Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, COSSACK CRADLE SONG, by MIKHAIL YUREVICH LERMONTOV


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

COSSACK CRADLE SONG, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Sleep, my little flax haired fairy
Last Line: Sleep, my baby, sleep!
Alternate Author Name(s): Lermontov, Mikhail Yuryevich
Subject(s): Cossacks


Sleep, my little flax-haired fairy,
Fold thine eyes in sleep!
Silver moonbeams, bright and airy,
O'er thy cradle creep:
I will sing to thee a story
Of the peaceful deep;
Close thine eyes in dreams of glory,
Sleep, my baby, sleep!

Hark! The Terek dark and foaming,
Welters through the glade,
Where the Kirghiz in the gloaming
Whets his bloody blade;
But thy father, brave in battle,
Guards thee from all ill,
Cease thy silly infant prattle,
Hush, my babe, lie still!

Bitter days shall soon befall thee,
Peril will betide--
On a charger fleet and fiery
Swiftly shalt thou ride,
And a silken saddle peerless
I for thee will keep.
Sleep, my little Cossack, fearless!
Sleep, my baby, sleep!

When I think, my blood-begotten,
Soon a Cossack true,
Thou wilt leave thy home forgotten,
Bid me last adieu;
Ceaseless through long nights of sorrow
I will wail and weep.
Tranquilly until the morrow,
Sleep, my baby, sleep!

Breathlessly I'll wait thy coming
While long days drag by,
Praying for thy speady homing,
Fearing thou wilt die;
Fearing thou wilt grow a stranger
To my longing deep--
Sleep, my fair-one; free from danger,
Sleep, my baby, sleep!

Thee I'll give an image holy
'Gainst all dire Jismay;
To it, faithful, kneeling lowly,
Fold thine hands and pray!
It shall keep thee safe in battle
While I wail and weep.
Hush thy silly infant prattle,
Sleep, my baby, sleep!





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