A Baby Song

     Sleep, Darling, sleep!
The leaves of the aspen twitter and quiver
The twinkling star-heavens dance on the river,
And only make more utterly still
     The Silence brooding over the hill,
          The hush of the windless deep.

     Sleep, Baby, sleep!
The lilies and roses wink and nod,
The hare-bells lean to the dewy sod,
The drowsy linnet has shut her eye;
But the wakeful fire-flies as they fly
          With the moonshine play bo-peep.

Sleep, Pretty One, sleep!
     All your kitties have gone to rest,
Rolled together in one snug nest;
Whitey and Blacky, your two good lambs,
Are snuggled down by their wooly dams
     And dream they are truly sheep!

Sleep, angel, sleep!
     While slower and slower the cradle swings,
Dotty will dream of her purple wings
And the song the Baby Angels sang
When Earth was a Baby, and time was young,
     And the stars began to creep!