C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Alfred Perceval Graves (1846–1931)

I’D rock my own sweet childie to rest in a cradle of gold on a bough of the willow,

To the shoheen ho of the wind of the west and the lulla lo of the soft sea billow.

Sleep, baby dear,

Sleep without fear:

Mother is here beside your pillow.

I’d put my own sweet childie to sleep in a silver boat on the beautiful river,

Where a shoheen whisper the white cascades, and a lulla lo the green flags shiver.

Sleep, baby dear,

Sleep without fear:

Mother is here with you for ever.

Lulla lo! to the rise and fall of mother’s bosom ’tis sleep has bound you,

And oh, my child, what cosier nest for rosier rest could love have found you?

Sleep, baby dear,

Sleep without fear:

Mother’s two arms are clasped around you.