46

And Los and Enitharmon sat in discontent & scorn.

375 The Nuptial Song arose from all the thousand thousand

Spirits

Over the joyful Earth & Sea & ascended into the Heavens;

For Elemental Gods their thunderous Organs blew,

creating

Delicious Viands. Demons of Waves their wat'ry Echoes

woke.

Bright Souls of vegetative life budding and blossoming

380 Stretch their immortal hands to smite the gold & silver

Wires,

And with immortal Voice soft warbling, fill all Earth

& Heaven.

With doubling voices, & loud Horns wound round, sounding,

Cavernous dwellers fill'd the enormous Revelry, Responsing,

And Spirits of Flaming fire on high govern'd the mighty

Song.

(K. I. 374-384)

Spirits of earth, air, fire, and water 'awake' into activity and sing of a summer in which, however, the harvest and the vintage are denied;

" 'Let us refuse the Plow & Spade, the heavy Roller & spiked

'Harrow; burn all these Corn fields, throw down all these

fences.'

"'Fatten'd on Human blood & drunk with wine of life is better

far

39 "'Than all these labours of the harvest & the vintage. See

the river,

" 'Red with the blood of Men, swells lustful round my rocky knees;

" 'My clouds are not the clouds of verdant fields & groves of

fruit,

" 'But Clouds of Human Souls: my nostrils drink the lives of Men.'

CK. I. 387-393)

Ideally, the excess of the harvest and vintage should be converted into bread and wine, which, in infinity, is offered to Divine energies. Here, blood breeds blood, and destruction is enjoyed for its own sake. Therefore, the sacrifice is profane:

"The Cities send to one another with blood?saying: 'My sons are Mad

" 'With wine of cruelty. Let us plat a scourge, 0 Sister

City.'

400 "Children are nourish'd for the Slaughter; once the Child was feds "With Milk, but wherefore now are Children fed