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Home  »  The Oxford Book of English Verse  »  488. Hear the Voice

Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919. The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250–1900.

William Blake. 1757–1827

488. Hear the Voice

HEAR the voice of the Bard, 
Who present, past, and future, sees; 
Whose ears have heard 
The Holy Word 
That walk’d among the ancient trees;         5
 
Calling the lapsèd soul, 
And weeping in the evening dew; 
That might control 
The starry pole, 
And fallen, fallen light renew!  10
 
‘O Earth, O Earth, return! 
Arise from out the dewy grass! 
Night is worn, 
And the morn 
Rises from the slumbrous mass.  15
 
‘Turn away no more; 
Why wilt thou turn away? 
The starry floor, 
The watery shore, 
Is given thee till the break of day.’  20