Songs of Innocence

by William Blake


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Introduction


Introduction from Songs of Innocence

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

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

β€˜Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer:’
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

β€˜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 stained the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.

 

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