The Complete Poems

by William Blake

  Bathing their Limbs in the bright visions of Eternity

  [without] Beyond this Universal Confusion beyond the remotest Pole

  Where their vortexes begin to operate there stands

  A Horrible rock far in the South it was forsaken when

  Urizen gave the horses of Light into the hands of Luvah

  On this rock lay the faded head of the Eternal Man

  Enwrapped round with weeds of death pale cold in sorrow & woe

  30 He lifts the blue lamps of his Eyes & cries with heavenly voice

  Bowing his head over the consuming Universe he cried

  O weakness & O weariness O war within my members

  My sons exiled from my breast pass to & fro before me

  My birds are silent on my hills flocks die beneath my branches

  My tents are fallen my trumpets & the sweet sounds of my harp

  Is silent on my clouded hills that belch forth storms & fires

  My milk of cows & honey of bees & fruit of golden harvest

  Are gatherd in the scorching heat & in the driving rain

  My robe is turned to confusion & my bright gold to stones

  40 Where once I sat I weary walk in misery & pain

  For from within my [narrow] witherd breast grown narrow with my woes

  The Corn is turnd to thistles & the apples into poison

  The birds of song to murderous crows My joys to bitter groans

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  The voices of children in my tents to cries of helpless infants

  And all exiled from the face of light & shine of morning

  In this dark world a narrow house I wander up & down

  I hear Mystery howling in these flames of Consummation

  When shall the Man of future times become as in days of old

  O weary life why sit I here & give up all my powers

  To indolence to the night of death when indolence & mourning

  Sit hovring over my dark threshold, tho I arise look out

  And scorn the war within my members yet my heart is weak

  10 And my head faint Yet will I look again unto the morning

  Whence is this sound of rage of Men drinking each others blood

  Drunk with the smoking gore & red but not with nourishing wine

  The Eternal Man sat on the Rocks & cried with awful voice

  O Prince of Light where art thou I behold thee not as once

  In those Eternal fields in clouds of morning stepping forth

  With harps & songs where bright Ahania sang before thy face

  And all thy sons & daughters gatherd round my ample table

  See you not all this wracking furious confusion

  Come forth from slumbers of thy cold abstraction come forth

  20 Arise to Eternal births shake off thy cold repose

  Schoolmaster of souls great opposer of change arise

  That the Eternal worlds may see thy face in peace & joy

  That thou dread form of Certainty maist sit in town & village

  While little children play around thy feet in gentle awe

  Fearing thy frown loving thy smile O Urizen Prince of light

  He calld the deep buried his voice & answer none returnd

  Then wrath burst round the Eternal Man was wrath again he cried

  Arise O stony form of death O dragon of the Deeps

  Lie down before my feet O Dragon let Urizen arise

  30 O how couldst thou deform those beautiful proportions

  Of life & person for as the Person so is his life proportiond

  Let Luvah rage in the dark deep even to Consummation

  For if thou feedest not his rage it will subside in peace

  But if thou darest obstinate refuse my stern behest

  Thy crown & scepter I will sieze & regulate all my members

  In stern severity & cast thee out into the indefinite

  Where nothing lives, there to wander. & if thou returnst weary

  Weeping at the threshold of Existence I will steel my heart

  Against thee to Eternity & never recieve thee more

  40 Thy self destroying beast formd Science shall be thy eternal lot

  My anger against thee is greater than against this Luvah

  For war is [honest] energy Enslavd but thy religion

  The first author of this war & the distracting of honest minds

  Into confused perturbation & strife & honour & pride

  Is a deceit so detestable that I will cast thee out

  If thou repentest not & leave thee as a rotten branch to be burnd

  With Mystery the Harlot & with Satan for Ever & Ever

  Error can never be redeemd in all Eternity

  But Sin Even Rahab is redeemd in blood & fury & jealousy

  50 That line of blood that stretchd across the windows of the morning

  Redeemd from Errors power. Wake thou dragon of the Deeps

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  Urizen wept in the dark deep anxious his Scaly form

  To reassume the human & he wept in the dark deep

  Saying O that I had never drank the wine nor eat the bread

  Of dark mortality nor cast my view into the [past] futurity nor turnd

  My back darkning the present clouding with a cloud

  And building arches high & cities turrets & [high] towers & domes

  Whose smoke destroyd the pleasant garden & whose running Kennels

  Chokd the bright rivers burdning with my Ships the angry deep

  Thro Chaos seeking for delight & in spaces remote

  10 Seeking the Eternal which is always present to the wise

  Seeking for pleasure which unsought falls round the infants path

  And on the fleeces of mild flocks who neither care nor labour

  But I the labourer of ages whose unwearied hands

  Are thus deformd with hardness with the [?plow] sword & with the spear

  And with the Chisel & the mallet I whose labours vast

  Order the nations separating family by family

  Alone enjoy not I alone in misery supreme

  Ungratified give all my joy unto this Luvah & Vala

  Then Go O dark [remembrance] futurity I will cast thee forth from these

  20 Heavens of my brain nor will I look upon [remembrance] futurity more

  I cast [remembrance] futurity away & turn my back upon that void

  Which I have made for lo futurity is in this moment

  Let Orc consume let Tharmas rage let dark Urthona give

  All strength to Los & Enitharmon & let Los self cursd

  Rend down this fabric as a wall ruind & family extinct

  Rage Orc Rage Tharmas Urizen no longer curbs your rage

  So Urizen spoke he shook his snows from off his Shoulders & arose

  As on a Pyramid of mist his white robes scattering

  The fleecy white renewd he shook his aged mantles off

  30 Into the fires Then glorious bright Exulting in his joy

  He sounding rose into the heavens in naked majesty

  In radiant Youth. when Lo like garlands in the Eastern sky

  When vocal may comes dancing from the East Ahania came

  Exulting in her flight as when a bubble rises up

  On to the surface of a lake. Ahania rose in joy

  Excess of Joy is worse than grief – her heart beat high her blood

  Burst its bright Vessels She fell down dead at the feet of Urizen

  Outstretchd a Smiling corse they buried her in a silent cave

  Urizen dropt a tear the Eternal Man Darkend with sorrow

  40 The three daughters of Urizen guard Ahanias Death couch

  Rising from the confusion in tears & howlings & despair

  Calling upon their fathers Name upon their Rivers dark

  And the Eternal Man Said Hear my [voice] words O Prince of Light

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  Behold Jerusalem in whose bosom the Lamb of God

  Is seen tho slain before
her Gates he self renewd remains

  Eternal & I thro him awake from deaths dark vale

  The times revolve the time is coming when all these delights

  Shall be renewd & all these Elements that now consume

  Shall reflourish. Then bright Ahania shall awake from death

  A glorious Vision [of] to thine Eyes a Self renewing Vision

  The spring. the summer to be thine then sleep the wintry days

  In silken garments spun by her own hands against her funeral

  10 The winter thou shalt plow & lay thy stores into thy barns

  Expecting to recieve Ahania in the spring with joy

  Immortal thou. Regenerate She & all the lovely Sex

  From her shall learn obedience & prepare for a wintry grave

  That spring may see them rise in tenfold joy & sweet delight

  Thus shall the male & female live the life of Eternity

  Because the Lamb of God Creates himself a bride & wife

  That we his Children evermore may live in Jerusalem

  Which now descendeth out of heaven a City yet a Woman

  Mother of myriads redeemd & born in her spiritual palaces

  20 By a New Spiritual birth Regenerated from Death

  Urizen said. I have Erred & my Error remains with me

  What Chain encompasses in what Lock is the river of light confind

  That issues forth in the morning by measure & the evening by carefulness

  Where shall we take our stand to view the infinite & unbounded

  Or where are human feet for Lo our eyes are in the heavens

  He ceasd for rivn link from link the bursting Universe explodes

  All things reversd flew from their centers rattling bones [to bones]

  To bones Join, shaking convulsd the shivering clay breathes

  Each speck of dust to the Earths center nestles round & round

  30 In pangs of an Eternal Birth in torment & awe & fear

  All spirits deceasd let loose from reptile prisons come in shoals

  Wild furies from the tygers brain & from the lions Eyes

  And from the ox & ass come moping terrors. from the Eagle

  And raven numerous as the leaves of autumn every species

  Flock to the trumpet muttring over the sides of the grave & crying

  In the fierce wind round heaving rocks & mountains filld with groans

  On rifted rocks suspended in the air by inward fires

  Many a woful company & many on clouds & waters

  Fathers & friends Mothers & Infants Kings & Warriors

  40 Priests & chaind Captives met together in a horrible fear

  And every one of the dead appears as he had livd before

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  And all the marks remain of the slaves scourge & tyrants Crown

  And of the Priests oergorged Abdomen & of the merchants thin

  Sinewy deception & of the warriors ou[t]braving & thoughtlessness

  In lineaments too extended & in bones too strait & long

  They shew their wounds they accuse they sieze the opressor howlings began

  On the golden palace Songs & joy on the desart the Cold babe

  Stands in the furious air he cries the children of six thousand years

  Who died in infancy rage furious a mighty multitude rage furious

  Naked & pale standing on the expecting air to be deliverd

  10 Rend limb from limb the Warrior & the tyrant reuniting in pain

  The furious wind still rends around they flee in sluggish effort

  They beg they intreat in vain now they Listend not to intreaty

  They view the flames red rolling on thro the wide universe

  From the [black] dark jaws of death beneath & desolate shores remote

  These covering Vaults of heaven & these trembling globes of Earth

  One Planet [cries] calls to another & one star enquires of another

  What flames are these coming from the South what noise what dreadful rout

  As of a battle in the heavens hark heard you not the ’trumpet

  As of fierce battle While they spoke the flames come on intense roaring

  20 They see him whom they have piercd they wail because of him

  They magnify themselves no more against Jerusalem Nor

  Against her little ones the innocent accused before the Judges

  Shines with immortal Glory trembling the Judge springs from his throne

  Hiding his face in the dust beneath the prisoners feet & saying

  Brother of Jesus what have I done intreat thy lord for me

  Perhaps I may be forgiven While he speaks the flames roll on

  And after the flames appears the Cloud of the Son of Man

  Descending from Jerusalem with power and great Glory

  All nations look up to the Cloud & behold him who was Crucified

  30 The Prisoner answers you scourgd my father to death before my face

  While I stood bound with cords & heavy chains. your hipocrisy

  Shall now avail you nought. So speaking he dashd him with his foot

  The Cloud is Blood dazling upon the heavens & in the cloud

  Above upon its volumes is beheld [as] a throne & [as] a pavement

  Of precious stones, surrounded by twenty four venerable patriarchs

  And these again surrounded [of] by four Wonders of the Almighty

  Incomprehensible. pervading all amidst & round about

  Fourfold each in the other reflected they are named Life’s in Eternity

  Four Starry Universes going forward from Eternity to Eternity

  40 And the Falln Man who was arisen upon the Rock of Ages

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  Beheld the Vision of God & he arose up from the Rock

  And Urizen arose up with him walking thro the flames

  To meet the Lord coming to Judgment but the flames repelld them

  Still to the Rock in vain they strove to Enter the Consummation

  Together for the [Fallen] Redeemd Man could not enter the Consummation

  Then siezd the Sons of Urizen the Plow they polishd it

  From rust of ages all its ornaments of Gold & silver & ivory

  Reshone across the field immense where all the nations

  Darkend like Mould in the divided fallows where the weed

  10 Triumphs in its own destruction they took down the harness

  From the blue walls of heaven starry jingling ornamented

  With beautiful art the study of angels the workmanship of Demons

  When Heaven & Hell in Emulation strove in sports of Glory

  The noise of rural work resounded thro the heavens of heavens

  The horse[s] neigh from the battle the wild bulls from the sultry waste

  The tygers from the forests & the lions [of] from the sandy desarts

  They Sing they sieze the instruments of harmony they throw away

  The spear the bow the gun the mortar they level the fortifications

  They beat the iron engines of destruction into wedges

  20 They give them to Urthonas Sons ringing the hammers sound

  In dens of death to forge the spade the mattock & the ax

  The heavy roller to break the clods to pass over the nations

  The Sons of Urizen Shout Their father rose The Eternal horses

  Harnessd They calld to Urizen the heavens moved at their call

  The limbs of Urizen shone with ardor. [he rose up from the Rock.

  The Fallen Man wondring beheld] He laid his ha[n]d on the Plow

  Thro dismal darkness drave the Plow of ages over Cities

  And all their Villages over Mountains & all their Vallies

  Over the graves & caverns of the dead Over the Planets

  And over the void Spaces over Sun & moon & star & constellation

  30 Then Urizen commanded & they brought the Seed of Men

  The trembling souls of All the Dead stood before Urizen

  Weak wailing
in the troubled air East west & north & south

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  He turnd the horses loose & laid his Plow in the northern corner

  Of the wide Universal field, then Stepd [out] forth into the immense

  Then he began to sow the seed he girded round his loins

  With a bright girdle & his skirt filld with immortal souls

  Howling & Wailing fly the souls from Urizens strong hand

  For from the hand of Urizen the myriads fall like stars

  Into their own appointed places driven back by the winds

  The naked warriors rush together down to the sea shores

  They are become like wintry flocks like forests stripd of leaves

  10 The Kings & Princes of the Earth cry with a feeble cry

  Driven on the unproducing sands & on the hardend rocks

  And all the while the flames of Orc follow the ventrous feet

  Of Urizen & all the while the Trump of Tharmas sounds

  Weeping & wailing fly the souls from Urizens strong hand

  The daughters of Urizen stand with Cups & measures of foaming wine

  Immense upon the heavens with bread & delicate repasts

  Then follows the golden harrow in the midst of Mental fires

  To ravishing melody of flutes & harps & softest voice

  The seed is harrowd in while flames heat the black mould & cause

  20 The human harvest to begin Towards the south first sprang

  The myriads & in silent fear they look out from their graves

  Then Urizen sits down to rest & all his wearied Sons

  Take their repose on beds they drink they sing they view the flames

  Of Orc in joy they view the human harvest springing up

  A time they give to sweet repose till all the harvest is ripe

  And Lo like the harvest Moon Ahania cast off her death clothes

  She folded them up in care in silence & her brightning limbs

  Bathd in the clear spring of the rock then from her darksom cave

  Issud in majesty divine Urizen rose up from his couch

  30 On wings of tenfold joy clapping his hands his feet his radiant wings

  In the immense as when the Sun dances upon the mountains

  A shout of jubilee in lovely notes responding from daughter to daughter

  From son to Son as if the Stars beaming innumerable

  Thro night should sing soft warbling filling Earth & heaven

  And bright Ahania took her seat by Urizen in songs & joy

  The Eternal Man also sat down upon the Couches of Beulah

  Sorrowful that he could not put off his new risen body

  In mental flames the flames refusd they drove him back to Beulah