hidden poems between the pages of my medical books

i was reading one of my medical handbooks, the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine, when surprisingly, i came across this poem :
The Microscope knows not of this nor the Telescope: they alter,
The ratio of the Spectators Organs but leave Objects untouch'd,
For every space larger than a red globule of Mans blood,
Is visionary, and it is created by the Hammer of Los;
And every space smaller than a Globule of Mans blood opens,
Into eternity of which this vegetable Earth is but a shadow.
The red Globule is the unwearied Sun by Los created
To measure Time and Space to mortal Men...

by William Blake in his poem Milton, section 29, lines 17-24...
NB: Los, the globe of fire, is a symbol used by Blake to encompass the exultant energy of creation, the poetic imagination, and the burning brightness where all is noble images were pounded of eternity and compounded in the most compressed verse and art we have.

Can you believe that? a poem in one of my medical books!! (@page 309) and such beautiful poem! why didn't i noticed it before? when i started reciting and sharing my new discovery with my friends at the library, they thought i was crazy or something.. but anyway, i thought that it was a really nice poem...

This poem, it makes us appreciate the invention of modern investigation and imaging, without the need for invasive procedures. How we can know the function of the liver or kidney function by just taking some blood (LFT, RP)... How we can see cerebral ischemia or hemorrhage via a CT brain, without needing to crack open and view the brain with the naked eye.. by looking at the blood, one can diagnose a disease, manage a patient, and even give a prognosis... (thus measuring time and space to mortal men).... - well, at least that was how i interpreted the poem... every poem can be interpreted differently by different people...

Anyway, i wanted to find the original poem. And i did! So, here it is, let me share it with you...

Milton: The Sky is an Immortal Tent Built by the Sons of Los
by William Blake
The sky is an immortal tent built by the Sons of Los:
And every space that a man views around his dwelling-place
Standing on his own roof or in his garden on a mount
Of twenty-five cubits in height, such space is his universe:
And on its verge the sun rises and sets, the clouds bow
To meet the flat earth and the sea in such an order'd space:
The starry heavens reach no further, but here bend and set
On all sides, and the two Poles turn on their valves of gold:
And if he moves his dwelling-place, his heavens also move
Where'er he goes, and all his neighbourhood bewail his loss.
Such are the spaces called Earth and such its dimension.
As to that false appearance which appears to the reasoner
As of a globe rolling through voidness, it is a delusion of Ulro.
The microscope knows not of this nor the telescope: they alter
The ratio of the spectator's organs, but leave objects untouch'd.
For every space larger than a red globule of Man's blood
Is visionary, and is created by the Hammer of Los;
And every space smaller than a globule of Man's blood opens
Into Eternity of which this vegetable Earth is but a shadow.
The red globule is the unwearied sun by Los created
To measure time and space to mortal men every morning

This image from the Song of Los, William Blake, is a picture of a naked haematologist working alone, hammering a red cell into shape. Supposedly this was how they worked back then, alone, trying to figure out a disease. (i couldn't explain the naked part though). Nowadays, people worked as a team, with the physician, haematologist, geneticist, specialist, lab staff, staff nurses, etc to manage a patient.
'Every space larger than a red globule of man's blood is visionary, and it is created by the Hammer of Los'.

p/s: maybe i seriously need a break from reading... poems in between pages? gosh, what was i thinking? what's with all the emo?