London

 I wander through each chartered street,

   Near where the chartered Thames does flow,

A mark in every face I meet,

   Marks of weakness, marks of woe.

In every cry of every man,

   In every infant’s cry of fear,

In every voice, in every ban,

   The mind-forged manacles I hear:

How the chimney-sweeper’s cry

   Every blackening church appals,

And the hapless soldier’s sigh

   Runs in blood down palace-walls.

But most, through midnight streets I hear

   How the youthful harlot’s curse

Blasts the new-born infant’s tear,

   And blights with plagues the marriage hearse. 

— William Blake (1757-1827)

I once saw a William Blake exhibition in the Tate. Lots of his writings, paintings and artefacts. It was facinating. I was going to post The Tyger, as it is probably my favourite of his, but also the most well known.