"Like a fiend in a cloud..."

Mad Song
by William Blake

The wild winds weep
And the night is a-cold;
Come hither, Sleep,
And my griefs infold:
But lo! the morning peeps
Over the eastern steeps,
And the rustling birds of dawn
The earth do scorn.

Lo! to the vault
Of paved heaven,
With sorrow fraught
My notes are driven:
They strike the ear of night,
Make weep the eyes of day;
They make mad the roaring winds,
And with tempests play.

Like a fiend in a cloud,
With howling woe,
After night I do crowd,
And with night will go;
I turn my back to the east,
From whence comforts have increas'd;
For light doth seize my brain
With frantic pain.


From Blake's Poetical Sketches, 1783.

Moonlight, Wolf, by Frederic Remington. c. 1909. Image from Artcyclopedia


(Okay, so this is not the best poem for battling the Monday blues. It was just irresistible to me, as was the painting. Come back later in the week for a Madini review--and yes, finally, Temple Grandin.)