14 quotes
Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a heaven in hell's despair.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Cruelty has a human heart,
And Jealousy a human face;
Terror the human form divine,
And Secrecy the human dress.
Songs of Experience (1794)
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.
Songs of Experience (1794)
O Rose thou art sick.
The invisible worm,
That flies in the night
In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Turn away no more;
Why wilt thou turn away?
The starry floor,
The watery shore
Is given thee till the break of day.
Songs of Experience (1794)
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.
Songs of Experience (1794)
But most, thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
Songs of Experience (1794)
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.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Pity would be no more
If we did not make somebody Poor;
And Mercy no more could be
If all were as happy as we.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite.
Songs of Experience (1794)
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn,
The humble sheep a threat'ning horn:
While the Lily white shall in love delight,
Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Children of the future Age
Reading this indignant page,
Know that in a former time
Love! sweet Love! was thought a crime.
Songs of Experience (1794)
My mother groan'd! my father wept.
Into the dangerous world I leapt:
Helpless, naked, piping loud:
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.
Songs of Experience (1794)
Hear the voice of the Bard,
Who present, past, and future, sees;
Whose ears have heard
The Holy Word
That walked among the ancient trees.
Songs of Experience (1794)