Page:The Poems of William Blake (Shepherd, 1887).djvu/48

 The river Dorman roll'd their blood
 * Into the northern sea;

Who mourn'd his sons, and overwhelm'd
 * The pleasant south country.

AN IMITATION OF SPENSER. OLDEN Apollo, that thro' heaven wide Scatter'st the rays of light, and truth his beams, In lucent words my darkling verses dight
 * And wash my earthy mind in thy clear streams,
 * That wisdom may descend in fairy dreams:

All while the jocund hours in thy train
 * Scatter their fancies at thy poet's feet;

And when thou yield'st to night thy wide domain, Let rays of truth enlight his sleeping brain.

For brutish Pan in vain might thee assay
 * With tinkling sounds to dash thy nervous verse,

Sound without sense; yet in his rude affray,
 * (For Ignorance is Folly's leasing nurse,
 * And love of Folly needs none other's curse;)