Lullabye
sleep, little beansprout don't be scared the night is simply the true sky bared sleep, little dillseed don't be afraid the moon is the sunlight ricocheted sleep, little button don't make a fuss we make up the gods so they can make us sleep, little nubbin don't you stir this sky smiled down on Atlantis and Ur
Copyright © 2007 by Albert Goldbarth. Reprinted from The Kitchen Sink: New and Selected Poems, 1972-2007 with the permission of Graywolf Press, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Cradle Song
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright, Dreaming in the joys of night; Sleep, sleep; in thy sleep Little sorrows sit and weep. Sweet babe, in thy face Soft desires I can trace, Secret joys and secret smiles, Little pretty infant wiles. As thy softest limbs I feel Smiles as of the morning steal O'er thy cheek, and o'er thy breast Where thy little heart doth rest. O the cunning wiles that creep In thy little heart asleep! When thy little heart doth wake, Then the dreadful night shall break.
This poem is in the public domain.