Blake's Smile
Today, Good Friday, our thoughts turn towards the mysteries of life and love and we are assisted by William Blake, an English engraver and poet, who was so unsuccessful in his lifetime that the world had to wait until 100 years after his death for a proper edition of his works to be printed. Since then, his Songs of Innocence and Experience, which express an entire philosophy, have been regarded with wonder. In this lyric, we find the spiritual, the material and the eternal.
The SmileThere is a Smile of Love,
And there is a Smile of Deceit,
And there is a Smile of Smiles,
In which these two Smiles meet.And there is a Frown of Hate,
And there is a Frown of Disdain,
And there is a Frown of Frowns
Which you strive to forget in vain.For it sticks in Heart's deep core
And it sticks in the deep Back bone;
And no Smile that was ever smiled,
But only one Smile alone,That betwixt the Cradle and Grave
It only once smiled can be;
But when it once is Smiled,
There's an end to all Misery.William Blake (1757-1827)
This wonderful lyric was found in the notebook of poems and fragments which once belonged to the painter/poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
