Poetry by... William Blake

Another one of my favourites:

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,
Night and morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright.
And my foe beheld it shine.
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

-William Blake: A Poison Tree

Poetry by... William Blake

One of my favourite Blake poems:

To see a world in a grain of sand / And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand / And eternity in an hour.
A robin redbreast in a cage / Puts all heaven in a rage.
A dove-house filled with doves and pigeons / Shudders hell through all its regions.
A dog starved at his master's gate / Predicts the ruin of the state.
A horse misused upon the road / Calls to heaven for human blood...

...The winner's shout, the loser's curse, / Dance before dead England's hearse.
Every night and every morn / Some to misery are born.
Every morn and every night / Some are born to sweet delight.
Some are born to sweet delight, / Some are born to endless night.
We are led to believe a lie / When we see not through the eye
Which was born in a night to perish in a night, / When the soul slept in beams of light.
God appears, and God is light / To those poor souls who dwell in night,
But does a human form display / To those who dwell in realms of day.

-William Blake: The Auguries of Innocence