Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume I. Of Home: of Friendship. 1904. | | | | Poems of Home: II. For Children | | The Piper | | 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:— | |
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| “Pipe a song about a lamb:” | 5 |
| So I piped with merry cheer. | |
| “Piper, pipe that song again:” | |
| So I piped; he wept to hear. | |
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| “Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe, | |
| Sing thy songs of happy cheer:” | 10 |
| 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; | 15 |
| 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. | 20 | | | |
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