# Vala, or The Four Zoas/Night the Eighth

Source: The Complete Poetry & Prose of William Blake by William Blake. Edited by David V. Erdman
* Vala Night the Eighth
* [ page 99 ]
* Then All in Great Eternity Met in the Council of God
* as one Man Even Jesus upon Gilead & Hermon
* Upon the Limit of Contraction to create the fallen Man
* The Fallen Man stretchd like a Corse upon the oozy Rock t
* 5 Washd with the tides Pale overgrown with weeds
* That movd with horrible dreams hovring high over his head
* Two winged immortal shapes one standing at his feet
* Toward the East one standing at his head toward the west
* Their wings joind in the Zenith over head t
* 10 Such is a Vision of All Beulah hovring over the Sleeper
* The limit of Contraction now was fixd & Man began
* To wake upon the Couch of Death he sneezed seven times
* A tear of blood dropped from either eye again he reposd
* In the saviours arms, in the arms of tender mercy & loving kindness
* Then Los said I behold the Divine Vision thro the broken Gates t
* Of thy poor broken heart astonishd melted into Compassion & Love
* And Enitharmon said I see the Lamb of God upon Mount Zion t
* Wondring with love & Awe they felt the divine hand upon them t
* For nothing could restrain the dead in Beulah from descending
* Unto Ulros night tempted by the Shadowy females sweet 20
* Delusive cruelty they descend away from the Daughters of Beulah
* And Enter Urizens temple Enitharmon pitying & her heart
* Gates broken down. they descend thro the Gate of Pity
* The broken heart Gate of Enitharmon She sighs them forth upon the wind t
* Of Golgonooza Los stood recieving them t 25
* For Los could enter into Enitharmons bosom & explore
* Its intricate Labyrinths now the Obdurate heart was broken
* [ page 100 FIRST PORTION ]
* From out the War of Urizen & Tharmas recieving them t
* Into his hands. Then Enitharmon erected Looms in Lubans Gate
* And calld the Looms Cathedron in these Looms She wove the Spectres
* Bodies of Vegetation Singing lulling Cadences to drive away
* Despair from the poor wandering spectres and Los loved them 5
* With a parental love for the Divine hand was upon him
* And upon Enitharmon & the Divine Countenance shone
* In Golgonooza Looking down the Daughters of Beulah saw
* With joy the bright Light & in it a Human form
* And knew he was the Saviour Even Jesus & they worshipped 10
* Astonishd Comforted Delighted in notes of Rapturous Extacy t
* All Beulah stood astonishd Looking down to Eternal Death
* They saw the Saviour beyond the Pit of death & destruction
* For whether they lookd upward they saw the Divine Vision
* Or whether they lookd downward still they saw the Divine Vision 15
* Surrounding them on all sides beyond sin & death & hell
* Enitharmon wove in tears singing Songs of Lamentation
* And pitying comfort as she sighd forth on the wind the Spectres
* Also the Vegetated bodies which Enitharmon wove
* Opend within their hearts & in their loins & in their brain 20
* To Beulah & the Dead in Ulro descended from the War
* Of Urizen & Tharmas & from the Shadowy females clouds
* And some were woven single & some two fold & some three fold t
* In Head or Heart or Reins according to the fittest order
* Of most merciful pity & compassion to the Spectrous dead t
* [ page 101 FIRST PORTION ]
* When Urizen saw the Lamb of God clothed in Luvahs robes
* Perplexd & terrifid he Stood tho well he knew that Orc
* Was Luvah But he now beheld a new Luvah. Or One
* Who assumed Luvahs form & stood before him opposite
* But he saw Orc a Serpent form augmenting times on times 5
* In the fierce battle & he saw the Lamb of God & the World of Los
* Surrounded by his dark machines for Orc augmented swift
* In fury a Serpent wondrous among the Constellations of Urizen
* A crest of fire rose on his forehead red as the carbuncle
* Beneath down to his eyelids scales of pearl then gold & silver 10
* Immingled with the ruby overspread his Visage down
* His furious neck writ[h]ing contortive in dire budding pains
* The scaly armour shot out. Stubborn down his back & bosom
* The Emerald Onyx Sapphire jasper beryl amethyst
* Strove in terrific emulation which should gain a place 15
* Upon the mighty Fiend the fruit of the mysterious tree t
* Kneaded in Uveths kneading trough. Still Orc devourd the food
* In raging hunger Still the pestilential food in gems & gold
* Exuded round his awful limbs Stretching to serpent length
* His human bulk While the dark shadowy female brooding over t 20
* Measurd his food morning & evening in cups & baskets of iron
* With tears of sorrow incessant she labourd the food of Orc
* Compelld by the iron hearted sisters Daughters of Urizen
* Gathring the fruit of that mysterious tree circling its roo t
* She spread herself thro all the branches in the power of Orc 25
* Thus Urizen in self deci[e]t his warlike preparations fabricated
* And when all things were finishd sudden wavd among the Stars t
* His hurtling hand gave the dire signal thunderous Clarions blow t
* And all the hollow deep rebellowd with the wonderous war t
* [ page 100 SECOND PORTION ]
* But Urizen his mighty rage let loose in the mid deep t
* Sparkles of Dire affliction issud round his frozen limbs t
* Horrible hooks & nets he formd twisting the cords of iron
* And brass & molten metals cast in hollow globes & bor'd
* Tubes in petrific steel & rammd combustibles & wheels 30
* And chains & pullies fabricated all round the heavens of Los
* Communing with the Serpent of Orc in dark dissimulation
* [Begin Page 374]
* And with the Synagogue of Satan in dark Sanhedrim t
* To undermine the World of ]Los & tear bright Enitharmon
* [ page 101 SECOND PORTION ]
* To the four winds hopeless of future. All futurity 30
* Seems teeming with Endless Destruction never to be repelld t
* Desperate remorse swallows the present in a quenchless rage
* Terrified & astonishd Urizen beheld the battle take a form t
* Which he intended not a Shadowy hermaphrodite black & opake t
* The Soldiers namd it Satan but he was yet unformd & vast 35
* Hermaphroditic it at length became hiding the Male
* Within as in a Tabernacle Abominable Deadly
* The battle howls the terrors fird rage in the work of death
* Enormous Works Los Contemplated inspird by the holy Spirit
* Los builds the Walls of Golgonooza against the stirring battle 40
* That only thro the Gates of Death they can enter to Enitharmon
* Raging they take the human visage & the human form
* Feeling the hand of Los in Golgonooza & the force
* Attractive of his hammers beating & the Silver looms
* Of Enitharmon singing lulling cadences on the wind 45
* They humanize in the fierce battle where in direful pain
* Troop by troop the beastial droves rend one another sounding loud
* The instruments of sound & troop by troop in human forms they urge
* [ page 102 ]
* The dire confusion till the battle faints those that remain
* Return in pangs & horrible convulsions to their beastial state
* For the monsters of the Elements Lions or Tygers or Wolves
* Sound loud the howling music inspird by Los & Enitharmon Sounding loud terrific men
* They seem to one another laughing terrible among the banners 5
* And when the revolution of their day of battles over
* Relapsing in dire torment they return to forms of woe t
* To moping visages returning inanimate tho furious
* No more erect tho strong drawn out in length they ravin
* For senseless gratification & their visages thrust forth 10
* Flatten above & beneath & stretch out into beastial length
* Weakend they stretch beyond their power in dire droves till war begins
* Or Secret religion in their temples before secret shrines
* And Urizen gave life & sense by his immortal power
* To all his Engines of deceit that linked chains might run 15
* Thro ranks of war spontaneous & that hooks & boring screws
* Might act according to their forms by innate cruelty
* He formed also harsh instruments of sound
* [Begin Page 375]
* To grate the soul into destruction or to inflame with fury
* The spirits of life to pervert all the faculties of sense 20
* Into their own destruction if perhaps he might avert t
* His own despair even at the cost of every thing that breathes
* Thus in the temple of the Sun his books of iron & brass
* And silver & gold he consecrated reading incessantly
* To myriads of perturbed spirits thro the universe 25
* They propagated the deadly words the Shadowy Female absorbing t
* The enormous Sciences of Urizen ages after ages exploring
* The fell destruction. And she said O Urizen Prince of Light
* What words of Dread pierce my faint Ear what fal[l]ing snows around
* My feeble limbs infold my destind misery 30
* I alone dare the lash abide to sit beneath the blast
* Unhurt & dare the inclement forehead of the King of Light
* From dark abysses of the times remote fated to be
* [ page 103 ]
* The sorrower of Eternity in love with tears submiss I rear
* My Eyes to thy Pavilions hear my prayer for Luvahs sake
* I see the murderer of my Luvah clothd in robes of blood
* He who assured my Luvahs throne in times of Everlasting
* Where hast thou hid him whom I love in what remote Abyss 5
* Resides that God of my delight O might my eyes behold
* My Luvah then could I deliver all the sons of God
* From Bondage of these terrors & with influences sweet t
* As once in those eternal fields in brotherhood & Love
* United we should live in bliss as those who sinned not 10
* The Eternal Man is seald by thee never to be deliverd
* We are all servants to thy will O King of Light relent
* Thy furious power be our father & our loved King
* But if my Luvah is no more If thou hast smitten him t
* And laid him in the Sepulcher Or if thou wilt revenge t 15
* His murder on another Silent I bow with dread
* But happiness can never [come] to thee O King nor me
* For he was source of every joy that this mysterious tree
* Unfolds in Allegoric fruit. When shall the dead revive
* Can that which has existed cease or can love & life Expire 20
* Urizen heard the Voice & saw the Shadow. underneath
* His woven darkness & in laws & deceitful religions
* Beginning at the tree of Mystery circling its root
* She spread herself thro all the branches in the power of Orc
* A shapeless & indefinite cloud in tears of sorrow incessant 25
* Steeping the Direful Web of Religion swagging heavy it fell
* From heaven to heavn thro all its meshes altering the Vortexes t
* Misplacing every Center hungry desire & lust began
* [Begin Page 376]
* Gathering the fruit of that Mysterious tree till Urizen
* Sitting within his temple furious felt the num[m]ing stupor 30
* Himself tangled in his own net in sorrow lust repentance
* Enitharmon wove in tears Singing Songs of Lamentations
* And pitying comfort as she sighd forth on the wind the spectres
* And wove them bodies calling them her belovd sons & daughters
* Employing the daughters in her looms & Los employd the Sons 35
* In Golgonoozas Furnaces among the Anvils of time & space
* Thus forming a Vast family wondrous in beauty & love
* And they appeard a Universal female form created
* From those who were dead in Ulro from the Spectres of the dead
* [ page 104 FIRST PORTION ]
* And Enitharmon namd the Female Jerusa[le]m the holy
* Wondring she saw the Lamb of God within Jerusalems Veil
* The divine Vision seen within the inmost deep recess
* Of fair Jerusalems bosom in a gently beaming fire
* Then sang the Sons of Eden round the Lamb of God & said 5
* Glory Glory Glory to the holy Lamb of God
* Who now beginneth to put off the dark Satanic body
* Now we behold redemption Now we know that life Eternal
* Depends alone upon the Universal hand & not in us
* Is aught but death In individual weakness sorrow & pain t
* [ page 113 FIRST PORTION ]
* We behold with wonder Enitharmons Looms & Los's Forges t
* And the Spindles of Tirzah & Rahab and the Mills of Satan & Beelzeboul t
* In Golgonooza Los's anvils stand & his Furnaces rage t
* Ten thousand demons labour at the forges Creating Continually
* The times & spaces of Mortal Life the Sun the Moon the Stars 5
* In periods of Pulsative furor beating into wedges & bars t
* Then drawing into wires the terrific Passions & Affections
* Of Spectrous dead. Thence to the Looms of Cathedron conveyd
* The Daughters of Enitharmon weave the ovarium & the integument
* In soft silk drawn from their own bowels in lascivious delight 10
* With songs of sweetest cadence to the turning spindle & reel
* Lulling the weeping spectres of the dead. Clothing their limbs
* With gifts & gold of Eden. Astonishd stupefied with delight
* The terrors put on their sweet clothing on the banks of Arnon t
* Whence they plunge into the river of space for a period till 15
* The dread Sleep of Ulro is past. But Satan Og & Sihon t
* Build Mills of resistless wheels to unwind the soft threads & reveal
* Naked of their clothing the poor spectres before the accusing heavens
* While Rahab & Tirzah far different mantles prepare webs of torture
* [Begin Page 377]
* Mantles of despair girdles of bitter compunction shoes of indolence 20
* Veils of ignorance covering from head to feet with a cold web
* We look down into Ulro we behold the Wonders of the Grave
* Eastward of Golgonooza stands the Lake of Udan Adan In t
* Entuthon Benithon a Lake not of Waters but of Spaces t
* Perturbd black & deadly on its Islands & its Margins t 25
* The Mills of Satan and Beelzeboul stand round the roots of Urizens tree
* For this Lake is formd from the tears & sighs & death sweat of the Victims
* Of Urizens laws. to irrigate the roots of the tree of Mystery
* They unweave the soft threads then they weave them anew in the forms
* Of dark death & despair & none from Eternity to Eternity could Escape t 30
* But thou O Universal Humanity who is One Man blessed for Ever t
* Recievest the Integuments woven Rahab beholds the Lamb of God
* She smites with her knife of flint She destroys her own work
* Times upon times thinking to destroy the Lamb blessed for Ever
* He puts off the clothing of blood he redeems the spectres from their bonds 35
* He awakes the sleepers in Ulro the Daughters of Beulah praise him
* They anoint his feet with ointment they wipe them with the hair of their head