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Home: Poetry: William Blake: The Human Abstract
| THE HUMAN ABSTRACT |
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a poem by William Blake
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- Pity would be no more
- If we did not make somebody poor,
- And Mercy no more could be
- If all were as happy as we.
- And mutual fear brings Peace,
- Till the selfish loves increase
- Then Cruelty knits a snare,
- And spreads his baits with care.
- He sits down with his holy fears,
- And waters the ground with tears;
- Then Humility takes its root
- Underneath his foot.
- Soon spreads the dismal shade
- Of Mystery over his head,
- And the caterpillar and fly
- Feed on the Mystery.
- And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
- Ruddy and sweet to eat,
- And the raven his nest has made
- In its thickest shade.
- The gods of the earth and sea
- Sought through nature to find this tree,
- But their search was all in vain:
- There grows one in the human Brain.
| "The Human Abstract" is reprinted from Songs of Innocence and Experience. William Blake. London: Basil Montague Pickering, 1866. |
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