The Piper
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 writeIn a hook 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 songsEvery child may joy to hear.