Elizabeth (Akers) Allen-Rock Me to Sleep
| Rock Me to Sleep |
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BACKWARD, turn backward, O Time, in your flight, Make me a child again just for to-night! Mother, come back from the echoless shore, Take me again to your heart as of yore; Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, 5 Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep#8212; Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep! Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years! I am so weary of toil and of tears,— 10 Toil without recompense, tears all in vain,— Take them, and give me my childhood again! I have grown weary of dust and decay,— Weary of flinging my soul-wealth away; Weary of sowing for others to reap#8212; 15 Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep! Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue, Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you! Many a summer the grass has grown green, Blossomed and faded, our faces between: 20 Yet, with strong yearning and passionate pain, Long I to-night for your presence again. Come from the silence so long and so deep#8212; Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep! Over my heart, in the days that are flown, 25 No love like mother-love ever has shone; No other worship abides and endures,— Faithful, unselfish, and patient like yours: None like a mother can charm away pain From the sick soul and the world-weary brain. 30 Slumber\'s soft calms o\'er my heavy lids creep#8212; Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep! Come, let your brown hair, just lighted with gold, Fall on your shoulders again as of old; Let it drop over my forehead to-night, 35 Shading my faint eyes away from the light; For with its sunny-edged shadows once more Haply will throng the sweet visions of yore; Lovingly, softly, its bright billows sweep#8212; Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep! 40 Mother, dear mother, the years have been long Since I last listened your lullaby song: Sing, then, and unto my soul it shall seem Womanhood\'s years have been only a dream. Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace, 45 With your light lashes just sweeping my face, Never hereafter to wake or to weep#8212; Rock me to sleep, mother,—rock me to sleep! |
