She binds iron thorns around his head, 13
She pierces both his hands & feet,
She cuts his heart out at his side.
To make it feel both cold & heat.
Her fingers number every Nerve, 17
Just as a Miser counts his gold;
She lives upon his shrieks & cries.
And she grows young as he grows old.
Till he becomes a bleeding youth, 21
And she becomes a Virgin bright;
Then he rends up his Manacles,
And binds her down for his delight.
He plants himself in all her Nerves, 25
Just as a Husbandman his mould;
And she becomes his dwelling-place
And Garden fruitful seventy-fold.
See also Jerusalem, f. 80, l. 81, and f. 67, l. 61.13 iron] strong DGR.: around] about EY.Cp. Jerusalem, f. 66, l. 23, where the daughters of Albion, torturing their victim, 'bind his forehead with thorns of iron.' 17 Cp. Four Zoas, Night i, ll, 114-6:—
'every nerve
She counted, every vein & lacteal, threading them among
Her woof of terror. Terrified, & drinking tears of woe.'
See also Jerusalem, f. 22, 1. 20.27, 28 By dwelling in a garden of delight Blake symbolizes man in a state of unity whose 'spectre' and 'emanation' are not divided. Cp. Four Zoas, Night vii, 11. 265-71:—
'The Spectre said, Thou lovely Vision, this delightful Tree
Is given us for a Shelter from the tempests of void & Solid,
Till once again the morn of ages shall renew upon us,
To reunite in those mild fields of happy Eternity,
Where thou & I in undivided Essence walk'd about
Imbodied,—thou my garden of Delight, & I the spirit in the garden,
Mutual there we dwelt, in one anothers joy revolving.'
See also ibid., Night vii, 11. 717-719:—
'Tharmas repli'd: "O! Vala, once I liv'd in a garden of delight:
I watered Enion in the morning & she lived away
Among the apple trees"';
and Jerusalem, f. 7, 11. 14, 15:—
'thy stolen Emanation
Is his garden of pleasure.'
