Rocking Baby to Sleep...

Mothers have many a memory to keep

Kiss-cradle-hug-a-bye-hold-and-release

But the memory of rocking my babies to sleep

Returns now and then in bittersweet peace

‘Rock-a-bye baby in the tree top’

‘Hush little baby, don’t say a word’

Sleep, baby, sleep’ and ‘the weasel goes pop’

‘Neath little star its sweet echo is stirred

Soft on the bosom of mothers they sleep

Warm in the arms that are holding the world

Yes, Mothers have many a memory to keep

But none like the rocking of wee boy or girl

‘Lullaby, goodnight and close your wee eyes’

Soon the bright morning will steal you away

Lullaby, goodnight, my, my how time flies

Let me hold heaven as long as I may…

© Janet Martin

Recently the little guy I babysit needed a little extra rocking due to being sick with colds etc…it stirred many a beautiful memory as I sang the old familiar lullabies to him long after he fell asleep.

These little guys also reminded me of a poem I memorized as a girl because I thought it suited my little brothers at the time.

Lullaby

Bedtime come fo' little boys
Po' little lamb.
Too tiahed out to make a noise,
Po' little lamb.
You gwine t' have to-morrer sho'?
Yes, you tole me dat befo',
Don't you fool me, chile, no mo',
Po' little lamb.

You been bad de livelong day,
Po' little lamb.
Th'owin' stones an' runnin' 'way,
Po' little lamb.
My, but you 's a-runnin' wil',
Look jes' lak some po' folks chile;
Mam' gwine whup you atter while,
Po' little lamb.

Come hyeah! you mos' tiahed to def,
Po' little lamb.
Played yo'se'f clean out o' bref,
Po' little lamb.
See dem han's now--sich a sight!
Would you evah b'lieve dey's white?
Stan' still twell I wash 'em right,
Po' little lamb.

Jes' cain't hol' yo' haid up straight,
Po' little lamb.
Had n't oughter played so late,
Po' little lamb.
Mammy do' know whut she 'd do,
Ef de chillun's all lak you;
You 's a caution now fu' true,
Po' little lamb.

Lay yo' haid down in my lap,
Po' little lamb.
Y' ought to have a right good slap,
Po' little lamb.
You been runnin' roun' a heap.
Shet dem eyes an' don't you peep,
Dah now, dah now, go to sleep,
Po' little lamb.

Paul Laurence Dunbar :

Sound of Midnight~

Sound of midnight fills the sky

Satin-opaque lullaby

Wind-song, vagrant and footloose

Slipping from moon-spangled noose

To ramble night’s argent hall

Spreading silence like a shawl

Save for sighing evergreen

Waving its four-season sheen

As fresh moments fall away

Jetty on ebony quay

Smooth and still its sonnets spill

Moon-halo, opiate trill

Tempest torn from its rampart

Waging, raging in the heart

And the air, tattooed with dark

Petrifies the snowflake spark

Amplifying somber hush

As a thousand echoes rush

Where sound of midnight fills the deep

And we would miss if fast asleep

J~

Lullaby

Poetic Bloomings invites us to attempt a Rondeau to day.

 A rondeau (plural rondeaux) is a form of French poetry with 15 lines written on two rhymes.  It makes use of refrains, repeated according to a certain stylized pattern. It was customarily regarded as a challenge to arrange for these refrains to contribute to the meaning of the poem in as succinct and poignant a manner as possible. The rondeau consists of thirteen lines of eight syllables, plus two refrains (which are half lines,  four syllables each).

The landscape sleeps; its umber sigh

Flows to the border of the sky

It stirs the mind to reminisce

And revel in a memory’s kiss

Where precious moments lie

The tears that fell from autumn’s eye

Lines curbs and ditches; we descry

The postlude of October’s bliss

The landscape sleeps

We cannot gather days gone by

See; even now soft moments fly

To line a vast phantom abyss

For soon the past is what now is

A sweet and winsome lullaby

The landscape sleeps

© Janet Martin

October Lullaby

The weightless leaf grows heavy ‘neath the tears of autumn’s sky

Filling leaf-swollen levies; fall exhales a lullaby

Of heaven-tinted awning dropping soundless to a berth

Where the echo of the ages slumbers, layered in the earth

A metaphor of moments trickles from the weeping limb

Relinquishing the beauty of the bud and blossomed scrim

The hour adjusts its images to nature’s perfect rule

And mortal searches, scrimmages for shadows on its pool

There is no bugle blowing; no salute to Time’s demise

As sod and stream are flowing with the tears of fall good-byes

But quiet preparation glimmers in the silver air

In raw juxtaposition of keen triumph and despair

The weightless leaf grows heavy; soon the laughing tree is mute

As winds scatter its bevy of bygones without dispute

And we behold the Truth within its stark and unclad form

The summer of fair youth is but the prelude to life’s storm

© Janet Martin

Noon-day Lullaby...( Song of August Rain)

Oh hear the tap-tap-tapping of ten-thousand tiny feet

A lithesome dance of merriment on rooftop, hill and street

As rivers smooth earth’s dust-bowl gleam

Beneath a fleet-footed regime  

And farmers re-ignite their dream within its welcome beat

Now high, now low its melody races against the glass

Now fast, now slow a sweeping sea washes the trampled grass

A rushing, gushing lullaby

Liquid percussion from the sky

Twinkle in the lily’s eye and nectar in her flask

Smile to the pit-pit-patter of each dripping, slipping note

Oh, let your sorrows scatter; tuck them in a birch-leaf boat

Dance to the thrumming, strumming glee

Of heaven’s happy symphony

A splashing, dashing melody in silver overcoat

© Janet Martin

Inexorable Lullaby

The Colors of Claude Monet - By Licht courtesy pixdaus.com

It slithers from the willow limb

Entwined in lambent sigh

Of hollow midnight diadem

And rending lullaby

It runs its restless fingers

Over longing and delight

Stirring memories that linger

Deep into the quiet night

It ravages intention

And distorts visceral thought

In reckless intervention

Summarizing what is not

Yet, the clock broadens 'forever'

In a phantom hour glass

And the waves release their candor

As the ceaseless ages pass

While the hollow of the midnight

Seems to touch the very core

Of a melody of moments

That can never drift  a-shore

J~

Baby's Lullaby

http://chestofbooks.com ~Picture source:


Hush little birdie
Asleep in your nest
Hush, little zephyr
Blowing from the west
Hush, little buttercup
Closing your mouth
Twilight is folding
East, west, north and south

Hush little puppy-dog
Children must sleep
High in the meadow
Doze wooly white sheep
Hush, little wind-chime
And hush, hurried feet
Baby is tired
And baby is sweet

Hush, little wave-lap
That kisses the shore
Soon you’ll be back
In the ocean once more
Hush, little fairy-land
Far, far away
Baby will visit you
Some other day

Hush-a-bye little girl
Hush, little boy
We’ll sail to dream-land
On moon-ships, ahoy
Hush little baby
And fly away, fly
Dreamland is waiting
In this lullaby

Janet~

Goodnight, My Love (A Lullaby)

Let the wind sweep from the rain-laden pine
Let the night weep from the bush and the vine
Let the blue shadow fall somewhere afar
Over the meadow beneath the lone star
Before this day vanishes let me hold you tight
And whisper goodnight, my love, and goodnight

Let the lone dreamer then dream if he must
Let the dim twilight then sleep in the dust
Turn down the music and turn up the sky
It seems to sing to me a new lullaby
As your arms wrap around me in the deepening light
You whisper goodnight, my love, and goodnight

Some put their faith in the moon or the earth
Some wait for fortune to measure their worth
But now as I lay me down to sleep
I smile for I know the good Lord will keep
All those I love in His tender sight
As I whisper goodnight my love, and goodnight

Janet~

Tonight was one of those nights…..
As I hugged my children and said goodnight
I felt like the richest person on the face of the earth…..
There are no sweeter words repeated than
‘Goodnight, I love you too.’

Thank-you God~