The Angel. Songs of Experience. William Blake. 1908. The Poetical Works

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William Blake (1757–1827). The Poetical Works. 1908.

Songs of Experience

The Angel


I DREAMT 1 a dream! what can it mean?
And that I was a maiden Queen,
Guarded by an Angel mild:
Witless woe was ne’er beguil’d!

And I wept both night and day,	5
And he wip’d my tears away,
And I wept both day and night,
And hid from him my heart’s delight.

So he took his wings and fled;
Then the morn blush’d rosy red;	10
I dried my tears, and arm’d my fears
With ten thousand shields and spears.

Soon my Angel came again:
I was arm’d, he came in vain;
For the time of youth was fled,	15
And grey hairs were on my head.

Note 1. The Angel] 15, 16 The same lines with a few slight verbal changes had been used by Blake as the final couplets to two poems in the Rossetti MS., ‘Infant Sorrow’ (p.116), and ‘In a Myrtle Shade’ (p. 119). 15 For] But MS. 1st rdg. del. [back]

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