Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CRADLE SONG OF A SOLDIER'S WIFE by T. T. BARKER

First Line: BABY, SLEEP! SHADOWS CREEP
Last Line: SINGING BY THY CRADLE-BED!

Baby, sleep! shadows creep
Down the hillsides dark and long.
Slumber softly and thy dreaming
May perchance have brighter seeming,
For thy mother's cradle-song!

Baby, sleep! low I weep,
Lest I wake thee in my woe!
Where the campfires gleam and quiver,
Far away beside the river,
Father thinks of thee, I know.

Baby, sleep! angels keep
Holy vigils o'er thy head!
And thy mother's life seems sweeter,
Griefs grow dim and joys completer,
Singing by thy cradle-bed!



Home: PoetryExplorer.net