Poems (Van Rensselaer)/Cradle Song
For works with similar titles, see Cradle Song.
CRADLE SONG
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 beatOn 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:
Lion and Bear, The Crown and the Chair,The Hunter and Dog, the Cross and the Square; The Dragon outspread, Arcturus so red,And the eye that burns hot in the Bull's great head.
What of the rose When the night wind blows?She dreams little poems that nobody knows, And into the ear Of the lily-bud nearShe sings little melodies no one can hear.
Slumber, my love, To the coo of the doveAnd 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 treeTo swing in 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.