Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CRADLE SONG by MARIANNA GRISWOLD VAN RENSSELAER

Poet Analysis

First Line: HOW DO WE KNOW / HOW THE SEASONS GO
Last Line: AND MY ARMS ARE AS WARM AS THE MOTHER-BIRD'S BREAST.
How do we know
How the seasons go?
By white of the blossoms and white of the snow,
By yellow of wheat
And the hurrying beat
On yellowing boughs of the rain-storm's feet.

What is so bright
In the midmost night?
The moon with her banner of glittering light;
And when she goes by,
In the dark-blue sky,
A million and one, the stars climb high.

What of the rose
When the night wind blows?
She dreams little poems that nobody knows,
And into the ear
Of the lily-bud near
She sings little melodies no one can hear.

Slumber, my love,
To the coo of the dove
And the croon of the breeze in the branches above;
Sleep till the sun
His sleeping has done,
And the stars run away from him one after one.

Long not to be
With the birds in the tree
To swing with the wind--it is safer with me;
Slumber is best
In the nursery nest,
And my arms are as warm as the mother-bird's breast.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net