Absolute Twaddle: Jester
11 August, 2020 by katelaity
JESTER
We call upon the jester
To bring us jollity;
When our dark thoughts fester
We crave a laughter jubilee.
When our spirits sink
There’s nothing to be done;
It’s all in how you think–
Or else we’re gloomy, every one.
Too hard it is to wonder
If there’s simply no respite:
Gloom and rain and thunder
Fill a melancholy night.
Put your coxcomb on your head
Get your bladder on its stick;
As long as we’re not dead
We’ve got time for tricks.
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sun rise. — William Blake
[Image via our pals at the British Library Flicker: “Recollections of Old Christmas: a masque. Performed at Grimston” By Thomas C. Croker, 1850.]