Uploaded on July 26, 2011

O Rose, thou art sick!
The Invisible worm,
that flies in the night,
in the howling storm,

has found out thy bed
of Crimson joy;
and his dark secret love
does thy life destroy.

—William Blake
The Giant Book of Poetry
edited by William H. Roetzheim


07.26.2023: Reading Camille Paglia’s interpretation of this poem has left me forever changed.