Song: My silks and fine array
Song: My silks and fine array
Original Text
William Blake, Poetical Sketches (London, 1783). D-10 1987 Fisher Rare Book Library (Toronto).
2 My smiles and languish'd air,
3By love are driv'n away;
4 And mournful lean Despair
5Brings me yew to deck my grave:
6Such end true lovers have.
7His face is fair as heav'n,
8 When springing buds unfold;
9O why to him was't giv'n,
10 Whose heart is wintry cold?
11His breast is love's all worship'd tomb,
12Where all love's pilgrims come.
13Bring me an axe and spade,
14 Bring me a winding sheet;
15When I my grave have made,
16 Let winds and tempests beat:
17Then down I'll lie, as cold as clay,
18True love doth pass away!
Notes
1] This was first published in Poetical Sketches, a collection of Blake's juvenile poetry, printed by private subscription in 1783. This song is said on contemporary authority to have been written by Blake at about the age of fourteen. Back to Line
Publication Start Year
1783
RPO poem Editors
Northrop Frye
RPO Edition
3RP 2.276.
Rhyme