Poems of William Blake, Chapter 2

Chapters one through nighteen of songs of Innocence

By William Blake.

Chapter 1

Introduction

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 write

in a book,that all may read.”

So he vanish’d 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.

And of chapter 1.

Chapter 2

The Shepherd

How sweet is the Shepherd’s sweet lot!

From the morn to the evening he stays;

He shall follow his sheep all the day,

And his tougue shall be filled with praise.

For he hears the lambs’ innocent call,

And he hears the ewes’ tender reply.

He is watching while they are in peace,

For they know when their Shepherd is nigh.

And of chapter 2.

Chapter 3

The Echoing Green

The sun does arise,

And make happy the skies;

The merry bells ring ,

To welcome the Spring;

The skylark and thrush,

The birds of the bush,

Sing louder around

To the bells' cheerful sound;

While our sports shall be seen

On the echoing green.

Old John, with white hair,

Does laugh away care,

Sitting under the oak,

Among the old folk.

They laugh at our play,

And soon they all say,

“Such, such were the joys

When we all -- girls and boys --

In our youth-time were seen

On the echoing green.”;

Till the little ones, weary,

No more can be merry:

The sun does descend,

And our sports have an end.

Round the laps of their mothers

Many sisters and brothers,

Like birds in their nest,

Are ready for rest,

And sport no more seen

On the darkening green.

And of chapter 3.

Chapter 4

The Lamb

Little lamb, who make thee

Dost thou know who made thee,

Gave thee life, and bid thee feed

By the stream and o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, wolly, 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 called 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 called by his name.

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

Little Lamb, God bless thee!

And of chapter 4.

Chapter 5.

The Little Black Boy

My mother bore me in the southern wild,

And I am black, but oh my soul is white!

White as an angel is the English child,

But I am black, as if bereaved of light.

My mother taught me underneath a tree,

And, sitting down before the heat of day,

She took me on her lap and kissed me,

And, pointed to the east, began to say:

“Look on the rising sun: there God does live,

And gives his light, and gives his heat away,

And flowers and trees and beasts and men receive

Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.

And we are put on earth a little space,

That we may learn to bear the beams of love

And these black bodies and this sunburnt face

Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.

For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,

The cloud will vanish, we shall hear his voice,

Saying, 'Come out from the grove, my love and care

And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice'.”

Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;

And thus I say to little English boy.

When I from black and he from white cloud free,

And round the tent of God like lambs we joy

I'll shade him from the heat till he can bear

To lean in joy upon our Father's knee;

And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,

And be like him, and he will then love me.

And of chapter 5.

Chapter 6

The Blossom

Merry, merry sparrow!

Under leaves so green

A happy blossom

Sees you, swift as arrow,

Seek your cradle narrow,

Near my bosom.

Pretty, pretty robin!

Under leaves so green

A happy blossom

Hears you sobbing, sobbing,

Pretty, pretty robin,

Near my bosom.

And of chapter 6.

Chapter 7

The Chimney-sweeper

When my mother died I was very young,

And my father sold me while yet my tongue

Could scarcely cry “Weep! weep! weep! weep!”

So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep.

There's little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head,

That curled like a lamb's back, was shaved; so I said,

“Hush, Tom! never mind it, for, when your head's bare,

You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair.”

And so he was quiet, and that very night,

As Tom was a-sleeping, he had such a sight! --

That thousands of sweepers, ****, Joe, Ned, and Jack,

Were all of them locked up in coffins of black.

And by came an angel, who had a bright key,

And he opened the coffins, and let them all free;

Then down a green plain, leaping, laughing, they run,

And wash in a river, and shine in the sun.