INSTRUCTIONS TO AN ARCHITECT

Diversify the abyss with Now and Then,

Add There to Here, and to the resulting What

Give motion, sound and color, within a law

Of circles, tiny to infinite. Furious bells,

Bawling like cherubim in convocation

Will clamor then forever; fires as strange

As Lucifer's eyes when he marches before the armies,

Pulsate and flash. It will be splendid magic,

As if I threw this staff upon the ground

And a snake went forth like the thing under the lintel

That peers at the visitor. Take then this vial­—

But secretly, for some will be envious­—

Of a brew I concocted from love and nullity

And the juice of an odd flower that grew in the yard

When I first came here, and is still rooted and breathing­—

And scatter the stuff upon the stairs of space.

Ha ha! I believe you will see in a wink a wonder:

Sudden creatures, swimming, crawling or upright—

­The last with what secret desires I do not know.

Perhaps he will fling you from your bed, Gabriel—

­Or (what strong magic!) strike even My hand.