Oh no! never can it be!

Never, never can it be!
He doth give his joy to all:

He becomes an infant small,
He becomes a man of woe,

He doth feel the sorrow too.
Think not thou canst sigh a sigh,

And thy Maker is not by:
Think not thou canst weep a tear,

And thy Maker is not year.
Oh He gives to us his joy,

That our grief He may destroy:
Till our grief is fled an gone

He doth sit by us and moan.
SONGS OF EXPERIENCE

INTRODUCTION
Hear the voice of the Bard,

Who present, past, and future, sees;
Whose ears have heard

The Holy Word
That walked among the ancient tree;

Calling the lapsed soul,
And weeping in the evening dew;

That might control
The starry pole,

And fallen, fallen light renew!
"O Earth, O Earth, return!

Arise from out the dewy grass!
Night is worn,

And the morn
Rises from the slumbrous mass.

"Turn away no more;
Why wilt thou turn away?

The starry floor,
The watery shore,

Are given thee till the break of day."
EARTH'S ANSWER

Earth raised up her head
From the darkness dread and drear,

Her light fled,
Stony, dread,

And her locks covered with grey despair.
"Prisoned on watery shore,

Starry jealousy" target="_blank" title="n.妒忌；猜忌">jealousy does keep my den
Cold and hoar;

Weeping o're,
I hear the father of the ancient men.

"Selfish father of men!
Cruel, jealous, selfish fear!

Can delight,
Chained in night,

The virgins of youth and morning bear?
"Does spring hide its joy,

When buds and blossoms grow?
Does the sower

Sow by night,
Or the plowman in darkness plough?

"Break this heavy chain,
That does freeze my bones around!

Selfish, vain,
Eternal bane,

That free love with bondage bound."
THE CLOD AND THE PEBBLE

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,

But for another gives it ease,
And builds a heaven in hell's despair."

So sang a little clod of clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,

But a pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,

Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a hell in heaven's despite."

HOLY THURSDAY
Is this a holy thing to see

In a rich and fruitful land, --
Babes reduced to misery,

Fed with cold and usurous hand?
Is that trembling cry a song?

Can it be a song of joy?
And so many children poor?

It is a land of poverty!
And their son does never shine,

And their fields are bleak and bare,
And their ways are filled with thorns:

It is eternal winter there.
For where'er the sun does shine,

And where'er the rain does fall,
Babes should never hunger there,

Nor poverty the mind appall.
THE LITTLE GIRL LOST

In futurity
I prophetic see

That the earth from sleep
(Grave the sentence deep)

Shall arise, and seek
for her Maker meek;

And the desert wild
Become a garden mild.

In the southern clime,
Where the summer's prime

Never fades away,
Lovely Lyca lay.

Seven summers old
Lovely Lyca told.

She had wandered long,
Hearing wild birds' song.

"Sweet sleep, come to me
Underneath this tree;

Do father, mother, weep?
Where can Lyca sleep?

"Lost in desert wild
Is your little child.

How can Lyca sleep
If her mother weep?

"If her heart does ache,
Then let Lyca wake;

If my mother sleep,
Lyca shall not weep.

"Frowning, frowning night,
O'er this desert bright

Let thy moon arise,
While I close my eyes."

Sleeping Lyca lay
While the beasts of prey,

Come from caverns deep,
Viewed the maid asleep.

The kingly lion stood,
And the virgin viewed:

Then he gambolled round
O'er the hallowed ground.

Leopards, tigers, play
Round her as she lay;

While the lion old
Bowed his mane of gold,

And her breast did lick
And upon her neck,

From his eyes of flame,
Ruby tears there came;

While the lioness
Loosed her slender dress,

And naked they conveyed
To caves the sleeping maid.

THE LITTLE GIRL FOUND
All the night in woe

Lyca's parents go
Over valleys deep,

While the deserts weep.
Tired and woe-begone,

Hoarse with making moan,
Arm in arm, seven days

They traced the desert ways.
Seven nights they sleep

Among shadows deep,
And dream they see their child

Starved in desert wild.
Pale through pathless ways

The fancied image strays,
Famished, weeping, weak,

With hollow piteous shriek.
Rising from unrest,

The trembling woman presse
With feet of weary woe;

She could no further go.
In his arms he bore

Her, armed with sorrow sore;
Till before their way

A couching lion lay.
Turning back was vain:

Soon his heavy mane
Bore them to the ground,

Then he stalked around,
Smelling to his prey;

But their fears allay
When he licks their hands,

And silent by them stands.
They look upon his eyes,

Filled with deep surprise;
And wondering behold

A spirit armed in gold.
On his head a crown,

On his shoulders down
Flowed his golden hair.

Gone was all their care.
"Follow me," he said;

"Weep not for the maid;
In my palace deep,

Lyca lies asleep."
Then they followed

Where the vision led,
And saw their sleeping child

Among tigers wild.
To this day they dwell

In a lonely dell,
Nor fear the wolvish howl

Nor the lion's growl.
THE CHIMNEY SWEEPER

A little black thing in the snow,
Crying "weep! weep!" in notes of woe!

• infant [´infənt] n.&a.婴(幼)儿 (初中英语单词)
• jealous [´dʒeləs] a.妒忌的 (初中英语单词)
• selfish [´selfiʃ] a.自私的，利己的 (初中英语单词)
• freeze [fri:z] v.结冰；凝固；冷淡 (初中英语单词)
• eternal [i´tə:nəl] a.永远的；永恒的 (初中英语单词)
• hunger [´hʌŋgə] n.饥饿；渴望 (初中英语单词)
• poverty [´pɔvəti] n.贫穷(乏，瘠)；不足 (初中英语单词)
• sentence [´sentəns] n.判决 vt.宣判；处刑 (初中英语单词)
• slender [´slendə] a.细长的；微薄的 (初中英语单词)
• sleeping [´sli:piŋ] n.&a.睡着(的) (初中英语单词)
• vision [´viʒən] n.视觉；想象力；幻影 (初中英语单词)
• lonely [´ləunli] a.孤独的；无人烟的 (初中英语单词)
• jealousy [´dʒeləsi] n.妒忌；猜忌 (高中英语单词)
• pebble [´pebəl] n.卵石 v.(用卵石)铺 (高中英语单词)
• fruitful [´fru:tfəl] a.成功的；丰富的 (高中英语单词)
• virgin [´və:dʒin] a.处女(般)的 n.处女 (高中英语单词)
• starry [´stɑ:ri] a.星光照耀的，闪亮的 (英语四级单词)
• bondage [´bɔndidʒ] n.奴役；束缚 (英语四级单词)
• kingly [´kiŋli] a.国王的 ad.国王似地 (英语四级单词)
• hallowed [´hæləud] a.神圣的，崇高的 (英语四级单词)
• weeping [´wi:piŋ] a.&n.哭泣(的) (英语六级单词)
• watery [´wɔ:təri] a.水的；像水的 (英语六级单词)
• prophetic [prə´fetik] a.预言(家)的；预示的 (英语六级单词)