| [Pl. 1] |
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| [Pl. 2] | Of the primeval Priests assum'd power, When Eternals spurn'd back his religion; And gave him a place in the north, Obscure, shadowy, void, solitary. | U2.1 | Eternals I hear your call gladly, Dictate swift winged words, & fear not To unfold your dark visions of torment. |
| [Pl. 3] | 1. Lo, a shadow of horror is risen In Eternity! Unknown, unprolific! Self-closd, all-repelling: what Demon Hath form'd this abominable void This soul-shudd'ring vacuum?--Some said "It is Urizen", But unknown, abstracted Brooding secret, the dark power hid. | U3.1 | 2.Times on times he divided, & measur'd Space by space in his ninefold darkness Unseen, unknown! changes appeard In his desolate mountains rifted furious By the black winds of perturbation | U3.10 |
3. For he strove in battles dire In unseen conflictions with shapes Bred from his forsaken wilderness, Of beast, bird, fish, serpent & element Combustion, blast, vapour and cloud. | 4. Dark revolving in silent activity: Unseen in tormenting passions; An activity unknown and horrible; A self-contemplating shadow, In enormous labours occupied | U3.20 |
5. But Eternals beheld his vast forests Age on ages he lay, clos'd, unknown Brooding shut in the deep; all avoid The petrific abominable chaos | 6. His cold horrors silent, dark Urizen Prepar'd: his ten thousands of thunders Rang'd in gloom'd array stretch out across The dread world, & the rolling of wheels As of swelling seas, sound in his clouds In his hills of stor'd snows, in his mountains Of hail & ice; voices of terror, Are heard, like thunders of autumn, When the cloud blazes over the harvests | U3.30 |