C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

The Piper and the Child

Introduction to ‘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 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.