Thursday, May 28, 2009

William Blake: On Another's Sorrow

Can I see another's woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another's grief,
And not seek for kind relief?


Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrow's share?
Can a father see his child
Weep, nor be with sorrow fill'd?




Can a mother sit and hear
An infant groan an infant fear?
No, no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!



And can he who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrows small,
Hear the small bird's grief & care,
Hear the woes the infants bear,



And not sit beside the nest,
Pouring pity in their breast;
And not sit the cradle near,
Weeping tear on infants tear;



And not sit both night and day,
Wiping all our tears away?
O, no! never can it be!
Never, never can it be!



He doth give his joy to all;
He becomes an infant small;
He becomes a man of woe;
He doth feel the sorrow too.



Think not thou canst sigh a sigh
And thy maker is not by;
Think not thou canst weep tear
And thy maker is not near.



O! he gives to us his joy
That our grief he may destroy;
Till our grief is fled & gone
He doth sit by us and moan.

9 comments:

Alex Robinson said...

Beautiful Devin - exactly so, this is how I know the human heart is good & something 'other' puts fear & ugliness into this world.

AND guess what... the word veri was 'POWER' - how wonderful is that!!

Everything good to you my friend

Devin said...

Hey alex-thanks so much for stopping by!! always great to see you here-was just going to bed-to lay down not sleep-I can tell another night of insomnia awaits-It was very interesting about this poem-I am also tempted to put it on my "maybe" list of paranormal things-altho I doubt it-I had not really wanted to do a post tonight-I had this one in mind for when I was ready-but this strong and I mean almost like a shout in my inner soul told me to put this up tonight-and I listened obviously-fantastic about the word veri!! all the best to you also my friend!!

Julie said...

Beautiful...thanks for sharing.

Sharon Day said...

Beautiful and poignant choice. It sets us apart from killer packs of great apes, that ability to feel compassion and empathy. It sucks that we have to be so sensitive, but without it we'd be sociopaths. In those moments of great sympathy like 9-1-1, folks become human again for a brief time before they close themselves off again. It reminded me that we're all alive still, even though we might be going through the motions.

Devin said...

Julie and Autumnforest thanks so much for your comments!! I so agree what happened after sept 11-we had all of that goodwill between each other and from folks in other nations-thinking back did it last even a year??? instead the American people were sold a pack of lies to invade a country that had nothing to do with sept 11 and the goodwill we had towards us evaporated as the Bush admin went out of its way to insult and demean some other nations not on board with the phony "War on Terror" -we Americans must find a way to help each other and feel empathy again -or it is all over for our so called Republic-best to both of you as always!!!

Anonymous said...

Lovely ... oh for the ideal unfallen world.

Devin said...

Aggie-I am so glad you enjoyed this-and I very much hope you are feeling better!! I think my health started going back downhill today so I am trying to drink a lot of juice and vitamin C-thanks so very much for stopping by and best to you as always!!

Nina said...

what beautiful words. compassion is at the heart of forgiveness and i believe it is what keeps us from totally destroying the planet and one another. it's what connects us for certain.

Devin said...

Nina thanks so very much for stopping by and commenting!! I am so glad you enjoyed this poem-it seems a lot of people did and that makes putting Blake's work here such a pleasure -I always get such wonderful comments from people like yourself too-all the best to you as always!!