The Innocence of Experience

Song Cycle by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020)

1. Introduction [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

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 chear.
"Piper, pipe that song again."
  So I piped: he wept to hear.

"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
  Sing thy songs of happy chear."
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 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.

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Introduction", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 1, first published 1789

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Вступление", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

2. The lamb [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and [bid]¹ thee feed,
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is callèd by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild:
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are callèd by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The lamb", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 4, first published 1789

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CAT Catalan (Català) (Salvador Pila) , "L'anyell", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) (Thomas F. Schubert) , "Das Lamm", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Bertram Kottmann) , copyright © 2015, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Агнец", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ MacNutt, Somervell: "bade"

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

3. Laughing song
(Sung text)

Language: English

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,
And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;
When the air does laugh with our merry wit,
And the green hill laughs with the noise of it; 

When the meadows laugh with lively green,
And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene;
When Mary and Susan and Emily
With their sweet round mouths sing "Ha ha he!"

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,
Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:
Come live, and be merry, and join with me,
To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha ha he!"

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Laughing song", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 10, first published 1789

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Песня смеха", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

4. Infant Joy [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

"I have no name:
I am but two days old."
What shall I call thee?
"I happy am,
Joy is my name."
Sweet joy befall thee!

Pretty Joy!
Sweet Joy, but two days old.
Sweet Joy I call thee:
Thou dost smile,
I sing the while,
Sweet joy befall thee!

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Infant Joy", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 17, first published 1789

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Дитя-радость", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

5. A dream [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Once a dream did weave a shade
O'er my angel-guarded bed,
That an emmet lost its way
Where on grass methought I lay.

Troubled, wildered, and forlorn,
Dark, benighted, travel-worn,
Over many a tangle spray,
All heart-broke, I heard her say:

"Oh my children! do they cry,
Do they hear their father sigh?
Now they look abroad to see,
Now return and weep for me."

Pitying, I dropped a tear:
But I saw a glow-worm near,
Who replied, "What wailing wight
Calls the watchman of the night?

"I am set to light the ground,
While the beetle goes his round:
Follow now the beetle's hum;
Little wanderer, hie thee home!"

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "A dream", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 18, first published 1789

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

CHI Chinese (中文) [singable] (Dr Huaixing Wang) , copyright © 2024, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Сон", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

6. The divine image
(Sung text)

Language: English

To Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
 All pray in their distress;
And to these virtues of delight
 Return their thankfulness.

For Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
 Is God, our Father dear,
And Mercy, Pity, Peace and Love
 Is man, His child and care.

For Mercy has a human heart,
 Pity a human face,
And Love, the human form divine,
 And Peace, the human dress.

Then every man, of every clime,
 That prays in his distress,
Prays to the human form divine,
 Love, Mercy, Pity, Peace.

And all must love the human form,
 In heathen, Turk, or Jew;
When Mercy, Love and Pity dwell
 There God is dwelling too.

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The divine image", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 12, first published 1789

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

GER German (Deutsch) (Thomas F. Schubert) , "Das Ebenbild Gottes", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Божественное подобие", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this page: Ted Perry

7. The clod and the pebble
(Sung text)

Language: English

"Love seeketh not itself to please,
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease,
And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."

So sung a little Clod of Clay,
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:

"Love seeketh only Self to please,
To bind another to its delight,
Joys in another's loss of ease,
And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The clod and the pebble", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 3, first published 1794

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Комок и камень", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

8. The sick rose
(Sung text)

Language: English

O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,

Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The sick rose", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 9, first published 1794

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Больная роза", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
SPA Spanish (Español) (Pablo Sabat) , "Elegía"

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

9. The fly
(Sung text)

Language: English

Little Fly,
Thy summer's play
My thoughtless hand
Has brush'd away.

Am not I
A fly like thee?
Or art not thou
A man like me?

For I dance
And drink & sing:
Till some blind hand 
Shall brush my wing.

If thought is life
And strength & breath
And the want 
Of thought is death;

Then am I
A happy fly,
If I live,
Or if I die.

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The fly", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 10, first published 1794

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Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Мотылёк", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

10. The Tyger [sung text not yet checked]

Language: English

Tyger Tyger, burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye,  
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?  

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?  
On what wings dare he aspire?  
What the hand, dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?  

What the hammer? what the chain,  
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp,
Dare its deadly terrors clasp!  

When the stars threw down their spears  
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger Tyger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:  
What immortal hand or eye,  
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Text Authorship:

by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "The tyger", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Experience, no. 12, first published 1794

See other settings of this text.

Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

GER German (Deutsch) (Thomas F. Schubert) , "Der Tiger", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
RUS Russian (Русский) [singable] (Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov) , "Тигр", copyright ©, (re)printed on this website with kind permission

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

Total word count: 923

The Innocence of Experience

Song Cycle by Dmitri Nikolaevich Smirnov (1948 - 2020)

1. Introduction [sung text not yet checked]

2. The lamb [sung text not yet checked]

3. Laughing song (Sung text)

4. Infant Joy [sung text not yet checked]

5. A dream [sung text not yet checked]

6. The divine image (Sung text)

7. The clod and the pebble (Sung text)

8. The sick rose (Sung text)

9. The fly (Sung text)

10. The Tyger [sung text not yet checked]

3. Laughing song
(Sung text)

6. The divine image
(Sung text)

7. The clod and the pebble
(Sung text)

8. The sick rose
(Sung text)

9. The fly
(Sung text)