Blake's Selected Poems Read online

  And see the winged lightnings as they fly,

  Then, bosom’d in an amber cloud, around

  Plumes his wide wings, and seeks Sol’s palace high.

  And thou, O warrior maid, invincible,

  Arm’d with the terrors of Almighty Jove!

  Pallas, Minerva, maiden terrible,

  Lov‘st thou to walk the peaceful solemn grove,

  In solemn gloom of branches interwove?

  Or bear’st thy Egis o‘er the burning field,

  Where, like the sea, the waves of battle move?

  Or have thy soft piteous eyes beheld

  The weary wanderer thro’ the desert rove?

  Or does thth’ afflicted man thy heav’nly bosom move?

  Blind-man’s Buff

  When silver Snow decks Susan’s cloaths,

  And jewel hangs at th’ shepherd’s nose,

  The blushing bank is all my care,

  With hearth so red, and walls so fair;

  “Heap the sea-coal; come, heap it higher,

  “The oaken log lay on the fire:”

  The well-wash’d stools, a circling row,

  With lad and lass, how fair the show!

  The merry can of nut-brown ale,

  The laughing jest, the love-sick tale,

  ‘Till tir’d of chat, the game begins,

  The lasses prick the lads with pins;

  Roger from Dolly twitch’d the stool,

  She falling, kiss’d the ground, poor fool!

  She blush’d so red, with side-long glance

  At hob-nail Dick, who griev’d the chance.

  But now for Blind-man’s Buff they call;

  Of each incumbrance clear the hall —

  Jenny her silken kerchief folds,

  And blear-ey’d Will the black lot holds;

  Now laughing, stops, with ”Silence! hush!”

  And Peggy Pout gives Sam a push. —

  The Blind-man’s arms, extended wide,

  Sam slips between; — ”O woe betide

  Thee, clumsy Will!” — but titt‘ring Kate

  Is pen’d up in the corner strait!

  And now Will’s eyes beheld the play,

  He thought his face was t’other way. —

  “Now, Kitty, now; what chance hast thou,

  “Roger so near thee, Trips; I vow! [”]

  She catches him—then Roger ties

  His own head up—but not his eyes;

  For thro’ the slender cloth he sees,

  And runs at Sam, who slips with ease

  His clumsy hold; and, dodging round,

  Sukey is tumbled on the ground! —

  “See what it is to play unfair!

  “Where cheating is, there’s mischief there.”

  But Roger still pursues the chace, —

  “He sees! he sees! [“] cries softly Grace;

  “O Roger, thou, unskill’d in art,

  “Must, surer bound, go thro’ thy part!”

  Now Kitty, pert, repeats the rhymes,

  And Roger turns him round three times;

  Then pauses ere he starts —— but Dick

  Was mischief bent upon a trick:

  Down on his hands and knees he lay,

  Directly in the Blind-man’s way —

  Then cries out, “Hem!” Hodge heard, and ran

  With hood-wink’d chance—sure of his man;

  But down he came. —Alas, how frail

  Our best of hopes, how soon they fail!

  With crimson drops he stains the ground,

  Confusion startles all around!

  Poor piteous Dick supports his head,

  And fain would cure the hurt he made;

  But Kitty hasted with a key,

  And down his back they strait convey

  The cold relief—the blood is stay’d,

  And Hodge again holds up his head.

  Such are the fortunes of the game,

  And those who play should stop the same

  By wholesome laws; such as[:] all those

  Who on the blinded man impose,

  Stand in his stead; as long a-gone

  When men were first a nation grown;

  Lawless they liv’d — till wantonness

  And liberty began t’ increase;

  And one man lay in another’s way,

  Then laws were made to keep fair play.

  Song 1st by a Shepherd

  Welcome stranger to this place,

  Where joy doth sit on every bough,

  Paleness flies from every face,

  We reap not, what we do not sow.

  Innocence doth like a Rose,

  Bloom on every Maidens cheek;

  Honor twines around her brows,

  The jewel Health adorns her neck.

  Song 3d by an Old Shepherd

  When silver snow decks Sylvio’s clothes

  And jewel hangs at shepherd’s nose,

  We can abide life’s pelting storm

  That makes our limbs quake, if our hearts be warm.

  Whilst Virtue is our walking staff,

  And Truth a lantern to our path;

  We can abide life’s pelting storm

  That makes our limbs quake, if our hearts be warm.

  Blow boisterous Wind, stern Winter frown,

  Innocence is a Winter’s gown;

  So clad, we’ll abide life’s pelting storm

  That makes our limbs quake, if our hearts be warm.

  “Never pain to tell thy Love”

  Never pain to tell thy Love

  Love that never told can be

  For the gentle wind does move

  Silently invisibly

  I told my love I told my love

  I told her all my heart

  Trembling cold in ghastly fears

  Ah she doth depart

  Soon as she was gone from me

  A traveller came by

  Silently invisibly

  O was no deny

  “I feard the fury of my wind”

  I feard the fury of my wind

  Would blight all blossoms fair & true

  And my sun it shind & shind

  And my wind it never blew

  But a blossom fair or true

  Was not found on any tree

  For all blossoms grew & grew

  Fruitless false tho fair to see

  “I saw a chapel all of gold”

  I saw a chapel all of gold

  That none did dare to enter in

  And many weeping stood without

  Weeping mourning worshipping

  I saw a serpent rise between

  The white pillars of the door

  And he fored & fored & fored.

  Down the golden hinges tore

  And along the pavement sweet

  Set with pearls & rubies bright

  All his slimy length he drew

  Till upon the altar white

  Vomiting his poison out

  On the bread & on the wine

  So I turnd into a sty

  And laid me down among the swine

  “I laid me down upon a bank”

  I laid me down upon a bank

  Where love lay sleeping

  I heard among the rushes dank

  Weeping Weeping

  Then I went to the heath & the wild

  To the thistles & thorns of the waste

  And they told me how they were beguild

  Driven out & compeld to be chaste

  A Cradle Song

  Sleep Sleep beauty bright

  Dreaming oer the joys of night

  Sleep Sleep: in thy sleep

  Little sorrows sit & weep

  Sweet Babe in thy face

  Soft desires I can trace

  Secret joys & secret smiles

  Little pretty infant wiles

  As thy softest limbs I feel

  Smiles as of the morning steal

  Oer thy cheek & oer thy breast

  Where thy little heart
does rest

  O the cunning wiles that creep

  In thy little heart asleep

  When thy little heart does wake

  Then the dreadful lightnings break

  From thy cheek & from thy eye

  Oer the youthful harvests nigh

  Infant wiles & infant smiles

  Heaven & Earth of peace beguiles

  “I askéd a thief to steal me a peach”

  I asked a thief to steal me a peach

  He turned up his eyes

  I ask’d a lithe lady to lie her down

  Holy & meek she cries—

  As soon as I went

  An angel came.

  He wink’d at the thief

  And smild at the dame —

  And without one word said

  Had a peach from the tree

  And still as a maid

  Enjoy’d the lady.

  To My Mirtle

  To a lovely mirtle bound

  Blossoms showring all around

  O how sick & weary I

  Underneath my mirtle lie

  Why should I be bound to thee

  O my lovely mirtle tree

  “O lapwing thou fliest around the heath”

  O lapwing thou fliest around the heath

  Nor seest the net that is spread beneath

  Why dost thou not fly among the corn fields

  They cannot spread nets where a harvest yields

  An Answer to the Parson

  Why of the sheep do you not learn peace

  Because I dont want you to shear my fleece

  [Experiment]2

  Thou hast a lap full of seed

  And this is a fine country

  Why dost thou not cast thy seed

  And live in it merrily

  Shall I cast it on the sand

  And turn it into fruitful land

  For on no other ground

  Can I sow my seed

  Without tearing up

  Some stinking weed

  Riches

  The countless gold of a merry heart

  The rubies & pearls of a loving eye

  The indolent never can bring to the mart

  Nor the secret hoard up in his treasury

  “If you trap the moment before its ripe”

  If you trap the moment before its ripe

  The tears of repentance youll certainly wipe

  But if once you let the ripe moment go

  You can never wipe off the tears of woe

  “I heard an Angel singing”

  I heard an Angel singing

  When the day was springing

  Mercy Pity Peace

  Is the worlds release

  Thus he sung all day

  Over the new mown hay

  Till the sun went down

  And haycocks looked brown

  I heard a Devil curse

  Over the heath & the furze

  Mercy could be no more

  If there was nobody poor

  And pity no more could be

  If all were as happy as we

  At his curse the sun went down

  And the heavens gave a frown

  Down pourd the heavy rain

  Over the new reapd grain

  And Miseries increase

  Is Mercy Pity Peace

  “Silent Silent Night”

  Silent Silent Night

  Quench the holy light

  Of thy torches bright

  For possessd of Day

  Thousand spirits stray

  That sweet joys betray

  Why should joys be sweet

  Used with deceit

  Nor with sorrows meet

  But an honest joy

  Does itself destroy

  For a harlot coy

  To Nobodaddy

  Why art thou silent & invisible

  Father of Jealousy

  Why dost thou hide thyself in clouds

  From every searching Eye

  Why darkness & obscurity

  In all thy words & laws

  That none dare eat the fruit but from

  The wily serpents jaws

  Or is it because Secresy

  gains females loud applause

  [How to know Love from Deceit]3

  Love to faults is always blind

  Always is to joy inclind

  Lawless wingd & unconfind

  And breaks all chains from every mind

  Deceit to secresy confind

  Lawful cautious & refind

  To every thing but interest blind

  And forges fetters for the mind

  The Wild Flowers Song

  As I wanderd the forest

  The green leaves among

  I heard a wild flower

  Singing a Song

  I slept in the earth

  In the silent night

  I murmurd my fears

  And I felt delight

  In the morning I went

  As rosy as morn

  To seek for new Joy

  But I met with scorn

  Soft Snow

  I walked abroad in a snowy day

  I askd the soft snow with me to play

  She playd & she melted in all her prime

  And the winter calld it a dreadful crime

  Merlins Prophecy

  The harvest shall flourish in wintry weather

  When two virginities meet together

  The King & the Priest must be tied in a tether

  Before two virgins can meet together

  “Why should I care for the men of thames”

  Why should I care for the men of thames

  Or the cheating waves of charterd streams

  Or shrink at the little blasts of fear

  That the hireling blows into my ear

  Tho born on the cheating banks of Thames

  Tho his waters bathed my infant limbs

  The Ohio shall wash his stains from me

  I was born a slave but I go to be free

  Day

  The Sun arises in the East

  Clothd in robes of blood & gold

  Swords & spears & wrath increast

  All around his bosom rolld

  Crownd with warlike fires & raging desires

  “The sword sung on the barren heath”

  The sword sung on the barren heath

  The sickle in the fruitful field

  The sword he sung a song of death

  But could not make the sickle yield

  “Abstinence sows sand all over”

  Abstinence sows sand all over

  The ruddy limbs & flaming hair

  But Desire Gratified

  Plants fruits of life & beauty there

  “In a wife I would desire”

  In a wife I would desire

  What in whores is always found

  The lineaments of Gratified desire

  Lacedemonian Instruction

  Come hither my boy tell me what thou seest there

  A fool tangled in a religious snare

  “An old maid early eer I knew”

  An old maid early eer I knew

  Ought but the love that on me grew

  And now Im coverd oer & oer

  And wish that I had been a Whore

  O I cannot cannot find

  The undaunted courage of a Virgin Mind

  For Early I in love was crost

  Before my flower of love was lost

  Several Questions Answerd

  He who binds to himself a joy

  Doth the winged life destroy

  But he who kisses the joy as it flies

  Lives in Eternitys sun rise

  The look of love alarms

  Because tis filld with fire

  But the look of soft deceit

  Shall Win the lovers hire

  Soft deceit & Idleness

  These are Beautys sweetest dress

  What is it men in women do require

  The lineaments of Gratified
Desire

  What is it women do in men require

  The lineaments of Gratified Desire

  An Ancient Proverb

  Remove away that blackning church

  Remove away that marriage hearse

  Remove away that —of blood

  Youll quite remove the ancient curse

  The Fairy

  Come hither my sparrows

  My little arrows

  If a tear or a smile

  Will a man beguile

  If an amorous delay

  Clouds a sunshiny day

  If the step of a foot

  Smites the heart to its root

  Tis the marriage ring

  Makes each fairy a king

  So a fairy sung

  From the leaves I sprung

  He leapd from the spray

  To flee away

  But in my hat caught

  He soon shall be taught

  Let him laugh let him cry

  Hes my butterfly

  For I’ve pulld out the Sting