Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LULLABY (1) by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE

Poet Analysis

First Line: SLEEP, SLEEP, THOU LOVELY ONE!
Last Line: SLEEP, SLEEP, THOU LOVELY ONE!

Sleep, sleep, thou lovely one!
The little mouse cheeps plaintively,
The nightingale in the chestnut-tree --
They sing together, bird and mouse,
In starlight, in darkness, lonely, sweet,
The wild notes and the faint notes meet --
Sleep, sleep, thou lovely one!

Sleep, sleep, thou lovely one!
Amid the lilies floats the moth,
The mole along his galleries goeth
In the dark earth; the summer moon
Looks like a shepherd through the pane
Seeking his feeble lamb again --
Sleep, sleep, thou lovely one!

Sleep, sleep, thou lovely one!
Time comes to keep night-watch with thee,
Nodding with roses, and the sea
Saith 'Peace! Peace!' amid his foam.
'O be still!'
The wind cries up the whispering hill --
Sleep, sleep, thou lovely one!



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