William Blake (1757–1827). The Poetical Works. 1908.
Songs of ExperienceLondon
I
Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every Infant’s cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
Every black’ning church appals;
And the hapless soldier’s sigh
Runs in blood down palace walls.
How the youthful harlot’s curse
Blasts the new-born infant’s tear,
And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.