Ram Horn'd with Gold
The Spiritual Autobiography of William Blake
Edited by Larry Clayton
"Blake sent this poem to the one faithful Christian he knew who had
befriended and loved him. The circumstances leave no doubt as to the
identity of the One Man. The poem poetically expresses Blake's faith as
it relates to God, Man and the relationship between the two. It
expresses what the Christian faith has to say about the relationship as
well as it can be expressed verbally. It also expresses with vivid
eloquence the child like nature of the entrance to the kingdom of God.
Blake here celebrates and confesses it. To interpret Blake's experience
we could use any number of hackneyed phrases representing the various
dialects of the language of Zion; suffice it to say that for most of
them as for Blake this is the main event, the center of the Moment of
Grace. At this point Jesus became and forever afterward remained the
One and the ever present Reality which Blake had formerly known as the
Infinite or Eternal. For Blake Jesus was a Man, the Reality of Life,
and most ultimately the All. In all three instances Blake strictly
followed Johnine and Pauline strains of the New Testament."
Letters, 16, Oct 1800, (E 712) 
"To my Friend Butts I write
My first Vision of Light
On the yellow sands sitting
The Sun was Emitting
His Glorious beams
From Heavens high Streams
Over Sea over Land
My Eyes did Expand
Into regions of air
Away from all Care
Into regions of fire
Remote from Desire
The Light of the Morning
Heavens Mountains adorning
In particles bright
The jewels of Light
Distinct shone & clear--
Amazd & in fear
I each particle gazed
Astonishd Amazed
For each was a Man
Human formd. Swift I ran
For they beckond to me
Remote by the Sea
Saying. Each grain of Sand
Every Stone on the Land
Each rock & each hill
Each fountain & rill
Each herb & each tree
Mountain hill Earth & Sea
Cloud Meteor & Star
Are Men Seen Afar
I stood in the Streams
Of Heavens bright beams
And Saw Felpham sweet
Beneath my bright feet
In soft Female charms
And in her fair arms
My Shadow I knew
And my wifes shadow too
And My Sister & Friend.
We like Infants descend
In our Shadows on Earth
Like a weak mortal birth
My Eyes more & more
Like a Sea without shore
Continue Expanding
The Heavens commanding
Till the jewels of Light
Heavenly Men beaming bright
Appeard as One Man
Who Complacent began
My limbs to infold
In his beams of bright gold
Like dross purgd away
All my mire & my clay
Soft consumd in delight
In his bosom sun bright
I remaind. Soft he smild
And I heard his voice Mild
Saying This is My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
Who awakest from sleep
On the sides of the Deep
On the Mountains around
The roarings resound
Of the lion & wolf
The loud sea & deep gulf
These are guards of My Fold
O thou Ram hornd with gold
And the voice faded mild
I remaind as a Child
All I ever had known
Before me bright Shone
I saw you & your wife
By the fountains of Life
Such the Vision to me
Appeard on the Sea"
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