Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE LULLABY OF A FEMALE CONVICT TO HER CHILD...TO EXECUTION, by HENRY KIRKE WHITE Poet's Biography First Line: Sleep, baby mine, enkerchieft on my bosom Last Line: For never more thou'lt press a mother's breast. Subject(s): Capital Punishment; Hanging; Executions; Death Penalty | ||||||||
Sleep, baby mine, enkerchieft on my bosom, Thy cries they pierce again my bleeding breast; Sleep, baby mine, not long thou'lt have a mother To lull thee fondly in her arms to rest. Baby, why dost thou keep this sad complaining? Long from mine eyes have kindly slumbers fled; Hush, hush, my babe, the night is quickly waning, And I would fain compose my aching head. Poor wayward wretch! and who will heed thy weeping, When soon an outcast on the world thou'lt be? Who then will soothe thee, when thy mother's sleeping In her low grave of shame and infamy? Sleep, baby mine--to-morrow I must leave thee, And I would snatch an interval of rest: Sleep these last moments ere the laws bereave thee, For never more thou'lt press a mother's breast. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE NEGATIVES by PHILIP LEVINE ALL LIFE IN A LIFE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE EXECUTION OF MAXIMILIAN by ARTHUR SZE TWO FUNERALS: 2. by LOUIS UNTERMEYER BALLADE OF THE MEN WHO WERE HANGED by FRANCOIS VILLON EPITAPH IN BALLADE FORM by FRANCOIS VILLON VILLON'S EPITAPH by FRANCOIS VILLON THE EARLY PRIMROSE by HENRY KIRKE WHITE |
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