William Blake

From Auguries of Innocence

To see a world in a grain of sand

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand

And eternity in an hour.


A robin redbreast in a cage

Puts all Heaven in a rage.

A dove house fill'd with doves and pigeons

Shudders Hell thro' all its regions.


A dog starv'd at his master's gate

Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misus'd upon the road

Calls to Heaven for human blood.


Each outcry of the hunted hare

A fibre from the brain does tear.

A skylark wounded in the wing,

A Cherubim does cease to sing.


The game cock clipp'd and arm'd for fight

Does the rising Sun affright.

Every wolf's and lion's howl

Raises from Hell a human soul.


He who respects the infant's faith

Triumphs over Hell and Death.

The child's toys and the old man's reasons

Are the fruits of the two seasons.


The questioner, who sits so sly,

Shall never know how to reply.

He who replies to words of doubt

Doth put the light of Knowledge out.