To my dearest Friend, John Flaxman

I bless thee, O Father of Heaven and Earth! that ever I saw Flaxman's
     face:
Angels stand round my spirit in Heaven; the blessèd of Heaven are my
    friends upon Earth
When Flaxman was taken to Italy, Fuseli was given to me for a season;
And now Flaxman hath given me Hayley, his friend, to be mine --
   such my lot upon Earth!
Now my lot in the Heavens is this: Milton lov'd me in childhood and
   show'd me his face;
Ezra came with Isaiah the Prophet, but Shakespeare in riper years gave
   me his hand;
Paracelsus and Behmen appear'd to me; terrors appear'd in the
   Heavens above;
The American War began; all its dark horrors pass'd before my face
Across the Atlantic to France; then the French Revolution commenc'd
   in thick clouds;
And my Angels have told me that, seeing such visions, I could not
   subsist on the Earth,
But by my conjunction with Flaxman, who knows to forgive
   nervous fear.

12 Sept., 1800