The Clod & the Pebble

Love seeketh not Itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care;
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hells despair.

So sang a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattles feet:
But a Pebble of the brook,
Warbled out these metres meet.

Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight;
Joys in anothers loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.

—

William Blake (1757-1827)

William Blake, The Complete Poems; Penguin Books, Harmondsworth; ISBN 0140422153
William Blake, The Complete Illuminated Books; Thames & Hudson, London; ISBN 0500282455
Morris Eaves (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to William Blake; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge; ISBN 0521781477 (hardcover) 0521786770 (paperback)