Soon my Angel came again : 13
I was arm'd, he came in vain ;
For the time of youth was fled,
And grey hairs were on my head.
, 16 For . . . head] The same hnes, with the change of 'were' to ' are,'
are used by Blake as the final couplets to 'Infant Sorrow' (MS. Book x
and the first version of ' Ina Mirtle Shade' (MS. Book xiii). 15 For]
But MS. Book st rdg. del.
The Sick Rose
O Rose, thou art sick ! i
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed 5
Of crimson joy ;
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Engraved from the copy in the MS. Book (p. 107 reversed). The original
coloured design is found on p. 21 of the MS. Book. It differs considerably
from the engraved illustration. Instead of the worm preying upon the heart
of the rose there is a youth prostrate on the ground, as if in regret at seeing
the spirit of the rose, symbolized by a female figure, take flight.
Has] Hath MS. Book. 7, 8 And . . . destroy] A dark-secret love
Doth life destroy MS. Book is/ rdg. del. 7 his] her MS. Book, above an erased and illegible word. To Tirzah Whate'er is Born of Mortal Birth i Must be consumed with the Earth, To rise from Generation free: Then what have I to do with thee? Not in MS. Book. Engraved on a single plate. On the robe of one of the figures in the design at the foot of the page is written ' It is Raised a Spiritual Body.' Shepherd prints this ; the rest omit. By the name Tirzah, taken from Canticles vi. 4, Blake personifies Natural Religion. In Jerusalem and Milton, passint, Tirzah, generally associated with Rahab, or Moral Law, is represented as a bright and beautiful being.
