"Jerusalem" poem by William Blake for the opening ceremony of Olympic games London 2012

William Blake

The first poem on the opening ceremony at London Olympic games London 2012 was „Jerusalem“ by William Blake.

Mystical poem and esoteric author for the global sports event.

Jerusalem

And did those feet in ancient time

Walk upon England’s mountains green?

And was the holy Lamb of God

On England’s pleasant pastures seen?

And did the Countenance Divine

Shine forth upon our clouded hills?

And was Jerusalem builded here

Among these dark Satanic mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold:

Bring me my arrows of desire:

Bring me my spear: O clouds unfold!

Bring me my chariot of fire.

I will not cease from mental fight,

Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand

Till we have built Jerusalem

In England’s green and pleasant land.

. . .

Blake is remembered as a poet and painter, but in his time, he was not considered to be anartist. When he became apprenticed in 1772, his master engraver was James Basire, wholived on No. 31 Great Queen Street, opposite the Masonic Grand Lodge. Quite a few of Blake’s friends would enter Freemasonry, though there is no record that Blake ever joined. Blake’s biographer Peter Ackroyd states that Blake never joined any organisation, but according to the lists of grandmasters of the Druid Order, Blake was a grandmaster from 1799 till 1827. Of course, such lists are often grand claims with little substantiation.Still, when he lived at No. 28 Poland Street, between 1785 and 1790, the “The AncientOrder of the Druids” convened merely a few yards down from Blake’s house, in an ale-house apparently established by the Order itself.

Too close for comfort?

. . .