrant monk is in his cell,
The meek nun-novice cloistered now.
Pedant's presumptuous voice no more
Vexes the spot where Caesar trod,
And o'er the pavement's soundless floor
Come banished priest and exiled God.
The lank-ribbed she-wolf, couched among
The regal hillside's tangled scrubs,
With doting gaze and fondling tongue
Suckles the Vestal's twin-born cubs.
Yet once again Evander leads
Æneas to his wattled home,
And, throned on Tiber's fresh-cut reeds,
Talks of burnt Troy and rising Rome.
From out the tawny dusk one hears
The half-feigned scream of Sabine maids,
The rush to arms, then swift the tears
That separate the clashing blades.
The Lictors with their fasces throng
To quell the Commons' rising roar,
As Tullia's chariot flames along,
Splashed with her murdered father's gore.
Her tresses free from band or comb,
Love-dimpled Venus, lithe and tall,
451
And fresh as Fiumicino's foam,
Mounts her pentelic pedestal.
With languid lids, and lips apart,
And curving limbs like wave half-furled,
Unarmed she dominates the heart,
And without sceptre sways the world.
Nerved by her smile, avenging Mars
Stalks through the Forum's fallen fanes,
Or, changed of mien and healed of scars,
Threads sylvan slopes and vineyard plains.
With waves of song from wakening lyre
Apollo routs the wavering night,
While, parsley-crowned, the white-robed choir
Wind chanting up the Sacred Height,
Where Jove, with thunder-garlands wreathed,
And crisp locks frayed like fretted foam,
Sits with his lightnings half unsheathed,
And frowns against the foes of Rome.
You cannot kill the Gods. They still
Reclaim the thrones where once they reigned,
Rehaunt the grove, remount the rill,
And renovate their rites profaned.
Diana's hounds still lead the chase,
Still Neptune's Trident crests the sea,
And still man's spirit soars through space
On feathered heels of Mercury.
No flood can quench the Vestals' Fire;
The Flamen's robes are still as white
As ere the Salii's armoured choir
Were drowned by droning anchorite.
The saint may seize the siren's seat,
The shaveling frown where frisked the Faun;
Ne'er will, though all beside should fleet,
The Olympian Presence be withdrawn.
452
Here, even in the noontide glare,
The Gods, recumbent, take their ease;
Go look, and you will find them there,
Slumbering behind some fallen frieze.
But most, when sunset glow hath paled,
And come, as now, the twilight hour,
In vesper vagueness dimly veiled
I feel their presence and their power.
What though their temples strew the ground,
And to the ruin owls repair,
Their home, their haunt, is all around;
They drive the cloud, they ride the air.
And, when the planets wend their way
Along the never-ageing skies,
``Revere the Gods'' I hear them say;
``The Gods are old, the Gods are wise.''
Build as man may, Time gnaws and peers
Through marble fissures, granite rents;
Only Imagination rears
Imperishable monuments.
Let Gaul and Goth pollute the shrine,
Level the altar, fire the fane:
There is no razing the Divine;
The Gods return, the Gods remain.
XXXVIII
Christ is arisen. The place wherein
They laid Him shows but cerements furled,
And belfry answers belfry's din
To ring the tidings round the world.
Grave Hierarchs come, an endless band,
In jewelled mitre, cope embossed,
Who bear Rome's will to every land
453
In all the tongues of Pentecost.
Majestic, along marble floor,
Walk Cardinals in blood-red robe,
Martyrs for Faith and Christ no more,
Who gaze as though they ruled the globe.
With halberds bare and doublets slashed,
Emblems that war will never cease,
Come martial guardians, unabashed,
And march afront the Prince of Peace.
Then, in his gestatorial Chair
See Christ's vicegerent, bland, benign,
To crowds all prostrate as in prayer
Lean low, and make the Holy Sign.
Then trumpets shrill, and organ peals,
Throughout the mighty marble pile,
Whileas a myriad concourse kneels
In dense-packed nave and crowded aisle.
Hark to the sudden hush! Aloft
From unseen source in empty dome
Swells prayerful music silvery-soft,
Borne from far-off celestial Home.
Then, when the solemn rite is done,
The worshippers stream out to where
Dance fountains glittering in the sun,
While expectation fills the air.
Now on high balcony He stands,
And-save for the Colonna curse,Blesses with high-uplifted hands
The City and the Universe.
Christ is arisen! But scarce as when,
On the third day of death and gloom,
Came ever-loving Magdalen
With tears and spices to His tomb.
454
XXXIX
The Tiber winds its sluggish way
Through niggard tracts whence Rome's command
Once cast the shadow of her sway,
O'er Asian city, Afric sand.
Nor even yet doth She resign
Her sceptre. Still the spell is hers,
Though she may seem a rifled shrine
'Mid circumjacent sepulchres.
One after one, they came, they come,
Gaul, Goth, Savoy, to work their will;
She answers, when She most seems dumb,
``I wore the Crown, I wear it still.
``From Jove I first received the gift,
I from Jehovah wear it now,
Nor shall profane invader lift
The diadem from off my brow.
``The Past is mine, and on the Past
The Future builds; and Time will rear
The next strong structure on the last,
Where men behold but shattered tier.
``The Teuton hither hies to teach,
To prove, disprove, to delve and probe.
Fool! Pedant! Does he think to reach
The deep foundations of the globe?''
For me, I am content to tread
On Sabine dust and Gothic foe.
Leave me to deepening silent dread
Of vanished Empire's afterglow.
In this Imperial wilderness
Why rashly babble and explore?
O, let me know a little less,
So I may feel a little more!
455
XL
For upward of one thousand years,
Here men and women prayed to Jove,
With smiles and incense, gifts and tears,
In secret shrine, or civic grove;
And, when Jove did not seem to heed,
Sought Juno's mediatorial power,
Or begged fair Venus intercede
And melt him in his amorous hour.
Sages invoked Minerva's might;
The Poet, ere he struck the lyre,
Prayed to the God of Song and Light
To touch the strings with hallowed fire.
With flaming herbs were altars smoked
Sprinkled with blood and perfumed must,
And gods and goddesses invoked
To second love or sanction lust.
And did they hear and heed the prayer,
Or, through that long Olympian reign,
Were they divinities of air
Begot of man's fantastic brain?
In Roman halls their statues still
Serenely stand, but no one now
Ascends the Capitolian Hill,
To render thanks, or urge the vow.
Through now long centuries hath Rome
Throned other God, preached other Creed,
That here still have their central home,
And feed man's hope, content his need.
Against these, too, will Time prevail?
No! Let whatever gestates, be,
Secure will last the tender tale
456
From Bethlehem to Calvary.
Throughout this world of pain and loss,
Man ne'er will cease to bend his knee
To Crown of Thorns, to Spear, to Cross,
And Doorway of Humility.
XLI
If Reason be the sole safe guide
In man implanted from above,
Why crave we for one only face,
Why consecrate the name of Love?
Faces there are no whit less fair,
Yet ruddier lip, more radiant eye,
Same rippling smile, same auburn hair,
But not for us. Say, Reason, why.
Why bound our hearts when April pied
Comes singing, or when hawthorn blows?
Doth logic in the lily hide,
And where's the reason in the rose?
Why weld our keels and launch our ships,
If Reason urge some wiser part,
Kiss England's Flag with dying lips
And fold its glories to the heart?
In this gross world we touch and see,
If Reason be no trusty guide,
For world unseen why should it be
The sole explorer justified?
The homing swallow knows its nest,
Sure curves the comet to its goal,
Instinct leads Autumn to its rest,
And why not Faith the homing soul?
Is Reason so aloof, aloft,
It doth not 'gainst itself rebel,
457
And are not Reason's reasonings oft
By Reason proved unreasonable?
He is perplexed no more, who prays,
``Hail, Mary Mother, full of grace!''
O drag me from Doubt's endless maze,
And let me see my Loved One's face!
XLII
``Upon this rock!'' Yet even here
Where Christian God ousts Pagan wraith,
Rebellious Reason whets its spear,
And smites upon the shield of Faith.
On sacred mount, down seven-hilled slopes,
Fearless it faces foe and friend,
Saying to man's immortal hopes,
``Whatso began, perforce must end.''
Not men alone, but gods too, die;
Fanes are, like hearths, left bare and lone;
This earth will into fragments fly,
And Heaven itself be overthrown.
Why then should Man immortal be?
He is but fleeting form, to fade,
Like momentary cloud, or sea
Of waves dispersed as soon as made.
Yet if 'tis Force, not Form, survives,
Meseems therein that one may find
Some comfort for distressful lives;
For, if Force ends not, why should Mind?
Is Doubt more forceful than Belief?
The doctor's cap than friar's cowl?
O ripeness of the falling leaf!
O wisdom of the moping owl!
Man's Mind will ever stand apart
458
From Science, save this have for goal
The evolution of the heart,
And sure survival of the Soul.
XLIII
The Umbilicum lonely stands
Where once rose porch and vanished dome;
But he discerns who understands
That every road may lead to Rome.
Enthroned in Peter's peaceful Chair,
The spiritual Caesar sways
A wider Realm of earth and air
Than trembled at Octavian's gaze.
His universal arms embrace
The saint, the sinner, and the sage,
And proffer refuge, comfort, grace
To tribulation's pilgrimage.
Here scientific searchers find
Precursors for two thousand years,
Who in a drouthy world divined
Fresh springs for human doubts and fears.
Here fair chaste Agnes veils her face
From prowlers of the sensual den,
And pity, pardon, and embrace
Await repentant Magdalen.
Princess and peasant-mother wend
To self-same altar, self-same shrine,
And Cardinal and Patriarch bend
Where lepers kneel, and beggars whine.
And is there then, in my distress,
No road, no gate, no shrine, for me?
The answer comes, ``Yes, surely, yes!
The Doorway of Humility.''
459
O rival Faiths! O clamorous Creeds!
Would you but hush your strife in prayer,
And raise one Temple for our needs,
Then, then, we all might worship there.
But dogma new with dogma old
Clashes to soothe the spirit's grief,
And offer to the unconsoled
Polyglot Babel of Belief!
XLIV
The billows roll, and rise, and break,
Around me; fixedly shine the stars
In clear dome overhead, and take
Their course, unheeding earthly jars.
Yet if one's upward gaze could be
But stationed where the planets are,
The star were restless as the sea,
The sea be tranquil as the star.
Hollowed like cradle, then like grave,
Now smoothly curved, now shapeless spray,
Withal the undirected wave
Forms, and reforms, and knows its way.
Then, waters, bear me on where He,
Ere death absolved at Christian font,
Removed Rome's menaced majesty
Eastward beyond the Hellespont.
Foreseeing not what Fate concealed,
But Time's caprice would there beget,
That Cross would unto Crescent yield,
Caesar and Christ to Mahomet.
Is it then man's predestined state
To search for, ne'er to find, the Light?
Arise, my Star, illuminate
These empty spaces of the Night!
460
XLV
Last night I heard the cuckoo call
Among the moist green glades of home,
And in the Chase around the Hall
Saw the May hawthorn flower and foam.
Deep in the wood where primrose stars
Paled before bluebell's dazzling reign,
The nightingale's sad sobbing bars
Rebuked the merle's too joyful strain.
The kine streamed forth from stall and byre,
The foal frisked round its mother staid,
The meads, by sunshine warmed, took fire,
And lambs in pasture, bleating, played.
The uncurbed rivulets raced to where
The statelier river curled and wound,
And trout, of human step aware,
Shot through the wave without a sound.
Adown the village street, as clear
As in one's wakeful mid-day hours,
Beheld I Monica drawing near,
Her vestal lap one crib of flowers.
Lending no look to me, she passed
By the stone path, as oft before,
Between old mounds Spring newly grassed,
And entered through the Little Door.
Led by her feet, I hastened on,
But, ere my feverish steps could get
To the low porch, lo! Morning shone
On Moslem dome and minaret!
CONSTANTINOPLE
461
XLVI
Now Vesper brings the sunset hour,
And, where crusading Knighthood trod,
Muezzin from his minaret tower
Proclaims, ``There is no God but God!''
Male God who shares his godhead with
No Virgin Mother's sacred tear,
But finds on earth congenial kith
In wielders of the sword and spear:
Male God who on male lust bestows
The ruddy lip, the rounded limb,
And promises, at battle's close,
Houri, not saint nor seraphim.
Swift through the doubly-guarded stream,
Shoots the caïque 'neath oarsmen brisk,
While from its cushioned cradle gleam
The eyes of yashmaked odalisque.
Unchanged adown the changing years,
Here where the Judas blossoms blaze,
Against Sophia's marble piers
The scowling Muslim lean and gaze;
And still at sunset's solemn hour,
Where Christ's devout Crusader trod,
Defiant from the minaret's tower
Proclaim, ``There is no God but God!''
XLVII
Three rival Rituals. One revered
In that loved English hamlet where,
With flowers in Vicarage garden reared,
She decks the altar set for prayer:
Another, where majestic Rome,
With fearless Faith and flag unfurled
462
'Gainst Doubt's ephemeral wave and foam,
Demands obedience from the world.
The third, where now I stand, and where
Two hoary Continents have met,
And Islam guards from taint and tare
Monistic Creed of Mahomet.
Yet older than all three, but banned
To suffer still the exile's doom
From shrine where Turkish sentries stand,
And Christians wrangle round Christ's tomb.
Where then find Creed, divine or dead,
All may embrace, and none contemn?Remember Who it was that said,
``Not here, nor at Jerusalem!''
ATHENS
XLVIII
To Acrocorinth's brow I climb,
And, lulled in retrospective bliss,
Descry, as through the mists of time,
Faintly the far Acropolis.
Below me, rivers, mountains, vales,
Wide stretch of ancient Hellas lies:
Symbol of Song that never fails,
Parnassus communes with the skies.
I linger, dream-bound by the Past,
Till sundown joins time's deep abyss,
Then skirt, through shadows moonlight-cast,
Lone strand of sailless Salamis,
Until Eleusis gleams through dawn,
Where, though a suppliant soul I come,
The veil remains still unwithdrawn,
463
And all the Oracles are dumb.
So onward to the clear white Light,
Where, though the worshippers be gone,
Abides on unmysterious height
The calm unquestioning Parthenon.
Find I, now there I stand at last,
That naked Beauty, undraped Truth,
Can satisfy our yearnings vast,
The doubts of age, the dreams of youth;
That, while we ask, in futile strife,
From altar, tripod, fount, or well,
Form is the secret soul of life,
And Art the only Oracle;
That Hera and Athena, linked
With Aphrodite, hush distress,
And, in their several gifts distinct,
Withal are Triune Goddesses?
That mortal wiser then was He
Who gave the prize to Beauty's smile,
Divides his gifts among the Three,
And thuswise baffles Discord's guile?
But who is wise? The nobler twain,
Who the restraining girdle wear,
Contend too often all in vain
With sinuous curve and frolic hair.
Just as one sees in marble, still,
Pan o'er Apollo's shoulder lean,
Suggesting to the poet's quill
The sensual note, the hint obscene.
Doth then the pure white Light grow dim,
And must it be for ever thus?
Listen! I hear a far-off Hymn,
Veni, Creator, Spiritus!
464
XLIX
The harvest of Hymettus drips
As sweet as when the Attic bees
Swarmed round the honey-laden lips
Of heavenly-human Sophocles.
The olives are as green in grove
As in the days the poets bless,
When Pallas with Poseidon strove
To be the City's Patroness.
The wine-hued main, white marble frieze,
Dome of blue ether over all,
One still beholds, but nowhere sees
Panathenaic Festival.
O'erhead, no Zeus or frowns or nods,
Olympus none in air or skies;
Below, a sepulchre of Gods,
And tombs of dead Divinities.
Yet, are they dead? Still stricken blind,
Tiresiaslike, are they that see,
With bold uncompromising mind,
Wisdom in utter nudity;
Experiencing a kindred fate
With the First Parents of us all,
Jehovah thrust through Eden's Gate,
When Knowledge brought about their Fall.
Hath Aphrodite into foam,
Whence She first flowered, sunk back once more,
And doth She nowhere find a home,
Or worship, upon Christian shore?
Her shrine is in the human breast,
To find her none need soar or dive.
Goodness or Loveliness our quest,
The ever-helpful Gods survive.
465
Hellas retorts, when Hebrew gibes
At Gods of levity and lust,
``God of Judaea's wandering tribes
Was jealous, cruel, and unjust.''
Godhead, withal, remains the same,
And Art embalms its symbols still;
As Poets, when athirst for Fame,
Still dream of Aganippe's rill.
Why still pursue a bootless quest,
And wander heartsore farther East,
Because unanswered, south or west,
By Pagan seer or Christian priest?
Brahma and Buddha, what have they
To offer to my shoreless search?
``Let Contemplation be,'' they say,
``Your ritual, Nothingness your Church.
``Passion and purpose both forsake,
Echoes from non-existent wall;
We do but dream we are awake,
Ourselves the deepest dream of all.
``We dream we think, feel, touch, and see,
And what these are, still dreaming, guess,
Though there is no Reality
Behind their fleeting semblances.''
Thus the East answers my appeal,
Denies, and so illudes, my want.
Alas! Could I but cease to feel,
Brahma should be my Hierophant.
But, hampered by my Western mind,
I cannot set the Spirit free
From Matter, but Illusion find,
466
Of all, the most illusory.
DELPHI
LI
The morning mists that hid the bay
And curtained mountains fast asleep,
Begin to feel the touch of day,
And roll from off both wave and steep.
In floating folds they curve and rise,
Then slowly melt and merge in air,
Till high above me glow the skies,
And cloudless sunshine everywhere.
Parnassus wears nor veil nor frown,
Windless the eagle wings his way,
As I from Delphi gaze adown
On Salona and Amphissa.
It was the sovran Sun that drew
Aloft and scattered morning haze,
And now fills all the spacious blue
With its own glorifying rays.
And, no less sovran than the sun,
Imagination brings relief
Of morning light to shadows dun,
To heart's distress, and spirit's grief.
Parnassus boasts no loftier peak
Than Poet's heavenward song; which, though
Harbouring among the sad and weak,
Lifteth aloft man's griefs below.
Though sun-bronzed Phocian maidens lave
Their kerchiefs in Castalia's spring,
The Muses linger round its wave,
And aid the pilgrim sent to sing.
467
And, listening there, I seem to hear
The unseen Oracle say, ``Be strong:
Subdue the sigh, repress the tear,
And let not sorrow silence Song.
``You now have learnt enough from pain;
And, if worse anguish lurk behind,
Breathe in it some unselfish strain,
And with grief's wisdom aid your kind.
``Who but of his own suffering sings,
Is like an eagle, robbed, distressed,
That vainly shrieks and beats its wings,
Because it cannot find its nest.
``Let male Imagination wed
The orphan, Sorrow, to console
Its virgin loneness, whence are bred
Serenity and self-control.
``Hence let the classic breezes blow
You to your Land beyond the sea,
That you may make, for others' woe,
Your own a healing melody;
``To wintry woe no more a slave,
But, having dried your April tears,
Behold a helpful harvest wave
From ridges of the fallow years.''
LII
Rebuked thus by the stately Past,
Whose solemn choruses endure
Through voices new and visions vast,
And centuries of sepulture,
Because, serene, it never blinked
At sheen or shadow of the sun,
But Hades and Olympus linked
468
With Salamis and Marathon;
Which held despondency at bay
And, while revering Fate's decree,
Reconciled with majestic lay
Man to the Human Tragedy;
To Gods of every land I vowed,
Judaea, Hellas, Mecca, Rome,
No more to live by sorrow bowed,
But, wending backward to my home,
Thenceforth to muse on woe more wide
Than individual distress,
The loftier Muses for my guide,
Minerva for my monitress;
Nor yet to scorn the tender aid
Of Christian martyr, virgin, sage,
And, meekly pondering in the shade,
Proffer ripe counsel to my Age.
And, haply, since 'tis Song alone
Can baffle death, and conquer time,
Maiden unborn in days unknown,
Under the leaves of fragrant lime,
Scanning the verse that here is writ,
While cherishing some secret smart
Of love or loss, may glean from it
Some comfort for her weary heart;
And, gently warned, grave minds may own
The world hath more to bear than they,
And, while I dream 'neath mossy stone,
Repeat my name, and love my lay.
LIII
Scarce to the all-indwelling Power
That vow was uttered, ere there came
469
A messenger in boyhood's flower,
Winged with his search, his face aflame.
From Amphissa he straight had clomb,
Thridding that devious mountain land,
With letter from my far-off home,
And written by my Loved One's hand.
``Come to me where I drooping lie.
None yet have died of Love, they say:
Withal, I sometimes think that I
Have prayed and sighed my life away.
``I want your absolution, dear,
For whatso wrong I may have done;
My conscience waneth less severe,
In softness of the setting sun.
``'Twas I, 'twas I, far more than you,
That stood in need, as now I see,
Stooping, to enter meekly through
The Doorway of Humility.
``In vain I turn to Throne of Grace,
Where sorrows cease, and tears are dry;
I fain once more would see your face,
And hear your voice, before I die.''
ENGLAND
LIV
The oak logs smoulder on my hearth,
Though round them hums no household talk;
The roses in the garden-garth
Hang mournfully on curving stalk.
My wolf-hound round me leaps and bays,
That wailed lost footsteps when I went:
He little knows the grief that weighs
470
On my return from banishment.
Half Autumn now, half Summer yet,
For Nature hath a human heart,
It seems as though they, having met,
To take farewell, are loth to part.
The splendour of the Year's decline
Hath not yet come. One still can see
Late honeysuckle intertwine
With Maiden's-Bower and briony.
The bracken-fronds, fast yellowing, tower
From out sere needles of the pine;
Now hawkweed blooms where foxgloves flower,
And bramble where once eglantine.
And, as I wend with hurrying feet
Across the park, along the lane
That leads unto the hamlet street,
And cradle of my bliss and bane,
In cottage plots on either side,
O'er mignonette and fragrant stock
Soar tiger-lilies lithe and tall,
And homely-sheltered hollyhock.
And when I reach the low grey wall
That skirts God's-acre on the hill,
I see, awaiting my recall,
The Little Door stand open still.
A dip, a slight descent, and then
Into the Vicarage Walk I passed;
It seemed as though the tongues of men
Had left it since I saw it last.
Round garden-plot, in westering sun,
Her agëd parents slowly stepped:
Her Mother had the face of one
Who oft hath prayed, and oft hath wept.
471
She wore the silent plaintive grace
Of Autumn just before its close,
And on her slowly fading face
The pathos of November rose.
With pitying gaze and accents kind,
``Go in,'' she said, ``and mount the stair;
And you through open door will find
That Monica awaits you there.''
LV
I mounted. At half-open door
Pausing, I softly called her name,
As one would pause and halt before
Heaven's Gateway. But no answer came.
She lies, methought, in Sleep's caress,
So, passing in, I seemed to see,
So saintly white the vision, less
A chamber than a Sanctuary.
Vestured in white, on snow-white bed,
She lay, as dreaming something sweet,
Madonna lilies at her head,
Madonna lilies at her feet.
A thought, I did not dare to speak,``Is this the sleep of life or death?''
And, with my cheek against her cheek,
Listening, I seemed to hear her breath.
'Twas Love's last blindness not to see
Her sinless soul had taken wing
Unto the Land, if such there be,
Where saints adore, and Seraphs sing.
And yet I felt within my heart,
Though lids were closed and lips were dumb,
That, for Love's sake, her soul in part
Had lingered here, till I should come.
472
I kissed her irresponsive hand,
I laid my lips on her cold brow,
That She, like me, should understand
'Twas thus I sealed our nuptial vow.
And then I saw upon her breast
A something writ, she fain had said
Had I been near, to me addressed,
Which, kneeling down, I took and read.
LVI
``I prayed I might prolong my years
Till you could come and hush my sighs,
And dry my penitential tears;
But Heaven hath willed it otherwise:
``That I may expiate the wrong
By me inflicted on us both,
When, yet Love's novice, feebly strong,
I sinned against Love's sovran troth.
``Now Death, the mirror unto Life,
Shows me that nought should keep apart
Those who, though sore perplexed by strife
'Twixt Faith and Doubt, are one in heart.
``For Doubt is one with Faith when they,
Who doubt, for Truth's sake suffering live;
And Faith meanwhile should hope and pray,
Withholding not what Love can give.
``We lead the blind by voice and hand,
And not by light they cannot see;
We are not framed to understand
The How and Why of such as He,
``But natured only to rejoice
At every sound or sign of hope,
And, guided by the still small voice,
473
In patience through the darkness grope;
``Until our finer sense expands,
And we exchange for holier sight
The earthly help of voice and hands,
And in His light behold the Light.
``Had my poor Love but been more wise,
I should have ta'en you to my breast,
Striving to hush your plaintive cries,
And rock your Reason back to rest.
``But, though alone you now must tread
Where we together should have trod,
In loneliness you may be led,
Through faith in me, to Faith in God.
``With tranquil purpose, fervent mind,
Foster, while you abide on earth,
And humbly proffer to your kind,
The gift assigned to you at birth.
``As in the far-off boyish year
When did your singing voice awake,
Disinterestedly revere
And love it for its own great sake.
``And when life takes autumnal hues,
With fervent reminiscence woo
All the affections of the Muse,
And write the poem lived by you.
``And should, until your days shall end,
You still the lyric voice retain,
With its seductive music blend
A graver note, a loftier strain.
``While buoyant youth and manhood strong
Follow where Siren sounds entice,
The Deities of Love and Song,
Rapture and loveliness, suffice.
474
``But when decay, and pain, and loss,
Remind one of the Goal forgot,
And we in turn must bear the Cross,
The Pagan Gods can help us not.
``Nor need you then seek, far and near,
More sumptuous shrines on alien strand,
But with domestic mind revere
The Ritual of your native Land.
``The Little Door stands open wide,
And, if you meekly pass therethrough,
Though I no longer kneel inside,
I shall be hovering near to you.
``Farewell! till you shall learn the whole
Of what we here but see in part.
Now I to God commend my soul,
And unto you I leave my heart.''
LVII
I wended up the slope once more
To where the Church stands lone and still,
And passed beneath the Little Door,
My will the subject of Her will.
The sunset rays through pictured pane
Fell, fretted into weft and woof,
On transept, nave, and aisle, to wane
On column cold and vaulted roof.
Within the carven altar screen
Were lilies tall, and white, and fair,
So like to those I late had seen,
It seemed She must be sleeping there.
Mutely I knelt, with bended brow
And shaded eyes, but heart intent,
To learn, should any teach me now,
What Life, and Love, and Sorrow meant.
475
And there remained until the shroud
Of dusk foretold the coming night;
And then I rose, and prayed aloud,
``Let there be Light! Let there be Light!''
~ Alfred Austin,
458:The Victories Of Love. Book I
From Frederick Graham
Mother, I smile at your alarms!
I own, indeed, my Cousin's charms,
But, like all nursery maladies,
Love is not badly taken twice.
Have you forgotten Charlotte Hayes,
My playmate in the pleasant days
At Knatchley, and her sister, Anne,
The twins, so made on the same plan,
That one wore blue, the other white,
To mark them to their father's sight;
And how, at Knatchley harvesting,
You bade me kiss her in the ring,
Like Anne and all the others? You,
That never of my sickness knew,
Will laugh, yet had I the disease,
And gravely, if the signs are these:
As, ere the Spring has any power,
The almond branch all turns to flower,
Though not a leaf is out, so she
The bloom of life provoked in me;
And, hard till then and selfish, I
Was thenceforth nought but sanctity
And service: life was mere delight
In being wholly good and right,
As she was; just, without a slur;
Honouring myself no less than her;
Obeying, in the loneliest place,
Ev'n to the slightest gesture, grace
Assured that one so fair, so true,
He only served that was so too.
For me, hence weak towards the weak,
No more the unnested blackbird's shriek
Startled the light-leaved wood; on high
Wander'd the gadding butterfly,
Unscared by my flung cap; the bee,
242
Rifling the hollyhock in glee,
Was no more trapp'd with his own flower,
And for his honey slain. Her power,
From great things even to the grass
Through which the unfenced footways pass,
Was law, and that which keeps the law,
Cherubic gaiety and awe;
Day was her doing, and the lark
Had reason for his song; the dark
In anagram innumerous spelt
Her name with stars that throbb'd and felt;
'Twas the sad summit of delight
To wake and weep for her at night;
She turn'd to triumph or to shame
The strife of every childish game;
The heart would come into my throat
At rosebuds; howsoe'er remote,
In opposition or consent,
Each thing, or person, or event,
Or seeming neutral howsoe'er,
All, in the live, electric air,
Awoke, took aspect, and confess'd
In her a centre of unrest,
Yea, stocks and stones within me bred
Anxieties of joy and dread.
O, bright apocalyptic sky
O'erarching childhood! Far and nigh
Mystery and obscuration none,
Yet nowhere any moon or sun!
What reason for these sighs? What hope,
Daunting with its audacious scope
The disconcerted heart, affects
These ceremonies and respects?
Why stratagems in everything?
Why, why not kiss her in the ring?
'Tis nothing strange that warriors bold,
Whose fierce, forecasting eyes behold
The city they desire to sack,
Humbly begin their proud attack
By delving ditches two miles off,
Aware how the fair place would scoff
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At hasty wooing; but, O child,
Why thus approach thy playmate mild?
One morning, when it flush'd my thought
That, what in me such wonder wrought
Was call'd, in men and women, love,
And, sick with vanity thereof,
I, saying loud, ‘I love her,’ told
My secret to myself, behold
A crisis in my mystery!
For, suddenly, I seem'd to be
Whirl'd round, and bound with showers of threads
As when the furious spider sheds
Captivity upon the fly
To still his buzzing till he die;
Only, with me, the bonds that flew,
Enfolding, thrill'd me through and through
With bliss beyond aught heaven can have
And pride to dream myself her slave.
A long, green slip of wilder'd land,
With Knatchley Wood on either hand,
Sunder'd our home from hers. This day
Glad was I as I went her way.
I stretch'd my arms to the sky, and sprang
O'er the elastic sod, and sang
‘I love her, love her!’ to an air
Which with the words came then and there;
And even now, when I would know
All was not always dull and low,
I mind me awhile of the sweet strain
Love taught me in that lonely lane.
Such glories fade, with no more mark
Than when the sunset dies to dark.
They pass, the rapture and the grace
Ineffable, their only trace
A heart which, having felt no less
Than pure and perfect happiness,
Is duly dainty of delight;
A patient, poignant appetite
For pleasures that exceed so much
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The poor things which the world calls such,
That, when these lure it, then you may
The lion with a wisp of hay.
That Charlotte, whom we scarcely knew
From Anne but by her ribbons blue,
Was loved, Anne less than look'd at, shows
That liking still by favour goes!
This Love is a Divinity,
And holds his high election free
Of human merit; or let's say,
A child by ladies call'd to play,
But careless of their becks and wiles,
Till, seeing one who sits and smiles
Like any else, yet only charms,
He cries to come into her arms.
Then, for my Cousins, fear me not!
None ever loved because he ought.
Fatal were else this graceful house,
So full of light from ladies' brows.
There's Mary; Heaven in her appears
Like sunshine through the shower's bright tears;
Mildred's of Earth, yet happier far
Than most men's thoughts of Heaven are;
But, for Honoria, Heaven and Earth
Seal'd amity in her sweet birth.
The noble Girl! With whom she talks
She knights first with her smile; she walks,
Stands, dances, to such sweet effect,
Alone she seems to move erect.
The brightest and the chastest brow
Rules o'er a cheek which seems to show
That love, as a mere vague suspense
Of apprehensive innocence,
Perturbs her heart; love without aim
Or object, like the sunlit flame
That in the Vestals' Temple glow'd,
Without the image of a god.
And this simplicity most pure
She sets off with no less allure
Of culture, subtly skill'd to raise
The power, the pride, and mutual praise
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Of human personality
Above the common sort so high,
It makes such homely souls as mine
Marvel how brightly life may shine.
How you would love her! Even in dress
She makes the common mode express
New knowledge of what's fit so well
'Tis virtue gaily visible!
Nay, but her silken sash to me
Were more than all morality,
Had not the old, sweet, feverous ill
Left me the master of my will!
So, Mother, feel at rest, and please
To send my books on board. With these,
When I go hence, all idle hours
Shall help my pleasures and my powers.
I've time, you know, to fill my post,
And yet make up for schooling lost
Through young sea-service. They all speak
German with ease; and this, with Greek,
(Which Dr. Churchill thought I knew,)
And history, which I fail'd in too,
Will stop a gap I somewhat dread,
After the happy life I've led
With these my friends; and sweet 'twill be
To abridge the space from them to me.
II
From Mrs. Graham
My Child, Honoria Churchill sways
A double power through Charlotte Hayes.
In minds to first-love's memory pledged
The second Cupid's born full-fledged.
I saw, and trembled for the day
When you should see her beauty, gay
And pure as apple-blooms, that show
Outside a blush and inside snow,
Her high and touching elegance
Of order'd life as free as chance.
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Ah, haste from her bewitching side,
No friend for you, far less a bride!
But, warning from a hope so wild,
I wrong you. Yet this know, my Child:
He that but once too nearly hears
The music of forefended spheres,
Is thenceforth lonely, and for all
His days like one who treads the Wall
Of China, and, on this hand, sees
Cities and their civilities,
And, on the other, lions. Well,
(Your rash reply I thus foretell,)
Good is the knowledge of what's fair,
Though bought with temporal despair!
Yes, good for one, but not for two.
Will it content a wife that you
Should pine for love, in love's embrace,
Through having known a happier grace;
And break with inward sighs your rest,
Because, though good, she's not the best?
You would, you think, be just and kind,
And keep your counsel! You will find
You cannot such a secret keep;
'Twill out, like murder, in your sleep;
A touch will tell it, though, for pride,
She may her bitter knowledge hide;
And, while she accepts love's make-believe,
You'll twice despise what you'd deceive.
I send the books. Dear Child, adieu!
Tell me of all you are and do.
I know, thank God, whate'er it be,
'Twill need no veil 'twixt you and me.
III
From Frederick
The multitude of voices blythe
Of early day, the hissing scythe
Across the dew drawn and withdrawn,
The noisy peacock on the lawn,
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These, and the sun's eye-gladding gleam,
This morning, chased the sweetest dream
That e'er shed penitential grace
On life's forgetful commonplace;
Yet 'twas no sweeter than the spell
To which I woke to say farewell.
Noon finds me many a mile removed
From her who must not be beloved;
And us the waste sea soon shall part,
Heaving for aye, without a heart!
Mother, what need to warn me so?
I love Miss Churchill? Ah, no, no.
I view, enchanted, from afar,
And love her as I love a star,
For, not to speak of colder fear,
Which keeps my fancy calm, I hear,
Under her life's gay progress hurl'd,
The wheels of the preponderant world,
Set sharp with swords that fool to slay
Who blunders from a poor byway,
To covet beauty with a crown
Of earthly blessing added on;
And she's so much, it seems to me,
Beyond all women womanly,
I dread to think how he should fare
Who came so near as to despair.
IV
From Frederick
Yonder the sombre vessel rides
Where my obscure condition hides.
Waves scud to shore against the wind
That flings the sprinkling surf behind;
In port the bickering pennons show
Which way the ships would gladly go;
Through Edgecumb Park the rooted trees
Are tossing, reckless, in the breeze;
On top of Edgecumb's firm-set tower,
As foils, not foibles, of its power,
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The light vanes do themselves adjust
To every veering of the gust:
By me alone may nought be given
To guidance of the airs of heaven?
In battle or peace, in calm or storm,
Should I my daily task perform,
Better a thousand times for love,
Who should my secret soul reprove?
Beholding one like her, a man
Longs to lay down his life! How can
Aught to itself seem thus enough,
When I have so much need thereof?
Blest in her place, blissful is she;
And I, departing, seem to be
Like the strange waif that comes to run
A few days flaming near the sun,
And carries back, through boundless night,
Its lessening memory of light.
Oh, my dear Mother, I confess
To a deep grief of homelessness,
Unfelt, save once, before. 'Tis years
Since such a shower of girlish tears
Disgraced me? But this wretched Inn,
At Plymouth, is so full of din,
Talkings and trampings to and fro.
And then my ship, to which I go
To-night, is no more home. I dread,
As strange, the life I long have led;
And as, when first I went to school,
And found the horror of a rule
Which only ask'd to be obey'd,
I lay and wept, of dawn afraid,
And thought, with bursting heart, of one
Who, from her little, wayward son,
Required obedience, but above
Obedience still regarded love,
So change I that enchanting place,
The abode of innocence and grace
And gaiety without reproof,
For the black gun-deck's louring roof,
249
Blind and inevitable law
Which makes light duties burdens, awe
Which is not reverence, laughters gain'd
At cost of purities profaned,
And whatsoever most may stir
Remorseful passion towards her,
Whom to behold is to depart
From all defect of life and heart.
But, Mother, I shall go on shore,
And see my Cousin yet once more!
'Twere wild to hope for her, you say.
l've torn and cast those words away.
Surely there's hope! For life 'tis well
Love without hope's impossible;
So, if I love, it is that hope
Is not outside the outer scope
Of fancy. You speak truth: this hour
I must resist, or lose the power.
What! and, when some short months are o'er,
Be not much other than before?
Drop from the bright and virtuous sphere
In which I'm held but while she's dear?
For daily life's dull, senseless mood,
Slay the fine nerves of gratitude
And sweet allegiance, which I owe
Whether the debt be weal or woe?
Nay, Mother, I, forewarn'd, prefer
To want for all in wanting her.
For all? Love's best is not bereft
Ever from him to whom is left
The trust that God will not deceive
His creature, fashion'd to believe
The prophecies of pure desire.
Not loss, not death, my love shall tire.
A mystery does my heart foretell;
Nor do I press the oracle
For explanations. Leave me alone,
And let in me love's will be done.
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V
From Frederick
Fashion'd by Heaven and by art
So is she, that she makes the heart
Ache and o'erflow with tears, that grace
So lovely fair should have for place,
(Deeming itself at home the while,)
The unworthy earth! To see her smile
Amid this waste of pain and sin,
As only knowing the heaven within,
Is sweet, and does for pity stir
Passion to be her minister:
Wherefore last night I lay awake,
And said, ‘Ah, Lord, for Thy love's sake,
Give not this darling child of Thine
To care less reverent than mine!’
And, as true faith was in my word,
I trust, I trust that I was heard.
The waves, this morning, sped to land,
And shouted hoarse to touch the strand,
Where Spring, that goes not out to sea,
Lay laughing in her lovely glee;
And, so, my life was sunlit spray
And tumult, as, once more to-day,
For long farewell did I draw near
My Cousin, desperately dear.
Faint, fierce, the truth that hope was none
Gleam'd like the lightning in the sun;
Yet hope I had, and joy thereof.
The father of love is hope, (though love
Lives orphan'd on, when hope is dead,)
And, out of my immediate dread
And crisis of the coming hour,
Did hope itself draw sudden power.
So the still brooding storm, in Spring,
Makes all the birds begin to sing.
Mother, your foresight did not err:
I've lost the world, and not won her.
And yet, ah, laugh not, when you think
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What cup of life I sought to drink!
The bold, said I, have climb'd to bliss
Absurd, impossible, as this,
With nought to help them but so great
A heart it fascinates their fate.
If ever Heaven heard man's desire,
Mine, being made of altar-fire,
Must come to pass, and it will be
That she will wait, when she shall see,
This evening, how I go to get,
By means unknown, I know not yet
Quite what, but ground whereon to stand,
And plead more plainly for her hand!
And so I raved, and cast in hope
A superstitious horoscope!
And still, though something in her face
Portended ‘No!’ with such a grace
It burthen'd me with thankfulness,
Nothing was credible but ‘Yes.’
Therefore, through time's close pressure bold,
I praised myself, and boastful told
My deeds at Acre; strain'd the chance
I had of honour and advance
In war to come; and would not see
Sad silence meant, ‘What's this to me.’
When half my precious hour was gone,
She rose to greet a Mr. Vaughan;
And, as the image of the moon
Breaks up, within some still lagoon
That feels the soft wind suddenly,
Or tide fresh flowing from the sea,
And turns to giddy flames that go
Over the water to and fro,
Thus, when he took her hand to-night,
Her lovely gravity of light
Was scatter'd into many smiles
And flattering weakness. Hope beguiles
No more my heart, dear Mother. He,
By jealous looks, o'erhonour'd me.
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With nought to do, and fondly fain
To hear her singing once again,
I stay'd, and turn'd her music o'er;
Then came she with me to the door.
‘Dearest Honoria,’ I said,
(By my despair familiar made,)
‘Heaven bless you!’ Oh, to have back then stepp'd
And fallen upon her neck, and wept,
And said, ‘My friend, I owe you all
‘I am, and have, and hope for. Call
‘For some poor service; let me prove
‘To you, or him here whom you love,
‘My duty. Any solemn task,
‘For life's whole course, is all I ask!’
Then she must surely have wept too,
And said, ‘My friend, what can you do!’
And I should have replied, ‘I'll pray
‘For you and him three times a-day,
‘And, all day, morning, noon, and night,
‘My life shall be so high and right
‘That never Saint yet scaled the stairs
‘Of heaven with more availing prayers!’
But this (and, as good God shall bless
Somehow my end, I'll do no less,)
I had no right to speak. Oh, shame,
So rich a love, so poor a claim!
My Mother, now my only friend,
Farewell. The school-books which you send
I shall not want, and so return.
Give them away, or sell, or burn.
I'll write from Malta. Would I might
But be your little Child to-night,
And feel your arms about me fold,
Against this loneliness and cold!
VI
From Mrs. Graham
The folly of young girls! They doff
Their pride to smooth success, and scoff
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At far more noble fire and might
That woo them from the dust of fight!
But, Frederick, now the storm is past,
Your sky should not remain o'ercast.
A sea-life's dull, and, oh, beware
Of nourishing, for zest, despair.
My Child, remember, you have twice
Heartily loved; then why not thrice,
Or ten times? But a wise man shuns
To cry ‘All's over,’ more than once.
I'll not say that a young man's soul
Is scarcely measure of the whole
Earthly and heavenly universe,
To which he inveterately prefers
The one beloved woman. Best
Speak to the senses' interest,
Which brooks no mystery nor delay:
Frankly reflect, my Son, and say,
Was there no secret hour, of those
Pass'd at her side in Sarum Close,
When, to your spirit's sick alarm,
It seem'd that all her marvellous charm
Was marvellously fled? Her grace
Of voice, adornment, movement, face
Was what already heart and eye
Had ponder'd to satiety;
And so the good of life was o'er,
Until some laugh not heard before,
Some novel fashion in her hair,
Or style of putting back her chair,
Restored the heavens. Gather thence
The loss-consoling inference.
Yet blame not beauty, which beguiles,
With lovely motions and sweet smiles,
Which while they please us pass away,
The spirit to lofty thoughts that stay
And lift the whole of after-life,
Unless you take the vision to wife,
Which then seems lost, or serves to slake
Desire, as when a lovely lake
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Far off scarce fills the exulting eye
Of one athirst, who comes thereby,
And inappreciably sips
The deep, with disappointed lips.
To fail is sorrow, yet confess
That love pays dearly for success!
No blame to beauty! Let's complain
Of the heart, which can so ill sustain
Delight. Our griefs declare our fall,
But how much more our joys! They pall
With plucking, and celestial mirth
Can find no footing on the earth,
More than the bird of paradise,
Which only lives the while it flies.
Think, also, how 'twould suit your pride
To have this woman for a bride.
Whate'er her faults, she's one of those
To whom the world's last polish owes
A novel grace, which all who aspire
To courtliest custom must acquire.
The world's the sphere she's made to charm,
Which you have shunn'd as if 'twere harm.
Oh, law perverse, that loneliness
Breeds love, society success!
Though young, 'twere now o'er late in life
To train yourself for such a wife;
So she would suit herself to you,
As women, when they marry, do.
For, since 'tis for our dignity
Our lords should sit like lords on high,
We willingly deteriorate
To a step below our rulers' state;
And 'tis the commonest of things
To see an angel, gay with wings,
Lean weakly on a mortal's arm!
Honoria would put off the charm
Of lofty grace that caught your love,
For fear you should not seem above
Herself in fashion and degree,
As in true merit. Thus, you see,
'Twere little kindness, wisdom none,
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To light your cot with such a sun.
VII
From Frederick
Write not, my Mother, her dear name
With the least word or hint of blame.
Who else shall discommend her choice,
I giving it my hearty voice?
Wed me? Ah, never near her come
The knowledge of the narrow home!
Far fly from her dear face, that shows
The sunshine lovelier than the rose,
The sordid gravity they wear
Who poverty's base burthen bear!
(And all are poor who come to miss
Their custom, though a crown be this.)
My hope was, that the wheels of fate,
For my exceeding need, might wait,
And she, unseen amidst all eyes,
Move sightless, till I sought the prize,
With honour, in an equal field.
But then came Vaughan, to whom I yield
With grace as much as any man,
In such cause, to another can.
Had she been mine, it seems to me
That I had that integrity
And only joy in her delight—
But each is his own favourite
In love! The thought to bring me rest
Is that of us she takes the best.
'Twas but to see him to be sure
That choice for her remain'd no more!
His brow, so gaily clear of craft;
His wit, the timely truth that laugh'd
To find itself so well express'd;
His words, abundant yet the best;
His spirit, of such handsome show
You mark'd not that his looks were so;
His bearing, prospects, birth, all these
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Might well, with small suit, greatly please;
How greatly, when she saw arise
The reflex sweetness of her eyes
In his, and every breath defer
Humbly its bated life to her;
Whilst power and kindness of command,
Which women can no more withstand
Than we their grace, were still unquell'd,
And force and flattery both compell'd
Her softness! Say I'm worthy. I
Grew, in her presence, cold and shy.
It awed me, as an angel's might
In raiment of reproachful light.
Her gay looks told my sombre mood
That what's not happy is not good;
And, just because 'twas life to please,
Death to repel her, truth and ease
Deserted me; I strove to talk,
And stammer'd foolishness; my walk
Was like a drunkard's; if she took
My arm, it stiffen'd, ached, and shook:
A likely wooer! Blame her not;
Nor ever say, dear Mother, aught
Against that perfectness which is
My strength, as once it was my bliss.
And do not chafe at social rules.
Leave that to charlatans and fools.
Clay graffs and clods conceive the rose,
So base still fathers best. Life owes
Itself to bread; enough thereof
And easy days condition love;
And, kindly train'd, love's roses thrive,
No more pale, scentless petals five,
Which moisten the considerate eye
To see what haste they make to die,
But heavens of colour and perfume,
Which, month by month, renew the bloom
Of art-born graces, when the year
In all the natural grove is sere.
Blame nought then! Bright let be the air
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About my lonely cloud of care.
VIII
From Frederick
Religion, duty, books, work, friends,—
'Tis good advice, but there it ends.
I'm sick for what these have not got.
Send no more books: they help me not;
I do my work: the void's there still
Which carefullest duty cannot fill.
What though the inaugural hour of right
Comes ever with a keen delight?
Little relieves the labour's heat;
Disgust oft crowns it when complete;
And life, in fact, is not less dull
For being very dutiful.
‘The stately homes of England,’ lo,
‘How beautiful they stand!’ They owe
How much to nameless things like me
Their beauty of security!
But who can long a low toil mend
By looking to a lofty end?
And let me, since 'tis truth, confess
The void's not fill'd by godliness.
God is a tower without a stair,
And His perfection, love's despair.
'Tis He shall judge me when I die;
He suckles with the hissing fly
The spider; gazes calmly down,
Whilst rapine grips the helpless town.
His vast love holds all this and more.
In consternation I adore.
Nor can I ease this aching gulf
With friends, the pictures of myself.
Then marvel not that I recur
From each and all of these to her.
For more of heaven than her have I
No sensitive capacity.
Had I but her, ah, what the gain
258
Of owning aught but that domain!
Nay, heaven's extent, however much,
Cannot be more than many such;
And, she being mine, should God to me
Say ‘Lo! my Child, I give to thee
All heaven besides,’ what could I then,
But, as a child, to Him complain
That whereas my dear Father gave
A little space for me to have
In His great garden, now, o'erblest,
I've that, indeed, but all the rest,
Which, somehow, makes it seem I've got
All but my only cared-for plot.
Enough was that for my weak hand
To tend, my heart to understand.
Oh, the sick fact, 'twixt her and me
There's naught, and half a world of sea.
IX
From Frederick
In two, in less than two hours more
I set my foot on English shore,
Two years untrod, and, strange to tell,
Nigh miss'd through last night's storm! There fell
A man from the shrouds, that roar'd to quench
Even the billows' blast and drench.
Besides me none was near to mark
His loud cry in the louder dark,
Dark, save when lightning show'd the deeps
Standing about in stony heaps.
No time for choice! A rope; a flash
That flamed as he rose; a dizzy splash;
A strange, inopportune delight
Of mounting with the billowy might,
And falling, with a thrill again
Of pleasure shot from feet to brain;
And both paced deck, ere any knew
Our peril. Round us press'd the crew,
With wonder in the eyes of most.
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As if the man who had loved and lost
Honoria dared no more than that!
My days have else been stale and flat.
This life's at best, if justly scann'd,
A tedious walk by the other's strand,
With, here and there cast up, a piece
Of coral or of ambergris,
Which, boasted of abroad, we ignore
The burden of the barren shore.
I seldom write, for 'twould be still
Of how the nerves refuse to thrill;
How, throughout doubly-darken'd days,
I cannot recollect her face;
How to my heart her name to tell
Is beating on a broken bell;
And, to fill up the abhorrent gulf,
Scarce loving her, I hate myself.
Yet, latterly, with strange delight,
Rich tides have risen in the night,
And sweet dreams chased the fancies dense
Of waking life's dull somnolence.
I see her as I knew her, grace
Already glory in her face;
I move about, I cannot rest,
For the proud brain and joyful breast
I have of her. Or else I float,
The pilot of an idle boat,
Alone, alone with sky and sea,
And her, the third simplicity.
Or Mildred, to some question, cries,
(Her merry meaning in her eyes,)
‘The Ball, oh, Frederick will go;
‘Honoria will be there!’ and, lo,
As moisture sweet my seeing blurs
To hear my name so link'd with hers,
A mirror joins, by guilty chance,
Either's averted, watchful glance!
Or with me, in the Ball-Room's blaze,
Her brilliant mildness thrids the maze;
Our thoughts are lovely, and each word
260
Is music in the music heard,
And all things seem but parts to be
Of one persistent harmony.
By which I'm made divinely bold;
The secret, which she knows, is told;
And, laughing with a lofty bliss
Of innocent accord, we kiss;
About her neck my pleasure weeps;
Against my lip the silk vein leaps;
Then says an Angel, ‘Day or night,
‘If yours you seek, not her delight,
‘Although by some strange witchery
‘It seems you kiss her, 'tis not she;
‘But, whilst you languish at the side
‘Of a fair-foul phantasmal bride,
‘Surely a dragon and strong tower
‘Guard the true lady in her bower.’
And I say, ‘Dear my Lord, Amen!’
And the true lady kiss again.
Or else some wasteful malady
Devours her shape and dims her eye;
No charms are left, where all were rife,
Except her voice, which is her life,
Wherewith she, for her foolish fear,
Says trembling, ‘Do you love me, Dear?’
And I reply, ‘Sweetest, I vow
‘I never loved but half till now.’
She turns her face to the wall at this,
And says, ‘Go, Love, 'tis too much bliss.’
And then a sudden pulse is sent
About the sounding firmament
In smitings as of silver bars;
The bright disorder of the stars
Is solved by music; far and near,
Through infinite distinctions clear,
Their twofold voices' deeper tone
Utters the Name which all things own,
And each ecstatic treble dwells
On one whereof none other tells;
And we, sublimed to song and fire,
Take order in the wheeling quire,
Till from the throbbing sphere I start,
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Waked by the heaving of my heart.
Such dreams as these come night by night,
Disturbing day with their delight.
Portend they nothing? Who can tell!
God yet may do some miracle.
'Tis nigh two years, and she's not wed,
Or you would know! He may be dead,
Or mad, and loving some one else,
And she, much moved that nothing quells
My constancy, or, simply wroth
With such a wretch, accept my troth
To spite him; or her beauty's gone,
(And that's my dream!) and this man Vaughan
Takes her release: or tongues malign,
Confusing every ear but mine,
Have smirch'd her: ah, 'twould move her, sure,
To find I loved her all the more!
Nay, now I think, haply amiss
I read her words and looks, and his,
That night! Did not his jealousy
Show—Good my God, and can it be
That I, a modest fool, all blest,
Nothing of such a heaven guess'd?
Oh, chance too frail, yet frantic sweet,
To-morrow sees me at her feet!
Yonder, at last, the glad sea roars
Along the sacred English shores!
There lies the lovely land I know,
Where men and women lordliest grow;
There peep the roofs where more than kings
Postpone state cares to country things,
And many a gay queen simply tends
The babes on whom the world depends;
There curls the wanton cottage smoke
Of him that drives but bears no yoke;
There laughs the realm where low and high
Are lieges to society.
And life has all too wide a scope,
Too free a prospect for its hope,
For any private good or ill,
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Except dishonour, quite to fill!
—Mother, since this was penn'd, I've read
That ‘Mr. Vaughan, on Tuesday, wed
‘The beautiful Miss Churchill.’ So
That's over; and to-morrow I go
To take up my new post on board
The ‘Wolf,’ my peace at last restored;
My lonely faith, like heart-of-oak,
Shock-season'd. Grief is now the cloak
I clasp about me to prevent
The deadly chill of a content
With any near or distant good,
Except the exact beatitude
Which love has shown to my desire.
Talk not of ‘other joys and higher,’
I hate and disavow all bliss
As none for me which is not this.
Think not I blasphemously cope
With God's decrees, and cast off hope.
How, when, and where can mine succeed?
I'll trust He knows who made my need.
Baseness of men! Pursuit being o'er,
Doubtless her Husband feels no more
The heaven of heavens of such a Bride,
But, lounging, lets her please his pride
With fondness, guerdons her caress
With little names, and turns a tress
Round idle fingers. If 'tis so,
Why then I'm happier of the two!
Better, for lofty loss, high pain,
Than low content with lofty gain.
Poor, foolish Dove, to trust from me
Her happiness and dignity!
From Frederick
I thought the worst had brought me balm:
'Twas but the tempest's central calm.
Vague sinkings of the heart aver
263
That dreadful wrong is come to her,
And o'er this dream I brood and dote,
And learn its agonies by rote.
As if I loved it, early and late
I make familiar with my fate,
And feed, with fascinated will,
On very dregs of finish'd ill.
I think, she's near him now, alone,
With wardship and protection none;
Alone, perhaps, in the hindering stress
Of airs that clasp him with her dress,
They wander whispering by the wave;
And haply now, in some sea-cave,
Where the ribb'd sand is rarely trod,
They laugh, they kiss. Oh, God! oh, God!
There comes a smile acutely sweet
Out of the picturing dark; I meet
The ancient frankness of her gaze,
That soft and heart-surprising blaze
Of great goodwill and innocence,
And perfect joy proceeding thence!
Ah! made for earth's delight, yet such
The mid-sea air's too gross to touch.
At thought of which, the soul in me
Is as the bird that bites a bee,
And darts abroad on frantic wing,
Tasting the honey and the sting;
And, moaning where all round me sleep
Amidst the moaning of the deep,
I start at midnight from my bed—
And have no right to strike him dead.
What world is this that I am in,
Where chance turns sanctity to sin!
'Tis crime henceforward to desire
The only good; the sacred fire
That sunn'd the universe is hell!
I hear a Voice which argues well:
‘The Heaven hard has scorn'd your cry;
‘Fall down and worship me, and I
‘Will give you peace; go and profane
‘This pangful love, so pure, so vain,
264
‘And thereby win forgetfulness
‘And pardon of the spirit's excess,
‘Which soar'd too nigh that jealous Heaven
‘Ever, save thus, to be forgiven.
‘No Gospel has come down that cures
‘With better gain a loss like yours.
‘Be pious! Give the beggar pelf,
‘And love your neighbour as yourself!
‘You, who yet love, though all is o'er,
‘And she'll ne'er be your neighbour more,
‘With soul which can in pity smile
‘That aught with such a measure vile
‘As self should be at all named 'love!'
‘Your sanctity the priests reprove;
‘Your case of grief they wholly miss;
‘The Man of Sorrows names not this.
‘The years, they say, graff love divine
‘On the lopp'd stock of love like thine;
‘The wild tree dies not, but converts.
‘So be it; but the lopping hurts,
‘The graff takes tardily! Men stanch
‘Meantime with earth the bleeding branch,
‘There's nothing heals one woman's loss,
‘And lighten's life's eternal cross
‘With intermission of sound rest,
‘Like lying in another's breast.
‘The cure is, to your thinking, low!
‘Is not life all, henceforward, so?’
Ill Voice, at least thou calm'st my mood.
I'll sleep! But, as I thus conclude,
The intrusions of her grace dispel
The comfortable glooms of hell.
A wonder! Ere these lines were dried,
Vaughan and my Love, his three-days' Bride,
Became my guests. I look'd, and, lo,
In beauty soft as is the snow
And powerful as the avalanche,
She lit the deck. The Heav'n-sent chance!
She smiled, surprised. They came to see
The ship, not thinking to meet me.
265
At infinite distance she's my day:
What then to him? Howbeit they say
'Tis not so sunny in the sun
But men might live cool lives thereon!
All's well; for I have seen arise
That reflex sweetness of her eyes
In his, and watch'd his breath defer
Humbly its bated life to her,
His wife. My Love, she's safe in his
Devotion! What ask'd I but this?
They bade adieu; I saw them go
Across the sea; and now I know
The ultimate hope I rested on,
The hope beyond the grave, is gone,
The hope that, in the heavens high,
At last it should appear that I
Loved most, and so, by claim divine,
Should have her, in the heavens, for mine,
According to such nuptial sort
As may subsist in the holy court,
Where, if there are all kinds of joys
To exhaust the multitude of choice
In many mansions, then there are
Loves personal and particular,
Conspicuous in the glorious sky
Of universal charity,
As Phosphor in the sunrise. Now
I've seen them, I believe their vow
Immortal; and the dreadful thought,
That he less honour'd than he ought
Her sanctity, is laid to rest,
And, blessing them, I too am blest.
My goodwill, as a springing air,
Unclouds a beauty in despair;
I stand beneath the sky's pure cope
Unburthen'd even by a hope;
And peace unspeakable, a joy
Which hope would deaden and destroy,
Like sunshine fills the airy gulf
266
Left by the vanishing of self.
That I have known her; that she moves
Somewhere all-graceful; that she loves,
And is belov'd, and that she's so
Most happy, and to heaven will go,
Where I may meet with her, (yet this
I count but accidental bliss,)
And that the full, celestial weal
Of all shall sensitively feel
The partnership and work of each,
And thus my love and labour reach
Her region, there the more to bless
Her last, consummate happiness,
Is guerdon up to the degree
Of that alone true loyalty
Which, sacrificing, is not nice
About the terms of sacrifice,
But offers all, with smiles that say,
'Tis little, but it is for aye!
XI
From Mrs. Graham
You wanted her, my Son, for wife,
With the fierce need of life in life.
That nobler passion of an hour
Was rather prophecy than power;
And nature, from such stress unbent,
Recurs to deep discouragement.
Trust not such peace yet; easy breath,
In hot diseases, argues death;
And tastelessness within the mouth
Worse fever shows than heat or drouth.
Wherefore take, Frederick, timely fear
Against a different danger near:
Wed not one woman, oh, my Child,
Because another has not smiled!
Oft, with a disappointed man,
The first who cares to win him can;
For, after love's heroic strain,
Which tired the heart and brought no gain,
267
He feels consoled, relieved, and eased
To meet with her who can be pleased
To proffer kindness, and compute
His acquiescence for pursuit;
Who troubles not his lonely mood;
And asks for love mere gratitude.
Ah, desperate folly! Yet, we know,
Who wed through love wed mostly so.
At least, my Son, when wed you do,
See that the woman equals you,
Nor rush, from having loved too high,
Into a worse humility.
A poor estate's a foolish plea
For marrying to a base degree.
A woman grown cannot be train'd,
Or, if she could, no love were gain'd;
For, never was a man's heart caught
By graces he himself had taught.
And fancy not 'tis in the might
Of man to do without delight;
For, should you in her nothing find
To exhilarate the higher mind,
Your soul would deaden useless wings
With wickedness of lawful things,
And vampire pleasure swift destroy
Even the memory of joy.
So let no man, in desperate mood,
Wed a dull girl because she's good.
All virtues in his wife soon dim,
Except the power of pleasing him,
Which may small virtue be, or none!
I know my just and tender Son,
To whom the dangerous grace is given
That scorns a good which is not heaven;
My Child, who used to sit and sigh
Under the bright, ideal sky,
And pass, to spare the farmer's wheat,
The poppy and the meadow-sweet!
He would not let his wife's heart ache
For what was mainly his mistake;
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But, having err'd so, all his force
Would fix upon the hard, right course.
She's graceless, say, yet good and true,
And therefore inly fair, and, through
The veils which inward beauty fold,
Faith can her loveliness behold.
Ah, that's soon tired; faith falls away
Without the ceremonial stay
Of outward loveliness and awe.
The weightier matters of the law
She pays: mere mint and cumin not;
And, in the road that she was taught,
She treads, and takes for granted still
Nature's immedicable ill;
So never wears within her eyes
A false report of paradise,
Nor ever modulates her mirth
With vain compassion of the earth,
Which made a certain happier face
Affecting, and a gayer grace
With pathos delicately edged!
Yet, though she be not privileged
To unlock for you your heart's delight,
(Her keys being gold, but not the right,)
On lower levels she may do!
Her joy is more in loving you
Than being loved, and she commands
All tenderness she understands.
It is but when you proffer more
The yoke weighs heavy and chafes sore.
It's weary work enforcing love
On one who has enough thereof,
And honour on the lowlihead
Of ignorance! Besides, you dread,
In Leah's arms, to meet the eyes
Of Rachel, somewhere in the skies,
And both return, alike relieved,
To life less loftily conceived.
Alas, alas!
Then wait the mood
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In which a woman may be woo'd
Whose thoughts and habits are too high
For honour to be flattery,
And who would surely not allow
The suit that you could proffer now.
Her equal yoke would sit with ease;
It might, with wearing, even please,
(Not with a better word to move
The loyal wrath of present love);
She would not mope when you were gay,
For want of knowing aught to say;
Nor vex you with unhandsome waste
Of thoughts ill-timed and words ill-placed;
Nor reckon small things duties small,
And your fine sense fantastical;
Nor would she bring you up a brood
Of strangers bound to you by blood,
Boys of a meaner moral race,
Girls with their mother's evil grace,
But not her chance to sometimes find
Her critic past his judgment kind;
Nor, unaccustom'd to respect,
Which men, where 'tis not claim'd, neglect,
Confirm you selfish and morose,
And slowly, by contagion, gross;
But, glad and able to receive
The honour you would long to give,
Would hasten on to justify
Expectancy, however high,
Whilst you would happily incur
Compulsion to keep up with her.
XII
From Frederick
Your letter, Mother, bears the date
Of six months back, and comes too late.
My Love, past all conceiving lost,
A change seem'd good, at any cost,
From lonely, stupid, silent grief,
Vain, objectless, beyond relief,
270
And, like a sea-fog, settled dense
On fancy, feeling, thought, and sense.
I grew so idle, so despised
Myself, my powers, by Her unprized,
Honouring my post, but nothing more,
And lying, when I lived on shore,
So late of mornings: weak tears stream'd
For such slight cause,—if only gleam'd,
Remotely, beautifully bright,
On clouded eves at sea, the light
Of English headlands in the sun,—
That soon I deem'd 'twere better done
To lay this poor, complaining wraith
Of unreciprocated faith:
And so, with heart still bleeding quick,
But strengthen'd by the comfort sick
Of knowing that She could not care,
I turn'd away from my despair,
And told our chaplain's daughter, Jane,—
A dear, good girl, who saw my pain,
And look'd as if she pitied me,—
How glad and thankful I should be
If some kind woman, not above
Myself in rank, would give her love
To one that knew not how to woo.
Whereat she, without more ado,
Blush'd, spoke of love return'd, and closed
With what she thought I had proposed.
And, trust me, Mother, I and Jane,
We suit each other well. My gain
Is very great in this good Wife,
To whom I'm bound, for natural life,
By hearty faith, yet crossing not
My faith towards—I know not what!
As to the ether is the air,
Is her good to Honoria's fair;
One place is full of both, yet each
Lies quite beyond the other's reach
And recognition.
If you say,
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Am I contented? Yea and nay!
For what's base but content to grow
With less good than the best we know?
But think me not from life withdrawn,
By passion for a hope that's gone,
So far as to forget how much
A woman is, as merely such,
To man's affection. What is best,
In each, belongs to all the rest;
And though, in marriage, quite to kiss
And half to love the custom is,
'Tis such dishonour, ruin bare,
The soul's interior despair,
And life between two troubles toss'd,
To me, who think not with the most;
Whatever 'twould have been, before
My Cousin's time, 'tis now so sore
A treason to the abiding throne
Of that sweet love which I have known,
I cannot live so, and I bend
My mind perforce to comprehend
That He who gives command to love
Does not require a thing above
The strength He gives. The highest degree
Of the hardest grace, humility;
The step t'ward heaven the latest trod,
And that which makes us most like God,
And us much more than God behoves,
Is, to be humble in our loves.
Henceforth for ever therefore I
Renounce all partiality
Of passion. Subject to control
Of that perspective of the soul
Which God Himself pronounces good,
Confirming claims of neighbourhood,
And giving man, for earthly life,
The closest neighbour in a wife,
I'll serve all. Jane be much more dear
Than all as she is much more near!
I'll love her! Yea, and love's joy comes
Ever from self-love's martyrdoms!
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Yet, not to lie for God, 'tis true
That 'twas another joy I knew
When freighted was my heart with fire
Of fond, irrational desire
For fascinating, female charms,
And hopeless heaven in Her mild arms.
Nor wrong I any, if I profess
That care for heaven with me were less
But that I'm utterly imbued
With faith of all Earth's hope renew'd
In realms where no short-coming pains
Expectance, and dear love disdains
Time's treason, and the gathering dross,
And lasts for ever in the gloss
Of newness.
All the bright past seems,
Now, but a splendour in my dreams,
Which shows, albeit the dreamer wakes,
The standard of right life. Life aches
To be therewith conform'd; but, oh,
The world's so stolid, dark, and low!
That and the mortal element
Forbid the beautiful intent,
And, like the unborn butterfly,
It feels the wings, and wants the sky.
But perilous is the lofty mood
Which cannot yoke with lowly good.
Right life, for me, is life that wends
By lowly ways to lofty ends.
I well perceive, at length, that haste
T'ward heaven itself is only waste;
And thus I dread the impatient spur
Of aught that speaks too plain of Her.
There's little here that story tells;
But music talks of nothing else.
Therefore, when music breathes, I say,
(And urge my task,) Away, away!
Thou art the voice of one I knew,
But what thou say'st is not yet true;
Thou art the voice of her I loved,
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And I would not be vainly moved.
So that which did from death set free
All things, now dons death's mockery,
And takes its place with things that are
But little noted. Do not mar
For me your peace! My health is high.
The proud possession of mine eye
Departed, I am much like one
Who had by haughty custom grown
To think gilt rooms, and spacious grounds,
Horses, and carriages, and hounds,
Fine linen, and an eider bed
As much his need as daily bread,
And honour of men as much or more.
Till, strange misfortune smiting sore,
His pride all goes to pay his debts,
A lodging anywhere he gets,
And takes his family thereto
Weeping, and other relics few,
Allow'd, by them that seize his pelf,
As precious only to himself.
Yet the sun shines; the country green
Has many riches, poorly seen
From blazon'd coaches; grace at meat
Goes well with thrift in what they eat;
And there's amends for much bereft
In better thanks for much that's left!
Jane is not fair, yet pleases well
The eye in which no others dwell;
And features somewhat plainly set,
And homely manners leave her yet
The crowning boon and most express
Of Heaven's inventive tenderness,
A woman. But I do her wrong,
Letting the world's eyes guide my tongue!
She has a handsomeness that pays
No homage to the hourly gaze,
And dwells not on the arch'd brow's height
And lids which softly lodge the light,
Nor in the pure field of the cheek
274
Flow'rs, though the soul be still to seek;
But shows as fits that solemn place
Whereof the window is the face:
Blankness and leaden outlines mark
What time the Church within is dark;
Yet view it on a Festal night,
Or some occasion else for light,
And each ungainly line is seen
A special character to mean
Of Saint or Prophet, and the whole
Blank window is a living scroll.
For hours, the clock upon the shelf,
Has all the talking to itself;
But to and fro her needle runs
Twice, while the clock is ticking once;
And, when a wife is well in reach,
Not silence separates, but speech;
And I, contented, read, or smoke,
And idly think, or idly stroke
The winking cat, or watch the fire,
In social peace that does not tire;
Until, at easeful end of day,
She moves, and puts her work away,
And, saying ‘How cold 'tis,’ or ‘How warm,’
Or something else as little harm,
Comes, used to finding, kindly press'd,
A woman's welcome to my breast,
With all the great advantage clear
Of none else having been so near.
But sometimes, (how shall I deny!)
There falls, with her thus fondly by,
Dejection, and a chilling shade.
Remember'd pleasures, as they fade,
Salute me, and colossal grow,
Like foot-prints in the thawing snow.
I feel oppress'd beyond my force
With foolish envy and remorse.
I love this woman, but I might
Have loved some else with more delight;
And strange it seems of God that He
275
Should make a vain capacity.
Such times of ignorant relapse,
'Tis well she does not talk, perhaps.
The dream, the discontent, the doubt,
To some injustice flaming out,
Were't else, might leave us both to moan
A kind tradition overthrown,
And dawning promise once more dead
In the pernicious lowlihead
Of not aspiring to be fair.
And what am I, that I should dare
Dispute with God, who moulds one clay
To honour and shame, and wills to pay
With equal wages them that delve
About His vines one hour or twelve!
XIII
From Lady Clitheroe To Mary Churchill
I've dreadful news, my Sister dear!
Frederick has married, as we hear,
Oh, such a girl! This fact we get
From Mr. Barton, whom we met
At Abury once. He used to know,
At Race and Hunt, Lord Clitheroe,
And writes that he ‘has seen Fred Graham,
‘Commander of the 'Wolf,'—the same
‘The Mess call'd Joseph,—with his Wife
‘Under his arm.’ He ‘lays his life,
‘The fellow married her for love,
‘For there was nothing else to move.
‘H. is her Shibboleth. 'Tis said
‘Her Mother was a Kitchen-Maid.’
Poor Fred! What will Honoria say?
She thought so highly of him. Pray
Tell it her gently. I've no right,
I know you hold, to trust my sight;
But Frederick's state could not be hid!
And Felix, coming when he did,
276
Was lucky; for Honoria, too,
Was half in love. How warm she grew
On ‘worldliness,’ when once I said
I fancied that, in ladies, Fred
Had tastes much better than his means!
His hand was worthy of a Queen's,
Said she, and actually shed tears
The night he left us for two years,
And sobb'd, when ask'd the cause to tell,
That ‘Frederick look'd so miserable.’
He did look very dull, no doubt,
But such things girls don't cry about.
What weathercocks men always prove!
You're quite right not to fall in love.
I never did, and, truth to tell,
I don't think it respectable.
The man can't understand it, too.
He likes to be in love with you,
But scarce knows how, if you love him,
Poor fellow. When 'tis woman's whim
To serve her husband night and day,
The kind soul lets her have her way!
So, if you wed, as soon you should,
Be selfish for your husband's good.
Happy the men who relegate
Their pleasures, vanities, and state
To us. Their nature seems to be
To enjoy themselves by deputy,
For, seeking their own benefit,
Dear, what a mess they make of it!
A man will work his bones away,
If but his wife will only play;
He does not mind how much he's teased,
So that his plague looks always pleased;
And never thanks her, while he lives,
For anything, but what he gives!
'Tis hard to manage men, we hear!
Believe me, nothing's easier, Dear.
The most important step by far
Is finding what their colours are.
The next is, not to let them know
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The reason why they love us so.
The indolent droop of a blue shawl,
Or gray silk's fluctuating fall,
Covers the multitude of sins
In me. Your husband, Love, might wince
At azure, and be wild at slate,
And yet do well with chocolate.
Of course you'd let him fancy he
Adored you for your piety.
XIV
From Jane To Her Mother
Dear Mother, as you write, I see
How glad and thankful I should be
For such a husband. Yet to tell
The truth, I am so miserable!
How could he—I remember, though,
He never said he loved me! No,
He is so right that all seems wrong
I've done and thought my whole life long!
I'm grown so dull and dead with fear
That Yes and No, when he is near,
Is all I have to say. He's quite
Unlike what most would call polite,
And yet, when first I saw him come
To tea in Aunt's fine drawing-room,
He made me feel so common! Oh,
How dreadful if he thinks me so!
It's no use trying to behave
To him. His eye, so kind and grave,
Sees through and through me! Could not you,
Without his knowing that I knew,
Ask him to scold me now and then?
Mother, it's such a weary strain
The way he has of treating me
As if 'twas something fine to be
A woman; and appearing not
To notice any faults I've got!
I know he knows I'm plain, and small,
Stupid, and ignorant, and all
278
Awkward and mean; and, by degrees,
I see a beauty which he sees,
When often he looks strange awhile,
Then recollects me with a smile.
I wish he had that fancied Wife,
With me for Maid, now! all my life
To dress her out for him, and make
Her looks the lovelier for his sake;
To have her rate me till I cried;
Then see her seated by his side,
And driven off proudly to the Ball;
Then to stay up for her, whilst all
The servants were asleep; and hear
At dawn the carriage rolling near,
And let them in; and hear her laugh,
And boast, he said that none was half
So beautiful, and that the Queen,
Who danced with him the first, had seen
And noticed her, and ask'd who was
That lady in the golden gauze?
And then to go to bed, and lie
In a sort of heavenly jealousy,
Until 'twas broad day, and I guess'd
She slept, nor knew how she was bless'd.
Pray burn this letter. I would not
Complain, but for the fear I've got
Of going wild, as we hear tell
Of people shut up in a cell,
With no one there to talk to. He
Must never know he is loved by me
The most; he'd think himself to blame;
And I should almost die for shame.
If being good would serve instead
Of being graceful, ah, then, Fred—
But I, myself, I never could
See what's in women's being good;
For all their goodness is to do
Just what their nature tells them to.
Now, when a man would do what's right,
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He has to try with all his might.
Though true and kind in deed and word,
Fred's not a vessel of the Lord.
But I have hopes of him; for, oh,
How can we ever surely know
But that the very darkest place
May be the scene of saving grace!
XV
From Frederick
‘How did I feel?’ The little wight
Fill'd me, unfatherly, with fright!
So grim it gazed, and, out of the sky,
There came, minute, remote, the cry,
Piercing, of original pain.
I put the wonder back to Jane,
And her delight seem'd dash'd, that I,
Of strangers still by nature shy,
Was not familiar quite so soon
With her small friend of many a moon.
But, when the new-made Mother smiled,
She seem'd herself a little child,
Dwelling at large beyond the law
By which, till then, I judged and saw;
And that fond glow which she felt stir
For it, suffused my heart for her;
To whom, from the weak babe, and thence
To me, an influent innocence,
Happy, reparative of life,
Came, and she was indeed my wife,
As there, lovely with love she lay,
Brightly contented all the day
To hug her sleepy little boy,
In the reciprocated joy
Of touch, the childish sense of love,
Ever inquisitive to prove
Its strange possession, and to know
If the eye's report be really so.
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XVI
From Jane To Mrs. Graham
Dear Mother,—such if you'll allow,
In love, not law, I'll call you now,—
I hope you're well. I write to say
Frederick has got, besides his pay,
A good appointment in the Docks;
Also to thank you for the frocks
And shoes for Baby. I, (D.V.,)
Shall soon be strong. Fred goes to sea
No more. I am so glad; because,
Though kinder husband never was,
He seems still kinder to become
The more he stays with me at home.
When we are parted, I see plain
He's dull till he gets used again
To marriage. Do not tell him, though;
I would not have him know I know,
For all the world.
I try to mind
All your advice; but sometimes find
I do not well see how. I thought
To take it about dress; so bought
A gay new bonnet, gown, and shawl;
But Frederick was not pleased at all;
For, though he smiled, and said, ‘How smart!’
I feel, you know, what's in his heart.
But I shall learn! I fancied long
That care in dress was very wrong,
Till Frederick, in his startling way,
When I began to blame, one day,
The Admiral's Wife, because we hear
She spends two hours, or something near,
In dressing, took her part, and said
How all things deck themselves that wed;
How birds and plants grow fine to please
Each other in their marriages;
And how (which certainly is true—
It never struck me—did it you?)
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Dress was, at first, Heaven's ordinance,
And has much Scripture countenance.
For Eliezer, we are told,
Adorn'd with jewels and with gold
Rebecca. In the Psalms, again,
How the King's Daughter dress'd! And, then,
The Good Wife in the Proverbs, she
Made herself clothes of tapestry,
Purple and silk: and there's much more
I had not thought about before!
But Fred's so clever! Do you know,
Since Baby came, he loves me so!
I'm really useful, now, to Fred;
And none could do so well instead.
It's nice to fancy, if I died,
He'd miss me from the Darling's side!
Also, there's something now, you see,
On which we talk, and quite agree;
On which, without pride too, I can
Hope I'm as wise as any man.
I should be happy now, if quite
Sure that in one thing Fred was right.
But, though I trust his prayers are said,
Because he goes so late to bed,
I doubt his Calling. Glad to find
A text adapted to his mind,—
That where St. Paul, in Man and Wife,
Allows a little worldly life,—
He smiled, and said that he knew all
Such things as that without St. Paul!
And once he said, when I with pain
Had got him just to read Romaine,
‘Men's creeds should not their hopes condemn.
‘Who wait for heaven to come to them
‘Are little like to go to heaven,
‘If logic's not the devil's leaven!’
I cried at such a wicked joke,
And he, surprised, went out to smoke.
But to judge him is not for me,
Who myself sin so dreadfully
As half to doubt if I should care
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To go to heaven, and he not there.
He must be right; and I dare say
I shall soon understand his way.
To other things, once strange, I've grown
Accustom'd, nay, to like. I own
'Twas long before I got well used
To sit, while Frederick read or mused
For hours, and scarcely spoke. When he
For all that, held the door to me,
Pick'd up my handkerchief, and rose
To set my chair, with other shows
Of honour, such as men, 'tis true,
To sweethearts and fine ladies do,
It almost seem'd an unkind jest;
But now I like these ways the best.
They somehow make me gentle and good;
And I don't mind his quiet mood.
If Frederick does seem dull awhile,
There's Baby. You should see him smile!
I'm pretty and nice to him, sweet Pet,
And he will learn no better yet:
Indeed, now little Johnny makes
A busier time of it, and takes
Our thoughts off one another more,
I'm happy as need be, I'm sure!
XVII
From Felix To Honoria
Let me, Beloved, while gratitude
Is garrulous with coming good,
Or ere the tongue of happiness
Be silenced by your soft caress,
Relate how, musing here of you,
The clouds, the intermediate blue,
The air that rings with larks, the grave
And distant rumour of the wave,
The solitary sailing skiff,
The gusty corn-field on the cliff,
The corn-flower by the crumbling ledge,
Or, far-down at the shingle's edge,
283
The sighing sea's recurrent crest
Breaking, resign'd to its unrest,
All whisper, to my home-sick thought,
Of charms in you till now uncaught,
Or only caught as dreams, to die
Ere they were own'd by memory.
High and ingenious Decree
Of joy-devising Deity!
You whose ambition only is
The assurance that you make my bliss,
(Hence my first debt of love to show,
That you, past showing, indeed do so!)
Trust me, the world, the firmament,
With diverse-natured worlds besprent,
Were rear'd in no mere undivine
Boast of omnipotent design,
The lion differing from the snake
But for the trick of difference sake,
And comets darting to and fro
Because in circles planets go;
But rather that sole love might be
Refresh'd throughout eternity
In one sweet faith, for ever strange,
Mirror'd by circumstantial change.
For, more and more, do I perceive
That everything is relative
To you, and that there's not a star,
Nor nothing in't, so strange or far,
But, if 'twere scanned, 'twould chiefly mean
Somewhat, till then, in you unseen,
Something to make the bondage strait
Of you and me more intimate,
Some unguess'd opportunity
Of nuptials in a new degree.
But, oh, with what a novel force
Your best-conn'd beauties, by remorse
Of absence, touch; and, in my heart,
How bleeds afresh the youthful smart
Of passion fond, despairing still
To utter infinite good-will
284
By worthy service! Yet I know
That love is all that love can owe,
And this to offer is no less
Of worth, in kind speech or caress,
Than if my life-blood I should give.
For good is God's prerogative,
And Love's deed is but to prepare
The flatter'd, dear Belov'd to dare
Acceptance of His gifts. When first
On me your happy beauty burst,
Honoria, verily it seem'd
That naught beyond you could be dream'd
Of beauty and of heaven's delight.
Zeal of an unknown infinite
Yet bade me ever wish you more
Beatified than e'er before.
Angelical were your replies
To my prophetic flatteries;
And sweet was the compulsion strong
That drew me in the course along
Of heaven's increasing bright allure,
With provocations fresh of your
Victorious capacity.
Whither may love, so fledged, not fly?
Did not mere Earth hold fast the string
Of this celestial soaring thing,
So measure and make sensitive,
And still, to the nerves, nice notice give
Of each minutest increment
Of such interminable ascent,
The heart would lose all count, and beat
Unconscious of a height so sweet,
And the spirit-pursuing senses strain
Their steps on the starry track in vain!
But, reading now the note just come,
With news of you, the babes, and home,
I think, and say, ‘To-morrow eve
‘With kisses me will she receive;’
And, thinking, for extreme delight
Of love's extremes, I laugh outright.
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XVIII
From Frederick
Eight wedding-days gone by, and none
Yet kept, to keep them all in one,
Jane and myself, with John and Grace
On donkeys, visited the place
I first drew breath in, Knatchley Wood.
Bearing the basket, stuff'd with food,
Milk, loaves, hard eggs, and marmalade,
I halted where the wandering glade
Divides the thicket. There I knew,
It seem'd, the very drops of dew
Below the unalter'd eglantine.
Nothing had changed since I was nine!
In the green desert, down to eat
We sat, our rustic grace at meat
Good appetite, through that long climb
Hungry two hours before the time.
And there Jane took her stitching out,
And John for birds'-nests pry'd about,
And Grace and Baby, in between
The warm blades of the breathing green,
Dodged grasshoppers; and I no less,
In conscientious idleness,
Enjoy'd myself, under the noon
Stretch'd, and the sounds and sights of June
Receiving, with a drowsy charm,
Through muffled ear and folded arm.
And then, as if I sweetly dream'd,
I half-remember'd how it seem'd
When I, too, was a little child
About the wild wood roving wild.
Pure breezes from the far-off height
Melted the blindness from my sight,
Until, with rapture, grief, and awe,
I saw again as then I saw.
As then I saw, I saw again
The harvest-waggon in the lane,
286
With high-hung tokens of its pride
Left in the elms on either side;
The daisies coming out at dawn
In constellations on the lawn;
The glory of the daffodil;
The three black windmills on the hill,
Whose magic arms, flung wildly by,
Sent magic shadows o'er the rye.
Within the leafy coppice, lo,
More wealth than miser's dreams could show,
The blackbird's warm and woolly brood,
Five golden beaks agape for food;
The Gipsies, all the summer seen
Native as poppies to the Green;
The winter, with its frosts and thaws
And opulence of hips and haws;
The lovely marvel of the snow;
The Tamar, with its altering show
Of gay ships sailing up and down,
Among the fields and by the Town;
And, dearer far than anything,
Came back the songs you used to sing.
(Ah, might you sing such songs again,
And I, your Child, but hear as then,
With conscious profit of the gulf
Flown over from my present self!)
And, as to men's retreating eyes,
Beyond high mountains higher rise,
Still farther back there shone to me
The dazzling dusk of infancy.
Thither I look'd, as, sick of night,
The Alpine shepherd looks to the height,
And does not see the day, 'tis true,
But sees the rosy tops that do.
Meantime Jane stitch'd, and fann'd the flies
From my repose, with hush'd replies
To Grace, and smiles when Baby fell.
Her countenance love visible
Appear'd, love audible her voice.
Why in the past alone rejoice,
Whilst here was wealth before me cast
287
Which, I could feel, if 'twere but past
Were then most precious? Question vain,
When ask'd again and yet again,
Year after year; yet now, for no
Cause, but that heaven's bright winds will blow
Not at our pray'r but as they list,
It brought that distant, golden mist
To grace the hour, firing the deep
Of spirit and the drowsy keep
Of joy, till, spreading uncontain'd,
The holy power of seeing gain'd
The outward eye, this owning even
That where there's love and truth there's heaven.
Debtor to few, forgotten hours
Am I, that truths for me are powers.
Ah, happy hours, 'tis something yet
Not to forget that I forget!
And now a cloud, bright, huge and calm,
Rose, doubtful if for bale or balm;
O'ertoppling towers and bulwarks bright
Appear'd, at beck of viewless might,
Along a rifted mountain range.
Untraceable and swift in change,
Those glittering peaks, disrupted, spread
To solemn bulks, seen overhead;
The sunshine quench'd, from one dark form
Fumed the appalling light of storm.
Straight to the zenith, black with bale,
The Gipsies' smoke rose deadly pale;
And one wide night of hopeless hue
Hid from the heart the recent blue.
And soon, with thunder crackling loud,
A flash reveal'd the formless cloud:
Lone sailing rack, far wavering rim,
And billowy tracks of stormland dim.
We stood, safe group'd beneath a shed.
Grace hid behind Jane's gown for dread,
Who told her, fondling with her hair,
‘The naughty noise! but God took care
288
‘Of all good girls.’ John seem'd to me
Too much for Jane's theology,
Who bade him watch the tempest. Now
A blast made all the woodland bow;
Against the whirl of leaves and dust
Kine dropp'd their heads; the tortured gust
Jagg'd and convuls'd the ascending smoke
To mockery of the lightning's stroke.
The blood prick'd, and a blinding flash
And close coinstantaneous crash
Humbled the soul, and the rain all round
Resilient dimm'd the whistling ground,
Nor flagg'd in force from first to last,
Till, sudden as it came, 'twas past,
Leaving a trouble in the copse
Of brawling birds and tinkling drops.
Change beyond hope! Far thunder faint
Mutter'd its vast and vain complaint,
And gaps and fractures, fringed with light,
Show'd the sweet skies, with squadrons bright
Of cloudlets, glittering calm and fair
Through gulfs of calm and glittering air.
With this adventure, we return'd.
The roads the feet no longer burn'd.
A wholesome smell of rainy earth
Refresh'd our spirits, tired of mirth.
The donkey-boy drew friendly near
My Wife, and, touch'd by the kind cheer
Her countenance show'd, or sooth'd perchance
By the soft evening's sad advance,
As we were, stroked the flanks and head
Of the ass, and, somewhat thick-voiced, said,
‘To 'ave to wop the donkeys so
‘'Ardens the 'art, but they won't go
‘Without!’ My Wife, by this impress'd,
As men judge poets by their best,
When now we reach'd the welcome door,
Gave him his hire, and sixpence more.
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XIX
From Jane
Dear Mrs. Graham, the fever's past,
And Fred is well. I, in my last,
Forgot to say that, while 'twas on,
A lady, call'd Honoria Vaughan,
One of his Salisbury Cousins, came.
Had I, she ask'd me, heard her name?
'Twas that Honoria, no doubt,
Whom he would sometimes talk about
And speak to, when his nights were bad,
And so I told her that I had.
She look'd so beautiful and kind!
And just the sort of wife my mind
Pictured for Fred, with many tears,
In those sad early married years.
Visiting, yesterday, she said,
The Admiral's Wife, she learn'd that Fred
Was very ill; she begg'd to be,
If possible, of use to me.
What could she do? Last year, his Aunt
Died, leaving her, who had no want,
Her fortune. Half was his, she thought;
But he, she knew, would not be brought
To take his rights at second hand.
Yet something might, she hoped, be plann'd.
What did I think of putting John
To school and college? Mr. Vaughan,
When John was old enough, could give
Preferment to her relative;
And she should be so pleased.—I said
I felt quite sure that dearest Fred
Would be most thankful. Would we come,
And make ourselves, she ask'd, at home,
Next month, at High-Hurst? Change of air
Both he and I should need, and there
At leisure we could talk, and then
Fix plans, as John was nearly ten.
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It seemed so rude to think and doubt,
So I said, Yes. In going out,
She said, ‘How strange of Frederick, Dear,’
(I wish he had been there to hear,)
‘To send no cards, or tell me what
‘A nice new Cousin I had got!’
Was not that kind?
When Fred grew strong,
I had, I found, done very wrong.
Anger was in his voice and eye.
With people born and bred so high
As Fred and Mrs. Vaughan and you,
It's hard to guess what's right to do;
And he won't teach me!
Dear Fred wrote,
Directly, such a lovely note,
Which, though it undid all I had done,
Was, both to me and Mrs. Vaughan,
So kind! His words, I can't say why,
Like soldiers' music, made me cry.
~ Coventry Patmore,
459:The Victories Of Love. Book Ii
From Jane To Her Mother
Thank Heaven, the burthens on the heart
Are not half known till they depart!
Although I long'd, for many a year,
To love with love that casts out fear,
My Frederick's kindness frighten'd me,
And heaven seem'd less far off than he;
And in my fancy I would trace
A lady with an angel's face,
That made devotion simply debt,
Till sick with envy and regret,
And wicked grief that God should e'er
Make women, and not make them fair.
That he might love me more because
Another in his memory was,
And that my indigence might be
To him what Baby's was to me,
The chief of charms, who could have thought?
But God's wise way is to give nought
Till we with asking it are tired;
And when, indeed, the change desired
Comes, lest we give ourselves the praise,
It comes by Providence, not Grace;
And mostly our thanks for granted pray'rs
Are groans at unexpected cares.
First Baby went to heaven, you know,
And, five weeks after, Grace went, too.
Then he became more talkative,
And, stooping to my heart, would give
Signs of his love, which pleased me more
Than all the proofs he gave before;
And, in that time of our great grief,
We talk'd religion for relief;
For, though we very seldom name
Religion, we now think the same!
Oh, what a bar is thus removed
To loving and to being loved!
292
For no agreement really is
In anything when none's in this.
Why, Mother, once, if Frederick press'd
His wife against his hearty breast,
The interior difference seem'd to tear
My own, until I could not bear
The trouble. 'Twas a dreadful strife,
And show'd, indeed, that faith is life.
He never felt this. If he did,
I'm sure it could not have been hid;
For wives, I need not say to you,
Can feel just what their husbands do,
Without a word or look; but then
It is not so, you know, with men.
From that time many a Scripture text
Help'd me, which had, before, perplex'd.
Oh, what a wond'rous word seem'd this:
He is my head, as Christ is his!
None ever could have dared to see
In marriage such a dignity
For man, and for his wife, still less,
Such happy, happy lowliness,
Had God Himself not made it plain!
This revelation lays the rein—
If I may speak so—on the neck
Of a wife's love, takes thence the check
Of conscience, and forbids to doubt
Its measure is to be without
All measure, and a fond excess
Is here her rule of godliness.
I took him not for love but fright;
He did but ask a dreadful right.
In this was love, that he loved me
The first, who was mere poverty.
All that I know of love he taught;
And love is all I know of aught.
My merit is so small by his,
That my demerit is my bliss.
My life is hid with him in Christ,
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Never thencefrom to be enticed;
And in his strength have I such rest
As when the baby on my breast
Finds what it knows not how to seek,
And, very happy, very weak,
Lies, only knowing all is well,
Pillow'd on kindness palpable.
II
From Lady Clitheroe To Mary Churchill
Dear Saint, I'm still at High-Hurst Park.
The house is fill'd with folks of mark.
Honoria suits a good estate
Much better than I hoped. How fate
Loads her with happiness and pride!
And such a loving lord, beside!
But between us, Sweet, everything
Has limits, and to build a wing
To this old house, when Courtholm stands
Empty upon his Berkshire lands,
And all that Honor might be near
Papa, was buying love too dear.
With twenty others, there are two
Guests here, whose names will startle you:
Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Graham!
I thought he stay'd away for shame.
He and his wife were ask'd, you know,
And would not come, four years ago.
You recollect Miss Smythe found out
Who she had been, and all about
Her people at the Powder-mill;
And how the fine Aunt tried to instil
Haut ton, and how, at last poor Jane
Had got so shy and gauche that, when
The Dockyard gentry came to sup,
She always had to be lock'd up;
And some one wrote to us and said
Her mother was a kitchen-maid.
Dear Mary, you'll be charm'd to know
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It must be all a fib. But, oh,
She is the oddest little Pet
On which my eyes were ever set!
She's so outrée and natural
That, when she first arrived, we all
Wonder'd, as when a robin comes
In through the window to eat crumbs
At breakfast with us. She has sense,
Humility, and confidence;
And, save in dressing just a thought
Gayer in colours than she ought,
(To-day she looks a cross between
Gipsy and Fairy, red and green,)
She always happens to do well.
And yet one never quite can tell
What she might do or utter next.
Lord Clitheroe is much perplex'd.
Her husband, every now and then,
Looks nervous; all the other men
Are charm'd. Yet she has neither grace,
Nor one good feature in her face.
Her eyes, indeed, flame in her head,
Like very altar-fires to Fred,
Whose steps she follows everywhere
Like a tame duck, to the despair
Of Colonel Holmes, who does his part
To break her funny little heart.
Honor's enchanted. 'Tis her view
That people, if they're good and true,
And treated well, and let alone,
Will kindly take to what's their own,
And always be original,
Like children. Honor's just like all
The rest of us! But, thinking so,
'Tis well she miss'd Lord Clitheroe,
Who hates originality,
Though he puts up with it in me.
Poor Mrs. Graham has never been
To the Opera! You should have seen
The innocent way she told the Earl
She thought Plays sinful when a girl,
295
And now she never had a chance!
Frederick's complacent smile and glance
Towards her, show'd me, past a doubt,
Honoria had been quite cut out.
'Tis very strange; for Mrs. Graham,
Though Frederick's fancy none can blame,
Seems the last woman you'd have thought
Her lover would have ever sought.
She never reads, I find, nor goes
Anywhere; so that I suppose
She got at all she ever knew
By growing up, as kittens do.
Talking of kittens, by-the-bye,
You have more influence than I
With dear Honoria. Get her, Dear,
To be a little more severe
With those sweet Children. They've the run
Of all the place. When school was done,
Maud burst in, while the Earl was there,
With ‘Oh, Mama, do be a bear!’
Do you know, Dear, this odd wife of Fred
Adores his old Love in his stead!
She is so nice, yet, I should say,
Not quite the thing for every day.
Wonders are wearying! Felix goes
Next Sunday with her to the Close,
And you will judge.
Honoria asks
All Wiltshire Belles here; Felix basks
Like Puss in fire-shine, when the room
Is thus aflame with female bloom.
But then she smiles when most would pout;
And so his lawless loves go out
With the last brocade. 'Tis not the same,
I fear, with Mrs. Frederick Graham.
Honoria should not have her here,—
And this you might just hint, my Dear,—
For Felix says he never saw
Such proof of what he holds for law,
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That ‘beauty is love which can be seen.’
Whatever he by this may mean,
Were it not dreadful if he fell
In love with her on principle!
III
From Jane To Mrs. Graham
Mother, I told you how, at first,
I fear'd this visit to the Hurst.
Fred must, I felt, be so distress'd
By aught in me unlike the rest
Who come here. But I find the place
Delightful; there's such ease, and grace,
And kindness, and all seem to be
On such a high equality.
They have not got to think, you know,
How far to make the money go.
But Frederick says it's less the expense
Of money, than of sound good-sense,
Quickness to care what others feel,
And thoughts with nothing to conceal;
Which I'll teach Johnny. Mrs. Vaughan
Was waiting for us on the Lawn,
And kiss'd and call'd me ‘Cousin.’ Fred
Neglected his old friends, she said.
He laugh'd, and colour'd up at this.
She was, you know, a flame of his;
But I'm not jealous! Luncheon done,
I left him, who had just begun
To talk about the Russian War
With an old Lady, Lady Carr,—
A Countess, but I'm more afraid,
A great deal, of the Lady's Maid,—
And went with Mrs. Vaughan to see
The pictures, which appear'd to be
Of sorts of horses, clowns, and cows
Call'd Wouvermans and Cuyps and Dows.
And then she took me up, to show
Her bedroom, where, long years ago,
A Queen slept. 'Tis all tapestries
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Of Cupids, Gods, and Goddesses,
And black, carved oak. A curtain'd door
Leads thence into her soft Boudoir,
Where even her husband may but come
By favour. He, too, has his room,
Kept sacred to his solitude.
Did I not think the plan was good?
She ask'd me; but I said how small
Our house was, and that, after all,
Though Frederick would not say his prayers
At night till I was safe upstairs,
I thought it wrong to be so shy
Of being good when I was by.
‘Oh, you should humour him!’ she said,
With her sweet voice and smile; and led
The way to where the children ate
Their dinner, and Miss Williams sate.
She's only Nursery-Governess,
Yet they consider her no less
Than Lord or Lady Carr, or me.
Just think how happy she must be!
The Ball-Room, with its painted sky
Where heavy angels seem to fly,
Is a dull place; its size and gloom
Make them prefer, for drawing-room,
The Library, all done up new
And comfortable, with a view
Of Salisbury Spire between the boughs.
When she had shown me through the house,
(I wish I could have let her know
That she herself was half the show;
She is so handsome, and so kind!)
She fetch'd the children, who had dined;
And, taking one in either hand,
Show'd me how all the grounds were plann'd.
The lovely garden gently slopes
To where a curious bridge of ropes
Crosses the Avon to the Park.
We rested by the stream, to mark
The brown backs of the hovering trout.
Frank tickled one, and took it out
298
From under a stone. We saw his owls,
And awkward Cochin-China fowls,
And shaggy pony in the croft;
And then he dragg'd us to a loft,
Where pigeons, as he push'd the door,
Fann'd clear a breadth of dusty floor,
And set us coughing. I confess
I trembled for my nice silk dress.
I cannot think how Mrs. Vaughan
Ventured with that which she had on,—
A mere white wrapper, with a few
Plain trimmings of a quiet blue,
But, oh, so pretty! Then the bell
For dinner rang. I look'd quite well
(‘Quite charming,’ were the words Fred said,)
With the new gown that I've had made.
I am so proud of Frederick.
He's so high-bred and lordly-like
With Mrs. Vaughan! He's not quite so
At home with me; but that, you know,
I can't expect, or wish. 'Twould hurt,
And seem to mock at my desert.
Not but that I'm a duteous wife
To Fred; but, in another life,
Where all are fair that have been true
I hope I shall be graceful too,
Like Mrs. Vaughan. And, now, good-bye!
That happy thought has made me cry,
And feel half sorry that my cough,
In this fine air, is leaving off.
IV
From Frederick To Mrs. Graham
Honoria, trebly fair and mild
With added loves of lord and child,
Is else unalter'd. Years, which wrong
The rest, touch not her beauty, young
With youth which rather seems her clime,
Than aught that's relative to time.
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How beyond hope was heard the prayer
I offer'd in my love's despair!
Could any, whilst there's any woe,
Be wholly blest, then she were so.
She is, and is aware of it,
Her husband's endless benefit;
But, though their daily ways reveal
The depth of private joy they feel,
'Tis not their bearing each to each
That does abroad their secret preach,
But such a lovely good-intent
To all within their government
And friendship as, 'tis well discern'd,
Each of the other must have learn'd;
For no mere dues of neighbourhood
Ever begot so blest a mood.
And fair, indeed, should be the few
God dowers with nothing else to do,
And liberal of their light, and free
To show themselves, that all may see!
For alms let poor men poorly give
The meat whereby men's bodies live;
But they of wealth are stewards wise
Whose graces are their charities.
The sunny charm about this home
Makes all to shine who thither come.
My own dear Jane has caught its grace,
And, honour'd, honours too the place.
Across the lawn I lately walk'd
Alone, and watch'd where mov'd and talk'd,
Gentle and goddess-like of air,
Honoria and some Stranger fair.
I chose a path unblest by these;
When one of the two Goddesses,
With my Wife's voice, but softer, said,
‘Will you not walk with us, dear Fred?’
She moves, indeed, the modest peer
Of all the proudest ladies here.
Unawed she talks with men who stand
300
Among the leaders of the land,
And women beautiful and wise,
With England's greatness in their eyes.
To high, traditional good-sense,
And knowledge ripe without pretence,
And human truth exactly hit
By quiet and conclusive wit,
Listens my little, homely Dove,
Mistakes the points and laughs for love;
And, after, stands and combs her hair,
And calls me much the wittiest there!
With reckless loyalty, dear Wife,
She lays herself about my life!
The joy I might have had of yore
I have not; for 'tis now no more,
With me, the lyric time of youth,
And sweet sensation of the truth.
Yet, past my hope or purpose bless'd,
In my chance choice let be confess'd
The tenderer Providence that rules
The fates of children and of fools!
I kiss'd the kind, warm neck that slept,
And from her side this morning stepp'd,
To bathe my brain from drowsy night
In the sharp air and golden light.
The dew, like frost, was on the pane.
The year begins, though fair, to wane.
There is a fragrance in its breath
Which is not of the flowers, but death;
And green above the ground appear
The lilies of another year.
I wander'd forth, and took my path
Among the bloomless aftermath;
And heard the steadfast robin sing
As if his own warm heart were Spring,
And watch'd him feed where, on the yew,
Hung honey'd drops of crimson dew;
And then return'd, by walls of peach,
And pear-trees bending to my reach,
And rose-beds with the roses gone,
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To bright-laid breakfast. Mrs. Vaughan
Was there, none with her. I confess
I love her than of yore no less!
But she alone was loved of old;
Now love is twain, nay, manifold;
For, somehow, he whose daily life
Adjusts itself to one true wife,
Grows to a nuptial, near degree
With all that's fair and womanly.
Therefore, as more than friends, we met,
Without constraint, without regret;
The wedded yoke that each had donn'd
Seeming a sanction, not a bond.
From Mrs. Graham
Your love lacks joy, your letter says.
Yes; love requires the focal space
Of recollection or of hope,
Ere it can measure its own scope.
Too soon, too soon comes Death to show
We love more deeply than we know!
The rain, that fell upon the height
Too gently to be call'd delight,
Within the dark vale reappears
As a wild cataract of tears;
And love in life should strive to see
Sometimes what love in death would be!
Easier to love, we so should find,
It is than to be just and kind.
She's gone: shut close the coffin-lid:
What distance for another did
That death has done for her! The good,
Once gazed upon with heedless mood,
Now fills with tears the famish'd eye,
And turns all else to vanity.
'Tis sad to see, with death between,
The good we have pass'd and have not seen!
How strange appear the words of all!
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The looks of those that live appal.
They are the ghosts, and check the breath:
There's no reality but death,
And hunger for some signal given
That we shall have our own in heaven.
But this the God of love lets be
A horrible uncertainty.
How great her smallest virtue seems,
How small her greatest fault! Ill dreams
Were those that foil'd with loftier grace
The homely kindness of her face.
'Twas here she sat and work'd, and there
She comb'd and kiss'd the children's hair;
Or, with one baby at her breast,
Another taught, or hush'd to rest.
Praise does the heart no more refuse
To the chief loveliness of use.
Her humblest good is hence most high
In the heavens of fond memory;
And Love says Amen to the word,
A prudent wife is from the Lord.
Her worst gown's kept, ('tis now the best,
As that in which she oftenest dress'd,)
For memory's sake more precious grown
Than she herself was for her own.
Poor child! foolish it seem'd to fly
To sobs instead of dignity,
When she was hurt. Now, more than all,
Heart-rending and angelical
That ignorance of what to do,
Bewilder'd still by wrong from you:
For what man ever yet had grace
Ne'er to abuse his power and place?
No magic of her voice or smile
Suddenly raised a fairy isle,
But fondness for her underwent
An unregarded increment,
Like that which lifts, through centuries,
The coral-reef within the seas,
Till, lo! the land where was the wave,
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Alas! 'tis everywhere her grave.
VI
From Jane To Mrs. Graham
Dear Mother, I can surely tell,
Now, that I never shall get well.
Besides the warning in my mind,
All suddenly are grown so kind.
Fred stopp'd the Doctor, yesterday,
Downstairs, and, when he went away,
Came smiling back, and sat with me,
Pale, and conversing cheerfully
About the Spring, and how my cough,
In finer weather, would leave off.
I saw it all, and told him plain
I felt no hope of Spring again.
Then he, after a word of jest,
Burst into tears upon my breast,
And own'd, when he could speak, he knew
There was a little danger, too.
This made me very weak and ill,
And while, last night, I lay quite still,
And, as he fancied, in the deep,
Exhausted rest of my short sleep,
I heard, or dream'd I heard him pray:
‘Oh, Father, take her not away!
‘Let not life's dear assurance lapse
‘Into death's agonised 'Perhaps,'
‘A hope without Thy promise, where
‘Less than assurance is despair!
‘Give me some sign, if go she must,
‘That death's not worse than dust to dust,
‘Not heaven, on whose oblivious shore
‘Joy I may have, but her no more!
‘The bitterest cross, it seems to me,
‘Of all is infidelity;
‘And so, if I may choose, I'll miss
‘The kind of heaven which comes to this.
‘If doom'd, indeed, this fever ceased,
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‘To die out wholly, like a beast,
‘Forgetting all life's ill success
‘In dark and peaceful nothingness,
‘I could but say, Thy will be done;
‘For, dying thus, I were but one
‘Of seed innumerable which ne'er
‘In all the worlds shall bloom or bear.
‘I've put life past to so poor use
‘Well may'st Thou life to come refuse;
‘And justice, which the spirit contents,
‘Shall still in me all vain laments;
‘Nay, pleased, I will, while yet I live,
‘Think Thou my forfeit joy may'st give
‘To some fresh life, else unelect,
‘And heaven not feel my poor defect!
‘Only let not Thy method be
‘To make that life, and call it me;
‘Still less to sever mine in twain,
‘And tell each half to live again,
‘And count itself the whole! To die,
‘Is it love's disintegrity?
‘Answer me, 'No,' and I, with grace,
‘Will life's brief desolation face,
‘My ways, as native to the clime,
‘Adjusting to the wintry time,
‘Ev'n with a patient cheer thereof—’
He started up, hearing me cough.
Oh, Mother, now my last doubt's gone!
He likes me more than Mrs. Vaughan;
And death, which takes me from his side,
Shows me, in very deed, his bride!
VII
From Jane To Frederick
I leave this, Dear, for you to read,
For strength and hope, when I am dead.
When Grace died, I was so perplex'd,
I could not find one helpful text;
And when, a little while before,
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I saw her sobbing on the floor,
Because I told her that in heaven
She would be as the angels even,
And would not want her doll, 'tis true
A horrible fear within me grew,
That, since the preciousness of love
Went thus for nothing, mine might prove
To be no more, and heaven's bliss
Some dreadful good which is not this.
But being about to die makes clear
Many dark things. I have no fear,
Now, that my love, my grief, my joy
Is but a passion for a toy.
I cannot speak at all, I find,
The shining something in my mind,
That shows so much that, if I took
My thoughts all down, 'twould make a book.
God's Word, which lately seem'd above
The simpleness of human love,
To my death-sharpen'd hearing tells
Of little or of nothing else;
And many things I hoped were true,
When first they came, like songs, from you,
Now rise with witness past the reach
Of doubt, and I to you can teach,
As if with felt authority
And as things seen, what you taught me.
Yet how? I have no words but those
Which every one already knows:
As, ‘No man hath at any time
‘Seen God, but 'tis the love of Him
‘Made perfect, and He dwells in us,
‘If we each other love.’ Or thus,
‘My goodness misseth in extent
‘Of Thee, Lord! In the excellent
‘I know Thee; and the Saints on Earth
‘Make all my love and holy mirth.’
And further, ‘Inasmuch as ye
‘Did it to one of these, to Me
‘Ye did it, though ye nothing thought
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‘Nor knew of Me, in that ye wrought.’
What shall I dread? Will God undo
Our bond, which is all others too?
And when I meet you will you say
To my reclaiming looks, ‘Away!
‘A dearer love my bosom warms
‘With higher rights and holier charms.
‘The children, whom thou here may'st see,
‘Neighbours that mingle thee and me,
‘And gaily on impartial lyres
‘Renounce the foolish filial fires
‘They felt, with 'Praise to God on high,
‘'Goodwill to all else equally;'
‘The trials, duties, service, tears;
‘The many fond, confiding years
‘Of nearness sweet with thee apart;
‘The joy of body, mind, and heart;
‘The love that grew a reckless growth,
‘Unmindful that the marriage-oath
‘To love in an eternal style
‘Meant—only for a little while:
‘Sever'd are now those bonds earth-wrought:
‘All love, not new, stands here for nought!’
Why, it seems almost wicked, Dear,
Even to utter such a fear!
Are we not ‘heirs,’ as man and wife,
‘Together of eternal life?’
Was Paradise e'er meant to fade,
To make which marriage first was made?
Neither beneath him nor above
Could man in Eden find his Love;
Yet with him in the garden walk'd
His God, and with Him mildly talk'd!
Shall the humble preference offend
In heaven, which God did there commend?
Are ‘honourable and undefiled’
The names of aught from heaven exiled?
And are we not forbid to grieve
As without hope? Does God deceive,
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And call that hope which is despair,
Namely, the heaven we should not share?
Image and glory of the man,
As he of God, is woman. Can
This holy, sweet proportion die
Into a dull equality?
Are we not one flesh, yea, so far
More than the babe and mother are,
That sons are bid mothers to leave
And to their wives alone to cleave,
‘For they two are one flesh?’ But 'tis
In the flesh we rise. Our union is,
You know 'tis said, ‘great mystery.’
Great mockery, it appears to me;
Poor image of the spousal bond
Of Christ and Church, if loosed beyond
This life!—'Gainst which, and much more yet,
There's not a single word to set.
The speech to the scoffing Sadducee
Is not in point to you and me;
For how could Christ have taught such clods
That Cæsar's things are also God's?
The sort of Wife the Law could make
Might well be ‘hated’ for Love's sake,
And left, like money, land, or house;
For out of Christ is no true spouse.
I used to think it strange of Him
To make love's after-life so dim,
Or only clear by inference:
But God trusts much to common sense,
And only tells us what, without
His Word, we could not have found out.
On fleshly tables of the heart
He penn'd truth's feeling counterpart
In hopes that come to all: so, Dear,
Trust these, and be of happy cheer,
Nor think that he who has loved well
Is of all men most miserable.
There's much more yet I want to say,
But cannot now. You know my way
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Of feeling strong from Twelve till Two
After my wine. I'll write to you
Daily some words, which you shall have
To break the silence of the grave.
VIII
From Jane To Frederick
You think, perhaps, ‘Ah, could she know
How much I loved her!’ Dear, I do!
And you may say, ‘Of this new awe
‘Of heart which makes her fancies law,
‘These watchful duties of despair,
‘She does not dream, she cannot care!’
Frederick, you see how false that is,
Or how could I have written this?
And, should it ever cross your mind
That, now and then, you were unkind,
You never, never were at all!
Remember that! It's natural
For one like Mr. Vaughan to come,
From a morning's useful pastime, home,
And greet, with such a courteous zest,
His handsome wife, still newly dress'd,
As if the Bird of Paradise
Should daily change her plumage thrice.
He's always well, she's always gay.
Of course! But he who toils all day,
And comes home hungry, tired, or cold,
And feels 'twould do him good to scold
His wife a little, let him trust
Her love, and say the things he must,
Till sooth'd in mind by meat and rest.
If, after that, she's well caress'd,
And told how good she is, to bear
His humour, fortune makes it fair.
Women like men to be like men;
That is, at least, just now and then.
Thus, I have nothing to forgive,
But those first years, (how could I live!)
When, though I really did behave
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So stupidly, you never gave
One unkind word or look at all:
As if I was some animal
You pitied! Now, in later life,
You used me like a proper Wife.
You feel, Dear, in your present mood,
Your Jane, since she was kind and good,
A child of God, a living soul,
Was not so different, on the whole,
From Her who had a little more
Of God's best gifts: but, oh, be sure,
My dear, dear Love, to take no blame
Because you could not feel the same
Towards me, living, as when dead.
A hungry man must needs think bread
So sweet! and, only at their rise
And setting, blessings, to the eyes,
Like the sun's course, grow visible.
If you are sad, remember well,
Against delusions of despair,
That memory sees things as they were,
And not as they were misenjoy'd,
And would be still, if ought destroy'd
The glory of their hopelessness:
So that, in truth, you had me less
In days when necessary zeal
For my perfection made you feel
My faults the most, than now your love
Forgets but where it can approve.
You gain by loss, if that seem'd small
Possess'd, which, being gone, turns all
Surviving good to vanity.
Oh, Fred, this makes it sweet to die!
Say to yourself: ‘'Tis comfort yet
‘I made her that which I regret;
‘And parting might have come to pass
‘In a worse season; as it was,
‘Love an eternal temper took,
‘Dipp'd, glowing, in Death's icy brook!’
Or say, ‘On her poor feeble head
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‘This might have fallen: 'tis mine instead!
‘And so great evil sets me free
‘Henceforward from calamity.
‘And, in her little children, too,
‘How much for her I yet can do!’
And grieve not for these orphans even;
For central to the love of Heaven
Is each child as each star to space.
This truth my dying love has grace
To trust with a so sure content,
I fear I seem indifferent.
You must not think a child's small heart
Cold, because it and grief soon part.
Fanny will keep them all away,
Lest you should hear them laugh and play,
Before the funeral's over. Then
I hope you'll be yourself again,
And glad, with all your soul, to find
How God thus to the sharpest wind
Suits the shorn lambs. Instruct them, Dear,
For my sake, in His love and fear.
And show how, till their journey's done,
Not to be weary they must run.
Strive not to dissipate your grief
By any lightness. True relief
Of sorrow is by sorrow brought.
And yet for sorrow's sake, you ought
To grieve with measure. Do not spend
So good a power to no good end!
Would you, indeed, have memory stay
In the heart, lock up and put away
Relics and likenesses and all
Musings, which waste what they recall.
True comfort, and the only thing
To soothe without diminishing
A prized regret, is to match here,
By a strict life, God's love severe.
Yet, after all, by nature's course,
Feeling must lose its edge and force.
Again you'll reach the desert tracts
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Where only sin or duty acts.
But, if love always lit our path,
Where were the trial of our faith?
Oh, should the mournful honeymoon
Of death be over strangely soon,
And life-long resolutions, made
In grievous haste, as quickly fade,
Seeming the truth of grief to mock,
Think, Dearest, 'tis not by the clock
That sorrow goes! A month of tears
Is more than many, many years
Of common time. Shun, if you can,
However, any passionate plan.
Grieve with the heart; let not the head
Grieve on, when grief of heart is dead;
For all the powers of life defy
A superstitious constancy.
The only bond I hold you to
Is that which nothing can undo.
A man is not a young man twice;
And if, of his young years, he lies
A faithful score in one wife's breast,
She need not mind who has the rest.
In this do what you will, dear Love,
And feel quite sure that I approve.
And, should it chance as it may be,
Give her my wedding-ring from me;
And never dream that you can err
T'wards me by being good to her;
Nor let remorseful thoughts destroy
In you the kindly flowering joy
And pleasure of the natural life.
But don't forget your fond, dead Wife.
And, Frederick, should you ever be
Tempted to think your love of me
All fancy, since it drew its breath
So much more sweetly after death,
Remember that I never did
A single thing you once forbid;
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All poor folk liked me; and, at the end,
Your Cousin call'd me ‘Dearest Friend!’
And, now, 'twill calm your grief to know,—
You, who once loved Honoria so,—
There's kindness, that's look'd kindly on,
Between her Emily and John.
Thus, in your children, you will wed!
And John seems so much comforted,
(Like Isaac when his mother died
And fair Rebekah was his bride),
By his new hope, for losing me!
So all is happiness, you see.
And that reminds me how, last night,
I dreamt of heaven, with great delight.
A strange, kind Lady watch'd my face,
Kiss'd me, and cried, ‘His hope found grace!’
She bade me then, in the crystal floor,
Look at myself, myself no more;
And bright within the mirror shone
Honoria's smile, and yet my own!
‘And, when you talk, I hear,’ she sigh'd,
‘How much he loved her! Many a bride
‘In heaven such countersemblance wears
‘Through what Love deem'd rejected prayers.’
She would have spoken still; but, lo,
One of a glorious troop, aglow
From some great work, towards her came,
And she so laugh'd, 'twas such a flame,
Aaron's twelve jewels seem'd to mix
With the lights of the Seven Candlesticks.
IX
From Lady Clitheroe To Mrs. Graham
My dearest Aunt, the Wedding-day,
But for Jane's loss, and you away,
Was all a Bride from heaven could beg!
Skies bluer than the sparrow's egg,
And clearer than the cuckoo's call;
And such a sun! the flowers all
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With double ardour seem'd to blow!
The very daisies were a show,
Expanded with uncommon pride,
Like little pictures of the Bride.
Your Great-Niece and your Grandson were
Perfection of a pretty pair.
How well Honoria's girls turn out,
Although they never go about!
Dear me, what trouble and expense
It took to teach mine confidence!
Hers greet mankind as I've heard say
That wild things do, where beasts of prey
Were never known, nor any men
Have met their fearless eyes till then.
Their grave, inquiring trust to find
All creatures of their simple kind
Quite disconcerts bold coxcombry,
And makes less perfect candour shy.
Ah, Mrs. Graham! people may scoff,
But how your home-kept girls go off!
How Hymen hastens to unband
The waist that ne'er felt waltzer's hand!
At last I see my Sister's right,
And I've told Maud this very night,
(But, oh, my daughters have such wills!)
To knit, and only dance quadrilles.
You say Fred never writes to you
Frankly, as once he used to do,
About himself; and you complain
He shared with none his grief for Jane.
It all comes of the foolish fright
Men feel at the word, hypocrite.
Although, when first in love, sometimes
They rave in letters, talk, and rhymes,
When once they find, as find they must.
How hard 'tis to be hourly just
To those they love, they are dumb for shame,
Where we, you see, talk on the same.
Honoria, to whose heart alone
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He seems to open all his own,
At times has tears in her kind eyes,
After their private colloquies.
He's her most favour'd guest, and moves
My spleen by his impartial loves.
His pleasure has some inner spring
Depending not on anything.
Petting our Polly, none e'er smiled
More fondly on his favourite child;
Yet, playing with his own, it is
Somehow as if it were not his.
He means to go again to sea,
Now that the wedding's over. He
Will leave to Emily and John
The little ones to practise on;
And Major-domo, Mrs. Rouse,
A deal old soul from Wilton House,
Will scold the housemaids and the cook,
Till Emily has learn'd to look
A little braver than a lamb
Surprised by dogs without its dam!
Do, dear Aunt, use your influence,
And try to teach some plain good sense
To Mary. 'Tis not yet too late
To make her change her chosen state
Of single silliness. In truth,
I fancy that, with fading youth,
Her will now wavers. Yesterday,
Though, till the Bride was gone away,
Joy shone from Mary's loving heart,
I found her afterwards apart,
Hysterically sobbing. I
Knew much too well to ask her why.
This marrying of Nieces daunts
The bravest souls of maiden Aunts.
Though Sisters' children often blend
Sweetly the bonds of child and friend,
They are but reeds to rest upon.
When Emily comes back with John,
Her right to go downstairs before
Aunt Mary will but be the more
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Observed if kindly waived, and how
Shall these be as they were, when now
Niece has her John, and Aunt the sense
Of her superior innocence?
Somehow, all loves, however fond,
Prove lieges of the nuptial bond;
And she who dares at this to scoff,
Finds all the rest in time drop off;
While marriage, like a mushroom-ring,
Spreads its sure circle every Spring.
She twice refused George Vane, you know;
Yet, when he died three years ago
In the Indian war, she put on gray,
And wears no colours to this day.
And she it is who charges me,
Dear Aunt, with ‘inconsistency!’
From Frederick To Honoria
Cousin, my thoughts no longer try
To cast the fashion of the sky.
Imagination can extend
Scarcely in part to comprehend
The sweetness of our common food
Ambrosial, which ingratitude
And impious inadvertence waste,
Studious to eat but not to taste.
And who can tell what's yet in store
There, but that earthly things have more
Of all that makes their inmost bliss,
And life's an image still of this,
But haply such a glorious one
As is the rainbow of the sun?
Sweet are your words, but, after all
Their mere reversal may befall
The partners of His glories who
Daily is crucified anew:
Splendid privations, martyrdoms
To which no weak remission comes,
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Perpetual passion for the good
Of them that feel no gratitude,
Far circlings, as of planets' fires,
Round never-to-be-reach'd desires,
Whatever rapturously sighs
That life is love, love sacrifice.
All I am sure of heaven is this:
Howe'er the mode, I shall not miss
One true delight which I have known.
Not on the changeful earth alone
Shall loyalty remain unmoved
T'wards everything I ever loved.
So Heaven's voice calls, like Rachel's voice
To Jacob in the field, ‘Rejoice!
‘Serve on some seven more sordid years,
‘Too short for weariness or tears;
‘Serve on; then, oh, Beloved, well-tried,
‘Take me for ever as thy Bride!’
XI
From Mary Churchill To The Dean
Charles does me honour, but 'twere vain
To reconsider now again,
And so to doubt the clear-shown truth
I sought for, and received, when youth,
Being fair, and woo'd by one whose love
Was lovely, fail'd my mind to move.
God bids them by their own will go,
Who ask again the things they know!
I grieve for my infirmity,
And ignorance of how to be
Faithful, at once, to the heavenly life,
And the fond duties of a wife.
Narrow am I and want the art
To love two things with all my heart.
Occupied singly in His search,
Who, in the Mysteries of the Church,
Returns, and calls them Clouds of Heaven,
I tread a road, straight, hard, and even;
But fear to wander all confused,
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By two-fold fealty abused.
Either should I the one forget,
Or scantly pay the other's debt.
You bid me, Father, count the cost.
I have; and all that must be lost
I feel as only woman can.
To make the heart's wealth of some man,
And through the untender world to move,
Wrapt safe in his superior love,
How sweet! How sweet the household round
Of duties, and their narrow bound,
So plain, that to transgress were hard,
Yet full of manifest reward!
The charities not marr'd, like mine,
With chance of thwarting laws divine;
The world's regards and just delight
In one that's clearly, kindly right,
How sweet! Dear Father, I endure,
Not without sharp regret, be sure,
To give up such glad certainty,
For what, perhaps, may never be.
For nothing of my state I know,
But that t'ward heaven I seem to go,
As one who fondly landward hies
Along a deck that seaward flies.
With every year, meantime, some grace
Of earthly happiness gives place
To humbling ills, the very charms
Of youth being counted, henceforth, harms:
To blush already seems absurd;
Nor know I whether I should herd
With girls or wives, or sadlier balk
Maids' merriment or matrons' talk.
But strait's the gate of life! O'er late,
Besides, 'twere now to change my fate:
For flowers and fruit of love to form,
It must be Spring as well as warm.
The world's delight my soul dejects,
Revenging all my disrespects
Of old, with incapacity
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To chime with even its harmless glee,
Which sounds, from fields beyond my range,
Like fairies' music, thin and strange.
With something like remorse, I grant
The world has beauty which I want;
And if, instead of judging it,
I at its Council chance to sit,
Or at its gay and order'd Feast,
My place seems lower than the least.
The conscience of the life to be
Smites me with inefficiency,
And makes me all unfit to bless
With comfortable earthliness
The rest-desiring brain of man.
Finally, then, I fix my plan
To dwell with Him that dwells apart
In the highest heaven and lowliest heart;
Nor will I, to my utter loss,
Look to pluck roses from the Cross.
As for the good of human love,
'Twere countercheck almost enough
To think that one must die before
The other; and perhaps 'tis more
In love's last interest to do
Nought the least contrary thereto,
Than to be blest, and be unjust,
Or suffer injustice; as they must,
Without a miracle, whose pact
Compels to mutual life and act,
Whether love shines, or darkness sleeps
Cold on the spirit's changeful deeps.
Enough if, to my earthly share,
Fall gleams that keep me from despair.
Happy the things we here discern;
More happy those for which we yearn;
But measurelessly happy above
All else are those we guess not of!
XII
From Felix To Honoria
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Dearest, my Love and Wife, 'tis long
Ago I closed the unfinish'd song
Which never could be finish'd; nor
Will ever Poet utter more
Of love than I did, watching well
To lure to speech the unspeakable!
‘Why, having won her, do I woo?’
That final strain to the last height flew
Of written joy, which wants the smile
And voice that are, indeed, the while
They last, the very things you speak,
Honoria, who mak'st music weak
With ways that say, ‘Shall I not be
‘As kind to all as Heaven to me?’
And yet, ah, twenty-fold my Bride!
Rising, this twentieth festal-tide,
You still soft sleeping, on this day
Of days, some words I long to say,
Some words superfluously sweet
Of fresh assurance, thus to greet
Your waking eyes, which never grow
Weary of telling what I know
So well, yet only well enough
To wish for further news thereof.
Here, in this early autumn dawn,
By windows opening on the lawn,
Where sunshine seems asleep, though bright,
And shadows yet are sharp with night,
And, further on, the wealthy wheat
Bends in a golden drowse, how sweet
To sit and cast my careless looks
Around my walls of well-read books,
Wherein is all that stands redeem'd
From time's huge wreck, all men have dream'd
Of truth, and all by poets known
Of feeling, and in weak sort shown,
And, turning to my heart again,
To find I have what makes them vain,
The thanksgiving mind, which wisdom sums,
And you, whereby it freshly comes
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As on that morning, (can there be
Twenty-two years 'twixt it and me?)
When, thrill'd with hopeful love I rose
And came in haste to Sarum Close,
Past many a homestead slumbering white
In lonely and pathetic light,
Merely to fancy which drawn blind
Of thirteen had my Love behind,
And in her sacred neighbourhood
To feel that sweet scorn of all good
But her, which let the wise forfend
When wisdom learns to comprehend!
Dearest, as each returning May
I see the season new and gay
With new joy and astonishment,
And Nature's infinite ostent
Of lovely flowers in wood and mead,
That weet not whether any heed,
So see I, daily wondering, you,
And worship with a passion new
The Heaven that visibly allows
Its grace to go about my house,
The partial Heaven, that, though I err
And mortal am, gave all to her
Who gave herself to me. Yet I
Boldly thank Heaven, (and so defy
The beggarly soul'd humbleness
Which fears God's bounty to confess,)
That I was fashion'd with a mind
Seeming for this great gift design'd,
So naturally it moved above
All sordid contraries of love,
Strengthen'd in youth with discipline
Of light, to follow the divine
Vision, (which ever to the dark
Is such a plague as was the ark
In Ashdod, Gath, and Ekron,) still
Discerning with the docile will
Which comes of full persuaded thought,
That intimacy in love is nought
Without pure reverence, whereas this,
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In tearfullest banishment, is bliss.
And so, dearest Honoria, I
Have never learn'd the weary sigh
Of those that to their love-feasts went,
Fed, and forgot the Sacrament;
And not a trifle now occurs
But sweet initiation stirs
Of new-discover'd joy, and lends
To feeling change that never ends;
And duties, which the many irk,
Are made all wages and no work.
How sing of such things save to her,
Love's self, so love's interpreter?
How the supreme rewards confess
Which crown the austere voluptuousness
Of heart, that earns, in midst of wealth,
The appetite of want and health,
Relinquishes the pomp of life
And beauty to the pleasant Wife
At home, and does all joy despise
As out of place but in her eyes?
How praise the years and gravity
That make each favour seem to be
A lovelier weakness for her lord?
And, ah, how find the tender word
To tell aright of love that glows
The fairer for the fading rose?
Of frailty which can weight the arm
To lean with thrice its girlish charm?
Of grace which, like this autumn day,
Is not the sad one of decay,
Yet one whose pale brow pondereth
The far-off majesty of death?
How tell the crowd, whom passion rends,
That love grows mild as it ascends?
That joy's most high and distant mood
Is lost, not found in dancing blood;
Albeit kind acts and smiling eyes,
And all those fond realities
Which are love's words, in us mean more
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Delight than twenty years before?
How, Dearest, finish, without wrong
To the speechless heart, the unfinish'd song,
Its high, eventful passages
Consisting, say, of things like these:—
One morning, contrary to law,
Which, for the most, we held in awe,
Commanding either not to intrude
On the other's place of solitude
Or solitary mind, for fear
Of coming there when God was near,
And finding so what should be known
To Him who is merciful alone,
And views the working ferment base
Of waking flesh and sleeping grace,
Not as we view, our kindness check'd
By likeness of our own defect,
I, venturing to her room, because
(Mark the excuse!) my Birthday 'twas,
Saw, here across a careless chair,
A ball-dress flung, as light as air,
And, here, beside a silken couch,
Pillows which did the pressure vouch
Of pious knees, (sweet piety!
Of goodness made and charity,
If gay looks told the heart's glad sense,
Much rather than of penitence,)
And, on the couch, an open book,
And written list—I did not look,
Yet just in her clear writing caught:—
‘Habitual faults of life and thought
‘Which most I need deliverance from.’
I turn'd aside, and saw her come
Adown the filbert-shaded way,
Beautified with her usual gay
Hypocrisy of perfectness,
Which made her heart, and mine no less,
So happy! And she cried to me,
‘You lose by breaking rules, you see!
‘Your Birthday treat is now half-gone
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‘Of seeing my new ball-dress on.’
And, meeting so my lovely Wife,
A passing pang, to think that life
Was mortal, when I saw her laugh,
Shaped in my mind this epitaph:
‘Faults had she, child of Adam's stem,
‘But only Heaven knew of them.’
Or thus:
For many a dreadful day,
In sea-side lodgings sick she lay,
Noteless of love, nor seem'd to hear
The sea, on one side, thundering near,
Nor, on the other, the loud Ball
Held nightly in the public hall;
Nor vex'd they my short slumbers, though
I woke up if she breathed too low.
Thus, for three months, with terrors rife,
The pending of her precious life
I watch'd o'er; and the danger, at last,
The kind Physician said, was past.
Howbeit, for seven harsh weeks the East
Breathed witheringly, and Spring's growth ceased,
And so she only did not die;
Until the bright and blighting sky
Changed into cloud, and the sick flowers
Remember'd their perfumes, and showers
Of warm, small rain refreshing flew
Before the South, and the Park grew,
In three nights, thick with green. Then she
Revived, no less than flower and tree,
In the mild air, and, the fourth day,
Look'd supernaturally gay
With large, thanksgiving eyes, that shone,
The while I tied her bonnet on,
So that I led her to the glass,
And bade her see how fair she was,
And how love visibly could shine.
Profuse of hers, desiring mine,
And mindful I had loved her most
When beauty seem'd a vanish'd boast,
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She laugh'd. I press'd her then to me,
Nothing but soft humility;
Nor e'er enhanced she with such charms
Her acquiescence in my arms.
And, by her sweet love-weakness made
Courageous, powerful, and glad,
In a clear illustration high
Of heavenly affection, I
Perceived that utter love is all
The same as to be rational,
And that the mind and heart of love,
Which think they cannot do enough,
Are truly the everlasting doors
Wherethrough, all unpetition'd, pours
The eternal pleasance. Wherefore we
Had innermost tranquillity,
And breathed one life with such a sense
Of friendship and of confidence,
That, recollecting the sure word:
‘If two of you are in accord,
‘On earth, as touching any boon
‘Which ye shall ask, it shall be done
‘In heaven,’ we ask'd that heaven's bliss
Might ne'er be any less than this;
And, for that hour, we seem'd to have
The secret of the joy we gave.
How sing of such things, save to her,
Love's self, so love's interpreter?
How read from such a homely page
In the ear of this unhomely age?
'Tis now as when the Prophet cried:
‘The nation hast Thou multiplied,
‘But Thou hast not increased the joy!’
And yet, ere wrath or rot destroy
Of England's state the ruin fair,
Oh, might I so its charm declare,
That, in new Lands, in far-off years,
Delighted he should cry that hears:
‘Great is the Land that somewhat best
‘Works, to the wonder of the rest!
‘We, in our day, have better done
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‘This thing or that than any one;
‘And who but, still admiring, sees
‘How excellent for images
‘Was Greece, for laws how wise was Rome;
‘But read this Poet, and say if home
‘And private love did e'er so smile
‘As in that ancient English isle!’
XIII
From Lady Clitheroe To Emily Graham
My dearest Niece, I'm charm'd to hear
The scenery's fine at Windermere,
And glad a six-weeks' wife defers
In the least to wisdom not yet hers.
But, Child, I've no advice to give!
Rules only make it hard to live.
And where's the good of having been
Well taught from seven to seventeen,
If, married, you may not leave off,
And say, at last, ‘I'm good enough!’
Weeding out folly, still leave some.
It gives both lightness and aplomb.
We know, however wise by rule,
Woman is still by nature fool;
And men have sense to like her all
The more when she is natural.
'Tis true that, if we choose, we can
Mock to a miracle the man;
But iron in the fire red hot,
Though 'tis the heat, the fire 'tis not:
And who, for such a feint, would pledge
The babe's and woman's privilege,
No duties and a thousand rights?
Besides, defect love's flow incites,
As water in a well will run
Only the while 'tis drawn upon.
‘Point de culte sans mystère,’ you say,
‘And what if that should die away?’
Child, never fear that either could
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Pull from Saint Cupid's face the hood.
The follies natural to each
Surpass the other's moral reach.
Just think how men, with sword and gun,
Will really fight, and never run;
And all in sport: they would have died,
For sixpence more, on the other side!
A woman's heart must ever warm
At such odd ways: and so we charm
By strangeness which, the more they mark,
The more men get into the dark.
The marvel, by familiar life,
Grows, and attaches to the wife
By whom it grows. Thus, silly Girl,
To John you'll always be the pearl
In the oyster of the universe;
And, though in time he'll treat you worse,
He'll love you more, you need not doubt,
And never, never find you out!
My Dear, I know that dreadful thought
That you've been kinder than you ought.
It almost makes you hate him! Yet
'Tis wonderful how men forget,
And how a merciful Providence
Deprives our husbands of all sense
Of kindness past, and makes them deem
We always were what now we seem.
For their own good we must, you know,
However plain the way we go,
Still make it strange with stratagem;
And instinct tells us that, to them,
'Tis always right to bate their price.
Yet I must say they're rather nice,
And, oh, so easily taken in
To cheat them almost seems a sin!
And, Dearest, 'twould be most unfair
To John your feelings to compare
With his, or any man's; for she
Who loves at all loves always; he,
Who loves far more, loves yet by fits,
And when the wayward wind remits
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To blow, his feelings faint and drop
Like forge-flames when the bellows stop.
Such things don't trouble you at all
When once you know they're natural.
My love to John; and, pray, my Dear,
Don't let me see you for a year;
Unless, indeed, ere then you've learn'd
That Beauties wed are blossoms turn'd
To unripe codlings, meant to dwell
In modest shadow hidden well,
Till this green stage again permute
To glow of flowers with good of fruit.
I will not have my patience tried
By your absurd new-married pride,
That scorns the world's slow-gather'd sense,
Ties up the hands of Providence,
Rules babes, before there's hope of one,
Better than mothers e'er have done,
And, for your poor particular,
Neglects delights and graces far
Beyond your crude and thin conceit.
Age has romance almost as sweet
And much more generous than this
Of yours and John's. With all the bliss
Of the evenings when you coo'd with him,
And upset home for your sole whim,
You might have envied, were you wise,
The tears within your Mother's eyes,
Which, I dare say, you did not see.
But let that pass! Yours yet will be,
I hope, as happy, kind, and true
As lives which now seem void to you.
Have you not seen shop-painters paste
Their gold in sheets, then rub to waste
Full half, and, lo, you read the name?
Well, Time, my Dear, does much the same
With this unmeaning glare of love.
But, though you yet may much improve,
In marriage, be it still confess'd,
There's little merit at the best.
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Some half-a-dozen lives, indeed,
Which else would not have had the need,
Get food and nurture, as the price
Of antedated Paradise;
But what's that to the varied want
Succour'd by Mary, your dear Aunt,
Who put the bridal crown thrice by,
For that of which virginity,
So used, has hope? She sends her love,
As usual with a proof thereof—
Papa's discourse, which you, no doubt,
Heard none of, neatly copied out
Whilst we were dancing. All are well,
Adieu, for there's the Luncheon Bell.
The Wedding Sermon
The truths of Love are like the sea
For clearness and for mystery.
Of that sweet love which, startling, wakes
Maiden and Youth, and mostly breaks
The word of promise to the ear,
But keeps it, after many a year,
To the full spirit, how shall I speak?
My memory with age is weak,
And I for hopes do oft suspect
The things I seem to recollect.
Yet who but must remember well
'Twas this made heaven intelligible
As motive, though 'twas small the power
The heart might have, for even an hour,
To hold possession of the height
Of nameless pathos and delight!
II
In Godhead rise, thither flow back
All loves, which, as they keep or lack,
In their return, the course assign'd,
Are virtue or sin. Love's every kind,
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Lofty or low, of spirit or sense,
Desire is, or benevolence.
He who is fairer, better, higher
Than all His works, claims all desire,
And in His Poor, His Proxies, asks
Our whole benevolence: He tasks,
Howbeit, His People by their powers;
And if, my Children, you, for hours,
Daily, untortur'd in the heart,
Can worship, and time's other part
Give, without rough recoils of sense,
To the claims ingrate of indigence,
Happy are you, and fit to be
Wrought to rare heights of sanctity,
For the humble to grow humbler at.
But if the flying spirit falls flat,
After the modest spell of prayer
That saves the day from sin and care,
And the upward eye a void descries,
And praises are hypocrisies,
And, in the soul, o'erstrain'd for grace,
A godless anguish grows apace;
Or, if impartial charity
Seems, in the act, a sordid lie,
Do not infer you cannot please
God, or that He His promises
Postpones, but be content to love
No more than He accounts enough.
Account them poor enough who want
Any good thing which you can grant;
And fathom well the depths of life
In loves of Husband and of Wife,
Child, Mother, Father; simple keys
To what cold faith calls mysteries.
III
The love of marriage claims, above
All other kinds, the name of love,
As perfectest, though not so high
As love which Heaven with single eye
Considers. Equal and entire,
Therein benevolence, desire,
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Elsewhere ill-join'd or found apart,
Become the pulses of one heart,
Which now contracts, and now dilates,
And, both to the height exalting, mates
Self-seeking to self-sacrifice.
Nay, in its subtle paradise
(When purest) this one love unites
All modes of these two opposites,
All balanced in accord so rich
Who may determine which is which?
Chiefly God's Love does in it live,
And nowhere else so sensitive;
For each is all that the other's eye,
In the vague vast of Deity,
Can comprehend and so contain
As still to touch and ne'er to strain
The fragile nerves of joy. And then
'Tis such a wise goodwill to men
And politic economy
As in a prosperous State we see,
Where every plot of common land
Is yielded to some private hand
To fence about and cultivate.
Does narrowness its praise abate?
Nay, the infinite of man is found
But in the beating of its bound,
And, if a brook its banks o'erpass,
'Tis not a sea, but a morass.
IV
No giddiest hope, no wildest guess
Of Love's most innocent loftiness
Had dared to dream of its own worth,
Till Heaven's bold sun-gleam lit the earth.
Christ's marriage with the Church is more,
My Children, than a metaphor.
The heaven of heavens is symbol'd where
The torch of Psyche flash'd despair.
But here I speak of heights, and heights
Are hardly scaled. The best delights
Of even this homeliest passion, are
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In the most perfect souls so rare,
That they who feel them are as men
Sailing the Southern ocean, when,
At midnight, they look up, and eye
The starry Cross, and a strange sky
Of brighter stars; and sad thoughts come
To each how far he is from home.
Love's inmost nuptial sweetness see
In the doctrine of virginity!
Could lovers, at their dear wish, blend,
'Twould kill the bliss which they intend;
For joy is love's obedience
Against the law of natural sense;
And those perpetual yearnings sweet
Of lives which dream that they can meet
Are given that lovers never may
Be without sacrifice to lay
On the high altar of true love,
With tears of vestal joy. To move
Frantic, like comets to our bliss,
Forgetting that we always miss,
And so to seek and fly the sun,
By turns, around which love should run,
Perverts the ineffable delight
Of service guerdon'd with full sight
And pathos of a hopeless want,
To an unreal victory's vaunt,
And plaint of an unreal defeat.
Yet no less dangerous misconceit
May also be of the virgin will,
Whose goal is nuptial blessing still,
And whose true being doth subsist,
There where the outward forms are miss'd,
In those who learn and keep the sense
Divine of ‘due benevolence,’
Seeking for aye, without alloy
Of selfish thought, another's joy,
And finding in degrees unknown
That which in act they shunn'd, their own.
For all delights of earthly love
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Are shadows of the heavens, and move
As other shadows do; they flee
From him that follows them; and he
Who flies, for ever finds his feet
Embraced by their pursuings sweet.
VI
Then, even in love humane, do I
Not counsel aspirations high,
So much as sweet and regular
Use of the good in which we are.
As when a man along the ways
Walks, and a sudden music plays,
His step unchanged, he steps in time,
So let your Grace with Nature chime.
Her primal forces burst, like straws,
The bonds of uncongenial laws.
Right life is glad as well as just,
And, rooted strong in ‘This I must,’
It bears aloft the blossom gay
And zephyr-toss'd, of ‘This I may;’
Whereby the complex heavens rejoice
In fruits of uncommanded choice.
Be this your rule: seeking delight,
Esteem success the test of right;
For 'gainst God's will much may be done,
But nought enjoy'd, and pleasures none
Exist, but, like to springs of steel,
Active no longer than they feel
The checks that make them serve the soul,
They take their vigour from control.
A man need only keep but well
The Church's indispensable
First precepts, and she then allows,
Nay, more, she bids him, for his spouse,
Leave even his heavenly Father's awe,
At times, and His immaculate law,
Construed in its extremer sense.
Jehovah's mild magnipotence
Smiles to behold His children play
In their own free and childish way,
And can His fullest praise descry
333
In the exuberant liberty
Of those who, having understood
The glory of the Central Good,
And how souls ne'er may match or merge,
But as they thitherward converge,
Take in love's innocent gladness part
With infantine, untroubled heart,
And faith that, straight t'wards heaven's far Spring,
Sleeps, like the swallow, on the wing.
VII
Lovers, once married, deem their bond
Then perfect, scanning nought beyond
For love to do but to sustain
The spousal hour's delighted gain.
But time and a right life alone
Fulfil the promise then foreshown.
The Bridegroom and the Bride withal
Are but unwrought material
Of marriage; nay, so far is love,
Thus crown'd, from being thereto enough,
Without the long, compulsive awe
Of duty, that the bond of law
Does oftener marriage-love evoke,
Than love, which does not wear the yoke
Of legal vows, submits to be
Self-rein'd from ruinous liberty.
Lovely is love; but age well knows
'Twas law which kept the lover's vows
Inviolate through the year or years
Of worship pieced with panic fears,
When she who lay within his breast
Seem'd of all women perhaps the best,
But not the whole, of womankind,
Or love, in his yet wayward mind,
Had ghastly doubts its precious life
Was pledged for aye to the wrong wife.
Could it be else? A youth pursues
A maid, whom chance, not he, did choose,
Till to his strange arms hurries she
In a despair of modesty.
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Then, simply and without pretence
Of insight or experience,
They plight their vows. The parents say
‘We cannot speak them yea or nay;
‘The thing proceedeth from the Lord!’
And wisdom still approves their word;
For God created so these two
They match as well as others do
That take more pains, and trust Him less
Who never fails, if ask'd, to bless
His children's helpless ignorance
And blind election of life's chance.
Verily, choice not matters much,
If but the woman's truly such,
And the young man has led the life
Without which how shall e'er the wife
Be the one woman in the world?
Love's sensitive tendrils sicken, curl'd
Round folly's former stay; for 'tis
The doom of all unsanction'd bliss
To mock some good that, gain'd, keeps still
The taint of the rejected ill.
VIII
Howbeit, though both were perfect, she
Of whom the maid was prophecy
As yet lives not, and Love rebels
Against the law of any else;
And, as a steed takes blind alarm,
Disowns the rein, and hunts his harm,
So, misdespairing word and act
May now perturb the happiest pact.
The more, indeed, is love, the more
Peril to love is now in store.
Against it nothing can be done
But only this: leave ill alone!
Who tries to mend his wife succeeds
As he who knows not what he needs.
He much affronts a worth as high
As his, and that equality
Of spirits in which abide the grace
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And joy of her subjected place;
And does the still growth check and blurr
Of contraries, confusing her
Who better knows what he desires
Than he, and to that mark aspires
With perfect zeal, and a deep wit
Which nothing helps but trusting it.
So, loyally o'erlooking all
In which love's promise short may fall
Of full performance, honour that
As won, which aye love worketh at!
It is but as the pedigree
Of perfectness which is to be
That our best good can honour claim;
Yet honour to deny were shame
And robbery; for it is the mould
Wherein to beauty runs the gold
Of good intention, and the prop
That lifts to the sun the earth-drawn crop
Of human sensibilities.
Such honour, with a conduct wise
In common things, as, not to steep
The lofty mind of love in sleep
Of over much familiarness;
Not to degrade its kind caress,
As those do that can feel no more,
So give themselves to pleasures o'er;
Not to let morning-sloth destroy
The evening-flower, domestic joy;
Not by uxoriousness to chill
The warm devotion of her will
Who can but half her love confer
On him that cares for nought but her;—
These, and like obvious prudences
Observed, he's safest that relies,
For the hope she will not always seem,
Caught, but a laurel or a stream,
On time; on her unsearchable
Love-wisdom; on their work done well,
336
Discreet with mutual aid; on might
Of shared affliction and delight;
On pleasures that so childish be
They're 'shamed to let the children see,
By which life keeps the valleys low
Where love does naturally grow;
On much whereof hearts have account,
Though heads forget; on babes, chief fount
Of union, and for which babes are
No less than this for them, nay far
More, for the bond of man and wife
To the very verge of future life
Strengthens, and yearns for brighter day,
While others, with their use, decay;
And, though true marriage purpose keeps
Of offspring, as the centre sleeps
Within the wheel, transmitting thence
Fury to the circumference,
Love's self the noblest offspring is,
And sanction of the nuptial kiss;
Lastly, on either's primal curse,
Which help and sympathy reverse
To blessings.
IX
God, who may be well
Jealous of His chief miracle,
Bids sleep the meddling soul of man,
Through the long process of this plan,
Whereby, from his unweeting side,
The Wife's created, and the Bride,
That chance one of her strange, sweet sex
He to his glad life did annex,
Grows more and more, by day and night,
The one in the whole world opposite
Of him, and in her nature all
So suited and reciprocal
To his especial form of sense,
Affection, and intelligence,
That, whereas love at first had strange
Relapses into lust of change,
It now finds (wondrous this, but true!)
337
The long-accustom'd only new,
And the untried common; and, whereas
An equal seeming danger was
Of likeness lacking joy and force,
Or difference reaching to divorce,
Now can the finish'd lover see
Marvel of me most far from me,
Whom without pride he may admire,
Without Narcissus' doom desire,
Serve without selfishness, and love
‘Even as himself,’ in sense above
Niggard ‘as much,’ yea, as she is
The only part of him that's his.
I do not say love's youth returns;
That joy which so divinely yearns!
But just esteem of present good
Shows all regret such gratitude
As if the sparrow in her nest,
Her woolly young beneath her breast,
Should these despise, and sorrow for
Her five blue eggs that are no more.
Nor say I the fruit has quite the scope
Of the flower's spiritual hope.
Love's best is service, and of this,
Howe'er devout, use dulls the bliss.
Though love is all of earth that's dear,
Its home, my Children, is not here:
The pathos of eternity
Does in its fullest pleasure sigh.
Be grateful and most glad thereof.
Parting, as 'tis, is pain enough.
If love, by joy, has learn'd to give
Praise with the nature sensitive,
At last, to God, we then possess
The end of mortal happiness,
And henceforth very well may wait
The unbarring of the golden gate,
Wherethrough, already, faith can see
That apter to each wish than we
338
Is God, and curious to bless
Better than we devise or guess;
Not without condescending craft
To disappoint with bliss, and waft
Our vessels frail, when worst He mocks
The heart with breakers and with rocks,
To happiest havens. You have heard
Your bond death-sentenced by His Word.
What, if, in heaven, the name be o'er,
Because the thing is so much more?
All are, 'tis writ, as angels there,
Nor male nor female. Each a stair
In the hierarchical ascent
Of active and recipient
Affections, what if all are both
By turn, as they themselves betroth
To adoring what is next above,
Or serving what's below their love?
Of this we are certified, that we
Are shaped here for eternity,
So that a careless word will make
Its dint upon the form we take
For ever. If, then, years have wrought
Two strangers to become, in thought,
Will, and affection, but one man
For likeness, as none others can,
Without like process, shall this tree
The king of all the forest, be,
Alas, the only one of all
That shall not lie where it doth fall?
Shall this unflagging flame, here nurs'd
By everything, yea, when reversed,
Blazing, in fury, brighter, wink,
Flicker, and into darkness shrink,
When all else glows, baleful or brave,
In the keen air beyond the grave?
Beware; for fiends in triumph laugh
O'er him who learns the truth by half!
Beware; for God will not endure
For men to make their hope more pure
339
Than His good promise, or require
Another than the five-string'd lyre
Which He has vow'd again to the hands
Devout of him who understands
To tune it justly here! Beware
The Powers of Darkness and the Air,
Which lure to empty heights man's hope,
Bepraising heaven's ethereal cope,
But covering with their cloudy cant
Its ground of solid adamant,
That strengthens ether for the flight
Of angels, makes and measures height,
And in materiality
Exceeds our Earth's in such degree
As all else Earth exceeds! Do I
Here utter aught too dark or high?
Have you not seen a bird's beak slay
Proud Psyche, on a summer's day?
Down fluttering drop the frail wings four,
Missing the weight which made them soar.
Spirit is heavy nature's wing,
And is not rightly anything
Without its burthen, whereas this,
Wingless, at least a maggot is,
And, wing'd, is honour and delight
Increasing endlessly with height.
XI
If unto any here that chance
Fell not, which makes a month's romance,
Remember, few wed whom they would.
And this, like all God's laws, is good;
For nought's so sad, the whole world o'er,
As much love which has once been more.
Glorious for light is the earliest love;
But worldly things, in the rays thereof,
Extend their shadows, every one
False as the image which the sun
At noon or eve dwarfs or protracts.
A perilous lamp to light men's acts!
By Heaven's kind, impartial plan,
Well-wived is he that's truly man
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If but the woman's womanly,
As such a man's is sure to be.
Joy of all eyes and pride of life
Perhaps she is not; the likelier wife!
If it be thus; if you have known,
(As who has not?) some heavenly one,
Whom the dull background of despair
Help'd to show forth supremely fair;
If memory, still remorseful, shapes
Young Passion bringing Eshcol grapes
To travellers in the Wilderness,
This truth will make regret the less:
Mighty in love as graces are,
God's ordinance is mightier far;
And he who is but just and kind
And patient, shall for guerdon find,
Before long, that the body's bond
Is all else utterly beyond
In power of love to actualise
The soul's bond which it signifies,
And even to deck a wife with grace
External in the form and face.
A five years' wife, and not yet fair?
Blame let the man, not Nature, bear!
For, as the sun, warming a bank
Where last year's grass droops gray and dank,
Evokes the violet, bids disclose
In yellow crowds the fresh primrose,
And foxglove hang her flushing head,
So vernal love, where all seems dead,
Makes beauty abound.
Then was that nought,
That trance of joy beyond all thought,
The vision, in one, of womanhood?
Nay, for all women holding good,
Should marriage such a prologue want,
'Twere sordid and most ignorant
Profanity; but, having this,
'Tis honour now, and future bliss;
For where is he that, knowing the height
And depth of ascertain'd delight,
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Inhumanly henceforward lies
Content with mediocrities!
~ Coventry Patmore,
460:The House Of Dust: Complete
I.
The sun goes down in a cold pale flare of light.
The trees grow dark: the shadows lean to the east:
And lights wink out through the windows, one by one.
A clamor of frosty sirens mourns at the night.
Pale slate-grey clouds whirl up from the sunken sun.
And the wandering one, the inquisitive dreamer of dreams,
The eternal asker of answers, stands in the street,
And lifts his palms for the first cold ghost of rain.
The purple lights leap down the hill before him.
The gorgeous night has begun again.
'I will ask them all, I will ask them all their dreams,
I will hold my light above them and seek their faces.
I will hear them whisper, invisible in their veins . . .'
The eternal asker of answers becomes as the darkness,
Or as a wind blown over a myriad forest,
Or as the numberless voices of long-drawn rains.
We hear him and take him among us, like a wind of music,
Like the ghost of a music we have somewhere heard;
We crowd through the streets in a dazzle of pallid lamplight,
We pour in a sinister wave, ascend a stair,
With laughter and cry, and word upon murmured word;
We flow, we descend, we turn . . . and the eternal dreamer
Moves among us like light, like evening air . . .
Good-night! Good-night! Good-night! We go our ways,
The rain runs over the pavement before our feet,
The cold rain falls, the rain sings.
We walk, we run, we ride. We turn our faces
To what the eternal evening brings.
Our hands are hot and raw with the stones we have laid,
We have built a tower of stone high into the sky,
We have built a city of towers.
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Our hands are light, they are singing with emptiness.
Our souls are light; they have shaken a burden of hours . . .
What did we build it for? Was it all a dream? . . .
Ghostly above us in lamplight the towers gleam . . .
And after a while they will fall to dust and rain;
Or else we will tear them down with impatient hands;
And hew rock out of the earth, and build them again.
II.
One, from his high bright window in a tower,
Leans out, as evening falls,
And sees the advancing curtain of the shower
Splashing its silver on roofs and walls:
Sees how, swift as a shadow, it crosses the city,
And murmurs beyond far walls to the sea,
Leaving a glimmer of water in the dark canyons,
And silver falling from eave and tree.
One, from his high bright window, looking down,
Peers like a dreamer over the rain-bright town,
And thinks its towers are like a dream.
The western windows flame in the sun's last flare,
Pale roofs begin to gleam.
Looking down from a window high in a wall
He sees us all;
Lifting our pallid faces towards the rain,
Searching the sky, and going our ways again,
Standing in doorways, waiting under the trees . . .
There, in the high bright window he dreams, and sees
What we are blind to,—we who mass and crowd
From wall to wall in the darkening of a cloud.
The gulls drift slowly above the city of towers,
Over the roofs to the darkening sea they fly;
Night falls swiftly on an evening of rain.
The yellow lamps wink one by one again.
The towers reach higher and blacker against the sky.
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III.
One, where the pale sea foamed at the yellow sand,
With wave upon slowly shattering wave,
Turned to the city of towers as evening fell;
And slowly walked by the darkening road toward it;
And saw how the towers darkened against the sky;
And across the distance heard the toll of a bell.
Along the darkening road he hurried alone,
With his eyes cast down,
And thought how the streets were hoarse with a tide of people,
With clamor of voices, and numberless faces . . .
And it seemed to him, of a sudden, that he would drown
Here in the quiet of evening air,
These empty and voiceless places . . .
And he hurried towards the city, to enter there.
Along the darkening road, between tall trees
That made a sinister whisper, loudly he walked.
Behind him, sea-gulls dipped over long grey seas.
Before him, numberless lovers smiled and talked.
And death was observed with sudden cries,
And birth with laughter and pain.
And the trees grew taller and blacker against the skies
And night came down again.
IV.
Up high black walls, up sombre terraces,
Clinging like luminous birds to the sides of cliffs,
The yellow lights went climbing towards the sky.
From high black walls, gleaming vaguely with rain,
Each yellow light looked down like a golden eye.
They trembled from coign to coign, and tower to tower,
Along high terraces quicker than dream they flew.
And some of them steadily glowed, and some soon vanished,
And some strange shadows threw.
And behind them all the ghosts of thoughts went moving,
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Restlessly moving in each lamplit room,
From chair to mirror, from mirror to fire;
From some, the light was scarcely more than a gloom:
From some, a dazzling desire.
And there was one, beneath black eaves, who thought,
Combing with lifted arms her golden hair,
Of the lover who hurried towards her through the night;
And there was one who dreamed of a sudden death
As she blew out her light.
And
And
And
And
And
there was one who turned from clamoring streets,
walked in lamplit gardens among black trees,
looked at the windy sky,
thought with terror how stones and roots would freeze
birds in the dead boughs cry . . .
And she hurried back, as snow fell, mixed with rain,
To mingle among the crowds again,
To jostle beneath blue lamps along the street;
And lost herself in the warm bright coiling dream,
With a sound of murmuring voices and shuffling feet.
And one, from his high bright window looking down
On luminous chasms that cleft the basalt town,
Hearing a sea-like murmur rise,
Desired to leave his dream, descend from the tower,
And drown in waves of shouts and laughter and cries.
V.
The snow floats down upon us, mingled with rain . . .
It eddies around pale lilac lamps, and falls
Down golden-windowed walls.
We were all born of flesh, in a flare of pain,
We do not remember the red roots whence we rose,
But we know that we rose and walked, that after a while
We shall lie down again.
The snow floats down upon us, we turn, we turn,
Through gorges filled with light we sound and flow . . .
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One is struck down and hurt, we crowd about him,
We bear him away, gaze after his listless body;
But whether he lives or dies we do not know.
One of us sings in the street, and we listen to him;
The words ring over us like vague bells of sorrow.
He sings of a house he lived in long ago.
It is strange; this house of dust was the house I lived in;
The house you lived in, the house that all of us know.
And coiling slowly about him, and laughing at him,
And throwing him pennies, we bear away
A mournful echo of other times and places,
And follow a dream . . . a dream that will not stay.
Down long broad flights of lamplit stairs we flow;
Noisy, in scattered waves, crowding and shouting;
In broken slow cascades.
The gardens extend before us . . . We spread out swiftly;
Trees are above us, and darkness. The canyon fades . . .
And we recall, with a gleaming stab of sadness,
Vaguely and incoherently, some dream
Of a world we came from, a world of sun-blue hills . . .
A black wood whispers around us, green eyes gleam;
Someone cries in the forest, and someone kills.
We
We
We
We
We
flow to the east, to the white-lined shivering sea;
reach to the west, where the whirling sun went down;
close our eyes to music in bright cafees.
diverge from clamorous streets to streets that are silent.
loaf where the wind-spilled fountain plays.
And, growing tired, we turn aside at last,
Remember our secret selves, seek out our towers,
Lay weary hands on the banisters, and climb;
Climbing, each, to his little four-square dream
Of love or lust or beauty or death or crime.
VI.
Over the darkened city, the city of towers,
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The city of a thousand gates,
Over the gleaming terraced roofs, the huddled towers,
Over a somnolent whisper of loves and hates,
The slow wind flows, drearily streams and falls,
With a mournful sound down rain-dark walls.
On one side purples the lustrous dusk of the sea,
And dreams in white at the city's feet;
On one side sleep the plains, with heaped-up hills.
Oaks and beeches whisper in rings about it.
Above the trees are towers where dread bells beat.
The fisherman draws his streaming net from the sea
And sails toward the far-off city, that seems
Like one vague tower.
The dark bow plunges to foam on blue-black waves,
And shrill rain seethes like a ghostly music about him
In a quiet shower.
Rain with a shrill sings on the lapsing waves;
Rain thrills over the roofs again;
Like a shadow of shifting silver it crosses the city;
The lamps in the streets are streamed with rain;
And sparrows complain beneath deep eaves,
And among whirled leaves
The sea-gulls, blowing from tower to lower tower,
From wall to remoter wall,
Skim with the driven rain to the rising sea-sound
And close grey wings and fall . . .
. . . Hearing great rain above me, I now remember
A girl who stood by the door and shut her eyes:
Her pale cheeks glistened with rain, she stood and shivered.
Into a forest of silver she vanished slowly . . .
Voices about me rise . . .
Voices clear and silvery, voices of raindrops,—
'We struck with silver claws, we struck her down.
We are the ghosts of the singing furies . . . '
A chorus of elfin voices blowing about me
Weaves to a babel of sound. Each cries a secret.
I run among them, reach out vain hands, and drown.
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'I am the one who stood beside you and smiled,
Thinking your face so strangely young . . . '
'I am the one who loved you but did not dare.'
'I am the one you followed through crowded streets,
The one who escaped you, the one with red-gleamed hair.'
'I am the one you saw to-day, who fell
Senseless before you, hearing a certain bell:
A bell that broke great memories in my brain.'
'I am the one who passed unnoticed before you,
Invisible, in a cloud of secret pain.'
'I am the one who suddenly cried, beholding
The face of a certain man on the dazzling screen.
They wrote me that he was dead. It was long ago.
I walked in the streets for a long while, hearing nothing,
And returned to see it again. And it was so.'
Weave, weave, weave, you streaks of rain!
I am dissolved and woven again . . .
Thousands of faces rise and vanish before me.
Thousands of voices weave in the rain.
'I am the one who rode beside you, blinking
At a dazzle of golden lights.
Tempests of music swept me: I was thinking
Of the gorgeous promise of certain nights:
Of the woman who suddenly smiled at me this day,
Smiled in a certain delicious sidelong way,
And turned, as she reached the door,
To smile once more . . .
Her hands are whiter than snow on midnight water.
Her throat is golden and full of golden laughter,
Her eyes are strange as the stealth of the moon
On a night in June . . .
She runs among whistling leaves; I hurry after;
She dances in dreams over white-waved water;
Her body is white and fragrant and cool,
Magnolia petals that float on a white-starred pool . . .
I have dreamed of her, dreaming for many nights
Of a broken music and golden lights,
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Of broken webs of silver, heavily falling
Between my hands and their white desire:
And dark-leaved boughs, edged with a golden radiance,
Dipping to screen a fire . . .
I dream that I walk with her beneath high trees,
But as I lean to kiss her face,
She is blown aloft on wind, I catch at leaves,
And run in a moonless place;
And I hear a crashing of terrible rocks flung down,
And shattering trees and cracking walls,
And a net of intense white flame roars over the town,
And someone cries; and darkness falls . . .
But now she has leaned and smiled at me,
My veins are afire with music,
Her eyes have kissed me, my body is turned to light;
I shall dream to her secret heart tonight . . . '
He rises and moves away, he says no word,
He folds his evening paper and turns away;
I rush through the dark with rows of lamplit faces;
Fire bells peal, and some of us turn to listen,
And some sit motionless in their accustomed places.
Cold rain lashes the car-roof, scurries in gusts,
Streams down the windows in waves and ripples of lustre;
The lamps in the streets are distorted and strange.
Someone takes his watch from his pocket and yawns.
One peers out in the night for the place to change.
Rain . . . rain . . . rain . . . we are buried in rain,
It will rain forever, the swift wheels hiss through water,
Pale sheets of water gleam in the windy street.
The pealing of bells is lost in a drive of rain-drops.
Remote and hurried the great bells beat.
'I am the one whom life so shrewdly betrayed,
Misfortune dogs me, it always hunted me down.
And to-day the woman I love lies dead.
I gave her roses, a ring with opals;
These hands have touched her head.
'I bound her to me in all soft ways,
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I bound her to me in a net of days,
Yet now she has gone in silence and said no word.
How can we face these dazzling things, I ask you?
There is no use: we cry: and are not heard.
'They cover a body with roses . . . I shall not see it . . .
Must one return to the lifeless walls of a city
Whose soul is charred by fire? . . . '
His eyes are closed, his lips press tightly together.
Wheels hiss beneath us. He yields us our desire.
'No, do not stare so—he is weak with grief,
He cannot face you, he turns his eyes aside;
He is confused with pain.
I suffered this. I know. It was long ago . . .
He closes his eyes and drowns in death again.'
The wind hurls blows at the rain-starred glistening windows,
The wind shrills down from the half-seen walls.
We flow on the mournful wind in a dream of dying;
And at last a silence falls.
VII.
Midnight; bells toll, and along the cloud-high towers
The golden lights go out . . .
The yellow windows darken, the shades are drawn,
In thousands of rooms we sleep, we await the dawn,
We lie face down, we dream,
We cry aloud with terror, half rise, or seem
To stare at the ceiling or walls . . .
Midnight . . . the last of shattering bell-notes falls.
A rush of silence whirls over the cloud-high towers,
A vortex of soundless hours.
'The bells have just struck twelve: I should be sleeping.
But I cannot delay any longer to write and tell you.
The woman is dead.
She died—you know the way. Just as we planned.
Smiling, with open sunlit eyes.
Smiling upon the outstretched fatal hand . . .'
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He folds his letter, steps softly down the stairs.
The doors are closed and silent. A gas-jet flares.
His shadow disturbs a shadow of balustrades.
The door swings shut behind. Night roars above him.
Into the night he fades.
Wind; wind; wind; carving the walls;
Blowing the water that gleams in the street;
Blowing the rain, the sleet.
In the dark alley, an old tree cracks and falls,
Oak-boughs moan in the haunted air;
Lamps blow down with a crash and tinkle of glass . . .
Darkness whistles . . . Wild hours pass . . .
And those whom sleep eludes lie wide-eyed, hearing
Above their heads a goblin night go by;
Children are waked, and cry,
The young girl hears the roar in her sleep, and dreams
That her lover is caught in a burning tower,
She clutches the pillow, she gasps for breath, she screams . . .
And then by degrees her breath grows quiet and slow,
She dreams of an evening, long ago:
Of colored lanterns balancing under trees,
Some of them softly catching afire;
And beneath the lanterns a motionless face she sees,
Golden with lamplight, smiling, serene . . .
The leaves are a pale and glittering green,
The sound of horns blows over the trampled grass,
Shadows of dancers pass . . .
The face smiles closer to hers, she tries to lean
Backward, away, the eyes burn close and strange,
The face is beginning to change,—
It is her lover, she no longer desires to resist,
She is held and kissed.
She closes her eyes, and melts in a seethe of flame . . .
With a smoking ghost of shame . . .
Wind, wind, wind . . . Wind in an enormous brain
Blowing dark thoughts like fallen leaves . . .
The wind shrieks, the wind grieves;
It dashes the leaves on walls, it whirls then again;
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And the enormous sleeper vaguely and stupidly dreams
And desires to stir, to resist a ghost of pain.
One, whom the city imprisoned because of his cunning,
Who dreamed for years in a tower,
Seizes this hour
Of tumult and wind. He files through the rusted bar,
Leans his face to the rain, laughs up at the night,
Slides down the knotted sheet, swings over the wall,
To fall to the street with a cat-like fall,
Slinks round a quavering rim of windy light,
And at last is gone,
Leaving his empty cell for the pallor of dawn . . .
The mother whose child was buried to-day
Turns her face to the window; her face is grey;
And all her body is cold with the coldness of rain.
He would have grown as easily as a tree,
He would have spread a pleasure of shade above her,
He would have been his father again . . .
His growth was ended by a freezing invisible shadow.
She lies, and does not move, and is stabbed by the rain.
Wind, wind, wind; we toss and dream;
We dream we are clouds and stars, blown in a stream:
Windows rattle above our beds;
We reach vague-gesturing hands, we lift our heads,
Hear sounds far off,—and dream, with quivering breath,
Our curious separate ways through life and death.
VIII.
The white fog creeps from the cold sea over the city,
Over the pale grey tumbled towers,—
And settles among the roofs, the pale grey walls.
Along damp sinuous streets it crawls,
Curls like a dream among the motionless trees
And seems to freeze.
The fog slips ghostlike into a thousand rooms,
Whirls over sleeping faces,
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Spins in an atomy dance round misty street lamps;
And blows in cloudy waves over open spaces . . .
And one from his high window, looking down,
Peers at the cloud-white town,
And thinks its island towers are like a dream . . .
It seems an enormous sleeper, within whose brain
Laborious shadows revolve and break and gleam.
PART II.
I.
The round red sun heaves darkly out of the sea.
The walls and towers are warmed and gleam.
Sounds go drowsily up from streets and wharves.
The city stirs like one that is half in dream.
And the mist flows up by dazzling walls and windows,
Where one by one we wake and rise.
We gaze at the pale grey lustrous sea a moment,
We rub the darkness from our eyes,
And face our thousand devious secret mornings . . .
And do not see how the pale mist, slowly ascending,
Shaped by the sun, shines like a white-robed dreamer
Compassionate over our towers bending.
There, like one who gazes into a crystal,
He broods upon our city with sombre eyes;
He sees our secret fears vaguely unfolding,
Sees cloudy symbols shape to rise.
Each gleaming point of light is like a seed
Dilating swiftly to coiling fires.
Each cloud becomes a rapidly dimming face,
Each hurrying face records its strange desires.
We descend our separate stairs toward the day,
173
Merge in the somnolent mass that fills the street,
Lift our eyes to the soft blue space of sky,
And walk by the well-known walls with accustomed feet.
II. THE FULFILLED DREAM
More towers must yet be built—more towers destroyed—
Great rocks hoisted in air;
And he must seek his bread in high pale sunlight
With gulls about him, and clouds just over his eyes . . .
And so he did not mention his dream of falling
But drank his coffee in silence, and heard in his ears
That horrible whistle of wind, and felt his breath
Sucked out of him, and saw the tower flash by
And the small tree swell beneath him . . .
He patted his boy on the head, and kissed his wife,
Looked quickly around the room, to remember it,—
And so went out . . . For once, he forgot his pail.
Something had changed—but it was not the street—
The street was just the same—it was himself.
Puddles flashed in the sun. In the pawn-shop door
The same old black cat winked green amber eyes;
The butcher stood by his window tying his apron;
The same men walked beside him, smoking pipes,
Reading the morning paper . . .
He would not yield, he thought, and walk more slowly,
As if he knew for certain he walked to death:
But with his usual pace,—deliberate, firm,
Looking about him calmly, watching the world,
Taking his ease . . . Yet, when he thought again
Of the same dream, now dreamed three separate times,
Always the same, and heard that whistling wind,
And saw the windows flashing upward past him,—
He slowed his pace a little, and thought with horror
How monstrously that small tree thrust to meet him! . . .
He slowed his pace a little and remembered his wife.
Was forty, then, too old for work like this?
Why should it be? He'd never been afraid—
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His eye was sure, his hand was steady . . .
But dreams had meanings.
He walked more slowly, and looked along the roofs,
All built by men, and saw the pale blue sky;
And suddenly he was dizzy with looking at it,
It seemed to whirl and swim,
It seemed the color of terror, of speed, of death . . .
He lowered his eyes to the stones, he walked more slowly;
His thoughts were blown and scattered like leaves;
He thought of the pail . . . Why, then, was it forgotten?
Because he would not need it?
Then, just as he was grouping his thoughts again
About that drug-store corner, under an arc-lamp,
Where first he met the girl whom he would marry,—
That blue-eyed innocent girl, in a soft blouse,—
He waved his hand for signal, and up he went
In the dusty chute that hugged the wall;
Above the tree; from girdered floor to floor;
Above the flattening roofs, until the sea
Lay wide and waved before him . . . And then he stepped
Giddily out, from that security,
To the red rib of iron against the sky,
And walked along it, feeling it sing and tremble;
And looking down one instant, saw the tree
Just as he dreamed it was; and looked away,
And up again, feeling his blood go wild.
He gave the signal; the long girder swung
Closer to him, dropped clanging into place,
Almost pushing him off. Pneumatic hammers
Began their madhouse clatter, the white-hot rivets
Were tossed from below and deftly caught in pails;
He signalled again, and wiped his mouth, and thought
A place so high in the air should be more quiet.
The tree, far down below, teased at his eyes,
Teased at the corners of them, until he looked,
And felt his body go suddenly small and light;
Felt his brain float off like a dwindling vapor;
And heard a whistle of wind, and saw a tree
Come plunging up to him, and thought to himself,
'By God—I'm done for now, the dream was right . . .'
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III. INTERLUDE
The warm sun dreams in the dust, the warm sun falls
On bright red roofs and walls;
The trees in the park exhale a ghost of rain;
We go from door to door in the streets again,
Talking, laughing, dreaming, turning our faces,
Recalling other times and places . . .
We crowd, not knowing why, around a gate,
We crowd together and wait,
A stretcher is carried out, voices are stilled,
The ambulance drives away.
We watch its roof flash by, hear someone say
'A man fell off the building and was killed—
Fell right into a barrel . . .' We turn again
Among the frightened eyes of white-faced men,
And go our separate ways, each bearing with him
A thing he tries, but vainly, to forget,—
A sickened crowd, a stretcher red and wet.
A hurdy-gurdy sings in the crowded street,
The golden notes skip over the sunlit stones,
Wings are upon our feet.
The sun seems warmer, the winding street more bright,
Sparrows come whirring down in a cloud of light.
We bear our dreams among us, bear them all,
Like hurdy-gurdy music they rise and fall,
Climb to beauty and die.
The wandering lover dreams of his lover's mouth,
And smiles at the hostile sky.
The broker smokes his pipe, and sees a fortune.
The murderer hears a cry.
IV. NIGHTMARE
'Draw three cards, and I will tell your future . . .
Draw three cards, and lay them down,
Rest your palms upon them, stare at the crystal,
And think of time . . . My father was a clown,
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My mother was a gypsy out of Egypt;
And she was gotten with child in a strange way;
And I was born in a cold eclipse of the moon,
With the future in my eyes as clear as day.'
I sit before the gold-embroidered curtain
And think her face is like a wrinkled desert.
The crystal burns in lamplight beneath my eyes.
A dragon slowly coils on the scaly curtain.
Upon a scarlet cloth a white skull lies.
'Your hand is on the hand that holds three lilies.
You will live long, love many times.
I see a dark girl here who once betrayed you.
I see a shadow of secret crimes.
'There was a man who came intent to kill you,
And hid behind a door and waited for you;
There was a woman who smiled at you and lied.
There was a golden girl who loved you, begged you,
Crawled after you, and died.
'There is a ghost of murder in your blood—
Coming or past, I know not which.
And here is danger—a woman with sea-green eyes,
And white-skinned as a witch . . .'
The words hiss into me, like raindrops falling
On sleepy fire . . . She smiles a meaning smile.
Suspicion eats my brain; I ask a question;
Something is creeping at me, something vile;
And suddenly on the wall behind her head
I see a monstrous shadow strike and spread,
The lamp puffs out, a great blow crashes down.
I plunge through the curtain, run through dark to the street,
And hear swift steps retreat . . .
The shades are drawn, the door is locked behind me.
Behind the door I hear a hammer sounding.
I walk in a cloud of wonder; I am glad.
I mingle among the crowds; my heart is pounding;
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You do not guess the adventure I have had! . . .
Yet you, too, all have had your dark adventures,
Your sudden adventures, or strange, or sweet . . .
My peril goes out from me, is blown among you.
We loiter, dreaming together, along the street.
V. RETROSPECT
Round white clouds roll slowly above the housetops,
Over the clear red roofs they flow and pass.
A flock of pigeons rises with blue wings flashing,
Rises with whistle of wings, hovers an instant,
And settles slowly again on the tarnished grass.
And one old man looks down from a dusty window
And sees the pigeons circling about the fountain
And desires once more to walk among those trees.
Lovers walk in the noontime by that fountain.
Pigeons dip their beaks to drink from the water.
And soon the pond must freeze.
The light wind blows to his ears a sound of laughter,
Young men shuffle their feet, loaf in the sunlight;
A girl's laugh rings like a silver bell.
But clearer than all these sounds is a sound he hears
More in his secret heart than in his ears,—
A hammer's steady crescendo, like a knell.
He hears the snarl of pineboards under the plane,
The rhythmic saw, and then the hammer again,—
Playing with delicate strokes that sombre scale . . .
And the fountain dwindles, the sunlight seems to pale.
Time is a dream, he thinks, a destroying dream;
It lays great cities in dust, it fills the seas;
It covers the face of beauty, and tumbles walls.
Where was the woman he loved? Where was his youth?
Where was the dream that burned his brain like fire?
Even a dream grows grey at last and falls.
He opened his book once more, beside the window,
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And read the printed words upon that page.
The sunlight touched his hand; his eyes moved slowly,
The quiet words enchanted time and age.
'Death is never an ending, death is a change;
Death is beautiful, for death is strange;
Death is one dream out of another flowing;
Death is a chorded music, softly going
By sweet transition from key to richer key.
Death is a meeting place of sea and sea.'
VI. ADELE AND DAVIS
She turned her head on the pillow, and cried once more.
And drawing a shaken breath, and closing her eyes,
To shut out, if she could, this dingy room,
The wigs and costumes scattered around the floor,—
Yellows and greens in the dark,—she walked again
Those nightmare streets which she had walked so often . . .
Here, at a certain corner, under an arc-lamp,
Blown by a bitter wind, she stopped and looked
In through the brilliant windows of a drug-store,
And wondered if she dared to ask for poison:
But it was late, few customers were there,
The eyes of all the clerks would freeze upon her,
And she would wilt, and cry . . . Here, by the river,
She listened to the water slapping the wall,
And felt queer fascination in its blackness:
But it was cold, the little waves looked cruel,
The stars were keen, and a windy dash of spray
Struck her cheek, and withered her veins . . . And so
She dragged herself once more to home, and bed.
Paul hadn't guessed it yet—though twice, already,
She'd fainted—once, the first time, on the stage.
So she must tell him soon—or else—get out . . .
How could she say it? That was the hideous thing.
She'd rather die than say it! . . . and all the trouble,
Months when she couldn't earn a cent, and then,
If he refused to marry her . . . well, what?
She saw him laughing, making a foolish joke,
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His grey eyes turning quickly; and the words
Fled from her tongue . . . She saw him sitting silent,
Brooding over his morning coffee, maybe,
And tried again . . . she bit her lips, and trembled,
And looked away, and said . . . 'Say Paul, boy,—listen—
There's something I must tell you . . . ' There she stopped,
Wondering what he'd say . . . What would he say?
'Spring it, kid! Don't look so serious!'
'But what I've got to say—IS—serious!'
Then she could see how, suddenly, he would sober,
His eyes would darken, he'd look so terrifying—
He always did—and what could she do but cry?
Perhaps, then, he would guess—perhaps he wouldn't.
And if he didn't, but asked her 'What's the matter?'—
She knew she'd never tell—just say she was sick . . .
And after that, when would she dare again?
And what would he do—even suppose she told him?
If it were Felix! If it were only Felix!—
She wouldn't mind so much. But as it was,
Bitterness choked her, she had half a mind
To pay out Felix for never having liked her,
By making people think that it was he . . .
She'd write a letter to someone, before she died,—
Just saying 'Felix did it—and wouldn't marry.'
And then she'd die . . . But that was hard on Paul . . .
Paul would never forgive her—he'd never forgive her!
Sometimes she almost thought Paul really loved her . . .
She saw him look reproachfully at her coffin.
And then she closed her eyes and walked again
Those nightmare streets that she had walked so often:
Under an arc-lamp swinging in the wind
She stood, and stared in through a drug-store window,
Watching a clerk wrap up a little pill-box.
But it was late. No customers were there,—
Pitiless eyes would freeze her secret in her!
And then—what poison would she dare to ask for?
And if they asked her why, what would she say?
VII. TWO LOVERS: OVERTONES
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Two lovers, here at the corner, by the steeple,
Two lovers blow together like music blowing:
And the crowd dissolves about them like a sea.
Recurring waves of sound break vaguely about them,
They drift from wall to wall, from tree to tree.
'Well, am I late?' Upward they look and laugh,
They look at the great clock's golden hands,
They laugh and talk, not knowing what they say:
Only, their words like music seem to play;
And seeming to walk, they tread strange sarabands.
'I brought you this . . . ' the soft words float like stars
Down the smooth heaven of her memory.
She stands again by a garden wall,
The peach tree is in bloom, pink blossoms fall,
Water sings from an opened tap, the bees
Glisten and murmur among the trees.
Someone calls from the house. She does not answer.
Backward she leans her head,
And dreamily smiles at the peach-tree leaves, wherethrough
She sees an infinite May sky spread
A vault profoundly blue.
The voice from the house fades far away,
The glistening leaves more vaguely ripple and sway . .
The tap is closed, the water ceases to hiss . . .
Silence . . . blue sky . . . and then, 'I brought you this . . . '
She turns again, and smiles . . . He does not know
She smiles from long ago . . .
She turns to him and smiles . . . Sunlight above him
Roars like a vast invisible sea,
Gold is beaten before him, shrill bells of silver;
He is released of weight, his body is free,
He lifts his arms to swim,
Dark years like sinister tides coil under him . . .
The lazy sea-waves crumble along the beach
With a whirring sound like wind in bells,
He lies outstretched on the yellow wind-worn sands
Reaching his lazy hands
Among the golden grains and sea-white shells . . .
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'One white rose . . . or is it pink, to-day?'
They pause and smile, not caring what they say,
If only they may talk.
The crowd flows past them like dividing waters.
Dreaming they stand, dreaming they walk.
'Pink,—to-day!'—Face turns to dream-bright face,
Green leaves rise round them, sunshine settles upon them,
Water, in drops of silver, falls from the rose.
She smiles at a face that smiles through leaves from the mirror.
She breathes the fragrance; her dark eyes close . . .
Time is dissolved, it blows like a little dust:
Time, like a flurry of rain,
Patters and passes, starring the window-pane.
Once, long ago, one night,
She saw the lightning, with long blue quiver of light,
Ripping the darkness . . . and as she turned in terror
A soft face leaned above her, leaned softly down,
Softly around her a breath of roses was blown,
She sank in waves of quiet, she seemed to float
In a sea of silence . . . and soft steps grew remote . .
'Well, let us walk in the park . . . The sun is warm,
We'll sit on a bench and talk . . .' They turn and glide,
The crowd of faces wavers and breaks and flows.
'Look how the oak-tops turn to gold in the sunlight!
Look how the tower is changed and glows!'
Two lovers move in the crowd like a link of music,
We press upon them, we hold them, and let them pass;
A chord of music strikes us and straight we tremble;
We tremble like wind-blown grass.
What was this dream we had, a dream of music,
Music that rose from the opening earth like magic
And shook its beauty upon us and died away?
The long cold streets extend once more before us.
The red sun drops, the walls grow grey.
VIII. THE BOX WITH SILVER HANDLES
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Well,—it was two days after my husband died—
Two days! And the earth still raw above him.
And I was sweeping the carpet in their hall.
In number four—the room with the red wall-paper—
Some chorus girls and men were singing that song
'They'll soon be lighting candles
Round a box with silver handles'—and hearing them sing it
I started to cry. Just then he came along
And stopped on the stairs and turned and looked at me,
And took the cigar from his mouth and sort of smiled
And said, 'Say, what's the matter?' and then came down
Where I was leaning against the wall,
And touched my shoulder, and put his arm around me . . .
And I was so sad, thinking about it,—
Thinking that it was raining, and a cold night,
With Jim so unaccustomed to being dead,—
That I was happy to have him sympathize,
To feel his arm, and leaned against him and cried.
And before I knew it, he got me into a room
Where a table was set, and no one there,
And sat me down on a sofa, and held me close,
And talked to me, telling me not to cry,
That it was all right, he'd look after me,—
But not to cry, my eyes were getting red,
Which didn't make me pretty. And he was so nice,
That when he turned my face between his hands,
And looked at me, with those blue eyes of his,
And smiled, and leaned, and kissed me—
Somehow I couldn't tell him not to do it,
Somehow I didn't mind, I let him kiss me,
And closed my eyes! . . . Well, that was how it started.
For when my heart was eased with crying, and grief
Had passed and left me quiet, somehow it seemed
As if it wasn't honest to change my mind,
To send him away, or say I hadn't meant it—
And, anyway, it seemed so hard to explain!
And so we sat and talked, not talking much,
But meaning as much in silence as in words,
There in that empty room with palms about us,
That private dining-room . . . And as we sat there
I felt my future changing, day by day,
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With unknown streets opening left and right,
New streets with farther lights, new taller houses,
Doors swinging into hallways filled with light,
Half-opened luminous windows, with white curtains
Streaming out in the night, and sudden music,—
And thinking of this, and through it half remembering
A quick and horrible death, my husband's eyes,
The broken-plastered walls, my boy asleep,—
It seemed as if my brain would break in two.
My voice began to tremble . . . and when I stood,
And told him I must go, and said good-night—
I couldn't see the end. How would it end?
Would he return to-morrow? Or would he not?
And did I want him to—or would I rather
Look for another job?—He took my shoulders
Between his hands, and looked down into my eyes,
And smiled, and said good-night. If he had kissed me,
That would have—well, I don't know; but he didn't . .
And so I went downstairs, then, half elated,
Hoping to close the door before that party
In number four should sing that song again—
'They'll soon be lighting candles round a box with silver handles'—
And sure enough, I did. I faced the darkness.
And my eyes were filled with tears. And I was happy.
IX. INTERLUDE
The days, the nights, flow one by one above us,
The hours go silently over our lifted faces,
We are like dreamers who walk beneath a sea.
Beneath high walls we flow in the sun together.
We sleep, we wake, we laugh, we pursue, we flee.
We sit at tables and sip our morning coffee,
We read the papers for tales of lust or crime.
The door swings shut behind the latest comer.
We set our watches, regard the time.
What have we done? I close my eyes, remember
The great machine whose sinister brain before me
Smote and smote with a rhythmic beat.
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My hands have torn down walls, the stone and plaster.
I dropped great beams to the dusty street.
My eyes are worn with measuring cloths of purple,
And golden cloths, and wavering cloths, and pale.
I dream of a crowd of faces, white with menace.
Hands reach up to tear me. My brain will fail.
Here, where the walls go down beneath our picks,
These walls whose windows gap against the sky,
Atom by atom of flesh and brain and marble
Will build a glittering tower before we die . . .
The young boy whistles, hurrying down the street,
The young girl hums beneath her breath.
One goes out to beauty, and does not know it.
And one goes out to death.
X. SUDDEN DEATH
'Number four—the girl who died on the table—
The girl with golden hair—'
The purpling body lies on the polished marble.
We open the throat, and lay the thyroid bare . . .
One, who held the ether-cone, remembers
Her dark blue frightened eyes.
He heard the sharp breath quiver, and saw her breast
More hurriedly fall and rise.
Her hands made futile gestures, she turned her head
Fighting for breath; her cheeks were flushed to scarlet,—
And, suddenly, she lay dead.
And all the dreams that hurried along her veins
Came to the darkness of a sudden wall.
Confusion ran among them, they whirled and clamored,
They fell, they rose, they struck, they shouted,
Till at last a pallor of silence hushed them all.
What was her name? Where had she walked that morning?
Through what dark forest came her feet?
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Along what sunlit walls, what peopled street?
Backward he dreamed along a chain of days,
He saw her go her strange and secret ways,
Waking and sleeping, noon and night.
She sat by a mirror, braiding her golden hair.
She read a story by candlelight.
Her shadow ran before her along the street,
She walked with rhythmic feet,
Turned a corner, descended a stair.
She bought a paper, held it to scan the headlines,
Smiled for a moment at sea-gulls high in sunlight,
And drew deep breaths of air.
Days passed, bright clouds of days. Nights passed. And music
Murmured within the walls of lighted windows.
She lifted her face to the light and danced.
The dancers wreathed and grouped in moving patterns,
Clustered, receded, streamed, advanced.
Her dress was purple, her slippers were golden,
Her eyes were blue; and a purple orchid
Opened its golden heart on her breast . . .
She leaned to the surly languor of lazy music,
Leaned on her partner's arm to rest.
The violins were weaving a weft of silver,
The horns were weaving a lustrous brede of gold,
And time was caught in a glistening pattern,
Time, too elusive to hold . . .
Shadows of leaves fell over her face,—and sunlight:
She turned her face away.
Nearer she moved to a crouching darkness
With every step and day.
Death, who at first had thought of her only an instant,
At a great distance, across the night,
Smiled from a window upon her, and followed her slowly
From purple light to light.
Once, in her dreams, he spoke out clearly, crying,
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'I am the murderer, death.
I am the lover who keeps his appointment
At the doors of breath!'
She rose and stared at her own reflection,
Half dreading there to find
The dark-eyed ghost, waiting beside her,
Or reaching from behind
To lay pale hands upon her shoulders . . .
Or was this in her mind? . . .
She combed her hair. The sunlight glimmered
Along the tossing strands.
Was there a stillness in this hair,—
A quiet in these hands?
Death was a dream. It could not change these eyes,
Blow out their light, or turn this mouth to dust.
She combed her hair and sang. She would live forever.
Leaves flew past her window along a gust . . .
And graves were dug in the earth, and coffins passed,
And music ebbed with the ebbing hours.
And dreams went along her veins, and scattering clouds
Threw streaming shadows on walls and towers.
XI.
Snow falls. The sky is grey, and sullenly glares
With purple lights in the canyoned street.
The fiery sign on the dark tower wreathes and flares . . .
The trodden grass in the park is covered with white,
The streets grow silent beneath our feet . . .
The city dreams, it forgets its past to-night.
And one, from his high bright window looking down
Over the enchanted whiteness of the town,
Seeing through whirls of white the vague grey towers,
Desires like this to forget what will not pass,
The littered papers, the dust, the tarnished grass,
Grey death, stale ugliness, and sodden hours.
Deep in his heart old bells are beaten again,
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Slurred bells of grief and pain,
Dull echoes of hideous times and poisonous places.
He desires to drown in a cold white peace of snow.
He desires to forget a million faces . . .
In one room breathes a woman who dies of hunger.
The clock ticks slowly and stops. And no one winds it.
In one room fade grey violets in a vase.
Snow flakes faintly hiss and melt on the window.
In one room, minute by minute, the flutist plays
The lamplit page of music, the tireless scales.
His hands are trembling, his short breath fails.
In one room, silently, lover looks upon lover,
And thinks the air is fire.
The drunkard swears and touches the harlot's heartstrings
With the sudden hand of desire.
And
And
And
And
one goes late in the streets, and thinks of murder;
one lies staring, and thinks of death.
one, who has suffered, clenches her hands despairing,
holds her breath . . .
Who are all these, who flow in the veins of the city,
Coil and revolve and dream,
Vanish or gleam?
Some mount up to the brain and flower in fire.
Some are destroyed; some die; some slowly stream.
And
And
And
And
And
the new are born who desire to destroy the old;
fires are kindled and quenched; and dreams are broken,
walls flung down . . .
the slow night whirls in snow over towers of dreamers,
whiteness hushes the town.
PART III
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As evening falls,
And the yellow lights leap one by one
Along high walls;
And along black streets that glisten as if with rain,
The muted city seems
Like one in a restless sleep, who lies and dreams
Of vague desires, and memories, and half-forgotten pain . . .
Along dark veins, like lights the quick dreams run,
Flash, are extinguished, flash again,
To mingle and glow at last in the enormous brain
And die away . . .
As evening falls,
A dream dissolves these insubstantial walls,—
A myriad secretly gliding lights lie bare . . .
The lovers rise, the harlot combs her hair,
The dead man's face grows blue in the dizzy lamplight,
The watchman climbs the stair . . .
The bank defaulter leers at a chaos of figures,
And runs among them, and is beaten down;
The sick man coughs and hears the chisels ringing;
The tired clown
Sees the enormous crowd, a million faces,
Motionless in their places,
Ready to laugh, and seize, and crush and tear . . .
The dancer smooths her hair,
Laces her golden slippers, and runs through the door
To dance once more,
Hearing swift music like an enchantment rise,
Feeling the praise of a thousand eyes.
As darkness falls
The walls grow luminous and warm, the walls
Tremble and glow with the lives within them moving,
Moving like music, secret and rich and warm.
How shall we live tonight? Where shall we turn?
To what new light or darkness yearn?
A thousand winding stairs lead down before us;
And one by one in myriads we descend
By lamplit flowered walls, long balustrades,
Through half-lit halls which reach no end.
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II. THE SCREEN MAIDEN
You read—what is it, then that you are reading?
What music moves so silently in your mind?
Your bright hand turns the page.
I watch you from my window, unsuspected:
You move in an alien land, a silent age . . .
. . . The poet—what was his name—? Tokkei—Tokkei—
The poet walked alone in a cold late rain,
And thought his grief was like the crying of sea-birds;
For his lover was dead, he never would love again.
Rain in the dreams of the mind—rain forever—
Rain in the sky of the heart—rain in the willows—
But then he saw this face, this face like flame,
This quiet lady, this portrait by Hiroshigi;
And took it home with him; and with it came
What unexpected changes, subtle as weather!
The dark room, cold as rain,
Grew faintly fragrant, stirred with a stir of April,
Warmed its corners with light again,
And smoke of incense whirled about this portrait,
And the quiet lady there,
So young, so quietly smiling, with calm hands,
Seemed ready to loose her hair,
And smile, and lean from the picture, or say one word,
The word already clear,
Which seemed to rise like light between her eyelids . .
He held his breath to hear,
And smiled for shame, and drank a cup of wine,
And held a candle, and searched her face
Through all the little shadows, to see what secret
Might give so warm a grace . . .
Was it the quiet mouth, restrained a little?
The eyes, half-turned aside?
The jade ring on her wrist, still almost swinging? . . .
190
The secret was denied,
He chose his favorite pen and drew these verses,
And slept; and as he slept
A dream came into his heart, his lover entered,
And chided him, and wept.
And in the morning, waking, he remembered,
And thought the dream was strange.
Why did his darkened lover rise from the garden?
He turned, and felt a change,
As if a someone hidden smiled and watched him . . .
Yet there was only sunlight there.
Until he saw those young eyes, quietly smiling,
And held his breath to stare,
And could have sworn her cheek had turned—a little . . .
Had slightly turned away . . .
Sunlight dozed on the floor . . . He sat and wondered,
Nor left his room that day.
And that day, and for many days thereafter,
He sat alone, and thought
No lady had ever lived so beautiful
As Hiroshigi wrought . . .
Or if she lived, no matter in what country,
By what far river or hill or lonely sea,
He would look in every face until he found her . . .
There was no other as fair as she.
And before her quiet face he burned soft incense,
And brought her every day
Boughs of the peach, or almond, or snow-white cherry,
And somehow, she seemed to say,
That silent lady, young, and quietly smiling,
That she was happy there;
And sometimes, seeing this, he started to tremble,
And desired to touch her hair,
191
To lay his palm along her hand, touch faintly
With delicate finger-tips
The ghostly smile that seemed to hover and vanish
Upon her lips . . .
Until he knew he loved this quiet lady;
And night by night a dread
Leered at his dreams, for he knew that Hiroshigi
Was many centuries dead,—
And the lady, too, was dead, and all who knew her . .
Dead, and long turned to dust . . .
The thin moon waxed and waned, and left him paler,
The peach leaves flew in a gust,
And he would surely have died; but there one day
A wise man, white with age,
Stared at the portrait, and said, 'This Hiroshigi
Knew more than archimage,—
Cunningly drew the body, and called the spirit,
Till partly it entered there . . .
Sometimes, at death, it entered the portrait wholly . .
Do all I say with care,
And she you love may come to you when you call her . . . '
So then this ghost, Tokkei,
Ran in the sun, bought wine of a hundred merchants,
And alone at the end of day
Entered the darkening room, and faced the portrait,
And saw the quiet eyes
Gleaming and young in the dusk, and held the wine-cup,
And knelt, and did not rise,
And said, aloud, 'Lo-san, will you drink this wine?'
Said it three times aloud.
And at the third the faint blue smoke of incense
Rose to the walls in a cloud,
And the lips moved faintly, and the eyes, and the calm hands stirred;
And suddenly, with a sigh,
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The quiet lady came slowly down from the portrait,
And stood, while worlds went by,
And lifted her young white hands and took the wine cup;
And the poet trembled, and said,
'Lo-san, will you stay forever?'—'Yes, I will stay.'—
'But what when I am dead?'
'When you are dead your spirit will find my spirit,
And then we shall die no more.'
Music came down upon them, and spring returning,
They remembered worlds before,
And years went over the earth, and over the sea,
And lovers were born and spoke and died,
But forever in sunlight went these two immortal,
Tokkei and the quiet bride . . .
III. HAUNTED CHAMBERS
The lamplit page is turned, the dream forgotten;
The music changes tone, you wake, remember
Deep worlds you lived before,—deep worlds hereafter
Of leaf on falling leaf, music on music,
Rain and sorrow and wind and dust and laughter.
Helen was late and Miriam came too soon.
Joseph was dead, his wife and children starving.
Elaine was married and soon to have a child.
You dreamed last night of fiddler-crabs with fiddles;
They played a buzzing melody, and you smiled.
To-morrow—what? And what of yesterday?
Through soundless labyrinths of dream you pass,
Through many doors to the one door of all.
Soon as it's opened we shall hear a music:
Or see a skeleton fall . . .
We walk with you. Where is it that you lead us?
We climb the muffled stairs beneath high lanterns.
We descend again. We grope through darkened cells.
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You say: this darkness, here, will slowly kill me.
It creeps and weighs upon me . . . Is full of bells.
This is the thing remembered I would forget—
No matter where I go, how soft I tread,
This windy gesture menaces me with death.
Fatigue! it says, and points its finger at me;
Touches my throat and stops my breath.
My fans—my jewels—the portrait of my husband—
The torn certificate for my daughter's grave—
These are but mortal seconds in immortal time.
They brush me, fade away: like drops of water.
They signify no crime.
Let us retrace our steps: I have deceived you:
Nothing is here I could not frankly tell you:
No hint of guilt, or faithlessness, or threat.
Dreams—they are madness. Staring eyes—illusion.
Let us return, hear music, and forget . . .
IV. ILLICIT
Of what she said to me that night—no matter.
The strange thing came next day.
My brain was full of music—something she played me—;
I couldn't remember it all, but phrases of it
Wreathed and wreathed among faint memories,
Seeking for something, trying to tell me something,
Urging to restlessness: verging on grief.
I tried to play the tune, from memory,—
But memory failed: the chords and discords climbed
And found no resolution—only hung there,
And left me morbid . . . Where, then, had I heard it? . . .
What secret dusty chamber was it hinting?
'Dust', it said, 'dust . . . and dust . . . and sunlight . .
A cold clear April evening . . . snow, bedraggled,
Rain-worn snow, dappling the hideous grass . . .
And someone walking alone; and someone saying
That all must end, for the time had come to go . . . '
These were the phrases . . . but behind, beneath them
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A greater shadow moved: and in this shadow
I stood and guessed . . . Was it the blue-eyed lady?
The one who always danced in golden slippers—
And had I danced with her,—upon this music?
Or was it further back—the unplumbed twilight
Of childhood?—No—much recenter than that.
You know, without my telling you, how sometimes
A word or name eludes you, and you seek it
Through running ghosts of shadow,—leaping at it,
Lying in wait for it to spring upon it,
Spreading faint snares for it of sense or sound:
Until, of a sudden, as if in a phantom forest,
You hear it, see it flash among the branches,
And scarcely knowing how, suddenly have it—
Well, it was so I followed down this music,
Glimpsing a face in darkness, hearing a cry,
Remembering days forgotten, moods exhausted,
Corners in sunlight, puddles reflecting stars—;
Until, of a sudden, and least of all suspected,
The thing resolved itself: and I remembered
An April afternoon, eight years ago—
Or was it nine?—no matter—call it nine—
A room in which the last of sunlight faded;
A vase of violets, fragrance in white curtains;
And, she who played the same thing later, playing.
She played this tune. And in the middle of it
Abruptly broke it off, letting her hands
Fall in her lap. She sat there so a moment,
With shoulders drooped, then lifted up a rose,
One great white rose, wide opened like a lotos,
And pressed it to her cheek, and closed her eyes.
'You know—we've got to end this—Miriam loves you . . .
If she should ever know, or even guess it,—
What would she do?—Listen!—I'm not absurd . . .
I'm sure of it. If you had eyes, for women—
To understand them—which you've never had—
You'd know it too . . . ' So went this colloquy,
Half humorous, with undertones of pathos,
Half grave, half flippant . . . while her fingers, softly,
195
Felt for this tune, played it and let it fall,
Now note by singing note, now chord by chord,
Repeating phrases with a kind of pleasure . . .
Was it symbolic of the woman's weakness
That she could neither break it—nor conclude?
It paused . . . and wandered . . . paused again; while she,
Perplexed and tired, half told me I must go,—
Half asked me if I thought I ought to go . . .
Well, April passed with many other evenings,
Evenings like this, with later suns and warmer,
With violets always there, and fragrant curtains . . .
And she was right: and Miriam found it out . . .
And after that, when eight deep years had passed—
Or nine—we met once more,—by accident . . .
But was it just by accident, I wonder,
She played this tune?—Or what, then, was intended? . . .
V. MELODY IN A RESTAURANT
The cigarette-smoke loops and slides above us,
Dipping and swirling as the waiter passes;
You strike a match and stare upon the flame.
The tiny fire leaps in your eyes a moment,
And dwindles away as silently as it came.
This melody, you say, has certain voices—
They rise like nereids from a river, singing,
Lift white faces, and dive to darkness again.
Wherever you go you bear this river with you:
A leaf falls,—and it flows, and you have pain.
So says the tune to you—but what to me?
What to the waiter, as he pours your coffee,
The violinist who suavely draws his bow?
That man, who folds his paper, overhears it.
A thousand dreams revolve and fall and flow.
Some one there is who sees a virgin stepping
Down marble stairs to a deep tomb of roses:
At the last moment she lifts remembering eyes.
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Green leaves blow down. The place is checked with shadows.
A long-drawn murmur of rain goes down the skies.
And oaks are stripped and bare, and smoke with lightning:
And clouds are blown and torn upon high forests,
And the great sea shakes its walls.
And then falls silence . . . And through long silence falls
This melody once more:
'Down endless stairs she goes, as once before.'
So says the tune to him—but what to me?
What are the worlds I see?
What shapes fantastic, terrible dreams? . . .
I go my secret way, down secret alleys;
My errand is not so simple as it seems.
VI. PORTRAIT OF ONE DEAD
This is the house. On one side there is darkness,
On one side there is light.
Into the darkness you may lift your lanterns—
O, any number—it will still be night.
And here are echoing stairs to lead you downward
To long sonorous halls.
And here is spring forever at these windows,
With roses on the walls.
This is her room. On one side there is music—
On one side not a sound.
At one step she could move from love to silence,
Feel myriad darkness coiling round.
And here are balconies from which she heard you,
Your steady footsteps on the stair.
And here the glass in which she saw your shadow
As she unbound her hair.
Here is the room—with ghostly walls dissolving—
The twilight room in which she called you 'lover';
And the floorless room in which she called you 'friend.'
So many times, in doubt, she ran between them!—
Through windy corridors of darkening end.
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Here she could stand with one dim light above her
And hear far music, like a sea in caverns,
Murmur away at hollowed walls of stone.
And here, in a roofless room where it was raining,
She bore the patient sorrow of rain alone.
Your words were walls which suddenly froze around her.
Your words were windows,—large enough for moonlight,
Too small to let her through.
Your letters—fragrant cloisters faint with music.
The music that assuaged her there was you.
How many times she heard your step ascending
Yet never saw your face!
She heard them turn again, ring slowly fainter,
Till silence swept the place.
Why had you gone? . . . The door, perhaps, mistaken . . .
You would go elsewhere. The deep walls were shaken.
A certain rose-leaf—sent without intention—
Became, with time, a woven web of fire—
She wore it, and was warm.
A certain hurried glance, let fall at parting,
Became, with time, the flashings of a storm.
Yet, there was nothing asked, no hint to tell you
Of secret idols carved in secret chambers
From all you did and said.
Nothing was done, until at last she knew you.
Nothing was known, till, somehow, she was dead.
How did she die?—You say, she died of poison.
Simple and swift. And much to be regretted.
You did not see her pass
So many thousand times from light to darkness,
Pausing so many times before her glass;
You did not see how many times she hurried
To lean from certain windows, vainly hoping,
Passionate still for beauty, remembered spring.
You did not know how long she clung to music,
You did not hear her sing.
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Did she, then, make the choice, and step out bravely
From sound to silence—close, herself, those windows?
Or was it true, instead,
That darkness moved,—for once,—and so possessed her? . . .
We'll never know, you say, for she is dead.
VII. PORCELAIN
You see that porcelain ranged there in the window—
Platters and soup-plates done with pale pink rosebuds,
And tiny violets, and wreaths of ivy?
See how the pattern clings to the gleaming edges!
They're works of art—minutely seen and felt,
Each petal done devoutly. Is it failure
To spend your blood like this?
Study them . . . you will see there, in the porcelain,
If you stare hard enough, a sort of swimming
Of lights and shadows, ghosts within a crystal—
My brain unfolding! There you'll see me sitting
Day after day, close to a certain window,
Looking down, sometimes, to see the people . . .
Sometimes my wife comes there to speak to me . . .
Sometimes the grey cat waves his tail around me . . .
Goldfish swim in a bowl, glisten in sunlight,
Dilate to a gorgeous size, blow delicate bubbles,
Drowse among dark green weeds. On rainy days,
You'll see a gas-light shedding light behind me—
An eye-shade round my forehead. There I sit,
Twirling the tiny brushes in my paint-cups,
Painting the pale pink rosebuds, minute violets,
Exquisite wreaths of dark green ivy leaves.
On this leaf, goes a dream I dreamed last night
Of two soft-patterned toads—I thought them stones,
Until they hopped! And then a great black spider,—
Tarantula, perhaps, a hideous thing,—
It crossed the room in one tremendous leap.
Here,—as I coil the stems between two leaves,—
It is as if, dwindling to atomy size,
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I cried the secret between two universes . . .
A friend of mine took hasheesh once, and said
Just as he fell asleep he had a dream,—
Though with his eyes wide open,—
And felt, or saw, or knew himself a part
Of marvelous slowly-wreathing intricate patterns,
Plane upon plane, depth upon coiling depth,
Amazing leaves, folding one on another,
Voluted grasses, twists and curves and spirals—
All of it darkly moving . . . as for me,
I need no hasheesh for it—it's too easy!
Soon as I shut my eyes I set out walking
In a monstrous jungle of monstrous pale pink roseleaves,
Violets purple as death, dripping with water,
And ivy-leaves as big as clouds above me.
Here, in a simple pattern of separate violets—
With scalloped edges gilded—here you have me
Thinking of something else. My wife, you know,—
There's something lacking—force, or will, or passion,
I don't know what it is—and so, sometimes,
When I am tired, or haven't slept three nights,
Or it is cloudy, with low threat of rain,
I get uneasy—just like poplar trees
Ruffling their leaves—and I begin to think
Of poor Pauline, so many years ago,
And that delicious night. Where is she now?
I meant to write—but she has moved, by this time,
And then, besides, she might find out I'm married.
Well, there is more—I'm getting old and timid—
The years have gnawed my will. I've lost my nerve!
I never strike out boldly as I used to—
But sit here, painting violets, and remember
That thrilling night. Photographers, she said,
Asked her to pose for them; her eyes and forehead,—
Dark brown eyes, and a smooth and pallid forehead,—
Were thought so beautiful.—And so they were.
Pauline . . . These violets are like words remembered . . .
Darling! she whispered . . . Darling! . . . Darling! . . . Darling!
Well, I suppose such days can come but once.
Lord, how happy we were! . . .
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Here, if you only knew it, is a story—
Here, in these leaves. I stopped my work to tell it,
And then, when I had finished, went on thinking:
A man I saw on a train . . . I was still a boy . . .
Who killed himself by diving against a wall.
Here is a recollection of my wife,
When she was still my sweetheart, years ago.
It's funny how things change,—just change, by growing,
Without an effort . . . And here are trivial things,—
A chill, an errand forgotten, a cut while shaving;
A friend of mine who tells me he is married . . .
Or is that last so trivial? Well, no matter!
This is the sort of thing you'll see of me,
If you look hard enough. This, in its way,
Is a kind of fame. My life arranged before you
In scrolls of leaves, rosebuds, violets, ivy,
Clustered or wreathed on plate and cup and platter . . .
Sometimes, I say, I'm just like John the Baptist—
You have my head before you . . . on a platter.
VIII. COFFINS: INTERLUDE
Wind blows. Snow falls. The great clock in its tower
Ticks with reverberant coil and tolls the hour:
At the deep sudden stroke the pigeons fly . . .
The fine snow flutes the cracks between the flagstones.
We close our coats, and hurry, and search the sky.
We are like music, each voice of it pursuing
A golden separate dream, remote, persistent,
Climbing to fire, receding to hoarse despair.
What do you whisper, brother? What do you tell me? . . .
We pass each other, are lost, and do not care.
One mounts up to beauty, serenely singing,
Forgetful of the steps that cry behind him;
One drifts slowly down from a waking dream.
One, foreseeing, lingers forever unmoving . . .
Upward and downward, past him there, we stream.
201
One has death in his eyes: and walks more slowly.
Death, among jonquils, told him a freezing secret.
A cloud blows over his eyes, he ponders earth.
He sees in the world a forest of sunlit jonquils:
A slow black poison huddles beneath that mirth.
Death, from street to alley, from door to window,
Cries out his news,—of unplumbed worlds approaching,
Of a cloud of darkness soon to destroy the tower.
But why comes death,—he asks,—in a world so perfect?
Or why the minute's grey in the golden hour?
Music, a sudden glissando, sinister, troubled,
A drift of wind-torn petals, before him passes
Down jangled streets, and dies.
The bodies of old and young, of maimed and lovely,
Are slowly borne to earth, with a dirge of cries.
Down cobbled streets they come; down huddled stairways;
Through silent halls; through carven golden doorways;
From freezing rooms as bare as rock.
The curtains are closed across deserted windows.
Earth streams out of the shovel; the pebbles knock.
Mary, whose hands rejoiced to move in sunlight;
Silent Elaine; grave Anne, who sang so clearly;
Fugitive Helen, who loved and walked alone;
Miriam too soon dead, darkly remembered;
Childless Ruth, who sorrowed, but could not atone;
Jean, whose laughter flashed over depths of terror,
And Eloise, who desired to love but dared not;
Doris, who turned alone to the dark and cried,—
They are blown away like windflung chords of music,
They drift away; the sudden music has died.
And one, with death in his eyes, comes walking slowly
And sees the shadow of death in many faces,
And thinks the world is strange.
He desires immortal music and spring forever,
And beauty that knows no change.
202
IX. CABARET
We sit together and talk, or smoke in silence.
You say (but use no words) 'this night is passing
As other nights when we are dead will pass . . .'
Perhaps I misconstrue you: you mean only,
'How deathly pale my face looks in that glass . . .'
You say: 'We sit and talk, of things important . . .
How many others like ourselves, this instant,
Mark the pendulum swinging against the wall?
How many others, laughing, sip their coffee—
Or stare at mirrors, and do not talk at all? . . .
'This is the moment' (so you would say, in silence)
When suddenly we have had too much of laughter:
And a freezing stillness falls, no word to say.
Our mouths feel foolish . . . For all the days hereafter
What have we saved—what news, what tune, what play?
'We see each other as vain and futile tricksters,—
Posturing like bald apes before a mirror;
No pity dims our eyes . . .
How many others, like ourselves, this instant,
See how the great world wizens, and are wise? . . .'
Well, you are right . . . No doubt, they fall, these seconds . . .
When suddenly all's distempered, vacuous, ugly,
And even those most like angels creep for schemes.
The one you love leans forward, smiles, deceives you,
Opens a door through which you see dark dreams.
But this is momentary . . . or else, enduring,
Leads you with devious eyes through mists and poisons
To horrible chaos, or suicide, or crime . . .
And all these others who at your conjuration
Grow pale, feeling the skeleton touch of time,—
Or, laughing sadly, talk of things important,
Or stare at mirrors, startled to see their faces,
Or drown in the waveless vacuum of their days,—
203
Suddenly, as from sleep, awake, forgetting
This nauseous dream; take up their accustomed ways,
Exhume the ghost of a joke, renew loud laughter,
Forget the moles above their sweethearts' eyebrows,
Lean to the music, rise,
And dance once more in a rose-festooned illusion
With kindness in their eyes . . .
They say (as we ourselves have said, remember)
'What wizardry this slow waltz works upon us!
And how it brings to mind forgotten things!'
They say 'How strange it is that one such evening
Can wake vague memories of so many springs!'
And so they go . . . In a thousand crowded places,
They sit to smile and talk, or rise to ragtime,
And, for their pleasures, agree or disagree.
With secret symbols they play on secret passions.
With cunning eyes they see
The innocent word that sets remembrance trembling,
The dubious word that sets the scared heart beating . . .
The pendulum on the wall
Shakes down seconds . . . They laugh at time, dissembling;
Or coil for a victim and do not talk at all.
X. LETTER
From time to time, lifting his eyes, he sees
The soft blue starlight through the one small window,
The moon above black trees, and clouds, and Venus,—
And turns to write . . . The clock, behind ticks softly.
It is so long, indeed, since I have written,—
Two years, almost, your last is turning yellow,—
That these first words I write seem cold and strange.
Are you the man I knew, or have you altered?
Altered, of course—just as I too have altered—
And whether towards each other, or more apart,
We cannot say . . . I've just re-read your letter—
204
Not through forgetfulness, but more for pleasure—
Pondering much on all you say in it
Of mystic consciousness—divine conversion—
The sense of oneness with the infinite,—
Faith in the world, its beauty, and its purpose . . .
Well, you believe one must have faith, in some sort,
If one's to talk through this dark world contented.
But is the world so dark? Or is it rather
Our own brute minds,—in which we hurry, trembling,
Through streets as yet unlighted? This, I think.
You have been always, let me say, "romantic,"—
Eager for color, for beauty, soon discontented
With a world of dust and stones and flesh too ailing:
Even before the question grew to problem
And drove you bickering into metaphysics,
You met on lower planes the same great dragon,
Seeking release, some fleeting satisfaction,
In strange aesthetics . . . You tried, as I remember,
One after one, strange cults, and some, too, morbid,
The cruder first, more violent sensations,
Gorgeously carnal things, conceived and acted
With splendid animal thirst . . . Then, by degrees,—
Savoring all more delicate gradations
In all that hue and tone may play on flesh,
Or thought on brain,—you passed, if I may say so,
From red and scarlet through morbid greens to mauve.
Let us regard ourselves, you used to say,
As instruments of music, whereon our lives
Will play as we desire: and let us yield
These subtle bodies and subtler brains and nerves
To all experience plays . . . And so you went
From subtle tune to subtler, each heard once,
Twice or thrice at the most, tiring of each;
And closing one by one your doors, drew in
Slowly, through darkening labyrinths of feeling,
Towards the central chamber . . . Which now you've reached.
What, then's, the secret of this ultimate chamber—
Or innermost, rather? If I see it clearly
205
It is the last, and cunningest, resort
Of one who has found this world of dust and flesh,—
This world of lamentations, death, injustice,
~ Conrad Potter Aiken,
461:Beowulf
LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he throve,
till before him the folk, both far and near,
who house by the whale-path, heard his mandate,
gave him gifts: a good king he!
To him an heir was afterward born,
a son in his halls, whom heaven sent
to favor the folk, feeling their woe
that erst they had lacked an earl for leader
so long a while; the Lord endowed him,
the Wielder of Wonder, with world's renown.
Famed was this Beowulf: far flew the boast of him,
son of Scyld, in the Scandian lands.
So becomes it a youth to quit him well
with his father's friends, by fee and gift,
that to aid him, aged, in after days,
come warriors willing, should war draw nigh,
liegemen loyal: by lauded deeds
shall an earl have honor in every clan.
Forth he fared at the fated moment,
sturdy Scyld to the shelter of God.
Then they bore him over to ocean's billow,
loving clansmen, as late he charged them,
while wielded words the winsome Scyld,
the leader beloved who long had ruled….
In the roadstead rocked a ring-dight vessel,
ice-flecked, outbound, atheling's barge:
there laid they down their darling lord
on the breast of the boat, the breaker-of-rings,
by the mast the mighty one. Many a treasure
fetched from far was freighted with him.
No ship have I known so nobly dight
with weapons of war and weeds of battle,
47
with breastplate and blade: on his bosom lay
a heaped hoard that hence should go
far o'er the flood with him floating away.
No less these loaded the lordly gifts,
thanes' huge treasure, than those had done
who in former time forth had sent him
sole on the seas, a suckling child.
High o'er his head they hoist the standard,
a gold-wove banner; let billows take him,
gave him to ocean. Grave were their spirits,
mournful their mood. No man is able
to say in sooth, no son of the halls,
no hero 'neath heaven, - who harbored that freight!
Now Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings,
leader beloved, and long he ruled
in fame with all folk, since his father had gone
away from the world, till awoke an heir,
haughty Healfdene, who held through life,
sage and sturdy, the Scyldings glad.
Then, one after one, there woke to him,
to the chieftain of clansmen, children four:
Heorogar, then Hrothgar, then Halga brave;
and I heard that - was -'s queen,
the Heathoscylfing's helpmate dear.
To Hrothgar was given such glory of war,
such honor of combat, that all his kin
obeyed him gladly till great grew his band
of youthful comrades. It came in his mind
to bid his henchmen a hall uprear,
a master mead-house, mightier far
than ever was seen by the sons of earth,
and within it, then, to old and young
he would all allot that the Lord had sent him,
save only the land and the lives of his men.
Wide, I heard, was the work commanded,
for many a tribe this mid-earth round,
to fashion the folkstead. It fell, as he ordered,
in rapid achievement that ready it stood there,
of halls the noblest: Heorot [1] he named it
whose message had might in many a land.
48
Not reckless of promise, the rings he dealt,
treasure at banquet: there towered the hall,
high, gabled wide, the hot surge waiting
of furious flame. [2] Nor far was that day
when father and son-in-law stood in feud
for warfare and hatred that woke again.
With envy and anger an evil spirit
endured the dole in his dark abode,
that he heard each day the din of revel
high in the hall: there harps rang out,
clear song of the singer. He sang who knew
tales of the early time of man,
how the Almighty made the earth,
fairest fields enfolded by water,
set, triumphant, sun and moon
for a light to lighten the land-dwellers,
and braided bright the breast of earth
with limbs and leaves, made life for all
of mortal beings that breathe and move.
So lived the clansmen in cheer and revel
a winsome life, till one began
to fashion evils, that field of hell.
Grendel this monster grim was called,
march-riever [5] mighty, in moorland living,
in fen and fastness; fief of the giants
the hapless wight a while had kept
since the Creator his exile doomed.
On kin of Cain was the killing avenged
by sovran God for slaughtered Abel.
Ill fared his feud, [6] and far was he driven,
for the slaughter's sake, from sight of men.
Of Cain awoke all that woful breed,
Etins [7] and elves and evil-spirits,
as well as the giants that warred with God
weary while: but their wage was paid them!
II
WENT he forth to find at fall of night
that haughty house, and heed wherever
the Ring-Danes, outrevelled, to rest had gone.
Found within it the atheling band
asleep after feasting and fearless of sorrow,
49
of human hardship. Unhallowed wight,
grim and greedy, he grasped betimes,
wrathful, reckless, from resting-places,
thirty of the thanes, and thence he rushed
fain of his fell spoil, faring homeward,
laden with slaughter, his lair to seek.
Then at the dawning, as day was breaking,
the might of Grendel to men was known;
then after wassail was wail uplifted,
loud moan in the morn. The mighty chief,
atheling excellent, unblithe sat,
labored in woe for the loss of his thanes,
when once had been traced the trail of the fiend,
spirit accurst: too cruel that sorrow,
too long, too loathsome. Not late the respite;
with night returning, anew began
ruthless murder; he recked no whit,
firm in his guilt, of the feud and crime.
They were easy to find who elsewhere sought
in room remote their rest at night,
bed in the bowers, [1] when that bale was shown,
was seen in sooth, with surest token, the hall-thane's [2] hate. Such held themselves
far and fast who the fiend outran!
Thus ruled unrighteous and raged his fill
one against all; until empty stood
that lordly building, and long it bode so.
Twelve years' tide the trouble he bore,
sovran of Scyldings, sorrows in plenty,
boundless cares. There came unhidden
tidings true to the tribes of men,
in sorrowful songs, how ceaselessly Grendel
harassed Hrothgar, what hate he bore him,
what murder and massacre, many a year,
feud unfading, - refused consent
to deal with any of Daneland's earls,
make pact of peace, or compound for gold:
still less did the wise men ween to get
great fee for the feud from his fiendish hands.
But the evil one ambushed old and young
death-shadow dark, and dogged them still,
lured, or lurked in the livelong night
50
of misty moorlands: men may say not
where the haunts of these Hell-Runes be.
Such heaping of horrors the hater of men,
lonely roamer, wrought unceasing,
harassings heavy. O'er Heorot he lorded,
gold-bright hall, in gloomy nights;
and ne'er could the prince [4] approach his throne,
- 'twas judgment of God, - or have joy in his hall.
Sore was the sorrow to Scyldings'-friend,
heart-rending misery. Many nobles
sat assembled, and searched out counsel
how it were best for bold-hearted men
against harassing terror to try their hand.
Whiles they vowed in their heathen fanes
altar-offerings, asked with words [5]
that the slayer-of-souls would succor give them
for the pain of their people. Their practice this,
their heathen hope; 'twas Hell they thought of
in mood of their mind. Almighty they knew not,
Doomsman of Deeds and dreadful Lord,
nor Heaven's-Helmet heeded they ever,
Wielder-of-Wonder. - Woe for that man
who in harm and hatred hales his soul
to fiery embraces; - nor favor nor change
awaits he ever. But well for him
that after death-day may draw to his Lord,
and friendship find in the Father's arms!
III
THUS seethed unceasing the son of Healfdene
with the woe of these days; not wisest men
assuaged his sorrow; too sore the anguish,
loathly and long, that lay on his folk,
most baneful of burdens and bales of the night.
This heard in his home Hygelac's thane,
great among Geats, of Grendel's doings.
He was the mightiest man of valor
in that same day of this our life,
stalwart and stately. A stout wave-walker
he bade make ready. Yon battle-king, said he,
far o'er the swan-road he fain would seek,
the noble monarch who needed men!
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The prince's journey by prudent folk
was little blamed, though they loved him dear;
they whetted the hero, and hailed good omens.
And now the bold one from bands of Geats
comrades chose, the keenest of warriors
e'er he could find; with fourteen men
the sea-wood [1] he sought, and, sailor proved,
led them on to the land's confines.
Time had now flown; [2] afloat was the ship,
boat under bluff. On board they climbed,
warriors ready; waves were churning
sea with sand; the sailors bore
on the breast of the bark their bright array,
their mail and weapons: the men pushed off,
on its willing way, the well-braced craft.
Then moved o'er the waters by might of the wind
that bark like a bird with breast of foam,
till in season due, on the second day,
the curved prow such course had run
that sailors now could see the land,
sea-cliffs shining, steep high hills,
headlands broad. Their haven was found,
their journey ended. Up then quickly
the Weders' [3] clansmen climbed ashore,
anchored their sea-wood, with armor clashing
and gear of battle: God they thanked
for passing in peace o'er the paths of the sea.
Now saw from the cliff a Scylding clansman,
a warden that watched the water-side,
how they bore o'er the gangway glittering shields,
war-gear in readiness; wonder seized him
to know what manner of men they were.
Straight to the strand his steed he rode,
Hrothgar's henchman; with hand of might
he shook his spear, and spake in parley.
'Who are ye, then, ye armed men,
mailed folk, that yon mighty vessel
have urged thus over the ocean ways,
here o'er the waters? A warden I,
sentinel set o'er the sea-march here,
lest any foe to the folk of Danes
with harrying fleet should harm the land.
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No aliens ever at ease thus bore them,
linden-wielders: [4] yet word-of-leave
clearly ye lack from clansmen here,
my folk's agreement. - A greater ne'er saw I
of warriors in world than is one of you, yon hero in harness! No henchman he
worthied by weapons, if witness his features,
his peerless presence! I pray you, though, tell
your folk and home, lest hence ye fare
suspect to wander your way as spies
in Danish land. Now, dwellers afar,
ocean-travellers, take from me
simple advice: the sooner the better
I hear of the country whence ye came.'
IV
To him the stateliest spake in answer;
the warriors' leader his word-hoard unlocked:'We are by kin of the clan of Geats,
and Hygelac's own hearth-fellows we.
To folk afar was my father known,
noble atheling, Ecgtheow named.
Full of winters, he fared away
aged from earth; he is honored still
through width of the world by wise men all.
To thy lord and liege in loyal mood
we hasten hither, to Healfdene's son,
people-protector: be pleased to advise us!
To that mighty-one come we on mickle errand,
to the lord of the Danes; nor deem I right
that aught be hidden. We hear - thou knowest
if sooth it is - the saying of men,
that amid the Scyldings a scathing monster,
dark ill-doer, in dusky nights
shows terrific his rage unmatched,
hatred and murder. To Hrothgar I
in greatness of soul would succor bring,
so the Wise-and-Brave [1] may worst his foes, if ever the end of ills is fated,
of cruel contest, if cure shall follow,
and the boiling care-waves cooler grow;
else ever afterward anguish-days
53
he shall suffer in sorrow while stands in place
high on its hill that house unpeered!'
Astride his steed, the strand-ward answered,
clansman unquailing: 'The keen-souled thane
must be skilled to sever and sunder duly
words and works, if he well intends.
I gather, this band is graciously bent
to the Scyldings' master. March, then, bearing
weapons and weeds the way I show you.
I will bid my men your boat meanwhile
to guard for fear lest foemen come, your new-tarred ship by shore of ocean
faithfully watching till once again
it waft o'er the waters those well-loved thanes,
- winding-neck'd wood, - to Weders' bounds,
heroes such as the hest of fate
shall succor and save from the shock of war.'
They bent them to march, - the boat lay still,
fettered by cable and fast at anchor,
broad-bosomed ship. - Then shone the boars
over the cheek-guard; chased with gold,
keen and gleaming, guard it kept
o'er the man of war, as marched along
heroes in haste, till the hall they saw,
broad of gable and bright with gold:
that was the fairest, 'mid folk of earth,
of houses 'neath heaven, where Hrothgar lived,
and the gleam of it lightened o'er lands afar.
The sturdy shieldsman showed that bright
burg-of-the-boldest; bade them go
straightway thither; his steed then turned,
hardy hero, and hailed them thus:'Tis time that I fare from you. Father Almighty
in grace and mercy guard you well,
safe in your seekings. Seaward I go,
'gainst hostile warriors hold my watch.'
STONE-BRIGHT the street: it showed the way
to the crowd of clansmen. Corselets glistened
hand-forged, hard; on their harness bright
the steel ring sang, as they strode along
54
in mail of battle, and marched to the hall.
There, weary of ocean, the wall along
they set their bucklers, their broad shields, down,
and bowed them to bench: the breastplates clanged,
war-gear of men; their weapons stacked,
spears of the seafarers stood together,
gray-tipped ash: that iron band
was worthily weaponed! - A warrior proud
asked of the heroes their home and kin.
'Whence, now, bear ye burnished shields,
harness gray and helmets grim,
spears in multitude? Messenger, I,
Hrothgar's herald! Heroes so many
ne'er met I as strangers of mood so strong.
'Tis plain that for prowess, not plunged into exile,
for high-hearted valor, Hrothgar ye seek!'
Him the sturdy-in-war bespake with words,
proud earl of the Weders answer made,
hardy 'neath helmet:-'Hygelac's, we,
fellows at board; I am Beowulf named.
I am seeking to say to the son of Healfdene
this mission of mine, to thy master-lord,
the doughty prince, if he deign at all
grace that we greet him, the good one, now.'
Wulfgar spake, the Wendles' chieftain,
whose might of mind to many was known,
his courage and counsel: 'The king of Danes,
the Scyldings' friend, I fain will tell,
the Breaker-of-Rings, as the boon thou askest,
the famed prince, of thy faring hither,
and, swiftly after, such answer bring
as the doughty monarch may deign to give.'
Hied then in haste to where Hrothgar sat
white-haired and old, his earls about him,
till the stout thane stood at the shoulder there
of the Danish king: good courtier he!
Wulfgar spake to his winsome lord:'Hither have fared to thee far-come men
o'er the paths of ocean, people of Geatland;
and the stateliest there by his sturdy band
is Beowulf named. This boon they seek,
that they, my master, may with thee
55
have speech at will: nor spurn their prayer
to give them hearing, gracious Hrothgar!
In weeds of the warrior worthy they,
methinks, of our liking; their leader most surely,
a hero that hither his henchmen has led.'
VI
HROTHGAR answered, helmet of Scyldings:'I knew him of yore in his youthful days;
his aged father was Ecgtheow named,
to whom, at home, gave Hrethel the Geat
his only daughter. Their offspring bold
fares hither to seek the steadfast friend.
And seamen, too, have said me this, who carried my gifts to the Geatish court,
thither for thanks, - he has thirty men's
heft of grasp in the gripe of his hand,
the bold-in-battle. Blessed God
out of his mercy this man hath sent
to Danes of the West, as I ween indeed,
against horror of Grendel. I hope to give
the good youth gold for his gallant thought.
Be thou in haste, and bid them hither,
clan of kinsmen, to come before me;
and add this word, - they are welcome guests
to folk of the Danes.'
[To the door of the hall
Wulfgar went] and the word declared:'To you this message my master sends,
East-Danes' king, that your kin he knows,
hardy heroes, and hails you all
welcome hither o'er waves of the sea!
Ye may wend your way in war-attire,
and under helmets Hrothgar greet;
but let here the battle-shields bide your parley,
and wooden war-shafts wait its end.'
Uprose the mighty one, ringed with his men,
brave band of thanes: some bode without,
battle-gear guarding, as bade the chief.
Then hied that troop where the herald led them,
under Heorot's roof: [the hero strode,]
hardy 'neath helm, till the hearth he neared.
56
Beowulf spake, - his breastplate gleamed,
war-net woven by wit of the smith:'Thou Hrothgar, hail! Hygelac's I,
kinsman and follower. Fame a plenty
have I gained in youth! These Grendel-deeds
I heard in my home-land heralded clear.
Seafarers say how stands this hall,
of buildings best, for your band of thanes
empty and idle, when evening sun
in the harbor of heaven is hidden away.
So my vassals advised me well, brave and wise, the best of men, O sovran Hrothgar, to seek thee here,
for my nerve and my might they knew full well.
Themselves had seen me from slaughter come
blood-flecked from foes, where five I bound,
and that wild brood worsted. I' the waves I slew
nicors [1] by night, in need and peril
avenging the Weders, [2] whose woe they sought, crushing the grim ones. Grendel now,
monster cruel, be mine to quell
in single battle! So, from thee,
thou sovran of the Shining-Danes,
Scyldings'-bulwark, a boon I seek, and, Friend-of-the-folk, refuse it not,
O Warriors'-shield, now I've wandered far, that I alone with my liegemen here,
this hardy band, may Heorot purge!
More I hear, that the monster dire,
in his wanton mood, of weapons recks not;
hence shall I scorn - so Hygelac stay,
king of my kindred, kind to me! brand or buckler to bear in the fight,
gold-colored targe: but with gripe alone
must I front the fiend and fight for life,
foe against foe. Then faith be his
in the doom of the Lord whom death shall take.
Fain, I ween, if the fight he win,
in this hall of gold my Geatish band
will he fearless eat, - as oft before, my noblest thanes. Nor need'st thou then
to hide my head; [3] for his shall I be,
57
dyed in gore, if death must take me;
and my blood-covered body he'll bear as prey,
ruthless devour it, the roamer-lonely,
with my life-blood redden his lair in the fen:
no further for me need'st food prepare!
To Hygelac send, if Hild [4] should take me,
best of war-weeds, warding my breast,
armor excellent, heirloom of Hrethel
and work of Wayland. [5] Fares Wyrd as she must.'
VII
HROTHGAR spake, the Scyldings'-helmet:'For fight defensive, Friend my Beowulf,
to succor and save, thou hast sought us here.
Thy father's combat [1] a feud enkindled
when Heatholaf with hand he slew
among the Wylfings; his Weder kin
for horror of fighting feared to hold him.
Fleeing, he sought our South-Dane folk,
over surge of ocean the Honor-Scyldings,
when first I was ruling the folk of Danes,
wielded, youthful, this widespread realm,
this hoard-hold of heroes. Heorogar was dead,
my elder brother, had breathed his last,
Healfdene's bairn: he was better than I!
Straightway the feud with fee [2] I settled,
to the Wylfings sent, o'er watery ridges,
treasures olden: oaths he [3] swore me.
Sore is my soul to say to any
of the race of man what ruth for me
in Heorot Grendel with hate hath wrought,
what sudden harryings. Hall-folk fail me,
my warriors wane; for Wyrd hath swept them
into Grendel's grasp. But God is able
this deadly foe from his deeds to turn!
Boasted full oft, as my beer they drank,
earls o'er the ale-cup, armed men,
that they would bide in the beer-hall here,
Grendel's attack with terror of blades.
Then was this mead-house at morning tide
dyed with gore, when the daylight broke,
all the boards of the benches blood-besprinkled,
58
gory the hall: I had heroes the less,
doughty dear-ones that death had reft.
- But sit to the banquet, unbind thy words,
hardy hero, as heart shall prompt thee.'
Gathered together, the Geatish men
in the banquet-hall on bench assigned,
sturdy-spirited, sat them down,
hardy-hearted. A henchman attended,
carried the carven cup in hand,
served the clear mead. Oft minstrels sang
blithe in Heorot. Heroes revelled,
no dearth of warriors, Weder and Dane.
VIII
UNFERTH spake, the son of Ecglaf,
who sat at the feet of the Scyldings' lord,
unbound the battle-runes. - Beowulf's quest,
sturdy seafarer's, sorely galled him;
ever he envied that other men
should more achieve in middle-earth
of fame under heaven than he himself. 'Art thou that Beowulf, Breca's rival,
who emulous swam on the open sea,
when for pride the pair of you proved the floods,
and wantonly dared in waters deep
to risk your lives? No living man,
or lief or loath, from your labor dire
could you dissuade, from swimming the main.
Ocean-tides with your arms ye covered,
with strenuous hands the sea-streets measured,
swam o'er the waters. Winter's storm
rolled the rough waves. In realm of sea
a sennight strove ye. In swimming he topped thee,
had more of main! Him at morning-tide
billows bore to the Battling Reamas,
whence he hied to his home so dear
beloved of his liegemen, to land of Brondings,
fastness fair, where his folk he ruled,
town and treasure. In triumph o'er thee
Beanstan's bairn [2] his boast achieved.
So ween I for thee a worse adventure
- though in buffet of battle thou brave hast been,
59
in struggle grim, - if Grendel's approach
thou darst await through the watch of night!'
Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:'What a deal hast uttered, dear my Unferth,
drunken with beer, of Breca now,
told of his triumph! Truth I claim it,
that I had more of might in the sea
than any man else, more ocean-endurance.
We twain had talked, in time of youth,
and made our boast, - we were merely boys,
striplings still, - to stake our lives
far at sea: and so we performed it.
Naked swords, as we swam along,
we held in hand, with hope to guard us
against the whales. Not a whit from me
could he float afar o'er the flood of waves,
haste o'er the billows; nor him I abandoned.
Together we twain on the tides abode
five nights full till the flood divided us,
churning waves and chillest weather,
darkling night, and the northern wind
ruthless rushed on us: rough was the surge.
Now the wrath of the sea-fish rose apace;
yet me 'gainst the monsters my mailed coat,
hard and hand-linked, help afforded, battle-sark braided my breast to ward,
garnished with gold. There grasped me firm
and haled me to bottom the hated foe,
with grimmest gripe. 'Twas granted me, though,
to pierce the monster with point of sword,
with blade of battle: huge beast of the sea
was whelmed by the hurly through hand of mine.
IX
ME thus often the evil monsters
thronging threatened. With thrust of my sword,
the darling, I dealt them due return!
Nowise had they bliss from their booty then
to devour their victim, vengeful creatures,
seated to banquet at bottom of sea;
but at break of day, by my brand sore hurt,
on the edge of ocean up they lay,
60
put to sleep by the sword. And since, by them
on the fathomless sea-ways sailor-folk
are never molested. - Light from east,
came bright God's beacon; the billows sank,
so that I saw the sea-cliffs high,
windy walls. For Wyrd oft saveth
earl undoomed if he doughty be!
And so it came that I killed with my sword
nine of the nicors. Of night-fought battles
ne'er heard I a harder 'neath heaven's dome,
nor adrift on the deep a more desolate man!
Yet I came unharmed from that hostile clutch,
though spent with swimming. The sea upbore me,
flood of the tide, on Finnish land,
the welling waters. No wise of thee
have I heard men tell such terror of falchions,
bitter battle. Breca ne'er yet,
not one of you pair, in the play of war
such daring deed has done at all
with bloody brand, - I boast not of it! though thou wast the bane [1] of thy brethren dear,
thy closest kin, whence curse of hell
awaits thee, well as thy wit may serve!
For I say in sooth, thou son of Ecglaf,
never had Grendel these grim deeds wrought,
monster dire, on thy master dear,
in Heorot such havoc, if heart of thine
were as battle-bold as thy boast is loud!
But he has found no feud will happen;
from sword-clash dread of your Danish clan
he vaunts him safe, from the Victor-Scyldings.
He forces pledges, favors none
of the land of Danes, but lustily murders,
fights and feasts, nor feud he dreads
from Spear-Dane men. But speedily now
shall I prove him the prowess and pride of the Geats,
shall bid him battle. Blithe to mead
go he that listeth, when light of dawn
this morrow morning o'er men of earth,
ether-robed sun from the south shall beam!'
Joyous then was the Jewel-giver,
hoar-haired, war-brave; help awaited
61
the Bright-Danes' prince, from Beowulf hearing,
folk's good shepherd, such firm resolve.
Then was laughter of liegemen loud resounding
with winsome words. Came Wealhtheow forth,
queen of Hrothgar, heedful of courtesy,
gold-decked, greeting the guests in hall;
and the high-born lady handed the cup
first to the East-Danes' heir and warden,
bade him be blithe at the beer-carouse,
the land's beloved one. Lustily took he
banquet and beaker, battle-famed king.
Through the hall then went the Helmings' Lady,
to younger and older everywhere
carried the cup, till come the moment
when the ring-graced queen, the royal-hearted,
to Beowulf bore the beaker of mead.
She greeted the Geats' lord, God she thanked,
in wisdom's words, that her will was granted,
that at last on a hero her hope could lean
for comfort in terrors. The cup he took,
hardy-in-war, from Wealhtheow's hand,
and answer uttered the eager-for-combat.
Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:'This was my thought, when my thanes and I
bent to the ocean and entered our boat,
that I would work the will of your people
fully, or fighting fall in death,
in fiend's gripe fast. I am firm to do
an earl's brave deed, or end the days
of this life of mine in the mead-hall here.'
Well these words to the woman seemed,
Beowulf's battle-boast. - Bright with gold
the stately dame by her spouse sat down.
Again, as erst, began in hall
warriors' wassail and words of power,
the proud-band's revel, till presently
the son of Healfdene hastened to seek
rest for the night; he knew there waited
fight for the fiend in that festal hall,
when the sheen of the sun they saw no more,
and dusk of night sank darkling nigh,
and shadowy shapes came striding on,
62
wan under welkin. The warriors rose.
Man to man, he made harangue,
Hrothgar to Beowulf, bade him hail,
let him wield the wine hall: a word he added:'Never to any man erst I trusted,
since I could heave up hand and shield,
this noble Dane-Hall, till now to thee.
Have now and hold this house unpeered;
remember thy glory; thy might declare;
watch for the foe! No wish shall fail thee
if thou bidest the battle with bold-won life.'
THEN Hrothgar went with his hero-train,
defence-of-Scyldings, forth from hall;
fain would the war-lord Wealhtheow seek,
couch of his queen. The King-of-Glory
against this Grendel a guard had set,
so heroes heard, a hall-defender,
who warded the monarch and watched for the monster.
In truth, the Geats' prince gladly trusted
his mettle, his might, the mercy of God!
Cast off then his corselet of iron,
helmet from head; to his henchman gave, choicest of weapons, - the well-chased sword,
bidding him guard the gear of battle.
Spake then his Vaunt the valiant man,
Beowulf Geat, ere the bed be sought:'Of force in fight no feebler I count me,
in grim war-deeds, than Grendel deems him.
Not with the sword, then, to sleep of death
his life will I give, though it lie in my power.
No skill is his to strike against me,
my shield to hew though he hardy be,
bold in battle; we both, this night,
shall spurn the sword, if he seek me here,
unweaponed, for war. Let wisest God,
sacred Lord, on which side soever
doom decree as he deemeth right.'
Reclined then the chieftain, and cheek-pillows held
the head of the earl, while all about him
seamen hardy on hall-beds sank.
63
None of them thought that thence their steps
to the folk and fastness that fostered them,
to the land they loved, would lead them back!
Full well they wist that on warriors many
battle-death seized, in the banquet-hall,
of Danish clan. But comfort and help,
war-weal weaving, to Weder folk
the Master gave, that, by might of one,
over their enemy all prevailed,
by single strength. In sooth 'tis told
that highest God o'er human kind
hath wielded ever! - Thro' wan night striding,
came the walker-in-shadow. Warriors slept
whose hest was to guard the gabled hall, all save one. 'Twas widely known
that against God's will the ghostly ravager
him [1] could not hurl to haunts of darkness;
wakeful, ready, with warrior's wrath,
bold he bided the battle's issue.
XI
THEN from the moorland, by misty crags,
with God's wrath laden, Grendel came.
The monster was minded of mankind now
sundry to seize in the stately house.
Under welkin he walked, till the wine-palace there,
gold-hall of men, he gladly discerned,
flashing with fretwork. Not first time, this,
that he the home of Hrothgar sought, yet ne'er in his life-day, late or early,
such hardy heroes, such hall-thanes, found!
To the house the warrior walked apace,
parted from peace; [1] the portal opended,
though with forged bolts fast, when his fists had
struck it,
and baleful he burst in his blatant rage,
the house's mouth. All hastily, then,
o'er fair-paved floor the fiend trod on,
ireful he strode; there streamed from his eyes
fearful flashes, like flame to see.
He spied in hall the hero-band,
kin and clansmen clustered asleep,
64
hardy liegemen. Then laughed his heart;
for the monster was minded, ere morn should dawn,
savage, to sever the soul of each,
life from body, since lusty banquet
waited his will! But Wyrd forbade him
to seize any more of men on earth
after that evening. Eagerly watched
Hygelac's kinsman his cursed foe,
how he would fare in fell attack.
Not that the monster was minded to pause!
Straightway he seized a sleeping warrior
for the first, and tore him fiercely asunder,
the bone-frame bit, drank blood in streams,
swallowed him piecemeal: swiftly thus
the lifeless corse was clear devoured,
e'en feet and hands. Then farther he hied;
for the hardy hero with hand he grasped,
felt for the foe with fiendish claw,
for the hero reclining, - who clutched it boldly,
prompt to answer, propped on his arm.
Soon then saw that shepherd-of-evils
that never he met in this middle-world,
in the ways of earth, another wight
with heavier hand-gripe; at heart he feared,
sorrowed in soul, - none the sooner escaped!
Fain would he flee, his fastness seek,
the den of devils: no doings now
such as oft he had done in days of old!
Then bethought him the hardy Hygelac-thane
of his boast at evening: up he bounded,
grasped firm his foe, whose fingers cracked.
The fiend made off, but the earl close followed.
The monster meant - if he might at all to fling himself free, and far away
fly to the fens, - knew his fingers' power
in the gripe of the grim one. Gruesome march
to Heorot this monster of harm had made!
Din filled the room; the Danes were bereft,
castle-dwellers and clansmen all,
earls, of their ale. Angry were both
those savage hall-guards: the house resounded.
Wonder it was the wine-hall firm
65
in the strain of their struggle stood, to earth
the fair house fell not; too fast it was
within and without by its iron bands
craftily clamped; though there crashed from sill
many a mead-bench - men have told me gay with gold, where the grim foes wrestled.
So well had weened the wisest Scyldings
that not ever at all might any man
that bone-decked, brave house break asunder,
crush by craft, - unless clasp of fire
in smoke engulfed it. - Again uprose
din redoubled. Danes of the North
with fear and frenzy were filled, each one,
who from the wall that wailing heard,
God's foe sounding his grisly song,
cry of the conquered, clamorous pain
from captive of hell. Too closely held him
he who of men in might was strongest
in that same day of this our life.
XII
NOT in any wise would the earls'-defence [1]
suffer that slaughterous stranger to live,
useless deeming his days and years
to men on earth. Now many an earl
of Beowulf brandished blade ancestral,
fain the life of their lord to shield,
their praised prince, if power were theirs;
never they knew, - as they neared the foe,
hardy-hearted heroes of war,
aiming their swords on every side
the accursed to kill, - no keenest blade,
no farest of falchions fashioned on earth,
could harm or hurt that hideous fiend!
He was safe, by his spells, from sword of battle,
from edge of iron. Yet his end and parting
on that same day of this our life
woful should be, and his wandering soul
far off flit to the fiends' domain.
Soon he found, who in former days,
harmful in heart and hated of God,
on many a man such murder wrought,
66
that the frame of his body failed him now.
For him the keen-souled kinsman of Hygelac
held in hand; hateful alive
was each to other. The outlaw dire
took mortal hurt; a mighty wound
showed on his shoulder, and sinews cracked,
and the bone-frame burst. To Beowulf now
the glory was given, and Grendel thence
death-sick his den in the dark moor sought,
noisome abode: he knew too well
that here was the last of life, an end
of his days on earth. - To all the Danes
by that bloody battle the boon had come.
From ravage had rescued the roving stranger
Hrothgar's hall; the hardy and wise one
had purged it anew. His night-work pleased him,
his deed and its honor. To Eastern Danes
had the valiant Geat his vaunt made good,
all their sorrow and ills assuaged,
their bale of battle borne so long,
and all the dole they erst endured
pain a-plenty. - 'Twas proof of this,
when the hardy-in-fight a hand laid down,
arm and shoulder, - all, indeed,
of Grendel's gripe, - 'neath the gabled roof·
XIII
MANY at morning, as men have told me,
warriors gathered the gift-hall round,
folk-leaders faring from far and near,
o'er wide-stretched ways, the wonder to view,
trace of the traitor. Not troublous seemed
the enemy's end to any man
who saw by the gait of the graceless foe
how the weary-hearted, away from thence,
baffled in battle and banned, his steps
death-marked dragged to the devils' mere.
Bloody the billows were boiling there,
turbid the tide of tumbling waves
horribly seething, with sword-blood hot,
by that doomed one dyed, who in den of the moor
laid forlorn his life adown,
67
his heathen soul,-and hell received it.
Home then rode the hoary clansmen
from that merry journey, and many a youth,
on horses white, the hardy warriors,
back from the mere. Then Beowulf's glory
eager they echoed, and all averred
that from sea to sea, or south or north,
there was no other in earth's domain,
under vault of heaven, more valiant found,
of warriors none more worthy to rule!
(On their lord beloved they laid no slight,
gracious Hrothgar: a good king he!)
From time to time, the tried-in-battle
their gray steeds set to gallop amain,
and ran a race when the road seemed fair.
From time to time, a thane of the king,
who had made many vaunts, and was mindful of verses,
stored with sagas and songs of old,
bound word to word in well-knit rime,
welded his lay; this warrior soon
of Beowulf's quest right cleverly sang,
and artfully added an excellent tale,
in well-ranged words, of the warlike deeds
he had heard in saga of Sigemund.
Strange the story: he said it all, the Waelsing's wanderings wide, his struggles,
which never were told to tribes of men,
the feuds and the frauds, save to Fitela only,
when of these doings he deigned to speak,
uncle to nephew; as ever the twain
stood side by side in stress of war,
and multitude of the monster kind
they had felled with their swords. Of Sigemund
grew,
when he passed from life, no little praise;
for the doughty-in-combat a dragon killed
that herded the hoard: [1] under hoary rock
the atheling dared the deed alone
fearful quest, nor was Fitela there.
Yet so it befell, his falchion pierced
that wondrous worm, - on the wall it struck,
best blade; the dragon died in its blood.
68
Thus had the dread-one by daring achieved
over the ring-hoard to rule at will,
himself to pleasure; a sea-boat he loaded,
and bore on its bosom the beaming gold,
son of Waels; the worm was consumed.
He had of all heroes the highest renown
among races of men, this refuge-of-warriors,
for deeds of daring that decked his name
since the hand and heart of Heremod
grew slack in battle. He, swiftly banished
to mingle with monsters at mercy of foes,
to death was betrayed; for torrents of sorrow
had lamed him too long; a load of care
to earls and athelings all he proved.
Oft indeed, in earlier days,
for the warrior's wayfaring wise men mourned,
who had hoped of him help from harm and bale,
and had thought their sovran's son would thrive,
follow his father, his folk protect,
the hoard and the stronghold, heroes' land,
home of Scyldings. - But here, thanes said,
the kinsman of Hygelac kinder seemed
to all: the other [2] was urged to crime!
And afresh to the race, [3] the fallow roads
by swift steeds measured! The morning sun
was climbing higher. Clansmen hastened
to the high-built hall, those hardy-minded,
the wonder to witness. Warden of treasure,
crowned with glory, the king himself,
with stately band from the bride-bower strode;
and with him the queen and her crowd of maidens
measured the path to the mead-house fair.
XIV
HROTHGAR spake, - to the hall he went,
stood by the steps, the steep roof saw,
garnished with gold, and Grendel's hand:'For the sight I see to the Sovran Ruler
be speedy thanks! A throng of sorrows
I have borne from Grendel; but God still works
wonder on wonder, the Warden-of-Glory.
It was but now that I never more
69
for woes that weighed on me waited help
long as I lived, when, laved in blood,
stood sword-gore-stained this stateliest house, widespread woe for wise men all,
who had no hope to hinder ever
foes infernal and fiendish sprites
from havoc in hall. This hero now,
by the Wielder's might, a work has done
that not all of us erst could ever do
by wile and wisdom. Lo, well can she say
whoso of women this warrior bore
among sons of men, if still she liveth,
that the God of the ages was good to her
in the birth of her bairn. Now, Beowulf, thee,
of heroes best, I shall heartily love
as mine own, my son; preserve thou ever
this kinship new: thou shalt never lack
wealth of the world that I wield as mine!
Full oft for less have I largess showered,
my precious hoard, on a punier man,
less stout in struggle. Thyself hast now
fulfilled such deeds, that thy fame shall endure
through all the ages. As ever he did,
well may the Wielder reward thee still!'
Beowulf spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:'This work of war most willingly
we have fought, this fight, and fearlessly dared
force of the foe. Fain, too, were I
hadst thou but seen himself, what time
the fiend in his trappings tottered to fall!
Swiftly, I thought, in strongest gripe
on his bed of death to bind him down,
that he in the hent of this hand of mine
should breathe his last: but he broke away.
Him I might not - the Maker willed not hinder from flight, and firm enough hold
the life-destroyer: too sturdy was he,
the ruthless, in running! For rescue, however,
he left behind him his hand in pledge,
arm and shoulder; nor aught of help
could the cursed one thus procure at all.
None the longer liveth he, loathsome fiend,
70
sunk in his sins, but sorrow holds him
tightly grasped in gripe of anguish,
in baleful bonds, where bide he must,
evil outlaw, such awful doom
as the Mighty Maker shall mete him out.'
More silent seemed the son of Ecglaf [1]
in boastful speech of his battle-deeds,
since athelings all, through the earl's great prowess,
beheld that hand, on the high roof gazing,
foeman's fingers, - the forepart of each
of the sturdy nails to steel was likest, heathen's 'hand-spear,' hostile warrior's
claw uncanny. 'Twas clear, they said,
that him no blade of the brave could touch,
how keen soever, or cut away
that battle-hand bloody from baneful foe.
XV
THERE was hurry and hest in Heorot now
for hands to bedeck it, and dense was the throng
of men and women the wine-hall to cleanse,
the guest-room to garnish. Gold-gay shone the hangings
that were wove on the wall, and wonders many
to delight each mortal that looks upon them.
Though braced within by iron bands,
that building bright was broken sorely; [1]
rent were its hinges; the roof alone
held safe and sound, when, seared with crime,
the fiendish foe his flight essayed,
of life despairing. - No light thing that,
the flight for safety, - essay it who will!
Forced of fate, he shall find his way
to the refuge ready for race of man,
for soul-possessors, and sons of earth;
and there his body on bed of death
shall rest after revel.
Arrived was the hour
when to hall proceeded Healfdene's son:
the king himself would sit to banquet.
Ne'er heard I of host in haughtier throng
more graciously gathered round giver-of-rings!
Bowed then to bench those bearers-of-glory,
71
fain of the feasting. Featly received
many a mead-cup the mighty-in-spirit,
kinsmen who sat in the sumptuous hall,
Hrothgar and Hrothulf. Heorot now
was filled with friends; the folk of Scyldings
ne'er yet had tried the traitor's deed.
To Beowulf gave the bairn of Healfdene
a gold-wove banner, guerdon of triumph,
broidered battle-flag, breastplate and helmet;
and a splendid sword was seen of many
borne to the brave one. Beowulf took
cup in hall: for such costly gifts
he suffered no shame in that soldier throng.
For I heard of few heroes, in heartier mood,
with four such gifts, so fashioned with gold,
on the ale-bench honoring others thus!
O'er the roof of the helmet high, a ridge,
wound with wires, kept ward o'er the head,
lest the relict-of-files should fierce invade,
sharp in the strife, when that shielded hero
should go to grapple against his foes.
Then the earls'-defence on the floor bade lead
coursers eight, with carven head-gear,
adown the hall: one horse was decked
with a saddle all shining and set in jewels;
'twas the battle-seat of the best of kings,
when to play of swords the son of Healfdene
was fain to fare. Ne'er failed his valor
in the crush of combat when corpses fell.
To Beowulf over them both then gave
the refuge-of-Ingwines right and power,
o'er war-steeds and weapons: wished him joy of them.
Manfully thus the mighty prince,
hoard-guard for heroes, that hard fight repaid
with steeds and treasures contemned by none
who is willing to say the sooth aright.
XVI
AND the lord of earls, to each that came
with Beowulf over the briny ways,
an heirloom there at the ale-bench gave,
precious gift; and the price [] bade pay
72
in gold for him whom Grendel erst
murdered, - and fain of them more had killed,
had not wisest God their Wyrd averted,
and the man's brave mood. The Maker then
ruled human kind, as here and now.
Therefore is insight always best,
and forethought of mind. How much awaits him
of lief and of loath, who long time here,
through days of warfare this world endures!
Then song and music mingled sounds
in the presence of Healfdene's head-of-armies
and harping was heard with the hero-lay
as Hrothgar's singer the hall-joy woke
along the mead-seats, making his song
of that sudden raid on the sons of Finn.
Healfdene's hero, Hnaef the Scylding,
was fated to fall in the Frisian slaughter.
Hildeburh needed not hold in value
her enemies' honor! [6] Innocent both
were the loved ones she lost at the linden-play,
bairn and brother, they bowed to fate,
stricken by spears; 'twas a sorrowful woman!
None doubted why the daughter of Hoc
bewailed her doom when dawning came,
and under the sky she saw them lying,
kinsmen murdered, where most she had kenned
of the sweets of the world! By war were swept, too,
Finn's own liegemen, and few were left;
in the parleying-place he could ply no longer
weapon, nor war could he wage on Hengest,
and rescue his remnant by right of arms
from the prince's thane. A pact he offered:
another dwelling the Danes should have,
hall and high-seat, and half the power
should fall to them in Frisian land;
and at the fee-gifts, Folcwald's son
day by day the Danes should honor,
the folk of Hengest favor with rings,
even as truly, with treasure and jewels,
with fretted gold, as his Frisian kin
he meant to honor in ale-hall there.
Pact of peace they plighted further
73
on both sides firmly. Finn to Hengest
with oath, upon honor, openly promised
that woful remnant, with wise-men's aid,
nobly to govern, so none of the guests
by word or work should warp the treaty,
or with malice of mind bemoan themselves
as forced to follow their fee-giver's slayer,
lordless men, as their lot ordained.
Should Frisian, moreover, with foeman's taunt,
that murderous hatred to mind recall,
then edge of the sword must seal his doom.
Oaths were given, and ancient gold
heaped from hoard. - The hardy Scylding,
battle-thane best, [9] on his balefire lay.
All on the pyre were plain to see
the gory sark, the gilded swine-crest,
boar of hard iron, and athelings many
slain by the sword: at the slaughter they fell.
It was Hildeburh's hest, at Hnaef's own pyre
the bairn of her body on brands to lay,
his bones to burn, on the balefire placed,
at his uncle's side. In sorrowful dirges
bewept them the woman: great wailing ascended.
Then wound up to welkin the wildest of death-fires,
roared o'er the hillock: [10] heads all were melted,
gashes burst, and blood gushed out
from bites [11] of the body. Balefire devoured,
greediest spirit, those spared not by war
out of either folk: their flower was gone.
XVII
THEN hastened those heroes their home to see,
friendless, to find the Frisian land,
houses and high burg. Hengest still
through the death-dyed winter dwelt with Finn,
holding pact, yet of home he minded,
though powerless his ring-decked prow to drive
over the waters, now waves rolled fierce
lashed by the winds, or winter locked them
in icy fetters. Then fared another
year to men's dwellings, as yet they do,
the sunbright skies, that their season ever
74
duly await. Far off winter was driven;
fair lay earth's breast; and fain was the rover,
the guest, to depart, though more gladly he pondered
on wreaking his vengeance than roaming the deep,
and how to hasten the hot encounter
where sons of the Frisians were sure to be.
So he escaped not the common doom,
when Hun with 'Lafing,' the light-of-battle,
best of blades, his bosom pierced:
its edge was famed with the Frisian earls.
On fierce-heart Finn there fell likewise,
on himself at home, the horrid sword-death;
for Guthlaf and Oslaf of grim attack
had sorrowing told, from sea-ways landed,
mourning their woes. [1] Finn's wavering spirit
bode not in breast. The burg was reddened
with blood of foemen, and Finn was slain,
king amid clansmen; the queen was taken.
To their ship the Scylding warriors bore
all the chattels the chieftain owned,
whatever they found in Finn's domain
of gems and jewels. The gentle wife
o'er paths of the deep to the Danes they bore,
led to her land.
The lay was finished,
the gleeman's song. Then glad rose the revel;
bench-joy brightened. Bearers draw
from their 'wonder-vats' wine. Comes Wealhtheow forth,
under gold-crown goes where the good pair sit,
uncle and nephew, true each to the other one,
kindred in amity. Unferth the spokesman
at the Scylding lord's feet sat: men had faith in his Spirit,
his keenness of courage, though kinsmen had found him
unsure at the sword-play. The Scylding queen spoke:
'Quaff of this cup, my king and lord,
breaker of rings, and blithe be thou,
gold-friend of men; to the Geats here speak
such words of mildness as man should use.
Be glad with thy Geats; of those gifts be mindful,
or near or far, which now thou hast.
Men say to me, as son thou wishest
yon hero to hold. Thy Heorot purged,
75
jewel-hall brightest, enjoy while thou canst,
with many a largess; and leave to thy kin
folk and realm when forth thou goest
to greet thy doom. For gracious I deem
my Hrothulf, [2] willing to hold and rule
nobly our youths, if thou yield up first,
prince of Scyldings, thy part in the world.
I ween with good he will well requite
offspring of ours, when all he minds
that for him we did in his helpless days
of gift and grace to gain him honor!'
Then she turned to the seat where her sons were placed,
Hrethric and Hrothmund, with heroes' bairns,
young men together: the Geat, too, sat there,
Beowulf brave, the brothers between.
XVIII
A CUP she gave him, with kindly greeting
and winsome words. Of wounden gold,
she offered, to honor him, arm-jewels twain,
corselet and rings, and of collars the noblest
that ever I knew the earth around.
Ne'er heard I so mighty, 'neath heaven's dome,
a hoard-gem of heroes, since Hama bore
to his bright-built burg the Brisings' necklace,
jewel and gem casket. - Jealousy fled he,
Eormenric's hate: chose help eternal.
Hygelac Geat, grandson of Swerting,
on the last of his raids this ring bore with him,
under his banner the booty defending,
the war-spoil warding; but Wyrd o'erwhelmed him
what time, in his daring, dangers he sought,
feud with Frisians. Fairest of gems
he bore with him over the beaker-of-waves,
sovran strong: under shield he died.
Fell the corpse of the king into keeping of Franks,
gear of the breast, and that gorgeous ring;
weaker warriors won the spoil,
after gripe of battle, from Geatland's lord,
and held the death-field.
Din rose in hall.
Wealhtheow spake amid warriors, and said:-
76
'This jewel enjoy in thy jocund youth,
Beowulf lov'd, these battle-weeds wear,
a royal treasure, and richly thrive!
Preserve thy strength, and these striplings here
counsel in kindness: requital be mine.
Hast done such deeds, that for days to come
thou art famed among folk both far and near,
so wide as washeth the wave of Ocean
his windy walls. Through the ways of life
prosper, O prince! I pray for thee
rich possessions. To son of mine
be helpful in deed and uphold his joys!
Here every earl to the other is true,
mild of mood, to the master loyal!
Thanes are friendly, the throng obedient,
liegemen are revelling: list and obey!'
Went then to her place.-That was proudest of feasts;
flowed wine for the warriors. Wyrd they knew not,
destiny dire, and the doom to be seen
by many an earl when eve should come,
and Hrothgar homeward hasten away,
royal, to rest. The room was guarded
by an army of earls, as erst was done.
They bared the bench-boards; abroad they spread
beds and bolsters. - One beer-carouser
in danger of doom lay down in the hall. At their heads they set their shields of war,
bucklers bright; on the bench were there
over each atheling, easy to see,
the high battle-helmet, the haughty spear,
the corselet of rings. 'Twas their custom so
ever to be for battle prepared,
at home, or harrying, which it were,
even as oft as evil threatened
their sovran king. - They were clansmen good.
XIX
THEN sank they to sleep. With sorrow one bought
his rest of the evening, - as ofttime had happened
when Grendel guarded that golden hall,
evil wrought, till his end drew nigh,
slaughter for sins. 'Twas seen and told
77
how an avenger survived the fiend,
as was learned afar. The livelong time
after that grim fight, Grendel's mother,
monster of women, mourned her woe.
She was doomed to dwell in the dreary waters,
cold sea-courses, since Cain cut down
with edge of the sword his only brother,
his father's offspring: outlawed he fled,
marked with murder, from men's delights
warded the wilds. - There woke from him
such fate-sent ghosts as Grendel, who,
war-wolf horrid, at Heorot found
a warrior watching and waiting the fray,
with whom the grisly one grappled amain.
But the man remembered his mighty power,
the glorious gift that God had sent him,
in his Maker's mercy put his trust
for comfort and help: so he conquered the foe,
felled the fiend, who fled abject,
reft of joy, to the realms of death,
mankind's foe. And his mother now,
gloomy and grim, would go that quest
of sorrow, the death of her son to avenge.
To Heorot came she, where helmeted Danes
slept in the hall. Too soon came back
old ills of the earls, when in she burst,
the mother of Grendel. Less grim, though, that terror,
e'en as terror of woman in war is less,
might of maid, than of men in arms
when, hammer-forged, the falchion hard,
sword gore-stained, through swine of the helm,
crested, with keen blade carves amain.
Then was in hall the hard-edge drawn,
the swords on the settles, [1] and shields a-many
firm held in hand: nor helmet minded
nor harness of mail, whom that horror seized.
Haste was hers; she would hie afar
and save her life when the liegemen saw her.
Yet a single atheling up she seized
fast and firm, as she fled to the moor.
He was for Hrothgar of heroes the dearest,
of trusty vassals betwixt the seas,
78
whom she killed on his couch, a clansman famous,
in battle brave. - Nor was Beowulf there;
another house had been held apart,
after giving of gold, for the Geat renowned. Uproar filled Heorot; the hand all had viewed,
blood-flecked, she bore with her; bale was returned,
dole in the dwellings: 'twas dire exchange
where Dane and Geat were doomed to give
the lives of loved ones. Long-tried king,
the hoary hero, at heart was sad
when he knew his noble no more lived,
and dead indeed was his dearest thane.
To his bower was Beowulf brought in haste,
dauntless victor. As daylight broke,
along with his earls the atheling lord,
with his clansmen, came where the king abode
waiting to see if the Wielder-of-All
would turn this tale of trouble and woe.
Strode o'er floor the famed-in-strife,
with his hand-companions, - the hall resounded, wishing to greet the wise old king,
Ingwines' lord; he asked if the night
had passed in peace to the prince's mind.
XX
HROTHGAR spake, helmet-of-Scyldings:'Ask not of pleasure! Pain is renewed
to Danish folk. Dead is Aeschere,
of Yrmenlaf the elder brother,
my sage adviser and stay in council,
shoulder-comrade in stress of fight
when warriors clashed and we warded our heads,
hewed the helm-boars; hero famed
should be every earl as Aeschere was!
But here in Heorot a hand hath slain him
of wandering death-sprite. I wot not whither,
proud of the prey, her path she took,
fain of her fill. The feud she avenged
that yesternight, unyieldingly,
Grendel in grimmest grasp thou killedst, seeing how long these liegemen mine
he ruined and ravaged. Reft of life,
79
in arms he fell. Now another comes,
keen and cruel, her kin to avenge,
faring far in feud of blood:
so that many a thane shall think, who e'er
sorrows in soul for that sharer of rings,
this is hardest of heart-bales. The hand lies low
that once was willing each wish to please.
Land-dwellers here [2] and liegemen mine,
who house by those parts, I have heard relate
that such a pair they have sometimes seen,
march-stalkers mighty the moorland haunting,
wandering spirits: one of them seemed,
so far as my folk could fairly judge,
of womankind; and one, accursed,
in man's guise trod the misery-track
of exile, though huger than human bulk.
Grendel in days long gone they named him,
folk of the land; his father they knew not,
nor any brood that was born to him
of treacherous spirits. Untrod is their home;
by wolf-cliffs haunt they and windy headlands,
fenways fearful, where flows the stream
from mountains gliding to gloom of the rocks,
underground flood. Not far is it hence
in measure of miles that the mere expands,
and o'er it the frost-bound forest hanging,
sturdily rooted, shadows the wave.
By night is a wonder weird to see,
fire on the waters. So wise lived none
of the sons of men, to search those depths!
Nay, though the heath-rover, harried by dogs,
the horn-proud hart, this holt should seek,
long distance driven, his dear life first
on the brink he yields ere he brave the plunge
to hide his head: 'tis no happy place!
Thence the welter of waters washes up
wan to welkin when winds bestir
evil storms, and air grows dusk,
and the heavens weep. Now is help once more
with thee alone! The land thou knowst not,
place of fear, where thou findest out
that sin-flecked being. Seek if thou dare!
80
I will reward thee, for waging this fight,
with ancient treasure, as erst I did,
with winding gold, if thou winnest back.'
XXI
BEOWULF spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:
'Sorrow not, sage! It beseems us better
friends to avenge than fruitlessly mourn them.
Each of us all must his end abide
in the ways of the world; so win who may
glory ere death! When his days are told,
that is the warrior's worthiest doom.
Rise, O realm-warder! Ride we anon,
and mark the trail of the mother of Grendel.
No harbor shall hide her - heed my promise! enfolding of field or forested mountain
or floor of the flood, let her flee where she will!
But thou this day endure in patience,
as I ween thou wilt, thy woes each one.'
Leaped up the graybeard: God he thanked,
mighty Lord, for the man's brave words.
For Hrothgar soon a horse was saddled
wave-maned steed. The sovran wise
stately rode on; his shield-armed men
followed in force. The footprints led
along the woodland, widely seen,
a path o'er the plain, where she passed, and trod
the murky moor; of men-at-arms
she bore the bravest and best one, dead,
him who with Hrothgar the homestead ruled.
On then went the atheling-born
o'er stone-cliffs steep and strait defiles,
narrow passes and unknown ways,
headlands sheer, and the haunts of the Nicors.
Foremost he [1] fared, a few at his side
of the wiser men, the ways to scan,
till he found in a flash the forested hill
hanging over the hoary rock,
a woful wood: the waves below
were dyed in blood. The Danish men
had sorrow of soul, and for Scyldings all,
for many a hero, 'twas hard to bear,
81
ill for earls, when Aeschere's head
they found by the flood on the foreland there.
Waves were welling, the warriors saw,
hot with blood; but the horn sang oft
battle-song bold. The band sat down,
and watched on the water worm-like things,
sea-dragons strange that sounded the deep,
and nicors that lay on the ledge of the ness such as oft essay at hour of morn
on the road-of-sails their ruthless quest, and sea-snakes and monsters. These started away,
swollen and savage that song to hear,
that war-horn's blast. The warden of Geats,
with bolt from bow, then balked of life,
of wave-work, one monster, amid its heart
went the keen war-shaft; in water it seemed
less doughty in swimming whom death had seized.
Swift on the billows, with boar-spears well
hooked and barbed, it was hard beset,
done to death and dragged on the headland,
wave-roamer wondrous. Warriors viewed the grisly guest.
Then girt him Beowulf
in martial mail, nor mourned for his life.
His breastplate broad and bright of hues,
woven by hand, should the waters try;
well could it ward the warrior's body
that battle should break on his breast in vain
nor harm his heart by the hand of a foe.
And the helmet white that his head protected
was destined to dare the deeps of the flood,
through wave-whirl win: 'twas wound with chains,
decked with gold, as in days of yore
the weapon-smith worked it wondrously,
with swine-forms set it, that swords nowise,
brandished in battle, could bite that helm.
Nor was that the meanest of mighty helps
which Hrothgar's orator offered at need:
'Hrunting' they named the hilted sword,
of old-time heirlooms easily first;
iron was its edge, all etched with poison,
with battle-blood hardened, nor blenched it at fight
in hero's hand who held it ever,
82
on paths of peril prepared to go
to folkstead [2] of foes. Not first time this
it was destined to do a daring task.
For he bore not in mind, the bairn of Ecglaf
sturdy and strong, that speech he had made,
drunk with wine, now this weapon he lent
to a stouter swordsman. Himself, though, durst not
under welter of waters wager his life
as loyal liegeman. So lost he his glory,
honor of earls. With the other not so,
who girded him now for the grim encounter.
XXII
BEOWULF spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:'Have mind, thou honored offspring of Healfdene
gold-friend of men, now I go on this quest,
sovran wise, what once was said:
if in thy cause it came that I
should lose my life, thou wouldst loyal bide
to me, though fallen, in father's place!
Be guardian, thou, to this group of my thanes,
my warrior-friends, if War should seize me;
and the goodly gifts thou gavest me,
Hrothgar beloved, to Hygelac send!
Geatland's king may ken by the gold,
Hrethel's son see, when he stares at the treasure,
that I got me a friend for goodness famed,
and joyed while I could in my jewel-bestower.
And let Unferth wield this wondrous sword,
earl far-honored, this heirloom precious,
hard of edge: with Hrunting I
seek doom of glory, or Death shall take me.'
After these words the Weder-Geat lord
boldly hastened, biding never
answer at all: the ocean floods
closed o'er the hero. Long while of the day
fled ere he felt the floor of the sea.
Soon found the fiend who the flood-domain
sword-hungry held these hundred winters,
greedy and grim, that some guest from above,
some man, was raiding her monster-realm.
She grasped out for him with grisly claws,
83
and the warrior seized; yet scathed she not
his body hale; the breastplate hindered,
as she strove to shatter the sark of war,
the linked harness, with loathsome hand.
Then bore this brine-wolf, when bottom she touched,
the lord of rings to the lair she haunted
whiles vainly he strove, though his valor held,
weapon to wield against wondrous monsters
that sore beset him; sea-beasts many
tried with fierce tusks to tear his mail,
and swarmed on the stranger. But soon he marked
he was now in some hall, he knew not which,
where water never could work him harm,
nor through the roof could reach him ever
fangs of the flood. Firelight he saw,
beams of a blaze that brightly shone.
Then the warrior was ware of that wolf-of-the-deep,
mere-wife monstrous. For mighty stroke
he swung his blade, and the blow withheld not.
Then sang on her head that seemly blade
its war-song wild. But the warrior found
the light-of-battle [1] was loath to bite,
to harm the heart: its hard edge failed
the noble at need, yet had known of old
strife hand to hand, and had helmets cloven,
doomed men's fighting-gear. First time, this,
for the gleaming blade that its glory fell.
Firm still stood, nor failed in valor,
heedful of high deeds, Hygelac's kinsman;
flung away fretted sword, featly jewelled,
the angry earl; on earth it lay
steel-edged and stiff. His strength he trusted,
hand-gripe of might. So man shall do
whenever in war he weens to earn him
lasting fame, nor fears for his life!
Seized then by shoulder, shrank not from combat,
the Geatish war-prince Grendel's mother.
Flung then the fierce one, filled with wrath,
his deadly foe, that she fell to ground.
Swift on her part she paid him back
with grisly grasp, and grappled with him.
Spent with struggle, stumbled the warrior,
84
fiercest of fighting-men, fell adown.
On the hall-guest she hurled herself,
hent her short sword,
broad and brown-edged, the bairn to avenge,
the sole-born son. - On his shoulder lay
braided breast-mail, barring death,
withstanding entrance of edge or blade.
Life would have ended for Ecgtheow's son,
under wide earth for that earl of Geats,
had his armor of war not aided him,
battle-net hard, and holy God
wielded the victory, wisest Maker.
The Lord of Heaven allowed his cause;
and easily rose the earl erect.
XXIII
'MID the battle-gear saw he a blade triumphant,
old-sword of Eotens, with edge of proof,
warriors' heirloom, weapon unmatched,
- save only 'twas more than other men
to bandy-of-battle could bear at all as the giants had wrought it, ready and keen.
Seized then its chain-hilt the Scyldings' chieftain,
bold and battle-grim, brandished the sword,
reckless of life, and so wrathfully smote
that it gripped her neck and grasped her hard,
her bone-rings breaking: the blade pierced through
that fated-one's flesh: to floor she sank.
Bloody the blade: he was blithe of his deed.
Then blazed forth light. 'Twas bright within
as when from the sky there shines unclouded
heaven's candle. The hall he scanned.
By the wall then went he; his weapon raised
high by its hilts the Hygelac-thane,
angry and eager. That edge was not useless
to the warrior now. He wished with speed
Grendel to guerdon for grim raids many,
for the war he waged on Western-Danes
oftener far than an only time,
when of Hrothgar's hearth-companions
he slew in slumber, in sleep devoured,
fifteen men of the folk of Danes,
85
and as many others outward bore,
his horrible prey. Well paid for that
the wrathful prince! For now prone he saw
Grendel stretched there, spent with war,
spoiled of life, so scathed had left him
Heorot's battle. The body sprang far
when after death it endured the blow,
sword-stroke savage, that severed its head.
Soon, [1] then, saw the sage companions
who waited with Hrothgar, watching the flood,
that the tossing waters turbid grew,
blood-stained the mere. Old men together,
hoary-haired, of the hero spake;
the warrior would not, they weened, again,
proud of conquest, come to seek
their mighty master. To many it seemed
the wolf-of-the-waves had won his life.
The ninth hour came. The noble Scyldings
left the headland; homeward went
the gold-friend of men. [2] But the guests sat on,
stared at the surges, sick in heart,
and wished, yet weened not, their winsome lord
again to see.
Now that sword began,
from blood of the fight, in battle-droppings,
war-blade, to wane: 'twas a wondrous thing
that all of it melted as ice is wont
when frosty fetters the Father loosens,
unwinds the wave-bonds, wielding all
seasons and times: the true God he!
Nor took from that dwelling the duke of the Geats
precious things, though a plenty he saw,
save only the head and that hilt withal
blazoned with jewels: the blade had melted,
burned was the bright sword, her blood was so hot,
so poisoned the hell-sprite who perished within there.
Soon he was swimming who safe saw in combat
downfall of demons; up-dove through the flood.
The clashing waters were cleansed now,
waste of waves, where the wandering fiend
her life-days left and this lapsing world.
Swam then to strand the sailors'-refuge,
86
sturdy-in-spirit, of sea-booty glad,
of burden brave he bore with him.
Went then to greet him, and God they thanked,
the thane-band choice of their chieftain blithe,
that safe and sound they could see him again.
Soon from the hardy one helmet and armor
deftly they doffed: now drowsed the mere,
water 'neath welkin, with war-blood stained.
Forth they fared by the footpaths thence,
merry at heart the highways measured,
well-known roads. Courageous men
carried the head from the cliff by the sea,
an arduous task for all the band,
the firm in fight, since four were needed
on the shaft-of-slaughter [4] strenuously
to bear to the gold-hall Grendel's head.
So presently to the palace there
foemen fearless, fourteen Geats,
marching came. Their master-of-clan
mighty amid them the meadow-ways trod.
Strode then within the sovran thane
fearless in fight, of fame renowned,
hardy hero, Hrothgar to greet.
And next by the hair into hall was borne
Grendel's head, where the henchmen were drinking,
an awe to clan and queen alike,
a monster of marvel: the men looked on.
XXIV
BEOWULF spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:'Lo, now, this sea-booty, son of Healfdene,
Lord of Scyldings, we've lustily brought thee,
sign of glory; thou seest it here.
Not lightly did I with my life escape!
In war under water this work I essayed
with endless effort; and even so
my strength had been lost had the Lord not shielded me.
Not a whit could I with Hrunting do
in work of war, though the weapon is good;
yet a sword the Sovran of Men vouchsafed me
to spy on the wall there, in splendor hanging,
old, gigantic, - how oft He guides
87
the friendless wight! - and I fought with that brand,
felling in fight, since fate was with me,
the house's wardens. That war-sword then all burned, bright blade, when the
blood gushed o'er it,
battle-sweat hot; but the hilt I brought back
from my foes. So avenged I their fiendish deeds
death-fall of Danes, as was due and right.
And this is my hest, that in Heorot now
safe thou canst sleep with thy soldier band,
and every thane of all thy folk
both old and young; no evil fear,
Scyldings' lord, from that side again,
aught ill for thy earls, as erst thou must!'
Then the golden hilt, for that gray-haired leader,
hoary hero, in hand was laid,
giant-wrought, old. So owned and enjoyed it
after downfall of devils, the Danish lord,
wonder-smiths' work, since the world was rid
of that grim-souled fiend, the foe of God,
murder-marked, and his mother as well.
Now it passed into power of the people's king,
best of all that the oceans bound
who have scattered their gold o'er Scandia's isle.
Hrothgar spake - the hilt he viewed,
heirloom old, where was etched the rise
of that far-off fight when the floods o'erwhelmed,
raging waves, the race of giants
(fearful their fate!), a folk estranged
from God Eternal: whence guerdon due
in that waste of waters the Wielder paid them.
So on the guard of shining gold
in runic staves it was rightly said
for whom the serpent-traced sword was wrought,
best of blades, in bygone days,
and the hilt well wound. - The wise-one spake,
son of Healfdene; silent were all:'Lo, so may he say who sooth and right
follows 'mid folk, of far times mindful,
a land-warden old, [1] that this earl belongs
to the better breed! So, borne aloft,
thy fame must fly, O friend my Beowulf,
far and wide o'er folksteads many. Firmly thou
88
shalt all maintain,
mighty strength with mood of wisdom. Love of
mine will I assure thee,
as, awhile ago, I promised;
thou shalt prove a stay in future,
in far-off years, to folk of thine,
to the heroes a help. Was not Heremod thus
to offspring of Ecgwela, Honor-Scyldings,
nor grew for their grace, but for grisly slaughter,
for doom of death to the Danishmen.
He slew, wrath-swollen, his shoulder-comrades,
companions at board! So he passed alone,
chieftain haughty, from human cheer.
Though him the Maker with might endowed,
delights of power, and uplifted high
above all men, yet blood-fierce his mind,
his breast-hoard, grew, no bracelets gave he
to Danes as was due; he endured all joyless
strain of struggle and stress of woe,
long feud with his folk. Here find thy lesson!
Of virtue advise thee! This verse I have said for thee,
wise from lapsed winters. Wondrous seems
how to sons of men Almighty God
in the strength of His spirit sendeth wisdom,
estate, high station: He swayeth all things.
Whiles He letteth right lustily fare
the heart of the hero of high-born race, in seat ancestral assigns him bliss,
his folk's sure fortress in fee to hold,
puts in his power great parts of the earth,
empire so ample, that end of it
this wanter-of-wisdom weeneth none.
So he waxes in wealth, nowise can harm him
illness or age; no evil cares
shadow his spirit; no sword-hate threatens
from ever an enemy: all the world
wends at his will, no worse he knoweth,
till all within him obstinate pride
waxes and wakes while the warden slumbers,
the spirit's sentry; sleep is too fast
which masters his might, and the murderer nears,
stealthily shooting the shafts from his bow!
89
XXV
'UNDER harness his heart then is hit indeed
by sharpest shafts; and no shelter avails
from foul behest of the hellish fiend.
Him seems too little what long he possessed.
Greedy and grim, no golden rings
he gives for his pride; the promised future
forgets he and spurns, with all God has sent him,
Wonder-Wielder, of wealth and fame.
Yet in the end it ever comes
that the frame of the body fragile yields,
fated falls; and there follows another
who joyously the jewels divides,
the royal riches, nor recks of his forebear.
Ban, then, such baleful thoughts, Beowulf dearest,
best of men, and the better part choose,
profit eternal; and temper thy pride,
warrior famous! The flower of thy might
lasts now a while: but erelong it shall be
that sickness or sword thy strength shall minish,
or fang of fire, or flooding billow,
or bite of blade, or brandished spear,
or odious age; or the eyes' clear beam
wax dull and darken: Death even thee
in haste shall o'erwhelm, thou hero of war!
So the Ring-Danes these half-years a hundred I ruled,
wielded 'neath welkin, and warded them bravely
from mighty-ones many o'er middle-earth,
from spear and sword, till it seemed for me
no foe could be found under fold of the sky.
Lo, sudden the shift! To me seated secure
came grief for joy when Grendel began
to harry my home, the hellish foe;
for those ruthless raids, unresting I suffered
heart-sorrow heavy. Heaven be thanked,
Lord Eternal, for life extended
that I on this head all hewn and bloody,
after long evil, with eyes may gaze!
- Go to the bench now! Be glad at banquet,
warrior worthy! A wealth of treasure
at dawn of day, be dealt between us!'
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Glad was the Geats' lord, going betimes
to seek his seat, as the Sage commanded.
Afresh, as before, for the famed-in-battle,
for the band of the hall, was a banquet dight
nobly anew. The Night-Helm darkened
dusk o'er the drinkers.
The doughty ones rose:
for the hoary-headed would hasten to rest,
aged Scylding; and eager the Geat,
shield-fighter sturdy, for sleeping yearned.
Him wander-weary, warrior-guest
from far, a hall-thane heralded forth,
who by custom courtly cared for all
needs of a thane as in those old days
warrior-wanderers wont to have.
So slumbered the stout-heart. Stately the hall
rose gabled and gilt where the guest slept on
till a raven black the rapture-of-heaven [2]
blithe-heart boded. Bright came flying
shine after shadow. The swordsmen hastened,
athelings all were eager homeward
forth to fare; and far from thence
the great-hearted guest would guide his keel.
Bade then the hardy-one Hrunting be brought
to the son of Ecglaf, the sword bade him take,
excellent iron, and uttered his thanks for it,
quoth that he counted it keen in battle,
'war-friend' winsome: with words he slandered not
edge of the blade: 'twas a big-hearted man!
Now eager for parting and armed at point
warriors waited, while went to his host
that Darling of Danes. The doughty atheling
to high-seat hastened and Hrothgar greeted.
XXVI
BEOWULF spake, bairn of Ecgtheow:'Lo, we seafarers say our will,
far-come men, that we fain would seek
Hygelac now. We here have found
hosts to our heart: thou hast harbored us well.
If ever on earth I am able to win me
more of thy love, O lord of men,
91
aught anew, than I now have done,
for work of war I am willing still!
If it come to me ever across the seas
that neighbor foemen annoy and fright thee, as they that hate thee erewhile have used, thousands then of thanes I shall bring,
heroes to help thee. Of Hygelac I know,
ward of his folk, that, though few his years,
the lord of the Geats will give me aid
by word and by work, that well I may serve thee,
wielding the war-wood to win thy triumph
and lending thee might when thou lackest men.
If thy Hrethric should come to court of Geats,
a sovran's son, he will surely there
find his friends. A far-off land
each man should visit who vaunts him brave.'
Him then answering, Hrothgar spake:'These words of thine the wisest God
sent to thy soul! No sager counsel
from so young in years e'er yet have I heard.
Thou art strong of main and in mind art wary,
art wise in words! I ween indeed
if ever it hap that Hrethel's heir
by spear be seized, by sword-grim battle,
by illness or iron, thine elder and lord,
people's leader, - and life be thine, no seemlier man will the Sea-Geats find
at all to choose for their chief and king,
for hoard-guard of heroes, if hold thou wilt
thy kinsman's kingdom! Thy keen mind pleases me
the longer the better, Beowulf loved!
Thou hast brought it about that both our peoples,
sons of the Geat and Spear-Dane folk,
shall have mutual peace, and from murderous strife,
such as once they waged, from war refrain.
Long as I rule this realm so wide,
let our hoards be common, let heroes with gold
each other greet o'er the gannet's-bath,
and the ringed-prow bear o'er rolling waves
tokens of love. I trow my landfolk
towards friend and foe are firmly joined,
and honor they keep in the olden way.'
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To him in the hall, then, Healfdene's son
gave treasures twelve, and the trust-of-earls
bade him fare with the gifts to his folk beloved,
hale to his home, and in haste return.
Then kissed the king of kin renowned,
Scyldings' chieftain, that choicest thane,
and fell on his neck. Fast flowed the tears
of the hoary-headed. Heavy with winters,
he had chances twain, but he clung to this, [1] that each should look on the other again,
and hear him in hall. Was this hero so dear to him.
his breast's wild billows he banned in vain;
safe in his soul a secret longing,
locked in his mind, for that loved man
burned in his blood. Then Beowulf strode,
glad of his gold-gifts, the grass-plot o'er,
warrior blithe. The wave-roamer bode
riding at anchor, its owner awaiting.
As they hastened onward, Hrothgar's gift
they lauded at length. - 'Twas a lord unpeered,
every way blameless, till age had broken
- it spareth no mortal - his splendid might.
XXVII
CAME now to ocean the ever-courageous
hardy henchmen, their harness bearing,
woven war-sarks. The warden marked,
trusty as ever, the earl's return.
From the height of the hill no hostile words
reached the guests as he rode to greet them;
but 'Welcome!' he called to that Weder clan
as the sheen-mailed spoilers to ship marched on.
Then on the strand, with steeds and treasure
and armor their roomy and ring-dight ship
was heavily laden: high its mast
rose over Hrothgar's hoarded gems.
A sword to the boat-guard Beowulf gave,
mounted with gold; on the mead-bench since
he was better esteemed, that blade possessing,
heirloom old. - Their ocean-keel boarding,
they drove through the deep, and Daneland left.
A sea-cloth was set, a sail with ropes,
93
firm to the mast; the flood-timbers moaned;
nor did wind over billows that wave-swimmer blow
across from her course. The craft sped on,
foam-necked it floated forth o'er the waves,
keel firm-bound over briny currents,
till they got them sight of the Geatish cliffs,
home-known headlands. High the boat,
stirred by winds, on the strand updrove.
Helpful at haven the harbor-guard stood,
who long already for loved companions
by the water had waited and watched afar.
He bound to the beach the broad-bosomed ship
with anchor-bands, lest ocean-billows
that trusty timber should tear away.
Then Beowulf bade them bear the treasure,
gold and jewels; no journey far
was it thence to go to the giver of rings,
Hygelac Hrethling: at home he dwelt
by the sea-wall close, himself and clan.
Haughty that house, a hero the king,
high the hall, and Hygd right young,
wise and wary, though winters few
in those fortress walls she had found a home,
Haereth's daughter. Nor humble her ways,
nor grudged she gifts to the Geatish men,
of precious treasure. Not Thryth's pride showed she,
folk-queen famed, or that fell deceit.
Was none so daring that durst make bold
(save her lord alone) of the liegemen dear
that lady full in the face to look,
but forged fetters he found his lot,
bonds of death! And brief the respite;
soon as they seized him, his sword-doom was spoken,
and the burnished blade a baleful murder
proclaimed and closed. No queenly way
for woman to practise, though peerless she,
that the weaver-of-peace [3] from warrior dear
by wrath and lying his life should reave!
But Hemming's kinsman hindered this. For over their ale men also told
that of these folk-horrors fewer she wrought,
onslaughts of evil, after she went,
94
gold-decked bride, to the brave young prince,
atheling haughty, and Offa's hall
o'er the fallow flood at her father's bidding
safely sought, where since she prospered,
royal, throned, rich in goods,
fain of the fair life fate had sent her,
and leal in love to the lord of warriors.
He, of all heroes I heard of ever
from sea to sea, of the sons of earth,
most excellent seemed. Hence Offa was praised
for his fighting and feeing by far-off men,
the spear-bold warrior; wisely he ruled
over his empire. Eomer woke to him,
help of heroes, Hemming's kinsman,
Grandson of Garmund, grim in war.
XXVIII
HASTENED the hardy one, henchmen with him,
sandy strand of the sea to tread
and widespread ways. The world's great candle,
sun shone from south. They strode along
with sturdy steps to the spot they knew
where the battle-king young, his burg within,
slayer of Ongentheow, shared the rings,
shelter-of-heroes. To Hygelac
Beowulf's coming was quickly told, that there in the court the clansmen's refuge,
the shield-companion sound and alive,
hale from the hero-play homeward strode.
With haste in the hall, by highest order,
room for the rovers was readily made.
By his sovran he sat, come safe from battle,
kinsman by kinsman. His kindly lord
he first had greeted in gracious form,
with manly words. The mead dispensing,
came through the high hall Haereth's daughter,
winsome to warriors, wine-cup bore
to the hands of the heroes. Hygelac then
his comrade fairly with question plied
in the lofty hall, sore longing to know
what manner of sojourn the Sea-Geats made.
'What came of thy quest, my kinsman Beowulf,
95
when thy yearnings suddenly swept thee yonder
battle to seek o'er the briny sea,
combat in Heorot? Hrothgar couldst thou
aid at all, the honored chief,
in his wide-known woes? With waves of care
my sad heart seethed; I sore mistrusted
my loved one's venture: long I begged thee
by no means to seek that slaughtering monster,
but suffer the South-Danes to settle their feud
themselves with Grendel. Now God be thanked
that safe and sound I can see thee now!'
Beowulf spake, the bairn of Ecgtheow:''Tis known and unhidden, Hygelac Lord,
to many men, that meeting of ours,
struggle grim between Grendel and me,
which we fought on the field where full too many
sorrows he wrought for the Scylding-Victors,
evils unending. These all I avenged.
No boast can be from breed of Grendel,
any on earth, for that uproar at dawn,
from the longest-lived of the loathsome race
in fleshly fold! - But first I went
Hrothgar to greet in the hall of gifts,
where Healfdene's kinsman high-renowned,
soon as my purpose was plain to him,
assigned me a seat by his son and heir.
The liegemen were lusty; my life-days never
such merry men over mead in hall
have I heard under heaven! The high-born queen,
people's peace-bringer, passed through the hall,
cheered the young clansmen, clasps of gold,
ere she sought her seat, to sundry gave.
Oft to the heroes Hrothgar's daughter,
to earls in turn, the ale-cup tendered, she whom I heard these hall-companions
Freawaru name, when fretted gold
she proffered the warriors. Promised is she,
gold-decked maid, to the glad son of Froda.
Sage this seems to the Scylding's-friend,
kingdom's-keeper: he counts it wise
the woman to wed so and ward off feud,
store of slaughter. But seldom ever
96
when men are slain, does the murder-spear sink
but briefest while, though the bride be fair! [1]
'Nor haply will like it the Heathobard lord,
and as little each of his liegemen all,
when a thane of the Danes, in that doughty throng,
goes with the lady along their hall,
and on him the old-time heirlooms glisten
hard and ring-decked, Heathobard's treasure,
weapons that once they wielded fair
until they lost at the linden-play [2]
liegeman leal and their lives as well.
Then, over the ale, on this heirloom gazing,
some ash-wielder old who has all in mind
that spear-death of men, [3] - he is stern of mood,
heavy at heart, - in the hero young
tests the temper and tries the soul
and war-hate wakens, with words like these:_Canst thou not, comrade, ken that sword
which to the fray thy father carried
in his final feud, 'neath the fighting-mask,
dearest of blades, when the Danish slew him
and wielded the war-place on Withergild's fall,
after havoc of heroes, those hardy Scyldings?
Now, the son of a certain slaughtering Dane,
proud of his treasure, paces this hall,
joys in the killing, and carries the jewel [4]
that rightfully ought to be owned by thee!_
Thus he urges and eggs him all the time
with keenest words, till occasion offers
that Freawaru's thane, for his father's deed,
after bite of brand in his blood must slumber,
losing his life; but that liegeman flies
living away, for the land he kens.
And thus be broken on both their sides
oaths of the earls, when Ingeld's breast
wells with war-hate, and wife-love now
after the care-billows cooler grows.
'So [5] I hold not high the Heathobards' faith
due to the Danes, or their during love
and pact of peace. - But I pass from that,
turning to Grendel, O giver-of-treasure,
and saying in full how the fight resulted,
97
hand-fray of heroes. When heaven's jewel
had fled o'er far fields, that fierce sprite came,
night-foe savage, to seek us out
where safe and sound we sentried the hall.
To Hondscio then was that harassing deadly,
his fall there was fated. He first was slain,
girded warrior. Grendel on him
turned murderous mouth, on our mighty kinsman,
and all of the brave man's body devoured.
Yet none the earlier, empty-handed,
would the bloody-toothed murderer, mindful of bale,
outward go from the gold-decked hall:
but me he attacked in his terror of might,
with greedy hand grasped me. A glove hung by him [6]
wide and wondrous, wound with bands;
and in artful wise it all was wrought,
by devilish craft, of dragon-skins.
Me therein, an innocent man,
the fiendish foe was fain to thrust
with many another. He might not so,
when I all angrily upright stood.
'Twere long to relate how that land-destroyer
I paid in kind for his cruel deeds;
yet there, my prince, this people of thine
got fame by my fighting. He fled away,
and a little space his life preserved;
but there staid behind him his stronger hand
left in Heorot; heartsick thence
on the floor of the ocean that outcast fell.
Me for this struggle the Scyldings'-friend
paid in plenty with plates of gold,
with many a treasure, when morn had come
and we all at the banquet-board sat down.
Then was song and glee. The gray-haired Scylding,
much tested, told of the times of yore.
Whiles the hero his harp bestirred,
wood-of-delight; now lays he chanted
of sooth and sadness, or said aright
legends of wonder, the wide-hearted king;
or for years of his youth he would yearn at times,
for strength of old struggles, now stricken with age,
hoary hero: his heart surged full
98
when, wise with winters, he wailed their flight.
Thus in the hall the whole of that day
at ease we feasted, till fell o'er earth
another night. Anon full ready
in greed of vengeance, Grendel's mother
set forth all doleful. Dead was her son
through war-hate of Weders; now, woman monstrous
with fury fell a foeman she slew,
avenged her offspring. From Aeschere old,
loyal councillor, life was gone;
nor might they e'en, when morning broke,
those Danish people, their death-done comrade
burn with brands, on balefire lay
the man they mourned. Under mountain stream
she had carried the corpse with cruel hands.
For Hrothgar that was the heaviest sorrow
of all that had laden the lord of his folk.
The leader then, by thy life, besought me
(sad was his soul) in the sea-waves' coil
to play the hero and hazard my being
for glory of prowess: my guerdon he pledged.
I then in the waters - 'tis widely known that sea-floor-guardian savage found.
Hand-to-hand there a while we struggled;
billows welled blood; in the briny hall
her head I hewed with a hardy blade
from Grendel's mother, - and gained my life,
though not without danger. My doom was not yet.
Then the haven-of-heroes, Healfdene's son,
gave me in guerdon great gifts of price.
XXXI
'So held this king to the customs old,
that I wanted for nought in the wage I gained,
the meed of my might; he made me gifts,
Healfdene's heir, for my own disposal.
Now to thee, my prince, I proffer them all,
gladly give them. Thy grace alone
can find me favor. Few indeed
have I of kinsmen, save, Hygelac, thee!'
Then he bade them bear him the boar-head standard,
the battle-helm high, and breastplate gray,
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the splendid sword; then spake in form:'Me this war-gear the wise old prince,
Hrothgar, gave, and his hest he added,
that its story be straightway said to thee. A while it was held by Heorogar king,
for long time lord of the land of Scyldings;
yet not to his son the sovran left it,
to daring Heoroweard, - dear as he was to him,
his harness of battle. - Well hold thou it all!'
And I heard that soon passed o'er the path of this treasure, all apple-fallow, four
good steeds,
each like the others, arms and horses
he gave to the king. So should kinsmen be,
not weave one another the net of wiles,
or with deep-hid treachery death contrive
for neighbor and comrade. His nephew was ever
by hardy Hygelac held full dear,
and each kept watch o'er the other's weal.
I heard, too, the necklace to Hygd he presented,
wonder-wrought treasure, which Wealhtheow gave him
sovran's daughter: three steeds he added,
slender and saddle-gay. Since such gift
the gem gleamed bright on the breast of the queen.
Thus showed his strain the son of Ecgtheow
as a man remarked for mighty deeds
and acts of honor. At ale he slew not
comrade or kin; nor cruel his mood,
though of sons of earth his strength was greatest,
a glorious gift that God had sent
the splendid leader. Long was he spurned,
and worthless by Geatish warriors held;
him at mead the master-of-clans
failed full oft to favor at all.
Slack and shiftless the strong men deemed him,
profitless prince; but payment came,
to the warrior honored, for all his woes. Then the bulwark-of-earls [1] bade bring within,
hardy chieftain, Hrethel's heirloom
garnished with gold: no Geat e'er knew
in shape of a sword a statelier prize.
The brand he laid in Beowulf's lap;
and of hides assigned him seven thousand,
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with house and high-seat. They held in common
land alike by their line of birth,
inheritance, home: but higher the king
because of his rule o'er the realm itself.
Now further it fell with the flight of years,
with harryings horrid, that Hygelac perished,
and Heardred, too, by hewing of swords
under the shield-wall slaughtered lay,
when him at the van of his victor-folk
sought hardy heroes, Heatho-Scilfings,
in arms o'erwhelming Hereric's nephew.
Then Beowulf came as king this broad
realm to wield; and he ruled it well
fifty winters, [4] a wise old prince,
warding his land, until One began
in the dark of night, a Dragon, to rage.
In the grave on the hill a hoard it guarded,
in the stone-barrow steep. A strait path reached it,
unknown to mortals. Some man, however,
came by chance that cave within
to the heathen hoard. [5] In hand he took
a golden goblet, nor gave he it back,
stole with it away, while the watcher slept,
by thievish wiles: for the warden's wrath
prince and people must pay betimes!
XXXII
THAT way he went with no will of his own,
in danger of life, to the dragon's hoard,
but for pressure of peril, some prince's thane.
He fled in fear the fatal scourge,
seeking shelter, a sinful man,
and entered in. At the awful sight
tottered that guest, and terror seized him;
yet the wretched fugitive rallied anon
from fright and fear ere he fled away,
and took the cup from that treasure-hoard.
Of such besides there was store enough,
heirlooms old, the earth below,
which some earl forgotten, in ancient years,
left the last of his lofty race,
heedfully there had hidden away,
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dearest treasure. For death of yore
had hurried all hence; and he alone
left to live, the last of the clan,
weeping his friends, yet wished to bide
warding the treasure, his one delight,
though brief his respite. The barrow, new-ready,
to strand and sea-waves stood anear,
hard by the headland, hidden and closed;
there laid within it his lordly heirlooms
and heaped hoard of heavy gold
that warden of rings. Few words he spake:
'Now hold thou, earth, since heroes may not,
what earls have owned! Lo, erst from thee
brave men brought it! But battle-death seized
and cruel killing my clansmen all,
robbed them of life and a liegeman's joys.
None have I left to lift the sword,
or to cleanse the carven cup of price,
beaker bright. My brave are gone.
And the helmet hard, all haughty with gold,
shall part from its plating. Polishers sleep
who could brighten and burnish the battle-mask;
and those weeds of war that were wont to brave
over bicker of shields the bite of steel
rust with their bearer. The ringed mail
fares not far with famous chieftain,
at side of hero! No harp's delight,
no glee-wood's gladness! No good hawk now
flies through the hall! Nor horses fleet
stamp in the burgstead! Battle and death
the flower of my race have reft away.'
Mournful of mood, thus he moaned his woe,
alone, for them all, and unblithe wept
by day and by night, till death's fell wave
o'erwhelmed his heart. His hoard-of-bliss
that old ill-doer open found,
who, blazing at twilight the barrows haunteth,
naked foe-dragon flying by night
folded in fire: the folk of earth
dread him sore. 'Tis his doom to seek
hoard in the graves, and heathen gold
to watch, many-wintered: nor wins he thereby!
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Powerful this plague-of-the-people thus
held the house of the hoard in earth
three hundred winters; till One aroused
wrath in his breast, to the ruler bearing
that costly cup, and the king implored
for bond of peace. So the barrow was plundered,
borne off was booty. His boon was granted
that wretched man; and his ruler saw
first time what was fashioned in far-off days.
When the dragon awoke, new woe was kindled.
O'er the stone he snuffed. The stark-heart found
footprint of foe who so far had gone
in his hidden craft by the creature's head. So may the undoomed easily flee
evils and exile, if only he gain
the grace of The Wielder! - That warden of gold
o'er the ground went seeking, greedy to find
the man who wrought him such wrong in sleep.
Savage and burning, the barrow he circled
all without; nor was any there,
none in the waste…. Yet war he desired,
was eager for battle. The barrow he entered,
sought the cup, and discovered soon
that some one of mortals had searched his treasure,
his lordly gold. The guardian waited
ill-enduring till evening came;
boiling with wrath was the barrow's keeper,
and fain with flame the foe to pay
for the dear cup's loss. - Now day was fled
as the worm had wished. By its wall no more
was it glad to bide, but burning flew
folded in flame: a fearful beginning
for sons of the soil; and soon it came,
in the doom of their lord, to a dreadful end.
XXXIII
THEN the baleful fiend its fire belched out,
and bright homes burned. The blaze stood high
all landsfolk frighting. No living thing
would that loathly one leave as aloft it flew.
Wide was the dragon's warring seen,
its fiendish fury far and near,
103
as the grim destroyer those Geatish people
hated and hounded. To hidden lair,
to its hoard it hastened at hint of dawn.
Folk of the land it had lapped in flame,
with bale and brand. In its barrow it trusted,
its battling and bulwarks: that boast was vain!
To Beowulf then the bale was told
quickly and truly: the king's own home,
of buildings the best, in brand-waves melted,
that gift-throne of Geats. To the good old man
sad in heart, 'twas heaviest sorrow.
The sage assumed that his sovran God
he had angered, breaking ancient law,
and embittered the Lord. His breast within
with black thoughts welled, as his wont was never.
The folk's own fastness that fiery dragon
with flame had destroyed, and the stronghold all
washed by waves; but the warlike king,
prince of the Weders, plotted vengeance.
Warriors'-bulwark, he bade them work
all of iron - the earl's commander a war-shield wondrous: well he knew
that forest-wood against fire were worthless,
linden could aid not. - Atheling brave,
he was fated to finish this fleeting life,
his days on earth, and the dragon with him,
though long it had watched o'er the wealth of the hoard! Shame he reckoned it, sharer-of-rings,
to follow the flyer-afar with a host,
a broad-flung band; nor the battle feared he,
nor deemed he dreadful the dragon's warring,
its vigor and valor: ventures desperate
he had passed a-plenty, and perils of war,
contest-crash, since, conqueror proud,
Hrothgar's hall he had wholly purged,
and in grapple had killed the kin of Grendel,
loathsome breed! Not least was that
of hand-to-hand fights where Hygelac fell,
when the ruler of Geats in rush of battle,
lord of his folk, in the Frisian land,
son of Hrethel, by sword-draughts died,
by brands down-beaten. Thence Beowulf fled
104
through strength of himself and his swimming power,
though alone, and his arms were laden with thirty
coats of mail, when he came to the sea!
Nor yet might Hetwaras [2] haughtily boast
their craft of contest, who carried against him
shields to the fight: but few escaped
from strife with the hero to seek their homes!
Then swam over ocean Ecgtheow's son
lonely and sorrowful, seeking his land,
where Hygd made him offer of hoard and realm,
rings and royal-seat, reckoning naught
the strength of her son to save their kingdom
from hostile hordes, after Hygelac's death.
No sooner for this could the stricken ones
in any wise move that atheling's mind
over young Heardred's head as lord
and ruler of all the realm to be:
yet the hero upheld him with helpful words,
aided in honor, till, older grown,
he wielded the Weder-Geats. - Wandering exiles
sought him o'er seas, the sons of Ohtere,
who had spurned the sway of the Scylfings'-helmet,
the bravest and best that broke the rings,
in Swedish land, of the sea-kings' line,
haughty hero. [3] Hence Heardred's end.
For shelter he gave them, sword-death came,
the blade's fell blow, to bairn of Hygelac;
but the son of Ongentheow sought again
house and home when Heardred fell,
leaving Beowulf lord of Geats
and gift-seat's master. - A good king he!
XXXIV
THE fall of his lord he was fain to requite
in after days; and to Eadgils he proved
friend to the friendless, and forces sent
over the sea to the son of Ohtere,
weapons and warriors: well repaid he
those care-paths cold when the king he slew. [1]
Thus safe through struggles the son of Ecgtheow
had passed a plenty, through perils dire,
105
with daring deeds, till this day was come
that doomed him now with the dragon to strive.
With comrades eleven the lord of Geats
swollen in rage went seeking the dragon.
He had heard whence all the harm arose
and the killing of clansmen; that cup of price
on the lap of the lord had been laid by the finder.
In the throng was this one thirteenth man,
starter of all the strife and ill,
care-laden captive; cringing thence
forced and reluctant, he led them on
till he came in ken of that cavern-hall,
the barrow delved near billowy surges,
flood of ocean. Within 'twas full
of wire-gold and jewels; a jealous warden,
warrior trusty, the treasures held,
lurked in his lair. Not light the task
of entrance for any of earth-born men!
Sat on the headland the hero king,
spake words of hail to his hearth-companions,
gold-friend of Geats. All gloomy his soul,
wavering, death-bound. Wyrd full nigh
stood ready to greet the gray-haired man,
to seize his soul-hoard, sunder apart
life and body. Not long would be
the warrior's spirit enwound with flesh.
Beowulf spake, the bairn of Ecgtheow:'Through store of struggles I strove in youth,
mighty feuds; I mind them all.
I was seven years old when the sovran of rings,
friend-of-his-folk, from my father took me,
had me, and held me, Hrethel the king,
with food and fee, faithful in kinship.
Ne'er, while I lived there, he loathlier found me,
bairn in the burg, than his birthright sons,
Herebeald and Haethcyn and Hygelac mine.
For the eldest of these, by unmeet chance,
by kinsman's deed, was the death-bed strewn,
when Haethcyn killed him with horny bow,
his own dear liege laid low with an arrow,
missed the mark and his mate shot down,
one brother the other, with bloody shaft.
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A feeless fight, [2] and a fearful sin,
horror to Hrethel; yet, hard as it was,
unavenged must the atheling die!
Too awful it is for an aged man
to bide and bear, that his bairn so young
rides on the gallows. A rime he makes,
sorrow-song for his son there hanging
as rapture of ravens; no rescue now
can come from the old, disabled man!
Still is he minded, as morning breaks,
of the heir gone elsewhere; [3] another he hopes not
he will bide to see his burg within
as ward for his wealth, now the one has found
doom of death that the deed incurred.
Forlorn he looks on the lodge of his son,
wine-hall waste and wind-swept chambers
reft of revel. The rider sleepeth,
the hero, far-hidden; [4] no harp resounds,
in the courts no wassail, as once was heard.
XXXV
'THEN he goes to his chamber, a grief-song chants
alone for his lost. Too large all seems,
homestead and house. So the helmet-of-Weders
hid in his heart for Herebeald
waves of woe. No way could he take
to avenge on the slayer slaughter so foul;
nor e'en could he harass that hero at all
with loathing deed, though he loved him not.
And so for the sorrow his soul endured,
men's gladness he gave up and God's light chose.
Lands and cities he left his sons
(as the wealthy do) when he went from earth.
There was strife and struggle 'twixt Swede and Geat
o'er the width of waters; war arose,
hard battle-horror, when Hrethel died,
and Ongentheow's offspring grew
strife-keen, bold, nor brooked o'er the seas
pact of peace, but pushed their hosts
to harass in hatred by Hreosnabeorh.
Men of my folk for that feud had vengeance,
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for woful war ('tis widely known),
though one of them bought it with blood of his heart,
a bargain hard: for Haethcyn proved
fatal that fray, for the first-of-Geats.
At morn, I heard, was the murderer killed
by kinsman for kinsman, [1] with clash of sword,
when Ongentheow met Eofor there.
Wide split the war-helm: wan he fell,
hoary Scylfing; the hand that smote him
of feud was mindful, nor flinched from the death-blow.
- 'For all that he [2] gave me, my gleaming sword
repaid him at war, - such power I wielded, for lordly treasure: with land he entrusted me,
homestead and house. He had no need
from Swedish realm, or from Spear-Dane folk,
or from men of the Gifths, to get him help, some warrior worse for wage to buy!
Ever I fought in the front of all,
sole to the fore; and so shall I fight
while I bide in life and this blade shall last
that early and late hath loyal proved
since for my doughtiness Daeghrefn fell,
slain by my hand, the Hugas' champion.
Nor fared he thence to the Frisian king
with the booty back, and breast-adornments;
but, slain in struggle, that standard-bearer
fell, atheling brave. Not with blade was he slain,
but his bones were broken by brawny gripe,
his heart-waves stilled. - The sword-edge now,
hard blade and my hand, for the hoard shall strive.'
Beowulf spake, and a battle-vow made
his last of all: 'I have lived through many
wars in my youth; now once again,
old folk-defender, feud will I seek,
do doughty deeds, if the dark destroyer
forth from his cavern come to fight me!'
Then hailed he the helmeted heroes all,
for the last time greeting his liegemen dear,
comrades of war: 'I should carry no weapon,
no sword to the serpent, if sure I knew
how, with such enemy, else my vows
I could gain as I did in Grendel's day.
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But fire in this fight I must fear me now,
and poisonous breath; so I bring with me
breastplate and board. [3] From the barrow's keeper
no footbreadth flee I. One fight shall end
our war by the wall, as Wyrd allots,
all mankind's master. My mood is bold
but forbears to boast o'er this battling-flyer.
- Now abide by the barrow, ye breastplate-mailed,
ye heroes in harness, which of us twain
better from battle-rush bear his wounds.
Wait ye the finish. The fight is not yours,
nor meet for any but me alone
to measure might with this monster here
and play the hero. Hardily I
shall win that wealth, or war shall seize,
cruel killing, your king and lord!'
Up stood then with shield the sturdy champion,
stayed by the strength of his single manhood,
and hardy 'neath helmet his harness bore
under cleft of the cliffs: no coward's path!
Soon spied by the wall that warrior chief,
survivor of many a victory-field
where foemen fought with furious clashings,
an arch of stone; and within, a stream
that broke from the barrow. The brooklet's wave
was hot with fire. The hoard that way
he never could hope unharmed to near,
or endure those deeps, [4] for the dragon's flame.
Then let from his breast, for he burst with rage,
the Weder-Geat prince a word outgo;
stormed the stark-heart; stern went ringing
and clear his cry 'neath the cliff-rocks gray.
The hoard-guard heard a human voice;
his rage was enkindled. No respite now
for pact of peace! The poison-breath
of that foul worm first came forth from the cave,
hot reek-of-fight: the rocks resounded.
Stout by the stone-way his shield he raised,
lord of the Geats, against the loathed-one;
while with courage keen that coiled foe
came seeking strife. The sturdy king
had drawn his sword, not dull of edge,
109
heirloom old; and each of the two
felt fear of his foe, though fierce their mood.
Stoutly stood with his shield high-raised
the warrior king, as the worm now coiled
together amain: the mailed-one waited.
Now, spire by spire, fast sped and glided
that blazing serpent. The shield protected,
soul and body a shorter while
for the hero-king than his heart desired,
could his will have wielded the welcome respite
but once in his life! But Wyrd denied it,
and victory's honors. - His arm he lifted
lord of the Geats, the grim foe smote
with atheling's heirloom. Its edge was turned
brown blade, on the bone, and bit more feebly
than its noble master had need of then
in his baleful stress. - Then the barrow's keeper
waxed full wild for that weighty blow,
cast deadly flames; wide drove and far
those vicious fires. No victor's glory
the Geats' lord boasted; his brand had failed,
naked in battle, as never it should,
excellent iron! - 'Twas no easy path
that Ecgtheow's honored heir must tread
over the plain to the place of the foe;
for against his will he must win a home
elsewhere far, as must all men, leaving
this lapsing life! - Not long it was
ere those champions grimly closed again.
The hoard-guard was heartened; high heaved his breast
once more; and by peril was pressed again,
enfolded in flames, the folk-commander!
Nor yet about him his band of comrades,
sons of athelings, armed stood
with warlike front: to the woods they bent them,
their lives to save. But the soul of one
with care was cumbered. Kinship true
can never be marred in a noble mind!
XXXVI
WIGLAF his name was, Weohstan's son,
linden-thane loved, the lord of Scylfings,
110
Aelfhere's kinsman. His king he now saw
with heat under helmet hard oppressed.
He minded the prizes his prince had given him,
wealthy seat of the Waegmunding line,
and folk-rights that his father owned
Not long he lingered. The linden yellow,
his shield, he seized; the old sword he drew: as heirloom of Eanmund earth-dwellers knew it,
who was slain by the sword-edge, son of Ohtere,
friendless exile, erst in fray
killed by Weohstan, who won for his kin
brown-bright helmet, breastplate ringed,
old sword of Eotens, Onela's gift,
weeds of war of the warrior-thane,
battle-gear brave: though a brother's child
had been felled, the feud was unfelt by Onela. [1]
For winters this war-gear Weohstan kept,
breastplate and board, till his bairn had grown
earlship to earn as the old sire did:
then he gave him, mid Geats, the gear of battle,
portion huge, when he passed from life,
fared aged forth. For the first time now
with his leader-lord the liegeman young
was bidden to share the shock of battle.
Neither softened his soul, nor the sire's bequest
weakened in war. [2] So the worm found out
when once in fight the foes had met!
Wiglaf spake, - and his words were sage;
sad in spirit, he said to his comrades:'I remember the time, when mead we took,
what promise we made to this prince of ours
in the banquet-hall, to our breaker-of-rings,
for gear of combat to give him requital,
for hard-sword and helmet, if hap should bring
stress of this sort! Himself who chose us
from all his army to aid him now,
urged us to glory, and gave these treasures,
because he counted us keen with the spear
and hardy 'neath helm, though this hero-work
our leader hoped unhelped and alone
to finish for us, - folk-defender
who hath got him glory greater than all men
111
for daring deeds! Now the day is come
that our noble master has need of the might
of warriors stout. Let us stride along
the hero to help while the heat is about him
glowing and grim! For God is my witness
I am far more fain the fire should seize
along with my lord these limbs of mine! [3]
Unsuiting it seems our shields to bear
homeward hence, save here we essay
to fell the foe and defend the life
of the Weders' lord. I wot 'twere shame
on the law of our land if alone the king
out of Geatish warriors woe endured
and sank in the struggle! My sword and helmet,
breastplate and board, for us both shall serve!'
Through slaughter-reek strode he to succor his Chieftain,
his battle-helm bore, and brief words spake:'Beowulf dearest, do all bravely,
as in youthful days of yore thou vowedst
that while life should last thou wouldst let no wise
thy glory droop! Now, great in deeds,
atheling steadfast, with all thy strength
shield thy life! I will stand to help thee.'
At the words the worm came once again,
murderous monster mad with rage,
with fire-billows flaming, its foes to seek,
the hated men. In heat-waves burned
that board [4] to the boss, and the breastplate failed
to shelter at all the spear-thane young.
Yet quickly under his kinsman's shield
went eager the earl, since his own was now
all burned by the blaze. The bold king again
had mind of his glory: with might his glaive
was driven into the dragon's head, blow nerved by hate. But Naegling was shivered,
broken in battle was Beowulf's sword,
old and gray. 'Twas granted him not
that ever the edge of iron at all
could help him at strife: too strong was his hand,
so the tale is told, and he tried too far
with strength of stroke all swords he wielded,
though sturdy their steel: they steaded him nought.
112
Then for the third time thought on its feud
that folk-destroyer, fire-dread dragon,
and rushed on the hero, where room allowed,
battle-grim, burning; its bitter teeth
closed on his neck, and covered him
with waves of blood from his breast that welled.
XXXVII
'TWAS now, men say, in his sovran's need
that the earl made known his noble strain,
craft and keenness and courage enduring.
Heedless of harm, though his hand was burned,
hardy-hearted, he helped his kinsman.
A little lower the loathsome beast
he smote with sword; his steel drove in
bright and burnished; that blaze began
to lose and lessen. At last the king
wielded his wits again, war-knife drew,
a biting blade by his breastplate hanging,
and the Weders'-helm smote that worm asunder,
felled the foe, flung forth its life.
So had they killed it, kinsmen both,
athelings twain: thus an earl should be
in danger's day! - Of deeds of valor
this conqueror's-hour of the king was last,
of his work in the world. The wound began,
which that dragon-of-earth had erst inflicted,
to swell and smart; and soon he found
in his breast was boiling, baleful and deep,
pain of poison. The prince walked on,
wise in his thought, to the wall of rock;
then sat, and stared at the structure of giants,
where arch of stone and steadfast column
upheld forever that hall in earth.
Yet here must the hand of the henchman peerless
lave with water his winsome lord,
the king and conqueror covered with blood,
with struggle spent, and unspan his helmet.
Beowulf spake in spite of his hurt,
his mortal wound; full well he knew
his portion now was past and gone
of earthly bliss, and all had fled
113
of his file of days, and death was near:
'I would fain bestow on son of mine
this gear of war, were given me now
that any heir should after me come
of my proper blood. This people I ruled
fifty winters. No folk-king was there,
none at all, of the neighboring clans
who war would wage me with 'warriors'-friends' [1]
and threat me with horrors. At home I bided
what fate might come, and I cared for mine own;
feuds I sought not, nor falsely swore
ever on oath. For all these things,
though fatally wounded, fain am I!
From the Ruler-of-Man no wrath shall seize me,
when life from my frame must flee away,
for killing of kinsmen! Now quickly go
and gaze on that hoard 'neath the hoary rock,
Wiglaf loved, now the worm lies low,
sleeps, heart-sore, of his spoil bereaved.
And fare in haste. I would fain behold
the gorgeous heirlooms, golden store,
have joy in the jewels and gems, lay down
softlier for sight of this splendid hoard
my life and the lordship I long have held.'
XXXVIII
I HAVE heard that swiftly the son of Weohstan
at wish and word of his wounded king, war-sick warrior, - woven mail-coat,
battle-sark, bore 'neath the barrow's roof.
Then the clansman keen, of conquest proud,
passing the seat, [1] saw store of jewels
and glistening gold the ground along;
by the wall were marvels, and many a vessel
in the den of the dragon, the dawn-flier old:
unburnished bowls of bygone men
reft of richness; rusty helms
of the olden age; and arm-rings many
wondrously woven. - Such wealth of gold,
booty from barrow, can burden with pride
each human wight: let him hide it who will! -
114
His glance too fell on a gold-wove banner
high o'er the hoard, of handiwork noblest,
brilliantly broidered; so bright its gleam,
all the earth-floor he easily saw
and viewed all these vessels. No vestige now
was seen of the serpent: the sword had ta'en him.
Then, I heard, the hill of its hoard was reft,
old work of giants, by one alone;
he burdened his bosom with beakers and plate
at his own good will, and the ensign took,
brightest of beacons. - The blade of his lord
- its edge was iron - had injured deep
one that guarded the golden hoard
many a year and its murder-fire
spread hot round the barrow in horror-billows
at midnight hour, till it met its doom.
Hasted the herald, the hoard so spurred him
his track to retrace; he was troubled by doubt,
high-souled hero, if haply he'd find
alive, where he left him, the lord of Weders,
weakening fast by the wall of the cave.
So he carried the load. His lord and king
he found all bleeding, famous chief
at the lapse of life. The liegeman again
plashed him with water, till point of word
broke through the breast-hoard. Beowulf spake,
sage and sad, as he stared at the gold. 'For the gold and treasure, to God my thanks,
to the Wielder-of-Wonders, with words I say,
for what I behold, to Heaven's Lord,
for the grace that I give such gifts to my folk
or ever the day of my death be run!
Now I've bartered here for booty of treasure
the last of my life, so look ye well
to the needs of my land! No longer I tarry.
A barrow bid ye the battle-fanned raise
for my ashes. 'Twill shine by the shore of the flood,
to folk of mine memorial fair
on Hrones Headland high uplifted,
that ocean-wanderers oft may hail
Beowulf's Barrow, as back from far
they drive their keels o'er the darkling wave.'
115
From his neck he unclasped the collar of gold,
valorous king, to his vassal gave it
with bright-gold helmet, breastplate, and ring,
to the youthful thane: bade him use them in joy.
'Thou art end and remnant of all our race
the Waegmunding name. For Wyrd hath swept them,
all my line, to the land of doom,
earls in their glory: I after them go.'
This word was the last which the wise old man
harbored in heart ere hot death-waves
of balefire he chose. From his bosom fled
his soul to seek the saints' reward.
XXXIX
IT was heavy hap for that hero young
on his lord beloved to look and find him
lying on earth with life at end,
sorrowful sight. But the slayer too,
awful earth-dragon, empty of breath,
lay felled in fight, nor, fain of its treasure,
could the writhing monster rule it more.
For edges of iron had ended its days,
hard and battle-sharp, hammers' leaving;
and that flier-afar had fallen to ground
hushed by its hurt, its hoard all near,
no longer lusty aloft to whirl
at midnight, making its merriment seen,
proud of its prizes: prone it sank
by the handiwork of the hero-king.
Forsooth among folk but few achieve,
- though sturdy and strong, as stories tell me,
and never so daring in deed of valor, the perilous breath of a poison-foe
to brave, and to rush on the ring-board hall,
whenever his watch the warden keeps
bold in the barrow. Beowulf paid
the price of death for that precious hoard;
and each of the foes had found the end
of this fleeting life.
Befell erelong
that the laggards in war the wood had left,
116
trothbreakers, cowards, ten together,
fearing before to flourish a spear
in the sore distress of their sovran lord.
Now in their shame their shields they carried,
armor of fight, where the old man lay;
and they gazed on Wiglaf. Wearied he sat
at his sovran's shoulder, shieldsman good,
to wake him with water. [2] Nowise it availed.
Though well he wished it, in world no more
could he barrier life for that leader-of-battles
nor baffle the will of all-wielding God.
Doom of the Lord was law o'er the deeds
of every man, as it is to-day.
Grim was the answer, easy to get,
from the youth for those that had yielded to fear!
Wiglaf spake, the son of Weohstan, mournful he looked on those men unloved:'Who sooth will speak, can say indeed
that the ruler who gave you golden rings
and the harness of war in which ye stand
- for he at ale-bench often-times
bestowed on hall-folk helm and breastplate,
lord to liegemen, the likeliest gear
which near of far he could find to give, threw away and wasted these weeds of battle,
on men who failed when the foemen came!
Not at all could the king of his comrades-in-arms
venture to vaunt, though the Victory-Wielder,
God, gave him grace that he got revenge
sole with his sword in stress and need.
To rescue his life, 'twas little that I
could serve him in struggle; yet shift I made
(hopeless it seemed) to help my kinsman.
Its strength ever waned, when with weapon I struck
that fatal foe, and the fire less strongly
flowed from its head. - Too few the heroes
in throe of contest that thronged to our king!
Now gift of treasure and girding of sword,
joy of the house and home-delight
shall fail your folk; his freehold-land
every clansman within your kin
shall lose and leave, when lords highborn
117
hear afar of that flight of yours,
a fameless deed. Yea, death is better
for liegemen all than a life of shame!'
XL
THAT battle-toil bade he at burg to announce,
at the fort on the cliff, where, full of sorrow,
all the morning earls had sat,
daring shieldsmen, in doubt of twain:
would they wail as dead, or welcome home,
their lord beloved? Little [1] kept back
of the tidings new, but told them all,
the herald that up the headland rode. 'Now the willing-giver to Weder folk
in death-bed lies; the Lord of Geats
on the slaughter-bed sleeps by the serpent's deed!
And beside him is stretched that slayer-of-men
with knife-wounds sick: [2] no sword availed
on the awesome thing in any wise
to work a wound. There Wiglaf sitteth,
Weohstan's bairn, by Beowulf's side,
the living earl by the other dead,
and heavy of heart a head-watch [3] keeps
o'er friend and foe. - Now our folk may look
for waging of war when once unhidden
to Frisian and Frank the fall of the king
is spread afar. - The strife began
when hot on the Hugas [4] Hygelac fell
and fared with his fleet to the Frisian land.
Him there the Hetwaras humbled in war,
plied with such prowess their power o'erwhelming
that the bold-in-battle bowed beneath it
and fell in fight. To his friends no wise
could that earl give treasure! And ever since
the Merowings' favor has failed us wholly.
Nor aught expect I of peace and faith
from Swedish folk. 'Twas spread afar
how Ongentheow reft at Ravenswood
Haethcyn Hrethling of hope and life,
when the folk of Geats for the first time sought
in wanton pride the Warlike-Scylfings.
Soon the sage old sire [5] of Ohtere,
118
ancient and awful, gave answering blow;
the sea-king [6] he slew, and his spouse redeemed,
his good wife rescued, though robbed of her gold,
mother of Ohtere and Onela.
Then he followed his foes, who fled before him
sore beset and stole their way,
bereft of a ruler, to Ravenswood.
With his host he besieged there what swords had left,
the weary and wounded; woes he threatened
the whole night through to that hard-pressed throng:
some with the morrow his sword should kill,
some should go to the gallows-tree
for rapture of ravens. But rescue came
with dawn of day for those desperate men
when they heard the horn of Hygelac sound,
tones of his trumpet; the trusty king
had followed their trail with faithful band.
XLI
'THE bloody swath of Swedes and Geats
and the storm of their strife, were seen afar,
how folk against folk the fight had wakened.
The ancient king with his atheling band
sought his citadel, sorrowing much:
Ongentheow earl went up to his burg.
He had tested Hygelac's hardihood,
the proud one's prowess, would prove it no longer,
defied no more those fighting-wanderers
nor hoped from the seamen to save his hoard,
his bairn and his bride: so he bent him again,
old, to his earth-walls. Yet after him came
with slaughter for Swedes the standards of Hygelac
o'er peaceful plains in pride advancing,
till Hrethelings fought in the fenced town. [1]
Then Ongentheow with edge of sword,
the hoary-bearded, was held at bay,
and the folk-king there was forced to suffer
Eofor's anger. In ire, at the king
Wulf Wonreding with weapon struck;
and the chieftain's blood, for that blow, in streams
flowed 'neath his hair. No fear felt he,
stout old Scylfing, but straightway repaid
119
in better bargain that bitter stroke
and faced his foe with fell intent.
Nor swift enough was the son of Wonred
answer to render the aged chief;
too soon on his head the helm was cloven;
blood-bedecked he bowed to earth,
and fell adown; not doomed was he yet,
and well he waxed, though the wound was sore.
Then the hardy Hygelac-thane, [2]
when his brother fell, with broad brand smote,
giants' sword crashing through giants'-helm
across the shield-wall: sank the king,
his folk's old herdsman, fatally hurt.
There were many to bind the brother's wounds
and lift him, fast as fate allowed
his people to wield the place-of-war.
But Eofor took from Ongentheow,
earl from other, the iron-breastplate,
hard sword hilted, and helmet too,
and the hoar-chief's harness to Hygelac carried,
who took the trappings, and truly promised
rich fee 'mid folk, - and fulfilled it so.
For that grim strife gave the Geatish lord,
Hrethel's offspring, when home he came,
to Eofor and Wulf a wealth of treasure,
Each of them had a hundred thousand [3]
in land and linked rings; nor at less price reckoned
mid-earth men such mighty deeds!
And to Eofor he gave his only daughter
in pledge of grace, the pride of his home.
'Such is the feud, the foeman's rage,
death-hate of men: so I deem it sure
that the Swedish folk will seek us home
for this fall of their friends, the fighting-Scylfings,
when once they learn that our warrior leader
lifeless lies, who land and hoard
ever defended from all his foes,
furthered his folk's weal, finished his course
a hardy hero. - Now haste is best,
that we go to gaze on our Geatish lord,
and bear the bountiful breaker-of-rings
to the funeral pyre. No fragments merely
120
shall burn with the warrior. Wealth of jewels,
gold untold and gained in terror,
treasure at last with his life obtained,
all of that booty the brands shall take,
fire shall eat it. No earl must carry
memorial jewel. No maiden fair
shall wreathe her neck with noble ring:
nay, sad in spirit and shorn of her gold,
oft shall she pass o'er paths of exile
now our lord all laughter has laid aside,
all mirth and revel. Many a spear
morning-cold shall be clasped amain,
lifted aloft; nor shall lilt of harp
those warriors wake; but the wan-hued raven,
fain o'er the fallen, his feast shall praise
and boast to the eagle how bravely he ate
when he and the wolf were wasting the slain.'
So he told his sorrowful tidings,
and little [4] he lied, the loyal man
of word or of work. The warriors rose;
sad, they climbed to the Cliff-of-Eagles,
went, welling with tears, the wonder to view.
Found on the sand there, stretched at rest,
their lifeless lord, who had lavished rings
of old upon them. Ending-day
had dawned on the doughty-one; death had seized
in woful slaughter the Weders' king.
There saw they, besides, the strangest being,
loathsome, lying their leader near,
prone on the field. The fiery dragon,
fearful fiend, with flame was scorched.
Reckoned by feet, it was fifty measures
in length as it lay. Aloft erewhile
it had revelled by night, and anon come back,
seeking its den; now in death's sure clutch
it had come to the end of its earth-hall joys.
By it there stood the stoups and jars;
dishes lay there, and dear-decked swords
eaten with rust, as, on earth's lap resting,
a thousand winters they waited there.
For all that heritage huge, that gold
of bygone men, was bound by a spell, [5]
121
so the treasure-hall could be touched by none
of human kind, - save that Heaven's King,
God himself, might give whom he would,
Helper of Heroes, the hoard to open, even such a man as seemed to him meet.
XLII
A PERILOUS path, it proved, he [1] trod
who heinously hid, that hall within,
wealth under wall! Its watcher had killed
one of a few, [2] and the feud was avenged
in woful fashion. Wondrous seems it,
what manner a man of might and valor
oft ends his life, when the earl no longer
in mead-hall may live with loving friends.
So Beowulf, when that barrow's warden
he sought, and the struggle; himself knew not
in what wise he should wend from the world at last.
For [3] princes potent, who placed the gold,
with a curse to doomsday covered it deep,
so that marked with sin the man should be,
hedged with horrors, in hell-bonds fast,
racked with plagues, who should rob their hoard.
Yet no greed for gold, but the grace of heaven,
ever the king had kept in view. [4]
Wiglaf spake, the son of Weohstan:'At the mandate of one, oft warriors many
sorrow must suffer; and so must we.
The people's-shepherd showed not aught
of care for our counsel, king beloved!
That guardian of gold he should grapple not, urged we,
but let him lie where he long had been
in his earth-hall waiting the end of the world,
the hest of heaven. - This hoard is ours
but grievously gotten; too grim the fate
which thither carried our king and lord.
I was within there, and all I viewed,
the chambered treasure, when chance allowed me
(and my path was made in no pleasant wise)
under the earth-wall. Eager, I seized
such heap from the hoard as hands could bear
122
and hurriedly carried it hither back
to my liege and lord. Alive was he still,
still wielding his wits. The wise old man
spake much in his sorrow, and sent you greetings
and bade that ye build, when he breathed no more,
on the place of his balefire a barrow high,
memorial mighty. Of men was he
worthiest warrior wide earth o'er
the while he had joy of his jewels and burg.
Let us set out in haste now, the second time
to see and search this store of treasure,
these wall-hid wonders, - the way I show you, where, gathered near, ye may gaze your fill
at broad-gold and rings. Let the bier, soon made,
be all in order when out we come,
our king and captain to carry thither
- man beloved - where long he shall bide
safe in the shelter of sovran God.'
Then the bairn of Weohstan bade command,
hardy chief, to heroes many
that owned their homesteads, hither to bring
firewood from far - o'er the folk they ruled for the famed-one's funeral. ' Fire shall devour
and wan flames feed on the fearless warrior
who oft stood stout in the iron-shower,
when, sped from the string, a storm of arrows
shot o'er the shield-wall: the shaft held firm,
featly feathered, followed the barb.'
And now the sage young son of Weohstan
seven chose of the chieftain's thanes,
the best he found that band within,
and went with these warriors, one of eight,
under hostile roof. In hand one bore
a lighted torch and led the way.
No lots they cast for keeping the hoard
when once the warriors saw it in hall,
altogether without a guardian,
lying there lost. And little they mourned
when they had hastily haled it out,
dear-bought treasure! The dragon they cast,
the worm, o'er the wall for the wave to take,
and surges swallowed that shepherd of gems.
123
Then the woven gold on a wain was laden countless quite! - and the king was borne,
hoary hero, to Hrones-Ness.
XLIII
THEN fashioned for him the folk of Geats
firm on the earth a funeral-pile,
and hung it with helmets and harness of war
and breastplates bright, as the boon he asked;
and they laid amid it the mighty chieftain,
heroes mourning their master dear.
Then on the hill that hugest of balefires
the warriors wakened. Wood-smoke rose
black over blaze, and blent was the roar
of flame with weeping (the wind was still),
till the fire had broken the frame of bones,
hot at the heart. In heavy mood
their misery moaned they, their master's death.
Wailing her woe, the widow [1] old,
her hair upbound, for Beowulf's death
sung in her sorrow, and said full oft
she dreaded the doleful days to come,
deaths enow, and doom of battle,
and shame. - The smoke by the sky was devoured.
The folk of the Weders fashioned there
on the headland a barrow broad and high,
by ocean-farers far descried:
in ten days' time their toil had raised it,
the battle-brave's beacon. Round brands of the pyre
a wall they built, the worthiest ever
that wit could prompt in their wisest men.
They placed in the barrow that precious booty,
the rounds and the rings they had reft erewhile,
hardy heroes, from hoard in cave, trusting the ground with treasure of earls,
gold in the earth, where ever it lies
useless to men as of yore it was.
Then about that barrow the battle-keen rode,
atheling-born, a band of twelve,
lament to make, to mourn their king,
chant their dirge, and their chieftain honor.
124
They praised his earlship, his acts of prowess
worthily witnessed: and well it is
that men their master-friend mightily laud,
heartily love, when hence he goes
from life in the body forlorn away.
Thus made their mourning the men of Geatland,
for their hero's passing his hearth-companions:
quoth that of all the kings of earth,
of men he was mildest and most beloved,
to his kin the kindest, keenest for praise.
~ Charles Baudelaire,

IN CHAPTERS [300/434]



  109 Poetry
   99 Integral Yoga
   35 Occultism
   33 Fiction
   22 Philosophy
   21 Yoga
   15 Christianity
   10 Theosophy
   8 Hinduism
   5 Psychology
   2 Mythology
   2 Cybernetics
   1 Sufism
   1 Science
   1 Mysticism
   1 Integral Theory
   1 Baha i Faith
   1 Alchemy


  152 Sri Aurobindo
   29 H P Lovecraft
   26 Nolini Kanta Gupta
   22 William Wordsworth
   21 The Mother
   18 Satprem
   15 Lucretius
   13 John Keats
   10 Percy Bysshe Shelley
   10 Franz Bardon
   9 Swami Krishnananda
   9 Rudolf Steiner
   7 Walt Whitman
   7 Aleister Crowley
   6 Saint Augustine of Hippo
   6 Friedrich Schiller
   6 Edgar Allan Poe
   6 Alice Bailey
   5 Swami Vivekananda
   5 Sri Ramana Maharshi
   5 Sri Ramakrishna
   5 James George Frazer
   5 Carl Jung
   4 Vyasa
   4 Plotinus
   4 Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
   4 George Van Vrekhem
   4 A B Purani
   2 Swami Sivananda Saraswati
   2 Paul Richard
   2 Ovid
   2 Norbert Wiener
   2 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
   2 Aldous Huxley


   29 Lovecraft - Poems
   24 The Synthesis Of Yoga
   22 Wordsworth - Poems
   22 Record of Yoga
   20 Savitri
   15 The Life Divine
   15 Of The Nature Of Things
   13 Keats - Poems
   12 Collected Poems
   10 Shelley - Poems
   10 Initiation Into Hermetics
   9 The Study and Practice of Yoga
   8 Talks
   8 Kena and Other Upanishads
   7 Whitman - Poems
   7 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02
   6 The Secret Doctrine
   6 Schiller - Poems
   6 Poe - Poems
   6 Essays In Philosophy And Yoga
   6 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01
   6 City of God
   6 A Treatise on Cosmic Fire
   5 The Secret Of The Veda
   5 The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna
   5 The Golden Bough
   5 Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
   4 Vishnu Purana
   4 Vedic and Philological Studies
   4 Theosophy
   4 Raja-Yoga
   4 Preparing for the Miraculous
   4 Liber ABA
   4 Hymns to the Mystic Fire
   4 Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo
   4 Essays Divine And Human
   4 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05
   3 Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness
   3 Isha Upanishad
   3 Essays On The Gita
   3 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 07
   3 Agenda Vol 10
   3 Agenda Vol 02
   2 Words Of Long Ago
   2 The Perennial Philosophy
   2 The Mother With Letters On The Mother
   2 Sefer Yetzirah The Book of Creation In Theory and Practice
   2 Plotinus - Complete Works Vol 02
   2 Mysterium Coniunctionis
   2 Metamorphoses
   2 Magick Without Tears
   2 Letters On Yoga II
   2 Letters On Yoga I
   2 Letters On Poetry And Art
   2 Hymn of the Universe
   2 Cybernetics
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 08
   2 Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04
   2 Agenda Vol 07
   2 Agenda Vol 01
   2 Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2E


00.03 - Upanishadic Symbolism, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The five elements of the ancientsearth, water, fire, air and ether or spaceare symbols taken from the physical world to represent other worlds that are in it and behind it. Each one is a principle that constitutes the fundamental nature of a particular plane of existence.
   Earth represents the material world itself, Matter or existence in its most concrete, its grossest form. It is the basis of existence, the world that supports other worlds (dhar, dharitri),the first or the lowest of the several ranges of creation. In man it is his body. The principle here is that of stability, substantiality, firmness, consistency.
  --
   ether or Space is the infinitude of the Spirit, the limitless Presence that dwells in and yet transcends the body, the life the heart and the mind.
   VI. The Science of the Five Fires

0.02 - The Three Steps of Nature, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Matter, which, however the too ethereally spiritual may despise it, is our foundation and the first condition of all our energies and realisations, and the Life-Energy which is our means of existence in a material body and the basis there even of our mental and spiritual activities. She has successfully achieved a certain stability of her constant material movement which is at once sufficiently steady and durable and sufficiently pliable and mutable to provide a fit dwelling-place and instrument for the progressively manifesting god in humanity. This is what is meant by the fable in the Aitareya Upanishad which tells us that the gods rejected the animal forms successively offered to them by the Divine Self and only when man was produced, cried out, "This indeed is perfectly made," and consented to enter in. She has effected also a working compromise between the inertia of matter and the active Life that lives in and feeds on it, by which not only is vital existence sustained, but the fullest developments of mentality are rendered possible. This equilibrium constitutes the basic status of Nature in man and is termed in the language of Yoga his gross body composed
  The Three Steps of Nature

01.01 - The Symbol Dawn, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Of that assault of ether and of fire;
  It murmurs at its sorrowless happiness,

01.02 - The Issue, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  His high warm subtle ether he refound
  And moved in her as in his natural home.

01.03 - Mystic Poetry, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   both so idealise, etherealize, almost spiritualise the earth and the flesh that they seem ostensibly only a vesture of something else behind, something mysterious and other-worldly, something other than, even just opposite to what they actually are or appear to be. That is the mystique of the senses which is a very characteristic feature of some of the best poetic inspirations of France. Baudelaire too, the Satanic poet, by the sheer intensity of sympathy and sincerity, pierces as it were into the soul of things and makes the ugly, the unclean, the diseased, the sordid throb and glow with an almost celestial light. Here is the Baudelairean manner:
   Tout casss
  --
   With all the blue ethereal sky,
   And spangled heavens, a shining frame,

01.03 - The Yoga of the King - The Yoga of the Souls Release, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  To ethereal symphonies the old earthy strings;
  It raised the servitors of mind and life
  --
  And will is nursed by an ethereal Power
  And fed on the white milk of the Eternal's strengths
  --
  Bring the high saving touch, the ethereal flame,
  Call back to its dire need the divine Force.
  --
  Outlined their excerpts on the etheric page.
  One and harmonious by the Maker's skill,

01.04 - The Secret Knowledge, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  In the wide signless ether of the Self,
  In the unchanging Silence white and nude,

01.06 - Vivekananda, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Then existence was not nor non-existence, the midworld was not nor the ether nor what is beyond.
   The consciousness that breathed out these mighty words, these heavenly sounds was in itself mighty and heavenly and it is that that touches you, penetrates you, vibrates in you a kindred chord, "awakening in you someone dead" till thenmrtam kcana bodhayant. More than the matter, the thing that was said, was the personality, the being who embodied the truth expressed, the living consciousness behind the words and the speech that set fire to your soul. Indeed it was the soul that Vivekananda could awaken and stir in you. Any orator, any speaker with some kind of belief, even if it is for the moment, in what he says, by the sheer force of assertion, can convince your mind and draw your acquiescence and adhesion. A leader of men, self-confident and bold and fiery, can carry you off your feet and make you do brave things. But that is a lower degree of character and nature, ephemeral and superficial, that is touched in you thereby. The spiritual leader, the Guide, goes straight to the spirit in youit is the call of the deep unto the deep. That was what Vivekananda meant when he said that Brahman is asleep in you, awaken it, you are the Brahman, awaken it, you are free and almighty. It is the spirit consciousness Sachchidananda that is the real man in you and that is supremely mighty and invincible and free absolutely. The courage and fearlessness that Vivekananda gave you was the natural attribute of the lordship of your spiritual reality. Vivekananda spoke and roused the Atman in man.

01.08 - Walter Hilton: The Scale of Perfection, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   This will elucidate another point of difference between the Christian's and the Vaishnava's love of God, for both are characterised by an extreme intensity and sweetness and exquisiteness of that divine feeling. This Christian's, however, is the union of the soul in its absolute purity and simplicity and "privacy" with her lord and master; the soul is shred here of all earthly vesture and goes innocent and naked into the embrace of her Beloved. The Vaishnava feeling is richer and seems to possess more amplitude; it is more concrete and less ethereal. The Vaishnava in his passionate yearning seeks to carry as it were the whole world with him to his Lord: for he sees and feels Him not only in the inmost chamber of his soul, but meets Him also in and I through his senses and in and through the world and its objects around. In psychological terms one can say that the Christian realisation, at its very source, is that of the inmost soul, what we call the "psychic being" pure and simple, referred to in the book we are considering; as: "His sweet privy voice... stirreth thine heart full stilly." Whereas the Vaishnava reaches out to his Lord with his outer heart too aflame with passion; not only his inmost being but his vital being also seeks the Divine. This bears upon the occult story of man's spiritual evolution upon earth. The Divine Grace descends from the highest into the deepest and from the deepest to the outer ranges of human nature, so that the whole of it may be illumined and transformed and one day man can embody in his earthly life the integral manifestation of God, the perfect Epiphany. Each religion, each line of spiritual discipline takes up one limb of manone level or mode of his being and consciousness purifies it and suffuses it with the spiritual and divine consciousness, so that in the end the whole of man, in his integral living, is recast and remoulded: each discipline is in charge of one thread as it were, all tog ether weave the warp and woof in the evolution of the perfect pattern of a spiritualised and divinised humanity.
   The conception of original sin is a cardinal factor in Christian discipline. The conception, of sinfulness is the very motive-power that drives the aspirant. "Seek tensely," it is said, "sorrow and sigh deep, mourn still, and stoop low till thine eye water for anguish and for pain." Remorse and grief are necessary attendants; the way of the cross is naturally the calvary strewn with pain and sorrow. It is the very opposite of what is termed the "sunlit path" in spiritual ascension. Christian mystics have made a glorious spectacle of the process of "dying to the world." Evidently, all do not go the whole length. There are less gloomy and happier temperaments, like the present one, for example, who show an unusual balance, a sturdy common sense even in the midst of their darkest nights, who have chalked out as much of the sunlit path as is possible in this line. Thus this old-world mystic says: it is true one must see and admit one's sinfulness, the grosser and apparent and more violent ones as well as all the subtle varieties of it that are in you or rise up in you or come from the Enemy. They pursue you till the very end of your journey. Still you need not feel overwhelmed or completely desperate. Once you recognise the sin in you, even the bare fact of recognition means for you half the victory. The mystic says, "It is no sin as thou feelest them." The day Jesus gave himself away on the Cross, since that very day you are free, potentially free from the bondage of sin. Once you give your adherence to Him, the Enemies are rendered powerless. "They tease the soul, but they harm not the soul". Or again, as the mystic graphically phrases it: "This soul is not borne in this image of sin as a sick man, though he feel it; but he beareth it." The best way of dealing with one's enemies is not to struggle and "strive with them." The aspirant, the lover of Jesus, must remember: "He is through grace reformed to the likeness of God ('in the privy substance of his soul within') though he neither feel it nor see it."

0 1957-12-21, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   This experience showed me once more the necessity to be perfectly humble before the Lord. It is not enough merely to rise to the heights, to the ethereal planes of consciousness: these planes have also to descend into matter and illuminate it. Otherwise, nothing is really done. One must have the patience to establish the communication between the high and the low. I am like a tempest, a hurricaneif I listened to myself, I would tear into the future, and everything would go flying! But then, there would no longer be any communication with the rest.
   One must have the patience to wait.

0 1958-11-04 - Myths are True and Gods exist - mental formation and occult faculties - exteriorization - work in dreams, #Agenda Vol 01, #unset, #Zen
   They are beings who belong to the progressive creation of the universe and who have themselves presided over its formation from the most etheric or subtle regions to the most material regions. They are a descent of the divine creative Spirit that came to repair the mischief in short, to repair what the Asuras had done. The first makers created disorder and darkness, an unconsciousness, and then it is said that there was a second lineage of makers to repair that evil, and the gods gradually descended through realities that were ever moreone cant say dense because it isnt really dense, nor can one even say material, since matter as we know it does not exist on these planesthrough more and more concrete substances.
   All these zones, these planes of reality, received different names and were classified in different ways according to the occult schools, according to the different traditions, but there is an essential similarity, and if we go back far enough into the various traditions, hardly anything but words differ, depending upon the country and the language. The descriptions are quite similar. Moreover, those who climb back up the ladderor in other words, a human being who, through his occult knowledge, goes out of one of his bodies (they are called sheaths in English) and enters into a more subtle bodyin order to ACT in a more subtle body and so forth, twelve times (you make each body come out from a more material body, leaving the more material body in its corresponding zone, and then go off through successive exteriorizations), what they have seen, what they have discovered and seen through their ascensionwhe ther they are occultists from the Occident or occultists from the Orientis for the most part analogous in description. They have put different words on it, but the experience is very analogous.
  --
   There are subtle bodies and subtle worlds that correspond to these bodies; it is what the psychological method calls states of consciousness, but these states of consciousness really correspond to worlds. The occult process consists in becoming aware of these various inner states of being, or subtle bodies, and of mastering them sufficiently to be able to make one come out of the other, successively. For there is a whole hierarchy of increasing subtletiesor decreasing, depending upon the direction and the occult process consists in making a more subtle body come out from a denser body, and so forth, right to the most ethereal regions. You go out through successive exteriorizations into more and more subtle bodies or worlds. Each time it is rather like passing into another dimension. In fact, the fourth dimension of the physicists is only the scientific transcription of an occult knowledge.
   To give another comparison, it could be said that the physical body is at the centerit is the most material and the most condensed, as well as the smallestand the more subtle inner bodies increasingly overlap the limits of this central physical body; they pass through it and extend further and further out, like water evaporating from a porous vase which creates a kind of steam all around it. And the more subtle it is, the more its extension tends to fuse with that of the universe: you finally become universal. It is an entirely concrete process that makes the invisible worlds an objective experience and even allows you to act in those worlds.

0 1961-02-25, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   All our aspirations, all our seekings, all our ascents always remind me of that flower I gave you the other day16: its something like that (Mother makes a vague, ethereal gesture), vibrating, vibrating, vibrating, very luminous, very delicate, essentially very lovely (silence) but it is not THAT (Mother again turns her hand over to indicate an abrupt reversal). It is not That.
   (silence)

0 1961-10-30, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Curious, this impression the feeling of the body and the atmosphere when I was propelled into the future. Its something more more compact, denser than the physical: the New Creation. One always tends to think of it as something more ethereal, but its not! Theon spoke of it, but he didnt express himself very well; his way of speaking didnt have the power of revelation (it was based on experience, but the experience wasnt his, it was Madame Theons. She was a marvelous woman from the standpoint of experienceunique but with no real intelligence oh, she was intelligent and cultivated, but no more than that, and it didnt amount to much). But they really had come as forerunners, and Theon always insisted, It will have a greater density. Scientifically, this seems like heresy, for density is not used in that sense but this was what he said, A greater density. And the impression I get of this atmosphere is of something more compactmore compact and at the same time without heaviness or thickness. All this is evidently absurd scientificallyyet there is a feeling of compactness.
   It was like that yesterday something so solid was with me (Mother touches her head); how to put it? Its solid, but not in the way we usually speak of solidity! Its not like that.
  --
   I mean that theres a feeling of being on the wrong track: ordinarily, when seeking the Supermind, one looks for it on the heights. But thats not it! Thats not it. And one always imagines a sort of subtilization, something etherealized, but its not that.
   All right, you dont need to keep a record of this [for the Agenda]. Theyll lock me up, Im telling you!

0 1961-11-05, #Agenda Vol 02, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   As a matter of fact, the books he wrote (especially the first one, The Living ether) were based on my knowledge; he put my knowledge into French and beautiful French, I must say! I would tell him my experiences and he would write them down. Later he wrote The Gods (it was incomplete, one-sided). Then he became a lawyer and entered politics (he was a first-class orator and fired his audiences with enthusiasm) and was sent to Pondicherry to help a certain candidate who couldnt manage his election campaign single-handed. And since Richard was interested in occultism and spirituality, he took this opportunity to seek a Master, a yogi. When he arrived, instead of involving himself in politics, the first thing he did was announce, I am seeking a yogi. Someone said to him, Youre incredibly lucky! The yogi has just arrived. It was Sri Aurobindo, who was told, Theres a Frenchman asking to see you. Sri Aurobindo wasnt particularly pleased but he found the coincidence rather interesting and received him. This was in 1910.
   When Richard had finished his work, he returned to France with a poor photograph of Sri Aurobindo and a completely superficial impression of him, yet with the feeling that Sri Aurobindo KNEW (he hadnt at all understood the man that Sri Aurobindo was, he hadnt felt the presence of an Avatar, but he had sensed that he had knowledge). Moreover, I think he always held this opinion, because he used to say that Sri Aurobindo was a unique intellectual giant without many spiritual realizations! (The same type of stupidity as Romain Rollands.) Well, my relationship with Richard was on an occult plane, you see, and its difficult to touch upon. What happened was far more exciting than any novel imaginable.

0 1962-08-14, #Agenda Vol 03, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   The feeling is rather one of vibrations gathered tog ether and coagulated somewhere and even at that, theres a very supple inner play, for it spreads out like this (Mother makes a gesture of diffusion or expansion all around her) through a sort of subtilization or etherization. And its limitlesshow could it have any limits! It goes like this (same radiating gesture)these same vibrations are everywhere, in all bodies and all things. What people call this body is merely the result of a willed concentration organized in a specific way; thats how it spontaneously feels, all the time (not that its observing itself, but if something forces it to observe itself, thats what it spontaneously feels). And the delimitation that exists in all beings, and which WAS in this body (was it this body? Havent the cells changed? I dont know), which once existed in what people call this body, has completely disappeared. Before (thirty years or so ago), it used to feel like something separate moving among other separate things thats all gone.
   I have tried several times, telling myself, Ah, lets have a good lookis there anything, anywhere, that feels that separation? (I am looking at the body from above.) Theres nothingtruly? Are you one hundred percent spontaneously sincere? Nothing at all? Its impossible to find a thing. Impossible.

0 1963-09-18, #Agenda Vol 04, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Because NOTHING in the consciousness budged during those changeovers [back and forth from the true to the false movement]; the consciousness is like that, turned not upward, not inward, turned simply turned to the Lord, living in His Light, which, in the physical world, becomes a golden splendor. The consciousness is turned to That. There is nothing but That, its the sole reality, the sole truth. And It vibrates like this (Mother touches her hands, her arms), It vibrates in all the cells, everywhere. I go like this (Mother makes a gesture of collecting it in the air around), as if I picked it up. It isnt ethereal, its very material; it feels like an air that is thick but vibrant, very vibrant. The consciousness is like that. And all this goes on in the body. But with the presence of that old idiot which is immediately pessimistic, catastrophic, defeatisthow defeatist, oh it sees everything as a calamity. And then that wonderful character, after imagining the worse (in the space of a second, of course), it submits it all to the Lord and tells Him, Here, Lord, here is Your work, its all Yours, do what You will with it! The silly idiot, why did it have to prepare its catastrophes! A catastrophe, invariably a catastrophe, everything is catastrophic but it offers its catastrophe to the Lord!
   And the answer is invariably a smile full of such patience, oh! That patience gives me a sense of wonder every second.

0 1965-03-27, #Agenda Vol 06, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   It doesnt really have an action on the consciousness, I am absolutely certain of that. Meat can give the body a feeling of great solidity, but in my opinion, solidity is most important, most important I dont believe in a spirituality that etherealizes, thats the old falsehood of the past.
   No, the bodys heaviness You must not only conceive but understand and accept that the purpose of this heaviness is to repair the bodys internal damage, and the body must in fact change this heaviness into a sort of constant tranquillity so that order is restored everywhere.

0 1966-04-27, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   I saw that, it was so amusing! I saw it all. Oh, it was an extraordinary experience. All of a sudden I was outside and, I cant say above (but it was above), but outside the whole human creation, outside everything, everything man has created in all the worlds, even in the most ethereal worlds. And seen from there, it was I saw that play of all the possible conceptions men have had of God and of the way to approach God (what they call God), and also of the invisible worlds and the gods, all that: one thing came upon another, one upon another, it all went by (as its written in Savitri), one thing upon another went by (gesture as if on a screen), one upon another with its artificiality, its inadequacy to express the Truth. And with such precision! A precision so accurate that you felt in anguish, because the impression was of being in a world of nothing but imagination, of imaginative creation, but in nothing real, there wasnt a feeling of of touching the Thing. To such a point that it became yes, a terrible anguish: But then, what? What? Whats truly TRUE and outside all that we can conceive?
   And it came. It was like this: (gesture of self-abandon) the total, complete self-annulment, annulment of that which can know, of that which tries to knoweven surrender isnt an adequate word: a sort of annulment. And suddenly it ended with a slight movement as a child could have who doesnt know anything, doesnt try to know anything, doesnt understand anything, doesnt try to understand but who abandons himself. A slight movement of such simplicity, such ingenuousness, such extraordinary sweetness (words cant express it): nothing, just this (gesture of self-abandon), and instantaneously, THE Certitude (not expressed, lived), the lived Certitude.

0 1966-06-02, #Agenda Vol 07, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   I have also heard that other scientists have discovered immediate transmission, which doesnt follow the slow curve of wave transmissions or even of more ethereal transmissions, through what they call (I think) a sort of pendulum or counterweight, so that what is done here is automatically reproduced there; if it goes down here, it goes up there, and if it goes down there, it goes up here, automatically. Its imitation (because they cant understand what it is), but its intuitive communication, of course. It seems they have an instrument to measure itits fantastic!
   Theyll end up having everything except the key.

0 1969-04-02, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   We could say this: if you compare the consciousness, not of ordinary humanity but the higher consciousness of humanity, the consciousness one has when one is a man and endeavors to come into contact with the higher consciousness (the contact one has with it), if you compare that with this Consciousness, you feel that as soon as the human consciousness tried to contact higher things, to purify lower movements, to widen, it used to become fluid, transparent, ethereal, whereas this Consciousness, with a vision, a perception INFINITELY SUPERIOR to the other, is solid and concrete. And the impression is its so strong! I said at the beginning that I felt as if surrounded by a protection [the rampart], something solid; well, its remained like that, with this solidity, and at the same time infinitely vaster, loftier, more understanding. And, yes, this solidity. And in this something I must call benevolence for lack of a better word, theres such an extraordinary Power of Compassion! Something like almost an intolerance of sufferingof PHYSICAL suffering (its not much interested in the moral suffering that stems from a moral distortion, it finds it idiotic), the wholly material suffering that comes from the structure and working of the material world: it finds that unacceptable. I dont know how to express it, theres a sort of refusal to accept that. I am observing (were still in a phase of observation), and from the experiences I have, it seems to me that this Power can, at least to some extent, transform physical suffering, cancel it. In some cases its obvious, but its not a constant fact. I dont know. Thats why, for instance, I was hoping, from what I had seen and what took place, that your nights would get better, but Naturally, I am an extremely imperfect instrument.
   Theyre much better.

0 1969-11-19, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Everything, everything, from the most material thing to the most ethereal, EVERYTHING was included in it, clear, clear, cleara vision.
   And evil, what we call evil, has its INDISPENSABLE place in the whole. But it would no longer be felt as evil the minute one became conscious of Thatnecessarily Evil is that infinitesimal element looking on its infinitesimal consciousness; but because consciousness is essentially ONE, it recaptures, regains the Consciousness of Unityboth tog ether. And thats what, THAT IS WHAT has to be realized. Its a marvelous thing. I had the vision: at the time, there was the vision of THAT. And the beginnings (is it beginnings?), what they call in English the outskirts, whats farthest from the central realization, becomes the multiplicity of things, also the multiplicity of sensations, feelings, everything the multiplicity of consciousness. And that action of separation is what created, what constantly creates the world, and what at the same time creates everything: suffering, happiness, all, all, all that was created, through its what we might call diffusion but its absurd, its not a diffusion: we live in the sense of space, so we say diffusion and concentration, but its nothing like that.

0 1969-12-17, #Agenda Vol 10, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   232"Nobleness and generosity are the soul's ethereal firmament; without them, one looks at an insect in a dungeon."
   ***

0 1972-12-20, #Agenda Vol 13, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Its very tangible, you know. His action has become very tangible. Of course, it isnt something mental at all. It is from another region. But it isnt neither ethereal noris it tangible. I could almost say material.
   Ive often wondered about the right inner movement needed to go into that other region. There are basically two possible movements: a movement inwards in the direction of the soul, as it were, and a movement of annihilation of the individuality, in which you are in a sort of impersonal vastness.

02.02 - The Kingdom of Subtle Matter, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Till in the naked ether of the peaks
  The spirit's simplicity alone is left,

02.03 - The Glory and the Fall of Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  And dipped towards a strange ethereal base.
  The quintessence glowed of Life's supreme delight.

02.05 - The Godheads of the Little Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  At first was only an etheric Space:
  Its huge vibrations circled round and round

02.06 - The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Life, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  It could hold in the conscious ether of the spirit
  The divinity of a symbol universe.
  --
  As he moved in this ether of ambiguous life,
  Himself was soon a riddle to himself;

02.11 - The Kingdoms and Godheads of the Greater Mind, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Across a gleaming ether's golden laugh
  A light falls on our vexed unsatisfied lives,
  --
  Above were bright ethereal skies of mind,
  A packed and endless soar as if sky pressed sky

02.12 - The Heavens of the Ideal, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Through a pale-sapphire ether of god-mind
  Towards some gold Infinite's apocalypse.

02.14 - Appendix, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   ethereal minstrel! pilgrim of the sky!5
   Do not these words bear us far away on some unknown wings?

02.14 - The World-Soul, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  In a rapt ether of undying love.
  An inner happiness abode in all,

03.04 - The Vision and the Boon, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Flame-pure, ethereal-tressed, a mighty Face
  Appeared and lips moved by immortal words;

04.03 - The Eternal East and West, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The Spirit is not the static transcendent absolute entity only. It is dynamic Force, creative conscious Energy. The spiritual is not mere silence and status it is expression and movement also. Any silence and any status are not the silence and the status of the Spirit the silence and status of death, for example; so too any expression and movement are not of the Spirit either but this does not mean that the Spirit cannot have its own expression and movement. God too likewise is not a mere supracosmic beinga somewhat aggrandised human beingtreating and dominating man and the world as something foreign and essentially antagonistic to his nature. God himself has made himself all creatures and all worlds. He is That and He is This fundamentally and integrally. Again, at the other end, Matter is not mere dead mechanical matter. It is vibrant energy, but energy that conceals within it life and consciousness. Besides, the whirl and motion of energies is not all, something inherently static looms large behind: you call it ether, field, space or substratumit is being, one would like to say, infused with a secret consciousness and will.
   We say then, symbolically at least, if not literally, that the West is looking to the East for this revelation towards which it is groping or moving in its own way: the secret spirit-consciousness that is alive in and through the material cosmos, that alone gives its total sense and significance. And the secret spirit must embody itself here below in material life, the status must be made supremely dynamic the transcendent consciousness, even while maintaining its transcendence, has to deploy its immanence in things of the earth and earthly existence. That is what the West brings to the East; that is what the Scientific and materialist look and labour offer to be integrated into the aspiration and realisation of the East.

04.07 - Readings in Savitri, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 03, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Of that assault of ether and of fire;
   It murmurs at its sorrowless happiness,
  --
   As, however, mortality bears ill the eternal's touch, the eternal too is intolerant of the mortal natureonly it is intolerant not in the ignorant blind squeamish weak human way, but in a divine way, for it is armed with weapons of light and knowledge, it assaults with its luminous force, the energy of ether and fire, the higher and nobler elements as against the dense dark dumb earth, the lowest element that clothes the human consciousness. Indeed, mortality is enamoured of the tangled beam of joy and sorrow, of laughter and tears, of light and shadow and cannot contemplate the unalloyed sheer delight in Eternity. It is out of breath in the serene rarefied air of immortality; it pines for the terra firma, the mud and slime. The human consciousness has been fleeing the Hound of Heaven down the corridors of Time, and yet it will be caught in the end and wholly transmuted in the divine embrace into the substance of the Divine Himself. All the unwillingness and protestation and revolt are meant to forge and hammer the final union into something perfect, faultless, absolute.
   ***

04.34 - To the Heights-XXXIV, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Through the gathered silence of unfathomed ethers......
   It dims as it rises into the confused noise of my thoughts and desires,

04.46 - To the Heights-XLVI, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 02, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   wholly uplifted and transfused into the ethereal Bliss,
   Bliss made here and now a sensuous rapture-

05.03 - Satyavan and Savitri, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  I have heard strange voices cross the ether's waves,
  The Centaur's wizard song has thrilled my ear;

05.04 - The Immortal Person, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Finally, it is the turn of the body to become individualised, personalised, that is to say, when it takes up the disposition and configurationof the psychic person and individual. The first stage is that of a subtle body individualised, a radiant form of etherealised elements consisting of the concentrated light particles of the divine consciousness of the Psyche. This too is an immortalisation of the personal identity which can be achieved and is achieved by the gnostic man who is to come, who will wholly psychicise and divinise his personality. The second stage is the reorganisation and individualisation of the material sheath itself. The very cells of the body are impregnated with the radiant substance of the supreme spiritual consciousness; they live the life of the spiritual individual, the personal divine embodied in the individual. When the whole process is gone through and the work clone, the individual body, physically too, shares in and attains the immortality of the soul. The body is firm enough to maintain its physical identity and yet plastic enough to change in the manner and to the degree demanded of it at any time.
   In the process of making the body personal and divine and immortal, death or what appears as such may be a needed operation. It is no longer an ineluctable destiny forced upon you, but an instrument which you use consciously for a definite purpose. It is a mystic or occult work (kriy:) which we can try to understand by an analogy. The evolution of the ideal or divine man, the assumption of the mortal by the immortal involves a twofold operation: rejection and integration. Rejection means throwing out the elements that belong exclusively to the lower grade and cannot be taken up and incorporated into the higher; while integration means taking up and absorbing utilisable elements of the lower into the higher. This double process goes on on all the levels, on the mental, on the vital, on the subtle physical and even on the physical level. At a certain stage or in a concentrated process of alchemy the process of rejection may demand a mode of reshuffling and redisposition which physically appears like death, but it is inevitably followed or accompanied by the process of integration or recreation.

05.05 - In Quest of Reality, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   In fact, we are forced to the conclusion that the picture of a solid massive material nature is only a mask of the reality; the reality is,that matter is a charge of electricity and the charge of electricity is potentially a mode of light. The ancient distinction between matter and energy is no longer valid. In fact energy is the sole reality, matter is only an appearance that energy puts on under a certain condition. And this energy too' is not mechanical (and Newtonian) but radiant and ethereal. We can no longer regret with, the poet:
   They have gone into the world of light
  --
   Creation as a movement or expression of consciousness need not be dubbed a metaphysical jargon; it can be assumed as a scientific working hypothesis and seen how it affects our view, meets our problems and difficulties, wh ether it can give a satisfactory clue to some of the riddles of physical and psychical phenomena. A scientific supposition (or intuition) is held to be true if it can be applied invariably to facts of life and experience and if it can open up to our vision and perception new facts. The trend of scientific discoveries today is towards the positing of a background reality in Nature of which energy (radiant and electrical) is the first and overt form. We discarded ether, only to replace it by field and disposition. We have arrived at a point where the question is wh ether we cannot take courage" in both hands and declare, as some have already done, that the substratum in Nature is consciousness-energy and on that hypothesis better explain certain movements of Matter and Life and Mind in a global unity. Orthodox and die-hard views will always protest and cry that it is a misalliance, a misjoinder to couple tog ether Matter and Consciousness or even Life and Consciousness. But since the light has touched the higher mind even among a few of the positivist type, the few may very well be the precursor of the order of the day.
   After all, only one bold step is needed: to affirm unequivocally what is being suggested and implied and pointed to in a thousand indirect ways. And Science will be transformed. The scientist too, like the famous Saltimbanque (clown) of a French poet, may one day in turning a somersault, suddenly leap up and find himself rolling into the bosom of the stars.

05.08 - An Age of Revolution, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The search for a universal principle of Nature is a meta-physical as well as a scientific preoccupation. In ancient days, fo example, we had the Water of Thales or the Fire of Heraclitus as the one original unifying principle of this kind. With the coming of the Renascence and the New Illumination we laughed them out and installed instead the mysterious ether. For a long time this universalreigned supreme and now that too has gone the way of its predecessors. We thought for a time that we had found in Electric Energy the one sovereign principle in Nature. At a time when we had a few elementsdiscrete, different, fundamental units that in their varying combinations built up the composite structure of Nature, apart from the fact that they reposed finally on the ultimate unifying principle of ether, it was found also that they all behaved in a uniform and identical and therefore predictable manner. The time and the place (and the mass) being given, everything went according to a pattern and a formula, definite, fixed, mathematically rigid. Even the discovery of one element after another till the number reached the famous figure 92 (itself following a line of mathematically precise and inevitable development) did not materially alter the situation and caused no tribulation. For on further scrutiny a closer unity revealed itself: the supposed disparity in the substance of the various elements was found to be an illusion, for they all appeared now as different organisations or dispositions of the same electric energy (although the identity of electric energy with radiant energy was not always very clear). Thus we could conclude that as the substance was the same, its mode of working also would be' uniform and patterned. In other words, the mechanistic conception still ruled our view' of Nature. That means, the ultimate units, the particles (of energy) that compose Nature are like sea-sands or water-drops, each one is fundamentally similar to any other and all behave similarly, reacting uniformly to the same forces that act upon them.
   Well, it is now found that they do not do so. However same or similar constitutionally, each unit is sui generisand its movement cannot be predicted. That movement does not depend upon its mass or store of energy or its position in a pattern, as a wholly mechanistic conception would demand: it is something incalculable, one should say even, erratic. In a radioactive substance, the particle that is shot out, becomes active, cannot be predetermined by any calculation, even if that is due to a definitely and precisely arranged bombardment. So we have come to posit a principle of uncertainty, as a very fundamental law of Nature. It practically declares that the ultimate particle is an autonomou unit, it is an' individual, almost a personality, and seems to have a will of its own. A material unit acts very much like a biological unit: it does not obey mechanically, answer mechanically as an automaton, but seems to possess a capacity for choice, for assent or refusal, for a free determination. The mechanistic view presented is due to an average functioning. The phenomenon has been explained by a very apt image. It is like an army. A group of soldiers, when they are on parade, look all similar and geometrically patterned: each is just like another and all move and march in the same identical manner. But that' is when you look at the whole, the collectivity, but looked individually, each one regains his separate distinct personality, each having his own nature and character, his own unique history: there no two are alike, each is non pareil and behaves differently, incalculably.

05.09 - The Changed Scientific Outlook, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Science has not spiritualised (or idealised or mentalised) the world; it has not spiritualised itself. Agreed. But what it has done is remarkable. First, with its new outlook it has cut away the ground from where it was wont to give battle to religion and spirituality, it has abjured its cast-iron strait-jacket mentality which considered that senses and syllogism encompass all knowledge and objects of knowledge. It has learnt humility and admits of the possibility of more things there being in heaven and earth which are not amenable to its fixed co-ordinates. Secondly, it has gone at times even beyond this attitude of benevolent neutrality. For certain of its conclusions, certain ways of formulation seem to echo other truths, other manners. That is to say, if Science by itself is unable to reach or envisage the spiritual outlook, yet the position it has reached, the vistas it envisages seem to be not perhaps exactly one with, but in line with what our vision (of the scientific world) would be like if once we possess the spiritual eye. Matter, Science says today, is energy and forms of matter, objects, are various vibrations of this one energy. What is this energy? According to science, it is electrical, radiant, ethereal (Einstein replaces " ether" by "field")biological science would venture to call it life energy. You have only to move one step farther and arrive at the greater and deeper generalisationMatter is a mode of the energy of consciousness, all forms of Matter are vibrations of consciousness.
   ***

05.31 - Divine Intervention, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 01, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   But we have arrived today at a stage when this old-world view has perforce to be discarded. We can no longer take Laplace seriously: for scientists themselves have established as a fact in physical Nature the indeterminacy of her movements, the impossibility of foretelling a laLaplace, not because of any deficiency in the human instrument but because of the very nature of things. Science is of course at a loss to explain the why or even the how of this indeterminacy. We say, however, that it is nothing but the intrusion of another, a different kind of force in the field of the forces actually at play. That force comes from a higher, a subtler level. Things and forces move in their ordinary round, according to the normal laws, bound ,within their present frame: but always there drops in from elsewhere an unknown element, a force or energy or impulse of another quality, which causes a shift of emphasis in the actual, brings about a change unaccountable and unforeseen. This is what is called miracle: the imposition of a higher law, a generic law governing subtler forms and forces upon an inferior and grosser sphere. And the higher or subtler the plane from which the new force descends the plane can be anything between the one nearest to the material, the subtle physical or ethereal, and the one nearest to the other extreme, the spiritual the greater will be the change in nature, quality and extent in the lower order. Such miracles, interventions, providential happenings are not rare. They are always occurring, only they do not attract attention. For it is these phenomena that are the real causes of all progresscosmic as well as individual. Evolution is based upon this truth of Nature.
   Man is not bound to the present pattern or complex of his nature and character: he is not irrevocably fixed to the framea Procrustean bedgiven by the parallelogram of actual forces in or around him. Always he can call down forces or forces can descend into him from otherwhere and bring about a change, even a revolution in the mode and make-up of his character and nature and life. What we call "opening" in our. Sadhana refers to this factor in our consciousness. It means the possibility of the descent of a higher force in our normal nature. Nature is not such a solid stream-lined structure as not to admit of any interstices in it. We know of the comparatively vast spaces that separate atom from atom, the immense emptiness across which even the ultimate nuclear particles have to act upon each other. These are the loop-holes in the great net and it is precisely through them that other forces percolate.

06.01 - The Word of Fate, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  He bore the ripples of the etheric sea;
  A primal Air brought the first joy of touch;
  --
  And fallen from his ethereal element
  Love darkens to the spirit of n ether gods.
  --
  The Happy in their bright ether have not hearts
  More sweet and true than this of mortal make

06.02 - The Way of Fate and the Problem of Pain, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Of heavenly ether made she sought this air,
  She too must share the human need of grief
  --
  The luminous body of the ethereal seer
  Assailed the purple glory of the noon

07.02 - The Parable of the Search for the Soul, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  To subtle worlds takes his ethereal course,
  Visits the Gods on Life's miraculous peaks,

07.06 - Nirvana and the Discovery of the All-Negating Absolute, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  As ether our transparent tangible air,
  And through it sailing tranquilly a thought.

10.02 - The Gospel of Death and Vanity of the Ideal, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  I curved the vacant ether into Space;
  A huge expanding and contracting Breath

10.04 - The Dream Twilight of the Earthly Real, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  In a wide brooding ether's formless muse:
  It made of Knowledge a veiled and struggling light,

1.00a - DIVISION A - THE INTERNAL FIRES OF THE SHEATHS., #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  In the etheric body, which is an exact replica of its denser counterpart, we have the organ of active or radiatory fire, and, as is well known, the vehicle of prana. Its function is to store up the rays of radiatory light and heat which are secured from the sun, and to transmit them, via the spleen, to all parts of the physical body. Hence in the future it will come to be recognised that the spine and the spleen are of the utmost importance to the physical well-being of man, and that when the spinal column is duly adjusted and aligned, and when the spleen is freed from congestion and in a healthy condition, there will be little trouble in the dense physical body. When the physical furnace burns brightly and when the fuel of the body (pranic rays) is adequately assimilated, the human frame will function as desired.
  The subject of the blending of these two fires, which is complete in a normal and healthy person, should engross the attention of the modern physician. He will then concern himself with the removal of nerve congestion or material congestion, so as to leave a free channel for the inner warmth. This blending, which is now a natural and usual growth in every human being, was one of the signs of attainment or of initiation in an earlier solar system. Just as initiation and liberation are marked in this solar system by the blending of the fires of the body, of the mind and of the Spirit, so in an earlier cycle attainment was marked by the blending of the latent fires of matter with the radiatory or active fires, and then their union with the fires of mind. In the earlier period the effects in manifestation of the divine Flame were so remote and deeply hidden as to be scarcely recognisable, though dimly there. Its correspondence can be seen in the animal kingdom, in which instinct holds the intuition in latency, [58] and the Spirit dimly overshadows. Yet all is part of a divine whole.
  --
  When the term "channel or ray of approach" is used, it means approach from the centre of solar radiation to the periphery. What is encountered during that approachsuch as planetary bodies, for instancewill be affected by the akashic current, the electrical current, or the pranic current in some way, but all of these currents are only the internal fires of the system when viewed from some other point in universal, though not solar, space. It is, therefore, obvious that this matter of fire is as complex as that of the rays. The internal fires of the solar system become external and radiatory when considered from the standpoint of a planet, while the internal fires of the planet will affect a human being as radiation in exactly the same way as the pranic emanations of his etheric body affect another physical body as radiatory. The point to be grasped in all these [60] aspects is that one and all have to do with matter or substance, and not with mind or Spirit.
  b. The Planet. Deep in the heart of the planetsuch a planet as the Earth, for instanceare the internal fires that occupy the central sphere, or the caverns whichfilled with incandescent burningmake life upon the globe possible at all. The internal fires of the moon are practically burnt out, and, therefore, she does not shine save through reflection, having no inner fire to blend and merge with light external. These inner fires of the earth can be seen functioning, as in the sun, through three main channels:
  --
  3. That emanation of the planet which we might term Planetary Prana. It is that which is referred to when one speaks of the health-giving qualities of Mother Nature, and which is back of the cry of the modern physician, when he wisely says "Back to the Earth." It is the fluidic emanation of this prana which acts upon the physical body, though in this case not via the etheric body. It is absorbed [61] through the skin purely and the pores are its line of least resistance.
  c. The Man. At the base of the spine lie hid the fires of the human system, or the internal fires of the Microcosm. The centre is located there, and from it the radiations go forth along the three channels, recognisable in the spine.
  --
  3. Pranic emanation. The emanation, via the etheric body, which corresponds in man to solar prana and to planetary prana. This demonstrates principally in the health aura and has naught to do with magnetic qualities, as generally interpreted when considering a personality, or man as a unit. I make this repetition as it is very necessary that no mental confusion exists between that magnetism which is a spiritual emanation and that which is purely animal.
  It might be wise here to point out that this triple manifestation of fire demonstrates in the astral and mental bodies likewise, having to do with the substance of those bodies. We might express this fire in its triple manifestation as the sumtotal of the essential fire, or life activity of the third Logos. It should be carefully borne [62] in mind that the manifestation of the work of the three Logoi is the expression of the mind of some cosmic Entity. In the same way, the seven planetary Entities, the seven Heavenly Men, are seven Logoi (likewise cosmic Beings) Who in Their totality form the Body of the threefold Logos. We have, therefore:

1.00b - DIVISION B - THE PERSONALITY RAY AND FIRE BY FRICTION, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  The karma of form is likewise a vast subject, too [76] involved for average comprehension but a factor of real importance which should not be overlooked in connection with the evolution of a world, a synthesis of worlds, or of a system when viewed from higher levels. Everything is, in its totality, the result of action taken by cosmic Essences and Entities in earlier solar systems, which is working out through the individual atoms, and through those congeries of atoms which we call forms. The effect of the personality Ray upon the internal fires is therefore, in effect, the result of the influence of the planetary Logos of whatever ray is implicated, as He works out that portion of Karma which falls to His share in any one cycle, greater or lesser. He thus brings about and eventually transmutes, the effects of causes which He set in motion earlier in relation to His six Brothers, the other planetary Logoi. We get an illustrative parallel in the effect which one individual will have upon another in worldly contact, in moulding and influencing, in stimulating or retarding. We have to remember that all fundamental influence and effects are felt on the astral plane and work thence through the etheric to the dense physical thereby bringing matter under its sphere of influence, yet not itself originating on the physical plane.
  [77]

1.00c - DIVISION C - THE ETHERIC BODY AND PRANA, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  object:1.00c - DIVISION C - THE etherIC BODY AND PRANA
  subject class:Occultism
  --
  DIVISION C - THE etherIC BODY AND PRANA - Part 1
  THE etherIC BODY AND PRANA [xxxiv]34
  I. The nature of the etheric body.
  1. Its purpose and description.
  --
  III. The function of the etheric body.
  1. It is the receiver of prana.
  --
  4. Disorders of the etheric body.
  IV. Macrocosmic and microcosmic ethers.
  1. The planetary Logos and the ethers.
  2. Cosmic and systemic ethers.
  3. Protective purpose of etheric body.
  V. Death and the etheric body.
  1. Microcosmic death.
  --
  I. THE NATURE OF THE etherIC BODY
  In our consideration of the internal fires of the system we shall find much of very real interest to the coming [78] generation of thinkers for three main reasons, which might be enumerated as follows:
  --
  First. In the study of the etheric body lies hid (for scientists and those of the medical profession) a fuller comprehension of the laws of matter and the laws of health. The word health has become too localised in the past, and its meaning confined to the sanity of the body corporeal, to the co-operative action of the atoms of the physical body of man, and to the full expression of the powers of the physical elemental. In days to come it will be realised that the health of man is dependent upon the health of all allied evolutions, and upon the co-operative action and full expression of the matter of the planet and of the planetary elemental who is himself a composite manifestation of the physical elementals of all manifested nature.
  Second. In the study of the etheric body and prana lies the revelation of the effects of those rays of the sun which (for lack of better expression), we will call "solar pranic emanations." These solar pranic emanations are the produced effect of the central heat of the sun approaching other bodies within the solar system by one of the three main channels of contact, and producing on the bodies then contacted certain effects differing somewhat from those produced by the other emanations. These effects might be considered as definitely stimulating and constructive, and (through their essential quality) as producing conditions that further the growth of cellular matter, and concern its adjustment to environing conditions; they concern likewise the internal health (demonstrating as the heat of the atom and its consequent activity) and the uniform evolution of the form of which that particular atom of matter forms a constituent part. Emanative prana does little in connection with [79] form building; that is not its province, but it conserves the form through the preservation of the health of its component parts. Other rays of the sun act differently, upon the forms and upon their substance. Some perform the work of the Destroyer of forms, and others carry on the work of cohering and of attracting; the work of the Destroyer and of the Preserver is carried on under the Law of Attraction and Repulsion. Some rays definitely produce accelerated motion, others produce retardation. The ones we are dealing with herepranic solar emanationswork within the four ethers, that matter which (though physical) is not as yet objectively visible to the eye of man. They are the basis of all physical plane life considered solely in connection with the life of the physical plane atoms of matter, their inherent heat and their rotary motion. These emanations are the basis of that "fire by friction" which demonstrates in the activity of matter.
  Finally, in the study of the etheric body and prana comes comprehension of the method of logoic manifestation, and therefore much of interest to the metaphysician, and all abstract thinkers. The etheric body of man holds hid the secret of his objectivity. It has its correspondence on the archetypal plane,the plane we call that of the divine manifestation, the first plane of our solar system, the plane Adi. The matter of that highest plane is called often the "sea of fire" and it is the root of the akasha, the term applied to the substance of the second plane of manifestation. Let us trace the analogy a little more in detail, for in its just apprehension will be found much of illumination and much that will serve to elucidate problems both macrocosmic and microcosmic. We will begin with man and his etheric body.
  The etheric body has been described as a network, permeated with fire, or as a web, animated with golden light. It is spoken of in the Bible as the "golden bowl." [80] It is a composition of that matter of the physical plane which we call etheric, and its shape is brought about by the fine interlacing strands of this matter being built by the action of the lesser Builders into the form or mould upon which later the dense physical body can be moulded. Under the Law of Attraction, the denser matter of the physical plane is made to cohere to this vitalised form, and is gradually built up around it, and within it, until the interpenetration is so complete that the two forms make but one unit; the pranic emanations of the etheric body itself play upon the dense physical body in the same manner as the pranic emanations of the sun play upon the etheric body. It is all one vast system of transmission and of interdependence within the system. All receive in order to give, and to pass on to that which is lesser or not so evolved. Upon every plane this process can be seen.
  Thus the etheric body forms the archetypal plane in relation to the dense physical body. The thinker on his own plane stands, in relation to the physical, as the Logos to His system. In the synthesis of thought it might be expressed thus: The thinker on the astral plane, the plane of desire and of necessity, stands to the physical body as the Logos on the cosmic astral plane stands to His system.
  As we continue the study we will work out the correspondence in the cosmos, the system, and in the three worlds, for we need to remember that the analogy must be perfect.
  --
  It is with the etheric bodies of all we are dealing, and with their vivification by prana (wh ether cosmic, solar, planetary or human), with the organs of reception and with the basis of emanations. Here, therefore, we can arrive at certain dicta anent the etheric body which for purposes of clarity might well be enumerated:
  First. The etheric body is the mould of the physical body.
  Second. The etheric body is the archetype upon which [82] the dense physical form is built, wh ether it is the form of a solar system, or of a human body in any one incarnation.
  Third. The etheric body is a web or network of fine interlacing channels, formed of matter of the four ethers, and built into a specific form. It forms a focal point for certain radiatory emanations, which vivify, stimulate and produce the rotary action of matter.
  Fourth. These pranic emanations when focalised and received, react upon the dense matter which is built upon the etheric scaffolding and framework.
  Fifth. This etheric web, during incarnation, forms a barrier between the physical and astral planes, which can only be transcended when consciousness is sufficiently developed to permit of escape. This can be seen in both the microcosm and the macrocosm. When a man has, through meditation and concentration, expanded his consciousness to a certain point he is enabled to include the subtler planes, and to escape beyond the limits of the dividing web.
  PHYSICAL SUB-PLANES
  --
  1. First ether. Atomic plane.............
  Adi. Divine. Sea of fire. First cosmic ether.
  2. Second ether. Sub-atomic..........
  Anupadaka. Monadic plane. Akasha. Second cosmic ether.
  3. Third ether. Super- etheric...........
  Atmic. Spiritual plane. A ether. Third cosmic ether.
  4. Fourth ether. Super-gaseous......
  Buddhic. Intuitional Plane. Air. Fourth cosmic ether.
  DENSE PHYSICAL
  --
  When the Logos has expanded His Consciousness on cosmic levels He can then transcend the logoic etheric web, and escape beyond the ring-pass-not of His objective manifestation. In thinking out this analogy we must hold closely in mind the fact that the seven major planes of our solar system are the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical or the lowest cosmic plane.
  We might note here the accurate working out of the correspondence in matter and the radiatory correspondence is equally accurate.
  Sixth. In all the three bodieshuman, planetary, and systemic or logoicwill be found a great organ within the organism which acts as the receiver of prana. This organ has its etheric manifestation and its dense physical correspondence.
  In the system. In the system, the organ of cosmic prana, of the force vitalising matter, is the central sun, which is the direct receiver and dispenser of cosmic radiation. This is one of the threefold divisions of the Primordial Ray of active intelligence. Each of the cosmic Rays is in essence threefold, a fact which is oft overlooked, though logically obvious; each Ray is the vehicle for a cosmic Entity, and all existence is necessarily triple in manifestation. The central Sun has within its periphery a centre of reception with a surface radiation.
  In the Planet. In the planet there will be found a similar organ or receiver within its etheric body, the locality of which is not for exoteric publication and cannot therefore be revealed. It is connected with the location of the two poles, north and south, and is the centre around which the globe rotates, and is the source of the legend of a sacred fertile land within the sphere of polar influences. The mythic land of exceeding fertility, of abundant [84] luxuriance, and of phenomenal growth, vegetable, animal and human would naturally lie where prana is received. It is the esoteric Garden of Eden, the land of physical perfection. Surface radiation demonstrates, after distribution, as planetary prana.
  In Man. The organ of reception is the spleen through its etheric counterpart. After distribution over the entire body via the etheric network it demonstrates in surface radiation as the health aura.
  Seventh. Thus in all the three bodies will the resemblance clearly be seen, and the working out in perfect correspondence is easily demonstrable:
  --
  Solar etheric radiation (felt cosmically).
  THE PLANET
  --
  Planetary etheric radiation (felt within the system).
  A HUMAN BEING
  --
  Human etheric radiation (felt by environment).
  [85]
  --
  Atomic etheric radiation (felt within the physical form).
  Eighth. When the "will to live" vanishes, then the "Sons of Necessity" cease from objective manifestation. This is logically inevitable, and its working out can be seen in every case of entifed objectivity. When the Thinker on his own plane withdraws his attention from his little system within the three worlds and gathers within himself all his forces, then physical plane existence comes to an end and all returns within the causal consciousness; this is as much an abstraction in the three worlds of the Thinker as the Absolute is in the threefold solar system of the Logos. This demonstrates on the physical plane in the withdrawing from out of the top of the head of the radiant etheric body and the consequent disintegration of the physical. The framework goes and the dense physical form falls apart; the pranic life is abstracted bodily from out of the dense sheath, and the stimulation of the fires of matter ceases to be. The latent fire of the atom remains; it is inherent, but the form is made by the action of the two fires of matteractive and latent, radiatory and inherentaided by the fire of the second Logos, and when they are separated the form falls apart. This is a picture in miniature of the essential duality of all things acted upon by Fohat.
  [86]
  There is a close connection between the spleen and the top of the head in connection with the etheric body. The organ of the spleen has an interesting correspondence to the umbilical cord which attaches an infant to the mother for purposes of nourishment, and which is separated at birth. When a man starts to live his own life of conscious desire, when a man is born into a new world of a subtler form of life, that interlaced cord of etheric matter (which had united him to his physical body) is broken; the "silver cord is loosed" and the man severs his connection with the dense physical body and passes out through the highest center of the body instead of the lowest to life in a higher world and of another dimension. So it will be found in all the bodies and sheaths of the microcosm, for the analogy will persist on all planes during manifestation. When more scientific knowledge has been gained it will be found that the same procedure on a larger scale, takes place in planetary manifestation. A planet is but the body of a planetary Logos, that body being etheric, and the Logos expressing Himself through it and building upon the etheric scaffolding a vehicle of manifestation. The MOON once was the body of expression for one of the Logoi; the Earth now is, and the cycles change continuously. The centre of escape for the etheric body is found likewise in a physical planet, and the planetary silver cord is loosed at the time appointed; but the times and cycles, their commencement and termination are hid in the mysteries of Initiation, and do not concern us.
  Again in the solar system itself similar action will eventuate at the close of a Mahamanvantara. The Logos will withdraw within Himself, abstracting His three major principles. [xxxvii]37 His body of manifestation the Sun [87] and the seven sacred Planets, all existing in etheric matterwill withdraw from objectivity and become obscured. From the usual physical standpoint, the light of the system will go out. This will be succeeded by a gradual inbreathing until He shall have gathered all unto Himself; the etheric will cease to exist, and the web will be no more. Full consciousness will be achieved, and in the moment of achievement existence or entified manifestation will cease. All will be reabsorbed within the Absolute; pralaya, [xxxviii]38 or the cosmic heaven of rest will then ensue, and the Voice of the Silence will be heard no more. The reverberations of the WORD will die away, and the "Silence of the High Places" will reign supreme.
  II. THE NATURE OF PRANA
  In dealing with the subject of the etheric body and its functions as an assimilator and distributor of prana, we have dealt with it from the standpoint of its place in the scheme of things. We have considered this matter of etherics from the angle of correspondences, and have traced analogies in the system, the planet, and man. We have seen that it formed the foundation of the dense physical form, and in itself constituted a most important link between:
  a. Physical man, and the emotional or astral plane.
  --
  We might now narrow the subject down to the consideration of the etheric body of the human being and not touch upon correspondences to things systemic or cosmic at all, though it may be necessary to remind ourselves that for the wise student the line along which wisdom [88] comes is the interpretative one; he who knows himself (in objective manifestation, essential quality, and comprehensive development) knows likewise the Lord of his Ray, and the Logos of his system. It is only then a matter of application, conscious expansion, and intelligent interpretation, coupled to a wise abstention from dogmatic assertion, and a recognition that the correspondence lies in quality and method more than in detailed adherence to a specified action at any given time in evolution.
  All that it is possible to give here is material which, if rightly pondered on, may result in more intelligent practical living in the occult sense of the term "living"; which, if studied scientifically, religiously and philosophically, may lead to the furthering of the aims of the evolutionary process in the immediately coming lesser cycle. Our aim, therefore, is to make the secondary body of man more real, and to show some of its functions and how it can eventually be brought consciously into the range of mental comprehension.
  Science, as we know, is fast reaching the point where it will be forced to admit the fact of the etheric body, because the difficulties of refusing to acknowledge it, will be far more insuperable than an admission of its existence. Scientists admit already the fact of etheric matter; the success of photographic endeavor has demonstrated the reality of that which has hitherto been considered unreal, because (from the standpoint of the physical) intangible. Phenomena are occurring all the time which remain in the domain of the supernatural unless accounted for through the medium of etheric matter, and in their anxiety to prove the spiritualists wrong, scientists have aided the cause of the true and higher spiritism by falling back on reality, and on the fact of the etheric body, even though they consider it a body of [89] emanative radiationbeing concerned with the effect and not having yet ascertained the cause. Medical men are beginning to study (blindly as yet) the question of vitality, the effect of solar rays upon the physical organism, and the underlying laws of inherent and radiatory heat. They are beginning to ascribe to the spleen functions hitherto not recognised, to study the effect of the action of the glands, and their relation to the assimilation of the vital essences by the bodily frame. They are on the right road, and before long (perhaps within this century) the FACT of the etheric body and its basic function will be established past all controversy, and the whole aim of preventive and curative medicine will shift to a higher level. All we can do here is to give simply, and in a condensed form, a few facts which may hasten the day of recognition, and further the interest of the true investigator. Let me, therefore, briefly state what will be dealt with in our remaining three points:
  The functions of the etheric body.
  Its relation to the physical during life.
  The ills or diseases of the etheric body (taking care to retain the original meaning of the word "disease.")
  Its after death condition.
  --
  As the nature and functions of the etheric body of man assume their rightful place in the thought of the world and as it is realised that the etheric is the most important of the two physical bodies, man will be brought into closer conscious contact with the other evolutions [90] that evolve in etheric matter just as he does in a dense physical body. There are certain large groups of devas, called "the devas of the shadows," or the violet devas, who are closely allied with the evolutionary development of man's etheric body, and who transmit to him solar and planetary radiation. The etheric body of man receives prana in different ways and of different kinds, and all these ways bring him into touch with varying entities.
  1. Solar prana.
  This is that vital and magnetic fluid which radiates from the sun, and which is transmitted to man's etheric body through the agency of certain deva entities of a very high order, and of a golden hue. It is passed through their bodies and emitted as powerful radiations, which are applied direct through certain plexi in the uppermost part of the etheric body, the head and shoulders, and passed down to the etheric correspondence of the physical organ, the spleen, and from thence forcibly transmitted into the spleen itself. These golden hued pranic entities are in the air above us, and are specially active in such parts of the world as California, in those tropical countries where the air is pure and dry, and the rays of the sun are recognised as being specially beneficial. Relations between man and this group of devas are very close, but fraught as yet with much danger to man. These devas are of a very powerful order, and, along their own line, are further evolved than man himself. Unprotected man lies at their mercy, and in this lack of protection, and man's failure to understand the laws of magnetic resistance, or of solar repulsion comes, for instance, the menace of sunstroke. When the etheric body and its assimilative processes are comprehended scientifically, man will then be immune from dangers due to solar radiation. He will protect himself by the application of the laws governing [91] magnetic repulsion and attraction, and not so much by clothing and shelter. It is largely a question of polarisation. One hint might here be given: When men understand the deva evolution somewhat more correctly and recognise their work along certain lines in connection with the Sun and realise that they represent the feminine pole as they themselves represent the masculine (the fourth Creative Hierarchy being male) [xxxix]39 they will comprehend the mutual relationship, and govern that relationship by law.
  These solar devas take the radiatory rays of the sun which reach from its centre to the periphery along one of the three channels of approach, pass them through their organism and focalise them there. They act almost as a burning glass acts. These rays are then reflected or transmitted to man's etheric body, and caught up by him and again assimilated. When the etheric body is in good order and functioning correctly, enough of this prana is absorbed to keep the form organised. This is the whole object of the etheric body's functioning, and is a point which cannot be sufficiently emphasised. The remainder is cast off in the form of animal radiation, or physical magnetismall terms expressing the same idea. Man therefore repeats on a lesser scale the work of the great solar devas, and in his turn adds his quota of repolarised or remagnetised emanation to the sumtotal of the planetary aura.
  2. Planetary prana.
  This is the vital fluid emanated from any planet, which constitutes its basic coloring or quality, and is produced by a repetition within the planet of the same process [92] which is undergone in connection with man and solar prana. The planet (the Earth, or any other planet) absorbs solar prana, assimilates what is required, and radiates off that which is not essential to its well-being in the form of planetary radiation. Planetary prana, therefore, is solar prana which has passed throughout the planet, has circulated through the planetary etheric body, has been transmitted to the dense physical planet, and has been cast off thence in the form of a radiation of the same essential character as solar prana, plus the individual and distinctive quality of the particular planet concerned. This again repeats the process undergone in the human body. The physical radiations of men differ according to the quality of their physical bodies. So it is with a planet.
  Planetary emanative prana (as in the case of solar prana) is caught up and transmitted via a particular group of devas, called the "devas of the shadows," who are ethereal devas of a slightly violet hue. Their bodies are composed of the matter of one or other of the four ethers, and they focalise and concentrate the emanations of the planet, and of all forms upon the planet. They have a specially close connection with human beings owing to the fact of the essential resemblance of their bodily substance to man's etheric substance, and because they transmit to him the magnetism of "Mother Earth" as it is called. Therefore we see that there are two groups of devas working in connection with man:
  a. Solar devas, who transmit the vital fluid which circulates in the etheric body.
  b. Planetary devas of a violet color, who are allied to man's etheric body, and who transmit earth's prana, or the prana of whichever planet man may be functioning upon during a physical incarnation.
  A very pertinent question might here be asked, and though we may not fully explain the mystery, a few suggestive [93] hints may be possible. We might ask: What causes the apparent deadness of the Moon? Is there deva life upon it? Does solar prana have no effect there? What constitutes the difference between the apparently dead Moon, and a live planet, such as the Earth? [xl]40
  --
  III. THE FUNCTION OF THE etherIC BODY
  We will now continue with the discussion of the etheric body, and take up the consideration of its function and its relation to the physical body.
  The two may wisely be considered tog ether, for the inter-relation is so close that it is not possible to discuss them separately. Primarily the functions of the etheric body are three in number:
  1. It is the receiver of prana.
  --
  The etheric body may therefore be described as negative or receptive in respect to the rays of the sun, and as [98] positive and expulsive in respect to the dense physical body. The second function that of assimilationis strictly balanced or internal. As stated earlier, the pranic emanations of the sun are absorbed by the etheric body, via certain centres which are found principally in the upper part of the body, from whence they are directed downwards to the centre which is called the etheric spleen, as it is the counterpart in etheric matter of that organ. The main centre for the reception of prana at present is a centre between the shoulder blades. Another has been allowed to become partially dormant in man through the abuses of so-called civilisation, and is situated slightly above the solar plexus. In the coming rootrace, and increasingly in this, the necessity for the exposure of these two centres to the rays of the sun, will be appreciated, with a corresponding improvement in physical vitality and adaptability. These three centres,
  1. Between the shoulder blades,
  --
  make, if one could but see it, a radiant etheric triangle, which triangle is the originating impulse for the later pranic circulation throughout the entire system. The etheric body is really a net-work of fine channels, which are the component parts of one interlacing fine cord,one portion of this cord being the magnetic link which unites the physical and the astral bodies and which is snapped or broken after the withdrawal of the etheric body from the dense physical body at the time of death. The silver cord is loosed, as the Bible expresses it [xlv]44 and this is the basis of the legend of the fateful sister who cuts the thread of life with the dreaded shears.
  The etheric web is composed of the intricate weaving of this vitalised cord, and apart from the seven centres [99] within the web (which correspond to the sacred centres, and of which the spleen is frequently counted as one) it has the two above mentioned, which makewith the spleena triangle of activity. The etheric web of the solar system is of an analogous nature, and likewise has its three receptive centres for cosmic prana. The mysterious band in the heavens, which we call the Milky Way, (S. D. II.250) is closely connected with cosmic prana, or that cosmic vitality or nourishment which vitalises the solar etheric system.
  2. The assimilator of prana.
  The process of assimilation is carried on in this triangle, and the prana which enters into either centre, circulates three times around the triangle before being transmitted to all parts of the etheric vehicle and from thence to the dense physical body. The main organ of assimilation is the spleen the etheric centre and the dense physical organ. The vital essence from the sun is passed into the etheric spleen, and is there subjected to a process of intensification or devitalisation, according to the condition, healthy or not, of that organ. If the man is in a healthy state the emanation received will be augmented by his own individual vibration, and its rate of vibration will be keyed up before it is passed on into the physical spleen; or it will be slowed down and lowered if the man is in a poor condition of health.
  These three centres are in the form that all centres take, of saucer-like depressions, resembling somewhat the appearance of small whirlpools, and which draw within their sphere of influence the currents that come their way.
  The centres should be pictured as whirling vortices with a closely woven threefold channel passing from each centre to the other, and forming an almost separate circulatory system. This finds its point of departure for [100] the entire system at the further side of the spleen to that at which the prana entered. The vital fluid circulates through and between these three centres three times, before it finally passes out from them to the periphery of its little system. This final circulation carries the prana, via the fine interlacing channels, to every part of the body, which becomes entirely impregnated by these emanations, if it might be so expressed. These emanations find their way finally out of the etheric system by means of surface radiation. The pranic essence escapes from the circumference of its temporary ring-pass-not as emanative human prana, which is the same prana as earlier received, plus the peculiar quality that any single individual may convey to it during its transitory circulation. The essence escapes, plus individual quality.
  Here again can be seen the correspondence to the escape of all essences from within any ring-pass-not when the cycle has been completed.
  This matter of the etheric body is of a very practical interest, and when its importance is better realised, men will attend to the distribution of prana within the body with closer attention, and will see that the vitalisation of the body, via the three centres, proceeds unhindered.
  The subject has necessarily to be handled in a superficial manner, and only outlines and scattered hints can be given. Nevertheless, it will be found that if this teaching is studied with care, it will convey a knowledge of truths whose calibre and content will prove invaluable and of a kind hitherto not given out. The place of the etheric sheath as a separator or ring-pass-not, and its functions as a receiver and distributor of prana, are dealt with here in a larger sense than heretofore, and the subject may later be enlarged.
  DIVISION C - THE etherIC BODY AND PRANA - Part 2
  Two fundamental truths stand out from the aggregate of facts so slightly dealt with here:
  --
  First. The fourth etheric subplane of the physical plane is the immediate concern of
  a. Man, the Microcosm,
  --
  Second. In this fourth chain and fourth round, the fourth ether is beginning to be studied, andviewed as a separating webit permits occasional exit to those of suitable vibration.
  3. The Transmitter of Prana.
  We have touched but little on the subject of the fire, the purpose of the etheric body being to convey it and distribute it to all parts of its system. We have dwelt on facts which might stimulate interest and emphasise the utility of this pranic vehicle. Certain facts need emphasis and consideration as we study this static ring and its circulating fires. Let me briefly recapitulate for the sake of clarity:
  The System receives prana from cosmic sources via three centres, and redistributes it to all parts of its extended influence, or to the bounds of the solar etheric web. This cosmic prana becomes colored by solar quality and reaches the furthest confines of the system. Its mission might be described as the vitalisation of the vehicle which is the physical material expression of the solar Logos.
  The Planet receives prana from the solar centre, and redistributes it via the three receiving centres to all parts of its sphere of influence. This solar prana becomes colored by the planetary quality and is absorbed by all evolutions found within the planetary ring-pass-not. Its mission might be described as the vitalisation of the vehicle which is the physical material expression of one or other of the seven Heavenly Men.
  --
  The Microcosm receives prana from the sun after it has permeated the planetary etheric vehicle, so that it is solar prana, plus planetary quality. Each planet is the embodiment of some one ray aspect, and its quality is marked predominantly on all its evolution.
  Prana, therefore, which is active radiatory heat, varies in vibration and quality according to the receiving Entity. Man passes the prana through his etheric vehicle, colors it with his own peculiar quality, and so transmits it to the lesser lives that make up his little system. Thus, the great interaction goes on, and all parts blend, merge and are interdependent; and all parts receive, color, qualify and transmit. An endless circulation goes on that has neither a conceivable beginning nor possible end from the point of view of finite man, for its source and end are hid in the unknown cosmic fount. Were conditions everywhere perfected this circulation would proceed unimpeded and might result in a condition of almost endless duration, but limitation and termination result as the effects of imperfection giving place to a gradual perfection. Every cycle originates from another cycle of a relative completeness, and will give place ever to a higher spiral; thus eventuate periods of apparent relative perfection leading to those which are still greater.
  The aim for this greater cycle is the blending, as we know, of the two fires of matter, latent and active, and their merging with the fires of mind and spirit till they are lost from sight in the general flame; the fires of mind and spirit burn up matter and thereby bring about liberation from the confining vehicles. The altar of earth is the birthplace of spirit, its liberator from the mother (matter), and its entrance into higher realms.
  Hence, when the pranic vehicle is working perfectly in all three groups, human, planetary and solar, the union with latent fire will be accomplished. Here lies [103] the reason for the emphasis laid on the necessity for building pure, refined physical vehicles. The more refined and rarefied the form, the better a receiver of prana will it be, and the less will be the resistance found to the uprising of kundalini at the appointed time. Coarse matter and crude immature physical bodies are a menace to the occultist, and no true seer will be found with a body of a gross quality. The dangers of disruption are too great, and the menace of disintegration by fire too awful. Once in the history of the race (in Lemurian days) this was seen in the destruction of the race and the continents by means of fire. [xlvi]45 The Guides of the race at that time availed Themselves of just this very thing to bring about the finish of an inadequate form. The latent fire of matter (as seen in volcanic display, for instance) and the radiatory fire of the system were combined. Planetary kundalini and solar emanation rushed into conjunction, and the work of destruction was accomplished. The same thing may again be seen, only in matter of the second ether, and the effects therefore will be less severe owing to the rarity of this ether and the comparatively greater refinement of the vehicles.
  We might here note a fact of interest, though of a mystery insoluble as yet to most of us, and that is, that these destructions by fire are part of the tests by fire of an initiation of that one of the Heavenly Men Whose karma is bound up with our earth.
  --
  4. Disorders of the etheric body.
  We will now study the etheric body, and its ills and also its after death condition. This matter can be only briefly touched upon. All that may now be indicated is a general idea of the fundamental ailments to which the etheric may be subject, and the trend which applied medicine may later take when occult laws are better understood. One fact must here be brought outa fact but little comprehended or even apprehended. This is the significant fact that the ills of the etheric vehicle, in the case of the microcosm, will be found likewise in the Macrocosm. Herein lies the knowledge that ofttimes explains the apparent miseries of nature. Some of the great world evils have their source in etheric ills, extending the idea of the etheric to planetary conditions and even to solar. As we touch upon the causes of etheric distress in man, their planetary and solar correspondences and reactions may perhaps be realised. We will need to bear carefully in mind when studying this matter, that all the diseases of the etheric body will appertain to its threefold purpose and be either:
  a. Functional and thereby affecting its apprehension of prana,
  --
  Viewed from the planetary standpoint the same conditions will be perceived, and the etheric planetary body [105] (which is fundamentally the body in the case of the sacred planets, of which the Earth is not one) will have its functional disorders, which will affect its reception of prana, will suffer its organic troubles which may affect its distribution, and those disorders which permit of trouble in the etheric web, which forms the ring-pass-not for the involved planetary Spirit. Here I would point out that in the case of the planetary Spirits Who are on the divine evolutionary arc, the Heavenly Men Whose bodies are planets, the etheric web does not form a barrier, but (like the Karmic Lords on a higher plane) They have freedom of movement outside the bounds of the planetary web within the circumference of the solar ring-pass-not. [xlvii]46
  Again from the systemic standpoint, these same effects may be observed, functionally, this time in connection with the cosmic centre; organically, in connection with the sum total of the planetary systems; and statically, in connection with the solar or logoic ring-pass-not.
  --
  a. Microcosmic functional disorders. These have to do with the reception by man, via the necessary centres, of the pranic fluids. We must always bear in mind, and thus keep the distinction clear, that these emanations of prana have to do with the heat latent in matter; when received and functioning through the etheric body correctly, they co-operate with the natural latent bodily [106] warmth, and (merging therewith) hold the body in a vitalised condition, imposing upon the matter of the body a certain rate of vibratory action that leads to the necessary activity of the physical vehicle, and the right functioning of its organs. It will, therefore, be apparent that the A. B. C. of bodily health is wrapped up in the right reception of prana, and that one of the basic changes that must be made in the life of the human animal (which is the aspect we are dealing with now) will be in the ordinary conditions of living.
  The three fundamental centres whereby reception is brought about must be allowed to function with greater freedom, and with less restriction. Now, owing to centuries of wrong living, and to basic mistakes (originating in Lemurian days) man's three pranic centres are not in good working order. The centre between the shoulder blades is in the best receptive condition, though owing to the poor condition of the spinal column (which in so many is out of accurate alignment), its position in the back is apt to be misplaced. The splenic centre near the diaphragm is sub-normal in size and its vibration is not correct. In the case of the aboriginal dwellers in such localities as the South Seas, better etheric conditions will be found; the life they lead is more normal (from the animal standpoint) than in any other portion of the world.
  The race suffers from certain incapacities, which may be described as follows:
  --
  Second. Over-ability to tap pranic currents. The first type of functional disorder is common and widespread. Its reverse can be found where conditions of life are such that the centres (through too direct and prolonged submittal to solar emanation) become overdeveloped, vibrate too rapidly, and receive prana in too great an amount. This is rarer, but is found in some tropical countries, and is responsible for much of the troublesome debility that attacks dwellers in these lands. The etheric body receives prana or solar rays too rapidly, passes it through and out of the system with too much force, and this leaves the victim a prey to inertia and devitalisation. Putting it otherwise, the etheric body becomes lazy, is like an unstrung web, or (to use a very homely illustration) it resembles a tennis racket which has become too soft, and has lost its resilience. The inner triangle transmits the pranic emanations with too great rapidity, giving no time for the subsidiary absorption, and the whole system is thereby the loser. Later it will be found that many of the ills that Europeans, living in India, fall heir to, originate in this way; and by attention, therefore, to the spleen, and by wise control of living conditions, some of the trouble may be obviated.
  In touching upon similar conditions in the planet, both these types of trouble will be found. More cannot be said, but in the wise study of solar radiation upon the surface of the planet in connection with its rotary action, some of the group rules of health may be comprehended and followed. The spirit of the planet (or the planetary entity) likewise has his cycles, and in the absorption of [108] planetary prana, and in its correct distribution, lies the secret of fertility and equable vegetation. Much of this is hidden in the fabled story of the war between fire and water, which has its basis in the reaction of the fire latent in matter, to the fire emanating outside of matter, and playing upon it. In the interval that has to elapse while the two are in process of blending, come those periods where, through karmic inheritance, reception is unstable and distribution inequable. As the point of race equilibrium is reached, so planetary equilibrium will likewise be attained, and in planetary attainment will come the equilibrium that must mutually take place between the solar planets. When they attain a mutual balance and interaction then the system is stabilised and perfection reached. The even distribution of prana will parallel this balancing in the man, in the race, in the planet and in the system. This is but another way of saying that uniform vibration will be achieved.
  --
  We have a curious illustration of both of these forms of trouble in sun stroke and in heat stroke. Though supposedly understood by physicians, they are nevertheless altog ether etheric disorders. When the nature of the etheric body is better understood, and its wise care followed both these types of disease will be prevented. They are due to solar pranic emanation; in one case the effect of the emanation is to bring about death or serious illness through the congestion of an etheric channel, while in the other the same result is brought about by destruction of etheric matter.
  The above illustration has been used with definite intent, [109] but it should be pointed out that etheric congestion may lead to many forms of disease and of mental incompetence. etheric congestion leads to the thickening of the web to an abnormal extent, and this thickening may prevent, for instance, contact with the higher Self or principles and its resultants, idiocy and mental unbalance. It may lead to abnormal fleshy development, to the thickening of some internal organ, and consequent undue pressure; one portion of the etheric body being congested may lead to the entire physical condition being upset, resulting in diverse complaints.
  Destruction of tissue may lead to insanity of many kinds, especially those kinds deemed incurable. The burning of the web may let in extraneous astral currents against which man is helpless; the brain tissue may be literally destroyed by this pressure, and serious trouble be caused through the etheric ring-pass-not having been destroyed in some one place.
  In connection with the planet a similar state of affairs may be found. Later information may be forthcoming, which is at present withheld; this will show that whole races have been influenced, and certain kingdoms of nature troubled by planetary etheric congestion, or the destruction of planetary etheric tissue.
  We have dealt with the functional and organic ills of the etheric, giving certain indications for the extension of the concept to other realms than the purely human. In the human kingdom lies the key, but the turning of that key opens up a door to a wider interpretation as it admits one into the mysteries of nature. Though that key has to be turned seven times, yet even one turn reveals untold avenues of eventual comprehension. [xlviii]47, [xlix]48
  [110]
  --
  c. Microcosmic static disorders, or a consideration of the etheric body in connection with its work of providing a ring-pass-not from the purely physical to the astral. As has been said, both here and in the books of H. P. B., the ring-pass-not [l]48a is that confining barrier which acts as a separator or a division between a system and that which is external to that system. This, as may well be seen, has its interesting correlations when the subject is viewed (as we must consistently endeavour to view it) from the point of view of a human being, a planet and a system, remembering always that in dealing with the [111] etheric body we are dealing with physical matter. This must ever be borne carefully in mind. Therefore, one paramount factor will be found in all groups and formations, and this is the fact that the ring-pass-not acts only as a hindrance to that which is of small attainment in evolution, but forms no barrier to the more progressed. The whole question depends upon two things, which are the karma of the man, the planetary Logos, and the solar Logos, and the dominance of the spiritual indwelling entity over its vehicle.
  IV. MACROCOSMIC AND MICROCOSMIC etherS
  1. The Planetary Logos and the ethers
  Man, the indwelling thinker, passes at night from out of his etheric ring-pass-not and functions elsewhere. Therefore, under the law, the planetary Logos likewise can pass His ring-pass-not at stated seasons which correspond in the planet to the hours of man's temporary repose, or pralaya.
  The solar Logos likewise does the same during stated cycles, which are not the cycles succeeding those which we term solar pralaya, but lesser cycles succeeding the 'days of Brahma' or periods of lesser activity, periodically viewed. All these are governed by karma, and just as the true Man himself applies the law of karma to his vehicles, and in his tiny system is the correspondence to that fourth group of karmic entities whom we call the Lipika Lords; He applies the law to his threefold lower nature. The fourth group of extra-cosmic Entities Who have Their place subsidiary to the three cosmic Logoi Who are the threefold sumtotal of the logoic nature, can pass the bounds of the solar ring-pass-not in Their stated cycles. This is a profound mystery and its complexity is increased by the recollection that the fourth Creative Hierarchy of human Monads, and the Lipika Lords in Their three groups (the first [112] group, the second, and the four Maharajahs, making the totality of the threefold karmic rulers who stand between the solar Logos and the seven planetary Logoi), are more closely allied than the other Hierarchies, and their destinies are intimately interwoven.
  --
  The fourth plane of Buddhi is the one on which the planetary Logoi begin to make Their escape from Their planetary ring-pass-not, or from the etheric web that has its counterpart on all the planes.
  When man begins in a small sense to co-ordinate the buddhic vehicle or, to express it otherwise, when he has developed the power to contact ever so slightly the buddhic plane, then he begins simultaneously and consciously to achieve the ability to escape from the etheric web on the physical plane. Later he escapes from its correspondence on the astral plane, and finally from the correspondence on the fourth subplane of the mental plane this time via the mental unit. This leads eventually to causal functioning, or to the ability to dwell, and to be active in, the vehicle of the Ego, who is the embodiment of the love and wisdom aspect of the Monad. Note here the correspondence to that proved fact, that many can even now escape from the etheric body, and function in their [114] astral sheath, which is the personality reflection of that same second aspect.
  When a man takes the fourth Initiation, he functions in the fourth plane vehicle, the buddhic, and has escaped permanently from the personality ring-pass-not, on the fourth subplane of the mental. There is naught to hold him to the three worlds. At the first Initiation he escapes from the ring-pass-not in a more temporary sense, but he has yet to escape from the three higher mental levels, which are the mental correspondences to the higher ethers, and to develop full consciousness on these three higher subplanes. We have here a correspondence to the work to be done by the initiate after he has achieved the fourth solar plane, the buddhic. There yet remains the development of full consciousness on the three higher planes of spirit before he can escape from the solar ring-pass-not, which is achieved at the seventh Initiation, taken somewhere in the system, or in its cosmic correspondence reached by the cosmic sutratma, or cosmic thread of life [liii]51
  This fourth earth chain is in this connection one of the most important, for it is the appointed place for the domination of the etheric body by the human monad, with the aim in view of both human and planetary escape from limitations. This earth chain, though not one of the seven sacred planetary chains, is of vital importance at this time to the planetary Logos, who temporarily employs it as a medium of incarnation, and of expression. This fourth round finds the solution of its strenuous and chaotic life in the very simple fact of the shattering of [115] the etheric web in order to effect liberation, and permit a later and more adequate form to be employed.
  A further chain of ideas may be followed up in the remembrance that the fourth ether is even now being studied and developed by the average scientist, and is already somewhat harnessed to the service of man; that the fourth subplane of the astral plane is the normal functioning ground of the average man and that in this round escape from the etheric vehicle is being achieved; that the fourth subplane of the mental plane is the present goal of endeavor of one-fourth of the human family; that the fourth manvantara will see the solar ring-pass-not offering avenues of escape to those who have reached the necessary point; that the four planetary Logoi will perfect Their escape from Their planetary environment, and will function with greater ease on the cosmic astral plane, paralleling on cosmic levels the achievement of the human units who are the cells in Their bodies.
  Our solar Logos, being a Logos of the fourth order, will begin to co-ordinate His cosmic buddhic body, and as He develops cosmic mind He will gradually achieve, by the aid of that mind, the ability to touch the cosmic buddhic plane.
  These possibilities and correspondences have been somewhat dwelt upon, as it is necessary for us to realise the work to be done in connection with the etheric web before we take up the matter of the various causes which may hinder the desired progress, and prevent the appointed escape and destined liberation. Later we will take up the consideration of the etheric web, and its static condition. This will entail the recollection of two things:
  First, that this static condition is only so when viewed from the standpoint of man at the present time, and is [116] only termed so in order to make plainer the changes that must be effected and the dangers that must be offset. Evolution moves so slowly from man's point of view that it seems to be almost stationary, especially where etheric evolution is concerned.
  Second, that we are only concerning ourselves with the physical etheric body and not with its correspondences on all planes. This is because our system is on the cosmic etheric levels, and hence is of prime importance to us.
  2. Cosmic and Systemic ethers
  For the sake of those who read this treatise, and because the sequential repetition of fact makes for clarity, let us here briefly tabulate certain fundamental hypotheses that have a definite bearing upon the matter in hand, and which may serve to clear up the present existing confusion concerning the matter of the solar system. Some of the facts stated are already well known, others are inferential, while some are the expression of old and true correspondences couched in a more modern form.
  --
  1st ether
  Primordial matter
  1st ether
  Sub-atomic
  --
  2nd ether
  Super- etheric
  --
  3rd ether
   ether
  --
  4th Cosmic ether
  Air
  --
  d. These major seven planes of our solar system being but the seven subplanes of the cosmic physical plane, we can consequently see the reason for the emphasis laid by H. P. B. [liv]52, [lv]53 upon the fact that matter and ether are synonymous terms and that this ether is found in some form or other on all the planes, and is but a gradation of cosmic atomic matter, called when undifferentiated mulaprakriti or primordial pre-genetic substance, and when differentiated by Fohat (or the energising Life, the third Logos or Brahma) it is termed prakriti, or matter. [lvi]54
  e. Our solar system is what is called a system of the fourth order; that is, it has its location on the fourth cosmic etheric plane, counting, as always, from above downwards.
  [119]
  f. Hence this fourth cosmic etheric plane forms the meeting ground for the past and the future, and is the present.
  g. Therefore, also, the buddhic or intuitional plane (the correspondence in the system of this fourth cosmic ether) is the meeting ground, or plane of union, for that which is man and for that which will be superman, and links the past with that which is to be.
  h. The following correspondences in time would repay careful meditation. They are based on a realisation of the relationship between this fourth cosmic ether, the buddhic plane, and the fourth physical etheric subplane.
  The fourth subplane of mind, the correspondence on the mental plane of the physical etheric, is likewise a point of transition from out of a lower into a higher, and is the transferring locality into a higher body.
  The fourth subplane of the monadic plane is in a very real sense the place of transition from off the egoic ray (whichever that ray may be) on to the monadic ray; these three major rays are organised on the three higher subplanes of the monadic plane in the same way that the three abstract subplanes of the mental are the group of transference from off the personality ray on to the egoic.
  --
  The fourth etheric plane holds the key to the dominance of matter, and it might be noted that:
  On the fourth physical ether man begins to co-ordinate his astral, or emotional body, and to escape at ever more frequent intervals into that vehicle. Continuity of consciousness is achieved when a man has mastered the four ethers.
  On the fourth subplane of the mental plane, man begins to control his causal or egoic body, and to polarise his consciousness therein until the polarisation is complete. He functions then consciously on it when he has mastered the correspondences to the ethers on the mental plane.
  On the buddhic plane (the fourth cosmic ether) the Heavenly Men (or the grouped consciousness of the human and deva Monads) begin to function, and to escape eventually from the cosmic etheric planes. When these three cosmic ethers are mastered, the functioning is perfected, polarisation is centred in the monadic vehicles, and the seven Heavenly Men have achieved Their goal.
  j. On these etheric levels, therefore, the Logos of our [121] system repeats, as a grand totality, the experiences of His tiny reflections on the physical planes; He co-ordinates His cosmic astral body, and attains continuity of consciousness when He has mastered the three cosmic ethers.
  k. It is to be observed that just as in man the dense physical body in its three gradesdense, liquid and gaseousis not recognised as a principle, so in the cosmic sense the physical (dense) astral (liquid) and mental (gaseous) levels are likewise regarded as non-existing, and the solar system has its location on the fourth ether. The seven sacred planets are composed of matter of this fourth ether, and the seven Heavenly Men, whose bodies they are, function normally on the fourth plane of the system, the buddhic or the fourth cosmic ether. When man has attained the consciousness of the buddhic plane, he has raised his consciousness to that of the Heavenly Man in whose body he is a cell. This is achieved at the fourth Initiation, the liberating initiation. At the fifth Initiation he ascends with the Heavenly Man on to the fifth plane (from the human standpoint), the atmic, and at the sixth he has dominated the second cosmic ether and has monadic consciousness and continuity of function. At the seventh Initiation he dominates the entire sphere of matter contained in the lowest cosmic plane, escapes from all etheric contact, and functions on the cosmic astral plane.
  The past solar system saw the surmounting of the three lowest cosmic physical planes viewed from the matter standpoint and the co-ordination of the dense threefold physical form in which all life is found, dense matter, liquid matter, gaseous matter. A correspondence may be seen here in the work achieved in the first three rootraces. [lviii]56, [lix]57
  --
  3. The Protective Purpose of the etheric Body.
  Now let us, after this somewhat lengthy digression, leave things cosmic and incomprehensible, and come down to practical evolution, and to the study of the matter of man's etheric body, and of the harm that may ensue to him should that body (through the breaking of the law) no longer perform its protective function. Let us see first of all what those protective functions are:
  First. The etheric web acts as a separator or a dividing web between the astral and the dense physical body.
  Second. It circulates the inflowing vitality or pranic fluid and carries on its work in three stages.
  --
  DIVISION C - THE etherIC BODY AND PRANA - Part 3
  The second stage is that in which the pranic fluids begin to blend with the fire at the base of the spine and to drive that fire slowly upwards, transferring its heat from the centres below the solar plexus to the three higher centres that of the heart, the throat and the head. This is a long and slow process when left to the unaided force of nature, but it is just here that (in a few cases) a quickening of the process is permitted in order to equip workers in the field of human service. This is the object of all occult training. This angle of the matter we will take up in still greater detail when we handle our next point of "Kundalini and the Spine."
  --
  As time elapses between the first and fourth Initiation, the threefold channel in the spine, and the entire etheric body is gradually cleansed and purified by the action of the fire till all "dross" (as the Christian expresses it) is burnt away, and naught remains to impede the progress of this flame.
  As the fire of kundalini and prana proceed with their work, and the channel becomes more and more cleared, the centres more active, and the body purer, the flame [125] of spirit, or the fire from the Ego, comes more actively downwards till a flame of real brilliance issues from the top of the head. This flame surges upwards through the bodies towards its source, the causal body.
  Simultaneously with the activity of these fires of matter and of Spirit, the fires of mind, or manas, burn with greater intensity. These are the fires given at individualisation. They are fed continuously by the fire of matter, and their heat is augmented by solar emanatory fire, which originates on the cosmic levels of mind. It is this aspect of the manasic fire that develops under the forms of instinct, animal memory, and functional recollection which are so apparent in the little evolved man. As time progresses the fire of mind burns more brightly and thus reaches a point where it begins to burn through the etheric web that portion of the web that can be found guarding the centre at the very top of the head, and admitting entrance to the downflow from the Spirit. By its means certain things are brought about:
  The kundalini fire is consciously directed and controlled by the mind or will aspect from the mental plane. The two fires of matter by the power of the mind of man are blended first with each other, and, secondly, with the fire of mind.
  The united result of this blending is the destruction (under rule and order), of the etheric web, and the consequent production of continuity of consciousness and the admission into the personal life of man of "Life more abundant," or the third fire of Spirit.
  The downrush of Spirit, and the uprising of the inner fires of matter (controlled and directed by the conscious action of the fire of mind) produce corresponding results on the same levels on the astral and mental planes, so that a paralleling contact is brought about, and the great work of liberation proceeds in an ordered manner.
  --
  It will be apparent from this elucidation that the exceeding importance of the etheric vehicle as the separator of the fires has been brought forward, and consequently we have brought to our notice the dangers that must ensue should man tamper injudiciously, ignorantly or wilfully with these fires.
  Should a man, by the power of will or through an over-development of the mental side of his character, acquire the power to blend these fires of matter and to drive them forward, he stands in danger of obsession, insanity, physical death, or of dire disease in some part of his body, and he also runs the risk of an over-development of the sex impulse through the driving of the force in an uneven manner upwards, or in forcing its radiation to undesirable centres. The reason of this is that the matter of his body is not pure enough to stand the uniting of the flames, that the channel up the spine is still clogged and blocked, and therefore acts as a barrier, turning the flame backwards and downwards, and that the flame (being united by the power of mind and not being accompanied by a simultaneous downflow from the plane of spirit), permits the entrance, through the burning etheric, of undesirable and extraneous forces, currents, and even entities. These wreck and tear and ruin what is left of the etheric vehicle, of the brain tissue and even of the dense physical body itself.
  The unwary man, being unaware of his Ray and therefore of the proper geometrical form of triangle that is [127] the correct method of circulation from centre to centre, will drive the fire in unlawful progression and thus burn up tissue; this will result then (if in nothing worse), in a setting back for several lives of the clock of his progress, for he will have to spend much time in rebuilding where he destroyed, and with recapitulating on right lines all the work to be done.
  --
  V. DEATH AND THE etherIC BODY
  It is not our purpose to give facts for verification by science, or even to point the way to the next step onward for scientific investigators; that we may do so is but incidental and purely secondary. What we seek mainly is to give indications of the development and correspondence of the threefold whole that makes the solar system what it is the vehicle through which a great cosmic ENTITY, the solar Logos, manifests active intelligence with the purpose in view of demonstrating perfectly the love side of His nature. Back of this design lies a yet more esoteric and ulterior purpose, hid in the Will Consciousness of the Supreme Being, which perforce will be later demonstrated when the present objective is attained. The dual alternation of objective manifestation and of subjective obscuration, the periodic out-breathing, followed by the in-breathing of all that has been carried forward through evolution embodies in the system one of the basic cosmic vibrations, and the key-note of that cosmic ENTITY whose body we are. The heart beats of the Logos (if it might be so inadequately expressed) are the source of all cyclic evolution, and hence the importance attached to that aspect of development called the "heart" or "love aspect," and the interest that is awakened by the study of rhythm. This is true, not only cosmically and macrocosmically, but likewise in the study of the human unit. Underlying all the physical sense attached to rhythm, vibration, cycles and heart-beat, lie their subjective analogieslove, feeling, emotion, desire, harmony, synthesis and ordered sequence, and back of these analogies lies the source of all, the identity of that Supreme Being Who thus expresses Himself.
  Therefore, the study of pralaya, or the withdrawal of the life from out of the etheric vehicle will be the same [129] wh ether one studies the withdrawal of the human etheric double, the withdrawal of the planetary etheric double, or the withdrawal of the etheric double of the solar system. The effect is the same and the consequences similar.
  What is the result of this withdrawal, or rather what causes that something which we call death or pralaya? As we are strictly pursuing the text-book style in this treatise, we will continue our methods of tabulation. The withdrawal of the etheric double of a man, a planet, and a system is brought about by the following causes:
  a. The cessation of desire. This should be the result of all evolutionary process. True death, under the law, is brought about by the attainment of the objective, and hence by the cessation of aspiration. This, as the perfected cycle draws to its close, will be true of the individual human being, of the Heavenly Man, and of the Logos Himself.
  --
  First. The life that had animated the physical form (both dense and etheric) and which had its starting point in the permanent atom and from thence "pervaded the moving and the unmoving" (in God, the Heavenly Man, and the human being, as well as in the atom of matter) is withdrawn entirely within the atom upon the plane of abstraction. This "plane of abstraction" is a different one for the entities involved:
  a. For the physical permanent atom, it is the atomic level.
  --
  Second. The etheric double of a man, a planetary Logos, and a solar Logos, being shattered, becomes non-polarised as regards its indweller, and permits therefore of escape. It is (to word it otherwise) no longer a source of attraction, nor a focal magnetic point. It becomes non-magnetic, and the great Law of Attraction ceases to [131] control it; hence disintegration is the ensuing condition of the form. The Ego ceases to be attracted by its form on the physical plane, and, proceeding to inbrea the, withdraws its life from out of the sheath. The cycle draws to a close, the experiment has been made, the objective (a relative one from life to life and from incarnation to incarnation) has been achieved, and there remains nothing more to desire; the Ego, or the thinking entity, loses interest therefore in the form, and turns his attention inward. His polarisation changes, and the physical is eventually dropped.
  The planetary Logos likewise in His greater cycle (the synthesis or the aggregate of the tiny cycles of the cells of His body) pursues the same course; He ceases to be attracted downward or outward, and turns His gaze within; He gathers inward the aggregate of the smaller lives within His body, the planet, and severs connection. Outer attraction ceases and all gravitates towards the centre instead of scattering to the periphery of His body.
  --
  Third. This leads finally, to the scattering of the atoms of the etheric body into their primordial condition. The subjective life, the synthesis of will and love taking active form, is withdrawn. The partnership is dissolved. The form then breaks up; the magnetism that has held it in coherent shape is no longer present, and dissipation is complete. Matter persists, but the form no longer persists.
  The work of the second Logos ends, and the divine [132] incarnation of the Son is concluded. But the faculty or inherent quality of matter also persists, and at the end of each period of manifestation, matter (though distributed again into its primal form) is active intelligent matter plus the gain of objectivity, and the increased radiatory and latent activity which it has gained through experience. Let us illustrate: The matter of the solar system, when undifferentiated, was active intelligent matter, and that is all that can be predicated of it. This active intelligent matter was matter qualified by an earlier experience, and coloured by an earlier incarnation. Now this matter is in form, the solar system is not in pralaya but in objectivity,this objectivity having in view the addition of another quality to the logoic content, that of love and wisdom. Therefore at the next solar pralaya, at the close of the one hundred years of Brahma, the matter of the solar system will be coloured by active intelligence, and by active love. This means literally that the aggregate of solar atomic matter will eventually vibrate to another key than it did at the first dawn of manifestation.
  --
  Though no pictures have been drawn of death bed scenes nor of the dramatic escape of the palpitating etheric body from the centre in the head, as might have been anticipated, yet some of the rules and purposes governing this withdrawal have been mentioned. We have seen how the aim of each life (wh ether human, planetary or solar) should be the effecting and the carrying out of a definite purpose. This purpose is the development of a more adequate form for the use of the spirit; and when this purpose is achieved then the Indweller turns his attention away, and the form disintegrates, having served his need. This is not always the case in every human life nor even in each planetary cycle. The mystery of the moon is the mystery of failure. This leads, when comprehended, to a life of dignity and offers an aim worthy of our best endeavour. When this angle of truth is universally recognised, as it will be when the intelligence of the race suffices, then evolution will proceed with certainty, and the failures be less numerous.

1.00d - DIVISION D - KUNDALINI AND THE SPINE, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  We must remember here that we are dealing with the etheric counterpart of the spine, and not with the bony structure which we call the spine or spinal column. This is a fact not sufficiently recognised by those who treat of the matter. Too much emphasis has been laid on the three spinal channels that compose the threefold spinal cord.
  These channels are important in connection with the [135] nervous system of the man, but in relation to the matter in hand, they are not primarily so important as the etheric channel, which is the unit enclosing these three. Therefore, we must strictly remember that we are dealing with
  a. The etheric channel,
  b. The fire that passes up the channel,
  --
  The merging of the fires of matter is the result of evolutionary growth, when left to the normal, slow development that time alone can bring. The junction of the two fires of matter is effected early in the history of man, and is the cause of the rude health that the clean-living, high-thinking man should normally enjoy. When the fires of matter have passed (united) still further along the etheric spinal channel they contact the fire of manas as it radiates from the throat centre. Clarity of thought is here essential, and it will be necessary to elucidate somewhat this rather abstruse subject.
  1. The three major head centres (from the physical standpoint) are the:
  --
  The other fire of matter (the dual fire) is attracted upward, and merges with the fire of mind through a junction effected at the alta major centre. This centre is situated at the base of the skull, and there is a slight gap between this centre and the point at which the fires of matter issue from the spinal channel. Part of the work the man who is developing thought power has to do, is to build a temporary channel in etheric matter to bridge the gap. This channel is the reflection in physical matter of the antaskarana [lxv]63 that the Ego has to build in order to bridge the gap between the lower and higher mental, between the causal vehicle on the third subplane of the mental plane, and the manasic permanent atom on the first subplane. This is the work that all advanced thinkers are unconsciously doing now. When the gap is completely [138] bridged, man's body becomes co-ordinated with the mental body and the fires of mind and of matter are blended. It completes the perfecting of the personality life, and as earlier said, this perfecting brings a man to the portal of initiationinitiation being the seal set upon accomplished work; it marks the end of one lesser cycle of development, and the beginning of the transference of the whole work to a still higher spiral.
  We must always bear in mind that the fires from the base of the spine and the splenic triangle are fires of matter. We must not lose this recollection nor get confused. They have no spiritual effect, and concern themselves solely with the matter in which the centres of force are located. These centres of force are always directed by manas or mind, or by the conscious effort of the indwelling entity; but that entity is held back in the effects he seeks to achieve until the vehicles through which he is seeking expression, and their directing, energising centres, make adequate response. Hence it is only in due course of evolution, and when the matter of these vehicles is energised sufficiently by its own latent fires that he can accomplish his long-held purpose. Hence again the need of the ascension of the fire of matter to its own place, and its resurrection from its long burial and seeming prostitution before it can be united with its Father in Heaven, the third Logos, Who is the Intelligence of matter itself. The correspondence, again, holds good. Even the atom of the physical plane has its goal, its initiations and its ultimate triumph.

1.00e - DIVISION E - MOTION ON THE PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL PLANES, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  1. The circle. This stands for the ring-pass-not of undifferentiated matter. It stands for a solar system or the body logoic, viewed etherically; it stands for a planet or the body of a Heavenly Man viewed etherically; it stands for a human body, viewed likewise, etherically and it stands for them all at the prime or earliest epoch of manifestation. It stands finally for a single cell within the human vehicle, and for the atom of the chemist or physicist.
  2. The circle with the point in the centre. This signifies the production of heat in the heart of matter; the point of fire, the moment of the first rotary activity, the first straining of the atom, motivated by latent heat, into the sphere of influence of another atom. This produced the first radiation, the first pull of attraction, and the [160] consequent setting up of a repulsion and therefore producing
  --
  4. The Circle divided into four. This is the true circle of matter, the equal armed cross of the Holy Spirit, Who is the personification of active intelligent matter. This shows the fourth dimensional quality of matter and the penetration of the fire in four directions, its threefold radiation being symbolised by the triangles formed by the fourfold cross. This portrays the fourfold revolution of any atom. By this is not meant the ability of any atom to make four revolutions, but the fourth dimensional quality of the revolution which is the goal aimed at, and which is even now becoming known in matter during this [161] fourth round, and in this fourth chain. As the fifth spirilla or fifth stream of force in an atom becomes developed, and man can conceive of a fourth-dimensional rotary movement, the accuracy of this symbol will be recognised. It will then be seen that all sheaths in their progress from inertia to rhythm, via mobility, pass through all stages, wh ether they are logoic sheaths, the rays in which the Heavenly Men veil Themselves, the planes which form the bodies of certain solar entities, the causal body (or the sheath of the Ego on the mental plane), the human physical body in its etheric constitution, or a cell in that body etheric. All these material forms (existent in etheric matter which is the true matter of all forms) are primarily undifferentiated ovoids; they then become actively rotating or manifest latent heat; next they manifest duality or latent and radiatory fire; the expression of these two results in fourth dimensional action or the wheel or rotary form turning upon itself.
  5. The swastika, or the fire extending not only from the periphery to the centre in four directions, but gradually circulating and radiating from and around the entire periphery. This signifies completed activity in every department of matter until finally we have a blazing, fiery wheel, turning every way, with radiant channels of fire from the centre to the ring-pass-not,fire within, without and around until the wheel is consumed and there is naught remaining but perfected fire.
  --
  We do not deal with the lower centres of generation, nor with the spleen which has a direct connection with the etheric, and is the transmitter of prana; they have been dealt with earlier.
  The centres in the human being deal fundamentally with the FIRE aspect in man, or with his divine spirit. They are definitely connected with the Monad, with the will aspect, with immortality, with existence, with the will to live, and with the inherent powers of Spirit. They are not connected with objectivity and manifestation, but with force, or the powers of the divine life. The correspondence in the Macrocosm can be found in the force which manipulates the cosmic nebulae and which by its whirling rotary motion eventually builds them into planets or spheroidal bodies. These planets are each of them an expression of the "will to live" of some cosmic entity, and the force that swirled, that rotated, that built, that solidified, and that continues to hold in form coherent, is the force of some cosmic Being.
  This force originates on cosmic mental levels, from certain great foci there, descends to the cosmic astral, forming corresponding cosmic focal points, and on the fourth cosmic etheric level (the buddhic plane of our solar system) finds its outlet in certain great centres. These [166] centres are again reflected or reproduced in the three worlds of human endeavor. The Heavenly Men, therefore, have centres on three solar planes, a fact to be remembered.
  a. On the monadic plane, the plane of the seven Rays.
  --
  c. On the fourth etheric physical plane, where the sacred planets, the dense bodies in etheric matter of the Heavenly Men, are to be found.
  DIVISION E - MOTION ON THE PHYSICAL AND ASTRAL PLANES - Part 2
  Here again we can trace the microcosmic correspondence: In the human being the centres are found on the mental plane from which originates the impulse for physical plane existence, or the will to incarnate; from thence they can be traced to the astral level, and eventually to the etheric levels, to the fourth ether, where they practically go through the same evolution that the planetary centres went through, and are instrumental in bringing about objectivity,being the force centres.
  The centres are formed entirely of streams of force, pouring down from the Ego, who transmits it from the Monad. In this we have the secret of the gradual vibratory quickening of the centres as the Ego first comes into control, or activity, and later (after initiation) the Monad, thus bringing about changes and increased vitality within these spheres of fire or of pure life force.
  --
  The other two centres have to do primarily with the etheric body and with the astral plane. The throat centre synthesises the entire personality life, and is definitely connected with the mental plane,the three planes, and the two higher planes, and the three centres with the two other centres, the heart and head. Yet, we must not forget that the centre at the base of the spine is also a synthesiser, as would normally be expected, if it is recognised that the lowest plane of all manifestation is the point of deepest reflection. This lowest centre, by synthesising the fire of kundalini and the pranic fires, eventually blends and merges with the fire of mind, and later with the fire of Spirit, producing thus consummation.
  We must disabuse our minds of the idea that these centres are physical things. They are whirlpools of force that swirl etheric, astral and mental matter into activity of some kind. Because the action is rotary, the result produced in matter is a circular effect that can be seen by the clairvoyant as fiery wheels situated:
  1. In the region of the spine, the lowest part.
  --
  I would like to describe these centres in greater detail, dealing with them as seen in etheric matter, and basing what I say upon a similar statement by Mr. C. W. Leadbeater in "Inner Life," Vol. 1, page 447-460. We will note the colours and petals:
  1. The base of the spine, four petals. These petals are in the shape of a cross, and radiate with orange fire.
  --
  a. The Heavenly Men. The Heavenly Men, in Themselves, embody centres just as does a human being, and on Their Own plane these centres of force can be found. Again we need to recollect that these centres of force on cosmic levels, and in manifestation in the objective system, demonstrate as the great force centres of which any particular group of adepts and Their pupils are the exponents. Every group of Masters and all the human beings incarnate or discarnatewho are held within the periphery of Their consciousness are centres of force of some particular kind or quality. This is a fact generally recognised, but students should be urged to link up this fact with the information imparted on the centres of the human being, and see if much is not thereby learnt. These centres of force will demonstrate on etheric levels and on the subtler planes just as they do in a man, and they will be vivified as are the human centres by planetary kundalini, progressing in the desired triangles.
  Two hints can here be given for thoughtful consideration. In connection with one of the Heavenly Men (which one cannot at this juncture be pointed out) we have one triangle of force to be seen in the following three centres:
  --
  b. The Grand Man of the Heavens. The seven Heavenly Men are the seven centres in the body of the Logos, bearing to Him a relationship identical with that borne by the Masters and Their affiliated groups, to some planetary Logos. Systemic kundalini goes forward to the vivification of these centres, and at this stage of development certain centres are more closely allied than others. Just as in connection with our planetary Logos, the three etheric planets of our chainEarth, Mercury and Mars [lxxix]77form a triangle of rare importance, so it may be here said that at the present point in evolution of the logoic centres, Venus, Earth and Saturn form one triangle of great interest. It is a triangle that is at this time undergoing vivification [182] through the action of kundalini; it is consequently increasing the vibratory capacity of the centres, which are becoming slowly fourth-dimensional. It is not yet permissible to point out others of the great triangles, but as regards the centres, we may here give two hints:
  First. Venus corresponds to the heart centre in the body logoic, and has an inter-relationship therefore with all the other centres in the solar system wherein the heart aspect is the one of greater prominence.
  --
  f. Kundalini has two effects upon the etheric web, as it is called.
  1. By its gradually increasing action it purifies that etheric form and cleanses it from "dross," as the Christian expresses it.
  2. Eventually, after the two fires of matter and the fire of mind have begun to blend (a slow and gradual process), the web itself is destroyed [185] and by the time the third Initiation is reached, the man should have continuity of consciousness. This is so unless for certain work and for certain specific ends, the man consciously and willingly foregoes the burning of the web, a thing which can be brought about by the conscious action of the will.
  --
  first etheric
  3. Sight
  --
  a. That the senses have been dealt with in this division of our Treatise on Cosmic Fire because they concern the material form. Strictly speaking the five senses, as we know them, are the means of contact built up by the Thinker (polarised in his etheric body) and find their expression in the physical form in those nerve centres, brain cells, ganglia and plexus which exoteric science recognises.
  b. That these senses for all purposes of present manifestation, have their focal point on the astral plane and are therefore largely under the stimulating action of the solar plexus that great focal point in the centre of the body which is the stimulating agent for most of the human family at this time.
  --
  We have dealt briefly with the evolution of the centres, with their function, their organisation and their gradually increasing activity from a point of comparative inertia until they are consummated motion. Then they become living wheels of flame, distinguished by a dual motion of the periphery and the inner revolving wheels, and by a fourth-dimensional effect, due primarily to the alignment of the inner subtler vortices with the comparatively exoteric etheric centres. This alignment is brought about eventually at initiation.
  At the time that initiation is taken, the centres are all active and the lower four (which correspond to the Personality) are beginning the process of translating the fire into the three higher. The dual revolution in the lower centres is clearly to be seen and the three higher are commencing to be similarly active. By the application of the Rod of Initiation at the time of the initiation ceremony, certain results are achieved in connection with the centres which might be enumerated as follows:
  --
  c. By the application of the Rod of Initiation the downflow of force from the Ego to the personality is tripled, the direction of that force being dependent upon wh ether the centres receiving attention are the etheric, or the astral at the first and second Initiations, or wh ether the initiate is standing before the LORD OF THE WORLD. In the latter case, his mental centres or their corresponding force vortices on higher levels, will receive stimulation. When the World Teacher initiates at the first and second Initiations, the direction of the Triadal force is turned to the vivification of the heart, and throat centres, and the ability to synthesise the force of the lower centres is greatly increased. When the One Initiator applies the Rod of His Power, the downflow is from the Monad, and though the throat and heart intensify vibration as a response, the main direction of the force is to the seven head centres, and finally (at liberation) to the radiant head centre above, and synthesising the lesser seven head centres.
  d. The centres at initiation receive a fresh access of [209] vibratory capacity and of power, and this results, in the exoteric life, as:
  --
  Third. A burning away, through a gradual arousing of kundalini, and its correct geometrical progression through the etheric web. This produces a resultant continuity of consciousness which enables the initiate consciously to utilise time as a factor in the plans of evolution.
  Fourth. A gradual grasp of the Law of Vibration as an aspect of the basic law of building; the initiate learns consciously to build, to manipulate thought matter for the perfecting of the plans of the Logos, to work in mental essence, and to apply the law of mental levels and thereby affect the physical plane. Motion originates cosmically on cosmic mental levels, and in the microcosm the same order will be seen. There is an occult hint here that will reveal much if pondered upon. At initiation, at the moment of the application of the Rod, the initiate consciously realises the meaning of the Law of Attraction in form building, and in the synthesis of the three fires. Upon his ability to retain that realisation and himself to apply the law, will depend his power and progress.

1.00 - INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, #A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  Second, as active heat. This results in the activity and the driving forward of material evolution. On the highest plane the combination of these three factors (active heat, latent heat and the primordial substance which they animate) is known as the 'sea of fire,' of which akasha is the first differentiation of pregenetic matter. Akasha, in manifestation, expresses itself as Fohat, or divine Energy, and Fohat on the different planes is known as a ether, air, fire, water, electricity, ether, prana and similar terms. [ix]9, [x]10, [xi]11 It is the sumtotal [44] of that which is active, animated, or vitalized, and of all that concerns itself with the adaptation of the form to the needs of the inner flame of life.
  It might here be useful to point out that magnetism is the effect of the divine ray in manifestation in the same sense that electricity is the manifested effect of the primordial ray of active intelligence. It would be well to ponder on this for it holds hid a mystery.
  --
  Second, as active heat or prana; this animates all, and is the driving force of the evolving form. It shows itself in the four ethers and in the gaseous state, and a correspondence is here found on the physical plane in connection with man to the Akasha and its fivefold manifestation on the plane of the solar system.
  This fire is the basic vibration of the little system in which the monad or human spirit is the logos, and it [46] holds the personality or lower material man in objective manifestation thus permitting the spiritual unit to contact the plane of densest matter. It has its correspondence in the ray of intelligent activity and is controlled by the Law of Economy in one of its subdivisions, the Law of Adaptation in Time.
  --
  The whole matter dealt with in this Treatise concerns the subjective essence of the solar system, not primarily either the objective or spiritual aspect. It concerns the Entities who indwell the form, who demonstrate as animating factors through the medium of matter, and primarily through etheric matter; who are evolving a second faculty, the fire of mind, and who are essentially themselves points of fire, cast off through cosmic friction, produced by the turning of the cosmic wheel, swept into temporary limited manifestation and due eventually to return to their central cosmic centre. They will return plus the results of evolutionary growth, and through assimilation they will have intensified their fundamental nature, and be spiritual fire plus the fire manasic.
  The internal fire of matter is called in the Secret Doctrine "Fire by Friction." It is an effect and not a cause. It is produced by the two fires of spirit and of mind (electric and solar fire) contacting each other through the medium of matter. This energy demonstrates in [51] matter itself as the internal fires of the sun, and of the planets and finds a reflection in the internal fires of man. Man is the Flame Divine and the fire of Mind brought into contact through the medium of substance or form. When evolution ends, the fire of matter is not cognisable. It persists only when the other two fires are associated, and it does not persist apart from substance itself.
  --
  2. Radiatory fire. This type of fire might be expressed in terms of physical plane electricity, of light rays, and of etheric energy. This is active fire.
  3. Essential fire, or the fire elementals who are themselves the essence of fire. They are mainly divided into two groups:
  --
  Human radiatory, or active fire, is a factor as yet but little comprehended; it relates to the health aura and to that radiation from the etheric which makes a man a healer, and able to transmit active heat.
  It is necessary to differentiate between this radiation from the etheric, which is a radiation of prana, and magnetism, which is an emanation from a subtler body (usually the astral), and has to do with the manifestation of [54] the Divine Flame within the material sheaths. The Divine Flame is formed on the second plane, the monadic, and magnetism (which is a method of demonstrating radiatory fire) is therefore felt paramountly on the fourth and sixth planes, or through the buddhic and astral vehicles. These are, as we know, closely allied to the second plane. This distinction is of importance and should be carefully recognised.
  Having, therefore, made the above statements, we can proceed to take up somewhat in greater detail the interior fires of the systems, microcosmic and macrocosmic.

1.013 - Defence Mechanisms of the Mind, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  Our physical body is not our total personality. We have many things inside us which we cannot see with our eyes. Internal to the body is the vital principle, called the prana in Sanskrit. The prana is not the breath. The breath is only the external function of an energy principle called prana. It cannot be translated into English. Prana is a very subtle, ethereal principle, subtler even than electricity. It is pranic energy that enables the physical body to function, including the functions of breathing, digesting, and the circulation of blood. Everything is controlled by the movement of the pranic energy. It is also this prana which acts as the motive power behind the action of the senses. If the pranas are withheld, the senses become weak in their action. So, the pranas are something like the electric force generated by the dynamo of the individual within, to project the senses externally towards objects. And the mind, which is the synthesising principle of all sense activities, passes judgement of a tentative character upon the reports brought in by the senses. Finally, there is the supreme judge, which is the intellect.
  All of these are inside the body not in the sense of pebbles in a bottle, but inseparably permeating everything that is in the body, or that is the body. We cannot separate the intellect, the mind, the senses, the prana, the body, etc. One is involved in the other, so it looks like a compound that has been created by these elements. For some purposes they look like different functions, but for other purposes they look as if they are a single force, acting in different ways. So, self-control would mean a judicious control exercised over every function inside, including the physical functions, the function of the prana, the senses, the mind and the intellect. All of these have to be harnessed in a given direction.

1.01 - About the Elements, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  Akasa ~ principle of the ether
  Tejas ~ principle of the fire

1.01 - Economy, #Walden, and On The Duty Of Civil Disobedience, #Henry David Thoreau, #Philosophy
  Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where I intended to build my house, and began to cut down some tall, arrowy white pines, still in their youth, for timber. It is difficult to begin without borrowing, but perhaps it is the most generous course thus to permit your fellow-men to have an interest in your enterprise. The owner of the axe, as he released his hold on it, said that it was the apple of his eye; but I returned it sharper than I received it. It was a pleasant hillside where I worked, covered with pine woods, through which I looked out on the pond, and a small open field in the woods where pines and hickories were springing up. The ice in the pond was not yet dissolved, though there were some open spaces, and it was all dark colored and saturated with water. There were some slight flurries of snow during the days that I worked there; but for the most part when I came out on to the railroad, on my way home, its yellow sand heap stretched away gleaming in the hazy atmosphere, and the rails shone in the spring sun, and I heard the lark and pewee and other birds already come to commence another year with us. They were pleasant spring days, in which the winter of mans discontent was thawing as well as the earth, and the life that had lain torpid began to stretch itself. One day, when my axe had come off and I had cut a green hickory for a wedge, driving it with a stone, and had placed the whole to soak in a pond hole in order to swell the wood, I saw a striped snake run into the water, and he lay on the bottom, apparently without inconvenience, as long as I stayed there, or more than a quarter of an hour; perhaps because he had not yet fairly come out of the torpid state. It appeared to me that for a like reason men remain in their present low and primitive condition; but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them, they would of necessity rise to a higher and more ethereal life.
  I had previously seen the snakes in frosty mornings in my path with portions of their bodies still numb and inflexible, waiting for the sun to thaw them. On the 1st of April it rained and melted the ice, and in the early part of the day, which was very foggy, I heard a stray goose groping about over the pond and cackling as if lost, or like the spirit of the fog.

1.01 - Foreward, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  For it is a fact that the tradition of a secret meaning and a mystic wisdom couched in the Riks of the ancient Veda was as old as the Veda itself. The Vedic Rishis believed that their Mantras were inspired from higher hidden planes of consciousness and contained this secret knowledge. The words of the Veda could only be known in their true meaning by one who was himself a seer or mystic; from others the verses withheld their hidden knowledge. In one of Vamadeva's hymns in the fourth Mandala (IV.3.16) the Rishi describes himself as one illumined expressing through his thought and speech words of guidance, "secret words" - nin.ya vacamsi - "seer-wisdoms that utter their inner meaning to the seer" - kavyani kavaye nivacana. The Rishi Dirghatamas speaks of the Riks, the Mantras of the Veda, as existing "in a supreme ether, imperishable and immutable in which all the gods are seated", and he adds "one who knows not That what shall he do with the Rik?" (I.164.39) He further alludes to four planes from which the speech issues, three of them hidden in the secrecy while the fourth is human, and from there comes the ordinary word; but the word and thought of the Veda belongs to the higher planes (I.164.45).
  Elsewhere in the Riks the Vedic Word is described (X.71) as that which is supreme and the topmost height of speech, the best and the most faultless. It is something that is hidden in secrecy and from there comes out and is manifested. It has entered into the truth-seers, the Rishis, and it is found by following the track of their speech. But all cannot enter into its secret meaning. Those who do not know the inner sense are as men who seeing see not, hearing hear not, only to one here and there the Word desiring him like a beautifully robed wife to a husb and lays open her body. Others unable to drink steadily of the milk of the Word, the Vedic cow, move with it as with one that gives no milk, to him the Word is a tree without flowers or fruits. This is quite clear and precise; it results from it beyond doubt that even then while the Rig Veda was being written the Riks were regarded as having a secret sense which was not open to all. There was an occult and spiritual knowledge in the sacred hymns and by this knowledge alone, it is said, one can know the truth and rise to a higher existence. This belief was not a later tradition but held, probably, by all and evidently by some of the greatest Rishis such as Dirghatamas and Vamadeva.

1.01 - Isha Upanishad, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
  5 Matarisvan seems to mean "he who extends himself in the Mother or the container" wh ether that be the containing mother element, ether, or the material energy called
  Earth in the Veda and spoken of there as the Mother. It is a Vedic epithet of the God

1.01 - Newtonian and Bergsonian Time, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics
  tion. The ether showed much less power to absorb radiations
  of high frequency-­as shown by the law of Planck-­than any

1.01 - The Lord of hosts, #Sefer Yetzirah The Book of Creation In Theory and Practice, #Anonymous, #Various
  4) Fire or ether emanated from the water. He established by it the throne of glory, the Seraphim and Ophanim, the holy living creatures and the angels, and of these three He formed His habitation, as it reads: "Who made His angels spirits, His ministers a flaming fire." (Psalm 104, 4.) He selected three consonants from the simple ones which are in the hidden secret of three mothers or first elements: , air, water and ether or fire. He sealed them with spirit and fastened them to His great name and sealed with it six dimensions. 15
  5) He sealed 16 the height and turned towards above, and sealed it with
  --
  These are the ten spheres of existence out of nothing. From the spirit of the living God emanated air, from the air, water, from the water, fire or ether, from the ether, the height and the depth, the East and West, the North and South.

1.02 - Prana, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  In this universe there is one continuous substance on every plane of existence. Physically this universe is one: there is no difference between the sun and you. The scientist will tell you it is only a fiction to say the contrary. There is no real difference between the table and me; the table is one point in the mass of matter, and I another point. Each form represents, as it were, one whirlpool in the infinite ocean of matter, of which not one is constant. Just as in a rushing stream there may be millions of whirlpools, the water in each of which is different every moment, turning round and round for a few seconds, and then passing out, replaced by a fresh quantity, so the whole universe is one constantly changing mass of matter, in which all forms of existence are so many whirlpools. A mass of matter enters into one whirlpool, say a human body, stays there for a period, becomes changed, and goes out into another, say an animal body this time, from which again after a few years, it enters into another whirlpool, called a lump of mineral. It is a constant change. Not one body is constant. There is no such thing as my body, or your body, except in words. Of the one huge mass of matter, one point is called a moon, another a sun, another a man, another the earth, another a plant, another a mineral. Not one is constant, but everything is changing, matter eternally concreting and disintegrating. So it is with the mind. Matter is represented by the ether; when the action of Prana is most subtle, this very ether, in the finer state of vibration, will represent the mind and there it will be still one unbroken mass. If you can simply get to that subtle vibration, you will see and feel that the whole universe is composed of subtle vibrations. Sometimes certain drugs have the power to take us, while as yet in the senses, to that condition. Many of you may remember the celebrated experiment of Sir Humphrey Davy, when the laughing gas overpowered him how, during the lecture, he remained motionless, stupefied and after that, he said that the whole universe was made up of ideas. For, the time being, as it were, the gross vibrations had ceased, and only the subtle vibrations which he called ideas, were present to him. He could only see the subtle vibrations round him; everything had become thought; the whole universe was an ocean of thought, he and everyone else had become little thought whirlpools.
  Thus, even in the universe of thought we find unity, and at last, when we get to the Self, we know that that Self can only be One. Beyond the vibrations of matter in its gross and subtle aspects, beyond motion there is but One. Even in manifested motion there is only unity. These facts can no more be denied. Modern physics also has demonstrated that the sum total of the energies in the universe is the same throughout. It has also been proved that this sum total of energy exists in two forms. It becomes potential, toned down, and calmed, and next it comes out manifested as all these various forces; again it goes back to the quiet state, and again it manifests. Thus it goes on evolving and involving through eternity. The control of this Prana, as before stated, is what is called Pranayama.
  --
  Think of the universe as an ocean of ether, consisting of layer after layer of varying degrees of vibration under the action of Prana; away from the centre the vibrations are less, nearer to it they become quicker and quicker; one order of vibration makes one plane. Then suppose these ranges of vibrations are cut into planes, so many millions of miles one set of vibration, and then so many millions of miles another still higher set of vibration, and so on. It is, therefore, probable, that those who live on the plane of a certain state of vibration will have the power of recognising one another, but will not recognise those above them. Yet, just as by the telescope and the microscope we can increase the scope of our vision, similarly we can by Yoga bring ourselves to the state of vibration of another plane, and thus enable ourselves to see what is going on there. Suppose this room is full of beings whom we do not see. They represent Prana in a certain state of vibration while we represent another. Suppose they represent a quick one, and we the opposite. Prana is the material of which they are composed, as well as we. All are parts of the same ocean of Prana, they differ only in their rate of vibration. If I can bring myself to the quick vibration, this plane will immediately change for me: I shall not see you any more; you vanish and they appear. Some of you, perhaps, know this to be true. All this bringing of the mind into a higher state of vibration is included in one word in Yoga Samadhi. All these states of higher vibration, superconscious vibrations of the mind, are grouped in that one word, Samadhi, and the lower states of Samadhi give us visions of these beings. The highest grade of Samadhi is when we see the real thing, when we see the material out of which the whole of these grades of beings are composed, and that one lump of clay being known, we know all the clay in the universe.
  Thus we see that Pranayama includes all that is true of spiritualism even. Similarly, you will find that wherever any sect or body of people is trying to search out anything occult and mystical, or hidden, what they are doing is really this Yoga, this attempt to control the Prana. You will find that wherever there is any extraordinary display of power, it is the manifestation of this Prana. Even the physical sciences can be included in Pranayama. What moves the steam engine? Prana, acting through the steam. What are all these phenomena of electricity and so forth but Prana? What is physical science? The science of Pranayama, by external means. Prana, manifesting itself as mental power, can only be controlled by mental means. That part of Pranayama which attempts to control the physical manifestations of the Prana by physical means is called physical science, and that part which tries to control the manifestations of the Prana as mental force by mental means is called Raja-Yoga.

1.02 - Prayer of Parashara to Vishnu, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  kāra)[23], denominated Vaikarīka, 'pure;' Taijasa, 'passionate;' and Bhūtādi, 'rudimental,'[24] is produced; the origin of the (subtile) elements, and of the organs of sense; invested, in consequence of its three qualities, by Intellect, as Intellect is by the Chief principle. Elementary Egotism then becoming productive, as the rudiment of sound, produced from it ether, of which sound is the characteristic, investing it with its rudiment of sound. ether becoming productive, engendered the rudiment of touch; whence originated strong wind, the property of which is touch; and ether, with the rudiment of sound, enveloped the rudiment of touch. Then wind becoming productive, produced the rudiment of form (colour); whence light (or fire) proceeded, of which, form (colour) is the attribute; and the rudiment of touch enveloped the wind with the rudiment of colour. Light becoming productive, produced the rudiment of taste; whence proceed all juices in which flavour resides; and the rudiment of colour invested the juices with the rudiment of taste. The waters becoming productive, engendered the rudiment of smell; whence an aggregate (earth) originates, of which smell is the property[25]. In each several element resides its peculiar rudiment; thence the property of tanmātratā,[26] (type or rudiment) is ascribed to these elements. Rudimental elements are not endowed with qualities, and therefore they are neither soothing, nor terrific, nor stupifying[27]. This is the elemental creation, proceeding from the principle of egotism affected by the property of darkness. The organs of sense are said to be the passionate products of the same principle, affected by foulness; and the ten divinities[28] proceed from egotism affected by the principle of goodness; as does Mind, which is the eleventh. The organs of sense are ten: of the ten, five are the skin, eye, nose, tongue, and ear; the object of which, combined with Intellect, is the apprehension of sound and the rest: the organs of excretion and procreation, the hands, the feet, and the voice, form the other five; of which excretion, generation, manipulation, motion, and speaking, are the several acts.
  Then, ether, air, light, water, and earth, severally united with the properties of sound and the rest, existed as distinguishable according to their qualities, as soothing, terrific, or stupifying; but possessing various energies, and being unconnected, they could not, without combination, create living beings, not having blended with each other. Having combined, therefore, with one another, they assumed, through their mutual association, the character of one mass of entire unity; and from the direction of spirit, with the acquiescence of the indiscrete Principle[29], Intellect and the rest, to the gross elements inclusive, formed an egg[30], which gradually expanded like a bubble of water. This vast egg, O sage, compounded of the elements, and resting on the waters, was the excellent natural abode of Viṣṇu in the form of Brahmā; and there Viṣṇu, the lord of the universe, whose essence is inscrutable, assumed a perceptible form, and even he himself abided in it in the character of Brahmā[31]. Its womb, vast as the mountain Meru, was composed of the mountains; and the mighty oceans were the waters that filled its cavity. In that egg, O Brahman, were the continents and seas and mountains, the planets and divisions of the universe, the gods, the demons, and mankind. And this egg was externally invested by seven natural envelopes, or by water, air, fire, ether, and Aha
  kāra the origin of the elements, each tenfold the extent of that which it invested; next came the principle of Intelligence; and, finally, the whole was surrounded by the indiscrete Principle: resembling thus the cocoa-nut, filled interiorly with pulp, and exteriorly covered by husk and rind.
  --
  Viṣṇu as creator, creates himself; as preserver, preserves himself; as destroyer, destroys himself at the end of all things. This world of earth, air, fire, water, ether, the senses, and the mind; all that is termed spirit[34], that also is the lord of all elements, the universal form, and imperishable: hence he is the cause of creation, preservation, and destruction; and the subject of the vicissitudes inherent in elementary nature[35]. He is the object and author of creation: he preserves, destroys, and is preserved. He, Viṣṇu, as Brahmā, and as all other beings, is infinite form: he is the supreme, the giver of all good, the fountain of all happiness[36].
  Footnotes and references:
  --
  [25]: The successive series of rudiments and elements, and their respectively engendering the rudiments and elements next in order, occur in most of the Purāṇas, in nearly the same words. The Vrihannāradiya P. observes, 'They (the elements) in successive order acquire the property of causality one to the other.' The order is also the same; or, ether (ākās), wind or air (vāyu), fire or light (tejas), water and earth; except in one passage of the Mahābhārata (Mokṣa Dherma, C. 9), where it is ether, water, fire, air, earth. The order of Empedocles was ether, fire, earth, water, air. Cudworth, I. 97. The investment (āvaraṇa) of each element by its own rudiment, and of each rudiment by its preceding gross and rudimental elements, is also met with in most of the chief Purāṇas, as the Vāyu, Padma, Li
  ga, and Bhāgavata; and traces p. 17 of it are found amongst the ancient cosmogonists; for Anaximander supposed, that when the world was made, a certain sphere or flame of fire, separated from matter (the Infinite), encompassed the air, which invested the earth as the bark does a tree:' Κατὰ τὴν γένεσιν τοῦδε τοῦ κόσμο

1.02 - Self-Consecration, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  17:The higher mind in man is something other, loftier, purer, vaster, more powerful than the reason or logical intelligence. The animal is a vital and sensational being; man, it is said, is distinguished from the animal by the possession of reason. But that is a very summary, a very imperfect and misleading account of the matter. For reason is only a particular and limited utilitarian and instrumental activity that proceeds from something much greater than itself, from a power that dwells in an ether more luminous, wider, illimitable. The true and ultimate, as distinguished from the immediate or intermediate, importance of our observing, reasoning, inquiring, judging intelligence is that it prepares the human being for the right reception and right action of a Light from above which must progressively replace in him the obscure light from below that guides the animal. The latter also has a rudimentary reason, a kind of thought, a soul, a will and keen emotions; even though less developed, its psychology is yet the same in kind as man's. But all these capacities in the animal are automatically moved and strictly limited, almost even constituted by the lower nervous being. All animal perceptions, sensibilities, activities are ruled by nervous and vital instincts, cravings, needs, satisfactions, of which the nexus is the life-impulse and vital desire. Man too is bound, but less bound, to this automatism of the vital nature. Man can bring an enlightened will, an enlightened thought and enlightened emotions to the difficult work of his self-development; he can more and more subject to these more conscious and reflecting guides the inferior function of desire. In proportion as he can thus master and enlighten his lower self, he is mall and no longer an animal. When he can begin to replace desire altog ether by a still greater enlightened thought and sight and will in touch with the Infinite, consciously subject to a diviner will than his own, linked to a more universal and transcendent knowledge, he has commenced the ascent towards tile superman; he is on his upward march towards the Divine.
  18:It is, then, in the highest mind of thought and light and will or it is in the inner heart of deepest feeling and emotion that we must first centre our consciousness, -- in either of them or, if we are capable, in both tog ether, -- and use that as our leverage to lift the nature wholly towards the Divine. The concentration of an enlightened thought, will and heart turned in unison towards one vast goal of our knowledge, one luminous and infinite source of our action, one imperishable object of our emotion is the starting-point of the Yoga. And the object of our seeking must be the very fount of the Light which is growing in us, the very origin of the Force which we are calling to move our members. Our one objective must be the Divine himself to whom, knowingly or unknowingly, something always aspires in our secret nature. There must be a large, many-sided yet single concentration of the thought on the idea, the perception, the vision, the awakening touch, the soul's realisation of the one Divine. There must be a flaming concentration of the heart on the All and Eternal and, when once we have found him, a deep plunging and immersion in the possession and ecstasy of the All-Beautiful. There must be a strong and immovable concentration of the will on the attainment and fulfilment of all that the Divine is and a free and plastic opening of it to all that he intends to manifest in us. This is the triple way of the Yoga.

1.02 - Substance Is Eternal, #Of The Nature Of Things, #Lucretius, #Poetry
  And out of what does ether feed the stars?
  For lapsed years and infinite age must else
  --
  Lo, the rains perish which ether-father throws
  Down to the bosom of Earth-mother; but then

1.02 - The Principle of Fire, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  As it has been said before, akasa or the etheric principle is the cause of the origin of the elements. According to the oriental scriptures, the first element born from akasa is believed to be Tejas, the principle of fire. This element as well as all the others manifest their influence not only in our roughly material plane but also in everything created. The basic qualities of the fiery principle are heat and expansion. In the beginning of all things created therefore must have been fire and light, and in the
  Bible we read: Fiat Lux There shall be light. The origin of the light, of course, is to be sought in the fire. Each element and therefore that of fire, too, has two polarities, i.e., the active and the passive one, which means positive (+) and negative (-). Plus will always signify the constructive, the creative, the productive sources whereas minus stands for all that is destructive or dissecting. There are always two basic qualities, which must be clearly distinguished in each element. Religions have always imputed the good to the active and the evil to the passive side. But fundamentally spoken, there are no such things as good or bad; they are nothing but human conceptions. In the Universe there is neither good nor evil, because everything has been created according to immutable rules, wherein the Divine Principle is reflected and only by knowing these rules, shall we be able to come near to the Divinity.

1.02 - The Stages of Initiation, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy
  [paragraph continues] This cannot be otherwise if ordinary language is used, for this language was created to suit physical conditions. Spiritual science describes that which, for clairvoyant organs, flows from the stone, as blue, or blue-red; and that which is felt as coming from the animal as red or red-yellow. In reality, colors of a spiritual kind are seen. The color proceeding the plant is green which little by little turns into a light ethereal pink. The plant is actually that product of nature which in higher worlds resembles, in certain respects, its constitution in the physical world. The same does not apply to the stone and the animal. It must now be clearly understood that the above-mentioned colors only represent the principal shades in the stone, plant and animal kingdom. In reality, all possible intermediate shades are present. Every stone, every plant, every animal has its own particular shade of color. In addition to these there are also the beings of the higher worlds who never incarnate physically, but who have their colors, often wonderful, often horrible. Indeed, the wealth of color in these higher worlds is immeasurably greater than in the physical world.
   p. 54

10.31 - The Mystery of The Five Senses, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   To ethereal symphonies the old earthy strings; . . .||6.10||
   . . it made

10.32 - The Mystery of the Five Elements, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 04, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   The material world, as the ancient sages viewed it, is composed of five elements. They are, as we know, (I) earth (kiti), (2) water (ap), (3) fire (tej), (4) air (marut), and (5) space or ether (vyom), mounting from the grossest to those that are more and more subtle. The subtlest, the topmost in the scale is space or ether. As we descend in the scale, each succeeding element becomes more and more concrete than the preceding one. Thus air is denser than space, fire is denser than air, water is denser than fire and earth is the densest of allsolidity belongs to earth alone. Water is liquid, fire gaseous, air is fluid, and ether is the most tenuous. Now this hierarchy can be considered also as a pyramid of qualities, qualities of matter and the material world tapering upward. The first one, the topmost, space, possesses the quality of sound or vibration; it is the field giving out waves that originate sound.1 The next element is air, its special quality as found in the ancient knowledge is the quality of touch: it gives the sensation of touch, you can touch it, it touches you and you recognise its existence in that way. Touch however is its own, its primary quality but it takes up also the quality of the previous, the subtler element, in order to become more and more evolved, more and more concrete, that is to say, in the material way. Air has thus a double quality, sound and touch It is tactile, and it is sonorous. The third one, fire, has the quality of possessing a form; it has visibility in addition to the two qualities of the two previous elements, which it takes up: thus fire is visible, it can be touchedyes, it may burn also and it gives out sound. The fourth element, water, adds a fourth quality which is its own, namely, taste. Water has taste, very delightful taste to mortals. A Greek poet2 says water has the best taste, hudor men ariston. So you can taste water, you can see its form, you can touch it, you can hear it gurgle. Coming to the last, earth has all these, qualities: in addition, what it has is, curious to say, smell. So you can hear earth's vibrations, you can touch it, see it, taste it for some earth has a very savoury taste but its own special quality is smell: it is odorous, it is sweet-scented. Kalidasa speaks with ecstasy of the strange scent that the earth emits when the fresh rains fall upon it.
   So, the five senses open out to the five elements, each sense linked to its own element, each sense presenting a particular aspect of the material universe. Thus ether, the subtlest element, is present to the ear, the organ of hearing, air to the skin (twak) the organ of touch, the fire-element (radiant energy) to the eye, the liquid to the organ of taste, and earth is given over to smell. Earth is linked with smell, perhaps because it is the perfume of creation, the dense aroma of God's material energy. Also earth is the summation of all the elements and all the qualities of matter. It is the epitome of the material creation. The physical beauty of earth is well-known, the landscape and seascape, its rich variegated coloration, we all admire standing upon its bosom, but up in the air, in the wide open spaces earth appears with even a more magical beauty to which cosmonauts have given glowing tri bute. But even this visible beauty pales, I suppose, before the perfume it emits which is its celestial quality, that can only be described indeed as the sweet-scented body of the Divine Substance.
   The five elements are thus the five orders of material existence viewed as correlates to the five senses of man. But they are also realities in their own right. They represent the fundamental principles underlying or characterising the nature of matter. Science speaks of the three states of mattersolid, liquid and gaseous. The five elements enumerate five states instead. Thus earth = solid, water = liquid, fire = gaseous or radiant, air = fluid, ether or space = etheric. A distinction is made between gaseous and fluid, fluid being still more dispersive and tenuous. We might take air as representing the ether spoken of in science and what we have been equating with ether may be termed the field the gravitational field, for example, of our days.
   The last two may, however, be represented somewhat differently. The Maruts may symbolise the region of the subtler or supra-electromagnetic forceswhat are now called cosmic rays: they are waves or particles of such infinitesimal magnitude that some of them at least have only a mathematical substance or reality, a probability-point, although of calculable or incalculable energy! Vayu then would represent the fundamental field where these forces playperhaps something like the Einsteinian field with its "corrugated" surface: or it is like the "Pradhana" of Sankhya, the original Prakriti or basic Nature before it burst out in its creative activity.

1.03 - BOOK THE THIRD, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry
  Descend triumphant from th' etherial sky,
  In all the pomp of his divinity,

1.03 - Sympathetic Magic, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  means of what we may conceive as a kind of invisible ether, not
  unlike that which is postulated by modern science for a precisely
  --
  other by means of their indwelling spirits or vital ether. Hence
  they hang up the jawbones of deer and wild pigs in their houses, in
  --
  sort which, like the ether of modern physics, is assumed to unite
  distant objects and to convey impressions from one to the other. The

1.03 - The Principle of Water, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  In the previous chapter we have studied the origin and the qualities of the positive element of fire. In this chapter I am going to describe the opposite principle, the water. It is also derived from akasa, the etheric principle. But in comparison with fire, it has quite contrasting qualities. These basic qualities are coldness and shrinkage. The point in question are also two poles, the active one being constructive, life-giving, nourishing and protective, whereas the negative pole, similar to the one of fire, is destructive, dissecting, fermenting, and dividing. As this element owns the basic quality of shrinking and contraction, it has produced the magnetic fluid. Fire, as well as water, are operating in all regions. According to the rules of creation, the fiery principle would not be able to exist all by itself if it did not conceal inside as opposite pole the principle of water. These two elements, fire and water, are the basic elements with the help of which all has been created. In consequence of these facts, we have everywhere to reckon on two main elements. Moreover with the electrical and magnetical fluids which represent the contrasting polarities.

1.03 - THE STUDY (The Exorcism), #Faust, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
  Vanish in flaming ether,
  Salamander!
  --
  Born of blue ether,
  Break from the sky!

1.03 - The three first elements, #Sefer Yetzirah The Book of Creation In Theory and Practice, #Anonymous, #Various
  The three mothers in the world are: air, water and fire. Heaven was created from fire or ether; the earth (comprising sea and land) from the elementary water; and the atmospheric air from the elementary air, or spirit, which establishes the balance among them.
    

1.03 - YIBHOOTI PADA, #Patanjali Yoga Sutras, #Swami Vivekananda, #Hinduism
  There is the Akasa, the ether, and the instrument, the ear. By
  making Sarny ama on them the Yogi gets divine hearing; he

1.045 - Piercing the Structure of the Object, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  It is now that a condition or a state supervenes where there is a sudden split of this cosmic condition into the external and the internal. This is the beginning of what they call samsara or bondage of the jiva. There is no bondage as long as a bifurcation is not introduced between the subject and the object of knowledge. Bondage commences the moment there is a severance of the consciousness from its content, an isolation of the subject from the object. This happens subsequent to the appearance of ahamkara. So, on the objective side, we have what are known as the tanmatras and the mahabhutas. The tanmatras are the subtle principles behind the five gross elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether, and they are called sabda, sparsa, rupa, rasa and gandha in Sanskrit, meaning thereby the sensations of sound, touch, form, taste and smell which have connection with the five elements of earth, water, fire, air and ether prithivi, appu, tejo, vayu and akasa. This is the external side of the world. Generally, what we call the world is constituted of these five great elements or mahabhutas. But the experiencing side, the subject side, is what is known as the jiva, the principle of individuality you, I, and everyone included who have an extrovert vision of these five mahabhutas, all of which we regard as something outside us, notwithstanding that every one of us, including the bhutas, have come from the same principle of ahamkara. It is something like the right hand looking at the left hand as an object of its perception, though both these are emanations of a single substance, a single unifying principle - namely, the bodily organism.
  The subject side is the individual, the jiva, which has a physical body made up of the five elements themselves earth, water, fire, air and ether. Then we have the five pranas prana, apana, vyana, udana and samana. There are the senses the five senses of knowledge and the five of action. And then there is the principle of mentation there is the intellect and all these complexities constituting what is known as the subtle body of the individual. This is the subject side, while the object side is formed of the five elements mentioned.
  The bondage of the jiva consists in the isolation of its experiencing unit, namely, consciousness, from the object of its experience. This is the reason why there is desire of every kind. A desire is nothing but an attempt of consciousness to gain what is not contained within its own self. The content of consciousness is what is desired by consciousness, but that content is cut off due to a peculiar phenomenon that has arisen, and the phenomenon is the principle of isolation of the subject from the object. The purpose of yoga is to bring about a reunion of this twofold principle known as the subject and the object, so that it may go back to the original condition where it was not so separated. The means of action in the process of meditation, of course, is consciousness itself; we may call it mind in a grosser form.

1.04 - Body, Soul and Spirit, #Theosophy, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  the unfolding of this organ. He now perceives, not merely the colors, the odors, etc., of the beings, but these beings themselves. In each plant, in each animal, he perceives, besides the physical form, the life-filled spirit-form. In order to have a name for this spirit-form let it be called the ether-body, or life-body.
  To the investigator of spiritual life this matter presents itself in the following manner: The ether-body is for him not merely a product of the materials and forces of the physical body, but a real independent entity which first calls forth these physical materials and forces into life. One speaks in harmony with spiritual science when one says: a mere physical body, a crystal for example, has its form by means of the physical formative forces dwelling within it. A living body does not have its form by means of these forces, for in the moment in which life is extinct in it, and it is given over to the physical forces only, it falls to pieces. The ether-body is an organism which preserves the physical body every moment during life from dissolution. In order to see this body, to perceive it in another
  p. 28
  being, one requires the awakened "spiritual eye." Without this, one can accept its existence as a fact on logical grounds; but one can see it with the spiritual eye as one sees a color with the physical eye. One should not take offense at the expression " ether-body." " ether" here designates something different from the hypothetical ether of the physicist. One should regard the thing simply as a name for what is described here. And just as the physical body of man is constructed in conformity with its set task, so is it also in conformity with the ether-body of man. One can understand it also only when one observes it in relation to the thinking spirit. The ether-body of man differs from that of plants and animals through being organized so as to serve the requirements of the thinking spirit. Just as man belongs to the mineral world through his physical body, he belongs through his ether-body to the life-world. After death the physical body dissolves into the mineral world, the ether-body into the life-world. (In theosophical literature the human ether-body is called "Linga sharira.") By the word "body" is designated what in any way gives a
  p. 29
  --
  In the life-body we still have something external to man. With the first stirrings of sensation the inner self responds to the excitations of the outer world. You may trace what one is justified in calling the outer world ever so far, but you will not be able to find the sensation. Rays of light stream into the eye, penetrating till they reach the retina. There they call forth chemical processes (in the so-called visual-purple); the effect of this stimulus is passed on through the optic nerve to the brain; there further physical processes arise. Could one observe these one would see more physical processes, just as elsewhere in the physical world. If I am able to observe the ether-body, I will see how the physical-brain process is at the same time a life-process. But the sensation of blue color which the recipient of the rays of light has, I can find nowhere in this manner. It arises only within the soul of the
  p. 30
  recipient. If, therefore, the being of the recipient consisted only of the physical body and the ether-body, sensation could not exist. The activity by which sensation becomes a fact differs essentially from the operations of the life-force. By that activity an inner experience is called forth from these operations. Without this activity there would be a mere life-process, such as one observes in plants. If one tries to picture how a human being receives impacts from all sides, one must think of him at the same time as the source of the above-mentioned activity which streams out toward every point from which he received these impacts. Sensations respond in all directions to the impacts. This fountain of activity is to be called the sentient-soul. (It is the same as that which in theosophical literature is called "Kama.") This sentient-soul is just as real as the physical body. If a man stand before me and I disregard his sentient-soul by thinking of him as merely a physical body, it is exactly as if I were to call up in my mind, instead of a painting-merely the canvas.
  A similar statement has to be made in
  --
  regard to perceiving the sentient-soul as was previously made in reference to the ether-body. The bodily organs are "blind" to it. And blind to it is also the organ by which life as life can be perceived. But just as the ether-body is seen by means of this organ, the inner world of sensation itself can be seen through a still higher organ. A man then not only senses the impressions of the physical and life worlds, but he beholds the sensations themselves. Before a man with such an organ the world of the sensations of another being is spread out like an open and, for him, a legible book. One must distinguish between experiencing one's own sensation world and looking at the sensation world of another. Every man of course can see into his own sensation world; only the seer with the opened "spiritual eye" can see the sensation world of another. Unless a man be a seer he knows the sensation world only as an "inner" one, only as the peculiar hidden experiences of his own soul; with the opened "spiritual eye" there shines out before the external spiritual gaze what otherwise lives only in the "inner" being of another.
  p. 32
  The sentient-soul depends, as regards its activity, on the ether-body because it draws from it that which it will cause to gleam forth as sensation. And since the ether-body is the life within the physical body, the sentient-soul is indirectly dependent on the latter. Only with correctly-functioning and well-constructed eyes are correct color sensations possible. It is in this way that the corporality affects the sentient-soul. The latter is thus determined and limited in its efficaciousness by the body. It lives therefore within the limitations fixed for it by the corporality. The body accordingly is built up of mineral materials, is vitalized by the ether-body, and itself limits the sentient-soul. He, therefore, who has the above-mentioned organ for "seeing" the sentient-soul, sees it limited by the body. But the limits of the sentient-soul do not coincide with those of the physical body. The soul extends somewhat beyond it. By this one sees that it proves itself more powerful than the physical body. But the force through which its limits are set proceeds from the physical body. So that between the physical body and the ether-body on the one hand,
  p. 33
  and the sentient-soul on the other, there inserts itself another distinct member of the human constitution. This is the soul-body, or sentient body. (It is called in theosophical literature "astral shape," or "Kama Rupa;" "Rupa" signifies form or shape.) One can also say: a part of the ether-body is finer than the rest, and this finer part of the ether-body forms a unity with the sentient-soul, whereas the coarser part forms a kind of unity with the physical body. Nevertheless, the sentient-soul extends, as has been said, beyond the soul-body.
  What is here called sensation is only a part of the soul being. (The expression sentient-soul is chosen for the sake of simplicity.) Connected with sensations are the feelings of desire and aversion, impulses, instincts, passions. All this bears the same character of individualized life as do the sensations, and is, like them, dependent on the corporality.
  --
  three in the soul; sentient-soul, intellectual-soul, consciousness-soul. And just as the corporality works from below upward with a limiting effect on the soul, so the spiritual works from above downward into it, expanding it. For the more the soul fills itself with the True and the Good, the wider and the more comprehensive becomes the eternal in it. To him who is able to "see" the soul, the splendor which goes out from a human being, because his eternal is expanding, is just as much a reality as the light which streams out from a flame is real to the physical eye. For the "seer" the corporeal man is only a part of the whole man. The body as the coarsest structure lies within others, which interpenetrate both it and each other. The ether-body fills the physical body as a double form; extending beyond this on all sides is to be seen the soul-body (astral shape). And beyond this, again, extends the sentient-soul, then the intellectual-soul, which grows the larger the more it receives into itself of the True and the Good. For this True and Good cause the expansion of the intellectual-soul. A man living only and entirely according to his
  p. 41
  --
  it may be filled by it. The I lives in body and soul; but the spirit lives in the I. And what there is of spirit in the I is eternal. For the I receives its nature and significance from that with which it is bound up. Inasmuch as it lives in the physical body, it is subject to the laws of the mineral world; through its ether-body to the laws of propagation and growth; by virtue of the sentient and intellectual souls to the laws of the soul world; in so far as it receives the spiritual into itself it is subject to the laws of the spirit. That which the mineral laws and the life laws construct comes into being and vanishes; but the spirit has nothing to do with becoming and perishing.
  The I lives in the soul. Although the highest manifestation of the I belongs to the consciousness-soul, one must nevertheless say that this I, raying out from it, fills the whole of the soul, and through the soul affects the body. And in the I the spirit is alive. It rays into it and lives in it as in a "sheath" or veil, just as the I lives in its sheaths, the body and the soul. The spirit develops the I from within, outward; the mineral world develops it from without, inward. The spirit forming
  --
  The spirit-man lives within this spirit-sheath. It is built up by the spiritual life-force in the same way as is the physical body by the physical life-force. In a similar way to that in which one speaks of an ether-body one must therefore speak of an ether-spirit in reference to the spirit-man. Let this ether-spirit be called life-spirit. The spiritual being of man therefore is composed of three parts, spirit-man, life-spirit, and spirit-self. (Atma, budhi, manas are the corresponding expressions in theosophical literature. For Budhi is the separated special life-spirit which is formed by the spiritual life-force, or Budhi.)
  For him who is a "seer" in the spiritual regions, this spiritual being of man is a perceptible reality as the higher, truly spiritual part of the aura. He "sees" the spirit-man as life-spirit within the spirit-sheath, and he "sees" how this "life-spirit" grows continually larger by taking in spiritual nourishment from the spiritual external world. Further, he sees how the spirit-sheath continually increases, widens out through what is brought into it, and how the spirit-man becomes ever
  --
  to the requirements of the thinking ego. It is penetrated with life-force, and thereby becomes the ether or life-body. As such it opens itself through the sense organs toward the outer world and becomes the soul-body. This the sentient-soul permeates and becomes one with. The sentient-soul does not merely receive the impacts of the outer world as sensations. It has its own inner life which it fructifies through thinking on the one hand, as it does through sensations on the other. In this way it becomes the intellectual-soul. It is able to do this by opening itself up to intuitions from above, as it does to sensations from below. Thus it becomes the consciousness-soul. This is possible to it because the spirit world builds into it the organ of intuition, just as the physical body builds in it the sense organs. As the senses transmit sensations by means of the soul-body, the spirit transmits to it intuitions through the organ of intuition. The spirit-man is therefore linked into a unity with the consciousness-soul, just as the physical body is with the sentient-soul in the soul-body. Consciousness-soul and spirit-self form a unity. In this unity the spirit-man lives as
  p. 54
  life-spirit, just as the ether body forms the bodily life-basis for the soul-body. And as the physical body is enclosed in the physical skin, so is the spirit-man in the spirit-sheath. The members of the whole man are as follows:
  A. Physical-body.
  B. ether-body.
  C. Soul-body.
  --
  2. ether or life-body (Linga sharira).
  3. Sentient-soul-body (Astral body, Kama rupa).
  --
  The "I" flashes forth in the soul, receives the infusion from out the spirit and thereby becomes the bearer of the spirit-man. Through this, man participates in the "three worlds," the physical, the soul, and the spiritual. He takes root in the physical world through his physical body, ether-body, and soul-body and flowers through the spirit-self, life-spirit, and spirit-man up into the spiritual world. The stalk, however, which takes root in the one and flowers in the other, is the soul itself.
  One can express this arrangement of the members of man in a simplified way, but one entirely consistent with the above. Although the human I flashes forth in the consciousness-soul, it nevertheless penetrates the whole soul-being. The parts of this soul-being are not as distinctly separate as are the limbs of the body; they penetrate each other, in a higher sense. If then, one hold clearly in view the intellectual-soul and the consciousness-soul

1.04 - Religion and Occultism, #Words Of The Mother III, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  Water corresponds to the vital, air to mind, fire to the psychic, earth to matter and ether to the spirit.
  20 August 1955

1.04 - The Fork in the Road, #On the Way to Supermanhood, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
  Too frail their ethereal stuff;
  Too splendid and sudden our light could not stay;

1.04 - The Gods of the Veda, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  But he is more than that; he is tuvijata, urukshaya. Uru, we shall find in other hymns, the Vast, is a word used as equivalent to Brihat to describe the ideal level of consciousness, the kingdom of ideal knowledge, in its aspect of joyous comprehensive wideness and capacity. It is clearly told us that men by overcoming & passing beyond the two firmaments of Mind-invitality, Bhuvar, & mind in intellectuality, Swar, arrive in the Vast, Uru, and make it their dwelling place. Therefore Uru must be taken as equivalent to Brihat; it must mean Mahas. Our Vedic Varuna, then, is a dweller in Mahas, in the vastness of ideal knowledge. But he is not born there; he is born or appears first in tuvi, that is, in strength or force. Since Uru definitely means the Vast, means Mahas, means a particular plane of consciousness, is, in short, a fixed term of Vedic psychology, it is inevitable that tuvi thus coupled with it and yet differentiated, must be another fixed term of Vedic psychology & must mean another plane of consciousness. We have found the meaning of Mahas by consulting Purana & Vedanta as well as the Veda itself. Have we any similar light on the significance of Tuvi? Yes. The Puranas describe to us three worlds above Maharloka,called, respectively, in the Puranic system, Jana, Tapas and Satya. By a comparison with Vedantic psychology we know that Jana must be the world of Ananda of which the Mahajana Atma is the sustaining Brahman as the Mahan Atma is the sustaining Brahman of the vijnana, and we get this light on the subject that, just as Bhur, Bhuvah, Swar are the lower or human half of existence, the aparardha of the Brahmanda, (the Brahma-circle or universe of manifest consciousness), and answer objectively to the subjective field covered by Annam, Prana & Manas, just as Mahas is the intermediate world, link between the divine & human hemispheres, and corresponds to the subjective region of Vijnana, so Jana, Tapas & Satya are the divine half of existence, & answer to the Ananda with its two companion principles Sat andChit, the three constituting the Trinity of those psychological states which are, to & in our consciousness, Sacchidananda,God sustaining from above His worlds. But why is the world of Chit called Tapoloka? According to our conceptions this universe has been created by & in divine Awareness by Force, Shakti, or Power which [is] inherent in Awareness, Force of Awareness or Chit Shakti that moves, forms & realises whatever it wills in Being. This force, this Chit-shakti in its application to its work, is termed in the ancient phraseology Tapas. Therefore, it is told us that when Brahma the Creator lay uncreative on the great Ocean, he listened & heard a voice crying over the waters OM Tapas! OM Tapas! and he became full of the energy of the mantra & arose & began creation. Tapas & Tu or Tuvi are equivalent terms. We can see at once the meaning. Varuna, existing no doubt in Sat, appears or is born to us in Tapas, in the sea of force put out in itself by the divine Awareness, & descending through divine delight which world is in Jana, in production or birth by Tapas, through Ananda, that is to say, into the manifest world, dwells in ideal knowledge & Truth and makes there Ritam or the Law of the Truth of Being his peculiar province. It is the very process of all creation, according to our Vedic&Vedantic Rishis. Descending into the actual universe we find Varuna master of the Akash or ether, matrix and continent of created things, in the Akash watching over the development of the created world & its peoples according to the line already fixed by ideal knowledge as suitable to their nature and purposeya thatathyato vihitam shashwatibhyah samabhyah and guiding the motion of things & souls in the line of theritam. It is in his act of guidance and bringing to perfection of the imperfect that he increases by the law and the truth, desires it and naturally attains to it, has the spriha & the sparsha of the ritam. It is from his fidelity to ideal Truth that he acquires the mighty power by which he maintains the heavens and orders its worlds in their appointed motion.
  Such is his general nature and power. But there are also certain particular subjective functions to which he is called. He is rishadasa, he harries and slays the enemies of the soul, and with Mitra of pure discernment he works at the understanding till he brings it to a gracious pureness and brightness. He is like Agni, a kavih, one of those who has access to and commands ideal knowledge and with Mitra he supports and upholds Daksha when he is at his works; for so I take Daksham apasam. Mitra has already been described as having a pure daksha. The adjective daksha means in Sanscrit clever, intelligent, capable, like dakshina, like the Greek . We may also compare the Greek , meaning judgment, opinion etc & , I think or seem, and Latin doceo, I teach, doctrina etc. As these identities indicate, Daksha is originally he who divides, analyses, discerns; he is the intellectual faculty or in his person the master of the intellectual faculty which discerns and distinguishes. Therefore was Mitra able to help in making the understanding bright & pure,by virtue of his purified discernment.

1.05 - Christ, A Symbol of the Self, #Aion, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  the ether and the eagle, in or near the region of light, whereas the
  body, being heavy, dark, and impure, is deprived of the light

1.05 - Hymns of Bharadwaja, #Hymns to the Mystic Fire, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
    2. Fire is the guardian of the laws of all workings and he kept safe the laws of his action and motion even in the moment of his birth in the supreme ether. The Universal mighty of will measured into shape the middle world and touched heaven with his greatness.
    3. The Wonderful, the Friend propped up earth and heaven and made the darkness a disappearing thing by the Light. He rolled out the two minds like skins; the Universal assumed every masculine might.

1.05 - Ritam, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  If we suppose evil in this rik to connote or include moral evil we find Dakshina to have a share, the active energy of the viveka to take its part in the function of protection from sin which is one of the principal attributes of Varuna. It is part of the ideas of Vedanta that sin is in reality a form of ignorance and is purified out of the system by the illumination of divine knowledge. We begin to find by this sin-effacing attri bute of Varuna, prachet, uruchakshas, ptadaksha, ritasya jyotishas pati, by this sin-repelling attri bute of Dakshina, the energy of ideal discrimination, the same profound idea already anticipated in the Rigveda. The Veda abounds with confirmatory passages, of which I will quote at present one only from the hymn of Kanwa to Agni, the thirty-sixth of thisMandala. High-uplifted protect us from evil by the perception, burn utterly every devourer, phi anhaso ni ketun a. All evil is a deviation from the right & truth, from the ritam, a deviation from the self-existent truth & right of the divine or immortal nature; the lords of knowledge dwelling in the human consciousness as the prachetasah, informing its acts of consciousness which include in the ancient psychology action & feeling no less than thought & attuning them to follow spontaneously the just rhythm of the divine right & truth, deliver effectually this human & mortal nature from evil & sin. The place of Daksha & Dakshina in that action is evident; it is primary & indispensable; for the mortal nature being full of wrong perceptions, warped impulses, evil & mixed & confused states of feeling, it is the business of the viveka to sort out the confusion & accustom the mind & heart of man to a juster, truer & purer working. The action of the other faculties of the Truth may be said to come after that of Daksha, of the viveka. In these hymns of Sunahshepa the clear physiognomy of Varuna begins to dawn upon us. He is evidently the master of right knowledge, wide, self-luminous & all-containing in the world-consciousness & in human consciousness. His physical connection with the all-containing ether,for Varuna is Uranus, the Greek Akasha, & wideness is constantly associated with him in the Veda,leads us to surmise that he may also be the master in the ideal faculty, ritam brihat, where he dwells, urukshaya, of pure infinite conscious-being out of which knowledge manifests & with which it is, ultimately, one entity
  The hymns of Kanwa follow the hymns of Sunahshepa and Hiranyastupa in the order of the first Mandala. In the hymns of Kanwa we find three or four times the mention, more or less extended in sense, of the Ritam. In his first reference to it he connects it not with Varuna, Mitra or Daksha, but with Agni. That Agni whom Kanwa Medhyatithi has kindled from the truth above (or it may equally mean upon the truth as a basis or in the field of the truth) and again Thee, O Agni, the Manu has set as a light for the eternal birth; thou hast shone forth in Kanwa born from the Truth. This passage is of great importance in fixing the character & psychological functions of Agni; for our present purpose it will be sufficient to notice the expression jyotir janya shashwate which may well have an intimate connection with the ritam jyotih of an earlier hymn, & the description in connection with this puissant phrase of Agni as born from the Truth, and again [of the Truth] as a sort of field in which or from which Kanwa has drawn the light of Agni.

1.05 - Some Results of Initiation, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy
  The development of the soul-body in the manner described above permits perception in a supersensible world, but anyone wishing to find his way in this world must not remain stationary at this stage of development. The mere mobility of the lotus flowers is not sufficient. The student must acquire the power of regulating and controlling the movement of his spiritual organs independently and with complete consciousness; otherwise he would become a plaything for external forces and powers. To avoid this he must acquire the faculty of hearing what is called the inner world, and this involves the development not only of the soul-body but also of the etheric
   p. 163
   body. The latter is that tenuous body revealed to the clairvoyant as a kind of double of the physical body, and forms to a certain extent an intermediate step between the soul nature and the physical body. (See the description on the author's book Theosophy.) It is possible for one equipped with clairvoyant powers consciously to suggest away the physical body of a person. This corresponds on a higher plane to an exercise in attentiveness on a lower plane. Just as a person can divert his attention from something in front of him so that it becomes non-existent for him, the clairvoyant can extinguish a physical body from his field of observation so that it becomes physically transparent to him. If he exerts this faculty in the case of some person standing before him, there remains visible to his clairvoyant sight only the etheric body, besides the soul-body which is larger than the other two- etheric and physical bodies-and interpenetrates them both. The etheric body has approximately the size and form of the physical body, so that it practically fills the same space. It is an extremely delicate and finely organized structure. (I beg the physicist not to be disturbed at the expression " etheric
   p. 164
   body". The word ether here is merely used to suggest the fineness of the body in question, and need not in any way be connected with the hypothetical ether of physics.)
  Its ground-color is different from any of the seven colors contained in the rainbow. Anyone capable of observing it will find a color which is actually non-existent for sense perception but to which the color of the young peach-blossom may be comparable. If desired, the etheric body can be examined alone; for this purpose the soul-body must be extinguished by an effort of attentiveness in the manner described above. Otherwise the etheric body will present an ever changing picture owing to its interpenetration by the soul-body.
  Now, the particles of the etheric body are in continual motion. Countless currents stream through it in every direction. By these currents, life itself is maintained and regulated. Every body that has life, including animals and plants, possesses an etheric body. Even in minerals traces of it can be observed. These currents and movements are, to begin with, independent of human will and consciousness, just as the action of the
   p. 165
   heart or stomach is beyond our jurisdiction, and this independence remains unaltered so long as we do not take our development in hand in the sense of acquiring supersensible faculties. For, at a certain stage, development consists precisely in adding to the unconscious currents and movements of the etheric body others that are consciously produced and controlled.
  When esoteric development has progressed so far that the lotus flowers begin to stir, much has already been achieved by the student which can result in the formation of certain quite definite currents and movements in his etheric body. The object of this development is the formation of a kind of center in the region of the physical heart, from which radiate currents and movements in the greatest possible variety of colors and forms. The center is in reality not a mere point, but a most complicated structure, a most wonderful organ. It glows and shimmers with every shade of color and displays forms of great symmetry, capable of rapid transformation. Other forms and streams of color radiate from this organ to the other parts of the body, and beyond it to the astral body, completely penetrating and illuminating
   p. 166
  --
   awaken in others, and who are unquestionably in a position to know wh ether the directions they give lead to the exact results desired. If the student follows the directions that have been given him, he introduces into his etheric body currents and movements which are in harmony with the laws and the evolution of the world to which he belongs. Consequently these instructions are reflections of the great laws of cosmic evolution. They consist of the above-mentioned and similar exercises in meditation and concentration which, if correctly practiced, produce the results described. The student must at certain times let these instructions permeate his soul with their content, so that he is inwardly entirely filled with it. A simple start is made with a view to the deepening of the logical activity of the mind and the producing of an inward intensification of thought. Thought it thereby made free and independent of all sense impressions and experiences; it is concentrated in one point which is held entirely under control. Thus a preliminary center is formed for the currents of the etheric body. This center is not yet in the region of the heart but in the head, and it appears to the clairvoyant
   p. 168
  --
  The center in the head, once duly fixed, is then moved lower down, to the region of the larynx. This is effected by further exercises in concentration. Then the currents of the etheric body radiate from this point and illumine the astral space surrounding the individual.
  Continued practice enables the student to determine for himself the position of this etheric body. Hitherto this position depended upon external forces proceeding from the physical body. Through further development the student is able to turn his etheric body to all sides. This faculty is effected by currents moving approximately
   p. 169
   along both hands and centered in the two-petalled lotus in the region of the eyes. All this is made possible through the radiations from the larynx assuming round forms, of which a number flow to the two-petalled lotus and thence form undulating currents along the hands. As a further development, these currents branch out and ramify in the most delicate manner and become, as it were, a kind of web which then encompasses the entire etheric body as though with a network. Whereas hitherto the etheric body was not closed to the outer world, so that the life currents from the universal ocean of life flowed freely in and out, these currents now have to pass through this membrane. Thus the individual becomes sensitive to these external streams; they become perceptible to him.
  And now the time has come to give the complete system of currents and movements its center situated in the region of the heart. This again is effected by persevering with the exercises in concentration and meditation; and at this point also the stage is reached when the student becomes gifted with the inner word. All things now acquire a new significance for him. They become
  --
   however, they become a force on which he gladly lets his inner senses rest, for they correspond with certain movements in the etheric body. Devotional surrender to them, with perfect inner peace, creates an inner harmony with these movements; and because the latter are an image of certain cosmic rhythms which also at certain points repeat themselves and revert to former modes, the student listening to the wisdom of the Buddha unites his life with that of the cosmic mysteries.
  In esoteric training there is question of four attri butes which must be acquired on the so-called preparatory path for the attainment of higher knowledge. The first is the faculty of discriminating in thoughts between truth and appearance or mere opinion. The second attri bute is the correct estimation of what is inwardly true and real, as against what is merely apparent. The third rests in the practice of the six qualities already mentioned in the preceding pages: thought-control, control of actions, perseverance, tolerance, faith and equanimity. The fourth attri bute is the love of inner freedom.
  --
  Now these four inner habits do actually produce a transformation of the delicate human etheric body. By the first, discrimination between truth and appearance, the center in the head already
   p. 173
   described is formed and the center in the region of the larynx prepared. The actual development of these centers is of course dependent on the exercises in concentration described above; the latter make for development and the four attri butes bring to fruition. Once the center in the larynx has been prepared, the free control of the etheric body and its enclosure within a network covering, as explained above, results from the correct estimation of what is true as against what is apparent and non-essential. If the student acquires this faculty of estimation, the facts of the higher worlds will gradually become perceptible to him. But he must not think that he has to perform only such actions which appear significant when judged by the standard of a mere intellectual estimate. The most trifling action, every little thing accomplished, has something of importance in the great cosmic household, and it is merely a question of being aware of this importance. A correct estimation of the affairs of daily life is required, not an underestimation of them. The six virtues of which the third attri bute consists have already been dealt with; they are connected with the development of the twelve-petalled
   p. 174
   lotus in the region of the heart, and, as already indicated, it is to this center that the life-currents of the etheric body must be directed. The fourth attri bute, the longing for liberation, serves to bring to fruition the etheric organ in the heart region. Once this attri bute becomes an inner habit, the individual frees himself from everything which depends only upon the faculties of his own personal nature. He ceases to view things from his own separate standpoint, and the boundaries of his own narrow self fettering him to this point of view disappear. The secrets of the spiritual world gain access to his inner self. This is liberation. For those fetters constrain the individual to regard tings and beings in a manner corresponding to his own personal traits. It is from this personal manner of regarding things that the student must become liberated and free.
  It will be clear from the above that the instructions given in esoteric training exert a determining influence reaching the innermost depths of human nature. Such are the instructions regarding the four qualities mentioned above. They can be found in one form or another in all the great cosmogonies that take account of the
  --
  A completely new life opens out before the student when the development of his etheric body begins in the way described above, and at the proper time, in the course of his training, he must receive that enlightenment which enables him to adapt himself to this new existence. The sixteen-petalled lotus, for instance, enables him to perceive spiritual figures of a higher world. He must learn now how different these figures can be when caused by different objects or beings. In the first place, he must notice that his own thoughts and feelings exert a powerful influence on certain of these figures, on others little or no influence. One kind of figure alters immediately if the observer, upon seeing it, says to himself: "that is beautiful," and then in the course of his observation changes this thought to: "that is useful." It is characteristic of the forms proceeding from minerals or from artificial objects that they change
   p. 177
  --
  It has been shown how the student, by attaining this stage, becomes in truth a new being. He can now mature to still higher faculties and, by means of the life-currents of his etheric body, control the higher and actual life-element, thus attaining a high degree of independence from the restrictions of the physical body.
  Footnotes

1.05 - The Creative Principle, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  By their mutual ignorance the various theories of the beginning of things only reveal their fundamental ignorance of the causes of existence. And one may class among these theories even those speculations which under the philosophic name of Agnosticism avow their ignorance and affirm it expressly as their point of departure. For if they do not pose the question of the wherefore of the worlds, it is because in reality they hold it to be solved. Under their Agnosticism their lurks, tacitly and ill-disguised, the postulate of an unknown First Principle. Some, even, perceive clearly that it is impossible to escape from the necessity of this postulate and affirm under the name of the Unknowable such a First Principle. But even those which confine themselves to the assertion of the empirical fact of evolution, those in whose view the universe is nothing but a perpetual motion without cause or finality, will be found always ready to assert that this motion reposes on the existence of an eternal force or an eternal substance. For many physicists nowadays the notion of ether as an absolute substratum of all phenomena takes the place of a creative Deity.
  And, on the other hand, is not this formula of a creative God, which is the conclusion of the majority of the other theories, itself the most supremely agnostic of all formulas? Does it not unconsciously disguise in its appeal to the miracle, the mystery of the primal act, the very ignorance that the partisans of the Unknowable avow? Does not the affirmation of an eternal Being, creator of things, amount in fact to the statement of a principle of uncreated force or substance from which things must have arisen?

1.05 - THE HOSTILE BROTHERS - ARCHETYPES OF RESPONSE TO THE UNKNOWN, #Maps of Meaning, #Jordan Peterson, #Psychology
  Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal Sky
  With hideous ruin and combustion down
  --
  I remember a very good illustration given by one of Paulis pupils. You know that the theory of ether
  played a great role in the 17th and 18th centuries namely, that there was a kind of great air-like
  --
  the theory of ether was quite unnecessary, an old man with a white beard got up and in a quavering
  voice said: If ether does not exist, then everything is gone! This old man had unconsciously projected
  his idea of God into ether. ether was his god, and if he did not have that then there was nothing left. The
  man was naive enough to speak of his ideas, but all natural scientists have ultimate models of reality in
  --
  Such I created all the ethereal Powers
  And Spirits, both them who stood and them who failed;

1.060 - Tracing the Ultimate Cause of Any Experience, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  The recession of the effect into the cause does not mean the pressing of the effect towards the cause with the force of will. What the sutra tells us is that the effect should not remain as an effect it should become a part of the cause itself. It gets transformed. But it will remain as an effect if the effort has merely thrust the effect back into a bag and allowed it to remain as an effect for a long time. That would not be a successful practice, because the purpose of the reverting of the effect towards the cause, or in the direction of the cause, is to sublimate it to the extent possible to refine it and to make it ethereal, as far as possible. The grossness of it has to be lessened so that its vehemence also is reduced. It is difficult to bring about this transformation because, as I mentioned, all this implies an action contrary to the satisfaction of a desire. Inasmuch as the whole world moves towards the fulfilment of desire and seeks satisfaction and nothing short of it, any kind of effort contrary to it is unthinkable. Nobody would work against ones own satisfaction, but this seems to be a peculiar condition of the mind where such an effort, such an action, is called for. Therefore, it becomes very painful, and mostly unsuccessful.
  Thus, when the effect is brought to the cause, what is expected of us is not merely a psychological effort to trace the cause of the effect, but also to enliven it with a higher reason, by which it would be possible for us to know the defect or the error that is involved in the very manifestation of the desire. Why has the desire arisen? It is due to an error of perception. Nobody would like to continue in a state of error. If we merely exert to press the effect back to the cause by sheer force of will, that would not be successful, because it will be tantamount to putting an end to the possibility of satisfaction a most painful procedure, indeed. But, if the cause is probed into a little further in greater detail, we will realise that raga and dvesha have a deeper cause which is nescience, or avidya.

1.06 - Confutation Of Other Philosophers, #Of The Nature Of Things, #Lucretius, #Poetry
  Unto the stars of the ethereal world-
  Which in no wise at all the germs can do.

1.06 - Dhyana and Samadhi, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
  These ideas have to be understood in Dhyana, or meditation. We hear a sound. First, there is the external vibration; second, the nerve motion that carries it to the mind; third, the reaction from the mind, along with which flashes the knowledge of the object which was the external cause of these different changes from the ethereal vibrations to the mental reactions. These three are called in Yoga, Shabda (sound), Artha (meaning), and Jnna (knowledge). In the language of physics and physiology they are called the ethereal vibration, the motion in the nerve and brain, and the mental reaction. Now these, though distinct processes, have become mixed up in such a fashion as to become quite indistinct. In fact, we cannot now perceive any of these, we only perceive their combined effect, what we call the external object. Every act of perception includes these three, and there is no reason why we should not be able to distinguish them.
  When, by the previous preparations, it becomes strong and controlled, and has the power of finer perception, the mind should be employed in meditation. This meditation must begin with gross objects and slowly rise to finer and finer, until it becomes objectless. The mind should first be employed in perceiving the external causes of sensations, then the internal motions, and then its own reaction. When it has succeeded in perceiving the external causes of sensations by themselves, the mind will acquire the power of perceiving all fine material existences, all fine bodies and forms. When it can succeed in perceiving the motions inside by themselves, it will gain the control of all mental waves, in itself or in others, even before they have translated themselves into physical energy; and when he will be able to perceive the mental reaction by itself, the Yogi will acquire the knowledge of everything, as every sensible object, and every thought is the result of this reaction. Then will he have seen the very foundations of his mind, and it will be under his perfect control. Different powers will come to the Yogi, and if he yields to the temptations of any one of these, the road to his further progress will be barred. Such is the evil of running after enjoyments. But if he is strong enough to reject even these miraculous powers, he will attain to the goal of Yoga, the complete suppression of the waves in the ocean of the mind. Then the glory of the soul, undisturbed by the distractions of the mind, or motions of the body, will shine in its full effulgence; and the Yogi will find himself as he is and as he always was, the essence of knowledge, the immortal, the all-pervading.

1.06 - Dhyana, #Liber ABA, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  34:If you were to ask your man of science for his "theory of the real," he would tell you that the " ether," which cannot be perceived in any way by any of the senses, or detected by any instruments, and which possesses qualities which are, to use ordinary language, impossible, is very much more real than the chair he is sitting on. The chair is only one fact; and its existence is testified by one very fallible person. The ether is the necessary deduction from millions of facts, which have been verified again and again and checked by every possible test of truth. There is therefore no "a priori" reason for rejecting anything on the ground that it is not directly perceived by the senses.
  35:To turn to another point. One of our tests of truth is the vividness of the impression. An isolated event in the past of no great importance may be forgotten; and if it be in some way recalled, one may find one's self asking: "Did I dream it? or did it really happen?" What can never be forgotten is the "catastrophic". The first death among the people that one loves (for example) would never be forgotten; for the first time one would "realize" what one had previously merely "known". Such an experience sometimes drives people insane. Men of science have been known to commit suicide when their pet theory has been shattered. This problem has been discussed freely in "Science and Buddhism," "Time," "The Camel," and other papers. This much only need we say in this place that Dhyana has to be classed as the most vivid and catastrophic of all experiences. This will be confirmed by any one who has been there.

1.06 - The Ascent of the Sacrifice 2 The Works of Love - The Works of Life, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  And yet even the leading of the inmost psychic being is not found sufficient until it has succeeded in raising itself out of this mass of inferior Nature to the highest spiritual levels and the divine spark and flame descended here have rejoined themselves to their original fiery ether. For there is there no longer a spiritual consciousness still imperfect and half lost to itself in the thick sheaths of human mind, life and body, but the full spiritual consciousness in its purity, freedom and intense wideness. There, as it is the eternal Knower that becomes the Knower in us and mover and user of all knowledge, so it is the eternal All-Blissful who is the Adored attracting to himself the eternal divine portion of his being and joy that has gone out into the play of the universe, the infinite Lover pouring himself out in the multiplicity of his own manifested selves in a happy Oneness.
  All Beauty in the world is there the beauty of the Beloved, and all forms of beauty have to stand under the light of that eternal Beauty and submit themselves to the sublimating and transfiguring power of the unveiled Divine Perfection. All Bliss and Joy are there of the All-Blissful, and all inferior forms of enjoyment, happiness or pleasure are subjected to the shock of the intensity of its floods or currents and either they are broken to pieces as inadequate things under its convicting stress or compelled to transmute themselves into the forms of the Divine Ananda. Thus for the individual consciousness a Force is manifested which can deal sovereignly in it with the diminutions and degradations of the values of the Ignorance. At last it begins to be possible to bring down into life the immense reality and intense concreteness of the love and joy that are of the Eternal. Or at any rate it will be possible for our spiritual consciousness to raise itself out of mind into the supramental Light and Force and Vastness; there in the light and potency of the supramental Gnosis are the splendour and joy of a power of divine self-expression and selforganisation which could rescue and re-create even the world of the Ignorance into a figure of the Truth of the Spirit.

1.06 - The Desire to be, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  The law of formation of the being may thus find its symbolic equivalent in that of the formation of Matter; it is by a sort of condensation of universal forces imprisoning themselves in ever narrower limits of forms always more and more concrete that the elements of Matter are constructed as well as those of conscious individuality. And the primordial nebula whose condensation around centres of etheric revolution will form one day material worlds, is our image and translation in space of that progressive condensation of the formidable desire to be around more and more distinet and multiple centres of conscious polarisation and individual affirmation.
  So, being in its origin can be conceived as the immense desire, global and nebular, whose virtual elements, obeying the same law of mutual exclusion, are to form the indefinitely differentiated elements, the conflicting forces of the manifested world.

1.06 - The Four Powers of the Mother, #The Mother With Letters On The Mother, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  13:There are other great Personalities of the Divine Mother but they were more difficult to bring down and have not stood out in front with so much prominence in the evolution of the earth-spirit. There are among them Presences indispensable for the supramental realisation, - most of all one who is her Personality of that mysterious and powerful ecstasy and Ananda which flows from a supreme divine Love, the Ananda that alone can heal the gulf between the highest heights of the supramental spirit and the lowest abysses of Matter, the Ananda that holds the key of a wonderful divinest Life and even now supports from its secrecies the work of all the other Powers of the universe. But human nature bounded, egoistic and obscure is inapt to receive these great Presences or to support their mighty action. Only when the Four have founded their harmony and freedom of movement in the transformed mind and life and body, can those other rarer Powers manifest in the earth movement and the supramental action become possible. For when her Personalities are all gathered in her and manifested and their separate working has been turned into a harmonious unity and they rise in her to their supramental godheads, then is the Mother revealed as the supramental Mahashakti and brings pouring down her luminous transcendences from their ineffable ether. Then can human nature change into dynamic divine nature because all the elemental lines of the supramental Truth-consciousness and Truth-force are strung tog ether and the harp of life is fitted for the rhythms of the Eternal.
  14:If you desire this transformation, put yourself in the hands of the Mother and her Powers without cavil or resistance and let her do unhindered her work within you. Three things you must have, consciousness, plasticity, unreserved surrender. For you must be conscious in your mind and soul and heart and life and the very cells of your body, aware of the Mother and her Powers and their working; for although she can and does work in you even in your obscurity and your unconscious parts and moments, it is not the same thing as when you are in an awakened and living communion with her. All your nature must be plastic to her touch, - not questioning as the self-sufficient ignorant mind questions and doubts and disputes and is the enemy of its enlightenment and change; not insisting on its own movements as the vital in man insists and persistently opposes its refractory desires and ill-will to every divine influence; not obstructing and entrenched in incapacity, inertia and tamas as man's physical consciousness obstructs and clinging to its pleasure in smallness and darkness cries out against each touch that disturbs its soulless routine or its dull sloth or its torpid slumber. The unreserved surrender of your inner and outer being will bring this plasticity into all the parts of your nature; consciousness will awaken everywhere in you by constant openness to the Wisdom and Light, the Force, the Harmony and Beauty, the Perfection that come flowing down from above. Even the body will awake and unite at last its consciousness subliminal no longer to the supramental superconscious Force, feel all her powers permeating from above and below and around it and thrill to a supreme Love and Ananda.

1.06 - The Transformation of Dream Life, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy
   unchanged, in as far as dreams are distinguished from waking mental activity by the symbolical presentation of what they wish to express. No attentive observer of dream life can fail to detect this characteristic. For instance, a person may dream that he has caught some horrible creature, and he feels an unpleasant sensation in his hand. He wakes to discover that he is tightly grasping a corner of the blanket. The truth is not presented to the mind, except through the medium of a symbolical image. A man may dream that he is flying from some pursuer and is stricken with fear. On waking, he finds that he has been suffering, during sleep, from palpitations of the heart. Disquieting dreams can also be traced to indigestible food. Occurrences in the immediate vicinity may also reflect themselves symbolically in dreams. The striking of a clock may evoke the picture of a troop of soldiers marching by to the beat of drums. A falling chair may be the occasion of a whole dream drama in which the sound of the fall is reproduced as the report of a gun, and so forth. The more regulated dreams of esoteric students whose etheric body has begun its development retain this symbolical
   p. 191
  --
  Now, when the gate of the senses is closed during sleep, these other impressions begin to emerge confusedly, and the dreamer becomes aware of experiences in another world. But as already explained, these experiences consist at first merely of pictures engraved in the spiritual world by our mental activity attached to the physical senses. Only developed lotus flowers make it possible for manifestations not derived from the physical world to be imprinted in the same way. And then the etheric body, when developed, brings full knowledge concerning these engraved impressions derived from other worlds.
  This is the beginning of life and activity in a new world, and at this point esoteric training must set the student a twofold task. To begin with, he must learn to take stock of everything he observes in his dreams, exactly as though he were awake. Then, if successful in this, he is led to make the same observations during ordinary waking consciousness. He will so train his attention and receptivity for these spiritual impressions
  --
  When the student has thus raised himself to a life in the higher ego, or rather during his acquisition of the higher consciousness, he will learn how to stir to life the spiritual perceptive force in the organ of the heart and control it through the currents described in the foregoing chapter. This perceptive force is an element of higher sustainability, which proceeds from the organ in question and flows with beautiful radiance through the moving lotus flowers and the other channels of the developed etheric body. Thence it radiates outward into the surrounding spiritual world rendering it spiritually visible, just as the sunlight falling on the objects of the physical world renders them visible.
   p. 196
  --
  It is only when this organ of perception can be sent through the etheric body and into the outer world, to illumine the objects there, that the actual spiritual world, as composed of objects and beings, can be clearly perceived. Thus it will be seen that complete consciousness of an object in the spiritual world is only possible when man himself casts upon it the spiritual light. Now, the ego which creates this organ of perception does not dwell within, but outside the physical body, as already shown. The heart organ is only the spot where the individual man kindles, from without, this spiritual light organ. Were the latter kindled elsewhere, the spiritual perceptions produced by it would have no connection with the physical world. But all higher spiritual realities must be related to the physical world, and man himself must act as a channel through which they flow into it. It is precisely through the heart organ that the higher ego governs the physical self, making it into its instrument.
  Now, the feelings of an esoterically developed

1.070 - The Seven Stages of Perfection, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  At present, our body, our mind everything is in disharmony with nature. The earth, fire, water, air, ether every element is in disharmony with us. Thus we have hunger, thirst, heat, cold, fear of death, and all sorts of things. All these troubles arise on account of a dissonant attitude which the body-mind complex has adopted in respect of natural forces.
  We cannot agree with anything. We always disagree. That is why we are suffering. When we totally agree with everything in every respect, at all times, from the depths of our being, we become harmonious with all things. Then the powers of nature enter us. As a matter of fact, there are no such things as powers; these are only ways of expressing the experience of freedom. It is bondage that makes us feel that there are things outside us. There are no things outside us, really speaking. The things which appear to come to us as the result of achieving powers in yoga are only aspects of our own nature which we have forgotten, which we have lost sight of on account of avidya, or ignorance.

1.078 - Kumbhaka and Concentration of Mind, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  When this is acquired, this mastery is gained, some sort of a control is maintained over the pranic movements. Great consequences unexpected and unforeseen will follow. We will see strange phenomena appear within us as well as outside us if we gain mastery over the prana, because this kumbhaka that we are speaking of is nothing but another form of concentration of mind, as the mind is associated with the prana always. The object, or the ideal before oneself, is united with the meditating consciousness in a fast embrace, as it were, when the prana is withheld, and it is made to stick to ones consciousness inseparably. It becomes one with ones own self, and there is a sudden impact felt upon the object on account of the kumbhaka that we practise. The kumbhaka, the retention of the breath that we practise, coupled with concentration of mind on the object that is before us, will tell upon the nature of that object which we are thinking of, whatever be the distance of that object. It may be millions of miles away it makes no difference. This is because prana is omnipresent. It is like ether, and so it will produce an impact upon the object that we are thinking of in our meditation. It will stir it up into an activity of a desired manner, according to what we are contemplating in the mind. This effect cannot be produced if the prana is allowed to move hither and thither, distractedly. If we want quick success in meditation, the retention of the breath is absolutely necessary because it is this that impresses upon the object of meditation the necessity to commingle itself with the subject. Therefore, a combination of pranayama and dharana, concentration, is the most effective method of bringing about a union of oneself with the ideal of meditation.

1.07 - Akasa or the Ethereal Principle, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  object:1.07 - Akasa or the ethereal Principle
  class:chapter
  --
  7.Akasa or the ethereal Principle ~
  Several times while describing the elements I have said that they proceed from the ethereal principle. Accordingly, the ethereal principle is the ultimate, the supreme, the most powerful thing, something inconceivable, the ultimate cause of all things existing and created. To put it in a nutshell, it is the causal sphere. Therefore akasa is spaceless and timeless. It is the non-created, the incomprehensible, the indefinable.
  The various religions have given it the name of God. It is the fifth power, the original power. Everything has been created by it and is kept in balance by it. It is the origin and the purity of all thoughts and intentions, it is the causal world wherein the whole creation in subsisting on, beginning from the highest spheres down to the lowest ones.

1.07 - Bridge across the Afterlife, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  of the scene he or she has left and assume an ethereal shape;
  they experience wholeness.
  --
  call God; they no longer need their ethereal shape for they
  become spiritual energy; they experience a oneness, a com-

1.07 - Cybernetics and Psychopathology, #Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine, #Norbert Wiener, #Cybernetics
  that the legs or ether portions in contact with the ground will
  be crushed by its weight; a tree is limited by the mechanism

1.07 - The Infinity Of The Universe, #Of The Nature Of Things, #Lucretius, #Poetry
  The gliding fires of ether are alive-
  What still the primal germs nowise could do,
  --
  For this all ether quivers with bright stars,
  And the sun's flame along the blue is fed

1.089 - The Levels of Concentration, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  Ultimately, what is in the mind of Patanjali is that we have to meditate upon the various stages through which prakriti passes in the manifestation of this world, the grossest of them being the five elements earth, water, fire, air and ether of which every physical object is made. What he expects us to do is to resolve every object into the five elements. We do not see a son, a daughter, etc.; we see only the five elements, because they are resolvable into these five elements. The body of that person, the body of this object, or whatever it is, is capable of reduction to the level of the five physical elements of which they are constituted.
  Then Patanjali wants us to go above to the tanmatras, the subtle rudimentary principles out of which the physical elements are made. Then he wants us to go above to the cosmical principle of ahamkara tattva, the Universal I which affirms the manifestation of this cosmos on one side as the physical universe, and on the other side as the individual perceivers jivas. And so it goes up, stage by stage, until the supreme purusha is realised. That ultimate union is the aim of yoga; but for that we have to attain union by stages at lower levels. We have to attain this communion, or absorption, or samyama, at each level of practice. These different levels of absorption are called the bhumis.

1.08 - Adhyatma Yoga, #Amrita Gita, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism
  32. Behold the Lord in the effulgence of the sun, in the fragrance of flowers, in the brilliance of fire, in the sapidity of water, in the birds, beasts, in the air, ether, in the mind, intellect, in the heart, in the sound, in music.
  33. The Lord is seated equally in all beings. He is imperishable. He is the Supervisor, Supporter, Enjoyer. He who thus seeth, he really seeth.

1.08 - Origin of Rudra: his becoming eight Rudras, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  In the beginning of the Kalpa, as Brahmā purposed to create a son, who should be like himself, a youth of a purple complexion[2] appeared, crying with a low cry, and running about[3]. Brahmā, when he beheld him thus afflicted, said to him, "Why dost thou weep?" "Give me a name," replied the boy. "Rudra be thy name," rejoined the great father of all creatures: "be composed; desist from tears." But, thus addressed, the boy still wept seven times, and Brahmā therefore gave to him seven other denominations; and to these eight persons regions and wives and posterity belong. The eight manifestations, then, are named Rudra, Bhava, Śarva, Iśāna, Paśupati, Bhīma, Ugra, and Mahādeva, which were given to them by their great progenitor. He also assigned to them their respective stations, the sun, water, earth, air, fire, ether, the ministrant Brahman, and the moon; for these are their several forms[4]. The wives of the sun and the other manifestations, termed Rudra and the rest, were respectively, Suvercalā, Uṣā, Vikesī, Sivā, Svāhā, Diśā, Dīkṣā, and Rohinī. Now hear an account of their progeny, by whose successive generations this world has been peopled. Their sons, then, were severally, Sanaiścara (Saturn), Śukra (Venus), the fiery-bodied Mars, Manojava (Hanumān), Skanda, Svarga, Santāna, and Budha (Mercury).
  It was the Rudra of this description that married Satī, who abandoned her corporeal existence in consequence of the displeasure of Dakṣa[5]. She afterwards was the daughter of Himavān (the snowy mountains) by Menā; and in that character, as the only Umā, the mighty Bhava again married her[6]. The divinities Dhātā and Vidhātā were born to Bhrigu by Khyāti, as was a daughter, Śrī, the wife of Nārāyaṇa, the god of gods[7].
  --
  ga, and Vāyu agree with our text in the nomenclature of the Rudras, and their types, their wives, and progeny. The types are those which are enumerated in the Nāndī, p. 59 or opening benedictory verse, of Sakuntalā; and the passage of the Viṣṇu P. was found by Mons. Chezy on the envelope of his copy. He has justly corrected Sir Wm. Jones's version of the term ### 'the sacrifice is performed with solemnity;' as the word means, 'Brahmane officiant,' 'the Brāhmaṇ who is qualified by initiation (Dīkṣā) to conduct the rite.' These are considered as the bodies, or visible forms, of those modifications of Rudra which are variously named, and which, being praised in them, severally abstain from harming them: ### Vāyu P. The Bhāgavata, III. 12, has a different scheme, as usual; but it confounds the notion of the eleven Rudras, to whom the text subsequently adverts, with that of the eight here specified. These eleven it terms Manyu, Manu, Mahīnasa, Mahān, Siva, Ritadhwaja, Ugraretas, Bhava, Kāla, Vāmadeva, and Dhritavrata: their wives are, Dhī, Dhriti, Rasalomā, Niyut, Sarpī, Ilā, Ambikā, Irāvatī, Swadhā, Dīkṣā, Rudrānī: and their places are, the heart, senses, breath, ether, air, fire, water, earth, sun, moon, and tapas, or ascetic devotion. The same allegory or mystification characterises both accounts.
  [5]: See the story of Dakṣa's sacrifice at the end of the chapter.
  --
  "This being, then, knelt down upon the ground, and raising his hands respectfully to his head, said to Mahādeva, 'Sovereign of the gods, command what it is that I must do for thee.' To which Maheśvara replied, Spoil the sacrifice of Dakṣa.' Then the mighty Vīrabhadra, having heard the pleasure of his lord, bowed down his head to the feet of Prajāpati; and starting like a lion loosed from bonds, despoiled the sacrifice of Dakṣa, knowing that the had been created by the displeasure of Devī. She too in her wrath, as the fearful goddess Rudrakālī, accompanied him, with all her train, to witness his deeds. Vīrabhadra the fierce, abiding in the region of ghosts, is the minister of the anger of Devī. And he then created, from the pores of his skin, powerful demigods, the mighty attendants upon Rudra, of equal valour and strength, who started by hundreds and thousands into existence. Then a loud and confused clamour filled all the expanse of ether, and inspired the denizens of heaven with dread. The mountains tottered, and earth shook; the winds roared, and the depths of the sea were disturbed; the fires lost their radiance, and the sun grew pale; the planets of the firmament shone not, neither did the stars give light; the Ṛṣis ceased their hymns, and gods and demons were mute; and thick darkness eclipsed the chariots of the skies[5].
  "Then from the gloom emerged fearful and numerous forms, shouting the cry of battle; who instantly broke or overturned the sacrificial columns, trampled upon the altars, and danced amidst the oblations. Running wildly hither and thither, with the speed of wind, they tossed about the implements and vessels of sacrifice, which looked like stars precipitated from the heavens. The piles of food and beverage for the gods, which had been heaped up like mountains; the rivers of milk; the banks of curds and butter; the sands of honey and butter-milk and sugar; the mounds of condiments and spices of every flavour; the undulating knolls of flesh and other viands; the celestial liquors, pastes, and confections, which had been prepared; these the spirits of wrath devoured or defiled or scattered abroad. Then falling upon the host of the gods, these vast and resistless Rudras beat or terrified them, mocked and insulted the nymphs and goddesses, and quickly put an end to the rite, although defended by all the gods; being the ministers of Rudra's wrath, and similar to himself[6]. Some then made a hideous clamour, whilst others fearfully shouted, when Yajña was decapitated. For the divine Yajña, the lord of sacrifice, then began to fly up to heaven, in the shape of a deer; and Vīrabhadra, of immeasurable spirit, apprehending his power, cut off his vast head, after he had mounted into the sky[7]. Dakṣa the patriarch, his sacrifice being destroyed, overcome with terror, and utterly broken in spirit, fell then upon the ground, where his head was spurned by the feet of the cruel Vīrabhadra[8]. The thirty scores of sacred divinities were all presently bound, with a band of fire, by their lion-like foe; and they all then addressed him, crying, 'Oh Rudra, have mercy upon thy servants: oh lord, dismiss thine anger.' Thus spake Brahmā and the other gods, and the patriarch Dakṣa; and raising their hands, they said, 'Declare, mighty being, who thou art.' Vīrabhadra said, 'I am not a god, nor an Āditya; nor am I come hither for enjoyment, nor curious to behold the chiefs of the divinities: know that I am come to destroy the sacrifice of Dakṣa, and that I am called Vīrabhadra, the issue of the wrath of Rudra. Bhadrakālī also, who has sprung from the anger of Devī, is sent here by the god of gods to destroy this rite. Take refuge, king of kings, with him who is the lord of Umā; for better is the anger of Rudra than the blessings of other gods.'

1.08 - The Gods of the Veda - The Secret of the Veda, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  We have reached a subjective sense for yuvku. But what of vriktabarhishah? Does not barhih always mean in the Veda the sacred grass strewn as a seat for the gods? In the Brahmanas is it not so understood and have [we] not continually the expression barhishi sdata? I have no objection; barhis is certainly the seat of the Gods in the sacrifice, stritam nushak, strewn without a break. But barhis cannot originally have meant Kusha grass; for in that case the singular could only be used to indicate a single grass and for the seat of the Gods the plural barhnshi would have to be used,barhihshu sdata and not barhishi sdata.We have the right to go behind the Brahmanas and enquire what was the original sense of barhis and how it came to mean kusha grass. The root barh is a modified formation from the root brih, to grow, increase or expand, which we have in brihat. From the sense of spreading we may get the original sense of seat, and because the material spread was usually the Kusha grass, the word by a secondary application came to bear also that significance. Is this the only possible sense of barhis? No, for we find it interpreted also as sacrifice, as fire, as light or splendour, as water, as ether. We find barhana & barhas in the sense of strength or power and barhah or barham used for a leaf or for a peacocks tail. The base meaning is evidently fullness, greatness, expansion, power, splendour or anything having these attri butes, an outspread seat, spreading foliage, the outspread or splendid peacocks tail, the shining flame, the wide expanse of ether, the wide flow of water. If there were no other current sense of barhis, we should be bound to the ritualistic explanation. Even as it is, in other passages the ritualistic explanation may be found to stand or be binding; but is it obligatory here? I do not think it is even admissible. For observe the awkwardness of the expression, sut vriktabarhishah, wine of which the grass is stripped of its roots. Anything, indeed, is possible in the more artificial styles of poetry, but the rest of this hymn, though subtle & deep in thought, is sufficiently lucid and straightforward in expression. In such a style this strained & awkward expression is an alien intruder. Moreover, since every other expression in these lines is subjective, only dire necessity can compel us to admit so material a rendering of this single epithet. There is no such necessity. Barhis means fundamentally fullness, splendour, expansion or strength & power, & this sense suits well with the meaning we have found for yuvkavah. The sense of vrikta is very doubtful. Purified (cleared, separated) is a very remote sense of vrij or vrich & improbable. They can both mean divided, distributed, strewn, outspread, but although it is possible that vriktabarhishah means their fullness outspread through the system or distributed in the outpouring, this sense too is not convincing. Again vrijana in the Veda means strong, or as a noun, strength, energy, even a battle or fight. Vrikta may therefore [mean] brought to its highest strength. We will accept this sense as a provisional conjecture, to be confirmed or corrected by farther enquiry, and render the line The Soma distillings are replete with energy and brought to their highest fullness.
  But to what kind of distillings can such terms be applied? The meaning of Soma & the Vedic ideas about this symbolic wine must be examined by themselves & with a greater amplitude. All we need ask here [is], is there any indication in this hymn itself, that the Soma like everything else in the Sukta is subjective & symbolic? For, if so, our rendering, which at present is clouded with doubt & built on a wide but imperfectly solid foundation, will become firm & established. We have the clear suggestion in the next rik, the first of the three addressed to Indra. Sut ime tw yavah. Our question is answered. What has been distilled? Ime yavah. These life-forces, these vitalities. We shall find throughout the Veda this insistence on the life, vitality,yu or jva; we shall find that the Soma was regarded as a life-giving juice, a sort of elixir of life, or nectar of immortality, something at least that gave increased vitality, established health, prolonged youth. Of such an elixir it may well be said that it is yuvku, full of the force of youth in which the Aswins must specially delight, vriktabarhish, raised to its highest strength & fullness so that the gods who drink of it, become in the man in whom they enter and are seated, increased, vriddha, to the full height of their function and activity,the Aswins to their utmost richness of bounty, their intensest fiery activity. Nectarjuices, they are called, indavah, pourings of delight, yavah, life forces, amritsah, elixirs of immortality.
  --
  The word Brahma is a great word in Indian thought, the greatest of all the words in which Indian spirituality has expressed itself; it means in the Upanishads, in all later literature, the Brahman, the Supreme & the All, the Spirit of Things & the sole reality. We need not ask ourselves, as yet, wh ether this crowning conception has any place in the Vedic hymns; all we need ask is wh ether Brahman in the Rigveda means hymn & only hymn or wh ether it has some sense by which it could pass naturally into the great Vedantic conception of the supreme Spirit. My suggestion is that Brahma in the Rigveda means often the soul, the psuche of the Greeks, animus of the Romans, as distinguished from the manas, mens or . This sense it must have borne at some period of Indian thought antecedent to the Upanishads; otherwise we cannot explain the selection of a word meaning hymn or speech as the great fundamental word of Vedanta, the name of the supreme spiritual Reality. The root brih, from which it comes, means, as we have seen in connection with barhis, to be full, great, to expand. Because Brahman is like the ether extending itself in all being, because it fills the body & whole system with its presence, therefore the word brahma can be applied to the soul or to the supreme Spirit, according as the idea is that of the individual spirit or the supreme Existence. It is possible also that the Greek phren, mind, phronis, etc may have derived from this root brih (the aspirate being thrown back on the initial consonant),& may have conveyed originally the same association of ideas. But are we justified in supposing that this use of Brahma in the sense of soul dates back to the Rigveda? May it not have originated in the intermediate period between the period of the Vedic hymns and the final emergence of the Upanishads? In most passages brahma can mean either hymn or soul; in some it seems to demand the sole sense of hymn. Without going wholly into the question, I shall only refer the reader to the hymn ofMedhatithi Kanwa, to Brahmanaspati, the eighteenth of the first Mandala, and the epithets and functions there attri buted to the Master of the Brahman. My suggestion is that in the Rigveda Brahmanaspati is the master of the soul, primarily, the master of speech, secondarily, as the expression of the soul. The immense importance attached to Speech, the high place given to it by the Vedic Rishis not only as the expression of the soul, but that which best increases & expands its substance & power in our life & being, is one of the most characteristic features of Vedic thought. The soul expresses itself through conscious knowledge & in thought; speech stands behind thought & connects knowledge with its expression in idea. It is through Vak that the Lord creates the world.
  Brahmni therefore may mean either the soul-activities, as dhiyas means the mental activities, or it may mean the words of the mantra which express the soul. If we take it in the latter sense, we must refer it to the girah of the second rik, the mantras taken up by the Aswins into the understanding in order to prepare for action & creation. Indra is to come to these mantras and support them by the brilliant substance of a mental force richly varied in its effulgent manifestation, controlled by the understanding and driven forward to its task in various ways. But it seems to me that the rendering is not quite satisfactory. The main point in this hymn is not the mantras, but the Soma wine and the power that it generates. It is in the forces of the Soma that the Aswins are to rejoice, in that strength they are to take up the girah, in that strength they are to rise to their fiercest intensity of strength & delight. Indra, as mental power, arrives in his richly varied lustre; yhi chitrabhno. Here says the Rishi are these life-forces in the nectar-wine; they are purified in their minute parts & in their whole extent, for so I understand anwbhis tan ptsah; that is to say the distillings of Ananda or divine delight wh ether in the body as nectar, [or] in the subjective system as streams of life-giving delight are purified of all that impairs & weakens the life forces, purified both in their little several movements & in the whole extent of their stream. These are phenomena that can easily be experienced & understood in Yoga, and the whole hymn like many in the Veda reads to those who have experience like a practical account of a great Yogic internal movement accurate in its every detail. Streng thened, like the Aswins, by the nectar, Indra is to prepare the many-sided activity supported by the Visve devah; therefore he has to come not only controlled by the understanding, dhishnya, like the Aswins, but driven forward in various paths. For an energetic & many-sided activity is the object & for this there must be an energetic and many-sided but well-ordered action of the mental power. He has to come, thus manifold, thus controlled, to the spiritual activities generated by the Soma & the Aswins in the increasing soul (vghatah) full of the life-giving nectar, the immortalising Ananda, sutvatah. He has to come to those soul-activities, in this substance of mental brilliancy, yhi upa brahmni harivas. He has to come, ttujna, with a protective force, or else with a rapidly striving force & uphold by mind the joy of the Sacrificer in the nectar-offering, the offering of this Ananda to the gods of life & action & thought, sute dadhishwa na chanah. Protecting is, here, the best sense for ttujna. For Indra is not only to support swift & energetic action; that has already been provided for; he has also to uphold or bear in mind and by the power of mind the great & rapid delight which the Sacrificer is about to pour out into life & action, jvayja. The divine delight must not fail us in our activity; hostile shocks must not be allowed to disturb our established pleasure in the great offering. Therefore Indra must be there in his light & power to uphold and to protect.

1.08 - The Splitting of the Human Personality during Spiritual Training, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy
  DURING sleep no impressions are conveyed to the human soul through the instrumentality of the physical sense-organs. The impressions from the ordinary outer world do not find their way to the soul when in that condition. In certain respects the soul is actually outside the part of the human being-the so-called physical body-which in waking life is the medium for sense perceptions and thought. The soul is then only connected with the finer bodies (the etheric body and the astral body), which are beyond the scope of physical sense observation. But the activity of these finer bodies does not cease during sleep. Just as the physical body is connected and lives with the things and beings of the physical world, affecting them and being affected by them,
   p. 216

1.096 - Powers that Accrue in the Practice, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  Now, applying this technique, Patanjali tells us that we can control anything, wh ether it is visible or invisible, material or otherwise. The objective side, which is known as grahaya samapatti in the language of yoga, is intended to control the elements. The five elements which constitute this vast world, or rather the entire universe of physical nature, are supposed to be under ones control, provided samyama is practised on them. Earth, water, fire, air and ether these are the elements, and no one can have any control over them. They are the masters, as is well known. But they can be controlled, says the sutra, provided we establish a harmony with them and we become one with the law which operates them in the universe. This is called bhutajaya control of the elements.
  As I mentioned, these sutras are very terse and convey no meaning at all on a casual, superficial reading. To give only an instance, I am mentioning this sutra which gives us the method of controlling the elements: sthla svarpa skma avaya arthavatva sayamt bhtajaya (III.45). Such a terrific thing Patanjali explains in one small sutra. All the five elements are controlled by a practice which is mentioned in this sutra: sthla svarpa skma avaya arthavatva sayamt bhtajaya. We have to practise samyama on the elements. How is it done? This is what he is telling us in this sutra; and from the meaning of it we can find out why it is useless for a beginner.

1.098 - The Transformation from Human to Divine, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  Here, there is another interesting feature which one can notice. These experiences of encounter, or the presentations of delight or invitations, etc., which the sutra mentions, are not necessarily super-physical. They can also be physical. That is, even in this very physical world we may have such experiences, if our practice is intense enough. We will not be able to discover the secret behind the experiences in our life, and may like to pass them over as casual occurrences of the social life of a person. The experiences that we pass through in life even in this physical life, in this very life itself may be the reactions of our practice. The denizens which the sutra speaks of may press themselves forward through the physical counterparts of this very existence itself. They need not necessarily be ethereal beings as the Puranas speak of, such as Indra, etc.
  These personalities which the Puranas speak of do not necessarily come when we jump from the physical level to the higher level. They can press themselves into action even in this very level, so that we may not go to the higher realm at all. As a result, there can be very convenient situations and comfortable experiences of the senses as well as the ego, whose essential nature cannot easily be discovered. We will not know what is happening to us. We will only take it as a common presentation or an unusual experience of life. There is nothing usual in this world; everything is very peculiar. Everything has a novel character. Even these so-called usual experiences of our life even my sitting here and your listening to me is a very strange coordination of factors which are universal in their nature. They are not simply to be taken for an ordinary, simple social experience of human beings.

1.09 - Concentration - Its Spiritual Uses, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
  You may ask, what state would that be in which there is no mind, there is no knowledge? What we call knowledge is a lower state than the one beyond knowledge. You must always bear in mind that the extremes look very much alike. If a very low vibration of ether is taken as darkness, an intermediate state as light, very high vibration will be darkness again. Similarly, ignorance is the lowest state, knowledge is the middle state, and beyond knowledge is the highest state, the two extremes of which seem the same. Knowledge itself is a manufactured something, a combination; it is not reality.
  What is the result of constant practice of this higher concentration? All old tendencies of restlessness and dullness will be destroyed, as well as the tendencies of goodness too. The case is similar to that of the chemicals used to take the dirt and alloy off gold. When the ore is smelted down, the dross is burnt along with the chemicals. So this constant controlling power will stop the previous bad tendencies, and eventually, the good ones also. Those good and evil tendencies will suppress each other, leaving alone the Soul, in its own splendour untrammelled by either good or bad, the omnipresent, omnipotent, and omniscient. Then the man will know that he had neither birth nor death, nor need for heaven or earth. He will know that he neither came nor went, it was nature which was moving, and that movement was reflected upon the soul. The form of the light reflected by the glass upon the wall moves, and the wall foolishly thinks it is moving. So with all of us; it is the Chitta constantly moving making itself into various forms, and we think that we are these various forms. All these delusions will vanish. When that free Soul will comm and not pray or beg, but comm and then whatever It desires will be immediately fulfilled; whatever It wants It will be able to do. According to the Sankhya philosophy, there is no God. It says that there can be no God of this universe, because if there were one, He must be a soul, and a soul must be either bound or free. How can the soul that is bound by nature, or controlled by nature, create? It is itself a slave. On the other hand, why should the Soul that is free create and manipulate all these things? It has no desires, so it cannot have any need to create. Secondly, it says the theory of God is an unnecessary one; nature explains all. What is the use of any God? But Kapila teaches that there are many souls, who, though nearly attaining perfection, fall short because they cannot perfectly renounce all powers. Their minds for a time merge in nature, to re-emerge as its masters. Such gods there are. We shall all become such gods, and, according to the Sankhyas, the God spoken of in the Vedas really means one of these free souls. Beyond them there is not an eternally free and blessed Creator of the universe. On the other hand, the Yogis say, "Not so, there is a God; there is one Soul separate from all other souls, and He is the eternal Master of all creation, the ever free, the Teacher of all teachers." The Yogis admit that those whom the Sankhyas call "the merged in nature" also exist. They are Yogis who have fallen short of perfection, and though, for a time, debarred from attaining the goal, remain as rulers of parts of the universe.

1.09 - Man - About the Body, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  Now the question will arise were and how akasa or the etheric principle occurs in the grossly material body. In doing some deeper thinking, everybody will be able to answer this question by himself, for the etheric principle is hidden in its most grossly material form in the blood and in the seed and in the reciprocal action of these two substances in the vital matter or in the vitality.
  As we have learned, the fiery element produces the electrical and the water element the magnetic fluid. Each of these fluids has two-pole radiations, an active and a passive one, and the mutual influences and interactions of all the radiations of the four poles resemble a tetra-polar magnet, which is identical to the secret of the Tetragrammaton, the Yod-He-Vau-He of the quabbalists. Therefore the electromagnetic fluid in the human body, in its emanation, is the animal magnetism, the Od or whatever name it has been given. The right side of the human body is active-electric, provided that the individual be right- handed. The left side is passivemagnetic. As for the left-handed person, the contrary will take place. The emanative power of this electromagnetic fluid is dependent on the capacitance, i.e., the intensity of action of the elements inside the body. The more harmoniously this action of the elements is going on in the body, all the stronger and purer this emanation will be.

1.09 - Sri Aurobindo and the Big Bang, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  scriptures: As in the immobile ether arises, first sign of
  the creative impulse of Nature, vibration, Shabda, and this
  vibration is a line of etheric movement, is ether contacting
   ether in its own field of mobile self-force and that primal stir
  --
  bindo ether was space and may become so again in phys
  ics.) But the point is that what at the time was a novel theory
  --
  terms like anomalous base and the etheric movement of
  vibration bring to mind the quantum theory according to

1.09 - The Guardian of the Threshold, #Knowledge of the Higher Worlds, #Rudolf Steiner, #Theosophy
  THE important experiences marking the student's ascent into the higher worlds include his meeting with the Guardian of the Threshold. Strictly speaking, there are two Guardians: a lesser and a greater. The student meets the lesser Guardian when the threads connecting willing, feeling, and thinking within the finer astral and etheric bodies begin to loosen, in the way described in the foregoing chapter. The greater Guardian is encountered when this sundering of the connections extends to the physical parts of the body, that is, at first to the brain. The lesser Guardian is a sovereign being. He does not come into existence, as far as the student is concerned, until the latter has reached the requisite stage of
   p. 232

1.09 - The Pure Existent, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  9:Necessarily, when we say it is without them, we mean that it exceeds them, that it is something into which they pass in such a way as to cease to be what we call form, quality, quantity and out of which they emerge as form, quality and quantity in the movement. They do not pass away into one form, one quality, one quantity which is the basis of all the rest, - for there is none such, - but into something which cannot be defined by any of these terms. So all things that are conditions and appearances of the movement pass into That from which they have come and there, so far as they exist, become something that can no longer be described by the terms that are appropriate to them in the movement. Therefore we say that the pure existence is an Absolute and in itself unknowable by our thought although we can go back to it in a supreme identity that transcends the terms of knowledge. The movement, on the contrary, is the field of the relative and yet by the very definition of the relative all things in the movement contain, are contained in and are the Absolute. The relation of the phenomena of Nature to the fundamental ether which is contained in them, constitutes them, contains them and yet is so different from them that entering into it they cease to be what they now are, is the illustration given by the Vedanta as most nearly representing this identity in difference between the Absolute and the relative. Necessarily, when we speak of things passing into that from which they have come, we are using the language of our temporal consciousness and must guard ourselves against its illusions. The emergence of the movement from the Immutable is an eternal phenomenon and it is only because we cannot conceive it in that beginningless, endless, ever-new moment which is the eternity of the Timeless that our notions and perceptions are compelled to place it in a temporal eternity of successive duration to which are attached the ideas of an always recurrent beginning, middle and end.
  10:But all this, it may be said, is valid only so long as we accept the concepts of pure reason and remain subject to them. But the concepts of reason have no obligatory force. We must judge of existence not by what we mentally conceive, but by what we see to exist. And the purest, freest form of insight into existence as it is shows us nothing but movement. Two things alone exist, movement in Space, movement in Time, the former objective, the latter subjective. Extension is real, duration is real, Space and Time are real. Even if we can go behind extension in Space and perceive it as a psychological phenomenon, as an attempt of the mind to make existence manageable by distributing the indivisible whole in a conceptual Space, yet we cannot go behind the movement of succession and change in Time. For that is the very stuff of our consciousness. We are and the world is a movement that continually progresses and increases by the inclusion of all the successions of the past in a present which represents itself to us as the beginning of all the successions of the future, - a beginning, a present that always eludes us because it is not, for it has perished before it is born. What is, is the eternal, indivisible succession of Time carrying on its stream a progressive movement of consciousness also indivisible.2 Duration then, eternally successive movement and change in Time, is the sole absolute. Becoming is the only being.

11.01 - The Eternal Day The Souls Choice and the Supreme Consummation, #Savitri, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  A subtler and profounder ether's field
  And mightier scheme than heavenliest sense can give.
  --
  And the star-entangled ether is his hold,
  Expressed himself with Matter for his speech:
  --
  Touched by the ethereal raiment of the winds,
  Thy wonder-rounds of music I have trod,
  --
  Arriving through a vague ethereal mist
  Out of which all things form that move in space,
  --
  The flesh and nerves of a strange ethereal joy
  And mortal bodies of immortality.
  --
  And felt the stir of all ethereal space.
  Pursuing her in her fall, implacably sweet,

1.1.02 - Sachchidananda, #Letters On Yoga I, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  It is the statement of the Upanishad that there is an ether of
  Ananda in which all brea the and live; if it were not there, none could brea the or live.

1.107 - The Bestowal of a Divine Gift, #The Study and Practice of Yoga, #Swami Krishnananda, #Yoga
  We should not have a desire even for such enlightenments as all-knowingness. Let me be all-knowing, all-powerful even such desires should not be there. Only then, this dharma-megha comes. We are asked not to allow even the finest and subtlest form of the ego to work even in this high or lofty plane because the ego, when it starts working, can take a very fine ethereal shape. The desire to know all things has a subtle background of the presence of ones individuality, though it is a far, far advanced form of individuality. And the power which follows, which is called omnipotence, is also of a similar character. Of course, we do not know what actually happens when there is omniscience or omnipotence. We have to have it, and only then can we know what it is. But before it comes, it looks like a possession or an endowment which would exalt a person to a lofty degree of status in the universe; and all ideas of status must be shut down.
  Even the enlightenment in respect of objects such as insight the siddhis mentioned in the Vibhuti Pada, the powers of different types, and the insights and intuitions which may flash forth in respect of the different things of the universe should not enchant the mind even in the least, even in the minimum, because as we go higher and higher, the delights are also subtler and subtler. The joys that we have in this world are gross and crude, but even they are enough to catch us and entangle us. But when we go higher, the joys are subtler. They can catch us more powerfully than the joys of this earth, which are crude and impeded by the physical tabernacle.

1.10 - Conscious Force, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  2:Matter is the presentation of force which is most easily intelligible to our intelligence, moulded as it is by contacts in Matter to which a mind involved in material brain gives the response. The elementary state of material Force is, in the view of the old Indian physicists, a condition of pure material extension in Space of which the peculiar property is vibration typified to us by the phenomenon of sound. But vibration in this state of ether is not sufficient to create forms. There must first be some obstruction in the flow of the Force ocean, some contraction and expansion, some interplay of vibrations, some impinging of force upon force so as to create a beginning of fixed relations and mutual effects. Material Force modifying its first ethereal status assumes a second, called in the old language the aerial, of which the special property is contact between force and force, contact that is the basis of all material relations. Still we have not as yet real forms but only varying forces. A sustaining principle is needed. This is provided by a third self-modification of the primitive Force of which the principle of light, electricity, fire and heat is for us the characteristic manifestation. Even then, we can have forms of force preserving their own character and peculiar action, but not stable forms of Matter. A fourth state characterised by diffusion and a first medium of permanent attractions and repulsions, termed picturesquely water or the liquid state, and a fifth of cohesion, termed earth or the solid state, complete the necessary elements.
  3:All forms of Matter of which we are aware, all physical things even to the most subtle, are built up by the combination of these five elements. Upon them also depends all our sensible experience; for by reception of vibration comes the sense of sound; by contact of things in a world of vibrations of Force the sense of touch; by the action of light in the forms hatched, outlined, sustained by the force of light and fire and heat the sense of sight; by the fourth element the sense of taste; by the fifth the sense of smell. All is essentially response to vibratory contacts between force and force. In this way the ancient thinkers bridged the gulf between pure Force and its final modifications and satisfied the difficulty which prevents the ordinary human mind from understanding how all these forms which are to his senses so real, solid and durable can be in truth only temporary phenomena and a thing like pure energy, to the senses non-existent, intangible and almost incredible, can be the one permanent cosmic reality.

1.10 - Theodicy - Nature Makes No Mistakes, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  matter of ethereal experiences, hearing bells or hovering a
  foot above the ground. Especially Sri Aurobindos Integral

1.10 - The Roughly Material Plane or the Material World, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  Everything on our earth, all thriving, ripening, life and death depend on the statements made in these chapters. Hence the adept fully conceives that physical death does not mean disintegration, passing into nothingness, but what we consider as annihilation or death is nothing else but the transition from one stage into another. The material world has emerged from the principle of akasa, i.e., the known ether. The world also is controlled and kept by this same principle. Therefore it is understandable that it is the transmission of the electric or the magnetic fluid on which are based all the inventions connected with the communication at distance, through the ether, such as radio, telegraphy, telephony, television and all the other invent ions to be achieved in the future, with the aid of the electric or magnetic fluid in the ether. But the fundamental principles and laws were, are and always will be the same.
  A very extensive and exciting book could be written solely about the effects of the various magnetic and electric fluids on the grossly material plane. But the interested reader who has decided to walk on the path of initiation and will not be deterred by the study of the principles, will find out by himself all about the varieties of powers and properties. The fruits and the insights he earned, in the course of his studies, will indemnify him amply.

1.10 - The Scolex School, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
    "One day quite soon an entirely different kind of electricity will be discovered which will bring as many profound changes into human living as the first type did. This new electricity will move in a finer ether than does our familiar kind, and thus will be nearer in vibration to the fifth dimension, to the innermost source of things, that realm of 'withinness' wherein all is held poised by a colossal force, that same force which is packed within the atom. Electricity number two will be unthinkably more powerful than our present electricity number one." (V.S. Alder, The Fifth Dimension, p. 132)
  Exhausted; I must restring my bow.

1.1.1.04 - Joy of Poetic Creation, #Letters On Poetry And Art, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Poetry takes its start from any plane of the consciousness, but, like all art, one might even say all creation, it must be passed through the vital, the life-soul, gather from it a certain force for manifestation if it is to be itself alive. And as there is always a joy in creation, that joy along with a certain enthousiasmosnot enthusiasm, if you please, but an invasion and exultation of creative force and creative ecstasy, nandamaya veamust always be there, whatever the source. But where the inspiration comes from the linking of the vital creative instrument to a deeper psychic experience, that imparts another kind of intensive originality and peculiar individual power, a subtle and delicate perfection, a linking on to something that is at once fine to etheriality and potent, intense as fire yet full of sweetness. But this is exceedingly rare in its absolute quality,poetry as an expression of mind and life is common, poetry of the mind and life touched by the soul and given a spiritual fineness is to be found but more rare; the pure psychic note in poetry breaks through only once in a way, in a brief lyric, a sudden line, a luminous passage. It was indeed because this linking-on took place that the true poetic faculty suddenly awoke in you,for it was not there before, at least on the surface. The joy you feel, therefore, was no doubt partly the simple joy of creation, but there comes also into it the joy of expression of the psychic being which was seeking for an outlet since your boyhood. It is this inner expression that makes the writing of poetry a part of sadhana.
  29 May 1931

1.11 - Delight of Existence - The Problem, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  0:For who could live or brea the if there were not this delight of existence as the ether in which we dwell?
  0:From Delight all these beings are born, by Delight they exist and grow, to Delight they return. Taittiriya Upanishad.1

1.11 - Powers, #Raja-Yoga, #Swami Vivkenanda, #unset
  There is the Akasha, the ether, and the instrument, the ear. By making Samyama on them the Yogi gets supernormal hearing; he hears everything. Anything spoken or sounded miles away he can hear.
  43. By making Samyama on the relation between the Akasha and the body and becoming light as cotton-wool etc., through meditation on them, the yogi goes through the skies.

1.1.1 - Text, #Kena and Other Upanishads, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
    12.: He in the same ether came upon the Woman, even upon Her who shines out in many forms, Uma daughter of the snowy summits. To her he said, "What was this mighty Daemon?"
  --- FOURTH PART:

1.11 - The Influence of the Sexes on Vegetation, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  the sexual instinct, it is from no high idealism, no ethereal
  aspiration after moral purity, but for the sake of some ulterior yet

1.11 - The Kalki Avatar, #Preparing for the Miraculous, #George Van Vrekhem, #Integral Yoga
  too ethereally-minded disciples, when or where did he do
  the avataric work about which he wrote, for instance, in his

1.11 - The Seven Rivers, #The Secret Of The Veda, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  It is evident that Vasishtha is speaking here of the same waters, the same streams that Vamadeva hymns, the waters that rise from the ocean and flow into the ocean, the honeyed wave that rises upward from the sea, from the flood that is the heart of things, streams of the clarity, ghr.tasya dharah.. They are the floods of the supreme and universal conscious existence in which Varuna moves looking down on the truth and the falsehood of mortals, - a phrase that can apply neither to the descending rains nor to the physical ocean. Varuna in the Veda is not an Indian Neptune, neither is he precisely, as the European scholars at first imagined, the Greek Ouranos, the sky. He is the master of an ethereal wideness, an upper ocean, of the vastness of being, of its purity; in that vastness, it is elsewhere said, he has made paths in the pathless infinite along which Surya, the
  Sun, the Lord of Truth and the Light can move. Thence he looks down on the mingled truths and falsehoods of the mortal consciousness. And we have farther to note that these divine waters are those which Indra has cloven out and made to flow upon the earth, - a description which throughout the Veda is applied to the seven rivers.

1.11 - The Soul or the Astral Body, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  Through subtler vibrations of the elements, through the electric and the magnetic fluid of their polarity, the man proper, the soul has proceeded from the akasa principle or the finer etheric vibrations. In the same way as the elements are functioning in the material body, the soul or the so-called astral body will behave. The four-pole magnet, with its specific qualities, connects or amalgamates the soul with the body. This amalgamation takes place, with analogy to the body, by the electromagnetic influence of the elements. We, the adepts, call the astral matrix or life this active behavior of the elements or the so-called electromagnetic fluid of the soul. This astral matrix or the so-called electromagnetic fluid of the soul is not identical with the occultists aura I shall speak of later. The astral matrix or the electromagnetic fluid is the connecting link between the body and soul. The fiery principle causes in the soul what is constructive, the principle of water causes the animating, the principle of air is balancing, and the earth principle causes what is thriving, compound and preserving in the soul. The astral body is performing exactly the same functions as the material body.
  Man has been fitted with the five senses corresponding to the five elements, of which the astral body or the soul, with the help of the bodily senses, makes use to receive perceptions of the physical world. Our immortal spirit realizes this receiving and operating of the five senses through the astral and the material body. Why this spirit is immortal will be explained in a later chapter. Without any activity of the spirit in the soul, the astral body would be without life and dissolve itself into its components.
  --
  As it has been said before, according to the elements, the soul is divided in exactly the same way as the body. The psychic functions, powers and properties also have their seat respectively in the soul and certain centres analogous to all the elements, which the Indian philosophy designates as charkas. The awakening of these charkas is named Kundalini yoga in the Indian doctrine. I desist, however, from a comment on these lotuses or centres, because the student interested in this problem will find all the necessary enlightenment in the respective literature. I will touch on it only slightly and say that the lowest centre is the so-called Muladhara or earth centre, having its seat in the lowest part of the soul. The next centre is that of the water, with its seat in the region of the sexual organs and designated in the Indian terminology as Swadisthana. The centre of fire, as centre of the soul, is in the umbilical region and is named Manipura. The centre of air as compensatory element is in the region of the heart and is termed Anahata. The centre of the ether or principle of akasa is found in the region of the neck and is named Visudha. Another centre, that of volition and intellect, is between the eyebrows and is called Ajna. As the supreme and most divine centre is regarded as the thousand-petaled lotus, named Sahasrara from which derive and are influenced all the other powers of the centres. Beginning at the top, from the supreme centre, along the neck, down to the lowest centre, like a channel runs the socalled Susumna or the akasa-principle already known to us, liable for the connection and control of the entire centres. Later on, I shall come back to the problem of the evocation of the snake-power in the single centres. In describing the soul, the principal task will be to establish the connection of the elements with their positive and negative polarities in the soul, and give a neat idea of it. One will see that the body, as well as the soul, with their effects are alive and working, that their preservation and destruction are subject to the immutable laws of the four-pole magnet, i.e., the secret of the tetragrammaton, and governed by them. If he who is to be initiated will attentively meditate about it, he will win a clear idea not only of the bodily functions, but also of those of the soul, and come to a sound notion of the mutual interaction according to the original laws.

1.1.2 - Commentary, #Kena and Other Upanishads, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  five elemental states of Matter, the ethereal, aerial, fiery, liquid
  and solid; everything that has to do with our material existence
  --
  the God of light, not ether and his regions; for these are only
  conditions of vision and hearing.
  --
  the physical form or object created in Matter by etheric sound.
  Thus we see that the theory of creation by the Word which
  --
  material creation by sound-vibration in the ether correspond
  and are two logical poles of the same idea. They both belong to
  --
  themselves as five elemental conditions of substance, the etheric,
  atmospheric, igneous, liquid and solid; and the rhythm of vibration is seen by them as sabda, sound, the basis of hearing,
  --
  and Vayu; he pursues his way through the highest ether of the
  pure mentality and there he approaches the Woman, the manyshining, Uma Haimavati; from her he learns that this Daemon

1.12 - Dhruva commences a course of religious austerities, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  Whilst lowly bowing, with his hands uplifted to his forehead, Govinda, the lord of the world, touched the son of Uttānapāda with the tip of his conch-shell, and immediately the royal youth, with a countenance sparkling with delight, praised respectfully the imperishable protector of living beings. "I venerate," exclaimed Dhruva, "him whose forms are earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect, the first element (Aha
  kāra), primeval nature, and the pure, subtile, all-pervading soul, that surpasses nature. Salutation to that spirit that is void of qualities; that is supreme over all the elements and all the objects of sense, over intellect, over nature and spirit. I have taken refuge with that pure form of thine, oh supreme, which is one with Brahma, which is spirit, which transcends all the world. Salutation to that form which, pervading and supporting all, is designated Brahma, unchangeable, and contemplated by religious sages. Thou art the male with a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, who traversest the universe, and passest ten inches beyond its contact[2]. Whatever has been, or is to be, that, Puruṣottama, thou art. From thee sprang Virāt, Svarāt, Samrāt, and Adhipuruṣa[3]. The lower, and upper, and middle parts of the earth are not independent of thee: from thee is all this universe, all that has been, and that shall be: and all this world is in thee, assuming this universal form[4]. From thee is sacrifice derived, and all oblations, and curds, and ghee, and animals of either class (domestic or wild). From thee the Rig-Veda, the Sāma, the metres of the Vedas, and the Yajur-Véda are born. Horses, and cows having teeth in one jaw only[5], proceed from thee; and from thee come goats, sheep, deer. Brahmans sprang from thy mouth; warriors from thy arms; Vaisyas from thy thighs; and Śūdras from thy feet. From thine eyes come the sun; from thine ears, the wind; and from thy mind, the moon: the vital airs from thy central vein; and fire from thy mouth: the sky from thy navel; and heaven from thy head: the regions from thine ears; the earth from thy feet. All this world was derived from thee. As the wide-spreading Nyagrodha (Indian fig) tree is compressed in a small seed[6], so, at the time of dissolution, the whole universe is comprehended in thee as its germ. As the Nyagrodha germinates from the seed, and becomes first a shoot, and then rises into loftiness, so the created world proceeds from thee, and expands into magnitude. As the bark and leaves of the Plantain tree are to be seen in its stem, so thou art the stem of the universe, and all things are visible in thee. The faculties of the intellect, that are the cause of pleasure and of pain, abide in thee as one with all existence; but the sources of pleasure and of pain, singly or blended, do not exist in thee, who art exempt from all qualities[7]. Salutation to thee, the subtile rudiment, which, being single, becomes manifold, Salutation to thee, soul of existent things, identical with the great elements. Thou, imperishable, art beheld in spiritual knowledge as perceptible objects, as nature, as spirit, as the world, as Brahmā, as Manu, by internal contemplation. But thou art in all, the element of all; thou art all, assuming every form; all is from thee, and thou art from thyself. I salute thee, universal soul: glory be to thee. Thou art one with all things: oh lord of all, thou art present in all things. What can I say unto thee? thou knowest all that is in the heart, oh soul of all, sovereign lord of all creatures, origin of all things. Thou, who art all beings, knowest the desires of all creatures. The desire that I cerished has been gratified, lord, by thee: my devotions have been crowned with success, in that I have seen thee."

1.12 - God Departs, #Twelve Years With Sri Aurobindo, #Nirodbaran, #Integral Yoga
  I need not add that the Samadhi of Sri Aurobindo is not just a conventional place of pilgrimage. Every part of it is vibrant with the Consciousness-Force that the Master embodied during his unparalleled lifelong sadhana. From the oldest to the youngest, devotees see his glorious face, hear his ethereal voice, receive his answer to their prayers and become filled with something that cannot be mathematically proved, but subjectively apprehended. Yogis, saints and sadhus through the ages have done miracles; the Samadhi does the same in a different way; it is a Presence that radiates a constant stream of Peace, Light, Force, and responds to all our soul-needs when we approach it with faith and devotion.
  [1]Savitri, The Book of Fate, Canto II.

1.12 - The Astral Plane, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  The astral plane, often designated as the fourth dimensio n, has not been created out of the four elements, but it is a density-degree of the akasa principle, consequently of all that up to now, I the material world occurred, is actually occurring and will occur, and has its origin, regulation and existence. As said before, akasa in its most subtle form is the ether, well known to all of us, in which, amongst other vibrations, electric as well as magnetic ones are propagating. Consequently this vibration-sphere is the origin of light, sound, colour , rhythm, and life in all tings created. As akasa is the origin of all existing things, all that ever was produced, is being produced and will be produced in the future is reflected in it. Therefore, in the astral plane there is to be seen an emanation of the eternal, having neither a beginning nor an end, as it is timeless and spaceless. The adept who sees his way about this plane may find everything here, no matter if the point in question be in the past, the present or the future. How far this perception will reach depends on the degree of his perfection.
  Occultists and spiritualists and most of religions name the astral pane the World beyond. However, the adept knows very well that there is no such thing as Hence and

1.12 - THE FESTIVAL AT PNIHTI, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  M. was greatly amazed. He thought: "The Upanishads describe Brahman as permeating the universe and the ether. Has that Brahman, as sound, touched the Master's body?"
  After a time Sri Ramakrishna began to converse again.

1.13 - BOOK THE THIRTEENTH, #Metamorphoses, #Ovid, #Poetry
  Within the verge of your etherial dome:
  Yet still may plead some merit, if my light

1.13 - The Spirit, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  All the other qualities of the spirit are based upon these four original principles. The typical part of the fifth, say the etheric principle (akasa) manifests itself, in the highest aspect, in the faith and, in the lowest form, in the instinct of self-preservation. Each of these mentioned four elemental principles has many other aspects corresponding to the law of analogy of the polarity or the positive and negative elements. All of them tog ether form the ego or the spirit. For this reason, we can make the fiery principle responsible for strength, power and passion; memory, power of discrimination and judgment are ascribed to the air principle, conscience and intuition to the principle of water, egotism and the instincts of self-preservation and propagation to the earthy part of the spirit.
  It would be too long to quote all the properties of the spirit with regard to the elements. The incipient adept can enlarge these qualities by serious studies and deep meditation, with respect to the analogous laws of the four-pole magnet. This happens to be a very meritorious work which never ought to be neglected, because it will lead to great success and secure results.

1.14 - Descendants of Prithu, #Vishnu Purana, #Vyasa, #Hinduism
  "We bow to him whose glory is the perpetual theme of every speech; him first, him last; the supreme lord of the boundless world; who is primeval light; who is without his like; indivisible and infinite; the origin of all existent things, movable or stationary. To that supreme being who is one with time, whose first forms, though he be without form, are day and evening and night, be adoration. Glory to him, the life of all living things, who is the same with the moon, the receptacle of ambrosia, drunk daily by the gods and progenitors: to him who is one with the sun, the cause of heat and cold and rain, who dissipates the gloom, and illuminates the sky with his radiance: to him who is one with earth, all-pervading, and the asylum of smell and other objects of sense, supporting the whole world by its solidity. We adore that form of the deity Hari which is water, the womb of the world, the seed of all living beings. Glory to the mouth of the gods, the eater of the Havya; to the eater of the Kavya, the mouth of the progenitors; to Viṣṇu, who is identical with fire; to him who is one with air, the origin of ether, existing as the five vital airs in the body, causing constant vital action; to him who is identical with the atmosphere, pure, illimitable, shapeless, separating all creatures. Glory to Kṛṣṇa, who is Brahmā in the form of sensible objects, who is ever the direction of the faculties of sense. We offer salutation to that supreme Hari who is one with the senses, both subtle and substantial, the recipient of all impressions, the root of all knowledge: to the universal soul, who, as internal intellect, delivers the impressions received by the senses to soul: to him who has the properties of Prakriti; in whom, without end, rest all things; from whom all things proceed; and who is that into which all things resolve. We worship that Puruṣottoma, the god who is pure spirit, and who, without qualities, is ignorantly considered as endowed with qualities. We adore that supreme Brahma, the ultimate condition of Viṣṇu, unproductive, unborn, pure, void of qualities, and free from accidents; who is neither high nor low, neither bulky nor minute, has neither shape, nor colour, nor shadow, nor substance, nor affection, nor body; who is neither etherial nor susceptible of contact, smell, or taste; who has neither eyes, nor ears, nor motion, nor speech, nor breath, nor mind, nor name, nor race, nor enjoyment, nor splendour; who is without cause, without fear, without error, without fault, undecaying, immortal, free from passion, without sound, imperceptible, inactive, independent of place or time, detached from all investing properties; but (illusively) exercising irresistible might, and identified with all beings, dependent upon none. Glory to that nature of Viṣṇu which tongue can not tell, nor has eye beheld."
  Thus glorifying Viṣṇu, and intent in meditation on him, the Pracetasas passed ten thousand years of austerity in the vast ocean; on which Hari, being pleased with them, appeared to them amidst the waters, of the complexion of the full-blown lotus leaf. Beholding him mounted on the king of birds, Garuḍa, the Pracetasas bowed down their heads in devout homage; when Viṣṇu said to them, "Receive the boon you have desired; for I, the giver of good, am content with you, and am present." The Pracetasas replied to him with reverence, and told him that the cause of their devotions was the command of their father to effect the multiplication of mankind. The god, having accordingly granted to them the object of their prayers, disappeared, and they came up from the water.

1.14 - The Mental Plane, #Initiation Into Hermetics, #Franz Bardon, #Occultism
  Simultaneously, the mental sphere is the sphere of thoughts which have their origin in the world of ideas, consequently in the spiritual akasa. Each thought is preceded by a basic idea which, according to its property, accepts a definite form, and arrives to the consciousness of the ego through the etheric principle, consequently the mental matrix, as expression of the thought in the shape of a plastic picture. Therefore Man himself is not the founder of the thoughts, but the origin of each thought is to be sought in the supreme akasa sphere or the mental plane. Mans spirit, as it were, is the receiver, the antenna of thoughts from the world of ideas, according to the situation in which Man happens to be. The world of ideas being all in all, each new idea, new invention -- in short, all Man believes to have created by himself -- has been brought out of this world of ideas. This production of new ideas depends on the maturity and attitude of the spirit. Each thought involves an absolutely pure element, especially if the thought implies abstract ideas. If the thought is based on several combinations of the ideal world, different elements are effective in their form as well as in their mutual emanation. Only abstract ideas have pure elements and pure polar emanations, as they descend directly from the causal world of an idea.
  From this cognition we may draw the conclusion that there are pure electric, pure magnetic, indifferent and neutral ideas from the standpoint of their effect. According to the idea, each thought in the mental sphere has its own form, colour and vibration.

1.14 - The Secret, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
  At Chandernagore, Sri Aurobindo had reached the last levels of the physical subconscient. He was before a wall: No, it is not with the Empyrean that I am busy, I wish it were. It is rather with the opposite end of things.243 Knowing the kind of resistance and violent reactions one meets when barely touching the mental and vital subconscient, the snakepit, one can image the difficulty of that descent. The farther one descends, the higher the consciousness required, the stronger the light, since one can only descend as low as one has ascended. And if one understands that consciousness is a force, as tangible as an electric current, one can imagine the traumas and ordeals the overmental power and light can cause as they pour like a cataract into the quagmire of the physical subconscient an assault of ether and of fire.21 There are tremendous difficulties, and even dangers, in this to which we will return when discussing the transformation. As long as we are merely involved with mental or vital resistances, our moral lies, we need only to cultivate willpower and patience, but when we descend lower we must face the lies of the body, as the Mother says, namely, diseases and death. This is why Sri Aurobindo and Mother insisted upon a sound physical base for their disciples: Work from both ends; do not neglect one for the other.
  As he reached the extreme overmental frontiers, where "great colored waves" fade into white confines, Sri Aurobindo simultaneously touched the black rock at the bottom:
  --
  For the Supramental is not a more ethereal consciousness, but a denser one. It is the very Vibration that creates and endlessly recreates Matter and the worlds. It is what can transform the Earth:
  In the very depths of the hardest, most rigid,

1.15 - SILENCE, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  The twentieth century is, among other things, the Age of Noise. Physical noise, mental noise and noise of desirewe hold historys record for all of them. And no wonder; for all the resources of our almost miraculous technology have been thrown into the current assault against silence. That most popular and influential of all recent inventions, the radio, is nothing but a conduit through which pre-fabricated din can flow into our homes. And this din goes far deeper, of course, than the ear-drums. It penetrates the mind, filling it with a babel of distractionsnews items, mutually irrelevant bits of information, blasts of corybantic or sentimental music, continually repeated doses of drama that bring no catharsis, but merely create a craving for daily or even hourly emotional enemas. And where, as in most countries, the broadcasting stations support themselves by selling time to advertisers, the noise is carried from the ears, through the realms of phantasy, knowledge and feeling to the egos central core of wish and desire. Spoken or printed, broadcast over the ether or on wood-pulp, all advertising copy has but one purposeto prevent the will from ever achieving silence. Desirelessness is the condition of deliverance and illumination. The condition of an expanding and technologically progressive system of mass production is universal craving. Advertising is the organized effort to extend and intensify cravingto extend and intensify, that is to say, the workings of that force, which (as all the saints and teachers of all the higher religions have always taught) is the principal cause of suffering and wrong-doing and the greatest obstacle between the human soul and its divine Ground.
  next chapter: 1.16 - PRAYER

1.15 - The Supramental Consciousness, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
  Nothing to the supramental sense is really finite: it is founded on a feeling of all in each and of each in all: its sense definition . . . creates no walls of limitation; it is an oceanic and ethereal sense in which all particular sense knowledge and sensation is a wave or movement or spray or drop that is yet a concentration of the whole ocean and inseparable from the ocean. . . . It is as if the eye of the poet and artist had replaced the vague or trivial unseeing normal vision, but singularly spiritualized and glorified, as if indeed it were the sight of the supreme divine Poet and Artist in which we were participating and there were given to us the full seeing of his truth and intention in his design of the universe and of each thing in the universe. There is an unlimited intensity which makes all that is seen a revelation of the glory of quality and idea and form and colour. The physical eye seems then to carry in itself a spirit and a consciousness which sees not only the physical aspect of the object but the soul of quality in it, the vibration of energy, the light and force and spiritual substance of which it is made. . . . There is at the same time a subtle change which makes the sight see in a sort of fourth dimension, the character of which is a certain internality, the seeing not only of the superficies and the outward form but of that which informs it and subtly extends around it. The material object becomes to this sight something different from what we now see, not a separate object on the background or in the environment of the rest of Nature but an indivisible part and even in a subtle way an expression of the unity of all that we see. And this unity . . . is that of the identity of the eternal,
  the unity of the Spirit. For to the supramental seeing the material world and space and material objects cease to be material in the sense in which we now on the strength of the sole evidence of our limited physical organs . . . receive [them]; . . . they appear and are

1.16 - Man, A Transitional Being, #Sri Aurobindo or the Adventure of Consciousness, #Satprem, #Integral Yoga
  has first touched minute fragments, molecules, genes, protoplasms; it has settled psychologically around a separate and fragmentary ego; it does not see very well, groping in the darkness; it, too, is doubly "involved," and it perceives things only through a narrow mental shutter between an abysmal subconscient and a vast superconscient. It is this childish fragmentation for it really belongs to our human childhood that is the cause of all our errors and sufferings; all our woes proceed from this narrowness of vision, which is a false vision of ourselves and of the world. For in truth, the world and each cell of our body is Sat-chit-ananda, Existence-Consciousness-Bliss; we are light and joy. Our sense by its incapacity has invented darkness. In truth there is nothing but Light, only it is a power of light either above or below our poor human vision's limited range. 329 All is joy: "For who could live or brea the if there were not this delight of existence as the ether in which we dwell?" says the Upanishad. 330 It is our faulty vision that hides from us the happiness absolute in the heart of
  327

1.17 - The Seven-Headed Thought, Swar and the Dashagwas, #The Secret Of The Veda, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  The Seven-Headed Thought, Swar and the Dashagwas 181 heaven6 in the highest ether (of the revealed superconscient, paramam guhyam) as the Enjoyer his two wives." The soul's enjoyment of its divinised mental and bodily existence upheld in the eternal joy of the spiritual being could not be more clearly and beautifully imaged.
  These ideas and many of the expressions are the same as those of the hymn of Gritsamada. Nodha says of the Night and

1.18 - The Perils of the Soul, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  subtle and ethereal nature." According to the Nootkas the soul has
  the shape of a tiny man; its seat is the crown of the head. So long

1.19 - THE MASTER AND HIS INJURED ARM, #The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, #Sri Ramakrishna, #Hinduism
  He, Brahman, is one, partless, stainless, and beyond the ether; Without beginning or end, unknowable by mind or intelligence.
  Finally he came to the seventh verse of the third chapter, which reads: The twice-born worships the Deity in fire,
  --
  Next Mahima read the Six Stanzas of Nirvna: Om. I am neither mind, intelligence, ego, nor chitta, Neither ears nor tongue nor the senses of smell and sight; Nor am I ether, earth, fire, water, or air:
  I am Pure Knowledge and Bliss: I am iva! I am iva!

1.22 - On Prayer, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  For what is prayer but the expansion of yourself into the living ether?
  And if it is for your comfort to pour your darkness into space, it is also for your delight to pour forth the dawning of your heart.

1.22 - The Necessity of the Spiritual Transformation, #The Human Cycle, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Therefore, too, this perfection cannot come by the mental idea dealing with the Spirit as it deals with life. The idea in mind seizing upon the central will in Spirit and trying to give this higher force a conscious orientation and method in accordance with the ideas of the intellect is too limited, too darkened, too poor a force to work this miracle. Still less can it come if we chain the spirit to some fixed mental idea or system of religious cult, intellectual truth, aesthetic norm, ethical rule, practical action, way of vital and physical life, to a particular arrangement of forms and actions and declare all departure from that a peril and a disturbance or a deviation from spiritual living. That was the mistake made in Asia and the cause of its arrested development and decline; for this is to subject the higher to the lower principle and to bind down the self-disclosing Spirit to a provisional and imperfect compromise with mind and the vital nature. Mans true freedom and perfection will come when the spirit within bursts through the forms of mind and life and, winging above to its own gnostic fiery height of ether, turns upon them from that light and flame to seize them and transform into its own image.
  In fact, as we have seen, the mind and the intellect are not the key-power of our existence. For they can only trace out a round of half-truths and uncertainties and revolve in that unsatisfying circle. But concealed in the mind and life, in all the action of the intellectual, the aesthetic, the ethical, the dynamic and practical, the emotional, sensational, vital and physical being, there is a power that sees by identity and intuition and gives to all these things such truth and such certainty and stability as they are able to compass. Obscurely we are now beginning to see something of this behind all our science and philosophy and all our other activities. But so long as this power has to work for the mind and life and not for itself, to work in their forms and not by its own spontaneous light, we cannot make any great use of this discovery, cannot get the native benefit of this inner Daemon. Mans road to spiritual supermanhood will be open when he declares boldly that all he has yet developed, including the intellect of which he is so rightly and yet so vainly proud, are now no longer sufficient for him, and that to uncase, discover, set free this greater Light within shall be henceforward his pervading preoccupation. Then will his philosophy, art, science, ethics, social existence, vital pursuits be no longer an exercise of mind and life, done for themselves, carried in a circle, but a means for the discovery of a greater Truth behind mind and life and for the bringing of its power into our human existence. We shall be on the right road to become ourselves, to find our true law of perfection, to live our true satisfied existence in our real being and divine nature.

1.22 - The Problem of Life, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  13:Equally, man, as he develops, becomes acutely aware of the discord and ignorance that governs his relations with the world, acutely intolerant of it, more and more set upon finding a principle of harmony, peace, joy and unity. This too can only come to him from above. For only by developing a mind which shall have knowledge of the mind of others as of itself, free from our mutual ignorance and misunderstanding, a will that feels and makes itself one with the will of others, an emotional heart that contains the emotions of others as its own, a life-force that senses the energies of others and accepts them for its own and seeks to fulfil them as its own, and a body that is not a wall of imprisonment and defence against the world, - but all this under the law of a Light and Truth that shall transcend the aberrations and errors, the much sin and falsehood of our and others' minds, wills, emotions, life-energies, - only so can the life of man spiritually and practically become one with that of his fellow-beings and the individual recover his own universal self. The subconscient has this life of the All and the superconscient has it, but under conditions which necessitate our motion upwards. For not towards the Godhead concealed in the "inconscient ocean where darkness is wrapped within darkness",4 but towards the Godhead seated in the sea of eternal light,5 in the highest ether of our being, is the original impetus which has carried upward the evolving soul to the type of our humanity.
  14:Unless therefore the race is to fall by the wayside and leave the victory to other and new creations of the eager travailing Mother it must aspire to this ascent, conducted indeed through love, mental illumination and the vital urge to possession and self-giving, but leading beyond to the supramental unity which transcends and fulfils them; in the founding of human life upon the supramental realisation of conscious unity with the One and with all in our being and in all its members humanity must seek its final good and salvation. And this is what we have described as the fourth status of Life in its ascent towards the Godhead.

1.240 - 1.300 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  "See the Self in yourself like the pure ether in all beings, in and out."
  "Unashamed, fall prostrate before even an outcast, a cow or an ass."
  --
  Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi of operating causes. Influenced by satva the predominance of ether
  (akasa) it gives rise to jnana (knowledge) whose seat is the brain. vayu (air) gives rise to manas (mind) tejas (light) gives rise to buddhi (intellect)

1.240 - Talks 2, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  See the Self in yourself like the pure ether in all beings, in and out.
  Unashamed, fall prostrate before even an outcast, a cow or an ass.
  --
  Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi of operating causes. Influenced by satva the predominance of ether
  (akasa) it gives rise to jnana (knowledge) whose seat is the brain. vayu (air) gives rise to manas (mind) tejas (light) gives rise to buddhi (intellect)
  --
  Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi power (sakti), life current (prana), etc. Seek your source; the search takes you to the Heart automatically. The antahkaranas are only ideas (kalpana) to explain the subtle body (sukshma sarira). The physical body (sarira) is made up of the elements: earth, air, fire, water and ether; it is insentient. The Self is pure and self-luminous and thus self-evident. The relation between the two is sought to be established by positing a subtle body, composed of the subtle aspects of the five elements on the one hand, and the reflected light of the Self on the other. In this way the subtle body which is synonymous with the mind, is both sentient and insentient, i.e., abhasa. Again, by the play of the pure quality (satva guna) on the elements, their brightness (satva aspect) manifests as the mind
  (manas), and the senses (jnanendriyas); by the play of rajas (active quality), the raja (active) aspect manifests as life (prana) and limbs

1.24 - Matter, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  9:Thus not any eternal and original law of eternal and original Matter, but the nature of the action of cosmic Mind is the cause of atomic existence. Matter is a creation, and for its creation the infinitesimal, an extreme fragmentation of the Infinite, was needed as the starting-point or basis. ether may and does exist as an intangible, almost spiritual support of Matter, but as a phenomenon it does not seem, to our present knowledge at least, to be materially detectable. Subdivide the visible aggregate or the formal atom into essential atoms, break it up into the most infinitesimal dust of being, we shall still, because of the nature of the Mind and Life that formed them, arrive at some utmost atomic existence, unstable perhaps but always reconstituting itself in the eternal flux of force, phenomenally, and not at a mere unatomic extension incapable of contents. Unatomic extension of substance, extension which is not an aggregation, coexistence otherwise than by distribution in space are realities of pure existence, pure substance; they are a knowledge of supermind and a principle of its dynamism, not a creative concept of the dividing Mind, though Mind can become aware of them behind its workings. They are the reality underlying Matter, but not the phenomenon which we call Matter. Mind, Life, Matter itself can be one with that pure existence and conscious extension in their static reality, but not operate by that oneness in their dynamic action, self-perception and self-formation.
  10:Therefore we arrive at this truth of Matter that there is a conceptive self-extension of being which works itself out in the universe as substance or object of consciousness and which cosmic Mind and Life in their creative action represent through atomic division and aggregation as the thing we call Matter. But this Matter, like Mind and Life, is still Being or Brahman in its self-creative action. It is a form of the force of conscious Being, a form given by Mind and realised by Life. It holds within it as its own reality consciousness concealed from itself, involved and absorbed in the result of its own self-formation and therefore self-oblivious. And, however brute and void of sense it seems to us, it is yet, to the secret experience of the consciousness hidden within it, delight of being offering itself to this secret consciousness as object of sensation in order to tempt that hidden godhead out of its secrecy. Being manifest as substance, force of Being cast into form, into a figured selfrepresentation of the secret self-consciousness, delight offering itself to its own consciousness as an object, - what is this but Sachchidananda? Matter is Sachchidananda represented to His own mental experience as a formal basis of objective knowledge, action and delight of existence.

1.25 - SPIRITUAL EXERCISES, #The Perennial Philosophy, #Aldous Huxley, #Philosophy
  Those who are practising stopping should retire to some quiet place and there, sitting erect, earnestly seek to tranquillize and concentrate the mind. While one may at first think of ones breathing, it is not wise to continue this practice very long, nor to let the mind rest on any particular appearances, or sights, or conceptions, arising from the senses, such as the primal elements of earth, water, fire and ether (objects on which Hinayanists were wont to concentrate at one stage of their spiritual training), nor to let it rest on any of the minds perceptions, particularizations, discriminations, moods or emotions. All kinds of ideation are to be discarded as fast as they arise; even the notions of controlling and discarding are to be got rid of. Ones mind should become like a mirror, reflecting things, but not judging them or retaining them. Conceptions of themselves have no substance; let them arise and pass away unheeded. Conceptions arising from the senses and lower mind will not take form of themselves, unless they are grasped by the attention; if they are ignored, there will be no appearing and no disappearing. The same is true of conditions outside the mind; they should not be allowed to engross ones attention and so to hinder ones practice. The mind cannot be absolutely vacant, and as the thoughts arising from the senses and the lower mind are discarded and ignored, one must supply their place by right mentation. The question then arises: what is right mentation? The reply is: right mentation is the realization of mind itself, of its pure undifferentiated Essence. When the mind is fixed on its pure Essence, there should be no lingering notions of the self, even of the self in the act of realizing, nor of realization as a phenomenon.
  The Way of Wisdom. The purpose of this discipline is to bring a man into the habit of applying the insight that has come to him as the result of the preceding disciplines. When one is rising, standing, walking, doing something, stopping, one should constantly concentrate ones mind on the act and the doing of it, not on ones relation to the act, or its character or value. One should think: there is walking, there is stopping, there is realizing; not, I am walking, I am doing this, it is a good thing, it is disagreeable, I am gaining merit, it is I who am realizing how wonderful it is. Thence come vagrant thoughts, feelings of elation or of failure and unhappiness. Instead of all this, one should simply practice concentration of the mind on the act itself, understanding it to be an expedient means for attaining tranquillity of mind, realization, insight and Wisdom; and one should follow the practice in faith, willingness and gladness. After long practice the bondage of old habits becomes weakened and disappears, and in its place appear confidence, satisfaction, awareness and tranquillity.

1.25 - The Knot of Matter, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Then existence was not nor non-existence, the mid-world was not nor the ether nor what is beyond. What covered all? where was it? in whose refuge? what was that ocean dense and deep?
  Death was not nor immortality nor the knowledge of day and night. That One lived without breath by his self-law, there was nothing else nor aught beyond it. In the beginning Darkness was hidden by darkness, all this was an ocean of inconscience.

1.26 - The Ascending Series of Substance, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  1:IF WE consider what it is that most represents to us the materiality of Matter, we shall see that it is its aspects of solidity, tangibility, increasing resistance, firm response to the touch of Sense. Substance seems more truly material and real in proportion as it presents to us a solid resistance and by virtue of that resistance a durability of sensible form on which our consciousness can dwell; in proportion as it is more subtle, less densely resistant and enduringly seizable by the sense, it appears to us less material. This attitude of our ordinary consciousness towards Matter is a symbol of the essential object for which Matter has been created. Substance passes into the material status in order that it may present to the consciousness which has to deal with it durable, firmly seizable images on which the mind can rest and base its operations and which the Life can handle with at least a relative surety of permanence in the form upon which it works. Therefore in the ancient Vedic formula Earth, type of the more solid states of substance, was accepted as the symbolic name of the material principle. Therefore, too, touch or contact is for us the essential basis of Sense; all other physical senses, taste, smell, hearing, sight are based upon a series of more and more subtle and indirect contacts between the percipient and the perceived. Equally, in the Sankhya classification of the five elemental states of Substance from ether to earth, we see that their characteristic is a constant progression from the more subtle to the less subtle so that at the summit we have the subtle vibrations of the ethereal and at the base the grosser density of the earthly or solid elemental condition. Matter therefore is the last stage known to us in the progress of pure substance towards a basis of cosmic relation in which the first word shall be not spirit but form, and form in its utmost possible development of concentration, resistance, durably gross image, mutual impenetrability, - the culminating point of distinction, separation and division. This is the intention and character of the material universe; it is the formula of accomplished divisibility.
  2:And if there is, as there must be in the nature of things, an ascending series in the scale of substance from Matter to Spirit, it must be marked by a progressive diminution of these capacities most characteristic of the physical principle and a progressive increase of the opposite characteristics which will lead us to the formula of pure spiritual self-extension. This is to say that they must be marked by less and less bondage to the form, more and more subtlety and flexibility of substance and force, more and more interfusion, interpenetration, power of assimilation, power of interchange, power of variation, transmutation, unification. Drawing away from durability of form, we draw towards eternity of essence; drawing away from our poise in the persistent separation and resistance of physical Matter, we draw near to the highest divine poise in the infinity, unity and indivisibility of Spirit. Between gross substance and pure spirit substance this must be the fundamental antinomy. In Matter Chit or Conscious-Force masses itself more and more to resist and stand out against other masses of the same Conscious-Force; in substance of Spirit pure consciousness images itself freely in its sense of itself with an essential indivisibility and a constant unifying interchange as the basic formula even of the most diversifying play of its own Force. Between these two poles there is the possibility of an infinite gradation.
  --
  4:Even within the formula of the physical cosmos there is an ascending series in the scale of Matter which leads us from the more to the less dense, from the less to the more subtle. Where we reach the highest term of that series, the most supra- ethereal subtlety of material substance or formulation of Force, what lies beyond? Not a Nihil, not a void; for there is no such thing as absolute void or real nullity and what we call by that name is simply something beyond the grasp of our sense, our mind or our most subtle consciousness. Nor is it true that there is nothing beyond, or that some ethereal substance of Matter is the eternal beginning; for we know that Matter and material Force are only a last result of a pure Substance and pure Force in which consciousness is luminously self-aware and self-possessing and not as in Matter lost to itself in an inconscient sleep and an inert motion. What then is there between this material substance and that pure substance? For we do not leap from the one to the other, we do not pass at once from the inconscient to absolute consciousness. There must be and there are grades between inconscient substance and utterly self-conscious self-extension, as between the principle of Matter and the principle of Spirit.
  5:All who have at all sounded those abysses are agreed and bear witness to this fact that there are a series of subtler and subtler formulations of substance which escape from and go beyond the formula of the material universe. Without going deeply into matters which are too occult and difficult for our present inquiry, we may say, adhering to the system on which we have based ourselves, that these gradations of substance, in one important aspect of their formulation in series, can be seen to correspond to the ascending series of Matter, Life, Mind, Supermind and that other higher divine triplicity of Sachchidananda. In other words, we find that substance in its ascension bases itself upon each of these principles and makes itself successively a characteristic vehicle for the dominating cosmic self-expression of each in their ascending series.

1.27 - Structure of Mind Based on that of Body, #Magick Without Tears, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  (There is a way of acquiring a great deal of strange and unsuspected knowledge of these matters by the use of Sulphuric ether, (C2H5)2O, according to a special technique. I wrote a paper on it once, 16 pp. 4{to}, and fearing that it might be lost had many copies made and distributed. Where is it? I must write you a letter one day.[50])
  Accordingly, one finds oneself experiencing the thoughts, the feelings, the desires of a gorilla, a crocodile, a rat, a devil-fish, or what have you! One is no longer capable of human thoughts in the ordinary sense of the word; such would be wholly unintelligible.

1.27 - The Sevenfold Chord of Being, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  8:Finally, Consciousness being thus omniscient and omnipotent, in entire luminous possession of itself, and such entire luminous possession being necessarily and in its very nature Bliss, for it cannot be anything else, a vast universal self-delight must be the cause, essence and object of cosmic existence. "If there were not" says the ancient seer "this all-encompassing ether of Delight of existence in which we dwell, if that delight were not our ether, then none could breathe, none could live." This self-bliss may become subconscient, seemingly lost on the surface, but not only must it be there at our roots, all existence must be essentially a seeking and reaching out to discover and possess it, and in proportion as the creature in the cosmos finds himself, wh ether in will and power or in light and knowledge or in being and wideness or in love and joy itself, he must awaken to something of the secret ecstasy. Joy of being, delight of realisation by knowledge, rapture of possession by will and power or creative force, ecstasy of union in love and joy are the highest terms of expanding life because they are the essence of existence itself in its hidden roots as on its yet unseen heights. Wherever, then, cosmic existence manifests itself, these three must be behind and within it.
  9:But infinite Existence, Consciousness and Bliss need not throw themselves out into apparent being at all or, doing so, it would not be cosmic being, but simply an infinity of figures without fixed order or relation, if they did not hold or develop and bring out from themselves this fourth term of Supermind, of the divine Gnosis. There must be in every cosmos a power of Knowledge and Will which out of infinite potentiality fixes determined relations, develops the result out of the seed, rolls out the mighty rhythms of cosmic Law and views and governs the worlds as their immortal and infinite Seer and Ruler.4 This power indeed is nothing else than Sachchidananda Himself; it creates nothing which is not in its own self-existence, and for that reason all cosmic and real Law is a thing not imposed from outside, but from within, all development is self-development, all seed and result are seed of a Truth of things and result of that seed determined out of its potentialities. For the same reason no Law is absolute, because only the infinite is absolute, and everything contains within itself endless potentialities quite beyond its determined form and course, which are only determined through a self-limitation by Idea proceeding from an infinite liberty within. This power of self-limitation is necessarily inherent in the boundless All-Existent. The Infinite would not be the Infinite if it could not assume a manifold finiteness; the Absolute would not be the Absolute if it were denied in knowledge and power and will and manifestation of being a boundless capacity of self-determination. This Supermind then is the Truth or Real-Idea, inherent in all cosmic force and existence, which is necessary, itself remaining infinite, to determine and combine and uphold relation and order and the great lines of the manifestation. In the language of the Vedic Rishis, as infinite Existence, Consciousness and Bliss are the three highest and hidden Names of the Nameless, so this Supermind is the fourth Name5 - fourth to That in its descent, fourth to us in our ascension.

1.300 - 1.400 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi power (sakti), life current (prana), etc. Seek your source; the search takes you to the Heart automatically. The antahkaranas are only ideas (kalpana) to explain the subtle body (sukshma sarira). The physical body (sarira) is made up of the elements: earth, air, fire, water and ether; it is insentient. The Self is pure and self-luminous and thus self-evident. The relation between the two is sought to be established by positing a subtle body, composed of the subtle aspects of the five elements on the one hand, and the reflected light of the Self on the other. In this way the subtle body which is synonymous with the mind, is both sentient and insentient, i.e., abhasa. Again, by the play of the pure quality (satva guna) on the elements, their brightness (satva aspect) manifests as the mind
  (manas), and the senses (jnanendriyas); by the play of rajas (active quality), the raja (active) aspect manifests as life (prana) and limbs

13.07 - The Inter-Zone, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   So they come down, Satyavan and Savitri, from the Supreme heavens, rushing down as heaven's blessing as it were, through ethereal atmospheres, gradually re-assuming the texture of earthly form till they found their material body again upon this concrete earth.
   A power leaned down, a happiness found its home.||156.18||

1.37 - Oriential Religions in the West, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  of less ethereal stuff than their masters, were for that reason the
  better fitted to mediate between them and the common herd. Thus as

1.3 - Mundaka Upanishads, #Kena and Other Upanishads, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  city of the Brahman, in his ethereal heaven.
  8. A mental being, leader of the life and the body, has set a

1.400 - 1.450 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  Although a jivanmukta associated with body may, owing to his prarabdha, appear to lapse into ignorance or wisdom, yet he is only pure like the ether (akasa) which is always itself clear. wh ether covered by dense clouds or cleared of clouds by currents of air. He always revels in the
  Self alone, like a loving wife taking pleasure with her husb and alone, though she attends on him with things obtained from others (by way of fortune, as determined by her prarabdha). Though he remains silent like one devoid of learning, yet his supineness is due to the implicit duality of the vaikhari vak (spoken words) of the Vedas; his silence is the highest expression of the realised non-duality which is after all the true content of the Vedas. Though he instructs his disciples, yet he does not pose as a teacher, in the full conviction that the teacher and disciple are mere conventions born of illusion (maya), and so he continues to utter words

14.08 - A Parable of Sea-Gulls, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   A demonstration was being given by Shobhanaka of the art of flying, of all the difficult and artistic modes of flying. He was showing the speed with which one is capable of flying, literally lightning speed. A large crowd of spectators had gathered around an arena-like opening and was intently observing all the wonderful and almost impossible acrobatics and calis thenics. They suddenly saw the bird from one far corner of the sky speeding across to the other end and, as I said, beating lightning's speed, but suddenly one stray bird happened to be there up directly in the way of the speeding bird. So in order to avoid dashing against the intruder, Shobhanaka swerved around but hurled itself straight upon... Oh! what horror! a cry of pity and pain rose up from the crowdin swerving away from the bird on his path Shobhanaka in his incredible speed dashed and crashed against a cliff that was blocking the sides. Everyone thought, that was the end of the poor flying expert, he must have been reduced to mere pulp now. But no, what a miracle! Hale and hearty he was there flying up slowly and at ease, then gracefully descending upon the earth as if nothing had happened. Well, his body did not seem to be made of flesh and bone but of some ethereal substance, so supple, so elastic, so resilient that nothing offered any resistance to it. It could pass through like a beam of the invisible light.
   The upshot was that the old community gradually changed its habits slowly but inevitably, they took to adventure and far-flights, over the unknown waves into the infinite blue. Many became experts and given to this new life they formed gradually a community by themselves and found for themselves another habitat nearby. Those old experts, Shobhanaka's group, the masters, were with them as teachers and guides. And thus new guides and new teachers arose and community after community leading this new life, a life in which the old and unclean habits were eliminated and there was a life of exquisite beauty and harmony among all.

1.439, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  Although a jivanmukta associated with body may, owing to his prarabdha, appear to lapse into ignorance or wisdom, yet he is only pure like the ether (akasa) which is always itself clear. wh ether covered by dense clouds or cleared of clouds by currents of air. He always revels in the
  Self alone, like a loving wife taking pleasure with her husb and alone, though she attends on him with things obtained from others (by way of fortune, as determined by her prarabdha). Though he remains silent like one devoid of learning, yet his supineness is due to the implicit duality of the vaikhari vak (spoken words) of the Vedas; his silence is the highest expression of the realised non-duality which is after all the true content of the Vedas. Though he instructs his disciples, yet he does not pose as a teacher, in the full conviction that the teacher and disciple are mere conventions born of illusion (maya), and so he continues to utter words
  --
  Sri Bhagavan answered saying: So long as the mind is considered to be an entity of the kind described, the doubt will persist. But what is mind? Let us consider. The world is seen when the man wakes up from sleep. It comes after the I-thought. The head rises up. So the mind has become active. What is the world? It is objects spread out in space. Who comprehends it? The mind. Is not the mind, which comprehends space, itself space (akasa)? The space is physical ether (bhootakasa). The mind is mental ether (manakasa) which is contained in transcendental ether (chidakasa). The mind is thus the ether principle, akasa tattva. Being the principle of knowledge (jnana sattva), it is identified with ether (akasa) by metaphysics. Considering it to be ether (akasa), there will be no difficulty in reconciling the apparent contradiction in the question. Pure mind (suddha manas) is ether (akasa). The dynamic and dull (rajas and tamas) aspects operate as gross objects, etc. Thus the whole universe is only mental.
  Again, consider a man who dreams. He goes to sleep in a room with doors closed so that nothing can intrude on him while asleep. He closes his eyes when sleeping so that he does not see any object. Yet when he dreams he sees a whole region in which people live and move about with himself among them. Did this panorama get in through the doors? It was simply unfolded to him by his brain. Is it the sleepers brain or in the brain of the dream individual? It is in the sleepers brain. How does it hold this vast country in its tiny cells? This must explain the oft-repeated statement that the whole universe is a mere thought or a series of thoughts.
  --
  D.: The world was made by the operation of Intelligence on ether and atoms.
  M.: All of them are reduced to Isvara and Sakti. You are not now apart from Them. They and you are one and the same Intelligence.
  --
  Ullam is thus the pure mind or the mind in its pure being, i.e., mind divested of all thoughts. It is the ether of mind corresponding to the expanse of mind without being crowded by thoughts.
  When a person wakes up from sleep the head is raised and there is the light of awareness. This light was already there in the heart which is later reflected on the brain and appears as consciousness. But this is not particularised until ahankar steps in. In the undifferentiated state it is cosmic (cosmic mind or cosmic consciousness). This state lasts usually for a minute interval and passes off unnoticed. It becomes particularised or differentiated by the intrusion of the ego and the person says I. This is always associated with an entity (here, the body). So the body is identified as I and all else follows.
  --
  Now consider the ringing of the bell; the sound is related to hearing; the bell is the object, the modification of tamoguna. The rajasic tanmatras, changing as the vibrations of sound, extend round the bell, then as ether get connected with the ear in order to be felt as sound.
  The knowledge recognising it as sound is the sattva tanmatra.
  --
  M.: Pure ether cannot take reflections; only the ether of water can do so. Glass cannot reflect objects; only a plate of glass with an opaque lining on its back can reflect the objects in front of it. Similarly Pure
  Knowledge does not contain objects in it nor reflect objects. Only with the limiting adjunct, the mind, it reflects the world.
  --
  The first light is the pure mind, the mind ether or Isvara. Its modes manifest as objects. Because it contains all these objects within itself it is called the mind- ether. Why ether? Like ether containing objects it contains the thoughts, therefore it is the mind- ether.
  Again, just as the physical ether though accommodating all the gross objects
  (the whole universe) is itself the content of the mind- ether, so also the latter is itself the content of Chit- ether. The last one is Chit Itself. There are no things contained in it. It remains as Pure Knowledge only.
  D.: Why call it ether? Physical ether is not sentient.
  M.: ether denotes not only the insentient physical ether but also Pure
  Knowledge. Knowledge does not consist in knowing objects: this is relative knowledge. But Knowledge in its purity remains all alone,
  --
  M.: There the mind stands for ether, Being (sat); and the eye for knowledge (chit); both sat and chit tog ether form the universe.
  D.: How to realise the same?
  M.: As pointed out in the Atma Vidya being the eye of the mental eye, the ether of the mental ether....., meaning, the Knowledge behind the relative knowledge, the Chit- ether containing the mental ether, remains as the Only One always shining bright.
  D.: Still I do not understand. How shall I realise it?
  --
  D.: Is the aforesaid mental ether Isvara or Hiranyagarbha?
  M.: Can the latter remain independent of the former? The same is

1.450 - 1.500 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  Sri Bhagavan answered saying: So long as the mind is considered to be an entity of the kind described, the doubt will persist. But what is mind? Let us consider. The world is seen when the man wakes up from sleep. It comes after the 'I-thought'. The head rises up. So the mind has become active. What is the world? It is objects spread out in space. Who comprehends it? The mind. Is not the mind, which comprehends space, itself space (akasa)? The space is physical ether (bhootakasa). The mind is mental ether (manakasa) which is contained in transcendental ether (chidakasa). The mind is thus the ether principle, akasa tattva. Being the principle of knowledge (jnana sattva), it is identified with ether (akasa) by metaphysics. Considering it to be ether (akasa), there will be no difficulty in reconciling the apparent contradiction in the question. Pure mind (suddha manas) is ether (akasa). The dynamic and dull (rajas and tamas) aspects operate as gross objects, etc. Thus the whole universe is only mental.
  Again, consider a man who dreams. He goes to sleep in a room with doors closed so that nothing can intrude on him while asleep. He closes his eyes when sleeping so that he does not see any object. Yet when he dreams he sees a whole region in which people live and move about with himself among them. Did this panorama get in through the doors? It was simply unfolded to him by his brain. Is it the sleeper's brain or in the brain of the dream individual? It is in the sleeper's brain. How does it hold this vast country in its tiny cells? This must explain the oft-repeated statement that the whole universe is a mere thought or a series of thoughts.
  --
  D.: The world was made by the operation of Intelligence on ether and atoms.
  M.: All of them are reduced to Isvara and Sakti. You are not now apart from Them. They and you are one and the same Intelligence.

1.4 - Readings in the Taittiriya Upanishad, #Kena and Other Upanishads, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  supreme ether as the enjoyment of all its desires by the soul of
  the individual in the attainment of its highest self-existence.

15.04 - The Mother Abides, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   Indeed it was your soul that she salvaged out of the inconscience and established in you as a living reality. That was her first and primary task and She has fulfilled it. It was there always, true; but it was a far-off, very distant and almost inactive point of light, an unknown and an uncharted star not yet come into the ken of human measure and potency. She has brought it nearer home and established in our living and dynamic consciousness. She has buoyed it up from the unconscious depths, or brought it down from vague, ethereal, nebulous regions, gradually developed it and nourished it and given it a firm dwelling in our inner regions. She moulded it into a personality with a name and a form. If we do not recognise it often or always, it is because the outer shell of the senses has not yet been fully opened to it. But it is still there as our inner ruler and guide in spite of and through all obscurities and aberrations.
   Exactly the next step, the second part of her work was to build around this soul, the inner being, a body, a material vehicle to express it. To give a concrete divine shape to this sole reality was her labour at this point. The soul was there, but a god has to come and inhabit it; this godhead, that is to say, a Power, a form of the Mother's own personality has to be brought down and the soul integrated into it. Apparently it was left off at that point and not completed.

1.550 - 1.600 Talks, #Talks, #Sri Ramana Maharshi, #Hinduism
  Now consider the ringing of the bell; the sound is related to hearing; the bell is the object, the modification of tamoguna. The rajasic tanmatras, changing as the vibrations of sound, extend round the bell, then as ether get connected with the ear in order to be felt as sound.
  The knowledge recognising it as sound is the sattva tanmatra.
  --
  M.: Pure ether cannot take reflections; only the ether of water can do so. Glass cannot reflect objects; only a plate of glass with an opaque lining on its back can reflect the objects in front of it. Similarly Pure
  Knowledge does not contain objects in it nor reflect objects. Only with the limiting adjunct, the mind, it reflects the world.
  --
  The first light is the pure mind, the mind ether or Isvara. Its modes manifest as objects. Because it contains all these objects within itself it is called the mind- ether. Why ether? Like ether containing objects it contains the thoughts, therefore it is the mind- ether.
  Again, just as the physical ether though accommodating all the gross objects
  (the whole universe) is itself the content of the mind- ether, so also the latter is itself the content of Chit- ether. The last one is Chit Itself. There are no things contained in it. It remains as Pure Knowledge only.
  D.: Why call it ether? Physical ether is not sentient.
  M.: ether denotes not only the insentient physical ether but also Pure
  Knowledge. Knowledge does not consist in knowing objects: this is relative knowledge. But Knowledge in its purity remains all alone,
  --
  M.: There the mind stands for ether, Being (sat); and the eye for knowledge (chit); both sat and chit tog ether form the universe.
  D.: How to realise the same?
  M.: As pointed out in the Atma Vidya "being the eye of the mental eye, the ether of the mental ether.....", meaning, the Knowledge behind the relative knowledge, the Chit- ether containing the mental ether, remains as the Only One always shining bright.
  D.: Still I do not understand. How shall I realise it?
  --
  D.: Is the aforesaid mental ether Isvara or Hiranyagarbha?
  M.: Can the latter remain independent of the former? The same is

1.60 - Between Heaven and Earth, #The Golden Bough, #James George Frazer, #Occultism
  apprehension that the divine being, thus drained of his ethereal
  virtue, might thereby be incapacitated for the future performance of

1915 11 26p, #Prayers And Meditations, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   Then was the physical body seized, first in its lower members and next the whole of it, by a sacred trembling which made all personal limits fall away little by little even in the most material sensation. The being grew in greatness progressively, methodically, breaking down every barrier, shattering every obstacle, that it might contain and manifest a force and a power which increased ceaselessly in immensity and intensity. It was as a progressive dilatation of the cells until there was a complete identification with the earth: the body of the awakened consciousness was the terrestrial globe moving harmoniously in ethereal space. And the consciousness knew that its global body was thus moving in the arms of the universal Being, and it gave itself, it abandoned itself to It in an ecstasy of peaceful bliss. Then it felt that its body was absorbed in the body of the universe and one with it; the consciousness became the consciousness of the universe, immobile in its totality, moving infinitely in its internal complexity. The consciousness of the universe sprang towards the Divine in an ardent aspiration, a perfect surrender, and it saw in the splendour of the immaculate Light the radiant Being standing on a many-headed serpent whose body coiled infinitely around the universe. The Being in an eternal gesture of triumph mastered and created at one and the same time the serpent and the universe that issued from him; erect on the serpent he dominated it with all his victorious might, and the same gesture that crushed the hydra enveloping the universe gave it eternal birth. Then the consciousness became this Being and perceived that its form was changing once more; it was absorbed into something which was no longer a form and yet contained all forms, something which, immutable, sees,the Eye, the Witness. And what It sees, is. Then this last vestige of form disappeared and the consciousness itself was absorbed into the Unutterable, the Ineffable.
   The return towards the consciousness of the individual body took place very slowly in a constant and invariable splendour of Light and Power and Felicity and Adoration, by successive gradations, but directly, without passing again through the universal and terrestrial forms. And it was as if the modest corporeal form had become the direct and immediate vesture, without any intermediary, of the supreme and eternal Witness.1

1929-06-16 - Illness and Yoga - Subtle body (nervous envelope) - Fear and illness, #Questions And Answers 1929-1931, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  To whatever cause an illness may be due, material or mental, external or internal, it must, before it can affect the physical body, touch another layer of the being that surrounds and protects it. This subtler layer is called in different teachings by various names,the etheric body, the nervous envelope. It is a subtle body and yet almost visible. In density something like the vibrations that you see around a very hot and steaming object, it emanates from the physical body and closely covers it. All communications with the exterior world are made through this medium, and it is this that must be invaded and penetrated first before the body can be affected. If this envelope is absolutely strong and intact, you can go into places infested with the worst of diseases, even plague and cholera, and remain quite immune. It is a perfect protection against all possible attacks of illness, so long as it is whole and entire, thoroughly consistent in its composition, its elements in faultless balance. This body is built up, on the one side, of a material basis, but rather of material conditions than of physical matter, on the other, of the vibrations of our psychological states. Peace and equanimity and confidence, faith in health, undisturbed repose and cheerfulness and bright gladness constitute this element in it and give it strength and substance. It is a very sensitive medium with facile and quick reactions; it readily takes in all kinds of suggestions and these can rapidly change and almost remould its condition. A bad suggestion acts very strongly upon it; a good suggestion operates in the contrary sense with the same force. Depression and discouragement have a very adverse effect; they cut out holes in it, as it were, in its very stuff, render it weak and unresisting and open to hostile attacks an easy passage.
  It is the action of this medium that partly explains why people often feel a spontaneous and unreasoning attraction or repulsion for each other. The first seat of these reactions is in this protecting envelope. Easily we feel attracted towards people who bring a reinforcement to our nervous envelope; we are repelled by those who disturb or hurt it. Whatever gives it a sense of expansion and comfort and ease, whatever makes it respond with a feeling of happiness and pleasure exercises on us at once an attraction; when the effect is in the contrary sense, it responds with a protecting repulsion. This movement, when two people meet, is often mutual. It is not, of course, the only cause of affinities, but it is one and a very frequent cause.

1953-05-20, #Questions And Answers 1953, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   And beyond Vayu is the ether: Akasha.
   But these five constitute only the grossest part of the physical plane. Immediately behind is the physical-vital, the element of life buried in matter. J. C. Bose is contacting this element in his experiments. Beyond is the mind in matter. This mind has a far different form than the human mind, still it is a manifestation of the same principle of organisation. And deep below there are two more hidden layers.

1954-09-08 - Hostile forces - Substance - Concentration - Changing the centre of thought - Peace, #Questions And Answers 1954, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  Some people use a rather unclassical word, rarefied, but I dont think it has exactly this see. Well, you see, we say that substance has different deities, and the more material it becomes, the denser it is, the farther it moves away from matter, the less dense it is. But it is a substance all the same. There is even an etheric substance. I dont say that this conforms with scientific theories; I dont guarantee that I am not talking scientific heresies! But this is a cosmic fact. (Mother laughs.) It is exactly I think I said this when I spoke about occultism I said the first thing one must know before being able to practise occultism is that the different states of being have a different deity, and they have an individual independent existence of their own, that they are existing realities, that they are truly real substances, that it is not just a way of being. There can be a mental being and mental activity and, for instance, a thought that is completely independent of the brain, whereas the materialistic theories say that it is the brain which creates mental activity. But this is not correct. The brain is the material transcription of the mental activity, and mental activity has its own domain; the mental domain has its reality, its own substance. One can think outside ones brain, think, act, make formations outside ones brain. One can even live, move, go from one place to another, have a direct knowledge of mental things in the mental world, in a word, absolutely independent of a body which, indeed, can be in a state of complete inertia, not only asleep but also in a cataleptic state. And moreover, it is quite certain that so long as one has not understood that one is made up of different states of being which have their own independent life, one cant have a complete control over ones being. There will always be something that escapes you.
  (To a child) Do you have something to ask?

1955-10-12 - The problem of transformation - Evolution, man and superman - Awakening need of a higher good - Sri Aurobindo and earths history - Setting foot on the new path - The true reality of the universe - the new race - ..., #Questions And Answers 1955, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  To tell you the truth, not very much is asked for life at the moment: just a littlewhat I call little things. It is obvious, yes you see, if you were asked not to live completely like an animal not completely, because not to live even partially is at present difficult however, not to live completely like an animal, that is a change in life. But it doesnt go further than that. You are not asked to live like ethereal spirits; for the moment we go gently, progressively.
  But this animality

1956-07-11 - Beauty restored to its priesthood - Occult worlds, occult beings - Difficulties and the supramental force, #Questions And Answers 1956, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
  Well, the occult world is not one single region where everything is mixed, which only becomes occult because we cant see it. The occult world is a gradation of regions, one could perhaps say, of more and more etherial or subtle regions, anyway, those farther and farther removed in their nature from the physical materiality we ordinarily see. And each one of these domains is a world in itself, having its forms and inhabited by beings with a density, one might say, analogous to that of the domain in which they live. Just as in the physical world we are of the same materiality as the physical world, so in the vital world, in the mental world, in the overmind world and in the supramental world and in many others, infinite others there are beings which have a form whose substance is similar to the one of that world. This means that if you are able to enter consciously into that world with the part of your being which corresponds to that domain, you can move there quite objectively, as in the material world.
  And there, there are as many, and even many more things to see and observe than in our poor little material world, which belongs to only one zone of this infinite gradation. You meet all sorts of things in these domains, and you need to make a study as profound, perhaps still more profound than in the physical world, to be able to know what is happening there, to have relations with the beings who live there.

1969 12 15, #On Thoughts And Aphorisms, #The Mother, #Integral Yoga
   233Nobleness and generosity are the souls ethereal firmament; without them, one looks at an insect in a dungeon.
   234Let not thy virtues be such as men praise or reward, but such as make for thy perfection and God in thy nature demands of thee.

1.ac - The Wizard Way, #Crowley - Poems, #Aleister Crowley, #Philosophy
  Glimmering with ethereal azure
  In each exquisite embrasure.

1f.lovecraft - At the Mountains of Madness, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   over the ether, and repeated his praise of the really marvellous drills
   that had helped him make his discovery. Atwood also sent greetings and
  --
   cloud-background held ineffable suggestions of a vague, ethereal
   beyondness far more than terrestrially spatial; and gave appalling
  --
   ether on their vast membraneous wingsthus oddly confirming some
   curious hill folklore long ago told me by an antiquarian colleague.
  --
   advent, to sally forth again into the planetary ether; but despite all
   traditional preparations found it no longer possible to leave the

1f.lovecraft - Beyond the Wall of Sleep, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   and ethereal character permits of no ordinary interpretation, and whose
   vaguely exciting and disquieting effect suggests possible minute
  --
   visible yet ethereal structure, and who did not appear to be of human
   shape, since Slater never referred to it as a man, or as aught save a
  --
   atomic or molecular motion, convertible into ether waves of radiant
   energy like heat, light, and electricity. This belief had early led me
  --
   could conceive of, yet formed wholly of some glowing, ethereal, plastic
   entity, which in consistency partook as much of spirit as of matter. As
  --
   unto the uttermost fields of ether, that upon it might be wrought a
   flaming cosmic vengeance which would shake the spheres? We floated thus
  --
   body could not undergo the needed adjustments between ethereal life and
   planet life. He was too much of an animal, too little a man; yet it is

1f.lovecraft - Celephais, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   marble city of the clouds, which is built on that ethereal coast where
   the west wind flows into the sky; but as the highest of the citys

1f.lovecraft - Collapsing Cosmoses, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   cried. That blur in the ether can be nothing less than a fleet from
   outside the space-time continuum we know. Nothing like this has ever
  --
   our ether-bikes and hastened across to the outer planet on which the
   Chamber held its sessions.

1f.lovecraft - Herbert West-Reanimator, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   various nerve-centres; and second, wh ether any kind of ethereal,
   intangible relation distinct from the material cells may exist to link

1f.lovecraft - Poetry and the Gods, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   ether with melodies easy to read and to adore. But at last remembered
   accents resounded before the listener. It was the Swan of Avon, once a

1f.lovecraft - The Challenge from Beyond, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   worlds in outside universes, formed the ether-bridges needed for mental
   communication. Atmospheric friction burned away the protecting

1f.lovecraft - The Colour out of Space, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   There were ammonia and caustic soda, alcohol and ether, nauseous carbon
   disulphide and a dozen others; but although the weight grew steadily

1f.lovecraft - The Crawling Chaos, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   high and low blent with a sublime and ethereal harmoniousness. The sun
   had by this time sunk below the horizon, and in the twilight I saw that

1f.lovecraft - The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   marble cloud-city of Serannian, that lies in ethereal space beyond
   where the sea meets the sky, and some of which were from more
  --
   low fanfare echoed all the wonder and melody of ethereal dream; exotic
   vistas of unimagined loveliness floating from each strange chord and

1f.lovecraft - The Dreams in the Witch House, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  line, but rather along the alien curves and spirals of some ethereal
  vortex which obeyed laws unknown to the physics and mathematics of any

1f.lovecraft - The Ghost-Eater, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   thenas the ethereal figure uttered a shriek of mortal human anguish
   and terror that no ghost of legend could counterfeitsprang straight

1f.lovecraft - The Haunter of the Dark, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   sense that he was looking upon some unknown, ethereal world which might
   or might not vanish in dream if ever he tried to seek it out and enter

1f.lovecraft - The Loved Dead, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   spectral fingers beckon me . . . ethereal fragments of unwritten
   melodies rise in celestial crescendo . . . distant stars dance

1f.lovecraft - The Mound, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   in the land of Kn-yan were dissolved into the ether by disintegrating
   rays, and the cult was abolished forever.

1f.lovecraft - The Nameless City, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   filled with glorious cities and ethereal hills and valleys. At the very
   last I thought I saw signs of an artistic anti-climax. The paintings

1f.lovecraft - The Night Ocean, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   in the glow of my newly sharpened emotions. The ethereal thunderous
   light it gave was something before which all things must worship

1f.lovecraft - The Shadow over Innsmouth, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   ethereal in the magic yellow moonlight, and I thought of how they must
   have looked in the old days before the shadow fell. Then, as my gaze

1f.lovecraft - The Shunned House, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   felt it definitely. It might be pure energya form ethereal and outside
   the realm of substanceor it might be partly material; some unknown and
  --
   opposable only by vigorously destructive ether radiations, and a pair
   of military flame-throwers of the sort used in the world-war, in case
  --
   the strongest ether radiations which mans art can arouse from the
   spaces and fluids of Nature. There was a bluish haze and a frenzied
  --
   ether, nor anything else conceivable by mortal mind. What, then, but
   some exotic emanation; some vampirish vapour such as Exeter rustics

1f.lovecraft - The Silver Key, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   unbelievable garden lands across ethereal seas; but as middle age
   hardened upon him he felt these liberties slipping away little by
  --
   their true guise of ethereal fantasy.
   But when he came to study those who had thrown off the old myths, he
  --
   known, and to make him homesick for ethereal lands he no longer knew
   how to find. Travel was only a mockery; and even the Great War stirred

1f.lovecraft - The Trap, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   sort of panoramic background or ethereal environment against which or
   amidst which he moved.

1f.lovecraft - The Whisperer in Darkness, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   which have a way of resisting the ether but which are too poor at
   steering to be of much use in helping them about on earth. I will
  --
   transpositions. Only a few species have the ether-resisting wings
   characteristic of the Vermont variety. Those inhabiting certain
  --
   ether-tight cylinder of a metal mined in Yuggoth, certain electrodes
   reaching through and connecting at will with elaborate instruments

1f.lovecraft - Under the Pyramids, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   all golden with its carven domes, its ethereal minarets, and its
   flaming gardens. Far over the city towered the great Roman dome of the
  --
   pinnacles of chilling ether, then diving gaspingly to sucking nadirs of
   ravenous, nauseous lower vacua. . . . Thank God for the mercy that shut

1.fs - Geniality, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
  Clear is the ether, and yet of depth that ne'er can be fathomed;
   Seen by the eye, it remains evermore closed to the sense.

1.fs - Rapture -- To Laura, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
  I dream I quaff ethereal dew,
  When my own form I mirrored view

1.fs - The Artists, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
   Who bids his ether and his starry plains
  Upon us wait with pleasing mien,

1.fs - The Eleusinian Festival, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
   That in ether's mansions dwell,
  Let a sign from thee now fall

1.fs - The Lay Of The Mountain, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
   Of the ether, the mount in twin summits is riven;
  There, veiled in the gold-woven webs of the dew,

1.fs - The Walk, #Schiller - Poems, #Friedrich Schiller, #Poetry
   Endlessly under me see I the ether, and endlessly o'er
   Giddily look I above, shudderingly look I below,
  --
   Follows the tune through the air, follows through ether the ray,
   Seeks the familiar law in chance's miracles dreaded,

1.jk - Calidore - A Fragment, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  Lovely the moon in ether, all alone:
  Sweet too the converse of these happy mortals,

1.jk - Endymion - Book I, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  But let a portion of ethereal dew
  Fall on my head, and presently unmew
  --
  Gives it a touch ethereala new birth:
  Be still a symbol of immensity;
  --
  That keeps us from our homes ethereal;
  And what our duties there: to nightly call

1.jk - Endymion - Book II, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  Into the deadening ether that still charms
  Their marble being: now, as deep profound
  --
  When some ethereal and high-favouring donor
  Presents immortal bowers to mortal sense;

1.jk - Endymion - Book III, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  Or by ethereal things that, unconfin'd,
  Can make a ladder of the eternal wind,

1.jk - Endymion - Book IV, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  He blows a bugle,an ethereal band
  Are visible above: the Seasons four,

1.jk - Hyperion, A Vision - Attempted Reconstruction Of The Poem, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  That scar'd away the meek ethereal hours,
  And made their dove-wings tremble. On he flared.

1.jk - Hyperion. Book I, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  That scar'd away the meek ethereal Hours
  And made their dove-wings tremble. On he flared

1.jk - Hyperion. Book II, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  And purge the ether of our enemies;
  How to feed fierce the crooked stings of fire,

1.jk - I Stood Tip-Toe Upon A Little Hill, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
  The breezes were ethereal, and pure,
  And crept through half closed lattices to cure

1.jk - Sleep And Poetry, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
      From the clear space of ether, to the small
      Breath of new buds unfolding? From the meaning

1.jk - Sonnet X. To One Who Has Been Long In City Pent, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
      That falls through the clear ether silently.
  'In a transcript in the hand-writing of George Keats this sonnet is subscribed as "Written in the Fields -- June 1816."

1.jk - The Eve Of St. Agnes, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
     ethereal, flush'd, and like a throbbing star
    Seen mid the sapphire heaven's deep repose

1.jk - To Hope, #Keats - Poems, #John Keats, #Poetry
        Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
        And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!
  --
        Sweet Hope, ethereal balm upon me shed,
        And wave thy silver pinions o'er my head!

1.jr - Only Breath, #Rumi - Poems, #Jalaluddin Rumi, #Poetry
  from the ground, not natural or ethereal, not
  composed of elements at all. I do not exist,

1.jwvg - The Bliss Of Absence, #Goethe - Poems, #Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, #Poetry
  Float in ether's regions bright,
  When drawn upwards by the sun,

1.kbr - Where do you search me, #Songs of Kabir, #Kabir, #Sufism
  Not even in the ethereal space
  Neither in the womb of Nature

1.lovecraft - Astrophobos, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
     Through ethereal deeps afar,
    Once I watch'd with restless yearning

1.lovecraft - Despair, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Evil wings in ether beating;
  Vultures at the spirit eating;

1.lovecraft - Fact And Fancy, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Th' ethereal life of bodied Nature knows;
  I scorn the sage that tells me it but seems,

1.lovecraft - The Outpost, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Half solid and half ether-spawned,
  Seethed down from starless voids that yawned

1.lovecraft - The Poe-ets Nightmare, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Whilst whirling ether bore in eddying streams
  The hot, unfinish'd stuff of nascent worlds
  --
  Whose reaches pass the ether-laden realms
  Of heat and light, extending to far fields
  --
  Which lurk'd, lost in ethereal vortices;
  Methough my soul, tun'd to the infinite,
  --
  Then spake th' ethereal guide with mocking mien,
  Upbraiding me for searching after Truth;

1.lovecraft - To Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkelt,, #Lovecraft - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Monarch of Fancy! whose ethereal mind
  Mounts fairy peaks, and leaves the throng behind;

1.pbs - Alastor - or, the Spirit of Solitude, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
  The moon arose; and lo! the ethereal cliffs
  Of Caucasus, whose icy summits shone
  --
  Red, yellow, or ethereally pale,
  Rivals the pride of summer. 'T is the haunt

1.pbs - Hymn of Apollo, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
  With their ethereal colors; the Moon's globe,
  And the pure stars in their eternal bowers,

1.pbs - Prometheus Unbound, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
    To blast mankind, from yon ethereal tower.
   Let thy malignant spirit move
  --
  Of its white robe, woof of ethereal pearl.
  Its hair is white, the brightness of white light

1.pbs - Queen Mab - Part I., #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
   And, leaning graceful from the ethereal car,
    Long did she gaze, and silently,

1.pbs - Queen Mab - Part II., #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
   As Mab's ethereal palace could afford.
   Yet likest evening's vault, that fary Hall!
  --
   With the ethereal footsteps trembled not;
       The light and crimson mists,

1.pbs - Queen Mab - Part III., #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
     Fixed her ethereal eyes,
     'I thank thee. Thou hast given

1.pbs - Rosalind and Helen - a Modern Eclogue, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
     Through that ethereal drapery.
     The left hand held the head, the right

1.pbs - The Daemon Of The World, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
  The Daemon leaning from the ethereal car
   Gazed on the slumbering maid.
  --
  With the ethereal footsteps trembled not;
   While slight and odorous mists

1.pbs - The Revolt Of Islam - Canto I-XII, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
     ethereal mountains shone arounda Fane
    Stood in the midst, girt by green isles which lay
  --
    And the ethereal shapes which are suspended
   Over its green expanse, and those fair daughters,
  --
   Shedding soft dews from her ethereal wings;
    Flowers on the mountains, fruits over the plain,

1.pbs - The Triumph Of Life, #Shelley - Poems, #Percy Bysshe Shelley, #Fiction
   Or birds within the noonday ether lost,
   Upon that path where flowers never grew;
  --
   Bends in dark ether from her infant's chair,
   So came a chariot on the silent storm
  --
   Was bent a dun & faint etherial gloom
   Tempering the light; upon the chariot's beam

1.poe - Al Aaraaf- Part 2, #Poe - Poems, #unset, #Zen
     Into the sunlit ether, caught the ray
     Of sunken suns at eve- at noon of night,

1.poe - Eureka - A Prose Poem, #Poe - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  All this was strictly logical -admitting the medium or ether; but this ether was assumed, most illogically, on the ground that no other mode than the one spoken of could be discovered, of accounting for the observed decrease in the orbit of the comet: -as if from the fact that we could discover no other mode of accounting for it, it followed, in any respect, that no other mode of accounting for it existed. It is clear that innumerable causes might operate, in combination, to diminish the orbit, without even a possibility of our ever becoming acquainted with one of them. In the meantime, it has never been fairly shown, perhaps, why the retardation occasioned by the skirts of the Sun's atmosphere, through which the comet passes at perihelion, is not enough to account for the phaenomenon. That Enck's comet will be absorbed into the Sun, is probable; that all the comets of the system will be absorbed, is more than merely possible; but, in such case, the principle of absorption must be referred to eccentricity of orbit -to the close approximation to the Sun, of the comets at their perihelia; and is a principle not affecting, in any degree, the ponderous spheres, which are to be regarded as the true material constituents of the Universe. Touching comets, in general, let me here suggest, in passing, that we cannot be far wrong in looking upon them as the lightning-flashes of the cosmical Heaven.
  The idea of a retarding ether and, through it, of a final agglomeration of all things, seemed at one time, however, to be confirmed by the observation of a positive decrease in the orbit of the solid moon. By reference to eclipses recorded 2500 years ago, it was found that the velocity of the satellite's revolution then was considerably less than it is now; that on the hypothesis that its motions in its orbit is uniformly in accordance with Kepler's law, and was accurately determined then -2500 years ago -it is now in advance of the position it should occupy, by nearly 9000 miles. The increase of velocity proved, of course, a diminution of orbit; and astronomers were fast yielding to a belief in an ether, as the sole mode of accounting for the phaenomenon, when Lagrange came to the rescue. He showed that, owing to the configurations of the spheroids, the shorter axes of their ellipses are subject to variation in length; the longer axes being permanent; and that this variation is continuous and vibratory -so that every orbit is in a state of transition, either from circle to ellipse, or from ellipse to circle. In the case of the moon, where the shorter axis is de creasing, the orbit is passing from circle to ellipse, and, consequently, is de creasing too; but, after a long series of ages, the ultimate eccentricity will be attained; then the shorter axis will proceed to in crease, until the orbit becomes a circle; when the process of shortening will again take place; -and so on forever. In the case of the Earth, the orbit is passing from ellipse to circle. The facts thus demonstrated do away, of course, with all necessity for supposing an ether, and with all apprehension of the system's instability -on the ether's account.
  It will be remembered that I have myself assumed what we may term an ether. I have spoken of a subtle influence which we know to be ever in attendance upon matter, although becoming manifest only through matter's heterogeneity. To this influence -without daring to touch it at all in any effort at explaining its awful nature -I have referred the various phaenomena of electricity, heat, light, magnetism; and more -of vitality, consciousness, and thought -in a word, of spirituality. It will be seen, at once, then, that the ether thus conceived is radically distinct from the ether of the astronomers; inasmuch as theirs is matter and mine not.
  With the idea of material ether, seems, thus, to have departed altog ether the thought of that universal agglomeration so long predetermined by the poetical fancy of mankind: -an agglomeration in which a sound Philosophy might have been warranted in putting faith, at least to a certain extent, if for no other reason than that by this poetical fancy it had been so predetermined. But so far as Astronomy -so far as mere Physics have yet spoken, the cycles of the Universe are perpetual -the Universe has no conceivable end. Had an end been demonstrated, however, from so purely collateral a cause as an ether, Man's instinct of the Divine capacity to adapt, would have rebelled against the demonstration. We should have been forced to regard the Universe with some such sense of dissatisfaction as we experience in contemplating an unnecessarily complex work of human art. Creation would have affected us as an imperfect PL0, in a romance, where the denoument is awkwardly brought about by interposed incidents external and foreign to the main subject; instead of springing out of the bosom of the thesis -out of the heart of the ruling idea -instead of arising as a result of the primary proposition -as inseparable and inevitable part and parcel of the fundamental conception of the book.
  What I mean by the symmetry of mere surface -will now be more clearly understood. It is simply by the blandishment of this symmetry that we have been beguiled into the general idea of which Madler's hypothesis is but a part -the idea of the vorticial indrawing of the orbs. Dismissing this nakedly physical conception, the symmetry of principle sees the end of all things metaphysically involved in the thought of a beginning; seeks and finds in this origin of all things the rudiment of this end; and perceives the impiety of supposing this end likely to be brought about less simply -less directly -less obviously -less artistically -than through the reaction of the originating Act.
  --
  I have already alluded to that absolute reciprocity of adaptation which is the idiosyncrasy of the divine Art -stamping it divine. Up to this point of our reflections, we have been regarding the electrical influence as a something by dint of whose repulsion alone Matter is enabled to exist in that state of diffusion demanded for the fulfilment of its purposes: -so far, in a word, we have been considering the influence in question as ordained for Matter's sake to subserve the objects of matter. With a perfectly legitimate reciprocity, we are now permitted to look at Matter, as created solely for the sake of this influence -solely to serve the objects of this spiritual ether. Through the aid -by the means -through the agency of Matter, and by dint of its heterogeneity -is this ether manifested -is Spirit individualized. It is merely in the development of this ether, through heterogeneity, that particular masses of Matter become animate -sensitive -and in the ratio of their heterogeneity; -some reaching a degree of sensitiveness involving what we call Thought and thus attaining Conscious Intelligence.
  In this view, we are enabled to perceive Matter as a Means -not as an End. Its purposes are thus seen to have been comprehended in its diffusion; and with the return into Unity these purposes cease. The absolutely consolidated globe of globes would be objectless: therefore not for a moment could it continue to exist. Matter, created for an end, would unquestionably, on fulfilment of that end, be Matter no longer. Let us endeavor to understand that it would disappear, and that God would remain all in all.
  --
  Now the very definition of Attraction implies particularity -the existence of parts, particles, or atoms; for we define it as the tendency of "each atom &c. to every other atom," &c. according to a certain law. Of course where there are no parts -where there is absolute Unity -where the tendency to oneness is satisfied -there can be no Attraction: -this has been fully shown, and all Philosophy admits it. When, on fulfilment of its purposes, then, Matter shall have returned into its original condition of One -a condition which presupposes the expulsion of the separative ether, whose province and whose capacity are limited to keeping the atoms apart until that great day when, this ether being no longer needed, the overwhelming pressure of the finally collective Attraction shall at length just sufficiently predominate and expel it: -when, I say, Matter, finally, expelling the ether, shall have returned into absolute Unity, -it will then (to speak paradoxically for the moment) be Matter without Attraction and without Repulsion -in other words, Matter without Matter -in other words, again, Matter no more. In sinking into Unity, it will sink at once into that Nothingness which, to all Finite Perception, Unity must be -into that Material Nihility from which alone we can conceive it to have been evoked -to have been created by the Volition of God.
  "Gravity, therefore, must be the strongest of forces." See previous section, "Now, although the philosophic cannot be said to"

1.poe - The Conversation Of Eiros And Charmion, #Poe - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  incumbent mass of ether in which we existed, burst at once
  into a species of intense flame, for whose surpassing

1.poe - The Power Of Words Oinos., #Poe - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  the airand the ether through the airto the
  remotest consequences at any even infinitely remote epoch of

1.poe - To One In Paradise, #Poe - Poems, #unset, #Zen
     In what ethereal dances,
      By what eternal streams.

1.poe - Ulalume, #Poe - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   She rolls through an ether of sighs
   She revels in a region of sighs:

1.rb - Sordello - Book the Second, #Browning - Poems, #Robert Browning, #Poetry
  To balance the ethereality,
  Passions were needed; foiled he sank again.

1.shvb - O ignis Spiritus Paracliti, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Ivan M. Granger Original Language Latin O Holy Spirit of Fire, life in the life of all life, holy are you, enlivening all things. Holy are you, a healing balm to the broken. Holy are you, washing blistered wounds. O Holy Breath, O Fire of Life, O Sweetness in my breast infusing my heart with the fine scent of truth. O Pure Fountain through which we know God unites strangers and gathers the lost. O Heart's Shield, guarding life and hope, joining the many members into one body; Belt of Truth, wrap them in beauty. Protect those ensnared by the enemy, and free the worthy from their fetters. O Great Way that runs through all, from the heights, across the earth, and in the depths, you encompass all and unify all. From you the clouds stream and the ether rises; from your stones precious water pours, springs well and birth waterways, and the earth sweats green with life. And eternally do you bring forth knowledge by the breath of wisdom. All praise to you, you who are the song of praise and the joy of life, you who are hope and the greatest treasure, bestowing the gift of Light. <
1.srm - The Marital Garland of Letters, #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   English version by Ramanasramam Original Language Tamil Gracious Ganapati! with Thy hand bless me, that I may make this marital garland of letters worthy of Sri Arunachala, the Bridegroom! REFRAIN Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala Shiva! Arunachala! 1. Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who meditate on Thee in the heart, Oh Arunachala! Arunachala! Thou dost root out the ego of those who dwell on their identity with Thee, Oh Arunachala! 2. May Thou and I be one and inseparable like Alagu and Sundara, Oh Arunachala! 3. Entering my home and luring me to Thine, why didst Thou keep me prisoner in Thy heart's cavern, Oh Arunachala? 4. Was it for Thy pleasure or for my sake Thou didst win me? If now Thou turn me away, the world will blame Thee, Oh Arunachala! 5. Escape this blame! Why didst Thou then recall Thyself to me? How can I leave Thee now, Oh Arunachala? 6. Kinder far art Thou than one's own mother. Is this then Thy all-kindness, Oh Arunachala? Kinder indeed art Thou than one's own mother, such is Thy Love, Oh Arunachala! 7. Sit firmly in my mind lest it elude Thee, Oh Arunachala! Change not Thy nature and flee, but hold fast in my mind, Oh Arunachala! Be watchful in my mind, lest it change even Thee into me and rush away, Oh Arunachala! 8. Display Thy beauty, for the fickle mind to see Thee for ever and to rest, Oh Arunachala! The strumpet mind will cease to walk the streets if only she find Thee. Disclose Thy Beauty then and hold her bound, Oh Arunachala! The mind by her unsteadiness prevents my seeking Thee and finding peace; grant me the vision of Thy Beauty, Oh Arunachala! 9. After abducting me if now Thou dost not embrace me, where is Thy chivalry, Oh Arunachala? 10. Does it become Thee thus to sleep when I am outraged by others, Oh Arunachala? 11. Even when the thieves of the five senses break in upon me, art Thou not still in my heart, Oh Arunachala! 12. One art Thou without a second; who then could dare elude Thee and come in? This is only Thy jugglery, Oh Arunachala! 13. Significance of OM unrivalled -- unsurpassed! Who can comprehend Thee, Oh Arunachala? 14. As Universal Mother, it is Thy duty to dispense Thy Grace and save me, Oh Arunachala! 15. Who can ever find Thee? The Eye of the eye art Thou, and without eyes Thou seest, Oh Arunachala! Being the sight of the eye, even without eyes find me out Thyself. Who but Thyself can find out Thee, Oh Arunachala? 16. As a lode-stone attracts iron, magnetizing it and holding it fast, so do Thou to me, Oh Arunachala! 17. Unmoving Hill, melting into a Sea of Grace, have mercy I pray, Oh Arunachala! 18. Fiery Gem, shining in all directions, do Thou burn up my dross, Oh Arunachala! 19. Shine as my Guru, making me free from faults and worthy of Thy Grace, Oh Arunachala! 20. Save me from the cruel snares of fascinating women and honour me with union with Thyself, Oh Arunachala! 21. Though I beg, Thou art callous and dost not condescend. I pray Thee! say to me 'Fear not!' Oh Arunachala! 22. Unasked Thou givest; this is Thy imperishable fame. Do not belie Thy name, Oh Arunachala! 23. Sweet fruit within my hands, let me be mad with ecstasy, drunk with the Bliss of Thy Essence, Oh Arunachala! 24. Blazoned as the Devourer of Thy votaries, how can I survive who have embraced Thee, Oh Arunachala? 25. Thou, unruffled by anger! What crime has marked me off for Thy wrath, Oh Arunachala? Thou, unruffled by anger! What austerities left incomplete have won me Thy special favour, Oh Arunachala? 26. Glorious Mountain of Love, celebrated by Gautama, rule me with Thy gracious glance, Oh Arunachala! 27. Dazzling Sun that swallowest up all the universe in Thy rays, in Thy Light open the lotus of my heart I pray, Oh Arunachala! 28. Let me, Thy prey, surrender unto Thee and be consumed, and so have Peace, Oh Arunachala! I came to feed on Thee, but Thou has fed on me; now there is Peace, Oh Arunachala! 29. O Moon of Grace, with Thy cool rays as hands, open within me the ambrosial orifice and let my heart rejoice, Arunachala! 30. Tear off these robes, expose me naked, then robe me with Thy Love, Oh Arunachala! 31. There in the heart rest quiet! Let the sea of joy surge, speech and feeling cease, Oh Arunachala! 32. Do not continue to deceive and prove me; disclose instead Thy Transcendental Self, Oh Arunachala! 33. Vouchsafe the knowledge of Eternal Life that I may learn the glorious Primal Wisdom, and shun the delusion of this world, Oh Arunachala! 34. Unless Thou embrace me, I shall melt away in tears of anguish, Oh Arunachala! 35. If spurned by Thee, alas! what rests for me but the torment of my prarabdha? What hope is left for me, Arunachala? 36. In silence Thou saidst, 'Stay silent!' and Thyself stood silent, Oh Arunachala! 37. Happiness lies in peaceful repose enjoyed when resting in the Self. Beyond speech indeed is This my State, Oh Arunachala! 38. Thou didst display Thy prowess once, and, the perils ended, return to Thy repose, Oh Arunachala! Sun! Thou didst sally forth and illusion was ended. Then didst Thou shine motionless, Oh Arunachala! 39. A dog can scent out its master; am I then worse than a dog? Steadfastly will I seek Thee and regain Thee, Oh Arunachala! Worse than a dog for want of a scent, how can I track Thee, Oh Arunachala? 40. Grant me wisdom, I beseech Thee, so that I may not pine for love of Thee in ignorance, Oh Arunachala! 41. Not finding the flower open, Thou didst stay, no better than a bee trapped in the bud of my mind, Oh Arunachala! In sunlight the lotus blossoms, how then couldst Thou, the Sun of suns, hover before me like a flower bee, saying 'Thou art not yet in blossom,' Oh Arunachala? 42. 'Thou hast realized the Self even without knowing that it was the Truth. It is the Truth Itself!' Speak thus if it be so, Oh Arunachala! Thou art the subject of most diverse views yet art Thou not this only, Oh Arunachala? Not known to the tattvas, though Thou art their being! What does this mean, Oh Arunachala? 43. That each one is Reality Itself, Thou wilt of Thy Nature show, Oh Arunachala! Reveal Thyself! Thou only art Reality, Oh Arunachala! 'Reality is nothing but the Self;' is this not all Thy message, Oh Arunachala? 44. 'Look within, ever seeking the Self with the inner eye, then will It be found.' Thus didst Thou direct me, beloved Arunachala! 45. Seeking Thee within but weakly, I came back unrewarded. Aid me, Oh Arunachala! Weak though my effort was, by Thy Grace I gained the Self, Oh Arunachala! Seeking Thee in the Infinite Self, I regained my own Self, Oh Arunachala! 46. What value has the birth without Knowledge born of realization? It is not even worth speaking about, Oh Arunachala! 47. Let me dive into the true Self, wherein merge only the pure in mind and speech, Oh Arunachala! I, by Thy Grace, am sunk in Thy Self, wherein merge only those divested of their minds and thus made pure, Oh Arunachala! 48. When I took shelter under Thee as my One God, Thou didst destroy me altog ether, Oh Arunachala! 49. Treasure of benign and holy Grace, found without seeking, steady my wandering mind, Oh Arunachala! 50. On seeking Thy Real Self with courage, my raft capsized and the waters came over me. Have mercy on me Arunachala! 51. Unless Thou extend Thy hand of Grace in mercy and embrace me, I am lost, Oh Arunachala! Enfold me body to body, limb to limb, or I am lost, Oh Arunachala! 52. O Undefiled, abide Thou in my heart so that there may be everlasting joy, Arunachala! 53. Mock me not, who seek Thy protection! Adorn me with Thy Grace and then regard me, Oh Arunachala! Smile with Grace and not with scorn on me, who come Thee, Oh Arunachala! 54. When I approached, Thou didst not bend; Thou stoodst unmoved, at one with me, Oh Arunachala! Does it not shame Thee to stand there like a post, leaving me to find Thee by myself, Oh Arunachala? 55. Rain Thy Mercy on me ere Thy Knowledge burn me to ashes, Oh Arunachala! 56. Unite with me to destroy Thou and me, and bless me with the state of ever-vibrant joy, Oh Arunachala! 57. When shall I become like the ether and reach Thee, subtle of being, that the tempest of thoughts may end, Oh Arunachala? When will waves of thought cease to rise? When shall I reach Thee, subtler than the subtlest ether, Oh Arunachala! 58. I am a simpleton devoid of learning. Do Thou dispel illusion, Oh Arunachala! Destroy Thou my wrong knowledge, I beseech Thee, for I lack the knowledge which the Scriptures lead to, Oh Arunachala! 59. When I melted away and entered Thee, my Refuge, I found Thee standing naked, Oh Arunachala! 60. In my unloving self Thou didst create a passion for Thee, therefore forsake me not, Oh Arunachala! 61. Fruit shriveled and spoilt is worthless; take and enjoy it ripe, Oh Arunachala! I am not a fruit which is overripe and spoilt; draw me, then, into the inmost recess and fix me in Eternity, Oh Arunachala! 62. Hast Thou not bartered cunningly Thyself for me? Oh, Thou art death to me, Arunachala! Hast Thou not bartered happily Thyself for me, giving all and taking nothing? Art Thou not blind, Oh Arunachala? 63. Regard me! Take thought of me! Touch me! Mature me! Make me one with Thee, Oh Arunachala! 64. Grant me Thy Grace ere the poison of delusion grips me and, rising to my head, kills me, Oh Arunachala! 65. Thyself regard me and dispel illusion! Unless Thou do so who can intercede with Grace Itself made manifest, Oh Arunachala? 66. With madness for Thee hast Thou freed me of madness; grant me now the cure of all madness, Oh Arunachala! 67. Fearless I seek Thee, Fearlessness Itself! How canst Thou fear to take me, Oh Arunachala? 68. Where is ignorance or Wisdom, if I am blessed with union to Thee, Oh Arunachala? 69. My mind has blossomed, scent it with Thy fragrance and perfect it. Oh Arunachala! Espouse me, I beseech Thee, and let this mind, now wedded to the world, be wedded to Perfection, Oh Arunachala! 70. Mere thought of Thee has drawn me to Thee, and who can gauge Thy Glory, Oh Arunachala? 71. Thou hast possessed me, unexorcizable Spirit! and made me mad for Thee, that I may cease to be a ghost wandering the world, Oh Arunachala! 72. Be Thou my stay and my support lest I droop helpless like a tender creeper, Oh Arunachala! 73. Thou didst benumb my faculties with stupefying powder, then rob me of my understanding and reveal the Knowledge of Thy Self, Oh Arunachala! 74. Show me the warfare of Thy Grace, in the Open Field where there is no coming and going. Oh Arunachala! 75. Unattached to the physical frame composed of the elements, let me for ever repose happy in the sight of Thy Splendour, Oh Arunachala! 76. Thou hast administered the medicine of confusion to me, so must I be confounded! Shine Thou as Grace, the cure of all confusion, Oh Arunachala! 77. Shine Thou selfless, sapping the pride of those who boast of their free will, Oh Arunachala! 78. I am a fool who prays only when overwhelmed, yet disappoint me not, Oh Arunachala! 79. Guard me lest I flounder storm-tossed like a ship without a helmsman, Oh Arunachala! 80. Thou hast cut the knot which hid the vision of Thy Head and Foot. Motherlike, shouldst Thou not complete Thy task, Oh Arunachala? 81. Be not like a mirror held up to a noseless man, but raise me and embrace me, Oh Arunachala! 82. Let us embrace upon the bed of tender flowers, which is the mind, within the room of the body, Oh Arunachala! 83. How is it that Thou hast become famous from Thy constant union with the poor and humble, Oh Arunachala? 84. Thou hast removed the blindness of ignorance with the unguent of Thy Grace, and made me truly Thine, Oh Arunachala! 85. Thou didst shave clean my head; then Thou didst show Thyself dancing in Transcendent Space, Oh Arunachala! 86. Though Thou hast loosed me from the mists of error and made me mad for Thee, why hast Thou not yet freed me from illusion, Oh Arunachala? Though Thou hast detached me from the world and made me cleave to Thee, Thy passion for me has not cooled, Oh Arunachala! 87. Is it true Silence to rest like a stone, inert and unexpansive, Oh Arunachala? 88. Who was it that threw mud to me for food and robbed me of my livelihood, Oh Arunachala? 89. Unknown to all, stupefying me, Who was it that ravished my soul, Oh Arunachala? 90. I spoke thus to Thee, because Thou art my Lord; be not offended but come and give me happiness, Oh Arunachala! 91. Let us enjoy one another in the House of Open Space, where there is neither night nor day, Oh Arunachala! 92. Thou didst take aim at me with darts of Love and then devoured me alive, Oh Arunachala! 93. Thou art the Primal Being, whereas I count not in this nor in the other world. What didst Thou gain then by my worthless self, Oh Arunachala? 94. Didst Thou not call me in? I have come in. Now measure out for me, my maintenance is now Thy burden. Hard is Thy lot, Oh Arunachala! 95. The moment Thou didst welcome me, didst enter into me and grant me Thy divine life, I lost my individuality, Oh Arunachala! 96. Bless me that I may die without losing hold of Thee, or miserable is my fate, Oh Arunachala! 97. From my home Thou didst entice me, then stealing into my heart didst draw me gently into Thine, such is Thy Grace, Oh Arunachala! 98. I have betrayed Thy secret workings. Be not offended! Show me Thy Grace now openly and save me, Oh Arunachala! 99. Grant me the essence of the Vedas, which shine in the Vedanta, One without a second, Oh Arunachala! 100. Even my slanders, treat as praise and guard me for ever as Thine own, I pray, Oh Arunachala! Let even slander be as praise to me, and guard me for ever as Thine own, I pray, Oh Arunachala! Place Thy hand upon my head! make me partaker of Thy Grace! do not abandon me, I pray, Oh Arunachala! 101. As snow in water, let me melt as Love in Thee, who art Love itself, Oh Arunachala! 102. I had but thought of Thee as Aruna, and lo! I was caught in the trap of Thy Grace! Can the net of Thy Grace ever fail, Oh Arunachala? 103. Watching like a spider to trap me in the web of Thy Grace, Thou didst entwine me and when imprisoned feed upon me, Oh Arunachala! 104. Let me be the votary of the votaries of those who hear Thy name with love, Oh Arunachala! 105. Shine Thou for ever as the loving Saviour of helpless suppliants like myself, Oh Arunachala! 106. Familiar to Thine ears are the sweet songs of votaries who melt to the very bones with love for Thee, yet let my poor strains also be acceptable, Oh Arunachala! 107. Hill of Patience, bear with my foolish words, as hymns of joy or as Thou please, Oh Arunachala! 108. Oh Arunachala! my Loving Lord! Throw Thy garland about my shoulders, wearing Thyself this one strung by me, Arunachala! Blessed be Arunachala! blessed be His devotees! Blessed be this Marital Garland of Letters! [1468.jpg] -- from The Collected Works of Ramana Maharshi, Edited by Arthur Osborne

1.whitman - A March In The Ranks, Hard-prest, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Surgeons operating, attendants holding lights, the smell of ether,
      the odor of blood;

1.whitman - In Cabind Ships At Sea, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  She cleaves the ether, mid the sparkle and the foam of day, or under
      many a star at night,
  --
  You too, as a lone bark, cleaving the etherpurpos'd I know
   not whitheryet ever full of faith,              

1.whitman - On The Beach At Night, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
  Ascends, large and calm, the lord-star Jupiter;

1.whitman - Primeval My Love For The Woman I Love, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  The ethereal, the last athletic reality, my consolation,
  I ascendI float in the regions of your love, O man,

1.whitman - So Long, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Sparkles hot, seed ethereal, down in the dirt dropping,
  Myself unknowing, my commission obeying, to question it never daring,

1.whitman - Song of Myself, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Flames and ether making a rush for my veins,
  Treacherous tip of me reaching and crowding to help them,

1.whitman - Song Of Myself- XXVIII, #Whitman - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Flames and ether making a rush for my veins,
  Treacherous tip of me reaching and crowding to help them,

1.ww - 4- The White Doe Of Rylstone, Or, The Fate Of The Nortons, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  The Moon, from cloudless ether, sees
  A Camp, and a beleaguered Town,            

1.ww - Artegal And Elidure, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Of clouds that in cerulean ether blazed!
  Ere Julius landed on her white-cliffed shore,

1.ww - Book Fourteenth [conclusion], #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Not so the ethereal vault; encroachment none      
  Was there, nor loss; only the inferior stars

1.ww - Book Sixth [Cambridge and the Alps], #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Cerulean ether's pure inhabitants,
  These forests unapproachable by death,

1.ww - Book Tenth {Residence in France continued], #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Creatures of one ethereal substance met        
  In consistory, like a diadem

1.ww - Book Third [Residence at Cambridge], #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
  Even the great Newton's own ethereal self,
  Seemed humbled in these precincts thence to be

1.ww - Dion [See Plutarch], #unset, #Arthur C Clarke, #Fiction
   With aught that breathes the ethereal element,
   Hath stained the robes of civil power with blood,

1.ww - Laodamia, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
   An ampler ether, a diviner air,
   And fields invested with purpureal gleams;

1.ww - The Excursion- IV- Book Third- Despondency, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Communicates with heaven's ethereal orbs
  Incalculably distant; so, I felt

1.ww - The Excursion- V- Book Fouth- Despondency Corrected, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  --Man is of dust: ethereal hopes are his,
  Which, when they should sustain themselves aloft,
  --
  By impulse of her own ethereal zeal.
  That spirit only can redeem mankind;
  --
  And, over all, in that ethereal vault,
  Is the mute company of changeful clouds;
  --
  To his small island in the ethereal deep
  Tidings of joy and love.--From those pure heights
  --
  Carrying through ether, in perpetual round,
  Decrees and resolutions of the Gods;

1.ww - The Excursion- VII- Book Sixth- The Churchyard Among the Mountains, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  The spotless ether of a maiden life;
  If these may make a hallowed spot of earth

1.ww - The Excursion- X- Book Ninth- Discourse of the Wanderer, and an Evening Visit to the Lake, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Through their ethereal texture pierced--ere we,
  Who saw, of change were conscious--had become
  --
  Pure, cloudless, ether; and the star of eve
  Was wanting; but inferior lights appeared

1.ww - The Fairest, Brightest, Hues Of Ether Fade, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  object:1.ww - The Fairest, Brightest, Hues Of ether Fade
  author class:William Wordsworth
  --
  The fairest, brightest, hues of ether fade;
  The sweetest notes must terminate and die;

1.ww - The Last Supper, by Leonardo da Vinci, in the Refectory of the Convent of Maria della GraziaMilan, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Have marred this Work, the calm ethereal grace,
  The love deep-seated in the Saviour's face,

1.ww - The Morning Of The Day Appointed For A General Thanksgiving. January 18, 1816, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Of yon ethereal summits white with snow,
  (Whose tranquil pomp and spotless purity

1.ww - The Recluse - Book First, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  From all reproach is yon ethereal vault,
  And this deep Vale, its earthly counterpart,

1.ww - The Shepherd, Looking Eastward, Softly Said, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Forthwith, that little cloud, in ether spread
  And penetrated all with tender light,

1.ww - To B. R. Haydon, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Or pencil pregnant with ethereal hues,)
  Demands the service of a mind and heart,

1.ww - To May, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
    If yon ethereal blue
  With its soft smile the truth express,

1.ww - To-- On Her First Ascent To The Summit Of Helvellyn, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  For blue ether's arms, flung round thee,
  Stilled the pantings of dismay.

1.ww - To Sir George Howland Beaumont, Bart From the South-West Coast Or Cumberland 1811, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  As if their lustre flowed from ether's purest blue.
   Let me not ask what tears may have been wept

1.ww - Vernal Ode, #Wordsworth - Poems, #unset, #Zen
  Profound of night's ethereal blue;
  And in the aspect of each radiant orb;--

20.04 - Act II: The Play on Earth, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 05, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   to be annihilated into the ether
   of the new beginnings of the world,

2.01 - Mandala One, #Vedic and Philological Studies, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  (7) Ayasya by the words of light that hymned him uncovered and saw as two the eternal goddesses who lie in one lair; then Indra, a doer of mighty works, held earth and heaven in the highest ether as the Lord of Joy holds his two wives.
  (8) Two young goddesses of differing forms who are ever reborn, circle eternally to each other by their own motions about earth and heaven, Night with her dark, Dawn with her shining limbs.

2.01 - On Books, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Sri Aurobindo: What have you to do with conventions? You have to see the Truth, never mind what people believe. You will find that thought, feeling, etc. take place in a certain space which, of course, is not physical space. It is something like the ether which pervades everything.
   The question may be asked: How far does space extend? You go from earth to the interstellar region, and then? Do you think there is no other kind of space? To my mind Space is an extension of Consciousness.

2.01 - The Two Natures, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Nature constituted of the five bhutas, - elements, as it is rendered, but rather elemental or essential conditions of material being to which are given the concrete names of earth, water, fire, air and ether, - the mind with its various senses and organs, the reason-will and the ego, is the Sankhya description of Prakriti.
  The Sankhya stops there, and because it stops there, it has to set up an unbridgeable division between the soul and Nature; it has to posit them as two quite distinct primary entities. The Gita also, if it stopped there, would have to make the same incurable antinomy between the Self and cosmic Nature which would then be only the Maya of the three gunas and all this cosmic existence would be simply the result of this Maya; it could be nothing else.
  --
  "I am taste in the waters, sound in ether, scent in earth, energy of light in fire," and, it may be added for more completeness, touch or contact in air. That is to say, the Divine himself in his
  Para Prakriti is the energy at the basis of the various sensory relations of which, according to the ancient Sankhya system, the ethereal, the radiant, electric and gaseous, the liquid and the other elemental conditions of matter are the physical medium.
  The five elemental conditions of matter are the quantitative or material element in the lower nature and are the basis of material forms. The five Tanmatras - taste, touch, scent, and the others - are the qualitative element. These Tanmatras are the subtle energies whose action puts the sensory consciousness in relation to the gross forms of matter, - they are the basis of all phenomenal knowledge. From the material point of view matter is the reality and the sensory relations are derivative; but from the spiritual point of view the truth is the opposite. Matter and the material media are themselves derivative powers and at bottom are only concrete ways or conditions in which the workings of the quality of Nature in things manifest themselves to the sensory consciousness of the Jiva. The one original and

2.02 - Brahman, Purusha, Ishwara - Maya, Prakriti, Shakti, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  The Supreme Brahman is that which in Western metaphysics is called the Absolute: but Brahman is at the same time the omnipresent Reality in which all that is relative exists as its forms or its movements; this is an Absolute which takes all relativities in its embrace. The Upanishads affirm that all this is the Brahman; Mind is Brahman, Life is Brahman, Matter is Brahman; addressing Vayu, the Lord of Air, of Life, it is said "O Vayu, thou art manifest Brahman"; and, pointing to man and beast and bird and insect, each separately is identified with the One, "O Brahman, thou art this old man and boy and girl, this bird, this insect." Brahman is the Consciousness that knows itself in all that exists; Brahman is the Force that sustains the power of God and Titan and Demon, the Force that acts in man and animal and the forms and energies of Nature; Brahman is the Ananda, the secret Bliss of existence which is the ether of our being and without which none could brea the or live. Brahman is the inner Soul in all; it has taken a form in correspondence with each created form which it inhabits. The Lord of Beings is that which is conscious in the conscious being, but he is also the Conscious in inconscient things, the One who is master and in control of the many that are passive in the hands of ForceNature. He is the Timeless and Time; He is Space and all that is in Space; He is Causality and the cause and the effect: He is the thinker and his thought, the warrior and his courage, the gambler and his dice-throw. All realities and all aspects and all semblances are the Brahman; Brahman is the Absolute, the Transcendent and incommunicable, the Supracosmic Existence that sustains the cosmos, the Cosmic Self that upholds all beings, but It is too the self of each individual: the soul or psychic entity is an eternal portion of the Ishwara; it is his supreme Nature or Consciousness-Force that has become the living being in a world of living beings. The Brahman alone is, and because of It all are, for all are the Brahman; this Reality is the reality of everything that we see in Self and Nature. Brahman, the Ishwara, is all this by his Yoga-Maya, by the power of his Consciousness-Force put out in self-manifestation: he is the Conscious Being, Soul, Spirit, Purusha, and it is by his Nature, the force of his conscious self-existence that he is all things; he is the Ishwara, the omniscient and omnipotent All-ruler, and it is by his Shakti, his conscious Power, that he manifests himself in Time and governs the universe. These and similar statements taken tog ether are all-comprehensive: it is possible for the mind to cut and select, to build a closed system and explain away all that does not fit within it; but it is on the complete and many-sided statement that we must take our stand if we have to acquire an integral knowledge.
  An absolute, eternal and infinite Self-existence, Self-awareness, Self-delight of being that secretly supports and pervades the universe even while it is also beyond it, is, then, the first truth of spiritual experience. But this truth of being has at once an impersonal and a personal aspect; it is not only Existence, it is the one Being absolute, eternal and infinite. As there are three fundamental aspects in which we meet this Reality, Self, Conscious Being or Spirit and God, the Divine Being, or to use the Indian terms, the absolute and omnipresent Reality, Brahman, manifest to us as Atman, Purusha, Ishwara, - so too its power of Consciousness appears to us in three aspects: it is the self-force of that consciousness conceptively creative of all things, Maya; it is Prakriti, Nature or Force made dynamically executive, working out all things under the witnessing eye of the Conscious Being, the Self or Spirit; it is the conscious Power of the Divine Being, Shakti, which is both conceptively creative and dynamically executive of all the divine workings. These three aspects and their powers base and comprise the whole of existence and all Nature and, taken tog ether as a single whole, they reconcile the apparent disparateness and incompatibility of the supracosmic Transcendence, the cosmic universality and the separativeness of our individual existence; the Absolute, cosmic Nature and ourselves are linked in oneness by this triune aspect of the one Reality. For taken by itself the existence of the Absolute, the Supreme Brahman, would be a contradiction of the relative universe and our own real existence would be incompatible with its sole incommunicable Reality. But the Brahman is at the same time omnipresent in all relativities; it is the Absolute independent of all relatives, the Absolute basing all relatives, the Absolute governing, pervading, constituting all relatives; there is nothing that is not the omnipresent Reality. In observing the triple aspect and the triple power we come to see how this is possible.

2.02 - Indra, Giver of Light, #The Secret Of The Veda, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  But what is this Soma, called sometimes amrita, the Greek ambrosia, as if it were itself the substance of immortality? It is a figure for the divine Ananda, the principle of Bliss, from which, in the Vedic conception, the existence of Man, this mental being, is drawn. A secret Delight is the base of existence, its sustaining atmosphere and almost its substance. This Ananda is spoken of in the Taittiriya Upanishad as the ethereal atmosphere of bliss without which nothing could remain in being. In the Aitareya
  Upanishad Soma, as the lunar deity, is born from the sense-mind

2.02 - The Ishavasyopanishad with a commentary in English, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
  Let us consider a nut with the kernel in it, we see that ether
  in the form or upadhi of the nut, surrounds ether in the upadhi
  of the kernel as a robe surrounds its wearer; but the two are the
  same; there is one ether, not two.
  THE STUDENT
  --
  or force is selected which is called Akash and of which ether is
  the visible manifestation; this akash or ether is the substratum
  of all form & material being. Out of ether a narrower force
  is selected or let loose which is called Vaiou or Matariswun,
  --
  the mother-principle, ether. This is the great God who in the
  Brahman setteth the waters in their place.
  --
  selection from Akasha or ether, so is Agni, Fire, a selection from
  Matariswun and the Waters a selection from fire. Now notice
  --
  this way; it arises on the substratum of ether with Matariswun
  or the Air Force as its principle & essential condition, by the
  --
  tumbling billows of the ethereal sea; it is you who have set the
  stars in their places and woven the necklace of the suns not with

2.03 - Indra and the Thought-Forces, #The Secret Of The Veda, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   suppose the worlds to have been created by the goddess Word and sound as first etheric vibration to have preceded formation. In the Veda itself there are passages which treat the poetic measures of the sacred mantras, - anus.t.ubh, tris.t.ubh, jagat, gayatr, - as symbolic of the rhythms in which the universal movement of things is cast.
  By expression then we create and men are even said to create the gods in themselves by the mantra. Again, that which we have created in our consciousness by the Word, we can fix there by the

2.03 - Karmayogin A Commentary on the Isha Upanishad, #Isha Upanishad, #unset, #Zen
  This tree is evolved out of original ether, ether pervades it and
  surrounds it, but the tree cannot be described as ether, nor ether
  as the tree; so, going deeper down, we find it is evolved out of
  --
  as the ether is.
  All this, says the Sruti, is to be thought of as surrounded
  --
  element of ether, creates in the womb of Earth or formal Matter
  which is the final element developed out of ether, this arranged
  and orderly Universe, - He is therefore the Father, Originator,
  --
  presence pervading us like the ether, clothing us like a garment.
  "Standing still, He outstrips others as they run." It is our mind &
  --
  called akasha or ether; more complex motion evolves out of
   ether a somewhat intenser condition which is called Vayu, Air;
  --
  condition of all which they called Akash or ether. ether was,
  they found, the primary substance out of which all this visible
  Universe is evolved and beyond ether they were unable to go
  without matter losing all the characteristics associated with it in
  --
  condition of all which they described as subtle ether. Out of
  this subtle ether a whole world of subtle forms and energies
  are evolved which constitute psychical existence. Beyond subtle
  --
  The next matter-condition evolved from ether and moving
  in it, was the pure aerial or gaseous. Here to pervasiveness was
  --
  not fully developed in pure ether owing to its extreme tenuity
  and primary simplicity of substance. Seeking for a physical substance gaseous in nature, sensible by sound and contact, but
  --
  combination of the five subtle elements in certain fixed proportions, that one being given the characteristic name of ether, air,
  fire, water or earth in which the subtle ethereal, gaseous, igneous,
  fluid or solid element prevails overwhelmingly over the others.
  --
  aerial element. It is evolved directly out of ether, the common
  matrix, which is therefore its own mother and ultimately the
  --
  operates in the matrix, ether. Moving in ether, developing, combining, it creates the substances out of which sun and nebula and
  planet are made; it evolves fire and water and atmosphere, earth,
  stone and metal, plant, fish, bird and beast. Moving in ether,
  acting and functioning through its energy Prana, it determines
  --
  possible. As ether, the matrix, is the continent and condition of
  Matariswan and his works, so is Brahman the continent and
  condition of ether and its evolution. Matariswan is born out of
   ether and works in ether, but ether is itself only an intermediate
  evolution; in reality, Matariswan is born out of Brahman the
  --
  the ethereal; there must therefore have been a previous energy
  which evolved ether out of causal matter. To this original Matter
  Sankhya gives the name of Prakriti, while Vedanta & Buddhism,
  --
  particular intensity of ethereal vibration, like light or sound, the
  answer is that consciousness operates more powerfully when
  --
  and ether dissolved into its origin, consciousness abides. To the
  Hindu mind this is an insuperable obstacle to the acceptance of
  --
  by whom Prajna-Taijasa-Vaisvanor are. He pervades the Cosmos and contains the Cosmos, as ether pervades the earth and
  contains the earth, and not only the Cosmos as a whole but

2.03 - The Pyx, #Hymn of the Universe, #Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, #Christianity
  ing sxm behind it. And all about it the ether had be-
  come alive, vibrating palpably beneath the crude

2.04 - Positive Aspects of the Mother-Complex, #The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, #Carl Jung, #Psychology
  prone to gross material corruption, has put on an ethereal in-
  corruptibility. The richly varied allegories of the Mother of

2.05 - Infinite Worlds, #Of The Nature Of Things, #Lucretius, #Poetry
  From shores of ether, that, returning home,
  The vaults of sky receive. Nor thus doth death
  --
  Like this our world which vasty ether holds
  In huge embrace.
  --
  At once to heat with fires ethereal all
  The fruitful lands of multitudes of worlds,
  --
  Beat out new fire; and ether forges ether;
  Till Nature, author and ender of the world,

2.05 - The Divine Truth and Way, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  This divine Self contains all existences; all are situated in him, not materially in essence, but in that extended spiritual conception of self-being of which our too rigid notion of a material and etheric space is only a rendering in the terms of the physical mind and senses. In reality all even here is spiritual coexistence, identity and coincidence; but that is a fundamental truth which we cannot apply until we get back to the supreme consciousness. Till then such an idea would only be an intellectual concept to which nothing corresponds in our practical experience. We have to say, then, using these terms of relation in space and time, that the universe and all its beings exist in the divine Self-existent as everything else exists in the spatial primacy of ether. "It is as the great, the all-pervading aerial principle dwells in the etheric that all existences dwell in Me, that is how you have to conceive of it," says the Teacher here to Arjuna. The universal existence is all-pervading and infinite and the Self-existent too is all-pervading and infinite; but the self-existent infinity is stable, static, immutable, the universal is an all-pervading movement, sarvatragah.. The Self is one, not many; but the universal expresses itself as all existence and is, as it seems, the sum of all existences. One is Being; the other is
  Power of Being which moves and creates and acts in the existence of the fundamental, supporting, immutable Spirit. The Self does not dwell in all these existences or in any of them; that is to say, he is not contained by any, - just as the ether here is not contained in any form, though all forms are derived ultimately from the ether. Nor is he contained in or constituted by all existences tog ether - any more than the ether is contained in the mobile extension of the aerial principle or is constituted by the sum of its forms or its forces. But still in the movement also is the Divine; he dwells in the many as the Lord in each being.
  Both these relations are true of him at one and the same time.

2.06 - Reality and the Cosmic Illusion, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  - or, if we go back from earth to the invisible substratum and constituent ether, an eternal and non-manifest, - to a resultant and dependent, a temporal and manifested reality. Moreover, the pot form is an eternal possibility of earth substance, or ethereal substance, and while the substance exists the form can always be manifested. A form may disappear, but it only passes out of manifestation into non-manifestation; a world may disappear, but there is no proof that world-existence is an evanescent phenomenon: on the contrary, we may suppose that the power of manifestation is inherent in Brahman and continues to act either continuously in Time-eternity or in an eternal recurrence. The cosmic is a different order of the Real from the supracosmic
  Transcendence, but there is no need to take it as in any way non-existent or unreal to that Transcendence. For the purely intellectual conception that only the Eternal is real, wh ether we

2.06 - The Synthesis of the Disciplines of Knowledge, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  This discipline is evidently a self-centred and exclusive inner movement which gets rid of the world by denying it in thought and shutting the eyes of the soul to it in vision. But the universe is there as a truth in God even though the individual soul may have shut its eyes to it and the Self is there in the universe really and not falsely, supporting all that we have rejected, truly immanent in all things, really embracing the individual in the universal as well as embracing the universe in that which exceeds and transcends it. What shall we do with this eternal Self in this persistent universe which we see encompassing us every time we come out of the trance of inner meditation ? The ascetic Path of Knowledge has its solution and its discipline for the soul that looks out on the universe. It is to regard the immanent and all-encompassing and all-constituting Self in the image of the ether in which all forms are, which is in all forms, of which all forms are made. In that ether cosmic Life and Mind move as the Breath of things, an atmospheric sea in the ethereal, and constitute from it all these forms; but what they constitute are merely name and form and not realities; the form of the pot we see is a form of earth only and goes back into the earth, earth a form resolvable into the cosmic Life, the cosmic Life a movement that falls to rest in that silent immutable ether. Concentrating on this knowledge, rejecting all phenomenon and appearance, we come to see the whole as an illusion of name and form in the ether that is Brahman; it becomes unreal to us; and the universe becoming unreal the immanence becomes unreal and there is only the Self upon which our mind has falsely imposed the name and form of the universe. Thus are we justified in the withdrawal of the individual self into the Absolute.
  Still, the Self goes on with its imperishable aspect of immanence, its immutable aspect of divine envelopment, its endless trick of becoming each thing and all things; our detection of the cheat and our withdrawal do not seem to affect one tittle either the Self or the universe. Must we not then know also what it is that thus persists superior to our acceptance and rejection and too great, too eternal to be affected by it? Here too there must be some invincible reality at work and the integrality of Knowledge demands that we shall see and realise it; otherwise it may prove that our own knowledge and not the Lord in the universe was the cheat and the illusion. Therefore we must concentrate again and see and realise also this which persists so sovereignly and must know the Self as no other than the Supreme Soul which is the Lord of Nature, the upholder of cosmic existence by whose sanction it proceeds, whose will compels its multitudinous actions and determines its perpetual cycles. And we must yet concentrate once again and see and realise and must know the Self as the one Existence who is both the Soul of all and the Nature . of all, at once Purusha and prakriti and so able both to express himself in all these forms of things and to be all these formations. Otherwise we have excluded what the Self does not exclude and made a wilful choice in our knowledge.

2.08 - ALICE IN WONDERLAND, #God Exists, #Swami Sivananda Saraswati, #Hinduism
  These Tanmatras are not substances, but principles behind the objects which produce these sensations. They are not hard substances like earth, water, fire, air and ether; they are comparable to the secondary qualities of Aristotle and Plato and modern scientists.
  Oh, what a wonder! We seem to be living in a dreaml and like Alice in Wonderland. We are not living in a world as it appears. The primary qualities condensing themselves into secondary qualities of sensations, solidify themselves as it were into hard realities like heaviness that you feel when you get an electrical shock.
  --
  but there things in Sanskrit language? What is Shabda, Sparsa, Rupa, Rasa and Gandha but conceptual precedents of the hard things called earth, water, fire, air and ether including our physical bodies? We can imagine we have difficulties in meditation, why we cannot do Japa, why we cannot do prayer. We get angry for little things and we fly at the throat of another brother,
  because we are yet to be spiritual.
  --
  Man melting, like ice vanishing before the blaze of the sun. That is religion. When the sun of God-consciousness rises, this substance called body-consciousness evaporates into an ethereal nothing. Gradually, we begin to approximate God-being. The life of religion is the way of gradual approximation to God-consciousness. Here, true love begins to preponderate in our lives. We do not merely think of God as philosophers or academicians or professors. We love God; and we cannot love a thing which is not really there. We cannot love a thing which is only an idea or a concept in our mind.
  All love is an urge of the soul to contact that which it feels as a hard reality in front of itself.

2.09 - The Release from the Ego, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  This cannot be done without an uncompromising abolition of the ego-sense at its very basis and source. In the path of Knowledge one attempts this abolition, negatively by a denial of the reality of the ego, positively by a constant fixing of the thought upon the idea of the One and the Infinite in itself or the One and Infinite everywhere. This, if persistently done changes in the end the mental outlook on oneself and the whole world and there is a kind of mental realisation; but afterwards by degrees or perhaps rapidly and imperatively and almost at the beginning the mental realisation deepens into spiritual experience -- a realisation in the very substance of our being. More and more frequent conditions come of something indefinable and illimitable, a peace, a silence, a joy, a bliss beyond expression, a sense of absolute impersonal Power, a pure existence, a pure consciousness, an all-pervading Presence. The ego persists in itself or in its habitual movements, but the peace of the One becomes more and more inured, the others are broken, crushed, more and more rejected, becoming weak in their intensity, limp or mechanical in their action. In the end there is a constant giving up of the whole consciousness into the being of the Supreme. In the beginning when the restless confusion and obscuring impurity of our outward nature is active, when the mental, vital, physical ego-sense are still powerful, this new mental outlook, these experiences may be found difficult in the extreme: but once that triple egoism is discouraged or moribund and the instruments of the Spirit are set right and purified, in an entirely pure, silent, clarified, widened consciousness the purity, infinity, stillness of the One reflects itself like the sky in a limpid lake. A meeting or a taking in of the reflected Consciousness by that which reflects it becomes more and more pressing and possible, the bridging or abolition of the atmospheric gulf between that immutable ethereal impersonal vastness and this once mobile whirl or narrow stream of personal existence is no longer an arduous improbability and may be even a frequent experience, if not yet an entirely permanent state. For even before complete purification, if the strings of the egoistic heart and mind are already sufficiently frayed and loosened, the Jiva can by a sudden snapping of the main cords escape, ascending like a bird freed into the spaces or widening like a liberated flood into the One and Infinite. There is first a sudden sense of a cosmic consciousness, a casting of oneself into the universal; from that universality one can aspire more easily, aspire to the Transcendent. There is a pushing back and rending or a rushing down of the walls that imprisoned our conscious being; there is, a loss of all sense of individuality and personality, of all placement in Space or Time or action and law of Nature; there is no longer an ego, a person definite and definable, but only consciousness, only existence, only peace and bliss; one becomes immortality, becomes eternity, becomes infinity. All that is left of the personal soul is a hymn of peace and freedom and bliss vibrating somewhere in the Eternal.
  When there is an insufficient purity in the mental being, the release appears at first to be partial and temporary; the Jiva seems to descend again into the egoistic life and the higher consciousness to be withdrawn from him. In reality, what happens is that a cloud or veil intervenes between the lower nature and the higher consciousness and the prakriti resumes for a time its old habit of working under the pressure but not always with a knowledge or present memory of that high experience. What works in it then is a ghost of the old ego supporting a mechanical repetition of the old habits upon the remnants of confusion and impurity still left in the system. The cloud intervenes and disappears, the rhythm of ascent and descent renews itself until the impurity has been worked out. This period of alternations may easily be long in the integral Yoga; for there an entire perfection of the system is required; it must be capable at all times and in all conditions and all circumstances, wh ether of action or inaction, of admitting and then living in the consciousness of the supreme Truth. Nor is it enough for the Sadhaka to have the utter realisation only in the trance of Samadhi or in a motionless quietude, but he must in trance or in waking, in passive reflection or energy of action be able to remain in the constant Samadhi of the firmly founded Brahmic consciousness349a. But if or when our conscious being has become sufficiently pure and clear, then there is a firm station in the higher consciousness. The impersonalised Jiva, one with the universal or possessed by the Transcendent, lives high-seated above349b and looks down undisturbed at whatever remnants of the old working of Nature may revisit the system. He cannot be moved by the workings of the three modes of prakriti in his lower being, nor can he be shaken from his station by the attacks even of grief and suffering. And finally, there being no veil between, the higher peace overpowers the lower disturbance and mobility. There is a settled silence in which the soul can take sovereign possession of itself above and below and altog ether.

2.0 - Reincarnation and Karma, #Theosophy, #Alice Bailey, #Occultism
  Let us consider, first, the interaction of the soul-body and sentient-soul. The soul-body is, as has become evident, the most finely elaborated part of the corporality; but it, nevertheless, belongs to it and is dependent on it. Physical-body, ether-body, and soul-body compose, in a certain sense, one whole. Hence the soul-body is also drawn within the laws of physical heredity through which the body receives its shape. And since it is the most mobile and, so to speak, volatile form of corporality, it must also exhibit the most mobile, volatile manifestations of heredity. While,
   p. 74
   therefore, the difference in the physical body is smallest, corresponding to races, peoples, and tribes; and while the ether-body presents, on the whole, a preponderating likeness although a greater divergence in single individuals, in the soul-body the difference is a very great one. In it is expressed what one already feels to be the external, personal, uniqueness of a man. It is therefore also the bearer of that part of this personal uniqueness which is passed on from parents, grand-parents, etc., to descendants. The soul as such leads, as has been explained, a completely self-contained life of its own; it shuts itself up with its inclinations and disinclinations, its feelings and passions; but, as a whole being, it is nevertheless active, and therefore this whole comes to expression also in the sentient-soul. And because the sentient-soul penetrates and, as it were, fills up the soul-body, the latter forms itself according to the nature of the soul and can in this way, as the bearer of heredity, pass on tendencies, passions, etc., from forefa thers to children. On this fact rests what Goe the says: "From my father I have stature and the serious manner of life,
   p. 75
  --
  The matter and forces of the physical body are in the whole external physical nature around us. They are continually being taken from it and given back to it. In the space of a few years the matter which composes our physical body is entirely renewed. That this matter takes the form of the human body, and that it always renews itself again within this body, is due to the fact that it is held tog ether by the ether-body. And the form of the latter is not determined by events between birth-or conception-and death alone, but is dependent on the laws of heredity which extend beyond birth and death. That soul qualities also can be transmitted by heredity, that is, that the process of physical heredity receives an infusion from the soul, is due to the fact that the soul-body can be influenced by the sentient-soul.
  Now how does the interaction between body

21.02 - Gods and Men, #Collected Works of Nolini Kanta Gupta - Vol 06, #Nolini Kanta Gupta, #Integral Yoga
   A great and glorious example of man becoming a god is that of Narada, therefore he is called Devarshi, that is to say, a rishi, a spiritually perfect man developing, that is, metamorphosing himself into a god coming down and inhabiting, possessing, becoming a human being. The function or role of a god-man or Devarshi like Narada has been described beautifully in Savitri.He is an immortal still living, moving about in the ethereal spheres, often he comes down into the earthly atmosphere and takes part in the terrestrial movements by throwing into them his guiding light and loving solicitude. And yet Narada is not the last word of the human evolution. Because he is still in the end of the subtle world, he has not undergone the material bodily transformation, he has not yet arrived at the golden body of which Sri Aurobindo speaks, the receptacle of Life Divine. The divinely trans- formed human body is the next stage or consummation of human evolution.
   ***

2.1.02 - Nature The World-Manifestation, #Essays Divine And Human, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  As in the immobile ether arises, first sign of the creative impulse of Nature, vibration, Shabda, and this vibration is a line of etheric movement, is ether contacting ether in its own field of mobile self-force and that primal stir is sufficient to initiate all forms and forces, even such is the original movement of the
  Infinite.
  --
   of Bliss embracing our existence as ether embraces our bodies, nourishing us with its eternal substance and strength and supporting the life and the activity. A world which is essentially a world of bliss - this was the ancient Vedantic vision, the drishti of the Vedic drashta, which differentiates Hinduism in its early virility from the cosmic sorrow of Buddhism and the cosmic disillusionment of Mayavada. But it is possible to fall from this
  Bliss, not to realise it with the lower nature, in the Apara Prakriti, not to be able to grasp and possess it. Two things are necessary for the fullness of man's bliss, - the fullness of his being and the fullness of his knowledge creating by their union the fullness of his strength in all its manifestations, viryam, balam, bhrajas, tejas, ojas. For Ananda, Sat & Chit make one reality, and Chit is in its outward working pure force to which our Rishis gave the name of Tapas. To attain even here upon earth this fullness of bliss dependent upon fullness of existence, illumination and force, must always be humanity's drift, man's collective endeavour. To attain it within himself here and beyond, iha ca amutra ca, must always be the drift of the human unit, the individual's endeavour. Wherever the knowledge in him thinks it can grasp this bliss, it will fix its heaven. This is Swarga,

2.1.03 - Man and Superman, #Essays Divine And Human, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Space, in its origin at least if not in its universal character, is an extension of the substance of consciousness in which motion of energy can take place for the relations of being with being or force with force and for the building up of symbolic forms on which this interchange can be supported. ether is
  246

2.10 - The Realisation of the Cosmic Self, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  This realisation of all things as God or Brahman has, as we have seen, three aspects of which we can conveniently make three successive stages of experience. First, there is the Self in whom all beings exist. The Spirit, the Divine has manifested itself as infinite self-extended being, self-existent, pure not subject to Time and Space, but supporting Time and Space as figures of its consciousness. It is more than all things and contains them all within that self-extended being and consciousness, not bound by anything that it creates, holds or becomes, but free and infinite and all-blissful. It holds them, in the old image, as the infinite ether contains in itself all objects. This image of the ethereal (Akasha) Brahman may indeed be of great practical help to the Sadhaka who finds a difficulty in meditating on what seems to him at first an abstract and unseizable idea. In the image of the ether, not physical but an encompassing ether of vast being, consciousness and bliss, he may seek to see with the mind and to feel m his mental being this supreme existence and to identify it in oneness with the self within him. By such meditation the mind may be brought to a favourable state of predisposition in which, by the rending or withdrawing of the veil, the supramental vision may flood the mentality and change entirely all our seeing. And upon that change of seeing, as it becomes more and more potent and insistent and occupies all our consciousness, there will supervene eventually a change of becoming so that what we see we become. We shall be in our self-consciousness not so much cosmic as ultra-cosmic, infinite. Mind and life and body will then be only movements in that infinity which we have become, and we shall see that what exists is not world at all but simply this infinity of spirit in which move the mighty cosmic harmonies of Its own images of self-conscious becoming.
  But what then of all these forms and existences that make up the harmony? Shall they be to us only images, empty name and form without any informing reality, poor worthless things in themselves and however grandiose, puissant or beautiful they once seemed to our mental vision, now to be rejected and held of no value? Not so, although that would be the first natural result of a very intense absorption in the infinity of the all-containing Self to the exclusion of the infinities that it contains. But these things are not empty, not mere unreal name and form imagined by a cosmic Mind; they are, as we have said, in their reality self-conscious becomings of the Self, that is to say, the Self dwells within all of them even as within us, conscious of them, governing their motion, blissful in his habitation as in his embrace of all that he becomes. As the ether both contains and is as it were contained in the jar, so this Self both contains and inhabits all existences, not in a physical but in a spiritual sense, and is their reality. This indwelling State of the Self we have to realise; we have to see and ourselves to become in our consciousness the Self in all existences. We have, putting aside all vain resistance of the intellect and the mental associations, to know that the Divine inhabits all these becomings and is their true Self and conscious Spirit, and not to know it only intellectually but to know by a self-experience that shall compel into its own diviner mould all the habits of the mental consciousness.
  This Self that we are has finally to become to our self-consciousness entirely one with all existences in spite of its exceeding them. We have to see it not only as that which contains and inhabits all, but that which is all, not only as indwelling spirit, but also as the name and form, the movement and the master of the movement, the mind and life and body. It is by this final realisation that we shall resume entirely in the right poise and the vision of the Truth all that we drew back from in the first movement of recoil and withdrawal. The individual mind, life and body which we recoiled from as not our true being, we shall recover as a true becoming of the Self, but no longer in a purely individual narrowness. We shall take up the mind not as a separate mentality imprisoned in a petty motion, but as a large movement of the universal mind, the life not as an egoistic activity of vitality and sensation and desire, but as a free movement of the universal life, the body not as a physical prison of the soul but as a subordinate instrument and detachable robe, realising that also as a movement of universal Matter, a cell of the cosmic Body. We shall come to feel all the consciousness of the physical world as one with our physical consciousness, feel all the energies of the cosmic life around as our own energies, feel all the heart-beats of the great cosmic impulse and seeking in our heart-beats set to the rhythm of the divine Ananda, feel all the action of the universal mind flowing into our mentality and our thought-action flowing out upon it as a wave into that wide sea. This unity embracing all mind, life and matter in the light of a supramental Truth and the pulse of a spiritual Bliss will be to us our internal fulfilment of the Divine in a complete cosmic consciousness.

2.11 - The Boundaries of the Ignorance, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
   will and knowledge, has ascended out of the Inconscient and dwells in the inner being constituting and directing its subliminal existence by the same will and knowledge, has cast up out of the subliminal our surface existence and dwells secretly in it overseeing with the same supreme light and mastery its stumbling and groping movements. If the subliminal and subconscient may be compared to a sea which throws up the waves of our surface mental existence, the superconscience may be compared to an ether which constitutes, contains, overroofs, inhabits and determines the movements of the sea and its waves. It is there in this higher ether that we are inherently and intrinsically conscious of our self and spirit, not as here below by a reflection in silent mind or by acquisition of the knowledge of a hidden Being within us; it is through it, through that ether of superconscience, that we can pass to a supreme status, knowledge, experience. Of this superconscient existence through which we can arrive at the highest status of our real, our supreme Self, we are normally even more ignorant than of the rest of our being; yet is it into the knowledge of it that our being emerging out of the involution in Inconscience is struggling to evolve. This limitation to our surface existence, this unconsciousness of our highest as of our inmost self, is our first, our capital ignorance.
  We exist superficially by a becoming in Time; but here again out of that becoming in Time the surface mind, which we call ourselves, is ignorant of all the long past and the long future, aware only of the little life which it remembers and not of all even of that; for much of it is lost to its observation, much to its memory. We readily believe, - for the simple and compelling but insufficient reason that we do not remember, have not perceived, are not informed of anything else, - that we came into existence first by our physical birth into this life and shall cease to exist by the death of this body and the cessation of this brief physical activity. But while this is true of our physical mentality and physical vitality, our corporeal sheath, for they have been constituted at our birth and are dissolved by death, it is not true of our real becoming in Time. For our real self in the cosmos is the Superconscient which becomes the subliminal

2.12 - The Way and the Bhakta, #Essays On The Gita, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Then the way is to control the lower self in the act and do works without desire of the fruit. All fruit has to be renounced, to be given up to the Power that directs the work, and yet the work has to be done that is imposed by It on the nature. For by this means the obstacle steadily diminishes and easily disappears; the mind is left free to remember the Lord and to fix itself in the liberty of the divine consciousness. And here the Gita gives an ascending scale of potencies and assigns the palm of excellence to this Yoga of desireless action. Abhyasa, practice of a method, repetition of an effort and experience is a great and powerful thing; but better than this is knowledge, the successful and luminous turning of the thought to the Truth behind things. This thought-knowledge too is excelled by a silent complete concentration on the Truth so that the consciousness shall eventually live in it and be always one with it. But more powerful still is the giving up of the fruit of one's works, because that immediately destroys all causes of disturbance and brings and preserves automatically an inner calm and peace, and calm and peace are the foundation on which all else becomes perfect and secure in possession by the tranquil spirit. Then the consciousness can be at ease, happily fix itself in the Divine and rise undisturbed to perfection. Then too knowledge, will and devotion can lift their pinnacles from a firm soil of solid calm into the ether of Eternity.
  What then will be the divine nature, what will be the greater state of consciousness and being of the bhakta who has followed this way and turned to the adoration of the Eternal? The Gita in a number of verses rings the changes on its first insistent demand, on equality, on desirelessness, on freedom of spirit. This is to be the base always, - and that was why so much stress was laid on it in the beginning. And in that equality bhakti, the love and

2.13 - On Psychology, #Evening Talks With Sri Aurobindo, #unset, #Zen
   Sri Aurobindo: Yes, "vyna is the right side; apna is the left side; ka is tm." It may refer to the vital ether and pthiv puccham pratih clearly means that the vital is based on and looks from above upon the physical.
   Disciple: Does the Christian Trinity correspond to Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva?

2.16 - Oneness, #The Synthesis Of Yoga, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  Sachchidananda is one in Himself in whatever status or whatever plane of existence. We have therefore to make that the basis of all effectuation wh ether of consciousness or force or being, wh ether of knowledge or will or delight. We have, as we have seen, to live in the consciousness of the Absolute transcendent and of the Absolute manifested in all relations, impersonal and manifest as all personalities, beyond all qualities and rich in infinite quality, a silence out of which the eternal Word creates, a divine calm and peace possessing itself in infinite joy and activity. We have to find Him knowing all, sanctioning all, governing all, containing, upholding and informing all as the Purusha and at the same time executing all knowledge, will and formation as prakriti. We have to see Him as one Existence, Being gathered in itself and Being displayed in all existences; as one Consciousness concentrated in the unity of its existence, extended in universal nature and many-centred in innumerable beings; one Force static in its repose of self-gathered consciousness and dynamic in its activity of extended consciousness; one Delight blissfully aware of its featureless infinity and blissfully aware of all feature and force and forms as itself; one creative knowledge and governing Will, supramental, originative and determinative of all minds, lives and bodies; one Mind containing all mental beings and constituting all their mental activities; one Life active in all living beings and generative of their vital activities; one substance constituting all forms and objects as the visible and sensible mould in which mind and life manifest and act just as one pure existence is that ether in which all Conscious-Force arid Delight exist unified and find themselves variously. For these are the seven principles of the manifest being of Sachchidananda.
  The integral Yoga of knowledge has to recognise the double nature of this manifestation, -- for there is the higher nature of Sachchidananda in which He is found and the lower nature of mind, life and body in which He is veiled, -and to reconcile and unite the two in the oneness of the illumined realisation. We have not to leave them separate so that we live a sort of double life, spiritual within or above, mental and material in our active and earthly living; we have to re-view and remould the lower living in the light, force and joy of the higher reality. We have to realise Matter as a sense-created mould of Spirit, a vehicle for all manifestation of the light, force and joy of Sachchidananda in the highest conditions of terrestrial being and activity. We have to see Life as a channel for the infinite Force divine and break the barrier of a sense-created and mind-created farness and division from it so that that divine Power may take possession of and direct and change all our life-activities until our vitality transfigured ceases in the end to be the limited life-force which now supports mind and body and becomes a figure of the all-blissful conscious-force of Sachchidananda. We have similarly to change our sensational and emotional mentality into a play of the divine Love and universal Delight; and we have to surcharge the intellect which seeks to know and will in us with the light of the divine Knowledge-Will until it is transformed into a figure of that higher and sublime activity.

2.16 - The Integral Knowledge and the Aim of Life; Four Theories of Existence, #The Life Divine, #Sri Aurobindo, #Integral Yoga
  May Earth, sovereign over the past and the future, make for us a wide world. . . . Earth that was the water on the Ocean and whose course the thinkers follow by the magic of their knowledge, she who has her heart of immortality covered up by the Truth in the supreme ether, may she stablish for us light and power in that most high kingdom. Atharva Veda.6
  O Flame, thou foundest the mortal in a supreme immortality for increase of inspired Knowledge day by day; for the seer who has thirst for the dual birth, thou createst divine bliss and human joy. Rig Veda.7

WORDNET



--- Overview of noun ether

The noun ether has 4 senses (no senses from tagged texts)
                    
1. quintessence, ether ::: (the fifth and highest element after air and earth and fire and water; was believed to be the substance composing all heavenly bodies)
2. ether ::: (any of a class of organic compounds that have two hydrocarbon groups linked by an oxygen atom)
3. ether, aether ::: (a medium that was once supposed to fill all space and to support the propagation of electromagnetic waves)
4. ether, ethoxyethane, divinyl ether, vinyl ether, diethyl ether, ethyl ether ::: (a colorless volatile highly inflammable liquid formerly used as an inhalation anesthetic)


--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun ether

4 senses of ether                          

Sense 1
quintessence, ether
   => element
     => substance
       => matter
         => physical entity
           => entity
       => part, portion, component part, component, constituent
         => relation
           => abstraction, abstract entity
             => entity

Sense 2
ether
   => organic compound
     => compound, chemical compound
       => chemical, chemical substance
         => material, stuff
           => substance
             => matter
               => physical entity
                 => entity
             => part, portion, component part, component, constituent
               => relation
                 => abstraction, abstract entity
                   => entity

Sense 3
ether, aether
   => medium
     => communication, communicating
       => act, deed, human action, human activity
         => event
           => psychological feature
             => abstraction, abstract entity
               => entity

Sense 4
ether, ethoxyethane, divinyl ether, vinyl ether, diethyl ether, ethyl ether
   => inhalation anesthetic, inhalation anaesthetic, inhalation general anesthetic, inhalation general anaesthetic
     => general anesthetic, general anaesthetic
       => anesthetic, anaesthetic, anesthetic agent, anaesthetic agent
         => drug
           => agent
             => causal agent, cause, causal agency
               => physical entity
                 => entity
             => substance
               => matter
                 => physical entity
                   => entity


--- Hyponyms of noun ether

1 of 4 senses of ether                        

Sense 4
ether, ethoxyethane, divinyl ether, vinyl ether, diethyl ether, ethyl ether
   => enflurane, Ethrane


--- Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of noun ether

4 senses of ether                          

Sense 1
quintessence, ether
   => element

Sense 2
ether
   => organic compound

Sense 3
ether, aether
   => medium

Sense 4
ether, ethoxyethane, divinyl ether, vinyl ether, diethyl ether, ethyl ether
   => inhalation anesthetic, inhalation anaesthetic, inhalation general anesthetic, inhalation general anaesthetic




--- Coordinate Terms (sisters) of noun ether

4 senses of ether                          

Sense 1
quintessence, ether
  -> element
   => air
   => fire
   => earth
   => quintessence, ether
   => water

Sense 2
ether
  -> organic compound
   => aldehyde
   => aliphatic compound
   => alkylbenzene
   => alkyl halide, haloalkane
   => amino acid, aminoalkanoic acid
   => diamine
   => enol
   => halon
   => peptone
   => quaternary ammonium compound
   => proenzyme, zymogen
   => propylthiouracil
   => ether
   => acetal
   => aldol, aldehyde-alcohol
   => alkaloid
   => amide
   => rennet
   => azadirachtin
   => thiazine
   => cacodyl, tetramethyldiarsine
   => neurochemical
   => acyl anhydrides, acid anhydrides
   => acyl halide, acid halide
   => creosote, coal-tar creosote
   => creosote
   => nitrile, nitril, cyanide
   => cyanohydrin
   => ester
   => furan, furane, furfuran
   => glycoside
   => resin, rosin
   => halocarbon
   => hemiacetal
   => hemolysin, haemolysin, erythrolysin, erythrocytolysin
   => humic substance
   => hydrocarbon
   => ketone
   => macromolecule, supermolecule
   => nitrobenzene
   => oxime
   => petrochemical
   => phosphocreatine, creatine phosphate, creatine phosphoric acid
   => phenol
   => pyrimidine
   => quassia
   => steroid
   => nonsteroid, nonsteroidal
   => thiouracil
   => urea, carbamide
   => imide
   => xanthine

Sense 3
ether, aether
  -> medium
   => ether, aether
   => air, airwave

Sense 4
ether, ethoxyethane, divinyl ether, vinyl ether, diethyl ether, ethyl ether
  -> inhalation anesthetic, inhalation anaesthetic, inhalation general anesthetic, inhalation general anaesthetic
   => chloroform, trichloromethane
   => cyclopropane
   => ether, ethoxyethane, divinyl ether, vinyl ether, diethyl ether, ethyl ether
   => halothane
   => isoflurane
   => nitrous oxide, laughing gas




--- Grep of noun ether
aether
altogether
bellwether
blether
bringing close together
calling together
coming together
diethyl ether
divinyl ether
emmy noether
ether
ethernet
ethernet cable
ethyl ether
get together
noether
tether
vinyl ether
wether



IN WEBGEN [10000/5702]

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Wikipedia - Erasmus University Rotterdam -- Public research university in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Estates of the Netherlands Antilles -- Defunct unicameral legislature of the Netherlands Antilles
Wikipedia - Esterlin -- Obsolete netherlandic unit of mass, stands for gram
Wikipedia - Ester -- Chemical compounds consisting of a carbonyl adjacent to an ether linkage
Wikipedia - Estradiol benzoate cyclooctenyl ether -- Chemical compound
Wikipedia - Ethash -- Proof-of-work function used in Ethereum
Wikipedia - EtherChannel
Wikipedia - EtherCON -- Ruggedized Ethernet connector
Wikipedia - Ethereal plane
Wikipedia - Ethereal Veiled Existence -- extended play by Carach Angren
Wikipedia - Ethereal wave
Wikipedia - Etheredge
Wikipedia - Ethereum Classic -- Open source blockchain computing platform
Wikipedia - Ethereum -- Open source blockchain computing platform
Wikipedia - Etheria -- Philippine television series
Wikipedia - Etheric body
Wikipedia - Etheric plane
Wikipedia - Etheridge Knight
Wikipedia - Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching
Wikipedia - Ethernet flow control -- Technique to suspend transmission to avoid congestion
Wikipedia - Ethernet frame -- Protocol data unit of Ethernet telecommunications technologies
Wikipedia - Ethernet hub -- Device for interconnecting Ethernet devices
Wikipedia - EtherNet/IP -- Industrial network protocol
Wikipedia - Ethernet network
Wikipedia - Ethernet over coax
Wikipedia - Ethernet over PDH over SONET/SDH -- Aspect of Ethernet networking
Wikipedia - Ethernet over twisted pair
Wikipedia - Ethernet physical layer -- physical network layer of the Ethernet communications technologies
Wikipedia - Ethernet Ring Protection Switching
Wikipedia - Ethernet switch
Wikipedia - Ethernet VPN -- Technology for carrying Ethernet traffic over wide area networks
Wikipedia - Ethernet -- Computer networking technology
Wikipedia - Etherow Country Park -- Park in Compstall, England
Wikipedia - Ether (song) -- 2001 song by Nas
Wikipedia - EtherSound -- Audio-over-Ethernet technology
Wikipedia - EtherType -- field in Ethernet frames indicating which protocol is encapsulated in the payload
Wikipedia - Ether -- Class of organic compounds
Wikipedia - Euronext Amsterdam -- Stock exchange located in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - European route E25 -- European road in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland and Italy
Wikipedia - European VLBI Network -- Network of radio telescopes across Europe that link together for radio interferometry
Wikipedia - Eurostar -- International high-speed railway service connecting the United Kingdom with France, Belgium and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Eurovision: Come Together -- 2020 BBC television programme
Wikipedia - Euthanasia in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Exloo -- Village in Drenthe, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Exposition des primitifs flamands a Bruges -- Art exhibition of Early Netherlandish Painting in 1902
Wikipedia - Eyserbeek -- Stream in Limburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fantastic Man (magazine) -- Fashion magazine published in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Farbrengen -- Chabad gethering
Wikipedia - Faunal assemblage -- Group of associated animal fossils found together in a given stratum
Wikipedia - Fay Hartog-Levin -- 65th United States Ambassador to the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fearless Love -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - February flood of 1825 -- Storm surge flood on the North Sea coast of Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fectio -- Former Roman castellum, village in Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fellow -- Member of a group of learned people who work together as peers in the pursuit of mutual knowledge or practice
Wikipedia - Feminism in the Netherlands -- History of the feminist movement in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fibrous joint -- Fixed joints between bones held together by dense, fibrous tissue
Wikipedia - Film splicer -- Machine to join together pieces of movie film
Wikipedia - Fireworks policy in the Netherlands -- Restrictions on shooting fireworks in the country
Wikipedia - First date -- Initial meeting between two individuals, whether or not previously acquainted, where an effort is made to ask, plan, and organize some sort of social activity.
Wikipedia - Fishplate -- Metal part used to join two rails together
Wikipedia - Flag of the Netherlands -- National flag
Wikipedia - Flevoland -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - FM-DM-^Snix (roller coaster) -- Roller coaster in Attractiepark Toverland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fontys School of Fine and Performing Arts -- Fine and performing arts school in Tilburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Forest for the Trees (organization) -- Organization that brings artists together to create murals in Portland, Oregon, United States
Wikipedia - Formerly Known as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art -- Contemporary art gallery in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Formula One drivers from the Netherlands -- Formula One drivers from the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fort Wilhelmus -- Factorij in the 17th-century New Netherland, in present-day New Jersey, United States
Wikipedia - Forum Hadriani -- Human settlement in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Four Days' Battle -- Large naval battle in June 1666 between England and the Netherlands; Dutch victory
Wikipedia - Fourth Anglo-Dutch War -- UK-Netherlands war, 1780-1784
Wikipedia - Fourth Balkenende cabinet -- Cabinet of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Franciscus Lucas Brugensis -- Roman Catholic biblical exegete and textual critic from the Habsburg Netherlands
Wikipedia - Frank E. Wetherell -- American architect
Wikipedia - Frans Hals -- 17th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Fraternity -- Organization, society, or club of people associated together for various religious or secular aims
Wikipedia - Free Anti Revolutionary Party -- Defunct political party in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Friesland -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Funding Together -- South Korean television show
Wikipedia - Gaper -- Type of figurehead, often used in storefronts of some drug stores in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Gar'in -- Groups of people who moved together to Ottoman Palestine, British Palestine, and since 1948, Israel
Wikipedia - Gas storage bank -- Group of similar size high pressure cylinders mounted together and connected to a common manifold
Wikipedia - Gas storage quad -- Group of similar size high pressure cylinders mounted together on a transport frame and connected to a common manifold
Wikipedia - Gather Together in My Name -- Memoir by Maya Angelou
Wikipedia - Gather Yourselves Together
Wikipedia - Geas -- An idiosyncratic taboo, whether of obligation or prohibition, similar to being under a vow
Wikipedia - Geertgen tot Sint Jans -- Early Netherlandish painter
Wikipedia - Gelderland -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Gene-environment interplay -- Term including multiple ways that genes and environments work together
Wikipedia - General Elderly Alliance -- Defunct political party in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Genetic linkage -- tendency of DNA sequences that are close together on a chromosome to be inherited together
Wikipedia - Geography of the European Netherlands -- Overview of the geography of the European Netherlands
Wikipedia - George Floyd protests in the Netherlands -- Protests in the Netherlands against police brutality in solidarity with concurrent events in the United States
Wikipedia - George Wetherill
Wikipedia - Gerard David -- Early Netherlandish painter
Wikipedia - Ger C. Bout -- Dutch architect and artist based in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - German bombing of Rotterdam -- Aerial bombardment of Rotterdam by the Luftwaffe (German air force) on 14 May 1940, during the German invasion of the Netherlands in World War II
Wikipedia - Gertrudiskerk -- Church in Bergen op Zoom, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Get Together (Madonna song) -- 2006 single by Madonna
Wikipedia - Get Together (Youngbloods song) -- 1967 single by The Youngbloods
Wikipedia - Ghost Town Law -- 1942 film directed by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Gigabit Ethernet
Wikipedia - Ginneken en Bavel -- Place in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Glandford (Letheringsett Road) -- Geological site in Norfolk, England
Wikipedia - Global Ocean Data Analysis Project -- A synthesis project bringing together biogeochemical oceanographic data
Wikipedia - Goffertpark -- Park in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Golden Glory -- Muay Thai, kickboxing and MMA based in the Netherlands.
Wikipedia - Gorsedd -- Community or coming together of modern-day bards
Wikipedia - Goswin van der Weyden -- Early Netherlandish painter
Wikipedia - Gottfried E. Noether
Wikipedia - Gottfried Noether
Wikipedia - Goudkantoor -- Building in Groningen, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Governance -- All of the processes of governing, whether undertaken by a govnt, market or network, whether over a family, tribe, formal or informal organization or territory and whether through the laws, norms, power or language of an organized society
Wikipedia - Graduate Together: America Honors the High School Class of 2020 -- 2020 benefit television and livestream event
Wikipedia - Grammaticality -- Judgement on the well-formedness of a linguistic utterance, based on whether the sentence is produced and interpreted in accordance with the rules and constraints of the relevant grammar
Wikipedia - Grave, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Grease ice -- A thin, soupy layer of frazil crystals clumped together, which makes the ocean surface resemble an oil slick
Wikipedia - Great Council of Mechelen -- Supreme court in the Burgundian Netherlands
Wikipedia - Greater Netherlands -- Hypothetical monolingual polity formed by fusing the two Dutch-speaking regions of Flanders and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Great Rationality Debate -- The question of whether humans are rational or not
Wikipedia - Greek language question -- 19th and 20th century dispute in Greece about whether the popular language (Demotic) or a cultivated imitation of Ancient Greek (Katharevousa) should be official; settled in favour of the former
Wikipedia - Green Party of the Netherlands -- Defunct Dutch political party
Wikipedia - Grenzaa -- River in Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Grey Wethers -- Prehistoric stone circles in Dartmoor
Wikipedia - Griend -- Island in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - GroenLinks -- Green political party in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Groningen (province) -- The northeasternmost province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Grote Broek -- Self-managed political project in Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Haarlem -- City and municipality in North Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Habsburg Netherlands -- Historical region in the Low Countries, 1482-1581
Wikipedia - Halting problem -- Problem of determining whether a given program will finish running or continue forever
Wikipedia - Happy Together (American TV series) -- American comedy television series
Wikipedia - Happy Together (song) -- 1967 single by The Turtles
Wikipedia - Hargen -- Place in Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Healthy Ageing Tour -- Women's cycle race in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Hearne Craton -- A craton in northern Canada which, together with the Rae Craton, forms the Western Churchill Province
Wikipedia - Heart of the West (film) -- 1936 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Heemstede -- Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Heerema Marine Contractors -- Crane vessel operator based in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Heerlen -- City and Municipality in Limburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Heinz Raether -- German physicist
Wikipedia - Helen Nethercutt -- American businesswoman
Wikipedia - Hendrick Goltzius -- Painter from the Northern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Henry Hetherington Emmerson
Wikipedia - Henry Wetherbee Henshaw
Wikipedia - Here Technologies -- Netherlands-based mapping data company
Wikipedia - Hermitage at Schaelsberg -- Building in Valkenburg aan de Geul, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Herwen -- Place in Gelderland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Het Loo Palace -- Palace in Apeldoorn, Netherlands, built by the House of Orange-Nassau.
Wikipedia - Het Nieuwe Instituut -- Cultural institute in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Het Scheepvaartmuseum -- Maritime museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Higher education in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - High-speed rail in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - High Tech Campus Eindhoven -- High tech center in Eindhoven, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Hilbert's basis theorem -- Polynomial rings are Noetherian rings
Wikipedia - Hilma Hooker -- Shipwreck in Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands
Wikipedia - Hilversum Town Hall -- town hall in the Netherlands famous for its modernist design
Wikipedia - Historicity of Jesus -- Relates to whether Jesus of Nazareth was a historical figure
Wikipedia - Historicity of King Arthur -- Debate about whether King Arthur was a historical person
Wikipedia - History of religion in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - History of the Jews in the Netherlands -- Aspect of history
Wikipedia - History of the Netherlands -- Dutch history
Wikipedia - HNLMS De Ruyter (1935) -- Light cruiser of the Royal Netherlands Navy
Wikipedia - Holland -- Region and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Holobiont -- Assemblage of a host and the many other species living in or around it which together form a discrete ecological unit.
Wikipedia - Honorable Mention -- Former military award of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Hop-Along Cassidy -- 1935 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Horace William Petherick -- Artist and illustrator
Wikipedia - Hostellerie De Hamert -- Former restaurant in Wellerlooi, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Hotel New York (Rotterdam) -- hotel in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in the former office of the Holland America Lines
Wikipedia - Hours of Philip the Good -- Collection highlight from the National Library of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - House of Representatives (Netherlands) -- Lower house of the Netherlands parliament
Wikipedia - House of Representatives of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Housing estate -- Group of homes and other buildings built together as a single development
Wikipedia - Howard Bretherton -- American film director
Wikipedia - HTM Personenvervoer -- Public transportation company in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Huis ter Kleef -- Former castle in Haarlem, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Hypromellose -- Cellulose ether used as emulsifier or thickening agent to disperse colloids in water
Wikipedia - IJsselmeer -- Lake in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - IJzerkoekje -- A soft cookie from the Netherlands baked on a checkered iron plate
Wikipedia - Index of Netherlands Antilles-related articles -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Industrial Ethernet -- Use of Ethernet in an industrial environment
Wikipedia - In Old Colorado -- 1941 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Inquisition of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Instantaneous wave-free ratio -- Diagnostic tool used to assess whether a stenosis is causing a limitation of blood flow in coronary arteries with subsequent ischemia
Wikipedia - InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam -- Hotel in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Interesting number paradox -- Question whether the smallest non-interesting number is interesting or not
Wikipedia - Internationaler Naturpark Bourtanger Moor-Bargerveen -- Nature reserve in northern Netherlands and Germany
Wikipedia - International Film Festival Rotterdam -- annual film festival held in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Internet in the Netherlands -- Overview of the Internet in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Intrastate region -- Collection of Mexican municipalities grouped together for statistical purposes
Wikipedia - IRC (organization) -- Nonprofit organization in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Isaak Tirion -- Publisher from the Northern Netherlands
Wikipedia - It Happened Out West -- 1937 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - It's Showtime (kickboxing) -- Kickboxing and mixed martial arts promoter based in Netherlands
Wikipedia - ITunes Originals - Seether -- compilation album by Seether
Wikipedia - Ivan Samuco -- Professional boxer from Curacao, Netherlands Antilles
Wikipedia - Jacques Daret -- Netherlandish painter (c.1404-c.1470)
Wikipedia - Jan Etherington -- British writer, journalist and producer
Wikipedia - Jan Kip -- Draughtsman, engraver and print dealer from the Northern Netherlands (c.1652-1722)
Wikipedia - Jan Peter Balkenende -- 49th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - J.B. Nethercutt -- American entrepreneur and car collector
Wikipedia - Jeanette Morang -- First female flag officer in the Royal Netherlands Navy
Wikipedia - Joan Cornelis van der Hoop -- Netherlands lawyer and government member
Wikipedia - Joanne Etheridge
Wikipedia - Jochem Pietersen Kuyter -- Colonist of New Netherland
Wikipedia - John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton -- British Army officer
Wikipedia - John Price Wetherill Medal -- Scientific award
Wikipedia - Joinder -- Joining of two or more legal issues together
Wikipedia - Joop den Uyl -- 45th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Journey Together -- 1945 war drama film by John Boulting
Wikipedia - Judeo-Christian -- Term grouping Judaism and Christianity together
Wikipedia - Judith Leyster -- Painter from the Northern Netherlands (1609-1660)
Wikipedia - Juliana Canal -- 36 km long canal in the southern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Juliet Etherington -- New Zealand sport shooter
Wikipedia - Juniper MX-Series -- Ethernet routers
Wikipedia - Kalenberg, Drenthe -- Hamlet in the northeastern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kalpana (company) -- Manufacturer of the first Ethernet switch
Wikipedia - Karl Gether Bomhoff -- Norwegian politician
Wikipedia - Kate Wetherhead -- American actor, writer, and director
Wikipedia - Kathleen Hetherington -- American college administrator
Wikipedia - Kattumaram -- Traditional watercraft made from logs lashed together
Wikipedia - Katwijk -- Municipality in South Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kearby with Netherby -- Civil parish in North Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Keep It Together (song) -- 1990 single by Madonna
Wikipedia - Keep Us Together -- 2006 single by Starsailor
Wikipedia - Kesteren -- Place in Gelderland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kether Donohue -- American actress and singer
Wikipedia - Kether
Wikipedia - Keukenhof -- Flower garden in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kingdom of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kingmatille, Dronryp -- Windmill in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - King of the Royal Mounted (film) -- 1936 American drama film, directed by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - King's commissioner -- Head of a province in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - King Willem-Alexander Canal -- A 6 km long canal in the northeastern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kite -- Tethered aircraft
Wikipedia - KLM -- Flag-carrier airline of the Netherlands; part of Air France-KLM Group
Wikipedia - Klomp -- Type of clogs from the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Koepelgevangenis (Arnhem) -- Former prison in Arnhem, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Koepelgevangenis (Haarlem) -- Former prison in Haarlem, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Koninklijke Bibliotheek, National Library of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Korenbeurs (Groningen) -- National heritage site in Groningen, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Krachtsportgebouw -- A multi-purpose sports arena located in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kralingse Plas -- lake in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Kronenburgerpark -- The Kronenburger park in Nijmegen, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Krull-Akizuki theorem -- About extensions of one-dimensional Noetherian rings (commutative algebra)
Wikipedia - Kurhaus of Scheveningen -- Hotel in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Laboratory diagnosis of viral infections -- Laboratory methods for determining whether a virus infection has occurred in an organism
Wikipedia - Ladies They Talk About -- 1933 film by William Keighley, Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Lambiek -- comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Land banking -- Buying multiple parcels together for future use
Wikipedia - Landbouwbelang (squat) -- Squatted industrial building in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Land grabbing -- Large-scale acquisition of land (over 1,000 ha) whether by purchase, leases or other means.
Wikipedia - Landhuishotel Bloemenbeek -- Hotel in Losser, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - LAN eXtensions for Instrumentation -- Standard for controlling instrumentation and data acquisition instrumentation over Ethernet
Wikipedia - Languages of the Netherlands -- Overview of languages spoken in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - La Vilette -- Restaurant in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Wikipedia - Law enforcement in the Netherlands -- Overview of law enforcement in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Law of the Netherlands -- Overview of the law of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Lawrence Wetherby -- American politician; Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Kentucky
Wikipedia - Layer cake -- A cake made from stacked layers of cake held together by filling
Wikipedia - Lector -- Is Latin for one who reads, whether aloud or not
Wikipedia - Lee Meriwether -- American actress, former model
Wikipedia - Leiden anatomical theatre -- Former anatomical theatre and cabinet of curiosities of Leiden University, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Leiden International Film Festival -- Film festival in Leiden, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Leiden Law School -- faculty of Leiden University, The Netherlands
Wikipedia - Leiden University -- University in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Leiden -- City and municipality in South Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Leidseplein -- Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Lelystad Airport -- Airport in Lelystad, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Leo Peter Kierkels -- Catholic archbishop from The Netherlands
Wikipedia - Let's Spend the Night Together -- Song by The Rolling Stones
Wikipedia - Let's Stick Together (song) -- 1962 single by Wilbert Harrison
Wikipedia - Let's Stick Together -- 1976 album by Bryan Ferry
Wikipedia - LGBT rights in the Netherlands -- Rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Liberalism in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Lieven van Lathem -- 15th century Netherlandish painter and manuscript illuminator
Wikipedia - Life Together
Wikipedia - Limburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Limburg (Netherlands) -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - List of 2009 box office number-one films in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of active Royal Netherlands Navy ships -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of airlines of the Netherlands Antilles -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of airlines of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of airports in the Netherlands Antilles -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of airports in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of archives in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of banks in the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of battleships of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Bergen, New Netherland placename etymologies -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of birds of the Netherlands Antilles -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of birds of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of busiest railway stations in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of cities in the Netherlands by province -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of companies of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of cricket grounds in the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of cruisers of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of cultural icons of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of defunct airlines of the Netherlands Antilles -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of defunct airlines of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of defunct banks of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of destroyers of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of diplomatic missions in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of diplomatic missions of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of diplomats of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Drawn Together characters -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Drawn Together episodes -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of earthquakes in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of equipment of the Royal Netherlands Army -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of E-roads in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of extinct animals of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of female cabinet members of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of flag bearers for the Netherlands Antilles at the Olympics -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of flag bearers for the Netherlands at the Olympics -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of frigates of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of general fraternities -- Organized society of men associated together
Wikipedia - List of governors of the Habsburg Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Happy Together episodes -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Harper's Bazaar Netherlands cover models -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of honours of Netherlands awarded to heads of state and royalty -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of hospitals in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of largest companies of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Lebanese people in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Lepidoptera of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Let's Eat Dinner Together episodes -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Let's Stay Together episodes -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of LGBT holders of political offices in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of libraries in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of lighthouses in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of magazines in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Michelin starred restaurants in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Agriculture of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Defence of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Education of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Finance of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Health of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Infrastructure of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Justice of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of Social Affairs of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Ministers of the Interior of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of monarchs of the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of most visited museums in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of motorways in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of mountains and hills in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of municipal flags of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of municipalities of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - List of museums in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands Antillean records in athletics -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands Davis Cup team representatives -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands Fed Cup team representatives -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands national cricket captains -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands ODI cricketers -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands sail frigates -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands Twenty20 International cricketers -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands women ODI cricketers -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands women Test cricketers -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Netherlands women Twenty20 International cricketers -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of New Netherland placename etymologies -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of newspapers in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of non-marine molluscs of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of overseas trips made by Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of people on the postage stamps of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of political parties in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of power stations in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of presidents of the Senate (Netherlands) -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of prime ministers of the Netherlands by age -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of prime ministers of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of provinces of the Netherlands by Human Development Index -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of provincial roads in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of radio stations in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of rail accidents in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of railway lines in the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of reptiles of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of rivers of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of rulers of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of schools in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of settlements lost to floods in the Netherlands -- Numerous settlements lost to sea enroachment in the Netherlands are listed.
Wikipedia - List of submarines of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of supermarket chains in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of terrorist incidents in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of the busiest airports in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of the largest trading partners of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of the oldest living members of the States General of the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of things named after Emmy Noether -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of titles and honours of Beatrix of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Togetherness episodes -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of Together (TV series) episodes -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of town tramway systems in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of trains in the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - List of TUI fly Netherlands destinations -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of tunnels in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of twin towns and sister cities in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of universities in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of video games developed in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - List of wars involving the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Little Petherick
Wikipedia - Livewire (networking) -- An audio-over-Ethernet system created by Axia Audio
Wikipedia - Living Apart Together (film) -- 1982 film by Charles Gormley
Wikipedia - Loon op Zand Castle -- Castle in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Lorentz ether theory
Wikipedia - Louis Beel -- Dutch politician and 35th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Low Countries -- coastal lowland region in northwestern Europe consisting of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg
Wikipedia - Lower North Sea Group -- A group of geologic formations in the subsurface of the Netherlands and adjacent parts of the North Sea.
Wikipedia - Low Etherley -- Village in United Kingdom
Wikipedia - Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) -- Radio telescope network located mainly in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Low German -- West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Lucas-Lehmer-Riesel test -- Test for determining whether a number is prime
Wikipedia - Lucky (Melissa Etheridge album) -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Luminiferous Aether
Wikipedia - Luminiferous aether -- Obsolete postulated medium for the propagation of light
Wikipedia - Luminiferous ether
Wikipedia - LyondellBasell -- Netherlands-incorporated chemical company
Wikipedia - Maarheeze railway station -- Railway station in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Maastricht Randwyck railway station -- In the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Maastricht -- City and municipality in Limburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Macrofamily -- Proposed genetic relationship grouping together language families
Wikipedia - Manchester code -- A line code used in early magnetic data storage and Ethernet
Wikipedia - Margaret Wetherell
Wikipedia - Markermeer -- Lake in the central Netherlands
Wikipedia - Marker Wadden -- Artificial archipelago in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Market Hall (Rotterdam) -- Residential building with market hall underneath, located in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Markiezaatskade -- Dam in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Mark Rutte -- 50th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Marnix Gymnasium -- Secondary school in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)
Wikipedia - Mask -- Any full or partial face covering, whether ceremonial, protective, decorative, or used as disguise
Wikipedia - Master of Mary of Burgundy -- Manuscript illuminator from the Southern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Master of the AndrM-CM-) Virgin -- Southern-Netherlandish painter
Wikipedia - Master of the Tiburtine Sibyl -- Early Netherlandish painter
Wikipedia - Master of the Virgo inter Virgines -- Early Netherlandish painter and designer of woodcuts
Wikipedia - Matchmaking -- Process of matching two or more people together, usually for the purpose of marriage
Wikipedia - Matilo -- Former Roman fort in Netherlands
Wikipedia - Matlis duality -- Theorem that, over a Noetherian complete local ring, the categories of Noetherian and Artinian modules are anti-isomorphic
Wikipedia - Matt Hetherington -- Australian actor
Wikipedia - Maurice Grether -- French bobsledder
Wikipedia - Maurice Petherick -- British politician
Wikipedia - Maurik -- Town in Gelderland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Maximator (intelligence alliance) -- Intelligence alliance comprising Denmark, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Sweden
Wikipedia - M. B. Etheredge -- United States Army officer
Wikipedia - Media space -- Electronic settings in which groups of people can work together even when not present in the same place and time
Wikipedia - Medusa-class corvette -- Netherlands class of warship
Wikipedia - Megachile aetheria -- Species of leafcutter bee (Megachile)
Wikipedia - Melissa Etheridge (album) -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Melissa Etheridge -- American musician
Wikipedia - Mennonite Church in the Netherlands -- Religious community
Wikipedia - Meredith Etherington-Smith -- British fashion and art journalist
Wikipedia - Meriwether Lewis -- American explorer
Wikipedia - Message to Myself -- 2007 single by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Metetherial world
Wikipedia - Metheringham railway station -- Railway station in Lincolnshire, England
Wikipedia - Michaelina Wautier -- 17th-century painter from the Southern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Miguel Arcangel Pourier -- Netherlands Antilles politician
Wikipedia - Mind at the End of Its Tether -- Book by Herbert George Wells
Wikipedia - Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Ministry of the Colonies (Netherlands) -- Former ministry of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Miriam Buether -- German stage designer
Wikipedia - Mixed-sex education -- System of education where males and females are educated together
Wikipedia - Mixture -- Substance formed when two or more constituents are physically combined together
Wikipedia - Mobile Netherlands -- Political party in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Molen van Aerden -- Windmill in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Mormon views on evolution -- The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes no official position on whether or not biological evolution has occurred
Wikipedia - Mortal Kombat 11 -- 2019 fighting video game developed by NetherRealm Studios
Wikipedia - Motion of no confidence -- Vote on whether a group of people still has confidence in a government or leader
Wikipedia - MUD Jeans -- Sustainable and fair trade certified denim brand based in The Netherlands
Wikipedia - Municipalities of the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Munsterkerk -- 13th-century church in Roermond, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Museum Bredius -- Museum in The Hague, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Museum Het Prinsenhof -- Former monastery and municipal museum in Delft, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Music of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Mycorrhizal network -- Underground hyphal networks that connect individual plants together
Wikipedia - Mylan -- Netherlands-domiciled pharmaceutical company
Wikipedia - Mysteryland -- Annual music festival in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - N 2 Gether Now -- 1999 single by Limp Bizkit
Wikipedia - Naaldwijk -- Town in Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - NAC Stadion -- Multi-use stadium in Breda, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nana Meriwether -- American athlete and beauty pageant titleholder
Wikipedia - Nathaniel Wetherell -- British geologist and surgeon
Wikipedia - Nathan Wetherell -- English theologian and academic administrator
Wikipedia - National Archives of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - National Library of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - National Party "Together" -- Political party in Benin
Wikipedia - National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands -- Dutch fascist movement that became a Nazi political party, 1931-1945
Wikipedia - National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands -- National youth orchestra of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Navy Secrets -- 1939 film directed by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - NDSM -- Area in north Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nederlandse Onderwatersport Bond -- National governing body for recreational diving and underwater sports in the Netherlands affiliated to CMAS
Wikipedia - NEMO (museum) -- Science centre in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nesselande -- Neighborhood in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Wikipedia - Netherbird -- Swedish black metal band
Wikipedia - Netherby, North Yorkshire -- Village in North Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Nether Edge (ward) -- Electoral ward in the City of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Netherfield railway station -- Railway station in Nottinghamshire, England
Wikipedia - Netherfields -- Area of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Netheril: Empire of Magic
Wikipedia - Netherlandish Proverbs -- Painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Wikipedia - Netherlands American Cemetery -- American military cemetery in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Netherlands Antilles -- Former Caribbean country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Netherlands Architecture Institute -- Former cultural institute for architecture and urban development in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Netherlands Armed Forces in Suriname -- Military force maintained by the Netherlands in its colony of Suriname
Wikipedia - Netherlands at major beauty pageants -- Netherlands at Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss International, and Miss Earth
Wikipedia - Netherlands at the 1906 Intercalated Games -- Netherlands at the Olympics
Wikipedia - Netherlands at the 2020 Summer Olympics -- Netherlands at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo
Wikipedia - Netherlands Bioinformatics Centre
Wikipedia - Netherlands Carillon -- Bell tower in Virginia, U.S.
Wikipedia - Netherlands Coastguard -- Coastal defence and maritime law enforcement branch of the Royal Netherlands Navy
Wikipedia - Netherlands Entomological Society -- Scientific society
Wikipedia - Netherlands (European Parliament constituency) -- Dutch constituency of the European Parliament
Wikipedia - Netherlands Film Festival -- Annual film festival held in Utrecht, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
Wikipedia - Netherlands Institute for Art History -- Dutch national library of art history and holder of Dutch art history thesaurus
Wikipedia - Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media -- Dutch classification institute
Wikipedia - Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest -- The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
Wikipedia - Netherlands in World War II -- Overview of the situation of the Netherlands during World War II
Wikipedia - Netherlands Marine Corps Museum -- Museum in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Netherlands national football team
Wikipedia - Netherlands national under-20 rugby union team -- Rugby union team
Wikipedia - Netherlands New Guinea -- 1949-1962 Dutch possession in Southeast Asia
Wikipedia - Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research
Wikipedia - Netherlands Photo Museum -- Photography museum in Rotterdam
Wikipedia - Netherlands Telugu Community -- non-profit volunteer organization
Wikipedia - Netherlands-Venezuela Boundary Treaty -- Treaty
Wikipedia - Netherlands -- Country in Western Europe
Wikipedia - Netherlands women's national cricket team -- Netherland women's national cricket team
Wikipedia - NetherLines -- Former Dutch commuter airline
Wikipedia - Nether Silton -- Nether Silton
Wikipedia - Nether Stowey
Wikipedia - Netherton, Kirklees -- Village in West Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Nethertown railway station -- Railway station in Cumbria, England
Wikipedia - Netherworld Haunted House -- Haunted attraction outside Atlanta, Georgia
Wikipedia - Never Enough (Melissa Etheridge album) -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - New Netherland settlements -- Colonial American settlements
Wikipedia - New Netherland -- 17th century Dutch colony in North America
Wikipedia - Newton Wethered -- English non-fiction writer (1870-1957)
Wikipedia - New Zealand flag debate -- Debate about whether the New Zealand national flag should be changed
Wikipedia - NHS Charities Together -- Federation of charities that support the National Health Service in the United Kingdom
Wikipedia - Nickelodeon (Dutch TV channel) -- Television network in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Niers -- River in Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nieuw Vosseveld -- Prison in Vught, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nijmegen -- City and municipality in Gelderland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin -- Chemist, physician and botanist from the Netherlands
Wikipedia - No. 119 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF -- Joint Netherlands-Australian Royal Australian Air Force squadron during 1943
Wikipedia - No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF -- Joint Netherlands-Australian Royal Australian Air Force squadron during 1943-1946
Wikipedia - No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF -- 1942-1950 Royal Australian Air Force unit
Wikipedia - No. 19 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF -- Joint Netherlands-Australian Royal Australian Air Force squadron during 1945-1947
Wikipedia - Noether family -- Family of German mathematicians
Wikipedia - Noetherian ring -- A mathematical ring with well behaved ideals
Wikipedia - Noether Lecture
Wikipedia - Noether's theorem -- Statement relating differentiable symmetries to conserved quantities
Wikipedia - Noorderhaaks -- Island in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Noordhollandsch Kanaal -- Canal in the Northwest Netherlands
Wikipedia - Noord, North Brabant -- Hamlet in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Noordscheschut -- Human settlement in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Norman Hetherington -- Australian cartoonist
Wikipedia - North Brabant -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Northern Netherlands
Wikipedia - North Holland -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nova (Dutch TV series) -- Late-evening current affairs programme in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Nozem -- Rebellious youth in the Netherlands during the 1950s and 1960s
Wikipedia - NS Class 1300 -- Class of 16 Netherlands electric locomotives
Wikipedia - NS Class 1600 -- Class of Netherlands electric locomotives
Wikipedia - NS Class 1700 -- Class of 81 Netherlands electric locomotives
Wikipedia - NS Class 400 -- Class of 15 Netherlands 0-4-0 diesel-electric locomotives
Wikipedia - NS Class 8800 -- Class of 27 Netherlands 0-6-0ST locomotives (ex UK War Department Austerities)
Wikipedia - Nuclear power proposed as renewable energy -- Ongoing debate on whether nuclear power is renewable
Wikipedia - Nyenrode Business University -- Private business university in Netherlands
Wikipedia - Obligation -- Course of action that someone is required to take, whether legal or moral
Wikipedia - Oculus Go -- Untethered virtual reality headset by Oculus VR
Wikipedia - Oculus Quest -- Untethered virtual reality headset by Oculus
Wikipedia - Ondertrouw -- Statutory requirement in the Netherlands and Belgium to formally register the intention to marry
Wikipedia - One-Round Hogan -- 1927 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Open University in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Optical contact bonding -- Process whereby two closely conformal surfaces are held together by intermolecular forces.
Wikipedia - Order of the House of Orange -- Dynastic order of the House of Orange-Nassau, the royal family of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Order of the Netherlands Lion -- Dutch order of chivalry
Wikipedia - Organ in the Aa-kerk in Groningen -- Historic organ in Groningen, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Organ in the Martinikerk at Groningen -- Historic organ in Groningen, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Orthodox Archdiocese of Belgium and exarchate of the Netherlands and Luxembourg -- Orthodox church in the Benelux
Wikipedia - Otto Marseus van Schrieck -- Painter from the Northern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Ouddeelsmolen -- Smock mill in Tytsjerk, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Oude IJssel -- River in Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Oudkarspel -- Farm village in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Oud-Vossemeer -- Village in Zeeland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Outlaws of the Desert -- 1941 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - OutTV (European TV channel) -- Netherlands-based television channel
Wikipedia - Overijssel -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Pacification of 1917 -- Political agreement in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Padhuis -- Place in Drenthe, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Pancreatic bud -- Outgrowths of the duodenum during human embryogenesis. They join together to form the adult pancreas.
Wikipedia - Paper clip -- Metal device to hold papers together
Wikipedia - Parietal bone -- Bone in the human skull which, when joined together, forms the sides and roof of the cranium
Wikipedia - Parimutuel betting -- Betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool
Wikipedia - Patchwork -- Form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design
Wikipedia - Patientia Vincit Omnia -- Musical society in Soest, province of Utrecht, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Patriottentijd -- Period of violence and sociopolitical instability in the Netherlands between 1780 and 1787
Wikipedia - Paul Hetherington -- Australian poet and academic
Wikipedia - Peace Palace Library -- Collection of studies in international law in The Hague, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Peace Palace -- International law administrative building in The Hague, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Peel, Netherlands -- Bog area on the border of the Dutch provinces of North Brabant and Limburg
Wikipedia - Pete Hoekstra -- United States Ambassador to the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Pether Markne -- Swedish equestrian
Wikipedia - Petrus en Pauluskerk -- Church in Loppersum, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Philippe-Guillaume de Steenhuys -- Lawyer; office-holder in the Spanish Netherlands
Wikipedia - Philippine, Netherlands -- Town in Zeeland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Philipse family -- Prominent Dutch family in New Netherlands
Wikipedia - Picket line -- Rope used to tether horses
Wikipedia - Pieter Haaxman -- Painter from the Netherlands (1854-1937)
Wikipedia - Pirates of the Prairie -- 1942 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Planarity testing -- Algorithmic problem of testing whether a given graph is a planar graph
Wikipedia - Plastiglomerate -- Stone containing a mixture of natural debris held together by molten plastic
Wikipedia - Plate armour -- Body armour consisting of shaped metal plates that were fitted together
Wikipedia - Platinum group -- Six noble, precious metallic elements clustered together in the periodic table
Wikipedia - Politics of the Netherlands Antilles -- Political system of the Netherlands Antilles
Wikipedia - Politics of the Netherlands -- Political system of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Polyester -- Category of polymers, in which the monomers are joined together by ester links.
Wikipedia - Polysome -- Multiribosomal structure organized into a linear array of ribosomes held together by messenger RNA
Wikipedia - Poortgebouw -- Monumental legalised squat in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Poptaslot -- Museum in Frisia, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Portal:Netherlands -- Wikimedia portal
Wikipedia - Postal codes in the Netherlands -- Overview of postal codes in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Post mill Rosmalen -- Windmill in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Power over Ethernet -- Passing of both power and data over an Ethernet cable
Wikipedia - Praetorium Agrippinae -- Former Roman fort in Netherlands
Wikipedia - Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time -- 2020 film
Wikipedia - Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld -- Spouse of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, prince-consort of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau -- Member of the Dutch Royal Family, brother of king Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (b. 1968, d. 2013)
Wikipedia - Prince's Flag -- Historical flag of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Princess Christina of the Netherlands -- Dutch princess
Wikipedia - Problem of induction -- Epistemological question of whether inductive reasoning leads to definitive knowledge understood in the classic philosophical sense
Wikipedia - Problem of universals -- Philosophical question of whether properties exist, and if so, what they are
Wikipedia - Proper noun and common noun -- A binary classification denoting whether a noun is a single entity and is used to refer to that entity
Wikipedia - Propositional calculus -- Logical study of propositions (whether they are true or false) that are formed by other propositions with the use of logical connectives
Wikipedia - Protestant church of Bears -- Medieval church in Beers, Friesland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Provinces of the Netherlands -- First-level administrative division in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Provinciale Zeeuwse Courant -- Netherlands newspaper
Wikipedia - Provincial road N225 (Netherlands) -- Provincial road in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Provincial road N335 (Netherlands) -- Road in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - PSV Eindhoven -- Sports club from Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Public holidays in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Putting It Together: Direct from Broadway -- 2001 film by Don Roy King
Wikipedia - Quantum chromodynamics binding energy -- Energy binding quarks together into hadrons. It is the energy of the field of the strong force, which is mediated by gluons
Wikipedia - Quantum clock -- Atomic clock with laser cooled single ions confined together in an electromagnetic ion trap
Wikipedia - Quartering (heraldry) -- Method of joining several different coats of arms together
Wikipedia - Quentin Matsys -- Flemish painter in the Early Netherlandish tradition (1466-1530)
Wikipedia - Quilting -- Process of sewing layers of fabric together to make a padded material
Wikipedia - Quilt -- Bedcover made of multiple layers of fabric sewn together, usually stitched in decorative patterns
Wikipedia - Rachel Hetherington -- Australian professional golfer
Wikipedia - Radboud University Nijmegen -- University in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Radio Netherlands Worldwide -- Public international Dutch radio and television network
Wikipedia - Railway stations in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Ralph R. Hetherington -- British psychologist
Wikipedia - Rathenau Institute -- Institute for technology assessment in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Religious tourism -- Travel to religious sites, whether spiritual or sightseeing
Wikipedia - Rembrandt House Museum -- historic house and art museum in Amsterdam in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Remotely operated underwater vehicle -- A tethered underwater mobile device operated by a remote crew
Wikipedia - Rescue tether
Wikipedia - Resultant -- Tool for testing whether two polynomials have a common root
Wikipedia - Rethera komarovi -- Species of moth
Wikipedia - Retrocausality -- A thought experiment in philosophy of science based on elements of physics, addressing whether the future can affect the present and whether the present can affect the past
Wikipedia - Return of the Terror -- 1934 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Revolutionary Socialist Party (Netherlands) -- Defunct political party in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Revue du Nord -- Academic journal of history and archaeology focusing on northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Rheden railway station -- Railway station located in Rheden, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Rhythm Parade -- 1942 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Richard Fetherston -- English Roman Catholic priest.
Wikipedia - Richard of Wetheringsett
Wikipedia - Richard Wetherill -- American archaeologist
Wikipedia - Riders of the Badlands -- 1941 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Riders of the West -- 1942 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Rijksmuseum -- National museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Rijswijk railway station -- Station in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Rivals of Aether -- 2017 video game
Wikipedia - Rivierenbuurt (Amsterdam) -- Neighbourhood of Amsterdam in North Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Robert Etheridge, Junior
Wikipedia - Robert Etheridge
Wikipedia - Robert Nethersole -- 16th-century English politician
Wikipedia - Robin Whetherly -- English cricketer and soldier
Wikipedia - Roermond, The Netherlands
Wikipedia - Roermond -- City and municipality in Limburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Rogers brothers -- American WWI sailors killed together
Wikipedia - Rogier van der Weyden -- 15th-century Early Netherlandish painter
Wikipedia - Rolduc -- Monastery in Kerkrade, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Roman Catholicism in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Ronde van Limburg (Netherlands) -- Dutch single-day bicycle road race
Wikipedia - Roosendaal railway station -- Railway station in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Rope -- Linear combination of plies, yarns or strands which are twisted or braided together
Wikipedia - Rosemary Radford Ruether
Wikipedia - Ross Metherell -- Australian professional golfer
Wikipedia - Roulette (curve) -- Mathematical curves generated by rolling other curves together
Wikipedia - Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra -- Symphony orchestra of Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Royal Dutch Mint -- National coin mint of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Royal insignia -- Military insignia of the King of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Royal Library of the Netherlands -- National Library of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences -- Society of scientists and institute
Wikipedia - Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre
Wikipedia - Royal Netherlands Air Force -- Air warfare branch of the Netherlands' armed forces
Wikipedia - Royal Netherlands East Indies Army -- Military force maintained by the Netherlands in its colony of the Netherlands East Indies
Wikipedia - Royal Palace of Amsterdam -- Palace on Dam Square in the centre of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - RTL 24 -- Netherlands television channel
Wikipedia - Rubber band -- Short circular elastic length of rubber and latex, commonly used to hold objects together
Wikipedia - Rube Goldberg machine -- Deliberately complex contraption in which a series of devices that perform simple tasks are linked together to produce a series of events in which activating one device triggers the next device in the sequence.
Wikipedia - Ruigoord -- village in North Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Rur -- River in Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Ruud Lubbers -- 47th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Saeftinghe -- Lost town in Zeeland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Salvinorin B ethoxymethyl ether
Wikipedia - Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten -- Painter and writer from the Northern Netherlands
Wikipedia - SannM-CM-) Mestrom -- Netherlands born Australian artist
Wikipedia - Satellite constellation -- Group of artificial satellites working together as a system
Wikipedia - Scheldt -- River in France, Belgium and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Schiedam -- City and Municipality in South Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Schipbeek -- Watercourse in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - School band -- Group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together
Wikipedia - School of Facility Management Groningen -- Facility Management college in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Schoonoord, Alverna -- A windmill in Gelderland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Schwalm (Meuse) -- River in Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Science and technology in the Netherlands -- Overview of science and technology in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Secondary payload -- Launch of small spacecraft together with larger one
Wikipedia - Second Balkenende cabinet -- Cabinet of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Secret combination (Latter Day Saints) -- Malignant secret society of "people bound together by oaths to carry out the evil purposes of the group
Wikipedia - Secret Valley (film) -- 1937 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Seether -- South African hard rock band
Wikipedia - Seikanron -- An argument over whether or not to invade Korea by the Meiji government of Japan.
Wikipedia - Selective enforcement -- Power to choose whether or how to punish a person who has violated the law
Wikipedia - Selzerbeek -- River in Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Service Interoperability in Ethernet Passive Optical Networks
Wikipedia - Seventeen Provinces -- Union of states in the Netherlands in the 15th and 16th centuries
Wikipedia - Sex Workers' Rights Movement -- Movement to improve working conditions, increase benefits and eliminate discrimination on behalf of individuals working within the sex industry, whether legal or criminalized
Wikipedia - Ships of the Royal Netherlands Navy
Wikipedia - Shoaling and schooling -- In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons
Wikipedia - SieboldHuis -- Museum in Leiden, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Siege of Ath (1697) -- Successful siege by French forces of a Grand Alliance army based in Ath, Spanish Netherlands during the Nine Years' War
Wikipedia - Siege of Haarlem -- Siege in the Northern Netherlands in 1572
Wikipedia - Sign of the Wolf -- 1941 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Silver Memorial Cross, 1813-1815 (Netherlands) -- Dutch campaign medal for Napoleonic wars
Wikipedia - Singer Laren -- art museum and concert hall in Laren, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Sint-Maartensdijk -- Town in Zeeland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Sint Maarten -- Country on the Caribbean island of Saint Martin, part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Sirenomelia -- Rare congenital deformity in which the legs are fused together,
Wikipedia - Sittard -- City in Limburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Six circles theorem -- Relates to a chain of six circles together with a triangle
Wikipedia - Skin (Melissa Etheridge album) -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Skyhook (structure) -- Proposed momentum exchange tether
Wikipedia - SkyView de Pier -- Ferris wheel in Scheveningen, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Sloedam -- Dam in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Sloten, Amsterdam -- Village in Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Socialism in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Socialist Party (Netherlands) -- Dutch political party
Wikipedia - Sofar Sounds -- Live music company which brings performers, hosts, & guest together worldwide
Wikipedia - SoftEther VPN
Wikipedia - SoignM-CM-) -- Restaurant in Bussum, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Soil -- mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life
Wikipedia - So Much Love to Give -- 2002 single by Together
Wikipedia - South Central Siberia -- Geographical region north of the point where Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia come together
Wikipedia - Southern Netherlands -- Historical region in Belgium
Wikipedia - South Holland -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands -- Precursor of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands from 1813 to 1815
Wikipedia - Space tether
Wikipedia - Spanish Netherlands -- Historical region of the Low Countries (1581-1714)
Wikipedia - Special school (Netherlands) -- Category of schools in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Spirit level -- Tool to indicate whether a surface is level or plumb
Wikipedia - Splitting Up Together -- American comedy television series
Wikipedia - Sportpark Duinwetering -- Sports complex in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Springer Netherlands
Wikipedia - Spurt (Dutch Railways) -- Train service in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Squatting in the Netherlands -- Occupation of unused land or derelict buildings in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - SST: Salo-Salo Together -- Philippine television show
Wikipedia - Stadsbank van Lening, Amsterdam -- Not-for-profit city Bank van Lening in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Stand Together -- Philanthropy network of Charles Koch
Wikipedia - Stapler -- Tool used to fasten paper or flesh together
Wikipedia - Startpage.com -- Privacy-focused search engine based in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Start Together -- 2014 compilation box set by Sleater-Kinney
Wikipedia - State of the Netherlands v. Urgenda Foundation -- Dutch court case about carbon dioxide emissions
Wikipedia - States General of the Netherlands -- Legislature of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Staying Together (film) -- 1989 film by Lee Grant
Wikipedia - Stay Together (Suede song) -- 1994 single by Suede
Wikipedia - St. Elizabeth's flood (1421) -- A flooding of the Grote Hollandse Waard, an area in what is now the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Stewart Pether -- English cricketer, British Army officer, and educator
Wikipedia - St Francis Xavier Church, Enkhuizen -- Roman Catholic church in Enkhuizen, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Still 2gether -- 2020 Thai television series
Wikipedia - St. Lucia's flood -- A storm tide that affected the Netherlands and Northern Germany on 14 December 1287
Wikipedia - St Michael & All Angels, Nether Wasdale -- Anglican parish church in Cumbria
Wikipedia - St. Peter's flood -- Two separate storm tides that struck the coasts of Netherlands and Northern Germany in 1651
Wikipedia - Strap -- Strip of flexible material, especially leather, used for fastening or holding things together
Wikipedia - Stridulation -- Act of producing sound by rubbing together certain body parts; form of sound production in arthropods
Wikipedia - Stronger Together (book) -- Book by Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine
Wikipedia - Structural functionalism -- In sociology, sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability
Wikipedia - Sum of two squares theorem -- Relates the prime decomposition of an integer > 1 to whether it is the sum of 2 squares
Wikipedia - Suriname (Kingdom of the Netherlands) -- Constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, 1954-1975
Wikipedia - Suture (geology) -- Joining together of separate terranes along a major fault zone
Wikipedia - Swan Brothers' House -- Museum in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Switch-reference -- Any clause-level morpheme that signals whether certain prominent arguments in 'adjacent' clauses are coreferential
Wikipedia - System integration -- Bringing together component sub-systems into one system
Wikipedia - Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Wikipedia - Tante Koosje -- Fine dining restaurant in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Taxation in the Netherlands -- Overview of taxation in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Tele2 Netherlands -- Netherlands-based elecommunications company
Wikipedia - Telecommunications in the Netherlands -- Overview of telecommunications in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Telephone numbers in Curacao and the Caribbean Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Telephone numbers in the Netherlands -- Wikipedia list article
Wikipedia - Television in the Netherlands -- Overview of television in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Template talk:Netherlands-bio-stub
Wikipedia - Template talk:Netherlands-scientist-stub
Wikipedia - Terabit Ethernet -- Ethernet speeds above 100 Gbit/s
Wikipedia - Terschelling -- One of the West Frisian Islands in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Tether (cryptocurrency) -- US dollar linked cryptocurrency
Wikipedia - Tethering
Wikipedia - Tetherless World Constellation
Wikipedia - Tether propulsion
Wikipedia - Tether (song) -- 2015 single by Eric Prydz & Chvrches
Wikipedia - Tether -- A cord, fixture, or flexible attachment that anchors something movable to a reference point which may be fixed or moving
Wikipedia - Texandria -- Ancient and Medieval region of the Netherland and Belgium
Wikipedia - Texel International Airport -- airport in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Text (literary theory) -- Any object that can be "read", whether this object is a work of literature, a street sign, an arrangement of buildings on a city block, or styles of clothing
Wikipedia - Teylers Museum -- art, natural history, and science museum in Haarlem, Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Argyle Case (1929 film) -- 1929 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - The Awakening (Melissa Etheridge album) -- Melissa Etheridge album
Wikipedia - The Chorus Kid -- 1928 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Netherlands -- Presence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Destroyed City -- Sculpture in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Eagle's Brood -- 1935 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - The Girl from Mandalay -- 1936 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - The Girl Who Dared -- 1944 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - The Greens (Netherlands) -- Political party in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Hague Academy of International Law -- School of international law in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Hague -- City and municipality in South Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Holocaust in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Leathernecks Have Landed -- 1936 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - The Netherlands in World War II
Wikipedia - The Netherlands
Wikipedia - The Nethernet -- Online game
Wikipedia - The Passion (Netherlands) -- Dutch passion play
Wikipedia - The Playhouse, Colchester -- Wetherspoon's pub and former theatre and cinema in Colchester, Essex, England
Wikipedia - The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether -- Dark comedy short story by Edgar Allan Poe
Wikipedia - The Topeka Terror -- 1945 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - They Came Together -- 2014 film directed by David Wain
Wikipedia - This Is M.E. -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Three on the Trail (film) -- 1936 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Three Wise Men (cocktail) -- Cocktail blending three types of whiskey together
Wikipedia - T. Kent Wetherell II -- American judge
Wikipedia - Together (1956 film) -- 1956 British film
Wikipedia - Together Again (film) -- 1944 comedy film directed by Charles Vidor
Wikipedia - Together Again (George Jones and Tammy Wynette album) -- 1980 album by George Jones and Tammy Wynette
Wikipedia - Together Again (Janet Jackson song) -- 1997 single by Janet Jackson
Wikipedia - Together Again (NSYNC song) -- 1997 single by NSYNC
Wikipedia - Together (Amii Stewart and Mike Francis song) -- 1985 song by Amii Stewart and Mike Francis
Wikipedia - Together at Home -- 2020 benefit livestream event
Wikipedia - Together-class container ship -- Container ship class
Wikipedia - Together Forever (Disney) -- Former fireworks spectacular at Disneyland
Wikipedia - Together Forever (Rick Astley song) -- Single by Rick Astley
Wikipedia - Together Forever (TV series) -- 2012 Philippine television series
Wikipedia - Together Gibraltar -- Political party in Gibraltar
Wikipedia - Together in Electric Dreams -- 1984 single by Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey
Wikipedia - Together (Italy) -- Italian political coalition
Wikipedia - Togetherness (TV series) -- American comedy-drama television series
Wikipedia - Together Stronger (C'mon Wales) -- Song by Manic Street Preachers
Wikipedia - Together We Are One -- 2006 single by Delta Goodrem
Wikipedia - Together We Are Rio Negro -- Argentine political party
Wikipedia - Together We Belong -- 2007 song by Kim Wilde
Wikipedia - Together with Cliff Richard -- 1991 studio album by Cliff Richard
Wikipedia - Toilet paper orientation -- Whether free end of a roll is adjacent or away from a wall
Wikipedia - Tomas Riether -- Chilean pole vaulter
Wikipedia - Tompouce -- Type of pastry in the Netherlands and Belgium
Wikipedia - Tongue and groove -- Method of fitting similar objects together
Wikipedia - Tourism in the Netherlands -- Overview of tourism in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Traiectum (Utrecht) -- Former Roman fort in The Netherlands
Wikipedia - Train routes in the Netherlands -- Wikimedia list article
Wikipedia - Transport in the Netherlands -- Overview of the transport in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Treaty of Hartford (1650) -- Treaty between New Netherland and Connecticut
Wikipedia - Treaty of The Hague (1949) -- Treaty between Indonesia and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Trebetherick
Wikipedia - Trial -- Coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information in a tribunal
Wikipedia - Triggerman (film) -- 1948 film directed by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - TT Circuit Assen -- Motorsport track in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Tulip mania -- 17th-century economic bubble in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Twilight on the Trail -- 1941 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Tyco Solarlok -- Electrical connector used to connect solar panels together
Wikipedia - Ulu Mosque (Utrecht) -- Mosques in Netherlands
Wikipedia - Undercover Agent -- 1939 film directed by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Union of Utrecht -- 1579 treaty unifying the northern Netherlands provinces
Wikipedia - United Duchies of Julich-Cleves-Berg -- Former territories in modern Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - United Kingdom of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - United Provinces of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - United Soft Drinks -- Producer of soft drinks based in Utrecht, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Universal basic income in the Netherlands -- Overview of the debate about universal basic income in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Unknotting problem -- Determining whether a knot is the unknot
Wikipedia - Upset welding -- Electric resistance welding technique where the heated parts are forced together resulting in a thickened section along the weld area
Wikipedia - Utrecht (province) -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Utrecht tram shooting -- Shooting on a tram in Utrecht, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Utrecht University -- University in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Utrecht -- City and municipality in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands
Wikipedia - V2 Institute for the Unstable Media -- Cultural institution in Rotterdam, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Valkenburg, South Holland -- Place in Zuid Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Van der Hoop Bankiers -- Netherlands ex-bank
Wikipedia - Van Gogh Museum -- National art museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - VDL Bus & Coach -- Netherlands based bus manufacturer
Wikipedia - Vechte -- River in Germany and the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Vehicle registration plates of the Caribbean Netherlands -- Caribbean Netherlands vehicle license plates
Wikipedia - Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands -- Netherlands vehicle license plates
Wikipedia - Velsen -- Municipality in North Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Venlo -- City and municipality in Limburg, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Verdronken Land van Reimerswaal -- Area of flood-covered land in Zeeland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Vernon Petherick -- Australian politician
Wikipedia - Vianen -- City and former municipality in Utrecht, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Victor Marijnen -- 39th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Video games in the Netherlands -- Overview of video games in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Virtual team -- Group of individuals who work together from different geographic locations and rely on communication technology
Wikipedia - Visa policy of Afghanistan -- Policy which denotes whether a citizen of a country requires a visa to enter Afghanistan
Wikipedia - Visa policy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean -- Policy on permits required to enter the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean
Wikipedia - Vondelpark -- Park in Amsterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Voorburg -- Town in South Holland, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Voorne Canal -- First canal to connect Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, to the sea
Wikipedia - Vrijthof -- Square in Maastricht, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Vrouwenheide -- Hill in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Vybe Together -- Mobile app promoting private parties
Wikipedia - Waal (river) -- River in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Wadden Sea -- An intertidal zone in the southeastern part of the North Sea (Netherlands, Germany and Denmark)
Wikipedia - Wageningen University and Research -- University in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Wageningen -- Municipality in Gelderland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Wagon train -- Group of wagons travelling together
Wikipedia - Walewijn van der Veen -- Lawyer and notary public in Netherlands in 17th century
Wikipedia - Walter de Wetheringsete
Wikipedia - War cabinet crisis, May 1940 -- Dispute within British government about whether to negotiate with Nazi Germany.
Wikipedia - War of Devolution -- War between France and Spain for the Spanish Netherlands (1667-1668)
Wikipedia - Washington Families Standing Together -- Pro-domestic partnership group in Washington state
Wikipedia - Water board (Netherlands) -- Water management authorities in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Water cluster -- Cluster of water molecules held together through hydrogen bonding
Wikipedia - Watergeus-class sloop -- Netherlands class of warships
Wikipedia - Watermill at Gennep -- National Historic Site in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Watersnoodmuseum -- Museum in Ouwerkerk, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - W. D. Wetherell -- American writer
Wikipedia - We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together -- 2012 single by Taylor Swift
Wikipedia - Web beacon -- Method for ascertaining whether a page has been loaded and by whom
Wikipedia - We Belong Together -- 2005 single by Mariah Carey
Wikipedia - We Can Make It Together -- 1972 song performed by Steve and Eydie
Wikipedia - Weerribben-Wieden National Park -- National park in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Weesperkarspel -- Former municipality in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - We Gather Together -- Dutch Christian hymn celebrating military victory
Wikipedia - Welch's t-test -- Statistical test of whether two populations have equal means
Wikipedia - Welder -- Tradesperson who specializes in fusing materials together
Wikipedia - We're in This Love Together -- 1981 single by Al Jarreau
Wikipedia - We're in This Together (album) -- album by Low Profile
Wikipedia - We're in This Together -- Nine Inch Nails song
Wikipedia - Werkspoor -- Machine manufacturer in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Wes Retherford -- American politician
Wikipedia - Westermarck effect -- Hypothesis that those who grow up together become desensitized to sexual attraction
Wikipedia - Westermoskee -- Mosque in Netherlands
Wikipedia - Western Gold -- 1937 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Westervoort railway station -- Railway station located in Westervoort, Netherlands
Wikipedia - We Stick Together Through Thick and Thin -- 1929 film
Wikipedia - Westuit Nr. 7 -- Windmill on the Kolkweg in Aartswoud, North Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Wetheral railway station -- Railway station in Cumbria on the Tyne Valley Line
Wikipedia - Wetherby (film) -- 1985 film by David Hare
Wikipedia - Wetherby (Linton Road) railway station -- Disused railway station in West Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Wetherby Mares' Hurdle -- Hurdle horse race in Britain
Wikipedia - Wetherby Racecourse railway station -- Disused railway station in West Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Wetherby Road -- Multi-purpose stadium in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Wetherby (ward) -- Electoral ward in Leeds, England
Wikipedia - Wetherby (York Road) railway station -- Disused railway station in West Yorkshire, England
Wikipedia - Wetheredsville, Maryland -- Unincorporated community in Maryland
Wikipedia - Wetherell, Margaret S.
Wikipedia - We Won't Grow Old Together -- 1972 film
Wikipedia - When We Are Together -- 1999 single by Texas
Wikipedia - While London Sleeps -- 1926 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - White Rabbit Project -- Project to develop a deterministic real-time Ethernet-based network
Wikipedia - Wijk bij Duurstede -- Municipality in Utrecht, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Wikipedia:Reliable sources/Noticeboard -- Noticeboard for discussing whether particular sources are reliable in context
Wikipedia - Wikipedia:WikiProject -- Group of contributors who work together to improve Wikipedia
Wikipedia - Wild Brian Kent -- 1936 film by Howard Bretherton
Wikipedia - Wilhelmina of the Netherlands -- Queen of the Netherlands 1890-1948
Wikipedia - Wilhelmus -- National anthem of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands -- King of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Willem Drees -- 37th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Willem Pieterszoon Buytewech -- Painter and engraver from the Northern Netherlands
Wikipedia - Willemstad -- Former capital of the Netherlands Antillies
Wikipedia - William III of the Netherlands -- King of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - William II of the Netherlands -- King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1840 - 1849
Wikipedia - William I of the Netherlands -- King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg 1815-1840
Wikipedia - Williamson ether synthesis
Wikipedia - Wim Kok -- 48th Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Windpark Noordoostpolder -- Onshore and near-shore wind farm in Flevoland, the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Wind power in the Netherlands -- Overview of wind power in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Winnie (feline) -- Supposed big cat sighted in the Veluwe region of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Witte Huis -- Historical building in Rotterdam, Netherlands
Wikipedia - WLKK -- Radio station in Wethersfield, New York
Wikipedia - Wolfert Gerritse van Couwenhoven -- Founder of the New Netherlands colony
Wikipedia - Word Association -- Word game involving an exchange of words that are associated together
Wikipedia - XLink -- Method for linking XML documents together
Wikipedia - Xuanxue -- Post-classical Chinese philosophy bringing together Daoist and Confucian beliefs
Wikipedia - Yahoo Together
Wikipedia - Yes I Am (Melissa Etheridge album) -- Album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Your Little Secret -- 1995 album by Melissa Etheridge
Wikipedia - Zeeland -- Province of the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zevenaar railway station -- Railway station located in Zevenaar, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zilveren Kruis-class corvette -- Class of warship in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zuiderhofje -- Almshouse in Haarlem, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zuiderzee Museum -- Museum in Enkhuizen, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zuiderzee -- Former inland sea in the Netherlands, now the IJsselmeer
Wikipedia - Zuiderzee Works -- Land reclamation in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zuidveen -- Hamlet in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zuid-Willemsvaart -- Canal in the Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zwaanshoek -- Village in North Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zwammerdam -- Town in South Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zwartewaal -- Town in Zuid-Holland, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zweeloo -- Place in Drenthe, Netherlands
Wikipedia - Zwollerkerspel -- Former municipality in Overijssel, the Netherlands
George Fetherling ::: Born: January 1, 1949; Occupation: Poet;
Juliana of the Netherlands ::: Born: April 30, 1909; Died: March 20, 2004; Occupation: Queen of the Netherlands;
Meriwether Lewis ::: Born: August 18, 1774; Died: October 11, 1809; Occupation: Explorer;
Mark Rutte ::: Born: February 14, 1967; Occupation: Prime Minister of the Netherlands;
George Etherege ::: Born: 1636; Died: May 10, 1692; Occupation: Dramatist;
Beatrix of the Netherlands ::: Born: January 31, 1938; Occupation: Former Queen of the Netherlands;
Rosemary Radford Ruether ::: Born: November 2, 1936; Occupation: Scholar;
Melissa Etheridge ::: Born: May 29, 1961; Occupation: Singer-songwriter;
Etheridge Knight ::: Born: April 19, 1931; Died: March 10, 1991; Occupation: Poet;
Lee Meriwether ::: Born: May 27, 1935; Occupation: Film actress;
Jan Peter Balkenende ::: Born: May 7, 1956; Occupation: Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands;
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Goodreads author - Meriwether_Lewis
Goodreads author - Etheridge_Knight
Goodreads author - John_E_Smethers
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Goodreads author - Jon_Etheredge
Goodreads author - Caroline_Bretherton
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https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Establishments_in_New_Netherland
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Netherlands
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https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Ede,_Netherlands
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/European_Netherlands
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/File:Map_provinces_Netherlands-en.svg
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/File:Netherlands_Grote_Peel_lake.jpg
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https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/File:Netherlands,_Zoetermeer,_Zoetermeerse_Meerpolder_(1).JPG
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/File:Satellite_image_of_the_Netherlands_in_May_2000.jpg
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/File:The_Netherlands_compared_to_sealevel.png
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Forum:Netherlands_subdivisions
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https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_the_Netherlands
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Limburg_(Netherlands)
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https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Netherlands
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Netherlands/bdm
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/New_Netherland
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Nijmegen,_Netherlands
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/North_Petherton
https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Portal:Netherlands
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https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Netherlands_in_World_War_II
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Netherlands_in_World_War_II#German_occupation
https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Royal_Netherlands_Army
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https://military.wikia.org/wiki/Wilhelmina_of_the_Netherlands
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Aether
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Aether_(classical_element)#Fifth_element
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Aether_(mythology)
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Book_of_Ether
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Book_of_Mormon,_Ether
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Book_of_the_Netherworld
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Buddhism_in_the_Netherlands
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Locations_in_Netherlands
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Category:Netherlands
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Ether_(Book_of_Mormon_prophet)
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Gether
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/History_of_Protestantism#Netherlands
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Jether
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Legal_aspects_of_ritual_slaughter#The_Netherlands
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Legal_intoxicants#Diethyl_Ether
https://religion.wikia.org/wiki/Protestant_Church_in_the_Netherlands
Kheper - etheric -- 79
Kheper - Etheric_Plane -- 5
http://malankazlev.com/kheper/subtlebody/ethericbodies.html -- 0
Kheper - Steiner-etheric_world -- 21
Kheper - etheric -- 78
http://malankazlev.com/kheper/topics/subtlebody/BAB-etheric.htm -- 0
http://malankazlev.com/kheper/topics/subtlebody/ethericbodies.htm -- 0
Kheper - ethericbodies -- 72
Kheper - etheric_body -- 74
Kheper - etherichol -- 83
Kheper - etherictemplate -- 79
Kheper - ketherictemplate -- 80
http://malankazlev.com/kheper/topics/subtlebody/physical_etheric_body.htm -- 0
http://malankazlev.com/kheper/topics/subtlebody/spiritual_etheric_body.htm -- 0
http://malankazlev.com/kheper/topics/subtlebody/subtle_etheric_body.htm -- 0
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Dharmapedia - Etheric_body
Dharmapedia - Etheric_plane
Psychology Wiki - Netherlands
Occultopedia - etheric_body
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/InannasDescentToTheNetherworld
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/LegionOfNetHeroes
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TalesFromNetheredge
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/TheAetherCycle
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https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/Togetherness
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/TabletopGame/VampireTheRequiem
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoExamples/HumansAreTheRealMonsters
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VideoGame/Aether
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https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Category:Authors_from_the_Netherlands
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Sailor Moon (1992 - 1997) - It Follows Each Of The Sailor Senshi's Lives Until They Are In High School And That They Fought The Greatest Battles That They Ever Had From Evil Forces Invading Earth From Stealing Energy, Snatching Hearts And Stealing Dreams, Together They Will Bring Peace On Earth And Save The Universe As A Team.
DuckTales (1987 - 1990) - Huey, Dewey, and Louie Duck are left with their rich great-uncle, Scrooge McDuck, after their "Unca Donald" goes to the Navy. They have a rough start, but they get together as a family and go on adventures. They are eventually joined by clumsy, but well-meaning and brave pilot, Launchpad McQuack; yo...
All That (1994 - 2005) - Brian Robbins and Dan Schneider from Head of the Class came together and created All That. A childrens' show with parodies and jokes that ended with a live performance from a band. Also some of the more famous celebrities that started out on "All That" include: Kenan Thompson, Amanda Bynes, and Nick...
Bill Nye: the Science Guy (1993 - 1997) - Smash Beakmans World on the ground. Pick up the pieces and put them into a blender. Smash Bob Saget and Pee-Wee Herman together and put that into the blender as well. Add a book called everything you nedded to know about Science, then add some kids, milk, eggs, and sugar, and cheesey childrens hip h...
The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991 - 1996) - A cat and a dog living together with sick jokes... now that's what everybody wants to see. Ren and Stimpy ran for 5 years on Nickelodeon and then because of its crude jokes, was tossed around from network to network and landed on SpikeTV for a while. John K. tried a comeback in 2003 on SpikeTV cal...
The Care Bears (1985 - 1985) - The Care Bears live in a country high in the clouds, where they have a lot of fun together. But they also do care for the human children on Earth, who they watch through huge telescopes from the sky, and come to help whenever there is need.
The Raccoons (1985 - 1991) - Cartoon about the misadventures of Bert Raccoon and his friends who together try stop stop the greedy Aardvark Cyril Sneer from destroying the Evergreen Forest. The series was a spin-off from the popular tv specials The Christmas Raccoons (80), The Raccoons On Ice (81), The Raccoons and the Lost St...
Out of this World (1987 - 1991) - The Out Of This World television show was about a young girl with unique special powers. She could stop time by placing her two index fingers together. She also has an alien father which no one gets to ever see. She talks to him for advice at the start and end of every episode outside a window in he...
The Brady Bunch (1969 - 1974) - A widower with 3 sons meets a single woman (never revealed what happened to her first husband) with 3 daughters. The two eventually marry and blend both families together.
Back to the Future: The Animated Series (1991 - 1993) - Back to the Future: The Animated Series was a cartoon series based on the Back to the Future trilogy of films. The series lasted 2 seasons, each lasting 13 episodes, and ran on CBS from September 21, 1991 to 1992. The show focused on Marty McFly and Doc Brown, together with Doc's wife Clara, their s...
Bionic Six (1987 - 1987) - The Bionic Six are a diverse adopted family representing a cross cultural slice of the world. All of whom have been given super powers through the miracle of modern science. Together, they use these advanced cybornetic powers to defend the world from the evil Dr. Scarab and his lackies.
The X-Files (1993 - 2002) - FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully investigate cases of the paranormal each week, while occasionally piecing together clues about a larger conspiracy to cover up the truth, as part of the show's over-arching mythology arc.
7th Heaven (1996 - 2012) - Rev Eric Camden and his wife, Annie have 5 kids: Matt, Mary, Lucy, Simon, and Ruthie. However, in the 5th season they had twins Sam and David. This show shows how the family works together to get through the different things kids will encounter as they grow up.
Chuck Norris' Karate Kommandos (1986 - 1987) - This was Chuck Norris' attempt to star in his own animated series. He plays an operative for the United States government who has a team consisting of Pepper, a technological genius, Kimo, a Samurai warrior, Reed, his apprentice, Tabe, a Sumo warrior, and Too Much, the young ward. Together they foil...
Spiderman and his Amazing Friends (1981 - 1983) - Together as the Spiderfriends, Spiderman, Iceman and Firestar fight supervillians, while their alter-egos, Peter Parker, Bobby Drake and Angelica Jones attend college and live with Peter's Aunt May.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (1959 - 1973) - "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" is a show about a squirrel named Rocky and a moose named Bullwinkle which together have some cool adventures. Supporting segments includes "Mr. Know-it All", "Bullwinkle's Corner", "Fractured Fairy Tales", "Aesop and Son", "Peabody's Improbable Hi...
The Wayans Bros. (1995 - 1999) - Shawn and Marlon play brothers who live together in their own apartment in New York. Shawn owns and operates a newsstand, with Marlon as his employee. The newsstand happens to be located in the same building as the diner that's owned by their father (John Witherspoon). Shawn is the lovable playboy,...
Robotech (1985 - 1988) -  In the year 1999 an alien spacecraft crash lands on Macross Island in the south pacific. The people of earth band together to rebuild the ship. They name it The Super Dimension Fortress: Macross (SDF-1) On the day the ship is to take its maden flight, an alien race known as the Zentradi appear. T...
Double Dragon (1993 - 1995) - the story is about when twin brothers jimmy and billy were abandoned at birth, they become trained in the dragon arts. when the twins became adults, the sensai gave them the ability to use the power of the double dragon. whare they can transform by puting there sourds together. the twins use the pow...
Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends (1984 - Current) - The show is about a tank engine, Thomas, and his friends who live on the Island of Sodor. Together, the engines work on the railways under the supervision of Sir Topham Hatt, the "Fat Controller."
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1982 - 1983) - A short-lived series that never really found an audience. Seven orphaned brothers working hard to stay together while running a ranch in the California Gold Rush town of Murphys. Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver) and River Phoenix (Stand By Me) played the oldest and youngest brothers respectively in...
Timon and Pumbaa (1995 - 1997) - Based upon the beloved Lion King, Timon and Pumbaa get the spotlight in their own series. Together, the two have humorus adventures that lead them into tough spots. Sometimes Simba, Rafiki, and Zazu will make their apperances in the series as well.
Superman(1988) (1988 - 1988) - Basically another approach to the Man of Steel. This series centers on Clark Kent/Superman (Kal- El) and the aventures in Metropolis. Is the pre Crisis Superman so he's got a lot of "views" and a lot of brains. Together with him, Jimmy olsen with his radio watch that summoned the MAn of Steel and Lo...
Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy (1988 - 1990) - Siblings Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy are toys that come to life when their owner Marcella isn't around. Together with the other toys, they explore a strange land where anything is possible.
Unico (1981 - 1985) - Unico the Unicorn has the amazing power to make anyone he meets happy. Whether it`s because of his personality or the powers of his horn, no one knows. However, the gods become jealous of Unico, thinking that only gods should be able to decide or let people be happy or not. Unico is banished to the...
Dilbert (1999 - 2000) - DILBERT had a short run through 1999-2000. The show followed an average day through DILBERT's life. Ridiculous slapstick and parody come together in this amazingly well casted show, featureing celebrities and good animation.
The Odd Couple (1970 - 1975) - Felix and Oscar are an extremely odd couple: Felix is anal-retentive, neurotic, precise, and fastidiously clean. Oscar, on the other hand, is the exact opposite: sloppy and casual. They are sharing an apartment together, and their differing lifestyles inevitably lead to some conflicts and laughs.
Robot Chicken (2005 - Current) - All your favorite toys of the past are back and together in this awesome new show. But these aren't your big brother's G.I. Joes or you older sister's Barbie dolls. See what crazy things Executive Producers Seth Green and Matthew Senreich have in store for you nostalgics in this stop-motion comedy.
Lupin the 3rd (1972 - 2012) - This show is like japans answer to James Bond. This was the most popular character in japan for over 20 years. Arsene' Lupin III is the worlds greatest thief. Together with his cohorts Disuke Jigen, Goemon Ishikawa, and Fugiko Mine, Lupin travels the world pulling heist after heist. Each heist would...
Ovide Video (1987 - 1988) - Ovide and his gang of friends live on an island in the middle of no-where and have lots of fun adventures. They also try to outsmart the evil baddie snake "Cy" and his sidekick bobo. The show was originally a production of the Netherlands and 65 episodes were made in 1987.
Barnaby Jones (1973 - 1980) - Buddy Ebsen stars as a father who takes over his son's private eye business when he was killed. CO-STARRING Lee Meriwhether. A VERY GOOD CBS PI SERIES FROM QUINN MARTIN. GOOD THEME TUNE by Jerry Goldsmith.
Chico and the Man (1974 - 1978) - Ed Brown was a cantankerous old widower who owned and operated a small filling station in Los Angeles. He hired a fast-talking, cheery young Chicano, Chico Rodriguez, to help him run the place. Since Chico also lived in the garage, the two were always together, and when they weren't bickering betwee...
Challenge of the Superfriends (1978 - 1978) - "Banded together from remote galaxies are thirteen of the most sinister villians of all time, The Legion of Doom. Dedicated to a single objective, the conquest of the Universe! Only one group dares to challenge this intergalactic threat, The Super Friends! The Justice League of America versus The Le...
Head of the Class (1986 - 1991) - A group of gifted high-school students are placed together into an "enrichment" class. Although brilliant, they have much to learn about each other and themselves.
Kate & Allie (1984 - 1989) - Two recently divorced woman, Kate McArdle and Allie Lowel, find comfort in one another after moving into a Greenwich apartment together with their children.
The New Batman/Superman Adventures (1996 - 2012) - Two WB cartoon shows, Batman and Superman, were combined into one show a few years after they came out called The Batman-Superman Adventures. In some of the episodes of that series,they worked together to fight their arch rivals.
Bear in the Big Blue House (1997 - 2006) - Bear, a curious brown bear with a good sense of smell, lives in the Big Blue House with his friends Ojo, Tutter, Treelo, Pip, Pop, and Shadow. They are very different looking in appearance but the same at heart. He and his friends have many adventures together.
Hello Larry (1979 - 1980) - McLean Stevenson (whom left the very sucessful M*A*S*H after the third season) starred in this short lived TV series about a divorced radio pychathrist (not unlike "Fraiser") struggling to keep his life together, while juggling his professional career with raising two teen girls. Even a cross-over w...
Kojak (1973 - 1978) - When they started out together in the New York Police
Drak Pack (1976 - 1977) - Hanna Barbera created a team of super heroes from monsters of the past. Drak Jr, Howler and Frankie, descendants of the original Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstien's monster band together to make up for their ancestor's misdeeds by fighting evil - most usually the nefarious Dr Dred and his OGRE cohor...
Popular (1999 - 2001) - Two girls who despise each other due to being on opposite sides of the popularity scale are forced together upon learning of their singles parents impending nuptials.
The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (1995 - 2002) - This series follows Sylvester, Tweety, Granny, and Hector as they are given mysteries to solve. Although Sylvester constantly tries to eat Tweety, the four characters somehow manage to work together to crack the case.
Sanjay and Craig (2013 - 2015) - Sanjay and Craig (who happens to be a talking snake) are best friends. Together they wander the suburbs doing the impossible, walking tightropes, shredding video game world records, posing as doctors, befriending gorillas and basically doing whatever they want to do. They're unstoppable... as long a...
University Hospital (1994 - 1995) - a tv show based in seattle revolving around four student nurses working for University Hospital in seaside seattle and living together some of you may remember this show it features alexandra wilson who was on another world as well as tanya pinkins from all my children and hudson leick who was calli...
Judging Amy (1999 - 2005) - A family drama focused on three generations of women living together in Hartford, Connecticut. Amy Gray, a former Wall Street attorney left New York City behind, and is now based in the Hartford Judicial District IN Connecticut Family Court Judge.
Midnight Caller (1988 - 1991) - "Jack Killian is an ex-cop in San Francisco. He quit the police force after accidentally shooting his partner. He was approached by Devon King, the manager of a local radio station, and accepted a job as a talk-back host. Ever the humanitarian, Jack (together with his side-kick Billy Po) often gets...
PJ Masks (2015 - Current) - Three children become superheroes at night. During the school day a problem arises, and during the night the culprit is found by the PJ Masks and the problem gets solved by sharing ideas, recognizing strengths and weaknesses, and the ability of working together to get the problem solved. Everything...
Rugrats (1990 - 2004) - It's perhaps the most famous Nickelodeon animated hit series not called Sponge bob Square pants. Rugrats is about a group of babies exploring the big world together and having creative adventures. The brave leader Tommy Pickles is never afraid of a good challenge, unlike his friend Chuckie Finster...
The Little Flying Bears (1991 - 1992) - The series focuses on a rare species of little bears with wings that live in the magical forest in a utopian cooperative community. The little flying bears together with their friends, took on themselves the task to defend their forest from pollution. However, their efforts, very often, are disturbe...
Denkou Choujin Gridman (1993 - 1993) - Three friends, Naoto, Yuuka, and Ippei have put together their own Personal Computer. The same day that the trio makes this computer, their classmate Takeshi Todo, a lonely rich boy who loves playing monster-creating PC Games, is met by the evil Kahn Digifer, a psychotic being living within the "Com...
Channel Umptee 3 (1997 - 1998) - Three animals with a belief that The world is a magical place banded together as TV pirates, setting up their own channel to show kids all the interesting things right under their noses.
The Sinbad Show (1993 - 1994) - It follows the life of David Bryan (Sinbad), a carefree bachelor, who adopts two orphaned children, Zana Beckley (Erin Davis) and L.J. Beckley (Ray J) who face issues which they work through together.
The Persuaders (1971 - 1972) - English Lord Brett Sinclair and American Danny Wilde are both wealthy playboys, they are teamed together by Judge Fullton to investigate crimes which the police can't solve. These two men are complete opposites, but become great friends through their adventures and constantly risk their own lives fo...
Sons of Butcher (2005 - 2006) - Sons of Butcher is a cartoon based on the canadian rock band of the same name. It is animated using a variety of programs, put together using Adobe Flash.
George and Martha (1999 - 2000) - George and Martha is an animated TV series made for HBO Family. The program revolves around the lives of two hippos: George and Martha (voiced by Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin respectively), best friends that spend everyday adventures together.
Ich bin Boes (1987 - 1988) - Boes is designed in Japan, but created in the Netherlands by Wil Raymakers and Thijs Willems.
Getting Together (1971 - 1972) - Sitcom about a couple of young, struggling songwriters, starring Bobby Sherman as Bobby Conway and Wes Stern as Lionel Poindexter. Also starring Pat Carroll, Jack Burns, and Susan Neher. "Getting Together" was a spin-off from "The Partridge Family
Ring Raiders (1989 - 1989) - A group of pilots- called the Ring Raiders -protect the planet from the evil Skull Squadron. The Ring Raiders are made up of history's best pilots, brought together to protect civilization.
Chopper One (1974 - 1974) - The short-lived "Chopper One" presented the exploits of two helicopter policemen, Officer Don Burdick (Jim McMullan) and Officer Gil Foley (a young Dirk Benedict) of the Western California Police Department (W.C.P.D.). Together, they patrolled the skies from above in a Bell Jetranger helicopter and...
Profiler (1996 - 2000) - Dr. Sam Waters is a detective with the Violent Crimes Task Force who work together with the FBI to track down murderers. Sam has visions in which she sees what happens when she is confronted with evidence and the crime scene.
Let's Go Quintuplets! (2001 - 2002) - This anime series shows the life of quintuplets who are "in the same 1st grade in the same school". Most popular in the Netherlands, Italy and New Zealand. Dubbed in English in Canada.
Peter Potamus (1964 - 1965) - The talking hippopotamus Peter and his monkey companion So-So travel the world through time and have zany adventures together.
Titans (2000 - 2000) - Aviation magnate Richard Williams (Perry King) is engaged to the much-younger Heather (Yasmine Bleeth), but is unaware that she previously had an affair with his son, Chandler (Casper Van Dien). A pilot, Chandler is unsure whether he should tell his father the truth, but Chandler soon discovers that...
Corduroy (2000 - 2001) - Based on two of author/illustrator Don Freeman's best-selling children's books, Corduroy and A Pocket for Corduroy, this animated show follows Corduroy and his best friend Lisa. Together, they experience the world from the point-of-view of urban children, with the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and...
Pecola (2003 - 2003) - A beautifully CGI animated series about the new cube on the block; Pecola stars an inquisitive, orphaned penguin who loves to stir up trouble. Set in the square world of Cube Town, Pecola delights in helping his friends and neighbours. Whether it is creating a few emergencies for the underworked tow...
Tabaluga (1997 - 2003) - "Tabaluga" is a German-Australian animated series showing adventures of a small green dragon and his friends, who fight together against a snowman named Arktos.
The Return of Dogtanian (1989 - 1990) - It picks up ten years after the original story ends, with Dogtanian and Juliette now married and living together on the outskirts of Paris with their two children, Philippe and Fleur.
Blizzard Island (1987 - 1988) - a television show consisting of twelve episodes produced by CBC between 19871988.[1][2] These episodes were later edited together to form the 1990 movie The Argon Quest.
Monster Math Squad (2012 - 2016) - a Canadian CGI animated series, created by Jeff Rosen and produced by DHX Media for CBC Television.It follows the adventures of three monsters who go on missions that require math equations. Together, they solve math problems to complete missions.The series takes place in the city of Monstrovia, whe...
The Marshmallow Times (2004 - 2005) - The anime series, consisting of a total 52 episodes, was broadcast from April 4, 2004 until March 27, 2005 on the TXN Network in Japan.The series focuses on 7 children and a sheep-like character who hang out together and work as a team. Each character is depicted with a varying hairstyle and flavor...
Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! (2015 - 2018) - an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the twelfth incarnation of Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo animated series. In the show, the Scooby-Doo gang decide to travel in their last summer break together, encountering havoc-wreaking monsters along the way. Described as ha...
Steins;Gate (2011 - 2014) - a 2011 anime television series created by the animation studio White Fox based on 5pb. and Nitroplus's 2009 video game of the same name, and is part of the Science Adventure franchise along with Chaos;head and Robotics;notes. It is set in 2010, and follows Rintaro Okabe, who together with his friend...
Hanamaru Kindergarten (2010 - Current) - an anime television series produced by Gainax and broadcast in Japan on TV Tokyo.Anzu goes to a kindergarten with her friends, the shy Koume and the eccentric Hiiragi. Together they try to attract attention from their caretaker Tsuchida Naozumi. However, he is clearly more interested in the pretty Y...
Corpse Princess (2008 - 2009) - the series centers on the "Corpse Princess" Makina Hoshimura, an undead girl who is hunting down 108 undead corpses in order to gain entry into heaven with the help of a secret society of anti-corpse Buddhist monks.Feel and Gainax partnered together to adapt the series into a thirteen episode anime...
Jim Jam and Sunny (2006 - 2008) - a children's television programme that aired on the CITV channel. It first aired on 20 November 2006.Jim Jam is 3, and his older sister Sunny is 4, Whenever they enter their magical room, the toys come to life, and they have many adventures together.Main characters Edit
Magne Robo Gakeen (1976 - 1977) - a Japanese anime television series that aired from 1976 to 1977 in Japan. There were 39 episodes. It is also referred to as "Magnerobo Ga-Keen", "'Gakeen Supermagnetron", "'Gakeen Magnetic Robot", "Robotman Gakeen", "Gakeen". Outside Japan, several episodes were edited and cobbled together into a mo...
Warren the Ape (2010 - Current) - an MTV reality show parody which ran from June 14 to August 30, 2010 and aired at 10:30 p.m. The series is a spin-off of the IFC and Fox TV show Greg the Bunny, and follows the titular character's life as he tries to get his life back together following the cancellation of Greg the Bunny.Warren has...
Last Exile (2003 - 2012) - a Japanese animated television series created by Gonzo. It featured a production team led by director Koichi Chigira, character designer Range Murata, and production designer Mahiro Maeda. The three had previously worked together in Blue Submarine No. 6, one of the first CG anime series. Last Exile...
ef: A Tale of Memories. (2007 - 2007) - On Christmas Eve, Hiro Hirono runs into Miyako Miyamura, a frivolous girl who "borrows" his bicycle in order to chase down a purse thief. After Hiro finds his bicycle wrecked and Miyako unconscious, the two unexpectedly spend their Christmas Eve together, and when they discover they go to the same h...
MumbleBumble (1998 - 2000) - This happy-go-lucky hippo has a talent for turning the world into a silly fun-filled playground. Whether he's chasing rainbows, counting the stars or going spelunking, he's always got a surprise up his sleeve. And if MumbleBumble can't find what he's looking for, he simply invents it. After all,...
X (2001 - 2002) - His destiny has finally arrived as the young Shirou Kamui returns to Tokyo after 6 years. A powerful psychic, Kamui vows to protect the happiness of his childhood friends Fuuma and Kotori, even if it means avoiding them. But fate is cruel, whether or not Kamui wants to be involved; he holds the futu...
The House of Anubis (OT: Het Huis Anubis) (2006 - 2009) - Het Huis Anubis (The House of Anubis) is a Belgian-Dutch children's television drama created by Studio 100 and Nickelodeon, airing in the Netherlands and Flanders.
Donna's Day (1999 - 2001) - Starring Donna Erickson this PBS series showed fun activities that children could do together with parents or caregivers. The first 26 Donnas Day television episodes were produced at Twin Cities Public Television in St. Paul, Minnesota. After a highly rated and successful national and international...
Dinosaur Train (2009 - Current) - a Singaporean-Canadian-American children's animated series created by Craig Bartlett, who also created Hey Arnold! and Ready Jet Go!. The series features a curious young Tyrannosaurus rex named Buddy who, together with his adopted Pteranodon family, takes the Dinosaur Train to explore his time perio...
Shimmer and Shine (2015 - Current) - The first season is set in the human world and focuses on a young girl named Leah Thompson who is friends with a pair of twin genie sisters named Shimmer and Shine. Each day, the genies grant Leah three wishes, but they often make errors. Each episode features Leah working together with the genies t...
Please twins (2003 - 2004) - Onegai Twins!) is an anime television series scripted by Ysuke Kuroda and produced by Bandai Visual, which was later adapted into a light novel and one-volume manga series. It centers on a family of three teenagers in high school all living together who are unsure which two of them are related to...
Shuffle! (2005 - 2006) - In present times, Gods and Demons coexist together with Humans after the door between each of these worlds had opened. Tsuchimi Rin is a normal young high school student attending Verbena Academy, spending his days living peacefully with his childhood friend Kaede. Unexpectedly, one day the King of...
Casado con Mi Hermano (1992 - 1994) - Sitcom from Peru, brothers Waldo and Guido living together with their wives in the same house.
Monster Farm (1998 - 1999) - The series was about a young man from the city named Jack Haylee and the farm he inherits from his great Uncle Harloff. What he finds when he arrives is a bizarre collection of farm animals. Together, this unlikely managerie must work to help their new owner save their home from the curiosity-seeker...
Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends (2004 - 2009) - A boy and his beloved imaginary friend are able to stay together at an orphanage of sorts for imaginary friends that children have outgrown to be adopted by new children.
Drawn Together (2004 - 2008) - Drawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting. Like that of The Surreal Life, the show's eight charac...
Dirty Pair Flash (1994 - 1996) - Kei and Yuri were originally junior auxiliary agents in the Worlds Works and Welfare Agency (W.W.W.A. or 3WA for short) when the two were paired together under the codename "Lovely Angels." Kei was coming off her fourth probation for something she had done, and Yuri's dating exploits were common kno...
Sitting Ducks (2001 - 2004) - In the whimsical world of Ducktown, one bird stands out from the flock: Bill, a well-liked but seldom understood who waddles to a different beat. He finds a kindred soul in Aldo, an alligator from the neighboring town of Swampwood. Together, these unlikely friends struggle to find happiness as best...
2000 Malibu Road (1992 - 1992) - The show deals with four women living together at a beach house located at 2000 Malibu Road: Jade (Lisa Hartman),Perry (Jennifer Beals), ; Lindsay (Drew Barrymore), and Joy (Tuesday Knight)
Brandy & Mr. Whiskers (2004 - 2006) - A pampered yet spunky dog and a hyperactive rabbit who get stuck in the Amazon Rainforest together.
Ultimate Book of Spells (2001 - 2002) - Cassy, Verne & Gus are three gifted students who go to an enchanted school where they learn about magic and how to use it. One day they receive a strange talking book in the mail. The book says his name is UBOS (Ultimate Book of Spells) and together they must journey to the center of the Earth to st...
According to Jim (2001 - 2009) - A popular sitcom starring Jim Belushi as the suburban father of three children. Jim is a lovable suburban father. Much like his real-life counterpart, Jim's character is noted as a fan of blues music, as well as the Chicago Bears, Chicago Cubs, Chicago Bulls and the Chicago Blackhawks. Together with...
BH90210 (2019 - 2019) - This American primetime comedy-drama series focusing on the original Beverly Hills, 90210 cast members reunited to get a reboot and running, and must reconcile their new lives with the complications of their histories together.
Scripps National Spelling Bee (1994 - Current) - Every year since 1925 the E.W. Scripps Company has brought the world's best students together to challenge them with the world's toughest words. ESPN has aired the bee since 1994 with early rounds during the day and with championship rounds in Primetime.
National Memorial Day Parade (2005 - Current) - The National Memorial Day Parade is held annually in Washington D.C., since 2005. The parade has been a popular destination for thousands of Americans to come together and honor the men and women who have served in uniform from the American Revolution to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and has sought to ed...
Babar (1989 - 2003) - The Elephant king Babar and his family of Celestville join together for so many adventures that teaches them moral issues about life, friendship and love. From Babar's tragic childhood, growing up and succeding as the legendary king of Celelstville. As well as rivaling King Rataxes, Babar must keep...
Joe and Jack (2012 - 2014) - Joe and Jack is a Canadian/Irish/British/American children's television series airing on Qubo in the United States, and Tiny Pop in the United Kingdom. The series follows a 4-year-old Irish boy named Joe, and his best friend, a blue cat named Jack. Together, they go on adventures using their imagina...
Turbo Dogs (2008 - 2011) - Canine friends Dash, Mags, Strut, Stinkbert, Clutch, and GT learn lessons in friendship, fair play, and teamwork as they pull together to protect their reputations as the fastest dogs in Racerville in the animated series adapted from Bob Kolar's book Racer Dogs.
Beachy & Friends (2021 - Current) - Upcoming animated TV show being developed by the creators of The Beeps and Jelly Jamm. The show stars a beach ball named Beachy as a main character. His best friends Soccery the Soccer ball, Baskety the Basketball, and Exerciser the Exercise Ball. Together they go on adventures.
Harvey Beaks (2015 - 2017) - The series is about a little boy named Harvey, who is a friendly bird, and his two best friends, the imp twins Fee and Foo, and their lives together as they grow and have adventures. Together, the trio seek adventure and mischief in their home Littlebark Grove.
Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2018 - Current) - Deep in the sewers of New York City, four mutant turtle brothers lurk. Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo are in their early teen years, and the brothers go on new and exciting adventures. They tap into their mystic ninja powers to learn to work together as a cohesive unit and become a t...
Raggs (2001 - 2009) - Stars five colorful canine characters and a cat, Dumpster, who hang together in their own cool clubhouse. However, Raggs and his friends are not average canines, they're also talented musicians who make great rock 'n' roll music as The Raggs Band.
The Goonies(1985) - A group of Astoria, Oregon kids facing their last days together before a development paves over their homes stumble onto evidence of a pirate (One Eyed Willy's) treasure, They find a dabloon with a hole in it which they match up to an island to find the entrance. Chunk one of their friends gets kidn...
Ferris Bueller's Day Off(1986) - Ferris is a street-wise kid who knows all the tricks. Today he decides to take the day off school. When Ferris takes the day off, so must his best friends, Cameron and Sloane. Cameron is reluctantly persuaded to borrow his father's Ferrari, and together they hatch a plan to get Sloane out of class....
Cats Don't Dance(1997) - A Cat Named Danny Goes To Hollywood, CA To Become A Star But He Doesn't Know That In Hollywood, CA That Cats Can Only Say "Meow", He Meets New Friends Including Woolie, Cranston, Tillie And Sawyer, He Also Meets Darla Dimple, Danny And His Friends Must Work Together To Achieve Their Dreams While Dea...
Waynes World 2(1993) - Wayne and Garth are back.This time Casandras getting all types of record deals and Wayne suspects Casandras agent Bobby is cheating on him and in order to try to impress Bobby,Wayne announces Waynestock,a show in which a buncha rock bands come together to make Waynestock ,with the help from some fri...
The Hobbit(1977) - A Hobbit named Bilbo Baggins is whisk away on a journey by Gandalf the Wizard and a company of Dwarves. Together they search out Smaug the Dragon to raid his gold!
Little Giants(1994) - Danny O'Shea has forever lived in the shadow of his brother, the great football player Kevin O'Shea. Kevin was stronger, faster, and more popular. But when his daughter is cut from Kevin's pee-wee football team, Danny brings together a squad of picked-lasts and losers to prove to Kevin that he can s...
Boyz N The Hood(1991) - John Singleton's portrayal of social problems in inner-city Los Angeles takes the form of a tale of three friends growing up together 'in the 'hood.' Half-brothers Doughboy and Ricky Baker are foils for each other's personality, presenting very different approaches to the tough lives they face. Rick...
The Muppets Take Manhattan(1984) - The Muppets graduate from college and decide to take their senior revue on the road. They hit the streets of Manhattan trying to sell their show to producers, finally finding one young and idealistic enough to take their show. After several mishaps and much confusion, things begin to come together f...
Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin(1997) - Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin are best friends who wish they could be together forever. However Christopher Robin needs to go to school. Christopher Robin has trouble telling Pooh that they will be separated, so he leaves him a note. Pooh, misunderstanding and believing that Christopher Robi...
The Parent Trap(1998) - Identical twins, Annie and Hallie, whom were played by Lindsay Lohan were separated when their parents divorced. They met at camp and discovered that they were sisters. In order to get their parents back together, they switch places, Annie going to California and Hallie going to London. One has nev...
Real Genius(1985) - When a group of crazy college geniuses put their heads together, almost anything can happen. Hold on for a free-wheeling, uproarious look at just how much mischief a bunch of high IQers can concoct. Chris (Val Kilmer) is the top brain who just wants to party. Mitch (Gabe Jarret) is the 16 year old w...
The Toxic Avenger(1984) - Lovely Tromaville, land of hazardous waste and nerdy janitors. Nerdy until they leap from second story windows and land in a drum of toxic waste. (They go together, they just don't GO together - remember back to your high school dating scene, you'll understand.) And so Melvin became the Toxic Aveng...
Chopping Mall(1986) - A group of teenagers that work at the mall all get together for a late night party in one of the stores. When the mall accidently goes on lock down before they can get out, The robot security system activates after a malfunction and goes on a killing spree. One by one the three bots try to rid the m...
Look Who's Talking Too(1990) - Mollie and James are together and raising a family, which now consists of an older Mikey and his baby sister, Julie. Tension between the siblings arises, and as well with Mollie and James when Mollie's brother Stuart moves in. Mikey is also learning how to use the toilet for the firs
Steel Magnolias(1989) - Revolving around Truvy's Beauty Parlor in a small parish in modern-day Louisiana, STEEL MAGNOLIAS is the story of a close-knit circle of friends whose lives come together there. As the picture opens, we find Drum Eatenton shooting birds in the trees of his back yard in preparation for his daughter's...
Breakin'(1984) - A struggling young jazz dancer Kelly (Lucinda Dickey) meets up with two break-dancers, Ozone (Adolfo Quinones) and Turbo (Michael Chambers). Together they become the sensation of the street crowds. Features ICE-T in his film debut as a club MC.
The Baby-Sitters Club(1995) - Based on the bestselling book series about seven friends whose babysitting business leads to one adventure after another. When tomboy Kristy, president of the club, has a brilliant idea to run a summer day camp, the girls all agree it's the perfect way to spend their summer--together! But life gets...
The Secret of the Sword(1985) - Prince Adam and Cringer travel to Etheria in search of the one who is meant for a special destiny.One who will gain the power to become She-ra, and who will fight to free Etheria from the Horde's evi
The Hollywood Knights(1980) - A gang of car enthusiast,known as the Hollywood Knights,gather together for one last night of mayhem before their drive-in restaurant hang out is demolished.
Look Who's Talking Now(1993) - Mikey and Julie are now older and no longer dubbed. Mollie and James are still together and raising them on their own. Mollie is no longer working for the same firm, and James has landed a terrific job as a private pilot to a sexy business woman named Samantha, who is after him. Two new additions ar...
Empire Records(1995) - A group of people who work in a music store find out it's going to be sold to a large chain and they may lose their jobs, but they band together and try and save their favorite place. This is not just a movie about music it is a great movie about friendships, love, but most of all the LOVE people ha...
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country(1991) - Captian Kirk and his crew have returned faceing their greatest conflict, Peace. The Klingon empire is faceing extinction and the two enemies must over come decades of hostilities to work together. Not everyone desires this peace and the Enterprise crew must stop their plans before war breaks out.
3 Ninjas: High Noon at Mega Mountain(1998) - Three young boys, Rocky, Colt and Tum Tum together with their neighbor girl, computer whiz Amanda are visiting Mega Mountain amusement park when it is invaded by an army of ninjas led by evil Medusa, who wants to take over the park and hold the owners for ransom. Kids and retired TV star Dave Dragon...
Go(1999) - Director/cinematographer Doug Liman's third feature links together three edgy stories, all beginning in the same Los Angeles supermarket with an interconnected group of characters. Ronna (Sarah Polley) is a down-on-her-luck checkout girl who is sweet talked into taking an extra shift from her friend...
Natural Born Killers(1994) - Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson) and his wife Mallory (Juliette Lewis) are damaged. Both had horrible childhoods, and Mickey met Mallory while she still lived with her uncaring mother (Edie McClurg) and abusive father (Rodney Dangerfield in a rare dramatic role). Whether they were influenced by their p...
Dollman vs. Demonic Toys(1993) - Full Moon Entertainment Charles Band's direct-to-video outfit tosses together elements from three of its film franchises for this loopy mix & match item. Tracy Scoggins returns as tough cop Judith Grey, who must confront the lethal, wise-cracking terror toys again when they reappear at t...
Rent-a-Kid(1995) - In this light-hearted comedy, an ingenious salesman devises a clever scheme for finding homes for orphans. A pair of yuppies, trying to decide whether or not to become parents, use the plan to test out three rambunctious children in their home.
Rescue from Gilligan's Island(1978) - When a decaying Russian satellite crashes on the island, the Professor uses a key component for a barometer. With that device, he learns that a massive wave is going to swamp the island. In desperation, the castaways lash their huts together into one structure in order to have any chance to ride the...
Seven Minutes In Heaven(1985) - While her father is away on business, a teenage girl(Jennifer Connelly) lets her best friends(Byron Thames and Maddie Corman)move in with her.Together the 3 teens learn about life,love,and growing up.
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland(1987) - The cuddly Care Bears star in this charming feature-length adaption of the classic story of Alice in Wonderland. A young girl named Alice and the Care Bears travel together into the whimsical land of the Mad Hatter and the March Hare. In this magical story about friendship and trust, Alice and the C...
The Cannonball Run(1981) - A bunch of interesting individuals gather together for an illegal cross-country race. And some of the competitors don't mind playing dirty.
Houseguest(1995) - Sinbad offers some unusual advice on how to make friends in this wacky comedy. Kevin Frankin (Sinbad) is a guy who dreams of starting his own business. However, getting it off the ground is another matter altogether, and soon Kevin discovers that the two loan sharks who fronted him money want to be...
Lethal Weapon 4(1998) - Detectives Martin Riggs (Mel Gibson) and Roger Murtaugh (Danny Glover) reteamed for their fourth foray together in this buddy-cop action-comedy series based on characters created by Shane Black. With the passage of years, Murtagh's daughter Rianne (Traci Wolfe) is now about to upgrade Murtagh to gra...
Ghoul School(1990) - The debut feature from writer/director Timothy O'Rawe, this campy horror film centers on a high-school overrun by cannibalistic zombies. Starring William Friedman and Scott Gordon, Ghoul School finds a ragtag group of nerds and headbangers banding together to put an end to the carnage before the gho...
The Glimmer Man(1996) - Two cops with almost nothing in common find themselves brought together to capture a psychotic murderer in this action thriller. Jack Cole (Steven Seagal) was once a government intelligence operative known as "The Glimmer Man," because he could move so quickly and quietly that his victims would only...
Melody(1971) - This movie starring Mark Lester, Jack Wild (who had also starred together in "Oliver!") and Tracy Hyde in the title role, tells the story of a young boy and girl who fall in love and their strange desire to marry despite the fact they are only 11 years old. Soundtrack features music by the Bee Gees....
A Midnight Clear(1992) - Based on a novel by William Wharton, A Midnight Clear is set in the Adriennes Forest in December of 1944. A group of American GIs, all of whom have been together a bit too long, cling to the vestiges of their peacetime interests to remain sane. None are brilliant soldiers, though Will Knot Ethan Haw...
Wee Sing Together(1990) - It's Sally's birthday, and she's in for a big surprise when her favorite toys, Hum Bear and Melody Mouse, magically come to life to throw her the best party ever! Sally and her brother Jonathan are whisked away to Wee Sing Park where they are met by a merry marching band and lots of friends with spe...
Battle Beyond The Stars(1980) - The peace-loving planet of Akir, threatened by the greed and overpowering evil of the war-mongering Malmori and their leader, Sador the Conqueror, send a young man named Shad (Richard Thomas) to gather together those whom he feels would be brave enough to defend his people and their way of life....
My Boyfriend's Back(1989) - Chris Henry (Sandy Duncan), Debbie McGuire (Jill Eikenberry) and Vickie Vine (Judith Light) used to sing together in the 60s as a group called The Bouffants. They reunite for a rock nostalgia show, and along the way their personal lives are bought up again.
Jekyll and Hyde...Together Again(1982) - The mild-mannered Dr. Daniel Jekyll is, without a doubt, brilliant and on the right track with his life. He is the most gifted surgeon at Our Lady of Pain and Suffering, well-respected by his peers, and is engaged to Mary Carew, the lovely daughter of the hospital administrator. And to top it off...
Real Bullets(1990) - Real Bullets is the result of a bunch of Hollywood stunt persons (male and female) getting together and saying "Let's make a movie starring US!" The plot: A batch of stunt men and women decide to go vacationing together, and when they get to the chosen spot, they find a drug ring and it's inevitable...
Drunks(1997) - An Alcoholics Anonymous meeting brings together a disparate group of people struggling with addiction to drugs and liquor in this film based on Gary Lennon's play "Blackout." Jim (Richard Lewis) is in a bad mood as he sits in on an AA meeting in the basement of a church in New York City; he's prodde...
The Spy Who Loved Me(1977) - When a massive underwater craft abducts U.S. and Russian submarines, global tensions are heightened to the brink of war. In order to find the true culprit, James Bond joins forces with beautiful Russian secret agent Anya Amasaova (Barbara Bach). Together they follow a trail that leads to Karl Stromb...
Let's Talk About Sex(1998) - Troy Beyer wrote, directed and stars in this Miami-based comedy-drama about advice columnist Jazz (Beyer) who plans a TV show, has a week to pull together a pilot, and enlists her best friends Michelle (Paget Brewster) and Lena (Randi Ingerman). With the basic premise of women discussing relationshi...
Lady Frankenstein(1971) - This lurid but entertaining Italian/Spanish twist on the Frankenstein legend begins with Baron Frankenstein (Joseph Cotten) being assisted in his research by his sultry daughter Tania (Sara Bay). The doctor's first attempt at a stitched-together creation results in a lumpy, pop-eyed monstrosity with...
Prom Night IV: Deliver Us from Evil(1992) - Carrying on the Prom Night tradition, this film begins back at Hamilton High School on Prom Night in 1957. As a young couple are enjoying a romantic moment together in the back seat of a car, they are interrupted by Father Jonas, a priest who slashes and immolates the lovers. Thirty years later, Jon...
All I Want for Christmas(1991) - In New York City, siblings Ethan and Hallie O'Fallon launch a hilarious scheme to get what they most want for Christmas involving their parents, Catherine and Michael, and grandmother, Lillian. When Hallie meets Santa Claus, she asks for an unusual gift: her parents back together again.
Backdraft(1991) - As a child Brian McCafferty watched his firefighter father die. Years later he joins his brother, Steven in the force by becoming a rookie firefighter. There is a history of conflict between the two brothers that is heated up by working together. With this background, a series of suspicious fires ar...
Wilder Napalm(1993) - After a childhood spat drove brothers Wilder (Arliss Howard) and Wallace (Dennis Quaid) apart, they went their separate ways, until a chance meeting brought them back together again. Gifted with a psychic ability to spark fires, Wallace supresses his gift, marries the lovely Vida (Debra Winger), and...
Six Days,Seven Nights(1998) - Ivan Reitman directed this romantic comedy-adventure that opens in New York where fast-paced magazine associate editor Robin Monroe (Anne Heche) and her boyfriend, Frank (David Schwimmer), leave for a week's vacation on a remote island. They've already been together for three years, so when Frank as...
Netherworld(1992) - One of the early direct-to-video horror films from Charles Band's Full Moon Entertainment, this good-looking entry stars 21 Jump Street's Michael Benedetti as Corey Thornton, who inherits a mansion in the Louisiana bayou from his late father. Corey wonders why his father, who abandoned him, would le...
They Still Call Me Bruce(1987) - Bruce Won arrives in America in search of an American G.I. who saved his life in the Korean War. He meets an orphan boy and together they land themselves in a string of outrageous situations. This high-strung farce culminates when a case of mistaken identity leads a gang of thugs to think Bruce is a...
Babylon 5: A Call to Arms(1999) - Five years after the events of the Babylon 5 series, a technomage named Galen predicts an imminent attack by the Drakh, the old allies of the Shadows. Through dreams, a thief, a captain, and a president are brought together to head them off. The president is John Sheridan. Because of his irrational...
Babylon 5: In the Beginning(1998) - Five years after the events of the Babylon 5 series, a technomage named Galen predicts an imminent attack by the Drakh, the old allies of the Shadows. Through dreams, a thief, a captain, and a president are brought together to head them off. The president is John Sheridan. Because of his irrational...
Ring(1998) - After four teens mysteriously die simultaneously in Tokyo, Kazuyuki Asakawa, a reporter and uncle to one of the deceased, decides to launch his own personal investigation. His search leads him to "Hakone Pacific Land," a holiday resort where the teens were last together, exactly one week before thei...
Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice(1993) - Straight after the events of the first film, the children are moved to Gatlins neighbouring town Hemmingford. A failed journalist called John comes to Hemmingford to find out what happened in Gatlin. His son Danny is with him, John and Danny don't get on well together. They are staying in the same h...
The Postman Always Rings Twice(1981) - Drifter Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) falls in love with Cora Papadakis (Jessica Lange), whose husband runs a restaurant. Together, they make plans to murder him.
On Golden Pond(1981) - Chelsea Thayer (Jane Fonda) has had a contentious relationship with her parents Ether (Katherine Hepburn) and Norman (Henry Fonda). Chelsea visits them one day, and that experience leads to the release of emotions that had been bubbling in the family for years.
Children of the Bride(1990) - You are cordially invited to the wedding that either bring one family together -- or break it apart! Margret Becker devoted her life to raising her kids and more after her husband left. Now, at 53, she is finally in a happy place in her life with the new love in her life who is 14 years her junior...
Irreconcilable Differences(1984) - They have spent almost ten years together but now Casey Brodsky is ready to go out on her own and files for divorce...from her parents. Tired of being caught in the custodial crossfire of her constantly feuding folks and feeling ignored and alienated, the nine-year-old child's case sets off the med...
Pieces(1982) - Boston, 1942. After being scolded by his mother for putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a nude girl, a young boy chops her to death with an axe and claims a big man was responsible. Forty years later, on a college campus, a young girl's skateboarding accident triggers the memory of the murder and...
Zombi 3(1988) - A terrorist's body is burned by mistake by the US Military which is infected with a virus. The virus spreads into the atmosphere and causes the dead to come back to life. A trio of soldiers and a group of tourist ban together to fight off the infected population and the military on the small isolate...
Everyone Says I Love You(1996) - Writer-director Woody Allen brings romance and comedy together in his first movie musical that celebrates love for one extended family with classic love songs and hilarious production number making perfect (and sometimes not so perfect) harmony. We see Joe, a writer living in Paris returning to New...
A Fistful of Dynamite (1971) - Set in 1913 Mexico, "A Fistful of Dynamite," is a story about a former Irish terrorist (James Coburn) who befriends a Mexican bandit (Rod Steiger), and who together play a major, often reluctant part in the Mexican Revolution.
Johnny Got His Gun(1971) - A solider named Joe Bonham is hit by a artillery shell on the last day of WWI and is whiped out of his senses except to think and feel and has his arms and legs cut off from the injuries and must decide whether to remain bed ridden for the rest of his life,or decide to pull the plug on his own life....
40 Carats(1973) - A forty year old woman who was vacationing in Greece meets a twenty-two year old, who was also on vacation. They spend the night together and she leaves him while he was sleeping. She then returns to New York and she is stunned to learn that her daughter's boyfriend is him. He then pursues her, and...
The Jewel Of The Nile(1985) - Jack Colton (Michael Douglas) and Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) are living an easy-going life after their adventure together in "Romancing The Stone". Unfortunately, their relaxation leads to boredom, both with their lives and with each other. Wilder is invited to the Middle East to write about a sh...
Let's Spend The Night Together(1983) - Known in some territories as "Time Is On Our Side", this documentary depicts a concert that the Rolling Stones performed in Texas in the early 80s. The Stones perform many of their greatest hits as well as a few cover songs. Basically, they're just doing their thing and doing it well.
The Dead Pool(1988) - Dirty Harry Callahan returns for his final film adventure. Together with his partner Al Quan, he must investigate the systematic murder of actors and musicians. By the time Harry learns that the murders are a part of a sick game to predict the deaths of celebrities before they happen, it may be to...
Mr. Mom(1983) - When Jack Butler(Michael Keaton) loses his job he switches roles with his wife Caroline(Teri Garr), she goes out and earns the bacon and he stays home and takes care of the three kids a job he is unqualified for.Jack must get it together before he destroys hearth and home.
C.H.U.D.(1984) - A rash of bizarre murders in New York City seems to point to a group of grotesquely deformed vagrants living in the sewers. A courageous policeman, a photo journalist and his girlfriend, and a nutty bum, who seems to know a lot about the creatures, band together to try and determine what the creatur...
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town(1970) - Fred Astaire tells the story of the origin of Santa Claus, who is also known as Kris Kringle, and how he became a hero of Sombertown. Together, he and his little penguin friend named Topperwood manage to give all of his toys to the children of Sombertown, but the evil Burgermeister Meisterburger cla...
The Kindred(1987) - Amanda's deathbed request to her son, John, was for him to destroy all the lab notes etc. from her last experiment. She also blurts out he had a brother. At the funeral John meets Melissa, who claims to be his mothers biggest fan. Together with some of John's friends they go to Amanda's house, but n...
The Presidio(1988) - Jay Austin is now a civilian police detective. Colonel Caldwell was his commanding officer years before when he left the military police over a disagreement over the handling of a drunk driver. Now a series of murders that cross jurisdictions force them to work together again. That Austin is now dat...
Breeders(1986) - The Manhattan General Hospital has admitted a string of young women who have been raped by something otherworldly. The perpetrator only attacks women who are virgins. Dr. Pace and Detective Andriotti work together to try and isolate the strange organic material found on the victims, and to try and l...
Falling In Love(1984) - During shopping for Christmas, Frank and Molly run into each other. This fleeting short moment will start to change their lives, when they recognize each other months later in the train home and have a good time together. Although both are married and Frank has two little kids, they meet more and mo...
Young Giants(1983) - "A heartwarming story of two stubborn priests, the world's greatest soccer player, and a dozen determined orphans who band together to save their home from being condemned by the local city planners
Silverado(1985) - As the result of a chance meeting, four cowboys on horseback are drawn together to defeat a corrupt frontier sheriff and his vicious posse. An enjoyable high-spirited western. Starring Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Brain Dennehy and Rosanna Arquette, and written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan (THE ACC...
Spring Break(1983) - Two sets of two college guys spend a spring break together in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. There they have lots of fun in and out of th
It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown(1992) - As the holiday season rolls around and all the Peanuts gang are getting ready for it. Whether it be Charlie Brown struggling to raise money for his girlfriend or Sally and Peppermint Patty struggling to rehearse and memorize their one word lines for the Christmas pageant, these kids try to keep with...
Daikaij kchsen Gamera tai Gyaosu(2012) - Gamera's back, and just in time to save Japan from Gaos, a mysterious bat-like creature awakened by a volcanic eruption. As in the first Gamera movie, a young boy establishes an emotional link with Gamera, and the two work together, with the help of the world's scientists, to put and end to Gaos' vi...
Playing By Heart(1998) - Sophomore writer/director Willard Carroll weaves together an all-star cast in interlocking stories about finding love in Los Angeles. The film's theme is spoken by young club-hopper Joan (Angelina Jolie). Taken by the mysterious Keenan (Ryan Phillippe), she tells him that "talking about love" is lik...
Rupert and the Frog Song(1985) - Rupert The Bear goes on a walk in the hills near his home, where he encounters a community of frogs who join together in a musica
Dot and the Bunny(1984) - Dot is a spunky red headed little girl who goes out searching for a lost baby kangaroo named Joey. On her way she meets a bunny who tries to convince her that he is the kangaroo. Dot thinks he is really silly and desides to name him Funny Bunny. They deside to search for joey together.
Life with Mikey(1993) - Mikey Chapman (Michael J. Fox), a former child star and now a talent agent for child stars, discovers Angie Vega (Christina Vidal), a girl who pick-pockets for money and lives with her teenage sister and her boyfriend. Together, they try to hit it big and earn her a role on a series of television co...
Roller Boogie(1979) - A group of friends band together to keep their favorite Roller Disco from being closed.Starring Linda Blair,Jim Bray,Mark Goddard,and Beverly Garland.
Lace(1984) - An oft-questioned actress named Lili (Phoebe Cates) gathers together 3 old and older schoolmates to find out which one is her mother.
Young Sherlock Holmes(1985) - From producer Steven Spielberg and director Berry Levinson, comes the untold story of Sherlock Holmes when he and Dr. Watson first met as Schoolboys and solved their first mystery together. There had been mysterous deaths happening all over London, England caused by hallucination and Sherlock and Wa...
The Gods Must Be Crazy II(1989) - N!xua,Lena Farugia,and Hans Strydom,star in this sequel to the 1980 box office smash.Like first film,the movie is split into several different plots,which eventually come together.The first plot involves XiXo(N!xua) trying to find his children,who have stowed away on a truck.The second plot involves...
Live Nude Girls(1995) - Don't let the title fool you for these fully dressed, childhood friends have gathered together for a bachelorette/slumber party. But throughout the evening, these five ladies share more than just their sexual fantasies, desires, past relationships, and their takes on men, they also have their share...
The First Wives Club(1996) - Three former college chums -- vain Elise, brassy Brenda and wimpy Annie -- reunite after the death of a friend. Soon, the ladies discover that they've all been recently dumped by their smarmy husbands for younger, nubile women. The neurotic trio decide to band together and seek vengeance, using such...
Paradise Alley(1978) - Three brothers... One had the brains, one had the muscle and one had the suit. Together they had a million dolla
A Wish for Wings that Work(1991) - Opus the Penguin, amoung his other problems, always felt inadequate by his being "aerodynamicly impaired". Together, with Bill the Cat he tries doggedly to overcome that weakness, all without success. It is only on Christmas Eve that Opus learns what worth his natural abilities are.
Norma Rae(1979) - Norma Rae is a southern textile worker employed in a factory with intolerable working conditions. This concern about the situation gives her the gumption to be the key associate to a visiting labor union organizer. Together, they undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize...
Hooper(1978) - Aging stuntman Sonney Hooper is still on top as one of the best stuntmen in the business. But up and coming Ski is starting to do bigger and better stunts. Hooper has the experience to setup a stunt safely, and Ski lacks the common sense to know when a stunt is too dangerous. Maybe together, along w...
Thunderbolt And Lightfoot(1974) - With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organize a daring new heist.
The Crew(2000) - Four senior citizen mobsters(Burt Reynolds,Richard Dreyfus,Dan Hedaya,and Seymour Cassel)band together to keep their retirement condo from being sold.
Around the Country(2010) - In this film version of Coolduder's popular Around the Town web series, Shawn and M.J go on a cross-country road trip from Baltimore to San-Deigo for their final video together.
Moana(2016) - An adventurous teenager sails out on a daring mission to save her people. During her journey, Moana meets the once-mighty demigod Maui, who guides her in her quest to become a master way-finder. Together they sail across the open ocean on an action-packed voyage, encountering enormous monsters and i...
Dune Warriors(1990) - After the end of the world, Earth is a thirsty planet ruled by vicious warlords. One woman is brave enough to fight back; she bands together five warriors to save her town and their precious water.
The Last Of The Finest(1990) - An elite group of vice cops are fired from the L.A.P.D. for being over-zealous in their war against drugs. It is immediately apparent that some of their superiors are involved in the drug ring. Banded together, four of the banned cops (which quickly becomes three when one is killed early) band toget...
Certain Fury(1985) - During a shooting in court young prostitute Scarlet manages to flee. In a state of confusion, the black Tracy, who was arrested for a minor delict, follows her. When she decides to leave Scarlett, an accident makes it impossible. So they're bound together on a flight from the police and some of the...
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story(2016) - This prequel to the very first "Star Wars" tells the thrilling story of how a ragtag band of freedom fighters - including a former soldier-turned-prisoner, a Rebel Alliance insider, an intensely spiritual believer in the Force, and a sentient robot - worked together to steal the Death Star's secret...
Django Unchained(2012) - Two years before the Civil War, a slave named Django has his freedom bought by German dentist King Schultz. Together, they go into bounty-hunting tracking down the most-wanted criminals in the Deep South. Their travels lead them to the Mississippi plantation of the infamous Calvin Candie where the d...
Guardians of the Galaxy(2014) - When supervillain Thanos sends the malevolent Ronan to capture the Infinity Stone, a gem that wields immeasurable destructive powers, the only people who can stop them are a group of criminals forced to work together: Peter Quill, or Star-Lord, a sarcastic human abducted by space pirates after his m...
Bride Wars(2009) - Liv and Emma have been inseparable best friends for 20 years. Together they share a dream of having June weddings at New York City's Plaza Hotel. And when they get engaged and with the help of the most sought after wedding planner Marion St. Claire, their dreams are finally coming true...or so they...
Kill Your Darlings(2013) - A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.
Voyager(1991) - Walter Faber has survived a crash with an airplane. His next trip is by ship. On board this ship he meets the enchanting Sabeth and they have a passionate love affair. Together they travel to her home in Greece, but the rational Faber doesn't know what fate has in mind for him for past doings.
Kingsman: The Secret Service(2015) - Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons' comic series is adapted for the big screen in this Matthew Vaughn-directed action thriller. The story centers on a secret agent who recruits a juvenile delinquent into a top-secret spy organization. Together, they battle a tech genius with diabolical ambitions.
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut(2006) - Reconstructed Using Archival Film And Archival Sound Elements, This Version Puts Together Footage That Was Shot By Richard Donner As Originally Conceived And Originally Intended.
The Matador(2005) - A globetrotting hitman and a crestfallen businessman meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City in an encounter that draws them together in a way neither expected.
The Amateurs(2005) - Citizens of a small town, under the influence of a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis, come together to make an adult film.
Back Roads(1981) - A prostitute and a drifter find themselves bound together as they make their way through the rural South, doing what they have to do to survive.
Women And Men: Stories Of Seduction(1990) - Three short stories come to the screen, each focused on a man and a woman. The first is set in the 1940s, the other two in the 1920s. In "The Man in a Brooks Brothers Suit," a businessman of about 40 plies a younger Leftist women with liquor aboard a train. They spend the night together, and he deci...
The Opposite Sex And How To Live With Them(1992) - Jewish Jack-the-lad David seriously fancies smart, rich Anglo-Saxon Carrie as soon as he first offends her in a Boston bar. They run into each other again and though she still says she finds him appalling he works on it and they are soon together. His even more reprehensible best mate and her blousy...
3 Nuts In Search Of A Bolt(1964) - An out of work Method actor is hired by a male model, an ecdysiast, and a car salesman who live together to save money. They want the actor to listen to their problems and go see a psychiatrist so they can get counseling for cheap. The psychiatrist is intrigued by the split personalities indicated b...
I Am a Hero(2015) - One day, after returning from work late in the evening, Hideo witnesses a traffic accident in which a car crashes into a nearby pedestrian, killing the victim instantly. However, despite severe injuries including a broken neck, the victim's body stands up and walks away. Hideo questions whether this...
John Denver And The Muppets: A Christmas Together(1979) - In this beloved holiday classic, Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy and all the Muppets join the singer for a heart-warming Christmas celebration, with traditional carols as well as lesser-known holiday songs.
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause(2006) - After four years together, Scott Calvin and his wife Carol are expecting a new baby, who is set to arrive on Christmas Eve. Carol, feeling bored with her new life, decides along with Scott to bring the in-laws of both families to the North Pole for the season. Meanwhile, Santa along with the League...
Yours, Mine And Ours(1968) - When a widower with 10 children marries a widow with 8, can the 20 of them ever come together as one big happy family? From finding a house big enough for all of them and learning to make 18 school lunches, to coping with a son going off to war and an unexpected addition to the family, Yours, Mine a...
Hedda(1976) - Henrik Ibsen's enduring drama about a Nordic femme fatale - a neurotic, controlling, strong-willed woman who is nonetheless alluring to the males in her town. She is a solitary woman in a society held together by kinship and class. If she had had more brains she would have thought her way out of it;...
A Minor Miracle(1983) - A group of orphans and their guardian get together to try to save their orphanage.
Scarecrow(1973) - An ex-con(Gene Hackman)and an ex-navy sailor(Al Pacino)travel east together hoping to open a car wash in Pittsburgh.
Dreams Come True(1984) - A boy discovers how to dream travel. Only in this scenario he appears in real life at the location of his dreams while his "other" body lies in bed. He then teaches his girlfriend how to dream travel and together they share the adventures of their dreams.
Mickey's Twice Upon A Christmas(2004) - Based upon the works of Walt Disney, featuring five new original stories. In "Belles On Ice", Minnie and Daisy are in an ice-skating contest and are constantly trying to outdo each other until they realize that Christmas is a time to work together and remain peaceful. In "Christmas: Impossible", Hue...
Dragonworld(1994) - Young John McGowan travels to Scotland to live at his grandfather's castle after he loses his parents in a traffic accident. At the wishing tree he conjures up a dragon friend, Yowler. They grow up together, and one day documentary film maker Bob Armstrong and his daughter Beth stumble upon Yowler....
The Tigger Movie(2000) - It is nearing wintertime in the Hundred Acre Wood and in the middle of everyone's preparations, Tigger continues wanting to play! After causing a mess for his friends, Tigger decides to go out and see if there are any other tiggers out there. His friends all decide to come together and pose as his f...
The Loners(1972) - On his motorcycle Stein, a half-blood Indian, tries to stay out of the hands of the police, who are chasing him for accidentally killing a cop. Together with his friend Alan and a beautiful but desperate girl Stein will get involved in a robbery and more death. The police intensify the search, but t...
Nothing In Common(1986) - David Basner (Tom Hanks) is great with advertising and not so good with women, but his life is pretty good altogether. A spanner is thrown in the works, though, when his parents Max (Jackie Gleason) and Lorraine (Eva Marie Saint) split up. They each turn to him for support, making his life that much...
Titanic (TV miniseries)(1996) - Titanic has three different storylines. Mrs. Isabella Paradine is traveling on the Titanic to join her husband. On the Titanic, she meets Wynn Park, her former lover. She falls in love with him again, sending her husband a telegram saying that they can't be together anymore. When the ship starts sin...
Twin Warriors a.k.a. Tai Chi Master(1993) - World-reowned martial arts superstar Jet Li powers this nonstop action thriller about two boys who grow up together...then see their lives take off in opposite directions Junbao joins a group of political rebels while his old friend tienbao becomes the follower of a ruthless military regime.
The Godfather: A Novel For Television(1977) - The first two Godfather films were re-edited together in chronological order with additional footage added.
Mr. Bean's Holiday(2007) - After winning the grand prize in a raffle, Mr. Bean(Rowan Atkinson) wins a trip to Cannes. Along his journey, he winds up going from one misadventure to another, including separating a Russian film critic from his son Stepan and trying to bring them back together, to no avail. He soon befriends a fr...
Georgia(1995) - This is the story of two sisters -- one talented and the other passionate -- and the rivalry that binds them together. Georgia is a gifted, well-adjusted and successful folk singer who is also happily married with children. Her younger sister Sadie is a punk rocking rebel who aspires to stardom but...
Eagle Eye(2008) - Eagle Eye is a 2008 American thriller film directed by D. J. Caruso and starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan. The two portray a young man and a single mother who are brought together and coerced by an anonymous caller (Julianne Moore) into carrying out a plan by a possible terrorist organizat...
North To Alaska(1960) - Sam and George strike gold in Alaska. George sends Sam to Seattle to bring George's fianc back to Alaska. Sam finds she is already married, and returns instead with Angel. Sam, after trying to get George and Angel together, finally romances Angel, who, in the meantime, is busy fighting off the adva...
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed(1969) - Baron Frankenstein is once again working with illegal medical experiments. Together with a young doctor, Karl and his fiance Anna they kidnap the mentally sick Dr. Brandt, to perform the first brain transplantation ever.
Space Thunder Kids(1991) - This anime was edited together from several other Korean titles.
Tough Ninja: The Shadow Warrior(1986) - This is another one of Godfrey Ho's many put-together ninja movies.
The Pajama Game(1957) - Employees of the Sleeptite Pajama Factory are looking for a whopping seven-and-a-half cent an hour increase and they won't take no for an answer. Babe Williams is their feisty employee representative but she may have found her match in shop superintendent Sid Sorokin. When the two get together they...
El Dorado(1966) - Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old Indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water.
The Four Seasons(1981) - Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises.
Psychos In Love(1987) - A strip-joint owner and a manicurist find that they have many things in common, the foremost being that they are psychotic serial killers. They fall in love and are happy being the family that slays together, until one day they come up against a plumber who also happens to be a cannibal.
One From The Heart(1982) - Las Vegas. It's the Fourth of July, and today marks five years since Hank and Frannie moved in together. They'd planned to celebrate, but instead they fight. Hank is a "stick-in-the-mud;" Frannie is a "flake." They break up, and, in no time Frannie meets a suave singer-waiter, and Hank meets a lovel...
Never Let Me Go(2010) - The story of three friends who are tragically born to lead short lives, and the love triangle that forms between them in their brief time together.
Alien vs. Predator(2004) - Alien vs. Predator (also known as AVP) is a 2004 science fiction film directed by Paul W. S. Anderson for 20th Century Fox and starring Sanaa Lathan and Lance Henriksen. The film adapts the Alien vs. Predator crossover imprint bringing together the eponymous creatures of the Alien and Predator serie...
Dimboola(1979) - The occasions leading up to together with during a wedding in a rural Australian town.
The Real Blonde(1997) - Joe and Mary have been living together in Manhattan for six years. Joe is an actor, who has no agent and no thesping credits, but whose ambitions are very high. He works as a waiter at a cafe. Mary works as a make-up stylist for hot fashion photographer Blair, and she pays most of the pair's bills....
The Legend of Zorro(2005) - In 1850 (9 years after the events of the first film), California is voting on whether to join the United States of America as a state. A wild gunman, Jacob McGivens, attempts to steal some ballots, but Zorro chases after him and recaptures the votes. In their scuffle, McGivens pulls off Zorro's mask...
Snoopy!!! The Musical(1988) - Based on the musical of the same name. This is one of two musicals where Snoopy has a voice(although the kids cannot hear him). A series of vignettes are strung together regarding the Peanuts gang. Each vignette has a song that involves various members of the gang.
Undertow(2004) - The Munns, father John and sons Chris and Tim, recede to the woods of rural Georgia. Their life together is forever changed with the arrival of Uncle Deel, though the tragedy that follows forces troubled Chris to become a man.
Witchouse(1999) - On Mayday 1998 in the town of Dunwich, Massachusetts, Elizabeth gathers together a group of specially selected friends for a rather odd party. It turns out that she is the descendent of a malevolent witch named Lilith who was burned at the stake precisely three hundred years ago. Now Elizabeth hopes...
The Twilight Of The Golds(1996) - When Suzanne Stein has a genetic analysis done on her unborn child, she discovers that although she has a healthy baby, the child will most likely be born gay, like her brother, David. She must decide whether to keep the child, or to have an abortion. Her family enters a crisis about love and accept...
The Prince and the Pauper(1990) - Long ago in a land with an ailing king, there was a pair of boys who looked exactly alike, a pauper called Mickey and the other, the Crown Prince. Mickey dreamed of plenty and an easy life as Royalty and the Prince dreamed of the freedom as a subject. Happenstance throws them together and their mutu...
The Tie That Binds(1995) - John Netherwood and his wife Leann are fugitives who are both wanted for murder. They have a young daughter named Janie. John and Leann are in the process of robbing a house when the two residents of the house show up. John kills the two residents and heads back to the car with Leann - only to disco...
The Break Up(2006) - Gary Grobowski and Brooke Meyers meet at Wrigley Field during a Chicago Cubs game and begin dating, eventually buying a condominium together. Gary works as a tour guide in a family business with his brothers, Lupus and Dennis. Brooke manages an art gallery owned by eccentric artist Marilyn Dean. The...
The Divide(2011) - Survivors of a nuclear attack are grouped together for days in the basement of their apartment building, where fear and dwindling supplies wear away at their dynamic.
The Cabin In The Woods(2012) - Five friends go for a break at a remote cabin in the woods, where they get more than they bargained for. Together, they must discover the truth behind the cabin in the woods.
Prey For Rock & Roll(2003) - Jacki, sexy punk rocker and lead singer of the all-girl band Clamdandy, is at a crossroads. With her birthday fast approaching, she must decide whether or not to keep the promise she made to herself over a decade earlier: Quit the music business at 40 if she hasn't made it by then. The decision gets...
Posers(2003) - A clique of catty club-hopping chicks brutally beat a young woman in the ladies' room. The savage act triggers an unknown killer's wrath and leaves the queen bee of the bar beauties missing and possibly dead with blood all over their apartment. Now, the remaining three try to piece together what hap...
The Avengers(2012) - The evil Loki, accompanied by an army of extraterrestrials called the Chitauri, is in pursuit of a powerful object known as the Tesseract. Nick Fury, director of the espionage and law enforcement agency S.H.I.E.L.D. activates a plan he calls the "Avengers Initiative": bring together Earth's greatest...
An Extremely Goofy Movie(2000) - The direct-to-video sequel to the 1995 film. Max Goof, now nearly 18 years old, departs for college with his best friends P.J. and Bobby Zimeruski. He strives to work together with his friends to become the top team at the college X-Games. Upon arriving, Max is met by the "Gamma Mu Mu" fraternity, w...
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer(2007) - When a strange silver object enters the Earth and causes strange phenomena to occur Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four must come back together to see what is going on. They soon see this is the work of the Silver Surfer, an alien who has destroyed every planet he has visited. They must now work to...
Malcolm(1986) - A mentally retarded man who has been sacked from his job on Melbourne's trams and has a talent for designing mechanical gadgets takes in a criminal who has just been freed from prison together with the latter's girlfriend as boarders. The criminal then makes use of his mechanical gadgets to commit b...
From Beyond The Grave(1974) - Anthology film from Amicus adapted from four short stories by R. Chetwynd-Hayes strung together about an antique dealer who owns a shop called Temptations Ltd. and the fate that befalls his customers who try to cheat him. Stories include "The Gate Crasher" with David Warner who frees an evil entity...
Disaster Movie(2008) - A parody film of many countless disaster films. In the year 10,001 B.C. a caveman is told that the world will end on August 19, 2008-the theatrical release date of the film. This is reveled to be a dream by Will, the main character of the movie. He and his friends get together for a "Super Duper Swe...
The Three Caballeros(1944) - One of Disney's World War II Era "package films". The film is plotted as a series of self-contained segments, strung together by the device of Donald Duck opening birthday gifts from his Latin American friends. Several Latin American stars of the period appear, including singers Aurora Miranda (sist...
Heavyweights(1995) - Heavyweights is about a fat camp for kids that is taken over by a fitness guru named Tony Perkis. The film takes place at Camp Hope where all of the campers are overweight. For previous years it is a fun place for kids alike to go and have fun together. Trouble ensues once the previous owners decl...
High School Musical 2(2007) - In the second installment of the trilogy, high school student Troy Bolton stresses over getting a job, with the price of college expenses looming on his mind, as well as trying to make sure he and Gabriella Montez are able to stay together all summer. This situation attracts the attention of Sharpay...
Chicago(2002) - In Chicago, circa 1924, nave Roxie Hart visits a nightclub, where star Velma Kelly performs ("All That Jazz"). Roxie is there with Fred Casely, a lover she hopes will get her a vaudeville gig. After the show, Velma is arrested for killing her husband and sister after finding them in bed together. A...
Eureka Stockade(1948) - In 1853, the government attempts to circumscribe the liberty of prospectors during the Australian gold rush, causing the gold miners to band together and fight for their rights.
High School Musical(2006) - High School Musical is a story about two high school juniors from rival cliques Troy Bolton, captain of the basketball team, and Gabriella Montez, a beautiful and shy transfer student who excels in math and science. Together, they try out for the lead parts in their high school musical, and as a r...
Blood Oath(1990) - An Australian military lawyer prosecutes different Japanese for the abuse together with murder of POWs after the Second World War on an Indonesian island where the Japanese had set up a POW camp for Australian airmen after a mass grave is found there.
Jackass: The Movie(2002) - A documentary comedy film based on the hit MTV series. All the cast members from the TV series come together and perform stunts riskier than their TV counterparts. Whatever you do, don't try this at home!
Don's Party(1976) - A group of friends get together for a party at the home of one of them while watching the 1969 Australian federal election.
The 13th Floor(1988) - As a child, a girl witnesses her father electrocute a young boy. When she grows into an adult, the ghost of the murdered boy appears to her, and together they set out to expose the crimes of her father.
Miracles(1986) - Roger and Jean learn the hard way that when you are meant to be together, nothing can keep you apart. The newly divorced couple keep running into one another (literally), and in the process, rediscover their love for one another.
Cop-Out(1967) - John Sawyer, once an eminent barrister, has slid into a life of cynicism and drunkenness since his wife left him. When his daughter's boyfriend is accused of murder, Sawyer decides to try to pull himself together and defend him in court.
The Sea Gypsies(1978) - A man and a woman and 3 children start to sail around the world. They are shipwrecked near an uninhabited isle. This island is full of wild animals and it is very dangerous for them in the beginning. They live through a lot of wonderful adventure together and they become a big family.
Raffi: A Young Children's Concert with Raffi(1985) - The More We Get Together, You Gotta Sing, Six Little Ducks, Bumpin' Up And Down, Baa Baa Black Sheep, I've Been Working On the Railroad, Peanut Butter Sandwich, Brush Your Teeth, Y A Un Rat, Mr. Sun, Wheels On the Bush, Corner Grocery Store, Something In
Love Happy(1949) - The Marx Brothers' final feature together sees Harpo as the mascot of a group of aspiring actors, who indulges in a little light larceny to ensure they have enough food. He steals a tin of sardines that were the cover for a stash of stolen diamonds and has to evade the heavies who are after them.
Frog and Toad Together(1987) - Frog and Toad are best friendsthey do everything together. When Toad admires the flowers in Frog's garden, Frog gives him seeds to grow a garden of his own. When Toad bakes cookies, Frog helps him eat them. And when both Frog and Toad are scared, they are brave together. The School and Library Jour...
Pokmon: Volcanion and the Mechanical Marvel(2016) - Released in Japanese theaters in 2016 and also shown on Cartoon Network. In this latest cinematic adventure, Ash meets the Mythical Pokmon Volcanion when it crashes down from the sky, creating a cloud of dustand a mysterious force binds the two of them together! Volcanion despises humans and tries...
Happy Feet Two(2011) - Mumble's son, Erik, is struggling to realize his talents in the Emperor Penguin world. Meanwhile, Mumble and his family and friends discover a new threat their home -- one that will take everyone working together to save them.
Bring It On: Worldwide Cheersmack(2017) - In an attempt to take down rival cheer squad The Truth, cheer captain Destiny decides that she will bring Blake and his male street dancers onto her squad, The Rebels. Despite best intentions, the two groups do not mesh well together initially.
Madea's Big Happy Family(2011) - The fifth film in the series. The crazy and comical Mabel Simmons, otherwise known as Madea, tries to wrangle her fighting family together for a family dinner regarding the health of her niece Shirley.
Super Buddies(2013) - The Buddies find five magical rings from the planet Inspiron. Each one gives them unique super powers. Together, the Buddies must use the rings responsibly with the help of Megasis/Captain Canine in order to stop a power-hungry extraterrestrial warlord named Commander Drex, who wants to take the ri...
Rio(2011) - Blu, a domesticated male Spix's macaw is taken to Rio de Janeiro to mate with a free-spirited female Spix's macaw, Jewel. The two eventually fall in love, and together they have to escape from being smuggled by Nigel, a cockatoo.
The Best Man Holiday(2013) - Nearly 15 years after they were last together as a group, college friends Lance, Harper, Candace, Quentin, Robyn, Jordan, Murch, and Mia finally reunite over the Christmas holidays. Though much has changed in their lives, the friends discover just how easy it is for long-forgotten rivalries and pass...
Daddy's Home 2(2017) - Brad and Dusty have become best friends since the events of the last film, and Dusty is now married to author Karen. The two decide to do away with separate Christmas celebrations and have a "together Christmas". Things get bad when Dusty's tough fighter pilot/astronaut father Kurt and Brad's overbe...
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang(2005) - A murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor.
Noel(2004) - Five New Yorkers come together on Christmas Eve, seeking a miracle.
Nothing like the Holidays(2008) - A Puerto Rican family in Chicago gather for their possibly last Christmas together.
The Annihilators(1985) - Upon his return from Vietnam, an ex-soldier finds his neighborhood has deteriorated badly, and is being terrorized by a vicious street gang. He calls some of his GI buddies, and together they hatch a plan to get rid of the gang.
One Million Years B.C.(1966) - From Hammer Film Productions. Tumak (John Richardson) is banished by the Rock Tribe and he stumbles upon Loana (Raquel Welch) of the Shell Tribe and soon have adventures together such as encountering dinosaurs and rival cavepeople. Featuring stop-motion effects by Ray Harryhausen.
Treasure Of The Four Crowns(1983) - A group of adventurers are gathered together to retrieve some mystical gems which are in the possession of a deadly cult.
Sweet Lorraine(1987) - In its heyday, the Lorraine Hotel saw its fair share of guests, laughter and good times. But now that the aging inn is well past its prime, owner Lillian Garber must decide whether to repair the Catskills landmark - or sell to developers. As Lillian and her zany staff enjoy what may be the Lorraine'...
Wetherby(1985) - The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2(2015) - Realizing the stakes are no longer just for survival, Katniss Everdeen teams up with her closest friends, including Peeta Mellark, Gale Hawthorne and Finnick Odair for the ultimate mission to gain peace. Together, they leave District 13 to liberate the citizens of war that has torn Panem apart more...
Hope And Glory(1987) - The mysterious death of an enigmatic young man newly arrived in the suburb of Wetherby releases the long-repressed, dark passions of some of its residents.
The Girl In The Picture(1985) - Alan and Mary are pretty miserable together and split up. As a very presentable Glaswegian photographer, Alan soon has chances to find consolation elsewhere, but more and more thinks of Mary. She however seems a lot less keen to try again.
Track 29(1988) - A doctor's wife tires of his obsession with model trains, and spends her days wondering about the son she gave up for adoption at birth. While eating at a roadside caf, she encounters a British hitchhiker, who turns out to be her son. They spend time together trying to find a bond. The son begins t...
Home(2015) - On near-future planet Earth, an alien race called the Boov invade the planet. However, a feisty human girl named Gratuity "Tip" Tucci manages to avoid capture, and goes on the run with Oh, a fugitive Boov and together, the two form an unlikely friendship whilst searching for Tip's mother and avoidin...
Toy Story 4(2019) - After many years as a toy, Woody has found himself having a comfortable place in the world which comes in the form of making a child happy, whether it be Andy or Bonnie. One day, Woody must try and share that same stigma with Forky, a discarded spork that Bonnie has made into a toy of her own even t...
https://myanimelist.net/anime/6741/Makai_Senki_Disgaea__Welcome_to_Netherworld -- Action, Comedy, Demons, Magic, Fantasy
13 Assassins (2010) ::: 7.6/10 -- Jsan-nin no shikaku (original title) -- 13 Assassins Poster -- A group of assassins come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord. Director: Takashi Miike Writers:
21 Grams (2003) ::: 7.6/10 -- R | 2h 4min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 16 January 2004 (USA) -- A freak accident brings together a critically ill mathematician, a grieving mother, and a born-again ex-con. Director: Alejandro G. Irritu (as Alejandro Gonzlez Irritu) Writer: Guillermo Arriaga
303 (2018) ::: 7.5/10 -- 2h 25min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 19 July 2018 (Germany) -- Two university students, Jule and Jan, leave Berlin together in an old camper on a road trip south, but for different reasons. Director: Hans Weingartner Writers: Hans Weingartner (screenplay), Silke Eggert (screenplay) | 1 more credit Stars:
Aberdeen (2000) ::: 7.1/10 -- 1h 46min | Drama | 8 September 2000 (Norway) -- A mom dying in Aberdeen, Scotland, asks her coke snorting, nympho, London lawyer daughter to get her estranged, alcoholic dad in Oslo, Norway, to Aberdeen. He's drunk at the airport, so they travel together by car and ferry. Directors: Hans Petter Moland, Tony Spataro Writers:
A Bridge Too Far (1977) ::: 7.4/10 -- PG | 2h 55min | Drama, History, War | 15 June 1977 (USA) -- Operation Market Garden, September 1944: The Allies attempt to capture several strategically important bridges in the Netherlands in the hope of breaking the German lines. Director: Richard Attenborough Writers:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973) ::: 7.7/10 -- TV-G | 25min | Animation, Comedy, Family | TV Movie 20 November 1973 -- Peppermint Patty invites herself and her friends over to Charlie Brown's for Thanksgiving, and with Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock, he attempts to throw together a Thanksgiving dinner. Directors: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman Writer:
A Home at the End of the World (2004) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 37min | Drama, Romance | 14 October 2004 (Netherlands) -- A boy who has experienced many losses in his life grows to manhood and enters into a love triangle with a woman and his boyhood friend. Director: Michael Mayer Writers: Michael Cunningham (novel), Michael Cunningham (screenplay)
A Late Quartet (2012) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 1h 45min | Drama, Music | 23 November 2012 (Canada) -- Members of a world-renowned string quartet struggle to stay together in the face of death, competing egos and insuppressible lust. Director: Yaron Zilberman Writers: Yaron Zilberman (story by), Yaron Zilberman (screenplay by) | 1 more
Alex Strangelove (2018) ::: 6.3/10 -- TV-MA | 1h 39min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 8 June 2018 (USA) -- Alex, high school class president, nerd and a straight A student, has been dating Claire a long time. They decide to sleep together but then he meets a gay guy and he's confused. Director: Craig Johnson Writer:
All of Me (1984) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG | 1h 33min | Comedy, Fantasy, Romance | 21 September 1984 (USA) -- A dying millionaire has her soul transferred into a younger, willing woman. However, something goes wrong, and she finds herself in her lawyer's body - together with the lawyer. Director: Carl Reiner Writers:
All or Nothing (2002) ::: 7.5/10 -- R | 2h 8min | Drama | 18 October 2002 (UK) -- In a poor working class London home Penny's love for her partner, taxi-driver Phil, has run dry, but when an unexpected tragedy occurs, they and their local community are brought together, and they rediscover their love. Director: Mike Leigh Writer: Mike Leigh
All Together Now (2020) ::: 6.5/10 -- PG | 1h 32min | Drama | 28 August 2020 (USA) -- An optimistic high schooler with musical aspirations must learn to accept help from her friends to overcome her personal hardships and fulfill her dreams. Director: Brett Haley Writers:
A Lot Like Love (2005) ::: 6.6/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 47min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 22 April 2005 (USA) -- Unacquainted Emily and Oliver join the mile-high club together on the way from LAX to NYC--end of story. Except that they keep meeting constantly over the next seven years.. Director: Nigel Cole Writer:
Always Be My Maybe (2019) ::: 6.8/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 41min | Comedy, Romance | 31 May 2019 (USA) -- Everyone assumed Sasha and Marcus would wind up together except for Sasha and Marcus. Reconnecting after 15 years, the two start to wonder - maybe? Director: Nahnatchka Khan Writers:
American Heart (1992) ::: 6.8/10 -- R | 1h 53min | Crime, Drama, Romance | 7 May 1993 (USA) -- An ex-convict is tracked down by his estranged teenage son, and the pair try to build a relationship and life together in Seattle. Director: Martin Bell Writers: Peter Silverman (story), Martin Bell (story) | 2 more credits Stars:
Amistad (1997) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 2h 35min | Biography, Drama, History | 25 December 1997 (USA) -- In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free. Director: Steven Spielberg Writer:
And Then There Were None (1945) ::: 7.5/10 -- Approved | 1h 37min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | 31 October 1945 (USA) -- Seven guests, a newly hired secretary and two staff are gathered at a manor house on an isolated island by an unknown absentee host and are killed off one-by-one. They work together to determine who the killer is before it's too late. Director: Ren Clair (as Rene Clair) Writers: Agatha Christie (novel), Dudley Nichols (screenplay)
Angus (1995) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 30min | Comedy, Drama | 15 September 1995 (USA) -- A miserable fat teenager secretly has a crush on the class beauty, ends up becoming the surprising participant to dance with her at a high school dance, meaning he's got to get his act together with the help of his best friend. Director: Patrick Read Johnson Writers:
Animals. ::: TV-MA | 30min | Animation, Comedy | TV Series (20162018) -- Whether it's lovelorn rats, gender-questioning pigeons or aging bedbugs in the midst of a midlife crisis, the awkward small talk, moral ambiguity and existential woes of non-human urbanites prove startlingly similar to our own. Creators:
Anna (2013) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 39min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi | 24 January 2014 (Spain) -- A man with the ability to enter people's memories takes on the case of a brilliant, troubled sixteen-year-old girl to determine whether she is a sociopath or a victim of trauma. Director: Jorge Dorado Writers:
Arctic (2018) ::: 6.8/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 38min | Adventure, Drama | 31 January 2019 (Denmark) -- A man stranded in the Arctic after a plane crash must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of his makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek through the unknown. Director: Joe Penna Writers:
Are You Afraid of the Dark? ::: TV-Y7 | 30min | Drama, Family, Fantasy | TV Series (19902000) -- A group of kids get together in the woods, and tell ghost stories. Creators: D.J. MacHale, Ned Kandel
A Royal Affair (2012) ::: 7.5/10 -- En kongelig affre (original title) -- A Royal Affair Poster -- A young queen, who is married to an insane king, falls secretly in love with her physician - and together they start a revolution that changes a nation forever. Director: Nikolaj Arcel Writers:
Atlantic City (1980) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 1h 44min | Crime, Drama, Romance | 3 April 1981 (USA) -- In a corrupt city, a small-time gangster and the estranged wife of a pot dealer find themselves thrown together in an escapade of love, money, drugs and danger. Director: Louis Malle Writer:
A Walk to Remember (2002) ::: 7.4/10 -- PG | 1h 41min | Drama, Romance | 25 January 2002 (USA) -- The story of two North Carolina teens, Landon Carter and Jamie Sullivan, who are thrown together after Landon gets into trouble and is made to do community service. Director: Adam Shankman Writers:
Backdraft (1991) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 2h 17min | Action, Crime, Drama | 24 May 1991 (USA) -- Two Chicago firefighter brothers, who don't get along, have to work together while a dangerous arsonist is on the loose. Director: Ron Howard Writer: Gregory Widen
Bang the Drum Slowly (1973) ::: 6.9/10 -- PG | 1h 36min | Drama, Sport | 9 March 1978 (Netherlands) -- The story of the friendship between a star pitcher, wise to the world, and a half-wit catcher, as they cope with the catcher's terminal illness through a baseball season. Director: John D. Hancock (as John Hancock) Writers: Mark Harris (novel), Mark Harris (screenplay) Stars:
Beautiful Thing (1996) ::: 7.5/10 -- R | 1h 30min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 9 October 1996 (USA) -- Jamie is a shy teenager, often bullied at school. His neighbour Ste has a rough time at home, being beaten by his father and brother. This issues bring them together and they find that what they feel for each other is more than friendship. Director: Hettie Macdonald Writers: Jonathan Harvey, Jonathan Harvey (play)
Before Sunrise (1995) ::: 8.1/10 -- R | 1h 41min | Drama, Romance | 27 January 1995 (USA) -- A young man and woman meet on a train in Europe, and wind up spending one evening together in Vienna. Unfortunately, both know that this will probably be their only night together. Director: Richard Linklater Writers:
Being Human ::: TV-14 | 1h | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy | TV Series (20082013) -- A werewolf, a vampire and a ghost try to live together and get along. Creator: Toby Whithouse
Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey (2012) ::: 7.8/10 -- Berserk: Ougon jidai-hen II - Dorudorei koryaku (original title) -- Berserk: The Golden Age Arc II - The Battle for Doldrey Poster For three years, Guts believed his mission was to pursue Griffith's dream together with him. But in order to become Griffith's equal and truly be called his friend, Guts realizes he will ... S Director: Toshiyuki Kubooka Writers: Kentaro Miura (manga), Ichir kouchi (screenplay)
Best of the Best (1989) ::: 6.5/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 37min | Action, Drama, Sport | 10 November 1989 (USA) -- A team from the United States is going to compete against Korea in a Tae Kwon Do tournament. The team consists of fighters from all over the country - can they overcome their rivalry and work together to win? Director: Robert Radler (as Bob Radler) Writers:
Big Hero 6 (2014) ::: 7.8/10 -- PG | 1h 42min | Animation, Action, Adventure | 7 November 2014 (USA) -- A special bond develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who together team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. Directors: Don Hall, Chris Williams Writers:
Black Book (2006) ::: 7.7/10 -- Zwartboek (original title) -- Black Book Poster -- In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands during World War II, a Jewish singer infiltrates the regional Gestapo headquarters for the Dutch resistance. Director: Paul Verhoeven Writers:
Black Clover ::: TV-PG | 30min | Animation, Action, Adventure | TV Series (2017-2021) Episode Guide 170 episodes Black Clover Poster -- Asta and Yuno were abandoned together at the same church and have been inseparable since. As children, they promised that they would compete against each other to see who would become the next Emperor Magus. Stars:
Black Summer ::: TV-MA | 40min | Action, Drama, Horror | TV Series (2019 ) -- In the dark, early days of a zombie apocalypse, complete strangers band together to find the strength they need to survive and get back to loved ones. Creators:
Blended (2014) ::: 6.5/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 57min | Comedy, Romance | 23 May 2014 (USA) -- After a bad blind date, a man and woman find themselves stuck together at a resort for families, where their attraction grows as their respective kids benefit from the burgeoning relationship. Director: Frank Coraci Writers:
Bless This Mess ::: TV-PG | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (20192020) -- A newlywed couple's plan to leave the big city for a quieter life in Nebraska doesn't go as expected. Creators: Lake Bell, Elizabeth Meriwether
Bob's Burgers ::: TV-PG | 22min | Animation, Comedy | TV Series (2011 ) Next Episode Sunday, March 14 -- Bob Belcher runs his dream restaurant with his wife and three children as their last hope of holding the family together. Creators:
Bon Cop Bad Cop (2006) ::: 6.8/10 -- Bon Cop, Bad Cop (original title) -- Bon Cop Bad Cop Poster Two Canadian detectives, one from Ontario and the other from Quebec, must work together when a murdered victim is found on the Ontario-Quebec border. Director: Erik Canuel Writers: Leila Basen, Alex Epstein | 2 more credits
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) ::: 7.8/10 -- R | 1h 51min | Action, Biography, Crime | 14 August 1967 (USA) -- Bored waitress Bonnie Parker falls in love with an ex-con named Clyde Barrow and together they start a violent crime spree through the country, stealing cars and robbing banks. Director: Arthur Penn Writers:
Bon Voyage (2003) ::: 6.7/10 -- Bon voyage (original title) -- Bon Voyage Poster -- An actress, a writer, a student, and a government worker band together in an effort to escape Paris as the Nazis move into the city. Director: Jean-Paul Rappeneau Writers:
Bordertown ::: Sorjonen (original tit ::: TV-MA | 1h | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (20162020) -- Quirky police detective, in Finland, delves into his mind palace to solve despicable crimes all the while trying to keep his family together. If Sherlock was based in Finland this would be it. Creator:
Brassic -- 43min | Comedy, Drama | TV Series (2019 ) ::: The lives of Vinnie and Dylan, who have grown up together and are inseparable. When Dylan's girlfriend wants to move in search of a better life for her and her child, Dylan must face the hardest decision of his life. Creators:
Breakout Kings ::: TV-14 | 43min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | TV Series (20112012) -- A squad of U.S. marshals team up with cons (former fugitives) to work together on tracking down prison escapees in exchange for getting time off their sentences. Creators:
Brimstone (2016) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 2h 28min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | 12 January 2017 (Netherlands) -- From the moment the new reverend climbs the pulpit, Liz knows she and her family are in great danger. Director: Martin Koolhoven Writer: Martin Koolhoven
British Men Behaving Badly ::: Men Behaving Badly (original title) 45min | Comedy | TV Series (19922014) Two early thirties best friends live together while having completely different personalities. While their girlfriends try to help them take on more responsibilities the boys seldom respond well and usually end up drinking together. Creator: Simon Nye
Caprica ::: TV-14 | 1h | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi | TV Series (20092010) -- Two families, the Graystones and the Adamas, live together on a peaceful planet known as Caprica, where a startling breakthrough in artificial intelligence brings about unforeseen consequences. Creators:
Captain Planet and the Planeteers ::: TV-Y7 | 23min | Animation, Action, Adventure | TV Series (19901996) -- A quintet of teenagers work together to encourage environmentally responsible behavior and can summon a superhero to deal with ecological disasters. Creators:
Carnage (2011) ::: 7.2/10 -- R | 1h 20min | Comedy, Drama | 6 January 2012 (Canada) -- Two pairs of parents hold a cordial meeting after their sons are involved in a fight, though as their time together progresses, increasingly childish behavior throws the discussion into chaos. Director: Roman Polanski Writers:
Car Share ::: 30min | Comedy | TV Series (20152020) Assistant manager John Redmond and promotions rep Kayleigh Kitson are forced to commute together every day. But will they get along? Stars: Peter Kay, Sian Gibson, Danny Swarsbrick  
Casablanca (1942) ::: 8.5/10 -- PG | 1h 42min | Drama, Romance, War | 23 January 1943 (USA) -- A cynical expatriate American cafe owner struggles to decide whether or not to help his former lover and her fugitive husband escape the Nazis in French Morocco. Director: Michael Curtiz Writers:
Casual ::: TV-MA | 25min | Comedy, Drama | TV Series (20152018) -- A comedy series about a bachelor brother and his newly divorced sister living under one roof again. Together, they coach each other through the crazy world of dating while raising her teenage daughter. Creator:
Cat People (1942) ::: 7.3/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 13min | Fantasy, Horror, Thriller | 25 December 1942 -- Cat People Poster -- An American man marries a Serbian immigrant who fears that she will turn into the cat person of her homeland's fables if they are intimate together. Director: Jacques Tourneur Writer:
Chef (2014) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 1h 54min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama | 30 May 2014 (USA) -- A head chef quits his restaurant job and buys a food truck in an effort to reclaim his creative promise, while piecing back together his estranged family. Director: Jon Favreau Writer:
Children of a Lesser God ::: Jakeun Shinui Aideul (original title) 1h | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery | TV Series (2018) Episode Guide 16 episodes Children of a Lesser God Poster Chun Jae In is an elite detective with a genius IQ, who guided by only facts, logic, and numbers. Meanwhile, Kim Dan is a rookie detective who can see ghosts. They work together to uncover a conspiracy involving a powerful organization. Stars: Ji-Hwan Kang, Kim Ok-bin, Hee-seop Sim
Chungking Express (1994) ::: 8.1/10 -- Chung Hing sam lam (original title) -- Chungking Express Poster -- Two melancholy Hong Kong policemen fall in love: one with a mysterious female underworld figure, the other with a beautiful and ethereal server at a late-night restaurant he frequents. Director: Kar-Wai Wong Writer:
City of Joy (1992) ::: 6.5/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 12min | Drama | 17 April 1992 (USA) -- An American doctor, a British nurse and an illiterate Indian farmer join together to transform a Calcutta ghetto in this uplifting, inspirational movie starring Patrick Swayze and Pauline Collins. Director: Roland Joff Writers:
City on a Hill ::: TV-MA | 1h | Crime, Drama, Thriller | TV Series (2019 ) Season 2 Premiere Sunday, March 28 -- In early 1990s Boston, ADA Decourcy Ward forms an unlikely alliance with a corrupt venerated FBI veteran, Jackie Rohr. Together, they take on a case that changes the city's entire criminal justice system.
Clash (2016) ::: 7.5/10 -- Eshtebak (original title) -- Clash Poster -- Set entirely in an 8m police truck, a number of detainees from different political and social backgrounds are brought together by fate, during the turmoil that followed the ousting of former president Morsi from power. Director: Mohamed Diab
Clear History (2013) ::: 6.5/10 -- TV-MA | 1h 41min | Comedy | TV Movie 10 August 2013 -- A disgraced former marketing executive plots revenge against his former boss, who made billions from the electric car company they had started together. Director: Greg Mottola Writers:
Cloak & Dagger ::: TV-14 | 44min | Action, Adventure, Drama | TV Series (20182019) -- Two teenagers from very different backgrounds find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers while growing closer together every day. Creator:
Clone High ::: TV-14 | Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi | TV Series (20022003) -- The greatest minds of the world have been cloned, and are now attending high school together. Creators: Bill Lawrence, Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Colony ::: TV-14 | 42min | Action, Adventure, Drama | TV Series (20162018) -- In the wake of a mysterious alien invasion, a family fights to stay together in a new world order. Creators: Ryan J. Condal, Carlton Cuse
Copycat (1995) ::: 6.6/10 -- R | 2h 3min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | 27 October 1995 (USA) -- An agoraphobic psychologist and a female detective must work together to take down a serial killer who copies serial killers from the past. Director: Jon Amiel Writers: Ann Biderman, David Madsen
Courageous (2011) ::: 7.0/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 9min | Drama, Fantasy | 30 September 2011 (USA) -- When a tragedy strikes close to home, four police officers struggle with their faith and their roles as husbands and fathers; together they make a decision that will change all of their lives. Director: Alex Kendrick Writers:
Crashing ::: TV-MA | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (2016) -- A comedy series following the lives of six 20- and 30-somethings living together as property guardians of a large, disused hospital. Creator: Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Cube (1997) ::: 7.2/10 -- R | 1h 30min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi | 11 July 1998 (Netherlands) -- Six complete strangers with widely varying personalities are involuntarily placed in an endless maze containing deadly traps. Director: Vincenzo Natali Writers: Andr Bijelic (as Andre Bijelic), Vincenzo Natali | 1 more credit
Cube (1997) ::: 7.2/10 -- R | 1h 30min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi | 11 July 1998 (Netherlands) -- Six complete strangers with widely varying personalities are involuntarily placed in an endless maze containing deadly traps. Director: Vincenzo Natali Writers: Andr Bijelic (as Andre Bijelic), Vincenzo Natali | 1 more credit
Darkest Hour (2017) ::: 7.4/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 5min | Biography, Drama, History | 22 December 2017 (USA) -- In May 1940, the fate of World War II hangs on Winston Churchill, who must decide whether to negotiate with Adolf Hitler, or fight on knowing that it could mean the end of the British Empire. Director: Joe Wright Writer:
Dark Victory (1939) ::: 7.5/10 -- Approved | 1h 44min | Drama, Romance | 22 April 1939 (USA) -- A young socialite is diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, and must decide whether or not she'll meet her final days with dignity. Director: Edmund Goulding Writers: Casey Robinson (screen play), George Emerson Brewer Jr. (from the play
Day of the Dead (1985) ::: 7.2/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 36min | Horror, Thriller | 19 July 1985 (USA) -- As the world is overrun by zombies, a small group of scientists and military personnel dwelling in an underground bunker in Florida must determine whether they should educate, eliminate or escape the undead horde. Director: George A. Romero Writer:
Days of Wine and Roses (1962) ::: 7.9/10 -- Approved | 1h 57min | Drama | 4 February 1963 (Brazil) -- An alcoholic marries a young woman and systematically addicts her to booze so that they can share his "passion" together. Director: Blake Edwards Writer: J.P. Miller (as JP Miller)
Deadpool 2 (2018) ::: 7.7/10 -- R | 1h 59min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 18 May 2018 (USA) -- Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (a.k.a. Deadpool), brings together a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling cyborg Cable. Director: David Leitch Writers:
Delivery Man (2013) ::: 6.4/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 45min | Comedy, Drama | 22 November 2013 (USA) -- An affable underachiever finds out he's fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago. Now he must decide whether or not to come forward when 142 of them file a lawsuit to reveal his identity. Director: Ken Scott Writers:
Design for Living (1933) ::: 7.5/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 31min | Comedy, Romance | 29 December 1933 (USA) -- A woman cannot decide between two men who love her, and the trio agree to try living together in a platonic friendly relationship. Director: Ernst Lubitsch Writers: Nol Coward (play) (as Noel Coward), Ben Hecht (screenplay)
Difficult People ::: TV-MA | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (20152017) -- Julie and Billy, two jaded aspiring comedians who live together in New York City, navigate through their thirties while dealing with their individual careers and personal relationships. Creator:
Digimon: Digital Monsters ::: TV-Y7 | 24min | Animation, Action, Adventure | TV Series (19992003) -- A group of young teens is unexpectedly sent to the mysterious Digital World and paired up with their own powerful, morphing monster called the Digimon. Together the entire group set out on an adventure to fight evil and save the world. Stars:
Drawn Together ::: TV-MA | 22min | Animation, Comedy, Reality-TV | TV Series (20042007) -- A parody of reality shows cast with spoofs of several famous types of animated characters. Creators: Dave Jeser, Matthew Silverstein, Jordan Young
Eagle Eye (2008) ::: 6.6/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 58min | Action, Mystery, Thriller | 26 September 2008 (USA) -- Jerry and Rachel are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move. Director: D.J. Caruso
Eden (2014) ::: 6.4/10 -- R | 2h 11min | Biography, Drama, Music | 19 June 2015 (USA) -- Paul, a teenager in the underground scene of early-nineties Paris, forms a DJ collective with his friends and together they plunge into the nightlife of sex, drugs, and endless music. Director: Mia Hansen-Lve Writers:
El Dorado (1966) ::: 7.6/10 -- Passed | 2h 6min | Drama, Romance, Western | 30 June 1967 (USA) -- Cole Thornton, a gunfighter for hire, joins forces with an old friend, Sheriff J.P. Hara. Together with an old Indian fighter and a gambler, they help a rancher and his family fight a rival rancher that is trying to steal their water. Director: Howard Hawks Writers:
Elephant Song (2014) ::: 6.6/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 50min | Drama | 26 February 2015 (Netherlands) -- A psychiatrist is drawn into a complex mind game when he questions a disturbed patient about the disappearance of a colleague. Director: Charles Binam Writers: Nicolas Billon, Nicolas Billon (play)
Embrace of the Serpent (2015) ::: 7.9/10 -- El abrazo de la serpiente (original title) -- (Colombia) Embrace of the Serpent Poster -- The story of the relationship between Karamakate, an Amazonian shaman and last survivor of his people, and two scientists who work together over the course of forty years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant. Director: Ciro Guerra
Enter Nowhere (2011) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 30min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller | 2 February 2015 (UK) -- Three strangers arrive one by one at a mysterious cabin in the middle of nowhere only to learn they've been brought together for a reason. Director: Jack Heller Writers: Shawn Christensen, Jason Dolan Stars:
Entourage (2015) ::: 6.6/10 -- R | 1h 44min | Comedy, Drama | 3 June 2015 (USA) -- Movie star Vincent Chase, together with his boys Eric, Turtle, and Johnny, are back - and back in business with super agent-turned-studio head Ari Gold on a risky project that will serve as Vince's directorial debut. Director: Doug Ellin Writers:
Epic (2013) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG | 1h 42min | Animation, Adventure, Family | 24 May 2013 (USA) -- A teenager finds herself transported to a deep forest setting where a battle between the forces of good and the forces of evil is taking place. She bands together with a rag-tag group of characters in order to save their world -- and ours. Director: Chris Wedge Writers:
Eulogy (2004) ::: 6.6/10 -- R | 1h 31min | Comedy, Drama | 26 September 2004 (Greece) -- A black comedy that follows three generations of a family, who come together for the funeral of the patriarch - unveiling a litany of family secrets and covert relationships. Director: Michael Clancy Writer:
Everest (2015) ::: 7.1/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 1min | Action, Adventure, Biography | 25 September 2015 -- Everest Poster -- The story of New Zealand's Robert "Rob" Edwin Hall, who on May 10, 1996, together with Scott Fischer, teamed up on a joint expedition to ascend Mount Everest. Director: Baltasar Kormkur Writers:
Exam (2009) ::: 6.8/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 41min | Mystery, Thriller | 17 June 2010 (Hong Kong) -- Eight candidates for a highly desirable corporate job are locked together in an exam room and given a final test with just one seemingly simple question. However, it doesn't take long for confusion to ensue and tensions to unravel. Director: Stuart Hazeldine Writers:
Falling Skies ::: TV-14 | 42min | Action, Adventure, Drama | TV Series (2011-2015) Episode Guide 52 episodes Falling Skies Poster -- Survivors of an alien attack on earth gather together to fight for their lives and fight back. Creator: Robert Rodat
Falling Skies ::: TV-14 | 42min | Action, Adventure, Drama | TV Series (20112015) -- Survivors of an alien attack on earth gather together to fight for their lives and fight back. Creator: Robert Rodat
Fear the Walking Dead ::: TV-MA | 44min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi | TV Series (2015 ) -- A Walking Dead spin-off, set in Los Angeles, following two families who must band together to survive the undead apocalypse. Creators: Dave Erickson, Robert Kirkman
Feed the Beast ::: TV-14 | 1h | Crime, Drama | TV Series (2016) -- Two friends open up a restaurant together. Creator: Clyde Phillips
Flowers ::: TV-14 | 30min | Comedy, Drama | TV Series (20162018) Dark comedy about the eccentric members of the Flowers family. Maurice and Deborah are barely together but yet to divorce. They live with Maurice's batty mother and their maladjusted twin children. Creator: Will Sharpe Stars:
For a Lost Soldier (1992) ::: 7.5/10 -- Voor een verloren soldaat (original title) -- For a Lost Soldier Poster Set in The Netherlands at the end of WW II, this touching story, told in flashbacks, explores the complex and romantic relationship between an adult soldier and a displaced, lonely adolescent boy. Director: Roeland Kerbosch Writers: Don Bloch, Rudi van Dantzig (novel) | 1 more credit
Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends ::: TV-Y7 | 30min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | TV Series (20042009) -- A boy and his beloved imaginary friend are able to stay together at an orphanage of sorts for imaginary friends that children have outgrown to be adopted by new children. Creators:
Gavin & Stacey ::: TV-14 | 29min | Comedy, Romance | TV Series (20072019) -- Gavin and Stacey have been continuing their romance on-line and by telephone for the last six months. Now they want to be together but will their friends and family let them? Creators:
George Washington (2000) ::: 7.3/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 29min | Drama | 28 September 2001 (UK) -- A group of children, in a depressed small town, band together to cover up a tragic mistake one summer. Director: David Gordon Green Writer: David Gordon Green Stars:
Ghostbusters (2016) ::: 6.4/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 57min | Action, Comedy, Fantasy | 15 July 2016 (USA) -- Following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert and Abby Yates, nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann, and subway worker Patty Tolan band together to stop the otherworldly threat. Director: Paul Feig Writers:
Ghost World (2001) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 1h 51min | Comedy, Drama | 21 September 2001 (USA) -- With only the plan of moving in together after high school, two unusually devious friends seek direction in life. As a mere gag, they respond to a man's newspaper ad for a date, only to find it will greatly complicate their lives. Director: Terry Zwigoff Writers:
God on Trial (2008) ::: 7.7/10 -- 1h 26min | Drama, War | TV Movie 9 November 2008 -- Awaiting their inevitable deaths at one of the worst concentration camps, a group of Jews make a rabbinical court to decide whether God has gone against the Holy Covenant and if He is the one guilty for their suffering. Director: Andy De Emmony (as Andy de Emmony) Writer: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Gosford Park (2001) ::: 7.2/10 -- R | 2h 11min | Comedy, Drama, Mystery | 18 January 2002 (USA) -- Set in the 1930s, this movie brings a group of pretentious rich and famous together for a weekend of relaxation at a hunting resort. But when a murder occurs, each one of these interesting characters becomes a suspect. Director: Robert Altman Writers:
Grace and Frankie ::: TV-MA | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (2015 ) -- Finding out that their husbands are not just work partners, but have also been romantically involved for the last twenty years, two women with an already strained relationship try to cope with the circumstances together. Creators:
Gravity (2013) ::: 7.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 31min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller | 4 October 2013 (USA) -- Two astronauts work together to survive after an accident leaves them stranded in space. Director: Alfonso Cuarn Writers: Alfonso Cuarn, Jons Cuarn
Gridiron Gang (2006) ::: 6.9/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 5min | Biography, Crime, Drama | 15 September 2006 (USA) -- Teenagers at a juvenile detention center, under the leadership of their counselor, gain self-esteem by playing football together. Director: Phil Joanou Writers: Jeff Maguire, Jac Flanders (film "Gridiron Gang")
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) ::: 8.0/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 1min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 1 August 2014 (USA) -- A group of intergalactic criminals must pull together to stop a fanatical warrior with plans to purge the universe. Director: James Gunn Writers: James Gunn, Nicole Perlman | 9 more credits
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) ::: 7.6/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 16min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 5 May 2017 (USA) -- The Guardians struggle to keep together as a team while dealing with their personal family issues, notably Star-Lord's encounter with his father the ambitious celestial being Ego. Director: James Gunn Writers:
Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge (2001) ::: 6.5/10 -- TV-PG | 1h 21min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy | TV Movie 12 October -- Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge Poster A young witch and her grandmother work together to foil the plans of a wicked warlock's son before he can use powerful spells to create chaos in the world. Director: Mary Lambert Writers: Jon Cooksey, Ali Marie Matheson | 1 more credit
Hamlet (1948) ::: 7.6/10 -- Approved | 2h 34min | Drama | 11 June 1948 (Australia) -- Prince Hamlet struggles over whether or not he should kill his uncle, whom he suspects has murdered his father, the former king. Director: Laurence Olivier Writer: William Shakespeare (by) Stars:
Happy Endings ::: TV-14 | 22min | Comedy, Romance | TV Series (20112020) -- This Chicago-set sitcom follows the intertwined lives of six young urbanites trying to learn the ropes of adulthood. Through breakups and whatever other curve-balls life throws them, the pals stick together. Creator:
HarmonQuest ::: TV-PG | 23min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | TV Series (2016-2019) Episode Guide 30 episodes HarmonQuest Poster -- Dan Harmon and his celebrity friends get together to play a fantasy role playing game. Stars: Dan Harmon, Spencer Crittenden, Jeff Bryan Davis | See full cast &
Heartland ::: TV-PG | 1h | Drama, Family | TV Series (2007 ) -- A multi-generational saga set in Alberta, Canada and centered on a family getting through life together in both happy and trying times. Creator: Murray Shostak
High Plains Drifter (1973) ::: 7.5/10 -- R | 1h 45min | Drama, Mystery, Western | 7 April 1973 (USA) -- A gun-fighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago and is hired to bring the townsfolk together in an attempt to hold off three outlaws who are on their way. Director: Clint Eastwood Writer:
Hour of the Gun (1967) ::: 6.7/10 -- Approved | 1h 40min | Western | 1967 (UK) -- Marshal Wyatt Earp kills a couple of men of the Clanton gang in a fight. In revenge, Clanton's thugs kill the Marshal's brother. Thus, Wyatt starts to chase the killers together with his friend Doc Holliday. Director: John Sturges Writer: Edward Anhalt
Houseboat (1958) ::: 6.7/10 -- Unrated | 1h 50min | Comedy, Drama, Family | 19 November 1958 (USA) -- A widower, his three young children, and a bombshell nanny get to know each other better when circumstances have them living together aboard a badly neglected houseboat. Director: Melville Shavelson Writers:
How the Universe Works ::: TV-PG | 1h | Documentary | TV Series (2010 ) -- A users guide to the cosmos from the big bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons. Where did it all come from and how does it all fit together. A primer for anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered. Stars:
How the Universe Works ::: TV-PG | 1h | Documentary | TV Series (2010- ) Episode Guide 77 episodes How the Universe Works Poster -- A users guide to the cosmos from the big bang to galaxies, stars, planets and moons. Where did it all come from and how does it all fit together. A primer for anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered. Stars:
Human Capital (2013) ::: 7.3/10 -- Il capitale umano (original title) -- Human Capital Poster -- The destinies of two families are irrevocably tied together after a cyclist is hit off the road by a jeep in the night before Christmas Eve. Director: Paolo Virz Writers:
Husbands (1970) ::: 7.3/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 34min | Comedy, Drama | 8 December 1970 (USA) -- After the death of a common friend, three married men leave their lives together, seeking pleasure and freedom and ultimately leaving for London. Director: John Cassavetes Writer: John Cassavetes Stars:
Hustlers (2019) ::: 6.3/10 -- R | 1h 50min | Comedy, Crime, Drama | 13 September 2019 (USA) -- Inspired by the viral New York Magazine article, Hustlers follows a crew of savvy former strip club employees who band together to turn the tables on their Wall Street clients. Director: Lorene Scafaria Writers:
I Am Not a Witch (2017) ::: 6.9/10 -- 1h 33min | Comedy, Drama | 7 September 2018 (USA) -- In a remote Zambian community a girl is denounced as a witch and sent on a trajectory of exploitation, as a tethered member of a witches' camp, a witch for hire and a tourist exhibit. Director: Rungano Nyoni Writer:
If I Stay (2014) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 47min | Drama, Fantasy, Music | 22 August 2014 (USA) -- Life changes in an instant for young Mia Hall after a car accident puts her in a coma. During an out-of-body experience, she must decide whether to wake up and live a life far different than she had imagined. The choice is hers if she can go on. Director: R.J. Cutler Writers:
Interview (2007) ::: 6.8/10 -- R | 1h 24min | Drama | 10 May 2007 (Netherlands) -- After falling out with his editor, a fading political journalist is forced to interview America's most popular soap actress. Director: Steve Buscemi Writers: David Schechter, Theo van Gogh (based on the film by) | 3 more
Irreplaceable You (2018) ::: 6.4/10 -- TV-MA | 1h 36min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 16 February 2018 (USA) -- A couple who have known each other since 8 are destined to be together until death do them apart. Director: Stephanie Laing Writer: Bess Wohl
It (2017) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 2h 15min | Horror | 8 September 2017 (USA) -- In the summer of 1989, a group of bullied kids band together to destroy a shape-shifting monster, which disguises itself as a clown and preys on the children of Derry, their small Maine town. Director: Andy Muschietti Writers:
It's a Disaster (2012) ::: 6.4/10 -- R | 1h 28min | Comedy, Drama | 7 June 2013 (Poland) -- Four couples meet for Sunday brunch only to discover they are stuck in a house together as the world may be about to end. Director: Todd Berger Writer: Todd Berger
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012) ::: 8.3/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 2min | Animation, Comedy, Drama | 21 May 2016 (Japan) -- Bill struggles to put together his shattered psyche, in this new feature film version of Don Hertzfeldt's animated short film trilogy. Director: Don Hertzfeldt Available on Amazon Add to Watchlist 90 Metascore
Jersey Boys (2014) ::: 6.8/10 -- R | 2h 14min | Biography, Drama, Music | 20 June 2014 (USA) -- The story of four young men from the wrong side of the tracks in New Jersey who came together to form the iconic 1960s rock group The Four Seasons. Director: Clint Eastwood Writers:
Judging Amy ::: TV-PG | 1h | Drama | TV Series (19992005) -- A family drama focused on three generations of women living together in Hartford, Connecticut. Creators: Amy Brenneman, Bill D'Elia, Barbara Hall | 2 more credits
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) ::: 6.9/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 59min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 20 December 2017 (USA) -- Four teenagers are sucked into a magical video game, and the only way they can escape is to work together to finish the game. Director: Jake Kasdan Writers: Chris McKenna (screenplay by), Erik Sommers (screenplay by) | 9 more
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous ::: TV-PG | 24min | Animation, Action, Adventure | TV Series (2020 ) -- Six teens attending an adventure camp on the opposite side of Isla Nublar must band together to survive when dinosaurs wreak havoc on the island. Creator:
Justice League Dark (2017) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 1h 15min | Animation, Action, Adventure | Video 7 February 2017 -- Beings with supernatural powers join together to fight against supernatural villains. This team of supernatural beings include John Constantine, Zatanna and Jason Blood also known as the demon Etrigan. Director: Jay Oliva Writers:
Kabul Express (2006) ::: 6.8/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 45min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama | 15 December 2006 (UK) -- A thrilling story spanning 48 hours of five individuals linked by hate and fear but brought together by fate to finally recognize each other. Director: Kabir Khan Writers: Kabir Khan, Sandeep Shrivastava (additional dialogue) (as Sandeep
Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet (2014) ::: 7.1/10 -- The Prophet (original title) -- Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet Poster -- Exiled artist and poet Mustafa embarks on a journey home with his housekeeper and her daughter; together the trio must evade the authorities who fear that the truth in Mustafa's words will incite rebellion. Directors: Roger Allers, Gatan Brizzi | 8 more credits
Kill Your Darlings (2013) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 44min | Biography, Drama, Romance | 19 September 2013 (Croatia) -- A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs. Director: John Krokidas Writers: Austin Bunn (screenplay), Austin Bunn (story) | 1 more credit
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 6min | Action, Adventure, Drama | 12 May 2017 (USA) -- Robbed of his birthright, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword from the stone, he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy - whether he likes it or not. Director: Guy Ritchie Writers:
Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 2h 21min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 22 September 2017 (USA) -- After the Kingsman's headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, an allied spy organisation in the United States is discovered. These two elite secret organisations must band together to defeat a common enemy. Director: Matthew Vaughn Writers:
Kings of the Road (1976) ::: 7.8/10 -- Im Lauf der Zeit (original title) -- Kings of the Road Poster -- A traveling projection-equipment mechanic works in Western Germany along the East-German border, visiting worn-out theatres. He meets with a depressed young man whose marriage has just broken up, and the two decide to travel together. Director: Wim Wenders
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) ::: 7.5/10 -- R | 1h 43min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery | 18 November 2005 (USA) -- A murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor. Director: Shane Black Writers: Brett Halliday (novel), Shane Black (screen story) | 1 more credit
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985) ::: 7.4/10 -- R | 2h | Drama | 26 July 1985 (USA) -- A gay man and a political prisoner are together in a prison. The gay man narrates the stories of two fake movies and his own life. Director: Hector Babenco Writers: Manuel Puig (based on the novel by), Leonard Schrader Stars:
Last Flag Flying (2017) ::: 6.9/10 -- R | 2h 5min | Comedy, Drama, War | 3 November 2017 (USA) -- Thirty years after they served together in Vietnam, a former Navy Corpsman Larry "Doc" Shepherd re-unites with his old buddies, former Marines Sal Nealon and Reverend Richard Mueller, to bury his son, a young Marine killed in the Iraq War. Director: Richard Linklater Writers:
Last Night (1998) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 1h 35min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 23 October 1998 (Canada) -- A group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century. Director: Don McKellar Writer:
L'auberge espagnole (2002) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 2h 2min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 20 June 2003 (USA) -- A strait-laced French student moves into an apartment in Barcelona with a cast of six other characters from all over Europe. Together, they speak the international language of love and friendship. Director: Cdric Klapisch Writer:
Lazer Team 2 (2017) ::: 6.4/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 26min | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi | 13 November 2017 (USA) -- After one of their own is lost in another dimension, the Lazer Team groups together once again to fight against a new threat. Directors: Daniel Fabelo, Matt Hullum Writers: Burnie Burns (screenplay), Daniel Fabelo (screenplay) | 1 more credit
Lost ::: TV-14 | 44min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy | TV Series (2004-2010) Episode Guide 118 episodes Lost Poster -- The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island. Creators: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Lost ::: TV-14 | 44min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy | TV Series (20042010) -- The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island. Creators: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Love & Basketball (2000) ::: 7.2/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 4min | Drama, Romance, Sport | 21 April 2000 (USA) -- Monica and Quincy love and play basketball together through many life challenges from childhood to adulthood. Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood Writer: Gina Prince-Bythewood
Love & Basketball (2000) ::: 7.2/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 4min | Drama, Romance, Sport | 21 April 2000 (USA) -- Monica and Quincy love and play basketball together through many life challenges from childhood to adulthood.
Major League (1989) ::: 7.2/10 -- R | 1h 47min | Comedy, Sport | 7 April 1989 (USA) -- The new owner of the Cleveland Indians puts together a purposely horrible team so they'll lose and she can move the team. But when the plot is uncovered, they start winning just to spite her. Director: David S. Ward (as David Ward) Writer:
Mama's Family ::: TV-PG | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (19831990) -- Mama's Family originated with Thelma "Mama" Harper, and her younger sister Fran living together in Mama's House. Creators: Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon
Manhattan Love Story -- PG-13 | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (2014) ::: The unfiltered internal monologues of a young man and a young woman are exposed as they begin a new relationship together. Creator: Jeff Lowell
Margaret (2011) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 2h 30min | Drama | 1 June 2012 (Italy) -- A young woman witnesses a bus accident, and is caught up in the aftermath, where the question of whether or not it was intentional affects many people's lives. Director: Kenneth Lonergan Writer:
Marlon ::: TV-PG | 22min | Comedy | TV Series (20172018) -- A loving (but immature) father with a larger-than-life personality is committed to co-parenting his two kids with his very-together ex-wife but for Marlon family really always does come first - even if he's the biggest kid of all. Creators:
Marriage Story (2019) ::: 7.9/10 -- R | 2h 17min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 6 December 2019 (USA) -- Noah Baumbach's incisive and compassionate look at a marriage breaking up and a family staying together. Director: Noah Baumbach Writer: Noah Baumbach
Marrowbone (2017) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 50min | Drama, Horror, Mystery | 13 April 2018 (USA) -- A young man and his three younger siblings, who have kept secret the death of their beloved mother in order to remain together, are plagued by a sinister presence in the sprawling manor in which they live. Director: Sergio G. Snchez Writer:
Martian Child (2007) ::: 6.8/10 -- PG | 1h 46min | Comedy, Drama, Family | 2 November 2007 (USA) -- A science-fiction writer, recently widowed, considers whether to adopt a hyper-imaginative 6-year-old abandoned and socially rejected boy who says he's really from Mars. Director: Menno Meyjes Writers:
Marvin's Room (1996) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 38min | Drama | 28 February 1997 (USA) -- After seventeen years, a fiercely independent woman and her rebellious son return home and together they turn the family she left behind upside down. Director: Jerry Zaks Writers:
Meet the Robinsons (2007) ::: 6.8/10 -- G | 1h 35min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 30 March 2007 (USA) -- Lewis is a brilliant inventor who meets mysterious stranger named Wilbur Robinson, whisking Lewis away in a time machine and together they team up to track down Bowler Hat Guy in a showdown that ends with an unexpected twist of fate. Director: Stephen J. Anderson (as Stephen Anderson) Writers:
Men at Work ::: TV-14 | 30min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | TV Series (20122014) Featurette 2:03 | Featurette -- Comedy following the misadventures of four buddies who work together at a magazine. Creator: Breckin Meyer
Messiah ::: TV-MA | 43min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller | TV Series (2020) -- When a CIA officer investigates a man, and his followers, attracting international attention through acts of public disruption, she embarks on a global high-stakes mission to uncover whether he is a divine entity, or a deceptive con artist. Creator:
Midnight Sun ::: 7h 20min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (2016) The brutal murder of a French citizen sees French homicide investigator Kahina Zadi (Lela Bekhti) go to Kiruna, Sweden. Together with Rutger Burlin (Peter Stormare) she begins an investigation that soon takes on staggering proportions. Creators: Mns Mrlind, Bjrn Stein
Midnight, Texas ::: TV-14 | 1h | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery | TV Series (20172018) -- Midnight is a safe haven for those who are different, but with the presence of outsiders, the residents band together and form a strong and unlikely family. Creators:
Mike Tyson Mysteries ::: TV-14 | 12min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | TV Series (20142020) -- In this macabre comedy, retired boxing champion Mike Tyson, his brainy adopted Asian-American daughter, a friendly but wimpy gay gentleman ghost and a cursed perverse mean-spirited talking pigeon solve weird mysteries together. Creators:
Millennium Mambo (2001) ::: 7.1/10 -- Qianxi mnbo (original title) -- Millennium Mambo Poster -- The ethereally beautiful Vicky recalls her romances with Hao Hao and Jack in the neon-lit clubs of Taipei. Director: Hsiao-Hsien Hou Writer:
Mio in the Land of Faraway (1987) ::: 6.4/10 -- Mio min Mio (original title) -- Mio in the Land of Faraway Poster A lonely boy who is transferred from his dull life with his adoptive parents to the land where his real father is the King. In that country, he sets out on a quest, together with his new friend, to destroy the evil Knight Kato. Director: Vladimir Grammatikov Writers: William Aldridge (screenplay), Astrid Lindgren (novel) | 1 more
Mistresses ::: TV-14 | 43min | Drama, Romance, Thriller | TV Series (20132016) -- Follows the scandalous lives of a group of four girlfriends, each on her own path to self-discovery as they brave the turbulent journey together. Creator:
Mom ::: TV-14 | 30min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | TV Series (20132021) -- A newly sober single mom tries to pull her life together in Napa Valley while dealing with her wayward mother. Creators: Gemma Baker, Eddie Gorodetsky, Chuck Lorre
Morgan (2016) ::: 5.8/10 -- R | 1h 32min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi | 2 September 2016 (USA) -- A corporate risk-management consultant must decide whether or not to terminate an artificially created humanoid being. Director: Luke Scott Writer: Seth W. Owen (as Seth Owen)
Mr. Church (2016) ::: 7.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 44min | Comedy, Drama | 11 November 2016 (Netherlands) -- "Mr. Church" tells the story of a unique friendship that develops when a little girl and her dying mother retain the services of a talented cook - Henry Joseph Church. What begins as a six month arrangement instead spans into fifteen years and creates a family bond that lasts forever. Director: Bruce Beresford
My House in Umbria (2003) ::: 6.9/10 -- TV-14 | 1h 43min | Drama, Mystery, Romance | TV Movie 25 May 2003 -- An unlikely group of people find solace and friendship after being thrown together in the wake of a terrorist attack. Director: Richard Loncraine Writers: William Trevor (novel), Hugh Whitemore (teleplay) Stars:
Mysterious Skin (2004) ::: 7.6/10 -- Unrated | 1h 45min | Drama | 24 June 2005 (USA) -- A teenage hustler and a young man obsessed with alien abductions cross paths, together discovering a horrible, liberating truth. Director: Gregg Araki Writers: Gregg Araki (screenplay), Scott Heim (novel)
My Summer of Love (2004) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 26min | Drama, Romance | 1 July 2005 (USA) -- In the Yorkshire countryside, working-class tomboy Mona meets the exotic, pampered Tamsin. Over the summer season, the two young women discover they have much to teach one another, and much to explore together. Director: Pawel Pawlikowski Writers:
My Way (2011) ::: 7.7/10 -- Mai wei (original title) -- My Way Poster -- In World War II-era Korea, rival runners, one Korean (Jang Dong-gun) and one Japanese (Joe Odagiri), go to war together against the Soviets. Director: Je-kyu Kang (as Je-gyu Kang) Writers:
No Game, No Life ::: TV-14 | 23min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | TV Mini-Series (2014) Episode Guide 12 episodes No Game, No Life Poster -- Siblings Sora and Shiro together make up the most feared team of pro gamers in the world, The Blank. When they manage to beat god himself in a game of chess, they are sent to a world where all disputes are settled with games. Stars:
Nothing to Lose (1997) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 38min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 18 July 1997 (USA) -- Nick's wife's in bed with his boss. He later gets a gun to his head by a carjacker but steps on the gas pedal. They end up friends after adventures together - holdups, burglary, reckless driving, revenge etc. Twists follow. Director: Steve Oedekerk Writer: Steve Oedekerk
Notorious ::: TV-PG | 1h | Drama, Thriller | TV Series (2016) -- A charismatic defense attorney and a powerhouse television producer work together to control the media following a high-profile incident. Creators: Josh Berman, Allie Hagan
Now and Then (1995) ::: 6.8/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 40min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 20 October 1995 (USA) -- Four 12-year-old girls grow up together during an eventful small-town summer in 1970. Director: Lesli Linka Glatter Writer: I. Marlene King
Ocean's 11 (1960) ::: 6.6/10 -- Ocean's Eleven (original title) -- Ocean's 11 Poster -- Danny Ocean gathers a group of his World War II compatriots to pull off the ultimate Las Vegas heist. Together the eleven friends plan to rob five Las Vegas casinos in one night. Director: Lewis Milestone Writers:
One Day (2011) ::: 7.0/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 47min | Drama, Romance | 19 August 2011 (USA) -- After spending the night together on the night of their college graduation Dexter and Emma are shown each year on the same date to see where they are in their lives. They are sometimes together, sometimes not, on that day. Director: Lone Scherfig Writers:
One from the Heart (1981) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 47min | Drama, Musical, Romance | 11 February 1982 (USA) -- A couple has a fight after living together 5 years in Las Vegas. They go out and celebrate 4th of July, each with a new partner. Breakup? Director: Francis Ford Coppola (as Francis Coppola) Writers: Armyan Bernstein (screenplay), Francis Ford Coppola (screenplay) (as Francis Coppola) | 1 more credit Stars:
One Small Hitch (2013) ::: 6.6/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 45min | Comedy, Romance | 14 February 2015 (USA) -- Josh's girlfriend wants to get married. Molly's boyfriend is married. Josh and Molly fly together to the wedding in Chicago, pretending to be engaged to make their parents happy. Comedy follows. Romance? Director: John Burgess Writer:
Origins (2014) ::: 7.3/10 -- TV-PG | 1h 41min | Documentary | 13 November 2014 (USA) -- The film looks at the advances of our civilization and how the recklessness of unchecked technology is choking out the environment. "Origins" shows how man, technology, and nature can walk together. Director: Mark van Wijk Writers: Pedram Shojai, Mark van Wijk Stars:
Party Down ::: TV-14 | 30min | Comedy, Drama | TV Series (20092010) -- A group of actors move to Los Angeles to make it big, but end up working as caterers. Creators: John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, Paul Rudd | 1 more credit
Persona (1966) ::: 8.1/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 23min | Drama, Thriller | 16 March 1967 (USA) -- A nurse is put in charge of a mute actress and finds that their personae are melding together. Director: Ingmar Bergman Writer: Ingmar Bergman (story and screenplay)
Popular ::: TV-14 | 1h | Comedy, Drama, Romance | TV Series (19992001) -- Two girls who despise each other, due to being on opposite sides of the "popularity fence", are forced together upon learning that their parents are getting married. Creators:
Pretty Little Liars ::: TV-14 | 44min | Drama, Mystery, Romance | TV Series (20102017) -- Four friends band together against an anonymous foe who threatens to reveal their darkest secrets, while also investigating the disappearance of their best friend. Creator:
Prick Up Your Ears (1987) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 1h 45min | Biography, Drama | 8 May 1987 (USA) -- Biographer John Lahr is writing a book about playwright Joe Orton. Joe and Kenneth meet at drama school and live together for ten years as lovers and collaborators. Both want to be writers, but only one of them is successful. Director: Stephen Frears Writers: John Lahr (based on the biography by), Alan Bennett (screenplay)
Primal ::: TV-MA | 22min | Animation, Action, Adventure | TV Series (2019 ) -- A caveman and a dinosaur bond over shared tragedy and work together to survive in a perilous prehistoric world. Creator: Genndy Tartakovsky
Prince Avalanche (2013) ::: 6.4/10 -- R | 1h 34min | Comedy, Drama | 19 September 2013 (Netherlands) -- Two highway road workers spend the summer of 1988 away from their city lives. The isolated landscape becomes a place of misadventure as the men find themselves at odds with each other and the women they left behind. Director: David Gordon Green Writers:
Psych: The Movie (2017) ::: 7.5/10 -- TV-PG | 1h 28min | Comedy, Crime, Mystery | TV Movie 7 December 2017 -- The old gang comes together during the holidays after a mystery assailant targets one of their own. Director: Steve Franks Writers: Steve Franks (based on the series created by), Steve Franks | 1 more credit Stars:
Race with the Devil (1975) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG | 1h 28min | Action, Horror, Thriller | 27 June 1975 (USA) -- Two couples vacationing together in an R.V. from Texas to Colorado are terrorized after they witness a murder during a Satanic ritual. Director: Jack Starrett Writers: Lee Frost, Wes Bishop
Rectify ::: TV-14 | 1h | Drama | TV Series (20132016) -- Daniel Holden must put his life back together after serving 19 years on Georgia's Death Row before DNA evidence calls his conviction into question. Creator:
Red Band Society ::: TV-14 | 43min | Comedy, Drama | TV Series (20142015) -- A group of teenagers live together as patients at a hospital's pediatric ward and learn how to deal with their illnesses, the experiences that they have, and the people that they meet. Creator:
Red Dawn (1984) ::: 6.4/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 54min | Action, Drama | 10 August 1984 (USA) -- It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers band together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces. Director: John Milius Writers:
Return to Paradise (1998) ::: 6.9/10 -- R | 1h 51min | Drama, Romance, Thriller | 14 August 1998 (USA) -- Two friends must choose whether to help a third friend who was arrested in Malaysia for drug possession. Director: Joseph Ruben Writers: Pierre Jolivet (motion picture Force Majeure), Olivier Schatzky (motion
Riphagen (2016) ::: 7.1/10 -- 2h 11min | Biography, Drama, War | 22 September 2016 (Netherlands) -- The story about Riphagen, a cunning Dutch traitor during WW2 who helped Nazi round up Jews, stealing their treasures for himself. He destroyed Resistance groups, making many who pursued justice after the war look like fools. Director: Pieter Kuijpers Writers: Thomas van der Ree, Paul Jan Nelissen
Rob & Big ::: 30min | Comedy, Reality-TV, Sport | TV Series (20062008) Professional skateboarder Rob Dyrdek and his friend Christopher "Big Black" Boykin live together in the Hollywood Hills. Creators: Ruben Fleischer, Chris Boykin, Rob Dyrdek | 1 more credit Stars:
Runaways ::: TV-14 | 1h | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi | TV Series (20172019) -- After discovering their parents are super-villains in disguise, a group of teenagers band together to run away from their homes in order to atone for their parents' actions and to discover the secrets of their origins. Creators:
Russian Dolls (2005) ::: 7.0/10 -- Les poupes russes (original title) -- Russian Dolls Poster -- Five years after their summer together in Barcelona, Xavier, William, Wendy, Martine and Isabelle reunite. Director: Cdric Klapisch Writer:
Sailor Moon ::: TV-Y | 24min | Animation, Action, Adventure | TV Series (19952000) -- The magical action-adventures of a teenage girl who learns of her destiny as the legendary warrior Sailor Moon and must band together with the other Sailor Scouts to defend the Earth and Galaxy. Stars:
Salting the Battlefield (2014) ::: 6.6/10 -- TV-PG | 1h 33min | Action, Crime, Drama | TV Movie 15 November 2014 -- MI5 officer Johnny Worricker and Margot Tyrell are on the run together across Europe. But Worricker knows his only chance of resolving his problems is to return home and confront his nemesis, the prime minister. Director: David Hare Writer: David Hare
Saved by the Bell ::: TV-PG | 30min | Comedy, Family, Romance | TV Series (19891992) -- A close-knit group of six friends get through their teens together while attending Bayside High School in Palisades, California. Creator: Sam Bobrick
Scarecrow (1973) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 1h 52min | Drama | 11 April 1973 (USA) -- Max, an ex-con drifter with a penchant for brawling is amused by Lion, a homeless ex-sailor, and they partner up as they head east together. Director: Jerry Schatzberg Writer: Garry Michael White
Secret of the Wings (2012) ::: 7.1/10 -- G | 1h 15min | Animation, Family, Fantasy | 14 December 2012 (UK) -- Tinkerbell wanders into the forbidden Winter woods and meets Periwinkle. Together they learn the secret of their wings and try to unite the warm fairies and the winter fairies to help Pixie Hollow. Directors: Roberts Gannaway (as Bobs Gannaway), Peggy Holmes Writers:
Serendipity (2001) ::: 6.9/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 30min | Comedy, Romance | 5 October 2001 (USA) -- A couple search for each other years after the night they first met, fell in love, and separated, convinced that one day they'd end up together. Director: Peter Chelsom Writer:
Serendipity (2001) ::: 6.9/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 30min | Comedy, Romance | 5 October 2001 (USA) -- A couple search for each other years after the night they first met, fell in love, and separated, convinced that one day they'd end up together.
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power ::: TV-Y7-FV | 30min | Animation, Action, Adventure | TV Series (20182020) -- She-Ra, Princess of Power, leads a rebellion to free her land of Etheria from the monstrous invaders the Horde. Creator: Noelle Stevenson
Sidewalls (2011) ::: 7.5/10 -- Medianeras (original title) -- Sidewalls Poster -- Martn and Mariana are slightly damaged people who live in buildings just opposite one another. While they often don't notice each other, separation might be the very thing that brings them together. Director: Gustavo Taretto Writer:
Silverado (1985) ::: 7.2/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 13min | Action, Crime, Drama | 10 July 1985 (USA) -- A misfit bunch of friends comes together to right the injustices which exist in a small town. Director: Lawrence Kasdan Writers: Lawrence Kasdan, Mark Kasdan
Simon (2004) ::: 7.9/10 -- TV-MA | 1h 42min | Comedy, Drama | 30 September 2004 (Netherlands) -- A mild-mannered gay dentist and a hedonist womanizer rekindle their unlikely friendship when the latter's terminal cancer drives them back together after a decade apart. Director: Eddy Terstall Writer: Eddy Terstall (screenplay) Stars:
Single Parents ::: TV-PG | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (20182020) -- A group of single parents form their own support system as they raise their kids and struggle to start new relationships. Creators: Elizabeth Meriwether, J.J. Philbin
Sliding Doors (1998) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 39min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy | 1 May 1998 (USA) -- A London woman's love life and career both hinge, unknown to her, on whether or not she catches a train. We see it both ways, in parallel. Director: Peter Howitt Writer: Peter Howitt
Solar Opposites ::: TV-MA | 3h 1min | Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi | TV Series (2020 ) -- A family of aliens move to middle America, where they debate whether life is better there or on their home planet. Creators: Mike McMahan, Justin Roiland
Solar Opposites ::: TV-MA | 3h 1min | Animation, Comedy, Sci-Fi | TV Series (2020- ) Season 2 Premiere Friday, March 26 Episode Guide 28 episodes Solar Opposites Poster -- A family of aliens move to middle America, where they debate whether life is better there or on their home planet. Creators:
Soldier of Orange (1977) ::: 7.7/10 -- Soldaat van Oranje (original title) -- Soldier of Orange Poster During World War II, Dutch students join the resistance movement against the German occupation of The Netherlands. Director: Paul Verhoeven Writers: Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema (book), Kees Holierhoek | 2 more credits Stars:
Soul Food (1997) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 1h 55min | Comedy, Drama | 26 September 1997 (USA) -- One person can keep a family together and, when that one person is gone, a family can be torn apart. Director: George Tillman Jr. Writer: George Tillman Jr.
Splitting Up Together ::: TV-PG | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (20182019) -- The story of a couple whose marriage is reignited by their divorce. Creator: Emily Kapnek
Stalker (1979) ::: 8.2/10 -- Not Rated | 2h 42min | Drama, Sci-Fi | 17 April 1980 (Netherlands) -- A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes. Director: Andrei Tarkovsky Writers: Arkadiy Strugatskiy (novel), Boris Strugatskiy (novel) | 2 more
Stand Up Guys (2012) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 35min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller | 1 February 2013 (USA) -- A pair of aging stickup men try to get the old gang back together for one last hurrah before one of the guys takes his last assignment - to kill his comrade. Director: Fisher Stevens Writer:
StartUp -- Not Rated | 44min | Crime, Thriller | TV Series (20162018) ::: A desperate banker, a Haitian-American gang lord and a Cuban-American hacker are forced to work together to unwittingly create their version of the American dream - organized crime 2.0. Creator:
State of the Union ::: TV-MA | 10min | Short, Comedy, Drama | TV Series (2019 ) -- State of the Union follows Louise and Tom who meet in a pub immediately before their weekly marital therapy session. Each episode pieces together how their lives were, what drew them together, and what has started to pull them apart. Creator:
Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) ::: 5.5/10 -- R | 1h 37min | Action, Crime, Drama | 22 March 1973 (Netherlands) -- After saving a Black Panther from some racist cops, a black male prostitute goes on the run from "the man" with the help of the ghetto community and some disillusioned Hells Angels. Director: Melvin Van Peebles Writer:
Swiss Army Man (2016) ::: 7.0/10 -- R | 1h 37min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy | 1 July 2016 (USA) -- A hopeless man stranded on a deserted island befriends a dead body, and together they go on a surreal journey to get home. Directors: Dan Kwan (as Daniel Kwan), Daniel Scheinert Writers: Daniel Scheinert, Dan Kwan (as Daniel Kwan)
Synecdoche, New York (2008) ::: 7.6/10 -- R | 2h 4min | Drama | 5 February 2009 (Netherlands) -- A theatre director struggles with his work, and the women in his life, as he creates a life-size replica of New York City inside a warehouse as part of his new play. Director: Charlie Kaufman Writer:
Take Shelter (2011) ::: 7.4/10 -- R | 2h | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi | 10 November 2011 (Croatia) -- Plagued by a series of apocalyptic visions, a young husband and father questions whether to shelter his family from a coming storm, or from himself. Director: Jeff Nichols Writer:
Teachers ::: TV-14 | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (20162019) -- Teachers show their hilariously warped perspective as six elementary school educators trying to mold young minds, even though their own lives aren't really together. Creator:
Tender Mercies (1983) ::: 7.4/10 -- PG | 1h 32min | Drama, Music | 4 March 1983 (Canada) -- A broken-down, middle-aged country singer gets a new wife, reaches out to his long-lost daughter, and tries to put his troubled life back together. Director: Bruce Beresford Writer:
Thanks for Sharing (2012) ::: 6.4/10 -- R | 1h 52min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 14 September 2013 (Denmark) -- A romantic comedy that brings together three disparate characters who are learning to face a challenging and often confusing world as they struggle together against a common demon: sex addiction. Director: Stuart Blumberg Writers:
The Admiral (2015) ::: 7.0/10 -- Michiel de Ruyter (original title) -- (USA) The Admiral Poster -- When the young republic of The Netherlands is attacked by England, France, and Germany, and the country is on the brink of civil war, only one man can lead the country's strongest weapon, the Dutch fleet: Michiel de Ruyter (Frank Lammers). Director: Roel Rein
The After (2014) ::: 7.5/10 -- TV-MA | 55min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror | TV Movie 6 February 2014 -- Eight strangers are thrown together by mysterious forces and must help each other survive in a violent world that defies explanation. Director: Chris Carter Writers: Chris Carter, Chris Carter (creator) Stars:
The Avengers (2012) ::: 8.0/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 23min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi | 4 May 2012 (USA) -- Earth's mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity. Director: Joss Whedon Writers:
The BFG (1989) ::: 6.7/10 -- 1h 31min | Animation, Adventure, Drama | 17 December 1992 (Netherlands) -- A young orphan girl, Sophie, gets taken away to a faraway land populated by Giants and Dreams. Director: Brian Cosgrove Writers: Roald Dahl (novel), John Hambley (adaptation) Stars:
The Blues Brothers (1980) ::: 7.9/10 -- R | 2h 13min | Action, Adventure, Comedy | 20 June 1980 (USA) -- Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts together his old band to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised. Director: John Landis Writers: Dan Aykroyd, John Landis
The Bridge ::: TV-MA | 43min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (20132014) -- Two detectives work together to take down a serial killer operating on both sides of the Texas-Chihuahua border. Creators: Elwood Reid, Bjrn Stein, Meredith Stiehm
The Cement Garden (1993) ::: 7.1/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 41min | Drama | 11 February 1994 (USA) -- Four children live with their terminally ill mother. After she dies, they try to hold things together. In their isolated house, they begin to deteriorate mentally, whilst they hide their mom's decomposing corpse in a makeshift concrete sarcophagus. Director: Andrew Birkin Writers: Andrew Birkin, Ian McEwan (novel)
The Commitments (1991) ::: 7.6/10 -- R | 1h 58min | Comedy, Drama, Music | 13 September 1991 (USA) -- Jimmy Rabbitte, an unemployed Dublin boy, decides to put together a soul band made up entirely of the Irish working class. Director: Alan Parker Writers: Roddy Doyle (novel), Dick Clement (screenplay) | 2 more credits
The Confirmation (2016) ::: 6.4/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 41min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama | 18 March 2016 (USA) -- A divorced father and his eight-year-old son are about to spend a somewhat predictable weekend together, nevertheless, when a valuable toolbox gets stolen, the search for the thieves will soon turn into a true family bonding. Director: Bob Nelson Writer:
The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989) ::: 7.6/10 -- NC-17 | 2h 4min | Crime, Drama | 6 April 1990 (USA) -- At Le Hollandais gourmet restaurant, every night is filled with opulence, decadence, and gluttony. But when the cook, a thief, his wife and her lover all come together, they unleash a shocking torrent of sex, food, murder and revenge. Director: Peter Greenaway Writer:
The Cure (1995) ::: 7.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 37min | Drama | 21 April 1995 (USA) -- Erik, a loner, finds a friend in Dexter, an eleven-year-old boy with AIDS. They vow to find a cure for AIDS together and save Dexter's life in an eventful summer. Director: Peter Horton Writer:
The Dead Girl (2006) ::: 6.6/10 -- R | 1h 25min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | 26 April 2007 (Hungary) -- The clues to a young woman's death come together as the lives of seemingly unrelated people begin to intersect. Director: Karen Moncrieff Writer: Karen Moncrieff
The Defiant Ones (1958) ::: 7.6/10 -- Approved | 1h 36min | Crime, Drama | 27 September 1958 (USA) -- Two escaped convicts chained together, white and black, must learn to get along in order to elude capture. Director: Stanley Kramer Writers: Nedrick Young, Harold Jacob Smith
The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) ::: 7.4/10 -- Approved | 3h | Biography, Drama, Family | 17 April 1959 (Netherlands) -- During World War II, a teenage Jewish girl named Anne Frank and her family are forced into hiding in the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. Director: George Stevens Writers: Frances Goodrich (screenplay), Albert Hackett (screenplay) | 3 more
The Discovery of Heaven (2001) ::: 6.7/10 -- 2h 30min | Drama, Fantasy | 25 October 2001 (Netherlands) -- God is disappointed with the human race and wants his stone tablets back. An angel is given the assignment and, with Gabrils help, tries to manipulate several humans on earth to get his ... S Director: Jeroen Krabb Writers: Harry Mulisch (novel), Edwin de Vries Stars:
The Draughtsman's Contract (1982) ::: 7.3/10 -- R | 1h 48min | Comedy, Drama, History | 30 June 1983 (Netherlands) -- A young artist is commissioned by the wife of a wealthy landowner to make a series of drawings of the estate while her husband is away. Director: Peter Greenaway Writer: Peter Greenaway Stars:
The Drop (2014) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 1h 46min | Crime, Drama, Thriller | 12 September 2014 (USA) -- Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost. Director: Michal R. Roskam Writers:
The Edge (1997) ::: 6.9/10 -- R | 1h 57min | Action, Adventure, Drama | 26 September 1997 (USA) -- An intellectual billionaire and two other men struggle to band together and survive after getting stranded in the Alaskan wilderness with a blood-thirsty Kodiak Bear hunting them down. Director: Lee Tamahori Writer:
The Edukators (2004) ::: 7.5/10 -- Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (original title) -- The Edukators Poster -- Three activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home. Director: Hans Weingartner Writers:
The Flight Attendant ::: TV-MA | Comedy, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (2020 ) -- A reckless flight attendant with an alcoholism problem wakes up in the wrong hotel, in the wrong bed, with a dead man - and no idea what happened. Unable to piece the night together, she begins to wonder if she could be the killer. Creator:
The Four Seasons (1981) ::: 6.9/10 -- PG | 1h 47min | Comedy, Drama | 22 May 1981 (USA) -- Three middle-aged wealthy couples take vacations together in Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Along the way we are treated to mid-life, marital, parental and other crises. Director: Alan Alda Writer: Alan Alda Stars:
The Haunting (1963) ::: 7.5/10 -- G | 1h 52min | Horror | 22 August 1963 (USA) -- Hill House has stood for about 90 years and appears haunted: its inhabitants have always met strange, tragic ends. Now Dr. John Markway has assembled a team of people who he thinks will prove whether or not the house is haunted. Director: Robert Wise Writers:
The Heineken Kidnapping (2011) ::: 6.5/10 -- De Heineken ontvoering (original title) -- (Netherlands) The Heineken Kidnapping Poster -- A bold, amateur kidnapping goes wildly awry in this fictionalized account of beer magnate Alfred Heineken's 1983 abduction, which would go on to become one of The Netherlands' most infamous crimes. Director: Maarten Treurniet
The Helpful Fox Senko-san ::: Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san (original tit ::: TV-14 | 23min | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy | TV Series (2019- ) Episode Guide 12 episodes The Helpful Fox Senko-san Poster The everyday life of Nakano, a salaryman working for an exploitative company, is suddenly intruded upon by the fox, Senko-san (800-year-old little girl). Whether it be cooking, cleaning, or... S Stars: Azumi Waki, Jun'ichi Suwabe, Aaron Campbell
The Hitman's Bodyguard (2017) ::: 6.9/10 -- R | 1h 58min | Action, Comedy, Crime | 18 August 2017 (USA) -- The world's top bodyguard gets a new client, a hitman who must testify at the International Criminal Court. They must put their differences aside and work together to make it to the trial on time. Director: Patrick Hughes Writer:
The Innocents ::: TV-MA | 1h | Drama, Horror, Mystery | TV Series (2018) -- When teenagers Harry and June run away from their repressive families to be together, they're derailed by an extraordinary discovery - June's ability to shape-shift. A scientist tries to capture her and discover the key to her power. Creators:
The Keeper (2018) ::: 7.3/10 -- Trautmann (original title) -- The Keeper Poster -- The love story of a young English woman and a German PoW, who together overcome prejudice, public hostility and personal tragedy. Director: Marcus H. Rosenmller Writers:
The Kill Point ::: TV-MA | Action, Crime, Drama | TV Series (2007) -- A group of military veterans, who recently returned home from serving in Iraq, band together to pull off a major bank heist. Creator: James DeMonaco
The Last Castle (2001) ::: 7.0/10 -- R | 2h 11min | Action, Drama, Thriller | 19 October 2001 (USA) -- A court-martialed General rallies together twelve hundred inmates to rise against a corrupt and sadistic warden. Director: Rod Lurie Writers: David Scarpa (story), David Scarpa (screenplay) | 1 more credit
The Longest Yard (1974) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 2h 1min | Comedy, Crime, Drama | 30 August 1974 (USA) -- A sadistic warden asks a former pro quarterback, now serving time in his prison, to put together a team of inmates to take on (and get pummeled by) the guards. Director: Robert Aldrich Writers:
The Magnificent Seven (2016) ::: 6.9/10 -- PG-13 | 2h 12min | Action, Adventure, Western | 23 September 2016 (USA) -- Seven gunmen from a variety of backgrounds are brought together by a vengeful young widow to protect her town from the private army of a destructive industrialist. Director: Antoine Fuqua Writers:
The Matador (2005) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 36min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller | 27 January 2006 (USA) -- A globetrotting hitman and a crestfallen businessman meet in a hotel bar in Mexico City in an encounter that draws them together in a way neither expected. Director: Richard Shepard Writer:
The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) ::: 6.9/10 -- The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (original title) -- The Meyerowitz Stories Poster -- An estranged family gathers together in New York City for an event celebrating the artistic work of their father. Director: Noah Baumbach Writer:
The Miracle Season (2018) ::: 6.5/10 -- PG | 1h 41min | Drama, Sport | 6 April 2018 (USA) -- After the tragic death of star volleyball player Caroline "Line" Found, a team of dispirited high school girls must band together under the guidance of their tough-love coach in hopes of winning the state championship. Director: Sean McNamara Writers:
The One and Only Ivan (2020) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG | 1h 35min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama | 21 August 2020 (USA) -- A gorilla named Ivan tries to piece together his past with the help of an elephant named Ruby as they hatch a plan to escape from captivity. Director: Thea Sharrock Writers: Mike White (screenplay by), Katherine Applegate (book)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1942) ::: 8.0/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 15min | Drama, Western | 21 May 1943 (USA) -- When a posse captures three men suspected of killing a local farmer, they become strongly divided over whether or not to lynch the men. Director: William A. Wellman Writers: Lamar Trotti (written for the screen by), Walter Van Tilburg Clark (from the novel by) Stars:
The Parent Trap (1998) ::: 6.5/10 -- PG | 2h 8min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama | 29 July 1998 (USA) -- Identical twins Annie and Hallie, separated at birth and each raised by one of their biological parents, later discover each other for the first time at summer camp and make a plan to bring their wayward parents back together. Director: Nancy Meyers Writers:
The Red Road ::: TV-14 | 1h | Drama | TV Series (20142015) -- Revolves around a local cop struggling to keep his family together while simultaneously policing two clashing communities: the small town where he grew up and the neighboring mountains, ... S Creator:
The Roaring Twenties (1939) ::: 8.0/10 -- Passed | 1h 46min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | 28 October 1939 (USA) -- Three men attempt to make a living in Prohibitionist America after returning home from fighting together in World War I. Director: Raoul Walsh Writers: Jerry Wald (screen play), Richard Macaulay (screen play) | 2 more
The Sugarland Express (1974) ::: 6.8/10 -- PG | 1h 50min | Crime, Drama | 29 May 1974 (Sweden) -- A woman attempts to reunite her family by helping her husband escape prison and together kidnapping their son. But things don't go as planned when they are forced to take a police hostage on the road. Director: Steven Spielberg Writers:
The Tunnel ::: TV-MA | 1h | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (20132018) -- A prominent French politician is found dead on the border between the U.K. and France, and two agents have to work together on behalf of their respective countries to find the murderer. Stars:
The Vanishing (1988) ::: 7.7/10 -- Spoorloos (original title) -- (Netherlands) The Vanishing Poster -- Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor. Director: George Sluizer
The Weather Man (2005) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 42min | Comedy, Drama | 28 October 2005 (USA) -- A Chicago weather man, separated from his wife and children, debates whether professional and personal success are mutually exclusive. Director: Gore Verbinski Writer: Steve Conrad (as Steven Conrad)
The Yellow Handkerchief (2008) ::: 6.7/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 42min | Adventure, Drama, Romance | 19 November 2009 -- The Yellow Handkerchief Poster -- A road trip through Louisiana transforms three strangers who were originally brought together by their respective feelings of loneliness. Director: Udayan Prasad Writers:
Thoroughbreds (2017) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 32min | Comedy, Crime, Drama | 9 March 2018 (USA) -- Two upper-class teenage girls in suburban Connecticut rekindle their unlikely friendship after years of growing apart. Together, they hatch a plan to solve both of their problems-no matter what the cost. Director: Cory Finley Writer:
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) ::: 7.1/10 -- R | 1h 55min | Comedy, Crime, Drama | 24 May 1974 (USA) -- With the help of an irreverent young sidekick, a bank robber gets his old gang back together to organize a daring new heist. Director: Michael Cimino Writer: Michael Cimino
Time and Tide (2000) ::: 6.9/10 -- Shun liu ni liu (original title) -- Time and Tide Poster A streetwise young man becomes a bodyguard to score quick cash. He befriends a disillusioned mercenary determined to begin life anew. They find themselves working together to foil an assassination attempt, but their partnership can't last. Director: Hark Tsui Writers: Koan Hui, Hark Tsui
Tin Star ::: TV-MA | 1h | Crime, Drama, Thriller | TV Series (20172020) -- Ex undercover UK cop turned police chief of a small town in the Canadian Rockies does what he must to defend his family from those in power whether it's the oilmen, the preachers or the gangsters. Stars:
Togetherness ::: TV-MA | 30min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | TV Series (20152016) -- Follows two couples living under the same roof who struggle to keep their relationships alive while pursuing their individual dreams. Creators: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass, Steve Zissis
Tonight You're Mine (2011) ::: 6.7/10 -- You Instead (original title) -- Tonight You're Mine Poster -- Two feuding rock stars get handcuffed together for 24 hours at a music festival where they are both due to perform. Director: David Mackenzie Writer:
TURN: Washington's Spies ::: TURN (original tit ::: TV-14 | 1h | Drama, History, War | TV Series (20142017) -- A Long Island farmer bands together a group of childhood friends to form an unlikely group of spies who turn the tide in America's fight for independence. Creator:
Twin Peaks: The Missing Pieces (2014) ::: 7.7/10 -- 1h 31min | Drama, Horror, Mystery | 1 August 2014 (Brazil) -- Twin Peaks before Twin Peaks (1990) and at the same time not always and entirely in the same place as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992). A feature film which presents deleted scenes from Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992) assembled together for the first time in an untold portion of the story's prequel. Director: David Lynch
Twister (1996) ::: 6.4/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 53min | Action, Adventure, Thriller | 10 May 1996 (USA) -- Bill and Jo Harding, advanced storm chasers on the brink of divorce, must join together to create an advanced weather alert system by putting themselves in the cross-hairs of extremely violent tornadoes. Director: Jan de Bont Writers:
Two Rode Together (1961) ::: 6.8/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 49min | Western | 28 June 1961 (USA) -- A corrupt marshal is pressured by his army friend into negotiating the release of white captives of the Comanches, but finds that their reintegration into society has its consequences. Director: John Ford Writers:
Ulee's Gold (1997) ::: 7.0/10 -- R | 1h 53min | Drama | 18 July 1997 (USA) -- A reclusive beekeeper slowly pulls his dysfunctional family back together, but not without having to fight his son's previous dastardly cohorts. Director: Victor Nunez Writer:
Undertaking Betty (2002) ::: 6.6/10 -- Plots with a View (original title) -- Undertaking Betty Poster -- A woman, whose husband is cheating on her, and an undertaker, who has been in love with her since their childhood, decide to fake her death so they can be together. Director: Nick Hurran Writer:
Upstream Color (2013) ::: 6.7/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 36min | Drama, Sci-Fi | 30 August 2013 (UK) -- A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives. Director: Shane Carruth Writer:
Valley Girl (1983) ::: 6.4/10 -- R | 1h 39min | Comedy, Romance | 29 April 1983 (USA) -- Julie, a girl from the valley, meets Randy, a punk from the city. They are from different worlds and find love. Somehow they need to stay together in spite of her trendy, shallow friends. Director: Martha Coolidge Writers:
Vice Principals ::: TV-MA | 30min | Comedy | TV Series (20162018) -- An over protective father is obsessed with becoming a principal and competes against the popular vice principal. However something happens that makes them work together to save the day. Creators:
Vicious ::: TV-MA | 23min | Comedy | TV Series (20132016) -- Freddie Thornhill (Sir Ian McKellen) and Stuart Bixby (Sir Derek Jacobi) are an old gay couple who have been together for nearly fifty years. Their lives now revolve around entertaining their frequent guests and hurling insults at each other at every opportunity. Creators:
Wait Until Dark (1967) ::: 7.8/10 -- Not Rated | 1h 48min | Thriller | 21 December 1967 (Netherlands) -- A recently blinded woman is terrorized by a trio of thugs while they search for a heroin-stuffed doll they believe is in her apartment. Director: Terence Young Writers: Frederick Knott (based on the play by), Robert Carrington (screenplay)
Wander Over Yonder ::: TV-Y7 | 30min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | TV Series (20132016) Wander is is eager to help anyone in the galaxy, together with his friend Sylvia. Wander's friendliness often angers Lord Hater, who is bent on galactic domination, and his army of Watchdogs. Creator: Craig McCracken Stars:
Waves (2019) ::: 7.6/10 -- R | 2h 15min | Drama, Romance, Sport | 15 November 2019 (USA) -- Traces the journey of a suburban family - led by a well-intentioned but domineering father - as they navigate love, forgiveness, and coming together in the aftermath of a loss. Director: Trey Edward Shults Writer:
What If (2013) ::: 6.8/10 -- The F Word (original title) -- What If Poster -- Wallace, who is burned out from a string of failed relationships, forms an instant bond with Chantry, who lives with her longtime boyfriend. Together, they puzzle out what it means if your best friend is also the love of your life. Director: Michael Dowse
What They Had (2018) ::: 6.7/10 -- R | 1h 41min | Drama | 29 November 2018 (Israel) -- Bridget returns home at her brother's urging to deal with her ailing mother and her father's reluctance to let go of their life together. Director: Elizabeth Chomko Writer: Elizabeth Chomko
What We Do in the Shadows ::: TV-MA | 30min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror | TV Series (2019 ) -- A look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of three vampires, who've lived together for over 100 years, on Staten Island. Creator: Jemaine Clement
What We Do in the Shadows ::: TV-MA | 30min | Comedy, Fantasy, Horror | TV Series (2019- ) Episode Guide 22 episodes What We Do in the Shadows Poster -- A look into the daily (or rather, nightly) lives of three vampires, who've lived together for over 100 years, on Staten Island. Creator: Jemaine Clement
Winter in Wartime (2008) ::: 7.0/10 -- Oorlogswinter (original title) -- Winter in Wartime Poster -- In the Nazi-occupied Netherlands, a teenage boy gets involved in the Dutch Resistance after coming to the aid of a wounded RAF pilot. Director: Martin Koolhoven Writers:
Wire in the Blood ::: TV-MA | 1h 9min | Crime, Drama, Mystery | TV Series (20022009) -- A psychologist gets inside of the minds of both killers and victims to aid the police in solving gruesome serial killings in Northern England. Stars: Robson Green, Mark Letheren, Emma Handy
Words and Pictures (2013) ::: 6.6/10 -- PG-13 | 1h 51min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 17 July 2014 (Australia) -- An art instructor and an English teacher form a rivalry that ends up with a competition at their school in which students decide whether words or pictures are more important. Director: Fred Schepisi Writer:
Workaholics ::: TV-14 | 22min | Comedy | TV Series (20112017) -- A single-camera comedy featuring three friends who work together as telemarketers from 9 to 5, and live together from 5 to 9. Creators: Blake Anderson, Adam Devine, Anders Holm | 3 more credits
Worlds Apart (2015) ::: 7.4/10 -- Enas allos kosmos (original title) -- Worlds Apart Poster -- In modern Greece, while socioeconomic turmoil ravages Southern Europe, three distinct stories unfold, each representing a different generation of Greeks in love with a foreigner, each story coming together in the end to form a whole. Director: Christopher Papakaliatis
Xena: Warrior Princess ::: TV-PG | 45min | Action, Adventure, Drama | TV Series (19952001) -- Xena, a mighty Warrior Princess with a dark past, sets out to redeem herself. She is joined by small town bard, Gabrielle. Together they journey the ancient world and fight for the greater good against ruthless Warlords and Gods. Creators:
X-Men: First Class (2011) ::: 7.7/10 -- X: First Class (original title) -- X-Men: First Class Poster -- In the 1960s, superpowered humans Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr work together to find others like them, but Erik's vengeful pursuit of an ambitious mutant who ruined his life causes a schism to divide them. Director: Matthew Vaughn Writers:
You Only Live Once (1937) ::: 7.3/10 -- Passed | 1h 26min | Crime, Drama, Film-Noir | 29 January 1937 (USA) -- The public defender's secretary and an ex-convict get married and try to make a life together, but a series of disasters sends their lives spiraling out of control. Director: Fritz Lang Writers: Gene Towne (screenplay), C. Graham Baker (screenplay) (as Graham Baker) Stars:
Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) ::: 6.5/10 -- R | 1h 41min | Comedy, Romance | 31 October 2008 (USA) -- Lifelong platonic friends Zack and Miri look to solve their respective cash-flow problems by making an adult film together. As the cameras roll, however, the duo begin to sense that they may have more feelings for each other than they previously thought. Director: Kevin Smith Writer:
Zootopia (2016) ::: 8.0/10 -- PG | 1h 48min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy | 4 March 2016 (USA) -- In a city of anthropomorphic animals, a rookie bunny cop and a cynical con artist fox must work together to uncover a conspiracy. Directors: Byron Howard, Rich Moore | 1 more credit Writers: Byron Howard (story by), Rich Moore (story by) | 7 more credits
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11eyes -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Ecchi Super Power Supernatural -- 11eyes 11eyes -- When the Sky turns Red, the Moon turns Black, and monsters begin roaming the streets, Satsuki Kakeru is at a loss for what to do. Along with his best friend Yuka, they try to decipher why they have been sent to this strange world, which is seemingly empty aside from themselves. -- -- However, when the "Red Night" ends, Kakeru and Yuka believed it was all a dream, until it happens again and they are left in a dangerous situation. They meet four others in the same predicament: Kusakabe Misuzu, an expert swordswoman, Tachibana Kukuri, a strange mute girl who looks uncannily like Kakeru's deceased sister, Hirohara Yukiko, a lively young girl whose personality reverts to that of a cold killer when her glasses are removed, and Tajima Takahisa, a young pyrokineticist. -- -- As the six of them band together to survive and discover what this mysterious world is, things take a turn for the worse as six shadows appear before them... -- -- 210,432 6.14
11eyes -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Ecchi Super Power Supernatural -- 11eyes 11eyes -- When the Sky turns Red, the Moon turns Black, and monsters begin roaming the streets, Satsuki Kakeru is at a loss for what to do. Along with his best friend Yuka, they try to decipher why they have been sent to this strange world, which is seemingly empty aside from themselves. -- -- However, when the "Red Night" ends, Kakeru and Yuka believed it was all a dream, until it happens again and they are left in a dangerous situation. They meet four others in the same predicament: Kusakabe Misuzu, an expert swordswoman, Tachibana Kukuri, a strange mute girl who looks uncannily like Kakeru's deceased sister, Hirohara Yukiko, a lively young girl whose personality reverts to that of a cold killer when her glasses are removed, and Tajima Takahisa, a young pyrokineticist. -- -- As the six of them band together to survive and discover what this mysterious world is, things take a turn for the worse as six shadows appear before them... -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 210,432 6.14
Aa! Megami-sama! (TV) Specials -- -- - -- 3 eps -- Manga -- Magic Comedy Romance Supernatural Seinen -- Aa! Megami-sama! (TV) Specials Aa! Megami-sama! (TV) Specials -- Due to the recent events that happened on the last episodes of the season, the Goddess have some stability problems with their body systems. The always adult looking Urd becomes a little girl and has a fateful encounter with a boy, whereas little Skuld becomes an adult and wants to experiment adulthood together with Keiichi. -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters, NYAV Post -- Special - Apr 1, 2005 -- 24,663 7.53
Aa! Megami-sama! (TV) Specials -- -- - -- 3 eps -- Manga -- Magic Comedy Romance Supernatural Seinen -- Aa! Megami-sama! (TV) Specials Aa! Megami-sama! (TV) Specials -- Due to the recent events that happened on the last episodes of the season, the Goddess have some stability problems with their body systems. The always adult looking Urd becomes a little girl and has a fateful encounter with a boy, whereas little Skuld becomes an adult and wants to experiment adulthood together with Keiichi. -- Special - Apr 1, 2005 -- 24,663 7.53
A-Channel+smile -- -- Studio Gokumi -- 2 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy School Seinen Slice of Life -- A-Channel+smile A-Channel+smile -- Following the everyday lives of four high school girls: the flighty Run, the reckless Tooru, the timid Yuuko, and the level-headed Nagi. -- -- Mountain of Pancakes -- Kitou-sensei injures her hand during class and has to deal with it while Tooru brings cat Tansan to school with her to meet Yutaka and Miho. Later, the girls decide to get pancakes at a café where Miho happens to be working, facing trouble when Yutaka shows up out of the blue. -- -- A Picture of a Wish -- Yuuko catches a cold so the others pay her a visit and help look after her. Later, the girls get together for the New Year's shrine visit. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- OVA - Mar 21, 2012 -- 20,185 7.12
Adachi to Shimamura -- -- Tezuka Productions -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Romance School Shoujo Ai -- Adachi to Shimamura Adachi to Shimamura -- Somewhere in the school at noon, one might hear the sound of two girls playing table tennis together as they wait for time to pass by. -- -- As if by fate, two students—Sakura Adachi and Hougetsu Shimamura—stumble upon each other on the second floor of the school gymnasium. As they gradually foster a budding friendship, their feelings for one another only become more ambiguous. Growing closer by the day, the two must learn to navigate their contrasting personalities as well as determine the depth of their affection for each other. -- -- The nature of this relationship gradually shifts when one of them starts to develop feelings beyond the boundaries of a platonic relationship. Even so, Adachi and Shimamura must realize if forming a bond stronger than friendship will bring them closer or tear them apart. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 117,428 7.17
Aggressive Retsuko -- -- Fanworks -- 100 eps -- Other -- Music Slice of Life Comedy -- Aggressive Retsuko Aggressive Retsuko -- Whether it be facing misogynistic remarks from her boss or being pressured by condescending co-workers, stress is just another part of the job for 25-year-old red panda Retsuko. Despite being one of the most diligent workers at her office, her diminutiveness and modesty often lead her to be exploited by her colleagues. However, when her irritation hits the limit, Retsuko brings forth her unique brand of letting off steam: aggressive death metal karaoke bashing the idiocy and hypocrisy of her co-workers' actions and work life. Although this venting only takes place in her mind, it gives her an outlet to counter her frustration in a world where hierarchy and appearances reign supreme. -- -- 78,138 7.63
Aikatsu! -- -- Bandai Namco Pictures, Sunrise -- 178 eps -- Original -- Music School Shoujo Slice of Life -- Aikatsu! Aikatsu! -- An idol's brilliance illuminates the dreams of humanity. Starlight Academy, a holy ground for celebrities in training, seeks to realize this belief. Behind its rigorous entrance requirements lie not only the top young stars in the entertainment business, but some of the best memories these students will ever have. -- -- Or so Aoi Kiriya believes. Alongside her best friend Ichigo, Aoi decides to apply for the prestigious private school in hopes of living up to the praise of the biggest idol in the world: Mizuki Kanzaki. As they journey through the numerous laughs, friendships, and heartbreaks that await them, can the two girls light up the lives of others as Mizuki has done for them? -- -- Whether it be chopping down Christmas trees, traversing obstacle courses, or even rock climbing, there's always a playful new adventure to be found in the world of Aikatsu!. -- -- 34,019 7.37
Aikatsu Stars! -- -- Bandai Namco Pictures -- 100 eps -- Original -- Music School Shoujo Slice of Life -- Aikatsu Stars! Aikatsu Stars! -- Yume Nijino has been accepted into Four Stars academy, home of the beautiful and talented S4 idol group. She and the other newcomers are determined to discover their talent, with a choice of specializing in beauty, singing, dancing, or drama. A tough road lies ahead of them, and they must rely on each other to overcome their weaknesses and develop their unique strengths. -- -- At the first-years' opening performances, Yume performs stellarly but faints and is unable to remember being on stage at all. Struggling to find her talent, she meets Rola "Laura" Sakuraba and the two develop a friendly rivalry, working together to learn and improve. -- -- Though they have their differences, all the students share the same goal: to become the next S4 idol. But hard work and determination, along with teamwork, are needed if they want to join the elite S4. -- -- 15,044 7.51
Air Movie -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Visual novel -- Drama Romance Supernatural -- Air Movie Air Movie -- Centuries ago, Kanna, a princess and the last of a winged race, was held prisoner in a castle as she was feared by the rest of the world. However, when she met a soldier named Ryuuya, she fell in love with him and told him of her wishes to see the outside world and to find her mother. Ryuuya attempted to fulfill these wishes. However, his efforts were in vain as Kanna was sealed in the sky through magic and cursed to be in pain for all eternity. -- -- Hundreds of years later, Yukito, a decendant of Ryuuya, comes to a quiet town one week before their annual festival with hopes that he can make some money. However, when he meets an unusual girl called Misuzu, he is reminded of what his mother once told him—"When you go out on your journey, if you find the winged girl's re-incarnation, you must use your power to set her free." -- -- Yukito and Misuzu's fates soon become intertwined with each other, with each developing feelings for the other. However when Yukito realizes Misuzu's connection to the past, he must decide on whether to leave, or to attempt to break the curse that has bound Kanna in centuries of pain. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Funimation -- Movie - Feb 5, 2005 -- 55,485 7.26
Air Movie -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Visual novel -- Drama Romance Supernatural -- Air Movie Air Movie -- Centuries ago, Kanna, a princess and the last of a winged race, was held prisoner in a castle as she was feared by the rest of the world. However, when she met a soldier named Ryuuya, she fell in love with him and told him of her wishes to see the outside world and to find her mother. Ryuuya attempted to fulfill these wishes. However, his efforts were in vain as Kanna was sealed in the sky through magic and cursed to be in pain for all eternity. -- -- Hundreds of years later, Yukito, a decendant of Ryuuya, comes to a quiet town one week before their annual festival with hopes that he can make some money. However, when he meets an unusual girl called Misuzu, he is reminded of what his mother once told him—"When you go out on your journey, if you find the winged girl's re-incarnation, you must use your power to set her free." -- -- Yukito and Misuzu's fates soon become intertwined with each other, with each developing feelings for the other. However when Yukito realizes Misuzu's connection to the past, he must decide on whether to leave, or to attempt to break the curse that has bound Kanna in centuries of pain. -- -- Movie - Feb 5, 2005 -- 55,485 7.26
Aishiteruze Baby� -- � -- -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance Shoujo -- Aishiteruze Baby� -- � -- Aishiteruze Baby� -- � -- -- Katakura Kippei is in every way a high school playboy. Spending his days flirting with any female he can see, responsibility is the last thing on his mind. Life takes an unexpected turn for him as one day he returns home to find himself with the fulltime task of caring for his 5-year-old cousin. Kippei's aunt Miyako had disappeared, appearing to have abandoned his cousin, Yuzuyu. With Kippei's lack of responsibility and knowledge of childcare and Yuzuyu's injured heart with the disappearance of her mother, their time together is in for a bumpy ride. -- 91,037 7.47
Akiba's Trip The Animation -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Game -- Action Comedy Supernatural Ecchi -- Akiba's Trip The Animation Akiba's Trip The Animation -- Otaku siblings Tamotsu and Niwaka Denkigai are shopping in Akihabara when it is overrun by vampiric cosplaying monsters! These creatures, known as "Bugged Ones," can possess anyone they bite and soon they begin causing mayhem across the city. As Tamotsu finds himself at the mercy of one of these creatures, he is rescued by the mysterious baseball bat-wielding Matome Mayonaka. Together, they fight through several more encounters with the Bugged Ones, but before long, Tamotsu is fatally wounded protecting Matome. With no other choice, she revives him as a high level Bugged One—just like her! -- -- Tamotsu and Matome, along with excitable otaku cosplayer Arisa Ahokainen, make up the group "The Electric Mayonnaise" and they begin dispatching the Bugged Ones in the only way they know how: by ripping off their clothes and exposing them to sunlight! -- -- 116,298 6.54
Akiba's Trip The Animation -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Game -- Action Comedy Supernatural Ecchi -- Akiba's Trip The Animation Akiba's Trip The Animation -- Otaku siblings Tamotsu and Niwaka Denkigai are shopping in Akihabara when it is overrun by vampiric cosplaying monsters! These creatures, known as "Bugged Ones," can possess anyone they bite and soon they begin causing mayhem across the city. As Tamotsu finds himself at the mercy of one of these creatures, he is rescued by the mysterious baseball bat-wielding Matome Mayonaka. Together, they fight through several more encounters with the Bugged Ones, but before long, Tamotsu is fatally wounded protecting Matome. With no other choice, she revives him as a high level Bugged One—just like her! -- -- Tamotsu and Matome, along with excitable otaku cosplayer Arisa Ahokainen, make up the group "The Electric Mayonnaise" and they begin dispatching the Bugged Ones in the only way they know how: by ripping off their clothes and exposing them to sunlight! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 116,298 6.54
Akira (Shin Anime) -- -- Sunrise -- ? eps -- Manga -- Action Military Sci-Fi Supernatural Seinen -- Akira (Shin Anime) Akira (Shin Anime) -- A new anime adaptation for Otomo's highly acclaimed post-apocalyptic cyberpunk manga series Akira. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- - - ??? ??, ???? -- 12,362 N/A -- -- Plastic Little -- -- animate Film -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Ecchi Mecha Military Romance Sci-Fi -- Plastic Little Plastic Little -- Set on the planet Yietta, whose colonists make their living by exploiting the planet's unique liquid-gas oceans, Plastic Little begins as the Yietans are finally about to pay off their debts to the Galactic Federation. Unfortunately, there are those who would rather not let Yietta slip through their fingers... -- -- Enter Tita, 17 year old captain of the Cha Cha Maru. Together with her crew, Tita specializes in capturing Yietta's exotic life forms for intergalactic pet shops, but through plain bad luck she finds herself, instead, at the core of a sinister plot to take over Yietta! By rescuing 16 year old Elysse from the very clutches of the military, Tita puts the lives of both herself and her crew in mortal peril... but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do! -- -- As the plotters mobilize their forces in a desperate bid to retrieve Elysse, whom they believe possesses a vital computer code, Tita must play a dangerous game of tag with an entire army of professional killers! It's Cat and Mouse on a planetwide scale, with one crucial difference: Mice don't shoot back, but Tita's does! -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- OVA - Mar 21, 1994 -- 12,320 6.13
Alps no Shoujo Heidi -- -- Nippon Animation -- 52 eps -- Book -- Slice of Life Historical Drama -- Alps no Shoujo Heidi Alps no Shoujo Heidi -- After becoming an orphan, Heidi is forced to live with her grandfather Öhi, who lives in the Alps. She learns he's a very bitter man who only accepted by force to take her in. But Heidi's kindness may be able to open his heart. Together with the shepherd Peter and invalid Clara, she has lots of adventures. -- -- (Source: adapted from ANN) -- 27,053 7.28
Amanchu! -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Shounen -- Amanchu! Amanchu! -- Originally from a big city, Futaba Ooki spends most days cataloguing her life through pictures on her phone. Upon moving to a seaside town, she gazes out over the vast expanse of sea and quickly becomes captivated by its endless possibilities. Unbeknownst to Futaba, her quiet contemplation catches the attention of local diving enthusiast Hikari Kohinata. Finding herself in the same class as Futaba the next day, Hikari is drawn to her quiet and shy demeanor and affectionately nicknames her Teko, sparking a tender friendship. -- -- Struggling to adapt to the change of pace in her life, Futaba finds herself strung along by Hikari's vast energy and passion for diving. Together, they join the school diving club, led by their homeroom teacher Mato Katori. With Hikari by her side, Futaba works to earn her diving certification while experiencing new friendships and possibilities. -- -- 81,930 7.26
Angel Beats!: Another Epilogue -- -- P.A. Works -- 1 ep -- Original -- Supernatural Drama School -- Angel Beats!: Another Epilogue Angel Beats!: Another Epilogue -- Disillusioned with the afterlife, a new student causes a scene during a classroom test and expresses his doubts about whether getting good grades can really lead to escaping the school and ascending to Heaven. Afterwards, he is confronted by the new student council president—a familiar face whose past experiences give him powerful insight into the true nature of the school and first-hand knowledge regarding the futility of rebellion. -- -- Special - Dec 22, 2010 -- 212,399 7.49
Angel Cop -- -- D.A.S.T. -- 6 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Police -- Angel Cop Angel Cop -- Sometime in the future, terrorism in Japan has become commonplace, and the police have become almost as brutal as criminals. A member of the Special Security Force known as Angel, is the best of the best, stopping at nothing in her fight for justice. -- -- Things get interesting for Angel and her partner, Raiden, when they begin investigating a series of murders in which the victims were known criminals, killed in very unpleasant ways. This trio of killers known as Hunters, is a group of psychics that have banded together to hunt down the lowest scum in the city and bring them to justice. -- -- After a couple of encounters between the cops and the psychics, two of the psychics begin to think that maybe they're not the good guys after all; but the third prefers killing to morality. Augmented by cybernetics from a mysterious source, this third hunter heads out on a killing spree, with the Special Security Force as the first target. -- -- Even with help from the other two psychics and her newly cyborged partner (after an unfortunate accident), Angel is going to have her work cut out trying to find the rogue psychic and the organization behind the Hunters. -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Manga Entertainment -- OVA - Sep 1, 1989 -- 13,655 5.94
Ange Vierge -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Card game -- Adventure Magic Fantasy School -- Ange Vierge Ange Vierge -- The story of the card game follows what happens when "Hairou" portals suddenly open, fusing five different worlds together. As a result, various mysterious "Exceed" powers are awakened in teenaged girls. An academy for these so-called "Progress" girls is built on the isolated Seiran Island in the Pacific. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 45,513 6.02
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 11 eps -- Original -- Slice of Life Supernatural Drama -- Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. -- Jinta Yadomi is peacefully living as a recluse, spending his days away from school and playing video games at home instead. One hot summer day, his childhood friend, Meiko "Menma" Honma, appears and pesters him to grant a forgotten wish. He pays her no mind, which annoys her, but he doesn't really care. After all, Menma already died years ago. -- -- At first, Jinta thinks that he is merely hallucinating due to the summer heat, but he is later on convinced that what he sees truly is the ghost of Menma. Jinta and his group of childhood friends grew apart after her untimely death, but they are drawn together once more as they try to lay Menma's spirit to rest. Re-living their pain and guilt, will they be able to find the strength to help not only Menma move on—but themselves as well? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America, NIS America, Inc. -- 1,229,900 8.40
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. Movie -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Original -- Slice of Life Supernatural Drama -- Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. Movie Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. Movie -- A year after their deceased friend Honma Meiko appeared to them, Jinta Yadomi and the other members of the Super Peace Busters decide to write letters in her memory. Attempting to enjoy their summer together, they reminisce about their time together before and after her death. -- -- AnoHana. Movie retells the main events of the parent story in the perspective of each member of the Super Peace Busters. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Movie - Aug 31, 2013 -- 230,137 7.93
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. Movie -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Original -- Slice of Life Supernatural Drama -- Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. Movie Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai. Movie -- A year after their deceased friend Honma Meiko appeared to them, Jinta Yadomi and the other members of the Super Peace Busters decide to write letters in her memory. Attempting to enjoy their summer together, they reminisce about their time together before and after her death. -- -- AnoHana. Movie retells the main events of the parent story in the perspective of each member of the Super Peace Busters. -- -- Movie - Aug 31, 2013 -- 230,137 7.93
Ano Natsu de Matteru -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Drama Romance Sci-Fi Slice of Life -- Ano Natsu de Matteru Ano Natsu de Matteru -- While testing out his camera on a bridge one summer night, Kaito Kirishima sees a blue light streaking across the sky, only to be blown off the railing seconds later. Just before succumbing to unconsciousness, a hand reaches down to grab ahold of his own. Dazed and confused, Kaito wakes up the next morning wondering how he ended up back in his own room with no apparent injuries or any recollection of the night before. As he proceeds with his normal school life, Kaito and his friends discuss what to do with his camera, finally deciding to make a film with it over their upcoming summer break. Noticing that Kaito has an interest in the new upperclassmen Ichika Takatsuki, his friend Tetsurou Ishigaki decides to invite her, as well as her friend Remon Yamano, to join them in their movie project. -- -- In what becomes one of the most entertaining and exciting summers of their lives, Kaito and his friends find that their time spent together is not just about creating a film, but something much more meaningful that will force them to confront their true feelings and each other. -- -- 316,498 7.48
Ano Natsu de Matteru -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Drama Romance Sci-Fi Slice of Life -- Ano Natsu de Matteru Ano Natsu de Matteru -- While testing out his camera on a bridge one summer night, Kaito Kirishima sees a blue light streaking across the sky, only to be blown off the railing seconds later. Just before succumbing to unconsciousness, a hand reaches down to grab ahold of his own. Dazed and confused, Kaito wakes up the next morning wondering how he ended up back in his own room with no apparent injuries or any recollection of the night before. As he proceeds with his normal school life, Kaito and his friends discuss what to do with his camera, finally deciding to make a film with it over their upcoming summer break. Noticing that Kaito has an interest in the new upperclassmen Ichika Takatsuki, his friend Tetsurou Ishigaki decides to invite her, as well as her friend Remon Yamano, to join them in their movie project. -- -- In what becomes one of the most entertaining and exciting summers of their lives, Kaito and his friends find that their time spent together is not just about creating a film, but something much more meaningful that will force them to confront their true feelings and each other. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 316,498 7.48
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2nd Season -- -- Lerche -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy School Shounen -- Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2nd Season Ansatsu Kyoushitsu 2nd Season -- The students return as school is back in session for the second semester. Following their exploits on the island during summer vacation, Class 3-E continues to sharpen their blades with their sights set on their teacher, the slippery Koro-sensei. They have more to worry about than just their teacher, however, as enemy assassins, both old and new, are out for the increased bounty on the octopus' head. -- -- Moreover, their rivals in Class A, as well as Kunugigaoka Junior High's fearsome principal, stand to block Class E from achieving academic excellence. With all of these obstacles opposing them, the group must continue to work together in order to overcome their foes and accomplish their goal of successfully assassinating their teacher. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 969,377 8.53
Ao no Exorcist -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Action Demons Fantasy Shounen Supernatural -- Ao no Exorcist Ao no Exorcist -- Humans and demons are two sides of the same coin, as are Assiah and Gehenna, their respective worlds. The only way to travel between the realms is by the means of possession, like in ghost stories. However, Satan, the ruler of Gehenna, cannot find a suitable host to possess and therefore, remains imprisoned in his world. In a desperate attempt to conquer Assiah, he sends his son instead, intending for him to eventually grow into a vessel capable of possession by the demon king. -- -- Ao no Exorcist follows Rin Okumura who appears to be an ordinary, somewhat troublesome teenager—that is until one day he is ambushed by demons. His world turns upside down when he discovers that he is in fact the very son of Satan and that his demon father wishes for him to return so they can conquer Assiah together. Not wanting to join the king of Gehenna, Rin decides to begin training to become an exorcist so that he can fight to defend Assiah alongside his brother Yukio. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 1,485,118 7.57
Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. -- -- Lay-duce -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance School Shounen -- Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. -- When they were little kids laughing and playing together, Izumi Norimoto and Kazusa Onodera were like siblings. But as their bodies matured into middle school, Kazusa began seeing him as something different; unfortunately for her, so did the other girls. Ostracized, Kazusa had no choice but to distance herself from him going into high school. After joining the literature club, however, she finds friends that keep her mind occupied. Known throughout the school for reading aloud sex scenes in literature novels, the club's reputation has kept all teachers from accepting the task of being their adviser. --   -- During a discussion about what they would put on their bucket list, one of the girls says one thing: sex. This single word sends ripples throughout the five girls, as the thought of sex begins taking over their daily lives. And, after walking in on Izumi during a very private moment, Kazusa is sent into a spiral of emotion that forces her to face her true feelings for him. Now, with their hearts racing and the literature club facing immediate disbandment, the five girls must work hard to keep both their sanities and their club alive. -- -- 215,366 7.47
Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. -- -- Lay-duce -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance School Shounen -- Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo. -- When they were little kids laughing and playing together, Izumi Norimoto and Kazusa Onodera were like siblings. But as their bodies matured into middle school, Kazusa began seeing him as something different; unfortunately for her, so did the other girls. Ostracized, Kazusa had no choice but to distance herself from him going into high school. After joining the literature club, however, she finds friends that keep her mind occupied. Known throughout the school for reading aloud sex scenes in literature novels, the club's reputation has kept all teachers from accepting the task of being their adviser. --   -- During a discussion about what they would put on their bucket list, one of the girls says one thing: sex. This single word sends ripples throughout the five girls, as the thought of sex begins taking over their daily lives. And, after walking in on Izumi during a very private moment, Kazusa is sent into a spiral of emotion that forces her to face her true feelings for him. Now, with their hearts racing and the literature club facing immediate disbandment, the five girls must work hard to keep both their sanities and their club alive. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 215,366 7.47
Aria the Natural -- -- Hal Film Maker -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Slice of Life Fantasy Shounen -- Aria the Natural Aria the Natural -- Akari Mizunashi continues her training to become a Prima Undine (a professional tour guide gondolier) along with her friends Aika and Alice in the peaceful city of Neo Venezia. Despite the fact that these three girls are from competing companies, they are constantly together, learning more about how to become better tour guides and more about the mysteries of Neo Venezia. -- -- As the group continues to meet interesting and unforgettable people through their daily routines, they will also come closer to the secrets that make the enigmatic and ever beautiful city of Neo Venezia so warm and alive. -- -- Welcome back to Neo Venezia: the city where miracles can be created by hand. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Nozomi Entertainment -- 65,006 8.19
Asobi Asobase -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy School Seinen -- Asobi Asobase Asobi Asobase -- During recess, Olivia, a foreign transfer student who doesn't know English, plays a game of "look-the-other-way" with Hanako Honda, a loud-mouthed airhead. Their rowdy behavior spurs the ire of Kasumi Nomura, a deadpan loner constantly teased by her older sister for her tendency to lose games. Not willing to compete, Kasumi declines Olivia's offer to join the fun, but eventually gets involved anyway and dispenses her own brand of mischief. Soon, a strange friendship blossoms between the peculiar trio, and they decide to form the "Pastime Club," where they are free to resume their daily hijinks. -- -- Whether it be failing to learn English, trying desperately to become popular, or getting caught by teachers at the wrong time, school life will never be boring when the girls of Asobi Asobase are up to their hilarious antics. -- -- 301,544 8.19
Astarotte no Omocha! -- -- Diomedéa -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Demons Ecchi Fantasy Romance Seinen -- Astarotte no Omocha! Astarotte no Omocha! -- Succubi, like the young princess Astarotte "Lotte" Ygvar, require the life seed from men to survive, replenish their magic, and continue the royal lineage of the magical realm. This means succubi are required to keep a harem of men close at hand. Ironically, Lotte despises men, which will put her life at risk once she matures. To convince her to fulfill her duties, one of her attendants, Judith Snorrevik, goes to the human realm to find a human male whom Lotte can tolerate. -- -- Judith returns with 23-year-old Naoya Touhara, a single father who unfortunately leaves his daughter, Asuha, behind in the human realm. As the first member of Lotte's harem, Naoya quickly adapts to this new environment, serving the princess to make her happy, rather than viewing her with sexual intent. Unfortunately, when his daughter is allowed to arrive in the magical realm, Naoya's relationship quickly worsens with Lotte. Even so, he strives to patch up their relationship. -- -- It soon becomes clear, however, that Naoya's presence in the magical realm is more than just mere coincidence. As he develops his bond with Lotte, fate begins to pull together the connections that tie him and everyone else within this enchanting world. -- -- TV - Apr 11, 2011 -- 124,210 6.58
Azumanga Daioh -- -- J.C.Staff -- 26 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School -- Azumanga Daioh Azumanga Daioh -- Chiyo Mihama begins her high school career as one of the strangest students in her freshman class—a tiny, 10-year-old academic prodigy with a fondness for plush dolls and homemade cooking. But her homeroom teacher, Yukari Tanizaki, is the kind of person who would hijack a student's bike to avoid being late, so "strange" is a relative word. -- -- There certainly isn't a shortage of peculiar girls in Yukari-sensei's homeroom class. Accompanying Chiyo are students like Tomo Takino, an energetic tomboy with more enthusiasm than brains; Koyomi Mizuhara, Tomo's best friend whose temper has a fuse shorter than Chiyo; and Sakaki, a tall, athletic beauty whose intimidating looks hide a gentle personality and a painful obsession with cats. In addition, transfer student Ayumu Kasuga, a girl with her head stuck in the clouds, fits right in with the rest of the girls—and she has a few interesting theories about Chiyo's pigtails! -- -- Together, this lovable group of girls experience the ups and downs of school life, their many adventures filled with constant laughter, surreal absurdity, and occasionally even touching commentary on the bittersweet, temporal nature of high school. -- -- 268,177 7.97
Azumanga Daioh -- -- J.C.Staff -- 26 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School -- Azumanga Daioh Azumanga Daioh -- Chiyo Mihama begins her high school career as one of the strangest students in her freshman class—a tiny, 10-year-old academic prodigy with a fondness for plush dolls and homemade cooking. But her homeroom teacher, Yukari Tanizaki, is the kind of person who would hijack a student's bike to avoid being late, so "strange" is a relative word. -- -- There certainly isn't a shortage of peculiar girls in Yukari-sensei's homeroom class. Accompanying Chiyo are students like Tomo Takino, an energetic tomboy with more enthusiasm than brains; Koyomi Mizuhara, Tomo's best friend whose temper has a fuse shorter than Chiyo; and Sakaki, a tall, athletic beauty whose intimidating looks hide a gentle personality and a painful obsession with cats. In addition, transfer student Ayumu Kasuga, a girl with her head stuck in the clouds, fits right in with the rest of the girls—and she has a few interesting theories about Chiyo's pigtails! -- -- Together, this lovable group of girls experience the ups and downs of school life, their many adventures filled with constant laughter, surreal absurdity, and occasionally even touching commentary on the bittersweet, temporal nature of high school. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Sentai Filmworks -- 268,177 7.97
Azur Lane: Bisoku Zenshin! -- -- CANDY BOX, Yostar Pictures -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Military Sci-Fi Slice of Life Comedy -- Azur Lane: Bisoku Zenshin! Azur Lane: Bisoku Zenshin! -- In a seemingly peaceful time without looming threats of Sirens or war, shipgirls from different nations live together in harmony. Some girls, such as the destroyers Ayanami, Javelin, Laffey, and Z23, attend school. Others immerse themselves into various other activities, including sports, foraging, training, going to formal parties, or even vying for the commander's attention! But one thing is for certain: the girls will continue to deepen their friendship in the pleasant port of Azur Lane! -- -- 25,992 7.01
Baccano! -- -- Brain's Base -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Action Comedy Historical Mystery Supernatural -- Baccano! Baccano! -- During the early 1930s in Chicago, the transcontinental train, Flying Pussyfoot, is starting its legendary journey that will leave a trail of blood all over the country. At the same time in New York, the ambitious scientist Szilard and his unwilling aide Ennis are looking for missing bottles of the immortality elixir. In addition, a war between the mafia groups is getting worse. On board the Advena Avis, in 1711, alchemists are about to learn the price of immortality. -- -- Based on the award-winning light novels of the same name, Baccano! follows several events that initially seem unrelated, both in time and place, but are part of a much bigger story—one of alchemy, survival, and immortality. Merging these events together are the kindhearted would-be thieves, Isaac and Miria, connecting various people, all of them with their own hidden ambitions and agendas, and creating lifelong bonds and consequences for everyone involved. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America, Funimation -- 735,544 8.41
Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni! -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Romance School Super Power -- Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni! Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Ni! -- The blockheads of Class F return with more misadventures! Rather than desperately competing against the elite students in Class A for better facilities, they have other problems at hand. While the girls are constantly vying for the boys' attention, Akihisa Yoshii and Yuuji Sakamoto are being blackmailed by a stalker who threatens to reveal their most embarrassing secrets to the whole school. Moreover, everyone's avatar starts to behave strangely. -- -- Filled with more nosebleeds and eye-pokes, the boys of Class F must work together to discover the stalker's identity and deal with the misfortunes that come with love among fools. -- -- TV - Jul 8, 2011 -- 322,656 7.74
Bakugan Battle Brawlers -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 52 eps -- Original -- Action Fantasy Game -- Bakugan Battle Brawlers Bakugan Battle Brawlers -- Mysterious cards came down from the sky one day. Capable of summoning powerful creatures from another dimension, they became the centerpiece of a new game called Bakugan. The game gained instant popularity among children and teenagers, with the best of them competing in a worldwide ranking. -- -- Meanwhile, war for domination over Vestroia, the homeland of Bakugan cards, rages on. Invaded by the White Dragon Naga and his servants, the Doom Beings, the realm becomes increasingly destabilized. Dimensions begin to merge and many Bakugan players come to realize that their pastime is not merely a game. -- -- Danma Kuusou, one such Bakugan player, intends to become the World Ranking's leader someday. However, during one of his fights he experiences a vision of a clash in Vestroia. The fight suddenly moves to Earth, where Danma comes into possession of a talking, mighty fire Bakugan, Pyrus Dragonoid. -- -- He soon gets dragged into the conflict, and together with his Bakugan Brawlers team, must traverse the dimensions and restore balance in a ravaged world. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Warner Bros. Pictures -- 79,215 6.33
Bakukyuu Hit! Crash B-Daman -- -- SynergySP -- 50 eps -- - -- Game Adventure Kids -- Bakukyuu Hit! Crash B-Daman Bakukyuu Hit! Crash B-Daman -- Hitto Tamaga, an 11-year-old boy, lives in some town in Japan. He is a very unfortunate boy, whose only asset is brightness. He lives only with his father who is a Bedaman researcher, but he left home several months ago, and he's been missing since then. He is living alone in a hut built on a relative’s land. Nobody celebrates his 11th birthday...except his cousin Nana who lives in the same land. One day, Hitto receives a present from the lost father, and he is very grad to know that his father remembers his birthday. It is “Crash Bedaman” that he longed for. After he puts them together to complete Crash Bedaman, he brings it to Bee Park, or a battle field of Beedaman. A battle there shows him a new way he should go. -- -- There is a message from his father with the present. -- -- “Overcome the difficulties”. -- -- Putting this word in his mind, he beats the enemies one after another with his Bedaman. With the encounter of partners and rivals, the mystery of Bedaman, a shadow organization, and the reason of the missing of his father gradually come to light. Defeating various obstacles in his way, he’s growing up. (Source: AnimeNFO) -- 1,562 6.04
Bakukyuu Renpatsu!! Super B-Daman -- -- Xebec -- 18 eps -- - -- Game Adventure Kids -- Bakukyuu Renpatsu!! Super B-Daman Bakukyuu Renpatsu!! Super B-Daman -- Tamago Tosaka is a fifth-grader who loves nothing more than a B-Daman battle. One day, Ganma Nishibe, a talented bead-warrior, is transferred to Tamago's school. Their B-Daman battles set the stage for this story. Beginning as rivals, the two come together to prepare for the B-Daman championships. The two boys come to trust and help one another as they work toward their shared goal. -- -- (Source: d-rights) -- TV - Jan 4, 1999 -- 1,046 6.21
Bakuman. -- -- J.C.Staff -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance Shounen -- Bakuman. Bakuman. -- As a child, Moritaka Mashiro dreamt of becoming a mangaka, just like his childhood hero and uncle, Tarou Kawaguchi, creator of a popular gag manga. But when tragedy strikes, he gives up on his dream and spends his middle school days studying, aiming to become a salaryman instead. -- -- One day, his classmate Akito Takagi, the school's top student and aspiring writer, notices the detailed drawings in Moritaka's notebook. Seeing the vast potential of his artistic talent, Akito approaches Moritaka, proposing that they become mangaka together. After much convincing, Moritaka realizes that if he is able to create a popular manga series, he may be able to get the girl he has a crush on, Miho Azuki, to take part in the anime adaptation as a voice actor. Thus the pair begins creating manga under the pen name Muto Ashirogi, hoping to become the greatest mangaka in Japan, the likes of which no one has ever seen. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- TV - Oct 2, 2010 -- 505,328 8.22
Bakuretsu Tenshi: Infinity -- -- Gonzo -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Comedy Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen -- Bakuretsu Tenshi: Infinity Bakuretsu Tenshi: Infinity -- These events occur in Westland, New York, during the 21st century. With a sharp knife, a murderer is indiscriminately killing people… A girl witnesses one of these murders, and the knife is turned on the helpless girl shaking with fear. -- -- Meg returns to this town with Joe to celebrate the “birthday” of Shirley, who used to live with Meg. Orphans, they had decided that the day they first met would be her birthday. In the past, Meg had taken care of three little children, including Shirley, just before meeting Joe. The children were then adopted by a police officer, Sam. He possessed a strong sense of justice and they are supposedly living happily together now. -- -- Meg and Joe happen to help a person and receive a reward. They buy a present for Shirley with the reward money and go to meet Sam. However, they notice him acting strangely. Upon questioning him, he explains that Shirley was assaulted by a murderer and seriously injured. Joe says to the grieving and angry Meg, “Let's exact revenge on the murderer for Shirley.” -- -- However, the murderer gradually approaches them from behind. The cruel black eyes fall on Meg and Joe… To make matters worse, a dark plot casts its shadow over Meg, Joe, Sam, and the whole town. -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Mar 23, 2007 -- 14,478 6.79
Bakuretsu Tenshi: Infinity -- -- Gonzo -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Comedy Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen -- Bakuretsu Tenshi: Infinity Bakuretsu Tenshi: Infinity -- These events occur in Westland, New York, during the 21st century. With a sharp knife, a murderer is indiscriminately killing people… A girl witnesses one of these murders, and the knife is turned on the helpless girl shaking with fear. -- -- Meg returns to this town with Joe to celebrate the “birthday” of Shirley, who used to live with Meg. Orphans, they had decided that the day they first met would be her birthday. In the past, Meg had taken care of three little children, including Shirley, just before meeting Joe. The children were then adopted by a police officer, Sam. He possessed a strong sense of justice and they are supposedly living happily together now. -- -- Meg and Joe happen to help a person and receive a reward. They buy a present for Shirley with the reward money and go to meet Sam. However, they notice him acting strangely. Upon questioning him, he explains that Shirley was assaulted by a murderer and seriously injured. Joe says to the grieving and angry Meg, “Let's exact revenge on the murderer for Shirley.” -- -- However, the murderer gradually approaches them from behind. The cruel black eyes fall on Meg and Joe… To make matters worse, a dark plot casts its shadow over Meg, Joe, Sam, and the whole town. -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- OVA - Mar 23, 2007 -- 14,478 6.79
Bakuten Shoot Beyblade the Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs. Daichi -- -- Nippon Animation -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy Sports Shounen -- Bakuten Shoot Beyblade the Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs. Daichi Bakuten Shoot Beyblade the Movie: Gekitou!! Takao vs. Daichi -- The Bladebreakers are on a well deserved vacation. But, a hyperactive kid named Daichi continues to pursue Tyson for a rematch after his defeat in the Beyblade World Championships. The Bladebreakers' vacation eventually takes a turn for the worst once they encounter mysterious Beybladers who claim to be the Dark Spirits sealed inside a strange temple. With Daichi under their control, the Shadow Bladers seek to destroy the world with their Dark BitBeasts. Together, Tyson, Max, Ray, and Kai must save not only Daichi... but the world as well... -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Nelvana -- Movie - Aug 17, 2002 -- 8,855 6.59
Bananya -- -- Gathering -- 13 eps -- Original -- Slice of Life Comedy Kids -- Bananya Bananya -- Above a nondescript kitchen counter quietly hangs a bunch of ripe, yellow bananas. Suddenly, one of the slender fruits begins to shake, gently at first but slowly increasing in ferocity until it tears itself away from the rest. With a graceful landing, the long and curvy edible gradually rolls back its golden peels, revealing what lies beneath its firm covering to be... a cat? -- -- This mysterious feline-fruit hybrid is named Bananya. Carefree and gentle, the adorable creature dreams of one day becoming a luscious bananya bathed in chocolate. Together with his fellow bananya, this kitten cloaked in yellow passes its days without a care in the world, enjoying a rather calm and peaceful existence as it experiences what the world has to offer. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 55,806 6.73
Baoh Raihousha -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Super Power Martial Arts Shounen -- Baoh Raihousha Baoh Raihousha -- An innocent young man, Ikuroo, has a parasite known as Baoh implanted in his brain by an evil organization, Doress. The parasite makes him nearly immortal and gives him the ability to transform into a really powerful beastie when he's in trouble. -- -- Doress intends to use him in some sort of ploy for financial success, world domination, or something along those lines, but when they're transporting him on a train, a young psychic girl, Sumire (who's being held by the organization due to her abilities), sets him free and the two escape together. -- -- Of course, Dr. Kasuminome is the mad scientist behind the whole Baoh thing, and he isn't about to let his test subject get away and he has considerable resources (including some superpowered lackeys, as well as a small army) at his disposal. -- -- (Source: AnimeDB) -- -- Licensor: -- AnimEigo -- OVA - Sep 16, 1989 -- 13,294 6.11
Battle Spirits: Double Drive -- -- Bandai Namco Pictures -- 51 eps -- Card game -- Game Fantasy -- Battle Spirits: Double Drive Battle Spirits: Double Drive -- Shunta Mogami loves the Battle Spirits game. One day he is transported by a light from a Battle Spirits card to Spirits World, the origin of all Battle Spirits. He meets a girl named Eto, who claims to have summoned him to Spirits World in order to prevent its destruction at the hands of the revived Evil God-King, who once plotted the destruction of Spirits World before being defeated and sealed away. Together with the confident, green-deck-wielding Yoku Albatrosa, who also came from another world, Shunta sets out to find the twelve God-Kings whose power originally sealed the Evil God-King. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 1,211 5.83
Beatless Final Stage -- -- Diomedéa -- 4 eps -- Light novel -- Action Sci-Fi Drama Romance -- Beatless Final Stage Beatless Final Stage -- Arato Endou and his faithful hIE, Lacia, have come together once again to show the world that artificial intelligence, no matter how brilliant, can be shut down safely. -- -- As they descend into the holding facility to confront Higgins, Lacia's AI creator, the pair must fend off enemies from all fronts. Among them are Snowdrop, a rampant hIE hellbent on devouring Higgins, and Methode, a hIE who seeks vengeance against Lacia. The world's super-intelligent AIs unanimously decide to terminate Lacia, whom they deem a threat to humanity. -- -- With limited time and the odds stacked against them, will Arato and Lacia be able to truly join together in a society where humans and hIEs can coexist peacefully? -- -- TV - Sep 26, 2018 -- 27,666 6.80
Beck -- -- Madhouse -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Music Shounen Slice of Life -- Beck Beck -- Fourteen-year-old Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka is a dispirited young boy with no goals in life. However, this all changes when Koyuki saves a strange-looking dog named Beck from being harassed by a group of local kids. The dog's owner, 16-year-old Ryuusuke "Ray" Minami, is an emerging guitarist and the former member of a popular rock band. -- -- After Koyuki meets Ray again in a diner, the older boy leads him to his former band's meeting place and dazzles Koyuki with his amazing guitar skills. Slowly becoming interested in the glamour of western rock culture, Koyuki decides to start playing the guitar while helping Ray achieve his dream of leading the ultimate rock band. Together with Ray's younger sister Maho and a few other members, the two boys launch their career into the world of rock by forming a band called BECK. Beck follows the group's struggles and successes as they spread their fame across Japan. -- -- 264,967 8.31
Beck -- -- Madhouse -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Music Shounen Slice of Life -- Beck Beck -- Fourteen-year-old Yukio "Koyuki" Tanaka is a dispirited young boy with no goals in life. However, this all changes when Koyuki saves a strange-looking dog named Beck from being harassed by a group of local kids. The dog's owner, 16-year-old Ryuusuke "Ray" Minami, is an emerging guitarist and the former member of a popular rock band. -- -- After Koyuki meets Ray again in a diner, the older boy leads him to his former band's meeting place and dazzles Koyuki with his amazing guitar skills. Slowly becoming interested in the glamour of western rock culture, Koyuki decides to start playing the guitar while helping Ray achieve his dream of leading the ultimate rock band. Together with Ray's younger sister Maho and a few other members, the two boys launch their career into the world of rock by forming a band called BECK. Beck follows the group's struggles and successes as they spread their fame across Japan. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 264,967 8.31
Beelzebub -- -- Pierrot Plus -- 60 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Demons Supernatural School Shounen -- Beelzebub Beelzebub -- Ishiyama High is a school populated entirely by delinquents, where nonstop violence and lawlessness are the norm. However, there is one universally acknowledged rule—don't cross first year student Tatsumi Oga, Ishiyama's most vicious fighter. -- -- One day, Oga is by a riverbed when he encounters a man floating down the river. After being retrieved by Oga, the man splits down the middle to reveal a baby, which crawls onto Oga's back and immediately forms an attachment to him. Though he doesn't know it yet, this baby is named Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, or "Baby Beel" for short—the son of the Demon Lord! -- -- As if finding the future Lord of the Underworld isn't enough, Oga is also confronted by Hildegard, Beel's demon maid. Together they attempt to raise Baby Beel—although surrounded by juvenile delinquents and demonic powers, the two of them may be in for more of a challenge than they can imagine. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- TV - Jan 9, 2011 -- 477,746 7.90
Beelzebub -- -- Pierrot Plus -- 60 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Demons Supernatural School Shounen -- Beelzebub Beelzebub -- Ishiyama High is a school populated entirely by delinquents, where nonstop violence and lawlessness are the norm. However, there is one universally acknowledged rule—don't cross first year student Tatsumi Oga, Ishiyama's most vicious fighter. -- -- One day, Oga is by a riverbed when he encounters a man floating down the river. After being retrieved by Oga, the man splits down the middle to reveal a baby, which crawls onto Oga's back and immediately forms an attachment to him. Though he doesn't know it yet, this baby is named Kaiser de Emperana Beelzebub IV, or "Baby Beel" for short—the son of the Demon Lord! -- -- As if finding the future Lord of the Underworld isn't enough, Oga is also confronted by Hildegard, Beel's demon maid. Together they attempt to raise Baby Beel—although surrounded by juvenile delinquents and demonic powers, the two of them may be in for more of a challenge than they can imagine. -- -- TV - Jan 9, 2011 -- 477,746 7.90
Ben-To -- -- David Production -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Comedy Martial Arts -- Ben-To Ben-To -- The supermarket is an important building in any city, for they provide a convenient way to purchase a variety of food in a family-friendly, safe environment. However, these stores changes in the blink of an eye once the unsold bento boxes go on their nightly half-off sales! War breaks out and friends become foes as each person fights for honor, pride, and dinner. There are no longer any people in these supermarkets, only Wolves and Dogs⁠—winners and losers. -- -- High schooler You Satou is painfully introduced to these battles after unknowingly stumbling into the war zone, but instead of choosing to avoid these nightly fights, he wants to join in. After seeing Satou's lack of fighting skills, upperclassman and Wolf Sen Yarizui invites him and Hana Oshiroi, a girl who enjoys spectating the brawls, to join her Half-Priced Food Lovers Club to show them the distinction between the Dogs and the Wolves. Together, they learn what it truly means to fight for your food. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 9, 2011 -- 275,876 7.26
Ben-To -- -- David Production -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Comedy Martial Arts -- Ben-To Ben-To -- The supermarket is an important building in any city, for they provide a convenient way to purchase a variety of food in a family-friendly, safe environment. However, these stores changes in the blink of an eye once the unsold bento boxes go on their nightly half-off sales! War breaks out and friends become foes as each person fights for honor, pride, and dinner. There are no longer any people in these supermarkets, only Wolves and Dogs⁠—winners and losers. -- -- High schooler You Satou is painfully introduced to these battles after unknowingly stumbling into the war zone, but instead of choosing to avoid these nightly fights, he wants to join in. After seeing Satou's lack of fighting skills, upperclassman and Wolf Sen Yarizui invites him and Hana Oshiroi, a girl who enjoys spectating the brawls, to join her Half-Priced Food Lovers Club to show them the distinction between the Dogs and the Wolves. Together, they learn what it truly means to fight for your food. -- -- TV - Oct 9, 2011 -- 275,876 7.26
Berserk -- -- GEMBA, Millepensee -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Demons Drama Fantasy Horror Military Romance Seinen Supernatural -- Berserk Berserk -- Now branded for death and destined to be hunted by demons until the day he dies, Guts embarks on a journey to defy such a gruesome fate, as waves of beasts relentlessly pursue him. Steeling his resolve, he takes up the monstrous blade Dragonslayer and vows to exact vengeance on the one responsible, hunting down the very man he once looked up to and considered a friend. -- -- Along the way, he encounters some unlikely allies, such as a small elf named Puck, and Isidro, a young thief looking to learn swordsmanship from the former mercenary. As the ragtag group slowly comes together after having decided to join Guts in his quest, they will face incredible danger unlike anything they have ever experienced before. -- -- 266,685 6.35
Berserk -- -- GEMBA, Millepensee -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Demons Drama Fantasy Horror Military Romance Seinen Supernatural -- Berserk Berserk -- Now branded for death and destined to be hunted by demons until the day he dies, Guts embarks on a journey to defy such a gruesome fate, as waves of beasts relentlessly pursue him. Steeling his resolve, he takes up the monstrous blade Dragonslayer and vows to exact vengeance on the one responsible, hunting down the very man he once looked up to and considered a friend. -- -- Along the way, he encounters some unlikely allies, such as a small elf named Puck, and Isidro, a young thief looking to learn swordsmanship from the former mercenary. As the ragtag group slowly comes together after having decided to join Guts in his quest, they will face incredible danger unlike anything they have ever experienced before. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 266,685 6.35
B-gata H-kei -- -- Hal Film Maker, TYO Animations -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy Ecchi Romance School Seinen -- B-gata H-kei B-gata H-kei -- Most people, including the girl herself, would say that first year high school student Yamada is beautiful and perfect. Despite this, she is working towards a peculiar goal: to have sex with one hundred men by the end of high school. -- -- Trying to put some sense into her head, Yamada's best friend, Miharu Takeshita, points out a major flaw in that plan—she is completely inexperienced with men. However, the reason behind this is that Yamada thinks her lady parts look strange and believes others will judge her for it. As a result, Yamada decides that her first time must be with a fellow virgin, since they will not hurt or scare her. After a fateful encounter, she sets her sights on the shy and average Takashi Kosuda, an aspiring photographer with a heart of gold. -- -- With contending rivals for his affection and her own raging hormones, Yamada must find ways to seduce Kosuda and take his cherry. However, as she gets closer to Kosuda, she finds herself increasingly enjoying their time spent together. -- -- 330,273 6.92
Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu Happy Kiss! -- -- Studio Comet -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Magic Parody School Slice of Life -- Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu Happy Kiss! Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu Happy Kiss! -- In the northern Kanto area in Japan, there is Binan City… -- -- At Binan High School, as per usual, the “Earth Defense Club (lol)” was a club that did nothing. The club members Kyoutarou Shuzenji, Ryouma Kirishima, Nanao Wakura, Taishi Manza, and Ichiro Dogou nonchalantly enjoyed tea while having pointless conversations that amount to nothing. -- -- All of them have now gathered at Kurotama Bath after school. When Ryouma pulls Kyoutarou Shuzenji by his arm out of water that he claims feels too good, together with his towel comes a pretty boy in strange clothing. -- -- These five boys are then dragged into a battle for the heir of the magical kingdom, Honila Land... -- -- (Source: KA) -- -- Licensor: -- Ponycan USA -- 9,974 6.50
Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! -- -- Studio Comet -- 1 ep -- Original -- Slice of Life Comedy Parody Magic School -- Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! Binan Koukou Chikyuu Boueibu LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! -- The older boys are graduating school and recount their memories together. The next day everyone defends the graduation ceremony against Zundar and Dadacha's Second Button Monster but Yumoto struggles using his love power. -- OVA - Aug 26, 2017 -- 7,240 6.82
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S -- -- Toei Animation -- 38 eps -- Manga -- Drama Magic Romance Shoujo -- Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S -- The Sailor Guardians and their leader, Sailor Moon, continue their duty of protecting Earth from any who would dare cause it harm. However, Sailor Mars' apocalyptic visions and the appearance of two new guardians—Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus—signal that a new battle will soon begin. -- -- These newcomers seek three Talismans that are inside the Pure Heart Crystals within human beings. Once brought together, these objects form The Holy Grail, a magical relic with extraordinary abilities. They want to use the Grail to save the world, but an evil organization known as the Death Busters seeks its power for their own desires. -- -- The removal of a Talisman from a person's Heart Crystal will cause their death, something that Uranus and Neptune see as a necessary sacrifice to form the Grail, while Sailor Moon and her group deem it unforgivable. But can any sacrifice be worth the cost if it saves the lives of the entire human race? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA, VIZ Media -- TV - Mar 19, 1994 -- 116,281 7.86
Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S -- -- Toei Animation -- 38 eps -- Manga -- Drama Magic Romance Shoujo -- Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S -- The Sailor Guardians and their leader, Sailor Moon, continue their duty of protecting Earth from any who would dare cause it harm. However, Sailor Mars' apocalyptic visions and the appearance of two new guardians—Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus—signal that a new battle will soon begin. -- -- These newcomers seek three Talismans that are inside the Pure Heart Crystals within human beings. Once brought together, these objects form The Holy Grail, a magical relic with extraordinary abilities. They want to use the Grail to save the world, but an evil organization known as the Death Busters seeks its power for their own desires. -- -- The removal of a Talisman from a person's Heart Crystal will cause their death, something that Uranus and Neptune see as a necessary sacrifice to form the Grail, while Sailor Moon and her group deem it unforgivable. But can any sacrifice be worth the cost if it saves the lives of the entire human race? -- -- TV - Mar 19, 1994 -- 116,281 7.86
Black� -- Rock Shooter (OVA) -- -- Ordet -- 1 ep -- Other -- Action Slice of Life Drama School -- Black� -- Rock Shooter (OVA) Black� -- Rock Shooter (OVA) -- On her first day of junior high school, Mato Kuroi meets Yomi Takanashi. Though Yomi is initially taken aback by Mako's straightforward personality, the pair quickly becomes friends and begin to spend time together daily. As a sign of their friendship, Mato gives Yomi a cell phone charm—a blue star, identical to her own. -- -- However, when the two enter their second year, their relationship starts to change. Placed in a different class, Mato begins to spend more time with Yuu Koutari instead, a girl she met through the basketball team. In fact, the former best friends drift apart so much so that Mato cannot find Yomi anywhere, as if she had disappeared entirely. -- -- Elsewhere, Black� -- Rock Shooter is on a quest to vanquish the Dead Master. These two, while opposed, bear a connection not unlike Mato and Yomi. As their stories begin to cross, it seems Yomi's disappearance may have to do with the blue star-shaped charm and the legendary gunslinger herself. -- -- OVA - Jul 24, 2010 -- 162,971 7.12
Black Clover -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 170 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Black Clover Black Clover -- Asta and Yuno were abandoned at the same church on the same day. Raised together as children, they came to know of the "Wizard King"—a title given to the strongest mage in the kingdom—and promised that they would compete against each other for the position of the next Wizard King. However, as they grew up, the stark difference between them became evident. While Yuno is able to wield magic with amazing power and control, Asta cannot use magic at all and desperately tries to awaken his powers by training physically. -- -- When they reach the age of 15, Yuno is bestowed a spectacular Grimoire with a four-leaf clover, while Asta receives nothing. However, soon after, Yuno is attacked by a person named Lebuty, whose main purpose is to obtain Yuno's Grimoire. Asta tries to fight Lebuty, but he is outmatched. Though without hope and on the brink of defeat, he finds the strength to continue when he hears Yuno's voice. Unleashing his inner emotions in a rage, Asta receives a five-leaf clover Grimoire, a "Black Clover" giving him enough power to defeat Lebuty. A few days later, the two friends head out into the world, both seeking the same goal—to become the Wizard King! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 957,323 7.96
Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Seinen -- Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage Black Lagoon: The Second Barrage -- Rokurou "Rock" Okajima has joined the Lagoon Company, a pirate mercenary group which operates out of Roanapur, Thailand. Despite his initial protests, this filthy slum of depraved souls and merciless criminals now serves as the former salaryman's home. Stranded, with nothing left of his past life but the clothes on his back and his inner morality, Rock is forced to perform jobs alongside the other members of the Lagoon crew. Berated for his lack of spine as he wades through the underbelly of society, he must decide whether to continue on amidst the gunfire and ruthlessness or risk everything he has in an attempt to be free. Whether he chooses the comfort of a familiar land or the freedom of being an outlaw, his decision will have lasting consequences on the crew who gave him a home. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, Geneon Entertainment USA -- 393,204 8.19
Blood+ -- -- Production I.G -- 50 eps -- Original -- Action Military Mystery Horror Supernatural Drama Vampire -- Blood+ Blood+ -- Saya Otonashi is a seemingly ordinary girl living a mundane life with her adoptive family in Okinawa City. In fact, her only peculiarities are suffering from anemia and being unable to remember any of her life beyond the previous year. -- -- However, Saya's forgotten past quickly comes back to haunt her—one night, she is attacked at school by a creature that feeds on human blood. Just when all hope seems lost, a mysterious man named Haji appears and fends off the creature temporarily. But when her rescuer forces her to drink his blood, Saya suddenly enters a trance and slays the monster with ease, using her own blood as a catalyst. -- -- Saya then learns of an organization named Red Shield, founded for the sole purpose of defeating the hellish beasts. Now Saya and Haji must work together with Red Shield to fight these fearsome monsters and unlock the secrets to the girl's past. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sony Pictures Entertainment -- 324,640 7.65
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo -- -- Toei Animation -- 76 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy Shounen -- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo -- In a futuristic world, the Maruhage Empire is a militant organization out to steal everyone's hair, and thus their freedom. But a brave man with an afro of gold and nose hairs of steel stands up against their tyranny. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, trained in the ways of hair, rescues a teenager named Beauty from the grunts of the Maruhage Empire. Together, they start on a journey to defeat Emperor Tsuru Tsurulina IV. As Bo-bobo meets new friends and battles foes along the way, so too does he begin his quest to save all the hairs of the world! -- -- Light-hearted and comical, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo details a wacky adventure in which Bo-bobo and his companions fight all sorts of villains and deviants within the Maruhage Empire, all the while having a fun and exciting adventure. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- TV - Nov 8, 2003 -- 74,778 7.49
Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo -- -- Toei Animation -- 76 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy Shounen -- Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo -- In a futuristic world, the Maruhage Empire is a militant organization out to steal everyone's hair, and thus their freedom. But a brave man with an afro of gold and nose hairs of steel stands up against their tyranny. Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, trained in the ways of hair, rescues a teenager named Beauty from the grunts of the Maruhage Empire. Together, they start on a journey to defeat Emperor Tsuru Tsurulina IV. As Bo-bobo meets new friends and battles foes along the way, so too does he begin his quest to save all the hairs of the world! -- -- Light-hearted and comical, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo details a wacky adventure in which Bo-bobo and his companions fight all sorts of villains and deviants within the Maruhage Empire, all the while having a fun and exciting adventure. -- -- TV - Nov 8, 2003 -- 74,778 7.49
Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte -- -- Production I.G -- 6 eps -- Manga -- Drama Sci-Fi Shoujo -- Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte Boku no Chikyuu wo Mamotte -- Alice Sakaguchi once dreamt that she is another person living on the moon. The dream is so strange and so real that Alice can't stop thinking about it. She finds out that some of her classmates are having the same kind of dream. They soon discover that they had been seeing flashes of their past lives as a team of scientists on the moon. Alice and her friends then decide to find the other members and piece together what took place back then. Complications arise when they realize that everything that happened in their previous existence continue to haunt and affect their present lives. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- OVA - Dec 17, 1993 -- 14,074 7.16
Boku no Hero Academia 4th Season -- -- Bones -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Super Power School Shounen -- Boku no Hero Academia 4th Season Boku no Hero Academia 4th Season -- After successfully passing his Provisional Hero License exam, Izuku "Deku" Midoriya seeks out an extracurricular internship with a professional hero agency. At the recommendation of his mentor All Might, Midoriya lands a position under All Might's former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, now a famous hero in his own right. -- -- As Midoriya's classmates further their own abilities through various internships, up-and-coming villain Kai Chisaki utilizes his terrifying powers to gather favor in the criminal underworld. Known by the moniker Overhaul, Chisaki's ambitions collide with the League of Villains and its leader, Tomura Shigaraki. -- -- Through his work with Sir Nighteye, Midoriya discovers Chisaki's crime syndicate and the villain's hostile relationship with a mysterious young girl named Eri. Fearing for the child's safety, Midoriya and his upperclassman Mirio Toogata must work together to put an end to Chisaki's reign of terror. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 1,056,162 8.03
Bokura ga Ita -- -- Artland -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama Romance Shoujo -- Bokura ga Ita Bokura ga Ita -- Going into her first year of high school, Nanami Takahashi is filled with the hope of making many new friends. After meeting the shy Yuri Yamamoto, she hears about a popular boy in their class: Yano Motoharu. Yuri cares little for Yano because of his past relationship with her older sister Nana, and at first, Nanami doesn't like his attitude either. However, Nanami soon begins to warm up to Yano and takes a liking to him. The two spend more of their time together and eventually decide to start dating. But their love is not without challenges; Yano has trouble opening up to Nanami, since his first girlfriend, Nana, died in a car accident the year before, and she had been with one of her ex-boyfriends at the time. -- -- Finding themselves living in the shadow of Yano's relationship with Nana, Nanami and Yano struggle to keep their relationship afloat amid misunderstandings and heartache with the certainty of their love for each other. -- -- 200,437 7.30
Bokura no -- -- Gonzo -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Psychological Drama Mecha Seinen -- Bokura no Bokura no -- 15 children, 8 boys and 7 girls, are enjoying their summer camp together when they suddenly discover a grotto by the sea. When they enter the mysterious place they find a room full of computers, as well as a man named Kokopelli, who introduces himself as the owner. He claims to be working on a game which involves a giant robot that has been designed to protect the Earth from 15 different alien invasions. Kokopelli hasn't been able to test the game yet, so he persuades all but one of the children to sign a contract in what he claims will be a fun adventure. -- -- However, as soon as the contracts are signed things start to take a much darker turn. In Bokurano, the children must now pilot the giant robot Zearth one at a time in the hopes that they will have what it takes to defeat all of the upcoming enemies. But Kokopelli has left out one very important piece of information: the giant robot Zearth's energy source. -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 154,492 7.65
Bokura no: Tsuisou -- -- Gonzo -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Psychological Drama Mecha -- Bokura no: Tsuisou Bokura no: Tsuisou -- A Bokurano recap episode of first 15 episodes. Aired on the 24 July 2007 on channel tvk instead of episode 16, while other stations cancelled the broadcast altogether for the same week. -- Special - Jul 24, 2007 -- 2,937 6.09
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai -- -- AIC Build -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Ecchi Slice of Life Comedy Harem Romance School -- Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai -- When Kodaka Hasegawa finds out that he will be transferring to a new school, he is determined to make a positive impression, and maybe even some friends. However, Kodaka discovers he is out of luck when he immediately gets labeled as a violent delinquent due to his blond hair and intimidating expression. Although a month has passed, Kodaka is still alone thanks to his notorious reputation. However, his life begins to change when he finds fellow loner Yozora Mikazuki talking to her imaginary friend in an empty classroom. -- -- After sharing stories of their lonely high school life, Kodaka and Yozora decide to overcome the difficulties of making friends together by starting the Neighbor's Club. Created for people who don't have friends, daily activities involve learning social skills and how to fit in, which will hopefully allow them to make friends. Joined by the eroge-loving Sena Kashiwazaki, and other eccentric outcasts, Kodaka may finally have managed to find people he can call friends, in this club filled with hilarious oddballs. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 660,581 7.25
Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Episode 0 -- -- AIC Build -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance School -- Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Episode 0 Boku wa Tomodachi ga Sukunai Episode 0 -- Hasegawa Kodaka has transferred schools, and he's having a hard time making friends. It doesn't help that his blond hair tends to make people think he's a delinquent. One day, he runs into his bad-tempered solitary classmate Yozora while she's talking animatedly to her imaginary friend Tomo. Realizing that neither of them have any actual friends, they decide that the best way to alter this situation is to form a club and start recruiting. -- That is how "Rinjinbu", The Neighbours' Club, was formed, a club specifically designed for people who don't have very many friends. As other lonely classmates slowly join their little club, they'll try to learn how to build friendships through cooking together, playing games, and other group activities. But will this group of relationship-challenged misfits really be able to get along? -- -- (Source: MU) -- OVA - Sep 22, 2011 -- 108,219 6.74
Boruto: Naruto the Movie -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Comedy Martial Arts Shounen Super Power -- Boruto: Naruto the Movie Boruto: Naruto the Movie -- The spirited Boruto Uzumaki, son of Seventh Hokage Naruto, is a skilled ninja who possesses the same brashness and passion his father once had. However, the constant absence of his father, who is busy with his Hokage duties, puts a damper on Boruto's fire. Upon learning that his father will watch the aspiring ninjas who will participate in the upcoming Chunin exams, Boruto is driven to prove to him that he is worthy of his attention. In order to do so, he enlists the help of Naruto's childhood friend and rival, Sasuke Uchiha. -- -- The Chunin exams begin and progress smoothly, until suddenly, the Konohagakure is attacked by a new foe that threatens the long-standing peace of the village. Now facing real danger, Naruto and his comrades must work together to protect the future of their cherished home and defeat the evil that terrorizes their world. As this battle ensues, Boruto comes to realize the struggles his father once experienced—and what it truly means to be a ninja. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- Movie - Aug 7, 2015 -- 338,945 7.48
Boruto: Naruto the Movie -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Comedy Martial Arts Shounen Super Power -- Boruto: Naruto the Movie Boruto: Naruto the Movie -- The spirited Boruto Uzumaki, son of Seventh Hokage Naruto, is a skilled ninja who possesses the same brashness and passion his father once had. However, the constant absence of his father, who is busy with his Hokage duties, puts a damper on Boruto's fire. Upon learning that his father will watch the aspiring ninjas who will participate in the upcoming Chunin exams, Boruto is driven to prove to him that he is worthy of his attention. In order to do so, he enlists the help of Naruto's childhood friend and rival, Sasuke Uchiha. -- -- The Chunin exams begin and progress smoothly, until suddenly, the Konohagakure is attacked by a new foe that threatens the long-standing peace of the village. Now facing real danger, Naruto and his comrades must work together to protect the future of their cherished home and defeat the evil that terrorizes their world. As this battle ensues, Boruto comes to realize the struggles his father once experienced—and what it truly means to be a ninja. -- -- Movie - Aug 7, 2015 -- 338,945 7.48
Brandish -- -- Studio Eromatick -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Hentai Demons Supernatural -- Brandish Brandish -- Twiska enjoys visiting local towns and draining the villagers of their cum. Everything is going along well until she encounters Theo, the legendary Hero destined to defeat her. Theo is a cute shouta and addictively good at sex. Now Twiska isn't sure anymore whether she wants to kill him or keep him for herself. -- OVA - Jun 22, 2012 -- 14,111 6.71
Brigadoon: Marin to Melan -- -- Sunrise -- 26 eps -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Drama Mecha Sci-Fi -- Brigadoon: Marin to Melan Brigadoon: Marin to Melan -- Marin is a typical junior high school girl with a sunny disposition and a loving adoptive family. Her life takes a drastic change when a mysterious mirage is seen in the sky above the entire earth. Killer androids called Monomakia descend to earth from the formation in the sky called Brigadoon and begin to hunt down little Marin. She discovers a blue bottle in a shrine as she seeks escape and from the bottle comes a protector, a sword carrying gun slinging alien called Melan Blue, together they must save the earth and deal with family crisis, school prejudice and the police and come to an understanding of Marins past and Melans unexplained mission, as well as learn to trust each other. Set in 1969 Japan with a colorful cast of friends and enemies. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Tokyopop -- TV - Jul 21, 2000 -- 10,512 7.25
Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 5 eps -- Game -- Action -- Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV -- Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Lucis, Noctis Lucis Caelum, sets out on a journey to Caem. His purpose is to meet with Lunafreya Nox Fleuret, an oracle and Noctis' childhood friend, in order to marry her. A strong and silent type, Noctis is accompanied by his friends and Royal Guard Gladiolus, Prompto, and Ignis. The four young men set out on a road trip across the continent in the king's personal convertible, the Regalia. Along the journey, each of them experience various situations which allow them to reflect on their past together, and strengthen their bonds for the future. -- -- A prequel to the 2016 video game Final Fantasy XV, Brotherhood: Final Fantasy XV explores the relationships of its four main protagonists and the challenges awaiting them. -- -- ONA - Mar 31, 2016 -- 66,049 6.96
Btooom! -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Psychological Seinen -- Btooom! Btooom! -- Ryouta Sakamoto is unemployed and lives with his mother, his only real achievement being that he is Japan's top player of the popular online video game Btooom! However, his peaceful life is about to change when he finds himself stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, with a small green crystal embedded in his left hand and no memory of how he got there. To his shock, someone has decided to recreate the game he is so fond of in real life, with the stakes being life or death. -- -- Armed with a bag full of unique bombs known as "BIM," the players are tasked with killing seven of their fellow participants and taking their green crystals in order to return home. Initially condemning any form of violence, Ryouta is forced to fight when he realizes that many of the other players are not as welcoming as they may seem. Teaming up with Himiko, a fellow Btooom! player, they attempt to get off of the island together, coming closer and closer to the truth behind this contest of death. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 703,001 7.37
Bubuki Buranki -- -- SANZIGEN -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Drama Mecha -- Bubuki Buranki Bubuki Buranki -- Away from home for 10 years, Azuma Kazuki had no idea what was awaiting him upon his return. He certainly did not expect to be attacked by dozens of heavily armed people and taken as their prisoner. Fortunately, Azuma's stay in captivity is short. Wielding a strange sentient weapon—known as "Bubuki"—upon her right arm, his childhood friend, Kogane Asabuki, rescues him. -- -- After escaping, Azuma learns that he too has the power to control Bubuki. Together with his new companions, he must revive the Buranki titan named Oubu, that sleeps somewhere deep underground. With this knowledge and purpose, a new path to unearth the truths behind the Buranki opens before Azuma. -- -- 67,375 6.29
Buddy Complex -- -- Sunrise -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Mecha -- Buddy Complex Buddy Complex -- When ordinary high school student Aoba Watase is suddenly targeted by a giant robot known as a "Valiancer," he is saved by his mysterious classmate Hina Yumihara. After revealing that she and their robotic enemy are from the future, Hina suddenly propels Aoba 70 years forward in order to prevent his death. -- -- Upon arrival, Aoba finds himself in the cockpit of a Valiancer called "Luxon," stuck in the midst of a firefight between the military forces of the Free Pact Alliance (FPA) and Zogilia Republic. After he shows high compatibility with an FPA pilot named Dio Weinberg, the two perform a successful "coupling," allowing them to share experiences and subsequently increase their capabilities and skills. Although Aoba is able to survive this unexpected battle, he is taken into custody by the FPA ship Cygnus, who wishes to interrogate him. While the student's main concern is whether he will ever be able to return home, what he doesn't realize is that he is about to get caught up in a war to protect the world. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 73,802 7.16
Bungou Stray Dogs 2nd Season -- -- Bones -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Mystery Super Power Supernatural Seinen -- Bungou Stray Dogs 2nd Season Bungou Stray Dogs 2nd Season -- Despite their differences in position, three men—the youngest senior executive of the Port Mafia, Osamu Dazai; the lowest ranking member, Sakunosuke Oda; and the intelligence agent, Angou Sakaguchi—gather at the Lupin Bar at the end of the day to relax and take delight in the company of friends. -- -- However, one night, Ango disappears. A photograph taken at the bar is all that is left of the three together. -- -- Fast forward to the present, and Dazai is now a member of the Armed Detective Agency. The Guild, an American gifted organization, has entered the fray and is intent on taking the Agency's work permit. They must now divide their attention between the two groups, the Guild and the Port Mafia, who oppose their very existence.  -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 529,838 8.20
Bungou Stray Dogs -- -- Bones -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Mystery Seinen Super Power Supernatural -- Bungou Stray Dogs Bungou Stray Dogs -- For weeks, Atsushi Nakajima's orphanage has been plagued by a mystical tiger that only he seems to be aware of. Suspected to be behind the strange incidents, the 18-year-old is abruptly kicked out of the orphanage and left hungry, homeless, and wandering through the city. -- -- While starving on a riverbank, Atsushi saves a rather eccentric man named Osamu Dazai from drowning. Whimsical suicide enthusiast and supernatural detective, Dazai has been investigating the same tiger that has been terrorizing the boy. Together with Dazai's partner Doppo Kunikida, they solve the mystery, but its resolution leaves Atsushi in a tight spot. As various odd events take place, Atsushi is coerced into joining their firm of supernatural investigators, taking on unusual cases the police cannot handle, alongside his numerous enigmatic co-workers. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 859,739 7.79
Bus Gamer -- -- Anpro -- 3 eps -- Manga -- Action -- Bus Gamer Bus Gamer -- When three complete strangers, Mishiba Toki, Nakajyo Nobuto, and Saitoh Kazuo, are hired by a corporation to compete in the Bus Game, an illegal dog-fight conducted in strict secrecy, they are given the team code of "Team AAA" (Triple Anonymous). This group of three who differ entirely from their living environments to their personalities have to work together effectively, but without mutually wiping out their mistrust of each other or prying into each other's privacy. They only have one point in common—each of them need a large amount of money for their individual circumstances. To get the money, they must play in the game despite their very own lives being at stake. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Mar 14, 2008 -- 25,242 6.54
Byousoku 5 Centimeter -- -- CoMix Wave Films -- 3 eps -- Original -- Drama Romance Slice of Life -- Byousoku 5 Centimeter Byousoku 5 Centimeter -- What happens when two people love each other but just aren't meant to be together? Takaki Toono and Akari Shinohara are childhood friends, but circumstances beyond their control tear them apart. They promise to stay in contact, and although the progression of time widens the distance between them, the chain of memories remains ever-present. -- -- Byousoku 5 Centimeter is a romantic drama that focuses on the mundane and harsh reality of long-distance relationships. Stuck in the past and unable to make any new memories, Takaki and Akari cling to the hope of seeing each other again. They live their everyday lives half-heartedly, both hurting themselves and the people around them. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Bandai Entertainment, Crunchyroll, Discotek Media -- Movie - Mar 3, 2007 -- 725,001 7.70
Caligula (TV) -- -- Satelight -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Sci-Fi -- Caligula (TV) Caligula (TV) -- What is happiness? Ever the fan of psychology, questions such as this are ones that high school student Ritsu Shikishima likes to ponder as he spends his peaceful days with his friends. His perfect world, however, begins to unravel when he hears a strange voice obscured by static, pleading for help. This voice belongs to μ, a beloved pop idol, whose singing begins to have an adverse effect on the world. Before Ritsu's very eyes, the faces of his friends and family become distorted by glitches as the sound of μ's voice transforms them into Digiheads: berserk monsters bent on the extermination of all those who begin to awaken to the true nature of their existence. -- -- Realizing that he is trapped in a virtual world created by μ called Mobius, Ritsu must now gather everyone else who has managed to realize the truth before they are all eliminated. Together, they will use their newfound powers and weapons granted by their emotions—known as the Catharsis Effect—to fight off the mysterious group known as The Ostinato Musicians as they struggle to escape. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Ponycan USA -- 66,549 6.02
Cannon Busters -- -- Satelight, Yumeta Company -- 12 eps -- Other -- Action Sci-Fi Adventure Fantasy Mecha -- Cannon Busters Cannon Busters -- Follow the adventures and exploits of S.A.M, a high-end, royal-class friendship droid who's joined by a quirky, discarded maintenance robot and a brash, deadly fugitive. Together, the unlikely trio embarks on an unforgettable journey in a fantastic and dangerous world in search of S.A.M's best friend, the heir to a powerful kingdom under siege. -- -- (Source: Official Website) -- ONA - Aug 15, 2019 -- 27,533 6.47
Cardfight!! Vanguard G -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 48 eps -- Card game -- Action Game Shounen -- Cardfight!! Vanguard G Cardfight!! Vanguard G -- Taking place after a three-year time skip, the series will follow Shindou Kurono, Kiba Shion, and Anjou Tokoha as the new protagonists of G. -- -- Kurono uses the never-before-seen clan Gear Chronicle, which brings together the destinies of these three toward an "impossible future, an impossible self signifying 'Generation.'" -- -- (Source: vanguardus.blogspot.com, edited) -- 12,296 6.50
Carole & Tuesday -- -- Bones -- 24 eps -- Original -- Drama Music Sci-Fi -- Carole & Tuesday Carole & Tuesday -- It has been 50 years since mankind began its migration to the terraformed Mars, where they live in comfort due to advancements in AI. Carole lives in the metropolis of Alba City, working part-time by day and playing keyboard by night. Tuesday has run away from her home in Hershell City to escape the grip of her wealthy family, and instead hopes to pursue music with her acoustic guitar. -- -- After a fateful encounter, the two decide to perform music together. Up against the AI singers that dominate the music world, the two of them believe that together they can convey their feelings through their songs. Will hard work and luck be enough for the duo to create the biggest miracle that Mars has ever seen? -- -- 241,397 7.93
Charlotte -- -- P.A. Works -- 13 eps -- Original -- Drama School Super Power -- Charlotte Charlotte -- While on the surface Yuu Otosaka appears to be just another charming and intelligent teenager, he has a secret—he has the ability to slip into people's minds and fully control their body for five seconds at a time. Yuu has been using this skill for years to gain the highest grades, which allowed him to enter a prestigious high school. -- -- When the enigmatic Nao Tomori catches Yuu using his power, she coerces him and his sister Ayumi into transferring to Hoshinoumi Academy, a school for students with supernatural abilities. The student council of the school, led by Nao, is tasked with secretly tracking down adolescents who abuse their powers. Yuu is forced to join the student council and together, they face formidable challenges that bring him closer to the shocking truth that his own, seemingly incomplete ability, might be more powerful than he could have ever imagined. -- -- An original story from Jun Maeda, creator of Angel Beats and Clannad, Charlotte explores the supernatural lives of these teenagers and the price they must pay for being special. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 1,129,120 7.76
Chibi Maruko-chan -- -- Nippon Animation -- 142 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Slice of Life Shoujo -- Chibi Maruko-chan Chibi Maruko-chan -- Momoko Sakura is an elementary school student who likes popular idol Momoe Yamaguchi and mangas. She is often called "Chibi Maruko-chan" due to her young age and small size. She lives together with her parents, her grandparents and her elder sister in a little town. In school, she has many friends with whom she studies and plays together everyday, including her close pal, Tama-chan; the student committee members, Maruo-kun and Migiwa-san; and the B-class trio: 'little master' Hanawa-kun, Hamaji-Bu Taro and Sekiguchi-kun. This is a fun-loving and enjoyable anime that portrays the simple things in life. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Jan 7, 1990 -- 9,568 7.62
Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar -- -- J.C.Staff -- 24 eps -- Original -- Comedy Fantasy Slice of Life -- Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar Chicchana Yukitsukai Sugar -- Season Fairies create and control the weather using special musical instruments. They make the wind blow, the snow fall, the sun shine; if it's something weather related, they are the ones who make it happen. -- -- Sugar, an apprentice Snow Fairy, and her friends Salt and Pepper, all want to become full-fledged Season Fairies, and the only way to achieve this is to search for and find the "Twinkles" that will make their magical flowers bloom. The only problem is that none of them have any idea what a Twinkle is. -- -- They enlist the somewhat unwilling help of Saga, a human girl who can see Season Fairies. Much to her annoyance, Saga's perfectly planned and ordered life has just become a little too lively for her taste. Together, they search for the mysterious Twinkles while trying to perfect their magic. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA, Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Oct 2, 2001 -- 20,548 7.07
Chihayafuru -- -- Madhouse -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Drama Game Josei School Slice of Life Sports -- Chihayafuru Chihayafuru -- Chihaya Ayase, a strong-willed and tomboyish girl, grows up under the shadow of her older sister. With no dreams of her own, she is contented with her share in life till she meets Arata Wataya. The quiet transfer student in her elementary class introduces her to competitive karuta, a physically and mentally demanding card game inspired by the classic Japanese anthology of Hundred Poets. Captivated by Arata's passion for the game and inspired by the possibility of becoming the best in Japan, Chihaya quickly falls in love with the world of karuta. Along with the prodigy Arata and her haughty but hard-working friend Taichi Mashima, she joins the local Shiranami Society. The trio spends their idyllic childhood days playing together, until circumstances split them up. -- -- Now in high school, Chihaya has grown into a karuta freak. She aims to establish the Municipal Mizusawa High Competitive Karuta Club, setting her sights on the national championship at Omi Jingu. Reunited with the now indifferent Taichi, Chihaya's dream of establishing a karuta team is only one step away from becoming true: she must bring together members with a passion for the game that matches her own. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Oct 5, 2011 -- 361,019 8.23
Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro -- -- Diomedéa -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Seinen -- Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro Chio-chan no Tsuugakuro -- For the average Japanese high school student, walking to school can be a chore, but for first-year Chio Miyamo, it's always an adventure. Constantly running late due to her long night sessions playing video games, she is forced to come up with new routes to make it to Samejima Private Academy on time. -- -- On her many bizarre journeys to school, Chio contends with obstacles like street-blocking detours, overzealous kabaddi players, and befuddled motorcycle gang leaders. But these minor hindrances are no match for the special ops training that Chio, AKA the legendary assassin "Bloody Butterfly," has received from her extensive gaming obsession. Together with her best friends Manana Nonomura and Yuki Hosokawa, Chio will do whatever it takes to avoid her school's harsh penalties for tardiness. -- -- 91,819 7.45
Chi's Sweet Home -- -- Madhouse -- 104 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Slice of Life -- Chi's Sweet Home Chi's Sweet Home -- One day, a small kitten named Chi is found by a young boy named Youhei and his mother. They decide to bring her back to their home to live with them despite their apartment's rules against keeping any pets. Chi, Youhei, and Youhei's parents cherish their time together as they make new friends, good memories, and have fun times together. -- -- These short adventures revolve around the daily life of Chi and her family, in addition to the many friends that they make along the way. No matter what trouble Chi ends up getting into, she knows that her family will always love her! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 55,399 7.70
Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji: Mirai-hen -- -- - -- 4 eps -- - -- Fantasy Hentai Demons Horror Sci-Fi -- Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji: Mirai-hen Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji: Mirai-hen -- Twenty-five years ago, the world was annihilated. With the coming of the Overfiend, God of all Gods, the human, demon, and beast realms collapsed together in chaos. With the promise that he would be born in 100 years to re-create his failed world, the Overfiend settled back to sleep within his mother's womb. -- -- But something has gone terribly wrong... -- -- Now the Overfiend is born prematurely and awaits the coming of his natural the enemy, the Lord of Chaos. His only hope for survival are Amano Jyaku and his sister Megumi. But destiny has moved in ways that even the Overfiend could never predict, as a new race of half-breed demon beasts has evolved. -- -- As Amano travels to the kingdom of Azuma to investigate the appearance of the Lord of Chaos, he is swept up in the world-conquering schemes of Caesar, Azuma's dictator. -- -- Against the backdrop of a demon beast slave revolt and the return of the diabolical Munhihausen, only Amano and the demon beast Buju can save the world from another fiery destruction. With the fate of the earth and its inhabitants hanging in the balance, all wait to see what the coming of the Lord of Chaos will bring... -- OVA - Oct 1, 1992 -- 3,108 5.73
Choujuu Kishin Dancougar: Hakunetsu no Shuushou -- -- - -- 4 eps -- - -- Mecha Sci-Fi Space -- Choujuu Kishin Dancougar: Hakunetsu no Shuushou Choujuu Kishin Dancougar: Hakunetsu no Shuushou -- After all the battles the Jyusenki-tai has been through, they have gone on their own separate ways. But one person will bring them all together again: Shapiro Keats. The man who sided with Muge Zarbados all the way back in the beginning is still alive. One friend-turned-foe awaits the Jyusenki-tai once again, in what will be their final battle. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- OVA - Dec 16, 1989 -- 931 5.95
Choujuushin Gravion -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen -- Choujuushin Gravion Choujuushin Gravion -- The year is now 2041 AD. A new enemy called Zeravire suddenly appears in the solar system, destroying all military installations it comes across. However, a wealthy man named Klein Sandman is already aware of this planned invasion and had been secretly preparing his army for battle. His trump card is Gravion, a giant robot that utilizes gravity as its source of energy. Meanwhile a young man named Eiji secretly enters Sandman's base in search for his missing sister. It is there that he meets another young man by the name of Toga... These two must now fight together with four other individuals aboard the super robot, Gravion to fend off the Zeravire threat. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- TV - Oct 7, 2002 -- 11,482 6.39
Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Drama Romance School Slice of Life -- Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! Ren -- The awkward lovebirds, Yuuta Togashi and Rikka Takanashi are now living together as they enter a new school year, but their adorable relationship remains stagnant. Yuuta struggles to adapt to having a chuuni girlfriend while the gang—Sanae Dekomori, Shinka Nibutani and Kumin Tsuyuri—are still keeping up with their quirks despite having advanced a grade. Making matters worse, another chuuni girl from Yuuta's middle school, Satone Shichimiya, appears... -- -- With the various events revolving around Yuuta, will he be able to develop his relationship with Rikka? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 551,888 7.55
City Hunter -- -- Sunrise -- 51 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Mystery Shounen -- City Hunter City Hunter -- "City Hunter" is a notorious contractor group with the call sign "XYZ." No matter the job, they will take it, cleaning up the scum on the streets of Tokyo. The key member of City Hunter is Ryou Saeba; armed with his trusty Colt Python and pinpoint accuracy, he works alongside willful tomboy Kaori Makimura. -- -- Together they solve tough cases and tackle the numerous dangers that accompany their trade head-on. However, when he's not out hunting crooks and villains, Ryou finds pleasure in chasing beautiful ladies with only Kaori and her one hundred-ton hammer to keep him in check. From pickpockets and arms dealers to crime syndicates, nothing can stand in the way of Ryou Saeba when he takes aim at his next mission. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Discotek Media -- 55,909 7.93
Clannad: After Story -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 24 eps -- Visual novel -- Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural Drama Romance -- Clannad: After Story Clannad: After Story -- Clannad: After Story, the sequel to the critically acclaimed slice-of-life series Clannad, begins after Tomoya Okazaki and Nagisa Furukawa graduate from high school. Together, they experience the emotional rollercoaster of growing up. Unable to decide on a course for his future, Tomoya learns the value of a strong work ethic and discovers the strength of Nagisa's support. Through the couple's dedication and unity of purpose, they push forward to confront their personal problems, deepen their old relationships, and create new bonds. -- -- Time also moves on in the Illusionary World. As the plains grow cold with the approach of winter, the Illusionary Girl and the Garbage Doll are presented with a difficult situation that reveals the World's true purpose. -- -- Based on the visual novel by Key and produced by Kyoto Animation, Clannad: After Story is an impactful drama highlighting the importance of family and the struggles of adulthood. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 946,989 8.96
Closers: Side Blacklambs -- -- Studio Animal -- 12 eps -- Game -- Game Fantasy -- Closers: Side Blacklambs Closers: Side Blacklambs -- After the invading dimensional monsters were beaten back, Seoul was rebuilt. This is the story of Closers in New Seoul. -- Mysterious dimensional gates opened all over the planet and unleashed a worldwide invasion of dimensional monsters. No monsters and tactics had any effect on the waves of dimensional monsters pouring out of the dimensional gates. City after city was mercilessly destroyed. -- -- But the opening of the dimensional gates did not only cause damage and destruction. The psychokinetic power that it awoke also enabled a tiny minority of humans to gain extraordinary psychic powers. With these psychic warriors, governments around the world were able to turn the tide of the war with these monsters. After unspeakable losses, the people of earth at least succeeded in closing the gates. Since they had closed the gates, these psychics began to be called "CLOSERS," and the invasion of the dimensional monsters was named the First Dimensional War. -- -- With the dimensional monsters vanquished, peace returned to the world, and the cities were rebuilt. Through dedicated research into the dimensional gates and psychokinetic power, humans learned that the gates open when there is a singularity in this mysterious power. However, their understanding of the gates was still incomplete. The CLOSERS who survived the First Dimensional War became part of an organization called UNION. Together, they researched the psychokinetic power in all over the world, working to prevent another dimensional war. -- -- And that's when the dimensional gates all over the world started shaking again - as ever stronger outbreed creatures renewed the attack on earth. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- ONA - Dec 23, 2016 -- 17,061 6.36
Cluster Edge -- -- Sunrise -- 25 eps -- Original -- Action Fantasy Military Sci-Fi -- Cluster Edge Cluster Edge -- Cluster Edge Academy isn't just any school; it's THE school, where the offspring of the elite come together to prepare for their roles running a world where artificial soldiers and religious sects are major factors in the battle for total control. Which may be part of why new transfer student Agate Fluorite doesn't quite seem to fit in. It's not just that Agate's enthusiastic attitude stands out among the somber, brooding balance of the student body. There's something about him that demands notice, even from jaded honors students like Beryl Jasper, and from the moment of arrival he's been at the center of a series of mysteries that not even Agate understands. Because Agate's not just another student, he's part of a something so momentous, and dangerous, that the world that built Cluster Edge may not survive its passing. -- -- (Source: Sentai Filmworks) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 9,408 6.34
Cobra The Animation: The Psycho-Gun -- -- Magic Bus -- 4 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Mecha Sci-Fi Space -- Cobra The Animation: The Psycho-Gun Cobra The Animation: The Psycho-Gun -- When Utopia More discovers an ancient record that holds the key to unlocking the secrets of the universe, she becomes the target of the ruthless Gypsy Doc of the Pirate Guild. Utopia finds herself saved by the easy-going yet legendary space pirate, Cobra, whose custom made Psychogun makes him a force to be reckoned with. Together, the two of them attempt to stop Gypsy Doc (along with Cobra's revived arch-nemesis, Crystal Boy) and his efforts to steal the record and use its secrets to rule the universe. -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- OVA - Aug 29, 2008 -- 4,639 6.90
Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito 3 - Kagayaku Mono Ten yori Otsu -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Mecha Military -- Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito 3 - Kagayaku Mono Ten yori Otsu Code Geass: Boukoku no Akito 3 - Kagayaku Mono Ten yori Otsu -- After discovering the face of their true enemy—someone who is related to Akito and responsible for the Geass placed upon him—W-0 attempts to return to their base at Castle Weisswolf. However, stranded in Warsaw due to a complication involving their military identification, they are forced to accept the help of local gypsies, allowing the squad to take some time to deepen their bonds. -- -- Meanwhile, Britannian advisor Julius Kingsley and his guard Suzaku Kururugi begin working together with the Knights of St. Michael in order to crush the European resistance once and for all, armed with the destructive power of a giant weapon known as the Ark Fleet. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - May 2, 2015 -- 92,936 7.32
Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Kiseki no Birthday -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Original -- Supernatural School -- Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Kiseki no Birthday Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch - Kiseki no Birthday -- On a lively December day at Ashford Academy, the students are joyously preparing for tomorrow’s school festival. However, the celebrations come to an abrupt halt when terrorists strike the academy. The students are taken hostage and put under lockdown as militant remnants of the Neo-Chinese Federation seize control of the school. -- -- Little do the aggressors realize that among the student body are those with extraordinary powers, including the Geass-wielding Lelouch Lamperouge and Britannian soldier Suzaku Kururugi. To protect their school and restore the peace, Lelouch and the student council must band together again to bring about one last miracle. -- -- Special - Apr 23, 2010 -- 27,419 6.88
Commercial War -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia -- Commercial War Commercial War -- In a mixture of cut-out and hand-drawn animation techniques, Tanaami jumbles together symbols of American consumer culture –such as Coca Cola, Superman, Space Age astronauts and hamburgers– with occasional Japanese iconography, such as the squat toilet. The frenetic pace of the animation, the catchphrases and songs on the soundtrack as well as the hand-drawn CRT television monitor that occasionally frames the images makes reference to television commercials. -- -- (Source: Collaborative Cataloging Japan) -- Movie - ??? ??, 1971 -- 422 4.83
Cop Craft -- -- Millepensee -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Fantasy Magic Police Sci-Fi -- Cop Craft Cop Craft -- Fifteen years ago, a hyperspace gate appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, connecting Earth to a strange world filled with fairies and monsters. The city of San-Teresa became a home for over two million of these otherworldly visitors. Unfortunately, the population boom also brought its fair share of problems—drugs, prostitution, and trafficking. To combat the rampant crime lurking in the city's shadows, a new department was established in the San-Teresa Metropolitan Police. -- -- Former JSDF soldier Kei Matoba is one of the best cops that the department has to offer, despite his inclination to occasionally bend the rules. After a fairy trafficking case goes wrong, Kei loses Rick Fury, his friend and partner of four years, setting him on a quest for vengeance. To help him with the case, the department pairs him with Tilarna Exedilika, a noble of the Farbani Kingdom. As one of the Knights of Mirvor, her duty is to rescue the noble fairy that Kei encountered during his last case. Despite his distaste for non-humans, he accepts the arrangement at the request of his superiors. Now, the unlikely duo must come together and overcome their differences in order to return the missing fairy to her country and avenge the death of Kei's partner. -- -- 94,574 6.73
Cop Craft -- -- Millepensee -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Fantasy Magic Police Sci-Fi -- Cop Craft Cop Craft -- Fifteen years ago, a hyperspace gate appeared in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, connecting Earth to a strange world filled with fairies and monsters. The city of San-Teresa became a home for over two million of these otherworldly visitors. Unfortunately, the population boom also brought its fair share of problems—drugs, prostitution, and trafficking. To combat the rampant crime lurking in the city's shadows, a new department was established in the San-Teresa Metropolitan Police. -- -- Former JSDF soldier Kei Matoba is one of the best cops that the department has to offer, despite his inclination to occasionally bend the rules. After a fairy trafficking case goes wrong, Kei loses Rick Fury, his friend and partner of four years, setting him on a quest for vengeance. To help him with the case, the department pairs him with Tilarna Exedilika, a noble of the Farbani Kingdom. As one of the Knights of Mirvor, her duty is to rescue the noble fairy that Kei encountered during his last case. Despite his distaste for non-humans, he accepts the arrangement at the request of his superiors. Now, the unlikely duo must come together and overcome their differences in order to return the missing fairy to her country and avenge the death of Kei's partner. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 94,574 6.73
Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou -- -- Asread -- 4 eps -- Visual novel -- Mystery Horror Supernatural -- Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou -- Nine students gather in their high school at night to bid farewell to a friend. As is customary among many high school students, they perform a sort of ritual for them to remain friends forever, using small paper charms shaped like dolls. -- -- However, the students do not realize that these charms are connected to Heavenly Host Academy—an elementary school that was destroyed years ago after a series of gruesome murders took place, a school that rests under the foundation of their very own Kisaragi Academy. Now, trapped in an alternate dimension with vengeful ghosts of the past, the students must work together to escape—or join the spirits of the damned forever. -- -- A feast for mystery fanatics, gore-hounds, and horror fans alike, Corpse Party: Tortured Souls - Bougyakusareta Tamashii no Jukyou shows a sobering look at redemption, sacrifice, and how the past is always right behind, sometimes a little too close for comfort. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Maiden Japan -- OVA - Jul 24, 2013 -- 296,149 6.55
Cross Game -- -- SynergySP -- 50 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance School Shounen Sports -- Cross Game Cross Game -- Kou Kitamura and Aoba Tsukishima are often at odds—even though their families happen to be close friends and business partners. Although the only child of a sports shop owner, Kou has never been interested in playing baseball. Despite this, he possesses an impressive batting ability honed by frequent visits to the local baseball batting center run by the Tsukushima family. On the other hand, Aoba loves to play baseball and is a star player with exceptional pitching form. -- -- However, these two seemingly complete opposites share something very important to them—Wakaba Tsukishima, Aoba's older sister and Kou's destined sweetheart. Admired by the quarrelsome duo, Wakaba often finds herself the catalyst to their never-ending rivalry. But whether or not they realize that they have more in common than either would care to admit, only time will tell. The game of baseball may just be what the pair needs to ultimately overcome their own personal struggles. -- -- TV - Apr 5, 2009 -- 103,023 8.42
Cyborg 009 (1979) -- -- Toei Animation -- 50 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen -- Cyborg 009 (1979) Cyborg 009 (1979) -- Joe Shimamura and his companions may seem like regular men, but they are anything but. Joe is actually Cyborg 009, member of a team of cyborgs who fight for the greater good. Each cyborg is outfitted with a special power, from the ability to melt any material, to underwater breathing and flight. He and the other eight cyborgs were modified against their will by the Neo-Black Ghosts organization in order to further their own interests. But instead, they decided to band together and use their powers to fight against their former captors, and all forces of evil. -- TV - Mar 6, 1979 -- 7,579 7.15
Dame x Prince Anime Caravan -- -- Studio Flad -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Adventure Comedy Romance Fantasy -- Dame x Prince Anime Caravan Dame x Prince Anime Caravan -- Inako is a minor country, enclosed by two superior countries: the militaristic Milidonia, with its goal of conquering as much land as possible, and the monotheiestic Selenfalen, devoted to the deity Saint Philia. Ani Inako is the sole princess of her country, and in order to eliminate hostility between the three countries, she is sent as Inako's representative to a peace treaty signing in Selenfalen. However, Ani's hopes of a smooth ceremony are shattered when she meets the eccentric princes from her rival countries. -- -- With the treaty binding the three countries together, Ani and the princes must learn to overcome their differences. Together, they search for common ground on which to develop their friendship. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 23,001 6.52
Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Kibou-hen -- -- Lerche -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Mystery Horror Psychological -- Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Kibou-hen Danganronpa 3: The End of Kibougamine Gakuen - Kibou-hen -- The Future Foundation is in shambles after the Final Killing Game and the revelation of the true culprit. As a desperate plot arises from one of the survivors to rid the world of despair once and for all, the remaining Future Foundation members must band together to stop this atrocity from taking place. Fortunately, they find themselves with help from a group of unlikely allies as they race against the clock to stop their world from being changed. -- -- In this finale to the Hope's Peak storyline of the Danganronpa series, the players in this neverending death game begin to understand the true meaning behind despair, hope, and atonement. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Special - Sep 29, 2016 -- 138,056 7.51
Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken -- -- Seven -- 13 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance Seinen -- Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken Danna ga Nani wo Itteiru ka Wakaranai Ken -- Though they couldn't be any more different, love has managed to blossom between Hajime Tsunashi, a hardcore otaku who shuts himself in at home while making a living off his blog, and his wife Kaoru—a hard-working office lady who, in contrast, is fairly ordinary, albeit somewhat of a crazy drunk. As this unlikely couple discovers, love is much more than just a first kiss or a wedding; the years that come afterward in the journey of marriage brings with it many joys as well as challenges. -- -- Whether due to their quirky personalities or the peculiar people surrounding them, Hajime and Kaoru find themselves caught up in a variety of baffling and ridiculous antics. But despite the struggles they face, the love that ties them together spurs them to move forward and strive to become better people in order to bring their partner happiness. -- -- 282,463 7.36
Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou -- -- Sunrise -- 12 eps -- Web manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School -- Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou -- Roaming the halls of the all-boys Sanada North High School are three close comrades: the eccentric ringleader with a hyperactive imagination Hidenori, the passionate Yoshitake, and the rational and prudent Tadakuni. Their lives are filled with giant robots, true love, and intense drama... in their colorful imaginations, at least. In reality, they are just an everyday trio of ordinary guys trying to pass the time, but who said everyday life couldn't be interesting? Whether it's an intricate RPG reenactment or an unexpected romantic encounter on the riverbank at sunset, Danshi Koukousei no Nichijou is rife with bizarre yet hilariously relatable situations that are anything but mundane. -- -- -- Licensor: -- NIS America, Inc. -- 621,146 8.27
Dantalian no Shoka -- -- Gainax -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Historical Supernatural -- Dantalian no Shoka Dantalian no Shoka -- Six months ago, Lord Hugh Anthony Disward, also known as Huey, lost his eccentric grandfather, Sir Wesley Disward, who was a renowned collector of rare books. His grandfather's will states that, in order to inherit his manor and everything inside it, he must take guardianship over the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian—an archive that contains forbidden knowledge—and also take care of a mysterious girl called Dalian. -- -- As Huey settles into the manor, an old rival of his grandfather's arranges a meeting with him. Dalian, knowing the rival to be Wesley's killer, tags along and discovers that the murderer is in possession of a Phantom Book—a cursed tome that Wesley tried to seal away. When the book puts the two in danger, Huey discovers that the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian and Dalian are one and the same, and she entrusts Huey with the key to unlocking the knowledge stored within her. Together, Dalian and Huey seal the book away, and thus begins an unlikely partnership as they solve mysteries caused by other Phantom Books. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Jul 16, 2011 -- 128,173 7.25
Dantalian no Shoka -- -- Gainax -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Historical Supernatural -- Dantalian no Shoka Dantalian no Shoka -- Six months ago, Lord Hugh Anthony Disward, also known as Huey, lost his eccentric grandfather, Sir Wesley Disward, who was a renowned collector of rare books. His grandfather's will states that, in order to inherit his manor and everything inside it, he must take guardianship over the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian—an archive that contains forbidden knowledge—and also take care of a mysterious girl called Dalian. -- -- As Huey settles into the manor, an old rival of his grandfather's arranges a meeting with him. Dalian, knowing the rival to be Wesley's killer, tags along and discovers that the murderer is in possession of a Phantom Book—a cursed tome that Wesley tried to seal away. When the book puts the two in danger, Huey discovers that the Bibliotheca Mystica de Dantalian and Dalian are one and the same, and she entrusts Huey with the key to unlocking the knowledge stored within her. Together, Dalian and Huey seal the book away, and thus begins an unlikely partnership as they solve mysteries caused by other Phantom Books. -- -- TV - Jul 16, 2011 -- 128,173 7.25
Dark Cat -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Super Power Supernatural Demons Horror -- Dark Cat Dark Cat -- Hyoi and Ryoi, two brothers with the power to take the form of cats, must unravel the mystery of a creeping, tentacled, demon plague before it consumes them and their classmates. Ultimately, they must confront their old Dark Cat master Jukokubo, though whether they can put an end to the evil he has released remains a mystery. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- OVA - Nov 28, 1991 -- 3,611 3.35
Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha Gaiden -- -- Bones -- 4 eps -- Original -- Action Mystery Sci-Fi Super Power -- Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha Gaiden Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha Gaiden -- Fleeing from the consequences of his decision at the Hell's Gate, superpowered Contractor Hei and his companion Yin take refuge in a quiet inn, adopting the guise of a married couple in order to not draw suspicion. In an attempt to recover from recent events, Hei befriends the inn's other guests. He discovers that one of them is a fellow Contractor tasked with killing him. Their resulting encounter spells disaster for both Hei and Yin, who are forced to fight for their lives and grapple with the emotional wounds sustained in their previous life together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Special - Jan 27, 2010 -- 223,787 7.96
Darwin's Game -- -- Nexus -- 11 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Mystery Super Power Shounen -- Darwin's Game Darwin's Game -- High school student Kaname Sudou receives an invitation from a classmate to play Darwin's Game, a mobile game he has never heard of. However, as soon as he opens the application, a green snake suddenly pops out from his phone screen and bites his neck, leaving him unconscious. Waking up in the infirmary without any signs of a snake bite, he is told by the school to take the rest of the day off. Although he is puzzled by what has happened, he dismisses the surreal experience as a hallucination and boards the train home. -- -- Unfortunately, his curiosity gets the better of him and he uses the application once again. As the application appears to be just like any other battle game, Kaname breathes out a sigh of relief and decides to start his first match. However, the pleasant surprise is short-lived, as his in-game opponent unexpectedly appears right in front of him and attempts to hunt him down with a knife. -- -- As he desperately runs for his life, Kaname puts two and two together and realizes that Darwin's Game is not an ordinary game, but rather, it's a brutal fight for survival. -- -- 330,327 7.28
Darwin's Game -- -- Nexus -- 11 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Mystery Super Power Shounen -- Darwin's Game Darwin's Game -- High school student Kaname Sudou receives an invitation from a classmate to play Darwin's Game, a mobile game he has never heard of. However, as soon as he opens the application, a green snake suddenly pops out from his phone screen and bites his neck, leaving him unconscious. Waking up in the infirmary without any signs of a snake bite, he is told by the school to take the rest of the day off. Although he is puzzled by what has happened, he dismisses the surreal experience as a hallucination and boards the train home. -- -- Unfortunately, his curiosity gets the better of him and he uses the application once again. As the application appears to be just like any other battle game, Kaname breathes out a sigh of relief and decides to start his first match. However, the pleasant surprise is short-lived, as his in-game opponent unexpectedly appears right in front of him and attempts to hunt him down with a knife. -- -- As he desperately runs for his life, Kaname puts two and two together and realizes that Darwin's Game is not an ordinary game, but rather, it's a brutal fight for survival. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 330,327 7.28
Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku -- -- Connect, SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Fantasy Harem -- Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku -- Ichirou Suzuki, a programmer nearing his thirties, is drowning in work. Worn out, he eventually has a chance to catch up on sleep, only to wake up and discover himself in a fantasy RPG world, which is mashed together from the games he was debugging in reality. In this new place, he realizes that not only has his appearance changed to a younger version of himself, but his name has also changed to Satou, a nickname he used while running beta tests on games. -- -- However, before Satou can fully grasp his situation, an army of lizardmen launch an assault on him. Forced to cast a powerful spell in retaliation, Satou wipes them out completely and his level is boosted to 310, effectively maximizing his stats. Now, as a high-leveled adventurer armed with a plethora of skills and no way to return to reality, Satou sets out to explore this magical new world. -- -- 350,234 6.51
Death Parade -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Original -- Game Mystery Psychological Drama Thriller -- Death Parade Death Parade -- After death, there is no heaven or hell, only a bar that stands between reincarnation and oblivion. There the attendant will, one after another, challenge pairs of the recently deceased to a random game in which their fate of either ascending into reincarnation or falling into the void will be wagered. Whether it's bowling, darts, air hockey, or anything in between, each person's true nature will be revealed in a ghastly parade of death and memories, dancing to the whims of the bar's master. Welcome to Quindecim, where Decim, arbiter of the afterlife, awaits! -- -- Death Parade expands upon the original one-shot intended to train young animators. It follows yet more people receiving judgment—until a strange, black-haired guest causes Decim to begin questioning his own rulings. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 1,285,447 8.19
Demi-chan wa Kataritai -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Vampire Fantasy School Seinen -- Demi-chan wa Kataritai Demi-chan wa Kataritai -- High school biology teacher Tetsuo Takahashi may look like your average everyday instructor, but beneath his gentle appearance lies something less ordinary: his fascination for the "Ajin," more commonly known as "Demi." Although these half-human, half-monster beings have integrated into human society, Takahashi believes that much about them will remain unknown unless he interacts with them firsthand. -- -- Demi-chan wa Kataritai follows Takahashi's daily life in Shibasaki High School together with his three Demi students—Hikari Takanashi, an energetic vampire; Kyouko Machi, a gentle dullahan; and Yuki Kusakabe, the shy snow woman. Along the way, Takahashi also meets fellow teacher Sakie Satou, a succubus with an aversion towards men. To fulfill his goal of learning more about the Demi, Takahashi decides to conduct casual interviews with the girls to learn more about their abilities, psyche, and interaction with human society. As Takahashi strengthens his bond with his students, he soon discovers that the Demi are not as unusual as he initially believed. -- -- 328,868 7.60
Demi-chan wa Kataritai -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Vampire Fantasy School Seinen -- Demi-chan wa Kataritai Demi-chan wa Kataritai -- High school biology teacher Tetsuo Takahashi may look like your average everyday instructor, but beneath his gentle appearance lies something less ordinary: his fascination for the "Ajin," more commonly known as "Demi." Although these half-human, half-monster beings have integrated into human society, Takahashi believes that much about them will remain unknown unless he interacts with them firsthand. -- -- Demi-chan wa Kataritai follows Takahashi's daily life in Shibasaki High School together with his three Demi students—Hikari Takanashi, an energetic vampire; Kyouko Machi, a gentle dullahan; and Yuki Kusakabe, the shy snow woman. Along the way, Takahashi also meets fellow teacher Sakie Satou, a succubus with an aversion towards men. To fulfill his goal of learning more about the Demi, Takahashi decides to conduct casual interviews with the girls to learn more about their abilities, psyche, and interaction with human society. As Takahashi strengthens his bond with his students, he soon discovers that the Demi are not as unusual as he initially believed. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 328,868 7.60
Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- -- Zexcs -- 24 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- "Alpha Stigma" are known to be eyes that can analyze all types of magic. However, they are more infamously known as cursed eyes that can only bring destruction and death to others. -- -- Ryner Lute, a talented mage and also an Alpha Stigma bearer, was once a student of the Roland Empire's Magician Academy, an elite school dedicated to training magicians for military purposes. However, after many of his classmates died in a war, he makes an oath to make the nation a more orderly and peaceful place, with fellow survivor and best friend, Sion Astal. -- -- Now that Sion is the the king of Roland, he orders Ryner to search for useful relics that will aid the nation. Together with Ferris Eris, a beautiful and highly skilled swordswoman, Ryner goes on a journey to search for relics of legendary heroes from the past, and also uncover the secrets behind his cursed eyes. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Jul 2, 2010 -- 250,632 7.59
Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- -- Zexcs -- 24 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- "Alpha Stigma" are known to be eyes that can analyze all types of magic. However, they are more infamously known as cursed eyes that can only bring destruction and death to others. -- -- Ryner Lute, a talented mage and also an Alpha Stigma bearer, was once a student of the Roland Empire's Magician Academy, an elite school dedicated to training magicians for military purposes. However, after many of his classmates died in a war, he makes an oath to make the nation a more orderly and peaceful place, with fellow survivor and best friend, Sion Astal. -- -- Now that Sion is the the king of Roland, he orders Ryner to search for useful relics that will aid the nation. Together with Ferris Eris, a beautiful and highly skilled swordswoman, Ryner goes on a journey to search for relics of legendary heroes from the past, and also uncover the secrets behind his cursed eyes. -- -- TV - Jul 2, 2010 -- 250,632 7.59
Detective Conan Movie 04: Captured in Her Eyes -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Adventure Mystery Comedy Police Shounen -- Detective Conan Movie 04: Captured in Her Eyes Detective Conan Movie 04: Captured in Her Eyes -- On a rainy afternoon, the Detective Boys witness a murder across the street. Barred by traffic, the culprit slips away and Conan Edogawa is left a single clue by a dying detective. Days later, another detective is found murdered in a parking lot, leaving the police rattled. Suspicious that the culprit is one of their own, everyone in the police department without an alibi is suspect. But despite being on high alert, they are outmaneuvered and suffer yet another attack—this time with Ran Mouri finding herself in the crossfire. -- -- Traumatized, Ran wakes in the hospital with retrograde amnesia, remembering nothing about her life. Soon released, she struggles to remember her past and grows fearful of not regaining her memories before being targeted by the killer for what she witnessed. As she is guarded by friends and family, it is up to Conan to piece together the clues and find who the murderer is before they strike again. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Apr 22, 2000 -- 49,129 8.03
Detective Conan Movie 07: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Adventure Mystery Comedy Police Shounen -- Detective Conan Movie 07: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital Detective Conan Movie 07: Crossroad in the Ancient Capital -- Under the cover of darkness, a masked samurai murders six men across the metropolis of Japan: three in Tokyo, one in Osaka, and the last in Kyoto. In their investigation, the police learn that each man was a member of the Genjibotaru—a thieves gang centered on the theft of Buddhist statues and artifacts and who go by the names of Minomoto no Yoshitune's servants. -- -- Without a clear motive or clues to the other members' identities, the case runs dry until a Kyoto temple calls for the famous Kogorou Mouri. Having received an anonymous letter containing a peculiar puzzle, the temple monks ask for his assistance in solving it to recover their long lost statue. Meanwhile, Conan Edogawa and high school detective Heiji Hattori team up in order to solve the cryptic puzzle and find the murderer, as Hattori searches for his childhood love. -- -- With Hattori's knowledge of Kyoto, the two scour the streets and gradually discover the truth, but not before the murderer strikes again—killing another Genjibotaru member and, after repeated attempts on Hattori's life, eventually kidnapping Hattori's childhood sweetheart. It is only by working together to bring buried clues to light can Conan and Hattori hope to end the rogue samurai's bloodshed and save Hattori's love. -- -- Movie - Apr 19, 2003 -- 40,896 7.83
Detective Conan Movie 08: Magician of the Silver Sky -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Adventure Mystery Comedy Police Shounen -- Detective Conan Movie 08: Magician of the Silver Sky Detective Conan Movie 08: Magician of the Silver Sky -- Once again, Kaitou Kid crosses swords with Conan Edogawa in this annual installment of the Detective Conan movie franchise. After receiving a letter from the thief, famous actress Juri Maki seeks the help of private detective Kogorou Mouri to protect the Star Sapphire—the "Jewel of Destiny," said to represent faith, fate, and hope. Thinking he has deciphered Kid's riddle, Kogorou personally shows up to the newly constructed space theater where Juri is acting in the play "Josephine" in order to catch Kid in the act. -- -- The next day, Conan and the gang are invited by Juri to her holiday home, to celebrate the thwarting of Kid's plan and the success of the play. However, their triumph crumbles when a murder occurs during the flight there. Although unintentional, this sets off a series of events that escalate to catastrophic results. Conan and Kid, unlikely allies that they are, must work together to save both their friends and every other passenger aboard the plane. -- -- Movie - Apr 17, 2004 -- 44,589 8.10
Detective Conan Movie 14: The Lost Ship in the Sky -- -- Tokyo Movie Shinsha -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Mystery Police Shounen -- Detective Conan Movie 14: The Lost Ship in the Sky Detective Conan Movie 14: The Lost Ship in the Sky -- One night, the Tokyo National Institute of Microorganisms is attacked by a mysterious organization calling themselves the "Red Siamese Cats." The group causes the explosion of a high-security lab storing a virus—said to have a mortality rate of 80% with no known cure. This act of terror dominates the headlines, overshadowing the unveiling of the world's biggest airship developed under Jirokichi Suzuki. Peculiarly, the unveiling has a note attached for Kaito "Kaitou Kid" Kuroba, challenging him to steal the jewel on display—the illustrious Lady Sky. -- -- Conan Edogawa is permitted to board the airship along with Kogorou Mouri, Ran Mouri, Sonoko Suzuki, Professor Agasa, and the Detective Boys. However, their fun comes to a halt when an unknown caller contacts Jirokichi and declares that they have released a certain virus in the smoking room. Soon after, symptoms begin to appear among the passengers and chaos ensues. Seizing the opportunity, the Red Siamese Cats suddenly appear and hijack the airship! -- -- To stop the assailants, Conan and Kaitou Kid, along with their allies, must work together to decipher the clues and discover the Red Siamese Cats' real objective before time runs out. -- -- Movie - Apr 17, 2010 -- 44,019 8.14
Detective Conan OVA 01: Conan vs. Kid vs. Yaiba -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Adventure Mystery Comedy Shounen -- Detective Conan OVA 01: Conan vs. Kid vs. Yaiba Detective Conan OVA 01: Conan vs. Kid vs. Yaiba -- Mitsuhiko Tsuburaya lends Conan Edogawa a massive amount of manga, which Conan starts reading, despite the overwhelming quantity. Elsewhere, Kogorou Mouri is asked by the Mine family to protect the treasured sword in their dojo, as Kaitou Kid has sent a note of his intent to steal it. Upon arriving at the dojo, Conan and the others meet Yaiba Kurogane. Together, they aim to thwart the phantom thief's plans. However, Conan begins to notice something strange about the case... -- -- OVA - ??? ??, 2000 -- 16,966 7.25
Devilman: Tanjou-hen -- -- Oh! Production -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Demons Horror Sci-Fi Supernatural -- Devilman: Tanjou-hen Devilman: Tanjou-hen -- Akira Fudou leads the life of a typical high school student. After a chance encounter with school bullies, he is rescued by his childhood friend Ryou Asuka. Ryou and Akira catch up over the course of an afternoon that ends with them crashing a party at a nightclub. Initially uncomfortable with the environment, Akira is shocked when violence provokes some of the club's partygoers to transform into demonic monsters. He and Ryou are only saved from the encounter thanks to the intervention of a great demon known as Amon. Amon possesses Akira, and the two together form the powerful Devilman⁠—a being that, due to the influence of Akira's strong empathy for his fellow man, is resolved to keep the human race safe from the threats of demonkind. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Manga Entertainment -- OVA - Nov 1, 1987 -- 22,690 7.15
Devilman: Tanjou-hen -- -- Oh! Production -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Demons Horror Sci-Fi Supernatural -- Devilman: Tanjou-hen Devilman: Tanjou-hen -- Akira Fudou leads the life of a typical high school student. After a chance encounter with school bullies, he is rescued by his childhood friend Ryou Asuka. Ryou and Akira catch up over the course of an afternoon that ends with them crashing a party at a nightclub. Initially uncomfortable with the environment, Akira is shocked when violence provokes some of the club's partygoers to transform into demonic monsters. He and Ryou are only saved from the encounter thanks to the intervention of a great demon known as Amon. Amon possesses Akira, and the two together form the powerful Devilman⁠—a being that, due to the influence of Akira's strong empathy for his fellow man, is resolved to keep the human race safe from the threats of demonkind. -- -- OVA - Nov 1, 1987 -- 22,690 7.15
Diabolik Lovers More,Blood -- -- Zexcs -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Harem School Shoujo Vampire -- Diabolik Lovers More,Blood Diabolik Lovers More,Blood -- Yui Komori, still held captive by the Sakamaki brothers—pureblood vampires after her blood—experiences yet more bizarre twists to her life following her stay at their household. Though haunted by enigmatic dreams, Yui soon deciphers their meaning when caught in a car crash, which subsequently leads to meeting four new vampires: the Mukami brothers, Ruki, Azusa, Kou, and Yuuma, who themselves capture the bewildered girl. -- -- Yui later awakens in the Mukami mansion, where the brothers reveal their plans for her: she is their "Eve," and her blood will find the "Adam" among them; together, they will have the power to rule the world. However, with the Sakamaki brothers hot on their heels, things might not go quite as smoothly as they had imagined. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 109,892 5.62
Dies Irae -- -- A.C.G.T. -- 11 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Military Super Power Magic -- Dies Irae Dies Irae -- On May 1, 1945 in Berlin, as the Red Army raises the Soviet flag over the Reichskanzlei, a group of Nazi officers conduct a ritual. For them, the slaughter in the city is nothing but the perfect ritual sacrifice in order to bring back the Order of the 13 Lances, a group of supermen whose coming would bring the world's destruction. Years later, no one knows if this group of officers succeeded, or whether they lived or died. Few know of their existence, and even those who knew began to pass away as the decades passed. -- -- Now in December in the present day in Suwahara City, Ren Fujii spends his days at the hospital. It has been two months since the incident that brought him to the hospital: a fight with his friend Shirou Yusa where they almost tried to kill each other. He tries to value what he has left to him, but every night he sees the same dream: a guillotine, murderers who hunt people, and the black clothed knights who pursue the murderers. He is desperate to return to his normal, everyday life, but even now he hears Shirou's words: "Everyone who remains in this city eventually loses their minds." -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 115,820 5.37
Dies Irae -- -- A.C.G.T. -- 11 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Military Super Power Magic -- Dies Irae Dies Irae -- On May 1, 1945 in Berlin, as the Red Army raises the Soviet flag over the Reichskanzlei, a group of Nazi officers conduct a ritual. For them, the slaughter in the city is nothing but the perfect ritual sacrifice in order to bring back the Order of the 13 Lances, a group of supermen whose coming would bring the world's destruction. Years later, no one knows if this group of officers succeeded, or whether they lived or died. Few know of their existence, and even those who knew began to pass away as the decades passed. -- -- Now in December in the present day in Suwahara City, Ren Fujii spends his days at the hospital. It has been two months since the incident that brought him to the hospital: a fight with his friend Shirou Yusa where they almost tried to kill each other. He tries to value what he has left to him, but every night he sees the same dream: a guillotine, murderers who hunt people, and the black clothed knights who pursue the murderers. He is desperate to return to his normal, everyday life, but even now he hears Shirou's words: "Everyone who remains in this city eventually loses their minds." -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 115,820 5.37
Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna -- -- Yumeta Company -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Drama -- Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna -- As the Chosen Children and their partner Digimon live happily together in the human world, Taichi Yagami and Yamato Ishida, alongside their friends, dedicate themselves to maintaining this hard-earned peace. Though united by this innate responsibility, each one has already started to take their first steps toward a future beyond being a Chosen Child. -- -- However, this new journey is interrupted by the appearance of Menoa Bellucci, an American professor specializing in Digimon research. She bears news of several Chosen Children from around the world being found comatose, with their partner Digimon nowhere to be found. Menoa's investigations indicate that a new breed of Digimon is behind the alarming phenomenon: Eosmon, who hides within the internet's depths. -- -- To succeed in this mission, the team must endeavor through the growing distance between them and band together one last time. -- -- Movie - Feb 21, 2020 -- 26,274 8.19
Digimon Adventure tri. 3: Kokuhaku -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Drama -- Digimon Adventure tri. 3: Kokuhaku Digimon Adventure tri. 3: Kokuhaku -- The Chosen Children are in shock after the betrayal of Meicoomon, the digital monster who had recently joined their group alongside her human partner, Meiko Mochizuki. Koushirou Izumi is determined to diagnose the infection that took control of Meicoomon. Meanwhile, Takeru Takaishi realizes that his own partner, Patamon, is starting to exhibit alarming symptoms similar to that of other infected Digimon, like Meicoomon. -- -- Just then, the Chosen Children receive a message from the mysterious entity Homeostasis, who informs them that their world is in danger of total destruction—and the Digital World, the home of the Digimon, is too. Homeostasis plans to enact a "Reboot," which will reset all the data that makes up the Digital World and eradicate the infection. However, the Reboot will also erase the memories of all Digimon, including the Childrens' partners. Can the Chosen Children stop Meicoomon before the Reboot becomes necessary, or is this the end of their time together with their Digimon? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Shout! Factory -- Movie - Sep 24, 2016 -- 62,313 7.69
Digimon Adventure tri. 3: Kokuhaku -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Drama -- Digimon Adventure tri. 3: Kokuhaku Digimon Adventure tri. 3: Kokuhaku -- The Chosen Children are in shock after the betrayal of Meicoomon, the digital monster who had recently joined their group alongside her human partner, Meiko Mochizuki. Koushirou Izumi is determined to diagnose the infection that took control of Meicoomon. Meanwhile, Takeru Takaishi realizes that his own partner, Patamon, is starting to exhibit alarming symptoms similar to that of other infected Digimon, like Meicoomon. -- -- Just then, the Chosen Children receive a message from the mysterious entity Homeostasis, who informs them that their world is in danger of total destruction—and the Digital World, the home of the Digimon, is too. Homeostasis plans to enact a "Reboot," which will reset all the data that makes up the Digital World and eradicate the infection. However, the Reboot will also erase the memories of all Digimon, including the Childrens' partners. Can the Chosen Children stop Meicoomon before the Reboot becomes necessary, or is this the end of their time together with their Digimon? -- -- Movie - Sep 24, 2016 -- 62,313 7.69
Dimension W -- -- Orange, Studio 3Hz -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Seinen -- Dimension W Dimension W -- In the near future, humans have discovered a fourth dimension, Dimension W, and a supposedly infinite source of energy within. In order to harness this profound new energy, mankind develops advanced "coils," devices that link to and use the power of Dimension W. However, by year 2071, the New Tesla Energy corporation has monopolized the energy industry with coils, soon leading to the illegal distribution of unofficial coils that begin flooding the markets. -- -- Kyouma Mabuchi is an ex-soldier who is wary of all coil-based technology to the extent that he still drives a gas-powered car. Kyouma is a "Collector," individuals with the sole duty of hunting down illegal coils in exchange for money. What started out as just any other mission is turned on its head when he bumps in Mira Yurizaki, an android with a connection to the "father" of coils. When a series of strange events begin to take place, these two unlikely allies band together to uncover the mysteries of Dimension W. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 258,136 7.21
Dirty Pair Flash -- -- Sunrise -- 6 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Police Comedy Sci-Fi -- Dirty Pair Flash Dirty Pair Flash -- Kei and Yuri were originally junior auxiliary agents in the Worlds Works and Welfare Agency (W.W.W.A. or 3WA for short) when the two were paired together under the codename "Lovely Angels." Kei was coming off her fourth probation for something she had done, and Yuri's dating exploits were common knowledge, not to mention the two had an instant dislike for each other when they met. -- -- At first, Kei and Yuri refused to work with each other, and Kei even resigned from the 3WA. Afterwards, the two continued to work together, although they earned their nickname, "the Dirty Pair" because of all the collateral damage the two (unintentionally) cause in the completion of their cases. And even though the two now get along with one another, they continue to bicker and complain to each other. -- -- Although it is often said that these are younger versions of the original Lovely Angels Kei and Yuri, in truth this series is an alternate universe telling of Dirty Pair, set in the years 2248-49. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Nozomi Entertainment -- OVA - Jan 21, 1994 -- 7,309 6.65
Divine Gate -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Sci-Fi Fantasy -- Divine Gate Divine Gate -- The legend of the Divine Gate is a story told to young children that depicts the merging of the living world, the heavens, and the underworld. "Adapters"—people born with unique elemental abilities gifted to them from the union of these worlds—formed the World Council, an organization which controls the chaos of the Gate by portraying its legend as nothing more than a myth. These Adapters train in a special academy owned by the World Council that allows the students to hone their skills. -- -- Aoto, a teenage boy with exceptional water powers and a tragic past, rejects the offer to join the academy numerous times—until he is successfully pressured by the energetic wind user Midori and stubborn fire user Akane. Together, with the World Council and their mysterious leader Arthur, they seek out the Gate in the hopes of uncovering the truth. But in order to reach their goals, they must unite and overcome their own despair while dealing with behind the scene mischief. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 147,125 5.58
Dokidoki! Precure -- -- Toei Animation -- 49 eps -- Original -- Action Magic Fantasy Shoujo -- Dokidoki! Precure Dokidoki! Precure -- Middle schooler Mana Aida is known for her vivid passion and kind-hearted disposition, especially by her friends Rikka Hishikawa and Alice Yotsuba. While the girls are on a school field trip, otherworldly villains from the "Trump Kingdom" appear and create giant monsters from the civilians' selfish desires to cause havoc. -- -- In the midst of finding a way to stop the destruction, Mana encounters "Cure Sword," a mysterious Precure warrior. As Cure Sword engages in combat with the monsters, Mana meets Cure Sword's fairy allies, who tell her that she also has the ability to transform into a warrior herself. When Trump Kingdom's invaders begin to outnumber Cure Sword, Mana takes to the battleground with resolve. She partners with Sharuru, one of the fairies, and transforms into "Cure Heart"—the Precure of Love. -- -- In her attempts to ally with Cure Sword, Mana ends up pulling Rikka and Alice into the fray, whom each partner with a fairy ally to transform into "Cure Diamond" and "Cure Rosetta," respectively. Together, they battle against the Trump Kingdom invaders to protect the love in the world from being destroyed. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Saban Entertainment -- TV - Feb 3, 2013 -- 18,169 6.57
Dokyuu Hentai HxEros -- -- Project No.9 -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Ecchi School Shounen Supernatural -- Dokyuu Hentai HxEros Dokyuu Hentai HxEros -- Five years ago, alien beings known as the "Kiseichuu'' invaded the world. With the species endangered, the Kiseichuu are determined to take over Earth through a deadly plan that would gradually wipe out the human race: take away humanity's sexual drive using various methods, letting them die out. In response to the Kiseichuus' scheme, the HxEros device was developed—a powerful weapon that only those with high levels of erotic energy can utilize at its maximum capacity. -- -- Retto Enjou, a high schooler harboring an immense hatred toward the Kiseichuu, joins a group of HxEros users to fight against them and protect humankind. With their gear reliant on erotic energy as a source of power, the team must work together to maintain high levels of libido to ensure their readiness for combat at any given time. Moreover, as he lives in a house full of lustful girls, Enjou should not expect a shortage of power anytime soon. -- -- 85,308 5.73
Dokyuu Hentai HxEros -- -- Project No.9 -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Ecchi School Shounen Supernatural -- Dokyuu Hentai HxEros Dokyuu Hentai HxEros -- Five years ago, alien beings known as the "Kiseichuu'' invaded the world. With the species endangered, the Kiseichuu are determined to take over Earth through a deadly plan that would gradually wipe out the human race: take away humanity's sexual drive using various methods, letting them die out. In response to the Kiseichuus' scheme, the HxEros device was developed—a powerful weapon that only those with high levels of erotic energy can utilize at its maximum capacity. -- -- Retto Enjou, a high schooler harboring an immense hatred toward the Kiseichuu, joins a group of HxEros users to fight against them and protect humankind. With their gear reliant on erotic energy as a source of power, the team must work together to maintain high levels of libido to ensure their readiness for combat at any given time. Moreover, as he lives in a house full of lustful girls, Enjou should not expect a shortage of power anytime soon. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 85,308 5.73
Donten ni Warau Gaiden: Ouka, Tenbou no Kakehashi -- -- Blade, Wit Studio -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Historical Supernatural -- Donten ni Warau Gaiden: Ouka, Tenbou no Kakehashi Donten ni Warau Gaiden: Ouka, Tenbou no Kakehashi -- The three brothers discover that the human experiment banned after destroying the "Orochi", is still going on to secretly revive the evil snake. They also find out that some ex-members of the Yamainu (the Japanese military unit formed to kill the snake) are behind this conspiracy. The brothers fight together again in a battle against the military. -- -- (Source: Amazon Prime Video) -- Movie - Sep 1, 2018 -- 7,154 7.21
Doraemon Movie 20: Nobita no Uchuu Hyouryuuki -- -- - -- 1 ep -- - -- Adventure Comedy Fantasy Kids Shounen Space -- Doraemon Movie 20: Nobita no Uchuu Hyouryuuki Doraemon Movie 20: Nobita no Uchuu Hyouryuuki -- After bragging about receiving a space trip ticket from his father, Suneo concedes they would have to wait quite a while until they can actually go. So, Nobita and co. turns to Doraemon for it, but they were given a space simulation game to play together instead. Unfortunately an accident with another gadget occurred, leaving Suneo and Giant trapped inside the game, only to be picked up by someone from outer space. Nobita, Shizuka and Doraemon then pursued the UFO that has the game inside it which took them all to a real space adventure. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- Movie - Mar 6, 1999 -- 3,104 7.06
Dorei-ku The Animation -- -- TNK, Zero-G -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Psychological -- Dorei-ku The Animation Dorei-ku The Animation -- Eager to know why her best friend’s boyfriend dumped her for a man, the headstrong Eiya Arakawa suggests a meeting with them. Gathered together at a café, Yuuga Oota agrees to answer Eiya’s questions only if she can correctly ascertain the relationship of a couple sitting across from them, which she does on her first attempt. Amazed by her astounding intellect and intuition, he invites her to a private meeting where he introduces her to the concept of Slave Control Method, or SCM, a retainer-like device that has the ability to turn people into slaves. -- -- When two SCM users enter a duel, the devices exert a powerful influence on their brains. Once the duel is over, the SCM amplifies the loser’s sense of obligation and forces them to bend to the will of the winner. Wanting desperately to test his own abilities, Yuuga asks Eiya to act as his insurance in the event that he himself becomes a slave. Granted access to 10 million yen, Eiya’s job is to convince Yuuga’s would-be master to free him from his servitude. Though hesitant at first, Yuuga’s words resonate with her personal yearning for something more from her life, and she agrees to his request. However, when a mysterious organization begins rapidly accruing slaves, Eiya becomes entangled in a game far more dangerous than she ever could have imagined. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 51,942 5.98
Dragon Ball Kai -- -- Toei Animation -- 97 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Martial Arts Shounen Super Power -- Dragon Ball Kai Dragon Ball Kai -- Five years after the events of Dragon Ball, martial arts expert Gokuu is now a grown man married to his wife Chi-Chi, with a four-year old son named Gohan. While attending a reunion on Turtle Island with his old friends Master Roshi, Krillin, Bulma and others, the festivities are interrupted when a humanoid alien named Raditz not only reveals the truth behind Gokuu's past, but kidnaps Gohan as well. -- -- With Raditz displaying power beyond anything Gokuu has seen before, he is forced to team up with his old nemesis, Piccolo, in order to rescue his son. But when Gokuu and Piccolo reveal the secret of the seven mystical wish-granting Dragon Balls to Raditz, he informs the duo that there is more of his race, the Saiyans, and they won’t pass up an opportunity to seize the power of the Dragon Balls for themselves. -- -- These events begin the saga of Dragon Ball Kai, a story that finds Gokuu and his friends and family constantly defending the galaxy from increasingly more powerful threats. Bizarre, comical, heartwarming and threatening characters come together in a series of battles that push the powers and abilities of Gokuu and his friends beyond anything they have ever experienced. -- 283,006 7.72
Dragon Ball Kai -- -- Toei Animation -- 97 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Martial Arts Shounen Super Power -- Dragon Ball Kai Dragon Ball Kai -- Five years after the events of Dragon Ball, martial arts expert Gokuu is now a grown man married to his wife Chi-Chi, with a four-year old son named Gohan. While attending a reunion on Turtle Island with his old friends Master Roshi, Krillin, Bulma and others, the festivities are interrupted when a humanoid alien named Raditz not only reveals the truth behind Gokuu's past, but kidnaps Gohan as well. -- -- With Raditz displaying power beyond anything Gokuu has seen before, he is forced to team up with his old nemesis, Piccolo, in order to rescue his son. But when Gokuu and Piccolo reveal the secret of the seven mystical wish-granting Dragon Balls to Raditz, he informs the duo that there is more of his race, the Saiyans, and they won’t pass up an opportunity to seize the power of the Dragon Balls for themselves. -- -- These events begin the saga of Dragon Ball Kai, a story that finds Gokuu and his friends and family constantly defending the galaxy from increasingly more powerful threats. Bizarre, comical, heartwarming and threatening characters come together in a series of battles that push the powers and abilities of Gokuu and his friends beyond anything they have ever experienced. -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 283,006 7.72
Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken (2020) -- -- Toei Animation -- ? eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Fantasy Shounen -- Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken (2020) Dragon Quest: Dai no Daibouken (2020) -- A long time ago, there was a valiant swordsman who came to be known simply as "the hero." There was a demon who has caused people suffering. The hero and his companions arrived to challenge the demon to a battle and by combining their powers, the battle was brought swift conclusion. With no one around to cause trouble, the island became a quiet place where everyone could live together in peace. -- -- Several years later, the demon is revived. Our present-day protagonist, Dai, lives on a remote island in the southern seas and dreams of becoming a great hero. When he hears about the demon's revival, Dai and his friends take it upon themselves to stop him and the evil force that revived him. Along the way, Dai discovers the identity of "the hero," the truth behind the evil force who revived the demon, and Dai's own hidden powers that surface in times of peril. -- -- (Source: MU, edited) -- 44,669 7.08
Duel Masters Movie 3: Honoo no Kizuna XX -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Game Shounen -- Duel Masters Movie 3: Honoo no Kizuna XX Duel Masters Movie 3: Honoo no Kizuna XX -- The Darkness Civilization has attacked the Fire Civilization! -- -- Shobu, together with Rekuta, goes to the world of Duel Masters to help the Fire Civilization. However, when Shobu arrives, he is shocked to see a badly beaten Storm XX, said to be the Fire Civilization's trump card. At that moment, Rekuta and Reppi Aini, Storm XX's comrade, are captured by Darkness Civilization creatures. -- -- Will Shobu be able to rescue the two, and what will become of the Fire Civilization? -- -- (Source: Duel Masters Wikia) -- Movie - Aug 21, 2010 -- 784 5.94
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka -- -- J.C.Staff -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Comedy Romance Fantasy -- Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka -- Life in the bustling city of Orario is never dull, especially for Bell Cranel, a naïve young man who hopes to become the greatest adventurer in the land. After a chance encounter with the lonely goddess, Hestia, his dreams become a little closer to reality. With her support, Bell embarks on a fantastic quest as he ventures deep within the city's monster-filled catacombs, known only as the "Dungeon." Death lurks around every corner in the cavernous depths of this terrifying labyrinth, and a mysterious power moves amidst the shadows. -- -- Even on the surface, survival is a hard-earned privilege. Indeed, nothing is ever certain in a world where gods and humans live and work together, especially when they often struggle to get along. One thing is for sure, though: a myriad of blunders, triumphs and friendships awaits the dauntlessly optimistic protagonist of this herculean tale. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 1,138,573 7.61
Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka IV -- -- - -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Comedy Romance Fantasy -- Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka IV Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka IV -- Fourth season of Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka. -- TV - ??? ??, 2022 -- 55,073 N/A -- -- Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e -- -- SILVER LINK. -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Magic Fantasy School -- Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e -- Second season of Maou Gakuin no Futekigousha: Shijou Saikyou no Maou no Shiso, Tensei shite Shison-tachi no Gakkou e Kayou. -- TV - ??? ??, ???? -- 55,065 N/A -- -- Tegamibachi Reverse -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Supernatural Fantasy Shounen -- Tegamibachi Reverse Tegamibachi Reverse -- After Niche carries the wounded and stunned Lag back to the Bee Hive, the Letter Bee finally begins to piece the puzzle together. Now he knows what's happened to Gauche, why the Marauders are so focused on stealing mail and the actual intent of the group controlling both, Reverse. However, when he's forbidden to reveal the truth, Lag is soon forced out of the artificial sunlight and back into the world of perpetual night. And soon Reverse's plot to take down the Letter Bees and overthrow the Amberground government begins to accelerate. If things weren't already bad enough, the giant insect creatures called gaichuu are apparently evolving into something new; there may be traitors working within the Hive; and Niche's sister, who's definitely not human friendly, shows up to turn family drama into a full-scale siege! It all spells serious trouble for the Letter Bees, but if anyone can weather the storms and gloom of night, Lag and his team are the ones who'll deliver. -- -- (Source: FUNimation) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 55,008 7.77
Durarara!!x2 Ketsu -- -- Shuka -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Supernatural -- Durarara!!x2 Ketsu Durarara!!x2 Ketsu -- As Mikado Ryuugamine continues to purge the Dollars from within in accordance with his warped sense of justice, Masaomi Kida hopes to bring his friend back to his senses by bringing the Yellow Scarves together once more. Little do they know that a far more dominant force is about to enter their struggle for power, one that their friend Anri Sonohara is all too familiar with. -- -- Meanwhile, the group that has gathered at Shinra Kishitani's apartment realizes that they are on the brink of something life-changing, an event that will throw Ikebukuro into a spiral of confusion. Their anxiety is realized when reports of Celty's head being found in public start to appear all over the news as Kasane Kujiragi begins to make her move. -- -- Gone are the brief periods of tranquility as the current turmoil sets the stage for one final performance in this thrilling conclusion to the story of Ikebukuro's finest. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 308,424 8.09
Durarara!!x2 Shou: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou -- -- Shuka -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Supernatural -- Durarara!!x2 Shou: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou Durarara!!x2 Shou: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou -- One night, Mikado Ryuugamine accepts an invitation to Shinra Kishitani's apartment, eager to talk to Celty as quite some time has passed since the two last spoke. But, much to his astonishment, he finds that a large group of Ikebukuro's finest has gathered there for a hot pot party. -- -- Already confused with the current situation, Mikado is further surprised to see that his friend and fellow Raira Academy student Anri Sonohara is there as well. As the two decide to take a seat together, a few members of the group begin reminiscing over events from days past: Mikado recalls an adventure from his childhood with Masaomi Kida, Anri explains how she came to be friends with Mika Harima, and Shizuo Heiwajima tells of his first meeting with Tom Tanaka. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Special - Jul 22, 2015 -- 55,742 7.71
Durarara!!x2 Shou: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou -- -- Shuka -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Supernatural -- Durarara!!x2 Shou: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou Durarara!!x2 Shou: Watashi no Kokoro wa Nabe Moyou -- One night, Mikado Ryuugamine accepts an invitation to Shinra Kishitani's apartment, eager to talk to Celty as quite some time has passed since the two last spoke. But, much to his astonishment, he finds that a large group of Ikebukuro's finest has gathered there for a hot pot party. -- -- Already confused with the current situation, Mikado is further surprised to see that his friend and fellow Raira Academy student Anri Sonohara is there as well. As the two decide to take a seat together, a few members of the group begin reminiscing over events from days past: Mikado recalls an adventure from his childhood with Masaomi Kida, Anri explains how she came to be friends with Mika Harima, and Shizuo Heiwajima tells of his first meeting with Tom Tanaka. -- -- Special - Jul 22, 2015 -- 55,742 7.71
Durarara!!x2 Ten: Onoroke Chakapoko -- -- Shuka -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Supernatural -- Durarara!!x2 Ten: Onoroke Chakapoko Durarara!!x2 Ten: Onoroke Chakapoko -- In spite of the mayhem that has been taking place in Ikebukuro, Shinra Kishitani and Celty Sturluson have decided to go on a short trip. Excited to finally be going out with the one he loves, the underground doctor makes it his priority to give Celty his undivided attention, even if it means rejecting phone calls from his good friend Izaya Orihara. -- -- However, despite his hopes of having a peaceful holiday, Ikebukuro's various residents continue trying to reach him. Furthermore, just as Shinra begins to enjoy reminiscing about old memories on a carriage ride together with his beloved, Celty starts to notice a strange presence... -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Special - Jan 27, 2016 -- 43,630 7.56
Durarara!!x2 Ten: Onoroke Chakapoko -- -- Shuka -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Supernatural -- Durarara!!x2 Ten: Onoroke Chakapoko Durarara!!x2 Ten: Onoroke Chakapoko -- In spite of the mayhem that has been taking place in Ikebukuro, Shinra Kishitani and Celty Sturluson have decided to go on a short trip. Excited to finally be going out with the one he loves, the underground doctor makes it his priority to give Celty his undivided attention, even if it means rejecting phone calls from his good friend Izaya Orihara. -- -- However, despite his hopes of having a peaceful holiday, Ikebukuro's various residents continue trying to reach him. Furthermore, just as Shinra begins to enjoy reminiscing about old memories on a carriage ride together with his beloved, Celty starts to notice a strange presence... -- -- Special - Jan 27, 2016 -- 43,630 7.56
ef: A Tale of Memories. -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Mystery Drama Romance -- ef: A Tale of Memories. ef: A Tale of Memories. -- On Christmas Eve, Hiro Hirono runs into Miyako Miyamura, a frivolous girl who "borrows" his bicycle in order to chase down a purse thief. After Hiro finds his bicycle wrecked and Miyako unconscious, the two unexpectedly spend their Christmas Eve together, and when they discover they go to the same high school, their accidental relationship develops even further. This sparks the jealousy of Hiro's childhood friend Kei Shindou, whose pure approach to life catches the eye of Kyosuke Tsutsumi, a womanizing photographer searching for the perfect shot. -- -- Elsewhere, Renji Asou, a boy who dreams of being a girl's knight in shining armor, has a chance encounter with Kei's twin sister—the overly shy Chihiro Shindou, who spends her time reading alone—at an abandoned train station. The two quickly become friends and eventually decide to write a novel together. However, when Renji discovers Chihiro's secret, a disability that causes her to have an eternally ephemeral memory, his childish ideals will be put to the test. -- -- Guided by two mysterious adults, these youths' relationships intertwine in a heart-rending tale of love, rejection, acceptance, and memories. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 223,388 7.94
Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou -- -- David Production -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Supernatural Shounen -- Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou -- After his confrontation in the Nether with his younger brother Shou, Shinra Kusakabe's resolve to become a hero that saves lives from the flame terror strengthens. Finding a way to turn the Infernals back into people, unraveling the mystery of the Evangelist and Adolla Burst, and saving his mother and Shou—these are the goals Shinra has in mind. However, he has come to realize that attaining these goals will not be easy, especially with the imminent danger the Evangelist poses. -- -- The Evangelist's plan is clear: to gather the eight pillars—the individuals who possess Adolla Burst—and sacrifice them to recreate the Great Cataclysm from 250 years ago. Having been revealed by the First Pillar that the birth of a new pillar is approaching, Shinra is determined to protect his fellow pillars from the Evangelist. Thus, the fiery battle between the Special Fire Force and the Evangelist ignites. Together with the Special Fire Force, Shinra's fight continues as he uncovers the truth about the Great Cataclysm and the nature of Adolla Bursts, as well as the mysteries behind human combustion. -- -- 402,357 7.75
Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou -- -- David Production -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Supernatural Shounen -- Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou Enen no Shouboutai: Ni no Shou -- After his confrontation in the Nether with his younger brother Shou, Shinra Kusakabe's resolve to become a hero that saves lives from the flame terror strengthens. Finding a way to turn the Infernals back into people, unraveling the mystery of the Evangelist and Adolla Burst, and saving his mother and Shou—these are the goals Shinra has in mind. However, he has come to realize that attaining these goals will not be easy, especially with the imminent danger the Evangelist poses. -- -- The Evangelist's plan is clear: to gather the eight pillars—the individuals who possess Adolla Burst—and sacrifice them to recreate the Great Cataclysm from 250 years ago. Having been revealed by the First Pillar that the birth of a new pillar is approaching, Shinra is determined to protect his fellow pillars from the Evangelist. Thus, the fiery battle between the Special Fire Force and the Evangelist ignites. Together with the Special Fire Force, Shinra's fight continues as he uncovers the truth about the Great Cataclysm and the nature of Adolla Bursts, as well as the mysteries behind human combustion. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 402,357 7.75
Eromanga-sensei -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Drama Romance Ecchi -- Eromanga-sensei Eromanga-sensei -- One year ago, Sagiri Izumi became step-siblings with Masamune Izumi. But the sudden death of their parents tears their new family apart, resulting in Sagiri becoming a shut-in which cut her off from her brother and society. -- -- While caring for what's left of his family, Masamune earns a living as a published light novel author with one small problem: he's never actually met his acclaimed illustrator, Eromanga-sensei, infamous for drawing the most lewd erotica. Through an embarrassing chain of events, he learns that his very own little sister was his partner the whole time! -- -- As new characters and challenges appear, Masamune and Sagiri must now face the light novel industry together. Eromanga-Sensei follows the development of their relationship and their struggle to become successful; and as Sagiri slowly grows out of her shell, just how long will she be able to hide her true persona from the rest of the world? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 543,359 6.46
Escha & Logy no Atelier: Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi -- -- Studio Gokumi -- 12 eps -- Game -- Fantasy -- Escha & Logy no Atelier: Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi Escha & Logy no Atelier: Tasogare no Sora no Renkinjutsushi -- This world has gone through many Dusks, and is slowly nearing its end. Within this world, in the western reaches of the "Land of Dusk," there was a nation that prospered thanks to its use of alchemy. -- -- There, in order to survive the eventual arrival of the "Dusk End," the people devoted their efforts to rediscover and recreate lost alchemic technologies. Rediscovered technology from the past era was gathered in the alchemy research city known as "Central," where research was conducted on how to halt the advance of the twilight. -- -- One of the heroes is a young man who researched alchemy in Central, the other a girl living in a small town on the frontier. This girl's name is Escha. In the process of using her knowledge of ancient alchemy to help others, she was assigned to the Development Department. The young man's name is Logy. Having learned the newest alchemic techniques in Central, he requested a transfer to this understaffed town to make use of his abilities, and meets Escha when he is assigned to the Development Department as well. The two make a promise to use their alchemy together, and bring success to the Development Department. -- -- (Source: Tecmo Koei Europe) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Apr 10, 2014 -- 55,103 6.44
E's Otherwise -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Drama Military Sci-Fi Shounen Supernatural -- E's Otherwise E's Otherwise -- Kai, who has powers different from the rest, together with his sickly sister Hikaru was protected by an organization called ASHURUM. Scouted by Eiji, Kai was delegated to the ASHURUM special force AESES and undergo intensive training. Whenever he was free, Kai visited Hikaru at the hospital belongs to the organization, but Hikaru's condition never improved. So, one year later, with amazing growth from the intensive training, Kai decides to escape from the organization. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 14,873 6.63
E's Otherwise -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Drama Military Sci-Fi Shounen Supernatural -- E's Otherwise E's Otherwise -- Kai, who has powers different from the rest, together with his sickly sister Hikaru was protected by an organization called ASHURUM. Scouted by Eiji, Kai was delegated to the ASHURUM special force AESES and undergo intensive training. Whenever he was free, Kai visited Hikaru at the hospital belongs to the organization, but Hikaru's condition never improved. So, one year later, with amazing growth from the intensive training, Kai decides to escape from the organization. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- 14,873 6.63
Fairy Tail -- -- A-1 Pictures, Satelight -- 175 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Fairy Tail Fairy Tail -- In the mystical land of Fiore, magic exists as an essential part of everyday life. Countless magic guilds lie at the core of all magical activity, and serve as venues for like-minded mages to band together and take on job requests. Among them, Fairy Tail stands out from the rest as a place of strength, spirit, and family. -- -- Lucy Heartfilia is a young mage searching for celestial gate keys, and her dream is to become a full-fledged wizard by joining this famous guild. In her search, she runs into Natsu Dragneel and his partner Happy, who are on a quest to find Natsu's foster father, the dragon Igneel. -- -- Upon being tricked by a man, Lucy falls under an abduction attempt, only to be saved by Natsu. To her shock, he reveals that he is a member of Fairy Tail and invites her to join them. There, Lucy meets the guild's strange members, such as the ice wizard Gray Fullbuster and magic swordswoman Erza Scarlet. Together as a family, they battle the forces of evil, help those in need, and gain new friends, all the while enjoying the never-ending adventure that is Fairy Tail. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 1,374,207 7.64
Fairy Tail Movie 1: Houou no Miko -- -- A-1 Pictures, Satelight -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Magic Shounen -- Fairy Tail Movie 1: Houou no Miko Fairy Tail Movie 1: Houou no Miko -- In the mountains of north Fiore lies the Fire Village, where a lush-blue relic known as the Phoenix Stone is preserved. Entrusted to a mystifying woman named Éclair, it is said to contain the power of an ancient phoenix. She wanders the land alone and protects the stone from harm, despite having no memory of why it was left in her care and only the faintest recollection of where she must take it. -- -- After encountering the wizard guild Fairy Tail, Éclair receives an offer from Natsu Dragneel and his friends to help her uncover the mysteries surrounding the stone. However, in the midst of the group's journey, Éclair is suddenly attacked and the stone is taken from her. With this, nefarious intentions to revive the blazing phoenix for its unparalleled power come to light, and the wizards of Fairy Tail find themselves in a situation that could spell calamity. They must now work together to prevent the revival of the phoenix and save the world from ruin. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Aug 18, 2012 -- 171,203 7.39
Fairy Tail Movie 1: Houou no Miko -- -- A-1 Pictures, Satelight -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Magic Shounen -- Fairy Tail Movie 1: Houou no Miko Fairy Tail Movie 1: Houou no Miko -- In the mountains of north Fiore lies the Fire Village, where a lush-blue relic known as the Phoenix Stone is preserved. Entrusted to a mystifying woman named Éclair, it is said to contain the power of an ancient phoenix. She wanders the land alone and protects the stone from harm, despite having no memory of why it was left in her care and only the faintest recollection of where she must take it. -- -- After encountering the wizard guild Fairy Tail, Éclair receives an offer from Natsu Dragneel and his friends to help her uncover the mysteries surrounding the stone. However, in the midst of the group's journey, Éclair is suddenly attacked and the stone is taken from her. With this, nefarious intentions to revive the blazing phoenix for its unparalleled power come to light, and the wizards of Fairy Tail find themselves in a situation that could spell calamity. They must now work together to prevent the revival of the phoenix and save the world from ruin. -- -- Movie - Aug 18, 2012 -- 171,203 7.39
Fairy Tail x Rave -- -- A-1 Pictures, Satelight -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Magic Shounen -- Fairy Tail x Rave Fairy Tail x Rave -- While on a mission to find and defeat a troublesome mage, several members of the Fairy Tail guild are split up in an unfamiliar town. At the same time, Haru, Elie, and the rest of their group are also separated. In a fortunate turn of events, Elie runs into Lucy and Happy, who are looking for Natsu. Meanwhile, Haru stumbles upon Natsu, who is struggling with motion sickness. Although she seems friendly, Elie matches the description of the troublemaker that the Fairy Tail members were assigned to locate. To make matters worse, Natsu learns of Haru's relationship with her and suspects them to be accomplices. -- -- In this crossover between two popular series, Fairy Tail x Rave follows the two groups as they discover their similarities with each other. As the miscommunications add up, they are pitted against one another in a heated clash of powers, but will have to work together against a common foe. -- -- OVA - Aug 16, 2013 -- 106,107 7.19
Fate/Zero 2nd Season -- -- ufotable -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Fate/Zero 2nd Season Fate/Zero 2nd Season -- As the Fourth Holy Grail War rages on with no clear victor in sight, the remaining Servants and their Masters are called upon by Church supervisor Risei Kotomine, in order to band together and confront an impending threat that could unravel the Grail War and bring about the destruction of Fuyuki City. The uneasy truce soon collapses as Masters demonstrate that they will do anything in their power, no matter how despicable, to win. -- -- Seeds of doubt are sown between Kiritsugu Emiya and Saber, his Servant, as their conflicting ideologies on heroism and chivalry clash. Meanwhile, an ominous bond forms between Kirei Kotomine, who still seeks to find his purpose in life, and one of the remaining Servants. As the countdown to the end of the war reaches zero, the cost of winning begins to blur the line between victory and defeat. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 846,123 8.59
Final Approach -- -- Zexcs -- 13 eps -- Visual novel -- Comedy Drama Romance Slice of Life -- Final Approach Final Approach -- Ever since their parents died a few years ago, Ryo and his sister Akane have been living alone together. Despite their difficult situation, they are still living reasonably happy and normal lives. However, everything is about to be flipped upside-down due to a secret government project. Due to increasingly low birth rates in Japan, the Japanese government is testing a program in which two young people are forced to marry. Ryo wants no part of it, but he is given little choice in the matter; his new fiancée, Shizuka, comes to his home late one night with several dozen government issued bodyguards, who are there to ensure the success of the new couple. Unlike Ryo, Shizuka couldn’t be more willing to go along with this new program, and eagerly goes about her wifely duties, despite his objections. With meddling friends, pushy bodyguards, and an overenthusiastic new fiancée, Ryo’s life has taken a turn in a direction the young man certainly didn’t expect. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Oct 3, 2004 -- 32,102 6.55
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within -- -- Square Enix -- 1 ep -- Game -- Sci-Fi -- Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within -- The year is 2065, and the planet of Earth is far removed from the place that it was in the past. Deadly alien creatures known as Phantoms have appeared all over the planet, and mere contact with these entities is lethal, whether it be an instant death or a prolonged decline. In order to try and salvage what little of the human race is left, large force-field barriers have been constructed around certain cities to repel the Phantoms. -- -- Seeking a more permanent solution to this invasion are scientists Aki Ross and her mentor, Dr. Sid, whose investigations have revealed that there exists a form of spiritual, Gaia energy that can eradicate the Phantom's presence from this world. Aki and Sid aren't alone in their quest through Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within; the human council and the military squad "Deep Eyes" are ready to help. Not everyone is convinced of this plan though. -- -- Aki, Sid, Grey, and their allies have to band together against forces both alien and human if they are to have any chance at restoring peace to Earth. An enemy whose mere touch is fatal, the Phantoms appear the more dangerous enemy, but as they will come to find out, their human nemeses are also not to be trifled with. -- Movie - Jul 2, 2001 -- 65,855 6.35
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children -- -- Square Enix -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Super Power Fantasy -- Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children -- Two years ago, the world was changed forever. The young Cloud Strife and his band of friends may have defeated Sephiroth and thwarted his plan to crash a giant meteor into the Earth, but this victory was not without great cost. The highly populated city of Midgar was nearly ripped apart in the conflict. Fortunately, many of the city's citizens were able to evacuate to safety, and in the years afterward have formed a new home called Edge. -- -- Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children revolves around Cloud and Tifa as they try to make new lives for themselves, as well as for those around them, in this new city. Together they run a courier service, and tend to their mutual friend Barret’s adopted daughter Marlene and a young orphan by the name of Denzel. Denzel, Cloud, and scores of children are suffering from a mysterious new illness called "Geostigma." -- -- The children of the city have one other threat looming over their heads—a trio of powerful men are kidnapping infected kids for unknown reasons. Cloud is determined to save these young ones, not only from Geostigma, but from the kidnappers as well. He has no idea, however, that these men share a link to his old enemy, Sephiroth, and Cloud’s quest to vanquish them will bring him back into conflict with the demons of his past. If there is any hope in conquering these threats, it lays within the bonds of friendship between Cloud and his allies who saved the world once, and now must do so again. -- -- Licensor: -- Sony Pictures Entertainment -- Movie - Sep 14, 2005 -- 193,530 7.75
Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete -- -- Square Enix -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Fantasy Super Power -- Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete -- Two years after saving the world from a cataclysmic event, the members of the activist organization Avalanche have gone their separate ways. Tifa Lockhart opens a new bar, and her childhood friend Cloud Strife starts up a motorcycle-based courier service. Although most of their former allies have fallen out of touch, Cloud and Tifa live in fragile peace with their two young wards Marlene and Denzel. -- -- Their life together begins to crumble as a contagious plague and overwhelming grief pull Cloud away from his newfound family. While distancing himself through his work, Cloud is attacked by three silver-haired figures in black uniforms who bear a passing resemblance to his bitter rival, Sephiroth. As the antagonistic trio stalks Cloud and brings harm to his loved ones, the former mercenary struggles against his own demons while fighting to protect his family and prevent the will of Sephiroth from returning to the planet. -- -- OVA - Apr 16, 2009 -- 117,416 7.95
Fire Emblem -- -- Studio Fantasia -- 2 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure Fantasy Magic Shounen -- Fire Emblem Fire Emblem -- The Kingdoms of Dolhr, Grust, and Gra band together to wage war on the rest of the continent Archanea and defeat the Kingdom of Altea. King Cornelius is slain in battle but his son Prince Marth is able to escape the invasion thanks to the sacrifice of his older sister Elice. He and a small group of retainers find refuge on the island nation of Talys, where they spend the next three years in hiding under the royal family's protection. -- -- Marth lives a peaceful life in Talys, enjoying the beauty of the island and the friendship of its pegasus-riding princess, Caeda. But he is uneasy, knowing soon the day will come that he must take up arms. That day arrives when Caeda comes to Marth and his retainers in a panic, telling him that the castle town has been attacked. After some close calls, they manage to defeat the assailants and save the city. -- -- Realizing that his presence may bring further danger to his new home, Marth decides that now is the time to set off. He journeys to raise an army with which to reclaim his kingdom. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- OVA - Jan 26, 1996 -- 10,977 5.64
FLCL Progressive -- -- Production GoodBook, Production I.G, Signal.MD -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Comedy Dementia Mecha Parody Sci-Fi -- FLCL Progressive FLCL Progressive -- Hidomi Hibajiri is a dissilusioned young girl who never takes off her headphones. Her whole life consists of going to school, helping out at her mother's cafe, and listening to music. And with nothing else to break the crippling monotony, she keeps her headphones on at all times. That is, until she is run over by a mysterious guitar-wielding woman. -- -- That same night, a robot barges into Hidomi’s room along with a boy from her class, Ko Ide, and the kids are chased around town together. They're saved by the guitar-wielding woman from before, but now Hidomi's got a horn growing from her forehead? Who knows where these robots are coming from, what kind of vespa woman this weird guitar woman is warning her about, or what this thing on her forehead is, but it doesn't look like Hidomi is going to be able to ignore all this with headphones! -- -- -- Licensor: -- NYAV Post -- Movie - Sep 28, 2018 -- 107,480 6.41
FLCL Progressive -- -- Production GoodBook, Production I.G, Signal.MD -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Comedy Dementia Mecha Parody Sci-Fi -- FLCL Progressive FLCL Progressive -- Hidomi Hibajiri is a dissilusioned young girl who never takes off her headphones. Her whole life consists of going to school, helping out at her mother's cafe, and listening to music. And with nothing else to break the crippling monotony, she keeps her headphones on at all times. That is, until she is run over by a mysterious guitar-wielding woman. -- -- That same night, a robot barges into Hidomi’s room along with a boy from her class, Ko Ide, and the kids are chased around town together. They're saved by the guitar-wielding woman from before, but now Hidomi's got a horn growing from her forehead? Who knows where these robots are coming from, what kind of vespa woman this weird guitar woman is warning her about, or what this thing on her forehead is, but it doesn't look like Hidomi is going to be able to ignore all this with headphones! -- -- Movie - Sep 28, 2018 -- 107,480 6.41
Flip Flappers -- -- Studio 3Hz -- 13 eps -- Original -- Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy Magic -- Flip Flappers Flip Flappers -- Cocona is an average middle schooler living with her grandmother. And she who has yet to decide a goal to strive for, soon met a strange girl named Papika who invites her to an organization called Flip Flap. -- -- Dragged along by the energetic stranger, Cocona finds herself in the world of Pure Illusion—a bizarre alternate dimension—helping Papika look for crystal shards. Upon completing their mission, Papika and Cocona are sent to yet another world in Pure Illusion. As a dangerous creature besets them, the girls use their crystals to transform into magical girls: Cocona into Pure Blade, and Papika into Pure Barrier. But as they try to defeat the creature before them, three others with powers from a rival organization enter the fray and slay the creature, taking with them a fragment left behind from its body. Afterward, the girls realize that to stand a chance against their rivals and the creatures in Pure Illusion, they must learn to work together and synchronize their feelings in order to transform more effectively. -- -- 159,760 7.68
Flip Flappers -- -- Studio 3Hz -- 13 eps -- Original -- Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy Magic -- Flip Flappers Flip Flappers -- Cocona is an average middle schooler living with her grandmother. And she who has yet to decide a goal to strive for, soon met a strange girl named Papika who invites her to an organization called Flip Flap. -- -- Dragged along by the energetic stranger, Cocona finds herself in the world of Pure Illusion—a bizarre alternate dimension—helping Papika look for crystal shards. Upon completing their mission, Papika and Cocona are sent to yet another world in Pure Illusion. As a dangerous creature besets them, the girls use their crystals to transform into magical girls: Cocona into Pure Blade, and Papika into Pure Barrier. But as they try to defeat the creature before them, three others with powers from a rival organization enter the fray and slay the creature, taking with them a fragment left behind from its body. Afterward, the girls realize that to stand a chance against their rivals and the creatures in Pure Illusion, they must learn to work together and synchronize their feelings in order to transform more effectively. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 159,760 7.68
Freaky Highschool -- -- - -- 69 eps -- Original -- Horror School -- Freaky Highschool Freaky Highschool -- A cutesy horror anime. Everyone in town is monster but they're living their lives like normal while attending high school. -- 386 N/A -- -- Anime-ban Toukaidou Yotsuya Kaidan -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Other -- Historical Horror Supernatural -- Anime-ban Toukaidou Yotsuya Kaidan Anime-ban Toukaidou Yotsuya Kaidan -- An adaptation of Yotsuya Kaidan, a classic Japanese horror story about a ghost getting revenge. -- Special - Aug 16, 1981 -- 368 N/A -- -- Monkey Peak -- -- Tomovies -- 20 eps -- Manga -- Horror Seinen -- Monkey Peak Monkey Peak -- The anime centers on a group of pharmaceutical company employees who embark on a mountain-climbing trip together and who encounter tragedy at the hands of mysterious monkeys when they reach the top. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- ONA - Oct 26, 2018 -- 361 N/ANineko Gelée -- -- DLE -- 1 ep -- Original -- Music Dementia Horror Fantasy -- Nineko Gelée Nineko Gelée -- An animation staring Gelée, an anthropomorphic cat character created by DLE. -- ONA - Oct 25, 2016 -- 349 5.42
Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley - Yakusoku -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 1 ep -- Original -- School Slice of Life Sports -- Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley - Yakusoku Free! Movie 2: Timeless Medley - Yakusoku -- Rin Matsuoka’s childhood friend, Sousuke Yamazaki, has recently transferred to Samezuka Academy. Upon their reunion, the two reminisce about their childhood days and reaffirm their wish to swim together. Now with Rin, Sousuke, Captain Mikoshiba’s younger brother Momotarou Mikoshiba, and hard-working Aiichirou Nitori, the Samezuka relay team is formed, and their friendship deepens. However, as tournaments, races, and training go on, the reason for Sousuke’s sudden return begins to trouble him and affect his swimming. Noticing Sousuke’s change, Rin pushes to uncover what is holding him back. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Jul 1, 2017 -- 25,238 7.59
Free! (Movie) -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 1 ep -- Original -- Slice of Life Sports Drama School -- Free! (Movie) Free! (Movie) -- At the end of final episode of Free! Dive to the Future, the movie was announced to premiere in Summer 2020. It has now been postponed to 2021. -- Movie - ??? ??, 2021 -- 33,274 N/A -- -- Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 Picture Drama -- -- Sunrise -- 9 eps -- Original -- Comedy Ecchi Slice of Life -- Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 Picture Drama Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 Picture Drama -- Though it has been one year since the Black Rebellion failed, the battle lives on, as the Holy Empire of Britannia attempts to expand its power worldwide, and the Black Knights work to regain theirs. -- -- As a newly instated Knight of Rounds, Suzaku Kururugi is an indispensable asset in battle, though he has yet to bear the full weight of his title. Among his opposition, C.C. and Kallen Stadtfeld strengthen their bond as they work together on crucial missions for the Black Knights. Interspersed throughout the drama are lighthearted, humorous moments, including the Ashford Academy Student Council’s handmade dress party and the Black Knights' pajama party. -- -- Blending tragedy and comedy, Code Geass: Hangyaku no Lelouch R2 Picture Drama gives a behind-the-scenes look at the characters of its parent series, showcasing how they come to terms with their roles and each other. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Special - Aug 22, 2008 -- 33,030 7.10
Free!: Take Your Marks -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 1 ep -- Original -- School Slice of Life Sports -- Free!: Take Your Marks Free!: Take Your Marks -- Taking place between the events of Free!: Eternal Summer and Free!: Dive to the Future, Free!: Take Your Marks plays out the graduated seniors' last summer through four different stories before they set sail for the future. -- -- Unmei no Choice! (Destined Choice!) follows Haruka Nanase and Makoto Tachibana searching for a new apartment for Haruka as he settles into Tokyo. -- -- Hitou no Cooling Down! (Cooling Down at the Secret Hot Spring!) sees Aiichiro Nitori choose a graduation gift for Rin Matsuoka and Sousuke Yamazaki, while Momotaro Mikoshiba wins tickets to the Anago Hot Springs. Hoping for a trip together, Aiichiro and Momotaro invite Rin and Sousuke. -- -- Kessoku no Batafurai! (United Butterfly!) shows Rei Ryugazaki, Nagisa Hazuki, and Gou Matsuoka creating a recruitment video to attract new club members for the next school year. -- -- Tabidachi no Etanaru Buru! (Departing Eternal Blue!) looks into the Iwatobi and Samezuka swim teams' plans for Rin's surprise going-away party, as he will be departing for Australia soon. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Oct 28, 2017 -- 51,676 7.74
Freezing -- -- A.C.G.T. -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Harem Drama Romance Ecchi Martial Arts Seinen -- Freezing Freezing -- Decades into the future, humanity is under siege by an alien race known as the Novas. These inhuman beings leave devastation in their wake whenever they appear, with the efforts to stave them off becoming known as Nova Clashes. Young women known as "Pandoras" and young men known as "Limiters" are implanted with stigmata to give them superhuman powers and are trained in military academies, where they must learn to work together if humanity is to have a chance of surviving. -- -- Freezing tells the story of Kazuya Aoi as he sets out for his first day at the West Genetics military academy, right when a battle royale is being undertaken by the Pandoras. It is here that he mistakes Satellizer el Bridget—a powerful Pandora known as the "Untouchable Queen"—as his deceased sister and embraces her. Though he costs her the match, she finds that his touch doesn't drive her away and decides to take him as her Limiter. The only question is whether or not their partnership can survive the machinations of their upperclassmen and the impending battle with the Novas… -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 275,711 6.88
Fruits Basket 2nd Season -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural Drama Romance Shoujo -- Fruits Basket 2nd Season Fruits Basket 2nd Season -- A year has passed since Tooru Honda began living in the Souma residence, and she has since created stronger relationships with its inhabitants Shigure, Kyou, and Yuki. She has also grown closer to the rest of the Souma family and has become familiar with their ancestral secret, having helped them with many of their personal issues. The closer Tooru gets, however, the more she begins to realize that their secret holds a darker truth than she first presumed. -- -- Summer is approaching and Tooru is invited to spend her days with the Soumas, mainly Kyou and Yuki. Tooru wishes for an easy-going vacation, but her close relationships with the two boys and the rest of the Soumas may prove to cause trouble. As they grow more intimate, their carefree time together is hindered by older hardships and feelings from the past that begin to resurface. The Eternal Banquet also dawns on the members of the zodiac, and they must tend to their duties alongside the unnerving head of the family, Akito Souma. -- -- With the banquet approaching and a plethora of feelings to be solved, will Tooru's life with the Soumas remain peaceful, or will she find herself in a situation from which she cannot escape? -- -- 231,971 8.54
Fruits Basket 2nd Season -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural Drama Romance Shoujo -- Fruits Basket 2nd Season Fruits Basket 2nd Season -- A year has passed since Tooru Honda began living in the Souma residence, and she has since created stronger relationships with its inhabitants Shigure, Kyou, and Yuki. She has also grown closer to the rest of the Souma family and has become familiar with their ancestral secret, having helped them with many of their personal issues. The closer Tooru gets, however, the more she begins to realize that their secret holds a darker truth than she first presumed. -- -- Summer is approaching and Tooru is invited to spend her days with the Soumas, mainly Kyou and Yuki. Tooru wishes for an easy-going vacation, but her close relationships with the two boys and the rest of the Soumas may prove to cause trouble. As they grow more intimate, their carefree time together is hindered by older hardships and feelings from the past that begin to resurface. The Eternal Banquet also dawns on the members of the zodiac, and they must tend to their duties alongside the unnerving head of the family, Akito Souma. -- -- With the banquet approaching and a plethora of feelings to be solved, will Tooru's life with the Soumas remain peaceful, or will she find herself in a situation from which she cannot escape? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 231,971 8.54
Fukigen na Mononokean -- -- Pierrot Plus -- 13 eps -- Web manga -- Comedy Demons Supernatural -- Fukigen na Mononokean Fukigen na Mononokean -- The start of Hanae Ashiya's high school career has not been easy—he has spent all of the first week in the infirmary, and his inexplicable condition is only getting worse. The cause of his torment is the mysterious fuzzy creature that has attached itself to him ever since he stumbled upon it the day before school began. -- -- As his health continues to decline and the creature grows in size, Hanae comes across a flyer advertising an exorcist who expels youkai. Desperate and with nothing left to lose, he calls the number and is led to the Mononokean, a tea room which suddenly appears next to the infirmary. A morose-sounding man, Haruitsuki Abeno, reluctantly helps Hanae but demands payment afterward. Much to Hanae's dismay, he cannot afford the fee and must become an employee at the Mononokean to work off his debt. And to make things worse, his new boss is actually one of his classmates. If Hanae ever hopes to settle his debt, he must work together with Abeno to guide a variety of dangerous, strange, and interesting youkai back to the Underworld. -- -- 104,054 7.42
Fukigen na Mononokean -- -- Pierrot Plus -- 13 eps -- Web manga -- Comedy Demons Supernatural -- Fukigen na Mononokean Fukigen na Mononokean -- The start of Hanae Ashiya's high school career has not been easy—he has spent all of the first week in the infirmary, and his inexplicable condition is only getting worse. The cause of his torment is the mysterious fuzzy creature that has attached itself to him ever since he stumbled upon it the day before school began. -- -- As his health continues to decline and the creature grows in size, Hanae comes across a flyer advertising an exorcist who expels youkai. Desperate and with nothing left to lose, he calls the number and is led to the Mononokean, a tea room which suddenly appears next to the infirmary. A morose-sounding man, Haruitsuki Abeno, reluctantly helps Hanae but demands payment afterward. Much to Hanae's dismay, he cannot afford the fee and must become an employee at the Mononokean to work off his debt. And to make things worse, his new boss is actually one of his classmates. If Hanae ever hopes to settle his debt, he must work together with Abeno to guide a variety of dangerous, strange, and interesting youkai back to the Underworld. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 104,054 7.42
Fumikiri Jikan -- -- EKACHI EPILKA -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Slice of Life -- Fumikiri Jikan Fumikiri Jikan -- Every day, all kinds of different people stop at railroad crossings on their way to work or school, resulting in all sorts of different conversations. Friends, enemies, acquaintances, and complete strangers—there's always a new encounter to be had. -- -- Fumikiri Jikan documents the discussions that take place at these locations. Whether these are funny or depressing, expected or completely unexpected, they certainly have the potential to be quite interesting. -- -- 33,594 6.39
Fune wo Amu -- -- Zexcs -- 11 eps -- Novel -- Slice of Life Drama Romance -- Fune wo Amu Fune wo Amu -- Kouhei Araki, a veteran editor of the dictionary editorial division at Genbu Publishing, plans to retire in order to better care for his ailing wife. However, before retiring, he must find a replacement to complete his latest project: a new dictionary called "The Great Passage." But no matter where he looks, he cannot find anyone suitable, as making a dictionary requires a wealth of patience, time, and dedication. -- -- Mitsuya Majime works in Genbu Publishing's sales division, yet he has poor social skills and an inability to read the mood in most situations. In spite of this, he excels at having an enthusiasm for words thanks to his love of reading and careful personality. It is these skills that draw Araki to him and prompt him to offer Majime a position in the dictionary editorial department. As Majime accepts his new position, he finds himself unsure of his abilities and questioning whether he will fit in with his new co-workers. Yet amid the vast sea of words, The Great Passage will bring them together. -- -- 91,862 7.64
Fune wo Amu -- -- Zexcs -- 11 eps -- Novel -- Slice of Life Drama Romance -- Fune wo Amu Fune wo Amu -- Kouhei Araki, a veteran editor of the dictionary editorial division at Genbu Publishing, plans to retire in order to better care for his ailing wife. However, before retiring, he must find a replacement to complete his latest project: a new dictionary called "The Great Passage." But no matter where he looks, he cannot find anyone suitable, as making a dictionary requires a wealth of patience, time, and dedication. -- -- Mitsuya Majime works in Genbu Publishing's sales division, yet he has poor social skills and an inability to read the mood in most situations. In spite of this, he excels at having an enthusiasm for words thanks to his love of reading and careful personality. It is these skills that draw Araki to him and prompt him to offer Majime a position in the dictionary editorial department. As Majime accepts his new position, he finds himself unsure of his abilities and questioning whether he will fit in with his new co-workers. Yet amid the vast sea of words, The Great Passage will bring them together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 91,862 7.64
Futari wa Precure -- -- Toei Animation -- 49 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Magic Fantasy Shoujo -- Futari wa Precure Futari wa Precure -- Futari wa Precure protagonists Nagisa Misumi and Honoka Yukishiro are about as different as two people can get. Nagisa is the captain of the lacrosse team, a lover of food, and a hater of homework. Honoka loves to learn, working with the science club and earning the nickname "The Queen of Knowledge" from her fellow classmates. Their lives are unconnected until one day, when a mysterious star shower unites them. -- -- Nagisa and Honoka meet Mipple and Mepple, two residents of the Garden of Light. Their homeland has been conquered by the evil forces of the Dark Zone who now have their sights set on the Garden of Rainbows: Earth. With powers from the Garden of Light, Nagisa becomes Cure Black and Honoka becomes Cure White. Together, they are Pretty Cure! Now Pretty Cure must locate the Prism Stones, the only power strong enough to defeat the Dark Zone and repair the damage done to the Garden of Light. Will these magical girls be able to protect their home from the evil that threatens it? Or will they be sucked into the darkness? -- -- Licensor: -- 4Kids Entertainment -- 36,291 7.00
Futari wa Precure: Max Heart -- -- Toei Animation -- 47 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Fantasy Magic Shoujo -- Futari wa Precure: Max Heart Futari wa Precure: Max Heart -- Shortly after the fall of the Wicked King, the Queen of the Garden of Light lost her memory and came to Earth, in the form of a 12-year-old girl named Hikari Kujou. Now, she—with the help of Nagisa and Honoka, endowed with new costumes and powers—must find the 12 Heartiels, which hold the key to restoring the Queen's lost memories. For together once again, they are Pretty Cure. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- TV - Feb 6, 2005 -- 13,879 6.93
Futari wa Precure: Splash☆Star -- -- Toei Animation -- 49 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Magic Fantasy Shoujo -- Futari wa Precure: Splash☆Star Futari wa Precure: Splash☆Star -- During the summer festival five years ago, two girls met at a mysterious tree and saw two glowing spheres. Now, these two girls--Saki Hyuuga, ace pitcher on the school softball team; and Mai Mishou, who prefers sketching over stargazing--are chosen by the spirits of flowers (Flappy) and birds (Choppy) to restore the Seven Fountains and save their worlds from Dark Autumn. Together, they are the NEW Pretty Cure. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Feb 5, 2006 -- 10,195 7.14
Fuyu no Semi -- -- Venet -- 3 eps -- Manga -- Drama Historical Romance Samurai Yaoi -- Fuyu no Semi Fuyu no Semi -- If time did not allow ordinary things to be ordinary. How would you have lived? -- -- It is the Bakumatsu and early Meiji Period. Akizuki Keiichirou and Kusaka Touma stand of opposite sides of the political scale of the time but still, something as fragile as the shell of a cicada binds these two men together in a tragic and cruel fate. A story of friendship, love and seperation as well as reunion and sacrifice. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Kitty Media, Media Blasters -- OVA - Feb 23, 2007 -- 18,544 7.51
Gal to Kyouryuu -- -- Kamikaze Douga, Space Neko Company -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Seinen -- Gal to Kyouryuu Gal to Kyouryuu -- Wasted from the night before, Kaede wakes up the next morning to find herself at home with a dinosaur she had brought along with her. The two start living together as an odd pair consisting of a typical gal girl and a mute dinosaur going about daily lives. Although not the most experienced paleontologist, Kaede begins to learn more about her new prehistoric roommate through a series of comedic gags and adventures. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 23,083 6.46
Ga-Rei: Zero -- -- AIC Spirits, Asread -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Super Power Supernatural Thriller -- Ga-Rei: Zero Ga-Rei: Zero -- In Japan, there exists a government agency known as the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division (SDCD), whose duty is to protect the citizens from creatures unseen. They are able to dispatch these monsters swiftly and without alerting the general public. But currently, they face a different challenge: the betrayal of one of their own. -- -- After the death of her mother several years ago, Kagura Tsuchimiya has been fostered by the Isayama family and forms a close sister-like bond with their daughter Yomi. The two become inseparable, and together they work for the SDCD as highly skilled exorcists. However, as the stress and consequences of their sacred duty weigh on them both, and family politics come into play, Kagura and Yomi begin to slowly drift apart. One of them grows earnestly into her role as an exorcist, and the other heads down a dark path from which there may be no redemption... -- -- 208,318 7.63
Ga-Rei: Zero -- -- AIC Spirits, Asread -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Super Power Supernatural Thriller -- Ga-Rei: Zero Ga-Rei: Zero -- In Japan, there exists a government agency known as the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division (SDCD), whose duty is to protect the citizens from creatures unseen. They are able to dispatch these monsters swiftly and without alerting the general public. But currently, they face a different challenge: the betrayal of one of their own. -- -- After the death of her mother several years ago, Kagura Tsuchimiya has been fostered by the Isayama family and forms a close sister-like bond with their daughter Yomi. The two become inseparable, and together they work for the SDCD as highly skilled exorcists. However, as the stress and consequences of their sacred duty weigh on them both, and family politics come into play, Kagura and Yomi begin to slowly drift apart. One of them grows earnestly into her role as an exorcist, and the other heads down a dark path from which there may be no redemption... -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 208,318 7.63
Garo: Honoo no Kokuin - Home -- -- MAPPA -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Garo: Honoo no Kokuin - Home Garo: Honoo no Kokuin - Home -- Unaired episode included in the eighth Blu-ray and DVD volume. -- -- Ema visits Tina's house after a long time. While singing and spinning yarn, Tina and the children spend a peaceful time together. They reminiscence about Tina's foster mother, Natoria, who had the power to spin the yarn which once carried magic power. And now to the spinning wheel she used and left behind approaches an ominous shadow... -- -- (Source: Official Twitter) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Special - Sep 16, 2015 -- 9,231 6.79
Garo Movie: Divine Flame -- -- MAPPA -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Garo Movie: Divine Flame Garo Movie: Divine Flame -- Leon, who has succeeded the name of Golden Knight "GARO," devotes himself to train a young Makai Knight for the next generation, together with Prince Alfonso of the Valiante Kingdom. Then, they receive an order to exterminate the most beautiful Horror in the world which resides in a neighboring country "Vazelia." At the same time, a young Makai Knight for the next generation is kidnapped by an unknown person. Leon desperately follows them, only to find that he is surrounded by his enemies at a dead end. Then, a Makai Knight Dario who was supposed to be missing for some time suddenly appears and rescues him. Under his guidance, Leon is led to the town where he meets up a totally unexpected person. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - May 21, 2016 -- 20,672 7.60
Garo Movie: Divine Flame -- -- MAPPA -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Garo Movie: Divine Flame Garo Movie: Divine Flame -- Leon, who has succeeded the name of Golden Knight "GARO," devotes himself to train a young Makai Knight for the next generation, together with Prince Alfonso of the Valiante Kingdom. Then, they receive an order to exterminate the most beautiful Horror in the world which resides in a neighboring country "Vazelia." At the same time, a young Makai Knight for the next generation is kidnapped by an unknown person. Leon desperately follows them, only to find that he is surrounded by his enemies at a dead end. Then, a Makai Knight Dario who was supposed to be missing for some time suddenly appears and rescues him. Under his guidance, Leon is led to the town where he meets up a totally unexpected person. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- Movie - May 21, 2016 -- 20,672 7.60
Garo: Vanishing Line -- -- MAPPA -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural Fantasy -- Garo: Vanishing Line Garo: Vanishing Line -- Corruption looms over the prosperous Russell City, where manifestations of negative emotions called Horrors cause chaos and mayhem. The Makai Order is the last bastion of hope against these unholy creatures. Using several small businesses as fronts, they deploy powerful Makai Knights and magical Makai Alchemists to combat the Horror threat. -- -- Within this secretive order, the highest rank of Golden Knight has been bestowed upon a large, powerful man named Sword, granting him use of the Garo armor and blade. He alone knows of a plot that threatens the entire Makai Order, with his only hint being the phrase “El Dorado." While fighting a Horror, he encounters Sophia "Sophie" Hennis, a teenage girl whose brother's disappearance years ago is also linked to the same phrase. The two agree to work together to uncover the truth behind "El Dorado" and the disappearance of Sophie's brother. -- -- 61,294 7.16
Garo: Vanishing Line -- -- MAPPA -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Demons Supernatural Fantasy -- Garo: Vanishing Line Garo: Vanishing Line -- Corruption looms over the prosperous Russell City, where manifestations of negative emotions called Horrors cause chaos and mayhem. The Makai Order is the last bastion of hope against these unholy creatures. Using several small businesses as fronts, they deploy powerful Makai Knights and magical Makai Alchemists to combat the Horror threat. -- -- Within this secretive order, the highest rank of Golden Knight has been bestowed upon a large, powerful man named Sword, granting him use of the Garo armor and blade. He alone knows of a plot that threatens the entire Makai Order, with his only hint being the phrase “El Dorado." While fighting a Horror, he encounters Sophia "Sophie" Hennis, a teenage girl whose brother's disappearance years ago is also linked to the same phrase. The two agree to work together to uncover the truth behind "El Dorado" and the disappearance of Sophie's brother. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 61,294 7.16
Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou -- -- AIC -- 13 eps -- Original -- Magic -- Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou Genei wo Kakeru Taiyou -- Akari Taiyou is an apprentice fortune teller living with her aunt, uncle, and their daughter Fuyuna. Having lost her mother at a young age, the only thing Akari has left of her is a deck of tarot cards and a dream to follow in her footsteps as a fortune teller. -- -- One night, Akari has a dream of being attacked by a plant monster and witnesses a stronger version of herself defeat it. When she awakens, she discovers to her horror that the monster was actually Fuyuna. But mysteriously, Akari and her relatives soon forget Fuyuna ever existed. After another close encounter with a similar monster, she is rescued by three magical girls: Ginka Shirokane, Seira Hoshikawa, and Luna Tsukuyomi. They explain that they are from the Sefiro Fiore organization, which uses Elemental Tarot power to fight the evil creatures known as "Daemonia." -- -- Akari discovers she too is a magical girl and has inherited her mother's power of The Sun card. However, she comes to realize Daemonia are actually people who have been possessed, and she must decide whether to try to save what is left of their humanity or to wipe them from existence. As Akari comes to terms with her grim duty of protecting the world from Daemonia, the bonds of the organization and that of their team will soon be strained when they deal with grave threats from the outside and from within. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 48,475 6.42
Genshiken -- -- Palm Studio -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Parody -- Genshiken Genshiken -- Kanji Sasahara is an introverted college freshman just looking for a place to fit in. One day, he happens to stumble upon the club known as the Society for the Study of Modern Visual Culture—otherwise known as Genshiken—that serves to bring the full spectrum of otaku culture together. His first visit to the club, however, does not end well as Sasahara's pride is crushed by his senior, Harunobu Madarame, and he leaves the meeting in full denial of his otaku nature. However, after befriending club member Makoto Kousaka, who turns out to be a hardcore otaku despite his looks, Sasahara becomes more involved with club activities which include obsessing over their favorite anime, reading doujinshi, and attending conventions. There, he meets other interesting people like Kousaka's vehemently non-otaku girlfriend Saki Kasukabe, who strives to turn her boyfriend into a "normal guy." -- -- While Saki struggles to understand otaku culture and her boyfriend's love for it, Sasahara finds himself enjoying his time at Genshiken, gradually shedding any denial he once had about being an otaku and immersing himself in an otaku lifestyle. -- -- TV - Oct 10, 2004 -- 153,177 7.66
Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi -- -- Phoenix Entertainment -- 7 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Super Power Drama Mecha Shounen -- Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi -- In a future to come humanity enjoys a new age of prosperity thanks to Dr. Shizuma's invention of a revolutionary renewable energy source: the Shizuma Drive. But this peace is threatened by Big Fire, a cabal seeking world domination. Against Big Fire the International Police Organisation dispatches a collection of superpowered warriors and martial artists, together with Daisaku Kusama, inheritor and master of Earth's most powerful robot, Giant Robo. -- -- By capturing an abnormal Shizuma Drive which is essential to Big Fire's plans the IPO ignites a desperate conflict between the two groups. The coming battle will test Daisaku's resolve to the utmost, reveal the ghastly truth behind the creation of the Shizuma Drive, and bring human civilization to its knees! -- -- Giant Robo is a character-driven adventure in a retro-futuristic setting, drawing on influences from opera, kung-fu cinema, wuxia stories and classic mecha anime. It incorporates characters from the works of the manga author Mitsuteru Yokoyama but it is designed to be a stand-alone story. -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Manga Entertainment, Media Blasters, NYAV Post -- OVA - Jul 23, 1992 -- 21,487 7.83
Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi -- -- Phoenix Entertainment -- 7 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Super Power Drama Mecha Shounen -- Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi Giant Robo the Animation: Chikyuu ga Seishi Suru Hi -- In a future to come humanity enjoys a new age of prosperity thanks to Dr. Shizuma's invention of a revolutionary renewable energy source: the Shizuma Drive. But this peace is threatened by Big Fire, a cabal seeking world domination. Against Big Fire the International Police Organisation dispatches a collection of superpowered warriors and martial artists, together with Daisaku Kusama, inheritor and master of Earth's most powerful robot, Giant Robo. -- -- By capturing an abnormal Shizuma Drive which is essential to Big Fire's plans the IPO ignites a desperate conflict between the two groups. The coming battle will test Daisaku's resolve to the utmost, reveal the ghastly truth behind the creation of the Shizuma Drive, and bring human civilization to its knees! -- -- Giant Robo is a character-driven adventure in a retro-futuristic setting, drawing on influences from opera, kung-fu cinema, wuxia stories and classic mecha anime. It incorporates characters from the works of the manga author Mitsuteru Yokoyama but it is designed to be a stand-alone story. -- OVA - Jul 23, 1992 -- 21,487 7.83
Gibiate -- -- l-a-unch・BOX, Studio elle -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Horror Martial Arts Samurai Fantasy -- Gibiate Gibiate -- The story takes place in Japan. The year is 2030 and Earth has been completely overrun by a viral disease named "Gibia" that turns infected people into various different monsters, based on their age, sex, and race. -- -- A samurai and a ninja from the early Edo period travel together through time and arrive in a ruined Japan to aid a professor working on a cure for the virus. -- -- Together, they fight countless Gibia monsters, outlaws, and other fierce foes on their journey to save mankind. -- 54,666 3.84
Ginga Tetsudou 999 -- -- Toei Animation -- 113 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Space Drama -- Ginga Tetsudou 999 Ginga Tetsudou 999 -- In the distant future, humanity has found a way to live forever by purchasing mechanical bodies, but this way to immortality is extraordinarily expensive. An impoverished boy, Tetsurou Hoshino, desires to purchase a pass on the Galaxy Express 999—a train that travels throughout the universe—because it is said that at the end of the line, those aboard can obtain a mechanical body for free. When Tetsurou's mother is gunned down by the villainous machine-man hybrid Count Mecha, however, all seems lost. -- -- Tetsurou is then saved from certain death by the mysterious Maetel, a tall woman with blonde hair and a striking resemblance to his mother. She gives him a pass to the Galaxy Express under one condition: that they travel together. Thus, Tetsurou begins his journey across the universe to many unique planets and thrilling adventures, in hopes of being able to attain that which he most desires. -- -- 26,416 7.80
Ginga Tetsudou 999 -- -- Toei Animation -- 113 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Space Drama -- Ginga Tetsudou 999 Ginga Tetsudou 999 -- In the distant future, humanity has found a way to live forever by purchasing mechanical bodies, but this way to immortality is extraordinarily expensive. An impoverished boy, Tetsurou Hoshino, desires to purchase a pass on the Galaxy Express 999—a train that travels throughout the universe—because it is said that at the end of the line, those aboard can obtain a mechanical body for free. When Tetsurou's mother is gunned down by the villainous machine-man hybrid Count Mecha, however, all seems lost. -- -- Tetsurou is then saved from certain death by the mysterious Maetel, a tall woman with blonde hair and a striking resemblance to his mother. She gives him a pass to the Galaxy Express under one condition: that they travel together. Thus, Tetsurou begins his journey across the universe to many unique planets and thrilling adventures, in hopes of being able to attain that which he most desires. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 26,416 7.80
Gin no Saji -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 11 eps -- Manga -- Comedy School Shounen Slice of Life -- Gin no Saji Gin no Saji -- Yuugo Hachiken is studious, hard-working, and tired of trying to live up to expectations he just cannot meet. With the ushering in of a brand new school year, he decides to enrol in Ooezo Agricultural High School, a boarding school located in the Hokkaido countryside, as a means to escape from the stress brought upon by his parents. -- -- Initially convinced that he would do well at this institution, Hachiken is quickly proven wrong by his talented classmates, individuals who have been living on farms their entire lives and know just about everything when it comes to food, vegetables, and even the physiology of livestock! Whether it be waking up at five in the morning for strenuous labor or to take care of farm animals, Hachiken is a complete amateur when it comes to the harsh agricultural life. -- -- Gin no Saji follows the comedic story of a young student as he tries to fit into a completely new environment, meeting many unique people along the way. As he struggles to appreciate his surroundings, Hachiken hopes to discover his dreams, so that he may lead a fulfilling life on his own terms. -- -- 237,416 8.11
Gin no Saji -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 11 eps -- Manga -- Comedy School Shounen Slice of Life -- Gin no Saji Gin no Saji -- Yuugo Hachiken is studious, hard-working, and tired of trying to live up to expectations he just cannot meet. With the ushering in of a brand new school year, he decides to enrol in Ooezo Agricultural High School, a boarding school located in the Hokkaido countryside, as a means to escape from the stress brought upon by his parents. -- -- Initially convinced that he would do well at this institution, Hachiken is quickly proven wrong by his talented classmates, individuals who have been living on farms their entire lives and know just about everything when it comes to food, vegetables, and even the physiology of livestock! Whether it be waking up at five in the morning for strenuous labor or to take care of farm animals, Hachiken is a complete amateur when it comes to the harsh agricultural life. -- -- Gin no Saji follows the comedic story of a young student as he tries to fit into a completely new environment, meeting many unique people along the way. As he struggles to appreciate his surroundings, Hachiken hopes to discover his dreams, so that he may lead a fulfilling life on his own terms. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 237,416 8.11
Gintama Movie 1: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Comedy Historical Parody Samurai Shounen -- Gintama Movie 1: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen Gintama Movie 1: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen -- Gintoki and his Yorozuya friends (or rather, employees suffering under labor violations), Shinpachi and Kagura, continue to scrape by in the futuristic, alien-infested city of Edo. They take on whatever work they can find while trying not to get involved in anything too dangerous. But when Katsura, the leader of the Joui rebels and Gintoki's long-time acquaintance, disappears after being brutally attacked by an unknown assassin, Shinpachi and Kagura begin an investigation into his whereabouts and the identity of the assailant. Meanwhile, Gintoki takes on a seemingly unrelated job: the blacksmith Tetsuya requests that Gin recover a strange and powerful sword called the Benizakura which was recently stolen. -- -- As the two investigations gradually intersect, the Yorozuya crew find themselves in the midst of a major conspiracy that hinges on the sinister nature of the Benizakura sword. Gintoki resolves to take the fight directly to the enemy headquarters, and together with a few unexpected allies, sets out on one of his most perilous jobs yet. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- Movie - Apr 24, 2010 -- 121,059 8.52
Gintama Movie 1: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Comedy Historical Parody Samurai Shounen -- Gintama Movie 1: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen Gintama Movie 1: Shinyaku Benizakura-hen -- Gintoki and his Yorozuya friends (or rather, employees suffering under labor violations), Shinpachi and Kagura, continue to scrape by in the futuristic, alien-infested city of Edo. They take on whatever work they can find while trying not to get involved in anything too dangerous. But when Katsura, the leader of the Joui rebels and Gintoki's long-time acquaintance, disappears after being brutally attacked by an unknown assassin, Shinpachi and Kagura begin an investigation into his whereabouts and the identity of the assailant. Meanwhile, Gintoki takes on a seemingly unrelated job: the blacksmith Tetsuya requests that Gin recover a strange and powerful sword called the Benizakura which was recently stolen. -- -- As the two investigations gradually intersect, the Yorozuya crew find themselves in the midst of a major conspiracy that hinges on the sinister nature of the Benizakura sword. Gintoki resolves to take the fight directly to the enemy headquarters, and together with a few unexpected allies, sets out on one of his most perilous jobs yet. -- -- Movie - Apr 24, 2010 -- 121,059 8.52
Gintama°: Umai-mono wa Atomawashi ni Suru to Yokodorisareru kara Yappari Saki ni Kue -- -- Bandai Namco Pictures -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Comedy Historical Parody Samurai Shounen -- Gintama°: Umai-mono wa Atomawashi ni Suru to Yokodorisareru kara Yappari Saki ni Kue Gintama°: Umai-mono wa Atomawashi ni Suru to Yokodorisareru kara Yappari Saki ni Kue -- The Gintama crew gets together to present a preview for the upcoming arc, the biggest ever in the anime's history, and also discuss the difficulties involved in producing one mid-season. -- -- (Source: Crunchyroll) -- Special - Nov 3, 2015 -- 25,908 8.11
Girls & Panzer: Kore ga Hontou no Anzio-sen Desu! -- -- Actas -- 1 ep -- Original -- Military School Sports -- Girls & Panzer: Kore ga Hontou no Anzio-sen Desu! Girls & Panzer: Kore ga Hontou no Anzio-sen Desu! -- After a brilliant victory over Saunders University High School, girls from Ooarai now have to face Italian-themed Anzio Girls High School in the second round of the 63rd National High School Sensha-Dou Tournament. The high-spirited girls from Anzio, led by the charismatic Chiyomi Anzai, advance toward the battle equipped with baffling tactics and a secret weapon. -- -- Ooarai will soon find out that what seemed to be a mere formality might take an unexpected and possibly disastrous turn. Whether they will win the match, or lose and doom their school to a closure, is still on a knife-edge. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- OVA - Jul 25, 2014 -- 37,383 7.71
Girly Air Force -- -- Satelight -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Sci-Fi -- Girly Air Force Girly Air Force -- Kei Narutani and his childhood friend, Song Minghua, are Chinese refugees who are fleeing from the Zai, a mysterious organization that indiscriminately terrorizes their country and its people. Fortunately, during their escape to Japan, they are saved by a strange red aircraft. -- -- Kei's fascination with this aircraft leads him to meet his savior: a girl who is an "Anima"—the pilot of a unique type of airplane called a "Daughter." The girl goes by Gripen, an adorable JAS-39F fighter aircraft. Kei develops a bond with Gripen and is then recruited by the Japan Self-Defense Force to help Gripen overcome her troubles with flying. -- -- Later joined by Eagle, a carefree F-15J-ANM, and Phantom, a proud RF-4EJ-ANM, the squadron takes up arms, determined to protect humanity. Together, the five individuals battle against the invasive Zai, forming the last line of defense against the threatening alien force. -- -- 57,312 6.16
Glasslip -- -- P.A. Works -- 13 eps -- Original -- Romance Slice of Life Supernatural -- Glasslip Glasslip -- What if you hold the power to hear the voices or see fragments of images from the future? Would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Glasslip follows the life of Touko Fukami, an aspiring glass artist born from a glass artisan family. She enjoys her worry-free life in Fukui, save for the fragments of images that she sees on occasion. -- -- On her 18th summer, she meets the transfer student Kakeru Okikura at her school, and then again at her favorite café called Kazemichi together with all four of her friends. The voices from the future lead Kakeru to Touko, and his arrival disrupts her mediocre existence. All six of the friends must face their most unforgettable summer full of hope, affection, and heartache. -- 147,366 5.43
Glass no Kantai: La Legende du Vent de l'Univers -- -- Gonzo, Satelight -- 24 eps -- Original -- Adventure Sci-Fi -- Glass no Kantai: La Legende du Vent de l'Univers Glass no Kantai: La Legende du Vent de l'Univers -- The People's Army led by Michel stands against Vetti's newly founded empire. Upon seeing how strong the Glass Battleship is, Michel tries to get Cleo, the captain of the Glass Battleship, to help People's Army overthrow Vetti's empire. And together they fight against Vetti's empire. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Apr 4, 2006 -- 10,622 6.57
Goblin Slayer -- -- White Fox -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Fantasy -- Goblin Slayer Goblin Slayer -- Goblins are known for their ferocity, cunning, and rapid reproduction, but their reputation as the lowliest of monsters causes their threat to be overlooked. Raiding rural civilizations to kidnap females of other species for breeding, these vile creatures are free to continue their onslaught as adventurers turn a blind eye in favor of more rewarding assignments with larger bounties. -- -- To commemorate her first day as a Porcelain-ranked adventurer, the 15-year-old Priestess joins a band of young, enthusiastic rookies to investigate a tribe of goblins responsible for the disappearance of several village women. Unprepared and inexperienced, the group soon faces its inevitable demise from an ambush while exploring a cave. With no one else left standing, the terrified Priestess accepts her fate—until the Goblin Slayer unexpectedly appears to not only rescue her with little effort, but destroy the entire goblin nest. -- -- As a holder of the prestigious Silver rank, the Goblin Slayer allows her to accompany him as he assists the Adventurer's Guild in all goblin-related matters. Together with the Priestess, High Elf, Dwarf, and Lizard-man, the armored warrior will not rest until every single goblin in the frontier lands has been eradicated for good. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 751,943 7.45
Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?? -- -- Kinema Citrus, White Fox -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy -- Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?? Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu ka?? -- With a new year comes new adventures, especially at the Rabbit House! Since her arrival at the café, Kokoa Hoto has become accustomed to her new life as a waitress even though the Rabbit House isn't the rabbit paradise she initially envisioned it to be. Life is pleasant, and she enjoys spending time both working and playing with her friends and fellow waitresses Chino Kafuu, a cute middle school student with a fuzzy bunny companion named Tippy, and Rize Tedeza, the pig-tailed daughter of a soldier who is readily armed for any scenario. -- -- Together with Chiya Ujimatsu and Sharo Kirima, who also work at neighboring cafés in town, the Rabbit House crew gets involved in all sorts of crazy adventures. Throughout these adventures, the girls encounter troubled novelists, rival cafes, secret treasure, and... alcoholic chocolates? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 102,713 7.81
Good-by Elvis and USA -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia Music -- Good-by Elvis and USA Good-by Elvis and USA -- A chaotic mixture of hand-drawn animation and magazine cut-outs appropriating American pop culture. With a soundtrack involving music and sounds played in reverse, iconography of war and pop culture are intercut or merged together with images of eroticism and consumption. The film screened at the 3rd Sogetsu Animation Festival 1971. -- -- (Source: Collaborative Cataloging Japan) -- Movie - ??? ??, 1971 -- 1,136 3.10
Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun -- -- AIC Spirits -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Harem Comedy Ecchi Fantasy -- Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun -- Shungo Ninomiya is just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill high school student who lives at home with his older sister Ryoko—at least when she's not away doing her job as a mercenary. However, Shungo's life ceases to be normal the moment a cute girl named Mayu Tsukimura descends into the middle of his school's campus in a military-grade helicopter. It turns out Ryoko sent this girl, along with her older brother Mikihiro, to live at the Ninomiya household. -- -- But the newly-arrived siblings are a little special: Mayu is, in fact, a succubus and her brother, an incubus! And as if the circumstances are not problematic enough, Mayu is crippled with androphobia—the fear of men—and it's up to Shungo to help her overcome this at the behest of his sister. Ryoko plans to force Mayu to be closer to Shungo, and to do this, she’ll employ some questionable methods such as having them share the same bed and even take baths together. -- -- The situation further complicates when student council president Reika Houjou arrives as the new maid of the Ninomiya family, and she will stop at nothing to thwart Shungo and Mayu’s sexually-geared training. With the sudden arrival of all these oddities, Shungo's ordinary life is about to be thrown into utter turmoil. -- -- TV - Oct 5, 2007 -- 87,478 6.71
Gravitation -- -- Studio Deen -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Music Romance Shoujo Shounen Ai -- Gravitation Gravitation -- All Shuichi ever dreamed about was following in the footsteps of his pop idol, Ryuichi Sakuma and the band Nittle Grasper. Together with his best friend Hiro, Shuichi's formed a band called Bad Luck and they've even managed to get signed to a major recording label! Unfortunately, the studio deadlines are looming and Shuichi still hasn't finished the lyrics for any of the songs. What he needs is a little inspiration... but he's been running a little low in that department lately. While Hiro recommends finding a girlfriend, fate has other things in store for him... -- -- Walking through the park late one night, Shuichi's latest lyrics flutter away and land at the feet of a stunning stranger that takes his breath away. Unfortunately, that mysterious stranger happens to be the famous novelist Eiri Yuki, who completely crushes the young singer by telling him he has "zero talent". Now, Shuichi's so annoyed that he's managed to finish his song just so he can find and confront Yuki once again. But, are his actions really motivated by anger, or has he actually fallen in love? -- -- (Source: RightStuf) -- -- Licensor: -- Nozomi Entertainment -- 103,035 7.00
Gugure! Kokkuri-san -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy Supernatural Shounen -- Gugure! Kokkuri-san Gugure! Kokkuri-san -- Gugure! Kokkuri-san is an eccentric comedy centered around the self-proclaimed doll, Kohina Ichimatsu. Her uneventful life goes from plain to absurd when she summons a fox spirit by the name of Kokkuri-san. But contrary to popular belief, he is not the omniscient, answer-granting spirit from the legend anymore. The loss of believers in modern society has rendered him powerless. -- -- Upon meeting the bizarre girl who summoned him, Kokkuri-san is shocked to discover that Kohina not only lives alone, but survives on just cup ramen! Filled with concern for the young girl, he takes it upon himself to ensure that Kohina has proper meals and lives a decent life. Thus begin Kokkuri-san's less-than-hopeful endeavors and their peculiar life together. -- -- 155,975 7.58
Gundam Build Divers -- -- Sunrise -- 25 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Mecha -- Gundam Build Divers Gundam Build Divers -- Gunpla Battle Nexus Online (GBN) is a new network game that lets people enjoy a variety of missions using Gunpla in a virtual cyberspace dimension. Middle-school students Riku Mikami and Yukio Hidaka recruit their classmate Momoka Yashiro and dive together into this vast world. Becoming "Divers," or inhabitants of GBN, they meet a mysterious girl named Sarah who has an amazing sensitivity to Gunpla. They begin playing alongside her, but... -- -- There are many other famous Divers, starting with Kyoya Kujo, the champion whom Riku admires. Multiple Divers can join to form a team called a "force." Meanwhile, the game is disrupted by Mass-Divers who use unofficial tools called break decals. Through many encounters and experiences, Riku and his friends will build not only Gunpla, but their own adventures as well! -- -- (Source: Official Website) -- 22,014 6.29
Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise -- -- Asatsu DK, Sunrise Beyond -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Mecha Sci-Fi -- Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise -- Two years have passed since the EL-Divers incident, and the popularity of the game Gunpla Battle Nexus Online (GBN) has continued to skyrocket. With the addition of exciting new features such as missions and story events, the GBN experience is more immersive than ever before. Amidst the player base, a user known as Hiroto Kuga has been gaining notoriety for his top-notch skills. -- -- Through a series of coincidences, Hiroto meets three other players: the boastful Kazami Torimachi, the mysterious May, and the timid Parviz. Forming the "BUILD DiVERS," the unlikely group sets on a story mission rumored to carry bountiful in-game rewards. Together, the BUILD DiVERS must confront their own weaknesses as they join arms in a journey that may very well transcend the existence of GBN itself. -- -- ONA - Oct 10, 2019 -- 9,209 7.02
Gunparade March: Arata Naru Kougunka -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Game -- Drama Mecha Military Romance Sci-Fi Shounen Slice of Life -- Gunparade March: Arata Naru Kougunka Gunparade March: Arata Naru Kougunka -- It began in 1945, at the end of the Pacific War. Alien invaders filled the earth's Skies, and mankind was forced to confront an unprecedented threat. For the first time in human history, people of all cultures came together under one banner. -- -- This war has now been raging for over fifty years. Countless lives have been lost, and the Japanese military is now forced to rely on young people such as Atsushi Hayami and his high school class, also known as Unit 5121. This new generation fearlessly struggles on with the aid of the HWT humanoid combat machines and the devastating PBE bomb. -- -- (Source: Media Blasters) -- -- Licensor: -- Maiden Japan, Media Blasters -- TV - Feb 6, 2003 -- 14,265 6.79
Gunparade March: Arata Naru Kougunka -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Game -- Drama Mecha Military Romance Sci-Fi Shounen Slice of Life -- Gunparade March: Arata Naru Kougunka Gunparade March: Arata Naru Kougunka -- It began in 1945, at the end of the Pacific War. Alien invaders filled the earth's Skies, and mankind was forced to confront an unprecedented threat. For the first time in human history, people of all cultures came together under one banner. -- -- This war has now been raging for over fifty years. Countless lives have been lost, and the Japanese military is now forced to rely on young people such as Atsushi Hayami and his high school class, also known as Unit 5121. This new generation fearlessly struggles on with the aid of the HWT humanoid combat machines and the devastating PBE bomb. -- -- (Source: Media Blasters) -- TV - Feb 6, 2003 -- 14,265 6.79
.hack//Intermezzo -- -- Bee Train -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Fantasy Game Magic Mystery Sci-Fi -- .hack//Intermezzo .hack//Intermezzo -- A virtual multiplayer online role-playing game exists, known as "The World." In "The World," there is an event held in the Dungeon of Nankoflank that Mimiru, a character in the game, undertakes with Bear, another character of the game. Mimiru confesses to Bear that she's not doing the event for the treasures or experiences, but for the memories and experiences of when she had first started playing. The two later meet a certain character named Mimika and together, the three proceed through quests and events as Mimiru learns the meaning of the game. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment -- Special - Mar 28, 2003 -- 21,341 6.56
.hack//Intermezzo -- -- Bee Train -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Fantasy Game Magic Mystery Sci-Fi -- .hack//Intermezzo .hack//Intermezzo -- A virtual multiplayer online role-playing game exists, known as "The World." In "The World," there is an event held in the Dungeon of Nankoflank that Mimiru, a character in the game, undertakes with Bear, another character of the game. Mimiru confesses to Bear that she's not doing the event for the treasures or experiences, but for the memories and experiences of when she had first started playing. The two later meet a certain character named Mimika and together, the three proceed through quests and events as Mimiru learns the meaning of the game. -- -- Special - Mar 28, 2003 -- 21,341 6.56
.hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu -- -- Bee Train -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Fantasy Game Sci-Fi Shounen -- .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu .hack//Tasogare no Udewa Densetsu -- Winning the legendary characters "Kite" and "Black Rose" from an event held by the creators of the MMORPG "The World," Shugo and his twin sister Rena steps into "The World." Together they completed events and quests, along with their new friends Ouka, Mirelle, Hotaru, and Sanjuro. Soon after, mysterious monsters appeared, and death by these monsters caused players to slip into a coma in the real world. Only Shugo and Rena can solve this problem, but why are they being targeted, and what secrets is the game hiding? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Funimation -- TV - Jan 9, 2003 -- 61,207 6.59
.hack//Unison -- -- Bee Train -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Fantasy Game Magic Sci-Fi -- .hack//Unison .hack//Unison -- Somewhere in the MMORPG called "The World," a group is gathered at a pub, awaiting the start of an event. There, old friends and acquaintances are reunited, including those who rarely log on. Some are even forging new relationships for the first time. Together, invited by the hacker Helba, the group leaves for the event in the Net Slums where a celebration awaits them all. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment -- Special - Oct 24, 2003 -- 21,591 6.68
.hack//Unison -- -- Bee Train -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Fantasy Game Magic Sci-Fi -- .hack//Unison .hack//Unison -- Somewhere in the MMORPG called "The World," a group is gathered at a pub, awaiting the start of an event. There, old friends and acquaintances are reunited, including those who rarely log on. Some are even forging new relationships for the first time. Together, invited by the hacker Helba, the group leaves for the event in the Net Slums where a celebration awaits them all. -- -- Special - Oct 24, 2003 -- 21,591 6.68
Haikyuu!! -- -- Production I.G -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Sports Drama School Shounen -- Haikyuu!! Haikyuu!! -- Inspired after watching a volleyball ace nicknamed "Little Giant" in action, small-statured Shouyou Hinata revives the volleyball club at his middle school. The newly-formed team even makes it to a tournament; however, their first match turns out to be their last when they are brutally squashed by the "King of the Court," Tobio Kageyama. Hinata vows to surpass Kageyama, and so after graduating from middle school, he joins Karasuno High School's volleyball team—only to find that his sworn rival, Kageyama, is now his teammate. -- -- Thanks to his short height, Hinata struggles to find his role on the team, even with his superior jumping power. Surprisingly, Kageyama has his own problems that only Hinata can help with, and learning to work together appears to be the only way for the team to be successful. Based on Haruichi Furudate's popular shounen manga of the same name, Haikyuu!! is an exhilarating and emotional sports comedy following two determined athletes as they attempt to patch a heated rivalry in order to make their high school volleyball team the best in Japan. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 1,301,807 8.50
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Drama Fantasy -- Hai to Gensou no Grimgar Hai to Gensou no Grimgar -- Fear, survival, instinct. Thrown into a foreign land with nothing but hazy memories and the knowledge of their name, they can feel only these three emotions resonating deep within their souls. A group of strangers is given no other choice than to accept the only paying job in this game-like world—the role of a soldier in the Reserve Army—and eliminate anything that threatens the peace in their new world, Grimgar. -- -- When all of the stronger candidates join together, those left behind must create a party together to survive: Manato, a charismatic leader and priest; Haruhiro, a nervous thief; Yume, a cheerful hunter; Shihoru, a shy mage; Mogzo, a kind warrior; and Ranta, a rowdy dark knight. Despite its resemblance to one, this is no game—there are no redos or respawns; it is kill or be killed. -- -- It is now up to this ragtag group of unlikely fighters to survive together in a world where life and death are separated only by a fine line. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 564,145 7.68
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san -- -- Xebec -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Sci-Fi Comedy Parody -- Haiyore! Nyaruko-san Haiyore! Nyaruko-san -- Mahiro Yasaka is just an ordinary high school student, until one day he is suddenly attacked by a dangerous monster. Just when everything seems to be lost, he is saved by a silver-haired girl named Nyaruko, who claims to be the shape-shifting deity Nyarlathotep from horror author H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, sent by the Space Defense Agency to Earth. She explains to Mahiro that the creature chasing him was an alien called Nightgaunt, who had planned on abducting and selling him as a slave. -- -- After rescuing him from the alien, the Lovecraftian deity falls madly in love with Mahiro and forces herself into his household, much to his chagrin. Moreover, they are soon joined by two others from the fictional universe: Cthuko, a girl obsessed with Nyaruko, and Hasuta, a young boy easily mistaken for a beautiful female. Together, the three eccentric aliens protect Mahiro from the various extraterrestrial dangers that threaten both his and Earth's well-being, all the while making his life a living hell. -- -- -- Licensor: -- NIS America, Inc. -- TV - Apr 10, 2012 -- 293,083 7.05
Haiyore! Nyaruko-san -- -- Xebec -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Sci-Fi Comedy Parody -- Haiyore! Nyaruko-san Haiyore! Nyaruko-san -- Mahiro Yasaka is just an ordinary high school student, until one day he is suddenly attacked by a dangerous monster. Just when everything seems to be lost, he is saved by a silver-haired girl named Nyaruko, who claims to be the shape-shifting deity Nyarlathotep from horror author H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, sent by the Space Defense Agency to Earth. She explains to Mahiro that the creature chasing him was an alien called Nightgaunt, who had planned on abducting and selling him as a slave. -- -- After rescuing him from the alien, the Lovecraftian deity falls madly in love with Mahiro and forces herself into his household, much to his chagrin. Moreover, they are soon joined by two others from the fictional universe: Cthuko, a girl obsessed with Nyaruko, and Hasuta, a young boy easily mistaken for a beautiful female. Together, the three eccentric aliens protect Mahiro from the various extraterrestrial dangers that threaten both his and Earth's well-being, all the while making his life a living hell. -- -- TV - Apr 10, 2012 -- 293,083 7.05
Hakumei to Mikochi -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Fantasy Seinen Slice of Life -- Hakumei to Mikochi Hakumei to Mikochi -- In a world inhabited by people only a few inches tall, young women Hakumei and Mikochi live together in a house built into a tree. Hakumei is an energetic and tomboyish carpenter, while Mikochi is a feminine and calm tailor. Despite their differences, they get along well and spend their days having fun living their lives in the woods. -- -- The two of them spend their time working, going on sightseeing adventures, and taking shopping trips into Tsumiki Marketplace by the ocean. They make many friends along the way, be they sentient woodland creatures like Iwashi the Weasel or fellow miniature people such as the songstress Konju and the inventor Sen. -- -- Hakumei to Mikochi is a relaxing look into the day-to-day lives of its titular characters as they explore and interact with their tiny world which seems to be straight out of a fairy tale. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 49,241 7.65
Hakuouki -- -- Studio Deen -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Historical Supernatural Drama Samurai Josei -- Hakuouki Hakuouki -- In 1864 Japan, a young woman named Chizuru Yukimura is searching for her missing father, Koudou, a doctor by trade whose work often takes him far from home. But with no word from him in months, Chizuru disguises herself as a man and heads to Kyoto in search of him. Attracting the attention of ronin, she tries to hide and ends up witnessing a horrifying sight: the ronin being brutally murdered by crazed white-haired men. In a startling turn of events, members of the Shinsengumi arrive to dispatch the creatures. But Chizuru's safety doesn't last long, as this group of men tie her up and take her back to their headquarters, unsure of whether to let her live or silence her permanently. -- -- However, once she reveals the name of her father, the Shinsengumi decide to keep her safe, as they too have been searching for him. But Koudou is more connected to the Shinsengumi than they let on, and soon Chizuru finds herself embroiled in a conflict between the Shinsengumi and their enemies, as well as political tension in Kyoto. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Apr 4, 2010 -- 145,474 7.40
Hakuouki -- -- Studio Deen -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Action Historical Supernatural Drama Samurai Josei -- Hakuouki Hakuouki -- In 1864 Japan, a young woman named Chizuru Yukimura is searching for her missing father, Koudou, a doctor by trade whose work often takes him far from home. But with no word from him in months, Chizuru disguises herself as a man and heads to Kyoto in search of him. Attracting the attention of ronin, she tries to hide and ends up witnessing a horrifying sight: the ronin being brutally murdered by crazed white-haired men. In a startling turn of events, members of the Shinsengumi arrive to dispatch the creatures. But Chizuru's safety doesn't last long, as this group of men tie her up and take her back to their headquarters, unsure of whether to let her live or silence her permanently. -- -- However, once she reveals the name of her father, the Shinsengumi decide to keep her safe, as they too have been searching for him. But Koudou is more connected to the Shinsengumi than they let on, and soon Chizuru finds herself embroiled in a conflict between the Shinsengumi and their enemies, as well as political tension in Kyoto. -- -- TV - Apr 4, 2010 -- 145,474 7.40
Hanamaru Youchien -- -- Gainax -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Seinen -- Hanamaru Youchien Hanamaru Youchien -- Anzu goes to a kindergarten with her friends, the shy Koume and the eccentric Hiiragi. Together they try to attract attention from their caretaker Tsuchida. However, he is clearly more interested in the pretty Yamamoto who supervises the class next door. -- 67,105 7.30
Hand Shakers -- -- GoHands -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action -- Hand Shakers Hand Shakers -- Those who receive the Revelation of Babel must overcome many battles and trials. By grasping the hand of their special partner, these "Hand Shakers" transport themselves to the realm of Ziggurat, an alternate dimension where time no longer exists. Each pair of Hand Shakers must battle it out for the right to meet with God, who will reward them by granting them a single wish. -- -- Tazuna Takatsuki, a high school student with a penchant for fixing things, is one of these Hand Shakers. After receiving a request for repairs from Professor Makihara of a nearby university, Tazuna stumbles upon Koyori Akutagawa, a bedridden girl that reminds him of his deceased sister Musubu. Remembering her dying wish to never let go of her hand, Tazuna grasps Koyori's hand and awakens his power as a Hand Shaker. However, Koyori's life is directly tied to her status as a Hand Shaker, meaning if Tazuna was to ever let go of her hand she would die. With meeting God being their only hope for saving her, the duo must find a way to make their unique powers mesh together, overcome the opposing Hand Shakers, and make their wish come true. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 89,580 5.32
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi -- -- Sunrise -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Historical Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi -- Half-demon twins Towa and Setsuna were always together, living happily in Feudal Japan. But their joyous days come to an end when a forest fire separates them and Towa is thrown through a portal to modern-day Japan. There, she is found by Souta Higurashi, who raises her as his daughter after Towa finds herself unable to return to her time. -- -- Ten years later, 14-year-old Towa is a relatively well-adjusted student, despite the fact that she often gets into fights. However, unexpected trouble arrives on her doorstep in the form of three visitors from Feudal Japan; Moroha, a bounty hunter; Setsuna, a demon slayer and Towa's long-lost twin sister; and Mistress Three-Eyes, a demon seeking a mystical object. Working together, the girls defeat their foe, but in the process, Towa discovers to her horror that Setsuna has no memory of her at all. Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi follows the three girls as they endeavor to remedy Setsuna's memory loss, as well as discover the truth about their linked destinies. -- -- 85,116 6.73
Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi -- -- Sunrise -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Historical Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi -- Half-demon twins Towa and Setsuna were always together, living happily in Feudal Japan. But their joyous days come to an end when a forest fire separates them and Towa is thrown through a portal to modern-day Japan. There, she is found by Souta Higurashi, who raises her as his daughter after Towa finds herself unable to return to her time. -- -- Ten years later, 14-year-old Towa is a relatively well-adjusted student, despite the fact that she often gets into fights. However, unexpected trouble arrives on her doorstep in the form of three visitors from Feudal Japan; Moroha, a bounty hunter; Setsuna, a demon slayer and Towa's long-lost twin sister; and Mistress Three-Eyes, a demon seeking a mystical object. Working together, the girls defeat their foe, but in the process, Towa discovers to her horror that Setsuna has no memory of her at all. Hanyou no Yashahime: Sengoku Otogizoushi follows the three girls as they endeavor to remedy Setsuna's memory loss, as well as discover the truth about their linked destinies. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- 85,116 6.73
Happiness! -- -- Artland -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Comedy Harem Magic Romance School -- Happiness! Happiness! -- Kamizaka Haruhi having been rescued when she was young by a mage, longed to be a mage herself, so she enrolled into a special school that allows regular and magic classes into two different sections. Together with her rival/best friend, Hiiragi Anri, they study magic together while she is searching for the boy that saved her years ago, to give him a Valentines' chocolate. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Oct 6, 2006 -- 32,674 6.40
Happy☆Lesson: Advance -- -- Studio Hibari -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Harem Romance Slice of Life -- Happy☆Lesson: Advance Happy☆Lesson: Advance -- Hitotose Chitose is now living together with his 5 teachers as his mothers when a mysterious girl appears and becomes their neighbor which turns out that that person is Nagatsuki Kuron who wants Mu-chan to be her mother so another sibling rivalry ensues as to who would end up as Mu-chan's child. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Jul 3, 2003 -- 13,199 6.82
Happy☆Lesson (TV) -- -- Studio Hibari -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Harem Romance Slice of Life -- Happy☆Lesson (TV) Happy☆Lesson (TV) -- Hitotose Chitose was always alone and untrusting of people but when 5 female teachers appear and started living together with him in his family's house as his mothers, things started to change and pick up, together with Hazuki-nee and Minazuki (his 2 sisters) everyday is a lesson. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- TV - Apr 1, 2002 -- 24,131 6.65
Happy☆Lesson (TV) -- -- Studio Hibari -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Harem Romance Slice of Life -- Happy☆Lesson (TV) Happy☆Lesson (TV) -- Hitotose Chitose was always alone and untrusting of people but when 5 female teachers appear and started living together with him in his family's house as his mothers, things started to change and pick up, together with Hazuki-nee and Minazuki (his 2 sisters) everyday is a lesson. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Apr 1, 2002 -- 24,131 6.65
Harmony -- -- Studio 4°C -- 1 ep -- Novel -- Sci-Fi Psychological -- Harmony Harmony -- In the future, Utopia has finally been achieved thanks to medical nanotechnology and a powerful ethic of social welfare and mutual consideration. This perfect world isn't that perfect though, and three young girls stand up to totalitarian kindness and super-medicine by attempting suicide via starvation. It doesn't work, but one of the girls—Tuan Kirie—grows up to be a member of the World Health Organization. As a crisis threatens the harmony of the new world, Tuan rediscovers another member of her suicide pact, and together they must help save the planet...from itself. -- -- (Source: Viz Media) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Nov 13, 2015 -- 49,992 6.96
HaruChika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun suru -- -- P.A. Works -- 12 eps -- Novel -- Music Slice of Life Mystery Romance School -- HaruChika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun suru HaruChika: Haruta to Chika wa Seishun suru -- Chika Homura begins her high school career with a goal: to develop a "cute girl" persona. After quitting the volleyball team despite her all-star status, Chika decides to join her school's underrated Wind Instrument Club and play the flute, believing it to be the most delicate and feminine instrument. For the first time in nine years, Chika reunites with her childhood friend and total opposite, Haruta Kamijou. Unfortunately for Chika, Haruta is not fooled by her efforts to become more endearing. But this does not deter Chika, and she develops a crush on the band instructor, Shinjirou Kusakabe—but so does Haruta! -- -- However, Chika's high school life just won't go according to plan, as mysteries begin appearing around her and her friends. The club members must work together to solve the mysteries plaguing the school, all while trying to find more members to compete in musical competitions. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 78,403 6.35
Haru wo Daite Ita -- -- Trinet Entertainment -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Drama Romance Yaoi -- Haru wo Daite Ita Haru wo Daite Ita -- The adorable and attractive main characters of Haru wo Daiteita are Kyousuke Iwaki and Youji Katou who are both in the film industry, having starred in various adult video films and are trying to climb the ladder of success and become greater actors. Iwaki is accepted to star in a popular movie, having beaten Katou in the auditions. During their time together, Katou believes he is in love with Iwaki-San, who on the contrary refuses to believe that he is in love. It is later on that another gay actor comes back to Japan and co-stars with Katou that problems starting arising. And it is from then on that the two realise where their hearts are set. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Kitty Media, Media Blasters -- OVA - Mar 31, 2005 -- 23,017 6.74
Hataraku Maou-sama! -- -- White Fox -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Demons Supernatural Romance Fantasy -- Hataraku Maou-sama! Hataraku Maou-sama! -- Striking fear into the hearts of mortals, the Demon Lord Satan begins to conquer the land of Ente Isla with his vast demon armies. However, while embarking on this brutal quest to take over the continent, his efforts are foiled by the hero Emilia, forcing Satan to make his swift retreat through a dimensional portal only to land in the human world. Along with his loyal general Alsiel, the demon finds himself stranded in modern-day Tokyo and vows to return and complete his subjugation of Ente Isla—that is, if they can find a way back! -- -- Powerless in a world without magic, Satan assumes the guise of a human named Sadao Maou and begins working at MgRonald's—a local fast-food restaurant—to make ends meet. He soon realizes that his goal of conquering Ente Isla is just not enough as he grows determined to climb the corporate ladder and become the ruler of Earth, one satisfied customer at a time! -- -- Whether it's part-time work, household chores, or simply trying to pay the rent on time, Hataraku Maou-sama! presents a hilarious view of the most mundane aspects of everyday life, all through the eyes of a hapless demon lord. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 1,131,488 7.81
Hataraku Saibou Black (TV) -- -- LIDENFILMS -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Action Drama Seinen -- Hataraku Saibou Black (TV) Hataraku Saibou Black (TV) -- Due to poor lifestyle choices, a certain human's body is in constant turmoil. With germs, bacteria, and foreign substances abound, the jobs of various cells become increasingly difficult and dangerous. As some of the unfortunate ones who matured in this chaotic environment, Sekkekkyuu AA2153 and Hakkekkyuu U-1196 strive to fulfill their duties—even if it means seeing many of their fellow cells lose their lives in duty. -- -- Set in an environment vastly different from its parent story, Hataraku Saibou Black portrays the cells' struggles as they try to maintain the body's health. However, the human's condition continues to deteriorate, and whether or not these efforts will amount to something concrete depends on the cells! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 147,097 7.56
Hataraku Saibou (TV) -- -- David Production -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Shounen -- Hataraku Saibou (TV) Hataraku Saibou (TV) -- Inside the human body, roughly 37.2 trillion cells work energetically 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Fresh out of training, the cheerful and somewhat airheaded Sekkekkyuu AE3803 is ready to take on the ever-so-important task of transporting oxygen. As usual, Hakkekkyuu U-1146 is hard at work patrolling and eliminating foreign bacteria seeking to make the body their new lair. Elsewhere, little platelets are lining up for a new construction project. -- -- Dealing with wounds and allergies, getting lost on the way to the lungs, and bickering with similar cell types, the daily lives of cells are always hectic as they work together to keep the body healthy! -- -- 471,853 7.62
Hataraku Saibou (TV) -- -- David Production -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Shounen -- Hataraku Saibou (TV) Hataraku Saibou (TV) -- Inside the human body, roughly 37.2 trillion cells work energetically 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. Fresh out of training, the cheerful and somewhat airheaded Sekkekkyuu AE3803 is ready to take on the ever-so-important task of transporting oxygen. As usual, Hakkekkyuu U-1146 is hard at work patrolling and eliminating foreign bacteria seeking to make the body their new lair. Elsewhere, little platelets are lining up for a new construction project. -- -- Dealing with wounds and allergies, getting lost on the way to the lungs, and bickering with similar cell types, the daily lives of cells are always hectic as they work together to keep the body healthy! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 471,853 7.62
Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic -- -- Studio Gokumi -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Seinen -- Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic Hello!! Kiniro Mosaic -- Although learning different languages continues to be an interest for Shinobu and her friends, the new school year brings unexpected difficulties. Not only is there always something new and different to distract them from their studies, but Alice and Yoko also are having trouble adjusting to being in a different class from Shinobu and Aya. -- -- Meanwhile, Karen isn't getting along at all with her new homeroom teacher, and it doesn't help that the teacher is having trouble figuring out how to make herself seem friendlier to her students as well. Craziness may ensue, but sometimes, all it takes is the right mutual experience to bring everyone together. -- -- While some of those experiences may not be as well-thought-out as others (like when Alice and Aya act like juvenile delinquents to seem more grown up), the gang's new adventures are certain to warm everyone's heart as the fun and friendships keep growing in HELLO!! KINMOZA! -- -- (Source: Sentai Filmworks) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 67,078 7.52
Hidamari Sketch -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy School Seinen Slice of Life -- Hidamari Sketch Hidamari Sketch -- Ever since she was young, Yuno has always had an interest in art. Now that she has been accepted to Yamabuki Arts High School, it means one thing—moving out. Living in a dorm at Hidamari Apartments alone, Yuno meets her neighbors: the hyperactive Miyako, the self-conscious Hiro, and the mature Sae. Despite their different personalities, they go to the same school, spend time together, and develop a strong friendship. Yuno's life won't be so lonely after all! -- -- Hidamari Sketch revolves around the antics and day-to-day lives of the girls living at Hidamari Apartments. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 66,923 7.45
Highschool of the Dead -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Horror Supernatural Ecchi Shounen -- Highschool of the Dead Highschool of the Dead -- It happened suddenly: The dead began to rise and Japan was thrown into total chaos. As these monsters begin terrorizing a high school, Takashi Kimuro is forced to kill his best friend when he gets bitten and joins the ranks of the walking dead. Vowing to protect Rei Miyamoto, the girlfriend of the man he just executed, they narrowly escape their death trap of a school, only to be greeted with a society that has already fallen. -- -- Soon, Takashi and Rei band together with other students on a journey to find their family members and uncover what caused this overwhelming pandemic. Joining them is Saeko Busujima, the beautiful president of the Kendo Club; Kouta Hirano, an otaku with a fetish for firearms; Saya Takagi, the daughter of an influential politician; and Shizuka Marikawa, their hot school nurse. But will the combined strength of these individuals be enough to conquer this undead apocalypse? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 1,159,336 7.13
High Score Girl II -- -- J.C.Staff -- 9 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Game Romance School Seinen -- High Score Girl II High Score Girl II -- The year is 1996, and second-year high school students Haruo Yaguchi, Akira Oono, and Koharu Hidaka live their lives as passionately about video games as they were five years ago. Brought together by arcade games, what began as a healthy rivalry and friendship has turned into something more. As they endeavour towards understanding their unfamiliar feelings, they work with allies, navigate high school, and find that, although life has its many challenges, there's always a game or two they can rely on. -- -- 89,597 8.05
High Score Girl II -- -- J.C.Staff -- 9 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Game Romance School Seinen -- High Score Girl II High Score Girl II -- The year is 1996, and second-year high school students Haruo Yaguchi, Akira Oono, and Koharu Hidaka live their lives as passionately about video games as they were five years ago. Brought together by arcade games, what began as a healthy rivalry and friendship has turned into something more. As they endeavour towards understanding their unfamiliar feelings, they work with allies, navigate high school, and find that, although life has its many challenges, there's always a game or two they can rely on. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Netflix -- 89,597 8.05
Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai -- -- Studio Deen -- 24 eps -- Visual novel -- Mystery Psychological Supernatural Thriller -- Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai -- In the small village of Hinamizawa, Rika Furude and her friends live together in relative harmony. Beneath this mask of peace, however, lies a hidden darkness, one that Rika understands all too well. In this eternal summer, she has been witness to unspeakable horrors. Every time the clock resets, Rika must try to find the villain behind these senseless deaths before tragedy strikes again. However, trying to decipher a mystery when only half the clues are present proves time and again to be disastrous, and each time she believes that things will change, she inevitably fails. As the annual festival approaches, Rika begins her descent from hope to despair in her struggle to break the chains of fate entangling them all. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 398,376 8.22
Himouto! Umaru-chan -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy School Seinen Slice of Life -- Himouto! Umaru-chan Himouto! Umaru-chan -- People are not always who they appear to be, as is the case with Umaru Doma, the perfect high school girl—that is, until she gets home! Once the front door closes, the real fun begins. When she dons her hamster hoodie, she transforms from a refined, over-achieving student into a lazy, junk food-eating otaku, leaving all the housework to her responsible older brother Taihei. Whether she's hanging out with her friends Nana Ebina and Kirie Motoba, or competing with her self-proclaimed "rival" Sylphinford Tachibana, Umaru knows how to kick back and have some fun! -- -- Himouto! Umaru-chan is a cute story that follows the daily adventures of Umaru and Taihei, as they take care of—and put up with—each other the best they can, as well as the unbreakable bonds between friends and siblings. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 523,344 7.16
Hi no Tori -- -- Tezuka Productions -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Historical Supernatural Drama -- Hi no Tori Hi no Tori -- From prehistoric times to the distant future, Hi no Tori portrays how the legendary immortal bird Phoenix acts as a witness and chronicler for the history of mankind's endless struggle in search of power, justice, and freedom. -- -- The Dawn -- Since time immemorial, people have sought out the legendary Phoenix for its blood, which is known to grant eternal life. Hearing about rumored Phoenix sightings in the Land of Fire, Himiko—the cruel queen of Yamatai obsessed with immortality—sends her army to conquer the nation and retrieve the creature. Young Nagi, his elder sister Hinaku, and her foreign husband Guzuri are the only survivors of the slaughter. But while Nagi is taken prisoner by the enemy, elsewhere, Hinaku has a shocking revelation. -- -- The Resurrection -- In a distant future where Earth has become uninhabitable, Leona undergoes surgery on a space station to recover from a deadly accident. However, while also suffering from amnesia, his brain is now half cybernetic and causes him to see people as formless scraps and robots as humans. Falling in love with Chihiro, a discarded robot, they escape together from the space station to prevent Chihiro from being destroyed. Yet as his lost memories gradually return, Leona will have to confront the painful truth about his past. -- -- The Transformation -- Yearning for independence, Sakon no Suke—the only daughter of a tyrant ruler—kills priestess Yao Bikuni, the sole person capable of curing her father's illness. Consequently, she and her faithful servant, Kahei, are unexpectedly confined to the temple grounds of Bikuni's sanctuary. While searching for a way out, Sakon no Suke assumes the priestess's position and uses a miraculous feather to heal all those reaching out for help. -- -- The Sun -- After his faction loses the war, Prince Harima's head is replaced with a wolf's. An old medicine woman who recognizes his bloodline assists him and the wounded General Azumi-no-muraji Saruta in escaping to Wah Land. But their arrival at a small Wah village is met with unexpected trouble as Houben, a powerful Buddhist monk, wants Harima dead. With the aid of the Ku clan wolf gods that protect the village's surroundings, he survives the murder attempt. After tensions settle, Saruta uses his established reputation in Wah to persuade the villagers to welcome Harima into their community. Over a period of time, Harima becomes the village's respected leader under the name Inugami no Sukune. But while the young prince adapts to his new role, he must remain vigilant as new dangers soon arise and threaten his recently acquired tranquility. -- -- The Future -- Life on Earth has gradually ceased to exist, with the survivors taking refuge in underground cities. To avoid human extinction, Doctor Saruta unsuccessfully tries to recreate life in his laboratory. However, the unexpected visit of Masato Yamanobe, his alien girlfriend Tamami, and his colleague Rock Holmes reveals a disturbing crisis: the computers that regulate the subterranean cities have initiated a nuclear war that will eliminate all of mankind. -- -- TV - Mar 21, 2004 -- 7,595 7.10
Hipira-kun -- -- Sunrise -- 10 eps -- Picture book -- Comedy Fantasy Kids Supernatural Vampire -- Hipira-kun Hipira-kun -- In the city of Salta, a place where the sun never shines, a community of vampires lives. Hipira is a little vampire who lives the life of a typical boy, attending school and dealing with bullies along the way. However, he also has a soft spot for exploring, playing pranks on others and having grand adventures! Whether he's befriending a human soul, scaring his neighbours by pretending day has come or encountering giant frogs and aliens, Hipira is always getting himself into and out of trouble. -- TV - Dec 21, 2009 -- 2,850 6.12
Hoozuki no Reitetsu -- -- Wit Studio -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Demons Supernatural Fantasy Seinen -- Hoozuki no Reitetsu Hoozuki no Reitetsu -- Hell is a bureaucracy, and business is running smoother than ever thanks to the demonic efficiency of Hoozuki, chief deputy to Lord Enma, the King of Hell. Whether offering counsel to the Momotarou of Japanese folklore or receiving diplomatic missions from the Judeo-Christian Hell, the demon who runs the show from behind the king's imposing shadow is ready to beat down any challenges coming his way into a bloody pulp. Metaphorically, of course... -- -- The poster boy for micromanagement and armed with negotiation skills worthy of Wall Street, Hoozuki no Reitetsu follows the sadistic and level-headed Hoozuki as he spends his days troubleshooting hell. With an abundance of familiar faces from popular Japanese legends and East Asian mythology working middle management positions, this referential and anachronistic dark comedy brings new meaning to the phrase "employer liability." Just how hard could it be to manage employees from hell, anyway? -- -- 107,557 7.79
Hoozuki no Reitetsu -- -- Wit Studio -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Demons Supernatural Fantasy Seinen -- Hoozuki no Reitetsu Hoozuki no Reitetsu -- Hell is a bureaucracy, and business is running smoother than ever thanks to the demonic efficiency of Hoozuki, chief deputy to Lord Enma, the King of Hell. Whether offering counsel to the Momotarou of Japanese folklore or receiving diplomatic missions from the Judeo-Christian Hell, the demon who runs the show from behind the king's imposing shadow is ready to beat down any challenges coming his way into a bloody pulp. Metaphorically, of course... -- -- The poster boy for micromanagement and armed with negotiation skills worthy of Wall Street, Hoozuki no Reitetsu follows the sadistic and level-headed Hoozuki as he spends his days troubleshooting hell. With an abundance of familiar faces from popular Japanese legends and East Asian mythology working middle management positions, this referential and anachronistic dark comedy brings new meaning to the phrase "employer liability." Just how hard could it be to manage employees from hell, anyway? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 107,557 7.79
Horimiya -- -- CloverWorks -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance School Shounen -- Horimiya Horimiya -- On the surface, the thought of Kyouko Hori and Izumi Miyamura getting along would be the last thing in people's minds. After all, Hori has a perfect combination of beauty and brains, while Miyamura appears meek and distant to his fellow classmates. However, a fateful meeting between the two lays both of their hidden selves bare. Even though she is popular at school, Hori has little time to socialize with her friends due to housework. On the other hand, Miyamura lives under the noses of his peers, his body bearing secret tattoos and piercings that make him look like a gentle delinquent. -- -- Having opposite personalities yet sharing odd similarities, the two quickly become friends and often spend time together in Hori's home. As they both emerge from their shells, they share with each other a side of themselves concealed from the outside world. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 573,127 8.29
Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei -- -- Shuka -- 12 eps -- Novel -- Drama Mystery Slice of Life -- Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei Housekishou Richard-shi no Nazo Kantei -- Possessing a deep knowledge of mineralogy, Richard Ranashinha de Vulpian is a young and handsome British jewelry appraiser who owns a small shop in Japan. One fateful night, Seigi Nakata, a righteous college student, saves him from drunks who were harassing him due to his good looks. Upon learning of Richard's identity, Seigi hires him to appraise a pink sapphire ring that was left behind by his deceased grandmother. -- -- Before long, Seigi becomes a trusted part-timer at Richard's shop. Together, the duo solve various jewel-related requests from diverse clients of different backgrounds. Step by step, they unravel the hidden motives and feelings that lie within the gems in order to understand and empathize with the little stories behind each piece of jewelry. -- -- 44,223 7.16
Hunter x Hunter (2011) -- -- Madhouse -- 148 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Fantasy Shounen Super Power -- Hunter x Hunter (2011) Hunter x Hunter (2011) -- Hunter x Hunter is set in a world where Hunters exist to perform all manner of dangerous tasks like capturing criminals and bravely searching for lost treasures in uncharted territories. Twelve-year-old Gon Freecss is determined to become the best Hunter possible in hopes of finding his father, who was a Hunter himself and had long ago abandoned his young son. However, Gon soon realizes the path to achieving his goals is far more challenging than he could have ever imagined. -- -- Along the way to becoming an official Hunter, Gon befriends the lively doctor-in-training Leorio, vengeful Kurapika, and rebellious ex-assassin Killua. To attain their own goals and desires, together the four of them take the Hunter Exam, notorious for its low success rate and high probability of death. Throughout their journey, Gon and his friends embark on an adventure that puts them through many hardships and struggles. They will meet a plethora of monsters, creatures, and characters—all while learning what being a Hunter truly means. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- 1,828,803 9.08
Huyao Xiao Hongniang -- -- Haoliners Animation League -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Historical Supernatural Romance -- Huyao Xiao Hongniang Huyao Xiao Hongniang -- True love never dies—even when it is between a human and a near-immortal youkai. Thankfully, fox spirit youkai have discovered a solution which allows a human to be reincarnated, and with the services of a Fox Spirit Matchmaker, eventually recall memories of their past life, so they can begin anew with their beloved youkai. -- -- Enter Bai Yuechu—a powerful human Taoist who desires freedom from the ruling Yi Qi Dao League—and Tushan Susu, a small and innocent fox spirit who dreams of becoming a renowned matchmaker, despite her reputation as a colossal screw-up. After Susu literally falls through the roof and into his life, Yuechu gets dragged into helping her bring together two separated lovers: prince Fan Yun Fei and his reincarnated lover, Li Xueyang. However, not everyone wants them to be reunited, including Xueyang herself. Thrown together by fate, Yuechu and Susu will discover who they truly are... and who they used to be. -- -- ONA - Jun 26, 2015 -- 35,427 7.22
Hyper Police -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Police Romance Sci-Fi -- Hyper Police Hyper Police -- Sasahara Natsuki is a poor bounty hunter in a world where monsters and humans live together. Most of her cases involve monsters infringing upon the rights of humans, who are protected by law from their generally more powerful neighbors. Being half-human and half cat-beast, Natsuki straddles the two societies and tries to understand and respect both while enforcing the law. She is assisted by a werewolf named Batanen who is afraid to admit he loves her; another werewolf named Tommy; and a Kyubi fox demon named Sakura who has her own plans--which include eating Natsuki to complete her her nine tails and thereby her magical powers. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 8,654 6.94
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou -- -- Artland -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Harem Comedy Magic Ecchi Fantasy School -- Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou -- Dreaming of changing the world for good, Akuto Sai transfers to Constant Magic Academy where he befriends a virtuous ninja clan member, Junko Hattori. On the way to the academy, they vow to make the world a better place together; however, the situation suddenly takes a turn for the worse upon his arrival—it is prophesied that he will become the Demon King! -- -- As word of his destiny spreads, the school begins to fear him, and Junko's trust in him falters. While Akuto is determined to not let his predicted future control his fate, it seems as though everything he says and does only serve to reinforce the fact that he is destined to be the Demon King. Moreover, he is surrounded by a harem of beautiful girls who each have their own plans for him, ranging from bringing him to justice to simply showering him with love. With his newly awakened powers, Akuto must cope with his constantly growing list of misfortune and fight to prove that his fate is not set in stone. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Apr 3, 2010 -- 414,558 6.86
Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou -- -- Artland -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Harem Comedy Magic Ecchi Fantasy School -- Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou -- Dreaming of changing the world for good, Akuto Sai transfers to Constant Magic Academy where he befriends a virtuous ninja clan member, Junko Hattori. On the way to the academy, they vow to make the world a better place together; however, the situation suddenly takes a turn for the worse upon his arrival—it is prophesied that he will become the Demon King! -- -- As word of his destiny spreads, the school begins to fear him, and Junko's trust in him falters. While Akuto is determined to not let his predicted future control his fate, it seems as though everything he says and does only serve to reinforce the fact that he is destined to be the Demon King. Moreover, he is surrounded by a harem of beautiful girls who each have their own plans for him, ranging from bringing him to justice to simply showering him with love. With his newly awakened powers, Akuto must cope with his constantly growing list of misfortune and fight to prove that his fate is not set in stone. -- -- TV - Apr 3, 2010 -- 414,558 6.86
Ichigo Mashimaro -- -- Daume -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy -- Ichigo Mashimaro Ichigo Mashimaro -- "Cute girls doing cute things in cute ways." -- -- Everyday things make up the fabric of life—whether it's making friends, going to school, trying to make money, or celebrating a holiday. Ichigo Mashimaro is a heartwarming series that follows the daily lives of Itou Chika, her sister Nobue, and her friends Miu, Matsuri, and Ana. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA, Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Jul 15, 2005 -- 72,555 7.66
Ichigo Mashimaro -- -- Daume -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy -- Ichigo Mashimaro Ichigo Mashimaro -- "Cute girls doing cute things in cute ways." -- -- Everyday things make up the fabric of life—whether it's making friends, going to school, trying to make money, or celebrating a holiday. Ichigo Mashimaro is a heartwarming series that follows the daily lives of Itou Chika, her sister Nobue, and her friends Miu, Matsuri, and Ana. -- -- TV - Jul 15, 2005 -- 72,555 7.66
Idaten Jump -- -- Production I.G -- 52 eps -- Manga -- Game School Sports -- Idaten Jump Idaten Jump -- Sho liked MTB very much and he always practiced at the practice field, “X-Zone”, with his friends, Takumi and Makoto. Takumi was a good mechanic and Makoto was a competitive girl rider. -- -- One day, he was challenged by a MTB team, “Shark Tooth”, of Samejima brothers’ betting the X-Zone. For Sho, X-Zone was a memorable place where he had spent days with his dead father, and he couldn’t lose the game. -- -- The day came, and during the race with the leader of Shark Tooth, black smoke suddenly covered around, and they were sent to another world. When he came to, he found Kakeru, Makoto, and his MTB, “Flame Caesar”, were also there. -- -- While they were wondering what had happened, MTB riders came. -- They challenged Sho to a MTB bout. They said Sho had to collect 10 pieces of emblems by winning MTB bout, “Idaten Battle”. -- -- This is how Sho came down to compete in Idaten Battle at various courses, such as, volcanos, ruins, deserts, snowy montains, and grave yards. -- Whether will show win the race to come back to his world? -- TV - Oct 1, 2005 -- 10,639 6.98
iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia -- -- Sunrise -- 26 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Mecha Sci-Fi -- iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia iDOLM@STER Xenoglossia -- 107 years ago, the Moon was destroyed in a massive cataclysm that shattered Earth's former satellite into 81 quintillion tons of orbital debris. However, thanks to super-science, the Earth itself was saved and today no one really thinks much about that century-past disaster. Which is why when teenage Haruka Amami auditions for something called the Idolmaster Project, she THINKS she's trying out to be a singing idol. Instead, Haruka finds herself at a secret school run by the Mondenkind Agency, living with a group of other girls who have also been selected as candidates to pilot an iDOL - an advanced robot specifically designed to intercept falling chunks of moon rock. Except, the people who run the Mondenkind Agency aren't exactly knights in shining armor. And then there's the question of whether the iDOLs are really JUST robots. Because from almost the first moment, Haruka starts to feel emotions resonating from within the iDOL called Imber. -- -- (Source: Sentai Filmworks) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 20,356 6.51
Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny -- -- Arms -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Super Power Ecchi Martial Arts School -- Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny Ikkitousen: Dragon Destiny -- Loosely based on the novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, modern day Japan sees a similar struggle for power between different rival schools with the three strongest being; Kyosho Academy led by Sousou Moutoku, Nanyo Academy by Sonsaku Hakufu and Ryuubi Gentoku from Seito High School. Together these three tousei, each with their own mangatama, fight for the honor of becoming ikkitousen and fulfilling their fated destiny through battle and conquest. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- 67,517 6.79
Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation -- -- Satelight -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Historical Seinen -- Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation -- The story takes place in the second half of the 19th century, as Japanese culture gains popularity in the West. A young Japanese girl, Yune, accompanies a French traveler, Oscar, on his journey back to France, and offers to help at the family's ironwork shop in Paris. Oscar's nephew and shop-owner Claude reluctantly accepts to take care of Yune, and we learn how those two, who have so little in common, get to understand each other and live together in the Paris of the 1800s. -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 52,278 7.43
Imouto sae Ireba Ii. -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Romance -- Imouto sae Ireba Ii. Imouto sae Ireba Ii. -- Itsuki Hashima is a light novelist obsessed with little sisters, strictly focusing on them when he writes his stories. Despite his personality, he is surrounded by a tight circle of friends: Nayuta Kani, a genius yet perverted novelist who is in love with him; Haruto Fuwa, a fellow male author whose work has seen considerable success; Miyako Shirakawa, a good friend that he met in college; and Chihiro, his perfect younger step-brother who takes care of the housework and cooking. -- -- Together, they play strange games, go on spontaneous journeys, crack silly jokes, and celebrate each other's successes. However, each individual must also deal with their own issues, whether it is struggling to meet a deadline or coming to terms with traumatic events buried in their past. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 238,902 7.36
Inazuma Eleven Go: Galaxy -- -- OLM -- 43 eps -- Game -- Shounen Sports Super Power -- Inazuma Eleven Go: Galaxy Inazuma Eleven Go: Galaxy -- After fighting to free the game of soccer in Japan from the Fifth Sector, the country's soccer squads can once again look forward to stepping onto the field. However, a new challenge will emerge for Japanese players in the form of the Football Frontier International Vision 2, a new tournament that will bring together the best teams each country can assemble. -- -- Tenma Matsukaze and his Raimon teammates, Takuto Shindou and Kyousuke Tsurugi, are once again part of the action as they have been selected to play for the Japanese representative, Inazuma Japan. Much to their surprise, the coach selects eight other players that have no previous experience playing soccer! -- -- Team Inazuma Japan will have a huge mountain to climb, building chemistry and skills as they go along. What they don’t know is that the tournament will set the stage for something much bigger, something out of this world in Inazuma Eleven Go: Galaxy! -- TV - May 8, 2013 -- 33,690 6.63
Inazuma Eleven Go vs. Danball Senki W Movie -- -- OLM -- 1 ep -- - -- Action Kids Mecha Sports -- Inazuma Eleven Go vs. Danball Senki W Movie Inazuma Eleven Go vs. Danball Senki W Movie -- As Shinsei Inazuma Japan was about to have a match with Inazuma Legend Japan, a mysterious attack of a person and a swarm of robots interrupted, and another mysterious girl's power drove the world into another dimension. As the world of Inazuma Eleven Go and Danball Senki W met, the two teams must work together to find out what happened to their worlds. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- Movie - Dec 1, 2012 -- 9,791 7.01
Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san -- -- Seven -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy School Shoujo Ai -- Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san -- Yachiyo Inugami, a cat-loving extrovert, and Suzu Nekoyama, a dog-loving introvert, are unexpectedly cast into a relationship on a day like any other. The pair find themselves drawn together through an inexplicable attraction of their opposite personalities. As they quickly begin to understand one another, Inugami's hardened resolve to gain Nekoyama's favor only leads to frenzied responses. Soon after their momentous union, the two begin to spend more time with one another, growing closer all the while. -- -- Their combined antics gain the attention of the mousy Mikine Nezu, a classmate of Inugami, and soon they join the "biology" club. There, they meet Ushikawa Ukiji, a passive, cow-like upperclassmen. Nezu and Nekoyama soon begin to build upon their relationship and a game of cat and mouse soon begins. -- -- Wild, explosive, and vibrant, Inugami-san to Nekoyama-san tells the comedic tale of two high school girls and their less-than-normal relationship. -- -- TV - Apr 11, 2014 -- 65,263 6.56
Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii -- -- Team TillDawn -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy -- Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii Inu to Neko Docchi mo Katteru to Mainichi Tanoshii -- Matsumoto-san owns an innocent dog and an adorably devious cat. Laughing and crying ensue as they all live daily life together. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- 9,972 7.24
InuYasha -- -- Sunrise -- 167 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Historical Demons Supernatural Magic Romance Fantasy Shounen -- InuYasha InuYasha -- Based on the Shogakukan award-winning manga of the same name, InuYasha follows Kagome Higurashi, a fifteen-year-old girl whose normal life ends when a demon drags her into a cursed well on the grounds of her family's Shinto shrine. Instead of hitting the bottom of the well, Kagome ends up 500 years in the past during Japan's violent Sengoku period with the demon's true target, a wish-granting jewel called the Shikon Jewel, reborn inside of her. -- -- After a battle with a revived demon accidentally causes the sacred jewel to shatter, Kagome enlists the help of a young hybrid dog-demon/human named Inuyasha to help her collect the shards and prevent them from falling into the wrong hands. Joining Kagome and Inuyasha on their quest are the orphan fox-demon Shippo, the intelligent monk Miroku, and the lethal demon slayer Sango. Together, they must set aside their differences and work together to find the power granting shards spread across feudal Japan and deal with the threats that arise. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- 611,417 7.84
InuYasha: Kanketsu-hen -- -- Sunrise -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Historical Demons Supernatural Magic Romance Fantasy Shounen -- InuYasha: Kanketsu-hen InuYasha: Kanketsu-hen -- Thwarted again by Naraku, Inuyasha, Kagome Higurashi, and their friends must continue their hunt for the few remaining Shikon Jewel shards, lest they fully form into a corrupted jewel at the hands of Naraku. But Naraku has plans of his own to acquire them, and will destroy anyone and anything standing in his way—even his own underlings. -- -- The persistent, unyielding danger posed by Naraku forces Sango and Miroku to decide what is most important to them—each other or their duty in battle. Meanwhile, Inuyasha must decide whether his heart lies with Kikyou or Kagome, before fate decides for him. Amid the race to find the shards, Inuyasha and his brother Sesshoumaru must also resolve their feud and cooperate for their final confrontation with Naraku, as it is a battle they must win in order to put a stop to his evil and cruelty once and for all. -- -- 221,159 8.21
InuYasha: Kanketsu-hen -- -- Sunrise -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Historical Demons Supernatural Magic Romance Fantasy Shounen -- InuYasha: Kanketsu-hen InuYasha: Kanketsu-hen -- Thwarted again by Naraku, Inuyasha, Kagome Higurashi, and their friends must continue their hunt for the few remaining Shikon Jewel shards, lest they fully form into a corrupted jewel at the hands of Naraku. But Naraku has plans of his own to acquire them, and will destroy anyone and anything standing in his way—even his own underlings. -- -- The persistent, unyielding danger posed by Naraku forces Sango and Miroku to decide what is most important to them—each other or their duty in battle. Meanwhile, Inuyasha must decide whether his heart lies with Kikyou or Kagome, before fate decides for him. Amid the race to find the shards, Inuyasha and his brother Sesshoumaru must also resolve their feud and cooperate for their final confrontation with Naraku, as it is a battle they must win in order to put a stop to his evil and cruelty once and for all. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- 221,159 8.21
Isekai Quartet 2 -- -- Studio PuYUKAI -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Parody Fantasy -- Isekai Quartet 2 Isekai Quartet 2 -- Despite completing all the tasks given to them, Ainz Ooal Gown, Tanya Degurechaff, Kazuma Satou, Subaru Natsuki, and the other members of Class 2 are surprised to find out that their role as students is far from over. With no means of returning home, the class of eccentric personalities is still mysteriously stuck in the unfamiliar world. Although, as they are becoming quite fond of each other, spending more time together does not sound that bad. -- -- With the unexpected arrival of new transfer students, the comedic antics of our beloved characters continue to grow. Thus, their bizarre yet nonchalant school life continues. -- -- 165,823 7.38
Isekai Quartet 2 -- -- Studio PuYUKAI -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Parody Fantasy -- Isekai Quartet 2 Isekai Quartet 2 -- Despite completing all the tasks given to them, Ainz Ooal Gown, Tanya Degurechaff, Kazuma Satou, Subaru Natsuki, and the other members of Class 2 are surprised to find out that their role as students is far from over. With no means of returning home, the class of eccentric personalities is still mysteriously stuck in the unfamiliar world. Although, as they are becoming quite fond of each other, spending more time together does not sound that bad. -- -- With the unexpected arrival of new transfer students, the comedic antics of our beloved characters continue to grow. Thus, their bizarre yet nonchalant school life continues. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 165,823 7.38
Ishuzoku Reviewers -- -- Passione -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Ecchi Fantasy -- Ishuzoku Reviewers Ishuzoku Reviewers -- Countless diverse races, from perky fairies to oozing slimes, inhabit the world. Naturally, such a melting pot of creatures has a broad and alluring variety of brothels. With so many options to choose from, it is hard to decide with which succu-girl to have a meaningful, interpersonal experience. -- -- Fortunately, a tight group of brave warriors has come together to enlighten the public. These perverted adventurers take it upon themselves to assess the appeal of all types of succu-girls through hands-on research. Whether it be the scorchingly hot salamanders or the udderly hu-moo-ngous cow-girls, the Yoruno Gloss reviewers leave no species behind. -- -- Directed by the mastermind behind Miru Tights, Ishuzoku Reviewers seeks to answer one of the most pressing questions there is: which species is the sexiest? -- -- 332,880 7.55
I''s Pure -- -- Arms, Studio Pierrot -- 6 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Ecchi Romance School -- I''s Pure I''s Pure -- Seto Ichitaka has a crush on Yoshizuki Iori, a girl in his class who has become so popular she now has her own fan club at school. But only a miracle could make him be with her, since the day he first saw Iori-chan, Ichitaka has been too shy to even talk to her. This miracle happened and now he and Iori are working together on the Freshmen Welcoming Party. It seems that things start to look bright for Seto, but then a special childhood friend is coming for a visit... -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- OVA - Dec 9, 2005 -- 23,104 6.90
Isshuukan Friends. -- -- Brain's Base -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Shounen -- Isshuukan Friends. Isshuukan Friends. -- Sixteen-year-old Yuuki Hase finally finds the courage to speak to his crush and ask her if she wants to become friends. The object of his affection, Kaori Fujimiya, is a quiet and reserved girl who cuts herself off from everyone and does not spare him the same blunt rejection she gives everybody else. -- -- Some time after, Yuuki finds her eating lunch on the roof where she secludes herself during break. He decides to start meeting with Kaori every day in the hopes of beginning to understand her better. The more time they spend together, the more she begins to open up to him. However, nearing the end of the week, she starts to push him away once more. It is then revealed to him the reason for Kaori's cold front: at the end of the week, her memories of those close to her, excluding her family, are forgotten, as they are reset every Monday. The result of an accident in middle school, the once popular and kind Kaori is now unable to make friends in fear of hurting the people dear to her. -- -- Determined to become more than just one week friends, Yuuki asks her the exact same question each Monday: "Would you like to be friends?" Because he knows that deep down, Kaori wishes for that more than anything. -- -- 259,203 7.56
Isshuukan Friends. -- -- Brain's Base -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Shounen -- Isshuukan Friends. Isshuukan Friends. -- Sixteen-year-old Yuuki Hase finally finds the courage to speak to his crush and ask her if she wants to become friends. The object of his affection, Kaori Fujimiya, is a quiet and reserved girl who cuts herself off from everyone and does not spare him the same blunt rejection she gives everybody else. -- -- Some time after, Yuuki finds her eating lunch on the roof where she secludes herself during break. He decides to start meeting with Kaori every day in the hopes of beginning to understand her better. The more time they spend together, the more she begins to open up to him. However, nearing the end of the week, she starts to push him away once more. It is then revealed to him the reason for Kaori's cold front: at the end of the week, her memories of those close to her, excluding her family, are forgotten, as they are reset every Monday. The result of an accident in middle school, the once popular and kind Kaori is now unable to make friends in fear of hurting the people dear to her. -- -- Determined to become more than just one week friends, Yuuki asks her the exact same question each Monday: "Would you like to be friends?" Because he knows that deep down, Kaori wishes for that more than anything. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 259,203 7.56
Itadaki! Seieki♥ -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Hentai Supernatural -- Itadaki! Seieki♥ Itadaki! Seieki♥ -- When Kanzaki receives a letter from Mari Setogaya asking to meet in their school's PE storage room during the lunch break, he believes he will be receiving a love confession. He turns up eagerly, only to be attacked by his supposed admirer. The beautiful girl tries to knock him unconscious, but when she fails miserably, she explains that she is a vampire and had wanted to feed on him. Feeling pity for her hopeless state, Kanzaki reluctantly yields and allows her to drink his blood. -- -- As it turns out, Mari cannot stand the taste of raw blood but will perish without the nutrients it contains. Kanzaki is quick to find a solution, offering her a different bodily fluid to consume—and Setogaya instantly falls head over heels with this new flavor. The two soon start meeting regularly, and as time goes by, their relationship evolves into something more than just casual "meals" spent together. -- -- OVA - Mar 28, 2014 -- 48,581 7.46
Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. II -- -- - -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Action Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy Fantasy -- Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. II Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. II -- Second season of Itai no wa Iya nano de Bougyoryoku ni Kyokufuri Shitai to Omoimasu. -- TV - ??? ??, 2022 -- 53,031 N/A -- -- Shangri-La -- -- Gonzo -- 24 eps -- Novel -- Action Drama Sci-Fi -- Shangri-La Shangri-La -- In a post-apocalyptic society, much of earthquake-riddled Japan has been left to ruin, resulting in an abundance of greenery. Governments manage much of the world's emissions, resulting in a massive class divide and economic disparity. The Japanese government launches "Project Atlas," a utopian city that will replace Tokyo but can only fit a certain amount of people. This limitation means that some people will have to live outside the city in jungles, as refugees. -- -- However, with any flawed plan comes those who are willing to challenge it. These include Kuniko Houjou, an heir to a renegade town; Mikuni, a mysterious and powerful child kept in a secret temple; Kunihito Kusanagi, a soldier for the high-tech and exclusive monopoly Atlas; Karin Ishida, a genius economics whiz with her hand in markets across the world; and the villainous Ryouko Naruse, leading Atlas in its domination of this future world. -- -- Can this group of rebels, forming a movement known as "Metal-Age," band together to demonstrate that inclusion and teamwork prevail over cruel segregation? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Apr 6, 2009 -- 52,746 7.07
Je Bul Chal-ssi Iyagi -- -- - -- 1 ep -- - -- Comedy Horror Fantasy -- Je Bul Chal-ssi Iyagi Je Bul Chal-ssi Iyagi -- An unprecedented media show is on air at a TV broadcasting studio. The show is asking people whether a spider that drove an assemblyman crazy should be publicly executed or not. The spider in question is Je Bul-chal(meaning 'my mistake'), a hardworking young individual who became 'an ear cleaner' because of a precious memory he holds concerning his sister. In order to take a poll about his execution, the story of how Mr. Sorry became a spider is gradually revealed. -- -- (Source: Official website) -- Movie - Mar 12, 2009 -- 471 5.81
Jigoku Shoujo -- -- Studio Deen -- 26 eps -- Original -- Mystery Horror Psychological Supernatural -- Jigoku Shoujo Jigoku Shoujo -- Have you heard of Hell Correspondence? Those with a powerful grudge may only access this mysterious website at midnight, allowing them to enter anyone's name and have that person be ferried straight to hell. Ai Enma, the Hell Girl, will not judge whether or not the chosen target deserves punishment; she will merely exact revenge on them for you. Not much is known about this young girl other than that she swiftly carries out her tasks with the help of three straw dolls. There is just one catch, however—as payment for carrying out such a request, the user must condemn themselves to an afterlife in hell. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 5, 2005 -- 293,601 7.64
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita -- -- AIC ASTA -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Comedy Fantasy -- Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita -- Because of the constantly declining birth rates over many decades, human civilization is all but extinct. With only a few humans remaining, they survive in this post-apocalyptic world with what was left behind by the previous generations. Earth is now dominated by fairies, tiny creatures with extremely advanced technology, an obsession with candy, and a complete disregard for human safety. -- -- A young girl who has just finished her studies returns to her hometown and is designated as an official United Nations arbitrator. Her duty is to serve as a link between mankind and fairies, reassuring each side that both races can live together peacefully. She imagines this task will be easy enough, but controlling the disasters created by the oblivious fairies in their pursuit of candy will require a lot more effort than she initially believes. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Jul 2, 2012 -- 161,405 7.77
Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita -- -- AIC ASTA -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Comedy Fantasy -- Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita Jinrui wa Suitai Shimashita -- Because of the constantly declining birth rates over many decades, human civilization is all but extinct. With only a few humans remaining, they survive in this post-apocalyptic world with what was left behind by the previous generations. Earth is now dominated by fairies, tiny creatures with extremely advanced technology, an obsession with candy, and a complete disregard for human safety. -- -- A young girl who has just finished her studies returns to her hometown and is designated as an official United Nations arbitrator. Her duty is to serve as a link between mankind and fairies, reassuring each side that both races can live together peacefully. She imagines this task will be easy enough, but controlling the disasters created by the oblivious fairies in their pursuit of candy will require a lot more effort than she initially believes. -- -- TV - Jul 2, 2012 -- 161,405 7.77
Jinsei -- -- feel. -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy School Slice of Life -- Jinsei Jinsei -- Yuuki Akamatsu lives a normal high school life... that is until his cousin, Ayaka Nikaidou, convinces him to join the Journalism Club as a life consultant! His new job is to manage the advice column for the school's weekly newspaper to help him become more social. Soon, Yuuki is joined by three girls: the smart and shy Rino Endou, the athletic and outgoing Ikumi Suzuki, and the cultured and sweet Fumi Kujou. Together, they solve the personal problems of those who anonymously ask for advice. -- -- Although each of the new life consultants has their own unique perspective, they are able to reach solutions together by holding debates and social experiments throughout the week. However, as time goes on, the four slowly come to realize that they have not only been guiding other students through their troubles, but also working through problems of their own as well. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 61,000 6.49
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 6: Stone Ocean -- -- - -- ? eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Shounen -- JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 6: Stone Ocean JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken Part 6: Stone Ocean -- In Florida, 2011, Jolyne Kuujou sits in a jail cell like her father Joutarou once did; yet this situation is not of her own choice. Framed for a crime she didn’t commit, and manipulated into serving a longer sentence, Jolyne is ready to resign to a dire fate as a prisoner of Green Dolphin Street Jail. Though all hope seems lost, a gift from Joutarou ends up awakening her latent abilities, manifesting into her Stand, Stone Free. Now armed with the power to change her fate, Jolyne sets out to find an escape from the stone ocean that holds her. -- -- However, she soon discovers that her incarceration is merely a small part of a grand plot: one that not only takes aim at her family, but has additional far-reaching consequences. What's more, the mastermind is lurking within the very same prison, and is under the protection of a lineup of menacing Stand users. Finding unlikely allies to help her cause, Jolyne sets course to stop their plot, clear her name, and take back her life. -- -- - - ??? ??, ???? -- 85,902 N/ARunway de Waratte -- -- Ezόla -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama School Shounen -- Runway de Waratte Runway de Waratte -- Being the daughter of a modeling agency owner, Chiyuki Fujito aspires to represent her father's agency in the prestigious Paris Fashion Week, shining under the spotlight as a runway model. However, although she is equipped with great looks and talent, she unfortunately lacks a key element in becoming a successful model—height. Stuck at 158 cm even after entering high school, her childhood dream seems out of reach. -- -- Meanwhile, Ikuto Tsumura is a high school student with a knack in designing clothes; however, without the resources to pursue the necessary education, his ambition of becoming a fashion designer remains a mere dream. But as fate brings Chiyuki and Ikuto together, the dim hopes within their hearts are ignited once again. Together, the two promise to rebel against convention and carve out their own paths in the fashion world. -- -- 85,891 7.62
JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (TV) -- -- David Production -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Supernatural Vampire Shounen -- JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (TV) JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken (TV) -- In 1868, Dario Brando saves the life of an English nobleman, George Joestar. By taking in Dario's son Dio when the boy becomes fatherless, George hopes to repay the debt he owes to his savior. However Dio, unsatisfied with his station in life, aspires to seize the Joestar house for his own. Wielding an Aztec stone mask with supernatural properties, he sets out to destroy George and his son, Jonathan "JoJo" Joestar, and triggers a chain of events that will continue to echo through the years to come. -- -- Half a century later, in New York City, Jonathan's grandson Joseph Joestar discovers the legacy his grandfather left for him. When an archeological dig unearths the truth behind the stone mask, he realizes that he is the only one who can defeat the Pillar Men, mystical beings of immeasurable power who inadvertently began everything. -- -- Adapted from the first two arcs of Hirohiko Araki's outlandish manga series, JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken follows the many thrilling expeditions of JoJo and his descendants. Whether it's facing off with the evil Dio, or combatting the sinister Pillar Men, there's always plenty of bizarre adventures in store. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media, Warner Bros. Pictures -- 1,054,934 8.01
Joshikousei: Girl's High -- -- Arms -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Ecchi School Slice of Life -- Joshikousei: Girl's High Joshikousei: Girl's High -- Eriko and her friends Yuma and Ayano are excited about entering high school. Their excitement leads to their breaking of the rules when they toured the school before the opening ceremony. They find out their preconceptions about the all female school may not be as true as they had first thought. Despite that, Eriko and her friends are joined by new friends. They aim to get through high school life together. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- 31,882 6.58
Junjou Romantica 3 -- -- Studio Deen -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance Shounen Ai -- Junjou Romantica 3 Junjou Romantica 3 -- After living together for three years, Misaki Takahashi and Akihiko "Usagi" Usami's relationship has been progressing smoothly. However, all great relationships have problems, and theirs is just beginning. With a new rival on the horizon, Usagi worries about Misaki's feelings towards him. -- -- Meanwhile, Ryuuichirou Isaka has always loved to intrude on Misaki and Usagi's love life, but his own love life hasn't been all smooth sailing—Isaka and his secretary Kaoru Asahina have been dating for a few years; however, Asahina prefers to keep their professional and private lives separate, often leading to troubled waters between them. -- -- As for Nowaki Kusama and Hiroki Kamijou, now that their careers are finally taking off, they hardly see each other anymore. With the time they spend together lessening, doubts and insecurities threaten to creep in between them. On the other hand, the 17-year age gap between Shinobu Takatsuki and You Miyagi has been a constant barrier in their relationship, but as they learn more about each other, their self-consciousness continues to fade. -- -- The beloved couples of Junjou Romantica, Junjou Egoist, and Junjou Terrorist are back again, this time with a new addition: Junjou Mistake! -- -- 96,777 7.73
Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Psychological Romance School Seinen -- Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai?: Tensai-tachi no Renai Zunousen -- After a slow but eventful summer vacation, Shuchiin Academy's second term is now starting in full force. As August transitions into September, Miyuki Shirogane's birthday looms ever closer, leaving Kaguya Shinomiya in a serious predicament as to how to celebrate it. Furthermore, the tenure of the school's 67th student council is coming to an end. Due to the council members being in different classes, the only time Kaguya and Miyuki have to be together will soon disappear, putting all of their cunning plans at risk. -- -- A long and difficult election that will decide the fate of the new student council awaits, as multiple challengers fight for the coveted title of president. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 734,748 8.71
Kaiba -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Original -- Adventure Mystery Romance Sci-Fi -- Kaiba Kaiba -- In a world where memories exist in memory chips separate from the body, death of the body no longer means death of the soul. It is possible for memories to be viewed, altered, and transferred between bodies. These memory chips are used by the rich to obtain eternal lives in carefully selected bodies, while for the poor, selling their own bodies and conserving their souls in the chips often become the only way to earn a living. An electrolytic cloud in the sky serves as a barrier between the heavens of the fortunate and the underworld of the destitute, making this social division impregnable. -- -- One day, a man named Kaiba wakes up in an empty room with no memories, a mysterious hole in his chest, and a locket holding the picture of an unknown woman. After escaping an attack and stumbling upon a decrepit village of underworld residents, he begins his adventure across the different planets of this strange universe to find out more about his own identity and the woman he once knew. -- -- Through a journey of self-discovery and acceptance, Kaiba weaves together tales of souls and spirits and explores the importance of memories. -- -- TV - Apr 11, 2008 -- 117,051 8.17
Kakutou Ryouri Densetsu Bistro Recipe -- -- Group TAC -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Game Adventure Comedy Fantasy Shounen -- Kakutou Ryouri Densetsu Bistro Recipe Kakutou Ryouri Densetsu Bistro Recipe -- An 11-year old boy named Zen bands together with his younger sister, Karen, and a young boy who has a large appetite, Pitan, to battle an evil empire by using their "Foodons"; strange monsters that are created from various foods. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- 4Kids Entertainment, Discotek Media, Enoki Films -- TV - Dec 11, 2001 -- 4,176 6.08
Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen -- -- Manglobe -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Harem Comedy Supernatural Romance Shounen -- Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen -- Having freed a myriad of women from the runaway spirits possessing their hearts, the "God of Conquest" Keima Katsuragi is confronted with a new task: find the Jupiter Sisters, the goddesses that sealed Old Hell in the past. Diana, the goddess that resides inside his childhood friend Tenri Ayukawa, explains that they have taken shelter in the hearts of the girls he had assisted previously. Moreover, once Diana and her sisters are reunited, their power can seal the runaway spirits away for good and relieve Keima of his exorcising duties. Though he is initially reluctant to get involved in yet another chore, everything changes when tragedy befalls one of the hosts. -- -- Discovering that the goddesses are being targeted by a mysterious organization known as Vintage, Keima is caught in a race against time to reunite the sisters and rescue the girl who has already fallen prey. With deeper resolve than ever before, Keima works together with demons Elsie and Haqua to recapture the hearts of the girls he had charmed in the past. However, the road ahead is a difficult one, as he is soon met with the consequences of his previous conquests. -- -- 281,799 8.07
Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen -- -- Manglobe -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Harem Comedy Supernatural Romance Shounen -- Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen Kami nomi zo Shiru Sekai: Megami-hen -- Having freed a myriad of women from the runaway spirits possessing their hearts, the "God of Conquest" Keima Katsuragi is confronted with a new task: find the Jupiter Sisters, the goddesses that sealed Old Hell in the past. Diana, the goddess that resides inside his childhood friend Tenri Ayukawa, explains that they have taken shelter in the hearts of the girls he had assisted previously. Moreover, once Diana and her sisters are reunited, their power can seal the runaway spirits away for good and relieve Keima of his exorcising duties. Though he is initially reluctant to get involved in yet another chore, everything changes when tragedy befalls one of the hosts. -- -- Discovering that the goddesses are being targeted by a mysterious organization known as Vintage, Keima is caught in a race against time to reunite the sisters and rescue the girl who has already fallen prey. With deeper resolve than ever before, Keima works together with demons Elsie and Haqua to recapture the hearts of the girls he had charmed in the past. However, the road ahead is a difficult one, as he is soon met with the consequences of his previous conquests. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 281,799 8.07
Kami no Tou -- -- Telecom Animation Film -- 13 eps -- Web manga -- Action Adventure Mystery Drama Fantasy -- Kami no Tou Kami no Tou -- There is a tower that summons chosen people called "Regulars" with the promise of granting their deepest desires. Whether it be wealth, fame, authority, or something that surpasses them all—everything awaits those who reach the top. -- -- Twenty-Fifth Bam is a boy who had only known a dark cave, a dirty cloth, and an unreachable light his entire life. So when a girl named Rachel came to him through the light, his entire world changed. Becoming close friends with Rachel, he learned various things about the outside world from her. But when Rachel says she must leave him to climb the Tower, his world shatters around him. Vowing to follow after her no matter what it takes, he sets his sight on the tower, and a miracle occurs. -- -- Thus begins the journey of Bam, a young boy who was not chosen by the Tower but opened its gates by himself. They call his kind "Irregulars"—beings that have shaken the very foundation of the Tower each time they set foot inside it. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll -- 584,626 7.62
Kamisama Hajimemashita -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Demons Supernatural Romance Fantasy Shoujo -- Kamisama Hajimemashita Kamisama Hajimemashita -- High schooler Nanami Momozono has quite a few problems of late, beginning with her absentee father being in such extreme debt that they lose everything. Downtrodden and homeless, she runs into a man being harassed by a dog. After helping him, she explains her situation, and to her surprise, he offers her his home in gratitude. But when she discovers that said home is a rundown shrine, she tries to leave; however, she is caught by two shrine spirits and a fox familiar named Tomoe. They mistake her for the man Nanami rescued—the land god of the shrine, Mikage. Realizing that Mikage must have sent her there as a replacement god, Tomoe leaves abruptly, refusing to serve a human. -- -- Rather than going back to being homeless, Nanami immerses herself in her divine duties. But if she must keep things running smoothly, she will need the help of a certain hot-headed fox. In her fumbling attempt to seek out Tomoe, she lands in trouble and ends up sealing a contract with him. Now the two must traverse the path of godhood together as god and familiar; but it will not be easy, for new threats arise in the form of a youkai who wants to devour the girl, a snake that wants to marry her, and Nanami's own unexpected feelings for her new familiar. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 460,758 8.04
Kamisama Hajimemashita: Kamisama, Shiawase ni Naru -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Comedy Demons Supernatural Romance Fantasy Shoujo -- Kamisama Hajimemashita: Kamisama, Shiawase ni Naru Kamisama Hajimemashita: Kamisama, Shiawase ni Naru -- Nanami Momozono, current land god of Mikage Shrine, and her fox familiar Tomoe have faced many obstacles during their time together, but none so challenging as the one posed by the wealth god Ookununishi—if Tomoe’s wish to be human is granted, he must learn to live as one, and Nanami will have to return to being a human. -- -- As the couple look to the future and reflect on their former adventures, Nanami tries to figure out their new living situation as her high school graduation approaches. But no matter the path they choose to walk, Tomoe and Nanami’s love will endure. -- -- OVA - Dec 20, 2016 -- 43,428 8.10
Kanata no Astra -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Space Shounen -- Kanata no Astra Kanata no Astra -- In the year 2063, space travel is feasible and commercially available. As the cheerful Aries Spring arrives at the spaceport to attend a camp on the distant planet McPa, her purse is suddenly snatched by a reckless thief. Luckily, the athletic Kanata Hoshijima is able to retrieve it for her, and Aries soon discovers that he is among the group of teenagers who will be travelling with her on the excursion as team B-5. -- -- Upon arriving at their campsite, the group's trip takes a turn for the worse when a strange sphere of black light sucks them into the vast reaches of outer space. Stranded with seemingly no hope, they find an abandoned ship nearby that provides them with the means to return home. However, they soon discover that they are not as close to their campsite as they initially thought, but are in fact thousands of light-years away from home. -- -- With this realization, the nine members must cautiously manage their resources, maintain their strength, and unite as one to conquer the darkness of space together. While the reason behind their trip's sudden obstruction remains unknown, they nevertheless embark on the treacherous voyage back home aboard their new ship, the Astra. -- -- 208,590 8.14
Kanata no Astra -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Space Shounen -- Kanata no Astra Kanata no Astra -- In the year 2063, space travel is feasible and commercially available. As the cheerful Aries Spring arrives at the spaceport to attend a camp on the distant planet McPa, her purse is suddenly snatched by a reckless thief. Luckily, the athletic Kanata Hoshijima is able to retrieve it for her, and Aries soon discovers that he is among the group of teenagers who will be travelling with her on the excursion as team B-5. -- -- Upon arriving at their campsite, the group's trip takes a turn for the worse when a strange sphere of black light sucks them into the vast reaches of outer space. Stranded with seemingly no hope, they find an abandoned ship nearby that provides them with the means to return home. However, they soon discover that they are not as close to their campsite as they initially thought, but are in fact thousands of light-years away from home. -- -- With this realization, the nine members must cautiously manage their resources, maintain their strength, and unite as one to conquer the darkness of space together. While the reason behind their trip's sudden obstruction remains unknown, they nevertheless embark on the treacherous voyage back home aboard their new ship, the Astra. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 208,590 8.14
Kanojo mo Kanojo -- -- Tezuka Productions -- ? eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance School Shounen -- Kanojo mo Kanojo Kanojo mo Kanojo -- After harboring an unrequited love for years, Naoya Mukai finally gets to date his childhood friend, Saki Saki. However, just as he tries to commit himself to this relationship, he receives an abrupt confession from Nagisa Minase. -- -- At first, Naoya tries to reject her but is soon overcome by feelings of not wanting to hurt Nagisa. Trying to avoid betraying his girlfriend's trust in him, Naoya thinks up a "solution" to make both girls happy—two-timing. Naturally, Saki rebuffs this idea, but through Naoya's and Nagisa's persistence, she reluctantly submits. -- -- With this, a three-way affair begins between Naoya, his girlfriend, and his "other" girlfriend, as they develop a relationship that deviates from the social norm. -- -- TV - Jul ??, 2021 -- 14,817 N/A -- -- Rockman.EXE Axess -- -- Xebec -- 51 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure Comedy Game Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen -- Rockman.EXE Axess Rockman.EXE Axess -- Netto's father Yuuichirou Hikari has made a scientific breakthrough by introducing the "synchro chips". If an operator and his or her navi are in a special enviroment known as a "dimensional area", they can fuse together in the real world via a technique called "cross fusion"! Yuuichirou's first test subject, Misaki Gorou, attempts the process and sadly fails. Netto offers to try with Rockman, but his father forbids it. Cross Fusion puts enormous strain on the operator's health, and battling in the real world could mean death. -- -- (Source: Official Site) -- TV - Oct 4, 2003 -- 14,733 7.13
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Drama Psychological Romance Slice of Life -- Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko -- It was on a rainy spring day that Chobi became a young woman's pet cat. Though he immediately fell in love with the beautiful and kind person who took him in, he can never hope to fully understand the complex world of humans. Over the course of their first year living in the same apartment, Chobi and his new owner live in their own separate worlds⁠—standing alone yet close together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Discotek Media -- OVA - Apr 19, 2002 -- 83,994 7.33
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Drama Psychological Romance Slice of Life -- Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko -- It was on a rainy spring day that Chobi became a young woman's pet cat. Though he immediately fell in love with the beautiful and kind person who took him in, he can never hope to fully understand the complex world of humans. Over the course of their first year living in the same apartment, Chobi and his new owner live in their own separate worlds⁠—standing alone yet close together. -- -- OVA - Apr 19, 2002 -- 83,994 7.33
Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows -- -- LIDENFILMS -- 4 eps -- Original -- Slice of Life Psychological Romance -- Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows -- For the longest time, it's just been the two of them. "Kanojo" and her cat Daru are inseparable, having grown up together. Now a junior in college, Tomoka—her roommate of a year and a half—moves out of their shared apartment, and in order to keep her living space, Kanojo must find a job. Day by day, Daru watches her continued efforts from a cat's-eye view, eagerly awaiting his owner's return. When she gets back, once again, it's just she and her cat. -- -- Kanojo to Kanojo no Neko: Everything Flows is a charming short series about the bond between a pet and his owner. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 98,285 7.69
Kantai Collection: KanColle Zoku-hen -- -- - -- ? eps -- Game -- Action Military Sci-Fi Slice of Life School -- Kantai Collection: KanColle Zoku-hen Kantai Collection: KanColle Zoku-hen -- Second season of Kantai Collection: KanColle. -- - - ??? ??, 2022 -- 32,846 N/A -- -- GJ-bu@ -- -- Doga Kobo -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Comedy School Slice of Life -- GJ-bu@ GJ-bu@ -- During the school's spring break, Kyouya "Kyoro" Shinomiya has once again been kidnapped. Upon release, he finds himself in the GJ Club room, together with his captors, the cute GJ club members. At first glance, Kyoro does not see anything out of the ordinary in the club room, but as he gazes out of the window, he realizes that they are no longer in Japan but in New York! -- -- Special - May 6, 2014 -- 32,837 7.25
Karakurizoushi Ayatsuri Sakon -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Mystery Horror Thriller Shounen -- Karakurizoushi Ayatsuri Sakon Karakurizoushi Ayatsuri Sakon -- The dark-haired bishounen is Sakon Tachibana, a puppeteer, and the other is Ukon, his favorite puppet, and best friend. Sakon is the (only) grandson of Saemon Tachibana, a national treasure of Japan famous for his manipulation of Bunraku puppets. Ukon is a child doll puppet made in the early Meiji era by the famous female dollmaker Unosuke. Together they run into murders and solve them. -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- 9,853 7.38
Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei -- -- ufotable -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Mystery Supernatural Thriller -- Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei Kara no Kyoukai 1: Fukan Fuukei -- In September 1998, a string of seemingly random suicides leaves Japan baffled and devastated. But a detective agency specializing in paranormal occurrences notices that there are a few glaring, disturbing similarities tying the deceptively unrelated cases together: All the victims are schoolgirls, and all of them have jumped to their deaths from atop the ancient Fujou Building, a skyscraper that is scheduled to be bulldozed soon. -- -- To investigate the cause of these disturbing events, the head of the agency, magus Touko Aozaki, dispatches Mikiya Kokutou and Shiki Ryougi. The kind and surprisingly normal Mikiya serves as a stark contrast to the cold and mysterious Shiki, who possesses the "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception": an abnormal ability which allows her to see, and bring, an end to all things. -- -- Dark and philosophical in tone, Fukan Fuukei is the first installment in the seven-part movie series Kara no Kyoukai, adapted from the light novels by Kinoko Nasu. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Movie - Dec 1, 2007 -- 333,874 7.63
Kashikokimono -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Music Dementia -- Kashikokimono Kashikokimono -- A combination of hand-drawn animation and computer-based generative animation exploring music and animation as a form of organic expression. Animated by Takahiro Hayakawa. -- Movie - ??? ??, 2004 -- 337 N/A -- -- Mechano: Scientific Attack Force -- -- - -- 3 eps -- - -- Comedy Dementia Fantasy Horror Music Parody -- Mechano: Scientific Attack Force Mechano: Scientific Attack Force -- Three 10-minute videos present a trippy view into the minds of their creators. Brought together by Pierre Taki of Denki Groove, Mechano: Scientific Attack Force features three shorts done in very different styles. -- -- The three short films are: -- -- "Plastic Gun Man" - a 3D Western spoof -- "World Meccano Triangle" - a music video reminiscent of '90s era screensavers -- "Haiirogaoka no Soridaijin" (translated as "Prime Minister of Gray Hill") - an anime-style animated video parody of Akira Mochizuki's famous 1977 manga, Yuuhi ga Oka no Souri Daijin -- OVA - Sep 1, 1995 -- 334 N/A -- -- Motion Lumine -- -- - -- 1 ep -- - -- Dementia -- Motion Lumine Motion Lumine -- Furukawa Taku film. -- Movie - ??? ??, 1978 -- 334 4.75
Kaze no Na wa Amnesia -- -- Madhouse -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Dementia Drama Sci-Fi -- Kaze no Na wa Amnesia Kaze no Na wa Amnesia -- Two years ago, a mysterious wind swept over the Earth without warning, taking everyone's memories with it. Not knowing their names or even how to speak, cars crashed, planes dropped from the sky, and society crumbled in an instant. One young man happens to wander into a military testing facility, where he meets Johnny, a young boy who underwent experimental memory enhancement treatment and could, therefore, still remember who he was. Johnny names the young man Wataru and teaches him everything that he can before his frail body fails him. -- -- Wataru sets out on a journey to see if he can find other people like him, and in San Francisco, he meets a mysterious silver-haired woman named Sophia, who refuses to speak about her past. Sophia says that she is heading to New York, and decides to travel together with Wataru. As the pair make their way across America, they learn about what has happened to the rest of society, and what the essence of humanity really is. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Central Park Media, Discotek Media -- Movie - Dec 22, 1990 -- 14,803 6.37
Kekkai Sensen -- -- Bones -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Super Power Supernatural Vampire Fantasy Shounen -- Kekkai Sensen Kekkai Sensen -- Supersonic monkeys, vampires, talking fishmen, and all sorts of different supernatural monsters living alongside humans—this has been part of daily life in Hellsalem's Lot, formerly known as New York City, for some time now. When a gateway between Earth and the Beyond opened three years ago, New Yorkers and creatures from the other dimension alike were trapped in an impenetrable bubble and were forced to live together. Libra is a secret organization composed of eccentrics and superhumans, tasked with keeping order in the city and making sure that chaos doesn't spread to the rest of the world. -- -- Pursuing photography as a hobby, Leonardo Watch is living a normal life with his parents and sister. But when he obtains the "All-seeing Eyes of the Gods" at the expense of his sister's eyesight, he goes to Hellsalem's Lot in order to help her by finding answers about the mysterious powers he received. He soon runs into Libra, and when Leo unexpectedly joins their ranks, he gets more than what he bargained for. Kekkai Sensen follows Leo's misadventures in the strangest place on Earth with his equally strange comrades—as the ordinary boy unwittingly sees his life take a turn for the extraordinary. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 652,112 7.64
Ken En Ken: Aoki Kagayaki -- -- Studio Deen -- 13 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure Demons Magic Martial Arts Fantasy -- Ken En Ken: Aoki Kagayaki Ken En Ken: Aoki Kagayaki -- Yin and Ning are two sisters who have been wandering the land together ever since their village was destroyed by the villainous Taibai Empire. Their childhood friend, Zhao, has been enslaved by the Taibai himself, and uses his brilliance at tinkering and inventing to get by as a slave to the Empire's whims. One day, Yin accidentally discovers a legendary sword, which grants her fantastic abilities in combat, and allows her to summon a mystical, mechanical fox spirit named Yun, who is sworn to fight by her side. Meanwhile, Zhao is making fast friends with a mysterious young girl who just may hold a great amount of power within the Taibai Empire. As Zhao and the Fu sisters find themselves increasingly caught up in the Empire's battle for supremacy over the land, it will take all of the magic and might that the budding resistance armies can muster to turn the tide of war once and for all. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 13,901 6.06
Kiddy Grade -- -- Gonzo -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Super Power Ecchi Mecha -- Kiddy Grade Kiddy Grade -- In the distant future, humanity has taken to the skies and colonized many planets throughout the universe. An agency known as the Galactic Organization of Trade and Tariffs (GOTT) has been formed to maintain order. Within GOTT, a secret squad of enhanced human beings—known as the ES Unit—carry out secret missions to put a stop to major galactic crimes. Two such operatives are the lowly C-ranked Éclair and Lumière. -- -- Despite being on the bottom of the totem pole, the pair wield formidable powers: Éclair's superhuman strength and lipstick whip and Lumière's ability to take control of any computer. Together, they can take on any mission that GOTT throws at them. But as they complete more and more missions, the duo begin to uncover a major conspiracy that leaves them questioning everything they know about themselves and the entire galaxy. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 9, 2002 -- 40,723 7.21
Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV -- -- Toei Animation -- 52 eps -- - -- Action Sci-Fi Adventure Space Mecha Shounen -- Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV Kikou Kantai Dairugger XV -- In the original storyline as aired in Japan, Dairugger XV was simply an exploration robot, as well as an intended peace-keeping force. The Earth is in a time of prosperity. The president of the Terran League (the "Galaxy Alliance" in Voltron) launches a mission to explore beyond the galaxy. After commencing its mission of exploration, the starship Rugger-Guard is attacked by a ship of the Galbeston Empire. Dairugger, the super robot, is deployed in order to defend the Earth. It is somewhat by fate that they must help the people of Galbeston find a new planet before it explodes, and liberate it from its despotic Emperor. In the Japanese version, it does not have anything to do with King of the Beasts GoLion, as opposed to the U.S. version, Voltron: Defender of the Universe. -- -- There are three assault team units: Land, Air, and Sea. There are a total of 15 parts referred to as "Rugger," which can combine together to form the super-robot Dairugger. The design of the 15 separate Rugger units came from the sport of rugby, since 15 players are required to form a rugby union. The U.S. version would rename the "Galbeston Empire" to "Drule Empire," along with editing a fair amount of violence and sexual content to keep the show safe for general audience broadcast. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- -- TV - Mar 3, 1982 -- 2,020 6.40
Kimi no Iru Machi -- -- Gonzo -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama Romance Shounen -- Kimi no Iru Machi Kimi no Iru Machi -- Haruto Kirishima lived a calm life out in the countryside, away from the fast-paced life of the city. Then Yuzuki Eba appeared in his life out of nowhere, having come from Tokyo to briefly live with her family. Their time together left him enamored with the memories of that short period before she just as abruptly disappeared from his life, and left him full of questions. -- -- Kimi no Iru Machi begins some time later, after Haruto moves to Tokyo to live with his sister, in order to pursue a career as a cook. In reality though he wishes to be with Yuzuki. Things don't start good though. When he arrives he is mistaken for a burglar and attacked by his sister's neighbour Mishima Asuka. After the misunderstanding is cleared his feelings begin to waver though. Is Eba, who keeps avoiding him for seemingly no reason, the one for him or is it Asuka? -- -- Licensor: -- Nozomi Entertainment -- TV - Jul 13, 2013 -- 127,052 6.92
Kimi no Na wa. -- -- CoMix Wave Films -- 1 ep -- Original -- Romance Supernatural School Drama -- Kimi no Na wa. Kimi no Na wa. -- Mitsuha Miyamizu, a high school girl, yearns to live the life of a boy in the bustling city of Tokyo—a dream that stands in stark contrast to her present life in the countryside. Meanwhile in the city, Taki Tachibana lives a busy life as a high school student while juggling his part-time job and hopes for a future in architecture. -- -- One day, Mitsuha awakens in a room that is not her own and suddenly finds herself living the dream life in Tokyo—but in Taki's body! Elsewhere, Taki finds himself living Mitsuha's life in the humble countryside. In pursuit of an answer to this strange phenomenon, they begin to search for one another. -- -- Kimi no Na wa. revolves around Mitsuha and Taki's actions, which begin to have a dramatic impact on each other's lives, weaving them into a fabric held together by fate and circumstance. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, NYAV Post -- Movie - Aug 26, 2016 -- 1,865,222 8.94
Kimi to Boku. 2 -- -- J.C.Staff -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance School Shounen Slice of Life -- Kimi to Boku. 2 Kimi to Boku. 2 -- "No matter how many years go by, I'm sure we'll still be laughing together." -- -- Twins Yuta and Yuki, Kaname, and Shun have been childhood friends since kindergarten. When transfer student Chizuru joins them, their five man school life becomes all the more lively. Through the changing seasons, the boys will find laughter, surprises, love, and new encounters waiting for them. -- -- The second season of the boys growing a little every day of their invaluable daily lives is about to begin! -- -- (Source: Crunchyroll) -- TV - Apr 3, 2012 -- 74,688 7.97
Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Military Romance Fantasy -- Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen Kimi to Boku no Saigo no Senjou, Aruiwa Sekai ga Hajimaru Seisen -- A force known as Astral power permeates throughout the world, wielded by astral mages. Fearing its destructive power, the "Empire" persecutes those who show their abilities. The tormented mages then founded the Nebulis Sovereignty to flee from their oppressors. Since then, the two nations have been in bitter conflict, the war still going strong for more than a century. -- -- After committing the great crime of freeing an imprisoned witch, the talented knight Iska is sentenced to prison. A year later, the Empire leadership suddenly decides to set him free, with the condition that he hunts down a fearsome mage known as the "Ice Calamity Witch." Hoping to end the war, Iska agrees. Coincidentally, the Ice Calamity Witch herself, Aliceliese "Alice" Lou Nebulis XI, also wishes for peace and is willing to do everything she can to bring down the Empire. -- -- As Iska and Alice both yearn for a crusade that will turn the world into one without struggle, woe, or pain, the strings of fate tie them ever closer together, creating a bond that goes beyond something fabricated by mere coincidence. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 162,998 6.54
Kiniro Mosaic -- -- Studio Gokumi -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Seinen -- Kiniro Mosaic Kiniro Mosaic -- Shinobu Oomiya once left Japan to participate in a homestay in England. During her time there, she became close friends with Alice Cartelet, the daughter of the family she was living with. However, when it was time for Shinobu to return to Japan, the two were able to express their sorrow despite the language barrier between them. -- -- Five years later, now a first year student in high school, Shinobu receives a letter by air mail in a language she does not understand. This letter is penned by none other than Alice, detailing her own homestay in Japan. In fact, Alice will be attending Shinobu's high school and living with her! Alongside their friends Youko Inokuma, Aya Komichi, and Karen Kujou, the five girls attend school together and learn about what their different cultures have to offer, day after day. -- -- TV - Jul 6, 2013 -- 156,637 7.26
Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World -- -- A.C.G.T. -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Psychological Slice of Life -- Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World -- Kino, a 15-year-old traveler, forms a bond with Hermes, a talking motorcycle. Together, they wander the lands and venture through various countries and places, despite having no clear idea of what to expect. After all, life is a journey filled with the unknown. -- -- Throughout their journeys, they encounter different kinds of customs, from the morally gray to tragic and fascinating. They also meet many people: some who live to work, some who live to make others happy, and some who live to chase their dreams. Thus, in every country they visit, there is always something to learn from the way people carry out their lives. -- -- It is not up to Kino or Hermes to decide whether these asserted values are wrong or right, as they merely assume the roles of observers within this small world. They do not attempt to change or influence the places they visit, despite how absurd these values would appear. That's because in one way or another, they believe things are fine as they are, and that "the world is not beautiful; therefore, it is." -- -- 234,132 8.33
Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World -- -- A.C.G.T. -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Psychological Slice of Life -- Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World -- Kino, a 15-year-old traveler, forms a bond with Hermes, a talking motorcycle. Together, they wander the lands and venture through various countries and places, despite having no clear idea of what to expect. After all, life is a journey filled with the unknown. -- -- Throughout their journeys, they encounter different kinds of customs, from the morally gray to tragic and fascinating. They also meet many people: some who live to work, some who live to make others happy, and some who live to chase their dreams. Thus, in every country they visit, there is always something to learn from the way people carry out their lives. -- -- It is not up to Kino or Hermes to decide whether these asserted values are wrong or right, as they merely assume the roles of observers within this small world. They do not attempt to change or influence the places they visit, despite how absurd these values would appear. That's because in one way or another, they believe things are fine as they are, and that "the world is not beautiful; therefore, it is." -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Sentai Filmworks -- 234,132 8.33
Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Slice of Life -- Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series -- When 15-year-old Kino is feeling weighed down by heavy thoughts, one thing always manages to cheer her up: traveling. Nothing fills her heart with joy like exploring the beautiful, wonderful world around her and the fascinating ways people find to live. However, Kino is not as helpless as her cute appearance and courteous demeanor suggest. Armed with "Cannon" and "Woodsman," her trusted handguns, Kino isn’t afraid to kill anyone who would dare to get in her way. Always by her side is her best friend and loyal companion Hermes, a sentient motorcycle, who supports Kino through the sorrows and hardships of their journey. Together, they travel the vast countryside with the shared goal of always moving forward, and a single rule: never stay in one country for more than three days. -- -- As Kino and Hermes encounter new people and learn the rules of their civilizations, they grow and find out more about their own values and virtues. But as Kino slowly discovers the world around her, she also finds herself facing dangers that linger within the vast unknown. -- -- 149,872 7.59
Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Slice of Life -- Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - The Animated Series -- When 15-year-old Kino is feeling weighed down by heavy thoughts, one thing always manages to cheer her up: traveling. Nothing fills her heart with joy like exploring the beautiful, wonderful world around her and the fascinating ways people find to live. However, Kino is not as helpless as her cute appearance and courteous demeanor suggest. Armed with "Cannon" and "Woodsman," her trusted handguns, Kino isn’t afraid to kill anyone who would dare to get in her way. Always by her side is her best friend and loyal companion Hermes, a sentient motorcycle, who supports Kino through the sorrows and hardships of their journey. Together, they travel the vast countryside with the shared goal of always moving forward, and a single rule: never stay in one country for more than three days. -- -- As Kino and Hermes encounter new people and learn the rules of their civilizations, they grow and find out more about their own values and virtues. But as Kino slowly discovers the world around her, she also finds herself facing dangers that linger within the vast unknown. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 149,872 7.59
Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet -- -- LIDENFILMS -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Romance School Shounen -- Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet Kishuku Gakkou no Juliet -- We lay our scene in the fair Dahlia Academy, where two countries, both alike in dignity, come together; the "Black Doggies" of the Eastern Nation of Touwa and "White Cats" of the Principality of West have a longstanding feud. Romio Inuzuka and Juliet Persia, leaders of their respective dorms, seem to be bitter enemies. -- -- In reality, however, Romio and Juliet are hopelessly in love, but revealing their relationship would call upon the ire of all their comrades. They hide their love to maintain peace, but a clandestine relationship means they miss out on many of the activities couples get to do. As they grow closer together, Romio and Juliet must come to terms with the fact that keeping their relationship a secret may prove to be impossible. -- -- 235,050 7.46
Kiss x Sis -- -- feel. -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Ecchi Harem Romance School Seinen -- Kiss x Sis Kiss x Sis -- When Keita Suminoe's father remarried, not only did he gain a new mother, but elder twin sisters as well. Distinct yet similar, the homely and mature Ako is a former student council president, while the athletic and aloof Riko is the previous disciplinary president. The three of them have been together since kindergarten, resulting in a deep bond between the siblings. However, over time, their relationship developed into something more romantic—and erotic . -- -- Now in his last year of middle school, Keita has already received a sports recommendation, but it's from a different high school than his two sisters. Disappointed, both sisters try to change his mind, and he agrees, giving in to their desperate pleas. Unaware of the consequences, he now has to attempt to study for his high school exams while warding off the advances of his lust-driven sisters. With their parent's blessings, Ako and Riko strive to be Keita's future wife, leaving him to try his best to keep the relationship between them strictly platonic. However, with two beautiful girls vying for his attention, will Keita be able to withstand the endless temptations? -- -- OVA - Dec 22, 2008 -- 264,581 6.92
Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya -- -- Toei Animation -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Fantasy Shounen -- Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya Knights of the Zodiac: Saint Seiya -- Zeus had a daughter named Athena, the goddess of war. A group of youths flocked to Athena fighting to protect her amidst heroic battles as her "Saints". Their proof of being a Saint laid with the battle protector known as Sacred Cloth. -- -- After a virtual eternity, a new struggle is about to unfold now again over the Cloth. A boy named Seiya has crossed way over to Greece to undergo the training to become a Saint and obtained the Cloth, Bronze cloth, the lowest position among Saints. Every Saint takes a constellation as their tutelary god. And Seiya's guardian star is Pegasus. Now, the saints gather together from all over the world to participate in the "Galatic War" - championship of Saints, aiming at the Gold Cloth, the symbol of ruler of the Saints. The curtain for Galatic War has been cut open. During the death battle between the Saints, Phoenix, the Black Saint, suddenly appeared on the scene and runs off with Gold Cloth in front of a full house in his ambition to become ruler of the world. Seiya and his fellow bronze cloth warriors go after Phoenix and his "Shadow Army" to retrieve the lost Gold Cloth... -- -- The battles waged among the saints, the strongest young men on earth, begin now! -- -- (Source: Toei Animation) -- ONA - Jul 19, 2019 -- 13,627 5.11
Koisuru Asteroid -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School -- Koisuru Asteroid Koisuru Asteroid -- In a fateful childhood encounter, Mira Kinohata met a stargazing dreamer named Ao Manaka. Though their time together was short, Ao showed Mira the wonders of astronomy, from orbiting planets to distant stars. Before they parted, Mira learned that a star with her name exists, but there are none with Ao's. And so, she forged a promise: one day, she would discover a new asteroid and name it after Ao. -- -- Years later, Mira is still fascinated with astronomy. Now in high school at Hoshizaki Academy, she tries to join the Astronomy Club. Unfortunately, she finds out that the club has been merged with the Geology Club to form a single Earth Sciences Club. She joins this new club and finds a pleasant surprise—she reunites with Ao after years of separation. -- -- Alongside their new clubmates, Mira and Ao begin their journey together to fulfill their promise. How hard could it possibly be to find an asteroid? -- -- 62,764 6.86
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni -- -- Wit Studio -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama Romance Seinen -- Koi wa Ameagari no You ni Koi wa Ameagari no You ni -- Akira Tachibana, a reserved high school student and former track runner, has not been able to race the same as she used to since she experienced a severe foot injury. And although she is regarded as attractive by her classmates, she is not interested in the boys around school. -- -- While working part-time at the Garden Cafe, Akira begins to develop feelings for the manager—a 45-year-old man named Masami Kondou—despite the large age gap. Kondou shows genuine concern and kindness toward the customers of his restaurant, which, while viewed by others as soft or weak, draws Akira to him. Spending time together at the restaurant, they grow closer, which only strengthens her feelings. Weighed down by these uncertain emotions, Akira finally resolves to confess, but what will be the result? -- -- 207,337 7.53
Koi wa Ameagari no You ni -- -- Wit Studio -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama Romance Seinen -- Koi wa Ameagari no You ni Koi wa Ameagari no You ni -- Akira Tachibana, a reserved high school student and former track runner, has not been able to race the same as she used to since she experienced a severe foot injury. And although she is regarded as attractive by her classmates, she is not interested in the boys around school. -- -- While working part-time at the Garden Cafe, Akira begins to develop feelings for the manager—a 45-year-old man named Masami Kondou—despite the large age gap. Kondou shows genuine concern and kindness toward the customers of his restaurant, which, while viewed by others as soft or weak, draws Akira to him. Spending time together at the restaurant, they grow closer, which only strengthens her feelings. Weighed down by these uncertain emotions, Akira finally resolves to confess, but what will be the result? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 207,337 7.53
Kokoro Connect -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural Drama Romance School -- Kokoro Connect Kokoro Connect -- When five students at Yamaboshi Academy realize that there are no clubs where they fit in, they band together to form the Student Cultural Society, or "StuCS" for short. The club consists of: Taichi Yaegashi, a hardcore wrestling fan; Iori Nagase, an indecisive optimist; Himeko Inaba, a calm computer genius; Yui Kiriyama, a petite karate practitioner; and Yoshifumi Aoki, the class clown. -- -- One day, Aoki and Yui experience a strange incident when, without warning, they switch bodies for a short period of time. As this supernatural phenomenon continues to occur randomly amongst the five friends, they begin to realize that it is not just fun and games. Now forced to become closer than ever, they soon discover each other's hidden secrets and emotional scars, which could end up tearing the StuCS and their friendship apart. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 660,720 7.81
K-On! -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 13 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Music Slice of Life Comedy School -- K-On! K-On! -- A fresh high school year always means much to come, and one of those things is joining a club. Being in a dilemma about which club to join, Yui Hirasawa stumbles upon and applies for the Light Music Club, which she misinterprets to be about playing simple instruments, such as castanets. Unable to play an instrument, she decides to visit to apologize and quit. -- -- Meanwhile, the Light Music Club faces disbandment due to a lack of members. This causes the club members to offer anything, from food to slacking off during club time, in order to convince Yui to join. Despite their efforts, Yui insists on leaving due to her lack of musical experience. As a last resort, they play a piece for Yui, which sparks her fiery passion and finally convinces her to join the club. -- -- From then onward, it's just plain messing around with bits and pieces of practice. The members of the Light Music Club are ready to make their time together a delightful one! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Sentai Filmworks -- 811,001 7.84
K-On!! -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 26 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy Music School Slice of Life -- K-On!! K-On!! -- It is the new year, which means that the senior members of the Light Music Club are now third-years, with Azusa Nakano being the only second-year. The seniors soon realize that Azusa will be the only member left once they graduate and decide to recruit new members. Despite trying many methods of attracting underclassmen—handing out fliers, bringing people into the clubroom, and performing at the welcoming ceremony—there are no signs of anyone that plans to join. -- -- While heading to the clubroom, Azusa overhears Yui Hirasawa say that the club is fine with only five people and that they can do many fun things together. Changing her mind, she decides that they do not need to recruit any members for the time being. -- -- K-On!! revolves around the members of the Light Music Club as they experience their daily high school life. From rehearsing for concerts to just messing around, they are ready to make their last year together an exciting one! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 530,529 8.15
K-On! Movie -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 1 ep -- 4-koma manga -- Music Slice of Life Comedy -- K-On! Movie K-On! Movie -- Graduation looms for the founding members of the Light Music Club. With only a few precious weeks of school left, the girls decide to make the most of it and plan a trip abroad. Hawaii, New York, Dubai—many destinations are suggested, but after a little help from the club's precious pet turtle, Ton-chan, London is chosen as the host of their next misadventure! -- -- Yui Hirasawa, Mio Akiyama, Tsumugi Kotobuki, Ritsu Tainaka, and Azusa Nakano will visit famous landmarks, perform live music for Londoners, and eat all sorts of delicious food, all while stumbling clumsily from place to place. But the fun won't last forever, as heartfelt songs and goodbyes will be made as their high school days together come to a close. One thing is for certain though: the undeniable friendships these girls have formed is something that will carry on long after the final scene rolls. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- Movie - Dec 3, 2011 -- 248,642 8.33
Kono Danshi, Mahou ga Oshigoto Desu. -- -- CoMix Wave Films -- 4 eps -- Original -- Magic Fantasy Shounen Ai -- Kono Danshi, Mahou ga Oshigoto Desu. Kono Danshi, Mahou ga Oshigoto Desu. -- Chiharu Kashima, captain of the Wizard Bureau's Crisis Countermeasures Division, is among a handful of people who can use magic. While frequenting his favorite bar, he is approached by a friendly man named Toyohi Utsumi. Having always dreamt of being a wizard, Toyohi is enthralled by the idea of meeting one. Much to the young Captain's surprise, Toyohi confesses that he has fallen in love with Kashima. While little time as passed, the two begin to spend more time together. Not all is well, however, as Kashima fears that magic is all that he has and Toyohi is only in love with Kashima the Wizard. -- -- 23,086 7.03
Konohana no Sakuya Mori -- -- Tomoyasu Murata Company -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia -- Konohana no Sakuya Mori Konohana no Sakuya Mori -- A horse puppet wanders into a silver world and pauses before an ethereal flower. -- -- (Source: CoolConnections) -- Movie - ??? ??, 2014 -- 465 6.01
Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society -- -- Production I.G -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Military Sci-Fi Mystery Police Mecha Seinen -- Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society -- A.D. 2034. It has been two years since Motoko Kusanagi left Section 9. Togusa is now the new leader of the team, that has considerably increased its appointed personnel. The expanded new Section 9 confronts a rash of complicated incidents, and investigations reveal that an ultra-wizard hacker named the Puppeteer is behind the entire series of events. -- -- In the midst of all, Batou, who was stalking the case on a separate track, encounters Motoko. She goes away after saying, "Stay away from the Solid State Society." Batou is left with a doubt in his mind. Could Motoko be the Puppeteer? -- -- The series of intriguing incidents that Section 9 faces gradually link together almost artistically. Who is the Puppeteer? What will happen to Batou's relationship with Motoko? What is the full truth behind this carefully planned perfect crime? And what will the outcome be? Mysteries surround the Solid State Society... -- -- (Source: Production I.G.) -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Manga Entertainment -- Special - Sep 1, 2006 -- 86,863 8.13
Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society -- -- Production I.G -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Military Sci-Fi Mystery Police Mecha Seinen -- Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society Koukaku Kidoutai: Stand Alone Complex - Solid State Society -- A.D. 2034. It has been two years since Motoko Kusanagi left Section 9. Togusa is now the new leader of the team, that has considerably increased its appointed personnel. The expanded new Section 9 confronts a rash of complicated incidents, and investigations reveal that an ultra-wizard hacker named the Puppeteer is behind the entire series of events. -- -- In the midst of all, Batou, who was stalking the case on a separate track, encounters Motoko. She goes away after saying, "Stay away from the Solid State Society." Batou is left with a doubt in his mind. Could Motoko be the Puppeteer? -- -- The series of intriguing incidents that Section 9 faces gradually link together almost artistically. Who is the Puppeteer? What will happen to Batou's relationship with Motoko? What is the full truth behind this carefully planned perfect crime? And what will the outcome be? Mysteries surround the Solid State Society... -- -- (Source: Production I.G.) -- Special - Sep 1, 2006 -- 86,863 8.13
Koukaku no Pandora -- -- AXsiZ, Studio Gokumi -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Comedy Ecchi -- Koukaku no Pandora Koukaku no Pandora -- Onboard a cruise ship heading to the scenic Cenancle Island, the full-body cyborg Nene Nanakorobi, a bubbly young girl who dreams of world peace, meets inventor Uzal Delilah. The two become fast friends along with Uzal's pet cyborg Clarion, a cat-like combat android. Soon after parting ways, a terrorist attack on the island threatens to shatter the pair's new friendship. In a bid to save her new friend, Uzal gives Nene the ability to use the Pandora Device found in Clarion's body before seemingly dying. With this power, Nene can temporarily master abilities and skills never seen before in the advancing world. -- -- Working together, the two unlikely companions go on various missions—from saving children in shopping mall fires to fighting reckless thieves—all in the name of world peace. But to achieve this goal is not easy. B.U.E.R, a sentient laser in the form of a misshapen teddy bear, threatens to wreck their happy lives with his perverted nature and uncontrollable power. And to make matters worse, Nene's guardian, as well as genius inventor, Takumi Korobase has an undying interest in B.U.E.R. -- -- Burdened with saving the world and keeping B.U.E.R from the hands of evil, Nene and Clarion's desire for world peace seems like a pipe dream. With this monumental goal, could the weight of it all destroy the pair's friendship completely? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 40,234 6.52
Koyomimonogatari -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Mystery Supernatural -- Koyomimonogatari Koyomimonogatari -- Whether it is investigating stone shrines, tracking rumors, or simply playing hide and seek, Koyomi Araragi is always there to fulfill the requests of his friends from both the human and supernatural worlds. Koyomimonogatari tells a series of short stories involving Koyomi as he helps each of the girls in his cohort solve a mystery or kill some time, alongside previously unexplored problems in this essential prelude to his story's last chapter. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- ONA - Jan 10, 2016 -- 190,076 7.67
Koyomimonogatari -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Mystery Supernatural -- Koyomimonogatari Koyomimonogatari -- Whether it is investigating stone shrines, tracking rumors, or simply playing hide and seek, Koyomi Araragi is always there to fulfill the requests of his friends from both the human and supernatural worlds. Koyomimonogatari tells a series of short stories involving Koyomi as he helps each of the girls in his cohort solve a mystery or kill some time, alongside previously unexplored problems in this essential prelude to his story's last chapter. -- -- ONA - Jan 10, 2016 -- 190,076 7.67
Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho -- -- CoMix Wave Films -- 1 ep -- Original -- Drama Military Romance Sci-Fi -- Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho Kumo no Mukou, Yakusoku no Basho -- Hiroki Fujisawa and Takuya Shirakawa harbor admiration for two things in their life: their classmate Sayuri Sawatari and the vast Ezo Tower that stands boundlessly across the Tsugaru Strait. Fascinated by the limitless structure beyond their reach, Hiroki and Takuya begin constructing an aeroplane from a fallen drone they discovered—naming it the Bella Ciela—to fulfill their dream of one day reaching the sky-scraping top of the tower. Later joined by the girl they love, Hiroki and Takuya promise Sayuri to fly with her to the seemingly otherworldly top together. However, Japan has suffered a North-South partitioning that has fueled conflict near the base of the tower, which marks the border between the America-controlled Southern islands and the Northern lands occupied by the Soviet Union. -- -- Further along, Sayuri suddenly disappears, and Hiroki and Takuya never see her again. Unbeknownst to them, she fell victim to a sleeping disorder that left her comatose for the past three years. Although Hiroki and Takuya later learn about Sayuri's condition, they also discover that the girl's unconscious state is oddly linked to the same tower the trio had promised to conquer together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- Movie - Nov 20, 2004 -- 181,371 7.54
Kuroko no Basket: Saikou no Present Desu -- -- Production I.G -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action School Shounen Sports -- Kuroko no Basket: Saikou no Present Desu Kuroko no Basket: Saikou no Present Desu -- It is Tetsuya Kuroko's birthday. In celebration, Satsuki Momoi has invited the other members of the Generation of Miracles to play basketball together and rekindle the memories from their nostalgic middle school days. Meanwhile, Taiga Kagami and his fellow teammates of Seirin High are doing their best to prepare for Kuroko's birthday party. -- -- Sometimes, the best gift one can receive is not a material one but, rather, the feeling of having fun with everyone! -- -- Special - Dec 24, 2015 -- 73,859 8.10
Kuttsukiboshi -- -- Primastea -- 2 eps -- Original -- Romance Supernatural Drama Shoujo Ai -- Kuttsukiboshi Kuttsukiboshi -- To Kiiko Kawakami, there was nothing in the world as important to her as Aaya Saitou. Something about her allured Kiiko to the extent that there was no sound sweeter to her ears than Aaya's voice and no sight more beautiful than her hair softly billowing in the wind. It was for that reason she let Aaya in on her secret: last year, she had gained psychic powers from an accident that changed her life. -- -- Kuttsukiboshi is a story of infatuation and romance between two girls as their feelings for one another reach the tipping point. Unable to deny their heartfelt desires, the two give into them and make many sweet memories together around the school—testing the bounds of Kiiko's powers and how far they can go without being caught in the midst of their trysts. However, will things remain as they are when Kiiko discovers the love of her life has a dark secret of her own? -- OVA - Aug 16, 2010 -- 36,274 6.10
Kuuchuu Buranko -- -- Toei Animation -- 11 eps -- Novel -- Comedy Psychological Drama Seinen -- Kuuchuu Buranko Kuuchuu Buranko -- The world of psychology is far from strange to the unusual Dr. Ichirou Irabu, a resident psychiatrist of Irabu General Hospital. He and his charming nurse Mayumi run through several patients, each suffering from a mental illness that harms their everyday life. -- -- Patients should be wary of the seductive Mayumi, with her spellbinding looks and devilishly short pink nurse uniform. On the other hand, the doctor seems to have three separate personalities: a child with an oversized lab coat; an intelligent, youthful man with feminine traits; and a selfish, outgoing green bear. While curing his patients in questionable ways, Dr. Irabu often tries to gain something from them outside of his profession—and in doing so, occasionally forgets his role as a doctor. -- -- As each patient struggles to face the nature of their distress, an obvious yet invisible thread ties their paths together. -- -- 75,563 7.96
Kuzu no Honkai -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Romance School Seinen -- Kuzu no Honkai Kuzu no Honkai -- To the outside world, Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya are the perfect couple. But in reality, they just share the same secret pain: they are both in love with other people they cannot be with. -- -- Hanabi has loved her childhood friend and neighbor Narumi Kanai for as long as she can remember, so she is elated to discover that he is her new homeroom teacher. However, Narumi is soon noticed by the music teacher, Akane Minagawa, and a relationship begins to blossom between them, much to Hanabi's dismay. -- -- Mugi was tutored by Akane in middle school, and has been in love with her since then. Through a chance meeting in the hallway, he encounters Hanabi. As these two lonely souls spend more time together, they decide to use each other as a substitute for the one they truly love, sharing physical intimacy with one another in order to stave off their loneliness. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 494,783 7.28
Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora -- -- TNK -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Magic Romance Shounen -- Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora -- Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora revolves around the life of Kuu Shiratori, a seemingly normal high school girl who enjoys her school life in the giant city Academia, which is thought of as a symbol of recovery for humanity since already ten years have passed since the greatest disaster mankind had ever seen, occurred. Kuu has recently been having a recurring dream where a prince meets her and takes her away. One day, while all the students at her school are preparing for the upcoming school festival, the prince, whom she has met several times in her dreams, appears. The prince, Kyoshiro Ayanokoji, requests of her just as he had done in Kuu's dreams, "Let's go... together..." -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- 38,528 6.47
Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora -- -- TNK -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Magic Romance Shounen -- Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora Kyoushirou to Towa no Sora -- Kyoshiro to Towa no Sora revolves around the life of Kuu Shiratori, a seemingly normal high school girl who enjoys her school life in the giant city Academia, which is thought of as a symbol of recovery for humanity since already ten years have passed since the greatest disaster mankind had ever seen, occurred. Kuu has recently been having a recurring dream where a prince meets her and takes her away. One day, while all the students at her school are preparing for the upcoming school festival, the prince, whom she has met several times in her dreams, appears. The prince, Kyoshiro Ayanokoji, requests of her just as he had done in Kuu's dreams, "Let's go... together..." -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Funimation -- 38,528 6.47
Kyousou Giga -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Fantasy Supernatural -- Kyousou Giga Kyousou Giga -- It's Kyoto, and yet it is not. -- -- A microcosm of peculiar origins, "Mirror Kyoto." -- -- A small incident causes a young girl, Koto, to wander into this world. -- -- She runs into a mysterious monk, gets chased around by a tech-obsessed girl, and heartily enjoys her chaotic and colorful new life, but meanwhile, out of sight, a certain plan is being set into motion... -- -- In this mysterious city where spirits and humans have been thrown together, the festivities are about to begin! -- -- (Source: translated from the official website by lygerzero0zero) -- ONA - Dec 1, 2011 -- 41,778 6.94
Kyuuketsuhime Miyu (TV) -- -- AIC -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Action Horror Demons Drama Vampire Shoujo -- Kyuuketsuhime Miyu (TV) Kyuuketsuhime Miyu (TV) -- Evil Shinma (shape-shifting monsters and vampires) roam the Earth on a mission to unleash their darkness upon the Human race. Miyu Royal Princess from the dark is the Chosen One—the one being who must banish the Evil Shinma from the Earth. She has the power to offer Humans the gift of eternal happiness, yet is herself, trapped between two worlds; destined for perpetual solitude and internal conflict. -- -- Miyu's only companion is Larva, once an evil Shimna; now her devoted guardian. Together they share a dark journey through the weakness of the human heart and the tragic loss of innocence. Cut off from humanity by the knowledge of what she is, Miyu lives an endless quest as both the hunter and the hunted, on the edge of darkness. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Maiden Japan, Tokyopop -- 32,524 7.14
Lady Jewelpet -- -- Studio Comet, Zexcs -- 52 eps -- Original -- Fantasy Magic Romance Shoujo -- Lady Jewelpet Lady Jewelpet -- Momona is an ordinary junior-high school student hailing from Jewel Land. At her cousin's wedding, she envies the bride, Lady Diana, due to the fact that she is marrying the cousin who she had a slight crush on. However, once she sees Lady Diana and her cousin together, Momona begins to like her, and accepts her as her cousin's bride. Just as Lady Diana is about to properly meet her and introduce herself, Momona is transported to a snowy place in Jewel Land where the ruler, Lady Jewel, is giving a speech to the Petit Ladies, girls who are chosen as Jewel Candidates to be the next Lady Jewel. Momona meets her partner and mentor, Ruby, a white rabbit, who will guide her through the tasks in becoming Lady Jewel. Whoever passes the most tasks wins and becomes the next Lady Jewel, but standing in her way is Lillian, a girl who also aims to win the title of Lady Jewel, so she can choose her brother, Cayenne, to be her King alongside her. Momona soon also begins to fall in love with Cayenne, yet Lillian doesn't want her to get too close to him. Cayenne also seems to harbor feelings for Momona, but who will be chosen in the end as Lady Jewel to decide it all? And will Momona and Lillian ever become true friends and will Cayenne and Momona ever be together? -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- TV - Apr 5, 2014 -- 8,229 7.38
Learn to Love -- -- - -- 1 ep -- - -- Dementia -- Learn to Love Learn to Love -- "Someone loves you whether you know it or not." -- -- (Source: Maya Yonesho) -- Movie - ??? ??, 1999 -- 199 N/A -- -- Ring Ring Boy -- -- - -- 1 ep -- - -- Dementia -- Ring Ring Boy Ring Ring Boy -- (No synopsis yet.) -- Movie - ??? ??, 1963 -- 199 N/A -- -- Time on the Planet -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia -- Time on the Planet Time on the Planet -- The sun rises in one place and the sun sets in another. -- When a woman's hair grows up, a man shaves off her elongated beard. -- Even if the time is different, the time passes in the same way anywhere. -- The earth turns and the sun rises again. -- -- Each of the frames has a structure that loops indefinitely. -- -- (Source: Official website) -- Special - ??? ??, 2016 -- 199 5.27
Le Chevalier D'Eon -- -- Production I.G -- 24 eps -- Original -- Historical Magic Mystery Seinen Supernatural -- Le Chevalier D'Eon Le Chevalier D'Eon -- In 18th century Paris, a coffin is found floating down the Seine River. It carries the corpse of noblewoman Lia de Beaumont: a spy of King Louis XV, and whose younger brother Charles d'Eon has just been knighted. When several disappearances occur throughout Paris, the young knight believes that they are somehow connected to his sister's death. Hoping to find her killers, d'Eon joins the secret police to investigate the incidents. -- -- Following the clues, they piece together that a conspiracy between members of the French and Russian nobility, spurred on by a cult, may be behind the disappearances. D'Eon concludes that Lia may have uncovered the truth while on a mission and was killed as a result. -- -- That night, the secret police are to arrest the Duke of Orléans on suspicion of being the mastermind. One of their own transforms into a demon called a Gargoyle and massacres the group. D'Eon attempts to rescue the sole survivor, only to find that he too has been transformed. During the ensuing battle, d'Eon is possessed by Lia's vengeful soul, who takes command of his body and slays the Gargoyle herself. In the aftermath, d'Eon must gather allies to discover the depth of this supernatural conspiracy. -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Funimation -- TV - Jul 2, 2006 -- 50,521 7.22
Le Chevalier D'Eon -- -- Production I.G -- 24 eps -- Original -- Historical Magic Mystery Seinen Supernatural -- Le Chevalier D'Eon Le Chevalier D'Eon -- In 18th century Paris, a coffin is found floating down the Seine River. It carries the corpse of noblewoman Lia de Beaumont: a spy of King Louis XV, and whose younger brother Charles d'Eon has just been knighted. When several disappearances occur throughout Paris, the young knight believes that they are somehow connected to his sister's death. Hoping to find her killers, d'Eon joins the secret police to investigate the incidents. -- -- Following the clues, they piece together that a conspiracy between members of the French and Russian nobility, spurred on by a cult, may be behind the disappearances. D'Eon concludes that Lia may have uncovered the truth while on a mission and was killed as a result. -- -- That night, the secret police are to arrest the Duke of Orléans on suspicion of being the mastermind. One of their own transforms into a demon called a Gargoyle and massacres the group. D'Eon attempts to rescue the sole survivor, only to find that he too has been transformed. During the ensuing battle, d'Eon is possessed by Lia's vengeful soul, who takes command of his body and slays the Gargoyle herself. In the aftermath, d'Eon must gather allies to discover the depth of this supernatural conspiracy. -- -- TV - Jul 2, 2006 -- 50,521 7.22
Level E -- -- David Production, Studio Pierrot -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Sci-Fi Shounen -- Level E Level E -- Tokyo-born schoolboy Yukitaka Tsutsui is moving to Yamagata Prefecture for high school on a baseball scholarship. Since he went to the top middle school in Japan for baseball, the townsfolk are very excited about his arrival. However, when he arrives in his apartment, he encounters a strange man nonchalantly reading and wearing his clothes! The stranger claims to be an alien who crash-landed on Earth and has nowhere to go. Revealing himself to be Baka Ki El Dogra, the crown prince of the planet Dogra, he is just one of the hundreds of aliens that have already made Earth their home. -- -- Despite his regal origins, the prince is an infamous intergalactic fool who thinks nothing of inconveniencing others for his own amusement. Whether he is running ridiculous tests on his subordinates, giving strange powers to random children, or just generally being a nuisance, nobody is safe from the idiot prince's antics! -- -- TV - Jan 11, 2011 -- 82,693 7.45
Little Busters! -- -- J.C.Staff -- 26 eps -- Visual novel -- Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural Drama School -- Little Busters! Little Busters! -- As a child, Riki Naoe shut himself from the world, thanks to a diagnosis of narcolepsy following the tragic deaths of his parents. However, Riki is saved when, one fateful day, a boy named Kyousuke recruits him into a team who call themselves the Little Busters. Accompanied by Masato, Kengo, and Rin, these misfits spend their childhood fighting evil and enjoying their youth. -- -- Years pass, and even in high school, the well-knit teammates remain together. Kyousuke decides to re-ignite the Little Busters by forming a baseball team as it will be his last school year with them. They have a problem though: there aren't enough members! The tables have turned, for it is now Riki's turn to reach out and recruit new friends into the Little Busters, just like Kyousuke had once done for him. -- Then, an omen surfaces—Rin finds a strange letter attached to her cat, assigning them the duty of uncovering the "secret of this world" by completing specific tasks. Just what is this secret, and why is it being hidden? It's up to the Little Busters to find out! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Oct 6, 2012 -- 241,826 7.51
Little Busters! -- -- J.C.Staff -- 26 eps -- Visual novel -- Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural Drama School -- Little Busters! Little Busters! -- As a child, Riki Naoe shut himself from the world, thanks to a diagnosis of narcolepsy following the tragic deaths of his parents. However, Riki is saved when, one fateful day, a boy named Kyousuke recruits him into a team who call themselves the Little Busters. Accompanied by Masato, Kengo, and Rin, these misfits spend their childhood fighting evil and enjoying their youth. -- -- Years pass, and even in high school, the well-knit teammates remain together. Kyousuke decides to re-ignite the Little Busters by forming a baseball team as it will be his last school year with them. They have a problem though: there aren't enough members! The tables have turned, for it is now Riki's turn to reach out and recruit new friends into the Little Busters, just like Kyousuke had once done for him. -- Then, an omen surfaces—Rin finds a strange letter attached to her cat, assigning them the duty of uncovering the "secret of this world" by completing specific tasks. Just what is this secret, and why is it being hidden? It's up to the Little Busters to find out! -- -- TV - Oct 6, 2012 -- 241,826 7.51
Lord of Vermilion: Guren no Ou -- -- Asread, Tear Studio -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Fantasy -- Lord of Vermilion: Guren no Ou Lord of Vermilion: Guren no Ou -- Set in Tokyo, it's January 29, 2030. High-frequency resonance is observed in the vicinity of Tokyo, and the red fog rolls into the city. Those who hear the sound, humans and animals alike, pass out, losing consciousness. Everything shuts down in Tokyo, believing that the fog is carrying an unknown virus that causes an epidemic. However, six days later, after the incident, people wake up as if nothing happened. After that, Tokyo's sealed-off city sections gradually return to normal. However, since the high-frequency resonance, some "bizarre events" start to happen, and people find themselves being pulled deeper into more mysteries. Meanwhile, young people start to become aware of themselves and release their power hidden in their blood, discovering themselves as "vessel of wisdom blood." Together, being led by something unknown, they meet, communicate, and face the unavoidable circle of fate, sacrificing their own lives. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 35,503 5.34
Love Lab -- -- Doga Kobo -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Romance School -- Love Lab Love Lab -- At Fujisaki Girls Academy, student council president Natsuo Maki is the epitome of grace and perfection, admired by all the young girls who attend the school. One day, Riko Kurahashi walks into the student council room on an errand, only to discover Natsuo practicing her kissing techniques on a pillow, an act that is neither graceful nor elegant. Riko soon discovers that Natsuo desires more romance in her life, leading her to practice "romantic situations" in secret. -- -- Sympathizing with her, Riko agrees to help Natsuo with her love research. Named "Love Lab," the project practices the essentials of love and romance, such as bumping into each other "accidentally" and holding hands. Soon, the entire student council joins in on the fun in the Love Lab too! Through their research and real life encounters, what will they learn about romance? -- -- Weaving together funny characters and comedic situations, Love Lab builds a story of friendship and romance, while never missing a beat with the laughter. -- -- 164,263 7.35
Loveless -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Mystery Supernatural Drama Romance Fantasy Josei Shounen Ai -- Loveless Loveless -- In the world of Loveless, each person is born with cat ears and a tail, which disappear only if that person engages in a sexual intercourse. Because of this, they have come to symbolize virginity and innocence. Additionally, fighting is only done by "fighting pairs" or couples, where one is known as the Sacrifice and the other as the Fighter. The first receives the damage while the latter attacks. -- -- Ritsuka Aoyagi is a 12-year-old boy, who for some unknown reason suffers from amnesia. His brother got killed recently, and as if his life has not been hard enough lately, on his first day at the new school he gets approached by a stranger called Agatsuma Soubi, who claims to have known his late brother. Ritsuka finds out that Agatsuma and his brother used to be a fighting pair, and that Agatsuma has inherited Ritsuga now that his brother is gone. Together, they try to find the truth behind his brother's death and the organization known as the "Seven Moons," which may have been responsible for it. All the while, it seems that Ritsuka and Agatsuma are becoming closer than they intended to be… -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- TV - Apr 7, 2005 -- 123,001 6.84
Loveless -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Mystery Supernatural Drama Romance Fantasy Josei Shounen Ai -- Loveless Loveless -- In the world of Loveless, each person is born with cat ears and a tail, which disappear only if that person engages in a sexual intercourse. Because of this, they have come to symbolize virginity and innocence. Additionally, fighting is only done by "fighting pairs" or couples, where one is known as the Sacrifice and the other as the Fighter. The first receives the damage while the latter attacks. -- -- Ritsuka Aoyagi is a 12-year-old boy, who for some unknown reason suffers from amnesia. His brother got killed recently, and as if his life has not been hard enough lately, on his first day at the new school he gets approached by a stranger called Agatsuma Soubi, who claims to have known his late brother. Ritsuka finds out that Agatsuma and his brother used to be a fighting pair, and that Agatsuma has inherited Ritsuga now that his brother is gone. Together, they try to find the truth behind his brother's death and the organization known as the "Seven Moons," which may have been responsible for it. All the while, it seems that Ritsuka and Agatsuma are becoming closer than they intended to be… -- TV - Apr 7, 2005 -- 123,001 6.84
Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai -- -- Sunrise -- 13 eps -- Other -- Music Slice of Life School -- Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai -- Buried within the numerous clubs at Nijigasaki High School lies the school idol club. The club, while lacking popularity, definitely does not lack potential. During their debut performance, they were able to seize a sizable audience, along with the attention of their schoolmates Ayumu Uehara and Yuu Takasaki. -- -- Enamored, the duo makes their way to join the club; however, they are disappointed to find out that the club had just been disbanded. Nevertheless, Ayumu does not believe that it should have ended there. Together with Yuu, they begin restoring the school idol club, hoping to recreate the idol performances that dazzled them before. -- -- Love Live! Nijigasaki Gakuen School Idol Doukoukai shines its spotlight over the reformed school idol club as they recruit both former members of the club alongside newcomers. Taking the first step toward their dreams, how will these girls achieve idol stardom? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 43,894 7.60
Love Live! School Idol Project 2nd Season -- -- Sunrise -- 13 eps -- Other -- Music Slice of Life School -- Love Live! School Idol Project 2nd Season Love Live! School Idol Project 2nd Season -- Otonokizaka High School has been saved! Despite having to withdraw from the Love Live!, the efforts of μ's were able to garner enough interest in their school to prevent it from being shut down. What more, following the conclusion of the first, a second Love Live! is announced, this time on an even larger stage than before. Given a chance for redemption, the nine girls come together once more to sing their hearts out and claim victory. -- -- However, with the end of the school year approaching, the graduation of the third years draws near. As they attempt to reach the top of the Love Live!, they must also consider their future and choose what path the group will take. Though the question of whether to continue without the third years or disband weighs heavily on the minds of its members, μ's must quickly come to an answer with graduation right around the corner. -- -- Love Live! School Idol Project 2nd Season continues the story of the girls as they laugh, cry, sing, and dance in their journey to determine the future of their group and conquer the Love Live! in their last chance to win with all nine girls together. -- -- 210,902 7.79
Love Live! School Idol Project -- -- Sunrise -- 13 eps -- Other -- Music Slice of Life School -- Love Live! School Idol Project Love Live! School Idol Project -- Otonokizaka High School is in a crisis! With the number of enrolling students dropping lower and lower every year, the school is set to shut down after its current first years graduate. However, second year Honoka Kousaka refuses to let it go without a fight. Searching for a solution, she comes across popular school idol group A-RISE and sets out to create a school idol group of her own. With the help of her childhood friends Umi Sonoda and Kotori Minami, Honoka forms μ's (pronounced "muse") to boost awareness and popularity of her school. -- -- Unfortunately, it's all easier said than done. Student council president Eri Ayase vehemently opposes the establishment of a school idol group and will do anything in her power to prevent its creation. Moreover, Honoka and her friends have trouble attracting any additional members. But the Love Live, a competition to determine the best and most beloved school idol groups in Japan, can help them gain the attention they desperately need. With the contest fast approaching, Honoka must act quickly and diligently to try and bring together a school idol group and win the Love Live in order to save Otonokizaka High School. -- -- -- Licensor: -- NIS America, Inc. -- 367,131 7.43
Love Live! The School Idol Movie -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Original -- Music School Slice of Life -- Love Live! The School Idol Movie Love Live! The School Idol Movie -- Hot on the heels of the third year students' graduation, μ's is invited to New York in hopes of spreading the joy of school idols to other parts of the world. Due to the events of the recent Love Live!, μ's has reached eminent stardom which results in crowds swarming them whenever they appear in public. With the increased attention, however, comes a difficult choice. -- -- Having yet to publicly announce the decision they came to regarding their future, the young members of μ's are pushed to continue performing by rival group A-RISE, Otonokizaka High School, and even Love Live! itself. As leader, Honoka Kousaka is left wondering if the path they have chosen is truly for the best, as μ's must re-evaluate their choices and come to a final decision on what they want for the future. -- -- Love Live! The School Idol Movie depicts the final chapter in μ's story as the girls explore just what being an idol means to them as well as the bond that connects the nine of them together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- NIS America, Inc. -- Movie - Jun 13, 2015 -- 105,457 7.94
Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro -- -- Tokyo Movie Shinsha -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Mystery Seinen -- Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro -- Arsene Lupin III discovers that the spoils from his latest casino robbery are actually "Gothic Bills," legendary counterfeits that are nigh impossible to distinguish from genuine bills. Together with colleague Daisuke Jigen, he heads to the small nation of Cagliostro to investigate the origin of these counterfeits. Upon arrival, they save a girl from a high-speed chase who turns out to be Clarisse d' Cagliostro, the daughter of the late Duke d' Cagliostro. She is running from a sinister plot by Count Cagliostro to steal her family's treasure through a forced marriage. -- -- Natural flirt Lupin dislikes seeing a girl in distress and seeks to remedy the situation. Goemon Ishikawa XIII, Fujiko Mine, and Kouichi Zenigata also join the fray, each with their own motivations. As everyone converges at Cagliostro Castle, Lupin reminisces about his visit there 10 years ago, and the castle's secrets emerge from the depths. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Manga Entertainment -- Movie - Dec 15, 1979 -- 86,889 8.15
Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro -- -- Tokyo Movie Shinsha -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Mystery Seinen -- Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro Lupin III: Cagliostro no Shiro -- Arsene Lupin III discovers that the spoils from his latest casino robbery are actually "Gothic Bills," legendary counterfeits that are nigh impossible to distinguish from genuine bills. Together with colleague Daisuke Jigen, he heads to the small nation of Cagliostro to investigate the origin of these counterfeits. Upon arrival, they save a girl from a high-speed chase who turns out to be Clarisse d' Cagliostro, the daughter of the late Duke d' Cagliostro. She is running from a sinister plot by Count Cagliostro to steal her family's treasure through a forced marriage. -- -- Natural flirt Lupin dislikes seeing a girl in distress and seeks to remedy the situation. Goemon Ishikawa XIII, Fujiko Mine, and Kouichi Zenigata also join the fray, each with their own motivations. As everyone converges at Cagliostro Castle, Lupin reminisces about his visit there 10 years ago, and the castle's secrets emerge from the depths. -- -- Movie - Dec 15, 1979 -- 86,889 8.15
Lupin III: Fuuma Ichizoku no Inbou -- -- Tokyo Movie Shinsha -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Mystery Comedy Seinen -- Lupin III: Fuuma Ichizoku no Inbou Lupin III: Fuuma Ichizoku no Inbou -- Goemon's wedding to Murasaki Inabe, daughter of a samurai clan's leader, is interrupted when the Fuma ninjas attack, kidnapping the bride-to-be and demanding her family's ancient treasure as ransom. Lupin, Jigen, Goemon and Fujiko work together once again to try to save Murasaki and get to the treasure before the Fuma can steal it. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- AnimEigo, Discotek Media -- Movie - Dec 26, 1987 -- 8,208 7.27
Macross II: Lovers Again -- -- AIC -- 6 eps -- Original -- Adventure Space Mecha Military Sci-Fi Shounen -- Macross II: Lovers Again Macross II: Lovers Again -- A.D. 2089 - 80 years have passed since Space War I changed the lives of both human and Zentraedi races. Both races are at peace on Earth when a new alien race called the "Marduk" appear within the Solar System. While covering the first battle between the U.N. Spacy and the Marduk fleet, SNN rookie reporter Hibiki Kanzaki discovers Ishtar, an "Emulator" that enhances the Marduk's combat abilities through singing. Hibiki brings Ishtar to Earth to teach her the values of life and culture. Together with ace Valkyrie pilot Silvie Gena, Hibiki and Ishtar must find a way to save Earth from total destruction at the hands of the Marduk leader Ingues. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Manga Entertainment -- OVA - May 21, 1992 -- 10,194 6.33
Macross Plus Movie Edition -- -- Triangle Staff -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Adventure Mecha Military Romance Sci-Fi Space -- Macross Plus Movie Edition Macross Plus Movie Edition -- A.D. 2040—Thirty years have passed since the battle between the Earth and Zentraedi forces changed the lives of both races. On planet Eden, a top-secret project known as "Supernova" is being held to determine U.N. Spacy's next-generation variable fighter. Competing to win the funding are Shinsei Industries' YF-19 and General Galaxy's YF-21. Piloting the YF-21 is Guld Goa Bowman, a half-human, half-Zentraedi. Shinsei receives its new test pilot in the form of the unruly fighter pilot Isamu Dyson, who was once a friend of Guld. Meanwhile, as Isamu and Guld furiously battle to see which of their fighters is superior, a Virturoid Idol named Sharon Apple is to perform her debut concert on Eden. In charge of Sharon is producer Myung Fang Lone, another former friend of Isamu and Guld. When the three meet each other, old disputes spark from a troubled past. Little do they know that their past incidents—along with the Supernova Project and Sharon Apple—will somehow bring them together. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Manga Entertainment -- Movie - Oct 7, 1995 -- 13,787 7.72
Made in Abyss 2 -- -- - -- ? eps -- Web manga -- Sci-Fi Adventure Mystery Drama Fantasy -- Made in Abyss 2 Made in Abyss 2 -- Directly after the events of Made in Abyss Movie 3: Dawn of the Deep Soul, the third installment of Made in Abyss covers the adventure of Reg, Riko, and Nanachi in the Sixth Layer, The Capital of the Unreturned. -- - - ??? ??, ???? -- 87,566 N/A -- -- Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun -- -- AIC Spirits -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Harem Comedy Ecchi Fantasy -- Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun Goshuushou-sama Ninomiya-kun -- Shungo Ninomiya is just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill high school student who lives at home with his older sister Ryoko—at least when she's not away doing her job as a mercenary. However, Shungo's life ceases to be normal the moment a cute girl named Mayu Tsukimura descends into the middle of his school's campus in a military-grade helicopter. It turns out Ryoko sent this girl, along with her older brother Mikihiro, to live at the Ninomiya household. -- -- But the newly-arrived siblings are a little special: Mayu is, in fact, a succubus and her brother, an incubus! And as if the circumstances are not problematic enough, Mayu is crippled with androphobia—the fear of men—and it's up to Shungo to help her overcome this at the behest of his sister. Ryoko plans to force Mayu to be closer to Shungo, and to do this, she’ll employ some questionable methods such as having them share the same bed and even take baths together. -- -- The situation further complicates when student council president Reika Houjou arrives as the new maid of the Ninomiya family, and she will stop at nothing to thwart Shungo and Mayu’s sexually-geared training. With the sudden arrival of all these oddities, Shungo's ordinary life is about to be thrown into utter turmoil. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 5, 2007 -- 87,478 6.71
Magic Knight Rayearth -- -- Tokyo Movie Shinsha -- 20 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Drama Fantasy Magic Mecha Romance Shoujo -- Magic Knight Rayearth Magic Knight Rayearth -- Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji are strangers brought together by fate when they meet during a seemingly normal field trip to Tokyo Tower. Accompanied by a great flash of light, they hear a mysterious woman's plea to save "Cephiro," and the junior high heroines are suddenly swept away by a giant flying fish. Afterwards, they arrive in an unknown land, where they encounter a man called Master Mage Clef. -- -- Clef informs the girls that they were summoned by Princess Emeraude to fulfill their destinies as Magic Knights, restoring peace and balance in Cephiro. The formerly lively and peaceful land has been in disarray ever since High Priest Zagato imprisoned the princess, who acted as Cephiro's pillar of stability. The Magic Knights reluctantly accept Clef's words as truth and embark on a journey to save Cephiro from the clutches of evil. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Media Blasters -- 54,519 7.46
Mahou Sensei Negima! -- -- Xebec -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Ecchi Fantasy Harem Magic Romance School Shounen Super Power Supernatural -- Mahou Sensei Negima! Mahou Sensei Negima! -- 10-year-old Negi Springfield is a wizard-in-training, and needs only to pass one more test in order to become a Master Wizard. Unfortunately, his final task is a bizarre one—to become a English teacher at an all-females boarding school. As soon as he arrives, he completely embarrasses one of his students, Asuna Kagurazaka, and replaces the teacher she loves, which garners her hatred. To make matters worse, Asuna learns that Negi is a wizard, and promises to tell unless he helps her out. But unfortunately, circumstances force them to work together to do many things, from fighting evil wizards to helping the class pass their final exam, with a lot of humor, magic, and romances thrown in. -- -- (Source: ANN, edited) -- 123,090 6.97
Mahou Sensei Negima! -- -- Xebec -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Ecchi Fantasy Harem Magic Romance School Shounen Super Power Supernatural -- Mahou Sensei Negima! Mahou Sensei Negima! -- 10-year-old Negi Springfield is a wizard-in-training, and needs only to pass one more test in order to become a Master Wizard. Unfortunately, his final task is a bizarre one—to become a English teacher at an all-females boarding school. As soon as he arrives, he completely embarrasses one of his students, Asuna Kagurazaka, and replaces the teacher she loves, which garners her hatred. To make matters worse, Asuna learns that Negi is a wizard, and promises to tell unless he helps her out. But unfortunately, circumstances force them to work together to do many things, from fighting evil wizards to helping the class pass their final exam, with a lot of humor, magic, and romances thrown in. -- -- (Source: ANN, edited) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, Sentai Filmworks -- 123,090 6.97
Mahou Sensou -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Fantasy Magic -- Mahou Sensou Mahou Sensou -- The world as we know it is actually just half the story, as Takeshi Nanase finds out abruptly one summer morning. On his way to kendo practice, Takeshi comes across an unconscious girl in a uniform he doesn't recognize. Takeshi does the decent thing and saves her, and in return the girl wakes up and accidentally turns him into a magic-user. -- -- As Takeshi finds out, there is the world he lives in and the world of magic users. Most magic users just want to peacefully coexist with non-magicians, but there are some with bigger ambitions. Mui Aiba is a magician enrolled in the Subaru Magic Academy, where magic users can learn to control and channel their powers and how to live in peace with regular humans. After his fateful encounter with Mui, Takeshi and his newly magician friends Kurumi Isoshima and Kazumi Ida decide to enroll in the Magic Academy as well. -- -- All three friends have different reasons for fighting on, whether they're fighting to escape the past or catch up to the future. They wield different kinds of powers, which they must learn to harness in order to fight off the Ghost Trailers, a group of magicians who are willing to use violence to assert their superiority over humans. -- -- Pursued by the Ghost Trailers, Takeshi and his friends must train to become stronger, face the leader of the Trailers, and prevent the beginning of the Second Great Magic War. -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Jan 10, 2014 -- 209,000 6.01
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Magic Martial Arts -- Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid -- The series takes place four years after the events of Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS, during which, magical girl Nanoha Takamachi rescued and adopted a young girl named Vivio, who is the reincarnation of the Sankt Kaiser, Olivie Segbrecht. After entering her fourth year of elementary school, Vivio is given her own intelligence device, Sacred Heart, and gains the power to transform using her adult Sankt Kaiser mode. She soon comes across a girl named Einhart Stratos who, similar to Vivio, is the descendant of another Sankt Kaiser ruler, Claus G.S. Ingvalt. As Einhart becomes determined to prove her fighting style is the strongest, Vivio befriends her and together with her friends, enters a martial arts tournament where they fight against various magical opponents and learn more about their past lives. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- 21,958 6.73
Mahoutsukai no Yome: Nishi no Shounen to Seiran no Kishi -- -- Studio Kafka -- 3 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Mahoutsukai no Yome: Nishi no Shounen to Seiran no Kishi Mahoutsukai no Yome: Nishi no Shounen to Seiran no Kishi -- The story takes place shortly before Cartaphilus took a nap and Chise became an auditor at the academy. -- -- Elias and his friends help Chise prepare for the academy, where in the middle of everyday life, Spriggan visits the mansion on a spooky horse with the words, "The appearance of the ghost hunting association is unusual this time." -- -- Gabriel, an ordinary boy who just moved from London, was bored of his environment of parting with friends, being in an unfamiliar location, and everything else. Sitting by the window and glancing beyond, he spotted a purple smoke and decided to chase after it, looking to escape his boredom. Though it should not, the world of the boy begins to converge with the wizards, who live on the other side behind a thick veil. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- OVA - Sep 10, 2021 -- 18,799 N/A -- -- Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach -- -- OLM -- 51 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Magic Comedy Romance Shoujo -- Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach Ai Tenshi Densetsu Wedding Peach -- There are three known worlds—the human world, the angel world, and the devil world. The evil queen Raindevilla yearns to destroy the angel world with help or her many devil minions. The goddess Aphrodite sends an angel to the human world, Limone, to summon three love angels in the form of three school girls, Momoko Hanasaki, Yuri Tanima, and Hinagiku Tamano, who together become Angel Lilly, Angel Daisy, and Wedding Peach. The three girls must fight to overcome the evils of the devils, as well as their own lives, and restore peace to the angel world by gathering all pieces of the Sacred Four Somethings (or Saint Something Four) and defeat the evil queen once and for all. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- 18,769 6.68
Mahoutsukai Precure! -- -- Toei Animation -- 50 eps -- Original -- Action Slice of Life Magic Fantasy School Shoujo -- Mahoutsukai Precure! Mahoutsukai Precure! -- In the human realm, witches and wizards seem to be mere creations of fantasy. Ever the adventurous teenager, Mirai Asahina sets out to disprove this notion by following the tracks of a peculiar shooting star that had fallen the night before. Sure enough, Mirai soon has a chance encounter with Liko—a clumsy witch apprentice who hails from the Magic World, a colorful realm inhabited by magicians. -- -- As if by fate, the appearance of strange villains forces Mirai and Liko to join hands. In doing so, they unleash their strength as a pair of legendary magicians—the "Maho Girls Precure!" Now gifted with unbelievable power, the unlikely duo embarks on an adventure filled with magical spells and powerful gemstones. Along the way, the two girls discover the hidden marvels that tie their individual worlds together. -- -- 9,869 7.10
Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Harem Comedy Super Power Romance Ecchi Martial Arts School -- Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! -- The samurai are a very important part of Japan's history, and to be related to them in any way is probably one of the most inspiring things that a young high school student could hope for. -- -- Kawakami City is well-known for having many samurai ancestors among its citizens, and is generally surrounded by an atmosphere of fighting spirit, loyalty, and dedication to work. In Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai!, the students of Kawakami Academy use this knowledge on a daily basis, whether they are studying for exams, competing in sports competitions, or making sure that they take very good care of their traditions. Yamato Naoe is one such student, and his six closest friends (three boys and three girls) make up the perfect team for friendship, rivalry, and motivation. However, even samurai have weaknesses. -- -- Although the balance and long friendship of their group has been undisturbed for a long time, when two new girls enter the group, things start to get a lot more interesting. Not only must they maintain what they think is the samurai tradition, but they must now also do it with a lot of "distractions." -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 238,653 6.75
Majin Bone -- -- Toei Animation -- 52 eps -- Game -- Game -- Majin Bone Majin Bone -- Anime adaptation of Majin Bone, a digital card game project. -- -- Majin, the creator of the Universe, has been resurrected in the present day. Shougo Ryuujin, an ordinary high school student who transforms into the Bone Fighter Dragonbone with the Bone Card in order to save Earth. Together, with the other White Bone warriors take a stand against the Dark Bone, a foe that has appeared from darkness to devastate Earth. However, "could the true enemy be ourselves?" -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Apr 1, 2014 -- 8,833 6.66
Majo Minarai wo Sagashite -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Original -- Comedy Magic Shoujo -- Majo Minarai wo Sagashite Majo Minarai wo Sagashite -- 27-year-old Tokyo office worker Mire Yoshizuki just returned to Japan, while 22-year-old fourth-year college student Sora Nagase aspires to be a teacher, and 20-year-old boyish Reika Kawatani is a part-time Hiroshima okonomiyaki shop worker and freelancer. What draws together these three women from completely different walks of life is a magic gem. A "New Magical Story" begins when they are mysteriously brought together by chance and embark on a journey. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- Movie - Nov 13, 2020 -- 6,598 N/A -- -- Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan Specials -- -- Remic -- 3 eps -- Original -- Comedy Parody Magic Ecchi Vampire -- Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan Specials Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan Specials -- DVD specials. -- Special - Jun 23, 2006 -- 6,488 6.91
Major 2nd (TV) 2nd Season -- -- OLM -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Sports Drama Shounen -- Major 2nd (TV) 2nd Season Major 2nd (TV) 2nd Season -- After recovering from the inner struggles he faced in the past, Daigo Shigeno continues to play baseball and is now the captain of Fuurin Private Academy Middle School's baseball team. Alongside Mutsuko Sakura, his classmate from elementary school, he aims to lead the team to glory. However, due to unexpected circumstances, Fuurin's baseball team is left with only six members: Daigo, Mutsuko, Yayoi Sawa, Tao Sagara, Seira Kandori, and Hiromu Tanba. Left with mostly female players and lacking in experience, the team struggles to gain confidence and trust from the new recruits—Akira Nishina, Anita Kabashima, and Chisato Fujii. Facing challenges such as having no proper coach, problematic recruits, and a limited number of members, Daigo's resolution is put to the test as he tries to bring the team together in time to participate in their first ever tournament. -- -- 14,548 7.57
Major S5 -- -- SynergySP -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance Shounen Sports -- Major S5 Major S5 -- The Baseball World Cup is nearing, and Gorou Honda is eager to represent his country. However, one small problem stands in his way: the team roster has already been selected, and he is not a part of it. -- -- Nonetheless, Gorou remains adamant to join. He becomes a practice pitcher for the Japanese national team, hoping to demonstrate his incredible speed and skills to the team's manager. Fortunately, Gorou is given the chance to prove his worth: he must show an impressive performance in the upcoming practice match involving the veteran Japanese team and the young players who hope to replace them. -- -- The World Cup will bring together some of the strongest players from around the globe. It will also set the stage for Gorou's long-awaited showdown with his longtime rival, Joe Gibson. -- -- TV - Jan 10, 2009 -- 58,815 8.44
Makai Senki Disgaea -- -- OLM -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Comedy Demons Fantasy Magic -- Makai Senki Disgaea Makai Senki Disgaea -- An angel arrives in Hell! A demon lord is awakened! There are penguins everywhere! What’s going on here? -- -- Angel assassin-in-training Flonne is on a quest to destroy the demon Overlord. Instead of accomplishing her mission, the ditzy Flonne manages to wake Laharl, the demon lord and heir to the throne, from his two year slumber. Now the pair, along with Laharl’s not-so-faithful vassal Etna and her army of explosive souls in penguin costumes, must restore order to the crumbling Netherworld. -- -- Based on the events of the game Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, Makai Senki Disgaea follows Laharl’s journey to squash the demon rebellion, reclaim the throne, and destroy anyone who stands in his path. Or, you know, let them join him on his travels if they really want. Just remember: Laharl is a demon lord. There’s no way he’ll ever show kindness, compassion, or love... right? -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, Geneon Entertainment USA -- TV - Apr 5, 2006 -- 39,528 6.75
Maoujou de Oyasumi -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Demons Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Maoujou de Oyasumi Maoujou de Oyasumi -- The Demon Lord Tasogare's castle is a dark and frightening place, filled to the brim with various monsters. Any soul unfortunate enough to be imprisoned here is sure to be terrified by the horrors within. However, the human princess Aurora Suya Rhys "Syalis" Kaymin is a different case. Rather indifferent to her situation, Syalis worries about one thing and one thing only—sleep. Ever since the demon lord kidnapped her from her kingdom, she has not had a single good night's rest. -- -- To alleviate her dozen dozing issues, the princess makes do with what she can find in the castle. Whether it be the fur of fluffy demonic teddy bears or the silky, blanket-like bodies of ghost shrouds, everything is but a means to ensure a peaceful slumber. With so many potential materials to craft items that can help her sleep at her disposal, nothing will stop the sleepy princess—not even death. -- -- 113,272 8.02
Maoujou de Oyasumi -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Demons Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Maoujou de Oyasumi Maoujou de Oyasumi -- The Demon Lord Tasogare's castle is a dark and frightening place, filled to the brim with various monsters. Any soul unfortunate enough to be imprisoned here is sure to be terrified by the horrors within. However, the human princess Aurora Suya Rhys "Syalis" Kaymin is a different case. Rather indifferent to her situation, Syalis worries about one thing and one thing only—sleep. Ever since the demon lord kidnapped her from her kingdom, she has not had a single good night's rest. -- -- To alleviate her dozen dozing issues, the princess makes do with what she can find in the castle. Whether it be the fur of fluffy demonic teddy bears or the silky, blanket-like bodies of ghost shrouds, everything is but a means to ensure a peaceful slumber. With so many potential materials to craft items that can help her sleep at her disposal, nothing will stop the sleepy princess—not even death. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 113,272 8.02
Maou-sama, Retry! -- -- EKACHI EPILKA -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Fantasy -- Maou-sama, Retry! Maou-sama, Retry! -- Akira Oono is an ordinary working adult who manages the MMORPG Infinity Game. Fifteen years after creating the game, Oono decides to shut the servers down once and for all. However, as the clock strikes midnight, he somehow finds himself in the body of middle-aged Hakuto Kunai, Infinity Game's Demon Lord! -- -- Soon after his mysterious transportation, he witnesses the demon Greole chasing after a little girl named Aku. Although he effortlessly dispatches the creature, Hakuto is still concerned; after all, he does not remember creating the girl or the demon! Doubting whether he truly is in the world of his creation, Hakuto decides to investigate. Bringing Aku along as his guide and companion, Hakuto sets out on a journey to find out exactly who or what summoned him to this fantasy world—all while leaving chaos and destruction in his wake. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 156,846 6.51
Maoyuu Maou Yuusha -- -- Arms -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Demons Romance Fantasy -- Maoyuu Maou Yuusha Maoyuu Maou Yuusha -- Fifteen years have passed since the war between humans and demons began. Dissatisfied with their slow advance into the Demon Realm, the Hero abandons his companions to quickly forge ahead towards the Demon Queen's castle. Upon his arrival at the royal abode, the Hero makes a startling discovery: not only is the Demon Queen a woman of unparalleled beauty, but she also seeks the Hero's help. Confused by this unexpected turn of events, the Hero refuses to ally himself with his enemy, claiming that the war the demons have waged is tearing the Southern Nations apart. -- -- However, the Demon Queen rebuts, arguing that the war has not only united humanity but has also brought them wealth and prosperity, providing evidence to support her claims. Furthermore, she explains that if the war were to end, the supplies sent by the Central Nations in aid to the Southern Nations would cease, leaving hundreds of thousands to starve. Fortunately, she offers the Hero a way to end the war while bringing hope not only to the Southern Nations, but also to the rest of the world, though she will need his assistance to make this a reality. -- -- Finally convinced, the Hero agrees to join his now former enemy in her quest. Vowing to stay together through sickness and health, they set off for the human world. -- -- TV - Jan 5, 2013 -- 369,878 7.30
Ma Shen -- -- Thundray -- 16 eps -- Web manga -- Game Drama -- Ma Shen Ma Shen -- Mahjong holds a major influence over the world. Mahjong masters are highly respected, and these players compete to become the leading player: the Mahjong King! Players from across the world come together to duel one another. -- ONA - Jun 28, 2016 -- 1,481 N/A -- -- Future Card Buddyfight Battsu: All-Star Fight -- -- OLM, Xebec -- 8 eps -- Card game -- Game -- Future Card Buddyfight Battsu: All-Star Fight Future Card Buddyfight Battsu: All-Star Fight -- The fifth season of Future Card Buddyfight. -- 1,471 6.62
Mashiro-iro Symphony: The Color of Lovers -- -- Manglobe -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Harem Drama Romance School -- Mashiro-iro Symphony: The Color of Lovers Mashiro-iro Symphony: The Color of Lovers -- When boys suddenly get into places where they've never been allowed before, some girls tend to get upset. So when the decision is made to merge the elite Yuihime Girls' Private Academy and the coeducational Kagamidai Private Academy, everyone wants to take extra care in avoiding trouble while bringing the two Privates together. Therefore, rather than just bringing the Kagamidai boys into the Yuihime girls' school all at once, a plan is concocted in which a group of test males will be inserted into the Girls' Private Academy first. -- -- Thus, poor young Shingo finds himself being thrown as a sacrificial lamb to the lionesses of Yuihime, who aren't exactly waiting for him with open arms. Will Shingo manage to survive the estrogen soaked death pit that is Yuihime? Can the girls learn to be more receptive to the boys? And just how long until something involving panties will cause emotions to flare, sparks to fly and the battle of the sexes to explode? -- -- (Source: Sentai Filmworks, edited) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 132,505 7.09
Mayoi Neko Overrun! -- -- AIC -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Harem Romance -- Mayoi Neko Overrun! Mayoi Neko Overrun! -- Takumi Tsuzuki is a high school student who attends the Umenomori Private Academy, free of charge, alongside Fumino Serizawa, a childhood friend of his whom always says the opposite of what she feels. He spends most of his time at school fending off Chise Umenomori, the granddaughter of the board chairman and a pampered princess, who is constantly roping him into her eccentric hobbies. After school, he goes to work at the "Stray Cats" confectionery, a cake shop run by his adoptive older sister, Otome Tsuzuki, until it's time to go to bed. This is the average routine in the day and the life of Takumi. -- -- Mayoi Neko Overrun follows another seemingly average day in the life of Takumi. With his sister away from the shop, having gone to save someone else in need of help, Fumino takes it upon herself to wake him up so that he won't be late for their usual walk to school together, giving him a glimpse of her blue and white striped panties in the process. What a nice way to start the day. -- -- When Otome returns home, she brings with her a girl named Nozomi Kiriya, whose hair and mannerisms resemble that of a large cat. It turns out that she is a runaway that Otome can't help but take in. Takumi's ordinary days are transformed into splendid chaos as he tries to unravel who this mysterious beauty is and what she's running away from... -- TV - Apr 6, 2010 -- 119,729 6.70
Medaka Box -- -- Asahi Production, Gainax -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Ecchi Martial Arts School Shounen Super Power -- Medaka Box Medaka Box -- Medaka Kurokami is, in the truest sense of the word, perfect. Beautiful, intelligent, and athletic, Medaka's dream is to make others happy. So when she runs for Student Council President of the prestigious Hakoniwa Academy, winning the election with 98% of the votes is only to be expected. -- -- The very first thing the boisterous new president does is set up the "Medaka Box," a suggestion box allowing students to submit any kind of request for assistance. Together with the cynical Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, her childhood friend who has been strong-armed into helping, Medaka fulfills these requests at a ridiculous rate. For every job completed, she adds flowers to the student council room, with the aim of filling the entire school. However, the two are about to find out that helping others may be a lot harder than they think as they begin to uncover a devastating plan centering on the academy and even Medaka herself! -- -- 208,054 7.06
Medaka Box -- -- Asahi Production, Gainax -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Ecchi Martial Arts School Shounen Super Power -- Medaka Box Medaka Box -- Medaka Kurokami is, in the truest sense of the word, perfect. Beautiful, intelligent, and athletic, Medaka's dream is to make others happy. So when she runs for Student Council President of the prestigious Hakoniwa Academy, winning the election with 98% of the votes is only to be expected. -- -- The very first thing the boisterous new president does is set up the "Medaka Box," a suggestion box allowing students to submit any kind of request for assistance. Together with the cynical Zenkichi Hitoyoshi, her childhood friend who has been strong-armed into helping, Medaka fulfills these requests at a ridiculous rate. For every job completed, she adds flowers to the student council room, with the aim of filling the entire school. However, the two are about to find out that helping others may be a lot harder than they think as they begin to uncover a devastating plan centering on the academy and even Medaka herself! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 208,054 7.06
Medarot -- -- Bee Train -- 52 eps -- Game -- Adventure Comedy Sci-Fi Shounen -- Medarot Medarot -- Medabots—powerful robots granted artificial intelligence through special "medals"—serve at the whims of their owner. They are more commonly used in "Robbatling," a popular combat sport where two medabots face off against one another. In its professional form, Medafighters use their Medabots to qualify for the World Tournament and fight amongst the elite to gain the title of champion. -- -- Elementary schooler Ikki Tenryou has just gained his first Medabot: Metabee, an outdated model with no medal. Fortunately, however, Ikki manages to find a medal in the nearby river; but when Ikki places it into Metabee's head, the latter starts to exhibit strange behaviour. Short-tempered and rebellious, he refuses to obey Ikki's orders. However, to climb the ranks to the World Tournament, Ikki and Metabee must first learn to work together, no matter how difficult the prospect may seem… -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Discotek Media, Shout! Factory -- 48,858 7.07
Meitantei Holmes -- -- Gallop, TMS Entertainment -- 26 eps -- Novel -- Action Adventure Mystery Comedy Police -- Meitantei Holmes Meitantei Holmes -- Loosely based on the "Sherlock Holmes" series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Sherlock Hound turns all the classic characters into dogs. The canine Sherlock Holmes, his assistant Watson, and housemaid Mrs. Hudson work together to solve mysteries. The culprit is usually Professor Moriarty and his gang, who use all kinds of wacky contraptions to steal what they want. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Geneon Entertainment USA -- TV - Nov 6, 1984 -- 8,805 7.37
Mekakucity Actors -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Music -- Sci-Fi Comedy Super Power Supernatural Romance -- Mekakucity Actors Mekakucity Actors -- On the hot summer day of August 14, Shintarou Kisaragi is forced to leave his room for the first time in two years. While arguing with the cyber girl Ene who lives in his computer, Shintarou Kisaragi accidentally spills soda all over his keyboard. Though they try to find a replacement online, most stores are closed due to the Obon festival, leaving them with no other choice but to visit the local department store. Venturing outside makes Shintarou extremely anxious, but the thought of living without his computer is even worse. It's just his luck that on the day he finally goes out, he's caught in a terrifying hostage situation. -- -- Luckily, a group of teenagers with mysterious eye powers, who call themselves the "Mekakushi Dan," assist Shintarou in resolving the situation. As a result, he is forced to join their group, along with Ene. Their abilities seem to be like pieces of a puzzle, connecting one another, and as each member's past is unveiled, the secret that ties them together is slowly brought to light. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 383,621 7.06
Memories -- -- Madhouse, Studio 4°C -- 3 eps -- Manga -- Drama Horror Psychological Sci-Fi -- Memories Memories -- Memories is a compilation of three standalone short films encompassing different genres. -- -- Magnetic Rose -- In the far reaches of space, after tracing a distress signal to a large abandoned space station, a pair of engineers—Heintz Beckner and Miguel Costrela—find a derelict mansion and decide to explore on foot. Their investigation reveals a dark secret surrounding the fate of Eva Friedel, a renowned opera singer with a tragic history. Hallucinations soon begin to plague them, and they must fight to retain their sanity in order to escape the station alive. -- -- Stink Bomb -- Hapless lab technician Nobuo Tanaka consumes some pills at his laboratory to cure a cold. Unknown to him, however, the pills are actually experimental drugs that enhance his flatulence to a lethal degree. As the toxic gas escaping him kills everyone in his vicinity, he is ordered by his superiors to retreat to the company headquarters in Tokyo. The journey to the city is made all the more arduous as Nobuo struggles with his deadly odor while the police, military, and foreign adversaries are hot on his trail. -- -- Cannon Fodder -- In a fortress city filled to the brim with cannons, a young boy wishes to surpass his father by becoming a revered artillery officer. Despite no proof of an enemy nation, he cannot resist the urge to partake in the daily bombardment routines organized by the city. Whether at school or just before bedtime, he only dreams of someday firing a cannon for the sake of his homeland. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Sony Pictures Entertainment -- Movie - Dec 23, 1995 -- 83,342 7.73
Memories -- -- Madhouse, Studio 4°C -- 3 eps -- Manga -- Drama Horror Psychological Sci-Fi -- Memories Memories -- Memories is a compilation of three standalone short films encompassing different genres. -- -- Magnetic Rose -- In the far reaches of space, after tracing a distress signal to a large abandoned space station, a pair of engineers—Heintz Beckner and Miguel Costrela—find a derelict mansion and decide to explore on foot. Their investigation reveals a dark secret surrounding the fate of Eva Friedel, a renowned opera singer with a tragic history. Hallucinations soon begin to plague them, and they must fight to retain their sanity in order to escape the station alive. -- -- Stink Bomb -- Hapless lab technician Nobuo Tanaka consumes some pills at his laboratory to cure a cold. Unknown to him, however, the pills are actually experimental drugs that enhance his flatulence to a lethal degree. As the toxic gas escaping him kills everyone in his vicinity, he is ordered by his superiors to retreat to the company headquarters in Tokyo. The journey to the city is made all the more arduous as Nobuo struggles with his deadly odor while the police, military, and foreign adversaries are hot on his trail. -- -- Cannon Fodder -- In a fortress city filled to the brim with cannons, a young boy wishes to surpass his father by becoming a revered artillery officer. Despite no proof of an enemy nation, he cannot resist the urge to partake in the daily bombardment routines organized by the city. Whether at school or just before bedtime, he only dreams of someday firing a cannon for the sake of his homeland. -- -- Movie - Dec 23, 1995 -- 83,342 7.73
Mermaid's Scar -- -- Madhouse -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Drama Fantasy Horror Mystery -- Mermaid's Scar Mermaid's Scar -- Legend has it that when you eat the flesh of a mermaid, you would live forever. Yuta and Mana are living proof of this... Together, they journey to various places trying to find meaning for their existence, or perhaps even a "cure" for their situation. One day, Yuta and Mana meet Masato, a little boy who seems terrified of his mother Misa. It seems to Yuta and Mana that mother and son have a very unusual relationship. What happens when Yuta and Mana decide to discover the dark secret Masato and Misa are hiding? And what about those monster-like creatures that have been appearing? -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- OVA - Sep 24, 1993 -- 6,420 6.81
Metropolis -- -- Madhouse -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Adventure Drama Police Romance Sci-Fi Shounen -- Metropolis Metropolis -- In the great city of Metropolis, severe community structures and prejudice dominate a world where humans and robots live together. Unrest and violence increase with each new day. -- -- Searching for the scientist Dr. Laughton, suspected to violate human rights by trading organs, the Japanese detective Shunsaku Ban and his nephew Kenichi arrive at Metropolis. In the scientist's laboratory, Kenichi discovers a girl without any memory of her past life. He decides to help her, so they run away together. His uncle follows him and penetrates the dark secrets of the city to find Duke Red, the man ruling from the shadows. Meanwhile, Kenichi desperately tries to protect the mysterious girl from the people hunting her. However, Duke Red and his adoptive son have their own deep reasons for chasing the girl. These reasons are connected to her true identity and the struggle for the domination of Metropolis... -- -- Movie - May 26, 2001 -- 80,567 7.54
Michiko to Hatchin -- -- Manglobe -- 22 eps -- Original -- Action Adventure -- Michiko to Hatchin Michiko to Hatchin -- Under the unrelenting heat of the South American sun, hardened criminal Michiko Malandro breaks out of a high security prison for the fourth time in search of a man from her past. Michiko finds a clue in the form of Hana Morenos, a young girl trapped under the fists of her abusive foster family. In her powerlessness, Hana fantasizes about the day when she is finally whisked away from her captors by her very own Prince Charming. Little does she know that her fated prince would turn out to be the buxom and husky convict who charges in atop a stolen motorbike, claiming to be her mother. -- -- The unlikely duo chase down their dreams in the sun-drenched land of Diamandra, navigating through the cacophony of betrayal, poverty, and child exploitation rings hiding in plain sight. However, wind of Michiko's manhunt soon reaches the ears of criminal syndicate Monstro Preto, and a storm of gang warfare begins brewing over the horizon… -- -- Michiko to Hatchin is the story of vibrant people and their clashing agendas, and of all the unlikely human connections drawn together by one elusive man. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 16, 2008 -- 153,950 7.85
Miira no Kaikata -- -- 8bit -- 12 eps -- Web manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural -- Miira no Kaikata Miira no Kaikata -- High school student Sora Kashiwagi is accustomed to receiving bizarre presents from his father, who is on an expedition around the world. Unfortunately, these gifts have been nothing but nightmares. As a result, when his father sends him a huge package from Egypt, Sora prepares himself for the worst, only to be greeted by Mii-kun—a cute, pint-sized mummy! While initially wary, Sora soon learns that Mii-kun is harmless, a delicate creature yearning for attention. -- -- Throughout their amusing day-to-day lives, the unlikely pair meet other people with unique pets, while also strengthening their bond together. Although keeping a pet is a difficult task, Sora is set on caring for the lovable Mii-kun. -- -- 87,522 7.41
Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku -- -- - -- 5 eps -- Music -- Music Psychological School -- Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku Mikagura Gakuen Kumikyoku -- As a new student, Eruna Ichinomiya meets various strangers, learns about their clubs, and helps them with their problems. -- -- Houkago Stride -- Eruna was hardly prepared to go to her new school, but that's no matter. Leading it off with an enormous stride, she will hop, step, and jump her way through, showing her unparalleled motivation and optimistic outlook. One, two, three—she'll shout out her excitement with the fire of a toy gun! -- -- Mukiryoku Coup d'Etat -- As an actor, Yuuto Akama is accustomed to playing different roles, and real life is just another one of these. He wears a practiced smile and a carefree attitude, but inside, a war is waging. A personality squashed and imprisoned... Yuuto puts down the coup d'état of his former self, all to maintain his perfect facade. But no matter how much time passes, the memories don't disappear, and he can never stop the flames of rebellion of his heart. -- -- Uchouten Vivace -- With a cheerful hop and skip, Himi Yasaka shows Eruna all the fun and excitement of the Calligraphy Club. It's a rhythmic and all-encompassing art; although calligraphy may take a bit of practice, anyone can do it. All you need is an ecstatic vivace! -- -- Garakuta Innocence -- No matter what saturation, contrast, or hue, painter Kyouma Kuzuryuu cannot create a work that is good enough. Everything, including himself, always falls short. He lies to himself that this is what he always wanted, but in the end, he is still another piece of trash. Is there any salvation for the lonesome and self-deprecating Kyouma? -- -- Izayoi Seeing -- Asuhi Imizu has lived his life secluded from others. Gazing at the night sky through his telescope, he draws new constellations in his mind. However, like the sun after a rainstorm, Eruna brightens his life, helping him open up to others. Together, they view a 16-day-old moon; all the while, Asuhi is guided by her light. -- -- Music - Feb 25, 2015 -- 2,681 6.66
Minami-ke Natsuyasumi -- -- feel. -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Comedy Slice of Life -- Minami-ke Natsuyasumi Minami-ke Natsuyasumi -- Second Minami-ke OVA bundled with the 11th volume of the manga. -- -- Chiaki, Kana, and Haruka decide how to spend their last few days of summer together. Kana struggles to finish her homework. -- OVA - Aug 6, 2013 -- 16,006 7.39
Mitsudomoe -- -- Bridge -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy School Slice of Life -- Mitsudomoe Mitsudomoe -- The 11-year-old Marui triplets could not be any more different. The oldest one, Mitsuba, is sadistic and kind of mature for her age. The middle one, Futaba, is perverted and very athletic and has the strength of a full-grown man. The youngest one, Hitoha, is generally very quiet and gentle but when push comes to shove, she might just be the strongest, the most perverted and the most sadistic out of the three. -- -- The three are all in the same class, led by the newly graduated teacher Yabe Satoshi. He usually gets pushed around by the girls and, on occasion, abused but the triplets also try to lead him and the new school nurse, the clumsy Kuriyama Aiko, together. However, Yabe had no intention of dating Aiko and the methods the triplets use to accomplish their goal are highly unorthodox... -- TV - Jul 3, 2010 -- 92,595 7.58
MM! -- -- Xebec -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Harem Comedy Ecchi School -- MM! MM! -- Taro Sado is a high school student who lives his day to day life with a big secret—he's a masochist! Encouraged by his cross-dressing best friend Tatsukichi Hayama, Taro asks the Second Voluntary Club for help with his problem and ends up joining the club after they vow to "fix" him. -- -- However, it turns out that all of the members of the club have some serious issues. The club leader Mio Isurugi is a self-designated god who is afraid of cats, Arashiko Yuuno has a severe fear of men, and the club advisor Michiru Onigawara is a sadist who enjoys making people cosplay. -- -- Together with other wacky characters such as Yumi Mamiya, a talented masseuse and Yuuno's best friend, and Noa Hiiragi, the president of the invention club, they all learn about the importance of acceptance and kindness. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Oct 2, 2010 -- 207,981 7.10
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 -- -- Sunrise -- 25 eps -- Original -- Action Military Sci-Fi Space Drama Mecha -- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Mobile Suit Gundam 00 -- In the distant future, mankind's dependence on fossil fuels will lead to their complete depletion, an energy crisis unlike anything the world witnessed. Out of retaliation and fear, humanity began focusing at an alternative source of energy: solar power. Different nations have united together to form three major factions—the Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations, the Advanced European Union, and the Human Reform League. Each of these sectors has access to a solar power generator, which gives them limitless energy. -- -- As a result, countries that were once dependent on the sale of fossil fuels are now plunged in poverty, leading to years of warfare and internal strife over the control of solar energy. Amid this chaos, an unknown paramilitary organization appeared identifying themselves as "Celestial Being," aspire to end all warfare through armed intervention by using mysterious and technologically advanced Mobile Suits known as Gundams. -- -- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 follows the story of Celestial Being's Gundam Meisters Setsuna F. Seiei, Lockon Stratos, Allelujah Haptism, and Tieria Erde. These four dive into the devastating battle between the three superpowers to accomplish their goal of changing the world. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment -- 187,895 8.14
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team - Miller's Report -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Original -- Military Sci-Fi Drama Romance Mecha -- Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team - Miller's Report Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team - Miller's Report -- Shortly after being rescued off the Himalayas, Federation Ensign Shiro Amada is accused of espionage due to his encounter with Zeon's top-secret mobile armor. Intelligence officer Alice Miller is assigned to investigate on Shiro's whereabouts during his disappearance. Her documented findings will determine whether or not Shiro is a traitor, and what his fate will be as commander of the 08th MS Team. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment -- Movie - Aug 1, 1998 -- 11,614 6.79
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz Movie -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Space Mecha Military Drama Sci-Fi -- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz Movie Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz Movie -- At the climax of the Eve Wars, on December 24 of the year AC 195, the armies of the World Nation and White Fang met in a ferocious battle. World Nation leader Treize Khushrenada was slain, White Fang leader Zechs Merquise disappeared, and Earth was saved from destruction by the intervention of the five Gundam pilots. Having witnessed the consequences of war and hatred, the people of Earth and the space colonies put aside their differences and together founded a new world government. Under this newly-formed Earth Sphere Unified Nation, a year has passed in peace. The government and the populace have disarmed themselves, and almost every remaining mobile suit has been destroyed. Deciding to follow suit, Gundam pilots Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, and Quatre Raberba Winner place their mighty mobile suits inside an asteroid and send them on a one-way voyage into the sun. But even as they bid their Gundams farewell, a new conflict is drawing near. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment -- Movie - Aug 1, 1998 -- 50,948 7.81
Mob Psycho 100 II -- -- Bones -- 13 eps -- Web manga -- Action Slice of Life Comedy Supernatural -- Mob Psycho 100 II Mob Psycho 100 II -- Shigeo "Mob" Kageyama is now maturing and understanding his role as a supernatural psychic that has the power to drastically affect the livelihood of others. He and his mentor Reigen Arataka continue to deal with supernatural requests from clients, whether it be exorcizing evil spirits or tackling urban legends that haunt the citizens. -- -- While the workflow remains the same, Mob isn't just blindly following Reigen around anymore. With all his experiences as a ridiculously strong psychic, Mob's supernatural adventures now have more weight to them. Things take on a serious and darker tone as the dangers Mob and Reigen face are much more tangible and unsettling than ever before. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 909,828 8.83
Mo Dao Zu Shi 2nd Season -- -- B.CMAY PICTURES -- 8 eps -- Novel -- Action Mystery Historical Supernatural -- Mo Dao Zu Shi 2nd Season Mo Dao Zu Shi 2nd Season -- Continuing his masquerade as the deranged lunatic from the Lanling Jin Clan, Wei Wuxian resides in the Cloud Recesses while his former cultivation classmate, Lan Wangji, searches for answers about the demonic severed arm they have in custody. With an overwhelming dark energy emanating from the arm, the two are forced to work together in order to keep it contained. However, the demonic arm is not the only dark force lurking in the region, and as spiritual tensions rise in the mountains of the Gusu Lan Clan, it is up to the two of them to try and restore the natural order. -- -- The story of Wei Wuxian's fall from grace continues as more light is shed on his descent into the path of demonic cultivation. The demonic arm only further strains his mischievous spirit. This is the time for him to prove that he has truly broken free from the forbidden path and is not the maniacal sorcerer that everyone remembers him to be. -- -- ONA - Aug 3, 2019 -- 58,081 8.43
Monochrome Factor -- -- A.C.G.T. -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Shounen Ai Supernatural -- Monochrome Factor Monochrome Factor -- The story revolves around high school student Akira Nikaido, a typical slacker living a normal life. That is, until he meets the mysterious Shirogane, a man who suddenly appears and tells him that they have a destiny together. When Akira hears this, he is shocked and doesn't believe a word of it. Aya, a friend of Akira, forgets something in the school one night, and asks Akira to help her and go find it. He agrees, and while there, he gets attacked by a shadow monster. Shirogane convinces him that the balance between the human world and the shadow world has been distorted and that Akira must become a "shin"- a creature of the shadow world- in order to help restore the balance. The anime has shonen-ai themes which are completely absent from the manga. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- TV - Apr 8, 2008 -- 53,058 6.97
Monster Farm: Enbanseki no Himitsu -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 48 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy -- Monster Farm: Enbanseki no Himitsu Monster Farm: Enbanseki no Himitsu -- Genki is a boy who loves playing video games. One day he's zapped into the world of Monster Rancher and meets the girl Holly and the monsters Mochi, Suezo, Golem, Tiger and Hare. Together, they are searching for a way to revive the Phoenix, which is the only monster capable of stopping the evil Moo. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Discotek Media -- 36,859 6.81
Monster Strike Anime -- -- - -- 23 eps -- Game -- Action Game Fantasy -- Monster Strike Anime Monster Strike Anime -- Second season of Monster Strike, animated entirely in CG. -- -- A transfer student from America, Mana Livingston, becomes friends with the main cast and learns about the Monster Strike game, even obtaining her own ring and partner. Together everyone helps solve crises involving the energy points that draw monsters in random areas of Japan. By sealing them the monsters will stop being drawn to them. But Madarame, a CEO who reaches out to the children, is not telling them the whole truth. -- ONA - Apr 1, 2017 -- 5,739 6.34
Monster Strike The Animation -- -- Anima, ILCA -- 63 eps -- Game -- Action Game Fantasy -- Monster Strike The Animation Monster Strike The Animation -- The Angelic Guard, who call the heavens their home, have been tasked with collecting the orbs scattered across the world. Lucifer—a leader of the Angelic Guard with a rebellious streak, said to wield power rivaling the Almighty—carries out her duty along with Uriel, also a leader of the guard. Together, they go about executing their mission, until Holy Magistrate Keter—the one who leads the heavens under the Almighty's will—tells Uriel of Lucifer's planned rebellion. Initially in disbelief, Uriel then learns that the accusations against Lucifer may be connected to an event that once threatened to shatter the heavens. -- -- (Source: Official YouTube Channel) -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll -- ONA - Jul 8, 2018 -- 4,173 6.63
Morita-san wa Mukuchi. -- -- Seven -- 13 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy School Slice of Life -- Morita-san wa Mukuchi. Morita-san wa Mukuchi. -- Morita Mayu, a high school girl. She is extremely reticent and her silence and habit of looking at people's eyes straightly sometimes cause misunderstanding. The reason behind it is not because she doesn’t like to talk nor because she has nothing to say. The reason she rarely speaks is due to the fact she thinks too much before speaking, thus losing the timing to speak altogether. But she lives a happy school life with her classmates. -- TV - Jul 6, 2011 -- 21,221 6.53
Morita-san wa Mukuchi -- -- Seven -- 1 ep -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy School Slice of Life -- Morita-san wa Mukuchi Morita-san wa Mukuchi -- OVA bundled with the special edition of manga volume 3. -- -- Morita Mayu is a high school girl. She is extremely reticent and her silence and habit of looking at people's eyes straightly sometimes cause misunderstanding. The reason behind it is not because she doesn’t like to talk nor because she has nothing to say. The reason she rarely speaks is due to the fact she thinks too much before speaking, thus losing the timing to speak altogether. Despite this, she lives a happy school life with her classmates. -- OVA - Mar 26, 2011 -- 8,592 6.58
Musaigen no Phantom World -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Action Comedy Fantasy Slice of Life Supernatural -- Musaigen no Phantom World Musaigen no Phantom World -- Phantoms: supernatural entities such as ghosts or youkai that, until recently, were thought to be superstition. However, when a virus that infects the brain spreads throughout society, people's perception of the world changes as the mythical beings are revealed to have been living alongside humanity the entire time. This virus has also affected those of the next generation significantly, allowing them to develop special abilities that they can use to fight against dangerous phantoms. -- -- Haruhiko Ichijou and Mai Kawakami are two of those that were granted such power as Haruhiko wields the ability to summon and seal phantoms through drawings while Mai imbues the power of the elements into martial arts. Together, along with the friendly phantom Ruru, they form Team E of Hosea Academy which is dedicated to dealing with these often mischievous beings. In a world where the real and surreal intertwine, Musaigen no Phantom World follows the adventures of a group of friends as they handle the everyday troubles caused by phantoms. -- -- 408,233 6.88
Musaigen no Phantom World -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Action Comedy Fantasy Slice of Life Supernatural -- Musaigen no Phantom World Musaigen no Phantom World -- Phantoms: supernatural entities such as ghosts or youkai that, until recently, were thought to be superstition. However, when a virus that infects the brain spreads throughout society, people's perception of the world changes as the mythical beings are revealed to have been living alongside humanity the entire time. This virus has also affected those of the next generation significantly, allowing them to develop special abilities that they can use to fight against dangerous phantoms. -- -- Haruhiko Ichijou and Mai Kawakami are two of those that were granted such power as Haruhiko wields the ability to summon and seal phantoms through drawings while Mai imbues the power of the elements into martial arts. Together, along with the friendly phantom Ruru, they form Team E of Hosea Academy which is dedicated to dealing with these often mischievous beings. In a world where the real and surreal intertwine, Musaigen no Phantom World follows the adventures of a group of friends as they handle the everyday troubles caused by phantoms. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 408,233 6.88
Mushishi Zoku Shou -- -- Artland -- 10 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Slice of Life Mystery Historical Supernatural Fantasy Seinen -- Mushishi Zoku Shou Mushishi Zoku Shou -- Perceived as strange and feared by man, over time the misshapen ones came to be known as Mushi. Although they harbor no ill intentions towards humans, many suffer from the side effects of their existence and strange nature; exploiting the Mushi without understanding them, even unintentionally, can lead to disaster and strife for any involved. Mushishi Zoku Shou continues the story of Mushishi Ginko on his journey to help the visible world to coexist with the Mushi. -- -- During his travels, Ginko discovers various gifted individuals—those cursed by circumstance and those maintaining a fragile symbiosis with the Mushi—inevitably confronting the question of whether humanity, talented and tortured alike, can manage the responsibility of the unseen. Moreover, as a Mushishi, Ginko must learn more about these strange beings and decide if he has the right to interfere with the complex relationships between Mushi and mankind. -- -- 235,521 8.72
Mushishi Zoku Shou -- -- Artland -- 10 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Slice of Life Mystery Historical Supernatural Fantasy Seinen -- Mushishi Zoku Shou Mushishi Zoku Shou -- Perceived as strange and feared by man, over time the misshapen ones came to be known as Mushi. Although they harbor no ill intentions towards humans, many suffer from the side effects of their existence and strange nature; exploiting the Mushi without understanding them, even unintentionally, can lead to disaster and strife for any involved. Mushishi Zoku Shou continues the story of Mushishi Ginko on his journey to help the visible world to coexist with the Mushi. -- -- During his travels, Ginko discovers various gifted individuals—those cursed by circumstance and those maintaining a fragile symbiosis with the Mushi—inevitably confronting the question of whether humanity, talented and tortured alike, can manage the responsibility of the unseen. Moreover, as a Mushishi, Ginko must learn more about these strange beings and decide if he has the right to interfere with the complex relationships between Mushi and mankind. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 235,521 8.72
Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu -- -- Satelight -- 16 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Romance School Seinen Slice of Life -- Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu Nagato Yuki-chan no Shoushitsu -- In an alternate universe, shy, awkward Yuki Nagato attempts to court her crush, Kyon, with the help of her best friend and neighbor, the perky and indomitable Ryoko Asakura. Together, the trio defends their high school literature club from extermination…and from the pestering of their over-the-top classmate Tsuruya and her friend and minion Mikuru. -- -- (Source: FUNimation, edited) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 110,762 6.72
Nana -- -- Madhouse -- 47 eps -- Manga -- Music Slice of Life Comedy Drama Romance Shoujo -- Nana Nana -- Nana Komatsu is a helpless, naïve 20-year-old who easily falls in love and becomes dependent and clingy to those around her. Even though she nurses ambitious dreams of removing herself from her provincial roots and finding her true calling, she ends up traveling to Tokyo with the humble reason of chasing her current boyfriend Shouji Endo. -- -- Nana Osaki, on the other hand, is a proud, enigmatic punk rock vocalist from a similarly rural background, who nurtures the desire to become a professional singer. Putting her career with a fairly popular band (and her passionate romance with one of its former members) firmly behind her, she boards the same train to Tokyo as Nana Komatsu. -- -- Through a fateful encounter in their journey toward the metropolis, the young women with the same given name are brought together, sparking a chain of events which eventually result in them sharing an apartment. As their friendship deepens, the two attempt to support each other through thick and thin, their deeply intertwined lives filled with romance, music, challenges, and heartbreaks that will ultimately test their seemingly unbreakable bond. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks, VIZ Media -- TV - Apr 5, 2006 -- 426,579 8.46
Nanatsu no Taizai Movie 1: Tenkuu no Torawarebito -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Supernatural Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Nanatsu no Taizai Movie 1: Tenkuu no Torawarebito Nanatsu no Taizai Movie 1: Tenkuu no Torawarebito -- In search of a mystical ingredient known as Sky Fish, Meliodas and Hawk stumble upon a spring that suddenly transports them to the Sky Temple: a breathtaking land above the clouds, inhabited by beings called Celestials. Meliodas, however, looks strikingly similar to a local criminal called Solaad, and is imprisoned and shunned as a result. Meanwhile, the kingdom of the Sky Temple prepares to defend the Great Oshiro's seal—said to harbour a three thousand-year-old evil—from the malevolent Six Knights of Black, a group of demons who seek to destroy the seal. However, the Demon Clan is successfully unleashed and terrorizes the land, prompting the remaining Seven Deadly Sins and the Celestials to fight against their wicked foes. -- -- The battle progresses well, until one of the Six Knights awakens an "Indura of Retribution," an uncontrollable beast from the Demon Realm. With its overwhelming strength and sinister power, the Seven Deadly Sins and Celestial beings must now work together to defeat the creature that threatens their very existence. -- -- Movie - Aug 18, 2018 -- 206,158 7.20
Nanatsu no Taizai: Seisen no Shirushi -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 4 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Ecchi Fantasy Magic Shounen Supernatural -- Nanatsu no Taizai: Seisen no Shirushi Nanatsu no Taizai: Seisen no Shirushi -- The Seven Deadly Sins, along with Elizabeth Liones and Hawk, have won the Kingdom of Leones back from the Holy Knights. At long last, it's their time to indulge in the peaceful lives they fought for. From inedible meat pies, overdue battles, unexpected stalkers, and the butterflies of first love, the Sins are accompanied by their friends in their carefree, fun-filled time together. However, the calm is broken with the premonition of a new threat, bringing upon the signs of Holy War and threatening to shatter the peace of the Sins' easygoing days. -- -- 514,324 7.08
Natsu-iro Kiseki -- -- Sunrise -- 12 eps -- Original -- School Slice of Life Supernatural -- Natsu-iro Kiseki Natsu-iro Kiseki -- Yuka, Rinko, Saki, and Natsumi are childhood friends and classmates nearing the end of their second year of middle school and eagerly awaiting their summer break. Unfortunately, it's a bittersweet time for this close-knit group, as Saki is transferring to another school. -- -- The girls are determined to keep the spirit of their friendship alive, even if only for this summer. They reminisce about a large stone the four of them used to visit, tucked away in an old Shinto shrine, and the belief that if four friends gathered around it and made a single wish, it would come true. Now, much to their surprise, they discover that old folktale is true. -- -- Natsu-iro Kiseki follows the magical events the girls go through during this last summer they’ll all spend together. As friendships get tested, and fantasies are fulfilled, the four classmates will end up learning a great deal about themselves and each other on the path to forging a summer that they’ll never forget. -- 38,381 7.01
Needless -- -- Madhouse -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Comedy Super Power Ecchi Seinen -- Needless Needless -- At the onset of World War III, nobody could have predicted the effect it would have on Japan. While it had officially ended fifty years ago in 2150, its battles still persist. Large, mysterious areas known as "Blackspots" appeared across the country, filled with the contaminated ruins of cities and countrysides. Those inside were trapped to halt the spread of contamination, and their powers began to mutate—be they shapeshifters, pyromancers, or controllers of gravity itself—they all became known as the Needless. -- -- Adam Blade is one such Needless, possessing remarkable regenerative abilities and incredible strength. In order to restore peace to a war-torn Japan, he and his allies must fight together to rise against a heinous research group by the name of Simeon. -- 127,936 7.27
Needless -- -- Madhouse -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Comedy Super Power Ecchi Seinen -- Needless Needless -- At the onset of World War III, nobody could have predicted the effect it would have on Japan. While it had officially ended fifty years ago in 2150, its battles still persist. Large, mysterious areas known as "Blackspots" appeared across the country, filled with the contaminated ruins of cities and countrysides. Those inside were trapped to halt the spread of contamination, and their powers began to mutate—be they shapeshifters, pyromancers, or controllers of gravity itself—they all became known as the Needless. -- -- Adam Blade is one such Needless, possessing remarkable regenerative abilities and incredible strength. In order to restore peace to a war-torn Japan, he and his allies must fight together to rise against a heinous research group by the name of Simeon. -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 127,936 7.27
Nemure Omoigo, Sora no Shitone ni -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Space Drama -- Nemure Omoigo, Sora no Shitone ni Nemure Omoigo, Sora no Shitone ni -- A family was riding a car on their way home from a maternity hospital. Satomi and Yasunori were taking their newborn baby named "Orine" home and were filled with happy expectation. However, a sudden accident attacked them. Orine lost her parents, and she became alone. -- -- Nineteen years have passed, and she has grown up. She was pursued by the police because of an incident. She continued to escape, but Yuri Aoshima, a member of a shady organization, tried to contact her. Orine agreed to Yuri's demand, which was going to an experimental space station. Yuri will help her to escape, instead. -- -- Somehow, only Orine can enter an unmanned space station. Surprisingly, the person who was waiting for Orine was her mother, Satomi. She appeared in the similitude of her twenties. Orine was perplexed, and Yuri demanded to turn the power off of the station. Unwillingly, she started to place the shut-down device, but she believed that it will solve the mystery and help her mother. -- -- As Orine and Satomi spend time together, they made up for their lost time. Yuri's aim, Satomi's true identity, and a man called "SENSEI" who is involved in taking over the station. -- -- While the mystery deepens, Orine gets closer to the "truth"... -- -- (Source: Official website) -- Movie - Apr 12, 2014 -- 1,445 5.41
New Game!! -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Game Slice of Life Comedy -- New Game!! New Game!! -- ​It has been a year since Aoba Suzukaze started working at the Eagle Jump game company. In that time, she and her eccentric coworkers in the character design department have worked hard to release the company's newest game: Fairies Story 3. With their latest title now complete, a new project must begin—starting with a contest to decide the character designs for the upcoming game. Through hard work, dedication, and some guidance from the previous character designer, Kou Yagami, Aoba wins the contest and begins her new role as lead character designer. -- -- However, her new job is not an easy one. In addition to having extra work and longer hours, Aoba questions whether she is the right fit for the job. New Game!! continues as Aoba overcomes her inexperience with the help of her friends and coworkers, willing to face any challenge to make Eagle Jump's newest creation, a cutesy game called Peco. -- -- 205,895 7.74
New Game!! -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Game Slice of Life Comedy -- New Game!! New Game!! -- ​It has been a year since Aoba Suzukaze started working at the Eagle Jump game company. In that time, she and her eccentric coworkers in the character design department have worked hard to release the company's newest game: Fairies Story 3. With their latest title now complete, a new project must begin—starting with a contest to decide the character designs for the upcoming game. Through hard work, dedication, and some guidance from the previous character designer, Kou Yagami, Aoba wins the contest and begins her new role as lead character designer. -- -- However, her new job is not an easy one. In addition to having extra work and longer hours, Aoba questions whether she is the right fit for the job. New Game!! continues as Aoba overcomes her inexperience with the help of her friends and coworkers, willing to face any challenge to make Eagle Jump's newest creation, a cutesy game called Peco. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 205,895 7.74
Nezha Zhi Mo Tong Jiang Shi -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Other -- Action Comedy Drama Fantasy Historical -- Nezha Zhi Mo Tong Jiang Shi Nezha Zhi Mo Tong Jiang Shi -- From the heavenly object known as the Chaos Pearl, two elements are extracted: the Spirit Pearl and the Demon Orb. In an attempt to suppress their power, the Lord of Heaven sends the Spirit Pearl to Earth to reincarnate as Ne Zha, the third son of Li Jing, while the Demon Orb is scheduled to be destroyed by a lightning strike. However, because of a conspiracy by the Dragon King to steal the Spirit Pearl for his own son, Ne Zha is instead reincarnated with the Demon Orb. -- -- With no way to remove the cursed effects of the Demon Orb, Ne Zha is raised under the belief that he will become the great demon hunter the Spirit Pearl destined for him to be. Fighting against his chaotic and mischievous nature, Ne Zha must decide whether to accept his evil fate or repel against it to prove he is worthy of the future his parents foretold. -- -- Movie - Jul 26, 2019 -- 8,578 7.66
NieA Under 7 -- -- Triangle Staff -- 13 eps -- Original -- Comedy Sci-Fi Slice of Life -- NieA Under 7 NieA Under 7 -- In the 21st century, aliens have arrived on Earth and live among humans. In sleepy Enohana, the dirt-poor student Chigasaki Mayuko finds herself living together with NieA, a low-caste ("Under Seven") alien. While Mayuko struggles diligently to make ends meet, NieA seems to be totally unconcerned with the consequences of her actions. As the odd couple throws off the expected sparks, the wrecked alien mothership looms in the background... -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Geneon Entertainment USA -- 28,740 6.84
Nihon Chinbotsu 2020 -- -- Science SARU -- 10 eps -- Novel -- Sci-Fi Drama -- Nihon Chinbotsu 2020 Nihon Chinbotsu 2020 -- The Mutou family leads a peaceful life: Kouichirou works at a construction site and his wife Mari is returning from an overseas trip. Their daughter Ayumu has just finished her track practice while their son Gou is playing video games at home. However, life as they know it is flipped upside down when a calamitous earthquake strikes the entire Japanese archipelago—obliterating the face of the country in an instant. -- -- With society crumbling around them and their nation gradually sinking into the ocean, the Mutou family must band together to survive the catastrophe. Treading the near-apocalyptic setting, they struggle not only to stay alive, but also to learn the difficulty of coping with loss. -- -- ONA - Jul 9, 2020 -- 100,291 6.43
Ni no Kuni -- -- OLM -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Adventure Magic Fantasy -- Ni no Kuni Ni no Kuni -- Best friends Yuu, Haru, and Kotona enjoy a tranquil high school life together. One day, however, a suspicious man pursues and stabs Kotona—a catastrophe that Yuu and Haru fail to prevent. While hastily carrying the girl to the hospital, the two boys are nearly hit by a truck but miraculously remain unharmed. Instead, they find themselves in a fairy-tale-like kingdom with an exotic diversity of people and wonderful creatures. -- -- To their surprise, the boys discover that Yuu, who has been confined to a wheelchair since childhood, can now walk! Yet they have no time to ponder the puzzling situation, as their friend is gone. Setting off to find Kotona, Yuu and Haru stop at a local pub to inquire about her. But upon inspecting a picture of Asha, the kingdom's princess, the two have a shocking revelation. -- -- Narrating an extraordinary adventure in a magical world, Ni no Kuni demonstrates the special connection between two separate yet parallel worlds and its manifestation of the bonds between individuals. -- -- Movie - Aug 23, 2019 -- 35,450 6.39
No.6 -- -- Bones -- 11 eps -- Novel -- Action Sci-Fi Mystery Drama -- No.6 No.6 -- Many years ago, after the end of a bloody world war, mankind took shelter in six city-states that were peaceful and perfect... at least on the surface. However, Shion—an elite resident of the city-state No. 6—gained a new perspective on the world he lives in, thanks to a chance encounter with a mysterious boy, Nezumi. Nezumi turned out to be just one of many who lived in the desolate wasteland beyond the walls of the supposed utopia. But despite knowing that the other boy was a fugitive, Shion decided to take him in for the night and protect him, which resulted in drastic consequences: because of his actions, Shion and his mother lost their status as elites and were relocated elsewhere, and the darker side of the city began to make itself known. -- -- Now, a long time after their life-altering first meeting, Shion and Nezumi are finally brought together once again—the former elite and the boy on the run are about to embark on an adventure that will, in time, reveal the shattering secrets of No. 6. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 342,870 7.57
Nobunaga the Fool -- -- Satelight -- 24 eps -- Other -- Action Historical Mecha Sci-Fi -- Nobunaga the Fool Nobunaga the Fool -- Two planets, one to the East and another to the West, were once bound together by a chain called the Dragon Stream. But now, that chain is broken and the two halves are only joined in war. -- -- Nobunaga the Fool is heir to the Eastern Country of Owari. Regarded as too foolish and carefree by many, including his friends, Nobunaga is thought to be a nuisance even by his father. -- -- A girl from the West named Jeanne Kaguya d'Arc has visions of a "Savior-King." She is accompanied by Leonardo da Vinci as she journeys to the Eastern Planet in search of the person in her visions. -- -- Leonardo and Jeanne quickly fall victim to a military confrontation between powerful mecha, only to be saved by Nobunaga. Nobunaga takes control of Leonardo's mecha, intending to warn his family of the siege he suspects. Jeanne suspects that the lackadaisical Nobunaga might be the Savior-King she's envisioned. -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Jan 6, 2014 -- 89,422 6.68
Nobunaga the Fool -- -- Satelight -- 24 eps -- Other -- Action Historical Mecha Sci-Fi -- Nobunaga the Fool Nobunaga the Fool -- Two planets, one to the East and another to the West, were once bound together by a chain called the Dragon Stream. But now, that chain is broken and the two halves are only joined in war. -- -- Nobunaga the Fool is heir to the Eastern Country of Owari. Regarded as too foolish and carefree by many, including his friends, Nobunaga is thought to be a nuisance even by his father. -- -- A girl from the West named Jeanne Kaguya d'Arc has visions of a "Savior-King." She is accompanied by Leonardo da Vinci as she journeys to the Eastern Planet in search of the person in her visions. -- -- Leonardo and Jeanne quickly fall victim to a military confrontation between powerful mecha, only to be saved by Nobunaga. Nobunaga takes control of Leonardo's mecha, intending to warn his family of the siege he suspects. Jeanne suspects that the lackadaisical Nobunaga might be the Savior-King she's envisioned. -- TV - Jan 6, 2014 -- 89,422 6.68
Nodame Cantabile: Paris-hen -- -- J.C.Staff -- 11 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Josei Music Romance Slice of Life -- Nodame Cantabile: Paris-hen Nodame Cantabile: Paris-hen -- Shinichi Chiaki conquers his fear of flying, and Megumi "Nodame" Noda's exceptional performance at a piano competition earns her an invitation to study at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris. The pair go to Paris together to take the next step in their careers: Chiaki as a new rising conductor under the wing of the great maestro Franz von Stresemann, and Nodame as a pupil of the esteemed piano professor Charles Auclair. -- -- But, of course, the music world is much bigger than the two of them could have ever imagined. Chiaki and Nodame, alongside old friends and new rivals, must fight and persevere to reach the dazzling musical heights that await them while never losing sight of what matters most. -- -- 109,163 8.17
No Game No Life: Zero -- -- Madhouse -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Game Supernatural Drama Romance Fantasy -- No Game No Life: Zero No Game No Life: Zero -- In ancient Disboard, Riku is an angry, young warrior intent on saving humanity from the warring Exceed, the sixteen sentient species, fighting to establish the "One True God" amongst the Old Deus. In a lawless land, humanity's lack of magic and weak bodies have made them easy targets for the other Exceed, leaving the humans on the brink of extinction. One day, however, hope returns to humanity when Riku finds a powerful female Ex-machina, whom he names Schwi, in an abandoned elf city. Exiled from her Cluster because of her research into human emotions, Schwi is convinced that humanity has only survived due to the power of these feelings and is determined to understand the human heart. Forming an unlikely partnership in the midst of the overwhelming chaos, Riku and Schwi must now find the answers to their individual shortcomings in each other, and discover for themselves what it truly means to be human as they fight for their lives together against all odds. Each with a powerful new ally in tow, it is now up to them to prevent the extinction of the human race and establish peace throughout Disboard! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- Movie - Jul 15, 2017 -- 638,129 8.29
No Guns Life -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Drama Seinen -- No Guns Life No Guns Life -- The technology to create powerful cyborg soldiers has been released for public use by the Berühren Corporation. Those outfitted with robotic parts are known as the Extended. Juuzou Inui, one such Extended, was created as a soldier and has no memories of his former life. But now, after the war, he runs a business that takes care of Extended-related incidents around the city. -- -- Rumors of a renegade Extended that kidnapped a child reach his ears; lo and behold, as Juuzo returns to his office, a giant robotic man with a boy on his back crashes in, asking for help. While Juuzou could just turn the guy in and be done with it, something about this situation is too fishy to ignore. It seems that everyone wants hold of this kid and, whether he likes it or not, Juuzou must find out why this Extended is on the run, how it connects to the Berühren Corporation, and just how far the treachery runs in this city. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 150,851 6.88
Noir -- -- Bee Train -- 26 eps -- Original -- Action Mystery Drama -- Noir Noir -- Noir—a name that strikes fear in the hearts of those who know the history behind the moniker. Long ago it was the code name of a very successful and feared assassin and now it is being used by two women who want answers to questions they have about their lives. -- -- The main character in this series is a highly skilled assassin named Mireille Bouquet who is based out of France. One day, she receives a mysterious email from a girl named Kirika. Following up on the message, Mireille goes to meet this girl and discovers that not only does the girl have no idea who she really is, but she also has no idea why she is so skilled at killing people and why she feels no remorse when she does. Realizing that their lives are linked somehow, Mireille and Kirika team up and begin traveling the world together as they seek out the answers to their shared histories, while avoiding the grip of an organization known as Les Soldats. Will the two find the answers they are looking for? And will that truth free them, or ruin them? -- 95,495 7.31
Noir -- -- Bee Train -- 26 eps -- Original -- Action Mystery Drama -- Noir Noir -- Noir—a name that strikes fear in the hearts of those who know the history behind the moniker. Long ago it was the code name of a very successful and feared assassin and now it is being used by two women who want answers to questions they have about their lives. -- -- The main character in this series is a highly skilled assassin named Mireille Bouquet who is based out of France. One day, she receives a mysterious email from a girl named Kirika. Following up on the message, Mireille goes to meet this girl and discovers that not only does the girl have no idea who she really is, but she also has no idea why she is so skilled at killing people and why she feels no remorse when she does. Realizing that their lives are linked somehow, Mireille and Kirika team up and begin traveling the world together as they seek out the answers to their shared histories, while avoiding the grip of an organization known as Les Soldats. Will the two find the answers they are looking for? And will that truth free them, or ruin them? -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Funimation -- 95,495 7.31
Non Non Biyori Repeat: Hotaru ga Tanoshinda -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Comedy School Seinen Slice of Life -- Non Non Biyori Repeat: Hotaru ga Tanoshinda Non Non Biyori Repeat: Hotaru ga Tanoshinda -- Life in rural Asahigaoka moves at its own pace. Devoid of the pleasures and worries of a bustling metropolis, this small village might seem painfully dull at first glance. However, despite living this far from her hometown of Tokyo, Hotaru Ichijou manages to find a group of friends whom she can spend quality time with. No matter whether it's winter, spring, summer, or fall, they make full use of everything the nature around them has to offer. -- -- OVA - Sep 23, 2016 -- 34,825 7.83
Noragami OVA -- -- Bones -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Supernatural Shounen -- Noragami OVA Noragami OVA -- Hiyori Iki is excited to start high school alongside her two middle school friends, but "Delivery God" Yato seems to have other plans for the day. Will Hiyori be able to make a good impression on her first day? Or will Yato cost her a happy high school life? -- -- On another day, Hiyori decides to take advantage of the beautiful weather and invites a number of people to gaze at the cherry blossoms, including the fearsome combat god, Bishamon. But how long will their blissful day last when Yato and his old rival Bishamon start to drink together? -- -- OVA - Feb 17, 2014 -- 262,881 7.75
Nurarihyon no Mago OVA -- -- Studio Deen -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Action Demons Shounen Supernatural -- Nurarihyon no Mago OVA Nurarihyon no Mago OVA -- The story begins at about 100 years after the disappearance of Otome Yamabuki, Rihan Nura's first wife. Rihan has finally pulled himself together and his life returns to normal. As the head of the Nura Clan, he's busy working on building a harmonious world for humans and youkais. One day, he sees Setsura being upset so he decides to cheer her up by taking the clan to go enjoy the hot spring where Setsura makes up her mind to tell Rihan that she met Otome once after she left him about 100 years ago. She tells him the message that Otome left for him and the truth is...? -- -- (Source: Mangahere.com) -- OVA - Dec 4, 2012 -- 21,631 7.72
Occultic;Nine -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Sci-Fi Mystery -- Occultic;Nine Occultic;Nine -- A blog disproving the supernatural, co-run by NEET teenager Yuuta Gamon and his enthusiastic best friend Ryouka Narusawa, becomes the catalyst that would bring together a group of people who supposedly have nothing to do with each other. -- -- These individuals include high school fortune teller Miyuu Aikawa, who joins Yuuta to work on the blog; realist Sarai Hashigami, who is stunned when tragedy strikes his family; doujin artist Ririka Nishizono, who has an uncanny ability to predict the future with her art; black magic practitioner and local curse expert Aria Kurenaino and her ghostly friend; Shun Moritsuka, a seemingly childish otaku detective; and reporter Touko Sumikaze. -- -- As this unlikely group, bound only by the strings of fate, find their way to each other, they are confronted with murder and other events that are shrouded by the presence of the supernatural. They must band together to solve the mysteries interlacing the city and their lives. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 170,474 6.93
Okusama ga Seitokaichou! -- -- Seven -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Romance Ecchi School Shounen -- Okusama ga Seitokaichou! Okusama ga Seitokaichou! -- Hayato Izumi is running for student council president. He's studious, responsible, down to earth...and completely outmatched by his rival, Ui Wakana. Ui wins in a landslide after promising comprehensive sex education, free condoms, and other exciting reforms. Bloodied but not discouraged, Hayato licks his wounds and settles for vice president. -- -- Then Ui moves in with him. As it turns out, their parents made a drunken promise decades ago that their children would one day marry. Ui and Hayato must now balance school life with matrimony, keeping their relationship secret from a prudish student body and learning to live with each other. Can they keep the student council in line and find happiness together? Find out in Okusama ga Seitokaichou! -- 225,865 6.64
Okusama ga Seitokaichou! -- -- Seven -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Romance Ecchi School Shounen -- Okusama ga Seitokaichou! Okusama ga Seitokaichou! -- Hayato Izumi is running for student council president. He's studious, responsible, down to earth...and completely outmatched by his rival, Ui Wakana. Ui wins in a landslide after promising comprehensive sex education, free condoms, and other exciting reforms. Bloodied but not discouraged, Hayato licks his wounds and settles for vice president. -- -- Then Ui moves in with him. As it turns out, their parents made a drunken promise decades ago that their children would one day marry. Ui and Hayato must now balance school life with matrimony, keeping their relationship secret from a prudish student body and learning to live with each other. Can they keep the student council in line and find happiness together? Find out in Okusama ga Seitokaichou! -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- 225,865 6.64
Onegai My Melody -- -- Studio Comet -- 52 eps -- - -- Comedy Magic Fantasy -- Onegai My Melody Onegai My Melody -- My Melody arrives on Earth much to the surprise of her rival Kuromi. Together with one of the junior high school students, Yumeno Uta, they decide to protect the dreams of the people with the help of magic. -- 9,330 7.12
Onegai☆Teacher -- -- Daume -- 12 eps -- Original -- Sci-Fi Comedy Drama Romance School -- Onegai☆Teacher Onegai☆Teacher -- One day, Kei Kusanagi notices a strange glowing woman by the lake. He discovers that the woman is actually an alien officer from the Galaxy Federation named Mizuho Kazami, and even more shocking—she's also his teacher! In spite of this setback, he and his teacher gradually get to know each other and a romance blossoms between them. However, soon enough, the principal of the school finds out about their relationship. The solution? Get married! -- -- Together, the newlyweds must keep their marriage a secret, not only from Kei's high school friends, but also the Galaxy Federation. Onegai☆Teacher is the fragile but comedic love story of an alien and her student. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Nozomi Entertainment -- TV - Jan 10, 2002 -- 150,515 7.16
One Room -- -- Typhoon Graphics -- 12 eps -- Original -- Slice of Life -- One Room One Room -- Having just moved into a new apartment building, Yui Hanasaka makes a customary visit to greet her neighbor. When she learns that he is an upperclassman at the university she aspires to attend, she asks for his help to pass her entrance exams. Meanwhile, Natsuki Momohara decides to visit her older brother, who lives alone in an apartment in Tokyo. Elsewhere, aspiring singer Moka Aoshima reunites with her childhood friend, who is a hopeful novelist. -- -- Three stories, although seemingly unrelated, contain the same essence: strings of fate will bind together those who share the same destiny, and one needs to look no further than a single apartment room. -- -- 93,624 5.56
Oniichan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne! -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Ecchi Harem Romance School -- Oniichan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne! Oniichan dakedo Ai sae Areba Kankeinai yo ne! -- After their parents' deaths, brother and sister Akito and Akiko Himenokouji were forced to live with separate families for six years. But now they have finally reunited and begin to live together. It quickly becomes apparent that Akiko harbors romantic feelings for her brother; however, Akito only sees her as a sibling. -- -- When three more girls—Anastasia Nasuhara, Arashi Nikaidou, and Ginbei Haruomi Sawatari—move into their apartment, Akiko's hopes of living alone with her brother vanish. Moreover, these girls also like Akito in one way or another, making it even more difficult for Akiko to gain her brother's undivided attention. As the girls fight over who should take care of Akito, they display various eroticisms that may be a little too much for a normal man to handle. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 245,075 6.51
Ookami to Koushinryou II -- -- Brain's Base, Marvy Jack -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Historical Romance Fantasy -- Ookami to Koushinryou II Ookami to Koushinryou II -- Traveling merchant Kraft Lawrence continues his northward journey with wolf goddess Holo, in search of her lost home of Yoitsu. Lawrence and his sharp-witted partner continue to make some small profits along the way, while slowly uncovering more information about Holo's hometown. However, the road to Yoitsu is a bumpy one filled with many troubles—Lawrence runs into a charming young fellow merchant who has his eyes set on the female wolf companion, and he begins to doubt if Holo will remain by his side; he and the goddess will also have to consider precarious and risky business deals as Lawrence strives to achieve his dream of becoming a shopowner. All the while, with his determination tested at every turn during his journey, Lawrence must question his relationship with Holo, take on business ventures, and ask himself whether it is time for him and Holo to go their separate ways. -- -- TV - Jul 9, 2009 -- 405,242 8.36
Ookami to Koushinryou II: Ookami to Kohakuiro no Yuuutsu -- -- Brain's Base, Marvy Jack -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Adventure Fantasy Historical Romance -- Ookami to Koushinryou II: Ookami to Kohakuiro no Yuuutsu Ookami to Koushinryou II: Ookami to Kohakuiro no Yuuutsu -- Travelling merchant Kraft Lawrence and wolf deity Holo sit down to have dinner with Norah Arendt, a young shepherdess who helped them smuggle gold. Holo's dislike of Norah—due to both the latter's profession and her closeness with Lawrence—prevents her from enjoying her meal. -- -- When Holo falls ill from fatigue, she is cared for by Lawrence, who frets over the health of his dear companion. As she regains her strength, Holo reminisces about the adventures they had together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Apr 30, 2009 -- 142,128 7.90
Orange: Mirai -- -- Telecom Animation Film -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Drama Romance School Shoujo -- Orange: Mirai Orange: Mirai -- Twenty-six-year-old Hiroto Suwa; his wife, Naho; and their old high school classmates—Takako Chino, Azusa Murasaka, and Saku Hagita—visit Mt. Koubou to view the cherry blossoms together. While watching the setting sun, they reminisce about Kakeru Naruse, their friend who died 10 years ago. Mourning for him, they decide to visit Kakeru's old home, where they learn the secret of his death from his grandmother. -- -- Filled with regret, Suwa and his friends decide to write letters to their 16-year-old past selves to set their hearts at rest. With the knowledge contained in the letter from his future self, 16-year-old Suwa has the chance to rewrite the future. What choices will he make? What will happen in this new future? -- -- Movie - Nov 18, 2016 -- 95,499 7.44
Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Harem Romance School -- Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru Ore no Kanojo to Osananajimi ga Shuraba Sugiru -- The infidelity of Eita Kidou's parents not only made his family fall apart, but also made him skeptic of love. Having no intention to delve into romance, Eita devotes his entire high school life to his studies in order to become a doctor. -- -- It did not take long for the beautiful and popular Masuzu Natsukawa to notice Eita's apathy. Tired of being the object of people's affection, she asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend, as she too feels disgusted at the notion of love. Eita, however, refuses—yet Masuzu has one trick left up her sleeve: Eita’s journal and threatening to post the embarrassing content online if he does not comply. -- -- Now entangled in a fake romance with the most desired girl at school, Eita's life is turned upside down. Whether envied by his peers or receiving a confession, he must cope with his newfound relationship and all the troubles that come along with it. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 419,803 7.03
Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai: Under the Innocent Sky. -- -- Nomad -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Comedy Drama Ecchi Harem Romance -- Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai: Under the Innocent Sky. Oretachi ni Tsubasa wa Nai: Under the Innocent Sky. -- Haneda Takashi has a secret he cannot speak of. To leave his dull school-life, he was supposed to have escaped to another world. However, he is reeled in by certain ties on his heart. One of these is Kobato, his awkward younger sister. The other is Watarai Asuka, his negligent girlfriend. -- -- Chitose Shuusuke is a poor freeloader. He passes his days working at various part-time jobs. One day, he has a disastrous first encounter with Tamaizumi Hiyoko. The next time they meet, Shuusuke discovers that they are fellow employees at his part-time job. -- -- Narita Hayato sees himself as a "hard-boiled" person. Back-breaking jobs are nothing to him. Hayato shuns normal human contact, but, during the nights, he would get together with delinquents and other denizens of the night. One such night, he meets the cheerful and oblivious Otori Naru. -- -- The relationships with these girls will greatly affect these 3 young men. But what, exactly, is the relationship these young men have with each other? -- -- (Source: AnimeNFO) -- TV - Apr 4, 2011 -- 76,824 6.70
Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara -- -- Creators in Pack -- 13 eps -- Web manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance -- Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara Osake wa Fuufu ni Natte kara -- Chisato Mizusawa is a calm and collected assistant office manager who apparently dislikes drinking alcohol. But she actually likes it and has a secret side to her that emerges only when drunk: her cute persona, which she only reveals to her husband, the bartender Sora. Each day when Chisato comes home, Sora takes care of his beloved wife, providing her with a good meal and a fresh drink. These drinks include Plum Splet, Irish Coffee, Orange Breeze, and many more tasty concoctions that she eagerly gulps down. But as much as she likes alcohol, she loves her kindhearted husband more. Together, they share a life that is filled with happiness—and the more-than-occasional cocktail. -- -- 145,849 6.94
Oshiete! Galko-chan -- -- feel. -- 12 eps -- Digital manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School -- Oshiete! Galko-chan Oshiete! Galko-chan -- At first glance, Galko, Otako, and Ojou are three high school girls who seem like they wouldn’t have anything to do with each other. Galko is a social butterfly with a reputation for being a party animal, even though she is actually innocent and good-hearted despite her appearance. Otako is a plain-looking girl with a sarcastic personality and a rabid love of manga. And Ojou is a wealthy young lady with excellent social graces, though she can be a bit absent-minded at times. Despite their differences, the three are best friends, and together they love to talk about various myths and ask candid questions about the female body. -- -- Oshiete! Galko-chan is a lighthearted and humorous look at three very different girls and their frank conversations about themselves and everyday life. No topic is too safe or too sensitive for them to joke about—even though every so often, Galko seems to get a bit embarrassed by their discussions! -- -- 144,170 7.10
Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... X -- -- SILVER LINK. -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Harem Comedy Drama Romance Fantasy School Shoujo -- Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... X Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... X -- Second season of Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... -- TV - Jul ??, 2021 -- 54,526 N/A -- -- Magic Knight Rayearth -- -- Tokyo Movie Shinsha -- 20 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Drama Fantasy Magic Mecha Romance Shoujo -- Magic Knight Rayearth Magic Knight Rayearth -- Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji are strangers brought together by fate when they meet during a seemingly normal field trip to Tokyo Tower. Accompanied by a great flash of light, they hear a mysterious woman's plea to save "Cephiro," and the junior high heroines are suddenly swept away by a giant flying fish. Afterwards, they arrive in an unknown land, where they encounter a man called Master Mage Clef. -- -- Clef informs the girls that they were summoned by Princess Emeraude to fulfill their destinies as Magic Knights, restoring peace and balance in Cephiro. The formerly lively and peaceful land has been in disarray ever since High Priest Zagato imprisoned the princess, who acted as Cephiro's pillar of stability. The Magic Knights reluctantly accept Clef's words as truth and embark on a journey to save Cephiro from the clutches of evil. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Media Blasters -- 54,519 7.46
Otome Youkai Zakuro -- -- J.C.Staff -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Demons Historical Military Romance Seinen Supernatural -- Otome Youkai Zakuro Otome Youkai Zakuro -- Second Lieutenant Kei Agemaki, the son of a famous general, has hidden his extreme fear of paranormal beings all his life. However, when he and two others are reassigned to live and work with youkai in the Ministry of Spirit Affairs, he is brought face-to-face with his worst nightmare. Now with the help of the fox spirit Kushimatsu, he and his fellow officers must learn to work alongside youkai maidens—Zakuro, Susukihotaru, Hoozuki, and Bonbori—to solve paranormal cases. -- -- Set in the midst of an alternate version of Japanese Westernization, Otome Youkai Zakuro explores the clashes and unions that can occur when east meets west, local meets foreign, and women meet men. The unusual alliance of the youkai maidens and human officers must learn to work together in a world that is changing around them. -- -- 103,369 7.46
Otome Youkai Zakuro -- -- J.C.Staff -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Demons Historical Military Romance Seinen Supernatural -- Otome Youkai Zakuro Otome Youkai Zakuro -- Second Lieutenant Kei Agemaki, the son of a famous general, has hidden his extreme fear of paranormal beings all his life. However, when he and two others are reassigned to live and work with youkai in the Ministry of Spirit Affairs, he is brought face-to-face with his worst nightmare. Now with the help of the fox spirit Kushimatsu, he and his fellow officers must learn to work alongside youkai maidens—Zakuro, Susukihotaru, Hoozuki, and Bonbori—to solve paranormal cases. -- -- Set in the midst of an alternate version of Japanese Westernization, Otome Youkai Zakuro explores the clashes and unions that can occur when east meets west, local meets foreign, and women meet men. The unusual alliance of the youkai maidens and human officers must learn to work together in a world that is changing around them. -- -- -- Licensor: -- NIS America, Inc. -- 103,369 7.46
Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa -- -- Gainax -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Drama Military Sci-Fi Space -- Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa Ouritsu Uchuugun: Honneamise no Tsubasa -- Shirotsugh "Shiro" Lhadatt may be a cadet in the Kingdom of Honneamise's Royal Space Force (RSF), but he has never been in space before—in fact, nobody has. The RSF is often regarded as a failure both by the country's citizens and a government more interested in precipitating a war with a neighboring country than scientific achievement. Following the funeral of a fellow cadet, an unmotivated Shiro is walking in the city one night, when he bumps into Riquinni Nonderaiko, a young, pious woman, genuinely enthusiastic about the significance of space exploration. -- -- As the two gradually bond, Riquinni's encouragement inspires Shiro to volunteer as a pilot for a prospective rocket ship, potentially becoming Honneamise's first man in space. Shiro and the RSF are soon joined by a team of elderly but eager scientists and engineers, and together, they embark on a mission to mold their nation's space program into a success. However, their efforts soon catch the attention of the government, which seems to have a different plan for the RSF in mind. Even as the odds are stacked against them, these men and women continue to stubbornly look to the sky, because somewhere among the frontiers of space may lie humanity's last chance at redemption. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Visual USA, Maiden Japan, Manga Entertainment -- Movie - Mar 14, 1987 -- 35,422 7.52
Outbreak Company -- -- feel. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Harem Comedy Parody Fantasy -- Outbreak Company Outbreak Company -- Shinichi Kanou is a shut-in otaku with a vast knowledge of anime, manga, and video games. One day, after applying for a job in hopes of escaping his secluded lifestyle, he is kidnapped and transported to the Eldant Empire—a fantasy world filled with elves, dragons, and dwarves. Trapped in this strange land, Shinichi is given an unlikely task by the Japanese government: to spread otaku culture across the realm by becoming an "Otaku Missionary." -- -- To accomplish his mission, Shinichi has the full support of the Japanese government, as well as the half-elf maid Myucel and Princess Petralka of the Eldant Empire. Together with this ragtag bunch, he will overcome the obstacles of politics, social classes, and ethnic discrimination to promote the ways of the otaku in this holy land. -- -- TV - Oct 4, 2013 -- 289,591 7.27
Pan de Peace! -- -- Asahi Production -- 13 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School -- Pan de Peace! Pan de Peace! -- For the airheaded Minami Tani, there is nothing more delightful than delicious bread for breakfast. Bonding over a mutual love for the food, Minami meets the dignified Yuu Aizawa and the upbeat Fuyumi Fukagawa. Joining them is Noa Sakura, a pint-sized girl who sees bread as the ultimate weapon of self-defense. Together, the girls strengthen their bonds of friendship, while striving to sample every kind of bread this world has to offer. -- -- 28,435 5.62
Parasite Dolls -- -- AIC -- 3 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Police Mecha -- Parasite Dolls Parasite Dolls -- A secret unit of the AD Police, known as Branch, specializes in crimes involving humanoid robots called 'Boomers'. Branch officer Buzz must cope with having a Boomer for a partner, while officer Michaelson finds the line between human and robot to be a thin one. Together they serve to protect a world that is slowly deconstructing around them. Set in the Bubblegum Crisis universe. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Sentai Filmworks -- OVA - May 22, 2003 -- 13,078 6.57
Pastel Memories -- -- Project No.9 -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Sci-Fi Adventure -- Pastel Memories Pastel Memories -- The story takes place in a future Akihabara where otaku culture has declined. Players play as a shopkeeper of an otaku shop. Together with the heroines who are in fact otaku girls, the shopkeeper start helping people claim their lost otaku memories back. -- -- (Source: QooApp) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 16,700 5.11
Persona 3 the Movie 2: Midsummer Knight's Dream -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Supernatural Fantasy -- Persona 3 the Movie 2: Midsummer Knight's Dream Persona 3 the Movie 2: Midsummer Knight's Dream -- As the season changes from spring to summer, Makoto Yuuki remains alongside the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES). The team continues to defeat Shadows large and small, but they now clash with a new enemy: Strega, a group of rogue Persona users who wish to keep the Dark Hour to their advantage—it seems that Strega may hold a clue to the Dark Hour's true nature. -- -- While SEES enjoys summer vacation in Yakushima, they are joined by Aegis, an amnesiac android designed to destroy Shadows. While she proves herself to be a powerful ally, she is inexplicably drawn to Makoto and constantly remains at his side. As they delve deeper into the mysteries of the Dark Hour, the nature of the mysterious connection that binds these two together is slowly unveiled. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Movie - Jun 7, 2014 -- 66,373 7.65
Persona 3 the Movie 2: Midsummer Knight's Dream -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Supernatural Fantasy -- Persona 3 the Movie 2: Midsummer Knight's Dream Persona 3 the Movie 2: Midsummer Knight's Dream -- As the season changes from spring to summer, Makoto Yuuki remains alongside the Specialized Extracurricular Execution Squad (SEES). The team continues to defeat Shadows large and small, but they now clash with a new enemy: Strega, a group of rogue Persona users who wish to keep the Dark Hour to their advantage—it seems that Strega may hold a clue to the Dark Hour's true nature. -- -- While SEES enjoys summer vacation in Yakushima, they are joined by Aegis, an amnesiac android designed to destroy Shadows. While she proves herself to be a powerful ally, she is inexplicably drawn to Makoto and constantly remains at his side. As they delve deeper into the mysteries of the Dark Hour, the nature of the mysterious connection that binds these two together is slowly unveiled. -- -- Movie - Jun 7, 2014 -- 66,373 7.65
Petshop of Horrors -- -- Madhouse -- 4 eps -- Manga -- Horror Josei Mystery Supernatural -- Petshop of Horrors Petshop of Horrors -- Count D, a quite interesting pet shop owner from an area called Chinatown, sells rare and hard to come by pets to people longing for something special, but with each sale comes a contract. If the rules of the contract are followed, everything goes fine, but if someone should break the rules of the contract, the pet shop cannot be held responsible for anything unfortunate that might happen. Leon Orcot, a homicide detective, has linked many odd and unexplainable deaths together; they all were customers of Count D's pet shop, and he intends to find out why. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks, Urban Vision -- TV - Mar 2, 1999 -- 52,941 7.26
Petshop of Horrors -- -- Madhouse -- 4 eps -- Manga -- Horror Josei Mystery Supernatural -- Petshop of Horrors Petshop of Horrors -- Count D, a quite interesting pet shop owner from an area called Chinatown, sells rare and hard to come by pets to people longing for something special, but with each sale comes a contract. If the rules of the contract are followed, everything goes fine, but if someone should break the rules of the contract, the pet shop cannot be held responsible for anything unfortunate that might happen. Leon Orcot, a homicide detective, has linked many odd and unexplainable deaths together; they all were customers of Count D's pet shop, and he intends to find out why. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Mar 2, 1999 -- 52,941 7.26
Ping Pong the Animation -- -- Tatsunoko Production -- 11 eps -- Manga -- Drama Psychological Seinen Sports -- Ping Pong the Animation Ping Pong the Animation -- "The hero comes. The hero comes. The hero comes. Chant these words in your mind, and I'll surely come to you..." This mantra is what Makoto Tsukimoto repeats as a source of motivation when he fights through the stress of not only grueling ping pong matches, but also in situations of his life. Makoto doesn't fight alone; he and his friend, Yutaka Hoshino, nicknamed Smile and Peco respectively, are two boys who have grown up playing ping pong together nearly every day. Peco, brimming with confidence, aims to be the best table tennis player in the world; Smile, on the other hand, shows little ambition. Nevertheless, the two have always stuck together, with a bond built upon their mutual love for this sport. -- -- Every year, students from all across Japan gather for the inter-high table tennis competition to achieve national and international stardom. Through intense training and competition, only the very best persevere. -- -- From the avant-garde director of Tatami Galaxy, Masaaki Yuasa, Ping Pong the Animation serves a tale of ambition with its fair share of bumps along the way. Whatever the odds, Peco and Smile will face them together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 281,560 8.62
Pinky -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Comedy Horror -- Pinky Pinky -- Two friends make a video together. -- ONA - Mar 23, 2012 -- 2,744 3.36
Plastic Little -- -- animate Film -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Ecchi Mecha Military Romance Sci-Fi -- Plastic Little Plastic Little -- Set on the planet Yietta, whose colonists make their living by exploiting the planet's unique liquid-gas oceans, Plastic Little begins as the Yietans are finally about to pay off their debts to the Galactic Federation. Unfortunately, there are those who would rather not let Yietta slip through their fingers... -- -- Enter Tita, 17 year old captain of the Cha Cha Maru. Together with her crew, Tita specializes in capturing Yietta's exotic life forms for intergalactic pet shops, but through plain bad luck she finds herself, instead, at the core of a sinister plot to take over Yietta! By rescuing 16 year old Elysse from the very clutches of the military, Tita puts the lives of both herself and her crew in mortal peril... but a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do! -- -- As the plotters mobilize their forces in a desperate bid to retrieve Elysse, whom they believe possesses a vital computer code, Tita must play a dangerous game of tag with an entire army of professional killers! It's Cat and Mouse on a planetwide scale, with one crucial difference: Mice don't shoot back, but Tita's does! -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- OVA - Mar 21, 1994 -- 12,320 6.13
Pokemon Advanced Generation -- -- OLM -- 192 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure Comedy Kids Fantasy -- Pokemon Advanced Generation Pokemon Advanced Generation -- After participating in the Johto League, Satoshi decides to begin anew in yet another journey; this time by himself and Pikachu, in the land of Houen. Though he isn't alone for long, as 10-year-old Haruka (whom dislikes Pokemon, but just wants to come along to see the world) travels with him after Pikachu destroys her bicycle. Satoshi also meets up with his old companion, Takeshi, and Haruka's younger brother, Masato. Together, they travel along in Houen, battling Gym Leaders, entering Contests, and other events on the way to the Houen League. -- -- (Source: ANN, edited) -- -- Licensor: -- 4Kids Entertainment, The Pokemon Company International, VIZ Media -- 145,371 7.09
Pokemon Movie 01: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu -- -- OLM -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Adventure Comedy Kids Drama Fantasy -- Pokemon Movie 01: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu Pokemon Movie 01: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu -- It was a successful science experiment gone horribly wrong. When a team of scientists discovers the DNA of the ancient Pokémon Mew, they harnessed the potential within it in an attempt to create the ultimate living weapon. With advanced cloning techniques and resources provided to them by Team Rocket crime syndicate leader Giovanni, the scientists succeed in creating the powerful psychic Pokémon, Mewtwo. -- -- Pokemon: Mewtwo no Gyakushuu reveals the terrifying power of Mewtwo as he learns that not only was he created to be an experiment, but also to be a tool for Giovanni’s sinister dealings. Breaking free of his control, Mewtwo creates his own island fortress and reconstructs the cloning technology that gave life to him. -- -- Under the guise of being a master Pokémon trainer, Mewtwo lures the best trainers in the world to his base. Among these trainers are Ash Ketchum, his loyal Pokémon Pikachu, and their friends Brock and Misty. United together, human and Pokémon alike, they must not only discover the hidden secret of Mewtwo's plans, but stand against his terrifying might. If they fail, Mewtwo’s vengeance will not only lead to tyranny over all the Pokemon, but also the extinction of the human race. -- -- Licensor: -- 4Kids Entertainment, Warner Bros. Pictures -- Movie - Jul 18, 1998 -- 203,992 7.63
Pokemon Movie 17: Hakai no Mayu to Diancie -- -- OLM -- 1 ep -- Game -- Adventure Kids Fantasy -- Pokemon Movie 17: Hakai no Mayu to Diancie Pokemon Movie 17: Hakai no Mayu to Diancie -- The story is set in Diamond Ore Country, of which Diancie is the princess.This is a country located deep underground, where the Pokémon Carbink live together in peace. The energy source of this country is a giant diamond called the Sacred Diamond, which can only be created by princess Diancie. However, the current princess doesn't yet possess the power to create such a diamond, and the current Sacred Diamond's power is soon going to run out, which would result in the end of the country. Diancie meets up with Ash and Pikachu, and set off together with them to search for the legendary Pokemon Xerneas, which possesses sacred power, but on the way, they find the cocoon where the Destruction Pokémon, Yveltal, who was said to have once destroyed life in Kalos, lies in wait. -- -- (Source: serebii.net) -- -- Licensor: -- The Pokemon Company International -- Movie - Jul 19, 2014 -- 30,648 6.46
Popotan -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Comedy Drama Ecchi Supernatural -- Popotan Popotan -- Beautiful sisters Ai, Mai, Mii, their android maid Mea and slippery pet ferret Unagi make an amazing journey together through time and space without ever leaving their beloved mansion behind! Following the clues of the strange dandelion-like "Popotan," the girls are theoretically seeking the person who has the answers to their most personal questions, but they seem to have more than enough time to take side trips, meet new friends, visit hot springs and occasionally operate the X-mas shop they keep in the house along the way! -- -- Yet, the girls' ultimate destiny holds more than a few surprises of its own, and not every moment is filled with hilarity, as moving through time means having to leave friends behind as well. -- -- (Source: RightStuf) -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA, Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Mar 18, 2003 -- 21,221 6.29
Popotan -- -- Shaft -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Comedy Drama Ecchi Supernatural -- Popotan Popotan -- Beautiful sisters Ai, Mai, Mii, their android maid Mea and slippery pet ferret Unagi make an amazing journey together through time and space without ever leaving their beloved mansion behind! Following the clues of the strange dandelion-like "Popotan," the girls are theoretically seeking the person who has the answers to their most personal questions, but they seem to have more than enough time to take side trips, meet new friends, visit hot springs and occasionally operate the X-mas shop they keep in the house along the way! -- -- Yet, the girls' ultimate destiny holds more than a few surprises of its own, and not every moment is filled with hilarity, as moving through time means having to leave friends behind as well. -- -- (Source: RightStuf) -- TV - Mar 18, 2003 -- 21,221 6.29
Portable Kuukou -- -- Studio Ghibli -- 1 ep -- Music -- Sci-Fi Music Space -- Portable Kuukou Portable Kuukou -- A 3 minutes long animated film produced by Studio Kajino, a small studio related to Studio Ghibli, was shown in a double feature prior to the Cutie Honey Live-Action movie. Supervision was done by Yoshiyuki Momose, director of the Ghiblies. -- -- To be released 16th November 2004 on the "Ghibli ga Ippai Special Short Short" DVD, together with other Ghibli-Shorts like Sorairo no Tane, On Your Mark, Space Station No.9, Nandaro and Various Commercials. -- Music - May 29, 2004 -- 2,524 5.57
Prince of Stride: Alternative -- -- Madhouse -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Sports Drama School -- Prince of Stride: Alternative Prince of Stride: Alternative -- "Stride"—an extreme sport that combines parkour, free running, relay, and sprinting—is what made first year high school student Nana Sakurai enroll in Honan Academy, after being captivated by the school's stride team. Sharing the mutual intention of joining the team is fellow first year and stride maniac, Takeru Fujiwara, and together they request to join. Much to their dismay, however, the stride club is no longer active due to lack of members, and they are now operating under the shogi club. -- -- In order to revive the stride club, Nana and Takeru recruit first year Riku Yagami—a fast runner who is interested in almost every sport. With this new team, the club now aims high at a new goal: to win the prestigious End of Summer competition, and bring the Honan stride team back to their prime. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 148,461 6.91
Princess Tutu -- -- Hal Film Maker -- 38 eps -- Original -- Comedy Drama Fantasy Magic Mystery Romance -- Princess Tutu Princess Tutu -- In a fairy tale come to life, the clumsy, sweet, and gentle Ahiru (Japanese for "duck") seems like an unlikely protagonist. In reality, Ahiru is just as magical as the talking cats and crocodiles that inhabit her town—for Ahiru really is a duck! Transformed by the mysterious Drosselmeyer into a human girl, Ahiru soon learns the reason for her existence. Using her magical egg-shaped pendant, Ahiru can transform into Princess Tutu—a beautiful and talented ballet dancer whose dances relieve people of the turmoil in their hearts. With her newfound ability, Ahiru accepts the challenge of collecting the lost shards of her prince's heart, for long ago he had shattered it in order to seal an evil raven away for all eternity. -- -- Princess Tutu is a tale of heroes and their struggle against fate. Their beliefs, their feelings, and ultimately their actions will determine whether this fairy tale can reach its "happily ever after." -- -- 133,320 8.14
Princess Tutu -- -- Hal Film Maker -- 38 eps -- Original -- Comedy Drama Fantasy Magic Mystery Romance -- Princess Tutu Princess Tutu -- In a fairy tale come to life, the clumsy, sweet, and gentle Ahiru (Japanese for "duck") seems like an unlikely protagonist. In reality, Ahiru is just as magical as the talking cats and crocodiles that inhabit her town—for Ahiru really is a duck! Transformed by the mysterious Drosselmeyer into a human girl, Ahiru soon learns the reason for her existence. Using her magical egg-shaped pendant, Ahiru can transform into Princess Tutu—a beautiful and talented ballet dancer whose dances relieve people of the turmoil in their hearts. With her newfound ability, Ahiru accepts the challenge of collecting the lost shards of her prince's heart, for long ago he had shattered it in order to seal an evil raven away for all eternity. -- -- Princess Tutu is a tale of heroes and their struggle against fate. Their beliefs, their feelings, and ultimately their actions will determine whether this fairy tale can reach its "happily ever after." -- -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Sentai Filmworks -- 133,320 8.14
Psycho-Pass -- -- Production I.G -- 22 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Police Psychological -- Psycho-Pass Psycho-Pass -- Justice, and the enforcement of it, has changed. In the 22nd century, Japan enforces the Sibyl System, an objective means of determining the threat level of each citizen by examining their mental state for signs of criminal intent, known as their Psycho-Pass. Inspectors uphold the law by subjugating, often with lethal force, anyone harboring the slightest ill-will; alongside them are Enforcers, jaded Inspectors that have become latent criminals, granted relative freedom in exchange for carrying out the Inspectors' dirty work. -- -- Into this world steps Akane Tsunemori, a young woman with an honest desire to uphold justice. However, as she works alongside veteran Enforcer Shinya Kougami, she soon learns that the Sibyl System's judgments are not as perfect as her fellow Inspectors assume. With everything she has known turned on its head, Akane wrestles with the question of what justice truly is, and whether it can be upheld through the use of a system that may already be corrupt. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 1,266,562 8.37
Qualidea Code -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Magic Supernatural -- Qualidea Code Qualidea Code -- On a quiet and peaceful day, the skies split open and extradimensional beings, designated as the Unknown, launch a swift and brutal attack against humanity. To protect the future of the country, all of Japan's children are cryogenically frozen until the end of the war to keep them out of harm's way. -- -- Several years pass, and humanity has established a foothold in a corner of Japan, which now serves as the frontline of the war. No longer facing humanity's extinction, the children are awakened from their slumber. It is then discovered that, while in cryogenesis, the children had developed Worlds, supernatural powers unique to each person. The six most powerful children are given command of the reclaimed cities, using their powers to defend the strongholds against the continuing invasion. Childhood friends Ichiya Suzaku and Canaria Utara lead Tokyo, siblings Kasumi and Asuha Chigusa manage Chiba, and Maihime Tenkawa and Hotaru Rindou oversee Kanagawa. -- -- Over time, the almost routine attacks from the Unknown and the clashing personalities of the city heads and subheads cultivate petty rivalries, leading to constant arguments between the three cities. With the Unknown suddenly increasing the pressure of their attacks, the three cities' leaders must learn how to work together or risk losing the last line of defense against humanity's extinction. -- -- 141,255 6.50
Quanzhi Gaoshou Specials -- -- Tencent Animation & Comics -- 3 eps -- Novel -- Action Game -- Quanzhi Gaoshou Specials Quanzhi Gaoshou Specials -- The All-Star Tournament is a three-day event that allows e-sports participants from various professional clubs to display their skills, while also giving casual Glory players the chance to interact with pros in the flesh. -- -- Retired top-tier Glory player Ye Xiu agrees to watch the tournament together with Tang Rou and Chen Guo after the latter manages to get ahold of three tickets. It is a strange sensation for Ye Xiu, as unlike previous occasions, this time he attends the tournament as a spectator, not a participant. However, despite his attempts to keep a low profile, events in the All-Star Tournament may force the former Glory legend back into the limelight. -- -- ONA - Apr 27, 2018 -- 82,863 8.29
Rail Romanesque -- -- Saetta -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Slice of Life -- Rail Romanesque Rail Romanesque -- The year is 1989. After the nation of Hinomoto was destabilized during the past World War, the rise of new technologies has enabled its revitalization. Modern engineering has given birth to aircraft, gasoline engines, and geomagnetic technology—revolutionizing transportation. Railroads have been rendered nearly obsolete and replaced by more efficient modes of transit. -- -- However, a group of lively "Raillords" aims to renew the railroads' former glory. The Raillords, personified as energetic and spirited girls, act as humanoid control modules for their assigned railways. They meet in Ohitoyo City for the Raillord Summit, headed by Suzushiro, a Raillord from Manoka Railways. Together, the group capitalizes on its teamwork to get the railroads back on track, ushering in a "new railroad age." -- -- 20,925 5.05
Rail Wars! -- -- Passione -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Harem Police Ecchi -- Rail Wars! Rail Wars! -- Rail Wars! takes place in an alternate universe where the Japanese government remains in control of the nation's railway systems. Because of the stability afforded by the leadership of the government, the railway system is allowed to flourish. -- -- Naoto Takayama aspires to become an employee for Japan National Railways because of the comfortable life that it will enable him to live. In order to accomplish this he enters its training program, where students must demonstrate their knowledge of trains as well as their ability to be ready for any challenge that might arise. -- -- During this time period he will encounter other students such as the athletically gifted Aoi Sakura, the constantly hungry Sho Iwaizumi, and the human encyclopedia Haruka Komi. Together they will work towards surviving their trainee period, all the while taking on purse snatchers, bomb threats, and the looming specter of the extremist “RJ” group who wants to privatize the railway system. -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Jul 4, 2014 -- 172,395 6.40
Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin -- -- Madhouse -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Drama Historical Seinen Thriller -- Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin -- Japan, 1955: Mario Minakami has just arrived at Shounan Special Reform School along with five other teenagers who have been arrested on serious criminal charges. All assigned to the same cell, they meet older inmate Rokurouta Sakuragi—a former boxer—with whom they establish a close bond. Under his guidance, and with the promise that they will meet again on the outside after serving their sentences, the delinquents begin to view their hopeless situation in a better light. -- -- Rainbow: Nisha Rokubou no Shichinin follows the seven cellmates as they struggle together against the brutal suffering and humiliation inflicted upon them by Ishihara, a sadistic guard with a grudge on Rokurouta, and Gisuke Sasaki, a doctor who takes pleasure in violating boys. Facing such hellish conditions, the seven inmates must scrape together all the strength they have to survive until their sentences are up; but even if they do, just what kind of lives are waiting for them on the other side? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Apr 7, 2010 -- 314,140 8.51
Rec -- -- Shaft -- 9 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance Seinen -- Rec Rec -- After being stood up for a movie date, marketing employee Fumihiko Matsumaru is about to throw away his tickets when he is stopped by a girl who implores him to let her accompany him instead. Thanks to his upbeat and eccentric companion Aka Onda, an aspiring voice actress, Fumihiko enjoys his evening. While walking home together, they find out that they live in the same neighborhood. Mere hours later, Fumihiko wakes up from a nightmare and hears sirens outside his window. Going outside to check the situation, he sees that Aka's apartment has burned down, along with all her possessions. Fumihiko invites the distressed Aka to stay at his place, leading to them sleeping together. -- -- In the aftermath of that fateful night, their personal and professional lives become inextricably intertwined. Not only do they begin living together platonically despite their one-night stand, they also discover that Aka will be voicing the mascot Fumihiko designed for his company's newest product. While trying to keep their live-in relationship under wraps for fear of scrutiny, the two begin to support each other throughout the difficulties in their respective careers. -- -- 100,360 7.33
Re:Creators -- -- TROYCA -- 22 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Fantasy Mecha -- Re:Creators Re:Creators -- Humans have designed countless worlds—each one born from the unique imagination of its creator. Souta Mizushino is a high school student who aspires to be such a creator by writing and illustrating his own light novel. One day, while watching anime for inspiration, he is briefly transported into a fierce fight scene. When he returns to the real world, he realizes something is amiss: the anime's headstrong heroine, Selesia Yupitilia, has somehow returned with him. -- -- Before long, other fictional characters appear in the world, carrying the hopes and scars of their home. A princely knight, a magical girl, a ruthless brawler, and many others now crowd the streets of Japan. However, the most mysterious one is a woman in full military regalia, dubbed "Gunpuku no Himegimi," who knows far more than she should about the creators' world. Despite this, no one knows her true name or the world she is from. -- -- Meanwhile, Souta and Selesia work together with Meteora Österreich, a calm and composed librarian NPC, to uncover the meaning behind these unnatural events. With powerful forces at play, the once clear line between reality and imagination continues to blur, leading to a fateful meeting between creators and those they created. -- -- 376,319 7.57
Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan -- -- Remic -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Ecchi Magic Parody Vampire -- Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan -- Renkin San-kyuu Magical? Pokaan follows the daily lives of four young girls. There is just one catch: they are anything but normal. This group of friends—the energetic werewolf Liru, the joyful witch-in-training Uma, the motherly android Aiko, and the seductive vampire Pachira—are actually princesses from the netherworld who have traveled to the human world in search of a new home. Unfortunately, their naivety and severe lack of knowledge make living peacefully among earthlings much more difficult than they imagined. -- -- As they attempt to adapt to their brand new lifestyle, they cause all sorts of trouble, and end up attracting the unwanted attention of a woman by the name of Dr. K-Ko. The scientist believes that these new residents of Earth are up to no good and attempts to capture the girls to prove the existence of the supernatural and gain credibility with the scientific community. Every day brings a new adventure as the girls deal with the insanity of her antics and all that the human realm has to offer. -- -- TV - Apr 4, 2006 -- 27,408 6.98
Re:Stage! Dream Days♪ -- -- Graphinica, Yumeta Company -- 12 eps -- Other -- Music School Slice of Life -- Re:Stage! Dream Days♪ Re:Stage! Dream Days♪ -- Mana Shikimiya has just transferred into Marehoshi Academy, a school which requires each of its students to join one of the many sports or cultural clubs. After a quick tour of most of the clubs by the Student Council Vice President Minori Hasegawa, Mana stumbles upon the Lyrical Tradition Dance Club. There she meets its sole members: Mizuha Ichikishima and Sayu Tsukisaka. Drawn to their singing and dancing, Mana joins the club and together they work towards their dream of winning the Prism Stage—a national competition to determine the top idols of the country. -- -- However, before Mana and her new friends can worry about the Prism Stage, there is a more immediate problem at hand: the club is about to be disbanded by the student council! Without enough members or any notable achievements, the club will be shut down and the members' dreams will be over before they've begun to pursue them. It's up to the three of them to find the additional club members they need and become an idol group strong enough to qualify for the Prism Stage and to win it as well. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 8,391 6.69
Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. -- -- Zero-G -- 12 eps -- Web manga -- Comedy Romance -- Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. Rikei ga Koi ni Ochita no de Shoumei shitemita. -- It is widely believed that science can provide rational explanations for the countless phenomena of our universe. However, there are many aspects of our existence that science has not yet found a solution to and cannot decipher with numbers. The most notorious of these is the concept of love. While it may seem impossible to apply scientific theory to such an intricate and complex emotion, a daring pair of quick-witted Saitama University scientists aim to take on the challenge. -- -- One day the bold and beautiful Ayame Himuro outwardly declares that she is in love with Shinya Yukimura, her fellow logical and level-headed scientist. Acknowledging his own lack of experience with romance, Yukimura questions what factors constitute love in the first place and whether he is in love with Himuro or not. Both clueless in the dealings of love, the pair begin to conduct detailed experiments on one another to test the human characteristics that indicate love and discern whether they demonstrate these traits towards each other. -- -- As Himuro and Yukimura begin their intimate analysis, can the two scientists successfully apply scientific theory, with the help of their friends, to quantify the feelings they express for one another? -- -- ONA - Jan 11, 2020 -- 185,005 7.35
Rockman.EXE Axess -- -- Xebec -- 51 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure Comedy Game Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen -- Rockman.EXE Axess Rockman.EXE Axess -- Netto's father Yuuichirou Hikari has made a scientific breakthrough by introducing the "synchro chips". If an operator and his or her navi are in a special enviroment known as a "dimensional area", they can fuse together in the real world via a technique called "cross fusion"! Yuuichirou's first test subject, Misaki Gorou, attempts the process and sadly fails. Netto offers to try with Rockman, but his father forbids it. Cross Fusion puts enormous strain on the operator's health, and battling in the real world could mean death. -- -- (Source: Official Site) -- TV - Oct 4, 2003 -- 14,733 7.13
Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records -- -- LIDENFILMS -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Magic Fantasy School -- Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records -- The Alzano Empire is home to one of the most distinguished magic schools in the world: the Alzano Imperial Magic Academy. Here, ambitious young students undergo training to become competent magicians. Sistine Fibel—a stern noble girl—and her bright-eyed best friend Rumia Tingel attend the Academy, determined to cultivate their magical skills. -- -- However, their world is thrown for a loop when their favorite teacher suddenly retires and the enigmatic Glenn Radars replaces him. His lazy and indifferent attitude toward life and magic quickly puts him at odds with his class. What's more, nefarious forces hidden within the empire's walls start to become active, and Sistine, Rumia, and Glenn find themselves caught up in their schemes. -- -- Rokudenashi Majutsu Koushi to Akashic Records follows Sistine, who is captivated by a mysterious floating Sky Castle; Rumia, who is haunted by a troubled past; and Glenn, who may be more than meets the eye. Though completely different on the surface, they are inexplicably bound together by a thread of fate. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 506,868 7.18
Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori -- -- Zexcs -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Seinen -- Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori Rokuhoudou Yotsuiro Biyori -- Kyousui "Sui" Tougoku inherits a traditional Japanese-style cafe called Rokuhoudou from his grandfather, which he manages alongside Gregorio "Gure" Valentino, Tokitaka Nagae, and Tsubaki Nakao. Their hospitality par excellence undoubtedly turns any one-time visitor into a regular. Having gone through their own share of trials and tribulations, the staff at this modest cafe do their best to serve their customers—whether it be through tea, sweets, or even helping with the various troubles one may have. -- -- Although most days pass pleasantly, the small world of Sui and his friends takes an unexpected path when their reputation as a cafe flourishes overnight. -- -- 23,653 7.60
Rolling☆Girls -- -- Wit Studio -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Adventure Slice of Life Super Power -- Rolling☆Girls Rolling☆Girls -- In a dystopian future where Japan's political organization has crumbled after the Great Tokyo War, Japan is broken up into 10 independent nations, with each nation controlled by a gang led by a "Best," a human-proclaimed prophet with destructive superpowers. Nozomi Moritomo is a "Rest"—a normal girl that has just started out as a rookie in the local gang. She wants to help the Best Masami Utoku, her childhood friend and role model, in the ongoing territorial dispute. -- -- When Masami becomes severely injured and unable to fight, Nozomi decides to go on a mission to complete the requests sent to Masami from all over Japan. Along the way, she meets Yukina Kosaka, a shy girl with no sense of direction; Ai Hibiki, an upbeat girl who loves eating; and Chiaya Misono, a quiet and mysterious girl that wears a gas mask. Together, the four girls travel all over the country on their motorcycles while getting involved in territorial wars, disagreements, and even suspicious conspiracies. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 78,505 6.59
Rozen Maiden -- -- Nomad -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Drama Magic Seinen -- Rozen Maiden Rozen Maiden -- Traumatized by school, Jun Sakurada spends his days at home as a shut-in, purchasing things online, only to send them back before the free trial period ends. So when a note appears on his desk, asking whether or not he would wind something, he assumes it was something he ordered and carelessly circles "yes," changing his life forever. -- -- A box arrives with a wind up doll inside, but this is no ordinary toy: after Jun winds her up, she begins walking and talking as if a normal person. With a haughty attitude, she introduces herself as Shinku, the fifth doll in the Rozen Maiden collection, a group of special dolls made by the legendary dollmaker Rozen. These sisters must battle each other in a competition called the Alice Game with the help of a human to ensure victory. The winner becomes Alice, a real girl who is worthy of meeting their creator. -- -- As more sentient dolls end up taking residence in Jun's house, and a foe from Shinku's past makes her appearance, Jun's life becomes far more complicated than he ever thought possible. -- -- 179,332 7.43
Rozen Maiden -- -- Nomad -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Drama Magic Seinen -- Rozen Maiden Rozen Maiden -- Traumatized by school, Jun Sakurada spends his days at home as a shut-in, purchasing things online, only to send them back before the free trial period ends. So when a note appears on his desk, asking whether or not he would wind something, he assumes it was something he ordered and carelessly circles "yes," changing his life forever. -- -- A box arrives with a wind up doll inside, but this is no ordinary toy: after Jun winds her up, she begins walking and talking as if a normal person. With a haughty attitude, she introduces herself as Shinku, the fifth doll in the Rozen Maiden collection, a group of special dolls made by the legendary dollmaker Rozen. These sisters must battle each other in a competition called the Alice Game with the help of a human to ensure victory. The winner becomes Alice, a real girl who is worthy of meeting their creator. -- -- As more sentient dolls end up taking residence in Jun's house, and a foe from Shinku's past makes her appearance, Jun's life becomes far more complicated than he ever thought possible. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA, Sentai Filmworks -- 179,332 7.43
Runway de Waratte -- -- Ezόla -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama School Shounen -- Runway de Waratte Runway de Waratte -- Being the daughter of a modeling agency owner, Chiyuki Fujito aspires to represent her father's agency in the prestigious Paris Fashion Week, shining under the spotlight as a runway model. However, although she is equipped with great looks and talent, she unfortunately lacks a key element in becoming a successful model—height. Stuck at 158 cm even after entering high school, her childhood dream seems out of reach. -- -- Meanwhile, Ikuto Tsumura is a high school student with a knack in designing clothes; however, without the resources to pursue the necessary education, his ambition of becoming a fashion designer remains a mere dream. But as fate brings Chiyuki and Ikuto together, the dim hopes within their hearts are ignited once again. Together, the two promise to rebel against convention and carve out their own paths in the fashion world. -- -- 85,891 7.62
Runway de Waratte -- -- Ezόla -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama School Shounen -- Runway de Waratte Runway de Waratte -- Being the daughter of a modeling agency owner, Chiyuki Fujito aspires to represent her father's agency in the prestigious Paris Fashion Week, shining under the spotlight as a runway model. However, although she is equipped with great looks and talent, she unfortunately lacks a key element in becoming a successful model—height. Stuck at 158 cm even after entering high school, her childhood dream seems out of reach. -- -- Meanwhile, Ikuto Tsumura is a high school student with a knack in designing clothes; however, without the resources to pursue the necessary education, his ambition of becoming a fashion designer remains a mere dream. But as fate brings Chiyuki and Ikuto together, the dim hopes within their hearts are ignited once again. Together, the two promise to rebel against convention and carve out their own paths in the fashion world. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 85,891 7.62
Ryokunohara Meikyuu -- -- AIC -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Dementia Psychological Drama Romance Shoujo Shounen Ai -- Ryokunohara Meikyuu Ryokunohara Meikyuu -- Hiroki and Kanata have been together since they were children. One day Hiroki is caught up in an accident while trying to save a little girl. The next thing he knows, he is looking down on his own body. Seperated from his body, Kanata, and everything else, he tries to figure out just what is going on. -- -- Why is he outside his body which is living on as if nothing has changed, how can he convince Kanata that he is there, and who is the strange girl, Fhalei, who keeps appearing for him? -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- OVA - May 25, 1990 -- 3,678 5.09
Ryuuou no Oshigoto! -- -- Project No.9 -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Game Slice of Life -- Ryuuou no Oshigoto! Ryuuou no Oshigoto! -- Shogi, a Japanese game similar to chess, is one of the most popular board games in the country, played by everyone from children to the elderly. Some players are talented enough to take the game to a professional level. The title of Ryuuou, meaning "the dragon king," is only awarded to the person who reaches the pinnacle of competitive shogi. -- -- Yaichi Kuzuryuu has just become the youngest Ryuuou after winning the grand championship. However, the shogi community is unwelcoming to his victory, some even calling him the worst Ryuuou in history. Moreover, he forgets about the agreement he made with Ai Hinatsuru, a little girl he promised to coach if he won. After she shows up at his doorstep, he reluctantly agrees to uphold his promise and makes Ai his disciple. -- -- Together, they aim to improve and exceed the limits of their shogi prowess: Ai, to unlock her hidden talents; Yaichi, to prove to the world that he deserves his accomplishments. -- -- 140,877 6.90
Ryuuseiki Gakusaver -- -- Production I.G -- 6 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Space Comedy Parody Mecha School -- Ryuuseiki Gakusaver Ryuuseiki Gakusaver -- A gigantic meteorite landed on earth a few years back. A mysterious capsule believed to have belonged to the aliens was discovered. Called the "black box," an international organization called "Project BB" was created to research it. -- -- Eight boys, including Manabu Yoshimura, attend International Academy, a school located near Project BB headquarters. They are enticed by their teacher Toukichi Hashiba's promise of "I'll give you class credit," and end up getting involved in his experiment. The experiment was to enter the eight empty chambers of meteorite. According to Hashiba's theory, the meteorite should strongly respond to strong human thoughts. He tells them to have a clear image of a great looking gigantic robot; if they do, something should happen... -- -- Then, a big spaceship appears in the sky and an alien calling himself Wercury appears in a 3-D image. He tells them he is from the Star of Prokimasi and that he has come to collect the meteorite of the Choshin people. If they do not hand it over, he will challenge the earth beings to a battle. Manabu and his friends are confused by the unexpected turn of events but the meteorite responds to the thoughts of the group and suddenly starts to transform itself into a gigantic robot. Then, attacked by the invading Prokimasi robot, they are forced to pull their strength together and fight back. But it is extremely difficult to put the wills of the eight together as one and the robot cannot fight in the way it should. The gigantic robot that Hashiba named "Gakusaver" and Manabu's eight; can they manage to protect Earth and the meteorite from the Prokimasi invasion? -- -- (Source: King Records) -- OVA - Aug 21, 1993 -- 1,103 6.47
Ryuusei no Rockman -- -- Xebec -- 55 eps -- Game -- Action Game Sci-Fi Shounen -- Ryuusei no Rockman Ryuusei no Rockman -- In the year 220X, the world has advanced toward radio-wave technology, and the world is connected through the Wave Road. Meet Subaru Hoshikawa, a fifth-grade student who lost his father in a space accident. Subaru meets an extraterrestrial radio-wave being named War-Rock, descending from a distant FM planet. War-Rock claims to know about Subaru's father, but many alien beings are after War-Rock. The two work together and merge into Rockman, a radio-wave human capable of traversing the Wave Road and battling the radio-wave viruses and FMs that threaten the Earth. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- TV - Oct 7, 2006 -- 11,147 7.11
Saikyou Ginga Ultimate Zero: Battle Spirits -- -- Sunrise -- 49 eps -- Card game -- Game Adventure Space -- Saikyou Ginga Ultimate Zero: Battle Spirits Saikyou Ginga Ultimate Zero: Battle Spirits -- In the new, whimsical era of Battle Spirits, cards have become scattered across a colorful galaxy, enticing all "card questers" to duke it out in search of the strongest cards. Rei is a flamboyant wanderer who is obsessed with being on top. Accompanied by a small dragon named Mugen and a talking robot named Salt, the self-proclaimed "Number One Star" regularly engages in card-gaming mischief through flashy battles. -- -- One day, Rei meets Raira and Rikuto April, both of whom seem to have clues on the whereabouts of the "ultimate" Battle Spirits card. Together, they embark on a quest to search for the card, clashing with many vibrant personalities along the way. Soon, their adventure catches the attention of the Guild, wily villains who are also set on obtaining the Ultimate Battle Spirits. In contending against the Guild, Rei's status as number one is put to the test—an endeavor that will slowly unveil secrets regarding the fate of the universe. -- -- TV - Sep 22, 2013 -- 1,462 6.50
Saint☆Oniisan -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Seinen Slice of Life -- Saint☆Oniisan Saint☆Oniisan -- Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha, the founders of Christianity and Buddhism, are living together as roommates in a Tokyo apartment while taking a vacation on Earth. The comedy often involves jokes about Christianity, Buddhism, and all things related, as well as the main characters' attempts to hide their identities and understand modern society in Japan. -- -- OVA - Dec 3, 2012 -- 76,787 7.50
Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meiou Shinwa -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Martial Arts Shounen Super Power Supernatural -- Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meiou Shinwa Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meiou Shinwa -- A Holy War, from ancient mythology, where the Goddess Athena and Hades have fought against each other while defending the earth repeatedly over the span of 200 years. The story takes place in 18th century Europe, 243 years prior to the original "Saint Seiya" Three small children, Tenma, Alone, and Sasha have all shared a very happy childhood together. Tenma who is quite aggressive but upstanding has moved to Sanctuary to become a saint. It is there that he is reunited with Sasha who is the sister of Alone and learns that she is the reincarnation of Goddess Athena. Alone, who is kind, gentle and loves painting was chosen for the body of enemy King Hades. Tenma eventually becomes a saint of Pegasus and engages in a fierce battle with his best friend Alone, the King of Hades. Pegasus Tenma, King Hades, and the Goddess Athena and through the twist of their 3 fates merge together which unfolds a prologue to the original Saint Seiya. -- -- (Source: TMS Entertaiment) -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- OVA - Jun 24, 2009 -- 86,701 7.99
Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meiou Shinwa -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Martial Arts Shounen Super Power Supernatural -- Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meiou Shinwa Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas - Meiou Shinwa -- A Holy War, from ancient mythology, where the Goddess Athena and Hades have fought against each other while defending the earth repeatedly over the span of 200 years. The story takes place in 18th century Europe, 243 years prior to the original "Saint Seiya" Three small children, Tenma, Alone, and Sasha have all shared a very happy childhood together. Tenma who is quite aggressive but upstanding has moved to Sanctuary to become a saint. It is there that he is reunited with Sasha who is the sister of Alone and learns that she is the reincarnation of Goddess Athena. Alone, who is kind, gentle and loves painting was chosen for the body of enemy King Hades. Tenma eventually becomes a saint of Pegasus and engages in a fierce battle with his best friend Alone, the King of Hades. Pegasus Tenma, King Hades, and the Goddess Athena and through the twist of their 3 fates merge together which unfolds a prologue to the original Saint Seiya. -- -- (Source: TMS Entertaiment) -- OVA - Jun 24, 2009 -- 86,701 7.99
Saishuu Heiki Kanojo -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Drama Military Romance School Sci-Fi -- Saishuu Heiki Kanojo Saishuu Heiki Kanojo -- Chise is an ordinary schoolgirl: small, frail, and not particularly intelligent. Her greatest joy is her budding romance with her classmate and childhood friend, Shuuji. They both live in a small military town in Hokkaido, where high schoolers have few concerns other than who is dating whom and complaining about the steep climb up "Hell Hill" every day before school. -- -- One day, Shuuji and his friends make a trip to Sapporo to buy gifts for their girlfriends. A massive air raid on Sapporo that day kills thousands, including one of Shuuji's friends, and signals the beginning of a war. Fleeing from the carnage, Shuuji spots Chise, though now she has steel wings and a massive gun where her right arm should be. Against her will, she has been transformed into the ultimate cyborg weapon, capable of leveling entire cities. -- -- As the war rages closer and closer to their hometown, Chise and Shuuji's relationship is strained by her transformation, and they are left to wonder whether she is even still human. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks, VIZ Media -- TV - Jul 2, 2002 -- 84,240 7.17
Saishuu Heiki Kanojo -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Drama Military Romance School Sci-Fi -- Saishuu Heiki Kanojo Saishuu Heiki Kanojo -- Chise is an ordinary schoolgirl: small, frail, and not particularly intelligent. Her greatest joy is her budding romance with her classmate and childhood friend, Shuuji. They both live in a small military town in Hokkaido, where high schoolers have few concerns other than who is dating whom and complaining about the steep climb up "Hell Hill" every day before school. -- -- One day, Shuuji and his friends make a trip to Sapporo to buy gifts for their girlfriends. A massive air raid on Sapporo that day kills thousands, including one of Shuuji's friends, and signals the beginning of a war. Fleeing from the carnage, Shuuji spots Chise, though now she has steel wings and a massive gun where her right arm should be. Against her will, she has been transformed into the ultimate cyborg weapon, capable of leveling entire cities. -- -- As the war rages closer and closer to their hometown, Chise and Shuuji's relationship is strained by her transformation, and they are left to wonder whether she is even still human. -- -- TV - Jul 2, 2002 -- 84,240 7.17
Saiunkoku Monogatari 2nd Season -- -- Madhouse -- 39 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Comedy Drama Fantasy Historical Romance -- Saiunkoku Monogatari 2nd Season Saiunkoku Monogatari 2nd Season -- Shuurei Kou and her friend Eigetsu To, a boy prodigy of humble origins, have been appointed co-governors of the Sa province, one of the eight provinces in Saiunkoku. Together, they decide to make the province an academic research center in the hopes of bringing a long overdue prosperity to the region. -- -- However, while Shuurei goes to the capital to obtain approvals for the ambitious project, the Sa province's recently established tranquility is threatened by a pandemic that brings both death and turmoil as it begins to spread among the people. Counting on Eigetsu to monitor the situation until her return, Shuurei seeks support from her allies to find a suitable treatment. Yet, Eigetsu's past personal conflicts distract him, providing an opportunity for opponents of Shuurei's position to take advantage of the troubles and undermine her authority. -- -- Becoming a government official has been Shuurei's lifelong dream, but it is no easy task for the first woman undertaking such a position. Will she step up and overcome this great challenge or give in to the looming adversities? -- -- TV - Apr 7, 2007 -- 35,268 8.06
Sakamichi no Apollon -- -- MAPPA, Tezuka Productions -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Josei Music Romance School -- Sakamichi no Apollon Sakamichi no Apollon -- Introverted classical pianist and top student Kaoru Nishimi has just arrived in Kyushu for his first year of high school. Having constantly moved from place to place since his childhood, he abandons all hope of fitting in, preparing himself for another lonely, meaningless year. That is, until he encounters the notorious delinquent Sentarou Kawabuchi. -- -- Sentarou's immeasurable love for jazz music inspires Kaoru to learn more about the genre, and as a result, he slowly starts to break out of his shell, making his very first friend. Kaoru begins playing the piano at after-school jazz sessions, located in the basement of fellow student Ritsuko Mukae's family-owned record shop. As he discovers the immense joy of using his musical talents to bring enjoyment to himself and others, Kaoru's summer might just crescendo into one that he will remember forever. -- -- Sakamichi no Apollon is a heartwarming story of friendship, music, and love that follows three unique individuals brought together by their mutual appreciation for jazz. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 295,472 8.35
Sakasama no Patema -- -- Purple Cow Studio Japan, Studio Rikka -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Sci-Fi -- Sakasama no Patema Sakasama no Patema -- Patema is a plucky young girl from an underground civilization boasting an incredible network of tunnels. Inspired by a friend that mysteriously went missing, she is often reprimanded due to her constant excursions of these tunnels due to her royal status. After she enters what is known as the "forbidden zone," she accidentally falls into a giant bottomless pit after being startled by a strange creature. -- -- Finding herself on the surface, a world literally turned upside down, she begins falling towards the sky only to be saved by Age, a discontented student of the totalitarian nation known as Aiga. The people of Aiga are taught to believe that "Inverts," like Patema, are sinners that will be "swallowed by the sky," but Age has resisted this propaganda and decides to protect his new friend. A chance meeting between two curious teenagers leads to an exploration of two unique worlds as they begin working together to unveil the secrets of their origins in Sakasama no Patema, a heart-warming film about overcoming differences in order to coexist. -- -- -- The film was first premiered at France's Annecy, the world's largest animation festival, on June 13, 2013. Screening in Japanese theaters began on November 9, 2013. -- -- Licensor: -- GKIDS, NYAV Post -- Movie - Nov 9, 2013 -- 225,667 8.03
Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris -- -- Radix -- 3 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure Game Harem Mecha Sci-Fi -- Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris Sakura Taisen: Ecole de Paris -- An unseen evil lurks in the streets of Paris. Unless something is done, the darkness will unleash its destruction and consume all that is good. The City of Love will be lost to her people forever. All hope rests within the hearts of five young ladies. The only problem is, they don't even know it yet. But will an apprenticed nun, a reserved aristocrat, a hardened criminal, a traveling circus emcee and a Japanese girl experiencing loss set aside their unique differences and come together as one for the defense of many. The Paris Fighting Troup is born. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Mar 19, 2003 -- 3,320 6.44
Sakura Trick -- -- Studio Deen -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance School Seinen Shoujo Ai -- Sakura Trick Sakura Trick -- Having been best friends since middle school, Haruka Takayama and Yuu Sonoda plan to attend Misato West High School together. However, despite being assigned to the same class, a cruel twist of fate has them seated on the opposite ends of their classroom! To make matters worse, their school will shut down in three years, making them the final intake of first-year students. Undeterred by this chain of unfortunate events, Haruka is set on sticking with Yuu, striving to create many wonderful memories with her. -- -- Much to Haruka's jealousy however, Yuu's easygoing demeanor quickly attracts the attention of their female classmates. Sympathizing with her friend's growing insecurity, Yuu ends up sharing a deep, affectionate kiss with her in an empty classroom. The act intensifies their bond as "special friends," gradually revealing a different aspect to their unique friendship while also inviting new conflicts. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Jan 10, 2014 -- 215,977 7.00
Sakura Trick -- -- Studio Deen -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance School Seinen Shoujo Ai -- Sakura Trick Sakura Trick -- Having been best friends since middle school, Haruka Takayama and Yuu Sonoda plan to attend Misato West High School together. However, despite being assigned to the same class, a cruel twist of fate has them seated on the opposite ends of their classroom! To make matters worse, their school will shut down in three years, making them the final intake of first-year students. Undeterred by this chain of unfortunate events, Haruka is set on sticking with Yuu, striving to create many wonderful memories with her. -- -- Much to Haruka's jealousy however, Yuu's easygoing demeanor quickly attracts the attention of their female classmates. Sympathizing with her friend's growing insecurity, Yuu ends up sharing a deep, affectionate kiss with her in an empty classroom. The act intensifies their bond as "special friends," gradually revealing a different aspect to their unique friendship while also inviting new conflicts. -- -- TV - Jan 10, 2014 -- 215,977 7.00
Samurai Flamenco -- -- Manglobe -- 22 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Parody Super Power -- Samurai Flamenco Samurai Flamenco -- "A hero will never give up, never hide, never be defeated and never accept evil!" -- -- Firmly believing these words, Masayoshi Hazama has been obsessed with superhero shows since childhood. By day, he earns his living as a famous model, and by night, he becomes the gallant hero Samurai Flamenco. Armed with only his superhero costume, he seeks to bring justice to the city and faces anybody who tries to break the law—even rebellious juveniles and people who litter on the street. -- -- Masayoshi's heroic antics later catch the attention of the public, leading to the fateful discovery of his identity by policeman Hidenori Gotou. Although initially telling Masayoshi to leave the crime-busting activities to the police, Gotou ends up joining him in his antics. However, things soon escalate from preventing littering and petty thefts to bizarre adventures that involve even the fate of the world. Together with their newfound comrades, Masayoshi and Gotou embark on a battle with the world and themselves in order to find the true meaning of being a hero—with or without superpowers. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 116,563 6.90
Samurai Gun -- -- Studio Egg -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Historical Seinen -- Samurai Gun Samurai Gun -- It is the beginning of the industrial revolution, and feudal Japan is in turmoil. The ruling Shogun are wielding their abusive powers to instill fear and dominance over their oppressed subjects. Beatings, imprisonment, rape and even murder are the adopted tactics chosen to maintain their reign. The bloodshed must end. A group of Samurai have banded together, and, with the development of new weapons and new technology, they have both the will and the hardware to stand up and fight. Ichimatsu is one of these fighters. By day, he works incognito at a local tavern, in the evenings he frequents the brothels, and by the dark of night, he doles out some big-time, gun-barrel justice. He is here to help. He is Samurai Gun. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- TV - Oct 4, 2004 -- 7,980 5.99
Sanrio Danshi -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 12 eps -- Original -- Slice of Life Drama School -- Sanrio Danshi Sanrio Danshi -- Kouta Hasegawa is a completely normal high school student who likes his Pompompurin stuffed animal, a Sanrio character modelled after a Golden Retriever, which his grandmother gave him when he was young. However, an incident in which other kids accused him of being girly for liking Sanrio characters made him ashamed of his attachment to Pompompurin. -- -- Through a series of unexpected events, Kouta ends up meeting others at school who also like Sanrio characters—Yuu Mizuno, a flashy boy who is popular with girls; Shunsuke Yoshino, a member of the soccer team; Ryou Nishimiya, an underclassman who is a library assistant; and Seiichirou Minamoto, the student council president. -- -- Through his new friends, Kouta learns that there is no need to be embarrassed for liking Sanrio characters; and together, they aim to create a play for the cultural festival in order to transform his normal school life into a sparkly one. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Ponycan USA -- 42,843 6.62
Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club -- -- AIC Spirits -- 13 eps -- - -- Fantasy Magic School -- Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club Sasami: Mahou Shoujo Club -- In this world, there live a group of people who call themselves "Majo" or "Magical Girls." They hide their powers so as to assimilate into the environment. They have been living together in harmony with the humans for many years to come, and their predecessors continue to do so. Sasami was enthroned with magical powers since her birth. However, at the age of three, she was told by her parents never to use her innate powers and from then on, had kept it a secret from everyone. On the day of a new school term, a new transfer teacher by the name of Wajuu arrives and from then on, Sasami's life begins to change tremendously. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Apr 13, 2006 -- 6,486 6.60
Sayonara Watashi no Cramer -- -- LIDENFILMS -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Sports Drama Shounen -- Sayonara Watashi no Cramer Sayonara Watashi no Cramer -- With no soccer accomplishments to speak of during the entirety of Sumire Suou's junior high school years, the young wing gets an odd offer. Suou's main rival, Midori Soshizaki, invites her to join up on the same team in high school, with a promise that she'll never let Suou "play alone." It's an earnest offer, but the question is whether Suou will take her up on it. Thus the curtain opens on a story that collects an enormous cast of individual soccer-playing personalities! -- -- (Source: Kodansha Comics) -- 26,566 6.12
School Days ONA -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Visual novel -- Romance School Drama -- School Days ONA School Days ONA -- The story is about a love triangle between the male protagonist Makoto, and the two heroines Kotonoha and Sekai. Makoto develops a love interest in Kotonoha, a girl in the same year but different class. Although they both take the same train to school, she is unaware of his existence. His classmate, Sekai, manages to put the two together despite holding strong feelings towards Makoto. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- ONA - Feb 25, 2005 -- 31,831 5.94
Secret Journey -- -- - -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Hentai Comedy Supernatural Fantasy -- Secret Journey Secret Journey -- Genjo Sanzo is on a journey, he has to travel to India to retrieve the holy sutras. Along the way, he happens to free Goku, a sex-addicted monkey sealed by Buddha. Together they travel to the west. -- -- Based on "Journey to the West". -- -- (Source: MU) -- OVA - Jan 29, 2016 -- 6,907 6.24
Sei Juushi Bismarck -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 51 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Adventure Space Mecha -- Sei Juushi Bismarck Sei Juushi Bismarck -- In the distant future, humanity has explored beyond Earth and colonized both the inner and outer planets of the Solar System. In order to protect the colonies and maintain law and order in the solar system, the Earth Federation Government (EFG) was created. Soon, many settlers started to resent the EFG's and its sphere of influence, straining the relationship between the central government and the colonies. -- -- While a strained peace was being forged between Earth and the colonies, a race of non-human creatures known as Deathcula invaded the System. Without provocation, they attacked the colonies and killed many of the colonists. The EFG quickly realized that the Deathcula were technologically superior and their forces were hopelessly matched. In order to have a chance at survival, Dr. Charles Louvre developed a transformable starship known as the Bismarck. -- -- Knowing that an advanced team of specialists were required to operate the Bismarck, four individuals came together and were charged with keeping the outer colonies safe from further Deathcula attacks. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia) -- TV - Oct 7, 1984 -- 4,537 7.22
Seikai no Danshou: Tanjou -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Military Romance Sci-Fi Space -- Seikai no Danshou: Tanjou Seikai no Danshou: Tanjou -- This is the story about how Dubus, Lafiel's father, and Plakia after an adventure on a mysterious, abandoned spaceship decided to have a daughter together and why Dubus gave her the name Lafiel. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Funimation -- Special - Aug 25, 2000 -- 7,622 7.13
Seirei Gensouki -- -- TMS Entertainment -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Harem Drama Romance Fantasy -- Seirei Gensouki Seirei Gensouki -- Amakawa Haruto is a young man who died before reuniting with his childhood friend who disappeared five years ago. Rio is a boy living in the slums who wants revenge for his mother who was murdered in front of him when he was five years old. -- -- Earth and another world. Two people with completely different backgrounds and values. For some reason, the memories and personality of Haruto who should've died is resurrected in Rio's body. As the two are confused over their memories and personalities fusing together, Rio decides to live in this new world. -- -- Along with Haruto's memories, Rio awakens an unknown "special power," and it seems that if he uses it well, he can live a better life. But before that, Rio encounters a kidnapping that turns out to be of a princess of the Bertram Kingdom that he lives in. -- -- After saving the princess, Rio is given a scholarship at the Royal Academy, a school for the rich and powerful. Being a poor orphan in a school of nobles turns out to be an extremely detestable place to be. -- -- (Source: MU) -- TV - Jul ??, 2021 -- 8,439 N/A -- -- Tiger & Bunny Pilot -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Original -- Action Comedy Super Power -- Tiger & Bunny Pilot Tiger & Bunny Pilot -- The pilot episode for Tiger & Bunny released on the first DVD & BD volume. -- Special - May 27, 2011 -- 8,424 6.19
Seisai -- -- Y.O.U.C -- 2 eps -- Visual novel -- Dementia Fantasy Hentai Horror -- Seisai Seisai -- A horrible murder has been committed on the grounds of Nankai Academy. Professor Yuko, one of the school's most popular teachers, died when she was pushed off of the roof of one of the school's buildings. Her death has left her students with feelings of confusion, pain, and above all else... anger. Four of her male students, Masayoshi, Daisuke, Mitsuru and Shinya, are determined to uncover the truth. They soon discover an important clue: Professor Yuko's planner had been marked on the very night she was killed... marked with the names of seven girls. -- -- With this evidence, the boys begin their investigations... and they'll use any method required in order to find the murderer. Through rape, manipulation and torture, they uncover important details, but piecing the puzzle together won't be easy. And the longer their search draws on, the more they feel themselves being overtaken by their own dark desires... Will they ever find out the truth behind Yuko's death? -- -- (Source: ANN) -- OVA - Jan 10, 2003 -- 3,325 5.38
Seisen Cerberus: Ryuukoku no Fatalités -- -- Bridge -- 13 eps -- Game -- Adventure Fantasy -- Seisen Cerberus: Ryuukoku no Fatalités Seisen Cerberus: Ryuukoku no Fatalités -- Maintaining a delicate balance of power, the kingdoms of Amoria, Ishilfen, and Vanrodis rule over the continent of Kuna'anh. Even the slightest hint of trouble in one country could spark a continent-wide war. However, their one common fear is the evil dragon Daganzord, whose only meaning of existence is to devour and destroy all life. -- -- Ten years ago, a group of mages worked together in an effort to seal away the malevolent beast. But the ritual—later known as the "Balbagoa Tragedy"—was a failure, and many lost their lives. Though his parents died in this tragedy, Hiiro was saved by the swordsman Giruu. Under the latter's tutelage, Hiiro learned swordsmanship with the sole purpose of seeking revenge. Now a budding master himself, he sets out in search of Daganzord in order to realize his long-awaited vengeance, or to be consumed by the dragon and meet the same fate as his parents. -- -- 86,471 5.63
Sekaiichi Hatsukoi 2 -- -- Studio Deen -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Romance Shounen Ai -- Sekaiichi Hatsukoi 2 Sekaiichi Hatsukoi 2 -- First loves are messy. While settling in as a shoujo manga editor at the famous Marukawa Publishing House, Ritsu Onodera is quite troubled. Working under the stern and superb Masamune Takano is hard enough as it is. However, Masamune is not only Ritsu's first love from middle school but he also suddenly declares that he will make Ritsu fall for him again. -- -- Unknown to them, another editor in the department, Yoshiyuki Katori, is in a relationship with the popular manga artist Chiaki Yoshino. The carefree Chiaki fails to notice, however, that his high school friend—Yuu Yanase—thinks of him as more than a friend. The stoic but caring Hatori will not surrender his love so easily. -- -- Falling in love for the first time when you are 30 is certainly troublesome. Shouta Kisa, yet another editor, is going out with 21-year-old Kou Yukina, an art student. Despite Yukina's assurances, Kisa cannot help but doubt whether someone like himself is truly worthy of his younger, "sparkling" boyfriend. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 8, 2011 -- 130,512 7.94
Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ -- -- Satelight -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Music Sci-Fi -- Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ Senki Zesshou Symphogear AXZ -- Hibiki Tachibana has defeated many powerful enemies, saved countless innocent lives, and escaped from numerous desperate situations, but she is currently finding herself unable to escape from her most desperate situation yet—summer homework! Although her high school life is relatively unremarkable, her career as a member of the military organization S.O.N.G. is anything but. Using powerful, ancient armor known as Symphogear, Hibiki and her teammates work with the United Nations to deal with international disputes and disasters. -- -- During a mission briefing at headquarters, Hibiki is made aware of a mysterious organization known as the Bavarian Illuminati, who has been responsible for several major disasters in the past and currently operate in the war-torn country Val Verde. Together, Hibiki and her team infiltrate one of the Bavarian Illuminati's manufacturing plants and free hundreds of slaves. Exposed, alchemists Saint-Germain, Cagliostro, and Prelati reveal themselves as the organization's top brass, and—using alchemical powers—declare a global revolution while sacrificing thousands of lives. Faced with yet another threat to the world's survival, Hibiki and her allies must confront the Bavarian Illuminati in their most difficult and destructive battle yet. -- -- 28,551 7.59
Senki Zesshou Symphogear -- -- Encourage Films, Satelight -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Music -- Senki Zesshou Symphogear Senki Zesshou Symphogear -- Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou—the idol duo known as Zwei Wing—use their songs to power ancient weapons known as "symphogears" to combat a deadly alien race called the "Noise." While the general public is aware of the Noise's existence, knowledge of the symphogears are kept a secret. When the Noise attack one of Zwei Wing's concerts, Kanade sacrifices herself to protect a young girl named Hibiki Tachibana, leaving Tsubasa devastated and a fragment of her symphogear embedded within Hibiki. -- -- Two years pass and Hibiki is once again dragged into a Noise attack. While rescuing a young girl who has been left behind during the evacuation, she awakens the power of Kanade's symphogear lying within her. Although Tsubasa still grieves over the loss of Kanade, both girls must now learn to work together using their powers to defend humanity against the Noise. -- -- 97,499 7.02
Senki Zesshou Symphogear -- -- Encourage Films, Satelight -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Music -- Senki Zesshou Symphogear Senki Zesshou Symphogear -- Tsubasa Kazanari and Kanade Amou—the idol duo known as Zwei Wing—use their songs to power ancient weapons known as "symphogears" to combat a deadly alien race called the "Noise." While the general public is aware of the Noise's existence, knowledge of the symphogears are kept a secret. When the Noise attack one of Zwei Wing's concerts, Kanade sacrifices herself to protect a young girl named Hibiki Tachibana, leaving Tsubasa devastated and a fragment of her symphogear embedded within Hibiki. -- -- Two years pass and Hibiki is once again dragged into a Noise attack. While rescuing a young girl who has been left behind during the evacuation, she awakens the power of Kanade's symphogear lying within her. Although Tsubasa still grieves over the loss of Kanade, both girls must now learn to work together using their powers to defend humanity against the Noise. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 97,499 7.02
Senran Kagura Estival Versus: Mizugi-darake no Zenyasai -- -- Artland, Hoods Entertainment -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Comedy Ecchi -- Senran Kagura Estival Versus: Mizugi-darake no Zenyasai Senran Kagura Estival Versus: Mizugi-darake no Zenyasai -- A letter arrives at Death Cram School. Inside is a an invitation to a spa resort. -- Yumi declares to the four excited girls that, "No. This is evil itself," points out that they are slacking off too much. Shiki proposes, "When opinions are divided, it's time for boob rock-paper-scissors!" and then wins so they all go to the pool. -- -- There, girls from Hanzoo Academy, Homura Crimson Squad, and Hebijo Clandestine Girls' Academy also come, but Asuka says, "Let's have fun together today" and they call a temporary truce. -- -- However, a trivial matter sets off a sour quarrel and, at Yumi's suggestion, they settle it with a showdown in the style of the ancient shinobi. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- OVA - Mar 26, 2015 -- 16,392 6.51
Sensitive Pornograph -- -- Ajia-Do -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Hentai Romance Yaoi -- Sensitive Pornograph Sensitive Pornograph -- For four young men, love and intimacy are in the air, even though they may not be aware of it. Sensitive Pornograph holds within it two tales of sexual romance for two different couples of men. The first is a tale between two manga artists, Seiji Yamada and Sono Hanasaki. Both are familiar with each other's work, though upon meeting each other, Seiji is shocked to find out that Sono is actually a man, ten years his senior. Love quickly blossoms between the two, but will soon be tested when Seiji begins to hear rumors about Sono's past sexual exploits. -- -- In the second tale, Koji Ueno is a part-time pet sitter, hired to take care of a rabbit named Aki for a new client. To Koji's complete surprise though, not only is there no rabbit in the house, but the only thing in the apartment is a bound and gagged man in the closet who says that he is Aki. More troubling than this is that Aki informs Koji that they are both in danger of upsetting the client, and the only way for Koji to get out safely is for them to make love together. -- -- Two stories, four men, and the one emotion of love that unites them all in the new twists their lives have taken. -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- OVA - Dec 20, 2004 -- 40,712 6.74
Shangri-La -- -- Gonzo -- 24 eps -- Novel -- Action Drama Sci-Fi -- Shangri-La Shangri-La -- In a post-apocalyptic society, much of earthquake-riddled Japan has been left to ruin, resulting in an abundance of greenery. Governments manage much of the world's emissions, resulting in a massive class divide and economic disparity. The Japanese government launches "Project Atlas," a utopian city that will replace Tokyo but can only fit a certain amount of people. This limitation means that some people will have to live outside the city in jungles, as refugees. -- -- However, with any flawed plan comes those who are willing to challenge it. These include Kuniko Houjou, an heir to a renegade town; Mikuni, a mysterious and powerful child kept in a secret temple; Kunihito Kusanagi, a soldier for the high-tech and exclusive monopoly Atlas; Karin Ishida, a genius economics whiz with her hand in markets across the world; and the villainous Ryouko Naruse, leading Atlas in its domination of this future world. -- -- Can this group of rebels, forming a movement known as "Metal-Age," band together to demonstrate that inclusion and teamwork prevail over cruel segregation? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Apr 6, 2009 -- 52,746 7.07
Shigofumi -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Original -- Drama Fantasy Psychological Supernatural Thriller -- Shigofumi Shigofumi -- There are some things that people are unable to say while they are alive; for these, there are "shigofumi," letters carried from the world of the dead to the world of the living. When a person with strong emotions dies, they are able to create a shigofumi, whether their feelings are of love, longing, or resentment. It is the quiet and mysterious Fumika's job to deliver these messages from the departed. Along with her talking magic staff Kanaka, she ensures that each shigofumi reaches its intended recipient, even if that person does not want to face its contents. -- -- Fumika witnesses the tragedies of people, both dead and alive, and sees their deepest secrets revealed. What is unclear, however, are the details of Fumika's past. Who was she before she came to be a carrier of shigofumi? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Jan 6, 2008 -- 79,028 7.49
Shigofumi -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Original -- Drama Fantasy Psychological Supernatural Thriller -- Shigofumi Shigofumi -- There are some things that people are unable to say while they are alive; for these, there are "shigofumi," letters carried from the world of the dead to the world of the living. When a person with strong emotions dies, they are able to create a shigofumi, whether their feelings are of love, longing, or resentment. It is the quiet and mysterious Fumika's job to deliver these messages from the departed. Along with her talking magic staff Kanaka, she ensures that each shigofumi reaches its intended recipient, even if that person does not want to face its contents. -- -- Fumika witnesses the tragedies of people, both dead and alive, and sees their deepest secrets revealed. What is unclear, however, are the details of Fumika's past. Who was she before she came to be a carrier of shigofumi? -- -- TV - Jan 6, 2008 -- 79,028 7.49
Shiki -- -- Daume -- 22 eps -- Manga -- Horror Mystery Supernatural Thriller Vampire -- Shiki Shiki -- Fifteen-year-old Megumi Shimizu dreamed of a glamorous life in the big city; however, her unexpected death in the quiet village of Sotoba marks the beginning of what appears to be a ferocious epidemic that turns the hot summer into a season of blood and terror. A young doctor named Toshio Ozaki begins to doubt the nature of the disease and comes to understand that to discover the truth, he must abandon his humanity. Meanwhile, Natsuno Yuuki, an antisocial youth from the city, is haunted by the sudden death of Megumi and must realize the pain of friendship in the face of his own tragedy. Toshio and Natsuno form an unlikely pair as they work together to save Sotoba before it transforms into a ghost town of vampires. -- -- Shiki, adapted from the horror novel written by Fuyumi Ono, goes beyond the average vampire story. It tells the tragic tale of survival in a world where one cannot easily distinguish between good and evil. Abandoned by God, the Shiki, as the vampires call themselves, have only their will to live as they clash with the fear of the paranoid/unbelieving villagers. Shiki explores the boundary that separates man from monster. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 478,736 7.78
Shin Angyo Onshi -- -- OLM Digital -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Fantasy -- Shin Angyo Onshi Shin Angyo Onshi -- After wandering through the desert for days, a bitter warrior named Munsu is lost and unable to continue. His life is unexpectedly saved by Mon-ryon, a young man who dreams of becoming a secret agent for Jushin, a once-great country that was recently destroyed. Mon-ryon's goal is to save his girlfriend, Chunhyan, a born fighter who is held captive by the evil Lord Byonand. Then, from out of nowhere, blood begins trickling from his chest. He has been fatally wounded by the Sarinjas, a cannibalistic breed of desert goblin. The quick-thinking Munsu convinces these beasts to spare his life, in exchange for the peaceful handover of Mon-ryon's appetizing corpse. Although skeptical of Mon-ryon's motives, Munsu sets out to continue the mission that the young idealist described. Accompanied by an army of ghost troops, unleashed using the powers of Angyo Onshi, Munsu liberates Chunhyan. After visiting her boyfriend's final resting place, she declares herself Munsu's bodyguard and, together, they set out on a mission to punish those who stripped Jushin of its original glory. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films, Funimation, OLM Digital -- Movie - Dec 4, 2004 -- 16,795 6.87
Shin Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji Mataiden -- -- - -- 2 eps -- - -- Fantasy Hentai Demons Horror Sci-Fi -- Shin Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji Mataiden Shin Choujin Densetsu Urotsukidouji Mataiden -- Nazi Germany, 1944: As American bombers soar towards Berlin, a revolting Satanic rite takes place below—Hitler and his minions are using the monstrous Nazi Death Rape Machine to render the dimensional boundaries separating the Human World from the World of Man-Beasts and the World of Monster Demons. Dr. Munhihausen Sr.'s life work is about to come to fruition—the conjuring of the Overfiend! -- -- Cut to modern day Tokyo—Munhihausen Jr. searches for a monster with strength enough to conquer the omnipotent Overfiend. Since legend says that he who kills the Overfiend will rule all three worlds forever; Munhihausen is determined to slay the Overfiend and assume complete control over all three dimensions. His efforts seem fruitless—until Nagumo's cousin Takeaki, infused with Nagumo's blood after an accident, begins to develop monstrous powers. -- -- As man-beast Amano Jyaku and his sister Megumi, together with faithful accomplice Kuroko attempt to thwart Munhihausen's evil plan, nothing seems likely to prevent Munhihausen, descendant of a race of brutal tyrants, from enslaving the world under his despicable rule! -- OVA - Dec 1, 1990 -- 1,755 5.71
Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis -- -- MAPPA -- 12 eps -- Card game -- Action Adventure Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis -- Thousands of years ago, the ancient dragon Bahamut wrought havoc upon the land of Mistarcia, a world where both gods and demons live amongst mankind. Working together to prevent the world's destruction, the rival deities barely managed to seal Bahamut, agreeing to split the key between them so that the dragon would remain eternally imprisoned. -- -- With the world safe from the destruction of Bahamut, it is business as usual for bounty hunters like Favaro Leone. Living a laid-back, self-serving lifestyle, the amoral Favaro goes about his work while on the run from fellow bounty hunter Kaisar Lidfard, a righteous man who swears vengeance upon Favaro. However, Favaro's carefree life is thrown into chaos when he meets Amira, a mysterious woman who holds half of the key to the world's fragile peace. -- -- Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis tells the story of a group of unlikely heroes who find themselves caught in the middle of an epic clash between gods and demons, forced to carve their own path in the face of the imminent storm. -- -- 339,162 7.66
Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis -- -- MAPPA -- 12 eps -- Card game -- Action Adventure Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy -- Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis -- Thousands of years ago, the ancient dragon Bahamut wrought havoc upon the land of Mistarcia, a world where both gods and demons live amongst mankind. Working together to prevent the world's destruction, the rival deities barely managed to seal Bahamut, agreeing to split the key between them so that the dragon would remain eternally imprisoned. -- -- With the world safe from the destruction of Bahamut, it is business as usual for bounty hunters like Favaro Leone. Living a laid-back, self-serving lifestyle, the amoral Favaro goes about his work while on the run from fellow bounty hunter Kaisar Lidfard, a righteous man who swears vengeance upon Favaro. However, Favaro's carefree life is thrown into chaos when he meets Amira, a mysterious woman who holds half of the key to the world's fragile peace. -- -- Shingeki no Bahamut: Genesis tells the story of a group of unlikely heroes who find themselves caught in the middle of an epic clash between gods and demons, forced to carve their own path in the face of the imminent storm. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 339,162 7.66
Shin Getter Robo -- -- Brain's Base -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Adventure Mecha Sci-Fi Demons Horror Shounen -- Shin Getter Robo Shin Getter Robo -- Humanity is under attack by demonic creatures called Oni. Unable to fight back by any other means, the scientist Dr. Saotome creates a series of giant robots that harness the mysterious power of Getter Rays, giving them the strength necessary to fight the Oni. The strongest of these is Getter Robo, and Saotome must enlist three very different men to pilot it - martial artist Ryoma Nagare, criminal leader Hayato Jin, and monk Benkei Musashibou. Together, the Getter Team fights to end the Oni menace forever. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media, Geneon Entertainment USA -- OVA - Apr 9, 2004 -- 8,174 7.35
Shirobako -- -- P.A. Works -- 24 eps -- Original -- Comedy Drama -- Shirobako Shirobako -- It all started in Kaminoyama High School, when five best friends—Aoi Miyamori, Ema Yasuhara, Midori Imai, Shizuka Sakaki, and Misa Toudou—discovered their collective love for all things anime and formed the animation club. After making their first amateur anime together and showcasing it at the culture festival, the group vow to pursue careers in the industry, aiming to one day work together and create their own mainstream show. -- -- Two and a half years later, Aoi and Ema have managed to land jobs at the illustrious Musashino Animation production company. The others, however, are finding it difficult to get their dream jobs. Shizuka is feeling the weight of not being recognized as a capable voice actor, Misa has a secure yet unsatisfying career designing 3D models for a car company, and Midori is a university student intent on pursuing her dream as a story writer. These five girls will learn that the path to success is one with many diversions, but dreams can still be achieved through perseverance and a touch of eccentric creativity. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 359,940 8.34
Shirobako Movie -- -- P.A. Works -- 1 ep -- Original -- Comedy Drama -- Shirobako Movie Shirobako Movie -- The film's story is set four years after the events of the original Shirobako anime. Aoi Miyamori keeps busy dealing with the ordinary troubles in her daily work at Musashino Animation. After a morning meeting, Watanabe talks to Aoi and puts her in charge of a new theatrical anime project for the studio. The project has unexpected problems, and Aoi is unsure if the company can proceed with a theatrical anime with its current state of affairs. While dealing with that anxiety, Aoi meets a new colleague named Kaede Miyai (voiced by Ayane Sakura). She and the MusAni team work together to complete the project. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Eleven Arts -- Movie - Feb 29, 2020 -- 32,391 7.82
Shirokuma Cafe -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 50 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Josei -- Shirokuma Cafe Shirokuma Cafe -- Situated near the local zoo and owned by the charismatic polar bear Shirokuma, Shirokuma Cafe is a popular spot for animals and humans alike, allowing them to sit back and relax after a hard day of work. Whether it's a cold beverage or the latest item on his menu, Shirokuma finds joy in being able to serve his customers, often striking up conversations about various subjects. -- -- Together with the sarcastic Penguin and the clumsy Panda, they form an odd trio who get themselves caught up in all sorts of misadventures with their other friends such as Grizzly, a bar owner, and Sasako, a human who works at the cafe. From dealing with unrequited love, outdoor camping trips, karaoke sessions, and even the secret to brewing delicious coffee, there's always something bound to be happening in Shirokuma Cafe! -- -- 77,445 7.93
Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara - Tootsuki Ressha-hen -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Ecchi School Shounen -- Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara - Tootsuki Ressha-hen Shokugeki no Souma: San no Sara - Tootsuki Ressha-hen -- A dark age of cooking befalls Tootsuki Culinary Academy. With the Elite Ten's devastating coup d'état, Azami Nakiri is now the director of the prestigious school. Students must now conform to Azami's ideology of "true gourmet food" and are forbidden to express creativity, or else face expulsion. -- -- However, Souma Yukihira and the members of the Polar Star Dormitory refuse to accept these changes. Aided by other rebellious first-years, including the tenth seat, Erina Nakiri, Souma and his allies band together to fight off supporters of Azami's regime. But corrupt instructors and the menacing Central organization stand in their way, and so they must work together, harder than ever before, to survive every underhanded plot designed to banish them from the school. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 507,524 8.05
Shokugeki no Souma: Shin no Sara -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Ecchi School Shounen -- Shokugeki no Souma: Shin no Sara Shokugeki no Souma: Shin no Sara -- At Tootsuki Culinary Academy, a heated eight-on-eight Shokugeki known as the Régiment de Cuisine rages on between Central and the rebel forces led by Souma Yukihira and Erina Nakiri. Though they won a stunning perfect victory in the first bout, the rebels face an uphill battle ahead, as they must now face off against the rest of the Elite Ten Council. With the future of Tootsuki at stake, Souma and Erina must push far beyond the limits of their abilities, using everything they learned from their mentors and ultimately drawing from their experiences cooking together as friends. -- -- 392,186 7.75
Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku -- -- J.C.Staff -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia Drama Fantasy Romance Shoujo Shoujo Ai -- Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku -- All eyes are on Utena Tenjou, a mysterious transfer student to Ohtori Academy. But Utena's eyes seem to be fixed on one familiar face that stands out among the rest—Touga Kiryuu, Utena's childhood friend. Touga knows of Utena's past and possesses knowledge of the Mark of the Rose, a set of unique rings worn by those who compete for the hand of the Rose Bride. The Rose Bride, Himemiya Anthy, belongs to whomever wins her in a duel, and the one that wins all the duels is said to be given the power to bring revolution to the world. Utena is drawn into the duels, but Touga and their complicated history together may end up unraveling everything. Nothing is as it seems in this retelling of the original anime series. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Central Park Media -- Movie - Aug 14, 1999 -- 39,871 7.60
Shuffle! -- -- Asread -- 24 eps -- Visual novel -- Harem Comedy Drama Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy School Seinen -- Shuffle! Shuffle! -- In present times, Gods and Demons coexist together with Humans after the door between each of these worlds had opened. Tsuchimi Rin is a normal young high school student attending Verbena Academy, spending his days living peacefully with his childhood friend Kaede. Unexpectedly, one day the King of Gods, the King of Demons and their families move into be Rin's next door neighbors. Apparently the daughter of the Gods, Sia, and the daughter of the demons, Nerine, are both deeply in love with Rin after having met him in the past. Along with his playful friendship with upperclassmen Asa and his encounter with the silent but cute Primula, Rin has much on his hands dealing with the affections of each of these girls. Based on the eroge by Navel. -- 244,675 7.08
Shuffle! -- -- Asread -- 24 eps -- Visual novel -- Harem Comedy Drama Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy School Seinen -- Shuffle! Shuffle! -- In present times, Gods and Demons coexist together with Humans after the door between each of these worlds had opened. Tsuchimi Rin is a normal young high school student attending Verbena Academy, spending his days living peacefully with his childhood friend Kaede. Unexpectedly, one day the King of Gods, the King of Demons and their families move into be Rin's next door neighbors. Apparently the daughter of the Gods, Sia, and the daughter of the demons, Nerine, are both deeply in love with Rin after having met him in the past. Along with his playful friendship with upperclassmen Asa and his encounter with the silent but cute Primula, Rin has much on his hands dealing with the affections of each of these girls. Based on the eroge by Navel. -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 244,675 7.08
Shuffle! Memories -- -- Asread -- 12 eps -- Visual novel -- Comedy Drama Ecchi Fantasy Harem Magic Romance School Seinen -- Shuffle! Memories Shuffle! Memories -- A recap of the Shuffle world, set ten years in the future. Gods, Demons, and Humans freely visit the other worlds as if traveling overseas, and romance is in the air. Demons, Gods, And Humans together have been falling in love and creating new families, breaking down the wall that once seperated them. Past memories are visited by Rin Tsuchimi and the events that occured between him and Lisianthus, Nerine, Kaede, Asa, and Primula. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Kadokawa Pictures USA -- 49,414 6.54
Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? -- -- C2C, Satelight -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Sci-Fi Drama Romance Fantasy -- Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? -- Putting his life on the line, Willem Kmetsch leaves his loved ones behind and sets out to battle a mysterious monster, and even though he is victorious, he is rendered frozen in ice. It is during his icy slumber that terrifying creatures known as "Beasts" emerge on the Earth's surface and threaten humanity's existence. Willem awakens 500 years later, only to find himself the sole survivor of his race as mankind is wiped out. -- -- Together with the other surviving races, Willem takes refuge on the floating islands in the sky, living in fear of the Beasts below. He lives a life of loneliness and only does odd jobs to get by. One day, he is tasked with being a weapon storehouse caretaker. Thinking nothing of it, Willem accepts, but he soon realizes that these weapons are actually a group of young Leprechauns. Though they bear every resemblance to humans, they have no regard for their own lives, identifying themselves as mere weapons of war. Among them is Chtholly Nota Seniorious, who is more than willing to sacrifice herself if it means defeating the Beasts and ensuring peace. -- -- Willem becomes something of a father figure for the young Leprechauns, watching over them fondly and supporting them in any way he can. He, who once fought so bravely on the frontlines, can now only hope that the ones being sent to battle return safely from the monsters that destroyed his kind. -- -- 288,264 7.71
Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? -- -- C2C, Satelight -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Sci-Fi Drama Romance Fantasy -- Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? -- Putting his life on the line, Willem Kmetsch leaves his loved ones behind and sets out to battle a mysterious monster, and even though he is victorious, he is rendered frozen in ice. It is during his icy slumber that terrifying creatures known as "Beasts" emerge on the Earth's surface and threaten humanity's existence. Willem awakens 500 years later, only to find himself the sole survivor of his race as mankind is wiped out. -- -- Together with the other surviving races, Willem takes refuge on the floating islands in the sky, living in fear of the Beasts below. He lives a life of loneliness and only does odd jobs to get by. One day, he is tasked with being a weapon storehouse caretaker. Thinking nothing of it, Willem accepts, but he soon realizes that these weapons are actually a group of young Leprechauns. Though they bear every resemblance to humans, they have no regard for their own lives, identifying themselves as mere weapons of war. Among them is Chtholly Nota Seniorious, who is more than willing to sacrifice herself if it means defeating the Beasts and ensuring peace. -- -- Willem becomes something of a father figure for the young Leprechauns, watching over them fondly and supporting them in any way he can. He, who once fought so bravely on the frontlines, can now only hope that the ones being sent to battle return safely from the monsters that destroyed his kind. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 286,923 7.71
Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? -- -- C2C, Satelight -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Sci-Fi Drama Romance Fantasy -- Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? Shuumatsu Nani Shitemasu ka? Isogashii Desu ka? Sukutte Moratte Ii Desu ka? -- Putting his life on the line, Willem Kmetsch leaves his loved ones behind and sets out to battle a mysterious monster, and even though he is victorious, he is rendered frozen in ice. It is during his icy slumber that terrifying creatures known as "Beasts" emerge on the Earth's surface and threaten humanity's existence. Willem awakens 500 years later, only to find himself the sole survivor of his race as mankind is wiped out. -- -- Together with the other surviving races, Willem takes refuge on the floating islands in the sky, living in fear of the Beasts below. He lives a life of loneliness and only does odd jobs to get by. One day, he is tasked with being a weapon storehouse caretaker. Thinking nothing of it, Willem accepts, but he soon realizes that these weapons are actually a group of young Leprechauns. Though they bear every resemblance to humans, they have no regard for their own lives, identifying themselves as mere weapons of war. Among them is Chtholly Nota Seniorious, who is more than willing to sacrifice herself if it means defeating the Beasts and ensuring peace. -- -- Willem becomes something of a father figure for the young Leprechauns, watching over them fondly and supporting them in any way he can. He, who once fought so bravely on the frontlines, can now only hope that the ones being sent to battle return safely from the monsters that destroyed his kind. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 288,264 7.71
Shuumatsu no Walküre -- -- Graphinica -- ? eps -- Manga -- Action Super Power Supernatural Drama Seinen -- Shuumatsu no Walküre Shuumatsu no Walküre -- High above the realm of man, the gods of the world have convened to decide on a single matter: the continued existence of mankind. Under the head of Zeus, the deities of Ancient Greece, Norse mythology, and Hinduism, among others, call assembly every one thousand years to decide the fate of humanity. Because of their unrelenting abuse toward each other and the planet, this time the gods vote unanimously in favor of ending the human race. -- -- But before the mandate passes, Brunhild, one of the 13 demigod Valkyries, puts forth an alternate proposal: rather than anticlimactically annihilating mankind, why not give them a fighting chance and enact Ragnarök, a one-on-one showdown between man and god? Spurred on by the audacity of the challenge, the divine council quickly accepts, fully confident that this contest will display the utter might of the gods. To stand a chance against the mighty heavens, Brunhild will need to assemble history's greatest individuals, otherwise the death knell will surely be sounded for mankind. -- -- ONA - Jun ??, 2021 -- 29,841 N/A -- -- Gintama: Dai Hanseikai -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Comedy Parody Samurai -- Gintama: Dai Hanseikai Gintama: Dai Hanseikai -- Some of the characters get together and talk about "regrets" they have after 4 years of anime Gintama. Soon they fight over who gets more screen time. Special animation shown at the Gintama Haru Matsuri 2010 live event. -- Special - Mar 25, 2010 -- 29,677 8.07
Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai -- -- Artland, TNK -- 12 eps -- Other -- Ecchi Fantasy -- Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai Sin: Nanatsu no Taizai -- Lucifer, an Archangel and former head of the Seven Heavenly Virtues, is banished from Heaven after revolting against the Lord's will.. While plummeting from the skies, she is halted halfway between Heaven and Hell after crashing through the roof of a high school church. Though she is witnessed by Maria Totsuka, a soft-spoken student at the academy, Lucifer swiftly continues her descent into the depths of Hell. -- -- Soon after her arrival, Lucifer is found by aspiring Demon Lord and fangirl Leviathan. The two decide to overthrow the Seven Sins, the authorities of Hell under the leadership of Belial. But with their combined powers, the Seven Sins are able to repel Lucifer and contain her divine powers by placing a Garb of Punishment over her body, transforming Lucifer into a Demon Lord. -- -- Longing for revenge and accompanied by Leviathan, Lucifer makes her way back to Earth, where she forces Maria to become her immortal slave. Together with her new accomplices, Lucifer sets out on a mission to subdue the Seven Sins so she may be free of the curse brought upon by her Garb. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 115,034 5.69
Skate-Leading☆Stars -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Original -- Comedy Drama School Sports -- Skate-Leading☆Stars Skate-Leading☆Stars -- Child figure skating prodigy Kensei Maeshima abruptly quits the sport after his one-sided rival, Reo Shinozaki, refuses to acknowledge his skill. Now, as a student at Inodai High School, Kensei uses his athletic skills to assist the other sports teams, but he never officially joins one. One day, Reo announces his switch from singles figure skating into team-based skate-leading and joins St. Clavis Gakuin High School—last year's Grand Prix champions. Hayato Sasugai, a classmate with a mysterious connection to Reo, convinces Kensei to switch to skate-leading in order to finally defeat his rival in a competition. -- -- Kensei’s sudden entry into the Inodai Skate-Leading Club is met with backlash from the current members. Although he is a very strong singles skater, Kensei lacks the teamwork skills required to perform well in skate-leading. Factoring in his hot-headed, impatient attitude, inconsistent skating performances, and a complicated history with some of the members, Kensei's teammates do not believe he is a good fit to be their "Lead." The team must work together to resolve these issues, however, if they wish to qualify for the Grand Prix Finals and even stand a chance at defeating St. Clavis Gakuin. -- -- 26,761 6.37
Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita. -- -- Magic Bus -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Ecchi Romance -- Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita. Skirt no Naka wa Kedamono Deshita. -- Shizuka Kominami is a shy college student who, despite her bashful demeanor, attends a college mixer. There, she meets Ryou Kirishima, a beautiful, confident woman whom she quickly befriends. After leaving the mixer together, the two spend the night talking and drinking. But when an inebriated Shizuka ends up at Ryou's apartment, one thing leads to another, and she finds herself being seduced by her new friend. And what's more, Ryou is actually a crossdressing man! -- -- After a passion-filled night, Shizuka awakens to a note left by Ryou, promising more erotic moments between them later. How will Shizuka's newfound relationship with Ryou unfold? -- -- 43,027 5.39
Slayers Excellent -- -- J.C.Staff -- 3 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Comedy Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Slayers Excellent Slayers Excellent -- In these earlier adventures of Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent, learn how the two rivals first met. In their first adventure, the two rivals meet and run into a vampire during a rescue mission. Next, Lina is hired to be the bodyguard of a rich man's daughter, Sirene. Lina is at first very enthusiastic about it at first, as she is being paid very well, but Sirene keeps spending all of Lina's first half of pay. (She gets the other half later) She puts together a fake kidnapping to teach Sirene a lesson, but when she really gets kidnapped, she must team up with Naga to save her. In the final episode, Lina and Naga find themselves on seperate sides in a fashion war. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- ADV Films -- OVA - Oct 25, 1998 -- 18,080 7.33
Slayers Excellent -- -- J.C.Staff -- 3 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Comedy Demons Supernatural Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Slayers Excellent Slayers Excellent -- In these earlier adventures of Lina Inverse and Naga the Serpent, learn how the two rivals first met. In their first adventure, the two rivals meet and run into a vampire during a rescue mission. Next, Lina is hired to be the bodyguard of a rich man's daughter, Sirene. Lina is at first very enthusiastic about it at first, as she is being paid very well, but Sirene keeps spending all of Lina's first half of pay. (She gets the other half later) She puts together a fake kidnapping to teach Sirene a lesson, but when she really gets kidnapped, she must team up with Naga to save her. In the final episode, Lina and Naga find themselves on seperate sides in a fashion war. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- OVA - Oct 25, 1998 -- 18,080 7.33
Solty Rei -- -- Gonzo -- 24 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Super Power -- Solty Rei Solty Rei -- In a future-based disaster-ridden city with an enormous gap between the rich and the poor, it is hard to tell which humans are walking around with cybernetic body parts. This makes Roy Revant's job as a renegade bounty hunter/bodyguard-for-hire even more difficult. When a young girl with unbeliveable strength rescues him from a particularly dangerous criminal, Roy realizes that perhaps help can be found in the strangest of places. Joining together with a few others, they engage in a battle to find out the truth behind the giant conglomerates that are supposedly serving mankind and making life better. -- -- Solty, an android who has lost her memory, has escaped and is being hunted by the RUC Security Bureau. She encounters the bounty hunter Roy and he adopts her as his daughter after being hired as a bodygaurd for Miranda. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 25,949 7.27
Somali to Mori no Kamisama -- -- HORNETS, Satelight -- 12 eps -- Web manga -- Adventure Slice of Life Demons Drama Fantasy -- Somali to Mori no Kamisama Somali to Mori no Kamisama -- In a world inhabited by demons, cyclopes, and other fantastic creatures, humans stand apart as the outcasts. Quick to anger, the human race engaged in a war that all but wiped them out. The few humans that remain are seen as a delicacy, serving no purpose but to be hunted down and eaten. -- -- One day, Golem, a wandering protector of nature, encounters a lone human child while patrolling. Inspired by her enthusiasm, he takes the girl, named Somali, under his wing. Together, the duo embarks on a journey to find Somali's parents and bring her home. -- -- 204,462 7.82
Sora no Method -- -- Studio 3Hz -- 13 eps -- Original -- Drama Fantasy School Slice of Life -- Sora no Method Sora no Method -- A group of friends—Nonoka Komiya, Koharu Shiihara, Shione Togawa, and twins Yuzuki and Souta Mizusaka—once attempted to summon a flying saucer to grant their wishes. After thinking that they failed, they called it a day. However, soon afterward, Nonoka abruptly moved out of Kiriya City, breaking the bond of their circle. Little did the group know, they were successful and the saucer has been floating in the sky since then, waiting to fulfill its purpose. -- -- Seven years later, Nonoka returns to Kiriya, all but forgetting everything regarding her life there. She meets Noel, a little girl wearing strange clothes, and through her, Nonoka begins to remember the past and the friends she left behind. From there, she strives to reforge her severed relationship with the others as she uncovers the mysteries connecting Noel, the saucer, and the wishes they once cherished together. -- -- 91,491 6.76
Sora no Method -- -- Studio 3Hz -- 13 eps -- Original -- Drama Fantasy School Slice of Life -- Sora no Method Sora no Method -- A group of friends—Nonoka Komiya, Koharu Shiihara, Shione Togawa, and twins Yuzuki and Souta Mizusaka—once attempted to summon a flying saucer to grant their wishes. After thinking that they failed, they called it a day. However, soon afterward, Nonoka abruptly moved out of Kiriya City, breaking the bond of their circle. Little did the group know, they were successful and the saucer has been floating in the sky since then, waiting to fulfill its purpose. -- -- Seven years later, Nonoka returns to Kiriya, all but forgetting everything regarding her life there. She meets Noel, a little girl wearing strange clothes, and through her, Nonoka begins to remember the past and the friends she left behind. From there, she strives to reforge her severed relationship with the others as she uncovers the mysteries connecting Noel, the saucer, and the wishes they once cherished together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 91,491 6.76
So Ra No Wo To -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Original -- Military Sci-Fi Music Slice of Life -- So Ra No Wo To So Ra No Wo To -- On the outskirts of the country of Helvetia rests the tranquil town of Seize. Upon its cobbled streets, citizens go about their daily lives, undisturbed by the increasingly tense military relations between Helvetia and the neighboring Roman Empire. -- -- It is under these circumstances that the 1121st platoon of the Helvetian army, stationed at the Clocktower Fortress in Seize, receives a new recruit in the young and spirited Kanata Sorami. Having joined the military to fulfill her dream of learning to play the bugle, she excitedly accepts the tutelage of the Sergeant Major, Rio Kazumiya, who happens to be a skilled trumpeter. Working alongside them are the aloof mechanic, Noël Kannagi, the feisty gunner, Kureha Suminoya, and the compassionate Captain Felicia Heideman; together, they experience the beauty of life in Seize and the lasting joy of a community that has persevered in spite of the crumbling world around them. -- -- 138,496 7.55
So Ra No Wo To -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Original -- Military Sci-Fi Music Slice of Life -- So Ra No Wo To So Ra No Wo To -- On the outskirts of the country of Helvetia rests the tranquil town of Seize. Upon its cobbled streets, citizens go about their daily lives, undisturbed by the increasingly tense military relations between Helvetia and the neighboring Roman Empire. -- -- It is under these circumstances that the 1121st platoon of the Helvetian army, stationed at the Clocktower Fortress in Seize, receives a new recruit in the young and spirited Kanata Sorami. Having joined the military to fulfill her dream of learning to play the bugle, she excitedly accepts the tutelage of the Sergeant Major, Rio Kazumiya, who happens to be a skilled trumpeter. Working alongside them are the aloof mechanic, Noël Kannagi, the feisty gunner, Kureha Suminoya, and the compassionate Captain Felicia Heideman; together, they experience the beauty of life in Seize and the lasting joy of a community that has persevered in spite of the crumbling world around them. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Nozomi Entertainment -- 138,496 7.55
Sora yori mo Tooi Basho -- -- Madhouse -- 13 eps -- Original -- Adventure Comedy Drama -- Sora yori mo Tooi Basho Sora yori mo Tooi Basho -- Filled with an overwhelming sense of wonder for the world around her, Mari Tamaki has always dreamt of what lies beyond the reaches of the universe. However, despite harboring such large aspirations on the inside, her fear of the unknown and anxiety over her own possible limitations have always held her back from chasing them. But now, in her second year of high school, Mari is more determined than ever to not let any more of her youth go to waste. Still, her fear continues to prevent her from taking that ambitious step forward—that is, until she has a chance encounter with a girl who has grand dreams of her own. -- -- Spurred by her mother's disappearance, Shirase Kobuchizawa has been working hard to fund her trip to Antarctica. Despite facing doubt and ridicule from virtually everyone, Shirase is determined to embark on this expedition to search for her mother in a place further than the universe itself. Inspired by Shirase's resolve, Mari jumps at the chance to join her. Soon, their efforts attract the attention of the bubbly Hinata Miyake, who is eager to stand out, and Yuzuki Shiraishi, a polite girl from a high class background. Together, they set sail toward the frozen south. -- -- Sora yori mo Tooi Basho follows the captivating journey of four spirited girls, all in search of something great. -- -- 359,273 8.56
Sore ga Seiyuu! -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Web manga -- Slice of Life Comedy -- Sore ga Seiyuu! Sore ga Seiyuu! -- Dreaming of becoming a top-tier professional in the fast-paced, competitive world of voice acting, rookie Futaba Ichinose frantically scurries around, searching for auditions and performance sessions. Rubbing elbows with some of the biggest names in the industry, she tries to find her own unique voice and style. -- -- Along the way, she befriends two important allies: Ichigo Moesaki, an aspiring idol who claims to be a princess from another planet, and Rin Kohana, a cheerful child actress who tries her best to balance her career and school at the same time. Together, the girls brave the ups and downs of the entertainment industry—but as for Futaba, whose performance assessment at her agency is just around the corner, her career might be over sooner than expected! Sore ga Seiyuu! is a humorous and sincere celebration of the industry that gives anime its voice. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 45,078 7.05
Soul Eater -- -- Bones -- 51 eps -- Manga -- Action Fantasy Comedy Supernatural Shounen -- Soul Eater Soul Eater -- Death City is home to the famous Death Weapon Meister Academy, a technical academy headed by the Shinigami—Lord Death himself. Its mission: to raise "Death Scythes" for the Shinigami to wield against the many evils of their fantastical world. These Death Scythes, however, are not made from physical weapons; rather, they are born from human hybrids who have the ability to transform their bodies into Demon Weapons, and only after they have consumed the souls of 99 evil beings and one witch's soul. -- -- Soul Eater Evans, a Demon Scythe who only seems to care about what's cool, aims to become a Death Scythe with the help of his straight-laced wielder, or meister, Maka Albarn. The contrasting duo work and study alongside the hot headed Black☆Star and his caring weapon Tsubaki, as well as the Shinigami's own son, Death the Kid, an obsessive-compulsive dual wielder of twin pistols Patty and Liz. -- -- Soul Eater follows these students of Shibusen as they take on missions to collect souls and protect the city from the world's threats while working together under the snickering sun to become sounder in mind, body, and soul. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 1,273,830 7.87
Souryo to Majiwaru Shikiyoku no Yoru ni... -- -- Seven -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Drama Ecchi Romance -- Souryo to Majiwaru Shikiyoku no Yoru ni... Souryo to Majiwaru Shikiyoku no Yoru ni... -- At a high school reunion, Mio Fukatani reunites with a classmate she has not seen in years—Takahide Kujou. She had always wanted to know more about the kind-hearted boy in high school, but once she realizes that Kujou has become a monk, she believes that any chance of getting to know him romantically is slim. Deciding to drink away her sorrows, she ends up walking home drunk, and surprisingly, running into Kujou who helps her get home. -- -- However, once inside, Kujou's lust for Mio becomes apparent and the two share an erotic night of passion. As this steamy romance blossoms between these two unlikely lovers, Mio and Kujou will undoubtedly spend many nights together in utter ecstasy. -- -- 37,113 4.63
Special A -- -- AIC, Gonzo -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Romance School Shoujo -- Special A Special A -- Hikari Hanazono has always been able to do things that normal people cannot. As a child, she assumed no one could beat her—until she met Kei Takishima. Thinking she would win, Hikari challenged him to a match. But things didn’t go as planned; she lost not once but each time she rechallenged him. From that point on, she has sworn to best Kei at everything, ranging from academics to athletics. -- -- To achieve her goal, Hikari enrolls in the same school as Kei—Hakusenkan, a prestigious institute for the wealthy. As a pair, they hold the top two rankings in school and are among seven of the academy's best students in a class known as Special A. -- -- While Hikari treats Kei as a rival, she is completely oblivious that he harbors hidden feelings for her. Together, the members of Special A deal with competition, friendship, and just a bit of love. -- -- 307,188 7.55
Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna -- -- J.C.Staff -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Drama Mystery Shounen -- Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna -- Ayumu Narumi's older brother Kiyotaka, a renowned detective and piano player, disappears all of a sudden. The only clue Narumi has, are the Blade Children. Two years later a row of murders and incidents begin, relating to the Blade Children. Together with school journalist, Hiyono Yuizaki, Narumi tries to figure out their destiny. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- 47,447 7.25
Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna -- -- J.C.Staff -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Drama Mystery Shounen -- Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna Spiral: Suiri no Kizuna -- Ayumu Narumi's older brother Kiyotaka, a renowned detective and piano player, disappears all of a sudden. The only clue Narumi has, are the Blade Children. Two years later a row of murders and incidents begin, relating to the Blade Children. Together with school journalist, Hiyono Yuizaki, Narumi tries to figure out their destiny. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 47,447 7.25
Spirit of Wonder: Shounen Kagaku Club -- -- Ajia-Do -- 2 eps -- - -- Drama Sci-Fi Seinen Space -- Spirit of Wonder: Shounen Kagaku Club Spirit of Wonder: Shounen Kagaku Club -- The now 50 year old Scientific Boys Club decides to built a ship that sails to Mars on the "Ethereal Current" - a thesis of the wife of a club member which claims that the universe is flooded with Ethereal energy. On this stream they travel to Mars in order to prove an old theory about channels on Mars built by Martians, but there is no life. Many years later, when both theories are considered to be nonsense, a Mars expedition discovers a stone with the inscription "Scientific Boys Club 1954". -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment -- OVA - Jan 25, 2001 -- 3,107 6.57
SSSS.Gridman -- -- Trigger -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Mecha -- SSSS.Gridman SSSS.Gridman -- Yuuta Hibiki wakes up in the room of Rikka Takarada and notices two things: he has no memories, and he can hear a mysterious voice calling his name from a nearby room. On further inspection, he finds a robot—which introduces itself as Hyper Agent Gridman—behind the screen of an old computer. Much to Yuuta's surprise, Rikka cannot hear Gridman, nor can she see the ominous monsters looming over a thick fog as it envelopes the town outside. -- -- Another giant monster materializes in the city and proceeds to wreak havoc. Amidst the confusion, Yuuta is once again drawn to the old computer and merges with Gridman. Suddenly, he appears in the middle of the battle and is forced to fight the monster. Together with Rikka and fellow classmate Shou Utsumi, Yuuta forms the "Gridman Alliance" to defeat the monsters plaguing the city and find whoever is responsible for their emergence. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 213,180 7.17
Steins;Gate 0: Kesshou Takei no Valentine - Bittersweet Intermedio -- -- White Fox -- 1 ep -- Visual novel -- Comedy -- Steins;Gate 0: Kesshou Takei no Valentine - Bittersweet Intermedio Steins;Gate 0: Kesshou Takei no Valentine - Bittersweet Intermedio -- With Valentine's Day just around the corner, the girls of the Future Gadget Lab discover that Kagari has never celebrated the occasion before! Determined to make this year's holiday the best one yet, they all set out to make delicious homemade chocolates together. -- -- However, with many of their quirks causing kitchen disasters, this may prove to be too hard a task. Will their feelings ever reach those of their heart's desire? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Special - Dec 21, 2018 -- 69,493 7.14
Steins;Gate: Oukoubakko no Poriomania -- -- White Fox -- 1 ep -- Visual novel -- Sci-Fi Comedy -- Steins;Gate: Oukoubakko no Poriomania Steins;Gate: Oukoubakko no Poriomania -- A few months after the events of Steins;Gate, Rintarou Okabe and his group of friends are invited to tag along with their acquaintance Faris NyanNyan, who is participating in a Rai-Net battle event in the United States. There, they meet up with an old colleague: Kurisu Makise, who has been recalling fragmented memories of events that happened in the other world lines in the form of dreams. She confronts Okabe, questioning him as to whether these events—particularly the incidents between the two of them—did indeed happen. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Special - Feb 22, 2012 -- 349,479 8.33
Strawberry Panic -- -- Imagin, Madhouse -- 26 eps -- Other -- Drama Romance School Shoujo Ai -- Strawberry Panic Strawberry Panic -- Nagisa Aoi begins her new school life as a transfer student at St. Miator’s Girls Academy, one of three prestigious all-girls institutions atop Astraea Hill. Getting lost on her first day, Nagisa encounters a mysterious student whose elegance and charm is so bewitching, she ends up in the infirmary. -- -- There to greet her when she awakens is Tamao Suzumi, her roommate, who enthusiastically introduces Nagisa to the daily life and social structure on campus. Most notably, Tamao informs her of the existence of an exceptional student representative among all three schools—the Etoile, or "star." Eager to meet this person, Nagisa learns that the ethereal beauty she met earlier, Shizuma Hanazono, is the one and only Etoile herself! Not only that, Shizuma seems openly interested in Nagisa! Her interactions with Shizuma naturally make her a hot topic on campus; yet despite being so captivated, Nagisa can’t help but wonder if something is off. -- -- Strawberry Panic! follows the everyday routines of Nagisa, Shizuma, and her friends at St. Miator’s, St. Spica, and St. Lulim as they navigate through the challenge of relationships while confronting hidden feelings, lingering regrets, and new possibilities. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- 116,121 7.30
Street Fighter II Movie -- -- Group TAC -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Martial Arts Shounen -- Street Fighter II Movie Street Fighter II Movie -- Get your quarters ready, because the world's top fighters are about to go head to head in this explosive animated adaptation of the classic Street Fighter II arcade game! M. Bison's plan to crush those who would oppose his organization, Shadowloo, is simple: brainwash the strongest martial artists around with his dreaded psycho power, and turn them into living weapons! To stop him, Interpol agent Chun-Li must team up with Major Guile of the United States Air Force, but that's no small feat. -- -- They'll have to put aside their differences and learn to work together, and fast. Bison is closing in on Ryu, a traveling vagabond said to be the best fighter in the world. Fortunately (or not), Ryu is a hard man to find, but the same can't be said of his eternal rival, Ken. And it might just be through Ken that Bison will get what he wants! Can the World Warriors beat Bison to the punch? -- -- (Source: Discotek) -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- Movie - Aug 6, 1994 -- 24,371 7.17
Street Fighter II Movie -- -- Group TAC -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Martial Arts Shounen -- Street Fighter II Movie Street Fighter II Movie -- Get your quarters ready, because the world's top fighters are about to go head to head in this explosive animated adaptation of the classic Street Fighter II arcade game! M. Bison's plan to crush those who would oppose his organization, Shadowloo, is simple: brainwash the strongest martial artists around with his dreaded psycho power, and turn them into living weapons! To stop him, Interpol agent Chun-Li must team up with Major Guile of the United States Air Force, but that's no small feat. -- -- They'll have to put aside their differences and learn to work together, and fast. Bison is closing in on Ryu, a traveling vagabond said to be the best fighter in the world. Fortunately (or not), Ryu is a hard man to find, but the same can't be said of his eternal rival, Ken. And it might just be through Ken that Bison will get what he wants! Can the World Warriors beat Bison to the punch? -- -- (Source: Discotek) -- Movie - Aug 6, 1994 -- 24,371 7.17
Strike the Blood -- -- Connect, SILVER LINK. -- 24 eps -- Light novel -- Action Harem Supernatural Ecchi Vampire Fantasy School -- Strike the Blood Strike the Blood -- Kojou Akatsuki's days as an ordinary high school student in the Demon District of Itogami Island come to an abrupt end after a fateful encounter leaves him with the remarkable abilities of a vampire. -- -- It isn't long before he is thrust into the center of attention when it is discovered that he is the fourth primogenitor, an immensely powerful vampire whom most consider to be merely a legend. Fearing Kojou's destructive potential, the Lion King Organization sends in an apprentice sword-shaman, Yukina Himeragi, to monitor, and should he become a threat, kill the boy deemed the world's most powerful vampire. Forced together by circumstance, the two form an unlikely alliance as Kojou comes to terms with his abilities and they both struggle to protect the city from various emerging chaotic forces. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Discotek Media -- 518,095 7.12
Subarashiki Kono Sekai The Animation -- -- domerica, Shin-Ei Animation -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Adventure -- Subarashiki Kono Sekai The Animation Subarashiki Kono Sekai The Animation -- Neku Sakuraba, a 15-year-old boy with a hobby for music and graffiti, wakes up in what seems to be the Shibuya shopping district of Tokyo, Japan. With no idea why he's there, he opens his hand to realize he is holding a strange black pin. After flipping it with his hand, the thoughts of the people surrounding him begins to flow into his head at once. Surprised, Neku discovers he is able to read the minds of others and assumes it has something to do with the black pin he is holding. -- -- A cell phone starts to ring in his pocket, and he can't tell whether it is his or not. A text message appears: "Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. -The Reapers." After discovering he can't delete the message, a timer of 60 minutes imprints onto his right hand. Neku is in Shibuya to play the "Reapers' Game," which spans a total of seven days. All Players of the Reapers' Game have a black pin with a skull embedded on it. -- -- (Source: Wikipedia, edited) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 42,433 6.32
Super Lovers -- -- Studio Deen -- 10 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Drama Romance Shounen Ai -- Super Lovers Super Lovers -- Upon hearing news that his mother was on verge of death, Haru Kaidou—the eldest son of the family—flies all the way to Canada. The moment he arrives, he learns that not only did his mother fool him, but he is also supposed to take care of his adoptive brother, Ren Kaidou, an antisocial kid who feels more comfortable around dogs than people. -- -- Due to his new brother's distrustful nature, Haru initially has a hard time reaching out to Ren but their relationship eventually grows. He makes a promise to Ren: they will live together in Japan after Haru graduates from high school. However, due to an unfortunate accident, Haru loses all memories of the summer they spent together, including the promise he made. Five years later, expecting Haru to keep his promise, Ren arrives in Tokyo; but to Haru, Ren is just a random boy claiming to be his brother. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Crunchyroll, Funimation -- 109,306 7.03
Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009) -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 14 eps -- Light novel -- Comedy Mystery Parody Romance School Sci-Fi Slice of Life -- Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009) Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu (2009) -- Kyon has found himself dragged through many adventures as of late—all because of the SOS Brigade club and its excitable leader, Haruhi Suzumiya. He has stopped believing in the supernatural long ago, but after being forced to join this club based solely on that, he has seen things that cannot be explained logically. -- -- Joining Kyon on his various misadventures is the shy and soft-spoken Mikuru Asahina, the bookish Yuki Nagato, and the ever-cheerful Itsuki Koizumi. Whether it is summer vacation or a school festival, things involving their club and Haruhi herself always end up becoming strange. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Funimation -- 438,915 7.23
Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online - Refrain -- -- Studio 3Hz -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Fantasy Game Military Sci-Fi -- Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online - Refrain Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online - Refrain -- Following the conclusion of the first ever Squad Jam, Pitohui is eager to see what she missed, dying to know how everything went down. To satiate her desires, M reviews footage of the competition with her, commentating on the trials that he and LLENN faced together. -- -- Special - May 13, 2018 -- 29,940 6.48
Sword Art Online Fatal Bullet: The Third Episode -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Game Military Sci-Fi Psychological Fantasy -- Sword Art Online Fatal Bullet: The Third Episode Sword Art Online Fatal Bullet: The Third Episode -- The short follows a boy looking for a girl he met in the Gun Gale Online game. The boy believes they have a connection, but to the girl their connection is part of a fantasy. The time to test whether their bond is real or fantasy will come. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- Special - Mar 20, 2018 -- 12,077 6.16
Sword Art Online II -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 24 eps -- Light novel -- Action Game Adventure Romance Fantasy -- Sword Art Online II Sword Art Online II -- A year after escaping Sword Art Online, Kazuto Kirigaya has been settling back into the real world. However, his peace is short-lived as a new incident occurs in a game called Gun Gale Online, where a player by the name of Death Gun appears to be killing people in the real world by shooting them in-game. Approached by officials to assist in investigating the murders, Kazuto assumes his persona of Kirito once again and logs into Gun Gale Online, intent on stopping the killer. -- -- Once inside, Kirito meets Sinon, a highly skilled sniper afflicted by a traumatic past. She is soon dragged in his chase after Death Gun, and together they enter the Bullet of Bullets, a tournament where their target is sure to appear. Uncertain of Death Gun's real powers, Kirito and Sinon race to stop him before he has the chance to claim another life. Not everything goes smoothly, however, as scars from the past impede their progress. In a high-stakes game where the next victim could easily be one of them, Kirito puts his life on the line in the virtual world once more. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 1,507,504 6.75
Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Game Adventure Romance Fantasy -- Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria -- "There's no way to beat this game. The only difference is when and where you die..." -- -- One month has passed since Akihiko Kayaba's deadly game began, and the body count continues to rise. Two thousand players are already dead. -- -- Kirito and Asuna are two very different people, but they both desire to fight alone. Nonetheless, they find themselves drawn together to face challenges from both within and without. Given that the entire virtual world they now live in has been created as a deathtrap, the surviving players of Sword Art Online are starting to get desperate, and desperation makes them dangerous to loners like Kirito and Asuna. As it becomes clear that solitude equals suicide, will the two be able to overcome their differences to find the strength to believe in each other, and in so doing survive? -- -- Sword Art Online: Progressive is a new version of the Sword Art Online tale that starts at the beginning of Kirito and Asuna's epic adventure—on the very first level of the deadly world of Aincrad! -- -- (Source: Yen Press) -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Movie - ??? ??, 2021 -- 94,949 N/A -- -- Chihayafuru 3 -- -- Madhouse -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Game Slice of Life Sports Drama School Josei -- Chihayafuru 3 Chihayafuru 3 -- Winning the high school team tournament was a great accomplishment for the Mizusawa members. Each of them has made great strides in improving themselves, and the victory symbolizes how far they've come. But after accomplishing one goal, their individual aims are within reach. Chihaya Ayase has her sights set on Wakamiya Shinobu and the title of Queen, and now that Taichi Mashima has made it into Class A, he can finally compete against Arata Wataya. Everyone in Mizusawa wants to get better, and there's no telling what the future holds if they keep trying. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 94,380 8.50
Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Game Adventure Romance Fantasy -- Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria -- "There's no way to beat this game. The only difference is when and where you die..." -- -- One month has passed since Akihiko Kayaba's deadly game began, and the body count continues to rise. Two thousand players are already dead. -- -- Kirito and Asuna are two very different people, but they both desire to fight alone. Nonetheless, they find themselves drawn together to face challenges from both within and without. Given that the entire virtual world they now live in has been created as a deathtrap, the surviving players of Sword Art Online are starting to get desperate, and desperation makes them dangerous to loners like Kirito and Asuna. As it becomes clear that solitude equals suicide, will the two be able to overcome their differences to find the strength to believe in each other, and in so doing survive? -- -- Sword Art Online: Progressive is a new version of the Sword Art Online tale that starts at the beginning of Kirito and Asuna's epic adventure—on the very first level of the deadly world of Aincrad! -- -- (Source: Yen Press) -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Movie - ??? ??, 2021 -- 94,949 N/A -- -- Rozen Maiden: Träumend -- -- Nomad -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Drama Magic Seinen -- Rozen Maiden: Träumend Rozen Maiden: Träumend -- As the story of Rozen Maiden closes, a new chapter begins in Rozen Maiden: Träumend. Shinku and the other sentient dolls of the Rozen Maiden collection are living life as usual at Jun Sakurada's house. Having settled into his role as Shinku's partner in the deadly Alice Game, Jun overcomes his former fears and prepares to return to school. And although Shinku and the other dolls idly pass the days by in the comfort of Jun's home, dark times lie ahead as a new foe presents herself: Barasuishou, the seventh Rozen Maiden. -- -- But Barasuishou is a mystery even to her sisters, none of whom have ever laid eyes on her until now. Shinku considers this a sign that the Alice Game is coming to an end, meaning the dolls will soon be forced to fight one another. Haunted by the upcoming battle and nightmares concerning another doll, Shinku begins distancing herself from the others. If she wishes to claim victory, it will come at a high cost—the lives of her sisters. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA, Sentai Filmworks -- 94,726 7.64
Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Action Game Adventure Romance Fantasy -- Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria Sword Art Online: Progressive Movie - Hoshi Naki Yoru no Aria -- "There's no way to beat this game. The only difference is when and where you die..." -- -- One month has passed since Akihiko Kayaba's deadly game began, and the body count continues to rise. Two thousand players are already dead. -- -- Kirito and Asuna are two very different people, but they both desire to fight alone. Nonetheless, they find themselves drawn together to face challenges from both within and without. Given that the entire virtual world they now live in has been created as a deathtrap, the surviving players of Sword Art Online are starting to get desperate, and desperation makes them dangerous to loners like Kirito and Asuna. As it becomes clear that solitude equals suicide, will the two be able to overcome their differences to find the strength to believe in each other, and in so doing survive? -- -- Sword Art Online: Progressive is a new version of the Sword Art Online tale that starts at the beginning of Kirito and Asuna's epic adventure—on the very first level of the deadly world of Aincrad! -- -- (Source: Yen Press) -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- Movie - ??? ??, 2021 -- 94,949 N/ADragon Ball Z Movie 04: Super Saiyajin da Son Gokuu -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Adventure Fantasy Shounen -- Dragon Ball Z Movie 04: Super Saiyajin da Son Gokuu Dragon Ball Z Movie 04: Super Saiyajin da Son Gokuu -- Gohan Son and Piccolo are peacefully playing when they sense a powerful entity approaching Earth. It soon reaches everyone's ears that this entity is in fact a small planet on a deadly collision course with Earth. Gokuu Son and Kuririn attempt to change the small planet's path with a Kamehameha, but the attack fails and the two warriors are blown away. However, after coming very close to Earth's surface, the object changes direction on its own and explodes soon after. -- -- The small planet reveals itself to be a vehicle for what seems to be a castle. A large army emerges out of the structure and declares that the planet is now in possession of Slug, king of the universe. While defending the city against the invaders' attack, Gohan loses his Dragon Ball, allowing Slug to take it. After reading Bulma's mind and stealing her Dragon Radar, Slug commands his army to collect the wish-granting relics. With the Dragon Balls in his possession, he uses them to wish his youth back. Now young, wise, and very powerful, Slug commences world domination. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Mar 9, 1991 -- 94,615 6.58
Tactical Roar -- -- Actas -- 13 eps -- - -- Comedy Military Romance Sci-Fi -- Tactical Roar Tactical Roar -- In the near future the world's climate shifted creating in the Western Pacific a perpetual super cyclone: the Grand Roar that altered the earth, flooding most countries. Shipping and navigation became important to nations and following the appearance of ocean pirates, necessisated companies to hire escort cruisers to safeguard their investments. Hyousuke Nagimiya is a system engineer that was comissioned to upgrade the Pascal Magi manned by an entire crew of women with its captain, Misaki Nanaha. Together the crew strives to prove themselves to their detractors that they are no mere 'Alice Brand'. Yet as they go about their mission a larger global conspiracy seems to be working behind the scenes to take advantage of this new world order. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Jan 8, 2006 -- 9,007 6.43
Taiho Shichau zo: Second Season -- -- Studio Deen -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Police Shounen -- Taiho Shichau zo: Second Season Taiho Shichau zo: Second Season -- AA! Megami Sama creator, Kosuke Fujishima, is back with the second season of Taiho Schihauzo (You're Under Arrest). Same characters, two policewomen, the gentle Miyuki and the wild Natsumi teamed up together in Bokuto police station`s traffic division. -- -- Other characters including Kenichi, the motorcycle cop who has a feeling for Miyuki; Yoriko with her gossip and Aoi, a transvestite. They all ready to take on harmless criminals and costumed weirdos... You think you can have a better police station? -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Apr 7, 2001 -- 8,600 7.41
Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Ecchi Fantasy Harem Military Romance Supernatural -- Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai -- In a world plagued by magical dangers and threats, there exist special warriors—known as Inquisitors—who are tasked with non-violently preventing these threats and nefarious actions. The Anti-Magic Academy is a specialized school built to educate and train these Inquisitors, which splits its students into small squads in order to train them to work together. Among these talented squads is the 35th Test Platoon, also known as the "Small Fry Platoon" due to its low ranking and incompetent members. -- -- However, everything changes when Ouka Ootori, a powerful yet rebellious former Inquisitor, is forced into joining due to her tendency to break rules and committing a serious violation: the killing of a witch. Tempers flare upon her arrival, as she clashes with their clumsy captain Takeru Kusanagi and argues with the rest of the squad over her views on witches. This eclectic group has a long way to go if they wish to succeed and climb the ranks at the Anti-Magic Academy: they must first set aside their differences and come to work together as a team. -- -- 248,539 6.88
Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Ecchi Fantasy Harem Military Romance Supernatural -- Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai Taimadou Gakuen 35 Shiken Shoutai -- In a world plagued by magical dangers and threats, there exist special warriors—known as Inquisitors—who are tasked with non-violently preventing these threats and nefarious actions. The Anti-Magic Academy is a specialized school built to educate and train these Inquisitors, which splits its students into small squads in order to train them to work together. Among these talented squads is the 35th Test Platoon, also known as the "Small Fry Platoon" due to its low ranking and incompetent members. -- -- However, everything changes when Ouka Ootori, a powerful yet rebellious former Inquisitor, is forced into joining due to her tendency to break rules and committing a serious violation: the killing of a witch. Tempers flare upon her arrival, as she clashes with their clumsy captain Takeru Kusanagi and argues with the rest of the squad over her views on witches. This eclectic group has a long way to go if they wish to succeed and climb the ranks at the Anti-Magic Academy: they must first set aside their differences and come to work together as a team. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 248,539 6.88
Taimanin Asagi 2 -- -- T-Rex -- 2 eps -- Visual novel -- Demons Hentai Supernatural -- Taimanin Asagi 2 Taimanin Asagi 2 -- One year has passed since the Chaos Arena was destroyed, Asagi and Sakura were presently on an abandoned street on a man-made island that floated on top of Tokyo Bay. It was an enormous box-shaped island built by the government and referred to as "Tokyo Kingdom." -- -- There was hope that it would become a second city center floating at sea, but it had failed to attract businesses. -- -- The only way of getting to and from the island was through Honshu Island over the 10 kilometer Tokyo Kingdom bridge. Unfortunately, this narrow route was the means in which the inhabitants of hell found their way onto the island, luring anarchists, criminals, and even illegal immigrants there, transforming the streets of the sea bound city into a world-renowned haven for danger. -- -- However abandoned the streets were, order did exist in such a place despite it being a breeding place of crime. -- -- There was a business district at the heart as well as one of Asia's greatest prostitute grottoes. Whether or not it was only the strong who survived, the viability of living there required one not to be careless in making friends with the strong. -- -- (Source: Dark Translations) -- OVA - Oct 30, 2015 -- 6,687 6.30
Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Other -- Adventure Drama Magic -- Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken Taiyou no Ouji: Horus no Daibouken -- Horus is a boy that one day, hunted by silver wolves, found the sword of the sun. The day his father died he left his home to find the people from the town his father told him. Together with a small bear named Koro he starts the journey and runs into a great adventure fighting against Grunwald and his subordinates who want to rule the world. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- Movie - Jul 21, 1968 -- 6,791 6.52
Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou Ningyo no Mori -- -- TMS Entertainment -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Mystery Horror Drama Fantasy -- Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou Ningyo no Mori Takahashi Rumiko Gekijou Ningyo no Mori -- According to an ancient legend, mermaid's flesh can grant immortality if eaten. 500 years ago, Yuta unknowingly ate a piece of mermaid's flesh. For centuries, he travels across Japan, hoping to find a mermaid, thinking she may be able to make him a normal human again. When he finally finds one, he discovers that she and her companions have been raising a girl to be their food so they can eat her and take on her youthful looks. That is how mermaids stay young. Yuta kills the mermaids and rescues her, but she has already eaten some of the mermaid's flesh. Although he had to kill the mermaids, Yuta isn't too disappointed. Yuta's once lonely existence is now over, as he has found a companion in Mana. And Mana, who had been trapped in a small hut her whole life, finds delight in even the simplest of things. Together, Yuta and Mana attempt to seek out more mermaids, trying to become normal humans again. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA -- TV - Oct 5, 2003 -- 22,654 7.05
Tales of Phantasia The Animation -- -- Actas -- 4 eps -- Game -- Adventure Fantasy Shounen -- Tales of Phantasia The Animation Tales of Phantasia The Animation -- Tragedy strikes the lives of Cless Alvein, a young swordsman, and Chester Barklight, a young archer, as they return to their village of Totus to find it razed to the ground by the mysterious Black Knight. To take over the world, the Black Knight seeks to claim the power of the Demon King, Dhaos—sealed away by the ancestors of Cless and a young cleric named Mint Adnade. Dhaos's reawakening signals not only the end of the Black Knight, but potentially the world. Cless and Mint must now journey a century into the past to rally allies capable of vanquishing the Demon King for once and for all. -- -- Tales of Phantasia The Animation follows Cless and Mint's journey through time to long ago, where they forge an alliance with the half-elf sorceress Arche Klaine and the summoner Klarth F. Lester. Together, they strive to defeat Dhaos and his army in saving the past as well as the years to come. -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA -- OVA - Nov 25, 2004 -- 20,850 6.81
Tales of Phantasia The Animation -- -- Actas -- 4 eps -- Game -- Adventure Fantasy Shounen -- Tales of Phantasia The Animation Tales of Phantasia The Animation -- Tragedy strikes the lives of Cless Alvein, a young swordsman, and Chester Barklight, a young archer, as they return to their village of Totus to find it razed to the ground by the mysterious Black Knight. To take over the world, the Black Knight seeks to claim the power of the Demon King, Dhaos—sealed away by the ancestors of Cless and a young cleric named Mint Adnade. Dhaos's reawakening signals not only the end of the Black Knight, but potentially the world. Cless and Mint must now journey a century into the past to rally allies capable of vanquishing the Demon King for once and for all. -- -- Tales of Phantasia The Animation follows Cless and Mint's journey through time to long ago, where they forge an alliance with the half-elf sorceress Arche Klaine and the summoner Klarth F. Lester. Together, they strive to defeat Dhaos and his army in saving the past as well as the years to come. -- OVA - Nov 25, 2004 -- 20,850 6.81
Tamayura no Yume -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Psychological Drama -- Tamayura no Yume Tamayura no Yume -- A girl is informed by her doctor that she is pregnant. Surprised by the unexpected announcement, falls into an anguish. The fleeting dream is a despairing dream. -- -- (Source: Geidai Animation) -- Movie - ??? ??, 2011 -- 292 N/A -- -- Byulbyul Iyagi 2 -- -- - -- 6 eps -- - -- Psychological Drama -- Byulbyul Iyagi 2 Byulbyul Iyagi 2 -- This film consists of 6 animated shorts produced by the Human Rights Commission of Korea. Like the previous movie, the stories deal with seeing the world through the eyes of people who are different from social norms. The film was nominated for Best Animated Feature in 2008 from the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. -- -- 1. "The Third Wish” (AN Dong-hui, RYU Jeong-wu). A fairy godmother appears before a visually impaired young woman to grant her three wishes. But this is no fairytale. The irritable middle-aged fairy wants to finish her job as soon as possible. Yet she proves to be helpful as she leads the woman through a busy marketplace, which is delightfully reminiscent of "Amelie". But it's no walk in the park, as busy urbanites show no consideration for our protagonist. Yet she prevails through obstacles. With a walking stick, she taps together the heels of her shiny new shoes and follows the "yellow brick road" (guiding tiles for the visually impaired) around the city. -- -- 2. "Ajukari” (HONG Deok-pyo) is a street-style cartoon. It comically depicts how a certain macho "complex" can cripple men. Male circumcision becomes the ultimate standard for being "manly" and those who have failed to do the deed are forever fearful of going to public baths. -- -- 3. "Baby" (LEE Hong-su, LEE Hong-min) portrays the difficulties a career woman faces in having a child. "I'm not saying you can't have maternity leave, but can you afford to raise a child while working?" asks her boss. This smart story portrays everything from mother and daughter-in-law relationships to a parody of "Tazza: The High Rollers" and hilarious episodes where an "ambulance bus" picks up several patients en route. -- -- 4. "Shine Shine Shining" (KWON Mi-jeong) is drawn like a warm, watercolor storybook for children. Grade schooler Eun-jin is smart and popular, but she has a secret. She hides her curly hair, which she gets from her Filipino mother, in braids. -- -- 5. "Merry Golasmas" is an adorable claymation, or stop motion animation of models constructed from clay, plasticine, etc. It explores physical discrimination or stereotypes. In an open audition to find a Santa Claus, the real Santas ― one who's black, another who's Asian, a female Santa and one in a wheelchair ― lose to a fake Santa, a pot-bellied, Caucasian. -- -- 6. “Lies" explores homosexuality. Drawn in pastel-like sketches with art deco-esque details, it is a stunning digital cut-out animation, A homosexual man is forced by his parents to marry a woman, while others are pressured to fake having a girlfriend or receive "therapy" to become straight. -- -- (Source: The Korean Times) -- Movie - Apr 17, 2008 -- 257 N/A -- -- Hyoutan -- -- - -- 1 ep -- - -- Psychological -- Hyoutan Hyoutan -- Independent animation by Suzuki Shin'ichi. -- Movie - ??? ??, 1976 -- 252 N/A -- -- Pianoman Trailer -- -- Echoes -- 1 ep -- Original -- Music Psychological -- Pianoman Trailer Pianoman Trailer -- Trailer for Echoes' PIANOMAN with original animation that was not reused in the resulting short film. -- ONA - Dec 28, 2017 -- 243 5.41
Tanoshii Muumin Ikka -- -- Telescreen -- 78 eps -- Book -- Adventure Comedy Fantasy Kids Slice of Life -- Tanoshii Muumin Ikka Tanoshii Muumin Ikka -- Spring has finally arrived in Moomin Valley, giving way to another great adventure for Moomintroll and the rest of its inhabitants. With Snufkin coming home from his winter migration, the locals of the valley finally begin to rise from their hibernation. Finding a mysterious hat, the Moomins cannot bring themselves to throw it away due to its fine quality, instead hoping to eventually find its owner. -- -- While playing games with his friends, Moomin tries to hide in the silk hat. When his friends come looking for him, they are shocked to discover that Moomin has transformed into a hideous creature. Examining himself in the mirror, he is disgusted to find himself completely unrecognizable. -- -- Transforming back to normal after scaring his friends and family, Moomin and Snufkin decide to toss the hat in the river. As it drifts away, they begin to wonder who the hat belonged to and whether its owner will return for their lost possession. -- -- 18,937 8.13
Tantei Gakuen Q -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 45 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Mystery Police Shounen -- Tantei Gakuen Q Tantei Gakuen Q -- Kyuu is your average boy with a knack for logic and reasoning. Desiring to become a detective, he finds out about the existence of the Dan Detective School (DDS); a famed school where students are allowed to bear arms. Together with Megu, a girl with photographic memory, the martial arts master Kinta, the genius programmer Kazuma and the mysterious Ryuu, Kyuu tackles many well planned out crimes, always seeking the truth. -- TV - Apr 15, 2003 -- 28,923 7.76
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Horror Mystery Romance School Shounen Supernatural -- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia Tasogare Otome x Amnesia -- Seikyou Private Academy, built on the intrigue of traditional occult myths, bears a dark past—for 60 years, it has been haunted by a ghost known as Yuuko, a young woman who mysteriously died in the basement of the old school building. With no memory of her life or death, Yuuko discreetly finds and heads the Paranormal Investigations Club in search of answers. -- -- A chance meeting leads Yuuko to cling to diligent freshman Teiichi Niiya, who can see the quirky ghost, they quickly grow close, and he decides to help her. Along with Kirie Kanoe, Yuuko's relative, and the oblivious second year Momoe Okonogi, they delve deep into the infamous Seven Mysteries of the storied school. -- -- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia tells a unique tale of students who work together to shed light on their school's paranormal happenings, all the while inching closer to the truth behind Yuuko's death. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Apr 9, 2012 -- 324,107 7.85
Tasogare Otome x Amnesia -- -- SILVER LINK. -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Horror Mystery Romance School Shounen Supernatural -- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia Tasogare Otome x Amnesia -- Seikyou Private Academy, built on the intrigue of traditional occult myths, bears a dark past—for 60 years, it has been haunted by a ghost known as Yuuko, a young woman who mysteriously died in the basement of the old school building. With no memory of her life or death, Yuuko discreetly finds and heads the Paranormal Investigations Club in search of answers. -- -- A chance meeting leads Yuuko to cling to diligent freshman Teiichi Niiya, who can see the quirky ghost, they quickly grow close, and he decides to help her. Along with Kirie Kanoe, Yuuko's relative, and the oblivious second year Momoe Okonogi, they delve deep into the infamous Seven Mysteries of the storied school. -- -- Tasogare Otome x Amnesia tells a unique tale of students who work together to shed light on their school's paranormal happenings, all the while inching closer to the truth behind Yuuko's death. -- -- TV - Apr 9, 2012 -- 324,107 7.85
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2 -- -- DR Movie, Kinema Citrus -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Drama Fantasy -- Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2 Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2 -- Second season of Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari. -- TV - Oct ??, 2021 -- 251,232 N/ADensetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- -- Zexcs -- 24 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- "Alpha Stigma" are known to be eyes that can analyze all types of magic. However, they are more infamously known as cursed eyes that can only bring destruction and death to others. -- -- Ryner Lute, a talented mage and also an Alpha Stigma bearer, was once a student of the Roland Empire's Magician Academy, an elite school dedicated to training magicians for military purposes. However, after many of his classmates died in a war, he makes an oath to make the nation a more orderly and peaceful place, with fellow survivor and best friend, Sion Astal. -- -- Now that Sion is the the king of Roland, he orders Ryner to search for useful relics that will aid the nation. Together with Ferris Eris, a beautiful and highly skilled swordswoman, Ryner goes on a journey to search for relics of legendary heroes from the past, and also uncover the secrets behind his cursed eyes. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Jul 2, 2010 -- 250,632 7.59
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2 -- -- DR Movie, Kinema Citrus -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Drama Fantasy -- Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2 Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 2 -- Second season of Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari. -- TV - Oct ??, 2021 -- 251,232 N/ADensetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- -- Zexcs -- 24 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Magic Fantasy Shounen -- Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu -- "Alpha Stigma" are known to be eyes that can analyze all types of magic. However, they are more infamously known as cursed eyes that can only bring destruction and death to others. -- -- Ryner Lute, a talented mage and also an Alpha Stigma bearer, was once a student of the Roland Empire's Magician Academy, an elite school dedicated to training magicians for military purposes. However, after many of his classmates died in a war, he makes an oath to make the nation a more orderly and peaceful place, with fellow survivor and best friend, Sion Astal. -- -- Now that Sion is the the king of Roland, he orders Ryner to search for useful relics that will aid the nation. Together with Ferris Eris, a beautiful and highly skilled swordswoman, Ryner goes on a journey to search for relics of legendary heroes from the past, and also uncover the secrets behind his cursed eyes. -- -- TV - Jul 2, 2010 -- 250,632 7.59
Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 3 -- -- - -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Drama Fantasy -- Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 3 Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari Season 3 -- Third season of Tate no Yuusha no Nariagari. -- TV - ??? ??, ???? -- 127,135 N/A -- -- Kimi no Iru Machi -- -- Gonzo -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Drama Romance Shounen -- Kimi no Iru Machi Kimi no Iru Machi -- Haruto Kirishima lived a calm life out in the countryside, away from the fast-paced life of the city. Then Yuzuki Eba appeared in his life out of nowhere, having come from Tokyo to briefly live with her family. Their time together left him enamored with the memories of that short period before she just as abruptly disappeared from his life, and left him full of questions. -- -- Kimi no Iru Machi begins some time later, after Haruto moves to Tokyo to live with his sister, in order to pursue a career as a cook. In reality though he wishes to be with Yuzuki. Things don't start good though. When he arrives he is mistaken for a burglar and attacked by his sister's neighbour Mishima Asuka. After the misunderstanding is cleared his feelings begin to waver though. Is Eba, who keeps avoiding him for seemingly no reason, the one for him or is it Asuka? -- -- Licensor: -- Nozomi Entertainment -- TV - Jul 13, 2013 -- 127,052 6.92
Teekyuu -- -- MAPPA -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy School Shounen Sports -- Teekyuu Teekyuu -- Teekyuu is all about the wacky antics of four schoolgirls—Kanae Shinjou gets bored easily and often breaks the laws of physics to get what she wants; Nasuno Takamiya is incredibly rich and knows how to make things go her way; Marimo Bandou would probably get arrested from her actions like eating panties or kidnapping children; and Yuri Oshimoto, their ordinary junior, rounds out the eccentric bunch that forms the sole members of their school's tennis club. -- -- Despite their interest in learning the sport, the older girls prefer messing around, while Yuri, being the only one who actually knows how to play and the most mature in spite of being younger, has to deal with her seniors' out of control behavior. -- -- When these four girls come together, insanity ensues in this lightning-paced comedy about a tennis club that doesn't really play tennis. -- -- 55,690 6.59
Tegamibachi Reverse -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Supernatural Fantasy Shounen -- Tegamibachi Reverse Tegamibachi Reverse -- After Niche carries the wounded and stunned Lag back to the Bee Hive, the Letter Bee finally begins to piece the puzzle together. Now he knows what's happened to Gauche, why the Marauders are so focused on stealing mail and the actual intent of the group controlling both, Reverse. However, when he's forbidden to reveal the truth, Lag is soon forced out of the artificial sunlight and back into the world of perpetual night. And soon Reverse's plot to take down the Letter Bees and overthrow the Amberground government begins to accelerate. If things weren't already bad enough, the giant insect creatures called gaichuu are apparently evolving into something new; there may be traitors working within the Hive; and Niche's sister, who's definitely not human friendly, shows up to turn family drama into a full-scale siege! It all spells serious trouble for the Letter Bees, but if anyone can weather the storms and gloom of night, Lag and his team are the ones who'll deliver. -- -- (Source: FUNimation) -- 55,008 7.77
Tegamibachi Reverse -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 25 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Supernatural Fantasy Shounen -- Tegamibachi Reverse Tegamibachi Reverse -- After Niche carries the wounded and stunned Lag back to the Bee Hive, the Letter Bee finally begins to piece the puzzle together. Now he knows what's happened to Gauche, why the Marauders are so focused on stealing mail and the actual intent of the group controlling both, Reverse. However, when he's forbidden to reveal the truth, Lag is soon forced out of the artificial sunlight and back into the world of perpetual night. And soon Reverse's plot to take down the Letter Bees and overthrow the Amberground government begins to accelerate. If things weren't already bad enough, the giant insect creatures called gaichuu are apparently evolving into something new; there may be traitors working within the Hive; and Niche's sister, who's definitely not human friendly, shows up to turn family drama into a full-scale siege! It all spells serious trouble for the Letter Bees, but if anyone can weather the storms and gloom of night, Lag and his team are the ones who'll deliver. -- -- (Source: FUNimation) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 55,008 7.77
Tenchi Muyou! GXP -- -- AIC -- 26 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Harem Mecha Police Sci-Fi Shounen Space -- Tenchi Muyou! GXP Tenchi Muyou! GXP -- From crashing his bike to falling in lakes, Seina Yamada just cannot shake the bad luck that follows him. But his fortune begins to change when he is forcibly recruited into the Galaxy Police and ends up capturing the most pirates in the force. -- -- Now, Seina is no longer just the unfortunate boy from Earth; he is a man that pirates have come to fear. Despite his reputation, Seina is still the same clumsy guy, but at least he has Amane Kaunaq, a former model, and Kiriko Masaki, his long time friend, to keep him together. With their help, Seina sets out on an adventure in the hopes of becoming a great Galaxy Police Officer. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Apr 2, 2002 -- 26,510 7.17
Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 3rd Season -- -- AIC -- 6 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Harem Sci-Fi Shounen Space -- Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 3rd Season Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 3rd Season -- Ever since his powers awakened, Tenchi Masaki has attracted the attention of many powerful galactic beings, including the mysterious Lady Takami who dispatches her best warrior, Z, to observe him. Though he is under strict orders not to harm Tenchi, Z has no intention of playing by the rules and begins plotting his demise. -- -- Meanwhile, on Earth, Tenchi tries to piece together more information about his family and the universe. But as usual, his life won't be getting any easier, as his entire household enters a state of panic when Noike Kamiki Jurai—a woman claiming to be Tenchi’s fiancée—shows up out of the blue. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Sep 18, 2003 -- 17,940 7.31
Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 3rd Season -- -- AIC -- 6 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Harem Sci-Fi Shounen Space -- Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 3rd Season Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 3rd Season -- Ever since his powers awakened, Tenchi Masaki has attracted the attention of many powerful galactic beings, including the mysterious Lady Takami who dispatches her best warrior, Z, to observe him. Though he is under strict orders not to harm Tenchi, Z has no intention of playing by the rules and begins plotting his demise. -- -- Meanwhile, on Earth, Tenchi tries to piece together more information about his family and the universe. But as usual, his life won't be getting any easier, as his entire household enters a state of panic when Noike Kamiki Jurai—a woman claiming to be Tenchi’s fiancée—shows up out of the blue. -- -- OVA - Sep 18, 2003 -- 17,940 7.31
Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 4th Season -- -- AIC -- 4 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Harem Space Comedy Shounen -- Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 4th Season Tenchi Muyou! Ryououki 4th Season -- The entire Jurai and Masaki family is in a celebratory mood as Nobuyuki and Rea are finally tying the knot! In the days leading up to his father's wedding, Tenchi reunites with those he met throughout his journey as well as gets acquainted with some new family members. Though this is a blissful time where everyone is finally together, there is one major bump in the road: Rea holds a major secret that will change the fate of her future child and disturb the balance of the Masaki family. -- -- OVA - Nov 30, 2016 -- 5,731 6.64
Tenki no Ko -- -- CoMix Wave Films -- 1 ep -- Original -- Slice of Life Drama Romance Fantasy -- Tenki no Ko Tenki no Ko -- Tokyo is currently experiencing rain showers that seem to disrupt the usual pace of everyone living there to no end. Amidst this seemingly eternal downpour arrives the runaway high school student Hodaka Morishima, who struggles to financially support himself—ending up with a job at a small-time publisher. At the same time, the orphaned Hina Amano also strives to find work to sustain herself and her younger brother. -- -- Both fates intertwine when Hodaka attempts to rescue Hina from shady men, deciding to run away together. Subsequently, Hodaka discovers that Hina has a strange yet astounding power: the ability to call out the sun whenever she prays for it. With Tokyo's unusual weather in mind, Hodaka sees the potential of this ability. He suggests that Hina should become a "sunshine girl"—someone who will clear the sky for people when they need it the most. -- -- Things begin looking up for them at first. However, it is common knowledge that power always comes with a hefty price... -- -- -- Licensor: -- GKIDS -- Movie - Jul 19, 2019 -- 545,419 8.38
Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa -- -- Studio Ghibli -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Fantasy Romance Sci-Fi -- Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa -- In a world filled with planes and airships, Sheeta is a young girl who has been kidnapped by government agents who seek her mysterious crystal amulet. While trapped aboard an airship, she finds herself without hope—that is, until the ship is raided by pirates. Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion, Sheeta manages to flee from her captors. Upon her escape, she meets Pazu, a boy who dreams of reaching the fabled flying castle, Laputa. The two decide to embark on a journey together to discover this castle in the sky. However, they soon find the government agents back on their trail, as they too are trying to reach Laputa for their own greedy purposes. -- -- Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa follows the soaring adventures of Sheeta and Pazu, all while they learn how dreams and dire circumstances can bring two people closer together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- GKIDS, Walt Disney Studios -- Movie - Aug 2, 1986 -- 352,125 8.30
Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa -- -- Studio Ghibli -- 1 ep -- Original -- Adventure Fantasy Romance Sci-Fi -- Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa -- In a world filled with planes and airships, Sheeta is a young girl who has been kidnapped by government agents who seek her mysterious crystal amulet. While trapped aboard an airship, she finds herself without hope—that is, until the ship is raided by pirates. Taking advantage of the ensuing confusion, Sheeta manages to flee from her captors. Upon her escape, she meets Pazu, a boy who dreams of reaching the fabled flying castle, Laputa. The two decide to embark on a journey together to discover this castle in the sky. However, they soon find the government agents back on their trail, as they too are trying to reach Laputa for their own greedy purposes. -- -- Tenkuu no Shiro Laputa follows the soaring adventures of Sheeta and Pazu, all while they learn how dreams and dire circumstances can bring two people closer together. -- -- Movie - Aug 2, 1986 -- 352,125 8.30
Tenshi no Tamago -- -- Studio Deen -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia Drama Fantasy -- Tenshi no Tamago Tenshi no Tamago -- The surrealist world of Tenshi no Tamago is desolate and devoid of the bustle of traditional everyday life. Instead, the world is filled with ominous phenomena, including floating orbs populated with statues of goddesses, gargantuan army tanks that seem to move unmanned, armies of fishermen who chase after the shadows of nonexistent fish, and caverns solely decorated with glass vessels of water. -- -- In this run-down world, a young girl takes care of a large egg and scavenges for food and drink. She encounters a mysterious man with a cross over his shoulder, who soon becomes curious about who she is and what her egg contains. They decide to explore the lost and broken landscape together, questioning each other about the nature of faith, the purpose of the world, and the origins of their lives. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Anchor Bay Films -- OVA - Dec 22, 1985 -- 95,684 7.69
Tenshi no Tamago -- -- Studio Deen -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia Drama Fantasy -- Tenshi no Tamago Tenshi no Tamago -- The surrealist world of Tenshi no Tamago is desolate and devoid of the bustle of traditional everyday life. Instead, the world is filled with ominous phenomena, including floating orbs populated with statues of goddesses, gargantuan army tanks that seem to move unmanned, armies of fishermen who chase after the shadows of nonexistent fish, and caverns solely decorated with glass vessels of water. -- -- In this run-down world, a young girl takes care of a large egg and scavenges for food and drink. She encounters a mysterious man with a cross over his shoulder, who soon becomes curious about who she is and what her egg contains. They decide to explore the lost and broken landscape together, questioning each other about the nature of faith, the purpose of the world, and the origins of their lives. -- -- OVA - Dec 22, 1985 -- 95,684 7.69
Texhnolyze -- -- Madhouse -- 22 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Psychological Drama -- Texhnolyze Texhnolyze -- Texhnolyze takes place in the city of Lux, a man-made underground city that has crumbled after years of neglect and lack of repairs. Citizens of Lux have come to refer to their home as simply "The City" and treat it as though it has a mind and will of its own. Three major factions battle to control Lux: Organo, a group of "professionals" who collaborate with the criminal underworld that controls Texhnolyze (prosthetics), the Salvation Union, a populist group that seeks to disrupt Organo's business, and Racan, a collection of young individuals with Texhnolyzes that use their abilities for personal gain. -- -- Ichise was once an orphan who has made a place for himself in Lux as a prize fighter. One day, a fight promoter grows angry with him and the altercation that follows results in Ichise losing an arm and a leg. Before death can take him, Ichise is found by the scientist Eriko Kamata, who uses him as a test subject for her newly designed Texhnolyze. With these powerful new limbs at his disposal, Ichise begins to work for Oonishi, the leader of Organo. He soon meets a mysterious young girl, Ran, who has the power to see possible futures. Together, they soon realize that Lux is on the brink of war and collapse, and that they may be the only ones who can save The City. -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, Geneon Entertainment USA -- 187,926 7.76
Tezuka Osamu no Buddha: Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Drama Historical Military Supernatural -- Tezuka Osamu no Buddha: Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku Tezuka Osamu no Buddha: Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku -- In ancient Nepal, the lives of the re plagued by drought, famine, constant warfare and the injustices of the strict caste system. The intertwining lives of many unhappy souls are drawn together by the birth of the young prince Siddhartha, who embarks on a spiritual journey, becomes Buddha, "the Enlightened One," and attempts to bring about a spiritual rebirth of the people in this desperate age. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- Movie - May 28, 2011 -- 7,820 6.99
The Big O -- -- Sunrise -- 26 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Mystery Psychological Mecha -- The Big O The Big O -- Paradigm City, a city of amnesia and a place of belonging. It remains populated by forgotten pasts and the ruins of their labors due to a calamity 40 years ago. Shrouded in a fog-like mystery, it is up to people like Roger Smith to shine a light through the mist. Acting as a professional negotiator and suave agent, Roger is a self-tailored ladies man whose only love is for funeral black. However, as he gets deeply involved with his clients, what often starts as a simple negotiation evolves into Roger saving Paradigm from crime and peril. -- -- In the process, Roger stumbles even deeper into the untold folds of the city. As a rule, things are hardly ever as they appear. Serving as gray knight in a gray world, Roger is not without allies. By his side are Norman, a loyal and widely skilled butler, and Dorothy, a human-like android with deadpan snark. Together with the relic Big O, a jet-black mecha of gargantuan size and weight, they help Roger serve iron justice to Paradigm's lurking villains as he discovers the truth about 40 years ago. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Oct 13, 1999 -- 77,182 7.53
The iDOLM@STER -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 25 eps -- Game -- Music Comedy Drama -- The iDOLM@STER The iDOLM@STER -- 765 Production Studio manages the unique talents of 13 professional idols as they slowly make their way to the top and become country-wide celebrities. But the girls' journey is far from just fun and games: hard work, sweat, and tears are some of the prerequisites needed to flourish in this industry—and for 765 Pro in particular, a watchful eye out for their rival, the infamous 961 Production. -- -- As the girls' fame grows, however, their time together as a family diminishes, and now the very popularity they sought is threatening to tear them apart. A difficult balance of work and bonding must be achieved, or they risk everyone going their separate ways. The personal and professional ordeals of these idols can't be conquered alone, but with each other's loving support, any obstacle or hardship can be overcome! -- -- 132,397 7.62
The Impression of First Gundam -- -- Sunrise -- 1 ep -- - -- Action Mecha Military Sci-Fi Space -- The Impression of First Gundam The Impression of First Gundam -- Screened together with Gundam: Mission to the Rise at Gundam's 20th Anniversary event "Gundam Big Bang Sengen" in Pacifico Yokohama National Convention Hall. -- -- Selected scenes from Kidou Senshi Gundam were re-edited for three giant projection screens to give the widescreen feel to the original 4:3 aspect footage. They were also computer synchronized to sweeping lights and lasers to simulate space battles. The soundtrack was remixed for six-channel surround sound. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- Special - Aug 1, 1998 -- 1,425 5.41
Tiger & Bunny -- -- Sunrise -- 25 eps -- Original -- Action Mystery Comedy Super Power -- Tiger & Bunny Tiger & Bunny -- In Stern Bild City, those with special abilities are called "NEXT," and can use their powers for good or bad. A unique organized group of NEXT appear regularly on Hero TV, where they chase down evildoers to bring limelight to their sponsors and earn Hero Points in the hopes of becoming the next "King of Heroes." -- -- Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, known as "Wild Tiger," is a veteran hero whose performance has been dwindling as of late, partially due to his inability to cooperate with other heroes. After a disappointing season in which most of the other heroes far outperformed Tiger, he is paired up with a brand new hero who identifies himself by his real name—Barnaby Brooks Jr. -- -- Barnaby, nicknamed "Bunny" by his frivolous new partner, quickly makes it clear that the two could not be more different. Though they mix as well as oil and water, Tiger and Bunny must learn to work together, both for the sake of their careers and to face the looming threats within Stern Bild. -- -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- TV - Apr 3, 2011 -- 188,769 7.93
Tiger & Bunny -- -- Sunrise -- 25 eps -- Original -- Action Mystery Comedy Super Power -- Tiger & Bunny Tiger & Bunny -- In Stern Bild City, those with special abilities are called "NEXT," and can use their powers for good or bad. A unique organized group of NEXT appear regularly on Hero TV, where they chase down evildoers to bring limelight to their sponsors and earn Hero Points in the hopes of becoming the next "King of Heroes." -- -- Kotetsu T. Kaburagi, known as "Wild Tiger," is a veteran hero whose performance has been dwindling as of late, partially due to his inability to cooperate with other heroes. After a disappointing season in which most of the other heroes far outperformed Tiger, he is paired up with a brand new hero who identifies himself by his real name—Barnaby Brooks Jr. -- -- Barnaby, nicknamed "Bunny" by his frivolous new partner, quickly makes it clear that the two could not be more different. Though they mix as well as oil and water, Tiger and Bunny must learn to work together, both for the sake of their careers and to face the looming threats within Stern Bild. -- -- TV - Apr 3, 2011 -- 188,769 7.93
Toaru Majutsu no Index II -- -- J.C.Staff -- 24 eps -- Light novel -- Action Magic Sci-Fi Super Power -- Toaru Majutsu no Index II Toaru Majutsu no Index II -- As tensions between the world of magic and Academy City continues to rise, Touma Kamijou and his hand of negation must face off against both esper and magician in order to protect the lives of those around him. Of course, he is not alone in his fight; whether by his side or out of sight, allies and enemies both old and new will enter the fray to help him. -- -- Toaru Majutsu no Index II continues the story of action and comedy, as the scale of Touma and his allies' battle grows ever larger. A conflict is slowly brewing on the horizon, and magic and science will cross paths once again in the war to come. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 379,139 7.59
TO -- -- - -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Action Sci-Fi Space Drama Seinen -- TO TO -- Elliptical Orbit: -- Fifteen years after its last contact with our world, a space freighter known as the Flying Dutchman requests permission to dock at a remote moon base. This mysterious ship carries liquid protons: a power source essential to the survival of Earth’s population. But before the precious cargo can be delivered, the base is ambushed by galactic terrorists who seek to destroy the new form of energy and issue a death sentence to all of humanity. -- -- -- Symbiotic Planet: -- Against a backdrop of intergalactic colonization and bizarre alien life forms, Aon and Elena – star-crossed lovers from rival countries competing for valuable natural resources – struggle to build a life together despite the objections of their superiors. Their budding romance is thwarted by an outbreak of alien fungus and the interference of a cutthroat militaristic madman. To survive, the young couple must maintain their faith in each other and learn to trust the unique creatures which inhabit this strange and wondrous new world. -- -- (Source: Funimation) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Oct 2, 2009 -- 5,096 6.39
To Heart -- -- OLM -- 13 eps -- Visual novel -- Drama Harem Romance School Slice of Life -- To Heart To Heart -- For as long as Akari can remember, she and Hiroyuki have always been friends. But with time, everything changes, and her feelings have turned into something more. As a new semester of high school begins, will the two childhood friends come closer together or drift further apart? Join Hiroyuki, Akari and all their friends—the bubbly Shiho, the quiet Serika, the lovely Kotone, and more—in this heartwarming tale of love, relationships and friendship! -- -- (Source: RightStuf) -- -- Licensor: -- Nozomi Entertainment -- 22,919 6.59
Toki-iro Kaima -- -- - -- 4 eps -- - -- Horror Shounen -- Toki-iro Kaima Toki-iro Kaima -- Anime adaptation of the same name horror manga by Suzumiya Wayu, serialized in Shogakuan's Weekly Shonen Sunday special issue. -- OVA - Apr 20, 1989 -- 343 N/A -- -- Mechano: Scientific Attack Force -- -- - -- 3 eps -- - -- Comedy Dementia Fantasy Horror Music Parody -- Mechano: Scientific Attack Force Mechano: Scientific Attack Force -- Three 10-minute videos present a trippy view into the minds of their creators. Brought together by Pierre Taki of Denki Groove, Mechano: Scientific Attack Force features three shorts done in very different styles. -- -- The three short films are: -- -- "Plastic Gun Man" - a 3D Western spoof -- "World Meccano Triangle" - a music video reminiscent of '90s era screensavers -- "Haiirogaoka no Soridaijin" (translated as "Prime Minister of Gray Hill") - an anime-style animated video parody of Akira Mochizuki's famous 1977 manga, Yuuhi ga Oka no Souri Daijin -- OVA - Sep 1, 1995 -- 334 N/A -- -- Hwasan Golae -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Horror Thriller -- Hwasan Golae Hwasan Golae -- In the year 2070, mankind faces a life threatening crisis due to huge earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Korea is in a state of anarchy and Busan is swarming with refugees. Young street dealer Ha-jin has the ability to communicate with whales – a fact she keeps hidden from everyone. One day, a onearmed woman named Baek Sang-won asks Ha-jin to join her in the gules whale hunt. Painful memories lead Ha-jin to turn down the offer initially, but she eventually ends up joining Baek. As she makes friends on the ship, she grows curious about the gules whale and learns that every crew member has a sad gules story. The madness in the crews’ eyes as they try to kill the gules brings Ha-jin’s trauma to the forefront of her mind – and she experiences her own madness. -- -- (Source: Korean Film Biz Zone) -- Movie - Sep 10, 2015 -- 322 N/A -- -- Shin Gakkou no Yuurei -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Horror Demons Supernatural Thriller School -- Shin Gakkou no Yuurei Shin Gakkou no Yuurei -- Following the popularity of the original omnibus OVA, this release offers 4 more stories but in animation only. -- OVA - Jun 11, 1999 -- 316 N/A -- -- Burning Village -- -- - -- 10 eps -- - -- Fantasy Horror -- Burning Village Burning Village -- Animal folk tales set in the titular community, in which local eccentric Ohahai retells several popular fairy tales with considerable license. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- OVA - May 1, 1989 -- 314 N/A -- -- Petit Petit Muse -- -- - -- 26 eps -- Original -- Cars Horror Kids -- Petit Petit Muse Petit Petit Muse -- Two twins, Ara and Ari, aspire into the world of fashion. Ara wants to become a fashion model, while her sister, Ari, wants to become a fashion designer. They meet a man named Yorang, who is the fashion designer in Heaven. -- 311 N/A -- -- Kaibutsu-kun: Demon no Ken -- -- Shin-Ei Animation -- 1 ep -- - -- Comedy Horror Kids Shounen -- Kaibutsu-kun: Demon no Ken Kaibutsu-kun: Demon no Ken -- Based on the shounen manga by Fujiko Fujio. -- -- Note: Screened as a triple feature with Doraemon: Nobita no Daimakyou and Ninja Hattori-kun: Nin Nin Ninpo Enikki no Maki. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- Movie - Mar 13, 1982 -- 307 N/A -- -- Fire Emblem Heroes Book III Movie:Cohort of the Dead -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Game -- Action Game Horror Supernatural Fantasy -- Fire Emblem Heroes Book III Movie:Cohort of the Dead Fire Emblem Heroes Book III Movie:Cohort of the Dead -- A mini movie released on the Fire Emblem Heroes website in honor of a major plot twist in Book 3. -- Special - Jul 21, 2019 -- 292 6.23
Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season -- -- Pierrot Plus, Studio Pierrot -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Drama Horror Mystery Psychological Seinen Supernatural -- Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season Tokyo Ghoul:re 2nd Season -- After the conclusion of the Tsukiyama Family Extermination Operation, the members of the Commission of Counter Ghouls (CCG) have grown exponentially in power and continue to pursue their goal of exterminating every ghoul in Japan. Having resigned from Quinx Squad, the now seemingly emotionless Haise Sasaki begins taking on more and more tasks from the CCG with no regard to the difficulty. Despite his vacant expressions, Ken Kaneki's memories are resurfacing in Haise, leaving him in a state of internal conflict. Meanwhile, his new coldhearted behavior is affecting the people around him. Quinx Squad are left in shambles, having to cope with the death of one of their members without the support of their former mentor. -- -- Amidst this turmoil, both Quinx Squad and Haise must continue to fulfill their duties to the CCG, whether willingly or not. However, the presence of a mysterious group behind the CCG has been made known to Haise, and certain whispers of corruption have not gone unheard by the Quinx Squad as well. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 521,694 6.35
Tokyo Godfathers -- -- Madhouse -- 1 ep -- Original -- Comedy Drama -- Tokyo Godfathers Tokyo Godfathers -- One Christmas Eve, Hana, Gin, and Miyuki are rummaging for presents through heaps of garbage when they chance upon an abandoned baby in the cold winter night. Appalled at the pitiful sight, Hana's maternal instincts kick in and she insists on finding the baby's biological mother to demand an explanation. Naming the baby Kiyoko—meaning pure child—they begin their search using the possible clues left alongside her: a mysterious key and a single note. However, their plans are soon thrown into disarray as they get caught up in a series of unprecedented events. -- -- Tokyo Godfathers follows the journey of the trio as they stick together through thick and thin, hoping to deliver Kiyoko to her true home, and find their very own Christmas miracle. -- -- -- Licensor: -- GKIDS, Sony Pictures Entertainment -- Movie - Nov 8, 2003 -- 206,852 8.29
Tokyo Marble Chocolate -- -- Production I.G -- 2 eps -- Original -- Slice of Life Romance -- Tokyo Marble Chocolate Tokyo Marble Chocolate -- Serious and generous, but a bit shy, Yuudai has been unsuccessful with the opposite gender. Chizuru is an energetic and cheerful girl, but when it comes to boyfriends, she's been unlucky and clumsy, and never had a steady relationship. This is the first Christmas the couple spends together. Chizuru loves animals and Yuudai plans to give her a rabbit in a box, but it turns out to be... a mini donkey?! As the funny creature escapes, Chizuru goes after it, and Yuudai loses sight of them both! -- -- The time that should have been spent together... -- The important feeling that should have been revealed... -- Small, but precious things that tend to be buried in every day life. -- What answer will the two youngsters find while separated from each other? -- -- Yuudai and Chizuru—their feelings and the time they spent far from each other are delicately unfolded in this double-sided pure love story told from two different perspectives! -- -- (Source: Production I.G) -- OVA - Dec 5, 2007 -- 22,688 7.20
Tomie -- -- Studio Deen -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Drama Horror Josei Supernatural -- Tomie Tomie -- Memories, both good and bad, suffuse the high school experience. Whether it's hanging out with friends or cramming for tests, everyone has something they will remember from that time in their lives. At a certain high school, one class is faced with an event that can cause people to look back on their high school days in sadness: the death of a student. -- -- The deceased is not just any student—she's Tomie Kawakami, a popular girl with an almost otherworldly beauty. Her death was particularly gruesome: her body was dismembered and the pieces scattered. As the class tries to make sense of the situation, they are shocked when a familiar voice calls out to them from the doorway, apologizing for being late. -- -- With raven hair and a beauty mark under her left eye, this girl is the spitting image of their murdered classmate. But she can't actually be Tomie, right? -- -- Special - Apr 27, 2018 -- 19,452 5.97
Tonagura! -- -- Daume -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Drama Ecchi Romance School -- Tonagura! Tonagura! -- Kazuki has been awaiting 10 years for the day when her neighbours moved back to their old house. She has a crush on Yuuji, whom she considers as her first love but to whom she never managed to express her feelings for him before they moved out. Yuuji often comes over to play with Kazuki, Kazuki's older sister Hatsune and Yuuji's sister Marie when they were kids. Her ideal depiction of Yuuji was soon shattered when he turned out more than she had expected, him acting all ecchi during their reunion. With their parents off in South America, both families must learn to live with each other and rekindle the childhood feelings they shared together. Things get even more crazy as they attend the same school. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Jul 9, 2006 -- 43,172 6.73
Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun -- -- Brain's Base -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance School Shoujo -- Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun Tonari no Kaibutsu-kun -- Shizuku Mizutani is apathetic towards her classmates, only caring about her grades. However, her cold view of life begins to change when she meets Haru Yoshida, a violent troublemaker who stopped attending class after getting into a fight early in the school year. He is not much different from her, though—he too understands little about human nature and does not have any friends. Much to Shizuku's surprise, he proclaims that she will be his friend and immediately confesses his feelings towards her upon meeting her. -- -- Because of her lack of friends and social interaction, Shizuku has a hard time understanding her relationship with Haru. But slowly, their friendship begins to progress, and she discovers that there is more to Haru than violence. She begins to develop feelings for him, but is unsure what kind of emotions she is experiencing. Together, Shizuku and Haru explore the true nature of their relationship and emotions. -- -- -- Licensor: -- NIS America, Inc. -- TV - Oct 2, 2012 -- 803,824 7.53
Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san -- -- AXsiZ, Studio Gokumi -- 12 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy Shoujo Ai Slice of Life Supernatural Vampire -- Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san Tonari no Kyuuketsuki-san -- Rumors tell about an ageless girl who only comes out at night, living in a mansion in the middle of the forest. Some say that she is a living doll with a soul. Upon hearing these rumors, Akari Amano seeks out this girl, only to find herself lost as she treks through the woods amidst the darkness. -- -- A vampire named Sophie Twilight saves her, turning out to be the rumored girl. However, unlike the vampires told in myths, Sophie does not attack humans and instead orders her blood online. Akari instantly becomes charmed with her doll-like appearance and proceeds to abruptly move in with her, thus starting their life together. -- -- 79,798 7.09
Tonikaku Kawaii -- -- Seven Arcs -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Romance Shounen -- Tonikaku Kawaii Tonikaku Kawaii -- Nasa Yuzaki is determined to leave his name in the history books. Ranking first in the national mock exam and aiming for a distinguished high school, he is certain that he has his whole life mapped out. However, fate is a fickle mistress. On his way home one snowy evening, Nasa's eyes fall upon a peerless beauty across the street. Bewitched, Nasa tries to approach her—only to get blindsided by an oncoming truck. -- -- Thankfully, his life is spared due to the girl's swift action. Bleeding by the side of an ambulance, he watches as the girl walks away under the moonlight—reminiscent of Princess Kaguya leaving for the moon. Refusing to let this chance meeting end, he forces his crippled body to chase after her and asks her out. Surprised by his foolhardiness and pure resolve, the girl accepts his confession under a single condition: they can only be together if he marries her! -- -- 375,441 7.94
Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster -- -- Gainax -- 6 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Drama Mecha Military Sci-Fi Shounen Space -- Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster -- In the near future, humanity has taken its first steps towards journeying into the far reaches of the galaxy. Upon doing so they discover a huge race of insectoid aliens known as "Space Monsters." These aliens seem dedicated to the eradication of mankind as they near closer and closer to discovering Earth. In response, humanity develops giant fighting robots piloted by hand-picked youth from around the world. -- -- Shortly after the discovery of the aliens, Noriko Takaya, the daughter of a famous deceased space captain, enters a training school despite her questionable talents as a pilot. There, she meets her polar opposite, the beautiful and talented Kazumi Amano, and is unexpectedly made to work together with her as they attempt to overcome the trauma of war as well as their own emotions. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Visual USA -- OVA - Oct 7, 1988 -- 99,488 7.89
Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster -- -- Gainax -- 6 eps -- Original -- Action Comedy Drama Mecha Military Sci-Fi Shounen Space -- Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster Top wo Nerae! Gunbuster -- In the near future, humanity has taken its first steps towards journeying into the far reaches of the galaxy. Upon doing so they discover a huge race of insectoid aliens known as "Space Monsters." These aliens seem dedicated to the eradication of mankind as they near closer and closer to discovering Earth. In response, humanity develops giant fighting robots piloted by hand-picked youth from around the world. -- -- Shortly after the discovery of the aliens, Noriko Takaya, the daughter of a famous deceased space captain, enters a training school despite her questionable talents as a pilot. There, she meets her polar opposite, the beautiful and talented Kazumi Amano, and is unexpectedly made to work together with her as they attempt to overcome the trauma of war as well as their own emotions. -- -- OVA - Oct 7, 1988 -- 99,488 7.89
Toriko -- -- Toei Animation -- 147 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Shounen -- Toriko Toriko -- Hamburgers that grow out of the ground like four-leaf clovers, mountain ranges carved out of ice cream, and warm servings of mac and cheese that stew deep within the stomachs of volcanoes fill the landscape. This world of delectable natural wonders has reached a prime age of exploration—the Gourmet Age! Citizens and chefs alike aspire to taste and prepare the finest dishes, while adventurers called "Gourmet Hunters" seek out delicious rare ingredients. -- -- Possessing a unique set of skills, the wild and passionate Gourmet Hunter Toriko is infamous for discovering 2% of all known ingredients. Together with his friend Komatsu—a highly skilled chef working at a five-star hotel—Toriko strives to complete his Full Course Menu of Life. But it isn’t going to be easy; in order to obtain the most delicious ingredients, Toriko must battle against obstacles like deadly monsters, evil organizations, and food itself! -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 103,881 7.55
Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Slice of Life Comedy Historical Drama Fantasy -- Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru -- In the year 2205, a special sage known as Saniwa has the ability to breathe life into inanimate objects. At the same time, dark forces have initiated a plot to travel back in time and change the course of history—and the only ones capable of stopping them are the Saniwa and their strongest animations: historical Japanese swords, in the form of handsome young men. -- -- Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru opens on the life of Yamatonokami Yasusada, Souji Okita's beloved uchigatana, as he begins his first day at the Saniwa's citadel. Soon reuniting with his old friend, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, the two are caught up in the daily antics of their fellow sword warriors. They never miss an opportunity to have fun, whether it be through wild snowball fights or introducing their newest comrades to the citadel. Of course, when the government calls, the swords are always ready to fulfill their mission of protecting history. -- -- 68,208 6.81
Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Game -- Action Slice of Life Comedy Historical Drama Fantasy -- Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru -- In the year 2205, a special sage known as Saniwa has the ability to breathe life into inanimate objects. At the same time, dark forces have initiated a plot to travel back in time and change the course of history—and the only ones capable of stopping them are the Saniwa and their strongest animations: historical Japanese swords, in the form of handsome young men. -- -- Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru opens on the life of Yamatonokami Yasusada, Souji Okita's beloved uchigatana, as he begins his first day at the Saniwa's citadel. Soon reuniting with his old friend, Kashuu Kiyomitsu, the two are caught up in the daily antics of their fellow sword warriors. They never miss an opportunity to have fun, whether it be through wild snowball fights or introducing their newest comrades to the citadel. Of course, when the government calls, the swords are always ready to fulfill their mission of protecting history. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 68,208 6.81
Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- -- Shin-Ei Animation, TMS Entertainment -- 24 eps -- Original -- Sci-Fi Mystery Psychological Drama -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- Kogorou Akechi is the founder of a private investigation firm known as the Boy Detectives' Club. Together, this group takes on cases both great and small. One of their junior members, Kensuke Hanasaki, is out solving a case one day when he happens upon Yoshio Kobayashi, a mysterious amnesiac boy with an inability to die. After seeing his abilities in action, Kensuke offers Yoshio a deal: join the Boy Detectives' Club and help them solve cases, and in exchange he will find a way to help Yoshio die. -- -- The apathetic Yoshio accepts this deal begrudgingly, unaware of how different his life will become. Although he does not have much use for people, he gradually begins to acknowledge the group as he spends more time with them while solving cases. -- -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori follows Akechi and the rest of the Boy Detectives' Club as they solve the various cases they are given, all while combating a hidden threat from the shadows—"The Fiend with Twenty Faces." -- -- 100,358 6.23
Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- -- Shin-Ei Animation, TMS Entertainment -- 24 eps -- Original -- Sci-Fi Mystery Psychological Drama -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori -- Kogorou Akechi is the founder of a private investigation firm known as the Boy Detectives' Club. Together, this group takes on cases both great and small. One of their junior members, Kensuke Hanasaki, is out solving a case one day when he happens upon Yoshio Kobayashi, a mysterious amnesiac boy with an inability to die. After seeing his abilities in action, Kensuke offers Yoshio a deal: join the Boy Detectives' Club and help them solve cases, and in exchange he will find a way to help Yoshio die. -- -- The apathetic Yoshio accepts this deal begrudgingly, unaware of how different his life will become. Although he does not have much use for people, he gradually begins to acknowledge the group as he spends more time with them while solving cases. -- -- Trickster: Edogawa Ranpo "Shounen Tanteidan" yori follows Akechi and the rest of the Boy Detectives' Club as they solve the various cases they are given, all while combating a hidden threat from the shadows—"The Fiend with Twenty Faces." -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 100,358 6.23
Trinity Seven -- -- Seven Arcs Pictures -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Action Harem Comedy Supernatural Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy School Shounen -- Trinity Seven Trinity Seven -- One day, the bright red sun stopped shining, causing the "Breakdown Phenomenon"—the destruction of Arata Kasuga's town and the disappearance of the people inhabiting it. All, however, is not yet lost; by utilizing the magical grimoire given to him by his childhood friend and cousin Hijiri Kasuga, Arata's world gets artificially reconstructed. -- -- In order to investigate the phenomenon, Lilith Asami appears before Arata, whose artificial world suddenly disintegrates. He is given two choices: hand over the book, or die. However, Arata chooses the third option—enrolling in the top-secret magic school Royal Biblia Academy, where six other magical users await him. Together with Lilith, these six form the Trinity Seven, the elite of the school who each bolster their own power and skill. -- -- With the ambition to save Hijiri and the help of his newfound friends, Arata stops at nothing to prevent the destruction of his beloved hometown and to bring his best friend back. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 638,128 7.14
Tsubasa Chronicle: Tori Kago no Kuni no Himegimi -- -- Production I.G -- 1 ep -- - -- Action Adventure Fantasy Drama Shounen -- Tsubasa Chronicle: Tori Kago no Kuni no Himegimi Tsubasa Chronicle: Tori Kago no Kuni no Himegimi -- In their continuing journey to find the feathers that are the fragments of Sakura's lost memory, Syaoran, Kurogane, Fai, and Sakura move through time and space with Mokona. Here, they visit the "Land of the Birdcage," a seemingly peaceful country where people and birds live together, each person having a bird companion. After a boy named Koruri confuses Syaoran and Sakura for "bodyguards" and attacks them, they learn that the king of the country possesses a mysterious power. Princess Tomoyo, Koruri, and the other oppressed citizens, having had their birds taken from them, live in hiding within the forest. In order to take back Sakura's feather, Syaoran and the others stand up against the scheming king. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Aug 20, 2005 -- 42,083 7.32
Tsubasa Chronicle: Tori Kago no Kuni no Himegimi -- -- Production I.G -- 1 ep -- - -- Action Adventure Fantasy Drama Shounen -- Tsubasa Chronicle: Tori Kago no Kuni no Himegimi Tsubasa Chronicle: Tori Kago no Kuni no Himegimi -- In their continuing journey to find the feathers that are the fragments of Sakura's lost memory, Syaoran, Kurogane, Fai, and Sakura move through time and space with Mokona. Here, they visit the "Land of the Birdcage," a seemingly peaceful country where people and birds live together, each person having a bird companion. After a boy named Koruri confuses Syaoran and Sakura for "bodyguards" and attacks them, they learn that the king of the country possesses a mysterious power. Princess Tomoyo, Koruri, and the other oppressed citizens, having had their birds taken from them, live in hiding within the forest. In order to take back Sakura's feather, Syaoran and the others stand up against the scheming king. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- Movie - Aug 20, 2005 -- 42,083 7.32
Tsubasa: Shunraiki -- -- Production I.G -- 2 eps -- - -- Action Adventure Mystery Supernatural Drama Magic Romance Fantasy Shounen -- Tsubasa: Shunraiki Tsubasa: Shunraiki -- Tsubasa/xxxHOLiC Project -- -- A 4 part OVA released with the limited editions of the Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC volumes. -- There are two OVAs for each series, with plots linked together. -- -- They cover the Nihon Country Arc and scarcely some of the Celes Country Arc. -- -- (Source: Official Project Website) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- OVA - Mar 17, 2009 -- 55,817 8.12
Tsubasa: Shunraiki -- -- Production I.G -- 2 eps -- - -- Action Adventure Mystery Supernatural Drama Magic Romance Fantasy Shounen -- Tsubasa: Shunraiki Tsubasa: Shunraiki -- Tsubasa/xxxHOLiC Project -- -- A 4 part OVA released with the limited editions of the Tsubasa and xxxHOLiC volumes. -- There are two OVAs for each series, with plots linked together. -- -- They cover the Nihon Country Arc and scarcely some of the Celes Country Arc. -- -- (Source: Official Project Website) -- OVA - Mar 17, 2009 -- 55,817 8.12
Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu -- -- Arvo Animation -- ? eps -- Light novel -- Sci-Fi Space Vampire -- Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu Tsuki to Laika to Nosferatu -- The first astronaut in human history was a vampire girl. -- -- Following the end of World War II, the world-dividing superpowers, Federal Republic of Zirnitra in the East and United Kingdom of Arnack in the West, turned their territorial ambitions toward space. Both countries have been competing fiercely for development. -- -- East history 1960. Gergiev, the chief leader of the Republic, announces the manned space flight program Project Mechtat (Dream), which, if successful, would be the first feat for humankind. At that time, Lev Leps, a substitute astronaut candidate, is ordered to perform a top secret mission. The "Nosferatu Project"—a program that experiments with vampires prior to manned missions—will use Irina Luminesk as a test subject, and Lev is to monitor and train her. -- -- Even while trifled by the walls of the race and ego of the nations, Lev and Irina share a genuine sentiment as they aim for the universe. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- TV - ??? ??, 2021 -- 3,644 N/A -- -- Master Mosquiton '99 -- -- - -- 26 eps -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Supernatural Vampire -- Master Mosquiton '99 Master Mosquiton '99 -- Catholic schoolgirl Inaho discovers that a vampire, Mosquiton, is feeding off of her classmates. So she stakes him, but he is revived after her blood comes in contact with the his remains. Mosquiton becomes her slave and also a history teacher. Together, along with Yuuki and Honou, the unlikely duo have many escapades and adventures. One of Inaho's main goals is to find the mythical O-Part to make some money! -- -- (Source: AnimeNfo) -- 3,603 6.51
Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudoubu -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 13 eps -- Light novel -- Sports Drama School -- Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudoubu Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudoubu -- "Tsurune"—It's the sound made by the bowstring when an arrow is released, and the sound that inspired Minato Narumiya to learn Kyuudo, a modern Japanese martial art focusing on archery. However, an incident during his last middle school tournament caused him to quit the sport. -- -- But soon, many factors conspire to make Minato take up the bow once again: the start of a new Kyuudo club in his high school, a chance encounter with a mysterious archer, and the support of his childhood friends, Seiya Takehaya and Ryouhei Yamanouchi. Together with his childhood friends and his new teammates, Kaito Onogi and Nanao Kisaragi, Minato rekindles his love for Kyuudo and works with his team toward their aim of winning the prefectural tournament. -- -- 93,500 7.59
Twin Angel Break -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Game -- Drama Magic -- Twin Angel Break Twin Angel Break -- Amatsuki Meguru is a girl who innocently aspires to be a hero of justice and the cool Kisaragi Sumire who grew up in the strict Kisaragi household... The two girls who are in their 3rd year of middle school end up getting orders from a mysterious hedgehog named Miruku-chan and turn into Twin Angels in order to fight evil! Meguru is always cheerful but sometimes a bit too forceful. Meanwhile, Sumire isn't accustomed with being around others. Despite their differences, as they work together, they start opening up to each other. -- -- (Source: Crunchyroll) -- 11,172 5.89
Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? -- -- Shaft -- 1 ep -- Other -- Romance Sci-Fi -- Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? Uchiage Hanabi, Shita kara Miru ka? Yoko kara Miru ka? -- It's summer, and Norimichi Shimada and his friends want to know if fireworks look round or flat from the side. They forge a plan to find the answer at Moshimo Festival's fireworks display. However, Norimichi finds himself conflicted when his classmate, Nazuna Oikawa, plans to run away from home and wants Norimichi to join her. When things go awry in their attempt to escape, a strange orb in Nazuna's possession gives them another chance at staying together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- GKIDS, NYAV Post -- Movie - Aug 18, 2017 -- 145,506 6.10
Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari -- -- LIDENFILMS -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Fantasy Seinen -- Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari -- Taking a break from the hustle and bustle of Tokyo, Souta Tawara returns to his hometown in Kagawa. Though his parents are no longer around, his former home and family-owned udon restaurant reminds him of the times his family was still together. Reminiscing about his childhood, Souta enters the udon restaurant and discovers a grimy young boy sleeping. -- -- At first, Souta thinks nothing of the chance encounter and provides the boy with food and clothing. However, to his surprise, the boy suddenly sprouts a furry pair of ears and a tail! Souta soon learns that the nameless boy is actually the rumored shapeshifting tanuki that has been inhabiting Kagawa for many years. Thinking that the boy has been living a lonely life, he decides to take him in and name him Poko. -- -- Udon no Kuni no Kiniro Kemari follows the heartwarming relationship between Souta and Poko, and through the time they spend together, Souta recalls his own past, the place he left behind for the city, and the relationship he had with his father. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Discotek Media -- 102,239 7.75
Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto -- -- Zexcs -- 12 eps -- Game -- Supernatural Drama Magic Romance Fantasy -- Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto -- Marin and her younger sister Urin are seafolk who happen upon something quite strange: a beautiful silver ring lost beneath the waves. The kind-hearted Marin, intent on returning it to its owner, drags a reluctant Urin along with her to the sky world despite reminders of a turtle elder who left for the surface and never returned. After locating the ring's owner, Kanon Miyamori, they learn that Kanon had tossed it into the sea after her boyfriend dumped her earlier that day. -- -- Though Marin insists that such a lovely item should not be thrown away, Kanon discards it once again. As they search for the ring, Urin becomes separated from the other two and accidently breaks the seal on a stone coffin, releasing an evil being known as Sedna. Sensing Sedna's release, the formerly missing turtle elder, Matsumoto, reveals himself to Kanon and her companions, naming Marin as the Priestess of the Sea. Together with the Priestess of the Sky, she has the power to seal Sedna away again. And as luck would have it, during an encounter with one of Sedna's minions, Kanon discovers that she is the Priestess of the Sky. Though Kanon is hesitant, she and Marin decide to work together to save the world from the evil that threatens it. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Nozomi Entertainment -- TV - Jun 25, 2009 -- 23,914 6.63
Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto -- -- Zexcs -- 12 eps -- Game -- Supernatural Drama Magic Romance Fantasy -- Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto Umi Monogatari: Anata ga Ite Kureta Koto -- Marin and her younger sister Urin are seafolk who happen upon something quite strange: a beautiful silver ring lost beneath the waves. The kind-hearted Marin, intent on returning it to its owner, drags a reluctant Urin along with her to the sky world despite reminders of a turtle elder who left for the surface and never returned. After locating the ring's owner, Kanon Miyamori, they learn that Kanon had tossed it into the sea after her boyfriend dumped her earlier that day. -- -- Though Marin insists that such a lovely item should not be thrown away, Kanon discards it once again. As they search for the ring, Urin becomes separated from the other two and accidently breaks the seal on a stone coffin, releasing an evil being known as Sedna. Sensing Sedna's release, the formerly missing turtle elder, Matsumoto, reveals himself to Kanon and her companions, naming Marin as the Priestess of the Sea. Together with the Priestess of the Sky, she has the power to seal Sedna away again. And as luck would have it, during an encounter with one of Sedna's minions, Kanon discovers that she is the Priestess of the Sky. Though Kanon is hesitant, she and Marin decide to work together to save the world from the evil that threatens it. -- -- TV - Jun 25, 2009 -- 23,914 6.63
Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru -- -- J.C.Staff -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Drama Fantasy Shoujo Shounen Ai -- Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru -- Growing up as an orphan, Yuki Sakurai questions his reason for living and ability to see a person's painful memory by simply touching them. After receiving anonymous notes telling him to die, Yuki is unable to shake off the nagging feeling forming inside of him. Unbeknownst to him, he is being watched, both by people who want to harm him and those who want to protect him. -- -- One foggy night, Yuki's life is saved by a beautiful man with silver eyes and jet black hair—a man he has never met before yet seems familiar. With the arrival of this mysterious stranger, Yuki's forgotten past has been awakened and the purpose of his existence has appeared before him. -- -- Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru tells the story of a teenage boy as he discovers who he is and where he comes from—all while making friends, experiencing betrayal, and slowly piecing together the puzzle of his past. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Apr 12, 2010 -- 84,607 7.25
Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru -- -- J.C.Staff -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Drama Fantasy Shoujo Shounen Ai -- Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru -- Growing up as an orphan, Yuki Sakurai questions his reason for living and ability to see a person's painful memory by simply touching them. After receiving anonymous notes telling him to die, Yuki is unable to shake off the nagging feeling forming inside of him. Unbeknownst to him, he is being watched, both by people who want to harm him and those who want to protect him. -- -- One foggy night, Yuki's life is saved by a beautiful man with silver eyes and jet black hair—a man he has never met before yet seems familiar. With the arrival of this mysterious stranger, Yuki's forgotten past has been awakened and the purpose of his existence has appeared before him. -- -- Uragiri wa Boku no Namae wo Shitteiru tells the story of a teenage boy as he discovers who he is and where he comes from—all while making friends, experiencing betrayal, and slowly piecing together the puzzle of his past. -- -- TV - Apr 12, 2010 -- 84,607 7.25
Urahara -- -- EMT Squared, Shirogumi -- 12 eps -- Web manga -- Comedy Fantasy Psychological Sci-Fi -- Urahara Urahara -- Three high school girls are putting together a limited-time shop called "PARK" in Japan's Harajuku. One day, aliens come to Earth with the intent to steal the famed district's culture. At the same time, a mysterious girl appears. The three girls band together to defeat the alien threat and protect their beloved Harajuku. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 30,632 5.78
Urasekai Picnic -- -- Felix Film, LIDENFILMS -- 12 eps -- Novel -- Sci-Fi Adventure Mystery Fantasy Shoujo Ai -- Urasekai Picnic Urasekai Picnic -- The "Otherworld" is a vast and dangerous realm hidden from the knowledge of the common folk. It is also home to many creatures that threaten any human who dare visit it. To witness its desolate yet oddly absorbing environment, one must search for portals that could reside anywhere, from secret elevators to shrine entrances. -- -- After a fateful encounter with a horrendous Otherworld denizen, Sorao Kamikoshi ponders whether to keep going or give up in life. Meanwhile, Toriko Nishina scours the Otherworld in hopes of finding her friend Satsuki, who she believes is lost somewhere within the realm. -- -- When the two cross paths, friendship blossoms. In order to acquire as much information about this obscure dimension, the two travel back and forth from the real world to the other. Sorao and Toriko's bodies are soon influenced by the Otherworld, preparing them for the many horrors to come as both of them try to fulfill their goals. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- 76,567 6.54
Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! 2nd Season -- -- - -- ? eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy Romance Ecchi -- Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! 2nd Season Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! 2nd Season -- Second season of Uzaki-chan wa Asobitai! -- TV - ??? ??, ???? -- 49,271 N/AHakumei to Mikochi -- -- Lerche -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Fantasy Seinen Slice of Life -- Hakumei to Mikochi Hakumei to Mikochi -- In a world inhabited by people only a few inches tall, young women Hakumei and Mikochi live together in a house built into a tree. Hakumei is an energetic and tomboyish carpenter, while Mikochi is a feminine and calm tailor. Despite their differences, they get along well and spend their days having fun living their lives in the woods. -- -- The two of them spend their time working, going on sightseeing adventures, and taking shopping trips into Tsumiki Marketplace by the ocean. They make many friends along the way, be they sentient woodland creatures like Iwashi the Weasel or fellow miniature people such as the songstress Konju and the inventor Sen. -- -- Hakumei to Mikochi is a relaxing look into the day-to-day lives of its titular characters as they explore and interact with their tiny world which seems to be straight out of a fairy tale. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 49,241 7.65
Vampire in the Garden -- -- Wit Studio -- ? eps -- Original -- Vampire -- Vampire in the Garden Vampire in the Garden -- Once, vampires and humans lived in harmony. Now, a young girl and a vampire queen will search for that Paradise once again. In the divided world of the future, two girls want to do the forbidden: the human wants to play the violin, and the vampire wants to see a wider world. -- -- (Source: Netflix, edited) -- ONA - ??? ??, 2021 -- 2,514 N/AKyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu -- -- Madhouse -- ? eps -- Manga -- Comedy Supernatural Vampire Shounen -- Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu -- Vampires are said to have many weaknesses such as garlic, crosses, and sunlight. Game-loving vampire lord Draluc just so happens to be weak to... everything. He dies, turning into a pile of ash, at the slightest shock. -- -- After Vampire Hunter Ronaldo learned of a castle inhabited by a vampire rumoured to have kidnapped a kid, he went there intending to take the devil down. However, the vampire turned out to be Draluc, a wimp who keeps turning into ash at the smallest things. Moreover, the kid wasn't being held captive—he was just using the "haunted house" as his personal playground! -- -- When his castle is destroyed, Draluc moves into Ronaldo's office, much to the other's chagrin. Despite their differences, they must try to work together to defend themselves from rogue vampires, Ronaldo's murderous editor, investigators, and more—with Draluc dying continuously along the way. -- -- (Source: MU, amended) -- TV - Oct ??, 2021 -- 2,018 N/A -- -- Tezuka Osamu no Don Dracula -- -- - -- 8 eps -- Manga -- Comedy Horror Supernatural Vampire -- Tezuka Osamu no Don Dracula Tezuka Osamu no Don Dracula -- After living in Transylvania for several years, "Earl Dracula" (as Osamu Tezuka's official website calls him in English) has moved to Japan. In the Nerima Ward of Tokyo, he and his daughter, Chocola, and faithful servant Igor have taken up residence in an old-Western style house. -- -- While Chocola attends Junior High School, Earl Dracula is desperate to drink the blood of beautiful virgin women; an appropriate meal for a vampire of his stature. However, each night that Earl Dracula goes out on the prowl he finds himself getting involved in some kind of disturbance which leads to him causing various trouble for the local residents. With nobody in Japan believing in vampires, his very presence causes trouble amongst the people in town. -- TV - Apr 5, 1982 -- 1,934 6.08
Vandread -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Ecchi Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen Space -- Vandread Vandread -- In Vandread, men are from Mars and women are from Venus! Well, not quite. Technology has allowed mankind to colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy, and in one star system, the men and women live on two different planets, Taraak and Mejere. A bitter and very literal gender war rages, to the point where they don't even see each other as the sames species anymore! -- -- Hibiki Tokai, a male third-class laborer from Taraak, ends up stuck on a battleship after a botched attempt at stealing a robot. When female pirates capture the Taraakian Vanguard, things don't look like they could get any worse for Hibiki. Unfortunately, they do; when the male crew of the Vanguard fire on their captured vessel out of desperation, they created a giant wormhole, which sucks the Vanguard and the Mejeran pirate's ships into itself! Now, stuck far away from their home planets, these men and women must learn to work together if they ever wish to make it back home. -- 74,415 7.20
Vandread -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Ecchi Mecha Sci-Fi Shounen Space -- Vandread Vandread -- In Vandread, men are from Mars and women are from Venus! Well, not quite. Technology has allowed mankind to colonize the entire Milky Way galaxy, and in one star system, the men and women live on two different planets, Taraak and Mejere. A bitter and very literal gender war rages, to the point where they don't even see each other as the sames species anymore! -- -- Hibiki Tokai, a male third-class laborer from Taraak, ends up stuck on a battleship after a botched attempt at stealing a robot. When female pirates capture the Taraakian Vanguard, things don't look like they could get any worse for Hibiki. Unfortunately, they do; when the male crew of the Vanguard fire on their captured vessel out of desperation, they created a giant wormhole, which sucks the Vanguard and the Mejeran pirate's ships into itself! Now, stuck far away from their home planets, these men and women must learn to work together if they ever wish to make it back home. -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, Geneon Entertainment USA -- 74,415 7.20
Vatican Kiseki Chousakan -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Novel -- Mystery Supernatural Drama -- Vatican Kiseki Chousakan Vatican Kiseki Chousakan -- Vatican City—Holy Land of the Catholics. Amidst the land, there is an organization that conducts rigorous investigations on "claims of miracles" from all over the world to ascertain their credibility. The organization is referred to as "Seito no Za" (Assembly of Saints) and the priests that belong there are called miracle investigators. Robert Nicholas, an ancient archive and cryptanalysis expert is partnered and good friends with Hiraga Josef Kou, a genius scientist. Together, the brilliant duo investigates the "miracles" and uncovers the incidents and conspiracies hidden behind them. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- 41,284 6.39
Vatican Kiseki Chousakan -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Novel -- Mystery Supernatural Drama -- Vatican Kiseki Chousakan Vatican Kiseki Chousakan -- Vatican City—Holy Land of the Catholics. Amidst the land, there is an organization that conducts rigorous investigations on "claims of miracles" from all over the world to ascertain their credibility. The organization is referred to as "Seito no Za" (Assembly of Saints) and the priests that belong there are called miracle investigators. Robert Nicholas, an ancient archive and cryptanalysis expert is partnered and good friends with Hiraga Josef Kou, a genius scientist. Together, the brilliant duo investigates the "miracles" and uncovers the incidents and conspiracies hidden behind them. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 41,284 6.39
Viewtiful Joe -- -- Group TAC -- 51 eps -- Game -- Action Sci-Fi Comedy Shounen -- Viewtiful Joe Viewtiful Joe -- Joe, a red-headed movie buff, and Silvia, his girlfriend, are having a bit of relationship trouble. Silvia feels that Joe is taking her for-granted and wants to do something together for once, so Joe decides to take her to see an old action movie featuring his favorite hero, Captain Blue. What started out as a cute movie date takes a turn for the worst when Silvia is pulled into the movie by the leader of the evil organization, Jado. -- -- Joe follows her into the mysterious "Movieland," and is granted a powerful device known as a V-Watch by Captain Blue himself. With it, he transforms into the action hero named "Viewtiful Joe" and goes off to rescue his girlfriend before she can be used by Jado to take over the world. It's a long road to go from average Joe to full-blown hero, but he'll give it his all to save both his girl and the world—and he'll do it in the most "view-ti-ful" way possible. -- -- Licensor: -- Geneon Entertainment USA -- 9,724 6.75
Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Drama Fantasy -- Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou -- Isabella, the daughter of the noble York family, is enrolled in an all-girls academy to be groomed into a dame worthy of nobility. However, she has given up on her future, seeing the prestigious school as nothing more than a prison from the outside world. Her family notices her struggling in her lessons and decides to hire Violet Evergarden to personally tutor her under the guise of a handmaiden. -- -- At first, Isabella treats Violet coldly. Violet seems to be able to do everything perfectly, leading Isabella to assume that she was born with a silver spoon. After some time together, Isabella begins to realize that Violet has had her own struggles and starts to open up to her. Isabella soon reveals that she has lost contact with her beloved younger sister, Taylor Bartlett, whom she yearns to see again. -- -- Having experienced the power of words through her past clientele, Violet asks if Isabella wishes to write a letter to Taylor. Will Violet be able to help Isabella convey her feelings to her long-lost sister? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- Movie - Sep 6, 2019 -- 209,316 8.40
Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou -- -- Kyoto Animation -- 1 ep -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Drama Fantasy -- Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou Violet Evergarden Gaiden: Eien to Jidou Shuki Ningyou -- Isabella, the daughter of the noble York family, is enrolled in an all-girls academy to be groomed into a dame worthy of nobility. However, she has given up on her future, seeing the prestigious school as nothing more than a prison from the outside world. Her family notices her struggling in her lessons and decides to hire Violet Evergarden to personally tutor her under the guise of a handmaiden. -- -- At first, Isabella treats Violet coldly. Violet seems to be able to do everything perfectly, leading Isabella to assume that she was born with a silver spoon. After some time together, Isabella begins to realize that Violet has had her own struggles and starts to open up to her. Isabella soon reveals that she has lost contact with her beloved younger sister, Taylor Bartlett, whom she yearns to see again. -- -- Having experienced the power of words through her past clientele, Violet asks if Isabella wishes to write a letter to Taylor. Will Violet be able to help Isabella convey her feelings to her long-lost sister? -- -- Movie - Sep 6, 2019 -- 209,316 8.40
Vividred Operation -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 12 eps -- Original -- Action Sci-Fi Ecchi -- Vividred Operation Vividred Operation -- Friendship is the key to protecting the world. -- -- That is everyone's wish. Here in a world where science has solved all questions. -- -- This story is set in Oshima. The happy, carefree 14-year-old Akane Isshiki lived a poor, but well loved life together with her reliable little sister, Momo, who does all the housework, and her grandfather, Kenjirou, a genius inventor who only created useless devices. When the weather is clear, they can see the artificial island, Blue Island, across the sea. In the center of that island rises the revolutionary Manifestation Engine, a discovery that solved the world's energy problems. -- -- It is a peaceful future, just like everyone dreamed of. One where everyone can smile and be happy... -- -- But suddenly, the world is visited by danger. An unknown enemy, the Alone, appear, targeting the Manifestation Engine. As none of their weapons worked and they fell into despair, a lone girl takes a stand wearing a red "Palette Suit" which wields a great, hidden power. Before long, allies gather around her to fight. -- -- And their friendship becomes the only hope for saving the world! -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 60,608 6.46
Watashi ga Motete Dousunda -- -- Brain's Base -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Harem Comedy Romance School Shoujo -- Watashi ga Motete Dousunda Watashi ga Motete Dousunda -- Kae Serinuma is a very kind second-year high school student and a devoted otaku. A little known fact about her, though, is that she's obsessed with BL, or Boy's Love. Serinuma can't help but to fantasize about her male classmates falling for each other and enjoys imagining them together. A more known fact about Serinuma, however, is that she’s noticeably overweight. -- -- While watching her favorite show one day, Serinuma witnesses the death of her most beloved character. Utterly depressed, she can't muster up the energy to eat her meals, let alone attend school. After an entire week, she finally recovers. But now there's something unusual about her—during the time she refused to leave her room, she ended up losing a large amount of weight and has somehow become strikingly beautiful! -- -- Now catching the eye of everyone who sees her, she finds herself at the center of attention of four boys she has always known at her school. Though they all wish to spend time with her, Serinuma would much rather they spend time falling in love with one another. How will Serinuma deal with the four boys pursuing her BL-obsessed self? -- -- 314,418 7.08
Weiß Kreuz Glühen -- -- ufotable -- 13 eps -- - -- Action Drama Shounen -- Weiß Kreuz Glühen Weiß Kreuz Glühen -- Koua is an academy that brings Japanese's most talented people and students together. The mission is to train talented people to bear the world's future leadership. However, recently, the suicide rate in the academy is increasing and there is hardly any information being released to the public. -- -- Fujimiya Aya is sent to infiltrate this school carrying out criminal investigation and disguise himself as a teacher. In fact, actually, there is a connection between Koua academy and the global terrorist activities that are frequently occur. Therefore Persia assigns Hidaka Ken and Kudou Youji as well into this mission to solve the truth and connection of the incident behind Koua academy. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Media Blasters -- TV - Nov 28, 2002 -- 9,006 6.58
Wellber no Monogatari: Sisters of Wellber -- -- Trans Arts -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Adventure Comedy Drama Fantasy Historical -- Wellber no Monogatari: Sisters of Wellber Wellber no Monogatari: Sisters of Wellber -- 10 years since the great war, tensions were mounting within the country of Wellber, which was barely capable of keeping peace, as war could commence at any time with its neighboring country, Sangatras. In order to avoid warfare, the king of Wellber, Haidel planned on marrying off his daughter, Princess Rita, to Sangatras` Prince Guernia. -- -- However, Rita stabbed her groom to be and ran away. Infuriated, Sangatras` King Ranbahnhof threatens to wage war unless Rita is captured and publicly executed within 14 days. In order to avoid the worst case scenario, Rita decides to head for the neutral country of Greedom. -- -- Meanwhile, the woman thief Tina sneaks into Castle Wellber, seeking its treasures, when she happens to witness the stabbing of Guernia by Rita. -- Whether it be by coincidence or necessity, Tina receives information that the "Wasp Man" she was after is in Greedom, her sworn enemy who took the life of her parents. -- -- Tina agrees to become Rita`s bodyguard as they head out to Greedom. Shouldering their fate and destiny, the two meet, leave, and set out on their journey. What awaits them is war or peace, vengeance or death... -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- TV - Apr 4, 2007 -- 8,026 6.66
Working!!! -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 13 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy Romance Seinen Slice of Life -- Working!!! Working!!! -- As the stories of those connected to Wagnaria come to a close, only one thing is certain: the workplace is about to get crazier than ever before! Whether it be incredibly awkward romances, relentless searches for lost relatives, or even uncomfortable family reunions, lover of all things cute and tiny Souta Takanashi and his motley crew have plenty on their plates. With more Napoleon complexes, androphobia, and katana-wielding than you can shake a frying pan at, Working!!! delivers a final serving of the staff's hilarious misadventures working at everybody's favorite family restaurant. -- -- 201,076 8.01
Working!!! -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 13 eps -- 4-koma manga -- Comedy Romance Seinen Slice of Life -- Working!!! Working!!! -- As the stories of those connected to Wagnaria come to a close, only one thing is certain: the workplace is about to get crazier than ever before! Whether it be incredibly awkward romances, relentless searches for lost relatives, or even uncomfortable family reunions, lover of all things cute and tiny Souta Takanashi and his motley crew have plenty on their plates. With more Napoleon complexes, androphobia, and katana-wielding than you can shake a frying pan at, Working!!! delivers a final serving of the staff's hilarious misadventures working at everybody's favorite family restaurant. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 201,076 8.01
Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii -- -- A-1 Pictures -- 11 eps -- Web manga -- Comedy Romance Slice of Life -- Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii -- Having slept through all four of her alarms, the energetic Narumi Momose finds herself running late for her first day of work at a new office. As she races to catch her train, she makes a promise to herself that none of her coworkers will find out about her dark secret: that she is an otaku and a fujoshi. Her plan goes instantly awry, though, when she runs into Hirotaka Nifuji, an old friend from middle school. Although she tries to keep her secret by inviting him out for drinks after work, her cover is blown when he casually asks her whether or not she will be attending the upcoming Summer Comiket. Luckily for her, the only witnesses—Hanako Koyanagi and Tarou Kabakura—are otaku as well. --       -- Later that night, the pair go out for drinks so that they can catch up after all the years apart. After Narumi complains about her previous boyfriend breaking up with her because he refused to date a fujoshi, Hirotaka suggests that she try dating a fellow otaku, specifically himself. He makes a solemn promise to always be there for her, to support her, and to help her farm for rare drops in Monster Hunter. Blown away by the proposal, Narumi agrees immediately. Thus the two otaku start dating, and their adorably awkward romance begins. -- -- 584,085 7.96
W'z -- -- GoHands -- 13 eps -- Original -- Action Music -- W'z W'z -- Yukiya, who is "probably" 14 years old, spends his time DJ-ing alone. Due to his father's influence, he's listened to house music since he was young, and he uploads videos online. He wants to convey something to someone. He wants to be recognized, and become important. But getting hurt is scary. One day, while trying to get more views, he does something that can't be undone. And he sees a live broadcast from "that world." Yukiya believes he can't do anything alone, but that he could accomplish something if he were doing it together with someone else. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 20,554 5.53
X -- -- Madhouse -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Super Power Drama Magic Romance Fantasy Shoujo -- X X -- His destiny has finally arrived as the young Shirou Kamui returns to Tokyo after 6 years. A powerful psychic, Kamui vows to protect the happiness of his childhood friends Fuuma and Kotori, even if it means avoiding them. But fate is cruel, whether or not Kamui wants to be involved; he holds the future of the world in his hands, given the choice of becoming a Dragon of Heaven or a Dragon of Earth. The Seven Seals gather, and so do the Seven Angels; all individuals who have their destiny carved out as one who would battle for the fate of the world. What future will Kamui choose to become reality? -- 70,913 7.43
X -- -- Madhouse -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Action Super Power Drama Magic Romance Fantasy Shoujo -- X X -- His destiny has finally arrived as the young Shirou Kamui returns to Tokyo after 6 years. A powerful psychic, Kamui vows to protect the happiness of his childhood friends Fuuma and Kotori, even if it means avoiding them. But fate is cruel, whether or not Kamui wants to be involved; he holds the future of the world in his hands, given the choice of becoming a Dragon of Heaven or a Dragon of Earth. The Seven Seals gather, and so do the Seven Angels; all individuals who have their destiny carved out as one who would battle for the fate of the world. What future will Kamui choose to become reality? -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation, Geneon Entertainment USA -- 70,913 7.43
Xian Wang de Richang Shenghuo 2nd Season -- -- Haoliners Animation League -- ? eps -- Novel -- Adventure Slice of Life Comedy Demons Fantasy School -- Xian Wang de Richang Shenghuo 2nd Season Xian Wang de Richang Shenghuo 2nd Season -- (No synopsis yet.) -- ONA - ??? ??, 2021 -- 10,898 N/AIe Naki Ko -- -- Madhouse, TMS Entertainment -- 51 eps -- Novel -- Adventure Drama Historical Kids Slice of Life -- Ie Naki Ko Ie Naki Ko -- Remi is a boy living happily with his mother in the French countryside. But everything changes when his estranged father comes home and, in desperate need of money, reveals that Remi is adopted, and sells him. Heartbroken, Remi ends up with Vitalis, a traveling musician, and his troupe of animal entertainers. Together, they travel the country in search for Remi's real parents, along the way learning the harsh lessons of life. A deeply moving story about friendship, loss and the pursuit of happiness. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- TV - Oct 2, 1977 -- 10,847 7.78
xxxHOLiC Rou -- -- Production I.G -- 2 eps -- - -- Mystery Supernatural -- xxxHOLiC Rou xxxHOLiC Rou -- 10 years after the events of xxxHOLiC Shunmuki, a melancholic Kimihiro Watanuki has taken over the shop formerly run by the mysterious Yuuko due to a promise he made to her. His companions Maru, Moro, and Mokona live together with him in relative contentment, and some familiar faces arrive every now and then: former rival turned-steadfast friend Shizuka Doumeki, and the former psychic prodigy Kohane Tsuyuri. While Kohane studies folklore under Doumeki at university, they encounter a case that is perfect for the master of the shop. -- -- Eventually, Watanuki receives a visit from Doumeki's grandfather, Haruka. He requests that Watanuki investigates his grandson's dreams. While inside the dream world, he discovers how their past adventures played out from Doumeki's perspective of view, leading Watanuki to discover truths from 10 years ago and secrets about the ties that bind their friendship. -- -- OVA - Apr 23, 2010 -- 58,538 8.22
Yakusoku no Neverland -- -- CloverWorks -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Mystery Horror Psychological Thriller Shounen -- Yakusoku no Neverland Yakusoku no Neverland -- Surrounded by a forest and a gated entrance, the Grace Field House is inhabited by orphans happily living together as one big family, looked after by their "Mama," Isabella. Although they are required to take tests daily, the children are free to spend their time as they see fit, usually playing outside, as long as they do not venture too far from the orphanage—a rule they are expected to follow no matter what. However, all good times must come to an end, as every few months, a child is adopted and sent to live with their new family, never to be heard from again. -- -- However, the three oldest siblings have their suspicions about what is actually happening at the orphanage, and they are about to discover the cruel fate that awaits the children living at Grace Field, including the twisted nature of their beloved Mama. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Aniplex of America -- 1,256,617 8.63
Yama no Susume: Second Season -- -- 8bit -- 24 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Slice of Life -- Yama no Susume: Second Season Yama no Susume: Second Season -- Continuing their treks through the high peaks of Japan, the mountaineering girls are back for more! First-year high school student Aoi Yukimura, a shy girl with a fear of heights, and her wildly energetic friend Hinata Kuraue set out once again to conquer the perils of backyard camping trips, summer homework, and even a climb on the mountain of their dreams. Joined by middle school student Kokona Aoba and their knowledgeable upperclassman Kaede Saitou, the squad members are ready to take on whatever slopes and challenges they might face, no matter how steep. -- -- Through their shared hobby of mountain climbing, they bond closer than ever and even make new friends on trails all over the country. Whether it is just a local hill or the tallest mountain around, nothing is too much for Aoi and the crew to handle. They will climb, stumble, and rise to even greater heights together! -- -- 26,220 7.55
Yama no Susume: Third Season -- -- 8bit -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Adventure Comedy Slice of Life -- Yama no Susume: Third Season Yama no Susume: Third Season -- Aoi and Hinata are childhood friends. Aoi prefers staying indoors and is afraid of heights, whereas Hinata is outgoing and loves mountaineering. They both decide to climb a mountain in order to see a sunrise they saw together when they were younger. -- -- In the coming third season, they enjoy hiking beautiful mountains with colored leaves and the story gets even more colorful when they become friends with local school girls!! -- -- (Source: Yomiuri TV Enterprise) -- 17,080 7.56
Yami no Teio: Kyuuketsuki Dracula -- -- Toei Animation -- 1 ep -- Other -- Vampire -- Yami no Teio: Kyuuketsuki Dracula Yami no Teio: Kyuuketsuki Dracula -- On a seemingly normal night in Boston, a satanic ritual is taking place: a bride is to be offered up as a sacrifice. However, Dracula, the King of Vampires, swoops in and steals her, with the intent of depriving the woman of both her blood and her life. And yet, despite his earlier motives for abducting the bride, Dracula is astonished by her beauty and decides to keep the woman as his wife. -- -- He and Domini, his spouse, lead a fruitful life together, bearing a healthy son by the name of Janus, with Dracula's crime against Satan fading from memory. On the other hand, Satan hasn't forgiven him for stealing his rightful bride and is plotting to ruin his happiness when the time is right. Another group, the Vampire Hunters, similarly wish to destroy Dracula as vengeance for the souls he has taken to feed himself. -- -- Now carrying the burden of a family, Dracula must protect himself from Satan's plots as well as from the vengeful Vampire Hunters in a desperate fight for survival and forbidden love. -- -- Special - Aug 19, 1980 -- 3,030 3.80
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe -- -- Ajia-Do -- 2 eps -- Manga -- Sci-Fi Slice of Life Seinen -- Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou: Quiet Country Cafe -- In the near-future Japan, global warming has brought the large city Yokohama underwater, and only the hills remain above the ocean surface. What used to be one of the largest cities in Japan now feels like a small town. Basically, the existence of the island country itself has been threatened. However, there is no feeling of desperation, devastation, nor hopelessness. People are enjoying laid-back lives, and they seem to appreciate each other's company, enjoying the quiet and peaceful time together. -- -- This is especially so with Alpha, a carefree young woman who runs a cafe, named Cafe Alpha. She enjoys her life immersing herself in the beautiful nature all around her. There is nothing more precious to her than spending quality time with her kind friends. Oh, the fulfillment and the joy she finds in life... it all indicates her to be a compassionate human being, but she is not quite a human. She is actually a type A7M2 robot. -- -- One day, upon hearing a radio forecast warning an approaching typhoon, her old friend who lives close by invites her to the gas station he runs, worried that her old cafe may not withstand the typhoon. Indeed, the passing of typhoon leaves Alpha with her cafe severely damaged. That's when she decides to go on a journey to raise money to rebuild her cafe, and also to see the outside world away from her friends and the comfort of a peaceful life. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- OVA - Dec 18, 2002 -- 15,050 7.15
Yoroiden Samurai Troopers -- -- Sunrise -- 39 eps -- Original -- Adventure Samurai Sci-Fi Shounen -- Yoroiden Samurai Troopers Yoroiden Samurai Troopers -- Thousands of years ago, the evil emperor Talpa attempted to conquer the Earth. Defeated, he was banished to the Nether Realm and his armor was divided into 9 separate suits. Now, he has returned to conquer Earth, having reclaimed 4 of the suits. The other 5 are in the possesion of those who are the only hope of stopping him: The Ronin Warriors. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Discotek Media -- TV - Apr 30, 1988 -- 15,838 7.08
Yoroiden Samurai Troopers -- -- Sunrise -- 39 eps -- Original -- Adventure Samurai Sci-Fi Shounen -- Yoroiden Samurai Troopers Yoroiden Samurai Troopers -- Thousands of years ago, the evil emperor Talpa attempted to conquer the Earth. Defeated, he was banished to the Nether Realm and his armor was divided into 9 separate suits. Now, he has returned to conquer Earth, having reclaimed 4 of the suits. The other 5 are in the possesion of those who are the only hope of stopping him: The Ronin Warriors. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Apr 30, 1988 -- 15,838 7.08
Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou -- -- Shin-Ei Animation -- 26 eps -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Mystery Supernatural -- Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou Youkai Apartment no Yuuga na Nichijou -- Inaba Yuushi's parents died in his first year of middle school, and he moved in with his relatives. Though they did care for him, he could tell he was a burden. After he graduated, he happily prepared to move to a high school with a dormitory. Unfortunately, the dormitory burned to the ground before he could move in! Yuushi doesn't want to live with his grudging relatives, but it's rough finding lodging as an orphaned student with little money. He finally finds a room in a nice old building which seems too good to be true. -- -- The catch is that it is a Monster House, a place where humans and supernatural creatures—ghosts, mononoke, etc.—live together. Another high schooler lives there, a cute girl named Akine, and she's completely unfazed by the monsters. In fact, she can even exorcise evil spirits! Yuushi's high school life just got much stranger than he ever bargained for! -- -- (Source: MangaHelpers) -- 57,409 7.17
Young Black Jack -- -- Tezuka Productions -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Historical Drama Seinen -- Young Black Jack Young Black Jack -- In the 1960s, a gifted young medical student tries to make a name for himself. Kuroo Hazama is a reserved young man with unusual black-and-white hair, a body covered with scars, and a dark past. Despite only being a medical student, his surgical brilliance starts to attract attention after he completes a seemingly impossible operation. Together with the spirited and honest intern Maiko Okamoto and Yabu, a close friend with a troubled life, Hazama devotes himself to the world of medicine. -- -- However, his path to becoming a respectable surgeon is a difficult one as student riots, war, and corruption are consuming Japan. Hazama quickly finds himself caught up in a series of nefarious circumstances that challenge his integrity as a person and his path towards becoming a surgeon. Young Black Jack chronicles the story of a man capable of performing unthinkable feats of medicine, and the journey that leads him to become the legend known as Black Jack. -- -- 72,784 7.24
Yume -- -- - -- 1 ep -- Original -- Dementia -- Yume Yume -- A visualization of how dreams mush up unrelated events together to make up a single story. -- Movie - ??? ??, 2006 -- 582 5.12
Yume-iro Pâtissière SP Professional -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 13 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Shoujo -- Yume-iro Pâtissière SP Professional Yume-iro Pâtissière SP Professional -- Upon her return to Japan after a two year study break in Paris, Ichigo Amano is met with news of Team Ichigo's separation, as each of the Sweets Princes takes a different path toward their dream. Now in her first year of high school, Henri Lucas has a project in store for her, enlisting the help of Ichigo, Makoto Kashino, and new members Lemon Yamagishi and Johnny McBeal to give rise to a new Team Ichigo. As the four work together on this project, Ichigo and Makoto continue to grow closer, though Johnny and the unrelenting Miya Koshiro will not idly sit by; with Johnny's eye on Ichigo and Miya still after Makoto, it definitely seems like love won't come easily. -- -- With Ichigo's time at St. Marie Academy, she is now ever closer to her dream of starting her very own pâtisserie. However, she will soon realize that it takes more than just making delicious sweets to open up a shop. -- -- TV - Oct 3, 2010 -- 34,640 7.59
Yuru Camp△ -- -- C-Station -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy -- Yuru Camp△ Yuru Camp△ -- While the perfect getaway for most girls her age might be a fancy vacation with their loved ones, Rin Shima's ideal way of spending her days off is camping alone at the base of Mount Fuji. From pitching her tent to gathering firewood, she has always done everything by herself, and has no plans of leaving her little solitary world. -- -- However, what starts off as one of Rin's usual camping sessions somehow ends up as a surprise get-together for two when the lost Nadeshiko Kagamihara is forced to take refuge at her campsite. Originally intending to see the picturesque view of Mount Fuji for herself, Nadeshiko's plans are disrupted when she ends up falling asleep partway to her destination. Alone and with no other choice, she seeks help from the only other person nearby. Despite their hasty introductions, the two girls nevertheless enjoy the chilly night together, eating ramen and conversing while the campfire keeps them warm. And even after Nadeshiko's sister finally picks her up later that night, both girls silently ponder the possibility of another camping trip together. -- -- 332,880 8.27
Yuru Yuri♪♪ -- -- Doga Kobo -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Shoujo Ai -- Yuru Yuri♪♪ Yuru Yuri♪♪ -- The girls of the Amusement Club return in Yuru Yuri♪♪, finding new ways to make passing time even more enjoyable. Their members consist of the always energetic Kyouko Toshinou; calm and sensible Yui Funami; polite but often overlooked Akari Akaza; and Chinatsu Yoshikawa, who stumbled upon the others while looking for the Tea Ceremony Club. Together they are the Amusement Club, which has the deceptively simple task of keeping its members entertained. -- -- Along with the Student Council and the odd family member, they strive to enjoy their youth to the fullest. Whether it's a trip to a hot spring or finishing overdue homework, their lives are never dull, and they will always find an excuse to spend time together. -- -- TV - Jul 3, 2012 -- 153,305 7.85
Yuru Yuri, -- -- Lay-duce -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Slice of Life Comedy School Shoujo Ai -- Yuru Yuri, Yuru Yuri, -- Akari Akaza, Chinatsu Yoshikawa, Kyouko Toshinou, and Yui Funami return to commemorate an exciting occasion! Despite their initial bizarre celebration ideas, they decide to hold a party at their Amusement Club room. With the help of friends from the Student Council, they start preparing for the big day—with a surprise planned for a special someone. -- -- Join the girls as they work together to create an enjoyable and memorable party, all the while interacting with one another with their cute and unique quirks. -- -- OVA - Sep 18, 2019 -- 21,463 7.67
Yuru Yuri San☆Hai! -- -- TYO Animations -- 12 eps -- Manga -- Comedy School Shoujo Ai Slice of Life -- Yuru Yuri San☆Hai! Yuru Yuri San☆Hai! -- The members of the Amusement Club are back with more of Kyouko Toshinou's antics, Chinatsu Yoshikawa's schemes, Yui Funami's retorts, and Akari Akaza's small social presence as they strive to make each day as fun as the last! Whether the activity is an arm wrestling contest or making pancakes together, the group of entertainment-seekers are sure to give it their all. -- -- The club members are often joined by their friends in the Student Council, who know how to have a good time as well. While it can get a little chaotic when all eight girls get together, it sure doesn't stop them from meeting up and having fun! -- -- 101,642 7.94
Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou -- -- Studio Gokumi -- 6 eps -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Drama Magic Fantasy -- Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou -- Three girls have been chosen by the great Shinju-sama to be heroes and fight against the destructive beings known as Vertexes—enemies that threaten the harmony and safety of the world. -- -- Unsure of when they would be called to duty, Sumi Washio, Sonoko Nogi, and Gin Minowa spent their time idly. However, with the sudden appearance of a Vertex, they realize they have no idea how to fight together as magical girls when they are nearly bested. They manage to defeat their enemy by sheer determination, but in the aftermath of the battle, the three decide to fix their teamwork issues and improve their combat capabilities. -- -- But as more enemies appear—and requiring even more power to defeat their nemeses—the girls may find themselves irreversibly changed by the use of their magic. What price will they have to pay to ensure victory, and is it one worth paying if humanity will be saved? -- -- 33,727 7.65
Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou -- -- Studio Gokumi -- 6 eps -- Light novel -- Slice of Life Drama Magic Fantasy -- Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou Yuuki Yuuna wa Yuusha de Aru: Washio Sumi no Shou -- Three girls have been chosen by the great Shinju-sama to be heroes and fight against the destructive beings known as Vertexes—enemies that threaten the harmony and safety of the world. -- -- Unsure of when they would be called to duty, Sumi Washio, Sonoko Nogi, and Gin Minowa spent their time idly. However, with the sudden appearance of a Vertex, they realize they have no idea how to fight together as magical girls when they are nearly bested. They manage to defeat their enemy by sheer determination, but in the aftermath of the battle, the three decide to fix their teamwork issues and improve their combat capabilities. -- -- But as more enemies appear—and requiring even more power to defeat their nemeses—the girls may find themselves irreversibly changed by the use of their magic. What price will they have to pay to ensure victory, and is it one worth paying if humanity will be saved? -- -- -- Licensor: -- Ponycan USA -- 33,727 7.65
Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 112 eps -- Manga -- Action Comedy Demons Supernatural Martial Arts Shounen -- Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho -- One fateful day, Yuusuke Urameshi, a 14-year-old delinquent with a dim future, gets a miraculous chance to turn it all around when he throws himself in front of a moving car to save a young boy. His ultimate sacrifice is so out of character that the authorities of the spirit realm are not yet prepared to let him pass on. Koenma, heir to the throne of the spirit realm, offers Yuusuke an opportunity to regain his life through completion of a series of tasks. With the guidance of the death god Botan, he is to thwart evil presences on Earth as a Spirit Detective. -- -- To help him on his venture, Yuusuke enlists ex-rival Kazuma Kuwabara, and two demons, Hiei and Kurama, who have criminal pasts. Together, they train and battle against enemies who would threaten humanity's very existence. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Funimation -- TV - Oct 10, 1992 -- 500,430 8.45
Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho: Meikai Shitou-hen - Honoo no Kizuna -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Demons Supernatural Martial Arts Shounen -- Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho: Meikai Shitou-hen - Honoo no Kizuna Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho: Meikai Shitou-hen - Honoo no Kizuna -- Millennia ago, a war was fought between the Netherworld and the Spirit World. Ultimately, the Netherworld was destroyed and Lord Yakumo, the King of the Netherworld, was banished to the depths of space. Now, five defenders from the Spirit World must team-up against Yakumo's Demon-Gods for possession of five, mystical sites. But Lord Yakumo is dangerously close to reclaiming the Power Sphere—the source of the Netherworld's energy—and once it is again in his possession, our world will become the new Netherworld. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- Central Park Media -- Movie - Apr 9, 1994 -- 22,871 7.20
Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho: Meikai Shitou-hen - Honoo no Kizuna -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Adventure Comedy Demons Supernatural Martial Arts Shounen -- Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho: Meikai Shitou-hen - Honoo no Kizuna Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho: Meikai Shitou-hen - Honoo no Kizuna -- Millennia ago, a war was fought between the Netherworld and the Spirit World. Ultimately, the Netherworld was destroyed and Lord Yakumo, the King of the Netherworld, was banished to the depths of space. Now, five defenders from the Spirit World must team-up against Yakumo's Demon-Gods for possession of five, mystical sites. But Lord Yakumo is dangerously close to reclaiming the Power Sphere—the source of the Netherworld's energy—and once it is again in his possession, our world will become the new Netherworld. -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- Movie - Apr 9, 1994 -- 22,871 7.20
Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho Picture Drama -- -- Studio Pierrot -- 1 ep -- Manga -- Action Martial Arts Comedy Demons Shounen -- Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho Picture Drama Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho Picture Drama -- Because the Demon World Tournament winner has requested it, Yusuke, Kuwabara and Kurama get together in front of an audience for each of them to record a morning and evening greeting. -- -- The problem is how to get Hiei to do the same. -- Special - Oct 27, 2009 -- 9,001 6.60
Zegapain -- -- Sunrise -- 26 eps -- Original -- Action Mecha Romance Sci-Fi -- Zegapain Zegapain -- Average high school student Kyou Sogoru is an avid swimmer living in beautiful Maihama City. He spends his days hanging out with friends, swimming, and playing video games. However, his normal life turns upside down when a beautiful and mysterious girl named Shizuno Misaki approaches him with a strange request—jump into their school's pool together. -- -- This fateful leap transports Kyou into a war-torn world where humans pilot impressive humanoid robots known as Zegas to fight against malicious aliens known as Gards-Orm. To spearhead this endeavor, humans have formed Cerebrum, a rebel organization working to prevent the Gards-Orm from eradicating humankind. -- -- As Kyou participates in combat operations, meets his fellow Zega pilots, and witnesses countless deaths, he begins to question the true nature of this world as well as his own life. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Bandai Entertainment, Sentai Filmworks -- 29,993 7.34
Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho -- -- White Fox -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Magic Fantasy -- Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho Zero kara Hajimeru Mahou no Sho -- In a world of constant war between humans and witches, there exist the "beastfallen"—cursed humans born with the appearance and strength of an animal. Their physical prowess and bestial nature cause them to be feared and shunned by both humans and witches. As a result, many beastfallen become sellswords, making their living through hunting witches. -- -- Despite the enmity between the races, a lighthearted witch named Zero enlists a beastfallen whom she refers to as "Mercenary" to act as her protector. He travels with Zero and Albus, a young magician, on their search for the Grimoire of Zero: a powerful spell book that could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. During their journey, his inner kindness is revealed as he starts to show compassion and sympathy towards humans and witches alike, and the unlikely companions grow together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 206,628 7.09
Zero no Tsukaima F -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy -- Zero no Tsukaima F Zero no Tsukaima F -- Saito Hiraga and Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière go on the offensive after the events of Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo. Together, they face off against King Joseph in the Holy City of Romalia with the help of two others who control the power of the “void”. But in the midst of the many conflicts ahead of them, an ancient evil begins to stir in the shadows. -- -- Will their close bonds blossom into something more or will they be shattered through the ever increasing difficulty of the tasks that they must undertake? Zero no Tsukaima F follows the story of Louise and Saito as they face their final challenges together. -- -- 342,865 7.50
Zero no Tsukaima F -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Adventure Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy -- Zero no Tsukaima F Zero no Tsukaima F -- Saito Hiraga and Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière go on the offensive after the events of Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo. Together, they face off against King Joseph in the Holy City of Romalia with the help of two others who control the power of the “void”. But in the midst of the many conflicts ahead of them, an ancient evil begins to stir in the shadows. -- -- Will their close bonds blossom into something more or will they be shattered through the ever increasing difficulty of the tasks that they must undertake? Zero no Tsukaima F follows the story of Louise and Saito as they face their final challenges together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 342,865 7.50
Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Harem Comedy Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy School -- Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi -- Revered as heroes for their role in defending Tristain, Louise Françoise and her familiar Saito Hiraga face heavy pressure to continue protecting the Kingdom. With an uneasy peace now established within Albion, the newly crowned Queen Henrietta must deal with a political struggle brewing on the horizon. To make matters worse, a new villain has begun plotting in the shadows against the Crown. -- -- With the continuing threats that face the Kingdom, Louise and Saito are compelled to work together once more. No longer "Louise the Zero," the young mage's newfound aptitude for Void magic gives her enough power to wipe out an entire village; however, wielding these abilities comes with its share of challenges. As more conflicts arise, the idea of placing honor above oneself is put into question—regardless of their answer, their only choice is to see it through until the end. -- -- 425,534 7.47
Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Harem Comedy Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy School -- Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi Zero no Tsukaima: Futatsuki no Kishi -- Revered as heroes for their role in defending Tristain, Louise Françoise and her familiar Saito Hiraga face heavy pressure to continue protecting the Kingdom. With an uneasy peace now established within Albion, the newly crowned Queen Henrietta must deal with a political struggle brewing on the horizon. To make matters worse, a new villain has begun plotting in the shadows against the Crown. -- -- With the continuing threats that face the Kingdom, Louise and Saito are compelled to work together once more. No longer "Louise the Zero," the young mage's newfound aptitude for Void magic gives her enough power to wipe out an entire village; however, wielding these abilities comes with its share of challenges. As more conflicts arise, the idea of placing honor above oneself is put into question—regardless of their answer, their only choice is to see it through until the end. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 425,534 7.47
Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Harem Comedy Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy School -- Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo -- Following his brave sacrifice in the war against Albion, Saito Hiraga is knighted and treated as an aristocrat, something that proves difficult for Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. With their relationship no longer defined as the mighty Void mage and clueless familiar, she wonders what exactly this means for them. -- -- While venturing to a castle, Louise is ambushed by a powerful mage named Sheffield. Battling alone, the young mage nearly faces defeat until Saito makes his appearance. The mystical and unknown nature of Void magic seems to be at work in the battle, and Louise begins to believe in the possibility of another Void user. Moreover, she realizes that Saito's magical rune is fading, and so a new adventure begins as they search for the elf who revived Saito in the past. The relationship between former master and servant faces a new challenge as they work to restore the runes and redefine the bond which holds them together. -- -- 377,294 7.38
Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo -- -- J.C.Staff -- 12 eps -- Light novel -- Action Adventure Harem Comedy Magic Romance Ecchi Fantasy School -- Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo Zero no Tsukaima: Princesses no Rondo -- Following his brave sacrifice in the war against Albion, Saito Hiraga is knighted and treated as an aristocrat, something that proves difficult for Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière. With their relationship no longer defined as the mighty Void mage and clueless familiar, she wonders what exactly this means for them. -- -- While venturing to a castle, Louise is ambushed by a powerful mage named Sheffield. Battling alone, the young mage nearly faces defeat until Saito makes his appearance. The mystical and unknown nature of Void magic seems to be at work in the battle, and Louise begins to believe in the possibility of another Void user. Moreover, she realizes that Saito's magical rune is fading, and so a new adventure begins as they search for the elf who revived Saito in the past. The relationship between former master and servant faces a new challenge as they work to restore the runes and redefine the bond which holds them together. -- -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- 377,294 7.38
Zetsumetsu Kigu Shoujo: Amazing Twins -- -- Encourage Films -- 2 eps -- Original -- Magic Slice of Life -- Zetsumetsu Kigu Shoujo: Amazing Twins Zetsumetsu Kigu Shoujo: Amazing Twins -- Amane Todoroki is a young girl who is straightforward but also unthinking. She will try her very best in everything and say, "I don't know how to answer you if you ask me whether this can be done. I just believe it can. If not, then nothing will get started!" She easily gets stuck in her thinking, but she can also get easily moved at something small and start crying. -- -- (Source: MAL News) -- OVA - Feb 26, 2014 -- 10,199 6.37
Zettai Bouei Leviathan -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Game -- Fantasy Magic Comedy -- Zettai Bouei Leviathan Zettai Bouei Leviathan -- The story is set in Aquafall, a fantasy world abound with water and greenery, and populated by dragons and fairies. Meteorites suddenly bring forth evil creatures that threaten all living things on the planet. The fairy Syrup assembles the Aquafall Defense Force, with three girls of the dragon clans as recruits. The story follows Syrup and the dragon girls Leviathan, Bahamut, and Jörmungandr as they work together to battle enemies and grow up. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- -- Licensor: -- Sentai Filmworks -- TV - Apr 6, 2013 -- 25,425 6.30
Zettai Bouei Leviathan -- -- Gonzo -- 13 eps -- Game -- Fantasy Magic Comedy -- Zettai Bouei Leviathan Zettai Bouei Leviathan -- The story is set in Aquafall, a fantasy world abound with water and greenery, and populated by dragons and fairies. Meteorites suddenly bring forth evil creatures that threaten all living things on the planet. The fairy Syrup assembles the Aquafall Defense Force, with three girls of the dragon clans as recruits. The story follows Syrup and the dragon girls Leviathan, Bahamut, and Jörmungandr as they work together to battle enemies and grow up. -- -- (Source: ANN) -- TV - Apr 6, 2013 -- 25,425 6.30
Zoids Genesis -- -- Shogakukan Music & Digital Entertainment -- 50 eps -- - -- Action Adventure Comedy Mecha Military -- Zoids Genesis Zoids Genesis -- Natural disasters have devastated planet Zi, killing off almost all life. A thousand years later humans have gradually re-established civilization, salvaging ancient Zoids through diving and mining efforts. In a village whose most previous item is a giant sword which they worship as a holy symbol. A teenage boy discovers an ancient Liger-type Zoid while on a deep water salvage operation. Suddenly the village is attacked by skeletal Bio-Zoids intent on stealing a powerful generator located in the village. Our teenage hero awakens the Liger and discovers that the town`s sacred sword is the Liger`s weapon, together they fight off the mysterious Bio-Zoids. At least for now... -- -- (Source: AniDB) -- -- Licensor: -- VIZ Media -- TV - Apr 10, 2005 -- 13,965 7.23
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100 Gigabit Ethernet
10 Gigabit Ethernet
10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance
11th Airmobile Brigade (Netherlands)
13th Light Brigade (Netherlands)
1580s in the Southern Netherlands
1590s in the Southern Netherlands
1836 Wetheral train accident
1988 IRA attacks in the Netherlands
2000 in the Netherlands
2001 in the Netherlands
200607 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Netherlands
200708 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Netherlands
200809 A1 Grand Prix of Nations, Netherlands
2011 Hetherington House Occupation
2018 Netherlands Tri-Nation Series
2019 Netherlands Women's Quadrangular Series
2020 in the Netherlands
25 Gigabit Ethernet
2-Arachidonyl glyceryl ether
2-Bromoethyl ether
2gether
2gether: Again
2gether (band)
2gether NHS Foundation Trust
331 Etheridgea
43rd Mechanized Brigade (Netherlands)
A10 motorway (Netherlands)
A12 motorway (Netherlands)
A15 motorway (Netherlands)
A1 motorway (Netherlands)
A27 motorway (Netherlands)
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A31 motorway (Netherlands)
A4 motorway (Netherlands)
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A76 motorway (Netherlands)
A79 motorway (Netherlands)
A7 motorway (Netherlands)
A8 motorway (Netherlands)
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Abbott's Get Together
Abortion in the Netherlands
Academic grading in the Netherlands
Academic ranks in the Netherlands
Accreditation Organisation of the Netherlands and Flanders
Acer Nethercott
Achter Kol, New Netherland
Action of Churches Together in Scotland
Actuarial Society of the Netherlands
ADAPT Able Disable All People Together
Aether
Aether (classical element)
Aether drag hypothesis
Aetheria
Aetherie fritillary
Aetherius Society
Aether (mythology)
Aether theories
Aether (video game)
Afghans in the Netherlands
Agnes Etherington Art Centre
A History of the Theories of Aether and Electricity
Ainsty, Wetherby
Akuma to Freud -Devil and Freud- Climax Together
Alan Petherbridge
Alaskans Together for Equality
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AlbaniaNetherlands relations
AlbertBrauerHasseNoether theorem
Albert G. Wetherby
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All I Ask of Myself Is That I Hold Together
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Altogether
Altogether Builders' Labourers and Constructional Workers' Society
Ambassador of New Zealand to the Netherlands
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America, Netherlands
Amerika, Netherlands
Andel, Netherlands
Andrew Letherby
Anholt, Netherlands
Anna Etheridge
Anthony Etherin
Anthony Tether
Apart Together
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Apostolic Nunciature to the Netherlands
Appel, Netherlands
Appen, Netherlands
Arabs in the Netherlands
Archeon, Netherlands
Architecture of the Netherlands
Argiope aetherea
Armed forces of the Netherlands
Armenians in the Netherlands
Armorial of the Netherlands
Artemether
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Arthur Hetherington
Asch, Netherlands
Association of Netherlands Municipalities
Association of Provinces of the Netherlands
Assyrians in the Netherlands
Asten, Netherlands
Astragalus wetherillii
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ATA over Ethernet
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Austerlitz, Netherlands
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Aza-crown ether
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Baal, Netherlands
Back Together
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Bahr, Netherlands
Bakel, Netherlands
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Balloo, Netherlands
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Checking whether a coin is fair
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Chloroalkyl ether
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Christian Democratic Union (Netherlands)
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Churches Together in England
Church of St Mary the Virgin, Nether Stowey
Cinema of the Netherlands
Civil procedure code of the Netherlands
Classic Ethernet
Climate change in the Netherlands
Coat of arms of Netherlands New Guinea
Coat of arms of the Netherlands
Coat of arms of the Netherlands Antilles
Coffeeshop (Netherlands)
Coluber constrictor etheridgei
Comahuetherium
Come Together
Come Together: A Fashion Picture in Motion
Come Together: America Salutes the Beatles
Come Together (disambiguation)
Come Together Music Festival
Come Together Now
Come Together (Third Day album)
Commemorative coins of the Netherlands
Committee for Jewish Refugees (Netherlands)
Communist Party of the Netherlands
Communist Platform (Netherlands)
Communist Unity Movement of the Netherlands (MarxistLeninist)
Communist Workers' Party of the Netherlands
Communist Workers Organisation (Netherlands)
Communist Youth Movement (Netherlands)
Compound spirit of ether
Conscription in the Netherlands
Constitution of the Netherlands
Constitution of the Netherlands Antilles
Copyright law of the Netherlands
Corporate tax in the Netherlands
Council of Ministers (Netherlands)
Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Country Song (Seether song)
Court of Audit (Netherlands)
COVID-19 pandemic in the Netherlands
Cracked: Putting Broken Lives Together Again
Crashing the Ether
Creil, Netherlands
Criminal justice system of the Netherlands
Croats Together
Cross GatesWetherby line
Crown ether
Crown Jewels of the Netherlands
Culture of the Netherlands
Curaaoans in the Netherlands
Cycling in the Netherlands
Dalem, Netherlands
Dance in the Netherlands
Dancing on Ice (Netherlands and Belgium)
David A. Nethercot
David Bretherton
David Etherly
David Meriwether
David Wetherall
David Wetherill
Deanna Petherbridge
Decabromodiphenyl ether
DEG monobutyl ether
Delano Meriwether
Demographics of the Netherlands Antilles
Demography of the Netherlands
Denmark and the Netherlands (Women's cricket ODI 1997 series)
DenmarkNetherlands relations
Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Derick Hetherington
De Tijd (Netherlands)
Deurne, Netherlands
Dibenzyl ether
Dibutyl ether
Diether Dehm
Diether Haenicke
Diether von Isenburg
Diether von Roeder
Diethyl ether
Diethyl ether peroxide
Diethylstilbestrol monobenzyl ether
Digital Distribution Netherlands
Digital television in the Netherlands
Diglycidyl ether
Diisopropyl ether
Dimethyl ether
Dinnetherium
Di-n-propyl ether
Diocese of The Hague and the Netherlands
Diphenyl ether
Di(propylene glycol) methyl ether
Director of New Netherland
Disclaimer (Seether album)
Discovering Dengue Drugs Together
Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles
Divinyl ether
Dog with palms pressed together
Doris L. Wethers
Dracaena pethera
Drawn Together
Driving licence in the Netherlands
Drug policy of the Netherlands
Dr. Willis Meriwether House
Dude, We're Getting the Band Back Together
Dutch Colonial architecture (New Netherland)
Dutch Ruether
Early modern Netherlandish cartography
Early Netherlandish painting
Early Netherlandish Painting (Panofsky book)
Echt, Netherlands
Economic history of the Netherlands (15001815)
Economy of the Netherlands
Economy of the Netherlands Antilles
Economy of the Netherlands from 15001700
Edam, Netherlands
Ede, Netherlands
Edinburgh Churches Together
Education in the Netherlands
Edward Etheridge
Edward Merewether
Edward Petherick
Edwin Etherington
Egede, Netherlands
Einstein aether theory
Eionaletherium
Elden, Netherlands
Electrodynamic tether
Eleutherodactylus etheridgei
Elizabeth Meriwether
Ell, Netherlands
E. Mavis Hetherington
Embassy of Georgia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Embassy of Malaysia in the Netherlands
Embassy of the Netherlands, Ankara
Embassy of the Netherlands, Berlin
Embassy of the Netherlands, Ottawa
Embassy of the Netherlands, Washington, D.C.
Emily Greene Wetherbee
Emmen, Netherlands
Emmy Noether
Emmy Noether bibliography
Emmy Noether Program
Energy-Efficient Ethernet
Energy in the Netherlands
Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands
English in the Netherlands
Enol ether
Ens, Netherlands
Enter, Netherlands
Environment of the Netherlands
Epe, Netherlands
Eric Etheridge
Erin Fetherston
Ernest Wetherell
Erp, Netherlands
Esch, Netherlands
ESPN (Netherlands)
Est, Netherlands
Estradiol 17-tetrahydropyranyl ether
Estradiol 3-saccharinylmethyl ether
Estradiol 3-tetrahydropyranyl ether
Estradiol benzoate cyclooctenyl ether
Estrone methyl ether
Ethelwyn Wetherald
Ether
Ethera
Ether addiction
EtherApe
Ether (Book of Mormon prophet)
EtherCAT
EtherChannel
Ether Dome
EtherDrive
Ethereal
Ethereality
Ethereal wave
Ethereal Woods
Ether~Electrified Porch Music
Ethereum
Ether (Fischer-Z album)
Etheria elliptica
Etherian
Etheric body
Etheric plane
Etheridge
Etheridge Knight
Etheridgeum
Etherington baronets
Ether lipid
Etherloop
Etherlords
Ethernan
Ethernet
Ethernet Alliance
Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching
Ethernet crossover cable
Ethernet extender
Ethernet flow control
Ethernet frame
Ethernet hub
Ethernet in the first mile
EtherNet/IP
Ethernet over PDH
Ethernet over PDH over SONET/SDH
Ethernet over SDH
Ethernet over twisted pair
Ethernet over USB
Ethernet physical layer
Ethernet Powerlink
Ethernet Ring Protection Switching
Ethernet VPN
Etherow Country Park
Etherpad
Ether Saga Odyssey
Ether Ship
Ether (song)
EtherSound
EtherType
Ethyl phenyl ether
Ethyl tert-butyl ether
Etten, Netherlands
Europe Together
Euthanasia in the Netherlands
Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
Evangelical People's Party (Netherlands)
Experimental film in the Netherlands
EYE Film Institute Netherlands
Fake It (Seether song)
Families Belong Together
Family policy in the Netherlands
Farmers' Party (Netherlands)
Fast Ethernet
FAST Fighting Antisemitism Together
F. B. Fetherstonhaugh
Feargus Hetherington
Feminism in the Netherlands
Fetherston baronets
Fetherstonhaugh baronets
FIA WTCR Race of the Netherlands
Fibre Channel over Ethernet
Five Are Together Again
Five guilder coin (Netherlands)
Five on a Hike Together
Flag of the Netherlands
Flag of the Netherlands Antilles
Flags of provinces of the Netherlands
Flood control in the Netherlands
Floriade (Netherlands)
FMO (Netherlands)
Foreign relations of the Netherlands
Forever Together (disambiguation)
Fortifications of New Netherland
Fort Orange (New Netherland)
Fort Wetherill
Forward Together PAC
FranceNetherlands border
FranceNetherlands relations
Francis Bretherton
Francis Fetherston
Francis Nethersole
Frank E. Wetherell
Frdric Etherlinck
Frederick Augustus Wetherall
Freedom Party (Netherlands)
Fretherne with Saul
F. R. Nethersole
From the Ether
Fused Together in Revolving Doors
Future Together
Galder, Netherlands
Geffen, Netherlands
General Diamond Workers' Union of the Netherlands
Genesis: Together and Apart
Geography of the European Netherlands
Geography of the Netherlands Antilles
Geology of the Netherlands
George Etherege
George Etherege (scholar)
George Etherington
George Fetherling
George Floyd protests in the Netherlands
George Nethercutt
George Petherbridge
George W. Bethers House
George Wetherall
George Wetherill
GeorgiaNetherlands relations
German declaration of war against the Netherlands
German destroyer Z17 Diether von Roeder
GermanyNetherlands border
GermanyNetherlands relations
Gestel, Netherlands
Get Back Together
Get It Together
Get It Together (The Jackson 5 song)
Gettin' Together
Gettin' Together (Paul Gonsalves album)
Getting Together
Get Together
Get together! Get angry! Resign Park Geun-hye candlelight vigil
Get Together (Madonna song)
Get Together (Youngbloods song)
Get Your Act Together with Harvey Goldsmith
Get Yourself Together (disambiguation)
Gever, Netherlands
Ghosts V: Together
Giessen, Netherlands
Gigabit Ethernet
Gilberton, Queensland (Etheridge Shire)
G.I.T.: Get It Together
Glan Letheren
Global Clubbing: Netherlands
Glycol ethers
Golden Coach (Netherlands)
Gombether See
Good Together
Gordon Huether
Gordon Wetherell
Gorp, Netherlands
Got Myself Together
Gottfried E. Noether
Graduate Employees Together University of Pennsylvania
Graft, Netherlands
Grave, Netherlands
Greater Netherlands
GreeceNetherlands relations
Green Party of the Netherlands
Grey Wethers
Groeneveld, Netherlands
Habsburg Netherlands
Halder, Netherlands
Half-cent coin (Netherlands)
Halogenated ether
Happy Together
Happy Together (American TV series)
Happy Together (Russian TV series)
Happy Together (song)
Happy Together (South Korean TV series)
Happy Together (talk show)
Happy Together (The Turtles album)
Harlingen, Netherlands
Harold M. Etherington
Harry Edward de Robillard Wetherall
HBO Netherlands
Healthcare in the Netherlands
Health Council of the Netherlands
Heel, Netherlands
Heers, Netherlands
Heesch, Netherlands
Heino, Netherlands
Heinz Raether
Hell and Back Together: 19841990
Hem, Netherlands
Henry Fetherstonhaugh
Henry Hetherington Emmerson
Henry Nethercote
Henry Wetherby Benchley
Herbert Meade-Fetherstonhaugh
Herten, Netherlands
Hetherington
Hethersett
Hethersett Academy
Hien, Netherlands
High-speed rail in the Netherlands
Hinduism in the Netherlands
Historical rankings of prime ministers of the Netherlands
Historic composition of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands
Historic composition of the Senate of the Netherlands
History of rail transport in the Netherlands
History of religion in the Netherlands
History of the Jews in the Netherlands
History of the Netherlands
History of the Netherlands (1900present)
HM Prison Wetherby
Hollenberg, Netherlands
Holset, Netherlands
Hope That We Can Be Together Soon
Horace William Petherick
Horn, Netherlands
House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Houthem, Netherlands
Hugo Etherianus
Human rights in the Netherlands
Hundred of North Petherton
Hundred of South Petherton
Huygens Institute for the History of the Netherlands
Hydrofluoroether
I Corps (Netherlands)
Immigration and Naturalisation Service (Netherlands)
Income tax in the Netherlands
Independent Socialist Party (Netherlands)
Index of Netherlands Antillesrelated articles
IndiaNetherlands relations
IndonesiaNetherlands relations
Ingen, Netherlands
Inquisition in the Netherlands
Integration law for immigrants to the Netherlands
International Socialists (Netherlands)
Internet in the Netherlands
In the... All Together
Invasion of the Netherlands
Iranians in the Netherlands
IranNetherlands relations
Iraqis in the Netherlands
Isaac Augustus Wetherby
Islam in the Netherlands
Islam in the Netherlands Antilles
Island council (Netherlands Antilles)
Islands Regulation of the Netherlands Antilles
Isorrhoa aetheria
IsraelNetherlands relations
ITunes Originals Seether
It Was Great Altogether
Ivor Etherington
Jacobus Cethernaig
Jade Etherington
James Archibald Meriwether
James Bretherton
James Meriwether
Janet Hetherington
Japanese expatriates in the Netherlands
Japan-Netherlands Institute
JapanNetherlands relations
Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again
Jenna Netherton
Jether
Jill Hetherington
Jim Wetherbee
John C. Wetherby
John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together
John Etheridge
John Farnham & Tom Jones Together in Concert
John Fethers
John Harding, 1st Baron Harding of Petherton
John Hetherington
John Hetherington (mayor)
John Merewether
John Meriwether
John Muether
John Netherland
John Petherbridge
John Petherick
John Wesley Etheridge
John Wetherby (priest)
John Wethered
John Wetherspoon
Join Together
Join Together (album)
Jonas, Netherlands
Joseph Netherclift
Joyce Wethered
Julia K. Wetherill Baker
Juliana of the Netherlands
Juntos (Together)
Just as Long as We're Together
KazakhstanNetherlands relations
Keeping Families Together
Keep It Together
Keep It Together (album)
Keep It Together (song)
KenyaNetherlands relations
Keppel, Netherlands
Kether Donohue
Kether Torah Synagogue of Sousse
Kille, Netherlands
Kingdom of the Netherlands
Kirk Netherton
Koether Inlet
Kolbjrn Saether
Koningsmantel (Netherlands)
Kortrijk, Netherlands
KosovoNetherlands relations
Kronenberg, Netherlands
Kurdistan RegionNetherlands relations
Kyle Letheren
Labour Party (Netherlands)
Lancaster Memorial (Netherlands)
Languages of the Netherlands
Law enforcement in the Netherlands
Law firms of the Netherlands
Law of the Netherlands
Lawrence Wetherby
Leader of the Labour Party (Netherlands)
Lether Strip
Learning to Live Together
Leek, Netherlands
Lee Meriwether
Left Together
Let's Be Friends and Slay the Dragon Together
Let's Get Together
Let's Get Together (Hayley Mills song)
Let's Go Into It Together
Let's Lay Together
Let's Put It All Together
Let's Spend the Night Together
Let's Stay Together
Let's Stick Together (song)
Letherette (album)
Letheringsett with Glandford
Let Us All Unite and Celebrate Together
Leuth, Netherlands
Levi Wetherbee Farm
LGBT rights in the Netherlands
Liberal Democratic Party (Netherlands)
Liberalism in the Netherlands
Liberal Party (Netherlands)
Liberal Union (Netherlands)
Liberation Day (Netherlands)
Libertarian Party (Netherlands)
Libertas Netherlands
Life imprisonment in the Netherlands
Limburg (Netherlands)
Lineage of Ether
List of active Royal Netherlands Navy ships
List of airlines of the Netherlands
List of airports in the Netherlands
List of airports in the Netherlands Antilles
List of ambassadors of Australia to the Netherlands
List of ambassadors of Spain to the Netherlands
List of ambassadors of the Netherlands to Turkey
List of archives in the Netherlands
List of banks in the Netherlands
List of battleships of the Netherlands
List of Bergen, New Netherland placename etymologies
List of birds of the Netherlands
List of botanical gardens in the Netherlands
List of cabinets of the Netherlands
List of castles in the Netherlands
List of Catholic dioceses in the Kingdom of the Netherlands
List of cities in the Netherlands by province
List of cities, towns and villages in Limburg (Netherlands)
List of companies of the Netherlands
List of convention centres in the Netherlands
List of cricket grounds in the Netherlands
List of defunct airlines of the Netherlands
List of defunct airlines of the Netherlands Antilles
List of defunct banks of the Netherlands
List of diplomatic missions in the Netherlands
List of diplomatic missions of the Netherlands
List of diplomats of the United Kingdom to the Netherlands
List of Drawn Together characters
List of Drawn Together episodes
List of earthquakes in the Netherlands
List of equipment of the Royal Netherlands Army
List of extreme points of the Netherlands
List of female cabinet members of the Netherlands
List of flag bearers for the Netherlands Antilles at the Olympics
List of flag bearers for the Netherlands at the Olympics
List of floods in the Netherlands
List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in the Netherlands
List of gangs in the Netherlands
List of Gothic brick buildings in the Netherlands
List of governors of the Habsburg Netherlands
List of Harper's Bazaar Netherlands cover models
List of hospitals in the Netherlands
List of indoor arenas in the Netherlands
List of islands of the Netherlands
List of lakes of the Netherlands
List of largest companies of the Netherlands
List of Lebanese people in the Netherlands
List of Lepidoptera of the Netherlands
List of Let's Stay Together episodes
List of lighthouses in the Netherlands
List of mammals of the Netherlands
List of members of the European Coal and Steel Community Parliament for the Netherlands, 19521958
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 19581979
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 19791984
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 19841989
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 19891994
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 19941999
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 19992004
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 20042009
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 20092014
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 20142019
List of members of the European Parliament for the Netherlands, 20192024
List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 20062010
List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 20102012
List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 20122017
List of members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands, 2017present
List of members of the Senate of the Netherlands for GreenLeft (1989present)
List of minesweepers of the Royal Netherlands Navy
List of Ministers of Defence of the Netherlands
List of Ministers of Economic Affairs of the Netherlands
List of Ministers of Education of the Netherlands
List of Ministers of Justice of the Netherlands
List of Ministers of the Interior of the Netherlands
List of ministers plenipotentiary of the Austrian Netherlands
List of monarchs of the Netherlands
List of monitors of the Netherlands
List of mosques in the Netherlands
List of motorways in the Netherlands
List of mountains and hills in the Netherlands
List of national parks of the Netherlands
List of Netherlands Antillean records in athletics
List of Netherlands national cricket captains
List of New Netherland placename etymologies
List of newspapers in the Netherlands
List of non-marine molluscs of the Netherlands
List of number-one albums of 2015 (Netherlands)
List of people on the postage stamps of the Netherlands
List of political parties in the Netherlands
List of populated places in the Netherlands
List of presidents of the Senate (Netherlands)
List of prime ministers of the Netherlands
List of prime ministers of the Netherlands by age
List of prime ministers of the Netherlands by education
List of provinces of the Netherlands by Human Development Index
List of regions of the Netherlands
List of Speakers of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
List of stratigraphic units in the Netherlands
List of supermarket chains in the Netherlands
List of tallest buildings in the Netherlands
List of tallest structures in the Netherlands
List of terrorist incidents in the Netherlands
List of the largest trading partners of the Netherlands
List of Togetherness episodes
List of town tramway systems in the Netherlands
List of trains in the Netherlands
List of TUI fly Netherlands destinations
List of tunnels in the Netherlands
List of twin towns and sister cities in the Netherlands
List of universities in the Netherlands
List of volcanoes in the Netherlands
List of windmills in Limburg (Netherlands)
List of windmills in the Netherlands
List of World Heritage Sites in the Netherlands
List of years in the Netherlands
Little Petherick
Livable Netherlands
Live Together, Die Alone
Living apart together
Living former cabinet members of the Netherlands
Living Together
Living Together (film)
Llanvetherine
Lonely Together
Lonely Together (Avicii song)
Long Reach Ethernet
Loppersum, Netherlands
Lorentz ether theory
Lost Forever // Lost Together
Lost Together
Louise of the Netherlands
Love Will Keep Us Together
Lucky (Melissa Etheridge album)
Luminiferous aether
Made, Netherlands
Maire, Netherlands
MalaysiaNetherlands relations
MaliNetherlands relations
Marching On Together
Maren, Netherlands
Margaret Wetherell
Maria Fetherstonhaugh
Mariekerke, Netherlands
Maritime Research Institute Netherlands
Mark Letheren
MarxistLeninist Party of the Netherlands
Mary of Hungary (governor of the Netherlands)
Mary Stapleton-Bretherton
Mass media in the Netherlands
Matena, Netherlands
Matthew Etherington
Matthew Fetherstonhaugh
M. A. Wetherell
Max Noether
Max Noether's theorem
M. B. Etheredge
M-class minesweeper (Netherlands)
MDP Wethersfield
Mechelen, Netherlands
Medal of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Meeuwen, Netherlands
Meije, Netherlands
Melissa Etheridge
Melissa Etheridge discography
Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands for GreenLeft, 1989present
Mennonite Church in the Netherlands
Men of All Colors Together (Boston)
Merewether Clock Tower
Merewether Heights, New South Wales
Merewether, New South Wales
Merewether United FC
Meriwether
Meriwether Clark
Meriwether (EP)
Meriwether, Georgia
Meriwether Lewis
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (sculpture)
Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr.
Meriwether Lewis Clark Sr.
Meriwether Lewis Walker
Meriwether, Louisville
Meriwether National Golf Club
Metheringham
Methernitha
Methyl ether
Methyl tert-butyl ether
Methyltestosterone 3-hexyl ether
Methyl vinyl ether
Metro Ethernet
Metro Ethernet Routing Switch 8600
MexicoNetherlands relations
Micklethwaite, Wetherby
Micro Focus Together
Midlum, Netherlands
Military history of the Netherlands
Military Ordinariate of the Netherlands
Mind at the End of Its Tether
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation (Netherlands)
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Minister Plenipotentiary (Netherlands)
Minister Plenipotentiary of the Netherlands Antilles
Ministries of the Netherlands
Ministry of Defence (Netherlands)
Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy (the Netherlands)
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (Netherlands)
Ministry of Finance (Netherlands)
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Netherlands)
Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (Netherlands)
Ministry of Transport and Water Management (Netherlands)
Miriam Byrd-Nethery
Miss International Netherlands
Missouri bellwether
Mobile Netherlands
Module:Location map/data/Netherlands ABC islands (Lesser Antilles)/doc
Molsberg, Netherlands
Momentum exchange tether
Monarchy of the Netherlands
Montfort, Netherlands
Moroccans in the Netherlands
MoroccoNetherlands relations
Moving Forward Together
Municipal council (Netherlands)
Municipalities of the Netherlands
Municipal politics in the Netherlands
Music of the former Netherlands Antilles
Music of the Netherlands
N11 motorway (Netherlands)
N14 expressway (Netherlands)
N33 motorway (Netherlands)
N36 motorway (Netherlands)
N3 motorway (Netherlands)
N48 motorway (Netherlands)
N-acetylmuramic acid 6-phosphate etherase
Naked/Fight Together/Tempest
Nano-tetherball sensor
NARCIS (Netherlands)
Naters, Netherlands
National Alliance (Netherlands)
National Association of Black and White Men Together
National Herbarium of the Netherlands
National Museum of Ethnology (Netherlands)
National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands
National symbols of the Netherlands
National tariff system (Netherlands)
National Youth Orchestra of the Netherlands
Naval history of the Netherlands
N-Butyl glycidyl ether
Neck, Netherlands
Neil Etheridge
Nether
Nether Alderley
Netheravon
Netheravon Airfield
Netherbeast Incorporated
Nether Broughton
Netherbury
Netherby
Nethercote
Nethercutt Collection
Nethercutt-Richards family
Nether Earth
Nether Edge (ward)
Nether Exe
Netherfield
Netherfield Cricket Club
Nethergate Brewery
Netherhall Learning Campus
Nether Kellet
Netherland Dwarf (film)
Netherland Dwarf rabbit
Netherland Indies Gas Company
Netherland Inn
Netherlandish Proverbs
Netherland Line
Netherlands
Netherlands Agency for Aerospace Programmes
Netherlands Aircraft Company
Netherlands Airport Consultants
NetherlandsAmerican Amity Trust
Netherlands American Cemetery
Netherlands and weapons of mass destruction
Netherlands Antillean guilder
Netherlands Antilles
Netherlands Antilles at the Olympics
Netherlands Antilles at the Pan American Games
Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee
Netherlands Antilles Tennis Federation
Netherlands Architecture Institute
Netherlands Association of Film Distributors
Netherlands at the 1906 Intercalated Games
Netherlands at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Netherlands at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Netherlands at the 2010 Summer Youth Olympics
Netherlands at the 2014 Winter Olympics
Netherlands at the 2020 Summer Paralympics
Netherlands at the Olympics
Netherlands at the UCI Track Cycling World Cup
Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets
Netherlands Aviation Safety Board
Netherlands Bach Society
Netherlands Bible Society
Netherlands Carillon
Netherlands Chamber Orchestra
Netherlands Coastguard
Netherlands Competition Authority
Netherlands Design Institute
Netherlands (disambiguation)
Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency
Netherlands (European Parliament constituency)
Netherlands Film Academy
Netherlands Film Festival
Netherlands Film Fund
Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
Netherlands Forensic Institute
Netherlands Government Information Service
Netherlands Indies Government Information Service
Netherlands Indies gulden
Netherlands-Indonesia Union
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study
Netherlands Institute for Art History
Netherlands Institute for Innovative Ocular Surgery
Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience
Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision
Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Netherlands Institute for the Classification of Audiovisual Media
Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea
Netherlands Institute in Athens
Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael
Netherlands in the Eurovision Dance Contest
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1957
Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2018
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019
Netherlands in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2020
Netherlands in the Roman era
Netherlands in World War I
Netherlands in World War II
Netherlands Leprosy Relief
Netherlands lunar sample displays
Netherlands Malacological Society
Netherlands Marine Corps
Netherlands Marine Corps Museum
Netherlands Maritime Special Operations Forces
Netherlands Media Art Institute
Netherlands Missionary Society
Netherlands Music Institute
Netherlands Mycological Society
Netherlands Naval Aviation Service
Netherlands New Guinea
Netherlands New Guinean gulden
NetherlandsNew Zealand relations
Netherlands Office Taipei
Netherlands Open Air Museum
Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research
NetherlandsPakistan relations
Netherlands Patent Office
Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra
NetherlandsPhilippines relations
Netherlands Photo Museum
NetherlandsPoland relations
Netherlands Practical Shooting Association
Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic
Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra
Netherlands Red Cross
Netherlands Reformed Church
Netherlands Reformed Churches
Netherlands Reformed Congregations
NetherlandsRomania relations
Netherlands Royal Shooting Sport Association
NetherlandsRussia relations
NetherlandsSingapore relations
NetherlandsSlovenia relations
NetherlandsSouth Africa relations
Netherlands Space Office
NetherlandsSpain relations
NetherlandsSuriname relations
NetherlandsSweden relations
Netherlands Symphony Orchestra
Netherlands Telugu Community
Netherlands Trading Society
NetherlandsTurkey relations
NetherlandsUkraine relations
NetherlandsUnited Kingdom relations
NetherlandsUruguay relations
NetherlandsVenezuela Boundary Treaty
Netherlands v Essent NV
Netherlands Wind Ensemble
Nether Langwith
Netherlee
Netherley
Netherley, Aberdeenshire
NetherLines
Nether Lypiatt Manor
Nethermere (St Neots) Ltd v Gardiner
Netherne Hospital
Netherne-on-the-Hill
NetherRealm Studios
Nether region
Netherseal
Netherthong
Netherthorpe
Netherthorpe Airfield
Netherton
Netherton, Kirklees
Netherton, Merseyside
Netherton, New Zealand
Netherton, North Lanarkshire
Netherton, Northumberland
Netherton, Peterborough
Netherton Reservoir
Netherton syndrome
Netherton Tunnel Branch Canal
Netherton, West Midlands
Nether Whitacre
Nether Winchendon
Netherwood Academy
Netherworld
Netherworld (Top Cow)
Netherworld (video game)
Nether Wyresdale
Net neutrality in the Netherlands
New Communist Party of the Netherlands
New National Party (Netherlands)
New Netherland
New Netherlander
New Netherland Institute
Newquay Tretherras
New Right (Netherlands)
Newton Wethered
NHS Charities Together
Nicholas Meriwether
Nickelodeon Netherlands Kids' Choice Awards
Nieuw-Amsterdam, Netherlands
Nisse, Netherlands
No. 119 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 120 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 18 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 19 (Netherlands East Indies) Squadron RAAF
No. 320 (Netherlands) Squadron RAF
Noel Newton Nethersole
Noether
Noether's theorem
Noether's theorem on rationality for surfaces
Noetherian
Noetherian module
Noetherian ring
Noetherian topological space
Noether inequality
Noether Lecture
Noether normalization lemma
Nolde, Netherlands
Norman Hetherington
North Petherton
North Petherwin
Notter, Netherlands
Nuclear energy in the Netherlands
NUTS statistical regions of the Netherlands
Nutter, Netherlands
Octabromodiphenyl ether
Octaethylene glycol monododecyl ether
Odd Thomas: You Are Destined to Be Together Forever
Old Catholic Church of the Netherlands
Old Netherlands Bank building
Old Wethersfield
Oling, Netherlands
Olle Zetherlund
One cent coin (Netherlands)
One guilder coin (Netherlands)
One Nation Working Together rally
Onward Together
Open access in the Netherlands
Open University of the Netherlands
Operation Together Forward
Order of the Netherlands Lion
Orders, decorations, and medals of the Netherlands
OrovilleThermalito Complex
Outline of the Netherlands
Outline of the Netherlands Antilles
Overberg, Netherlands
Paal, Netherlands
Pakistanis in the Netherlands
Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital
Parents and Abducted Children Together
Partnership2Gether
Party for the Netherlands
Patent law in the Netherlands
Patrolling the Ether
Pavonia, New Netherland
Peel, Netherlands
Pegida Netherlands
Pentabromodiphenyl ether
Pentaethylene glycol monododecyl ether
Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald
Perfluoroether
Perfluoropolyether
Pernis, Netherlands
Peter Petherick
Petherick
Petherton Park
Petroleum ether
Philip Bretherton
Philippine, Netherlands
Piecing Me Together
Pirate Party (Netherlands)
Planetetherium
Play and Rebuild Together Tournament
Plug-in electric vehicles in the Netherlands
Point-to-Point Protocol over Ethernet
Politics of the Netherlands
Politics of the Netherlands Antilles
Polyaryletherketone
Polybrominated diphenyl ethers
Polychlorinated diphenyl ethers
Polyether block amide
Polyether ether ketone
Polyetherimide
Polyetherketoneketone
Polyoxymethylene dimethyl ethers
Polyphenyl ether
Portal:Netherlands
Portal:Netherlands/WikiProjects
Porter Meriwether
Postage stamps and postal history of the Netherlands
Postage stamps and postal history of the Netherlands Antilles
Postal codes in the Netherlands
Power over Ethernet
Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time
President of the Senate (Netherlands)
Pretty Together
Pride and joy: childrens portraits in the Netherlands, 15001700
Prime Minister of the Netherlands
Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles
Prince Claus of the Netherlands
Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
Prince Ernest Casimir of the Netherlands
Prince Frederick of the Netherlands
Prince Henry of the Netherlands
Prince Henry of the Netherlands (18201879)
Prince Maurice of the Netherlands
Princess Alexia of the Netherlands
Princess Ariane of the Netherlands
Princess Christina of the Netherlands
Princess Irene of the Netherlands
Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
Princess Margriet of the Netherlands
Princess Marianne of the Netherlands
Princess Marie of the Netherlands
Princess Sophie of the Netherlands
Progesterone 3-acetyl enol ether
Propylene glycol methyl ether
Propylene glycol methyl ether acetate
Prostitution in the Netherlands
Protestant Church in the Netherlands
Provinces of the Netherlands
Provincial council (Netherlands)
Provincial politics in the Netherlands
Public body (Netherlands)
Public holidays in the Netherlands
Public transport in the Netherlands
Putte, Netherlands
Put Your Hands Together (The O'Jays song)
Qmusic (Netherlands)
Queen Mxima of the Netherlands
Queen of the Netherlands (ship)
Rachel Hetherington
Radio 10 (Netherlands)
Radio Netherlands Worldwide
RAF Metheringham
Rail transport in the Netherlands
Ravenstein, Netherlands
Raymond Etherington-Smith
Recipients of the Order of the Netherlands Lion
Red Week (Netherlands)
Reek, Netherlands
Referendums in the Netherlands
Reformed Association in the Protestant Church in the Netherlands
Reformed Churches in the Netherlands
Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Liberated)
Reformed Churches in the Netherlands (Restored)
Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands
Reformed Congregations in the Netherlands (unconnected)
Regalia of the Netherlands
Religion in the Netherlands
Religious affiliations of prime ministers of the Netherlands
Republicanism in the Netherlands
Residence of the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Washington D.C.
Restitutions Committee (Netherlands)
Rethera
Rethera afghanistana
Rethera brandti
Rethera komarovi
Revolutionary Socialist Party (Netherlands)
Rhee, Netherlands
Richard Fetherston
Richard Hetherington
Richard Petherick
Richard Wetherill
Riley Etheridge Jr.
Rivals of Aether
R. J. Fetherstonhaugh
Robert Etheridge
Robert Etheridge, Junior
Robert Etherington
Robert Fetherstonhaugh
Robert Nethersole
Robert Retherford
Rock music in the Netherlands
Roderick Wetherill
Roger Gaskell Hetherington
Roger Hetherington
Roman Catholic Party of the Netherlands
Rosa C. Petherick
Rosemary Radford Ruether
Roskam, Netherlands
Ross Metherell
Royal Library of the Netherlands
Royal Naval College (Netherlands)
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre
Royal Netherlands Air Force
Royal Netherlands Army
Royal Netherlands Chemical Society
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army
Royal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Force
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies
Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute
Royal Netherlands Motorized Infantry Brigade
Royal Netherlands Navy
Royal Netherlands Navy Submarine Service
Royal Netherlands Sea Rescue Institution
Ruether
Russell Frederick Bretherton
Rutten, Netherlands
Ryan Carrethers
Salvinorin B methoxymethyl ether
Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
Sarah Meriwether Nutter
Scarecrow (Melissa Etheridge song)
Schore, Netherlands
Schoten, Netherlands
Science and technology in the Netherlands
Scottish Court in the Netherlands
Sebastian Pether
Seether
Seether: 20022013
Seether discography
Selenetherium
Senate (Netherlands)
Senator Etheridge
Sephardic Jews in the Netherlands
Service Interoperability in Ethernet Passive Optical Networks
Sesame Street Together Book
Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave and Grooving with a Pict
Sexual orientation and the military of the Netherlands
Shether
Shia Islam in the Netherlands
Shire of Etheridge
Shirley Netherway
Sikhism in the Netherlands
Silver Memorial Cross, 1813-1815 (Netherlands)
Silyl enol ether
Silyl ether
Sion Abbey (Netherlands)
SkolemNoether theorem
Sleep together
Social Democratic Workers' Party (Netherlands)
Socialism in the Netherlands
Socialist Alternative (Netherlands)
Socialist Party (Netherlands)
Socialist Party (Netherlands, interbellum)
Socialist Workers' Party (Netherlands, 1959)
Social Liberal Party (Netherlands)
Soest, Netherlands
SoftEther Corporation
SoftEther VPN
So Happy Together
So Happy Together (film)
Solar power in the Netherlands
Solitary Confinement (Lether Strip album)
Somalis in the Netherlands
Someday We'll Be Together
Songs Put Together For (The Broken Giant)
SONIC (Ethernet controller)
Southern Netherlands
South Limburg (Netherlands)
South Petherton
South Petherwin
Sovereign Principality of the United Netherlands
Space tether
Space tether missions
Spanish Netherlands
Speaker of the House of Representatives (Netherlands)
Spectral Souls: Resurrection of the Ethereal Empires
Sport in the Netherlands
Sprang, Netherlands
SST: Salo-Salo Together
Standing Together
Statistics Netherlands
Staying Together
Stay Together
Stay Together (album)
Stay Together for the Kids
Stay Together (Mandaryna song)
St Benet's Chapel, Netherton
St. Brides Netherwent
St Clether
St Enodoc's Church, Trebetherick
Steven Hetherington
Stichting Ether Reclame
Still 2gether
Still life paintings by Vincent van Gogh (Netherlands)
Still life paintings from the Netherlands, 15501720
St James' Parish Church, Wetherby
St John the Baptist's Church, Bretherton
St Mary's Church, Nether Alderley
Stratum, Netherlands
Striving For Togetherness Records
Stronger Together
Stronger Together (book)
Strongest Man of the Netherlands
Structure of the Royal Netherlands Air Force
Structure of the Royal Netherlands Army
Strype, Netherlands
Stuart Etherington
Stuck Together with God's Glue
Sumar, Netherlands
Supreme Court of the Netherlands
Synchronous Ethernet
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
Taxation in the Netherlands
Teddy Together
Teether
Tele2 Netherlands
Telecommunications in the Netherlands
Telephone numbers in Curaao and the Caribbean Netherlands
Telephone numbers in the Netherlands
Television in the Netherlands
Ten cent coin (Netherlands 192641)
Teo Torriatte (Let Us Cling Together)
Terabit Ethernet
Terence Etherton
Terence Etherton, Baron Etherton
Tert-Amyl ethyl ether
Tert-Amyl methyl ether
Tether
Tetherball
Tether car
Tether (cryptocurrency)
Tethered balloon
Tethered flight test
Tethered formation flying
Tethered particle motion
Tethered spinal cord syndrome
Tetherin
Tethering
Tetherow, Oregon
Tether (song)
Tethers Unlimited, Inc.
Tetraethylene glycol dimethyl ether
Thanks for the Ether
The Art of the Netherlands (recording)
The Awakening (Melissa Etheridge album)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Netherlands
The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!
The Etherington Brothers
The Family That Plays Together
The Greens (Netherlands)
The Hague Netherlands Temple
The Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck Album
The Kingdom of the Netherlands During World War II
The Libertines Bound Together
The Meowstro Sings Guster's Keep It Together
The Meriwether
The Modification and Instrumentation of a Famous Hornpipe as a Merry and Altogether Sincere Homage to Uncle Alfred
The More We Get Together
The Netherlands Institute for the Near East
The Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research
The Nethernet
The Sherry-Netherland
The Sword of Etheria
The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether
(The System of) Dr. Tarr and Professor Fether
The Trilogie Three Journeyes Through the Norwegian Netherworlde
Think Together
Thioether S-methyltransferase
Thomas Hetherington
Thorn, Netherlands
Timeline of luminiferous aether
Tim Hetherington Trust
T. K. Wetherell
T-Mobile Netherlands
T-Mobile Netherlands BV v Raad van bestuur van de Nederlandse Mededingingsautoriteit
ToGetHer
Together
Together?
Together (1980 TV series)
Together (2000 film)
Together (2002 film)
Together (2010 film)
Together Again
Together Again (Emil Viklick and George Mraz album)
Together Again for the First Time
Together Again (Kitty Wells and Red Foley album)
Together Again (NSYNC song)
Together Again (Ray Charles album)
Together Again (The Temptations album)
Together Again (Tony Bennett and Bill Evans album)
Together Again! (Willis Jackson and Jack McDuff album)
Together Alone
Together/Apart
Together as One
Together as One (Elan Atias album)
Together at Christmas (Michael Ball and Alfie Boe album)
Together at Home
Together at Last
Together at the Bluebird Caf
Together (book)
Together Boston
Together (British band)
Together-class container ship
Together (Country Joe and the Fish album)
Together: Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter Live
Together for Catalonia
Together for Catalonia (2017)
Together for Change
Together for Days
Together Forever
Together Forever: Greatest Hits 19831991
Together Forever Greatest Hits and More...
Together Forever (Rick Astley song)
Together Forever (TV series)
Together (For King & Country, Tori Kelly and Kirk Franklin song)
Together for McGovern
Together for Mental Wellbeing
Together for Peru
Together for Saint Barthlemy
Together for umadija
Together for Sustainability
Together for the First Time... Live
Together for the People
Together for Trees
Together for Vojvodina
Together (French duo)
Together (Hungary)
Together in Electric Dreams
Together in the Dark
Together in Vegas
Together (Italy)
Together (John Farnham and Allison Durbin album)
Together (Jonathan and Charlotte album)
Togetherland
Together (Larry Coryell and Emily Remler album)
Together (magazine)
Together (Marcus & Martinus album)
Together (Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells album)
Together (Michael Ball and Alfie Boe album)
Togetherness
Togetherness (TV series)
Together On A Mission
Together Pangea
Together (Ryan O'Shaughnessy song)
Together (S Club Juniors album)
Together (Singaporean TV series)
Together Stronger (C'mon Wales)
Together (The Intruders song)
Together (The New Pornographers album)
Together (The Oak Ridge Boys album)
Together (The Supremes and the Temptations album)
Together Through Life
Together Trust
Together TV
Together Under One Sun
Together (union)
Together We're Heavy
Together We Are One
Together We Are One (song)
Together We Are the Love Vortex
Together We Stand
Together We Were Made
Together When...
Together (Wherever We Go)
Together With Me
Tmas Riether
Toom, Netherlands
Tourism in the Netherlands
Tour of the Netherlands
Transport in the Netherlands
Transport in the Netherlands Antilles
Treaty of Limits (BrazilNetherlands)
Triethylene glycol dimethyl ether
TTEthernet
TUI fly Netherlands
Turks in the Netherlands
Twelve Years Together
Twenty-five cent coin (Netherlands)
Twogether
Twogether (TV program)
Two Hundred Years Together
Underground media in the German-occupied Netherlands
United Kingdom of the Netherlands
United Netherlands
Universal basic income in the Netherlands
Untethered
Untethered regimen
UPC Netherlands
Urban districts of the Netherlands
USCGC Richard Etheridge (WPC-1102)
User:Abyssal/Paleontology in the Netherlands
USS Meriwether (APA-203)
Vasse, Netherlands
Veen, Netherlands
Vehicle registration plates of the Caribbean Netherlands
Vehicle registration plates of the Netherlands
Vernon Petherick
Veterans' Day (Netherlands)
Video games in the Netherlands
Visa policy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean
Vriessendael, New Netherland
Walem, Netherlands
Walking Together
Walk Together, Rock Together
Walter de Wetheringsete
Wanted to Do One Together
Warder, Netherlands
Warlords IV: Heroes of Etheria
Warns, Netherlands
Warren Etheredge
Water board (Netherlands)
Water supply and sanitation in the Netherlands
W. D. Wetherell
We'll Be Together
We'll Be Together Again (Lena Horne album)
We're All In This Together
We're in It Together
We're in This Together
We All Got Together and...
We All Stand Together
We Are All Together
We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
We Are Together
We Belong Together
We Belong Together (campaign)
We Belong Together (disambiguation)
We Belong Together (Robert & Johnny song)
We Can Get Together
We Can Make It Together
WedderburnEtherington number
We Gather Together
We Hunt Together (TV series)
We Should Be Together (song)
Westerland, Netherlands
We Stick Together Through Thick and Thin
Westkapelle, Netherlands
Westkerke, Netherlands
Westland (municipality), Netherlands
Westland, Netherlands
Westland (region), Netherlands
Weston under Wetherley
Wether
Wetheral Priory Gatehouse
Wetherby
Wetherby's Cinema
WetherbyHamptonSnyderWilsonErdman Log House
Wetherby Mares' Hurdle
Wetherby News
Wetherby Preceptory
Wetherby Racecourse
Wetherby Rural District
Wetherby services
Wetherden
Wetheredsville, Maryland
Wetherell
Wether Hill
Wether Holm
Wetheriggs Pottery
Wetheriggs Zoo and Animal Sanctuary
Wetherill Park, New South Wales
Wetherington, Ohio
Wetherlam
Wetheron, Queensland
Wethersfield
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield, New York
Wetherspoons
We Won't Grow Old Together
What Love Has Joined Together
When Under Ether
When We Are Together
When We Stand Together
Why Can't We Live Together
Why Can't We Live Together (album)
Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Netherlands
Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
Wilhelmine of Prussia, Queen of the Netherlands
Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
William Etheridge
William III of the Netherlands
William II of the Netherlands
William I of the Netherlands
William Maxwell Hetherington
William Merewether
William Pether
Williamson ether synthesis
Wind power in the Netherlands
Witch trials in the Spanish Netherlands
Witmarsum, Netherlands
Witten, Netherlands
Words as Weapons (Seether song)
Workers Party of the Netherlands (build-up organisation)
Yan Tan Tethera
Yes I Am (Melissa Etheridge album)
Young Democrats (Netherlands)
Young Socialists (Netherlands)
Zethera incerta
Zurich, Netherlands
Zwijndrecht, Netherlands
-Naphthol methyl ether



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