WHEN the voices of children are heard on the green, | |
And laughing is heard on the hill, | |
My heart is at rest within my breast, | |
And everything else is still. | |
‘Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down, | 5 |
And the dews of night arise; | |
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away | |
Till the morning appears in the skies.’ | |
‘No, no, let us play, for it is yet day, | |
And we cannot go to sleep; | 10 |
Besides, in the sky the little birds fly, | |
And the hills are all cover’d with sheep.’ | |
‘Well, well, go and play till the light fades away, | |
And then go home to bed.’ | |
The little ones leapèd and shoutèd and laugh’d | 15 |
And all the hills echoèd. William Blake from Songs of Innocence |