But walk united, bearing food to all our tender flowers.Dost thou O little Cloud? I fear that I am not like thee;For I walk through the vales of Har and smell the sweetest flowers;But I feed not the little flowers: I hear the warbling birds,But I feed not the warbling birds, they fly and seek their food;But Thel delights in these no more because I fade away,And all shall say, without a use this shining woman liv'd,Or did she only live, to be at death the food of worms.The Cloud reclind upon his airy throne and answer'd thus.Then if thou art the food of worms. O virgin of the skies,How great thy use, how great thy blessing; every thing that lives,Lives not alone, nor for itself: fear not and I will callThe weak worm from its lowly bed, and thou shalt hear its voice.Come forth worm of the silent valley, to thy pensive queen.The helpless worm arose, and sat upon the Lillys leaf,And the bright Cloud saild on, to find his partner in the vale.IIIThen Thel astonish'd view'd the Worm upon its dewy bed.Art thou a Worm? image of weakness, art thou but a Worm?I see thee like an infant wrapped in the Lillys leaf:Ah weep not little voice, thou can'st not speak, but thou can'st weep;Is this a Worm? I see thee lay helpless & naked: weeping,And none to answer, none to cherish thee with mothers smiles.The Clod of Clay heard the Worms voice, & raisd her pitying head;She bowd over the weeping infant, and her life exhal'dIn milky fondness, then on Thel she fix'd her humble eyes.O beauty of the vales of Har, we live not for ourselves,Thou seest me the meanest thing, and so I am indeed;My bosom of itself is cold, and of itself is dark,But he that loves the lowly, pours his oil upon my head,And kisses me, and binds his nuptial bands around my breast.And says; Thou mother of my children, I have loved thee.And I have given thee a crown that none can take away.But how this is sweet maid, I know not, and I cannot know,I ponder, and I cannot ponder; yet I live and love.The daughter of beauty wip'd her pitying tears with her white veil,And said. Alas! I knew not this, and therefore did I weep:That God would love a Worm I knew, and punish the evil footThat wilful, bruis'd its helpless form: but that he cherish'd itWith milk and oil, I never knew; and therefore did I weep,And I complaind in the mild air, because I fade away,And lay me down in thy cold bed, and leave my shining lot.Queen of the vales, the matron Clay answerd; I heard thy sighs.And all thy moans flew o'er my roof, but I have call'd them down:Wilt thou O Queen enter my house, 'tis given thee to enter,And to return; fear nothing, enter with thy virgin feet.IVThe eternal gates terrific porter lifted the northern bar:Thel enter'd in & saw the secrets of the land unknown;She saw the couches of the dead, & where the fibrous rootsOf every heart on earth infixes deep its restless twists:A land of sorrows & of tears where never smile was seen.She wanderd in the land of clouds thro' valleys dark, listningDolours & lamentations: waiting oft beside a dewy graveShe stood in silence, listning to the voices of the ground,Till to her own grave plot she came, & there she sat down.And heard this voice of sorrow breathed from the hollow pit.
