William Blake 
Poems of William Blake 
’A Selection of Blake’s Poems’

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 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.