Daily Poem: Nurse’s Song from Songs of Innocence ~ William Blake
Nurse’s Song
From Songs of Innocence
~ William Blake
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 every thing else is still.
‘Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down
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;
Besides, in the sky the little birds fly
And the hills are all cover’d with sheep.’
‘Well, well, go & play till the light fades away
And then go home to bed.’
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh’d
And all the hills ecchoed.
Note: I’ve kept Blake’s spelling and punctuation, rather than standardizing it as some editions have done. I enjoy the uniqueness of his voice, and part of that results from his personalized grammar.
