I laid me down upon a bank

I laid me down upon a bank,
Where Love lay sleeping;
I heard among the rushes dank
Weeping, weeping.

Then I went to the heath and the wild,
To the thistles and thorns of the waste;
And they told me how they were beguiled,
Driven out, and compelled to the chaste.

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen;
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut
And "Thou shalt not," writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore.

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys and desires.

by William Blake (1757-1827)

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive)

by George Antheil (1900-1959) , "I laid me down upon a bank", 1948, from Songs of Experience, no. 7.
by Jack Hamilton Beeson (1921-) , "I laid me down upon a bank", 1945, from Three Blake Songs, no. 1.
by Gerard Schürmann (1928-) , "I laid me down upon a bank", 1956, published 1996-7, from Six Songs of William Blake, no. 3.

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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