THE BOOK OF THEL (Original Illuminated Manuscript) by William Blake

Author:William Blake [Blake, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9788027231157
Publisher: Musaicum Press
Published: 2017-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

III

Table of Contents

Then Thel astonish’d view’d the Worm upon its dewy bed:

‘Art thou a Worm? image of weakness, art thou but a Worm?

I see thee like an infant wrapped in the Lilly’s leaf.

Ah weep not, little voice, thou canst not speak, but thou can weep.

Is this a worm? I see thee lay helpless & naked, weeping,

And none to answer, none to cherish thee with mother’s smiles.’

The Clod of Clay heard the Worm’s voice, & rais’d her pitying head;

She bow’d over the weeping infant, and her life exhal’d

In milky fondness; then on Thel she fix’d 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 wip’d 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 therefore did I weep;

And I complain’d 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 answer’d, ‘I heard thy sighs,

And all thy moans flew o’er my roof, but I have call’d them down.

Wilt thou, O Queen, enter my house? ’Tis given thee to enter

And to return; fear nothing; enter with thy virgin feet.’

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