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To mark William Blake's birthday

Henry Irving
Henry Irving Posts: 85,322
edited November 2007 in Not Sports Related
Here's his poem called London

I wander through each chartered street,
Near where the chartered Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet,
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,
In every infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper's cry
Every blackening church appals,
And the hapless soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear
How the youthful harlot's curse
Blasts the new-born infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse.

Feel free to add other verses of his that you like.

Comments

  • stonemuse
    stonemuse Posts: 34,082
    Oi Henry - you took the best one !

    I was angry with my friend:
    I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
    I was angry with my foe:
    I told it not, my wrath did grow.

    And I watered it in fears,
    Night and morning with my tears;
    And I sunnèd it with smiles,
    And with soft deceitful wiles.

    And it grew both day and night,
    Till it bore an apple bright;
    And my foe beheld it shine,
    And he knew that it was mine,

    And into my garden stole,
    When the night had veiled the pole:
    In the morning glad I see
    My foe outstretched beneath the tree.
  • Henry Irving
    Henry Irving Posts: 85,322
    Good one Stone Muse.

    Those of you who work in the City could always pop up to his grave in Bunhill Fields