BACKWARD, turn backward, O Time, in your flight, Make me a child again just for to-night! Mother, come back from the echoless shore, Take me again to your heart as of yore; Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep; -- Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years! I am so weary of toil and of tears, -- Toil without recompense, tears all in vain, -- Take them, and give me my childhood again! I have grown weary of dust and decay, -- Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away; Weary of sowing for others to reap; -- Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue, Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you! Many a summer the grass has grown green, Blossomed, and faded our faces between, Yet with strong yearning and passionate pain Long I to-night for your presence again. Come from the silence so long and so deep; -- Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Over my heart, in the days that are flown, No love like mother-love ever has shone; No other worship abides and endures, -- Faithful, unselfish, and patient, like yours: None like a mother can charm away pain From the sick soul and the world-weary brain. Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids creep; -- Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold, Fall on your shoulders again as of old; Let it drop over my forehead to-night, Shading my faint eyes away from the light; For with its sunny-edged shadows once more Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore; Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep; -- Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! Mother, dear mother, the years have been long Since I last listened your lullaby song: Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem Womanhood's years have been only a dream. Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace, With your light lashes just sweeping your face, Never hereafter to wake or to weep; -- Rock me to sleep, mother, -- rock me to sleep! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...DOMESDAY BOOK: FINDING OF THE BODY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE VIRTUOSO; IN IMITATION OF SPENCER'S STYLE AND STANZA by MARK AKENSIDE A BOOK OF AIRS: SONG 3. AMARYLLIS by THOMAS CAMPION ENGLAND AND AMERICA: 1. ON A RHINE STEAMER by JAMES KENNETH STEPHEN CURFEW MUST NOT RING TONIGHT by ROSE HARTWICK THORPE THE TWO APRIL MORNINGS by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE ROYAL CROWN by ISRAEL ABRAHAMS |