This project was inspired by a recent trip to London, where I was able to see some of William Blake's original prints. I also bought a couple of facsimiles of his books, which, by the way, are considered as precursors of the modern artists' book. The Sick Rose, which is one of the poems from Songs of Innocence and of Experience, was set to music by Benjamin Britten as the fourth movement (Elegy) of his Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings. This was actually how I got to know the poem in the first place. It is safe to say that Britten's music was as big an influence as anything on my approach to the poem for this project. Still, some graphic elements from Blake's print are rendered in my book, such as the leaves, or the rose's stem, which is now more identifiable as the invisible worm itself.