Jump to content

Page:The Poems of William Blake (Shepherd, 1887).djvu/127

From Wikisource
This page has been validated.
INNOCENCE.
105

CAN I see another's woe,
And not be in sorrow too?
Can I see another's grief,
And not seek for kind relief?


Can I see a falling tear,
And not feel my sorrow's share?
Can a father see his child
Weep, nor be with sorrow fill'd?


Can a mother sit and hear
An infant groan, an infant fear?
No, no, never can it be,
Never, never can it be.


And can he who smiles on all
Hear the wren with sorrrows small,
Hear the small bird's grief and care,
Hear the woes that infants bear,


And not sit beside the nest,
Pouring pity in their breast;
And not sit the cradle near,
Weeping tear on infant's tear;


And not sit both night and day,
Wiping all our tears away?
O! no, never can it be,
Never, never can it be.