The Hymn Of The Robe Of Glory - Part 2

"Call to mind that thou art a Son of Kings!
See the slavery -- whom thou servest!
Remember the Pearl
For which thou didst speed to Egypt!

Think of thy Bright Robe,
And remember thy glorious Toga,
Which thou shalt put on as thine adornment,
When thy name hath been read out in the List of the Valiant,
And with thy Brother, our next in rank,
Thou shalt be King in our Kingdom."

And my letter was a Letter
Which the King sealed with his right hand,
To keep it from the Wicked Ones, the Children of Babel,
And from the savage demons of ...

It flew in the likeness of an eagle,
The king of all birds;
It flew and alighted by me,
And became all speech.

And its voice and the sound of its rustling,
I started and arose from my sleep.
I took it up and kissed it,
And loosed its seal, and read;

And according to what was traced on my Heart
Were the words of my Letter written.
I remembered that I was the Son of Kings,
And my Free Soul longed for its natural state.

I remembered the Pearl,
For which I had been sent to Egypt,
And I began to charm him,
The terrible, loud-breathing Serpent.

I hushed him to sleep and lulled him to slumber;
For my Father's name I named over him,
And the name of our next-in-rank,
And of my Mother, the Queen of the East;
And I snatched away the Pearl,
And I turned to go back to my Father's house.

And their filthy and unclean garb
I stripped off, and left it in their country,
And I took my way straight to come
to the light of our home, the East.

And my Letter, my Awakener,
I found before me on the road,
And as with its voice it had awakened me,
So too with its Light it was leading me.

Shone before me with its form,
And with its voice and guidance,
It also encouraged me to speed,
And with his Love was drawing me on.

I went forth, passed by...
I left Babel on my left hand,
And reached Maishan the Great,
The haven of the merchants, that sitteth on the shore of the Sea.

And my Bright Robe, which I had stripped off,
And the Toga wherein it was wrapped,
From the heights of Hyrcania
My parents sent thither,
By the hand of their Treasurers,
Who in their faithfulness could be  trusted therewith.

And because I remembered not its fashion --
For in my childhood I had left it in my Father's house --
On a sudden as I faced it,
The Garment seemed to me as a mirror of myself.

I saw in it my Whole Self,
Moreover I faced my Whole Self in facing it,
For we were two in distinction,
And yet again one in one likeness.

And the Treasurers also,
Who brought it to me,
I  saw in like manner,
That they were in twain, yet one likeness.

For one Kingly sign was graven on them,
Of His hand that restored to me
My Treasure and my wealth by means of them.

-- to be concluded --

~ g
.