Introduction
Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1789
Piping down the valleys wildPiping songs of pleasant gleeOn a cloud I saw a child.And he laughing said to me
Pipe a song about a LambSo I piped with merry chear.Piper pipe that song againSo I piped, he wept to hear.
Drop thy pipe thy happy pipeSing thy songs of happy chearSo I sung the same againWhile he wept with joy to hear
Piper sit thee down and writeIn a book that all may readSo he vanish'd from my sightAnd I pluck'd a hollow reed
And I made a rural pen,And I stain'd the water clear,And I wrote my happy songsEvery child may joy to hear