PIPING DOWN THE VALLEYS WILD

: Some Children's Poets
: Types Of Children's Literature

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 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.