An Old Favorite. ROCK ME TO SLEEP, MOTHER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 2018, 13 June 1885, Page 6 (Supplement)

An Old Favorite. ROCK ME TO SLEEP, MOTHER.

BY ELIZABETH AKER<3 ALLEN.

Backward, turn backward, 0 Time ! in your flight, Make me 5 child again just for to-night ! Mother, come back from the echoeless shore, Take me again to your heart as ofyoro; Kiss from my forehead the furrows of care, Smooth the few silver threads out of my hair ; Over my slumbers your loving watch keep— Hock me to sleep, mother, rock mo to sleop 1 Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years 1 I am so weary of toil and of tearsToil without recompense, tears all in vain — Take them and give me my childhood again I 1 have grown weary of dust and decay — Weary of throwing my soul wealth away ; Weary of sowing for others to reap— Bock me to sleep, mother, rook me to aleep t Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue, Mother, 0 mother ! my heart calls for you ! Many a summer the grass has grown green, Blossomed and faded our faces between, Yet with strong yearning and passionate pain Long I to-night for your presence again. Come from the silence so long and so deep ; Hock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep. Over my heart, in the days that are flown, No love like mother love ever has shown ; 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. Slumber's soft calms o'er my heavy lids oreep — Hock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep 1 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, 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 — Hock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep 1 Mother, dear mother, the years have been long Since I last listened your lullaby song ; Womanhood's years have been only a, dr.eara, Clasped to your heart in a loving embrace-, With your light lashes just sweeping your face, Never hereafter to wake or to weep— ltDck me to sleep, mother, rock m<3 to elee^!