When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;When the air does laugh with our merry wit,And the green hill laughs with the noise of it; when the meadows laugh with lively green,And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,When Mary and Susan and EmilyWith their sweet round mouths sing "Ha, ha he!" When the painted birds laugh in the shade,Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread:Come live, and be merry, and join with me,To sing the sweet chorus of "Ha, ha, he!"

The work and its creator

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Creator: William Blake
Nationality / cultural background: Not recorded in the source
Work / edition: Historical poem

Public-domain poem. Poem text and line breaks retained as supplied by PoetryDB.

Selected for the Brief on 6 Sep 2026. This date records our selection, rather than when the work was created.