Furious & terrible they sport & rend the nether deeps
The deep lifts up his rugged head
And lost in infinite hum[m]ing wings vanishes with a cry
The fading cry is ever dying
The living voice is ever living in its inmost joy
Arise you little glancing wings & sing your infant joy
Arise & drink your bliss
For every thing that lives is holy for the source of life
Descends to be a weeping babe
For the Earthworm renews the moisture of the sandy plain
Now my left hand I stretch to earth beneath
And strike the terrible string
I wake sweet joy in dens of sorrow & I plant a smile
In forests of affliction
And wake the bubbling springs of life in regions of dark death
THE FOUR ZOAS
During the Night the Second: The Death and Judgement
By William Blake
“These are three verses from William Blake. The first verse is describing the downfall of a very destructive sort of the power in the world that is collapsing. The second one is the very positive vision of the possibility of saving ourselves and the planet from the destruction wrought by that poor being that was doing all the wrecking and then caught, and the third one is what I’m trying to do with the book Wisdom is Bliss.”
Robert Thurman, Ph.D. is retired professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist studies at Columbia University,
as well as co-founder and president of Tibet House
and author of many books on Tibetan Buddhism including
Wisdom is Bliss: Four Friendly, Fun Facts That Can Change Your Life
