Angels in trees

I have always been much interested in William Blake's visions especially the angels which I imagine that he saw in trees when staying in Sussex from 1800 until 1803.

Thinking about this while I am planning a workshop inspired by Blake's poem Auguries of Innocence (not to be mixed up with the Songs of Innocence) and especially the opening lines:

To see the world in a grain of sand
And heaven in a wildflower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour...

The poem itself is much longer than this extract suggests and worth reading. But I am interested in these zen-like instructions for now as the start of a writing exercise. At its dullest you might call it from the specific to the general! At best poetic contemplation, once learned, allows visions.

Blake would argue the poet as a conduit between god and man. Or maybe a force of nature.

I wrote a poem about this myself but my angels were rather more like Wim Wenders'.

You can find out more about William Blake here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake and you can read the full poem here http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/172906