Poet’s Corner-July 15, 2022

Every Friday, James Blevins, this newspaper’s in-house reporter and poet—who has seen his work previously published in “Salt Hill Journal,” “Pretty Owl Poetry,” “Stoneboat Journal,” “Mud Season Review” and “AZURE,” as well as numerous other outlets both online and in print—chooses one poem for publication.

Additionally, Blevins will share a poem of his own, just for good measure, at the end of each calendar month.

Cradle Song

By William Blake

Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,

Dreaming in the joys of night;

Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep

Little sorrows sit and weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face

Soft desires I can trace,

Secret joys and secret smiles,

Little pretty infant wiles.

As thy softest limbs I feel

Smiles as of the morning steal

O’er thy cheek, and o’er thy breast

Where thy little heart doth rest.

O the cunning wiles that creep

In thy little heart asleep!

When thy little heart doth wake,

Then the dreadful night shall break.

William Blake was born in London on November 28, 1757. His first printed work, “Poetical Sketches” (1783), is a collection of apprentice verse, mostly imitating classical models. He published his most popular collection, “Songs of Innocence,” in 1789, following it with “Songs of Experience” in 1794. Called a “man of genius” by poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Blake was also an accomplished painter and engraver during his lifetime. He died in 1827.