Songs of Innocence 87
17And I made a rural pen,
And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
The Ecchoing Green
The Sun does arise, i And make happy the skies ; The merry bells ring To welcome the Spring ; The sky lark and thrush, The birds of the bush, Sing louder around To the bells' chearful sound, While our sports shall be seen On the Ecchoing Green.
Old John, with white hair, ii 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 & boys, In our youth time were seen On the Ecchoing Green.'
Till the little ones, weary, 21 No more can be merry; The sun does descend, And our sports have an end.
This song was engraved on two plates. The first of these (to fourth line of second stanza) is among the remnant reprinted by Gilchrist {^Life, ii. end). In the first issue of the Songs of Innocence the two plates are always printed as recto and verso of the same leaf
8 bells'] No apostrophe in orig. i8 When we all, girls & boys] No punctuation in on'g. ; When we, all girls and boys Wilk., Shep.
