A Little Boy Lost By [William Blake], 1793\\ ~~One of the [Songs of Experience]~~ 'Nought loves another as itself,\\ Nor venerates another so,\\ Nor is it possible to thought\\ A greater than itself to know.\\ \\ '[And, father, how can I love you]\\ Or any of my brothers more?\\ I love you like the little bird\\ That picks up crumbs around the door.'\\ \\ The Priest sat by and heard the child;\\ In trembling zeal he seized his hair,\\ He led him by his little coat,\\ And all admired his priestly care.\\ \\ And standing on the altar high,\\ 'Lo, what a fiend is here!' said he:\\ 'One who sets reason up for judge\\ Of our most holy mystery.'\\ \\ The weeping child could not be heard,\\ The weeping parents wept in vain:\\ They stripped him to his little shirt,\\ And bound him in an iron chain,\\ \\ And burned him in a holy place\\ Where many had been burned before;\\ The weeping parents wept in vain.\\ Are such things done on Albion's shore?\\ \\ 2005-03-28 20:49:04.0 2005-03-09 09:58:49.0