William Blake (1757 – 1827)
English poet, Christian mystic, painter, printmaker, and engraver.
I am sure this Jesus will not do
Either for Englishman or Jew.
He loves to sit and hear me sing,
Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;
Then stretches out my golden wing,
And mocks my loss of liberty.
Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another’s loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven’s despite.
I must Create a System, or be enslav'd by another Man's;
I will not Reason and Compare: my business is to Create.
If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise.
Active Evil is better than Passive Good.
If a thing loves, it is infinite.
England! awake! awake! awake!
Jerusalem thy sister calls!
Why wilt thou sleep the sleep of death
And close her from thy ancient walls?
Abstinence sows sand all over
The ruddy limbs and flaming hair,
But desire gratified
Plants fruits of life and beauty there.
Art can never exist without Naked Beauty displayed.
…some say that Happiness is not Good for Mortals & they ought to be answerd that Sorrow is not fit for Immortals & is utterly useless to any one a blight never does good to a tree & if a blight kill not a tree but it still bear fruit let none say that the fruit was in consequence of the blight.
Both read the Bible day and night,
But thou read'st black where I read white.
The Old and New Testaments are the great code of art.
The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.
And there the lion's ruddy eyes
Shall flow with tears of gold,
And pitying the tender cries,
And walking round the fold,
Saying: "Wrath by his meekness,
And by his health, sickness,
Is driven away
From our immortal day."
Grown old in love from seven till seven times seven,
I oft have wished for Hell for ease from Heaven.
But most, thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot’s curse
Blasts the new born Infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
True superstition is ignorant honesty & this is beloved of god and man.
The cistern contains: the fountain overflows.
But Want of Money & the Distress of A Thief can never be alleged as the Cause of his Thieving, for many honest people endure greater hard ships with Fortitude. We must therefore seek the Cause else where than in want of Money for that is the Misers passion, not the Thiefs.