The Complete Poems

by William Blake

His scales transparent give forth light like windows of the morning

  His neck flames with wrath & majesty he lashes the Abyss

  Beating the Desarts & the rocks the desarts feel his power

  They shake their slumbers off. They wave in awful fear

  Calling the Lion & the Tyger the horse & the wild Stag

  PAGE 107

  The Elephant the wolf the Bear the Lamia the Satyr

  His Eyelids give their light around his folding tail aspires

  Among the stars the Earth & all the Abysses feel h[i]s fury

  When as the snow covers the mountains oft petrific hardness

  Covers the deeps at his vast fury mo[a]ning in his rock

  Hardens the Lion & the Bear trembling in the Solid mountain

  They view the light & wonder crying out in terrible existence

  Up bound the wild stag & the horse behold the King of Pride

  Oft doth his Eye emerge from the Abyss into the realms

  10 Of his Eternal day & memory strives to augment his ruthfulness

  Then weeping he descends in wrath drawing all things in his fury

  Into obedience to his will & now he finds in vain

  That not of his own power he bore the human form erect

  Nor of his own will gave his Laws in times of Everlasting

  For now fierce Orc in wrath & fury rises into the heavens

  A King of wrath & fury a dark enraged horror

  And Urizen repentant forgets his wisdom in the abyss

  In forms of priesthood in the dark delusions of repentance

  Repining in his heart & spirit that Orc reignd over all

  20 And that his wisdom servd but to augment the indefinite lust

  Then Tharmas & Urthona felt the stony stupor rise

  Into their limbs Urthona shot forth a Vast Fibrous form

  Tharmas like a pillar of sand rolld round by the whirlwind

  An animated Pillar rolling round & round in incessant rage

  Los felt the stony stupor & his head rolld down beneath

  Into the Abysses of his bosom the vessels of his blood

  Dart forth upon the wind in pipes writhing about in the Abyss

  And Enitharmon pale & cold in milky juices flowd

  Into a form of Vegetation living having a voice

  30 Moving in rootlike fibres trembling in fear upon the Earth

  And Tharmas gave his Power to Los Urthona gave his strength

  Into the youthful prophet for the Love of Enitharmon

  And of the nameless Shadowy female in the nether deep

  And for the dread of the dark terrors of Orc & Urizen

  Thus in a living Death the nameless shadow all things bound

  All mortal things made permanent that they may be put off

  Time after time by the Divine Lamb who died for all

  And all in him died. & he put off all mortality

  PAGE 108

  Tharmas [above] on high rode furious thro the afflicted worlds

  Pursuing the Vain Shadow of Hope fleeing from identity

  In abstract false Expanses that he may not hear the Voice

  Of Ahania wailing on the winds in vain he flies for still

  The voice incessant calls on all the children of Men

  For she spoke of all in heaven & all upon the Earth

  Saw not as yet the Divine vision her Eyes are Toward Urizen

  And thus Ahania cries aloud to the Caverns of the Grave

  Will you keep a flock of wolves & lead them will you take the wintry blast

  10 For a covering to your limbs or the summer pestilence for a tent to abide in

  Will you erect a lasting habitation in the mouldering Church yard

  Or a pillar & palace of Eternity in the jaws of the hungry grave

  Will you seek pleasure from the festering wound or marry for a Wife

  The ancient Leprosy that the King & Priest may still feast on your decay

  And the grave mock & laugh at the plowd field saying

  I am the nourisher thou the destroyer in my bosom is milk & wine

  And a fountain from my breasts to me come all multitudes

  To my breath they obey they worship me I am a goddess & queen

  But listen to Ahania O ye sons of the Murderd one

  20 Listen to her whose memory beholds your ancient days

  Listen to her whose eyes behold the dark body of corruptible death

  Looking for Urizen in vain. in vain I seek for morning

  The Eternal Man sleeps in the Earth nor feels the vigrous sun

  Nor silent moon nor all the hosts of heaven move in his body

  His fiery halls are dark & round his limbs the Serpent Orc

  Fold without fold encompasses him And his corrupting members

  Vomit out the Scaly monsters of the restless deep

  They come up in the rivers & annoy the nether parts

  Of Man who lays upon the shores leaning his faded head

  30 Upon the Oozy rock inwrapped with the weeds of death

  His eyes sink hollow in his head his flesh coverd with slime

  And shrunk up to the bones alas that Man should come to this

  His strong bones beat with snows & hid within the caves of night

  Marrowless bloodless falling into dust driven by the winds

  O how the horrors of Eternal Death take hold on Man

  His faint groans shake the caves & issue thro the desolate rocks

  PAGE 109

  And the Strong Eagle now with num[m]ing cold blighted of feathers

  Once like the pride of the sun now flagging in cold night

  Hovers with blasted wings aloft watching with Eager Eye

  Till Man shall leave a corruptible body he famishd hears him groan

  And now he fixes his strong talons in the pointed rock

  And now he beats the heavy air with his enormous wings

  Beside him lies the Lion dead & in his belly worms

  Feast on his death till universal death devours all

  And the pale horse seeks for the pool to lie him down & die

  10 But finds the pools filled with serpents devouring one another

  He droops his head & trembling stands & his bright eyes decay

  These are the Visions of My Eyes the Visions of Ahania

  Thus cries ahania Enion replies from the Caverns of the Grave

  Fear not O poor forsaken one O land of briars & thorns

  Where once the Olive flourishd & the Cedar spread his wings

  Once I waild desolate like thee my fallow fields in fear

  Cried to the Churchyards & the Earthworm came in dismal state

  I found him in my bosom & I said the time of Love

  Appears upon the rocks & hills in silent shades but soon

  20 A voice came in the night a midnight cry upon the mountains

  Awake the bridegroom cometh I awoke to sleep no more

  But an Eternal Consummation is dark Enion

  The watry Grave. O thou Corn field O thou Vegetater happy

  More happy is the dark consumer hope drowns all my torment

  For I am now surrounded by a shadowy vortex drawing

  The Spectre quite away from Enion that I die a death

  Of better hope altho I consume in these raging waters

  The furrowd field replies to the grave I hear her reply to me

  Behold the time approaches fast that thou shalt be as a thing

  30 Forgotten when one speaks of thee he will not be believd

  When the man gently fades away in his immortality

  When the mortal disappears in improved knowledge cast away

  The former things so shall the Mortal gently fade away

  And so become invisible to those who still remain

  Listen I will tell thee what is done in the caverns of the grave

  PAGE 110 (FIRST PORTION)

  The Lamb of God has rent the Veil of Mystery soon to return

  In Clouds & Fir
es around the rock & the Mysterious tree

  As the seed waits Eagerly watching for its flower & fruit

  Anxious its little soul looks out into the clear expanse

  To see if hungry winds are abroad with their invisible army

  So Man looks out in tree & herb & fish & bird & beast

  Collecting up the scatterd portions of his immortal body

  Into the Elemental forms of every thing that grows

  He tries the sullen north wind riding on its angry furrows

  10 The sultry south when the sun rises & the angry east

  When the sun sets when the clods harden & the cattle stand

  Drooping & the birds hide in their silent nests. he stores his thoughts

  As in a store house in his memory he regulates the forms

  Of all beneath & all above & in the gentle West

  Reposes where the Suns heat dwells he rises to the Sun

  And to the Planets of the Night & to the stars that gild

  The Zodiac & the stars that sullen stand to north & south

  He touches the remotest pole & in the Center weeps

  That Man should Labour & sorrow & learn & forget & return

  20 To the dark valley whence he came to begin his labours anew

  In pain he sighs in pain he labours in his universe

  Screaming in birds over the deep & howling in the Wolf

  Over the slain & moaning in the cattle & in the winds

  And weeping over Orc & Urizen in clouds & [dismal] flaming fires

  And in the cries of birth & in the groans of death his voice

  Is heard throughout the Universe whereever a grass grows

  Or a leaf buds The Eternal Man is seen is heard is felt

  And all his Sorrows till he reassumes his ancient bliss

  Such are the words of Ahania & Enion. Los hears & weeps

  [The End of the Eighth Night]

  30 [But Rahab (built) hewd a Sepulcher in the Rock of Eternity

  And placing in the Sepulcher the body which she had taken

  From the divine Lamb wept over the Sepulcher weaving

  Her web of Religion around the Sepulcher times after times beside Jerusalems Gate

  But as she wove behold the bottom of the Sepulcher

  Rent & a door was opend thro the bottom of the Sepulcher

  Into Eternity And as she wove she heard a Voice behind her calling her

  She turnd & saw the Divine Vision & her]

  And Los & Enitharmon took the Body of the Lamb

  Down from the Cross & placd it in a Sepulcher which Los had hewn

  40 For himself in the Rock of Eternity trembling & in despair

  Jerusalem wept over the Sepulcher two thousand Years

  [End of the Eighth Night]

  PAGE 111

  Rahab triumphs over all she took Jerusalem

  Captive A Willing Captive by delusive arts impelld

  To worship Urizens Dragon form to offer her own Children

  Upon the bloody Altar. John Saw these things Reveald in Heaven

  On Patmos Isle & heard the Souls cry out to be deliverd

  He saw the Harlot of the Kings of Earth & saw her Cup

  Of fornication food of Orc & Satan pressd from the fruit of Mystery

  But when she saw the form of Ahania weeping on the Void

  And heard Enions voice sound from the caverns of the Grave

  10 No more spirit remaind in her She secretly left the Synagogue of Satan

  She commund with Orc in secret She hid him with the flax

  That Enitharmon had numberd away from the Heavens

  She gatherd it together to consume her Harlot Robes

  In bitterest Contrition sometimes Self condemning repentant

  And Sometimes kissing her Robes & Jewels & weeping over them

  Sometimes returning to the Synagogue of Satan in Pride

  And Sometimes weeping before Orc in humility & trembling

  The Synagogue of Satan therefore uniting against Mystery

  Satan divided against Satan resolvd in open Sanhedrim

  20 To burn Mystery with fire & form another from her ashes

  For God put it into their heart to fulfill all his will

  The Ashes of Mystery began to animate they calld it Deism

  And Natural Religion as of old so now anew began

  Babylon again in Infancy Calld Natural Religion

  PAGE 117

  VALA

  NIGHT THE NINTH

  BEING THE LAST JUDGMENT

  And Los & Enitharmon builded Jerusalem weeping

  Over the Sepulcher & over the Crucified body

  Which to their Phantom Eyes appear’d Still in the Sepulcher

  But Jesus stood beside them in the Spirit Separating

  Their Spirit from their body. Terrified at Non Existence

  For such they deemd the death of the body. Los his vegetable hands

  Outstretchd his right hand branching out in fibrous strength

  Siezd the Sun. His left hand like dark roots coverd the Moon

  And tore them down cracking the heavens across from immense to immense

  10 Then fell the fires of Eternity with loud & shrill

  Sound of Loud Trumpet thundering along from heaven to heaven

  A mighty sound articulate Awake ye dead & come

  To Judgment from the four winds Awake & Come away

  Folding like scrolls of the Enormous volume of Heaven & Earth

  With thunderous noise & dreadful shakings rocking to & fro

  The heavens are shaken & the Earth removed from its place

  The foundations of the Eternal hills discoverd

  The thrones of Kings are shaken they have lost their robes & crowns

  The poor smite their opressors they awake up to the harvest

  20 The naked warriors rush together down to the sea shore

  Trembling before the multitudes of slaves now set at liberty

  They are become like wintry flocks like forests stripd of leaves

  The opressed pursue like the wind there is no room for escape

  The Spectre of Enitharmon let loose on the troubled deep

  Waild shrill in the confusion & the Spectre of Urthona

  PAGE 118

  Recievd her in the darkning South their bodies lost they stood

  Trembling & weak a faint embrace a fierce desire as when

  Two shadows mingle on a wall they wail & shadowy tears

  Fell down & shadowy forms of joy mixd with despair & grief

  Their bodies buried in the ruins of the Universe

  Mingled with the confusion. Who shall call them from the Grave

  Rahab & Tirzah wail aloud in the wild flames they give up themselves to Consummation

  The books of Urizen unroll with dreadful noise the folding Serpent

  Of Orc began to Consume in fierce raving fire his fierce flames

  10 Issud on all sides gathring strength in animating volumes

  Roaming abroad on all the winds raging intense reddening

  Into resistless pillars of fire rolling round & round gathering

  Strength from the Earths consumd & heavens & all hidden abysses

  Wherever the Eagle has Explord or Lion or Tyger trod

  Or where the Comets of the night or stars of [eternal] asterial day

  Have shot their arrows or long beamed spears in wrath & fury

  And all the while the trumpet sounds [Awake ye dead & come

  To fudgment.] from the clotted gore & from the hollow den

  Start forth the trembling millions into flames of mental fire

  Bathing their limbs in the bright visions of Eternity

  20 Then like the doves from pillars of Smoke the trembling families

  Of women & children throughout every nation under heaven

  Cling round the men in bands of twenties & of fifties pale

  As snow that falls around a leafless tree upon the green

  Their opressors are f
alln they have Stricken them they awake to life

  Yet pale the just man stands erect & looking up to heavn

  Trembling & strucken by the Universal stroke the trees unroot

  The rocks groan horrible & run about. The mountains & Their rivers cry with a dismal cry the cattle gather together

  Lowing they kneel before the heavens. the wild beasts of the forests

  30 Tremble the Lion shuddering asks the Leopard. Feelest thou

  The dread I feel unknown before My voice refuses to roar

  And in weak moans I speak to thee This night

  Before the mornings dawn the Eagle calld the Vulture

  The Raven calld the hawk I heard them from my forests black

  Saying Let us go up far for soon I smell upon the wind

  A terror coming from the South. The Eagle & Hawk fled away

  At dawn & Eer the sun arose the raven & Vulture followd

  Let us flee also to the north. They fled. The Sons of Men

  Saw them depart in dismal droves. The trumpet sounded loud

  40 And all the Sons of Eternity Descended into Beulah

  PAGE 119

  [Vala

  Night the Ninth

  Being The Last fudgment]

  In the fierce flames the limbs of Mystery lay consuming with howling

  And deep despair. Rattling go up the flames around the Synagogue

  Of Satan Loud the Serpent Orc ragd thro his twenty Seven

  Folds. The tree of Mystery went up in folding flames

  Blood issud out in mighty volumes pouring in whirlpools fierce

  From out the flood gates of the Sky The Gates are burst down pour

  The torrents black upon the Earth the blood pours down incessant

  Kings in their palaces lie drownd Shepherds their flocks their tents

  Roll down the mountains in black torrents Cities Villages

  10 High spires & Castles drownd in the black deluge Shoal on Shoal

  Float the dead carcases of Men & Beasts driven to & fro on waves

  Of foaming blood beneath the black incessant Sky till all

  Mysterys tyrants are cut off & not one left on Earth

  And when all Tyranny was cut off from the face of Earth

  Around the Dragon form of Urizen & round his stony form

  The flames rolling intense thro the wide Universe

  [Began to draw near to the Earth] Began to Enter the Holy City Entring the dismal clouds

  In furrowd lightnings break their way the wild flames?whirling up

  The Bloody Deluge living flames winged with intellect

  20 And Reason round the Earth they march in order flame by flame

  From the clotted gore & from the hollow den

  Start forth the trembling millions into flames of mental fire