Alciphron: A Fragment. Letter Iv Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Thomas Moore

Alciphron: A Fragment. Letter Iv Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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FROM ORCUS HIGH PRIEST OF MEMPHIS TO DECIUS THE PRAETORIAN PREFECT	A
	-
	-
Rejoice my friend rejoice the youthful Chief	B
Of that light Sect which mocks at all belief	B
And gay and godless makes the present hour	C
Its only heaven is now within our power	C
Smooth impious school not all the weapons aimed	D
At priestly creeds since first a creed was framed	D
E'er struck so deep as that sly dart they wield	E
The Bacchant's pointed spear in laughing flowers concealed	E
And oh 'twere victory to this heart as sweet	F
As any thou canst boast even when the feet	F
Of thy proud war steed wade thro' Christian blood	G
To wrap this scoffer in Faith's blinding hood	H
And bring him tamed and prostrate to implore	I
The vilest gods even Egypt's saints adore	I
What do these sages think to them alone	J
The key of this world's happiness is known	J
That none but they who make such proud parade	K
Of Pleasure's smiling favors win the maid	K
Or that Religion keeps no secret place	L
No niche in her dark fanes for Love to grace	L
	-
Fools did they know how keen the zest that's given	M
To earthly joy when seasoned well with heaven	M
How Piety's grave mask improves the hue	N
Of Pleasure's laughing features half seen thro'	I
And how the Priest set aptly within reach	O
Of two rich worlds traffics for bliss with each	O
Would they not Decius thou whom the ancient tie	P
'Twixt Sword and Altar makes our best ally	P
Would they not change their creed their craft for ours	Q
Leave the gross daylight joys that in their bowers	Q
Languish with too much sun like o'er blown flowers	Q
For the veiled loves the blisses undisplayed	P
That slyly lurk within the Temple's shade	P
And 'stead of haunting the trim Garden's school	R
Where cold Philosophy usurps a rule	R
Like the pale moon's o'er passion's heaving tide	P
Till Pleasure's self is chilled by Wisdom's pride	P
Be taught by us quit shadows for the true	I
Substantial joys we sager Priests pursue	I
Who far too wise to theorize on bliss	S
Or pleasure's substance for its shade to miss	S
Preach other worlds but live for only this	S
Thanks to the well paid Mystery round us flung	T
Which like its type the golden cloud that hung	T
O'er Jupiter's love couch its shade benign	U
Round human frailty wraps a veil divine	U
	-
Still less should they presume weak wits that they	V
Alone despise the craft of us who pray	V
Still less their creedless vanity deceive	W
With the fond thought that we who pray believe	W
Believe Apis forbid forbid it all	X
Ye monster Gods before whose shrines we fall	X
Deities framed in jest as if to try	P
How far gross Man can vulgarize the sky	P
How far the same low fancy that combines	Y
Into a drove of brutes yon zodiac's signs	Y
And turns that Heaven itself into a place	L
Of sainted sin and deified disgrace	L
Can bring Olympus even to shame more deep	Z
Stock it with things that earth itself holds cheap	Z
Fish flesh and fowl the kitchen's sacred brood	P
Which Egypt keeps for worship not for food	P
All worthy idols of a Faith that sees	A2
In dogs cats owls and apes divinities	A2
	-
Believe oh Decius thou who feel'st no care	I
For things divine beyond the soldier's share	I
Who takes on trust the faith for which he bleeds	B2
A good fierce God to swear by all he needs	B2
Little canst thou whose creed around thee hangs	C2
Loose as thy summer war cloak guess the pangs	C2
Of loathing and self scorn with which a heart	P
Stubborn as mine is acts the zealot's part	P
The deep and dire disgust with which I wade	P
Thro' the foul juggling of this holy trade	P
This mud profound of mystery where the feet	P
At every step sink deeper in deceit	P
Oh many a time when mid the Temple's blaze	D2
O'er prostrate fools the sacred cist I raise	D2
Did I not keep still proudly in my mind	P
The power this priestcraft gives me o'er mankind	P
A lever of more might in skilful hand	P
To move this world than Archimede e'er planned	P
I should in vengeance of the shame I feel	E2
At my own mockery crush the slaves that kneel	E2
Besotted round and like that kindred breed	P
Of reverend well drest crocodiles they feed	P
At famed Arsino make my keepers bless	F2
With their last throb my sharp fanged Holiness	G2
	-
Say is it to be borne that scoffers vain	H2
Of their own freedom from the altar's chain	H2
Should mock thus all that thou thy blood hast sold	P
And I my truth pride freedom to uphold	P
It must not be think'st thou that Christian sect	P
Whose followers quick as broken waves erect	P
Their crests anew and swell into a tide	P
That threats to sweep away our shrines of pride	P
Think'st thou with all their wondrous spells even they	V
Would triumph thus had not the constant play	V
Of Wit's resistless archery cleared their way	V
That mocking spirit worst of all the foes	I2
Our solemn fraud our mystic mummery knows	I2
Whose wounding flash thus ever 'mong the signs	Y
Of a fast falling creed prelusive shines	Y
Threatening such change as do the awful freaks	J2
Of summer lightning ere the tempest breaks	K2
	-
But to my point a youth of this vain school	R
But one whom Doubt itself hath failed to cool	R
Down to that freezing point where Priests despair	I
Of any spark from the altar catching there	I
Hath some nights since it was me thinks the night	P
That followed the full Moon's great annual rite	P
Thro' the dark winding ducts that downward stray	V
To these earth hidden temples tracked his way	V
Just at that hour when round the Shrine and me	L2
The choir of blooming nymphs thou long'st to see	L2
Sing their last night hymn in the Sanctuary	L2
The clangor of the marvellous Gate that stands	M2
At the Well's lowest depth which none but hands	M2
Of new untaught adventurers from above	N2
Who know not the safe path e'er dare to move	O2
Gave signal that a foot profane was nigh	P
'Twas the Greek youth who by that morning's sky	P
Had been observed curiously wandering round	P
The mighty fanes of our sepulchral ground	P
	-
Instant the Initiate's Trials were prepared	P
The Fire Air Water all that Orpheus dared	P
That Plato that the bright haired Samian past	P
With trembling hope to come to what at last	P
Go ask the dupes of Priestcraft question him	P2
Who mid terrific sounds and spectres dim	P2
Walks at Eleusis ask of those who brave	Q2
The dazzling miracles of Mithra's Cave	Q2
With its seven starry gates ask all who keep	Z
Those terrible night mysteries where they weep	Z
And howl sad dirges to the answering breeze	A2
O'er their dead Gods their mortal Deities	A2
Amphibious hybrid things that died as men	R2
Drowned hanged empaled to rise as gods again	R2
Ask them what mighty secret lurks below	S2
This seven fold mystery can they tell thee No	S2
Gravely they keep that only secret well	T2
And fairly kept that they have none to tell	T2
And duped themselves console their humbled pride	P
By duping thenceforth all mankind beside	P
	-
And such the advance in fraud since Orpheus' time	U2
That earliest master of our craft sublime	U2
So many minor Mysteries imps of fraud	P
From the great Orphic Egg have winged abroad	P
That still to uphold our Temple's ancient boast	P
And seem most holy we must cheat the most	P
Work the best miracles wrap nonsense round	P
In pomp and darkness till it seems profound	P
Play on the hopes the terrors of mankind	P
With changeful skill and make the human mind	P
Like our own Sanctuary where no ray	V
But by the Priest's permission wins its way	V
Where thro' the gloom as wave our wizard rods	V2
Monsters at will are conjured into Gods	V2
While Reason like a grave faced mummy stands	M2
With her arms swathed in hieroglyphic bands	M2
But chiefly in that skill with which we use	W2
Man's wildest passions for Religion's views	X2
Yoking them to her car like fiery steeds	B2
Lies the main art in which our craft succeeds	B2
And oh be blest ye men of yore whose toil	Y2
Hath for our use scooped out from Egypt's soil	Y2
This hidden Paradise this mine of fanes	B2
Gardens and palaces where Pleasure reigns	B2
In a rich sunless empire of her own	J
With all earth's luxuries lighting up her throne	J
A realm for mystery made which undermines	B2
The Nile itself and 'neath the Twelve Great Shrines	B2
That keep Initiation's holy rite	P
Spreads its long labyrinths of unearthly light	P
A light that knows no change its brooks that run	M
Too deep for day its gardens without sun	M
Where soul and sense by turns are charmed surprised	P
And all that bard or prophet e'er devised	P
For man's Elysium priests have realized	P
	-
Here at this moment all his trials past	P
And heart and nerve unshrinking to the last	P
Our new Initiate roves as yet left free	L2
To wander thro' this realm of mystery	L2
Feeding on such illusions as prepare	I
The soul like mist o'er waterfalls to wear	I
All shapes and lines at Fancy's varying will	Z2
Thro' every shifting aspect vapor still	Z2
Vague glimpses of the Future vistas shown	J
By scenic skill into that world unknown	J
Which saints and sinners claim alike their own	J
And all those other witching wildering arts	B2
Illusions terrors that make human hearts	B2
Ay even the wisest and the hardiest quail	A3
To any goblin throned behind a veil	A3
Yes such the spells shall haunt his eye his ear	I
Mix wild his night dreams form his atmosphere	I
Till if our Sage be not tamed down at length	B3
His wit his wisdom shorn of all their strength	B3
Like Phrygian priests in honor of the shrine	U
If he become not absolutely mine	U
Body and soul and like the tame decoy	C3
Which wary hunters of wild doves employ	C3
Draw converts also lure his brother wits	B2
To the dark cage where his own spirit flits	B2
And give us if not saints good hypocrites	B2
If I effect not this then be it said	P
The ancient spirit of our craft hath fled	P
Gone with that serpent god the Cross hath chased	P
To hiss its soul out in the Theban waste	P