The Portable Blake

by William Blake

  Smile when they frown, frown when they smile; & when a man looks pale

  With labour & abstinence, say he looks healthy & happy;

  And when his children sicken, let them die; there are enough

  Born, even too many, & our Earth will be overrun

  Without these arts. If you would make the poor live with temper[ance],

  With pomp give every crust of bread you give; with gracious cunning

  Magnify small gifts; reduce the man to want a gift, & then give with pomp.

  Say he smiles if you hear him sigh. If pale, say he is ruddy.

  Preach temperance: say he is overgorg’d & drowns his wit

  In strong drink, tho’ you know that bread & water are all

  He can afford. Flatter his wife, pity his children, till we can

  Reduce all to our will, as spaniels are taught with art.”

  [THE SONS OF URIZEN]

  Then left the sons of Urizen the plow & harrow, the loom,

  The hammer & the chisel & the rule & compasses.

  They forg’d the sword, the chariot of war, the battle ax,

  The trumpet fitted to the battle & the flute of summer,

  And all the arts of life they chang’d into the arts of death.

  The hour glass contemn’d because its simple workmanship

  Was as the workmanship of the plowman, & the water wheel

  That raises water into Cisterns, broken & burn’d in fire

  Because its workmanship was like the workmanship of the shepherd,

  And in their stead intricate wheels invented, Wheel without wheel,

  To perplex youth in their outgoings & to bind to labours Of day & night the myriads of Eternity, that they might file

  And polish brass & iron hour after hour, laborious workmanship,

  Kept ignorant of the use that they might spend the days of wisdom

  In sorrowful drudgery to obtain a scanty pittance of bread,

  In ignorance to view a small portion & think that All, And call it demonstration, blind to all the simple rules of life.

  [URIZEN: KING OF PRIDE]

  Darkness & sorrow cover’d all flesh. Eternity was darken’ d.

  Urizen sitting in his web of deceitful religion

  Felt the female death, a dull & numming stupor, such as ne’er

  Before assaulted the bright human form; he felt his pores

  Drink in the deadly dull delusion; horrors of Eternal Death

  Shot thro’ him. Urizen sat stonied upon his rock.

  Forgetful of his own Laws, pitying he began to embrace

  The shadowy Female; since life cannot be quench’d, Life exuded;

  His eyes shot outwards, then his breathing nostrils drawn forth,

  Scales cover’d over a cold forehead & a neck outstretch’d

  Into the deep to sieze the shadow; scales his neck & bosom

  Cover’d & scales his hands & feet; upon his belly falling

  Outstretch’d thro’ the immense, his mouth wide opening, tongueless,

  His teeth a triple row, he strove to sieze the shadow in vain,

  And his immense tail lash’d the Abyss; his human form a Stone,

  A form of Senseless Stone remain’d in terrors on the rock,

  Abominable to the eyes of mortals who explore his books.

  His wisdom still remain’d, & all his memory stor’d with woe.

  And still his stony form remain’d in the Abyss immense,

  Like the pale visage in its sheet of lead that cannot follow—

  Incessant stem disdain his scaly form gnaws inwardly,

  With deep repentance for the loss of that fair form of Man.

  With Envy he saw Los, with Envy Tharmas & the Spectre,

  With Envy & in vain he swam around his stony form.

  No longer now Erect, the King of Light outstretch’d in fury

  Lashes his tail in the wild deep: his eyelids, like the Sun Arising in his pride, enlighten all the Grizly deeps,

  His scales transparent give forth light like windows of the morning,

  His neck flames with wrath & majesty, he lashes the Abyss,

  Beating the desarts & the rocks; the desarts feel his power,

  They shake their slumbers off, they wave in awful fear

  Calling the Lion & the Tyger, the horse & the wild stag,

  The Elephant, the wolf, the Bear, the Larma, the Satyr.

  His Eyelids give their light around; his folding tail aspires

  Among the stars; the Earth & all the Abysses feel his fury

  When as the snow covers the mountains, oft petrific hardness

  Covers the deeps, at his vast fury moaning in his rock, Hardens the Lion & the Bear; trembling in the solid mountain

  They view the light & wonder; crying out in terrible existence,

  Up bound the wild stag & the horse: behold the King of Pride!

  [THE GATES ARE BURST]

  Trembling & strucken by the Universal stroke, the trees unroot,

  The rocks groan horrible & run about; the mountains & Their rivers cry with a dismal cry; the cattle gather together,

  Lowing they kneel before the heavens; the wild beasts of the forests

  Tremble; the Lion shuddering asks the Leopard: “Feelest thou

  The dread I feel, unknown before? My voice refuses to roar,

  And in weak moans I speak to thee. This night,

  Before the morning’s dawn, the Eagle call’d the Vulture,

  The Raven call’d the hawk, I heard them from my forests black,

  Saying: ‘Let us go up far, for soon, I smell upon the wind,

  A terror coming from the south.’ The Eagle & Hawk fled away

  At dawn, & e’er the sun arose, the raven & Vulture follow’ d.

  Let us flee also to the north.” They fled. The Sons of Men

  Saw them depart in dismal droves. The trumpet sounded loud

  And all the Sons of Eternity Descended into Beulah.

  In the fierce flames the limbs of Mystery’lay consuming with howling

  And deep despair. Rattling go up the flames around the Synagogue

  Of Satan. Loud the Serpent Ore rag’d thro’ his twenty seven

  Folds. The tree of Mystery went up in folding flames.

  Blood issu’d out in rushing volumes, pouring in whirl pools fierce

  From out the flood gates of the Sky. The Gates are burst; down pour

  The torrents black upon the Earth; the blood pours down incessant.

  Kings in their palaces lie drown’d. Shepherds, their flocks, their tents,

  Roll down the mountains in black torrents. Cities, Villages,

  High spires & Castles drown’d in the black deluge; shoal on shoal

  Float the dead carcases of Men & Beasts, driven to & fro on waves

  Of foaming blood beneath the black incessant sky, till all

  Mystery’s tyrants are cut off & not one left on Earth.

  And when all Tyranny was cut off from the face of the Earth,

  Around the dragon form of Urizen, & round his strong form,

  The flames rolling intense thro’ the wide Universe

  Began to enter the Holy City. Ent’ring, the dismal clouds

  In furrow’d lightnings break their way, the wild flames licking up

  The Bloody Deluge: living flames winged with intellect

  And Reason, round the Earth they march in order, flame by flame.

  From the clotted gore & from the hollow den

  Start forth the trembling millions into flames of mental fire,

  Bathing their limbs in the bright visions of Eternity.

  Beyond this Universal Confusion, beyond the remotest Pole

  Where their vortexes began to operate, there stands

  A Horrible rock far in the South; it was forsaken when

  Urizen gave the horses of Light into the hands of Luvah.

  On this rock lay the faded head of the Eternal Man

  Enwrapped round with weeds of death, p
ale cold in sorrow & woe.

  He lifts the blue lamps of his Eyes & cries with heavenly voice:

  Bowing his head over the consuming Universe, he cried:

  “O weakness & O weariness! 0 war within my members!

  My sons, exiled from my breast, pass to & fro before me. My birds are silent on my hills, flocks die beneath my branches.

  My tents are fallen, my trumpets & the sweet sound of my harp

  Is silent on my clouded hills that belch forth storms & fire.

  My milk of cows & honey of bees & fruit of golden harvest

  Are gather’d in the scorching heat & in the driving rain.

  My robe is turned to confusion, & my bright gold to stone.

  Where once I sat, I weary walk in misery & pain,

  For from within my wither’d breast grown narrow with my woes

  The Corn is turned to thistles & the apples into poison,

  The birds of song to murderous crows, My joys to bitter groans,

  The voices of children in my tents to cries of helpless infants,

  And all exiled from the face of light & shine of morning

  In this dark world, a narrow house, I wander up & down.

  I hear Mystery howling in these flames of Consummation.

  When shall the Man of future times become as in days of old?

  O weary life ! why sit I here & give up all my powers

  To indolence, to the night of death, when indolence & mourning

  Sit hovering over my dark threshold? tho’ I arise, look out

  And scorn the war within my members, yet my heart is weak

  And my head faint. Yet will I look again into the morning.

  Whence is this sound of rage of Men drinking each other’s blood,

  Drunk with the smoking gore, & red, but not with nourishing wine?”

  The Eternal Man sat on the Rocks & cried with awful voice:

  “O Prince of Light, where art thou? I behold thee not as once

  In those Eternal fields, in clouds of morning stepping forth

  With harps & songs when bright Ahania sang before thy face

  And all thy sons & daughters gather’d round my ample table.

  See you not all this wracking furious confusion?

  Come forth from slumbers of thy cold abstraction! Come forth,

  Arise to Eternal births! Shake off thy cold repose, Schoolmaster of souls, great opposer of change, arise!

  That the Eternal worlds may see thy face in peace & joy,

  That thou, dread form of Certainty, maist sit in town & village

  While little children play around thy feet in gentle awe,

  Fearing thy frown, loving thy smile, O Urizen, Prince of Light.”

  He call’d; the deep buried his voice & answer none return’ d.

  Then wrath burst round; the Eternal Man was wrath; again he cried:

  “Arise, 0 stony form of death! O dragon of the Deeps!

  Lie down before my feet, O Dragon! let Urizen arise.

  O how couldst thou deform those beautiful proportions

  Of life & person; for as the Person, so is his life proportion’ d.

  Let Luvah rage in the dark deep, even to Consummation,

  For if thou feedest not his rage, it will subside in peace.

  But if thou darest obstinate refuse my stem behest,

  Thy crown & scepter I will sieze, & regulate all my members

  In stern severity, & cast thee out into the indefinite

  Where nothing lives, there to wander; & if thou returnest weary,

  Weeping at the threshold of Existence, I will steel my heart

  Against thee to Eternity, & never recieve thee more.

  Thy self-destroying, beast form’d Science shall be thy eternal lot.

  My anger against thee is greater than against this Luvah,

  For war is energy Enslav’d, but thy religion,

  The first author of this war & the distracting of honest minds

  Into confused perturbation & strife & horrour & pride,

  Is a deciet so detestable that I will cast thee out

  If thou repentest not, & leave thee as a rotten branch to be burn’d

  With Mystery the Harlot & with Satan for Ever & Ever.

  Error can never be redeemed in all Eternity,

  But Sin, Even Rahab, is redeem’d in blood & fury & jealousy—

  That line of blood that stretch’d across the windows of the morning—

  Redeem’d from Error’s power. Wake, thou dragon of the deeps!”

  And the Eternal Man said: “Hear my words, O Prince of Light.

  Behold Jerusalem in whose bosom the Lamb of God

  Is seen; tho’ slain before her Gates, he self-renew’d remains

  Eternal, & I thro’ him awake from death’s dark vale.

  The times revolve; the time is coming when all these delights

  Shall be renew’d, & all these Elements that now consume

  Shall reflourish. Then bright Ahania shall awake from death,

  A glorious Vision to thine Eyes, a Self-renewing Vision:

  The spring, the summer, to be thine; then sleep the wintry days

  In silken garments spun by her own hands against her funeral.

  The winter thou shalt plow & lay thy stores into thy barns

  Expecting to recieve Ahania in the spring with joy.

  Immortal thou, Regenerate She, & all the lovely Sex

  From her shall learn obedience & prepare for a wintry grave,

  That spring may see them rise in tenfold joy & sweet delight

  Thus shall the male & female live the life of Eternity,

  Because the Lamb of God Creates himself a bride & wife

  That we his Children evermore may live in Jerusalem

  Which now descendeth out of heaven, a City, yet a Woman,

  Mother of myriads redeem’d & born in her spiritual palaces,

  By a New Spiritual birth Regenerated from Death.”

  [THE BURSTING UNIVERSE]

  Urizen said: “I have Erred, & my Error remains with me.

  What Chain encompasses? in what Lock is the river of light confin’d

  That issues forth in the morning by measure & in the evening by carefulness?

  Where shall we take our stand to view the infinite & unbounded ?

  Or where are human feet? for Lo, our eyes are in the heavens.”

  He ceas’d, for riv’n link from link, the bursting Universe explodes.

  All things revers’d flew from their centers: rattling bones To bones Join: shaking convuls’d, the shivering clay breathes:

  Each speck of dust to the Earth’s center nestles round & round

  In pangs of an Eternal Birth: in torment & awe & fear, All spirits deceas’d, let loose from reptile prisons, come in shoals:

  Wild furies from the tyger’s brain & from the lion’s eyes, And from the ox & ass come moping terrors, from the eagle

  And raven: numerous as the leaves of autumn, every species

  Flock to the trumpet, mutt’ring over the sides of the grave & crying

  In the fierce wind round heaving rocks & mountains fill’d with groans.

  On rifted rocks, suspended in the air by inward fires,

  Many a woful company & many on clouds & waters,

  Fathers & friends, Mothers & Infants, Kings & Warriors,

  Priests & chain’d Captives, met together in a horrible fear;

  And every one of the dead appears as he had liv’d before,

  And all the marks remain of the slave’s scourge & tyrant’s Crown,

  And of the Priest’s o’ergorged Abdomen, & of the merchant’s thin

  Sinewy deception, & of the warrior’s outbraving & thoughtlessness

  In lineaments too extended & in bones too strait & long.

  They shew their wounds: they accuse: they sieze the opressor; howlings began

  On the golden palace, songs & joy on the desart; the Cold babe

  Stands in the furious air; he c
ries: “The children of six thousand years

  Who died in infancy rage furious: a mighty multitude rage furious,

  Naked & pale standing in the expecting air, to be deliver’ d.

  Rend limb from limb the warrior & the tyrant, reuniting in pain.”

  The furious wind still rends around; they flee in sluggish effort;

  They beg, they intreat in vain now; they listened not to intreaty;

  They view the flames red rolling on thro’ the wide universe

  From the dark jaws of death beneath & desolate shores remote,

  These covering vaults of heaven & these trembling globes of earth.

  One Planet calls to another & one star enquires of another:

  “What flames are these, coming from the South? what noise, what dreadful rout

  As of a battle in the heavens? hark! heard you not the trumpet

  As of fierce battle?” While they spoke, the flames come on intense roaring.

  They see him whom they have pierc’d, they wail because of him,

  They magnify themselves no more against Jerusalem, Nor

  Against her little ones; the innocent, accused before the Judges,

  Shines with immortal glory; trembling the judge springs from his throne

  Hiding his face in the dust beneath the prisoner’s feet & saying:

  “Brother of Jesus, what have I done? intreat thy lord for me:

  Perhaps I may be forgiven.” While he speaks the flames roll on,

  And after the flames appears the Cloud of the Son of Man

  Descending from Jerusalem with power and great Glory.

  All nations look up to the Cloud & behold him who was crucified.

  [MYSTERY IS NO MORE]

  The morning dawn’d. Urizen rose, & in his hand the Flail

  Sounds on the Floor, heard terrible by all beneath the heavens.

  Dismal loud redounding, the nether floor shakes with the sound,

  And all Nations were threshed out, & the stars thresh’d from their husks.

  Then Tharmas took the Winnowing fan; the winnowing wind furious