‘Where are thy father and mother? say?’
‘They are both gone up to the church to pray.
Because I was happy upon the heath,
And smil’d among the winter’s snow,
They clothed me in the clothes of death,
And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
And because I am happy and dance and sing,
They think they have done me no injury,
And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King,
Who make up a heaven of our misery.’
Awake the dawn that sleeps in heaven; let lightRise from the chambers of the east, and bringThe honey’d dew that cometh on waking day.O radiant morning, salute the sunRous’d like a huntsman to the chase, and withThy buskin’d feet appear upon our hills.
Helpless, naked, piping loud,Like a fiend hid in a cloud.Struggling in my father’s hands,Striving against my swaddling bands,Bound and weary, I thought bestTo sulk upon my mother’s breast.
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;when the meadows laugh with lively green,And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,When Mary and Susan and EmilyWith their sweet round mouths sing ‘Ha, ha he!’When the painted birds laugh in the shade,Where our table with cherries…
But he who kisses the joy as it fliesLives in eternity’s sun rise.
And gave him a place in the north,Obscure, shadowy, void, solitary.Eternals I hear your call gladly,Dictate swift winged words, & fear notTo unfold your dark visions of torment.
She put me into her Cabinet,And lock’d me up with a golden key.This cabinet is form’d of goldAnd pearl and crystal shining bright,And within it opens into a worldAnd a little lovely moony night.Another England there I sawAnother London with its Tower,Another Thames and other hills,And another pleasant Surrey bower.Another Maiden like herself,Translucent, lovely, shining…
