Song: The Smile
Album: Tyger

THE SMILE (poem of William Blake [1757-1827])

There is a smile of love,
And there is a smile of deceit;
And there is a smile of smiles
In which these two smiles meet.

And there is a frown of hate,
And there is a frown of disdain;
And there is a frown of frowns
Which you strive to forget in vain,

For it sticks in the heart's deep core,
And it sticks in the deep backbone;
And no smile that ever was smiled,
But only one smiles alone

That betwixt the cradle and grave
It only once smiled can be;
But when it once is smiled
There's no end to misery.