The Complete Poems

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by William Blake


  And Satan in his Spiritual War

  Dragd at his Chariot wheels loud howld

  The God of this World louder rolld

  The Chariot Wheels & louder still

  His voice was heard from Zions hill

  And in his hand the Scourge shone bright

  He scourgd the Merchant Canaanite

  From out the Temple of his Mind

  50 And in his Body tight does bind

  Satan & all his Hellish Crew

  And thus with wrath he did subdue

  The Serpent Bulk of Natures dross

  Till he had naild it to the Cross

  He took on Sin in the Virgins Womb

  [And on the Cross he Seald its doom]

  And put it off on the Cross & Tomb

  To be Worshipd by the Church of Rome

  *

  Was Jesus Humble or did he

  Give any proofs of Humility

  When but a Child he ran away

  And left his Parents in dismay

  When they had wanderd three days long

  These were the words upon his Tongue

  No Earthly Parents I confess

  I am doing my Fathers business

  When the rich learned Pharisee

  10 Came to consult him secretly

  He was too Proud to take a bribe

  He spoke with authority not like a Scribe

  Upon his heart with Iron pen

  He wrote Ye must be born again

  He says with most consummate Art

  Follow me I am meek & lowly of heart

  As that is the only way to Escape

  The Misers net & the Gluttons trap

  He who loves his Enemies hates his Friends

  20 This is surely not what Jesus intends

  He must mean the meer love of Civility

  And so he must mean concerning Humility

  But he acts with triumphant honest pride

  And this is the Reason Jesus died

  If he had been [the] Antichrist Creeping Jesus

  Hed have done any thing to please us

  Gone sneaking into the Synagogues

  And not used the Elders & Priests like Dogs

  But humble as a Lamb or an Ass

  30 Obey himself to Caiaphas

  God wants not Man to humble himself

  This is the Trick of the Ancient Elf

  Humble toward God, Haughty toward Man

  This is the Race that Jesus ran

  And when he humbled himself to God

  Then descended the cruel rod

  [Why dost thou humble thyself to me

  40 Thou Also dwelst in Eternity]

  If thou humblest thyself thou humblest me

  Thou also dwelst in Eternity

  Thou art a Man God is no more

  Thine own Humanity learn to Adore

  And thy Revenge Abroad display

  In terrors at the Last Judgment day

  Gods Mercy & Long Suffering

  Are but the Sinner to Judgment to bring

  Thou on the Cross for them shalt pray

  [Whom thou shalt Torment at the Last Day]

  50 And take Revenge at the last Day

  Do what you will this Lifes a Fiction

  And is made up of Contradiction

  THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL

  Was Jesus Humble or did he

  Give any Proofs of Humility

  Boast of high Things with Humble tone

  And give with Charity a Stone

  When but a Child he ran away

  And left his Parents in dismay

  When they had wanderd three days long

  These were the words upon his tongue

  No Earthly Parents I confess

  10 I am doing my Fathers business

  When the rich learned Pharisee

  Came to consult him secretly

  Upon his heart with Iron pen

  He wrote Ye must be born again

  He was too proud to take a bribe

  He spoke with authority not like a Scribe

  He says with most consummate Art

  Follow me I am meek & lowly of heart

  As that is the only way to escape

  20 The Misers net & the Gluttons trap

  What can be done with such desperate Fools

  Who follow after the Heathen Schools

  I was standing by when Jesus died

  What I calld Humility they calld Pride

  He who loves his Enemies [hates] betrays his Friends

  This surely is not what Jesus intends

  But the sneaking Pride of Heroic Schools

  And the Scribes & Pharisees Virtuous Rules

  For he acts with honest triumphant Pride

  30 And this is the cause that Jesus died

  He did not die with Christian Ease

  Asking pardon of his Enemies

  If he had Caiphas would forgive

  Sneaking submission can always live

  He had only to say that God was the devil

  And the devil was God like a Christian Civil

  Mild Christian regrets to the devil confess

  For affronting him thrice in the Wilderness

  He had soon been bloody Caesars Elf

  40 And at last he would have been Caesar himself

  Like dr Priestly & [Sir Isaac] Bacon & Newton

  Poor Spiritual Knowledge is not worth a button

  [As] For thus the Gospel Sr Isaac confutes

  God can only be known by his Attributes

  And as for the Indwelling of the Holy Ghost

  Or of Christ & his Father its all a boast

  And Pride & Vanity of the Imagination

  That disdains to follow this Worlds Fashion

  To teach doubt & Experiment

  50 Certainly was not what Christ meant

  What was he doing all that time

  From twelve years old to manly prime

  Was he then Idle or the Less

  About his Fathers business

  Or was his wisdom held in scorn

  Before his wrath began to burn

  In Miracles throughout the Land

  That quite unnervd Caiaphas hand

  If he had been [the] Antichrist Creeping Jesus

  60 Hed have done any thing to please us

  Gone sneaking into Synagogues

  And not usd the Elders & Priests like dogs

  But Humble as a Lamb or Ass

  Obeyd himself to Caiaphas

  God wants not Man to Humble himself

  This is the trick of the ancient Elf

  This is the Race that Jesus ran

  Humble to God Haughty to Man

  Cursing the Rulers before the People

  70 Even to the temples highest Steeple

  And when he Humbled himself to God

  Then descended the Cruel Rod

  If thou humblest thyself thou humblest me

  Thou also dwellst in Eternity

  Thou art a Man God is no more

  Thy own humanity learn to adore

  For that is my Spirit of Life

  Awake arise to Spiritual Strife

  And thy Revenge abroad display

  80 In terrors at the Last Judgment day

  Gods Mercy & Long Suffering

  Is but the Sinner to Judgment to bring

  Thou on the Cross for them shalt pray

  And take Revenge at the Last Day

  [All Corporeal lifes a/This Corporeal

  (All) lifes a fiction

  And is made up of Contradiction]

  Jesus replied & thunders hurld

  I never will Pray for the World

  Once [I] did so when I prayd in the Garden

  90 I wishd to take with me a Bodily Pardon

  Can that which was of woman born

  In the absence of the Morn

  When the Soul fell into Sleep

  And Archangels round it weep

  Shooting out against the Light

  Fibres of a deadly nigh
t

  Reasoning upon its own dark Fiction

  In doubt which is Self Contradiction

  Humility is only doubt

  100 And does the Sun & Moon blot out

  Rooting over with thorns & stems

  The buried Soul & all its Gems.

  This Lifes dim Windows of the Soul

  Distorts the Heavens from Pole to Pole

  And leads you to Believe a Lie

  When you see with not thro the Eye

  That was born in a night to perish in a night

  When the Soul slept in the beams of Light.

  *

  I am sure This Jesus will not do

  Either for Englishman or Jew

  FOR THE SEXES THE GATES OF PARADISE

  [PROLOGUE]

  Mutual forgiveness of each Vice

  Such are the Gates of Paradise

  Against the Accusers chief desire

  Who walked among the Stones of Fire

  Jehovahs Finger Wrote the Law

  Then Wept! then rose in Zeal & Awe

  And the Dead Corpse from Sinais heat

  Buried beneath his Mercy Seat

  O Christians Christians tell me Why

  10 You rear it on your Altars high

  THE KEYS

  The Catterpiller on the Leaf

  Reminds thee of thy Mothers Grief

  OF THE GATES

  1

  My Eternal Man set in Repose

  The Female from his darkness rose

  And She found me beneath a Tree

  A Mandrake & in her Veil hid me

  Serpent Reasonings us entice

  Of Good & Evil: Virtue & Vice

  2

  Doubt Self Jealous Watry folly

  10 3

  Struggling thro Earths Melancholy

  4

  Naked in Air in Shame & Fear

  5

  Blind in Fire with shield & spear

  Two Horn’d Reasoning Cloven Fiction

  In Doubt which is Self contradiction

  A dark Hermaphrodite We stood

  Rational Truth Root of Evil & Good

  Round me flew the Flaming Sword

  Round her snowy Whirlwinds roard

  20Freezing her Veil the Mundane Shell

  20 6

  I rent the Veil where the Dead dwell

  When weary Man enters his Cave

  He meets his Saviour in the Grave

  Some find a Female Garment there

  And some a Male, woven with care

  Lest the Sexual Garments sweet

  Should grow a devouring Winding sheet

  7

  One Dies! Alas! the Living & Dead

  One is slain & One is fled

  8

  In Vain-glory hatcht & nurst

  30

  By double Spectres Self AccurstMy Son! my Son! thou treatest me

  But as I have instructed thee

  9

  On the shadows of the Moon

  Climbing thro Nights highest noon

  10

  In Times Ocean falling drownd

  In Aged Ignorance profound

  11

  Holy & cold I clipd the Wings

  Of all Sublunary Things

  12

  And in the depths of my Dungeons

  40

  Closed the Father & the Sons

  13

  But when once I did descry

  The Immortal Man that cannot Die

  14

  Thro evening shades I haste away

  To close the Labours of my Day

  15

  The Door of Death I open found

  And the Worm Weaving in the Ground

  16

  Thou’rt my Mother from the Womb

  Wife, Sister, Daughter to the Tomb

  Weaving to Dreams the Sexual strife

  50

  And weeping over the Web of Life

  [EPILOGUE]

  TO THE ACCUSER WHO IS THE GOD OF

  THIS WORLD

  Truly My Satan thou art but a Dunce

  And dost not know the Garment from the Man

  Every Harlot was a Virgin once

  Nor canst thou ever change Kate into Nan

  Tho thou art Worshipd by the Names Divine

  Of Jesus & Jehovah: thou art still

  The Son of Morn in weary Nights decline

  The lost Travellers Dream under the Hill

  THE GHOST OF ABEL

  A Revelation In the Visions of Jehovah

  Seen by William Blake

  PLATE I

  To LORD BYRON in the Wilderness

  What doest thou here Elijah?

  Can a Poet doubt the Visions of Jehovah? Nature has

  no Outline: but Imagination has. Nature has no Tune:

  but Imagination has! Nature has no Supernatural &

  dissolves: Imagination is Eternity

  Scene. A rocky Country. Eve fainted over the dead body

  of Abel which lays near a Grave. Adam kneels by her

  Jehovah stands above.

  JEHOVAH: Adam!

  ADAM: I will not hear thee more thou Spiritual Voice

  Is this Death?

  JEHOVAH: Adam!

  ADAM: It is in vain: I will not hear thee

  Henceforth! Is this thy Promise that the Womans Seed

  Should bruise the Serpents head: Is this the Serpent? Ah!

  10 Seven times, O Eve thou hast fainted over the Dead. Ah! Ah!

  Eve revives.

  EVE: Is this the Promise of Jehovah! O it is all a vain delusion

  This Death & this Life & this Jehovah!

  JEHOVAH: Woman: lift thine eyes

  A Voice is heard coming on.

  VOICE: O Earth cover not thou my Blood! cover not thou my Blood

  Enter the Ghost of Abel.

  EVE: Thou Visionary Phantasm thou art not the real Abel.

  ABEL:Among the Elohim a Human Victim I wander I am their House

  Prince of the Air & our dimensions compass Zenith & Nadir

  Vain is thy Covenant O Jehovah I am the Accuser & Avenger

  Of Blood O Earth Cover not thou the Blood of Abel

  JEHOVAH:What Vengeance dost thou require

  ABEL: Life for

  Life! Life for Life!

  20 JEHOVAH: He who shall take Cains life must also Die O Abel

  And who is he? Adam wilt thou, or Eve thou do this

  ADAM: It is all a Vain delusion of the all creative Imagination

  Eve come away & let us not believe these vain delusions

  Abel is dead & Cain slew him! We shall also Die a Death

  And then! what then? be as poor Abel a Thought: or as

  This! O what shall I call thee Form Divine! Father of Mercies

  That appearest to my Spiritual Vision: Eve seest thou also.

  EVE: I see him plainly with my Minds Eye. I see also Abel living:

  Tho terribly afflicted as We also are, yet Jehovah sees him

  PLATE 2

  Alive & not Dead: were it not better to believe Vision

  With all our might & strength tho we are fallen &

  lost

  ADAM: Eve thou hast spoken truly. let us kneel before his feet.

  They Kneel before Jehovah.

  ABEL: Are these the Sacrifices of Eternity O Jehovah, a Broken Spirit

  And a Contrite Heart. O I cannot Forgive! the Accuser hath

  Enterd into Me as into his House & I loathe thy Tabernacles

  As thou hast said so is it come to pass: My desire is unto Cain

  And He doth rule over Me: therefore My Soul in fumes of Blood

  Cries for Vengeance: Sacrifice on Sacrifice Blood on Blood

  10 JEHOVAH: Lo I have given you a Lamb for an Atonement instead

  Of the Transgres[s]or, or no Flesh or Spirit could ever Live

  ABEL: Compelled I cry O Earth cover not the Blood of Abel

  Abel sinks down into the Grave from which arises Satan

  Armed in g
littering scales with a Crown & a Spear.

  SATAN: I will have Human Blood & not the blood of Bulls or Goats

  And no Atonement O Jehovah the Elohim live on Sacrifice

  Of Men: hence I am God of Men: Thou Human O Jehovah.

  By the Rock & Oak of the Druid creeping Mistletoe & Thorn

  Cains City built with Human Blood, not Blood of Bulls & Goats

  Thou shalt Thyself be Sacrificed to Me thy God on Calvary

  JEHOVAH:Such is My Will. Thunders.

  that Thou Thyself go to

  Eternal Death

  20 In Self Annihilation even till Satan Self-subdud Put off Satan

  Into the Bottomless Abyss whose torment arises for ever & ever.

  On each side a Chrous of Angels entering Sing the following:

  The Elohim of the Heathen Swore Vengeance for Sin! Then Thou stoodst

  Forth O Elohim Jehovah! in the midst of the darkness of the Oath! All Clothed

  In Thy Covenant of the Forgiveness of Sins: Death O Holy! Is this Brotherhood

  The Elohim saw their Oath Eternal Fire; they rolled apart trembling over The

  Mercy Seat: each in his station fixt in the Firmament by Peace Brotherhood and Love.

  The Curtain falls.

  NOTES

  Blake’s Works are abbreviated in the Notes as follows:

  PS

  Poetical Sketches

  SI

  Songs of Innocence

  SE

  Songs of Experience

  SIE

  Songs of Innocence and of Experience

  FR

  The French Revolution

  MHH

  The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

  SL

  A Song of liberty

  VDA

  Visions of the Daughters of Albion

  Eur

  Europe

  SL

  The Song of Los

  BU

  The First Book of Urizen

  BA

  The Book of Ahania

  BL

  The Book of Los

  FZ

  Vala, or the Four Zoas

  M

  Milton

  f

  Jerusalem

  OED refers to the Oxford English Dictionary.

  For references to Bentley, Damon, Erdman, Frye and Stevenson, see Further Reading.

  Terms printed in small capitals in the Notes are more fully defined in the Dictionary of Proper Names.

 

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