I went to the Garden of Love And saw what I never had seen; A Chapel was built in the midst Where I used to play on the green And the gates of this Chapel were shut And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door; So I turned to the Garden of Love That so many sweet flowers bore And I saw it was filled with graves And tombstones where flowers should...Learn More

Pity would be no more If we did not make somebody poor And Mercy no more could be If all were as happy as we And mutual fear brings Peace Till the selfish loves increase; Then Cruelty knits a snare And spreads his baits with care He sits down with holy fears And waters the ground with tears; Then Humility takes its root Underneath his foot Soon...Learn More

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy And the dimpling stream runs laughing by; When the air does laugh with our merry wit And the green hill laughs with the noise of it; When the meadows laugh with lively green And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene; When Mary and Susan and Emily With their sweet round mouths sing ‘Ha ha...Learn More

Merry, merry sparrow! Under leaves so green A happy blossom Sees you, swift as arrow Seek your cradle narrow Near my bosom Pretty, pretty robin! Under leaves so green A happy blossom Hears you sobbing, sobbing Pretty, pretty robin Near my bosom...Learn More

The little boy lost in the lonely fen Led by the wandering light Began to cry, but God, ever nigh Appeared like his father, in white He kissed the child, and by the hand led And to his mother brought Who in sorrow pale, through the lonely dale Her little boy weeping sought...Learn More

When my mother died I was very young And my father sold me while yet my tongue Could scarcely cry ‘Weep! weep! weep! weep!’ So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep There’s little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head That curled like a lamb’s back, was shaved; so I said ‘Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head’s bare You know that the...Learn More

I wander through each chartered street Near where the chartered Thames does flow A mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe In every cry of every man In every infant’s cry of fear In every voice, in every ban The mind-forged manacles I hear: How the chimney-sweeper’s cry Every blackening church appals And the hapless soldier’s...Learn More

The sun descending in the West The evening star does shine; The birds are silent in their nest And I must seek for mine The moon, like a flower In heaven’s high bower With silent delight Sits and smiles on the night Farewell, green fields and happy groves Where flocks have took delight Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves The feet of angels...Learn More

’Twas on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean The children walking two and two, in red, and blue, and green: Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow Till into the high dome of Paul’s they like Thames waters flow O what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town! Seated in companies they sit, with radiance...Learn More

How sweet is the shepherd’s sweet lot! From the morn to the evening he strays; He shall follow his sheep all the day And his tongue shall be fillèd with praise For he hears the lambs’ innocent call And he hears the ewes’ tender reply; He is watchful while they are in peace For they know when their shepherd is nigh...Learn More

Piping down the valleys wild Piping songs of pleasant glee On a cloud I saw a child And he laughing said to me: ‘Pipe a song about a Lamb!’ So I piped with merry cheer ‘Piper, pipe that song again.’ So I piped: he wept to hear ‘Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe; Sing thy songs of happy cheer!’ So I sung the same again While he wept with joy to...Learn More

I die I die the Mother said My Children die for lack of Bread What more has the merciless Tyrant said The Monk sat down on the Stony Bed The blood red ran from the Grey Monks side His hands & feet were wounded wide His Body bent his arms & knees Like to the roots of ancient trees His eye was dry no tear could flow A hollow groan first spoke his...Learn More