POEMS FROM THE PROPHETIC BOOKS
From
THE BOOK OF THEL
Thel's Motto
Does the Eagle know what is in the pit;
Or wilt thou go ask the Mole?
Can Wisdom be put in a silver rod,
Or Love in a golden bowl?
Thel, f. I. DGR and WMR omit title.
3, 4. These lines occur in a passage in Tiriel of which all but ll. 1, 2 and 4 were deleted by Blake.
'He said, "O weak, mistaken, father of a lawless race!
Thy laws, O Har! & Tiriel's wisdom, end together in a curse.
Thy God of Love, thy heaven of joy!
Why is one law given to the lion &c the [Ox del.] patient Ox?
Dost thou not see that men cannot be formed all alike;
Some nostril'd wide, breathing out blood; Some close shut up
In silent deceit, poisons inhaling from the morning rose,
With daggers hid beneath their lips, & poison in their tongue;
Or eyed with little sparks of Hell, or with infernal brands
Flinging flames of discontent & plagues of dark despair;
Or those whose mouths are graves, whose teeth the gates of eternal death?
Can wisdom be put in a silver rod, or love in a golden bowl?
Is the sun a king warmed without wool, or does he cry with a voice
Of thunder; does he look upon the sun & laugh, or stretch
His little hands unto the depths of the sea to bring forth
The deadly cunning of the scaly tribe <nowiki>[<nowiki>word above illegible] & spread it to the morning?"'
4 Cp. note to song from An Island in the Moon, iii, l. 27, and to 'The Golden Net' (Pickering MS.), l. 9. From THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL
Prayers plow not: Praises reap not.
Joys laugh not: Sorrows weep not.
Marriage of Heaven and Hell, f. 9, two last lines. Among the 'Proverbs of Hell,' the rest being in prose. Cp. one of the preceding proverbs, 'As the plow follows words, so God rewards prayers.'
