"Pretty joy! Sweet joy, but two days old. Sweet joy I call thee I sing the while; e; Sweet joy befall thee!" William Blake. Holy Thursday 'TWAS WAS on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean, Came children walking two and two, in red, and blue, and green : Grey-headed beadles walked before, with wands as white as snow, Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames waters flow. Oh what a multitude they seemed, these flowers of London town! Seated in companies they sit, with radiance all their own. The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs, Thousands of little boys and girls raising their innocent hands. Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song, Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among: Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor. Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door. William Blake. Laughing Song WHEN WHEN the green woods laugh with the voice of joy, When the air does laugh with our merry wit, And the green hill laughs with the noise of it; When the meadows laugh with lively green, With their sweet round mouths sing, "Ha, ha, he !" When the painted birds laugh in the shade, William Blake. Answer to a Child's Question Do you know what the birds say? The Sparrow, the Dove, The Linnet and Thrush say, "I love and I love!" In the winter they're silent-the wind is so strong; S. T. Coleridge. A Rule for Birds' Nesters THE robin and the red-breast, If The robin and the wren; ye take out o' their nest, Ye'll never thrive agen! The robin and the red-breast, The martin and the swallow; If ye touch one o' their eggs, Bad luck will surely follow! Old Rhyme. |