Introduction to the 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:

'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 vanished from my sight:

And I plucked 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.