The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)
vocals by Lithe Badra (age 8)
The Green Lion is a collective of :
Alyosha, Dactyl, Rhambus, Rami and Raphael
The green lion devours the sun. Blood descends to the earth.
Lyrics
When my mother died I was very young,
And my father sold me while yet my tongue
Could scarcely cry ``'weep! 'weep! 'weep! 'weep!''
So your chimneys I sweep, & in soot I sleep.
There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,
That curl'd like a lamb's back, was shav'd: so I said
``Hush, Tom! never mind it, for when you head's bare
You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.''
And so he was quiet, & that very night,
As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight!
That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned, & Jack,
Were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black.
And by came an Angel who had a bright key,
And he open'd the coffins & set them free;
Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run,
And wash in a river, and shine in the Sun.
Then naked & white, all their bags left behind,
They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind;
And the Angel told Tom, if he'd be a good boy,
He'd have God for his father, & never want joy.
And so Tom awoke; and we rose in the dark,
And got with our bags & our brushes to work,
Tho the morning was cold, Tom was happy & warm,
So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.
- William Blake
