Introduction

By WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827)

 

 

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 sung 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.