The Garden of Love
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1794
I went to the Garden of Love,And saw what I never had seen;A Chapel was built in the midst,Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut,And ‘Thou shalt not’ writ over the door;So I turned to the Garden of LoveThat so many sweet flowers bore.
And I saw it was filled with graves,And tombstones where flowers should be;And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,And binding with briars my joys and desires.