Thy brother has armd himself in steel
To revenge the wrongs thy Children feel
But vain the sword & vain the bow
They never can work wars overthrow
The Hermits prayer & the widows tear
Alone can free the world from fear
The hand of vengeance sought the bed
To which the purple tyrant fled
The iron hand crushd the tyrants head
[And usurpd the tyrants throne and bed]
And became a tyrant in his stead
Untill the Tyrant himself relent
50 The Tyrant who first the black bow bent
Slaughter shall heap the bloody plain
Resistance & war is the Tyrants gain
But the Tear of Love & forgiveness sweet
And submission to death beneath his feet
The Tear shall melt the sword of steel
And every wound it has made shall heal
[For the tear is an intellectual thing]
And a sigh is the Sword of an Angel King
And the bitter groan [for anothers] of the Martyrs woe
60 Is an arrow from the Almighties bow.
[Additional Stanzas]
When Satan first the black bow bent
And the Moral Law from the Gospel rent
He forg’d the Law into a Sword
And spilld the blood of Mercys Lord
[O Charlemaine O Charlemaine]
Titus. Constantine Charlemaine
O Voltaire Rousseau Gibbon vain
Your [mocks & scorn] Grecian mocks & Roman Sword
Against this image of his Lord
70 A tear is an &c
Gibbon plied his lash of steel
Voltaire turnd his wracking wheel
Charlemaine & his barons bold
Stood by & mockd in iron & gold
The Wheel of Voltaire whirld on high
Gibbon aloud his lash does ply
Charlemaine & his clouds of War
Muster around the Polar Bar
A Grecian Scoff is a wracking wheel
80 The Roman pride is a sword of steel
[Vict] Glory & Victory a [plaited] Phallic Whip
*
MORNING
To find the Western path
Right thro the Gates of Wrath
I urge my way
Sweet Mercy leads me on
With soft repentant moan
I see the break of day
The war of swords & spears
Melted by dewy tears
Exhales on high
10 The Sun is freed from fears
And with soft grateful tears
Ascends the sky
*
Terror in the house does roar
But Pity stands before the door
*
[This world] Each Man is in [the] His Spectres power
Untill the arrival of that hour
[Untill the] When his Humanity awake
And Cast [the] his own Spectre into the Lake
And there to Eternity aspire
The selfhood in a flame of fire
Till then the Lamb of God
*
Mock on Mock on Voltaire Rousseau
Mock on Mock on tis all in vain
You throw the sand against the wind
And the wind blows it back again
And every sand becomes a Gem
Reflected in the beams divine
Blown back they blind the mocking Eye
But still in Israels paths they shine
The Atoms of Democritus
10 And Newtons Particles of light
Are sands upon the Red sea shore
Where Israels tents do shine so bright
*
My Spectre around me night & day
Like a Wild beast guards my way
My Emanation far within
Weeps incessantly for my Sin
[(Her) Thy weeping (She) thou shall neer give oer
I Sin against (her) thee more & more
And never will from sin be free
Till she forgives & comes to me
Thou hast parted from my side
Once thou wast a virgin bride
Never shalt thou a (lover) true love find
My Spectre follows thee Behind]
[In a dark cold winter night]
[A deep winter (night) dark & cold
Within my (loves) Heart thou didst unfold
A Fathomless & boundless Deep
There we wander there we weep
When my Love did first begin
Thou didst call that Love a Sin
20 Secret trembling night & day
Driving all my Loves away]
A Fathomless & boundless deep
There we wander there we weep
On the hungry craving wind
My Spectre follows thee behind
He scents thy footsteps in the snow
Wheresoever thou dost go
Thro the wintry hail & rain
When wilt thou return again
30 [Didst] Dost thou not in Pride & Scorn
Fill with tempests all my morn
And with jealousies & fears
Fill my pleasant nights with tears
Seven of my sweet loves thy knife
Has bereaved of their life
Their marble tombs I built with tears
And with cold & shuddering fears
Seven more loves weep night & day
Round the tombs where my loves lay
40 And seven more loves attend each night
Around my couch with torches bright
And seven more Loves in my bed
Crown with wine my mournful head
Pitying & forgiving all
Thy transgressions great & small
When wilt thou return & view
My loves & them to life renew
When wilt thou return & live
When wilt thou pity [&] as I forgive
50 Never Never I return
Still for Victory I burn
Living thee alone Ill have
And when dead Ill be thy Grave
Thro the Heaven & Earth & Hell
Thou shalt never never quell
I will fly & thou pursue
Night & Morn the flight renew
Till [thou] I turn from Female Love
And [dig] root up the Infernal Grove
60 [Thou shalt] I shall never worthy be
To Step into Eternity
And [I] to end thy cruel mocks
Annihilate [them] thee on the rocks
And another form create
To be subservient to my Fate
Let us agree to give up Love
And root up the infernal grove
Then shall we return & see
The worlds of happy Eternity
70 & Throughout all Eternity
xI forgive you you forgive me
As our Dear Redeemer said
This the Wine & this the Bread
[Additional Stanzas]
Oer [thy] my Sins Thou sit & moan
[Have I] Hast thou no sins of [my] thy own
Oer [thy] my Sins [I] thou sit & weep
And lull [my] thy own Sins fast asleep
What transgressions I commit
Are for thy Transgressions fit
80 They thy Harlots thou their Slave
And my Bed becomes their Grave
Poor pale pitiable form
That I follow in a Storm
Iron tears & groans of lead
Bind around my akeing head
And let us go to the highest downs
With many pleasing wiles
The Woman that does not love your Frowns
Will never embrace your smiles
*
The Hebrew Nation did not write it
Avarice & Chastity did shite it
*
Grown old in Love from Seven till Seven times Seven
I oft have wishd for Hell for Ease from Heaven
*
A Woman Scaly & a Man all Hairy
Is such a Match as he who dares
Will find the Womans Scales scrape off the Mans Hairs
POEMS FROM THE
PICKERING MANUSCRIPT
THE SMILE
There is a Smile of Love
And there is a Smile of Deceit
And there is a Smile of Smiles
In which these two Smiles meet
And there is a Frown of Hate
And there is a Frown of disdain
And there is a Frown of Frowns
Which you strive to forget in vain
For it sticks in the Hearts deep Core
10 And it sticks in the deep Back bone
And no Smile that ever was smild
But only one Smile alone
That betwixt the Cradle & Grave
It only once Smild can be
But when it once is Smild
Theres an end to all Misery
THE GOLDEN NET
Three Virgins at the break of day
Whither young Man whither away
Alas for woe! alas for woe!
They cry & tears for ever flow
The one was Clothd in flames of fire
The other Clothd in iron wire
The other Clothd in tears & sighs
Dazling bright before my Eyes
They bore a Net of Golden twine
10 To hang upon the Branches fine
Pitying I wept to see the woe
That Love & Beauty undergo
To be consumd in burning Fires
And in ungratified desires
And in tears clothd Night & day
Melted all my Soul away
When they saw my Tears a Smile
That did Heaven itself beguile
Bore the Golden Net aloft
20 As on downy Pinions soft
Over the Morning of my day
Underneath the Net I stray
Now intreating Burning Fire
Now intreating Iron Wire
Now intreating Tears & Sighs
O when will the morning rise
THE MENTAL TRAVELLER
I traveld thro’ a Land of Men
A Land of Men & Women too
And heard & saw such dreadful things
As cold Earth wanderers never knew
For there the Babe is born in joy
That was begotten in dire woe
Just as we Reap in joy the fruit
Which we in bitter tears did sow
And if the Babe is born a Boy
10 He’s given to a Woman Old
Who nails him down upon a rock
Catches his shrieks in cups of gold
She binds iron thorns around his head
She pierces both his hands & feet
She cuts his heart out at his side
To make it feel both cold & heat
Her fingers number every Nerve
Just as a Miser counts his gold
She lives upon his shrieks & cries
20 And she grows young as he grows old
Till he becomes a bleeding youth
And she becomes a Virgin bright
Then he rends up his Manacles
And binds her down for his delight
He plants himself in all her Nerves
Just as a Husbandman his mould
And she becomes his dwelling place
And Garden fruitful seventy fold
An aged Shadow soon he fades
30 Wandring round an Earthly Cot
Full filled all with gems & gold
Which he by industry had got
And these are the gems of the Human Soul
The rubies & pearls of a lovesick eye
The countless gold of the akeing heart
The martyrs groan & the lovers sigh
They are his meat they are his drink
He feeds the Beggar & the Poor
And the wayfaring Traveller
40 For ever open is his door
His grief is their eternal joy
They make the roofs & walls to ring
Till from the fire on the hearth
A little Female Babe does spring
And she is all of solid fire
And gems & gold that none his hand
Dares stretch to touch her Baby form
Or wrap her in his swaddling-band
But She comes to the Man she loves
50 If young or old or rich or poor
They soon drive out the aged Host
A Beggar at anothers door
He wanders weeping far away
Untill some other take him in
Oft blind & age-bent sore distrest
Untill he can a Maiden win
And to allay his freezing Age
The Poor Man takes her in his arms
The Cottage fades before his sight
60 The Garden & its lovely Charms
The Guests are scatterd thro’ the land
For the Eye altering alters all
The Senses roll themselves in fear
And the flat Earth becomes a Ball
The Stars Sun Moon all shrink away
A desart vast without a bound
And nothing left to eat or drink
And a dark desart all around
The honey of her Infant lips
70 The bread & wine of her sweet smile
The wild game of her roving Eye
Does him to Infancy beguile
For as he eats & drinks he grows
Younger & younger every day
And on the desart wild they both
Wander in terror & dismay
Like the wild Stag she flees away
Her fear plants many a thicket wild
While he pursues her night & day
By various arts of Love & Hate
Till the wide desart planted oer
With Labyrinths of wayward Love
Where roams the Lion Wolf & Boar
Till he becomes a wayward Babe
And she a weeping Woman Old
Then many a Lover wanders here
The Sun & Stars are nearer rolld
The trees bring forth sweet Extacy
90 To all who in the desart roam
Till many a City there is Built
And many a pleasant Shepherds home
But when they find the frowning Babe
Terror strikes thro the region wide
They cry the Babe the Babe is Born
And flee away on Every side
For who dare touch the frowning form
His arm is witherd to its root
Lions Boars Wolves all howling flee
100 And every Tree does shed its fruit
And none can touch that frowning form
Except it be a Woman Old
She nails him down upon the Rock
And all is done as I have told
THE LAND OF DREAMS
Awake awake my little Boy
Thou wast thy Mothers only joy
Why dost thou weep in thy gentle sleep
Awake thy Father does thee keep
O what Land is the Land of Dreams
What are its Mountains & what are its Streams
O Father I saw my Mother there
Among the Lillies by waters fair
Among the Lambs clothed in white
10 She walkd with her Thomas in sweet delight
I wept for joy like a dove I mourn
O when shall I again return
Dear Child I also by pleasant Streams
Have wanderd all Night in the Land of Dreams
But tho calm & warm the waters wide
I could not get to the other side
Father O Father what do we here
In this Land of unbelief & fear
The Land of Dreams is better far
20 Above the
light of the Morning Star
MARY
Sweet Mary the first time she ever was there
Came into the Ball room among the Fair
The young Men & Maidens around her throng
And these are the words upon every tongue
An Angel is here from the heavenly Climes
Or again does return the Golden times
Her eyes outshine every brilliant ray
She opens her lips tis the Month of May
Mary moves in soft beauty & conscious delight
10 To augment with sweet smiles all the joys of the Night
Nor once blushes to own to the rest of the Fair
That sweet Love & Beauty are worthy our care
In the Morning the Villagers rose with delight
And repeated with pleasure the joys of the night
And Mary arose among Friends to be free
But no Friend from henceforward thou Mary shalt see
Some said she was proud some calld her a whore
And some when she passed by shut to the door
A damp cold came oer her her blushes all fled
20 Her lillies & roses are blighted & shed
O why was I born with a different Face
Why was I not born like this Envious Race
Why did Heaven adorn me with bountiful hand
And then set me down in an envious Land
To be weak as a Lamb & smooth as a dove
And not to raise Envy is calld Christian Love
But if you raise Envy your Merits to blame
For planting such spite in the weak & the tame
I will humble my Beauty I will not dress fine
30 I will keep from the Ball & my Eyes shall not shine
And if any Girls Lover forsakes her for me
I’ll refuse him my hand & from Envy be free
She went out in Morning attird plain & neat
Proud Marys gone Mad said the Child in the Street
She went out in Morning in plain neat attire
And came home in Evening bespatterd with mire
She trembled & wept sitting on the Bed side
She forgot it was Night & she trembled & cried
She forgot it was Night she forgot it was Morn
40 Her soft Memory imprinted with Faces of Scorn
With Faces of Scorn & with Eyes of disdain
Like foul Fiends inhabiting Marys mild Brain
She remembers no Face like the Human Divine
All Faces have Envy sweet Mary but thine
And thine is a Face of sweet Love in Despair
And thine is a Face of mild sorrow & care
And thine is a Face of wild terror & fear
That shall never be quiet till laid on its bier
THE CRYSTAL CABINET
The Maiden caught me in the Wild
Where I was dancing merrily
She put me into her Cabinet
And Lockd me up with a golden Key
This Cabinet is formd of Gold