Most glorious Lord of Life! that, on this day,
Didst make thy triumph over death and sin,
And, having harrowed hell, didst bring away
Captivity thence captive, us to win;
This joyous day, dear Lord, with joy begin,
And grant that we, for whom thou didest die,
Being with dear blood clean washed from sin,
May live for ever in felicity!
And that thy love we weighing worthily,
May likewise love thee for the same again,
And for thy sake, that all like dear didst buy,
With love may one another entertain,
So let us love, dear love like as we ought-
Love is the lesson which the Lord us taught.

The Bee-Keeper - Edith Sitwell

In the plain of the world's dust like a great Sea,
The golden thunders of the Lion and the Honey-Bee
In the Spirit, held with the Sun a colloquy.

Where an old woman stood - thick Earthiness -
Half Sun, half Clod,
A plant alive from the root, still blind with earth
And all the weight of death and birth.

She, in her primitive dress
Of clay, bent to her hives
And heard her sisters of the barren lives.

Begin to stir...the Priestesses of the Gold Comb
Shaped by Darkness, and the Prophetesses
Who, from a wingless pupa, spark of gold.

In the Dark, rose with gold bodies bright as the Lion,
And the trace of the Hand of God on ephemeral wings
To sing the great Hymn of Being to the lost:

'This Earth is the honey of all Beings, and all Beings
Are the honey of this Earth...O Bright, Immortal Lover
That is incarnate in the Body's earth -
O bright immortal Lover Who is All!'

'This Water is the honey of all Beings, and all Beings
Are the honey of this Water...O the bright immortal Lover
That is in water and that is the seed
Of Life ... O bright immortal Lover Who is all!

'This Fire is the honey of all Beings, and all Beings
Are the honey of this Fire ... O bright immortal Lover
That is in fire and shines in mortal speech -
O bright immortal Lover Who is all!'

'This Air is the honey of all Beings, and all Beings
Are the honey of this Air ... O bright immortal Lover
That is in air and in our Being's breath -
O bright immortal Lover Who is All!'

This Sun is the honey of all Beings, and all Beings
Are the honey of this Sun .. O bright immortal Lover
That is in the sun and is our Being's sight -
O bright immortal Lover who is all!'

'This Thunder is the honey of all Beings, and all Beings
Are the honey of this Thunder ... O the bright immortal Lover
That is in thunder and all voices - the beasts' roar -
Thunder of rising saps - the voice of Man!
O bright immortal Lover Who is All!'

This was the song that came from the small span
Of thin gold bodies shaped by the holy Dark...

And the old woman in her mortal dress of clay
(That plant alive from the root, still thick with earth)
Felt all the saps of Day.

And in the plain of dust like a great Sea
The Lion in the Spirit cried, 'Destroy - destroy
That old and wrinkled Darkness.' But the Sun
- That great gold simpleton - laughed like a boy,
And kissed the old woman's cheek and blessed her clay.

The great Sun laughed, and dancing over Chaos,
Shouts to the dust 'O mortal Lover! Think what wonders
May be born of our love - what golden heroes!'

The Bee in the Spirit said, 'The gold combs lay
In the cold rock and the slain Lion, amid spent golden thunders.'

Ruler of the World - Boethius, translated by Alexander Pope

O thou, whose all-creating hands sustain
The radiant Heav'ns and Earth, and ambient main!
Eternal Reason! whose presiding soul
Informs great nature and directs the whole!
Who wert, e're time his rapid race began,
And badst the years in long procession run:
Who fix't thy self amidst the rowling frame,
Gav'st all things to be chang'd, yet ever art the same!
Oh, teach the mind t'aetherial heights to rise,
And view familiar, in its native skies,
The source of good; thy splendour to descry,
And on thy self, undazzled, fix her eye.

Oh quicken this dull mass of mortal clay;
Shine through the soul, and drive its clouds away!
For thou art Light. In thee the righteous find
Calm rest, and soft serenity of mind;
Thee they regard alone; to thee they tend;
At once our great original and end,
At once our means, our end, our guide, our way,
Our utmost bound, and our eternal stay!