SWEDISH MOTHER'S LULLABY

THERE sitteth a dove, so fair and white,
All on a lily spray;

And she listeneth how to the Saviour above
The little children pray.

Lightly she spreads her friendly wings,
And to heaven's gate hath sped,

And unto the Father in heaven she bears
The prayers the children have said.

WHAT is the road to slumber-land and when does the baby go?

The road lies straight through mother's arms when the sun is sinking low.

He goes by the drowsy land of nod to the music of lullaby,

When all wee lambs are safe in the fold, under the evening sky.

A soft little nightgown clean and white; a face washed sweet and fair;

A mother brushing the tangles out of the silken, golden hair.

Two little tired, satiny feet, from shoe and stocking free;

Two little palms together clasped at the mother's patient knee.

Some baby words that are drowsily lisped to the tender Shepherd's ear;

And a kiss that only a mother can place on the brow of her baby dear.

A little round head that nestles at last close to the mother's breast,

And then the lullaby soft and low, singing the song of rest.

And closer and closer the blue-veined lids are hiding the baby eyes,

As over the road to slumber-land the dear little traveler hies.

For this is the way, through mother's arms, all little babies go

To the beautiful city of slumber-land when the sun is sinking low.

Mary Dow Brine

787220

WYNKEN, BLYNKEN, AND NOD

WYNKEN, Blynken, and Nod one night

Sailed off in a wooden shoe,

Sailed on a river of crystal light

Into a sea of dew.

"Where are you going, and what do you wish?"

The old moon asked the three.

“We have come to fish for the herring fish That live in this beautiful sea;

Nets of silver and gold have we!"
Said Wynken,

Blynken,
And Nod.

The old moon laughed and sang a song,
As they rocked in the wooden shoe;
And the wind that sped them all night

long

Ruffled the waves of dew.

The little stars were the herring fish

That lived in that beautiful sea

"Now cast your nets wherever you wish, – Never afeard are we!"

So cried the stars to the fishermen three,

Wynken,
Blynken,
And Nod.

All night long their nets they threw

To the stars in the twinkling foam,

Then down from the skies came the wooden shoe,

Bringing the fishermen home:

'Twas all so pretty a sail, it seemed

As if it could not be;

And some folk thought 't was a dream they 'd dreamed

Of sailing that beautiful sea;

But I shall name you the fishermen three:

Wynken,
Blynken,

And Nod.

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes, And Nod is a little head

And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies
Is a wee one's trundle-bed;

So shut your eyes while Mother sings
Of wonderful sights that be,

And you shall see the beautiful things
As you rock in the misty sea

Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen

three:

Wynken,
Blynken,

And Nod.

Eugene Field

AULD DADDY DARKNESS

AULD Daddy Darkness creeps frae his hole,
Black as a blackamoor, blin' as a mole:
Stir the fire till it lowes, let the bairnie

sit,

Auld Daddy Darkness is no want it yit.

See him in the corners hidin' frae the licht, See him at the window gloomin' at the nicht;

Turn up the gas licht, close the shutters a', An' Auld Daddy Darkness will flee far awa'.

Awa' to hide the birdie within its cosy nest, Awa' to lap the wee flooers on their mither's breast,

Awa' to loosen Gaffer Toil frae his daily ca', For Auld Daddy Darkness is kindly to a'.

He comes when we're weary to wean's frae

oor waes,

He comes when the bairnies are getting off their claes;

To cover them sae cosy, an' bring bonnie dreams,

So Auld Daddy Darkness is better than he

seems.