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.
fc>*
bathed] bathed all edd. 7 The . . . me] I spurn'd his waters away
from me MS. Book 1st rdg. del. 8 go] long MS. Book ist rdg. del. Xll Thou hast a lap full of seed, 1 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 5 And turn it into fruitful land? For on no other ground Can I sow my seed. Without tearing up Some stinking weed. lo MS. Book, p. Ill, where it precedes 'Earth's Answer' {^Songs oj Exp.). Printed by DGR and later edd. with title ' Seed Sowing.' Not in Swinb. or WBY. Cp. Ahania, chap, v, stanza 12 : — 'Then thou, with thy lap full of seed, With thy hand full of generous fire, "Walked forth from the clouds of morning, On the virgins of springing joy. On the human soul to cast The seed of eternal science.' I lap full] lapful DGR, WMR, EY. 2 fine] fair DGR, WMR, EY. , 6 Shall I . . . turn] Oft I've . . . turn'd MS. Book 1st rdg. del. 7-10 For . . . weed] DGR, WMR and EY print these four lines as two. This may have been Blake's first intention, as he wrote ' can ' at the end of I. 7. but he erased it and arranged the lines as here printed. 7 For] But MS. Book 1st rdg. del. 9 tearing] pulling MS. Book 1st rdg. del.
