Orpheus

Orpheus
by Michael R. Burch

 
after William Blake
 

I.

Many a sun
and many a moon
I walked the earth
and whistled a tune.
 

I did not whistle
as I worked:
the whistle was my work.
I shirked
 

nothing I saw
and made a rhyme
to children at play
and hard time.
 

II.

Among the prisoners
I saw
the leaden manacles
of Law,
 

the heavy ball and chain,
the quirt.
And yet I whistled
at my work.
 

III.

Among the children’s
daisy faces
and in the women’s
frowsy laces,
 

I saw redemption,
and I smiled.
Satanic millers,
unbeguiled,
 

were swayed by neither girl,
nor child,
nor any God of Love.
Yet mild
 

I whistled at my work,
and Song
broke out,
ere long.