THE BOOK OF ORM

     “This also we humbly beg,—that Human things may not
prejudice such as are Divine, neither that from the unlocking of
the Gates of Sense, and the kindling of a greater Natural Light,
anything of incredulity or intellectual night may arise in our
minds towards DIVINE MYSTERIES.”—STUDENT’S PRAYER, BACON.

THE BOOK OF ORM

A Prelude to the Epic

BY ROBERT BUCHANAN

STRAHAN & CO., PUBLISHERS

56 LUDGATE HILL, LONDON

1870

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CONTENTS.

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PAGE.

INSCRIPTION TO F. W. C.                .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .         ix

THE BOOK OF ORM.

“The Book of the Visions seen by Orm the Celt”           .          .          .          .          .          .          .        3

I. FIRST SONG OF THE VEIL            .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .        5

     1.  The Veil Woven                .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .        7

     2.  Earth the Mother               .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       12

     3.  Children of Earth               .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       15

     4.  The Wise Men                  .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       19

II. THE MAN AND THE SHADOW               .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       23

     1.  The Shadow                      .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       25

     2.  The Rainbow                     .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       45

III. SONGS OF CORRUPTION           .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       55

     1.  Phantasy                            .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       57

     2.  The Dream of the World without Death               .          .          .          .          .          .          .       62

     3.  Soul and Flesh                                                    .          .          .          .          .          .          .       75

IV. THE SOUL AND THE DWELLING                     .          .          .          .          .          .          .       77

V. SONGS OF SEEKING                                          .          .          .          .          .          .          .       93

     1.  “O Thou whose Ears incline unto my Singing”      .          .          .          .          .          .          .       95

     2.  Quest                                                                 .          .          .          .          .          .          .       97

     3.  The Happy Earth                                                .          .          .          .          .          .          .       99

     4.  O unseen One!                                                   .          .          .          .          .          .          .     101

     5.  World’s Mystery                                                .          .          .          .          .          .          .     103

     6.  The Cities                                                           .          .          .          .          .          .          .     104

     7.  The Priests                                                         .          .          .          .          .          .          .     105

     8.  The Lamb of God                                               .          .          .          .          .          .          .     107

     9.  Doom                                                                 .          .          .          .          .          .          .     111

   10.  God’s Dream                                                     .          .          .          .          .          .          .     112

   11.  Flower of the World                                           .          .          .          .          .          .          .     114

   12.  O Spirit!                                                             .          .          .          .          .          .          .     116

VI. THE LIFTING OF THE VEIL                               .          .          .          .          .          .          .     117

     1.  Orm’s Vision                                                      .          .          .          .          .          .          .     119

     2.  The Face and the World                                     .          .          .          .          .          .          .     122

     3.  Orm’s Awakening                                              .          .          .          .          .          .          .     140

VII. CORUISKEN SONNETS                                   .          .          .          .          .          .          .     143

     1.  Lord, is it Thou?                                                 .          .          .          .          .          .          .     145

     2.  We are Fatherless                                               .          .          .          .          .          .          .     146

     3.  We are Children                                                 .          .          .          .          .          .          .     147

     4.  When we are all Asleep                                      .          .          .          .          .          .          .     148

     5.  But the Hills will bear Witness                             .          .          .          .          .          .          .     149

     6.  Desolate!                                                            .          .          .          .          .          .          .     150

     7.  Lord, art Thou here?                                           .          .          .          .          .          .          .     151

     8.  God is beautiful                                                   .          .          .          .          .          .          .     152

     9.  The Motion of the Mists                                      .          .          .          .          .          .          .     153

   10.  Coruisk                                                              .          .          .          .          .          .          .     154

   11.  But whither?                                                       .          .          .          .          .          .          .     155

   12.  God is pitiless                                                     .          .          .          .          .          .          .     156

   13.  Yea, pitiless                                                        .          .          .          .          .          .          .     157

   14.  Could God be judged!                                        .          .          .          .          .          .          .     158

   15.  The Hills on their Thrones                                   .          .          .          .          .          .          .     159

   16.  King Blaabhein                                                   .          .          .          .          .          .          .     160

   17.  Blaabhein in the Mists                                         .          .          .          .          .          .          .     161

   18.  The fiery Birth of the Hills                                    .          .          .          .          .          .          .     162

   19.  The Changeless Hills                                           .          .          .          .          .          .          .     163

   20.  O Mountain Peak of a God                                 .          .          .          .          .          .          .     164

   21.  God the Image                                                    .          .          .          .          .          .          .     165

   22.  The Footprints                                                    .          .          .          .          .          .          .     166

   23.  We are Deathless                                               .          .          .          .          .          .          .     167

   24.  A Voice in the Whirlwind                                    .          .          .          .          .          .          .     168

   25.  Cry of the little Brook                                         .          .          .          .          .          .          .     169

   26.  The Happy Hearts of Earth                                 .          .          .          .          .          .          .     170

   27.  Father, forgive Thy Child                                    .          .          .          .          .          .          .     171

   28.  God’s Loneliness                                               .          .          .          .          .          .          .     172

   29.  The Cup of Tears                                               .          .          .          .          .          .          .     173

   30.  The Light of the World                                        .          .          .          .          .          .          .     174

   31.  Earth’s Eldest Born                                             .          .          .          .          .          .          .     175

   32.  What Spirit cometh?                                           .          .          .          .          .          .          .     176

   33.  Stay, O Spirit!                                                    .          .          .          .          .          .          .     177

   34.  Quiet Waters                                                      .          .          .          .          .          .          .     178

VIII. THE CORUISKEN VISION; OR, THE LEGEND OF THE BOOK       .      .          .          .     179

IX. THE DEVIL’S MYSTICS                                     .          .          .          .          .          .          .     207

     1.  The Inscription without                                        .          .          .          .          .          .          .     209

     2.  The Tree of Life                                                  .          .          .          .          .          .          .     210

     3.  The Seeds                                                          .          .          .          .          .          .          .     214

     4.  Fire and Water; or, A Voice of the Flesh             .          .          .          .          .          .          .     220

     5.  Sanitas                                                               .          .          .          .          .          .          .     222

     6.  The Philosophers                                                .          .          .          .          .          .          .     225

     7.  Prayer from the Deeps                                        .          .          .          .          .          .          .     227

     8.  Homunculus; or, The Song of Deicides                .          .          .          .          .          .          .     228

     9.  Roses                                                                 .          .          .          .          .          .          .     234

   10.  Hermaphroditus                                                  .          .          .          .          .          .          .     237

   11.  After                                                                  .          .          .          .          .          .          .     239

   12.  His Prayer                                                          .          .          .          .          .          .          .     242

X. THE VISION OF THE MAN ACCURST              .          .          .          .          .          .          .     243

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*_**  Continued ill health compels the omission of two poems—”A Rune found in the Starlight,” and “The Song of Heaven”—which, although written, cannot at present be rendered perfect for press. Section IX., too, is incomplete, wanting the all-important “Devil’s Dirge,” which, however, will be added in a future edition.—R.B.

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[Notes:

1. The first edition of The Book Of Orm was published in 1870 by Strahan & Co. This is a transcription of the 1882 Chatto & Windus edition. The two editions are identical (both include the note about ‘continued ill health’, and the obviously missing ‘f’ in the line in the inscription which reads: “Thy  ace sails with me on a darker path,”) apart from the subtitle, “A Prelude to the Epic”, which only occurs on the title page of the first edition.

2. The first quote is the Student’s Prayer of Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626).
The second quote, in Greek, is the final line of the Orphic hymn, ‘To The Sun’:  And bless thy suppliants with a life divine.

          Faithful defender, and the eye of right,
          Of steeds the ruler, and of life the light:
          With founding whip four fiery steeds you guide,
          When in the car of day you glorious ride.
          Propitious on these mystic labours shine,
          And bless thy suppliants with a life divine.
                    The Hymns of Orpheus, The Initiations of Orpheus - VII: To The Sun l. 25-30, trans. Thomas Taylor (1792)

(I would like to thank the forum members on the Translatum site for helping me to identify this quotation).

In the Chatto & Windus 1884 edition of ‘The Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan’, Bacon’s ‘Student’s Prayer’ is retained but the Orpheus quote is omitted, replaced by the following:

     ‘To vindicate the ways of God to man.’—MILTON.

     ‘God’s Mystery will I vindicate, the Mystery of the Veil and of the Shadow; yea, also Death and Sorrow, God’s divine Angels on all earths; and I will vindicate the Soul, that the Soul may vindicate the Flesh; and all these things shall vindicate Evil, proving God’s mercy to His creatures, great and small.’—A RUNE FOUND IN THE STARLIGHT.

The Milton quote is incorrect. Presumably Buchanan confused line 26 of Book I of John Milton’s Paradise Lost ( “And justify the ways of God to men.”) with line 16 of Epistle I of Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Man (“But vindicate the ways of God to man.”).

                                     What in me is dark
          Illumin, what is low raise and support;
          That to the highth of this great Argument
          I may assert Eternal Providence,
          And justifie the wayes of God to men.
                     Paradise Lost, Bk. I, l. 22-26 (1667) - John Milton (1608-74)

          Eye Nature’s walks, shoot folly as it flies,
          And catch the manners living as they rise;
          Laugh where we must, be candid where we can,
          But vindicate the ways of God to man.
                    An Essay on Man, Epistle I: Of the Nature and State of Man, With Respect to the Universe, l. 13-16 (1732) - 
                    Alexander Pope (1688-1744)

As for ‘A Rune Found in the Starlight’, one suspects that despite the note to the contrary in both the 1870 and 1882 editions of ‘The Book of Orm’, the additional poem (written but not ‘rendered perfect for press’ due to ill health) existed only as a title and so Buchanan used it here, as the imaginary source for another introductory piece to The Book of Orm.

3. The major change in the Chatto & Windus 1884 edition of ‘The Poetical Works of Robert Buchanan’ is the separation of  ‘Section VII: CORUISKEN SONNETS’ from The Book of Orm, and the omission of ‘Section VIII: THE CORUISKEN VISION; OR, THE LEGEND OF THE BOOK’. Section VII now appears under the title, ‘SONNETS: Written by Loch Coruisk, Isle of Skye’, between ‘NORTH COAST, AND OTHER POEMS’ and ‘THE BOOK OF ORM’, which is now reduced to eight parts.]

[Review of ‘The Book of Orm’ from The Scotsman, July 1870]