I wander thro each charter’d street, Near where the charter’d Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man, In every Infant’s cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban, The mind-forg’d manacles I hear.
How the chimney-sweeper’s cry Every black’ning church appals, And the hapless soldier’s sigh Runs in blood down palace walls.
But most, thro’ midnight streets I hear How the youthful harlo’s curse Blasts the new-born infant’s tear, And blights with plagues the marriage hearse.
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