La Pellegrina

Etruscan necropolis, 2500 years old

Philosophy Desire no more the passing things of Earth Unless they be the things of real worth The Sun, the flowers, the song of birds, the trees The breath of God is found in all of these.

Abandon self, and fan with diligence the flame of Spirit, Which is but another name for Love The power that God gives to each soul When Self has died and been reborn, made whole.

To re-create for those still in the dark The hope of light and kindle thus the spark Of further Love Man cannot this attain Except he travel by the road of pain.

And make his tired Spirit fight And struggle upwards to the Light Until God in His mercy sends Him understanding, so that Love transcends The sadness of the bleak and stormy past And makes him feel he has come home at last.

Percy Illingworth Italy 1944

Akhenaten’s Hymn to the Sun O Aten, living Sun, whose glorious presence fills the sky, Within whose shining orb the seeds of all Life lie When day begins Thou risest in the East To fill with Beauty the awakened eyes of Man and Beast The brilliance of Thy beams dispels the shades of Night And all the World is bathed in warming Light Then men in adoration lift their hands Rejoicing that Thou lovest the Two Lands The birds arise on tiny fluttering wings Adoring Thy Spirit as do all living things The trees, the flowers, the flocks and oxen teams Are all regenerated by Thy beams The fledgeling breaks its shell with all its might Running to and fro’in Thy bright light.

The Life within the Mother quickened by Thy rays Comes forth as Man in Thine appointed days How many are the things that Thou hast made The Land created by Thy Will, the trees for shade The sea, translucent with Thy burning rays Carrying ships which sail upon their ways The Nile comes forth from out the Earth, a mighty river Of its great flood, upon which life depends, Thou art the Giver Its waters filled with every kind of fish Created by Thy loving wish Thou givest to each man on Earth his place Whether he be dark of skin or fair of face To all Thou givest life with Thy warm love Which Thou pourest on them from Thy Heaven above When Thou settest in thy glory in the golden West To villages and cities men return to rest They know as in the darkness on their beds they lie That while Thou shinest they shall live, but in Thy setting die I am Thy son, alone – who knowest Thee And all Thy Wisdom Thou has given unto me O Lord of all Eternity, Giver of Life, Shining Orb, living Aten To me Thy son, living in Truth, beloved by Thee, Akhenaten Son of the Sun, Lord of the Two lands, Lord of Crowns, long in Life And to Nefertiti, my beloved Great Royal Wife Thou hast raised up all men in the Two Lands And given all the World into my hands.

Translation by P.G Illingworth directly from the Hieroglyphic original held at the British Museum.

December 1964