THE PILGRIM

               AT the dawn of the bout
               Of my life I set out
                   For the Palace of Light.
               At the end of the road
               I have found an abode
                   In the Tavern of Night.

               Ever on! ever on!
               Said the day-star, and shone!
                   Ever on! and above!
               Said the even-star: rest
               In the night on my Breast!
                   Beyond light there is love.

               But I stayed not; I feared
               A false witch in her weird.
                   I went on, ever on,
               Till the day and the night
               And the love and the light
                   Were, suddenly, gone.

               Came the Voice of the Lord:
               "Now receive the reward                 {130}
                   Of the laughers at Life,
               Who, faint, have not failed;
               Who, weak, have not wailed:
                   My one jewel --- a wife.

               "Since the ape stood erect
               For a sign of his sect
                   There have only been ten.
               So perfect were they
               That their names are to-day
                   Forgotten of men."

               I took her, and still
               Through the wit and the will
                   And the way and the word
               And the crown of all these,
               By the water at ease
                   Sings our bliss as a bird.

               Together! together!
               The wage of the weather          {131}
                   I liberty, light;
               Is loyalty, love;
               Is laughter, above
                   The caprices of night.

               From ocean emergent
               Springs splendid, assurgent,
                   The strenuous sun.
               The shadows are gone,
               But the tune ripples on,
                   And the word is but one.

               Let all that is living
               Unite in thanksgiving
                   To Heaven above,
               For the Heaven within,
               That a woman may win
                   For a man --- that is love.

               At the end of the road
               I have found an abode
                   In the Tavern of Night;
               And behold! it is one
               With the House of the Sun
                   And the Palace of Light!
                                    ALEISTER CROWLEY.