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.
Six Duets for Ladies' Voices
Song Cycle by Florentia Bernani
1. Piping down the valleys wild  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by William Blake (1757 - 1827), "Introduction", appears in Songs of Innocence and Experience, in Songs of Innocence, no. 1, first published 1789 [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
See other settings of this text.
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
Total word count: 121