Page:Life of William Blake, Pictor ignotus (Volume 2).djvu/112

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POEMS HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED.
95

The wild deer wandering here and there
Keep the human soul from care:
The lamb misused breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butchef's knife.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgment draweth nigh;
The beggar's dog, and widow's cat,
Feed them, and thou shalt grow fat.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in Eternity;
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar,
Are waves, that beat on Heaven's shore.
 
The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won't believe;
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fight;
The gnat that sings his summer's song
Poison gets from slander's tongue;
The poison of the snake and newt
Is the sweat of envy's foot;
The poison of the honey bee
Is the artist's jealousy;
The strongest poison ever known
Came from Cesafs laurel-crown.
 
Naught can deform the human race
L;lre to the armourer's iron brace;
The soldier armed with sword and gun
Palsied strikes the s,mmer's sun;
When gold and gems adorn the plough,
To peaceful arts shall envy bow;
The boggafs rags fluttering in air
Do to rags the heavens tear;
The prince's robes and beggaffs rags
Are toadstools on the miser's bags;
One mite wrung from the labourer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands,
Or, if protected from on high,
Shall that whole nation sell and buy;