Another Bible Poem by Frank Avon

It was an era of rewriting:
Bishop Percy's 'Song of Solomon, '
Isaiah as Lowth's prose poem,
the hymns of the Wesleys,
spiritual ballads for children,
Burke's 'the Sublime and the Beautiful, '
the oratorios of Handel,
Cowper's 'Olney Hymns, '
Smart's 'Jubilate Agno'

It was the era of his genesis:
Urizen, the height of his depth,
the beginning of the end,
Ahania and Los, the end of the beginning,
occasion to lament

It was the era of visions
of his Vision
of Poetical Painting
of colour printing and prints:
'the Ancient of Days, '
'the Ghost of a Flea, '
'the House of Death, '
'Newton' and
'Nebuchnezzar'

It was the era of his identity,
and, of worldly hopes, the decline.

See, and behold!