Jerusalem. The Emanation of the Giant Albion/Plate 11

1991753Jerusalem. The Emanation of the Giant Albion/Chapter I/Plate 11William Blake

[ PLATE 11 ]

Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion, copy E, object 11 (Bentley 11, Erdman 11, Keynes 11)


* * *



To labours mighty, with vast strength, with his mighty chains,
In pulsations of time, & extensions of space, like Urns of Beulah
With great labour upon his anvils, & in his ladles the Ore t
He lifted, pouring it into the clay ground prepar'd with art;
5Striving with Systems to deliver Individuals from those Systems;
That whenever any Spectre began to devour the Dead,
He might feel the pain as if a man gnawd his own tender nerves.

Then Erin came forth from the Furnaces, & all the Daughters of Beulah
Came from the Furnaces, by Los's mighty power for Jerusalems
10Sake: walking up and down among the Spaces of Erin:
And the Sons and Daughters of Los came forth in perfection lovely!
And the Spaces of Erin reach'd from the starry heighth, to the starry depth.

Los wept with exceeding joy & all wept with joy together!
They feard they never more should see their Father, who
15Was built in from Eternity, in the Cliffs of Albion.

But when the joy of meeting was exhausted in loving embrace;
Again they lament. O what shall we do for lovely Jerusalem?
To protect the Emanations of Albions mighty ones from cruelty?
Sabrina & Ignoge begin to sharpen their beamy spears
20Of light and love: their little children stand with arrows of gold.
Ragan is wholly cruel, Scofield is bound in iron armour,
He is like a mandrake in the earth before Reuben's gate,
He shoots beneath Jerusalem's walls to undermine her foundations.
Vala is but thy Shadow, O thou loveliest among women!
25 A shadow animated by they tears, O mournful Jerusalem!