Page:The prophetic books of William Blake, Milton.djvu/53

 And every Moment has a Couch of Gold for soft repose,

(A Moment equals a pulsation of the artery),

And between every two Moments stands a Daughter of Beulah

To feed the Sleepers on their Couches with maternal care.

And every Minute has an azure Tent with silken Veils:

And every Hour has a bright golden Gate carved with skill:

And every Day & Night has Walls of brass & Gates of adamant,

Shining like precious Stones & ornamented with appropriate signs:

And every Month a silver paved Terrace builded high:

And every Year invulnerable Barriers with high Towers:

And every Age is Moated deep with Bridges of silver & gold:

And every Seven Ages is Incircled with a Flaming Fire.

Now Seven Ages is amounting to Two Hundred Years.

Each has its Guard, each Moment, Minute, Hour, Day, Month & Year.

All are the work of Fairy hands of the Four Elements:

The Guard are Angels of Providence on duty evermore.

Every Time less than a pulsation of the artery

Is equal in its period & value to Six Thousand Years.

P. 28 FOR in this Period the Poet's Work is Done; and all the Great

Events of Time start forth & are conceiv'd in such a Period,

Within a Moment, a Pulsation of the Artery.

The Sky is an immortal Tent built by the Sons of Los:

And every Space that a Man views around his dwelling-place,

Standing on his own roof, or in his garden on a mount

Of twenty-five cubits in height, such space is his Universe:

And on its verge the Sun rises & sets, the Clouds bow

To meet the flat Earth & the Sea in such an order'd space:

The Starry heavens reach no further, but here bend and set

On all sides, & the two Poles turn on their valves of gold:

And if he move his dwelling-place, his heavens also move

Wher'eer he goes & all his neighbourhood bewail his loss:

Such are the Spaces called Earth & such its dimension.

As to that false appearance which appears to the reasoner

As of a Globe rolling thro' Voidness, it is a delusion of Ulro.

The Microscope knows not of this nor the Telescope: they alter

The ratio of the Spectator's Organs but leave Objects untouch'd.

For every Space larger than a red Globule of Man's blood,

Is visionary, and is created by the Hammer of Los:

And every Space smaller than a Globule of Man's blood opens

Into Eternity of which this vegetable Earth is but a shadow: 29