In milky fondness: then on Thel she fixed her humble eyes.

"O beauty of the vales of Har! we live not for ourselves.

Thou seest me, the meanest thing, and so I am indeed.

My bosom of itself is cold, and of itself is dark; But He that loves the lowly pours his oil upon my head,

And kisses me, and binds his nuptial bands around my breast,

And says:-Thou mother of my children, I have loved thee,

And I have given thee a crown that none can take away.'

But how this is, sweet maid, I know not, and I cannot know;

I ponder, and I cannot ponder: yet I live and love!"

The Daughter of Beauty wiped her pitying tears with her white veil,

And said:" Alas! I knew not this, and therefore did I weep.

That God would love a worm I knew, and punish the evil foot

That wilful bruised its helpless form; but that he cherished it

With milk and oil I never knew, and therefore did I weep.

And I complained in the mild air, because I fade

away,

And lay me down in thy cold bed, and leave my shining lot."

"Queen of the vales," the matron Clay answered, "I heard thy sighs,

And all thy moans flew o'er my roof, but I have called them down.

Wilt thou, O queen, enter my house? 'Tis given thee to enter,

And to return: fear nothing, enter with thy virgin feet."

IV.

The eternal gates' terrific Porter lifted the northern bar;

Thel entered in, and saw the secrets of the land unknown.

She saw the couches of the dead, and where the fibrous root

Of

every heart on earth infixes deep its restless

twists:

A land of sorrows and of tears, where never smile

was seen.

She wandered in the land of clouds, through valleys dark, listening Dolours and lamentations, wailing oft beside a dewy grave.

She stood in silence, listening to the voices of the ground,

Till to her own grave-plot she came, and there she sat down,

And heard this voice of sorrow breathed from the hollow pit.

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'Why cannot the ear be closed to its own destruction?

Or the glistening eye to the poison of a smile?
Why are eyelids stored with arrows ready drawn,
Where a thousand fighting-men in ambush lie,
Or an eye of gifts and graces showering fruits and
coined gold?

Why a tongue impressed with honey from every wind?

Why an ear, a whirlpool fierce to draw creations in? Why a nostril wide inhaling terror, trembling, and affright?

Why a tender curb upon the youthful burning boy?

Why a little curtain of flesh on the bed of our desire?"

The Virgin started from her seat, and with a shriek

Fled back unhindered till she came into the vales

A MOTTO.1

HE Good are attracted by men's perceptions,

And think not for themselves,

Till Experience teaches them to catch

And to cage the Fairies and Elves.

And then the Knave begins to snarl,

And the Hypocrite to howl;

And all his good friends show their private ends, And the Eagle is known from the Owl.

This motto has been found in MS., marked as intended for the Songs of Innocence and of Experience. It is here printed for the first time, in virtue of its interest of association rather than its merit.

P

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66

SONGS OF INNOCENCE.

(ENGRAVED 1789.)

INTRODUCTION.

IPING down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:

'Pipe a song about a Lamb!"
So I piped with merry cheer.
'Piper, pipe that song again;

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So I piped: he wept to hear.

"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe; Sing thy songs of happy cheer!" So I sang the same again,

While he wept with joy to hear.

"Piper, sit thee down and write

In a book, that all may read."
So he vanished from my sight;
And I plucked a hollow reed,