Yr.+11+Poetry+Anthology+-+'The+Chimney+Sweeper+(Songs+of+Innocence)'

=The Chimney Sweeper (Songs of Innocence)= William Blake

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 llke a lamb's back. was shav'd: so I said "Hush. Tom! never mind it, for when your 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 or 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 all 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.