Page:The poetical works of William Blake; a new and verbatim text from the manuscript engraved and letterpress originals (1905).djvu/272

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Grown old in Love from Seven till Seven times Seven, I oft have wish'd for Hell, for Ease from Heaven.

MS. Book, p. 54. Apparently written in or after 1806. WMR, EY ('Coupl.'v).

Why was Cupid a Boy, And why a boy was he? He should have been a Girl, For aught that I can see.

For he shoots with his bow, And the Girl shoots with her Eye, And they both are merry & glad, And laugh when we do cry.

And to make Cupid a boy Was the Cupid girl's mocking plan; For a boy can't interpret the thing Till he is become a man.

And then he's so pierc'd with cares, And wounded with arrowy smarts, That the whole business of his life Is to pick out the heads of the darts.

MS. Book, p. 56. Ri, DGR, WMR, EY (iii. 69), WBY, all with title ' Cupid ' and omission of last stanza (except R1. ) which is printed separately by Swinb. (p. 144), EY i. 225, and WBY (notes, p. 248). 6 the] a WBY. 9-12 And. . . man] All edd. print the infinitely preferable first draft of this stanza : —
 * ' Then to make Cupid a Boy
 * Was surely a Woman's plan,
 * For a boy ne'er learns so much
 * Till he is become a man ' ;

all reading 'never' for 'ne'er' (l. *11), all except R' 'has ' for ' is' (l. *12) and WBY ' And ' for ' Then ' (l. *9) and ' to mock ' for ' so much ' (l. *11), 13 he 's. . . cares] he is so pierced through WBY.