Page:The Poems of William Blake (Shepherd, 1887).djvu/46

The armies stand, like balances
Held in the Almighty's hand;—
"Gwin, thou hast fill'd thy measure up,
"Thou'rt swept from out the land."
 
And now the raging armies rush'd
Like warring mighty seas;
The heavens are shook with roaring war,
The dust ascends the skies!
 
Earth smokes with blood, and groans and shakes,
To drink her children's gore,
A sea of blood; nor can the eye
See to the trembling shore!
 
And on the verge of this wild sea
Famine and death doth cry;
The cries of women and of babes
Over the field doth fly.
 
The king is seen raging afar,
With all his men of might;
Like blazing comets scattering death
Thro' the red feverous night.
 
Beneath his arm like sheep they die,
And groan upon the plain;
The battle faints, and bloody men
Fight upon hills of slain.