Pain they have at their great parting,
Orbs long did they inhabit,
Matter theirs while in they dwelt.
Matter good for form it taketh,
Planets good for habitation.
These are now forever formless,
Ever lordless, ever guideless.
Form and matter there were parted,
Lovers gone and never meeting,
Severed as the soul from body
At the moment of last breathing,
For the spirit is of breathing,
Life in blood and means of speaking.
See the plan, the great unfolding,
God, the lord, all self-sufficient,
All for Love, in great abundance,
Made the world, a something other,
Matter first, then form descending,
Out from mind, the great Ideas.
See these now upon the grasses,
In this very woodland meadow
Now they gather dancing logic,
Subtlety may there be found,
Slithering upon the woodland,
Strength is there, a great high lion,
Casting forth his mighty power,
Over all that stands or withers.
Chair and Table, Earth and Water,
Snub and Point, lords Red and Blue,
Yellow, Book, and Seedling greening,
All these Forms upon the woodland,
Coming out from all creation,
Whither they had gone most gladly,
Seeing good in Matter present,
At the Architect’s commanding.
“O Matter, why do we leave you,
Oh, our friend in bygone ages,
You who found us, lonely, wan’dring,
Gave us home and rest and greeting,”
Thus the song of all the Angels
And the Forms there in that meeting.
Making Man last in his image,
God did make the first creation,
Made to grow into his likeness.
Casting off this glorious calling,
Man did fall at serpent’s prompting,
Dancing higher, dancing lower,
Than their roles were meant to travel.
Thus they now descend to nothing,
Ever downward, ever deathward,
Leaden natures ever heavy.
Far from God there is no being,
Far from God now they were seeking,
Though they held the spark he gave them,
Holding being, ever dying,
Needing him to come and save them.
Thus the Reason of all being,
Architect, the high and noble,
Came into an earthly vessel,
Infinite as finite being,
Came indeed as man among us,
Showing us how we should be.
We, despising, scorned and mocked him,
Set him on the four branch tree,
Upward, downward ever going,
Unified in him upon it,
Left and right contrary reaching,
Unified in him upon it,
War within Creation ceasing,
Form and Matter, Man and Woman,
Now great peace is made between them,
They at war since loss of Eden,
May they come at last to share in
That great peace on that day purchased.
There was he, the lord of Being,
Separated from himself there,
Son by Father there forgotten,
Though all knowing and all seeing.
There to face the great unbeing,
For our sake, we fading lost ones.
Lord of being Nothing breaketh,
For how could the Nothing hold him?
How the Darkness ever break him?
See the Easter morn arising,
Christ ascending, Christ arising,
Bringing light to all who follow,
Falling, rising, in his footsteps,
Holy Water out of Nothing,
In which we his path do follow.
Holy Bread and Drink of Being
Now do bring the transmutation
Of our Souls and of our Bodies,
Under Spirit’s ghostly leading.
Form and matter once divided,
Soul and body once were sundered,
Brought to Death in painful breaking,
Now rejoined in Glorious union,
In the Life of Christ are risen.
In this Life the Church was founded,
Those transformed by this his Passion.
He the leaven of salvation,
Now throughout the world is blended,
New world brought out from the old one,
That one fading, this one clearing.
Now is time for greatest union,
Church and Christ to marriage coming,
Bride most holy and most lovely,
Groom most loving and defending.
That once broken now is mended.
Stars sing now about their homeland,
Forms sing now about their instance,
That dear Matter that they loveth.
Christ doth hear their protestations,
He is present in the Matter,
He is present in the Formal,
He is able to unite them,
Brought to Death for Resurrection,
For they needed such division,
So that they may come together,
In a perfect union holy,
In a new created Heavens,
Break and glue in rightful dancing,
Thus is brought the transformation,
Thus is brought the transmutation.
Now to them again they come,
Joyful at their new reunion,
Form with Matter one is builded,
Guide with Orb a planet formed.
Now to mark out different seasons
In this newly made creation,
Choirs of angels round the planets,
Now line in four groups of triples,
On the walls of that great city,
New Jerusalem descending,
These four groups on these four bulwarks,
That enwall this mighty city.
Now the yearly flowing circle
Now is squared, with time restoring,
Now they show for days and seasons,
God his time has now established.
Form and Matter, under new law,
Cease to groan from Death and anguish,
As the new day is appearing,
All is bright and all is holy,
In the Light of Christ the risen.
