Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. III. The Eighteenth Century: Addison to Blake

William Blake (1757–1827)

Extracts from Poetical Sketches: Song: ‘Memory, hither come’

MEMORY, hither come

And tune your merry notes;

And while upon the wind

Your music floats,

I ’ll pore upon the stream

Where sighing lovers dream,

And fish for fancies as they pass

Within the watery glass.

I ’ll drink of the clear stream,

And hear the linnet’s song,

And there I ’ll lie and dream

The day along;

And when night comes I ’ll go

To places fit for woe,

Walking along the darkened valley,

With silent Melancholy.