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.

'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.