William Blake
“Mock On, Mock On, Voltaire, Rousseau” (c. 1800-1803)
Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau:
Mock on, mock on; ‘tis all in vain.
You throw the sand against the wind,
And the wind blows it back again.
And every sand becomes a Gem
Reflected in the beams divine;
Blown back they blind the Mocking Eye,
But still in Israel’s paths they shine.
The Atoms of Democritus
And Newton’s particles of light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore
Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright.
ROUSSEAU’S REPLY
Those sands, Blake, are the souls of men,
Mounting by millions from age to age,
Flung up and driven by the wind—
Their fate is what most fires our rage.
Let every soul be thought a Gem—
Your soul was one—some gems are flawed.
These, when the chisel strikes the seam,
Lie broken though brilliant, a litter of gauds.
Diamonds are worthless uncut. But crushed—
Hard tasks are done by diamond dust. . . .
And if stones break, and metals wear,
The eyes, abraded, bleed and tear.
