The Complete Poems

by William Blake

  70 And with tears cold on their cheeks they weary repose.

  O when shall the morning of the grave appear, and when

  Shall our salvation come? we sleep upon our watch

  We cannot awake! and our Spectres rage in the forests

  O God of Albion where art thou! pity the watchers!

  Thus mourn they. Loud the Furnaces of Los thunder upon

  The clouds of Europe & Asia, among the Serpent Temples!

  And Los drew his Seven Furnaces around Albions Altars

  And as Albion built his frozen Altars, Los built the Mundane Shell,

  In the Four Regions of Humanity East & West & North & South,

  80 Till Norwood & Finchley & Blackheath & Hounslow, coverd the whole Earth.

  This is the Net & Veil of Vala, among the Souls of the Dead.

  PLATE 43 [29]

  Then the Divine Vision like a silent Sun appeard above

  Albions dark rocks: setting behind the Gardens of Kensington

  On Tyburns River, in clouds of blood: where was mild Zion Hills

  Most ancient promontory, and in the Sun, a Human Form appeard

  And thus the Voice Divine went forth upon the rocks of Albion

  I elected Albion for my glory; I gave to him the Nations,

  Of the whole Earth. He was the Angel of my Presence: and all

  The Sons of God were Albions Sons: and Jerusalem was my joy.

  The Reactor hath hid himself thro envy. I behold him.

  10 But you cannot behold him till he be reveald in his System

  Albions Reactor must have a Place prepard: Albion must Sleep

  The Sleep of Death, till the Man of Sin & Repentance be reveald.

  Hidden in Albions Forests he lurks: he admits of no Reply

  From Albion: but hath founded his Reaction into a Law

  Of Action, for Obedience to destroy the Contraries of Man[.]

  He hath compelld Albion to become a Punisher & hath possessd

  Himself of Albions Forests & Wilds: and Jerusalem is taken!

  The City of the Woods in the Forest of Ephratah is taken!

  London is a stone of her ruins; Oxford is the dust of her walls!

  20 Sussex & Kent are her scatterd garments: Ireland her holy place:

  And the murderd bodies of her little ones are Scotland and Wales[.]

  The Cities of the Nations are the smoke of her consummation

  The Nations are her dust: ground by the chariot wheels

  Of her lordly conquerors, her palaces levelld with the dust.

  I come that I may find a way for my banished ones to return

  Fear not O little Flock I come: Albion shall rise again.

  So saying, the mild Sun inclosd the Human Family.

  Forthwith from Albions darkning [r]ocks came two Immortal forms

  Saying We alone are escaped. O merciful Lord and Saviour,

  30 We flee from the interiors of Albions hills and mountains!

  From his Valleys Eastward: from Amalek Canaan & Moab:

  Beneath his vast ranges of hills surrounding Jerusalem.

  Albion walkd on the steps of fire before his Halls

  And Vala walkd with him in dreams of soft deluding slumber.

  He looked up & saw the Prince of Light with splendor faded

  Then Albion ascended mourning into the porches of his Palace

  Above him rose a Shadow from his wearied intellect:

  Of living gold, pure, perfect, holy: in white linen pure he hoverd

  A sweet entrancing self-delusion a watry vision of Albion

  40 Soft exulting in existence; all the Man absorbing!

  Albion fell upon his face prostrate before the watry Shadow

  Saying O Lord whence is this change: thou knowest I am nothing!

  And Vala trembled & coverd her face: & her locks were spread on the pavement

  We heard astonishd at the Vision & our hearts trembled within us:

  We heard the voice of slumberous Albion, and thus he spake,

  Idolatrous to his own Shadow words of eternity uttering:

  O I am nothing when I enter into judgment with thee!

  If thou withdraw thy breath I die & vanish into Hades

  If thou dost lay thine hand upon me behold I am silent:

  50 If thou withhold thine hand; I perish like a fallen leaf:

  O I am nothing: and to nothing must return again:

  If thou withdraw thy breath, Behold I am oblivion.

  He ceasd: the shadowy voice was silent: but the cloud hoverd over their heads

  In golden wreathes, the sorrow of Man; & the balmy drops fell down.

  And lo! that son of Man that Shadowy Spirit of mild Albion:

  Luvah descended from the cloud; in terror Albion rose:

  Indignant rose the awful Man, & turnd his back on Vala.

  We heard the voice of Albion starting from his sleep:

  Whence is this voice crying Enion! that soundeth in my ears?

  60 O cruel pity! O dark deceit! can love seek for dominion?

  And Luvah strove to gain dominion over Albion

  They strove together above the Body where Vala was inclosd

  And the dark Body of Albion left prostrate upon the crystal pavement,

  Coverd with boils from head to foot: the terrible smitings of Luvah.

  Then frownd the fallen Man and put forth Luvah from his presence

  Saying. Go and Die the Death of Man, for Vala the sweet wanderer.

  I will turn the volutions of your ears outward, and bend your nostrils

  Downward, and your fluxile eyes englob’d roll round in fear:

  Your withring lips and tongue shrink up into a narrow circle,

  70 Till into narrow forms you creep: go take your fiery way:

  And learn what tis to absorb the Man you Spirits of Pity & Love.

  They heard the voice and fled swift as the winters setting sun.

  And now the human blood foamd high, the Spirits Luvah & Vala

  Went down the Human Heart where Paradise & its joys abounded,

  In jealous fears & fury & rage, & flames roll round their fervid feet:

  And the vast form of Nature like a serpent playd before them

  And as they fled in folding fires & thunders of the deep:

  Vala shrunk in like the dark sea that leaves its slimy banks.

  And from her bosom Luvah fell far as the east and west.

  80 And the vast form of Nature like a serpent rolld between,

  Whether of Jerusalems or Valas ruins congenerated, we know not:

  All is confusion: all is tumult, & we alone are escaped.

  So spoke the fugitives; they joind the Divine Family, trembling

  PLATE 44 [30]

  And the Two that escaped; were the Emanation of Los & his

  Spectre: for whereever the Emanation goes, the Spectre

  Attends her as her Guard, & Los’s Emanation is named

  Enitharmon, & his Spectre is named Urthona: they knew

  Not where to flee: they had been on a visit to Albions Children

  And they strove to weave a Shadow of the Emanation

  To hide themselves: weeping & lamenting for the Vegetation

  Of Albions Children: fleeing thro Albions vales in streams of gore.

  Being not irritated by insult bearing insulting benevolences

  10 They percieved that corporeal friends are spiritual enemies

  They saw the Sexual Religion in its embryon Uncircumcision

  And the Divine hand was upon them bearing them thro darkness

  Back safe to their Humanity as doves to their windows:

  Therefore the Sons of Eden praise Urthonas Spectre in Songs

  Because he kept the Divine Vision in time of trouble.

  They wept & trembled: & Los put forth his hand & took them in

  Into his Bosom: from which Albion shrunk in dismal pain;

  Rending the fibres of Brotherhood & in Feminine Allegories

&nb
sp; 20 Inclosing Los: but the Divine Vision appeard with Los

  Following Albion into his Central Void among his Oaks.

  And Los prayed and said. O Divine Saviour arise

  Upon the Mountains of Albion as in ancient time. Behold!

  The Cities of Albion seek thy face, London groans in pain

  From Hill to Hill & the Thames laments along the Valleys

  The little Villages of Middlesex & Surrey hunger & thirst

  The Twenty-eight Cities of Albion stretch their hands to thee:

  Because of the Opressors of Albion in every City & Village:

  They mock at the Labourers limbs! they mock at his starvd Children!

  They buy his Daughters that they may have power to sell his Sons:

  30 They compell the Poor to live upon a crust of bread by soft mild arts:

  They reduce the Man to want: then give with pomp & ceremony.

  The praise of Jehovah is chaunted from lips of hunger & thirst:

  Humanity knows not of Sex: wherefore are Sexes in Beulah?

  In Beulah the Female lets down her beautiful Tabernacle;

  Which the Male enters magnificent between her Cherubim:

  And becomes One with her mingling condensing in Self-love

  The Rocky Law of Condemnation & double Generation, & Death.

  Albion hath enterd the Loins the place of the Last Judgment:

  And Luvah hath drawn the Curtains around Albion in Vala’s bosom

  40 The Dead awake to Generation! Arise O Lord, & rend the Veil!

  So Los in lamentations followd Albion. Albion coverd,

  PLATE 45 [31]

  His western heaven with rocky clouds of death & despair.

  Fearing that Albion should turn his back against the Divine Vision

  Los took his globe of fire to search the interiors of Albions

  Bosom, in all the terrors of friendship, entering the caves

  Of despair & death, to search the tempters out, walking among

  Albions rocks & precipices! caves of solitude & dark despair,

  And saw every Minute Particular of Albion degraded & murderd

  But saw not by whom; they were hidden within in the minute particulars

  Of which they had possessd themselves; and there they take up

  10 The articulations of a mans soul, and laughing throw it down

  Into the frame, then knock it out upon the plank, & souls are bak’d

  In bricks to build the pyramids of Heber & Terah. But Los

  Searchd in vain: closd from the minutia he walkd, difficult.

  He came down from Highgate thro Hackney & Holloway towards London

  Till he came to old Stratford & thence to Stepney & the Isle

  Of Leuthas Dogs, thence thro the narrows of the Rivers side

  And saw every minute particular, the jewels of Albion, running down

  The kennels of the streets & lanes as if they were abhorrd.

  Every Universal Form, was become barren mountains of Moral

  20 Virtue: and every Minute Particular hardend into grains of sand:

  And all the tendernesses of the soul cast forth as filth & mire,

  Among the winding places of deep contemplation intricate

  To where the Tower of London frownd dreadful over Jerusalem:

  A building of Luvah builded in Jerusalems eastern gate to be

  His secluded Court: thence to Bethlehem where was builded

  Dens of despair in the house of bread: enquiring in vain

  Of stones and rocks he took his way, for human form was none:

  And thus he spoke, looking on Albions City with many tears

  What shall I do! what could I do, if I could find these Criminals

  30 I could not dare to take vengeance; for all things are so constructed

  And builded by the Divine hand, that the sinner shall always escape,

  And he who takes vengeance alone is the criminal of Providence;

  If I should dare to lay my finger on a grain of sand

  In way of vengeance; I punish the already punishd: O whom

  Should I pity if I pity not the sinner who is gone astray!

  O Albion, if thou takest vengeance; if thou revengest thy wrongs

  Thou art for ever lost! What can I do to hinder the Sons

  Of Albion from taking vengeance? or how shall I them perswade.

  So spoke Los, travelling thro darkness & horrid solitude:

  40 And he beheld Jerusalem in Westminster & Marybone,

  Among the ruins of the Temple: and Vala who is her Shadow,

  Jerusalems Shadow bent northward over the Island white.

  At length he sat on London Stone, & heard Jerusalems voice.

  Albion I cannot be thy Wife, thine own Minute Particulars,

  Belong to God alone, and all thy little ones are holy

  They are of Faith & not of Demonstration: wherefore is Vala

  Clothd in black mourning upon my rivers currents, Vala awake!

  I hear thy shuttles sing in the sky, and round my limbs

  I feel the iron threads of love & jealousy & despair.

  50 Vala replyd. Albion is mine: Luvah gave me to Albion

  And now recieves reproach & hate. Was it not said of old

  Set your Son before a man & he shall take you & your sons

  For slaves: but set your Daughter before a man & She

  Shall make him & his sons & daughters your slaves for ever:

  And is this Faith? Behold the strife of Albion & Luvah

  Is great in the east, their spears of blood rage in the eastern heaven

  Urizen is the champion of Albion, they will slay my Luvah:

  And thou O harlot daughter! daughter of despair art all

  This cause of these shakings of my towers on Euphrates.

  60 Here is the House of Albion, & here is thy secluded place

  And here we have found thy sins: & hence we turn thee forth,

  For all to avoid thee: to be astonishd at thee for thy sins:

  Because thou art the impurity & the harlot: & thy children:

  Children of whoredoms: born for Sacrifice: for the meat & drink

  Offering: to sustain the glorious combat & the battle & war

  That Man may be purified by the death of thy delusions.

  So saying she her dark threads cast over the trembling River:

  And over the valleys; from the hills of Hertfordshire to the hills

  Of Surrey across Middlesex. & across Albions House

  70 Of Eternity! pale stood Albion at his eastern gate,

  PLATE 46 [32]

  Leaning against the pillars, & his disease rose from his skirts

  Upon the Precipice he stood: ready to fall into Non-Entity.

  Los was all astonishment & terror: he trembled sitting on the Stone

  Of London: but the interiors of Albions fibres & nerves were hidden

  From Los; astonishd he beheld only the petrified surfaces:

  And saw his Furnaces in ruins, for Los is the Demon of the Furnaces;

  He saw also the Four Points of Albion reversd inwards

  He siezd his Hammer & Tongs, his iron Poker & his Bellows,

  Upon the valleys of Middlesex, Shouting loud for aid Divine.

  10 In stern defiance came from Albions bosom Hand, Hyle, Koban,

  Gwantok, Peachy, Brertun, Slaid, Huttn, Skofeld, Kock, Kotope

  Bowen: Albions Sons: they bore him a golden couch into the porch

  And on the Couch reposd his limbs, trembling from the bloody field.

  Rearing their Druid Patriarchal rocky Temples around his limbs.

  (All things begin & end, in Albions Ancient Druid Rocky Shore.)

  PLATE 47

  [When Albion utterd his last words Hope is banishd from me]

  From Camberwell to Highgate where the mighty Thames shudders along,

  Where Los’s Furnaces stand, where Jerusalem & Vala howl:

  Luvah tore forth from Albions Loins, in
fibrous veins, in rivers

  Of blood over Europe: a Vegetating Root in grinding pain.

  Animating the Dragon Temples, soon to become that Holy Fiend

  The Wicker Man of Scandinavia in which cruelly consumed

  The Captives reard to heaven howl in flames among the stars

  Loud the cries of War on the Rhine & Danube, with Albions Sons,

  10 Away from Beulahs hills & vales break forth the Souls of the Dead,

  With cymbal, trumpet, clarion; & the scythed chariots of Britain.

  And the Veil of Vala, is composed of the Spectres of the Dead

  Hark! the mingling cries of Luvah with the Sons of Albion

  Hark! & Record the terrible wonder! that the Punisher

  Mingles with his Victims Spectre, enslaved and tormented

  To him whom he has murderd, bound in vengeance & enmity

  Shudder not, but Write, & the hand of God will assist you!

  Therefore I write Albions last words. Hope is banish’d from me.

  PLATE 48

  These were his last words, and the merciful Saviour in his arms

  Reciev’d him, in the arms of tender mercy and repos’d

  The pale limbs of his Eternal Individuality

  Upon the Rock of Ages. Then, surrounded with a Cloud:

  In silence the Divine Lord builded with immortal labour,

  Of gold & jewels a sublime Ornament, a Couch of repose,

  With Sixteen pillars: canopied with emblems & written verse.

  Spiritual Verse, order’d & measur’d, from whence, time shall reveal.

  The Five books of the Decalogue, the books of Joshua & Judges,

  10 Samuel, a double book & Kings, a double book, the Psalms & Prophets

  The Four-fold Gospel, and the Revelations everlasting

  Eternity groan’d & was troubled, at the image of Eternal Death!

  Beneath the bottoms of the Graves, which is Earths central joint,

  There is a place where Contrarieties are equally true:

  (To protect from the Giant blows in the sports of intellect,

  Thunder in the midst of kindness, & love that kills its beloved:

  Because Death is for a period, and they renew tenfold.)

  From this sweet Place Maternal Love awoke Jerusalem

  With pangs she forsook Beulahs pleasant lovely shadowy Universe

  20 Where no dispute can come; created for those who Sleep.

  Weeping was in all Beulah, and all the Daughters of Beulah

  Wept for their Sister the Daughter of Albion, Jerusalem:

  When out of Beulah the Emanation of the Sleeper descended

  With solemn mourning out of Beulahs moony shades and hills:

  Within the Human Heart, whose Gates closed with solemn sound.