Genius of Flagellation,
O Incline Thy countenance, severe and yet benign,
On us thy worshippers!
Do Thou infuse Our spirits with lusty vigour to abuse
All weaker beings plac'd beneath our sway!
Grant us yet more occasion, night and day,
To wreak fresh torments whereso'er we may;
Inform our wits with cunning to invent
Still new varieties of punishment:
Bless Thou our arms, hallow each instrument!
Provide more helpless victims, fair and fresh,
To feel the greedy and insatiate lash;
Till the whole world acknowledges Thy power,
And multitudes agree in a blest hour
To let the host of humankind become
A kind of universal naked b-m,
Gross, like the measure of all natural crime,
Naked, as Nature form'd it in her prime,
And destin'd only to be lash'd thro' space and time!
Enthrone on high Thy flagellant elite,
Lap them in joy forever keen and sweet,
And all the rest cast down beneath their feet.
Mid fire and smoke and exhalations foul
Confounded all together in a common howl.