Jerusalem

Something for the weekend.  Jerusalem sung the cadet glee club of West Point.  I hadn’t realized this hymn was of such recent vintage.  The lyrics come from that half-mad, half prophet British poet of the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth centuries William Blake.  It was in the bloody year for Britain of 1916 that Sir Hubert Parry wrote the music to produce the hymn that helped sustain the British in many a dark hour in the last century.

And did those feet in ancient time,
Walk upon Englands mountains green:
And was the holy Lamb of God,
On Englands pleasant pastures seen!

And did the Countenance Divine,
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here,
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my Bow of burning gold;
Bring me my Arrows of desire:
Bring me my Spear: O clouds unfold!
Bring me my Chariot of fire!

I will not cease from Mental Fight,
Nor shall my Sword sleep in my hand:
Till we have built Jerusalem,
In Englands green & pleasant Land.