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 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.