William Blake (1757–1827). The Poetical Works. 1908.
Songs from An Island in The MoonIII. When Old Corruption first begun
W
Adorn’d in yellow vest,
He committed on Flesh a whoredom—
O, what a wicked beast!
And Old Corruption smil’d
To think his race should never end,
For now he had a child.
The babe with his own milk;
For Flesh and he could ne’er agree:
She would not let him suck.
And form’d a crooked knife,
And ran about with bloody hands
To seek his mother’s life.
He met with a dead woman.
He fell in love and married her—
A deed which is not common!
Scurvy and Spotted Fever,
The father grinn’d and skipt about,
And said ‘I’m made for ever!
I’ll try experiments.’
With that he tied poor Scurvy down,
And stopt up all its vents.
He shouted out aloud—
‘I’ve found the dropsy out, and soon
Shall do the world more good.’
And cut out all its spots;
And, thro’ the holes which he had made,
He first discover’d guts.