Poems of William Blake, Chapter 2 - William Blake

Lyrics by：William Blake

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

Piperpipe 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 bell's 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 dick 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