A Polite Notice

Photo:  WHB … ‘No Parking’ – Devon 2019   ©

I beg your attention,
Please read and take note.
I kindly request,
And this you can quote:

That before you park here,
Leave your car and depart,
I ask that you notice,
Think of me, have a heart.

Allow me my right
To come and to go.
Do not box me in,
Do not cause me woe.

For if you ignore me
And fasten me in,
I may well take a hammer
And commit a great sin.

William Blake – ‘On Another’s Sorrow’

This poem, in its first published form is by the English poet and painter, William Blake (1757-1827).   Blake was not highly recognised during his lifetime but is now regarded as a leading poet and painter of the Romantic Period.   As an important printmaker, Blake, as he did for many others of his poems, produced the decoration himself.  The poem discusses human and divine understanding and compassion. It was first published in 1789 as the last song in the ‘Songs of Innocence’ section, part of the collection ‘Songs of Innocence and of Experience’.