Poetry
Through William Blake's Eyes
Charles Fort
The young sweeper coughed and moaned
as he mis-stepped on the town clock
and rolled with his chain ladder
into the blue mouth of terror.
Had Blake's eyes been closed
before he saw through the walls
where Tom wept and Jack fell
as the cathedral bell struck twelve?
His hands raked the teeth and ash
that glowed from the cellar door
until a bird and the morning snow
filled the footstep of a child.
He lifted the locks of burnt hair
and cleansed his blackened tongue.
He knew before he opened his eyes
how a body rose from a bed of coals.