Analysis of Boo to Buddha

Aleister Crowley 1875 (Leamington Spa) – 1947 (Hastings)



So it is eighteen years,
Helena, since we met!
A season so endears,
Nor you nor I forget
The fresh young faces that once clove
In that most fiery dawn of love.

We wandered to and fro,
Who knew not how to woo,
Those eighteen years ago,
Sweetheart, when I and you
Exchanged high vows in heaven's sight
That scarce survived a summer's night.

What scourge smote from the stars
What madness from the moon?
That night we broke the bars
Was quintessential June,
When you and I beneath the trees
Bartered our bold virginities.

Eighteen -years, months, or hours?
Time is a tyrant's toy!
Eternal are the flowers!
We are but girl and boy
Yet -since love leapt as swift to-night
As it had never left the light!

For fiercer from the South
Still flames your cruel hair,
And Trojan Helen's mouth
Still not so ripe and rare
As Helena's -nor love nor youth
So leaps with lust or thrills with truth.

Helena, still we hold
Flesh firmer, still we mix
Black hair with hair as gold.
Life has but served to fix
Our hearts; love lingers on the tongue,
And who loves once is always young.

The stars are still the same;
The changeful moon endures;
Come without fear or shame,
And draw my mouth to yours!
Youth fails, however flesh be fain;
Manhood and womanhood attain.

Life is a string of pearls,
And you the first I strung.
You left -first flower of girls! -
Life lyric on my tongue,
An indefatigable dance,
An inexhaustible romance!

Blush of love's dawn, bright bud
That bloomed for my delight,
First blossom of my blood,
Burn in that blood to-night!
Helena, Helena, fiercely fresh,
Your flesh flies fervent to my flesh.

What sage can dare impugn
Man's immortality?
Our godhead swims, immune
From death and destiny.
Ignored the bubble in the flow
Of love eighteen short years ago!

Time -I embrace all time
As my arm rings your waist.
Space -you surpass, sublime,
As, taking me, we taste
Omnipotence, sense slaying sense,
Soul slaying soul, omniscience.


Scheme ABABCC DEDEFF GHGHXA IJIJFF KLKLMM NONOPP QRQRSS TPTPUU VFVFWW HXHXDD YZYZXA
Poetic Form
Metre 111011 100111 01011 111101 01110111 011100111 110101 111111 101101 11101 01110101 11010101 111101 110101 111101 10101 11010101 101011 0111110 11011 0101010 111101 11111111 11110101 110101 111101 010101 111101 11001111 11111111 100111 110111 111111 111111 101110101 0111111 011101 01101 101111 011111 1110111 101001 110111 010111 1111011 110111 1010001 10010001 111111 111101 110111 101111 100100101 11110111 111101 10100 101101 110100 01010001 11011101 110111 111111 110101 110111 01001101 11011
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 1,874
Words 348
Sentences 25
Stanzas 11
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 66
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 137
Words per stanza (avg) 31
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

1:46 min read
149

Aleister Crowley

Aleister Crowley, born Edward Alexander Crowley, was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, and mountaineer. more…

All Aleister Crowley poems | Aleister Crowley Books

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