Tag Archives: William Blake

FIVE WISE LINES [December 2025]

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William Blake painting of Urizen praying to the world he created, an illustration from "Song of Los."
William Blake:
Urizen prays to the world he created (1795)
Song of Los

I must create a system
or be enslaved by another man’s…

william blake; Jerusalem: The emanation of the great albion

Saying Yoga exists to make one more flexible
is like saying that it exists to wring farts out of one’s body,
both will happen — neither is the primary objective.

Me

He that is without sin among you,
let him first cast a stone at her…

JESUS; John 8:7

The best government is that which governs least.

Henry david thoreau, Civil Disobedience

Gods always behave like the people who make them…

zora neale hurston; Tell my horse

PROMPT: Favorite Artists

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Daily writing prompt
Who are your favorite artists?
View all responses

Those who cross boundaries. William Blake with painting and poetry. Yue Fei with martial and poetic arts. Rabindranath Tagore with music and poetry. Da Vinci with painting and sculpture. Weird Al with accordion music and comedy.

Song – “My silks and fine array” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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My silks and fine array,
         My smiles and languish'd air,
By love are driv'n away;
         And mournful lean Despair
Brings me yew to deck my grave:
Such end true lovers have.

His face is fair as heav'n,
         When springing buds unfold;
O why to him was't giv'n,
         Whose heart is wintry cold?
His breast is love's all worship'd tomb,
Where all love's pilgrims come.

Bring me an axe and spade,
         Bring me a winding sheet;
When I my grave have made,
         Let winds and tempests beat:
Then down I'll lie, as cold as clay. 
True love doth pass away!

“I fear’d the fury of my wind” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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I fear’d the fury of my wind
 Would blight all blossoms fair & true,
 And my sun it shin’d & shin’d,
 And my wind it never blew.

But a blossom fair or true
 Was not found on any tree;
 For all blossoms grew & grew
 Fruitless, false, tho’ fair to see.

“I Asked a Thief To Steal Me a Peach” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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I asked a thief to steal me a peach:
 He turn'd up his eyes.
 I ask'd a lithe lady to lie her down:
 Holy and meek she cries.

As soon as I went an angel came:
 He wink'd at the thief
 And smil'd at the dame,
 And without one word spoke
 Had a peach from the tree,
 And 'twixt earnest and joke
 Enjoy'd the Lady.

“Mad Song” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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The wild winds weep, 
         And the night is a-cold;
 Come hither, Sleep,
         And my griefs infold:
 But lo! the morning peeps
         Over the eastern steeps,
 And the rustling birds of dawn
 The earth do scorn.

Lo! to the vault
         Of paved heaven,
 With sorrow fraught
         My notes are driven:
 They strike the ear of night,
         Make weep the eyes of day;
 They make mad the roaring winds,
         And with tempests play.

Like a fiend in a cloud 
         With howling woe,
  After night I do croud,
         And with night will go;
  I turn my back to the east,
  From whence comforts have increas'd;
  For light doth seize my brain
  With frantic pain.

“The Human Abstract” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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Pity would be no more
 If we did not make somebody Poor;
 And Mercy no more could be
 If all were happy as we.

And mutual fear brings peace,
 Till the selfish loves increase;
 Then Cruelty knits a snare,
 And spreads his baits with care.

He sits down with holy fears,
 And waters the ground with tears;
 Then Humility takes its root
 Underneath his foot.

Soon spreads the dismal shade
 Of Mystery over his head;
 And the Catterpiller and Fly
 Feed on the Mystery.

And it bears the fruit of Deceit,
 Ruddy and sweet to eat;
 And the Raven his nest has made
 In its thickest shade.

The Gods of the earth and sea
 Sought thro' Nature to find this Tree;
 But their search was all in vain:
 There grows one in the Human Brain.

“Laughing Song” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
 And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
 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 Emily
 With their sweet round mouths sing 'Ha, Ha, He!'

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
 Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread,
 Come live & be merry, and join with me,
 To sing the sweet chorus of 'Ha, Ha, He!'

“The Blossom” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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Merry, Merry Sparrow!
 Under leaves so green
 A happy Blossom
 Sees you swift as arrow
 Seek your cradle narrow
 Near my Bosom.
  
Pretty, Pretty Robin!
 Under leaves so green
 A happy Blossom
 Hears you sobbing, sobbing,
 Pretty, Pretty Robin,
 Near my bosom.

“To the Muse” by William Blake [w/ Audio]

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Whether on Ida's shady brow,
   Or in the chambers of the East,
 The chambers of the sun, that now
   From antient melody have ceas'd;

Whether in Heav'n ye wander fair,
   Or the green corners of the earth,
 Or the blue regions of the air,
   Where the melodious winds have birth;

Whether on chrystal rocks ye rove,
   Beneath the bosom of the sea
 Wand'ring in many a coral grove,
   Fair Nine, forsaking Poetry!

How have you left the antient love
   That bards of old enjoy'd in you!
 The languid strings do scarely move!
   The sound is forc'd, the notes are few!