The Nameless Quest in The Gate of the Sanctuary from The Temple of the Holy Ghost (Collected Works, Vol I) by Aleister Crowley.

“My voice—ah! flashes out the word of flame:
‘Eternal Beauty, One and absolute!'” [via]

Consider also:

  1. “And the full moon shone, A glory for God’s eyes to dwell upon, A path of silver furrowed in the air, A gateway where an angel might have gone. And forward gleamed a narrow way of earth Crusted with salt: I watch the fairy birth Of countless flashes on the crystal flakes, Forgetting it is only death that makes Its home the centre of that starry girth. Yet, what is life?”
  2. “The manhood in me wakes. The absolute desire hath hold of me. Death were most welcome in that solemn sea; So bitter is my life.”
  3. “After a while he took the word again: ‘Go thou then moonwards; on the great salt plain; So to a pillar. Adamant, alone, It stands. Around it see them overthrown, King, earl, and knight. There lie the questing slain, A thousand years forgotten–bone by bone. ‘No more is spoken–the tradition goes: ‘There learns the seeker what he seeks or knows,’ Thence–none have passed. The desert leagues may keep Some other secret–some profounder deep Than this one echoed fear: the desert shows Its ghastly triumph–silence. There they sleep. ‘There, brave and pure, there, true and strong, they stay Bleached in the desert, till the solemn day Of God’s revenge–none knoweth them: they rest Unburied, unremembered, unconfessed. What names of strength, of majesty, had they? What suns are these gone down into the West?”
  4. “Then, my spirit knew her For One beyond all song–my poor heart turned: Then, ’tis no wonder. And my passion burned Mightier yet than ever. To renew her Venom from those pure eyes? And yet I yearned. Still, I stepped onward. Credit me so far! The harlot had my soul: my will, the star!”
  5. “Mine eyes had fixed them on the sphinx, the sky. ‘Is then this quest of immortality?’ And echo answered from some unseen caves: Mortality! I shrink, and wonder why. Strange I am nothing tainted with this fear Now, that had touched me first. For I am here Half-way I reckon to the field of salt, The pillar, and the bones—it was a fault I am cured of! praise to God!”