The Complete Poems

by William Blake

  On all the suns of men & every human soul terrified

  At the turning wheels of heaven shrunk away inward withring away

  Gaining a New Dominion over all his Sons & Daughters

  & over the sons & daughters of Luvah in the horrible Abyss

  For Urizen lamented over them in a selfish lamentation

  Till a white woof coverd his cold limbs from head to [foot] feet

  Hair white as snow coverd him in flaky locks terrific

  Overspreading his limbs. in pride he wanderd weeping

  30 Clothed in aged venerableness obstinately resolvd

  Travelling thro darkness & whereever he traveld a dire Web

  Followd behind him as the Web of a Spider dusky & cold

  Shivering across from Vortex to Vortex drawn out from his mantle of years

  A living Mantle adjoind to his life & growing from his Soul

  And the Web of Urizen stre[t]chd direful shivring in clouds

  And uttering such woes such [burstings] bursts such thunderings

  The eyelids expansive as morning & the Ears

  As a golden ascent winding round to the heavens of heavens

  Within the dark horrors of the Abysses lion or tyger or scorpion

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  For every one opend within into Eternity at will

  But they refusd because their outward forms were in the Abyss

  And the wing like tent of the Universe beautiful surrounding all

  Or drawn up or let down at the will of the immortal man

  Vibrated in such anguish the eyelids quiverd

  Weak & Weaker their expansive orbs began shrinking

  Pangs smote thro the brain & a universal shriek

  Ran thro the Abysses rending the web torment on torment

  Thus Urizen in sorrows wanderd many a dreary way

  10 Warring with monsters of the Deeps in his most hideous pilgrimage

  Till his bright hair scatterd in snows his skin barkd oer with wrinkles

  Four Caverns rooting downwards their foundations thrusting forth

  The metal rock & stone in ever painful throes of vegetation

  The Cave of Orc stood to the South a furnace of dire flames

  Quenchless unceasing. In the west the Cave of Urizen

  For Urizen fell as the Midday sun falls down into the West

  North stood Urthonas stedfast throne a World of Solid darkness

  Shut up in stifling obstruction rooted in dumb despair

  The East was Void. But Tharmas rolld his billows in ceaseless eddies

  20 Void pathless beat with Snows eternal & iron hail & rain

  All thro the caverns of fire & air & Earth. Seeking

  For Enions limbs nought finding but the black sea weed & sickning slime

  Flying away from Urizen that he might not give him food

  Above beneath on all sides round in the vast deep of immensity

  That he might starve the sons & daughters of Urizen on the winds

  Making between horrible chasms into the vast unknown

  All these around the world of Los cast forth their monstrous births

  But in Eternal times the Seat of Urizen is in the South

  Urthona in the North Luvah in East Tharmas in West

  30 And now he came into the Abhorred world of Dark Urthona

  By Providence divine conducted not bent from his own will

  Lest death Eternal should be the result for the Will cannot be violated

  Into the doleful vales where no tree grew nor river flowd

  Nor man nor beast nor creeping thing nor sun nor cloud nor star

  Still he with his globe of fire immense in his venturous hand

  Bore on thro the Affrighted vales ascending & descending

  Oerwearied or in cumbrous flight he venturd oer dark rifts

  Or down dark precipices or climbd with pain and labour huge

  Till he beheld the world of Los from the Peaked rock of Urthona

  40 And heard the howling of red Orc distincter & distincter

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  Redoubling his immortal efforts thro the narrow vales

  With difficulty down descending guided by his Ear

  And [with] by his globe of fire he went down the Vale of Urthona

  Between the enormous iron walls built by the Spectre dark

  Dark grew his globe reddning with mists & full before his path

  Striding across the narrow vale the [Shade] Shadow of Urthona

  A spectre Vast appeard whose feet & legs with iron scaled

  Stampd the hard rocks expectant of the unknown wanderer

  Whom he had seen wandring his nether world when distant far

  And watchd his swift approach collected dark the Spectre stood

  Beside hi[m] Tharmas stayd his flight & stood in stern defiance

  Communing with the Spectre who rejoicd along the vale

  Round his loins a girdle glowd with many colourd fires

  In his hand a knotted Club whose knots like mountains frownd

  Desart among the Stars them withering with its ridges cold

  Black scales of iron arm the dread visage iron spikes instead

  Of hair shoot from his orbed scull, his glowing eyes

  Burn like two furnaces, he calld with Voice of Thunder

  Four winged heralds mount the furious blasts & blow their trumps

  20 Gold Silver Brass & iron clangors clamoring rend the [deeps] shores

  Like white clouds rising from the Vales his fifty two armies

  From the four Cliffs of Urthona rise glowing around the Spectre

  Four sons of Urizen the Squadrons of Urthona led in arms

  Of gold & silver brass & iron he knew his mighty sons

  Then Urizen arose upon the wind back many a mile

  Retiring into his dire Web scattering fleecy snows

  As he ascended howling loud the Web vibrated strong

  From heaven to heaven from globe to globe. In vast excentric paths

  Compulsive rolld the Comets at his dread command the dreary way

  30 Falling with wheel impetuous down among Urthonas vales

  And round red Orc returning back to Urizen gorgd with blood

  Slow roll the massy Globes at his command & slow oerwheel

  The dismal squadrons of Urthona. weaving the dire Web

  In their progressions & preparing Urizens path before him

  End of The Sixth Night

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  VALA

  NIGHT THE SEVENTH [a]

  Then Urizen arose The Spectre fled & Tharmas fled

  The darkening Spectre of Urthona hid beneath a rock

  Tharmas threw his impetuous flight thro the deeps of immensity

  Revolving round in whirlpools fierce all round the cavernd worlds

  But Urizen silent descended to the Caves of Orc & saw

  A Cavernd Universe of flaming fire the horses of Urizen

  Here bound to fiery mangers furious dash their golden hoofs

  Striking fierce sparkles from their brazen fetters, fierce his lions

  Howl in the burning dens his tygers roam in the redounding smoke

  10 In forests of affliction, the adamantine scales of justice

  Consuming in the raging lamps of mercy pourd in rivers

  The holy oil rages thro all the cavernd rocks fierce flames

  Dance on the rivers & the rocks howling & drunk with fury

  The plow of ages & the golden harrow wade thro fields

  Of goary blood the immortal seed is nourishd for the slaughter

  The bulls of Luvah breathing fire bellow on burning pastures

  Round howling Orc whose awful limbs cast forth red smoke & fire

  That Urizen approachd not near but took his seat on a rock

  And rangd his books around him brooding Envious over Orc

  20 Howling & rending his dark caves the awful Demon lay

  Pulse after pulse beat on his fetters pulse after pulse his s
pirit

  Darted & darted higher & higher to the shrine of Enitharmon

  As when the thunder folds himself in thickest clouds

  The watry nations couch & hide in the profoundest deeps

  Then bursting from his troubled head with terrible visages & flaming hair

  His swift wingd daughters sweep across the vast black ocean

  Los felt the Envy in his limbs like to a blighted tree

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  For Urizen fixd in Envy sat brooding & coverd with snow

  His book of iron on his knees he tracd the dreadful letters

  While his snows fell & his storms beat to cool the flames of Orc

  Age after Age till underneath his heel a deadly root

  Struck thro the rock the root of Mystery accursed shooting up

  Branches into the heaven of Los they pipe formd bending down

  Take root again whereever they touch again branching forth

  In intricate labyrinths oerspreading many a grizly deep

  Amazd started Urizen when he found himself compassd round

  10 And high roofed over with trees. he arose but the stems

  Stood so thick he with difficulty & great pain brought

  His books out of the dismal shade. all but the book of iron

  Again he took his seat & rangd his Books around

  On a rock of iron frowning over the foaming fires of Orc

  And Urizen hung over Orc & viewd his terrible wrath

  Sitting upon [his] an iron Crag at length his words broke forth

  Image of dread whence art thou whence is this most woful place

  Whence these fierce fires but from thyself No other living thing

  In all this Chasm I behold. No other living thing

  20 Dare thy most terrible wrath abide Bound here to waste in pain

  Thy vital substance in these fires that issue new & new

  Around thee sometimes like a flood & sometimes like a rock

  Of living pangs thy horrible bed glowing with ceaseless fires

  Beneath thee & around Above a Shower of fire now beats

  Moulded to globes & arrowy wedges rending thy bleeding limbs

  And now a whirling pillar of burning sands to overwhelm thee

  Steeping thy wounds in salts infernal & in bitter anguish

  And now a rock moves on the surface of this lake of fire

  To bear thee down beneath the waves in stifling despair

  30 Pity for thee movd me to break my dark & long repose

  And to reveal myself before thee in a form of wisdom

  Yet thou dost laugh at all these tortures & this horrible place

  Yet throw thy limbs these fires abroad that back return upon thee

  While thou reposest throwing rage on rage feeding thyself

  With visions of sweet bliss far other than this burning clime

  Sure thou art bathd in rivers of delight on verdant fields

  Walking in joy in bright Expanses sleeping on bright clouds

  With visions of delight so lovely that they urge thy rage

  Tenfold with fierce desire to rend thy chain & howl in fury

  40 And dim oblivion of all woe & desperate repose

  Or is thy joy founded on torment which others bear for thee

  Orc answerd curse thy hoary brows. What dost thou in this deep

  Thy Pity I contemn scatter thy snows elsewhere

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  I rage in the deep for Lo my feet & hands are naild to the burning rock

  Yet my fierce fires are better than thy snows Shuddring thou sittest

  Thou art not chaind Why shouldst thou sit cold grovelling demon of woe

  In tortures of dire coldness now a Lake of waters deep

  Sweeps over thee freezing to solid still thou sitst closd up

  In that transparent rock as if in joy of thy bright prison

  Till overburdend with its own weight drawn out thro immensity

  With a crash breaking across the horrible mass comes down

  Thundring & hail & frozen iron haild from the Element

  10 Rends thy white hair yet thou dost fixd obdurate brooding sit

  Writing thy books. Anon a cloud filld with a waste of snows

  Covers thee still obdurate still resolvd & writing still

  Tho rocks roll oer thee tho floods pour tho winds black as the Sea

  Cut thee in gashes tho the blood pours down around thy ankles

  Freezing thy feet to the hard rock still thy pen obdurate

  Traces the wonders of Futurity in horrible fear of the future

  I rage furious in the deep for lo my feet & hands are naild

  To the hard rock or thou shouldst feel my enmity & hate

  In all the diseases of man falling upon thy grey accursed front

  20 Urizen answerd Read my books explore my Constellations

  Enquire of my Sons & they shall teach thee how to War

  Enquire of my Daughters who accursd in the dark depths

  Knead bread of Sorrow by my stern command for I am God

  Of all this dreadful ruin Rise O daughters at my Stern command

  Rending the Rocks Eleth & Uveth rose & Ona rose

  Terrific with their iron vessels driving them across

  In the dim air they took the book of iron & placd above

  On clouds of death & sang their songs kneading the bread of Orc

  Orc listend to the song compelld hungring on the cold wind

  30 That swaggd heavy with the accursed dough. the hoar frost ragd

  Thro Onas sieve the torrent rain pourd from the iron pail

  Of Eleth & the icy hands of Uveth kneaded the bread

  The heavens bow with terror underneath their iron hands

  Singing at their dire work the words of Urizens book of iron

  While the enormous scrolls rolld dreadful in the heavens above

  And still the burden of their song in tears was poured forth

  The bread is Kneaded let us rest O cruel father of children

  But Urizen remitted not their labours upon his rock

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  And Urizen Read in his book of brass in sounding tones

  Listen O Daughters to my voice Listen to the Words of Wisdom

  So shall [you] govern over all let Moral Duty tune your tongue

  But be your hearts harder than the nether millstone

  To bring the shadow of Enitharmon beneath our wondrous tree

  That Los may Evaporate like smoke & be no more

  Draw down Enitharmon to the Spectre of Urthona

  And let him have dominion over Los the terrible shade

  Compell the poor to live upon a Crust of bread by soft mild arts

  10 Smile when they frown frown when they smile & when a man looks pale

  With labour & abstinence say he looks healthy & happy

  And when his children sicken let them die there are enough

  Born even too many & our Earth will be overrun

  Without these arts If you would make the poor live with temper

  With pomp give every crust of bread you give with gracious cunning

  Magnify small gifts reduce the man to want a gift & then give with pomp

  Say he smiles if you hear him sigh If pale say he is ruddy

  Preach temperance say he is overgorgd & drowns his wit

  In strong drink tho you know that bread & water are all

  20 He can afford Flatter his wife pity his children till we can

  Reduce all to our will as spaniels are taught with art

  Lo how the heart & brain are formed in the breeding womb

  Of Enitharmon how it buds with life & forms the bones

  The little heart the liver & the red blood in its labyrinths

  By gratified desire by strong devouring appetite she fills

  Los with ambitious fury that his race shall all devour

  Then Orc [answerd] cried Curse thy Cold hypocrisy. already round thy Tree

  In scale
s that shine with gold & rubies thou beginnest to weaken

  My divided Spirit Like a worm I rise in peace unbound

  30 From wrath Now When I rage my fetters bind me more

  O torment O torment A Worm compelld. Am I a worm

  Is it in strong deceit that man is born. In strong deceit

  Thou dost refrain my fury that the worm may fold the tree

  Avaunt Cold hypocrite I am chaind or thou couldst not use me thus

  The Man shall rage bound with this Chain the worm in silence creep

  Thou wilt not cease from rage Grey Demon silence all thy storms

  Give me example of thy mildness King of furious hail storms

  Art thou the cold attractive power that holds me in this chain

  I well remember how I stole thy light & it became fire

  40 Consuming. Thou Knowst me now O Urizen Prince of Light

  And I know thee is this the triumph this the Godlike State

  That lies beyond the bounds of Science in the Grey obscure

  Terrified Urizen heard Orc now certain that he was Luvah

  And Orc [So saying] he began to Organize a Serpent body

  Despising Urizens light & turning it into flaming fire

  Recieving as a poisond Cup Recieves the heavenly wine

  And turning [wisdom] affection into fury & thought into abstraction

  A Self consuming dark devourer rising into the heavens

  Urizen envious brooding sat & saw the secret terror

  50 Flame high in pride & laugh to scorn the source of his deceit

  Nor knew the source of his own but thought himself the Sole author

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  Of all his wandering Experiments in the horrible Abyss

  He knew that weakness stretches out in breadth & length he knew

  That wisdom reaches high & deep & therefore he made Orc

  In Serpent form compelld stretch out & up the mysterious tree

  He sufferd him to Climb that he might draw all human forms

  Into submission to his will nor knew the dread result

  Los sat in showers of Urizen [cold] watching cold Enitharmon

  His broodings rush down to his feet producing Eggs that hatching

  Burst forth upon the winds above the tree of Mystery

  10 Enitharmon lay on his knees. Urizen tracd his Verses

  In the dark deep the dark tree grew. her shadow was drawn down

  Down to the roots it wept over Orc. the Shadow of Enitharmon

  Los saw her stretchd the image of death upon his witherd valleys

  Her Shadow went forth & returnd Now she was pale as snow

  When the mountains & hills are coverd over & the paths of Men shut up