Page:The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals (1905).djvu/204

162 ix I fear'd the fury of my wind i Would blight all blossoms fair & true; And my sun it shin'd & shin'd, And my wind it never blew. But a blossom fair or true 5 Was not found on any tree ; For all blossoms grew & grew Fruitless, false, tho' fair to see. MS. Book, p. 113. Printed by DGR and later edd. with the title ' Barren Blossom.' Not in Swinb. I fury] roughness MS. Book ist rdg. del. wind] word EY (in their verj' inaccurate index to the MS. Book, i. 205). 4 And] But MS. Book st rdg. del. X Infant Sorrow My mother groan'd, my father wept ; 1 Into the dangerous world I leapt, Helpless, naked, piping loud, Like a fiend hid in a cloud. Struggling in my father's hands, 5 Striving against my swaddling bands. Bound & weary, I thought best To sulk upon my Mother's breast. MS. Book, p. 113, with title added later, as the different ink shows. The two first stanzas were afterwards engraved by Blake as one of the Songs of Experience. First printed by Swinb., pp. 137-139, who numbers the stanzas with roman numerals. Not in DGR or WMR. EY (Notes to the Poetical Sketches, Songs, &c.) iii. 93, 94 ; WBY (Notes), p. 240. To understand Blake's successive changes in the last part of this poem it should be noted that, beginning with 1. 21, he changed ' a Priest' (afterwards, as in xiii, altered to ' my father ') to ' many a Priest,' making corresponding changes in the other stanzas where required. Cp. with this poem ' In a Mirtle Shade ' (MS. Book xiii). Like. . . cloud] See note to ' Infant Sorrow ' {Songs of Exp.) 1 . 4.