Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP, by MARY WOOLSEY HOWLAND


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NOW I LAY ME DOWN TO SLEEP, by                    
First Line: Golden head so lowly bending
Last Line: Rising to the throne divine.
Subject(s): Children; Prayer; Sleep; Childhood


GOLDEN head so lowly bending,
Little feet so white and bare,
Dewy eyes, half shut, half opened,
Lisping out her evening prayer.

Well she knows when she is saying,
"Now I lay me down to sleep,"
'T is to God that she is praying, --
Praying him her soul to keep.

Half asleep, and murmuring faintly,
"If I should die before I wake," --
Tiny fingers clasped so saintly, --
"I pray the Lord my soul to take."

Oh the rapture, sweet, unbroken,
Of the soul who wrote that prayer!
Children's myriad voices floating
Up to heaven record it there.

If, of all that has been written,
I could choose what might be mine,
It should be that child's petition,
Rising to the throne divine.





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