Lullaby For the window shutteth fast, 79 Jane Taylor [1783-1824] "LULLABY, O LULLABY" LULLABY! O lullaby! Baby, hush that little cry! Light is dying, Bats are flying, Bees to-day with work have done; So, till comes the morrow's sun, Let sleep kiss those bright eyes dry! Lullaby! O lullaby! Hushed are all things far and nigh; Birds reposing, All sweet things with life are done. William Cox Bennett [1820-1895] LULLABY From "The Princess " SWEET and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea, Wind of the western sea! Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon, and blow, Blow him again to me; While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. Sleep and rest, sleep and rest, Father will come to thee soon; Father will come to his babe in the nest, Under the silver moon: Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892] THE COTTAGER TO HER INFANT THE days are cold, the nights are long, Then hush again upon my breast; All merry things are now at rest, The kitten sleeps upon the hearth; Nay! start not at that sparkling light; And wake when it is day! Dorothy Wordsworth [1804-1847] CRADLE SONG SLEEP, little baby of mine, Night and the darkness are near, Through the shadows that frown, And baby has nothing to fear. Holy Innocents Shut, little sleepy blue eyes; Dear little head, be at rest; Was a baby once, too, And slept on His own mother's breast. Sleep, little baby of mine, Soft on your pillow so white; Jesus is here To watch over you, dear, And nothing can harm you to-night. O, little darling of mine, What can you know of the bliss, The comfort I keep, Awake and asleep, Because I am certain of this? 81 Unknown HOLY INNOCENTS SLEEP, little Baby, sleep; A blessed watch above thee. No spirit can come near Nor evil beast to harm thee: Sleep, Sweet, devoid of fear Where nothing need alarm thee. The Love which doth not sleep, The eternal Arms surround thee: The Shepherd of the sheep In perfect love hath found thee. Sleep through the holy night, Christ-kept from snare and sorrow, Until thou wake to light And love and warmth to-morrow. Christina Georgina Rossetti [1830-1894] LULLABY From "The Mistress of the Manse" ROCKABY, lullaby, bees in the clover! Down to the under-land Down into wonderland go! Rockaby, lullaby, rain on the clover! Down on the mother-world, Down on the other world, Down on the mother-world sleep! Rockaby, lullaby, dew on the clover! WHAT is the little one thinking about? Unwritten history! Unfathomed mystery! Yet he laughs and cries, and eats and drinks, And chuckles and crows, and nods and winks, Cradle Song As if his head were as full of kinks Warped by colic, and wet by tears, Where the summers go;— He need not laugh, for he'll find it so! Who can tell what a baby thinks? By which the mannikin feels his way Into the light of day? Out from the shore of the unknown sea, Of the unknown sea that reels and rolls, Cup of his life, and couch of his rest? What does he think when her quick embrace Presses his hand and buries his face Deep where the heart-throbs sink and swell Though she murmur the words Words she has learned to murmur well? I can see the shadow creep 83 |