Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


LITTLE BLUE PIGEON (JAPANESE LULLABY) by EUGENE FIELD

Poet Analysis

First Line: SLEEP, LITTLE PIGEON, AND FOLD YOUR WINGS
Last Line: SWINGING THE NEST WHERE MY DARLING LIES.
Subject(s): CHILDREN; MOTHERS; CHILDHOOD;

SLEEP, little pigeon, and fold your wings, --
Little blue pigeon with velvet eyes;
Sleep to the singing of mother-bird swinging --
Swinging the nest where her little one lies.
Away out yonder I see a star, --
Silvery star with a tinkling song;
To the soft dew falling I hear it calling --
Calling and tinkling the night along.
In through the window a moonbeam comes, --
Little gold moonbeam with misty wings;
All silently creeping, it asks: "Is he sleeping --
Sleeping and dreaming while mother sings?"
Up from the sea there floats a sob
Of the waves that are breaking upon the shore,
As though they were groaning in anguish, and
moaning --
Bemoaning the ship that shall come no more.
But sleep, little pigeon, and fold your wings, --
Little blue pigeon with mournful eyes;
Am I not singing? -- see, I am swinging --
Swinging the nest where my darling lies.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net