William Blake
Songs of Innocence

Introduction

Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:

‘Pipe a song about a Lamb!’
So I piped with merry cheer.
‘Piper, pipe that song again;’
So I piped: he wept to hear.

‘Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer
So I sang the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

‘Piper, sit thee down and write

In a book, that all may read.’
So he vanish’d from my sight,
And I pluck’d a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,

And I stain’d the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.