The divine image

To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
 All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
 Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
 Is God, our Father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
 Is man, His child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,
 Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
 And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime,
 That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
 Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,
 In heathen, Turk, or Jew;
When Mercy, Love and Pity dwell
 There God is dwelling too.

by William Blake (1757-1827) , "The divine image", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 12, published 1789

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

by Gary Bachlund , "The divine image", 2006. [soprano and piano]
by William Bolcom (1938-) , "The divine image", 1956-81 [soloists, madrigal group, chorus, orchestra], from Songs of Innocence, no. 15.
by Henry Leland Clarke (1907-1992) , "Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love", 1972. [solo soprano and alto voices, flute, oboe, and percussion]
by Otto Luening (1900-1996) , "The divine image", 1949, published c1951 [medium voice and piano], New York, E. B. Marks Music Corp. & Belwin-Mills
by Michael Richard Miller (1932-) , "The divine image", 1965 [SATB a cappella], from Blake on Love, no. 4.
by John Mitchell (1941-) , "The divine image", op. 25 no. 3 (1977), from Visions from the Flame, no. 3.
by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "The divine image", op. 132 no. 6 (2001) [speaker and tape], from The Innocence of Experience, no. 6.
by David Evan Thomas (1958-) , "The divine image", 2002. [medium voice, piano]
by Virgil Garnett Thomson (1896-1989) , "The divine image", published c1953 [medium voice and piano], from Five Songs from William Blake, no. 1.
by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) , "The divine image", 1957, published 1958 [voice and oboe], from Ten Blake Songs, no. 9.

RUS Russian [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov)

Added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.

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Bozhestvennoje podobije

Proshchen'e, Milost', Mir, Ljubov'
My prosim u Bogov,
I radost' preletajet vnov'
Pod nash ubogij krov.

Proshchen'e, Milost' Mir, Ljubov'
V zenicakh Bozh'ikh vek,
Proshchen'e, Milost', Mir, Ljubov'
Obrjashchet chelovek.

Proshchen'em serdce osenja
I milost'ju lico,
K dushe Ljubov' speshit, zvenja,
Na mirnoe kryl'co.

I chelovek, chto nag i sir,
S molitvoju svoej
Ljubov', Proshchen'e, Milost' Mir
Nakhodit u ljudej.

Jazychnik ty il' iudej,
Chtob Bog prishjol v tvoj kraj,
Ljubi ljudej, Proshchaj ljudej,
Zhalej i Primirjaj.

Show Cyrillic (Покажите текст в кириллице)
Note on Transliteration

Singable translation by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948-) , "Bozhestvennoje podobije", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

a text in English by William Blake (1757-1827) , "The divine image", from Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 12, published 1789

Date added to the website: 2008-01-17.