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.