# Vala, or The Four Zoas/Night the Sixth

Source: The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake by William Blake. Edited by David V. Erdman
* VALA Night the Sixth
* [ page 67 ]
* So Urizen arose & leaning on his Spear explord his dens
* He threw his flight thro the dark air to where a river flowd
* And taking off his silver helmet filled it & drank
* But when Unsatiated his thirst he assayd to gather more
* 5 Lo three terrific women at the verge of the bright flood
* Who would not suffer him to approach. but drove him back with storms
* Urizen knew them not & thus addressd the spirits of darkness
* Who art thou Eldest Woman sitting in thy clouds
* What is that name written on thy forehead? what art thou?
* 10 And wherefore dost thou pour this water forth in sighs & care
* She answerd not but filld her urn & pourd it forth abroad
* Answerest thou not said Urizen. then thou maist answer me
* Thou terrible woman clad in blue, whose strong attractive power
* Draws all into a fountain at the rock of thy attraction
* 15 With frowning brow thou sittest mistress of these mighty waters
* She answerd not but stretchd her arms & threw her limbs abroad
* Or wilt thou answer youngest Woman clad in shining greent
* With labour & care thou dost divide the current into fourt
* Queen of these dreadful rivers speak & let me hear thy voice
* [ page 68 ]
* They reard up a wall of rocks and Urizen raisd his spear.
* They gave a scream, they knew their father Urizen knew his daughters
* They shrunk into their channels. dry the rocky strand beneath his feet
* Hiding themselves in rocky forms from the Eyes of Urizen
* 5 Then Urizen wept & thus his lamentation poured forth
* O horrible O dreadful state! those whom I loved best
* On whom I pourd the beauties of my light adorning them
* With jewels & precious ornament labourd with art divine
* Vests of the radiant colours of heaven & crowns of golden fire
* 10 I gave sweet lillies to their breasts & roses to their hair
* I taught them songs of sweet delight, I gave their tender voices
* Into the blue expanse & I invented with laborious art
* Sweet instruments of sound. in pride encompassing my Knees
* They pourd their radiance above all. the daughters of Luvah Envied
* 15 At their exceeding brightness & the sons of eternity sent them gifts
* Now will I pour my fury on them & I will reverse
* The precious benediction. for their colours of loveliness
* I will give blackness for jewels hoary frost for ornament deformity
* For crowns wreathd Serpents for sweet odors stinking corruptibility
* 20 For voices of delight hoarse croakings inarticulate thro frost
* For labourd fatherly care & sweet instruction. I will give
* Chains of dark ignorance & cords of twisted self conceit
* And whips of stern repentance & food of stubborn obstinacy
* That they may curse Tharmas their God & Los his adopted son
* 25 That they may curse & worship the obscure Demon of destruction
* That they may worship terrors & obey the violent
* Go forth sons of my curse Go forth daughters of my abhorrence
* Tharmas heard the deadly scream across his watry world
* And Urizens loud sounding voice lamenting on the wind
* 30 And he came riding in his fury. froze to solid were his waves
* [ page 69 ]
* Silent in ridges he beheld them stand round Urizen
* A dreary waste of solid waters for the King of Light
* Darkend his brows with his cold helmet & his gloomy spear
* Darkend before him. Silent on the ridgy waves he took
* 5 His gloomy way before him Tharmas fled & flying fought
* Crying. What & who art thou Cold Demon. art thou Urizen
* Art thou like me risen again from death or art thou deathless
* If thou art he my desperate purpose hear & give me death
* For death to me is better far than life. death my desire
* 10 That I in vain in various paths have sought but still I live
* The Body of Man is given to me I seek in vain to destroy
* For still it surges forth in fish & monsters of the deeps
* And in these monstrous forms I Live in an Eternal woet
* And thou O Urizen art falln never to be deliverd
* 15 Withhold thy light from me for ever & I will withhold
* From thee thy food so shall we cease to be & all our sorrows
* End & the Eternal Man no more renew beneath our power
* If thou refusest in eternal flight thy beams in vain
* Shall pursue Tharmas & in vain shalt crave for food I will
* 20 Pour down my flight thro dark immensity Eternal falling
* Thou shalt pursue me but in vain till starvd upon the void
* Thou hangst a dried skin shrunk up weak wailing in the wind
* So Tharmas spoke but Urizen replied not. On his way
* He took. high bounding over hills & desarts floods & horrible chasms
* 25 Infinite was his labour without end his travel he strove
* In vain for hideous monsters of the deeps annoyd him sore
* Scaled & finnd with iron & brass they devourd the path before him
* Incessant was the conflict. On he bent his weary steps
* Making a path toward the dark world of Urthona. he rose
* 30 With pain upon the dreary mountains & with pain descended
* And saw their grizly fears & his eyes sickend at the sight
* The howlings gnashings groanings shriekings shudderings sobbings burstings
* Mingle together to create a world for Los. In cruel delight
* [ page 70 FIRST PORTION ]
* Los brooded on the darkness. nor saw Urizen with a Globe of fire
* Lighting his dismal journey thro the pathless world of death
* Writing in bitter tears & groans in books of iron & brass
* The enormous wonders of the Abysses once his brightest joy
* 5 For Urizen beheld the terrors of the Abyss wandring among
* The ruind spirits once his children & the children of Luvah
* Scard at the sound of their own sigh that seems to shake the immense
* They wander Moping in their heart a Sun a Dreary moon
* A Universe of fiery constellations in their brain
* 10 An Earth of wintry woe beneath their feet & round their loinst
* Waters or winds or clouds or brooding lightnings & pestilential plagues
* Beyond the bounds of their own self their senses cannot penetrate
* As the tree knows not what is outside of its leaves & bark
* And yet it drinks the summer joy & fears the winter sorrow
* 15 So in the regions of the grave none knows his dark compeer
* Tho he partakes of his dire woes & mutual returns the pang
* The throb the dolor the convulsion in soul sickening woes
* The horrid shapes & sights of torment in burning dungeons & in
* Fetters of red hot iron some with crowns of serpents & some
* 20 With monsters girding round their bosoms, Some lying on beds of sulphur
* On racks & wheels he beheld women marching oer burning wastes
* Of Sand in bands of hundreds & of fifties & of thousands strucken with
* Lightnings which blazed after them upon their shoulders in their march
* In successive vollies with loud thunders swift flew the King of Light
* 25 Over the burning desarts Then the desarts passd. involvd in clouds
* Of smoke with myriads moping in the stifling vapours. Swift
* Flew the King tho flagd his powers labring. till over rocks
* And Mountains faint weary he wanderd. where multitudes were shut
* Up in the solid mountains & in rocks which heaved with their torments
* 30 Then came he among fiery cities & castles built of burning steel
* Then he beheld the forms of tygers & of Lions dishumanizd men
* Many in serpents & in worms stretchd out enormous length
* Over the sullen mould & slimy tracks obstruct his way
* Drawn out from deep to deep woven by ribbd
* 35 And scaled monsters or armd in iron shell or shell of brass
* Or gold a glittering torment shining & hissing in eternal pain
* Some [as] columns of fire or of water sometimes stretchd out in heighth
* Sometimes in length sometimes englobing wandering in vain seeking for easet
* His voice to them was but an inarticulate thunder for their Ears
* 40 Were heavy & dull & their eyes & nostrils closed up
* Oft he stood by a howling victim Questioning in words
* Soothing or Furious no one answerd every one wrapd up
* In his own sorrow howld regardless of his words, nor voice
* Of sweet response could he obtain tho oft assayd with tears
* 45 He knew they were his Children ruind in his ruind world
* [ page 71 FIRST PORTION ]
* Oft would he stand & question a fierce scorpion glowing with gold
* In vain the terror heard not. then a lion he would Sieze
* By the fierce mane staying his howling course in vain the voicet
* Of Urizen vain the Eloquent tongue. A Rock a Cloud a Mountain
* 5 Were now not Vocal as in Climes of happy Eternity
* Where the lamb replies to the infant voice & the lion to the man of years
* Giving them sweet instructions Where the Cloud the River & the Field
* Talk with the husbandman & shepherd. But these attackd him sore
* Siezing upon his feet & rending the Sinews that in Caves
* 10 He hid to recure his obstructed powers with rest & oblivion
* [ page 70 SECOND PORTION ]
* Here he had time enough to repent of his rashly threatend curse
* He saw them cursd beyond his Curse his soul melted with fear
* [ page 71 SECOND PORTION ]
* He could not take their fetters off for they grew from the soul
* Nor could he quench the fires for they flamd out from the heart
* Nor could he calm the Elements because himself was Subject
* So he threw his flight in terror & pain & in repentant tears
* 15 When he had passd these southern terrors he approachd the East
* Void pathless beaten With iron sleet & eternal hail & raint
* No form was there no living thing & yet his way lay thro
* This dismal world. he stood a while & lookd back oer his former
* Terrific voyage. Hills & Vales of torment & despair
* 20 Sighing & Wiping a fresh tear. then turning round he threw
* Himself into the dismal void. falling he fell & fell
* Whirling in unresistible revolutions down & down
* In the horrid bottomless vacuity falling failing falling
* Into the Eastern vacuity the empty world of Luvah
* 25 The ever pitying one who seeth all things saw his fall
* And in the dark vacuity created a bosom of clayt
* When wearied dead he fell his limbs reposd in the bosom of slime
* As the seed falls from the sowers hand so Urizen fell & death
* Shut up his powers in oblivion. then as the seed shoots forth
* 30 In pain & sorrow. So the slimy bed his limbs renewd
* At first an infant weakness. periods passd he gatherd strength
* But still in solitude he sat then rising threw his flight
* Onward tho falling thro the waste of night & ending in death
* And in another resurrection to sorrow & weary travel
* 35 But still his books he bore in his strong hands & his iron pen
* For when he died they lay beside his grave & when he rose
* He siezd them with a gloomy smile for wrapd in his death clothes
* He hid them when he slept in death when he revivd the clothes
* Were rotted by the winds the books remaind still unconsumd
* 40 Still to be written & interleavd with brass & iron & gold
* Time after time for such a journey none but iron pens
* Can write And adamantine leaves recieve nor can the man who goes
* [ page 72 ]
* The journey obstinate refuse to write time after time
* Endless had been his travel but the Divine hand him led
* For infinite the distance & obscurd by Combustions dire
* By rocky masses frowning in the abysses revolving erratic
* 5 Round Lakes of fire in the dark deep the ruins of Urizens world 5
* Oft would he sit in a dark rift & regulate his books
* Or sleep such sleep as spirits eternal wearied in his dark
* Tearful & sorrowful state. then rise look out & ponder
* His dismal voyage eyeing the next sphere tho far remote
* 10 Then darting into the Abyss of night his venturous limbs
* Thro lightnings thunders earthquakes & concussions fires & floods
* Stemming his downward fall labouring up against futurity
* Creating many a Vortex fixing many a Science in the deep
* And thence throwing his venturous limbs into the Vast unknown
* 15 Swift Swift from Chaos to chaos from void to void a road immense
* For when he came to where a Vortex ceasd to operate
* Nor down nor up remaind then if he turnd & lookd back
* From whence he came twas upward all. & if he turnd and viewd
* The unpassd void upward was still his mighty wandring
* 20 The midst between an Equilibrium grey of air serene
* Where he might live in peace & where his life might meet repose
* But Urizen said Can I not leave this world of Cumbrous wheels
* Circle oer Circle nor on high attain a void
* Where self sustaining I may view all things beneath my feet
* 25 Or sinking thro these Elemental wonders swift to fall
* I thought perhaps to find an End a world beneath of voidness
* Whence I might travel round the outside of this Dark confusion
* When I bend downward bending my bead downward into the deep
* Tis upward all which way soever I my course begin
* 30 But when A Vortex formd on high by labour & sorrow & care
* And weariness begins on all my limbs then sleep revives
* My wearied spirits waking then tis downward all which way
* So ever I my spirits turn no end I find of all
* O what a world is here unlike those climes of bliss
* 35 Where my sons gatherd round my knees O thou poor ruind world
* Thou horrible ruin once like me thou wast all glorious
* And now like me partaking desolate thy masters lot
* Art thou O ruin the once glorious heaven are these thy rocks
* Where joy sang in the trees & pleasure sported on the rivers
* [ page 73 ]
* And laughter sat beneath the Oaks & innocence sported round
* Upon the green plains & sweet friendship met in palaces
* And books & instruments of song & pictures of delight
* Where are they whelmd beneath these ruins in horrible destruction
* 5 And if Eternal falling I repose on the dark bosom
* Of winds & waters or thence fall into a Void where air
* Is not down falling thro immensity ever & ever
* I lose my powers weakend every revolution till a death
* Shuts up my powers then a seed in the vast womb of darkness
* 10 I dwell in dim oblivion. brooding over me the Enormous worlds
* Reorganize me shooting forth in bones & flesh & blood
* I am regenerated to fall or rise at will or to remain
* A labourer of ages a dire discontent a living woe
* Wandring in vain. Here will I fix my foot & here rebuild
* 15 Here Mountains of Brass promise much riches in their dreadful bosoms
* So he began to dig form[ing] of gold silver & iron
* And brass vast instruments to measure out the immense & fix
* The whole into another world better suited to obey
* His will where none should dare oppose his will himself being King
* 20 Of All & all futurity be bound in his vast chain
* And the Sciences were fixd & the Vortexes began to operate
* On all the sons of men & every human soul terrified
* At the turning wheels of heaven shrunk away inward withring away
* Gaining a New Dominion over all his sons & Daughters
* 25 & over the Sons & daughters of Luvah in the horrible Abyss
* For Urizen lamented over them in a selfish lamentation
* Till a white woof coverd his cold limbs from head to feet
* Hair white as snow coverd him in flaky locks terrific
* Overspreading his limbs. in pride he wanderd weeping
* 30 Clothed in aged venerableness obstinately resolvd
* Travelling thro darkness & whereever he traveld a dire Web
* Followd behind him as the Web of a Spider dusky & cold
* Shivering across from Vortex to Vortex drawn out from his mantle of years
* A living Mantle adjoind to his life & growing from his Soul
* 35 And the Web of Urizen stre[t]chd direful shivring in clouds
* And uttering such woes such bursts such thunderings
* The eyelids expansive as morning & the Ears
* As a golden ascent winding round to the heavens of heavens
* Within the dark horrors of the Abysses lion or tyger or scorpion
* [ page 74 ]
* For every one opend within into Eternity at will
* But they refusd because their outward forms were in the Abyss
* And the wing like tent of the Universe beautiful surrounding all
* Or drawn up or let down at the will of the immortal man
* 5 Vibrated in such anguish the eyelids quiverd
* Weak & Weaker their expansive orbs began shrinking
* Pangs smote thro the brain & a universal shriek
* Ran thro the Abysses rending the web torment on torment
* Thus Urizen in sorrows wanderd many a dreary way
* 10 Warring with monsters of the Deeps in his most hideous pilgrimage
* Till his bright hair scatterd in snows his skin barkd oer with wrinkles
* Four Caverns rooting downwards their foundations thrusting forth
* The metal rock & stone in ever painful throes of vegetation
* The Cave of Orc stood to the South a furnace of dire flames
* 15 Quenchless unceasing. In the west the Cave of Urizen
* For Urizen fell as the Midday sun falls down into the West
* North stood Urthonas stedfast throne a World of Solid darkness
* Shut up in stifling obstruction rooted in dumb despair
* The East was Void. But Tharmas rolld his billows in ceaseless eddies
* 20 Void pathless beat with Snows eternal & iron hail & raint
* All thro the caverns of fire & air & Earth, Seeking
* For Enions limbs nought finding but the black sea weed & sickning slime
* Flying away from Urizen that he might not give him food
* Above beneath on all sides round in the vast deep of immensity
* 25 That he might starve the sons & daughters of Urizen on the winds
* Making between horrible chasms into the vast unknown
* All these around the world of Los cast forth their monstrous births
* But in Eternal times the Seat of Urizen is in the South
* Urthona in the North Luvah in East Tharmas in West
* 30 And now he came into the Abhorred world of Dark Urthona
* By Providence divine conducted not bent from his own will
* Lest death Eternal should be the result for the Will cannot be violated
* Into the doleful vales where no tree grew nor river flowd
* Nor man nor beast nor creeping thing nor sun nor cloud nor star
* 35 Still he with his globe of fire immense in his venturous hand
* Bore on thro the Affrighted vales ascending & descending
* Oerwearied or in cumbrous flight he venturd oer dark rifts
* Or down dark precipices or climbd with pain and labour huge
* Till he beheld the world of Los from the Peaked rock of Urthona
* 40 And heard the howling of red Orc distincter & distincter 40
* [ page 75 ]
* Redoubling his immortal efforts thro the narrow vales
* With difficulty down descending guided by his Ear
* And by his globe of fire he went down the Vale of Urthona
* Between the enormous iron walls built by the Spectre dark
* 5 Dark grew his globe reddning with mists & full before his path 5
* Striding across the narrow vale the Shadow of Urthona
* A spectre Vast appeard whose feet & legs with iron scaled
* Stampd the hard rocks expectant of the unknown wanderer
* Whom he had seen wandring his nether world when distant far
* 10 And watchd his swift approach collected dark the Spectre stood
* Beside hi[m] Tharmas stayd his flight & stood in stern defiance
* Communing with the Spectre who rejoicd along the vale
* Round his loins a girdle glowd with many colourd fires
* In his hand a knotted Club whose knots like mountains frownd
* 15 Desart among the Stars them withering with its ridges cold
* Black scales of iron arm the dread visage iron spikes instead
* Of hair shoot from his orbed scull. his glowing eyes
* Burn like two furnaces. he calld with Voice of Thunder
* Four winged heralds mount the furious blasts & blow their trumps
* 20 Gold Silver Brass & iron clangors clamoring rend the shores
* Like white clouds rising from the Vales his fifty two armies
* From the four Cliffs of Urthona rise glowing around the Spectre
* Four sons of Urizen the Squadrons of Urthona led in arms
* Of gold & silver brass & iron he knew his mighty sons
* 25 Then Urizen arose upon the wind back many a mile
* Retiring into his dire Web scattering fleecy snows
* As he ascended howling loud the Web vibrated strong
* From heaven to heaven from globe to globe. In vast excentric paths
* Compulsive rolld the Comets at his dread command the dreary way
* 30 Falling with wheel impetuous down among Urthonas vales
* And round red Orc returning back to Urizen gorgd with bloodt
* Slow roll the massy Globes at his command & slow oerwheel
* The dismal squadrons of Urthona. weaving the dire Web
* In their progressions & preparing Urizens path before him
* End of the Sixth Night

## Notes

This work was published before January 1, 1929, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.
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