O Saviour pour upon me thy Spirit of meekness & love: Annihilate the Selfhood in me, be thou all my life! Guide thou my hand which trembles excedingly upon the rock of ages, While I write of the building of Golgonooza, & of the terrors of Entuthon: Of Hand & Hyle & Coban, of Kwantok, Peachey, Brereton, Slayd & Hutton: Of the terrible sons & daughters of Albion, and their Generations.
Book of Religious Songs
Song Cycle by Rudolph T. Werther (1896 - 1986)
1. O saviour  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), appears in Jerusalem
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]2. Holy Thursday  [sung text not yet checked]
['Twas]1 on a holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean, The children walking two and two, in red and blue and green: Gray-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow, Till into the high dome of St Paul's they like Thames waters flow.2 O what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town! Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own. The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs, Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands.2 Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song, Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among; Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor: Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.2
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Holy Thursday", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 13, first published 1789
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View original text (without footnotes)1 Boughton: "It was"; further changes may exist not noted.
2 Wheeler adds: "Kyrie Eleison."
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
3. On another's sorrow  [sung text not yet checked]
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 filled? 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 sorrows small, Hear the small bird's grief and care, Hear the woes that infants bear -- And not sit beside the next, 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? 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 and gone He doth sit by us and moan.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "On another's sorrow", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 19, first published 1789
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]4. Spring  [sung text not yet checked]
Sound the Flute! Now [it's]1 mute. Birds delight Day and Night; Nightingale In the dale, Lark in Sky,2 Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, To welcome in the Year. Little Boy, Full of Joy; Little Girl, Sweet and small; Cock does crow, So do you; Merry voice, Infant noise; Merrily, Merrily, To welcome in the Year. Little Lamb, Here I am; Come and [lick My white neck;]3 Let me pull Your soft Wool; Let me kiss Your soft face; Merrily, Merrily, [We]4 welcome in the Year.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Spring", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 15, first published 1789
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View original text (without footnotes)1 MacNutt: "'tis"
2 Dougherty inserts "Out of sight" after this line
3 MacNutt: "play/ Hours away"
4 MacNutt: "To"
Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Garrett Medlock [Guest Editor]
5. O rose, thou art sick  [sung text not yet checked]
O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The sick rose", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 9, first published 1794
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "La rosa malalta", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- FRE French (Français) (Jean-Pierre Granger) , "La rose malade", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Walter A. Aue) , "Die erkrankte Rose", copyright © 2010, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- GER German (Deutsch) (Bertram Kottmann) , "Die kranke Rose", copyright © 2011, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- IRI Irish (Gaelic) [singable] (Gabriel Rosenstock) , copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- NYN Norwegian (Nynorsk) (Are Frode Søholt) , "Elegi", copyright © 2004, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Больная роза", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Pablo Sabat) , "Elegía"
6. Ah, sunflower  [sung text not yet checked]
Ah, Sun-flower! weary of time, Who countest the steps of the Sun; Seeking after that sweet golden clime, Where the traveller's journey is done: Where the Youth pined away with desire, And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow, Arise from their graves and aspire Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Ah! Sun-flower! weary of time", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 14, first published 1794
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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- FRE French (Français) (Guy Laffaille) , "Ah ! tournesol !", copyright © 2009, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- SPA Spanish (Español) (Elisa Rapado) , copyright © 2020, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
7. The shepherd  [sung text not yet checked]
How sweet is the Shepherd's sweet lot! From the morn to the evening he strays; He shall follow his sheep all the day, And his tongue shall be fillèd with praise. For he hears the lamb's innocent call, And he hears the ewe's tender reply; He is watchful [while]1 they are in peace, For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The shepherd", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 2, first published 1789
See other settings of this text.
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "El pastor", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
1 Cooke: "when"
Researcher for this page: Ted Perry