Introduction to The Songs of Innocence
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 sang 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 plucked 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.

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