LULLABY

My heart is full of lazy pain

        And an old English lullaby

Comes out of that mist of my brain.

                Upon my lap my sovereign sits

                        And sucks upon my breast;

                Meantime his love maintains my life

                        And gives my sense her rest.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy,

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

I would give all my singing trade

        To be the distant English child

For whom this happy song was made.

                When thou hast taken thy repast,

                        Repose, my babe, on me;

                So may thy mother and thy nurse

                        Thy cradle also be.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy.

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

There must have been true happiness

        Near where this song was sung to small

White hands clutching a mother's dress.

                I grieve that duty doth not work

                        All that my wishing would,

                Because I would not be to thee

                        But in the best I should.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy,

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

Oh, what a sorrow comes to me

        Knowing the bitterness I have

While that child had this lullaby!

                Yet as I am, and as I may,

                        I must and will be thine,

                Though all too little for thy self

                        Vouchsafing to be mine,

                Sing lullaby, my little boy

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

My heart aches to be able to weep.

        Oh, to think of this song being sung

And the child smiling in its sleep!

                Upon my lap my sovereign sits

                        And sucks upon my breast;

                Meantime his love maintains my life

                And gives my sense her rest.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy.

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

I was a child too, but would now

        Be the child, and no other, hearing

This song low‑breathed upon its brow.

                When thou hast taken thy repast,

                        Repose, my babe, on me;

                So may thy mother and thy nurse

                        Thy cradle also be.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy,

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

Oh, that I could return to that

        Happy time that was never mine

And which I live but to regret!

                I grieve that duty doth not work

                        All that my wishing would,

                Because I would not be to thee

                        But in the best I should.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy,

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

Ay, sing on in my soul, old voice,

        So motherfully laying to sleep

The babe that quietly doth rejoice.

                Yet as I am, and as I may,

                        I must and will be thine,

                Though all too little for thy self

                        Vouchsafing to be mine.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy,

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

Sing on and let my heart not weep

        Because sometime a child could have

This song to lull him into sleep!

                Yet as I am, and as I may,

                        I must and will be thine,

                Though all too little for thy self

                        Vouchsafing to be mine.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy,

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

Somehow, somewhere I heard this song,

        I was part of the happiness

That lived its idle lines along.

                Yet as I am, and as I may,

                        I must and will be thine,

                Though all too little for thy self

                        Vouchsafing to be mine.

                Sing lullaby, my little boy,

                Sing lullaby, mine only joy!

Ay, somehow, somewhere I was that

        Child, and my heart lay happy asleep.

Now - oh my sad and unknown fate!