Nurse’s Song

When the voices of the 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
‘And the dews of night arise;
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away
‘Till 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 covered 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 echoed.

William Blake, from Songs of Innocence