theme from dead man

theme from dead man william blake & data

oh why was i born with a different face
why was i not born like the rest of my race
when i look each one starts
when i speak i offend
then i'm silent & passive & lose every friend

improvement makes straight roads
but the crooked road without improvement
are road of genius

i went to the garden of love
and saw what i had never seen
a chapel was built in the midst
where i used to play on the green
and the gates of this chapel was shut
and "thou shalt not" writ over the door
so i turned to the garden of love
that so many sweet flowers bore
and i saw it was filled with graves
and tombstones where flowers should be
and priests in black gowns were walking their rounds
and binding with briars, my joys and desires

the ancient tradition that the world will be consumed in fire
at the end of 6.000 years is true as i have heard from hell
the whole creation will be consumed & appear infinite & holy
where as it now appears finite & corrupt
this will come to pass by an improvement of sensual enjoyment
but the first notion that man has a body distinct from his soul is to be expunged
this i shall do by printing in the infernal method
by corrosives which in hell are salutary & medicinal
melting apparent surfaces away & displaying with infinite which is hid
if the doors of perception were cleansed
everything would appear to man as it is infinite
for man has closed himself up
till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern
why art thou silent & invisible
father of jealousy
why does thou hide thyself in clouds
from every searching eye
why darkness & obscurity in all thy words & laws
that none dare eat the fruit but from thy wily serpents jaws
is it because secrecy gains female loud applause