Page:William Blake, a critical essay (Swinburne).djvu/144

their minute obscure world and straitened limits of living. No typical churchwarden or clerk of the parish could rub on in a more taciturn modest manner, or seem able to make himself happy with smaller things. It may be as well for us to hear his own account of the matter:

PRAYER.

I.

I rose up at the dawn of day;
'Get thee away; get thee away!
Pray'st thou for riches? away, away!
This is the throne of Mammon grey.'

II.

Said I, 'This sure is very odd;
I took it to be the throne of God;
For everything besides I have;
It is only for riches that I can crave.

III.

'I have mental joys and mental health,
And mental friends and mental wealth;
I've a wife I love and that loves me;
I've all but riches bodily;

IV.

'Then, if for riches I must not pray,
God knows I little of prayers need say;
So, as a church is known by its steeple,
If I pray, it must be for other people.

V.

'I am in God's presence night and day,
And he never turns his face away;
The accuser of sins by my side does stand,
And he holds my money-bag in his hand;

VI.

'For my worldly things God makes him pay,
And he'd pay for more if to him I would pray;
And so you may do the worst you can do,
Be assured, Mr. Devil, I won't pray to you.