A Poison Tree by William Blake is one of my favourite poems ever!

This has always been one of my best poems.

This poem by William Blake is a testimony to the inevitability of conflict in our society. Misunderstandings must occur both among friends and even between strangers.

What really matters, however is the approach with which we deal with such provocations and the ensuing anger.

The Poison Tree

“I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine -

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning, glad, I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.”

~William Blake (A Poison Tree)