Immured here,damned,abandoned to die...
The furthest-fallen man in Christendom,
Greatest angel in the echoing abyss.
All Europe once spoke my name in awe
And responded to my mesmeric passes.
Why must men destroy what they cannot understand?
I strove to bring them truth and ritual,
To awaken them to their own forgotten powers.
Heal and rejuvenate mankind? Why,of course,
That could never be allowed.
I saw into their souls,a gift not easily forgiven.
They are not yet ready to return to Egypt
Nor read the Book of the Dead.
How childish is man in his understanding,
Eager for toys and entertainment-
Thus they tried to reduce my magic
To games and pastimes for fashionable soirées
And when I refused called me impostor.
Fools’ envy has been my misfortune.
The mind is God and the mind is light.
By words,herbs and stones I moved the world,
Healed thousands with my hands and eyes,
And manufactured the elixir of immortality;
The griffin-guarded liquid gold was mine!
Curse the Inquisitors for robbing me
Of my Serpent Seal-the snake with an apple
In its mouth,pierced by an arrow-
The Aleph of spirit and life,the Arcanum,
Signature of liberty,power and duty.
This fetid verminous oubliette is all I have
Of the world-tortured more by betrayals
Than by thumbscrews and rack-
And so on its dank walls I paint
With rust flakes and my own urine
Alchemical symbols of transmutation
And shout through the bars to villagers below
The horrid prophecies I see in dreams.
Slaves of the church, do not pray for me,
My soul needs no false salvation-it is free
Already,even as this screaming body rots
Back into the prima materia...
Kind tormentors,I proffer you my skull
That you should drink its alembroth
And be wise!My thanks for this quarantine,
In which I achieve the pentagon.
The Martian iron is in me,the force of art;
The gold and silver sword of Solomon
Fits my hand perfectly,-en garde!
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