Skip to content
ReadingWillow structured literacy program for Australian students

The Human Abstract

William Blake·1757–1827
Lines:24Movement:Romanticism
Pity would be no moreIf we did not make somebody poor,And Mercy no more could beIf all were as happy as we. And mutual fear brings Peace,Till the selfish loves increase;Then Cruelty knits a snare,And spreads his baits with care. He sits down with his holy fears,And waters the ground with tears;Then Humility takes its rootUnderneath his foot. Soon spreads the dismal shadeOf Mystery over his head,And the caterpillar and flyFeed on the Mystery. And it bears the fruit of Deceit,Ruddy and sweet to eat,And the raven his nest has madeIn its thickest shade. The gods of the earth and seaSought through nature to find this tree,But their search was all in vain:There grows one in the human Brain.