Poetry Thursday VII

This poem was set to music and sung by the women of the Ohio All-State Choir, of which I was a part, in January of 2000, under the direction of Jerry Ulrich.

"Introduction" to Songs of Innocence--William Blake

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 they pipe, thy happy pipe;

Sing thy songs of happy cheer."

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,

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.