Songs of Innocence
by William Blake
Introduction
Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:
βPipe a song about a Lamb!β
So I piped with merry cheer.
βPiper, pipe that song again.β
So I piped: he wept to hear.
βDrop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer:β
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.
βPiper, sit thee down and write
In a book, that all may read.β
So he vanish'd from my sight;
And I pluck'd a hollow reed,
And I made a rural pen,
And I stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
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