HYMN TO SATAN

I animate all who fight against servitude

The heroes and martyrs of liberty and progress in every

age have drunk of my spirit

I inspire the revolter, the scorner, the sceptic,

the satirist

I distribute the tree of knowledge

I am the lightning of the human mind

I am the soul of the world

I level the thrones and altars and annihilate binding customs

With a goal of restless aspiration, I urge men on

until they outgrow faith and fear

until the slave stands erect before the tyrant

and defies his curse.

(Composed during the Renaissance, when people were at last beginning to break free of the state religions which had oppressed and brainwashed them for one and a half millennia.)

From the Dark Lily Journal No 1, Society of Dark Lily (London 1987).