Poem by William Blake

The Crystal Cabinet

THE MAIDEN caught me in the wild,	
Where I was dancing merrily;	
She put me into her Cabinet,	
And lock’d me up with a golden key.	
 
This Cabinet is form’d of gold	
And pearl and crystal shining bright,	
And within it opens into a world	
And a little lovely moony night.	
 
Another England there I saw,	
Another London with its Tower,
Another Thames and other hills,	
And another pleasant Surrey bower,	
 
Another Maiden like herself,	
Translucent, lovely, shining clear,	
Threefold each in the other clos’d—
O, what a pleasant trembling fear!	
 
O, what a smile! a threefold smile	
Fill’d me, that like a flame I burn’d;	
I bent to kiss the lovely Maid,	
And found a threefold kiss return’d.
 
I strove to seize the inmost form	
With ardour fierce and hands of flame,	
But burst the Crystal Cabinet,	
And like a weeping Babe became—	
 
A weeping Babe upon the wild,
And weeping Woman pale reclin’d,	
And in the outward air again	
I fill’d with woes the passing wind.

1. Songs of Experience. The Little Girl Found
2. To the Accuser Who Is the God of This World
3. Songs of Experience. Nurse's Song
4. Eternity
5. Songs of Experience. The Sick Rose

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