Allen Ginsberg — 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 sung the same again While he wept with joy to hear P. 2‘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