by William Blake

With happiness stretchd across the hills

In a cloud that dewy sweetness distills

With a blue sky spread over with wings

And a mild sun that mounts & sings

With trees & fields full of Fairy elves

And little devils who fight for themselves

Remembring the Verses that Hayley sung

When my heart knockd against the root of my tongue

With Angels planted in Hawthorn bowers

And God himself in the passing hours

With Silver Angels across my way

And Golden Demons that none can stay

With my Father hovering upon the wind

And my Brother Robert just behind

And my Brother John the evil one

In a black cloud making his mone

Tho dead they appear upon my path

Notwithstanding my terrible wrath

They beg they intreat they drop their tears

Filld full of hopes filld full of fears

With a thousand Angels upon the Wind

Pouring disconsolate from behind

To drive them off & before my way

A frowning Thistle implores my stay

What to others a trifle appears

Fills me full of smiles or tears

For double the vision my Eyes do see

And a double vision is always with me

With my inward Eye 'tis an old Man grey

With my outward a Thistle across my way

“If thou goest back the thistle said

Thou art to endless woe betrayd

For here does Theotormon lower

And here is Enitharmons bower

And Los the terrible thus hath sworn

Because thou backward dost return

Poverty Envy old age & fear

Shall bring thy Wife upon a bier

And Butts shall give what Fuseli gave

A dark black Rock & a gloomy Cave.”

I struck the Thistle with my foot

And broke him up from his delving root

“Must the duties of life each other cross”

“Must every joy be dung & dross”

“Must my dear Butts feel cold neglect”

“Because I give Hayley his due respect'

“Must Flaxman look upon me as wild”

“And all my friends be with doubts beguild'

“Must my Wife live in my Sisters bane”

“Or my sister survive on my Loves pain'

“The curses of Los the terrible shade”

“And his dismal terrors make me afraid”

So I spoke & struck in my wrath

The old man weltering upon my path

Then Los appeard in all his power

In the Sun he appeard descending before

My face in fierce flames in my double sight

Twas outward a Sun: inward Los in his might

“My hands are labourd day & night”

“And Ease comes never in my sight”

“My Wife has no indulgence given”

“Except what comes to her from heaven”

“We eat little we drink less”

“This Earth breeds not our happiness”

“Another Sun feeds our lifes streams”

“We are not warmed with thy beams”

“Thou measurest not the Time to me”

“Nor yet the Space that I do see”

“My Mind is not with thy light arrayd”

“Thy terrors shall not make me afraid”

When I had my Defiance given

The Sun stood trembling in heaven

The Moon that glowd remote below

Became leprous & white as snow

And every Soul of men on the Earth

Felt affliction & sorrow & sickness & dearth

Los flamd in my path & the Sun was hot

With the bows of my Mind & the Arrows of Thought

My bowstring fierce with Ardour breathes

My arrows glow in their golden sheaves

My brothers & father march before

The heavens drop with human gore

Now I a fourfold vision see

And a fourfold vision is given to me

Tis fourfold in my supreme delight

And three fold in soft Beulahs night

And twofold Always. May God us keep

From Single vision & Newtons sleep

Colophon

This archival text follows the English Wikisource page With_happiness_stretchd_across_the_hills, rendered or exported on June 2, 2026. The underlying text is William Blake's public-domain work; the Wikisource transcription layer is preserved here as an archival public source witness.

Source URL: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/With_happiness_stretchd_across_the_hills

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