Page:The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals (1905).djvu/172

The School Boy I love to rise in a summer morn i When the birds sing on every tree ; The distant huntsman winds his horn, And the sky-lark sings with me. O ! what sweet company. But to go to school in a summer morn, 6 O ! it drives all joy away ; Under a cruel eye outworn. The little ones spend the day In sighing and dismay. Ah I then at times I drooping sit, ii And spend many an anxious hour, Nor in my book can I take delight. Nor sit in learning's bower. Worn thro' with the dreary shower. How can the bird that is born for joy i6 Sit in a cage and sing; How can a child, when fears annoy, But droop his tender wing, And forget his youthful spring? O ! father & mother, if buds are nip'd 21 And blossoms blown away, And if the tender plants are strip'd Of their joy in the springing day. By sorrow and care's dismay. Engraved upon a single plate, reprinted from an electrotype of the original copper in Gilchrist's Life (ii. end). Not in the MS. Book. This song, like 'The Little Girl Lost,' 'The Little Girl Found,' and 'The Voice of the Ancient Bard,' originally formed one of the Songs of Innocence, -where, in the early issues, it is always printed as verso to the last plate of 'Spring.' On the completion of the Songs of Experience Blake, in most cases, transferred these poems to the latter series. In the editions of Wilkinson and Shepherd ' The School Boy ' appears among the Songs of Innocence. See Bibliographical Preface to the Songs. I in] on all except Shep., WBY. 2 When . . . sing] When birds are singing DGR, WMR, EY.