London – William Blake Poem

by
  1. I wander thro’ each charter’d street,
  2. Near where the charter’d Thames does flow,
  3. And mark in every face I meet
  4. Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
  5. In every cry of every Man,
  6. In every Infant’s cry of fear,
  7. In every voice, in every ban,
  8. The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
  9. How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry
  10. Every black’ning Church appalls;
  11. And the hapless Soldier’s sigh
  12. Runs in blood down Palace walls.
  13. But most thro’ midnight streets I hear
  14. How the youthful Harlot’s curse
  15. Blasts the new-born Infant’s tear,
  16. And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.