Jerusalem. The Emanation of the Giant Albion/Plate 28

by William Blake

Jerusalem The Emanation of The Giant Albion, copy E, object 28 (Bentley 5, Erdman 28, Keynes 28)

[ PLATE 28 ]

Jerusalem. Chap: 2.

Every ornament of perfection, and every labour of love, In all the Garden of Eden, & in all the golden mountainsWas become an envied horror, and a remembrance of jealousy: And every Act a Crime, and Albion the punisher & judge.

5And Albion spoke from his secret seat and saidAll these ornaments are crimes, they are made by the laboursOf loves: of unnatural consanguinities and friendshipsHorrid to think of when enquired deeply into; and allThese hills & valleys are accursed witnesses of Sin10I therefore condense them into solid rocks, stedfast!A foundation and certainty and demonstrative truth: That Man be separate from Man, & here I plant my seat.

Cold snows drifted around him: ice coverd his loins aroundHe sat by Tyburns brook, and underneath his heel, shot up! 15A deadly Tree, he nam'd it Moral Virtue, and the LawOf God who dwells in Chaos hidden from the human sight.

The Tree spread over him its cold shadows, (Albion groand) They bent down, they felt the earth and again enrootingShot into many a Tree! an endless labyrinth of woe!

20From willing sacrifice of Self, to sacrifice of (miscall'd) EnemiesFor Atonement: Albion began to erect twelve Altars, Of rough unhewn rocks, before the Potters FurnaceHe nam'd them Justice, and Truth. And Albions SonsMust have become the first Victims, being the first transgressors25But they fled to the mountains to seek ransom: building A StrongFortification against the Divine Humanity and Mercy, In Shame & Jealousy to annihilate Jerusalem!